Wednesday, July 28, 2004
The excesses of the wealthy?
Interested in HDTV---not because I can afford it or get it as much as because it's so exciting to look at!---I decided to read up on the subject. For one thing, you don't learn much trying to read from DirectTV or DISH. They make their web sites so dense and impenetrable that you can't get there from here. All I could learn is that "maybe" you can get HDTV broadcasts from DirectTV for about $12 per month. If you haven't seen it, go see it. This author describes it thusly: "if you've installed HDTV successfully, and your neighbor just bought his new Porche for only $15K over sticker price, and he comes to your house for supper, HE'S the one that's going to be jealous..."
So, like always, I put a search in Google, and I found this site. This man lives "high in the Hollywood Hills," and reading his account is utterly fun, as you enjoy the green envy building up to bilious levels (or just wry humor). He's bought a $26,000 video projector to show that mesmerizing HDTV, and finds that the cooling fans are a bit too loud for his taste. $2500 more will buy you a special "hush" box to quiet those noisy fans. Damn, I should have that problem! His list of associated equipment is like reading from FantasyLand. If you want to chuckle, watch and read as this man travels to Saco, Maine, to listen to a pair of AUDIO CABLES! Yep. When he arrives, he's ushered into a showroom with such fantastic equipment that he's reduced to moaning, "no matter how good my equipment gets, you always find there's something better out there!" (oh, such poetic justice!) Even he, he writes, can't afford the $4800 8-ft long connectors to go between his pre-amp and his $16,000 amplifiers. Perhaps it isn't the cost for the cables as much as it the little CONNECTORS on their ends, a mere $2800 additional, that puts him off.
Better, is reading his account of it all. That's free... Look at this site: it's fun reading. (click on the red title for the link).
Interested in HDTV---not because I can afford it or get it as much as because it's so exciting to look at!---I decided to read up on the subject. For one thing, you don't learn much trying to read from DirectTV or DISH. They make their web sites so dense and impenetrable that you can't get there from here. All I could learn is that "maybe" you can get HDTV broadcasts from DirectTV for about $12 per month. If you haven't seen it, go see it. This author describes it thusly: "if you've installed HDTV successfully, and your neighbor just bought his new Porche for only $15K over sticker price, and he comes to your house for supper, HE'S the one that's going to be jealous..."
So, like always, I put a search in Google, and I found this site. This man lives "high in the Hollywood Hills," and reading his account is utterly fun, as you enjoy the green envy building up to bilious levels (or just wry humor). He's bought a $26,000 video projector to show that mesmerizing HDTV, and finds that the cooling fans are a bit too loud for his taste. $2500 more will buy you a special "hush" box to quiet those noisy fans. Damn, I should have that problem! His list of associated equipment is like reading from FantasyLand. If you want to chuckle, watch and read as this man travels to Saco, Maine, to listen to a pair of AUDIO CABLES! Yep. When he arrives, he's ushered into a showroom with such fantastic equipment that he's reduced to moaning, "no matter how good my equipment gets, you always find there's something better out there!" (oh, such poetic justice!) Even he, he writes, can't afford the $4800 8-ft long connectors to go between his pre-amp and his $16,000 amplifiers. Perhaps it isn't the cost for the cables as much as it the little CONNECTORS on their ends, a mere $2800 additional, that puts him off.
Better, is reading his account of it all. That's free... Look at this site: it's fun reading. (click on the red title for the link).
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Wi-Fi Sniffer: update.
Most of the products I get, fortunately, tend to be at least "okay," but here's one product that doesn't make the muster. A friend also purchased a similar (if not identical) product and said, "It won't detect a wi-fi hotspot from the base of the antenna!" I'd have to agree. I sat in the local public library the other day with my laptop which was consistently able to pick up a usable, if not strong signal. However, on no occasion did my little "watch fob" wi-fi sniffer detect ANY signal at all! This has been duplicated in any number of situations. It lacks the sensitivity to be of much use. All one could actually use it for would be the detection of a moderate-to-strong signal. As such, that might be useful in certain situations, if you didn't want to crank up your laptop to find a wi-fi signal. There's no reason they didn't make it more sensitive, alas.
