Can You Build Your Own Cheap Gaming Laptop?

If gaming is your passion then you are most likely to want to play while travelling. Playing games on your desktop computer is fun. You always hate the moment when you have to travel because you have to leave all the fun at home? I am sure it could get quite annoying! You might even cancel all your plans to travel because you cannot play your favourite PC game. Cheap gaming laptops will definitely be the thing for you. You could even try to build one from scratch.

Of course, if you have the money you could buy the best gaming laptop. In this case Alienware notebooks for games are a very good choice. A cheaper solution is an Asus gaming laptop, but probably the cheapest solution remains building a computer with new components from scratch.

So how can you build cheap gaming laptops from scratch? First of all you should not make any major compromises. Buying 2 great components but having no more money left for the rest of them will only mean you won't be able to complete your laptop. The key is to only make minor compromises.

Each type of computer needs different parts according to what it will be used for. Your gaming computer should be equipped with high speed components. A fast dual or quad processor will do the job. Another very important component is your graphics card. Your video card should be very powerful in order for your computer to be able to decently support the most recent games. You will need more than 2 GB of memory, and you should take care that the memory's speed is bigger than 800 MHz. When you buy the motherboard be sure that its FSB is high. This is basically the speed with which your data travels between components.

Don't forget about accessories which do not seem that important, but will greatly improve your gaming experience. Be sure to have a large laptop with an excellent LCD. It would be great if you could buy a 6 cell battery that lets your laptop work more than 4 hours with no charging. So now you know you can buy great gaming laptops, or even build your own. What will you choose to do?

Looking for best gaming laptops? Check out PC Dreams today!

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• An Acer Laptop Battery Vs a Generic Battery - click here
• Should I Repair or Just Buy New? A Look At the Pros and Cons of iPhone Screen Repairs - click here

Out of Office: When the Plane's Oxygen Masks Tumble Down, a Broken Laptop Is Really No Big Deal

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers and members share their business travel advice and stories from life on the road.Read all the posts here.

Feathers were everywhere. It was the end of a bad day. Some days when I travel, I feel like I move under a black cloud. It stays with me like white on rice. This was the case on this cold winter day, as I put my down coat into a bucket to travel through the security checkpoint after a long flight from India. Much to my chagrin, the coat sleeve got caught in the roller, ripping the coat, and releasing feathers that seemed to go everywhere. Airborne, they slowly fell to the earth as the gravity of the situation hit me. It had been a long day. I had started the trip in Bangalore, India. I had been traveling 22 hours. I was tired and dirty and cranky.

The security guard apologized effusively, and handed me some orange tape to repair the rip in my coat. So, I placed two wide pieces of orange tape on my coat and started to move forward to my next flight. The tape formed a large, bright-orange X that was unmistakably the mark of a bad day. I was clearly now a target. It was time to get a move on through terminal E, and on to terminal T, for my flight to San Francisco. It was sad, but laughable.

As I lifted my laptop onto my shoulder, I thought about all of my tribulations on this trip. I had arrived at the terminal in India too early, in the wrong time zone, and needed a place to take a nap. So, in a corner of the terminal, I had crawled up into a ball and eagerly looked for the time to arrive for my flight. The flight time came ever so slowly, and I learned a hard lesson about Indian time zones.

On my flight, the well-intended stewardess had served me a Diet Coke. However, as she reached for my table, the plane hit some turbulence and the soda cascaded all over the keyboard of my laptop. My face puckered up with a sour look, but the guy beside me said no worries, that he would fix it. He then proceeded to pick up my laptop and swing it over his head like a lasso trying to shake out the liquid. He then turned it on, and I slowly watched my PC trying to fire up (somewhere between Turkey and Frankfurt) like a sick set of LED lights slowly fading into the night. My heart sank.

I had work to do, and I love a long flight to sit and slowly write to pass the time. It is a treat for me to not be bombarded by media, phones and interruptions, but I could not work. My sick, wet laptop sat alone in its case. My fingers wanted to type. My brain was whirring, but I was confined to a seat for more than 12 hours, unable to do what I wanted to do. It was agony.

The lady in front of me pushed her seat back into my face leaving little room between my TV screen and my unhappy physiognomy. I was confined to this seat for 10 more hours with little room to move or work.

Then, as we moved over Nova Scotia, the plane descended rapidly, and we got to wear those horrible masks that we usually ignore in the safety videos they show before we take off. Somehow, this mask made it all seem better. I was still alive. The laptop was dead, I was exhausted, and I couldn’t believe the audacity of the lady in front of me for putting her seat back in such a tight space. But, as I touched the mask to my face, and thanked Heaven to be alive, I had perspective.

So, the rip in my coat was just the icing on a bad day. X marked the spot for an unhappy, but safe traveler.

Photo: Author's Own

How I Replaced my Laptop with the Microsoft Surface 3 Pro

I am sure you have seen the ads for the “tablet that can replace your laptop.” I bought the original Microsoft Surface when it first became available and I liked it. But I found that I couldn’t quite replace my laptop with it. The screen was too small and the battery life was too short. So when the Surface 3 Pro came out, I decided to give it a try and see if I could successfully replace my laptop.

