Notebook Reviews

I bought this card for my Dell laptop and new 20GB iPod. I pulled it out of the box, put it into the PCI slot on the side of my laptop, and my computer located it without a problem. I was up and running immediately. Transfers to my iPod are incredibly fast. I highly recommend this very low-maintenance Firewire card.

Some people are rating this card down incorrecty. To set the matter straight:

The PCMCIA bus specification does not provide enough power to allow the PCMCIA cards to power external devices. Therefore, the PCMCIA Firewire cards do not provide enough power to the Firewire bus.

NO PCMCIA firewire cards can charge an ipod by itself (using the laptop's battery). PCI firewire cards (the kind for you desktop) CAN, but PCMCIA cards (the ones for you laptop) CANNOT. It is not a "feature" that this card lacks.

HOWEVER: Some PCMCIA cards come with an input for an external power adaptor, including this Startech card (as another reviewer mentioned). So basically, you plug an external adapter into the port (which you can see in the picture) and the external adapter will then power the firewire card, letting it charge your ipod. As far as I can tell, this feature isn't available on a lot of cheaper models. But you WILL have to have an external power adapter to use this feature.

So again, NO PCMCIA cards can self power an ipod while charging. Don't rate a product down for something that's not possible.

Bought this to capture DV from Canon ZR20 to Toshiba Laptop with XP Home. Works great. Able to capture video to PC without loss of quality. Editing is easier with MovieMaker than with the included Ulead, but Ulead seems more versatile. I would definitely recommend this card for anyone trying to do the same thing.

If you have a lot of DVDs or CDs these wallets are the way to go. I have over 800 CDs and they were eating up my space. After getting rid of all the jewel cases I can store all of my CDs and DVDs on one book shelf. And since I organized them by theme, it is easy to find what I am looking for. By the way: you can mark the outside of the wallets with a white-out pen. It makes it easy to know what's inside each wallet. For the DVD wallet you will need to do a little trimming for some of the Liner notes. But it is easy to do. Trust me... once you start using these wallets, you'll love 'em. For what you get with these wallets I find the price fair. Even better here on Amazon.com Enjoy

I now have two of these and I'm getting ready to order two more. They store 20 DVDs in about the same space as 5 in their plastic cases. Each sleeve has a clear pocket on the front to insert the cover art so it is easy to find the movie your looking for. We take ours with us on trips with our portable DVD player. There is no way that we could fit 20 DVDs in our carry-on bag without this case.

What better way to organize the digital photographs you have burned to CD? I run thumbnails on 5x8 index cards and put them in the front of the sleeve in which each CD is stored. Just listing the filenames takes less space. Now I can find particular subjects or photos without having to slip each CD into the drive or writing all over the CD itself.

I also like it for it's original intent .. to store DVDs compactly.

What's in each album? I use a commercial labeler (i.e. P-Touch) which sticks just fine and helps me organize the various albums.

I was hoping to increase the write speed on my Minolta 7i which makes me wait for a full write before I can take the next photo. In this camera, the Ultra II is actually slower than a "regular" SanDisk 256MB card. Ran a couple of quick tests, using the Ultra II, a "regular speed" SanDisk CF and a 1G IBM CF Micro Drive:
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In the 7i, taking a macro photo of a catalog page with lots of colors, small images and text (5 MP):

UltraII - 13 seconds RAW : 15 seconds TIF : 4.5 seconds full size JPG.

Regular - 11 seconds RAW: 14 seconds TIF : 3.8 seconds JPG

1G IBM MD - 12 Seconds RAW : 18 seconds TIF : 4.0 seconds JPG
_______________________________
Performance in my Nikon D-100 was better when taking the same (6.1MP) landscape photo:

Ultra II - 5.1 seconds RAW : 25 seconds TIF : 3.2 seconds full size JPG

Regular - 5.4 seconds RAW : 26 seconds TIF : 3.7 seconds JPG

1G IBM MD - 11 seconds RAW : 29.3 seconds TIF : 4.2 seconds JPG
*******************************************

When I purchased this card, Amazon was having a GREAT sale on it, I paid a dollar more than what a "standard" speed card would cost, so I am not irritated. If I had paid the normal retail price though, I'd be upset with its less than stellar performance in the intended application.

