Rick's Daily Tips

Check out Apple’s fantastic free mini-course for taking better photos with your iPhone

Posted on August 12, 2020

It’s no secret that the cameras built into Apple’s most recent iPhones are capable of producing outstanding images that rival those taken by many DSLR cameras.

In fact, a simple Google search for “best iphone photos” returns page after page featuring some of the most incredible images you will ever see.

While most any pro photographer can use virtually any camera to take pro-quality photos, the folks at Apple are on a mission to help us casual photographers use our iPhones to create the very best images possible. [Read more…]

8 Tips for buying open-box and demo tech items

Posted on August 8, 2020

Have you ever walked through your local electronics retailer’s showroom and seen open-box computers, smart phones and other tech items on sale at greatly reduced prices?

I have, and I’m guessing that you have too.

You really can save some serious money by buying open-box and demo tech products, but there are a few things you need to consider before laying out your hard-earned money for one of them.

With that in mind, here are 8 tips for getting a truly good deal on open-box and demo tech products: [Read more…]

Q&A: Can I replace a bad power supply with one from another computer?

Posted on August 7, 2020

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

Question from Larry G:. Rick, I have a two Gateway Desktop computers, neither of which are operational.

One has a bad motherboard and the other has a bad power supply.

Can I replace the bad power supply with the one in the computer that has the bad motherboard? If I can I won’t have to go buy one.

The power supplies look exactly the same and have the same cables and connectors, but the working power supply is rated at 400 watts and the bad one is only 350 watts.

I read your post about replacing Windows with Linux and I’d really like to get one of these machines working so I can install Linux Mint on it.

What I need to know is will replacing a power supply with a more powerful one damage a computer?

Rick’s answer: [Read more…]

Review: 2020 HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop Computer

Posted on July 30, 2020

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

In times past, the typical budget and mid-range laptops came stuffed with cheap, inferior components that made for a frustratingly slow and inefficient computing experience. But times have changed.

Nowadays even many mid-range laptops offer plenty of speed and power at affordable prices.

I recently had the opportunity to check out a very affordable mid-range laptop from HP, and overall I believe it’s a great machine for the money.

The 2020 HP 15.6″ Touchscreen Laptop Computer is an attractive, sleek looking laptop that has everything the typical user will need in order to surf the Internet, peruse Facebook and Twitter, watch videos on Youtube, send and receive email, use Microsoft Office and edit photos and videos with Photoshop and other hardware-intensive apps. [Read more…]