Netbook vs. Laptop

November 10th, 2009 No comments

I had a good friend ask me the difference between a Netbook and a Laptop.  Her son is wanting a laptop for school (he is in 5th grade) and she had seen several articles about netbooks.

dell-netbookNetbook

  • Sometimes called a UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer).
  • Screen Size – Netbooks typically have a screen less than 10-inches diagonally.
  • Optical Drive – Netbooks lack an optical drive, so no playing CD’s or DVD’s without an external drive.
  • Graphics – No 3-D graphics card here, just a modest video player capable of playback and video sharing.
  • Peripherals – Netbooks have USB ports, and several have built-in webcams.  USB opens the world of peripherals…it allows you to connect a CD / DVD drive for installing software or burning files, printing and just about anything else imaginable.
  • Power – Battery life is typically longer than a laptop, partly due to the smaller screen size.  Some netbooks have an SSD (solid state drive) instead of an HDD (hard disk drive), which greatly reduces power consumption and moving parts.  You can reasonably expect 3 – 5 hours, some advertise in the 10 hour range.
  • Storage – Most netbooks come with a modest size drive, around 160GB.
  • Network – Netbooks have support for wireless networking (B and G) as well as Bluetooth.
  • Processor – Netbooks have a slower processor than most current laptops.  This is by design…they aren’t meant to play the latest 3-D games.  This also contributes to longer battery life.
  • Operating System – Netbooks (with a very rare exception) run Windows XP.  Some netbooks don’t even meet the minimum requirements for Vista, and those that do would surely choke while trying to run even the most basic version of Vista.  Did you ever try to run Vista on your old Windows XP machine?  Exactly.
  • General Use – Netbooks are designed for people on the go that don’t want to carry all the extra baggage of a laptop.  They’re great for reading email, using Office programs and surfing the Internet.

laptopLaptop

  • Screen Size – Laptops have a larger screen, several have 17 -inch widescreen displays.  There are even a few with 20-inch displays…which is huge for a laptop!
  • Optical Drive – Laptops typically have an optical drive.  Most have a DVD reader / writer, which can also read and write CDs.
  • Peripherals – Laptops have at least a handful of USB ports, some can be configured with a plethora of connections.  USB, FireWire, PCMCIA and even a serial port may be available.  Some include built-in media readers as well.
  • Graphics – Graphics capacity varies with the laptop, but you can buy a pretty mean video card for your laptop these days.  There are gaming groups that exclusively use laptops.
  • Power – Battery life greatly depends on your screen size, graphics card and usage patterns, but expect 1 1/2 to 3 hours.
  • Storage – Laptops can be configured with nice, large drives.  I have a 500GB drive in mine and it’s plenty.
  • Network – Laptops have support for both wired and wireless networking (B and G), and many support Bluetooth.
  • Processor – There are many processor options, and with recent advances in processor technology you can really get a lot of bang for your buck.  Faster is always better, provided it doesn’t break the bank.
  • Operating System – Laptops are sold with Vista, although that will change now that Windows 7 is available.  Windows 7 offers improvements for laptops, the increased battery life is particularly enticing.
  • General Use – Laptops are designed for mobile people that need the power and flexibility of a mobile PC.  While not always compact, they do offer more power and flexibility than netbooks.

In the end it really comes down to what your usage patterns will be and how much you want to spend.  Netbooks are great for young students, people always on the go or as an “emergency” connection to the Internet.  Laptops are great for those that need a more powerful platform, access to the latest operating systems and applications and don’t mind the increased size and decreased battery life.

A netbook works great for checking email while traveling or as a presentation device.  A laptop works great for someone who wants to take the office with them.  Which did you decide to purchase?  Are you happy with it?

HallowThankMas

November 3rd, 2009 1 comment

time-remaining-till-christmasWell, we have officially entered into what I refer to as HallowThankMas.  Generally, once Halloween passes, time becomes a blur until after Christmas.  We are continually bombarded with commercials, ads, banners, emails and every form of communication possible promoting Christmas.  But no one wants to forget Thanksgiving, so we still see plenty of ads for that through the end of November.

Since retail stores want to begin promoting Christmas during October, let’s just roll it all into one massive holiday.  We already refer to it as the “Holiday Season”, and we can continue to do that.  It’ll simplify everything, and the actual celebration days are spread out enough to prevent a lopsided experience (I know Christmas is at the end, but still).

Last year was bad enough because we were finally learning that we were in a recession, so everyone wanted to start a price war.  This year will be worse…Wal-Mart has already started their screaming deal advertising and everyone is trying to leak their Black Friday advertisements.  Only time will tell how overstimulated we will be.

In the mean time, Happy HallowThankMas!

Categories: Family Tags: ,

Windows 7

October 15th, 2009 No comments

Windows7Windows 7 is due out next week, but I have access to download it now from MSDN (thanks to my most excellent company’s subscription!).  I’m very tempted to try it and am curious about changes from Vista to 7.  I have too much “stuff” on my work machine to format it, but I could probably clear off my laptop enough to format it.

