Notebook Reviews

At this price, the card alone is a good deal. However, this pkg includes the USB minidrive, which allows you to use the card as a highly portable storage device that is recognized by WinXP without any drivers or installation required. This is really handy for many things, such as moving MP3 files (say to a friend's PC) or for copying .txt files for papers that need editing or safeguarding.

XP recognized and installed flawlessly. No digital signature required! Handy 4 foot USB cable for connecting behind pcs. I've looked at many sites that sell this drive and it was never obvious if the 256mb flash card was included. It is. My unit was gray (not blue like most ads show) with a green led. It's a versatile drive because the flash cards work with other devices, like my Rio S50 MP3 player. And different sized cards can be used, 64mb, 128mb, etc. Hardest thing was getting the package open! No different than any electronic gadget. Be careful with the blister plastic. 2 year warranty on the drive, lifetime on flash card. Highly recommended.

Executive summary: 1.44 floppies are just not cutting it. I work with clients and don't want to lug around a CD burner to move files from my laptop to/from their network. I also don't always want to lug my laptop home. Enter Simpletech's Bonzai USB mini drive. It is awesome. If you are looking for high capacity and expandable computer storage in a small, portable, USB-based, no install hassle package, buy the Bonzai USB mini-drive now.

A few details . . .

Insert it into a USB port, wait about 2 seconds and WIN2K and WinXP (home and professional) pop up an acknowledgement of a new removable disk that it found. You use the USB drive just like a hard drive (drag and drop, etc.).

Here are some factoids I wish the product description (or picture) would have told me:
1) A 4 foot USB extension cable is included, which in my book eliminates any negative dealing with the fact that the USB ports on some computers are close together or very tight. (BTW I have a Compaq Presario with 2 USB's on the front and although it is tight the Bonzai works fine there without the extension, even with my mouse plugged in right beside it). Having to carrying a small cable is just not that big of deal folks.
2) It is very small. 2 1/2" long including the USB plug. 1 1/4" wide. 1/2" deep.
3) It is very light. About the weight of one Oreo Double Stuff cookie :)
4) The USB plug has a cap.
5) The case is heavy plastic.
6) A lanyard (i.e big shoestring looking thing that goes around your neck like a Referee's whistle) is included.
7) I have a 60MB zip file on my Bonzai right now which unzips faster than those on my hard drive. Did I mention the Bonzai is fast?
8) The whole thing seems solid and well made.

BTW, a guy I work with and I did some research. We both concluded that Bonzai is the answer to our goal of a slick way to quickly move files between computers, with zero install requirements (at least on Win2K and WinXP). He is very envious of me right now since he opted for the Sandisk Cruzer instead of the Bonzai (because Best Buy didn't have the Bonzai). I picked Bonzai and was delighted to find that amazon.com has it. The Cruzer is about 4-5 times bigger, and doesn't feel nearly as solid in my view.

I opted for the 128MB model instead of the 256MB or 512MB models for two simple reasons: 1) 128MB is enough for me for now (equal to 88 diskettes), 2) the price of Secure Disk (SD) is bound to keep tumbling so I'll pick up a 256 and/or 512 once the 1GB (and beyond) SD's come out and drive down their cost of their little brother and sister :)

Enjoy the Bonzai!

I bought this a few weeks after I got my laptop because I wanted to have something to carry it around in when I needed it and somewhere I knew it would be safe.

I like having to space for all of my computer's needs (power cords, extra phone line). There is even room for folders when I'm studying or DVDs when I'm bored out of my mind.

I don't have to 'hunt' for everything when I need my computer, either. It is all right there in a handy case that can go with me anywhere.

As a student this was the best case for me. It can fit my 15" notebook snugly, with a second large compartment for textbooks and notebooks. The front flap is for cords, floppy disks, pens, calculators, etc. It is also not bad to look at. I was very impressed when it came in the mail. I had been worried my notebook would be too large because I had experienced that before, but I would recommend this for up to 16" notebooks. The ajustable bungee strap is really comfy too. The case itself is also really light on your shoulder, but still durable. Me likes.

I got this in the mail today and I am very pleased. I thought it might be too small for my notebook (which has a 15" screen) like so many other cases were, but it fits very nicely with room to spare. I also like all the compartments. Its great for a student like myself with room for ID, cell phone, books, pens, etc. It it also very light and not too bad to look at. Great choice.

I bought this a few weeks after I got my laptop because I wanted to have something to carry it around in when I needed it and somewhere I knew it would be safe.

I like having to space for all of my computer's needs (power cords, extra phone line). There is even room for folders when I'm studying or DVDs when I'm bored out of my mind.

I don't have to 'hunt' for everything when I need my computer, either. It is all right there in a handy case that can go with me anywhere.

