I’m not exactly qualified to provide a proper review of my new Sony Vaio NS notebook. All I can comment on is the ergonomics of it, and to that, I’m pleased. The touchpad mouse buttons clack a bit loudly. The keyboard itself seems solid and comfortable. I’m not even minding the “fabric like texture” so much because I’m digging on having a white notebook.  I’ve traipsed around Toronto with it in my backpack, and I didn’t feel too encumbered at all.   The battery life with the included standard battery is sort of disappointing. I get about two hours on “Power Savings” setting, with WiFi on.

And this is also my first time using Vista. I was  okay with XP, and I’m still getting used to this. I’m not sure if I’ve found any of the new features useful or anything, and the interface is just pretty, but pointless. I guess I prefer what’s familiar and what’s simple (The Mac O/S interface didn’t impress me much either. Don’t tell the boyfriend i said that).

I have been having fun customizing my desktop.

Mmmm. Clean.

The desktop wallpaper “Africa” is by Evilhomer145 from DeviantArt. The icons are from the Bright Icon Suite by Klen70.

This is a neat project of mine. A bunch of us at work (ok, mostly of the female variety), have started a knitting club. I’m making a scarf (yay for simple!) and got it into my head to make a laptop sleeve. It’s coming along… I’m out of yarn though.

And why yes, I did post a picture of my Vaio with a bowl of kimchi ramen.

In the end, my desire for mobility took over all senses, yet my need for economy fought a valiant battle. Desire and frugality came to a little bit of a compromise. I didn’t get the laptop of my dreams. I didn’t replace my HP Pavilion with another Pavilion, though the option was there. I didn’t get a Dell. I didn’t think I could deal with the wait. So I did some more research, visited both Best Buy and Future Shop.

And the winner?

That’s right. I got a Sony Vaio NS model. It’s pretty much what I need, for the moment. And it’s not completely generic, and awful to look at, though I’m not sure about that texture. And Vista… well, we’ll see what the big deal is. I’ve spent all night customizing it and so far, I’m liking it.  I may regret not having a decent graphics card, but like i said, I don’t need it to game. I just need to be able to carry it around without it being a pain in the ass. Having said that, I already don’t like how graphics look here. It’s not awful, but the tech snob in me wishes for more.

It’s not a bad configuration.  It’s got a 15.4 LCD monitor and a pretty simple keyboard set up. It’s a lot lighter than my old 17″ HP Pavilion so I’m pleased with that.  It’s set up with an Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @2.00GHZ processor, has 4.00gb of RAM and 250gb or harddrive space.  For about $850 + tax at Future Shop, I don’t think I did too badly.  There were definitely more sexier laptops, but in the end, I had to look at the bottom line.

So we’ll see how pleased I am in a few weeks time. I’ve spent all night setting my new toy up, I didn’t even get a chance to make dinner. I have a feeling it’ll be a late night anyway.

Hi, this is my new favourite gadget that I don’t own and sort of all kinds of want. Let me preface by saying that I did look at the iPhone. I had several chances to play with both an iPhone and an iPod touch. The apple gadgets renewed my cravings for a smart phone, more so because of the interactivity and how easy it was to browse the web and play with the apps. However, there were several concerns I had with the iPhone, namely its keypad. I don’t know what’s wrong with my fingers, but I could not get a good handle on the keyboard. I have long, graceful, artist fingers and I couldn’t manipulate the keypad as easily as I could other devices. This is a problem because the one appeal of a smartphone for me is to be able to instant message, e-mail, and update blog posts. So in this matter, sorry iPhone, it’s not you, it’s me.

I’ve had the opportunity to try out a Blackberry Curve as well. While it’s pretty much a smart phone and will probably do all the things I need it to, there’s a sort of executive dullness about it and trackballs seem too old school, to be honest. That’s why when I heard of a touchscreen Blackberry on the horizon, my ears perked up and I decided to wait to see what RIM had to offer.

Blackberry Storm was officially announced today. I don’t know when they’ll be available up in Canada, but as soon as they are available, I want to get my hands on one and see if it’s more comfortable for me than an iPhone. So the jury is still out, but so far the idea of this touchscreen Blackberry is delicious.

Visit Crackberry for more reviews, previews, and pics of the Storm.

I like going through Chip Chick, among other more popular gadget blogs for fancy tech gadget wishing, just because of the girl factor. Lately I’ve been perusing more, just because I think my stable of electronic equipment probably needs additions and upgrades so I can enter the glamourous world of gadget geekdom (or addiction… whatever).  I’d like a smartphone, like a Blackberry Pearl. It’d be neat not having to lug around a laptop to read e-mail and news/blog feeds, or send MSNs at Starbucks (which unfortunately is my local café). I still wouldn’t mind a PSP, but that’s a bit too indulgent since the only games i’m interested in for it is Beautiful Katamari and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.  And I’d love a digital SLR, like a Canon EOS 1000D. Probably the one thing I need is definitely a new laptop.

Unfortunately, my present laptop, my 17 inch HP Pavilion XD8000, somehow got busted a couple of weeks ago. It’s most likely a graphic card issue, but it’s beyond me. Any attempts to find and reinstall the driver hasn’t gotten very far and i’m already too annoyed just thinking of it. Also, the thing is 10lbs already, not including the clunky AC adapter.  This model was introduced in 2005.  The battery died a long time ago, and even if I could find a replacement for it, it will be expensive and will still get me an hour tops of unplugged activity.  It never lasted that long to begin with. Booting up was slow, and you know how things go… new stuff is better!

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About a couple of months ago, I dropped my cellphone. Oh no, the humanity, I know. I dropped it on cold, hard sidewalk concrete. Now this phone has been dropped a lot, on carpet, hardwood, and/or grass, but concrete was something it just couldn’t deal with at all. I noticed right away a piece of plastic on the joint of the display screen had cracked right off, leaving stuff underneath it exposed (excuse me if I don’t know the proper terminology for cellphone anatomy).

But it still worked. And I went on, grumbling to myself about reasons why I do not have to go out and spend money on a new cellphone… because it still worked. My old phone was a Motorola Razr, a new-ish concept in phone design when it showed up at the mall i was shopping up at the time. So that makes it about three years old, I guess. However, the phone didn’t last for much longer. About a week ago, it stopped working. Rather, the display stopped working. So I could access the phone itself, make calls, receive calls… but I’d be doing it blind.

Wow. I just realized how lame that last paragraph sounded as I’m typing it out. How the heck did people with rotary phones do it? Do you remember rotary phones? I DO! I’M THAT OLD!

In any case, I wanted a new phone. Today, using the Best Buy gift cards I got for my birthday, plus a little extra from me, I got myself a new Red Moto Krzr K1, because I liked them. I’d be inclined to hate them actually just for their shitty Matrix wanna-be ads plastered all over the Toronto subways and everywhere else, but for once I’m going to see past that. I much prefer the wannabe martial artist in goth-rave gear to the incredibly ugly, lame and unfunny beaver mascots Bell had decided to use to pimp their products. I also know some people have had problems with the Razr line in general, but it’s all about the ergonomics of the buttons for me. I’m also a fan of flip phones… I don’t like exposed keys because my daily messenger bag could be a pretty harsh environment.

It’s a bit of retail therapy I badly needed after these shitty first weeks of the New Year.. it’s a toy.. but it’s a necessary toy. I’ve grown to like the convenience of having a cellphone, so for now the expense was worth it.