Thanks for the Memory

John M. asks how one can upgrade the memory of his or her older computers when you don't know what kind of memory the computer requires. Unfortunately, there is no "one answer fits all" solution to this problem so hopefully one of the following options will do the trick.

For those with brand name computers (new or old, PC or Mac), you can often find out what kind of memory your computer needs by going directly to the memory vendors (and sometimes the resellers). Even if you're not interested in the most expensive, brand name, fully warrantied version, their sites are great for not only finding the type of memory required but also any specific limitations that apply. SimpleTech is one such vendor that has a memory search available directly from their homepage. From here, you can choose your model (such as Dell, Apple, HP, etc.) and then follow the prompts to narrow down the search as it asks about the model (desktop, laptop) and so on. What results will be a list of the memory modules and sizes that your specific computer can use. On SimpleTech's site, there are various tabs that also identify the upgrade paths and limitations. For some older computers, just because there is an 8 GB memory chip sold for your computer, it doesn't necessarily mean it can be used. Each memory vendor obviously includes links to their own memory that meets your needs and you can buy it through them or from an online reseller. If you're not going to purchase it this way, note the types of memory that the computer uses as well as the number of pins. This will usually be in the form of "PC-133" or "DD2 PC2-5300" etc. You'll want to take this information with you when you shop around, either online or at a local computer/electronics store.

That's great if your computer is a brand-name, but if its homemade, this may be a little more difficult. If you made it yourself, then chances are that you have the specs that came with the motherboard tucked away somewhere. Alternatively, most homemade computers display something about the motherboard during the boot process (before Windows even begins to load). Some of the more popular motherboard vendors are A-Bit, Asus, and Gigabyte. You may see the logo and/or the model of the motherboard listed at some point before Windows starts. Alternatively, if you get into the BIOS (usually by hitting F2, F10, F12 or some key sequence that is displayed right after you turn on the computer) there should be a screen showing "about this computer." Look for a message like "Press F10 for Setup" or "Press DEL to configure your computer" during the initial system check after the computer is powered on. If you still cannot figure out the manufacturer and model of the motherboard, you could always open up the computer and look at the motherboard itself. It should have the name and model of the board itself.

The good news is that after you find out this information, the same memory sites that were used for the brand name computers can be used if you choose the motherboard vendor instead of the computer vendor (so you would choose Asus instead of Dell, for example). Then just follow the steps above.

Another memory vendor (Crucial) has pictures of most of the common forms of PC memory. You can go to this page and see images of each kind and try to compare it with what you have in that computer. Note that this will only, at best, identify the type of memory, not the maximum or minimum or speed but it may help move you in the right direction. If you're shopping locally, you could also take one of the chips out from the computer that is to be upgraded and bring it with you.

Some things to note:

• The search sites above tell you how many memory chips or "cards" you'll need. In some cases, computers need to be upgraded in lots of 2 or 4 so buying one may not even make a difference (or be noticed by the computer)
• If you buy one with the wrong number of pins, it simply will not fit into your computer.
• Even if you buy one with the right number of pins, the speed is also important. Often, a computer can take a chip slightly faster or slower than the motherboard is expecting (a faster chip will not run any faster since the computer still runs at the original speed but a slower chip may slow down the computer's memory access).
• Remember that when you are buying memory, you may have to replace the existing memory. For example, if your computer has 2 memory slots and both have 512 MB of RAM in them (giving you 1 GB today), you'll need to buy two 1 GB modules to bring the computer up to 2 GB. In reality, you aren't "adding" 1 GB, you're replacing everything.
  
• Each chip has one or more notches in it and the bank of chips is not perfectly symmetrical. This is a good thing and it forces you to put the chip in the right way. If it doesn't fit, flip it around and try again. Don't force it in!
• Most newer memory that is in a computer is labeled with the type and size of the module. That was not always the case. If your older computer has removable memory that isn't labeled, there is often a "code" on it that a memory expert (such as a reseller) can translate into what type it actually is.
  
• What do you do with old memory? Sometimes, laser printers allow memory upgrades. Since a printer doesn't need the 4 GB of memory that today's new computer might need, a 64 MB or 128 MB module might be perfect. Of course, it has to fit so if you have a printer that is upgradable, check the vendor sites for the specs on the printer.
• If you are uncomfortable upgrading the memory yourself, then don't do it! Bring the computer to a local computer shop to have it done.
• The memory may vary by $100 or more between vendors. Generic memory may be nearly identical to the more expensive memory but has not gone through as rigorous testing and may contain defects not found in the expensive version. You'll need to weigh how important it is that you don't experience system crashes or the possibility that you might need to replace the memory in a few years. If this is your company's mail or database server we're talking about, the choice should be clear. On the other hand, buying the cheapest possible for your Internet web-surfing PC may be perfectly acceptable.
  

