Touch Screen AIO - Gateway ZX6800 (09C) with Windows 7 review

What's on the market

I have been looking for a touch screen All-in-One computer for a while ever since I saw the ASUS EEE Top AIO, but never made up my mind because of the slow single core Atom.

Atom processor is great for the price, but the upgrade ability is just bad with Asus EEE top (15.6") or MSI Wind Top (AE1900 with N270).

MSI AE1900 is actually better choice than EEE Top 1602 as it has optical built-in which is great for kids to play DVD based games. But the memory is not upgradeable which I confirmed by took it apart.

ASUS ET2002 looks nice but touch screen is optional. Without touch, it's already around $700 with Atom Dual core + Ion and 2 GB DDR2. AE1900 has new model with Dual Atom and 2GB, but it priced almost $650 yet doesn't come with wireless Keyboard/Mouse cools down the deal.

For $700+, there are getting close to full speed AIO without the crippled Atom. HP long has Touchsmart AIO with Core2Duo available, but price is easily $1000+ with 20" touch screen. Multi-touch indeed for Windows 7, but if you need something with a little better spec, HP can go up to $1600+ as well. $1000 gets you the basic, no more, no less. Dell's Studio 18 started with $799 only. Sounds nice, but everything with Dell are also extra. Multi-touch is $150+ extra, wifi is extra and even Windows 7 for the multi-touch is extra. Not to mention wireless keyboard/mouse are all extra. The worse with Dell is, the extra $30 for wireless keyboard can get you a whole set of item you are about to upgrade at retail price. For example, if you go with Dell wireless keyboard/mouse for $30 extra, they will not ship the original wired keyboard/mouse, but the wireless only. You might as well buy the wire set, then upgrade it yourself from retail store. This applies to not just keyboard/mouse, but also to memory, hard drive as well. When everything added for what I wanted with Dell, it's already $1000+ yet with only 2GB memory and 320GB hard drive.

Gateway (Acer) announced multi-touch AIO about 2 months ago (ZX6800, 4800). It looks nice on the spec sheet, but I thought it will take forever to get here in Vancouver. I was wrong, it's here on Nov 7, 2009 on Futureshop's flyer for $999. What's even more exciting is the spec of the computer that it included that's unbelievable compare to HP/Dell's offering.

What's in ZX6800-09C

CPU - First and the most, it comes with Intel Core2Quad Q8200 @ 2.33ghz at 45nm.

Memory - When most of the AIO comes with DDR2 2~4GB memory, ZX6800 comes with 4GB DDR3. From the reading of CPU-Z, it has 2 empty slot in the system that I can easily make it 8GB DDDR3 if desired.

Hard Drive - Now it's the interesting part, it comes with 1TB SATA drive. As reported by Engadget, it has optional 64GB SSD on top of the 1TB Hard Drive. What that means, ZX6800 has the reserved 2.5" SATA hard drive space in the housing. When SSD price coming down like this, it's possible to put an extra 2.5" SSD in there to make it even faster for booting Windows.

I have confirmed in the BIOS that it does have an un-used SATA.

Video - This is the only weak part of this AIO. Intel 4500 MHD. My $350 laptop comes with this video. While it's adequate for a small laptop/netbook at 9~11", with ZX6800 beautiful 1920x1800 23" LCD, it's not enough for sure. However, while Gateway designed the ZX6800, the spec can go up to Radeon HD4670 Mobility chip. Therefore, there's a small chance I can find a expansion card just like found on some higher end laptop and upgrade it with it if one day I can't stand the video performance.

LCD - 23" Multi-touch with 1920x1080 resolution. This might not be the biggest touch screen on the market, but it makes HP's Smarttouch (20") and Dell's (18.5") looks really bad. Almost 5" more multi-touch LCD with double or triple the specification of Dell Studio 18, this ZX6800 is a no brainer.

Network - 10/100/1000 RJ45 with WiFi b/g/n as well as bulit-in Bluetooth.

Keybard/Mouse - Both wireless with small usb transmitter.

Others - It comes with 6 USB (2 side, 4 back), 1 eSATA, WebCam, Microphone built-in. Slot loading DVD super-multi optical drive, Earphone Audio plug, external Microphone jack. 1 memory card reader under DVD for reading SD/Pro Duo flash memories. There are also audio jacks in the back that I believe for surround sound speakers. Finally, it comes with 2 small LED lights that points directly at the keyboard which is a very nice touch. It has 3 modes that you can select between lights to keyboard and stands or stands only or to keyboard only.