We’ve had a couple of guys around the office running Windows 7 previews for awhile now and they love it.  Our network admin has been trying it out and hasn’t had any real complaints, although we’re not going to convert everyone from Vista to 7 right away.  Our migration to Vista was slow and painful, done mostly as we replaced or upgraded hardware, and we don’t care to do that again.

For all of it’s shortcomings, I have grown to live with Windows Vista.  I still believe that Windows XP (SP2) has been Microsoft’s best OS ever.  We still have a few XP machines (some virtual, some physical) in our network for various reasons.  Some users grew up with Windows XP, it has great application compatibility and is very stable.

But Vista brought a slick new interface, the Windows Sidebar and User Access Control.  It also brought multiple versions, just like Microsoft did with Office.  I run Ultimate at the office and Business on my laptop.  Relatives have either Home or Home Premium, and I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid support situations that were version specific.

Windows 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to appease those XP users that didn’t want Vista forced into their faces.  They even include an “XP Mode” for any applications that can’t run on 7, although I imagine you’ll need a decent amount of resources to run what amounts to a VM within the Windows 7 environment.  Windows 7 also allows Microsoft to end-of-life Windows XP, which it had to continue selling and supporting during the Vista backlash.  Large networks will now have to seriously evaluate their XP nodes to decide if it’s worth supporting an old OS rather than upgrading.

I’d like to install 7 on my laptop when I get a chance.  If nothing else, it’s supposed to significantly improve battery life which would be great!

Disney on the brain…

October 3rd, 2009 No comments

disneyWe are about to take a family vacation to Disney World, and I’m not sure whether to be excited or not.  I haven’t been to Disney World in 20 years, so it will be quite an experience since this one will be with 3 kids!  My girls are very excited, especially since we booked a Princess Breakfast for one morning, and my son can’t wait to meet Lightning McQueen.

One of my best friends has made several recent Disney trips, both with and without kids, so I was able to pickup some valuable pointers and resources.  These sites have been great:

The main point to keep in mind is, if you plan to do any activities that require a reservation…make the reservation the earliest possible date.  The PS Calculator site can generate a list of activities, phone numbers and dates to call.  It can mean the difference between breakfast with Cinderella or breakfast at the hotel!

One of my friend’s recent comments was that “there is no wrong way to “do” Disney…but there is no right way, either.”  Simply put, there are an overwhelming number of activities, rides and shows.  Your best bet is to do some research, decide what key activities you (and your kids) want to do and plan around those.

With that in mind, another great resource is Touring Plans (http://www.touringplans.com/).  They are a subscription service, but well worth the price of admission.  You can choose which park, how long you’re there and what type of tour you want (young kids, teens or adults), and they show you a suggested plan.  The plan is complete with a ride schedule, when to grab (and use) a Fast Pass and even meal suggestions.  They help you hit the highlights and popular rides without standing in line for hours.

We’re starting to pack, my TripIt itinerary is updated and we’re looking through touring plans.  I am excited about the trip, any chance to spend time with the family is great.  Traveling always brings surprises (especially with kids), and those are sometimes the best memories.

Categories: Family, Travel Tags: ,

TripIt

September 27th, 2009 No comments

tripitAbout a year ago, one of my best friends introduced me to an awesome travel web application…TripIt (http://www.tripit.com/).  The service is free and really amazing.  They provide a single resource for all of your travel information.  Simply forward your confirmation emails to them and they scrape important information and automatically import it to your itinerary.  It’s just awesome.

I used to print my confirmations just before we left, which worked fine until I lost them.  Then I would decided to save all of my emails re-forward them to myself before leaving, so I’d have them on my mobile device.  But sifting through emails while traveling is not a fun task.  Now I simply forward the confirmations as they come in, and TripIt handles the rest.  They make it easy to share information as well, so my wife can see (and modify, of course) our plans.

While TripIt is great at importing your confirmation information, they also provide an easy way to setup your own events.  This allows you to add any activities you want, complete with time, date and location.  They even integrate with Google Maps, so you can find your way without having to rely on someone else’s directions.

One of the best features of their service is the iPhone application.  Like the Trip It service, it’s amazing.  You can access your itineraries at any time, and view all of the information.  Checking into the hotel and need your confirmation number?  It’s right there.  Trying to remember how to get from your hotel to an activity?  Just use the Google Maps integration.  It’s view only, but gives you all of your travel information at your fingertips.  Plus you can use it as a reminder of your upcoming trips!

Don’t just travel, TripIt!

Categories: iPhone, Travel Tags:

Iframe Security and the onload event

September 18th, 2009 No comments

iframeI do a substantial amount of development with a Comet application, and utilize iframes for communication.  Most web developers hear “frames” and their eyes immediately glaze over and they just look at you as if you’re nuts.  “No, not FRAMES…IFRAMES!”  Iframes are used more than you realize, and, when used correctly, can be very beneficial to the user experience.

