Handy Computer Guide

TweakTown have published their review of the ViewSonic ViewBook Pro VNB131S 13.3-inch notebook.' 'The 13.3-inch screen is glossy and has its share of glare. It performs well, though, and after working on smaller machines for a while, the 13.3-inch screen seems gargantuan. The little notebook works well for watching online video and DVDs thanks to the optical drive with good color and smooth playback. The keyboard is a strange looking job that ViewSonic calls "floating island". What that means is that it's the standard chicklet keyboard with keys that are wider on the bottom than the top. It looks a bit odd, but the keys are still well sized and typing feedback is just what you expect. The keyboard is of normal size for a notebook.'

A review of the Toshiba Satellite U500 Ducati Edition laptop has been posted over at Reg Hardware. 'Back to the real world, and what we have here is a rather chunky 13.3in laptop sporting a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo P8700 processor - 3MB of cache, 1066MHz frontside bus - 4GB of 800MHz DDR 2 memory, a 400GB Sata hard drive, multi-format DVD writer, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Nvidia GeForce G210M graphics. Lesser U500s are also available, minus the Ducati branding and de luxe styling, but both with 2.13GHz Core i3-330M processors and 4GB of 1066MHz DDR 3. Faster memory, yes, but weaker, integrated graphics built into the i3.'

PC World have published their review of the Gateway NV7915u laptop. 'The Gateway NV7915u has a massive chassis, and weighs a beefy 6.8 pounds. Still, the classy design offers a few nice touches. In contrast to the smudge-prone glossy finish on the outside, the keyboard and wrist rest have a subtle matte finish to minimize fingerprints. Above the keyboard is a sleek row of status lights (Bluetooth, hard-drive access, and the like), as well as touch-sensitive LEDs that let you instantly activate data backup, Wi-Fi toggle, touchpad disable, mute, and volume control. The NV7915u also comes with a good but not spectacular set of interface and media features: a DVD drive, four USB ports, HDMI- and VGA-out, an SD Card reader, and network and modem ports. Overall, the machine exhibits good craftsmanship, but it's nothing dazzling.'

A review of the Toshiba Satellite E205-S1904 WiDi (Intel Wireless Display) laptop has been posted over at HotHardware. 'The E205 measures 1.22 x 13.7 x 9.57-inches (HWD), weighs 5.1 pounds, and comes in a sleek and stylish chassis with softly rounded corners. The top of the lid has what Toshiba refers to as a "fusion finish in metallic blue," which is another way of saying it is very shiny, dark blue, has a cool diamond pattern, and attracts fingerprints like a squirrel collects nuts in the autumn. Unless you handle the E205 with white cotton gloves or you lack sweat glands in your hands, expect to leave difficult-to-buff-out smudges and streaks on the lid. The E205 comes with a microfiber cleaning cloth--but we're not sure if the cloth is meant for cleaning the display or the lid.'

Trusted Reviews have published a review of the Acer Aspire 5942G-524G64Bn 15.6in laptop. 'Looking around the system reveals all the connectivity you could ever want from a multimedia laptop. Naturally an HDMI port is present, as is VGA, and they are joined by a trio of audio jacks: one headphone jack; one microphone jack, and one line-out/SPDIF output. There's also an infrared (CIR) receiver on the front edge, though its positioning is far from optimal for easy line of sight and Acer doesn't provide a remote itself. Other sundries include a 54mm ExpressCard slot, a mini-FireWire port, memory card reader and the ever present Ethernet port. You get four USB ports in total: three standalone ports and one that doubles as an eSATA connection for faster data transfer from compatible external hard drives/memory keys.'

CNET have published a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t convertible Netbook tablet. 'At a starting price of $549, the IdeaPad S10-3t could also be seen as competition for Apple's iPad, which has a similar size screen and comparable pricing. It's tempting to make the comparison, especially since the S10-3t has more ports than the iPad does, plays Flash, uses a PC operating system, and has a full keyboard. On the other hand, the S10-3t has laggy performance at times and a thickness that could keep it from being a definitive iPad killer. Our review unit, which costs $649, also bears interest because it's one of the first Netbooks to include the new Atom N470, a slightly faster version of the N450 we've seen in 2010 Atom Netbooks.'

MobileTechReview have published their review of the Gateway LT2118u netbook. 'The Gateway LT Series has an elegant design with a shiny cover decorated by a chrome logo band on the left side, which has become a signature look for the Gateway notebooks (except the P Series). Whether it's good branding or cost saving to use the same design for most models, this cover design works for the LT Series very well and makes it stand out in a sea of many plain-looking netbooks. The multi-gesture touchpad integrates into the gunmetal grey palm rest, and the touchpad has a slightly different texture than the palm rest. A thin silver edge line lives below the palm rest and houses the LED lights and the mouse buttons.'

Computeractive have published their review of the Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810TZ-4955 notebook PC. 'The 1810TZ has an 11.6in screen that produced a bright, sharp picture that made reading websites and editing documents much easier than on most netbooks. It has a 250GB hard disk and 3GB of memory - netbooks tend to only have 1GB of memory. The processor is also much better. It's a dual-core low-voltage model that helps when running multiple applications at once. It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, rather than the Windows 7 Starter edition sometimes found on similar computers.'

A review of the Review: Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 (LOOX U/G90) has been posted over at Pocketables.net. 'The newest model in the Fujitsu LifeBook U series of mini notebooks is the UH900, a lightweight clamshell device with a high-resolution 5.6" multitouch display, Windows 7, Intel Atom processor, 2GB of RAM, and very fast SSD. While decently configured in the US with a 1.6GHz CPU and integrated GPS, the Japanese versions of the UH900--the LOOX U/G90--are offered with user-selected options like a 2.0GHz Atom processor and also come with built-in WiMAX.'

The HP Mini 210-1070NR 10.1-inch black netbook (9.75 Hours of battery life) has been reduced from $491.00 to $359.99 over at Amazon.com.
Tech Details
• Intel Atom Processor N450 (1.66 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache)
• 1GB DDR2 System Memory (1 DIMM)
• 250GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive (SATA)(
• Genuine Windows 7 Starter, * Up to 9.75 Hours of Battery Life
• 10.1 Diagonal WSVGA LED Anti-glare Widescreen Display (1024 x 600)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 (shared) with up to 256MB Total Available Graphics Memory