HACKS: HOW TO UPGRADE ION LE TO FULL ION

Several netbooks sporting NVIDIA’s ION graphics are now available. But most of them feature the Light Edition (LE) of the chip which doesn’t offer full functionality. But now there is a simple solution to the problem, or so it seems.

One member at the MyHPMini Forum has hacked the ION LE on his Mini 311 and effectively upgraded it to the full version. All that he did was to add the device ID of the ION LE into an INF file and then install it. He says that performance has improved ever since.

The only major difference between ION LE and full ION is probably the lack of support for DirectX 10 standard in LE. Windows XP doesn’t support the DirectX 10 standard, but Windows 7 does.

ASUS PUBLISHES WINDOWS 7 UPGRADE GUIDE FOR EEE PC 1000H

Asus has uploaded a Windows 7 self upgrade guide for the Eee PC 1000H on its website. The Asus Eee PC 1000H was one of the first netbooks released by Asus. The machine has a 10 inch display. It is powered by a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor with 1GB of RAM and runs Windows XP. Hard disk is available in 80GB and 160GB capacities.

Asus no longer produces this netbook, but this weekend it uploaded a guide for users who want to upgrade the netbook to Windows 7. The upgrade guide recommends having the latest BIOS version before you start installing Windows 7. Once you have installed Windows 7, you can download and install drivers and utilities from the Asus support site. The site even explains the order in which the drivers and utilities should be installed. Remember that when you upgrade your PC from Windows XP to Windows 7, your data and settings will be not imported.

IMATION UNVEILS 2.5 INCH SATA SSD UPGRADE KITS

Imation has unveiled several upgrade kits for those users who want to upgrade the SATA hard disk drives in their netbook to faster solid state drives. The new kits come with 64 or 128GB SSDs. There is also an external USB enclosure into which you can place your existing hard disk drive just in case you don’t feel like throwing it away.

The kits are, however, overpriced. The 64GB SSD now retails for $211.99 at Buy.com and the 128GB kit will make you lighter by $359.99. That means this drive costs as much as a low-cost netbook. So if you find these drives too costly for your taste, you should look elsewhere. And fortunately for you, you will not have much difficulty finding 64GB SSDs selling for $150 or less. But they won’t carry the Imation trade mark.

DELL OFFERS TO UPGRADE NOTEBOOKS TO WINDOWS 7

You don’t really have to wait until the release of Windows 7 to buy your next Dell laptop. You can order the device now itself and Dell will ship it with Windows 7 pre-installed.

If everything goes as planned, Microsoft will release its newest operating system – Windows 7 – on October 22 and PC makers are busy announcing their upgrade programs. Dell, for instance, has expanded its Free and Easy upgrade program. Users who want to have Windows 7 installed on their PCs can participate in this program free of charge. Through this program Dell will install Windows 7 Premium on all new Dell PCs before they are shipped to the customers. So buyers will get their notebooks pre-installed with Windows 7 around October 22.

PERSONALIZE YOUR DELL MINI 10 WITH BATTERY UPGRADE AND COLOR CHOICE

Inspiron Mini, the 10 inches Netbook by Dell has lately got an advanced battery. The model is definitely a good one but those who had it always wished for a more powerful battery. And now it seems that Dell has fulfilled their wish but with an additional cost. Dell is offering a 6-cell battery for the Inspiron Mini 10 for another $30.

But the good news does not stop here only for the Dell users. Because this time, you can get the same battery upgrade model along with a host of colors. For the details on that you can check out Dell’s product page. This long range of colors includes New Cherry Red, Promise Pink, Ice Blue, Jade Green, and The Muse in Purple apart from the general black and white ones. The price tags for the black and white models remain the same while you have to afford a bit more for the colored ones. Pay an extra $40 and get your favorite colored 10 inches Inspiron Mini model. But still if colors could not satisfy you then you can also have some designs on art works for another $60.

