Musings on the Train

It’s times like these when I find myself sitting on the train, with the best combination of technology I own for the purpose of writing in front of me, that my mind decides to remind me of all the things I should do now I have a week where I don’t need to go into work. The first is to try to restart the blog I was writing back in the halcyon days provided by my previous job. This new one requires more time, energy and concentration from me. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great job, where I am expected to perform well and do the best I can, my colleagues are amazingly supportive and some of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with, but it all leads to very little time away from it all. So let’s begin with a few recaps.

All the things in my bag

The MacBook Air is awesome

I realised as I sat down on the train that I would now be able to describe myself as ‘adequately catered for this journey’ in the technology department. I have a small bag with all the technology I could possible desire for a train journey of 4.5 hours. I have my MacBook Air which has been on and in use for 2 hours and 50 minutes, and still shows over 7 and a half hours of battery left even with Spotlight trying to read everything on my drives.

MBA battery after nearly 3 hours

This laptop takes battery life to a new level, and still doesn’t have the longevity of the 13” model. My iPod Video from 2007 is still working well and playing the music required to drown out the token screaming child that seems to always be accompanying me on any train or plane I find myself on. On the other hand, my Nexus 7 (2013) is sitting along with my Nook eReader in the bag still, no doubt feeling rather neglected. But all this just goes to show the amount of technology I have and how prepared for avoiding boredom I am. Perhaps it’s a little sad really, but after travelling up and down the country, and expecting to use all of these different devices during my trip anyway, they might as well all be ready to use! Plus I like to keep them all nearby during the journey, and not with my big bag out of my view down the aisle. That means my Nikon D3100 has joined the bag on the seat next to me for the journey too. What a technology geek I am.

My technology-filled Go Bag

On the Matter of Tablets

I wrote a series of posts a few months back detailing the differences between the Cr48 and the iPad 1,1 in several different criteria. Having waited for the 11” MacBook Air refresh and sold my Alienware M11X R3, I was finally able to buy one, and what a machine it is! Over the past few months, it has completely replaced the Chromebook, and was a major factor in deciding to sell the iPad. It has even replaced the iMac in a few cases where I am able to have a supremely fast machine in bed or the iMac’s bigger screen at my desk and will take the lazy option and use the MacBook Air in bed! The Chromebook has become the machine that I will take out only if I know a few people need a computer with internet, as its guest function is great, but otherwise it languishes in the drawer only taken out every few weeks to put a little charge into the battery and receive updates. It is the machine I would take on holiday with me if I expected to take serious numbers of photos or needed to use WIFI, but for everything else the MacBook Air rules the roost.

I mentioned the Nexus 7 above, that is my replacement for the iPad. After getting the iPhone 5 and then the MacBook Air, I realised two different things. Firstly, that the iPhone 5’s screen size is great for a pocketable phone, but not only does it have a small battery I need to prevent from getting too low in case of emergency, but it simply is not great for tasks like getting work done, reading long articles or watching videos on the go. In those cases I usually would differ to the iPad, but since I got the MBA, I found myself leaving the comparatively bulky iPad in favour of the more powerful and useful MacBook. I found that the only actual uses my iPad was fulfilling was as a media consumption device while I was in bed before I went to sleep. So this has led me to decide that a 9.7” iPad just isn’t necessary for me anymore, so I looked towards the smaller Nexus 7 and iPad mini. I decided on the Nexus for its smaller size, lower price and better display than the iPad. I had also previously used, rooted and upgraded an old Galaxy S phone and was interested in running several of the apps available for Android and not available on a regular, un-jailbroken iPhone like console emulators and all kinds of ways to change the look and function of sections of the device.

The iPad mini looked better built and better served by some seriously high-quality apps, but for my use case, I didn’t want to risk the extra expenditure, especially as I wanted to buy the 32GB model to put lots of 720p and potentially 1080p video on it. So I bought the Nexus 7 2013 32GB model off eBay for £210 and I haven’t had any major issues with it yet! There are a few gripes as with most purchases, but on the whole I am very happy with it, and it does almost everything better than the iPad it replaces, and financially considering the amount of money I got for the iPad, I think it was a bargain!

On the matter of a new desktop computer

My iMac 21.5” is great, but having bought the new MacBook Air with its Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 I/O, its PCIe SSD, things like file transfers, read and write times the boot-time, app opening, file-reading appear so very slow on it. Another problem is the greedy technologist in me also wants a larger screened desktop computer in my bedroom since it doubles as my television. So now comes the decision-making process of what I do to solve the different problems here.

