Laptop as canvas for creative urge
Alexandra | 12:56 am | June 29, 2010 | Laptop Mods
Your laptop is not only a perfect working tool, it should also reflect your personality and style. This is what manufacturers keep telling us, don’t they? However, what kind of individuality are we talking about, when thousands of other people all over the world have exactly the same gadget? A young artist from Russia has decided to make something completely new out of her 15-inch Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro V350 laptop. This was the origin of her new hand painted laptop series.
“I always wanted to do everything in my own way, like no one else can. I am painting something all the time, for example windows in the house, plates, walls. And when I bought my first laptop, I wanted to make it unique as well. In the beginning I was a bit scared because I didn’t want to make it any damage, though I’ve had ‘painted’ my Nokias with nail polish on several occasions. I’ve decided to use my old set of stained glass paints because if something would have gone wrong they could be removed without a trace.
Then the question turned up: what to draw? I wanted something that would reflect my personality – elegant and stylish but at the same time feminine. And because I love animals I’ve decided to paint my laptop with pussy cats. And afterwards I’ve been repainting my laptop every now and then: with the pictures of girls, stars, plants, flowers etc. Laptops tend to wear off quite quickly and soon after my first laptop painting attempt I’ve decided to get myself a new one. For my second laptop I’ve chosen ThinkPad SL400. Its glossy lid where all touches become visible hadn’t put me out – “I’ll colour it anyway” – I thought. So my new laptop has soon acquired itself a crocodile skin and looked stunningly!
But the chosen design was the way too masculine and aggressive. And the laptop itself was too manly and big as well, so I had to do something completely different to adjust it to my personal taste. Some time later the crocodile skin was removed accurately to give way for the new décor. It looked a bit like an ornamental iron grid. This painting job was done in about two hours, practically over lunchtime.
When I started looking for a new laptop, lighter and smaller the new Lenovo ThinkPad X100e had just been released. In spite of a number of negative moments (such as overheating and battery life) it turned out to be the most suitable option. Although many people were trying to persuade me to take a classical ThinkPad x200, I bought myself the red ThinkPad x100e. And even before I held it in my hands I already had an idea of how to colour it. And now this idea comes true:
These hieroglyphs do make sense by the way- I wished my laptop to be happy, reliable and beloved. Later I added a colour accents with the dark red paint. The chosen drawing suited the x100e very well:
The great thing about the stained glass paints is that they can be easily removed. At the same time they stay long enough – about half a year even if you carry your laptop with you all the time. Now I have no wish to redo it again but desire to create is burning up more and more. That’s why I switched to my friends’ laptops. I have coloured two Lenovo Idea Pad S9’s since:
| Acer appeared in the 3D style: | Glamourous Sony Vaio for a pretty girl: |
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And a 15-inch Asus:
And this one was my first commercial job — the picture of the Eiffel Tower is based on the movie “From Paris with love”. The owner of the laptop liked the drawing: he has the same theme with a leaning Eiffel Tower on his mobile phone. It’s all thanks to the owner who was not afraid to give me his gadgets and who was very satisfied with the result in the end! All of a sudden my hobby became profitable. Now I have a catalogue of standard drawings available to order but I can also design something very unusual.”
Source: Habrahabr
Your laptop is not only a perfect working tool. It should also reflect your personality and style. This is what manufacturers keep telling us, don’t they? However, what kind of individuality are we talking about, when thousands of other people all over the world have exactly the same gadget?
New NX ASUS Laptops work wonders with sound
Alexandra | 7:03 pm | May 17, 2010 | Laptop Music
What do the letters NX in the corresponding series of laptops from ASUS mean? They mean ‘New generation, eXtraordinary’. It’s the high-grade line of home entertaining centers.
The laptops are equipped with the new Intel Core processors – i3, i5 and i7. There are also high-speed USB 3.0 slots – of course, tenfold increase in speed as in screaming advertisements won’t happen in reality but the increase will be considerable. It’s also an inevitable standard and, in my opinion, the sooner, the better. Everyone is talking about new Intel processors and USB 3.0, but I’d like to draw your attention to the next innovation in the series.
As you know, the sound in most laptops is no good at all. This problem became so acute that it even generated new classes of devices and other gimmicks. Unfortunately, many producers don’t think this matter should be paid any attention to. They optimistically consider that everybody will listen to music in headphones and that is why when you put the volume level to the maximum the bass becomes noise.
The engineers from ASUS realized that one should combat the cause of the problem but not its consequence. That’s why the ‘sound question’ was solved together with the company Bang & Olufsen which is an expert in Hi-end audio production. That was how the ASUS SonicMaster technology was introduced, at the CeBIT exhibition this year.