As a student this was the best case for me. It can fit my 15" notebook snugly, with a second large compartment for textbooks and notebooks. The front flap is for cords, floppy disks, pens, calculators, etc. It is also not bad to look at. I was very impressed when it came in the mail. I had been worried my notebook would be too large because I had experienced that before, but I would recommend this for up to 16" notebooks. The ajustable bungee strap is really comfy too. The case itself is also really light on your shoulder, but still durable. Me likes.

I got this in the mail today and I am very pleased. I thought it might be too small for my notebook (which has a 15" screen) like so many other cases were, but it fits very nicely with room to spare. I also like all the compartments. Its great for a student like myself with room for ID, cell phone, books, pens, etc. It it also very light and not too bad to look at. Great choice.

I bought this a few weeks after I got my laptop because I wanted to have something to carry it around in when I needed it and somewhere I knew it would be safe.

I like having to space for all of my computer's needs (power cords, extra phone line). There is even room for folders when I'm studying or DVDs when I'm bored out of my mind.

I don't have to 'hunt' for everything when I need my computer, either. It is all right there in a handy case that can go with me anywhere.

As a student this was the best case for me. It can fit my 15" notebook snugly, with a second large compartment for textbooks and notebooks. The front flap is for cords, floppy disks, pens, calculators, etc. It is also not bad to look at. I was very impressed when it came in the mail. I had been worried my notebook would be too large because I had experienced that before, but I would recommend this for up to 16" notebooks. The ajustable bungee strap is really comfy too. The case itself is also really light on your shoulder, but still durable. Me likes.

I got this in the mail today and I am very pleased. I thought it might be too small for my notebook (which has a 15" screen) like so many other cases were, but it fits very nicely with room to spare. I also like all the compartments. Its great for a student like myself with room for ID, cell phone, books, pens, etc. It it also very light and not too bad to look at. Great choice.

I bought this a few weeks after I got my laptop because I wanted to have something to carry it around in when I needed it and somewhere I knew it would be safe.

I like having to space for all of my computer's needs (power cords, extra phone line). There is even room for folders when I'm studying or DVDs when I'm bored out of my mind.

I don't have to 'hunt' for everything when I need my computer, either. It is all right there in a handy case that can go with me anywhere.

As a student this was the best case for me. It can fit my 15" notebook snugly, with a second large compartment for textbooks and notebooks. The front flap is for cords, floppy disks, pens, calculators, etc. It is also not bad to look at. I was very impressed when it came in the mail. I had been worried my notebook would be too large because I had experienced that before, but I would recommend this for up to 16" notebooks. The ajustable bungee strap is really comfy too. The case itself is also really light on your shoulder, but still durable. Me likes.

I got this in the mail today and I am very pleased. I thought it might be too small for my notebook (which has a 15" screen) like so many other cases were, but it fits very nicely with room to spare. I also like all the compartments. Its great for a student like myself with room for ID, cell phone, books, pens, etc. It it also very light and not too bad to look at. Great choice.

I've had this notebook for 3 months now and it was amazing right from when I received it. Amazing features of this notebook includes Nice wide screen display and a pair of good internal speakers with subwoofer ideal for listening to music and watching movies. Recent games such as Final fantasy XI, Max Payne 2 and NFS underground runs very smoothly and the speedy pentium M processor handles most demanding applications well. The slot loading DVD drive is cool too, and most of all it has a AV control panel and it is light enough to be carried around. A quality product from Gateway.

As a web and graphic designer, I constantly put my computers to the test. This one keeps up. I can have several high-intensity programs running at the same time without bogging down all my system resources. Furthermore, the battery life is amazing (mine is over 4 hours), it is completely silent, doesn't get hot, light for its size, and stylish to boot. I am in love.

The only thing that marred my experience with this computer is receiving one with a dead pixel in the center of my display. Big bummer. Gateway won't fix it. Otherwise, this is one amazing laptop.

This laptop has everything one could need:
-Fast processor, good amount of memory, GREAT graphic card, DVD writer, and a wide-screen ideal for games, DVD viewing and any other multimedia applications. For music enthusiasts, a built-in music player on the left of the keyboard can be used to play audio cds or mp3s without even turning the laptop on. Also, the speakers are of very good quality and the laptop even has a built-in subwoofer.

I tried a lot of notebooks before buying the M505XL and I can safely say that this is one of the best. At this price, you can't get a better deal.

For gamers, as I mentioned the graphic card is amazing. You'll be able to play the latest games with the settings maxed out at an amazing frame rate. ONLY games such as Far Cry which actually compete with the graphic engine of Half Life 2 might show some slowdown, but removing advanced settings such as Anti-Aliasing will boost the frame rate while keeping excellent visual quality. Games that work perfectly with all the settings turned on: Need for speed underground, Halo, Call of duty, Final Fantasy XI, Unreal Tournament 2003...

Finally the notebooks's pretty light (6.7 pounds) and you can easily take it with you wherever you go.

