Month: May 2015

The Barnes & Noble Nook and the Apple iPad are two different devices that can be good for a lot of things, including reading the ever so popular eBooks that came into the market recently. Both of these devices have their advantages and disadvantages and in this article, we are going to look at the differences that exist between one and the other.

Do You Want to Read Books or Surf the Web?

The first key difference that we need to look at and understand is the type of devices that we are talking about. Even though both the Nook and the iPad look similar, they are pretty different devices. The Nook was primarily built for the enjoyment of eBooks and, as such, it does that pretty well, but all the other things you can do with it are just extras that Barnes & Noble decided to implement.

On the other hand, the iPad is something that goes far beyond reading eBooks. With the iPad you can read books, you can play games, you can watch videos and you can surf the web, among other things. The device was built so that it would be similar to a computer, and not an eBook reader. You can actually enhance you iPad with the use of apps from the Apple App store, but you can’t do this with the Nook, you can just get more eBooks.

Operating System

The Nook uses Android as its operative system. This is a system that was created by Google, specifically for Smartphones. The iPad, on the other hand uses iOS as its operative system, which was created by Apple for all of its devices.

Screen Quality

The iPad uses a large LCD screen that displays the images you want to see in good quality, which is great for the purposes that the iPad has: watching videos, playing games, surfing the web and so on. The Nook uses a small display that reduces the stress your eyes have while you are reading while, at the same time, maximizes battery life so that you can read your eBooks on the go without worrying about the battery of your device.

Battery

As it is common with Apple products, the iPad has a battery built in that might last a long time but that cannot be removed or replaced by the user. Even though it lasts a long time, you can still run out of battery easily. The Nook, on the other hand, is very prone to battery replacements. It’s easy to replace its battery and, on top of that, each battery can last about a week after being charged.

If you actually carry a battery replacement for your Nook, you can have about two weeks of battery life without having to even charge the device.

The Microsoft company keeps on evolving faster and faster and, quite honestly, it is hard to keep up with it and with everything that it throws out there in the market. For the average user, it is best now to just ask for help from experts in order to understanding what will be best for their needs.

From Windows 7 to Windows 8

After Windows 7, Windows 8 came into the market and ever since then, things got a little confusing with more and more products coming into the market. This, of course,, includes Windows 8 Pro. There is a difference between the normal windows 8 and the Windows 8 Pro, but it is very subtle.

Windows 8 was built as an improvement to all of the other windows out there, it even came with a new type of interface that, at first, caused a little bit of confusion to the user since it was pretty hard to understand at first sight, but it then became clear that it was pretty user friendly.

What Was Added?

Since it is just a general improvement with a few tweaks, Windows 8 was received with a smile by the customers, it did everything they wanted it to do and it worked wonders. The improvements in capacities of the new Windows as well as the improvement in the capacities of new computers really made everything go smoothly.

The Onset of the Pro Version

But then there was Windows 8 Pro. Windows 8 Pro was essentially the exact same thing as Windows 8, but it was designed and aimed for enthusiasts that really wanted to get a little bit of everything, and for small and medium businesses that needed to have a little bit more on their operative system so that they can improve communication and productivity.

Windows 8 Pro includes a few programs that aren’t included in Windows 8, as well as every feature that Windows 8 has. The new features essentially allow companies to share and to encrypt files so that they can protect their information from threats outside. Moreover, they will have the capacity to access a Microsoft server, and they will be able to pack it with their own information.

More Than Needed for the Average User

For the average user, the normal Windows 8 is more than enough, and the other features that are included in Windows 8 Pro are actually not included in the other versions of Windows 8 because they aren’t used by the average user at all, not because of any other reason.

The average user would not have the need to pay a lot of extra money just so that they can encrypt their files and share them in a server for themselves. The average user just needs to perform tasks that Windows 8 is more than capable of handling.

If you are looking at your computer and wondering what is happening inside of it, you are about to discover an incredible world that is almost unbelievable. Understanding how things happen in your computer is incredible and it just looks like something out of a Sci-Fi movie if you look into it.

The Role of the Processor

One of the things that is working wonders on your computer is the processor. Your processor is there to help you with pretty much everything that you do. It is going to help your computer run faster, it is going to help you multitask in your computer and it is even going to help you when your computer seems to be freezing.

It can be a little hard to explain the difference between an i3 and an i5 processor, since these involved the definitions of a few aspects of the technology involved in them and they have a few components in them that are connect between one another and that, together, work to make your PC the best one possible, as well as in the efficiency of the processor itself.

More Cores for a i5 Processor

The factors included are the number of cores that the processor has, the clock speed, the technologies incorporated into the processors and the size of cache. It is hard to tell if a processor is good based on one of these aspects only, since they can or cannot be decisive.

One of the most important factors, however, is the number of cores that a processor has. Currently, the i3 processors all have two cores (they are dual-core processors) and this means that they can handle a fair amount of stuff going on in your computer, but the i5 processors all have four cores, which gives them twice the capacity of the i3 processors.

