The new T400s by Lenovo recently received an "Editors' Choice" award from Laptop Magazine and earned a claim that the 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo and solid state drive make the machine a record-breaker. The magazine's article states, "On PCMark Vantage, the T400s scored the highest we've ever seen on any laptop we've tested, and almost 3,000 points above the category average for thin-and-light notebooks." Lenovo has managed to take a fairly powerful business laptop, cut its thickness nearly in half and keep all of the functionality. Half of the guys in our office are operating on Lenovo machines, and I can tell you that the old T400 is a beast in comparison: It has come down from 1.5 inches thick to only 0.8 and from 5+ pounds to 3.9. When you are lugging a laptop around every day, the weight and size really become apparent. The T400s is one of the few all-purpose laptops around right now with both size and weight in the ultra-portable category.

As mentioned before, the selling point isn't just the size. Lenovo has continued to make the T series better by adding a larger (and multi-touch) track pad, a fingerprint scanner that bypasses the start button and an upgrade option for a touch-screen with rich features that allow you to naturally control your applications with your fingertips when a mouse or keyboard starts to feel cumbersome. The Lenovo site profiles everything new and noteworthy about their T400s and features a great supplemental video. If you have been on the fence about buying yourself an upgrade, this great new machine will definitely make your decision easier.

We have been writing occasional articles on the upcoming release of Windows 7. As our last chance to write before the October 22nd release date, we are here to fill you in on making the upgrade from Windows XP (because most of us are still running it):

• The upgrade from XP to 7 must be a "clean" install. This means that you will have to restore backed-up data, reconfigure your settings and preferences as well as re-install all of your applications.
• The system requirements (for 32-bit / 64-bit versions) are 1GHz (32-bit / 64-bit) processor, 1GB / 2GB RAM, 16GB / 20GB available hard drive space and a DirectX 9 graphics processor.
• Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and have it tell you exactly where your machine stands.
• Take a look at the different versions of Windows 7 to determine which one is for you. We are recommending the Professional version for most of our clients.
• The upgrade process will involve backup and restoration assitance to help get your files onto your new operating system.

Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate allow you to run Windows XP programs in "Windows XP Mode" for quality performance, but if you wish for some reason to revert back to XP without too much of a hassle, it is a good idea to create a complete disk image of your Windows XP machine before you perform the upgrade so you can just copy it back to your hard-drive and have everything exactly as it was. From all of the testing we have done, this should actually be a good experience for users. As long as your machine is fairly recent, you will find that 7 is every bit as good as XP and enhanced in many ways. Happy upgrading!

Brent - I have noticed a decrease in battery life on my laptop after a year of use; when will I need to buy a new one? Do you recommend that I pay more for the manufacturer's battery or can I go third party and save some money?

Laptop batteries are among the most arcane computer components. As laptop battery technology has started to allow for nearly 8-hour charges in some cases, the mobile machines are becoming more popular as desktop replacements. Here is what I have gathered lately about the part that makes our laptops run:

The average (there are many extreme cases in each direction) laptop battery degrades at a rate of roughly 30% per year. The six hours of charge you have now will eventually become four and drop down into the twos well before you are ready to purchase a replacement. A third-party battery replacement will usually void whatever warranty you have with your manufacturer, so it is always best to just shell out the extra cash and buy the "right" even if to only ensure that no third-party hardware can be blamed for some kind of hardware failure should one occur.

For an extra tip with the battery you currently have, try to watch the way you charge it. Plugging your laptop in when it is still at 90% capacity still initiates a full charge cycle and puts your battery under unnecessary stress by doing so. Keeping your machine plugged in all day or making sure the battery is full for an upcoming trip are just fine, but there is no need to fully charge your laptop over night when you had it plugged in all day at work and intend to plug it in again the next morning.

Have you ever been part of an email chain that goes back and forth so long that the subject of the message no longer matches the topic being discussed? Someone you are talking about yesterday's conference call with might throw in, "Oh, by the way, my return flight number is 191..." and all of a sudden you have important information with the subject line of "Re: Yesterday's Call." There is a hidden feature in Outlook that allows you to edit the subject line for the necessary email. Simply double-click the message to open it and click in the subject line to edit it. Type in your new subject, hit 'Enter' and accept any error message that may have popped up and you are done. I was quite surprised to read about this, as I have only changed subject lines when replying or forwarding in the past.

One of the most important questions we have to answer when meeting a prospective client reads something like this: "With all of the intricacies of our business and information, how long / difficult is the process of getting Dependable Computer Guys up to speed with the way our company works?" Your current IT provider holds a lot of very important information; things like your admin passwords, all the locations of your vital data and awareness of all of the little quirks in the various programs you use on a daily basis that keeps your operation running. It is expected to be concerned about remaining safe and secure when handing off such information. Just as crucial is the need for the transition to be seamless as to not interrupt business operations and income.

Fortunately, we have a promising answer. There are a few factors that allow us to quickly and easily become acclimated to your situation, the first being that despite the occasional exception, most of what makes a company run (from a technology standpoint) is fairly universal and can be adapted to almost any business in any industry with the right knowledge. Most important is our experience as an outsourced IT provider; we have provided complete support and administration for hundreds of companies in nearly any industry imaginable in the Los Angeles area and can comfortably say that no specific setup is new to us. No matter what your practices are, we have either done it, done something very similar or know of a more efficient way to do it. Whether you have a well-documented list of all of your IPs, devices and usernames or have absolutely nothing to give us, we have the necessary skills to make the transition speedy and smooth. Give us a call to schedule a free walkthrough to learn how DCG can work with your organization.

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