luxury notebook

Kindle DX Features

2010-11-23T08:33:00.000+01:00

Kindle DX Features

Advanced Design

Sleek & Trim

Kindle DX is as thin as most magazines. Just over a third of an inch in profile, you'll find Kindle DX fits perfectly in your hands.

Beautiful Large Display

Kindle DX's large display is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. Kindle DX's display is two and a half times the size of the Kindle display. Whether you're reading the latest bestseller or a financial report, text and images are amazingly sharp on the 9.7" screen.

Simple to Use, No Computer Required

Unlike most electronic devices, we wanted to keep Kindle simple. Kindle DX is wireless and ready to use right out of the box–no setup, no cables, no software to install, no computer required.

Auto-Rotating Screen

By simply turning the device, you can immediately see full-width landscape views of maps, graphs, tables and Web pages.

Built-In PDF Reader

Unload the loose documents from your briefcase or backpack, and put them all on Kindle. From neighborhood newsletters to financial statements to case studies and product manuals--you can take them all with you on Kindle DX. Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. Zoom into any area of a PDF up to 300% and pan around to more easily view small print and detailed tables and graphics. With Amazon's Whispernet service, you can send your documents directly to your Kindle DX and read them anytime, anywhere. Some features such as annotations and read-to-me are not currently supported for PDF. You also have the option to have your PDF document converted to the Kindle format so that it reflows. Learn more

5-Way Controller

Kindle DX has an easy-to-use 5-way controller, enabling precise on-screen navigation for selecting text to highlight or looking up words.

Long Battery Life

Long Battery Life - Read for Days Without Recharging

With Kindle DX's long battery life, you can read on a single charge for up to 1 week with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for two to three weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. In low-coverage areas or in EDGE/GPRS-only coverage, wireless usage will consume battery power more quickly.

Charge via USB

Kindle DX ships with a U.S. power adapter and a micro-USB cable for charging your Kindle from a computer USB port. The U.S. power adapter supports voltages 100V-240V.

Wireless Access With Whispernet

Get Books in as Little as 60 Seconds

Whispernet utilizes Amazon's optimized technology plus a high-speed data network to enable you to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go. Your books and periodicals are delivered via Whispernet in less than 60 seconds. And unlike Wi-Fi, you never have to hunt for a hotspot. Wireless download times can vary based on 3G or EDGE/GPRS coverage, signal strength, and file size. See wireless coverage map for availability.

No Monthly Wireless Bills

No monthly wireless bills or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle DX's wireless connectivity so you won't see a monthly wireless bill. There is no wireless setup–you are ready to shop, purchase, and read right out of the box.

Your Kindle may use wireless connectivity to make other services available to you for which we may charge you a fee, such as personal file download. For more information, see Wireless Terms and Conditions.

Global Coverage

Uses GSM technology—the most popular mobile wireless standard—with wireless coverage in over 100 countries. See wireless coverage map for availability.

Travel the Globe with Kindle

Travel the globe and still get books in under 60 seconds. Download books wirelessly in over 100 countries around the world, such as Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, Japan, Norway, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom (UK), and many others. Stay in touch with news from home by having your newspaper and magazine subscriptions delivered wirelessly while you travel. See wireless coverage map for availability.

For U.S. customers traveling abroad, additional fees apply for wireless delivery of periodical subscriptions. For details, click here. To avoid any fees, you can always download items via your computer and transfer them to your Kindle using USB.

Carry Your Library in a Profile As Thin As a Magazine

Holds Up To 3,500 Books

The ultimate travel companion, Kindle DX is as thin as a magazine and holds up to 3,500 books, newspapers, magazines, and documents. No longer pick and choose which books fit in your carry-on. Now you can always have your personal and professional libraries with you.

Worry-Free Archive

Delete with abandon. We automatically keep an archival copy of your Kindle books -re-download for free, anytime. We even back up your last page read and annotations, so when you re-download to the device you can pick up where you left off with all of your notes still in place. Please see more information about your library content.

Enhanced Reading

Lose Yourself in Your Reading

The most elegant feature of a physical book is that it disappears while you're reading. Immersed in the author's world and ideas, you don't notice a book's glue, the stitching, or ink. Our top design objective was to make Kindle disappear—just like a physical book—so you can get lost in your reading, not the technology.

Paper-Like Screen with 50% Improved Contrast

Utilizing the latest in electronic-ink display technology, Kindle DX provides a crisp black-and-white 9.7-inch diagonal screen with the same appearance and readability of printed paper. Sharp and natural with no glare or backlight, reading on Kindle DX is nothing like reading from a computer screen. Those who see it for the first time always do a double-take. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. And unlike a laptop or smart phone, Kindle DX never gets warm so you can comfortably read as long as you like.

Read in Sunlight With No Glare

Kindle DX's screen reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle DX can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room. In addition, the improved contrast makes it easier to read in low light conditions.

Adjustable Text Size

Kindle DX has eight adjustable font sizes to suit your reading preference. You can increase the text size of your favorite book or periodical with the push of a button. If your eyes tire, simply increase the font size and continue reading comfortably. Now every book in your library can be large print.

Sharp Display of Images and Photos

Kindle DX's high-resolution and high-contrast screen boasts 16 shades of gray and 50% improved contrast, for the sharpest text and images.

Full Image Zoom

Whether you prefer reading in portrait or landscape mode, images and photos display crisply on Kindle DX and can be zoomed to the full size of the 9.7" screen.

Enhanced Newspaper Reading Experience

With Kindle DX's large display, reading newspapers is more enjoyable than ever. The 5-way controller lets you quickly flip between articles, making it fast and easy to browse and read the morning paper. Want to remember the article you just read? Clip and save entire articles for later reading with a single click.

Bookmarks and Annotations

By using the QWERTY keyboard, you can add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. Using the 5-way controller, you can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You'll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle DX remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.

Personal Document Service Via Whispernet

Kindle DX makes it easy to take your personal documents with you, eliminating the need to print. Each Kindle has a unique and customizable e-mail address. You can set your unique email address on your Manage Your Kindle page. This allows you and your approved contacts to send Word, PDF documents, and pictures to your Kindle via Whispernet for a small fee—see details. Kindle supports wireless delivery of unprotected Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), PDF, HTML, TXT, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI files. Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle.

You can transfer personal documents to your Kindle via USB for free at any time. Learn more

Built-in Dictionary With Instant Lookup

Never get caught without a dictionary. Kindle DX includes The New Oxford American Dictionary with over 250,000 entries and definitions, so you can seamlessly look up the definitions of words without interrupting your reading. Come across a word you don't know? Simply move the cursor to it and the definition will automatically display at the bottom of the screen. Never fear a sesquipedalian word again--simply look it up and keep reading.

Wireless Access to Wikipedia

Kindle DX also includes free built-in access to the world's most exhaustive and up-to-date encyclopedia--Wikipedia.org. With Kindle DX in hand, looking up people, places, events and more has never been easier. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase walking encyclopedia.

Kindle DX's keyboard makes it easy to search within a book, across your library, in the Kindle Store, or even the Web. To use the Search feature, simply type in a word or phrase you're looking for, and Kindle finds every instance in your book or across your Kindle library. Looking for the first reference of a character in your book? Simply type in the name and search. You can extend your search to the Kindle Store to find related titles you may be interested in. Explore even further by searching Wikipedia and the Web. Web access is not currently available for some customers outside the U.S. Check your country

Read Kindle Books on All Your Devices

With our free Kindle Reading Apps for your PC, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Android phone, and Blackberry, you can read Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you. Our Whispersync technology synchronizes your Kindle library and last page read across your devices, so you can read a few pages on your phone or computer and pick up right where you left off when you return to your Kindle.

Audiobooks

With Kindle DX, you are able to download and enjoy more than 60,000 audio titles from Audible.com, including bestselling audiobooks, radio programs, audio newspapers and magazines. Due to their file size, audiobooks are downloaded to your PC over your existing Internet connection and then transferred to Kindle DX using the included USB 2.0 cable. Listen via Kindle DX's speakers or plug in your headphones for private listening.

New Features

Share Meaningful Passages

Share your passion for books and reading with friends, family, and other readers around the world by posting meaningful passages to social networks like Facebook and Twitter directly from Kindle. Want to post or tweet about a great new novel or a newspaper quote? When you highlight or create a note in your book or periodical, you can easily share it with your social network. Help your network of family and friends discover new authors and books.

Popular Highlights

See what our community of millions of Kindle readers think are the most interesting passages in your books. If several other readers have highlighted a particular passage, then that passage will be highlighted in your book along with the total number of people who have highlighted it. Now it's easier to review, remember, and learn more from the books you read. Learn more

Collections

Kindle customers have been asking for a better way to organize their growing Kindle libraries. Now with Collections, customers can organize their Kindle libraries into multiple categories to help keep track of their personal libraries and allow for easy access to any book they are looking for. Collections give you the flexibility to add an item to as many collections as needed. For example, you can add the same book to your "History" and "My Favorite Authors" collections.

PDF Pan and Zoom

Zoom into any area of a PDF up to 300% and pan around to more easily view small print and detailed tables and graphics.

Font Improvements

Enjoy two new larger font sizes and sharper fonts for an even more comfortable reading experience.

Password Protection

With new password protection functionality, you can choose to lock your Kindle automatically when you're not using it.

Experimental Features

The experimental category represents features we are still working on to enhance the Kindle DX experience even further. Try them out and let us know what you think.

Read-to-Me

Kindle DX can read to you. With its Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle DX can read books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable. You can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and your spot is automatically saved. Pages automatically turn while the content is being read, so you can listen hands-free. You can speed up or slow down the reading speeds or choose a male or female voice. In the middle of a great book or article but have to jump in the car? Simply turn on Text-to-Speech and listen on the go.

Basic Web Browser

Kindle DX's basic Web browser works well to read simple, text-centric Web sites such as Google and Wikipedia. Need to find a movie listing or look up a sports score? Now it's easier than ever to find the information you're looking for right from your Kindle DX. The experimental Web browser is not currently available for some customers outside of the U.S. Check your country

Listen to Music & Podcasts

Transfer MP3 files to Kindle DX to play as background music while you read. You can quickly and easily transfer MP3 files via USB by connecting Kindle DX to your computer.

Included In the Box

Kindle DX wireless reader, U.S. power adapter (supports 100V-240V), and USB 2.0 cable (for connection to the Kindle DX power adapter or to connect to a computer).

Apple iPod touch 32 GB (4th Generation) NEWEST MODEL

2010-11-23T08:22:00.001+01:00

Product Description

Capacity: 32 GB

Amazon.com Product Description

See friends while you talk to them with FaceTime. Shoot, edit, and share stunning HD video. Play games against friends, or unknown foes, with the new Game Center. And do it all on the Retina display--the highest-resolution screen on any mobile device. It makes graphics and text look even more amazing. The new iPod touch. It's state-of-the-art fun.

Introducing the new iPod touch. Now with FaceTime, Retina display, HD video recording, and Game Center. Click to enlarge.

Advanced engineering at play.

Pioneering technology built into iPod touch is how you're able to flick, tap, and pinch. It's what makes a racing game feel so real. It's why you're able to see a friend crack up at your jokes from across the globe. And it's the reason iPod touch is the most incredible iPod you'll ever own.
Looks can be amazing.
iPod touch has an all-new design that makes it the thinnest, lightest, most amazing iPod touch ever. Holding one is all the proof you need. With its curved design, iPod touch is now a mere 7.2 millimeters thin. Its engineered-glass front and stainless steel back feel sleek and smooth in your hand. Turn it on, and you're instantly blown away by the brilliant Retina display. iPod touch is the perfect combination of stunning design and revolutionary technology--brilliant from the outside in.
Retina display. A blast from the future.
There are lots of reasons you won't want to take your eyes off the new iPod touch. The 960-by-640 backlit LCD display, for one. It packs 326 pixels per inch, making it the highest-resolution iPod screen ever. To achieve this, Apple engineers developed pixels so small--a mere 78 micrometers across--that the human eye can't distinguish individual pixels. Even though you can't see them, you'll definitely notice the difference. Text is remarkably sharp, and graphics are incredibly vivid.
Apple A4 processor. More power to you.
The Apple A4 chip is behind, or rather underneath, all the fun you can have on iPod touch. Apple engineers designed the A4 chip to be a remarkably powerful yet remarkably power-efficient mobile processor. With it, iPod touch can easily perform complex jobs such as multitasking, editing video, and placing FaceTime calls. All while maximizing battery life. And fun.
Gyro + Accelerometer. Smooth moves.
iPod touch just learned some new moves. It now includes a built-in three-axis gyroscope. When paired with the accelerometer, the gyro makes iPod touch capable of advanced motion sensing such as user acceleration, full 3D attitude, and rotation rate. Translation: more motion gestures and greater precision for an even better gaming experience.
Two cameras. Double the fun.
iPod touch captures video with two built-in cameras. It shoots amazing HD 720p video from the back camera. And with its advanced backside illumination sensor, it captures beautiful footage even in low-light settings. All while the built-in microphone records conversations, music, or any audio at the same time. And on the front of the iPod touch, the built-in camera is perfect for making FaceTime calls and shooting self-portraits. It's surprising how much fun can fit into something so small.
Multi-Touch. Control at your fingertips.
When you put your finger on the iPod touch, how does it just start doing what you want it to do? It's a chain reaction, really. The Multi-Touch display layers a protective shield over a capacitive panel that senses your touch using electrical fields. It then transmits that information to the Retina display below it. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flick through photos and enlarge them with a pinch, zoom in and out on a section of a web page, and control game elements precisely.

FaceTime comes to iPod touch. Don't just say hello. Smile.

Tap for a more instant instant message.
Take "LOL" to the next level and actually see friends laughing out loud. Or bring "XOXO" to life when you blow someone a kiss from miles away. FaceTime on iPod touch makes it possible. FaceTime works right out of the box--just enter your Apple ID and email address. Or create a new email account just for FaceTime. Using FaceTime is as easy as it gets. Say you want to start a video call with your best friend over Wi-Fi. Just tap the FaceTime app and find her entry to start the call. An invitation pops up on her iPod touch or iPhone 4 screen asking if she wants to join you. When she accepts, FaceTime begins. It's all perfectly seamless. And it works in both portrait and landscape. See how much fun you can have.

See friends while you talk with FaceTime, or play games against friends or unknown foes with Game Center.

Two cameras make either side its fun side.
iPod touch has two built-in cameras, one on the front above the display and one on the back. The front camera has been tuned for FaceTime. It has just the right field of view and focal length to focus on your face at arm's length. So it always presents you in the best possible light. Which is particularly handy when you're talking to someone who's more than just a friend.
The back camera. See and share.
So your roommate had to work late and couldn't make it to the concert. You can share the encore with a FaceTime call. As the band takes the stage and starts playing one of her all-time favorite songs, just tap a button. And before the lead singer can belt out his first note, iPod touch switches to the back camera and to the sure-to-be-legendary performance. Another tap switches to the front camera and to you. Simple, fast, and fun.

HD video recording comes to iPod touch. Ready, and action.

Built-in editing gives video a fun-tuning.
No need to wait until you're back at your computer to edit video. With basic editing built into iPod touch, you can get right down to business. Just drag to select start and end points on a filmstrip. Keep only the parts of the video you want, and turn it into something you and your friends will watch again and again.
Make mini blockbusters in just a few taps with iMovie on iPod touch. Say you're on an amazing road trip, and you want to create a video postcard of everything you've seen and done. Just use the iMovie app--pick it up in the App Store for just $4.99. Built for iPod touch, iMovie lets you combine and edit video clips, give them that extra something with dynamic themes and transitions, add music and photos, and share your finished movies with the world.
Make a movie. Starring you.
The next time you venture out on, say, an amazing hike, don't just tell your friends about it. Show them. In addition to the high-definition camera on the back, iPod touch has a VGA-quality camera on the front--above the display--that lets you see yourself on the display while you record. It's perfect for turning the camera on yourself. No more guessing if you're in the frame or accidentally cropping yourself out altogether. So get ready for your close-up.
Shoot what you want. Share where you want. Ever find yourself in the middle of typing an email when you see something that words just can't describe? Just launch the camera and record on the fly. Then upload your HD movie directly to YouTube. Or select some video from the Camera Roll and attach it to a new email message, ready to send. Posting to your Facebook page or blog is also just a tap away. And you can easily sync all the video you shoot on iPod touch back to your Mac or PC.
Point and shoot.
An awesome view. A decked-out cupcake. Your dog looking unbearably cute. If you want to take a quick photo to upload to your Facebook page, either camera on iPod touch can also capture stills. Just tap on the screen to adjust exposure. Then post to Facebook and let the comments begin.

The new Game Center app on iPod touch lets you expand your social gaming network--exponentially.

Game Center. Way more than two can play that game.

Gamers rejoice. Game Center is here.
The new Game Center app on iPod touch lets you expand your social gaming network. Exponentially. All anyone needs to play is an iPod touch or iPhone running iOS 4.1. With iOS 4.1, you'll see a Game Center app on your Home screen. Just tap it and sign in with your Apple ID, and you're good to go. You can create a different nickname that will be visible to friends and the gaming community. You can also assign several email addresses to the Game Center app, making it easy for more friends to find you. Download any games you see by tapping links in Game Center. Games can be started right in the Game Center app. And the best part: Once you sign in to Game Center, you're always connected. Until you decide to sign out.
Friends. Soon to be opponents.
Bring your friends along for the ride. Or match. Or mission. Once you're signed in to the Game Center app, you can invite someone by sending a friend request using their nickname or email address. Your friends show up in a separate Friends list in the Game Center app. Tap on a friend's name, and you can see what games they've been playing. You can also check out pending friend requests you receive, and add as you see fit.
Leaderboards and achievements. Score some bragging rights.
Take a look at leaderboards and see how your score ranks against your friends, as well as all players of each game. You can also compare game achievements with your friends. Check out leaderboards and achievements in the Game Center app and in each individual game app. Let the smack talk begin.
Meet your match.
Say you want to get a multiplayer game going. Auto-match will prioritize your friends if they happen to be looking for an auto-match, too. Otherwise, it will set you up with a soon-to-be-friend from anywhere around the world. You can also choose to invite friends and have auto-match fill the number of players needed for a game.

Music. Let your fingers do the rocking.

