The Laptop review

Feature filled microlaptops at microprices today

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:33:06 +0100

Microlaptops are usually based upon the low power Intel Atom processor and still come with good old "Fisher Price" Windows XP, which means they actually do very well for email, Internet and are of course very small and convenient to carry around on your travels or between lectures at Uni.

If you like the little EeePC, but you're a bit afraid of Linux and how it might work with your office and home apps then an XP microlaptop could be for you.

Fujitsu Amilio Mini M2010 Netbook in Black - VFY:M2010MPXU8GB

Processor - Intel Atom N280 / 1.66 GHz

RAM - 1 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM - 533 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )

Hard Drive - 160 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm

Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Screen - 10.1' TFT 1024 x 600 ( WSVGA ) - BrilliantView

Graphics - Intel GMA 950

Bluetooth - Yes

Notebook Camera - Integrated - 1.3 Megapixel

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £350.97 Now £309.97

Acer Aspire One 751h Laptop in Blue - 4 Hour Battery Life - LU.S850B.219

Processor - Intel Atom Z520 1.22 GHz

RAM - 1 GB (installed) 2 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive - 160 GB

Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Screen - 11.6 in TFT active matrix 1366 x 768

Bluetooth - No

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £362.97 Now £318.97

Acer Aspire 751h Laptop in Red - 4 Hour Battery Life - LU.S820B.170

Processor - Intel Atom Z520 / 1.22 GHz

RAM - 1 GB (installed) / 2 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM ( 1 x 1 GB )

Hard Drive - 160 GB

Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Screen - 11.6" TFT 1366 x 768 ( WXGA ) - CrystalBrite

Graphics - Intel GMA 500

Bluetooth - No

Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £362.97 Now £318.97

Acer are a bit stingy with their webcam, but this little netbook has a beautiful little widescreen display.

Samsung NC10 Netbook in Pink - NP-NC10-KB05UK

Processor - Intel Atom N270 / 1.6 GHz

RAM - 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM - 800 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )

Hard Drive - 160 GB - Serial ATA-150

Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Screen - 10.2' TFT 1024 x 600 ( WSVGA )

Graphics - Intel GMA 950 - 128 MB

Bluetooth - Yes

Notebook Camera - Integrated - 1.3 Megapixel

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £352.97 Now £299.97

A fast, full featured little micro laptop from Samsung for under £300!

Three laptops hovering around 300 pounds mark

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:21:18 +0100

Lenovo 3000 G530 Laptop - NSH22UK

Processor - Intel Celeron 900 / 2.2 GHz

RAM - 2 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM - 667 MHz - PC2-5300 ( 1 x 2 GB )

Hard Drive - 160 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm

Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic

Screen - 15.4" TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) - 24-bit (16.7 million colours) - VibrantView

Optical Drive - DVD-Writer - integrated

Graphics - Intel GMA 4500M

Bluetooth - No

Notebook Camera - Integrated - 0.3 Megapixel

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £353.97 Now £299.97

It's powerful little economy laptop for £300 from Lenovo. Expect great office use and DVD playback. Note that this laptop comes with the very restricted "basic" Windows Vista so RAM upgrades and some operating system functions are restricted.

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-1FK Laptop with 2GB RAM - PSLB9E-02U003EN2GB

Processor - Intel Celeron 585 2.16 GHz

RAM - 2 GB (installed) 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive - 160 GB

Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Screen - 15.4 in TFT active matrix 1280 x 800

Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM

Graphics - Intel GMA 4500M

Bluetooth - No

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £362.97 Now £309.97

A rather outdated processor and hardware makes this a second choice after the Lenovo but its an economy laptop. However, if it makes sense you can upgrade your RAM for a reasonable cost and it will work better with Vista Home Premium.

Toshiba satellite under 400 pounds at Misco

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:55:59 +0100

The Bank Holiday laptop bonanza continues! See Cheap Laptops Toshiba selection for rock bottom Toshiba prices.

Samsung savings - netbook under 300 pounds

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:45:04 +0100

Samsung NC10 Netbook in White - NP-NC10-KB04UK

Processor - Intel Atom N270 / 1.6 GHz

RAM - 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM - 800 MHz ( 1 x 1 GB )

Hard Drive - 160 GB - Serial ATA-150

Operating System - Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Screen - 10.1' TFT 1024 x 600 ( WSVGA )

Graphics - Intel GMA 950

Bluetooth - Yes

Notebook Camera - Integrated - 1.3 Megapixel

Warranty - 1 year warranty

The Samsung NC10 is an attractive micro laptop for browsing and email on the go.

