Are YOU a Laptop Wannabe?(new owner, that is)

Laptops are portable, they’re stylish, and let’s face it: the opposite sex will think you more sophisticated when you’re suavely tapping out your latest blog entry at the coffee shop. Okay, that’s probably not true, but they are fun to have for both work and play. A laptop’s wi-fi can offer the same conveniences as being in the office via virtual private networks. You can take anything you need with you, having remote accesses to your files at the office so long as you have an Internet connection. It’s all there with you, even if it annoys your significant other when you bring work home.

I decided in shopping for a laptop suitable to my needs, I would search within three main areas:

1. My budget would be around $1800.

2. I needed something portable (13 in or 14 in screen), and under 5 lbs.

3. I needed a laptop that had a strong performance and manufacturing record.

This is what TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate laptop computers:

* Size: The purpose of a laptop computer is to be portable without sacrificing power. If you need something with an optical drive (CD-RW, DVD±R, etc.), a little more power and screen size, but still need a light weight machine, consider an ultra portable laptop, but remember, the smaller the package the larger the price tag.
* 13" to 15" screen size laptops will weigh between 3lbs and 6 lbs.
* 12" screen size will weigh less than 2lbs (but this may seem small for college use; it's designed for people on the go, to check emails, schedules, etc.).
* >15" screen size is for gaming, and it will weigh more than 7lbs ( forget it, not for school use).

* Battery Life: No one likes being tethered to a wall, that's the whole reason for getting the laptop. Look for a system that can hold a charge for several hours.There is nothing worse than looking for an outlet in the middle of a project.

* Screen Size: Typically the larger the laptop's screen size the larger the whole system. Remember, if you need a screen that rivals your desktop at home prepare to build those biceps. However, there are ultra slim laptops with 19 inch screens, but they are mighty expensive and although your computer will be lighter, so will your wallet.

So, for me, these have become the primary things to consider when buying a laptop :

* How much you are willing to spend for a laptop
* Size ( weight ) vs Cost
* Laptop brand vs Quality
* New laptop vs used ( refurbished)
* Laptop’s life
* Basic Configuration

My suggestions have wound up in the following order:

1. Thinkpad (shop.lenovo.com)
2. Dell
3. HP
4. Sony
5. Toshiba
6. Fujitsu
7. Acer
8. Don’t think of buying other brands.
(Thinkpad R series and T series laptops are the best ones. If you know someone who works for IBM, they can get it with an additional 15% discount below the listed price on Lenovo’s website.)

Here is a closer comparison of two of the above mentioned laptops: the dell xps 1330m and the lenovo T400. Upgraded, each of these has similar specifications and price tags:

LENOVO T400
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9600 (2.8GHz 1066MHz 6MBL2)1
Genuine Windows Vista Business12
14.1 WXGA+ TFT, w/ LED Backlight, Camera
ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 with 256MB
4 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)8
UltraNav (TrackPoint and TouchPad)
250 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm4
DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer, Ultrabay Slim (Serial ATA)5
Integrated Bluetooth PAN
Intel WiFi Link 5300 (AGN)10
Integrated AT&T Mobile Broadband (3G)
6 cell Li-Ion Battery60



DELL XPS 1330m


PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9500 (2.6GHz/800Mhz FSB/6MB cache) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit edit
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 3Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis edit
LCD AND CAMERA Slim and Light LED Display with VGA Webcam edit
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz edit
HARD DRIVE Ultra Performance: 256GB Solid State Drive edit
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive) edit
VIDEO CARD 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS edit
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1505 Wireless-N Mini-card edit
BATTERY OPTIONS 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell) edit
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

The lenovo is slightly bigger, with a 14 in screen and about 4.5 lbs vs. the dell's 13.3 in screen and 3.9 lbs. I understand that the 1330m has had some hardware troubles, in the past, and I'm not sure if they've fixed things with newer hardware (most of the complaints come from its debut in 2007, as far as I can tell). The reviews of the lenovo appear excellent, and it truly seems like a terrific feature, the idea of allowing the switching of graphics settings.
But size vs cost IS perhaps the most important of all considerations. And especially when talking of students, you will carry your laptop around campus a lot, and carrying that laptop of more than 6lbs may prove annoying to say the least. You will get a good deal on a laptop for $500, but it would weigh 7-8lbs., a fairly difficult proposition with the addition of books, or in the case of the busy exec, a briefcase.

