Alright so I’d like to take a minute and talk about two of
the accessories that I use most with my laptop. I use these every day and I’d
kind of just like to talk about them.
First off is the SanDisk Cruzer 8GB Jump Drive. Now when I first
bought this device I thought it was going to be the U3 version that a friend of
mind had bought a few years ago, that cam pre-installed with the U3 App Launcher,
which is basically like a start menu that you have installed on your jump drive
and then when it’s launched it sits in your system tray and when you click it,
it brings up a new start menu and has a list of all of your portable apps that
you have on your JD. Well I was disappointed to find out when I got it that it
was not the U3 version, as SanDisk no longer makes it. So what did I do? Can any
one say third party? Ha. Now, I will get into which third party portable app
launcher/start menu I use in a different post because it deserves its own, but
let me just say there is no shortage of them and they all work pretty well.
On to the device its self. First the design. The actual USB
male port can be retracted so when it’s not in use it makes it a little smaller
and easier to transport and you don’t have to worry about accidentally snapping
it off. This is a very nice feature one that I think should become an industry
standard on these kinds of devices. Now when you plug this bad boy in, it comes
pre-installed with an application called SanDisk Secure Access, which lets you
create vaults and encrypt them & password protect them so that you can
store sensitive data on it and don’t have to worry about anyone else gaining
access to it, this is a very cool, and very easy to use application and I love
it. Now I bought this device for I think 5 bucks off of Amazon.com, and like I said
it’s an 8GB model and for 5 bucks (free shipping too) I couldn’t be happier. Once
you install a portable app launcher and some portable apps, this thing really
becomes useful and if 8GBs of storage isn’t enough for you they have 16GB
versions all the way up to 32GB for relatively good prices.
Next up is my HP Mini Mouse. I LOVE this thing. First, take
a look at the picture below. Notice the cool design of it? One would think this
might feel uncomfortable when using it, but it doesn’t. It actually fits really
nice in my hand and it is a very nicely built piece of hardware. It’s got a
nice smooth sleek texture to the buttons yet still lets you maintain a pretty
good grip. Also another cool feature, and useful feature, is the lanyard. At first
I was really skeptical about buying a mouse with a lanyard, but once I actually
tried it, it is really nice. When I’m not using this bad boy, I just pull
gently from each end, it retracts and fits nicely in my laptop bag. This is one
of the best, if not the best, mice I’ve ever used and as far as it being a mini
mouse, no complaints there. I think now I actually prefer the miniature size
over a full size mouse.
So I have two really solid products that I would definitely recommend
to other people and to friends. If you don’t have a mini mouse, and/or a jump
drive, do yourself a favor and try one of or both of these devices. You won’t
be disappointed.
Also, since I mentioned it earlier, if you have never
shopped on amazon.com, I highly recommend it. It’s fast, easy and they let you
track all of your orders, and shipping is never really that much. In a lot of
cases they actually offer free shipping. I’ve bought five or six things from
them already and each one was delivered on time (most times earlier than
expected) and I’ve just had a really good customer experience with them all
around.
