Handy Computer Guide

A review of the ultraportable Flybook VM notebook has been posted over at Pocket Lint. ‘Dialogue isn’t really a company most people will be familiar with but it had introduced a couple of distinctive notebook designs in the last couple of years that have certainly tested the idea of what a notebook should look and act like. The Flybook VM is another such example. While on the surface it’s a standard ultraportable notebook that weighs in at 1.8kg, largely due to the use of a 12-inch widescreen panel, it’s light and ideal for carrying around with you. We managed to get a little under 3 hours from the standard battery pack, which is more than enough for such a small machine. The screen is great to view but the use of an integrated graphics card makes it fine for work but less for multimedia use.’

Read: Dialogue Flybook VM laptop Review

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Trusted Reviews have published their review of the Asus W5Fe - Windows Sideshow notebook. ‘The Sideshow feature operates from 1GB of NAND flash built into the notebook. Vista features Sideshow Gadgets; applications that are designed to make themselves available to the Sideshow screen. Only two are built into Windows Vista by default - email via Windows Mail and music via Windows Media Player. More Gadgets can be downloaded and installed via a Microsoft web page - the link is right there inside Control Panel.

The icons are quite cute and you move between them in a manner akin to Windows Media Center. If you are happy using Windows Mail for your email there is enough resolution for at least 12 lines of text, which is good. In the settings you can choose between themes, change the default language and adjust screen brightness. Also you can tell it how long to keep the screen on for and whether to lock the buttons and whether to require a password when it turns on. This is important if you have sensitive data on your machine. There's little point protecting Vista with password if you leave Sideshow as a backdoor for thieves or nosy parkers.’

Read: Asus W5Fe - Windows Sideshow Notebook

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Laptop Magazine have published their review of the lightweight Fujitsu LifeBook S2210 notebook. 'Weighing in at four pounds, the S2210 is light enough to carry all day, and it feels like it can last a long time. Measuring 11.5 x 9.4 x 1.3 inches, it runs slightly narrower than most contemporary widescreen thin-and-lights. When the lid is open, however, the system is nearly two inches taller than its widescreen rivals, which will make it more difficult to use on an airplane tray table. The S2210's keyboard is mediocre; the keys are full-sized but felt somewhat cramped and not as firm as we'd like. The touchpad is of adequate size, however, and the biometric fingerprint sensor between the mouse buttons doubles as a vertical scroll button for quickly navigating through documents and Web pages.'

Read: Fujitsu LifeBook S2210 - Laptop Mag

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Kevin Giberson writing over at Notebook Review has posted a review of the HP Compaq 6515b business notebook. 'The 14.1” HP Compaq 6515b notebook is one of eight or so “Balanced Mobility” business machines currently being offered by HP. The 6515b is distinguished from some of its thin-and-light brethren, such as the 14.1” nc6400, by its relatively low price and AMD processor options. An AMD Sempron-based 6515b is available for as little as $650 right now, while a nicely configured AMD Turion-outfitted machine can be had for under $1000. Despite its positioning as something of a budget business notebook, the 6515b makes no sacrifices when it comes to the security and communications features one expects to find in a solid business model. Moreover, the 6515b includes some of the latest mobile technologies being offered by the newly merged AMD and ATI, namely, the AMD M690T chipset and the Radeon x1270 GPU, a coupling designed to provide good mobile performance and low power consumption.'

Read: HP Compaq 6515b Review

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Personal Computer World have published a review of the Evesham Solar 8600GTS desktop gaming PC. ‘Evesham's Solar 8600GTS desktop PC contains Nvidia's new mid-range Geforce 8600GTS card that costs a shade over £100 when bought separately. Like the rest of Nvidia's 8000-series cards, it supports Microsoft's DirectX 10 graphics specification, which should eventually result in glossier and more detailed looking games than DirectX 9 software. Windows Vista Home Premium comes preinstalled, which is essential to take advantage of this card since DirectX 10 in a Vista-exclusive standard.’

