Thunderbolt 3.0 has a maximum throughput of 40Gbps, as well as the ability to provide power to external devices. It’s fully compatible with USB-C, so in effect you have two ports in one. This port alone opens up a whole world of possibilities, and is a great reason to choose the XPS 15 over some of Dell’s cheaper alternatives. One complaint that's worth mentioning is the lack of an Ethernet port. Not only that, Dell doesn't supply a USB to Ethernet adapter in the box, so you'll have to buy one yourself.A button on the right edge of the laptop, when pressed, activates a set of five lights that display how much of your battery is remaining, even when the laptop is switched off. How Dell came to the decision that it was worth giving up an extra USB port for this feature I'm not sure, but I'm convinced that it isn't a particularly useful addition. Pretty lights, though.

The keyboard is, for the most part, excellent. It’s backlit, and the keypress action is firm yet it remains easy to build up to a fast typing speed. If I were to nit-pick then I’d say the keys aren’t quite as grippy as those on equivalent MacBooks, and the range of travel ends rather more suddenly than I’d like, but otherwise the typing experience is superb.There’s an FN-lock button, enabling you to lock the top row of F keys to correspond to their labelled functions – including volume controls, media buttons and brightness options – without having to hold down the FN button. I use the F keys far less frequently than I do their Fn alternatives, so this is a small-yet-handy addition.

This brings in BRIX, from Gigabyte. BRIX is a barebone compact desktop computer that is cheap and easy to deploy. The PC is smaller than a conventional Tiffin box and holds a complete desktop PC within. The BRIX is a barebone compact PC that only ships with a motherboard and a processor and the user or customer has to install his own RAM and hard drive. In this way, he is free to choose the amount of money spent on the desktop. In terms of offices, IT departments can deploy these desktop PCs without storage (or minimum storage) and have their own servers manage the entire network of PCs in the organisation.

We received a BRIX GB-BACE-3000 for a hands-on. The device is a simple barebone ultra-compact desktop computer, and is smaller than a conventional wireless router in size, but almost double in height (56.1mm x 107.6mm x 114.4mm). The BRIX GB-BACE-3000 is powered by an external 19v, 2A power supply unit that is bundled along with the unit. The BRIX can be user-assembled (if you know how to install the storage and memory modules) and is user serviceable (though you may not need it). All you need to do is open the unit, plug in the RAM modules and storage (HDD or SSD) and connect it to your existing desktop monitor along with a keyboard and mouse. Once done, connect you network cables and install your desired operating system (Windows or Linux) and you are ready to compute. Users can also connect the BRIX to an existing television or projector (using the HDMI or a VGA cable) and convert your living room into a computer-cum-entertainment area. Offices can also convert the conference room into a full-fledged video conferencing zone by additionally installing a microphone and camera respectively. The BRIX barebone ultra-compact PC kit comes along with a vesa mounting plate or bracket which can be mounted to the vesa mounting area on the rear of a monitor or LCD TV. You can also mount it elsewhere according to the convenience of your work area.

• Dell alienware m11x Battery
• Dell alienware m11x r3 Battery
• Dell alienware m14x Battery
• Dell inspiron 1520 Battery
• Dell inspiron 1720 Battery
• Dell inspiron n5010 Battery
• Dell latitude d820 Battery
• Dell latitude d830 Battery
• Dell vostro 1510 Battery
• Dell Inspiron 1750 Battery
• DELL Alienware M15x Battery
• Dell Inspiron M5010 Battery
• Dell Inspiron N7010 Battery
• Dell Inspiron 1721 Battery

The touchpad is similarly good. Not only does it feature reliable palm rejection technology, it also supports the multi-fingered gestures that come with Windows 10. Since it’s a Microsoft-certified Precision Touchpad, it works particularly well with Windows 10; the cursor responded instantly to every swipe and tap I threw at it. I never once felt the need to reach for my Logitech MX Master, which says plenty about the quality of the touchpad.The Dell XPs 15's built-in speakers are some of the best I’ve heard on a laptop. Not only are they loud, they’re also exceptionally clear, with no hint of distortion even at maximum volume. As a result, I could use the XPS 15 to catch up on TV in the kitchen, able to hear everything that was going on despite the noise of the stove, extractor fan and kettle running all at once.Speech is well handled and music displays plenty of depth, with a small amount of bass audible. The speakers sound as if they're positioned behind the keyboard, with sound seemingly blasting out from the entire wristrest. However, it's actually coming from small grilles that can be found along the front edge of the machine.

As a result, the quality of the sound changes somewhat if you're typing, becoming slightly muffled. This means if you like to listen to music while you're working, your experience won’t be quite as good as if, for example, you’re sitting back watching Netflix with your hands off the keyboard.I was supplied with one of Dell's Full HD, non-touch models of the XPS 15, whose matte screen is nice and bright. While I occasionally miss prodding the screen to scroll down web pages, I'm thankful for not having to deal with a glossy but smudgy and reflective touchscreen.

While I was slightly underwhelmed by the screen’s 89% sRGB colour coverage, this was made up for by an excellent maximum brightness level of 380 nits and super-low black levels of 0.22 nits. Fantastic contrast levels of 1,727:1 equate to images packed with detail, high-contrast scenes and photos looking great in general.There are some downsides, however. Motion blur is at the upper end of what I’d consider acceptable, with games in particular suffering from a large amount of blur when making sweeping camera movements. This limits the machine’s gaming potential, at least with the included screen. An external monitor would be essential for quick, twitchy games.