Most of the products I get, fortunately, tend to be at least "okay," but here's one product that doesn't make the muster. A friend also purchased a similar (if not identical) product and said, "It won't detect a wi-fi hotspot from the base of the antenna!" I'd have to agree. I sat in the local public library the other day with my laptop which was consistently able to pick up a usable, if not strong signal. However, on no occasion did my little "watch fob" wi-fi sniffer detect ANY signal at all! This has been duplicated in any number of situations. It lacks the sensitivity to be of much use. All one could actually use it for would be the detection of a moderate-to-strong signal. As such, that might be useful in certain situations, if you didn't want to crank up your laptop to find a wi-fi signal. There's no reason they didn't make it more sensitive, alas.
Monday, July 26, 2004
HDTV. I keep reading about high-definition television. Reporters who finally see the real thing come away in awe. (Be careful: a lot of tv's you see claim they are "HDTV" but are NOT! Suffice to say, if you came away unimpressed, then you didn't see a good implementation of it...), Regular TV struggles to put about 480 lines of resolution on the screen, and DVD can manage about 720x480---noticeably sharper images. But HDTV slams up about 1900x1080 resolution: WAY more than about but a hand few of the computer monitors in existence. The result really can't be described: it's so sharp that it's almost better than real life. The image just shimmers with clarity and contrast, and, well, "reality," comes to mind. Reporters talk about a "3 dimensional quality."
To get HD, you have to have the equipment. First of all the source. Either cable TV in some locations (not all) or special equipment and a satellite receiver with THREE LNB heads. The "box" or satellite tuner will cost you about $500 if you can't find a promotional deal with either DirectTV or DISH. Nobody can tell me how much extra either one charges you per month. Right now, there aren't even that many programs: The Discovery Channel and several HBO channels, at least.
Then you have to have either a monitor or a "TV" capable of that resolution. Here we noted that the rear-projection TV's, which noticeably improved with an HD signal, fail to show the utterly mesmerizing benefit which can be seen on an LCD, plasma, or DLP screen.
How good is it? Well, my wife Pat didn't want to be bothered to come in to see the real-time demonstration. She sat in the truck and read. I finally importuned her to just "take a look," which she very grudgingly did. Once she'd laid eyes on it, however, she stood in amazement, and continued watching long after the obligatory glance. She started asking questions about how you could get that kind of TV, etc. THAT'S good!
To get HD, you have to have the equipment. First of all the source. Either cable TV in some locations (not all) or special equipment and a satellite receiver with THREE LNB heads. The "box" or satellite tuner will cost you about $500 if you can't find a promotional deal with either DirectTV or DISH. Nobody can tell me how much extra either one charges you per month. Right now, there aren't even that many programs: The Discovery Channel and several HBO channels, at least.
Then you have to have either a monitor or a "TV" capable of that resolution. Here we noted that the rear-projection TV's, which noticeably improved with an HD signal, fail to show the utterly mesmerizing benefit which can be seen on an LCD, plasma, or DLP screen.
How good is it? Well, my wife Pat didn't want to be bothered to come in to see the real-time demonstration. She sat in the truck and read. I finally importuned her to just "take a look," which she very grudgingly did. Once she'd laid eyes on it, however, she stood in amazement, and continued watching long after the obligatory glance. She started asking questions about how you could get that kind of TV, etc. THAT'S good!
Follow-up notes:
Averatec. I've used this thin little machine for the last two weeks and like some details very much, and some others I think could be improved. LIKE: the handiness of all the attachment ports: they're right there where you need them. Every day I plug my USB mouse in, I thank the designers for putting those three USB 2 ports right up on the right front side edge. Great! DISLIKE: the machine get VERY warm on the bottom when in use; from my understanding, this is hardly unusual, with the new "hot" (meaning fast) portables. But there is hardly any place to put the fan on this baby, and so they put the air intake on the bottom. But if you sit this laptop on a pillow, there's no way for air to get into the fan to be pulled past the cooling fans to cool the CPU chip. You'd think Averatec would have warned one about that, but nothing I've come across. The keyboard for the most part hasn't been an issue. A few times I get to missing things on the right lower board, but then I start paying attention and things are okay again. Like all keys on extremely thin portables, these are rather shallow, and when one key is depressed you can feel the sharp "edge" of the key next to it. Disagreeable, but probably not unique. The battery is merely okay, not great. It powers the computer for about 2 hours. I read 3, which would have been a great deal better, and I was used to the really long 3-4 hours of the Dell. Such a long-lived battery spells HEAVY battery, though, and Averatec clearly thought that the best combination was light and 2 hours. I'm not sure I'd agree. I'd take a few more ounces and another hour of use time.
