Kilonzo, a friend of mine from university, had asked me a few weeks ago for some help with the purchase of a notebook. The choice quickly came down to a business notebook – even though you may get more high-tech details on the consumer range of notebooks, which are often a cheaper alternative. The business notebooks, though, usually have a designated life span of 5 years (as opposed to 3 yrs on the consumer range) and are of better quality. Plus, if you are buying refurbished machines anyways, the business range of notebooks almost guarantees a supply of (used) spare parts after 3-4 years on eBay & Co as most companies are returning their leased machines. The success of IBM ThinkPads and corporate Dell notebooks is partly based on this, I’d say.

I believe that a screen size of 13.3″ to 14,1″ is the best size for a notebook as it then still is small enough to be carried in a bag and big enough to be balanced on your lap (!) e.g. while in a conference. I’ve realized that netbooks are really nice and can already do most tasks in computing, but it actually looks quite ridiculous when a 6 ‘ 4″ tall man uses his fingertips to hit the keys on a 10,2″ netbook. So the 13-14″ screen size range works best for me – even 15,4″ notebooks are ok but I’ve used them in the past and now prefer the 14.1″ range.

The choice quickly narrowed down to my three prefered candidates:

• Dell E6400 (review 1, 2)
• IBM Lenovo T400
• HP 6930p (review 1)

I do have an HP 6930p which I am using on a docking station (as blogged on earlier) and quite like it. It has almost everything I need and I had even recommended it to Kilonzo because it is really strong. If you’ve ever felt the plastics on a Lenovo T400, you’ll quickly go for the Dell E6400 or HP 6930p, which are almost all metal.

HP bottom

Dell bottom

Body
The bottom plate on the 6390p is really massive. Not heavy, but strong enough to withstand any external pressure from carrying it around. If you are a frequent traveller or forced to carry your laptop with you almost every day, you may want to pay special attention to this. The E6400 comes close to the 6930p, but it only has a relatively slim (metal!) cover on the bottom which also provides access to all components (as visible in this image). There also is an ATG version available of the E6400 (the E6400 ATG) which may even be as strong as the 6930p as it apparently also supports the MIL-STD 810F standard (which obvisouly is more or less a marketing gag but nevertheless, good build quality is always appreciated).

HP

Dell

My method of buying expensive hardware is to get it “refurbished” from dealers on eBay who make a living out of selling almost new hardware from Dell, Lenovo or HP. That’s how I got our (really good) HP OfficeJet 7210 All-In-One printer, how I got my HP 6930p and how I also bought the DELL E6400. There’s a dealer in the UK on eBay who’s specialised in selling refurbished Dell computers. The offer was quite good for European terms, even though it would obviously be much cheaper to buy the laptop in the US. We’re hoping to get a V.A.T. refund though once the laptop is exported to Kenya.

The risk of buying refurbished hardware is that it comes with little dents or small scratches which are ok as long as they aren’t in a visible area. I had recently also bought an LED version of the 6930p which came with some massive dead pixels and which I had to return. My CCFL 6930p – the one I am currently using – came with a faulty docking station connector and a faulty display lock, so I had to send it in to JABIL in Poland (service center for HP, see story) where they exchanged the motherboard and actually failed to repair the display lock. I later on fixed the display lock myself, which means that I had to completely disassemble the 6930p up to the very last screw. Took me an hour but now it is ok.

missing hinge screws on the Dell… (now fixed)

Even the E6400 came with some problems: a longer dent just behind the display, on top of the battery and – really annoying – with a loose display. You’ll obviously loose any warranty by the dealer if you remove the dealer’s sticker on top of the main screw, but those covers that provide access to the display hinges weren’t sealed with a sticker. Turns out the screws which hold the display hinges in their position where completely MISSING! Missing screws because someone forgot to replace them after changing the display – that’s a clear no-go to me. Problem is: the dealer is in the UK, my friend’s waiting in Belgium and I wanted to get on with this. So I quickly opened it up myself and inserted two M2.5 x 4 screws. Issue solved. But, again, this must not happen with a refurbished devices. Goes to show how much they really care about their products, I guess.

HP 6930p

Dell E6400

Apart from these usual problems you encounter while getting a refurbished notebook – you know there’s a world wide 3yrs pick-up warranty on my HP 6930p – the first impression on the Dell E6400 is: WOW!

Unfortunately, most business notebooks are built-to-order or at least not displayed in showrooms, so while buying one of those notebooks, you clearly depend on user reviews. I always had the impression that the E6400 comes with a lot of plastic parts. But while the 6930p is really stronger as it comes with a metal hand rest around the touchpad, the E6400 is also good. Good enough, that is. And absolutely sufficient. And less plastic parts than expected. The HP still is stronger though – no flex of the body, almost stronger than a MacBook which imho is totally overhyped and overrated. But it also is HP’s own fault because they just fail to ship ALL of their notebooks with this build quality and never put them on display, so when people are talking about HP notebooks, many consumers think of the consumer models “HP Compaq Pressario” and others. Those are really shitty and not subject of this review.

Little gap on the top cover of the HP, just next to keyboard. Helps to absorb the mechanical tension while opening or moving the display.

Plastic covers are an important issue, because there always is some sort of tension on the surface next to the keyboard when you open the display. The moment you flip the display backwards (HP = opens > 180°, DELL = ~ 160°), you see how the top cover (that accomodates the keyboard) bulges upwards. This is normal on almost every notebook and depends on the hinge strength and how it is connected to the rest of the notebook. Go to the next computer store and check this “flex” with cheap Acer laptops and you’ll see what I mean.

On the HP, this is solved via a gap, but on the DELL it’s one long piece of plastic which could break one day or at least lose up the cover. Both display hinges are great though – the one on the DELL being slightly better (less play).

Maximum opening angles

Display
The WXGA+ (1440×900px) LED display on the E6400 actually is the biggest and most important difference between both notebooks because the WXGA+ screen on the HP 6930p is only CCFL. It’s the screen the HP should have come with.

Maximum brightness @ HP (left) & Dell (right)

Minimum brightness @ HP (left) & Dell (right)

For some unknown reasons, HP is just unable to sell these WXGA+ LED screens on their “EliteBook” notebooks as the 6930p is also known. What HP offers are “Illumi-Lite” LED screens at WXGA (1280×800px) only. I did a comparison between these two screen types the other day and posted my experience here. The WXGA LED and CCFL screens on these HP computers are just crap. They of course do the job for most business (read: office) jobs, but are useless when it comes to image editing and/or vertical viewing angles. Imagine you’ll have to present a document to your colleagues at work and they’re having problems seeing it on the display because viewing angles are so narrow. Well – that’s what these HP screens are alike.

HP (left) & Dell (right)
Colour saturation seems to be better on the CCFL-screen, the green colour is almost perfect on the HP but the white is foggy, viewing angles are almost the same, brightness is better on the Dell.

The display is also one of the reasons why I told Kilonzo to “let’s go for the Dell”. It may not be the ultimate screen, but best I’ve seen on a 14,1″ so far next to the one on the new Lenovo T400s.

The WXGA+ CCFL on my 6930p though isn’t thaaaaat bad. It’s a typical CCFL screen with uneven illumination and higher power consumption than an LED screen, but it still has better, or let’s say: more saturated colours. Both screens still have the usual grey or foggy touch to it. They will never be as bright as the one on my (low-budget) 22″ desktop TFT from LG.

Once display brightness is set to a minimum, you can see the difference as the CCFL-type will always be a bit darker. The Dell notebook will be exported to a country with frequent power cuts, so battery runtime and display brightness in a dark environment are important issues and perfect on the Dell.

The display lock on the HP is…..well, it is a nightmare. It’s supposed to be much better since the beginning of 2009, but at least mine had this issue that the lock wouldn’t close as the hinges created too much mechanical tension, resulting in a display lock that opened by itself. I’ve meanwhile fixed it but it is still far away from the simple solution on the DELL, which may not be as strong as the one on the HP, but at least the display just beautifully closes and is very flat.

Opened & repaired display lock on the HP 6930p

HP: matt, better colours on CCFL, uneven illumination, display lock a clear failure

DELL: matt, normal colours on LED, even illumination, display lock good

Keyboard/Touchpad
Both keyboards come with a touchpoint stick and extra mouse buttons – the Dell has three buttons, HP only two. Some GNU/Linux users prefer three buttons – me and Kilonzo both being WinXP users, this doesn’t really matter. The grip is slightly better on the HP, and feels a bit more stable, even though it has less key drop. The Dell keyboard feels like a mixture of IBM ThinkPads and Acer Timeline keyboards – a bit noisy and huge lift of keys, but good to press.

