Dell’s Latitude On Flash Boots Laptop in Seconds
Dell’s new instant-on offering uses the laptop′s ⼶ processor rather than depend on an ARM-based version.
Dell Adamo XPS: A Laptop as Thin as a Cell Phone
Dell Adamo XPS is very thin and priced around $1800. It may be thin but it′s a sturdy notebook.
Can The Vostro V13 Laptop Get Dell Back In The Game?
By Rob Wright , ChannelWeb 9:52 AM EST Wed. Dec. 09, 2009 Dell unveiled an ultrathin, aggressively price laptop that it hopes will win over small- and midsize-business customers.
Laptop orchestra at Virginia Tech gives people an affordable alternative
Musical limits are being stretched at Virginia Tech with a new type of orchestra to debut Friday evening.
Sony’s four-star, 16-inch laptop
RAM installed: 6 GB DDR II SDRAM Hard drive size: 500 GB See full specifications Add to my list Product summary The good: Affordable; slim for a 16-inch laptop Blu-ray playback decent gaming performance.
MWiMAX Laptop Clients and Embedded Mobile PCs will Drive the Device Market
WiMAX Laptop Clients and Embedded Mobile PCs will Drive the Device Market When it comes to portable/mobile devices, the bulk of early WiMAX device shipments will be in the form of external laptop clients and embedded mobile PCs, reports In-Stat http://www.in-stat.com . Growth in both external clients and laptops will benefit from the lower cost of …
Alkr Laptop Sleeves
New gadget accessories brand Alkr look to premier its range of laptop sleeves this Saturday, November 21st via The Hideout , making it the exclusive launch for the UK.
Nicholas Negroponte on Books, Libraries, and Google Book Search
Nicholas Negroponte is a living legend in the world of technology. His accomplishments are many, including a co-founder of the MIT Media Laboratory and the founder and chairman of the One Laptop Per Child program.
HP Pavilion Slimline s5220y
The good: Decent light-duty performance, compact size. The bad: Slim tower case conserves space but offers little room for expansion limited connectivity options.
IBM Laptops
The ThinkPad T43 is an IBM laptop which has a few years of experience on the market. And I’m not saying that as a good thing. It has a 1.86 Intel Pentium M 750 processor, 512 MB of DDR2 RAM, 60 GB of hard disk space and the ATI X300 graphics card with 64 MB of video memory. Those are the quick specs. Let’s go over the big picture now.
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If there is one thing these ThinkPads are known for is the durability. They are solid built laptops with a matte black look. Their weak specs used to be quite good back in 2004 but today they are a thing of the past. There is nothing very special or good looking about the design of this laptop. You can choose between a 15 inch or a 14.1 inch display for the T43. The advantages of having a smaller screen is that the battery life will last longer and the laptop will be lighter. The lid is made of magnesium alloy so there will be no flexing of the screen. The overall chassis made of titanium-reinforced plastic. The screen is connected to the main unit by good metal hinges that will make sure the screen does not wobble. The right side of this laptop hosts the optical drive and the D-SUB port. The optical drive is a CD-RW/DVD-RW drive. The majority of the ports are on the left side of the laptop. There are 2 USB ports here, an S-Video port, the Ethernet and modem jacks plus the headphones and microphone jacks. The front side holds the PC card slot plus the Express Card slot. As for the back of the laptop, we have the battery. Please note that is you are using an additional battery, it will be seen as an extension here at the back.
The 14.1 inch display has a 1280 x 1024 resolution. The screen is ok and so is its brightness. Of course, they are nothing compared to the displays found on recent laptops. The horizontal viewing angles are ok which makes it easy to gather some friends around this IBM and watch a movie. You have a pointing stick is case the touchpad is not satisfying enough and you know we love laptops that give us lots of possibilities. It’s nice to use the pointing stick because it helps you move the cursor easily and it’s simpler to get it exactly where you want. If you combine the pointing stick with the scroll button it’s easier to read big documents and scroll through large web pages. The three buttons for the pointing stick are above the touchpad and in case you are wondering what the middle button does, that is the scroll button we were talking about earlier. The left and right mouse buttons are ok and they are easy to push because they are raised.
The keyboard is quite simple in my opinion and it offers nice feedback each time you type. It has 7 rows rather that 6 like most laptops have. This means that there is more typing room and your fingers won’t feel so cramped. The keys have excellent travel. There is no flexing on the keyboard of this sturdy laptop. Above the keyboard you will find some functional buttons that are used to power up the laptop, to turn the volume up and down, a mute control button and a special “access IBM” button which launches special IBM applications that will help you configure and protect your laptop and recommend some downloads for update. It’s nice to see that IBM is so concerned with customer satisfaction even after they managed to sell a unit. In case you the name ThinkPad is familiar to you, know that Lenovo has bought the IBM PC division.
The processor is ok for working with basic applications and it will give you no trouble when you want to surf the internet. Speed is ok for basic computing needs but it’s so hard to get used to it if you had a better computer until now. The graphics are also plain and simple so no 3D applications or super new and demanding games for you with this laptop. We thought the speakers would be miserable on such an old IBM laptop. They are not that weak at all. It does not have the greatest speakers we saw in a 14.1 inch laptop but they are average and the sound quality is acceptable. There are no serious heating problems with the . The bottom will get a bit warm after long hours of use but it won’t be uncomfortable. Unlike today’s laptops, the right palm rest area gets hotter than the left one because that is where the hard drive is located. The fan makes a bit of noise under intense use but it is not disturbing.
The laptop comes with a standard 6-cell battery but if portability is your main interest that you may want to go with the 9-cell battery. With the 9-cell battery you can get about 5 hours and 40 minutes of laptop usage if you surf the internet and do some word processing. This laptop was meant for business usage (it even has an optional fingerprint reader) but if you are looking for good laptops with even better components and performance, the new Lenovo ThinkPad is a much better choice. However, the old IBM T43 does have one of the best and most firm keyboard we have ever seen and the TrackPoint navigation is very easy to use and may really come in handy.
