While on the subject of computer peripherals, this is another offer that caught my eye. Like all tech gadgets, the price of touch screen LCDs have fallen too. The last price I remember for a 15” LCD touch screen was around RM 1500. So a 23” touch screen for under RM1000 is relatively cheap.
I am still itching to know if playing online chess using touch screen LCDs is practical.
Features of this model:
23″ wide (16:9), full HD LCD screen
Rapid 2ms response time, 80,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and 300 cd/m2 brightness
Multi-touch capability lets users rotate images, flip pages, pinch and draw on the screen with hand gestures
Advanced HDMI connectivity delivers highest quality video/audio currently available
2 integrated speakers with 1.5W power
Of course you’d need Windows 7 to fully use the multitouch features. Anyone who has bought this monitor and tried it out please tell me if it’s any good for FICs, Playchess etc.
One thing I can’t help thinking is how oily the screen will get using my fingers.
(PS: I’m not advertising for any computer shop. You can find the offer easily from the flyers you get passing by the shops in Low Yat Plaza)
Just passed by a computer shop and noticed that the prices of portable harddisks is falling!
I’m planning to get a one Terrabyte portable harddisks to backup all my photos and videos. I think DVD backups are just not reliable enough. Also the price per Gig (around RM1) is more expensive compared to harddisks (around RM 0.37).
I want a 2nd hand phone just to do mobile blogging.
Very simple requirements really.
Device must be pocketable
Easy to type text on
Has good camera
Have 3G or EDGE internet connection
Currently thinking of either the Nokia E61i or Sony Experia X1.
Both have Qwerty keyboards which is more convenient compared to using number keypads on a phone.
The Nokia E61i is kind of old but like most Nokia phones has a high 2nd value compared to other brands. Current market price for a 2nd hand Nokia E61i is RM 400. It is quite fat and looks bulky but I’m not concerned as I’m not using it as a phone.
The second option is the Sony XPeria X1 which came out in 2008, It was one of the best looking phones at that time and also costly at RM 2000+.
This phone fetches around RM 800 second hand.
It’s twice the cost of the Nokia and is still relatively expensive for 2nd hand gadget. However the Nokia cannot run Pocket Fritz 4 while the Sony can (as the X1 runs on Windows Mobile OS).
The cameras on these 2 phones are nothing to shout about but they are above average quality and should be good enough for pictures on a blog. Still cannot decide one over the other. I love Nokia phones for their build quality and reliabillty but then I can’t have Pocket Fritz 4 on the Nokia. It could run Chess Genius but that’s not as good as PF4.
I’ve always been a Nokia fan. So when Nokia came out with their first portable computer, it caught my interest.
It has a normal netbook Atom processor and 10.1-inch display, but that screen is higher res than your average netbook.
Extras include integrated 3G wireless and a hot-swappable SIM card. It has A-GPS with a copy of Ovi Maps, HDMI output, a n advertised 12 hour battery life!
Perhaps not so much a chess player’s netbook but definitely a perfect mobile blogger’s gadget.
The latest gadget announced by Apple’s Steve Job yesterday is the Apple iPad.
I see this as a giant iPhone with its 9.7-inch, 1024×768 multitouch and capacitive screen. Also packed with other features such as a-GPS, digital compass, 3.5mm audio, accelerometer, Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi, and it can sync using USB just like an iPhone or iPod touch.
It’s unbelievably thin for such a big device – half an inch thick!!
Battery life is advertised at 10 hours. Storage is either 16, 32GB or 64GB of flash.
The device will be out in US late March but no indications yet when it will arrive in Malaysia. Apple makes one of the best touch screen gadgets around and I’m just itching to try out if online ICC/PlayChess is any good on such a tablet machine. Of course the iPad is an excellent eBook device making reading online newspapers, magazine, articles and books one of the best experience on an electronic device so far.
I am definitely biases towards Asus netbooks, having tested out several 900x models and now owning a 1000HE. The thing I love most is the light weight and ultra portability of Asus netbooks. Of course every other notebook company today have come out with their own version of a netbook.
Here’s yet another model from Asus – the 1005HA.
The technology is still the same using the latest Atom N280 which only gives an estimated 4% CPU boost compared to the older N270. At first look, it is suprisingly similiar to the Acer netbooks. Probably the biggest differentiator this time is the battery life. My 1000HE is advertised to be 9.5 hours (but practical use is about 6 hours). You can probably reach 9.5 hours if you turn down LCD screen brightness, turn off WiFi and lower the CPU speed to power saving mode ::)
The 1005HA is said to have a longer battery life running for 10.5 hours!
