Kevin Muldoon

I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now and extend the life of my laptop a little and upgrade it’s RAM. Looking back, I’m not sure why I haven’t upgraded it until now as I have upgraded my last 3 portable laptops (the one I use for travelling) and before that my PC always had the maximum amount of RAM it could hold.

My Asus G1S is about 2 years old now but it was top of the range at the time with it’s 2GB of Ram. It’s still not that slow generally but there are times, when I have several programs on at the same time, that it slows down a little.

I took a look online the other day and noticed that a 2GB module only costs £20.69, which is buttons in the grand scale of things. With 2x 1.1 GB modules already in the laptop, I had the option of either upgrading to 3.1GB for £20.69 or purchasing 2 modules for £41.38 and putting 2 GB modules in.

However, since I have a 32 bit version of Vista, putting 4 GB into my laptop is pointless as it will only recognise between 3 GB and 3.5 GB. This is because vista can only allocate 4GB of RAM memory (roughly 2^32). However, this includes the RAM from your graphics card, sounds card etc too.

How much RAM you actually get from putting 4GB into a 32 bit version of Vista varies from machine to machine. Some people get as much as 3.5 GB but most people get around 3.2 GB. There are some bios workarounds and tricks which you can use to try and get closer to 4 GB but the only sure way to get all of the 4 GB of RAM is to either install a 64 bit operating system i.e. a 64 bit version of Linux or Vista, which isn’t really worth doing as I can’t upgrade for free and would have to buy it outright. It’s simply not worth it with this machine.

I got the module delivered today (from Crucial) and quickly installed it. Within a few minutes my laptop was booting up with 3.1 GB of Ram. And it has made a big difference. I sometimes have 7 or 8 windows open which is why it got slow at times before but now, with an extra gig to play around with, the laptop handles it very well.

My brothers laptop only had 1 GB installed (2x512MB) so I was able to boost that as well from around 890 MB to 1.4 GB. Due to the memory Vista itself took up, the difference on that laptop was much more apparent. Before FireFox was incredibly slow at loading up but now it loads up quickly (like it should).

DDR2 Ram is really cheap now so I recommend upgrading the RAM on your laptop if it is not at it’s maximum. Don’t be daunted by the thought of upgrading RAM on a laptop, it’s actually very easy. For 99% of laptops it’s just a matter of unscrewing a slot at the bottom and putting your module in

Yesterday I talked about how I have been looking at mobile email solutions. The device I found, the Peek, is unfortunately only available in the United States.

A few days ago though I came across this advertisement for the Blackberry Pearl.

Whilst the BlackBerry 8110 is not a top of the range phone, it does have push email. You can pick it up sim free for about £130.00 so £179.99 for the phone AND unlimited email and internet is a great offer (particularly on pay as you go). However, this is a great offer only if you don’t use your phone much as you don’t get free minutes or free texts so if you were using it regularly as a phone, I think you’d be better off getting a contract.

I don’t particularly want to carry two phones around with me so this is obviously not the best solution for me.

I have found a good temporary solution which suits me though. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow

Emailing is a very important aspect of what I do online. I use to get updates about certain news, to stay in contact with bloggers who write for me and to respond to questions about my sites, be it a technical query from a reader or an advertiser looking to advertise on one of my blogs.

Recently I have been looking at the best solution for me to check email on the move. One of my friends recently got the new Blackberry Bold and I was very impressed with it. With it’s push email option, a Blackberry phone is definately something I will consider the next time I upgrade my phone.

Unfortunately, my last phone contract tied me up for 18 months so I cannot get a new phone until December 2009, 7 months from now. Currently there are some fantastic deals in the UK on new phone contracts offering unlimited texts and unlimited internet. Unfortunately, this was not the case a year ago and as it stands, using the web on my Nokia N95 costs a pretty penny with orange.

Therefore, I have been looking around at other solutions. One of the devices I came across was the Peek. The Peek is a portable emailing device which works with most email providers including Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail and AOL.

In the video below Amol Sarva gives a brief look at the Peek. As you can see, it’s really thin, and it’s shape reminds me of the Nokia E71.

Unfortunately, the Peek is only currently available in the states. If you’re from the US, you will have two options. You can get either

• Peek Pronto : Costing $79.95 and then $19.95 a month, the pronto lets you have 5 email accounts and unlimited texts and emails.
• Peek Classic – The standard Peek costs $49.95 and then $19.95 a month however there is no texting option and you can only use 2 email accounts

Without a doubt, the Peek Pronto offers much better value for money.

I know this device is not for everyone as you can’t make any calls or use the internet. But those who need to check their email a lot should take a look at it these push email devices.

It’s just a shame nothing like this exists in the UK

Link : Get Peek

Blu-Rays were launched a few years ago but they still haven’t really caught on, well at least not to the extent of regular DVD’s. I can play Blu-Rays through my PlayStation 3 but movies are still really expensive in that format so I haven’t bought any movies in Blu-Ray, especially since regular DVD’s are so cheap now.

I’ve started to see Blu-Ray drives added more and more to laptops so it should be quite common within the next 2 years though perhaps it will be for backup rather than movies. By the time Blu-Ray really becomes mainstream I think that many people will just be downloading content (legally and illegally) to their Digital Recorders, which is already happening just now with things like Sky+ and Tivo etc, so perhaps it will become popular as a reliable backup for data.

