Hardware on Nanikore

Over to a Nexus 5 and a Thinkpad E440

Sat, 27 Sep 2014 13:06:40 +0000

My mobile setup doesn’t change very often. My iPhone 4 was three years old in August, my old Core Duo MacBook (2006) died last year, and I was saving to replace it, having borrowed the netbook from the kids as needed, so it was time to move over, to a Nexus and a Thinkpad!

The iPhone’s button and battery were both on the way out, and the iOS7 mandatory upgrade had slowed the thing to a crawl. Having had a Nexus 7 for a couple of years, I wasn’t wed to the iOS ecosystem, and SoftBank’s LTE based plans for the iPhones all carried big price increases per month over my 3G plan. I shopped around and found virtual carrier Y! Mobile (what was WillCom and E-Mobile, and ironically piggy backs off the SoftBank network) was cheap, and had the LG Nexus 5 phone for a smaller monthly fee than my current 3G plan with a 3GB cap. As it’s an unlocked phone, it’ll also make trips outside Japan a little simpler with SIMs, which will really help.

Six weeks on, as a physical device, I like it, it’s very light after the iPhone, and even with the fairly chunky Spigen case, it’s still light but solid feeling. I tend to get a case which will survive well. It feels speedy, but I accept that’s relative after the disaster the iPhone 4 became with iOS 7 (not helped by Apple refusing to let iPhone 4 users update to a secure iOS6 train release after the goto fail fiasco). There are plenty of reviews though which will do a better job than I could. I do like Android, but you’ll notice I tend to get Nexus devices, and that’s because I like that they don’t ship with the ridiculous carrier and manufacturer apps, and you’re almost guaranteed to get OS updates quickly.

For the laptop, I looked at the MacBook Air - it’s a beautiful piece of engineering, but truthfully, outside of my 80,000 yen budget (it’s almost 110,000yen with 8GB RAM, 13" screen but a relatively slower CPU). I looked around at a lot of laptops, but kept coming back to Lenovo’s relatively unsung Thinkpad E design and pricing.

After prioritizing my wants, I got a unit with 8GB RAM, the higher definition 1600*900 screen (matte), and the dual antenna ac wireless. I debated i5 vs. i3 on the CPU, which had an ~8,000yen price differential, but since the only difference appears to be the turbo on the i5, and since this is mainly a movable writing rig, I went for the lower CPU. For a decent review of the unit, stum.de did a great review, especially on the BIOS.

Having installed a 128GB Crucial MX100 SSD, this thing flies with Mint Linux 17 Cinnamon on it. The only issue I have right now is suspend is a bit unreliable, and it would appear to be the continuation of a Linux tradition; in my case it may be anything from the Intel graphics driver, to the lack of a swap space under LVM with 8GB of RAM. Hibernate is fine though.

As for real world performance, I was ripping a CD to FLAC, transcoding other FLACs to OGG format, watching a 1080p video over the N based wifi from my old Buffalo NAS with a few IRC chats, and browser tabs going, and the thing never missed a beat. I think that should cover my average usage.

Physically, it’s really nice, much more solid than I was expecting, and the keyboard is probably the best I’ve had on a laptop. I’ve been a general Linux user for a long time, so it was nice to use it on a dedicated laptop, having kicked the idea around for a while. It also doesn’t seem to get very warm either, especially near the keyboard, where the old Macbook would get a little uncomfortable after a while. I have not yet tested out the spill resistant keyboard, and don’t actually plan to.

Using the Windows 8.1 the laptop shipped with and the horrific dance it likes you to do through first boot was enough in itself to put you off - really Microsoft, that obsession with linking to an MS account before you can play with your new machine is really annoying, and the first thing I switch off afterwards anyway.

For what it’s worth, if you do want to continue using it, it comes with less crapware than I’ve seen elsewhere, and is easily removed. The fact I even had to cover that tells you something. To cover performance, the machine is very snappy in Windows 8.1, and I had no problems with it, even though it was running through a 5400rpm HDD.

