i am a desktop user.  period.  … or am i?

i started my computing history of course with desktops since well they were more accessible than the early portables (ie uber crazy prices for the times for the early laptops).  the apple IIe to the powerpc to a packard-bell 75mhz to my first computer/laptop toshiba 133mhz.  i then built my first desktop system, an AMD Slot A, 900mhz Athlon and about 20+ more systems.

anywho, davak’s recent blogs about helping his dad find a new computer has me really rethinking my setup.  currently i run a rather older (well imo older, Athlon 64 x2 cpu, socket 939; 2gb ddr1, 1.5+TBs of space) desktop which really needs to be updated if not replaced all together.  i also have an even older Athlon 64 htpc setup that just sits and collects dust but yet would not be worth even trying to sell. 

so what do i do? 

davak posted a nice follow up on this, desktop vs laptop, which really got me thinking.

i know that if i go with a more powerful laptop i won’t just toss my current desktop setup in the trash or sell it for pennies on ebay.  as a computer user, i’ve definetely come of age recently ie am ’starting to get old’, hehe or so it seems.  work has become a bit more demanding and having a more portable solutions seems more viable.  however when i am at home though i do want to still be able to do the more powerful things i do normally with my desktop such as rendering 720p video i’ve created or just sd video rendering or basic web server/file server features. 

also as a side note, i saw the best buy deal this last weekend for a toshiba a205-s5825 laptop for a mere $450 and got one and am so far pretty impressed with it for the price.  so the price of a decent new laptop (non mac one that is) is within the 1000us dollars range, imo.  a decent desktop would prob cost me around the same price if i built new from scratch and did not reuse parts (which i prob would not).  yes, the desktop would by default be more powerful but i really do not plan to game on my pc. my main uses these days are hd content, video, music, productivity (office), photoshop, web work.

so.. what do i do?  hmmm… to be continued….

htpc, life, hd, geek, hardware, opinion, pc | 4 Comments »

we’ve all seen the auctions/’deals’ on SDHC cards.  16GB class 6 no-name, generic for $30, etc.  however more and more often we are seeing name brand memory being knocked off on ebay.

most memory formats have a standard and in turn a standard way of identifying the card is what it says it is (with either logos or specs). 

today, i’ll just explain how to spot a fake SDHC card, perhaps not a fake but a non-certified SDHC card (and most likely one that will prob not work as claimed either; speed / capapcity-wise).

 the SD Card Assocation (yes, there is an association for sd cards.. hehe) states that in order for  a card to be certified by them as a true SDHC card, it must have both an SDHC card logo and also the class speed logo ( http://www.sdcard.org/home ).

so there ya go, hope that helps ya spot that knockoff sdhc card or even fake namebrand one.

life, eee, fanboy, culture, mobile, general gadgets | No Comments »

as promised in my previous post, here is a somewhat longer video of me and my eee…  my eeExperience….

i have  an Asus 4G Eee PC with 2GB DDR2, 16GB SDHC class 6 running my customized XP Prof lite version (fat32 fs, temp hacks to sdhc card, apps running off of sdhc).

hit the jump to see the embedded youtube vid.

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culture, fanboy, life, eee, geek, mobile, web, windows, music, opinion, hardware | 4 Comments »

wow! who would have guessed that begining a rollout of new hardware at my ‘real’ job would be so busy? hehehe.  i apologize for the lack of updates last week; i had a ton of great posts brewing in my head but didn’t get the time to actually materialize them.  

this week i hope to follow up to my previous PS3 vs HTPC post with the HTPC look.  I finally got my Vista Ultimate up and going on that machine and now think that will make for a more fair comparison.

also, expect to see an Eee pc related posts on how I am using mine and a few useful windows xp tweaks for the Eee.

and finally, i hope to have a few ‘breaking’ pieces where i hope to dismantle my PS3 (which is now out of warranty and still having  a few freezing problems; want to see if problems are due to blocked airflow in case or dust/smoke) and also plan to take apart my new work Dell Latitude XT tablet.  Now if only work would slow down to let me get these babies going!

life, fanboy, review, tablet pc, eee, htpc, blogging, opinion, gaming, modding, culture, ps3, windows | 5 Comments »

well, i blogged about this fun little baby a while back and finally broke down and got one.  actually, i sold my TC1100 and in turn was able to turn around and get me a Galaxy Black 4G Eee PC along w/2GB of DDR2 and a 16GB SDHC Class 6 card and a mini-bluetooth 2.0 usb dongle.   Hit the jump to read more and take a look at my Eee PC 4G unboxing. 

