New Technology Reviews!.: Computer

CommandLineFu: Amazing Collection Of Command Line Gems [Linux & Mac]

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<img alt="linux command line" class="aligncenter" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/b8d8f47276u-icon.png.png" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/b8d8f47276u-icon.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />Browse an assortment of amazingly useful commands. Whether you’re an veteran system admin or a command-line neophyte striving to discover more, CommandLineFu is a vote-driven collection of commands that serves up thousands of ideas you should have thought of but didn’t.</div>
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Some see the command line as Linux’s weak point, the ultimate symbol of a system lacking ease of use. Others know the command line as one of Linux’s best features, giving learned users quick access to features most computer users don’t even know exist. There’s a reason even Mac OS X comes with a full-featured terminal. CommandLineFu is an encyclopedia of exactly those features. A database featuring over 8,000 unique commands, this site can seem overwhelming at first – just like the command line itself. Dig in though, and you will wonder just how you used a computer without the command line.</div>
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Sorry, Windows users – the majority of these commands only work on Linux. Some work on Mac OS X as well.</div>
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Browsing</h2>
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Head over to CommandLineFu to get started. You will immediately see the commands submitted most recently.</div>
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You can “grep” (read: search) the archive, if you want, or simply click “<em>All Time Greats</em>” to see the most popular commands. Or if you prefer, simply browse the massive tag cloud that makes up this sites right sidebar.</div>
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A Few Highlight Commands</h2>
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Experienced command line users will immediately find things they are interested in, but what about everyone else? Here is a quick list of my discoveries from this site.</div>
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Quick, Temporary Web Server</h3>
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Want to quickly share a file with someone? Set up your own web server in a few keystrokes with this handy command:</div>
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<code>python -m SimpleHTTPServer</code></div>
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Just like that, your current directory will be shared. Here’s what it looks like in a web browser:</div>
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Naturally, you’re going to need to set up your router properly if you want to share with someone outside your current network. A dedicated IP or a service like DynDNS will also be needed. Still, for local file sharing, it’s hard to beat the above command: it’s quick and easy. It worked for me on Ubuntu and OS X.</div>
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Run Preview Command As Sudo</h3>
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This one’s probably only useful for users of Ubuntu, or other systems utilizing sudo. It allows you to re-run the last command you executed as sudo, perfect if you forgot to add that vital preface.</div>
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See Your Unread Emails</h3>
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Want a quick rundown of your unread emails? this simple command can do the trick, provided your email client of choice is Gmail.</div>
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It worked for me on Ubuntu and OS X; Linux users should make sure “curl” is installed.</div>
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See Your Mounted Devices</h3>
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A mounted device is any storage drive plugged into your system and working. Need to see a full list of them? Simple.</div>
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Watch A Text Version of StarWars</h3>
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Okay, this one’s not useful. It is, however, awesome. Watch a text-only version of Star Wars, complete with ASCII animated characters:</div>
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The code for this is simple:</div>
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<code>telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl</code></div>
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3 Different Feeds</h2>
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Do you want to know every time a new awesome command is discovered? CommandLineFu offers three different Twitter and RSS feeds for just that purpose. Which one you use depends on how frequently you want updates; check them all out here.</div>
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Conclusion</h2>
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This site is awesome. Exploring it can teach you a great deal about not only the command line but also about computers in general.</div>
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Did you learn anything cool? Share links to your favorite commands in the comments below, or just list them yourself.</div>
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CommandLineFu: Amazing Collection Of Command Line Gems [Linux & Mac]

Browse an assortment of amazingly useful commands. Whether you’re an veteran system admin or a command-line neophyte striving to discover...

