Features

• Two-sided RF remote control with 4-way D-pad navigation and a full QWERTY keypad
• SD Card Reader
• Innovative design
• HDMI out
• 2 USB 2.0 ports
• Ethernet and 802.11n wireless

Design

The look of the Boxee Box is definitely unique. It looks like a partially-sunken cube, which may be cute, but not all that efficient. I would have preferred something flatter, or thinner, so that it could more easily be hidden away. Right now I cannot hide the Boxee Box behind my TV without the TV being really far away from the wall.

Front

The entire outside of the Boxee Box is extremely simple. The top has a single power button, and the right side has a single SD card slot. The back is where the connectors are, but even that is very sparse. On the back is 1 Ethernet port, 1 HDMI out, 1 Optical Audio out, 1 pair of Analog audio out, a power port, and 2 USB ports.

Back

D-Link also included a optical, and analog audio ports. These can be useful if you have run out of HDMI ports in your receiver. You can instead run the HDMI to your TV and one of the audio types to your receiver. However, it would seem better to provide these ports in a dongle cable (http://img.bestdirect.ca/images/AVERMEDIA/MTVHDDVRR/MTVHDDVRR_1.jpg) so the Boxee box could be made more compact. If D-Link could get it down to the size of the Apple TV, that would be really great.

The design of the remote is also quite unique, and this is a good unique. The remote is double sided, with some simple controls on one side, and a full QWERTY keyboard on the other. The remote is also very lightweight so you arm does not get tired while holding it. The only change I would probably make is to include a back button on the front side of the remote, instead you have to press the menu button and go all the way back to the beginning.

Remote

Performance

Installing the D-Link Boxee Box was a snap. I simply plugged in the power, HDMI, and an Ethernet cable, and turned it on. Once it started up it immediately detected an update and started downloading it. Once the update was done it went directly to the main screen and was ready to be used.

Home

I got the Boxee Box because I wanted to replace my PC, which I used to play recorded TV and ripped DVDs, so playing local content is really important. So when I saw the main menu and it listed things like Shows and Movies I thought this might just work out. However, before I could play local media, I had to tell the Boxee Box where that media was located. This is done in the settings, which at first is not easy to find. It is represented by a small gear that appears when you press the menu button on the remote.

Settings

However, after adding the files I was disappointed to see that they did not show up in the Movies, and Shows lists. Instead, I had to go to the Files list to find them. Later, I discovered that the Movies and Shows menus had a sub menu called files. I suppose this is where they are suppose to appear, but only the Movies list worked. Their must be some criteria that I am not getting on my recorded TV because I never could get any files to appear here.

Files

Shows Menu

Movies Menu

Watching DVDs was simple and easy. I never had any trouble with the movie not playing smoothly or anything. However, watching recorded TV was a bit of a challenge. It seems the Boxee Box is able to decode some formats of recorded TV really well, and others not so well. In Windows XP and Vista the recorded TV format was .dvr-ms, but in Windows 7 Microsoft changed it to .wtv. The older format plays just fine on the Boxee Box, but the new format does not. So I had to find another program that would convert from wtv to dvr-ms. This wasn’t a huge issue since it is built into Windows 7, but it was something I had to manually start for each show and that was a pain.

Files

Files

Even though I could not get any of my own files to appear in the Shows, or Movies menus there was plenty of online material. The Boxee software pulls shows and movies from several different sources, some are free and others are not. Several times I found a movie that I wanted to watch, but when I clicked on it, I discovered that it required a paid account with some website. This was annoying for a while until I discovered that I could turn off the paid shows. When you are in the Shows or Movies screens you can click the top right button (it looks like 4 circles), and it will bring up a menu with free and premium sources that you can check or uncheck depending on what you want. I unchecked all the premium sources so I never had to worry about accidentally clicking on a movie that cost money.

Shows

Movies

Sources

Another Screen on the Boxee Box is called Apps. This screen lets you install a small specialized app that can assist you in finding and using media.

Apps

The other screens on the Boxee Box are Friends and Watch Later. I suppose these can be useful but I didn’t use them much. When I want to watch a show I watch it right away. Also I don’t really care what others are watching, so sharing with friends does not make sense.

Friends

Watch Later

Watch Later

Support and Warranty

The D-Link Boxee Box comes with a 1 year warranty. Considering that their are no moving parts, I am really disappointed. I would think a much longer term would be appropriate.

Conclusion

So far I am happy. I cannot quite say the Boxee Box is perfect, but with a little bit of learning and tweaking it is serving its purpose. I would certainly change the design to be more flat so that it could hide behind or under a TV better. Also the menus need to be more customizable. I would like to be able to sort the DVDs and put them into seperate lists for kids and adults without having to move the actual files (like a play list). However, for $180 I think I can live with some flaws.

Features

A new twist on business computing:

• Use the pen or the pen and finger touch (with multi-touch gesture support) to easily navigate applications, turn pages and complete tasks.
• 12.1-inch diagonal WXGA UWVA LED display with multi touch. Additional optional include Outdoor View display with multi-touch for easier viewing in natural light

Built for work on the go:

• Lightweight, yet rugged design with aluminum surface meets military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature
• Extensive wireless connectivity options—HP Mobile Broadband, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED WLAN and Bluetooth
• Global Positioning System (GPS) identifies your location around the world and guides you where you need to go

Smart solutions for mobile security and productivity:

• Access and modify e-mail, calendar, contacts and websites without waiting to boot up using HP QuickWeb
• Hard-drive data is protected from drops and sudden impact with HP 3D DriveGuard
• Enhanced security with integrated TPM chip and HP ProtectTools software—data encryption

Better designed for you and the environment

• Reduced environmental impact thanks to smarter power management, the optional HP Long Life Battery solution, greater recyclability and fewer substances of concern

Design

Because the 2760p is designed for the traveling business person, and can be used as a tablet or laptop, it is important that is has a usable, yet rugged design. The HP EliteBook 2760p is lightweight, rugged, has an aluminum surface, and meets military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature.

The right side of the 2760p has a quick launch button for QuickWeb, a headphone jack, SmartCard reader, 2 USB ports, phone jack, and a Kensington lock slot. I would really like to see the removal of the phone jack, is anyone still using a dial-up modem?

On the left side is an SD card slot, the Wi-Fi switch, Firewire, and another USB port.

On the back is the power plug, Ethernet, and VGA port. Above those, on the back of the lid is a rocker switch, esc button, screen rotate button, and a small hole for ctrl-alt-delete, these are used when in tablet mode. The rocker switch will move the cursor up and down, and the screen rotate button switches between portrait and landscape mode.

As mentioned above the 2760p has a few durability features and a couple of those are found on the keyboard. The keyboard is spill resistant, and the keys are coated with a special material that prevents the print from rubbing off. I really like how the keyboard goes from edge to edge. This shows that HP is really trying to maximize the available space and make typing a comfortable as possible. They keys also have a very nice feel, and they provide good feedback when pressed.

HP also includes both a pointing stick and a touchpad. The pointing stick does its job well by providing accurate navigation, but personally I don’t like them, so I didn’t use it for very much.

The relatively small 1.25″ x 2.75″ touchpad is adequate for moving around the screen, but does not provide enough room to move around comfortably. I would prefer to remove the pointing stick and its buttons, and in their place make the touchpad a lot bigger. If you look at the picture above you can see that without the pointing stick buttons HP could make the touchpad an inch taller and wider. On a side note, both the pointing stick and touchpad buttons have a nice rubbery feel and they are easy to press.

The screen on the 2760p is a 12.1-inch WXGA resolution ultra-wide viewing angle (UWVA) display. I was very excited to see that the screen has a matte finish. I really dislike the glossy screens that seem to have taken over laptops.

Above the screen is the usual webcam, and the HP exclusive keyboard light (I only say this because I have yet to see any other laptop maker include a keyboard light). Along the top of the bezel of the screen is a flip out wireless antenna. It is spring loaded, so as soon as you flip the switch it automatically comes out like a pocket knife.

To convert the laptop into a tablet it just takes a quick turn of the screen, and then it lays flat on top of the keyboard. Be careful though, because the screen only swivels one direction. If you try and swivel the screen the wrong way it will break. It would be nice if the screen could swivel either way, but currently that is not an option. I do like how securely the screen locks into place when in tablet mode, it uses the same locking mechanism in both laptop and tablet mode.

