Learn about our favorite computer hardware and other electronics that can help you around the office or the house.
In a few hours the ship will pull in to Puerto Vallarta where I'll have a full day of activities as we reach the halfway point of the CorelDRAW Unleashed Boot Camp Cruise. Right now, I need to tell you about some of the best motherboards available for the Intel...
As we cover hardware in the next few installments, I'm going to look at the guts of the computer. This week I'll cover the latest processors. Next week I'll look at motherboards for those processors. The following week I'll look at memory chips to go with the...
What defines expensive hardware? Some would say it is purely a price tag with a large number of dollars. For those who define it simply by a number, the actual number would vary. Today I'd prefer to discuss the value of hardware. I don't feel the price itself...
I've covered products this year that are practical for most every user. I've also covered a few frivolous hardware choices. Today's choice could fall into either category depending on how you use your computer. The NZXT Sentry LX High Performance Fan Controller...
Last week I talked about the usefulness of a USB flash drive. This week we're going to talk about the flash memory cards used inside of digital cameras, mobile phones and other devices.One unfortunate part of this product category is that there are multiple...
If you don't know what a USB flash drive does, it is quite simple. It is a small device that plugs into the USB port of most any computer and holds a large amount of data. Think about it as the floppy disk for a new generation.I remember my first USB flash drive...
How do you manage the safety of your data? Hard drives run into problems and your data could easily be lost in a hard drive crash. That's why it is so important to keep up-to-date back-ups.One of the best tools I've found for this are external hard drives. There...
Some of the hardware I cover is very practical and represents something that every user of graphics software should have. Today is something that would look great on your desk and provide you with entertainment, but it may not be that practical.As you can see from...
We've had a label printer in our office for at least ten years. When we need to print an address label for a package, it is just one click to send it to the label printer. This is a lot faster and looks a lot better than hand addressing the package.Our printers...
Now this might seem like an odd choice for hardware today. You'll have to bear with me as I tell the story that led me to choose this item today. I've been traveling a lot in the last month. I'm currently in my eighth state in the last three weeks and I have four...
In the past month or so they have been some big releases in the world of digital SLRs. SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex and that means you can interchange lenses on these digital cameras. It also means that these cameras do have a higher price tag than the typical...
I was traveling last week and found myself in the need of a new Web cam. My old one just wouldn't play nicely with Vista. Sometimes I could get the video to work, but not always. Plus the driver just didn't support the microphone at all. I did some searching around...
Regular readers may think I've lost my mind. Why am I talking about machines using an operating system that can't run CorelDRAW? First, these are darned good laptops. It also should be noted that these machines can run CorelDRAW using emulation software.At right is...
This is definitely the biggest piece of hardware I've ever covered in my weekly Hump Day Hardware. Not only is it big in size, it is a big development in the world of garment printing. The headline of the press release reads "Brother International Corporation...
In my hump day hardware series, I have talked about various components for your computer. Today let's focus on the brains in your computer. We'll go over the choices for your processor and the amount of memory you should have installed. Processor: The first...
In the beginning, just having any kind of digital camera was a good thing. Nowadays I'm convinced that it is good to have different digital cameras for different situations. Most people now have some kind of a camera as part of their mobile phones. They work great...
Today's hardware will appeal to those of you who enjoy tinkering with your computers or anyone who has ever had to transfer data from a loose hard drive.The Sabrent USB Serial ATA or IDE adapter will allow you to connect most any hard drive to the USB port on your...
I've talked about two of the major tools for interacting with your computer, graphics tablets and keyboards. Today we're going to talk about mice. Those of you who read the post on tablets will know that I rarely use a mouse. If you have joined us to CorelDRAW...
I mentioned this offer over a year ago and I know we have a number of new subscribers so I wanted to tell you about it again. Xerox will send you a free color thermal wax printer! Of course, there are some stipulations. Basically you have to agree to print a...
About a month ago I covered keyboards in my Hump Day Hardware blog posting. One of the keyboards I featured was the Microsoft Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000. After writing about it, I got more and more intrigued by the features it offers. My old Microsoft keyboard was...
Today's hardware is a little bit off the normal path, but I'll bet it is something that many of you could use. Do you carry a cell phone, an MP3 player and other gadgets on a regular basis? Are there times when you are unable to plug them in to recharge? Would you...
I remember buying my first drive to burn CDs about 13 years ago. It cost over $2000 and would take a full 70+ minutes to burn a full disc. Things have changed drastically and now that disc can be burned in under 5 minutes by a drive costing less than $50.Some day...
While we are all in the world of computer graphics, the projects we tackle every day can vary widely. Today I'm going to cover a product category that is vitally important to some of you and it probably isn't terribly useful for others. We're going to talk about...
When you were learning to draw as a kid, did your parents hand you a crayon or a bar of soap? I think most of you learned with a crayon and yet there are a large number of people who attempt to draw on their computer with a bar of soap otherwise known as a mouse....
