Asus Transformer Book T100TA Review

I've been testing/evaluating an Asus Transformer Book T100TA for a few months and that that I would write my thoughts on the product.

The Transformer book came installed with Windows 8.1 and is a quad-core based system where the screen is ~10.1" touchscreen. The version that I tested had 32GB storage for the operating system as well as the applications. This isn't a lot of space in my opinion and after installing only the Chrome browser onto it as well as doing the Windows updates, the total available free space was ~6GB. It has a microSD card reader, 1.2 megapixel web camera, bluetooth capabilities, a Microphone-in/Headphone-out jack, a USB 3.0 port, a micro-USB port, and a micro-HDMI port.

I'm not sure how to classify this device except to say that it is a hybrid tablet/netbook. The touchscreen is detachable from the keyboard and as a Windows 8.1 tablet, it functions very well.

I use the device mainly for browsing the internet, watching Netflix/YouTube/videos, and reading books/newspapers and I find that it is very fast. Boot up time for the device is ~20 seconds.

In terms of what I like about the device, I like that it is fast (at least for what I use it for) and the battery life for the device is very good as well. The price-point of this device when it is on sale is also good. I also like the fact that it charges via micro-USB and not using a proprietary charging cable.

In terms of what I don't like about the device, there are many things that I don't like about this device. The first thing that I don't like is that it is running Windows 8.x. Just like a lot of users/consumers, I'm not a big fan of Windows 8.x. Between Windows 7 and Windows 8, I prefer Windows 7. I find the keyboard a bit too small for me to type as fast as I normally would on a full-sized keyboard. Another thing that I find annoying is that when I touch the address bar on my browser, even when the physical keyboard is attached, the onscreen keyboard will show up on the screen. The final thing that I am not crazy about in terms of this device is that the storage space is very low at only 32GB where the usable space is ~6GB. Even though I have access to installing Microsoft Office on the device, I opted not to do so since I find the amount of free space to be too low.

Whether I would recommend this device or not, I would recommend it even with the shortcomings/negatives that I mentioned above.

If you have any comments/questions regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment containing a URL link (whether embedded or not) will automatically be flagged as spam and will not be posted.

XBMC Media Center Review

I've been testing out the XBMC Media Center on my Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC as well as on my LG Nexus-4 for a few days and I thought that I would write a review on it as well as detail how to install it on Android devices. I attempted to install it on my old Samsung Nexus-S but even though it installed, I was forced to uninstall it because I couldn't get it to run consistently so I didn't want it to occupy space on my device when it wouldn't always run. I also tried installing it on my Acer Iconia Tab A100 Android tablet but the XBMC program was not compatible with the device.

To install XBMC onto your Android device, the first thing that you should do is to download it from the XBMC site at http://xbmc.org/download/. You must also enable your Android device to accept 3rd party applications by going into Settings -> Security -> Unknown sources (enable this option). After doing this and having the XBMC APK file, you must execute/install the APK file onto your Android device. There are many ways of doing this depending on the particular Android device. In my case, I used my Dropbox account in order to get the XBMC APK file onto my Android device and install it. The installation takes a few minutes to complete and after it is fully extracted/installed onto your Android device, you should have the XBMC program.

Once the XBMC program is installed, the next step is to launch it and configure it for at least 1 add-on. There are various add-ons available and various repositories. I won't detail any particular one but you can find various sources for things ranging from movies, videos, and television shows. By configuring the proper add-ons and repositories, people can get media on par or better than what is available on the various Netflix sites even when using a service like Unblock-Us with Netflix which allows me to get the Netflix selections from 10 countries (Canada, US, UK, Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, & Finland).

I highly recommend installing XBMC on your Android device (or another compatible device/platform) if your device supports it. I find it to be a useful additional resource for videos/media that can't be found on Netflix, YouTube, NFB, or some of the television broadcaster's own websites. On another note, I attempted to install XBMC on my jailbroken iPhone 3GS but because my iPhone 3GS is on iOS 4.01, XBMC is not compatible on it (even though according to the documentation on the XBMC website that it is compatible with iOS 4.x and above). XBMC works very well on both my Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC device as well as on my LG Nexus-4.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

Mini Keyboard UKB-500-RF Review

I purchased a Mini Keyboard UKB-500-RF because I wanted an easy way to control the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC device that I wrote about last week and thought that I would write a review of it and my experience with this product when used in conjunction with the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC.

