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The Notebook Nerd (formerly "The Notebook Buyer's HomePage") This site has been evolved (and will no longer be updated)... Please visit gadtronics.com Serving the Net since 1997 |
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Click Here to Visit our Sponsor October 15, 2003 Say goodbye to this site. It has been evolved to cover a wider category of products, not just notebooks but also handhelds, mobile phones and digital cameras... all gadgets and electronics... hence the new name -- gadtronics.com. Please click on the link below to visit: gadtronics.comAugust 26, 2003 Due to that stupid Sobig virus I had to deactivate the notebook at edgeworld.com email address. If you need to contact me, please use the Board. Sorry about the inconvenience. August 12, 2003 Wow... been almost 2 months. Well, what can I say... have to do my real work so I can keep food on the table. The only real new thing is my Sprint PCS phone review of the Samsung A620/VGA1000. June 18, 2003 I've changed my Message Board again. I was tired of those aimoo.com pop-up ads so I used IkonBoard which only has a small banner ad (for now). You can access it directly using notebooknerd.myikonboard.com. HP plans to release 10 new models of notebooks this year. They are currently the number one seller of notebooks so they are trying to capitalize on the mobile market. You can read more about it at C|Net. June 11, 2003 Intel has modified itd Mobile Pentium 4 (or Pentium 4-M) line to reflect the performance hunger of the computing public. They just recently released a 3.06GHz CPU. By having the Pentium-M / Centrino line aimed at more power conscious users and the thing and light notebook category, they are able to bump up the GHz on the P4-M line to accomodate those with a need for speed. You can read the C|Net article for more information. Unfortunately, the ad-free status of my new aimoo.com board was only for 20 days (I didn't read the fine print), so there are now ads on my message board. I really don't mind the banner ads but aimoo.com actually has those really irritating pop-up ads. So I either have to pay to get rid of the ads, install new message board software on my server or just live with... I'll let you know. June 3, 2003 I've written an Epinions review of my Pentax Optio-S digital camera. I've also written a review of the Laptop Desk v2.0 from LapWorks, Inc.. I've been using the Laptop Desk as a notebook stand on my desk for several weeks and I highly recommend it. May 24, 2003 I've finally set up a new Message Board. Instead of hosting it myself, I am using a service called Aimoo. Fortunately, they do not display any ads (yet), which is why I didn't use the other *free* message boards (banner ads I can live with, but I hate pop-up ads). There are no posts there and if you have any suggestions for categories, please let me know through the Board in the General Questions section. May 14, 2003 Sorry it's been a while since I've last posted anything here. Been very busy lately. Intel has a new prototype for new notebooks of the future. Is it just me or are the new Pentium-M/Centrino notebooks not what I though they would be. Sure, there are some cool designs by Sony and Acer but what happened to the "slew" of thinner and lighter notebooks I was expecting? Everytime I look at the new Apple notebooks I wonder if Steve Jobs has a patent on stylish, thin and light notebooks. I am currently reviewing a laptop accessory called the Laptop Desk. It's from a company called LapWorks, Inc.. It's an interesting product because it solves that problem of the notebook being hot when you use it on your lap. The other good thing is it creates more room on your lap for the notebook to rest on. I will be posting a more in-depth review shortly. Oh... and by the way, I finally got my digital camera. I ended up getting the Pentax Optio-S. This is one small camera, not only is it a 3.2MP with 3x optical zoom, but it really does fit inside an Altoids tin (I actually use one as my carrying case). And I got it for a deal at Costco. It was $389.99, which is not only $10 cheaper than retail, but it also came with a 128MB SD card and a leather carrying case (although I don't use the case). March 12, 2003 Centrino Wednesday! Or should I call it Pentium-M Wednesday since a lot of the new notebooks have WiFi as an option? Here is a list of new notebook offerings off the Intel website:
Acer There are some other vendors on there but I consider them non-name brands so I didn't include them, but you can use these links to the Intel pages:
Intel Where to Buy page I also put a link to the PC Magazine and C|Net reviews on my Reviews page. When I get more information I'll put it here. Overall I'm not really impressed with any of the new notebook offerings other than the IBM T40, Sony Z1A and Toshiba Portege R100. We'll have to wait and see what else is coming out because many of them are just redos of their existing lines. March 5, 2003 Companies are releasing their updated notebook lines slowly. Dell has 3 new models coming out but the one I like the most is the Inspiron 8500 (I also have a sponsored link to buy one on the right). It doesn't have the 3 spindle design of the previous 8100/8200 series but it has a nice widescreen display in either WSXGA+ (1680x1050) or WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution. Seems like widescreen displays are becoming more popular (Apple's 17" Powerbook has one and so does the VPR Matrix). None of the new Dell notebooks use the Centrino CPU, but those should be available March 12. Here are some links:
C|Net's review of the Inspiron 8500 Keep your eyes open because I'm sure the new Centrino notebooks will be really nice. February 28, 2003 If you are looking for a sub-notebook (classified as a notebook than has the dimensions of a letter-sized paper or less) then you should take a look at the Fujitsu LifeBook P2000 I'm still waiting for some company to make a Powerbook-like PC notebook... maybe we'll see some with the Centrino processor coming out next month. And while I'm talking about the Centrino, you may want to put off that new notebook purchase for a few months if you can. Many of the vendors will probably be coming out with new lines the next several months and if you can afford to wait, you should. February 10, 2003 That was one of the better NBA All-Star Weekends I've seen in a while. The Rookie/Soph game was a nice dunkfest and the All-Star game last night was great to watch. Back to notebooks... a site you should check out is Laptop Advisor. It's new and the author has great tips, articles and links. The site has a good breakdown by vendors/brands and some information for people who are outside of North America. I'm thinking about taking down the Message Board because I don't think it's as useful as just posting to the comp.sys.laptops newsgroup. So I apologize if you just recently placed a post there because it may be gone soon. Keep your eyes out because starting in March, you will probably see new models of notebooks come out. Dell's line is getting kind of stale so I'm not sure if they are waiting for the new Centinos or are just upramping new designs. And why aren't more PC notebook companies designing nice thin and light notebooks like Apple? Have you seen that Yao Ming / Verne Troyer (Mini-Me) commercial? Even the big 17" one is thin and light. I'll be posting an article soon on what my "Dream" notebook would be if I were to design one. February 4, 2003 I've added 2 more "articles" to my site that can be found under the Buying Tips page: Brand Name vs. Non-brand Name January 8, 2003 Happy New Year!
Well, although I really hate it, more companies are moving towards the trend of putting desktop CPUs into a notebook. Read
this article from C|Net: Funny thing is they forget to mention how Toshiba had all those overheating problems with their notebooks: http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/03/01/07/030107hnlaptops.xml?s=IDGNS
I wonder how they are going to respond to the CPU formerly know as Banias, the Centrino? Hopefully, the Centrino will help illustrate the difference between a true mobile CPU vs. a desktop one. I wrote about this issue over 5 years ago and will probably write another updated version shortly because I think there is still some confusion over the whole mobile vs. desktop CPU thing. December 27, 2002 Nothing new to report. Just want to wish everyone "Happy and Safe Holidays". I'm looking for a new digital camera (Santa didn't bring me anything this year) and I have narrowed it down to a Canon ELPH S200 or S230. Does anyone have any of their own recommendations? I'm looking for a very small one that I can take with me easily. December 18, 2002 I've been communicating with Sotec to set up some type of review on my own. I'll let you guys know more as it develops. And I added yet another Sotec user review. December 14, 2002 Added more links and another Sotec user review. December 5, 2002 I've started on the Links page. It doesn't have too many links right now but I'll keep adding on. I've noticed that the Mobile Computing magazine has ceased publication. That's too bad... now there is only one dedicated notebook magazine left, Laptop Buyer's Guide and Handbook. I just got an email from the IBM Affiliates program stating that my site doesn't meet their standards. I just started redesigning this in October, so what do they expect? But that's okay, my site referred over $8000 in sales to Dell just for the month of November so that's their loss (and thanks to those individuals who used my sponsored links and banners to shop Dell). December 3, 2002 The Reviews page has been put back. It only has one review but I intend to add more soon. October 25, 2002 I've finally got around to revamping this site. It's going to be sparse for now and I'm slowly going to rebuild the Links page. All the old information (5 years worth) is gone, many of you have told me how outdated it was anyways. For now either check out my Buying Tips or post a message on my Message Board. Thanks for visiting and I hope this site helps you out in your "Quest" for the perfect notebook! Erick
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