Laptop Gear | Gear Diary

Reviews March 6, 2010

Marvel Superheros Come to Gelaskins

Larry previously reviewed Gelaskins and we’ve recently posted about their release of National Geographic Gelaskins. However, just this week Gelaskins has gotten a lot more super! Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and others are now available in various forms direct from Gelaskins. The company was kind enough to send me two of the Iron Man skins for netbooks and I decide to apply the skins showcasing Iron Man and War Machine. The skins went onto my netbook in a flash and looks…

Reviews February 28, 2010

Review: Monster Cable Outlets to Go with USB

After going to many conferences for my day job, one thing I have always stuffed in my bag has been a power strip. As any geek knows, there is rarely enough outlets in the hotel room where you need them. Plus most power strips have all the outlets arranged such that you can’t plug to wall warts side by side. Well, Outlets to Go from Monster Cable is something I’ve always wanted. It gives you a power strip with built-in cord management. Plus a little surprise I will get to later.

Reviews February 25, 2010

Review: Altego Clear Laptop Sleeve

Some people decorate and adorn their laptops with stickers or Gelaskins. Sometimes you can buy a laptop that comes with a design on the back of the LCD that just begs to be shown off all the time even when it’s in the case. That is exactly what the Altego Laptop Sleeve was made for.

News & Features February 25, 2010

Skooba Design Wants to Stable Your Cable … Among Other Things

Tell me that you haven’t been bothered when it came time to pack for a trip, and you didn’t have an organized and protective way to carry your cables, chargers, and miscellaneous gear. I’ll tell you what I usually do with mine – charging cables get put in the side pocket of my carry-on, syncing/charging cables go into my laptop bag, and camera chargers and other items that don’t get put in my laptop bag usually get shuffled into the cracks and crevices of my carry-on. This arrangement works fine for the most part, but I have accepted that anytime…

Reviews February 24, 2010

HP USB 2.0 Docking Station Review

One of the things I’ve usually taken for granted is how much of a difference a quality docking station makes in my daily computer use. Sure, I have a laptop and (now) a netbook for my “regular” job. Working with a netbook provides additional mobility with a lighter machine to lug around for the daily grind, but it can be a challenge during extended periods of time (read: 12-16 hours of work at times to meet deadlines). A decent external monitor certainly helps, but needing to manually plug-in every peripheral item is an unnecessary task when you have a docking…

Reviews February 5, 2010

DocuPen X Series- Review

We saw a lot of neat stuff at CES last month. One of the most interesting, at least to my mind, was a small hand-held scanner from PlanOn. At just about 9 inches long and a tiny bit thicker than an iPhone, the DocuPen X05 isn’t cheap… but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. The company sent me a loaner unit, and I’ve been using it for the past week or so. Despite some frustrations when I initially tried to get it set up, I have been more than a bit “wowed” by this little gadget. Let’s take a look.

Reviews February 5, 2010

Titan TTC-G9TZ Notebook Cooler Review

A constant issue with notebook users is heat. There are many products to assist in heat protection. Some of these products are designed for protecting the user’s lap from heat and some for managing the temperature of the notebook. These coolers come in many shapes and sizes, with or without fans and a variety of material. Some are designed to be mobile while others are to be used on a desk and provide an improved typing angle. The folks at Titan Technology Limited recently released a notebook cooler that combines all of these options in one product and provided me…

Reviews January 24, 2010

Everki Beacon Laptop Backpack w/Gaming Console Sleeve Review

Everki recently supplied me with the Beacon Laptop Backpack w/Gaming Console Sleeve to review. Since school started back up, I have spent the past few weeks using it as my main gear bag. I am pleased with the style and ruggedness of the backpack with daily use; I am able to comfortably carry all of my gear and it is comfortable and looks great. Find out the particulars after the break…

News & Features January 14, 2010

Quirky Cable Caps

Quirky, who use a community-driven process to determine which products to bring to market, and brings many products to market very quickly, have released their latest effort – Quirky Cable Caps. These caps, in 6 different styles, are designed to protect the (male) ends of USB cables and wrap up any excess cable as well. They each have a wild-looking head which slides over the cable end, and a rubber band type of body used to tie up the excess cable. The six styles available are: Printer Man, Phone Dude, Camera Gal, Eye Baller, Egg Man, and ‘Da Bulb. They are…

Reviews January 11, 2010

Griffin Elevator Review

Surviving marathon sessions working on your computer is all about comfort. Putting yourself in the proper viewing and reaching position goes along way towards keeping your body feeling good. Ergonomics! According to Griffin Technology, Healthycomputing.com, the premier source for office ergonomics, recommends positioning the top of your screen level with your eyes and sitting at least an arm’s length distance from the screen. Both of these key ergonomic standards are made possible using The Griffin Elevator with an external keyboard.