In the six weeks I’ve had it, I’ve taken it on an international trip, and it performed excellently, even if it is a little bulkier than a more expensive ultrabook. I’ve dragged it around the house, sat in the park with it, and generally lugged it about, and it’s done exactly what I wanted from it.

So there we are, that should be me done for several more years. Also, this is not an Apple vs. Linux vs. Google thing. Brand loyalty is a silly thing, you should buy on your needs and your available money. For me the Nexus and the E440 are exactly what I need for the foreseeable future, and whilst I like the alternatives, they don’t represent good value for money to me.

Nexus 7 (2012)

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:43:13 +0000

So last month I bought my first tablet - a Google/Asus Nexus 7.

There hasn’t been much in the way of gadget updates here in a while, due mainly to a lack of necessity and general interest to be honest, but one of my personal situations, is that I have a decent commute to deal with on a daily basis, and I’ve wanted something with a slightly larger screen to watch documentaries than my phone, and read some textbooks on which are mainly .pdf based, and thus a little too complex for my normal Kindle Reader. One thing I have learned from my Kindle though, is that that form factor is great for reading whilst sitting or standing on the train.

The iPad never really grabbed me for this task, just feeling that bit too bulky and heavy, and judging from my fellow commuters, that must have been right as there aren’t many people with them on my JR line.

Previous Android tablets just seemed to lack a certain polish to me, but when the Nexus 7 came out, it piqued my interest, so I put a bit of money aside, and picked up the 32GB version (24,800yen / ~290USD/ ~ 180GBP) the same weekend the iPad Mini came out - though that was 13,000yen more!

The Tegra 3 based hardware is excellent, and rugged - the rear mounted speaker is surprisingly good for film watching and podcasts, and the sound quality via the headphone socket seems decent. The tablet is snappy, and media playback of even 720p material on the 1280x800 display looked fantastic. There’s no point me going overboard on details here - you can easily pull reviews of this thing off the web. One the hardware side though, note that you don’t get headphones or much else with this - just a USB power adapter and micro USB cable.

My only previous Android experience had been on a phone I borrowed, so I was essentially new to the Android system. It probably took as long to figure out as an iOS device really, from scratch. The Google Play store isn’t bad but it takes a little getting used the scary sounding access rights the apps ask for, but basically this is just putting up front what iOS apps are doing anyway. As for finding the apps, I’m still figuring out some equivalents - all the main social apps are there, but I’m still looking for a podcatcher like Downcast, though I’m currently testing a few out. I have to say though, being able to just install stuff on this thing after plugging it in, and not have to mess around with iTunes feels great, though you now sort-of have to manage the files. Also note you need a special app installed on a Mac to mount it currently ( Android File Transfer).

In summary then, the Nexus 7 has exceeded my expectations - it’s very smooth and reliable, has decent battery life, and can survive being the recipe guide during Sunday Dinner preparations and has survived both kids abusing it. (Note that for novels, I still use the Kindle)

Cable Cull

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:24:36 +0000

Like most people with an enthusiasm for the technical, I seem to amass, attract, or otherwise acquire cables, connectors, converters, other paraphernalia of a mobile life, forming the skeletal remains of previous generations of technology and other items which end up in boxes and on shelves. To my family this is known as ’the cable junk pile’. Tonight then, in an effort to procrastinate over doing some real household chores, I took it upon myself to go through the back storeroom, which is home to most of the computing equipment, and through some boxes and decide what things I need, and what I don’t. The Great Cable Cull.

Actually, I’m quite practical and ruthless when I have these clear-outs. There’s almost no emotional attachment involved, except when it comes to my old Palm IIIe which I will keep in a box near me forever, you hear me? Forever!

After about an hour I had no visible cables on the shelf and places, and was down to my one small cardboard box and toolbox again. All the things I might need are in the former, and the day to day items like chargers and such are in the latter.

The big losers this time were: S-video cables, a joystick which has been broken for at least 4 years, some RCA cables, about 3 USB -> mini USB cables, of which I have many, some coax cable I didn’t know I had, a fan I will never use in my PC and various other things which I just don’t have the devices to use (old Canon Ixy charger) or have duplicates of (the aforementioned cables).