Review: Evesham Solar 8600GTS desktop PC

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Steve Moerman writing over at Notebook Review has posted a review of the Acer Aspire 5680 laptop PC. ‘The Acer Aspire 5680 is a powerful yet portable notebook, which seems to be targeted as a portable desktop replacement, or a portable gaming machine. It is equipped with one of the more powerful GPUs available in 15.4” notebook computers today, the NVIDA 7600 which to my knowledge is currently bested only by the NVIDIA 7700 found in the Asus G1. Together with a 2GHZ Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of DDR2 Ram, this machine makes a great desktop replacement that is still easily portable. So, with these great specs, is this the notebook to be had?’

Read: Acer Aspire 5680 – Notebook Review

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PC Magazine have published a review of the Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P ultraportable PC. 'The SZ370P measures 12.5 by 9.2 by 1.0 inches, which is longer than competing ultraportables, but don't let the dimensions fool you. The scant frame integrates components virtually unheard of in a machine this size. Sony laptop screens are among the thinnest in the world, and you'll be blown away by the brilliant colors this one produces. The 13.3-inch XBrite screen is about an inch larger than the 12-inch ones found on the Dell XPS M1210 (Vista) and the Panasonic CF-W5. As for protection, the carbon fiber material surrounding the frame looks smooth and exotic, but it isn't as tough as the metals found on the ThinkPad X60 (Vista) and Toughbook CF-W5. If you tap on it lightly, you can actually feel the frame's hollowness.'

Read: Sony VAIO VGN-SZ370P - PC Mag

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A review of the LG C1 Tablet PC has been posted over at Notebook Review. ‘The LG C1 is an impressive notebook Tablet PC convertible. Its lightweight design and glossy piano blue/black finish give this machine a professional appeal. Its Core Duo 1.2GHz processor doesn't lack in performance either. The C1 doesn't have an internal optical drive, but this keeps weight down and makes it easy to take anywhere, especially given the 10.6" WXGA display size. LG does have an external drive that is included in the price though. The C1 is perfect for users who are looking for something lightweight that runs Windows Vista. The only problem is getting your hands on one if you live in the U.S.’

Read: LG C1 Notebook to Tablet PC Convertible Review

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PC authority have published a review of the Sony VAIO VGN-UX27GN ultra-mobile personal computer. 'The UX27 comes with Vista Business as standard, so you get the specially designed Tablet PC tools. These are capable enough to avoid needing to use the inevitably fiddly keyboard for even awkward tasks such as entering website addresses. Sony backs this up with a dedicated hardware button for a stylus-friendly application launcher – much easier to use than the Windows Start menu. The two mouse buttons to the left also give enough control over the more advanced areas of Windows. With the slide-down keyboard, mouse buttons and Vista modification, the UX27 is vastly more usable than the Samsung Q1-SSD, particularly when the latter is separated from its portable keyboard. And the unit sits much more comfortably in the hand than the Q1-SSD.'

Read: Sony VAIO VGN-UX27GN - PC Authority

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A review of the Lenovo 3000 V100 0763 (Core 2 Duo 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD) business laptop has been posted over at CNET. 'The V100 is the smallest Lenovo 3000 laptop available; like its siblings, the C200 and the N100, the V100 is silver on the outside and dark gray on the inside. Its steel hinges and relatively sturdy construction reflect its ThinkPad heritage, though it doesn't have the ThinkPad's drain holes, shock-mounted hard drive, or keyboard light. The V100 weighs 4.5 pounds (with the optional six-cell battery, which extends about a half inch from the back of the laptop) and measures 9 inches deep, 12 inches wide, and 1.1 inches thick, so it's a bit larger than both the Toshiba Satellite U205 and the Dell XPS M1210. Total travel weight with the V100's modest A/C adapter is 5.1 pounds, striding the line between ultraportable and thin-and-light. There are certainly lighter laptops on the market, including Lenovo's own ThinkPad X60s, but the V100 is reasonably portable for regular travel.'

Read: Lenovo 3000 V100 0763 - CNET

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CNET have published their review of the AVADirect Core 2 Duo SLI gaming desktop PC. 'We went to some of the better-known gaming PC vendors for a price check on the AVA Direct Core 2 Duo SLI and we found that it costs roughly the same as other, similar PCs. Alienware and Velocity's prices were nearly identical, Maingear's was about $3,100, while a similar rig from Falcon Northwest hovered around $2,500. So our AVA Direct PC costs about what it should.

