Category: Good Deals
Moving from dual monitors to a large single monitor?
Posted by Scott Bassett in Good Deals, Hardware Friday, 30 July 2010 06:00 No Comments
As a long-time advocate of dual monitor setups, I feel a bit strange writing this. Yesterday I replaced my dual monitor arrangement on my primary desktop PC with a single 25 inch LCD widescreen monitor. For the last several years I used a 19 inch standard format monitor along side a 15 inch standard format monitor with this PC. But the PC is located in a public area of the house and because of the counter/desk configuration, they were at different heights and presented a not-very-neat appearance.
This week Staples has a Hanspree 25 inch widescreen LCD on sale for $199.99. It received stellar user reviews on the Staples site. So I was intrigued. Then, when I received an email coupon for 20% off any single item at Staples (excluding computers, but not monitors), that brought the price down to less than $160. I don’t recall ever seeing a 25 inch monitor that cheap. My local store doesn’t carry the monitor, but I stopped by and placed the order there (the coupon is good in-store only). The monitor was delivered by UPS the next day.
Let me say that I am impressed with the quality of the image so far. Until now, I was using VGA analog connectors for each of my dual monitors. The new monitor connects to my PC’s video card via HDMI cable. I am surprised at the improvement in sharpness. It could be that this is a better monitor (running at full 1080p resolution), or it could be that the digital connection is superior, or both.
Managing this much screen real estate on a single monitor can be a challenge. I opted to treat it as if it were actually two smaller monitors side by side. This is easy to do with free software called WinSplit Revolution. It lets you divide a large monitor into what can could be called sub-screens. Presently, I have my email client open on the left half and my web browser on the right half. I find this dual screen within a single monitor setup very easy to use so far.
The take-away is that if you don’t have room for dual monitors or don’t want to bother adding a dual-head or second video card to your PC, a large (25 inch or larger) widescreen monitor, when combined with WinSplit Revolution, is a viable option – and very cheap too!
Law Office Tech Deals for the Week of July 25, 2010
Posted by Scott Bassett in Good Deals Sunday, 25 July 2010 07:38 1 Comment
Sometimes you find good tech deals in strange places. This week’s Big Lots circular features a GatewayLT2016U netbook for $199.99. This Windows XP Home netbook is actually an Asus Aspire One D250 rebadged originally for sale by Verizon Wireless in the fall of 2009 bundled with its expensive 3G wireless data plan. It sold then for $149, but you had to sign a two-year service contract at $40 to $60 per month, making this standard netbook very costly over the long haul. But at $199.99 without a data plan, it is an acceptable price on a slightly-behind-the-times netbook, even if the 3G option is not used.
What isn’t clear from the Big Lots ad is whether Verizon left the 3G radio in these units operable when it dumped them for resale by Big Lots designated as refurbished. If so (the ad shows a 3G sticker prominently displayed on the netbook’s right palm rest and a quick search of the web suggests the 3G capabilities are intact), this could be more of a bargain by allowing you to add it to your current Verizon plan or obtain 3G service on a month-to-month or even prepaid basis without the need for a long term contract. You will pay about $100 for a Verizon 3G USB modem tied to an expensive data plan for two years anyway, so this is like getting the netbook for only $100 and saving potentially hundreds by avoiding the tie-in to a two-year contract.
While you are at your local Big Lots to check out this netbook, they have HP 4GB USB or SDHC flash memory devices on sale for $9. This is a good price for name-brand 4GB storage devices. If you decide to buy the Gateway netbook or already have a 10 inch netbook, Big Lots has a decent Icon netbook sleeve for $7 and a simple Travel Solutions corded optical mouse for $9.
If the 3G option is of no interest to you, and you want a more current netbook, Best Buy has a member of the critically acclaimed Toshiba Mini series for $299.99 or bundled with a Toshiba external DVD burner for $349.98. If you are interested in a mobile broadband data plan and are convinced you will take full advantage of it each month for the duration of a two-year contract, Best Buy is offering a Verizon Wireless USB Mobile Broadband modem for just $1 with a two-year contract and giving you $100 off any notebook or netbook computer. You can also get $100 off a notebook or netbook if you spend $99.99 on the highly-regarded MiFi mobile hotspot device and sign a two year data plan contract.
If you are a notebook or netbook user, Staples has the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 on sale for $29.99. It uses a blue laser to track on almost any surface, including carpet or rough unfinished wood (such as a park bench). The USB receiver is small enough to leave plugged into your computer at all times or you can stow it inside the bottom compartment of the mouse. The mouse also has an on-off switch to help preserve what should be ten-month battery life on a single alkaline AA.
