The Essential Guide to Hardware Gifts
Kirk Steers
The flash and fun of many holiday gifts evaporate before the tinsel falls from the tree. Do you know someone whose inner geek cries out for the boring, the mundane, and the excruciatingly useful? Dare to be dull! Here are a few hardware splurges that many PC users will appreciate but few of us would think of as gifts.
Cut the clutter: Is the pile of detritus on your uncle's desk about to be declared a public nuisance? Or perhaps he likes to keep his PC at more than arm's distance. Logitech's $130 Cordless Desktop Pro keyboard/mouse, and the company's $60 Cordless MouseMan Wheel mouse will work as far as 6 feet from his system. They exchange radio frequency signals with a small transceiver that plugs into the USB port on the computer. Your uncle won't need a clear line of sight between the transceiver and the keyboard or mouse, unlike with infrared devices. The keyboard is split for greater comfort--à la Microsoft's Natural Keyboard--and it features several programmable buttons.
Prevent power palpitations: Every PC requires a steady flow of electrical current. When the current suddenly stops, so does the PC, and that can cause major trouble. If the system stops without going through Windows' shutdown sequence, key system and application files could be damaged, and unsaved work could be lost.
American Power Conversion's $159 Back-UPS Pro 500 USB uninterruptible power supply will keep a typical PC running for up to 10 minutes after a power failure or other electrical disruption. If you're away from your system when it loses power, the UPS senses the power failure and automatically runs software that closes all open files and shuts down Windows in an orderly manner.
A new bus could be just the ticket: Thanks to USB, the days of wrestling with cables snaking from the back of a computer may be over. USB connections are faster and easier than PS/2, serial, parallel, and other I/O ports on a PC. And best of all, a single USB port can run several devices.
A seven-port hub such as the $99 USB BusStation from Belkin permits you to connect and disconnect printers, scanners, keyboards, pointers, and just about any other peripheral under the sun without performing contortions to reach the PC's back panel. Belkin has USB adapters for serial, SCSI, and ethernet ports to accommodate older, non-USB devices. You can add USB capability to a PC that lacks it via a PCI card such as Belkin's $40 USB BusPort. USB works best with Windows 98 and above.
High-velocity video: If Mom is expecting a shiny new digital video camera this holiday season, she'll definitely want to add an IEEE 1394 (aka FireWire) port to her PC. An IEEE 1394 high-speed connection moves data at speeds up to 400 mbps and is becoming many digital video camera makers' download technology of choice. Apart from some new Sony and Compaq machines, few PCs come with IEEE 1394 ports. Fortunately, you can add the technology to your system via a PCI card such as SIIG's $60 1394 3-Port PCI i/e.
Sleep soundly: Is Dad losing sleep worrying about the safety of his computer equipment? Let him lock it up. Kensington's $30 Desktop MicroSaver Universal Security System cable lock attaches via a powerful adhesive to a desktop case and monitor. The company's $45 Notebook MicroSaver Security Cable attaches to the Kensington security slot built into most notebooks. You'll find a list of notebooks with a Kensington slot at the company's site.
The right tool at the right time: If you know an inveterate tinkerer whose PC's case is off more than it's on, make sure your friend has the right equipment. Belkin's $15 Standard Computer Tool Kit (11-Piece) has all the necessary demagnetized gear, including screwdrivers, tweezers, and a handy three-pronged parts retriever.
Avoid prying eyes: You can help your friends keep unwanted onlookers from viewing their computer screen by giving them a screen filter that fits over their monitor and restricts the viewing angle to 25 degrees. That way, only someone looking directly over their shoulder can see what they're playing--uhh--working on. One such device is Kensington's Security SlimScreen ($170 to $330, based on the size of the monitor).
Pardon my dust: Your PC's health depends on your keeping all its parts dust-free. A can of compressed air makes the onerous task of cleaning keyboards, mice, printers, and PC air vents a snap. You can find this great little stocking stuffer for less than $12 at most computer stores.
