Asus N10 Review

April 28th, 2009

N10 Review

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Today most netbooks are the same in their basic setup, including the 1GB of RAM, and Windows XP. The only notable differences among netbook configurations are the drives – the solid-state drive and the large capacity spinning drive and the keyboard layout. Screen sizes are even becoming more standardized at 9-10inches. It seems the only one breaking the technology mold these days is the Asus N10.  You may pay a bit more, but the Asus N10 is unique among netbooks, particularly for its distinct switch able graphics and extra ports.

This is a 10.2 -inch system from the company that started the netbook craze with their Eee PC. The Asus N10 features the noted CPU, RAM and OS. The biggest difference in the Asus N10 is the added Nvidia GeForce 9300 graphics card.  This is the first graphics offered on a netbook and it is possible to switch between the GeForce graphics and the integrated Intel graphics.

Netbooks are mostly used for basic tasks, surfing the web and emailing; however, the Asus N10 is an great sturdy travel accessory if you enjoy casual gaming or if you are a PC game addict who can live with limited screen resolution and lower-power CPU.

There are a few different configurations available in Australia of the N10.  The N10JC-HV006 runs about AU$1,099 complete with a XP Home, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, a bag and mouse. The N10J-HV024C runs about $1,199 with Windows Vista Home Premium, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB RAM without any accessories. The N10J-HV009G runs about AU$300 more, but the only difference between this and the N10J-HV024C model is a bag and a mouse. If you don’t need the extra bag and mouse, Harvey Norman has an exclusive model that sells for AU$999.

The N10 has a keyboard with large flat keys for maximum typing area. It is not as good as HP Mini 1000 keyboard, which is excellent, but much better than those netbooks with the tiny keys. The keyboard on the Asus N10 has also corrected the right shift key, which was a problem with the Asus S101 model. The screen is also a little bigger than the ten inches (10.2) and has a LCD widescreen display that allows for more workspace and 1,024×600 native resolution. Although this is readable, most documents and web pages require the reader to scroll to view the document.  This is also a somewhat awkward resolution for games and video content.

There is HDMI and an ExpressCard slot included and these seem to be appreciated by users and the N10 is the one of the only netbooks we have seen that offers these.

The big extra in the N10 is the Nvidia GeForce – 9300M GS GPU. When the GPU is turned on, a software application, which is included, lets you switch to different power-saving modes.  This primarily has to do with when the display and hard drives will power down.  When you are away from an AC outlet or want to extend battery life, there is a switch on the left side that turns the GeForce 9300 off. (You will need to reboot to make this change.)

The N10 performed in a similar way to other Atom-powered netbooks on benchmark tests. Watching HD video content files was strenuous on the Atom CPU and had an uneven playback even with the graphics on; however, there was no problem with the standard-definition video files. It was possible to work with images in Photoshop without slowing down the system; however, the screen resolution was too low to run a Photoshop test properly.

Gaming performance must be viewed realistically. You cannot expect much from an Atom CPU and 1GB of RAM, however with the Asus N10, Unreal Tournament III was a fairly good experience and certainly playable after we dialed down the resolution to 800×600 to get 29 frames per second and kept the detail level at medium.

The Asus’ netbooks are known for their excellent battery life. (It takes big six-cell batteries). In a video playback test, it lasted 3hrs.17 min.- better than other netbooks.

Summary of Review: Overall rating – 8.

Positives
•    Graphics chips are switchable, dedicated, and integrated
•    Good keyboard
•    Extended battery life
•    Useful additions, including the HDMI port and ExpressCard slot

Negatives
•    Real gamers need higher screen resolution
•    Not ideal for graphics-heavy applications/ gaming due to underpowered Intel Atom CPU
•    Higher cost

Asus, Mini laptops, NetBooks , , , , , , , , , ,

Sony Vaio Mini Laptop Review

April 28th, 2009

Get Discounts on Sony Vaio Mini Laptops Here

Sony Vaio Mini Laptop Review

Almost everybody, not just business professionals, wants a computer that is small enough to carry almost everywhere. Not only small though; it should be powerful enough to do almost all personal or business tasks without the weight of a regular laptop. Leading brands, including Sony, developed solutions to this demand for lightweight, low-cost and powerful device.

