Dirty headphones can be a pain for many. If your headphones are dirty, this can result in muffled sounds and can expose your ears to bacteria. Most headphones can be cleaned with either hydrogen peroxide or dish soap and water. If your headphones have detachable tips, remove them and clean them separately.

1. Using Hydrogen Peroxide

Some headphones have clear tips covering the ends of the buds. If there are clear tips on your headphones, remove them before cleaning your headphones. Wipe them down with a soft cloth with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and then set them aside to dry. Dislodge any obvious debris. Get a soft cloth mildly damp with hydrogen peroxide. Rub down the mesh screens of the earbuds. Make sure to remove any earwax or obvious dirt and debris using your soft cloth. After applying the hydrogen peroxide set your earbuds aside. Allow the hydrogen peroxide to soak into your earbuds for about five minute. This will help soften any lingering ear wax, dirt, and debris. Use a soft bristled toothbrush. Gently scrub down your earbuds, focusing on the mesh screen in particular. Scrub down the buds so you remove any wax or dirt blocking the holes in your earbuds. Gently shake out the earbuds to remove any obvious water. From there, dab them dry further with a paper towel. Set them aside if they’re still wet to let them dry completely. If you removed the tips of your headphones earlier in the process, put them back in place once everything is dry. Your headphones should now be clean and ready to use.

2. Cleaning with Soapy Water

If your headphones have removable tips remove them before you begin the cleaning process. Rub them down with a soft cloth dampened with warm water. Then, set them aside to dry. Use a very small amount of dishwashing detergent on a wet soft cloth. After adding the detergent, wring the rag out thoroughly over the sink. It should be just barely damp, and only contain a small amount of soap, when you apply it to your headphones. Wipe down your headphones with your rag. Focus particularly on the mesh screens, making sure to remove any dirt and debris that’s blocking the holes in the headphones. Take a new cloth and get it damp with clean water. Remember to wring it out so it’s just barely damp before applying it to your headphones. Wipe down your headphones to remove any soap residue.Set your headphones aside until they’re completely dry. When everything is dry to the touch, put the caps back on your headphones. You can now use your headphones again.

If you don’t clean them and they become coated in wax, you won’t be able to hear out of them, just like you can’t hear well out of your ears when they are clogged.

How to Choose the Proper Display and Graphics for a Laptop

When looking at the video for a laptop there are four items to look over: screen size, resolution, screen type and graphics processor. For most people, only the screen size and resolution are all that will really matter. The graphics processor really only tends to make a difference for those looking to possibly do some mobile gaming or high-definition video but they can be used for more than that.

Pretty much all laptops use some form of backlit active matrix display to allow for bright fast displays capable of video playback.

Screen Size

Laptop screens have a wide range of sizes depending upon the type of laptop system that you are looking at. Larger screens provide an easier to view screen such as those for desktop replacements. Ultraportables tend to have smaller screens allowing for a reduced size and increased portability. Almost all systems now offer a wide aspect ratio screen either for a more cinematic display or to reduce the size of the screen in the depth dimension for an overall smaller system size.

All screens sizes are given in a diagonal measurement. This is the measurement from the lower screen corner to the opposite upper corner of the screen. This will typically be the actually visible display area. Here is a chart of the average screen sizes for different style laptops:

• Ultraportable: 13.3″ or Less
• Thin and Light: 14″ to 16″
• Desktop Replacement: 17″ to 19″
• Luggables: 20″ and Higher

Resolution

Screen resolution or native resolution is the number of pixels on the display listed in the number across the screen by the number down the screen. Laptop displays look best when the graphics are run at this native resolution.

While it is possible to run at a lower resolution, doing so creates an extrapolated display. An extrapolated display tends to cause reduced image clarity as the system has to use multiple pixels to try and display how a single pixel would normally appear.

Higher native resolutions allow for a greater detail in the image and increased work space on the display. The drawback to high resolution displays is that fonts tend to be smaller and can be more difficult to read without font scaling. This can be a particular drawback for people who have poor eyesight. It can be compensated by changing the font size in the operating system, but this may have unintended results in some programs. Windows has this problem in particular with the latest high resolution displays and desktop mode applications. Below is a chart of the various video acronyms that refer to resolutions:

• WXGA: 1366×768 or 1280×800
• SXGA: 1280×1024
• SXGA+: 1400×1050
• WXGA+: 1440×900
• WSXGA+: 1600×900 or 1680×1050
• UXGA: 1600×1200
• WUXGA: 1920×1080 or 1920×1200
• WQHD: 2560×1440
• WQXGA: 2560×1600
• WQXGA+: 2880×1800
• WQSXGA+: 3800×1800
• UHD: 3840×2160 or 4096×2160

Screen Type

While the screen size and resolution are the primary features that will be mentioned by manufacturers and retailers, the screen type can also make a huge difference in how the video performs.