Questions: Do I bring the Xbox into my room as well and use the screen to double as that? Probably not a good idea as I’d never leave! 

Prerequisites: I do want my desktop machine to be a Macintosh. It must have USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt to have some future-proofing, it must have a larger display, or I’ll have to buy a separate one.

I’d prefer it not to use the MacBook Air to double as my desktop machine as sitting a laptop as a desktop is probably a surefire way to burn through its battery’s health, plus I’d rather not have to get everything out of my bag when I get home and plug all the cables in again and then put it all away again for the morning. And the method to save that happening: a Thunderbolt display seems incredibly PRICY! Nor  do I really want to be restricted to the desktop during the evening while tasks like video transcoding, CD ripping is taking place. Perhaps a Mac mini with a display or a 27” iMac? Perhaps an old Mac Pro with a third party display, even if it is a beast of a machine on a desk? That would keep the tinkerer/ upgrader in me happy. Hmm, plenty of questions. I guess I’d better do some research!

And the train pulls into the station after a 4.5 hour journey and my MacBook Air says it has 9 hours and 44 minutes of power left. I love this machine and Mavericks!

MBA battery after 4.5 hours of continual use

My Android Conundrum: Benefits of Androids

This is a quick post on the benefits of Android, at least for me! Android is a mobile OS I have only used for a few weeks, and only on low-end devices like the HTC Wildfire S and the Samsung Galaxy Ace. During my brief usage of the platform I continually found my experience let down and hamstrung by shoddy hardware, terrible skins and compromised specifications. These left me annoyed at the terrible quality of the lower-end Android devices and searching for something better at the higher end.

These benefits really refer to the Android platform as a whole, but the high-end in particular, where the operating system is really allowed to shine.

Customisability

The number of ways in which you can customise your Android’s software is incredible, especially when you realise that all of these customisations are available from downloads within the Play Store. Nothing in the iOS App Store allows for anywhere near that level of customisation. A good example of these are the Launchers like Nova and Apex, allowing you to change how the Android homescreens look and act, as well as the skins of individual icons. Another level of customisation is available with gaining root access of the device itself and installing custom ROMs. This is possible as Google makes their Android code open-source, allowing any developers to access it and change it however they want. Famous ROMs like Cyanogenmod and MIUI allow for a complete replacement of the original operating system that shipped with the device, and often supports the device years beyond its intended life cycle, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S was introduced in June 2010 with Android 2.1, and Samsung stopped supporting it at Android 2.3 in March 2012. Yet ROMs like Cyanogenmod continue to support the Galaxy S, up to the latest Android 4.2 with nightly updates.

Interoperability

Android also allows its apps to interact far more than those of iOS. Apple allows deep access to only its own apps: only Safari can be the default browser, only Maps can be the default Maps application. This is rubbish if you want to click on an address in Contacts and start using it in Google Maps. Instead you are automatically taken to Apple’s Maps. The “Share” function in iOS also provides few options for different files and links, far fewer than Android, where it allows different first and third-party apps to share all kinds of information on the fly, again something that iOS, even with its improvements with Sharing to Twitter and Facebook, simply can’t compete with.

The multitasking on Android devices, especially in its Nexus implementation is far more efficient and useful that that of iOS. A dedicated multitasking button, a clear screenshot of the open app and a simple “swipe to close” action. This is so much easier than iOS’s double-tap to open the multitasking tray and then pressing and holding an icon and then tapping the red “close” button. These types of things allow for far greater interactivity of information among different apps on the device.

Google - king of services

The final ace up the sleeve of Android is that it is made by Google, possibly one of the best internet and information service providers in the world. Google can leverage every one of its tools throughout Android to a level that none of the other mobile device creators can yet reach. This means that it has an advantage in all areas of email, social networking, productivity, search, maps and media. If an Android device can leverage all of these information technology tools effectively, then they stand a far greater chance of being a far “smarter” smartphone than any of the competition. In comparison with iOS 6, Google Now is more powerful than Siri, Android 4.2 can use offline dictation, and use many of its services on several different platforms. Until iOS 7 is released, it does appear like Android 4.2 does have a lead over it. Apple is a hardware and software company first, not a services provider, and it really needs to step up its game at WWDC 2013!

My Android Conundrum: Benefits of iOS

This is my second post detailing the best parts of iOS and Android in my quest to see whether the iPhone 5 or Nexus 4 is best for me. This one details my three main positives for iOS.

