Computer Help

Most people agree that when it comes to your iPod the Bose sound dock is the best set of speakers you can find. The only downside of the first iPod soundock is that it has an enormous power supply and A/C cord that limits its use as portable speakers. The new sound dock portable from Bose solves this problem. Its portable speaker system has all of the power and sound quality you’d expect from Bose and it’s portable. This great portable sound and the Bose name comes at a high price…if you pay retail for the speakers you’ll have to fork over $399.

The sound dock portable comes in two colors: glossy white and black. The speakers have a compact design that measures 12″ x 6″ x 5″ and weighs just over 5 pounds. The new portable soundock is very similar to the original model. One difference is the swiveling dock that rotates into the sound dock body for protection when traveling.

The Bose sound dock portable shares a simplistic design with the original model and has no physical controls except for the volume controls. The included remote has eight buttons used to operate playback, volume controls, your play lists, and the unit’s power. The remote is small and simplistic; however, its rubberized buttons have a slight lip making them easy to operate by touch. This infrared remote allows you to control your iPod from nearly angle in the room.

On the back of the soundock you’ll find only two connectors. There are no USB ports or video connections, only a power connector and analog input. The sound dock is powered by a lithium batter pack that gets you about 8 hours of normal use or 3 hours at the highest volume setting. As lithium-ion batteries go this is pretty good considering the quality of sound and Bass response you get from the speakers.

The only flaw I can find in the speaker’s design is the sensitivity of the volume controls; however, the included remote functions well enough. The sound dock charges your iPod whenever plugged in; charging the iPod will deplete the soundock’s batteries at a much faster rate. The bass port on the back of the speakers also functions as carrying handle. Bose calls it the unit’s Wave Guide Exit.

The Bose soundock portable has an LED light behind the speaker grill that lights up when using the remote control and flashes when the battery is depleted. One problem with the portable unit is that if you leave it unplugged for fourteen days you can only turn your speakers on by plugging the charger in. There are no iPod dock inserts included with the speakers so you’ll have to use the one’s that came with your iPod; however, replacement inserts are available from the Apple store. The power cord has a built in cable winder that makes it easy to travel with; however the plug is large and takes up a lot of room. With a $399 retail price tag it is well worth your while to comparison shop online for sites with the lowest prices and free shipping. There is an optional carrying case but you’ll have to shell out $60 more for that.

Share This

Computer Memory

There are several different types of memory a computer can have. Read only memory, or ROM, is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. Random access memory, usually known by its acronym, RAM, refers to data storage formats and equipment that allow the stored data to be accessed in any order. In contrast, other types of memory devices, such as magnetic tapes, disks, and drums, can access data on the storage medium only in a predetermined order due to constraints in their mechanical design. Molecular memory stores information in polymers that can store electric charge. Molecular memory might be especially suited for primary storage.

Main memory contains the programs that are currently being run and the data the programs are operating on. The arithmetic and logic unit can very quickly transfer information between a processor register and locations in main storage, also known as a memory addresses. In modern computers, electronic solid state random access memory is used for main storage, and is directly connected to the CPU via a memory bus and a data bus. The memory bus is also called an address bus or front side bus and both busses are high speed digital superhighways. Access methods and speed are two of the fundamental technical differences between memory and mass storage devices. All memory sizes and storage capacities will inevitably be exceeded with advances in technology over time.

Cache memory is a special type of internal memory used by many central processing units to increase their performance or throughput. Some of the information in the main memory is duplicated in the cache memory, which is slightly slower but of much greater capacity than the processor registers, and faster but much smaller than main memory. Multi level cache memory is also commonly used. Primary cache is the smallest, fastest and closest to the processing device. Secondary cache is larger and slower, but still faster and much smaller than main memory.

Semiconductor memory uses semiconductor based integrated circuits to store information. A semiconductor memory chip may contain millions of tiny transistors or capacitors. Both volatile and non volatile forms of semiconductor memory exist. In modern computers, primary storage almost exclusively consists of dynamic volatile semiconductor memory or dynamic random access memory. Since the turn of the century, a type of non volatile semiconductor memory known as flash memory has steadily gained share as offline storage for home computers. Non volatile semiconductor memory is also used for secondary storage in various advanced electronic devices and specialized computers.

Share This