UMPC Explorers! | Ultranauts.com

Laptop upgrades are not difficult to complete yourself, and there are three key upgrades that you can easily accomplish to make your laptop run faster. These will also give your laptop a higher resale value when you decide to replace it.

One of the most simple laptop upgrades to complete yourself is to upgrade your operating system. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Media Center, upgrading to Windows Vista is a good idea. You will be able to take advantage of the many features of Windows Vista, as well as enhance the speed of your system. An upgrade to Windows Vista for the Home Basic edition is under $100 and is worth it to enhance the efficiency of your system. (More…)

Laptops for gaming are gaining popularity because, despite their cost and weight, they are still portable, and allow gamers to congregate to compete. Hardware performance improves constantly as well, so being tied to a desk is no longer required for serious gamers.

You could even make the case that gaming is driving some of the technology such as dual core processors and video power. New features on laptops for gaming include those as well as larger hard drives, increased memory, and batteries with longer life. Now you can even add a mobile broadband card and log in from just about any location in the U.S.

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After drooling over rumours of a multi-touch Apple sub-notebook recently, Dell has now given a demonstration of multi-touch on an ultraportable, called the Latitude XT.

The demo, which took place at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco, was filmed by ZDNet and is available on YouTube here.

Introducing the hardware, CEO Michael Dell said: “this tablet has some pretty interesting things about it. It’s the industry’s thinnest 12.1-inch convertible tablet [and] it’s got a screen that’s 25 per cent brighter than the nearest screen in the industry.” One of the “interesting things” certainly doesn’t appear to be the chassis design, which remains a dull black.

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Apple Insider and CNET are both reporting that sources at Asus have said their working with Apple on a Tablet PC. CNET says while their constantly overwhelmed with Mac rumors, “Asus is Apple’s contract manufacturer. It’s one of the companies responsible for building the iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBooks of this world, so when their guys tell us they’re building an Apple Tablet, we believe them.”

Apple Tablet PC

Laptop computers are more expensive than desktop computers, but despite what you might think, you can still buy a cheap laptop computer that has all of the specs you are looking for. Don’t think of it as a cheap laptop, think instead that you will be getting a good deal on a laptop! Here’s how to search for discount prices and find a cheap laptop or notebook computer that meets your needs.

The first way to save on a laptop is to skip brand names. Trying to find a Sony or Dell that is new and inexpensive isn’t impossible, but you can buy more firepower in a laptop if you don’t get hung up on labels. You can buy other names or even “no name” laptops which contain the same component parts by manufacturers such as Intel, Athlon, Sony, Seagate, and other major companies. The internal quality can be just the same. Buying a lesser known or unknown brand will take a little more investigation on your part to find out what is included inside. Make sure you get a generous return policy too, in case the system just doesn’t measure up.

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I’ll admit my bias right away: I already have an HTC PocketPC. Despite all of it’s ~~glaring~~ little errors, I love the little guy. The screen is too small, the processor too slow and the built-in apps are too buggy. Does the new HTC PocketPC plus Windows Mobile 6 fix all of this? Possibly… I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out!

The fine folks over at Mobility Site have an excellent unboxing/mini-review of the sexy little “UMPCjr” up right here. It sure does make me want to pull out the ‘ole credit card and over extend myself for an HTC Advantage. What’s the verdict?

Yep. Pretty much. Last night I was desperately trying to get the quarter closed and send our 3rd quarter financial numbers up to our parent company. We’d had a wild day and while I was close, the stupid Fixed Asset Depreciation schedule just wouldn’t balance.

No, don’t let your eyes glaze over. I had to leave and I didn’t want to work over the weekend. My son has started skeet shooting with an eye toward competition. That’s hard to do in the city or even in the suburbs. It’s a real hike to where he shoots.

So I left work, met the family, and while my son was blowing away doubles with his 20 gauge, I was using the pen and the Q1 to beat that stubborn Fixed Asset schedule into submission.

The gun range isn’t quite in the middle of nowhere but you can see the middle of nowhere from the benches. The Q1 is so light, I worked in the car to keep it from being carried off by mosquitos. But it’s small enough that the steering wheel didn’t get in the way. Because the Q1 is primary machine, I had everything I needed with me. Mission accomplished.

Instead of going in to the office today, I got to relax and mow my lawn. No wait…that’s not right.