Get yourself the HP G62 Core i3 laptop for only R 6750!

*Please note that this special is no longer available*:

The HP G62 notebook has been making a few waves in the industry of late, mainly due to the impressive specs it boasts, for the decidedly competitive price tag that it carries.

Check it out - stylish and sleek:

...and the specs:

Intel Core i3 2.26Ghz

4GB RAM (2 modules)

320GB HDD

15.6" HD LED

Webcam & Built-in mic

Wireless LAN (802.11b,g,n)

LAN

Bluetooth

3 x USB

1 x VGA out

1 x HDMI out

DVD-RW with Lightscribe

5-in-1 Card Reader

Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit (no media in box - user needs to create recovery DVD's in Windows)

6 Cell Battery

1 Year Carry-in Warranty

Current pricing = R 6750 (in stock now)

Now these specs are all nice and shiny here, but how does this baby run?

Well I have setup several of these machines this week, and my first impressions were really good.

From experience, any laptop that retails for this kind of price will be capable of a Windows Experience Index base score of about 3.5 - 3.6.

That sits squarely in the middle of the road in terms of performance - for more about Windows Experience Index scores, see this article.

The HP G62, however, generates a Windows Experience Index base score of 4.6, which is well above the average in this price range - and it certainly shows.

Add to that the "future-proofing", inherent in buying a Core i3 notebook, and you have a sure winner for the price.

The HP G62 is currently in stock, but they are going fast so click here to get your order in now!

Alternatively, fill out our Contact Form for any queries about the product.

...and the fine print: :)

- Terms strictly COD

- Strictly no returns or credit on opened goods

- All pricing above is subject to stock availability - to be confirmed on placement of order

- Above pricing is valid for 7 working days only

- Please allow 4-6 working days for delivery
- Nybbles and Bytes cc is not VAT registered

*Please note that this special is no longer available*

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The most irritating part of Windows XP...

I love Windows XP.
Well, I don't actually LOVE it in the traditional sense of the word, but man oh man it stands out as one great operating system.

Sure, it has already been double-eclipsed by the likes of Windows Vista (aaarrgghhhh!) and Windows 7 (...hmmm not doing too badly so far!).
Even so, many of my clients and colleagues alike still swear by it, either because of all the bad press surrounding Vista, or because they fear that Windows 7 may be as bad as Vista... :)

I just have one point of contention about Windows XP - when Microsoft were coding it, designing it, creating it and making it a reality, what on earth made them think that Windows XP will only ever be installed in a noise-friendly environment?
Have you ever installed Windows XP yourself? Try it out sometime if you haven't - there is a point near the end of the install where some chilled out "Enya"-like music decides to play (if the correct sound card driver loads), while you click through various configuration screens.
Now this is all well and good, and it certainly isn't the worst piece of background music that they could have chosen, but it wouldn't have killed Microsoft to put a darn MUTE button in there somewhere...!

I am a bit of a geek, since only a geek could ever be caught installing Windows XP late at night... the point here is that the last thing you need at that point is music to come blaring out during your installation - and Microsoft seem to have set the volume level to "just too loud".
The music continues on as you click through various options, and for the life of me I have never been able to find out how to shut it up.
No amount of "Mute" combo keys can do the trick, at least not in my experience. One post I found online suggested cutting off a 3.5" headphone jack and plugging it into the audio out, which tricks the PC / laptop into muting the sound :)

BTW, if you want to hear the music I am referring to, but don't feel like doing a full XP install, just navigate to C:/WINDOWS/system32/oobe/images/title.wma if you are running Windows XP - that's your song!

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Windows 7 "Black Screen of Death" rears its ugly head...

By now a lot of PC users have made the switch to Windows 7, being that it is clearly lightyears ahead of Vista in terms of usability and stability... or is it?