Some good vendor sites

• Kingston: www.kingston.com
• Crucial: www.crucial.com
• SimpleTech: www.simpletech.com
• How to install memory
• The Chip Merchant: An online memory-selling company that I have used frequently. They also have memory identification tools.

Thanks, John, for the question!

Review: Apple TV

Back in 2000, I purchased a Replay TV 3000 series DVR. This digitally recorded television shows based on the actual show schedule, not any particular time of day. In many ways, it was like a Tivo but after looking at both of them, I determined it was better than the Tivo at the time. A couple years later, I upgraded to a 4500 series Replay. This box now had a broadband Internet connection and, out of the box, could share shows with other Replay devices in the house as well as with approved "friends" online. Remember, this was 4-5 years ago, several years before Tivo allowed network access (without hacking the box, that is).

Unfortunately, through several acquisitions and poor company direction, Replay is just a memory now. Unlike the Tivo, it only had a single tuner and it also required a semi-complicated setup in order to control the cable or satellite boxes. There's also no high-definition version available. So, when I upgraded my satellite to high-definition and it included a dual-tuner, HD digital recorder and a comparable program guide to that of my old Replay, the Replay units got boxed up and put into the closet.

There's just one problem. Replay online community was fantastic for sharing missed shows. If you missed last night's "Survivor Finale," for example, you could post to one of several community discussion boards and the next morning, you'd find a request on the Replay stating that one or more people were offering you a copy of that show. It might take 24 hours or more to receive a show, mind you (since most broadband services upload at 10% of the speed you get for downloading, the person sending you the show had to "trickle" it upstream for quite some time). Usually within a day or two, though, you'd have the missing show and life could go on. The boxes supplied by the cable and satellite companies don't have anything like this (for obvious reasons).

Enter the Apple TV. When this was announced back in January, I thought, "that's nice, but not for me." My rational was that I don't purchase TV shows for $1.99 (most of the popular TV shows can be downloaded via iTunes the morning after it first airs) and I don't buy or rent a lot of movies. I figured that the Apple TV would be more for people who have been downloading shows, movies, and music videos. These had been available since the iPod started supporting video and I imagined that the people who already owned these would easily be in the market to watch them on something other than a 3 inch iPod screen or from a computer.

However, as the actual release of the Apple TV got closer, I rethought my strategy. If I did miss an episode of 24, I could download it and watch it, much like I did with the Replay. The online photo album is also something that the Replay had which Apple TV is once again offering me. I can also take my own purchased movies and easily load them onto the Apple TV for on-demand. I had decided that the Apple TV would actually be welcome in my home. And, like most things Apple, I expected it to be easy to use and have na intuitive interface.

Apple TV was everything I had hoped it would be with very few exceptions. The installation was easy and getting it to connect to the primary computer was simple, Since I have more than 40 GB of music and videos on my computer, I had to choose what would actually get loaded. iTunes allows you to select play lists to sync as well as some interesting options for the videos. For example, you can tell it to sync unwatched episodes of all shows or just specific ones. Thus, after viewing the show on the TV, it will be removed from the Apple TV in order to free up space. I made three playlists on my computer: Apple TV Music, Apple TV Movies, and Apple TV (for TV shows) and then told iTunes to sync just those three playlists with the Apple TV. This way, I could have a subset of my shows, movies, and music loaded and easily managed from the computer.

The Apple TV does not need to store everything that it has access to. If the primary computer is on and iTunes is running, Apple TV can browse everything within iTunes. Thus, the 40 GB hard drive is really only necessary for storing photos as well as anything that you want to be available without having to stream from the computer. If you have a fast enough wireless or just about any wired network, this should be sufficient to give you almost unlimited capacity.

If you do fill up the hard drive, Apple TV starts sacrificing files to make room during a sync. For example, first your photos will fall off. Then the music. Then videos. There doesn't seem to be any place to control how it determines what stays and what goes but I must admit, I didn't try very hard because I agreed with its logic (that is, the photos and music were nice-to-have items but, let's face it, I really want my Apple TV to show videos). It's not an all-or-none, situation, either. It will only remove enough of the lower-priority items like photos to make enough room for what you are trying to upload. Apple also now sells a 160 GB version of the Apple TV which should alleviate this problem for most people.

