Getting to know your
laptop
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What you have
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What you can add
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Serial Number
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Operating System
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| CPU |
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Memory (Ram)
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***This is the most important up
grade you can do***
Get more memory!
2-3 year old laptops 512 Megs
is okay
New laptops you need 1 gig or better
This web site tracks Ram memory prices Deal Ram
Just select your laptop... and it'll list sources...
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Harddrive
Speed and Size |
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Get a 320 gig or larger external
laptop
Hard Drives can fail
I highly reccommend an external Hard Drive drive for your
laptop There are 2 basic types for a laptop
1. Powered through the connection (uses your laptops battery) or 2.
plugs into an AC power source...
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Graphics Card
Graphics Memory (Vram)
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nVidia or ATI Graphics Card
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If you plan on doing Video or
editing large photos a 3rd party graphics card is a must with
extra V ram memory
64 Megs, 128 megs, 256 megs
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Display Ports (VGA - SVGA) (DVI)
There are three types of DVI connections: DVI-Digital,
DVI-Analog, and
DVI-Integrated (Digital & Analog) |
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Let's you connect to an external
monitor analog
DVI let's you connrct to your TV or a monitor digitally
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| Sound Card |
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| DVD/CD Player/Recorder |
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DVD +/- R double sided latest
standard
Bleeding edge ---Blu Ray Burner
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| External Ports |
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USB
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add a USB Hub to add more devices
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Firewire
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Use for connecting Hard Drives
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PCMCIA (PC Port)
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For Wi-Fi or Blue Tooth cards
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| Ethernet cat 5 |
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| Modem telephone jack RJ 11 - RJ
14 |
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Blue Tooth
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Replaces wires
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Battery
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Replace with a known
Manufacturer...
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| WiFi Card |
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Connecting to the internet
wirelessly.
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| Modem |
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| Ethernet Card |
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| Display Screen |
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Audio jacks out
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| Audio jacks in |
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ID Marker
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Mouse Port
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Some key board commands or shortcuts you need to know
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Boot into Laptop
setup
(Press (tap) these F keys when the computer is turned on)
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Windows: F2
(gives you info about your computer)
Also lets you do other things... ignore them please...
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Apple:
Applications/Utilities/System Profiler.app
Apple: Software-System Set up Applications/System
Preferences.app
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Boot into Laptop Safe mode
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Windows:
F8 |
Apple:
Shift Key
Apple: reset prom Apple + Option + p + r
Fixes some issues
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Laptop Boot Priority
(these key options may vary from laptop brand) |
Windows: F12
(Includes abilty to boot from a CD/DVD or via
ethernet/internet or to run Diagnostic software)
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Apple: Option
or Alt Key (choose boot option)
Apple: Boot from CD/DVD (hold down c Key) |
Re-start, use if computer
program or mouse control freezes
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Windows: Control + Alt + delete
Key
Should bring up Windows Task Manager
You can end a non-responsive task (Crashed program)
and re-start the computer...
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Apple: Apple (the Command key) +
Control + eject
will restart the Mac
Apple: Apple + Option(the alt key) + Escape
Force quits the crashed application
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If
you double click the picture you can see a full sized view of the
screens...
The screen will Look
different from PC manufacturer to PC manufacturer...