Another feature that I wanted was cheap 3rd party cartridges. I’m tired of paying $50 to HP just for one set of black and color cartridges. One set of ink cartridges costs more than the entire printer. The printer manufacturers say don’t use 3rd party ink. But I’ve used it in the past and it worked fine for my use. Even if the 3rd party ink breaks your printer, you can just buy a new printer that includes new cartridges so you haven’t lost much.

Here is the list of requirements for the new printer:

1. Inexpensive to buy the printer
2. Supports Google Cloud Print
3. Supports Apple AirPrint
4. Inexpensive Ink Cartridges

After looking around it seems that the only printer company that supports all of these requirements is Brother. The other major manufacturers all were missing one feature. On many printers they only supported both AirPrint and Cloud Print on their more expensive printers. Or the printer supported both printing technologies but there were no inexpensive ink cartridges.

I ended up purchasing the Brother MFC-J435. Setting it up was easy. It has an LCD screen so I was able to select my wireless network on the screen and type in the passkey on the numeric keypad. To enable AirPrint and Cloud Print you just need to use a web browser on your computer and connect to the IP Address of the printer (find the IP Address in the Settings menu of the printer). The printer has a scanner and auto document feeder so you can put a bunch of papers in the feeder and they will all be scanned automatically. The printer also has a fax feature if you still need to use faxes.

Another useful feature is the Brother iPhone app. The app connects to the printer automatically and you can print and scan with it. I haven’t tried printing because AirPrint is supported natively by the iPhone. But the scanning feature is pretty cool, you can insert the documents that you want scanned and hit scan in the app. All the pages are scanned and then combined into a PDF which you can then email to yourself.

As for the ink it is very cheap. At Amazon you can get 10 cartridges for about $7 with free shipping. I haven’t personally used this ink yet because I’m still on the original cartridges, but the pack has a 4 star review on Amazon which is really good for 3rd party ink.

As good as this notebook is you can make it even better. The AO722 is very easy for anyone to upgrade. You can perform any of these upgrades even if you’ve never opened a computer before. All you need to do is remove the battery and take out a single screw to get to all three of these components. These are the starting instructions in order to do any of the three upgrades described below:

1. Completely shut down Windows (don’t use sleep or hibernate).
2. Close the lid and turn the computer upside down.
3. Put a pen or other pointy object into the little hole near the battery and slide it while you slide the battery out.
4. Unscrew the single screw at the bottom of the laptop.
5. Slide the cover off.

Memory is very cheap nowadays so upgrading the memory is worthwhile. The AO722 has a single slot for memory. So you will need to completely replace the existing memory chip with a higher capacity one. I have heard that the AO722 can use up to 8gb chips, but Acer says that 4gb is the max so I would stick with that. 8gb chips are expensive and you will be unlikely to ever use that much in this computer. Some versions of the AO722 come with 4gb stock (notably the version that Costco sells), so if you are buying a new computer you may want to buy the 4gb version.

If you currently have 2gb of RAM you can buy a 4gb module. You’ll want to buy a single 4gb 204-pin DDR3 So-DIMM module like this one. Make sure you don’t buy a kit that has two 2gb modules, these will not work because the AO722 only has a single slot for memory. Once you have the memory module follow this is how you install it:

1. Find the existing memory module and push out the two retention brackets that hold it in.
2. The memory module should tilt up allowing you to pull it out.
3. Push the new module at an angle into the socket.
4. Push the module down so it lies flat, the retention brackets should snap in holding the module in place.
5. Reassemble the computer and start Windows.
6. Go to the Start Menu
7. Right click “Computer” and select properties. Verify that installed memory is now 4gb.

SSD

Upgrading the hard drive to a SSD is the most complicated upgrade. But if you do it you get all these benefits: super fast, low power usage, and no moving parts. There are lots of SSD drives available. First start by choosing the capacity. While you could fit Windows on a 64gb drive you would have very little space left over so I don’t recommend 64gb. I think 128gb is a good size for most people. 128gb will give you enough room for Windows plus a lot of applications and data. I’d only consider going higher if you plan on storing a lot of movies or other very large files.

