September 2009 Archives

A review of the Asus UX30 Notebook has been posted over at Pocket-lint.com 'Like the Air, quality is also an area where this laptop shines, with a neatly integrated brushed aluminium lid, and tactile textured plastics. It's a stylish and cohesive design, with the ports hidden behind magnetised covers, and a glossy cover over the screen that stretches right to the edges of the chassis. The 13.3-inch screen uses LED backlighting to offer bright and vivid colours, also cutting down on power consumption. The 1366 x 768-pixel resolution results in detailed images, with enough space on screen for a couple of documents side-by-side. While the glossy coating looks great, and enhances the design, it's a case of form over function, proving highly reflective once out on the road - which is where this machine will surely be used most.'

The HP Mini 110-1030NR 10.1-Inch Netbook - 6 Cell Battery is on offer for $329.00 over at Amazon.com. 'Whether computing within your home, around town and campus, or across the country, the ultra-portable HP Mini 110 can keep you connected with built-in Wi-Fi. It has the performance you need to surf the web and use your standard productivity software apps -- but is light enough to carry everywhere at just 2.57 lbs. It syncs files, photos and videos easily with your primary notebook or desktop PC whenever connected to the same network with the integrated SyncablesTM app. After initial SyncablesTM setup, the file updates will occur in the background for a truly seamless experience.'

Geek.com have published a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 netbook . 'The IdeaPad S12 is the big brother to the IdeaPad S10-2. The use of a 12.1-inch display is a logical progression from 7-inches, to 9 then 10, but it's pushing the limits of netbook territory. The system itself is a bit bulky for what it is, after all, you can't expect the magnesium case or ultrathin LCD lid of an ultraportable, but you do get a full-sized display and keyboard in a mobile package. The $449 IdeaPad S12 runs Intel's Atom N270 processor, 1GB RAM, a 160GB 5400RPM disk, Windows XP Home, and a 1280×800 display.'

CNET have published a review of the Yukyung Viliv S7 (Atom Z515 1.2GHz, 1GB RAM, 16GB SSD, XP Home) netbook. 'The size and shape of the S7 is roughly similar to the Sony Vaio P series in terms of dimensions, but most like the 9-inch Asus T91 in form. Even though the screen and processor are identical to the recently reviewed X70EX tablet, the external look and feel are completely different. Covered in smooth but not overly glossy white or black plastic, the S7 has an attractive, modern look to it. The top lid that houses the screen is slightly smaller than the main body's width, letting it rest like a top layer on top of the S7 when closed. While the S7's body isn't wafer thin, it's pleasingly compact and feels easy to pick up and carry in one hand. Swiveling into tablet position, the S7 can flip its screen in any direction to transform from landscape to portrait. In tablet form the S7 feels thick, but is comfortable to hold.'

NotebookCheck have published a review of the HP Envy 13 Notebook. 'The aluminium case is very stable and its shape gives it an extremely compact look. All in all the haptics of the presented pre-samples (changes in the versions that will be for sale are still possible) is excellent and the materials as well as the design- remind us of the aluminium-bricks from California. Speaking of aluminium-bricks. Here we find an essential difference to the mentioned notebooks. Only the outer case of the Envys by HP is aluminium, while Apple mills the case tray out of a massive piece of aluminium. This nicely solves the necessary assembly steps, but the high quality impression of a single massive piece can impossibly be reached.'

A review of the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC (Multitouch) has been posted over at LaptopMag.com. 'The first thing you'll notice about the X200 Tablet is its small size and light weight. At 11.6 x 10.1 x 1.3 inches, the notebook is a little bigger than the 12-inch Dell Latitude XT2 (11.7 x 8.7 x 1.1 inches). According to Lenovo, the X200 Tablet (with a four-cell battery) weighs a netbook-like 3.5 pounds, but our review unit came with the eight-cell option (which protrudes out the back) and weighs in at 4.2 pounds. The X200 Tablet is nearly half a pound heavier than the Latitude XT2, but that system has a smaller six-cell battery.'