NEUTRAL: the little 12" screen is bright and very sharp, but you can't see if very well in the broad sunlight. My old Dell was no better; perhaps there isn't a laptop made that is better, I'm not sure.
FOLLOW-UP on Micro-Tec's RoadStor portable DVD player, CD-RW. This fellow is really handy! I've taken to carrying it around as a portable DVD player. You could plug it into any TV of course, but I choose to run it through the projector. Just two tiny boxes and you've got a really BIG screen TV. I wish they'd made the power plug insert a great deal beefier. Otherwise, things are working okay.
NEW NOTES: Kingwin's Arctic Liquid Cooler. This is a kit package including a controller, piping, antifreeze, tubing, and two big copper water jackets for the computer CPU and graphics card chip on your desktop computer. Intended to replace the existing air coolers that came with your computer, the solution offered is a great deal quieter, and to all outward appearances much more effective at keeping your chip at a decent temperature. Like too many RV'ers and other desktop users, my CPU sits in a small cabinet intended to hold it (and I literally have NO place else to put it!), and there is also very little place for the heat to get away from the CPU box. I have a 500 watt power supply, two hard drives, and all the usual stuff that people cram into their box any more, and despite having FIVE cooling fans (two with the case, plus two big variable speed fans cooling the power supply,and of course the one atop the CPU heatsink itself), one day while intensively computing, my computer just died. Dead. It didn't take long to discover that it'd overheated and that the protective circuit on my motherboard just turned it off. A good thing, I suppose, except in this case, I don't think it happened quickly enough to save my CPU. After reading reviews until the cows came home, I determined that no amount of big heat sink plus air cooler (read expensive fan) was going to make much difference. I just didn't have adequate ventilation around my CPU box---and this isn't going to change much.
So, I researched then ordered this liquid cooler. Unlike air, these little tubes can carry the heat away from the CPU and take it to an external copper-cored radiator. That heat never gets a chance to collect in my cabinet. It's shooting out and cooking my legs instead! I can tell you right off that it is amazing how much heat a modern CPU makes. Consider a 70 watt bulb if you like. Now stuff that bulb into a cabinet the size of a mini-tower case and wrap a blanket around it (might as well if you have it in a cabinet) and imagine how hot it's going to get inside after a few hours....
The installation isn't the easiest thing on the block, but any fool could do it with a little patience: the hoses are all fitted with water-tight endings, and it's a simple matter of hooking it all together, getting the old fan off, and then new water jacket clamped tightly to the CPU---after you've put on the "correct amount" (the instructions don't tell you what that is, alas!) of CPU heat-transferring paste. Then you add the anti-corrosive anti-freeze, crank it up, and put the case back together. The first thing you notice is that the result is QUIET. Gone are the two noisey fans on the outside of the old case (I disabled them!), and gone is the noisy fan on the CPU. Instead you've got one fan on the internal radiator/controller, which has a user-selectable speed. I just turn it down until you can't hear it anymore. Then another fan behind a cute little water radiator. This baby is temperature controlled: at its loudest, it's quiet, but most of the time it barely turns. The controller gives you a digital readout of the CPU temperature, and mine stays below 50-degrees C. Darned good. And I LOVE that quiet. It's addictive.
Averatec. I've used this thin little machine for the last two weeks and like some details very much, and some others I think could be improved. LIKE: the handiness of all the attachment ports: they're right there where you need them. Every day I plug my USB mouse in, I thank the designers for putting those three USB 2 ports right up on the right front side edge. Great! DISLIKE: the machine get VERY warm on the bottom when in use; from my understanding, this is hardly unusual, with the new "hot" (meaning fast) portables. But there is hardly any place to put the fan on this baby, and so they put the air intake on the bottom. But if you sit this laptop on a pillow, there's no way for air to get into the fan to be pulled past the cooling fans to cool the CPU chip. You'd think Averatec would have warned one about that, but nothing I've come across. The keyboard for the most part hasn't been an issue. A few times I get to missing things on the right lower board, but then I start paying attention and things are okay again. Like all keys on extremely thin portables, these are rather shallow, and when one key is depressed you can feel the sharp "edge" of the key next to it. Disagreeable, but probably not unique. The battery is merely okay, not great. It powers the computer for about 2 hours. I read 3, which would have been a great deal better, and I was used to the really long 3-4 hours of the Dell. Such a long-lived battery spells HEAVY battery, though, and Averatec clearly thought that the best combination was light and 2 hours. I'm not sure I'd agree. I'd take a few more ounces and another hour of use time.
