Laptop upgrades are not difficult to complete yourself, and there are three key upgrades that you can easily accomplish to make your laptop run faster.  These will also give your laptop a higher resale value when you decide to replace it.

One of the most simple laptop upgrades to complete yourself is to upgrade your operating system. If you are running Windows XP or Windows Media Center, upgrading to Windows Vista is a good idea.  You will be able to take advantage of the many features of Windows Vista, as well as enhance the speed of your system.  An upgrade to Windows Vista for the Home Basic edition is under $100 and is worth it to enhance the efficiency of your system. (More…)

The Q1 UMPC and I went to San Diego a week ago. I started to blog about it earlier but then I remembered my rule about not mixing bourbon and blogging, so I held back… from blogging that is. (In fairness, I did a lot of blogging about the conference at DynamicAccounting.net but it was an accounting software conference not mobile devices.)

What Worked

Battery Life - The Q1 ultra mobile performed flawlessly on the coast to coast flight. Both coming and going I used the Samsung power bank and landed with a completely full internal Q1 battery each time. I watched movies both ways and got caught up on my Ze Frank and Wallstrip. Battery life with the Samsung power bank gets an A+.

OneNote and HSDPA - In the sessions I was able to take notes all day in One Note and I carried around a much smaller bag than most of the attendees. When WIFI wasn’t available, a Bluetooth connection to the Samsung Blackjack PDA worked just fine.

Office 2007 - I got a free copy of Office 2007 at the conference and I was feeling adventurous (or stupid) so I downloaded the 600+ mb clogging up the hotel’s wired connection and did the install It worked pretty well. Despite my success I don’t recommend doing this with your primary PC while out of town. I blame the bourbon.

Microphone - Audacity and the Samson Q1U microphone worked great for podcasting. I snagged an interview with Mary Jo Foley. It’s not often you get to turn the tables and interview the press! (I found out why she doesn’t have a TV!)

What Didn’t Work…

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Congratulations to Kevin Tofel of JKontheRun for his recent engagement. Barb, you have my condolences. Also, Kevin, it was very manly of you to step up and buy a real ring. I told you that the “it’s a virtual world, let’s get a virtual ring” thing wouldn’t work.

Now there’s all the wedding planning to do. Will the UMPC’s be white or contrasting black? Should the guest book be a UMPC or a Tablet PC? Will there be wifi at the wedding or only the reception? Does Tablet Kiosk or Samsung or Dell have a wedding registry? Should James Kendrick’s invitation have a gadget limit?

So many choices. Have fun making them, UMPC newlyweds!

I read Mark’s dilemma about to install or not Vista in his Q1 and I was about to reply in his post when I thought that probably would be more convenient if I write a few words about what I know and what I do not know of installing Vista in a Q1 UMPC.

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My XP install on the Q1 has been deteriorating lately. iTunes occasionally refuses to run. (I blame Apple), the Slingplayer occasionally starts but the GUI never opens, Bluetooth occasionally locks and I’ve got some folders on the start menu that aren’t real. All of these except the folder issue get fixed with a reboot but I miss the snappy, freshly installed performance.

[On the folder side, I have a folder that I can add things to but the right menu doesn’t work. If I try to delete it or move it I get a file cannot be read from source or disk error. I’ve tried using the command line and searching the registry and the Google but no luck.]

I supposed it’s mostly my fault. I’m a serial software installer and remover. I know I need help. But it’s probably a 12 step program to get help and with software installation and removal it’s only about 4 steps to install something and less to remove it. (Yeah I know, 35 steps to completely remove it. That’s the part I keep not doing. I admit it, I have a problem, OK!)

Since this is my primary PC with digital certificates for processing payroll, specialized work apps, etc. rebuilding it is not a trivial exercise. Consequently, I was hoping to wait and put Vista on it once the drivers are released, but looks like I may be old and gray before that happens.

So now I have a dilemma, do I rebuild it in XP only to have to do it again in a few months or do I suffer waiting for Vista drivers?

(On a side note, I’ve had Office 2007 installed for less than a week and I’m totally, completely hooked. Perhaps I just have an addictive personality when it comes to tech. I fall into the power user category, I could get Excel to make me coffee in the morning if I worked at it, but I still find the ribbon interface to be incredibly intuitive, if a bit of a vertical hog on the Q1’s little UMPC screen.)

There’s an old saying that the only thing worse than a French person is a French-Canadian person. Of course, the staff at Ultranauts doesn’t believe in or support these “old sayings”… it’s just our job to keep them alive and kicking. And that brings us to the fine folks in French controlled Canada, who have sent word that they’ve started up a site dedicated to Canadian mobility, Tablet PCs, PDAs and the like. I can’t understand a damn word of it, but, if you can read Canadian, you might want to give it a look. Best of luck to the new kid on the block, mobileincanada.com! Make sure you say some nice things about the UMPC platform!

In the last few months I have been testing some GPS Software in my UMPC looking for the best or at least one that could be easily used in this kind of device. And I have ended using iGuidance 3. Why? You can find that here.

Now, I wonder what GPS program are you using guys?

It’s been really busy at work (I’m fulfilling the CFO role as our CFO takes on a new role in our parent company) but I’m not so busy that I’ve missed everyone’s posts on the rumored Q2 UMPC from Samsung.

When I saw the spec’s and pics from Engadget I nearly wet my pants. No that’s Apple juice. Really!

I’m not thrilled with the chunky look but other than that, wow! Samsung has really upped the ante. Now if they can just get this thing out the door and to my house.

Perhaps that’s why we don’t have any Vista drivers for the Q1, all the Samsung folks have been working on the Q2! I may well wet my pants when the Vista drivers come out but it will be because I’ll be so old when they finally get released. How about it Samsung? Vista drivers? Q1? Remember us?