So, make sure that your camera can take advantage of the increased write speed of this card before you spend the extra money on it over a "standard" speed card. I'll be using it as backup on the Nikon rather than as a primary on the Minolta.

At first I was a bit hesitant to get Sandisk products because I've heard so many people complaining. But after doing thorough research, I found that the rest of the brands were being equally lambasted by users. So, I decided to choose based on technicals and not opinions. Well, this CompactFlash card is quite powerful and what was the bearing point for me to lean and buy this is its price. I've used it to record digital video clips, I've taken pictures of all sizes and with different visual effects, I've done high-speed shutter (~2.2 shots/sec @ 1024x768) and it works phenomenally and flawlessly. I have not had ANY of the errors people write so much about and I'm actually sure enough that I'm willing to recommend it to others.
The 256MB its sufficient for about 200 3.1-Megapixel high-quality pictures. Which can hold a weekend's vacation worth of pictures without having to erase or transfer them to your computer. However, if you can afford the extra $50, I suggest buying the 512Mb one. In short: good value, excellent performance, good price and good quality.

I purchased this product to use in a Sandisk Firewire CF card reader in order to transfer data files between the home and the office. I normally use 100MB Zip disks, but the transfer rate using a USB Zip250 for a 30 MB file is 3 min. 19 sec. which is incredibly slow. I had a Sandisk 128 MB CF card, but using the Firewire CF card reader, a 30 MB file still took 1 min. 9 sec. to transfer so I bought the Sandisk Ultra II 256 MB card since it was supposed to have a higher transfer rate. It did. It allowed the transfer of the 30 MB file in 15 seconds which is 4.6 times faster than the non-ultra Sandisk CF card and 13 times faster than a 100MB Zip disk in a USB Zip250 drive. I was pleasantly surprised. I would buy another one to use in my digital camera since I am pretty sure it will function faster than the non-ultra Sandisk CF card I use now. Plus, the Ultra II card was no more expensive than the non-ultra card and the Sandisk Ultra II CF card was comparably or better priced compared to CF cards from other manufacturers.

After doing much research, I've decided to go with Microsoft Wireless notebook kit mainly because I am running XP both on my laptop and my PC and I didn't want to experience too much compatibility issues. I had experienced problem when setting up my base station with the PC (couldn't detect internet connection), a quick phone call to Miscrosoft's 24 HOURS support at 12 midnight fixed the problem. Turns out that all I had to do was to unplug power cord of my modem and the base station for 5 mins and VIOLA!! everything runs perfectly!!

Setting up the adapter on my laptop only took me 5 mins. No configuration needed, hardware detects base station right away!!

I would recommend this product to everyone who's thinking about setting up wireless and wired lan!! Great product with reasonable price and best of all you get 2 years worth of 24 HOURS customer support from good old Gates! Can't complain with all this.

P.S. Yes!! You do need to download the patch from the support website.

After doing much research, I've decided to go with Microsoft Wireless notebook kit mainly because I am running XP both on my laptop and my PC and I didn't want to experience too much compatibility issues. I had experienced problem when setting up my base station with the PC (couldn't detect internet connection), a quick phone call to Miscrosoft's 24 HOURS support at 12 midnight fixed the problem. Turns out that all I had to do was to unplug power cord of my modem and the base station for 5 mins and VIOLA!! everything runs perfectly!!

Setting up the adapter on my laptop only took me 5 mins. No configuration needed, hardware detects base station right away!!

I would recommend this product to everyone who's thinking about setting up wireless and wired lan!! Great product with reasonable price and best of all you get 2 years worth of 24 HOURS customer support from good old Gates! Can't complain with all this.

P.S. Yes! You do need to download the patch from the support website.

