Gnomie Mikey (mxjf in our chat room) writes:

I have been watching your videos for a long time and have been subscribed to your YouTube channel since around October. I have noticed that you and Ponzi have quite a few laptops, and I thought this would be appropriate.

Around February 2008, I decided I wanted a laptop. So I started looking on eBay and other places. Then, my dad told me that my cousin had a used laptop he would be willing to sell to me. Later, I talked to my cousin and he said that he was asking $50 for it, but here was the catch: it had a cracked screen. I was pretty desperate for a laptop at that time, so I accepted his offer. When it arrived, I was happy to see that it booted up and the crack wasn’t that bad, but it was significant enough to make using it a little problematic. So here are my top five tips for using a laptop more efficiently in the event you crack your screen:

1. Resize your windows. It really helps if your screen is cracked in one section but not another. For example: if your screen has a cluster of cracks in the top portion of it, resize and drag your window to fit the bottom section. I found that it really helps the most when you are typing up a text document.

2. Change to a higher screen resolution. It can help you to get more use out of the part of your screen you still have left. Increasing your resolution will make everything smaller. Many people have their screen resolution set to 1024 by 768. If you change your screen resolution to 1280 by 1024, for example, you will be able to fit more icons in your available space on your desktop, and will be able to view more content because everything is smaller. I noticed that when I go went YouTube to look at a video, the top 3/4 of the video was chopped off. When I switched to a higher resolution, the video was a little smaller, but it was not blocked by a crack.
3. Take care of your laptop. If it has black spots around the cracks, do not push on them — it will only make them worse. Don’t move your laptop as much. If you are a person who brings their laptop to school/work every day, or bring your laptop with you almost everywhere you go, don’t shake it while you carry it. If you have a laptop bag and it is big enough, place your laptop crack-side up so the crack won’t get worse. For example: if your screen has a crack on the right side, place your laptop in your bag so that the left side of it is facing the handle/strap of the bag.
4. Use it less frequently. If you are like me, you most likely have a regular desktop computer as well as a laptop. More than likely, your desktop is more powerful, has more drive space, and is more than capable of performing the tasks you would normally do on your laptop, despite the fact that it isn’t as portable. If you need to make a PowerPoint presentation at home and need to present it to your class the next day, do it on your desktop and transfer it to a flash drive. Flash drives will fit in your pocket, and more than likely, there is a computer in your class. Plus, a laptop won’t fit in your pocket, will it?
5. Start looking for a screen. Many times someone will crack their screen, go to a site like eBay or craigslist to buy a new one, and replace it by themselves. Sometimes you will get lucky like me and find an identical model laptop to your broken one for extra cheap, with a working screen, but being stripped clean of the RAM and hard drive. Just put your hard drive and RAM from your broken laptop into the working one, and you are good to go. In some cases, the new laptop might even have a better disc drive or DVD burner. You never know.

The Toshiba 32HL67 32″ REGZA Premium HDTV Ready LCD Television is an affordable LCD TV that offers high-level video and audio entertainment. With its integrated NTSC/ATSC tuner you can view high-definition programs without a bulky set-top cable box, while its panel technology, together with its video processing circuits, provide sharp, clear and bright images with rich colors.

The 32HL67 has a space saving design with its hidden built-in speakers. In addition to its two 2 HD component-video inputs, it also has 3 HDMI input terminals for a purely digital connection. This LCD TV features an extremely wide viewing angle of 176°, ensuring you will always get great image quality, whether you are sitting directly in front of the TV or off to the side.

Special price: $729.95 + free shipping

Any Gnomies have a take on this product? Good or bad, we’d love to hear about it! Comments are absolutely welcome.

Gnomie Artim Zendeli writes:

1. Make your desktop background black — this way you can see the dead pixel.
2. Get a Sharpie marker, but keep the cap ON (you don’t want marker on your screen). If you notice, a Sharpie cap is rounded and smooth. That’s what you want to use (NOT a sharp tool or pen).
3. Gently bang on the pixel directly with the cap from the Sharpie; this will cause the dead pixel to flood with color and bring it back to life. You don’t want to smash the screen with the pen but give it a good couple bangs.

(Note: Not all dead pixels can be fixed.)

Thats it, I THINK this fix only works on LCD screens..

My friend had this dead pixel on his 17″ LCD and I came across a blog explaining how to fix a dead pixel. I sent him the email with the fix, not expecting it to work at all. The next day I got an email stating that his dead pixel has OFFICIALLY been brought back to life.

Hope this helps!

Gnomie Paul Borowski writes:

1. Get a company with lots of good reviews so you know what you are getting. I see lots of people getting stuff from the cheaper companies without looking at the specs. This is not smart. Go with a company you feel safe with or have heard good things about.
2. Make sure you do your research. Some people read a couple good reviews and they think that the product is perfect for them. Make sure you check out reviews from three or more Web sites. Or ask someone that knows more then you about monitors.
3. Get a high contrast monitor. The higher the contrast, the more colors. 1:1000 contrasts means there are 1 in 1000 different color shades. A low contrast monitor won’t look as good and colors will not stick out as much.
4. Response time. If you will be gaming you should get a response time under 7 milliseconds. Anything over could not be getting the full potential out of your graphic card. Also make sure your graphic card can support your resolution and size of the monitor.
5. Make sure you get what you need: CRT or LCD? Most people get LCD today. CRT monitors are not nearly as good, plus they’re big and junky. I would never consider buying a CRT.