Keyboards (HP & Dell)

There also an option for a backlit keyboard on the Dell (the HP “only” has a little light above the display, very similar to IBM ThinkPads, but better), similar to MacBooks – but we chose this option of a normal keyboard because it would have taken longer and cost another EUR 30 to add a better keyboard. However, if I had to choose between both keyboards, I wouldn’t know which one I prefer as both are more or less equally good. The ESC key on the HP is in the top left corner which may be an advantage. Also, both keyboards have the CTRL key in the bottom left corner which is the setup I prefer (on Lenovo keyboars it’s the FN key). I also like the keyboard on my old HP nx8220 and if I could choose between all of them, then I would clearly go for the old HP type. Still have to test the backlit version though.

The HP “Clavilux” :-)

The indicator lights above the keyboard are much better on the DELL – less obtrusive, not as flashy and the user is provided with real keys for volume control. A lot of users are having problems with the uneven volume control touch slider on the HP (similar to the unlocking slider bar on the iPhone screen) and/or mistook the slider-design for an actual slider-bar. But it isn’t. If you know how to set the volume on the HP EliteBooks (= just hold your finger on the – or + to adjust volume), there are absolutely no problems with it. The Dell solution looks better though, even though there is no visual feedback for volume on the display.

The touchpads on both machines are equally good, I’d say. In the past I’ve often assumed that a lowered touchpad may prevent the user from any accidential use of the touchpad (=> you’ll touch it with the palm of your hand while typing and end up overwriting text, huge problem on some Sony notebooks), but the Lenovo T500 I’ve tested the other day showed me that even a well-adjusted flat touchpad will be ok. So this really depends on the touchpad itself and how it reacts to input. Both pointing sticks in the middle of the keyboard are ok. Of course, the IBM/Lenovo solution is better, but else they will also do the job. I think that most users will adjust to any keyboard within 3 days, so this really only depends on what you’re used to.

Heat / noise / BIOS
The Dell came shipped with a 250GB HDD from Fujitsu which is OK – at least compared to the 500GB HDD from Western Digital I added to my HP the other day and which is a bit louder (!). And this although I’ve already activated Advanced Power Management on the WD HDD. Strange.

Fan intake on the HP

Fan intake on the Dell

Fan intake unfortunately also is on the bottom on both notebooks. See IBM/Lenovo and their ThinkPad range where the intake is in the back on the side. That’s a much better cooling system. The rubber feet on the HP are a bit higher though, so we’re talking of about 1mm increased distance to the table on the HP, resulting in a slightly better air circulation.

I know that others have in the past complained about the noise / increased fan speed on the DELL, but I just can’t figure out why. It is very silent on this E6400 (latest BIOS revision installed) and even when fan is on full speed it isn’t louder than the one on the HP. You can set a “FAN always on” option on the BIOS of the HP, but it only worked nicely with my old HP. My HP 6930p runs better without this option activated (plus you will need to deactivate it anyways if you’re running GNU/Linux on it like I do).

HP notebook is slightly higher

The BIOS options on the Dell are great, much better than the rather limited range of settings on the HP. HP should update the BIOS and at least install an option like Dell or Lenovo where you can adjust when the battery may be recharged.

Connectivity
One of the reasons I am not comparing the usual specifications on both machines (CPU, RAM, etc.) is because both come with a similar CPU, RAM, HDD, GigabitLAN, WLAN, MODEM (which may be selected during online order anyways) and both may also be equipped with an internal WWAN modem (~ UMTS). I did this on my HP notebook and it works – but only with MS Windows and only when the battery is inserted. That’s so stupid! Don’t know about the DELL though, may be a similar scenario. As a consequence to the WWAN capability, both notebooks come with a SIM-card holder underneath the battery and are equipped with WWAN antennas on top of the display (inside a plastic cover on top of the display). While it’s nice to have an internal WWAN modem for an extra 80 – 150 EUR, I actually prefer external UMTS modems. They are cheaper and may be swapped between laptops. Makes more sense to me.

Horizontally aligned USB ports on the HP

4 USB ports on the Dell

The DELL comes with 4 USB ports, of which one is a powered USB port and one is an eSATA port. That’s REALLY great! The alignment of these ports is a bit better on the HP though as they are horizontally aligned so that you may use bulkier USB plugs (some USB keys aren’t as slim as they could be). It really depends on what you need them for, but I believe that it’s better to have 4 than 3 USB ports. It’s the ones you need the most. You can also set USB PowerShare on the BIOS of the DELL which enables you to charge external USB devices (iPods, Phones) while the computer is off.
Furthermore, you’ll also find an SD-card and SmartCard reader on both laptops, a FireWire socket and – what a surprise – a mechanical switch for the WLAN on the DELL + a “WiFi Catcher” button.

DisplayPort on the Dell

The DELL also has a DisplayPort on the back – something the HP doesn’t have at all. Both have a VGA port though – and a DVI-D port on the docking station to which it connects via the docking connector on the bottom. Another difference is the ExpressCard54 on the HP and an older PCMCIA port on the DELL. I have in the past used a PCMCIA UMTS Modem on my old HP but now haven’t found a use for the ExpressCard slot. Maybe once USB 3.0 is released we’ll find USB 3.0 cards for these slots. Unless you have a real need for these devices, both are just battery drainers so they remain unused most of the time.

There also is a webcam on the DELL which is said to only have 0.3 mpx resolution (compared to the 2.0 mpx on the HP), but I just can’t see why this should be worse. Instead, the camera on the DELL is just BRILLIANT compared to the one on my HP. It also comes with some DELL software aka Creative Live!Cam tools that add some funstuff to this device. I wish the webcam on my HP had the same luxury and I am still to find out why the performance of this webcam here is so bad. So….DELL being a clear winner here.

2.0 mpx Webcam on the HP

0.3 mpx webcam on the Dell

The HP also comes with a small slot for business cards and special OCR software which allows you to use the webcam for taking snapshots of business cards and saving the addresses on your personal information management tool (~ Outlook), but I’ve only used it once so far. It’s a nice gimmick.

You’ll also find a fingerprint reader on both machines, even though this DELL didn’t have one. Who needs a fingerprint reader that isn’t fully integrated into the OS? Maybe with Windows 7 this is an interesting feature, but let me be honest: HP Protect Tools, the software suite from HP used for the fingerprint reader and other TPM security chip related issues, delayed boot up process on my HP for 2 minutes – which is why I had to deinstall it and haven’t missed it since. Again, this may change with Win7, but until then: good riddance!

Oh, and both audio ports are on the right side of the DELL – which is where I prefer them. As for the speakers on both notebooks – well, they work, but I’ve heard better speakers on notebooks in the past. The sound on the Dell speakers is really thin, only delivers high tones, almost no bass.

Power Supply
The power supply on the DELL is lighter (450gr) and bigger (!) than the one on the HP (519gr) – and comes with an LED that shows activity. The HP ps doesn’t have an LED. Why? It’s such a simple thing to add an activity LED on the power supply and most other power supplies have such an LED.

Left: Dell power supply + cord // Right: HP power supply + cord

The power cord that came shipped with this DELL is for the German market (I ordered the UK version though) and is as slim as possible. I had actually scanned eBay for power cord alternatives for my HP the other day because this simple power cord adds weight to the power supply. So the advantage of the slimmer HP ps is gone just because it came shipped with this bulky & stubborn cable. Argh…

I wish these notebook manufacturers would come up with smaller & lighter power supplies. They will probably never have the magnetic plug as seen on recent Apple MacBooks due to Apple not licensing this to others, but any progress on the size, plugs and weight would be highly appreciated.

Another great feature on the Dell are the status LEDs on each Dell battery. In case of doubt, just press the button and these LEDs will inidicate the charging state. You won’t find this on HP batteries.

LEDs on the Dell battery

Verdict
Now that I’ve used both notebooks I am tempted to go for the DELL. The 4 USB ports, the LED screen (= better battery runtime), less weight (DELL = 2.273gr, HP = 2.424gr) and third mouse button are quite a temptation. It also has the necessary software solutions to adjust this notebook to much more specific tasks, e.g. how the battery should be charged (and when it shouldn’t!) and what you can set within the BIOS (as compared to the HP which is rather basic compared to the DELL).

I think the only reason that prevents me from swapping notebooks is that I like my HP and have learned to live with its flaws. It’s already fully adjusted, I do have a docking station and changing everything would indeed take some extra time. The HP also feels better built with almost no flex on the body which is quite important to me. You will notice the thin metal plate on the DELL that makes the bottom cover. It just isn’t as rock solid as the one on the HP.

For everyone else who’s still looking for a nice laptop that needs to come along on travels, is “powerful enough” and whose user hasn’t been infected with the Apple MacBook virus, the Dell E6400 may be the better alternative. Especially since there are dealers online who sell refurbished notebooks for almost half the price of a new notebook.

In any case: for a country like Kenya, any notebooks with a matt LED screen may be better than one with a matt CCFL screen. Glossy screens are a no-go and *maybe* only acceptable on MacBooks.

The reviews I’ve linked to above rated the Dell at 87% and the HP at 86%. This rating is very similar to what I felt while reviewing this Dell as it is slightly better than the HP (mainly because of the connectivity and the LED screen).

