Posts Tagged ‘laptops’
Traveloge now offering free WiFi
August 26th, 2011 • 5 Comments
Travelodge may not be the finest place to spend a few nights, but at least now you can ignore your basic surroundings to look at disgusting filth on your smartphones and laptops.
That’s because the hotel chain has announced that they’re going to now give free WiFi access to customers in 140 of Travelodge Bar Cafés hotels from the 12th September.
“We are always looking at ways to help our customers get even more value for their money whilst staying in one our Travelodge hotels,” said Travelodge Chief Executive Guy Parsons.
“Our customer research has highlighted that in today’s modern world travellers want internet connectivity whilst on the move, so that they can work and cyber-socialise around the clock, and with the popularity of smartphones reaching an all time high, mobile internet access is becoming more of a necessity in every day life.
“Therefore we have decided to make all of our Bar Cafes a free Wi-Fi hub; enabling our customers to enjoy the benefit of free internet whilst staying with us.”
So there you have it. You can “cyber-socialise” ’til you’re blue in the nutsack and pretend you’re Jason Manford without having to fork out a hefty bill.
DEAL KLAXON! Major price drop looming for Acer laptops?
June 13th, 2011 • 4 Comments
Remember the wine lake and the butter mountain? Fictional collections of surplus stuff that used to be spoken about in hushed tones wherever you went? Well soon we could all fall under the spell of the laptop robot – a terrifying made-up beast fashioned from Acer laptops. Sounds terrifying, but in fact it could be great.
That’s because Acer have a surplus of unsold stock, and more than three million laptops could be flooding the European market over the next few weeks – almost certainly at seriously reduced prices.
According to Reg, Dixons are “aware [of the Acer situation] and awaiting more detail before making any decisions.” Acer themselves are saying nothing and as yet, we know of no other retailers who might be looking to carry the surplus stock. But if you’re thinking about investing in a new laptop soon, it might well be worth waiting for a while to see what happens. You could always spend any money you save on wine and butter. Mmmm… wine and butter…..
Amazon and Asda to allow you to trade-in electronics junk
May 20th, 2011 • 2 Comments
Got a bunch of old, tatty electronic stuff you don’t want anymore? Well, Amazon are here to rescue you from a life of cables and old mobiles littering the floor under your bed.
It is reported that the company has expanded their trade-in program which allow us plebs to send in our old tat in exchange for gift cards that you can spend on Amazon. They’ll cover the shipping costs in the deal, allowing us to effectively get stuff in exchange for our old mobiles, tablets, digital cameras and so on.
So, if you offer Amazon an iPhone 3GS 16GB which is in decent nick, you could get a voucher worth roughly $178. While this is US-only currently, it appears that Amazon are willing to roll this out to Europe.
Asda have also launched a similar service too, already rolling out across Britain. The Asda Tech Trade-in will let you trade-in mobiles, satnavs, digital cameras, MP3 players and portable games consoles. From June, you’ll be able to offload laptops, tablets and games consoles.
Phil Stout, Asda’s electronics service manager, said: “We reckon the average UK home has hundreds of pounds worth of old gadgets that could be traded in for cash. There are more mobile phones in the UK than people, for example, so there is a lot of cash out there waiting to be released.”
But is it better than selling your old stuff through eBay?
Laptops can toast your leg skin
October 5th, 2010 • 20 Comments
Do you spend a lot of time with a laptop on your knee? Do you half-recall an article you may or may not have read and worry that your genitals are withering and dying because of radiation that doesn’t emit from your computer?
No?
Well, here’s something to worry about. Laptops can TOAST YOUR SKIN!
Okay, we’re not talking about you burning yourself to death here, but rather, your laptop can slowly cook your skin and leave you with a condition similar to that once found in glass-blowers and bakers. It’s true. There’s a name for it and everything. It’s called “toasted skin syndrome.” Sorry that it doesn’t have a more exciting name.
Now, you won’t die because of it, but it can lead to skin discolouration which, in some cases, scars you for life. There you go. That’s mildly frightening in a Daily Mail way. This will only affect people who have laptops on their laps for several hours a day over several months (aka 99% of freelance writers) so it isn’t going to cause too much grief to someone who uses one on the train or in a meeting or whatever.
“Computer-induced lesions are typically found on only one leg because the optical drives of laptops are located on the left side,” researchers said. “The computer placed on a lap may completely or partially occlude the ventilation-fan exhaust.”
