Grandad's Laptop

Thursday 17th May 2007

Major testing day today. I have to :-

1. Set the Projector up.

2. Connect it to the Laptop.

3. Project an image onto the wall in our Living Room.

4. Run a Powerpoint presentation that I, in great Blue Peter tradition, prepared earlier.

5. Watch a DVD supersized in glorious Projecto-vision (there is no such word - I just made it up).

The really great news is - Everything worked perfectly.

I had abit of trouble with switching the resolution between the Laptop's 1200 x 800 display and the Projector's 1026 x 768 resolution, but I managed it in the end. The trick seems to be to set the Laptop to display on the 'Monitor' which in this case is the Projector.

Just a FYI - the DVD we watched was .... The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (the reason we chose to watch this film was that it has a really long title which I have to type out on this Blog. Yeah. Thanks Sally).

Wednessday 16th May 2007

Two large parcels litter the Living Room Floor today (see - I told you to check back today). The box for the carry cas is larger than the Projector box. Unfortunately, due to family commitments arranged many moons ago I do not have much time to try everything out. However, one thing I can confirm is that the Laptop and Projector fit perfectly well in the case together. You get a small carry case with the Sony Projector but even this fits comfortably within the combo case.

Tuesday 15th May 2007

I don't know what you are looking here for. Sally's Grandad's Laptop and carry case did not turn up in the post today. Try again tomorrow.

Sunday 13th May 2007

The projector has been ordered, along with a Carry case. In the end I ordered the Sony Projector with Lamp Warranty, but not from Dabs, since they were out of stock. I got a cheaper deal from Lambda-tek and both items were in stock. The carry case is by TechAir and it will accommodate both the Laptop and Projector. The end is in sight - this Blog may be winding up soon.

What next? Grandma's PC? No, more likely ... Sally's PC.

Friday 11th May 2007

2 x 1Gb Ram sticks of memory arrived today, along with a Mousemat from Scan. I have installed the memory already, with no problem at all. So, for £490 Sally's Grandad has a 2 Gb Laptop which is on sale at PC World for £599. I have also been doing some more research on Projectors. Prices, on the Dabs site alone, range from £292.57 up to £5709.99. The difference is related to 'Resolution'. The higher the price, the greater the resolution (i.e. more detail). The expensive Projectors are HD ready. The trick is to find the best Value For Money. I think an XGA projector with a resolution of 1024x768 should be available for around £500.

A Sony VPL-EX3LMP XGA Inc 3 year Lamp Warranty is listed on Dabs.com for £568.87 inc VAT. Looks like a good deal, but you can also get it for £487.62 from Dabs.com without the Lamp warranty. What to go for? Looks like a decision for Sally's Grandad.

Wednesday 9th May 2007

I have been informed by Scan that there is a slight delay on the Memory, but fortunately, only by one day.

Monday 7th May 2007 (Happy Bank Holiday Monday to all our readers)

I have ordered the extra memory for Grandad's Laptop today. Two 1 Gb Memory modules to take the total up to 2Gb - the recommended setting for Windows Vista. I also added in a mouse mat which will look very familiar to Bryan when he sees it.
Sunday 6th May 2007
Spoke to Sally's Grandad today. First of all, he managed to calm Sally's fears by promising not to fill his Laptop's hard drive with Classical Music MP3s. Then he suggested adding a carry case to the list of requirements. This should not pose a problem, since there are lots to choose from but I would ideally like to get a case which can house the Laptop, projector, mouse and mousemat so that when Sally's Grandad has to give a Powerpoint slide presentation, he only needs to take one bag and everything will be contained within it. I will check out Dabs.com as that is where the Projector is likely to be purchased from.
Saturday 5th May 2007
We made a trip up to Lancaster today to pick up Grandad's Laptop. I went for the Acer Aspire 5612ZWLMi but only paid £399 for it. I also picked up a wired optical mouse for £8. The Laptop was a "Remanufactured" model but in extensive testing it has performed flawlessly. The Operating System - Vista was already installed, along with a few basic applications but there was no Virus Checker. I have added Avast, along with Microsoft Office 2007 and Cyberlink PowerDVD.
Friday 4th May 2007
I have made a definite decision about the Laptop - it's going to be an Acer Aspire 5612ZWLMi but I am not going to get it from Comet. I have found out that a company called Black Box Computers sell reconditioned Acers for £420. The really good news is that they are based in Lancaster which is so close to Preston that I will be able to collect the Laptop in person and save on the postage. The other thing I have found out is that Scan are selling Corsair memory which is compatible with this Laptop for just £31 per Gigabyte. So, the idea is to purchase the Acer Laptop running Vista and then upgrade the memory to 2Gb for an extra £69 (incl. P&P). In all of my searches so far, I have not come anywhere near a Core 2 Duo Laptop with 2Gb Ram and a 120Gb Hard Drive for under £500. The nearest is in Comet but it is priced at £599. This should allow more funds to be directed towards the Projector.
Tuesday 1st May 2007 (Happy May Day to all our readers)
I don't actually have anything to add, I just wanted to say "Happy May Day"
Monday 30th April 2007
Sure enough - another day, another recommendation.
I had a wander around a few Electrical Stores during my lunch hour today.
At the moment Comet have a good offer on an Acer Laptop -
"Acer laptop featuring Windows Vista Home Premium, Intel Pentium Dual Core processor, 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, DVDRW & 15.4" widescreen display"
Amazingly, the price is a mere - £479.99
From the start of this search I have been looking for a Core 2 Duo Laptop with 1 Gb RAM and over 100Gb Hard disk for £500. Well at Comet you can get all of that and have £20 change. - Bargain.
For the Projector, head on over to www.dabs.com and take a look at the Sanyo PLC-XW55 2000 ANSI XGA Projector. Here is a bit from the description -
"The PLC-XW55 with 2000 ANSI lumens takes all the hassles from mobile presentation. In addition to the compact, neutral white housing, the PLC-XW55 distinguishes itself with its extremely user-friendly operations. With the automatic signal detection and Direct Power Off feature, there is practically no setup time and you are free to leave right at the conclusion of your presentation."
User-friendly and portable - can't be bad.
The price is good, too - just £468.82 inc. VAT and it's in stock.
Even with P&P to Dabs we are well under a combined price of £1000.
Throw in a corded, optical mouse for under a tenner and we are sorted.
Conveniently, Dabs have the following mouse available for £10.84 inc. VAT -
"Microsoft Basic Optical Mouse Black - Experience the convenience of optical technology at a great value. Replace that old-fashioned "roller ball" with a mouse that works on virtually any surface. It's easy to use, comfortable, and features a scroll wheel."
Sounds good to me...

