Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet - Hitting The Sweet Spot

This is a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad Chromebook Duet.  I hereby announce I am just going to call this thing "Duet" for the remainder of this review.  I will briefly describe the product for those that might have missed the large number of announcements and reviews - and I urge you to check those out, as this has been a highly anticipated and sought-after device.

The Duet is an early example of what might become a popular device category - the Chrome tablet.   The Chrome OS is a slimmed down Linux operating system tuned to run the full desktop version of the Chrome browser (with plugin extensions and apps), which generally will require a keyboard and either a trackpad or mouse to operate comfortably.  It therefore may seem like an odd thing to want to run this on a tablet, but a couple years ago Google began altering Chrome OS to enable it to also run Android apps, to add capabilities beyond what could be done in the browser.  Android apps are tuned to run on a mobile device with a touchscreen.  

This melding of Android apps with Chrome OS led to nearly all modern Chromebooks having touchscreens and some form of convertability, usually with a keyboard that rotates into a position behind the screen.  This does not necessarily make a standard Chromebook into a good tablet.  For example, I have a Samsung Chromebook Pro with a 12 inch screen - the keyboard rotates all the way around flat behind the screen, but the device is too big and too heavy for comfortable use as a tablet.  

Enter the Duet, not the first device in this category but certainly newest and most interesting.  This device is designed to be used as a tablet, with the capability of "going into laptop mode", rather than being a laptop that goes into tablet mode.  This means it works really well as a tablet - but it leads to design decisions that some may not care for.  The body of the device itself is thin, light, with a bright 10 inch screen.  It is easily held in one hand leaving the other hand free for touchscreen operation.  The Duet will make an excellent couch surfer, airplane companion, etc.  As with any modern tablet you have front and rear cameras and built-in microphones, power and volume buttons, and a single USB-C port.  That last is going to be a struggle for some folks when we talk about using this as a laptop, but remember - this is a tablet first, laptop second.

The Duet comes with 4 gigs of RAM.  Some in the Chromebook crowd are complaining about this, but for average people in real-world Chromebook use it's generally enough and can run multiple Android apps handily.  On the other hand the device has 128 gigs of storage, which is important if you plan to install a bunch of Android apps.  Notably, in one of those "tablet first" compromises there is no card reader for an SD card.  I'll address that a little later on, but combined with the single USB port, the design choices here seem to push one towards needing a USB-C hub.  Honestly it's not an absolute necessity and it will depend on how you intend to use the device.  

One great thing about the Duet is the promise of eight years of software updates.  Unlike your average Android device or even most Chromebooks, there is a serious commitment to making this device useful for the long haul.

So how do we turn this tablet into a laptop?  It's done with the connection of two addon devices which I should point out are supplied with the tablet, rather than being extra purchases.  First there is a magnetic back "cover" that snaps to the back of the tablet and which has a fold-out stand.  The fold-out stand has a very wide range of positions so you can get the angle just right, and it can be useful to hold the tablet up even as a tablet.  On the down side it adds considerable weight.  This won't matter when the Duet is sitting on a desk but when toting it around with you, it will be noticeable.  Second there is a keyboard which is also magnetically attached.  There are a number of connection points on the edge of the tablet and the keyboard that have to line up, but they pop together so easily it almost feels like magic.

The keyboard itself is...nice?  Not nice?  This is such a subjective measure.  First it's not real big and it can't be, given that it "fits" the 10-inch screen.  You can certainly pair up a full size keyboard over Bluetooth or with a USB connection but we're talking portability here, something that is designed specifically for this tablet.  In order to keep most of the keys decent size and maintain some spacing, some of the keys (mainly for punctuation) have been reduced to about half-width.  So you will read some reviews where people complain that the combination of the small keyboard size and the tiny punctuation keys makes it hard to type.  For the record I'm typing this blog post on the Duet keyboard.  My hands aren't huge but they're by no means small either and my fingers are long.  It's a tad cramped, and I do make some mistakes here.  I am adjusting.  I think it's fair to say that I would not want to use this keyboard as my primary / only keyboard for the rest of my life - but I would also say it is WAY better than typing with an onscreen keyboard.  I am going on a trip in a couple months out of the country for 3 weeks, I'll be using this device to remotely connect to work on occasion, and for basic use it's going to be just fine.  Note:  my 3 week trip was cancelled due to COVID considerations but I did a 9 day road trip and used the Duet with its tiny keyboard daily.  It worked and I didn't die.  I didn't mention the trackpad yet - it works.  It's not spectacular.  Personally I usually carry a small Logitech mouse and plug in a USB wireless thingy.  I'll probably keep doing that.  But just to be clear, I have used the trackpad and it does work.  It's fine.

