Dear Girl Geek

I am interested in getting a laptop for me and my granddaughter to share. Something quite small and manageable. I have seen an Asus 7″ Eeepc in a magazine with 512MB and 8GB flash (whatever that means!) do you think this would be suitable? If not can you please suggest something that would.

Thanks

Josie

Dear Josie

I think the eeepc is a good one to go for as it is small and easy to use so will be suitable for you and your grandaughter. They are now available with bigger screens than the 7″ one you have seen.  Check out the links below to see which one you like the most. The three here are all similar in size and spec so just choose the best one that meets your budget.

Here is a link to:

Eeepc with windows (8.9″ screen)  www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=38029&source=Kelkoo

Acer aspire one (8.9″ screen – click on the colour you want on the site) www.acer.co.uk/aspireone/

MSI wind (10.2″ screen) http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Netbook-White-120GB-Webcam/dp/B001GCTSX6/ref=sr_1_2/277-4020121-0107411?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228480161&sr=1-2

As always the best thing to do is look on pricerunner.co.uk or kelkoo.co.uk and try and get the cheapest deal.

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you need any further help with the specification details.

Luv

girlgeek x

Dear Girl Geek

Please can you give me some advice about netbooks. My daughter is ten and is always nicking my laptop. I thought I might buy her a netbook for xmas. She loves going on sites like stardoll. I know she would want a pink one, and yes I know it is poor to base decisions on colour, but she is a proper girl and that would definitely score 50% of the points with her. I don’t want to spend a massive amount of cash on it as she will probably treat it badly. There seem to be a lot of them out there but for her she just needs to be able to access a full screen of a website and perhaps msn and she also uses it sometimes for her homework research. The reviews don’t seem to focus on these points

many thanks

Tracey

 Dear Tracey

There are various netbooks out there but I think for what your daughter will be using it for the best ones to look at are the eeepc, acer aspire one, msi wind. You can get some good deals on the eeepc if you look on line, the cheaper ones tend to have linux operating system and I’m assuming your daughter uses windows so just make sure you see what the operating system is if you find a really good deal.

Here is a link to an eeepc with windows (8.9″ screen) http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=38029&source=Kelkoo

Acer aspire one (8.9″ screen – click on the colour you want on the site) http://www.acer.co.uk/aspireone/

MSI wind (10.2″ screen) http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149325/show_product_overview

eeepc in pink with linux (7″ screen) http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0013AN3OQ/shopzilcouk-21/ref=nosim#moreAboutThisProduct

The best thing to do is see which one you like the most out of the above and look on pricerunner.co.uk of kelkoo.co.uk and try and get the cheapest deal.

I think the eeepc would be a good one to go for, and if you didn’t mind having the linux operating system and a smaller screen on it you can get them as cheap as £150 on line, you can still access the net in the same way from a linux pc if she is mainly going to be on the web. Or, go for one of the higher spec ones if your budget allows.

Hope this helps!

Luv
girlgeek
x

Dear Girl Geek

Can you recommend travel speakers for my iphone, something powerful enough to fill the room with music but light enough to pack in my case and not too £££

thanks
michelle

Response

 Hi Michelle,
 
Check out these speakers, they are a good size (small enough to fit in your pocket!) lightweight and compact so wont take up much room in your case. They have a decent sound quality and are reasonably priced at £14.99. They also come in a variety of colours and are compatible with your iPhone.
 
They get good ratings in reviews as well. You can get them on line here->
 
http://www.iworld.co.uk/iWorldSite/product/iPhone_Speakers/LO_IP102/Logic3_i-Station_Traveller_Speaker.htm#LnkProdReviews

 
I also have a facebook girlgeekchic page now, I’d luv you to become a fan.
 
http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/girlgeekchic/17196129217?ref=s
 
Have a fab hols!
 
Nikki

Dear Girl Geek

Hi. I want to buy my 14 year old daughter some ipod speakers for her birthday for up to 50GBP. Need to be compatible with ipod nano 4g, have great sound and be able to charge (which many don’t seem capable of with the ipod nano 4g). Any ideas please? Thanks

Cheryl

 Dear Cheryl

Have a look at the link to see the speakers I suggest for your daughter.

http://www.allthingsipod.co.uk/product/logic3-i-station7/

It is a stereo speaker system & docking station for re-charging & synchronization of the iPod. It is fitted with the iPod Universal Dock, compatible with any iPod after Generation 3 (so is compatible with the Nano 4G). It has good quality sound and I think it looks nice in white too, not too big and bulky like some of the speaker systems out there and comes within budget. It also has a remote control which is handy.

If you read the product details and spec you will get more in depth info about the system. If you have any more questions then let me know.

Luv girlgeek x

Dear Girl Geek

i have been loving the new touchscreen phones that have been appearing everywhere recently. i would really like to get one, but i just cant afford the huge prices charged for them, and i do not really want to get a pay monthly contract. any ideas for slightly cheaper alternatives?
any help would be greatly appreciated.

annabel xx

Dear Annabel

Have a look at this touch screen phone -> the LG KP500 Cookie.

It’s a decent phone, available on pay as you go and comes in under £100 on various networks. It has a 3″ wide full touch screen and comes in black and pink! It has a host of other features that you can check out at the link below and it looks good too ->

http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/mobile-phones/LG-KP500-COOKIE/PPAY

Hope you like it and that comes in within budget.

Luv girlgeek x

Dear Girl Geek

I would like to buy a computer. My main reasons are to store my photos, iTunes and browse web forums. Budget is low but would like something cute and funky

Any ideas?