There are plenty of blog posts reviewing the Surface 3 Pro. The purpose of this post is to share how I set it up for the places I work; in my office, in conference rooms around my office, at my home, and on the road. Completely replacing my laptop meant getting the right accessories and configuration for each of those work scenarios.

My Office

One requirement for replacing my laptop is that I want a truly great user experience at my desk in my office. Therefore, I purchased the Microsoft Surface 3 Docking Station for my desk. I highly recommend it, even though it is a little pricey. It provides a very easy dock and undock operation, like a vice gripping the tablet from each side. The docking station has a power cord (not interchangeable with the Surface power cord). It provides more than enough ports for me, and while on the dock, the Surface battery recharges.

I drive two Dell monitors using DisplayPort connections, giving me a total of three screens for working (see photo). I connect one monitor to the docking station and manually plug the other monitor cord into the side of the Surface once it is docked. I understand that I can get a DisplayPort hub or get monitors that allow daisy chaining, but I don’t find it inconvenient to plug the second monitor into the Surface, so I decided not to spend the money on a hub at this time.

Because my monitors came with standard DisplayPort cables and the Surface uses Mini DisplayPort connectors, I bought two Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapters.

I have a USB keyboard and mouse (in my case a trackball) connected to the docking station, along with external speakers.

In summary, my office desk setup includes:

• Surface Pro 3 Docking Station (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N3J8NRW)
• USB Keyboard (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NR2CJ0)
• Trackball
• Two Monitors
• Two Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort adapters (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HNF0KF0)

Home Office

In my home office, I quickly learned that plugging in the power cord when I got home and then packing the power cord up to leave home was a significant pain. (First World Problem, I know.) So I invested in a second docking station for my home office. Now when I come home, I can quickly pop the Surface into the docking station and everything works, just like at the office.

I bought the same USB keyboard for home that I have at the office so that I could get used to the same keyboard in both places. I already had a trackball at home.

At home, I connect a single external monitor rather than two. The monitor I have at home supports DVI but not DisplayPort, so I used a Mini DisplayPort to DVI cable (which I had from my original Surface) to make the connection. I plug the monitor cable into the docking station, so at home I have no cables to attach, just slip the Surface into the dock and it is ready to go.

Accessories at home:

• Surface Pro 3 Docking Station (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N3J8NRW)
• USB Keyboard (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NR2CJ0)
• Trackball
• One external DVI monitor
• Mini DisplayPort to DVI cable

In the Conference Room and On the Road

To me, the Microsoft Type Cover (which I am using now as I compose this on a plane) is OK. But if I am going to be in an hour or two of meetings in a conference room, I like to have a little better keyboard and mouse. So I bought a Bluetooth keyboard that matches my USB keyboards. The Bluetooth mouse I purchased is the Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse. It has a special Windows button and supports four-way scrolling.

Note: The Microsoft Wedge Mouse is an interesting and very portable option to consider. Obviously, with Bluetooth and USB, you have many options for input devices.

I am writing this post on my first real road trip since making the switch to the Surface. I have really enjoyed the extreme portability of the Surface. I did bring along the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and I am glad I did. In the hotel, it was nice having the better keyboard and mouse. However, the Type Cover has worked well for me on the trip as well.

Accessories for conference rooms and hotels:

• Bluetooth keyboard (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DL4C1B8)
• Microsoft Sculpt Mouse (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZC31WQ)

Note: I chose the i-Rocks keyboards because they have the flat, chiclet-type keys, which are closer to what the Type Cover has. I find it nice to have some consistency among the keyboards.

A Note about Battery Life

I have been pleased with the battery life so far (I have the i5 256GB model). I have been using the device pretty constantly for the last four hours this morning and I have over 50% of the battery remaining. I rarely have to plug in to power in meetings during the day. As long as I get some docking station time at some point during the day, the charger usually stays in the backpack.

Summary

I am pleased with the switch from a laptop to the Surface Pro 3. With the right accessories in the right places, I have found I can be just as productive in the office and at home while being more productive on the road and in the air, not to mention the lighter load in my backpack.

Buy a Laptop the Smart Way

Laptop computers are becoming increasingly popular because in addition to being portable and less expensive than desktop computers, they are much more powerful and have much more storage space than even two or three years ago. Now many of them are even being bought as replacements for older desktop computers. However, when it comes to doing certain tasks like video editing, desktop computers are still substantially faster. The new laptops are especially favored by students because of the lower price. This is a guide to choosing the best student laptops.

The weight and size are important considerations. The lightest, smallest and cheapest laptops are netbooks, and they are a good choice if you primarily want to use the internet and email and do not mind the small screen. However, they lack power and features other laptops have such as DVD drives. At the other end of the spectrum are laptops almost as powerful as desktop computers, but you may not want to be carrying around that much weight or spend the extra money. Most students will want a laptop somewhere in between these extremes, and the best student laptops are the ones with most appropriate feature set.

