As I Xi It v2.3

I’m not sure I like the elastic in the corners of the Gimp. It just gets in the way of the screen. Nice idea, but it could do with some readjustment. Because of the way this smaller laptop sleeve is, the back is naturally upright do there’s no real need for the elastic bits.

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.

My old Logitech Notebook mouse was starting to skip a bit and the cable kept on being snagged on things when I used it out on location, so I thought I should get a new mouse to go with my new netbook.

The Logitech VX Revolution is considered by some to be the “mutts nuts” of notebook mice and it’s certainly one of the best notebook mice I’ve used. The build quality is on par with the Logitech MX510 which I use for my desktop. It’s got oodles of buttons including my favourite forwards and backwards buttons for more efficient web browsing. The cool features of note for me are the zoom slider and the metal scroll wheel with hyper-fast scrolling. You can adjust the traction of the scroll wheel with the flick of a switch underneath from clickety-click to smooth frictionless free wheeling (not official Logitech terms) great for uber long documents. The only issue I have with the mouse is the stiff zoom slider, but I think with use it should ease up.

Being a wireless mouse, it’s got a USB receiver which is quite small (not as small as those in Logitech’s Nano range) and tucks into a hole at the rear (*insert tawdry orafice joke here*) which also switches off the mouse at the same time. There’s also an eject button to get it out. It all makes for a very compact and neat package. If one wishes to leave the receiver plugged in, there is an independent on/off switch too.

Ergonomically, it fits the contours of my hand and is as nice to use as my MX510. It uses a laser sensor as opposed to an optical sensor or even a trackball (remember those??!). It’s nice and responsive which is what you’d want from a mouse. You can tweak the mouse behaviour with the included SetPoint software. Overall, its a great piece of kit.

Together with my new mouse, I also picked up a Belkin Mouse Trap. It looks like a taco with a zip and I suppose the orange innards makes it look even more taco-ey if you flipped it inside out. It’s basically a circular piece of neoprene with a zip around the edge. You can use it to store various bits and pieces like a mouse, USB stick, pen and a cable. If you’ve got one of those flat, credit card sized mice, you could probably tuck in a tiny netbook power adapter as well. It’ll be a snug fit, but possible. When you open out the taco mouse trap out, it becomes a mouse pad. For about a fiver (£5), its a useful addition to any travelling netbook/laptop set up.

In the mice line up pic in the gallery below, I am aware that the MX510 on the left looks exactly like its predecessor the MX500. Reason being that I found my old faulty MX500 and swapped the case out since the blue MX510 was looking a bit worn and decrepit. So now, its a MX510 in MX500 clothing. From the looks of it, the current MX518 appears to have the same casing as the earlier MX’s so it’s probably switchable, of course this will void your warranty.