Computer Knowledge For You Posts: March, 2010

Expensive Versus Cheaper Computer Video Cards

Today’s desktop computers are all about what goes inside of them. Each component of your desktop computers has a different function, and each one can be upgraded. One component of desktop computers that may be of particular interest to you is the computer video card.

What Do Computer Video Cards Do For Desktop Computers?

Your video card controls your computer graphics. Those of us who are old enough can remember back to the days where a computer screen had two colors and was simply lines, space and text. No pictures, no icons, forget about video games unless you enjoyed text-based adventures (basically a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book on a computer screen). That was before the modern video card. These handy pieces of equipment turned desktop computers into fully interactive experiences, allowing games,  Power Point presentations, and even computer art.

Why You Need Computer Video Cards

You probably noticed that your computer provides all those wonderful pictures, animated avatars and so forth without you having to add anything. That’s because most desktop computers come with a video card built in. However, for the most advanced and realistic graphics, you may need to upgrade your video card. Then the question becomes, should you spring for the most expensive card, the cheapest, or something in between?

The Differences Between Cheaper and More Expensive Computer Video Cards

A lot of it, believe it or not, comes down to the type of monitor you’re using. If you’re working with a laptop, you probably don’t need the most expensive video card, because frankly, your monitor doesn’t have the resolution for it. Think of your eyes. You could have 20/20 vision, but if your binoculars are of low quality, you still won’t be able to see all that far.

On the other hand, if you’ve got an extremely large monitor, or a very high resolution monitor, or multiple monitors, or some combination of these, you might benefit from a more expensive video card. Even in this case, you need to consider what you’re using the video card for. If you’re mostly playing Flash games, or doing the occasional school project with accompanying graphs, your basic upgraded video card will probably do you very nicely. On the other hand, if you’re a video game purist, or are doing complex technical presentations, you may want to spring for the more expensive card.

Final Note on Computer Video Cards for Desktop Computers

One final word of caution. Like many things in the computer world, video cards tend to evolve very quickly. The card you shelled out big bucks for a month ago may be considered ancient history today. If you see a video card you like, you might want to wait a bit for the price to come down and/or for it to be available at a discount. If you must have state-of-the-art, do your research and make sure the new video card coming out tomorrow isn’t going to put the one you’re planning to buy today to shame.

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Slow Computers – Helpful Advice

In this modern age of computer when almost every sector and every person depends on computers one cannot think of leading a life without this helpful device. Computers have evolved in our lives making it easier and faster. Computers can carry out many of our functions and are widely used by almost everyone in their daily life. But a slow computer can be a big trouble as it introduces an unwanted delay in the daily tasks of its user. So if you wish to keep the performance of your computer unhampered you should know how to deal with the problems that can slow down the pace of a computer.

How Can A Computer Become Slow?

There are many factors which can lead to the slowing down of the pace of a computer. Corrupt registry can greatly lead to the degraded performance of a computer. When a new application gets installed in the computer the window registry facility enables the operating system to know about the presence of the installed application thereby allocates necessary amount of memory for it. But when this application is deleted from the hard disk even the keys which were related to it gets deleted from the registry. This can greatly hamper the speed of the computer.

More Reasons For Slow Computer

Often the keys get corrupt and do not get deleted. As a result of this the operating unaware of the absence of the application keeps on sharing the part of the memory assigned for the application. For this reason the other applications cannot utilize the amount of memory that is free which in turn makes the computer slow. What you need to do is to take the aid of a registry cleaning tool which cleanses corrupt and unwanted keys from the window registry thus boosting up the speed of the computer.

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The Benefits of Calibrating Your Monitor

Due to the rapid and ever growing development of digital technologies, the calibration of monitors is no longer the exclusive concern of professional editors and photographers.  Nowadays, virtually everyone who owns a digital still or video camera has a vested interest in making sure his/her monitor is correctly calibrated.  Many people do not realize that the color, shade, and hue of a digital image (moving or otherwise) can look completely different on a computer monitor than it does in a camera, or on a printed page.

How many times have you printed out an image only to find that it bears little resemblance to the photograph you took?  Or perhaps a certain section of a photo, the portion you altered in Photoshop, has a different look than what you previously saw on the screen?  These are very common, but no less annoying, problems for those who use their computers creatively—people for whom the correct shade, hue, and color of an image are all-important.

Apple offers a very easy approach to monitor calibration.  To check it out, go to System Preferences>Display.  From here you can adjust the brightness of the monitor to meet your needs.  For those who are working with detailed images a bright screen may contribute to clearer viewing of the subject matter.  For those who may be staring at the screen for long stretches a dimmer monitor might help to ease the strain on the eyes.

Both Apple and PC  “System Preferences” allow computer users to change the resolution of their respective displays.  Generally, for detailed and precision work, a higher resolution is recommended—the image being far clearer at a setting of, say, 1440 x 900, than it will be at, 640 x 480.

On Macs, color calibration can also be modified through Systems Preferences.  After setting up your resolution click, “Color,” and select one of many options.  Selecting a “Target Gamma,” will allow you to set the contrast levels for your monitor.  Choose “1.8 Gamma” for a traditional monitor setting, or “2.2 Television Gamma” if you are planning to work with images for television.

Selecting a “Target White Point” will allow you to adjust the tint of the display. Here you have the option to go with a yellow, bluish or natural noonday base white for your monitor. There are other more advanced settings, which are commonly used for computer owners with higher grade, professional needs.

If you are like most people, you probably spend a good portion of your life sitting in front of a computer monitor. Don’t you owe it to yourself to make sure, what you’re looking at for all those hours is as perfect as it can possibly be?

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