Anyway, it’s done and I’ve pruned my burgeoning cable nest sufficiently that the rest of my family are satiated with the sacrifice for now.

RRoDeathed

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:28:34 +0000

Well, it had to come I suppose. The Xbox 360 I bought in late February 2007 finally Red Ring of Death’d tonight. Actually, it’s been crashing a bit over the last week, but tonight, it’s totally d.e.a.d. or rather RRoDeathed. (Note the second image is a Flickr! video.)

I’ll call them up tonight and see if I can get it replaced before my copy of Dead Space arrives.

Cool Graphics

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 09:52:05 +0000

Since building my new PC, I’ve been feeling like tinkering a bit, and one thing I’m trying to do is keep my PC quieter. As much as the Elsa 6800GS is quieter than an nVidia stock part, it can get a little noisy after a couple of hours play, so I wondered just how much a GPU cooler would cost, and whether there were any decent ones out there. A few reviews led me to the Arctic Cooling 5NV Silencer.

After about 30 minutes I had the new cooler attached (it takes up another space on the back of the PC effectively!), and not only is it much, much quieter (nigh on silent in the case to be honest) it also keeps the GPU and the temperature around it much, much cooler. Here are some very un-scientific numbers I got from the nVidia control panel:

Elsa Cooler vs. Arctic Cooling Silencer

At boot / rest in Windows
GPU core: 46 C 38 C
Ambient temp.: 35 C 32 C

After 3DMark05
GPU Core : 61 C 42 C
Ambient temp.: 41 C 35 C

After 30mins in Half Life 2
GPU Core : 65 C 50 C
Ambient: 50 C 40 C

So as you can see, not only is it quieter under load, it’s much cooler too. The benefits to me of this are that in the summer I don’t have to worry as much(!), that the rest of the PC stays a little cooler, and that if I like, I’ve got a bit of overclocking headroom there.

Tokyo Game Show 2005

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:14:03 +0000

Yesterday I went down to Makuhari Messe to check out the last day of the Tokyo Game Show 2005. The big events this year were the XBox 360 as it ramps to launch in a couple of months, and a preview of the PS3, due out in about 6 months.

Overall, I think the Xbox outflanked Sony on the home console side. It was obvious that Sony had virtually no games ready to preview and relied heavily on CG rendered movies, especially for Metal Gear Solid 4, which ran to nearly 10 minutes, but which featured virtually no in game footage, though Sony claimed the movie used the game engine.

Despite it’s revelation of the Revolution controller on Friday (Press Day), Nintendo didn’t really have a presence, leaving Sony a clear run on the handhelds, which they took, offering ‘shared versions’ of some upcoming games, providing you had the 2.0 firmware in, and if you didn’t you could download that there and then too. I’m still yet to be impressed with a lot of PSP titles - many are badly shoe-horned PS2 titles, and often don’t take account or advantage of the mobile form factor. However, Metal Gear Acid 2 looked interesting, as did Puposaru Academy 2. DS owners can at least look forward to ‘Akachan wa doko kara kuru no?’ (literally, ‘where do babies come from?’. To be honest, It looked more like a variant of the dating games which are getting more and more popular.

Of course, the booth girls were there, and provided a good distraction to their legions of fans, whilst others tried to squeeze past to actually check the games out. Of course there were the amateur cosplay people there too, as usual holding court between the two halls, and as usual they ranked from amazingly authentic to wacky, to just downright odd (the girl in the junior high school swimsuit - I’m talking to you).

Anyway, I’ll stick a full review up on Brightblack.net at some point. Needless to say, it’s always worth going and all the more so as it’s only 1000yen if you get a ticket before hand, so it’s quite a cheap day out.

2005 Tokyo Game Show

Widescreen time

Tue, 31 May 2005 14:54:57 +0000

After 6 years of looking at my Toshiba 19" 4:3 ratio CRT TV, we finally bought a new TV this week - a Sharp Aquos 32" LCD TV. Certainly not cheap, but thanks to a 20% points discount it made us finally put up and buy a new one - and it was worth every hard earned yen!