By type I am referring to what technology is used for the LCD panel and the coating that is used over the screen.

There are two basic technologies that are used in LCD panels for laptops right now. They are TN and IPS. TN panels are the most common as they are the least expensive and also tend to offer faster refresh rates. They do have disadvantages including narrow viewing angles and colors. Now, the viewing angles impact how well the screen color and brightness looks the further off center you viewing the panel at. Color refers to the color gamut or total number of colors that the screen can display.

TN panels offer less overall color but this typically only matters for graphics designers. For those wanting higher color and viewing angles, IPS does both of these better but they tend to cost more and have slower refresh rates and are not as suited for gaming or fast video.

IGZO is a term that is being mentioned more often regarding flat panel displays. This is a new chemical composition for building displays that is replacing the traditional silica substrate. The primary benefits of the technology is to allow for thinner display panels with lower power consumption. This will eventually be a major benefit for portable computing especially as a way to combat the extra power consumption that comes with higher resolution displays. The problem is this technology is very expensive right now so not very common.

OLED is another technology that is starting to show up in some laptops. It has been used for high end mobile devices like smart phones for some time. The primary difference between OLED and LCD technologies is the fact that there is no backlight on them. Instead, the pixels themselves generated the light from the display. This gives them better overall contrast ratios and better color.

Touchscreens are becoming a major featuring in many Windows based laptops thanks to the new Windows interface design based around touch. It should be noted that this can easily replace the trackpad for many people as they navigate the operating system. There are a couple downsides to touchscreens through as they generally add to the cost of a laptop and also draw more power meaning that they have less running time on batteries than a non-touchscreen version.

Those laptops that do have touchscreens might come with a display that has the ability to be folded over or spun around to also provide a tablet experience. These were often referred to as convertible or hybrid laptops. Another term for them now thanks to Intel’s marketing is 2-in-1. The important thing to consider with these types of systems is the ease of use in the tablet mode as based on the screen size. Often, the smallest screens such as 11-inch work best for these designs but some companies make them up to 15-inches which are frankly difficult to hold and use.

The majority of consumer laptops tend to use glossy coatings over the LCD panels. This offers a greater level of color and brightness to come through to the viewer. The downside is that they are more difficult to use in certain light such as outdoors without producing a large amount of glare. They do look great in home environments where it is easier to control glare. Pretty much every display panel that features touchscreen uses a form of glossy coating. This is because the hardended glass coatings are better at combating fingerprints plus they are much easier to clean.

While most consumer laptops feature glossy coatings, corporate style laptops generally feature anti-glare or matte coatings. They help reduce the amount of external light from reflecting on the screen making them much better for office lighting or outdoors. The downside is that the contrast and brightness tend to be a bit more muted on these displays.

So, why is a glossy or matte display important to consider? Basically think of common areas where you will use a laptop. If they might produce a lot of glare, you should opt for something with an anti-glare coating if possible or the laptop should have very high brightness.

Graphics Processor

In the past, graphics processors have not been much of an issue for consumer laptops. The majority of users were not doing much graphically that required 3D graphics or accelerated video. This has changed as more and more people use their laptops as their exclusive machine. Recent advancements in integrated graphics have made it less necessary to have a dedicated graphics processor but they can still be beneficial. The primary reasons for having a dedicated graphics processor is either for 3D graphics (gaming or multimedia) and accelerating non-gaming applications such as Photoshop. On the flip side, integrated graphics can also offer improved performance such as Intel’s HD Graphics that support Quick Sync Video for accelerated media encoding.

The two major suppliers of dedicated graphics processors for laptops are AMD (formerly ATI) and NVIDIA. The following chart lists the current crop of graphics processors for laptop PCs from the two companies. They are listed in the approximate order of estimated performance from highest to lowest. If you’re looking to buy a gaming laptop it is important to know that they should have at least a minimum of 1GB of dedicated graphics memory but preferably higher. (Note that this list has been shortened to just the latest versions of the graphics processors plus one previous generation models.)

