PopMonkeys - Asus Eee PC, Laptops, Gadgets, Tech, and More!

Best External Hard Drive

2008-06-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

How to choose the best external hard drive for you. Click on the picture to go to the product page on Buy.com.

Basic

If you just need more storage, a simple drive is for you.
I recommend the Western Digital 500GB My Book drive. I have one of these personally.

It features a USB 2.0 port and no fuss set up.

Intermediate

If you are an intermediate user that works with large images and need to connect via FireWire, USB, or eSATA, than this drive is for you.

It features 3 types of connections, eSATA, USB 2.0, and Firewire.

Advance

If you have media or files you want to share with other computers in the house, than the Buffalo LinkStation is for you.

This drive features 2 USB ports and a network port. The drive connects to your network like any computer, most likely through a free port on your router. Any file on the drive can be shared to any computer on the network. It's that simple.

I really trust Buffalo drives. I have one as my main back up drive.

Buy a new Laptop

2008-05-30T18:17:00.000-07:00

I own many computers. I like computers. So when it's time to buy a computer, my family and friends ask me. I always ask two questions: What is your budget and what will you do with it?

If people ask me which laptop they should buy, I normally don't recommend the Eee because Linux is not right for everyone.

Honestly, you can go really far for $600, about the price of the 9 inch Eee PC. I would definitely take a look at Toshiba in that price range. You can get an Intel dual core processor with at least 1 GB of memory. You'll definitely get a 15.4 inch wide screen display. If you want to splurge, get an entry level Apple Macbook for about $1100. Software will be more expensive.

If you're looking for something lightweight, look for a laptop with a screen size of 14.1 inches or less. It will be a little more expensive due to the miniature size.

Again, the Eee PC and all it's competitors might be a little too under-powered if you're looking for a regular laptop.

If you are just looking to do email, browse the web, type up a light document, the Asus EEE PC 900 might be right for you. It's runs Windows XP, 8.9 inch screen, and cost about $550. Don't expect to edit your pictures because the processor is only a 900 Mhz Intel Celeron. You're not going to multi-task or play any games.

Reliable Hard Drives

2008-04-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm really paranoid about my external drives ever since my Seagate FreeAgent drive died - only 2 months old.

I have a WD MyBook 500 GB drive. I nicknamed it Darth Vader because it's all black and shiny. It's my back drive for music, pictures, and video.

My primary drive is the Buffalo 500GB DriveStation. It's actually a very nice drive. The Seagate started up every time my computer booted up. I have to turn it off every single time. But the Buffalo drive has a switch. Very nice since I don't access the drive that much. Also, it has a firewire port. Very nice since I also have a Mac Mini. My only complaint is that it can be a little loud, especially since it is right next to my monitor.

Highly recommended.

Popmonkeys

Nokia N810

2008-04-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

If you have followed my blog, I was debating whether to get a Nokia N810 or the Eee PC. There are major differences in both of them. For one thing, the N810 is an Internet tablet, not a full laptop. But it does look good. The Eee PC looks and feels like a toy. This is my biggest complaint against the Eee. I love the portability of it.

The N810 is strictly for Internet use. It goes online, you can IM, read emails, youtube, and anything else you do online. You'll have to consider the size of the screen. Both can only display 800 pixels wide. This is a problem considering that most web sites are best viewed in 1024. However, the N810 comes with a simple GPS function, don't expect Garmin or TomTom caliber GPS.

Resetting the Eee PC

2008-04-10T20:59:00.001-07:00

After messing with my Eee PC, I wanted to start fresh again. Here's how to restore your Eee PC to Factory Settings.

The image of the original OS is already stored in your Eee PC.

Here's the tricky part. When you reboot the Eee, there is a split second for you to get into the BIOS. When you turn on the Eee, start pressing F2. If your Eee actually boots into Xandros, restart and do it again.

Once you get into the BIOS, just select Factory Restore and watch it reboot.

IMPORTANT: Make sure your connect the AC Adapter to power your Eee. If your Eee PC loses power while flashing, you have a big paperweight.

Popmonkey

Asus Eee PC

2008-04-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to use my Eee PC more and more in my daily life. At first, I was a bit skeptical on the usability of this miniature laptop, but it's turning out quite well. The CPU is not the latest and fastest, but for your general task, it's fine. Wireless connectivity is very good.

I find that watching video on the Eee PC is about the most you can do. I wouldn't use it to calculate PI to a million digits.

I also advise not to put Windows XP on the Eee. You will just open up your machine to more security flaws. I don't think the Eee can handle all the security suites used to keep Windows Happy.

Making Money

2008-04-05T23:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a job. Most people dislike their job. I'm not most people. But I always wonder, just how much money I can make using the things I know from work? I do internet marketing and I see people make a lot of money. Sure, I read a lot of things about making money quick, but I'm a skeptical person.

So...I'm calling this the $100 Challenge.

I am investing $100 of my own money to see how much I can make using this blog and a few things that I learned from the job. Let me be clear, this is not job related in anyway nor am I acting on behalf of my company. This is a personally challenge, using my personal funds, with a personal website, and on my personal time.

