Views and opinions here may not necessarily be those of SPB Computers Ltd. 

Victorian Marquetry Monitor

This is prototype number one of a concept our laptop Engineer is currently playing with.  Built from "bits in his shed" and an old workshop monitor and vaguely modelled on a Victorian toilet mirror. All handmade including the marquetry.  Prototype two is being built (time permitting) with a larger modern widescreen monitor and the space to install and upgrade a built in computer in the base.   The old school Camera's been upgraded with a webcam just to highlight our commitment to re-using and recycling. :-)  

LAPTOP RELIABILITY RESULTS

Squaretrade, an extended warranty supplier has compiled a laptop reliability report based on the service history of 30,000 laptops over 3 years.  Whilst we note a company in the business of selling extended warranties is not exactly impartial we do have the benefit of our own experiences in this field and their findings are no suprise.

One major factor we have found over the years with laptop failures is overheating, this is one reason we believe Asus do so well as they design their laptops to run as cool as possible.  Over time your Vents will get blocked with fluff, this means the hot air cant escape and your laptop acts like an oven, damaging the solder and even causing the laptop to slow down.  We offer a preventative service for £39 whereby we strip the laptop down and replace the thermal compound and clean out the vents. 

 Flooding in Thailand.  12/12/11

Flooding has knocked out major hard drive manufactories in Thailand causing a massive shortage for the following quarter.  This has seen hard drives double or in some cases quadruple in price meaning computers and some computer repairs will be more expensive come the new year.   

Amendment:  It seems the initial price hikes had more to do with supplier profitering than supply issues and whilst still more expensive the crazy prices seem to have subsided.

 Workshop Overhaul - 28/08/11   

When we designed our workshop 10 years ago, the desktop computer was king. Bulky, beige and shelf filling, from home desktops to Business servers, we had to find room for our own servers and Sale PC's as well as a huge amount of customer PC's, all waiting to be repaired, being repaired or waiting to be collected.  Progress being what it is, the beloved desktop has given way to the laptop, smart phone and handheld. Smaller neater, and easier to store! It's even allowed us to get to the walls and paint them....  

 Apple Repairs

Saying that though, we at SPB have seen a definite increase in Apple related repairs and it’s been very interesting taking a proper look inside these fabulous machines. Apple Computers up to and including the G4 were a very different computer to the windows based PC's and laptops we see every day and our diagnostic tools didn't work on them. The newer Apples however contain all the same stuff as the PC equivalent so we can offer a wider range of Apple repairs. 

 Phone call from Microsoft telling you your Computer has a Virus?

“I’m calling for Microsoft. We’ve had a report from your internet service provider of serious virus problems from your computer.”

This is a scam. What they do if they can convince you to keep talking is open a program called the windows event Viewer. This is where the computer keeps its logs of running services and tasks and where people like us look to help with fault finding.  under normal curcumstances its jam packed full of info, error reports, warnings and Critical errors. To the untrained eye it can look like your computer is about to explode but in reality its just the normal grinding of cogs under the bonnet that every computer does. When you are sutiably alarmed they will direct you to a website which allows them complete access to your computer and then put on a show of "fixing" it. They then charge you £185 and have access to all your stuff. Microsoft say.... “Microsoft does not make unsolicited phone calls to help you fix your computer, If you receive an unsolicited call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Tech Support, hang up. We do not make these kinds of calls.”