Macbook Air

Yes the Macbook Air has landed and it has caused one hell of a stir with Apple fans. Its ultra thin, ultra portable and ultra like anything else, according marketing gurus over at Apple.



So the advert is lame and until now i did not know what a manila envelope was but hey they have come up with one sexy laptop. I know you cant call a lot of things sexy, especially when they are electrical - but tell me i am wrong?

What can i say, the Air is like every mans ideal women. It is slim, sleek and probably very soft to touch. It even has large buttons that turn themselves on in the dark and a large touch pad, which reacts at the slightest and most simplest of touches. You will look cool with it on under your arm and will spend loads on elegant accessories . But what do you get in return?

Aluminum finished, internal web-cam, large back lit keyboard and touch pad like the iphone. Back lit 13 inch screen, 2GB Ram, 80gb hard-drive, one usb port and a dvi connector for a whopping £1200, or for about £2k you can get one with a 64GB of ssd instead. Wow, all innovation features that you expect from Apple, however, the hardcore mac fans are not happy. They wanted something smaller like the Asus, the internal power of a macbook pro and the price of a first class stamp.

My initial impressions were this thing is expensive, very expensive, and who is the target audience . It is slim so it could be used as a machine for those on the go, but it is not as small as a Asus. It is powerful enough to be a main machine with a £65 optional external optical drive and its 80gb internal hard drive, but not large enough for those who want to do more resource hungry activities. Apple have even developed software that once installed on a another pc/mac - you can control its cd/dvd drive to install software etc, so it could be also used with existing machines. I think it will probably cover a lot of markets, depending on what accessories you use and probably keep the gadget lovers happy.

The Macbook Air is going to have the same impact on the computer world as the Motorola V3 had on the phone market. When first released it was about £250 on a contract and within 18 months Motorola sold 55m worldwide. The V3 was the slimmest phone on the market, some called it a ladies phone and some said it was a hairdressers phones. Either way, the software was crap, but it sold itself, on pure looks. The Macbook Air with Apples solid operating system will sure to encourage sales, especially in trying to convert existing Windows users.

Come back to see if i ever get one.

www.apple.com

You got to get a Asus EEE PC

So i have been playing with my "eee"(E3) for about five days and my first impressions are ermmmmm......well i don't know how to describe it without sounding like i am going over the top or exaggerating.Once you open the box and hold this little gem, you cant quiet believe how small it really is. It feels a bit on the weighty side, but i think its more to do with the fact its so compact. You expect a vtech education type of device, but end up looking at something that is really solid and trendy looking. Its like a seventies style monitor with the speakers on the side. I am sure, Asus will expand the screen and move the speakers, but this will just stop it from looking so retro.



The setup is so easy, about five minutes from start up until you are running a browser and surfing the web. Linux is not for everyone, but the E3 community is brilliant and helps you with everything. It so easy to tinker with system and if you make a mistake just hit reset. No re-installation disks just five minutes setting up and your back up and running. There is even a advanced mode for those who want a XP like GUI to tinker about with.

Messenger and the cam are great, the Star Office is just like Word and there is even a voice command application. "Computer Web" and there you go, a web window pops up. Pointless but some what cool! Chuck in a SD card and you can add up to 16G of memory for photos, docs or whatever you want.

I can see why this was the most wanted Xmas present in the States and i have to say i think it will continue to sell really well. There is already more demand than they can supply and i reckon everyone needs to get one of these. Not the best thing for your only machine, but brilliant for surfing, email, streaming and the odd document. I normally look at gadgets that are too expensive or just pointless. At £219, this is a bargain and a must buy.

JVC NC250 Noise Cancelling Headphones

I got myself some Sennheiser PX200 headphones a few months ago, to use with my new PSP Slim. What can i say, i was amazed by the quality of these especially as they were under £25. Anyone who owns a PSP will know that the volume can be a bit on the low side. Don't worry these will sort you out. These little German beauties, come with leather padding, fit over your head and even fold away. The case can even just about, be used as a holder for the psp slim.

This purchase lead me onto researching noise cancelling headphones a bit further. I am no kind of audiophile, however after major convincing that i needed a pair, i narrowed my choices down to: the Bose Quiet Comfort 3(QC), Sennheiser 350 and 450 and the JVC NC250.

The first thing you must understand is that noise cancelling headphones always require batteries. Normally a AAA or something similar. This is because when you activate the noise cancelling, the inbuilt microphones will activate and detect the sounds around you. Once analysed it will send out a frequency to cancel major low end noises.

The Bose QC 3 are excellent pair of elite headphones. After purchasing the Bose On-Ear i was very tempted with the QC3. However, once you have looked into them a bit more you realise that they may not be worth the £250 retail price. They can reproduce a lot of bass on heavy tracks such as RnB. Whilst wearing them and looking in the mirror, i noticed they are not circular and stuck out. The finishing on the leather was tacky and they felt a bit heavy. On top of this i did not understand why they would only cost me £180 across the pond in the states. Apparently, the EU version gets to rechargeable batteries and a EU charger, where as the yanks just get one battery. This leads me onto another negative, the battery is rechargeable which means you have t o connect them to the charger each time you run out of power. This and the fact that you cant turn the noise cancelling function off, meant i had to look at alternatives. By the way you can buy a pair from the Bose outlet in Oxford, with the standard warranty for £180. Apparently, they are refurbished from the states....hmmmmm.....or just imports.