According to the specifications for the product, it supports HTPC, Windows OS (Windows 2000, XP, Windows CE, Windows Vista, Windows 7), Linux OS (Debian-3.1, Redhat-9.0, Ubuntu-8.10, Fedora-7.0 tested), MacOS, Xbox 360, & PS3. I was assured that it would work with the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC and it does work with it. I haven't tested the device with any of the other supported products and have used it exclusively on with m MK802IIIS device.

The device is powered by a proprietary rechargeable battery but it can also use 2 x AAA batteries. You can charge the proprietary rechargeable battery by connecting the Mini Keyboard UKB-500-RF via a USB cable (the device has a mini-USB port for charging). However, if using 2 x AAA batteries in the unit, it won't charge the batteries via the same mini-USB cable.

I find that the keyboard works fairly well with the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC device. The only thing is that sometimes when I use the trackpad to move the pointer to a different area of the screen, it will detect a click when I didn't click on any application or menu option. I find that also when using the trackpad, it will detect that I am scrolling across the screens when my finger touches the right side of the trackpad (where the scroll bars indicators are located). The trackpad isn't as responsive as the trackpad on most laptops that I've used but it does get the job done.

The QWERTY keyboard itself feels comfortable and typing on it is easy. Using the keyboard is not as good as using a real keyboard or any of the built-in phone keyboards that I've used (Treo 600, Treo 650, Treo 680, Blackberry Bold 9700) but it also gets the job done.

To use the keyboard with your device (PC, PS3, XBOX 360, Android device, etc.), you must connect the USB receiver to your device. In terms of the Rikomagic MK802IIIS Android Mini PC device, it recognized the keyboard without any issues (no installation of any software necessary).

I use the UKB-500-RF keyboard about 10 feet away from the Rikomagic MK802IIIS device and generally there aren't any issues with me controlling the Rikomagic MK802IIIS. As mentioned, it will sometimes scroll when my finger accidentally touches the area on the right side of the trackpad and when I'm moving the pointer across the screen, it will sometimes detect a "click" or "double-click" when I didn't do either, however this in my opinion is a minor inconvenience based on the price that I paid for the unit and the fact that I don't use the keyboard for long periods of time. I basically just use it to select the Android application that I want to launch and then use the application for a brief period of time with the keyboard (ex: I will launch Netflix and then start the Netflix movie/video that I want to watch).

Overall, even based on minor inconveniences that I mentioned above, I have no problems recommending the Mini Keyboard UKB-500RF to connect to an Android device. I have tested it briefly (maybe 10 minutes in total) on a Windows 7 PC and I find that it works relatively well. I would not use the device on a regular-sized computer (I bought the UKB-500RF mainly to use with my Rikomagic MK802III device) unless I needed to be away from the computer itself (ex: giving a presentation) since in my opinion having this mini-keyboard connected to a PC doesn't really make sense since a regular keyboard and regular mouse are much more responsive. Not only that, it is easier to type on a full-sized regular keyboard and by using a mouse instead of a trackpad, there generally isn't an issue with the computer detecting a "double-click" when you did not double-click on anything.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section below. Please note that the comments are moderated and any comment which contains a URL link (whether it is embedded or not) will automatically be labelled as spam and will not be posted.

Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook Review

I've been using/testing a Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook for a few months and decided to post a review of it after a few of my friends asked me about it.

In case you haven't guessed based on my other blog entries, I'm located in Canada and as of the date that I'm writing this blog entry/review, the Samsung Series 5 3G Chromebook is not widely available in Canada (it is actually not being sold in Canada unless you can find it through private sellers). I managed to get mine during a recent trip to Las Vegas.

The first thing that needs mentioning is that in order for the Chromebook to be useful, it absolutely requires access to the internet. There is very little that can be done with the Chromebook if it is not connected to the internet either via WiFi or via the carrier's data network. The Chromebook that I purchased is the 3G model which includes 100 MB per month of data from Verizon Wireless in the US and it also has a 3G SIM card slot (carrier unlocked) in case the owner travels outside the US and/or wants to use a SIM card for data.

