The other takeaway is quite possibly that my theme sucks. Any little thing that wants to be wider than the sidebar gets its way, despite my protestations. I did not design this whole theme myself — I just heavily modified an existing one. I might consider switching, but I really love the look of this theme and want to keep it.

I’m wavering between dusting off my web design skills and just whacking this theme into shape, finding something similar but better coded, or just calling Stephanie Leary and offering to pay her to do it right from the ground up.

I’m putting up the last post sometime today, but you can check out all of the others here. We hit all of the major notebook vendors from HP, Acer, and Dell on down to Samsung, MSI and Fujitsu (with a lot more in-between). If you’ve ever owned a laptop, please click on the company’s post and let us know how you’d rate your experiences with that brand.

We’re looking for both positive and negative feedback on everything from how long it lasted, how often it broke, how tech support was, how much you loved using it, anything.

Also, if you’re in the market for a laptop, you might want to check out the posts to see if the brands you’re interested in are likely to have the features you need.

If you have Firefox open now and you’re running Windows, go to your Task Manager^[1] and click on the Processes tab. Look for the process called firefox.exe and make a note of the number in the Mem Usage column^[2]. Then go to your Firefox toolbar, click Help, then About Mozilla Firefox and make a note of the current version you’re running. Then come here and post this in the comments along with the number of tabs (or tabs and windows) you currently have open. Would also help if you said which OS you’re running.

Update: Adam provides instructions for Mac: you can find the memory usage by opening Activity Monitor (in utilities), looking for Firefox in the Process Name column, and seeing what the Real Memory usage is.

Eric provides Ubuntu instructions: you can check out the memory usage under System > Administration > System Monitor, but you’ll have to convert the stats from MiB.

You don’t have to restart your computer or browser or anything like that. I just want to get a snapshot of how much memory Firefox uses for different people. The more data I can collect, the better. I’ll start:

Memory Usage: 920,200K | 11 tabs | Firefox 3.5.7 | Windows XP

Yes, that memory usage is real. Remember the days when Firefox would only use around 300,000K? Or even the long ago when 100,000 was reasonable? Ah, nostalgia.

I showed you mine, now show me yours.

Notes

1. Right click on the taskbar to find it. Or hit Ctrl Alt Delete.
2. If the number keeps changing, you can round off to the nearest hundred thousand. Like 350,000 or whatnot.

At first, this is awesome. You think: yay, now I don’t have to buy a USB drive! Then after a few events or a big one like CES, you look around and think: I will never have to buy a USB drive again in my life. Maybe even into my next life. It’s a sea of memory, all segregated into 1 and 2GB chunks.

Today I’m transferring all of the press material I need to my work computer and wiping the drives. I’ll keep a few of the larger ones, but I don’t need 27. I really don’t. If you happen to see me in the next few days, don’t be surprised if, instead of a Jelly Baby, I offer you a flash drive. The latter is inedible but will be more useful.

I made some backups before with the program that came with my hard drive, but as they’re old and not incrementally updated over time, they’re a bit obsolete at this point. I’ve installed a new program that will make a full backup and update it incrementally, which is good. However, I can’t delete the old backups and it’s driving me insane.

I tried just deleting the folder, but it’s too big, obviously. I tried deleting folders inside the backup, but some won’t delete and give me that access denied message. I finally figured out how to use the DOS prompt to delete files that are undeleteable but then, lo, those files are all still there.Even after the command prompt window ran for hours claiming it was deleting those files. I don’t get it.

I’m not sure if this is because that hard drive is connected to my router and not to my computer via USB or if something else is up. But the folder contains almost every file that was on my computer at one time simply mirrored to the HD.

I’ve thought of a few ways I could try fixing this, like connecting it via USB to a notebook and trying to DOS delete thing or even going into the drive from Linux and deleting since it’s Windows that seems to feel these files should hang around forever. Any suggestions from the more knowledgable amongst you on other ways I could go about this are appreciated.

However, this shall not deter me from backing up my files. That particular hard drive is getting somewhat crowded, but I have another 500GB one sitting around here, so maybe I’ll make my local backups there. I’m setting the program to make a full backup monthly while the online storage will make backups as I go along every day. Smart, yes? You should do the same. Most people need prodding when it comes to backups, just like they need prodding to go to the dentist. So. Go get your teeth cleaned but not before you set up some kind of automatic backup for yourself. Hurry!

I really hope this career wins because I cannot wait to see the accessories she’ll come with. There will probably be a laptop (I see licensing opportunities, think she’ll have a Mac or a PC? Dell or HP?), but she’s going to be an engineer, so she’ll need some tools and some cables at least. If they package her with pink cat5e spools I will die of happiness.