The iPhone 3GS and 5 homescreens

App Ecosystem

The App Store has the best app ecosystem for me. I love that all apps appear to head to iOS first and it appears most developers prioritise iOS. This means that I have access to all of the best apps as soon as they are available. This is something that I didn’t think was particularly important - I bought the Omnia 7 Windows Phone. It turns out I was wrong, there were some great apps I found I was missing. This problem doesn’t take place on iOS. I have access to all of the Apple apps like iTunes, Microsoft’s apps like Skydrive and OneNote, and Google’s offerings like Maps and Drive. No other platform has access to all apps of such high quality from everyone as iOS. This gives the iPhone user arguably the best app ecosystem and it really has spoiled me!

Apple’s offerings

Due to the small number of iOS devices Apple has created, it is very straight-forward for developers to build their apps and market them for the devices. This means that it is easy to install apps that can work on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches and are able to work between all of them with their own interfaces. The word ‘fragmentation’ is bandied around quite a lot, but with iOS, there are four different screen sizes that developers can target, whereas with other platforms there are often a lot more, you just need to look at the number of Samsung screens on their mobile devices, let alone other OEMs! This makes the apps better for the user, as the developers are able to specifically target every iOS device Apple has built, ensuring a great experience on all of them.

Immediate updates to all (supported) devices

This does have to come with a caveat: Google’s Nexus devices receive updates as soon as they are released as well, their so-called "Best of Google" just like the Apple devices. However, all of Apple’s iOS devices currently receive updates as soon as they are released, allowing people to update through iTunes or over the air. Apart from Google’s Nexus line, other Android devices often come to market with outdated software and take months to receive updates to the next version, by which time an even newer version has been released. This doesn’t take place with Apple’s devices, however which receive updates on Day 1 for as long as they are supported.

These are my best reasons for using iOS. The next post will discuss the big benefits of Android!

My Android Conundrum

Nexus 4 vs iPhone 5 from http://cdn.gottabemobile.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/iphone-5-vs-nexus-4-display.jpg

I am an iPhone user. For many people this will stir feelings of kinship or animosity. Rarely will this elicit no response at all, as today choosing a mobile phone OS is a big deal to individuals and companies. The iOS vs Android “fanboy” flame wars have raged long and hard and have all but replaced the previous Apple vs Windows desktop OS wars in te public's consciousness. For me, having owned the iPhone 3G and currently using the iPhone 3GS, I have generally been a big fan of Apple’s mobile OS, but my iPhone and iPad, from 2009 and 2010 respectively, are getting a bit long in the tooth and are probably due to be replaced with something a little more up to date, especially the iPhone!

The Android OS has been slowly creeping up on me over the years, and the draw of the increasingly impressive hardware coupled with it looked too good to pass up. I thought it was finally time to give this perfect storm of situation and opportunity - Android 4.2 and a new, great value, beautiful Nexus device, the LG Nexus 4.

The stage was set then, for a crunch between the two heavyweights of the mobile industry, so I’ll give you a rundown of the positives of each OS and each device, for me and hopefully I’ll come to a conclusion at the end, with reasons as to which I will go for!

Chromebook vs iPad: Fun

This is the third section of my comparison between the Cr-48 Chromebook and the iPad. This section refers to how the two devices compare in terms of fun and games and other non-productivity pursuits for me.

A screenshot of a game of UniWar, a turn-based Strategy game on the iPad

Internet vs Apps

I think the paradigm of “Internet vs Apps” comes back to the forefront in this section just as much as it did in my previous post about productivity. The iOS platform’s impressive array of self-contained apps really competes against the Chromebook’s web apps and websites and absolutely wins in this area. The ability to play any of the thousands of games available for iOS really gives the iPad the crown in terms of games. Above is a screenshot taken from a game of UniWar HD, one of hundreds of great games for the iPad. This doesn’t meant there aren't good games available for the Chrome OS platform, there certainly are many Flash-based games available through the browser and several great games on the Chrome Web Store like Bastion, there just aren’t as many games with the quality of the offerings from the iOS App Store. With the introduction of the Chromebook Pixel by Google themselves, hopefully developers will begin to develop great games that will use both touch and keyboard for the platform and introduce them into the Chrome Web Store.

On the other hand, there are several webapps that are absolutely brilliant on the Cr-48 even if they weren't specifically designed for it, including the Spotify app and Tweetdeck that aren’t available in quite the same way in the App system on the iPad. Being able to have tabs open in a browser with the different webapps open at the same time is something the iPad still can’t quite compete with.