Tutorial: How to boost your hard drive speed

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Speed up your hard drive: Intel Smart Response</h3>
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We're living in the 21st century right? Sure, if you look out of the windows there may be no flying cars or orbiting space hotels, and you're definitely not basking in the heat of a fusion reactor generating endless free power.</div>
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But, if you wait several minutes, your Windows PC may just manage to provide a desktop that you can check the date with.</div>
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Despite it being a new century and there being an abundance of silicon storage, the world is still plagued by slow-spinning mechanical hard drives.</div>
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It seems you're not the only person to notice this dichotomy, as Intel with its latest Z68 chipset has introduced a technology that enables you to break free of those mechanical shackles and unleash the lightning speed of solid state storage.</div>
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Its Smart Response Technology (SRT) offers a flexible caching system based on SSD flash storage but it's currently limited, artificially so, to just the Z68 chipset.</div>
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The truth is that SRT isn't even a new idea or something that's not available through other means. The old Microsoft ReadyBoost technology still exists inside Windows 7 and new hyper-fast USB 3.0 flash drives can still make use of this. While devices such as the IcyDock Xpander hybrid SSD/HDD offers similar caching abilities, turning a lumbering spinning hard drive into a nimble solid state drive.</div>
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But the burning question remains: which is best? Which is going to boost your drive speed the most and for how much?</div>
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We've decided to find out by pitching Windows ReadyBoost backed up with a seeringly fast USB 3.0 thumb drive, against the new Intel Smart Response Technology, and all of that against third-party caching options. So we can see which, if any, is worth spending your hard earned cash on or perhaps to see if you're simply better off just getting a basic standalone SSD.</div>
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The world is going solid state and it's not so much a matter of when, but of how. Look around yourself, everything is using more and more solid state storage.</div>
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From every MP3 player to every phone, as long as storage requirements are limited then it's flash or SD storage all of the way. Not that even here things are that 'limited' with USB thumb drives hitting the 64GB level and ever increasing.</div>
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For desktop PCs the situation is far more confused. On the one hand you have gorgeous high-speed SSD drives, but with comparatively limited capacities and potentially astronomical price tags. On the other hand you have these enormous capacity spinning-disk HDDs that cost next to nothing.</div>
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Getting SMART</h4>
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Enter, then, Intel's latest Sandy Bridge Z68 chipset and its Smart Response Technology. This is an extension of the existing Intel Rapid Response Technology that usually handles standard SATA drives and RAID configurations. In fact, SRT is a software extension of the standard RAID controller but let's not sell it short.</div>
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What it also is, is an exceptionally well executed hard drive caching scheme. It can make use of any SSD of any size that's attached to the chipset on either the SATA controller or what we think is hoped for: an internal mini-PCI-e slot using the purpose designed Intel 310 40GB mini-PCI-e SSD.</div>
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It promises to combine the speed of an SSD with the large capacity of a spinning HDD, which is attractive. For the cash strapped it's an interesting compromise, ideally most people would opt for a dedicated SSD boot drive with a dedicated HDD for storage.</div>
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The problem is that currently affordable SSDs simply don't have the capacity to make them truly usable as a boot drive. Models around the 80GB point are tipping well over the £120 price point. SRT promises to offer a solution to that for around £120 that provides the speed of an SSD with the multi-terabyte capacity of a HDD.</div>
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SRT's promises come at a price. That price is that currently it's only available on the Z68 Express chipset and even then the board has to come with the potentially optional Rapid Storage Technology, which is Intel code for RAID controller.</div>
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More simply put the motherboard has to use a Sandy Bridge 1155 socketed Core processor, you'll also need Windows 7 or Vista, a SATA-based SSD with at least 19GB of free space, plus a HDD without a recovery volume. Got all that?</div>
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For testing we've got the latest Zotac Z68 ITX Wi-Fi A mini-ITX motherboard, this comes with a built-in mini-PCI-e slot. Foolishly Zotac envisioned this to be used with the Wi-Fi module, but we're commandeering it and popping in an Intel 310 80GB mini-PCI-e SSD.</div>
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As long as you start with the SATA controller set to RAID, you'll be able to happily install Windows and use the system as normal. It's then possible to just drop in the SSD cache at any point. It's also possible to remove it at any point, but we'll come back to that in a little while.</div>
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The RAID BIOS will recognise and configure the SSD at boot time, this means once activated the cache acceleration works from the moment you power the PC.</div>
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To enable the acceleration Intel provides a new section in its Rapid Storage Technology utility called Accelerate. Use this to enable the system; the default settings will be fine. Just check the acceleration is being applied to the correct HDD, if you have more than one installed.</div>
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Intel has taken the decision that the cache used is no larger than 64GB. If you do try to use a larger one it'll still work with the remaining capacity partitioned off.</div>
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Matter of modes</h4>
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The SRT can function in two modes Enhanced and Maximized. With Enhanced a write-through cache is maintained where data is concurrently written to both the SSD and HDD. This has the advantage of data integrity: if the power goes nothing is lost but writes can be no faster than the HDD can function.</div>
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The Maximized setting uses a write-back cache, this caches write data on the SSD and will 'write it back' to the HDD when it has to be cleared from the cache. This can greatly speed up disk writes but there is a danger of losing this data if there's a power cut. A recovery mode is available within the BIOS, this synchronises lost data between the two drives.</div>