The chassis is very durable due to the titanium reinforced plastic. We would have liked to see more than 2 USB ports on a 14.1 inch laptop and if you want to attach an external mouse that you will be left with only one port which can be disturbing. Unfortunately it does not have a media card reader which is a common feature in new laptops. The fingerprint reader is a nice feature that offers extra security for a business laptop.
How To Find The Best Laptop Computer
Finding the best laptop computer has never been easier with a market that is flooded by so many laptop models from really cheap to extremely expensive. If you are wondering how to find the best laptop computer, we are going to give you some tips as to what your laptops needs and where you can buy it from.
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Like I said in a previous article, the best laptop for you depends on what you are going to use it for. If you plan on doing some basic computer tasking, it’s easy to find a cheap laptop. Any model can suit you just fine if you want to surf the internet, write e-mails and work on some documents. If you plan on travelling a lot and you need a laptop that will help you stay in touch using the internet or need to keep up with some office work, a netbook may be a really good choice for you. Netbooks are a category of subnotebooks that have weaker components. Strong parts have been sacrificed for the sake of size. These thin and light mini laptops are easier to carry around as you can squeeze them into any bag, backpack or purse. They usually have good battery life (a good netbook should provide about 4 hours of computer usage) and no optical drives for obvious space reasons.
You should be really careful and not waste any money on features you are never going to use. Don’t buy laptop with fancy video cards if you are not a heavy game player and unless you need a business laptop which you are going to use in an office, it’s probably useless to buy a unit with a fingerprint reader. If you believe that a laptop is worth a fortune, think again. You can even find laptops for $400 which are not cheap junk as most of you may think. Of course, the more you are willing to pay for a laptop, the better specs and performance you will get.
The most delicate category of laptop users are the gamers. Gamers need expensive laptops with dual processors and dual graphics cards if possible. Alienware is a company owned by Dell that produces top of the line gaming laptops which are also very expensive. Other gaming laptops belong to Dell XPS series or the Toshiba Qosmio series. These laptops have short battery life because they are very heavy and they are not meant to be carried around. They are used as desktop replacement and since you mostly use them at home, just keep them connected to a power outlet and battery will not be a concern any more. Good gaming laptops have more than 2 speakers and in some cases there is even an integrated subwoofer to provide excellent sound quality without you needing to attach any external speakers. The usual length of the diagonal is 17 inches so you can see perfectly all the details of shooters like F.E.A.R. or Left 4 Dead. They have cool features like back lit keyboard and all kinds of LEDs spread around the entire unit to produce cool effects is the dark. These laptops are famous for their powerful and good looking design but they also are the most expensive king of laptop that money can buy. A good gaming laptop can be worth even $4500.
Another special laptop category is the business laptop. I believe there are 2 main manufacturers that own the biggest such market niche: HP and Lenovo. The HP ProBook and EliteBook are 2 series of laptops which have features that are useful for companies. HP has all sorts of security measures like integrated fingerprint readers and all sorts of password recovery programs. These laptops are famous for their durability as their chassis is made of strong plastic and it is reinforced my magnesium or aluminum alloy. This means that these units will be able to resist a couple of shocks if you accidentally drop them on the floor or the bag you are carrying them in happens to hit a couple of furniture pieces. They usually come with preinstalled security software that helps you and your employees recover lost password with the help of some predefined questions. When you configure this features, you give answers to questions like “What was your mother’s maiden name?” and with the help of a set of 3 such questions that only you can answer, you can log on your laptop if you forget the password.
The Lenovo ThinkPad series has a really unique feature which is excellent for people that work in the design business and need to use graphic programs like Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw. This manufacturer offers a laptop that has a smaller screen which pops out of the big one and it is very useful for storing those annoying toolbars that keep getting in the way. The small window is also used for chat programs and other windows that you need to access but that keep getting in the way.
Now that we eliminated the question “how to buy the best laptop” by showing you that the best laptop for you depends on what you are going to use it for, these is one more mystery to solve. Where do you buy these laptops from? One preferred method is to order them directly from the manufacturer’s web site. For example, HP or Dell have a basic starting price for a laptop model and if you want any additional features or want to add better components like more RAM or faster processor, then you have to pay extra. Another mean for buying laptops online are the authorized dealers like CompUSA or New Egg. They have lots of models you can choose from. You can also visit a store in your city and this is a nice method because you get to see the laptop live before you buy it. On some stores you can even test features like the keyboard or touchpad. All that being said, I wish you good luck and remember to spend your money wisely.
Apple Laptops
When it comes to Apple laptops, there is so much to talk about even if they don’t have so many models available like Dell or HP. In fact, it’s safer to compare Apple to Alienware as far as the number of laptop models goes. One of the most famous Apple laptops is the MacBook Air. To be very honest, after seeing lots of cool laptop with awesome performance, Apple laptops do not impress me as they did the first time I saw them on the market. The design is really unique and it’s difficult to compare it to any other thin and light wannabe laptop on the market.
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The processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo P7500 with a speed of 1.6 GHz. It has 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, another 80 GB of available disk space and the Intel GMA X3100 graphics card with 144 MB of shared video memory. Like I said before, the design is amazing and this is one laptop with looks to brag about. It is incredibly thin compared to other laptops on the market. One of the nice touches that Apple added to this laptop is the magnetic latch cover that keeps all the ports and connections hidden. Even if it’s really thin, this laptop is still very solid. You can feel the durability in the keyboard structure and the palm rest. The 13.3 inch display may be glossy, but the colors are sharp and clear and the display’s brightness is intense. Horizontal viewing angles are extremely satisfying so you can enjoy a good movie if you have a couple of friends gathered beside you. The keyboard of this laptop has redefined the cool laptop keyboard concept. It will be difficult to get used at first with the spacing between the keys but after you do, it will be a pleasure to chat using this lovely keyboard.