Form-factor

The thorny issue of form-factor rears its head again in this comparison. The touch-centric interface of the iPad gives it a massive lead in games and other apps rather than having to use the trackpad and keyboard of the Chromebook. This is often a hindrance when it comes to getting stuff done in the productivity arena, however when it comes to games on the App Store, the touch interface is what is now expected and when it has a good layout, praised. The Chromebook is not able to win this simply through form factor for me as it might be able to in productivity.

Steve Jobs, when he first introduced the iPad in 2010 said that holding the first iPad and watching video on it is an incredible experience and I’m still inclined to agree with him over three years later. There is something to be said for holding and physically interacting with the screen with a game or an app, rather than through a different medium like the keyboard and mouse or a trackpad. Using the video app on the iPad and holding the device is still amazing when watching a great video, as well as playing a gripping game. It is even easier to be ‘drawn into’ it than when the screen is further away, even if the iPad1 that I have is heavier and bulkier than the current generations.

When it comes to the Cr-48, watching a video just isn’t as simple as on the iPad. 480p and above stutter and slow down on the Chromebook, where they are absolutely rock solid on even the first generation iPad. This seems to be a problem with both streaming and local .mp4 files on the Cr-48 and even David Pierce on the Verge mentioned poor local video performance in his review of the Chromebook Pixel, suggesting it is something systemic to Chrome OS. It really detracts from the device as a whole even if the audio and video do catch up with each other couple minutes into the video.

Summing Up

Nevertheless, it certainly isn’t doom and gloom for the Cr-48, it just hasn’t been able to age as gracefully as the iPad. This isn't surprising, especially considering it was never meant to be used by the public and was never put on sale. Of the few games that are available for Chrome Web Store, the Cr-48 simply doesn’t have the graphical power to run them well enough to be usable. The first generation iPad on the other hand, even though it was released about 9 months earlier and has stopped receiving updates from Apple is capable of playing most of the games available on the App Store and should be able to for a while yet. The Cr-48 is still great at performing the vast majority of web-based activities, as long as that doesn’t include anything too graphically intensive like high quality videos on Youtube or Vimeo or saved onto the device itself. For me the iPad is the clear winner when it comes to fun and games, and that is without any reference to the convenience of iBooks, iTunes for its simple syncing. The old iPad is definitely the best secondary machine for fun for me!

Chromebook vs iPad: Productivity

This is the second part of my small series about the comparison between the iPad and the Chromebook. This one talks about the "Productivity" side of things and how each work well and how they work badly. There are several different ways each works well for this, but also some areas in which one works better than the other. At the end of the day, neither is truly capable of fulfilling a primary computer role, however since I use them in a secondary role most of the time anyway, it isn’t really a problem.

The usual stuff that goes in my 'work' bag

Apps vs the Internet

The Chromebook uses Google’s Chrome browser at its core, this means that it uses the internet for the vast majority of tasks. On the other hand, the iPad uses iOS apps. These are each self-contained entities . They are often lighter, less complex versions of full-blown desktop apps and are built for the touch-centric interface on the iPad. An example of this is the Google Blogger app. It is nowhere near as full-featured as the Blogger webapp, but it is a good place to draft a post. before completing it in the browser. For example,  I wrote and posted the first post in this series using just the iPad. There were no opportunities to insert hyperlinks, or to decide where pictures should be placed in the text. This problem does not occur on the Chromebook as the full version of Google’s webapps are available in the browser.
On the other hand, the iOS App Store has access to far more apps that are incredibly capable and often easier to use than those on the Chrome Web Store. Where the Chromebook falls short is when no webapp is available or no website can perform that function and another must be used that performs a similar function, forcing the user to make the best of the situation. Often those webapps that can are only usable with an internet connection, whereas most iOS productivity apps are built with offline capabilities in mind. A good example for comparison is that Pages, Apple’s own word processor has a full dictionary whilst offline, something Google Docs does not. Very strange.

Form factor

We would naturally expect the Chromebook to win this category hands down. It has the full-size keyboard and trackpad, the larger screen. However, the problem is that there are so many different things that come under the catch-all of “productivity”. Not only have I been using the iPad to read papers and draft the odd post. It fits easily into a bag and is smaller and lighter than the Chromebook. I have even been known to write chapters of a story in full creative writing mode. The form factor is great for sitting in a cramped coffee shop and since I have a spare Apple wireless Keyboard and a great case for it, as well as a cheap, but functional stand for the iPad, it can be just as good if not better than the Chromebook for getting words on the page.
Having said that the iPad does have some serious shortcomings as a word processing machine with the keyboard. Firstly, the keyboard shortcuts simply aren’t up to snuff. The inability for the user to jump between the different apps or tabs in the browser is very disappointing, meaning that you have to reach up and touch the screen to perform many actions. Now this doesn’t necessarily take a long time or a lot of effort, but it is less efficient than using a key shortcut. Something that is easily available on the Chromebook.
Finally, while the Chromebook is bulkier than the iPad, there is something to be said for a physical keyboard. While I have been known to type a great deal on the iPad’s onscreen keyboard, I much prefer to be able to see the entire screen while typing rather than having half the screen obscured by my fingers and the keyboard.

