I've been a busy little bee preparing for exams and writing up a storm. Hence the lack of blogging action in recent weeks. I promise that I'll do better and be a little more disciplined after next week. I've not even been catching up with my RSS feeds as i just don't have the time at the moment.

in any case, a few more reviews of mine have popped up on APC Magazine's web site.

ASUS VW223B LCD display: dual screen without dual video cards: Although the "U" in USB stands for universal it's remained mainly focussed on storage and communications peripherals. However, ASUS turns that stereotype on its head with the VW223.

AOC Widescreen LCD Monitor 2219P2: an impressive display of wideness: AOC might be a new player in the local market, but they’re showing that they have plenty of talent when it comes to making great screens that don’t break the bank.

D-Link DNS-343 Four Bay NAS: ticks all the boxes: D-Link’s experience with network gear shows with the DNS-343.

Netgear RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNR3500): the router to paradise?: Netgear delivers a high-end router that gets close to networking nirvana.

Synology DS508 Disk Station: expand your storage beyond: If you’re running out of storage space with your present system, the DS508 is a ripping NAS for the home or office.

Netgear Wireless-N + Gigabit Router (WNR854T): not just a pretty face: While beauty is only skin deep, Netgear’s WNR854T ticks most of the boxes when it comes to specs and performance as well.

 AOC • DLink • Monitors • Netgear • Routers

I'm back from a couple of weeks off and some reviews have popped up at APC Magazine's website.

AOC Widescreen LCD Monitor 2219P2: an impressive display of wideness: AOC might be a new player in the local market, but they’re showing that they have plenty of talent when it comes to making great screens that don’t break the bank.

D-Link DNS-343 Four Bay NAS: ticks all the boxes: D-Link’s experience with network gear shows with the DNS-343

HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display: perfect for pros: HP delivers a real heavyweight, in every sense of the word, with the HP DreamColor LP2480zx Professional Display.

Enjoy!

I reviewed the current crop of browsers for The Age this week. The story is in the Green Guide (the entertainment and tech supplement on today's paper) or you can read it online if you prefer.

 Browsers • Chrome • Firefox • Internet Explorer • Opera • Safari

Over the last couple of months my computing needs have changed further. I've spent many hours with the Eee PC, both the 700 and 900 series models, and reckon that the new form factor they've pioneered, the netbook, has a definite place in the IT market. For me, the two major shortcomings of the Eee PC, screen and keyboard size, were too much for me to overcome.

Hence, I've sold my MacBook Pro and shifted to a MacBook Air. There are plenty of nay-sayers when it comes to Air's combination of hardware and features. Common rants are the lack of ethernet, just one USB port, the hardwired battery and lack of an optical drive. However, I'm not seeing the Air as my main computer - it's an accessory to my main system, the 20" iMac at home.

A few weeks ago, I thought that the Eee PC 900 might do the job but I kept hitting the same brick wall - the keyboard. Trying to type 1000 words on the small keyboard was just too hard for me. Perhaps others are more patient and can train themselves to be more accurate (my mate Gus is one such person).

So, I've gone for the MacBook Air. I know that my familiarity and preference for the Mac OS is part of the decision but the compromises that the Air makes are ones that I can live with. The ones made by the Eee PC were not compromises I could work around in the long term. Also, the Macbook Air is only slightly heavier that the

I'm sure I'll have more to say about the Air in due course as this is a journey that's only just started.

This time it's the AOC Rivio 22in TFT 2230Fm monitor.

Bright and shiny, the AOC Rivio 2230Fm LCD backs up its elegant appearance with great performance.

You can read all the details at APC's web site.

One day soon, I'll blog about something other than a review or story I've posted elsewhere!

 AOC • Monitors • Review

Here's the thing - I'm carry a MacBook Pro mainly to deal with email and document creation. It's definitely overkill. When I first got the macBook Pro it was my main computer. However, the need to store my iTunes library on an external drive and the desire to share the library with the rest of the family lead me to an iMac.

I like the idea of the MacBook Air for when I travel but the price is too high and I reckon it's too big. I know it's super-thin but the footprint is still large (for me). There some cheaper MacBook Airs on Apple's refurb store (a great place to buy a Mac on the cheap with full warranty as long as you handle not getting the original packaging).

I've purchased a couple of Eee PCs (for a particular project I'm working on - can't say too much) and while I think the 700's 7" screen is too small and the resolution under a workable minimum, the 9" 900 model overcomes those shortfalls. My 9" is running XP and thus far it's proven to be fast and stable. Yeah - I know it's not OS X but for email and docs it's good enough.

