Comments on: GPS, cell phone, netbook… ideas?

By: Cary Gordon

Cary Gordon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:57:57 +0000

I have an MSI Wind U120 netbook with a 10″ screen, 2 Gb of RAM, 200 Gb disk and a 6 cell battery.

Why the Wind? It has a great community including a lot of alternative operating system support and drivers. Some folks are even running OS X Leopard… Or so I’m told…

By: Carolyn Goolsby

Carolyn Goolsby — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:07:16 +0000

Oops – cut the post off! I also wrote some recommendations:

Cell: PagePlus Cellular uses Verizon’s pre-paid network. I bought my Samsung Omnia on craigslist for $30, found the manual online, unlocked it with a hard reboot, then had it activated at uglyeric.com for $5.99 – which included a $12.00 credit to my PagePlus account. PagePlus sells unlimited talk & text with 20MB data per month for 39.95 – you buy the card one time, then use refill cards to keep your PagePlus balance up. They automatically debit your PagePlus account for $39.95/month. All do-able online. I buy $80.00 refill cards from callingmart.com for $76.00 and activate them at the PagePlus site. Never a problem. Only thing to remember is that if you buy a Verizon phone, the Verizon-specific things won’t all work on PagePlus. But it’s never been an issue for me.

Netbook: I have 2 – a Dell Mini9 running XP, and a eeePC running Linux. The eee is my favorite of the two, even though I have one of the first ones to come out. (2G, no upgrading allowed. Ugh.) I highly recommend buying the Linux model.

GPS: My TomTom is still kicking. But slickdeals and fatwallet have them on constantly.

MP3: OK, I have a 80GB Zune. (Are you… Did I hear…? Stop snickering. Stop it! I MEAN IT, Y’ALL!) I like it, and I’m not tied to iTunes – a big selling point for me. Hang out at woot.com long enough and you’ll see them come through for great prices. I bought the Zune there, and later a little 2GB Sansa for exercise. I’ve enjoyed them both.

I also second David’s nomination of the Nokia n810. If nothing else, it’s very handy on planes, in airports, and generally hanging out in my purse when I’m out and about.

By: Carolyn Goolsby

Carolyn Goolsby — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:05:33 +0000

OK – you know I can’t let a “Gadgets on a Budget” thread go by…

I find my best gadget deals on slickdeals.net and fatwallet.com. If you check their Hot Deals forums daily, you’ll find what you’re looking for, I promise.

By: Maia

Maia — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:13:50 +0000

I never thought I’d be an apple convert, but I love my iphone, even with the spotty ATT reception in the mountains. I use the map/locator function all the time, and many of the apps are also very functional (urbanspoon for restaurant locating, f’rinstance). Since you’ll be in an urban zone and won’t have trouble getting 3G it may be time to wean yourself away from Palm (that was my prior platform also) and movin’ on up to iphone.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:28:03 +0000

Lisa, are you running XP or Vista?

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:40:06 +0000

It’s usually an interpolation issue (in my experience), but I agree with the need for the lappy and the projector to be able to match their resolution. If the host has their own PC or laptop, I always prefer that anyway.

By: David Brightbill

David Brightbill — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:16:40 +0000

Given your workflow, I think that the biggest problem you’re going to run into with many netbooks is their low-end video. Connecting a low resolution video output to a high end projector can be pretty ugly.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:13:53 +0000

David, the problem is that setup isn’t compatible with my workflow. Inevitably, I end up working on the road. I often have my best ideas when I am on an airplane or sitting in a hotel room, Thinking. (Thinking Be Good.) So it would have to be a machine I can take on the road and use with a presentation program. If a netbook can handle this need (on top of gmail and light web apps), then it is the netbook for me. (I didn’t want to get into this too early in describing needs so that I’d see what others are doing.)

By: David Brightbill

David Brightbill — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:04:28 +0000

I agree that OpenOffice is wanting; especially as a presentation platform. Outside of the office, I use Google apps for word processing. For presentations, I’m very fond of a Macintosh application, Keynote.

Keynote has a bit of a learning curve (think different) but once you grok it, building a presentation is pretty fast. The builds and transitions are really nice with none of the pixelation found in PowerPoint transitions.

When I absolutely have to play the preso in PowerPoint, I still build it in Keynote and export it as a .ppt. The beautiful transitions turn ugly, but no worse than native PowerPoint fades.

Of course, Keynote requires a Mac.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:34:58 +0000

Well, I put my hands on a Pre yesterday and it didn’t woo me. On the other hand, the Acer or the Asus sounds like where I’m headed. Robin, did you use Impress or PowerPoint (or neither)? One of the clinchers for me is that I do a lot of PowerPoint talks (as you know, rarely very bullet-pointy). I am unImpressed with Impress… Open Office leaves me seriously underwhelmed overall. Word and PowerPoint are the only MS apps I care about.