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Last week I reviewed a new CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) notebook from ASUS called the UL30 (more precisely, the UL30A). The UL series laptops come in various sizes, including 12-inch, but I reviewed the 13-inch model. It’s 4 pounds, a smidge less than an inch thick, and lasts for about 10 hours on a charge. You can read my review here.
This machine is actually a perfect one for writers. It’s powerful enough to handle many programs open at once, unlike netbooks that get kinda slow after 4 or 5. The keyboard is full-size and easy to type on. It doesn’t have the spring I like best, but it doesn’t hinder typing in any way. The big screen is great for writing and editing. And it’s skinny and light enough to carry around all the time.
Well, I think it might be. So I’m putting that last part to the test. I’m leaving my Samsung NC10 at home for a week and carrying around the UL30, instead. This weekend I’m going to write with it. (More than blog posts, hopefully.) During the week I’ll write with it on the train, like I usually do.
Today I’m taking the UL30 to my favorite café in my neighborhood and then to Central Park to hunt for free Wi-Fi and a drum circle.
I’ve been to the café – it’s just around the corner from my apartment, so not too long a walk. The UL30 didn’t take up a lot of space on the tiny table and easily found a bunch of wi-fi hotspots. I love that café because there are always a lot of people sitting around talking about the gadgets they use. Something about cafés draws a tech-enhanced crowd.
After that I ran a few errands and came down to Central Park. I’m not wearing my normal messenger bag because, by itself, it’s a little heavy. My NC10 doesn’t weigh me down, even in that, but the UL30 is 1.2 pounds more. You wouldn’t think that extra pound would make a big difference, but it does. My shoulder hurts a bit more than usual, but I don’t feel really weighed down the way I used to with my large screen laptop. Still, I can tell. Carrying this isn’t quite effortless.
The bag I’m using now is a bit smaller and lighter by itself. It also converts into a backpack, which is what you need when tech is straining your shoulder a bit. IN backpack mode I barely feel the weight.
Now I’m sitting by the bandstand enjoying the late summer evening and a group of excellent drummers. Earlier in the day the UL30 didn’t do that great with direct sunlight. The glossy screen is too reflective.
If you’re the type of person to sit and type in the dark, then you might not be down with the lack of backlit keys. I don’t usually type in the dark, so it’s less of a consideration for me. The light from the screen is plenty to see by.
Now I’m going to settle in for a little writing since that’s why I came out here in the first place. The UL30 is at 92% currently.
As many of you know, I freelanced in the city for a long time. I was on a neverending quest to find a great café with wireless and plenty of outlets. There were several great places in the city that have Wi-Fi but no outlets, or very few outlets, thus you’d have to do a little musical plugs with the others around you. What a difference a few months make. I found a new (to me) coffee bar and took a seat without even looking for an outlet. Turns out they don’t have any at this particular seat, but hey, I just don’t care!
Today’s adventures are almost over. Once they kick me out of this place I’ll head home. Having carried the UL30 around all day, I can conceive doing so on a regular basis. I definitely felt it, but not yet so much that I’d rather leave it at home than take it with me just in case I can get some writing done. We’ll see how I feel at the end of next week.
All "My Week With The ASUS UL30" Posts:
- Trading My Netbook For An Ultraportable: Day 1
- Day 2: Running Errands With The UL30
- Day 3: Commuting With The UL30
- Day 4: How To Write On The Subway
- Day 5: It’s Ultraportable, But Not A Netbook
- Day 6: And Now, The Conclusion
I thought that when I left my job working for a fashion magazine behind I wouldn’t have to care about Fashion Week anymore. But given that tech companies seem to think that FW is a great time to introduce new gadgets to the world, I’m starting to fear that I’ll be covering events over at Bryant Park in the near future. The increasing partnership of fashion and mobile tech isn’t completely unwelcome, but I have little patience for the number of waify models lying around on couches wearing tons of makeup and holding netbooks like works of art. Yes, it’s pretty, but can I use it?
The idea of a netbook as an accessory to your busy or even not-so-busy life is a fine one. But the Samsung promo video I posted over on LAPTOP’s blog today has me truly mystified.
Brad Linder claims that it’s supposed to highlight the netbook’s all-day longevity. Could have fooled me. All it seems to highlight is that model’s ability to stretch her lanky body and possibly to warn young ladies from trusting that their boyfriends will pick them up at the train station as promised. Seriously, go look (and please comment there, I am eager to watch you all apply your creative minds to the plot and message).
When I compare that video to this one Nokia did for their new netbook, I find myself much more drawn to the Booklet 3G. This video tells me what this device is, what it does, what makes it special, and even includes some heart-tugging music that somehow makes me want it even more.