Dell Latitude E6400
+ really bright LED display, average viewing angles, normal colours
– bottom cover a bit too thin
+ optimised battery runtime
+ battery recharge point can be set
+ good weight, small size
+ light power supply
+ decent keyboard, touchpad and touchpoint stick; third mouse button
+ good webcam @ 0.3mpx
+ wwan capabilities
+ multiple BIOS settings possible
+ both RAM slots accessible from the bottom
+ finger print reader next to the keyboard (if installed)
+ 4 USB ports!
+ display port
+ charge meter on the battery
– no icons next to the keyboard that indicate the position of ports
– illuminated keyboard only available with special keyboard (+ 30 EUR)

HP EliteBook 6930p
+ stronger body, almost no flex, really nice to handle
+ average CCFL display with good colours but narrow viewing angles, has some light leakages on the bottom row
+ two (stereo) microphones (with holes on both sides of the display)
+ decent keyboard, touchpad and touchpoint stick; touchpad buttons could be more responsive
+ (good) webcam @ 2.0mpx, but without any additional software except for a simple HP webcam application
– HP Protect Tools = bloatware
– only available with a bulky power cord
+ wwan capabilities
– wwan (umts modem) only active while main battery inserted
– display lock is a failure
– irritating indicator lights (LEDs) on top of the keyboard
– 1 RAM slot hidden underneath the keyboard, the other RAM slot accessible via a bottom cover
+ crosstip screws on the bottom indicate the parts that may be exchanged without losing warranty, all other screws Torx
+ 3 USB ports
– too much play on the battery
– no icons next to the keyboard that indicate the position of ports
+ illuminated keyboard, better than on the Lenovo T400 as it doesn’t blind the user
+ opening angle of the display > 180°
+ HDD case protected & G-Fall sensor

Battery runtimes can’t be compared as both machines come with similar, but still different specifications (both on 6-cell batteries), whereas the biggest difference is the integrated graphics chip and an LED screen on the Dell while the HP comes with a discrete ATI graphics card and a CCFL screen. That’s a difference of around 2-3h between both machines. So if you’re into maximum battery runtime, go for a notebook with a matt LED screen and integrated graphics card (Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD).

The discrete graphics chip on my HP is an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 which is supposed to be better, but then: you won’t notice the difference unless you’re playing games (and this does not include recent games which won’t run on the HP). So in doubt, I’d recommend the Intel GMA 4500MHD over to the ATI. You’ll be rewarded with a longer battery runtime.

I also made sure that the Dell comes with a WXGA+ screen. This higher resolution may not be suitable for every user as dots per inch are around 127dpi, but you’ll be able to display much more content at once. With Vista or Win7, fonts on the display may also be adjusted.

There are docking stations available for both machines – the one for the Dell even has two seperate DVI-D ports, so you could actually connect two desktop screens to the notebook.

The Dell or the HP? I’d say it depends on what you need these computers for. The really interesting part about these notebooks though is that they’ll be around for the next 2-4 years, while a fancy low-budget Acer Timeline notebook won’t. Which means you can buy either the Dell or the HP, take them to Africa and get spare parts even after the first battery died. If there is only one thing I could change on both machines, then I would probably change the fan intake from the bottom to the side of the frame – and also make it accessible for the user so that it may be cleaned anytime.

(Disclaimer: pictures taken in the living room of our landlord… :-)

HP un2400 wwan adapter on the HP 6930p

The good part about this wwan adapter – an HP un2400, also known as Qualcomm Gobi 1000 – is that it supports different frequency bands so it can work in many different parts of the world. This, however, and maybe that it is hidden under a cover inside this computer so you don’t have to carry extra gadgets, is the only good part about this modem.

My other computer is a netbook which also has a wwan modem – an Asus eeePC 1000HG. Just slip in your SIM card (underneath the battery), boot into WindowsXP or Ubuntu and you’re ready to go online, simple as that.

HUAWEI EM770 Mobile Broadband modem on the eeePC 1000HG

The HP un2400 modem on my HP notebook, though, will ONLY work when the (main) battery is inserted. HP names “carrier certifications” as the reasons for this requirement as:

• This prevents SIM fraud
• This prevents any possible corruption if the SIM is removed while the notebook PC powers on

Yeah…right.

Just to remind you: the 3g modem on my Asus eeePC will work either way – whether the battery is inserted or not, it just works.

And then there’s this thing called “Firmware” – which also is a very peculiar process on the HP modem. Whereas most gadgets will normally come with their own (preloaded) Firmware (which may or may not be updated by end users), this Qualcomm Gobi modem requires an initial load of the firmware prior to its use (HP’s Connection Manager will take care of this under Windows XP). Once you restart your computer, you will have to reload the firmware. The only possible reason for this – to my understanding – is that it enables the modem to adjust to different wwan environments. But that’s about it. Needless to mention that you won’t find any drivers for this device for Win7, and I’ve only come across a few users who managed to get this device working under Ubuntu after lots of fiddling.

And again, no problems with my netbook & its Huawei EM770 3g modem. Real plug & play, regardless of the operating system.

“So where’s the problem?”, you may ask, “aren’t laptops/notebooks and netbooks designed to be run from battery power anyways?” – Well, yes, BUT! I always remove the battery on my notebook when I’m about to connect it to a stable power supply for a longer period. Like when I plug it into the docking station at home, I always remove the battery. I do this to save it from being constantly charged. It’s a precaution that helps me keeping the battery at ~90% initial charging capacity after three years usage (as seen on my old HP nx8220 notebook). It’s a proven method that worked for me and saved me from spending another EUR 80,- on a spare battery.

And the worst part about this wwan adapter is that HP locked the BIOS to _ONLY_ use these modems. It wouldn’t be possible to use the 3G modem from the eeePC on the HP notebook.

Now, this is the part where I actually want to talk about alternatives to these internal solutions, which are often still considered to be the optimal solution. As described above, it’s a not-so-perfect solution for those who want to use other operating systems then Windows XP and/or Vista. It’s an epic fail that HP still needs to realize. And epic fail on all of their “EliteBooks” as HP calls this series (HP 2530p, 6930p, 8530p).

The eeePC I have is also available without such a 3g modem – the price difference used to be EUR 100,- less. People (not me, I got it cheaper :-) actually paid this difference in order to get a netbook with an internal 3g modem. As for the eeePC, the price difference is (was) justified as you had to cough up about the same amount for an external modem some time ago.

However, now, in September 2009, things are a bit different. Be it Germany or Kenya, you’re actually able to get an external USB-based 3g modem for something like EUR 20,- to 30,- – which is a decent price, I’d say. Sure, you could even get it for less (in Germany) if you go for a 24month contract with a network provider but I am only talking about prepaid solutions here.

the popular Huawei E169

And these USB sticks are the very reason for blogging all this. I think that these external 3g modems are still the best solution for the following reasons:

• they are supported by different operating systems & often well documented on the internet
• they often come with their own software so you won’t have to worry about that part
• power consumption on these devices is moderate, also because they are easier to remove (and wouldn’t require a software switch on the OS) – just unplug them
• some of these sticks come with an extra socket for an external (UMTS) antenna
• some of these sticks come with an extra flash memory capacity
• they are relatively cheap these days
• they can be used on more than one computer – just unplug them and hand them over to your friends (provided you have an unlimited data plan)

The disadvantage of course is that you’d have an extra device at the side of your notebook which blocks one of the often limited USB ports.

In the past I’ve also used thethering my Nokia phone to the computer and using its 3G capabilities to surf the net; and on my old & beloved (and now sold) HP nx8220 notebook I had used a PCMCIA (PC-Card) version of these 3G modems which I blogged about earlier. The PCMCIA version worked fine, albeit the PCMCIA port being known for quickly draining the battery (which also became obvious as it heated up pretty quickly). My new HP notebook has an ExpressCard slot, so this could also be an alternative if USB ports are really limited and already used for other devices.

To be honest, with this limitation of the internal 3G modem on my HP 6930p to Windows XP & Vista (and probably also Win7 one day), I’d probably go for another machine in future. I actually don’t know about the 3G modems on a Dell E6400 or Lenovo T400(s) – all of them seem to come with a Gobi device these days -, but I hope they aren’t as crippled as this Qualcomm Gobi? HP uses on their EliteBooks.? And signal strength (RX/TX ratio) actually isn’t so much better with the internal antennas which have to compete with the WLAN antennas for the limited space above the display. However, I understand that it isn’t the modem which sucks (some websites claim it even comes with an internal GPS chip?!) but rather HP’s policy which prevents us from using alternative operating systems and even locks the system down to this device only.

And with my policy of drawing a clear line between user data and the operating system + hardware, the external USB modem is just so much more convenient. It’s a plug & play device that adds modularity & flexibility to the system.

the stuff you do when you receive repaired hardware:
open it up and double-check for any changes…
(both microphones weren’t inserted properly!!!)