Amazon.com has the Sony VAIO VGN-CS310J/Q 14.1-Inch laptop (Black) on offer for $799.99 with free standard shipping. 'It offers dual-core productivity from its 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium T4200 processor for excellent multitasking. Enjoy fast Wi-Fi at home, at work or on the go at Wi-Fi hotspots with the integrated Draft-N wireless networking (802.11b/g/n). And you can use wireless headsets for video chats and stream music to compatible speakers using the embedded Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity (featuring the A2DP music streaming profile). Other features include a 320 GB hard drive, 4 GB of 800 MHz RAM (maximizing capacity), dual-layer DVD±RW drive (which also burns CDs), integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics (with up to 1750 MB of total available video memory).'

PC Advisor have published their review of the Asus UL30A ultraportable. 'The Asus UL30A has a reasonably crisp 13.3in backlit LED screen. That makes it a little easier on the eyes when trying to use the machine outdoors. You'll still deal with a bit of a glare coming off the glossy 1366-by-768-pixel screen, but it won't completely blind you. Nevertheless, when we dropped the brightness settings down on the display, rich colours seemed a little too washed out. Video fared a bit better, as black shadows were visible against a dark, if slightly ashy, background. That said, if you were relying on getting a bit of relief from work watching Hulu or just some video stashed on the hard drive, you'll be just fine.'

Notebook Check have published a review of the Chiligreen X7 "rugged" notebook PC. 'In terms of connectivity the X7 follows the business standard. With three USB 2.0 ports, VGA connector, modem and LAN, and audio ports as well as a firewire port and a serial port, the notebook offers everything you could need for simple office usage. The serial port is only found these days on a handful of business notebooks, having been almost entirely replaced by the USB. It now has only a few specialist uses such as programming electronics components.'

A review of the ASUS UL30A lightweight laptop has been posted over at PCWorld.com. 'The UL30A has a reasonably crisp 13.3-inch backlit LED screen. That makes it a little easier on the eyes when trying to use the machine outdoors. You'll still deal with a bit of a glare coming off the glossy 1366-by-768-pixel screen, but it won't completely blind you. Nevertheless, when I dropped the brightness settings down on the display, rich colors seemed a little too washed out. Video fared a bit better, as black shadows were visible against a dark, if slightly ashy, background.'

The Acer Aspire One AOD150-1920 10.1-Inch Ruby Red Netbook (6.5 hour battery life) has been reduced from $319.99 to $296.99 over at Amazon.com.
Primary Features:
• 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor
• 1GB RAM
• 160GB Hard Drive (without operating system), Integrated 802.11b/g, Wi-Fi Certified
• 10.1" Display, Includes Acer Crystal Eye webcam
• Windows XP Home with SP3, 6 Cell Battery (6 1/2 Hours of Battery Life)

Pocket-lint have published their "First Look" review of the HP Mini 311 notebook PC. 'It isn't the slimmest of notebooks in this size, with a wedge shape that is distinctly plump at the back. This is partly down to the use of the Intel Atom processor and Nvidia ION chip, as opposed to the an Intel CULV processor which would give a slimmer profile, but cost more and arguably lack the benefits offered by ION. The 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 pixel resolution display means it gets that "HD" tag, and thanks to the Nvidia ION chip, it can exploit that screen to best effect. The screen has a glossy finish, which brings punch to action on the screen, but won't be so popular with those who want to use the notebook on the move - reflections can be a problem.'

Notebook Review have published a review of the new Lenovo ThinkPad T400s Notebook. 'The new ThinkPad T400s looks completely revamped and polished compared to the regular T400. The chassis has slimmed down significantly, and the weight of the notebook has also dropped by almost a pound. The exterior is still wrapped in Lenovo's much-loved rubberized black paint, but the design just looks cleaner and less busy than previous ThinkPad models. Looking inside, the main changes start to become obvious. Besides the new keyboard and touchpad that we will go over shortly, Lenovo changed the shape of the palmrest around the touchpad, with the touchpad resting flush with the palmrest instead of being slightly recessed.'

