General Gaming Article |
- SanDisk Offers to Soothe Your SSD Upgrade Fears for $40
- Newegg Daily Deals: HP 128GB USB 3.0 Drive, Asus 23-Inch Monitor, and More!
- Microsoft Keeps the Windows 10 Preview Builds Comings
- Vaio Brand Books Return Trip to U.S. as 12.2-Inch Laptop
- Lian Li and Asus ROG Tag Team PC-Q17 Mini ITX Case
- How To Make Windows 10 Faster
| SanDisk Offers to Soothe Your SSD Upgrade Fears for $40 Posted: 19 Aug 2015 02:57 PM PDT A helping hand Most of you reading this would have no trouble swapping out a pokey 5400 RPM mechanical hard drive for a blazing fast solid state drive, and doing so could reinvigorate an aging laptop. But for those who are inexperienced at such things, SanDisk is offering a $40 SSD "Concierge Service" that aims to give users the support and tools they need to complete the task from from start to finish. The $40 support kit comes with a quick start guide, magnetic screwdriver, a USB-to-SATA cable to clone your hard drive, and contact information to get live help. What the user needs to bring to the table is a laptop in need of an upgrade, a smartphone (for video chat), and a SanDisk SSD. Once a user has copied over the data from the drive being replaced to the SanDisk SSD, he or she can schedule a live video chat with SanDisk (SanDisk's support team is available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 7 PM Pacific). This is where a smartphone comes into play. SanDisk says it uses Cisco's WebEx Meeting Center and that process should take no more than 15 to 20 minutes. "Many customers understand the benefits an SSD can bring to an aging laptop but they also feel anxious about performing an upgrade by themselves," said Philippe Willams, director of product marketing, SanDisk. "The SanDisk SSD Concierge Service's step-by-step live support will give consumers the confidence to install an SSD and enjoy the benefits of speed, performance and reliability." SanDisk is offering its $40 service for SanDisk SSD Plus drives (120GB to 240GB), SanDisk Ultra II SSDs (120GB to 960GB), and SanDisk Extreme Pro SSDs (240GB to 960GB). The concierge service is available from Amazon and TigerDirect. |
| Newegg Daily Deals: HP 128GB USB 3.0 Drive, Asus 23-Inch Monitor, and More! Posted: 19 Aug 2015 12:54 PM PDT Top Deal: It never hurts to have a bit of storage in your pocket, but if you're still carrying around a paltry 8GB or 16GB flash drive, it's high time you upgraded, don't you think? Don't worry, big size flash drives don't cost and arm and a leg like they used to -- just check out today's top deal for an HP x755w 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $27 with $1 shipping (use coupon code: [EMCAWKW57]). This drive has an integrated slider (no more lost caps!) and lots of storage space. Other Deals: MSI Z97A Gaming 7 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard for $150 with $3 shipping (normally $180 - use coupon code: [EMCAWKW35]) Asus VX238H-W White 23-inch 1ms LCD Monitor w/ Built-in Speakers for $140 with free shipping (normally $160 - use coupon code: [EMCAWKW47]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate) AMD A10-5800K Trinity Quad-Core 3.8GHz FM2 100W Desktop APU/CPU for $80 with free shipping (normally $90 - use coupon code: [EMCAWKW32]) Acer S241HLbmid Black 24-inch 5ms Monitor w/ Built-in Speakers for $120 with free shipping (normally $130 - use coupon code: [EMCAWKW39]) |
| Microsoft Keeps the Windows 10 Preview Builds Comings Posted: 19 Aug 2015 10:26 AM PDT Colorful update Even though Microsoft released Windows 10 to the public on July 29, more features and changes are expected. That's how it goes with the new Windows-as-a-Service (Waas) model, and to ensure that Windows 10 remains an experience that people will enjoy, Microsoft is continuing to dole out preview builds to Windows Insiders. "Feedback from Windows Insiders not only helps us build Windows 10 – it also helps us shape how we run the program. For example, Windows Insiders have asked us to improve the flighting cadence and to keep the Windows Feedback app in the product – which we have done. We're also evaluating the Windows Insider rings, and considering whether we should make changes there," Microsoft stated in a blog post. Microsoft said it received a lot of feedback on the default color for Start, Action Center, Taskbar, and Title bars, so that's something it addressed in the first new preview build (10525) since Windows 10 launched. To play with the new color options, you need to go to Settings > Personalization > Colors. Build 10525 also includes Memory Manager improvements. One of those improvements is a new concept called a compression store, which is an in-memory collection of compressed pages. This allows the Memory Manager to compress unused pages instead of writing them to disk when the need arises. According to Microsoft, this will result in better responsiveness across all of Windows 10. Being a preview build, there are some known issues. Mobile hotspot doesn't work, and an update to the Movies & TV app from the Windows Store will need to be applied to fix an issue with video playback. Microsoft also said that optional language packs won't be available until later this week. Windows Insiders who have been running preview builds will receive the update automatically. If you want to join the fray, you can opt into the program by going to the Settings app > Update & Security > Advanced options under "Get Insider Builds." |
