Onboard Computer

The UC San Diego mechanical engineering undergraduates installed a computer and sensors on a surfboard and recorded the speed of the water flowing beneath the board. While the students surfed, the onboard computer sent water velocity information to a laptop on shore in real time.

This is part of Benjamin Thompson's quest to discover if surfboards have an optimal flexibility -- a board stiffness that makes surfing as enjoyable as possible. Thompson is a UC San Diego structural engineering Ph.D. student studying the fluid-structure interaction between surfboards and waves. By outfitting a surfboard with sensors and electronics that shuttle data back to shore, the mechanical engineering undergraduates built some of the technological foundation for Thompson's science-of-surfboards project.

Four undergraduates from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering outfitted a surfboard with eight sensors and an onboard-computer or "microcontroller." The students dug trenches into the board's foam and ran wires connecting the sensors to the onboard computer. From this computer, the data travels via a wireless channel to a laptop on land -- in this case, a beach in Del Mar, Calif.

The onboard computer also saves the data on a memory card.

"We were stoked to get good data and to be surfing for school," said Dan Ferguson, one of the two mechanical engineering undergraduates who surfed while the onboard computer captured water velocity information and transmitted it back to land.

The four mechanical engineering majors built the wired surfboard for their senior design project, the culmination of the MAE 156 course sequence. Each project has a sponsor, and in this case, the sponsor was Benjamin Thompson, the structural engineering Ph.D. student from UC San Diego and founder of the surfboard Web site www.itsbattery.com.

The onboard computer such as Acer Aspire 1680 Battery, Acer Aspire 1410 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery, Acer LCBTP03003 Battery, Acer Aspire 1300 Battery, Acer BTP-APJ1 Battery, Acer BTP-AQJ1 Battery, Acer BTP-ARJ1 Battery, Acer BATCL32 battery, Acer BATCL32L battery, Acer Aspire 2000 battery, Acer Aspire 2016 battery, Acer Aspire 2200 battery and Acer BATBL50L6 battery is in a watertight case the shape of a medium-sized box of chocolates. It sits at the front of the surfboard and glows blue. "What's on your board? What is that?" fellow surfers asked Ferguson. "We'd have to tell them it's a microprocessor connected to velocity sensors, and they would kind of nod and paddle away. It created a minor stir."

Each of the eight sensors embedded into the bottom of the board is a "bend sensor." The faster the water beneath the board moves, with respect to the board, the more the sensors bend, explained Trevor Owen, the other surfer on the four-person mechanical engineering team.

The data from the sensors runs through wires embedded in the board to the microcontroller. "You can see where we carved channels in the board," said Owen.

The most interesting part of the project for senior mechanical engineering major Victor Correa was using the microcontrollers and wireless transmitters to get the data to land.

Thompson, the project sponsor, is already working on a smaller version of the onboard computer. He hopes to shrink it down to the size of a cell phone and embed it flush with the top surface of the board.

Assembling, waterproofing and installing the microcontroller, connecting it to the sensors, and successfully transmitting the collected data to a computer on land required persistence and a lot of learning, explained senior mechanical engineering major Julia Tsai. "Everything hypothetically should take five minutes, but everything took at least three hours."

Even though the team has finished their class project, Ferguson plans to keep working with Thompson. "This project is going to apply some science that most likely [board] shapers understand pretty well...it's going to settle the debates. It's going to be black and white hard data to let them know for sure which ideas work, which concepts work, and why they work."

Surfboard Flex Surfboard flex refers to the temporary shape changes that surfboards are thought to undergo. While many surfers say flex makes their boards feel springy in the water, it has not been scientifically measured. Thompson hopes to scientifically document surfboard flex. Then he wants to determine if there is an amount of flexibility that enhances the performance and feel of a surfboard, and if this optimal flexibility depends on other factors such as surfer experience or wave conditions.

The surfboard project falls within a hot area of engineering research: the study of fluid-structure interactions. According to UC San Diego structural engineering professor Qiang Zhu, the study of fluid-structure interaction is important due to the large number of applications in mechanical, civil, aerospace and biological engineering. "In my opinion, its popularity in recent years is partly attributed to advances in experimental and computational techniques which allow many important processes to be studied in detail," said Zhu.