The touchpad has special qualities that are not found in just any laptop. The regular Windows users will be the first to notice that this particular touchpad is way larger than what they are used to. The touchpad can support multi touch gestures which means you get to play around with objects and use different finger controls to zoom in and out of photos and perform different other operations. One review that we read said that under Windows there is problem with the touchpad freezing and blue screens. There must be something wrong with the drivers. The performance levels are ok considering that the laptop will boot in approximately 56 minutes. Multi tasking seems to be quite slow as programs and application take longer than usual to launch. The keyboard back light seems to have problems running under Windows Vista. The number of ports and connections is way too low even for a 13.3 inch laptop. There is only one USB port, a mini DVI-Out and a headphone jack. So, the possibilities are very limited since there is not even an Ethernet port.
Aside from many disappointments, heat is another problem of the Apple MacBook Air. This unit runs a little hot under considerable pressure. The processor is located under the top left corner of the keyboard and that is one of the hottest spots. Playing games is one of the biggest threats for the “coolness” of this laptop. The battery life is ok. if you turn on the wireless function, turn down the screen brightness level to a 25% and surf the internet you will get about 4 hours and 20 minutes of battery life. If you disable the wireless card, you are bound to get more than 5 hours of laptop usage. The integrated battery is a definite minus for the MacBook Air because it cannot be remover or replaced. This means that if the battery dies out on you when you are away from a power outlet there is absolutely no chance you can use it until you charge it.
The idea of being the owner of an Apple laptop is ok and it makes you feel like you belong to a certain special category of laptop users. To be really honest, aside from the super cool thin and light design there is nothing too special or appealing about this laptop. Nothing can really compensate with the small number of ports and connections. One USB port is exaggerated. Even netbook which are super small have at least 2 USB port. I mean, if you want to attach an external mouse you have no remaining USB ports available for anything else. If you need to copy something to a memory stick you have to keep removing the laptop from the unit. This really could have been avoided with at least one more such port without affecting the thinness of the MacBook Air. The big advantage is that you can carry it around wherever you go.
We checked the Apple website and there are 2 other configurations for the MacBook Air. There is the 1.86 GHz MacBook Air with Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, another 120 GB of hard drive space and the nVidia GeForce 9400M graphics card which is priced at $1500. The other option is the 2.13 GHz which also has an Intel Core 2 Duo and 2 GB of memory. The difference actually consists in the operating speed of the processor and you have 8 extra GB of disk space. The total price of the second unit is $1800. It is still a bit too pricy if you ask me but this is a matter of taste and I strongly believe that you are paying the brand more than you are paying for the actual unit. Overall, Apple laptops are cool. Most of the money you give goes to the design which is unique on the market.
Other than that, we don’t see super spectacular features that make this laptop worth $1800. I suppose this is a matter of taste. Personally, I don’t recommend the Apple MacBook Air unless you are looking for a second laptop which is really light and easy to carry around all day, a laptop from a powerful name is entertainment gadgets.
Asus Computers Laptops
As far as Asus computers laptops are concerned, one model that offers good value for money is the Asus X38Vm-X2. This is a budget laptop which surprisingly offers a good graphics care and some integrated graphics that can’t handle any new games.
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For $800 dollars you can buy this laptop that has a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 processor which is combined with 4 GB of DDR2 RAM. It also comes equipped with the nVidia GeForce 9600M GS graphics card with 1 GB of video memory and 320 GB of hard disk space. This Asus model looks fancy at the least. It has an interesting lid color which makes it a powerful presence in a store filled with so many laptops. If you want to ever upgrade this laptop, on the bottom you will find two panels which are simple to remove. Be careful with messing with whatever is inside there as not to void the warranty. Apparently, this laptop only has a warranty void sticker on the screw of the heat sink. To everyone’s surprise, the video card is upgradeable. We think that the 9600M GS is good enough so don’t go doing any useless video card removal. The screen is bright so there is not much complaining to be done here. Both the horizontal and the vertical viewing angles offer nothing special but that is what you get with low priced laptops.
The speakers are weak. This is mainly because the speakers are located on the bottom front of the laptop. This is why I am a big fan of speakers which are located above the keyboard because the sound is projected straight up and there is no muffle. To get better sound it is recommended to keep the laptop on a flat surface like a table or desk because the sound is horrible if you keep it on your lap. The keyboard is ok and there is no disturbing flex. The response is ok so typing will never be bothering with this keyboard. Personally, I hate the color of the keys. There is a combination of brown keys, the letters are light brown and the function keys have red letters… it’s a very strange combination and since this budget laptop does not have keys with LED backup, you won’t see anything in low light. The touchpad is ok and it has a nice imprint finish. The problems are the left and right mouse buttons which are stiff and hard to press and they also make an annoying clicking sound. We do recommend and external mouse so you don’t get any headaches.
The ports and connections are in a big enough number to keep you satisfied. There are 5 USB ports, one VGA port, an Express Card slot, a FireWire, an Ethernet port, a HDMI port, an eSATA port and the headphones and microphone jack. This laptop has a Bluetooth indicator light even if there is no Bluetooth device. The processor and the RAM are combined in such a manner so it can handle most applications. Basic tasks are done at good speed. 320 GB is enough free space so you can store all your pictures, documents, music, movies, games and applications. The graphics card has 1 GB of video memory and this can be considered a waste because the processor is not good enough to handle that much memory. 512 MB would have been sufficient. It is easy to overclock the GPU and you will be able to play good games at a native resolution.
For a 14.1 inch laptop, the battery life is quite ok. Of course, we have seen better especially for ultra portables. Of course we don’t expect this laptop to have 7 hours of battery life like a netbook does but still the whole concept of a laptop is portability (except for those big units that are designed to be desktop replacements) and what is portability if the laptop will not stay turned on when you most need it? You will get about 3 hours of battery life if you have the wireless card turned on and the brightness of the display set close to the bottom level. The good thing is that even with the display’s brightness set at minimum level, the screen is legible even under pretty strong light. It is amazing how the fan on this Asus computer laptop manages to keep the unit under normal acceptable temperatures. This is particularly nice especially since you can barely hear any noise coming out of this laptop. You will notice some heat in the areas where the processor and the graphics card but the keyboard and the palm rest area are perfectly usable.
