Quick update since i've returned from my Canada holiday - those Sony's worked a treat! Using them both with the in-flight entertainment system and our ipod on the flights, the sound was pretty amazing considering the amount of background noise. I found had to keep tweaking them in my ears to make sure there was a complete seal but when there was, i could barely hear the engines at all.

Thanks again for the tip - great buy!

Well, i followed the simple instructions in the link i found and hey-presto - WMC now plays all my vob files on the hard drive! Well chuffed. Slightly concerned about some comments i saw elsewhere that this fix doesn't survive a reboot, but i've yet to confirm if this is the case.

Thanks for the ideas/tips guys. I managed to find this link which appears to describe a solution to my problem, though i haven't tried it yet: how_to_play_ripped_dvds_on_vista_media_center. I found the same registry hack on another website too and comments seem to suggest it works. I'll give it a go this evening and report back.

Hello all,

I've ripped a load of DVDs to my hard-drive, but they wont play on my new laptop running Vista. What's the best, preferably free software for playing .vob files?

Is there any way to get Windows Media Centre to play them? I believe it plays DVDs if you insert them in the drive, so why wont it recognise .vob files on the hard-drive?

Many thanks

I'm the same. I was thinking about building another desktop from bits i salvaged from an old dead one i had, but by the time i'd bought a new motherboard/processor/memory, case/psu and a semi-decent screen, i'd have spent more than this laptop cost me!

On your advice, i bought two pairs of the Sony MDR-NC11A's from Sainsburys for £20 each - seemed like a good deal - cheaper than i could get on ebay. Haven't managed to test their noise reduction capabilities yet, but they sound good enough to me.

Thanks to all for your views.

Quick update - ended up getting a 15.4" laptop from Sainsburys of all places, but it was a deal i couldn't resist.

Medion dual-core, 2GB, 250GB, wifi, tv tuner, HDMI output, dual-layer DVD, Vista Premium - everything basically - for £200 - reduced from £600!! If they'd had more than one left, i would have bought them all and sold them on ebay!

It's a bit bigger than the EeePc that i was originally planning to buy, but with that spec and price, i couldn't say no! Read several reviews online that gave it good value at £600.

Interesting vote for the Sennheisers - although not active noice-cancelling, i've been reading a bit and types like these that fit snugly into the ear canal are as good if not better than some of the cheaper active types - plus you're getting better sound quality all round. Perhaps that's the way to go.

I'm researching noise-cancelling headphones - does anyone have any views/advice/comments? My budget is limited to under £30 so i'm not expecting top-notch quality, but something better than the cr@p ones they charge you £2.50 or whatever for on flights.

Any recommendations?

Thanks for the "tip"!!! I'll bear that in mind.

Thanks again for the advice.

70 seconds isn't bad. I think my aging Celeron laptop is just too bogged down with loads of software and other garbage, so takes a good few minutes before it settles down enough to be able to do anything with it.

I think the taxing system they have in Canada is crazy - there's always two taxes to add on to all avertised prices everywhere and they're not easy numbers like 10% either. I'll be taking a calculator with me for sure!

Thanks for the detailed response "WearTheFoxHat" - most useful.

I've had a quick look at the other machines you mentioned and they're all tempting, though pushing my budget that much further. I've seen the EeePC for a shade over £200 in the UK, whereas these other machines are nearer the £300 mark, though i admit they're better spec'd with hard disk drives etc. The disadvantage to me of these machines though is with XP/Vista/OSX on an HDD, boot-up times are always going to be an issue. Perhaps i'm just too impatient, but i tend to find i use things a lot more if they're more accessible, i.e. fast time to usability. That's what i liked about the EeePCs - switch on and within 10 seconds, you're away. For casual/intermittent web-browsing, this is such a bonus. It must help with usable battery life too if you're not wasting all that energy booting up every time.