Now £298.97

Samsung NC10 Netbook in White - NP-NC10-KB04UK

Cheap laptop deals from PC World today

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:04:15 +0100

PC World is pushing the boat out this Bank Holiday weekend with some fantastic offers. Get your trigger (or rather mouse) finger ready!

Compaq desktop replacement Laptop now £299 (as advertised on TV!)

The Compaq Presario CQ60-311 is a fantastic laptop for everyday computing. For a fantastic price you get 2 GB memory and 250GB Hard Drive!

Compaq Presario dewsktop replacement

Save over £100 the Acer Aspire micro laptop One now £249

The Acer Aspire One 531 comes in black finish. It boasts a long battery life of up to 7 hours and is extremely light weight at 1kg perfect for long journeys.

Acer Aspire Micro laptop

Hurry on down, offers only valid until Tuesday!

Toshiba laptop a steal for under 400 pounds

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:29:50 +0100

Starting university, and in need of a new laptop? Laptops Direct have a great selection of laptops for under £400. A great price for any new student. Some of the products include the Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-26P Laptop - PSLB9E-03V003EN and the Samsung Netbook NC10 Ultra Portable Laptop in Black - NP-NC10-KB02UK.

Laptops Under £400 - the shiny satellite option

Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-26P Laptop - PSLB9E-03V003EN

Processor - Intel Pentium T4200 / 2 GHz ( Dual-Core )

RAM - 1 GB (installed) / 4 GB (max) - DDR2 SDRAM - 800 MHz

Hard Drive - 120 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm

Operating System - Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

Screen - 15.4' TFT 1280 x 800 ( WXGA ) - TruBrite

Optical Drive - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM

Graphics - Intel GMA 4500M

Bluetooth - No

Warranty - 1 year warranty

Was £460.97, Now £329.97

Great deal, consider upgrading your RAM for Vista though.

Stay tuned for more truly Cheap Laptops that don't compromise on quality.

ACER laptop aces the competition on battery life

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:46:24 +0100

Acer has presented the new TravelMate 8000 Timeline series, a line up of professional notebooks specifically designed for no-compromise performance, superior security and trouble-free manageability, while offering extended productivity thanks to 8+ of battery life.

Acer aims to ace the competition!

While you are on the go, you should be able to relax because the TravelMate 8000 series for more than 8 hours of battery life – a whole working day - with just one charge, thanks to carefully chosen low energy consuming components such as the recently introduced Intel® ultra-low voltage (ULV) processors (the Intel® Core 2 Duo processor and Intel® Core 2 Solo processor ULV) and LED-backlit displays that consume less power than traditional backlighting.

Thanks to the low energy consumption, the innovative Intel ULV processors offer an incredibly long battery life and the same performance offered by the standard notebooks. These processors are creating a new business segment by offering the high performance we have come to expect from notebooks based Intel® technology within new ultra-thin packages, highly desirable for dynamic business usage models.

Solid State Drives - but not standard
Batteries can last even longer if more durable and lower energy consuming Solid State Disks are chosen over traditional HDDs. In addition, you can decide when you need top performance or you want to save energy: the TravelMate 8000 notebooks come with the Acer PowerSmart key. Just tap on the PowerSmart key to enable Acer PowerSmart Management and apply advanced settings to extend battery life. Stay in control, save energy and extend your productivity with just one touch.

The TravelMate 8000 Timeline series features a 16:9 aspect ratio display, 1366X768 HD resolution and high brightness whichis greayt for watching DVD moves in widescreen.

Now, back to busienss... Acer is offering various options, including 2GB or 4GB DDR3 memory (upgradable to 8GB), a 250GB or 320GB capacity hard drive and the standard 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Integrated 3G connectivity is set to be an add-on option later in the year.

Price-wise, there not 'cheap' but then again, you gets what you pays for. The 13.3in model with 250GB storage costs £579, the 14.1in model with 320GB costs £699 and the 15.6in model with 320GB storage costs £709.

Available here: Acer on dabs.com or Acer Travelmate Timeline At Misco

The techology sounds good, but what are user experiences? I'd like to hear comments from the first users, anyone?

