Handy Computer Guide

HotHardware have published a review of the Asus Eee PC 900 UMPC. ‘Asus ships the Eee PC 900 in an unassuming box adorned with the likeness of the system. Inside, we found a detailed User's Manual, a Quick Start Guide, a warranty card, and a couple of DVDs - one with the Linux recovery image and the other a Support CD that contains a number of useful tools for reconfiguring or restoring the Eee PC, including a utility to create a bootable thumb drive with the factory OS image. In addition to the aforementioned items, Asus also included a 36W power adapter and a simple, padded pouch. If you're familiar with the Eee PC 700 series, you'll notice the newer 900 series machine includes a more traditional power adapter with a cord and not a wall brick like the 700 series.'

Read: Asus Eee PC 900 Ultra Mobile PC - HotHardware.com

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A review of the rugged Averatec Voya 6494 laptop has been posted over at ZDNet. 'Not to be confused with Averatec's GPS units of the same name, this Voya is a laptop and of the semirugged variety. With its rubber bumpers, the Averatec Voya 6494 bears a slight resemblance to Honda's original Element. Despite its clunky look, the Voya 6494 is relatively trim for a ruggedized 15-inch laptop. And when opened, it presents a surprisingly slick yet corporate look, with a silver-and-black screen bezel, and black keyboard and keyboard tray. It serves up security features that will certainly appeal to business users, including Smart Card and SIM card slots. In addition to the aforementioned rubber bumpers that protect each of its corners, this semirugged laptop also features a rubber mounting system to protect the display, a magnesium alloy outer shell, a spill-resistant keyboard and touch pad, and a shock-mounted hard drive. You'll pay a premium compared with standard 15-inch laptops, but when viewed against its rugged competition, it's a deal at $1,599. A business traveler and anyone who regularly engages in abusive relationships with laptops should give the Averatec Voya 6494 a look.

Read: Averatec Voya 6494 - ZDNet

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PC Magazine have published a review of the Gateway DX442XP multimedia desktop. ‘The DX442XP looks a lot like the rest of Gateway's current mainstream DX- and GT-series desktop PCs, with a pleasant yet nondescript front panel. A sliding door hides a pair of front USB ports, a headphone jack, and the slot for the Gateway multimedia removable hard drive. As I've said before, I don't like Gateway's removable drive. If you have to connect it to a PC that doesn't have a compatible drive bay (which basically means any non-Gateway PC, any laptop, and any Gateway desktop not equipped with the bay as well), you'll need to use the nonstandard USB cable that Gateway supplies. The cable has Type A connectors—the plugs that fit into the standard (rectangular) USB slots in your computer—at both ends, PC and drive, which is unusual. If you lose or forget this cable, you're out of luck.’

Read: Gateway DX442XP – PC Mag

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CNET have published a review of the Acer Aspire 8920-6671 feature-rich laptop. ‘Our review model was the more expensive of Acer's two available configurations. At $2,499, the Acer Aspire 8920-6671 is pricey choice for a nongaming machine. The lower-end version, the visually identical Aspire 8920-6048, trades the Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU for a T5550, goes from 320GB of hard drive space to 250GB, drops from 4GB of RAM to 3GB (which is the maximum amount 32-bit Vista can address anyway), and features an Nvidia GeForce 9500M video card instead of a slightly faster GeForce 9650M. Important differences to be sure, but the cheaper version is available from retail stores for $1,299--less than half the suggested price of the more expensive version, and a much better overall deal.’

Read: Acer Aspire 8920-6671 - CNET

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PC World have published a review of the Dell XPS 630 gaming desktop. ‘Our $3229 XPS 630 system (the price drops to $2889 without the bundled 22-inch Dell SP2208WFP monitor, and lesser configurations start at $1199; pricing is as of June 6, 2008) packed 3GB of RAM and Intel's 3-GHz Core 2 Extreme QX6850 processor--an older quad-core chip that continues to deliver strong performance. Two speedy 160GB, 10,000-rpm Western Digital Raptor hard drives configured in a RAID 0 array provide a modest 320GB storage. The system also carried dual 512MB nVidia GeForce 8800 GT graphics boards bridged as one via SLI (nVidia's Scalable Link Interface).

Dell lets you choose either Windows XP or Windows Vista as the operating system for your XPS 630. Our unit, equipped with Vista Premium, earned a score of 123 on PC World's WorldBench 6 test suite--on a par with results we've recorded for most competing desktops that use the same QX6850 CPU. To put that into perspective, consider that our current top-performing desktops (for example, the Penryn QX9650-equipped War Machine M1 Elite) posted WorldBench scores edging into the low 130s. Though Dell doesn't recommend or ship the 630 overclocked, you can bump up the CPU and memory speeds yourself if you know what you're doing.’