Cover Flow. A work of album art.
What a song does for your ears, Cover Flow on iPod touch does for your eyes and fingers. Turn iPod touch on its side and glide through your music by album art with the flick of your finger. Tap an album cover to flip it over and display a track list. Tap again to start the music.
Genius playlists. From one great song comes an even greater playlist.
Say you're listening to a song you really love and want to hear other tracks that go great with it. Genius uses that song to find other songs in your library and makes a Genius playlist for you. Listen to the playlist right away, save it for later, or even refresh it and give it another go. Count on Genius to create a playlist you wouldn't have thought of yourself.
Genius Mixes. The ultimate mix-master.
Genius acts as your personal DJ. All you do is sync iPod touch to iTunes, and Genius automatically searches your library to find songs that sound great together. Then it creates multiple mixes you'll love. These mixes are like channels programmed entirely with your music. It's a great way to rediscover songs you haven't heard in forever--and some you even forgot you had.

Let your fingers do the rocking.

Shake to Shuffle. And rock 'n' roll with it.
Shake things up a bit. Musically speaking, that is. The next time you're listening to your tunes, turn on Shake to Shuffle, then give iPod touch a shake to shuffle to a different song in your music library. It's just another way iPod touch keeps your music feeling fresh.
iTunes. That's entertainment.
Feed your iPod touch songs and music videos from your iTunes library on your computer. Or buy and download new music on your iPod touch when you access iTunes over Wi-Fi. Songs you purchase on iPod touch transfer to your Mac or PC the next time you connect iPod touch to your computer. And now with iTunes Ping, you can follow friends to find out what music they're listening to, buying, and recommending. Or catch up with your favorite artists and see if they're playing near you.
Bluetooth. No strings attached.
iPod touch includes support for Bluetooth wireless technology. So you can pair wireless stereo headphones with it. Keep your iPod in your bag or charging on your desk across the room and still listen to your music.

Movies + TV shows. Take the show, or movie, on the road.

The big screen. On the small screen.
With iPod touch, movie nights can happen anytime of day, anywhere you are. Carry hours of video with you and watch them on the amazing 3.5-inch color widescreen Retina display. Shop the iTunes Store and choose from thousands of movies, TV shows, and video podcasts to fill your iPod touch. From Hollywood blockbusters to indie favorites, there's something for everyone. Download and watch movies with a few taps. Prefer TV shows? Get a single episode or an entire season's worth all at once. With iPod touch, you can travel far and widescreen.
Control how you watch.
While watching your video, tap the display to bring up onscreen controls. You can play or pause, view by chapter, and adjust the volume. Or use the volume controls on the left side of the iPod touch. Want to switch between widescreen and full screen? Simply tap the display twice. It's just like your TV remote. Except you never have to fight over it.
iTunes. Keep yourself entertained.
Need some entertainment for your next flight or road trip? With iTunes on your iPod touch and a Wi-Fi connection, you can buy movies and TV shows on the fly. You can also rent shows for just $0.99 an episode, in case you're not sure if one is a keeper. And of course, you can also purchase movies and TV shows on your Mac or PC, then sync them to your iPod touch. Popcorn not included.

Dell Studio 1558 Core i5 Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:36:00.003+01:00

Dell Studio 1558 Core i5 Review

The notebooks, the Dell Studio family is typical multimedia all-rounder. They are priced between the affordable entry notebooks, the Inspiron series, and the more expensive XPS models. With modern equipment, a number of configuration possibilities and a fresh design to the discerning customers of today are won. After the Dell Studio 1555 and the Dell Studio 1557, we test with the 1558 the latest offspring of the Dell Studio family Arrandale with fast processor.

Specifications

2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 520M Processor
Intel GMA HD 4500M HD graphics
320 GB HDD at 7200 RPM
4GB DDR3 RAM
15.6-inch TrueLife LED Display
In built 2MP webcam

When it comes to installing its own software, Dell includes a number of essential tools. Dell Getting Started Guide is a quick and easy utility to get to grips with. It allows you to create a recovery disc, so should your Studio 1558 battery operating system fail for any reason, you’ll be able to make a fresh install. What’s more, there is also access to the Dell DataSafe Online account that means you can store you most precious files and folders online where they can be accessed should anything happen to your laptop or your home.

Dell Webcam Central is a neat app that allows you not only to control the built-in webcam but also to add special effects to images. It’s a lot like the tools we’ve seen from the likes of Logitech and Creative and is a nice way for the kids to chat and play online. What’s more, it’ll even allow you to capture snaps at up to 1600 x 1200 pixels, which is pretty impressive.

Suffice it to say, we weren’t disappointed. The Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 7,200 rpm hard drive were powerful enough to keep up with all of our usual website-hopping and multitasking. More importantly, the keyboard is one of the most comfortable we’ve tested in some time; in fact, we broke our own typing typing record, pounding out 94 words per minute. And if we needed to, we could have unplugged the machine for a long time, taken it across the office, and wouldn’t have had to worry about plugging it back in.

Dell seems to have a brand new laptop in their catalog - we're talking about the Dell Studio 1558 battery Touch alongside a multitouch Studio 17 Touch. No details are available on the former regardless of online or offline channels, but we do know that it will be equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor, the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system and a 320GB hard drive with a starting price of $999, where the price goes upwards from there depending on the type of configuration you choose.

Powered by an Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz (3M cache) Processor , 15.6" High Definition (720p) LED Display , 8X Slot Load CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive), 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz, 500GB3 SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM), Dell 1501 Wireless-N, Intel HD Graphics card and High Definition Audio 2.2, the new Dell Studio 1558 laptop delivers the Hi-def and premium audio experience other laptops only dream of having.

Suffice it to say, we weren’t disappointed. The Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 7,200 rpm The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
Learn Morehard drive were powerful enough to keep up with all of our usual website-hopping and multitasking. More importantly, the keyboard is one of the most comfortable we’ve tested in some time; in fact, we broke our own typing typing record, pounding out 94 words per minute. And if we needed to, we could have unplugged the machine for a long time, taken it across the office, and wouldn’t have had to worry about plugging it back in.

But there’s one group of people to whom we might not recommend the battery for Dell Studio 1558. Is it good enough to be your primary computer, too? Read our full review to find out.

Intel Core i5, 2.26, 4096, Disque dur 500 Go, Ecran 15.6, PC ou Mac ?: PC, Type de processeur: Intel Core i5, Ref. CPU: 430M, Vitesse du processeur: 2.26 GHz, Mémoire interne (RAM): 4096 Mo, Type de mémoire: DDR3 SDRAM, Type de disque dur: HDD.

Dell Studio 1558, so the exact name of the current version of the previously send multimedia specialists from Dell. To have is / was the notebook with the Pentium Dual Core, Core 2 Duo or the Intel Core i7 chips from Intel. Was elected on your mood or what the surrender or needed a particular planned use of power. The initial configuration was priced at around 479 Euro (plus shipping), equipped with an Intel T4300 CPU (2.1 GHz) and integrated Intel GMA 4500M HD graphics.

If offers a 5-1 card reader and an Expresscard Slot. With 3 USB ports, HDMI, eSATA and Firewire ports it serves you best possible way. With inbuilt Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, it is one complete package.

Dell Studio 1555 battery has got a typical business type look. With classic black touch all around, this notebook computer looks like a stylish yet decent looking machine. With dimensions of height x width x depth (in mm): 39 x 372 x 253 and 2.55 kgs in weight, it is a typical Dell mini laptop computer.

Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:34:00.000+01:00

Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop Review

Dell's revamped Inspiron E1505, an entertainment notebook, now includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Though still a poor choice for gaming, the E1505 is plenty zippy for any other applications, including music and photo editing, and movie viewing. The 6.9-pound Dell Inspiron E1505 battery also throws in pretty good speakers, dedicated media buttons, and a cushy keyboard with stylish white trim, giving you a great all-around choice for consumers who don't want to spend an arm and a leg on a desktop replacement.
luxury notebook

Generously equipped for the price, our $1186 (as of 11/6/06) E1505 came with the Windows XP Media Center Edition operating system, a double-layer DVD burner, four USB ports, a FireWire port, an ExpressCard slot, and a three-in-one memory card reader. The laptop's 15.4-inch WXGA screen is great for mainstream work, but if you need to see more on your screen at once, a WSXGA+ resolution is an option.
luxury notebook

The Specs

Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83 gHz
60GB 7200 RPM HDD
1GB PC4200 RAM
Radeon Mobility x1300 128MB
Dell’s UltraSharp UXGA 15.4” Widescreen display
Windows Media Center

luxury notebook

With an optional dual-core processor, up to 2GB of shared2 memory, optional Dual-channel 3 memory, a 15.4-inch widescreen display, optional TV Tuner4 and stereo sound, plus up to 100GB5 of storage capacity, you can get more out of entertainment. More power, more storage and more speed add up to an intense audio/visual experience. Watch DVDs and videos, listen to your favorite songs, organize and edit digital photos, and more - the Inspiron E1505 has enough power to make it the perfect PC for those who want a great balance of price and performance.
luxury notebook

The Inspiron e1505 battery is Dells 15.4" widescreen notebook featuring the impressive new Intel Core Duo CPU. A virtually identical Inspiron 6400 is available through their business site. Outside it looks just like the Inspiron 6000 it replaces, but the new hardware inside makes for impressive performance. In traditional Dell style, the E1505 is well rounded, quite customizable and available at a competitive price, but doesn't offer anything radical.

The ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 graphics included in this configuration flexes more muscle than Intel's integrated graphics, but not much more. This system notched a respectable 3DMark03 score of 2,350 and managed to run F.E.A.R. at 80 fps using the autodetect settings (640 x 480-pixel resolution). However, when we bumped the resolution up to 1024 x 768, the frame rate dropped to an unplayable 7 fps.
luxury notebook

Also included in this configuration is a nine-cell battery, which lasted a very good 5 hours and 4 minutes with Wi-Fi on and an additional three minutes with the wireless connection off. We got a healthy average throughput of 12 Mbps from 15 feet and 9.9 Mbps from 50. If you want to add mobile broadband capability, you're limited to Dell's expensive EV-DO Express Card, since this notebook doesn't have a PC Card slot.
luxury notebook

Preinstalled software includes Corel Photo Center and Windows Digital Media Enhancements, which includes Windows Party Mode, a full-screen skin that transforms your computer into a jukebox. Dell MediaDirect allows users to access movies, music, photos, and video without needing to boot into Windows. If you want a TV tuner to complete the multimedia experience, you'll need to fork over an additional $130, which also gets you a remote control.
luxury notebook

The build quality and fit & feel of the laptop is about average I guess, but I also bought a midrange laptop, so I think it’s perfectly acceptable for the price I paid. I wasn’t really sure how much I’d use a laptop so I didn’t want to go all crazy, but perhaps next time I’ll be willing to spend a bit more.
luxury notebook

About the only thing that I really don’t like about this laptop is that the TV Tuner card came as a seperate box! I just assumed that stuff would be built into the laptop. Because of that, I haven’t even taken the TV Tuner out of the plastic bag to even try it out. The latch which holds the screen shut also seems kind of cheesy.. if I traveled a lot with this machine I think I’d probably find a way to break it.
luxury notebook

The screen is fantastic. The contrast is spectacular, blacks are a glossy vivid black, whites are a sparkling pristine white. The viewing angle is incredibly wide with only slight color inversion on the farthest edge of visibility. The sound from the built-in speakers is respectable but there is still a pretty steep drop in low frequencies. The mouse touch pad is a decent size and has vertical and horizontal scrollers (like the scroll wheel of a mouse). It’s buttons feel a little flimsy but I have had no issue yet.
luxury notebook

As previously mentioned, the computer comes with the MediaDirect media player that you can boot by pressing a button to the left of the normal power button and control via a series of buttons on the front where the screen closes. This is a great because you can close the screen to save battery and still listen to music (or whatever aural media you prefer).
luxury notebook

The keyboard is nice and the Dell quick set function keys are great though I have never been a fan of the faux 10 key, for me it’s not any faster than using the normal number keys. There’s also a built in card reader which is good for photography on the go. 4 USB slots and one mini fire-wire leave you with plenty of room for accessories. One note on the mini fire-wire, a friend of mine is an audio engineer and has issues with his interface easily coming unplugged. I’ve been using it for video capture for years without issue. The laptop also has an express card slot and s-video and VGA outs.
luxury notebook

In the case of the battery for Dell Inspiron E1505, Dell recommends an optional dual-core processor with up to 2GB of shared memory, optional Dual-channel memory, a 15.4-inch widescreen display, optional TV Tuner and stereo sound, plus up to 100GB of storage capacity. The new Intel CoreDuo and Intel Core2 Duo mobile processors leverage two execution cores on a single chip to help increase the PC's ability to maintain maximum performance while running multiple applications such as background virus scans. It is possible to upgrade to the Core 2 Duo processor to get up to 12% overall system performance improvement .
luxury notebook

While all of the technical aspects are sound, the entertainment features are also great. The screen itself can be made larger, from 15.4 inches to 17 inches. If the computer is to be used as more of an entertainment center, the larger screen would apply. The dvd burning software can copy dvd's, cd's and play them both as well. There is more than enough space to run I-Tunes and keep a media library without interfering with the computer's space or speed.
luxury notebook

The Dell Inspiron e1505 is a fairly run-of-the mill notebook for a bargain price, but it offers a few surprises. The 2 GHz Core Duo CPU is rockin' fast. Even with this performance, battery life was impressive, and 5+ hours should be possible with the optional 9-cell Dell E1505 battery. My only real gripe is with the screen. The slight shimmer, light leakage, and brightness that seems like it's turned down half a notch make it fall behind other notebooks. Still, the screen is better than most bargain notebooks, and better than anything from a few years ago. It's also very sharp and high resolution. This, along with the nice keyboard, makes for a positive ergonomic experience.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Sony Vaio VGN-TT21JN/B Laptop Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:32:00.000+01:00

Sony Vaio VGN-TT21JN/B Laptop Review

luxury notebook
The new classy Sony Vaio VGN-TT21JN/B Laptop offers tremendous features. Dimensions of the device are 27.9 x 20 x 2.4 cm and it weighs 1.3 kg. The 11.1 inches TFT widescreen supports maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. Video conferencing can be done with 1 megapixel camera integrated in it.

The Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 processor with 1.2 GHz speed, 3 MB L2 cache memory and 800 MHz data speed offers fast and reliable execution of works. With the 2 GB of DDR3 SDRAM memory and 160 GB hard disc, your needs at a PC are met perfectly. There Sony Vaio VGN-TT21JN/B battery is a card reader supporting SD Memory Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick PRO Duo.
luxury notebook

With a 160 GB (Gigabytes) Hard Disk the Sony VAIO VGN TT21JN B has more than enough storage space for all your Digital media, documents and software. The Double Layer DVD±RW ensures the Sony VAIO VGN TT21JN B has everything you need.
luxury notebook

Your choice of Windows with Microsoft Windows Vista Business with Windows XP Pro Recovery Media, including built in wireless networking and Bluetooth technology. Get your work done fast using the 1.2GHz CPU Intel Core 2 Duo processor (CPU) and take advantage of the Intel GMA Series Video Chipset. See it all on the impressive 11.1 inch Displaywith a 1366 x 768 resolution.
luxury notebook

Main details

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (SU9300) 1.2GHz 3MB (L2 Cache)
Memory (Maximum): 2048MB (4096MB) 800MHz DDR3
Hard Disk: 160GB (1 x 160GB) 5400RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive
Optical Drive Type: DVD±RW Dual Layer
Monitor: 11.1in X-black LCD with LED technology WXGA
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Case Colour: Black
Dimensions: 27.9cm (W) x 19.98cm (D) x 2.35cm (H) - Weight 1.27k

luxury notebook
The ultraportable VAIO TT series notebook establishes a grade in mobility with its thin-and-light design. What's more, this PC with a stunning 11.1" LCD offers industry-leading mobile performance, balancing the power of Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a host of energy-conserving features that deliver maximum SONY VGP-BPS14 battery life.

Windows Media Player 11, WinDVD 8.0 for VAIO, Google Picasa, Easy Media Creator 10, Adobe Reader 8.1, Adobe Standard 8, Microsoft Office Ready 2007 (60 days trial), McAfee Internet Security Suite (free virus update 60 days), VAIO Recovery Utility for Hard Disk Recovery (hidden partition).

This model uses technology Anti Shock G-Sensor to protect data, but has no fingerprint and TPM. The retail price is 1,999 euros VAT included with the operating system preinstalled Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1. The top of the range VGP-BPS14 Battery is the first Italian model to use an SSD drive with a capacity of 128GB and Serial ATA/66, which will provide superior performance but also lower power consumption compared with common traditional magnetic hard drives plates .
luxury notebook

The processor used is an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV SU9400 1.4GHz from, and will be available to even the biometric sensor for fingerprint recognition (fingerprint), and the Fritz chip with TPM specification 1.2. Sony Vaio TT21WN / B has a cost of 2,499 euros VAT included, always with OS preinstalled Windows Vista Business Service Pack 1. The two ultraportables, characterized by special finish "Intense Noir" are currently booked for delivery at the beginning of March.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

HP EliteBook 6930p Overview luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:30:00.000+01:00

HP EliteBook 6930p Overview

luxury notebook
The HP Elitebook 6930P is the latest business notebook from HP’s stables. It competes directly with Dell’s new Latitude series. It is equipped with the power of Intel’s new Centrino 2 platform. the 14.1″ Elitebook 6930P offers you a mix of stylish and elegant design, sturdy build quality and superb performance in a slim form factor. It is one of the best business notebooks currently available in the market.
luxury notebook

Above the keyboard are touch-sensitive controls for HP Info Center, which contains ProtectTools Security Manager and Connection Manager, Wi-Fi, Presentation Options, mute, and volume settings. The touch controls responded immediately and didn’t require much pressure; all we had to do was tap. However, some may prefer traditional buttons.

The HP Elitebook 6930p battery, which has a comfortable textured finish, was easy to type on and made little noise. Although the touchpad is well sized and has the right amount of friction, the touch buttons are far too narrow and aren’t very tactile; often we had to press them deliberately to make the computer respond.

Specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 Processor (2.53GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1066MHz FSB)
2GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM
160GB Seagate 7200.2 HDD
WXGA+ 1440x900 matte display
ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 256MB
Integrated 2 megapixels webcam
Keyboard light (HP Nightlight)
Intel 5300 ABGN wireless
Bluetooth 2.0
Dual pointing devices with keyboard
6-cell battery
UpgradeBay DVD+/-RW with Lightscribe
Integrated Fingerprint reader
Firewire 1394a
HP 3D Driveguard HDD Protection
VGA Connector
Three USB Ports

Once you flip the lid up you're faced with a 14.1-inch Illumi-Lite LED display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 which will adjust its brightness according to prevailing light conditions. On the whole this is reasonably sufficient, though you might feel it's advantageous to spend a bit more for the 1440 x 900 variation. One handy little extra is a keyboard light which pops up above the display should you want to type, say, on board a darkened 'plane.
luxury notebook

The review sample we had came with a 2-megapixel HP webcam which was better than expected, producing good flesh tones but poor audio quality. There's no shortage of cursor controllers, with a firm (possibly too firm?) pointing stick, a TouchPad with north-south scrolling and no fewer than two sets of left-right mouse buttons; another touch of overkill? Above the keyboard is a series of touch-sensitive controls for Information, WiFi, Presentation, Mute and a Volume slider, while to the right of the TouchPad is a fingerprint scanner for extra security.
luxury notebook

HP, the world's number one laptop manufacturer, makes an enormous range of machines, including what they describe as business-rugged models. The EliteBook 6930p battery is one such laptop and is designed for use by small, medium and large businesses.
luxury notebook

The 14.1-inch produces a sharp enough image for reading and editing office documents. Unlike the Hi-Grade's screen, it doesn't feature a shiny Super-TFT coating, meaning there are no reflections in bright or rapidly changing light to worry about.
luxury notebook

Currently HP differentiates between its categories of business laptops with three main groups. Whilst the well known HP Compaq range wins over the business middle-class with interesting interfaces for the price and performance, the ProBook series was established underneath it (cf. HP ProBook 4510s in our review), which stands out first and foremost through its particularly low-price models. The EliteBooks stand above them all, which sets standards for both case quality, equipment, and performance. Thereby the battery for HP EliteBook 6930p at hand ranks among the compact all-rounders with a 14" display and thoroughly respectable equipment with many different configuration possibilities.
luxury notebook

There seems to be no way to adjust this setting in Windows XP, so you will need to turn the screen brightness back up using the keyboard shortcut. At the base of the display there is an ambient light sensor, which is a great feature for power saving. But if you like your display bright, you can also disable it via a keyboard shortcut.
luxury notebook

Below the display is a set of touch controls that allow you to disable Wi-Fi, mute or change the sounds volume, change presentation setting and access HP's software "Info Centre". Below the mouse pad on the right is a fingerprint reader, which we see as still one of the best security features available on a laptop. Unfortunately, we tended to brush the fingerprint reader while typing, which brings up the HP Security Manager. This can can get really annoying really fast.
luxury notebook

Like a fresh job candidate in a sharp suit, HP's new EliteBook gives a good first impression. With a shiny a magnesium alloy finish on the outside, its metallic sheen is faintly reminiscent of Apple's MacBook line, but not quite as flashy. The use of metal on both the top cover and side the laptop also shows a strong build quality.
luxury notebook

This impression continues once you open the laptop. The keyboard is comfortable and the keys are slightly rough, giving the impression that this is a rugged laptop. There is both a 'nipple' mouse and a trackpad, which features horizontal and vertical scrolling.
luxury notebook

The 6930p features a 14.1-inch 1280x800, matte display. Matte displays are always a plus, as they are not reflective and therefore much easier to see in bright light. Unfortunately, the display brightness on the 6930 darkens significantly, almost to the point of being unreadable, when the device is unplugged.
luxury notebook

Toughened to Mil-Spec 810F against extreme temperatures, humidity, dust, bumps, and other torture, it also has DOD-grade file deletion. HP got rid of the Vista-only SideShow app launcher QuickLook from last year's laptop in favor of building its own startup OS. QuickLook 2 runs e-mail and other apps without starting the full OS, and it boots in just 10-12 seconds. (It runs on XP too.)
luxury notebook

The 6930p's webcam doubles as a business card reader. Tilting the camera at a card wedged near the trackpad initiates a scan. The software loads the data from the business card into your address book automatically.
luxury notebook

HP 6930p battery has dual commands which mean that it has touch pad and point stick as controlling device. Point stick was at first very hard to control but over time we got used to it but also the point stick got little but “softer” which resulted in very comfortable experience. Touchpad is precise and not too large nor too small for this type of notebook. Keyboard has slightly stiffer and very precise key strokes. No keyboard bending was noticed even when we tried little harder to bend it. Above keyboard is touch sensitive button strip that are responsible for Info, WiFi/Bluetooth, Presentation and volume controls.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Studio 1537 Laptop Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:27:00.000+01:00

Dell Studio 1537 Laptop Review

luxury notebook
Overall the Dell Studio 1537 is a stylish machine that is powerful enough to handle your media without breaking the bank. The modern Intel Core 2 Duo CPU along with 4GB RAM and a 320GB HDD go a long way when combined with a dedicated GPU, although not quite as far as we were hoping. Still, the colorful lid, extremely bright display and attractive overall design make the Studio a desirable laptop at a desirable price.
luxury notebook

The first time we laid eyes on the Dell Studio 1537, we couldn’t help but get interested and want to know more about it. Smooth. Sleek. Striking. This laptop is a thing of beauty. It’s as if an artist was commissioned to create it. Every nook and cranny fits and contributes to the whole design.
luxury notebook

Technical Details

Intel Core 2 Duo T6400, 2.0GHz,
4GB, DDR2, 800MHz 2 Dimm
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
8X Slot Load CD / DVD Burner (Dual # Layer DVD+/-R Drive
Microsoft Windows Vista with SP1 Home Premium Edition 64-bit

luxury notebook

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1 is the fully loaded operating system which installed on the 250 GB SATA hard drive. This is a decent amount of storage space for nearly any laptop user these days.

The video is ultimately powered by the Mobility ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics processor. As noted above our review laptop also had the 9-cell 85WHr Dell Studio 1537 battery which is the choice for extended charge life. You may be disappointed with the 6-cell if you need to use your laptop away from and electrical outlet for extended periods of time.
luxury notebook

The Studio 1537 comes with a few interesting features, some of which make the machine easier to look at and others which make it easier to use. The backlit keyboard and lighted touch-buttons garner obvious style points, and even the power cord itself has a glowing blue ring around it when it’s plugged into the wall. HDMI, eSATA, a biometric fingerprint reader and (optional) Blu-ray, Bluetooth and remote control help round out the feature set.
luxury notebook

Dell Studio 1737 battery have everything you need for everyday computing, It offers powerful, long battery life, and stylish design. Features with 15.4″ WXGA TrueLife wide display with 1280×800 resolution, the Dell 1537 is powered by 2Ghz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200 processor that coupled with 4GB installed RAM and 320GB hard drive.
luxury notebook

If you intend to buy Dell Studio 1537 Laptop Notebook? You’d better select 2-4 or more to the business compared to the difference of the Dell Studio 1537 Laptop Notebook immediately to exercise the power of your choice. Use your wisdom and common sense to judge the correctness to select best mini laptop.
luxury notebook

The battery for Dell Studio 1537 laptop is quite cold and very silent when performing tasks low-intensity tasks: it is warm to the touch but you can have it on your lap without problems (at least in winter and with jeans), and the fan only turns on occasionally. If you are connected to the power outlet and doing more demanding tasks, such as playing a 3D game, the fan is turned on and can be heard constantly; although it is clearly audible, it helps keeping the laptop almost at the same temperature than when surfing the net, so that you can continue using it comfortably. I have to recognize that if you are very sensitive to noise you can find it annoying, but as I use to play with headphones I do not find the noise too problematic.
luxury notebook

The bottom has three ventilation slots. The battery has a button that, when pressed, indicates the level of charge. For upgrades and repairs, all the bottom is open that gives easy access to the memory modules, hard disk and internal cards. As you see, there is an internal slots used by the WiFi module and two free slots for WWAN, Turbo Memory or similar.
luxury notebook

Additional features of the Studio 1537 battery green color laptop include a standard integrated Gigabit Ethernet port, 4-pin IEEE 1394 port, Infra Red port, HDMI connector, 3 USB 2.0 ports, USB/eSATA port, VGA port, and an ExpressCard slot.
luxury notebook

Wi-Fi options for the Studio 15 series include the Dell wireless 1397 802.11b/g half mini card and the Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 802.11 a/g/n half mini card. The wireless 802.11n offers super fast connection speeds at even greater distances than its predecessors. Wireless 802.11n offers significant improvements in overall throughput and you will definitely notice a tremendous increase in the speed of your wireless network which can easily exceed 100Mbps.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop PC Reviews luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:25:00.000+01:00

Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop PC Reviews

luxury notebook
Editors know a lot. Trust me, just ask the editor here at Laptopical! That's why when an editor says something is good, it's wise to consider buying that thing pronto (unless the editor has taken a bung). Such is the case with the Dell Inspiron 1525 battery. It was selected as an Editor's Pick by the geezers at Laptop Magazine. This paradoxical laptop is both a higher-priced budget notebook that gives you more bang for your buck than most laptops in its price range.
luxury notebook

First bang? That silver racing stripe on the inspiron's shiny black lid. It's the cool Speedracer retro styling called the "Street." Or how's about the two other chassis style choices? The "Chill" pattern on your lid-a blue-and-white smear over a silver background? Or the "Blossom," a purplerific shell with a floral imprint for your slick chiquitas out there.

Our review unit will please those for whom good performance is a priority. Equipped with 2GB of memory and the best notebook CPU Dell offered for this model at the time of our review (a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T7250), our $999 (as of 2/7/08) Windows Vista Home Premium machine earned a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 78. That's 17 percent faster than the average score of 65 earned by the five under-$1000 laptops in this roundup, and even 13 percent better than the average of 69 earned by 16 recently tested all-purpose notebooks in any price range. With the battery upgraded from the standard four-cell to a six-cell ($15 extra), our notebook lasted a fairly generous 4 hours, 4 minutes on one charge, about 10 minutes longer than our five budget laptop test group's average.
luxury notebook

About the only thing the Inspiron 1525 can't handle is 3D graphics; with an Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and no dedicated video card option, it's limited to simple games and other 2D applications.
luxury notebook

The Dell Inspiron 1525 is wedge-shaped but svelte at 2.8kg, including a 15.4in 1,280x800 resolution screen, a DVD writer and a good keyboard. The port variety and layout is fine (the Dell Inspiron 1525 is one of the few notebooks in this price range with an HDMI connection).
luxury notebook

And the Inspiron 1525 battery gives multimedia lovers lots of entertainment features: an instant-on button, a webcam, and even dual headphone jacks. Alas, the raspy-sounding speakers take some of the shine off the 1525's entertainment appeal.

The Good:

Slimmed-down design; low starting price; high-end extras are available, including HDMI and touch-sensitive media control buttons.

The Bad:

Not as many configuration options as some of Dell's other laptops; plastic construction feels somewhat flimsy; base $499 configuration about as powerful as an abacus.

The Bottom Line:

Taking consumer complaints to heart, Dell updates its mainstream 15-inch laptop with the Inspiron 1525. It's thinner, lighter, and less expensive than its predecessor.
luxury notebook

The lifespan of a Dell Inspiron laptop is usually quite substantial, sometimes to the point where it becomes long in the tooth. Thus it's unusual to be mourning the loss of the Dell Inspiron 1520 after only six months on the market. Stepping into the spotlight to replace it is the revamped battery for Dell Inspiron 1525. While there's no miracle weight loss here, the 6-pound frame is nearly half a pound lighter than the 1520's, and the tapering design gives it a slimmer silhouette (similar to that of the Dell XPS M1530). An unpleasant side effect of going small, however, is that powerful graphics cards will not be offered as an option—only integrated graphics.

Lately, Dell has been categorizing their laptops pretty well. Their Inspiron brand initially consisted of plain, mainstream, low-priced laptops. Their premium XPS range included sleeker models with better looks and additional features -- at a premium, of course. But the Inspiron range has followed the story of the ugly duckling, and is catching up with its prettier cousin in terms of looks as well as features. We're reviewing the Inspiron 1525 today.
luxury notebook

A 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, 2GB of memory, and a 120GB hard drive spinning at 5,400 rpm combined to deliver an impressive PCMark05 score of 4,197, the highest in the roundup. It managed a score of 124 on MobileMark 2007, which is head-and-shoulders above the rest in the group.
luxury notebook

The dell laptop battery, which lasted 4 hours and 23 minutes on our rundown test, also took top honors. A 3DMark03 score of 1,704 means you’ll have to play your 3D games in low-res mode with all the bells and whistles turned off for best results, but you can enable Vista’s Aero effects without worry.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

HP Compaq 6735s Business Notebook PC Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:23:00.000+01:00

HP Compaq 6735s Business Notebook PC Review

luxury notebook
The HP Compaq 6735b and 6535b have ATI Radeon 3200 HD integrated graphics and support up to 8 GB DDR2 800 MHz. However, the offers include configurations 3 GB or 2 GB of RAM. The systems currently available are equipped with up to 160 GB hard drive, a DVD burner, which can be replaced by a secondary hard drive, and built in webcam in some models.
luxury notebook

The Compaq 6735b comes with a WXGA anti-glare, WXGA BrightView, WSXGA or anti-glare 15.4-inch screen. The display options for 14.1-inch HP Compaq 6535b include WXGA anti-glare, WXGA BrightView and WXGA anti-glare.

AMD business class solutions and an impressive combination of mobile office features make the HP Compaq 6735s notebook PC an affordable productivity tool, also ideal for students. This sleek notebook is newly designed and equipped with enhanced security and excellent HP Compaq 6735s battery life, making it one smart investment. An array of multi-layered, customizable security solutions help defend your network, your applications, and your data. Drive encryption for HP ProtectTools encodes all information on...

HP Compaq Business Notebook 6735s Specifications

Processor AMD Turion X2 Ultra mobile technology ZM-82 / 2.2 GHz
Multi-Core Technology Dual-Core
64-bit Computing Yes
Chipset Type AMD M780G
Width 35.8 cm
Depth 26.7 cm
Height 3.2 cm
Weight 2.5 kg
Type L2 Cache
Installed Size 2 MB
Installed Size 3 GB / 8 GB (max)
Technology DDR2 SDRAM
Form Factor SO DIMM 200-pin
Configuration Features 1 x 1 GB + 1 x 2 GB
Type Serial ATA
Serial ATA Interface Serial ATA-150
Hard Drive 250 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm
Type DVD RW (R DL) / DVD-RAM - internal
Read Speed 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD)
Write Speed 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD�R) / 2.4x (DVD+R DL)
CD / DVD Rewrite Speed 16x (CD) / 4x (DVD�RW) / 5x (DVD-RAM)
Disc Labeling Technology LightScribe Technology
Type Card reader
Supported Flash Memory Cards SD Memory Card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard, xD-Picture Card
Display Type 15.4" TFT
Max Resolution 1280 x 800 ( WXGA )
Widescreen Display Yes
Features BrightView
Graphics Processor / Vendor ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200 Shared Video Memory (UMA)
Audio Output Sound card
Audio Codec AD1984A
Compliant Standards High Definition Audio
Audio Input Microphone
Type Keyboard, touchpad
Modem Fax / modem - MDC
Max Transfer Rate 56 Kbps
Protocols & Specifications ITU V.21, Bell 212A, ITU V.22, ITU V.22bis, ITU V.29, ITU V.32, ITU V.32bis, ITU V.34, ITU V.17, ITU V.23, ITU V.27ter, ITU V.8bis, Bell 103J, ITU V.92, ITU T.30, ITU T.4, ITU V.250, ITU V.251, ITU V.80
Fax Compatibility G3
Networking Network adapter
Wireless LAN Supported Yes
Wireless NIC Broadcom 4322AGN
Data Link Protocol Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n (draft)
Bluetooth Class Class 2
Compliant Standards IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, IEEE 802.11n (draft), Bluetooth 2.0
Expansion Slots Total (Free) 2 ( 0 ) x memory - SO DIMM 200-pin 1 ( 1 ) x ExpressCard/54

luxury notebook

I bought mine because I was having problems with my old desktop, I hadn't cared for it enough and it was starting to get difficult to use not to mention old with viruses popping up. Having had my new laptop since the beginning of November it seems that it may be impossible to let it get that bad even if I wanted to, there's a whole heap of security and ease of use features (follow the link at the end of the review for full specs) which mean that using the HP Compaq Business Notebook 6735s battery can be as easy as using a toaster. This can be a problem for some people; Vista had a lot of computer whiz's usually pallid faces red with anger at it's over the top ease of use and this can be especially bad with HP laptops which have their own such software. But I found that the more irritating ones (like the pop-ups that ask you if you're sure every time you run a program) can be turned off so it's not so bad. At the end of the day the software can be fairly easily altered to suit all skills except maybe at the very top level and it is also available with Vista® Business operating system if that suits.
luxury notebook

Average mobility is provided by the 188-minute battery life but, as with the other three laptops, the 2.6kg chassis is large enough that you won't want to carry it for long. It is impressively tough, however, and more than resilient enough for regular home and travel use.
luxury notebook

The keyboard is equally well made, with large keys and a comfortable typing action. We noticed no flex, even when typing quickly and firmly, and the board is not only responsive but the keys also move quietly at all times. Frequent typists are sure to like what's on offer here.
luxury notebook

The processor, RAM and hard drive can all easily cover any kind of eventuality or need that might arise in everyday use, you can store huge amounts on the hard disk and the processor and memory are great for gaming as well as the epic needs of Windows Vista itself. The bandwidth of wireless that the system can handle means great surfing prospects, if you're away from home (like me) and want to see and chat to your family (unlike me :-P ) there is an inbuilt web cam and microphone, if that's not enough for you there are four USB ports for anything else you may need.
luxury notebook

The display hinges hold the screen securely when it is open and even allow the laptop to be closed with one hand. However, opening the laptop is a completely different story. The user can not do so single-handed as, due to the weight distribution concentrated at the rear of the laptop, the user would not only pick up the display, but also the whole front of the laptop. When open, the screen can be extended to a maxium angle of 135°. This can be problematic when the laptop is being used on the lap for surfing, as the dispay would have to be extended to it's maximum viewing angle. One major disadvantage of the display is the missing locking mechanism, which holds the base of the 6735s battery and the screen together. The hinges are supposed to fulfill that task. However, they are not able to keep the screen and the base of the laptop together when the laptop is closed, and so, during transport, these two keep constantly, but lightly, colliding against each other.
luxury notebook

