There are a lot of laptop care tips on the Web, like this one from wikiHow.  Laptop care tips are nice, but are there any “show your love” tips?  Well, that’s what I’m talking about here, tender loving care of the hardware!

If you do an Internet search for laptop care tips, you’ll notice most are repeated.  I’ll avoid that and pass along a few tips that you may not have read, starting with the cosmetic care. Then we’ll move on to internal hardware.

Laptops are like cars in that it’s almost as important how it looks as how it works. There are two parts of a laptop that are seen first and tend to create the biggest visual impression: the keyboard and the LCD screen.  Next would be the top cover and then the outer chassis.

A micro-fiber cloth with a little bit of water will work fine for most clean-up jobs. But, what if the LCD has a year’s worth of pen ink, dried finger oil or tape and sticker residue?  The micro cloth may not get the job done.  Try lightly dampening an old but soft cotton t-shirt with water, and then add a little bit of alcohol (50% isopropyl alcohol).  I use a spray bottle with a 65% water and 35% alcohol mixture.  It’s very convenient to spray the mixture on a cloth.  Gently wipe the area that you want to clean, but do not rub.  I’ve made many LCD displays look brand new doing this. The difference is almost night and day.   Very important that you do not use household cleaners as most contain ammonia, which is very bad for LCDs and other parts!

There’s nothing wrong with using alcohol unless you’re personally sensitive to it health-wise!  This article from handstands.com says otherwise.  It is only a problem if you use 70% and above alcohol as it will take paint off any plastics.   You have to use common sense and moderation with any kind of cleaner.  It’s not a bad idea to use gloves and other safety equipment like a mask.

Here’s another situation that isn’t mentioned on the Internet, but happens to a lot of people.  It involves the little rubber bumpers around the LCD display, and on the bottom of the computer.  Normally you can contact the manufacturer and request replacement bumpers to be sent for free, if the computer is in warranty.  Bumpers protect the computer like roller bladers use pads.  If you love something you would want to protect it, right?  A quick fix for bumpers not sticking properly is using two-sided sticky tape.  It’s really fast and easy.  Just take the old sticky stuff off the bumper, and then place the bumper on the tape and cut the excess tape around it.  Then place the bumper on its correct chassis position and you’re back in business.

Now to the inside of the laptop. I strongly advise that you do not use compressed air to clean the inside.  Digital Inspiration has a video on how to properly use compressed air to clean your keyboard.  Compressed air can push debris further inside the computer.  Of course some does come out but let’s face it — it’s not an efficient way of cleaning a computer.  It’s more advantageous to suck out the debris. It’s also very important that the dust and debris be removed from where the cooling fans pull in air.  If you push or pull air in the same direction as the cooling fan flows, then the heat sink fins can’t unclog properly.  It is better to back flush air through the system.  Over at Notebook Review you can see how a laptop owner had a hard time cleaning the fan and heat sink.

I use a low-power vacuum (like a portable hand vac), which I position to pull air out where normally cooling air enters the computer during operation.  It works wonders if you do it right and it prevents having to breathe the dust that compressed air blows all over the place.  It’s very important that you do not use a high-power vacuum that can suck bark off a tree!  The inside cooling fan could be damaged.  A fan vac should not spin the cooling fan to excessive RPMs.  To be extra gentle, you can hold the fan still with a cotton swab.

Well, that is it for now.  I really hope that you discovered some ideas that will help you show some love to your laptop.  If you have any maintenance tips, please share with a comment. 

Dell is launching a premium 24×7 warranty service called “Your Tech Team.” It’s the result of customer feedback on IdeaStorm and elsewhere, plus experience we’ve gained with a 30,000-customer pilot project in the New York metropolitan area.

The idea behind “Your Tech Team” is to offer consumers a one-stop, $99 option for all their Dell support needs. For details, recommend you check out Laura Bosworth’s post on Direct2Dell.

Dell launched the Studio 15 and Studio 17 laptops last week.  To kick off the launch in the UK we took some press out to the Formula 1 Test Day in Silverstone, UK, where we showed off the new products, and gave them a sneak peek of what’s to come. 

Below is a vlog with the highlights. As our spokespeople, David Clifton and Adam Griffin we were briefing our guests, the engines were roaring in the background, creating an exciting atmosphere for the day.  We could see the cars zipping around the track from the window of our briefing room.  It was pretty impressive. 