When the the 2760p is first put into tablet mode the screen may not be facing the correct direction. As far as I could tell there was no automatic way for it to rotate to fit the way it was being held (no tilt sensor), so you may have to press the screen rotate button several times to get it correct. It would be nice if the screen would automatically change as the tablet is rotated.

Once in tablet mode the screen can be used with either your finger or the supplied pen/stylus. I found using my finger was better for most functions, but when trying to press small buttons I had to use the pen. Speaking of the pen, it is attached to the tablet with a long string. I can only assume that HP got complaints about loosing the pen, so HP made that more difficult by using a string. The string is really long, and not retractable so it gets in the way when using the computer. How hard would it be for HP to make the string retractable?

The screen is also multi-touch, so you can use up to two fingers with some programs. Unfortunately, not all programs support multi-touch so it is trial and error process to find the ones that do. HP supplies a couple games and one of them does support multi-touch.

The biggest complaint I have about the tablet is the OS. I’m sorry, but no matter what Microsoft and others say, Windows 7 (or any other version of Windows) is not a tablet OS. Many of the buttons are too small (for example minimize, maximize, and close buttons), and just try and touch any of the icons down by the clock, they are so small it is almost impossible. It would be so much better if the OS would switch to a more touch friendly interface (i.e. larger icons) when in tablet mode.

The sound is adequate, but not great. I could hear movies, but not clearly, and when I was in a noisy room I could not understand anything. The speakers are down facing, which could explain why the sound was not very clear. However, HP is in a tough spot because up facing speakers would only work when in laptop mode, and not when in tablet mode. The only solution would be to put the speakers around the edge of the display. However, I don’t know how much room there is for speakers, so it may not be possible.

Performance

To test the performance of this machine I am going to run several tests. These tests include a battery, graphics, and full system test. However, before I get to that lets take a quick look at the specs of the EliteBook 2740p.

The first test is 3DMark06. This test focuses on testing the graphics system. The EliteBook 2740p got a score of 1936. At first this seems fairly low, but as I went back and compared it to some other laptops I have reviewed it actually seemed really good. The only laptop, of similar size, that got a higher score was the Asus F6Ve.

The next test is PCMark Vantage. This test is an overall system test and does not focus on any particular system. The EliteBook 2740p got a score of 5929. Again, not a spectacular score, but when compared to other laptops of similar size it comes out near the top, with only the Asus F6Ve getting a higher score.

The last test is the battery test. To test the battery I use MobileMark 2007, with WiFi off and the screen brightness set to 50%. As you can see from the image below the laptop came in at 322 minutes (5 hours 22 minutes) of run time. This is good for a laptop this size and I am happy. I was even more surprised to see that it got exactly the same battery time as the 2740p.

As I ran these tests I paid attention to the noise level and the heat that was produced. I never felt like there was an excessive amount of either.

Support and Warranty

HP backs the 2760p with a three-year warranty and a one-year warranty on the primary battery. This includes pick-up or carry-in, and toll-free 7 x 24 hardware technical phone support. On-site service and warranty upgrades are also available.

Conclusion

I really like this laptop, it is powerful, and versatile. If you travel a lot then the EliteBook 2760p would be great because of its compact size. If you need a tablet, but you also need something more powerful than an iPad or Android tablet, the 2760p would also be a great fit. All in all the EliteBook 2760p will fill many shoes and work well in any situation. However, as tablets become more powerful, computers like this will become increasingly obsolete.

While looking around at all the different graphics cards for the upgrade I knew that I had a small budget. Because I wanted the new card to be around $150 I knew I could not get a current generation card. I wanted to get a GeForce 460 because I knew how great the performance was. According to what I read one 460 could outperform two 260s.

The card I ended up getting is the EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SuperClocked Video Card from TigerDirect and it only cost $169.99 and it has a $30 mail in rebate. I was able to sell my old card for $60 so in the end I really only paid $79.99 for this card. In addition this card comes with a lifetime warranty, a really great bonus.

Once I purchased the card and it was delivered I went to install it. The biggest concern I had is that the 260 was big card and I was worried that the 460 would be even bigger. If it is bigger I don’t think it will fit in my case.

After removing the 260 measured it against the 460 and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the 460 is actually smaller. Installation was quite easy because of the smaller size.

So was it all worth it? Did I get better performance? Well here are the results. With my original setup I measured the power usage and the performance. When idling at the login screen my computer with the 260 installed used about 184 watts and while running 3DMark Vantage it jumped up to 291 watts.

With the new setup and the 460 installed my computer idled at a slightly lower 156 watts. During the performance test it got to around 302 watts. This is slightly unexpected. I expected the power to be higher both with idle and load. So to see it lower during idle and higher under load is hard to explain. Perhaps their is some power saving feature that kicks in when the computer is idle.

For testing performance I ran 3DMark at 1280 x 1024 on the old card and got a score of 11771. On the new card I ran the same test with the same resolution and I got a score of 17800.

260 3DMark Vantage

460 3DMark Vantage

I am really happy with the upgrade. I think I got good deal on the card and I extended the life of my computer a little longer. If anyone else is in the same situation as me I highly recommend the same upgrade.

Features

• Sit pain-free for extended periods of time
• Improve your posture
• Simple to use yet extremely effective
• Better results than expensive chairs – at a fraction of the cost!

Design

There certainly is some interesting design that has gone into the BackJoy. According to the BackJoy website:

“BackJoy is definitely not just a simple cushion. There is a great deal of science and engineering that has gone into its revolutionary design. It was built to be simple to use – but that’s where the simplicity stops. It is a technological breakthrough that will improve your posture, eliminate your back pain, and change the way you feel after sitting for extended periods of time”

Their are two versions of BackJoy, the BackJoy core, and the BackJoy core with Memory foam. The only difference between the two is the Memory foam.

Both versions of the BackJoy are made out of plastic, with rather rough edges. I noticed as I would sit on a soft chair (one that compresses when I sit) that the BackJoy would scrape against the back of the chair. Over time this could cause the material on the chair to prematurely wear away. This will be especially bad for fabric, leather, and vinyl chairs and couches. To help reduce this premature wear you may want to consider sitting on the BackJoy then scooting it back against the back of your chair. This way it does not rub when you sit down. However, you would have to scoot in and out every time you want to stand up or sit down.

One handy design feature is the handle on the front of the BackJoy. This makes it easy to carry around and I am glad it is included. The BackJoy I got also came with a bag, but I never used it. Because of the rough edges I mentioned above it catches on edges of the bag and is difficult to get in and out.

Performance

Before I get into how it works I want to make a few comments about the ordering process. Ordering a product should be easy, without any tricks or traps. Unfortunately, the BackJoy ordering process is filled with both.

Once you decide how many products you want, you are subjected to multiple upsells with no way to change your mind if you click the wrong button. These offers include additional Backjoys, upgrading to Memory foam, and other nonsense. To make matters worse their is no confirmation of your order before the final purchase. When I order things I like to play around with options to see where I can get savings. When I was ordering the BackJoy I wanted to try out different options to see how much the total price would be. So I chose a few of the options thinking I would be able to see the total before I agreed to the purchase. Unfortunately, the end came too quickly and before I knew it the order was placed. When I called BackJoy to cancel the order I was told it takes at least an hour before it is “in the system” and that would have to call back. By the time the hour had passed I had completely forgotten about the order and was getting ready to go home. The next day I got an email that my order had shipped. I called BackJoy back to find out what to do and they said I had 30 days after receipt to return the items. That is when I decided to keep them for now and do this review.

So how does it work? Not so good if you ask me. I got the BackJoy Core with Memory foam. For my test I used the BackJoy core with Memory foam for an entire week. Then I went for a week without it. While it was comfortable to sit on I cannot honestly say that my back felt any better. The memory foam was comfortable to sit on, but considering the cost of the BackJoy, I think I could get a Memory foam pad for much cheaper.

I also recommend against using this while driving. Because the BackJoy has a curved bottom it causes you to be unstable and when you turn corners in the car you whole body tips. This could be very dangerous.