NEUTRAL: the little 12" screen is bright and very sharp, but you can't see if very well in the broad sunlight. My old Dell was no better; perhaps there isn't a laptop made that is better, I'm not sure.
FOLLOW-UP on Micro-Tec's RoadStor portable DVD player, CD-RW. This fellow is really handy! I've taken to carrying it around as a portable DVD player. You could plug it into any TV of course, but I choose to run it through the projector. Just two tiny boxes and you've got a really BIG screen TV. I wish they'd made the power plug insert a great deal beefier. Otherwise, things are working okay.
NEW NOTES: Kingwin's Arctic Liquid Cooler. This is a kit package including a controller, piping, antifreeze, tubing, and two big copper water jackets for the computer CPU and graphics card chip on your desktop computer. Intended to replace the existing air coolers that came with your computer, the solution offered is a great deal quieter, and to all outward appearances much more effective at keeping your chip at a decent temperature. Like too many RV'ers and other desktop users, my CPU sits in a small cabinet intended to hold it (and I literally have NO place else to put it!), and there is also very little place for the heat to get away from the CPU box. I have a 500 watt power supply, two hard drives, and all the usual stuff that people cram into their box any more, and despite having FIVE cooling fans (two with the case, plus two big variable speed fans cooling the power supply,and of course the one atop the CPU heatsink itself), one day while intensively computing, my computer just died. Dead. It didn't take long to discover that it'd overheated and that the protective circuit on my motherboard just turned it off. A good thing, I suppose, except in this case, I don't think it happened quickly enough to save my CPU. After reading reviews until the cows came home, I determined that no amount of big heat sink plus air cooler (read expensive fan) was going to make much difference. I just didn't have adequate ventilation around my CPU box---and this isn't going to change much.
So, I researched then ordered this liquid cooler. Unlike air, these little tubes can carry the heat away from the CPU and take it to an external copper-cored radiator. That heat never gets a chance to collect in my cabinet. It's shooting out and cooking my legs instead! I can tell you right off that it is amazing how much heat a modern CPU makes. Consider a 70 watt bulb if you like. Now stuff that bulb into a cabinet the size of a mini-tower case and wrap a blanket around it (might as well if you have it in a cabinet) and imagine how hot it's going to get inside after a few hours....
The installation isn't the easiest thing on the block, but any fool could do it with a little patience: the hoses are all fitted with water-tight endings, and it's a simple matter of hooking it all together, getting the old fan off, and then new water jacket clamped tightly to the CPU---after you've put on the "correct amount" (the instructions don't tell you what that is, alas!) of CPU heat-transferring paste. Then you add the anti-corrosive anti-freeze, crank it up, and put the case back together. The first thing you notice is that the result is QUIET. Gone are the two noisey fans on the outside of the old case (I disabled them!), and gone is the noisy fan on the CPU. Instead you've got one fan on the internal radiator/controller, which has a user-selectable speed. I just turn it down until you can't hear it anymore. Then another fan behind a cute little water radiator. This baby is temperature controlled: at its loudest, it's quiet, but most of the time it barely turns. The controller gives you a digital readout of the CPU temperature, and mine stays below 50-degrees C. Darned good. And I LOVE that quiet. It's addictive.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
NOTEBOOK MEANDERINGS
Averatec 3220/3225 H
I've owned a Dell, and looked at dozens, reviewed dozens more, and "wished" I had an IBM 4 pounder. But what I settled on was the Averatec. I have a powerful desktop, don't need a "do it all" notebook: what I needed was a very portable, self-contained notebook with the essential features: built in wi-fi, DVD, CD writer, built in modem, ethernet, and more than one USB 2 port. (The Averatec has 3). The reviews, as with most notebooks, even the expensive ones, tend to be hot or cold.
