The Ten Best Laptop bags

1 Tumi LXT Achievement [pound]580

Tumi’s luxury range is made from durable and lightweight nylon with calf-leather trim. This is fitted with a metal barcoded panel that helps reunite the bag with you if it gets lost.

www.tumi.com; 020-7493 4138

2 Knomo Bungo [pound]154.99

This leather messenger bag fits a 15-inch laptop and has a quilted removable pocket for your computer. It’s made of soft leather on the front and strong nylon or canvas on the back.

www.knomobags.com; 08000 437 924

3 Pakuma Akara K1 [pound]49.99

This is good for bigger notebook computers, and will hold a 17- inch laptop in its Cocoon memory-foam protection system. It has an MP3 player pouch with a headphone-out port.

www.pakuma.com; 08708 113 614

4 Acme Made Designer Slim [pound]83.99

The Designer Slim bags from Acme Made are available in more than a dozen patterns. Cute and light, the bags come in three sizes so every laptop is catered for.

www.laptopstuff.co.uk; 08703 892 122

5 Delsey Loading PC Compatible [pound]89

Delsey’s computer case has two compartments, expandable from 17 inches to 21 inches in depth. It’s light and hard-wearing, and there’s padding to protect your laptop as well as straps.

www.delsey.com; 020-8731 3530

6 Knomo Kiki [pound]139.99

Available in red or black, this hide-leather bag is small and light, suitable for 12-inch laptops. It has padded handles and a removable padded, non-slip shoulder strap.

www.knomobags.com; 020-7462 0750

7 Timbuk2 Outtawhack [pound]99.99

Lots of colours to choose from in this tough, cool bag. You can carry it like a briefcase or messenger bag and the laptop compartment (lined with corduroy) has sturdy padding.

www.laptopstuff.co.uk; 08703 892 122

8 Knomo Orkney [pound]184.99

The traditional look of the leather Orkney hides a defiantly modern inner laptop pocket with quilted sides and removable cable pouch. It has pockets for iPod and mobile phone.

www.laptopstuff.co.uk; 08703 892 122

9 Tumi Gen 4 Essential Computer Brief [pound]275

Tumi’s bags are solid and light. This one is small enough to fit into an overhead compartment but has plenty of pockets, plus holders for pens, an umbrella, tickets and power cables.

www.tumi.com; 020-7493 4138

10 Mandarina Duck Vaio Shopper [pound]160

Designed to match Sony’s collection of adorable coloured laptops, this has a padded neoprene computer pouch perfectly sized to fit the Vaio. A matching purse is part of the deal.

www.selfridges.com; 08708 377 377

The Ten Best is edited by Rebecca Armstrong

Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

by DAVID PHELAN

Light, Intuitive, Easy to Use Review By Lisa Shea

The Wii Remote Controller is shaped like a standard TV remove, and has motion sensing ability. You wave it around, and your on-screen character waves their wand!

This isn’t an add-on controller – this is the actual, standard controller that most if not all games on the Nintendo Wii use as their primary control unit. There is also a “nunchuck” that can be used in your off hand, but many games don’t use the nunchuck.

The aim of the Wii was to make gaming as simple and intuitive as possible for the casual non gamer. Pretty much every person with a TV is comfortable using a TV remote. You point, you click. The Wii Remote Controller works in the same fashion. The motion sensors know what you are doing with the remote. If you’re playing a baseball game, you swing at the ball. If you’re playing a bowling game, you bring your arm back and swing it forward. Everything “makes sense”. A sword swing? A light saber battle? Just move your arm and the character does the same thing.

There are only two buttons that really matter. There’s an A button on the front that you push for most operations. There’s also a trigger underneath that is the B button. Depending on the game, they will have you use one or the other button. There are also a few other buttons for more complex gaming. There’s a D-pad. A “home” button lets you go instantly back to the main Wii menu if you’re tired of playing. There’s a plus and minus button, a 1 and 2 button. There’s even a power button. You don’t have to walk over to your Wii any more to turn it on or off. Just hit the power button on the remote and you’re all set.

The remote runs on two AA batteries, so there’s no USB plugging in or charging up, as with the other systems’ remotes. You do get a wrist strap, though, so the Wii remote doesn’t fly out of your hands while you’re doing a super powerful golf swing.

There’s even a speaker in the remote! This is great if you’re playing a game against another player. Say I’m boxing my boyfriend and I am the winner. *My* remote says that I triumphed, to me. Neat!

I definitely love the Wii remote controller. It’s light, it’s super easy to use, it’s intuitive and I can just pop batteries into it when it runs out, instead of having to wait for a recharge. Highly recommended. Just note that if you want to play a game that needs a nunchuck as well, that you have to buy that separately.

Review By Lisa Shea

Wii Remote Controller Reviews by H.Lam

 

The purchase of additional Nintendo Wii Remote controllers are the basic requirement for multi-player games. Strongly consider buying a pair of high-capacity NiMH rechargeable AA batteries along with each additional controller. The Nintendo Wii Remote consumes a lot of power because of the many functions it performs — the Wii Remote serves as a motion controller, provides power to controller attachments, and generates sound and vibration effects. The included set of disposable alkaline batteries will last less than a couple of weeks for active players (six days in my case). This compares to a battery life of a couple of months for the previous generation of Nintendo’s wireless controller — the Nintendo Wavebird controller for the GameCube.

Many games require the additional purchase of a controller attachment for multi-player mode — the Wii Nunchuk Controller or Wii Classic Controller, both of which plug into the base of the Wii Remote. In multi-player mode, the Wii Nunchuk is used for two-handed Wii games, e.g., Red Steel or the boxing game in Wii Sports.

The Wii Classic Controller attachment is currently used to play games on the Wii Virtual Console. Held sideways, the Wii Remote can serve as a game controller for all current Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx 16, and Nintendo (NES) Wii Virtual Console games. A Wii Classic Controller or Nintendo GameCube controller is required to play Super Nintendo (SNES) or Nintendo 64 virtual console games.

You may want to purchase a Wii Classic Controller or Nintendo GameCube controller (this plugs directly into Wii Console itself) to play Virtual Console titles anyway. The Wii Remote is diminutive, and a Wii Classic Controller or GameCube controller both offer better handgrip and button placement. Of note, a Wii Classic controller can currently only be used for Wii Virtual Console games, while a GameCube controller can be used for Wii Virtual Console games and all Nintendo GameCube games.

Each “Wiimote” has a nice touch of interactivity, holding up to 10 Mii avatars per remote. You can take your Mii character along with you to play games like Wii Sports on other Wii consoles by taking your Wii Remote along with you.

The one improvement I would make to the Wii Remote Controller would be to add finger nubs. The Wiimote can get a little slippery during gameplay because of sweat. Third-party manufacturers offer latex rubber / silicone controller gloves that fit over the Wii Remote to improve hand grip. I find these gloves are more hassle than they are worth because they are time-consuming, both to put on and to peel back when changing the Wiimote’s batteries.

By H. Lam