Dell sponsors the BMW-Sauber team, which meant we were able to take a tour of the pits and service roads while we were there, and driver Nick Heidfeld made an appearance at lunch.  Behind-the-scenes access aside, hosting our briefings at the F1 Test Day was fitting for another reason: Formula 1 is a sport where technology and design are utterly dependent on each other.  With Studio, we’re likewise focusing on where technology and design intersect.  While most of us are not using our laptops to analyze road surface conditions on the way to work, we are all dependent on our technology every day to surf, share, watch, learn, and stay connected – and we want it to look good in the process.

Don’t take our word for it though, Daniel at Tech Digest described the Studio laptops as tasty, while Gaj commented on the design and customisation options.  Also, check out our Flickr site for photos from the day.

So one of the “cool” applications we launched with the new Studio laptops is Dell Video Chat (DVC). This is a super easy, one-click-and-you’re-ready-to-go program that makes setting up a video chat mindless.  When we were talking to reporters about how easy DVC was to start up and use, my spokesperson, Brent Wampler, director of global product marketing, was initially greeted with a bit of skepticism. Many reporters were familiar with video chat, including one who had used it regularly in grad school while working on group projects. All agreed that “easy to use” and video chat don’t normally belong in the same sentence. So how do we qualify just how easy this is to use? To Brent’s credit, he found a way to articulate the easy set up in a way that a lot “technical” folks can relate to: “My mom can use this.” 

This is nothing against moms (I’m a  mom), but it is one of the BEST litmus tests available when trying to figure out if something is TRULY easy to use.  But Brent isn’t the only one who thought of this litmus test…check out this GREAT post on Gear Diary by Wayne Schultz, who did indeed, enlist his mom to test how easy DVC is to download and use.

I also want to recognize the folks who teamed with Dell to make Dell Video Chat a reality: SightSpeed. I met the SightSpeed team a couple of months ago, and going into the meeting, I had NO idea what DVC entailed, but after 10 minutes with Eric Quanstrom, VP of marketing, I was really excited and ready to give it a try. Eric ended the meeting by sending me a video email, which was so laid back and “real” that I went home and downloaded SightSpeed’s “free” version on our family XPS M1530 and played with it. A couple of weeks later, I was in New York on a business trip when my daughter had her braces removed and I was beside myself I couldn’t see her THAT DAY. As it happens we were actually demoing DVC to some publications and voila – my daughter logs on to SightSpeed at home, connects to the DVC account we are using for demonstrations  and  I (and everyone else in the room) get to see the most beautiful smile EVER (it was the ultimate “proud  mom” moment).

So a couple of additional points about Dell Video Chat – there are TWO versions – a full featured version that ships on all Studio Laptops and a free version that SightSpeed has made available at www.sightspeed.com/dellvideochat. The free version works on just about ANY PC – including Mac (see Wayne’s post – his mom has a Mac) and Linux, as well as Windows XP and Vista. So if you get a Studio laptop don’t think you can’t reach out to friends and family because they don’t have one. Dell Video Chat users can send their personalized “My SightSpeed” URL to ANYONE over the Internet, and that person can simply click to call the Dell Video Chat user through their Web browser with NO software download of any kind and DVC users can create and send video messages to anyone with an email account and that recipient can view those video messages without any software download of any kind. 

I promise you – it’s so easy your mom/dad/daughter/son can use it first time out!

So it looks like we had two hits in one this week: the new Studio laptops and the Dell Dock.

We knew Studio’s design and features would catch people’s interest, but Dell Dock, which premiered with Studio, turned out to be a stealth sensation and has its own online trajectory. We even scooped Engadget, with Paul Miller approvingly calling out “app-categorization magic and fairly extensive customization.”

In addition to the surge of interest from Gizmodo’s post, several bloggers singled out Dell Dock for special comment. Plugged in Blog shared some favorable first impressions, and Dell Dock merited not entirely dismissive attention from Lonnie Lazar at Cult of Mac.

Since inquiring minds like jervis961 and helmecj01 want to know more, here are a few updates:

1. Dell Dock will be available on all new Dell consumer PC models (but only with a Vista OS).
2. A downloadable version will be available to current Dell PC owners in the near future.
3. It’s available in:

• English
• Dutch
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Japanese

Thanks to great feedback and suggestions directly from customers on ways to enhance Dell’s (PRODUCT) RED offerings, you now can choose either Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED or the standard version of Windows Vista Home Premium when you purchase a Dell XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED or XPS M1530 (PRODUCT) RED laptop.

If you’re unfamiliar with (RED), it’s a global brand designed to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds for the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa. Companies whose products take on the (PRODUCT) RED mark contribute a significant percentage of the sales or portion of the profits from that product to the Global Fund to finance AIDS programs in Africa, with an emphasis on the health of women and children. Current partners are: American Express (U.K. only), Apple, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Motorola, Hallmark, Dell and Microsoft.