[PCP]
Undercover laptop sleeves – because crooks are stupidheads
August 3rd, 2009 • 6 CommentsThieves like nothing better than rummaging around your home or bag and stealing all the shiny things, like magpies but with opposable thumbs. But most light-fingered opportunists aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer, which is why Lazybone think there’s a market for these:
Like Transformers, there’s more than meets the eye, because these envelopes are actually fully padded laptop sleeves – waterproof and tearproof – and available in two sizes, for netbooks and notebooks up to 17″ wide. The theory is that some smack-addled scally won’t bother peeping in an envelope of dull paperwork. Personally, I like nosing through tatty envelopes, because that’s where gentlemen like to stash their lady grumble from the wife.
[Lazybone]
My main laptop, a.k.a. the other love of my life, died yesterday. As I sit here griefing, I’m using a 9” netbook to write this. It sucks. As the pain behind my eye sockets increase with each passing blink, it’s time to hunt for a new laptop on HUKD.
One of the hottest deals right now is the Dell Mini 9’s (installed with Linux Ubuntu), which have been reduced on Dell’s site to a measly £179 (deal found by Brains, thanks!). This may be a good deal for those who have yet to indulge in the pleasures of a netbook (my eyes! my eyes!), another 8.9″ display, whether ‘Truelife’ or not, does not justify for those of us spending most of our waking hours in front of a bright screen.
Here’s results from the best 5 ‘old skool’ normal sized laptop offers in March 2009 I could find:
1. Sony VAIO NR38E/S Laptop £349.99 (found by Mottmania HUKD): Sony laptops to me are the aesthetic equivalent of an Apple. And once you unplug all the “bloat-ware” that comes with it, they function pretty good too. This 1.86 GHz, 15.4” Sony laptop with a dual core T2390 engine, 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, and DVD-RW does lack a Blu Ray, but reduced in the Argos clearance sale a few weeks ago to £349, it is worth a mention (according to Pricerunner, the next best price is from £398) Only problem is stock, as a few of you have mentioned. [Direct Link to Argos website]
Tip: Reader Casparwhite however points out that refurbished ones are on sale on eBay from £299.99 + £10 P&P. eBay sound dodgy? Well, the seller is actually Clearance Bargains, operated and fully owned by Argos! The refurbished model also comes with a 12 month guarantee. At the time of writing, there are still 10+ available. For £310, I’m actually tempted to buy this one myself.
2. Dell Inspiron 1545 Laptop £349 (found by faevilangel): I’m not a major fan of Dell laptops. Having owned two myself, I found them clunky and cheap looking. But the new models appear to have a nicer finishing, and this Intel dual core T3400 with 2GB ram, 160GB HDD and a 15.6” screen is worth a mention at only £349 from Tesco online (& in store).
However, note that a dual core and core2duo are not the same, as Faevilangel and others pointed out in the HUKD thread: “core2duo are the newer of the cpu’s and runs faster …… clocks better and better cache (in geek terms)”. For normal use though, I doubt it would make too much of a difference.
Fire up the laptop – HP, Toshiba and Dell recall batteries
November 3rd, 2008 • 3 Comments
Now there’s a new way to get flamed online. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled 100,000 laptops fitted with Sony batteries after 19 reports of overheating, including 17 cases of fire. Two people also suffered minor burns as a result, which makes you wonder how important that email reply must have been. Flesh. Burning. Pain. Unbearable. Must. Keep. Typing.
Although they were manufactured by Sony, the lithium-ion batteries were supplied with machines built by Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell. 35,000 batteries were used in models sold in the US market, 2,000 batteries were shipped to the Japanese market and the remaining 63,000 went to European and Asian markets.
At the moment, no recall notices for those batteries and machines shipped to the UK and Europe have been issued, but they are expected imminently.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has only released model details of the batteries being recalled in the US, which may or may not be similar to those that will be recalled in the UK; you can find full details here.
Will Apple bite back with $800 laptop?
October 10th, 2008 • 2 Comments
Alright, so it may be nothing more than rumour. But it’s a good rumour, one to call up the dancing girls and throw a party for. If you love Apple macs, that is. If you don’t, call up the dancing girls anyway. We’re in a recession and you look sad.
Next Tuesday, Apple will be holding one of their regular showcases to present new products to the world. Sometimes they don’t live up to the hype – a tweaked iPod Nano, a new playlist feature – but this could be the real deal.
Looking to come up fighting in a recession, Apple are rumoured by sources across the net to be releasing a new model of laptop for $800 – $300 less than the current entry level MacBook.
A mini-mac for less than £500? Get that black polo neck steam-cleaned, Jobs. This one is going to be special.