Of course this laptop has some problems but they are not big enough to make you say “I would never buy this laptop”. The price is low for the specs. However, we don’t recommend this unit as a gaming laptop because performance is not that spectacular to let you play games like Far Cry 2. The GeForce 9600M GS will handle some mainstream games but don’t expect to get any super game play experience with this laptop. It’s nice to see that this unit has no problems with heating but I’m guessing that if you use this computer on your lap it will become a bit more heated than if you use it on your desk. It does have all the necessary number of ports and connections so your possibilities are not limited with this laptop. Who knows when you will want to attach an external monitor and enjoy a good movie with a couple more friends? Especially since the horizontal and vertical viewing angles are not good at all.
The combination of colors on the keyboard is not appealing to the eye at all (red and brown?!). The speakers are awful so headphones or some external speakers would be a wise choice for listening to music and watching movies. We didn’t understand the Bluetooth light since there is no Bluetooth but that’s something we can live with.
Buy Laptop
Compared to the other articles that we have written today, this one is a bit more general and may be of use to those that don’t have much knowledge in the IT field. We are going to tell you how to make the right decision when you want to buy a laptop.
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The first question that you have to ask yourself is what do I need a laptop for? You may even discover that you don’t need a laptop and a desktop computer is way better for you. For the sake of this article, let’s assume you need a laptop. The more basic you computing needs are, the less money you will have to spend for a laptop. For about $500 you can buy a good laptop that will help you complete all your internet surfing and e-mail sending tasks. These laptops are also good for editing documents and word processing so they will cover most basic tasks. Their processors are not very powerful so don’t expect any super speed.
Let me explain the basics of laptops specs. The memory installed is very important. Lots of memory helps run many applications. The nasty part is that if you want to upgrade, laptop components are more expensive that computer ones. To run applications in our days (demanding ones, I mean), you need to have about 2 GB of RAM. The processor helps improve the speed of the laptop. The best choices for processor are the Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. The explanation is simple, dual processors means twice the speed. Another important part is the size of the screen. At one extreme we have netbooks. Netbooks are actually smaller notebooks which are ultraportable and the size of the screen varies from 8.9 inches to about 12 inches. Since they are smaller, they have weaker components like Intel Atom processors and integrated graphic cards. The bigger the screen of the laptop is, the easier it will be to read big documents and scroll through large web pages. It will also be nice if you watched a good movie on a larger screen because small screens don’t have the same effect.
The size of the hard drive is important in case the laptop you are going to buy will be used as a main computer. Hard drives with lots of space are meant for people that need to store a lot of files or for gaming computers. It is well known that today’s top of the line games occupy at least 4 GB of hard disk space. In case you buy a laptop with a small disk capacity, you can always use the integrated DVD drive (if any) to make copies of all your files if you want to free some disk space. The most delicate part is the graphics memory. This is what makes the difference between a gaming laptop and other laptops. There are 2 different types of video cards. There is the dedicated graphics card which is a separate component and integrated cards that are part of the motherboard. The best dedicated video chips are made by nVidia but the ATI graphics cards are also ok. Integrated graphics are usually made by Intel (the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator). For those that need a laptop to play games, you need advanced graphics chips that have at least 512 MB of video memory.
If you want a laptop that you can constantly carry around with you to school, to work or when you are travelling, then battery life is a very important aspect that requires special attention. As a general consideration, we can say that the more cells a battery has the longer life it can provide for your laptop. But that is not always the case. You have to remember that big batteries also make the laptop heavier. Operating systems like Windows Vista have different power management profiles that can help you save the battery life. By reducing the brightness of the screen and keeping the wireless switched off, you can increase the life of your battery. The stronger the components inside a laptop are, the less battery life you will get. This is why netbooks provide the best performance in terms of battery life. It’s really important to read online reviews about laptop when you find interest in a certain models. Good reviews will provide details about the battery life which are really accurate.
We recommend you try out the keyboard of the laptop before you buy it. Since the keyboard is very important for a laptop because you probably won’t carry an external one around with you all the time, make sure the keys offer positive response when you type and that there is no flex. Touchpads are ok but you still have to see if the texture does not bother your fingertips after a while of usage. We do recommend an external mouse especially since manufacturers like A-Tech make small mice which are easy to carry around.if you don’t want any cables to bother you, these always are wireless mice which are not expensive and they have this small stick that is attached into a USB port and wirelessly communicates with the mouse.
No matter how low your budget for a laptop is, laptops are becoming cheaper by the minute because new models are constantly appearing on the market. Yesterday’s super cool laptop is tomorrow’s old and worn out one. If you want to buy a laptop but you don’t have enough money to pay for a brand new one, you can find the same model refurbished which is hundreds of dollars cheaper. Refurbished laptops are brand new computer that were sold to a customer which returned them for various reasons. Some of them may not have even been turned on. These laptops are returned to the manufacturer which performs some tests to see if the unit is damaged in any way. After every problem is solved, these laptops are resolved for a cheaper price. They still have warranty certificates which are regularly half the period of the original model. These laptops are a very good choice for people that are on a really low budget.
HP HDX Laptop
In my opinion, if you are not looking for a gaming laptop (in which case Alienware is definitely the wisest choice to make), then the HP Pavilion HDX laptop is probably one of the best desktop replacements on earth.
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It is nick named “The Dragon” maybe because it is so imposing when you take a good look at it. The 20.1 inch display is one of the most beautiful o have ever seen and it’s what makes this laptop such a monster. The HP HDX laptop has a design to die for. It has a combination of glossy black and silver imprint finish which definitely catches the eye. The laptop also looks quite durable even if no one has tried to bash it against the wall or drop it on the ground to make sure. The glossy surface will attract fingerprints but the imprint finish is somewhat of a distraction. One of the most amazing features of this laptop is the dual hinge that does an excellent job in keeping the display into place. Choosing the perfect viewing angle has probably never been easier.
