Check out some of our specials on Laptops and Desktops for the month of February 2013
All of our new and refurbished units come with our 1 Year MDC Warranty which includes any hardware problems or virus infections.
We make sure all Computers are up to date, as well as include a full range of free programs including Antivirus, Media and Productivity Software. This includes all the software we talked about in our previous blogs.
Laptops
Desktops
Okay….It’s that time again. It’s time to bite the bullet and buy a new computer. And no…I am not trying to make a sale, I am trying to let people know that their 7 year old computer just doesn’t make the cut. Heck, a 3 year old computer almost doesn’t either. Time and time again we get customers in here that keep on investing and investing money into older computers that some people would simply throw away. And as we always recommend them not to, however some people believe that the $100 fix is a lot more affordable than the $450 new computer option. For some people (me included) $100 is easier to spend $450, but sometimes it is just not the BEST option. We rely on computers for pretty much everything. When a computer has lasted almost a decade, it’s time to give it a break, let it go to computer heaven, or maybe, computer hell 
The longer users take to make a change to a new computer, newer software, OS, and new terminology the harder the transition really is. Unfortunately the computer industry is constantly revolving to meet our ever demanding needs and older computers seem to fall behind quite fast. You can end up putting yourself in a real bind if you do not keep up with programs and alternatives to access your data. If you’re running software that is not Windows 7 compatible, how are you going to move files over if your computer crashes? What are you going to do when you can’t work on files that you have been working on for years? These are real life scenarios that we have to deal with on a daily basis, there’s options as long as your computer is up and running, but sometimes parts can go bad literally with the flick of a switch. If you would like to know some options please let us know, there’s ways to avoid this scenario, and make your life easier and less stressful and a new computer just might be the ticket.
Around the Holidays the age old question of what to get your loved ones always comes up. This year my personal favorite hardware manufacturer, Asus has a great contender for a useful gift, the Eee Pad Transformer TF101.
At first glance the Transformer is just another iPad clone and probably doomed to failure like so many others. Even a lot of the specifications are very similar:
Asus Eee Pad Transformer:
1GHz Nvidia Tegra II Dual Core CPU
1024 MB Memory
10.1” Multitouch Screen Display:
16 or 32GB Storage
1.2 MP Front and 5 MP Rear Camera
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n Wireless receiver
G-Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, E-Compass and GPS Sensors
Up to 10 hours of Battery life as tablet, 14 with keyboardBattery:
Apple iPad:
1.0GHz Apple A5 Dual Core CPU
512 MB Memory
9.7” Multitouch Screen (1024×768) Display
16, 32 or 64GB Storage:
VGA Front and 720p Rear Camera
WLAN 802.11 b/g/n Wireless receiver
G-Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, E-Compass and GPS Sensors
up to 10hrs of Battery life
So just by looking at it, the Transformer is actually a bit more powerful than the iPad2 is, however the Apple Operating System does run a bit more stable than the current Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) OS, but Google is rumored to release Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) sometime soon and it will be available for the Transformer as well. Google might give their Operating Systems silly names but it is almost up to par with Apple in only a fraction of the time it took Apple to get their OS to work right.
I personally have owned the Transformer for about 2 months now and I am very impressed. The Honeycomb OS works very well and fluid. Having Flash support is always nice so using the build in browser it’s hard to tell that you are not using a laptop running Windows or OSX.
Thank god for Gorilla Glass
The recent generations of touchscreen devices have featured something called Gorilla Glass which apparently is this magical stuff which makes it impossible to scratch those devices (no more stupid sticky glass protector things that bubble up over your screen). The Transformer has this stuff as well which makes it really resistant to scratches which is something I personally have been worried about.
I have owned a Motorola Droid X for close to two years now and the plastic bits and pieces are really banged up from change or keys flying around in the same pocket as my phone but surprisingly the actual touchscreen is in perfect condition. Apparently the Transformer is equally tough. Here is a little demonstration on YouTube for you: Asus Transformer Scratch Test
Just to warn you, the last thing they tried might make you flinch a little.