As good as it is, it isn't perfect. Syncing 40 GB wirelessly, even on a next-generation "N" network, is going to take all night. Set aside a weekend if you are doing 160 GB. Note that I tested this with a non-Apple brand Wireless-N router so it is possible that the network speed would be improved with Apple-only equipment. If its possible to hook a network cable up to the Apple TV in order for it to sync over a wired network, even if only for the initial sync, I'd strongly recommend it. I ran a 50-foot Ethernet cable down the hall and the thing went from 0 to 40 GB in minutes.

Another problem seems to be with streaming from multiple computers. My primary computer (a Mac in this case) is wired to the router and the Apple TV connects to the same router wirelessly. The type sync and stream perfectly. Any other computer (Mac or PC) that is wireless on the same network cannot seem to stream to the Apple TV. If I take that same computer and plug it into the same router with a cable, the two can see each other and we can stream. It's the weirdest thing and I don't see other people complaining about it but this has been the case for me through multiple reboots, reinstalls, and restoring the Apple TV to factory settings and starting over. Some have suggested that if I were using Apple routers, I wouldn't have this issue which is possible but nothing I've tested yet.

Finally, there is the remote. It's small and simple and works quite well. My only complaint here is that sometimes you want to go back or forward 5-10 seconds (such as when the phone rings, you hit pause, and when you come back, you want to back up to hear what you missed while the phone was ringing). On most DVRs, there's a replay or back button. On the Apple TV, you hit pause and then back. If you just hit back, you go to the beginning of the section, which may be several minutes back. Some of this is just habit; if you paused when you answered the phone, you just have to hit "back" then "play" to get those results. Sometimes, though, you just ask "what did he just say" and pressing "pause" then "back" then "play" to replay the last 10 seconds seems like an extra few steps. Like I said, my complaints are minor!

Perhaps you have your own movies or TV shows that were obtained outside of iTunes. You'll probably need to convert them for playback on the Apple TV. iTunes can do this for you but there are also other 3rd party applications that can turn your DVD collection, DiVX movies, or AVI/MPG files to Apple TV format. Then, its just a matter of importing them into iTunes and treating them like any other file you want synced with your Apple TV.

So, after a few months, I have to say that I'm happy with my decision to reconsider the Apple TV and trust that the few bugs I've experienced will be fixed in future software releases. I still use my satellite DVR to record current shows and watch them a few days or weeks later. But, I also like having the ability to download a missed show and watch it on an actual television instead of a computer screen or being forced to burn it onto a DVD. Apple's TV is nothing new. There have been digital playback devices available for a while. There have been "multimedia PCs" that can play to a TV. Apple, however, simplified this so that the casual consumer can purchase the device and be up and running soon after they get it home. Hackers can build their own device that isn't tied to iTunes or a 160 GB maximum sized hard drive. However, for $299, this is a great product that you may not only want to consider for yourself but also as a gift to parents or friends who might enjoy flexible TV viewing.

Convergence of Technologies

I have a smart cell phone. It runs Windows Mobile 6 and gets my email. It can surf the web and sync my contacts with Outlook. It can even take pictures and play music. The problem is, it really isn't the best at any of its features, but it sure does have a lot of them.

As technology gets smaller and better, products with several seemingly unrelated functions merge together. If you purchased a cell phone in the last 3-5 years, you surely know about the choice as to whether it includes a camera or not (and if you haven't, then it may be time to upgrade). Prior to that, your biggest choices were whether the phone was a "flip" or "candy bar" model. I don't know anyone who said "you know, I sure wish my phone took pictures" but now it's a reasonable question (and almost a required feature if you're under 30). Why not? You're less likely to leave home without your cell phone than your American Express. You'll always have a camera with you to take candid shots of friends or for just fooling around while out on the town. In the US, at least, video cell phones are not really as widely available nor as popular as they are in Europe or Asia, but that will change as well, I'm sure.

The problem is that if you want the best of everything, you don't really have the option of a single device. If you want a good cell phone for making and receiving calls, get the $50 model. It turns on nearly instantly (it doesn't have to "boot up") and it feels like, well, a phone.

But if portable email is your thing, then you want a Blackberry. Nothing quite tops the instant receipt of an email. If you have a Blackberry and only use it for email, the battery will last you a week or more and the setup is simple (especially if you work for a company with a Blackberry server). Its not the best phone, however.

If you take pictures regularly, there is no doubt that a camera phone shouldn't be your tool of trade. For under $100 you can get a digital camera about the shape of a thick credit card that will take infinitely better pictures. These cameras do not, however, answer the phone or receive email.