Discovering the Easy and Effective Way to Use Adwords

Using AdWords is in actuality a near science and could cost you more money than you make, if not well understood and used the right way. In learning about the effective use of AdWords, I have found the whole system to be both a challenge and even exciting and, yes, fun! A major revelation for me has been to understand that one can use the AdWords system of posting links in your ads, without the need of a website. This can be achieved through a membership with one or more of the internet product retailers that offer an affiliate marketplace, such as ClickBank, PayDOT.com. or CommissionJunction, among others.You are considered an affiliate if you're advertising for a website that you don't own, and you are getting paid for each sale your advertising produces.

To sign up and get an AdWords account, go to Google's home site and look towards the bottom of the page. You will see a link which says, "Advertising Programs". Once you click on that link, you will be taken to a new page. Once there you should click on the link which says "Google AdWords".You will then be taken to a page where you may click on the button titled "Sign up now" to sign up for your AdWords account. Follow the steps indicated and use their numerous help pages reachable with the various related clickable links.

As an affiliate marketer, using AdWords will hopefully allow you to bring traffic to any number of websites of your choosing, promoting their products and receiving commissions for your efforts. You will need to learn to make sure that you're investigating and amassing your keywords lists and that they correctly describe your chosen site, the product you're advancing, and the ads you create. These properly associated keyword lists are extremely critical, as Google uses them to rate your ads with what they refer to as a Quality Score. AdWords ads are pay per click links that will direct internet buyers to your specifically selected promotional sites. To make money with your well crafted AdWords ads, you must be sure that you have become versed in the ins and outs of this complex search engine query ranking system that Google has created for advertising on the Net.

If I may, I'd like to direct anyone reading this post who is really interested in starting a campaign to earn cash with Google AdWords in the above cited manner, to look into the membership opportunity at googlefortunemembers.com. There one can become versed in a step-by-step format, with a plethora of informative video links and free downloadable tools that wil assist him or her in learning how to become proficient as an AdWords affiliate marketer. Believe me when I tell you that the information here will make the process about a hundred times more simple and direct - both with getting into AdWords and with the affiliate marketing.

Look for my next posting in which I will go over a few of the most awesome and enlightening bits of info that I've picked up on and am now using in my own campaigns. Whether you're already using AdWords or are just contemplating the idea of learning internet marketing with AdWords, there will likely be something there for you.

Bye for now. MarkusB

NUTS AND BOLTS OF BLOGGGING for the NEWBIE

Creating a blog is extremely easy, and you don't need a web designer or extensive skill with html code. Numerous experienced bloggers are out there comparing the features of several popular blogging sites and providing tutorials on creating and maintaining your blog. Of course, when new technologies emerge, someone will figure out how to make money with it. Certainly, creating a blog is to get exposed to the online world with one’s own views and outlooks.

Before going much further, let me describe some of the most common purposes of blogging. To begin, a blog is one of the best and effective channels to express personal views and thoughts. Bloggers use their blogs to post their opinions on topics that they find interesting, or are proficient in. Blogs can be used as a means of sharing personal experiences, hobbies or details of the individual’s life experiences, and is maintained as an online open diary. Many bloggers with distinct personalities and unique thoughts successfully use their blogs as a fairly effective means of gaining popularity. Businesses find blogging to be an efficient resource for communicating with a good number of potential customers online.Creating a blog is a powerful tool to use in promoting a product or service. As you create your blog, you can use it to communicate professionally with customers and potential customers. Many business owners use a blog as a stand-in to the traditional electronic newsletter.

. By linking your blog to your website through the use of a blog hosting site, you will strive to embrace content that will keep your customers returning to your website. Some of this information might be details or mini-tutorials about your product or service. You can write articles about changes in your particular industry, how-to articles for use of your product, and answers to questions from prospective customers. Creating a blog is so easy many bloggers develop several different blogs each geared to a specific subject or business. It is not at all uncommon for one business to have a blog for several different categories of products or an individual to have many blogs on various favorite pastimes.

Another massive benefit to a blog is that it requires no programming such as a website requires. Crafting a blog is easy and getting advertising on that blog is simple, and there are several online avenues available to you to create a blog free of charge.As a matter of fact, creating a blog is so easy now that most systems only require a simple form to be filled out and you are in on the basic platform in minutes. Creating a blog these days would require an effort of no more than 30 minutes. Even beginners who are building their first blog can create it in a few very easy steps. In the most basic of blog building the only thing you have to do is to register on a blog hosting site, like myspace or bravenet. During registration choose your domain name and start sharing information with the online community. Many have advanced features to allow you to customize your pages to match your personality and some even give options for very advanced html coding, or image insertions. Getting people to come to the blog can be a little trickier.