Expandability
This is really the ultimate parting piece that sets the Transformer apart from other Android Tablets and even the iPad, the keyboard and expansion ports. The Eee Pad comes with a Micro HDMI Port so you can hook it up to your TV, a micro SD card slot, so you can expand its memory (I currently have a 32GB card in mine which is really handy for extra space for pictures and music).
They full qwerty keyboard includes a full SD card slot, two USB ports and an extra battery which extends the total battery life by about 4 hours when plugged in. The keyboard itself is probably what sold me on the Transformer over any other tablet. I personally cannot type on touch screens to safe my life, especially when you visit websites and have to type in passwords that include numbers and symbols it takes forever to switch around the keyboards. The Transformer eliminates this problem and when you don’t want to use the keyboard, one snap and it comes right off, and then it’s fantastic at doing all the things tablets do. I personally enjoy the Netflix app quite a bit and if you want to make your friends and family dizzy while using Skype by walking around, it does that very well too.
All in all I’d say the Transformer with the keyboard is the best possible balance between a full laptop and a regular tablet. It gives you the upside of the long battery live, no moving parts and quick use of a tablet and expandability and convenience of a laptop.
For questions leave us a comment or contact us. Or for the best Transformer Community on the web, please visit our friends at transformerforums.com for a great in depth look.
Alright, pretty much any techie you come across will tell you the same thing: Stay away from Internet Explorer! But on what to use as an alternative the minds are often split, the broad mass will say Firefox, some will say Opera, again others will say Google Chrome. I personally belong to the last group. I have been using Chrome for some time now and I have been very impressed. So to increase your chances of not getting virus infections, check out our article on Antivirus Software, then read on here what browser to use to help minimize open security holes. (click on the images in this article to enlarge them)
First things first, we need to download Google Chrome to replace the old Internet Explorer with. For that simply click here: Google Chrome and hit the download button on the right.
The box below will pop up asks you to set Chrome as your default web browser, I suggest leaving that check marked, the other one I would leave unchecked, its feature that sends Google information in case your browser crashes and doesn’t do much for you. Now just click Accept and Install. Now all you have to do is wait till the installation is done.
Now open Google Chrome and check it out for a little bit. For the most part it looks a lot like Internet Explorer or Firefox, so it really isn’t that hard to get used to. Next we are going to import your favorites from your previous browser, for that we are clicking on the all mighty wrench button in the top right corner and hit Options.
Now the window below should show up which lets you control all the basic options and settings of your Google Chrome. For now we are focusing on your First Page [A], the Favorites Bar and later on the Extensions and AdBlock.
The first part lets you choose what page you want to open when you first open Google Chrome, I personally selected: Open the following pages: and entered Aljazeera and Facebook. Part [B] lets us enable the favorites bar by checking the Always show the bookmarks bar box and the following bar will pop up on the top of your browser.
Click on the Import bookmarks now…and you get the options for importing the data from your previous browser. After that you’ll get something like this
The links shown directly on the top bar like in my case here Suggested Sites, Travian de2 and Web Slice Gallery are things that were in the Internet Explorer Favorites Bar. The other Favorites that you didn’t have in the bar are in the Imported From IE Folder
Now that all the personal stuff is done, go back to the Wrench -> Options and click Extensions (box [C]) on the left side.
Extensions are basically little add on programs you can download for your Google Chrome, depending on what you like. Those can be games like the popular Angry Birds or more serious stuff like the AdBlock software that we are going to look at now. For that click the Popular button on the left side.
AdBlock Plus is the program we are looking for. It’s a free user generated extension that will block advertisements from showing up on your websites. the other one is AdBlock which is sort of a spin off from AdBlock plus which does have a better user interface but does not block ads from YouTube, which is something we do want.
Why would I want to block ads?