Here in Pakistan, technology is just coming up. Networking is common but wireless networking is just round the corner. Brand new D-Link/Linksys equipment is available but quite expensive. An Access Point/Router with a laptop PCMCIA card (802.11b) costs about $160 here. So purchasing this Microsoft kit for only $39.88 was peanuts. Setting it up was a breeze! And in no time I was up and about, surfing the web (broadband connection) on my Acer laptop. I was in a state of ecstasy, roaming in different parts of my home with my laptop and browsing the web. I heard about it but experiencing for the first time myself was a feeling out of this world. NO WIRES OR CABLES but full web access everywhere!!!
Nobody believes me that I have made this wonderful purchase for such a good price.

I purchased my Z2 and couldn't wait to see the great images it could produce with 4 megs and 10x zoom. What a disappointment! I want my old Olympus 510 back. The color is horrible on the Z2. I could get the color ok by adjusting the white balance in the program modes (not using a flash), however it's not adjustable in the "Auto" mode, which also meant switching back to "Auto" for a flash shot. Also, this camera's size and shape make it totally impossible to just carry around in your pocket. I have missed way too many shots because I didn't have the camera with me.

I've had this camera for a little over a month and so far, I love it. It's got the full-auto (point-and-shoot) mode for the casual photographer/beginner, but it also has a variety of manual modes and advanced features like aperture priority, shutter priority, program mode, and full manual, as well as manual white balance for those interested in learning the art of (digital) photography.

The two built in macro modes (close and *really* close) allow for excellent close-up shots. Despite having almost no experience in photography beyond point-and-shoot cameras, I was taking pretty good macro shots my first day with it (at least that's what mom said ;). The 10x zoom is great for the long shots. The 16MB SD card is useless (pick up at least 256MB). I still carry the 16 for a spare, but at the highest image resolution, I doubt I could fit 10 pictures on it.

Do yourself a favor and buy the lens adapter ring and a UV filter for the camera. The UV filter can be had pretty cheap, won't affect picture quality, and will keep your built-in lens safe from scratches, dirt, and UV rays (evidently pretty damaging to camera equipment). And having the adapter, you'll be able to attach other filters as your need/skill grow. Oh, and get a couple of sets of rechargeable NIMH batteries too. They'll save you a lot of money. I briefly looked into the Konika-Minolta LI battery pack that's made for the camera, but being more than half the price of the camera, decided it was more expensive than I needed. At least for now.

So far, my only complaints are: the battery cover door seems pretty flimsy. I'd like to see something more substantial. And, I'm not sure the idea of the mechanical mirror used to select the view through the eyepiece or on the display screen is wise. It just seems like more mechanical parts to fail in the future. Also, the use of the eyepiece won't prolong battery life as it would in most digital cameras.

So, it's few faults aside, I give the KM Z2 a solid 5 star rating.

This camera will do everything for you except hold it in place. The auto mode does it all. I was very impressed with the battery life and BRIGHT flash. The camera is just perfect, video mode is brilliant, no noise from the camera's AF feature. The zoom, well seeing is believing, you will not believe the details that you are missing on these 2x and 3x zoom cameras. Can't wait for the next generation. Get one!

I just purchased a Dell laptop, The touchpad was so sensitive it drove me nuts. So I looked at this model because it seemed to have all the right specs.
It took all of 5 minutes to install the software and have the mouse up & running. It is small enough to work on the right or left side of your laptop. It is optical W/USB & a PS2 adapter. It has a 3' extension. The mouse is small but very ergonomic with a 2 button scroll. Works with all Windows including XP OS & Macs.

I love this little thing. A lot of travel mice are too small, or the wrong shape, or easily broken, but this mouse is just right. The buttons have just the right amount of give to them, the scroll wheel is firm but not too firm, and it tracks well whether I'm using it on a tabletop, on my pants leg, or even on my laptop's wrist rest. Plus, it comes with a sturdy carrying case, so I don't have to worry about it getting damaged in my laptop bag, and an extension cord, in case the three-foot cord on the mouse isn't long enough for whatever reason. It looks stylish, too!

I really love the Traveler mouse. Yes, it's small, but I have very large hands and I've adapted to it quite easily. It tracks smoothly and the wheel has just the right amount of resistance. It even comes with a nice PVC travel case, perfect to slip into your laptop bag without scratching anything else up.