Most recently, the "Black Screen of Death" has made its presence felt among the Windows 7 community.
The result is a machine that boots up to a black desktop with a mouse cursor.
No taskbar.
No icons.
In some cases even CTRL-ALT-DEL does absolutely zip.

Thankfully, the boffins over at Prevx have come up with a patch that should resolve most (but not all) cases of the problem. To quote their site:

1) Restart your PC
2) Logon and wait for the black screen to appear
3) Make sure your PC should be able to connect to the internet (black screen does not appear to affect this)
4) Press the CTRL, ALT and DEL keys simultaneously
5) When prompted, Click Start Task Manager
6) In Task Manager Click on the Application Tab
7) Next Click New Task
8) Now enter the command:

"C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "http://info.prevx.com/download.asp?GRAB=BLACKSCREENFIX"

NB: If the Task Manager does not appear after step 4, restart the PC and hit F8 before Windows starts to load, then select "Safe mode with Networking", and continue from step 5.

9) Click OK and your browser should start up and begin the download process
10) When prompted for the download Click run, the black screen fix program will download and run to automatically fix the issue.
11) Now restart your PC and the black screen problem will hopefully be gone.

Hopefully... it certainly worked for me!

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Need a compact yet powerful laptop...? Look no further...:

Looking for a decent laptop and wanting to try out the new Windows 7?

Well here's a deal that you should seriously consider - the Dell Vostro 1320 comes pre-installed with Windows XP Pro (in case you don't want to switch to Windows 7 just yet), but it ships with the Windows 7 DVD as well, and the upgrade process is pretty quick.

Featuring a decent set of hardware specs, this is a compact workhorse (weighing only 1.86kg) that will still be going strong years from now.
Check it out:

Dell Vostro 1320

13.3" Widescreen (1280 x 800)

Intel® C2D P8600 2.4GHZ

2Gb (1x2Gb) 800MHz DDR2

250GB HDD (7200RPM)
8X DVD+/-RW
MS Windows XP Professional
802.11(b/g) & Bluetooth
1.3MP Webcam
Intel® Integrated GMA X4500
WinXP Pro & Win7 Pro Media included
No Bag
MS Works 9.0
3 Year Next Business Day
6-cell 48WHr Li-Ion Battery
Weight - 1.86kg
Current Pricing = R 12250
 
Order now by clicking here to email me.
As always, T's & C's apply:
- terms strictly COD;
- pricing subject to stock availability;
- please allow 4 - 6 working days for delivery.

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Compaq 610 Laptop on Special - nice specs at a decent price :)

So by now you have surely heard of Windows 7...

Your colleagues have mentioned it, no doubt you have heard it mentioned it on TV somewhere.
Maybe you read about it in Popular Mechanics...

Now you can get it for yourself with this special on the Compaq 610 Notebook, and if for some reason you decide Windows 7 is not for you, it's no problem because HP will throw in copy of old faithful, XP Professional for you :)

Check it out:

HP Compaq 610 (VC271EA)



Replaces NX553EA
Intel Core 2 Duo T5870 (2.00GHz, 800-MHz FSB, 2-MB L2 cache)
2GB RAM - 1 DIMM
320GB 7200rpm HDD
Mobile™ Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
DVD +/-RW DL SuperMulti Lightscribe
W/Lan 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.1
15.6" HD LCD
2 MP Webcam
3 x USB Ports
1 x ExpressCard/34 slot
1 x Secure Digital (SD)/MultiMedia Card (MMC) slot
Windows 7 PRO 32
Office Ready 60-day Trial
XP Pro Downgrade Option (CD Included)
Including Carry Bag

Current Pricing = R 6850

- Pricing is subject to stock availability;
- Pricing valid for 7 working days;
- Terms strictly COD.
- Please allow 4-6 working days for delivery (A delivery fee will be added for delivery outside of Johannesburg)

Drop me a mail here if you want to place an order or for more information on the product.

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MSI AE2220 now available...

Re my post earlier this week about the awesome new MSI AE2220 Multi-touch PC, I can confirm that stock is now available at the introductory price of R 11000.