All SSD drives come in the 2.5″ size that will fit in the AO722. The only thing to watch out for is the drive height. Most drives come with a 9mm height, but there are some new drives that come in a a low profile 7.5mm height. The 7.5mm drives will need an adapter, otherwise the fit will not be tight enough. Just stick to the 9mm drives and you’ll be fine.

I chose the Crucial M4 128gb for my upgrade. This drive has a good reputation, a good value, and has a 9mm height. There are other drives that score higher in benchmarks, but in a netbook you’re not going to see any speed differences so the price increase is not worth it. I chose the drive that came bundled with a data transfer kit. The kit comes with software to clone your existing drive to the SSD and a data cable to transfer the data. If you are planning on transferring your existing Windows install I recommend getting the kit, the price isn’t much higher and it makes the transfer process very easy.

If you are transferring your existing data to the new drive:

1. Start Windows like normal.
2. Plug your SSD into the data transfer cable, plug the USB end into your computer.
3. Transfer the software from the CD to your AO722 (either over the network or with a USB drive)
4. Run the software, no installation is required.
5. Select the options to copy your existing drive to the SSD and start the transfer.
6. It will take an hour or so to copy the data. The software seems to freeze up at certain points. Don’t worry just leave it alone and it will eventually tell you it is finished.

Now:

1. Shutdown Windows and remove the back cover.
2. Pull the existing hard drive out of the bay.
3. Remove the two screws and pull the cable off the drive.
4. Plug the cable into the SSD and secure it with the two screws.
5. Put the drive back in the bay and close the cover.

Bluetooth

The only common feature that the AO722 does not come with is Bluetooth. Not everyone needs Bluetooth, but I like it so that I can connect Bluetooth phones and mice without having an external Bluetooth dongle.

The easiest and cheapest way to add Bluetooth is to just buy a USB Bluetooth adapter. You can either go cheap (under $2 with no shipping!) or one with better reviews. Personally I tried the cheap one and it worked fine, drivers were installed automatically from Windows update. The cheap ones are shipped from China, so you’ll probably have to wait a couple of weeks to get it. I don’t really like the extra USB dongle sticking out the side, I prefer a cleaner look with one less thing to get snagged and break so I installed an integrated Bluetooth card which I describe below.

The only way to add internal Bluetooth is by using a mini-PCIE card. There appears to be a second, unused mini-PCIE slot in the AO722, but this slot is not fully functional. It is only used to support certain 3G cards and will not work with a Bluetooth device. So the only option is to replace the existing wifi card in slot one with a replacement card that has both wifi and Bluetooth.

There are a couple of companies that sell these WiFi/Bluetooth combo cards. My existing WiFi card was a Broadcom so I stuck with this brand because it would likely be the most compatible. After a bunch of research I ordered the Broadcom card model BCM94313HMGB. This card has 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.0. This is one of their more basic cards, they have other ones that have additional features such as 5.0ghz and Bluetooth 4.0. But since I didn’t need those features I got the slightly older card which would likely have better driver support. The best way to find this card is go to eBay and search for the exact model number (BCM94313HMGB). You should find a few sellers offering this card for around $15 including shipping.

Once you get the card the installation is very simple:

1. Open the AO722 following the instructions above.
2. Pull the black and white antenna wires off the existing card. Note which color goes where for when you install the new card.
3. Remove the single screw holding the existing card in.
4. The card will lift up and you can pull it out.
5. Insert the new card in the same way and connect the antenna wires in the same order they were earlier

There are two ways you can install the drivers for this card. The first way is to plug an ethernet cable into your computer and boot up like normal. Windows 7 will install the drivers automatically from Windows Update. At first when I did this Windows gave me an error saying the drivers couldn’t be installed, but once I rebooted the drivers were installed and working. I’m not sure why this happened.