The premise behind the Chromebook is that most users use their computers/laptops for internet use whether it is to check their e-mail, browse the internet, access their social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook Google+, etc. or watch online videos.

The first thing that I like about the Chromebook is that it boots up almost immediately (under 10 seconds). After logging onto to the Chromebook (using your Google account), the user is presented with a Chrome browser (similar to what you would get on a Microsoft Windows machine). You then use the browser as you normally would to access the websites that you would normally access. I didn't have any issues accessing most of the websites that I would normally use.

You will notice in the specs that the Chromebook does not have a very large capacity in terms of the hard drive. The reason for this is that it assumes that all documents that you would create will be stored in the cloud (Google Docs).

In terms of what you can and can't install on the Chromebook, you can install Chrome applications/extensions (web applications) from the Chrome web store similarly to what you can do with Chrome on a Microsoft Windows based machine.

If you are someone who uses Google products a lot (Gmail, Google Docs, Google+, etc.) and the majority of what you want to do is web based, I believe that you might consider getting a Chromebook. I've tested Netflix on the Chromebook and it works very well. SlingPlayer also works but requires a workaround (you have to go through Facebook).

The negative things that I want to mention about the Samsung Series5 3G Chromebook is that the battery is non-removable and the memory can't be upgraded. Also, I find that the default setting for the touch pad is not as good as the ones that I've used on other netbooks/laptops. After configuring the touch pad based on your Google account, it functions a lot better but the moment you log out, it reverts back to the default settings until you log in again.

Another negative aspect that I've noticed is that because the Chromebook requires internet access, it can sometimes have problems accessing public hotspots which require you to agree to certain conditions found on a webpage before internet access is granted. The way that you are supposed to do this if the Chromebook is powered on from a powered off state and not in suspend/sleep mode state is that you must first access the Guest account and then use the browser within the Guest account to agree to the WiFi hotspot terms/conditions. After doing this and verifying that you have access to the internet with the Guest account, you would then log out the Guest account (making sure that you don't shut down the Chromebook) and log in with your personal Google account. However, as mentioned, I've sometimes experienced issues doing this. To solve this issue, what I normally do is that I keep my Google account logged in and leave the Chromebook in a standby/suspend state. When I lift up the lid of the Chromebook, I will log into my Google account with the password from the suspend/sleep state. From the power-off state when you turn on the Chromebook, it will try to authenticate your Google account and will fail because you don't have access to the internet before you accept the hotspot terms/conditions whereas from the suspend/sleep state, it is only using your password to unlock the screen and doesn't immediately require access to the internet.

The things that I like about the Chromebook is that it boots up very fast and the battery lasts longer than any of the laptops/netbooks that I've used in the past. When I want to do something fast (like check a website), I will normally use a tablet but now with my Chromebook, I find that I'm using my Chromebook more than my tablet. The ChromeOS also updates automatically in the background and after an update, you only have to shut down the computer or reboot the computer in order for the update to be applied.

It is very unlikely that the OS in the Chromebook gets corrupt but in case you want to reset the Chromebook back to factory defaults, it is very easy to do this and the instructions can be easily found on the internet (a blank USB memory stick is required to do this).

For Samsung's usage guide to the Chromebook, you can click *HERE*.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to write them in the comments section below.

Installing Windows XP on ASUS Eee PC 701SD

As mentioned in my earlier blog on the ASUS Eee PC 701SD, I would install Windows XP onto it since a few of the programs that I wanted to use (actually it was mainly 1 program) would not work under Linux. One of the functions that I wanted for this netbook was to be able to connect to my Slingbox. Installing Windows XP onto it was the easiest solution since Sling Media has SlingPlayer for Windows. During my research, I did find some instructions on how to get SlingPlayer to work under Linux but with the other Windows programs that I wanted to run, the easiest solution would be to install Windows XP onto it.

The first thing that I did even when I was running the preinstalled & customized Xandros Linux was that I upgraded the memory from 512MB to 2GB. The next thing that I did was to download all the Windows XP drivers from the ASUS support website. I also downloaded/updated the firmware on the ASUS Eee PC 701SD.