Introducing the Sony VAIO Mini Laptop

Sony’s VAIO Mini Laptops or notebooks are considered by many to be one of the most stylish laptops of all. Apple has even been known to “borrow” some of its designs from Sony. Laptops from Sony are known to be the coolest looking computers in the market. The VIAO with its slim and sleek design can fit into your pocket or purse. Hence, it has gained the label of being a “Lifestyle PC” rather than an ordinary notebook.

VAIO Features and Specs

The Sony VAIO weighs an amazingly light weight of 1.4 pounds and is almost as thin as a mobile phone. It features a built-in web camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G mobile broadband connectivity, and a GPS function. This 8-inch notebook has an Intel processor of 1.33GHz with 2GB of DDR2 memory, Intel’s GMA graphics, 128GB drive, a Memory Stick Duo, and two USB ports. Its resolution is an ultra-wide display of 1600×768 pixels.

The laptop is said to last up to four hours when in a standard capacity battery and eight hours with a large capacity battery. It uses Vista as its operating system with an option for fast music, photos, videos, and Internet access. You can choose from a number of colors such as red, green, classic black, crystal white, and onyx black.

VAIO Functionality

When it comes to functionality, Sony VAIO mini laptops are more than capable of checking emails, browsing the web, creating a PowerPoint presentation and typing a Word document. Since it has a built-in 3G broadband, and a quick start Vista Operating system, it allows its users to instantly log online to share photos, listen to music, and do almost anything with speed.

When it comes to ease of use, VAIO laptop’s keyboards are quite tiny. Of course, this is the consequence of loving the idea of a small and lightweight computer. However, VAIO’s keyboard is less cramped. It is very compact with a little more spacing in between them so you can easily use your standard typing methods. You can always type your emails or chat with your friends on Instant messengers without too much discomfort. You can always invest on an external keyboard and a USB mouse if you plan on using VAIO laptops as your primary computer.

VAIO Limitations

Of course, Sony VAIO Mini Laptops have their own limitations, such as limited port selection, small screen, and as mentioned, tiny keyboard. For people who would most likely spend time in an office working in front of a computer, a regular laptop or notebook might be a better choice. Another thing to consider is the price. A VAIO mini laptop would cost you around $900 USD which is actually huge especially in today’s economy. Then again, if you can afford one, why not buy yourself the world’s Lifestyle PC?

Get Discounts on Sony Vaio Mini Laptops Here

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Asus EEE Review

February 5th, 2009

Get the Asus EEE 900 up to 40% Off Here!

Asus EEE 900 Review

The Asus EEE 900 is a small, portable computer that is a basic, affordable machine that doesn’t have to run the latest version of Windows. It is considered an ultra-portable machine that only measures 225×165x35mm. The screen is 8.9 inches and has 1,024 x 600 pixel resolution which allows you to view the majority of web pages perfectly without having to scroll sideways. Since the screen fills the lid of the computer, that gives you an idea of how compact this little computer is.

The Asus EEE 900 screen quality is superb with the widescreen aspect of most fully featured notebooks. It is evenly lit and has wide viewing angle with no dead pixels. It is functional and looks great! The keyboard is quite small, so it may not be suitable for those with bigger hands, but it works fine otherwise. There is a solid break after each keystroke.

The touchpad below the spacebar is wider than previous models and is multi-touch enabled. They’ve packed some of the cutting edge technology on a quite affordable computer. They can be bought for under $350, which makes them a bargain in the laptop world.

You can scroll from anywhere on the touchpad as long as you are using two fingers, which tells it you are not just trying to move the pointer. You can do vertical and horizontal scrolling this way.

The Asus EEE 900 comes with a 900MHz Intel Celeron processor in a 915 GM based motherboard, but the 1GB of RAM comes standard. The webcam is a 1.3 megapixel which makes it fun to talk with your friends. You can pick from two options on storage-either 12 GB or 20 GB. The main difference is that the 12GB comes preloaded with Windows XP, and the 20GB is Linux.

There’s a lot of performance built in and the computer responds quickly to commands. The Asus EEE 900 comes with a D-SUB port for hooking your computer up to an external monitor and has three USB Ports and a SD card slot for extra memory, if you need it. It also has an Ethernet port, as well as 802.11 b/g wireless built into the unit.