Let’s see what the specs of the reviewed unit are. There is 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 processor, 4 GB of RAM, dual drives that add up to a total of 200 GB of free disk space and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card that has 256 MB of video memory. One very nice touch of this multimedia laptop is the Integrated HP HDTV Tuner with 4 Altec Lansing speakers and one subwoofer. If I am not mistaking, it’s the same sound performance as that of the Toshiba Qosmio. Like I said, the 20.1 inch display is a beauty. The horizontal and vertical viewing angles are splendid and HD videos will look amazing on this display. The glossy screen does tend to create strong reflections now and then but the dual hinge allows you to position the display with great accuracy and precision in order to avoid reflections. The webcam works just fine. HP took into consideration some past customer complaints and feedbacks and has put on this HDX a webcam that produces great images in different light situations and the color don’t look as faded as they do on other webcams.
As expected, the speakers are excellent. The 4 Altec Lansing speakers combined with the subwoofer that offers al the bass you may need will make sure that you never need any external speakers on this laptop ever again (unless you want a surround sound experience). This is one entertainment laptop that really has everything it needs to be a good one. The keyboard is also superb and there is no flex in the delicate areas where flex is usually registered. Above the keyboard we have a set of multimedia control buttons which are touch sensitive. On the left side of the keyboard there is a special slot for the remote control which is a super cool feature that should be present in every true multimedia laptop if you ask me. This is the only way to enjoy 100% that integrated TV tuner. The imprint finish is also found on the palm rest. The touchpad is not going to give you any problems because it is very responsive and the scroll features also work quite well. The touchpad can be disables if you want to attach an external mouse. However, we think there will be no need of an external keyboard because this one is fully sized and the feedback it gives is really nice too.
When I started reading the list of ports and connection it seemed like it was never going to end. This laptop comes with 3 USB ports, one HDMI port, one VGA port, one TV (or S-Video if you prefer it) port, the Ethernet jack, the eSata port, one 4 pin FireWire, one Expansion port, an Express Card slot, a 5-in-1 one media card reader (which supports the following formats: SD, MMC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD), 2 headphones out and one microphone in jack. Is that something or what? I think each and every laptop which is meant as a desktop replacement should have such a wide selection of ports and connection that multiply the possibilities of your laptop. The nasty part about this desktop replacement is the not affordable price. The unit reviewed here has a $4500 price tag which makes it as expensive as an Alienware laptop. It kind of makes you wonder which one to go with. With a weight of 15.5 pounds, you won’t be carrying this laptop around very much with you unless you desperately want to show off at school or work or at a friend’s house. Other than that, we recommend you put it on your desk and keep it there or else it’s going to break your back. Besides, I couldn’t find any general aspects as far as the battery life is concerned so I can’t exactly say how long the HP HDX laptop is going to stay turned on when it’s away from a power outlet.
If you take a close look at it, you may discover that this laptop is quite thin considering the weight, the dimension of the screen and the huge number of ports and connections. Before you tag this laptop as being way too expensive and not worth the money, think about all the benefits we have written above. The 20.1 inch display which will make TV and movie watching really relaxing and a great experience.
If you have enough money to spend and do not need a gaming laptop, this is a great choice. If you need a desktop replacement and have a room where you don’t have a TV like the office or your bedroom, even better. The HP Pavilion HDX will replace a small TV if the room is not big. You may still not be able to see much even on a 20.1 inch display if you are too far away from the screen.
Panasonic Laptops
One laptop manufacture that we haven’t discussed about lately is Panasonic. Just like LG, we know about Panasonic performance in terms of home electronics like TV or VCR. Not many of you have heard of Panasonic laptops so here is one review that can help you get an idea what their computers are all about.
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The Panasonic Toughbook W2 is one model that has been on the market for many years now. A couple of years ago, they started producing the eLite series which is about the same model as before only there have been some changes in the design part mostly. This laptop is very strong and durable, I’ll tell you that. The case is made entirely of magnesium alloy which is pretty reassuring if you accidentally drop this laptop on the floor. The specs are very disappointing compared to the laptops of today. The processor is an Intel Pentium M ULV 713 and you only have 256 MB of RAM. The saddest part is that you can only upgrade to a maximum of 768 MB. It’s going to be difficult for us to start using this laptop since we are used to at least 2 GB of RAM on average laptop models. As for the graphics card, you have the Intel 855GM integrated video controller plus some 40 GB of free disk space. Except for this laptop being very old, size is another thing that may explain the low specs. This laptop weights only 2.8 pounds and it has a 12.1 inch display.
As far as design goes, this laptop is good looking. The lid comes in several colors, just like Dell always has the Inspiron line available in 8 different lid color choices. The magnesium alloys are usually found in lids to keep the LCD panel protected, but they are not usually found in the entire body like we see in the case of the Toughbook W2. The 12.1″ display has a 1024×768 pixel resolution. Panasonic has chosen a display that can handle light pretty well and this anti-glare system makes this laptop easy to use outside. It also has 20 brightness levels, a lot more than any of us expected to find. The difference between two levels is quite unnoticeable so you have to change about 3-4 levels to see any difference. The horizontal viewing angles are good so if you want to gather some colleagues around and show them any documents, you won’t have any troubles. The W2 comes with Intel’s ULV (ultra low voltage) Pentium Mobile 1.1 GHz processor. As far as performance goes, this system should handle office plus productivity tasks pretty well, but the included RAM seems to be getting in the way. This laptop only comes with 256 MB of RAM and 1 open slot for expansion.
The keyboard is nice and there is no flex in any of the delicate parts. The touchpad looks really funny and I bet you never used a touchpad like this one before. The round shape may be a bit uncomfortable if you are used to the rectangular shape of most touchpads. The left and right mouse buttons are easy to click but how you use the vertical scrolling function of this laptop has got me puzzled. The number of ports and connections is pretty small if you ask me. There are only 2 USB ports, one VGA out, an Ethernet jack, a modem port, a PCMCIA slot, one Secure Digital card, the stereo jack for headphones or speakers and the microphone in jack. The battery will last about 2 hours and 30 minutes which I believe to be a short time for an ultraportable. Battery life is very important if you are going to buy a laptop that you have to carry around with you everywhere you go and you may not always have a power outlet around you. Compared to today’s ultra portables that have batteries that can last up to 7 hours on a full charge, it’s fair to say that the Panasonic Toughbook W2 is somewhat of a baby.