Read: Dell XPS 630 review – PC World

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A review of the affordable Toshiba Satellite A300-177 Notebook has been posted over at Pocket-Lint. 'The Satellite A300 takes the current rounded look of the Satellite range and gives it a high-gloss finish. This looks great and certainly makes it look more appealing. However, the finish does soon attract smears and fingerprints and we found ourselves constantly having to wipe it clean. It's the same with the keyboard, which has the same style of finish. The keys are of a good size and it is comfortable to use, but we'd have preferred a matt finish. There is even a reassuring click as you type, so you know you've struck the key correctly.

The screen is a typical 15.4-inch Super-TFT screen that is great for movies as well as surfing the web or simply getting that report or homework finished. As is common at the budget end of the market, the graphics are integrated, so you won't be able to play games but it's more than quick enough for daily tasks.'

Read: Toshiba Satellite A300-177 notebook review - Pocket-Lint

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PC Advisor have published a review of the Toshiba M700-110 Tablet PC. ‘With the Toshiba M700-110 used as a regular laptop, we find the usual complement of features we expect of a modern portable, including 802.11 networking (a, b, g and draft n), a dual-layer DVD-writing optical drive, Bluetooth and 5-in-1 card reader. Powering all this is an Intel Core 2 Duo processor clocked at 2GHz, supported by 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive.

The screen is a 12in widescreen display, 1280x800, driven by an integrated graphics card - so many 3D games are essentially off limits. Not that that should be a problem for a machine that’s well-tuned to the needs of business users. Windows Vista Business is the OS of choice here, and other features include a fingerprint reader and hard disk lock encryption to keep data safe in the event of loss.’

Read: Toshiba M700-110 review – PC Advisor

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Trusted Reviews have published a review of the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC - Linux Edition. ‘Though it lacks a catchy name, compared to the toy-like Eee PC the Mini-Note PC is a stunningly stylish piece of design. Weighing in a heavier but nonetheless portable 1.27kg the brushed metal lid and underside complements the silver internals and gloss black bezel beautifully, while its curves make for a pleasingly tactile shape that immediately impresses. If the Eee PC borrows the MacBook's iconic white finish, the Mini-Note PC feels far more like a product produced by the house that Steve Jobs built.

This comparison, though, doesn't do HP much justice because it too has been designing and producing attractive notebooks for quite a while now and its experience is borne out in the Mini-Note. Everything about the machine feels exceedingly accomplished, with a compact but lightweight feel and a sturdiness that belies both its price and size. Try and bend the screen and you'll struggle to produce much movement at all. Apply some pressure on the outside of the lid and you'll be hard-pushed to transmit it to the LCD panel itself.’

Read: HP 2133 Mini-Note PC - Linux Edition – Trusted Reviews

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PC Advisor have published a review of the MSI GX700-204UK Notebook. 'Despite its reasonable price tag, MSI has managed to cram into the MSI GX700-204UK some impressive components - most notably the Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 Penryn processor and 3GB of RAM. The pair proved an admirable match for our WorldBench real-world testing software and managed to pull in a result of 88 which is good for a machine with a sub-£1,000 price tag. Perhaps where the MSI GX700-204UK really excels, though, is gaming which is notoriously taxing for mobile machines. The nVidia GeForce 8600M GT graphics chip managed to achieve a score of 27 frames per second (fps) running our intensive FEAR test which again is unusual at this price.'

Read: MSI GX700-204UK review - PC Advisor

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A review of the Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 Notebook with AT&T BroadbandConnect HSPA has been posted over at Notebook Review. 'The T2010 has a simple design that is sleek and appealing. Right off the bat, you get that business feel. It would be perfect for college students as well, considering it is so small and only weighs in around 3.5 pounds. The graphite color hides dirt very well and keeps the tablet looking professional, but be careful the lid can be scratched easily. The chassis is solid and there is minimal flex, except for the keyboard area, which I will get to later. There are a few dedicated tablet buttons on the bottom of the screen that change the screen orientation and function. They are very convenient, especially when using the T2010 in tablet mode. This model T2010 has the integrated AT&T Broadband Connect WWAN, so that is what the extra bulge is on the right side, the antenna.’

