Q: My computer takes forever to start up. I am tempted to just put it into hibernation or standby when I am done with it for the day, so that starting up will be quicker. Would I be damaging my computer by doing so?

    A: Doing this shouldn't cause any damage to your computer. For many users, one of these two techniques is standard procedure, in fact. Standby, or sleep, mode, gets you back to work more quickly, because the machine never completely shuts down. Its biggest downside is that, on occasion, computers fail to 'awaken' properly from this mode, and you have to do a full restart. So I would advise that you carefully save any work before initiating standby.

    In my experience, this kind of glitch is less likely to happen when you use hibernation, in which the computer does completely shut down, but first saves to the hard disk a record of the state of the machine.

    When the computer restarts, all open programs and files are restored just as you left them. The downside here is that getting going again using hibernation takes longer than it does using standby mode. And, even though it's more reliable than standby mode, I'd still advise saving all your work each time before using hibernation.

    Q: I am thinking about switching to a MacBook Pro laptop. I understand that it has a real good automatic Wi-Fi detection system. But if I also use a cellular modem card from Verizon or Sprint to access the Internet, won't the two conflict?

    A: No. The Mac operating system treats the two kinds of connections separately, each with its own user interface. It can detect and connect either one, if you have coverage of both types.

    Q: I'm interested in getting a laptop with LED display and SSD drive. Do you think the price for those components will fall drastically in three months' time?

    A: Displays that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been around for awhile and don't tend to be a major deal breaker in the higher-end laptops in which they are commonly offered. But solid state drives (SSDs), which replace hard disks with memory chips to store your data, are much rarer and newer and still can add significantly to the price of even a high-end laptop. I am no expert in price forecasting, but, while SSD prices will fall, I doubt they will drop 'drastically' in as little as three months.

    專(zhuān)欄作家莫博士就有關(guān)電腦和其他電子設(shè)備的常見(jiàn)技術(shù)問(wèn)題答讀者問(wèn)。

    問(wèn)：我的電腦開(kāi)機(jī)時(shí)間特別長(zhǎng)。因此當(dāng)我使用完電腦后，我就讓它處于休眠或待機(jī)狀態(tài)，這樣下次開(kāi)機(jī)就能節(jié)約不少時(shí)間。我這樣做是不是對(duì)電腦有害？

    答：這樣做不會(huì)給電腦帶來(lái)任何損害。實(shí)際上，許多用戶(hù)都將這兩種技巧之一作為他們的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)做法。待機(jī)或休眠狀態(tài)會(huì)讓你更迅速地重新投入工作，因?yàn)殡娔X并未完全關(guān)機(jī)。這樣做最大的一個(gè)不利之處是，有時(shí)電腦不會(huì)從這種狀態(tài)下正常“喚醒”，你需要完全重新啟動(dòng)電腦。因此，我建議你在待機(jī)操作前認(rèn)真保存好所有文件。

    根據(jù)我的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，在休眠狀態(tài)下出現(xiàn)這種小問(wèn)題的可能性不大，而且即使電腦完全關(guān)機(jī)，它也會(huì)首先將電腦狀態(tài)記錄保存在硬盤(pán)上。

    當(dāng)電腦重新啟動(dòng)時(shí)，所有未關(guān)閉的程序和文件都會(huì)恢復(fù)到原來(lái)的狀態(tài)。不利之處是，從休眠狀態(tài)轉(zhuǎn)入正常運(yùn)行狀態(tài)所需的時(shí)間要比使用待機(jī)狀態(tài)長(zhǎng)一些。而且，盡管這比待機(jī)狀態(tài)更可靠，我仍然建議每次在采用休眠狀態(tài)前都保存所有的工作。

    問(wèn)：我正在考慮購(gòu)買(mǎi)一臺(tái)MacBook Pro筆記本電腦。我知道它具有貨真價(jià)實(shí)的自動(dòng)Wi-Fi探測(cè)系統(tǒng)。但如果我也在使用Verizon或Sprint的無(wú)線(xiàn)調(diào)制解調(diào)器卡上網(wǎng)，二者之間是否會(huì)沖突呢？

    廣告答：不會(huì)。Mac操作系統(tǒng)會(huì)單獨(dú)區(qū)分兩種連接裝置，各自采用自身的用戶(hù)接口。如果這兩種接口你都有，它會(huì)用任何一種進(jìn)行探測(cè)和連接。

    問(wèn)：我對(duì)具有LED顯示器和SSD硬盤(pán)的筆記本電腦很感興趣。你認(rèn)為這類(lèi)配件的價(jià)格在今后三個(gè)月里是否會(huì)大幅下跌？

    答：采用發(fā)光二極管(LED)的顯示器上市已有一段時(shí)間，對(duì)通常采用這類(lèi)顯示器的高端筆記本電腦而言，這基本不是一個(gè)影響購(gòu)買(mǎi)決策的主要因素了。但固態(tài)硬盤(pán)(SSD)的確是新生事物，在高端筆記本的價(jià)格中仍可能占很大比例。但盡管SSD的價(jià)格將會(huì)下降，我還是懷疑能否在短短三個(gè)月的時(shí)間里“大幅”下跌。