SillyDog701

[Wolfey]

Wow...I haven't posted here in awhile - been busy with work and such

Anyway, I've recently decided to purchase some more equipment for my laptop and desktop. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble finding a good brand/model for some of these things, so if you have any particular recommendations (or products to avoid), please tell me. Also, the laptop I have is a LinuxCertified model 2464, which is set up to dual-boot both Windows (XP) and Linux (Ubuntu, and I'll probably have upgraded to 7.04 before I get some of these things), in case you wanted to know what I have before making suggestions for these products.

Three things I want to try and get before the end of the month (for my birthday) are a:

• [Keyboard]
  Full-size/109-key, wired connection (I'm a little wary of wireless keyboards), and can be folded/rolled up, so it can be stored in my laptop case when necessary.
  
• [Monitor]
  LCD, with a screen size equivalent to that of a 19" CRT monitor, to replace my desktop CRT monitor. It's developed a few problems (things are a little compressed on the left side, it's getting blurry at the corners, and black/gray are hard to tell apart but brightness is as high as it will go), and I want to replace it before it gets any worse. Plus, it'll free up quite a bit of space on my desk
  
• [External Hard Drive]
  At least 80 GB, so I can use it to back up the contents of my desktop's hard drive. If these work pretty good - and are cheap enough - I may also get a second one (again, at least 80 GB) for my laptop as well.

Some other things I've been looking at are the following, and I've managed to find a few specific items for these:

• [Expansion Dock]
  This would help give me a better viewing angle, and make it easier to get to some of the ports. One type I've found is Kensington Model 60702, but I'm not sure if the seven rubber "feet" on my laptop might keep it from fitting in there properly.
  
• [USB Hub]
  I'm going to be using a separate keyboard and mouse most of the time, and I'm limited in the number of ports available - I don't want to have to constantly unplug devices due to being one port short. Is there a particular number of ports I should look for (that is, not too few, but not too many)? Also, for the hubs that require power (for the USB devices that need it), can a separate adapter be used to avoid having to drain power from the laptop? Some of the ones I've found are the Targus Super Mini USB 2.0 4-Port Hub or Travel USB 2.0 4- Port Hub with Built-in Cable; USB hubs I found which would be more for long-term use are the Desktop USB 2.0 4-Port Hub w/Audio Pass-Through or Desktop USB 2.0 7-Port Hub w/Audio Pass-Through.
  
• [Notebook Lock]
  I'm not too familiar with these, and haven't really needed them yet (the laptop's only been taken between relative's houses at this time), but I might as well be prepared for when I would need one. Is there a particular type of lock I should look for, and are there any I should avoid?

Thank you very much for any suggestions you can give me in regards to these products

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[Mandrake]

For the LCD monitor, I've had this Viewsonic VA912B (19" 1280x1024) for about a year and it's just excellent. Much better than the old 19" CRT I had been using. DVDs and games look superb.

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[Antony]

Welcome back Tim.

Three things I want to try and get before the end of the month (for my birthday) are a:

• [Keyboard]
  Full-size/109-key, wired connection (I'm a little wary of wireless keyboards), and can be folded/rolled up, so it can be stored in my laptop case when necessary.

Well, if you don't want the wireless one, you can try

Apple Keyboard. Well, it's not foldable.

If you want a keyboard that is confortable at typing, I don't think there's a foldable version around.

• [Monitor]
  LCD, with a screen size equivalent to that of a 19" CRT monitor, to replace my desktop CRT monitor. It's developed a few problems (things are a little compressed on the left side, it's getting blurry at the corners, and black/gray are hard to tell apart but brightness is as high as it will go), and I want to replace it before it gets any worse. Plus, it'll free up quite a bit of space on my desk

Try this:

The price for the Apple Cinema Displays have just dropped. Starting at US$599. If 20-inch is not big enough for you, you can go for 23-inch or even 30-inch one.

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[Don_HH2K]

[External Hard Drive]
At least 80 GB, so I can use it to back up the contents of my desktop's hard drive. If these work pretty good - and are cheap enough - I may also get a second one (again, at least 80 GB) for my laptop as well.