So where are we?   We got ourselves a nice tablet - 10-inch, bright screen, light weight.  I didn't mention the performance before but it's smooth - I've run big Android games and apps, not a single hiccup or stutter.  I don't open 100 tabs or anything but every site I use displays flawlessly and I don't notice any issues.  We got a nice back-cover / stand that holds the screen up at any angle, and a detachable keyboard which, if not spectacular, is perfectly usable.  What's left to talk about?

Well first there is that single USB-C port.  This may be a tablet-first-laptop-second, but it is a Chromebook, and being able to connect peripherals is part of the game.  You're going to likely want a USB-C hub.   There are a ton out there and I'm not going to describe them all but I just got a new one I like a lot - I bought this VAVA 9-1 USB-C Hub at Amazon.  It passes the USB-C power through to the latop / tablet while giving me 2 USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, an HDMI port, a Ethernet network port, an audio jack, a full-size SD card reader and a TF (microSD) card reader.   This was a bit pricey, and honestly I will not use it often, but I will not want to be without it.  In particular when I go on a longer trip like the one I have planned, I'm going to want the USB 2.0 port for my mouse dongle.  

Second, the Duet does not come with a stylus but supposedly it is designed to work with any stylus that meets the new USI standards - Universal Stylus Initiative, that is.  USI styli are powered devices with electronics inside that let them communicate to the device on which they're being used - stuff like angle and pressure, etc.  Lenovo will have one coming out eventually but right now options are few.  It will be a little while before we know how this will shake out.  

The final thing to note is the price, and this is the part that has so many in the Chromebook community so excited - the full package as described above, with the back stand and keyboard, and with 128 gigs of storage, costs $300 (ok, it's $299). In the U.S. this is only available through Best Buy but there will be other resellers eventually, as well as a 64-gig version for $279 (honestly, $20 to double the storage on a device that will be running Android apps is not much).  $300 for a nice tablet with the stand and keyboard seems like a steal.  Now ... I already said I spent more money on a USB-C hub, and I am thinking I'll buy the Lenovo USI pen when it comes out so my total spend will probably push me over $400, but those are choices I'm making.

I think the Duet works really well, feels great as a tablet, works well enough as a Chrombook to use for extended periods (but probably not full time forever), and with the included accessories makes for a fantastic value.  It's a keeper.

XHDATA D-808 Radio - Some Observations On Usability

I recently purchased a XHDATA D-808 World Band radio.  It's generating a fair amount of "buzz" in the shortwave listening community due to its low cost (less than $70 US) and an impressive feature list:

• Frequency coverage - longwave, mediumwave AM, shortwave WITH SSB and covering the "full" shortwave range, FM, and air band.  
• Small size (just about pocket-size)
• 500 memories (100 for each of the bands)
• FM RDS capability
• Helpful tuning features including direct frequency entry, a variable "speed" tuning knob, a separate fine-tuning "wheel", up/down slewing buttons
• External antenna jack

Also of note, unlike the nearly identical Digitech AR-1780, the D-808 ships with a soft faux-leather pouch, external wire antenna, rechargeable battery, and USB cable for charging, and at half the price of the AR-1780.

Further, the radio performs fairly well for a set of such a low price.  While I don't find performance on any band to be stellar, the D-808 certainly is capable of pulling in stations, especially with a suitable external antenna for SW and SW/SSB use.

This is not intended to be a full review of the radio; rather I wanted to share some observations on the usability factors, in particular those which I find to be lacking.  For some reason, very few radio reviewers seem to spend any time on ergonomics, or on the actual implementation of the controls that have to be used to operate the device.  Personally I find these things to be key to my long-term enjoyment of a radio, and strongly impact the likelihood that I will want to use a radio on a day-to-day basis.  I am more likely to USE and ENJOY a radio that is easy to tune, has decent auto-scanning capabilities, a sane memory preset scheme, etc. even if the radio isn't quite as strong a performer on every band.

The first thing I want to note is that the D-808 was implemented with buttons that are flush with the front of the case, and which require very firm presses to engage.  Combined with their small size and cramped arrangement, pressing them is simply uncomfortable.  My radio usually sits on a plastic picnic-style table and the radio slides around all over the table when I try to press buttons unless I hold onto it with the other hand.  This is a poor design decision that negatively impacts using this radio, especially as other design issues pretty much require a LOT of button pressing - and I'll come back to it again and again.

A nice feature of this radio is that is actually has a tuning knob, often absent from cheaper shortwave portables.  But this one has strong "stops" so it doesn't turning smoothly - each turn requires you to apply enough force to overcome the friction.  And the radio mutes with every turn, so it's pretty miserable for a casual session of "tuning around" a band.