For that $2,747, you get a Core 2 Duo E6600 overclocked to 2.6GHz (from 2.4GHz), 2GB of 1,066MHz DDR2 SDRAM, an overclocked 640MB GeForce 8800 GTS graphics card, a 150GB 10,000rpm main hard drive, and a second (non-RAID) 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive for storage. All of that is tied to an NForce 680i SLI motherboard with integrated audio. In other words, with this system, AVA Direct has taken an already-solid collection of midrange to high-end parts and beefed them up where possible to squeeze out more performance.'

Read: AVADirect Core 2 Duo SLI - CNET

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A "Hands-On review of the Samsung Q1B ultra mobile PC has been posted over at Tablet PC Review. 'Seeing that this is a review of the Samsung Q1b UMPC/Tablet PC, we are going to take a look at mobility from the side of Tablet devices. It's no longer a question of the ability of the devices, the Samsung Q1b is an impressive piece of machinery packing Windows XP Tablet Edition, a 32GB flash hard drive, a touchscreen-based interface and enough connectivity options to keep your contacts from being aware that you are on the go. But there still is a question that needs to be asked: Is the Tablet PC, especially with the advent of flash memory hard drives and their increased performance, worth investing in? Let's dive into the Q1b and then revisit this question.'

Read: Samsung Q1b UMPC/Tablet PC Hands-On Review

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Trusted Reviews have published a review of the Scan 3XS OC-GTS gaming desktop PC. 'Opening the front door of the case reveals four 5.25in and two 3.5in drive bays. One of the 3.5in bays is occupied by a floppy drive, which is something of an unusual site these days. Surprisingly, only one of the 5.25in bays is filled – there’s a Samsing WriteMaster SH-S182M DVD writer installed. I have to say that I would expect two optical drives in a system like this, especially when there are so many free bays. That said, Scan customers can configure a PC any way they like when they order, so I guess you can have any combination you’d like. The CoolerMaster case comes equipped with an Alphacool water cooling unit built into it. The radiator is built into the top of the case and is cooled by two 120mm fans blowing across it and out through the top of the case. The pump is mounted at the base of the case, next to the drive bays. Power comes courtesy of a Molex connector from the PSU – there is an external power socket too, but Scan hasn’t used this, instead opting for a completely self contained solution.'

Read: Scan 3XS OC-GTS Gaming PC - Trusted Reviews

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A review of the Asus A8JR lightweight notebook has been posted over on Laptop Magazine. 'With its 14.1-inch screen and 5.3-pound weight, the Asus A8Jr-4P021C is better suited to frequent travel. It's an adequate performer, though it needs more features (or a lower price) to help it stand out from stronger mainstream entries from Dell and Gateway. The rounded silver-and-black chassis won't elicit stares, but it's attractive. The full-sized keyboard is comfortable, as is the large, smooth touchpad. The pad's integrated mouse buttons are a bit stiff, and with just a thin line differentiating the button area from the touchpad area, it's easy to press the corner of the touchpad when you mean to hit a mouse button. More annoying is the lack of dedicated multimedia control keys. And on our model, the Function-key combo to toggle Wi-Fi on and off didn't work, nor did the preloaded Asus Net Switch utility; we had to use Vista's Network Diagnostic tool to enable the radio.'

Read: Asus A8JR - Laptop Mag

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PC Authority have published a review of the feature-rich Sony VAIO VGN-G118GNB mobile notebook. 'The streamlined chassis and 4mm-thick screen, made of carbon-fibre laminate, is stunning. There’s even an Apple-like design touch to the optical drive’s eject button, which finds its home at the top-right- hand side of the chassis (fear not, there’s also a more traditionally placed button on the drive itself). The DVD writer itself is compatible with all kinds of media, including DVD-RAM. We were also impressed to see a 100GB hard disk inside. The 1.8in Toshiba disk uses perpendicular recording to pack in such a high capacity, and Toshiba claims the drive consumes just 1.1W while seeking.

