Archive for the 'hardware' Category

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Two dice make a calendar

Published on September 28, 2007 in hardware. 16 Comments

Kalender kat

Little riddle: if you have two dice (so each has 6 sides), with 1 digit on each side and you want to be able to form all numbers between 1 and 31 (for the days of the month), what digits would be on each dice? E.g. if dice #1 has 0-1-2-3-4-5 and the second 4-5-6-7-8-9, it won’t work, because you cannot form the number ’22′.

Try to guess and I’ll give the answer next week. There’s a little trick involved! I first tried to figure it out without looking at the dice, and I enjoyed the mind gymnastics.

LG KU-800: have low expectations

Published on July 6, 2007 in hardware. 1 Comment

LG KU800 phone Because the posts on disappointing hardware are very popular on my blog (e.g. Netgear storage and Lexmark printer), I’d like to write about a device that also should be avoided: the LG KU800 GSM. The KU800 is the Vodafone version of the KG800, which is sold in Belgium by Proximus (239€).

It was chosen by someone close to me for its neat black design, somewhat iPod-cool, let’s say. The design turned out to be the only thing it’s got going for it. The battery performance is lousy and almost every conversation of more than 5 minutes is broken of. She complained and got a replacement phone: exactly the same performance. A colleague of her also has that phone: the battery won’t even hold a full day.

The GSM forums talk about the same behaviour:

  • gsmarena.com: “it freezes up all the time, especially when im texting”, “the screen goes blank.. the camera freezes… i cant hear people on the other end… and oh the battery sucks”, “the display blocks when I slide it open , the touch pad started to fail sometimes and it has a very low speaker, i can hardly hear what the people i speak to are saying.”
  • yourmobilephonereviews.co.uk: “The battery life is appalling”, “Most of the time the buttons don’t work “, “the phone volume itself is quiet even on the full setting, battery life is rubbish”, “I am now on my 4th one they all have the same problem. It just decides when it wants to turn on or off. The screen freezes, & the vibrate mode gets stuck”

Why can’t there be a phone with great design and the performance and reliability of a Ericsson/Nokia phone? Why is there no designer on the level of Jonathan Ive working at Nokia? Maybe that is a good question for Bob Cringely.

Pimp your laptop: Apple vs Dell

Published on June 20, 2007 in Apple and hardware. 3 Comments

Imagine you can walk up to your favourite hardware store and tell the guy: “Give me the biggest, fastest, meanest laptop you have. Money is no issue”.

Let’s see what this would buy you in the (Belgian) Apple store:

Pimped-out MacBook Pro

MacBook Pro

2,4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4 GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM
S-ATA disk 250 GB (4200 rpm)
17″ Glossy WUXGA (1920×1200)
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT, dual-link DVI, 256 MB GDDR3 SDRAM
SuperDrive 8x (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Bluetooth 2.0
Apple Remote
AppleCare Protection plan: 3 years

Which would cost you around 3400 euro (excl taxes/transport).

Let’s now compare that to a fully expanded Dell Precision portable workstation from the Dell store:

Pimped-out Dell Precision M90

precision_m90

Intel® Core™2 Duo T7600 (2,33 GHz 4 MB L2-cache 667 MHz FSB)
4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Windows® XP Professional, SP2 (NTFS)
3 jaar Business Support
3 jaar CompleteCare Accidental Damage Cover
17″ WUXGA (1920 x 1200) UltraSharp screen
NVIDIA® Quadro® FX 1500M, 256 MB RAM
100 GB harde schijf (7.200 rpm)
8x DVD+/-RW-station
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945 802.11a/g Mini-kaart (54 Mbps) Core2 Duo
Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth

Which will set you back … 3280 euro. Or wait, try this:

Pimped-out Dell Inspiron XPS M1710

dell_xps_1710

Intel® Core™2 Duo T7600 Processor (2,33 GHz, 667 MHz, 4 MB L2-cache)
Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Premium XPS-service, 3 y
17″ UltraSharp WUXGA display, 1920 x 1200
4GB 667 MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
160 GB S-ATA disk (7.200 rpm)
8x DVD+/-RW
512 MB DDR3 nVidia® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX
Dell™ Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0
Intel® Pro Wireless 3945 802.11a/b/g mini-PCI-kaart

At a staggering … 3280 euro, or just the same as the Precision.

I know, to some extent, it’s comparing Apples to oranges, but I’m just saying: for a high-end notebook, a MacBook Pro is not that excessively expensive.

Paypal-ready shops in Benelux?

Published on January 23, 2007 in hardware. 4 Comments

Imagine one would have a certain amount of money on one’s Paypal account, and one would like to spend that on hardware or other physical goods. Let’s now limit that to shops active in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg. What are your options? Well, not a lot, it appears.

Computer/photography/electronics
My favourite is Pixmania: they have a big collection of all kinds of devices and good prices.

shop.cdfreaks.com sells blank DVD/CD and printer ink and also accepts Paypal.
Apart from that? Foto Konijnenberg: no. Thomann: no.

Books/CD/DVD
Amazon: no. Proxis: no. Azur: no. Bol.com: no.

Personally, I find this list quite short. Even if we would extend our choice to any shop that does not charge high shipping costs to Belgium, what are the options? The sold product should not be too obscure (no “shop with books on the noble art of patchwork”). Do you know any?