It’s a beautiful screen, takes up less space, and is nicer to look at. But forget that - DVDs look fantastic on it - we watched The Matrix on it tonight, but that film isn’t exactly known for it’s colour scheme, so we put on Fellowship of the Ring, and quite frankly it looks like a different film - the picture was just amazing. Normal TV channels looked great too, both from analogue and digital transmissions, with the latter obviously looking much cleaner.

There are hundreds of settings and options to play with on the bilingual menu system, but we found the auto defaults were usually good enough. I also played SSX3 on my Playstation 2, and it looked amazing, but unfortunately, at that size, the PS2 resolution starts to show.

One pleasant and somewhat unexpected result is that the built-in speaker system is easily as good as my cheap Sony mini-system I usually use, maybe even clearer, so I might be able to save some cables there. Another saver is that since the TV has 4 inputs, I wont need the switch box I had before which should simplify everything!

On the whole, expensive, but definitely worth it, especially for me coming from such a low spec. level to this. All I have to do now is re-watch all my DVDs again!

MiniMacWorld 2005

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 00:31:01 +0000

It has to be said that some people were saying Apple had wrung everything out of the iPod with the rather lackluster iPod Photo and the bizarre U2 model a few months back, but this week’s MacWorld came a shot in the arm to everyone who likes Apple gear.

Apple stole the show with the iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini. Both of these are excellent products in my opinion - the new iPod not only gives Apple a contender in nearly every sector of the portable music market, but at USD100, it might even appeal as a second iPod for some, wanting something for sports etc.. The MacMini is similar - it’s after people wanting to get into Macs, but is really targeted as a 2nd machine for Windows owners who have iPods and want to check the Mac out - hence the lack of keyboard mouse (and monitor), which also of course, helps keep the price down. I can’t help thinking this is ‘Son of Cube’, though at the correct pricepoint - something it’s predecessor lacked. For all Apple’s new toys, check out their website.

Macworld is also a time when software vendors release and preview upcoming products. As usual there were some stunners, such as a sneak peak at the new Transmit 3 from Panic, but to me, the biggest announcement was not just that Barebones would release TextWrangler2, but that it would be free (it was USD50 I think). I got into BBEdit via the old BBEdit Lite, a free editor with a subset of the features, and I ended up mpoving up the the incredible full version. Although Barebones deny TW2 is the modern equivalent of BBEdit Lite, in the market, I think that’s how it’s seen. I wish them luck with this, they’re a decent company, and they make good, solid Mac software.

PSP vs. DS (Part 1 of many)

Thu, 30 Dec 2004 16:52:08 +0000

I’ve been kind of avoiding this topic as the office has been buzzing with it for weeks.

I’ve played with both for a couple of hours each, and as many have pointed out, they’re both great, but for wildly different reasons.

The PSP has a great single screen, and is virtually a portable PS2, it’s only drawback being a weak battery, but it’s swappable, so that’s not too bad. Video playback on my friend’s PSP he downloaded to MS looked good, but where is the ability to record to the UMD, or connect to the web via Wi-Fi?

The DS, despite it’s wrong-headed ‘Game and Watch’ (too old to catch many I suspect) design has 2 screens, one being the touch screen, which is gagging for RPGs and some dodgy mahjong games. Also, an oft overlooked feature of the DS is that it can hold a GBA and a DS game at once, so effectively having 2 games in there to play at any time - that’s a lot of Zelda.

Personally, I judge a console by games, not spec, and so far there’s nothing I want right now - Ridge Racers bored me in handheld format after about 10 minutes just like every other version of it. Same goes on the DS … Mario 64, great. I finished that on the 64 and learned hiragana in the process.

In summary, I’m waiting to see what new games come out, and how each company tweaks their hardwares’ feature set. I think the PSP has the sex appeal, but the DS is just so odd, it might pull out the more interesting games, after all, a great home game may not make a great mobile game.

As for Microsoft, the X-Pod will be out next week, dual Pentium 4 with er…40gb hard drive built in, ATI X800XT graphics and er…a gig of RAM but if you buy another mobile console before then you can’t buy an X-Pod. They’ll be designing this to look like a novelty VCR too.