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5
Must-Have Accessories for your Laptop
by my-tech-guide.com
Everyone,
it seems, has a laptop today, and if you don’t have one,
you probably are thinking of buying one. As if it were not
difficult enough to select from the numerous types and brands
of laptops out there, then you are confronted with the accessories. Of
the thousands of accessories out there, it can be daunting
to figure out what you really need for your laptop. Obviously,
it depends upon your needs and plans with your computer,
but there are five essentials you might start with first.
If
you are going to use your laptop at home with any kind of
frequency, you will want to think about getting an
external keyboard and pointing device (mouse). Why?
Well if you have ever tried typing on a laptop for any more
than an hour, you know that your neck, shoulders, and wrists
can start to feel fatigued, to say the least. The solution
is to purchase an external keyboard, which you can likely
just plug into the back of your laptop, as well as a mouse.
Then, for use in the office, raise the screen up with books
or risers of some sort to make looking at the screen a little
more ergonomic. You can even buy accessory swivel stands
for your lap top.
Second, you
will likely want to connect other things to your laptop
when home, like a printer, perhaps a DVD player, or even
a CD burner. This can add up to a lot of wires,
and thus a lot of clutter to hook in and unplug when you
want to take your laptop out of the office or settle back
in. To prevent this problem, you are going to love having
a docking station.
A
docking station basically turns your laptop into
a desktop computer when you are home. When you are ready
to take it away, you simply take it out of the station
and off you go.
Another
option along the same lines is a port replicator, which
contains computer ports. You connect your peripherals to
the replicator and then to your laptop. When you want to
take your laptop away, you simply unhook the one port replicator,
rather than each individual device.
The
third essential for your laptop isn’t as exciting as some
other accessories, but you will be glad you have it, an
external hard drive. It’s not fun, it’s not exciting,
but the morning you wake up and your laptop won’t turn on
will be the day you are thrilled you decided to get that
external hard drive.
A
tip to go along with your new external hard drive: always
pack it separate when you go on a trip. If you lose your
bag with both the backup drive and the laptop in it, you’re
toast.
A
fourth essential will allow you to hook up everything you
need. Make sure you go out and get an external USB
hub. You see, most desktop computers come with several,
as many as 8 or 9, USB ports. However, since laptops are
smaller, they often only have a couple of USB ports. The
hub will usually include four or more ports and will connect
through one of your laptop’s USB ports, making them very
easy to use.
Fifth,
think about worst case scenarios. You probably got your laptop
so you could do work out of the office, out of your home,
or wherever you need to, right? Well, since you will be out
and about, you will definitely want to think about
insurance for your laptop. The manufacturer’s warranty
usually won’t cover anything beyond parts, and an extended
warranty will not cover theft, even though it may cover you
for breakage or fire.
There
are a thousand different accessories out there for your computer.
Some of them you might need others you might not. It all
depends on what you plan to do with your laptop as well as
where you plan on doing it. However, these five things are
essential to making your laptop as functional to you as possible.
While there may be some variation to what you need, most
of these items will be useful to anyone who owns a laptop,
no matter what the primary or secondary uses of this portable
computer might be.
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