HP/Compaq nc6230

I recently received a huge pile of my money as arrears,and I will be spending a lot of it to buy stuff that I have resisted myself from owning,for too long. As a part of this plan I recently bought a laptop. When I went shopping online for laptops, I had something specific in my mind. I wanted a laptop that was unique in it's own way, has a good look and feel, be a good buy, and more importantly be portable.After
shopping around for a while I went ahead with the HP NC6230 notebook series. HP released this notebook at the start of the year 2005, in February. The NC6200 series was release as a direct competitor to the IBM's T series of business line notebooks. Here is a short review of its features in comparision with its competitors

Specifications
Intel Centrino 1.86 GHz processor 60 GB HardDrive Intel 2200 Pro/Wireless BG Wireless Connection ATI X300 Graphics Card 14.1' TFT Display Monitor 512 MB RAM Dimensions - 12.4 x 10.1 x 1.04 - 1.31 in Weight - 5.2 lbs CD-RW/DVD-ROM 24X Max Speed Microsoft Win XP Pro 3-cell Lithium Ion Battery(very sleek compared to competitors) 3-year HP Standard Warranty $1399.00 at CDW (lowest price, dated).This is pretty much a standard configuration for all the notebooks in the business class, except the price. HP seems to have priced it pretty low compared to it's competitors. At the time of this review, the price of an IBM T43 with the same config was a whopping 1750$, a significant price difference to me.
Video & Audio
The audio is pretty good keeping in mind the size and purpose of this laptop. The video graphics are of very good quality. One of the reasons I had a little leniance for this laptop was it's graphics card. My main purpose of using a laptop was doing some professional programming at home and some PC gaming. The ATI X300 card does some justice to PC gaming on light and slick laptops.
Look & Feel
The product has been wrapped in a standard metal and plastic case. The top portion is a dark metallic grey and the bottom is predominantly black colored plastic. Opening and closing the screen is pretty smooth without any creeking noises. The keyboard layout in pretty much standard. One thing I really love about this laptop is the Touchpad Scroll Zone, which lets you scroll up and down any folders, web pages. As I am writing this review, I have to do a lot of scrolling up and down to see what I have written. This feature has made my life easy, something I hate about other laptops. Full marks to HP on this one. The battery pack is pretty slick.
Performance
This is one area that I have not thoroughly tested. I am using it to build some Microsoft.Net applications for now and it is pretty fast so far, ofcourse I have a RAM upgrade to 1GB which also matters. I will know more about this, as I keep using it more and more.
Comfort
The laptop sits pretty good on my lap and gets heated to a bearable level, unlike it's hulk counterparts(dell comes to my mind first, I know some peolpe will hate me for saying this). Typing and browsing experience feels good.
Baddies
The wireless connection is a bit screwed up. I read about this in another review and the user pointed out to a driver fix that intel had released. I used the fix and the wireless connection works good now, except for a few small hiccups now and then, but I'll take that for the other goodies that I get.
Verdict
Comparing the price, the features, the performance and the looks I would be willing to suggest others, this laptop is a good buy and worth the price.

IPod Nano

A few months ago I read somewhere that Bill Gates, Microsoft CEO was really pissed off when he visited the development center in Redmond, WA. Almost 80% of the developer community was using IPod from Apple, a direct competitor to Microsoft. If I was one of the guys sitting over there I would have told him, Kya kare control hi nahin hota(Irresistible).
Anyways, if I were to ever mention about creativity in mp3 players, the first thing that come to our minds is Apple. If there is any company that continues to thrive purely on the basis of creativity it has to be Apple. The recently released IPod Nano from Apple is their next generation IPod Mini. I owned the IPod mini a few months ago. The thing that has always amazed me about the IPod is its sleek look, and easy navigation.

Product Details

• The Nano is available with 1, 2, 4 GB storage capacities. On an average an MP3 song is about 5 MB and thus a 1GB player can hold upto 200 songs
• 0.27 inches thick, 1.5 ounces(sleek and portable)
• Apple claims that it can play songs for 14 hours without recharging. Battery has a limit on recharging cycles and might need replacement after some usage. Apple provides a whole bunch of tips on optimizing battery life
• Holds photo albums and can play music slides with songs
• Stores contacts, reminders
• Apple click wheel navigation (I love this)
• 1.5" LCD color display
• Has a 30-pin dock connector and works with docks for other IPod players
• USB Wi-Fi cable and dock.(you can charge your IPod with a computer, using the USB connector)
• Works with Windows and MAC

If Apple and not Onida had created it, "Neighbor's envy, owner's pride" is the perfect tagline for this cool gizmo.

What are we talking about?

Gordon Moore, one of the founders of Intel made a statement which indicates that the processing power of computer chips doubles in every 18 months with the cost remaining the same. Since then it has been interpreted as a law and applied to any devices involving semi conductors and chips. Looking back at where we were in 1990s and where we are in 2000s, one can easily approve this statement. The processing capability of mordern gadgets is getting doubled, and their size is getting smaller and smaller, and in case of some gadgets, the price seems to be going lower and lower. Let us not get into the economics of the change, but the technological advancement that has been achieved can be far from udermined. As we continue to grow and advance technologically, it becomes important to keep in track with these new products and understand how they can change our lives. I hope that this blog gives you a bird's and also a worm's eye view of what is coming around us and how it can change our lives.

Moore's Law Analysis