The top surface of the Pug includes felt-covered mouse pads on each side, and a cup holder. In the center is a platform on which a laptop can be placed; it can be set to three different angles. In this platform, there are two fold-up tabs to hold the laptop in place, and a surprisingly powerful but quiet USB-powered fan to dissipate heat from the laptop.

The Pug can be used in several configurations. With the legs folded flat, it’s essentially a two-inch thick shelf. The legs can be extended halfway, to make it into a tray about 11-1/2 inches tall. With the legs fully extended, it becomes a table about 20 inches tall — about the height of a coffee table.

After working with the unit that LapDawg sent me to try, I’m guessing that most people will find the Pug most useful with its legs in the middle position. Configured that way, the Pug should be comfortable for most people to use while sitting on a couch. I also experimented with using the Pug while propped up in bed, and it was quite comfortable. I try not to bring my work to bed, though!

The Pug is made of lightweight plastic; LapDawg says it weighs 4.5 pounds. But at 24.5 x 13 x 2 inches, it’s really too big to put in one’s luggage, though it could be easily packed in a car.

The Pug feels sturdy and well-constructed. My only complaints are minor: the leg joints require enough force to click into place that I was afraid that I was applying too much pressure. Also, the USB cable supplied with the Pug is very short, and you’ll probably need an extension cable if your laptop happens to have its USB ports on the left.

The Pug is available from LapDawg’s website for US$59.00, plus a whopping $22.65 for ground shipping to the U.S. It’s available with free shipping in Canada, since the company is headquartered in Toronto.

LapDawg also makes the X4, which is a simpler, but more flexible (and more expensive) tray. I haven’t tried it, but Charles Moore wrote about it, and other similar products, a few months ago.

The LapDawg Pug is a well-designed and well-built product; it comes with a lifetime guarantee. But although LapDawg offers 30-day returns, I recommend that you consider how you plan to use it before you buy. Some people may prefer to sacrifice the larger size of the Pug, plus its mouse pads and cup holder, for the increased flexibility of the X4, or one of the other options Charles recommended.

How do you balance your laptop?

Since I’ve already got a couple of laptops, an iPod touch, and an old Palm Treo 755p smartphone, I decided to try reading books using these first before spending money on yet another gadget.

• The free eReader software for the Treo 755p seems to work fine, but for someone with middle-aged nearsightedness, the 755p’s screen is just too small.
• On a laptop, the Adobe Digital Editions and Calibre programs are also good. Even with a big screen and an ergonomic setup, though, I’m not excited about reading on a computer. I stare at a computer screen all day as it is. I want to get out of an office environment after hours. I can’t see myself using a laptop in bed.
• For the iPhone/iPod touch, the free Stanza software is very impressive. It displays well, has all the features one could want. But reading a novel on the iPod’s screeen won’t work very well, as I found that my battery started to go dead in about an hour.

So, I thought, maybe a dedicated e-book reader does make sense. I took a look at a few. The following observations are certainly not comprehensive. But they list a few of the reasons why I liked, and didn’t like, the ones I tried.

• Barnes & Noble Nook. I spent about an hour at my local B&N store looking at the Nook. It has lots of nice features, but even with the latest firmware update, it’s very slow. I’m a pretty fast reader, so waiting a few seconds each time I want to turn a page would drive me crazy. It’s also heavy; not something that I could hold in one hand.
• Sony Readers. After looking at the Nook, I went down the street to Borders and checked out the Sony Reader Touch Edition and the Sony Reader Pocket Edition. The Pocket is small and light, and lots of people enjoy it, but for us left-handers, it’s impossible to use with one hand, since the controls are laid out for righties. Surprisingly, the larger Touch has a more ambidextrous interface, but its touch screen is fuzzier, less bright, and prone to glare and fingerprints.
• Amazon Kindle. Since the Kindle is sold only online, there’s no place to check one out before ordering. Darrell likes it, though, and I looked at one belonging to a friend. It’s not as heavy as the Nook, but like the Nook, it still feels too heavy for one-handed reading. It also uses a proprietary format for its books, which my local public library does not offer.
• Bookeen Opus. My local Fry’s computer store was selling this lesser-known e-book reader on sale for $149, which was $60 to $100 or more cheaper than any of the other readers I looked at. (Unfortunately, that special price is no longer available.) The Opus is small, light, and has a simple interface. It doesn’t have wireless connectivity, it doesn’t play music, and it doesn’t have many of the bells and whistles that some of the other readers have. But as I said, I already have lots of other gadgets, so I don’t really need these features.