Battery Designed

Rechargeable batteries may soon provide greater energy efficiency not only for road traffic, but also for rail transport. Scientists at the research neutron source FRM II of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are taking a closer look at a high performance rechargeable battery for future hybrid locomotives. The focus is on a sodium/iron chloride battery manufactured by General Electric (GE). The study reveals the distribution of chemical substances within the battery during various states of charge.

Physicists and chemists at FRM II screened a half-discharged and a fully discharged General Electric battery cell using an instrument known as ANTARES (Advanced Neutron Tomography and Radiography Experimental System). The system uses neutrons to non-destructively peer deep inside objects. The other alternative, cutting open the Sony Digital Camera Battery such as NP-F550, NP-FR1, NP-FM50, NP-FM51, NP-F10, NP-FE1 and DSC-T7, would have allowed moisture and air to enter, thereby possibly influencing the highly reactive contents. Making use of radiography, the scientists were able to visualize the level of sodium in the unopened battery.

Using a second instrument at TUM's neutron source, the residual stress and texture diffractometer STRESS-SPEC, the scientists analyzed the exact composition of chemical substances within the cell. Each of the various materials in the battery reacts differently to the neutron radiation, thereby emitting unambiguous signals. In this way the scientists were able to determine the precise reactant distribution within the cell. This is important in establishing how the battery can be charged and discharged as often as possible.

The General Electric batteries are designed for energy savings of at least ten percent. Up to 10,000 of these 2.33 Volt batteries will provide hybrid locomotives with 2000 horsepower. Unlike the lead batteries currently used in motor vehicles, sodium/iron chloride batteries provide not only more than twice the power density, they also have very high performance, as required by locomotives. A further advantage of the batteries tested at FRM II: Unlike the lithium required for lithium batteries, sodium is readily available in nature in the form of sodium chloride, plain cooking salt.

Together with the FRM II, GE is planning to use neutrons in a real-time analysis of the charging and discharging cycles of batteries to determine with even greater precision the distribution of sodium and other substances within the batteries.

A Computer Per Student Leads

A dozen years into the "1 to 1" computing movement's push to pair every schoolchild and teacher with a laptop, studies show the students in these programs outperformed their peers in traditional classrooms, according to researchers.

Students who have participated in 1:1 computing report higher achievement and increased engagement, according to findings of studies published in a special issue of the Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment, published by Boston College's Lynch School of Education.

The journal's January 2010 edition represents the first-ever collection of peer-reviewed research articles examining the impacts of providing every teacher and student their own laptop computer in school such as Acer BTP-42C1 Battery, acer BTP-44A3 Battery, Acer BTP-550P Battery, Acer BTP-73E1 Battery, Acer BATCL50L Battery, Acer TravelMate 290 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4000 Battery, Acer TravelMate 2300 Battery, Acer Aspire 1680 Battery, Acer Aspire 1410 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery, Acer LCBTP03003 Battery and Acer Aspire 1300 Battery -- typically know as "1:1 computing."

"This new collection of articles brings together some of the best evidence to date on the implementation and impacts of 1:1 computing," said Boston College Assistant Professor of Education Laura M. O'Dwyer, a co-editor of the journal, which is housed jointly in the Technology and Assessment Study Collaborative (inTASC) and the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) at Boston College.

The journal includes co-editor and Lynch School researcher Damian Bebell's evaluation of a pilot program in Massachusetts' Berkshire County. Bebell found the Berkshire Wireless Learning Initiative produced improved performance in English and writing, though results for math achievement were flat. Overwhelmingly, the laptops got students excited about school.

Bebell said that across all of the studies contained in the journal, one common link is clear: the value of teachers committed to making 1:1 computing work.

"One of the most salient findings was the critical role that teachers played in the success of each 1:1 program," Bebell said. Additional factors critical to student success across 1:1 technology settings included:

•Having a strong commitment from school leadership

•Developing consistent and supportive administrative policies

•Creating professional development opportunities for teachers, particularly the sharing of best practices

All of the studies that examined the impact of 1:1 computing on student achievement found that students in the 1:1 settings outperformed their traditional classroom peers on English/Language Arts standardized tests by a statistically significant margin. Study authors also reported on evidence of increased student motivation and engagement, as well as changes in teachers' instructional practices.

A Quantum Leap in Battery Design

A "digital quantum battery" concept proposed by a physicist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could provide a dramatic boost in energy storage capacity--if it meets its theoretical potential once built.