Convenience

The convenience of connectivity is all important with these two devices, and each has its benefits. The Chromebook has a USB port and an SD card slot. This means that I can plug flash drives or cards into it to watch videos or transfer files across. This is something the iPad doesn’t do, nor intends to allow, and is certainly a massive plus in the Chromebook’s favour. The ability to quickly plug in a device and quickly drag files on or off it, is a massive bonus, something the iPad cannot do.
On the other hand I have a 3G iPad with a GiffGaff SIM card in it allowing for access whenever I want when I am out and about when the Wifi isn’t available. While this is something that *is* available for Chromebooks, I have yet to delve too deeply into the settings to get it to work on a UK phone network, and even if it did, it wouldn’t quite beat the almost smartphone-like convenience of taking an iPad out of a bag, as it is still a full-size laptop!

iPad or Chromebook?

Part 1

This has been on the cards for a long time, and actually is something I should really have written before the Cr-48/ M11X comparisons. Considering that the Chromebook starts at £199 and the iPad starts at £269, they are far more likely to be compared by consumers, than a Chromebook and a gaming laptop!

This is going to be a strange sort of comparison given that I have the original iPad and the original Chromebook, both released in 2010. This means that neither of these devices are tip top especially in terms of hardware. There have been four newer 9.7" iPads and even a 7.9" iPad that are more powerful than this one. They also have the ability to run iOS 6, giving them access to newer software. The Cr-48 was never commercially available, but has had three different releases of Chrome OS machines coming after it, yet it is still able to run the latest version of the Chrome OS.

While neither of these machines is the best or the brightest, they still allow me to compare their everyday use as coffee table computers, machines you could easily take to the coffeshop or the library. These are uses that I regularly use the Chromebook for, and have previously used the iPad for. The 'productive' ones include adding to this blog, taking notes for university work and writing a story for Nanowrimo, and the 'less productive' include checking social media and watching videos. I will talk about the positives and negatives of using each machine, and how they compare how good they are at being productive and being unproductive!

By the way, this post was titled in Google Docs on the Chromebook, the written in the Drive app on the iPad, and posted using the Blogger app. The photo was taken on my iPhone 3GS, synced via Dropbox and added in the Blogger app as well. Let's see how it turns out!

Another Tale of Two Laptops

My M11X on top the Incase laptop case I currently use with it. Note the non-reflective matte screen. Great for bright days!

This is the second part of my two-part comparison of the Alienware M11X and the Google Cr-48. In this post I talk about the best and worst parts of the Cr-48 and how they compare to the M11X. If you have read the first part, you might already guess what is in here; check and find out!

Best of the Cr-48

Simplicity

The Cr-48 and the Chrome OS makes using a computer very simple as apart from a rudimentary file manager and basic media player, everything is done in the browser by webapps. I love the shortcut function keys and the simple matte exterior which match the Chrome OS. The computer does not require, or allow any complex activities to take place on the machine. From a user’s perspective, that makes the Cr-48 and all Chromebooks very straight-forward, easy to use machines that enable you to get stuff done, all of Google's products and services make this easy, from their Drive app and the laptops online and offline storage, to the different applications which enable online/ offline and collaborative use. All of them work very well together, and have meant I haven't needed to look at Microsoft Office since September.

Speed

It’s great knowing that when I open the laptop up it is either waking from sleep or booting up immediately and takes less than half a minute and turning off the machine takes less than 5 seconds. Opening an app takes less than two seconds with the internet speed often the only bottle-neck on performance. The simplicity of the OS and the SSD makes this possible, something that definitely cannot be said for Windows 7, or even Windows 8 with Microsoft’s attempts to improve speed and lightness in the OS, and it would definitely take an expensive hardware upgrade. Both machines do similar things but go about them in different ways. Chrome OS goes for speed and that works for me.