Simple, advertisements are everywhere, they are not just annoying, they are also fairly easily hacked and redirected to virus infected websites, which is one of the most common ways we see people infect their computer. This way you can get viruses from being on legitimate websites like Facebook or CNN even. Nobody really wants ads so might as well get rid of them and AdBlock Plus does this very well. As I mentioned before it even kills those annoying video advertisements on YouTube.
Below is an example from the Android forums, on the left without AdBlock Plus and on the right with the extension installed
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I hope this will help some of you out to avoid getting some viruses. Again this is not a 100% guarantee, it’s just one more tool to increase your chances. If there are any questions, feel free to drop us a line below or contact us
I find Christmas shopping one of the more difficult things to master, and each year it seems to get tougher. We face the question “What do I get the person that has everything”? Or for this post, “What do I get the tech junkie”? We can help, and heres some great Christmas gift ideas.
For the Gamer in your family getting a great gift can be pretty easy, and in a lot of cases pretty inexpensive. The computer gamer always can use, and normally wants, a higher end Graphics Card. The Graphics Card or GPU is what renders the graphics and makes the game look more realistic or play more fluid. Generally a good GPU can cost around $150 and up. The great thing about getting a GPU upgrade for your Gamer, is it will defiantly get used. It’s the gift that will be used everyday, and every time the computer is turned on. It’s a nice satisfaction to actually buy something that gets used, imagine that
Another great gift idea for any computer user, but in this case to make games look better and play faster is RAM. The more RAM or Memory a computer has the faster it runs, the smoother it runs. RAM is equivalent to the horse power in your vehicle, the more power, the faster your car goes. Same method is applied to your computers RAM. In most cases a basic RAM upgrade is under $50 and can make a night and day difference in how well your computer runs. The RAM modules are very easy to install and if purchased from MDC Computers installation is free. Also, the physical size of the RAM makes for a great stocking stuffer!
Now we will get into the larger and more expensive Christmas gifts. Tablets are this years hottest Christmas gift. Imagine seeing the look on your loved ones face when they open up an Asus Transformer or an Apple iPad! What an awesome gift to any tech junkie! Tech Junkies love computer gadgets the Tablets are a great computer alternative for travel, play games, browse the internet, and many other Internet related activities.
There’s an unspoken computer rule. If you have a computer that still runs Windows XP….You need a new computer. Windows 7 is a great OS, why not give the best gift imaginable to your tech junkie? The best gift ever, the Holy Grail….A brand spankin’ new computer. I can hear it now. Screams and shrills of joy tearing off the wrapping paper to unveil a brand new Lenovo laptop!
Life is short! Spend money on some gifts that people will love!
Ever find yourself searching for a new Video card just to end up confused by all the model names and numbers out there? Why is an Nvidia GeForce GTX460 slower than a GTX295? Which brand should I go with? Why is there a XFX HD6970 and a Sapphire HD6970? Are they different? I will attempt giving some clarification on the giant mess that is the video card naming scheme and which card might be the best option for you? (This article is a bit difficult so if there are any questions, feel free to comment, I’ll be happy to clear up any confusions)
Now what is up with all these different manufacturers making the same card?
This can be pretty confusing. There really are only two manufactures of Video Chipsets, Nvidia and ATI (you might sometimes see AMD too since they own ATI but it’s the same thing). Those two companies are responsible for creating the actual chip on the video card, for example the ATI Radeon HD6970 chip or the Nvidia GeForce GTX580.
The question now comes up why are all these other companies like Asus, XFX, Sapphire or PNY involved and why are they priced differently too? These manufacturers buy the graphics chip from Nvidia or ATI and assemble them. They are responsible for making the cooling and decide what speed they can clock those chips at. Sometimes they even throw two of the same chip in one video card.
XFX for example sells multiple different GTX580 models. They are all the same card more or less but the Superclocked version is rated at a higher speed. Essentially they put more power through the chip than recommended by Nvidia, which isn’t a big deal if the cooling is adequate. You can actually do this at home with most video cards, however I strongly advise you not to since you can fry your card and void your warranty in the process.