Events January 9, 2010

Plantronics .Audio 476 DSP Headset- A Gear Diary First Look

As I’ve written numerous times here on the site, I am a huge user of voice recognition software. I’m blown away by Dragon Dictation on the iPhone, use Dragon NaturallySpeaking on my Windows 7 machine, and I have MacSpeech Dictate on both my iMac and my MacBook Pro. When I upgraded to the current version of MacSpeech Dictate I discovered that it isn’t configured to allow you to use the built-in microphone for dictation. Turns out there is a reason for this for as good as the microphone is, it isn’t ideal for voice recording. Without a proper headset, there…

Reviews December 20, 2009

Everki Camber Netbook Case Review

We recently released the introduction of the Camber Netbook Case-Sling from Everki (you can read the release here). Everki was kind enough to supply a Camber for me to review. This new case is super compact fitting netbooks up to 13″. The product is slightly too small to hold a 13″ MacBook Pro (they actually are 13.3″), but a version to accommodate the macbook is in the works for 2010. As the computing devices we use get smaller, so do the ways we carry them. See how the Camber stacks up after the break.

Reviews December 19, 2009

Review: Tom Bihn Synapse

Tom Bihn is a company I have been following for a while now, ever since Judie reviewed the Aeronaut when she was still at The Gadgeteer. Tom Bihn is not only based right here in the United States, they make their bags in the US, which is a rarity among bag manufacturers. When Tom Bihn let me know about their new Synapse backpack, I jumped at a chance to review it. The exterior of the Synapse I was sent is made with Indigo colored 1000 denier U.S. Cordura, and the backpack is lined with Solar Dyneema/nylon rip-stop fabric. The Syapse is…

Reviews December 9, 2009

Gboard Review: Gmail at lightening fast speeds

I recently made the move to making G-Mail my full time e-mail client. In conjunction with the move, I also stopped using the Mac OS Mail application and am strictly reading and writing my e-mail via the G-Mail web based client. The transition has take some getting used to. Reading and writing via the G-Mail site is a different experience than doing so via a regular mail application. Simply put, it takes a heck of a lot more mouse movements and clicks when using the web based G-Mail method. When I first spotted the Gboard I immediately knew it was…

Reviews November 28, 2009

Skooba Netbook Messenger – Review

Yesterday Larry posted that Skooba is having a big 25% off sale for the next few days. The Skooba bag on the left in the advertisement is a new item from Skooba designed especially for netbooks. The Netbook Messenger is just the right size for carrying a netbook and a few assorted accessories during a day of running around. I’ve been using one for the last two weeks. Let’s take a look…

Reviews November 25, 2009

ThermaPAK HeatShift Laptop Cooler Review

If you have a desktop replacement laptop, you will know that they definitely get very hot. So hot that they have even been known to induce burns when they come in contact with skin. So hot that even Apple recommends not to use your MacBook on your lap. Laptop coolers have been on the market for quite a while to help with this, however most of them want you to use a USB port for power and reducing your battery life. The new ThermaPAK HeatShift Laptop Cooler is designed to take the heat away from your laptop and keep it away…

Reviews November 21, 2009

Review: Bolt Bags Netbook Cases

Netbooks are tiny. Finding a stylish netbook case is difficult. You can generally find sleeves and some smaller bags but sleeves generally fit your netbook a bit tight to fit the power cord too. If you want a mouse or a few other accessories, you can forget taking just a sleeve. Bolt Bags aims to change this with their new netbook line.

Reviews November 18, 2009

Kensington K33926US Universal Notebook Docking Station with VGA/DVI and Ethernet Review

A lot of people are going to a laptop only computing experience. There are even some that are going to a netbook only experience as a netbook is all they need. Sometimes, however, it is nice to have a screen that is bigger than what a netbook can provide. The same can be said about the touchpad and the keyboard. Wouldn’t it be nice to plop your laptop or netbook down and have it attached to a 24 inch LCD? That’s where this dock comes in.

Reviews November 13, 2009

Shinnorie GEN Label Custom Skinny Slim Bag Review

I recently reviewed Shinnoire‘s custome iPhone Leather Flip Case. I had a lot of fun selecting my personal color choices for the case. It’s not often you get to pick and choose the exact colors which will go into your case and then have it personally hand crafted. Shinnorie offers the same level of customization for their bags as well and I was also allowed to custom build a laptop bag for review. The bag I had built is their Skinny Slim Bag. It’s a slim bag good for short trips, daily commutes to and from work or meetings. The…

Reviews November 12, 2009

A-DATA sh93 Waterproof Hard Drive Review

A-DATA recently announced the release of a waterproof and shock resistant hard drive. The sh93 Incorporates rubber and plastic along with special cushion materials that allow it to withstand a 1M waterproof test for 30 minutes and military standard MIL-STD-810F drop test. The SH93 comes in two colors : racing car yellow and chili pepper red. With capacity up to 640GB, it is designed for users to conveniently carry around massive documents without the fear of damaging files stored in the drive in the incident of accidental drop or water spills. I’m quite familiar putting hard drives to the “test”…

Reviews October 13, 2009

PlanOn Printstik Bluetooth Printer for BlackBerry Review

Back in August, we wrote about the PlanOn Printstik Bluetooth printer for BlackBerry devices. This past week, PlanOn provided a review unit on loan, and allowed me to put it through its paces for several days. Now that the Printstik has been returned, what did I like about it? What could be improved? More importantly, is this an item that should be added to your gear for daily use? Let’s find out…