The concept calls for billions of nanoscale capacitors and would rely on quantum effects--the weird phenomena that occur at atomic size scales--to boost energy storage. Conventional capacitors consist of one pair of macroscale conducting plates, or electrodes, separated by an insulating material. Applying a voltage creates an electric field in the insulating material, storing energy. But all such devices can only hold so much charge, beyond which arcing occurs between the electrodes, wasting the stored power.

If capacitors were instead built as nanoscale arrays--crucially, with electrodes spaced at about 10 nanometers (or 100 atoms) apart--quantum effects ought to suppress such arcing. For years researchers have recognized that nanoscale capacitors exhibit unusually large electric fields, suggesting that the tiny scale of the devices was responsible for preventing energy loss. But "people didn't realize that a large electric field means a large energy density, and could be used for energy storage that would far surpass anything we have today," says Alfred Hubler, the Illinois physicist and lead author of a paper outlining the concept, to be published in the journal Complexity.

Hubler claims the resulting power density (the speed at which energy can be stored or released) could be orders of magnitude greater, and the energy density (the amount of energy that can be stored) two to 10 times greater than possible with today's best lithium-ion and other battery technologies.

What's more, Digital Camera Battery such as Asus Laptop Battery, Asus A42-A3 Battery, Canon Digital Camera Battery, canon NB-1L battery, canon NB-2L battery, canon BP-511 battery, canon NB-5L battery, canon NB-4L battery and canon NB-5H battery could be fabricated using existing lithographic chip-manufacturing technologies using cheap, nontoxic materials, such as iron and tungsten, atop a silicon substrate, he says. The resulting devices would, in principal, waste little or no energy as they absorbed and released electrons. Hubler says it may be possible to build a benchtop prototype in one year.

Today, however, digital quantum batteries are merely a patent-pending research concept. Hubler has applied for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency funding to develop such a prototype, but the concept presents significant challenges. It's not clear that the nanofabricated materials wouldn't break down once loaded with energy, says Joel Schindall, a professor of electrical engineering at MIT.

But Schindall also says the concept has merit. "I'm cautiously intrigued, because he does have some legitimate arguments for the fact that at these quantum dimensions, the energy storage effect is at least predicted to go up considerably," Schindall says. "The first challenge is: are his assumptions correct, or are there some other phenomena that haven't been looked at that get in the way?"

In some ways, the concept represents a variation on existing micro- and nanoelectronic devices. "If you look at it from a digital electronics perspective--it's just a flash drive," says Hubler. "If you look at it from an electrical engineering perspective, you would say these are miniaturized vacuum tubes like in plasma TVs. If you talk to a physicist, this is a network of capacitors."

The digital part of the concept derives from the fact that each nanovacuum tube would be individually addressable. Because of this, the devices could perhaps be used to store data, too.

Other methods exist for boosting the performance of capacitors. Advanced versions, called ultracapacitors, can store significant energy and operate more quickly by increasing the surface area of their electrodes and using an electrolyte. Schindall's group has increased the charge and discharge rates and storage capacity of traditional ultracapacitors by using carbon nanotubes instead of activated carbon on the electrode's surface. In essence, this increases the surface area of the electrode.

The advantages to Schindall's design--increased power output and energy density--could be crucial for applications like soaking up huge pulses of energy rapidly from a field of wind turbines or solar arrays, for example. Plus, his team has actually built a benchtop device. The downside is that the energy density of a given mass of material would still be somewhat lower than that of lithium-ion batteries.

While Hubler hasn't yet built anything, he notes that, in 2005, a group of Korean researchers showed that nanoscale capacitors could be fabricated. Hubler's device would still need billions or even trillions of such devices, however.

"I complete agree we desperately need new ways of storing electric energy," says Schindall. "Though it may be in competition with what I'm doing, I wish him the greatest of success and hope it works."

Acer Notebook Computers Review

Laptop computers are devices that are used by many people nowadays. They are so popular because of their great advantages that they offer their users. One of the biggest advantages that such devices offer is portability. Having a laptop computer that is portable means that you can carry it with you wherever you go without any problems because it has small sizes and it also is lightweight. On the market we can find many laptop manufacturers that develop and sell their products all over the world. These devices are becoming more and more popular and there are more and more people that buy them. The first thing that buyers must think of, is for what they will use their device for. Its purpose is very important because if you are a person that often has to travel, the recommended product is the one that is lightweight and that has small sizes. You can’t buy a widescreen and heavy device if you travel regularly.