When using iframes, you have to be aware of their security model.  Any modern browser prevents iframes from interacting with each other unless they are from the same domain.  This is in place for obvious reasons, I wouldn’t want an advertising banner hosted in an iframe to access the parent page’s DOM or cookies.

However, there are times when you want to use iframes within your site, but pointed to different subdomains.  Perhaps you have a content iframe hosted at data.mydomain.com feeding information to your parent page accessed via www.mydomain.com.  The default iframe security model will prevent interaction between them because it is limited to the fully qualified domain name as specified in the src attribute.  You can relax this to simply be the primary hostname, in this case mydomain.com.  To do so, add a single line of javascript code to the top of your page:

document.domain = 'mydomain.com';

That single line, added to both the parent and iframe source page, will allow them to interact without restriction.  Use at your own risk, always be aware of what is happening when your frames are interacting and avoid confusing the user.

In my Comet application, I needed to dynamically add an iframe and then tear it down when it’s processing was complete.  I could have left it hanging out in the DOM, but that’s just not clean and efficient programming.  After some research, I found this which explained exactly what was going on, and what I needed to do about it:

Thanks and kudos to Nicholas for the great and in-depth article, he addressed cross-browser compatibility and gave a very complete (and workable) solution!

Padding is invalid and cannot be removed.

September 10th, 2009 No comments

I’ve been hunting an elusive error message for some time now.  Every now and then, one of my web applications will throw an error: “Padding is invalid and cannot be removed.”  It seemed to be random, and always linked to a web resource (AXD) file.  If I clicked the URL referenced in my Event Viewer message I would see the nasty Yellow Screen of Death.  But how in the world was it being generated?

I added more logging to my application events, and after some Googling I found this forum post:

When an application pool is recycled and the web.config doesn’t contain a machine key configuration setting, a new unique security identifier is generated to mask information regarding your web resource files.  If a request comes in after this recycle, IIS cannot decrypt it using the old security identifier and throws an error.

The solution is to generate a static machine key setting and save it in your web.config file.  Since the security identifier does not change, IIS can decrypt and serve the correct resource after an application pool recycle.

This page provides a simple way to generate the key / value pair, and even shows how to use it in your web.config.

Find Large Attachments in Outlook 2007

August 28th, 2009 No comments

outlook_2007I received a notice today that my Outlook mailbox was almost full.  I send and receive a lot of email, but I was still amazed that my mailbox was THAT large!  This article shows you how to search for large attachments within your mailbox, you probably have more than you realize.

I was able to delete most of my large attachments, I didn’t really need to keep them.  A few were still important, so I saved the attachment to a secure spot and forwarded the email back to myself (without the attachment, of course!) with a note reminding me where I saved the attachment.

Simple but handy:

My monitor doesn’t power off while in screen saver mode

August 18th, 2009 No comments

I have used the built in “Photos” screensaver with Vista for quite some time, and enjoy returning to my desk to see pictures from a recent family trip or other fun event.  However, my monitor was never powering off.  I could lock my laptop and walk away for hours, and neither the laptop screen nor the attached monitor would ever go to sleep.

I finally decided to dig into why, and thanks to Google one of the first hits was the following article:

It seems that there is a bug in the Photos screensaver where, since it is capable of playing videos, an audio component is loaded which causes the monitor to remain on.  Even though no audio is ever played during the Photos screen saver, the component is still loaded.  Unfortunately there is no fix for it, other than to choose another screen saver.

I miss my photos, but it gave me an excuse to pick up a nice digital photo frame…so I can still see my pictures whenever I want!

Great Javascript Tooltip Library

August 11th, 2009 No comments

When it comes to development, I typically treat 3rd party tools and libraries like the plague.  Sure they might something cool, but if you account for the time debugging their implementation you could sometimes write them yourself.  Or worse yet, you cannot upgrade the parent application without breaking the 3rd party add-on!  When it comes to mission critical applications (database, web server, etc), I champion native, fully supported solutions only.

Much like any piece of code, there are occasional exceptions.  Recently I wanted to add tooltip functionality to several web screens.  I wanted something beyond the native browser tooltips, those always feel junky and unreliable.  In the process of writing a small library, I stumbled on to Walter Zorn’s tooltip library.  I scanned the documentation, then paused.  On the surface it looked great, it had the tweaks I really wanted: cross-browser support, delay for opening and closing and HTML support.  But would it really work?

Implementation was simple enough, download the javascript files, reference them and call a single function.  Ok, I like simplicity, I like the way he passes parameters to his functions and the script files were small enough.  So I decided to give it a try…and was very impressed!  Sure enough, it worked as advertised the first time.  I tested in a few browsers (FF 3 and 3.5, IE 7 and 8 and Chrome) and the tooltips worked and looked great.  They even have drop shadows, a very nice touch.

So I must say that this library is an exception to my rule, I am very impressed and plan to use it more throughout my sites.  Tooltips are a small but elegant addition to a quality site, they provide necessary but unobtrusive help to the user.  This library gives you the ability to add them quickly and easily…download and try it today.  He has several other javascript libraries, I hope to find time to experiment with them sometime soon.  Highly recommended!