As is the case with nearly all portable digital radios, the numeric keypad does double duty allowing entry of frequencies or access to memories.  On the D-808, the radio is always in a mode where the default action of pressing a number button is to call up a memory location.  Several negative (to my way of thinking) consequences arise as a result:

• Because every keypress instantly pulls up a memory, the memory "pages" or banks must be limited to 10 memories apiece.  So if you wanted to program in all the MWARA frequencies, you would have to split these over many memory pages.  Then to tune through them you have to do extra keypresses to get from page to page.
• In order to directly enter a frequency you have to first press a "freq" button since otherwise pressing the button would tune a preset station.  As with most shortwave radios you also have to press the freq button AGAIN at the end of any entry that doesn't use up all the available digits (basically any SW frequency under 10000). These extra button presses, combined with the poor button design (see above) makes frequency entry a laborious process.

There are of course other ways to tune; one helpful feature allows the D-808 to auto-tune-and-store frequencies in a band.  Here again, there are implementation issues - 

• The radio seems to have a high threshold for recognizing a signal, so it "finds" far fewer frequencies than it can actually tune. To be really clear on that point, I can tune frequencies manually that are perfectly listenable but the D-808 doesn't find them when auto-tuning.  I have compared this function with a number of other portables and ALL of them find more frequencies than the D-808.  Note, the same inability to recognize a listenable frequency while scanning also affects scanning with the slewing buttons.
• If you do happen to find a bunch of frequencies, they will be stored across multiple pages (see above issues with the small page size).
• The auto-tuned frequencies are always stored starting in page 0 preset 0 for the chosen band and work up from there, so if you want to manually program memories, you need to put them on a high page.  There is no option to have found frequencies added to the existing list, it always overwrites. 

One final note on frequency memories - there is no way to access (tune) a preset other than pressing the associated key on the number pad (possibly AFTER doing additional keypresses to pull up the correct page).  You can't scan through a bank of stored frequencies.  You can't move from one to the next with the slewing buttons, nor with the tuning knob.  As with everything else requiring the use of button presses on this radio, this is a pain.

As for performance, despite many reviews giving the D-808 high marks, I find it to be only average, but it's also hard to gauge due to the usability impediments I've been describing.  For example, how do you measure shortwave performance?  Unless you have bench test equipment, you mainly test it by seeing how many stations you can pick up under various conditions (on the whip, with some kind of external antenna, indoors vs. outdoors, different times of day, etc.) and listening to them.  But consider:

• Manual band-scanning sucks on this radio - the tuning knob is not comfortable for a long session moving through a band and the muting is bad
• Using either the slewing/scanning buttons or the auto-tuning, the radio seems to require such strong signals that it finds very few stations - even when you KNOW the signal is there and you KNOW the D-808 is capable of tuning it
• Auto-tuning stations and having them stored results in the frustrating experience of pressing buttons to step through them and having to switch pages

In short, in order to see what I can pick up with this radio I'm mostly spending time looking at EIBI schedules or the like, trying to figure out what ought to be tunable, and manually entering frequency after frequency.  It's very hard to compare how well this radio performs next to a radio that is much easier to use, like various models from Tecsun and Eton/Grundig.  

The end result of all these observations is that I'm again looking for a radio that hits closer to my sweet spot for features, performance and usability.  The D-808 will likely be the next radio I list on E-bay.

Comparing the Digitech AR1780 to the XHDATA D-808

12/06/18 - this post has been updated to include more current information about pricing and availability - which affect the value proposition - and to correct a couple of factual errors.

Shortwave enthusiasts learn this lesson very early - all shortwave radios are the culmination of a combination of compromises.  Price, size/portability, reliability, frequency coverage, features, and vendor support all vary from one make and model to the next.  Further, putting a value on a number of these items is a subjective process - a radio's count of memories is a fixed number, but how important that number is varies from person to person.

Not surprisingly, we tend to group radios with similar sets of features, sizes, and prices into groups and compare them to one another.  But on occasion the shortwave industry presents us with virtually identical models from different brands or companies.  Sometimes these are manufactured in the same place by the same people and just branded differently.  And you'd expect those devices to really and truly be "the same".

Recently it was noted that the new XHDATA D-808 radio appeared to be identical to the Digitech AR-1780.  Both radios are of interest due to the following items on the set of scales mentioned above:

• Frequency coverage is good - broad coverage of the shortwave band, longwave, mediumwave AM, FM broadcast band, and AIR band (a small range of VHF frequencies used by airports and airlines)
• Single Sideband (SSB) capability - important for listening to Hams and some utility broadcasts
• Small form factor
• Built-in whip antenna and external antenna jack
• Built-in battery charger
• Relatively low prices (see below)

There are also a couple of items that are not so hot - one is from a company (Digitech) that has a decidedly low reputation, the other from a company most of us here in the states never heard of (XHDATA).  And speaking of "here in the states", both radios have to be ordered from overseas suppliers and shipped to the US.