One other difficulty I had was sitting still. When I sit, I like to shift positions every so often to keep the blood flowing in all the right directions, and to find a more comfortable position. With the BackJoy this is very difficult to do. The BackJoy requires you to be sitting straight up and all the way back in the chair. If you are like me and you slide down in your chair, or you recline, then you will also have a difficult time with the BackJoy.

Support

BackJoy offers a 30 day money back guarantee, and a Limited Lifetime Warranty. I would say that these are really good terms. If the BackJoy actually helped my back I would really feel comfortable keeping it. It is really great to see a company that sticks behind its products.

I know that speaking to customer service reps is not always a pleasure, but when I talked to the BackJoy reps they were always courteous, easy to understand, and didn’t give me any hassle when I wanted to return the items. This goes a long way in leaving a good impression with me.

Conclusion

While the BackJoy did not work for me, you may experience better results. With their generous return policy and warranty I would not worry about ordering one just to try it out. If you have back problems and you sit a lot then I do recommend you try out the BackJoy and see if it helps you.

Features

• Full QWERTY keyboard with unique Android Function keys and touchpad
• Two USB ports
• Docking station battery
• Built-in SD Card reader

Design

The top of the dock is taken up by the keyboard, touchpad, and touchpad buttons. Along the top of the keyboard are the Android function keys. The only key that is missing is an on and off button. If the tablet goes to sleep you either have to close the lid and reopen it, or reach around to the side of the tablet to turn the transformer on and off.

The right side of the keyboard dock has a single USB port hidden behind a little door, and the SD card slot with a dummy SD card in it.

The left side of the keyboard dock has another USB port, and the charging port.

Left

I really like how the dock perfectly matches the tablet and when together they fold into a very nice looking netbook.

Performance

So how do you test performance with a keyboard dock? Their is not much to do here, as long as all the buttons work we should be happy, right? Well, this dock also includes an extra battery so I will test that as well.

I have had the dock for several weeks now and I have had very few issues. Their will be times when I am typing and the cursor will jump to another part of the screen, but I think I might be accidentally touching the touch pad with the palm of my hand. Also if I have changed the on-screen keyboard then an annoying message appears every time I dock the tablet telling me to switch back to the Asus on-screen keyboard. I prefer the Android keyboard so I ignore the message.

On to the battery test. Since there isn’t an app yet that does a battery test I had to invent my own. For this test I loaded up the Transformer with a bunch of movies and played them one after another until the battery died. I also set the screen brightness, and volume to 50% and turned off WiFi. I started the test a 7:33 am and it took all the way until 10:29 pm for the battery to run out. That is an amazing 14 hours 56 minutes. It scored way above the rest of the tablets, but this is because it is using two batteries compared to the rest that only have one.

One thing Asus could have done to make the Keyboard dock even better is to add larger speakers. The speakers on the Asus Transformer are very small and do not get very loud. If Asus had added speakers to the keyboard this would have really helped to boost the sound of the system and improve the entertainment value.

Another aspect about the dock that concerns me is the potential for scratching the screen when the tablet is docked. Asus has lined the inside of the cradle with some felt or something to help protect the screen, but it does not seem to be enough. Fortunately, I have a screen protector on my tablet and as you can see their are some marks where the tablet an dock touch. I don’t know if the screen is strong enough to resist the scratching, but I am glad I don’t have to find out the hard way.

Support

The Asus Transformer dock comes with the same lame 1 year warranty that the tablet has. I am still waiting for a company to really stand behind their products, but it does not look like Asus is stepping up to the plate. With no moving parts, this tablet should last a really long time, and I would like to see a 5+ year warranty to show that Asus has faith in the build quality of its products.

Support comes in the standard forms of phone, email, and website help. I have not needed to use phone or email support, but I have been on their website to download software and updates for the tablet. The website is fairly easy to navigate, but the software that is available is not up to date. For example, Asus released the Android 3.1 OS for the tablet about a week ago, but their website still does not have the update for download. Since my tablet has not downloaded it automatically I am anxious for the download so I can apply it manually.

Conclusion

I don’t know about you, but I am completely happy with the way the keyboard dock and tablet work together. If you are also interested in this kind of setup I really recommend you jump on it.

Features

• NVIDIA Tegra 2 1.0GHz dual-core CPU
• 10.1″ LED Backlight WXGA (1280×800) Screen
• 1.2 M Pixel Front Camera and 5 M Pixel Rear Camera
• 9.5 hours; 24.4Wh Li-Polymer Battery

The ASUS Transformer features the exact same processor as the Motorola Xoom, and the Viewsonic G Tablet. This means it is going to be powerful, fast, and snappy.

The one thing that sets the Transformer apart from the other Android tablets that I have reviewed is the screen. The Transformer is the first Android tablet to use an LED Backlit IPS panel. This happens to be the same kind of screen that the iPad 2 uses, which means it should look really good.

Design

The Front of the tablet doesn’t have any buttons, but it does have the screen, camera, and a light sensor. I really like the no button look, and how the Android 3x OS has them built into the software.

 

Front

The left side has the power and volume buttons. They are a little too close for my liking, and I find myself sometimes hitting the power button instead of the volume up button. I have learned to take my time and feel around to make sure I have the correct button before I press it.

 

Left

The right side has the Headphone jack, HDMI slot, and Micro SD slot. The ability to expand the memory is one of the best things about the Android OS and Android phones and tablets. Having a built-in HDMI slot is nice, but I rarely use it.

 

Right

The bottom has the dock port. This port is used for both charging the tablet, syncing with a computer, and docking it with the keyboard. This port is probably my biggest issue with the tablet. As a rule, I don’t like proprietary ports, it makes getting replacement cables difficult and sometimes costly, it also means I have to carry around yet another cable. Since don’t have a keyboard dock (yet), and I never plug this into my computer, I really only use the port for charging. It would have been really nice if Asus had included provided a USB port or something for charging so that I could just use the same cable as my phone.

 

Bottom

The back has the rear camera. As a side not the back of the tablet is made with a nice textured plastic. The plastic is very rugged and will take quite a bit to scratch and scuff. This is much better than the iPad 2 and its metal back, the metal back on the iPad 2 was scuffed after just a few hours of use.

 

Back

Since their will be lots of questions about how the Asus Transformer compares to the Apple iPad 2, and other tablets. So here are a few images of the Asus Transformer vs the iPad 2, and the Transformer vs the Viewsonic G Tablet.

 

Transformer vs iPad2

 

Transformer vs iPad2

 

Transformer vs G Tablet

 

Transformer vs G Tablet

I have already covered the Android 3.0 OS in my review of the Motorola Xoom, so I won’t be covering it here. However, I will briefly cover some of Asus’ customizations.

One of the most exciting new functions is the ability to take screenshots built-into the OS. I don’t know if this is from Asus or Google, but it is really nice.

Asus includes a few of its own widgets. One of them is called MyZine. This is a kind of dashboard that groups together a set of functionality. However it is not customizable and it has the word ‘MyZine’ printed across the front of the widget in big letters. Those letters cover a lot of the content and make the widget unusable.

 

MyZine

 

MyZine

There are several other more usable widgets. For example, a date widget, weather widget, and a email widget.

 

Asus Widgets

Asus also includes its own Active wallpaper. This wallpaper is of ice cubes in water and they move as you tip the tablet. It’s not really exciting, but its there. Also their are a few static wallpapers, again I don’t know if these were provided by Asus or Google.

 

Active WallPapers

 

Wallpaper

Performance

Performance testing on a tablet is just like on a PC or Laptop. There are a variety of tools available to test the CPU, memory, graphics, and filesystem. Before we get to the actual tests lets take a look at the hardware inside the Asus Transformer.

I will be comparing the Transformer against the Motorola Xoom, Droid Incredible, which is running a custom ROM, and the Viewsonic G Tablet.

The first test I ran is Quadrant, this test goes through many aspects of the tablet including, CPU, Memory, I/O, 2D Graphics, and 3D Graphics and at the displays a single score for everything. As you can see the Transformer gets a much higher score.

 

Quadrant

The next test is called PI. This only tests the CPU and it does this by making it calculate PI and reporting the time it took to complete the task. For this test lower scores are the best. As you can see the Xoom has the best time for calculating PI, but it just barely beat out the Transformer. Since both the Xoom and the Transformer have the same processor it makes sense that they would have similar scores.

