Alternative to SSD’s – SD Cards? – Speed your computer up with a cheaper alternative!

Alternative to SSD’s – SD Cards? – Speed your computer up with a cheaper alternative!

Many of us know and are aware that Solid State Drives of SSD’s are the fastest, most efficient and reliable computer storage devices on the market. They are fast, durable but costly. It costs roughly about $500 for 128 Gb SSD and that is really costly. Although, in the future as these become the standard in computers, the price may drop but for now they are not that affordable.

Many companies like Seagate and Apple have tried to come up with a cheaper alternative which are faster and efficient, but do not carry the full power of a SSD. These alternatives usually combine hard drive and a SSD. The SSD is usually used as a drive of caching or storing mostly accessed files.

But there is a cheaper alternative that could be used. That’s right, a SD card. If your computer has a slot, you can buy a SD card and store things that needs speed, like a video game or other programs that require more computing power. These cards pretty cheap compared to a SSD and can be used to speed your computer up.

There aren’t a lot of disadvantages but there are some. One of them is that you can’t speed up your operating system with it, as you can’t install an operating system onto a SD card. It just does not work that way because the file system on the SD card is not designed to run an operating system and is mainly designed to be. That’s pretty much the only disadvantage. But you can save a lot of money just by using an SD card instead of a SSD or other alternatives to a SSD.

Intel Turbo Boost

Intel Turbo Boost

Intel Turbo boost is a feature in the more recent Intel i5 and i7 processors. This feature overclocks your processor in real time when your computer needs it. For example, when you are rendering a HD video, your Intel Turbo Boost overclocks your processor to get better performance. Once done, it returns to its base clock speed. Average non-computer geek users have mostly used this feature and most of them get benefited from this, without even knowing it. But geeks usually shoo away this feature as they would want to overclock their processor themselves and they don’t want this feature getting in their way. This new technology has been very helpful to consumers to get something more out of their computers. But this feature also has downsides to it that causes damages.

The Intel Turbo Boost feature is widely known for increasing your frame rates when playing video games and also giving you better performance when doing processor intensive work. The Intel Turbo Boost feature works like this, it has three different areas of clock speed. The first is the layer is the lowest clock speed. Intel Turbo Boost uses this clock speed when your computer is usually idle. This clock speed saves battery and also keeps the processor and the computer cooler. The second clock speed is the base clock speed. This clock speed is the actual clock speed your processor should be clocked to. This is also the clock speed your computer manufacturer should have mentioned when you bought your computer.  This clock speed is generally enabled when you are using your computer for regular tasks.  The next type of clock speed is the overclocked clock speed. This clock speed is enabled when you are running CPU intensive applications such as video rendering, and intensive gaming. This clock is speed usually stresses and heats up your processor and you will hear the fans spin up when you reach these clock speeds.

Although, this feature has been widely appreciated, this feature also has many downsides. The first is the reduction of battery life. When the processor speeds are increased, it uses more power to process more thus decreasing the battery life, this can be easily avoided by using a desktop. The second downside is overheating. Playing a video game that has a recommended system requirement that exceeds your processor speed will lead to the increasing of your clock speed by Intel Turbo Boost. If you intensively game for long hours, it could increase the processors temperature to an extent it could cause damage to itself and shutdown your computer. Although these downsides are dangerous, the Intel Turbo Boost is a very innovative feature and as new versions of this technology comes out, it gets smarter and reduces the risk of damaging your processor.

Written by: Hemanth Srinivasan

Edited by: Jason Tu

Mac Os X Lynx

What will apple say to Windows 8?

Microsoft’s new Windows 8 is out and it is doing well. The operating system’s new price strategy seems to be working for Microsoft and the press has also taken it positively. The operating system’s new Metro UI, which is different than anything we have seen in the past, seems to be working out for a lot of people.

What is apple going to give out next? Mac OS X Mountain Lion had few improvements compared to Mac OS X Lion but nothing major. The next version of apple’s new desktop operating system is supposedly going to be called Mac OS X Lynx. Cougar and Ocelot are also other possibilities. Lynx is another type of cat. Apple has been using cat names to name its operating system since the first Mac OS X.1 came out. There is not a lot exiting about the new name but the most exiting thing is the user interface and new features.

People have mocked the new user interfaces that make it look like Windows 8. The new interface is supposedly going to be like Windows 8. This is just a roomer, but I don’t think so apple would do that. I think that apple will make changes to the user interface that will attract high number of Windows 7 users who do not want to upgrade to Windows 8 like me. Their interface is probably going to have a dock that looks a lot more prettier and most probably it is going to be transparent and reflective. The menu bar on the top of the desktop is also probably going to be a bit more transparent and reflective. Apple might also animations for desktop switching and new additions to mission control such as adding more dashboards. But these user interface changes are not that exiting because user interface only makes computers look prettier but what makes computer prettier are new features and additions.

One of the biggest requests that Mac OS X users are waiting for is Siri. Siri on the IOS has now boomed and is very popular. Although competition has come up with similar programs, Mac having Siri will improve user accessibility. Siri could be pointless if it was just ported from IOS but if it were redesigned for Mac it would be a great addition to Mac OS X Lynx. There aren’t many features to talk about other than better functionality with IOS devices and new features such as a better time machine software for back up. Apple will not adding any new killer feature into Mac OS X Lynx but keep in mind that this OS version number is 10.9 and the next could be Mac OS X 11. Many major changes in features could be saved for Mac OS X 11 or XI if I got that right.

There are many possibilities of a few bad features that apple could add. Maps could be an example, which could be added. As you might know, apple maps was a fail in the IOS version. Although IOS fixed it, it is still not completely reliable.