Whatever laptop you’ve decided to invest in, there are a few basic accessories which you probably won’t want to be without. Here’s just a quick guide to some of the essential must-have items…
⋄ Laptop Bag
This is almost certainly one of the first accessories that you’ll want to purchase, especially if you plan take your laptop with you when you’re on the move. Not only will a good laptop bag protect you laptop from becoming damaged, but it can also offer a convenient way to transport you cable charger, and any other accessories which you may choose to invest in.
⋄ Cleaning Cloths
If you want to keep your laptop looking as good as the day you bought it, then you’ll want to invest in a few specially design computer cleaning cloths. The fact that WiFi is now much more widely accessible means that laptop owners can access sites such as hotmail, Youtube, Facebook or o2.co.uk from a variety of locations in a daily basis. However, this greatly increases the risk of getting food, drinks or even just sticky fingers all over your laptop – for which cleaning cloths are the only solution.
⋄ USB Mouse
Whilst some people manage to use touch-sensitive laptop controls just fine, they can certainly take some getting used to, and for most people they can be something of an inconvenience. If you’re using your laptop on a regular basis, then it can be a good idea to invest in a USB mouse, which offers a quick and easy way to improve your laptop experience.
⋄ Headphones
As much of the appeal in owning your own laptop lies in the fact that it is a portable computer, you are more than likely to end up using it within a public space. If you need to hear sounds played from your laptop system, or even just enjoy listening to music while you work, then avoid annoying other nearby and invest in some good quality headphones.
Trendy notebook bags
Belkin knows that for some of you there’s nothing worse than a dorky computer bag. It makes it so obvious that you’re carrying around a laptop that you can’t help but feel a little nerdy. That’s why they’ve created a line of trendy laptop bags designed to make you look and feel a little better when you’re heading to school or work. Plus, if it’s less obvious that you’re carrying an expensive computer you’re less likely to be targeted by someone that steals laptops.
The Sling Bag is built for notebooks up to 15.4″ and it looks like a backpack. It’s ideal for students and the major benefit is that you can wear it like a backpack and save yourself the aches of having your laptop dragging down one side of your body. If you have a bigger laptop then try the Messenger Bag. It’s meant for laptops up to 17″ and has lots of space for all your accessories. It’s not quite as convenient as the backpack model but it still gets the job done well.
Cute and funny USB drives
My good old 256MB USB drive that I bought probably 5 years ago has finally died and I needed a new one. I went to the local computer shop not far from my place to see what they had, but the ones they had in stock were a bit pricey and dull looking, while I wanted a USB drive that would not only serve its purpose, but also look funny and attractive. So I decided to go get a new one at Ebay. To my pleasure, the prices for USB flash drives were definitely lower there and the variety of designs they had was simply astonishing. Here are the USB flash drives that I and my wife thought to be the most cute and funny.
Laptop Skins
If the old boring look of your mobile computer makes you yawn every time you see it, perhaps it’s time to make your laptop unique and standing out of the crowd with a laptop skin.
A laptop skin is a great way to personalize your computer and customize its look, and the even more exciting thing is that you can find places where you can print your own 100% unique laptop skin. Not only your laptop will look different than others, you will also protect it from nicks and scratches so it will always look like new. If you ever become bored with your current skin, you can easily replace it with a new one, and the price for it is so low that you can afford to clad your laptop in a new color every day.
You can get a laptop skins for virtually any notebook, be it a PC or a Mac. Consider a laptop skin as the avatar for your laptop, that tells a lot about your personality. You may put a photo of your loved one or your pet, your favorite sports team, a picture from your vacation or your online game character. There are also great looking professionally designed stickers available for buying, so just pick the one you like and dress your notebook for a new look!
Canon PIXMA iP2702: a dirt cheap photo printer
If you do not plan to use your photo inkjet printer for lot and just need a cheap device to print the occasional photo, the Canon Pixma iP2702 may be just for You. For only $30 that Canon Pixma iP2702 photo printer costs, You really get what You pay for. It can provide adequate level of service and there’s no doubt You can get print of a good quality from it. However, over time the cost of ownership of Canon Pixma iP2702 will most likely be disappointing as its ink is unusually pricey.
The design of the printer is clean. Canon Pixma iP2702 has no capture tray at the bottom and no control panel. There are only two buttons, each with inset LEDs: power and cancel, however the bundled software totally makes for it. The Canon’s Solution Menu and MyPrinter make managing the printer quite simple and with Easy-PhotoPrinter EX You can organize your digital photo albums easily. The printing quality is good to better with the speed of 1.4 pages per minute (a standard 4 x 6-inch glossy), however the noise levels the printer makes are a bit too high. No surprise, there’s no network support on this machine, it only has a USB data port.
The Canon Pixma iP2702 is a reasonable and cheap photo printer for the casual user looking for good quality.
PlanOn DocuPen X05: a portable scanner for laptop users
If You are a laptop user who occasionally needs to scan documents while You are traveling, the DocuPen X05 portable bluetooth scanner will make it possible. It is both highly portable, and has great features: it can scan up to 80 pages on a single battery charge at resolutions in range from 150dpi to 600dpi. The PlanOn DocuPen X05 has a great connectivity too: it uses a microSD card for storage, but it can also be connected directly to Your laptop or smartphone via Bluetooth link. With PlanOn DocuPen X05 converting printed documents to digital form and transferring them to Your computer has never been easier.
