Cheap Notebook Tweaks - Maximize Your Laptop

Uprade with care: Support techs report that the most troublesome laptop components are the hard drive, screen, and keyboard. While you probably won’t want to replace an expensive laptop screen, anyone with the right tools and even a slight mechanical inclination can replace the hard drive, keyboard, and other components, with some patient tinkering.

Opening your laptop case may void the warranty, so if your system is still under warranty, let the manufacturer deal with repairs. Notebooks are delicate, so never force anything. Vince Dougherty, who has repaired countless laptops for Wine Country Computers in Healdsburg, California, says the most common mistake is using the wrong-size screwdriver. One slip and your motherboard is ruined.

Before doing anything else, remove the notebook’s battery and disconnect its power cord. Remember to ground yourself before you open the case, either with a grounding strap (the safest way), or by touching a piece of grounded metal (a lamp or water pipe will do), while touching a metal part on the case’s exterior.

Replace your hard drive: Adding a new hard drive to a laptop is usually easier than doing the same thing on a desktop PC: You just remove a few screws from the bottom of the case, slide or lift the hard drive assembly out of the system, and swap a new drive into the assembly (always handle drives by the edges).

Most notebook PCs use a standard 2.5-inch hard drive, but ultralights and other diminutive systems may use a smaller 1.8-inch drive. Drives also come in different heights; the most common are 12.5 millimeters and 9.5 millimeters. Check your laptop’s documentation, or visit the vendor’s Web site to determine the drive size compatible with your machine.

A 2.5-inch, 100GB drive costs less than $200. Third-party vendors such as Drive Solutions and NewEgg.com often charge less than laptop manufacturers. Check with your notebook vendor to find out whether you need a SATA or parallel ATA model. Buy only from vendors that offer a money-back guarantee–any reliable seller will provide one lasting at least 30 days.

Boost your RAM: Most laptops come with only one or two memory sockets, which may leave no open slots for upgrades. Adding memory may require that you discard at least one existing memory module. The RAM on most laptops resides behind a removable panel. The modules slip into a slot and are secured at the ends by clips or retainers. Crucial offers an excellent tutorial on installing laptop RAM.

Crucial and Kingston will tell you the type of RAM your laptop needs. The high-quality modules they sell are well worth the small, additional expense over no-name RAM.

Change your keyboard: Installing a new keyboard usually requires disassembling the laptop’s case, but in other respects it is straightforward: First snap the old keyboard out, and then snap the replacement keyboard in. You can expect to pay $50 to $100 for a new notebook keyboard. Appropriate replacement keyboards may be available only from the notebook’s vendor.

Gadgets to Go

For every desktop peripheral, a miniaturized laptop version is available from Belkin, Kensington, Targus, or a similar vendor. Here is my list of on-the-road laptop essentials.

Lose your touchpad: When I’m in serious work mode, my laptop’s touch pad just isn’t as easy for me to use as a mouse. A miniature USB travel mouse with retractable cord costs less than $30 from these and other vendors, and a wireless version (Bluetooth or infrared) costs a bit more. I recommend a wired mouse for busy travelers; there are no batteries to worry about, and no tiny Bluetooth or RF transmitter to lose.

Get more ports: If your laptop has only one or two USB ports, a small four-port USB hub is essential for connecting more devices. Portable printers, scanners, and other power-hungry USB peripherals may need a self-powered hub like APC’s $35 4-Port Travel Hub, which comes with its own power adapter. To connect a mouse, keyboard, or thumb drive, a nonpowered USB hub will suffice. And for power protection on the road, try APC’s $20 SurgeArrest Notebook device; see .

Unleash your router: A small wireless router lets you move around a hotel room, an office, or anywhere else with a fixed, high-speed Internet connection. The $60 AirPlus G DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router from D-Link fits in a tiny carrying case.

Close the gate: Anyone hopping from one hotel room or wireless hotspot to another needs firewall protection, and the firewall built into Windows XP Service Pack 2 just won’t do. If your IT department forbids you to install firewall software on your company laptop, Kensington’s $40 Personal Firewall device can keep your system safe from intruders while you’re on the road. Just insert the thumb drive into an open USB port, perform a quick configuration, and your shields are up.

