Inverter Advantage

The award-winning range of Fujitsu General which has Nocria inverter air conditioners has been extended with the addition of three new models, as an increasing number of households invest in heating for the colder months ahead.
“With improved air conditioning MEPS (Minimum Energy Performance Standards) introduced by state governments in April 2006 and revised levels expected in October this year, inverter air conditioners will continue to be viewed as the ideal, energy efficient heating appliance this winter,” says Philip Perham, Fujitsu’s general manager – marketing/sales.
The automatic filter cleaning function of the Nocria ceiling wall inverters, a world first, maintains a smooth air flow by preventing the filters from being clogged with dust and other harmful particles.
A titan apatite filter sterilises dirt and dust and can remove 99.99% of cigarette odours and bacteria. The indoor unit’s fan which is driven by an axial gap motor is 1.5 times more compact than a conventional motor yet produces a higher power output. Rotating efficiency is increased by 10% and the electromagnetic field simulation technology incorporated within the design of the new motor enables low vibration and low noise.
Incorporating a new computer designed fan, the Nocria air conditioners increase the maximum air flow by 10 percent over that of conventional models. Strong vertical air flow provides powerful floor level heating and the healthy horizontal air flow prevents cool air from blowing directly at anyone in the room.
The Nocria inverters have an inner drying function designed to prevent the growth of mould and fungus. After operation ends, by pressing the coil dry button a 30 minute speed cleaning operation commences.

Intel Core 2 Duo and Extreme Processors

For a company like Intel to stumble and that too, badly, for the two years prior to the launch of the now runaway hit, the Core 2 Duo has been quite an experience (not to be confused with the P4, Core Duo - whereas the P4 Core Duo could complete three instructions per cycle, the Core 2 Duo can complete 4 – and that is without talking about processing power and efficiency). Especially when the underdogs, AMD had almost overtaken it.

But then, all that has changed with the introduction of the Core 2 Duo and the rest. It was when Intel decided to scrap the Netburst micro-architecture that never reached the potential that Intel believed was possible, and focused on the Pentium M architecture designed by their Israeli team that things started brightening up.





The architecture of the chip is simply known as Core, of which the products include Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme. Both run on an 1066 MHz FSB bus and are built using 65nm transistors. Again, both are dual core chips, with the Core 2 Extreme coming with a higher cache and a higher clock speed. (There is also a workstation version of the Core architecture – Woodcrest Xeon.)

These processors are built on a 143 sq mm die and are made up of 291 million transistors, regardless of their L2 cache size. While rivals AMD use 90nm tranistors on their chips, Intel uses the 65nm ones.

Code named ‘Conroe’, Intel’s Core 2 Duo will have a mobile counterpart, named ‘Merom’.
Following are the various versions of the Core 2 Duo that are available.




Testing by PC World and others show that the Core 2 Duo processors are the fastest amongst the range considered for the desktop PCs. (Of course, we haven’t talked about the Quad Core ‘Kentsfield’ series from Intel – consisting of two Conroe chips.)

Apart from that, the Core 2 Duo series boasts of lower power consumption, resulting in lesser heat and higher performance.

Of course, the disadvantage is that you cannot use the processors on your existing motherboards as these processors - though they sit on the same Socket 775 interface as with the earlier Pentium 4 sockets – require different chipsets. Major manufacturers are ready with their motherboards which can use these Intel powerhouses, e.g. Gigabyte, ATI, nVIdia.

While it is difficult to say that whether investing in a Core 2 Duo motherboard makes sense in terms of longevity and it is known that the processor is incompatible with a lot of Pentium-compatible chipsets, it depends on the customer to make the call.

Selecting a computer speaker

A computer speaker is probably the last thing that calls for an active selection, if we go by the most people buy their computers. The speakers that are shipped along with the computer are generally used and rarely does a customer ask for better models at the time of shipping.

So, whats wrong in going for an average 2.0 speaker? Two things;

1. The sound card which is available in most of the computer configurations available these days is capable of very high quality output. However, it gets limited by the type of speaker you have as it(speaker) may not have the kind of frequency range that is signalled by the card. Essentially, you are forcing some high quality input into a system that is incapable of deciphering the signal properly.

2. What do you want the computer to do? If your computer is just for professional purposes, you need not bang your head about speaker issues. But if you plan on watching videos, play games and want an interactive experience, you will definitely need more two small PC speakers which cannot give you the sound fidelity that you desire.

Speakers are generally numbered in terms of 2.0, 2.1, etc. This is done on the basis of the number of speakers - like 2,4,5,6,7 and the .1 represents a sub-woofer.

Whats a sub-woofer? A sub-woofer is a loudspeaker capable of reproducing sounds of an extremely low frequency - in the range of 150Hz to 20Hz. This is the one that is responsible for the amplification of bass beats to a high fidelity level.

What are the characteristics that you should look for in your speakers?

Frequency response – It is the frequency range that your speakers can give. Higher the range, better is the sound.
Signal to Noise Ratio – This ratio is responsible for the sound fidelity and should be in near about 80dB (decibels)
Certification – Look for THX certification if possible. it is a quality assurance system which shows whether your speakers exhibit exactly the same sound when it was created.

Though a relatively unimportant part, the computer speakers can enhance the audio experience from your computer which you might not never have though about.