Laptops

Waterfield’s Suede Jacket Sleeve for MacBook Review

So you got your new MacBook (gorgeous isn’t it?) and you really want to carry it with you everywhere. You could throw it into a large, super protective notebook case. The problem is, but that would just weigh you down after Apple was kind enough to shave half a pound from it. You could carry it in a highly protective laptop sleeve, such as the one that I use from Waterfield. It works great and offers a fair amount of protection. But what if you want to carry a work briefcase and don’t feel like having two different cases? What…

Reviews

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Review

Yes, the BlackBerry Bold and Touch Pro reviews are coming, but the Mini 9 showed up on my desk two days ago and I just had to post my thoughts on it, since it’s the first “netbook” I’ve really used since I sold off my Eee PC, and I could instantly tell what I thought of it. Out of the box the Dell looks great. With its glossy black lid and compact dimensions, it’s absolutely fabulous to carry it around. This morning I left home early so I could go to the coffee shop for a little while before work,…

Reviews

The Tom Bihn Ristretto Messenger Bag Review

One of the many conveniences I’ve encountered while owning a MacBook Air has been the ability to slip the ultra-slim laptop into almost any bag for a quick carry solution; this includes larger laptops bags as well as some of my roomier purses. There are times however, when I’ve wished that I had a bag made to specifically transport the Air: something slim, streamlined, but still large enough to carry any peripherals and doo-dads I might need. Tom Bihn has released just such a bag; similar in style to their Cafe line, the Ristretto Messenger Bag is built with different…

Editorials

Is 64bit Vista Ready for Prime Time?

There’s been a big push by Microsoft to get everyone to cross over to the 64bit version of Vista. Are you and your hardware ready for it? I’ve got a MacBook Pro. I purchased the notebook in December of 2006. It’s the low end unit, with a 2.16 GHz C2D processor, 4GB of RAM (yes, Leopard will see and use all 4GB of RAM, despite what you might think, or are told), and a 120GB hard drive. It’s not a bad unit; and has treated me well in the almost 20 months that I’ve been using it. The biggest problem…

Reviews

The DecoCases EcoDesign Case for MacBook Pro Review

I tote two different laptops between locations these days, switching them out (or sometimes bringing both) depending upon what my needs will be once I’ve arrived. For the most part, I’ve been content to slip my MacBook Air into a bag, a sleeve, or the Agent 18 shell that Dan recently forwarded to me, but I hadn’t yet found a similar slim and protective MacBook Pro shell. Bear in mind, the type of transport I usually do involves grabbing my laptop, throwing it into my Louis Vuitton Alto tote (along with a couple days’ worth of clothing), and then driving…

How to Do It Yourself!

Fixing the Empty Wireless Cone on My MacBook Air

There has been an issue which has been bugging me for the last couple of days, and tonight Mitchell and I found a solution. I thought I had better post about it, as I’ll bet that others have run into the same… When I bought the MacBook Air I restored it to the MacBook Pro backup copy I had stored on Time Machine, and the restore went without a hitch…but for one exception: I had an empty wireless cone in my menu bar. Instead of showing a wireless signal indicated by bars, the cone was completely empty – even when…

Events

The Last Day of Mobius Seattle 2008: AKA the Spectacular MacBook Pro Meltdown

When I arrived at the conference area to grab breakfast before entering, Tim McAfee was there to greet us, handing out my Flickr t-shirts. I was hoping for a medium, but some of the other guys had already beat me to them; he made it up to me by giving me two larges. Ha! After getting set up and then eating my food, I settled in with the others to listen to the first presentation on the Microsoft Zune. Creative Strategies Presentation Ben from Creative Strategies started a two hour discussion with the question “How is technology going to better…

Editorials

The Forgotten Mission of the OLPC

This is definitely a moment in OLPC’s history of big changes as views are conflicting on what the mission should really be about. This week, we have two important announcements: Microsoft is officially pushing Windows XP into the XO and Sugar Labs is no longer dedicated to the XO but will now offer the possibilities of building a “learning ecosystem” on all platforms. XP XO Is the XO sporting windows a good or bad thing? This is such a trivial question and so besides the point that we need to look at the real issues with OLPC. OLPC and Microsoft…

Reviews

Toshiba R500 Review

[Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been a bit swamped recently] I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the chance to try out two excellent ultraportable notebooks recently, the MacBook Air and the Fujitsu P8010. Shortly after the P8010 went back, the mailman knocked on the door with year another ultraportable, this time the Toshiba R500. The model I was sent included the 64GB SSD drive, just like the MacBook Air. I’m not sold on these priced-like-gold hard drives, they just seem too expensive for what they are at the moment, but to each his own! The first thing…

Reviews

Fujitsu P8010 Review

[Sorry about the delay on this, I’ve been a bit swamped recently] As you all know I really liked the MacBook Air, because it had a gorgeous screen, top-notch keyboard and fantastic build quality all in an incredibly thin case. Unfortunately those are the four things that bugged me during my testing on the Fujitsu P8010. The screen had pathetic viewing angles, look at it from any angle but dead on and it looked terrible. The keyboard wasn’t full sized, and took a bit of getting used to. The machine was thick, but it was so small that it wasn’t…

Reviews

Case-Mate Handle-it for MacBook REVIEW

Ever feel paranoid about dropping your MacBook? The smart guys at Case-mate have a simple, yet effective solution to keep a grip on your 13″ Apple bundle of joy. The Case-Mate Handle-it for MacBook is an easy to install handle accessory for your Apple notebook.