The current US market price for Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is $399. And you can get a very personalized look only by spending a few more bucks.

AMD FAMILY SPREADS - TURION ULTRA PROCESSOR A NEW GENERATION UPGRADE

The Turion Ultra is the 1st processor AMD has considered exclusively for the mobile market; former Turions were essentially Athlon 64s and Athlon 64 X2s with thermal characteristics superior enough to make it in notebooks. Yet the Turion Ultra, while its cores are essentially unaffected from desktop Athlon 64 X2s, has inherited a few architectural refinements from AMD's Phenom processors, together with Hyper Transport 3.0. Furthermore, the Turion Ultra proffers finer grained clock rate control as well as tolerating it to clock the cores separately of one another. It's also capable to animatedly scale the Hyper Transport as required, resulting in a processor that can act in response specifically as required to workloads.

More enhancements comprise an augment of processor cache from 1MB of L2 cache to 2MB (L2 cache is essentially RAM built onto a processor) and hold up for up to DDR2-800. By themselves, these may not affix up too much, but while memory velocity has historically been for the most part insignificant to Intel's Core processors, it has had an additional quantifiable collision on AMD's dual cores. Regrettably, the TDP (Thermal Design Power) hasn't distorted from presented Turions: the Turion Ultra's arrangement tops out at 35W, precisely the same wattage as its predecessors and accurately the same wattage as its Intel opposition, though it bears declaring Intel and AMD measure TDP in a different way. Given the enhanced power-saving characteristics, the Turion Ultra ought to offer at least slightly superior battery life to on hand Turion X2s, but it may not be competent to compete with Intel's Core 2 Duos in recital or battery life. Still, it's an enhancement in an era where CPU power is already at a coarse excess.

TOSHIBA SATELLITE A305 REVIEW – A CLASSIC UPGRADE FOR A205

The Toshiba Satellite A305 is a revamp of the elder A205, immensely civilizing the look and feel of the laptop, as well as adding the extremely durable Fusion finish. Read on to witness how well this laptop stacks up against its elder brother, and find out if this laptop is laudable of a precious spot on your lap.

Design
The 1st thing you will observe is every part of this laptop is lustrous, starting from the screen cover to the palm rest and even prolong to the keyboard keys. Toshiba is actually screening off their new-fangled durable blending finish on every part of the laptop that they can, and in one way or another it is a very superior thing. Sturdiness is a big thing with laptop finishes, as many lustrous finishes with dull and scrape over prolonged usage.

Performance
For a laptop that is priced at $1,250 retail, you acquire a satisfactorily equipped gaming assemble that is hard to hammer in performance or fabricate quality. Put together with the Penryn based Intel T8100 with the ATI Radeon 3650 gives exceptional on the whole performance, and easily adjusts with most modern games. The twofold hard drive association lets users achieve additional space.

The screen excellence is above average for lustrous screens, with a consistently bright backlight and vivacious colors. Hind light bleed is negligible. The keyboard on the A305 is completed up of high gloss painted keys, which is reasonably inimitable as far as conventional laptops go. The look is brilliant, and gels very well with the silver striped lustrous laptop. Thermal presentation of the Toshiba A305 was more than average, with gentle fan noise at low and elevated speeds, and the laptop staying relatively fresh for the duration of game play.

Overall
The Toshiba Satellite A305 is a brilliant improvement and refurbish compared to the older uninspiring A205 laptop. The design appears enormous, the finish is awesome, the presentation is stupendous, and the price is much lesser than projected. I would have no quandary in recommending this laptop to friends and family, and right away it is just about too tempting to go out and procure one for myself.

Pros
+ Above standard LCD
+ Efficient keyboard (literally)
+ Touch responsive media keys
+ Flush mount touchpad with enormous surface quality
+ Exceptional presentation
+ Stupendous price
+ Grand Speakers

Cons
- Balmy touchpad
- Insightful surface can blind others
- Shaky 9-cell battery back.

Value For Money

Our Rating