S1dd - My Other Blog..

Buy.com (scumbags) cancelled my 6 Cell MSI Wind preorder, then raised prices by 50$. So I’m pissed at them and at MSI for lying about the Winds availability and price. Buy.com’s ratings at resellerratings are already so bad that I wonder how they are still in business.

Anyway yesterday I got an auto-notify from Newegg that the EEEPC 1000H was in stock and the same price as the Wind - $549. Plus Newegg is my favorite Electronics e-tailer so I ordered it and it is already shipped!! Oooo!

The disadvantage of the eeePC 1000H is that it is marginally larger and heavier but the advantages are that it has 802.11n, the RAM is upgradable without opening up the whole machine and it has a multitouch trackpad. Otherwise the two are nearly identical. More when I actually get the thing on Monday.

I’ve noticed that most flavored yogurts in grocery sotes have gelatin in them. Now there is no particular reason Yogurt needs gelatin. I would venture to guess that gelatin is cheaper than yogurt and is a tasteless filler material that probably saves companies money and makes the consistency arguably better. However personally, I see no particular consistency difference in yogurts with and without gelatin so I say it is all a gimmick to save money and also cheat customers into paying more for so called “All Natural” products which have fewer nasty ingredients. Dannon is one major national brand which does this - try to sell you a more expensive “All Natural” yogurt.

Proof that gelatin is more of a filler than for consistency comes from the fact that even yogurt drinks such as Danimals contain gelatin. Even expensive ones such as La Crème contain gelatin! I examined the possibility that gelatin could increase the nutrition of yogurts because of the high amount of protein, however gelatin causes a net loss of protein.

Note to vegetarians - almost all gelatin in food products comes from animals (e.g. Dannon’s comes from cattle hide). There are many brands of yogurt that contain no gelatin especially organic brands and yogurt marked “all natural”.

Some brands that I know of are Stonyfield Farm, Brown Cow (their cream top yogurts are my new favorite), Horizon, Dannon All Natural only, Harris Teeter store brand. If you know of others, please comment and I’ll add to this list.

Acer just lowered the bar on pricing on Ultraportables. The Aspire One starts at $379 for a linux version with an 8GB SSD, $399 for a Windows XP verrsion with a 120GB HDD both with a 3 Cell battery. A Linux version with SSD and a six cell battery is $449. A 6 cell battery costs about $119.

Now I’m torn on whether to wait for the 6 cell Wind or just get 3 Cell Acer + a six cell battery if I really need it in the future.

Feature wise, the wind has a larger 10″ screen compared to the Acer’s 8.9″ and the Wind has bluetooth. But considering that I haven’t used bluetooth on my laptop in ages now and I can get a cheap bluetooth USB key, is the 1″ difference in screen size worth the extra money? Also the Acer has 120GB of storage vs the 80GB on the Wind and the really cool blue color.

I think I’ll just pre-order the Aspire One too as soon as the blue is available at some known retailer and keep whichever comes first.

Update: Acer Aspire One in stock at Amazon - White Linux 3 Cell 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD
Update:Aspire One in stock at Newegg - White Linux 3 Cell 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD

After following the MSI Wind for a while and realizing that the 6 Cell is probably delayed at least another month from now, I’m looking at other alternatives. The EEE PC 1000H and 901 are too expensive. The only other worthy contender that will be available soon is the Acer Aspire One. Plus the blue color is really fantastic. CDW is taking orders but a quick phone call revealed that they have no idea about what color it is and expected availability is mid August. And the price is a sweeeet $422!!

I’ve been following the MSI wind closely and finally the 3 Cell is available at Newegg and in stock. I’m still waiting for the 6 Cell though. Newegg is charging 499 for the 3 Cell, which is 20$ more than the MSI price of $479! Amazon has also upped the 3 Cell price to $499!!

Anyway, click here to buy the Wind from Newegg.