Official PCQuikFix Blog » Hardware

Woot! One Day, One Deal

Jeremy — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 19:31:47 +0000

For those of you looking for a great deal, Woot! is a nice place to start. At midnight each night, they start a crazy deal for one item which runs until sold out or until next midnight.

Today’s deal is a brand NEW 5th gen iPod nano for only $99.99 (normally $149.00), you choose the color. Check back daily for great deals!

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

iPhone 4G Insurance

Jeremy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:46:41 +0000

We get a boatload of iPhones is here for repair, mostly due to a cracked screen or digitizer. Although we have not gotten any 4G iPhone’s in yet, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. Our advice would be to purchase insurance. Where does one get insurance? How much does it cost? Will it cover accidental damage?

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

iPhone 4G vs. Other Smartphones

Jeremy — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:43:05 +0000

Now that the iPhone 4G is out and about, some wonder is this phone is #1 with all of their new hardware and upgrades. Here is a chart that showcases some of the most popular phones on the market and pits them up against the iPhone 4G.

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

What It’s Like To Own An Apple Product

Jeremy — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:07:55 +0000

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

New Xbox 360

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:06:04 +0000

Microsoft has released (to retailers) a new version of the Xbox 360, to be on sale to the public soon. Although the new unit has the same price tag ($300) as the previous Xbox 360, its much smaller, quieter, and shinier!

Per Giz, some of the features in this new release include:

• Touch sensitive on/off and eject buttons (like the PS3)
• “Much quieter”
• 250GB internal hard drive, which is still swappable.
• A custom Kinect port (not a standard USB port—it’s a USB port that can feed more power)
• There are five USB ports now, with three in the back and two in the front
• AV cable included, an HDMI and optical audio
• Different power supply—it’s still big but nearly weightless
• External Xbox 360 hard drives and memory units are NOT compatible with the new Xbox
• Internal components that are changed: two small fans changed into one large fan for quieter operation, 45nm integrated CPU and GPU

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

What Is Google TV?

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:07:45 +0000

Google TV has been rumored for a while now, however, not many people knew much about it. All this changes now…Google TV has come out with a video to help showcase its features:

I take that back, this really doesn’t clear up much! Does Google stream TV shows? Can I finally ditch Comcast? I’ll post more when new info surfaces!

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

Apple’s New Mini Mac (Unibody)

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:49:47 +0000

Apple has announced its newest addition to the Mac Mini family, a unibody Mac Mini which is now available for sale. For those of you whom are on a tight budget but would love a Mac computer, this is definitely the way to go!

There will be two options available, the lesser starting at $699:

Apple® today unveiled a completely redesigned Mac® mini, featuring up to twice the graphics performance, a new HDMI port and a new SD card slot, all in an amazingly compact aluminum enclosure. Mac mini is the world’s most energy efficient desktop and starting at $699, is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS® X, iLife® or Mac OS X Snow Leopard® Server.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100615/SF20941)

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100615/SF20941)

“The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With twice the graphics performance, HDMI support and industry-leading energy efficiency, customers are going to love the new Mac mini.”

Created with the unibody construction process pioneered by Apple, the new Mac mini features a compact aluminum enclosure just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin. A new integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter, reducing overall system volume by 20 percent and keeping cable clutter to a minimum. A removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. Mac mini is incredibly versatile, effortlessly connecting to existing peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays, while the new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables easy transfer of photos and videos from a digital camera.

Inside its sleek, compact enclosure, the new Mac mini includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today. With 48 processing cores, the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, making Mac mini ideal for graphics intensive applications or visually rich games. Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM for $699.

With twice the graphics performance, the new Mac mini is still the world’s most energy efficient desktop.* The new Mac mini reduces power consumption by an incredible 25 percent to less than 10W at idle, less than half the power required by competing systems. Mac mini meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.** The new aluminum enclosure is highly recyclable and Mac mini uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.

Mac mini comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server fulfills all the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine® backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server uses less than 11W of power at idle, a fraction of the power consumed in comparison to typical entry-level tower servers.*** Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and supports unlimited clients for $999.

Pricing & Availability

The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $699 (US), includes:

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
SD card slot;
one FireWire® 800 port;
one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
HDMI to DVI video adapter;
combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive running at 5400 rpm, Apple Remote, Aperture™ 3, Final Cut® Express 4, Logic® Express, iWork® (pre-installed), Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes:

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
two 500GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
SD card slot;
one FireWire 800 port;
one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
HDMI to DVI video adapter;
combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, External SuperDrive, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

*Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA Energy Star 5.0 database as of June 2010.

**EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

***Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA Energy Star Small Scale Server database as of June 2010.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

© 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, Snow Leopard, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Time Machine, Apple Store, SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, FireWire, Aperture, Final Cut, Logic, iWork and AppleCare are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

iPhone 4 vs Other SmartPhones

Jeremy — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:26:59 +0000

Now that the iPhone 4 is coming out, let’s pair it up against some of the industry leaders in SmartPhones. Currently I have the Google Nexus One running Android 2.1 and HTC Sense:

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

AT&T iPhone Insurance

Jeremy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:59:43 +0000

It looks like AT&T wants to try take a chunk of business away from PCQuikFix and offer iPhone insurance.

The plan will be offered at $13.99/mo. AT&T:

AT&T will be launching a new insurance service, named MobileProtect, designed specifically for the Apple iPhone. The insurance plan, which will be run by Asurion, will carry a price tag of $13.99/month and will be available for purchased through Apple’s App Store. The charges will be billed to the credit card on file with Apple. The deductibles range from $99 for an 8GB 3G to $199 for a 32GB 3GS, which is pretty steep – but not quite as steep as $699 for a new 32 GB 3GS off-contract.

Something tells me $13.99 ON TOP of that crazy deductible is a tad overkill, and we will continue to get a slew of iPhone’s through our doors with cracked screens and digitizers!

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair

AT&T Kills iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

Jeremy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:45:49 +0000

Well, this didn’t take long now did it. AT&T has announced that as of June 7, 2010, their iPad 3G Plan will be shaken up a little bit.

For new iPad customers, the $25 per month 2 GB plan will replace the existing $29.99 unlimited plan. iPad customers will continue to pre-pay for their wireless data plan and no contract is required. Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2 GB of data.

If you are lucky enough to have the unlimited plan as of now, no worries, your plan will be grandfathered in. Shocker, I know…

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
Playstation 3 Repair | Xbox 360 Repair | Nintendo Wii Repair | iPhone Repair