What accessories should come with computer engineer Barbie? Also, will her degree be from MIT or CalTech? What should she wear? Leave your answers in the comments below and I’ll pass them on to Mattel when I see them at the Toy Fair.

New York City is the kind of place you’d expect to find plenty of cafes and coffee shops with free wi-fi and that’s true, for the most part. Apparently it pales in comparison to Seattle — not surprising. There are plenty of issues, though. Like entire neighborhoods bereft of free wi-fi and even some places without anything resembling a cafe. There are places you’d think had free wi-fi, but no! They charge you, instead. Exorbitant prices. There’s a Starbucks every 5 feet below 135th, but is their wi-fi free? Not exactly. And the well-known spots are, of course, well-known, and thus are packed full of people who show up at 9am and don’t leave until the places closes at the ridiculously early hour of… 10pm.

Cafes that close before 1am should be banned in this city.

Anyway, this is all an extremely rambly way to get to the reason I’m making this post. Last week McDonald’s announced that in January they would be offering free wi-fi at the locations where they currently offer non-free wi-fi. This comes just a little while after Barnes & Noble started offering free wi-fi and Borders followed suit in order to keep up. Just thinking about the numbers of B&N’s plus Borders plus McDonald’s in this city my heart starts to go pitter patter because, well, there’s barely a foot of space below 125th street that isn’t covered by free wi-fi.

It’s like some kind of beautiful dream.

Except. Most of that wi-fi is from McDonald’s. And, well, I don’t really want to spend any time in McDonald’s, much less a whole day. Then again, in my neighborhood free wi-fi is sparse, and the cafe around the corner from me is wonderful but has horrendous, horrendous seating. Even more horrendous than McDonald’s. So if I want to get out of the house and get some work done, where am I better off?

This is, of course, just a gimmick to get more people into McD’s and it will most likely work. I’m not the only freelancing writer in need of outside wi-fi. Here’s the thing I wonder: how long will it be before every McDonald’s in the city looks like a Starbucks? A sea of laptops, nary a seat to be found, and obnoxious people complaining about the quality of their latte.

Oh yeah, this is a glorious new era.

If you’re looking for a netbook, these are the ones I suggest:

10-inch Netbooks

Samsung N Series

I actually own a Samsung NC10^[1] — after playing with dozens of netbooks for months, this is the one I chose to take home forever. I love it. It has a great keyboard and screen and lasts a long time and weighs less than 3 pounds so I can easily carry it with me everywhere. N Series netbooks are usually good, but this is one of three that I particularly recommend.

Since Samsung released the NC10 last year they’ve put out a couple of updates. The first was the N110 — it has a slicker case, a larger touchpad, and a higher capacity battery that lasts over 7 hours (the regular NC10 lasts 6.5). Sadly, it also has a glossy screen, which is a problem for some people. Recently Samsung brought the N140 to the US^[2], which again has a slightly different case and design and is more powerful. Weirdly, it has the same battery as the NC10, so it only gets 6.5 hours. But this is plenty for most people. Plus, it has a matte screen and Windows 7.

All of these netbooks have great keyboards, which is one of the most important factors, and long battery lives, which is the other most important factor. You’re not going to get stellar performance with most netbooks, but none of these are pokey or frustrating to use.

So, which one should you get? I advise getting the N110 because it has the longest battery life. And now that the N140 is out, you’re bound to find it for less than $400, maybe even less than $350. If you’re on a tighter budget, go looking for the NC10 as it is likely to be even less. As long as you can get the NC10 or N110, I say the N140 isn’t strictly necessary. But once those are gone, the N140 isn’t a bad choice at all.

I would not rec the N130, Samsung’s “value” netbook. It is pokey and only lasts 4 hours and 44 minutes on a charge. I am also not that fond of the Samsung GO.

Toshiba mini NB205

Most people at LAPTOP really, really like this netbook. And I will say that it’s quite snazzy looking. Plus, it lasts 8.8 – 9.25 hours on a charge, depending on which model you get. The reason I am not as gung-ho on it is that I am not a huge fan of island-style keys. The keyboard on the NB205 is good, though, and if you like that type of key then go for it. It performs well, looks good, and lasts a long time.

When buying an NB205, keep a few things in mind. Toshiba put out a bunch of different model numbers for this netbook, so when you go to their site or Amazon or something, you’ll see about half a dozen different machines with names like NB205-N210 or NB205-N330BL or whatever. Sometimes I wonder if companies are out to confuse us purposefully.

The difference between the N2** models and the N3** models is the keyboard. The N3** models have the island-style keyboard and the N2** ones have a standard keyboard. I didn’t get a chance to try the standard keyboard, so I can’t say whether it’s better or worse. But all of my colleagues seem to think the island-style keyboard is superior.

