NiniaPimp Magazine

First of all thank you… it is a real honor. Aside from being married… my hardest job physically was steelworker but body guarding and repo-man present a much higher level of danger. To be in a constant CYA (Cover You A$$) mode is mentally draining.

Can you tell us about one of your more interesting repossessions?
That’s easy. Taking a vehicle from a Michigan State Police parking lot. Yes, it was the cops car with them watching us do it from the window of the police station. We brought a whole new meaning to gone in 60 seconds shaving the time down to 12.7 seconds flat.

What clubs have you worked at, and have you worked with any celebrities? Ever had to bounce Eminem?
Not at liberty to discuss the clubs but I have provided security/bodyguard for Jay-Z, Chris Rock, Jack White, Renne Zellwigger, Kwame Killpatrick (Mayor of Detroit) and various sports figures (Pistons, Red Wings) to name a few. I have never bounced Eminem although we did go to the same grade school. I have met his ex-wife Kim. One of my coworkers has thrown Eminem as well as Kid Rock out of local clubs.

John, you’ve been a bodyguard, steelworker, repo-man, bouncer, police officer, and you’ve worked in a variety of security jobs. Which do you consider the toughest?

Do you think the environment in Detroit is any more dangerous than other cities?
Well it ain’t Grayling or anything but it’s probably as dangerous as any big city. Especially at night when I am at work. Of course I do live next to 8 Mile (HA HA).

From what I understand, you have more guns than most police departments? Are you at liberty to tell us about your arsenal?
Well let’s say I have more than I need but not all that I want.

Do you shoot in competition?
Yes several types. I shoot on a trap league. I shoot long range and three gun combat competitions. I am also a member of Glock Shooting Sports Foundation. Along with regular combat handgun training which is ongoing and progressive.

If it isn’t tough enough that you are armed, you are a big guy. What are some of your personal lifting records?
Well I am going back a few years but my personal best bench was just shy of 400lbs.

What’s your relationship with the local police? I hear that you are on pretty good terms with them.
Due to the nature of my job I am around law enforcement on a regular basis. Once they get to know you are professional in your job they have respect for you as I do for them.

Do you have any other hobbies? I’m guessing that you hunt.
I live for hunting season. When I am not hunting or target shooting I have been know to practice my banjo playing. Bluegrass Rules!

What are some of your record kills?
I don’t really look for records its just the thrill of being in the woods and the hunt itself I did get a large coyote once and a huge Russian boar.

Well thanks for taking time for being with us today.

It’s worth noticing that all of these so-called special features are just basic features found in most, if not all, routers that have support for external storage, such as the Linksys E4200 or the Netgear 3700. The only difference, if any, is the fact that the Belkin Play N600 HD’s features are less intuitive to use.

However, the Play N600′s Web interface is very much like that of the best-of-its-time Belkin N+, intuitive and responsive. Here you will find the router’s other advanced (yet common) features, such as Access Control, which can be used to restrict the Internet access of certain computers in the network; Virtual Server, with which you can set up a computer as an FTP or HTTP server; Firewall; and so on. We found that it’s better to skip the router’s included software and all the related features and use only its Web interface to manage it. You’ll have a much more pleasant experience with the device this way.

Again, the Belkin Play N600 HD is a true dual-band router, meaning it offers two concurrent, separate wireless networks, one in the overly popular 2.4GHz band and the other in the newer and cleaner 5GHz band. It also has a Guest Networking feature that enables you to create a third separate 2.4GHz wireless network for guests. This network allows guests to access the Internet but not local network resources, such as printers. While Guest Networking is not new, Belkin has upped this feature a notch by offering a Web-based log-in for guest users, making the router suitable for use as a public hot spot.

Like most recent routers, the Play N600 HD supports all available wireless encryption standards, including WEP, WPA-Personal, and WPA-Enterprise. The router also supports Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) with a button on its front that initiates a 2-minute time window when other WPS-enabled devices can enter the wireless network automatically.