There are ways to install Windows XP using a USB memory stick but since I had my Windows XP Home DVD and I also had a portable DVD/CD drive (see my review on this *HERE*), I opted to do it the easy way and just install Windows XP from DVD. I connected my portable DVD drive to one of the available USB ports on the netbook and booted it. I then selected the option of deleting the existing partitions and used the entire 8GB SSD drive for the installation of Windows XP.

Windows XP installed without any issues. After the netbook rebooted, I ran each of the executable files from each of the driver files (since my Windows XP DVD did not have all the necessary drivers). After each driver installation, I rebooted the netbook. At the end, I had installed all the drivers and they all seemed to work.

During the installation of Windows XP because the netbook had 2GB of RAM, the virtual memory paging file was automatically set to 3GB (1.5 times the amount of RAM on the netbook). This left me with less than half of the 8GB SSD drive for my other applications. Before installing the other applications, I reduced the virtual memory paging file size to 2GB. I also went through the Windows Update process until the netbook was up to date with all the Microsoft security patches. I also downloaded Microsoft's Security Essentials (Microsoft's free antivirus/anti-spyware program) which is not part programs listed in the Windows Update screen.

After doing this, I installed the standard programs that I normally install (Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Mozilla Firefox, TrueCrypt, OpenOffice, Axcrypt, Google Chrome, and SlingPlayer for Windows). The important thing about installing these programs is to install them one at a time since I found that with less than 8GB to "play with," I also had to compress the hard drive.

In terms of the speed of the ASUS Eee PC 701SD, I found that it was very slow. I know that because of the hard disk encryption and the compression of the hard disk as well, this slows down the netbook but the netbook is almost unusable. The netbook would pause/buffer often during YouTube video viewing and the light showing SSD activity would almost be constantly on.

Surprisingly, SlingPlayer for Windows viewing is very good (better than YouTube video viewing). It does pause occasionally but not as often as it does during YouTube video viewing even when the netbook is accessing the Slingbox via the internet as opposed to the internal network.

With Windows XP installed, I did not experience the same problem with wireless access which leads me to think that my earlier problem is not a hardware problem but a driver issue.

I find that this netbook is usable for a light user but for heavy users, I would not recommend it. It is slow enough (even with a memory upgrade from 512MB to 2GB) that most people would find it annoying.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Aluratek's eSATA USB 2.0 2.5” / 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Docking Enclosure Hub - AHDDS100F Review

I purchased Aluratek's eSATA USB 2.0 2.5” / 3.5” SATA Hard Drive Docking Enclosure Hub when it went on sale since after using a similar type device but without a USB hub (from a different manufacturer) at work, I found such a device to be practical. It is plug and play as well as being hot swappable. The docking enclosure easily turns any bare standalone 2.5" or 3.5" SATA hard drive into an external hard drive.

Aluratek makes 2 models of SATA hard drive docking enclosures. They make one with a USB hub as well as one without a USB hub. The one that was on sale (and I purchased) had the USB hub (4 powered USB ports where 3 of the USB ports had connectivity to the attached computer and the remaining 1 USB port could be used only for charging a USB device). I find the added USB hub to be practical since my Acer Aspire One has 3 USB ports (where of the ports is generally being used for the cooling mat).

In order to use this device, you just push a SATA 2.5" or 3.5" hard drive into the slot on the top and turn on the device (there is an on/off switch). The hard drive docking enclosure must be connected either via USB cable to the computer or via an eSATA cable to the computer. After a few seconds, Windows will detect the hard drive and you should be able to access the data. I mention "should" because with the SATA drive that I stored some files on (using the SATA drive docking enclosure from work), the Aluratek docking enclosure was able to detect the drive but it could not mount the encrypted drive. This might of had something to do with the fact that the drive was encrypted with a different docking enclosure from a different manufacturer.

I tested a non-encrypted SATA hard drive from a different system and my netbook didn't have any issues reading it when I inserted it into the docking enclosure. I find the data transfer speed to be as fast as any other USB 2.0 hard drive enclosure. According to the company specifications, it is backward compatible with USB 1.1 specifications although I have not tried it on a USB 1.1 port.

The unit is not heavy-duty (seems to be of cheap construction) but it gets the job done. I have no problems people purchasing such a device when it is on sale.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Aluratek's USB 2.0 External Slim Multi-Format 8X DVD Reader/Writer with Software Review

I purchased Aluratek's external slim multi-format DVD reader/writer a few months ago when it was on sale.

