I bought MSI Wind U100 couple days ago, to replace my 7-inch Asus Eee PC laptop. Using that compact Eee PC for almost a year made me realize that the 7-inch display is too small for me That’s why I decided to switch into U100 which comes with a larger 10-inch (1024×600) screen. In term of perfomance, U100 obviously beat Eee PC since an Intel Atom N270 CPU is far more superior than Celeron M processor. I’ve also upgraded the memory onto 2GB DDR2 RAM. Moreover, U100 already comes pre-loaded with Windows XP Home operating system, so I don’t have to purchase separate Windows license for this mini laptop.

So far, I really love Wind U100. I used it mostly for mobile (FYI, I wrote this article on the airport by using U100) and its lightweight, easy to carry-around body is totally adorable. It also has built-in Bluetooth connectivity and memory card reader, so I can easily transfer photos taken from my cell phone or digital camera to U100. My one and only disappointment is that its WiFi / wireless LAN connectivity is rather weak (it only supports b/g wireless interface). Sometime it won’t detect nearby hotspot and if it did, I have to wait for at least 15 minutes before its connection become stable. Anyone else encounter the same problem?

Anyway, like many reviews for Wind U100 around the world, I highly recommend this mini laptop. Others maybe cheaper, but add a few bucks, and you’ll get a much better compact machine. Don’t forget to get the optional 6-cell battery as well, as it will give at least 4 hours of usage per full charge (the original configuration comes with a 3-cell battery that lasts for 2.5 hours). When I bought U100, I paid an extra $30, and I received another 1GB memory, doubled the hard disk space (160GB), and that 6-cell battery. Definitely worth the money.

My only disappointment is that I forgot to ask the store to replace that E8200 (2.66Ghz) with E8400 (3.00GHz) as its only $20 higher. Oh well, maybe I should just save the money and upgrade to quad-core 45nm processor two months later

Any comment on my new desktop PC?

PS3 is out (in Japan) and some of you might be lucky to get one of the early 80,000 units shipped worldwide. I *could* join the lucky-ps3-owners club right now if I want to, as I just saw this huge baby in the local game store, but the price is killing me. The original price for this next generation of gaming console in Japan is around $500, but the store in my place is selling it for $1,444 (today’s currency convertion rate)! I know that they have to pay for the shipping and such, but isn’t that too much???

The console itself looks… BIG. And honestly, that’s my first impression. It’s bigger than XBox 360 and it’s too big for my little bedroom. However, the Ridge Racer 7 that was running on a Sony Bravia LCD TV (not remember the exact model number) with around 40-inch size looks AMAZING. Eventhough I only saw the demo, not the in-game event, the graphics is quite impressive.

Anyway, for the real review, check out the PS3 Review from Danny of DannyChoo.com. Lot of pics too.

The verdict? Prepare 5 changes of underwear and a mop to clean up all the skid marks you are going to leave behind. Fan bloody tastic. It does get a little hot and I did have to update the system software as soon as I turned it on but apart form that it really does rock!

Yup, I’ll be going for a holiday until around October 27th or 28th. As usual, I’ll visit my other family members in Jogjakarta. But don’t worry, I have prepared some articles for the next few days, so you will still receive cool gadgets and computer news until I arrive back home. I’ll also try to update the web from Jogja, let’s just hope I can find any (free) WiFI hotspot there.

See you on Friday, guys.

I’m looking forward to replace my Nokia 3250 cell phone and replace it with another handset from Nokia, the E61. The reason is, I want to have a business-oriented device with WiFI support and QWERTY-style keyboard. My first choice was Sony Ericsson M600 but it doesn’t seem to have Wireless connectivity support, so it’s out from the list. Communicator series (N9300 and N9500), also from Nokia, are too bulky, and so they’re removed from the list as well. The last one, Nokia’s E70, is having a weird (on my opinion) flip mechanism, and the only model remains was the E61. However, I’m not too sure whether this handset is good or not.

From various reviews I’ve read on the net, it does seem to be a wonderful cell phone for business usage (not for entertainment purpose). Beside the poor USB 1.1 connectivity and bad memory card placement, I don’t mind the bundled mono earphone, the missing camera module, and not-so-smooth display. The price has been reduced as well when I ask the nearby store.

So guys, anyone has some experiences with this E61 phone? I’d like to hear them (if any)

Hooray, I finally “upgraded” my home wired network into a wireless one. Precisely, I replaced my Prolink’s Hurricane 9000P ADSL Modem / Router with Asus’ WL-500G Premium Wireless Router. After canceled my previous ADSL internet service and using dial-up for about two months, I’m now using a wireless broadband internet service, so there’s no point to keep that ADSL modem / router anymore. But why did I choose that WL-500G Premium (or WL-500gP) Wireless Router?

The main reason is that this router can functioned as more than just a router. No kidding, the WL-500gP can be used as a Media Server and a Download Machine as well. All of them can be done without having to turn off the PC. That’s right. Thanks to the provided (two) USB connectivity, I can connect the router to an external HD enclosure and have it download any files I want (HTTP, FTP, and even BitTorrent protocols are supported) and store the downloaded files on the external HDD. I’ve tested it with LAN Server, a 3.5-inch HDD enclosure from Lexcron, and it works just fine. As for its Media Server capability, I haven’t got a change to try it since I don’t have any wireless media devices. Btw, it said to work with XBox 360 as well, and it makes me want to buy one right now…

Still with its USB connectivity, the WL-500gP router can be connected with a USB printer and USB webcam as well. I want to try the printer connection, but it seems that my Windows XP is missing its TCP Lib module or something, and it made the printer’s TCP port’s setup failed. About the USB webcam, I’m going to give it a try tomorrow.