HP Warranty Hotline was quite helpful, responded quickly and knew what I was talking about. My notebook comes with a 3yr warranty, so UPS came the other day, picked it up and returned it today. The whole process took 10 days to complete which is ok, I think.

JABIL replaced the motherboard (good!) and even tried to fix the display lock. The lock is still kinda sensitive to external pressure (opens up by itself as there’s too much mechanical tension on the springs), but at least it is better than before.

BUT!

Maybe I am too German to complain about such things, but the service technician with JABIL Poland actually removed the transparent business card holder which is on top of the licence stickers and service tags.

I had used this BC holder on both my notebooks in the past and am quite upset about this fault. You won’t even have to remove this plastic sheet in order to open up the notebook, so I can only assume that the technicians just didn’t care enough and/or removed it to have less reflections while reading those bar codes with a bar code scanner. And even if so, this is a 2cents piece that should easily be replacable, especially by service technicians.

So I once again called HP service hotline, informing them about this missing piece and the (very helpful) lady on the other end told me: “Yes, in such cases we normally dispatch a service technician who will come to your house and probably replace the whole bottom cover.” – “So what about these stickers?” – “The technician will use a hot air gun to remove these stickers and put them on the new bottom cover”.

3h work & someone else even spoiling the remaining stickers on my notebook just because HP is unable to provide such transpartent business card holders as spare parts? No way!

Case closed.

Besides, how will he apply those stickers if they are covered by a transparent business card holder sheet on the new bottom – the reason for an exchange? Ati?

Why can’t they ever handle these items with enough care and return it the way it came? The original plastic bag is also missing. I am really upset about these “technicians” and would like to hit them with the oversized UPS box. There’s nothing worse in the technical world than service technicians who just don’t care enough or hotline staff that’s just as dumb as the fee you’ll have to pay for calling special service hotlines. Fortunately, the ladies from the Hotline were nice and friendly, but their outsourced technicians still suck big times.

So I bought a new notebook today because I felt that my old machine from 2006 doesn’t deliver what I need for some applications. Mind you, I am a PC guy, running WinXP and Ubuntu only, where the performance of my old machine was sufficient for most tasks.

My setup consisted of an HP nx8220 notebook on a docking station with an external mouse + keyboard and a 22″ LG W2242T TFT. The computer is in a local network with an HP OfficeJet 7210 printer, a 500GB NAS and a VoIP phone + her notebook as well as both our netbooks.

The nx8220 proved to be a loyal workhorse, surviving dusty rural Kenya as well as running 24h/d. The docking station really is a huge advantage over to conventional consumer notebooks as it provides a) much more ports (e.g. DVI-D for the 22″ TFT) and b) makes it easier to use only one machine for both home office and mobile needs. This is also why I could never go for a MacBook as they afaik do not provide connectivity to a docking station.

Most users are better off buying a conventional consumer notebook and not a business machine like mine. It’s similar to cars: extras on a Mercedes or Volkswagen cost extra, while you’d get all of that for a much lower price on a SE Asian car. So you’ll equally have to pay extra for an LED screen or UMTS modem which you’ll also already find on cheaper Acer or Asus notebooks. Most of these consumer notebooks do not have a docking connector though and are usually designed for a 3years usage pattern (5years on business notebooks).

Since this docking station already existed (eBay is a great resource for used business hardware in mint condition), the idea was to get another HP as I would then just have to swap notebooks.

On the other hand, Dell offers a very nice Latitude E6400 (with an illuminated keyboard & LED screen – similar to MacBooks!) that comes close to my current choice – and the (IBM) Lenovo T400 with an LED screen and internal UMTS modem is one of those *i want! i want!* machines.

I’ve tested the T400 in a shop and was surprised how great it actually looks. I think I’ll have to buy an older T42(p) one day to satisfy my IBM-needs. Built quality wasn’t that good though – most reviews on YouTube where customers are comparing this IBM-successor are somehow true, at least when it comes to the material used on these machines. But still, I’d love to test the Lenovo T400 for a longer period one day.

Comparing these to cars, I’d say that IBM ThinkPads are like Volvos.

Back to my choice: I eventually settled for an HP 6930p which comes with a 14,1″ screen size (old notebook was 15,4″) and weighs “only” 2.4kg. Compared to my old notebook (2.85kg), it’s much lighter. It still seems to be heavier than other 14,1″ notebooks – but honestly: 200gr more doesn’t matter to me. What matters, though, is the power supply on HP notebooks which is really really shitty. Too big, too heavy, to bulky. Apple has the best power supplies, imho. And I of course also like those small ones that came shipped with the netbooks (Kensington also produces light-weight power supplies – may have to look into those one day).

power supplies: HP nx8220 vs. Asus eee 901

So my notebook is on a docking station most of the time and needs to deliver 24/7, which is why I went for a machine with an ATI graphics card even though it itsn’t that much better than the internal Intel graphics core and even though the ATI card drains the battery faster. Took me some time to decide on this though, as well as the screen resolution which is at 1440×900 (unfortunately no LED screen, just CCFL ) and I was afraid that it may be too small. But it isn’t.

Funny thing is: I bought this machine for a really good price on eBay (hey…!) and the offer said “Screen resolution: 1280 x 800″. Picked it up in the store (in Hanau, outside of Frankfurt) and realized it’s 1440×900. Thought they made a mistake and asked them a few times but it seemed to be correct. So now I am the proud owner of a notebook with the follow specifications:

HP “EliteBook” 6930p (p/n GW683AV)

• Intel Core 2 Duo P8400
• 1x 4GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM (32bit OS like WinXP = max. 3 GB)
• 320GB Western Digital 5400 SATA II HDD (initially 120GB Seagate)
• WXGA+ 1440×900 matte display
• Intergrated 2 megapixels webcam
• Keyboard light
• Intel 5100 ABGN wireless
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Dual pointing devices
• Intergrated Fingerprint reader (crap..)
• DVD+/-RW with LightScribe
• Firewire 1394a, 3x USB, LAN, Modem, SD/MMC reader, SC card reader, ExpressCard
• internal UMTS modem (ordered, hasn’t arrived yet. Again, used spare part from eBay)
• 2.400kg with battery
• 6-cell battery (55 Wh)
• 3 years Warranty

No PCMCIA II card slot, so my PCMCIA / PC-Card UMTS modem (eBay, EUR 2,- :-)) can go into early retirement.

For a list of professional reviews on the 6930p, pls check out this page by notebookcheck.com (best site on this subject, imho).

As mentioned, the 6930p I got was really cheap as it is a used machine. Used ….as in: brand-new without any scratches or other damages but isn’t originally sealed. Which is why HP sells them for a lower price to wholesalers who are then reselling them on eBay (check for HP Renew or similar). That’s one sweet way of buying hardware and also how I got our printer, btw. You’re still given 3 years Warranty (checked the serial number via HP’s website) and get a proper receipt so basically it’s a new machine. Besides, I am geek enough to fix problems on my own and I do not have the resources to send in my machine for three weeks, anxiously waiting for a repair.

The machine came shipped with Windows Vista Business which is….well, I don’t know. I deleted it. You also get a downgrade option from M$ to exchange your Vista installation for XP (which I did).

Already tested Ubuntu 9.04 running as a live version from a USB key and: Heeeeyyyyy…. I may be a bit behind when it comes to modern hardware from 2009, but this Dual Core CPU and the RAM really kick ass on Ubuntu. Plugged it in, booted it up in less than 30 seconds and ..*baaam* , ready to go. Nice.

I also did a Geekbench benchmark on all four machines:

• HP nx8220 GB score: 1.312 (@WinXP)
• HP 6930p GB score: 3.060 (@Ubuntu 9.04)
• Asus eee 1000HG netbook GB score: 935 (@WinXP)
• Asus eee 901 netbook GB score: 924 (@WinXP)

Meaning: you can really feel the performance increase. It was a good idea to invest some money on a new machine.

Based on my first impressions so far, here’s a list of things I noticed on this HP “EliteBook”:

1. Pictograms, indicating the position and function of ports on each side are just next to the port, not on top (like on my old nx8220). Would be better to have them on top to see where the USB ports are.

old: nx 8220

new: 6930p

2. Comparing the nx8220 with the 6930p is a bit unfair as it should rather be a comparison between the nx8220 and the 8530p.
I am used to the 15,4″ notebook with the headphone socket on the right side instead of the positioning of these ports on the left side on the 6930p. This really unimportant detail actually means a lot to me.

3. The touchpad and the pointing stick on the 6930p are a bit too cheap. There’s almost no pressure point on both touchpad buttons. Why not? You won’t notice the weakness of the touchstick unless you’ve compared it to an IBM laptop so this really isn’t a serious issue.

