As I Xi It v2.3

I never thought I’d be so thrilled with the purchase of a new battery for my netbook! The original 3 celled battery that came with my Aspire One initially gave me some 2 – 2:30 hours for Wifi and web surfing. About six months later, it dropped to around 1:20 hours. Pitiful for a mobile device.

So, the other day I decided to get an extended battery, one of those 9 celled ones and it might be about three times the size of the original battery, but it gives me about 6 – 7 hours of continuous use! Due to its size and design, it sticks out the rear and increases the hight at the back. Normally when I’m typing on a desktop keyboard, I like to have it flat, but with the netbook raised at the back, I actually find it more comfortable when typing reclining, on my knee or on a table. There is one issue though, with the back raised, it could slide around if you used it on a desk, so to solve that, I stuck on some rubber tape to the bottom of the battery.

It’s well worth the £55 or so I paid for it. Made by some third-party, Camera Sino it says. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s also made in China.

Original 3 cell on the left, brand spanking new 9 cell on the right.

My little netbook is just delightful and so I decided to get it a Crumpler Gimp 7″ which to date is the smallest in Crumpler’s latest range of laptop/netbook sleeves. I already use one for my 14.1″ Dell and it works a treat. Protects my laptop from scratches, knocks and bumps when its being transported around in my backpack or messenger bag. All it is is a folded piece of thick neoprene (wetsuit material) with a zip round the side.

The Gimp needs a bit of gentle persuasion in order to fit my netbook. It’s certainly a snug fit and a bit tight around the edges. There’s no damage to the netbook once zipped up however. On the carboard sleeve that  comes with it says that it’s suitable for 7″ – 9″ laptops/netbooks. A 7″ netbook should fit fine with no problems.

This smaller Gimp also has two elasticated bits across the top cornes to slip over your netbook’s screen so that you could use it in situ. Ideal for computing on the run. These are missing from the one I use for my laptop as that’s one of the early releases.

Dispite its body-hugging fit, I quite like this mini Gimp and it complements my netbook quite nicely. I just wished there were some wackier colours or two toned designs like my 14″ red and blue one.

Before getting the Gimp for my netbook, I used to use a Domke Wrap 15″. It’s suppose to be a lightweight alternative for protecting camera equipment, but I don’t see any problems in using it to protect a netbook. The 15″ fits the netbook perfectly, if you want a bit more give, then go for the 19″ one. One side of the wrap is made of some sort of polyester/nylon material with velcro at the corners, on the otherside is some sort of felt. It’s a pretty simple concept, you just wrap whatever you want! Compared to the Crumpler, the overall material thickness is thinner. One of the advantages of the Wrap is that it will accomodate the Aspire One with one of the larger batteries.

Both the Crumpler Gimp and Domke Wrap work fine to protect your netbook while on the go.

I was getting bored of the stock visual styles that came with Windows XP on my netbook so I had a Google for some other ones and came across Royale Noir which was suppose to be for Windows XP Media Edition, it looked quite good so I thought I’d give it a whirl. The wallpaper (Spectrum of the Sky) complements the colour scheme quite nicely and its all pretty easy on the eyes. The Rocketdock skin at the bottom I dug up from here.

The whole desktop seems to match the blueness of my Aspire One. A happy coincidence really, all I wanted was something different from the run-of-the-mill XP desktop.

The Logitech MX510 mouse which I use for my desktop really matches my Aspire One!

I still find it comical how small my netbook is. My desktop mouse is about a third of the size of the thing. For comparison, to the left is my Logitech Notebook optical mouse which is more size appropriate for the netbook. I’ve actually ordered myself a Logitech VX Revolution which should be on its way to me soon. In case you haven’t realised, yes, I do like Logitech mice. I find them far less flimsy than Microsoft mice.

I thought I’d jazz up my Aspire One with a cool vinyl decal of Domo. Apparently, he farts when he’s upset.

There’s nothing quite like a toothy monster to say – “Hands off my netbook”.

Thought I’d post a few pics of my new netbook.

Well, I spent most of the evening installing Windows XP. It was pretty straightforward, just set the netbook to boot from a USB CD-ROM and away I went! Every thing seems to work. Everything apart from the built-in microphone, but that’s not too important since I don’t think I’ll actually use it. If I’m to Skype, I’ll probably use a headset anyway.

Installed all my programs including this new thing called WeFi. It’s quite neat, it tells you where the closest WiFi hotspot(s) is(are) while you’re WiFi-ing about. Also, if your chums are set up for it, you could see where they are and how close or far they are. If you’re often using public hotspots, I highly recommend this little app.

On a separate note, it’s snowing outside. It’s October and its snowing in London. Brrr… I can’t say that this was anticipated.

WordPress appears to have yet another new release.

Well, I went ahead and brought the Acer Aspire One with Linux preinstalled. It was suppose to arrive before 1pm but it was delivered at 3.45pm. Connecting to my home WiFi was pretty straightforward and I’m typing this entry on it right now. It’s quite cute and neat. I definitely see myself out and about WiFi-ing it up.

Linpus (a Linux distro) is quite quick to start up, but I don’t like it very much. I dunno if its because I’m a Linux newbie or what. I’m going to install Windows XP on this thing later this evening.

Typing on this is a bit fiddly. The keyboard’s small but usable.