The battery life on the unit is around 3 hours depending on how many features you are using. While it is not a lot of battery life compared to the larger laptops, it is a small power brick, so it’s very portable as long as you are near a plug in.

The Asus EEE 900 is a great ultra portable computer with the features of many larger laptops. It’s small, lightweight and very affordable. It’s so small that many women carry them in their handbags, which makes it great for traveling and working in airports. It has a lot of value built into a wireless capable, notebook computer that is affordable for anyone and great for a gift.

Mini laptops , , , ,

N810 Discontinued

January 7th, 2009

This is breaking news. We just found out that Nokia has pulled the plug on the N810 WiMax Edition. Why would they do such a thing? Many people point to lack of WiMax service as the reason. Few areas have this service available. It goes without saying that the lack of the service will surely lower the sales of the N810 WiMax Edition, especially when the non-WiMax edition N810 is around one hundred dollars cheaper and offers all the other features.
The WiMax edition may have survived if it had been released a little later, when more cities have WiMax service. Once it gets here, WiMax will be here to stay. Unfortunately for the N810 WiMax Edition, the service didn’t migrate fast enough. When it does, however, an N810 WiMax Edition will be a handy thing to have. Grab one while supplies last!

Uncategorized

Hacking the Eee PC

January 7th, 2009

The Eee, however it is pronounced(I sometimes say “E e e” and other times I say “triple e PC”), is a great little portable computer for the price. It offers many of the features that you would get from a highend desktop at a fraction of the cost. Probably the best feature of the device is it’s “hackability”.

Not everyone who buys an Eee will be hacking it. The term “hack” is used very loosely here. All that this refers to is using the device in a way it wasn’t originally intended. This is hard to accomplish with this laptop only because it was originally built with many intended uses. Even hacking it could be considered one of it’s originally intended uses.

There are at least two operating systems available for the Eee. Windows XP Home edition runs fairly well on them, but for best performance and the best ability to customize the computer, the Linux version is recommended. Plus the Linux version should be a little cheaper than the XP version. It should also be noted that the Linux version would pretty much remove the need for such things as antivirus software or disk defrag.

So if one decides on the Linux version, there are a few things that can be done right out of the box to make it better. First and foremost, install Ubuntu-Eee(now called Easy Peasy) on it. This is very simple believe it or not. There are plenty of how-to’s available on the net for this, but the simple rundown is to grab an SD card, format it FAT32, download the Easy Peasy, load it onto the SD card, boot to it, and install.

That is a very brief overview of the steps, but it gets the point across. There are a few other tips to remember about installing a different version/distribution of Linux on the Eee. Since it uses a solid state drive(SSD), there are steps everyone should take to assure that the drive lasts it’s full potential. SSDs have a limited lifespan. On average it is possible to write the entire storage capacity 10,000 times before the drive goes bad. Under normal operating conditions, this would amount to roughly 3 years of use. To minimize the number of writes to the drive, one should turn off the swap file, turn off logging, use ext2 instead of a journaled filesystem, and mount the filesystems “noatime”.

The beautiful thing about the Eee, however is that it can boot to SD cards and USB devices. To reduce the wear and tear on the built-in SSD, it would make more sense to just install the Operating Systems onto the SD cards. The built-in SSD could then be used for storage of important documents if needed. This also allows for many operating systems to be used. If one wanted to test the security of their wireless network, they could use an SD card with BackTrack Linux. It should even be possible with enough hackery to get XP, Vista, or upcoming Windows 7 running from an SD card as well.

If two people wanted to share the Eee, they would only need to carry their own SD card. This could actually be a great idea for libraries, schools, and other businesses who wish to allow others to use their computer systems privately. SD cards are cheap too.

These are only a few of the things that can be done with the Eee. Grab one today and start experimenting with it.

Mini laptops, NetBooks

January 7th, 2009

There’s a new form of broadband on the horizon. With it comes the convenience of wifi and the availability/coverage range of the mobile internet providers. This new standard is going to reach out and provide internet service to many people who currently still use dial-up or at best satellite internet. The name for this new technology is “Wimax”, and only a few of the latest mobile gadgets have this technology built-in.

