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Advantages Of High-Efficiency Stereo Amplifiers

If you are about to purchase a new audio amplifier, you may be wondering how efficiently your amp works. I will explain what the term “power efficiency” means and why you should take a closer look at this number during your selection of a new amp.

The less efficient your amp, the more energy will be wasted which results in several problems: A lot of wasted energy obviously means higher operating cost which means that a more expensive amplifier can actually in the long run be less expensive than a cheaper model with lower efficiency. Lower efficiency amps will dissipate a lot of energy as heat. Heat does not radiate well from small surfaces. Therefore low-efficiency amps need to use heat sinks. These heat sinks consume a fair amount of space and make the amp bulky and heavy. Further, they increase the cost of the amp. Low-efficiency amps further require a good amount of circulation around the amp. Thus they cannot be placed in close spaces or inside air-tight enclosures.

Since low-efficiency amps will deliver only a small fraction of the power consumed by the amp as usable audio power, the amp requires a larger power supply than high-efficiency models resulting in higher cost. Further, due to the large amount of heat, there will be much higher thermal stress on the electric components as well as internal materials which may cause reliability problems. In contrast, high-efficiency amps can be made small and lightweight.

When shopping for an amp, you can find the efficiency in the data sheet. This value is usually expressed as a percentage. Class-A amplifiers are amongst the least efficient and offer a power efficiency of around 25% only. In contrast, switching amplifiers, also known as Class-D amps offer efficiencies of up to 98%. Having an amp with an efficiency of 90% for example means that 10% of the power that is used is wasted while 90% would be audio power.

However, there are a few things to note about power efficiency. Firstly, this value is dependent on the amount of power that the amp is delivering. Every audio amp will consume a certain amount of power regardless of whether or not it supplies any power to the speaker. For that reason the lower the power the amp delivers, the lower the power efficiency. For that reason audio manufacturers typically specify the efficiency for the highest audio power that the amp can deliver.

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Amazon Kindle Fire Review

The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com Inc., unveiled its all-new tablet on September 28, 2011. The tablet is called the Amazon Kindle Fire and will be available in the US market on November 15, 2011. A lot of buzz has been generated since Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos, made the announcement.

Apple’s iPad has single-handedly dominated the tablet PC landscape since its launch in early 2010. With so many tablets being launched since 2010, the question always arises as to how these new tablets stack up against the market leader, the Apple iPad 2.

We have seen many top tech companies launch their own version of tablet PCs like the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom and RIM’s Blackberry Playbook, to name a few. However, none of these competitors have been able to significantly impact Apple’s domination in the tablet PC arena so far.

At first glance, looks like the Amazon’s all-new tablet will pose a significant challenge to the iPad 2, especially that it’s priced at $199 compared to Apple’s iPad 2 price of $499. However, a closer look at the specifications and features is required to help determine which tablet is right for you. Having said so, let’s take a close look at the pros and cons of the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Operating System: the Amazon Kindle Fire runs on a customized version of Android 2.3 OS, whereas, the Apple iPad 2 runs Apple’s iOS 4.3.1. Without getting too technical, these two operating systems are comparable, with a few differences. However, with the combination of the new cloud-accelerated split browser, Amazon Silk, the web experience on the Kindle is expected to have an advantage in terms of speed and performance.

Amazon Silk Browser: as briefly mentioned above, Silk is a cloud-accelerated internet browser that is exclusive to Amazon’s Kindle Fire. In simple terms, this innovative web browser does all the heavy lifting through Amazon’s remote servers, thereby using less resources of the Kindle Fire device. This not only helps in the tablets speed and performance, but also conserves battery life.

Processor: the Kindle Fire uses the TI OMAP 4 dual-core processor, whereas, the iPad 2 uses Apple’s A5 dual-core processor. Both the processors have a speed of 1 GHz, therefore, they are quite comparable in terms of speed.

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Tips for Buying a Budget Laptop for College

One thing every student is going to need is a notebook. The main benefits include size and portability over desktop computers. If it is going to be his first notebook, we suggest getting a cheaper one to learn all its features before moving to a higher end model. Here are some tips to keep in mind before you shell out money on a budget notebook.

1) Size: Notebooks come in a variety of sizes. You might find the 16 inch laptops a joy to use but they are not that practical to lug around all day. That is why, we recommend trying out netbooks like Asus Eee PC X101 and Lenovo X120e which weigh less than 2 pounds and are much easier to carry around. X101 runs Meego operating system that boots in less than 5 seconds. Thanks to its aggressive power saving techniques, you will easily be able to get around 4 hours from its small 3 cell battery.

2) Storage and RAM: There are two kinds of memories inside a computer – hard disk and RAM. RAM is volatile storage which means that all data is erased after you turn off the computer. On the other hand, data stored on the hard disk or a solid state drives is persistent. Photoshop, operating system and Office apps require a lot of space and that is why, we recommend getting at least 160GB hard disk and a minimum of 1GB RAM. If you are planning to do a lot of multitasking, consider getting a notebook with 2GB RAM.

3) Processor: Most of the mini notebooks come with Intel Atom processors. They are very power frugal and deliver excellent battery life. For college work, an Atom processor is more than enough. However, if you are planning to do a bit of gaming as well, get one with an Intel Core i7 processor.

4) Operating system: Most of the notebooks, other than Apple, come with Windows 7. Apple computers run Mac OS X and are not compatible with the plethora of PC applications. Some PC manufactures also sell laptops with Meego or Ubuntu OS pre-loaded to save costs. Almost all of them come with windows drivers.

5) Warranty: Most electronic stores and outlets often offer extended warranties that cover small or big damage for few years. However, we recommend getting extended warranties from the actual computer manufacture itself as they have ready supply of parts that would be required for repairing. All the notebooks come with 1 year warranty as standard that cover most of the hardware damages

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Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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PC Backup Services Software

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