Category: Geeks r Us
I'm 23, but I've got alot of vintage stuff. Apple II C, Apple II GS, Abtiva/Win 95, IBM Insight/Dos 6.22 and Win 3.1, two keynote gold laptops dos6.22/win 3.1, IBM Thinkpad/Win 98, Northgate Win Xp and HP Pavilian/Win XP. Plus a Braille Lite 2000 and a Braille Note Classic and a typewriter from 1908. But I want to add something new to my list. What I'm looking for is basically a really tiny laptop. I can't call it a palmtop (though I'd love to get a dos hp palmtop just to play with) or a pda because they don't run full Windows and many are inaccessible and need new software in any case. What I want is basically a tiny handheld computer. I Whatever it's called, it needs to have a full (as much as a laptop) built-in keyboard, to have some kind of decent battery life and decent memory or the ability to add alot of memory to it without breaking the bank or buying a big bulky hard drive. Now I've heard of laptops that have their periferals (disk drive, cd rom drive etc) external and I don't mind that too much, but I do want it to have a pcmcia card slot for my flash card. It also needs to either run Windows XP or be guttable so I can dump the current system and install XP or flexible so that I could run XP ontop of the default system. I want this machine so that I can take it with me. I love my Pavilian, but it's too big to carry with me everywhere and though my music collection isn't huge, my tapes are getting messed up from constant use/not putting them back in their cases and my mp3s are in my laptop so do me no good when I go out. I hate cds except to keep and copy because they skip all the time, so that's not an option. Plus, I want to be able to do other things, like take my Greek lessons, jot down quick notes, maybe look over something I'm writing (story lj entry whatever). I know I have a Braille Note, but it's just not good enough for this, and I like the search function in Windows. I could get an mp3 player, but I hear they're not fully accessible. I also want, finally, to be able to try out this program called The Voice, that turns images into sound.
http://www.seeingwithsound.com
(for those interested). I've never seen and think this will give me a degree of freedom that I've never had. So please, can anyone give me any ideas as to what I can get? Also, what kind of external hard disk should I get, since I want to back up all my stuff? It needs to be under $100 and hold at least 30 gigs, just to be safe.
Hmm. well if you get a handheld it's not going to have a full keyboard that you can type on like a normal keyboard. If you get one of the palmtops some come with a thumb keyboard, and most people get a bluetooth keyboard to go with it.
If you just want a small actual laptop, I'd look at the lenovo or sony brands. I've heard del is also coming out with some rather small ones too. You'll have to pick what's most important to you.
Check out the Asus EEE series (just look for EEE on Google). 7 inch flash based laptops, only 8gb onboard storage space, but a gig of ram, they come with Linux but are fully XP compatible and they may have XP versions already, run in the $600 range and are very powerful, come with a 52 key keyboard and a usb keyboard, you can get USB or Blue Tooth keyboards you can fold and stow away, they're quite nice.
I'd got for a 120gb 2.5 inch portable hard drive, think they're under $100 or just around that, check out www.buy.com for good deals or the Blind Bargains page www.blindbargains.com, they're good too, Circuit City has good deals sometimes. I realize none of these options are Greek though so you may not be interested *grin*.
hahahaha No, I'm very interested! Technology's one area in which we're actually a little behind... Seriously though, I've heard of the Asus EEE, and will have to check it out. I really don't want to have to get an external keyboard, so I'm glad it has one onboard. But I wonder what keys are missing? Also, what do you mean they're XP compatible? Do I just keep linux on it and install XP over it? As for the hard drives, I saw alot of them on overstock.com, but didn't know what was the best and smallest. I don't want to get something just because it's small that has only a little bit of memory when compared to a bigger drive for the same price. As for the Blind Bargains page, I found that just a few days before really getting on the zone and it seemed very interesting. Anyway, thanks to both of you. I'll have to check these out.
Yepyep. The ASUS as formentioned comes with a version of linux on it. But when you go to install windows on it, it'll just have you format the drive, which will erase the linux OS off of it, and the windows one will take it's place. (A bit simplified, but I figure that would answer your question.)
But do I need to download sound drivers and other stuff as I would with a regular laptop? I mean, it would use it's own, not stuff provided by Windows right? This is one of the reasons why, when I reformat my HP Pavilian, I always use the recovery disks. I don't want the stuff they put on it, but I'd have to download the HP specific drivers... Might do that this time around though, since it looks like I need to reformat soon anyway.
As far as the ultra low voltage laptops, those that have lesser processor power and are designed only to run on smaller batterys, Sony is the cream of that crop, with dell at a close second. If you want real power but at a slightly larger bit of bulk, then Dell is your friend with their XPS M1330 laptop, which is truly the class of that type of laptop. Look at the websites for both brands, why don't ya.
www.lenovo.com has laptops that are 4 to 11 inches in terms of small. I too am in search for a small laptop, however, i'm concerned with the keyboard size of the keyars on the keyboard.
At lenovo, the x61 models starts at about 2.3 pounds to 4 pounds depending on configuration. However, there is no built in dvd burner. you have the option to select the ultra light screen which reduces the weight by as much as 1.5 pounds.
Windows xp is also an option for this system. However, I do not know how long microsoft will permit companies to continue that OS.
The dell's xpx m1330 is also an option, however, you can not easily revert to windows xp from vista. Most of the drivers are there ont eh support.dell.com. However, for us blind folk, the most important driver is missing, the sound driver. I've done research and found that some people are having limited success with the signma driver from another site, which I can ont remember off hand, but that is a risk I do not care to take.
Both of those machines do not run cheap however. But lenovo, has a 22% discount of their's until dec 31 I believe.
However, I believe the discount is only valid for US customers.
hmm
Wow, that sounds great! I'll definitely have to check out the Lenovo x61 and the Asus E. I never even use dvds so I don't mind if it has the burner or not. As for the screen, wow! I can't believe a screen could weigh as much as a pound! My Pavilian could be very small if it weren't for that mouse thing, which, for me, is obviously a waste of space. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions! Oh, and I do live in the U.S. so I'm gonna see if I qualify for the discount if I decide to go with this one.