Q: I just got my notebook PC, and I’m confused about the difference between “stand-by and hibernate” modes.
A: Notebook manufacturers have come up with several schemes to save precious notebook battery life. Each of the schemes, of course, comes with its own name.
“Standby” mode typically shuts down your monitor, hard drive, and some other internal components while maintaining power to memory (RAM), where all of your open applications and documents are stored. Standby mode is therefore the preferred power-saving mode when you wish to be able to resume your work within just a few seconds.
“Hibernation”, as the term implies, puts your notebook PC into a kind of deep sleep. Not only are the monitor, hard drive, and other internal components powered down; the contents of RAM are also stored on the hard drive.
The difference between hibernation and a complete shutdown is that when your computer restarts after a hibernation, all of your applications will reappear just as they were when you initiated hibernation.
Hibernation, as you might expect, saves more power than standby mode.
Q: Why does the quality of text and other elements on the screen of my laptop reduces considerably when I change my default resolution?
A: It’s a result of a unique design characteristic of active-matrix (TFT) displays, which are supplied with most notebook computers today. The displays of today’s notebook computers are designed to run at a specific resolution. If yours came set up to run at 1,024 x 768, then that is the resolution at which screen elements will look their best. Unfortunately, if you wish to change the resolution, you’ll usually have to put up with screen elements that don’t look their best.
Q: I hate the stick pointing device that my notebook computer forces me to use to move the mouse cursor. Are there any other options?
A: Yes. Most notebook computers today let you control your pointer in one of three ways: with a track pad, trackball, or track point. Luckily, there’s a device on the market referred to as “travel mouse.” A travel mouse is a bit smaller than a regular mouse, but it’s easy to get used to otherwise. Some, such as the Kensington PocketMouse Pro (www.kensington.com/), even have a retractable cord.