Sometimes I stare at my laptop screen and long for the days of Windows 3.1 and Internet Explorer. It was a simple time back then. Then at some point we got Netscape, AskJeeves, Altavista, Yahoo YHOO -1.64%, an exponential succession of degradation in Internet Explorer versions and eventually that waste-bucket overflowed with Bing. While Yahoo is still kind of in existence, we all know the battle for internet browser supremacy is now between Google's GOOGL -0.36% Chrome browser, Microsoft's MSFT +0.08% Edge, Apple's AAPL -0.74% Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.

Microsoft has been trying for a while to get the edge (see what I did there) over Chrome. Last year, as Microsoft was forcing Windows 10 on users it was also slipping in ways to get users off Chrome or Firefox and onto Edge. Being that Windows 10 is an operating system, there were certain advantages. One of those was pop-up windows encouraging users to "Give Microsoft Edge a shot”, something Chrome or Firefox couldn’t counter. While Google at times had a message on its home page for IE users to switch to Chrome, being embedded in an operating system is a bit different. Needless to say, it didn’t work. No matter which way you spin it, Chrome is currently the leading browser. Safari, Apple specific, is out of the conversation and is kind of like Switzerland in the browser wars. So as Microsoft let Edge settle in over the now defunct Internet Explorer, Chrome settled in as the browser of choice.

Then a couple months ago Microsoft was ready to lob a mortar at Google. Microsoft came out with a marketing campaign focusing on how bad Chrome is for your laptop’s battery life. Microsoft finally found something that might change users’ minds and push them (I’m going to do it again) over the edge. It didn’t. Users pretty much ignored that and stuck with Chrome. Firefox users shrugged and added another adorable skin to the library.Microsoft is not one to just roll over and take it. What to do, what to do? Natch! Use the system notifications. Users always forget to turn those things off! Even though it is really simple with Windows 10 to alter notifications, most users won’t and don’t bother. So at some point in the billions of updates Windows users receive, Chrome users started seeing some variation of this message:Chrome [Firefox] is draining your battery faster. Switch to Microsoft Edge for up to XX percent more browsing time.Wait, what? Chrome is killing my battery? Good thing I use Firefox. Many users would find this statement alarming, which is probably what Microsoft is banking on.

• Dell Vostro 1500 Battery
• Dell Vostro 1700 Battery
• Dell Precision M4300 Battery
• Dell Vostro 1310 Battery
• Dell Latitude E5500 Battery
• Dell Latitude E5510 Battery
• DELL XPS 15 Battery
• DELL XPS 17 Battery
• Dell Inspiron 1525 Battery
• Dell Inspiron 1546 Battery
• Dell XPS M1730 Battery
• Dell XPS M1530 Battery
• Dell Latitude D510 Battery
• Dell Latitude D530 Battery
• Dell Latitude D610 Battery

Why and how is Chrome killing your laptop battery? It has to do with something called "tick rate”, which has nothing to do with how the clock starts to speed up when you cut the wrong wire. Forbes contributor Ian Morris breaks down the tick rate pretty well here, explaining how each browser affects processing speed and memory and therefore, battery life.While this battery life issue seems to only really affect laptops, I would assume on desktop this wouldn’t drain the battery as much as it would slow down general processing. In that, Edge does seem to be the smoother working browser. Unfortunately, I find it clunky and muddled, versus the clean, empty spaces of Chrome and Firefox. I’m in the less is better camp when it comes to the UI of internet browsers.Mozilla’s Firefox is just a straight up memory hog. I’ve found though, that with the tick rate issue of Chrome and the memory required for Firefox to run, the two kind of equal out in the way of performance. That’s just from my own testing on my laptop, not tied to any official statistics.What comes next with the browsers? Will you be switching to Edge just to satiate the notifications tab? Will you be sticking with Chrome or Firefox? Me, I’ll be sitting alone in the dark, shedding a single tear over the loss of Netscape and dreaming of a time when the internet browser market was as varied as locally brewed hipster beers featuring handlebar mustaches in their logos.

Desktop computers are literally getting invisible. Those who have theirs since a while are either upgrading it with better components or simply scrapping it for a laptop in exchange. Desktop computers were usually found everywhere—they were easy to build, easily configurable according to what you need and cheaper. However, with the fall of laptop prices, desktop computers are now seen only limited to offices. Laptops are getting cheaper, easily portable and occupy a smaller footprint, not forgetting low on power consumption and also have a built-in battery that works as a UPS.

However, there are quite a few who favour desktops instead of a laptop. Many prefer to use the physical (speedy) mouse as opposed to the laptop’s (slow and clumsy) touchpad and the full-sized keyboard as compared to the small laptop keys. People who travel a lot are used to working on laptops, but when you get back to a desk, a desktop PC is what anyone would prefer. If you are a gamer, you cannot compete a laptop performance (or a gaming laptop) so easily with that of a desktop PC.With power, price and portability issues, the desktop could see extinction earlier than usual. With all-in-one PCs gaining popularity, the threat to desktop computers is seen on the horizon. All-in-one PCs are far cheaper, but again, they are more of a laptop in camouflage. They too are bulky, non-portable and do not have a backup battery. But again, all-in-ones are preferred for their large displays and physical input devices, which a laptop cannot.

So here come compact desktop computers which can help replace the conventional PC cabinet that you see occupying the space above or below the table. Compact PCs are easier to deploy, small in footprint and low on power consumption. However, compact PCs are meant for daily computing and not for high-end gaming or graphics. They are simple computers with a mini-ITX motherboard (with CPU), RAM and a hard drive. All you need is to attach your keyboard, mouse and monitor and get on with work. The concept is great for those who have small offices, or work from home and want to save on space and power. These compact PCs are also great for large organisations which need to deploy cheaper computers on a large scale and save on huge amounts of costs in terms of power and storage.

Posted by: retrouve3 at 07:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 2234 words, total size 16 kb.