Software is also disappointingly lacking, with no tools included for home office use or internet security.
luxury notebook

Ultimately, this is what flaws the 6735s. While it is well made with a vibrant screen, great graphics and strong usability, unless you really need the strong 3D power, you will get more for your money by choosing one of the other laptops here.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Inspiron 1546 Laptop Computer luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:21:00.000+01:00

Dell Inspiron 1546 Laptop Computer

luxury notebook
Meet the Inspiron 1546 — a 15.6-Inch laptop computer for your everyday needs. With an attractive, stylish design and mobile technology, this laptop features everything you want for everyday computing. The Inspiron 15 offers a modern black palmrest. Not to mention Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a Dell Dock and optional facial recognition software, all at a value within reach.
luxury notebook

Dell Inspiron 1546 battery with 2 Free Belkin Sleeves package sale available today. The Dell Inspiron 15 Notebook (1546) has a starting price of $624 on Dell’s official website. Today, Dell is offering a huge discount for this 15.6″ laptop or notebook. The basic Dell Inspiron 1546 Notebook can now be purchased for only $549

Description:

- AMD TurionX2 Ultra Dual Core Mobile Processor ZM-82 (2.2GHz/2MB L2)
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
- 500GB (7,200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive
- 4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]
- 15.6in Widescreen High Definition (1366x768) WLED with TrueLife
- DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD)
- 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 Graphics Card
- Select options below
luxury notebook

Bushnell Elite 3200 1.5 - 4.5x32 mm FireFly Reticle Riflescope. Generous light gathering and clear, crisp images... built rugged for the tough hunts! Not just "good", this Scope is Elite! The fully multi-coated optics delivers light transmission that'll spot game at dusk and dawn just as well as the middle of the day. Add to that the Rainguard anti-fog coating and the FireFly illuminating reticle, and this Inspiron 1546 battery gives you deadly command of your shot through any weather and every minute of legal time. It's even recoil tested with 1,000 rounds of .375 HH. Ultra-bright. Clear. Accurate and dependable in extreme conditions. This Scope is simply lethal. Don't settle for anything less than Elite: FireFly reticle illuminates the crosshairs after only a quick ten-second flashlight charge; Rainguard water-repellant lens causes condensation from the elements and breath to bead up into smaller droplets than on standard coatings for a clearer, brighter view; Magnum recoil-proof construction; 100% waterproof / fogproof / shockproof construction; dry-nitrogen filled; 1/4 M.O.A. or finer fingertip, audible / resettable windage and elevation adjustment ; Fully multi-coated optics; 1-Pc. hammer-forged 30 mm tube with matte finish; F.O.V.: 63' @ 100 yards (1.5x) / 20' @ 100 yards (4.5x); 13 ozs.; 12 1/2"; Eye relief: 3 1/2"; Exit pupil: 21 mm ; Adj. range: 100" @ 100 yards; Mounting length: 6"; Click value: .25" @ 100 yards.; Bushnell brings Big League performance to the hunt! Order yours now! Bushnell Elite 3200 1.5-4.5x32 mm FireFly Reticle Riflescope

This netbook is great. I love it! So far I used it everyday for 3 weeks and it performs very well. It is an exceptional value for the money I paid. The 6 cell battery is the way to go in my opinion as I have gotten 4-5 hrs. of operation between charges. (Some reviewers have stated that they have gotten longer operation times.) The netbook is very light yet it is solidly built.
luxury notebook

The display is wonderful and is one of the best I've seen on a laptop so far. The colors are clear and bright, the black & whites looks good and there's hardly any light leakage at all. It's glossy and smooth and I just love it The video card should also be quite good though I've yet to put it through serious benchmarks wholesale laptop batteries. I did run it through 3DMark06 a couple of times though. For the first run I used default core/mem clock speeds and balanced performance/quality settings and a resolutoin of 1280x720. The result: 1925 marks. For the second run I set all the sliders to maximum performance while still keeping the default clock speeds and the same resolution. The result: 2886 marks. So I should think there's a lot of potential in this video card when it's overclocked. I'll try to update with more benchmarks later.
luxury notebook

Dell 1546 battery life isn't so great and that is to be expected from the massive LCD and high end graphics. Expect about an hour and a half if using it normally with a dimmed screen but with WIFI enabled, with everything set to lowest possible power consumption it will get about an hour and three quarters but you can't hope for anything more with a screen like this to power. The power pack is also big and heavy and if you dropped it on your foot you'd know about it.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

HP Probook 4710S Laptop PC Reviews luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:19:00.000+01:00

HP Probook 4710S Laptop PC Reviews

luxury notebook

The ProBook 4710s is an entry-level business notebook from HP that is meant to be an affordable option for basic professional use. The laptop has a 17.3" LED-backlit HD+ display with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 graphics card. It features up to 8GB of DDR2 memory, an up to 500GB hard drive, and is customizable to have either an Intel Celeron or Core 2 Duo processor. The HP ProBook 4710s battery includes a DVD SuperMulti or Blu-Ray ROM drive, Bluetooth connectivity, and has the additional option of a 2-megapixel webcam. It also has Expresscard and SD slots, as well as HDMI, VGA, and 4 USB ports.
luxury notebook

HP sells a number of models under the ProBook line, and the 17.3-inch ProBook 4710s is the current top of the range. For a price starting at AU$1899, you get an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz processor, 3GB of RAM, a choice of 250GB or 500GB hard drives (our test model had the 500GB version), 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 video, 802.11n networking, Bluetooth and gigabit Ethernet. Four USB ports are provided, which almost feels titchy when you consider that the average netbook carries three and is about a sixth the size. HP does fill some of the space with an HDMI-out port, although frankly this particular laptop's going to dwarf just about any HDMI-compliant source you choose to plug it into.
luxury notebook

Specifications:

17.3" LED Backlit HD+ Display
Intel Celeron or Core 2 Duo Processor
Up to 8GB DDR2 Memory
Up to 500 GB SATA II Hard Drive
Optional 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
DVD+/-RW SuperMulti or Blu-Ray ROM Drive
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 Graphics
Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
Card Slots: Expresscard/34 Slot, Media Card Reader
Inputs/Outputs: 4 x USB, 1 x HDMI, 1 x RJ-45, 1 x VGA, 1 x Microphone, 1 x Headphone
Battery Life: Up to 4.5 hours
Weight: Starting at 6.8 lbs.
Windows 7 Professional
Glossy Noir Finish

luxury notebook
By the time you read this the ProBook should come with a Windows 7 upgrade option, but our test unit technically came with Vista Business. We say technically, because the default configuration comes with the downgrade to Windows XP Professional pre-installed. If you're not a fan of Vista — and we could be churlish and say that nobody is — that's a solid time saver, but if you required Vista it could be a touch annoying. It also features HP's Disk Sanitizer software for secure file deletion and the usual trial AV software that virtually any notebook seems to come with whether you ask for it or not — in the ProBook's case it's McAfee Total Protection.
luxury notebook

The HP 4710s battery has to be one of the most stylish notebooks I have seen in a long time, and everyone I have shown it too love how it looks. It’s as HP has created the perfect blend to accommodate the user who wants one system for both work and play.
luxury notebook

It has to be one of the sexiest business notebooks I have ever seen, heck it probably looks better than a lot of Consumer notebooks available.
luxury notebook

Its sleek sophisticated design will appeal to everyone especially in the Noir (black) and Merlot (dark red). While you may think the Merlot is more of a women’s color, it’s kind of a man’s red so it would go both ways.
luxury notebook

Once the laptop is open, you'll notice that the upper side is divided in three parts. First of all, the innovative keyboard attracts attention by its single key layout and the glossy surface of the keyboard area. In contrary, the part in front of the keyboard got a matte surface. Nevertheless, it is equally prone to fingerprints and smudge as the glossy parts. The third part, above the keyboard, houses the loudspeakers, the power switch, and the HP QuickLook (Instant-On operating system) button and is completely designed as speaker grill.
luxury notebook

Besides the non-uniform design, also the quality of the case does not completely meet our expectations. Lifting the base unit at the right corner or applying medium force there, you'll hear an annoying noise. The same is true for the central area of the loudspeaker grill. At least, the keyboard does not give too much. Quite the contrary, the pressure is more or less evenly spread, whereas the area of the F-G-H-keys springs most.
luxury notebook

The 4710s comes with a spacious 500GB hard drive, a multiformat DVD burner, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. You also get a 5-in-1 memory card reader and an ExpressCard slot, though it’s the narrow-format 34mm variety rather than 54mm, which is an odd choice on a desktop replacement. As for ports, you get four USB ports, LAN and modem jacks, and VGA and HDMI outputs (HDMI is a particularly nice touch on a business notebook). Given that there’s room on the edges, an eSATA port would have been nice. HP does not offer an embedded wireless broadband option on this platform as it does with the smaller ProBook 4510s, though that’s less of an issue given the ProBook 4710s battery is unlikely to see much road use because of its size.
luxury notebook

The 17.3-inch (1600 x 900 display) looked bright when we watched the season finale of The Office on Hulu. Thanks to the matte finish, we comfortably watched from an oblique side angle, although the picture looked overexposed and washed out when we dipped the screen forward.
luxury notebook

Although the speaker strip takes up an awful lot of space on the keyboard deck, the volume is hardly booming; it was loud enough for us to hear the show we were watching, but not nearly loud enough for an engrossing movie-watching or game-playing experience. And, as for the sound quality, its speakers sounded slightly tinny when we played the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
luxury notebook

The design of the ProBook 4710s is a mixture of glossy and matte black plastics ... almost as if some HP designers tried to combine the all-black look of the ThinkPads with the style of the higher-priced HP EliteBook series.
luxury notebook

As expected, build quality isn't quite up to the standards of the EliteBook line -- the alloy construction found in the EliteBooks has been replaced with a plastic chassis in the ProBook series. The new chicklet-style keyboard seems firm, but pressing on some keys reveals minor flex in the underlying keyboard. The 17.3-inch LED-backlit display features a 16:9 screen ratio (1600x900 resolution) and the matte screen surface should be well received by anyone who uses this notebook under bright lights or direct sunlight. The screen brightness likewise appears to be more than adequate for most users.
luxury notebook

The speakers on the battery for ProBook 4710s, like the speakers on the smaller 4510s, fail to impress. HP generally scores well with our editorial staff based on the quality of the speakers used in their notebooks. Unfortunately, while the audio quality from the 4710s is good enough for watching a webcast or hearing system sounds, the built-in speakers lack a full range of highs, middles, and lows. The highest volume settings are loud enough to fill an office with sound for a presentation, but audio begins to sound distorted at higher volume levels.
luxury notebook

There are far less ports than you'll find on the Acer, but the four USB ports still offer good connectivity. There's also a VGA port for connecting older monitors and projectors, as well as a 4-in-1 memory card reader and ExpressCard slot. 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both in place.
luxury notebook

While it lacks the full-on media credentials of the Acer or Sony's VAIO laptops, the HP ProBook 4710s remains a good choice for anyone who wants a machine as suited to a life on the road as it is in the home.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Review: Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Laptop PC luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:16:00.000+01:00

Review: Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Laptop PC

luxury notebook
Dell's new Inspiron Mini 12 is something of an oddity in that it doesn't seem to quite know what it wants to be: it's the size of a notebook, designed like an ultra-portable and specced like a netbook.
luxury notebook

The slim form factor makes it look very appealing, and it will slip easily into a normal briefcase or large handbag. Weighing just 1.25kg means that it shouldn't be a burden to carry around.

Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Specs:

Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.0 x 1.1 inches
Weight: 3.2 pounds
Processor: Intel Atom Z530 clocked at 1.6 GHz
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
Hard Drive: 60 GB HDD, 4200 RPM
Display: 12 inch LCD, 1280 x 800 pixels
Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA 500, 64 MB VRAM
Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g
Operating System: MS Windows Vista Basic SP 1
Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, VGA out, Headphone, Microphone, 3 in 1 card reader

luxury notebook

Interestingly, the trackpad is matt, unlike the glossy finish on the rest of the Mini 12, which makes it much easier to slide your finger over it. The keyboard, which was already fine on the 10'' version, is largely unchanged. In the photo above, though, you'll notice a good inch wasted on each side of the keyboard, which would have allowed some keys to be a little larger, including the four arrow keys at the bottom right. It's also worth noting that the keys and the trackpad buttons are soft, and perhaps a little too soft for some people's liking.
luxury notebook

The image from the webcam struggles with movements, and it's best to stay right in front of the camera and remain as still as possible if you don't want to suffer from too much jerkiness. The white balancing is also problematic, creating a purple tinge to the picture by default. Sound captured by the microphone is a little muffled, and the recordings we made had noticeable crackle.
luxury notebook

Around the outside of the netbook are three USB ports, an Ethernet port, a pair of mini jacks, a three-in-one memory card reader: the bare minimum is there. Underneath, the only part you can access is the Dell Mini 12 battery, meaning you can't upgrade the RAM or change the hard drive yourself.
luxury notebook

The glossy lid looks impressive but does pick up fingerprints and smudges very easily. The power adaptor weighs a respectable 150g, but the plug is built into the transformer which can make it tricky when trying to charge from a power strip or recessed socket.

The 12in screen is large by netbook standards, but under the hood the Mini 12 packs a pretty standard set of specifications including a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 1Gb of DDR2 RAM and a 40GB hard drive, which would be OK if it was solid state, but is somewhat on the small side for a traditional drive.
luxury notebook

The hardware components of a netbook should be very frugal overall. It should require very little energy and produce the least possible heat, but nevertheless provide enough power for basic applications, and above all be affordable. The price is one of the weightiest arguments for a netbook. With the current lineup of dual core CPUs from Intel, or even from AMD or the most popular graphics solutions, this is hard to achieve.

Happily, netbooks frequently fall back on, let's say "chip specialties," like for example VIA. Intel, however, recognized the netbook potential extremely quickly and conceived with the Atom CPU of a chip that was specially designed for this device class. The demand was initially so high that Intel had to build whole chip factories from the ground up before they could satisfy it. In the mean time, the market has been brought back under control so that nearly all netbooks now rely on the Intel Atom CPU.
luxury notebook

Our present test sample of the Inspiron Mini 12 battery can also optionally be equipped with an Intel Atom Z520 CPU (1.33 GHz, 512Kb L2-cache and 533 Mhz FSB) or even with the somewhat faster Atom Z530 CPU with 1.6 GHz. The Atom processors were developed brand new because of the emergence and the success of the netbooks. In contrast to the other current CPUs, the chips work on the "in order" code, that is, all upcoming assignments are carried out successively. Current core CPUs from Intel, however, work on the "out of order" principle, whereby upcoming tasks are reordered for the purpose of optimizing performance.
luxury notebook

So here's the rub: While I love the Dell design, the hardware/software combination has slowed the Mini 12 to barely usable levels. The model I tested was the $550 base system with a 1.33GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and 40GB hard drive. That system should be alright for XP (though we'd love to see a 2GB RAM upgrade option), but it's just not enough to power Vista. And you can only buy the system with Vista. The system crawls with constant multi-second stalls, and effective multitasking is pretty much impossible. Sadly, there's not much more to say on the topic. Simple mental math tells us that this system shouldn't be running Vista as it skirts the minimum requirements of Home Basic, and our real world testing shows us the same thing. Of course, Vista alone doesn't mean you should pass over the Mini 12. Just expect to reinstall the OS with the purchase and come to terms with the fact that your paying licensing rights for an OS that you won't use.
luxury notebook

The 12-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel resolution glossy screen makes all the difference to the netbook experience. Compared with 10-inch displays such as those found on the MSI Wind or Asus Eee PC 1000H Battery, the extra two inches allowed us to keep two Web pages open side by side and read them comfortably. We also didn’t find ourselves reaching for our larger notebook to accomplish certain tasks such as editing a batch of pictures. The screen has just the right amount of gloss, and horizontal viewing angles were good: a friend sitting next to us was able to watch a YouTube clip, and tilting the screen back caused minimal glare.
luxury notebook

The battery life of the Mini 12 is good with the 6 cell battery clocking in more than 5 hours, much higher than the category average. The 6 cell Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery however protrudes from beneath the laptop. The 3 cell battery isn’t very powerful, offering just about 2.5 hours. The Wi-Fi reception of the Dell Mini 12 is nice and offers good speeds.

Above the display is a 1.3-megapixel webcam, which worked nicely in Dell‘s Video Chat powered by Sightspeed; our caller saw us clearly but complained of a slight green hue to the picture.
luxury notebook

While the Mini 12 doesn’t bury its speakers below the chassis like many netbooks do—instead placing them across the top of the keyboard—they were weak. Even when cranked up to full volume it was still hard to hear from the other side of a small apartment.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

HP ProBook 4510s Notebook PC Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:14:00.000+01:00

HP ProBook 4510s Notebook PC Review

luxury notebook

The HP ProBook 4510s Notebook PC (VA033PA) is a 15.6in laptop designed for business users, but it looks nothing like a business notebook. It has plenty of gloss, clean lines and a 16:9 widescreen display. There is actually nothing that screams "business notebook" when you glance at it except for the dedicated number pad, which is sure to make accountants squeal with excitement (as will its attractive price).

luxury notebook

The design of the HP ProBook 4510s Notebook PC (VA033PA) is very appealing. It has a latch-less screen that can be opened with one hand (though only just) when the laptop is sitting flat on a desk, and it has a keyboard with isolated keys that sit at the same level as the palm rest. They look great, but they take a while to get used to. Each key is 15.5mm wide and there is a 3mm gap between them. Some keys have an odd shape, such as the bottom row of keys (which are deeper than they are wide), and the arrow keys are very small (only 13mm wide and 10mm deep).

luxury notebook

The standard system is configured with a 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 CPU and 2GB RAM. The performance was just a little below average of mainstream notebooks but you should remember that the system is a $700 budget notebook not a $1200 one. However navigating between multiple tabs of internet explorer was no problem and the performance is not sluggish by any means. The system comes with a 5400 rpm 250GB HDD does also deliver standard speed. It booted Windows XP in 65 seconds which is only 4 seconds longer than the industry average. There is a 3D accelerometer to protect the hard disk from shocks caused by drop offs.