Another thing to look out for when purchasing is if the model has Windows 7 or XP. The XP model should be a bit cheaper and it gets longer battery life, so I would suggest going for that.

When searching for this netbook on Amazon be careful you’re looking at the model # you want. On some pages if you change the color it will give you a completely different model, not the same model but in black or whatever. So check the specs and do a bit of hunting around. Like I said, XP is better and the model #s that start with NB205-N3** are what you’re looking for. Here’s a helpful Amazon link for you.

11.6 Inch Systems

Most people who ask are in the market for a 10-inch system. That’s my favorite size as well, so that’s usually what I recommend. But some folks like to have a bigger screen and 11.6-inch netbooks are all the rage these days. I have two recs in this category and one of them isn’t even really a netbook.

HP Mini 311

If you’re going to get an 11-inch system, you might as well get one that has some oomph. The Mini 311 has something most netbooks don’t: a discrete graphics chip. For those of you who have no clue what that even means or don’t care, this matters most when you’re doing two things: watching videos and playing games.

Netbooks can play Hulu, YouTube, etc. just fine. It isn’t the absolute best experience, but it’s also a 10-inch screen, so you’re not looking to recreate the cinema or anything. But the 311 is cool because it does smooth full screen video and HD video and, when the newest version of Flash comes out, can do full HD. You can also play games like Spore or WOW, though on the lowest quality, so you’ll have some fun in-between writing. The battery life is quite good for a system with a separate graphics card: 5 hours, 43 minutes. And the price is nice as well: starts at $399.

Acer Aspire 1410

Though this system is 11.6 inches and only $399, it’s not actually a netbook. It’s an ultraportable laptop. What’s the difference you ask? Performance. This notebook has a more powerful processor so it behaves more like a regular laptop. You won’t be able to do some major gaming or video editing or whatever on it. However, unlike a netbook, it isn’t going to slow down once five or six programs get going at once. Yet it’s still portable and light and inexpensive and lasts 6 and a half hours.

You won’t get the same graphics performance on this as on the Mini 311, but you will get good HD video playback and smooth full screen Hulu.

Those are my suggestions for anyone looking to get a netbook. There are many others out there and you can see very comprehensive reviews on LAPTOP Magazine’s website. But, after all these months, I haven’t come across a netbook that made me want to give up my Samsung NC10. The Toshiba is nice, just not my style. And I like these 11-inch systems, but the 10-inch form factor works best for me.

Hope this post helps those of you looking for a netbook. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments, too.

Notes

1. Technically an NC10 Special Edition, which has a larger touchpad and better battery than the typical NC10
2. This is the netbook featured in that hilarious video a few months back with the model whose boyfriend dumped her before she got to Paris

He’s surrounded by several of the devices that I need to now plug into him. Every time I do, he emits movie-correct beep beep boop sounds, much to the delight of my co-workers.

Can you identify all that crap? A pat on the head goes to anyone who can. I’ll give you a hint on the penguin: it’s actually a USB flash drive with Ubuntu pre-loaded. R2 is also surrounded by my fancy Logitech keyboard and mouse, seen here:

The last time I worked here I had a pretty geeky cubicle with a TARDIS hub and Daleks menacing me from every corner. I think I need to get back to that. I’ll get (yet another) hub for my desk at home that’s not quite as fun then bring the Doctor Who toys back.

Any other suggestions for geeking out my cubicle?

The $700 price tag doesn’t excite me. Nothing over $500 ever does. If we ever get a 10-inch CULV notebook I would hope that the price would drop to that, at least. And then my poor Sammy netbook would be in a bit of danger.

Now that Acer has taken this step, I hope other computer manufacturers follow. If\Samsung updated their N line with CULV netbooks there would be no keeping me from the store.

The laptop does include a solution to that in the form of ExpressGate, ASUS’ instant-on OS. This boots up in about 10 – 15 seconds and from there you can access a web browser, Skype, music and pictures. The one thing I wish this instant-on had was a notepad or something so I could do some simple writing tasks (like these posts) without booting the full OS. I can’t access the web on the subway, so even being able to access GoogleDocs doesn’t do much for me.

Boot and wake time can be tweaked, like I said, so it’s not a tragedy.

Meanwhile, I’ve taken the system to several press events this week and it’s not as convenient for taking notes as my netbook. My NC10 wakes up pretty quickly and it’s easier to perch on the edge of a small table or my lap for notes. Of course, if I had a tablet it would be even easier, but we won’t get into that right now.

So again, I find myself wishing for my NC10 instead of the UL30. I do still really like this machine in general. It’s just not a netbook.