On the market we can find many laptop manufacturers that are more or less popular. A brand that many people like and buy their laptop computers is Acer such as Acer BTP-43D1, TravelMate 220, Acer BTP-58A1, acer BTP-60A1, TravelMate 240, Acer BTP-52EW, Acer BTP-63D1, Acer BTP-42C1, acer BTP-44A3, Acer BTP-550P, Acer BTP-73E1 and Acer BATCL50L. Acer is a Taiwan multinational computer technology and electronics corporation that manufactures and sell their products all over the world. Acer notebook computers are known all over the world by many people as powerful and well built devices. They are known to be reliable and long lasting and many users are pleased with them. Acer was founded in 1976 by Stan Shih and nowadays its headquarter is situated in Xizhi, Taipei County, Taiwan.

They produce and sell Acer notebook computers all over the world and they managed to have in 2009 a revenue of over 17.5 billion dollars. Besides notebooks, Acer also manufactures desktops, netbooks, servers, storage, video projectors, digital

cameras, and they also provide IT services. They also produce handhelds, monitors, and LCDs. As we can see, Acer is a big company that is respected by many people and there are many users that say that Acer notebook computers are one of the best that exists on the present market. They come equipped with great specifications and they also have a very good quality. These things are very important for many buyers because all of us want to have devices that are powerful and high quality. Many users say that the Acer notebook computers manages to offer all the things enumerated above. They are reliable, long lasting, powerful and they also have a great built quality.

All in all, when buying a laptop computer you must pay attention at some things that are very important. If you follow the steps, you will manage to buy the perfect laptop computer for you and your daily needs and I am sure that one from Acer will make a great job and you will be very pleased with it.

Apple Laptops

Apple, Inc. (until January 2007 Apple Computer, Inc.) is a company from Silicon Valley, based in Cupertino, California, with the primary goal of activity in computer technology. Known mostly for Macintosh computers, Apple has a reputation for innovation in high tech industry.

Having learned several painful lessons after introducing the bulky Macintosh Portable in 1989, Apple introduced the PowerBook 1991 which established the modern form and ergonomic laptop computers. In the same year Apple introduced System 7, a major operating system upgrade that adds color graphical user interface and introduces new capabilities for network functions.

Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive, managed to impress the audience again and in some measure the analysts and investors at the annual Macworld fair held in the American city San Francisco, says the international press.

The company introduced a new range of ultra-thin MacBook laptop and hoped that will be able to repeat the success of digital music through iTunes online store, and launching an online movie rental service. The new MacBook Air is the thinnest laptop in the world, according to Jobs, it has the maximum thickness of 1.93 centimeters (0.76 inches). On the thinnest laptop side, the device does not exceed 0.4 centimeters (0.16 inches). Just to emphasize suppleness of the laptop such as Apple A1175, Apple A1185, Apple M9324, Apple M8403, Apple M7318, PowerBook G3 battery, PowerBook G4 battery, PowerBook G4 15 inch battery, Apple A1012, Apple M8511, Apple M8244, Apple A1079, Apple A1078, Apple A1148 and Apple M6091, Jobs has brought the product on stage in a standard mail envelope.

With a wide screen of 13.3 inches (33.8 centimeters), Intel Core 2 Duo up to 1.8 GHz, 2 gigabytes of RAM, multi-touch trackpad technology (first commercially introduced in the iPhone sites) and hard disk capacity of 80 gigabytes, the starting price of the new MacBook Air is $ 1800 (1224 euro) in the United States. Optionally, customers may choose to store the flash memory SSD (Solid State Drive) of 64 gigabytes, that makes the product price to go up to about 3100 dollars (2108 euro). Unlike traditional hard drives, SSD devices contain no moving parts, which significantly reduces access time and eliminates risk of data loss following mechanical shocks.

But miniaturization presents some disadvantages, because the device has no optical drive for reading and writing CDs or DVDs. Jobs says that the users will not miss it, because they can download music and movies from the Internet and can access wireless optical units of other computers (or PCs with Windows or Macintosh systems). Also optionally, users can purchase an external optical drive for 100 dollars (68 euro). Other aspects criticized by analysts are the lack of a traditional network cards (laptop can access the Internet only through a Wi-Fi), implementing a single USB 2.0 port and the device weight, which is about 1.36 kilograms. MacBook Air is designed as a laptop between the MacBook range and MacBook Pro top, but analysts believe that the product could attract the customers who would normally have been interested in the Pro model.