While any notebook computer can be used for a small business we have seen companies steer buyers towards dedicated lines and away from consumer products. Lenovo has their ThinkPad SL series and Dell has their Vostro models, and now HP has their ProBook line. If you are familiar with HP’s products then you know the EliteBooks, HP’s high-end business notebooks, which are suitable for enterprise buyers as well as anyone who is concerned with features over price. The ProBooks will be a step (or two) down from there, but different from HP’s Pavilion (consumer) products. Just for clarification, the “b” series will be remain to be HP’s entry-level corporate notebooks while the “s” series will be the entry-level SMB product. There is some crossover between all these, but the ProBook will remain the most like HP’s consumer notebooks and you won’t see any enterprise features, like Intel’s vPro.

luxury notebook

The HP ProBook 4510s starts at 5.7 pounds and runs a 15.6-inch (16:9) display. Our model shipped with Windows Vista Business 32-bit, 2GB of RAM, Intel’s T6570 (2.1GHz) CPU, and a 250GB 5400RPM disk. The computer’s 1366×768 display was powered by Intel’s integrated graphics (4500MHD) while communications go through Intel’s 5100 a/g/n WiFi as well as Bluetooth. This build will sell for $749, though our test unit (a pre-production model) had a 6-cell HP ProBook 4510s battery where the 4510s at this price will ship with an 8-cell.

Most business laptops come with a smart card reader and other security measures that are wasted on home users, but the 4510s has none of these. Instead you'll find features such as an HDMI port and a memory card reader. There's a 320GB hard disk and four USB ports, plus Bluetooth and Draft-N WiFi. An ExpressCard slot is also present, but it's the smaller 34mm variety.

luxury notebook

We really liked the square-edged, piano-black case, which overhangs the ports around the edge. The keyboard has flat, square keys that are separated from each other, with the glossy case visible between them. Keys have a light action and enough travel to provide adequate feedback for touch-typists. There's a gap between the main keyboard and the numberpad, and the layout is neat and clear. The touchpad is a bit small and the button action is a little light and loose, though.

That said, in a recent customer satisfaction survey published by Forrester Research, Gateway was the only Windows-based PC maker rated above 65 percent - equivalent to an "OK" rating. HP, Dell and others scored less than 65 percent, while Apple scored 80 percent. (Customer satisfaction isn't a pure measure of product reliability, however.)

luxury notebook

The 4510s warranty includes one-year parts and labor, pick-up or carry-in (HP pays for shipping), plus toll-free 7/24 hardware technical phone support (for the life of the product). You can upgrade the warranty to get on-site service, and the primary battery comes with a one-year limited warranty.

luxury notebook

The Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 processor with a working frequency of 2.1GHz has been employed. A 2GB RAM is housed in this mobile computer, which can be upgraded to a maximum of 8GB. A SATA hard drive of 250GB capacity is also on-board this business laptop. An optical DVD read/write drive is built into this portable PC as well. The 15.6inch screen of this laptop presents a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It is a widescreen and offers wide viewing angles. This feature makes this laptop suitable for official presentations, where people can view the screen clearly, despite sitting at angles to the display. For handling graphics, the Intel GMA 4500MH has been incorporated in this device. 128MB of memory has been dedicated to videos and graphics. Being business oriented, this laptop features the Microsoft Windows Vista Business operating system. The keyboard is spacious and well laid out.

luxury notebook

HP ProBook 4510s FN076UT laptop is nearly identical to HP ProBook 4510s AW998US, It also has 15.6-inch diagonal(1600 x 900) 16:9 LED-backlit HD BrightView display that supported Intel GMA 4500 MHD graphics engine. 4510s FN076UT equiped with HDMI port to expand the display on HDTV.

luxury notebook

ProBook 4510s FN076UT is comes with the power of Intel Centrino Processor Technology featuring 2.1Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo T6570 processor that coupled with 2GB RAM and 160GB hard drive. This affordable lightweight notebook PC also equiped with Dual Layer DVD±RW drive with LightScribe.

The HP ProBook 4510s is a solid, though not overwhelmingly impressive small and medium business notebook. Compared to similar notebooks like the Dell Vostro 1510 and 1520 or the Lenovo ThinkPad SL500, the ProBook 4510s is more impressive than the Dell and is either better or worse than the ThinkPad depending on configuration. Whether you're a small business owner looking for a low-cost notebook for yourself or a medium business needing desktop replacements for a few dozen employees, the ProBook 4510s battery will get the job done. Bottom line, the HP ProBook 4510s is a fine notebook for its intended market, but if HP made a few simple changes to the design and purchase options then business buyers would have even more reasons to buy this laptop.

luxury notebook
present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:11:00.000+01:00

Dell Inspiron Mini 10v Review

luxury notebook

Dell may not be as aggressive as netbook-obsessed companies like Asus and HP, but it does have several of them under its belt. Though the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the Mini 12 are slowly being phased out, that still leaves Dell's 10-inch netbook—of which there are two versions: The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 (review coming shortly) can be configured with bells and whistles such as an "HD" screen resolution, a TV tuner, and mobile broadband. The "v" in the Dell Inspiron Mini 10v ($334) might as well stand for value, since it lacks these options while leaving you with the bare netbook essentials. Still, it's very aggressively priced, and the 56Wh battery secured almost 8 hours of battery life.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10v battery is relatively compact for a 10 inch netbook thanks to a keyboard which stretches virtually from one end of the chassis to the other and a touchpad which incorporates the left and right mouse buttons into the touch area. There’s a decent sized bezel around the display, but it would be hard to make the netbook much smaller without shrinking the keyboard.

luxury notebook

Dell offers the netbook in a number of colors. The black model is included in the base cost, or for $40 extra you can get the netbok with a white, red, pink, blue, green, or purple lid. The model reviewed has a purple lid which is glossy but does not show fingerprints as clearly as most other glossy lids I’ve seen. The bezel around the display is matte, and while there’s a glossy silver strip of plastic in the palm rest area, it doesn’t really show fingerprints either.

The hinge is placed in a way so that when you open the lid it folds down a bit behind the base of the computer which helps keep the machine from taking up too much vertical space. But that also means it doesn’t open to a very wide angle.

luxury notebook

If you get a 3 cell Dell Mini 10v battery it will sit flush with the base of the netbook. The 6 cell battery sticks out like a sore thumb. But while the 6 cell battery isn’t exactly the most attractive, it slides firmly into place, makes a nice carrying handle, and gives the keyboard a bit of tilt which makes typing reasonably comfortable.

luxury notebook

Dell Mini 10v is customizable, but a basic 10v includes:

1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor
Windows XP Home Edition SP3
1 GB of RAM
Integrated Intel 945 GSE UMA Graphics Media Accelerator
Glossy 10.1-inch screen
160 GB hard drive
Wi-Fi 802.11 g – half mini-card
Bluetooth internal mini-card
Built-in 1.3MP webcam
3-cell battery
2.86 lbs

All Dell's netbook eggs are now firmly in the Mini 10v basket. The machine is currently available in three flavours: the Linux- or Windows-driven 10v, and the Windows-only, suffix-less 10. The key difference between the two sub-ranges is that the 10 uses Intel's hanheld device-oriented Atom Z520 and 530 CPUs, while the 10v uses the N270. We've chosen to look at the runt of the litter, the Mini 10v with an 8GB SSD, perhaps the purest iteration of the SCC since the halcyon days of the Asus Eee PC 701 and first Acer Aspire One Series battery.

luxury notebook

The Inspiron Mini 10v battery ran for 5 hours and 40 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, using the included six-cell battery. That's fantastic, even for a low-power Netbook. However, the battery is especially bulky, and sticks out from the bottom of the system, raising the rear end. A smaller three-cell battery option is also available.

luxury notebook

Dell offers an industry-standard, one-year, parts-and-labor warranty with the system, which includes on-site service (after what the company calls "remote diagnosis"). Bumping that up to two years is a reasonable $40 upgrade. Online support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, an online knowledge base, and driver downloads.

luxury notebook

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Asus Eee PC 1000H Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:09:00.000+01:00

Asus Eee PC 1000H Review

luxury notebook

Ever since the Eee PC 4G opened up the mini-notebook market last year, Asus has been pumping out different flavors of the Eee, including versions of the original with XP and models sporting slightly larger screens and a multitouch pad. With the $460 Eee 1000H 80G XP, though, Asus addresses many of the previous problems we've had with earlier mini-notebook models--and it creates a solid second-gen machine in the process.

The newest member of the Eee family offers the same Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, and 80GB hard disk as MSI Wind U90 Battery. It has a 10-inch display and measures 10.5 by 7.5 by 1.5 inches (about the size of a hardcover book, and only slightly larger than the MSI Wind). The Eee 1000H is also fairly heavy for a mini-notebook, weighing about 3.6 pounds including the six-cell battery packed underneath. (On the plus side, the battery lasted about 4 hours, 32 minutes in our tests.) With the Eee 1000H's design the way it is, you might as well call it an ultraportable--in heft, if not performance.

luxury notebook

The Asus Eee PC 1000H's display's native 1024 by 600 resolution looks reasonably sharp on the 10in screen. With a quick toggle of the shortcut key, you can pop through a number of "optimised" resolutions. The only real use we've found for the resolution gear-shifter is that it's helpful for trying to fit some oddly formatted web pages to the screen; otherwise, you can always output video through the VGA port. A firm, flush bezel surrounding the screen and the 1.3Mp camera securely locks everything in place. The case has a smooth yet slightly textured feel.

luxury notebook

Surprisingly, the Asus Eee PC 1000H's audio sounds crisp, and richer than we had expected. Maybe that's the result of Dolby Sound Room technology (which Dolby says extends the speakers' bass response up an octave, and widens the sound space that the speakers project). Elvis's "Suspicious Minds" rang clear; Run DMC's "Walk This Way" sounded a little tinny, but good enough that we were able to forgo plugging in headphones. We'd even say that the Eee 1000H battery can fill up a small room (or office cubicle) with tunes.

luxury notebook

Even though it has the same design as older model, there are some differences between them. Around touchpad is metallic silver frame which is connected with keys. Left and right keys are now actually separated and embossed Eee PC logo is placed below screen. Power button is relocated above keyboard. In the same line with Power key are placed 4 programmable keys, which didn’t exist on previous versions.

luxury notebook

It is clear computers are taking more and more space in our lives, but the way we use them has changed drastically. They used to be exclusively used by the wealthiest industries and took up hundreds of square feet as well as weighed more than you could ever imagine. Now, most of us have at least a desktop computer, but even though it is much smaller than its predecessors, it is still way too big to carry. With everyone wanting access to their email, stock or favorite website on the go, laptops are increasing in market share while continuously decreasing in size. That has led to ultra portables like the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Battery and Macbook Air, but those are quite expensive and definitely not targeted at a mainstream audience.

luxury notebook

The result of all these demands for a business-class Eee PC model have led us to Asus 1000H, one of the latest members of the Eee family. In comparison to the original Eee, almost everything has changed, however, the core ultra-mobile Eee feeling remains more or less in-tact, even for those who require a larger screen. Has Asus hit a sweet spot with usability, size, and price, or have they just made the Eee PC into a big, bloated monster? Let's find out!

luxury notebook

The debate has largely split the PC Authority office, because both laptops have their strengths. The Eee is undoubtedly more solid and well-built, with a wider, more usable touchpad and separate mouse buttons. The slightly larger keyboard is a bonus, but its tiny Shift key soon annoyed us.

By contrast, the Wind keyboard is comfortable to type on and well laid out, and the VAIO-style hinge on the lid makes them sleeker and better looking than the Eee. Shaving a centimetre or so off the size also makes the Wind a more portable device, although the bigger battery will most likely negate this advantage.

It’s a very close call, and we didn’t really think we’d be saying this, but the 1000H is the best Eee PC – and the best all-round netbook – we’ve yet seen. With every size and price increase, we moan about the Eee moving away from its roots as an ultra-cheap netbook, but the simple truth is you really do notice every extra inch each revision adds, and the benefits that go with it.

luxury notebook

Overall, I’m quite happy with the Eee PC 1000H. When I have some time i’ll try to run some more scientific tests on things like battery life. But there’s very little that my 6 pound, 15.4 inch laptop can do that the 3 pound 10.2 inch Eee PC 1000H cannot. And the Eee PC gets about 3 times the battery life, which makes it my current notebook of choice for working away from the confines of my home office.

I’ll be curious to see how it holds up against the highly acclaimed MSI Wind. The Wind is a bit lighter, and based on some reviews I’ve seen, it may get longer battery life. On the other hand, it lacks the 802.11n support that the Eee PC 1000H has (not that this is a must-have feature for me at the moment). The Wind also does not currently have a multi-touch trackpad. Again, not a killer feature, but it is nice to be able to scroll through web pages by placing two fingers on the trackpad rather than using one to hold down a mouse button.

luxury notebook

We concluded our review of the Eee PC 901 by saying "with the promise of the 10-inch Eee PC 1000 and Eee PC 1000H just around the corner, some may want to play the waiting game." And we were right. Those looking for a larger mini-notebook with a good sized screen and a spacious keyboard will find nearly everything they are looking for. However, the similarly configured MSI Wind NB offers comparable performance and endurance for $150 less, although some will prefer the 1000H's slick aesthetics. We like the Eee PC 1000H, but we'll like it a lot more if the final pricing for the system winds up being less

luxury notebook

The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics. To succeed in this ultra-competitive industry, great products need to be complimented by speed-to-market, cost and service. That's why all 8,000 over employees of ASUS strive for the "ASUS Way of Total Quality Management" to offer the best quality without compromising cost and time-to-market while providing maximum value to all customers through world-class services.

It has a 10in screen with a native resolution of 1024x600, and the larger screen means it also has a larger base (it's 26.7cm wide and about 18cm deep), so its keyboard is much easier to type on than the Eee PC 901, for example. It's still a little cramped, but it's easier to get used to than the 901's keyboard. Each letter key is about 12mm on each side. Its touchpad is large and a little sticky, and it supports two-fingered scrolling. However, it's very slow to scroll pages in Internet Explorer, even when you jack up its speed in the control panel.

luxury notebook

Physically, the 1000H resembles the 901, the only difference being that it's slightly longer. Both units have the same depth and thickness and the same array of ports along the edges. You get a D-Sub port, three USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Ethernet and audio ports, and an SD memory card slot. A couple of speakers underneath the unit do a good job of reproducing music and movie audio, and there is also a 1.3-megapixel webcam installed.

One thing the purists can't complain about is the 1000H's usability. It's the easiest to use on a daily basis of all the Asus Eee PC 1000H battery and its assorted rivals. The keyboard in particular is wonderful. Sure, our review sample felt clunky, but Asus says it'll iron this out for final machines. The right shift key is way too small at the expense of full-size cursor keys, but aside from this it's the best keyboard on any machine in its category.

luxury notebook

The mouse trackpad is fantastic. Unlike its rivals, it supports multi-touch gesture inputs, so you can stroke two fingers vertically or horizontally to scroll through documents or use a pinch or stretching motion to zoom in and out of photos. This feature is perfect in a machine for which its primary use is surfing the Internet. It just makes life so much easier.

The rest of the chassis is basically identical to the Eee PC 901. On the left side, there's an Ethernet port, a single USB port, plus mic and headphone ports. On the right, there are two additional USB ports, an SD card reader and a VGA output port.

The battery life is advertised 'up to 8 hours' but I don't think you'll ever get that much from it. I haven't done any extensive tests but using wi-fi and the screen on full brightness you can get 4-5 hours from it.

I've just lowered the brightness from maximum to minimum and the remaining battery for Asus Eee PC 1000H has increased from 3:52 to 5 hours. And switching off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth has increased it to 6:27 (87%). Maybe you can get 8 hours out from the battery.

It's split the PC Pro office, because both have their strengths. The Eee is undoubtedly more solid and well-built, with a wider, more useable touchpad and separate mouse buttons. The slightly larger keyboard is a bonus but its tiny Shift key soon annoyed us.

luxury notebook

By contrast, the Wind and Advent keyboard is comfortable and well laid out, and the VAIO-style hinge on the lid makes them sleeker and better looking than the Eee. Shaving a centimetre or so off the size also makes the Wind a more portable device, although the bigger battery will most likely negate this advantage.

luxury notebook

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Studio 17 Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:05:00.000+01:00

Dell Studio 17 Review

luxury notebook
The Dell Studio 17 is one of two flagship models in the company’s new Studio line, a mid-range line positioned between the entry-level Inspiron and high-end XPS series. Studio is for people who want something more powerful than an Inspiron, but don’t want to pay the XPS price tag. We have mixed feelings about the new Studio’s design, but for $1,599, you’ll get plenty of multimedia muscle.luxury notebook

The Studio 17 doesn’t represent much of a departure from other Studio notebooks that have come before it, even the 14-inch, optical drive-less Dell Studio 14z. It has a satin lid (available in five colors; ours was Ruby Red) that feels soft to the touch and (mostly) masks fingerprints. Inside, the chassis mixes a glossy gray palm rest with a matte black keyboard and a piano black panel above the keyboard, complete with number pad. While it lacks some of the refinements of the high-end Studio XPS line, such as leather accents on the lid and flat keys, it borrows a few design elements, such as the glowing power button. The final product is handsome, but not as sophisticated as the 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro, Dell Studio XPS 16, or even the HP Envy 15.

Dell Studio 17 notebook is equipped with the following specifications:luxury notebook

Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz) processor
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
17-inch WUXGA Glossy Display (1920 x 1200)
3GB system RAM - 2 DIMM (DDR2-667)
320GB 5400rpm HDD
256MB (GDDR2) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 graphics
Webcam and Fingerprint reader
Backlit keyboard
Slot Load DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer DVD+R write capacity
Dell Wireless 1510N
9-cell battery (85WHr)
Dimensions: 1.18" to 1.69" x 15.46" x 11.36" (H x W x D)
Weight: 7.87lbs
Other: "Dell Dock" software; 30-day security trial; 3GB Dell DataSafe; Dell Support Center

Depending on your needs, the Dell Studio 17 ships with either 320GB or 640GB of storage space. We went with 320GB, simply because the $150 in savings can go towards a Blu-ray drive for the Dell Studio 17. To get the most out of the Blu-ray drive, you’ll have to shell out another $150 for 1920 x 1200 resolution. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 ensures that HD video looks stunning on the 17-inch widescreen display. The HDMI uplink means that you can transform your TV into a supersized monitor in a few seconds too.luxury notebook

The Studio 17 battery is a true multimedia machine. The only gripe we have concerns the video card. It’s a great card for video, but the gaming contingent would happily fork over another hundred bucks for a 512MB gaming card.