The speakers represent another chapter with some issues. The quality… well, there is no quality. The sound coming out of the speakers is awful. You can barely hear the music especially since there is no bass. A possible solution to this problem is buying a good set of headphones or maybe attaching some external speakers. There similarly sized and prices laptops that offer much better sound quality. Of course, their release date is also closer to 2009. Considering the fact that this laptop only has 1 speaker, we can understand why things sound so terrible. One really special thing about this laptop is the location of the optical drive. It is probably the most unique place where an optical drive can be found so I have to give a big round of applause for the Panasonic originality. The lid of the CD burner and DVD ROM drive pops out from under your left palm rest area. There is a special dedicated switch on the left side of the laptop that triggers the lid. Basically, it’s somehow located under the touchpad so it will also pop up together with the whole lid.
We have to admit that this Panasonic laptop is a very good choice for clumsy people because it is very resistant to different types of shocks. That does not mean you don’t have to care of it anymore because nothing lasts forever. It lacks a lot of features that can be found on the modern day laptop but for that period when it was launched about 4 or 5 years ago, it was certainly one of the best laptop choices. We don’t recommend this laptop for purchase. This article has been written merely to give you an idea about what Panasonic laptops are all about. The magnesium alloy case and the unique positioning of the optical drive are definitely 2 arguments in favor of this laptop but I can give you a dozen more choices which are better for people that are looking for a business travel laptop.
Newest Best Laptops
In order to survive under such strong pressure from the market and in the middle of heavy competition, laptop manufacturers need to come up with new models constantly in order to satisfy consumer needs. So, in this article, we are going to talk about the newest best laptops that have appeared on the market in the year 2009.
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One of our top choices is the HP ProBook 5310m. First of all, it looks appealing thanks to the aluminum deck and lid. There is no optical drive on this laptop, but this should not bother you because you can always download most of the program you need or you can simply buy an external optical drive because they are nit expensive at all and they can be connected to your laptop thought one USB port. The spacing between the keys is very Apple like and you get a positive response every time you type. One inconvenient may be the glossy touchpad that causes a bit of friction when you use it. The touchpad handles multi-touch gestures which has become a feature quite common to most business laptops. In order to use them, you must install the Synaptics software and after that you have to configure it for use. The 13.3 inch display is pretty ok as well although we have seen better.
If battery like is important to you, know that this ultraportable stayed on for 5 hours and 30 minutes with the wireless function switched on and while surfing on the internet non-stop. In conclusion, if you use the HP ProBook 5310m just for editing or reading documents, your laptop will most likely stay turned on for a full 7 hours. Extreme performance for a 4-cell battery I might add. For $900 you can get your own unit which has the 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SP9300 processor and 3 GB of RAM. The graphics card is the Intel GMA 4500MHD and you have 320 GB of hard disk space. This ultraportable is extremely ok considering the price tag.
Another laptop we really like is the HP Pavilion dm3. For a price of $840, you can get your own unit with the 1.3-GHz Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor, 2 GB of RAM which are upgradeable to a maximum 8 GB (wonder what anyone could use 8 GB of RAM for on a non gaming laptop). The graphics card is the Intel GMA 4500MHD and 500 GB of disk space should be enough room for file storage. This laptop has been reinforced with aluminum and aluminum alloy on most of its surface. The keyboard is pretty awesome with the chicklet style layout. The 13.3 inch display has a 1366 x 768 resolution and you will be pleased with the level of brightness and the clarity of the images. The speakers also produce decent sound but if you want to turn up the volume to the maximum level you will get sound distortions. The HP Pavilion dm3 webcam is right above the display. If you use it for video chatting using Skype program, you will notice that the images are quite clear and it seems that this camera can also handle dim light.
If you want to know how this laptop handles the heat pressure, know that the bottom left side will get pretty hot under intensive video playback. It could get uncomfortable for your lap so try to be careful. Other than that, there are no problems with heat dispersion and the laptop stays quite cool and quiet. One thing that really amazed us is this laptop’s battery life. With the wireless switched on and surfing the internet nonstop, this notebook will stay turned on for an impressive 9 hours and 7 minutes. This is way above the category average. This means this laptop will keep you going through a full day’s work (or a full day at school). Overall, it’s safe to say that this is a good laptop especially for those that are looking for a cheap ultraportable. The touchpad action seems a bit delayed so we do recommend and external mouse.
Although we could easily add more HP models to this list, especially since the Envy 15 is one of the greatest laptop we saw this year. But I think it’s fair to give the 11.6 Acer Ferrari One a chance at the title. Acer’s partnership with the Ferrari Formula One team has brought nothing but good things. Just by looking at the lid, you can tell it’s all Ferrari style. The glossy red lid got me thinking about those super cool race cars that burst with speed and power. Not only is this laptop good looking but it also designed to be durable. Even if it’s a small gadget, the keys are big and this makes them easy to use. You may expect the performance of this mini laptop to be the same as a Ferrari Race car but things are a bit different here. Yes, the Acer Ferrari One does have powerful specs considering its small size.
The processor is a 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon X2 and you also get 2 GB of RAM. This is really nice for an 11.6 laptop. The graphics card is the integrated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 and the hard disk capacity is 250 GB. Other nice features are the integrated Bluetooth and webcam. The price is somewhere around $750 which makes it a bit more expensive than other similarly sized laptops. This laptop comes with 3 USB ports, one Ethernet port, a 5-in-1 media card reader, one VGA out and the headphones and microphone jacks. With a weight of 1.44 kg, this is definitely the latest material in power and ultra portability. With features like these, it’s fair to say that the Acer Ferrari One is one of the newest best laptops of 2009.
Other such laptops are the BenQ JoyBook S35, the Samsung X520, the HP Mini 311 (there sure are a lot of HP models on this list, aren’t there?) and other HP’s and Samsung models.