 

PI

The next two tests are for graphics. The first test is call fps2d and simply draws a 2D ball that moves around the screen, the app then calculates the FPS. This time the Asus Transformer took the top stop.

 

fsp2D

Finally the last test is Nenamark, it renders a 3D video and at the end displays FPS for the video. As you can see the Transformer took the top score by quite a bit. This surprised me because the processor is the same as the Xoom ad G Tablet. I can only assume that OS updates and newer drivers are what made the difference.

 

Nenamark

On to the battery test. Since there isn’t an app yet that does a battery test I had to invent my own. For this test I loaded up the Transformer with a bunch of movies and played them one after another until the battery died. I also set the screen brightness, and volume to 50% and turned off WiFi. I started the test a 7:20am and it took all the way until 3:36pm for the battery to run out. That is a decent 8 hours and 16 minutes. It scored the lowest of the bunch, but I can’t wait to try it out with the keyboard dock because it is suppose to double the battery life.

 

Battery

Warranty and Support

The Asus Transformer comes with the same lame 1 year warranty that almost all other tablets have. I am still waiting for a company to really stand behind their products, but it does not look like Asus is stepping up to the plate. With no moving parts, this tablet should last a really long time, and I would like to see a 5+ year warranty to show that Asus has faith in the build quality of its products.

Support comes in the standard forms of phone, email, and website help. I have not needed to use phone or email support, but I have been on their website to download software and updates for the tablet. The website is fairly easy to navigate, but the software that is available is not up to date. For example, Asus released the Android 3.1 OS for the tablet about a week ago, but their website still does not have the update for download. Since my tablet has not downloaded it automatically I am anxious for the download so I can apply it manually.

Conclusion

Overall I am really excited about the Asus Transformer. My biggest complaint is about the docking port being the only way to charge the tablet. This is on par with other tablets, so it is not something I can fault Asus for. Everything else about the tablet is exceptional and I look forward to using it every day.

The price is also an amazing part of this tablet. Asus is able to provide all the features, and performance for the rock bottom price of $399. That is $100 less than the iPad 2, and $200 less than the Motorola Xoom. This really is the cherry on top and makes the Transformer the clear winner of our Editors Choice award.

Editors Choice

To upgrade my software I first went to the My Moves website where I could find the installer. Under their download section they had a link to the My Movies 4 installer for Windows 7 (which is what my main computer is) so I downloaded that one. After it downloaded I clicked install and it went on its merry way. After a few minutes it finished. The next step is to start the collection management part of My Movies so that it can upgrade the database. This was quick and proceeded without any warnings or errors.

Next I have to go and upgrade all the rest of my computers so they can also access the movies database. So next I upgrade my HTPC, and the computer in my kitchen. These are also Windows 7 machines so they did not have a problem. Next, I tried to upgrade my wife’s computer, and this is where I first ran into trouble.

As soon as I clicked on the installer it gave me an error saying that I must have Windows 7. I thought, okay I need to go find the Vista installer. However, after searching the My Movies website I found that their is no Vista installer for My Moves 4. Uh Oh, This means my Wife’s and my kids computers cannot have My Moves 4 unless I pay $100 each to upgrade them to Windows 7, which I’m not going to do.

So my next thought is that I will just downgrade back to My Moves 3 and we will have to live without the new features of My Moves 4. Not a big deal. So I go out to the My Movies forum and look for instructions on downgrading the database from 4 to 3. I could not find any so I started a new thread asking for instructions. The response I got made my heart sink. Apparently the database cannot be downgraded and I am stuck using the My Moves 4 database. My only recourse is to upgrade my computers to Windows 7, redo my movies database from scratch (about 600 movies), or keep my wife and my kids from watching movies on their computers.

So my warning to you is, Avoid My Movies 4, unless all your computers have Windows 7 SP1. Yes I said SP1, it is not good enough to just have Windows 7, you must also have Service Pack 1. Apparently their is some new feature in Windows 7 SP1 that My Movies 4 cannot live without, I don’t buy it, but that is what they claim. What kind of “I can’t live without it” feature would have been introduced in a service pack?

I am also amazed that the software did not have a warning somewhere saying “WARNING: ALL COMPUTERS MUST HAVE WINDOWS 7 OR ELSE THEY WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE MOVIES DATABASE.” This should be a big red, blinking, and making some kind of annoying sound, and make you click OK like 5 times so you don’t skip the warning. This would have saved me a lot of trouble.

I think it is fairly reasonable to expect that most people are going to have a mixed OS network. Not everyone wants, or can afford to upgrade all their computers to the latest OS. I currently have 4 Windows 7, and 2 Vista computers. Since Windows 7 and Vista are almost identical I have never had trouble installing the same version of software on either OS. In fact My Moves 4 is the only software I can think of that requires Windows 7.

So leave me feedback, let me know if you have a mixed OS network in your home, and if you have run into any other software that requires Windows 7 SP1.

The berries came packaged in a rather large box, but this extra size is for all the insulation, and ice pack that are used to keep the strawberries nice and fresh.

Shipping Box

Shipping Box open

The box for the Shari’s Berries is quite small compared to the shipping box.

Shipping Box open

One of the advertisements I heard said that Shari’s Berries are the biggest and juiciest berries. So I was curious to see just how big they would be. When I opened the box I was slightly disappointed. I would not consider these to be large Strawberries, these are just normal.

Box open

We recently went to Costco and bought a package of their strawberries and for the most part they are bigger than the Shari’s Berries.

Costco Strawberries

Costco vs Shari’s

So how did they taste? I would not say they were amazing, or bad, they were just normal. Actually at one point my wife removed the strawberry from the chocolate and replaced it with with a Costco strawberry, she said it tasted better.

Something else I noticed is that all the pictures on their website show the strawberries with the leaves still attached, but the strawberries I got had them all removed. We still had to be careful not to eat the top of the strawberry because even though the leaves were removed the stem was still attached and would have been unpleasant if bitten into.

Website Image

Now I paid $19.99 for 6 Shari’s Berries, and $14.99 to have them shipped. If I had just bought the Costco strawberries (about $5), and some chocolate (another $5) then we would have saved about $25 and my kids would have had a blast making our own.

One last side note, if you decide to get Shari’s berries, make sure you eat them right away. I think part of our problem is that we kept them in the fridge for a few days and they got soft. I tried to save on shipping by getting them a couple days before Mother’s day, and then wait till Mother’s day before eating them. I think this caused them to not be as fresh, and not taste as good.

If you got Shari’s Berries for Mother’s day we would love to hear from you. Please leave us a comment and tell us your experience.

Features

• 1GHz dual-core A5 CPU
• 9.7 inch diagonal, Multi-Touch 1024×768 (VGA) resolution display
• Front and Rear facing cameras
• 10 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi enabled

The iPad 2 has several features that differentiate if from the first iPad. First off is that it features a faster 1GHz dual-core processor, front and rear facing cameras, and a slightly smaller, and thinner footprint.

Design

As mentioned above the iPad 2 has a smaller footprint when compared to the first iPad. The iPad 2 weighs 1.33 lbs and the first iPad weighed 1.5 lbs. The iPad 2 has dimensions of 9.5″ x 7.31″ x .34″ and the first iPad was 9.56″ x 7.47″ x 0.5″. While these changes are not huge, they do make a difference, especially if your holding the iPad all day.

The front of the iPad 2 features the screen, the front camera, and the Home button. The screen on the iPad 2 is identical in both size and resolution to the first iPad. I do have to say that I am very impressed with the screen brightness and viewing angles. This is by far the best screen I have ever seen on a tablet. It is super bright, and I didn’t have any trouble viewing it, even from extreme angles. In fact, the screen is so bright that when reading e-books with a white background I had to turn the brightness down to 25% or else it would hurt my eyes.

Front

Screens

However, the screen is far from perfect. Apple claims that the iPad 2 has a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating. However, I am not impressed. I have reviewed a few tablets, and the iPad 2 gets fingerprints just as easily as all the others. I think the fingerprint-resistant coating is just a bunch of marketing fluff and you should not believe it. The glossy screen also has a really nasty glare that makes it hard to use outside. I think the only real way to help reduce the glare and fingerprints is to use a non-glossy screen. Hopefully this will be fixed in the iPad 3.