First impression

Acer bought Gateway a while back. You can see how Gateway website was affected by Acer. They simply made it much worse than how they used to be. There I said it. Although I am a long time Acer user, I am not a fan. Acer is bad with their website design. Now this gets to Gateway as well. They don't have a dedicated website for different countries, which is fine. But they don't even have enough information for their own product on their website. Zx6800-09c is not even found on their website. Zx6800-o1 is the only model there. Now this also applies to their documentation. Most of the computer comes with a big colorful printout helping customers to hook up or turn on their computer/laptop. Gateway did the same, but half-ass style. As a computer guy, I thought I never need to read something like that, but I was wrong. First, the power button is the chrome Gateway plate on the left of the screen. Not like other AIO, there's usually a I/O button. Nice touch, but I got confused and have to read the print out. 2nd is about the wireless Keyboard/Mouse. While I thought it might have a built RF receiver or simply using Bluetooth, this wireless keyboard/mouse come with usb receiver as shown on the big print out. However, it DOES NOT tell you where that USB receiver is. I have to dig the manual for keyboard/mouse to find the receiver is actually hidden inside the mouse battery cover.

More to come.....

Sony DSLR Digital Alpha A300

Originally got the A350 when it goes on sale. 1 week after I got it, A300 goes on sale even more. It's $599 cdn including 18-70mm and 75-300mm lens. That's $180 cdn cheaper than the combination on A350. This week in Bestbuy, it's $579 for the same combination.

The difference between A350/A300 is the 14mp/10mp which is not a big deal to me at all.
The picture taken from A300 is noticable better than most of camera I had before. However, there are some settings need to get use to get the picture better too. It's a nice camera. I got it mainly for special events for my kids.

Taken by A300

From 2008 Pictures

Taken by A350

From 2008 Pictures

Auto Focus speed is amazing and the LiveView tilted LCD is the 2nd reason I went with this camera. It's much easier for taking pictures with kids. Battery life is a lot longer than I expected. After few days of use with many pictures taken, I still have over 50% battery left. I have Trascend 133x 8GB CF which is as little as $30 and the speed is good enough for 3fp burst shot.

The cap is annoying that it doesn't have any string. Therefore, I ordered a string cap for $3.5US and it's very useful. I also got some cheap UV filter for $5.51 and Polarizer Lens Filter for $8.66.

String cap for DSLR
Polarizer Filter
UV Filter

Our new family member - Sunday (Aug 15 2008)

It's about 7~8 months after our beloved family Dog - Dodo passed away after 17 years and Pobi for 10 years old. All of us were very sad when they pass away.

It's about time for a new family member to come in. Dad got a chocolate Labrador Retriever - named "Sunday" on Aug 15. Sunday is a 2.5 years old chocolate lab and he is very good dog.

Yvonne loves to play with him and she even lying on his bed with him while playing with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labrador_Retriever

my 600RR is now lowered with rim stripe

Bike is now lowered. 1/2" cut on the kick stand and blue stripe is pasted on the rim. I got complement for the rim stripe already.

Bike is lowered with Soupy performance link. It's kinda too low now. I will put it back up little by little later for sure.

Alvin got me a new glove from Cycle Gear which is the Alpinestar S-MX short glove for the summer with CF protection.

The next one will be the extened swing arm spoof.

My new 07 CBR600RR

After comparing a few bikes 08 GSXR600/08 ZXR6/08 ZZR600, I picked up my brand new '07 Honda CBR 600RR on July 26 2008.

So far I have frame slider installed. The rim stripe is coming as well as lowering kit. I need my lowering kit badly as I can barely touch the ground.

It's an awesome bike. Still trying to get used to it. Lot of power and easy to handle. I actually like the new electronic damper on the steering. The steering feeling is actually a bit better than my friend's 05 VFR 800. Or maybe just because it's new.

I sold my 07 CBR125R on July 30. I will miss my little 125R as it brings me a lot of fun while trying to pick up the riding again.

SONY HDR-TG1 Review

I sold my HDR-CX7 a month before HDR-TG1 became available.

My Camera/Camcorder History
I am a big fan of Sony cameras. I bought my first Sony Mavica Floppy digital camera FD-5 (640x480 0.3 megpixel) I believe about 10 years ago and I still have pictures in my album taken from that camera. Even the crappiest cell phone can take better picture than that now. But back then, it was such a technology advance and since flash memory are so expensive back then, I made my decision on a floopy camera instead. I then upgraded to the first near MEGAPIXEL (or interpolated Megapixel) Mavica FD83 which was the very first camera that takes megapixel pictures and yet it's on floppy. I change my digital cameras almost once every year after that until I hit the DSC-M1 which then I stopped. DSC-M1 was the very first camera to take 640x480@30fps with STEREO sound that takes video almost as good as some of the camcorder. Back then, I did have my 1st Sony miniDV camcorder but it was rarely used. I bought M1 thinking to leave my camcorder behind so I can use it as a camcorder as well. But the video quality on M1 is not comparable to the real camcorder after the compression.

