Asus Eee vs Acer Aspire 4315

It was my mom who texted me one day and told me of the existence of this laptop. My mom said that it was small and it was a very nice laptop. I was at first skeptical about the said laptop and decided to do some research about this wonder laptop called the Asus Eee PC.

I would have to say that for a small laptop it actually has very good features. And you would get these features at a very small cost. So how much will it (Asus Eee PC 701) retail in the Philippines? 17,999 pesos! At the said price, it is actually cheaper than the announced price of USD $399, if converted using 44 pesos to a dollar. It’s cheaper to get the Asus Eee PC here in the Philippines!

But don’t get your hopes up yet guys. Just check it’s specifications so that you can judge for yourself what this so-called Asus Eee really is:

· Processor: Intel Celeron M ULV 900MHz

· Graphics: Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU

· Storage: 4GB of Flash-based storage (SSD) (there is also an 8GB version)

· Memory: 512MB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)

· OS: Xandros Linux (Asus customized, preloaded with OpenOffice, Skype, and google applications)

· Screen: 7-inch screen with 800 x 480 resolution

· Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100

· Webcam (0.3 MP)

· Battery: 4-cell 5200 mAh 7.4V Li-Ion (rated at 3.5 hours)

· Wireless: 802.11b/g Atheros

· Input: Keyboard and Touchpad

· Weight: approximately 2 lbs with battery, 2.5 lbs travel weight with AC adapter.

· Two-year warranty

In my opinion, the Asus Eee Notebook would be a great toy for children. It is also a very good laptop for students and people who will only use it for research and word processing works. Don’t expect to play games in this PC or be able to install programs like Windows XP and Photoshop with the very limited 8GB storage memory.

It’s a good thing that I researched the specifications of this laptop first rather than quickly agreeing to get this laptop. Although Asus is a well respected brand, it’s specs doesn’t suit me at all.

So I’m still hanging on to my dream of getting that Acer Aspire 4315 with much better specs but for a much higher price of course. But the Acer Aspire is pretty much worth it with these specs:

• Intel® Celeron® M Processor 530SR (1.73GHz, 1MB Cache, 533MHz FSB)
• Mobile Intel® GL960 Express chipset with integrated 3D graphics, featuring Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100, up to 358 MB of Intel DVMT 4.0 (8 MB of dedicated, up to 350 MB of shared system memory), supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0
• 14.1" Wide XGA CrystalBrite (200 nit) Color LCD supports 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and dual display via Acer GridVista
• 80GB SATA HDD
• 1GB DDR2 RAM
• Integrated 56Kbps modem & 10/100 Mbps LAN
• Integrated 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
• Integrated DVD/CD-RW combo drive
• Two built-in Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers
• 6-cell Li-Ion Battery Pack (2.0 hours battery life)
• 3xUSB, 1xVGA port, ExpressCard/54 slot, S-video/TV-out (NTSC/PAL) port
• 344 (W) × 246 (D) × 37/42 (H) mm
• Weight 2.6kg
• 1-Year International Traveler Warranty
• Acer Designed Carrying Bag
• Genuine Microsoft Windows XP OS

For Php 32,000 the Acer Aspire 4315 is a great buy indeed!

Blogging Boom

It has recently occurred to me that the number of bloggers has actually grown and that blog sites are popping like mushrooms everywhere. For those who don’t know what a blog is, it is like an online diary or a site where you post your reviews, thoughts, pictures, videos, and whatever media you my have.

As a friend of mine commented, people are going Adsense addicts. Adsense by the way is a great new product by Google that allows you to earn money by allowing ads to flash on your webpage. The more page impressions or clicks and referrals to those ads, the more money you own. Unfortunately on my part, I only get around 10 people who visit my blog every day and this would earn me only a few cents. But hey I did already earned around $6 since last year. This is a great feat for an amateur personal blogger as my self.

But I am quite impressed by the blogs of my friends. Their blogs have such substance that makes my blog seem so shallow and all, but hey it’s a personal blog after all right? I can post anything I want no matter how boring it is. But seeing those blogs of my friends poses a great challenge to me. I will improve my blog, not just to earn more money but for personal satisfaction too. Maybe once in a while I’ll place my reviews on gadgets, movies, or whatsoever because my friend said that reviews tend to get more viewers.