Fingerprints

The front camera has a resolution of 480 x 640, and 72 dpi. As you can see below the image I got from the front camera is not very high quality.

Front Camera

On the right side of the iPad 2 is the volume up and down button, and a slider. The slider is customizable, by default it mutes the sound, but it can be changed to lock the screen rotation. While the buttons work as advertised I have a problem with the placement. Because of the angle of the buttons they are impossible to click when the iPad is laying flat or leaning against a wall. In order to press the buttons you have to lift up on the iPad so you have more room. This is an unfortunate side effect of the curved edges, and I hope Apple does not make the same mistake in the next version.

Volume

On the top is the on/off button, a small microphone, and the headphone jack. The headphone jack is also on a curved surface, but Apple was smart enough to make the jack fit straight in, this at least lets the tablet lay flat.

Top	Microphone

The back is made of a very slick metal. While this makes it look cool it also makes it hard to get a good grip and I found the iPad often slipping from my fingers if I wasn’t squeezing tightly. I really liked the rubbery back of the Motorola Xoom, there was never any trouble getting a good grip on it. Also the metal is very easy to scratch if you slide it around on a desk. I have a feeling that over time the metal back will look very worn and ugly if the iPad is not kept in a case that covers the back. What’s the point of a cool metal back if you have to keep it covered?

Back

The back also features a speaker at the bottom, and the rear camera at the top. I have to say, at first I was sceptical and thought that the single speaker on the iPad would be too weak, but I am happy to say I was wrong. This single speaker performs better than any other tablet I have tested, even those with two speakers. For example, while my daughter was watching a movie on the kitchen table, I could easily understand all the words from clear across the room, about 15 feet away, and it wasn’t a quiet room either, my other kids were talking and playing with each other. Other tablet makers could certainly learn something about audio from Apple.

Speaker

The rear camera has a paltry 0.92MP, and a resolution of 720 x 960, and 72 dpi. Again, you can see in the image below that the picture is grainy and not very clear.

Back Camera

On the bottom of the iPad is the docking connector. This connector provides for charging, transferring data, outputting video and just about any other connection you could want. One thing that got me confused was charging. The cable that comes with the iPad 2 has a docking connector on one end, and a USB plug on the other. However, you cannot plug this cable into your computer and have it charge, it is only for syncing. To charge the iPad you have to use an AC to USB adapter. Apple provides one, but it is also not very well designed. It is bulky and if you try and plug it into the same outlet as another bulky plug it will not fit. This could easily be fixed if Apple would make the prongs come out on the top, rather than in the middle of the adapter.

Bottom

Plug

The iPad also has a bunch of accessories, some of them are pretty cool, and other are not. For example, I really like the Smart Cover because it provides great protection for the screen, doubles as a iPad stand, and can be used to turn the iPad on and off. Using magnets the iPad will wake up and go to sleep when you open and close the cover. However, it only protects the front of the iPad and leaves the back fully exposed.

Some of the not so cool accessories are all the proprietary cables you have to purchase. For example, if you want to hook the iPad 2 to your TV you need to buy a $39 Digital AV Adapter. Want to connect your camera to the iPad? That will cost $29 for a Camera Connection Kit. Most Android tablets have Apple beat here because they almost always include a mini HDMI, and USB plug built-in. I really think that Apple does their customers a disservice by not building these connectors into the device. iPad customers now have to carry around a bunch of extra cables and connectors everywhere they go instead of just having it built-in.

Setup and Usability

I don’t usually do a setup section in my reviews, but because setting up the iPad 2 was so frustrating I just couldn’t help myself. Normally, Apple products are known for their ease of use, but for me, setting up the iPad 2 was one of the most frustrating things I have done in a long time.

Setting up the iPad 2 is not as easy as I would have liked. I am used to using Android tablets, they don’t require as much effort, and best of all they don’t require me to install any software on my computer. With the iPad it would not even turn on until I had registered it with iTunes. This took about 30 minutes because I had to download and install the software. On the first attempt I accidently downloaded the 32bit software and it would not install (btw 64bit Windows does support 32bit software, it was the iTunes installer that refused to work). So I had to go back to the iTunes website and search for the 64bit software, Apple does not make it easy to find. After some searching I finally found a tiny link at the bottom of the download page. How hard would it be for Apple to make this a bit more visible? maybe even make it a radio button at the top of the screen to choose 32bit or 64bit. Even better, why not skip iTunes and have the registration done on the iPad itself? What if I buy an iPad and I don’t have access to a computer with iTunes for a couple hours? This just seems lame to require a computer before you can even use the tablet.

Activate?

Download 32bit

Download 64bit

After installing iTunes the actual activation process required me to log into an iTunes account and fill in all my private information. Since I didn’t have an iTunes account I had to create one.

After the activation I tried to copy my music onto the device. Again Apple fails to make this an easy process. I first tried dragging mp3 files from Windows Explorer into iTunes and onto the iPad, but this failed. After playing around a bit I discovered that I had to add my music folder to iTunes, but because I have so much music it actually took a long time for iTunes to index the music and go through the album art, and get the music ready to play. After another 40 minutes I was finally able to try and put some songs onto the iPad. I say try because, at first, I was not successful. As you can see from the screen shots below iTunes shows that I have lots of space used up by music, but when I look at the music list it doesn’t show anything. Also the sync button is greyed out, so I assume that means the sync already completed. So I am confused, not very user friendly if you ask me.

Before Update

Music List

While looking for ways to fix the music problem I noticed that their was an update for the iPad. Since I was stuck not knowing how to upload music I decided to go ahead and install the update. After the update it looks like the iPad was nice enough to delete all my content. So now I have the pleasure of starting the whole process again.

After Update

This time I tried checking the box that says “Sync only checked songs and videos”. I also only checked a few songs and clicked the sync button. Finally it synced the songs. However, it still would not let me drag music onto the iPad. Things would be so much easier if I could just drag and drop music into place.

MP3 synced

Adding pictures was also very confusing. I kept looking for a place in iTunes to add my photos, so I could sync only the ones I wanted. Unfortunatly, that place does not exist. Instead you have to go to the iPad section of iTunes, and choose a folder to sync. It then bypasses iTunes and puts the photos directly on the iPad. Why can’t I just drag photos onto the iPad? it would be so much easier. Also what if I only want 1 or 2 photos from each folder and not the entire folder? These are options that are just not available in iTunes.

Sync Photos

So finally after an hour of frustration I am finally able to play music and view pictures. Now it’s time to try syncing movies, I had to cross my fingers and hope that it would not be difficult.

Fortunately, syncing movies was not hard to figure out. Like MP3s I first had to add the movies to iTunes, then sync them to the iPad, but what about playing movies? I actually have to say that I like the way the iPad displays the list of movies. As you may remember in my reivew of the Motorola Xoom, one of my complaints is that the name of the video does not display in the list of videos, and this makes it hard to know which movie you are clicking on. With the iPad the name is displayed and this is really nice. Also when you play a movie you will notice large black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. This is because the resolution of the iPad does not match the resolution of the movie. There isn’t anything you can do about this.

Movie List

Movie Resolution

Now on to buying apps. This is also not immune to setup frustrations. I chose to install the Angry Birds app because it’s free and I didn’t was to start paying money for iPad apps until I decided if I was going to keep it or not. So upon clicking on the app I wanted to purchase it first asked me to log into my Apple account. Umm, I already logged in when I activated the iPad, why is it asking me to log in again? Since their is no way around this I entered my information. At first I could not find a download button, but it didn’t take long for me to see the “free” button on the left side of the screen. After clicking the button it changed to an Install button and I had to click again. Once I clicked that button I was asked to confirm my purchase with a “are you sure” dialog box. After clicking ok, I was presented with another dialog that said the terms have been updated. After clicking ok, I was shown another dialog that actually showed the terms, these last two screens should have been combined. So I agree to the new terms, then I am asked again if I “still want to purchase the app?”, umm, do they think I changed my mind? Finally after clicking for the 6th time the app is finally downloaded. Why did I have to click 6 buttons to purchase one free app? Does that seem right to you? Fortunately, all other purchases after this only required me to click twice, but even that seems more than necessary.