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So the Maximized mode does add an additional risk, but the payoff is that you can see increased write throughput in the benchmarks.</div>
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Once fired up you'll initially notice no change, but before running off to flame inflammatory forum posts comparing Intel to genitalia, this is because the SSD cache is empty. On a Maximized strategy writes will be accelerated from the get-go, but for both modes reads require at least a single read of the data from the HDD for the data to be cached.</div>
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This is where Intel's smarts pay dividends. The caching strategy works on a block rather than file basis and Intel prioritises data based on a number of criteria: application, boot, user and low-priority data. The first three should be obvious as they're all blocks accessed on a regular basis. The latter category encompasses sequentially accessed data, such as watching a film, running virus scans or copying files. How Intel detects these will be a key part in maximising the cache performance.</div>
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What strikes us as odd is that despite the awesomeness of SRT, it's more than likely going to be utterly wasted on owners of Z68 boards. Any early adopter that can afford to splash out on such a bleeding-edge board, processor and memory, can certainly afford a suitably high-capacity SSD. We'd hope that this technology, much like Hyperthreading and money from the rich, trickles down to those that actually need it.</div>
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Doing a notional audit of a base Windows 7 install, that's around 16GB of space and with a few software installations on top. We'd suggest that 20GB isn't an awful amount of SSD cache to be using. Shifting to a 40GB SSD would cover far more bases such as games, with the SRT providing the smart caching for access to the most used blocks.</div>
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It's more than possible to pick up a good Intel or other 40GB SSD for around £70. Couple that with a 2TB HDD at around the £50 price point and that's going to compete well with the dedicated 80GB SSD for around the same price but with 25 times the capacity.</div>
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Speed up your hard drive: Ready for a boost?</h3>
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<img alt="Readyboost" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.usb3-250-100.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.usb3-250-100.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="250" /></div>
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So it's great that anyone capable of upgrading to Intel's latest technological offspring can benefit from this cache, but what about the rest of us?</div>
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The first obvious answer that springs to mind is that older Microsoft Windows Vista technology called ReadyBoost, it's still in Windows 7 and with the arrival of USB 3.0 and ultra-fast thumb drives surely it can finally make a difference for the rest of us?</div>
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ReadyBoost is much maligned and misunderstood, but largely that's the fault of Microsoft. It did a reasonable job of trying to protect ReadyBoost by enforcing a minimum-performance barrier but did very little to explain or demonstrate what ReadyBoost was doing. While end results were hard to quantify or verify.</div>
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It is a disk-caching system, which attempts to augment traditional hard drives with parallel, low-latency access to flash storage. It's also highly flexible under Windows 7, supporting up to eight devices storing a total of 256GB of cached data.</div>
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There's also a misnomer that somehow ReadyBoost is locked to or connected to system memory or the pagefile. It's not, it's entirely connected to drive caching. The misnomer comes into play from the fact a 1GB system is going to benefit far more than an 8GB system.</div>
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In fact ReadyBoost won't touch the pagefile, as it assumes the ReadyBoost drive could be removed or fail at any point, which would be very bad if it was storing pagefile data.</div>
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Under Windows 7 and Vista, ReadyBoost is activated in the same way. Plug in the USB drive and by default the Autoplay window opens asking what action should be taken. You're able to activate ReadyBoost here. Otherwise open My Computer > right-click on the drive > select Properties > ReadyBoost and choose to activate it.</div>
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If you're using a flash device larger than 4GB for the love of all that's good, make sure you format it as NTFS or exFAT, otherwise this will limit ReadyBoost to a mere 4GB for FAT32 and only 2GB for FAT16.</div>
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Part of the problem with ReadyBoost is it can be hard to tell if it's actually doing anything, which really isn't a good thing for a caching technology. We've come up with a way of monitoring its effectiveness through the standard Windows Performance Monitor, read 'Ready, steady, boost' on page 68 for more details on just how.</div>
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Generally ReadyBoost caches all writes to the local filesystem and mirrors the Superfetch system, Windows will then opt for taking from the ReadyBoost file if it thinks that's faster than reading it from the standard drive.</div>
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On our clean test system with 2GB or 4GB it seemed reluctant to ever use it. However, switch to our work machine with 4GB and it was often in action loading files on a stressed system, though it showed only minor reductions in boot or application load times.</div>
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Driving the point</h4>
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<img alt="IcyDock" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.icydock-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.icydock-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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The options don't just end there. We shouldn't overlook the Seagate Momentus XT drives, these combine a standard 2.5-inch HDD with a 4GB NAND cache. Available in 500GB, 320GB and 250GB capacities, with the most expensive costing around £80 these remain more suited to laptops, as most 3.5-inch devices will match it for raw sequential read/writes.</div>
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Having said that the Momentus still retains an advantage for startup and application load times. It's just not enough in our eyes for what Seagate are charging, perhaps if they ever produced a true 3.5-inch desktop version we'd be more excited.</div>
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Finally, there's always the crazy mad-scientist option of creating your own hybrid HDD/SSD drive. IcyBox has its own Xpander Hybrid Adaptor, which is exactly that. It provides some type of hybrid RAID, as it requires storage on the HDD equal to half that of the SSD.</div>
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While this does work to a degree, in that it increases many disk operations, it doesn't manage it to the excellence of the Intel SRT. But then the Intel solution is, as you'd expect, somewhat more elegantly implemented and costs a banker's bonus.</div>