I wish Apple's licensing allowed OS X to run on the 9" or 10" Eee PC it could prove a truly butt-kicking solution. Better yet - if Apple made a 9" or 10" sub notebook with integrated 3G they'd have the folding stuff escaping from the moth farm in seconds.

I suspect that Apple's solution will be some sort of slate-style computer - like a Super Newton. However, I doubt that it'll hit the market at under $500AUD. You see, at that price it becomes practically disposable. If it's dropped, lost or stolen I'm not going to get too upset. If the same happens to a MacBook Pro or Air I'm sure that some tears will be shed.

What do you think?

 Eee PC • MacBook Pro

Today is my first day of working exclusively from the Eee PC. It has been a long time since I've spent a work day without using my regular laptop but I figured that the only way to be able to make a decision about the Eee PC's appropriateness as a supplementary system. Certainly, the Eee PC isn't suitable as a primary computer but as a supplement to a decent desktop/home-base system it's worth looking at.

My Kit for the Day

In order to get through the day there were a number of accessories I needed to pull together so that my Eee PC 701 was usable as a serious business tool for a day. Here's the list

• Asus Eee PC 701 (obviously) with its power pack
• Proporta Gadget Bag
• Huawei E220 modem on the Three data network
• A clutch of USB memory sticks (I usually have three or four on hand)
• My Moleskine notebook and Fisher Space Pen (just in case)
• A Google account

The Day

My work day started with my daily commute to Melbourne's CBD on the train. The carriage was particularly packed today and, although I got a I was stuck between two largish gents. I managed to extract the Eee PC, connect the modem and fire up an Internet connection. I altered my Gmail account so that it's collecting all my POP3 email sources. That means that I can use Firefox(here's how I upgraded).

At work, I used a USB stick to copy a bunch of files I needed for the day's work to the Eee PC. This is probably a one-off activity as there's enough storage on the Eee PC to hold the documents I need.

The main operational issue I'm facing is the screen resolution. I'm finding that the 800 pixel width means there's lots of side scrolling in Firefox and when reading documents. I suspect that even with a 7” screen that a higher resolution would make the Eee PC 701 fr more usable.

The other, less critical, issue is font quality. I've not found a font smoothing option for the Eee PC running Xandros. This is especially problematic when using reading slabs of text. Does anyone know of a solution?

Battery life in a day of real use was reasonable but still a little thin. Three hours was good with the 3G modem constantly active but with WiFi turned off. In an ideal world I'd like to get closer to six hours off a single charge. Hopefully, a decent third party or extended battery option will come to light soon.

Can I Sell the Laptop?

I'm wondering whether I really need my MacBook Pro. Certainly, it's a far more capable computer with a great display, full-sixed keyboard and a plethora of applications. However, the Eee PC is far more portable and doesn't stop me from doing most of my day to day tasks.

I still need a decent PIM application s I don't like the supplied Organizer application and I'd prefer to not use a solution that requires a web connection like Google Calendar. I still need to do some investigation for a better solution.

The same goes for email – Gmail is OK but I prefer an offline application. Thunderbird is competent and I will need to give it a decent run. My problem is that I have a lot of folders and intelligence built into my installation of Apple's Mail.app. I'm going to need to find a way to deal with that.

The display is small but as an email reader and tool for occasional document creation it's OK. The keyboard takes some getting used to. Initially, I kept hitting the “s” instead of the “a” and find that my hands get a little sore if I type for more than about 30 minutes at a time. However, that's not something that happens often.

I'm not quite ready to give up my laptop yet. I really like the idea of the Eee PC but, and this about my capacity to change my work habits, there are many compromises. I wonder how many of these are about the form factor and how many are due to how the Eee PC's OS, Xandros, does things. I'm going to try to work mainly from the Eee PC again tomorrow and use the desktop for my main work.

 Asus • Eee PC • Xandros

The Huawei e220 is probably the most popular mobile broadband on the planet. Many carriers across the globe use the Huawei E220 and the hardware is supported on just about every platform in common use. I've used it with Windows and mac systems and it passes the "just works" test. But what about the Eee PC?

It turns out that using the e220 with an Eee PC is trivially easy. In fact, it's been one of the easiest tasks I've had to negotiate as I learn more and more about the Eee PC and Linux.

The starting point, for me, was the discovery of the eee220 Mobile Broadband Tool that can be downloaded from the 3epc User Portal.

