Reviews Written by Eileanan
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January 7, 2007
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January 7, 2007
It isn't just for business anymore
2 of 3 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: Fast! no problem setting up, great display, good keyboard, Bluetooth, Core 2 Duo, 80 GB HD, Magnesium frame, quick boot and shutdown
Cons: no card reader
This is an Intel Core 2 Duo with two CPU cores, the latest model which is 20% faster than the original Core Duo (according to Intel).
It flies! The setup went flawlessly. I took advantage of the HP Recovery software to create a DVD Recovery disk (2 actually) which will allow me to restore it to original software state in the event of a serious crash which a reload repair will not fix.
It comes with Intervideo WINDVD which played my first DVD movie flawlessly with no setup required - I just inserted the disk and enjoyed excellent quality video on the display. The 15.4" screen is marvelous for both websurfing and watching videos.
MY model had bluetooth as well which I plan to use with my Palm TX and my Canon Pixma 450 all-in-one. I hate cables. In a future paradise, there will be no cables anywhere.
It is lighter than my prevous HP laptops by about two and a half pounds at 5.5 pounds. Very welcome. The power brick is much smaller. It has a dark blue/grey cover, otherwise all black.
An important feature for me, since I use the Sprint Aircard 580 PC card, is access to WLAN (gets me on the internet anywhere using 1900 MHz cell frequency) through the PC type II card slot on this HP. I have to tell you it is becoming hard to find an HP laptop that still has it. HP seems to have decided to go over to the new 54/34 slot standard which is theoretically faster. Nonetheless, many of us out here in the real world still have PC card devices which we cherish (you'll never get my Aircard away from me!)
The keyboard needs to be mentioned: it is the finest laptop keyboard I have used. You don't need to buy an IBM or Lenovo to get a top of the line keyboard.
A useful thing to know while talking about the keyboard is that it is relatively easy to remove (unscrewing two torx screws on the bottom of the computer - download the service manual to see where they are) and just unlatching four small thingees between the function keys. Why would you want to do this? Aha! You can easily replace the system board core memory unit yourself and not have to pay a tech over $100 to do it when you finally decide to upgrade to two gigabytes of core memory or more (it will use up to four gigabytes of core!) The other matching (each must be the same capacity and type of DDR2 laptop memory board) slot is easily acessible from the bottom with just a small phillips screwdriver. Just carefully unlatch the side clips and raise it a bit and pull the old memory out.
How much did this beauty cost? Only $950 on HP's own website in the business laptop section (which I don't usually look through); guess I just got lucky. If you can find a better buy in the most up to date HP laptop for this price or less, you're a better shopper than I am. My hat's off to you.
HP does not give you the Windows XP operating system on CDs anymore with this model. As mentioned elswhere here, you create your own backup disk with CDs or DVD (recomended).
I went online after installing my Sprint Aircard 580 software without any problems (such as conflicts with the modem port) and downloaded some of my favorite software available free on trial or at reasonable prices. ... -
January 8, 2006
Z22 is the cat's meow!
21 of 22 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: small, color, fine PC linking program, cute
Cons: PC Palm desktop program would not link with a com port at first. Had to evict my telephone modem from its com port first.
Palm gave this $99 PDA all the right moves. I like its small size. It has about 22 MB of core memory for the user. I've downloaded about 8 books into it from the excellent e-reader website. Entering appointments, memos, addresses into the PC sync program is easy and intuitive. Best organizer program I've used. You get the latest news feeds downloaded to the Z22 when you sync online. Forget the morning paper for your train commute? Get out the Z22 to read a book, news, play games, write your novel. The handwriting recognition is easy to learn to use. There is a software keyboard if you prefer. Download images of your sweetie, your cocker spaniel. Bonus feature: beam info to other palm users with IR - exchange schedules, URLs, notes, addresses. Give one to everyone in your family instead of just the breadwinner having a $500 PDA: Sis, Junior, Mom, Dad and the cocker have one for the same money. Did the dog think hers was a chewable toy? For $99 don't be cheap! Buy her another one. ...
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The UN-SLR
2 of 2 Yahoo! Users found this review helpfulPros: Does most of what an SLR will do, good price, high pixel count, great color, 30x zoom
Cons: no anti-shake feature
I confess! I love this camera. And here's some good news from a review in the June '06 MacWorld: the E900 won the "Top Product" award in their review of point-and-shoot digital cameras. The image quality won raves. See page 28. Also there was a review in PC World for July including the E900 in their list of the top 100 products - see page 96. The October 17th PC Magazine on page 47 rates it highly, as well. Just saw the November 06 Consumer Reports which gave the E900 a "Best Buy" rating in the advanced compact camera class. As well, the December 06 MacWorld placed it in their Top Products list on page 56. Phew! I'm tired already - and there is still one more very favorable review to mention: PC Magazine for December 06 on page 84 placed it in their top five cameras (and the only point and shoot) list. This was in their 2006 best selection. So, you can see, this camera comes highly recommended!
Another thing I just learned after using the E900 is that it not only has an optical viewfinder, but when you look in it when zooming (up to 30X) you see the zoom in the viewfinder as well as on the screen on the back of the unit. I never expected that from an optical viewfinder in a point-and-shoot camera!
Of course, I loved my 1963 VW beetle, too. The connection: they're both a little homely - but superbly functional. The Fuji Finepix E900 has an acclaimed lens (my shots at F2.8 were unexpectedly sharp), extreme pixel count for a point-and-shoot camera, ease of use on automatic (but the 130 page owners manual is worth reading on a rainy afternoon), 30X total zoom, VGA quality video for up to 15 minutes at 30 fps with sound (with 1GB xD card), total control with Manual, Shutter and Aperture priority, several Auto modes.
The menus are extensive but logical and after a bit become easy to navigate. Manual focus! Flash suppression, too. On a camera that fits in the palm of your hand, easy to carry at the ready with quick startup time. A good accessory: The AC power supply to use while uploading files (frames) to your computer. Bad news to lose power during the process. Just 2 seconds upload time for each 9 Megapixel image.
With the 1 Gigabyte xD card I use, there are over 200 such shots available. For 5 MP, there are over 800 shots! For serious amateurs and professionals this camera has a feature usually found in SLRs: it will produce images in RAW format! This means someone with a powerful image editing software can do more remarkable things with their photos than one can do with JPEG or other formats.
In Picassa, the photo editing software from Google, using the zoom bar allowed amazing magnification from the highest resolution shots whilst retaining sharpness and color. Remember that scene from the film "Blade Runner" with Harrison Ford where he takes a photo and directs his computer to do enormous magnification of the image to help him get a clue? You can nearly do that with this kind of resolution and pixel count.
Hint: for uploading images to blogs, etc., use no more than the 5MP resolution - the site may choke on the higher resolutions. Well, let them eat cake! You've got a high res camera now, baby! ...