The keyboard is comfortable too. It's full-size with a separate number pad, and despite the slightly odd design - the top of each key stands slightly proud of the main body - it's a pleasure to type on. The final part of the ergonomic puzzle - the glossy 17in TFT - isn't quite as good, partially because the native resolution of 1,440 x 900 isn't up to the 1,920 x 1,200 offered by other 17in laptops we've reviewed. As with virtually every other aspect of the Studio 17, though, you can customise this - upgrading to a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution adds £102 exc VAT to the price.

With the default screen in place, we'd be wary of using the Studio 17 for anything demanding picture-perfect colour reproduction: deep blacks and bright whites lacked definition, and we detected a slight green hue. Colours in games and movies also seemed a little pale. Despite this, detail is sharp and the TFT is certainly good enough for general work or surfing the web.

The interesting flap mechanism also attracts attention by two huge hinges on the flanks. This too gives the Studio series a recognizable design. All those who also know other notebook models by Dell will quickly find that this series is similar to the XPS series, which first used this design element.
luxury notebook

Regarding stability of the case the Dell Studio 17 battery replacement has the same advantages and disadvantages than its 15 inch counterpart. The base unit is very resistant against applied forces and very flexural rigid. Despite its clearly bigger weight it also handles being picked up at its front edge with ease. Creaking noises when handling this notebook are nearly completely absent.
luxury notebook
To connect to the outside world there is 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and, last and probably least, a good old 56Kbps modem. Both the WiFi and the Bluetooth modules are Dell products which is why our review sample didn't carry an Intel Centrino badge.
luxury notebook
For a notebook that weighs 3.7kg on its own, you could say that worrying about battery life is pretty pointless, as it's going to spend most of its life plugged into the national grid. But anyway, when tested with MobileMark 2007, the standard 6-cell battery produced 135 minutes for the DVD test, 170 minutes for the Productivity test and 190 minutes for the Reader test. For added life and weight there is an optional 9-cell dell studio 17 battery for an extra £99.88.
luxury notebook
Apart from the Vista OS there is also Microsoft Works 9.0 bundled with the Studio 17, plus you get Dell's new Dell Dock application which will be familiar to OS X and StarDock Object Dock users. Dell backs the laptop with a one-year return-to-base warranty.
luxury notebook
present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:03:00.002+01:00

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Review

Lenovo has been a business mainstay for many years due to a design that rarely makes big changes — rather only tiny improvements to a proven success. It also builds laptops that have the structural integrity of a tank, making it a favourite among sysadmins since it's likely to last longer than any other laptop out in the field short of say, a Panasonic Toughbook.

The T400 continues this trend, with the same familiar keyboard, red trackpoint and touchpad navigation (each with its own mouse buttons, although the trackpoint gets a middle mouse button whereas the touchpad is limited to left and right), magnesium alloy roll cage to protect against drops, and a spill resistant keyboard. It's also got ThinkLight Illumination — a white LED mounted at the top of the 14.1-inch, 1280x800 screen which points down to light up the keyboard in dark situations. It's not as good as a backlit keyboard and can be a little distracting, but it's better than nothing at all.

Nothing epitomizes classic more than a ThinkPad. Lenovo is the one laptop maker that would be castigated for changing its flagship brand's color scheme to something other than black. The ThinkPad T400 ($1,580 direct) is the culmination of years of building on a solid foundation, including nothing but the best parts, features, and materials in its ho-hum chassis. At 5.2 pounds (even with an extended battery), the T400 is one of the lightest 14-inch business laptops It contains cutting-edge business features such as Intel Centrino 2's Switchable Graphics, delivers an untouchable typing experience, and offers an amazing starting price at product launch. Until another company can lure away Lenovo's engineers, the ThinkPad T400 battery and its lineage should reign supreme. It earns an Editors' Choice in our business category.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 specifications:

Screen: 1440 x 900 WXGA+ LED Backlit (Matte finish)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.83GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
Memory: 2GB DDR3 RAM
Storage: 160GB HDD (7200rpm)
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW
Wireless: 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 w/ 256MB (hybrid switching)
Built-in web camera
Battery: 84Wh 9-cell and 56Wh 6-cell
Dimensions: 13.2" x 9.4" x 1.47/1.12"
Weight: 5.lbs 4.8oz with 6-cell, 5lbs 10.8oz with 9-cell
Retail Price: $2,189

While Dell and HP have spruced up their business notebook lines with more modern designs, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 battery replacement offers no new riffs on the classic ThinkPad look. The chassis and keyboard are all black, with the touch of bright red from the TrackPoint eraser and some slate blue markings on some keys, including the ThinkVantage button, which launches Lenovo's utility software, and the Enter key. A row of green status lights appears just below the screen.

Unlike the SL series and the X300/X301, the T400 has plain, metallic hinges rather than sleek, black ones. The lid does not have the glossy plastic or the illuminated LED logo treatment found on the SL series.

The new T400 and T500 models will be Wireless WAN (WANN) ready and will include a unified WWAN antenna design which provides superior performance and global roaming. All models feature superb connectivity options and support (WWAN and WiMAX which should be available in late ‘08. With Ultra Wide Band (UWB), we should see faster data transfer rates than the T61. and Bluetooth capability.

Armed with a resolution of 1440 by 900 pixels, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400's 14.1in screen provides adequate real estate for multitasking. The LED-backlight display is easy on the eyes under standard flourescent lighting; and if you crank the brightness up, visibility is adequate in sunlight, in a pinch. The nine-cell lenovo thinkpad t400 battery protrudes uncomfortably from the rear of the case, but after you enjoy 8 hours of battery life on a single charge, you'll be inclined to forgive it.

While the Lenovo ThinkPad T400 isn’t exactly hip or something you’ll choose to win looks at a coffee shop, it is certainly practical and a laptop that is built to last. If you’re heading into a professional school such as law, business or medicine it might also fit the scene better there than say a bright blue colored Dell or Sony. Reliability and durability should certainly be a major factor in purchasing a laptop, wholesale laptop batteries and the ThinkPad T400 meets that requirement. The 14-inch screen size is a sweet spot for a balance between portability and having enough screen real estate to be productive. There is a lot of room to configure the T400 to your needs and budget at Lenovo.com so take advantage of that, and also take advantage of the fact Lenovo offers a student discount to many colleges that can save you 5% or so off the cost of any ThinkPad.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:02:00.000+01:00

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 Review

As with Fujitsu's Esprimo laptops, Toshiba's Satellite Pro range targets corporate users. While performance and network connectivity fall slightly behind some similar laptops, the Satellite Pro L300 battery compensates in enough areas to be an excellent buy for the price.

Due to the need for a certain amount of anonymity when rolling out laptops to business users, Toshiba has opted for a plain silver/black design scheme. The look is sedate, which means this is a machine that will look equally at home in the living room, school and office.

The 'machine' is extremely accessible to people of all ages and abilities and is also extremely simple in a helpful way, the product at a first glance looks top of the range and trendy so to speak, however it's simple layout with everything clearly indicated makes it amazingly easy to begin...trust me I am certainly no computer expert!
The advantage however that I would definitely draw upon is the fact that it would still in my inspiron 1525 battery suit the most advanced on computers/laptops, as it is so modern and advanced at your own choice.

Mainly I would say that this is an ideal laptop for people on the move, as It’s powered by a mobile Intel Celeron M360 processor and features 802.11bg wireless connectivity. It also packs in a 60GB hard drive and 512MB RAM. This gives a brief idea of the products capability however as I said earlier I am no expert and I would purely like to express my positive experiences with others that may be thinking of buying a laptop.

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 specifications:

Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 2.1GHz processor
Intel X3100 Integrated Graphics
2GB RAM DDR2
160GB (5400 rpm) hard drive
Windows XP Professional OS
15.4" WXGA 1280x800 screen
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g)
10/100 Ethernet LAN
Modem port
VGA-15 pin
DVD-SuperMulti drive (+/-R double layer) supporting up to 11 formats
ExpressCard Slot
SDCard Slot
3x USB 2.0
Headphone and microphone jack
webcam
Battery: 6-cell (4800mAh) Lithium Ion toshiba satellite pro l300 battery
Weight: 5.7lbs
Starting price: $949

Toshiba Satellite L300 can be a good travel companion as it only weighs 2.49Kg which is reasonable to carry along whilst on the move. With moderate screen brightness, Toshiba Satellite L300 can only let you work up to 2 hours which is the only compromise you have to make with this notebook.

The Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 battery replacement is ideal if you're looking for a good, uncomplicated laptop for work and home. It comes with all of Toshiba's renowned quality and feels expensive but it's the most affordable range. This 15.4' widescreen laptop performs well on the most demanding of business applications. The Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 Notebook is the perfect entry-level choice for the self employed or small to medium businesses. The Toshiba Satellite Pro L300 Notebook features 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive.

The Satellite Pro L300 is an affordable laptop that comes with the reassurance of Toshiba's well known quality. Everyday computing tasks are no problem at all with Intel processors, a SuperMulti DVD drive and 15.4" TruBrite widescreen. Built in WiFi wireless technology, modem and Ethernet port provide a wide range of connection options to the internet or home network. Selected models feature a webcam integrated into the chassis, ideal for video calls, and has face recognition technology which allows easy logon to Windows.

present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

HP Pavilion DV6700T Laptop PC Reivew luxury notebook

2010-11-15T12:00:00.000+01:00

HP Pavilion DV6700T Laptop PC Reivew

Everyday users and multimedia enthusiasts will find a lot to like about the HP Pavilion dv6700t, an update to the dv6500t. This high-end configuration of one of our favorite all-purpose machines offers a stylish design, fast performance, and plenty of extras—including a Blu-ray drive and a TV tuner—for the dedicated diversion seeker.

The HP Pavilion dv6700t is an impressive notebook for 2008, despite the fact that the basic shape hasn't changed at all since the dv6000t. The combination of performance, stylish design, extremely durable construction/finish, and a wide array of media controls makes the dv6700t one of the best notebook choices for average consumers among 15.4" systems. After close comparison to new Dell Inspiron 1525 battery the only thing Dell really offers over this HP notebook is an extra USB port and a slightly lower starting price. That said, the dv6700t is still the better choice since it offers the option of dedicated graphics (as seen in the dv6780se). Bottom line, although the overall design hasn't changed in two years the hp pavilion dv6700t battery delivers modern day performance and plenty of multimedia extras with style and an affordable price tag.

Our review unit of the dv6700t (dv6780se) has the following specifications:

Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)
Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5450 (1.66GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB)
15.4" WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
3GB DDR2 System Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS (256MB dedicated memory)
HP Imprint (Clay) Finish + Webcam + Microphone
Integrated Altec Lansing stereo speakers
Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
12-Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Dimensions (with 12-cell battery, including feet): 14.1" (L) x 10.1" (W) x 0.75" (min H)/2.0" (max H)
Weight: 6 lb 10 oz (6.625 lb)
65W AC adapter

The dv6700t has more than enough performance for a full range of multimedia entertainment needs thanks to the range of Core 2 Duo processors that are available. Even the entry-level 1.66GHz T5450 packs a powerful punch. The included nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics card with 256MB of RAM in our review unit provides plenty of power for games and streaming media over the web. While the 3DMark06 benchmark results might not be as impressive as what we saw in the new Dell XPS M1530, the pavilion dv6700t battery still provides more than enough power for average gaming needs.

Additionally, the 250GB hard drive in the dv6780se is more storage than most consumers are likely to need in a laptop. Sure, if you download tons of music, movies, and TV shows then you'll quickly fill the 250GB hard drive in a few months ... but that's what external hard drives are for.

The hp dv6700t battery is a line of home-use/entertainment-class 15.4" notebook computers from Hewlett Packard. The series comes standard with Intel Pentium Dual-Core processors and has options for Intel's Core 2 Duo Processors. The display is a 15.4" WXGA HD LCD screen with a resolution of 1280x800 dpi. RAM options range from 1 GB to 4 GB DDR2. The standard graphics card is an integrated Intel GMA X3100, and the option for an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M with 256MB dedicated video memory is available as well. Options are available for built-in webcam and fingerprint reader. The standard optical drive is a SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support, and the option for Lightscribe and a Blu-Ray ROM is available. Wireless options include the standard 802.11b/g as well as Intel's PRO/Wireless connection and Bluetooth support. The dv6700t includes HP's Quickplay software, which allows for 1-click playback of media and comes with a remote control. There are 3 USB ports, a Firewire port, S-Video and VGA output ports, RJ-11 and RJ-45 ports, and an optional 5-in-1 flash memory card reader. 6-cell and 12-cell LiOn batteries are available, as well as a high-capacity 6-cell Li-ion hp pavilion dv6700t battery replacement. The dv6700t comes default with Windows Vista Home Premium 32 or 64-bit, and can be upgraded to Windows Vista Business 32-bit. The dv6700t comes with a range of software including HP PhotoSmart Essentials, Muvee AutoProducer Basic, Adobe Reader 8, MS Works 9, The Sims Life Stories, and HP Quickplay. Trial versions of MS Office Home and Student and Norton Internet Security are included as well. The weight of the average configuration of the dv6700t series is 6.14 lbs.

Hp has been in the computer business for a long time, and as long as they continue to make quality models like the HP Pavilion DV6700T, they will stay in business for a long time.

brought to you by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com

Dell Studio 14z Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T11:58:00.000+01:00

Dell Studio 14z Review

Are DVD drives obsolete? That's the case Dell seems to be making with its Studio 14z, a 14-inch notebook that lacks an optical drive. Catering to students and other consumers who are more likely to download software and entertainment than use a disc, this thin and light system ($749 at Best Buy, starting at $649 on Dell.com) is ideal for streaming content and playing digital files. Add in above average graphics performance, courtesy of Nvidia, powerful speakers, and over five hours of battery life, and you have a compelling value. Best Buy even sweetens the deal by throwing in 15 months of free antivirus protection and a copy of Office 2007 Home and Student Edition.

The Dell Studio 14z battery is essentially a sneak peak at what the future holds for mainstream laptops. Its looks aren't futuristic by any stretch of the imagination, but parting ways with an internal optical drive (thanks to the advent of downloadable content) is picking up momentum, and excluding a legacy feature like VGA-Out is forgivable in the long term. In their place, the Studio14z is jam-packed with forward-thinking features, including a fantastic resolution, both DisplayPort and HDMI technologies, and Nvidia's integrated graphics platform. It's the kind of laptop you'll want to take on the road or back to school—that is, if you're ready to leave the past behind.

Key Specs

Processor: 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600
Memory: 3GB RAM
Storage: 320GB hard drive
Optical Drive: None (optional)
Screen: 14 inches (1,366x768 native resolution)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 9400M G (256MB)
Weight: 4.85 pounds (with eight-cell battery, as tested)
Dimensions (HWD): 0.8x13.2x9 inches
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium Edition (64-bit)

The Studio 14z comes with the larger 8-cell battery option, online at Dell.com you have the option of getting a 6-cell or 8-cell battery. The 8-cell costs $40 more online. It will give you about 25% extra battery life and the great thing is that it does not stick out from the back of the laptop like many other extended life batteries do. Using the 6-cell studio 14z battery I was able to get 5 hours and 25 minutes of battery life out of the Studio 14z when screen brightness was on the 4th level, wireless was on and just letting the laptop idle (no work was done, screen was just left on). Under normal working conditions the Studio 14z usually gave me around 4 hours of battery life. Battery life will of course vary based on usage, but in my experience the Studio 14z has given better battery life than I’d expect and better than many other 14” laptops.

You only have one option to choose from, and that is the NVidia GeForce 9400M. This is a chipset, which means it does not have a dedicated video memory and instead feeds on the laptop’s native memory to power its operation. This can greatly affect the performance of your laptop when it comes to graphics. However, if you have a big enough RAM, this will not be a problem. Having a dedicated video memory is still better though, and ensures better performance for the 14z.

Turning our attention to hard disk space, we can find that the Dell Studio 14z battery replacement is able to hold a large amount of hard disk memory to accommodate those that deal with a lot of files everyday. You can install up to 500-gigabytes worth of hard disk space to the Studio 14z so it can accommodate more music, video and other files.

As its model name suggests, the Dell Studio 14z is given a 14-inch display high-definition display which is capable of two resolutions: 720p and 900p. While lower slightly than the true HD resolution of 1080p, this nevertheless still means there is enough attention to detail which is needed for writing documents, as well as for video and photo editing.

The overall package is good, but as with many thin and light systems you'll have to forgo an integrated optical drive. Dell also limits memory expansion to a single DDR3 SO-DIMM slot, with 1GB of RAM soldered onto the motherboard, so the upgrade from 3GB to 5GB RAM will cost a painful $275. Personally, I'd also like to see another option for color: white; all the others are either too garish (a yellowish "spring green" or "plum purple" -- yuck!), and the black chassis picks up fingerprints like a police detective canvassing a crime scene. The big selling point is of course size; starting at 4.3 pounds and with a relatively small 14.0" chassis, this is a toshiba satellite pro l300 battery designed to be carried around rather than left on your desk. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that Dell uses NVIDIA's nForce 730i chipset, which means you can get a Core 2 Duo processor and integrated graphics that don't suck.

One of the interesting points of comparison is going to be Apple's standard MacBook. The 13.3" LCD is slightly smaller but the MacBook weighs 4.7 pounds making it slightly heavier. It also includes an optical drive and two SO-DIMM slots. Both use the GeForce 9400M/nForce 730i chipset. Apple lists the battery life for the MacBook as "up to 7 hours" while Dell claims up to 6.5 hours with the 8-cell battery upgrade. If Dell can deliver, we'll have a real contender for battery life compared to MacBooks using similar components.

present by http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/

source :http://notebookpc-review

Dell Studio XPS 16 Notebook Computer Review luxury notebook

2010-11-15T11:56:00.002+01:00

Dell Studio XPS 16 Notebook Computer Review

When it comes to style, the Dell Studio XPS 16 is a step up from typical smalll business notebooks. Make that a big step up. A stunning 16-inch screen adds to its allure, making it a fitting choice as a desktop replacement or presentation machine. A starting price of around $1,100 might keep bargain shoppers at bay, but if you're willing to ante up you'll be rewarded with a laptop that performs well and looks even better.