Alright still confusing but the general idea is that Nvidia and ATI just make the chip and all the other parts manufacturer use their own cooling technology and programming to get the most out of those chips. Now in this jungle of available cards what is the latest technology? Here are some of the series that you might come across:
ATI’s Radeon series:
HD 4xxxx (no longer in production),
HD 5xxx (these are still in production for mid and low range cards),
HD 6xxx series (The 6000 series cards are ATIs latest ones but chances are they are in the process of releasing the next ones within 6 months or so)
Nvidia’s GeForce series:
GeForce GT 2xx (a few years old now but still in production for low end cards. they have updated them for the newer technologies),
GeForce GT/GTX 4xx (I don’t know what happened to the 300 series either, they made some laptop cards with the 300 designation but nothing really for desktops, the higher end of the 400 series had a lot of heating issues)
GeForce GTX 5xx (These are mostly a revision of the 400 series to fix the heating problems, so most of these will be mid- to high end cards)
In a nutshell the first number in the model for both Nvidia and ATI indicates the age of the series. The HD6000 series is newer than the HD5000 series and the GTX200 series is older than the GTX500 series. The later numbers somewhat indicate how high end the card is, for example an Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 is much faster than a GTX560.
Well now that we know the basic designations, what should you get?
I find the most important things to figure out is how much you want to spend and how high end do you really need to go.
Generally a good estimate is $40 – $120 for low range cards. If all you need to do is get some better than stock graphics and maybe hook a flat screen TV up to the machine with HDMI cables this would be about your range. Just remember that these cards usually won’t do anything beyond some casual gaming. The stock power supply in your machine will do fine to power these. Good examples would be an ATI Radeon HD5450 or Nvidia GeForce GT 430
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ATI Radeon HD 5450 (left) and Nvidia GeForce GT430 (right)
$120 – $250 will get you a decent mid range video card that will play most of the games currently on medium to high graphics without any issues. These are a bit more power hungry and may require a power supply as big as 550 Watt and may need a 6pin connection for extra power. Better airflow would also be recommended if you live in a warm region. Examples for this include the Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 and ATI Radeon HD6870.
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GeForce GTX 560 (left) and Radeon HD 6870 (right)
And then of course there is the high end range which can go from $250 or so to pretty much limitless. These cards will be able to handle anything you can throw at it on highest graphics and in ATI’s case even display games on 3 monitors at the same time and still get high quality resolution. These cards however will require a lot of power and a power supply that has at least 600W and either 2 six pin connections or one six and one 8 pin.
The highest end cards out there right now probably are the ATI Radeon 6990 and the Nvidia GeForce GTX590, as well as the insane Asus Mars 2, which is two GTX580s combined into one.
ATI Radeon HD6990 (left), Asus Mars2 (bottom) and Nvidia GeForce GTX590 (right)
All of this still is pretty confusing and in the end it really comes down to which brand you prefer, and how much you want to spend. Another thing to consider is what you want to do with the machine too. For example Nvidia’s cards tend do better if you are looking to do video editing or 3D rendering. ATIs cards have the advantage of using what they call Eyefinity, which is 3 (sometimes 6) monitors combined into one so you can game on all 3 monitors at once.
So which one is the best?
If you search on the internet long enough you will probably find a million different charts and recommendations on which card to buy and they probably will all differ to some degree depending on who wrote it and what benchmark tests they ran. I personally am an Nvidia fan boy and I am still running a 3 year old XFX Nvidia GeForce GTX295, so my opinion wouldn’t be fully impartial either, but if I were to choose a few cards I would probably get the ATI Radeon HD5450 for a low range model. I’ve thrown plenty of the 512MB Asus versions of these into standard HP and Dell boxes to give them a cheap and efficient boost and they always performed well.