The Opus came closest to what I want, so I did decide to buy it. But the usefulness of the Opus — like that of all of its e-reader cousins — is totally hobbled by books that come with digital rights management. Illustrator Brad Colbow has  a great, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, observation on why DRM doesn’t work — just substitute e-books for audio books.

A lot of the tech bloggers, of course, are salivating about the upcoming Apple iPad. Darrell has some great observations on what will be needed to make it relevant for web workers. So far, I’m not seeing anything that makes me want to spend that kind of money. And there are several other e-readers arriving, too.

On the whole, I was disappointed by the whole e-reader experience. I can see how an e-reader would be useful if you mostly want to read free e-books, like the ones Celine suggests. But until the prices of the hardware come down, the technical issues are resolved, and the obnoxious DRM is dealt with, I’ll probably still read most of my books in print, obtained from the library or one of the independent bookstores.

Do you use an e-reader?

Cybook Opus image from Wikimedia Commons.

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1. Check your user manual. Some laptop models have special considerations to pay heed to when cleaning the computer. The user manual will typically provide suggestions for cleaning and it’s generally best to stick with the instructions written with your laptop in mind.
2. Shine screens. To get your screen clean without endangering your computer, the best option is to start with a microfiber towel. Soft and lint-free towels will work, but microfiber offers the best results. Dampen it and wring out any excess water. Gently wipe the cloth across the screen. You’ll want to follow the damp cloth with a dry cloth, to remove any moisture as well as any leftover dirt. You can also purchase pre-moistened wipes meant specifically for cleaning off computer screens.
3. Wipe down keyboards. Keyboards are notorious havens for germs, so it’s important to bring in something capable of dealing with the nasties. If you mix one part isopropyl alcohol with one part water, you’ll get an ideal disinfectant. Dampen a cloth and wring out as much water as possible before you run it over the keys — it’s best to have your laptop off for this particular procedure. Avoid the screen, but be sure to wipe down the trackpad while you’re at it. If you use an external mouse, wipe that down as well.
4. Get rid of dust. For most keyboards, a damp cloth won’t get all the dust. A can of compressed air will help. You’ll want to tilt your laptop sideways — blowing dust downwards won’t get it out — and then blow air into the cracks. In most cases, you’ll have a clean keyboard at this point. If not, you can disassemble the keyboard, but keep in mind that many keyboards aren’t meant to be taken apart. You’ll want specific instructions for your model of keyboard in the event you need to give it a try.
5. Clean out vents. The fans and vents on each laptop can be problem areas, especially if anything is in them. Just blowing compressed air through the vents often isn’t enough to get them clean. Instead, disassembly is in order. The exact procedure differs from laptop to laptop, but you’ll probably have to remove the keyboard. Then clean out the accumulated dust and reassemble.
6. Deal with discolorations. Certain laptops, such as the white MacBooks, can get a nasty residue on places where your hands normally rest. Depending on the laptop, a little acetone (nail polish remover) can wipe away the mess. Start with just a dab to be on the safe side.

Once the outside of your laptop is clean, you may want the contents of your harddrive to match. Here are a few tips to straighten up your files and software.

Share your laptop cleaning tips below.

Image by Flickr user radialmonster

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• Dim the screen
• Stop playing DVDs/CDs
• Stop playing video/music from the HDD
• Go easy on your CPU
• Switch off the radios
• Ditch the mouse
• Unplug external drives

Check out Liam’s post for the full list of tips and more detail. These tips aren’t only useful for Apple hardware; most of them would work equally well on any make of laptop or netbook. Looking for even more battery life? Check out Sam’s previous posts on the topic.