Stolen Laptops
In this article we are going to treat a somewhat delicate subject, that of stolen laptops. Many people tend to panic when they have some important stolen and the truth is one laptop can hold some valuable information about a person or a company. If the laptop is stolen from an office of a company, the risk of producing harm is way bigger because companies have important files that include top secret information which is priceless to the competitors. Stolen laptops can be subject to blackmail. We have read that almost 97% of stolen laptops are never recovered.
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There is a special FBI force that deals with this matter and it is called the FBI Computer Crime & Security Survey division. When your laptop is stolen, you are exposed to identity theft. As it is always better to avoid than to combat, make sure you don’t leave your laptop in public places or on the back seat of the car where it is visible to all those that pass by. In 2003, more than 600.000 laptops where stolen and this is worrying because they appear to be as easy to steal as a cell phone. One very good way to prevent any possible problem is to buy a lock for the laptop. If you read some of our laptop reviews you have seen that laptops have a Kensington lock slot which is not that useless as you may think. This does not mean that if you lock your laptop you can just leave it anywhere. They are a security measure similar to bicycle locks and if a thief is really determined, they will bypass these lock with ease.
One of the most common places where people leave laptops that are stolen is on the car seat. Other such places are the public wireless hot spots. In a coffee shop in San Francisco, some poor finance manager got stabbed in the chest by a robber who desperately wanted his Apple PowerBook. There are ways in which you can avoid becoming a victim. If you are a person that carries their laptop around a lot make sure your laptop is password protected. This should make it difficult for the robber to access your files unless he is a professional hacker. If you use your laptop as a desktop replacement and keep it at home all the time then such measure are not needed. Of course, you have to keep in mind the robber also break into people’s homes so you could still be a victim and have your laptop stolen. PGP Whole Disk Encryption is a program which you can purchase for $150 and it is a piece of software that can scramble your hard disk.
In the past, the main reason why thieves stole laptops was to resell them on the black market of to take out the part and sell them separately. Now, the main target is the information which is stored on the laptop. You can always choose to encrypt some files and folders which should be of major privacy. There are lots of free programs which are available on the internet and can help you do just that but keep in mind that all the information stored in the browser cache is not that easy to encrypt using those products. It’s a bit of a relief to know that most thieves steal laptops for the hardware but nevertheless, if you think you could be the victim of an identity theft, you should inform the local authorities immediately. Finding a stolen laptop is not difficult if you have proper tracing software installed. What these programs do is to connect periodically to the internet and if a PC is reported stolen, that particular laptop will return details on its location. This information is reported to the competent authorities. The success rate is somewhere at 90%.
There are Absolute tracking packages which are available to business users. These packages have extremely useful option like erasing certain data of the laptop has been reported stolen. Another solution could be to scramble the data yourself. If you want to store secret information on your laptop like back account number and certain ID information, you could come up with a code that only makes sense to you and that way if your laptop is stolen, the information will be useless to anyone else.
We advise you to treat this problem seriously because the number of identity theft cases is constantly growing. You don’t even have to get your laptop stolen to be exposed to identity theft. Hackers try to exploit online money transmission systems, sweepstake contests and even internet auctions. Phishing is also a common way to steal personal information. Hackers make exact replicas of famous bank websites and then they e-mail you telling you to go to the website and re-enter your personal information because they are updating their client database. The fake website link is written somewhere in that e-mail. You should know that bank will never ask you to do something like that. If they need to update the database, they will contact you by phone and ask you to go to the nearest bank and fill in a form. Do not click any links of fake banks in the e-mail and always go to the official website of the bank.
A research was conducted back in 2007 and it pointed out that the American citizens who are greatly exposed to identity theft are those living in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit. The complaints that were registered are different, from bank frauds, credit card frauds but also home utility frauds. Try not to store on your laptop information like your bank account number, social security number or credit card PIN codes. Also try to make constant backups of the files on your laptop because if it gets stolen there is a good change you may never see them again. Also, try not to carry a laptop with you in public places like parks or coffee shops unless it is really necessary.
Netbook Laptops For Under 300$
We keep hearing every day about netbooks but how many of you actually know why they are called netbooks and not notebook or laptops? Well, netbook are a branch of subnotebooks or laptops that are generally designed for internet applications. They are small, light and ultraportable and due to their size, components are generally much weaker than those of a fully sized laptop. So, they are normally used for internet applications and other basic tasks. People that buy them are usually people that travel a lot and a netbook helps them keep in touch by checking the e-mail, reading news on the internet and even staying in touch with the folks back home if your unit has an integrated webcam.
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They are also good if you are travelling but still have to keep up with work. You can edit documents and work with spreadsheets even if the small screen may require constant scrolling and this reduces your work rhythm. The truth is netbook are cheaper and smaller notebooks. Since they are small, they can be squeezed into any bag, purse, backpack or briefcase and the light weight will never bother you. You can pull them out and use them anywhere because they don’t occupy a lot of space. They are also a useful gadget for students that are allowed to take notes in class using a computer. Specs are really similar, what really makes the difference between netbooks is (in my opinion) the battery life. Since they are ultra portable and are meant to be carried around, the battery performance should life up to one’s needs and expectations.
But enough about general stuff. Let’s get down to business and see if we can dig up some netbook laptops for under $300. I think the best such cheap netbook that you could possibly buy is the Dell Mini 10 and the Mini 10v. You can even buy one with the Ubuntu operating system preinstalled. This netbook has the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom 𓆾 processor which is the most common choice for netbooks. Since these laptops are very small, you can’t put inside any powerful processor because those produce a lot of heat and the fan simply cannot handle the pressure. The RAM is limited to 1 GB which should be enough considering that more RAM and the same processor would not be of much help. 160 GB of free disk space is quite an ok number. There are netbooks out there that have about 12 GB of disk space or even less. They have to be provided with more space using a memory card. Be aware that most netbooks do not have optical drives for obvious space reasons so don’t do storing all your files on you netbook. The graphics card is an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, another common component of notebooks.