There have been many great reviews of the Nokia N810 and it’s many features, and Nokia one-upped itself when it released the WiMax edition of the N810 last year. Sadly, there’s only a few available. Amazon has the best deal on them at the moment and last time I searched eBay there were none available at all.

Mobile providers are jumping on the bandwagon. Sprint’s 4G service, XOHM, uses WiMax and is much faster than the 3G used by AT&T. Keep an eye out for this technology over the next couple of years. It will really take off. Of course, it’s already available in some areas.

Internet Tablets, PDA's, Phones

The Pocket Library

January 7th, 2009

Reading books seems like such a thing of the past. The digital age may eventually rid he world of the paperback. It’s well on it’s way. There’s still something nostalgic about going to the library. Maybe it is the smell of the old books. The amazing thing is that with mobile devices having the ability to story billions of bytes of information, we can walk around with an entire library in our pocket.

Many people ignore this simple fact about mobile devices. Sure, they know they can listen to music on them, but most don’t realize that with the same amount of storage space required to hold one song, a person could store quite a few books in text format. Of course, if one uses the most common format for an ebook, PDF, the size is about equal to that of a single song. Even at that size, current mobile devices would allow for thousands of ebooks.

There are many legal ways to acquire ebooks and those will continue to increase over time. A quick look at a few torrent sites shows that ebooks are quite popular there as well. Though it may not be 100% legal, it is possible to download thousands of books in a very short time from these bittorrent sites.

Having a device with a good PDF reader is a must. One of the absolute best devices for this is the Nokia n810. The navigation is superb and the quality is amazing. Having a complete library in one’s pocket is just as handy as the built-in GPS. Of course, if wifi is available then the whole internet is available on the device as well.

Start your personal library today.

Internet Tablets, PDA's

Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop Review

January 7th, 2009

Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop Review

Here you can get the Acer Aspire One up to 45% Off

Many people falsely assume that small laptops aren’t powerful laptops, or that small laptops could not possibly be as feature-rich as their larger competitors, but anyone who believes these false assumptions have not met the Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop. The Acer Aspire One is an 8.9 inch LCD, 160GB HDD, 1GB RAM White Laptop Computer that weighs a mere 2.78 lbs and offers amazing transportability.

Regardless of whether you are checking your e-mail, managing your online accounts or having a conversation with your friends, this surprisingly transportable Aspire One laptop offers an operating system that is simple and intuitive, clearly organizing everything that you need in order to effectively surf the internet, get your work done or simply have some fun.

Battery Life – This is one of the greatest elements of the Acer Aspire One. As far as battery life is concerned, you will be surprised when you see how long this battery can go for. I’ve taken my laptop out of the house expecting to lose power within an hour or so. After playing my favorite video game for four hours straight, I closed it down and found that I still had a surprising hour and fifteen minutes worth of battery life to take advantage of.

Look and Feel – My Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop attracts crowds beyond my imagination. Most people assume I am playing with a DVD player until I start playing games or my laptop starts throwing off chat sounds. If you are looking for a small, portable and visually attractive laptop computer, then the produces created by Acer are a good way to go. The Acer Aspire One is my favorite laptop by far, and it continues to blow my mind when I take it out and watch everyone get excited at it.

The key specifications are enough to give a clear indication of how awesome this small, portable laptop really is.

Processor – Intel Atom Processor N270

Memory – 1024MB DDR2 533MHz SDRAM

OS – Windows XP Home

Monitor – 8.9″ WSVGA CrystalBrite LED Backlight LCD Display

Hard Drive – 160GB 5400RPM SATA

Weight – 2.78 lbs

Measurement – 9.8″L x 6.7″W x 1.42″H

Ports – 3 – USB 2.0, VGA Connector, RJ45-Ethernet and AC Adaptor Connector

Included Accessories – 4GB USB flash drive, 6-cell LI-ion battery, user guide, Power adaptor, Power cord and USB mouse

Pre-Installed Software – Acer Recovery Management, Acer Launch Manager, Adobe Reader, McAfee Internet Security Suite, Microsoft Office Trial 2007

If you are looking for a small and portable laptop that is visually stunning and really packs a punch in terms of functionality, then the Acer Aspire One Mini laptop is the way to go. This laptop will give you the capability and functionality that you need, regardless of whether you are looking for a laptop offering work functionality or a nice gaming rig. No matter what you need, this is an excellent laptop for you if portability is important.