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One area we've not looked at in this feature are laptops, and the news is the mobile HM67 and QM67 chipsets will also be capable of enabling SSD caching. We're inclined to think the technology is less applicable to the mobile market, as out-and-out capacity isn't such an issue.</div>
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The technology is muddied further as the caching policy will differ on AC and DC power, which we read as being switched off under DC power. There's no question if you look at the benchmark results that the Intel Smart Response Technology works superbly. Put simply it accelerates the slow parts of Windows that you want to run faster, these are booting, starting applications and loading games. And it does it faster and better than the other solutions we've tried.</div>
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Step-by-step: boosting drive speed</h3>
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Ready, steady, boost?</h4>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Unconvinced by ReadyBoost? Track its caching to see what it's up to</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">1. Watch the watchers</span></div>
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<img alt="ready step 1" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_01-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_01-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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As we've mentioned part of the issue with ReadyBoost is knowing if the damn thing is providing any boost in speed in the first place. It's possible to monitor through the standard Windows Performance Monitor. To run this select Start, type 'perfmon' into the console. In the Windows that opens click 'Performance Monitor' in the top left.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">2. Counting beans</span></div>
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<img alt="ready step 2" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_02-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_02-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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By default the Performance Monitor has a CPU usage counter running. Right-click the graph area and select 'Remove All Counters'. Do the same again but select 'Add Counters', and a huge list of available counters will appear. Track down 'ReadyBoost Cache' and add suitable counters, you can [Ctrl]-click multiple ones.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">3. It's doing nothing!</span></div>
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<img alt="ready step 3" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_03-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.ready_03-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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At this point ReadyBoost may or may not be doing something but at least you'll be able to tell if it is or not! It's certainly worth giving ReadyBoost a chance to cache files and open and close items. Keep an eye on the skipped reads measure as this indicates the flash drive is being deemed too slow to be worth using.</div>
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Getting a Smart Response</h4>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Blast the wax out of your drives with some serious acceleration</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">1. It's a RAID</span></div>
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<img alt="SRT 1" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_01-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_01-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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The vital thing to do with your Z68-based installation, even if you don't have a suitable solid state drive yet, is to make sure you set the SATA controller to RAID within the BIOS and not IDE or the more usual AHCI. If you don't do this it's highly likely you'll need to reinstall Windows from scratch.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">2. Smart'en up</span></div>
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<img alt="SRT 2" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_02-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_02-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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The new Smart Response Technology is part of the longer-standing Intel Rapid Storage Technology, which manages the Intel drive controllers and RAID configuration. When a suitable SSD is installed alongside your existing drive, but not actually confi gured as a RAID, a new Accelerate option appears.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">3. Too smart to fail</span></div>
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<img alt="SRT 3" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_03-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/PCF257.feature2.srt_03-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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The Smart Response Technology is a fire and forget tech; once you've activated it just works. However, there's a BIOS section that kicks in; when the PC is first fired up press [Ctrl] + [i] to access it. This provides emergency recovery options, plus a way to safely disable and remove the cache disk if you need to.</div>
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Benchmarks</h4>
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It's an impressive, or rather utterly dominating first outing for the Intel Smart Response Technology. There's no question as to its success, the only question remaining is how long will it remain relevant?</div>
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With NAND prices effectively halving every 18 months, as capacity doubles, 80GB SSDs will soon fall to the £50 level. At which point your average Joe is probably going to opt for the straight SSD boot-drive solution.</div>
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Having said that, if for another £25 you can turbocharge a 2TB HDD with a drop-in 40GB SSD, that's something people will still probably want to do and by then, hopefully, SRT will be more widely available.</div>
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We remain disappointed by ReadyBoost, it's such an obvious technology that should offer – especially when combined with USB 3.0 – a similarly efficient boost. Yet even given all the chances to shine it remains stubbornly mediocre at best.</div>
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That's especially true in light of the IcyBox Xpander - while it didn't blow us away, it did deliver measurable and tangible real-world results. But all of these are simple distraction until SSDs, and even further down the line, continuous cloud-based storage become the primary storage mediums for everyone.</div>
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<img alt="tech labs" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Benchmark%20graphics/thinbanner-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/TechRadar/Benchmark%20graphics/thinbanner-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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<img alt="benchmarks" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/benchmarks-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/PC%20Format/PCF%20257/benchmarks-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
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Tutorial: How to boost your hard drive speed

