SON SON
Today we have access to the information, entertainment and opportunity that computer provide from the comfort of our home, new even that limit has been broken; the usefulness of computers means demand for them has spread beyond the front door, carrying the first portable computers almost guaranteed you a hernia but now computers are small and light enough to fit into a pocket, laptops and netbooks mean we can take our valuable to access it with us wherever we go.
But that’s not the only sense in which computing is now portable, there’s a new range of applications that you can access over the internet, you may have heard this described as cloud computing but all it means is that the software required to open and edit documents, images, spreadsheets and more is installed on a web based server rather than your computer, instead of opening a program from your hard disk, you connect to a website and open it in your web browser.
Going mobile many options for using computer or getting access to applications and documents while out and about, as well as pointing out some of the reasons you might like to do so, we’ll cover the range of portable devices that can be taken to work, school or on holiday, and show you how to connect to internet using wireless broadband, wherever you’re new to computing or more experience PC user, you’ll find something to help you get the full benefit that portable computing has to offer.
Pack up your PC
Laptop computers have t outsold their bulky desktop cousins for years, but 2008 saw the rise of the new breed of portable computer; the netbook, the idea was to create computer ideal for people who need daily access to one when travelling, it would need to be more lightweight and have a longer battery life than the average laptop, while still offering access to the internet and the ability to open and edit a range of documents, one of the problem was solved by a new processor called Intel atom, designed to consumer far less power than standard processor, the atom as its name suggest, was also the smallest processor Intel had built but still had enough power to cope with the demand of all but the hungriest applications.
These would include the latest games and much video editing application, but netbook designer realised that people who wanted to carry a computer around only required the ability to open email and office documents and connect to internet, a second key problem was the size and weight of hard disks, second only in term of weight to batteries, the solution to this problem lay in the technology used in USB memory keys, unlike a hard disks, the storage in USB key has no moving parts, it’s called solid stated or flash memory and with devices barely the size of a cigarette lighter offering storage of 16 GB for as little as $25, netbook designer could use this technology to reduce the size of a computer while making sure there was enough space for an operating system, application and files but all netbook used solid state memory though and some have disk with up to 160GB of storage.
If netbooks were to sell, they would also have to be cheaper than laptops, one way early netbook manufacturers found to reduce the cost was to ditch Windows, the first mass produced netbook, the Asus Eee PC, come loaded with a version of Linux, the open source operating system, a series of features and workshop on using Linux netbook to connect to home network and mobile broadband, collect email and use it word processor, you can also get netbook with Windows XP and Windows 7 installed and many people still prefer this , choosing the right netbook can be tricky.
Need to connect
Portable computer need a connection to the internet so you can access your favourite web site, webmail and web based applications but what’s the best way to get online in the great outdoors, there are two main option, Wi-Fi and 3G, Wi-Fi is include in every netbook, many public places including train stations, airports, coffee shops and libraries, provide Wi-Fi hotspots, many of them free of charge, although at others you need to buy access for a set amount of time, it’s quick and easy, although there are number of security precautions you need to take.
The second option is 3G, the same technology that enables mobiles phones to connect to the internet at broadband speeds, claim about how fast 3G services are have be taken with a pinch of salt and 3G isn’t available everywhere, go beyond large towns and coverage thins out somewhat, the latest netbook models such as Sony’s Vaio P series, have build in, although this adds to their cost, more common are 3G adapter in either PC Card or USB version, the downside is that you also have to sign up to a tariffs can be complicated with awkward gotchas for the unwary.