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Mini laptops

Nokia n810: The Swiss Army Knife for Geeks

January 5th, 2009

Everyone has a mobile phone these days. With it comes the ability to get on the internet whenever/whereever they want. Of course, data plans are sometimes just too costly to be justified. There are two other reasons I dislike the mobile internet. Firstly, mobile browsers are just not intuitive or friendly. The navigation is awful. Even a Blackberry’s browser is hard to navigate, and it is one of the most widely used mobile phones for business customers. Finally, the majority of data plans are SLOW. They may claim to be “broadband”, but while this term implies “fast”, it really only amounts to something a litter faster than 56k dial-up.

So, if you plan to use your cell phone for the internet, be prepared for an internet experience that is about as pleasant as getting an infected wisdom tooth extracted. This didn’t sound very inviting to me, so I decided to search for a device that meet my needs. I found a few duds along the way, such as the Archos 5. It claimed to be many things but came up very short on actual included features.

That’s when I came upon this little gem.

n810, nokia n810, wimax edition, n810 reviews,n810 price, n810 batteries, n810 wimax edition review, n810 internet tablet wimax edition rx-48, n810 gps review
This is the Nokia n810. This isn’t your standard Nokia phone. No, this isn’t a phone at all, although it can be used as one with VOIP applications such as Skype. It was exactly what I had searched for. It’s the next generation of portable internet devices, and here’s why it’s better than your mobile phone or your laptop.

First of all, it’s better than your mobile phone because it’s not a phone. I know that may not make much sense to some of you, but I’m not a big fan of mobile phones or mobile phone carriers. The fees are ridiculous and I find the sound quality very lacking. Sure, many of us couldn’t get through the day without our mobile phone by our side, but I like to limit my time on one. You can get the same sound quality from an internet enabled device and VOIP services such as Skype or a magicJack. For someone on the go, a mobile phone is a necessity, but there are alternatives in the future that could replace mobile phones.

One huge factor in this mobile device revolution is the increase in free wifi hotspots. For instance, I can use a bluetooth headset, my Macbook, and a magicJack as my phone. The upshot of this is I don’t have to pay for a mobile phone carrier. The magicJack is $20/yr. Let me reiterate…The magicJack is $20 per year! That includes nationwide long distance and Canada. I can be sitting in Panera, enjoying a Sierra Turkey sandwich, using their free wifi, and talking to my wife on my Mac. Don’t have a Mac? No problem, there are bluetooth receivers for any PC, and you’ll save enough in very little time to pay for the laptop.

But I’m getting side-tracked. I can do the same thing with the n810. The difference is the n810 is much smaller than a laptop. It’s around the same size as the iPhone or iPod touch. It has built-in bluetooth. It has built-in wireless. It comes with 2gb of internal storage and you can use mini/micro SD cards for added storage. It also has USB 2.0. It has a full QWERTY keyboard. You name it, and this device can do it. Did I mention it has built-in GPS?

That’s right, it has GPS at no additional charge. Here’s the scenario I envision. If you are traveling and you need the internet on the go, you’re going to wait till you are stopped for something to eat or at a hotel. These places usually have free wifi. If you need to make a cheap phone call, you can use this thing along with skype and a headset. If you are like me, you’ll just email or message anyone you need to talk to. If you need to order a pizza, just jump onto Domino’s website and order one online from the n810. Personally, I would also read Digg.com or other news sites while I’m relaxing. When I start traveling again, it’s now my GPS.

This brings up battery life. It has plenty of that to spare as well. Four hours of constant use. That’s about the same as good laptop battery lifespan. What’s even better is that you can pick up an extra battery with a charger for less than $10. Find a laptop battery for the same price. If you are just listening to music on it, it’ll run constantly for around 10 hours. If it’s online but doing nothing else, it has a 5 day battery life, and finally if it’s in standby it has a 14 day battery life. Those are some very good specs if you ask me.