While this idea might not be as simple, it does cost less. I've got two hard drives in a tower under my desk: a 20GB and a 60GB (which is actually a leftover part from another PC). The 20GB is divided into a 4GB partition for the operating system with the remaining 16GB as storage. Then the 60GB drive and the 16GB partition are software RAIDed together to look like one large 76GB drive. Then I host the root of the striped drive over SMB and FTP, so that when I do a backup, I can tell whatever I'm using to back up to dump to \\192.168.10.7\back\(file).

The tradeoff you make when compared to a USB 2.0 drive is speed, more or less, unless you have something like a gigabit link between the two PCs in question. In my experience it takes just about 3.5 hours to back up 32GB of data over a 100meg line.

I'm going to be using a separate keyboard and mouse most of the time, and I'm limited in the number of ports available - I don't want to have to constantly unplug devices due to being one port short. Is there a particular number of ports I should look for (that is, not too few, but not too many)? Also, for the hubs that require power (for the USB devices that need it), can a separate adapter be used to avoid having to drain power from the laptop?

If you're going to be using at least two USB devices all of the time, then I'd say to at least look for a four-port hub. That way you'd be able to get a configuration like a keyboard, mouse, flash drive, and something else attached without needing to unplug something. But when it all comes down to it you just need to figure out how many you'd regularly be using at once.

I looked at some of the models you had posted just now. The Super Mini apparently can't be used with an AC adapter, but the other three do. It looks like the power cable is included with the latter two, but in the case of the Travel 4-port hub you'd need to buy one separately.

# [Notebook Lock]
I'm not too familiar with these, and haven't really needed them yet (the laptop's only been taken between relative's houses at this time), but I might as well be prepared for when I would need one. Is there a particular type of lock I should look for, and are there any I should avoid?

These are pretty generic; the Kensington lock slot on my 486-era desktop is the same on my Pentium-II laptop, which is the same on a laptop I got less than a year ago. What you'd need to look out for is manufacture -- if the thing's made out of cheap material (I think most of them are made of woven metal, which should work well), it's not going to help much, since somebody might be able to break it given enough force.

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[PaulD]

External Hard Drive -
Last month I bought (via a Circuit City special, w/ rebate) a Western Digital 250GB external USB drive for 'general archive and backup' use for our 3 systems (1 tower, 2 laptop; all XP).

External USB drives appear to come in two flavors: 3.5", w/ external power; and 2.5", powered via USB. Other variables: rotational speed, cache size, transfer rate.

Western Digital main page - http://www.westerndigital.com/en/
They have a large range of products, and there is much information on their site - so much so that it takes a while to locate specific useful summaries.
Support > Technical Information > Product Specifications [and] > Document Library.

External Storage I got the "My Book" "Essential Edition" - 3.5", external power.
The "WD Passport" is the 2.5", USB-powered line.

Overall Product Guide.
See also Interface Guide

Compare prices, both in advertisments and in-store, for products that are in your requirements range. Store prices can vary radically week-to-week, depending upon what their current special is. Look for rebate availability. One can purchase WD products also on-line, at list price; but store prices may be cheaper.

Other well-known brands: Iomega, Maxtor, Seagate. I also saw several newer (previously unknown to me) brands.

I have no connection with Western Digital other than as a user, but have been favorably impressed with them for many years.

Computerworld also has an article comparing four external drives, although their configuration was more demanding.

Edited to update brand names, and to add Computerworld reference.

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[Don_HH2K]

Slashdot was linking to a Computerworld article reviewing their pick of the top four external hard drives, if anybody's interested.

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[Wolfey]

For the LCD monitor, I've had this Viewsonic VA912B (19" 1280x1024) for about a year and it's just excellent. Much better than the old 19" CRT I had been using. DVDs and games look superb.

Thanks for mentioning that - I'll keep it in mind

Welcome back Tim.

Thank you, Antony

Well, if you don't want the wireless one, you can try

Apple Keyboard. Well, it's not foldable.

If you want a keyboard that is confortable at typing, I don't think there's a foldable version around.