It isn't my intention to do a full review of either set here, though - but rather to list the similarities and differences.  And the similarities are STRONG:

• Nearly identical size, shape and weight (the weight WITH BATTERIES is identical, while the D-808 is slightly larger in a couple of dimensions)
• Identical placement and labeling of buttons, knobs, and jacks on the radios with only a couple of exceptions, explained below
• The built-in whips are the same size, same length and number of elements
• The radios seem to use identical circuitry / DSP chips and have identical functions (indeed the manuals, both really slim and not too informative, are word-for-word the same)
• As you would expect the display readouts are identical save for the backlight color

But there ARE differences:

• The AR-1780 runs about $125 US plus shipping (I got mine on sale so that was about what I paid including shipping).  The D-808 runs about $69 US, including shipping (I got mine on sale at $49 including shipping).  This difference alone is driving a LOT of interest in the D-808 Over time the price of the D-808 has gone up considerably since the original post.  It is no longer possible to purchase direct from China.  You can only get it through a few E-bay sellers who are routing it through Israel.  With shipping it runs anywhere from $120 to $140.  The E-bay sellers of the AR-1780 have taken to jacking up shipping prices so that radio is even more expensive.  However if you purchase the AR-1780 through the US web site of Jaycar, you can get it for a decent price and shipping only adds about $15.
• Aside from the radio itself, the AR-1780 ships with the manual, and...nothing else.  No batteries, no charging cables or devices, no earbuds, no external antenna, and no carrying case.  I'll come back to the lack of any power supply of any kind shortly.  By contrast, the D-808 ships with a soft faux-leather carrying pouch, a rechargeable battery, a USB charging cable, and a wire antenna that can be plugged into the available jack on the radio.  Given that the radio is already half the price of the AR-1780, these extras create an even stronger  a slight advantage for the D-808.
• The AR-1780 uses 4 AA cells, and does have circuitry to charge Ni-MH batteries inside the unit.  It does not come with any batteries - I have plenty of Sanyo Eneloops so that's not such a big issue - but the radio also does not include a charger and/or charging cable.  This is a pain since the AR-1780 uses an odd 7V charger.  Again, I use an external charger for my Eneloops.  In short, the fact that the unit can theoretically be run by an external power source and charge batteries inside is pretty much moot for the average buyer.  Compare this to the D-808, which uses a larger 18650 Li-Ion cell, and uses a standard micro-USB port to to charge.  The radio even ships with a micro-USB cable - not that you probably don't already have a bunch of them laying around, but it's nice to have it included.  You can charge this off an available computer port or wall-wart or whatever you have that can charge USB.   The different charger options for these radios results in one of the only real physical differences between the radios which is the power jack.
• The power button itself is located in a different spot on each radio - just to the left of the display on the AR-1780, just to the right on the D-808
• The buttons used on these radios are different, and this is the first downside for the D-808.  On the AR-1780 they are raised and very tactile.  On the D-808 they are flush with the case making them somewhat more of a pain to press (and impossible to to use the radio by feel - these are simple enough radios you could probably learn to operate the AR-1780 in the dark, but with flush buttons on the D-808 that would be a non-starter).
• The black case used on the AR-1780 shows the silk-screened labels (some of which uses a dark orange ink in places) on the buttons and the case itself clearly.  The D-808 uses identical colors but on a grey case and the reddish orange labeling is super hard to read unless you hold the radio at an odd angle.  Advantage here goes to the AR-1780.
• The screens used different color back-lighting - amber on the AR-1780, blueish-white on the D-808.  

So - weighing pros and cons, the radios are pretty much identical in terms of form and function and features with a slight usability edge to the AR-1780 based on easier to feel and press buttons and easier to read silk-screened labeling.  

The D-808 is a MUCH somewhat better VALUE proposition based on having identical features and performance and including the battery, charging cable, external wire antenna, and carrying pouch, for HALF the same price of the AR-1780.  

What else?  Here are some TOTALLY SUBJECTIVE observations....

• I prefer the black case of the AR-1780 to the grey used by the D-808.
• I prefer the raised buttons on the AR-1780 to the flush ones on the D-808.
• For some reason the AR-1780 *feels* like it weighs more (and mentally this equates to feeling more solidly built) than the D-808, even though I have weighed them both at 11.5 ounces including their batteries.  I think this is because the AR-1780 is very slightly smaller in a couple of dimensions so having the same weight in a little smaller packages makes it denser.
• The first few hours of playing with the D-808 I was sure it was defective - it seemed to struggle to pick up the same stations as the AR-1780, the signal strength displays were reading way lower, and I was thinking about boxing it up and contacting the seller to return it.  But I removed the battery for a while, put it back in, and it has been perfect (compared to the AR-1780) ever since. 
• Likewise the audio quality of the D-808 seemed much worse at first, but I think I may have had different bandwidth settings chosen.  At any rate I no longer notice any difference.