The problem with the Windows Update drivers is that they are a couple of years old and aren’t the latest version. The day after I installed the Windows Update drivers the computer shutdown with a bluescreen crash when I put the computer to sleep. I’m not sure if it was related to these drivers or not.

Broadcom doesn’t have drivers for this card on their website. But I found that HP does have recent drivers here. These drivers have a date of less than a month ago so they are very recent. Even though these are HP drivers they install easily on the AO722. Here is the method that I used:

1. Download the HP driver
2. Open the .exe file with 7-Zip (other applications such as WinZip may be able to open this archive too)
3. Extract all the files to a location on your hard drive
4. Go to Device Manager and find the device
5. Right click on the device and select “Update driver software”
6. In the popup select the “Browse my computer” option
7. Enter the path to the extracted files. The driver should now install.

Lapdawg Clone

As of this writing the price is $49.99 with free shipping, no coupon required. This is less than half the price of the Lapdawg branded version when shipping is included.

I frequently use my laptop while lying down in bed. I’ve tried using assorted pillows to prop up the laptop but that never seemed to work, it was never in the right position.

So I started looking around and found out there is a company that makes a nice looking laptop bed stand called the Lapdawg. The Lapdawg X4 stand looks pretty good from their site, it is very adjustable and it looks high quality. I was interested in buying the Lapdawg X4 until I saw the price of $89 + $16 shipping ($105 total + possible tax), more than I wanted to spend on a laptop stand. They have a coupon field when you purchase, but I looked around and couldn’t find any Lapdawg coupon codes that would reduce the price to something I was willing to pay.

So I started looking around for a laptop stand for a more reasonable price. On Amazon I found a laptop stand that looks exactly like the Lapdawg and has decent reviews. The stand is a clones of the Lapdawg and exactly the same (find the link in the summary at the top of this page). In comparing the pictures from Lapdawg’s site with the pictures on Amazon you can see that it is likely the exact same stand. Look at the hinges on the legs, you can see it has white markings around them to measure the degrees, these are exactly the same on both. It looks like the Lapdawg company rebrands these laptop stands with the Lapdawg name and then they sell them on their own site.

I went ahead and ordered the laptop stand from Amazon since it was significantly less expensive than the Lapdawg and the shipping was free. The laptop stand that I received from Amazon looks exactly like the Lapdawg. It has all the same folding features and has the white degree dials around the hinges. The only difference I can see is that my stand comes with a a cooling fan powered by USB. Personally I don’t bother to use the fans, my laptop stays cool enough, but in case you want them they are there. Luckily I never notice the fans, they are small so they don’t take up any extra space and the cord is detachable so it doesn’t get in the way.

I’ve been using the laptop stand for a month now and it is great (I’m actually using it to type this blog post). The hinge adjustments are kind of a pain because there are six of them. I just leave it in the configuration that I like because it is a hassle to reset all six hinges everytime you want to put it way.

The stock Asus firmware is not that great, people have reported a lot of problems with it. So a great way to improve this router is to install a third party firmware. The two most popular are Tomato and DD-WRT. Tomato seems to have all the advanced features plus it is easier to use than DD-WRT so I decided to install Tomato. The standard version of Tomato does not support USB. Luckily there is another project called TomatoUSB that allows the use of the USB ports on the RT-N16.

The only problem with the alternate firmwares is that the documentation is severely lacking. There doesn’t seem to be a single, easy to follow guide on how to install the firmware. You have to spend many hours reading forum posts that are sometimes contradictory.