The 16-inch Dell Studio XPS 16 battery dazzles with a first-of-its-kind RGB-LED screen option—which bursts with colors and offers wide viewing angles—and a sleek glossy black design, complete with leather accents. And Dell matches style with substance by offering a powerful Centrino 2 processor, gamer-friendly ATI graphics, a fast hard drive, and Blu-ray playback. Priced at $1,804 (and starting at $1,199), this 6.8-pound multimedia marvel isn’t a system you’d tote to a coffee shop on a regular basis, but entertainment seekers wanting a luxury notebook will drool over this model.

Dell Studio XPS 16 Notebook Specification:Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz)
Memory: 4GB - 2DIMM DDR3
HDD: 320GB 7200rpm
Graphics: ATI Mobility RADEON HD 3670 (512MB)
Display: 16.0" 1080p Full HD RGBLED LCD with 2.0 MP Webcam
Optical Drive: 4X Blu-ray Disc Combo Drive (DVD/CD +/- RW +BD Read)
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64 bit)
Software: 15-month Trend Micro security subscription, Microsoft Works 9
Wireless: Intel Wireless 5100
Mediabay: 8-in-1 Media Card Reader
Battery: 6-cell and 9-cell batteries
Other: Facial Recognition Security; Dell Dock; Dell Video Chat; 2GB Data Safe Online
Dimensions: 0.95"-1.34" x 15.15" x 10.02" with 6-cell battery (H x W x D)
Weight: 6.53 lbs with 6-cell battery
Price as configured: $1,804 (Starting price: $1,199)

Dell wants you to know that its latest Studio XPS line brings with it a level of prestige—a refined segment for customers who seek luxury and style. The Dell Studio XPS 16 ($1,804 direct) accomplishes just that, succeeding the XPS M1530 as Dell's new bad-boy media center. Seeing how every laptop maker is putting in the same processors and advertising 4GB of memory, home-theater features, and big screens, Dell decided to raise the bar with the XPS 16.

Design is its biggest differentiator, as it uses not just one but a number of the hottest techniques in manufacturing. Its display is none too shabby as well. Photographers and professionals can reap the benefits of the RGB LED widescreen and the 1080p resolution without paying outrageous prices for them. For this, the Studio XPS 16 battery reigns as our new Editors' Choice for the media center category, trumping the HP HDX16t.

The 16.0" 1080p Full HD RGBLED display is, in a word, gorgeous. Unlike standard LCD technology used in most notebooks, the RGBLED LCD offers richer, deeper colors and excellent contrast that make it ideal for watching HD movies from the built-in Blu-ray player or for editing high-resolution photos from your digital camera.

The 1920 x 1080 screen on our review unit looks beautiful from straight on and has fantastic horizontal viewing angles so you can easily watch a Blu-ray movie with three or more of your friends sitting around you. Backlighting was mostly even across the surface of the screen in our review unit. Upper vertical viewing angles are good, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back. That said, unless you plan to view your laptop's screen from the floor looking up this won't be a problem.

What might be a problem is the fact that Dell only offers the Dell Studio XPS 1640 battery with a "frameless" glossy display ... the type that uses a separate glossy protective layer in front of the actual display panel. This gives the screen a very modern look, but the trade-off is a signficant amount of reflections on the surface of the screen under strong indoor lights. Outdoors under direct sunlight the screen reflections are so strong it can be extremely difficult to see anything on the screen.

If you keep your office lights dim or live in your parents' basement with the lights turned off this won't be a problem.

The Studio XPS 16 includes all the ports you are likely to need. There are three USB ports, one of which can also accommodate external SATA (eSATA) peripherals such as the latest portable hard drives, plus a FireWire port. Dell has thoughtfully included VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors for attaching an external display; having all three means no matter what projector or big-screen you run across in the future, you'll be able to connect.

Expansion comes in the form of an 8-in-1 memory card reader and an ExpressCard/54 slot. The latter is now the standard for external expansion cards, but if you have older PC Card/CardBus or PCMCIA peripherals that you can't part with, you'll have to invest in an adapter (like the DuelAdapter from Duel Systems). As for connectivity, the Dell Studio XPS M1640 Series battery includes 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi standard. Bluetooth is an option, as is a built-in 3G wireless broadband radio for use with Sprint's high-speed data network.

luxurynotebook present Dell Adamo

2010-11-15T09:36:00.000+01:00

Dell Adamo

In these economically troubled times, Dell thought it prudent to release a hideously expensive luxury laptop to compete with Apple’s MacBook Air and HPs Voodoo Envy.

Pros

Wafer Thin
Gorgeous
Solid Build

Cons

Poor Performance
Expensive
Heavier than Air

Editors Rating:

	Design
	Features
	Battery Life
	3D Performance
	Mobility

Recommended for:

	Gamers
	Travelers
	Entertainment
	Business
	Students

dell Adamo

Published April 03, 2009 at 07:16:49 AM, by Jesper Berg
The Adamo is more of a fashion statement than a laptop, which Dell has proven through its mysterious (until now) adamobydell.com teaser website and the short glimpse we got of it at CES.

Not for Gamers

From looking at the specs we understand that it’s not a performance laptop by any means – the base model has an ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, integrated Intel graphics, 2GB of 800MHz DDR3 RAM and a 128GB SSD. The latter will certainly contribute to making it a little faster than the average 1.2GHz laptop, but it’s still a slow machine.
The starting price for this thing of beauty is $1,999, but if you feel like splurging you can upgrade to a 1.4GHz processor and two more gigs or RAM for $700 more. Obviously it’s not performance you’re paying for with the Adamo, but its incredibly thin build and eye-pleasing exterior.

Quality Time with the Adamo

Holding the Adamo actually makes you feel that you’re holding an expensive laptop – its aluminum build is very solid including the keyboard, and the brushed-metal touchpad is surprisingly pleasant to use. It has a very nice-looking edge-to-edge glass display with a 1,366x768 resolution and to save additional space Dell has removed the optical drive, opting for a matching external one (not included) which uses the Adamo’s built-in eSATA port. You may choose between a slot-loading DVD-RW drive for $120 and a Blu-ray drive for $350.

DellBook Air

While we were playing with the Adamo, close by Dell staff took the opportunity (several times) to point out that it’s thinner than the MacBook Air. It is thinner than the MBA at its thickest point, but you would hardly know that from looking at it as the MacBook Air has a tapered chassis. It’s also half a pound heavier.
Unlike the Air, the Adamo comes with a 64-bit copy of Windows Vista installed. Unfortunately Vista does not run all that well on low-end systems, and there’s no option to customize the Adamo with an XP downgrade or Linux. Potential buyers might want to wait until Windows 7 is released, which will work better with slower systems and even netbooks. On the other hand, the Adamo seems to run Vista fairly smoothly, partly thanks to the quick solid state drive.
We will add some benchmarks to this page when we’ve had some extended quality time with a review sample.

Technical Specifications

Processor: 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo ULV
Mamory: 2GB DDR3
Harddrive: 128GB SSD
OS: Windows Vista Premium
Weight: 4lbs
Screen: 13" inches
Screen resolution: 1366 x 768 (WXGA)
Graphic Card: Intel GMA 4500
Battery Life: 5h (claimed)

luxurynotebook present Apple MacBook 2008 Release

2010-11-15T09:34:00.000+01:00

Apple MacBook 2008 Release

With its new all aluminum body, it might be one of the best looking laptops available...but does it perform as well as it looks?

Pros

- Aluminum enclosure
- Dedicated nVidia GPU
- Buttonless glass trackpad with Multi-Touch
- Revolutionary unibody construction
- Light and thin
- Stunning design

Cons

- No FireWire
- Somewhat pricey
- No external monitor-out adapter included
- Buttonless trackpad takes some getting used to
- No digital media card reader

Editors Rating:

	Design
	Features
	Battery Life
	3D Performance
	Mobility

Recommended for:

	Gamers
	Travelers
	Entertainment
	Business
	Students

Apple MacBook 2008 Release

Published November 17, 2008 at 12:00:20 AM, by Raymond So
Overview
It's big news whenever Apple announces new products and now Apple’s bestselling consumer notebook receives the long rumored major redesign that is no doubt, another stunner. Just when you thought Apple couldn’t make the previous generation MacBook any better, they come around and offer this aluminum and glass beauty that is even thinner, lighter, and more powerful than before. Now that Apple has brought its renewed MacBooks ($1299 starting) and MacBook Pros ($1999 starting) even closer together by offering the same design, engineering, and -for the first time on the MacBook - aluminum body to both notebook lines, the once straightforward consumer and pro-line product differentiation is slowly fading away. Is this the best MacBook to date? Is it safe to call the MacBook, the MacBook Pro "mini"? Read on.
Design
The new MacBook and MacBook Pro make some significant strides in the design department. First, the MacBook for the first time, joins the MacBook Pro in offering an all-aluminum body, ditching the white polycarbonate plastic that once defined the consumer line. In fact, both machines look pretty much identical to each other - offering a black glass bezel screen and black "chiclet-style" keyboards to reflect the new Apple design direction first introduced with the current iMac and iPhone. It's a stunner for sure. The exterior borrows cues from the MacBook Air using tapered edges that trick you into thinking it's even thinner than it already is. The magnetic latch opens and closes the display with buttery smoothness and without mechanical parts. Aa satisfyingly solid "thunk" can be heard when closed. Available in the more expensive $1599 model are LED backlit keys - a first for the MacBook.

Aside from the switch to a fully aluminum casing that replaces the now-defunct white plastic and/or black matte finish of the previous generation, Apple is touting its new manufacturing process as a technological and engineering breakthrough. Using a full slab of aluminum to construct the MacBook and MacBook Pro, not only does this revolutionary process create a body and chassis that is much stiffer with no flexing, these new notebooks use less mechanical screws, parts and pieces to construct together, and thus allow Apple is able to achieve a lighter and thinner product. The result is a notebook that is so clean and so sleek looking in design, it's devoid of any evidence of screws to piece it together and without any vents, confirms that this new design doubles as an effective heatsink.
While it's nice to see the MacBook now offer the same look and materials as the MacBook Pro, Apple may now run the risk of cannibalizing sales of its own pricier MacBook Pros, as they both look almost identical to each other and features-wise, the line between the two is blurring. Call it the MacBook Pro mini if you will in appearance, Apple has revolutionized a new way to build quality notebooks that are also environmental friendly.

Size and Weight
Impressively, the new MacBook is even thinner and lighter than before, achieving a thickness of only .95 " - the same as the new MacBook Pro. At 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook is 1.5 pounds lighter than the outgoing model with weight evenly distributed across thanks to its unibody construction (read: less parts). At 12.78" x 8.94", the new machines are pretty much identical in dimensions to the last generation models.

Keyboard
Love it or hate it, Apple has now transitioned its entire Mac lineup to the retro-looking "chiclet-style" keyboard with the new MacBooks. Rather than color match the keys with the aluminum body, Apple's new design direction employs the use of black keys to give the notebook an interesting design contrast. The downside of having black keys is noticeable fingerprint smudging from oily fingers; At least it won't look and get dirty like the older white MacBooks. Aesthetics aside, the full-size keyboard is a real pleasure to type on with very solid and satisfying clicks. The keys may be flat and spaced out, but it's oh-so-comfortable to type on with just the right amount of key travel and spring action. The higher end model also offers LED backlit keys for the first time on a MacBook - once again, blurring the lines between the MacBook and MacBook Pro in features.

Display
With a gorgeous 13.3" LED-backlit LCD screen fully encased beneath a black bezeled glass, the MacBook's display is stunning to look at even when powered off. The glossy finish makes colors really pop and adds to its enhanced vibrance, but at the cost of massive glare, making outdoor viewing difficult. Indoor viewing is not as bad, but reflections abound so be mindful of viewing angles and tilt adjustments. At first glance, the display seems identical to the previous MacBook screen with the same 1280x800 native resolution, but thanks to the new LED-backlighting, the display is evenly lit across the screen and noticeably brighter than the previous generation models. Watching movies was a real treat even though you'll find yourself seeing your own reflection in lighted areas. But when compared to the MacBook Pro's larger screen, the MacBook's picture quality is still inferior and you'll notice the contrast and blacks drop out when viewed from an angle - The MacBook Pro's, on the otherhand, looks great at any angle. This is a big reason why Apple would like for you to pay the extra money to go Pro for the better screen. A built-in iSight camera is included as well like before on the top of the display.

Buttonless Glass Trackpad
Apple once again leads the competition by offering zero buttons...no really! Apple has created the first "buttonless" trackpad built entirely of glass that also includes multi-touch technology. The entire trackpad is essential a button in itself where pushing down creates a solid click to confirm depresses. While it takes getting used to at first, the trackpad actually turns out to be very intuitive with a smooth glossy feel. The MacBook Air introduced 3-finger scrolling and the MacBook and MacBook Pro now offer 4-finger multi-touch scrolling for calling upon Expose and Spaces functionality. While quirky, you'll soon appreciate the wonders the new glassy trackpad's buttonless design provides.

Connectivity
Apple has shrewdly and neatly moved all ports to the left side of the notebook (the right side now occupies the lone optical drive), giving it a very clean and organized look so there's no cluttered wires coming out of either side. With the MacBook, you get 2 USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet port, audio in/out jacks, MagSafe charge port, and the new mini DisplayPort that replaces the old mini-DVI out in an effort to save precious component space. Also of convenience is the battery meter on the same side. In a surprising move, Apple has curiously decided to omit FireWire in the new MacBook that was previous made standard across the entire Mac lineup. Now, the only way for media heads to take advantage of FireWire connectivity is to shell up the $700 for the MacBook Pro or buy a pricey adapter. While most people can argue that FireWire's adoption is dwindling in favor of USB, one of the unique things that made FireWire so special for Macs is the target disk feature, allowing the computer to boot OS X off any FireWire external drive. Call it cost-cutting or the death of FireWire adoption, we call it a disappointment.

The DisplayPort is another interesting move on Apple's part to capitalize on a new standard that not only saves component space from the larger DVI and mini-DVI ports, but transitions across all future Macs. Unfortunately, Apple is skimping on the accessories as you'll have to shell the hefty $99 for the mini DisplayPort adapter kit to connect an external monitor. Harsh.

For the common consumer, the MacBook provides just enough of what you need and nothing you don't in terms of available ports. Trimming the fat, Apple still doesn't offer any built-in digital card reader into the unit when compared to the competition and ExpressCard is a feature you'll only find on the MacBook Pro. Limited but more than sufficient.

Upgrading
One of the pains of owning an Apple notebook before was the difficulty in upgrading the basic hardware components. It took a few dozen tiny screws just to get to the harddrive! Not so with these new notebooks. Apple clearly did it's homework when redesigning the MacBook and MacBook Pro, making it very easy to open and upgrade. Only 2 aluminum plates pieces hold the base together, providing easy access into the harddrive compartment and RAM slots through a simple flip of a latche. The big news is the removable battery, now tucked neatly beneath one panel next to the hard drive. Upgrading is limited to your standard harddrive upgrade (SATA or SSD) and adding more RAM (up to 4GB max).
Performance

We've ran the awesome xbench scoring system for the Mac OSX system. The following xbench file has been generated:

Results 166.40
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.5 (9F2088)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model MacBook5,1
Drive Type FUJITSU MHZ2160BH FFS G1
CPU Test 130.27
GCD Loop 231.33 12.19 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 110.01 2.61 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 89.98 2.97 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 161.79 28.17 Mops/sec
Thread Test 223.78
Computation 394.19 7.99 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 156.24 6.72 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 169.95
System 187.15
Allocate 219.84 807.34 Kalloc/sec
Fill 160.39 7798.53 MB/sec
Copy 190.62 3937.16 MB/sec
Stream 155.64
Copy 148.05 3057.84 MB/sec
Scale 147.50 3047.36 MB/sec
Add 165.94 3534.84 MB/sec
Triad 162.89 3484.61 MB/sec
Quartz Graphics Test 156.66
Line 144.27 9.60 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 187.28 55.91 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 153.22 12.49 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 151.91 3.83 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 152.99 9.57 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 137.40
Spinning Squares 137.40 174.30 frames/sec
User Interface Test 263.01
Elements 263.01 1.21 Krefresh/sec
Disk Test 34.41
Sequential 40.08
Uncached Write 60.79 37.32 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 24.75 14.00 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 29.32 8.58 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 113.16 56.87 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 30.14
Uncached Write 11.14 1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 65.17 20.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 58.06 0.41 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 96.87 17.97 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Battery Life: 187 minutes Recharge Time: 122 minutes

Features:

The MacBook is a real engineering marvel. It's stunning good looks compliment the bevy of new advanced technology and engineering features. The Intel Core2Duo 2.0Ghz model ($1299) we received proved plenty capable of handling most common computing tasks and comes with a 160gb harddrive and 2gb of RAM (with the 1066Mhz FSB). A 2.4Ghz model is available as well for an additional $300 sticker price and includes a 250Gb SATA drive. Both models offer the option of the pricey but fast SSD drive.
Ditching the weak integrated graphics chipset from Intel, the MacBook finally offers a dedicated true graphics engine in the form of the nVidia GeForce 9400M making for better handling of 3D graphics and video. The results, are quite noticeable in speed and video performance throughout the system. Another great feature with this card is that it results in lower heat generation as the CPU no longer has to work so hard in processing these tasks. However, don't expect the GPU to bowl you over in graphics-heavy applications though (read gaming). But, the 9400M certainly does pack a good amount of 3D punch to your videos, media, and gaming sessions, especially with the likes of the new Adobe Photoshop utilizing thus features.
Wireless-N, Bluetooth, SuperDrive and iSight are all standard features as usual.
Heat and noise wasn't much of an issue with the new MacBooks thanks to the entire aluminum unibody acting as a giant heatsink. The notebook runs warm but not quite as hot as older models and a soft hum can be heard only when the fan kicks in intermittently. No issues here. In our battery tests, watching a DVD yielded about 2:40 of juice, and in basic tasks such as web browsing and word processing, a respectable 4:30 of life.
Conclusion
Overall, we found the new MacBook a real pleasure to use as with all Mac products we've tested. It's a gorgeous, sexy piece of machinery and certainly the best MacBook yet. But we do question Apple's decision to make the MacBook so closely identical in looks and features to the MacBook Pro... Anyway, at $1299 starting, it's a tad more expensive than we had hoped it would be, but you do get a lot for your money namely the aluminum casing, glassy multi-touch buttonless trackpad and of course, the revolutionary unibody "brick" construction and for a whole $700 cheaper than the cheapest MacBook Pro model. Nonetheless it's a excellent buy for one of the best notebooks around on the market. Some may not like Apple's new design direction (myself included) utilizing black keys to contrast the aluminum, but there's no denying this is one of the best looking laptops available.