Give your monitor a lift: Your favorite PC users can prevent some ergonomic aches and pains by positioning their monitors appropriately. The $360 EasyLift Gas Monitor Arm from Kensington attaches to the edge of a desk and raises the monitor anywhere from a fraction of an inch to almost a foot above the desktop, and it adjusts horizontally as well. The EasyLift can hold 55 pounds, which covers most 17-inch and many 19-inch monitors. It may seem like an extravagance, but when you consider what your friends could save in medical bills and the discomfort they'll avoid, it may be the best gift they receive all year.
(Over)Set Your CPU Clock
I've heard that I can significantly boost my PC's performance by overclocking the CPU, but some people tell me that overclocking can destroy your PC. Others claim it's perfectly safe and is discouraged by CPU manufacturers only because they want you to buy a new, faster CPU. What exactly is overclocking, and if it's safe, how do I overclock my system?
Alan Goodyear, Muncie, Indiana
Every chip on a PC's motherboard produces a constant clock signal--typically at 133 MHz, 100 MHz, or 66 MHz--and much of the data flowing around the motherboard moves at that speed. Overclocking is the practice of adjusting the motherboard's clock speed so that the CPU runs faster than its original speed.
The same clock signal drives the CPU, but since most CPUs move at much faster speeds than other motherboard components, the motherboard's clock signal is multiplied to achieve the required speed. So a motherboard running at 100 MHz will accommodate a 350-MHz Pentium II CPU if the CPU clock multiplier is set to 3.5 (3.5 times 100 MHz is 350 MHz).
Since most motherboards support a number of different multiplier settings, a CPU can often be run at a faster--or overclocked--speed. Changing the multiplier is easy: Most motherboards let you change the settings either through jumpers on the motherboard or via settings in the CMOS setup program. But the most important question you asked concerns safety. I'm sure AMD and Intel would like nothing better than to sell more chips, but their disapproval of overclocking is by no means just marketing hype.
Running a CPU faster than its designated speed carries risks: A machine that performs hundreds of millions of operations per second leaves little room for error. More seriously, higher speed produces greater heat, very possibly more than your system was designed to accommodate, which can crash your machine or even destroy your CPU.
I know many people who have successfully overclocked their systems, and they claim that the risks are minimal. I also know people who have burned up an expensive CPU while experimenting with overclocking. Being cautious by nature, I don't recommend it. If you're considering taking the gamble, do your homework. Two places to start are SysOpt.com and Overclockers.com.
All Off-Board
A year or so ago I paid about $1000 for a new Celeron-based computer with built-in graphics and sound chips. Up to now, the PC has run all my word processing, spreadsheet, and other software without any problems. But I've begun to include short video clips and large graphics files in my business presentations, and unfortunately, they often appear choppy or are slow to load. Is there any way for me to install a more powerful graphics card in my current system?
Katie Latimer, Denver
Probably. Most of the systems with graphics capabilities integrated into the motherboard, such as your Celeron-based machine, provide some way to disable the on-board graphics circuitry to allow a better card to be added to an expansion slot. Some PCs go the additional step of recognizing that a graphics card has been added and automatically disabling the on-board graphics. Others may require that you change a setting in the CMOS setup program, or alter a jumper or DIP switch on the system's motherboard.
The only way to know what will work is to check your PC's documentation. However, low-cost PCs such as yours often lack the detailed technical documentation that answers this type of question, so you may need to contact the system manufacturer or, if all else fails, the motherboard manufacturer. Worse, most of these inexpensive systems also lack an AGP slot, relegating any graphics upgrade to a PCI slot, which can't deliver the performance boost that is possible with AGP.
If you're stuck with a system that won't accept a better graphics card, try upgrading your system RAM. Chances are your system has 32MB or less. Increasing your RAM to 64MB or more will provide a noticeable performance boost.
Spot the Used-PC Lemon
Thinking about buying a used PC? Before parting with your hard-earned dollars, run a diagnostic check on the system's motherboard components. Chip-level problems such as a bad RAM module, a faulty clock chip, or a damaged serial port aren't always easy to detect, and they definitely aren't easy to repair. Windsor Technologies' $10 TuffTest is an excellent diagnostic utility for BIOS-level devices. Check it out at our Downloads library.
Send tips and questions to kirk_steers@pcworld.com. We pay $50 for published items. Kirk Steers is a PC World contributing editor.