This is a great companion to a Powerbook, too, as it looks cool alongside! Now if Apple would just work on making the right button more useful in OSX...but I digress.

I just purchased a Dell laptop, The touchpad was so sensitive it drove me nuts. So I looked at this model because it seemed to have all the right specs.
It took all of 5 minutes to install the software and have the mouse up & running. It is small enough to work on the right or left side of your laptop. It is optical W/USB & a PS2 adapter. It has a 3' extension. The mouse is small but very ergonomic with a 2 button scroll. Works with all Windows including XP OS & Macs.

I love this little thing. A lot of travel mice are too small, or the wrong shape, or easily broken, but this mouse is just right. The buttons have just the right amount of give to them, the scroll wheel is firm but not too firm, and it tracks well whether I'm using it on a tabletop, on my pants leg, or even on my laptop's wrist rest. Plus, it comes with a sturdy carrying case, so I don't have to worry about it getting damaged in my laptop bag, and an extension cord, in case the three-foot cord on the mouse isn't long enough for whatever reason. It looks stylish, too!

I really love the Traveler mouse. Yes, it's small, but I have very large hands and I've adapted to it quite easily. It tracks smoothly and the wheel has just the right amount of resistance. It even comes with a nice PVC travel case, perfect to slip into your laptop bag without scratching anything else up.

This is a great companion to a Powerbook, too, as it looks cool alongside! Now if Apple would just work on making the right button more useful in OSX...but I digress.

I just purchased a Dell laptop, The touchpad was so sensitive it drove me nuts. So I looked at this model because it seemed to have all the right specs.
It took all of 5 minutes to install the software and have the mouse up & running. It is small enough to work on the right or left side of your laptop. It is optical W/USB & a PS2 adapter. It has a 3' extension. The mouse is small but very ergonomic with a 2 button scroll. Works with all Windows including XP OS & Macs.

I love this little thing. A lot of travel mice are too small, or the wrong shape, or easily broken, but this mouse is just right. The buttons have just the right amount of give to them, the scroll wheel is firm but not too firm, and it tracks well whether I'm using it on a tabletop, on my pants leg, or even on my laptop's wrist rest. Plus, it comes with a sturdy carrying case, so I don't have to worry about it getting damaged in my laptop bag, and an extension cord, in case the three-foot cord on the mouse isn't long enough for whatever reason. It looks stylish, too!

I really love the Traveler mouse. Yes, it's small, but I have very large hands and I've adapted to it quite easily. It tracks smoothly and the wheel has just the right amount of resistance. It even comes with a nice PVC travel case, perfect to slip into your laptop bag without scratching anything else up.

This is a great companion to a Powerbook, too, as it looks cool alongside! Now if Apple would just work on making the right button more useful in OSX...but I digress.

As other reviewers have stated, the hardware itself is great. The computer is visually stunning. And the OS is rock-solid and user-friendly.

Some people have complained about the size for traveling. It's about as small as a 17" computer could be -- but if you are sitting in coach and the person in front of you reclines their seat, it's hard to use. (Get the 12" if you think this might be a problem for you.)

Finally, a word on Apple service. I had some problems with this computer and needed to send it back to Apple several times -- which is a bad thing. On the other hand, I finally reached Roberto, a Powerbook specialist in AppleCare, who was understanding and expedited my repair -- which is a good thing. 4-stars -- would have been 5-stars except for the hardware problems.

I don't know what more I can add to all of these great reviews

but believe the hype!!!

this is one AWESOME laptop!

I'll just make a list of why I love it --- forgive me if it comes off with any irrationality ---

1. Portability ---- seriously, feel free to laugh, but this laptop really is portable....... yes, it can get heavy (by the end of the day) but it really is comparable, if not lighter, than most laptops available......... I commend Apple for doing such a great job on actually making this computer portable enough to throw in a backpack and take with you

2. The Widescreen 17" screen!!! gosh this screen is beautiful! Sometimes I find myself using a smaller computer and I can't stand it ---- I've officialy been spoiled! Even 15" widescreens won't do anymore!

