Date: 30 Apr 2009 20:43:38 +0000
From: Itamar Engelsman <address truncated>
Subject: VAIO P,
Att.: J. Hamwee
> Re.: VAIO P Just out of interest, what is the difference for you between > XP and Vista on these machines ? I have XP in the office and Visat on my
> laptop and hardly see the difference. Is there something significant for
> smaller machines here ?
Itamar,
You are right, there is no visible difference. For me the problems are:
(1) certain XP applications aren't compatible with Vista. For example: Partition Magic (indispensable in these days with huge capacity HDDs),
Norton Ghost and a program that creates encrypted private disks (useful when travelling). There are good replacements for these programs that I have
tried but would have to install them on all PCs.
(2) the email application of Vista is not compatible with Outlook Express and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to convert messages from OE to Vista. I stick with OE because my filing system is based on an exceptionally useful program that I use to archive and retrieve email messages.
I'm always looking around for progress and evolution and happily made the several transitions from early DOS, but I just don't find sufficient incentive to invest time and effort to accommodate Vista. I say this after trying Vista on a Toshiba that provided a 'downgrade' to XP. Basically I guess its a matter of personal preference.
Regards
Joseph
Hello everyone,
EPOC Entertainer 18, the May issue, is now available from its home at the URL below. EPOC Entertainer is a magazine leaflet about games for the EPOC32 platform. Computers covered include the Oregon Scientific Osaris, the Psion Revo/Revo Plus and Diamond Mako, the Psion Series 5, 5mx and 5mx Pro, the Ericsson MC218, the Geofox One, and the Psion Series 7 and netBook. The magazine leaflet is published monthly in PDF format, as an A5 leaflet to be printed on both sides of A4 paper.
In this month's issue, a new series on playing games under emulation starts, with a focus on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Two games are reviewed, Malcolm Tyrrell's space blaster Mr Meteoroid, and Tea Duck Studio's sea battle game BlindSearch. As usual, downloads related to this month's reviews are available at the web site.
http://psion.cyningstan.org.uk/
For info: for anyone thinking of buying a (non Psion) 'Netbook', When I saw the first ASUS Eee PC I loved the compact size , the colour screen and the generally great specification in such a small size.
I held off buying one until the 'second generation' came out and then I bought the EeePC 901 which had the Atom chip and a larger screen (8.9"), and I now run Linux EEEUbuntu on it.
Having now had had it for nearly a year I will confess that the keyboard is too small for me and the screen is still too small *for me* but
the Linux is fine.
I do think they are great machines and well worth considering buying but before you do buy I advise anyone to really spend a bit of time
using the keyboard and screen (borrow one or try PC World).
In hindsight I think the S101 would have been better for me (10" screen) but I dare not tell the wife that !!
MikeR
> I owned the first EEEpc that came out I hated the keyboard and the
> screen was too low res and cramped for me.
> Aj.
>
Greetings!
Regarding the discussions about 'modern' netbooks...
I own the original netBook, which I love. (Who doesn't?) The only disadvantage with it is the poor WiFi capabilities. The keyboard is EXCELLENT! and while the screen isn't the largest, it's decent. Also, all apps are written so as to maximize the available space, by getting rid of 'waste' like menu bars, 'start buttons' and all the crap you don't need.
The Asus series...
I have a 701 and a 900.
The 701 suffers with its 7" screen. Ad it's obvious that most apps have
not been made for the resolution it can produce. (The patience game is completely useless as part of it is bleow the bottom edge of the scren, and no way to scroll down... )
It also feels slow...
Battery life is OK, and WiFi and surfing works OK.
The 900... Well, the screen is bigger... Still slow...
I'm told that the 90, with it's Atom CPU and split FLASH drive(4GB fast FLASH for OS and 8GB slow FLASH for user files) is much better.
The machines have the same keyboard(it's usable. Leave it at that... ) and over sensitive touchpad.
Downloading and installing new apps is easy.
Acer Aspire One.
I have one of these, too...
Only got a 3cell battey, though, and that is NOT reccommended for any road-warrior.
The touchpad is so sensitive that it's ridiculous. I had to switch off the scrolling functions to be able to use it at all. (I sometimes by accident put two fingers on the touchpad, and then it goes bananas...)
I have the Linux version...
The apps seems to be OK, and are mostly the same apps as on ASUS, except... No patience game!
Also, while they have an updater to download updates for installed applications, they haven't bothered with a simple way for users to
download and install NEW applictions.
Alpha-400...
A 7" screen, a slightly worse keyboard than the Asus machines, less
weight(Asus and Acer comes in at about 1.2Kg, but this one is closer to
1Kg)
less memory(128MB in most models, and FLASH ranging from 1 to 4GB) and slower CPU(400MHz Xscale) it's the CHEAP underdog.
The default Linux OS only allows 3 running applications at any time, but how often do you need more? (Also, there are at least TWO third-party distros in existence)
The office suite is an old version of ABIWord and GnuMeric, mostly, but if you don't have too high demands... Browser is an old FF version.
Battery life is 'up there' with close to 6Hours...
Just wish it had a functioning sleep mode.
Not in my ownership, but tested, is the HP MiniNote 2133...
Looks nice, feels heavy, and can probably take a beating.
What a pity about the battery. Oh, it will keep it running for some hours, but that's not the problem. The one I came across had a 6cell battery, and the cells extended DOWN from the back of the machine. Some marketing guy probably insisted 'so that it would give a more ergonomic writing
position' or something. Makes it BL**DY difficult to pack into a neoprene sleeve or small bad, though. (As we reformatted it and installed WinXP as the first thing we did at the office, I can't comment on pre-installed applications.)
This message was written on a HP Compaq nc2400 laptop, with 13" screen, 6Hour battery life, good keyboard, excellent WiFi, and a weight of 1.2Kg. In other words, if WEIGHT is the only concern, and you can afford it,
there are full-featured computers that can match netbooks in weight while at the same time outperform them.(and bring things like FireWire and CD/DVD-ROMs to the battle)
This model, the replacement nc2510p(with built-in 3G) or the new EliteBook model that replaced it again is very popular with those at the office who do a lot of travelling.
Trygve
http://www.totallytrygve.com
Hello all!
To : Joseph (Hamwee) and Cyril (Catt )
Thanks for yr comments on VAIO P.
Maybe I'll wait for the (coming) new netbooks, with 9 h autonomy and much lower prices than the Sony...
But the 5mx should still be around!
Report from Lewis (Hartman) on Vye S41 was quite interesting. One might also consider the S37 or the S18P (same price as the Vaio P): it's a netbook with a 7" or 8,9 " _tactile_ screen (like the 5mx, but colour) and less than 1 kg. Pity they have no servicing in France. (Seems it's a Japanese brand, with manufacturing in Taiwan from Inventec and only European distribution being in UK, with no further plans for the rest of Europe)
Kind regards
Stéphane ( in Grenoble, France).
To complete last post on the above :
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Vye_Laptops/cat.asp?keywords=vye
latest generation with Atom CPU.
Stephane