Apple just released the iPad2 today.  Woopee.  There’s at least 100 others that are coming to market.  So what to choose?

I posted last year my thoughts on the iPad as a viable platform, especially for it’s “Kindle replacement” argument (obviously that hasn’t happened yet).  I still stand by the argument that if you want a pure reading device, that’s your best bet.  But I’ve found myself away from my PC’s more (sitting in the Great Room) and despise having my phone for internet access. My laptop only has a 2hour and change battery (what I get for going low-end, but I didn’t need the monster I had prior to this one).  Continue reading

Yay!

So the *planned* purchase finally got here today.  My new Kindle 3 Wi-Fi. 

I never thought the thing was so tiny.  But it is.

My initial impression remains the same as when I got my DX over a year ago – wow!  This is so much nicer.  I can hold it with one hand, still turn pages easily, etc. 

I will say that the interface for moving between Kindles is a little clunky.  I had to resend all my books over, then re-create and organize my collections.  Amazon really needs some sort of desktop interface or ability to back up that kind of data on the cloud. 

There’s a bit less shown while reading, but the page turns are even faster than on the DX. The screen does have better contrast, and i can read it in a bit lower light situations,. 

So, just a couple of pics demonstrating the size. 

IMG_0269 IMG_0270

Well, this isn’t good.

My laptop died on Friday.  I put it to sleep and put it in my bookbag, like I do every day.  Took it to work, and it sat under my desk all day.  Got home, tried to wake it up.  No graphics.  Didn’t even get a signal on the VGA out or S-Video connector.

I managed to get the hard drive out and cloned to my desktop, so at least the data is salvaged, and rules out the possibility of a hard drive malfunction (like it ever could have been).  It’s now sitting at the local Intrex shop for the final word on whether or not its salvageable.  I doubt that it is, but remain ever so hopeful.  Perhaps a connector came loose, and that’s all it takes.

I got 2 good years out of it.  When I bought it, it wasn’t through a major outlet.  It was through ibuypower.com.  It was a strong system, especially for the price.  Sadly, it only carried a 6 month warranty.

Unfortunately, I won’t be getting a new laptop anytime soon.  I really don’t need one, as I’ve got my desktop, which just received a major overhaul 3 months ago (new motherboard, memory, processor).  I’ve got my 7 year old laptop sitting here for “light” duty (web browsing) when I don’t want to power up my desktop.  It’s funny, it’s got a 1.2ghz AMD Turion processor, 20gb hard drive, and 256MB of memory.  Talk about ancient.  But it operates, and draws a ton less power than my desktop.

If I do wind up getting a new laptop, I’ll probably go back to Dell.  While I won’t for a desktop system, the laptop makes sense.  Everything on there is so customized.  The warranty is useful in case something like that happens again.  I’m considering a netbook, but those really have about as much power as the laptop sitting out here now. And the tiny TINY screens…

I’d like to hear some feedback from anyone that’s got a netbook.  Might help sway my decision a bit.  =)

As a late birthday gift to myself, and after a year or so of research and some saving, I took the plunge this past weekend and bought myself a blu-ray theater.   I actually didn’t buy the one I’d been researching and set on (a Panasonic to match my TV), but it had the features I’d been looking for.  It was also a bit more than I thought it’d be, but oh well.  Continue reading