Posts by IrishRob

This THREESOME is a HANDFUL: It’s the Asus Transformer Book Trio

I have one

I picked one up from John Lewis when they first came out.

Am not sure about the Windows vs. Linux debate.... Anyhoo, I must agree with most of the comments from the original review: Lack of backlit keyboard is a bit of a pain, it is rather heavy and yes it is trying to do lots of different things and not all of them entirely successfully.

For me: First and foremost I wanted something to replace a bulky desktop and to connect to an existing monitor. I also wanted an occasional laptop and the use of a large screen Android tablet. So, in my order of priority the Trio works well. More often than not the tablet / screen is disconnected, and only occasionally used just as a separate Android tablet, although Android does actually take longer to fully boot than Windows 8 with an SSD. The Android / Windows integration has been much lauded, but I must confess that I have not even tried that; I can save shared files with Microsoft or Dropbox, and I don't have a huge list of websites to share.

However, it could really do with an SD card slot and despite the 2x USB3 ports, docking stations are still a bit light on the ground (none available with SD, why not?!). There is a slight whine from the fan when it has been run for a while but not that bad, hopefully it doesn't get worse over time. Also, there can be issues with OS switch / screen drivers, hence why I have resisted Windows 8.1. With this being such a niche product I wouldn't be surprised to have to wait a long time for them.

I had actually been holding out for the Thinkpad Yoga, but I think the screen would have just got in the way when it came to using it with the external monitor. Yes, I know £900 is a bit spicy but it's still cheaper than the Thinkpad Yoga and for what I want I'm am very happy with my purchase.

Ten phones for seniors

Great article

I bought my Mum the Doro clamshell phone a few months ago and she thinks it's great. Although my Mum is 75 she is perfectly sharp and in no way incapable, the thing is: She sees a phone as....... something for making telephone calls and so has no interest in all the extras. I think clamshell phones are the best option as, to someone who is not used to using a mobile, the concept of locking the keypad is a completely alien one.

Interestingly enough: My Mum is from the generation who memorised phone numbers so she has little use for an address book as she can remember all the important numbers, something that the 'mobile generation' would most likely struggle with.

As for the Doro - It really is great the way the extra features can be switched off. It still makes me laugh when you do the odd review of this type of advice and someone decries it for 'lacking bluetooth / wi-fi / media player etc'. For these devices, for lots of different people - less is more.

Oh, and it would be nice to see the industry turn the same philosophy to digital cameras, every one that I look at..... too many buttons. Try explaining to someone, who doesn't use a computer, how 'convenient' it is to take a picture, connect it to a computer, download it, send it to the printer etc. Although at least there is now the option to print pictures in supermarkets, chemists etc.

New balesio appliance liposuctions fat out of files

The software is great

Assuming that this is using the Fileminimizer software (engine?) I have to say that the software is the dog's dangly bits.

We have Office 2000 in work and I started off using PPTMinimizer, I had to send them a stern e-mail criticising their claim of "Up to 96% reduction" in file sizes, as I had managed 99.6% :) It does this by dumbing down graphics resolutions to only that which can be viewed, getting rid of crops that PowerPoint retains and removing embedded applications caused by foolish use of copy & paste.

I must have a go at their latest Office Fileminizer for Excel and Word as their recent versions haven't worked so well with MSO 2000.