My Sager is coming tomorrow, but I have some questions.

Well, my Sager NP2090 is finally coming tomorrow. Though, I have a few questions.

1. What would be a decent notebook cooler for it? I like the Zalman ZM-NC1000, but is there anything comparable at a lower price?

2. What would be a good backpack for my Sager? I need one that can hold the notebook, along with a lot of books and several extra pockets.

3. I will be taking this laptop everywhere, including places with no WiFi. How would I use a cell phone with HSDPA to connect to internet while on the go?

Well, that's about it for now. I can't wait for it to arrive.

Thanks in advance.

 

1.Spire Pacific Breeze, but I would still recommend the Zalman, I have heard many good things about it.

 

Hmm...I have seen that cooler, but I remember reading that some people complained that it was a bit noisy. Is that the case?

 

2. I bought a dakine 101 and I LOVE it. They replaced the "laptop sleeve" inside the main compartment with an actual laptop pocket that opens from the side. It's very cool.

Any dakine pack would do, though. They're all very good quality and perfect for laptops and school.

 

3. Use BT to connect to your laptop to teh Internet. Did you include a BT module in your config?

 

The Zalman has been tried and true! Ditto to what Gophn and other members have to rave about this notebook cooler.

As far as backpack goes, I've been recommending the Swiss Gear backpack at Sam's Club to everyone. It's stylish, well built, and very sturdy for $39 and change.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=2&item=361436

Check it out!

 

Yup the zalman its like an air conditioner.

Here is my comparison between the North Face Surge and the Targus Feren bookbag.
The Surge has a lot of space for books, but the 9 cell is going to be bit of a hassle fitting it in the sleeve. Right now I'm removing the battery so my 2090 can fit easier into the sleeve.

 

Well, it seems that the Zalman cooler is my best choice. A bit pricey, but it seems to be worth it.

As for the backpack, I'll look into the ones you guys mentioned and see which one is the best for me. I'll also be checking out local stores to see if there are any that I like.

As for getting online while on the go, I did order the bluetooth module. I will be able to access the web on a cell phone with the HSDPA service, but how exactly will I be able to browse the web on my notebook?

Thanks again.

 

That depends on what phone and service you use. It took me a few days of frustration to learn cellphone lingo to effectively search for answers, and I've found that 'Tethering' is what it's usually called, so it's a good word to google for. It's best to do your own research on that one, as some carriers frown on this depending on your plan details.

For example, I use AT&T/Cingular, and I have a 'Motorazr V3xx'. AT&T provides three different types of unlimited data plan:

MediaMax Unlimited @ $20/mo
Standard plan for regular phones

Smartphone/PDA Unlimited @ ~$40/mo (don't remember exactly)
Smartphones are presumed to use more bandwidth for email checking and such, so they hit you with a steeper bill for the unlimited plan. I guess they figure that the blackberry wielding crowd can afford it.

Laptop Card Unlimited @ $60-70/mo (don't remember exactly)
Made for laptop card internet access, or laptops with the modules built in (Lenovo does this, for example). Oddly enough, they make you pay a fee equal to the lowest voice plan if you don't have one with them and you just want to use the card. This is what they want you to be paying for unlimited bandwidth of the sort you're used to from a computer.

Now the skinny with AT&T is that they don't want you paying $20/mo for $60/mo service, so they don't want you tethering unless you cough up for it. You can do it with most of their phones without much trouble, but they keep track of every data request going through the lines, so if they see you pulling down gigabytes of data through your razr, they'll know what's up. At that point they'll probably reserve the right to deny you unlimited data service, and it might be up to you to know they have done so. If they cancel you and you keep right on going, they'll happily charge you by the kilobyte, which reminds me . . .

I will stress that it is vital you have an unlimited data plan. For example, with AT&T, you're charged $0.01/kB after you exceed the data limit of your plan. That doesn't sound like much, but it works out to $10/MB, or a staggering $10,000/GB. Imagine not knowing this and finding out after a month of heavy bittorrent use.

And that about sums it up. I know I wasn't too specific, but there's plenty more info out there on details. I don't think it's appropriate to get into detail here out of respect for forum rules, as some of this is kind of shady. I just wanted you and anyone else stumbling by to know some of the risks in doing this without working with your carrier (and paying their fees). I only tether when I'm hard pressed (need a driver to get ethernet working for example) and only sparingly, and I've been lucky so far. My advice is to either work with your carrier on the up-and-up if you really need that kind of connectivity, or forget about it. After the research I did, it'd take a lot to convince me it's worth the risk just to browse the web.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

P.S. If this falls outside the scope of your question, and you were just asking how to get the hardware/software running to browse, my apologies. I assumed by the way you asked the question.

 

@DJPhil

Thanks a lot for that information. I myself will be getting a new service plan soon, also with AT&T/Cingular. I'll probably be purchasing a Samsung Sync, or possibly a Blackberry. For wireless web browsing, I'll only be opening up mostly small pages. I don't intend on downloading anything enormous while on the go (will use WiFi for that). So, I should be fine without them canceling, right? Once I get the phone, I'll see what I can do. Thing is, I've seen many people doing this before, and it seemed useful. If this doesn't work, my ISP offers remote dial-up access. Is it possible to use my cell phone as a phone line?


Also, before I order the Zalman cooler, I have one question, is it comfortable on the lap?

Anyway, thanks again everyone.

Edit: Well, I read the AT&T terms and conditions and it looks like that's no longer an option.

 

You are quite welcome.

Yes, it's just like a voice call and uses minutes as per your plan, none of the data weirdness from above applies. though I don't know what hardware/software you'd need. Odds are good that you can use bluetooth with either of those phones and set up a dial up connection, which would save you the trouble of busting out a cable.

Hope that helps. Cheers!

 

Thanks again. But, I think I'll be going with a T-mobile service, and it seems OK to tether with them. If not, then I'll go ahead with that.

Now, about the Zalman cooler, does anybody know if it is comfortable on the lap?