| Vaio Brand Books Return Trip to U.S. as 12.2-Inch Laptop Posted: 19 Aug 2015 09:36 AM PDT Vaio makes a comeback We thought the Vaio brand would disappear forever from the U.S. market when Sony sold off its PC business to a Japanese investment firm last year so that it could focus on mobile. Well, we were wrong. Vaio will return to the U.S. this fall as the Vaio Z Canvas, a Surface-like 12.2-inch laptop with a detachable display. A photo of the Vaio Z Canvas is posted on a teaser page in which you can enter your email address to receive future updates, otherwise there's not a lot of info being provided directly to the public. However, Vaio boss Yoshimi Ota did reveal to The Wall Street Journal that it's planning to sell laptops in Microsoft's retail stores in the U.S. He also noted that the Canvas Z will be a premium product, as his strategy is to target high-end niches rather than mainstream users like Sony did. The new Vaio is building a reputation as being pricey. Vaio machines start at about $1,600 in Japan, while the Canvas Z will debut at $2,199 in the U.S. That's gaming laptop territory and could be a tough sell for a system that resembles a Surface Pro 3. Interestingly, Vaio is going after graphic designers, photographers, and other users entrenched in Apple's camp. The way Mr. Ota sees things, there aren't any decent Windows-based alternatives to Apple's higher-end Macs. Beyond PCs, Mr. Ota also wants to get into Vaio-branded robots, which can be "humanoid or dog-shaped" or whatever, along with wearables, communication devices, and factory-automation machines with artificial intelligence. Sounds ambitious to us, and perhaps even overly ambitious. |
| Lian Li and Asus ROG Tag Team PC-Q17 Mini ITX Case Posted: 19 Aug 2015 08:53 AM PDT Wonder twin powers, activate! Lian Li and Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) have joined forces to create a small form factor (SFF) case designed for mini-ITX motherboards, the PC-Q17. Naturally, the duo are pitching the ROG Maximum Impact line of premium mini-ITX motherboards as perfect fits for the PC-Q17, though any brand mini-ITX board should work just fine. From the pictures we've seen, the PC-Q17 blends Lian Li's brushed aluminum aesthetic with Asus ROG's aggressive styling, resulting in a sloped brushed aluminum front panel and a trapezoid side profile. There's a large window on the side panel to show off your build and cable management skills, the latter of which will likely be put to the test. A glowing ROG logo on the drive/PSU cage adds a bit of extra bling. The case can fit up to three 3.5-inch and five 2.5-inch drives, plus a slim optical drive (or an additional 2.5-inch/3.5-inch drive). Cooing is handled by a 140mm fan on top. You also have the option of adding a 120mm fan up top along with two more 120mm fans in the base of the case. Alternately, you can liquid cool with support for up to a 240mm radiator. Graphic card selection is a bit limited in the PC-Q17 -- it supports graphics cards up to 27cm (the GTX 980 Strix is 28cm and the GTX 980 Ti STrix is 30.5cm long). CPU coolers can be up to 14cm in size, and PSU can be up to 15cm. Lian Li didn't say when the PC-Q17 will be available or for how much. |
| Posted: 19 Aug 2015 12:00 AM PDT Squeezing out that extra bit of performanceNow that Windows 10 has gone public and is making its way to consumers, we thought it would be a good time to provide some tips that will help speed up your Windows 10 experience. Some of these are new and some are already well known. So, whether you're new to Windows 10 or an old hat already, you can keep these tweaks (listed here with instructions on how to access them in Windows 10) handy. More tips will be added as they're discovered. Disable Transparency Effects Transparency effects can often add unnecessary effects to things just for the sake of special effects. If you want that classic solid look, turn off the transparency effects, and get a decent increase in responsiveness. 1. Right-click the desktop and choose Personalize Disable Programs at Startup Startup is a great place to poke around to see what kind of programs have wedged themselves in there, slowing boot-to-desktop times and loading up unnecessary CPU cycles. You'll often find things you don't actually want automatically turned on. Programs should launch when we ask them to, not because they think they're privileged! 1. Right-click the Start button Disable Unnecessary Services Services are very much like programs in Startup, except they can be much more crucial to the overall operation of Windows. There are lots of Microsoft-specific features that are enabled, but there are some that most people don't need. Have a look through the Services tab and read the description of each one. You can stop a service to see if it impacts anything, and reenable it if necessary. You can also permanently disable a service from starting at all. 1. Right-click the Start button Shut off Shadows, Animations Again, special effects can be largely useless. Animations can slow down your system. Shadows can be a nice touch, but all these things add up to CPU cycles, which by today's standards aren't really a big deal. But still, when you want everything to be swift, disable the fluff. 1. Right-click the Start button Enable Fast Startup Uninstall Unused Programs This one is self explanatory! Remove stuff you don't use! 1. Right-click the Start button Defragment Your C: Drive Defragmenting C: drive is more applicable if you're still booting off a spinning disk hard drive and not a SSD. SSDs don't need defragmentation, and unless you're using a more advanced file system format like EXT4, you're going to need to do some defragmentation. 1. Click the Start button, then click the File Explorer link Perform Disk Cleanup The built-in Disk Cleanup tool in Windows actually does a decent job of removing unnecessary files. If you want to go further though, like finding duplicates, you'll need a third-party tool. 1. Click the Start button, thenclick the File Explorer link |
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