Unfortunately, it has to be foldable (or rollable), or it's not going to work for me

Try this:

The price for the Apple Cinema Displays have just dropped. Starting at US$599. If 20-inch is not big enough for you, you can go for 23-inch or even 30-inch one.

Wow...To be honest, $600 (well, $599) is a little too much to pay for what I'd be using it for - half that price (possibly a few dollars over, if it's worth it) is all the more I want to spend on one.

And...30-inch monitors?

While this idea might not be as simple, it does cost less. I've got two hard drives in a tower under my desk: a 20GB and a 60GB (which is actually a leftover part from another PC). The 20GB is divided into a 4GB partition for the operating system with the remaining 16GB as storage. Then the 60GB drive and the 16GB partition are software RAIDed together to look like one large 76GB drive. Then I host the root of the striped drive over SMB and FTP, so that when I do a backup, I can tell whatever I'm using to back up to dump to \\192.168.10.7\back\(file).

The tradeoff you make when compared to a USB 2.0 drive is speed, more or less, unless you have something like a gigabit link between the two PCs in question. In my experience it takes just about 3.5 hours to back up 32GB of data over a 100meg line.

Thanks for mentioning that (and it's real interesting), but taking into account the experience I've had with working with hard drives, I'm a little wary of doing that right now. Plus, I still need an external drive for my laptop as I might not be online sometimes, and even when I am, my desktop may not always be on to do the backup.

If you're going to be using at least two USB devices all of the time, then I'd say to at least look for a four-port hub. That way you'd be able to get a configuration like a keyboard, mouse, flash drive, and something else attached without needing to unplug something. But when it all comes down to it you just need to figure out how many you'd regularly be using at once.

I looked at some of the models you had posted just now. The Super Mini apparently can't be used with an AC adapter, but the other three do. It looks like the power cable is included with the latter two, but in the case of the Travel 4-port hub you'd need to buy one separately.

Interesting to know that, and thanks for mentioning it - for what I'm using, four ports will be enough

As for a separate adapter for these, are there any types I should keep an eye out for?

These are pretty generic; the Kensington lock slot on my 486-era desktop is the same on my Pentium-II laptop, which is the same on a laptop I got less than a year ago. What you'd need to look out for is manufacture -- if the thing's made out of cheap material (I think most of them are made of woven metal, which should work well), it's not going to help much, since somebody might be able to break it given enough force.

Er...The slot's already present on my laptop - my question was regarding what type of lock should be used: key, combination, or something else entirely...as well as any particular brands (good and bad) to look out for.

External Hard Drive -
Last month I bought (via a Circuit City special, w/ rebate) a Western Digital 250GB external USB drive for 'general archive and backup' use for our 3 systems (1 tower, 2 laptop; all XP).

External Storage I got the "My Book" "Essential Edition" - 3.5", external power.
The "WD Passport" is the 2.5", USB-powered line.

Overall Product Guide.
See also Interface Guide

I'll keep these in mind - Thanks for mentioning them

I have no connection with Western Digital other than as a user, but have been favorably impressed with them for many years.

I've noticed quite a few people recommended Western Digital as well

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[Don_HH2K]

As for a separate adapter for these, are there any types I should keep an eye out for?

Just to be safe I'd go with whichever one the manufacturer of the hub puts out. If you don't mind using a third-party adapter, there are two things to look out for. First is the proper head with the proper polarity. Second, USB is 5-volts, so make sure the supply can output a five-volt signal (most can output 4.5 or 5.5 but not exactly 5).

Er...The slot's already present on my laptop - my question was regarding what type of lock should be used: key, combination, or something else entirely...as well as any particular brands (good and bad) to look out for.

Ultimately it depends on how paranoid you are. I'm not entirely sure whether this is legit or not, but I did see a video of somebody at DEFCON picking a key-based Kensington lock in under a minute's time using a pen and a cardboard roll. It'd be harder to pick a numerical lock, and at the same time you'd have 1000 different numbers on a three-digit lock to choose from. As for a wireless lock, you can trust one of those as much as you can trust an automatic garage door, since they're based on the same concept.

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