4. Webcam is 2mpx and is ok. Also comes with a special OCR software that reads business cards and adds them to your address book. Seriously, who comes up with such ideas? It’s funny. Tested it once, didn’t work for me, gave up. My business card is different anyways as it comes as a QR-code (see right sidebar on my blog). I am sure there’s QR-Code software out there that will enable this webcam to read barcodes (like the one on my phone).

5. Next to the webcam is a keyboard light which may not be that strong but is one of the reasons why IBM ThinkPads have in the past ruled the business world. Ok, not really, but their keyboard light has always been the little extra gimmick that made you me long for a ThinkPad instead of a Dell or HP (not knowing that the keyboard light on an IBM isn’t really that great). Good move, HP! The light elegantly pops out by pressing the button with the bulb icon and comes with a little diffusor in front of the integrated LED (no diffusor on IBM = problem!).

6. Keyboard is nice and firm, similar to my old one. Keyboards and displays are THE MOST IMPORTANT parts of a notebok. Which is probably also why Acer notebooks are so popular.

(a nice example which shows that some cameras just aren’t capable of getting straight lines – this Sanyo cam from 2003 has a splendid macro mode but is really bad on horizontal lines due to the internal prism lens)

7. The scratch-resistant external aluminium panels and the casing made of aluminium, plastic and magnesium really kick ass. Almost solid as a rock. Good quality. I actually only miss the clamshell design known from ThinkPads on this HP.

I am also mentioning this as you can easíly test the overall stability yourself by pushing the display back and forth and seeing where there’s tension on the body. My old nx8220 has a slight crack on that part due to its age and usage but this is normal with most other notebooks I’ve tested and seen so far.

8. Hinges: remember the Dellicious story? Broken hinges are soooo Dell and Acer. The hinges on my nx8220 are still fine (even though I’ve already tightened them a bit, using a simple screwdriver).

9. The 1440×900 (WXGA+) screen resolution produces slightly better colours than the normal 1280×800 (WXGA) screen (both CCFL technology). Relatively low contrast, brightness is ok, viewing angels are average. Not good for serious photographers and I am afraid to admit that but I think that you’ll either have to go for a Sony notebook or MacBook if you can’t edit photos on an external screen (and mine is just a cheaper, low-end TFT from LG but still better than both notebook screens). I actually don’t know why HP uses such bad displays on business machines and the better LED screens on their cheaper consumer notebooks. Well, I knew that and skipped this point in the end because of the external monitor I am using for editing pictures. And who knew that I’d be blessed with a better screen resolution & picture quality for the same price? I paid for WXGA screen and got a WXGA+ … how cool is that? :-)

Display also comes with a light-sensor to automatically adjust brightness. Deactivated it – like on my old nx8220.

LED displays are available from HP for this series, albeit at WXGA (1280×800) only and very hard to obtain and/or expensive (at least in Germany).

10. LEDs to indicate Wireless/Power/HDD acitivities are much better on the 6930p than on the nx8220 (and other, similar machines from that era in 2006). I once had to glue a little piece of plastic back between those LEDs on the nx8220 as it had broken away.

old: nx8220

new: 6930p

11. Weight: 2.4kg are a good weight. My Asus 1000HG netbook weighs 1.5kg and comes with a 10″ screen at 1024×600px screen resolution. There are those moments where you wish to have a bigger (!) machine (not neccessarily on the screen, but to elegantly balance it on your lap = laptop!) and forget about the weight issue. A 12″ notebook would also be nice, but these machines often only come with a crippled CPU, an expensive 1.8″ HDD and/or are ridiculously expensive. So the 14,1″ notebook is a perfect alternative. And yes, 13,3″ MacBooks are even better, at least size-wise.

12. The display latch: many customers on user forums actually complained about the latch/lock on the display, arguing that it would require them to use both hands to close it (true) and some force (true). I like it this way, even though it easily pops open even if you only slightly touch the button. So it may accidentally open inside a bag. Not good. Too much tension.

13. Design: I think it’s rather ugly. This mixture of silver and black colours..is this the influence of peculiar Asian taste?

There’s a row of touch-sensitive buttons on top of the keyboard which is a bit too bright & has too many different LED colors which may be a bit irritating, but else it is working fine for me. This touch-sensitive panel replaces conventional buttons (that would provide more tactile feedback), and a lot of users actually complained about the volume “slider”. The problem is: it isn’t really a slider, it just looks like a slider. Because if you don’t try to “slide down volume” but instead keep your finger on the “Volume (-)” area, it will quickly reduce volume. So users got irritated, thinking it works like a slider and consequently complained about it.
Why touch-sensitive controls instead of conventional buttons? Me thinks there are three posssible reasons for this: a) the SEAsian geek influence & an affection for iPhone-alike features, b) costs and c) less trouble with designing the PCB / more space.

14. Fan design still sucks. Maybe I am too much of an engineer, but I’d prefer if the intake could be on the back side of the notebook, not below the machine. IBM/Lenovo is a bit better on this. Proper heat dissipation is an important issue. Fortunately, the machine comes with an otherwise good cooling system and isn’t too loud.
I’ve also set the BIOS to “fan always on” as I’ve had good experience with this on my nx8220. Keeps the machine colder right from the start.

open fan on the nx8220 (without aluminium cover & removed keyboard)

6930p: heatpipe may remain on all chips even when the fan is being cleaned

Also interesting to see that there’s no extra cover for the pcb as compared to the nx8220 which had an aluminum cover betweeen the keyboard and the pcb (which also had the heat dissipitation pipes connected to it). Would be interesting to know what this looks like on the 8530p. On the other hand, it always irritated me having to remove the heat pipes from the graphics & northbridge processor just to clean the fan and I am glad it is different on the new machine. There usually is a lot of dust in between the fan and the cooler (= what you see as copper-coloured grill from the outside) which is only accessible once you open it up and use tweezers to remove the dust. Also helps using a vacuum cleaner and/or a camera lens blower to clean it

14. Users can exchange the HDD, the battery (now try that with a MacBook), add a UMTS modem or add more RAM – all without voiding the warranty. Nothing great, but still important as the Apple example shows that not all gadgets come with similar warranty conditions.
To know what’s “possible”, HP uses two different screw types. A Torx for service and conventional cross slot screws for upgrades from customers. Pls also note the sleeve for a business card which I also already know from my nx8220. HP was smart enough to hide both the licence key and service tag stickers underneath this protective cover. Simple, but effective.

15. This 6930p is a custom made model, hence the 120GB HDD it came shipped with as well as 4GB of RAM on a single board. Knowing that 32bit operating systems can only address a maximum of 3GB, I am wondering why it comes with 4GB and Windows Vista Business 32bit? (and don’t even get me started on the 800MHz vs. 1066MHz discussion the RAM is running on – these 4GB are at 798 MHz instead of 1066 // DDR2 vs DDR3).
Oh, and Vista ist just crap. This is MS Windows Vista Business and it instantly failed to reboot (endless loop of booting up and down) after an initial update. And needless to mention that I actually failed getting the HP Backup tool to do a copy of the installation. Vista alone used 20GB on the HDD. Incredible.
Now I am left with an XP downgrade & drivers DVD and will probably (& hopefully) never need a Vista backup. I’ve tested Windows7 on my Asus eee 1000HG the other day which is a bit better.

16. The battery is a bit too loose which is partly also due to the hook on the battery. I am used to this from the nx8220 though and these guys found the same fault on their test notebook. So I am not the only one who pulls out the sliding calliper to measure the play between the battery and the notebook body (I hope :-).

17. CPU Whining (CPU generates a high frequency sound): yes, it is there, but only slightly audible. Good.

18. The docking station I am using is an HP PA286A (used, cheap, eBay…) which *officially* doesn’t work with an EliteBook notebook but actually it does. It just doesn’t match the silver cover as it comes with the old grey colour tone as used on the nx8220. If you’ve come here searching for an answer on this: yes, it works. The PA286A 120W HP docking station is compatible with the HP 6930p (at least most standard ports – don’t know about Video-S which was supported by the nx8220 but not the 6930p). HP used to mention it on their website but have since removed this remark, probably due to marketing reasons. I initially had some problems with it as the LAN port wouldn’t respond but it was due to my 6930p which seems to have a picky docking connector that doesn’t properly sit on the docking station.

The socket for the docking station on the notebook itself also isn’t secured by any protective cover which may seem to be a potential problem. If in doubt, just use adhesive tape to cover it up. As mentioned earlier, the nx8220 also didn’t have this cover and it has never really been a problem.

19. Internal 2G/3G modem: this 6930p didn’t come with an integrated 2G/3G (GSM, UMTS) modem but with the internal 3G antennas already set up and a SIM card slot behind the battery cover. You actually just buy the additional UMTS modem card, plug it in, install drivers and start surfing. I must however admit that – based on my experience with this same procedure on the Asus 1000HG netbook – the internal antenna setup on top of the display usually isn’t that much better than a conventional, external USB 3G modem. Still have to double-check this though.