In fact, everything about the device screams “supreme geek gadget”. To get a bit more technical for a few moments, the n810 uses a version of the GNU/Linux operating system. This means a lot to geeks but to the average consumer it may not be very obvious as to what benefits this offers. First off, you immediately have thousands of applications available FOR FREE, right at your fingertips. I can manage my a web site by remoting it with an ssh client or by changing some files with an FTP client. There’s Skype as mentioned before. There is a Mozilla(Firefox) based, FULL web browser. You can log into any of the various IM networks. You can compose a memo using Google Docs or Open Office. You can read ebooks. You can check your email of course. If you are like me, your friends send lots of links to funny videos. Well this thing can play every file type you can throw at it, out of the box. It also has full flash support, so sites like Youtube are no problem.

So, in conclusion, this is the ubergeek toy of choice and is also great for the average Joe. The user interface is simple. It does everything you would expect from you laptop, GPS, and mobile phone combined. Finally, You can get a huge discount on the n810 here, and don’t for get to pick up an extra battery cheap!

Internet Tablets, PDA's

Archos 5: Be prepared to spend!

January 4th, 2009

While doing some last minute Christmas shopping with my wife, I decided to look for a portable wifi device I could carry in case of internet emergency. I don’t like using mobile phones for browsing the internet. I wanted a full blown browser experience, and mobile browsers just don’t cut it in that department. Most of the physical locations I would use such a device would have wifi, and if they didn’t I could use my work cell phone which has a data plan(reserved for very extreme internet emergencies). I would rather wait to check my email than use a phone’s mobile browser. The only exception to this, that I’ve seen anyway, is the browser on iPhones and iPod Touches. At first, I thought the iPod touch would be a good idea, but I came up with many reasons later on to go with a different product. The Archos 5 was not the other product, but I had to opportunity to try it out along the way.

At Best Buy, my wife picked up an Asus Eee PC for just under $300. I was looking for something a bit smaller, even though the Eee is very small. I was looking for a handheld device with great browser support, a GPS, some storage space for movies and songs, and a good interface. The Eee lacked the GPS and as I said, it was a bit larger than the device I had in mind.

At first, I was amazed at the lack of availability in this type of product at our local stores. There were plenty of personal media players and phones, but there were no devices which served all my needs. I could have bought two or three devices but of course that wasn’t very efficient. I thought about an iPod Touch, but I didn’t want to shell out the money for the 32 GB version, since that is all any of the stores we went to had left. Also the iPod didn’t have the GPS capabilities I wanted.

After spending too much time in holiday traffic, we stopped at Circuit City. That is where I happened upon what appeared to be the only internet tablet within 100 miles, the Archos 5. From the box, it looked amazing. The version in the store had 250 GB of storage. It also advertised many other options such as an FM receiver, digital TV receiver, and GPS.
Archos 5

With all the features, the Archos sounded like a monster of a deal. So, I bought it and made my way home for the evening.

I’m a gadget junky so I opened it on the way home. I wanted to try out the GPS mainly. I was in for a disappointment. After spending nearly $500 on the device, I found that in order to use the GPS capabilities, it is necessary to purchase an accessory. This accessory amounted to another $100. Granted, the device has many pro’s that almost make up for the lack of GPS out of the box, it didn’t end there. The digital TV required another $100 accessory. Those two things alone dropped the value of the device too much to bear. Not to mention, every single piece of software I would want to run on the device was an extra fee.

When you buy this device, you are basically buying the right to buy more stuff. I detest this. It seems to be the direction electronic gadgets are going these days. Most are designed to force you to spend more money later on. It’s not good enough that I had already spent $500. No, I would have to spend another $500 to get something I could actually use.

That is THE con of this product. Many of the features advertised are only available after buying something else. This con is the primary reason I took the product back to the store. I came close to keeping the device because some of the features it did have were amazing. The screen was brilliant. Movies looked great on it. The built in speakers were very good for the size. The touch screen worked well enough. It was lacking compared to the iPod Touch and iPhone, of course. It also seemed to lag a bit too much while navigating menus.

Overall, the Archos 5 is not worth the price.

I’ve decided that for my personal internet tablet, I’m going to go with the Nokia n810. From all the reviews I’ve read, these are very good devices with all the capabilities I require.

Nokia N810

Internet Tablets, PDA's