Getting back to the notion of strange places for tech deals, Kmart has the Android OS based Augen 7″ Internet tablet (think smaller and much cheaper iPad) for $149.99, plus save another $5 with this PDF coupon. There is very little info on the Web concerning this device, which appears to be a brand new product. If it runs a version of Android that is fairly modern and access to the apps in the Android Market has not been blocked (although there are workarounds), this could be a true bargain of tablet computer. In general, Wi-Fi enabled touch-screen Android devices like this should be able to do just about anything one might do on a netbook, including web browsing, email, viewing videos, listening to music, editing documents, etc. Hopefully someone will take the plunge a post a report on its capabilities. Update: I was able to buy one at my local Kmart on Friday. It isn’t much of a risk since Kmart has a 90 day return policy. In fact, they print the return deadline right on the receipt. Mine is October 27. That should give me plenty of time to decide if this is a keeper. So far, it is a pure Android experience with no overlays like Motoblur or HTC sense. That is the good part. But the resistive touch screen hard to get used to after using a capacitive touch screen phone. I do like running the Kindle app on it and having access to my ebooks. I also have it connected and working well with my Gmail and Exchange email accounts. It also plays .avi format movies well (several episodes of 30 Rock, for example). More info in future posts.
Are Netbooks Overpriced?
Posted by Scott Bassett in Good Deals, Hardware, Mobility Wednesday, 7 July 2010 07:31 No Comments
Readers of my posts to this blog know that I am a netbook fan, having owned the machine that created this market segment (the original Asus Eeepc 701), and then graduated to a more useful 10″ screen netbook (Toshiba NB205). Although you can buy low-end netbooks with Intel Pine Trail N450 processors, 160 GB hard drives, 1 GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Starter for about $300 (or occasional less if you find a sale), newer 10″ to 12″ screen Pine Trail netbooks can cost as much as $400 to $500. Is a $500 netbook really worth it?
Perhaps not. As a member of B.J.’s Wholesale Club (similar to Costco and Sam’s Club), yesterday I received one of my regular email’s from B.J.’s listing their current coupons and sale prices. One of the items listed for web ordering with an instant coupon was the Toshiba PST3AU01N008 notebook PC with a 13.3″ screen for just $479.99 (through 7-31-10). It shares the netbook characteristic of lacking an optical drive, but otherwise will outperform netbooks in almost every category. In addition to the larger screen and full-sized keyboard, this Toshiba has Windows 7 Home Premium instead of the feature-stripped Windows 7 Starter edition found on netbooks (although you will want to upgrade to Windows 7 Professional if you want a notebook to serve as your primary computer connected to a business network). It weighs 3.9 pounds, which is up to a pound heavier than a netbook, but still plenty light for travel. It’s lack of an optical drive makes it as thin as a netbook, ranging from 0.9″ at the thinnest point to 1.4″ at its thickest. It even has netbook-like rated battery life of over 9 hours.
This is not an endorsement of this particular model for a lawyer’s travel use. Other manufacturers offer similar thin and light notebooks that occasionally go on sale in this price range. Buyers on the Toshiba site give it high marks, but I have no personal experience with it on which to make a recommendation. Still, the availability of thin and light notebooks featuring 13.3″ screens and faster hardware than you will find in even high-end netbooks suggests that once your shopping takes you to the upper end of the netbook price range ($400 to $500), there may be better options.
Lawyer’s Kindle Gets Better Screen, Huge Price Drop (Updated)
Posted by Scott Bassett in Document Management, Don't Miss This!, Good Deals, Hardware, Mobility, Other Stuff..., PDF Thursday, 1 July 2010 06:16 No Comments
The large-screen Amazon Kindle DX has the been the ebook reader for choice for lawyers to use in their practices. It’s larger screen, higher-capacity storage, long battery life, and native PDF compatibility gave it an edge over other ebook readers. Then Apple released the iPad earlier this year. The iPad is not an ebook reader per se, although it can be used for that purpose. But it is really a slate computer that has too many compromises to make it an ideal ebook reader, such as a backlit screen instead of e-ink and much shorter battery life. Despite these shortcomings as an ebook reader, the iPad is a very cool device in other ways. However, if you don’t already have an iPad, and your are interested in a slate computer as an alternative to a notebook or netbook, you may want to wait for the release later this year of Cisco’s business-oriented Cius slate (aka tablet) computer that will run the Android operating system.
Apple’s iPad sparked a price war among traditional e-ink based ebook readers such as the Kindle. Last week Amazon dropped the price on its standard-sized Kindle to just $189, making it a true bargain. Even better, today only (July 1), you can buy a Kindle for only $150 (plus $5 shipping) on the Woot web site. Woot is now owned by Amazon.
