E-machines Settlement = New Ultrabook

Amid all the concerns about getting laid off from my job, I received a pleasant surprise a couple of weeks ago which came in the form of a notice saying that a class action suit in which my name was included as one of the plaintiffs, was finally settled. See I bought an Emachines desktop computer more than a decade ago and as usual, I registered my purchase. Some time late last year I received a letter informing me that there was a class action lawsuit against that computer company and I responded to the letter. The settlement entitled me to either a cash amount of $62.50 or a credit of $349 towards a purchase of laptop, netbook, tablet, and/or monitor. If the price of the replacement is more than the list price, then all I have to do is pay the difference.

When I went on the website to see what products were being offered, I saw that they were Acer machines and most if not all were refurbished. Apparently Emachines was taken over by Acer. No matter, because most of the computers I've bought have been refurbished and I've never had any problems with them. There was a wide range of prices - from a $99 monitor all the way to $900 for the high end laptops. If you choose anything below $349, then that's what you get as your settlement. They will not pay you the difference. The closest device being offered to $349 was a tablet for $330. I didn't need another tablet and I didn't want an out of style netbook either. The next best thing to my price range was a $510 ultrabook (manufacturer's suggested retail price is $799) with a 14 inch touchscreen and a battery life rated up to 8 hours, Core I5 processor, running Windows 8. With taxes, I would have to spend more than $200 extra on top of the $349 settlement. It's not like I can spare $200 nowadays with the impending job layoff. But I decided to order the Acer Ultrabook anyway while I'm still making a paycheck, and besides, there was a time limit in which the settlement had to be used.
Last week, the computer arrived via UPS. It was like Christmas in the middle of a heatwave! I excitedly opened the box which revealed the refurbished ultrabook and a power cord. And that was it. No manuals, disks, or even a quick setup guide. Good thing I was already familiar with Windows 8. I typed in the usual setup information then logged on to my Microsoft account, and when the computer finished booting, I was surprised to see that the wallpaper I had on the Windows 8 Start screen, as well as the desktop was exactly the same as my home laptop! Apparently this synching process was a function of Windows 8 with your Microsoft account.
Other than fully charging the battery that day, that was all I could tolerate in the oppressive heat. Exploring the computer would have to come another day.

One of the first things I noticed was how quickly the ultrabook booted up. After timing it a few times, it appeared that boot up time from power on to the Windows 8 Log On screen was between 11 and 15 seconds. My goodness, that's faster than the Nexus 7 and Asus Transformer that I have! The fast boot up is probably because the operating system is stored in a separate 20 gigabyte solid state drive (SSD). Since it didn't come with an Office Suite (not even a trial one), I installed my old MS Office 2007, and also made a recovery disk. Next, I ran an internet based benchmark test to check how long the battery would last with continuous activity. The advertised time was 8 hours. With the benchmark test, the battery lasted about 5 and a half hours. I thought that was pretty good for a laptop. I just hope the battery doesn't degrade too much or too quickly as time goes on like my old netbook. Having used tablets for more than a year now, it was an easy transition to use the touchscreen on the ultrabook.

Lately, I've been interested in Chromebooks, but after getting this ultrabook for close to the same price as a Chromebook, I definitely got a much better deal on a fully loaded computer which battery life even exceeds that of a Chromebook. In the meantime, I'm also included in another class action lawsuit against Dell. I'm wondering what they're offering?

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The Case For Keeping The Old Netbook

With so many devices on the market, sometimes one can’t help but desire the latest one. But with a strict budget to consider, I have to weigh the pros and cons of getting another electronic toy especially when an old, reliable one continues to suffice. So this is about the case for not buying an ultrabook, chromebook, or a windows 8 device and keeping the ole’ netbook which still meets my needs.

 First, the cons of the netbook. With its Intel Atom processor and even with the maximum allowable 2 gigabytes of memory, it is underpowered and slow. The boot up time takes about four times or more longer compared to tablets. It also takes a long time for programs to load, and so does opening webpages regardless of internet speed. Sometimes whatever you type or click lags. The latest news on this netbook is that Asus has stopped making them.

That being said, let me tell you what I like about it. First and foremost is its battery life. Rated by the manufacturer at 14 hours, it only usually lasts for 10 but still much longer than ultrabooks and chromebooks which only last for about 5 hours at best. Let me say though that I am not talking about Apple products which are beyond my budget. Then there’s the price. Ultrabooks are still expensive because part of what you are paying for is the lighter weight. Although you can buy a chromebook for as low as $200 now, it’s more of a cloud machine which works best if you constantly have an internet connection.  I’m still not sold on the new Windows 8 devices even though I’m already using that operating system on my laptop at home. First, I hardly work in the Tiles area and spend most of my time in the Desktop. Even if I can afford it, I may find that the cheapest Windows 8 RT device may not be flexible enough for my computing needs. As far as weight is concerned, my 3 lb. netbook rivals the weight of ultrabooks and chromebooks, and the keyboard and screen size have never been a problem for me. It even has a 250 gb hard drive which is plenty for my purposes. Besides, I already save my files to the cloud.

The only thing that the netbook requires is my patience due to the sluggish boot up, program launch, and webpage loading.  If I need a quick boot up all I have to do is surf the web, I still also have my trusty old 10 inch Asus Transformer tablet  which has an attachable keyboard that can make the battery last as long as 16 hours. If only I could get used to the android word processors and an easier way to copy and paste to my blog, then I’m golden. And guess what, both my netbook and tablets were purchased as refurbished products, thus cheaper, and they work just as well as brand new ones.

Netbook: Asus eeePC (Windows 7)

Tablet: Asus Transformer TFT 101 (Android ICS)

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