GEAR

I often get emails asking about the gears I used for blogging. This page should answer all the queries. Btw, I am open to tech reviews/sponsorship/endorsement. You can contact me at alvinologist@gmail.com.

My camera: Nikon Coolpix 5100

This is a great semi-pro camera that is small enough to fit into a hand-carrier and yet able to produce high quality images, comparable to bulky DSLR cameras. I particularly love the easy-to-use macro function which I often utilise for food photography.

Satisfaction Rating: 10/10

My laptop: Apple Macbook Pro, MB166/A

It has a 17″ LCD, a 200GB hard disk and matt finish on the covering. Everything comes with the standard factory specifications except for the RAM which I upgraded to 4GB from the original 2GB of memory. I have been a Mac user since purchasing an eMac five years ago. Great for editing videos, doing graphic designs and digital illustrations.

Satisfaction Rating: 8/10

My mobile phone: Sony Ericsson K850i

This is the most horrible mobile phone I have even owned. I am just holding on to it because I intend to downgrade my plan with Singtel and am waiting for the two-year contract to end prior to trading it in. If not, I would have thrown this into the garbage bin just a month after using it. The phone lags horribly. A simple task like sending a SMS takes more than 2 minutes because of the ridiculous lag when scrolling through the address book. The three touch buttons seen cool at first, but the novelty wears off after an hour and became a constant irritant when you keep accidentally triggering a touch button when you meant to activate the other. Did I mention the phone also hangs frequently and shuts off by itself? In case you think I am experiencing these problems because I am using an old phone, these problems persisted from day one when I purchase this horrible piece of shit. I am swearing off Sony Ericsson for life after this phone. Seriously.

Satisfaction Rating: -10/10 (worst mobile phone ever)

My tablet: Wacom Graphire3 6×8 pen tablet

I find this good enough instead of paying more for the Wacom Intuos range at almost double the price for higher pen sensitivity. My first tablet was the Graphire2 4×5, hence I much appreciate the larger pen area.

Satisfaction Rating: 9/10

My external hard disk drive: Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 1TB

There’s a firewire port and it is Mac-compatible.

Satisfaction Rating: 9/10

My speakers: Creative INSPIRE T3100

Good quality audio at a reasonable price.

Satisfaction Rating: 9/10

My printer/scanner: Epson Stylus CX7300

I don’t really need the printer, it’s the scanner I need. However, scanners are seldom sold individually nowadays hence I purchased this All-in-One unit from Epson. The scanning works well and I am satisfied with the quality. I have problem installing the printer driver on my Macbook though, and it has not been resolved. This is not the first time I encounter such a problem. It seems most printers and scanners in the market have drivers that are not Mac compatible – a real pain.

Satisfaction Rating: 7/10 (for just scanning alone since I cannot print)

My video camera: Sony DVR TRV27E

This can qualify as an antique in the fast moving digital video camera market. I bought this five years ago and it is amazing that this bulky hardware is still in great working condition. It records in 1CCD though and there are not much you can do with the fixed auto settings. I use it mostly as a mini-DV player to log tapes into my laptop nowadays.

Satisfaction Rating: 10/10 (for having served me faithfully without breaking down for so long)