Performance
The Play N600 HD showed mixed performance in our tests.

On the one hand, it blew us away with the throughput speed in the 5GHz band at close range (around 15 feet), scoring 109.6Mbps, the fastest we’ve seen. At this speed the router can finish 500MB of data in just around 35 seconds. When we increased the range to 100 feet the throughput was lowered, as expected, coming in at 73.4Mbps as the second fastest in our comparison, just a tad behind the 79.1Mbps of the Linksys E4200. We noted, however, that the gap between 109.6Mbps and 73.4Mbps is quite large.

And this signal degradation was even worse in the 2.4GHz band. This time, the router scored decently at 57Mbps for the close-range test but fell to a mere 12.6Mbps when the range was increased to 100 feet, the lowest we’ve seen among N routers. In the mixed-mode test where the router was set to work with both Wireless-N and pre-N wireless standards, at close range, the router scored an average 33.6Mbps.

Overall, the N600 only worked well with clients within a 75-foot radius. Farther out, the throughput dropped significantly or fluctuated a great deal and was only enough for light Web surfing. In our testing both bands of the router offered a maximum range of around 240 feet, noticeably shorter than other dual-band routers. The router however did pass our 24-hour stress test, during which time it didn’t disconnect once.

Like all routers with built-in support for network storage, the Play N600 HD didn’t impress us at all with its storage performance, with just 11.4Mbps and 23.8Mbps for write and read, respectively, via Gigabit Ethernet. These numbers are just too low for any serious data sharing, backup, or media streaming over a network. If you’re serious about network storage, we’d recommend the LaCie Wireless Space or, better yet, a dedicated NAS server.

CNET Labs NAS performance test (in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Read  

Write  

CNET Labs 2.4GHz Wireless-N performance score (in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Mixed mode  

Range  

Throughput  

CNET Labs 5GHz Wireless-N performance score (in Mbps)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Range  

Throughput  

Service and support
Belkin backs the Play N600 HD with a two-year warranty, whereas most of routers on the market come with only a one-year warranty. Belkin’s toll-free phone support is available 24-7, or you can fill out a form at Belkin’s Web site for e-mail support. Its Website also offers documentation, downloadable drivers, and FAQs.

Conclusions
Due to its lack of range and mediocre 2.4GHz wireless and network storage performance, it’s hard for us to recommend the Play N600 HD Wireless Dual-Band N+ Router except to 5GHz enthusiasts. It’s probably time Belkin dropped the Play concept with its bloated and corny “features” and focused on making its routers lean and solid performers, as the N+ was in its day.

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Now that Intel’s next-generation Core i-series processors have finally made it into laptops, we’ve been seeing a flood of recognizable, revamped products from 2010 emerging with new 2011 components. The Asus U31JG-A1 is not one of them. Equipped with a last-gen Intel Core i3 CPU, this slim 13-inch laptop may not have the latest and greatest processor inside, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a good computer.

In fact, it has a lot going for it: an Nvidia GeForce GT 415M GPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and very solid CPU performance. While the $829 list price of the U31JG isn’t budget range, we’ve seen online prices as low as $799, and an Amazon.com configuration for $699 with a slightly smaller 320GB hard drive. If you can get the U31JG at the lower end of that range, it’s a pretty good deal, considering its size and features.

The UL30A was one of our favorite slim laptops from the past two years. The U31JG is as close to a direct successor that we’ve seen, a closer design match than the recently reviewed Asus U36JC. This optical-drive-free laptop is slimmer than most 13-inchers, though nowhere near as light and thin as a MacBook Air. We also reviewed the 14-inch version of this laptop, the Asus U41JF-A1, recently, and liked it as well (plus, the U41 has an optical drive).