Speed up your hard drive: Intel Smart Response We're living in the 21st century right? Sure, if you look out of the windows ther...

5 Ways To Clean Up Your Computer With An Automated Script [Windows]

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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<img alt="automate computer cleanup" class="aligncenter" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ace81bb0c1omated.png.png" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ace81bb0c1omated.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" />Computer maintenance isn’t exactly something that most people remember to do. For the general user that isn’t exactly tech savvy, when a computer doesn’t work, they either call for help or simply buy a new computer.<br />
If you have family members or friends that are always calling you for help with a slow computer, I’m going to offer you a solution that you can use to stop those phone calls right now. This solution incorporates six tools into a Windows script. That script is going to perform all of the PC cleanup work that you would do if you were sitting right in front of the computer yourself.<br />
<h2 style="font-size: 1.5em;">
What This Script Will Accomplish</h2>
This Windows script is going to run the required tools in command line mode. Many of these tools that you’ve been using for years, you may not have even realized that there <em>is</em> a command-line mode available.<br />
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">
Clean Up Registry & Temp Folders</h3>
The first step is probably the most important. We’re going to launch CCleaner in command line mode to clean up temp files and the registry.<br />
One catch. In order to make this script work without constant notifications about the apps making computer changes, you’ll have to disable the User Account Control windows feature in Windows 7.<br />
<img alt="" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/02575440bbclean1.png.png" height="406" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/02575440bbclean1.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="571" /><br />
Now you’re ready to roll. Create a file called <em>CleanComputer.wsf</em> and start it off with the following script.<br />
<code></code><br /><code></code><br />
<code>Option Explicit</code><br /><code>On Error Resume Next</code><br />
<code>Dim WshShell</code><br /><code>Dim retVal</code><br />
<code>set WshShell=CreateObject("WScript.Shell")</code><br /><code>WshShell.run "CCleaner.exe /AUTO"</code><br />
Danny covered CCleaner recently, so you can see just what it is capable of and how much it can optimize your system. When you launch it in the script as shown above with the /AUTO flag, it’ll run invisible and it’ll use the settings you used when you last ran the application. You’ll see CCleaner.exe running in the Task Manager.<br />
<img alt="automate computer cleanup" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/e90acde374clean2.png.png" height="417" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/e90acde374clean2.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="520" /><br />
If you configure CCleaner beforehand, in auto mode it’ll automatically clean up temporary files, log files and your registry as well.<br />
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">
Clean Up Spyware</h3>
Next up is to take care of any spyware that might be running on the PC. My favorite tool for that is Spybot, and luckily Spybot also offers a command line feature. The one problem here is that the path to Spybot is full of spaces, which is hard to handle in a Windows Script shell command.<br />
So, create a .bat file with the following:<br />
<code>C:Program Files (x86)Spybot - Search & DestroySpybotSD.exe" /taskbarhide /autocheck /autofix /autoclose</code><br /><code>Exit</code><br />
Save it as <em>SpyBot.bat</em> in the same directory as your Windows script. Then in the next line of your WSF file, add the following:<br />
<code>WshShell.run "spybot.bat"</code><br />
Your Windows Script will launch your batch job that will launch Spybot in command-line mode. You will know it’s running when the Exe appears in the task manager.<br />
<img alt="script to clean temp files" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/8476248428clean3.png.png" height="410" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/8476248428clean3.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="549" /><br />
Those four parameters after the spybotsd.exe file  will run Spybot in silent mode, automatically remove any spyware found, and then automatically close.<br />
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">