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Soooo…is the 6930p any good? Yes of course! It’s a good notebook for most tasks and it comes with a good mixture of usability and performance. It may not be the best notebook for serious photo editing (due to HP’s shitty displays), but it already is a best seller in all other categories and just delivers what it was made for. I’d recommend it to anyone who has previously worked with HP notebooks, likes them and wants to use a stable machine for the home office.

Comparing it to my old nx8220 and seeing the performance increase, I am really happy that I eventually upgraded my computer hardware. I especially like the Dual Core thing which will ease up a lot of tasks on my notebook.

I am also happy that I didn’t have to spend too much money on a new machine. I think that it doesn’t actually come from HP’s Renew Program and that it had only been previously opened which is why the price was so low.

If you’re more into power saving laptops and value battery runtime, it may be better to get the Intel graphics card version coupled with an LED screen which should provide another 0,5 – 1h of battery runtime. And you may also think about getting a lighter power supply. HP really needs to continue working on the displays and on the power supplies. Improve contrast on the displays (a lot of customers will appreciate this), extend their vertical viewing angles and construct lighter and smaller power supplies. This is 2009 where notebook computers have to compete with netbooks, at least when it comes to portability issues.

Pls note that I am reviewing this machine from my German perspective where the market situation is slightly different from e.g. the US where DELL and Apple seem to dominate the market. Spare parts on Dells are still relatively expensive in Germany and not as available as in the US or even UK & Ireland.

For a sound reasoning on what to look for in a new notebook, pls check out this comment from 2006 by Steve , thx.

Would you try that with your MacBookPro? ….eh?

Now you know.

This is what happens when you trust that buying a used 60GB 2.5″ HDD will “be enough” to secure your important data.

It failed to work after a year, gave me some headache the other day (managed to recover 99,5% of my data) and has now received its final treatment.

For instance, I grouped/tagged all Africa-related sites as “afrosphere” and European sites with no particular topic as “Eurosphere” on my Google Reader. It may not be the smartest solution, but it helps me to quickly identify where something belongs to (again, according to my own understanding which may be different from yours).

You may also see from my folders that it’s sometimes difficult to caterogize one website into a unique folder. For instance, Steve often writes about the musical Golden Afrique on his blog - so I didn’t know where to save his feed: afrospehere or ngoma?

Google knows about this problem and consequently enabled users to save their feeds in more than one folder. In dubio pro reo - so I saved his blog in both folders.

I even read the wonderful “Everything is miscellaneous” by David Weinberger the other day and think that it makes sense to tag all content. However, it’s still my own tags/keywords - and sometimes I’d like to know what kind of classification others are using on their readers.

One fine way is to check out delicious.com - that social bookmarking service I’ve been using for quite some time now - and see the tags ppl have used on their saved bookmarks. The screenshot above is a search for “Kikuyumoja” - lists 35 search results.

So the idea is to come up with a service that takes bookmarks / links from various resources (e.g. social bookmarking sites, feedreaders, etc.), looks at their tags and combines these with a link:

Kikuyumoja.com - my blog - would probably create a tag cloud like:

Kenya Germany mobile_blogging cool twitter Africa social_media blog moblog water ecosan internet mobile gprs Safaricom umts Nokia WordPress eee imagineering …

…and so on.

Again, I don’t know if something like that already exists, but the idea behind such an approach is not to display my own categorisation (because otherwise I would just come up with a tag cloud on the sidebar of my blog) - but instead a user / reader generated tag cloud: I am not interested in my own stuff, but in yours.

In other words: in case you’ve saved my blog on your feedreader - how did you tag it?

Technically spoken, I imagine a Yahoo pipes app - but how do you access those private tags on feedreaders?

Another sweet reason that justifies the recent purchase of a 2nd hand eee Asus 901 is the compact size and weight of the power supply.

An 8,9″ display at 1024×600px resolution combined with a rather tiny keyboard for sure isn’t as perfect as the ideal combination of these two worlds - which would probably be an advanced 11,1″ notebook @ 1280×800px and full CoreDuo CPU - but any kg I do not have to carry around is very much appreciated.

Netbooks are cool and if Apple and AMD do not agree on this, then it’s just because they haven’t come up with suitable alternatives. With the worldwide increase in netbook sales, it becomes obvious that many consumers actually like these low-cost computers.

My eeePC has a 6-cell battery that lasts for at least 6hrs (tested!) - which provides real mobile comfort so I could even leave this power supply at home.

I think that netbooks - which ideally also come with an internal 3G modem and a basic Linux OS - are the perfect computer for most average households, whether in Europe, the US or Africa.

I’d used the Fonic SIM card on the Nokia N95 - my mobile phone I normally use for another line. Fonic also offers USB UMTS modems made by Huawei - however, these external modems often sell for 60,- EUR and above (Fonic sells them for ~ 100,- EUR with a new SIM card). USB modems are nice, also because they connect to any USB device (desktop pc, notebook, netbook) - but they are still too expensive for me. Also, I do have a PCMCIA II slot on my notebook I’ve never really used so far (except for my Harry’s TV card which is still with Harry - ati bwana, diese Lösung hier ist auch für Dich interessant).

So I checked out eBay and found this really great offer where someone had this “Vodafone Mobile Connect HSDPA / UMTS / EDGE datacard” PCMCIA II card in an auction..

…which I managed to secure for just 2,- EUR! :-)

It’s a “Qualcomm 3G CDMA” PCMCIA II card, also known as “Option GT 3G+ EMEA”. Oh, and it also has an extra port for an external antenna, so this may be of particular interest to those who are living far away from the next base station.

Well…don’t be fooled by the Vodafone branding - this card isn’t SIM- or netlocked, and it will just work. Took me about 20 minutes to search for a valid driver package and programme to run it, and 3 minutes to install it.

The problem I had was that these Vodafone (T-Mobile, OEM, etc.) cards aren’t officially supported by Option, which is why I had to find a driver package for this card in the first place.

Option Globetrotter Connect

I’d previously used Vodafone’s 86mb package (Vodafone connect) to get the driver, but even after deinstalling it later on, I think the drivers are still on the system, so I can’t really tell right now if I am currently using the Vodafone drivers or the ones from this hidden Option Globetrotter Connect suite which is much smaller (2,6 mb vs. 86 mb). On the other hand, both software packages have drivers made by Option, so I guess they are all the same (except for Vodafone providing bloatware along with the plain driver package). [Update]: The above mentioned Option Globetrotter Connect suite is all you need. Install it, plug in this card, it will automatically select the drivers and you’re ready to go. Simple as that.

Another interesting alternative, and my initial reason for this blog post, is MWCONN - a really perfect little freeware (WinXP) access tool for mobile internet connections. Perfect, as it provides lot’s of interesting details to the running connection:

The whole setup still needs to be optimized and the speed improved (the network here currently only supports up to 1,8 Mbit/s, not 3,6 or even 7,2 Mbit/s). Also, since it’s based on a PCMCIA card, it will only work via PCMCIA slots (which is one of the reasons I’d thought about going for a used 12″ subnotebook instead of a 10″ netbook). But still - this internet connectivity is better than nothing + it is a dedicated solution that doesn’t require any swapping of SIM cards + carrying an extra cable for the phone as Bluetooth alone is too slow. Also, MWCONN on the other hand also has this *100# prepaid credit balance check built in - which makes sense because there’s no keypad as on a phone to type in such a basic command.

The only downside to MWCONN is the missing driver package, so if you’re cheap like me and into buying hardware only via eBay, just go for the Option package above. It really is all you need for WinXP.

Vodafone sucks big times - and so does their branding :-)

Now let me see how it performs with Ubuntu 8.10…read somewhere that it is natively supported there. Which means: plug & play!

[UPDATE]

It just took me 2 minutes to get this thing online via Ubuntu 8.10 - out-of-the-box, that is. Plugged it in, chose the new network management tool, selected mobile broadband and entered the following data for Fonic:

APN: pinternet.interkom.de
primary DNS: 195.182.96.28
secondary DNS: 195.182.96.61

Compared to all the stress I used to have with such toys back in the days, this setup just works.

Verdict: if you own a mobile device with a PCMCIA II slot and want to get online, don’t spend a lot of money on USB devices if you can also have it this way. Works with WinXP SP2 & Ubuntu 8.10.

My own system is an HP nx8220 15,4″ notebook since autumn 2006 - a very reliable machine that also survived rural Kenya (~ power failures) and which I’ve disassembled a few times to exchange parts like another CPU, more RAM, new HDD(s), another screen, new keyboard, new touchpad and also a new battery. The only issue I am afraid of is that many other broken HP nx8220s for sale on eBay & Co. do have a faulty Northbridge controller chip below the touchpad, which would result in a costly repair (200-250,- EUR, reballing the chip) and what should hopefully never happen to my computer. To prevent this failure, and because my notebook actually weighs 2,8kg (plus the power supply cable), I’ve started using it at home only and relying on other machines at the office.