But if we must have models, here’s what I’d like to see: women actually using netbooks in some way that shows off what netbooks are good for while providing the eye candy that someone is convinced consumers need. That way it appeals to those of us to buy tech for what it does and those of us who buy anything because hot women are peddling it.
So today CrunchGear has a very cute USB drive in the shape of a penguin that is bootable and has a booktable version of Ubuntu Linux on it. awww. While this device is certainly very adoreable and the shape is apropos to what’s on the drive, I have to wonder: are there just too many of these things, now?
Like the Transformers ones I pointed out the other week. Or these ones shaped like bombs (yes — but cartoon, round-ball bombs, not IEDs). Or any number of cute, toy-like USB drives which, can I point out, usually have lower capacity and a higher price. Like I said, they are the keychain toys of the new millennium.
There has to be a point at which the lack of storage space makes cute USB drives too useless ot bother with. The penguin one has added functionality and supports a good cause. Most cute drives don’t even offer those benefits. (Plus, I think I paid $20 for the last 16GB drive I bought and it was very simple to turn it into a bootable drive and install Linux distros from it.)
I can’t tell if I’m just being cranky and middle-aged or if this really is as silly as I see it. You decide!
A few nights ago I was watching The Closer — one of my very favorite shows — and during a crucial scene in which the Major Crimes squad is closing in on tracking down two suspects, one officer after another comes into the Chief’s office to deliver a new piece of information. One member of the squad, Lt. Tao, is the tech geek of the group. His bit of information was that he’d located the address of the suspects and had a picture of the location on his phone.
On your PHONE? Someone asked with far, far too much emphasis.
Yes, on his phone. Tao proceeds to flip the screen up and, oh, look at that, a T-Mobile G1. If I wasn’t aware that this phone was called a G1, a shot of the back of it revealed G1 in huge white letters on the back of the screen. (I don’t think that exists in actual, real-life models of said phone. I could be wrong.)
There is some more waving the phone around. Chief Johnson wants to see this picture of the address (provided by Google Maps/Google Street View) for herself. She grabs at the phone, but Tao says, “Let me e-mail it to you.”
I think at this point someone actually exclaimed, again far too emphatically: E-MAIL!?
Yes, show, we get it. The G1 is a marvel. You can see maps on it and it can send e-mail. Woo.
I don’t usually mind product placement. I don’t know if most people even register the model of the laptops and other computer equipment TV people use. I do, usually because I find it funny or I’m scoffing. But man, this was a bit beyond.
So anyway, just so you know, the fake LAPD Major Crimes Squad prefers the T-Mobile G1 for finding pictures of suspects’ houses. And E-MAIL!?
I shall not be buying an Amazon Kindle because I don’t need a device that’s controlled by outside parties. Also, DRM sucks.
I shall not be buying an iPhone because I dislike paying gobs of money for crappy service. I’ll pay a pittance for my crappy service, thank you.
I shall not be buying this Kingston $900 flash drive… yet. When it’s $100 I’m all over that.
Okay, I needed a third thing and that’s all I got.
I just saw a commercial for the iPhone 3G S that “does some pretty incredible things.” Things like Copying and Pasting. WOW. Where has this technology been all of my life? Oh wait, on every computer I’ve had since I was 10…
Apple, please.
I realize that copy/paste is a new feature on the iPhone, but it’s not an “incredible” thing, it’s a thing that should have been included in the original iPhone. It’s not a complicated process, it’s a basic process. You can’t make people forget that it’s a basic function of most computers and smart phones by producing commercials like this. It will only make you look silly.
How about a commercial that says: Finally, we’ve added copy/paste to the iPhone since we knew you wanted it!
I’m sure the next commercial will be: The new iPhone will wow you with it’s ability to call any number in the U.S.! Wowee!
USB drives are the keychains of the 21st century. As in: any cute plastic mold or toy they can make small and shove some flash memory in will be snatched up by lovers of cute plastic stuff. Including myself. I was a keychain addict as a kid, too.
These appeal to my inner child: Transformers USB drive, hub and optical mouse.
Found here. Aren’t they awesome? I’m especially partial to the one that transforms into Ravage.
In terms of USB drives, 2GB is too little for me to bother with, no matter how cute the idea is. I could be persuaded into buying the hub, though.
