AndNowYouKnow - making sense of gadgets and technology » Laptop

If you want to buy a laptop, Labour Day is the time!

mor10 — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:30:30 +0000

Just a quick tip: Both Future Shop and Best Buy have crazy deals on laptops this Labour Day weekend. So if you are looking for a cheap decent laptop (Mac excluded) you should really head out to one of the big boxes in the next few days and get your hands on one.

Some specs to consider when buying:

Make sure it’s a Core 2 Duo processor
The laptop should have at least 1GB of RAM
The hard drive should be no less than 100GB
HP and Toshiba usually come out on top in tests. Acer is pretty good. Sony Vaios are insanely overpriced so stay far far away from them
With the crazy discounts this weekend it would make sense to get an extended warranty plan. Just make sure it’s transferable in case you sell your laptop.

You should be able to get a very decent laptop with the specs above for between $599 and $799 this weekend so this is definitely the time to buy. If you want to do some research visit CNET.com and look up the editor’s reviews there.

Future Shop

Best Buy

AndNowYouKnow.net has no affiliation with with either store and we actually disapprove greatly of the lack of knowledge and pushy sales staff at the stores. But they do occasionally have some really good deals so they’re worth checking out. Just don’t expect to be met by knowledgeable staff.

LapJacks – Toshiba wants their stickies on your laptop

mor10 — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:58:48 +0000

No matter how fancy your laptop is it’s probably pretty dull to look at when it’s closed. And that’s too bad. All that prime real estate wasted on dull grey and maybe a small logo. Some people have figured out that the back of their laptop screen can be used to display say a company logo or something else that makes it stick out from the crowd.

Now Toshiba has gotten in on the deal. Their recently launched LapJacks are vinyl stickers customized to cover that dullest of areas of your laptop and make it pretty / exciting / dorky / the property of a company. You can also get LapJacks to fit your cell phone or a pile of other electronic devices.

All you have to do is pick one of the hundreds of ready-made graphics or upload a photo, logo or other artwork and you’re good to go.

Toshiba was not the first one out of the gates with this product though. Both Schtickers , SkinIt and Pimp My Laptop already provide you with everything you need to make your electronic devices as tacky as possible. We suggest garish tie-dye patterns, expletives, questionable sexual content or bad family photos not to mention rivaling PC manufacturer logos.

A LapJacks runs for £14.99 (about $31.50 Canadian) plus shipping.

Video Review: Logitech Alto Keyboard

mor10 — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:26:19 +0000

Akash reviews the Logitech Alto keyboard and laptop stand. This keyboard lets you view your laptop screen in eye height and ads a numeric pad along with 3 USB ports and function keys making your computing experience more convenient.