The CPU should be dual-core if several programs will often be running at once, as is often the case on student laptops. For example, a student may be online for research and writing with a word processing program at the same time. The amount of memory in a laptop is generally much less than in a desktop model, but you may be able to add memory yourself and save money as compared to models that require that you use a technician. These days you need two gigabytes minimum of memory. The display size also matters more if you run several programs at once, so in choosing a display size keep that in mind.

The drive in all but the smallest netbooks will be likely to have much more storage space than you will ever need. The amount of ports for connecting other devices is also likely to be more than adequate on all but the cheapest laptops. One thing that does vary a lot in laptops of the same price is battery life, so be sure to get a laptop that lets you run your computer for at least two hours between charges.

If you can afford the higher initial cost, among the very best laptops for college students are the models made by Apple. You do not have to worry about viruses as with Windows computers, and they tend to be considerably more reliable.

Checkout here for Lenovo service centre Singapore.

My Three Preferred Laptop Manufacturers

The following are three laptop brands that I prefer and have used with brief reasons as to why I think these three are leading the market at least in my opinion and from my experience with each of these brands.

Dell

Dell continues to make improvements in the quality of their laptops not that they were bad to start with. It jus seems like many like too pick on the big guys because they make a good target and now days it seems easier for some one to talk down something then it is to talk up their own or preferred product. I believe Dells quality is better that of Toshiba and Gateway and may even be better than then that of the Compaq's/HP. Like most pc manufacturers Dell uses the same components, and they make some high quality machines. I have used Dell as my system of choice for several years now and they are the one manufacturer that I do not hesitate to recommend to my friends and family.

IBM

"IBM still provides the customer service and Lenovo was manufacturing think pads long before they took "ownership" of the product line." If you need a truly portable and light weight laptop because you are on the move a lot, the T series will make for an excellent laptop, however if you want to save a little money you could get the T4x series. IBM which is now known as Lenovo who manufacture the ThinkPad's and they are very well respected in today's laptop market.

Toshiba

Computing seems to be a race with the cheapest computers gaining the largest market share; this leaves Toshiba courting the more computer knowledgeable buyers who really need the higher quality laptop for their work. If you are one who relies on your laptop for work or organizing your life, you would do well to see the extra cost as an investment and consider getting a Toshiba, or some other high-quality laptop.

Toshiba laptops are specially made of rugged material this includes the keyboard protectors. With the Toshiba you should pop in a high-capacity battery and make sure you have a back-up close by both at home and in the office as their performance does drain the life out of a battery. Toshiba themselves recommend an AC Adapter for continuous energy while working on your Laptops as well as other electronics.

Refurbished Toshiba Laptops

Refurbished laptop includes warranties on parts, and any other refurbished laptop accessories that is specified to the refurbished laptop computer. Refurbished Toshiba Satellite Laptops are clean and very stylish; they feature a smart design and are enhanced by features unique to Toshiba. Refurbished Toshiba Satellite Laptops are built to be durable and reliable; they are also put through rigorist testing so you can be confident that you're getting a top-notch, high quality Refurbished Toshiba Laptop. Toshiba knows that the consumers' happiness is their main key for their popularity and they seem to go out of their way to take care of the consumer.

Looking for used laptop singapore or laptop repair,come to www.pcdreams.com.sg.

Importance of Problems Solving (based on MOE Curriculum)

Topics include:

• Importance of Problems Solving (based on MOE Curriculum)
• What is a “Mathematics Thinking Examination”?
• What are the different types of Heuristics and Model Approach?
• 5 factors that contribute to successful problem solving
• What are the common mistakes made by students in solving Maths
  problems?

We strongly encourage parents (with child from K1 to P5) to attend this workshop to learn about the latest changes in MOE’s approach to teaching creativity and individuality in children. Parents will learn how to guide and monitor their child’s progress in Mathematics.

Speaker :

Ms Chan Sook Mei has more than 12 years’ experience in teaching Mathematics to students in kindergarten and primary school. She has conducted many workshops for Maths instructors, tutors and parents. Together with her team of Maths educators, she has developed a comprehensive set of learning materials, successful methods and tools to build students’ confidence and interests in Mathematics

eiMaths Singapore Launching Free Training to Parents at Marine Parade this month.

eiMaths Singapore Launching Free Training to Parents at Marine Parade this month.

One of the best maths tuition and enrichment centre in Singapore are giving free training to parents at Marine Parade this July 2016.

Upon announcement to the public, over 75% of the seats had been taken up via Facebook registrations. Most of the register parents comes from the east side of Singapore as the location is at Marine Parade.

The purpose of the training and talks is to allow parents who are concerned about their children of grand children on the maths tuitions and their results to better understand that there are better ways to get better results in the maths test.

Most parents in Singapore engage in maths tutor to help their children where is can cost a bomb per month. Such activities of engaging maths tutors may help but it can get very expensive and many a time, the tutors may not be too qualified or does not have the correct ability to teach the students.

Choosing a math tutor is not easy as it also depends on the character of the tutor, in addition, we also have to consider the chemistry between the tutor and the students too!

Anyway, wish eiMaths a success in the training this month. I overheard that as the event is kinda overwhelmed, they are preparing for another one at Chua Chu Kang.