Bottom Line:
With a dedicated GPU and aluminum body, it might be "safe" to call the MacBook the "true" successor to the highly heralded Powerbook 12". Well...almost - the lack of FireWire is a serious hit and it's still a tad too big. What about calling it a MacBook Pro mini? Not quite but its darn close. A better display and graphics card, Firewire, ExpressCard slot, and LED keys are all that gets in the way of the $700 difference, features wise. Yet, the lines between the consumer and pro models are fading away ever so slightly...Suddenly $1299 feels like a great bargain.

luxurynotebook present Lenovo x200

2010-11-15T09:32:00.000+01:00

Lenovo x200

Slightly Smaller, slightly more powerfull, slightly less spendy...

Pros

Stark Black Design
Decently Powerful Components
Awesome Battery life with 9-cell
Decent display resolution for it’s size
Connectivity is adequate

Cons

Huge Battery really increases weight
No optical drive option
Minimal Graphics Options
Upgrade options are awkward

Editors Rating:

	Design
	Features
	Battery Life
	3D Performance
	Mobility

Recommended for:

	Gamers
	Travelers
	Entertainment
	Business
	Students

Lenovo x200

Published October 23, 2008 at 10:45:13 AM, by Travis Simon
Design & Features
Overview

Today were putting the Lenovo x200 through its course. The x200 is the smaller brother to the now infamous x300, and an upgrade to the x61 series of earlier years (best in class for ultraportable as far as were concerned). Although being smaller, and lacking an optical drive, the x200 doesnt seem too tiny nor as thin as the x300, and developing most of its hardships with the battery bay and standard tracking devices. Of course, this is a very near end pre-consumer level model were reviewing, so Im sure things have gotten ironed out as soon as this review hits the shelf as far as fit and finish is concerned (more at the end of the review on that)

The x200 is a 12.1 widescreen ultraportable, in which it features the new Montevina platform, (not to be confused with actual Centrino 2 certification as it makes no claim to being certifiedyet) and runs the Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 at 2.4 GHz. It Features a 1066 MHz FSB with a 3mb cache limit and a nice low 25 TDP. Big measurements (although technical) would be the newer FSB and low TDP otherwise, marking a smaller die for the CPU and no increase in cache limit. We cant always win, but its a step in the right direction. Our pre-consumer unit came pretty loaded consulting the ordering screen from Lenovo. It did skimp us on the operating system, only touting Vista basic and WWAN feature, but did allow us an extra gigabyte of RAM, fingerprint reader, 160 GB HDD and Integrated Bluetooth, making the running total around $1,600.

Design
Case look and feel

The case is standard Lenovo x series styling there is little to no color variations, sticking with its stark black rubber like finish, branding stamped across the base of the LCD lid, which is held to the strong chassis by the now loved/hated steel hinges. There is also suitably efficient LED readouts at the top telling some simple status changes of your unit.

The x200 features the tapered front end, housing the media card reader and LCD release latch. If you seen one x series Lenovo, youve pretty much seen them all as far as styling is concerned. Although Im not flattered by it, it does hold its own for material and minimalists. It is made of the strong magnesium allowing very little flex, and this time around, features two run off points underneath the laptop for spilled liquid.

Although I didnt feel like testing this feature, its nice to note and Im sure will save some busy coffee / cola drinker one morning.
Size & Weight
The size is very nice, featuring a decently slim profile, very thin LCD housing, and weighs just under 2.95 lb with the 4 cell battery. However, our unit came packaged with the extended 9 cell battery, which extrudes out the rear pretty awfully.

Yes, you do gain that tremendous battery life, but it makes this ultraportable larger than it should, and weighs just about as heavy as a 14.1 counterpart nearing almost 3.7 pounds. Looks will deceive you if you arent prepared for this change.
Keyboard

The keyboard again is strict Lenovo X series styling and specifications, holding cues to previous models before it, featuring alphanumeric typing keys that are spaced 18.5 mm vertically and 18.2 mm horizontally, which is defined as full-sized by ISO/IEC 15412. The stroke travel is a full 2.5 mm, which is always a pleasure to type on.
But, unlike the SL series that was also released, this still features the track-point nub in the center. Although keen for space saving design, and a following crowd of aficionados, I would have much rather seen an implemented track pad, and even make it multi-touch based like the Asus series that we just reviewed, to help aid in all those cramped Fn buttons. Am I nitpicking? Of course, but lets lay that out there.
Display quality

The display is a 1280x800 widescreen 16:10 aspect ratio display. There are 15 levels of brightness offered with a max output nearing 200 nits, a 50 nit increase of the former x61, and a welcomed addition. I noticed it didnt have very great side to side viewing angles on some PDF documents, but mostly, color representation was very decent, with adequate indoor backlighting. Outdoors seemed a bit washy or mixed results, which might harbor others to look into a more transflexive notebook option if they are constantly outdoors.
Connectivity
Connectivity is pretty standard, albeit changed from its predecessor, and a bit different from its thinner, lighter, much more expensive brother the x300. First and foremost, there is no optical drive. It doesnt list as an option of ordering one, so picking up a slim USB 2.0 self powered drive (a la the one the U110 we reviewed earlier came with) would be a handy option if you plan on using this machine to view, read, burn, or transfer optical media with. This might be a deal breaker for a lot of people but foreseeing the available prices and capacities for flash drives, SD media, and wireless data banks it might not to others.

The left side houses the power jack, exhaust, 2 USB ports, monitor-out, Gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard 54mm slot, and the wireless LAN on-off switch. This is to note that it turns off all wireless options, Bluetooth and WLAN. Im not sure about WWAN as my unit did not come configured to use this.

The front, as mentioned earlier, can contain either a 5-1 media reader, or an SD card slot. Ours totes the SD card reader slot.

The right, with our configured unit, came with another USB port, headphone out, microphone, modem port, and lock slot.

The rear houses nothing other than the obtrusive battery (in being fair, it was just a bit too big for my taste.)
Upgrading?
Even though WWAN wasnt configured in our pre-consumer level test system, the antenna that is needed to utilize these features is installed by default, so its simply a matter of inserting the WWAN card into the bay inside the x200, call up new service, and away you go. Since I dont utilize a company or hardware to test that feature, I can only say that it is possible to upgrade to using it.
Memory can be configured a few ways, which can handle up to 3 GB of internal memory. Which, is all Windows Vista Basic would utilize anyways, so if you feel cramped, you can do a little memory management there.

Hard drive capacity is another relative upgrade, with Lenovos website listing solid state 64gb as an option, and all the way up to a 320gb 5400 rpm drive. As a note, were sure it could handle the newer 7200rpm drives that are 320 GB but were not 100% positive.
Features

Some excellent features on the x200 that are worth noting that are new is the spill flow keyboard, and biometric finger print reader. Also, the x200 features that handy ThinkLight, an LED near the top bezel of the LCD and offers illumination for typing in near darkness. Its handy, its welcomed, and although not as cool as a backlit keyboard, functions just as well.

Lenovo decided to implement a webcam on this model as well which will serve great for video conferencing, but unless you need proof that someone is at the office and need to see it, the benefits of video-conferencing and voice conferencing is minimal in my opinion.

Again, the x200 does feature the ability to connect to GPS WWAN services from Verizon, Vodafone, Telus or KDDI but mine didnt have this feature.
The speaker, on the x200 is pretty dismal. Great for the beeps, hums, chimes and pings from OS system sounds, but otherwise, pretty pitiful. Dont count on it for much more than a what just happened, I thought I heard something Alert status.
Performance & Conclusion
Windows Vista Experience Score
The Windows Vista Experience score is a 3.7. In comparison, the U110 we reviewed earlier this year was a 3.5. The breakouts are featured below:

3Dmark Vantage
3Dmark Vantage refused to operate, and in which, I didnt test 3Dmark 06 on this unit. Its 3D abilities are not being included.
PCMark Vantage Pro
*UPDATE*
In light of the other blunder of leaving power save mode on, the PCmark Vantage score has been updated using "full performance" power scheme, and greatly affects the outcome to nearly 3200 PCmark Vantage points. Sorry for the mix up. In light - this is one very decently powered ultraportable.

WorldBench 6 (33 on power save 86 on full performance)

Ok, so here we see some major spanking happening. Itobliterates other ultraportable competition models with ease. In power save mode its pitiful and I was so shocked when I first ran the test, it only gathered 33 Worldbench points. I was like, that can not be right! And I wasnt! Thankfully I had set the laptop to full powersave and not full performance. Once that blunder was reconciled, and worlbench set its course to run again -it indeed, did pick up the pace. It hammered a striking 86 worldbench points down the tube!
Battery Performance

Ok, so me demeaning that battery for looks has its take-backs. I was successfully able (with power stretch) to somehow navigate 8 hours and 47 minutes on the x200. All at one time, mind you. Thank god it comes in this battery flavor as I wasnt feeling good from the night before and seeing my horrible entourage captured on Facebook made passing my time down laying down in bed much easier. Seriousness aside, the x200 with its 9-cell battery packs some serious longevity. I couldnt test its real world DVD rundown time, but Im assuming you could get by with watching a full movie (via external USB DVD drive), running some spreadsheets and youtubes afterwards bringing heavy use to a moderate 5.5 or 6 hours.

Real-life usage:All in all its not much to look at, but what it does offer is a nice punch under the hood for performance if it needs it. Using that power saver profile and power stretch program, you can really thin things to the lines of ultimate mobility with this unit and its 9 cell battery.

The only other gripes I come are from pre-consumer build quirks (9 cell battery being fairly losedont grab this by its tail end thats for sure, and gaps with some panels on the LCD housing). Other than that the heat and efficiency of this unit is awesome.
Conclusion
If youre looking for a stiff upgrade to your x61 series, need a widescreen, dont mind missing out on a track pad, and like the idea of no optical drive, the x200 can fit the bill, and fit it much more nicely than some other ultraportable. However, this is such a new platform still that it would be hard pressed for me to say that this is THE ultraportable to get. If it came outfitted with an external drive, a transflexive screen, a track pad option (as the x300) and a more advanced video card, I would say yesbut until then, it measures quite well, but not in the realm of unbelievable.

Pros:
- Stark Black Design
- Decently Powerful Components
- Awesome Battery life with 9-cell
- Decent display resolution for its size
- Connectivity is adequate
Cons:
- Huge Battery really increases weight
- No optical drive option
- Minimal Graphics Options
- Upgrade options are awkward
  
  Bottom Line:
  A healthy refresh to the older X series, now offering widescreen and beefier components, the x200 is a very decent commuter workstation. Now, we just need a slight refresh to the aesthetics, a couple of more advanced output options, and a track pad / track point option, and we might have more of a winner. Oh, and usable speaker(s) would be nice as well.

luxurynotebook present Apple MacBook Air Review

2010-11-15T09:30:00.000+01:00

Apple MacBook Air Review

Thin is in, but does the MacBook Air have what it takes to compete in the crowded ultraportable category? Read on to find out!

Pros

Incredibly thin and light
Incredibly sexy
Multi-touch trackpad
Multi-finger scrolling for web browsing
Illuminated keyboard
Gorgeous widescreen screen
Impeccable build quality

Cons

Incredibly expensive
External optical drive is an optional purchase
Only 1 USB port - doesn't fit all devices
No additional ports nor expandiblility
So-so battery life
So-so performance - slower than MacBook
No stereo sound (mono speaker)
Large for a ultra-portable class laptop
Did I mention it's incredibly expensive?

	Design
	Features
	Battery Life
	3D Performance
	Mobility

Recommended for:

	Gamers
	Travelers
	Entertainment
	Business
	Students

Apple MacBook Air Review

Published August 25, 2008 at 01:16:12 PM, by Raymond So
Overview & Features
Apple’s much anticipated and much talked about ultra-portable notebook computer has arrived and it’s definitely a looker. This incredibly razor-thin computer is quite possibly the sexiest little laptop to come around. Ever. With a height of just 0.76 inches at its thickest (0.16” at the tip), the MacBook Air is the thinnest notebook on the market. And with looks that Paris Hilton will certainly love, the MBA is going to attract attention wherever you tote this 3 lb. aluminum beauty around…even inside a manila folder!

While this is Apple’s first ultraportable, it is still considerably larger sitting next to the sub notebooks from the likes of Sony and Fujitsu. The glossy 13.3” widescreen LCD, borrowed from the consumer MacBook line, displays bright and crisp visuals with plenty of real estate. At 12.8” wide by 8.94” deep, the MacBook Air even has dimensions that are near-identical to the “regular” MacBook’s. In fact, aside from the weight and depth factor, the MacBook Air is literally just a really, really thin MacBook. Moreover, it’s even 2” wider than the now-defunct PowerBook 12”, hardly “ultraportable” in comparison. Sorry, but once you go beyond 13 inches, the computer is no longer ultraportable to me.
Features & Technology

At $1799 starting, you don’t get a lot of features or performance compared to comparably priced notebooks, but it is amazing how much Apple was able to cram into such a thin frame. The base model comes with a 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Low Voltage processor with 2GB of DDR2 RAM (which is not user replaceable or upgradeable), 802.11b/g/n WiFi, iSight camera built-in, illuminated keyboard, and a 60GB 1.8" hard-drive running at 4200RPM. Unique to the MBA is the large multi-touch touchpad with technology borrowed from the iPhone for finger gesture commands within applications The three-finger scroll is particularly useful, allowing the user to scroll forward or back in-between web pages, and pinching allows for zooming functionality. Expect this technology to make its way across future Apple laptops.

Those with extra money to burn can option for the 1.8GHz processor and ridiculously expensive $1000 "upgrade" for the faster yet smaller 64GB solid state disk (SSD) drive, which we strongly urge against as the performance gains are minimal. Fully loaded, you're looking at a $3000 laptop that doesn't really do much for you other than lighten your wallet. But then again, value isn’t the name of the game here. The MacBook Air is a status symbol; kind of like a tiny, expensive purse. It isn’t practical, but damn does it look good under your arm out & about.

Intel went to great lengths to engineer a micro-sized version of the venerable Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processor exclusively for the MacBook Air. The CPU is 60% smaller than the standard C2D laptop processor which is no easy feat, and thus for the lucky MBA buyer, much of the development costs get passed down in the price tag. The re-engineering was necessary to meet the real estate demands of this diminutive system.
Connectivity, Performance, & Conclusion

Those looking to find a fully featured multimedia notebook will certainly have to look elsewhere. There's just ONE USB 2.0 port available to connect an external device and FYI: not all USB devices may fit into the port - a major design flaw. There is an audio out jack and a micro-DVI port, but that is all! No Ethernet jack, no 56K model, no media card reader or firewire ports. Nothing. Not even stereo sound! This is definitely a companion laptop for the fashion conscious mobile user, but that is about the limit of its practicality. Out of the box, you will have rely on WiFi only to access data without a USB cable. To install off a CD or DVD, a special utility allows the MacBook Air to remotely access a nearby computer’s optical drive and stream the data over WiFi. However, the utility cripples the drive’s capabilities, limiting the user to read/write capabilities only, meaning no remote video viewing, music playback or disc burning. Bummer. If you desperately need dedicated optical support, you'll have to shell out another $99 for the external SuperDrive, which of course only works with the MacBook Air. There is also a USB Ethernet adapter available for $29. At least these “optional” accessories are priced fairly reasonably.
Performance

Performance-wise, the MacBook Air is decent at best. It works wonderfully like any Mac would, with the excellent and swift Leopard OS X, but it lags behind the considerably cheaper MacBooks and upmarket MacBook Pros. 3D performance is a non-starter of course, with integrated graphics. Worse, the fixed battery only manages a disappointing 3-4 hours of juice under normal usage.

Specs	MacBook Air	iMac	PowerBook 12"
Specs	Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, 1.8" 4200rpm HDD, GMA X3100 graphics, OSX 10.5.2	Core Duo 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, 3.5" 7200rpm HDD, ATi Radeon X1600 128MB, OSX 10.5.2	PowerPC 1.33GHz, 512MB RAM, 2.5" 5400rpm HDD, NVIDIA GeForce FX Go 5200 64MB, OSX 10.4.10
CPU Test	85.14	85.97	54.39
Memory Test	139.41	134.26	33.80
Quartz Graphics Test	97.63	137.66	65.97
OpenGL Graphics Test	17.15	145.39	67.33
Disk Test	26.29	78.73	20.28

As you can see from the table above, the Intel processor platform has a significant processing advantage over the old PowerPC days. Even more interesting is the fact that despite being higher clocked, the Core Duo is about as fast as the lower clocked Core 2 Duo.

Conclusion

Pros:

Incredibly thin and light
Incredibly sexy
Multi-touch trackpad
Multi-finger scrolling for web browsing
Illuminated keyboard
Gorgeous widescreen screen
Impeccable build quality

Cons:

Incredibly expensive
External optical drive is an optional purchase
Only 1 USB port - doesn't fit all devices
No additional ports nor expandiblility
So-so battery life
So-so performance - slower than MacBook
No stereo sound (mono speaker)
Large for a ultra-portable class laptop
Did I mention it's incredibly expensive?

So is the MacBook Air worth the hype? Sure, the super thin profile is very unique and eye catching, but once the eye candy wears off you aren’t left with much. If you are purely out on the go, perhaps with a desktop to handle connectivity and storage needs, the MacBook Air will fit anywhere, but will leave you wanting with no replaceable battery for additional runtime and no integrated mobile broadband; you would have to occupy your only USB port if you needed connectivity other than WiFi. For users who have a notebook as their primary computer, they will have to buy a plethora of accessories just to make the MacBook Air usable. The MBA-specific optical drive, USB Ethernet adapter, and a USB hub come to mind as the bare minimum one would need to run the MBA at a desk without feeling constrained. Did I mention you can’t add any more memory?
Now does all this mean it is a terrible notebook? Not at all. It does succeed in its goal: to be the ‘halo’ product for Apple, the uber-high end machine that isn’t incredibly practical – think of it as using a Lamborghini to get groceries. But true mobile computing users need to carefully consider their needs before making the plunge with the MacBook Air. When you consider that the MacBook Pro is 1.0” thin with far more practical features and a similar starting price, you might wonder if a 0.16-0.76” thickness is all it’s cracked up to be. Well, at least it brings a whole new meaning to the term, "I got an MBA."