However, as I would like to be more mobile, I thought about going for one of those new netbooks to have a 2nd, very portable computer.

And this is where the story actually begins. I know a lot of other friends who are often travelling and attending conferences are tired of carrying their heavy MacBookPro around - which becomes obvious when you see ProBloggers like Ethan Zuckerman using (simple) 13,3″ MacBooks.

What would I like my future portable computer (notebook/netbook) to have?

• small screen, maximum 12,x”
• WXGA resolution (1280×800)
• efficient & power saving CPU
• min. 1 GB RAM
• decent (multi-)touchpad or stick with good buttons
• nice keyboard (ctrl + Fn key positions)
• battery runtime of min. 4h
• Bluetooth 2.0, Wifi a/b/g/(n)
• internal HDD
• if possible: internal 3G or 3.5G modem
• 3x USB
• weight: below 1,8kg (maximum!)
• affordable price

While going through the specs of all current and upcoming netbooks on the market, my five netbook favourites are so far:

• Samsung NC10
• Asus Eee PC 1000H (Go)
• HP Mini 1000
• Dell Inspiron Mini 12
• Lenove Ideapad S10

These netbooks actually provide enough flexibility for me on the road, and if they all stay below 400,- EUR and weigh not more than 1,5kg each, I could easily agree on one of them (ask me in a month from now and I’ll probably name three other ones).

However, netbooks are netbooks, and the Intel Atom N270 CPU and their chipsets aren’t that great - compared to full 12,x” notebooks that come with the same powerful CPU my own notebook currently has (Intel 750 - no CoreDuo etc.).

What I am talking about are used subnotebooks like IBM’s X40/41, T40p (Steve! :-), HP nc4200, nx2400, Dell Latitude D400/410. These business models that intially sold for 1.500,- EUR and above to the corporate world, are now often selling for something like 300,- EUR. Despite of a worn out body, display and keyboard, they also often have an old battery, so you easily end up adding another 80,- EUR on a new battery. But still, these old subnotebooks are often still better than new netbooks. Especially the screen resolution is by far superior to the tiny screen on a netbook, even though some of the latter ones have a modern LED backlight screen.

Depending on what you want (or rather: are able) to spend on a 2nd computer, I think it makes sense to consider going for a used subnotebook instead of a new netbook. I also buy my HP printers according to this philosophy: new cheap consumer printers = expensive cartridges, older business printers = cheaper cartridges. It’s like buying a used Mercedes instead of a cheaper, fully-equipped Korean car.

The only part I still have to figure out is how to sync two computers - because I can only work on one machine at once and would still want to have my 50 GB of private data with me all the time.

So here’s my question to anyone who ever wanted to have a lightweight computer for travelling: what would you do? Keep on carrying the old 2,8kg around until it falls apart, go for a restricted new netbook or buy one of those older subnotebooks for more or less the same amount most netbooks are currently selling for (300,- - 400,- EUR)?

(@Mac-Fan-boys: I’d even consider an Apple Netbook, but not the MacAir :-)

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Other than that - what I really like about netbooks is that they provide affordable computing - much like the OLPC which apparently was the initial reason for Asus to start producing netbooks. I think we are yet to see in due time how quickly netbooks will replace mobile phones as the major online platform in Africa. Much like local WiFi networks started substituting 3G UMTS connections in the past (because it was simpler and easier to set up a local Wifi network than to wait for all network providers to update their infrastructure), I think netbooks have the potential to substitute the ailing browser development on mobile phones.

WAP alone has been around for so many years now, and still the iPhone is the only phone with a decent online browser. Consequently, netbooks - because they are cheap and will in future also have a SIM card holder for an internal 3/3.5G modem - could imho be the ideal mobile platform - all over the world.

“Haben wir etwas falsch gemacht?” - Well… according to this alternative, there are better options to Google Chrome.

[via]

If you have access to kids ;-), think they should learn something about computers and don’t want to buy any extra gadgets/toys, then GCompris may just be what you’re looking for.

“GCompris is an educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10. (…) Currently GCompris offers in excess of 100 activities and more are being developed. GCompris is free software, that means that you can adapt it to your own needs, improve it and, most importantly, share it with children everywhere.”

“In order to promote the use of GNU/Linux, the windows version has a limited number of activities. It is possible to access all the activities for a fee” - which is 20,- EUR. Best option is to use the LiveCD version, or - if you can - try Ubuntu with the Edubuntu add-on package.

Edubuntu has really improved since I’ve first blogged about it in 2005. Nice! My new boss has 3 kids who often play in the office. So I thought about giving them an older laptop with Edubuntu + a mouse and see how far they’ll get with it.

In my case: I use MS Outlook under WinXP (at home) to sync the address book on my mobile phone (despite of online service as mentioned earlier). I could just as well use an alternative e-mail client, but I am using MS Outlook (under XP, that is).

There’s this colleague of mine who uses an MS Excel sheet to manage his appointments. Needles to say that these sheets are on his computer only and remain there.
We requested him to open up his calendar to the whole team but he hasn’t done so since then.
I am not the one to complain about this because I am also hardly ever using that MS Outlook calendar at work.

screenshot of a calendar @ MS Outlook 2003

The other day an old friend of mine (who happens to work in the same organization) asked me if I’d like to have lunch with him. Now, instead of just accepting my “OK”, he then proceeded and sent me a request for the Outlook calendar. Since we both work at the same company, since we’re both using Outlook to organize our schedules, since he has a company phone that syncs with our MS Exchange server - all of this makes sense (for him).

However - I am not using a company phone. And I do prefer running a paper version of my calendar. If it had to be an electronical version, I would love to have one that:

• syncs with just about any phone / PDA / etc.
• syncs with any corporate IT structure & their regulations (!!!!)
• is an all-in-one solution for private and professional contacts
• has a public and private section

Google Calendar…is it a suitable alternative for my needs?

And: a request for an open synchronisation - is that due to MS Exchange or the inability / unwillingness of our IT dept. to unlock this special mode due to security reasons & co? What is MS Exchange capable of and what kind of services are used? What is required so that users from different organisations can have one tool online that manages their schedules and still syncs with all different systems? Which system doesn’t require one single server but instead just syncs different servers & user data to a global network? Which system (mabye Zimbra?) enables me to sent a request for an appointment to a user that isn’t connected to our MS Exchange server?

When we look at today’s map of Firefox 3 downloads worldwide in just 24 hours (for a world record):

…I really wonder what ppl will say about this in future, and also how many organizations will take THIS as a basis for their future planing on the availability of internet access, the spread of alternative internet browsers (such as the Firefox 3 suite) and what kind of internet-saturation (?) it takes to actively participate in such a call for a world record (read: the request to download FF3 on this particular day was imho promoted through the blogosphere? If so, it could be a nice indicator for the blogosphere).

However - 8,9 million downloads in just one day are just impressive!

As a consequence of this, my blog now looks like this:

before:

after:

I’ve added a black 2px frame to the screenshots so highlight the actual difference in sizes. I am still undecided if this was a good move - am currently working with a 120dpi font instead of the usual 96dpi under WinXP - but then: it gives me the freedom to actually just rescale the screen to a much lower resolution whenever needed.
Unfortunately, each TFT screen only works best at a certain screen resolution, so this one being the 1680×1050px one, I will have to leave it at this high resolution for a serious “screen impression”. 1280×800px have been fine with me though, and I think it makes more sense to add another, 2nd screen (via a docking station) to move messengers & utilities to the side.
The upgrade came in handy as I had the opportunity to strip down a used & broken machine and use all the good parts on my own machine (especially an almost new keyboard, which is awesome).

Also, I am wondering if this will improve any webdesign projects / photo editing I am doing on my machine. Despite of the improved screen resolution, the brightness of all colours is just great. But then - all content appears to be very very small…

[update:] Ok, there you go….switching back to 1280×800px and downgrading to the previous 1,86 GHz CPU (instead of a 2,13 GHz) did the job for me. No more headaches from focussing my eyes on small details on the screen + no more fan noise coming from an over aggressive fan. The weekend is saved…

Why? Well, what’s the scenario?
During an average conference, many different users from different backgrounds approach the guy handling the beamer with their usb flash memory stick. Unfortunately, their USB flash sticks are often infected with malware that may reproduce itself on the host system and consequently infect other usb sticks. Malware scanners in use may also not be that effective and often only fight the symptoms, not their actual causes. Hence, an infected base station is the ideal breeding place for malware.

Using a Live CD based on a Linux distro instead may prevent all this danger as such an alternative operating system isnt affected by such malware. Consequently, if used in the correct way, the simple spreading of malware through automatic infections is limited to a possible minimum.

It’s such a relatively simple method to prevent further infections so I am wondering: why isn’t this a standard procedure in a M$-Windows-dominated IT environment?

(@Apple users: *cough* *cough*….well…u know….*sigh* :-)

Well, apparently they are indeed able to supply any recent computer with a fresh copy of e.g. gOS - a new OS based on Ubuntu 7.10 + featuring lots of Google web apps.