Does The Number of Cores Make a Difference?

As such, the i3 processor is usually decent when it comes to multitask on your computer. This means that if you want to listen to music while playing a game, while defragmenting your computer, while having 15 tabs of comics on your browser opened, you are probably going to have a bad time while you are getting all of that done on your computer.

This doesn’t mean that an i5 processor can handle all that (please don’t do all that at the same time), but it most certainly can handle it a lot better than the i3 processor. More often than not, the i3 processor is enough for most computer users, but for the advanced users that want to play some games and that want to see some videos in high quality, the i5 processor is the way to go.

The i5 processor is going to render higher video quality, it is going to have a better video card and the bigger number of cores is going to aid in multitasking.

The incredibly popular Microsoft products keep on evolving and they don’t seem to have any desire of stopping. These last few years, it has been really hard to keep up with everything that Microsoft has been up to, since they have been up to a lot. One of the products that evolved a lot if Microsoft Office. There have been so many changes, that even experts struggle to keep up.

Microsoft Office Package

Microsoft always had a few amazing products on the Office package, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, but there are other that aren’t really used a lot, but still worth a lot if they are used properly. Recently, after the release of Windows 8, Microsoft got Office 2013 and Office 365 out there, and these have sparked a lot of confusion.

The thing about these two is that the name is incredibly similar and, on top of that, they pretty much look the same thing at first sight, since they do both include Word, Excel and PowerPoint, as well as some other apps that have different utilities included in them, but that aren’t as popular as these three.

Updates That Matter

We can see Office 2013 as the latest update of Office 2010, but Office 365 is a different thing that isn’t that hard to tell apart once we actually look at the true differences that exist between one and the other product. These are good for different purposes, and some people can see themselves with Office 2013 a lot better than they can see themselves with Office 365.

Increasing Productivity

Essentially, Office 2013 is a productivity tool. You have apps such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint that are going to help you make your work and get things done, something that has been with us for years and that will keep on being. With Office 2013, you are just going to get a few more updates and tricks to use when you compare it to Office 2010.

When you pay for Office 2013, it is yours. You are free to own it and to install it on your PC so that you can freely work on it and improve your productivity to points that you never imagined were possible. You can only, however, install Office 2013 in one single computer and as such, if you use more than one computer to work, you are only going to have this amazing productivity tool installed in one of these computers, while the other one will be sitting on the simple Notepad.

Purchasing Differences

On the other hand, Office 365 is a little bit different, both in the form of payment and in what is included in the software itself. When you buy Office 365, you are going to get the simple productivity tools, but then you are also going to get email space, shared calendars, storage space and even the ability to make and to edit documents online.

When it comes to the payment, there is a huge difference between Office 2013 and Office 365, it might actually be the biggest difference between these two. While you buy Office 2013 one time and then own it after that so that you can install it and work with it on your computer, Office 365 isn’t something that you purchase and then own. If you buy Office 365, you are buying a subscription for it that lasts a determined amount of time, depending on the deal you paid for.

You can use Office 365 and all of its advantages while you are in the period which you paid for, but after this period ends, you either pay for it again or you are going to lose the ability to edit your documents and this means that you are just going to be halted until you pay again – either that or you use notepad again.

You will still be able to view your documents however, so if you need to print them or to check something you are good to go, but if you actually need to get some work done and if you need to edit your documents, you will need to pay again.

Office 365 comes in a lot of ways and essentially it is going to be very useful for everyone that purchases the right package, as long as they pay for it, that is. Some of these packages even include everything that Office 2013 has and a little bit more (including Skype calls), but with the difference being that these packages are all still subscription services and not something that you can buy and own it yourself.

The best advantage that Office 365 has over Office 2013, however, is that it can be used in several computers for the same price. For just $9,99 a month, or $99 a year, you are able to have Office 365 up and running on up to five computers and this means that if you use a lot of computers while you work, you are going to have them all covered with the service.

Recently, Microsoft has also been releasing packages for Office 2013 so that they can suit the needs of its target audience a lot, lot better. Some of these are home versions, others are premium home versions and there are even business and university versions. The difference in these resides in the price and in the apps that you are going to get after you purchase the software. At least, it’ll be yours.

Back in the days we just used to watch our videos at will and no one really cared about resolution except for the people that actually needed to care about that. Ever since high definition (HD) came into play, things got a little different. All of a sudden, we are now able to control the quality of our videos, and the different is just incredibly big.

It’s In The Name

To understand the difference between 1080i and 720p we need to understand the difference between the i and p in these two. The i in the 1080i represents interlaced, while the p in the 720p represents progressive. The difference between these two is pretty much like the difference between night and day.

Images

Even though they both give you the image you want, they do it in different ways. While interlaced images are essentially two images rapidly exchanging in front of your eyes to give you the video you want to see, the progressive image is something that is always in front of you, it is there.