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fanboy, life, eee, blogging, geek, web, windows, mobile, hardware | 10 Comments »

This entry is one that i’ve been waiting to do for quite some time now.  Today i’ll will be pitting my PS3 up against my Home Theater PC(well, mine is a Frankenstein’d laptop w/o lcd, hehe).  

Sony has boasted about the PS3’s multimedia and computer-ish functionality since its launch in 2006, however can it really stand-up to a similarly priced HTPC?  Does the PS3 live up to its multimedia hype? 

Lets find out, read on for more and see the embedded video.

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ps3, hd, culture, htpc, fanboy, tv, review, life, geek, dvr, psp, web, hardware, vista, music, console, opinion, pc | 4 Comments »

well… its official…  i sold my TC1100 tablet pc today on eBay.  my work did decide to go the route of the Dell Latitude XT tablets (heck yea!) and in turn i’ll be getting one from work so i figured i’d sell my ole sturdy, fun baby; my tc1100.  she’s been a great companion but lately has been sitting on my desk just gathering dust since i have a vaio in the living room and an XT at my desk at work (along w/3 other laptops or parts of them and 2 desktops; gotta love hardware rollouts and testing!)

i still wish other tablet makers would try the TC1100s combination slate/convertible design.  ahh, the  memories i’ve had with my TC1100.. installing of vista and ubuntu; rekindling my love of ubuntu, the failed attempts of OSX, perfection of usb booting and ghosting.. 

(pours some beer on the floor) for my tablet.. 

so, now what do i get w/that money from selling my tablet?  i was thinking of getting my camera since that would be coming out here in the next couple weeks (Sony Cybershot DSC-T300) but realized that i will be doing a TON of traveling for work in the next couple of months and also will be going to the WES 2008 conference too.  so i decided that i needed a good mobile, surfing and basic word processing/writing/blogging computer. 

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fanboy, blogging, geek, life, ubuntu, eee, tablet pc, handheld, mobile, hardware, mac, linux, windows, opinion, vista, general gadgets | 3 Comments »

Well, a new year means a new list!  its been a while since i’ve written about my PS3-wishlist of features (ingame XMB FTW!!! still of course at the top of everyone’s wishlist, along w/Home). 

i’ve always been told that once a person/thing stops receiving criticism is when you really have to start worrying about if people care anymore.  so in other words, i really care about my PS3 thus the creation of ‘wishlists’. 

again, most of the features i am wanting are related to using the PS3 more as the multimedia hub that sony originally was pushing for or dreamed of than the gaming aspects (since really games are the solution to that one, duh!).  lets get onto my PS3 wishlist, keep reading for the list!

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ps3, hd, fanboy, life, PlaystationStore, culture, geek, gaming, web, psp, opinion, console, hardware | 1 Comment »

Just this week, Walmart (one of the nations/worlds largest retailers, infoweek news link) has joined other big namers such as Best Buy, Target, Netflix and Blockbuster in supporting Blu-ray exclusively.

For those in the HD-DVD camp, this move almost seems to be the final blow to HD-DVD in the format wars giving Blu-ray the possible HD format TKO.

In my opinion; Sony forcing Blu-ray into the PS3 was probably one of the smarter moves vs Microsoft making the HD-DVD drive an optional, add-on accessory.  Nonetheless, Microsoft was not pushing HD-DVD as much as Sony and also did not have as much at stake since Toshiba was the main supporter/creator of HD-DVD and Sony the big pusher for Bluray.

So hopefully, we will see an upcoming  ‘THE FORMAT WAR IS OVER’ types of announcments/messages soon! :)   or the war could limp on but again, HD-DVD seems to be on life-support and we will see if Toshiba will be merciful and just pull the plug.

now lets get some more HD content out there and get those prices down so those people who ‘were waiting for a winner’ can get involved and force TV to go full HD!!  i predict HD market penetration to be very deep this year and we should start seeing more and more HDTVs in households and people finally giving into the HD upgrade.

Plus, almost a year from now the analog tv broadcasts go digital; do you have your converter yet?

fanboy, life, news, x360, ps3, hd, console, geek, culture, opinion | 4 Comments »

If you don’t mind me asking, how do you use your PSP?  do you game on it mainly or use it for movies or music? or is it your portable emulator?

 I use my PSP for almost everything besides gaming (PSP games that is).  Honestly, I have yet to really be blown away by any game yet.  I really liked Hot Shots and was addicted to it and thought GTA was pretty cool but wouldn’t cause me to buy a PSP for it.   So, what do i use my PSP for? how do i use mine?

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handheld, console, geek, culture, life, fanboy, mobile, opinion, web, hardware, gaming, psp, music, general gadgets | No Comments »