Before a computer boots Windows, OS X, Linux, or any other operating system it loads system-level firmware. For the past few decades most PCs have used something called BIOS to recognize your hardware and load the appropriate operating system. But there’s a new kid in town called UEFI, (which is what Macs have been using for the past few years)….

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Most of the time when someone says they’re trying to update or downgrade the BIOS on their computer, they simply mean they want to change the software running on the BIOS. But sometimes that’s not so easy to do without physically modifying the BIOS chips — and that’s exactly what Eee User forum member naviathan figured out how to do…

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Pretty much every PC that ships today uses a system called BIOS to allow the operating system to interact with your computer’s hardware. The BIOS software is basically the firmware that’s loaded on your motherboard. And it looks like something that was designed decades ago… because it was. When you want to change BIOS settings, you have to load up…

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When I reviewed the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, I didn’t really think the display was any dimmer than other netbook screens I’ve tested. But then, I tend to keep display brightness near the middle setting most of the time. But if you’re looking for a brighter display, Asus has issued BIOS updates for the Eee PC 1005PE and 1001P which…

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The HP Mini 311 comes with NVIDIA ION graphics and either an Atom N270 or N280 processor. That gives it more oomph in the graphics department than the vast majority of Atom-based netbooks and notebooks on the market. But as I pointed out in my review of the laptop, it generally feels a little sluggish when you’re performing tasks that…

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A few weeks ago we posted about a method for taking an HP Mini 311 netbook with Windows XP and NVIDIA ION LE graphics and installing some tweaked drivers to enable support for DirectX 10, a feature that previously only available if you had a full NVIDIA ION graphics card (without the LE). But if you don’t fancy editing your…

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Lenovo makes some pretty decent laptops and netbooks. But there’s one thing that always bugs me about Lenovo computers: the Fn and Ctrl key placement. Most computer makers put the Ctrl key on the bottom left corner of the keyboard, and place the Fn key just to its right. Lenovo inverts those two keys. That means that if you’re used…

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There’s been a lot of talk over the last year or so about “instant on” operating systems for netbooks and laptops. The idea is that instead of using the sleep and resume functions on a full operating system like Windows, you can boot a quick-start environment like Splashtop or Hyperspace in just a few seconds to get online, surf the…

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The Asus Eee PC 1101HA laptop is the first member of the Eee PC family to have a BIOS-level utility for adjusting the clock speed. Here’s how it works. MJost Eee PC netbooks have a Windows utility that lets you adjust the clock speed by choosing “power saving,” “high performance,” or “super high performance modes.” On the Eee PC 1101HA,…

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Asus has uploaded the user manual for the upcoming Eee PC 1101HA to its global support site. The only catch is that the manual is currently only available in Chinese. Fortunately there are plenty of pretty pictures that help tell the story of this laptop. The Eee PC 1101HA is the first laptop with an 11.6 inch display in the…

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Lenovo released a BIOS update (version 90) for Ideapad S9 and S10 netbooks earlier this month. But here’s a word of caution: Don’t upgrade to the latest BIOS unless you’re willing to risk leaving your computer in an unbootable state. Because that’s exactly what happened to a number of users in the Lenovo Forums. While some people were able to…

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While the splash screen that shows up when you’re loading your computer is probably one of the least important elements of a computing experience, there’s no reason you should have to stick with the boot logo the computer manufacturer throws on your system. Hax0rpedia has posted instructions for hacking the Acer Asipre One BIOS to replace the default splash screen…

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