Modern-Tech USB Hub
With Ultraportables typically ultra-limited when it comes to ports, and regular notebooks rarely including more than two or three USB connections, an upping the port count with a hub is a handy accessory for any laptop owner.
You don't have to dip into the wallet too much either, with hubs available on t'interweb for a few quid. But while some of these may come with a numerous ports, we thought you'd want a bit more than just a hub for your bucks.
This spiffy-looking box comes with three USB points, an SD card-reader plus audio in and out ports. It's small, it's useful and it's bloomin' cheap.
Viewsonic PLED W500
There used to be a time when local kids would gather at the rich-boy's home to watch movies through his Dad's projector. Nowadays, the tech not only comes at affordable prices, but has shrunk down so much it can fit in your pocket.
The Viewsonic PLED W500 might be a tight squeeze if you tried to pop it in your hoodie-pouch, but it impresses nevertheless and is still portable enough to take on a trip away. With a WXGA resolution of 1280 x 800 and a sharp image with 6000:1 contrast ratio, the W500 ticks plenty of boxes. You can read what we thought about it in-depth here on Reg Hardware.
If you seek something battery operated that can be used on the road however, then you could always have a look at the 3M CP45 pocket camcorder and projector combo, that not only saves you a few bob, but doubles up as a camcorder too. Very handy. ®
Ten... laptop accessories
COMMENTS
If all you sinister folk weren't so contrary and just learned to use things with the correct hand the problem would go away.
Mains inverters are silly for laptops
Converting to mains and back is inefficient - might not be a problem for charging while driving but can be if using when the engine's off. Far better and more portable to get a dedicated laptop car adaptor (not much more than £5 on eBay). I know you can't plug other things into it but this article is about laptop accessories.
Worse - there are much smaller printers, much smaller projectors (some stupidly tiny), much smaller USB hubs, much more efficient and smaller car chargers for laptops (even generic, multi-voltage ones), and things like the mouse are an abomination.
I was hoping to see a small USB scanner for a half-decent price. I can safely say I would never buy any of the products listed there (£700 USB keys? Buy a fecking external 1Tb hard drive, or even 10, ffs). Even the soundbar is just a nice way to put extra leverage on your screen hinges, and hardly any of it is "portable".
If you want something to be a "laptop accessory" I have to be able to reasonable carry it in an ordinary laptop bag with all my other accessories. I don't think any of those items except the stupidly-expensive USB key would fit that bill.
No TV-tuners? (just bought a DVB-T and analog dual-tuner - so can watch / record two digital channels simultaneously - model for less than £20) No scanners? No external hard drives? No fancy gadgets like, I don't know, some sort of joypad/joystick that folds away? No mention of things like the wireless presenter controls that can slip into an Expresscard slot for storage, etc.? Disappointing, and very misnamed, round-up of useless and expensive products.