Read: Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 with WWAN Review – Notebook Review

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A review of the Gateway P-6860FX gaming laptop has been posted over at CNET. 'For $1,350 (the system is occasionally on sale for $1,299) the P-6860FX offers some decent upgrades from the earlier P-6831FX, bumping the RAM from 3GB to 4GB and the hard drive from 250GB to 320GB. The CPU also gets a slight upgrade to a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo T5550, but the underpowered processor remains the one weak point. The P-6860 also includes the 64-bit version of Windows Vista, although you're unlikely to see any real advantages or disadvantages from that in everyday computing tasks or playing current games, until more software is specifically coded for 64-bit systems. Because 32-bit Windows can address only 3GB of RAM, the real advantage of using the 64-bit OS is the capability to use 4GB or more.'

Read: Gateway P-6860FX - CNET

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The Register Hardware have published a review of the Vye mini-v S37B mini-notebook. 'The S37B's most obvious attribute is its 7in, 1024 x 600 touchscreen mounted on a swivel which allows the S37B to be turned into a tablet PC. The little laptop also includes a 120GB hard drive, compared to the 4GB of solid-state storage found in the Eee. At first glance, the device looks a little cheap and plasticy but once you have it on your hands the build feels solid, and the swivel is well made and should withstand some punishment. Although the S37B is more powerful than the Eee PC 701, like most people carriers it's a little underpowered for the job it's trying to do. It packs in a single-core 800MHz Intel A110 processor, the predecessor to the 'Silverthorne' Atom and essentially and old Pentium III.'

Read: Vye mini-v S37B sub-notebook - Register Hardware

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PC Magazine have published a review of the affordable ASUS EeePC 900 laptop. ‘Although the EeePC 900 is not as light as the 1.5-pound Samsung Q1 Ultra, it comes with something well worth the extra weight—a functional keyboard. Because the dimensions haven't increased, the EeePC 900 retains its 83 percent keyboard. The 92 percent keyboard on the HP Mini-Note is far more comfortable to type on, as the tightly spaced keys have the feel of a full-size keyboard. You can attempt to touch-type on the EeePC 900, but that will take some practice and a lot of patience. Even more annoying, however, are the stiff mouse buttons. They make a loud clicking noise, and you'll have to exert some force to press them. The original EeePC didn't take advantage of the lid's full width, and the speakers, which were placed beside the screen, made the interior look cheap. That version's 7-inch screen has been replaced by an 8.9-inch one in the EeePC 900—the same size as the one on the HP Mini-Note. Also helping to enhance your multimedia, working, and surfing experience is the increase in resolution from 800-by-480 to 1,024-by-600. As for the speakers, they're underneath the laptop.’

Read: ASUS EeePC 900 – PC Mag

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A review of the HTC Shift UMPC has been posted over at InfoSync World. 'The HTC Shift takes a few good ideas and clubs them over the head with some serious design and performance flaws. The device's leather sleeve, the wonky slide mechanism and the tiny keys all detract from what should have been a great idea, an extra-large version of the AT&T Tilt. With a thinner shell and a more touch-friendly interface, this device might have solved some of the nagging issues with the UMPC form factor, but instead it simply creates new problems. The integrated 3G networking is a great touch, but it's easy enough to add WAN capabilties to a better UMPC, so this feature doesn't help us forgive the Shift its shortcomings. Finally, the SnapVUE interface, which should have made the device more convenient, sits in marked contract to HTC's TouchFLO overlay, which does the same thing and looks much better . . . on a cell phone, no less. Release: March 2008. Price: $1500.'

Read: HTC Shift UMPC review - InfoSync World

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Laptop Magazine have published a review of the lightweight Gateway T-6828 Notebook. ‘The T-6828 keeps everything we loved about the larger, but otherwise near-identical, 15-inch M-150XL’s design. Our unit has a glossy Garnet Red lid and matching palm rest. At 5.6 pounds, the T-6828 is closer in weight to a mainstream machine than a thin-and-light, but it’s still lighter than many budget notebooks. The 13 x 9.8 x 1.3-inch body feels compact. It narrows to 1 inch thin, which is nice for this class of system.

There’s still a brushed-metal bezel with embedded multimedia controls, but the keyboard is now a matching silver, not black. Although we liked the smooth, ample keys and the pleasant sound they make, the flipped control and function keys were awkward to use. The touchpad is large with a series of raised bumps along the right side. When we reviewed the M-150XL, we had to use two fingers on the low-friction surface, but this touchpad responded fine to just one. The touch buttons are easier to press than the M-150XL’s, but they’re still noisy and far too narrow, especially given how disproportionately wide the touchpad is.’