My V505AX is from the first batch released from Sony that had a defective touchpad. After some lengthy investigation, I finally called Sony. They verified my warranty, and arranged for a local tech to perform an on-site repair. The tech person told me that some of the first V505AX's had been built with touchpad parts sourced from India. He showed me that the back of the touchpad membrane had been made with a metalized foil. This foil was grounding itself to the metal shielding that surrounds the parts beneath.
After a 10 minute replacement, I was back in action!

I applaud Sony for owning up to its mistake and fixing the problem on-site.

The best notebook tha I ever had!!

So you want to buy a notebook, and you want one that is fast, small and packed with feats? If you're like me and did your homework, you'll find that this one is hard to beat. While the reviews at other places online may complain enthusiastically about a faulty mousepad and a poor graphics card, let me point out a couple things: 1) the touchpad works like a charm on my pc, and on several other people's so I think the problem is with a certain batch ( my condolences to those with that batch ) 2) on a 12.1 inch screen, the resolution boost of a snazzy 128MB Radeon 9000 mobility aint gonna do a whole lot of jack. 3d Gaming is the only place this laptop wouldnt shine - so use your desktop. If you are looking for a fast, reliable machine capable of some hard core number crunching (burns through tons of MATLAB code)or waveform editing (Cool Edit runs like butta) this babys got what you need. The Keyboard is nice and solid as well as well laid out. Sony has improved over its earlier 505 models in adding the dvd/cdrw on board as well as better caps for the modem and ethernet ports. also, the power cable stays in. The price of this machine is lower than it shud be because of sony's entrance into centrinoland. For under 2k, theres nothin like it (nless u go for the mac, which is always an option, if you like to be softwareless). The design of the machine is also "legacy free" meaning that there are no old clunky interfaces to bog you down. 2 usb 2.0, 1 firewire. nice nice nice. Oh and the sound card sounds really good too, very surprised about that. all three thumbs up.

Although this card works very well with Windows products, getting it to work with Linux is not for the beginning or even intermediate user. It is a complicated and tricky process.

I'd been using one of these for two years on a laptop with Win2K, and was perfectly happy with it; over Christmas I installed Red Hat 9, which did not recognize it. Poking with google, I found that all I had to do was to add four lines to the file /etc/pcmcia/config.opts, namely an empty line followed by

card "Belkin-5020"
version "Belkin", "F5D5020-PCMCIA-Network-Card"
bind "pcnet_cs"

(The second and third lines should be indented by two spaces each.) It now seems as trouble-free on Linux as on Win2K.

Bought this for my laptop and it worked perfect. with no problems.

Pro's
-Large-enough room to fit my head phones in
-Sturdy-the case is very sturdy in construction, i'm confident my player is safe in there.
-Pockets-Large enough to fit my accessories and enough pockets to keep everything in order.
-Elastic straps-perfect for keeping my player and accessories secured so they aren't fumbling around.
-Looks-the sleek black look is in my opinion very cool.

Cons
-Large-Although i staed this as a pro, this can also be a con. its quite large as i stated, but in my opinion that good, but it can be bad for other.

overall-
great for keeping rio's and other MP3 players safe from getting banged up.

Being the typical music-loving teenager, I have a Rio500 and I take it everywhere. This case helps a lot for carrying around the player, headphones, memory cards, and other acessories. A lot better than letting it loose in my backpack and getting all beat up, and having to dig around for it all the time. It also keeps everything organized, nice for packing to go on a road trip or vacation.

a great case that is big enough to hold your earphones and some mp3 discs. if you have a diamond rio 600 you should get this case

It has more than enough space for my Cannon EOS Rebel 2000 and all of the standard accessories. Excellent quality and it looks nice too! Terrific product.

The bag has nice, deep slots, about 1000 compartments and pockets, and a thick, durable flap that goes over the opening for extra security. It's a terrific, classy looking bag that appears to be durable, comfortable, and very convenient.

I've had mine for about a month, and I like it very much. I visited some shops and checked out many bags, being an obsessive shopper when it comes to camera equipment. I almost bought a Lowepro, but the Samsonites have a good plastic base, so that swayed my decision. I'm always putting the bag down in a damp place, etc. The padding all around is very good -- I feel safe with this bag.

I got this one instead of the next size up, because I'd rather squeeze things in and enjoy the benefits of carrying around a smaller bag. I can fit my Nikon N6006, a 3.8" zoom, 5.4" zoom, 6 rolls of film, cable, close-up lens diopter, battery, lens cloth, and handbook.

This morning as the sun was coming up, I was out at the Audobon reserve near an estuary here in Brunswick, Maine. It was about 10 degrees F, and the layer of ice/snow was covered with a newer layer of snow. After about 2 hours and many shots, I returned home with all the gear in good shape. The bag passed the test!