Read: Sony VAIO VGN-G118GNB - PC Authority

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CNET have published their review of the ABS Ultimate X Striker Elite gaming desktop PC. ‘Despite the fact that the ABS Ultimate X Striker Elite and its new quad-core chip don't dominate every benchmark test, its performance still ranks where it should. We can only compare this system to what we've tested before, which is why the other systems listed (with the exception of the Polywell Poly i680SLI) all have an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 chip overclocked to 3.2GHz or (excluding the Gateway FX530XT) have Windows XP, which uses much less memory and overall CPU power than Windows Vista. Those apparent disadvantages aside, the ABS makes a fair account of itself on CNET Labs benchmark tests. Its iTunes score led its category and is a good indicator that the combination of so much memory and a faster quad-core CPU will really benefit encoding times. And on F.E.A.R., a particularly tough, 3D-gaming test, you can see that even though the Gateway has an overclocked CPU, its relatively weak Radeon CrossFire X1950 XT is no match for the ABS with its single GeForce 8800 GTX card.’

Read: ABS Ultimate X Striker Elite - CNET

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A review of the Asus F5R notebook has been posted over at Notebook Review. ‘The Asus F5R is a new 15.4" screen notebook targeted at the budget market. The Asus F5R has a simple silver and black design that is common amongst consumer style notebooks. This laptop is expected to come with Windows Vista Home Global, 2-year Asus Global Warranty and a 30-day Zero Bright Dot Guarantee. The notebook offers the basics of what consumers are looking for in an affordable price range. The laptop has a very simple look to it, certainly basic and unsophisticated. The webcam draws attention due to its look and the fact it can swivel. The lid is silver with a small indentation for some extra styling. The bezel around the screen is black, while the webcam that sits above the screen is silver. The palm rests are silver and the chassis is black. The notebook is made of plastic, but that’s what you can expect for a laptop targeted at the budget buyer market.’

Read: Asus F5R Review

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A review of the Acer Ferrari 5000 series (Turion 64 X2 ML-60 Processor 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM) notebook has been posted over at CNET Asia. 'The Ferrari 5000 certainly looks less gaudy than the ASUS Lamborghini VX2, which is quite welcome, as though that notebook is quite the performer it’s almost noxiously ostentatious. The Acer has some carbon-fiber sections, though it appears to be mostly decorative. The palm rest is a matte-black plastic and also quite sexy, though it does get quite greasy with fingerprints--Acer’s supplied Ferrari cloth comes in handy here. Though the notebook looks virtually identical to its predecessor at first glance, the ports and optical drives have been moved around--with the optical drive now at the left, alongside both an ExpressCard and PCMCIA port.'

Read: Acer Ferrari 5000 series (Turion 64 X2 ML-60 Processor 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM)

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Pocket Lint have published a review of the affordable Toshiba Satellite P100-168 notebook PC. ‘This is a 17-inch machine that comes with the now obligatory Super-TFT coating. This is ideal for those who want to use their notebook for watching DVDs and editing photos, as much as writing emails. Build-quality is strong with lots of protection for the screen. A curved bezel at the top of the display helps to prevent items falling between the keyboard and display if you do take it on the road, and there's a sturdy latch to keep the laptop closed. With such a large screen we were expecting the Satellite to weigh more than its 3.3kg weight. You won’t want to carry this around all day but it’s a compact design.’

Read: Toshiba Satellite P100-168 – Pocket Lint

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A review of the Systemax Hornet2 B76 "desktop replacement" laptop has been posted over at Laptop Magazine. 'The Systemax Hornet2 B76 is a bit of an enigma. It carries the price of a high-end unit, but its bland silver-and-black plastic chassis doesn't look the part. Worse, its performance is more in line with the budget-priced Everex entry here, which costs $1,100 less. Without a high-def DVD drive, TV tuner, ultra-high-res screen, and a top-end graphics solution, we can't figure out what Systemax is charging $2,000 for. To be sure, the system has some good features. Our unit came equipped with a top-of-the-line 2.33-GHz Core 2 Duo T7600 processor and 2GB of RAM. The 120GB hard drive is fine for this class, and the full-sized keyboard is particularly comfortable and quiet (though dedicated multimedia control buttons would have been nice). The 8.8-pound system is manageable for occasional travel, and we were pleased to see the thank-you card taped to the side of the box, initialed by the assemblers and QA inspector in Fletcher, Ohio. That touch is more typical of boutique builders like Falcon Northwest and Velocity Micro. '