The majority of methods that are commonly employed in getting traffic to sales websites will also work for promoting blog traffic. Getting visitors is the only way to make any reasonable income from your blog. Most of the advertising done on blogs requires visitors to click on a link, although some income can be made from companies just for providing their links on your pages. Even if a business is willing to pay for the insertion of a link, ad, or picture on your blog you will have more offers, and get higher dollar values for the ad if the blog is well-trafficked. Companies use blogs to keep clients and customers informed and to spread the word about their services or products. Creating a web presence used to require a hefty budget for graphic design, programming and hosting. Worst of all, every update of content or graphics incurred additional cost. Now, you can be launched in minutes, at the cost of only pennies per day, post as often as you like, change your design and layout whenever you want, and host all of your content, photos, and media files.

Veteran blogger and blog consultant, Andy Wibbels shares his knowledge of blogging at his Easy Bake Weblogs seminar at http://www.easybakeweblogs.com/. Go blogwild with Andy and learn how to use blogs to improve your business and your bottom line. Now get yourself set up, and begin publishing as much as you want, any time you want. Markus b.

Learning AdWords the Right Way

Using AdWords is a science and could cost you alot of wasted money due to the settings, and set up of google AdWords, if not used the right way. Using AdWords also makes good business sense on your part, because you get more control over how your content appears in the listings, and you get results quickly. Results = traffic + sales, and making the sales is the name of the game indeed. By the way, to learn all the strategies that the top internet marketers use to win at AdWords, might require months of online research, but be persistent. Try Perry Marshall’s definitive guide to google AdWords, for starters.

Using AdWords will hopefully bring traffic to your website. You will want to make sure that everything that you use for your website and to promote the site is search engine optimized. Making sure that you’re investigating your keywords and that they correctly describe your site is critical. AdWords are pay per click links that will direct others to your site. To make money with your chosen AdWords, you must be sure that links are placed on sites where your target market will be found.

What google then does is, place the adwords key phrase on what it thinks is the most appropriate site. Interested readers will then click on this linked phrase and will land on your website. To ensure that the readers you are attracting are those who will buy your product is to be as certain as you can that your keyword points to what ever you are marketing. If you want to make money with AdWords, you should not confuse this with AdSense, which is another google program that pays for hosting the links on your site. A largely satisfying element of using AdWords is that your ads and links may also appear on sites that aren’t in the search engines. Right now is not too soon to learn this powerful tool.

Using AdWords effectively can only come with developing the skill to use it, and with a lot of training and effort, not to mention time. Reading books relating to adwords is probably the first step to take before entering into the world of ppc (pay-per-click) advertising. Please be sure to read more than one offering, as they approach AdWords from different perspectives.

Perhaps the most commonly stated reason for using AdWords is to get a high ctr (click through rate). The higher the ctr, the less money you pay for your ppc ad. If all of that sounds a bit alien to you join the crowd, and please check the related resources at the end of this page. People spend thousands of dollars to have their ads appear in high positions. Experience truly matters here, as AdWords has many helpful features to help advertisers and mistakes come easily. Many an advertiser has paid hefty advertising charges for a long time before realizing that somewhere he/she added an extra '0', and didn’t discover it until too late.

Unless you are either unbelievably smart or lucky, you can expect to fail many times before you succeed. And whenever you've ever tried applying adwords or pay-per-click and failed, I’ll suggest to you that you are not alone. The smart course in my view is the one that studies the subject prior to promoting with adwords and pay-per-click.

Among the best of sources for techniques that do profit using AdWords is Chris McNeeney's, AdWords Miracle ebook. AdWords Miracle demonstrates advanced methods that can bring forth massive turn of profit - just watch and follow what the system says. Another is Frank J. Rumbauskas, a New York Times best-selling author and a google-certified adwords pro. He has been outstandingly successful at businesses using adwords alone. Be absolutely sure to download and read Frank's, AdWords Inside Secrets.