Share your battery-saving tips below.

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I thought I’d share some tips gleaned from my latest move to a new desktop. My way isn’t necessary the best way, but it may give you some ideas when it comes time for you to make the switch. Here are the steps that I took.

1. Back up your data. Use an online backup service like BackBlaze or Mozy. (Solo web workers should have an offsite backup solution, anyway) I also have an external drive that does nothing but back up my computer’s data. The free built-in Microsoft Windows Synctoy took care of my syncing. Make sure you synchronize everything, including the data on any mobile devices.
2. Take a computer inventory. Run System Information for Windows (SIW), Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder and Belarc Advisor.  Save the output files in Gmail or someplace where you can access it from any computer. These free applications create a list of installed software, license keys, hardware inventory, network information and other details. These apps are all free.
3. Put the computers near each other. This makes the move easier and allows you to check what’s on the old computer and install it on the new PC and compare the setups. It’s also worth checking which apps are used frequently. While the inventory software lists all the installed applications, you might not need to exactly duplicate your setup. The key is to get the important and most frequently used tools and software installed so you can get up and running on the new machine. Then, if you find you need one of the apps you didn’t move over to the new machine later, you can install it. Don’t pressure yourself to get everything installed.
4. Install the applications and tools. Dig up all your software, download the ones that don’t have a CD/DVD and download updated software. Some of my software (Palm Desktop, for example) is so old that I didn’t bother using the original CD/DVD to install it. Instead, I went to the companies’ web sites to download the latest versions.
5. Share folders over the network. Turn on network file-sharing by opening Explorer. Find the folders you want to copy to your new computer, right-click the folder and select “Share.” Look for the option to share the folder (it’s different in Windows XP and Vista). Doing this, I shared the folder with all my work documents so that I had instant access to the documents I needed without waiting for the online backup to do its job. The online backup application then restored the rest of the files.
6. Copy the data from old to new.
7. Start using the new computer. I plan to keep the old computer nearby for a little while so if I run into something I need to customize or verify, I can look at it and update the new computer accordingly.
8. Set up a backup system. Whether you used one before or not, put a backup system in place. Even new computers mess up and you never know when some disaster decides to make life harder for your home. It can happen. I was in my grandparents’ house when it caught fire.

Having many of my applications and data in the cloud made this the easiest and fastest desktop transition ever.

What other ways can you ease and speed up the transition from old computer to new?

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Here are some cheap ways to put off the day you’ll need to buy a new laptop.

More Memory

My machine was originally fitted with 1 GB of RAM, which seemed like plenty at the time (and fitting more would have been hideously expensive when I bought it). It was really starting to creak under the strain of running multiple web apps, AIR widgets, and apps like Photoshop, all of which demand huge amounts of RAM. If your machine is constantly having to use its swap space, performance will be notably impacted.

Maxing out the memory on my laptop cost just $50, and the difference in performance is huge, especially when switching between applications. Fitting the memory was easy and took no more than five minutes, although on my machine the second module is hidden under the keyboard, which proved a little fiddly to remove.

The Crucial Memory Advisor tool is useful for figuring out which memory upgrades might be available for your machine.

Larger Hard Drive

If you’re running out of space, you have a couple of options. You can either buy a replacement drive, or buy an external one.

I opted for an external portable drive for a couple of reasons. First, it meant that I wouldn’t have to reinstall my OS and all of my apps. Second, a portable drive gives me some additional flexibility. Now I can easily copy large amounts of data between machines and if I need to transport my files, I can just slip the drive into my pocket. The drive I bought was a 320 GB Seagate Freeagent Go, which looks sleek and works well. You can get a drive like this for around $75 (you pay a little more for higher capacities).

New, Higher Capacity Battery

If your laptop is getting on a bit, chances are that its battery life is notably diminished. Rather than buy an expensive replacement from the manufacturer (Dell charge more than $150 for a replacement battery for my machine) look for compatible versions on eBay.  While you’re at it, why not look at getting a higher-capacity battery? I picked up a 9-cell unit on eBay for just $50 that lasts much longer than the original did.