If surfing the web is what you want to do remotely, then you need something larger than a phone. A Smartphone might do a decent job of it, but if you're looking for the "best tool" you'll really want a ultra-portable notebook. These ultra-portables have bigger screens than phones but smaller than your typical notebook. If you want processing power for that Excel spreadsheet, though, you'll need a full sized notebook computer and if you want the most power, you can give up portability for a sleek desktop or workstation computer.

My GPS in my car tells me where to turn and speaks the street names to me. It even receives traffic updates so it can tell me if there is a better route available (that maybe wasn't such a good choice yesterday). To me, there is nothing more that I want and it truly is the best of its class in my opinion. However, it also can play slide shows of pictures, play music or audio books, or stream music from my cell phone. I've never used those features because I have better technology available to do so.

What I'm getting at is that its going to be a while before everything truly converges. Sure, some devices will merge together and they will hopefully remain the best in at least their core competency (that is, a GPS better get the directions right even if it doesn't serve as the best option for music playing). I suspect that there will be leaps, though.

I think that is why the world is holding its breath waiting for the iPhone right now. There are already phones out there with touch-screen functions. Many phones already play MP3 or AAC music. There are quite a few phones that allow web access. Apple didn't invent any of these. However, there's a chance that they'll get this right; if not in its first generation, then soon thereafter. There's just that slight possibility that there will be a new device that is the best at doing two different things (dare we hope for three or more?). Many of us are hoping that multiple technologies that we bring with us everywhere (like the our iPods and our phones and our email devices) will converge into one and we won't feel like we're losing something for teh convenience of carrying fewer devices with us.

I don't have one. No one has offered me one. I certainly can see myself with one someday but not on day one (mainly because I don't want to camp out for the next two weeks just to be the first). I'm hopeful that a leap forward in convergence is around the corner. Check back in a few weeks and I'll probably have an updated opinion!

Should I Upgrade to Vista?

I lately have been getting asked "Should I upgrade to Windows Vista?" For obvious reasons, questions like these seem to come up around the time any new operating system comes out. You have to first ask the following question. It may seem obvious at first, but truly, I've found a lot of people seem to skip it. That question is:

"What is it that Vista does that I cannot do today?"

The answer to that question may direct you to the ultimate solution. If Vista is offering something that you are missing right now, then that need may trump any other answer as to why you should or should not switch to Vista tomorrow, next month, or in 2008.

That being said, I have run Vista on a number of computers (desktops and laptops) and have found that, at best, Vista worked well but ran slower than the same exact PC running Windows XP. That's because Vista uses more memory. It uses more hard drive space. It uses more graphics to draw the windows and icons (which slow down scrolling, selecting icons, etc.). I say "at best" because if you have a computer with over 1 GB of memory, a lot of free hard drive space, and a good graphics card, the slow down may be subtle (but still noticeable). If you purchased a new PC that came with Vista, chances are it has at least the minimum to support a decent experience (but if you were to rebuild the PC with Windows XP, it would seem like it went a lot faster as well).

At worst, the switch is painful. Vista looks "prettier" but this comes at a cost. You may actually see the windows being drawn on a slower PC or one without accelerated graphics capabilities. Likewise, Vista solves a lot of the virus and spyware problems by asking you a few more times "Are you sure?" Copy a file from folder A to B? Are you sure? Really? OK! Strangely, it isn't consistent with the number of times it asks you (moving your own files, it may only ask you once but if you move files common to all users of the PC, it may ask 2 or 3 times).

It is quite likely that at some point, programs will be released that require Vista. New hardware might not come with drivers for Windows XP or any other earlier version of Windows. New computers that come with Vista pre-installed may not easily downgrade to Windows XP. When that happens, you have to answer "I need Vista in order to continue using the latest hardware and/or software."

In the business world, the enhancements available to Vista today are much more significant. The new group policy structure allows a greater amount of control to be delegated to the IT department. Security improvements create better confidence that the stolen laptop won't be easily compromised nor will employees be downloading company documents to USB keys or iPods (unless, of course, you want them to).

This brings me back to the original question: What do you need Vista for? All of the above is moot if there is some application that only works on Vista or some other need not met in a previous operating system. If you're looking for just the prettier graphics and the new set of screen savers, then you'll be giving up some speed to get there.

About Me

My name is Ken Linger and I work in the IT industry. Inside and out of work, I find I am always answering computer questions for friends and relatives. While I spend the days designing global network infrastructures and Voice over IP roll out plans, the questions that tend to be asked of me by others are more in line with helping end-users with the day-to-day usage of their personal computers.

I use Macs. I use PCs. I have experience with SmartPhones, Blackberries, iPods, Windows Vista and Apple ][s. If you have a computer-related question that you would like to see addressed, send it to me and I'll see if I can help you out!