Hardware Upgrade Tip of the Day #24




*1. COLOR INK JET PRINTER TIPS--PART 8 OF 8          
  
Many color ink jet printers include software packages. While this 
extra software shouldn't be your main concern in shopping for a 
quality printer, it is a nice extra that you might take into account. 
Most often, the packages help you format and print Web sites and 
digital camera images. If a printer includes any software you were 
actually planning to purchase, you can consider this savings and 
calculate that into your buying decision.


*2. SMELLING VIRTUAL REALITY          
  
One of your next computer hardware purchases just might be a device 
that utilizes your sense of smell. DigiScents, at 

http://www.digiscents.com 

hopes to bring its digital scent synthesizers to a computer near you 
so you can smell e-mail, Web sites, advertisements, DVD movies, and so 
on. You can sign up for the beta program now at its Web site.


*3. TV OR COMPUTER MONITOR?          
  
Forget those troublesome slot-hogging TV tuner cards! Samsung, at 

http://www.samsung.com 

will begin shipping its computer monitor/TV SyncMaster 150MP early 
next year. This 15-inch flat panel TFT has a TV tuner built-in and 
comes ready for standard video-gear input, picture-picture playback, 
and of course input from your video graphics board.


*4. SAFE SHOPPING ONLINE          
  
In an effort to keep e-commerce moving forward, many companies have 
spent money just getting out the word that shopping online is safe. 
Fortunately, some organizations still maintain a healthy dose of 
skepticism about the brave new world of e-tailers and click-and-mortar 
businesses. Take the Better Business Bureau, for example. Better yet, 
browse its  online hub at 

http://www.bbb.org 

where you'll find tips, warnings, and information on real scams 
currently out there on the Web. If you're planning to buy computer 
hardware online this holiday season, make the Better Business Bureau 
your first virtual stop.


*5. CD-RW AND DVD-ROM, THE LATEST COMBO DRIVE--PART 1 OF 3          
  
Expect a new type of combo drive--a CD-RW and DVD-ROM--early next year 
from Ricoh at 

http://www.ricoh.com 

as well as Toshiba at 

http://www.toshiba.com 

and possibly others. Are these products a good buy? Are there caveats 
you should be aware of? Over the next few days, I'll pass along some 
tips to keep in mind if you plan to shop for one of these drives. 

First of all, price will be a key concern, but neither Toshiba or 
Ricoh has yet announced the pricing of these combo drives--they only 
say that the combo will cost less than purchasing CD-RW and DVD-ROM 
drives separately. Make sure you test this claim yourself by pricing 
out these drives as individual purchases. Whatever you do, don't pay 
more for a combo drive than you would pay for two drives.


*6. CD-RW AND DVD-ROM, THE LATEST COMBO DRIVE--PART 2 OF 3          
  
Saving space is always a motivation for buying a combo drive. In the 
case of the new CD-RW and DVD-ROM combo drives, you can save an extra 
drive bay by buying a combo drive instead of getting two separate 
drives.  

But don't try to take this space-saving concept too far. For example, 
don't replace your current CD-ROM drive with a new combo drive unless 
the CD playback specifications (or better yet, actual side-by-side 
performance tests) indicate that the combo drive is as fast  as or 
faster than the drive you currently own. Early reports say combo 
drives will play CD-ROMs at 24X speed. So if your current CD-ROM drive 
is 24X or faster, consider just adding a combo drive to your system 
rather than replacing your installed drive.


*7. CD-RW AND DVD-ROM, THE LATEST COMBO DRIVE--PART 3 OF 3          
  
Even on the eve of the 21st  century, DVD-ROM drives still remain a 
questionable purchase. Buying a combo drive that includes a DVD-ROM 
drive is also a questionable purchase. If you're into watching movies 
through your computer, you can't go wrong with DVD. But just about 
anything else--games, education, reference titles, kid's software--is 
still more plentiful on CD than on DVD. Blame it on new technology and 
the additional cost of content and production for DVD-ROM disks. 

If you feel like gambling that the amount of non-movie DVD-ROM titles 
will increase, a combo drive is probably a reasonable purchase. If, on 
the other hand, you're into saving money, consider buying a 
single-purpose CD-R/CD-RW drive instead.


*8. UPGRADE YOUR SOFTWARE TO IMPROVE YOUR HARDWARE--PART 1 OF 2          
  
Some hardware peripherals, like scanners and CD-R drives, rely heavily 
on software. In some cases, you can improve the feature set and even 
the performance of your hardware by upgrading its driver software. 

Take, for example, a scanner you use for scanning and converting 
documents into a word processor-ready format. One easy way to get 
better OCR capability is to upgrade your OCR software. Caere Corp at 

http://www.caere.com 

now offers a new edition of its OmniPage Pro software (version 10) 
that uses a new OCR engine, making for better character recognition. 

Just make sure the software you plan to buy or download supports the 
hardware you already own.


*9. UPGRADE YOUR SOFTWARE TO IMPROVE YOUR HARDWARE--PART 2 OF 2          
  
Get busy with your CD-recording drive by upgrading to the latest and 
greatest CD-recording software packages. For example, Adaptec's Easy 
CD Creator now has a version 4, available at its Web site:  

http://www.adaptec.com 

In addition to recording your own MP3 CDs, you can also back up your 
hard drive to CD in just three steps.  

As always, just make sure the software you plan to buy supports the 
hardware you already own.


*10. SHARING INTERNET CONNECTIONS          
  
Home networking products now offer the ability to share an Internet 
connection between two (or more) computers in your home. Unfortunately 
for those on a budget, the $100 starting price tags these products 
carry may be too steep. But here's something you might try. 

StarTech at 

http://www.startech.com 

offers a package called the Internet Splitter that lets you share a 
modem and Internet connection with a second PC for only $40. The only 
downside: Unlike most current home-networking products, it requires 
that you attach both PCs to a 50-foot serial cable, provided in the 
box. Most home-networking products offer more flexibility regarding 
the distance between systems--but for $40, it's hard to beat 
StarTech's solution.
