Big PC Geek Tech Blog

Just wanted to take some time to say the HP CM1017 Multifunction Color Laser printer is a really great choice for small businesses and homes. This printer is not for someone who needs amazing photo prints and is not for someone who needs microscopic scanning but it is a really affordable workhorse for any small office. I’m not going to go into the details like print speed but rather point out a few facts that is essential for my office:

• Built in ethernet port, this machine is network ready so all computers in the office can print to it.
• Color Printing.
• Built in scanner and copier.
• Memory card reader.
• 250 sheet paper tray

One thing that is missing is a fax machine but in my case, I would rather not receive spam faxes all day. You should also know the scanning bed is only for 8.5 x 11″ scanning.

I purchased my printer on March 14, 2008 and the toner cartridges are about 75% full after going through a ream of paper. This printer is made for a small business or home, not for a big business, and not where you will be printing over 100 pages a day.

I hate messy cables everywhere when it comes to electronics or anything else that required cables to be strung about everywhere. There seems to be no solution because you take so much time and effort to put your cables in order only to have to do it over when adding more gadgets and devices.

One solution is the Signum cable management system from Ikea. The idea is to screw a shelf like device underneath your desk where you can weave your cables through. Considdering the price, this is the best cable management system I have used. I bought two because I have a large desk but all is holding up fine and my cables are out of the way.

If you are looking at a quick, easy, and cheap solution to managing your cables, Check out Ikea’s Signum cable management system. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50035115

I decided to over-clock my new Q9450 Core 2 Quad processor from its native 2.6 GHZ to 3.0 GHZ and the result of running prime95 to check my temperature scared the pants off me. With the stock cooler my CPU went up to an average of 74 degrees Celsius using Speedfan, CoreTemp, and RealTemp. I understand that no program I use will cause my CPU to get to that temperature but I would rather keep it cooler so I purchased a Zalman UltraQuite CNPS9700 LED CPU cooler. The immediate result after running prime95 for 2 minutes  was around 65 degrees Celsius. Currently at idle speeds I am around 51 degrees Celsius. Although I would like to be much cooler, this is below the threshold of 70 degrees so I am happy.

Assuming I applied the thermal compound correctly, I guess this is as low as I am going to get without going to water cooling. I would love to do water cooling but out of the two systems I have owned, the both sprung a leak and one resulted in the total destruction of a motherboard.

A couple of cool things about this CPU cooler is it comes with a variable speed control switch and a blue led in the fan. Also included is thermal compound which comes with a "nail polish like" bottle with a brush applicator making it pretty hard to screw up applying the compound.

The temperatures I gave were an average of all 4 cores and for some reason, the first core was hotter by roughly 10 degrees than the rest always. I do have a case airflow issue and am upgrading the case to something with better circulation. If anyone has any ideas as to cooling my computer down more, please let have your suggestions. Also note, Zalman says it may take about 200 operating hours before best cooling is achieved.

When I first saw Macally’s G-S350SU, I had to have one! I am certainly not a Mac lover but I will admit, Apple is amazing when it comes to hardware design, it looks and feels like an Apple product. This little enclosure is the perfect addition for anyone’s computer but especially if you have a Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. The brushed aluminum case matches a Mac Pro perfectly and even has a cool blue led power button.

With that said, I still have good and bad to point out about the features of this drive enclosure! Not only does this drive plug in to your computer via USB, it also has an eSATA plug which will give you speeds as fast as having an internal hard drive. Seriously, if you have a computer with eSATA and transfer a lot of files, use it because the data transfer is much faster than USB. Ok now the bad… I would like a little internal fan. This drive enclosure gets a "+" because there are air holes for air flow, but a "-" because there is no fan to cool down the drive. Given the fact that most external hard drive enclosures are sealed with no air holes and no fan, this drive enclosure is still better than most. Heat is the number one reason for hard drive failure. By the way, if the eSATA part did not give it away, this drive enclosure is for SATA drives only. Overall, I feel this external hard drive enclosure is superior to most, in fact, I liked it so much I bought two. The base price for this guy is $50 but amazon.com lists it here under 3.5" Sata Case for $35 with free shipping.