Blog Identity Crisis.

2008-04-05T23:00:00.001-07:00

I think I am making this blog about me. Recently, my postings about anything geeky is now available at http://www.coderetard.com.

I'll start with this. The Blackberry has become part of business. Almost all business employ these communication devices for their employees. However, I find that you have more chances to make mistakes on a blackberry because the keyboard is too small, and that it's hard to see all the recipients of the email.

I think I will only email on it when it's about something urgent.

Why does this blog keep on changing?

2008-04-01T22:13:00.001-07:00

This blog is about me. So it changes as I start picking up new interests. I guess I should include food into this blog. I love to eat. So stay tuned for some restaurant reviews from LA and San Diego.

Popmonkeys

Mission of the week

2008-03-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Like most Eee owners, I'm exploring hacks and mods to make my little eee better. So, the mission for this week is to find a work around to increase screen resolution. I know there's already a hack for it over at www.eeeuser.com but it looks pretty complicated.

Popmonkey

Eee PC Competitors

2008-03-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

The Eee PC definitely made a mark in the consumer electronics world. They were the first to offer a little laptop that basically did everything. Now everybody is launching their own "Eee PC killer".

The biggest competition coming to the Eee is from HP. It looks good, but can you trust HP quality? Also, the price point is more than the $400 Eee.

In the end, it's really up to you. If you are looking on getting an ultra portable, you have a few questions to ask yourself first.

What will you do with your ultra-portable? There's a learning curve when starting out with the EEE.

What's your budget? This is a very important question. $400 is one thing. $600 for a little laptop is almost wasteful. At that price, you can get a regular laptop with more screen and more power.

PopMonkey

New 9 Inch eee pc

2008-03-05T21:40:00.000-08:00

Asus just announced the new 9 inch eee pc.

New specs
1 GB Memory
8 or 12 GB Solid State Drive
9 inch screen 1024x600
pre-loaded Windows XP

Now, all of the extras are not free. Rumors are putting the bigger eee at around $600. At this price, I would get a real laptop. Any laptop at this price point will be fast, have more hard drive space, bigger keyboard, and bigger screen.

I still stand that I like my eee black 701. It was cheap. I can write all my documents on it without any problems.

Popmonkeys

Affiliate Summit 2008 Las Vegas and my Eee pc

2008-02-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

First of all, I'm sick of Vegas. The Keynote speaker this year was Jason Calacanis. I was excited to hear him speak on what he thinks the web is coming to. He also said that if we publish his name some where on the web, he'll find it. Let's see if he'll notice me.

He mentioned that if any site had affiliate links, it should be disclosed. Well, I have affiliate links on this site. I buy a lot of gadgets and link to them through an affiliate link. It helps pay the bills to run this site. It's not much and it's not like I'm quitting my day job to blog full time.

This was the first time I left my trusted laptop, an IBM Thinkpad T43 (pre-Lenovo), at home. I brought my work laptop, an IBM Thinkpad X61, and my new best friend, the Asus Eee PC. Honestly, I didn't miss my T43. The Eee held up like a champ. I connected to wifi and did everything I would normally do on my T43.

My eBooks icon came back under desktop mode. If you have to ask what's desktop mode go here: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:getkde. Eeeuser.com is a very good place to find info for the eee pc.

- Popmonkeys

(I'm officially blogging as popmonkeys now and not Head Chimp.)

Eee PC Problems

2008-02-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

After day 7, the Asus has a few update issues. When Skype updates, some of the icons disappear. I'll still trying to figure out how to get them back.

The Eee PC also has a more useful and functional desktop mode. This mode is basically like your basic desktop mode in windows.

It's a really good way to learn Linux. I'll install bittornado later. There's a few more programs I need.

-Head Chimp

Day 5 with Eee

2008-02-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

This is my 5th day with the Eee PC. So far, I've read a few ebooks, watched a few episodes of Naruto, edited some documents and spreadsheets, and surfed the web. It's enough for what I want to do. It could even replace my laptop.

The 8GB SDHC flash card is a must. The onboard 4gb SSD is not enought to store media on it. I'll test MP3s soon.

-Head Chimp.

Asus EEE PC

2008-02-18T21:35:00.000-08:00

I did it. I purchased my Black 4G Surf Asus EEE PC from Mwave.com. I also bought a few upgrades for it. Along with the Asus, I also bought a 1 GB of Crucial memory and a Transcend 8 GB SDHC. I'm serious when it comes to tech.

First Impressions:

It's Small. Really small. The keyboard will have to get some getting used to. But it's manageable. Screen, is pretty small too. Some sites are a pain to go to because they are not optimized for 800 pixels wide. Thanks to the solid state hard drive, it's pretty quick.

Now, you won't be fiddling with your picture in photoshop with this thing. But for internet, docs, email, it's plenty for that. It plays divx too. So consider it a glorified movie player.

I also like the compact power adapter. It's about the size of a smartphone adapter. The EEE PC is not your laptop replacement, but if you require something for simple tasks, it's perfect. Not bad for $400.