Hardware Decisions

I see what Google did when they designed the Cr-48. It only has one USB port, doesn’t have an ethernet port and has only 16GB of onboard storage. This is a bare bones work machine built with those constantly online in mind and build down to a budget. Even so, it means I was able to pick up a great work machine for very little money. It is a minimalist’s dream when it comes to work and I am a big fan. While the M11X would eat it for breakfast in almost all specs, when it comes to getting words on the page, it is a great little machine with access to Google Docs and a great keyboard. For the price it was an absolute steal! I cannot necessarily say the same about all of the Chromebooks, which vary greatly from the current Acer C7 when compared to the newly announced, large HP Pavilion 14. I still think the Cr-48 is Google’s idea of what a Chromebook should be, much like their Nexus line of Android products. After using the Cr-48, I'd love to buy a Nexus Chromebook if Google supervised the design and manufacturing process, but then even if they released the Cr-48 with updated internals, I would be happy!

Worst of the Cr-48

The Trackpad

The trackpad is an attempt to match those of Apple’s Macbook line. It doesn’t quite manage it, and so clicking and dragging is a real chore sometimes. The same is true with the two finger scrolling. It just doesn’t meet what I came to expect from an Apple machine, even a first generation MacBook from 2006, the Alienware machine is a worse trackpad, but comes with consistency. On the other hand, the Cr-48 sometimes works one way, and sometimes another, that makes it more annoying than the M11X. I have yet to test out the newer Chromebook models, but I would imagine they would have this sorted by now!

The Little Things

There are a few other annoyances I have with the Cr-48 that detract from it slightly. Not something that makes it awful, but they could definitely be changed in the settings very easily by Google and improve the overall experience.


Firstly, when watching a video full screen, the cursor stays on-screen. I hate that I have to see that throughout my film. There should be a way for it to fade out, just like most other OS I have ever used.

Secondly, when waking from sleep, if there is an SD card in the machine it will automatically minimise whatever you are doing and go to the SD Card contents and ask you what you want to do with them. I would love to click a checkbox to stop it doing that when awaking from sleep and just do it when popped into the active machine. It would just allow me to be lazy and leave it in the device.


Thirdly, while there are several benefits for the Atom processor, the drawbacks include an average ability to watch videos of higher quality than 480p. While it can play 720p video, it generally needs to be completely buffered for it to go ok, and even then the video can slow and stutter somewhat. Perhaps it is too much for the processor, or too much for Flash on the machine. I’ll have to do a few more tests to find out. Either way, it is likely to be no problem for the newer Chromebooks with their faster processors.

Definite Secondary Computer

This machine is a definite secondary computer for most people who use computers for more than browsing the internet and sending emails and I would include myself among them. A Chromebook still isn’t supposed to be more than that, and it is able to do more and more things, but it is not a fully-fledged desktop OS yet. This means that it has to remain a secondary machine for me, just like my iPad. Hmm, now there’s an idea... I could not possibly sell my other computers and do everything I want or need on the Cr-48, whereas the M11X could perform almost everything I would need my sole computer to do straight out of the box, and with a few extras, could do it well.

Conclusion

I guess this comparison comes down to what kind of laptop you need, or want to use. One is built around specs and power, and the other is a pared-down work machine. The power is expensive and the work machine is cheaper, but they both have a different ethos and a different raison d’etre. If I didn’t have my iMac, I would definitely be keeping the M11X, or selling it and buying an iMac! However, as I already have a decent desktop machine, I do not need a powerful laptop to perform double duty as a portable workstation, media hub and potential gaming machine. Finally, with the news that Windows 8 is now an absurd £189 to upgrade from Microsoft, but still £45 to get from Amazon. Although both are more now than they were last month. As much as I love having the M11X for PC games and every so often when I need portable power, to truly maximise its performance and longevity would involve a lot of extra costs. It would probably be cheaper in the long run to hold off on spending more on it, and concentrate on spending money elsewhere, rather than adding to extra sunk costs.

The Cr-48 is not perfect by any means, especially as a prototype Chromebook, but I would definitely be interested in one of the newer models which would likely improve on any of the problems I have with it at the moment, especially the Samsung Series 3 with an ARM processor and the new Lenovo Thinkpad X131e.

A Tale of Two Laptops

Right now I have two laptops, a much publicised Cr-48 Chromebook and the now discontinued Alienware M11X R3. Both of them are massively different machines even if they both have a svelte matte black bodies. I love the simple, inconspicuous exterior of these machines, that usually belies the power underneath.