Sennheiser are one of the manufacturers competing with Bose for sound quality. The 350 and 450 are the top end noise cancelling headphones with amazing reviews by the pros. At about £130 and £180 they are not cheap, but are lot cheaper than the Bose. Excellent headphones, that go around the ear - which means they are more like ear muffs. The quality is amazing and you don't even have to kick the noise cancelling on to reduce the surrounding noise. This is probably due to the fact each muff is about the size of 3 Telcoms original phones. The 450's also take a single battery and have the feature of a talk through button. This allows you to press a button to hear what is going on around you without taking your headphones off. I think this is a bit rude and you would feel like a tit trying to talk to someone . Common courtesy would be at least to take you headphones to respond to someone.

Finally, a late contender was the JVC NC250. Shaped like the Bose QC3's these are finished in better leather and are much lighter. They are also smaller than the Sennheiser, however,still provide a bit too much bass when the noise cancelling is on some real heavy music. To tell you the truth, i was questioning if these were not the same headphone as Bose, but just under another brand. They fit the head real well and come in a nice hard case that could probably also hold your ipod. The major difference between these and the Bose, is that the JVC can take single batteries. I accidentally left them on one night and lucky for me all i had to do was change the battery. Where as with the Bose, i would have to recharge and wait. Unlike the Bose, you can still use the headphones without noise cancelling once the batteries have run out, there is a detachable cable and gold plated finishing. At £130 you cant really go wrong. I have now used mine for over two weeks and think they are brilliant. They are soft on your ears and the clarity is excellent. A high end pair available only at John Lewis (for now).

If your looking for generic cool headphones, look no further that Skull and Candy for about £25. About the size of Sennheiser ear muffs with some groovy patterns. Alternatively, if you have about a £1000 to spend, the worlds best wooden headphones are on the Grado website. Let me know if you get a pair : )

Asus EEE PC

I know i am a bit of a gadget freak and will look into something a lot before purchasing. This time round i am really trying to find faults in this particular item, so i don't purchase it - but i cant .

Its a small laptop, with 4GB of internal flash memory and only a 7 inch screen. Okay, so its not a great deal of internal memory once Linux is on there, however it can be purchased with 8GB too. It comes in white and black, internal webcam, SD card slot so you can expand as much as you want, external monitor port, 3 USB connectors and a Ethernet port. The monitor is probably a downfall as it is only 7 inch's with only 800 x 480 pixels. Specs include a 900 mhz processor and a 512 mb ram slot and wifi. The 8 GB one is 1GB ram and i believe that the 2GB version has 256 mb ram. It even has a two year warranty.No one gives you that these days.

People have installed XP on this and the box contains all the drivers if you wish to install it. Pre loaded is open office and about 40 other applications to help you with your daily activities, chat compatible with msn, firefox web browser, video player for most formats and even voice recognition software. Personally, i think this is to be a second machine for someone - some surfing, streaming and chat. You will have to keep your itunes elsewhere.

I would say the biggest downfall would be the screen and the fact it does not have the ability to have a security log on. However, this is based on a open source platform so you can install another version of linux or just wait for someone to develop a application. Students love it as its small and handy and i am looking into this over the new upcoming 12 inch macbook, as that will probably be about £600 + . Who cares i will get both. Why you ask? - this thing is only £219, if you can get hold of one. They have sold 350,000 since the end of November. Yes £219, that's cheaper than some PDA's, cheaper than a ipod or iphone, the same cost as a tie jacket and pair of jeans in the sale from Ted Baker. Going to have to get me one of these and i think there will be a lot of others out there wanting one too. If you get bored of it in a few months, you can just give it to a younger brother or niece etc. They can always use it to do there homework : )


Check out the Vid.

Audio Books

Everyone loves to read! I personally wish i had more time to read or could stick it out with a book without being distracted by gadgets or something or another to spend my money on. The problem with reading is that you need to really be in the mood to flick pages and it is not easy to keep your eyes open after a long day at work.

I came across audible.co.uk. This company provides audio books for you to download to your computer, ipod or even phone. After listening to six hours or so of Wilbur Smiths Blue Horizon, i must say i was pretty impressed. Most books are about £10 - 30 each and can either come in a bridged or unbridged format ( Shorten or original length).

If you sign up and pay £7.99 a month you get a book free each month. There is no minimum contract, so you can cancel at any time. Also, there is no restrictions on what book you can pick or the cost of it. If you decide to cancel your subscription, you still have access to your online library where your previous purchases are stored -for life. They can be burnt to CD and even streamed online. I think this is definitely worth a look if your looking to rest your eyes.

Happy New Year To You All

It has been a while i know, however, after great demand the blog is coming back. You dont need to know where i went all you need to know is what have i purchased. Reviews to follow :)