Have Laptop Will Travel

Halo 3 cases scratches game disks

Originally posted on September 26, 2007 @ 11:44 pm

Say what you will about Sony and the Playstation 3 — high prices, delays in top tier titles, the snafu with the rumble feature — at least the company releases products that have a measure of quality that assures customers. Look at the rushed release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the immediate complaints about its powercords, overheating issues and the dreaded ring of death. Playstation 3 may have been left at the gate but from the initial reviews of the unit, it was relatively quiet (compared to the 360’s industrial level drone) and overheating issues were very few, if at all apparent.

Microsoft seems to have built a reputation for always coming out with rushed products. You just need to look at all of their software, which are technically working betas than final releases, the aforementioned Xbox 360, and now Halo 3. I have yet to hear about glitches on the software itself but, predictably, complaints are being posted on the internet about the game case scratching disks.  I’m not wholely blaming Microsoft for this fiasco because they surely have contracted a third party to manufacture the cases but shouldn’t these things also be tested? In fairness to Microsoft, they have acted quickly about this complaint, not like their very slow acknowledgement of the ring of death issue.

I know I’m going to get a lot of hate mail from Xbox fanboys for this one…

Animated discussion regarding the Acer lappies

Originally posted on August 30, 2007 @ 12:58 am

There’s been a lot of movement in terms of the replies coming in from readers of Have Laptop Will Travel’s entry on the Acer 4520 keyboard lag problem and its accompanying solution. People who have tried the fix (which is to simply deactivate the touchpad) reported that this indeed worked. Of course, this is only a palliative solution because you have to continually deactivate the touchpad to fix the lag.

Tshanhon, our HLWT reader from Singapore, reported that there is a BIOS update forthcoming that could address the keyboard lag problem once and for all. We’ll wait for more updates about this from our Acer lappy users and see if Acer has finally fixed the problem through the update. another HLWT visitor, turbO from Norway, suggested a rollback of the driver for the touchpad. I would really appreciate if he would post another comment as to what version to go back to and where to get the drivers so it can also help other Acer users with the same probem.

Lastly, Tshanhon, posted that some Acer owners are having problems taking advantage of their international warranty. Apparently, Tshanhon said, the company has made a number of submodels that are only available in specific countries. This is posing a problem for Acer owners who want to get support for a submodel in a country that does not carry the particular model. If you have encountered a similar problem about getting service for your Acers in other countries because of this “submodel” complication do let us know here in Have Laptop Will Travel.

Great gaming with Bioshock

Originally posted on September 3, 2007 @ 11:44 pm

One of the most hotly anticipated games this year finally shipped out to the public this month. The game is Bioshock. This game has a good lineage behind it. It is considered a spiritual successor to System Shock — considered by many as a seminal game and probably one of the greatest games ever made.

Bioshock is a first person shooter in genre only. Yes, it follows the framework and gameplay style of the FPS. But it is much more than that. This is a game that engages you primarily not with the graphics (although it is pretty) or with the gameplay (which is adequate), it does so by delivering a tight and very interesting story. One that hooks you from the beginning and never lets go. The strange, creepy atmosphere is not just the product of the environment it is also enhanced by the deft storytelling that really pulls you into a world that has gone haywire.

If your laptop or PC has the juice to power up this bad boy then don’t hesitate to get a copy. Console freaks can also try Bioshock if they have an Xbox 360.

USB 3.0 being developed

Originally posted on September 20, 2007 @ 2:44 am

Ask any computer user and they will tell you that one of the things that they look forward to are fast transfer speeds. The advent of USB has put us in the right path. Even with the introduction of Firewire (which was admittedly a faster protocol), USB continued to be the popular choice and it has continued to be developed as evidenced by USB 2.0, which offered faster transfer speeds. But with the advent growing capacities of storage drives and the increased demand for data transfers for various computer peripherals, USB 2.0 just could not cut it anymore.  It’s good news that USB 3.0 is now being developed.

During the Intel Developers Forum, the formation of the “Superspeed” USB Promotions Group was announced. This new collective will be tasked to develop the specs for USB 3.0 that they are hoping will be able to become the standard for the next five years.

It’s too early to really know what USB 3.0 will be but preliminary information includes backwards compatibility with USB 2.0, lower power consumption, and a ten fold increase in transfer speed, that is, from USB 2.0’s 480Mbits/s to 4.8Gbits/s.

Let’s see how this will develop in the coming months.