Recently in Notebook Reviews Category

Notebook Review have published a review of the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 notebook. 'The Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 has a consumer-driven design that goes a few steps beyond SL-series ThinkPads. While the SL-series looks like a ThinkPad with the rubbery paint replaced with matte-black paint, the Edge has a completely new shape and contrasting paint scheme. The borders of the screen cover and keyboard are trimmed with silver plastic. The top cover on our review unit is matte black, but Lenovo offers it in other colors too. Another subtle change is the standard indicator lights have been replaced with a single red LED that also happens to be the dot above the ThinkPad "i". The design is so different from other ThinkPad models that if you were to cover the logo with another sticker, few people would recognize it as a ThinkPad (In fact, most people wouldn't believe you right now even if you said it was a ThinkPad.)'

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.'

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.'

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.'

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.'

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).

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.'

A review of the Packard Bell dot m/a notebook has been posted over at Pocket-lint.com. 'The left-hand side of the notebook is also prone to getting hot, much more than the right-hand side, which does give a strange sensation during long periods of use. The heat sink and ventilation holes are on the left (which explains this) and we found the fan ran most of the time so it isn't the quietest of notebooks to use. The screen, however, is impressive. With a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, Windows Vista Home Basic looked sharp and impressive, with sumptuous colours and plenty bright. The screen does have a glossy finish, so suffers from reflections fairly significantly. A matte version would be much more friendly for those looking to use it on the move.'