Read: Gateway T-6828 – Laptop Mag

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Notebook Review have published a review of the Toshiba Satellite M305 Notebook. ‘If you're one of those notebook users who judges the build quality of a notebook by how much metal is visible in its construction, the M305 won't be earning many high marks in your book: this laptop is all about the plastic, with glossy (and thus, highly obvious) polymers covering nearly every inch of its surface. Again, while the slick plastic can feel a little cheap, the M305 belies this idea with a tight, solid build and lots of nice details. Panel flex was largely nonexistent, save some give in the typical trouble spot just over the optical drive on the top deck. Similarly, I could induce just the slightest hint of screen ripple by flexing the fairly rigid lid. As with the last few Satellites we've looked at, the M305's battery doesn't seem particularly well anchored, with about an eighth of an inch of front-to-back free play.’

Read: Toshiba Satellite M305 Review – Notebook Review

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A review of the Acer Aspire 6920G-603G25Bn notebook PC has been posted over at Pocket-Lint. 'This machine is the first we've seen that uses the new Gemstone Blue design, which pushes multimedia to the forefront of the design. On the left-hand side you'll find a rather large and ostentatious array of media buttons that glow blue when in use. Acer has christened these buttons CineDash and are touch-sensitive. However, there is a Hold button that will stop you from accidentally changing your settings. The buttons are linked to Acer's Arcade media software, which works in much the same way as Microsoft's Media Centre tools, so you can load and run movies, music and all your media files from one central interface.'

Read: Acer Aspire 6920G-603G25Bn notebook review - Pocket-Lint

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Tablet PC Review have published a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 compact notebook. 'The IdeaPad U110 is surprisingly solid in terms of build quality. The aluminum etch display cover and magnesium aluminum chassis provide both strength and light weight. You can press as hard as you want anywhere on the body of the notebook and it simply will not flex. Like the ThinkPad line, the IdeaPad U110 is designed for (accidental) abuse and drops, and we're guessing the U110 might be the most rugged laptop in the IdeaPad lineup. Unlike with the ThinkPads, you don't get a double latch mechanism with button release to make sure the screen is held down when it is closed and being carried. Instead, the U110 uses hinge tension to hold the screen in place.'

Read: Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Review - Tablet PC Review

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I4U News have published a review of the Gateway C-141x Convertable Tablet Notebook. 'One of the best features of the Gateway C-141X is the Wacom stylus that is included. It’s a big, beefy stylus that feels like a quality ink pen in your hand, not a cheap kids toy like some stylus’ you see on PDAs and tablets. The stylus works well and the Gateway C-141X accepts pen input well making handwriting on the notebook easy. The Gateway C-141X is a convertible design so you can use it in tablet mode or as a normal notebook. An arrow on the swivel portion of the LCD shows which way to turn the screen to activate each mode. Some buttons on the screen bezel allow you to change the orientation of the screen depending on what mode you are in. the only drawback s that the orientation doesn’t change itself when you go from tablet to notebook mode, you have to do it manually.'

Read: Gateway C-141x Convertable Tablet Notebook Review - I4U News

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A review of the HP Pavilion dv3000 laptop has been posted over at CNET Asia. ‘With a footprint of 320 x 228 x 38mm and tipping the scales at 2kg, it is debatable if the marginal reduction in size and weight from the larger 2.4kg HP Pavilion dv2600 is worth the smaller display. Like the rest of its Pavilion brothers, the chassis is decked out with the HP Imprint technology. Here, the Mesh design resembles a net laid across the top cover and palm rest. Though the exterior of the unit is an attractive glossy black, we got a shock when we peered inside.
This may be the first time we've seen a laptop palm rest covered with a shiny silver paint job. In fact, it's so reflective that this area can easily be used as an impromptu makeup mirror. It doesn't help that the glossy surface picks up prints easier than a forensic investigator. To be fair, the mirror finish may appeal to some users, so we suggest checking it out in person before shelling out your dough.’

Read: HP Pavilion dv3000 (Core 2 Duo T9300 processor 2.5GHz, 2GB RAM) – CNET Asia

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PC World have published a review of the Shuttle KPC K4500 compact desktop PC. 'Shuttle markets the K4500 as eco-friendly, and it is--to a point. Iit draws far less power that a gaming system, but more power than other desktops we've tested, including the Linux-based Zonbu Onbox. Running a 1.8-GHz Celeron 430 CPU with 512MB of DDR2 667 RAM, the K45 drew 1.8 watts when powered down, 3.7 watts in standby mode, and 48.4 watts at idle (with the OS running but no apps grinding away). By comparison the Onbox with its Via 1.2-GHz C7 CPU drew a parsimonious 1 watt while off and 9.6 watts at idle. The Onbox's 4GB solid-state drive may account for its superior power savings.'