Read: Systemax Hornet2 B76 - Laptop Mag

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Mark Kyrnin, About.com's guide to PC Hardware / Reviews, has reviewed the affordable Gateway MT6451notebook. 'While Gateway's direct sales notebooks use Intel Core 2 Duo processors, the retail models use the AMD processors. For the MT6451 notebook, Gateway uses the AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-50 dual core processor. This gives improved multitasking ability, but the overall performance is below that of the Intel Core 2 Duo models. A nice improvement over other budget notebooks is the inclusion of faster PC2-5300 DDR2 memory compared to the PC2-4200 DDR2 typically used. This helps improve memory access performance. When compared to the Gateway NX570X direct sales notebook, the MT6451 offers a lot more in terms of storage. It has a 120GB hard drive compared to an 80GB hard drive. This 50% increase in storage space does have a slower rotational speed that keeps performance close between the two. The big difference comes with the DVD burner included in the MT6451. The NX570X still comes with a 24x CD/DVD combo drive. '

Read: Gateway MT6451 Retail Budget Notebook

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PC Magazine have published their review of the HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7780n multimedia desktop PC. 'The HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7780n Desktop PC ($1,600 direct, $2,020 with 22-inch widescreen LCD monitor) is not for the passive channel-surfing consumer. Rather, it's a high-end multimedia PC for the video enthusiast who wants to do something serious with all the camcorder footage he or she has taken over the years. The m7780n has an HDTV tuner and HD DVD drive (playback only), so you can enjoy watching HD content through several means as much as you do creating and editing it. This system lives in both the video-playback and video-creation worlds, though not quite perfectly in either. Physically, the m7780n matches its predecessor, the HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7690n PC, right down to the HD DVD stickers. Like the m7690n, the m7780n has a lot of hardware stuffed into its case, with no space for extras. This isn't much of a problem, since it's so well equipped to begin with. Virtually every function you'd expect to install inside is already there, including a high-end nVidia GeForce 7600 GT graphics card (good 3D performance), a combined NTSC and an ASTC/HDTV TV tuner card, a DVD burner, and even wireless Wi-Fi networking (802.11b/g). The GeForce 7600 GT card supports single- and dual-link DVI monitors up to 30 inches (which HP carries, incidentally).'

Read: HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7780n Desktop PC

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Andrew Chan writing over at Notebook Review has posted a review of the Acer Aspire 5050 notebook PC. ‘Much like the 5102WLMi, the 5050 features Acer’s folio design with silver plastic and black trim. With the lid closed the size of the ‘folio’ is just a bit bigger than a typical file folder. Dimensions are listed as 341(W) x 251 (D) x 35 (H) mm. I was able to purchase a slim notebook bag and I’m quite pleased with its small footprint. Unfortunately the silver plastic on top is easily scratched. But the hinges on the lid feel sturdy. So sturdy in fact, that you need to hold down the base to open the notebook. There is some flexibility with the LCD, but nothing alarming. The LCD screen is a 14.1” widescreen, with a native resolution of 1200x800 (WXGA). It is equipped with Acer’s CrsytalBrite technology (glossy). Not having much to compare to, I can say that images look good and the glossiness does make movies more vibrant. When watching movies, I am able to detect a bit of response lag when compared to my desktop setup. The horizontal viewing range is good, but I have found myself constantly adjusting the display to find the right vertical viewing angle. Applying moderate pressure to the LCD’s back produces the typical ripple pattern.’

Read: Acer Aspire 5050 – Notebook Review

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A review of the HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet PC has been posted over at Computer Active. 'Vista Home Premium is installed and its pen and handwriting support means nearly everything can be controlled by the stylus HP provides. However, in testing we found the screen was difficult to write on, largely because the screen needs a lot of pressure applied before it responds. The tx1000 also has some impressive media capabilities starting with two Altec Lansing speakers that sit either side of the screen’s hinge – they are a cut above other notebook speakers. A remote control pops out of the side of the chassis that can wirelessly control the volume and navigation of DVDs, videos and music. A lot of thought has gone into its usability for video and audio, such as two headphone jacks on the front and dedicated buttons for media navigation. Only a TV tuner is sorely missing from its media capabilities. However, USB TV tuners can be added for about £50.'

Read: Review: HP Pavilion tx1000 tablet PC

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