Turn on your night light: Using a notebook computer in a darkened airliner or other light-challenged space can be difficult because you can’t see the keyboard (unless it is backlit). Instead of squinting by the light of the laptop’s LCD, try Kensington’s $25 Flylight 3. The device has an LED light at one end of its bendable neck, and a USB connector at the other. The Flylight is small and light enough to take anywhere, and it can illuminate a laptop work area without bothering others.

Block roving eyes: On lengthy, boring flights, few seatmates can resist sneaking a glance or two at your laptop screen. 3M’s Notebook Privacy Computer Filter slides over your notebook’s screen, and easy-to-attach clips hold it in place to prevent the snoop sitting next to you from kibitzing your game of Solitaire. The screen is pricey, starting at $45 for a 12.1-inch model, but it will keep your affairs private.

Toss your power bricks: If you’re tired of hauling a pile of power bricks everywhere you go, why not trade ‘em in for one that will power all your devices? APC, Belkin, Kensington, and Targus make mobile universal power adapters with connector tips for laptops, cell phones, PDAs, and other devices. Their prices range from $70 to $130, depending on wattage and accessories. Tip selection varies from vendor to vendor, so check the compatibility list on the company’s Web site for each of your electronic devices before you lay down your green.

Off-Road Computing

Dock and cover: A docking station lets you connect a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, USB devices, and network link to your laptop in just seconds. Most notebook vendors offer custom docking stations for some models, but these tend to cost hundreds of dollars. Targus’s $130 Universal Notebook Docking Station With Video links to any laptop via USB 2.0. The only catch: A USB 2.0 link can’t match the speed of a direct VGA monitor connection, so it may create a bandwidth bottleneck when running fast-moving games or other graphics-intensive applications.

Share your peripherals: If you constantly switch between your desktop and laptop PCs, use a keyboard-video-mouse switch to run either PC from one keyboard, monitor, and mouse. Many vendors sell KVM switches that require lots of cables and connections, but Kavoom KVM) is a software “switch” that runs over a network link. A simple click lets you toggle between computers. The program costs $30 for two PCs, and another $10 for each additional PC.

Double your viewing pleasure: Windows XP’s Dual View lets you combine an external monitor with the machine’s own LCD to spread your open windows across both displays. To determine whether your laptop supports Dual View, connect a monitor to the system, right-click the desktop, select Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box, and choose Settings.

If Dual View is supported, the ‘Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor’ option will be available (not grayed out), and two screens labeled ‘1′ and ‘2′ will appear above the checkbox (see ). Check the box, click OK, and drag screen 1 above, below, to the right, or to the left of screen 2. Microsoft’s Web site has an informative article about XP’s Dual View.

If two monitors are good… You can expand your laptop’s viewing area across three monitors with the $299 TripleHead2Go from Matrox (see ). The palm-size device connects your notebook’s graphics port to expand the image across three monitors. The company’s $169 DualHead2Go supports two monitors, but gamers in particular will appreciate having their center point in the middle of the middle monitor rather than between two displays. The devices work only with certain ATI and nVidia chip sets, so check the compatibility list posted on Matrox’s site before buying. Also, few notebooks ship with the graphics horsepower required to drive three monitors at full resolution (not many desktop PCs can do so either), so make sure your system can push images to three different displays.

Notebook Tips: Extend Your Laptop’s Life

These tips and products will keep your notebook going and going.

Get a grip: Keep your laptop in hand by placing strips of 3M Safety Walk tape on its case. A small roll costs about $10 at your local hardware store.

Come in from the cold: When you bring your laptop in from the chilly outdoors, don’t start it until it reaches room temperature. Otherwise, condensation could wreak havoc on its circuits.

Beat the heat: Placing your notebook on a blanket or other soft surface, or running it inside its carrying case stifles ventilation and makes it overheat faster. Instead, put a pencil or similar object under the back edge to elevate your laptop; even half an inch of space lets hot air flow away from the case. For serious overheating, pick up a laptop cooling pad such as Antec’s $30 Notebook Cooler.

Stay dry or fry: To protect your notebook from liquid spills, use a $15 plastic keyboard cover from Protect Keyboard Covers). It just might save you the cost of a new laptop.

Save your screen: Lowering the screen puts most notebooks into standby or hibernation mode when they’re running on batteries, but doing so might not put them in power-saving mode when they’re plugged into AC power. Check the Power Options settings in Windows’ Display Properties to make sure that you’re conserving power: Right-click the desktop, select Properties, Screen Saver, Power, and set a duration under ‘System standby’ and ‘System hibernates.’