 M11X (left) and  Cr-48, photo by Zathu at http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/570181-picture-m11x-next-normal-12in-netbook.html

Best of the M11X

Power

The M11X is sub-compact power. Mine has a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, a discrete NVIDIA graphics card  and a 240GB hard drive. It is a middle of the road M11X, but powerful enough to easily run many PC games of the past few years I loved Mass Effect 3 on it. Apart from the ending, but that is another story! I bought it because I thought it was the best subcompact laptop for the money at the time, and the MacBook Air just wasn’t worth the extra cash.

Specs

It is upgradable to any 2.5” drive and 16GB of RAM with a level of future-proofing and flexibility that isn’t available to the Chromebook. The M11X’s specs are among the best for a machine with a footprint smaller than the 13” MacBook and a 1366x768 pixel 11.6” screen, far more pixels than the Cr-48 with a greater density too making pictures sharper and clearer.

OS & Apps

Since the M11X runs Windows 7, and I even had the betas of Windows 8 on it, it can run any of the millions of different programs available for the OS, and run them well online and offline without any problems, something that isn’t the case for the Cr-48. This gives a huge level of flexibility to use the Adobe Creative Suite and other powerful desktop programs that simply would not be able to run on the Chromebook and its netbook specs. There are several apps I use on Windows and OS X that aren’t able to work on the Chromebook, especially Dropbox which is an inconvenience. The full desktop OS also means that I can take the M11x away with me and know that it will be able to perform well as a primary machine for weeks at a time. This is something I am not at all sure the Cr-48 can do.

Worst of the M11X

Windows 8

I have written about Windows 8 and my experiences with it before. I just don’t enjoy it on the M11X. It is well suited for the tablet interface, but it isn’t as smooth on an ‘old’ style laptop like this. This is partially the fault of Alienware’s design - the trackpad is tiny, as they expect you to use an external mouse, but on the other hand, Windows 8 is a very touch-centric interface. At the same time I feel Mountain Lion has actually increased the usefulness of Apple’s famed trackpads and is far better than Lion was at utilising the hardware, I feel the same cannot be said for the M11X on Windows 8.

Cost

The M11X R3 was a high-end machine when it was released and even now is punching well above its size category. I got a good deal on eBay when I bought it, but it is still worth around £500. I bought the Cr-48 for £100 with a bit extra for postage and I know that the M11X just isn’t worth five times more than the Chromebook, at least to me, especially with the upgrades and accessories required to make it a truly great gaming machine. Perhaps that means it is time to sell it and recoup the cash.

Gaming

This is a brilliant laptop, but it cries out for more attention than I give it. It deserves a 1080p monitor, an SSD and an external keyboard and mouse to play games properly and perform unhindered. Yet all of these things add up to an increase in costs and desk space, and considering I already have an Xbox 360 and an iMac, a gaming computer seems an extravagance I should do without.

Conclusion

The M11x R3 is an amazing little machine, that is probably exactly what I want in a gaming laptop with a tiny footprint, but with decent specs, but I am not sure it really fits within my budget or my lifestyle. There can be no doubt that the M11X is a far better laptop than the Cr-48, but I’m not sure that it is better enough to make it worth the increased cost.

My most used Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome allows for extensions to be added for it, just like other popular browsers. Extensions add functions to the browser through buttons or behind the scenes. Since most of us spend much of our time on computers in the browser, these extra functions can be incredibly useful. Here is a small list of my most-used extensions that I use in Chrome OS and Chrome on my iMac, I hope you find them useful!

Chrome To Paper

I am a massive Instapaper fan, and it was one of my first purchases when I got an iPhone in 2008. It is an app that strips out the extraneous things on a webpage and saves only those relevant to the actual article on the page, allowing you to read it later when you have time. This extension adds a new function to Chrome by adding a button which when pressed sends the article to Instapaper and deletes the tab. This means I can quickly go back to what I was doing before without extra tabs hanging around in the browser taking up the resources on my computer or my attention.

Read with Instapaper

This extension is for when I have had more time and I actually intend to read the article when I have the tab open. It uses Marco Arment’s parsing algorithm to show the article as Instapaper saves it. It makes it far easier to read without the distractions of the rest of the website. It isn’t perfect, often missing some pictures, or keeping some things that aren’t pertinent to the article, but it is far better than reading it on the site. It even comes with options to change the font, line spacing, and other things that make the reading easier on the eyes. I recommend it!

Google Dictionary

This extension has been in any version of Chrome I have had for a long time. The ability to just double click on a word and find out what it means and its etymology, has been a great help, when reading papers and articles, and often saves jumping away from the text to search for it in dictionary.com or Wikipedia. Invisible unless required and invaluable to me!