Remove Malicious Software</h3>
In addition to anything Spybot catches, I also like to run the Microsoft Malicious Software removal tool. Download the executable from the “Microsoft Download Center” section, save it in your script directory as “<em>malremove.exe</em>” and then add the following line to your growing Windows Script.<br />
<code>WshShell.run "malremove.exe /Q /F:Y"</code><br />
The /Q command tells the malware removal tool to run in quiet mode (no interface) and /F:Y tells it to forcibly remove any malware that it finds without any intervention required. The first time you run it during your initial testing, you’ll have to select the option for no warning the next time it runs.<br />
<img alt="script to clean temp files" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/38c6748fbaclean4.png.png" height="305" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/38c6748fbaclean4.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="404" /><br />
Here it is running in the background.<br />
<img alt="script to clean temp files" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/396b946e39lean31.png.png" height="410" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/396b946e39lean31.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="549" /><br />
So, we’ve covered most of what you’d probably do if you were there in person – run CCleaner to get rid of temporary Internet files and other temp files, remove spyware and malware, so what’s left?<br />
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">
Automate Disk Cleanup</h3>
Another common tool that can help computer performance is the Windows Disk Cleanup tool.  First you have to set it up. Go to <em>Start -> Run</em> and type: “<em>cleanmgr /sageset:1</em>“. The following window will appear.<br />
<img alt="computer clean up script" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/08501cc170clean6.png.png" height="472" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/08501cc170clean6.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="385" /><br />
Set up the items that you’d like your command line to automatically clean, and then click OK. This tells it that whenever you choose <em>/sageset:1</em>, to utilize the settings you’ve just created. Now, in your Windows Script, add the following line.<br />
<code>WshShell.run "Cleanmgr /sagerun:1"</code><br />
This will run the Windows disk cleanup silently, using the settings you’ve just created. You can also install the latest Windows updates by first installing WuInstall.exe and adding this line.<br />
<code>WshShell.run "wuinstall.exe /install /reboot_if_needed"</code><br />
And don’t forget to do a quick defrag of the hard drive by adding the following lines to the script.<br />
<em>WshShell.run “Defrag volume c:”</em><br />
<code>WshShell.run "Defrag volume d:"</code><br />
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em;">
Automate Virus Scan After Cleanup</h3>
Last, but definitely not least, you’ll also want to end your script by firing off a full virus scan. For example, I use Kaspersky, which offers its own set of command line parameters.<br />
In my case, I just add the following final line to my script.<br />
<code>WshShell.run "AVP.exe SCAN /ALL /i4"</code><br />
And that kicks off the command window and runs through a full scan (which can take several hours).<br />
<img alt="automate computer cleanup" data-mce-src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/471039b09dirus51.png.png" height="293" src="http://www.new-technology-news.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/471039b09dirus51.png.png" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="580" /><br />
Most other anti-virus providers out there offer similar command-line options.<br />
So, once you’ve added all of these lines, close out your Windows Script.<br />
<code>WScript.Quit</code><br /><code></code><br /><code></code><br />
Once you’ve finished the procedure above and saved your file on the PC, just schedule the job to run on a regular basis (<em>/Accessories/System Tools/Task Scheduler</em>). Give the procedure above a try and see how well it works for you.<br />
Did it work well, and can you think of any other useful command line tasks that could also be added? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.<br />
<small>Image Credit: Shutterstock</small><br />
<img alt="" data-mce-src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Makeuseof/~4/WyK5kjJoTyg" height="1" src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Makeuseof/~4/WyK5kjJoTyg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px;" width="1" /><br />
</div>