The 2nd camcorder I bought after many years with my miniDV was DCR-S100 which was the first Hard Drive Camcorder ever made by Sony. Back then, JVC had some 1st generation of 30GB/60GB camcorders available already, but I found the color on the JVC not very impressive at all. I bought my S100 the week it was released in Canada and I love it for sure. However, after a month, I found I was not carrying it much because of the size. When I go out with my kids, I have other gadgets to carry like PSP/DS lite, etc. At almost 500g, S100 simply is not a good choice to carry around with my kid the whole time.

The 3rd camcorder is to address the issue of weight and also the advancement to HighDef. I picked HDR-CX7 for the size, weight. Like I said, I carry a lot of things with me when I go out. Therefore, the lighter, the better. CX7 is beautiful and the video is simply impressive. I took it with me on the trip to Disney California at 2007 Christmas and took lots of pictures and video. Ever since CX7, I have no more digital camera and I am not planning on buying any in the near future. I was happy with my CX7, but it is not perfect. it's still around 350g to carry and with the circular shape, my bag usually looked bulky with it.

When I first saw they announced the HDR-TG1 in March 2008, I wasn't convinced right away. I thought it would be expensive and probably offer nothing new compare to my beloved CX7.
In April 2008, Sony Canada/USA announced the price of HDR-TG1, and detail specification of HDR-TG1, then I immediately shouted, "that's the one".

Sony Canada posted MSRP on HDR-TG1 as $999 and the accessories package for $100 more ($1099) comes with extra battery, BCTRP wall charger, accessory bag, Camera leather style bag (LCMTGA). That was an awesome deal and it is much cheaper than everything I had with my CX7. Stupid enough, Sony pulled out the $1099 deal 2 weeks after but have the same deal in US for $999 but that was after I sold my HDR-CX7. I sold everything I had with CX7 almost exactly the same package as the $1099 for HRD-TG1 for $850 (extra battery/BCTRP/Sony Carry Case) and waited for a month for the HDR-TG1 for 3 reasons. 1. Smaller/Lighter with Titanium body 2. Face Detection camera. 3. Up-right shooting position.

So here I am, the 4th Camcorder - HDR-TG1 (aka HDR-TG3 in Europe). I bought 2 of HDR-TG1 from Sony Store on May 16 2008 and I negotiated a pretty good price for 2 camcorders + 2 accessories pack (ACCTH5). Remember, if you go to Sony store in Canada, you can negotiate the price especially on Camcorders with accessories.

First impression compare to HDR-CX7
It's small and I mean it. It felt like I was holding my DSC-M1 on my hand except it's heavier. At around 250g, it felt solid on my hand. The titanium body does not leave finger print as on my CX7. The battery is hidden so it looks much more elegant. In fact, I showed my HDR-TG1 to many people I know and a few of them's reactions were they will buy one for sure.

I am not sure how some review says the battery doesn't last more than an hour, but I have it fully charged and shows 96 minutes which is similar on what I can get on my CX7. The menu operation is very close to CX7. I can't find much changes to it other than the preview was taken out from the button and can only be access from the touch screen which is a bit inconvience for some people. The button on LCD screen is taken out from CX7 and the nigth shot was taken out as well. Camera resoultion is down to 4 Megapixel instead of 6.1 on my CX7, but the face detection sure makes up for it.

4 GB Memory Pro Duo Mark2 card was supplied. CX7 comes with nothing at all. Why HDR-CX7 didn't come with a memory still puzzled me. But Sony sure makes it right this time with HDR-TG1. Antoher qucik thing I have noticed is that with the highest settings on video, TG1 has like a few minutes more on 4GB memory as it was shown on the display for 28 minutes where as my CX7 shows 25 or less. Now sure how it was done, but it's a nice plus I guess.

More to come.....

My first blog

I have been wanting to make a blog for a log time but never have the chance to do so.

I will focus more on gadget that I purchase and reviewed for a extensive period of time. Most of the reviews for gadgets are usually short term. The publisher gets the new gadget for review and play with it for a few hours and then write the review. Some of the small details are usually left out and sometimes it was not clear for things I would like to know in more detail.

I will take this chance to see if I can make more in-depth review and put more missing information on thing that was left out from other reviews available on the web with my own gadget.

I talk to people a lot when it comes to gadgets. I made a lot of recommendation for gadgets and people are usually take my advise after I explain in details on what they are getting. With this blog, I might be able to help people that I don't know to make up their mind.

There are few things that I have acquired recently and I am planning in writing my own reviews for it very soon.

1. Sony HDR-TG1 1080i camcorder
2. Logitech Dinovo Mini (Bluetooth keyboard/Mouse)
3. Onda VX747 8GB MP4 player
4. Archos 605 80GB wifi PMP with RealVideo