The great speech, which took place on 6 January 2009 at Macworld Apple has brought to public attention the new MacBook Pro, one of the apple laptop computers. In the absence of Steve Jobs, the man who is rumored that it will replace in the future (Phil Schiller) said that the new MacBook Pro is "the thinnest 17 inch laptop, with a thickness of 2.5 cm. Even the 3 kg weight does not mean much if we think that notebooks with screen sizes greater than or equal to 17 are considered solutions desktop replacement. MacBook Pro is certainly a notebook in which you can hardly find any fault. The construction of the chassis of one piece (unibody enclosure) is exceptional and the performances are also in height. On display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels you will see how well it moves applications supported by a Core 2 Duo clocked at 2.66 GHz, 4 GB DDR3 RAM and the NVidia graphics (9400M + 9600M GT). Storage is on a 320 GB hard drive.

Although the MacBook Pro falls into the category desktop replacement, the relatively compact dimensions (39.3 x 26.7 x 2.5 cm) and light weight make it very easy to carry. In this case, the impressive autonomy role is doing its job, with its impressive eight hours, the best of those currently encountered at an Apple notebook.

With MacBook, one of the apple laptop computers, you get part of a new level graphics experience for popular 3D games like Spore, and Sims Call of Duty 3. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor offers an outstanding viewing experience every day with performance up to 5 times better. Because of advanced architecture, NVIDIA graphics card offers a fluent and fast gameplay for you to enjoy a world of games with perfect details, vivid colors and smooth movement - all without sacrificing battery.

With a fast processor Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26 GHz, the MacBook is unsurpassed in the things you do daily such as sending emails, browsing the Internet and work with documents, spreadsheets and presentations iWorks, or Microsoft Office for Mac (sold separately). It also has sufficient power for activities that require intensive CPU and retouch a photo in iPhoto, editing an iMovie project or composition of a song using GarageBand. So take full advantage of the iLife software suite. MacBook can run Windows even at normal speed. Moreover, with a 2 GB standard memory (with support expansion up to 4GB), efficiently and simultaneously run many applications you want. Music, photos and movies - not to mention documents and other personal files - are gathered without you realize. Therefore, the MacBook offers a generous storage space. You have a spacious 250 GB hard drive, with options up to 500 GB, not to leave anything at home.

The MagSafe transformer is connected magnetic, not physical. So that if someone walks into the power cable while working, your new MacBook will not take flight from the table or desk. It will only come off without damaging the cable without affecting the system. As a bonus, you know that your MacBook's fully loaded when the connector LED changes from red to green. A brilliant display. A Multi-Touch trackpad. A faster processor. And a battery that does not stops on the road. What you could want more from an accessible notebook?

Problems With Acer Notebooks

All laptops from all big and small companies come with different problems or they gain them in time. Such problems can be caused by the software installed in it or hardware, technical problems. Most of the laptop problems are caused by their users because there are many people who don't treat their laptops good and throws or smack them and finally problems will start to appear. But if have a available warranty all kinds of problems caused by your laptop aren't important because you can repair it with no extra cost. Acer company is a good one with quality built laptops but there are inevitably laptops with different hardware or software problems which may come directly from the assembly line. I will present you the Acer laptop problems.

Most users say that they have big problems with the battery and power cable such as Acer Aspire 1680 Battery, Acer Aspire 1410 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery, Acer LCBTP03003 Battery, Acer Aspire 1300 Battery, Acer BTP-APJ1 Battery, Acer BTP-AQJ1 Battery, Acer BTP-ARJ1 Battery, Acer BATCL32 battery, Acer BATCL32L battery, Acer Aspire 2000 battery, Acer Aspire 2016 battery, Acer Aspire 2200 battery and Acer BATBL50L6 battery. Most of Acer laptop users had these two problems and I can see that they are quite common to other brands. When you turn on your laptop, the battery although it's full will show that it is empty and you have to charge it and here comes the second problem with the power cable. Most users complained that the power cable doesn't make its work and although it is connected to the laptop and plugged in, still the laptop wont charge.

