Yes, I actually need a lot of space on my desktop as I work with dozen of windows opened at same time: Word, Excel, Email, Browsers, Photoshop.

So, even though I have seen an evolution over these laptops in such a short lapse of time, none fitted prefectly my needs both in terms of comfort, efficiency and mobility.

Then, last saturday, I stumbled upon a new computer I was not expecting, the brand new Sony Vaio X11 (referenced as Sony Vaio VPC-X11S1BAI 11,1″ TFT on Internet) and my first reaction beyond surprise!

Take a look at the pictures yourself, from the first glimpse you can see it is a masterpiece product: thinnest laptop (the MacBook Air appears to be so big in comparison), lightest also (700gr only!) and still packed with interesting features:
- 11 inches 1376×1040 LED screen
- CPU: Atom Z440 at 1.86Ghz
- 128 GB SSD that is really fast!
- 2 GB of RAM
- up to 8 hours autonomy (proved to be 4 hours minimum after a few days of testing)
- 700 gr
- very thin: less than 1cm height and the screen is maybe 0,3 cm of height!
- builtin 3G/HSDPA (3G+) slot to put the SIM card and just be connected ANYWHERE!
- OS: Windows 7 Professional

So, where’s the catch? The catch is in the price of course: 1499 euros for this computer, that puts it out of the usual netbook range (300-400 euros) by far.

However, considering the product is by itself a technical miracle (yes, it is so thin that you wonder how they could put all these components inside it), I believe that this could be a real good investmen as it is a computer that you will use everyday, everywhere (thanks to the 3G+ connector) and can have all the time under the hand without feeling any extra weight onto your shoulders. In fact, once you have get used to a computer below 1kg in weight, it is very hard to switch back to something heavier, and believe me, with this one, you will never want any other laptop unless engineers come with another technical miracle of this kind! I am repeating myself hear, both MacBook Air and Dell Adamo are beaten by this little Sony Vaio X11!

Also, despite it’s so light and thin, it looks quite solid because it’s built with carbon-fiber. Of course I would not sit onto it and throw it to the ground (who would do that to his laptop anyway ^^), but in a bag, protected with a small soft case it will be safe from any damages!

The main reproach I would address to this Sony laptop is the CPU: Intel Atom are OK and the Atom Z440 at 1.86 Ghz is performing quite well on most of the tasks, however it is not as powerful as a Core 2 Duo or a Low Voltage Centrino 2. But don’t worry, the computer isn’t lagging and you can have at least Word + several browser tabs + email client + antivirus running before filling a little delay when you switch in-between applications. So, the CPU could have been better, but I guess that is was chosen to increase the battery length.

So to summarize my review of the Sony Vaio X11:

Advantages:
+ ultra light, you won’t feel it in hand or on your shoulder once in the bag
+ 8 hours autonomy
+ 3G+ slot
+ good overall performance thanks to the fast SSD drive
+ Windows 7 Pro

Drawbacks:
- the price of course: 1499 euros!
- Atom Z440 cpu instead of a Core 2 Duo low voltage model

If you’re the happy (or not so happy) owner of a Sony Vaio X11 or had the chance to try one, feel free to share your thoughts on the product in the comments to my post!

Overall, this was a good day, although I got less goodies than I used to on previous years!

Some pics from the convention:

You will find in the photo slideshow pictures from:

1. The Arch of La Defense
2. photos of old computers taken at the museum of computers in the arch of la defense
3. skyscrapers, business centers and shopping malls in la Defense
4. photos from le bois de Boulogne in Neuilly sur Seine

If you visit Paris as a tourist, I might recommend you not to spend more than half a day in this place, at is it not really designed for tourists, but it is more one of the main business centers of Paris (plthis place is full of white-colars ^^), yet I think it was worth the sight!

Check it here (French version only yet)

Today, I would like to dedicate this post to my favorite actor of all times: Jacky Chan

Since I am kid, I love all Jacky Chan movies: it’s fun, there’s great action and stunts, and to me Jacky Chan is more than an actor, he is a LEGEND !!!

A friend of mine sent me today a video of some of the most spectacular / dangerous stunts of Jacky Chan, and I decided to put on my Wixi the video plus a full reportage on Jacky Chan stunts!

Check it out and tell me if you’re a big fan too

You can download some of the best Jacky Chan movies there also:
Jacky Chan Movies torrent

However, on the Internet, this is totally another story: people have integrated “tags” (aka small words) to categorize and describe anything and everything.

Well, while I was doing some research and staying updated on the latest technology & web 2.0 news, I found that Quintura (a new kind of search engine), which shows you offering a widget that showed the tags cloud related to any search you make.

So I played with it a bit and searched for my name: “borget sebastien“:

And in reverse order (funny thing, it gave slightly different results): “sebastien borget“:

This gives some interesting information on all tags associated with my activity on the web, and how people can find my website by googling (or using Quintura ^^)

However, to the question: “Am I only defined by these small words ?“, I reply that obviously not, this is not me, this is just the way you find me on the Internet

Tout simplement inoubliables, ce sont 3 heures de grand frisson pendant lesquelles la magie s’opère par la danse, le chant, les costumes, les effets spéciaux, la musique pour marquer à toujours ma tête et mon coeur

Voici comment je résume le Roi Lion, la comédie musicale adaptée du dessin animé éponyme, à laquelle j’ai assisté samedi soir!

Le spectacle entier, du début à la fin, était vraiment sublime, et les voix des chanteurs portaient continuellement. En sus, bien au delà de nous rappeller nostalgiquement le dessin animé, le spectacle introduit des nouvelles chansons et scènes d’une grande qualité. Les effets spéciaux sur les décors sont vraiment superbement réalisés aussi, et dès la première scène avec le sacre du jeune lionceau Simba, on est bluffé par le rocher du lion et la savane. Une autre scène particulièrement réussie est celle de la fuite du troupeau dans le canyon, suivie de la mort de Muphasa.

Quant aux chanteurs / interprétateurs, les performances de Zazzoo, Timon, Rafiki et Simba (jeune et adulte) ont été bluffantes, et tout amateur que je sois, j’ai trouvé cela vraiment génial, on rigole, on vibre, on chante, on applaudit !!!

J’ai acheté le CD musical et depuis je continue de l’écouter en boucle pour vous dire tellement j’ai étais ravi !

Petit conseil pour profiter de la meilleure expérience: c’est peut-être cher, mais c’est tellement sensationnel que ca en vaut le coup, optez directement pour les places à 100 euros, ne choisissez pas les places en balcon, uniquement celles en bas, de préférence dans une série de rangée de A (le top) à Q (après vous commencerez à être un peu éloigné en fond de salle).

Hakuna Matata, ne manquez pas ce spectacle !!!

I wish a Happy Chinese New Year to all my asian friends & readers Year 2008 is the Year of the Rat, which comes to be also my chinese astrological sign, so I hope it will bring a LOT of good things for all rats !!!

I went to see yesterday a “traditional” walk of the dragon with the Flying Chinese Dragon, the Lions, and people wearing traditional clothes. It was nice as you can see on the pics and videos!

If you want to spend a nice week-end, I really advice you to go there. It’s a bit more expansive than Paris, but life is good, city is animated almost all day, people are … “british” :p

You can find the pics of all places I visited here:

Next place I want to go to: Germany !