A review of the Dell Studio XPS 16 notebook has been posted over at HotHardware.com. 'Dell's Studio XPS 16 tips the scales at around 6.5 pounds, so it's certainly not a lightweight. But when you consider that the Studio XPS 13 weighed nearly 5 pounds, you realize that 1.5 pounds for an extra 3" of beautiful screen real estate and a more powerful GPU isn't that bad. And again, having an XPS-level machine that weighs less than a concrete slab is still a win in our eyes. We never once felt that the machine was too heavy for its size, and we think Dell did a commendable job of distributing the weight in order to make it easy to lug around with one arm. Funny enough, it's the lid that we felt was too thick (if anything had to be "too thick"), as the actual chassis seemed surprisingly thin.'

Amazon.com has the Samsung NC10-14GB 10.2-inch blue netbook (up to 8 hours of battery life) for $329.99 with free standard shipping. 'The NC10 Netbook by Samsung is ideal for users looking for a low-cost, highly mobile solution that is aimed at "consuming" data via the Internet versus "creating" data. Key System Benefits - Easy to take with you whether it's around the house, the campus or wherever one might travel; provides significant performance capabilities to wander the Internet and take care of basic productivity applications; enables one to view the Internet in full screen without compromise in a clear and comfortable display; maximum storage capacity for everything you download from the web; provides maximum system performance for basic web browsing and limited system functionality; enhances system performance without adding unnecessary system overhead; provides a great balance of price and performance.'

CNET have published a review of the Falcon Northwest Talon (Intel Core i7) gaming desktop PC. 'Inside the case, Falcon Northwest provides the Talon with its usual attention to detail. A sheet of sound-dampening foam on the side panel helps keep the noise down. Thanks to a modular power supply, Falcon has minimized the cable clutter inside the Talon, but we were surprised to find that some of the cables could have been secured more effectively. The Talon chassis doesn't provide quite as much room for finesse as the Mach V, so we'll give Falcon some leeway here, especially because the smart case design makes removing the hard drives so easy.'

A review of the Clevo M980NU 18.4-inch gaming notebook has been posted over at Notebook Review.com. 'The Clevo M980NU has a stunning mirror finish covering the back of the display and area surrounding the keyboard. The surfaces are completely flat, with a scratch resistant sheet of plastic covering the tinted layer. The screen cover is metallic grey with a centered backlit tribal logo and black trim on the top edge. The logo lights up blue by default, but can be changed by pressing the backlight color switch on the touch-sensitive multimedia panel. Inside the mirror finish has a black base color, playing in with the multimedia buttons and touchpad. Compared to other gaming systems we have seen, the Clevo M980NU really stands out with its elegant design.'

A review of the Dell Latitude 2100 netbook has been posted over at the Register Hardware. 'When you lay hands on the 2100, the first thing that strikes you is the textured, rubberised skin that covers both the lid and base of the machine. It's a unique netbook feature as far as we know and we have to ask why it hasn't been done before. It ensures that the machine sits very securely on a desk. It also feels more grippy in the hand than the usual slick netbook casings, reducing the chances of it slipping out of the grasp of a careless ankle biter, or a tired and emotional grown-up.'

Amazon.com has the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-EU1X-BK 10.1-Inch black netbook (4 hour battery life) on offer for $290.99 with free standard shipping. 'The 1005HA-E's 92%-scaled ergonomic keyboard and Multi-Touch touchpad make it a breeze to type and navigate through content. And a brilliant 10.1 inch matte LCD display makes viewing documents and multimedia content more comfortable than ever. With its sleek curves and smooth lines, the Eee PC 1005HA-E offers superior style without sacrificing performance or mobility.'

Laptop Magazine have published a review of the Samsung Q320 notebook PC. 'With the Q320's design, Samsung has decided less is more. The glossy black lid and matte plastic interior reminded us more of the 12-inch Samsung NC20 netbook than the glitzy Samsung X360 ultraportable we reviewed earlier this year. The simple but elegant frame is complimented by a chrome hinge, accents around the rim, and tasteful blue and orange status lights mounted on the front lip. While it's considered "thin and light," the Samsung Q320 is not the most portable 13-inch system on the block. At 4.8 pounds and 1.4 inches thick, the notebook is larger and heavier than the Sony VAIO SR (4.2 pounds, 1.3 inches) and the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro (4.4 pounds, 1.0 inches).