HP laptop adds artistic flamboyancy at sensible cost

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:16:48 +0100

HP today unveiled a versatile notebook PC in June that is popping up in the shops aroung the UK. It featuring a unique and award-winning design that takes individual style and entertainment performance to new limits. Featuring the young Japanese designer Hisako Sakihama’s winning submission from the HP and MTV Engine Room Notebook Design Contest, the new HP Pavilion dv6 Artist Edition Notebook PC comes wrapped in an exceptional design inspired by the Okinawa sea and sky.

For tech-savvy youth looking to stand out from the crowd, this special edition notebook is the perfect stylish technology companion and also comes with a matching imprinted sleeve and mouse in the same one-of-a-kind Sea and Sky design.

Oozing creativity both inside and out, our dv6 Artist Edition Notebook has been created for youth by youth and underscores our commitment to providing PC innovation that delivers the performance and features this audience requires,” said Ben Perrins, HP's Consumer Business Development Manager, UK. “From its themed desktop, wallpaper and icons to the fun software and cool content, the new notebook delivers the tools to easily create, design and edit videos, photos and music.

HP Pavilion dv6-1200 Artist Edition

Based upon the HP Pavilion dv6 notebook platform, the mid-size dv6 HP Pavilion Artist Edition boasts a 15.6-inch HD 16:9 display with Flush Glass and delivers powerful visual performance and impressive features to match its sophisticated and elegant exterior. AMD Turion dual-core processor, high-resolution ATI video graphics, up to 6GB RAM (optional upgrade to 8GB) and up to 500 GB HDD provide all the power and storage you need to unleash your creativity, while built-in Bluetooth® keeps you wirelessly connected to all of your peripherals for a clutter-free, multimedia experience. In addition, an integrated webcam and dual digital microphones ensure high-quality connectivity for online social networking and communication.

Where cool design meets total enjoyment, the dv6 Artist Edition comes pre-loaded with HP MediaSmart software to amplify your all-in-one digital entertainment for playing creating and editing of recorded TV, photos, movies, music and more. In addition, the easy-to-use Corel software lets you expand your artistic expression and take care of your practical and creative needs, online and on-the-go with reliable quality; while your very own music studio is brought straight to your home with MAGIX Music Maker.

The unique design experience offered by the dv6 Artist Edition is further enhanced by its Sea- and Sky-themed Microsoft Vista® Desktop which features an animated clock and custom advisor dock with activity based icons.

The dv6 Artist Edition will be featured in an HP marketing campaign for European youth, Listen 2U. This campaign has a strong social networking element and blogger appeal, and includes games and video competitions to enable young people to win the dv6 Artist Edition among other prizes.

The HP Pavilion dv6-1200 Artist Edition will be available in the UK from August 2009 at a recommended street price of £699.

Great value Dell 1545 laptop

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:31:52 +0100

Just a quick sale notification for anyone who wants an excellent value desktop replacement laptop and hasn't seen the TV ads. The Dell 1545 with 3Gb DDR2 RAM and Vista Home Premium is going for just £399.97 on the Dell website at the moment.

I'd say it's great value for home or office-based use. Heavy for travel.

Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 (2GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache)

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium

3GB Memory. (Enough even for Vista)

250GB Hard Drive

Sony VAIO NS20E laptop - a sprinkle of style and sense

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:59:53 +0100

The Sony VAIO NS20 is a basic laptop from Sony VAIO which offers a refreshing sparkle of style and features to an otherwise rather dull budget laptop market.

Sony VAIO NS series

For just £450-500 you get solid laptop with a slim profile for good looks and portability. Its smooth rounded corners and edges give the VAIO NS an elegant and attractive feel. Gentle curves also keep exterior dimensions to a minimum and ensure that this laptop is really easy to slip into a bag or carrying case.

Excellent picture quality
With a good-size 15.4” widescreen display, the VAIO NS allows you to fully appreciate your multimedia entertainment without compromising portability.

Sony "X-black" LCD technology ensures images are bright and sharp for truly realistic and natural-looking pictures. I had never seen this in action an took it for a simple branding excersise but the intense contrast and colours bring multimedia files to life vividly on screen and it stacks up well compared to a price-competitive Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop. Its anti-reflective coating minimizes glare to allow enjoyment of movies, games and photo slideshows outside in the garden as well as from a wide variety of viewing angles.