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Home Business Income Opportunities

If you're a "head of household", whether a husband & Dad, a married couple, single Mom, or whatever, I can relate to where you might be economically. Needing more income! It seems that I've always worked hard, gladly putting in extra hours and on occasion holding two jobs. But it always feels like when the bills were paid, my family lived on their own, I never saw them. I've looked into working a home business more than once. The home business income opportunities are plentiful, but most require being educated to some new way of working. Online marketing, you say? What's that? Believe me when I say that an average guy like me CAN learn to get extra income from the internet and so can you. But getting set up with an honest to gosh marketing group with a dynamite product line and real training assistance can be a disheartening endeavor. But I've found just that! I've been set on a path to a home business that I'm quickly growing as an income opportunity that will one day provide it all. I can vouch for these people when I say that they deliver what they promise in return for the fees that they ask. All up front and very open with great testimonials as well! If you want a look at who it is that's offering this real home business income opportunity, just click here for a look-see. (Email me at markusb1@live.com for distributorship info)

Nice Marketing Tool

O.K., I've said Hello, and as stated in that opening blog, I guess the case was made that if you're out there picking up the ins and outs of earning income on the web, as I am, you need to acquire a lot of new and ongoing information. Some of that education is gonna come in the form of new tools to try using, to position yourself and your website for maximum visits.
If you've begun to understand the use of keywords in connection with the major search engines, there is a pretty clever little software package that I ran across that has a FREE basic version available to start, and then upgrades if you like using it. There's a small file that gets installed into your web browser, Firefox is recommended, and when you do a Google search, the software places a "view keywords" button below each Adwords advertiser. When you click this button, a very neat little pop-up window appears that not only shows you the keywords that any Adwords advertiser is bidding on, but you wil also see a TON of other info as well; like how much they're paying per click and how to go visit their site without costing them any money, and so on.
This really is a very powerful and useful tool. This is especially true seeing that you get it initially for FREE. There is also a FREE tutorial video for you to watch that shows you just how really powerful this tool is with a fantastic and informative presentation. This is one of marketing guru Brad Callen's little goodies available here: www.ppcwebspy.com/downloads/?getitherefree.

Forever Haunted

Have you been forever haunted by the notion that you should be doing so much better for yourself and your family? Guess what? You CAN sometimes rely on the talents of others to help you get there! I'd bet that if you're like me, you've realized that the world's wealth today is being made right here on the internet. It's where everything new is displayed for everyone to see and learn about. You've also noticed all those tabs in the 'Category' fields that are displaying links for 'E-commerce', 'Internet Marketing', 'Online Businesses', etc. Sure you have. And I bet I can guess why, too. For the same reason that I noticed them - you need a little more on the table!
I've been a working-class guy all of my life, and proud of it, as they say. After all, we are the glue that holds together the fabric of America. But what's happened to our jobs of late? They're either GONE or sure not paying enough for a man, or woman, (or even a man AND a woman) TO RAISE A FAMILY! I'm a single family, head of household husband and father that's faced water shut-offs, electric shut-offs, and even the specter of foreclosure on my home, and until this country can adjust somehow to these new-world global economics and emerging third-world nations getting now involved, our jobs here at home just aren't making it, are they?
And so like me you've been wondering if you can get involved and build your very own e-commerce business and get a little extra income, too. Maybe you've spent time getting familiar with the many offers being made online promising to show you how to do just that - home sales pitches, real estate investing schemes, and much more.
After hours spent surfing around and maybe even buying into one or more of these programs, we begin to get a glimpse of what is really being offered, but you more often than not are left holding a bag full of questions with no one to go to for answers, am I right? Have you heard of 'Ad Copy' and 'keywords' relevant to using the major search engines? And what is that Ad-Tracking you've seen them talking about on the 'blogs'? What exactly are all of these many techniques and how do they work? Maybe its the references to developing and posting on the 'Ezine' sites with descriptive articles and 'solo ads', relevant to your business. What exactly is a good working definition of an Ezine? Do you know what the three big things are that a good promotional article must address? Or what about building and structuring your website - one that will absolutely sell for you? Believe me when I say that I've found that surprisingly less really is more with this. How about creating your 'contact lists', and generating quality, targeted leads to promote your sites?
It can be very frustrating looking for the places that will willingly give really good and thorough advice for those students of web commerce that are still new to most of it. Well, a wonderful truth was actually revealed to me concerning becoming educated to it all, and it's the simple realization that it IS possible to rely upon the experience of others to help - that is if you actually know where on the wide web those honestly dedicated people are. To get that sort of help, it's imperative that you find a reliably insructional group of experts that are willing to share - not just deliver a bag full of hype and then leave you to your own devices. One of the most recent of mini-classes I've seen has shown me yet additional new forms of interaction online as a promotional tool - understanding Social Marketing and Social Bookmarking. Sound interesting to you? Do you need hooked up to the right resources? Then spend the next ten minutes right here,
(see http://wealthyaffiliate.com/). Don't wait for this wealth of instructional aid to slip away.

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