Evernote Clearly

This extension performs a similar function to 'Read with Instapaper' with one important difference- it sends the article to Evernote. I have begun to use this and Instapaper concurrently, but for slightly different uses. Instapaper used to be where I held all important articles and web pages. I am now giving this job to Evernote, especially with its new ability to appear next to Google searches, as described brilliantly at The Verge. I have been copying hundreds of articles to Evernote, and Clearly has been the best way to do it. Once these have all been copied out of Instapaper, it will where I read things later, and then send to Evernote for saving and archiving.

I hope these can be useful to you for your web needs. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!

My most used Apps

Here are several apps I use day to day on my Cr-48 Chromebook, more than any others. I haven't included the Chrome browser here as it is the basis for most of these apps anyway, and since it works the same as on Mac or PC and most people are using it anyway, it won’t be anything new to anyone.

Google Docs

Docs is Google's word processor app and is the best place for on and offline writing built into the Chrome OS platform and also available to anyone else on the web. It allows for a wide array of functions and control over your text and the embedding of many kinds of media in the documents. It also allows simultaneous collaboration on the document which makes it great for academia - I used it on my IT course for late night online brainstorming revision sessions.

Google Docs uses its own file type which means that to edit documents away from the Chromebook I have to use the Google Docs online website in the browser, or in the Drive app on mobile devices. I would much prefer if these Drive apps were taken over to OS X or Windows as well, but that would probably be quite an undertaking, although I have seen a few possible workarounds, at least on OS X. I find it simpler to just open a text editor on that platform and save it to Dropbox or in the Drive folder and work on it later instead.

Docs is nowhere near as feature-filled as Microsoft's Word, but it works great for me as I can just concentrate on the words I'm typing. There are some minor annoyances I have with it, like being unable to insert pictures from the downloads folder on the Chromebook, instead requiring them to be uploaded to Drive, or the lack of spell-check when offline, but I find it more than sufficient for my uses.

Blogger

This is really just a link to the Blogger website and has no offline capabilities whatsoever, but I only use the site when I’m on the Chromebook, so I felt it worth mentioning. This and Docs work fairly well together, and it even appears that the Blogger site is based off Google Docs itself.

I currently create posts in Docs and then copy the text over to Blogger to post on this blog. I find it work pretty well bar a few annoyances, for example, copying a post with photos already embedded in the document doesn’t always work, nor does it copy over some formatting. This has just taught me to do all of the final work to the posts in Blogger and just concentrate solely on the text while in Docs. I find it works pretty well!

Type Fu

As someone who never formally learned to type, my method has been idiosyncratic at best, and slow at worst. I have spent the last few months trying to relearn how to type properly. While there are some very good interactive websites on the subject, this is an app that also has a full-featured offline mode, that makes it king for me!

Achshar Player

While Google have their Play music app where you can store and buy music to listen back to whenever you are online, or a very basic media player built into the Chrome OS, the first only works when online, and the second only plays single songs at a time.

This is the best of the offline music players I have found so far. It allows the user to add albums and create playlists from music in their file hierarchy. It isn’t as pretty or as feature-rich as iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player or Zune but when I don't have my iPhone or iPod with me, it's a great little stop-gap!

Sourcekit

This app has access to my Dropbox files and can open all of the .txt files I have stored there. This makes it easy to see and edit my To Do Lists and other files I have there. The app is fairly basic and far simpler than GDocs, with no auto-save or offline usage, but it does allow for tabbed files open at once, which I find very convenient.

I have found that I use it less and less now I have swapped back to using an iPhone rather than a Windows Phone, as there are some great apps for Dropbox text editing available there. That is probably a post in itself!

TweetDeck

This is a Chrome Twitter app that is actually awesome, especially for free! I love that I can have several different columns which I can fill with whatever content I want and order how I like. It lets me see a great deal of information all at once, and I often have it open when I’m not working to just get the updates to my feed.

Chrome Remote Desktop

This app made it very easy to access my iMac while I was away from my flat. It allowed me to control the computer from the Chromebook, and allowed me to use my Mac apps to do things that I simply couldn’t do on my Chromebook. It also meant I could copy things into my Dropbox folder and access them on the web in a matter of seconds or minutes. Not bad at all!

Overall I have found these apps to be the ones I use the most. While I have everything in a Dropbox-orientated environment, the Chromebook is not really able to truly “shine” as a 100% integrated part of my workflow. At the same time I find the separation of my Chrome stuff and my Dropbox stuff usually works quite well, so perhaps I shouldn’t complain too much!