SSDs - Solid State Drives

Hello again! You may have heard of things called solid state drives or SSDs for short. Well basically these are drives that contain no moving parts in them, unlike a conventional hard drive. They are used in, primarily, USB flash drives because of their high read/write speed and their durability. SSDs are also starting to be used in netbooks where power and weight are at a premium. So what are the main advantages of SSDs?
Firstly Solid State Drives consume a lot less power than hard drives. Whereas a hard disk drive would require it's own power supply, a SDD can run off the computers internal supply. That is why they can be used in USB drives, because they need a minimal power supply.  This reduced power usage also lessens the heat output.
The greatest benefit of SSD Drives is what is provided as a result of how they work, because they contain no actual moving parts unlike an HDD. This means an SSD is perfect for any notebook or portable computer because they are robust enough to easily absorb several knocks and falls without suffering any serious damage or failure. Hard drives contain moving parts (the write head and the disks themselves) meaning that they are not so durable.
Furthermore solid state drives can read information faster as well as write faster. SSDs can do this because a hard disk drive uses a needle to locate the data and this takes time. The solid state drive doesn't need to this. This will mean that PCs utilising an SSD will start up much faster and the transfer of data will be significantly quicker.

But there are disadvantages to SSDs.
They are much more expensive than hard disk drives meaning that any device using them will have its price jacked up by this. But, like all technologies, this price will slowly come down, making the solid state drive more accessible to everyone.
Secondly, SSDs have a limited number of read/write processes. This means they have a finite number of times that they can be used. Everytime you access the drive, more read/write processes will take place, thus shaving a small amount of their remaining life.
Finally, SSD capacities are much lower than that of hard disk drives, thus limiting their application. Although this capacity is expected to increase rapidly, with drives of 1TB (1 terabyte=1000 gigabytes) already available for industrial applications.

Overall, it depends on what the SSD will be used for, whether it will be better suited to the job than an HDD or not. But the price is expected to go down and capacity and performance to go up meaning they could be a serious rival to the hard disk drives long standing reign. Watch out!

HP 2133 netbook review

In my last post I wrote about the new phenomenon of netbooks. The tiny, little dinky laptops. Well here I'm going to review my HP 2133 netbook. It's a great little piece of kit! In my opinion, it's the best 'sub-notebook' in its price bracket. Anyway, on with the review.
First we'll start with the booorrrriiiinnnnggg part - specifications. The range goes from 512MB of RAM up to 2GB of RAM. I know this sounds small compared to modern computers, but really for reasons I have explained in my last post and others that I will explain, 1GB is actually easily enough. The processor speed ranges from (I think) 1GHz to 1.6GHz, using a Via C-7 processor. You can buy it with 4GB of flash memory - not really enough except for work - or a 160GB hard drive which is more than enough. Supplied operating systems are Windows Vista - for the higher end ones and SUSE Linux for the cheaper ones (although SUSE 10 is now so out of date you need to upgrade to a different operating system. Anyway enough of sounding like an HP advert, here's the proper review.
The look of this thing is amazing. It's is completely aluminium finished, giving it a classy, futuristic look - no tacky plastic to be found here like so many other netbooks. When closed it closes right up like an oyster, almost seamlessly, meaning it looks great open or closed.
Next we'll talk about the actual stuff you use. The keyboard is great - it's '92% full size' and it shows. Many netbooks fall into the pitfall of having a keyboard. that feels squashed in, or having keys that feel to clicky or tacky. HP does none of this. Although this thing is tiny they still manage to fit in a big enough keyboard. It's perfect for tapping out essays and what-not. The touchpad on this thing is good as well. True, many might say that the keys are weird being on either side of the track pad rather than below it. But seriously I prefer them this way, maybe because this is the only touchpad I use - I don't own another laptop so don't have much experience with traditional trackpads. It may be weird at first but actually feels much more comfortable than others. It is also helped by the addition of a side oriented scroll bar, allowing you to scroll down just by dragging your finger down the side of the pad. Finally included in this package is a 0.3 megapixel webcam, which is to be honest crap, 2 USB ports, an ethernet port, memory card slots and a monitor output.
The 8.9 inch screen at 1280x768 pixels is another great piece of work. It's just right for viewing internet pages and other stuff. Other netbooks, because of the small size of these machines have terrible resolutions which stretch the picture weirdly but the 2133 has it just right. As mentioned before there is a VGA monitor output port but I have not used this at all so cannot comment on it.
The battery on here though is pretty terrible - it's the only thing I don't like about it. It lasts roughly one and a half hours before needing a recharge. Many netbooks can go past two hours so this is a bit of a let down. Although you can buy a six-cell battery for about £45 which gives you much better battery life, but this is only needed if you require long battery life obviously.
Finally this thing comes with with wireless Broadcom 802.11a/b/g connectivity, something which is pretty standard now in netbooks but works fine.
Overall the HP is a great machine that I would recommend to anyone. With prices starting at around £180 for the basic model it's extremely affordable as well. So you don't need to save up that much. You may have noticed I haven't commented on the software on here - that's because you will change it because the OS that came with mine - SUSE Linux was terrible and out of date. I suggest you put on Ubuntu or another Linux distro (free by the way) to get it up to date. But yes, if you're looking for a new addition to you're computing family give the HP a look.
HP.com
Another review (if you need a second opinion).

Netbooks

You may or may not have heard of netbooks. Well, compared to proper laptops, they're basically what Lego is to proper bricks. They're smaller, lighter and much better looking. A netbooks main job is to surf the Internet, hence the name netbook.
Although they usually come with a tiny set of specs, ie - less than 1GB of RAM, a slower processor, they will do all the everyday jobs you need. You can write your next essay, surf the net to check up on the news and listen to music. The only point where they fall down is that, since they have such a small memory, you can't do these all at once. Netbooks are like men - they can't multi-task. Unless it's a few easy tasks. Also they don't come with a disk drive meaning you can't use disks in them - so if you want any programs, you'll have to download them.
But these sacrifices are not worthless. Oh no. The point for them all, is that:

1. They're unbelievably small and light - I'm talking just over a kilo, compared to some laptops that can weigh up to 3 times as much as this. A netbook's screen is around 9 inches compared to the 15 inches of a laptop - no innuendos please.
   
2. Netbooks are dirt cheap (in electronics terms). I picked one up roughly six months ago for £219. You could buy two for the price of a laptop.
3. Many get supplied with a version of Linux - a free alternative to Microsoft Windows. This means that, if you're willing to learn a new operating system, which really, is not hard at all, you can shave up to £70 of the price. And you have the option of putting on Windows if you want.

Of course as mentioned before, you can't do memory intensive tasks on them. So if you want to listen to music while writing that essay, you can either chug along slowly using the computer for both, or turn on your CD player. You can't play games on them of course, except small, lightweight games.
I will do write a review of my netbook - a HP 2133 - in a couple of days and will mention a bit more about Linux. Until then have have fun and keep blogging!