The solution is based on the combination of robust conducting materials and excellent geometry of the case. Big volumetric resonators and dynamics optimally situated inside the case let minimize extraneous vibrations and noise. The new audio processor is likely to work wonders with sound. In contrast with other improvements that artificially amplify only certain frequencies, SonicMaster transmits originally recorded sound with fine accuracy without any audio filters. Almost the whole of the audible range of frequencies can be reproduced. All the laptops of the NX series will be equipped with SonicMaster Premium.
But hearing once is better than seeing a hundred times. Of course, the innovation loses in the quality of sound to good audio systems but the very fact that proper sound is now available to average user is great.
12 concept laptops and PC that will strike your imagination
Alexandra | 10:40 pm | February 12, 2010 | Concept Laptops
Concepts… They are amazing, aren’t they? On the one hand, they inspire us, give us ideas for the future, push forward innovations. On the other hand, concepts disappoint, since we cannot have them right now. The only thing we can do is start saving money, and wait until they become a reality.
1. ARM Tablet
This concept from Sébastien Maleville can be used as a usual laptop or as a portable tablet. You can transform it by separating the keyboard from the monitor.
2. Asus Bookshelf PC
This PC from Asus consists of interchangeable modules, which allows to upgrade or downgrade your computer. You can do it by replacing or adding required modules.
3. B-membrane
This UFO-like computer with a projected keyboard uses a projector instead of a monitor.
4. Canvas
This concept was developed for designers and artists by Kyle Cherry. It was equipped with some built-in digital devices for easy drawing.
5. Horizon
Concept desktop from Japanese designer Mac Funamizu has a flexible OLED monitor, which can change its size!
6. HP LiM (by Jeffrey S. Engelhardt)
HP LiM (it means “Less is More”) consists from a 19” transparent touch screen, a wireless keyboard and a virtual touchpad.
7. Nuno Teixeira MAINGEAR
It’s a powerful gaming machine with improved cooling system.
8. Paper Laptop — eco-computer
This concept (designed by Je Sung Park) was made from recycled paper.
9. Philco PC
Although in the majority of cases concept computers show us the future, Dave Schultze’s creation carries us back.
10. Portable PC Theater
Jinwoo Han, a talented designer from the South Korea, created a concept of portable PC with a special bonus, a built-in projector for entertainment.
11. Prime Gaming Laptop
Prime Gaming Concept Laptop was designed by Kyle Cherry. He tries to solve such problem as limited size of laptop screens. Behold a powerful portable gaming computer!
12. Zafiro
Zafiro PC with transparent screen can be controlled by movements of your hands and body!
The near future of high-tech industry (your excursion to CES 2010)
Alexandra | 7:39 pm | January 26, 2010 | New Laptops
The last Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has become the main source of information about new technologies and products from the world’s largest product designer and manufacturers. The show was held in Las Vegas, and this place wasn’t chosen by chance. The U.S. market is traditionally considered as one of the most important for many large companies that design and produce electronics.
Judging by the general show trends, 2010 will be the year of Android smartphones, Tablet PCs, and rapid development of three-dimensional television. And like a year ago, at CES 2009, manufacturers introduced a lot of notebooks and netbooks in a classic form factor. Developers still believe that this market is very promising. For example, MSI management expects 50% growth of notebook shipments in 2010.
Lenovo attracted visitors by the unusual Ideapad U1 laptop. This device, which is actually a hybrid of tablet and netbook, has a 11.6″ display that can be disconnected from the keyboard and work independently as a Tablet PC. Ideapad U1 is expected in shops this summer at a price of about $ 1000.
You could see new netbooks based on Intel Pine Trail hardware platform from all major manufacturers at CES 2010. Most of those devices had similar characteristics and were running Windows 7. The Samsung N127 netbook based on OS Moblin can be mentioned as an exception.
One more piece of news from Intel. The company launched AppUpCenter, a new online store of applications for compact portable computers. All users of netbooks with OS Windows can join this service.
Among the huge number of laptops that were presented at CES 2010 there are some unusual ones. Samsung demonstrated a prototype laptop with a 14″ transparent OLED-display. It’s difficult to imagine who may need such a computer, but this invention of South Korean engineers may find application in other industries. Also Dell showed a workable concept of Studio with a 16″ OLED-display, which response time is 0,004 ms. And Asus amazed visitors by its new NX90 Bang & Olufsen edition laptop.
So CES 2010 gave us a general idea of what devices we should expect this year. Evidently experts expect the increase in sales of portable computers (both netbooks and notebooks). Marketing specialists pin hopes on tablet PCs, but demand for them will depend not only on technical specifications, but also on pricing policies.
Stolen and lost laptops in the UK: do you want to be the next victim?