Sunday 29th April 2007
Another day, another laptop.
After reading the May 2007 issue of "What Laptop" magazine, I might have changed my mind on the Laptop...oh and the Projector.
They do a group test of laptops below £699 and the overall winner is a Samsung R20 (Samsung R20 LWM T2250 - Core Duo T2250 / 1.73 GHz - RAM : 1 GB - HD : 160 GB - DVD±RW (+R double layer) / DVD-RAM - WLAN : 802.11 Super G, 802.11b/g - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - 14.1" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )). However, this is priced at £551 and it beats it's more expensive rivals. The cheapest I have seen it is £538 from www.LaptopsDirect.co.uk.
However, they also do an article on Projectors and there is another choice to make - LCD or DLP. Their recommendation is for a Viewsonic PJ358, (ViewSonic PJ358 - LCD projector - 2000 ANSI lumens - XGA (1024 x 768) - 4:3) priced at £589. The cheapest I have found is £587.50 (Big saving!) from Insight.
I am concerned that the combined cost is creeping up over the £1k mark, so I am not sure it represents good value for money. I think the budget is fine and it must be possible to get a combo for under a grand.
Speaking of projectors, I have found out that replacement bulbs for these things cost around £200, however, they do last for 2000 hours...









Friday 27th April 2007
Sally's Grandad wants a laptop.
Apparently he likes to give slide shows and is considering doing so in a contemporary style. i.e. running a Powerpoint presentation on a Laptop computer via a new fangled projector thingy.
This means that Sally's Dad must do some research...
PROJECTORS:
These come in two basic variants - SVGA and XGA.

SVGA Overview

Short for Super Video Graphics Array; defined by IBM; represents a computer graphics adapter capable of 800 by 600 resolution. These devices allow the image of a screen to be projected onto a large white surface such as a wall for the purpose of presentations, university lectures or home use when coupled with an appropriate input image or device.
XGA Overview
(XGA) Extended Graphics Array is a graphics standard developed by IBM that allows the display of 1024 x 768 pixels with up to 65, 535 colors These devices allow the image of a screen to be projected onto a large white surface such as a wall for the purpose of presentations, university lectures or home use when coupled with a DVD.
Well that's a "no-brainer" - XGA it is.
LAPTOPS:
These come in a million different variants.
First of all, Sally's Grandad does not know this yet, but he doesn't actually require a Laptop - what he really wants is a "Notebook". (No, you can't pop down to Stationary Box to get a budget notebook - The very idea!).
Notebook PC's are small and light (portable), with low power consumption for long battery life.
So what to go for then? Dell?
All Notebook PC's have their chassis made by a small number of manufacturers (Samsung, Compal, Asus) and then passed on to the Big Name Brands (Dell, Hewlett Packard, Compaq) to add their badge and mark-up (profit). There are actually only a few ODM (Original Design Manufacturers) making laptop carcasses — the motherboard, case, and integrated display. They distribute their products to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), who add their choice of processor, hard drive, CD or DVD drive, RAM, operating system and accessories, set it up in a particular way to suit their target market, stick their label on it, and then submit it to varying amounts of testing before selling it with their own guarantee and level of technical support.
Bottom-line - you are paying a premium for that "Dell" badge.
However, Dell sometimes have sales (just like shops), some websites sell refurbished or reconditioned laptops and some firms sell cheap laptops because the box is damaged or missing. Quite frankly - it's a minefield.
At the moment I am weighing up whether to recommend the purchase of an IBM Thinkpad (which is actually quite upgradeable online) or a more modern Core 2 duo machine.
MICE:
OK, I don't have to explain what a mouse is (eek!) Bryan can demonstrate his Logitech one for me, but there is no doubting that Sally's Grandad will need one.
So where does that leave us?
How about this for an initial stab at it.....
Go to www.microwarehouse.co.uk
Lenovo 3000 N100 0768 - Core Duo T2250 / 1.73 GHz - Centrino Duo - RAM : 1 GB - HD : 80 GB - DVD-Writer - WLAN : Bluetooth, 802.11a/b/g - fingerprint - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic - 15.4" Widescreen TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) (Open Packaging)
£458.24
Epson EMP X3 - LCD projector
£546.38
Lenovo ThinkPlus Optical 3-Button Travel Wheel Mouse
£14.08
P & P
£5.00
TOTAL
£1024.58
Is that too expensive?
Another thing to bear in mind is the combined weight of the Notebook + Projector.
2.8kg + 2.6kg = 5.4kg
Is that too heavy?
It is early days, so let me know what you think.