Reviews

The Case-Mate Signature Suit for 13″ MacBook REVIEW

I’ve always been a big stickler for keeping my gadgets protected. I’m pretty proud of my iPods being fingerprint free for over a year now in its protective casings by DLO and OtterBox. With the investment in laptops, it’s a wonder why people don’t use a lapcase case, especially with all of the choices available these days. Case-Mate has come out with a very stylish and smart form-fit leather wrap designed for a 13-inch MacBook that protects the laptop when it is out of the laptop bag.

Reviews

Review: ZaReason UltraLap SR

When I came across ZaReason, I was impressed. Selling machines that have Linux installed by default isn’t new, and many companies support only Linux now, but it’s ZaReason’s service and the communication I received all during the review process that impressed me the most. ZaReason cares about their customers and always puts them first, even over sending out review units, which is why it took about two months for ZaReason to finally get me a unit to review; I was not disappointed.

Reviews

MacBook Air Review

When Apple introduced the MacBook Air is created quite a stir, a laptop that is incredibly thin without culling things you want like a fast CPU, big screen and good keyboard. A lot of people are saying that it is too big to be an ultra portable, but in my opinion the Air manages to be compact, without cutting out the things you really need. I’ll start off by saying the Air looks great in it’s aluminium shell. Since buying my MacBook Pro laptops without a metal case feel a bit cheap, a feeling that the Air definitely doesn’t share….

Reviews

The Toshiba Qosmio Review: Better, Stronger, Faster Than Anything You Have Seen Before

[Note: This is the second part of my look at the Toshiba Qosmio. For my unboxing and initial impressions, take a look at Part 1] When I first started looking at the Qosmio laptop, I thought I was going to have a panic attack. There were just so many different features here. How was I possibly going to discuss them all? Was I in over my head? In fact, I came close to wondering whether I should have asked for it at all. Yikes! Talk about a crisis of confidence. Luckily, I had a chance to discuss this with Judie,…

Reviews

The Qosmio Is Here! Let’s Take A Look

What the heck is a Qosmio, you ask? Well, we will just have to open this giant black box I received to find out. Follow me past the link and we can take a much closer look at the contents of this mysterious box. Of course, Qosmio is the latest laptop computer from Toshiba. And this one is the Qosmio G45-AV690. Designed for high definition entertainment, it features an HD-DVD and includes ATI TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. We’ll have some fun playing with that. In this photo, the small, skinny iten in the foreground is the Qosmio laptop. The…

Reviews

The Toshiba Satellite M205-S7452 REVIEW

Several year ago, one of my Sunday morning rituals was relaxing on the couch, kicking back with a cup of coffee and reviewing the big box circulars from Staples, Circuit City or Best Buy. I would flip through and fantasize about the expensive laptops pictured in the ads, thinking that one day in the far off future that prices have got to fall. Thankfully today, it’s not uncommon to find budget-based laptops starting at $499 and up. Fast forward to the holiday season of 07-08 and there are some good mid-priced mainstream models available including the Toshiba Satellite M205-S7452. Let’s…

Reviews

ASUS Eee PC 8GB Unboxing

Somehow word of the ASUS Eee PC flew under my radar. I had no clue as to its existence until the first week of November (two weeks after the US launch) when a colleague at work informed me of this low cost ultra compact portable computer. After hearing the brief details and that the computer would come pre-installed with Linux, my reaction was WOW! That sounds way cool! I quickly searched for it on the internet when I got back to my office. After seeing the info on the ASUS and the EeeUser web sites, I just had to have…

Reviews

The Toshiba Portégé; R400-S4933 Tablet PC Review

If money were no object, what would be your perfect laptop? What features would it have? What would it look like? This is the question you have to ask yourself when you’re buying a laptop like this one. Is the Toshiba Portégé R400-S4933 Tablet PC your perfect laptop? At the end of the review I have made a short video with my answer to this $4000 question. To start of, it is quite a sleek and compact machine, weighing in at 1.7kg (3.79 lbs). all photos taken by Jerry On the inside is a combo of black and white. The…

Reviews

The Toshiba Tecra M8 Laptop Computer Review

For the last month or so, I have known that this would be a very hard review to write. Not because of the subject matter, but because once the review is finished I’ll no longer have an excuse to keep “my” Toshiba Tecra M8 loaner. Ah well, the deadline has come and gone (eep!) and I can’t procrastinate any longer…so let’s jump right in. Toshiba has different lines of laptops designed to meet different people’s needs: Satellite, Qosimo, Tecra, and Portégé. Satellite are listed as “Laptop PCs with all the new mobile technologies at affordable prices;” Qosimos as “Entertainment media…

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