Recommendation - I find ergonomics make a huge difference to my enjoyment of SWLing.  If a radio is a pin in the rear to use, I just won't  use it, no matter how it performs.  I think the AR-1780 has the edge here and it's the one I kept out of the two radios.  

Final note - neither of these radios would get a strong recommendation from me regardless of price.  They are both decent performers but the memories are a pain in the rear to program and to access, entering frequencies is also a pain, and there are just better choices out there (especially for the price point).  See the TECSUN PL-660/680 to understand what I mean.

Google Pixel XL - Just A (Really Nice) Phone

Caveats:  I am not a professional reviewer.

One Year On - My Experience With A Chromebook

Note: If you don't know what a Chromebook is, this article may not make much sense.  Check out this link  to learn the basics - there are numerous other reviews and articles on the Internet that you can find with a quick search.  Then come back here to find out how using a Chromebook has worked for me!

Two Weeks In Belize With Chromebook

Early in March I traveled to Belize to visit my girlfriend and enjoy a break from work.  This was my first opportunity to travel with my Toshiba Chromebook 2, and to rely on it as my primary computing device for an extended period.  I carried the CB2 in my CaseLogic 14-inch Checkpoint-Friendly Laptop Bag. I'd already been using the CB2 and the bag for a while each day going to work, but relying on these things for a couple of weeks away from home would be interesting.

I'll address the performance of the bag first - simply put, it was perfect.  Although the bag - designed for a 14-inch laptop - was a lot smaller than the huge laptop backpack I used to carry, it was just right for my needs.  In it I had my Chromebook and charger, a mouse, my Kindle (Paperwhite verison 2, I like e-ink e-readers better than tablets for reading), my wallet, passport, and a bunch of little stuff - pens, paper, keys, loose change, etc.  Fully loaded, the bag was still lighter and easier to move around than the old backpack.  Access to my stuff was always super convenient.  The bag easily fits under airline seats.

The main feature of this bag is its "security friendly" design, which means you don't have to take your laptop out of the bag (if you use it correctly).  The laptop fits in a compartment in the rear of the bag all by itself, and when you are putting it through a security scanner, you unzip the bag such that the laptop compartment lies flat to one side by itself.  As long as you have put nothing else in the compartment, the security scanners can "see" the laptop without obstruction.  And when the bag exits the scanner you can grab the shoulder strap, pick it up, and it (more or less) "closes" so you can just walk away.  I went through airport security checkpoints 3 times with this bag and at no time did anyone take issue with it, in America or Belize.

Finishing up with my thoughts on the bag - with the one caveat that this particular bag is designed for a 14-inch laptop and thus is intentionally smaller than other bags - I highly recommend it.

The Chromebook was similarly a joy to use.  I won't go into what Chromebooks are all about here - if you like the idea of a laptop designed around cloud-based services you will understand.  The fun started when I got on the American Airlines flight from Miami to Belize and found that they had GoGo in-flight Internet.  My Chromebook came with 12 free passes for GoGo and so I got to try out the service.  It worked well - and was very weird, sitting there posting to G+, and doing Hangouts chats with friends at 30,000 feet.  Shortly after we cleared Cuba (about an hour into the flight) the service dropped out - the GoGo page seemed to indicate that they don't have rights to offer the service everywhere.  Those free passes are only good for one year from the purchase of the Chromebook so I don't know if I'll get another chance to use them, but it was really neat.  

Since the Chromebook is mainly for use online, Internet availability obviously is a concern - "offline" apps notwithstanding, nearly everything you would want to do with a Chromebook really does require an Internet connection.  My girlfriend has DSL and a wireless router at her home on Ambergris Caye, so most of the time connectivity was not an issue - we did spend some time getting the phone company to work on her connection as she was getting only getting about 1mbps despite being signed up for 2mbps service.  

Pretty much every morning, I would grab my coffee and head out to the porch to enjoy the beautiful weather, listen to the birds singing, and catch up with the world.  I would check my email (with Google Inbox), read the news on CNN, catch up with friends and family on Facebook, follow my Google+ groups, the usual stuff.  All of this is very normal, mundane activity - and it may be accurately pointed out that it could all be done on a smartphone or tablet - but the experience on all of these is better with a full-fledged browser like Chrome.  Having a "real" keyboard is a major plus, especially when posting.  And although I've never really liked trackpads, I got so comfortable using the Toshiba CB2 trackpad that I never bothered hooking up my mouse.

During the visit I tried streaming from Hulu and Netflix.  Hulu's geographic restrictions prevented me from using my account - I have yet to sign up for a good VPN service - but Netflix worked fine even with the 2mbps DSL connection.  I also had a number of movies stored on my SD card and the Chromebook playback was great - this model has a 1080p IPS screen and everything looked wonderful.