3. Keyboard ---- there's something special about this keyboard - its pretty cool

4. Speed ---- Apple gets knocked around a lot for its speed, but seriously, the G4 in this thing really handles things greatly! I highly recommend 1 gig of RAM, for the ultimate speed and stability ----- this thing will run Final Cut Pro, Garage Band, OS X, all of those programs, greatly! Take my word for it ---- no probs at all!

5. Stablity ---- this is more of a software thing, but OS X is such a great OS!!! Never freezes, never crashes ------ I have five different apps open right now (Safari, AOL, Preview, MS Word, and iTunes) and the speed isn't slowing down one bit!

6. Output options ----- were talking Firewire, Firewire 800, USB, DVI, best of all, SVIDEO and AUDIO output ---- making it VERY easy to connect this baby to a nice TV!!! its pretty freaking cool

I don't know what else to say ---- buy it! IT ROCKS

for those of you afraid to switch, let me give you reasons why ---

- Microsoft Office on OS X (which works better here than it does on XP)

- Final Cut Pro (better than any Windoze editing system)

- All Adobe apps available here

- All Macromedia apps available here

did I forget anything?

Yes, yes, it's heavy and hot as hell. This is not the machine you prop up on your legs to read Google News in bed. Hopefully you have something better to do with your US$3K-$4K anyway.

I'm a professional media designer and image maker, and I replaced my old dual-processor Macintosh with the 17.1" 1.33 GHz Powerbook. This is a machine to tote onto a job site or to a presentation and produce great work...perfect for freelancers and those who might not work at their home base all the time.

Two great things I've not seen other reviewers mention are the audio hardware quality and dual-monitor support; these can't be under-rated. My Dell PC's audio line out is noisy and full of hiss, while the Powerbook's line out is so quiet that many musicians simply plug it into a club's audio system and it sounds great. Dual-monitor support is second to none. After chafing a bit at the widescreen nature of the screen (i.e., only 900 pixels tall), I instantly shut my mouth when I plugged in another monitor and it immediately started running at 1600 x 1200.

While there are some compromises one must make in going mobile, this machine does not disappoint. Rear legs for improved elevation, easy expandability, even a real tray for the DVD-RW drive ... all these things have been removed to make the machine as streamlined as possible. But I happily accept all these compromises to use a Macintosh that is powerful, relatively lightweight, portable...and sexy as all get-out. It's the only computing device I've ever owned that is a conversation starter. Now if these people would only just let me get back to work...

I bought this little mouse to keep in my laptop bag. I figured it would be nicer than using the touchpad when staying in hotels. Not only that, but it is a Microsoft mouse, so that means quality.....

Well, it is a good quality mouse, but there are a few minuses for me.
1. I am not a small guy, over 6-4....this thing is too small in my hand. Yes, I am a big guy, so I should have thought of it, but still, it is REALLY small.
2. It cannot use the Intellimouse software that MS uses with all its other mice. That means I cannot reprogram the middle button as a Back button to ease web browsing.
3. The cord is very short to allow for more compact storage. Well, my laptop has the USB port on the rear, left side of the laptop...and I am right handed. It barely makes it around my Dell Inspiron 8100.

Overall, just not a good purchase for me....my advice would be to try it out in the store before you buy...

Ron

This is a great little mouse and contrary to what Microsoft says on its website, it is possible to program the buttons using their Intellimouse software. There is no option for Notebook Mouse but you can just choose Wheel Mouse Optical instead and it works perfectly. The only problem is that the scroll button on mine is quite sticky so that when you program that button to do other things, it's easy to click it by accident when you just want to scroll. In the end, I didn't find being able to program the buttons that handy (since there are only 3 in total) but it was nice to be able to use the other programable functions. About the size, I am a small woman so I bought it because it's the perfect size for my hands! But I do have very small hands. I use it as my desktop mouse with a USB extension cable I bought separately. It is quick and accurate and very light.

I love it. Never a moment of trouble. I have big hands, but it's still comfortable.