When people think of sexy, good-looking all-in-one computers, they first think of Apple’s iMac. And why wouldn’t they? Apple’s wonder computer looks sleek and sexy, with that very thin monitor having all of the computer’s components inside it. It really is a wonder of design and engineering. With all of that though comes one trade-off, and that is the price. The iMac is expensive, with the top models going for about $1,700.

Don’t fret though as Dell is here to save the day. Say hello to Dell’s new Studio One 19. The top of the line model packs a 2.93 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor, 4 GB of memory, a 750 GB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, and multi-touch capability, and a sleek and sexy design all for a relatively low price of only $1,200.

That’s a full 500 bucks cheaper than a similarly specced iMac, and that’s the great thing about it. The base model starts at $700, and that loses the Blu-ray drive, the Nvidia graphics, and other optional items, but it’s still a pretty good deal. It’s an especially good deal for people who are averse to white as the Studio One 19 comes in a variety of colors. The Dell Studio One 19 is a great deal for people looking at alternatives to Apple’s iMac.

When getting a new computer, some people neglect the amount of RAM and simply focus on the clock speed of the processor thinking that that will give them the best performance. What they don’t understand is that the amount and type of RAM in a computer greatly affects its speed and performance.

This is because RAM is where the computer stores information that will be accessed by the CPU. More RAM means that the CPU does not need to access the hard drive as much, resulting to faster speeds and better performance.

Different computers need different amounts of RAM, and it largely depends on what the computer will be used for. For most computers running Windows Vista or Mac OS X Leopard, 2 GB should be the minimum. For those used in video-editing or hardcore gaming, 3 or 4 GB should be the norm as those tasks are very taxing. For netbooks that run Windows XP or Linux, 1 GB should suffice.

The bottom line is that almost everytime, the more RAM a computer has, the better. RAM sticks are very cheap now anyway so getting more RAM for an old or even for a new computer shouldn’t be a big problem.

Over the years, computer components have become faster and faster. Processors are now about 175 times faster than 13 years ago, and other components have seen almost the same exponential jump in performance. With all that performance gain, you’d think we can all go by with our computing tasks at lightning-fast. There is however one thing that’s holding everything back, and that is the hard drive.

The hard drive uses a spindle that reads data off of a magnetic platter. This is the process that keeps hard drive read speeds significantly slower. Because of this limitation, some people now prefer to use SSDs, or solid state drives. SSDs use NAND flash chips to store data, so there are no moving parts unlike in a hard drive. The problem with them is that they still cost too much and their sizes are still limited compared to hard drives.

So, what really is better? Well, it all depends on computing needs and budget. If a computer is going to be used extensively for tasks such as media editing, or for serious multi-tasking, the additional cost of SSDs is probably worth it. However, for if a computer is only going to be used for web surfing, word processing, or a little multimedia playback, then hard drives are still the better option. They’re more cost effective and light users wouldn’t really notice the difference between the performance of HDDs and SSDs.

Almost all cellphones these days come standard with Bluetooth. Well, what exactly is Bluetooth? Bluetooth is a wireless protocol maintained by a group of companies known as the Bluetooth Special Interest Group. It was designed to bring together various devices using radio waves on the 2.4 to 2.4585GHz bands. Not all Bluetooth devices are created equal so some support more features like file sharing and wireless stereo audio.

However, most devices these days do support almost all profiles so they almost all have all of the capabilities of the technology. What’s exciting for Bluetooth is the increase in data transfer speeds and decrease in power consumption that will come in the future.

The upcoming Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed (+ HS) standard is capable of delivering speeds of up to 24 Mbps which is lightning fast for Bluetooth connections. There is also the upcoming Bluetooth low energy technology that uses very little power that it can allow some devices to last for more than a year on a single battery. Expect to see Bluetooth 3.0 + HS in phones and computers in the next 9 to 12 months, and Bluetooth low energy in monitors and sensors sometime in the near future.

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