In short, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 performed perfectly as a portable computing platform.  For me the Chromebook has always been about having a useful secondary device, never meant to replace my desktop.  I have it on my desk at work every day, and occasionally use it in the living room at home.  However, for the two weeks I was in Belize, I found it to be great for everyday use and never once found myself wishing for anything more.

First Impressions - CaseLogic 14-inch Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bag

Back in 2007 I bought a MacBook Pro 17-inch laptop.  It was as sleek as it could be, but still a bit of a beast to haul around.  At the same time, I purchased a laptop backpack big enough to carry it comfortably (one of those SwissGear suckers everyone carries these days).  I pretty much stopped using the MacBook years ago, but I've used the backpack for seven and a half years, day in and day out, to work and back, and on numerous trips.  It's been a gem.

Lately though I've wanted something a bit smaller and more convenient to use on a day-to-day basis.  I recently bought a Toshiba Chromebook 2, a light and thin laptop with a 13-inch screen.  The old backpack just swallows it up.  Even throwing in my kindle, wallet, phone, and a bunch of other junk I don't really need to tote everywhere I go, there was lots of wasted space.  After 7 years the plastic wrap on the top handle-strap is breaking apart, and well, I've been itching to make a change.

My choice was the Case Logic 14-inch Checkpoint Friendly Laptop Bag (see it at Case Logic's website or over at Amazon where you can read some other reviews).  The bag just arrived, and I have some first impressions.  

Let me start by saying that this appears to be a well-made bag.  The material is the pretty standard black canvas, seems water-resistant, with solid zippers and strap attachments.  The handles are made of the canvas cloth but are well padded and I think will be comfortable for everyday carrying.

What makes this a "Checkpoint Friendly" bag?  You can read the official TSA writeup, but basically it's a laptop bag that can be run through the security scanner without removing the laptop.  The laptop compartment has to be specially designed so that there are no zippers or buckles that would interfere with the scanner's view of the laptop.  Virtually all such bags are designed to "zip open" so that the laptop compartment lies flat with everything else out of the way.

With that in mind, the first thing to note is that this bag does indeed have a dedicated laptop compartment that appears to meet the TSA requirements.  The compartment itself has a set of zippers that only unzip partway down the sides, so that you don't accidentally unzip it far enough for the laptop to fall out.  This review is for the 14-inch version, and my Toshiba Chromebook 2 fits comfortably in the compartment with maybe a half-inch clearance on either side.  Note that you are not supposed to put ANYTHING else in this compartment, including charger, cables, mice, or anything else that might obstruct the scanner's view, and frankly the space is too tight for anything but the laptop.

The next most important feature is a set of zippers, just forward (towards the front of the bag) from the laptop compartment.  These do unzip clear down the sides of the bag, and allow it to lay flat.  When open, the laptop compartment lies by itself on one side, and anything else in the bag on the other.  The laptop side has a red cloth tag with the words "Security Friendly" on it, I suppose just in case you get a TSA agent who hasn't seen one of these before.  The opposite side of this compartment has a mesh pocket where you could conceivably put some papers or something.  I am thinking I will never put anything in there, just so that when this baby is lying flat on the scanner there will be nothing exposed.

Now I've described two sets of zippers already, and there are more to go.  At first I was envisioning myself fumbling around in the security line at the airport trying to figure out what to unzip, but CaseLogic has me covered - the zippers that open the bag flat have red stitching on them, where all the other zippers are just plain black.  Once you notice this there is no way you're going to make a mistake.  What is a little tricky is that there are cloth handles sewn on either side of this opening, as well as two strap buckles, one on each side of the compartment, at opposite sides of the bag (diagonal from one another).  With the handles and strap buckles and the strap itself, it can feel a little clumsy getting ahold of the zippers and getting them open.  I suspect this will become second nature after a few tries.

I mentioned buckles on either side of that last section, and a strap.  The reason they're placed on either side of this compartment is so that after the bag comes through security, you can just grab the strap and snatch it up, and the bag will automatically close (albeit still unzipped).  If you are trying to rush through security this could save you a little time.  If you are having trouble envisioning this, check out the CaseLogic site link above, where there are pictures of this function in action.

Just forward from the "lay flat" section is another full-sized, zippered compartment.  On one side is a silk-like cloth pocket that could be used for pretty much anything.  However the other side has a padded, felt-lined pocket designed for a tablet.  This is a nice touch - a bag designed for both a laptop and tablet!  I don't carry a tablet these days, but I'm sure my Kindle will be right at home here.

Again towards the front of the bag is a smaller compartment with various pockets for things like passport, credit or business cards, etc.  There is an attachment point for a keychain, and a couple of pen-holders in there.  Finally, right on the front of the bag is yet another small compartment for, well, anything you didn't stick somewhere else, I suppose.