The design is said to be nicer now with an “Seashell” look.
I would love to test out this Dell Studio One 19 playing PlayChess.com or Babas Chess (FIC/ICC client) online. If the response is fast, then it would definitely be better than using the mouse especially for fast bullet chess (1/2/3 min).
Price of the Dell Studio One is RM 2999 3999. (RM 2999 model is with a normal screen without touch capabilities)
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista(R) Home Basic 32 bit SP1 Edition (English)
Memory
4GB(2×2G) DDR2 SDRAM Memory
Hard Drive
250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive with Native Command Queuing
Asus Malaysia did invite me for a launch of a similiar product but theirs was based on the Atom processor. Although the machines were in the demo room but the presenter only used PowerPoint to show the features. It would have been nice if they showed a live demo. That was a few months ago. I now regret not pursuing the offer then by Asus to review the model because back then I was only interested in getting my hands on the 1000HE (which Asus did give me a chance to review).
Chess players who have already bought similiar touch screen PCs out there please comment if you can
Samsung DualView TL225 is innovative that it lets the person in the picture see himself or herself before the shot is taken. However I guess you’d have to be near enough to see the tiny LCD screen to benefit from the second screen. It also shows a countdown timer too.
It’s new and set to come out in the US in October.
Last weekend’s Malaysian Masters 3rd round Quarterfinals was broadcasted live on the internet.
Equipment used was just this Asus 1000HE netbook.
.. and a few books to raise it to get a proper view.
Most netbooks today come with a built-in webcam. If not, you can get an average webcam for around RM 50.
Also, not to forget ustream.tv which is an excellent free service to stream live videos. Which such cheap and simple setups let’s hope we can see more live broadcast of chess events around Malaysia.
Multimedia files where a grandmaster explains a certain chess game is pretty instructive. Even small devices like smartphones and PDA can play this media files.
Here’s Kramnik explaining his game (Media files running on Pocket Fritz 3):-
With DATMO just a month away I was happy to get a chance to test out the netbook + celcom prepaid broadband to see if I could report on the MBSSKL event effectively.
Generally you don’t get a netbook to play games on it. Most modern games are too demanding on the processor and graphic card. Also those real time strategy (RTS) games like Command and Conquer, Warcraft etc don’t quite feel good playing a 10 inch screen.
Anyway, I did try out Age of Mythology on the netbook but hooked up to a 22” monitor using the external monitor port on the netbook. The game looks superb and on the Asus 1000HE netbook, it plays very smoothly even with the highest graphic detail. Although I’m going to uninstall it straight away as these games are so addictive that they almost always suck up all my time . I’m very gila RTS games
Other than that ChessBase and Fritz runs smoothly too. I am going to test out Rybka 3 later but I already am sure that it should run fine too.
Personally i think it’s the best looking netbook with a great keyboard. The previous versions had casing that were mostly plastic. The 2140 is mostly aluminium which makes it look and feel fantastic. I took a hard look at it in Low Yat Plaza last week and the HP2140 was a serious choice to buy. However I still chose the Asus 1000HE because of Asus’s battery life that lasts twice as long compared to the HP.
Still, if battery life of 2-3 hours is ok with you, then the HP2140 is the perfect netbook. The last price I saw for this in Low Yat Plaza is RM 1699 with Windows XP Home (RM2,299 with Windows XP Professional).
Also another minor downside is the screen resolution of 1024 X 576. Normal resolution on the Asus 1000HE is 1000 X 600. However there is a special model, the HP Mini 2140 (FM839UT) with a 1366 X 768 resolution but that has not reached Malaysia (yet?).
Asus netbook is not well known for good looks but I think this will change with the 1008HA. It’s the thinnest netbook to date at only 1 inch thickness!
It weighs only 1.08 Kg.It was announced about 2 months ago CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany. As usual I estimate this will take at least 3-5 months (if 1000HE is any indication) to hit the shores of Malaysia.
Of course I’m not holding my breath for this model and going for the 1000HE instead. With a netbook this thin, I doubt that battery can match the 7-8 hours of the less sexy 1000HE. (Battery life is 3 hours 50 minutes heavy use test by bit-tech.net)
The cost is a little prohibitive at starting price of USD $430The Wizard of Oz hd . It’ll probably drop by the time it reaches Malaysia.