Installation was simply a matter of downloading the application's DEB package, right-clicking the downloaded file and installing the software. That took a mere 30 seconds or so.

Once the installation was done, I plugged my e220 in and followed the prompts to create a connection using the Eee PC's own wizard. At the end of it all, I had an icon on the Internet tab of the Easy Mode screen and a "3G" icon in the system tray in Desktop Mode.

[If you don't know about Full Desktop Mode this tutorial might be of assistance]

Plugging the E220 into the USB port automatically launched the connection software. Click the "Connect" button (the one with the stylised globe of the earth and plug) and you're online.

What you need

• Eee PC (I tried this with the 701)
• Huawei E220
• Contract with your comms carrier and a SIM card from them for the E220 (I use Three in Australia)
• eee220 Mobile Broadband Tool from the 3epc User Portal

 3G • Asus Eee PC • Huawei E220

I've been a long time fan of mobile broadband services. Like regular, in-home broadband I think I was one of the earliest adopters amongst my friends and peers. However, the hardware I've used for connection has been largely determined by my service provider and the specific modems they offer with the particular deal. What that's meant is that my hardware decision has been out of my hands.

The market has changed recently with many carriers, at least in Australia, letting customers mix and match their hardware and data needs. I've tested three different mobile broadband modems. All the tests were carried out in exactly the same location, on the same computer with the same carrier. the only thing that has changed is the modem.

The Test Environment

I've chosen three different modems. They are

1. Novatel Wireless XU870 Express Card


2. Huawei E220 USB


3. Huawei E169G

Testing mobile broadband services can be a little tricky. For that reason I've chosen to use SpeedTest.Net. I know that it's not perfect but it's an easy way to do a controlled test where the only variable changing is the hardware.

All testing was done using an Apple MacBook Pro running OS X 10.5.4

Outcomes - the Numbers

I must say that the outcomes of my testing were a little surprising. I expected that the ExpressCard product would offer the best performance but that honour went to the Huawei E169G - branded as the Internet Key by Three. It was able to consistently deliver downloads of about 1000 kbps and uploads around the 320 kbps mark.

The Huawei E220, probably the most most popular 3G modem on the planet, delivered similar upload speed but slightly lower download performance with speeds consistently around the 900 kbps mark.

Coming in at around the 800 kbps mark was the Novatel XU870. Consistently, my testing rated this the slowest at downloads but the equal of its rivals in uploads. I'm at a bit of a loss as to why this might be so I'm putting it down to some sort of software anomaly. Given that signal strength atmy test location, in Melbourne's CBD, was very similar with each device I don't think that my finding is due to signal reception.

Outcomes - Ease of Use

One of the factors to consider when buying your mobile modem is its form factor. This is where the XU870 and E169G stand apart from the E220. The E220 requires a USB cable to connect to your computer - the others either slide into an ExpressCard slot or connect directly to the USB port.

However, one of the great things about the E220 is its ubiquity - it'll work with just about any computer and operating system. I've even got it running with my Asus Eee PC. The E169G is also very easy to use as it ships with Windows and Mac drivers on the flash memory within the modem. that means it can be installed to a new system in minutes without the need to carry a CD of drivers.

The XU870 offers convenience through its form factor. It only protrudes from the computer's ExpressCard slot but a couple of centimetres making it great for working in confined spaces such as on public transport. However, installation requires drivers that need to be loaded from a CD or some other media.

Which would I buy?

If I had to buy one of these units today, it'd would be a toss-up between the E220 and the E169G (I actually own a XU870) as they offer the greatest flexibility. Every computer has at least one USB port whereas ExpressCard slots are still a little thin on the ground.

The e220 has the annoying "dangling off the side" thing happening but it'll work on practically any computer. The E169G doesn't need a driver CD or extra cable but I worry that it could be bent or snapped when plugged into the side of a notebook.

My final decision is the Huawei E220 - but only just.

 3G • E169G • E220 • Huawei • Modem • XU870

Firstly, welcome to any visitors who have found your way here from Lifehacker or any of the other sites that linked to my recent post on Getting Started with the Eee PC.

One of the other sites i contribute to is a venture called Hydrapinion where me and four other journalists take a turn at writing about a favourite subject each week. My beat is called "Carry" where I cover mobility related topics.

My post at Hydrapinon this week covers my continuing journey of discovery with the Eee PC and Linux. It follows on from a piece I wrote the week before where I suggested that Linux has some substantial issues that need to be addressed before it's really "consumer ready'.

 Eee PC • Linux