It is USB powered and requires 2 free USB ports (must be powered ports so if you plug it into a USB hub, the USB hub must be powered by something other than your computer's USB port) on your computer, netbook, or laptop in order to work. The device will not work properly/efficiently in non-powered USB hubs.

I purchased this device mainly to install some software and/or watch DVD movies on my Acer Aspire One. I have not tried this device with the ASUS Eee PC 701SD except to use it in order to install Windows XP Home on the Eee PC. My feeling about using it on the ASUS Eee PC 701 SD is that this netbook is very slow and I wouldn't trust it to burn DVDs since I expect that there will be a lot CD/DVD "coasters" as a result of using this netbook to burn CD/DVD.

According to the specifications, this external DVD reader/burner:

• Supports DVD R / RW / RAM discs, and CD-R / RW discs
• Fast and easy burning and copying of CDs and DVDs
• Writing Speed: 8X DVD+R, 8X DVD+RW, 6X DVD+R DL (Dual Layer), 8X DVD-R, 6X DVD-RW, 6X DVD-R DL (Dual Layer), 5X DVD-RAM, 24X CD-R, and 24X CD-RW
• Tray loading drive for easy access to media
• USB 2.0 bus powered, No external power adapter needed
• Plug-n-Play, No driver needed

I have not tried it with all the formats but for the DVD-R that I did burn, there wasn't any problems. It was also able to read the CD-R and DVD-R burnt from my home PC without any issues.

I only have 2 complaints about this drive. My first complaint about this drive is that (at least with the one that I purchased), it seems to be of cheap construction. In fact, on my unit, the screws were not securely screwed into the unit. I had to do this myself. My second complaint about this drive is that the tray will sometimes be "jammed" when you press the eject button. My feeling as to why this happens is because the tray is at a very slight angle. When the drive becomes "jammed", it requires moving the tray slightly with either a fingernail or a thin small object like a paper clip or small screwdriver. If you do this, the spring will eject the tray.

My personal feeling about this drive is that it is okay but I would only purchase it when/if it goes is on sale because of what I perceive as being "cheap" construction. Even with the "cheap" construction/workmanship, it does get the job done with the things that I used it for. I like the size of it and the fact that it is USB powered (even if it requires 2 USB POWERED ports on the computer/laptop/netbook/hub).

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

ASUS Eee PC 701SD 7" Netbook running Linux (Xandros GNU) Review

This is my review/thoughts regarding the ASUS Eee PC 701SD which I've been testing for approximately 2 months. Besides the 2 different colours (black or white), there are apparently 2 versions version of the EeePC 701SD. One version comes with Windows XP Home installed and the other version comes with Linux. The netbook that I've been using had Linux installed on it. Based on the documentation, the version of Linux installed on the ASUS EeePC 701SD that I was using was a modified version of Xandros Linux (GNU).

The ASUS Eee PC 701SD has a 7" display screen and a 8GB SSD drive. It also has a 0.3 megapixel webcam, high definition audio, a built-in microphone, and built-in stereo speakers. The lithium ion battery is rated for roughly 3 hours but based on my usage, I got a little less than 2 hours out of it. It also comes with 512 MB of RAM (DDR2).

Some of the notable programs included with this netbook are: Pidgin (multi-protocol/client chat program), Mozilla Firefox, OpenOffice 2.0 (Microsoft Office compatible suite), and Skype. A lot of the other icons on the desktop are what I would consider to be internet favourites/bookmarks. For example, the "Web Mail" application launches a window with Gmail, Hotmail, etc. on it. However, when you click on Gmail, Mozilla Firefox launches and you are brought to the Gmail log-in screen so these aren't really programs. There is also a software/driver updater program somewhat similar to the Windows Update service.

With 512 MB of RAM, I found the netbook to be slow and unresponsive at times so I decided to upgrade the memory. After referring to various websites and contacting ASUS, I was informed that it could go up to 2GB of RAM (single module). I got a 2 GB DDR2 RAM module and it was easy to install. It was very easy to upgrade the memory since unlike the Acer Aspire One that I have which requires removing the keyboard in order to upgrade the memory,with the ASUS Eee PC 701SD, it only required removing 4 screws on the bottom of the laptop, removing the small memory cover/latch located on the bottom of the laptop, removing the 512 MB DDR2 memory module and inserting the 2 GB DDR2 memory module. After the memory upgrade, I noticed a slight speed improvement but I still felt that the netbook was sluggish.

