Mobile Computing: Old Notebooks, New Lives

By James A. Martin, PCWorld Apr 7, 2005 1:00 AM

Mobile Computing News, Reviews, & Tips

Notebook News: Tax Break Proposed for Proper Computer Disposal

The last thing you want to do with an old notebook or other computer is toss it in the trash. Why? Computers contain hazardous toxins such as lead, mercury, and cadmium.

"Growing mountains of e-waste are clogging our nation's landfills and posing great risks to Americans' health and to our natural environment," says U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon).

Wyden and Senator Jim Talent (R-Missouri) recently introduced legislation to give tax breaks to individuals and businesses for safely disposing of computers and other electronic devices.

Notebook Accessory: A Remote for Watching DVDs on a Notebook

Most notebooks don't come with a remote control for watching DVDs. But don't despair: The IWand 3-in-1 PC DVD Remote Control ($50) works from up to 30 feet away, according to the company. The remote features buttons for play, pause, stop, advance, mute, and chapter, as well as screen capture. It works with the Windows Media Player, WinDVD, and Power DVD. For details, go to the Mythix site.

Notebook Reviews: Updated Centrino Models Set the Stage for Future Improvements

PC World recently tested Dell, Gateway, and HP notebooks featuring the updated Intel Centrino wireless platform.

The verdict: We didn't see a dramatic performance boost. But the updated Centrino notebooks don't cost much more than other notebooks; and they include more advanced technology in memory, audio, and wireless networking. Also, they use the fast new PCI Express bus. These enhancements should set the stage for future improvements.

Notebook News: Dell's Latest Notebooks Designed for Games, DVDs

New from Dell: an updated Inspiron XPS gaming notebook that incorporates the latest Centrino technology and uses a new NVidia graphics card that's currently available only from Dell. The company has also announced the Inspiron 9300, which has a 17-inch display for watching television or movies. Microsoft's Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 operating system is available on both notebooks, allowing easy access to movies, games, and music files.

A typical Inspiron XPS configuration will set you back $2749 and includes a 2-GHz Pentium M 760 processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, the NVidia graphics card, a 60GB hard drive, and Windows XP Home Edition; the Media Center Edition operating system is available for an additional $39.

The Inspiron 9300, which features buttons for DVD and TV controls, starts at $1599 for a system with the Pentium M 760, 256MB of DDR2 memory, and a 40GB hard drive.

For more details on Dell's newest offerings, read "Dell Rolls Out Flashy New Gaming Notebooks."

Wireless News: Theories Behind the Paris Hilton Hacker Affair

By now you've probably heard that hackers recently gained access to Paris Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick account and posted Paris's address book (full of famous names) on the Internet. How did that happen?

One leading theory is that a flaw in a Web site feature for resetting T-Mobile account passwords played a role. The password reset flaw is just one of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of similar flaws in T-Mobile's Web page that could give hackers easy access, according to one security expert.

Gadget First Look: M:robe Does Many Things, but None Particularly Well

The Olympus M:robe ($500) is a music player, photo viewer, and a 1.2-megapixel digital camera. Unfortunately, it doesn't excel at any of those functions, says PC World reviewer Tracey Capen. For example, the device is a bit bulky for a music player, at 4.3 by 0.8 by 2.9 inches in size. And digital images taken with the built-in camera were on par with a cell-phone camera.