New Iomega eGo USB

USB 3.0 has arrived, and with it, a whole new batch of drives designed to let you push around those Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoints, and Blu-ray rips of Pulp Fiction, even faster. While most USB 3.0 drives still command a premium, Iomega will be one of the first to drop the USB 2.0 entirely and fold USB 3.0 into all of its drives – without increasing prices – later this fall. We put the new eGo through its paces to see whether the upgrade
is worth the wait.
 
Features and Design

Iomega hasn’t bothered to give the eGo a facelift to reflect its newfound speed, but that’s quite alright with us. The eGo USB 3.0 remains one of the slimmer drives on the market at just 0.625 inches thick, and its similar shape will allow you to use it with old eGo accessories, like the carrying case. At the moment, opting for USB 3.0 will limit you to only charcoal color, but that will change in October when USB 3.0 begins migrating over to even more drives and the prices drop to current USB 2.0 levels. For the record, charcoal has a clean, professional air, and if the drive enclosures weren’t plastic, the slippery glossy layered on top could almost pass for automotive-grade clear coat.

The only real clue you’re dealing with a new drive: Where a standard mini-USB jack used to lie, you’ll now find a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed connector, a new configuration that looks a bit like a long, sideways letter B. The extra pins here translate to better performance, but conveniently, that B shape also breaks it into connector into two ports, one of which you can use with old-style microUSB cables. Obviously, you won’t reap the benefits of full USB 3.0 speed, you’ll be thankful for it when you need to pull files off in a jam.

Testing and Performance

Unless you just cracked your computer out of its foam packing a few months ago – or built it yourself with one of the few USB 3.0-capable motherboards out there – chances are, you don’t have USB 3.0 onboard. We tested with a LaCie
USB 3.0 PCI Express card, but just about any USB 3.0 adapter should provide similar performance. At the moment, they all use the same NEC chips.

To provide a performance baseline, we ran the eGo through the wringer at USB 2.0 speeds. It turned in write speeds of 23.67 MB/s and read speeds of 25.86 MB/s – a marked improvement over the last USB 2.0 eGo we reviewed, but still not as fast as one of our favorite USB 2.0 drives, LaCie’s tiny Rikiki, which hit speeds of 30.45 MB/s and 29.18 MB/s, respectively.
Specifications
  * Preformatted and hot plug-and-play
    * No AC adapter needed
    * Compatible with PC
    * Three year limited warranty (with product registration)
What You Need:
PC Users:
  * 300 MHz processor or higher
    * Built-in USB connection
    * Requires USB 3.0 port or ExpressCard™ or PCIe slot for best performance
    * Microsoft® Windows® Vista™* / XP Home / XP Professional / Windows 7 (32-bit)
    * 256MB RAM or higher as required by operating system
To View User's Manual:
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 or Firefox® 1.0 or higher browser
Dimensions:
5.37" x 3.5" x .625" (L x W x H)
Weight:
.4 lbs
Switch over to USB 3.0, and things heat up. While claims of performance “10 times faster than USB 2.0” are sheer marketing hype, we found that you can expect an honest doubling of speed in real-life performance. We hit average write speeds of 49.35 MB/s and read speeds of 50.0 MB/s. At that speed, an entire 4.19GB DVD rip of The Empire Strikes Back transferred to the drive in just one minute, 24.9 seconds. You could hypothetically fill the drive to its entire 500GB capacity in two hours, 49 minutes.

While USB 3.0 performance is certainly impressive, it’s worth noting that Iomega’s FireWire 800 eGo  still has it beat. That model hit 57.39 MB/s write speeds and 53.93 MB/s read speeds in the same transfer tests, just barely edging out the USB 3.0 model for speed supremacy.
Conclusion

Iomega’s eGo USB 3.0 portable drive
maintains the same winning look and feel as previous iterations while essentially doubling transfer speeds. The 500GB version of the drive still commands a $20 price premium over the (list price) USB 2.0 version, but the USB 3.0 version will be a
 no brainer when Iomega switches the rest of the eGo line to USB 3.0, without increasing price, in October.

Highs:
    * Vastly improved transfer speeds
    * Sleek, portable design
    * Affordable (more so after October price drop)
    * Backward compatible with microUSB cables
Lows:
* Not the speediest competitor in USB 2.0 mode

How I built an inexpensive laptop tray for my truck

I love my Toyota Tacoma pickup truck. It is the perfect vehicle for me. I do a lot of traveling in it. I also go to a lot of estate sales and auctions in it. There's lots of cargo room in the back for the stuff I buy.

I usually carry a laptop computer with me when I travel to keep in touch, and to check what things are worth before buying them at estate sales, yard sales or bidding in auctions. I have a broadband access card for the laptop, so I can get online from anywhere. I've always wanted a built-in laptop / notebook computer tray for my truck. The commercially made units are pricey though. Several models I have looked at cost close to $300. Ouch! I suppose I could make one like the commercially made units, but they are made of metal, and I'm not much of a metal-worker. The commercially made units also bolt to the floor and take time and tools to install and remove. I always thought there had to be a better way.

One day I had a brainstorm. I figured out a quick and easy way to build a laptop tray for my Tacoma that only cost a little over $30! That's 1/10 of what the commercially made units cost! And it only took me an afternoon to build it. This instructable will show you how I did it. Please Visit my web site for more information on this and my other projects.

Before you all start writing me and saying how unsafe it is to use the computer while driving, don't panic. I don't use it while driving. I use it while stopped, usually at sales. It's a lot more convenient than trying to balance it on my lap or the armrest.

Ethno-Look Laptop Hard Cover

Make a fun-looking removable hard cover for your laptop. It protects the lid and makes your laptop unique!

You can personalize some softwares with "skins", so why not the hardware (literally)?

Gluing fabric on the lid would be much easier, but not easily removable. This cover has to be hard because it is removable. Why is it removable?

• because the laptop belongs to my company, so I should not do potentially irreversible things to it (so, installing Linux is fine!), and
• I might need to remove it occasionally, e.g. for some meetings  (it's what I thought in the first place. In fact I never had to, so far. Icebreaker). 

Study Your Laptop's Body

Every laptop model is different. This project may not even be doable on some models. On mine, the lid is very flat and edgy, so it makes it easier.

Study your laptop very carefully.

• Imagine where the cover could get a grip on the lid.
• The lid hinges are a critical place, you may have to shape/cut the cover very carefully, in order to let the lid open/close smoothly.
• Some lids have very rounded edges and corners, making this project difficult, to impossible.
• Locate particularities. In my case, the top surface has two angles, one of which is almost unnoticeable.