As I Xi It v2.3

I think its been about 4 – 6 weeks since I got my netbook and in that time I’ve barely used my desktop or laptop. In fact, I think this might be the first time in over a month that I’ve booted up my laptop. At the moment I’m typing this entry on the laptop and its rather bizzare. It just feels significantly larger than my netbook, it doesn’t feel like a 14.1″ but more of a 17″, if I was using an actual 17″ then I suspect it’d feel like a portable cinema. Strange thing though – I don’t seem to notice the size difference so much when I’m using the desktop which has a 22.1″ screen.

Over the past few weeks I’ve grown accustomed to the little keyboard on my netbook and I can touch type with ease. Now I find myself having to readjust to the laptop and desktop keys which are both the same size.

Since this laptop is more or less devoid of “fun things”, I figured that it should help me focus on writing my book chapter. Progress has been somewhat sluggish at best. I know what I need to write, it’s just a matter of doing it. For some bizzare reason, I seem to be at my most hardworking at around 2 – 3 am onwards. Afternoons – early evenings are no good, they just make me drowsy. First thing in the morning is alright though.

I’ve just realised that I haven’t got a blog category devoted to work.

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.

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.

Yesterday I popped into PC World and had a look at the Aspire One which was handily placed next to the EEE PC 901. To test the keyboards, I just typed in “the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” and made more errors on the EEE PC than Aspire One. I guess the larger keyboard does make a difference. The 8.9″ screen on both machines were surprisingly useable. The picture quality on both machines seemed fairly similar, but with the Aspire One on Linpus and the EEE PC on XP, I couldn’t find two identical images to see which had the better range of colours.

Out of these two, I’d pick the Aspire One. We’ll wait and see what else is on the market in the coming weeks/months.

I really want one but I don’t actually have any real need for one. Well, perhaps as a glorified photostorage device or for email and internet on the go while travelling. There have been a few occasions when I wished I brought my laptop but didn’t due to size and weight.

On a day to day basis, I’m not sure if I’d really use it. I’ve already got a desktop, laptop and PDA, do I really need another machine as an intermediate between the laptop and PDA??  There have been times when I haven’t used my laptop for weeks either at home or on location. When I do use it at home, it’s usually when I’m defragmenting the drives or running the antivirus on the desktop.

A friend of mine has an EEE PC and he uses it pretty much everyday. It’s secondary to his laptop which I guess acts as his desktop. I was round my supervisor’s house the other day and noticed that her husband was testing out his PowerPoint presentation on an EEE PC, they seem to have quite a few laptops.

I’ve read the reviews, seen the hacks and mods people have done to their machines and it looks like a pretty versatile piece of kit. At such low price per machine, I’m tempted to get one. It’s a toss up between the Asus EEE PC 901 and the Acer Aspire One A150X, both running XP. None of that Linux for me. I think I’ll probably get the Aspire One since it has more storage and is cheaper than the Asus. The Aspire One looks prettier and has a larger keyboard. Battery life’s a bit on the low side, but that can be rectified with a higher capacity one. I’ll probably pop into a PC World at some point and see the machines in person before parting with my hard earned cash, perhaps wait a few weeks for the prices to fall and see if I still have a desire to have one.

These netbooks have been out for a while but I never took any real interest in them. I don’t know why in the last two weeks or so I’ve had a strong desire to pick one up. Apart from at my supervisor’s, I haven’t actually seen one being used out in the wild as so to speak.