Our two biggest reservations about the U31JG-A1 are its ho-hum looks and its last-gen processor: this is a laptop series that’s bound to see an upgrade sooner rather than later. As we’re currently in the middle of reviewing those next-gen laptops, we’re hesitant to highly recommend this particular U31JG-A1; but we’re a big fan of the product line that this model represents.

The Asus U31JG is a compact laptop, but it’s not really a looker compared with the competition. Its brushed-aluminum lid and palm rest are reminiscent of those on the Asus UL30A. Glossy black plastic surrounds the raised Chiclet-style keyboard and 13.3-inch screen, giving the laptop a two-tone look that feels out of date and a bit low-rent.

While this may seem like we’re being sticklers, design is a big factor in what makes a portable laptop comfortable and easy to use, and the slightly bulky chassis of the U31JG-A1 just isn’t eye-catching. Nevertheless, it does present a pleasantly compact frame that’s just light enough to feel travel-friendly.

The mostly flex-free keyboard has comfortable spacing but a slightly mushy key feel; the keys’ smooth matte surfaces feel more slippery under the fingers than those of other Asus laptops we’ve reviewed. Also, a row of Page Up/Page Down buttons on the right side squishes and pushes the Enter and Shift keys in a bit, making them hard to find by feel.

The inset multitouch touch pad beneath is smaller than average, making two-finger gestures a bit harder to pull off. A mirror-finish plastic rocker button-bar beneath feels much like other Asus laptops; we’d prefer discrete left and right mouse buttons.

Above the keyboard, it looks like there are two symmetrically laid-out power buttons on the upper left and right sides; the one on the right is the actual power button, while the one on the left is the Quick Start OS button, which launches a pared-down, faster-booting collection of applications, including a Web browser. Quick-start OSes are meant for the impatient, and are a poor attempt to offer up what speedier-booting systems such as the iPad and MacBook Air already do far better. We never find ourselves using quick-start OSes; we’d rather boot Windows 7 and put our laptop to sleep between sessions. Need to quickly check e-mail or a Web link? That’s what a smartphone is for.

The U31JG-A1 lacks an optical drive, much like the U36JC we reviewed earlier this year. While this helps keep the laptop lighter and more compact, we’ve seen laptops this size manage to squeeze one in, most notably the Toshiba Portege R705. That being said, we don’t really miss the DVD drive all that much, but some still prefer them for flexibility.

The 13.3-inch 1,366×768-pixel-resolution glossy display is inset from the upper lid, forgoing any edge-to-edge glass. This makes for a bit less glare, but the display’s clarity and viewing angles were average at best. Text and images are very readable, but colors weren’t ultravibrant.

The same can be said for the U31JG’s speakers: the Altec Lansing stereo speakers push their sound through narrow grilles at the front edge of the laptop, under the palm rest. Maximum volume isn’t particularly loud, and the sound quality leaned toward the tinny. They’ll do in a pinch, but headphones are a better bet.

The included VGA Webcam comes with Asus’ LifeFrame camera software, offering a variety of settings for recording video and snapping pics, including gimmicky Photo Booth-like backdrops and effects. Maximum resolution is a measly 640×480 pixels, with light sensitivity and contrast suitable for basic Web chats.

The Asus U31JG-A1 has Bluetooth and a few USB ports along with HDMI, but that’s it. No USB 3.0, no DVD drive, and no other bells and whistles. A large heat vent takes up most of the space on the left side that could have been used for an optical drive. It blasts very warm air after playing games or viewing Flash video for more than a few minutes.

To compare with a recent thin 13-inch Asus laptop, the U36JC-A1, the U31JG-A1 has an Intel Core i3 CPU as opposed to the U36JC-A1′s Core i5. The 2.3GHz processor performed suitably well in everyday use, and wasn’t too shabby in our performance benchmarks, either. Faster Core i5 processors (and, of course, Intel’s new second-gen Sandy Bridge CPUs) would give even more zip, but it’s fine for most uses. Full-screen video streaming and multitasking were easy to pull off.

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