Michelle

Dear Michelle

Check out his PC, it’s a great machine for your requirements. It is very neat looking, ultra compact (cute and funky) and good quality at the same time. You can even customise the colour to your favourite one. It also comes within budget, just make sure you select the option with the monitor tho’ if youre looking to upgrade everything.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-studio-hybrid?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Here is also a link to a couple of others if you want to have a look:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/desktop-studio?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&ref=dthp&s=dhs

Hope this helps.

Luv girlgeek x

Dear Girl Geek,

I am due an upgrade on my phone and I want something that is sleek and sophiscticated, easy to use and with a lot of memory for photos and videos. I usually have Samsung’s but am looking for something a little different this time, although if there is a great Samsung about at the moment I’d love to hear about it!

Thanks

Sarah

Response

Dear Sarah,

If you like Samsung well there is a super sleek and stylish new slider phone details were announced end of May which I think will suit your needs perfectly. It’s the Samsung L870 and is only 13.5mm thin and has a Micro SD up to 4GB so lots of space for photos and video.  It’s got a sexy stainless steel body and minimalistic key pad. It also has the following features:

• 3 megapixel camera
• 2.4″ colour display
• Safari browser
• Music player
• Video player
• FM radio
• Bluetooth
• 100MB internal memory + Micro SD up to 4GB
• 103.5 x 50.5 x 13.5 mm

Not sure what service provider you’re on to check for availability and prices but if it’s not available yet you could always check out the Samsung Tocco which is a good looking touch phone they recently released, this has a 5megapixel camera, 3G, bluetooth but possibly not as sleek looking. If  you want to move away from Samsung Sony Ericsson have released a new sliderphone which looks great with an impressive 8 megapixel camera, for details of the Sony phone check out my blog. http://www.girlgeekchic.com/posts/89

 Hope this helps.

Luv

girlgeek

Dear Girl Geek…

Hi,

I was just wondering if you had an idea of a laptop that I should have for my ‘A’ levels. I started the courses today but as I am taking Applied ICT I need a laptop that will be able to operate Dreamweaver. I think I should get a Mac as my uncle who is a male computer geek says that they are indestructable internally. What’s your opinion?

Thanks again,

Eleanor

Response

Hi Eleanor,

Firstly well done on starting your ‘A’levels and good luck with your Applied ICT course !

It’s true that Macs are considered to be well built with better parts along with a more robust, stable operating system.They are also seen to be less prone to Windows viruses and spyware but on the downside they are generally more expensive.  Some people think Vista for exampe is better as it runs more software and is more ‘open’ ie. if you wanted to build a PC with Vista you could do so by buying the operating system but not so easy to do with Apple! Also in a lot of organisations PC/Windows is generally the preferred platform.

People who I know who use Macs extensively in their day to day work consider them to be robust, stable, easy to use, nice interface and very good at handling large images and video.

I think given that you will be studying ICT, using Dreamweaver and you will want your machine to last and see you through your studies (plus you want to go down the Mac route ) I think you should go for a MacBook, it will be suitable for your requirements, compact, durable and it looks really nice too (we’re girls afterall!)

Here are some more girlgeeky details for you:

Specifications:

• 2.1GHz, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB or 2GB  memory
• 120GB, 160GB, or 250GB 5400-rpm hard drive
• Intel GMA X3100

 Display:

• 13.3-inch display
• 1280 by 800 pixels
• Glossy display

CD/DVD Drive:

• Combo drive  or 8x SuperDrive with double-layer burning

Size:

• 1.08 inches thin
• 5.0 pounds

Other Features:

• Two USB 2.0
• One FireWire 400
• iSight
• Mini-DVI

Price:

• Start at £699  

 Hope this helps.

Luv

girlgeek

Dear Girl Geek…

Hi,

I am really interested in buying an iPhone but I am unsure about which one to buy. I can’t decide whether to get the 8GB or the 16GB or to wait for the new iPhone which is rumoured to be coming out soon.

Please help!!

Thanks

Elleshia

Response

Dear Elleshia,

As you probably know the new second generation iphone is available July 11th so if you can wait that long, I’d hold out ’till then if possible -go on you can do it, it’ll be worth it.

 I posted a blog on the site with more details if you want to check it out ->http://www.girlgeekchic.com/posts/59

 Basically one of the main reasons is it’s got  improved 3G technology which is definitely worth waiting for as it’s meant to be, according to Apple boss Steve Jobs  “three times faster” compared to the original iphone and without any battery sacrifice.

 Here are some tariffs available on o2 for you to have a look at: 

monthly charge                 £30         £35       £45         £75

cost of 8gb iphone            £99         £99      free         free

cost of 16gb iphone           £159       £159     £59          free

minutes                             75           600      1200        3000

texts                                125          500        500         500 

Hope this helps.

Luv

girlgeek

Dear Girl Geek…

I am looking to buy a camcorder and I really like the flip ones with the usb mentioned on your site. However, I’d also like one that takes photos. Can you tell me if the flip ones do take photos and if not, are there any out there like the flip ones that take videos and photos.

Thanks a lot

Annabel xxx

Response

Dear Annabel,

The flip doesn’t take still photos as such, it has a built in video programme that allows you to snap still photos from video.

If you’d prefer one that has a specific photo mode along the same lines as the flip, check out the Sanyo Xacti VPC CG9. This is a flash memory camcorder, shoots 9 megapixel photos, ultraportable and handheld like the flip and comes in nice colours too.

If you want anymore girlgeeky details let me know. Hope this helps.

Luv

girlgeek