With the upgrade of memory from 512 MB to 2 GB, I found that the ASUS Eee PC 701SD running Linux was a bit faster and a bit more responsive but it was nowhere near as fast or responsive as my Acer Aspire One with 1 GB running Windows XP.

Another problem that I noticed with the ASUS Eee PC 701SD was that the wireless connectivity seemed to be unreliable. The netbook would identify itself as being connected to my router but it could not access the internet after a few minutes (~30 minutes) of use. I went through the process of resetting the software installed on the netbook back to the factory defaults and I had the same problem. I also updated the wireless drivers and had the exact same problem. The fastest (temporary) solution to this problem was to disable and re-enable the wi-fi on the netbook.

I did a search on the internet to see if anyone else had reported a similar problem and I found one or two users who had a similar problem but there was no solution.

With the small 7" size, the keyboard is obviously smaller than the one on my Acer Aspire One 8.9" netbook. I actually find the keyboard almost unusable because it is so small. I find that the smaller keyboard reduces my typing speed by over 50% so I normally use an external USB keyboard with the ASUS netbook.

Something else that I wanted to mention was that the AC power plug's prongs fold. There is a benefit to this as well as a drawback. The benefit with foldable AC prongs is that it is less likely to damage anything (if for example, you put it into your bag). The negative aspect with foldable prongs is that sometimes you have to insert it properly into the outlet otherwise it will fold into the plug.

One of the things that I noticed on this netbook is that if it is plugged into the AC outlet, regardless of whether it is on or not, the USB ports are still being supplied power. This might seem insignificant but if you plug a USB Bluetooth dongle or USB powered speakers or another device that draws power from USB, these devices will still be "on." even when you do a shutdown of your laptop (unless you disconnect the AC power from it). My Acer Aspire One netbook doesn't do this. The only benefit that I see with this is if you are charging a USB device, you might want it to continue charging even if your netbook is powered off.

Since this netbook also comes with Windows XP pre-installed and most of the programs that I wanted to use ran under Windows XP, I decided to install Windows XP Home on this netbook. I had a valid Windows XP Home license that I wasn't using from my old desktop PC. The Windows XP device drivers were available from ASUS's website. The only thing that I was somewhat concerned about was the amount of SSD disk space (8 GB) as well as the CPU speed.

In a subsequent blog entry on the ASUS Eee PC 701SD (entitled "Installing Windows XP on the ASUS Eee PC 701SD"), I will detail my installation of Windows XP Home onto this netbook and the issues that I had and what you should look out for if you also decide to install Windows XP on this netbook.

The blog entry on my experience installing Windows XP on the ASUS Eee PC 701SD is located *HERE*.

If you have any questions/comments regarding this blog entry, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Acer Aspire One 8.9" Netbook Review

Someone asked me why I haven't posted my opinion/thoughts regarding the Acer Aspire One 8.9" Netbook since I've been using it for awhile so here are my thoughts/review...

I consider my Acer Aspire One to be my "main" netbook. There are a few models for the Aspire One 8.9" netbook but the model that I use is the A0A150 which comes with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, an Intel Atom N270 1.60 GHz CPU, and Windows XP Home preinstalled. It has WiFi B/G, three USB 2.0 ports, card reader capable of reading SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD.

All in all, I like my Aspire One netbook. The 8.9" screen is bright and when used to view the digital pictures that I've taken with my digital camera, the pictures look very nice.

In my opinion, the only thing missing from it is a GSM SIM slot for using the cellullar carrier's data, a DVD drive, and bluetooth capabilities. If you really want to use the cellular carrier's data network, without internally modifying the netbook, there are 3G/EDGE/GPRS USB data modems that can be used. Getting around the lack of a DVD drive requires purchasing an external USB DVD drive. Without internally modifying the netbook, to allow the netbook to have bluetooth capabilities, all that is required is a USB bluetooth dongle. If so desired, there are various websites that show how to internally modify the Acer Aspire One netbook so that it has bluetooth and/or a USB SIM slot (as well as upgrade the memory).