If you need at a minimum, weekly dose of tech news and commentary, please tune in to KFI am 640 talk radio on the weekends from 11 am to 2 pm for Leo Laporte The Tech Guy. If you cant tune in your radio, you get the stream from KFI at KFI640.com, or twit.tv/live which will soon be twitlive.tv.

Leo is amazing at helping people learn and solve everyday technical problems an average user might have. The show may sometimes get geeky, but is made for an audience that may or may not know anything about tech. Leo has been a source of inspiration for me and I hope for you too.

Leo also creates too many to count, podcasts that release just about every day. Check out twit.tv for getting any of his shows delivered to you via RSS or iTunes.

I recently purchased the Lite-On Blu-Ray player/ DVD burner, model number DH-4OIS for $150 and have been very happy with it. I purchased this drive to watch Blu-Ray movies in my computer. Having a Netflix account, I am able to watch as many Blu-Ray movies as I want and have had a few that caused a slight inconvenience.

I have a super Rig, Core 2 Duo 7750, Vista x64 Ultimate, 6 GB of Ram etc and was surprised to hear what might be the drive buffering on some Blu-Ray discs. Blu-Ray discs have super encrypted copy protection that does require a lot of horse power in a computer but I am just not sure what the issue is. I doubt it is my computer but it may be… But it also may be the drive itself. Possibly the buffer in the Blu-Ray drive is not big enough!

Rest assured, this only happened in 2 of 10 Blu-Ray discs and I was able to hit pause, then wait, and then press play to resume my movies but I don’t want to have to do this when I am watching a movie. If anyone has had similar issues, please let everyone know your experience. If you are thinking of buying this drive, do some research before you buy.

If you have been waiting to buy a wireless Internet card from Sprint, wait no more. I just purchased the Sprint Novatel Wireless Ovation U727 for use with many of my computers and my new Personal Hotspot Router from Cradlepoint.

This card uses your USB connection of any computer you have, a USB card reader for mini SD up to 4 GB, and has a mini version of the connection software.

Configuring of the card is relatively easy for people who buy the card brand new. I however, purchased the card used at a discount price which makes setup a little harder. For some reason, I could not install the light software on a Vista Ultimate 32 bit machine but was able to install the full version.  Previously owning a Sprint card, I am familiar with their connection software and how to re-program an Internet card. For some reason nothing worked and I had to manually re-program the card with the help of Sprint Customer care. Sadly, it took me about an hour with typical reps who know nothing while reading a script till I got someone who transferred me to their tier 3 tech support. Tier 3 took 5 minutes with a rep who actually knew what she was doing. Once I finished, the card worked perfect and worked like a dream with my Cradlepoint Personal Hotspot Router.

In conclusion, buying a Novatel U727 brand new should be easy enough for anyone to setup and it works like a dream. If you buy a used card, prepare to do a little work to get it working. This card works with Windows and Mac operating systems.

I just picked up my CradlePoint PHS300 (Personal Hotspot 300) which is a very small battery operated router that works with my Sprint EVDO Novatel Wireless Ovation U727 USB Mobile Broadband card. The USB card allows me to get wireless Internet to my computer via Sprint’s cell network. Traditionally, you could only use a wireless card with one computer until mobile routers started appearing. A router’s basic function allows you to share your Internet connection with other devices. There are many other uses for routers including big security protection but most people use them to share their Internet connection with other computers.

I have had different connection cards and wireless routers before but I have to admit, this is the best I have come across. In the past, I have spent days trying to get things that don’t work with each other to work with each other but today that did not happen. Programming the Cradlepoint with my Internet card was as simple as plugging it in and creating a password. Yes of coarse I did a little more things for security of the network but someone could literally plug in their Internet card, create a password, and surf the net. The Cradlepoint PHS300 allows a wireless connection for up to 16 devices but that is not the amazing part. The router works plugged in or via a battery that boasts around 2 hours of operation. This now means I can tuck this wallet sized router with absolutely no wires in my truck and everyone with WiFi enabled phones or computers can surf the net while we a driving down the road.  This means that when I go over to friends or customers houses, we can use the net if needed very easily.

I am so happy with this practically zero config device and I urge anyone with a USB compatible Internet card to look into getting this device. Be sure to make sure you have a compatible connection card!

If anyone wants to see pics of my finished moded KPC with a DVD burner… Here you go. Oops! Guess I got a little carried away when I created that huge crack.