But I'll add a few notes which I haven't read before:
--the Averatec's most necessary ports (the 3 USB's, the LAN, the modem hookup, the VGA outlet) are all clustered on the left or right side of the machine, right up front; none of this "in the rear" connection business. Great!
--the DVD, hardly touted, plays DVD+/- R's and RW's. Not too many DVD players will take all 4 formats.
--the internal wi-fi device can be easily turned off and on; this is a good feature: you're not vulnerable to easedroppers until you're using that wi-fi hotspot.
Now for a caveat: the machine most often sold at BestBuy, OfficeMax and Staples, is the 256M 3220 iteration. To get the 3225 model with 512M RAM you have to look "on line." The problem here is that if you want an extended warranty at a place where you can "carry your laptop in anywhere across the country," then you're pretty much left to the local outlets. So, I figure: just get the 3220 and add memory. While this works, beware. The Averatec has ONE memory slot. To go to 512K memory, you must remove (and hence waste) the 256 card. You're looking at a sizeable increase in investment: the price of a 512M card, not the price of a 256M card!
Once out of the box, I found essentially NO instructions. Fortunately, everything is pretty much straighforward. I plugged it into my home network (wired) and it took right off. I tried out the wi-fi at my local library: it worked right off, no fuss no bother. I love the little pilot lights which tell you what is running. Well designed.
Fit and finish seems good. Sturdy hinges, good place to rest your hands while typing. Bright screen, and despite its small size (12.1"), it's very legible in the 1024x768 format it sports. The touchpad works a lot better than some I've used. That tiny keyboard has, for me, a good touch. The smaller-than-normal right-hand keys might pose a problem for some, but they seem to fall to hand well enough for me.
I'll provide a follow-up once I've had a chance to use it for a few weeks. Be sure to read other reviews before making that all-important, and very expensive decision about which laptop to buy!
Averatec 3220/3225 H
I've owned a Dell, and looked at dozens, reviewed dozens more, and "wished" I had an IBM 4 pounder. But what I settled on was the Averatec. I have a powerful desktop, don't need a "do it all" notebook: what I needed was a very portable, self-contained notebook with the essential features: built in wi-fi, DVD, CD writer, built in modem, ethernet, and more than one USB 2 port. (The Averatec has 3). The reviews, as with most notebooks, even the expensive ones, tend to be hot or cold.
But I'll add a few notes which I haven't read before:
--the Averatec's most necessary ports (the 3 USB's, the LAN, the modem hookup, the VGA outlet) are all clustered on the left or right side of the machine, right up front; none of this "in the rear" connection business. Great!
--the DVD, hardly touted, plays DVD+/- R's and RW's. Not too many DVD players will take all 4 formats.
--the internal wi-fi device can be easily turned off and on; this is a good feature: you're not vulnerable to easedroppers until you're using that wi-fi hotspot.
Now for a caveat: the machine most often sold at BestBuy, OfficeMax and Staples, is the 256M 3220 iteration. To get the 3225 model with 512M RAM you have to look "on line." The problem here is that if you want an extended warranty at a place where you can "carry your laptop in anywhere across the country," then you're pretty much left to the local outlets. So, I figure: just get the 3220 and add memory. While this works, beware. The Averatec has ONE memory slot. To go to 512K memory, you must remove (and hence waste) the 256 card. You're looking at a sizeable increase in investment: the price of a 512M card, not the price of a 256M card!
Once out of the box, I found essentially NO instructions. Fortunately, everything is pretty much straighforward. I plugged it into my home network (wired) and it took right off. I tried out the wi-fi at my local library: it worked right off, no fuss no bother. I love the little pilot lights which tell you what is running. Well designed.
Fit and finish seems good. Sturdy hinges, good place to rest your hands while typing. Bright screen, and despite its small size (12.1"), it's very legible in the 1024x768 format it sports. The touchpad works a lot better than some I've used. That tiny keyboard has, for me, a good touch. The smaller-than-normal right-hand keys might pose a problem for some, but they seem to fall to hand well enough for me.
I'll provide a follow-up once I've had a chance to use it for a few weeks. Be sure to read other reviews before making that all-important, and very expensive decision about which laptop to buy!