Stylish laptop case and an adapter & 2 in 1
If you’re tired of carrying around a bulky adapter for Your laptop, You’re going to love this newly designed computer case that also functions as a power source for Your laptop. This adapter will be Your space- and life-saver.
Two Korean industrial designers, Jung Uk Park and Kyuwon Kim, have built this new laptop adapter that also functions as a computer case The cords of the case are used as straps and the handle functions as the very easy to use power adapter. Whenever your battery power becomes low you only have plug the handle into an electrical outlet. Should I add that the device is not only lightweight and functional, but it also looks very stylish as well?
Minoru 3D Webcam with High-Tech Features
One of the remarkable high-tech inventions of the year 2009 is, without doubt, a 3D webcam. As soon as the Minoru 3D webcam was announced, people started speculating on what it would turn out to be. While people around the globe want technology that would make their far living relatives closer to them, nobody would have thought of a 3D webcam.
But do not raise your expectations too high because 3D here does not in any way mean that you would get to see a holograph of your relative as you have probably seen in a myriad of science fiction movies. With expectations scaled down, you will see that this Minoru 3D will indeed perform exceptionally well. First of all it uses 2 cameras which can be easily tweaked to see 3D image of your relative delivered through red and cyan anaglyph 3D. This image can easily be seen with the help of cheap cardboard 3D glasses (you’ll get five pairs of these included with the webcam).
The camera is also compatible with NVIDIA 3D vision and if you have the hardware, you can well get a full-on 3D experience. The image does turn out to be perfectly good.
The Minoru’s 2 cameras are also capable of delivering picture in picture footage which in practice turns out to be very useful indeed.
Minoru is a Japanese word for reality. Although the Minoru 3D webcam does not exactly deliver the 3D pictures that it promises to, well nothing out there can actually do it, it does give the technology buffs a great way to indulge in an innovative product and also showing off a webcam that has, well, two bloody good cameras. One very important thing is that the Minoru 3D camera is available at a relatively low cost of around $100. 3D video conferencing in undoubtedly going to be a lot of fun.
JBL Invader Speakers For Your Home PC
However good the built-in speakers of your laptop are, if you really want to rock your workplace, you’re going to need high quality external speakers. These are especially important if you play your music collection from a cellphone or your computer’s can only provide mediocre sound quality. For all the music lovers out there JBL is presenting Invader, the 4.1 surround sound multimedia speaker system. This stylish multimedia set that will look good next to any computer has a nominal output power of 80 Watts and handles high volumes really well, without any sign of distortion. The 4 passive satellites will provide for amazing and highly realistic surround sound with excellent highs. The subwoofer, although being quite compact and able to fit discreetly under your desk, is really loud and can totally bring out bass. Being compatible with all kinds of stereo and multichannel sound sources, the speakers are very easy to set up. Even if you don’t have a multichannel sound card in your laptop or a PC, you can still use it as a 2.1 system.
With the Invader sound system, JBL has definitely hit it’s mark again, so if you are looking for an inexpensive surround sound speakers, that are easy to set up and good for any use, the JBL Invaders would be your best bet.
Sony BWU-300S Blu-ray drive: burn a 25 Gb disc in 30 minutes
The Sony BWU-300S Blu-Ray burner is the company’s first foray into the market for burning their proprietary disc format. LG previously had the market cornered so it’s nice to see a little competition. The burner can transfer 25GB of data to a disc in 15-25 minutes depending on the media you’re using (it’s likely going to take closer to 25 minutes no matter what Sony claims). You can also record CDs and DVDs on the burner. If you’re looking to create home movies from your new HD camera or you’ve found a way to copy Blu-Rays it’s a great device that’s well worth the cost.
The Sony BWU-300S also comes bundled with Men in Black, the Sony movie. It’s an old film but it’s nice to get a little something. Plus, it’s a Blu-Ray so if you haven’t yet watched one on an HD TV this is the perfect situation to check it out. What you probably care more about is the Blu-Ray burner though and you’re getting a great deal where that is concerned. The burner works exceptionally well. The price is a little expensive, being around $400, but that’s how it’s always been with the latest technology. It will come down as more companies get in on this market and produce competitive products.
SATA II ExpressCard by Belkin
There is a number of laptop users who need to store more than average amounts of data and be able to access their files fast and easily. Thanks to the new SATA II standard and the growing capacity of hard drives, these days it is possible to save larger amounts of video or image content on external drives with speeds never seen before. But what can be done if your laptop does not have a SATA II port? The new Belkin SATA II ExpressCard is here to help.
You can install this adapter easily into a standard 54 mm ExpressCard slot of your laptop and connect any Serial ATA II hard drive to your computer. Contrary to external USB hard drivers, SATA II hard drives have a theoretical throughput limit of 3.0Gbs, that means you can copy large files to an from your external hard drive without every worrying that your laptop will slow down or freeze.
The Belkin SATA II ExpressCard can be bought for $89.99.