When I purchased the netbook, I didn't really care about the lack of a DVD drive since I wanted something light and portable. Having a built-in DVD drive would not only add weight to the unit but also increase the size (or thickness). While the DVD drive is in use, it would also drain the battery.

I find the speed of the netbook to be acceptable. However, it is by no means a speed demon. For example, when trying to view YouTube's HD video content over a wired connection (and not wifi connection which is often times slower and less stable), there are quite a lot of pauses in the audio and video. The netbook, however, is capable of watching regular YouTube videos or YouTube videos in HQ without any pauses in audio/video (subject to internet quality).

According to Acer's website, the battery is rated for 3 hours but it of course it depends on usage. For me, based on my typical usage, I've been able to watch a streaming movie of approximately 100 minutes using the netbook's wifi connection before getting a low battery warning.

One of the things that I don't like about the Aspire One is that it is not easy to upgrade the memory. The maximum memory that it can have is 1.5GB. As mentioned above, the Aspire One that I use comes with 1GB of RAM. Out of the box, the memory slot already has a 512MB DDR RAM installed and the remaining 512MB of RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. Since you can only remove the 512MB of DDR RAM from the memory slot and swap it with a 1GB DDR memory, this gives it a maximum of 1.5GB of memory. It is not easy to upgrade the memory since it requires removing the keyboard from the netbook in order to get access to the memory slot. There are various websites/videos showing how this is done. It doesn't appear to be very difficult but it is definitely not as easy as it is on my Asus EeePC where all that is required to upgrade the memory is to remove a small panel on the bottom of the netbook.

I'm also not too fond of the buttons for the touchpad. They sometimes seem to require a somewhat hard push. Most of the time when I'm using this netbook, I'm using an external mouse (and an external keyboard). Speaking about the keyboard, I find the keyboard to be a bit tight/small but when I purchased the netbook, I wanted something small with a screen size of 8.9" so I wasn't expecting a full sized keyboard. I can say that the smaller keyboard reduces my typing speed by roughly 20% which is one of the reasons why I will generally use an external USB keyboard.

If you have any questions/comments regarding my review on the Acer Aspire One 8.9" Netbook, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Belkin Laptop Cooling Hub Review

I purchased a Belkin laptop cooling unit for my Acer Aspire One netbook and I like it. The fan is powered either by AC or by USB. The same thing goes for the USB hub portion of the cooling mat. I plug my cooling mat using the AC adapter since I believe that this is better for the USB hub and probably the laptop as well if you plug a lot of things into the USB hub. I plug my USB keyboard and my USB mouse into the spare USB ports on this unit.It is relatively quiet although I did find that it made enough noise to keep me awake sometimes but unless I'm exhausted, I'm a light sleeper.My only real complaint about this product is that there isn't an on-off switch. I'm not sure if the other cooling mats have on-off switches but I think that an on-off switch would be good. When the unit is plugged into the AC outlet, the fan will always work. If it isn't plugged into an AC outlet but is plugged into the laptop's USB port while the laptop is on, the fan will continue to work although based on the noise, the fan is not spinning as fast when powered by USB.

The only thing that would make this product better in my opinion is having more than 1 fan and having an on/off switch. Since I generally use the included AC adapter to power the cooling fan as well as supply power to the USB hub (instead of using the power directly from my netbook's USB port to power the cooling fan and the USB hub), having an on/off switch on the unit and being able to turn off the fan is more convenient than having to unplug the AC adapter.

The good thing about the USB hub on this cooling mat is that it is "powered" when you are using the AC adapter. There are many USB devices that draw a lot of power from the USB port and if it is plugged into an unpowered USB hub, the computer will generally display an error message about there not being enough power on the USB port of the computer to power the devices.

The USB cable on the mat conveniently tucks underneath the unit when it is not being used to power the fan and/or being used as the connector for the USB hub functionality.

For anyone that has a personal laptop or personal netbook, I strongly recommend getting a cooling mat such as this especially if he/she uses his/her laptop/netbook in bed where a laptop/netbook does not have a lot of air circulation underneath the unit.

If you have any questions/comments regarding my review of the Belkin laptop cooling hub, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.