Alexandra | 9:53 pm | December 7, 2009 | Security
Every week thousands of people lose their laptops. According to the last study conducted by Dell, business travellers lose more than 15,500 laptops per week (in the EU). A researcher has found that London Heathrow has the highest number of missing or stolen laptops (900 gadgets a week).
Unfortunately, most of people in the United Kingdom don’t undertake any measures to ensure security of their personal information which they keep on their mobile computers. Lost or stolen laptop means not only loss of your device but also moral damage and loss of valuable information (not only your private letters and photos, collections of favourite videos and music). For most of businesspeople loss of information takes the form of unrecovered damages, loss of money and reputation. But nevertheless Dell statistic shows that the British don’t realize consequences of their carelessness:
- “My data is not backed up” – that was the answer of 43% of respondents in the UK.
- “I do not take steps to protect my confidential information” – 59%.
- “Sometimes I left my laptop under the supervision of my fellow passenger” – 42%.
- “I employ disk encryption” – only 12%.
- “I use biometric methods to secure my laptops” – only 6% (while fingerprint scanner systems prevent unauthorised access to Toshiba, IBM, Lenovo, ASUS and many other laptops).
There are lots of gadgets and software products that can help you reduce negative consequences of the loss of data. Firefound (add-on for Firefox and Fennec) is one such solution. It cleans your personal data in just a few simple clicks and enables you to find your stolen computer.
Firefound uses geolocation to determine your current position and sends this information to your laptop (using it like an internet server). If your mobile computer is lost then you can get into the web interface of Fifefound and get to know where your laptop is and remove all your personal data.
You can also configure levels of safety in such a way that you will receive a letter if your laptop is used more than a certain number of miles away from your location. Or Firefound will remove your personal information if criminal is not able to enter the correct password with the X number of attempts.
But remember that it’s much easier to prevent such problems than to fight them, by keeping your laptop from getting lost or stolen.
The most reliable notebooks and netbooks — no conjectures, facts only
Alexandra | 10:08 pm | November 20, 2009 | Laptop News
According to the latest research conducted by the analytical department of the SquareTrade company, Asus laptops are the most reliable among other popular brands. It is a real surprise for many Apple fans that mobile computers from their favorite company are only on the fourth place, yielding to Toshiba and Sony laptops in reliability characteristics. SquareTrade provides after-sales warranty services for consumer electronics. The company based its new study of notebooks / netbooks reliability on the analysis of more than 30 thousand mobile computers from different manufacturers.
Result #1: HP, Gateway and Acer are the least reliable laptops
The results show that almost one of three laptops fails during the first three years of use. It’s difficult to imagine a more fragile electronic gizmo than a laptop (just imagine that every third TV set or car breaks down in 3 years after the purchase).
So the 1st place has been given to Asus laptops, problems with them occur during the first three years in 15.6% of cases. It may not sound too good, but it’s the lowest failure rate among 9 largest producers which laptops were used for the research.
Toshiba with the rate of 15.7% has taken the 2nd place, Sony laptops with 16.8% has become the 3rd. The failure rate for Apple (17.4% and the 4th place) was calculated for two popular models — MacBook and MacBook Pro.
Vince Tseng (VP of Marketing at SquareTrade) said that analytics were not surprised that Apple laptops had appeared in the middle of the list, but the victory of Asus had come as a real surprise.
Hewlett-Packard, the company, which production volume of notebooks was the biggest in the world last year, was pronounced as the most risky brand (more than a quarter of HP laptops is in danger). It may be not so bad taking into account that this company offers a 3-year guarantee for its products, it even started selling of HP laptop batteries that had a guarantee of 36 months.
Result #2: laptop users have only one year without worries and problems
The report also states that the risk of any problems with the laptop is growing rapidly after one year of usage:
- 4.7% — failure rate after the 1st year;
- 12.7% — after the 2nd year;
- 20.4% — after the 3rd year.
Mr. Tseng explained that mobile computers have high rates of usage. People often leave them running, laptops components are shock-sensitive. At the same time they are portable, and it often leads to falls and blows. And moreover, it is one of the most complex devices compared to other customer electronics.
Result #3: netbooks are characterized by a low price and a high rate of failure
The researchers also has found that netbooks break down more often than notebooks. The average rate is 23% higher than similar data for entry-level notebooks (with price from $ 400 to $ 1 000) and 38% higher than premium portable gadgets (more than $ 1 000).
