Microsoft Surface 2

A while ago, we had an offer from MOE to purchase a Microsoft Surface RT tablet at a lower price. This was after news that Microsoft took a huge loss for it. Thus telling us one thing - it sucked.

As a piece of technology, it was not really that bad. But it was not really that good either. And when you cannot market the device well, hence leading to low sales, it only means nobody is going to buy it. AND when nobody buys it, no developers are going to develop for it. What this means is that you are not going to have a wealth of apps at hand.

Which brings me to my next point. Microsoft Surface RT could only run Windows apps downloaded from their app store. This horrifically means for me, I am not able to install Chrome. Or Firefox. Or use something that is not Internet Explorer. That combined with a lack of apps made the Surface RT a no-no for me.

For the average user however, you have what you need. You get a tablet with Microsoft Office bundled with it. Which means that you do not need to fork out extra for the Microsoft Office. But then again, if you are an average user, you probably did not need a tablet. Much less a tablet with Microsoft Office because if you are using Office, more often than not you will wish you have a physical keyboard and a mouse.

Of course this post was supposed to be about Microsoft Surface 2. After some re-branding, this is basically Microsoft Surface RT 2. We have a generally OK Singapore based review here and a more in depth UK based review here. Generally reviews do not touch on the important stuff to a consumer. I have always felt that way and I usually throng the internet for different reviews that would highlight that one small thing about the device so I can be informed. Well that is what I am trying to do here. Do the researching and posting what is actually relevant to the consumer here. And so for the Microsoft Surface 2, while an upgrade in terms of weight and specs, is still basically the same as the Microsoft Surface RT!

Would you think you need one at SGD618 for the 32GB model or SGD748 for the 64GB model?

Chromebook 1

This shall be a series of posts for the Chromebook which I have in my hands now to try out. I am thinking it will be disorganised as I will try it out and whatever features that I try will be given a very thorough examination and critique. But I will try my best to organise this.

First off, the looks and feels.

My Chromebook comes in a nice orangy-pinkish colour. I got the only one with a colour as I came first! It is kind of light, but not premium ultrabook light. Definitely lighter than our standard issue Lenovo Thinkpads. But of course the Thinkpads were built to survive clumsy people and earthquakes, thus explaining the weight. The layout is really simple - just a keyboard and a track pad. No extra shortcut buttons for the volume or what not as it's all part of the keyboard. And yes, even the power button. It has 3 USB ports, a HDMI out, and an SD card reader. We will not be able to bring this to the classroom as it does not have a VGA output for projectors.
(I will update about the specs for this later, as I have yet to find out.)

Secondly, setting it up.

Once you switch it on, it boots up real fast. Just a few seconds and it is ready. What you will need to do is to log in with your Google account. Now we can log in too with our MOE accounts but with the security settings, I could not access the Google Drive, so I have decided to go ahead and use my personal account instead. Just click add account at the bottom left, and log in and you are done!

Secondly (part 2), continuing the set up...

The mouse. I like things fast, so I set my track pad and mouse to move fast. But there's no control panel! Where do I go for this? Basically, think of your Chromebook as your normal laptop, without any, and I mean ANYTHING else, except for your Google Chrome web browser. That really, basically is what a Chromebook is! So when I say go to settings to tweak your mouse settings, I mean go to the Chrome settings! Or you can click on the bottom right where the time and WiFi sign is, and it would pop up a small menu where it would show settings, which would direct you to the Chrome settings after you click on it. There, you can change your mouse settings. And I must say, I am not please with it so far as it is still rather slow.

I am not sure what else people would do to set up their brand new computers, but for me, this is one of the basic ones. And since there is not anything else in this Chromebook, my set up was basically it! If there's anything else you would like to know, please leave a comment! Or wait for my posts further on!

Introduction.

Now, blogging isn't easy. It's time consuming and it is a certain art, since it is basically writing. Or expressing. Or whatever artists/writers/bloggers like to describe what they do. But I also realised that bloggers can be powerful. They can influence. They can change opinions. They can create, they can destroy.

I am certainly not set out to destroy or something like that, but I would like to be powerful. OK I'm kidding.
I would like to change opinions about technology. Generally, that's it. And I shall not elaborate more as I believe that the purpose of this blog might change over time but for now, yes, change opinions about technology. Everywhere.