This is one serious piece of hardware which ships with Windows 7, and makes use of a multi-touch display.
Need to check out the specs? Click here to check out my original post on the subject.
Get in early and place your order now - just drop me an email at plur@mweb.co.za to secure your MSI AE2220.

As always, T&C's apply - pricing is subject to stock availability; please allow 4-6 working days for delivery.

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MSI AE2220 All-in-one Windows 7 Touch PC - awesome!

MSI has launched the "Wind Top AE2220" Touch PC, shipped with Windows 7 Home Premium.

This product deserves a serious look if you are in the market for a new PC - apart from the stylish packaging and multi-touch screen (which bears more than a casual resemblance to the original Apple Cinema Display :) , take a peek at these specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo T6600 2.2GHz processor with 2MB L2 cache and 800MHz FSB
21.5" Multitouch Display (1920 x 1080)
NVIDIA Ion Chipset,
4GB of DDR2 RAM,
640GB 5400RPM Hard Drive,
NVIDIA GeForce 9300 graphics card with 256MB of memory,
Dual Layer DVD-RW
SRS Premium Sound audio system with 2 speakers (5W)
802.11n Wi-Fi
Gigabit LAN
1.3MP webcam
6-in-1 card reader
HDMI Port
VGA Port
6 x USB Ports
eSATA Port
IR Receiver with MCE Remote Control
Windows 7 Home Premium
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Interested? I know I am!
Drop me a mail at plur@mweb.co.za and I will keep you updated - stock will be available shortly.

Estimated pricing will be around R 10 500 - R 11 000.

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It's gonna be a big week for Windows...

The long wait is almost over, and Windows 7 is only 2 days away.

I am sure that many users will breathe a sigh of relief as Vista's replacement hits the shelves.
Early in its life, Vista quickly developed an infamous reputation for the acceleration of grey hairs, in technicians and end-users alike.
Personally I found Vista to be acceptable when used for day-to-day office tasks (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint, surfing the net, using Skype, playing the occasional game etc...)

It all went rather banana-shaped though, if you tried to throw too much at Vista at once.
Softline's Pastel is a great example here, with Vista requiring some serious tweaking, poking, prodding and patching in order for Pastel to run in a near-stable fashion.

Now Microsoft promises a stable and ground-breaking new operating system in Windows 7.
Beta releases among testers and end-users have produced promising results, so we can only hope that this bodes well for the newest addition to the Microsoft stable.

Looking back, Windows 7 marks 24 years since the first iteration of Windows was launched.
Let's take a quick journey back in time to see where it all began...:

- November 1985 Windows 1.01
- November 1987 Windows 2.03
- May 1988 Windows 2.10
- March 1989 Windows 2.11
- May 1990 Windows 3.0
- March 1992 Windows 3.1x
- October 1992 Windows For Workgroups 3.1
- July 1993 Windows NT 3.1
- December 1993 Windows For Workgroups 3.11
- January 1994 Windows 3.2 (released in Simplified Chinese only)
- September 1994 Windows NT 3.5
- May 1995 Windows NT 3.51
- August 1995 Windows 95 4.0.950
- July 1996 Windows NT 4.0
- June 1998 Windows 98 4.10.1998
- May 1999 Windows 98 SE 4.10.2222
- February 2000 Windows 2000 NT 5.0.2195
- September 2000 Windows Me 4.90.3000
- October 2001 Windows XP NT 5.1.2600
- March 2003 Windows XP 64-bit Edition (IA-64) NT 5.2.3790
- April 2003 Windows Server 2003 NT 5.2.3790
- April 2005 Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- July 2006 Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs
- January 2007 (retail) Windows Vista NT 6.0.6002
- July 2007 Windows Home Server
- February 2008 Windows Server 2008 NT 6.0.6002
- October 2009 Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

What do you think they will call the next version of Windows...?

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