One thing I noticed is that when the app is installed it is automatically added as an icon to one of the main screens. If you try and remove the icon then it also uninstalls the app. On my Android devices I have several utility apps that run automatically and only need to be setup once, so having an icon for them on the main screen is silly. For example, I have an alarm clock app that only needed the alarms to be setup once, then it runs in the backgroud. Why would I want an icon taking up space if I never need to open that program again?

Another feature that is lacking in the app install is that it only downloads one app at a time. If you have lots of apps to download or update you could be waiting a long time. With Android it downloads multiple at the same time. This is much more useful and makes better use of all the bandwidth I have at home and work.

Another thing that bugs me about installing apps is that it kicks you out of the App Store for each app. Because this is a new tablet and it doesn’t have anything on it, I want to install a lot of games and stuff to try them out. Each time I click install on a game it kicks me out of the App store and takes me to the new icon that it just installed. Now I have to flip back to the screen that has the App store icon, click it, and go back into the App store to install another app. After about the 20th time of doing this I am getting really frustrated. Why not leave me in the App store until I choose to leave? Choice is good, it makes me happy.

Also where are all the widgets? I want a weather widget on the main screen to give me a forecast. I want a fancy clock widget that shows me an analog clock for time. I want youtube, twitter, news, email, and facebook widgets showing me the latest content as soon as I turn on the tablet. It is a real pain to have to open each app, one at a time, to see if their is anything new. If the iPad is made for consuming content, it sure makes it hard to get to the content.

While playing around in the software I did find some funny things, For example, the software still calls the volume “ringer”. You can see this by muting and then unmuting the sound. I guess this is what happens when you put a phone OS on a tablet. Also the keyboard has touch-typing bumps on the F and J letters, the only problem is that they are completely useless because you cannot feel them.

Ringer

Keyboard

Last but not least is web browsing. Here is a screenshot of what my website looks like on the iPad 2. What’s up with the top of my webpage? It looks like the iPad 2 is not rendering the image behind my logo correctly. I tried refreshing it several times, but nothing helped.

Website

Performance

In this section of the review I like to run benchmarks, unfortunately there are not a lot of benchmarks for the iPad, so this will be a short section.

I found one test that is both on Android and iPad. The test is called Linpak and it tests the CPU by running different calculations. The score I got on the iPad 2 is an unbelievable 169 Mflops/s. I say unbelievable because Linpack on the Motorola Xoom only got a score of 34.5 Mflops/s. It is difficult to believe that the iPad 2 processor could smoke the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor by so much. The unfortunate thing is that both apps are made by different people so they cannot be trusted to be running the same tests. That’s too bad because I was hoping to have something to compare the two with.

Linpack

Next is the battery test. Like all the other tablets I have reviewed my battery test for the iPad is simple. I turn off WiFi, dim the screen to 50%, and play lots of movies until the battery dies. Apple claims that the iPad 2 will last 10 hours with WiFi turned on, so I should easily get more with WiFi turned off. I started the test at 10:30am and the iPad died at about 7:25pm. That is a really great 8 hours and 55 minutes, but it falls way short of the 10+ hours that Apple advertises.

Warranty and Support

Apple includes the standard 1 year warranty with the iPad. Nothing special, but as long as you take care of the device it will last much longer.

Support comes in many forms. If you are lucky enough to have an Apple store nearby you can take in the iPad and have them fix it one the spot. Otherwise you are left to email, phone, and shipping it back to Apple for repairs.

Conclusion

So what do we take away from this review? The iPad has a lot of positive features (screen brightness, viewing angles, audio quality, fast processor) but it also has a lot of flaws (low quality cameras, battery, software, button angles, slippery back, fingerprints, glare, and iTunes).

So my recommendation is, if you are already hooked into the Apple economy and iTunes then the iPad 2 will fit right in with the rest of your stuff. However, if you have been resisting the temptation to jump in, then you may want to wait a little longer. The Android platform is much more open and flexible, and with a pluthera of Android tablets on the horizon, prices will be dropping.

As for me I will hang onto this tablet for a while so I can compare it against some new Android tablets, but in the end I will sell it because it is not a fit for me.

If your interested in learning about the physical design and hardware specs I encourage you to read my previous review of the G Tablet. In this review I will only be covering the VEGAn-Tab ROM.

Flashing the ROM was really easy, and there is a thread over at XDA with very detailed instructions. Within 30 minutes I had the new ROM loaded and my testing could begin. Here are a few features of the new ROM:

Features

• Maps 5.1 with the rotation fix
• Market 2.2.11
• Updated drivers that should bump up Quadrant slightly, and significantly improves Nenamark scores
• Frame rate change from 50 to 60
• Replaced the Froyo keyboard with the Gingerbread keyboard
• Working Flash

One of the biggest problems I had with the original ROM was the lack of the official Android Market. That is why I am so happy that the VEGAn ROM includes it. In my opinion the apps in the official market are much better than on other markets.

The other problem I had with the official G Tablet ROM was the design of the screens. Even though we could switch to classic view the default Tap n Tap screens were annoying and not customizable. So even before I flashed the new ROM I still used the classic interface. With the VEGAn ROM the classic interface is the only interface.

Performance

So now on to the performance testing. I ran all the same test on both the original ROM and the VEGAn ROM. As you can see from the results below the VEGAn ROM took the top spot in all the tests.

fps2d

Neocore

Quadrant

The ROM is not perfect. The biggest problem I have with the new ROM is that all the wallpapers are messed up. Wallpapers that worked just fine with the original ROM are fuzzy and yucky in VEGAn. However, VEGAn includes some of their own wallpapers and those look fine. So far I have not been able to find a resolution and so I am left with not using a wallpaper and just going with a solid color background.

Conclusion

I am much happier with the G Tablet now that I have the new ROM. It does not fix the bad viewing angles with the screen, but it helps make it more bearable. The VEGAn crew are also working on a new version of the ROM that is rebased on the Gingerbread (2.3.3) version of Android. I am very excited about this because it will allow the tablet to stay relevant for a while longer. I am hoping that eventually we will see some Honeycomb ROMs coming out, but so far XDA has banned all talk of Honeycomb.

This review has been updated. HP sent me a new machine and I retested it. Please read the update at the bottom of the page.

Features

• Streamline your enterpriseFeatures unique to the HP Compaq 6000 Pro, you get integrated collaboration tools, DisplayPort output to create a dual display setup, and an integrated 6-in-1 Media Card Reader to easily transfer files, videos, and more..
• Save space, remove clutterThe integrated design and reduced footprint leave your workspace free of cables that come with having separate hardware components. Its commercial design means it’s built to withstand your demanding environment.
• Integrated, flexibleWe didn’t forget the flexibility with a choice of proven Intel® processors, hard drives up to 1 TB, and DDR3 memory up to 8 GB. Slots for optional wireless solutions and VESA mount brackets allow for a flexible workspace.
• Easy setupJust unpack, place, plug in, and get to work. No need to hassle with connecting multiple components. Work comfortably with the 21.5” diagonal high-definition LCD display that tilts and swivels for optimal placement.
• Security, your wayThe standard embedded TPM 1.2 compliant security chip and USB Port Disable feature enhance your businesses current data protection and system access security measures.

Design

Because the HP Compaq 6000 sports a large 21.5″ LCD display it is not a small machine. It measures approximately 15″ x 21.5″x 2″ if you don’t include the stand. The stand adds an additional 9″ to the depth. The total weight is about 20 lbs so you aren’t going to be carrying this around under your arm.

The front of the PC is mostly all screen with only a webcam at the top and a power button at the bottom.

Front

Web camera

In addition to being used for video conferencing the webcam could also be used for logging into the computer. The PC uses facial recognition software to detect the user. The facial recognition software is very flaky. When it worked it would do a good job, but a couple times when I tried to use it I would get a message saying it could not find a camera. A couple other times it would just display the password box and not give any message at all.

On the left is an SD card slot, Firewire port, 2 USB ports, a microphone, and headphone jack.

Left

The right side is the DVD drive, screen brightness up and down buttons, and a hard drive activity light.

Right

The back has additional connectors which include a display port, power plug, 5x USB, Ethernet, 2x PS/2 ports, and a speaker out jack. Honestly, I am surprised to see the PS/2 ports as those were made obsolete over a decade ago by USB. I don’t know why HP is determined to keep this old and useless technology alive.