Bluetooth

If your laptop didn’t come with with Bluetooth installed (mine didn’t), you might still be able to purchase an inexpensive Bluetooth adapter for it; check with your manufacturer. Bluetooth opens up communication with whole host of useful gadgets such as mice, keyboards, headsets, cameras, printers and mobile phones. I’ll do anything to reduce the amount of wires cluttering up my desk, so buying a Bluetooth adapter that cost less than $20 was a no-brainer.

Note: Upgrading components on a laptop is not always as straightforward as it is on a desktop. Make sure to consult your owner’s manual before buying any upgrades, unplug your machine and remove the battery before starting work, and take precautions to avoid damaging your equipment with static electricity (use an antistatic wrist strap, or ground yourself periodically on an unpainted metal surface).

How have you upgraded your laptop?

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This certainly tallies with my experience since owning an iPhone, in that I’m far more likely to only tote my phone and not bring my laptop if all I need to do is keep an eye on emails and a few feeds. While at a conference, especially, I’d far rather not be lugging around a notebook when I can keep up to date via email, Twitter and RSS on my phone. Having to carry it around all day is one thing, but also the point of a conference, for me, is to get out and connect with people, something that’s much harder to do if I’m stuck behind my notebook screen, tapping away.

Unfortunately, I can’t use my iPhone as a general-purpose mobile device for doing “real” work: the screen is too small and the keyboard is inadequate for large amounts of typing. So I’m not ready to drop my notebook altogether just yet. But in situations where all I need to do is stay up to date, answer a few emails or maybe catch up on a little reading (via the excellent Instapaper app for the iPhone), say while on a train journey or at a conference, it’s great to be free of having to lug my notebook everywhere — something that I couldn’t have imagined just a couple of short years ago. Maybe in a few years smartphones will have gotten so good that I won’t need to bring a notebook with me at all.

Have you noticed that better smartphones mean that you don’t need to carry your notebook with you as much?

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It’s a lovely spring-like day here in Bristol today, which has inspired me to do some cleaning. But I’m not cleaning my apartment (which is spotless, of course); I’m tidying my laptop, getting it into tip-top shape so that it keeps running as smoothly as possible. As a web worker, having a machine that’s running optimally is critical.

My laptop is a Dell XPS M1210, a traveler-friendly, highly portable old warhorse that’s getting long in the tooth (the model has been superseded by the Dell XPS M1330). As it’s getting a little old, some maintenance every now and again helps to make sure that it’s not getting bogged down with accumulated junk.

The procedure I describe in this post is straightforward and specifically for my Windows XP machine, but you could adapt it for any platform. Note that some of these processes can take a considerable amount of time, and you should make a backup before starting.

1. Remove any applications that are no longer required.

As I play with a lot of software, I do have a tendency to install apps and never use them again. This is bad because they not only take up space, but some of them have components that launch automatically, using up valuable memory and increasing boot-up time.

Even if you have a brand-new computer, it’s worth having a look to see what’s installed on your machine, as quite often vendors will “helpfully” install a bunch of useless software on your machine when they load the OS (I’m looking at you, Dell).

2. Tidy up documents and desktop.

Though I have a filing system, sometimes, if I’m in a hurry, I’ll file documents in the wrong place. So I go through everything, moving files into the right folders and deleting those that are no longer required. I also file or delete any documents that have been left on the desktop, and delete any desktop shortcuts that are no longer needed. I also use this opportunity to archive any old projects that I don’t need any more, freeing up more space.

3. Empty the trash.

It’s amazing how much space can be wasted by not emptying the trash. I always have a peek to make sure there’s nothing important in there before emptying it, though!

4. Run Disk Cleanup.

Windows Disk Cleanup (available under System Tools) is useful for freeing up space on your hard drive. It reclaims space by deleting unneeded files, like temporary Internet files, and compressing older ones.