Since its launch in the spring of 2006, more than $100 million has been generated by (RED) partners and events for the Global Fund.  (RED) money is already at work in Swaziland, Rwanda, Ghana and Lesotho.  For more information, visit www.joinred.com.

The contribution to the Global Fund for either the XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED laptop or the XPS M1530 (PRODUCT) RED laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium is $25. The contribution for those same systems with Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED remains $50.

The XPS ONE (PRODUCT) RED all-in-one desktop PC with Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED remains Dell’s flagship (RED) offering.  Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED fits perfectly with the (RED) model of creating (RED) branded products with high consumer appeal, and combines (PRODUCT) RED with the best of all Windows Vista features in the most complete version available.

It’s all over the interwebs already, but in case you haven’t heard, Dell made a pretty big –and colorful – splash today with the launch of Studio—a sleek, colorful and nicely loaded new product line designed to unleash the blogger/poet/novelist/artist/scrapbooker/YouTuber/Annie Leibovitz in all of us.

The first tranche of systems in the new line is two laptops – Studio 15 (15.4”) and Studio 17 (17”). John Biggs at the New York Times notes, “It’s summer, so why shouldn’t one’s laptop match one’s hot-pink bikini?… Optional Blu-ray or DVD recording drives ensure you can watch a movie under your beach umbrella, while built-in Wi-Fi, cellular broadband and Bluetooth keep things connected.”

For a quick overview of these systems take a look at this video with John New from Dell’s notebook team:

Of all the color options (seven different solid lids, plus four graphite with color insets), pink seems to be the most popular callout. The fashionable gearheads at GQ made note of the pink option, but were also impressed with Dell Dock, a simple, customizable task bar that replaces multiple icons on the desktop and sorts applications by category, that’s premiering with Studio. Wilson Rothman’s overview and very nice slide show on Gizmodo even hit the front page of Techmeme. To answer your question, Wilson, you can move the dock around.

For more on the Dell Dock, take a look at this vlog:

After backing in to a compliment about Studio’s “mouth watering colors” and “a few tasty extras, Charlie Sorrel at Wired also gives Dell Dock props and suggests that “The Studio is looking like a nice alternative to the MacBook.” Note to Charlie: Not exactly the way we’d put it, but thanks!

If you think beyond the box when buying a computer – read: if you accessorize whenever you can – don’t miss the color-matched Designed for Dell line of bags, mice/mouses, portable hard drives and other personalization options.

Lots of interesting ground to cover, so look for more on Studio, Dell Dock and Designed for Dell over the next few days.

As more and more people buy laptops, some of the most common questions we hear involve wireless networking.  I know when we moved into our house we didn’t want long network cables connecting all the rooms, so we bought a wireless router.

We’ve all seen those commercials about Internet-ready wireless laptops and they look great.  No wires to plug in or trip over, and the ability to be mobile and connect from any room in the house.  What’s not to like about it? But there are some practical concerns to having a wireless network as well.

Wireless Internet routers use the same 2.4 Ghz radio wave range as most cordless phones.  If you’ve used one of those phones you know that there are places in the house where reception isn’t all that great.  The same thing can happen with wireless networks.  Walls, overhead lights, baby monitors and electrical wiring are examples of things that can cause interference.  Even the water in pine needles has been proven to cause problems. Anything that causes interference will slow down your wireless connection and could be enough to drop you offline. 

You will want to take all these into account when deciding where you want to set up your wireless router.  Linksys has some tips to help you decide where to set everything up. 

And it’s not just things inside your house that could be causing interference.  As wireless and cordless devices improve and have more range it could actually be your neighbor’s cordless phone interfering with your connection.

While wireless networking is great when it works correctly, it can be frustrating when it doesn’t.  If you’d like to learn more, and get help from other Dell customers, Dell has a forum that is dedicated to helping with wireless, Internet and networking problems. 

I’ll be posting more information on the different types of wireless cards as well as tips for troubleshooting and securing your wireless network.  Let me know what’s on your mind when it comes to wireless networking and I’ll be glad to try and work it in.

I, like everyone else, want what I want.  I sit in an office, stare at a computer all day and type my fingers to the bone.  When I get home, like you, I want my TV and I want it on my terms.  Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know how great a digital video recorder (DVR) is.  They give you the freedom to watch a show while recording another, they provide an onscreen TV guide and best of all allow you to skip commercials.  Now, what if I told you, you may already have the best DVR available in your home right now, and it doesn’t require any fees.  A Vista Media Center PC is just that, and is hands down the best TV viewing experience I have ever encountered.