For a mid range card I would probably go with an ATI Radeon HD 6870. This is basically a new version of the old 5770, which was one of my favorite cards out there. High Range cards are always a bit iffy, Of course the 700 Dollar Range GTX 590 or HD 6990 are going to outperform pretty much everything else but I personally don’t like to spend much over $300 -$400 and that’s already pushing it. I am a bit torn between the HD 6950 and the GTX 570. EVGA has a Superclocked version of the GeForce GTX 570 which is pretty powerful but a bit too close to the $400 price limit. The 6950 is a bit cheaper and only a bit weaker.
So there you have it, still confusing but I hope that helped a little bit. If you still have questions feel free to drop us a comment below or contact us.
Most of us in this digital age have been at this point, or probably will get to it at some time: A virus infected computer. However viruses have evolved with the computers they infect, which means they are trickier to spot and is it is harder not to fall for the scam.
One of the tricks viruses play on you nowadays is the Fake Antivirus. Basically what happens is a window pops up, runs a scan on your computer and starts to list serious infections you have. Once its done it gives you some options on what to do with these infections, which usually result in it telling you that your antivirus has expired or something like that and you need to buy the full version or extend your subscription for anything from $40 to $100 (may vary, that’s just the ones I have seen). It will also star blocking you from your web browser and other programs so you cant even use the computer anymore.
THIS IS A SCAM! The idea is to get your credit card information or at the very least scam you out of some money, the virus will not go away and your left at the exact same spot as before.
But how do I know if its real or not?
Here are some examples of what those fake Antivirus programs can look like:
Just be aware that’s by far not all of them. As you can tell most of them actually look fairly legitimate. The days of bright flashy popups with annoying messages are pretty much over. It used to be easy to spot viruses like that when they were still made by some hacker in a basement to prove he can do it. However nowadays it is a huge business to scam you out of your money or identity so they try to make these things look very real with some convincing sounding antivirus names. And since most of those virus manufactueres are sitting somewhere overseas where there really isnt any laws against this sort of thing its very hard to police as well, so if you get scammed its very unlikely anyone will get caught.
What can I do to protect myself?
First things first: Get a decent antivirus (AV) program and be familiar with it. Some of the more popular ones include Norton, Mcafee, AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials, Avira Antivir or Avast (read our article here on which one to chose). Which ever one you may have make sure you open it and make yourself familiar with it. Run some scans, browse through the settings and run updates if available. If anything scans your computer and it doesn’t look like the AV software you installed, do not enter any information and try to avoid clicking on anything.
Also make sure you know what type of antivirus program you have. AVG, Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast for example all have free subscriptions that do not charge you anything. Avast and AVG however will ask you occationally if you want to purchase their paid subscriptions so be aware of that. If you have paid programs like Norton or Kaspersky make sure you are aware of when you bought the subscription and when it runs out. Generally they are good for a year so if you bought it in November of 2010, they will bug you around now to buy their newest version, so write down somewhere when your AV software expires.
If you think you might be infected but are not sure, feel free to contact us.
But I have Antivirus programs, I should be protected from those, right?
Unfortunately no. Most AV software (free or paid versions) will only give you a better fighting chance of not getting infected. There are thousands of people out there that write viruses all over the world and only a few antivirus companies to combat them. Every day there is new viruses and better versions of old ones coming out that attack certain security holes that neither the computer manufacturer nor the software companies are aware of. So basically at any time there is viruses out there that you are not protected against until the AV software manufacturer finds a way to combat them.
Another important thing to be aware of: It is easier to trick you than your computer. What that means is that most viruses do not target your computer specifically, but you as a user. You need to be aware of what you can click on and what not. You can get viruses anywhere, not just adult websites or hacker forums.
Removing these viruses can be pretty tricky and time consuming. Most of the time the virus will disable the AV program you have installed so you can’t even run any scans. For most people at this point it is too late and you will have to bring it into a repair shop to get the virus removed which can be pretty expensive (if they charge you over $100 go somewhere else).
For questions or comments drop us a line below or contact us.