5. Tidy up registry and startup programs.

Over time the Windows registry tends to accumulate a lot of entries that aren’t in use (a problem probably exacerbated by my tendency to play with a lot of software) and needs to be tidied. You could do this manually but it’s much easier to use a free app like the excellent Glary Utilities , which can automatically fix most problems. Back up the registry before making any changes. I also use Glary Utilities to check which programs run automatically on startup, and disable those that I don’t need.

6. Run full anti-virus and anti-spyware scans.

You can never be too careful. I use AVG Anti-virus and Malwarebytes’ excellent Anti-Malware on my machine. Both are free of charge for personal use. Make sure to update both before running the scans.

7. Defragment the hard disk.

Now that the machine is in a reasonably clean state, the next step is to defragment the hard disk. Windows Disk Defragmenter is available under System Tools. A fragmented disk can really slow a machine down so it’s important to run a defrag every now and again.

8. Clean screen, keyboard and trackpad.

As the defrag might take some time, I use the opportunity to clean my monitors (TheAppleBlog has a great post on monitor cleaning), get rid of any crumbs from my keyboard and clean the trackpad and mouse. Apparently, the average keyboard has more germs on it than a toilet seat, so it’s worth cleaning it every once in a while.

How do you keep your computer running as fast and as free of junk as possible? Share your tips in the comments.

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Today, in a post from Microsoft engineers working on energy efficiency for Windows 7, there is substantial evidence shown that this fairly well-known, but rarely followed tip does indeed make a big difference. The post illustrates which other steps make a difference too.

The engineers at Microsoft produced the following pie chart showing where the energy goes when modern laptops are running (hat tip to Lifehacker Australia for flagging the post):

Sure enough, nearly 50 percent of the energy drawn by your laptop goes to the display. It really does make sense to turn the brightness down when you’re working on things like documents and e-mail for extended periods. These Microsoft engineers have a compelling reason to be getting this specific about analyzing this for Windows 7, and that is that Windows Vista has been slammed continuously for its reckless draws on battery life.

It will be good news when modern operating systems of all stripes self-adjust and offer users straightforward ways to optimize their systems to conserve battery power. Hopefully Windows 7 will do a much better job of doing this than Vista did.

In my post from the other day, there are also other tips that line up with the graphic from the Microsoft engineers. Hard drive access and network tasks take up reasonably significant amounts of energy, so defragment your drive for faster access and if you don’t need Wi-Fi and other network connections for an extended period, hop off. Also, your processor sucks a lot of juice, so be very wary of highly processor-intensive tasks such as streaming lots of video.

Still, these ideas are less of an issue than how you treat your laptop’s display. If you’re a frequent user of hotspots and an often untethered portable web worker, turn the brightness down when you don’t need it for extended periods. It’s simple, you probably already knew about it but don’t do it, and it works.

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Jobs did announce a whole bunch of revisions to the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro product lines, including one-piece aluminum shells, glass trackpads with multitouch, dual graphics chips, and bigger drives. Apple is reducing the entry-level price of the white plastic MacBook to $999 – but there’s a lot of psychological distance between that and the $800 price point that was getting kicked around in the blogs.

There were some significant price decreases in today’s announcements, but they generally amount to reflections of the normal, continuing advance of technology, and not a decision by Apple to play in new markets. For example, the $1300 model of the MacBook now has an instant-on backlit display and a fast graphics processor – which yesterday you would have had to pay $2000 to get in the MacBook Pro line. And at the high end of the line, there’s a $2500 machine with 4GB of RAM, dual graphics chips including one with 512MB, and a 320GB hard drive – more power than you could have gotten in any Apple laptop before this.

Despite the fantasies of low-price MacBooks, it seems pretty clear that Apple knows its core audience well. Some of the statistics that came out at the event include that Apple sells more notebooks in education than Dell does (with 39% of the market), and that Mac sales have outgrown those of the industry for 14 of the last 15 quarters.

Today’s announcements didn’t include anything that most web workers will see as game-changing. If you’re already an Apple fan, you likely saw some new models that you’d like to have. If you’re happy with a Windows box, nothing shown today is likely to make you switch.