FrEee Pc
Boris | 2:26 am | July 29, 2008 | Laptop News
Researchers claim that Asus Eee PC has been the greatest hit in the mobile devices sector this year. Yet the 8.9-inch laptop is one step away from true mobility – there is no go-anywhere Internet access. In other words, you are still in a Wi-Fi hotspot which doesn’t appear to meet the needs of today’s Eee user. Well, you can always try a 3G dongle with your laptop but nowadays there is a rather high competition in gadgets and gizmos for the few USB ports. Asustek has announced that Asus Eee PC 3G will be released in September this year. The lightweight netbook will feature integrated 3G module that lets its owners get fast wireless Internet everywhere they go. Unlike some feverishly pitched 3G handsets, the hardware is not likely to be locked to only one provider and the laptop battery will not be sealed – you will be able to carry it around even with an extended capacity pack. 
I would also like it to have some new striking twist on the design, making the laptop stand out from the rest of the ultraportable crowd of laptop midgets. But even as it is now, Asus Eee PC with built-in internet connection will guarantee your morning cappa break will never be the same again.
Laptop Batteries
New Mobiles
Free Conference Call Services
Custom logo design
UK Online Laptop Shops – Price Comparison
Boris | 10:03 pm | March 20, 2008 | Laptop News
There are lots of user guides, manuals and forums on how to buy a laptop. If you have already been there and know what you need now is the time to know where to get it.
We have selected three laptops for our price comparison study- one portable, one standard size, and one desktop replacement laptop. We have decided to stick with popular, mainstream machines, to make sure that all the retailers have it in stock.
Slick Sony Vaio TZ21MN/N represents the traveller’s choice. Mainstream group is behind HP 6715S, a perfect laptop for general home, business and educational use. And home media centres have delegated ASUS W2W with its good multimedia credentials and high performance.
We manually scanned prices of ten top UK online laptop retailers. We have not taken into account eBay, the obvious choice for best prices, but also the one with the risk of scam and patchy customer service. Then, we have put the aggregate rank for each seller taking into account prices and delivery charges (next day/regular). The lower is the rank the better are the average prices.
As you can see, there is no clear monopolist and we have different winners in each category, but Laptops Direct seems to head the list. However, with numerous special offers and extras given along with your purchase, and with prices constantly changing, it would be worthwhile checking several online laptop shops.
Asus Bamboo, The Jungle Boy
Boris | 2:30 am | January 31, 2008 | Concept Laptops, Green Laptops
Laptop life expectancy. How long is it? With the speed things are changing, CD for DVD, HDD for SSD, ABC for XYZ, how often do you want your laptop to be replaced? Our conservative guess is 1.5 years, at most. 18 months before you throw your laptop away, replacing it by a newer, faster, better one.
Portable devices and, in particular, laptops are not easy on the environment — they produce toxins when they end up in landfills. But the industry, while encouraging to spend more, is at the same time trying to show that it cares. Not just about terabytes, megapixels and inches – but about laptop ac adapters that don’t waste as much electricity, batteries that are easier to recycle, and components made from plants.
Asus brings us the latest in eco-friendly notebook design. The Asus Eco Book, as it’s dubbed, is encased in natural bamboo. Building computers out of wood is not new. Apple’s first computer was nothing more than a homemade motherboard inside a wooden box. But Asus had a much harder task, since the components of a laptop are so close together and heat insulation is an issue when something as flammable as wood is used. Apart from a bunch of homeless, anorexic pandas that rely on bamboo as their habitat and food, Asus will please everybody if the concept works.
The Beauty vs The Beast
maksim | 4:18 am | December 21, 2007 | New Laptops
Two extremes of the same territory, two laptops that could not be further away apart- today we compare Asus Eee PC and Getac A790- the Snow White and the Terminator of the laptop world.
Difference starts with the price. Asus Eee Pc is famously the cheapest laptop in the world, with the price of 200 dollars. Getac costs 30 times more, just below 6000 dollars.
Small and light, Eee Pc has a processor to match, Intel Celeron-M 900MHz. Getac, in spite of its seemingly awkward shapes, has an impressive Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz.
Elegantly small 4gb harddrive of Eee Pc is not prepared to waste its space on something as unglamorous and time-wasting as movies or games. Getac, a road warrior, has shock-resistant 80gb, and options for more if needed.
For wireless connectivity, Eee Pc has WiFi, simple and effective, job done. Getac is a jungle kid and WiFi can never be enough- it also has Bluetooth, GPS, and a GSM/GPRS support.
Never meant to leave civilization for too long , Asus has a reasonable battery life lasting over two hours. Getac, a companion of night shifts and field trips, has a maximum possible battery life of around eight hours.
Graceful Eee Pc has a webcam on its list of additional features, and that is all it needs. Getac wants much more. Fingerprint scanner, optional touchscreen and sunlight readable display, dustproof keyboard, fully waterproof case with sealed ports and connectors, vibration resistance and extra strong magnesium alloy case.
Sources: Asus Eee Pc and Getac A790