Interlaced images are essentially lines, both vertical and horizontal, that exist. One of the images has horizontal lines and other one has vertical lines. Then, these two keep on exchanging so fast in front of your eyes that you are unable to perceive this change, but it is happening. As such, you get the video you want in front of you.

Progressive image, on the other hand, is something that is always there in front of you, it is the real image. There is no change going on in front of you and, as such, you get a better image quality.

You can detect interlaced images if you have a fast moving object on screen. The movement of the object is going to be detected with some blurry lines with the shape and color of the object around it – this is the change occurring right in front of you. If you see a moving object on a progressive image, you won’t be able to see these lines.

What The Numbers Mean

The number right before the letter simple refers to the number of lines that the image has. Quite obviously, the bigger the number, the better the quality of the video you are going to get. More lines mean that the amount of detail and focus is going to improve significantly.

As such, 1080i means that you have 1080 lines worth of interlaced image going on in front of you, while 720p means that you are going to have 720 lines worth of progressive image in front of you. Even though 720p has a smaller amount of lines when compared to 1080i, it is believed that the image quality is better due to the fact that it is progressive.

In the modern day era we need to keep on adjusting to new technologies over and over again because they keep on evolving way harder than what we needed to keep up with back in the day. This means that sometimes it is hard to tell what is a good purchase and what is a bad purchase, especially when it comes to light mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads. These just keep on evolving and we can barely handle it.

As such, we need to look at the options and consider them properly in order to identify the best purchase. In this article, we are going to help you look at two options: iPad Air and iPad retina. iPad Air is a newer more expensive alternative when we look at both these devices, but does the difference make up for it?

iPad Air vs iPad Retina

The first we identify is that the iPad Air is lighter. To be more specific, it is 100g lighter than the iPad retina. This means that it is a device with a lot more mobility, as well as a smaller screen surround that came from inspiration drawn from the iPad mini. For people that actually enjoyed the iPad mini, this is a full version of it, and that is certainly worth considering already.

iPad air is less than 7.5mm thick, and it doesn’t even weight 500g, it weights 469g. This makes it a lot more compact and mobile than the iPad retina, and that, in itself, is a serious advantage worth looking at.

Processor

Other than that, the iPad Air has a faster processor, it has a 64-bit processor. But then again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better than the iPad retina. The device uses a new Apple chip called the A7, and it is designed to make it match the power of the iPhone 5S. But the tablet needs to work with a lot more pixels than the iPhone 5S, and as such, it probably has a little more power.

The A7 64-bit chip doesn’t make its powers appear for a while until you really start taking advantage of the device and using it like you mean it. But it is, however, better than the 322bit chip that is used on the iPad retina and as such, this means that you will get a better gaming experience on the iPad Air due to a better performance and due to better graphics.

This, however doesn’t mean a lot to most people, since most people like to do their gaming on their computer or on their smartphones (when they’re really bored) and like to use the tablet to work and for other types of entertainment such as watching movies and surfing the web.

Screen Size

When it comes to the screen, both tablets have pretty much the same size and appearance, and when it comes to the performance of the screen, they are also equally matched. The iPad retina already had a great screen with proper contrast and color reproduction, so it comes as no surprise to acknowledge that the iPad Air is pretty much the same thing on this field.

Again, this makes both tablets amazing for entertainment. Sharing a movie on these devices is certainly going to give you and your partner a great experience. And if you own or are thinking about owning one of these, you should understand that when it comes to the scree, the competitors are starting to catch up on Apple. Google Nexus 7.2 has a 7 inch HD screen that puts these two on their toes.

Both tablets use the iOS 7 and share the same software as the iPhone 5S. They are both going to have the same feeling for the user, and the only difference that you are going to feel is that there are some games that are discontinued for ‘older’ tablets and that focus on the newer models. These will, in time, start lacking support and a community in itself for older version such as for the iPad retina.

Camera

Finally, the last advantage that the iPad Air has over the iPad retina is when it comes to taking pictures. We all like to capture the moments we live and share them with others, and for that we need as good a camera as possible in order to capture the feeling we have at that time to the best extent possible.

The iPad Air has a better camera, improved with the latest technology. They both have a 5 megapixel sensor, but the processing technology of the sensor has been improved on the iPad Air, which renders a better quality on the image when the photo is taken. There is, however, still no flash on the camera, and that is going to affect a lot of users.

Pricing

The final difference, at the end of the day, is the price. An iPad retina costs $329, and the iPad Air costs $399. That is a $70 difference and you need to take into consideration that even though the iPad Air has a lot of advantages, these are all minor advantages that won’t really make any difference in your daily life. As such, you need to ask yourself whether or not the $70 are worth spending for a newer model. The biggest difference is the weight and, if you don’t mind the little weight advantage of the iPad retina, then it is probably the best alternative if you want to save some money.