5 Ways To Clean Up Your Computer With An Automated Script [Windows]

Computer maintenance isn’t exactly something that most people remember to do. For the general user that isn’t exactly tech savvy, when a c...

Computer Data Recovery - Step by Step

Computer Data Recovery - Step by Step

Ever wonder how computer data is recovered? What happens to a file when it gets deleted from the recycle bin? How data recovery programs...

AT&T ACER Iconia Tab A501 4G Review [Video]

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<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="203" mce_src="http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.09 PM_androidcommunity" width="324" />If it was good the first time, it’s certainly good the second time, thus says Acer with their Iconia Tab A501, a device which is, in almost every way imaginable, exactly the same as the original Iconia Tab A500 we reviewed back on April 20, 2011. Therefor what we’ve got here is a bit of an upgrade to the original review, a bit of re-upping the details, and a few benchmarks to keep your mouth wetted for the big dinner.</div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;"></span></div>
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This device is one of the first tablets on the market able to work with AT&T’s current “4G” network, that being HSPA+ in this case, with LTE on the way though we’re pretty sure this tablet isn’t going to be upgraded in such a way as the activation of said network sweeps through the United States. What we’re going to show you here first is a hands-on and unboxing video as prepared by Cory Gunther, writer for Android Community and reviewer for SlashGear. Watch as he opens the box that has an extra 1, one less 0, and an AT&T logo on it.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">ACER Iconia A501 hands-on and unboxing video by Cory Gunther</span></div>
<h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Hardware</h4>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
What you’ve got here is a 10.1-inch display attached to an Android 3.0.1 Honeycomb toting Acer machine that has no less than an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor inside. This processor has two 1GHz cores in it and gives you access to the exclusive NVIDIA Tegra Zone app store, complete with ultra-fantastically detailed and powerful games galore. Inside you’ll also fine 1GB or RAM, 32GB internal storage, a microSD card slot to expand this by 32GB again, and a couple of lovely cameras.</div>
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
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border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.17 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.24 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.24 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.30 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.30 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-41-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-41-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.41 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.41 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.41 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-48-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-48-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.48 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.48 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.48 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-54-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-46-54-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.54 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.54 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/973/screenshot20110920at346.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.46.54 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-47-06-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-47-06-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.06 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.06 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2663/screenshot20110920at347.jpg" src="http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2663/screenshot20110920at347.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.06 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-47-10-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-47-10-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.10 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.10 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2663/screenshot20110920at347.jpg" src="http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/2663/screenshot20110920at347.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.47.10 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-50-13-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-50-13-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.50.13 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.50.13 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/6179/screenshot20110920at350.jpg" src="http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/6179/screenshot20110920at350.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.50.13 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a></div>
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On the left edge you’ve got your transparent plastic power button, 3.5mm headphone jack, and microHDMI cord port. At the top you’ve got a removable cover that hides both your microSD card port and your full-sized SIM card port. The original A500 has this same set of ports, but has yet to have the SIM card port activated. On the right side of the device you’ve got a reset button deep inside a pinhole, a full sized USB port, microUSB, and a lovely power port. You’ll be powering this device exclusively through this power port and the massive cord you get with the device in the box – the microUSB port is only for connecting to your computer.</div>
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The back of the device, again, has the main camera, a 5-megapixel camera with a cool single LED flash near it, the Acer logo looking lovely in the center of it all. The majority of the tablet is brushed aluminum, a thin piece of it making up the bulk of the back of the device. It’s touch enough to make you feel like you’ve got a high-quality product here made mainly of metal yet thin enough that the tablet doesn’t weigh a ton.</div>
<h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Software and Performance</h4>
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This tablet features a fairly stripped down look at Honeycomb as most Android tablets thus far working with Honeycomb have been prone to do. You’ve got some unique bits in a sort of full-screen drawer system, all of this you can see working in the original hands-on video your humble narrator filmed some weeks ago:</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">ACER Iconia Tab A500 hands-on with software</span></div>
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Again notice that this is a video of the A500 while the device we’re reviewing in the post you’re in now is the A501, and that the only real difference is the connectivity to AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Lucky you, we did a couple of speed tests to show you what it means to be on said network – behold the fury of AT&T’s current 4G. It is connected, that’s for certain.</div>