Other features include:

• 125 High-Speed Mode
• 300% increased signal coverage compared to conventional IEEE 802.11g routers, while remaining interoperable with the WL-169gE, WL-138gE and WL-100gE.
• EZsetup enables convenient wireless connection configuration
• More secured: 64/128 bit WEP, WPA/WPA2/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK

[ More ]

Hurricane 9000P is a combination between a 4-port Ethernet router and an ADSL modem. It costs me around $75. That’s about half of the wireless version price (Hurricane 9000G – around $135). Since I always use my computer near my “work desk”, I guess a wireless router is not really necesarry.

So, here goes the (long) list of detail specs and features.

Hurricane 9000P specifications:

• ADSL Compliance
  • Compliant with ADSL standards
  • Full-rate ANSI T1.413 Issue 2 and ITU G.dmt (G.992.1) standards
  • Splitterless ITU G.lite (G.992.2) specification
  • ADSL over POTS (Annex A) and ADSL over ISDN (Annex B)
  • DMT modulation and demodulation
  • Full-rate adaptive modem
  • Maximum downstream rate of 8 Mbps
  • Maximum upstream rate of 1 Mbps
  • Tone detection for low power mode
  • Supports splitterless ADSL implementation
  • Supports Dying Gasp
• ATM Protocols
  • WAN mode support: PPP over ATM (RFC 2364) and PPP overEthernet (RFC2516)
  • LAN mode support: bridged/routed Ethernet over ATM (RFC1483) and Classical IP over ATM (RFC 1577)
  • ATM Forum UNI 3.1/4.0 PVC
  • Up to 8 VCs (Virtual Circuits)
  • ATM SAR (Segmentation and Reassembly)
  • ATM AAL5 (Adaption Layer type 5)
  • OAM F4/F5
• Bridge Mode
  • Ethernet to ADSL self-learning Transparent Bridging (IEEE 802.1D)
  • Supports up to 128 MAC learning addresses
• Router Mode
  • IP routing&RIPv2
  • Static routing
  • DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Server and Client
  • NAPT (Network Address and Port Translation)
  • NAT (Network Address Translation)
  • ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)
  • Simultaneous USB and Ethernet operation
• Security
  • User authentication for PPP
  • PAP (Password Authentication Protocol)
  • CHAP (Challenge Authentication Protocol)
  • Password protected system management
• Ethernet interface
  • Compliant with IEEE 802.3 standard
  • 10/100 Mbps auto selection
  • 4-port 10/100 port (MDI/MDIX Autosensing)
• USB host interface
  • Compliant with USB Specification, Revision 1.1
  • USB full speed (12 Mbps)

Here’s how this site looks like when viewed on Safari web browser in my iBook G4. The whole site looks way much better than Windows! Be sure to enlarged the image to get the detail view.

Second, the boot time. Well, not really complain though, but the Power button is kinda strange. Sometimes I only need a light press to turn it on, while in another time, I have to press it hard. It also takes time until the “loading screen” show up which, at the first time I saw it, made me think that my G4 is broken.

The last thing that dissapoint me is the games. I’ve browsed the web and found out that most interesting games are not free But at least that gives me an idea about a Mac gaming website, something like FreeGamesReview.com I also plan to write my experiences switching from Windows to Mac on a new site. I’ve been using DOS and Windows for about 18 years, so, trust me, using iBook is really a big adventures to me. For example, it took a day to figure that I should press Ctrl + click to bring up the pop up menu similar to Right mouse click. Call me stupid.

Well, meanwhile, until I figure out the domain for the new site (you know Apple and their crazy copyrigt and trademark stuff), I’ll write about iBook G4 here. So, until next time.

iBook G4 specs:

• 1.33ghz PowerPC G4 processor, 512K level 2 cache
• 512MB of DDR SDRAM, expandable up to 1.5GB
• 40GB Ultra ATA hard drive
• Slot-loading combo drive (DVD/CD-RW)
• 12.1-inch (diagonal) TFT active-matrix XGA color display
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 with 32MB of video memory
• Built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and 56K modem
• Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking (802.11g) and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• FireWire 400 port, two high-speed USB ports
• VGA video output, S-Video, and composite video output

Well, anyway, the breaking news for today is.. I finally bought a laptop. Not an ordinary laptop, but an Apple’s iBook G4 laptop. Surprise, huh? I know. At first, I told you that I want this Toshiba’s Satellite R10 Tablet PC. The cheap local brand Axioo Centaur SL 756 was also one of my consideration. Then last month, when I was in a local computer mall, I saw that iBook G4 priced at just $1040. That’s over $60 cheaper than its normal price (note that there are only 3 computer store in my city that sell Apple’s computers), so I rushed inside the store and asked for the detail specs.

Let’s see… 1.33Ghz PowerPC G4 processor with 512K L2 cache, 512MB of DDR SDRAM, 40GB ATA/100 HDD, 12.1-inch TFT LCD screen, WiFI, Bluetooth, 56K modem, Ethernet, and ATI Mobility Radeon 9550 with 32MB of dedicated DDR SDRAM. Those are enough to catch my intention of buying this notebook. Especially since it comes with a small LCD screen, I do really want a small screen laptop. I think it looks much cooler than the large ones.

So that’s it. I ended up buying the iBook G4 laptop. But unfortunately, the stock is currently empty at that time and I have to wait for couple days. Apparently, that “couple days” become “couple weeks” and after almost a month I finally get my hand on my own ultra-cool G4.

Yeah, I’m happy.