Good connectivity
The VAIO NS also features a wide variety of connections including Sony's i.LINK™ for digital camcorders, a VGA (ie analogue) port which is good for most projectors an ExpressCard 34mm slot for memory cards, the laptop also accepts MemoryStick as you'd expect. Some models also featue an S-Video output for connecting up your laptop to a TV.

Solid hardware
It's well built for a budget laptop, with the kind of quality you'd expect from Sony. Its Intel Core Duo processor and 3Gb DDR2 RAM copes well with Vista and runs standard Office Suite software with ease.

And so this is where the mini-review should end. We've used them and we think they cope well with the demands of Vista Home Premium, offering a very pleasant user experience. Girls should keep their eyes open for the stunning pink models!

Silly software - but sound multimedia all round
Proprietary Sony VAIO software uses built-in intelligence to make simple work of organising rapidly growing – and potentially chaotic – collections of music and digital photos and video clips. VAIO Music Box uses a powerful ’12 Tone Analysis’ system to categorise music into different genres and moods, then automatically builds playlists that you can select to match the moment (hmm...).

VAIO Movie Story takes the work and complexity out of managing photos and video by vastly simplifying the task of arranging your pictures, adding effects and judicious editing to show them at their best, then synching the images to music. The result is a quality slideshow to enjoy and share – a long way from the original mass of pictures on the hard disk.

Sony’s trademark quality and attention to detail is evident wherever you look, from the X-black LCD enhanced screen to the clear tone of the integrated speakers and the provision of four USB ports for maximum connectivity. Along with the peace of mind that comes with the global status of the brand, this makes the VAIO NS hard to beat in its class.

Sony VAIO NS Series laptops at Cheap Laptops

Budget laptop beats the finance blues

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:38:22 +0000

The Advent netbook laptop is a low cost laptop for light home users and is ideal for word processing, accounting and browsing the Internet. Unlike most budget laptops, it is quite lightweight (1.12kg) making it suitable for carrying form place to place. The 10" Widescreen Display display is great for browsing the web and checking email, although the widescreen feature is a bit of a red herring becuase the laptop might not have quite the processor or memory performance you would like for smooth playback of movies.

The laptops uses the old Windows® XP operating system, but wait - that's not such a bad thing becasue a machine fast and big enough to run the overweight operating system would cost twice as much.

Oh yes, whilst we're on cost, that's what you want to know isn't it?

Advent laptop £279 but no DVD drive

The Advent 4211 C is currently available from PC World for just £279 - Wow!

Specs
This laptop comes with Intel’s newest and smallest ever processor, the Intel Atom as used in the eeePC. It's good 1GB Memory which isn't going to be great for games but will run the XP Home operating system without any trouble.

Unfortunately, like the eeePC it doesn't come with a CD or DVD drive! Again, this can be a good thing. A more solid laptop for starters, less to go wrong... OK that's the only reason but it's a valid one.

A generous 120GB hard drive provides ample space for storing music, photos and documents. Its also got 3 USB parts too, so you can plug in an external hard drive or DVD drive.

Additional features include a built in webcam, microphone and Bluetooth, so it's a good tool for Skype, NSN and any other program you choose to use to catch up with friends and family online.

Advent 4211 C Netbook now £279.99 from PC World

Entertainment laptop runs rings round HD video

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:27:48 +0000

The HP DV5-1110EM is a perfect Entertainment Laptop with Blu-Ray DVD drive and Radeon HD3450 graphics card it is equally adapt at watching movies or playing games.

HP Pavillion DV5-1000 series entertainment laptop

The laptop is powered by an AMD Turion X2 processor with 2 processing cores running at a respectable 2.10 Ghz for churning through video like a knife through butter. 3 GB DDR2 memory provides ample space to process and display video or games, although you might want to consider upgrading the OS to something state of the art (like Windows XP... haw haw) rather than using the Vista Home Premium that it is sold with.

Storage is in the form of a 250 GB hard drive, which is above average for a laptop, reflecting its multimedia / home cinema credentials as an entertainment laptop.

You can plug the laptop into your surround sound system to enjoy 3D sound for games, movies and music. 4 USB connections will allow you to plug in your iPod, printer, Skype handset and one more device - so its a sensible balance. If you're interested, it's also got an infra-red port which are rarely used but actually pretty good for syncing a basic Nokia or Sony Ericsson phone.

Many HP laptops have an S-Video output so it's a little dissapointing, but you can connect to many new digital flatscreen TVs with the laptop's HDMI (digital) output.