After Blu-Ray

Well why am I talking about this. Well because I read today that they are developing a disc which can hold a massive 500GB. The disc is the same size as a regular DVD too.

I was impressed when the Blu-Ray disc was announced a few years ago because it could hold 50gb of data compared to the 8.5GB DVD’s had (single sided double layer) so a 500GB is just amazing. I’m still amazed at the fact that I bought a 1.5TB drive recently so to think that one day I could hold the same data in 3 discs is impressive.

You can read the full story on BBC at the link below.

Link : Optical disc offers 500GB storage

Apparently, this LED Watch was released in October 2008 but I’ve not been able to find it anywhere (I’ve read on a few websites that it is a concept watch and won’t be released – Boo!). At first glance the watch resembles a bracelet but at the touch of a button the time lights up in true cool LED fashion.

Does anyone else think this is cool or is it just me?

Link : LED Watch

I’ve come across hundreds of gimmicky USB gadgets in the last few years but the yakuza finger is definately one of the strangest or coolest : I still haven’t decided!

As many of you know, in the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) have a very unique ritual for apologies. Known as Yubitsume, a member would cut off the tip of his left pinky finger and hand it to his boss. Clearly the creators of the Yakuza Finger USB Drive were inspired by this ritual.

A 1GB drive will cost you 6,600 Yen, which is about £45, which is quite expensive for 1GB of memory. But if you work in an office it could be worth paying it just to freak everyone else out!

Link : Thumb USB Memory 1GB

My 1.5TB OEM Sata Hard Drive arrived today. At £107, the Seagate 1.5TB with 32mb cache is a pretty good deal.

I use a laptop as my main pc just now however I have an external Sata drive enclosure so I can just swap my drives over as and when needed (I have 3 currently). This is better than having to power up 3 drives seperately as I’ll never ever need to use them at the same time.

I started formatting the drive in NTFS format 30 minutes ago but I don’t expect it to be complete any time soon as in that time it has only formatted 1%. Eek!!!

God knows how long this is gonna take to format. I might have to leave my computer on all night!

I came across the Personal Soundtrack Shirt on ThinkGeek, a t-shirt which has a speaker attached to it. You can connect your ipod/mp3-player to it and then walk around like the life and soul of the party!

Well, I assume that’s the idea! Realistically, this t-shirt would be funny for about 10 minutes and once the novelty has worn off you’ll soon sober up to the fact that you’re walking around like a dick with a speaker attached to your chest.

What do you think about it?

Link : Personal Soundtrack Shirt

Over the last week I have had a brief look at the most well known All in one PC’s which are available today. These posts have not been very in depth but I’m sure you all have a better idea of what an All In One PC is and what they can do.

The machines I looked at are :

• Sony All in One PCs
• HP Touchsmart
• Apple iMac All In One
• Dell XPS One
• Asus EEE Top Desktop PC

Which All In One is best?

I have not extensively used any of these devices though I have briefly used the Sony All In One, Dells XPS One, Apples iMac All In One and the HP Touchsmart.

The Asus EEE Top Desktop PC looks to be a good purchase for those who just want a PC for emailing and browsing the web.

Which one is the best is a difficult one to answer. Without doubt, the Apple iMac is getting the best reviews from tech sites.

If I had to purchase one it would be between the HP Touchsmart and the Apple iMac All In One. Both machines offer better value for money in my opinion so it really depends on whether you are an Apple or a Windows person.

Are All In Ones Worth It?

I really like the design of All In Ones as I like the idea of having everything built into the monitor. However, I am not sure whether they currently offer value for money. Monitor prices have come down considerably in the last few years so it is probably better to just get a good 24″+ sized monitor and a nice portable Shuttle PC to go with it. And you can always upgrade or replace the Shuttle at a later date.

Once I clear some debt and save up some cash over the next few months I’ll make a decision. Until then, I will keep an eye on All In One prices, something which I think will come down a lot over the next year or so.

I have had a look at 4 All In One computers over the last few days. All of which have cost around £1,000+ and have had a at lkeast a 20″ screen size. So it is not fair to compare the Asus EEE Top Desktop PC to these machines as it is a fraction of the price and only has a 15.6″ screen.

These type of machines are being marketed as Nettops, the PC equivalent of the netbooks which have grown in popularity in the last year and a half. Nettop is a good name for it as it distinquishes it from the more powerful All In One computers which I have spoke about the last few days though it would also be fitting to call it a Budget All In One computer, because essentially, that’s what it is.

The EEE Top currently sells for £399 in the UK. Powered by Windows XP (SP3, it has a 15.6″ screen, Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 160GB hard drive,drat N wireless, 6 USB ports (2 at front, 4 at the back), memory card reader, 1.3 megapixel webcam, microphone, keyboard and mouse.

One of the best features of the EEE Top is the screen, which is touchscreen. I don’t expect it to work as well as HPs Touchsmart All In One but I’m sure kids and internet novices would find this feature very useful.

Overview

As I mentioned at the start, you simply cannot compare this machine to the more expensive All In Ones I have looked at the last few days. For under 400 pounds you do get a lot for your money. If you only use the internet to browse the web, email and writing letters etc, then this machine could be a good option for you.

For everyone else, I think it would be a nice addition to the home as a secondary computer i.e. in the kitchen or living room. All in all, it seems like a good machine for £399.