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Why do some Laptops have Glossy Screens?
Can British DVDs be played in the USA?
Safely scrap your PC
External Hard Drives
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Why do some Laptops have Glossy Screens?
Glossy screens are supposed to improve contrast, which makes them better for viewing pictures (photos or DVDs) and playing games.
But the downside of them is that glossy screens are more reflective than matt screens (because they’re glossy) and are thus more difficult to look at under bright lights or outdoors (especially if it’s sunny).
So you pays your money and takes your choice. It depends on what you are mostly going to use your laptop for and where you are going to use it.
Some matt screen laptops even come with an anti-glare coating to make them even better under bright light conditions.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could try before you buy!
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Can British DVDs be played in the USA?
To play British DVDs in America using an American DVD player and an American TV, there are 3 criteria that need to be satisfied:
1. The American DVD player must be able to play Region 2 discs
2. The American DVD player must be able to play PAL discs
3. The American TV must be able to accept PAL signals from the DVD player
No. 1 is probably no problem, but No. 2 and No. 3 may be the stoppers. You need to check the specifications of the actual equipment.
As an alternative, it is most probable that a newish American PC (with a DVD drive) will be able to play British DVDs. That's because all the criteria above are implemented within the software. But I can't be certain of that - you would need to check the specifications of the software installed.
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Safely scrap your PC
People are very concerned that when they scrap their old PC it might be taken by criminals who could extract financial details from the hard disk.
The solution is to remove the hard disk from the old PC before you scrap it and then do one of two things with the disk:
Either; physically damage the disk to such an extent that it is obviously unusable - I hit it with the pointed side of a hammer,
or; install the disk as a slave in your new PC - see my tip: Old Hard Disks
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External Hard Drives
There are two types of external hard drive:
Portable ones, that use a laptop size drive, up to 160GB, need no external power plug because they get their power from the USB socket.
Desktop ones, use a full size drive, up to 750GB, need to be plugged into the mains, bigger, cheaper per GB.
So the first decision is which sort you want. If you don't need to put it in your pocket and use it in the middle of the park then you will probably go for a desktop one.
Unless you want to get the fastest possible transfer speeds then you probably might as well buy the cheapest you can find. Aim to pay 25p or less per Gigabyte for a desktop drive, 50p or less for a portable one.
You don't need to run any installation software - just plug it in, Windows XP or Vista will recognise it and install it as a disk, then you just copy and paste your files or folders into it.
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