Computer Review: HP Pavilion p6720f

The HP Pavilion p6720f offers a neat design, speed, space, and room to upgrade. It can serve as a great game computer, work computer, or even a home-family computer.

The processor is a speedy 2.9GHz AMD Phenom II X4 840T, with a tremendous 6GB of memory. It also contains a 256 MB ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics chip, a 1TB hard drive, a 10/100 Network card, and a Wireless-n network adapter. To top it all off, it comes preloaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit!

This computer offers lots of room for future upgrades, with a PCI Express graphics card slot, and even three 1x PCIe slots, for a sound card, for example. With a quad-core AMD processor, multitasking with this computer is a breeze.

The only downside of this computer is the power supply. It is only a 250-watt. For a high-fly graphics card or multiple hard drives, I would recommend at least a 350- or 400-watt power supply.

My rating of this computer: 8 out of 10.

The iPhone will be available with Verizon Wireless

Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless announced that it will be adding the iPhone to its roster. What does this mean? It means that after February 10, 2011, the iPhone 4 will be available to all Verizon Wireless customers starting at $199. Pre-ordering online will start February 3. A data package will need to be purchased also, but the price was not available yet.

Here's a few FAQ's.

1. Will it be be CDMA or LTE? CDMA is the 3G network, and LTE is the 4G network. Unfortunately, the iPhone 4 will run on the CDMA interface, only providing slower 3G speeds.

2. Will it have a mobile hotspot capability? Yes! It can share its 3G speed with up to 5 wireless devices.

3. Can you transfer an existing iPhone to Verizon? No. AT&T uses a different interface than that of Verizon, therefore the transfer is impossible.

4. Does the new Verizon model fix the iPhone's antenna problem? Yes and no. Apple has already fixed the antenna problems in the later editions of the iPhone 4, and this change will carry over to Verizon's model. So as far as I'm concerned, the antenna problem is fixed.

For more information on the iPhone, click here.

A look at Windows 7's calculator

Did you know that Windows 7's calculator has been updated, and made more advanced? I sure didn't! Windows 7's calculator can now calculate mortgages, convert units, calculate fuel mileage, be a scientific calculator and statistics calculator with just 2 clicks.

To do this, open up the calculator. First click "View," then click one of the options. I'm going to show the "Mortgage" calculator located under the "Worksheets" tab. Let's say I purchased a house for $68,000, made a down payment of $3,000, and could pay it off over 15 years at an interest rate of 13%. I entered it in the appropriate boxes and hit calculate. I would pay $822.41 per month.

This calculator is much nicer than the ones used in earlier versions of Windows, and I hope you think so too.

Technical Terms of the Week

November 29 - December 3's terms are:

1. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - FAQ can be pronounced as "fak" or spelled out as F-A-Q. It is a page of a website that asks and answers common questions asked over time. FAQ's can be written on just about any topic on a website.

2. Domain - A domain contains a group of computers that can be accessed and administered with a common set of rules. It is also the web address of a website. For example: Hoogland's Computer Service's domain would be hooglandscomputer.com. It does not contain "http://" or "www."

3. End User - A person who uses software or hardware after it is fully developed. In other words, You! You are the end user of the computer you are currently using.

How to use two computers at once

Consider this: You just bought a new computer running Windows 7. Your old computer has all of your information and programs from the day you started using a computer. You don't know where the discs of all your programs are, and you have no idea how to transfer your information from computer to computer. Well, here's the solution. A virtual machine.

You're probably thinking, "What the heck is a virtual machine?" A virtual machine is a computer (operating system, like Windows XP) running within a computer (operating system, like Windows 7). How this works is your old computer makes a virtual image of itself (like a hard drive copying itself to your computer as a huge file of all your information). The virtual image will then run in a program called VMware, and it will allow you to use your old computer like you were sitting at it (but your on your new one). You can easily switch between computers, by minimizing the Virtual Machine, and then you can use the actual computer you are sitting at.

The setup process is fairly easy, and it's free for home users; businesses will have to pay a few bucks for it.

For more information on VMware, visit http://www.vmware.com/.

Technical Terms of the Week

November 1-5's Technical Terms are:

1. Defragment - This process helps your computer run smoother, and it clears up more space on your hard drive, so you can have more documents, pictures, e-mails, etc. on it. Defragmenting actually helps your hard drive. After the process is complete, your hard drive may sound quieter than it has been.

2. Ad-Hoc Network - An Ad-Hoc Network, in translation, means "for this purpose." It uses a computer's wireless card to allow other computers to connect to the computer supplying the connection, making it able to share files with the computers connected to it.

3. Remote Access - The ability to access your computer from a remote location (e.g. - work computer at home). Programs like PC Anywhere, TeamViewer, LogMeIn, and Timbuktu allow you to control your remote computer from the computer you are sitting at.

Windows 7 tip: Shake your desktop free of clutter

Have you ever had your desktop full of open programs? Well, this simple tip will help you get rid of that clutter. In Windows 7, there is a feature, called "Aero Shake," that allows you to close all programs, and then reopen them when you need them again.

To do this, simply click on the title bar of the program you are using (located next to the minimize, maximize, and exit buttons), and shake it quickly back and forth until the other programs minimize. To reverse this process, simply shake the title bar again until the programs reappear.

There is also a boring way of doing this: Hold the Windows key + Home key. But, that is not as fun!