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Of course, there are plenty of sub-$1000 laptops on the market already – you can buy Dell’s Inspiron line at prices from $499 up, and if you’re willing to compromise down to the “netbook” level of machine, with a 9-inch screen, you can find pricing under $400. But those cheaper machines are not, of course, Macs.

As a happy Mac owner already, the new price point isn’t much of a temptation to me – we’ve already got two MacBooks in the office, and being developers, we’re unlikely to go for a low-end notebook in any case. But I wonder whether it will contribute significantly to Apple’s ever-growing share of the laptop market.

If you’re not yet a MacBook user, what do you think? Could a new, cheaper Mac laptop tempt you to switch? Or are you firmly committed to some alternative, despite the pressure to join the cool kids?

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Buy a Ruggedized Model. Some laptops are simply more resistant to physical damage than others. If you’re doing to do a great deal of travel, especially if you have a tendency towards klutziness, it’s worth looking into “ruggedized” or “semi-ruggedized” models. At the top of the sturdiness line you’ll find machines, like the Dell XFR D630, that comply with Department of Defense standards – they’re designed to be used in rough conditions and dropped without losing function. You’ll pay a premium if you go this route, though. At the very least, look for a computer (such as a MacBook) with an accelerometer built in to park the hard drive if you drop it.

Get a Decent Bag – However rugged your computer, I wouldn’t recommend dropping it with wild abandon. But eventually you will drop it – and you’ll likely be better off if it’s in a decently-padded bag. We’ve looked at choosing the perfect bag before – from the standpoint of investment protection, just remember that you want to prioritize “sturdy” over “stylish.”

Buy the Warranty – No, really. While I skip extended warranties for most of my electronics, I make an exception for laptops; they’re too essential to my working life. Just remember two things. First, the warranty likely won’t cover some of the most blatant things you can do to break a laptop. Second, having the company repair or replace a laptop is small consolation if you can’t get to your precious data in the meantime. You must have a decent backup strategy.

Cover it with Insurance – Having your laptop insured won’t keep it running, but it can make it easier to replace. You need to talk to your insurance agent on this one: establish whether your laptop is covered on your home or business policy, and set a sensible deductible. Then remember to review this coverage when you change laptops.

What do you do to protect your traveling gear?

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The Mini 9 is available for order immediately, at a base price of $349 (though I suspect most interested web workers would go for options that put it in the four to five hundred dollar range). At that price, it’s practically an impulse buy (and I’ll admit to feeling impulsive myself – it might make a good tester for IE8 rendering, if you need an excuse). For that price, you get what appears to be a reasonably capable machine, though there are clearly compromises.

$349 gets you a box with an 8.9 inch 1024×600 display, an Intel Atom CPU, 512MB of RAM, and a 4GB solid state hard drive. 802.11g is standard, as is the black case – you pay extra for white, or for Bluetooth connectivity. The base price includes Ubuntu as the operating system, and this version is showing as ready for pre-order but not for ship. If you go up to $399, you get Windows XP and immediate availability, as well as an 8GB solid state drive. The top end of customization is 1GB of RAM and a 16GB SSD. The box weighs in at about 2 1/2 pounds, again depending on options.

In a move that should resonate with web workers, Dell has done a deal with online storage favorite Box.net – The Dell comes with 2GB of storage, and custom plans if you need more. That’s double the storage of the normal free Box.net account, and the 10 and 25GB plans are priced much lower than Box’s standard pricing as well.

Dell certainly isn’t the only one promoting small, easily connected boxes for the mobile worker. Nor is this by any means a computer you’d use to do offline work. But given their reach, it might end up being a “second device” for a great many web workers.

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The plan doesn’t eliminate all packaging; the laptops still get to Walmart in large cardboard cartons, 3 to a box. But they do say it saves 97% of the packaging, the equivalent of eliminating the CO2 from 1/4 of the delivery trucks that bring them to the stores. While web workers aren’t the core market for this “entertainment notebook,” if it sells we can expect to see this approach spread.

Does the amount of packaging influence your own computer-buying decisions?

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