The ideal Keyboard
Developers usually spend most of the time in front of a computer, interacting with keyboards and murine devices. So a keyboard is always an important part of a developers working environment. I've tried out a bunch of keyboards over the past years, in order to find an ideal one, which mostly fulfills my common needs.
Some days ago I got a chance and bought another new IBM SpaceSaver II keyboard, since these fine keyboards startet to get somehow rare on the market.
Those who suffer from RSI problems might also benefit from this keyboard, even there are other more ergonomically designed keyboard solutions available on the market.
So for touch typers with strong RSI Problems a Kinesis Contoured keyboard might be even better suited. In order to get an idea of how a Kinesis Contoured keyboard can fit into a computer work environment, take a look at Bill Clementson's Blog.
Bootable eSATA ExpressCards
If you are looking for some notebook eSATA ExpressCard, keep in mind
that most of these ExpressCards aren't bootable. The bad thing related
to eSata express cards is here, that the card vendors usually don't
tell if their cards do support the booting from attached devices or
not.
Some months ago the german c't computer magazine has tested some eSATA ExpressCards and discovered, that only a few eSATA ExpressCards supported booting from an external eSata harddisk. Among those few cards which support booting from an external eSata device, have been the two eSATA ExpressCards/34 from Onnto, a taiwan based company. Surprisingly all tested eSata cards which do support booting, have been only in the ExpressCard/34 form factor and thus there was no bootable ExpressCard/54 among the cards.
Finding an external Harddisk
Recently when performing some notebook image backups with Acronis
TrueImage, I ran out of harddisk space on the server. These are the
moments when you realize, that it is time to look for some additional
external harddisk solution. First of all I wanted some NAS or eSATA
based external harddisk solution for performing image backups, so I
primary searched after these. After having read some articles and
reviews about NAS and eSATA based harddisks, I decided to better opt
for a much faster operating external eSata harddisk solution. Some days
later I discovered a new well build external eSATA/USB harddisk
enclosure product from Revoltec, named "Alu Guard", which looked promising.
I bought the Revoltec Alu Guard eSata enclosure and placed inside a quiet operating 3.5" Samsung 500 GB SATA harddisk. This duo is now used as my external backup storage for image backups and performs fine so far.
On the Road with a Subnotebook
Some months ago I decided to buy a new, more portable notebook, which I
can carry more easily around when traveling. So I looked around what
the market has actually to offer in the 12"-13.3" subnotebook segment.
After reviewing some potential candidates, like X61 Thinkpads, the Dell
Latitude D430, some Sony Vaios etc., I finally decided to go with the
new LCD panel based Dell XPS M1330 subnotebook.
The Dell XPS M1330, even though it is a 13.3" notebook, is still lightweight and thus can be carried easier arround than other, more FatBob like and bigger notebooks. It's build quality is better than I initially expected from a Dell notebook and compared with a Sony Vaio SZ it is much more sturdier in all aspects. The XPS keyboard is also quite usable with normal sized keys for a subnotebook and in this category only the Thinkpad keyboards are slightly better.
My XPS came along with a CMO (Chi Mei Optoelectronics) LED based 13.3" panel. The CMO panel is IMO brighter and also offers much better viewing angles than the alternatively by Dell assembled TMD (Toshiba Matsushita Display) LED panel. However you usually don't have a chance of choice here, since the LED based XPS M1330 models will be factory assembled with either panel and you can't select prior which one you would like to have inside. Depending on your working environment tasks battery runtimes can be longer or shorter, this also depends on the XPS battery type you use. With a 9-cell battery, which sticks out on the back and elevates the XPS M1330 slightly, you will yield of course longer battery runtimes as with the 6-cell battery. For longer travelling and trips I thus recommend to take a second optional battery with you.
So far I haven't regretted to decide in favor of the Dell XPS M1330 and in the meantime I also feel somehow comfortable with that brighter glossy finsihed widescreen panel of the XPS, even I usually prefer good quality higher resolution mate TFT panels. The only things I'am sometimes missing are, to have some more than just two USB ports avaiable and a tactile Thinkpad like trackpoint instead of a touchpad.