Notebook Check have published a review of the Acer TravelMate 8571 Notebook. 'The TravelMate 8571 didn't score very well in Windows Vista performance index. The CPU (4.6), the RAM (4.9) and the hard disk (5.5) still achieved fairly good results. In return, Windows assessed the graphic card with only 3.2 (graphics) and 3.3 (graphics games) points. With help from the DPC Latency Checker tool, we also checked the latencies under Windows. If these are too high, it can come to problems at connecting external devices (for example sound crackling with external sound cards). The TravelMate 8571 does well in this respect, the latencies reached roughly 1000 µs at most and is, therefore, still in an unproblematic field.'

A review of the Sony Vaio VGN-Z46GD (Core 2 Duo P9700 Processor 2.8GHz, 6GB RAM) laptop has been posted over at CNET Asia. 'The Vaio Z series comes in several fixed configurations. The high-end VGN-Z48GD and VGN-Z47GD sport with solid-state storage and a Blu-ray writer, respectively. The low-end VGN-Z45GD slips in at under S$3,000 (US$2,007.63), but sports a slower processor and less RAM. We reviewed the midrange VGN-Z46GD model that is available in two variants. The VGN-Z46GD/B comes with a standard black metal chassis, while our test unit, the VGN-46GD/U, sports the new shadow border design (which will be detailed later in the review) and a S$100 (US$66.92) premium.'

TweakTown have published a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 netbook. 'The netbook group is a tight pack when it comes to benchmark results and the S10-2 was near the top in its tests, but the results are so close as to be a wash in the real world. The netbook market has basically become a commodity environment where users can just buy on price. That's enough complaining about the lack of innovation from the netbook market for today. The Lenovo S10-2 has a decent keyboard with well-spaced keys and a full sized right shift key in its correct location. The keyboard has decent tactile feel and is a clone of the keyboards on most other netbooks I have tested.'

PC Magazine have published a review of the Lenovo IdeaPad U350 ultraportable. 'The U350 uses a 13.3-inch LED screen--bright, with good viewing angles to boot. The screen isn't any better or worse than the ones found in the MacBook Pro 13-inch and the MSI X340--both of which have similar WXGA (1,366-by-768) resolutions. The Dell Studio 14z, on the other hand, goes up a notch with a 14-inch widescreen and a 1,600-by-900 resolution. A good user experience is often defined by the keyboard, mouse buttons, and pointing device on a system. The U350's user experience ranks up there with that the Dell 14z and the Macbook Pro 13-inch, and more importantly, the keyboard doesn't vibrate or bend like that of the MSI X340.'

CNET have published a review of the Gateway LT3103u netbook. 'The basic black design of the LT31 won't turn many heads--although Gateway gets consistency points for matching the industrial design of its mainstream MD series laptops, down to the vertical chrome accent bar on the back of the lid. The system also feels like a slightly refined version of sister-brand Acer's 11-inch Acer Aspire One 751h. The interior is matte black on the keyboard tray, gloss black on the screen bezel, with a subtle indented dot pattern on the wrist rest. We were torn by the keyboard. The large, flat-topped keys looked snazzy with their gently rounded corners, and were big enough for even fat fingers to use comfortably.'

Geek.com have published a review of the Alienware M17x gaming notebook. 'As tested the M17x was outfitted with Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9100 (2.27GHz) processor, 4GB 1333MHz RAM, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, 640GB of storage (dual 320GB disks in RAID0), the Nvidia 9400M integrated GPU, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M graphics cards, a DVD burner, and wireless a/g/n with MIMO. Starting at $1799, our $3249 build is a solid one, but not through the roof. More RAM, and Extreme series processor, higher-end storage, and Blu-ray would have taken it to the next level... and easily over the $4000 mark.'