For me, this experience reinforces what I’ve always thought: though light and inexpensive 12 and 13 inch laptops have wonderful screen real-estate, when looking for a laptop to carry around with me everywhere at all times, the 9 and 10 inch sizes are better. Even 11.6 is more than I need.

But when it comes to power, I do find myself wishing that 10-inch netbooks came with CULV processors so that I could run more programs at once. Perhaps that will happen sometime in the near future. Or the new Intel Atom “Pine Trail” will provide the power I seek.

The subway is bad for lap typing because my lap slopes downward when I’m sitting. After trying to find a good solution I finally came up with the perfect combination. My ful messenger bag and the Cool-Lift. The ful is square and flat, so it makes a good, steady surface. The Cool-Lift corrects for the small amount of slope that would usually put it off balance, and the straps around my waist keep the whole thing secure. This is how I type with the NC10 and how I’m able to still write with the UL30.

I’m using the messenger/backpack convertible, which is also flat on the back, in the same way. The strap sits a bit differently on my back and I’ve had to do some adjustments with the Cool-Lift, but otherwise it’s a great setup.

I still find that I need more elbow room than I normally would and that using the trackpad is not quite effortless. I use two hands, which I am told is unusual. YMMV.

I think I’m ready to declare that my netbook is better for writing on the subway.  The UL30 isn’t bad or anything, but given the choice I would stick with my smaller laptop.

Firstly, I need more elbow room with the UL30 due to the bigger keyboard and the placement of the touchpad. Normally I’m not always hitting my neighbors but today I am. This is definitely less convenient for typing on a semi-crowded subway.

Sometimes when I don’t have a lot of elbow room I still get out my netbook and read a bit, but I don’t see myself doing that with the UL30. I’m sort of surprised at the difference the few inches make.

I might get better hang of it as the week goes on, so I’ll reserve final judgment for Friday.

I’ve discovered something about Central Park’s wireless: it doesn’t cover the whole park. It doesn’t even cover areas I would expect it to, like Strawberry Fields (lots of tourists taking pictures of the mosaic that spells Imagine) or the bandshell or along the length of the line for Shakespeare in the Park. Frustrating. Wireless should be ubiquitous, especially in public parks. Just thought I’d mention that.

After today’s errands, I came to the park again because I was promised more drumming and some house music. So here I am. Carrying the UL30 in my backpack has been much better than the messenger bag. This is definitely the way to go. However, I prefer messengers over backpacks because they give you much easier access to your stuff and are a bit more secure. Not being able to carry it with that style as comfortably as I do my NC10 is a mark against the UL30 for me. For folks who don’t walk around a city and take a subway everywhere, this might not be as big a deal.

I live in a walking city, so it’s sometimes hard to put myself in the mindset of people who mainly get around in cars. When is an ultraportable desireable for those folks? I would say if you travel a lot you don’t want a heavy laptop weighing you down. Or if you do much moving between locations during the day. College students or messengers or even people who work in office parks where the meeting is in a different building than your office/cubicle. In all of these cases, portability is a major factor. If you don’t have to walk 20 blocks, the UL30 in a briefcase or messenger is probably not going to phase you.

Tomorrow I will begin my working week, and that means the commuting test!

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.

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.

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.

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.

For example, a search for Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez might return the standard Microsoft results but also up-to-date batting statistics from Yahoo’s leading sports site and tabloid stories from Yahoo News partners.

Personally, I would find this annoying. But then I think I do less random searching and far more targeted searching than the people this kind of thing is aimed for. I’m less likely to search for a celebrity because I want to see what’s up with them lately, I usually hunt for specific information. So if my search for George Clooney turns up a whole bunch of random stuff — the latest tabloid headline about him, reviews of his newest movie, and stats for how many women he’s slept with — I’m going to be annoyed at that search page.

This is why I think Google dominates more than anything else. Yes, the adwords ads and paid search results can be annoying (and also hilarious), but otherwise the search pages are just results, which is what I want. I don’t want a web of inter-related information.

I wonder if I’m alone?

Comparing the Google approach to the one Yahoo will offer, which do you prefer? Is one more helpful in your everyday searching than the other?

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!

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.

When I bought my first netbook I wanted to use it for very specific tasks and it fulfilled its function perfectly. I sometimes tax my NC10 a bit more than I should, but that’s more because I end up doing too much at once instead of concentrating on my most important tasks. Still, I’ve never found myself unhappy.

One could say that I’m an over-informed consumer, so of course I’m not going to be disappointed. Still, every consumer should be informed. They should know how netbooks differ from notebooks, their limitations, and which netbook will give them the best experience. However, I know this is not often the way consumers approach buying electronics.

I wonder what the return rate is on laptops in general…?