ThinkPad W700—
sans OS
Shortly after I started
using a dual-core notebook,
which serves as a platform
for virtualization for many of
my tests, I started longing for
extra disk spindles to match
my extra cores. I’ve long
been a fan of ThinkPad notebooks—I like the keyboards
and the buttoned-down black
exteriors, and I’m partial to eraser
points for my mousing. So the
ThinkPad W700 might just be what
I’m after. I’d have the elves spec it
out with a quad-core processor, 8GB
won’t eat the early termination fee on
my contract and run screaming to
T-Mobile, Sprint or Verizon.
—Andrew Garcia
Android Version of iPod
Touch
The iPod Touch that I currently own
is, overall, the best handheld computer
I’ve ever used. Unfortunately, Apple
is absolutely allergic to allowing its
customers to do what they want with
the Apple hardware they’ve purchased.
My iPod Touch is saddled with a cryptographic tether to i Tunes, which probably won’t ever run on my Linux desktop (not that I’d choose to run i Tunes
if it would). I’d like Santa to bring me
an Android version of the iPod Touch.
The Zii Egg looks like it might fit the
bill, sporting an iPhone-ish form factor,
as well as the camera and SDHC slot
that my iPod Touch lacks.
—Jason Brooks
There’s a catch to the 3G Microcell.
of RAM and a pair of solid-state
disks in RAID 0 formation. Note
to Santa: Don’t bother putting an
OS on there; I’ll just blow it away
in favor of Ubuntu 9. 10.
—Jason Brooks
24-Inch Sam-
sung Monitor
I have a 23-inch
monitor at work,
and now I want
one at least that
big for home use.
I’m hoping Santa
brings me a Sam-sung 2433BW 24-
inch LCD monitor
The Android-based Zii Egg provides more latitude
than the iPod Touch.
The ThinkPad
W700 matches
disk spindles
to processor
cores—but hold
the OS.
iPhone chargers make great geeky stocking stuffers.
so I can have multiple browser
and e-mail windows, not to men-
tion a photo processing
application, open on the
same screen.
—Cameron Sturdevant
Portable Power
Pack for iPhone
Knowing that it is bet -
ter to give than to receive,
I’d like to make a stocking
stuffer suggestion. My Apple
iPhone is the only computer
I want or need to carry with
me. I’d like to suggest that Santa
fill the stockings of like-minded
techies with something I got last
year—a portable power pack that
can recharge the phone from an
external battery. Try Xpal or Mizco
phone chargers.
—Cameron Sturdevant