Well the price war has finally hit the “lawyer’s Kindle” - the larger DX model. Amazon dropped the price by $110 to $379, making it substantially cheaper than the cheapest iPad. Of course, that is an apples and oranges comparison anyway, but if what you really want and need is an ebook reader, this price drop makes your decision much easier. Not only did the price drop, but Amazon now offers the DX in a more “lawyerly” graphite gray color and improved the contrast of its e-ink screen by 50% so it will be easier to read and display graphics (in gray-scale, of course) more realistically. How can a lawyer use the DX in his/her practice? Read our earlier blog post here. Now the original Kindle DX (which I have owned and used in my appellate practice since its release over a year ago) can be purchased refurbished from Amazon for $249.99. It has the standard warranty and Amazon’s regular 30-day return policy.
Also big news on the Kindle front is the release of a Kindle app for the Android operating system. Those of you with a Kindle account and an Android cell phone have not, until now, been able to read your book purchases on the high-res screens on your phones. Now you can. I installed the new (free) Android Kindle app on my Motorola Droid. It works very well. I have access to all of my ebooks and they are quire readable on the bright and crisp Droid screen. That will probably get better once I receive my pre-ordered Droid X with an even larger screen in mid-July.
Law Office Tech Deals for Week of June 27, 2010
Posted by Scott Bassett in Good Deals, Hardware, Mobility Sunday, 27 June 2010 08:04 No Comments
The ebook reader price wars are heating up. Perhaps this is due to the popularity of Apple’s iPad, which is really a slate computer, not an ebook reader. But whatever brings prices down is fine with me. The world’s best-selling ebook reader is the Amazon Kindle, now selling for $189. Unfortunately, there was no price drop on the larger $489 Kindle DX, which is much more useful to lawyers with its larger screen. If you want to save $119 on the DX, you can opt for a refurbished unit directly from Amazon for $369.99. But for an avid reader of non-law materials, the standard Kindle is a very nice ebook reader at its new reduced price.
As for the iPad, it is a very slick device, but I will wait for Windows 7 or even Android-powered slate computers to hit the market over the next few months. I am anxious to see if they avoid some of the shortcomings of the iPad such as no ability to expand data storage, lack of a web cam, the lack of peripheral connectivity options, the often anemic AT&T wireless data network, and the inability to display Adobe Flash content.
Best Buy has the Verizon Wireless MiFi 2200 mobile hot spot on sale for $99.99 with a 2-year data plan contract. The MiFi is great for road warrior lawyers, especially those that work in a team where more than one person needs mobile Internet access. It functions as a Wi-Fi hot spot for up to five computers or Wi-Fi enable devices. Everyone I know who has a MiFi loves it, and that is consistent with the positive user reviews on the Best Buy site. But if you are in the market soon for a new cell phone, you might consider waiting for the Droid X scheduled for release by Verizon Wireless on July 15. It will have Wi-Fi hot spot capability similar to the MiFi built-in (but for an extra $20 per month, which is still far less than the data plan for a MiFi). The Droid X will be the largest smart phone available in the U.S. According to a review in PC Magazine, which gives it a rare prerelease Editors’ Choice award, that size is put to good use with a huge and very readable screen plus the largest on-screen keyboard available on a smart phone. It will sell for $299.99 less a $100 mail-in rebate with a 2-year contract. The good news for current Verizon Wireless customers is that if you are eligible for an upgrade anytime in 2010, you can get the $299.99 price instead of the full-retail price (which is always hundred’s more).
Also at Best Buy this week is the LG External USB DVD reader/writer on sale for $74.99. This slim optical drive is intended primarily for use with netbooks, nearly all of which lack a built-in optical drive. Whether you need an external optical drive may depend on how you use your netbook. I have not purchased an external optical drive mostly because I connect my netbook to my home office network and access the DVD drive on my desktop computer shared over the network when I need to install software from a CD or DVD.
Speaking of netbooks, retailer hhgregg continues to offer low prices on popular mainstream netbooks like the Acer Aspire One AO532H-2588 at $279.97. It is decent basic netbook with a 10.1 LED screen, Pine Trail N450 processor, and 8 hours of battery life. The downside is Windows 7 Starter Edition, as noted in an earlier post.
One thing that has always mystified me is how many security-conscious lawyers will carry confidential client or firm data and documents on unencrypted and non-password protected USB flash drives despite the obvious risk that such a drive could be easily lost or stolen. This may be one of the top under-recognized law firm security risks. One answer is the Lexar 8GB Secure II Plus USB flash drive on sale this week at Office Depot for $19.99. That is a good price for any 8GB flash drive, but this model adds password and encryption software to protect data. It also has a file shredder function to thoroughly delete files. A nice capacity meter is also built-into the drive, allowing you to instantly see how much space you have used.