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080M
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070M
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
• AMD Radeon R9 M395X
• AMD Radeon R9 M485X
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
• AMD Radeon R9 M390X
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060M
• AMD Radeon R9 M385X
• AMD Radeon R8 M470X
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
• AMD Radeon R9 M380
• AMD Radeon R9 M470
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
• AMD Radeon R9 M375
• AMD Radeon R9 M365X
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M
• AMD Radeon R7 M360
• NVIDIA GeForce 940M
• AMD Radeon R7 M340
• NVIDIA GeForce 930M
• NVIDIA GeForce 920M
• AMD Radeon R5 M330
• AMD Radeon R5 M320
• AMD Radeon R5 M315

In addition to these processors, AMD and NVIDIA both have technologies that can allow certain graphics processors to run in pairs for additional performance. AMD’s technology is referred to as CrossFire while NVIDIA’s is SLI. While the performance is increased, battery life for such laptops is greatly reduced due to the extra power consumption.

Sometimes offers for desktop and laptop computers seem to be priced too low to be real. In the description of these products you might find the term refurbished. Both manufacturers and retailers may be offering these systems below what a normal PC costs, but what is a refurbished product and are they safe to buy?

Refurbished computers typically fall into one of two categories. The first type have failed a quality control check during manufacturing.

Rather than simply disposing of these systems, the manufacturer will rebuild it to pass quality control but sell it at a discounted price. The other type is a rebuilt system from a customer return likely due to a component failure.

Now the refurbishment of the product may be done by the manufacturer or a third party. Manufacturers rebuild the system using the same parts used in the new PCs. A third party that rebuilds the machine may use alternate parts to get it up and running. These alternate parts may change the system from its original design. This makes it important that the consumer read the specifications of the refurbished system and compare them to the standard specs for the product.

Another type of product that consumers will find discounted is an open box product. These differ from a refurbished product as it has not been rebuilt. It is simply a product that was returned by a customer but it has not been tested.

Consumers should be very careful when purchasing any open box products.

Costs

Cost is the primary reason people purchase refurbished desktops and laptops. They are often priced below the average computer system currently sold. Of course the amount of discount is only really relevant if you happen to be looking at the same exact product.

Most refurbished PCs available will typically be older products that are being compared to the original suggested retail prices for the product when it was first released. As a result, the deals may not always be the best.

When pricing a refurbished computer, it is important to note if the system is still available for sale new. If it is, this makes the price comparison very easy to determine. PCs such as this generally can be found for modest discounts of between 10 and 25% off the retail prices. As long as they have similar warranties to the new products these can be an excellent way to get a system for below retail.

The problem comes from older systems that are no longer sold. Consumers are often tricked into paying for a system that looks like a good deal but is not. This is where the specifications become extremely important. With those in hand, try to find a comparable brand new system. If one is available, then the same cost analysis of 10 to 25% still holds. If a comparable system is not available, then look for an equally priced new system and see what you get. Often times consumers in this case will find that for the same price they can get a better, newer laptop or desktop.

Warranties

The key to any refurbished computer system is the warranty. These are products that typically were returned or rejected due to a defect. While that defect may have been corrected and no further problems may develop you want to make sure that some coverage is included for potential faults. The problem is that warranties are typically modified for refurbished products.

First and foremost, the warranty should be a manufacturer one. If the warranty is not provided by the manufacturer it should raise a red flag for consumers. A manufacturer warranty will guarantee that the system will be repaired to the original specifications with manufacturer parts or certified replacements can be used with the system.

Third party warranties can cause major problems as replacements parts may not be guaranteed and it may take longer for the system to be repaired.

The next thing to look at is the length of the warranty. It should provide the same length as if it was purchased new. If the manufacturer is not offering the same coverage consumers should once again beware. The lower cost of the system may be the result of them not offering to support the product.

Finally, be wary of extended warranties. If an optional warranty is offered for purchase with the system, it should be a manufacturer extended warranty and not one through a third party. Also be wary of the cost for extended warranties. If the cost of the extended warranties makes the system cost more than buying it new, avoid the purchase.

Return Policies

As with any product, you may get the refurbished computer and find that it does not meet your needs or has issues. Because of the nature of refurbished systems, you want to be very careful of the return and exchange policies offered by the seller. Most retailers tend to have more restrictive policies regarding refurbished machines and they may be sold as it which means you have no recourse for returning the product. Because of this, always read them carefully before making a purchase. Manufacturer refurbs often have been options than third party sellers.

Conclusions

Refurbished laptops and desktops are one way consumers can find a good deal, but they have to be much more informed before the purchase.

The key is to ask several key questions to know if it is really a good and safe deal:

• Ÿ Is it sold by the manufacturer or a retailer?
• Ÿ What is the price relative to the same PC new?
• Ÿ Is the system comparable to an equivalent priced new PC?
• Ÿ What type of warranty comes with the PC?
• Ÿ Who will handle warranty work?
• Ÿ Is there the option for a return?

If all of these can be answered satisfactorily, then consumers can generally feel secure in the purchase of a refurbished PC.