I am a huge bag-a-holic. HUGE. Other women who share this label with me often have an addiction to purses, mostly designer and cute. I have no use for such things. Give me a messenger or backpack any day. I even love luggage. It’s seriously a hardship for me to walk by any bag section that contains these items without stopping to peruse even though I really do not need any more bags. No really. Take a look at this roundup of laptop bags for women I did a few years ago, and then this roundup of luggage. With few exceptions, every one of those bags arrived at my apartment so that I could test them. Unlike with tech samples you get to keep fashion samples. At one point I had something like 37 laptop bags in my possession, 95% of them free samples, co-existing with the few backpacks and other assorted bags I also had (and were also mostly free). I won’t even go into the luggage-pocolypse.
These days I have fewer bags. Many of the laptop bags I received did not fit my 17″ laptop, so I sold or gave them away. And even I don’t need more than 3 pieces of luggage at a time.
I have a very clear idea about what makes a perfect bag for different occasions. Before I got my netbook, my bag needs were covered. Before.
You see where this is going.
Many of my existing bags were just fine for carrying around the netbook and it’s accessories. But I found that though I had plenty of bigger bags and a few good small bags (this one from Waterfield is my favorite) I had no medium bag. One that comfortably carried all of the accessories without tempting me to carry a bunch of stuff and thus weigh myself down. I am ruled by how much space I have,I admit. And the small bag was really too small since I could barely fit my netbook, Cool Lift, mobile, keys, wallet and power cord in it without the zipper complaining. I also much prefer messengers to backpacks when the load is light — that way I have ready access to keys, wallet, etc. So I went in search of the perfect medium-sized bag.
Other than a good size, many compartments and a padded laptop area, I didn’t have too many requirements. But you can’t imagine how hard it was for me to find the right bag. I went to a bunch of stores, sighed over this LeSportsac bag and this Crumpler bag (both of which are stupidly expensive) and finally resigned to looking on eBags. I like eBags in general, but it’s hard to tell whether a bag is too big or too small by pictures — I have to touch it.
I bit the bullet and bought the ful Parkway, which is designed for 13″ laptops. I figured it wouldn’t be too big or too small. If it wasn’t right, I could always return it. Plus, it wasn’t too expensive. Coupled with a gift certificate I got for my birthday I only had to pay $10 + shipping. It’s $40 on eBags today, $50 otherwise. It’s also on Amazon.
I haven’t had the bag for long, obviously, but I’m deeming it perfect. It fits everything I’d want to carry with me on a daily basis with room for a few extra things but not enough room for a bunch of crap I don’t need. The strap is long enough to wear messenger-style and it has a lot of pockets, nooks and crannies. I enjoy compartmentalizing.
I know there are some other bag-a-holics out there. Guys, your addiction counts, too! You know you love some messengers. Have you found the perfect bag or are you still looking? Can you beat my record of 37 at one time? And if you have a netbook, what do you carry it in?
Since I am once again on the hunt for a new job or gig, I promised myself that I would start posting every day. This also entails getting back to reading my favorite tech blogs (which was frowned upon at my non-tech job — oh for the days when it was a requirement!) and blogging about my gadgets and accessories. So here’s a quick post.
Right now my favorite thing in the world is my Cool Lift notebook pad. It’s just a small bit of foam with some raised bits to tilt my netbook up at a small angle — not too different from this Lapworks model, my other favorite. I bought the Cool Lift because I like writing during my subway commute but have never been able to type comfortably with my netbook on my lap. Putting it on top of my bag worked out all right some of the time, but sometimes there was still unfortunate downward sloping and the bottom would get really hot. I considered getting another Lapworks lapdesk, but it seemed overkill for my tiny netbook.
In my search for better alternatives I found the Cool Lift, which has almost the same dimensions as my Sammy. It also weighs next to nothing yet has shown no signs of collapse.
I sometimes use the Cool Lift on tables at cafes, but not as much — on a flat surface my netbook remains relatively cool. Just not when it’s on top of my canvas bag, the fabric blocking all the vents and such.
This accessory gets high scores on all the points that matter. It’s small, lightweight and portable, so I don’t mind carrying it around all day, it perfectly fulfills the function I bought it for, and it doesn’t cost a lot ($10 at Amazon).
Got an email about these really cute and really geeky USB drives called Mimobots. The plastic casing of the drive is shaped and painted in a variety of styles, and my favorites are (of course) the Star Wars-themed ones. I particularly like the Luke one because when the cap is on he has a helmet, when the cap is off he is sans helment — cute! There are other designs, too. They’ll appeal to anime and Hello Kitty fans, I think, and anyone who wants their USB drives to stand out.
Unfortunately there’s a hefty price tag attached — $45 for 4GB capacity, $65 for 8GB. No info available on just which company makes the actual drives.