Back

For the most part the screen is really beautiful, and it does a great job of displaying all the images, video, and programs I could throw at it. It is also large enough to display many programs at the same time, this is great for productivity.

The HP Compaq 6000 also comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse. The keyboard was a little warped and would wobble on my desk when I pressed buttons. This would make an annoying sound, so out of desperation I tried bending the keyboard back into shape. After a few tries I actually got it to lay flat and it did not make the banging noise anymore.

Performance

Here is a quick look at the specs for this machine

When I first got this PC I wanted to set it up as quickly as possible. In the past when I have tested All-in-one PCs I have simply had to plug them in, however, it was not that easy with the HP Compaq 6000 Pro.

When I plugged in the PC and turned it on, nothing happened. I was completely stumped. The Image below represents the entirety of the instructions that I received. As you can see they are less than useful. It is just a bunch of images, without a single word of explanation.

Instructions

It was the instructions in #3 that gave me the most confusion. Step A, B, and C seem to be asking me to remove a back panel, and step E has me put it back without any modifications. This seemed silly so I skipped it initially. This time I followed the instructions and removed and replaced the panel. When I turned on the PC, it actually turned on. Being the ever curious person that I am I had to find out why. So I turned it off and removed the back panel again. Upon further inspection I found a little switch. This must be what was triggered when I removed the panel the first time. So now that I know what made the computer work, I for the life of me cannot figure out why this switch is even needed. It seems like a useless thing to force users to take the PC apart before it will turn on.

Switch

Once the PC was on, the first thing I did was setup my wireless network, and start downloading updates for Windows. I also got a popup that said Java needed to be updated. While those updates were going I started surfing a few websites. When the updates were done I closed the browser and closed the update Windows. At this point the machine froze up and would not respond to anything. I eventually had to hold down the power button to get it to shutoff. When I turned it on again I could hear the Windows start-up sound, but I could not see anything on the screen. My first thought was that the screen somehow broke, so I tried restarting it a few more times to see if anything new would happen, but nothing I did worked. My next thought is to try and get it to boot into BIOS by pressing Esc on the keyboard. So I turned it on again and this time started pressing Esc repeatedly, but to my surprise the screen turned on and I could see the boot-up process. I stopped pressing Esc and it booted into Windows just fine.

So after getting it started and working I started getting ready to do my testing. One of the first things I like to do is take a screenshot of the desktop so I can show you guys how it looks directly from HP and what stuff they load on it. So I pressed the Print Screen button on the keyboard, pasted it into Paint, that is when I remembered I needed to plug in my USB stick so I could save the image. No sooner did I plug in the USB stick then the machine froze up again. I am really starting to get frustrated with this machine. So once again I had to hold down the power button to get it to shut down, but fortunately this time when I turned it back on the screen did work, almost. I say almost because it got all the way to the ‘Starting Windows’ screen and the screen froze again. I could still hear the Windows starting sound in the background and when I pressed the power button I could hear the shutdown sound so I knew the computer was not frozen, just the screen was. This is my first time having a screen freeze when the computer was working fine.

Desktop

So one more time I restarted the computer to see if it would work. This time it booted up fine, but I noticed that the display settings were lost and had defaulted to 800×600. So maybe it was not the screen that was having problems, maybe it was the video card. So I went and checked the display adapters to see what was listed. What I found was that this computer had two display adapters. I noticed that both an Nvidia and Intel adapter were listed. I wonder if somehow the two are getting confused. So I decided to disable one of them and see what happened. So first I tried disabling the Intel adapter, the screen flashed a couple times, but it came right back. So I re-enabled the Intel adapter and tried disabling the Nvidia adapter, this time the screen went completely black and would not come back, oops. So once again I had to hold the power button down to get it to turn off. However, this time when I turned it back on it made a loud beeping sound and the power light flashed orange, double oops. This time the power button didn’t turn it off, so I pulled the power cord and let it sit for a bit and plugged it back in. This time it booted up fine and when I checked the display adapters I noticed that the Intel adapter had disappeared completely. Maybe it was some kind of phantom adapter and not really there. So maybe things will be better now that there is only one adapter showing up.

Display Adapters

Display Adapters

So the next step is testing the performance. I first went into the system settings to see what kind of rating Windows had given the system. I noticed that it had not run its performance benchmark, so I started it and let it run. When it was done I wanted to take a screenshot for the review, so I resized the window to make it smaller and the computer froze up again, this is really getting annoying. So once more I had to hold down the power button to get it to shut down. Once again when I turned it on it started beeping at me, this time however I just pushed the power button to see if that would turn it off and to my surprise it actually worked. Upon pressing the power button again it booted up just fine, but when I went to login, it froze again. What am I doing wrong?

Performance

Ok one more reboot, again a loud beeping sound, again I powered it off, but this time I got a message that said ‘One of your disks needs to be checked for consistency’ I did not want to cancel the disk check so I let the timer run, however when it got to 1 second left it stopped and froze. Out of curiosity I went and checked the display adapters, and the Intel adapter is back again.

So out of frustration I decided that I better restore back to factory settings and start this process over again. Unfortunately, HP even managed to make the system restore process a big pain in the butt. The PC I got came with 4 recovery disks. So I put in the 1st one and booted up the computer. Once the computer booted to the disk it asked if I had a supplemental disk, since I did I answered yes. It then asked me to insert it. Once it was in and I hit next I was asked a few more questions and finally the restore process began. The first thing it did was ask for disk 1 again, but after inserting the disk it searched for a second and asked for the supplemental disk again. So again I insert that disk and it finally started formatting the hard drive. It spent a few minutes formatting the disk and as soon as it was done it asked for the disk 1 again. Once this was in place it started reinstalling the software. It was about the time I inserted disk 3 that I realized that the screen had frozen again. It was stuck at 12%, but it kept opening the DVD tray and I kept putting in the next disk to see if it would actually finish. However, when I put in disk 4 nothing happened, I think I needed to press on a button or something, but since the screen was frozen I couldn’t do anything except restart the computer and restart the restore. I think my next step is going to be to take this thing apart and see if I can find a loose video cable somewhere.

So taking apart the back was a bit of a chore, and unfortunately I didn’t find any loose cables or anything else I could easily fix.

Back Open

So I started the restore process again, repeating the same steps above, but this time the screen did not freeze and I was able to complete the restore. I don’t think this could have been any more difficult or frustrating.

After that was done and the PC started up I again wanted to make sure I had the latest updates. However, this time I closely examined all the updates before downloading them. I did notice that Microsoft was recommending that I download in Intel video driver, but since this machine does not have an Intel video adapter I decided to skip that update. I am happy to say that since making that decision I have never had another problem with the screen locking up or not working. However, that is not to say I didn’t have problems.

The PC still had problems with the whole machine locking up. When performing simple tasks like watching a movie sometimes the PC would let out a loud buzzing sound and would stop responding. In addition, the PC would loose its connection to my WiFi and I would have to manually disconnect and reconnect to get it back. Finally I gave up and connected a Ethernet cable.

So now that it is finally running somewhat smoothly I started my performance tests.

The first test is 3DMark Vantage. This test focuses on testing the graphics system. The HP Compaq 6000 got a score of 1225. For a desktop this is a really low score. If you compare this to the HP EliteBook 8540w Laptop which got a score of 3412. When a laptop can get a higher score than a desktop you know there is something wrong.

3DMark

Next I tried to run Cinebench, but for whatever reason it would not start.

Another graphics test I ran is SPECviewperf 11. This test is different than the 3DMark because it directly targets the graphics system and bypasses the CPU and other parts of the computer that might slow down the graphics. Here is the official SPECviewperf 11 results page, you can compare the results below and see that this PC got a decent score.

SPECviewperf 11

The next test is PCMark Vantage. This test is an overall system test and does not focus on any particular system. The HP Compaq 6000 got a score of 5862. Again if you compare this to the HP EliteBook 8540w Laptop, which got a score of 6162, you can see that this PC gets beat by a laptop again.

PCMark

Finally is the hard drive test. This is done using CrystalMark. As you can see from the scores below it is not bad, but also not good.

CrystalDiskMark

Overall I am disappointed with the scores that this machine got. These scores are even bad for a laptop. However I have to take into account that this is a Compaq, and a fairly inexpensive one at that. For about $1000 you get all this hardware, and they have to make sacrifices somewhere to keep the price down.