In most circumstances you'll be more than happy watching your DVDs or the BBC's marvellous iPlayer on the 15.4" High Definition display, but sadly this entertainment laptops lacks a TV output!

Weighing in at 2.65 kg you wouldn't rule this laptop out for business jetsetting, but that's not its purpose in life. For one thing it's also pretty large (259 mm * 357 mm *349 mm) but its high performance graphics and fast processor are also pretty tough on the battery life.

All in all a good little portable media laptop at a good price from a brand you can trust. It's available in Black / Silver from PC World priced £599 inc VAT.

Acer Aspire 5920 Laptop

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:07:34 +0100

The Acer Aspire 5920 is on sale at PC World UK for just £399.97 at the moment and just it's worth every penny. Shipping with Vista Home Premium, this affordable laptop has just about everything home-office buyers could ask for in a solid budget notebook. With a generous 3Gb DDR2 RAM and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2MB L2 Cache (4mb cache models are available) this little laptop is more than fit to cope with the trials of Vista and still pack a punch.

Acer have continued their car obsession of Ferrari and Lamborghini laptops with this suitably robust and clean design from BMW Designworks.

Acer Aspire 5250

The Aspire 5250's 250 GB SATA Hard drive allows you to store over 60,000 songs or 200,000 photos, with good read and write performance. When you've filled it up, there's a dual layer DVD drive which can back up up to 8.5 Gb to disc in one shot.

As you would expect from ACER, there's also a handy 5-in-1 card reader, supporting Secure Digital (SD), MultiMediaCard (MMC), Memory Stick® (MS), Memory Stick PRO™ (MS PRO), xD-Picture Card™ (xD) formats.

This is an excellent little package from ACER, perfect for the home or light traveling home office user. Watch the spec, just like any laptop there's alot more than one Aspire 5250 to chose from!

Laptop packs a punch for 300 pounds

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:32:26 +0100

The Extensa 5220 Value series from Acer is a light, compact laptop with "big" laptop performance at mini-laptop prices. It's great for short travel, weighing just 2.9 kg and is alos a good laptop for browsing the internet, checking your email and downloading music.

Features

Intel® Celeron 540 Processor Technology
1GB DDR2 RAM / 80GB Hard Disc Drive
DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM
Windows XP Professional (great for business users)

Cheap portable laptop

The laptop is powered by an Intel® Core™2 Duo 2.10GHz Processor with 1 MB L2 cache, which is good for around £300. It ships with 1GB RAM which is fine for Windows XP, should you wish to upgrade to resource hungry Vista at a later date then it is very affordable to upgrade to its max capacity of 2GB by ordering DDR2 laptop memory from suppliers such as Crucial.

This cheap little Cheap Laptops">laptop has an 80GB SATA-150 hard drive, which can load up large files quickly.

The 5520 has Ethernet (Gigabit Ethernet compatible) networking for use in the office or with a fast home multimedia network. For wireless use it has a wireless card that supports both old (11Mbps) and newer IEEE 802.11g (54 Mbps) networking.

Measuring 15.4", the screen's graphics are provided by an Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) X3100 which will do a good job with anything less than a full blown 3D shoot 'em up.

An 8X DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive is ideal for up to 8.5 Gb backup of files to DVD. For smaller file transfers between computers and devices such as mp3 players and cameras the laptop also has a multi-card reader that is compatible with SD, Sony Memory Stick and
Memory Stick PRO, MultiMediaCard and xD-Picture Card.

The laptops comes with a 1 year warranty and a trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 that lasts for 60 days. Of course, you can still use the wonderful Office 2003 with XP so there's no need to use it if you don't want to!

MESH laptop offers high preformance

nospam@example.com (Robin) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:16:41 +0100

The MSI PR600 Plus laptop from MESH offers high computing performance at a relatively cheap price of just £529 (£450 ex vat).

Affordable performance MESH laptop

Specification:

Windows Vista Home Premium (Good for most users, some may wish to consider upgrading for more features / control)
Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 Processor (2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory (Fast memory)
160GB SATA Hard Drive (Fast hard drive for laptops)
15.4" Widescreen ACV (stands for "Amazing Crystal Vision")
Bulit in extras including a 1.3 megapixel webcam and multi-memory card reader

MESH currently offer this already cheap laptop with a free carry case, USB Mouse and best of all a 2 Year collect and return warranty for UK Mainland customers.

Visit MESH to find out more