Fidelity Electronics' VPC (Very Personal Computer) Review

This is my review of Fidelity Electronics' VPC which stands for "very personal computer."

The first week that it was released, I saw the description on Canadian Tire's flyer along with the special price. Based on the description and special price, I decided to get it as a secondary netbook. I already had a 8.9" Windows XP based netbook) but because I wanted something smaller to view internet streaming videos in my bedroom and I often left my Windows XP netbook elsewhere, since I had a lot of Canadian Tire money and there wasn't anything at Canadian Tire that I really wanted to get with my Canadian Tire money, I thought that I would get the VPC.

The VPC's description on Canadian Tire flyer read:

7" Fidelity VPC - Very Personal Computer. The perfect solution for students or parents on the go! Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity. Edit and save in multiple formats: MS Word(TM) & Excel(TM), PDF viewer, calculator, file manager, e-dictionary, e-reader, and e-calendar. Stream video straight from YouTube(TM). 4GB internal memory and 128 MB RAM. 1 SD card slot & 2 USB ports. While quantities last.

I purchased this product on August 22 and after trying this product for only a few hours, I realized why Canadian Tire had a no refund policy on this product. When I purchased the product there was no mention that the product could only be exchanged for the exact same product in case of problems within 30 days and that refunds weren't allowed.

I can't really recommend this product for the typical user unless he/she plans on using the built-in non-internet programs. The interface and programs installed on it are extremely limited and it runs a very limited version of Linux. Lots of websites (more advanced websites) don't work properly like GoogleMaps, Flash enabled websites, etc.

When I purchased the product, I wasn't able to connect to my wireless router right away. Updating to the latest firmware via the company's website (v1.1) allowed me to connect to my wireless router (WPA encryption). YouTube was advertised to work on the Fidelity VPC via special instructions (which are indicated in the manual) but after the firmware upgrade, YouTube viewing was still not possible (following the special instructions found in the VPC instruction manual).

The system out of the box didn't seem to accept my router's encryption scheme (WPA). I updated the firmware by downloading the new firmware to an SD card and rebooting the VPC. I noticed that the SD card slot on the VPC seemed to be reversed or upside down on (or at least mine doesn't go into the machine in the standard fashion like all other PCs).

The VPC includes a limited browser, an e-mail program, chat program, a word processor, a spreadsheet program, adobe acrobat reader, a dictionary, a calculator, a file manager, a music player, a media player, an image viewer, 2 games, a recorder, a paint program, and an e-book reader.

For very basic functions, it is okay/good (word processing, spreadsheet handling, games, picture viewing, etc.). A pre-teenager would probably be able to use this.

I contacted Fidelity Electronics' technical support department regarding the problem with YouTube videos and within 1 day, they updated their firmware (to v1.2). After updating the firmware to v1.2, the VPC was now capable of steaming the YouTube videos. However, after a few seconds of streaming, it was apparent that the audio and video was becoming out of sync as the video continued to play. I contacted Fidelity Electronics' technical support department and about 1 week later, they came out with an improved v1.2 which was able to properly stream the YouTube videos.


A few things I noticed about the VPC are:
1) It does not handle hidden SSIDs so if your wireless router is set to not broadcast the SSID, the VPC won't be able to connect to it.
2) When you enter the encryption password, it is in plain text and if you want to connect to it again, the VPC will display the encryption password. If someone is behind you at the time that you connect, they will see the encryption password. There is no "auto-connect" feature.
3) The browser is extremely limited in what it can do and what webpages it can access.
4) The VPC is slow in terms of responsiveness regardless of whether you are using one of the internet applications or one of the non-internet applications.
5) The battery is not removable (I'm the type of person who prefers using the AC power without the battery in the laptop/netbook unless I'm charging the battery/laptop).
6) The SD card will only read SD cards (<= 2GB). It will not read SD-HC cards (> 2GB).

As I mentioned earlier, I wouldn't really call the VPC a true "netbook" like the low cost ones produced by Acer, Asus, etc.. The VPC might be adequate for a pre-teen but I can't really recommend it for anyone else.

A shorter version of this review appears on the Canadian Tire website.

If you have any questions/comments regarding my review on Fidelity Electronic's VPC, please don't hesitate to leave a comment in the comments section.