Continuing with our Acer laptop problems we stop and talk about the power on button that sometimes according to different users gets stuck having a hard time in repairing it. In my opinion these aren't big problems that takes a lot of time to repair but indeed they are disturbing because sending you laptop into service you spend a lot of time without a device to work on and you could lose many benefits.

Another problem that is most disturbing is the display. At some laptops the display goes blue or black in the middle of you workstation or in the middle of a game. But no worries because there are on the Internet many manuals or website forums that teaches you how to deal with such issues and fixing them by your own without the help of special services. I finished talking about Acer laptop problems and I came to the conclusion that these types of laptops are good ones and they don't make big problems which you can not resolve by your one and you have to send it in service for a long period of time. Most of the problems are common and can be fixed even by the users at home.

Mostly when you decide to buy a laptop, you have to make a market study to see what brand is the best, what laptop specifications fits you best, and what hardware and software problems you might meet after buying the desired laptop.

Define A Refurbished Acer Notebook

Four of the cheapest refurbished Acer notebooks are Acer Aspire AS7736Z, Acer Aspire AS5534-1121, Acer Aspire 7540-1284 and Acer Aspire Timeline AS5810TZ-4657. Priced between 300 and more than 400 dollars, these models include pretty good performance, including large screens and HDD storage capacity, but also strong processors. Concerning the first model, Aspire AS7736Z, it is priced at about 450 dollars and features a 17,3 inch HD Widescreen CineCrystal LEWD backlit display with 1600 x 900 pixel resolution, 3 GB of DDR2 667 MHz RAM system memory (max. 4 GB), 320 GB of hard disk drive storage capacity (5400 rpm), along with an Intel Pentium Dual Core processor which runs at 2,2 GHz speed plus an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 M (up to 1695 MB of Intel Dynamic Video Memory Technology), 5 in card reader (Memory stick, Memory stick PRO, CD Picture card, Secure digital), 8X DVD Super Multi double layer drive, an integrated wireless LAN, a 6 cell Lithium Ion battery (up to 3,5 hours run time) and also an integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam. As for the operating system, this laptop uses Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit version.

A cheaper refurbished Acer notebook is Acer Aspire AS5534-1121. Priced at almost 400 dollars depending on store, this product includes a 15,6 inch Acer CineCrystal TFT display with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, 4 GB of DDR2 667 MHz RAM system memory, along with a large 320 GB of hard disk drive storage capacity, an AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core processor clocked at 1,2 GHz plus an ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, 5 in 1 media reader, built in stereo speakers, 1 microphone, 1 headphone output, a 6 cell Lithium Ion battery (up to 3,5 hours run time such as Acer BTP-73E1 Battery, Acer BATCL50L Battery, Acer TravelMate 290 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4000 Battery, Acer TravelMate 2300 Battery, Acer Aspire 1680 Battery, Acer Aspire 1410 Battery, Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery, Acer LCBTP03003 Battery, Acer Aspire 1300 Battery, Acer BTP-APJ1 Battery, Acer BTP-AQJ1 Battery and Acer BTP-ARJ1 Battery), an Acer Crystal Eye webcam. This model uses Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit operating system.

As for Acer Aspire AS7540-1284 refurbished laptop, must be said that it is priced at 440 dollars depending on store and features a large 17,3 inch HD Widescreen LED backlit display with 1600 x 900 pixel resolution, 3 GB of DDR2 667 MHz RAM system memory, along with 320 GB of hard drive storage capacity plus an AMD Athlon II Dual Core processor clocked at 2 GHz speed. This product also features an ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics, 5 in 1 media reader, built in stereo speakers, an integrated wireless LAN, a 6 cell Lithium Ion battery (up to 2,5 hours run time) and an Acer Crystal Eye webcam. The laptop uses Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit operating system.

Finally, Acer Timeline AS5810TZ-4657 refurbished laptop is priced at almost 400 dollars and includes a smaller 15,6 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, 3 GB of DDR3 1066 MHz RAM system memory, 320 GB of hard drive capacity, along with an Intel Pentium processor clocked at 1,3 GHz, an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD, built in stereo speakers, 5 in 1 media reader, an integrated wireless LAN and a 6 cell Lithium Ion battery (up to 8 hours). The product uses Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium operating system.