I have transferred pretty much my whole kit from the old laptop bag to the new CaseLogic bag.  It's definitely a bit more snug - moving from a laptop backpack designed for a 17" laptop down to a briefcase-style bag designed for a 14-inch laptop, there's obviously going to be less room.  Of course that also translates to "carry less junk", which is not a bad thing at all.  It appears that even stuffed full it will have no problem fitting under an airplane seat in front of me when I travel.

I think I'm going to love this bag.  I'll be taking it to work Monday, and in a couple of weeks it's going with me to Belize.  I'll update this post with final impressions after the trip.

Cloud Printing with the Brother HL-L2380DW

A couple of months ago I began using a Chromebook as my primary mobile computer.  I mostly use it for email, calendar, and for watching a few interesting web services like Twitter and Reddit.  Occasionally I found myself using Google Docs or Sheets to work on documents, and though I could save them to Google Drive and then access them from somewhere else, I thought it would be nice to be able to print them directly.  I had heard of Google Cloud Print but hadn't tried it out.

I read that I would need either a Cloud Print-ready printer (network connected and with built-in software for registering to my Google account), or a printer attached to a regular computer that could be shared through Cloud Print.  As luck would have it my basic black and white laser printer was in pretty bad shape and it was just about time to replace it, so I decided to shop for a new printer.

My needs:  I wanted laser due to low cost per page, and because laser toner doesn't dry up or otherwise "go bad" like inkjet ink.  I dont' print that often, sometimes going weeks without, but when I want to print, I don't want to mess with cleaning inkjet heads.  I wanted black and white - I have no use for printing color.  And of course, I wanted a Cloud Print-ready printer.

I did some searching for "cheap black and white laser printers" and found several reviews.  From those I was gravitating towards a basic model of Brother printer.  Although I do a lot of shopping online, for some things I prefer to shop in a traditional brick-and-mortar store, so I visited my local Staples.  They had the printer I wanted, but due to a sale, they had the HL-L2380DW at the same price.  This model has the same laser printing engine as the one I had selected, but adds copy and scan capabilities.  It also offered a $30 rebate for in-store credit which I figured I could eventually use for toner.

As you would expect, the Brother is fairly easy to set up.  It connects to the network either wired or wireless.  Wired with DHCP is easier of course, but wireless wasn't much harder - a built-in color LCD touchscreen made it easy to select my wireless SSID and supply the password.  I was able to access the web interface of the printer with no problem moments after setting it up.

My desktop computer at home is an iMac, a few years old running the latest Mac OS (OSX 10.10.2 Yosemite), and I actually ran into a couple of issues related to that, and the fact that the Mac uses Bonjour (mDNS) to automatically locate printers.  It turns out that my home router (an Actiontec supplied by my ISP) doesn't pass Bonjour traffic.  There's a long story I won't get into here, but I had a replacement router ready to go that I was already planning to use (a really nice Asus model) - substituting that for the Actiontec resolved this issue so that my Mac, and the Brother ControlCenter app, could "find" the printer and work properly. NOTE: I have since learned that it is possible to get mDNS working through Actiontec routers, although there's no specific option for it - it has to do with allowing multicast traffic over the wireless, and I'd suggest Googling around for some instructions if you care to try it.  I prefer the Asus router anyway.

Setting up Google Cloud Print was what I really wanted to try, and as it turns out was quite easy (contrary to some of the reviews I've read).  The printer's web interface has a "protocols" page where you can set up a variety of printing capabilities, and Google Cloud Print is clearly listed.  You provide the name by which you want to see the printer listed, click a "Google" button and you are redirected to Google's web site where you authenticate to your Google account, and then you can see the printer listed on a site where you manage your cloud printers.

Using the printer is just about as easy as you could possibly want.  From Chrome (which you are automatically using on a Chromebook), you just choose to print from any tab you're viewing.  You select your printer just like you would in any other app, make whatever adjustments to the settings you like (portrait vs. landscape, single or double-sided print, resolution) and print.  The job is transmitted to the cloud, and within a minute or two the printer picks up the print job and executes it.  To be honest I am not sure of the technical process involved in the printer's connection - my printer is "sleeping" most of the time, yet it always picks up the jobs and prints them quickly, so I am guessing it runs some kind of background process to periodically check in with Google.

What I've described so far is the most basic functionality you would ask from a Google Cloud Printer, and these days there are lots of other makes and models that will do as well.  However, this specific model (the Brother HL-L2380DW) does a number of other neat things:

1. Copying - the printer has a glass-top scanner that allows you to do basic copying.  This model does not come with a sheet feeder so it will not be convenient for copying a large document, but if you have something just a few pages long it's not too tedious and does the job.  The function includes a couple of neat modes - if you want to copy a document and have the printout use both sides of the paper, you can tell the printer to do that using options on the LCD touchscreen and it will prompt you through the process.  It even has a special routine for copying both sides of an ID card and printing both sides on a single page.
2. Scanning - the device functions as a full-color scanner.  Using the supplied Brother utilities you can scan and have the document stored or automatically opened in a variety of applications.
3. Mobile device connectivity - you can certainly install Google Cloud Print services on your phone or tablet, but Brother has an app you can use to more directly access the device for printing and scanning from mobile device. The app allows your device to connect over the network and print just about anything from the phone, or to scan a document and have it wind up on the phone.  Note that while the app has NFC, this model printer does not.
4. Web services - Brother has a service called Brother Web Connect which allows the printer to (sort of) directly interface with a number of web-based services including Google Drive, Flickr, Facebook and several other things.  Using it is a little clunky - you have to browse to the Web Connect web site, select the desired service and obtain a temporary code that allows the printer to access the service for 24 hours.  Then, you can use the printer's LCD interface to download and print from the selected service, or scan and upload.  The cool thing about this for me is that I can scan and have the document directly stored to Google Drive, which then makes it available on my Chromebook.

All in all, I have found the Brother HL-L2380DW to be a relatively full-featured device for the price.  The Google Cloud Print functionality is easy to configure and works as advertised.  The addition of various copy and scan capabilities, including the ability to scan to Google Drive, is a nice plus.  I would recommend this printer to anyone who needs a solid black and white laser with Cloud Print capability.

Two Months In - My Chromebook Experience

Like most folks these days, I want to be able to connect to and use the Internet pretty much anywhere, and that means having some form of mobile computing device.  And like many others, I find that I really can't do everything I want on a smartphone.  Small screen size, the lack of a fully-capable browser, lack of a real keyboard, all of these make certain activities on the smartphone a real chore.  A few years ago I bought an Android tablet with a detachable keyboard, hoping that it would fill the bill, but tablet browsers are still not able to do some of the things a full browser can do.

So it was that late last year I began to look seriously at trying a Chromebook.  In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I didn't care to buy a Windows computer, at any price - I stopped using Microsoft products on my home computers 10 years ago, only using Windows now at work where I don't have a choice in the matter.  Plus, to be honest you need a decent amount of computer to make Windows worth having.  You can buy a really cheap Windows computer these days but I imagine the experience is not going to be what I'd want.  Microsoft proudly points out that you can run "real" Microsoft Office and Photoshop on these things, but I sure wouldn't want to.

When I began looking at Chromebooks, the first thing I had to do was get my head wrapped around  the hardware specs - these machines nearly all had slower, low power processors, very little RAM, and tiny amounts of onboard SSD storage.  I learned that Chromebooks have a slimmed-down operating system designed to support online connectivity and to run the Chrome web browser and not much else, which is why they get away with such low powered CPUs and so little RAM, and that the expectation is for user data to be mostly stored in the cloud, which is why there is so little local storage. 

However there are other hardware and design considerations that made most Chromebooks pretty unattractive.  Keyboard quality varies a good deal but is about what you would expect of a really cheap laptop.  Sound is so-so.  Screens are functional but not great - usually small (most models are about 11 inches), and screen quality is not much to speak of.  

For these reasons I eventually chose the Toshiba Chromebook 2 which hit the market late last year.  The CB2 came with 4GB of RAM (on the high side of what's normally available), 16GB of SSD storage (the usual amount), and uses an Intel Bay Trail Celeron CPU (a version of the Celeron designed to conserve battery power at the expense of a bit of speed).  The main reason for picking the Toshiba was that it has a 13-inch screen with a FULL HD (1080p) screen that uses IPS display technology - in other words, this is a Chromebook with a screen that is as good as a Macbook Air.  The Toshiba also has decent audio (although the built-in speakers aren't terribly impressive, but they are not bad either).

I've been using the Chromebook daily since around Thanksgiving last year, though not as my primary computer - I keep it up at work with tabs open to a couple of Inbox sessions, usually a tab open to CNN, a tab for a flight tracking site I spend way too much time on, the Sunrise calendar, and Tweetdeck.  For this type of use, I rarely notice any slowness or issues, except that the Inbox app for connecting to Google Gmail accounts is sometimes a little laggy.

I've used the Chromebook to work on a few word processing documents using Google Docs - the experience isn't earthshattering but it works.

For streaming music and movies, the Toshiba Chromebook 2 has been great.  Honestly I don't use the built-in speakers much, but when I do they provide plenty of volume.  Audio with a decent set of earbuds sounds great.  Video is just fantastic - full screen, 1080p HD streaming video looks phenomenal, especially considering the low power of the CPU.  The screen is gorgeous and compares favorable to much more expensive laptops.

One of the few complaints I still have is that there is no way to scale the UI elements on the desktop separately from the rest of the screen.  Everything is pretty small running at 1080p, and I'm getting to the age where reading glasses are required.  It's easy enough to scale up the text in web pages though.

If anyone has questions regarding my experience using Chromebooks in general or the Toshiba in particular I'd be happy to try and answer.