RickyCadden.com

Initial Thoughts On The Asus EeePC 1000HE

// May 21st, 2009 // 8 Comments » // toys

I spent the better part of Wednesday night tinkering with, setting up, and exploring the Asus EeePC 1000HE, and wanted to record some of my first reactions. Most of this is coming from the perspective of the Dell Mini 9, as that was the previous netbook that I had.

First off, the 1000HE has some annoying design flaws that I simply must point out. First, I’m not really wild about the massive tube on the hinge. I realize it’s mostly there to make the battery look like it fits, but it’s simply not aesthetically pleasing. Plus, the silver endcaps are ribbed, a design that usually means I could unscrew the caps to find some feature or something. You can’t.

Also, the speakers face down, with the grills located on the bottom of the computer. Granted, the part where the grills is located is angled up, so that when sitting on a flat surface, like a table, it might project the sound. However, when sitting in your lap, or in bed, it’s likely these will be muffled instead. Boo.

The last design flaw is actually probably the most annoying. One of the selling points of the Asus EeePC 1000HE, in my opinion, is its non-glossy matte display. I much prefer this, specifically on a netbook that’s likely to be used outdoors or at a coffee shop. Unfortunately, the rather thick bezel surrounding the display is made of high-gloss black plastic – perfectly shined to brightly reflect any and all lights. It’s nearly bad enough to completely offset the matte display, which is a shame. I’m looking into options to remedy this.

Aside from that, it’s a nice machine. The 1000HE is closer in size to my Dell XPS M1330 than the Dell Mini 9 was, and I’m not sure how I feel about that quite yet. It’s still more portable than the M1330, but obviously not nearly as portable as the Mini 9 was.

In terms of battery life, thus far I’m floored. At ~4p yesterday I unplugged the 1000HE, with a full charge. I then spent the rest of the night with full brightness and WiFi running, downloading and installing applications, rebooting, etc. At 930p, Battery Bar was still showing 2.5hrs of power left.

Today, at around 11a, again with a full battery, I unplugged the EeePC 1000HE, leaving WiFi and Bluetoth on, full brightness, and Seesmic Desktop running, as well as a Bluetooth headset charging off a USB port. As of 315p, I’m showing just under 1 hour of remaining battery life. While that’s not the full 7-9 hours advertised, it’s much longer than any laptop I’ve ever used. I would imagine if I turned the brightness down slightly, and disabled WiFi or Bluetooth (depending on how I was connecting to the net) I could get alot further.

Thus far, I’m most definitely a happy camper.

Dell Mini 9 For Sale

// May 21st, 2009 // 2 Comments » // toys

Now that I have the Asus EeePC 1000HE, I obviously don’t need the Dell Mini 9. It’s rather sad, really – I completely enjoyed the Dell Mini 9. However, the 1000HE is a bit faster, and offers a much improved battery life and keyboard experience.

As such, I’ve put the Dell Mini 9 on Craigslist, so that I hopefully don’t have to resort to Ebay again. Asking price is $300, and that includes shipping, in case you don’t live locally. Here’s the specs:

Dell Mini 9
8.9″ display
Intel N270 Atom processor @ 1.6GHz
2GB of RAM
16GB SSD (solid state drive)
WiFi
Built-in Bluetooth

I’ve got the original box, as well as the power cord and a zippered neoprene case to throw in. It is currently running Windows 7 RC1, fully activated, with all the drivers and whatnot installed. The Dell Mini is usually regarded as the best OSX hackintosh netbook, if you’re a Mac person (James Burland, I’m looking at you!) I previously installed OSX on here, and it ran fine (though I personally didn’t care for it).

It currently has a camo skin from DecalGirl.com on there, though it’s vinyl, and comes right off with zero residue. I can remove this before shipping, if you’d like. There’s a white Dell cover underneath. Also, there is a SMALL scratch on the bezel around the screen, though it’s hardly noticeable. Here’s the craigslist listing, or you can contact me directly at Ricky(at)RickyCadden(dot)com.

My Desk, AKA Central Command

// February 18th, 2009 // 14 Comments » // blogging, toys

As a blogger/online journalist, one of the most important things is my desk. While I can (and often do) work from just my laptop while travelling or too lazy to go into my office, my desk is where I go when I need to get some serious work done, and where I spend most of my time. So then, what’s the desk of a self-proclaimed multitasking wizard look like? This:

As you can see, I have ADD, bad. Let’s go through though, so I can explain a bit of what each thing is/does.

#1 – The Dell Mini 9, with Windows 7. When I’m at my desk, the Dell Mini 9 is running Tweetdeck, signed into my personal rcadden account. This lets me interact with friends, and often serves as a source of quick news. I put Windows 7 back on it, and am enjoying it SO much more.

#2 – The Dell XPS M1330 with external (backlit) keyboard, mouse, and monitor. This is by far the brains of the operation. Below the external monitor there, you’ll also see my current phone, whatever it happens to be.