The other big selling point though is size and all these models win there. Having something that you can carry around with you whilst out and about is a definite plus point, like your application of looking up houses on the market. I often use my HTC Touch to look up prices of products on pricerunner or amazon when out and about to see if deals offered on the High Street are worthwhile or not. I suppose i'd only be able to do that within ear-shot of a wifi point with these ultra-portable PCs, unless i get a 3G dongle, but that's more money. Maybe i could wirelessly link to my Touch and use GPRS through that instead?

I like all your suggested justifications - a good few i hadn't thought of before!

One thing i'm having trouble with is finding something like the EeePC online in Canada for a good price - seems like they're way more expensive than here, even with the exchage rate as it is, plus of course they put all sorts of taxes on top of the prices advertised. Seems like i'll be better buying one here.

Changed my mind about the one in Maplin after reading this: undefined

Seems like the possibilities for installing other software etc. are dashed by the processor.

For £60 for the 9" EeePC, I think i'll save my money.

That's incredibly cheap, thanks! Still got the smaller screen, but at that price it's very tempting. I'm going down to Maplin at lunchtime to have a look at one.

I still dont get the idea of loading OSX/XP/Vista on these machines - what benefit does that give you that outweighs the fact you're surely slowing the system down with a cumbersome OS and taking up the memory too, not to mention killing the fast boot time? For me anyway, the Linux installations have everything i need - internet browsing, email, simple office document handling.

Hi all,

I've been smitten by these Eee PCs since i first saw them in Stuff mag ages ago. I was put off by the small screen of the original version, but now they've sorted that with a larger screen, i'm so tempted - especially as i'm off to Canada in a couple of weeks and able to take advantage of the good exchange rate.

Trouble is, as ever, i'm hit with the hurdle of justifying spend on more gadgets (just bought a TomTom 530!). so i need some good excuses as to what these babies can do. We already have a PC and cheap laptop in the house, but the main selling points of the Eee PC to me are a.) fast boot-up time and b.) size/weight.

Anyone got any good ideas? For instance, could i use it to review photos taken with my digicam when out and about (via SDHC card reader)?

Also, is the Eee PC still the best buy? Seems to be a good few others on the market now, including one in Maplin now for under £170 - not sure what model this is though.

Many thanks - i'll wait to i get to Vancouver then and buy them there - approx £75 against £100 here - that's a saving of £50 for both.

I was waiting to take advantage of the great exchange rate whilst on holiday to Canada soon to buy the kids a couple of DS Lites, but i picked up somewhere that these are coded by region/country like DVDs.

Is this true? If so, are there hacks available to make them region-free?

Very interesting, though quite pricey as an all-in sat nav solution. For £99, you could buy a TomTom One, which would arguably be better.

Paul - have you had experience of web-browsing on an Archos? Or anyone else for that matter?

Thanks for the views.

Interesting point about these devices being breakable. My kids are 3, 5 & 7 (though probably only the elder two would use this), so i'm not sure i'd want to given them an expensive ipod Touch to play with! Then again, the wife is after a new ipod as her 2GB Nano is becoming too limited.

I do like the PVR potential of the Archos - great for recording loads of the kiddy's prog's off TV for them to watch on long journeys etc.

The PSP almost seems a bit long in the tooth now, though in some respects it still seems to be up there with the rest. How do they manage sat nav? I assume it has bluetooth then.

So, it's an ipod touch for the wife and me, an archos for the middle kid who is a telly addict, and a DS Lite for the eldest who has just got hooked by our Wii! That's quite a gadget budget! Perhaps we wont eat whilst on holiday!!

I'm thinking about getting a device that the kids can use to watch videos on, but with wifi too for casual internet browsing around the home or out and about. Thing is, which is best for these applications??

1. Ipod Touch - expensive, but versatile
2. Archos 405/605 wifi - cheap and useful add-ons e.g. PVR dock
3. Sony PSP - cheap again, but not so interested in games, tho kids might be!

Views/experiences/opinions please??

Any other suggestions?

A forthcoming trip to Canada makes all of the above a potential good buy (>$2CAD:£1!!)