Have Laptop Will Travel

Are 3-D display laptops the future?

Originally posted on December 11, 2009 @ 12:24 pm

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Honestly, I don’t know what to make of it. It seems that Acer has come up with a laptop that has a 3-D display effect. The 3-D effect is achieved by a transparent polarizing filter overlaid on the screen, which splits images into separate streams for each eye. You would need a pair of special polarizing glasses to get the effect, and if you look at the screen straight-on, you’d get the 3-D effect. Looking at the screen at an angle may actually not show the 3-D. [Read more…]

Would you travel with Samsung’s 14-inch transparent OLED laptop?

Originally posted on January 9, 2010 @ 12:22 am

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I don’t know if this is a prototype for a future product or this is something Samsung did just for the heck of it, but they have a new 14-inch OLED laptop which has a transparent screen. I do have to give Samsung plus points for innovation. This may look like a totally impractical laptop to have, but you can’t fault them for not taking a risk.

To be fair though, since OLEDs don’t need a backlight and that would result in a much thinner screen. We’d get a more portable laptop than ever. I’m pretty sure that Samsung’s OLED laptop won’t necessarily be transparent or the transparency can be controlled. Transparent computer screens even have their uses. [Read more…]

Scan crippled hard drives for viruses using Linux

Originally posted on March 15, 2010 @ 8:42 am

On our Windows laptops, we use an army of different software just to protect ourselves from all the different kinds of malware just hanging around the net, waiting for an opening to attack our system. Don’t give me the excuse that antivirus software is expensive, there are a lot of fully-functional antiviruses out there that are pretty good. But even though we have our system running fully-protected, there’s a good chance that one or two viruses might be able to slip in. I usually don’t worry that much, a simple scan with Malwarebytes usually does the job. But what if malware has overrun your computer so much that it’s practically unusable?

If your plethora of antimalware apps doesn’t work, along with *gasp* safe mode, then you might want to try a different approach – Linux. From gHacks, here’s a way to scan your hard drive for viruses using a Linux installation. gHacks recommends that you remove the infected drive and connect it via USB to the Linux machine. Then you can scan the drive via Linux as an external drive. The, install F-Prot on Linux. Scan away. [Read more…]

MiniMounts for netbooks

Originally posted on December 27, 2009 @ 11:21 pm

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Netbooks are meant to be taken everywhere. That much we know. We all know that the diminutive sizes of netbooks make them ideal for lugging around everywhere. But then if you do decide to carry your mini laptop everywhere, there’s the simple matter of safety. We don’t want to drop our precious netbooks when we’re working in rugged places, right? (Although there’s the matter of bringing your netbook – which isn’t made of top notch materials to begin with – to a rugged place, but whatever floats your boat.)

But if you do insist on bringing your netbook to a potentially dangerous environment, to protect it you might need a MiniMount. It’s basically a rack that allows you to mount a netbook in the home or car for easier use. You need MiniMount’s hard shell case – it’s the one that easily lets you set your netbook on their mounting kit.

From the MiniMount website:

Mounts are available in preconfigured kits containing what you need to attach your MINIMOUNT case in most any imaginable setting. From passenger car to forklift, from big-rig to RV, from office cart to exercise bike, from work bench to laboratory, from bed post to tripod, from quad to tractor, it goes where you go.

Both RAM-Mount and Manfrotto integrate for clamp mount, direct surface attachment, or in-vehicle bolt-on applications. Our Quick Plate™ system allows the MINIMOUNT to be easily detached from mounting arms without tools and without protruding hardware.

Prices start at $79.

PC makers working on borderless screens

Originally posted on February 11, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

It seems that several ODM Taiwanese notebook manufacturers are at work developing slim laptops with frameless screens. And amazingly, we can expect the first few models to come out the second half of 2010. These manufacturers are said to be Foxconn, Quanta, Compal, Acer, and HP.

This is something I’m seriously looking forward to, because bezels on screens have always been a huge turnoff for me. On some systems, such as the Asus Eee PC 701, the bezel makes sense, since the only way to provide a reasonably large keyboard with a 7 inch screen is to pad the space on the sides of the display. But on other models, there’s no good excuse for the black bars that border the display.

According to Digitimes,

The Foxconn Group is cooperating with Chimei Innolux Corporation (CIC), the new entity to be formed by Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), Innolux Display and TPO Displays, to develop frameless models to strengthen its competitiveness in the ODM notebook segment, the sources indicated. Meanwhile, Compal Electronics is collaborating with Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) to develop frameless screens, and is expected to start shipping frameless notebook models to its major clients, including Acer, in the second half of 2010, revealed the sources.

The new frameless screens will mainly be made using Corning’s reinforced Gorilla glass, the sources indicated.

We’re not exactly clear what “frameless” means, though. I’m hoping that we get a screen that has no bezels whatsoever, with the display bleeding over to the edge of the laptop’s lid or will we get a laptop with a really thin bezel that it’s barely noticeable? I’m seriously hoping it’s the former.