Archive for the 'hardware' Category

Samsung Series 5 40″ Full HD LCD TV ★★★★☆

Jan 13, 2010 in hardware, reviews

My last TV (32″ HD-ready and made by Hannspree) made me realise what a step up from CRT to LCD meant. For around £300 (AUD$600) it didn’t fill half the living room, had good sound, a pretty good picture, viewing angle, a few latency issues and problems with dynamic range (dark colours dropped off to black too quickly, meaning moody films featured actors with black empty eye sockets) but nothing compared to the muddy, blurry mess we’d had with our old similarly-priced CRT.

Moving to Australia was my chance (read: excuse) to make another step up, this time in price range and feature set. This gorgeous Samsung was retailing for up to AUD$2,200 when I bought it, and I negotiated down quite a bit from that in Bing Lee, an Aussie store whose differentiator is that “everything’s negotiable” – it is until you reach their “floor price” of course, which is quite easy to work out.  Some of their stores even mark price tags to show if they’re already at their floor price… but I digress.  I’d venture that it’s worth every single penny. (more…)

TomTom One XL (Australia maps) in Western Australia and Northern Territory ★★★☆☆

May 02, 2009 in hardware, reviews

TomTom One XL stock imageThe TomTom One XL is an TomTom One with a widescreen and $100 bigger price tag.  Software, hardware, user interface, windscreen mount, speaker etc etc all the same, just a bigger screen.  So, why?  And why wouldn’t you buy one of those sleek, black, high-resolutuon, Bluetooth, iPod-interfaced Navmans (Navmen?) for the same price or less?

(more…)

Belkin iPod Car Charger & Transmitter (Tunecast Auto) ★★★★★

Apr 28, 2009 in hardware, reviews

Bought this for our Australian roadtrip, from JB Hifi somewhere in Sydney for $80 or so. Usually I object to expensive “Made for iPod” accessories… did this one work out for me? (more…)

The sad day my “Eee PC” became my “Eee P”

Dec 19, 2008 in hardware

IMAG0135Yes, it happened. While I’ve been very impressed by the build quality of my beloved Eee PC, just the other week the first real sign of wear and tear became apparent. Quite simply, the C fell off. I don’t know where it is. But henceforth it shall be known as my Eeep. Undecided whether to remove all the other shiny letters so it looks all intentionally recessed and black, or to just deal with it and move on like a grownup.