Microsoft hasn’t exactly just introduced this.  For years they have built this capability into Windows to organize your music, photos and videos.  The Media Center program was written specifically to view these items on your TV.  This is commonly called the “10 Foot Interface.”  With all due respect to your grandmother’s scrapbooking efforts, nothing compares to seeing your home photos and movies elegantly organized and in high definition with your own custom audio.  All of this available, with the press of a button on your remote control.

The Vista Media Center program seamlessly records the TV shows you choose from the onscreen guide.  You can opt to record more than one show at the same time, simply by installing an additional TV tuner.  Many tuners don’t require the PC to be opened, and can even record free, over the air (OTA) high definition shows as well.  Like a traditional DVR, you can watch one show while recording another.  If you don’t want a PC in the living room, a Microsoft XBOX 360 will work just as well.  The XBOX connects to your TV, which in turns connects to your PC in another room (wired or wirelessly). 

The free onscreen guide is built into Media Center

With my beefy hard drive I can record as little or much as I like.  My measly (by today’s standards) 200 Gig hard drive has over 40 hours of HDTV.  Odds are, I’ll delete much of it, but the shows look great.   Browsing and selecting a TV show could not be easier.  A large visual thumbnail of each show scrolls across the TV with a description and the time it was recorded.  Even my three year old can successfully navigate the simplistic menu to drill into the very exact “Thomas and His Friends” that he absolutely has to watch.
 

Selecting a recorded TV show is simple and elegant

In another post, I’ll describe how you can edit the TV show you recorded, and splice it into a home movie.   Also, I’ll go into how you can rip your DVD collection and integrate it into the experience.

The fact of the matter is, I have a three year old.  So I don’t have lazy Sunday evenings to sit and watch reruns of “American Dad.”  However, at least it is still pretty darn easy to watch TV on my own terms.

PC gaming is an expensive hobby. A good video card can cost $400-$800, a good gaming computer can cost as much as 8-10 grand, your average game title can run $40-$50, and some titles (multiplayer, in particular), charge a monthly fee of $10-$20. These costs don’t even include the monthly power bill increase most gamers end up with!

I am like most people: I live on a budget. If I were to buy every game title that sounded fun, I would go broke INSTANTLY. Luckily for me (and others in my predicament), there are plenty of low to no cost options available for the gamer on a budget.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the ones that I’ve tried.

I’m an avid fan of multiplayer online games, and unfortunately, many of the most popular require a monthly fee. One that does NOT (but does require an initial purchase) is Guild Wars, and was the first multiplayer title without a subscription I had played since the Diablo series. Is it any good? I started playing it shortly after release, and still have an account to this day. Though it lacks a persistent world, reminiscent of Diablo II with its instanced adventure areas, the PvP is exciting, and the game is absolutely incredible to look at. The required system specs are also very low, and easily manageable with even 5-6 year old hardware.

A free MMO that’s fairly popular around the office is Silk Road Online. I’ve tried it myself, and was fairly surprised by the high quality of the game. It’s produced by a South Korean company called Joymax, and has a fairly thriving community. It’s your typical Everquest/WoW fantasy MMO based upon the real silk road, the trade route from China to the west, and sports a PvP system similar to Lineage II. Players can buy in game equipment from an item mall in real U.S. dollars, which is how the game developers make money.

Another free MMO that’s caught my attention is Perfect World. This game is absolutely gorgeous, and has a very helpful and active community. This game is heavily based on Chinese mythology and, like Silk Road, offers items for cash in an item mall to support the game. Unlike many MMOs, the grind in this game is quest based, so that your quest rewards provide the bulk of the XP needed for your character to level. When I haven’t been pwning people in Eve-Online, lately I’ve been enjoying this lovely addition to my gaming diet.

For those gamers that aren’t really interested in the MMO experience (yes, I know you exist), Gametap offers free game downloads of older titles. The games offered range from classic arcade games like Joust and Rampage, to titles like Deus Ex, Hitman 2, Myst, and Thief. They offer titles to buy as well, if you find that your budget has a few extra dollars in the entertainment category.

If you’re like me, though, and love a good MMORPG, GameOgre has compiled a fairly extensive list of free MMOs complete with a ratings and reviews system. Looking through them, it doesn’t look like there’s enough time in anyone’s schedule to play them all.

Now there’s almost no excuse. Get out there and GAME!