#3 – Cell Phone Central. This is where I keep all the phones that I’m currently using/reviewing/thinking about. For obvious reasons, I can’t keep my current phone in that pile, or I’d never f ind it. Bonus points for the commenter who’s able to pick out each phone there.

#4 – Gateway MX6956. This is the computer that my Dell XPS M1330 replaced, now running Windows 7. I’ve recently setup a dedicated symbianguru Twitter account, and this laptop is running Tweetdeck, signed into that account. This one also serves as our house DVD player, since it has the biggest screen.

The actual desk, in case you’re wondering, is an 8′ banquet table from Home Depot. It’s built from sturdy plastic and metal, folds for easy portability, and it offers a huge workspace. I covered the top with corkboard, which makes the whole thing a mousepad, and also lets me set drinks and whatnot on it, without having to worry finding a coaster.

I’m well aware of the irony that I’m a ‘mobile blogger’ and yet my desk has 3 computers on it, one of which has 2 monitors hooked up. However, I can easily unplug either of the Dell computers for a trip to the couch or the beach, and get just as much work done (probably more, without 2 different Tweetdecks attacking me from each side, lol).

Holy Battery Life Batman!

// January 23rd, 2009 // 2 Comments » // cool, Mobile, technology

I’ve never really thought too much about my laptop’s battery life. The XPS gets better length than my old Gateway MX6956, but it’s still limited to the ~3hour time frame, which isn’t anything impressive. When I got the Fujitsu P1610, I thought for sure I could go a bit longer without a charge, but the full HDD and touchscreen display decided otherwise. I can maybe squeeze some extra time if I dial the display brightness down, but what’s the point in that?

Imagine my surprise last night, when I pulled the Dell Mini 9 into the livingroom to assist while I tinkered with other laptops (more on that later). I didn’t bother to bring the plug, and had the display cranked up to full brightness. 4 hours later, when Mrs. Guru finally got home from work, I glanced over at the Dell, whose battery indicator showed that it was only 3/4 of the way drained. Seriously? Holy crap!

I’m now obsessed with this no-cord thing. It’s truly impressive, and as far as I can tell, it’s mainly due to the SSD inside the Mini 9 (and the fact that it’s not a touchscreen). It’s very cool to be able to just use the thing, and not have to fret over whether there’s a plug nearby.

Today, I”m ordering the internal Bluetooth module, and probably a skin from Decal Girl or 3ACP. Hopefully, in camo.

Dell Mini 9 Netbook Lands At Casa Guru

// January 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // cool, technology

My friends like to make fun of me, asking frequently, ‘How many computers do you need? I thought you were a cell phone guy?’ It’s true, I am a cell phone guy, but at the moment, there are 6 computers in Casa Guru, 5 of which are laptops. The media center doesn’t really count, it’s just an old eMachines tower with a new 500GB hard drive that sits in the livingroom, storing all of our video and photos. Nothing to see there.

Three of the remaining 4 laptops are Dells, which wasn’t really planned. Mrs. Guru has an old Inspiron something-or-other that I’ve been trying to let her let me replace, but no avail. My work machine is a Dell XPS M1330, and I have an old Gateway MX6956 that’s still rocking. The 2 netbooks are the Fujitsu P1610 and the new arrival – a Dell Mini 9.

As you can see, the Dell and the Fujitsu are roughly the same size, both having an 8.9″ display. However, they’re vastly different machines. The P1610 is a tablet-pc, with a swiveling touchscreen display, PC Card slot, and a few other niceties. It’s also rather ugly, and very industrial-looking. The Dell, on the other hand, is very….cute, with consumer-friendly design cues, but in a regular laptop form factor and a minimum level of extras.

Within a few minutes, both machines will be running Windows 7, though the Dell is slated to get hackintosh’d this weekend, hopefully. My initial reaction is that the Dell’s keyboard is going to take *alot* of getting used to. As you can see in the photos, the P1610′s keyboard stretches from edge-to-edge, with no room on either side, and includes a 6th row of F-keys, which are actually incredibly necessary on a computer with such a small display. You’ll also notice that while the Dell’s main keys are full sized, the flanking keys on either side of the keyboard have been shrunk, and some of them even rearranged. This is going to irritate the junk out of me, for sure.

Dell Mini 9 Keyboard

P1610 Keyboard

However, I like that the Dell has a regular touchpad, vs. the ‘nub’ on the P1610. A major downpoint, for me, on the Dell is the 16GB SSD inside, vs the 60GB HDD on the P1610. Sure, SSD means far better battery life, quieter operation, and all that, but hey, space is space. I’m considering upgrading to a 64GB aftermarket SSD, but haven’t decided yet.

The other main draw of the Dell Mini 9 is the vibrant community of folks who like to tinker. MyDellMini.com has a great and active Forum, with separate subforums on Windows 7 (which is 98% installed, as I’m typing this), OSX (which will hopefully be this weekend), and even hardware modifications, if that’s your bag. I like having support.

Below are more comparison pics of the Fujitsu P1610 beside the Dell Mini 9. I’ll definitely be posting more thoughts on it, including documenting the hackintosh procedure for you.