Now that I have a new netbook I decided to post a list of must have accessories to go with it. These are the small but essential items you need to go with your new netbook purchase.
1. Pouch/ Sleeve
2. External Hard Drive




Hacks, Reviews and Stories From The Life of a Geek
Now that I have a new netbook I decided to post a list of must have accessories to go with it. These are the small but essential items you need to go with your new netbook purchase.
1. Pouch/ Sleeve
Recently as a small gift to myself I purchased a new computer. I already had a desktop that is fine for almost everything I need, however wanted a small cheap laptop for taking to the coffee shop to update my blog and check emails. I scouted various websites and I just happened to be looking at the Dell page and noticed they had a special offer on their "netbooks".
I looked at the various options and decided to go for the cheaper option the Dell Mini 10v. The "v" here denotes value. I chose the lowest specification as I was planning on using it solely for light use. After two weeks a nice little package arrived on my doorstep. At first I wasn't sure what it was, however upon opening it I realised it was my new laptop. When I unboxed it the first thing that struck me was the size of the computer. The footprint of it is barely bigger than a DVD case. When I booted it up the next thing that struck me was the noise, or more accurately the lack of it. Due to the Solid State Drive (SSD) and the lack of fans this tiny laptop was totally silent. The second thing that struck me was the speed with which it booted. It took barely 30 seconds to boot up. This is due to it booting a slightly optimsed version of Ubnuntu 9.04 and having a SSD, having 1GB of ram doesn't hurt though.
Overall my experiences so far have been extremely positive. Writing this post on the keyboard has been very comfortable and my words per minute are hardly decreased from a full sized keyboard. My main concern is the trackpad. It is very twitchy and is really small.
Positives
* Size and weight: about a kilogram, fits in the front pocket of my rucksack.
* Excellent keyboard
* Good looks
* Extremely quick boot time
* Decent speed for everyday tasks
Negative
* Glossy lid attracts fingerprints
* Slightly cheap built quality
* Terrible trackpad; very twitchy
* Screen resolution fairly low (1024 x 600)
For a while now I have had a Sansa e280 Mp3 player. It has served me well and I really like the ability to upgrade it with Micro SD memory cards, however I was getting tired of the music on there. When I went out and brought an 8GB Micro SD and tried it, it didn't work. I was confused so I did the usual thing when i'm confused; I googled it. It turns out that the first generation, of which mine was one, cannot use Micro SDHC cards, e.g. cards above 2gb. I found there is a solution however:
ROCKBOX
This is an amazing peice of software, availble for many models of Mp3 player, including the ubiquitous iPod. It is very easy to install and it not only solved my memory card woes, it did so much more. It is fully themable so I downloaded a windows vista style theme which was easier on the eyes than the default black and yellow theme. I also descovered that it comes with plentyfull games and apps. It even has a DOOM emulator for when you might want to get your game on, whilst riding the bus.
I am actually glad that my new memory card didn't work as installing Rockbox has given my old Mp3 a new lease of life. And I can now store 16gb of tunes for when i'm out and about. If you get a chance try this awsome software on your Mp3 player.
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