In reality installing Tomato is actually pretty simple once you figure it out. There is a lot of confusing information online, but if you follow the steps below you will have a working Tomato install:

1. Download the latest version of TomatoUSB from here: http://tomatousb.org/download.  For the Asus RT-N16 you need to use the “Ext” build for Kernel 2.6 MIPSR2. The Ext build has the most features and it will fit in the RT-N16′s flash space. I used Build 47, but use whatever the latest version is.
2. Install the Firmware Restoration Utility from the CD that came with the router. Run \Utility\setup.exe from the CD to install it. If you no longer have the CD you can also download it from the Asus website.
3. Disable the firewall on your computer. This is required, the Restoration Utility refuses to run unless it is disabled. To disable it on Vista or Windows 7, hit the Start key then type firewall to get to the firewall control panel. On XP you should be able to go to the Control Panel and find the Firewall icon.
4. Using an ethernet cable plug your computer into one of the 4 LAN ports on the router.
5. Open a web browser and go to http://192.168.1.1. Verify that the router login page loads. If nothing loads then your computer is not able to reach the router. You’ll need to fix this problem before continuing.
6. Run the Asus Firmware Restoration Utility from the Start menu. If it gives you an error about the firewall then your firewall isn’t disabled. You need to disable it before continuing.
7. Click the Browse button and select the file that you downloaded in step #1. Don’t click the upload button yet.
8. Put the router in recovery mode: Unplug the router. Hold down the Reset button. Plug the router back in. Once the power light starts slowly flashing release the reset button. The power light should continue to flash. The flashing light means the router is ready to accept the new firmware.
9. Click the upload button in the Restoration utility. The firmware will now start uploading into the router. Don’t touch anything while the firmware is being uploaded. After the upload is complete wait five minutes or so just to be sure everything is done.
10. Now reset the settings to default: Unplug the router. Hold the WPS button on the back of the router. Plug the router back in. Hold the button for about 30 seconds and release it.
11. Open a browser and go to http://192.168.1.1. Login with user “admin” and password “admin”. You should be logged into Tomato. Now you can configure your router using the Tomato GUI.

I’ve used the above steps to successfully install Tomato on my Rt-N16. If you have any suggestions or improvements to this guide let me know by leaving a comment.

This page is ad free as a service for RT-N16 users. The only thing I ask is that if you found this page useful and happen to be ordering something from Amazon.com, that you click on this link before placing your order: Amazon Link. It doesn’t cost you anything, it is completely anonymous, and I get a small referral fee that pays for the hosting of this site. If you never order anything from Amazon then don’t worry about it, enjoy the site for free.

Logitech’s Harmony Remote is a really nice remote. I’ve had mine for a couple years but now the most commonly used buttons are wearing out. Since I have a Tivo the most used buttons are the forward buttons that I use for skipping commercials. These buttons are pretty much unusable now, they will work some of the time but only if you press really hard.

It seems stupid to buy a new Harmony remote every couple of years just because the buttons wore out. So here is how you can fix the buttons. These instructions are for the 676, but should work on most other versions too:

1. Open the remote by removing the four screws at the bottom (two are under the battery compartment.
2. Pry the remote open.
3. Remove the two screws that are holding the circuit board on.
4. Take the button piece out and flip it over too see the backs of the buttons.
5. On my remote the buttons that were broken had some kind of shiny liquid on them. I’m not really sure what this is or where it comes from, all I know is you need to get rid of it.
6. Take a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and scrub the keys and the contacts on the circuit board.
7. Put the remote back together, it should now be working.

After I performed the above procedure the remote buttons started working perfectly.

Update 4/8/2010: The buttons stopped working again so I tried the cleaning process again. The buttons look very clean but for some reason the buttons still don’t work. I’m not sure why it would work great the first time but have no effect the second time.

I was looking around online and found a product called CaiKote 44. This product is designed for exactly the type of button repair that I needed. It is a paste that you put on the bottom of the buttons and it restores the conductivity. Application is pretty easy, using the included swabs just spread a thin layer of CaiKote on the button and let it dry for a few hours. Once I put the remote back together it was working perfectly again.

The problem seems to be finding CaiKote. The only physical store that I know of that carries this product is Fry’s Electronics. They sell it for $5.99. It was difficult to find, it took two workers a while before we finally found it. If you go it is located in the electronics parts department near some LCD screen cleaning products.

I haven’t found a good place to buy it online. You can but it from the manufacturer, but they have a $25 minimum order. It is also sold on Amazon here, but as of right now the price is very high, maybe it will drop to a more reasonable price in the future.