You have 3 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, a Kensington lock slot, one HDMI port, a 3-in-1 memory card reader, and the headphones and microphone jacks. Above the 10.1 inch display there is a 1.3 mega pixel webcam which will provide really good images via Skype. And now, for the most important part of all: battery life. The 3-cell battery will last for about 2 hours and 43 minutes if you continuously surf the internet with the wireless turned on. This number is below the netbook average but it is good enough to help you keep notes in history class. We heard that Dell has a 6-cell battery available which should provide about 5 hours of netbook usage. This netbook has a starting price of $279 but if you choose to customize it with different additional features, you may end up paying about $450.
The HP Mini 110 series has a starting price of $299. Instead of telling you the specs, I’m going to go though the number of choices you have for customizing this netbook. First of all you should know that this netbook is available in 3 different colors so you can choose the one you like best. Your choices are Black/White Swirl or Pink Chic. As for the operating system, the choices are Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 or Windows 7 Started 32 bit. It’s funny that Windows Vista is not among the operating system choices. Is Windows 7 the ultimate replacement and will Vista go out of business? There only RAM available is 1 GB but there are 2 different processors on the list. Both of them are Intel Atom processor but one of them is an N270 operating at a speed of 1.6 GHz and the other is the N280 operating at a speed on 1.66 GHz. Not that big of a difference if you ask me.
There are three choices for the hard drive which should satisfy any kind of consumer needs. You can choose between the 160 or 250 GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive and there is the 32 GB solid state drive flash module. Either way, it’s good to know that if you want more hard drive space, you have a choice. The graphics care is not negotiable. You have to go with the standard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. There are 2 different options for the display: 10.1 inch WSVGA LED Anti-glare Widescreen Display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and the 10.1 inch HD LED Anti-glare Widescreen Display with a resolution of 1366 x 768. You can go with the simple HP Mini webcam or the web cam with HP imprint finish. The battery comes with 2 choices as well. There is the 3-cell battery and the 6-cell battery. There is a 5-in-1 media card reader, 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a VGA out plus the headphones out and microphone in jack.
Finding a good netbook laptop under $300 is a difficult thing because the price of the 2 units we mentioned above is barely the starting price with the basic specs. If you want to add even minor customizations, the price will go up with at least $30. We recommend you add an extra 100 dollars to your netbook budget.
HTC HD2 Released In India Via Tata DoCoMo
HTC and Tata DoCoMo have joined together to launch the HTC HD2 in India. Customers who buy the HTC Hʪ from this network carrier will be able to browse the Internet and download 500MB of data per month for free (only in the first 6 months). For your info, the Hʪ features a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 4.3-inch WVGA touchscreen display with multitouch, Wi-Fi, GPS, a digital compass, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headset jack, a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash, a MicroSD card support and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.5 OS. The HTC Hʪ retails for 39,990 INR ($855) in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and 36,990 INR ($789) in other regions. [HTC]
Sprint Sells BlackBerry Curve 8530 For Only $49.99
Sprint has just announced the availability of BlackBerry Curve 8530 on its network. The handset is sold for only $49.99 on contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. To refresh your memory, the 8530 offers a 2.46-inch QVGA display, a 2MP camera, a full QWERTY keyboard, a trackpad, a microSD card slot, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headset jack and provides access to BlackBerry App World, Facebook and MySpace integration. [Sprint]
Sharp HYBRID W-ZERO3 To Be Release In January 2010
The Sharp HYBRID W-ZER̙ is a new Windows Mobile 6.5-powered handset that will be launched in January 2010. The phone boasts a 3.5-inch touchscreen display, a Qualcomm 528MHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera, on board GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and a microSD memory card slot. Unfortunately, there is no info on pricing at this time. [Phonefav]
MetroPCS Releases Samsung Stunt R100
MetroPCS has released another entry-level phone from Samsung namely the Samsung Stunt R100. This new candybar phone features a 1.7-inch 128 x 160 CSTN display, an easy-to-use interface, Icon Carousel (with One Touch Messaging, One Touch Speakerphone and One Touch Calendar), Bluetooth and a set of MetroPCS applications including MetroWEB Internet Access, Metro 411 Directory Assistance, MetroBACKUP, mail@metro Unlimited E-mail and My Metro Account Manager. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing yet.
Magic Voice A9 TV Phone
Chinese-based company Chang Jiang has introduced their latest smartphone for the mass market called the Magic Voice A9 TV Phone. Unlike most smartphones, the A9 offers some quite interesting specs, it has a 3-inch touchscreen display, two cameras, dual receivers (one on each side of its screen), dual mics, dual SIM card slots, an MP3/MP4 player, an FM radio, an analog TV tuner, Bluetooth and supports quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) connectivity. If you’re interested, the Magic Voice A9 TV Phone will set you back $129.99. [Product Page via PDA-Reviews]
Vodafone UK To Release Nokia N900 In January 2010
Folks in the UK will receive the Nokia N900 via Vodafone UK’s online store sometime next month. Vodafone is the only carrier to provide the Nokia N900 in the UK so far. As a reminder, the Nokia N900 is a 3G handset that supports HSDPA, GSM/GPRS, a 3.2-inch touchscreen display, a slide full QWERTY keyboard, a 32GB internal memory, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, Vodafone Mobile Internet, an MP3 player, an FM radio, a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and Auto focus. The Nokia N900 measures 110.9mm x 59.8mm x 19.55mm and weights 181grams. [Phones Review]
Maine to consider cell phone cancer warning
A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.
Retrevo offers shoppers instant product reviews
Vipin Jain, CEO and founder of Retrevo, holds a cell phone with a real time review of an electronic device, using Retrevo software, at a Target store in San Mateo, Calif., Wednesday, Dec.
One high-tech decade
Ten years ago, we would have been blown away by a cell phone with far more computing power and memory than the average PC had in 1999, along with a built-in camera and programs to manage every aspect of our lives.
Felton sentencing delayed in son’s death
A man convicted of killing his 4-month-old son wants to subpoena juror cell phone records to investigate whether they had inappropriate contact with anyone while deciding his fate.
The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., The Last Resort column
Dear Greg: After two years of perfect signal strength inside my home, Sprint has now made it so that we have no signal whatsoever on our cell phones.
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