Macintel

Apple Computer is beginning a wrenching tectonic shift, taking its Macintosh computer line from IBM and Freescale Semiconductor's PowerPC to the Intel Core Duo, two chip standards that have little in common -- aside from a reliance on silicon and a vocabulary limited to 1s and 0s.

The change is so radical that existing Macintosh software could have become obsolete -- if not for some near-wizardry. CEO Steve Jobs, always the showman, came to the Macworld Expo this week and unveiled two new Intel-based hardware products that have enthusiasts -- and Wall Street -- salivating. Analysts and rumormongers had been anticipating an Intel-based Mac since June, but it came as a surprise when Jobs announced not one, but two such products: a new iMac and the MacBook Pro laptop such as Apple A1175, Apple A1185, Apple M9324, Apple M8403, Apple M7318, PowerBook G3 battery, PowerBook G4 battery, PowerBook G4 15 inch battery, Apple A1012, Apple M8511, Apple M8244,Apple A1079 and Apple A1078, the latter already shipping.

This rapidity was key, says Nathan Brookward, principal analyst of industry research firm Insight 64. "When Apple first announced the Intel switch in June, I was concerned sales of PowerPC Macs would slow and there would be severe software shortages for end users," he says. However, now he believes the speedy hardware roll-out could "smooth the software transition."

And there was more to Jobs' announcement. The switch to Intel had raised serious questions about backward compatibility for Apple software that runs on the former PowerPC architecture. So Jobs also unveiled an application called Rosetta, which offers interface-free emulation to translate PowerPC code into Intel code on the fly.

This application was vitally important, because the fundamental differences between Intel and PowerPC architectures mean no Mac user's library of existing software would run on an Intel-based Mac. Apple's solution, at least until developers reconfigure their applications into Intel-native versions -- a process that could be little more than a recompile or, for massive projects like Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office, a mammoth undertakings -- is to use Rosetta.

Rosetta is not a perfect solution, though. Even Jobs admitted in his keynote speech that the application is not an optimal solution for professional users -- some pro-level software, such as Apple's own Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and Aperture won't run under Rosetta. And running an application under Rosetta means a drop in performance. But for everyday users, the new Mac is, well, a Mac.

Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at Jupiter Research, says that Apple has taken extensive steps so that "for Apple customers, the transition is almost seamless -- it almost doesn't matter."

Certainly, the new Intel iMac looks identical to the previous model -- Jobs stressed that it had "the same design, the same features and the same prices" as its PowerPC predecessor. Similarly, the new MacBook Pro looks almost indistinguishable from the PowerBook model it supplants.

Although the present seems to be about Macs being Macs, research analyst Gartenberg points out that the future may bring a change, given the similar strategic goals of Apple and Intel. "We know that Intel has designs on the digital home, the digital living room, and Intel has found a good partner in Apple," he says. "It's not about convergence anymore, but how to integrate TV with the other digital content that lives in a computer."

For Apple, the future is about seamlessly marrying the two mediums. And now there's more entertainment to share: Apple has led the way, making a much-publicized deal last fall with ABC and Disney to sell downloadable video content through its iTunes Music Store. Yahoo and Google, among others, have since made similar moves.

Even without a computer-to-computer network, Apple has a potentially killer front-end for content playback -- something Intel has never managed to create. Apple has also debuted Front Row, which replaces the Mac OS X interface with a screen that can be viewed from across the room, and which serves to navigate and play movies, music, and other digital content. Indeed, Front Row, which ships with the new iMacs and MacBook Pros, includes a remote control. Some have looked at Apple's ability to stream and sell videos, extensive and extending content partnerships, Front Row, and QuickTime standard -- and seen a computer that can replace the need for a TiVo-like device.

Intel, for its part, is promoting its Viiv brand (tag line: "Change the way you enjoy entertainment at home"). A Viiv-based PC is supposed to meet minimum standards for remote control of applications, on-demand digital content, DVR, and other functionality. Currently, this requires Windows Media Center Edition; but given the new partnership with Apple, there's no reason the same technology can't go toward a media center Mac -- especially with Intel designing and manufacturing Apple's computer motherboards. (On the other hand, Apple may feel that Front Row makes this unnecessary.)

"The role of the PC is evolving," said Gartenberg. "They're not giving up their current role, but adding high-definition TV, music and more."

It's not clear that any one company could do this alone. But Intel has had billions of dollars waiting for a good idea -- and Apple has nothing if not ideas.