Anyway here are some blogs of friends and contacts that really caught my attention:

1. http://republikaneri.blogspot.com/
2. http://laytech.blogspot.com/
3. http://kirbitz.blogspot.com/
4. http://mikekrismac.blogsome.com/
5. http://yu-rico.blogspot.com/
   

My First Surgical Case

I am quite lucky to have been able to have my first surgical case at Xavier University Community Health Care Center. I was able to scrub in an excision or removal of a fibroadenoma at the left breast. A fibroadenoma is actually a sort of cyst or mass in the breast. It's actually benign so there was nothing to worry about. I was fortunate to have worked with such an intelligent, skillful, and understanding surgeon. The surgeon has showed me great surgical techniques that I thought I would only see on TV. It was amazing that I actually helped him do those procedures. Actually he could have done it himself. I wasn't really that helpful. Like it was my first time to scrub-in and it really took some time for me to think of what to do next. Dr. Perez was very understanding and he really helped in guiding me what to do. He must have empathized with me since he was also a nurse. He is actually still very young for a talented surgeon. I really had a difficulty in addressing him because I keep on calling him sir instead of doctor. Always remember to call doctors doctor because it is a bit degrading to be called sir because sir is only for male nurses and patients. Its a complex world of medical professionals. Anyway it was quite embarassing when I broke my sterility (that's the absence of microorganisms) but I won't say how because people might use it against me in the court of law. Hehehe. But my mistake wasn't that bad and the operating room nurse was kind enough to let me of the hook that time. The operating room is very amazing. Kind of like a magical place. Imagine in the morning I had to work in the ward and them in the operating room in the afternoon. I was so tired and I wanted to go home but once I entered the operating room adrenaline rush swept all over my body as an operation was actually already begun. It was a shame that I wasn't able to take pictures of the operation but we actually didn't think of taking pictures that time. We had several minor operations and each operation was like a new experience. If I were given a choice to choose where I would specialize, I would definitely say the operating room.

Filipino CEO Sex Scandal

It's quite amazing how this keywords could attract so many readers. Like I've read in some blog that the words sex scandal could really attract people to your blog or website. If you did open this blog because of the said keywords then the statistics must be true. What is it with human beings and they find something controversial very interesting and amusing. Maybe human beings are just finding ways to spice up their lives with things that are out of the ordinary like sex scandals. If people had enough time and their own private place, camera, and girlfriends/boyfriends then I guess we would have an abundant supply of sex scandals because people would do the things that are forbidden to fulfill one's curiousity and to stir up one's boring routines that we call life. I think that all of us have thought of doing something wrong just to see what happens. Imagine slapping your teacher. Isn't it interesting to find out their reactions? Maybe we provoke to feel that we truly exist. I don't know with others but this is just my idea why people do stupid things.

Goodbye Laptop

I had mixed emotions when my mom texted me one day and told me that our installment plan for my laptop was accepted. I was supposed to get an Acer Aspire 4315! Like it had 1 GB of RAM already and it already has a pre-installed Genuine XP! What a sweet deal! Naturally I would be ecstatic and all because I could already get my laptop anytime in that week. But all my hopes and expectations were washed down the drain when she told me that we needed a co-buyer that was a close relative. One would say that that wasn't a big deal at all. But in my case it is a big deal. My mom's relatives are all in Manila. My dad's relatives are here but the only one's living near the city can't even afford to support themselves, how in the world can they become co-buyers of a techno stuff that they would have to work for for several years to be able to barely afford the downpayment. Don't get me wrong, my dad does have successful sisters but they live so far away, one is in Cebu and the other is in California. Actually the store was happy enough to allow my mom to have her officemate co-sign the contract. Her officemate was actually very willing to be a co-buyer, God bless her. Everything was going smoothly and even fast but unfortunately my mom's husband had to get in the way of my dream. He is such a disappointment and I bluntly say that I am ashamed to have him as a father. Like who in their right mind would tell a credit officer that we had plans of leaving the country? He even showed the credit inspector my mom's text telling him not to say anything stupid like what he just said. He talked like a stupid parrot telling the credit officer that my mom gives post-dated checks, which isn't true, and even told the credit officer that my mom had plans of early retirement. Who in their right mind would allow us to purchase anything if we weren't financially stable. The fact is we are financially stable but my stupid father had to open his big mouth and destroyed our reputation. So right now my dreams and all my plans for my laptop are gone. To think that I could have used the laptop to simplify my study life. But all of that is gone now. My mom told me not to be depressed and all because there are a lot of stores but that atore had the laptop which I really wanted and I would have to prolong the anguish and agony of obsessing about that freaky laptop. Grr! How hard it is to convince me that it's just a stupid piece of wires and chips but what can I do, I've been waiting and expecting too long already for that laptop to materialize but then all of the sudden poof! It disappeared like that. How much longer do I have to wait! I do understand my mom but I still blame my dad for ruining it for me.