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<a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-20-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-20-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.20 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.20 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" src="http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.20 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-26-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-26-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.26 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.26 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" src="http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.26 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-31-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-31-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.31 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.31 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" src="http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.31 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a></div>
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Then come the benchmarks – we’ve run tests galore and YOU are gonna want to rummage through them to get a better idea of what you’re looking at here. Note that this tablet features the same NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor that we’ve also seen in every single multi-core Android tablet thus far. If you’re running dual-core and your running Android on a tablet, you’re running NVIDIA’s Tegra 2.</div>
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<a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-42-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-42-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.42 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.42 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" src="http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.42 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-50-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-48-50-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.50 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.50 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" src="http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6798/screenshot20110920at348.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.48.50 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-49-04-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-49-04-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.04 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.04 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" src="http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.04 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-49-16-pm_androidcommunity/" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/att-acer-iconia-tab-a501-4g-review-video-20110920/screen-shot-2011-09-20-at-3-49-16-pm_androidcommunity/" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.16 PM_androidcommunity"><img alt="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.16 PM_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.16 PM_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a></div>
<h4 style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
Camera and Battery Life</h4>
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First you should note that you’ve got a standard Li-Po 3260 mAh battery under the hood for massive long life per full charge. As with basically every tablet that’s come out in the past few months, you’re good to go for more than a day’s worth of work on your Android tablet. No worries. For the camera, you’ve again got the same setup as the A500, so it’s an OK look at world through front and back cameras, certainly better than the iPad 2 on the back but, then again, most devices in general are, and the front is certainly adequate for video chat.</div>
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<img alt="" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-53766" height="358" mce_src="http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" src="http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3962/screenshot20110920at349.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="Screen Shot 2011-09-20 at 3.49.33 PM_androidcommunity" width="540" /></div>
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<a href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53813" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53813" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="IMG_20110920_161341_androidcommunity"><img alt="IMG_20110920_161341_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/903/img20110920161341androi.jpg" src="http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/903/img20110920161341androi.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="IMG_20110920_161341_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53814" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53814" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="IMG_20110920_161445_androidcommunity"><img alt="IMG_20110920_161445_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2084/img20110920161445androi.jpg" src="http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2084/img20110920161445androi.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="IMG_20110920_161445_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a><br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" /><a href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53815" mce_href="http://androidcommunity.com/?attachment_id=53815" style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5;" title="IMG_20110920_161610_androidcommunity"><img alt="IMG_20110920_161610_androidcommunity" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" mce_src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5956/img20110920161610androi.jpg" src="http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/5956/img20110920161610androi.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" title="IMG_20110920_161610_androidcommunity" width="150" /></a></div>
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Wrap-up</h4>
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When you consider purchasing a tablet, there’s a choice you must make that’s completely unheard of in the smartphone world – do you want a data connection or not? With the majority of the tablets to be released thus far toting Android, you either don’t get a choice of whether or not you get data OR you get the choice of one or the other. Here you can purchase the A500 with no contract or the A501 with an AT&T contract, this ending up being $329 with a new, two-year data agreement, or offered at $479 for the 16GB contract-free version. Compared to the $600 pricetag on the HTC Jetstream tablet with comparable specs, the A501 is a no-brainer.</div>
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Another point to make here, and Cory was right on with his SlashGear review of this device, the A500 and the A501 look like one another but they do not look like any other tablet out there. You’ve got a unique set of chassis here, that’s for sure. Acer did their job well in making a unique amalgamation of metal, glass, and plastic, and all of it for the win.</div>
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AT&T ACER Iconia Tab A501 4G Review [Video]

If it was good the first time, it’s certainly good the second time, thus says Acer with their Iconia Tab A501, a device which is, in alm...