-head chimp

I think I have a Winner.

2008-02-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

I have finally decided on the Asus EEE PC. I don't think I am going to wait for the bigger screen or windows XP because of a few things. A bigger screen will most definitely increase the price. If the price goes up, the EEE PC will have no appeal because I can just get a cheap laptop.

Running XP can be more useful, but might be a little too much for the little laptop. Just running the security features for XP would consume a lot of resources.

I need a quick PC that I can travel with and do the basic things.

I'm picking up my EEE PC this weekend. I'll make sure to post pictures.

Nokia N810 vs Asus EEE PC

2008-02-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

At this point, the N810 only has the GPS going for it with me. And even so, it's not a full GPS unit. You have to pay an additional $150 to activate the service.

The Asus looks like my choice, but not at this moment. I will probably have to wait. It's a tricky decision.

Wants:
-Slightly Larger Screen
-Windows XP
-More Internal Storage.

I'm kind of curious to see how Asus can finesse all these things without raising the price by a lot. If they raise the price, I would just get a normal, more powerful laptop.

-Head Chimp

DIY Income

2008-01-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

I am an affiliate marketing manager by day. I figure, I can offer some help to people looking to make a few extra bucks.

Affiliate marketing is known as performance marketing. Basically, you partner up with a merchant to sell their product. In return, the merchant gives you a revenue share (commission) or a flat fee.

The easiest way to start is to create a blog and write about something you are passionate about. If you don't know what a blog is, you're on one. This is my blog. If you are serious about it, I would purchase my own custom domain, "www.yoursite.com" , and maybe a small hosting plan.

I recommend Blue Host because they have wordpress, a blogging software, already built in. They also include 1 free domain registry for free. Click below to go to their site.

For $6.95 a month, they offer a lot.

We'll cover monetizing your site in the next part.

Head Chimp

Buffalo External Hard Drive

2008-01-24T22:06:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to installing the Buffalo back up Hard Drive that I bought the other day. It's noticeably larger than the Western Digital MyBook and louder too. But there's something about the Buffalo that feels solid. It feels like a good product.

The WD drive is nice too. But when you compare the two, the WD feels like a toy.

They are both 500 GB drives. The Buffalo drive has a USB port and a firewire port. The one thing on this drive that I appreciate is the on/off power switch.

Another thing I notice is that the WD is made/assembled in Thailand. The Buffalo is made in Japan. Now that's something you don't see very often.

Check it out for yourself: Link to Fry's

Head Chimp

Asus Eee PC or Nokia N810

2008-01-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

I've been in between the Asus Eee Pc and the Nokia N810 for a while now. They're both Linux based, cost about the same, but totally different.

I'm reading that Asus upgrading the screen size and adding a touchscreen.

The Nokia just looks so cool and could be useful for my business trips.

I'm not sure. So confused.

Here's a tip. If you're looking for reviews of a gadget you're thinking about getting, go search for reviews on youtube.

Head Chimp

External Hard Drives

2008-01-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

I recently had trouble with my Seagate FreeAgent 500GB External Hard Drive. The boot sector in that drive crashed out of the blue. I wasn't too worried about the hardware, but my DATA!!! It contained most of my media files. So what did I do?

Problem:
Bad boot sector on External Drive.

Symptoms:
Drive does not recognize when plugged in. (Autoplay does not scan and the window doesn't pop up that asks you want do you want to do with the newly plugged in drive).

Solution: (I came to the conclusion that I'm losing an external drive)
1. Crack case and pull drive out of the plastic enclosure. (There's a lot of plastic)
You can easily find a How-To. Just google it.

2. Take drive and mount in a computer with free sata port.

3. Windows will fix bad sector.

4. Back up data on another drive.

5. Drive is dead. I haven't tried formatting it. I've moved on to a Western Digital MyBook. So shiny, so black, so nice. Also, learning from my last experience, I have a back up Buffalo drive in case of any future failures.

Head Chimp

MacBook Air

2008-01-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

It's just like apple to come out with a new "hot" thing for the year. They call it the Thinnest Laptop. It is thin, but is it worth $1800?

specs
1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo, 2GB Memory, 80GB hard drive, 13.3 inch screen and etc.
+
Wow factor
=
$$$$$

A 64 GB Solid State Hard Drive (SSD) is available, but that's will be even more $$$$$$$$$$.

I have to admit, the multi-touch pad is pretty cool. I wonder if those will be standard in the future.

Would I get it? Not really. I rather get top end MacBook with a nice Memory upgrade. I can probably get the same spec PC laptop for $1200. But if you're a die hard apple-maniac, please tell me you have a pre-order.

Chimp

Hello

2007-09-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to the relaunch of Popmonkeys.

I love technology and gadgets. I used to work at an online store that the tech mecca...used to. I still love reading and talking about new tech. I like giving an honest review about something, the good, bad, and ugly. I find that most review places tend to say everything is good. That doesn't help me when I'm trying to make a decision on what to get.

I'm currently researching the Nokia N810 and the ASUS EeePC.

-the Head Chimp