Extending Your Notebook!
OK.. so you've made your decision.. you've decided to buy a top of the line,
high performance yet still luggable with minimal shoulder strain notebook. We've
come a long way with notebooks, a few years back no real gamer would even
*think* about buying a notebook. But now with Geforce FX's and ATI Radeon
9700 equipped notebooks, you can finally own a notebook, do your college
homework on it AND also get in a good frag or two at respectable
framerates. :) But... you'll always want more RAM, more storage space, better
sound... I decided to write this little article to show that no longer are you
at the mercy of your notebook manufacturer when you need to upgrade your
notebook as opposed to days now passed! And also how USB2.0 is definitely
YOUR FRIEND!
So first of all.. please make sure that when you choose a notebook, ALWAYS
get one with USB2.0 ports, DO NOT COMPROMISE! Cause you'll WANT that
speed!
First of all please let me introduce my Tablet PC, The Acer C110. Stock
configuration 512MB RAM, P3 900Mhz, 30GB Hard Disk.
The display chipset is an Intel Extreme based one (Definetly no gaming for
me!)
First Of All
Before you do anything else.. you might think of investing in a
USB2.0 hub cause usually notebooks only come with one or two USB ports, and you
WILL need more! I recommend buying a powered USB hub, which
basically means the Hub comes with a AC/DC adapter to supply additional power to
the hub if the devices attached to them need the power. (ie, Cameras, hard
disks, Massagers, Cup Warmers, etc. etc.)
Upgrading Memory
RAM... one of the two things you can never have too much of.
Previously SODIM prices were high, and also notebook suppliers would scare you
by saying that the RAM must be tested to be compatible with their systems or
else you'll suffer stabiltiy problems. Or worse.. void your warranty by using
imcompatible RAM. But now SODIM prices are lower and more affordable, and as for
quality issues.. would you really worry if the memory module was made by..
Cosair? Now regular readers would know that I'm not a
benchmark person but everyone is telling me this Cosair RAM is the best so I'm
gonna go with that. Of course it's gonna cost you more, RM430 for 512 Cosair
instead of RM330 for 512 Kingston. So upgrading your notebook's memory isn't too
much of a problem now... unless of course your RAM is soldered on board which
might be the case with certain ultra portables. Also some manufacturer's might
choose not to disclose all the locations of the RAM slots in your notebook's
manual, usually a search of the web will tell you where it is.Of
course... changing RAM in a location marked as NOT FOR USER ACCESS would
definetly void your warranty in most cases. =P One of my C110's RAM slot was
marked as not for user access... the other one was supposed to be user
replacable, but Acer Malaysia decided to put a warranty void if seal broken
sticker on it. (Click
here
to see how I feel about it, picture rated PG!)
More Space For Your Files
The other thing that you can never have too much of is Hard Disk space. And
now a days... who doesn't want more hard disk space? Now a days it's relatively
easy to just swap out your existing hard disk and replace it with a new, bigger
one you bought from Low Yatt (Which once again.. depending on manufacturer
such actions might void your warranty, SCREW you Acer!). But sometimes you might just want to have more
hard disk space to store your files outside of your on board hard disk, there's
where External USB Hard Disk cases come in the picture. If you haven't already
heard or seen one an External USB Hard Disk case is essentially what it's name
implies, it's just a case which you put a hard disk in and then you can plug it
into USB port and your OS will just see it as another hard disk in the PC.
But one VERY important question arises when you purchase a case.. do you want
Portability or Economic? If you want portability you'd definetly want to get the
smaller USB cases which use 2.5" Notebook Hard Disks in them like the one below.
The GREAT thing about these little cases are if your
notebook's USB port supplies enough juice, you can just plug it into your
notebook and it just works, instant 40GB at your disposal wherever you go. Even
if your USB port doesn't supply enough juice a case usually comes with a USB
power cable which allows you to use another USB port to power the case.
(If you have one that is...) The main problem is that notebook hard
disk's price per GB are VERY expensive. A mere 30GB (I'm refering 40GB as
mere. Wow...) will set you back about RM380. Which brings us to the
economical option. A USB case that takes in normal 3.5" hard disk.
Comparatively, 3.5" hard disks are cheaper, bigger and FASTER
than their 2.5" cousins. For the RM390 you'd pay for a 30GB 2.5" hard disk you
can get a 120GB, 7200RPM 3.5" hard disk. But all that space comes at a price,
you sacrifice portability. A 3.5" hard disk needs more juice than a 2.5" one..
way more than your USB port can provide, so you'll have to plug it into a wall
jack if you want to use it. Of course.. it's only juice.. enterprising minds
could wire up a portable battery solution for a case, but that's a topic for
another time. ;)
Burning CDs!
Your notebook might have came with a built in CDRW drive, or
maybe just a plain old DVD ROM drive, or maybe you'd have no built in drive at
all! (Like my Tablet!) Notebook manufacturers would probably tell you
about how you can upgrade your optical drive to something better by giving them
some more money and also warn you about being unable to boot or upgrade your
notebook if you don't buy one directly from them due to incompatibility
problems.
Well... that's a half truth, cause recent notebooks like recent
motherboards are able to boot from any USB Mass Storage Device complaint
devices. That includes any complaint optical drives, in fact some manufacturers
just give you another third party drive when you choose to buy their tailor
made external USB Combo Drive, such was the case with my cousin's Fujitsu
T3010 Tablet PC. He choose to buy their optical drive and we were just shocked
when instead of getting a Fujitsu branded drive we got a BTC branded one.
Which we could probably buy off the shelf for a much cheaper price than what
they sold him for.
Also, sometimes just because it comes with your Notebook,
doesn't automatically means it's of good quality. For instance the Combo drive
that comes with my Tablet works erratically at best. That's why I choose to use
this instead.
An external Burn Everything drive from Sony, everything
from CDRs to DVDRWs (Both flavours ;)) And of course I'm able to boot
from this drive even though it's not sold or made by Acer. So thanks to USB I'm
free from being tied to Acer (Thank goodness!)
Audio
Even though notebooks now have 3D accelerators that are nothing to laugh at,
the sound card is still... just a sound card. It plays your music, you can hear
your gun battles... but that's it.. You couldn't exactly enjoy a DVD in all it's
surround sound glory since your notebook's sound card didn't have the hardware
to process the data. Until now that is, now you are able to buy USB2.0 external
audio devices that are able to decode Dolby Digital signals and send them to
your surround speakers so that they're used properly, devices such as the
Creative Audigy
2NX shown below.
With devices like this, no longer will your DVDs be limited to
just Stereo or emulated surround. But two things to be aware of, you shouldn't
use audio devices like this while you're playing a game since you'll be putting
more load on your system channeling the audio data through USB and all. 2nd,
these things need power! that means you'll need to plug it into an AC Adapter to
use it!
Conclusion
I hope this article has shown that you no longer need to solely depend on
your notebook manufacturer to provide you with the upgrades to your system, and
that thanks to USB you can now pretty much add all the storage space, burners
and other things to your notebook, even IF that means tying down your system to
a desk when you need it. =P
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