technology

Dec 13 2011

Samsung Series 7 Chronos 14” Laptop NP700Z3AH Launch in Malaysia

I was looking at this laptop about 2 months ago and was excited by the specifications I saw. It finally launched in Malaysia today (13th December 2011) but the price isn’t competitive in my opinion. Let’s see what we have:

  • Reasonable speed. Dual core i5-2430M processor.
  • Large display in a small body. 14″ 300-nit display in a 13.3″ laptop body.
  • Light. 4.3 pounds which is about 1.95kg. Easy enough to carry all day, especially in a backpack.
  • Large and fast storage. 1 TB hard drive with the 8GB ExpressCache technology that speeds things up in terms of starting up Windows and other programs.
  • Backlit Keyboard!!! I wonder why it’s so hard to find laptops with backlighting? It’s sooooo useful.
  • Outputs are ok. VGA output (with a cable) and HDMI output.
  • Decent graphics. You can play most games at medium setting with the 1GB DDR5 HD6490M.
  • Price is expensive… RM3599

So it’s all pretty good except for the price. Now, I wouldn’t mind it that much if the display were good but all the reviews so far (for overseas models though) say that the display is horrible. If I’m going to be spending half my day looking at that screen, it better be something worth looking at.

Even then, I might forgive the display if the price were accordingly lower. At RM3599, I’d be better off spending my money on a Sony Vaio at the same size and similar specs with a slightly lighter body. Even though people say that Vaios are overpriced (and I tend to agree), at least their displays are awesome. And their keyboards are backlit too.

Oh well, I guess the search for a good laptop goes on.

By Lutfi Torla • Daily Life • 9 • Tags: ,

May 18 2011

Samsung Galaxy S2: I want one!

Some spend tens of thousands on their cars. Some spend thousands on their computers and laptops. Me? I’m a person who’s willing to spend on my phone.

Device Convergence

It’s all about practicality you see. It’s the thing I carry around the most so I keep wanting more and more things to be crammed in it. “Device Convergence” the slogan goes, and I nod my head in agreement.

Ever since  my N95, I’ve been wanting it. The phone that can be my all in one: my phone, browser, ebook reader, gps navigation, organizer, video player, camera and flashlight. That’s right, ebook reader. I’ve been reading ebooks on my phone for the past 5 years! Thank god the rest of the world has caught up. It used to be pure torture reading those old badly designed ebook files. You see, the market wasn’t big enough back then for publishers to format them properly.

The point though, is that my phone can do plenty things and it’s with me all the time. Therefore, it’s worth it for me to spend a bit more on it.

The search

That search first led me to Windows Mobile phones back in 2008 and they were good for a time. Very customizable. Had fun all day tweaking my phone and putting in custom roms. I couldn’t use iphones yet then, they were still very new and unpolished. 2009 i tried the iphone. It was better than windows mobile. Tons more apps.

But then 2010 came. And I got my android phone. The Nexus One. I’ve had it for a year and a half now with no regrets. But the SGS2 is just too tempting.

You have to understand, I love bigger screens. Ideally I’d take a 5-inch screen handphone. But the SGS2 screen is 4.3 inches of pure win. The camera is an awesome 8 megapixel / full HD affair. And it has a dual-core CPU!!! My phone will have 2 computer brains. How awesome is that?

Waterproofing please? Awww!!!

The only thing that would make this the perfect phone (at least for the next year) would be if it was waterproof. Sadly enough only the Japanese make their phones waterproof and even then only for local phones. *sigh* Oh well, everything else is perfect.

I totally want the SGS2!

I wouldn’t even trade in my current (1.5 year old) phone for an iphone 5 when it comes out. And this SGS2 is a good 10 times more amazing than my current phone is. Unfortunately the price is still a bit inflated. Verdict? Wait a little more for the price to go down. I’ve already been waiting since February anyway. What’s a few more weeks?

That’s right, I’m saving up.

By Lutfi Torla • Daily Life • 4 • Tags: , , ,

Mar 13 2010

The Whole Eco-movement is So Misunderstood

Everyone is going green

Nowadays you’ll see everyone going green. Electric cars? Energy efficient lightbulbs? Buying local? It’s a trend that’s going in to all parts of our life. No, even more, it’s peer pressure. If you don’t “care” about the environment, then you’re not cool.

It’s just energy efficiency

But here’s my problem with it, it’s nothing new. It’s just being energy efficient.

Not using those lights or that aircond? Turn it off.

Your car is burning your fuel really fast? Make it more efficient.

The food you buy is shipped from really far away and burns fuel? Buy local.

Well actually, as you can see I have no real problem with going green and saving the environment. I’m a very nature-friendly guy. I love trees. I keep a huge collection of preserved trees in my house on shelves (read that as books). I don’t eat vegetables because I don’t like killing plants (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!). And my whole family loves animals to death (I think my weirdest pet was a bat).

But I have a problem with people just pretending to join the green movement for the pure cool factor of it.

False sense of accomplishment

When you have no idea what green actually means, you don’t do the research. You don’t know what you’re doing. You only follow the trends.

Trend #1 Earth hour. One hour a year where people turn off their lights. Great idea, but some people instead feel that they’ve done their part. And that’s it. So airconds are still left on. Office PCs aren’t shut down at night. Did you know that if you save 1 minute of electricity a day, that’s 365 minutes in a year? 6 hours right there. 6 whole Earth hours. much better than 1 don’t you think?

Trend #2 Electric cars. The Tesla Roadster is a marvel of engineering. Truly. But it’s not an environmentally friendly car. I know it doesn’t burn anything. But think, it has to charge it’s batteries right? From an electric socket? Which is connected to the country’s power grid. Which gets energy from power plants. Which still mostly burns COAL. So no, the Tesla Roadster isn’t eco-friendly.

What we should really do

Just don’t waste. It’s that simple. Don’t waste. That goes for leaving the lights and aircond on when you pop out for an hour, leaving the tap on while brushing your teeth, and leaving the engine running while you wait for someone outside the post office. Don’t. Turn it off.

I don’t particularly care about how the temperature will change by  2 degrees Celsius in 50 year’s time. I do care that we’re not being energy efficient.

Must be the electronic engineer in me talking. Optimization… Meh.

By Lutfi Torla • Reflections • 1 • Tags: , , ,

1 2