Just plug it in and start your computer with the latest release of [put your favourite OS here] - for inspirations, check out pendrivelinux.com

Reasons for bragging about it this way is that I am still amazed at this tiny 2GB microSD card inside the USB reader (see yellow arrow) and that it actually provides my machine with a very sexy-looking OS within a maximum of 20seconds boot-up time. And all of this at the size of a fingernail! (<== no, not those nails that have at one time been very popular with guys from Nyeri…)

Again, the provision of WinXP rescue kits, portable apps or even complete OS on a USB flash memors stick may just be the right extra income for IT students. Given that not everyone has his own machine, a USB flash drive may just substitute that need for virtual desktops.

Maybe one day we’ll only see ppl using terminal-like stations where all private data is stored on a USB flash stick if not remote on a central server?

YouTube directvideo link

…and a link. Ok, maybe also another link.

@MB: this + Edubuntu + B’s old laptop => test it with the kids!

EyeOS is virtual desktop / operating system accessible through a browser. Or as they describe it on their website:

eyeOS is a new kind of Operating System, where everything resides on a web browser. With eyeOS, you will have your desktop, applications and files always with you, from your home, your college, your office or your neightboor’s house. Just open a web browser, connect to your eyeOS System and access your personal desktop and all your stuff just like you left it last time.

YouTube directvideo link

So I’ve downloaded their latest release and installed it on my webspace. Note: I am still on 1&1 (1und1.de / 1and1.com) due to historic reasons (urgently need to switch to a cheaper host though - any recommendations that really work & are reliable? Uptime on 1&1 has been great in the past but they are just crazy about mySQL dbs and other extras. Automatization / user admin panel is still very nice on their system so any other cheaper service would need to offer a good admin panel as well. thx!) and eyeOS requires php 5 in order to run. 1&1 offers both php 4 and 5, but 4 is the default setting. In order to use php 5 on your 1&1 server, you’ll need to rename all files from .php to .php5 and likewise all links / references / calls to other php files within the install.php & index.php. Did that and it just works fine:

You can test it for yourself on eyeOS.info and I recommend to set your browser to fullscreen view (F11?) in order to fully enjoy the desktop.

So WHY is this interesting?

• It’s a personal, virtual desktop offering some basic progs like word (based on the tinyMCE editor as in WordPress) or a spreadsheet program, but also games, a calculator, etc - basically, everyting that will be developed for it - so there sure is much more to come.
• There are moments when you are on a very restricted computer which doesnt provide much flexibility except for an inet connection. Sure you could use Google Documents or even PortableApps on a USB flash disk (I’ve introduced PortableApps at our office because ppl wanted to use Firefox instead of MSIE 6!!.0 without running into trouble with the IT dept.), but maybe there’s no USB port available and/or you don’t have a Google account?
• It comes with an FTP client. The ftp port 21 is closed @ my place of work, so the only way to use ftp is by using a) an unsecured wifi connection (ftp is plain text anyways) or b) using such a remote ftp client.
• It is platform independent! Access your eyeOS desktop via WinOS, MacOS, LinuxOS - any browser with JavaScript will do! Doesnt work via the Symbian S60 V3 browser (based on the Safari core) and OperaMini though.
• You may want to access all your data in a customizable environment without worrying about carrying USB flash memory around.
• Would this work on a server and low-cost terminals connected that just have a browser? => @ University - could be an interesting idea for local networks, if not already realized (haven’t combed through their wiki actually, these are just my impressions so far).
• There’s no additional software needed! No need for special client software except for a working browser.

Imho, eyeOS is a very interesting alternative to….to what? To a virtual machine in the network via VMWARE or a remote VNC connection? Maybe. I think it rather indicates that the future is all about “being connected” = networked computers and that data will then be stored on a main server somewhere, accessible from anywhere in the world. Storing devices such as CDs, DVDs, USB flash disk are the best indicator to see how everything quickly changes from long-time archives to fast-and-forget memory. Following this line of thinking, the question of illegal downloades could one day just be solved as all multimedia files could remain on a central repository and usage (you dont need to physically”posses” data on your hard drive - you just want to use it, right?) would be paid for. Sure there would be ways to crack or bypass that but that’s just another question.
As for now, as broadband / fast inet connection isn’t available everywhere in the world, I tend to regard this only from a local area network perspective. Has this already been implemented at a local university? => Skunkworks Kenya / Kenyatta University?

I like eyeOS because it doesn’t require much to work. It’s simple, it’s efficient, it wins.

I took this opportunity to also inform myself about current models and trends and came to the conclusion that I am just (still) VERY HAPPY with my HP (Compaq) nx8220. I’ve seen a lot of other equipment in the past and also lots of crippled corp. IT gadgets and then I always come back to my beloved nx8220 and think: Ahh, well done, JKE, it was a good deal back then. :-)

Really, I don’t care about fast CPUs or the latest gfx board if the machine does not provide a decent battery runtime under normal conditions and, most importantly, has a matt display, a real keyboard, an internal microphone, a lowered trackpad (see Sony VAIOs - horrible) and enough USB ports on each side.

So why not this dead cheap HP 530 running on Linux? Because it has its USB ports on the left side. Now imagine fixing your USB mouse to that port, pulling the cable once around the back of the machine to the right side. Or headset sockets: nice for fixing a headset - but given the (stationary) Celeron CPU, most users will keep this machine at home and may want to connect it to their stereo system. A cable in front just sucks. My colleagues in Mali are using such a HP 530 and again, I wonder how it performs under the heat…

Been standing in front of an MacBook Air ad tonight, explaining my Indian colleague the disadvantages of such a notebook and I would never go for it. He’s into Apple products big times (is there any secret or subliminal Apple advertisment in Google Talk or Orkut?? :-) but me, mimi I could nevaaaaa go for an Apple computer. (I’ve grown up on an Atari 1040 STF which should still exist somewhere in Nairobi so I’ve paid my dues to the UI on that platform…). I wonder why Apple assumes that most customers who are able to cough up enough pesa for a MacBook Air are also those who are frequent flyers and will be in such situations when this gadget actually plays out its advantages (light weight, energy consumption, data exchange limited to network connections, illuminated keyboard).

If my nx8220 dies one day, I’ll hopefully manage to buy another HP or, if they eventually switch the Strg and Fn key positions, maybe also an IBM/Lenovo thingy. But then, I’d prolly fix it and buy spare parts from eBay…

@M: are you still on that Toshiba?
@MB: what about your FSC Amilo - working again?
@CG: wie geht es Deinem DELL und wie oft nutzt Du Dein ThinkPad?
@Zed & CK: kommt mir jetzt nicht mit dem Apple! :-)

(vielleicht sollte man mich mal 1 Woche lang mit einem Apple PC einsperren, damit ich für das OS mehr Sympathien entwickeln kann…)

1. Bluetooth headset “sniffing”

YouTube directvideo link

[via]

2. security analysis of a voting machine

The only working solution I can currently think of is something where you’d have a (virtual) local server running which then provides the dynamics for an attached database, but I was hoping that maybe someone out there knows a better solution, maybe something where a script creates static versions of each page and then copies them into a folder (~ cron job every night).

Joomla? Drupal? Typo3? Anyone?

Any help is appreciated! Thx.

Back then I even mentioned some progs that may verify if a USB flash memory stick is faulty or not. Germany’s c’t (Computer & Technik) magazine has now come up an alternative programme that works just fine and does a great job:

(screenshot of H2testw - and yes, that’s my desktop wallpaper :-)

It is available in German and English, free of charge, small (zipped ~ 220 kb) and “writes data in chunks of 1 megabyte”. H2testw.exe doesn’t also require an installation, so you may want to add it to you selection of useful tools on a usb flash memory stick (i do that + i have a folder designed for such purposes which contains also other goodies such as a free virus scanner + recent update packages that kill popular threats). It took this useful tool about 15 minutes to write and 3 minutes to read back data on my (freshly formatted) 2 GB stick.

I am mentioning it here because I know a lot of ppl are aware of faulty sticks but don’t know how to check them with the right software (there are some nasty “freeware” tools out there that do more harm than good). Also, since this nice little prog also fits on the smallest stick (hey, the above mentioned 16 MB sticks are still available, i heard :-), you may want to take it to the dealer and test it right there before purchase.

AOB: What happened to the Raila virus, btw?

I’ve posted it here because Daudi’s comment the other day over at Erik’s Realm reminded me of this “sharing perspective” - which I think will be one of the reasons why any real multi-user OS will eventually win the game. As for the Linux vs. Windows debate: I personally don’t care which system is used, as long as it’s secure enough (viruses = kill productivity), provides a good usability and won’t be affected by power cuts.
Related to this owner-user-question, I wonder how many average users every mobile phone has in a country like Kenya (given that a phone may only be used by one person at a time and that different profiles depend on the SIM in gsm phones).