Warranty and Support

HP backs the 6000 with a 3 year (onsite / parts / labor) warranty. This includes pick-up or carry-in, and toll-free 7 x 24 hardware technical phone support. On-site service and warranty upgrades are also available.

I have never had to directly communicate with HP customer support, so I don’t know how they are, but I have also never heard of any major problems. Also given the fact that this is a business class PC you are going to get a better level of support than a consumer level PC will get. HP knows how to treat their business customer really good.

Conclusion

So this machine has been nothing but problems so me. I just barely made it though the tests, and even simple things like watching movies would cause it to lock up. I am not so concerned about the low performance tests, but the instability of the system is what I have the biggest problem with. I hope that the problems were isolated to the one machine that I got and not across the entire line. If not then HP has a lot of work to do before this machine would be ready for the average user. Poor performance, poor stability, I recommend you avoid this particular model, or be ready to spend a lot of time on the phone with HP support.

Update: Because of all the problems I had HP was concerned that I got a defective machine. So they sent me another one to test out. I have had the machine for a couple weeks and I am happy to say that it has never crashed even once. In fact, I have had the machine on 24/7 since I got it and watched movies almost every night without a single problem. This must mean that the other machine was defective.

One thing I did notice is that when I ran Windows Update it didn’t find anything. HP must have read about all the problems I had and decided to run the update for me.

One other thing is that this machine did not require me to take off the rear panel before it would start. This was nice because I was able to just plug it in, and turn it on.

I reran the benchmarks on this new machine. Unfortunately, the scores did not improve. On a good note I was finally able to run Cinebench.

Cinebench

I am truly impressed with the difference between the two machines and I can whole heartedly recommend this machine. If you happen to get a defective machine like my first one, then contact HP right away and get a new one.

I have also update my scores below to reflect my satisfaction with the new machine.

Features

• NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor T20
  Features a 1.0GHz processor speed, 600MHz system bus and 1MB L2 cache.
• 1GB DDR2 memory
  For multitasking power.
• 10.1″ high-definition widescreen touch-screen display
  Showcases movies and games in stunning clarity.
• 32GB hard drive
  Offers spacious storage.
• ULP GeForce graphics
  For lush images. HDMI output for connection to an HDTV.
• Built-in 2.0MP webcam
  Makes it easy to video chat with family and friends. 5.0MP camera allows you to capture and play back high-definition video.
• High-speed USB 2.0 port
  For fast digital video, audio and data transfer.
• Built-in 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n)
  Connect to the Internet without wires.
• Embedded 3G mobile broadband technology with EVDO Rev A
  Keeps you connected. Upgradeable to 4G LTE. (Wireless service contract required; sold separately. Check with carrier for coverage area and availability in your area.)
• Bluetooth 2.1 EDR + HID interface
  Easily link with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as a mobile phone or MP3 player.
• Weighs only 1.5 lbs. and measures just 0.5″ thin
  For lightweight portability.
• Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system
  Provides a stable platform.
• Google Mobile Services
  Include Google Maps 5.0 with 3D interaction, access to more than 3 million Google eBooks and Google Talk with video chat.

One note about the 4G LTE upgrade. This is going to be a hardware upgrade so you will need to send the tablet back to the Motorola for upgrade. Because you have to send the device in, you could be a couple weeks without your tablet.

Design

The Xoom measures 9.8″ x 6.6″ x 0.5″ and weighs 1.5 lbs. Compare this to the iPad which measures 9.56″x 7.47″ x 0.5″ and weighs 1.5 lbs. The Xoom is only slightly smaller on only one side, and the same weight. This isn’t much of a selling point; however, the iPad only has a 9.7″ screen and the Xoom has a 10.1″ screen.

The front of the Xoom features the screen, web camera, privacy LED, notification LED, and charging LED. The web camera and privacy LED are both at the top of the screen. The privacy LED lights up when you are using the front facing camera, and it is a reminder that you can be seen by others. The notification LED is on the right side just under the Verizon logo. This LED will let you know when you have new messages or other things that needs your attention. The Charging LED is below the screen and just about the charging port. This LED is suppose to come on when the Xoom is plugged in, but I could only get mine to work if the tablet was completely turned off.

Front

One thing you immediately notice about the front is that there aren’t any touch buttons. This is done because one of the new features of Android 3.0 is that all the buttons are in the software. As you can see from this screenshot the buttons in the bottom left of the screen are back, home, and show previous apps. The show previous apps button is like what happened when you would hold down the home button of previous Android versions.

Front

One thing you may notice is that it is missing the menu button. This button only shows up when an app has a menu. For example when I load the kindle app you can see that a new button appears.

Menu Button

Because there isn’t a menu button getting to the settings is a little more difficult. Instead of pressing the menu button on the home screen and hitting the settings button. You now have to press on the clock, then press on the bigger clock, then press the settings button. for the most part the settings window is exactly the same as before.

Home

I have to warn you upfront that the screen is glossy, which makes it impossible to see outside, and it is also a fingerprint magnet. You are going to have to clean this screen several times a day.

The screen has really good display angles. As you can see from the image below, no matter what direction I turn the Xoom I am able to see the screen clearly.

Screen Angles

On the left are the volume up and down buttons. If your thinking that they are quite small then you are right. I have to hunt for them every time I need them. It think for a tablet this size they could have made these buttons a bit larger.

Volume

The top of the Xoom is a headphone jack and a little slide out drawer that holds the microSD card, and a 4G SIM card which can only be used after the Xoom has received its 4G upgrade. Obviously the SIM card will only be used if on a different network than Verizon. In this release the microSD card is also disabled until Android 3.0 supports it. The update should download automatically. I am quite disappointed that Motorola decided to use a microSD slot instead of a full size one.

MicroSD

MicroSD

The bottom has a few more items including a micro USB, mini HDMI, some kind of dock connector, and the AC adapter plug. One again the USB port is only for transferring data to and from the tablet, it will not charge the tablet. For charging you need to use the AC adapter. It is really a pain to have to carry around two cords, but I guess the bigger size of the tablet does not allow for USB charging.

Connectors

The back features camera, two speakers, and the power button. The camera on the back is much higher resolution than the one on front. This camera will be used for taking pictures and recording 720p video. Because of the size of this tablet it is not very practical as a camera, but it is nice to have the hardware just in case. The back also has a rubbery texture to it. This is nice because it is much easier to grip.

Back

Several apps on the tablet have gotten significant upgrades. One of those is the market. As you can see from the image below the market has a completely new layout. Another feature of the new market is that when you download a new app is automatically add an icon on your screen. Be warned that many of the apps in the market are not yet optimized for tablets and so they will show up really small. Other apps don’t work at all. Since there isn’t any kind of warning about which ones do and don’t work you just have to try out each one. Hopefully with time they will all be updated.

Market Home

Market App

Another app that has been reworked is the music app. As you can see it now uses up more of the screen and has much larger icons to show the album art.

Music Albums

Music Songs

The YouTube has also been reworked to take advantage of the larger screen of a tablet. As you can see it now shows the video and a bunch of other content. You can double tap the video to make it full screen.

YouTube Menu

YouTube Video

Gmail has also gotten a makeover. As you can see it now shows a list of your email at the same time that is shows the body of the email. This is much more like a desktop email app, and is much easier to use.

Email Wide

Email

The last app to get a big redesign is the Google Books app. This app now shows the books you own in a carosel that you can easily flip through. It also has a really nice page turning animation that makes it look like a real book turning pages.

Books

Book Pages

Book Page Turn

One app that did not get a significant upgrade, and I wish it did, is the Gallery. The Gallery is a very basic app for displaying pictures and videos, but one of the basic features that it is missing is the ability to display the filenames. there is a little “i” icon at the top of the screen and when clicked it will display the filename for the currently selected item, but it would be much nicer to have the names under the videos.

Gallery

Movies

Gallery Movies Info

Performance

Performance testing on a tablet is just like on a PC or Laptop. There are a variety of tools available to test the CPU, memory, graphics, and filesystem. Before we get to the actual tests lets take a look at the hardware inside the Motorola Xoom.

With a powerful processor, lots of RAM, and a boat load of memory I am expecting great things from this tablet and high marks in the performance tests.

I will be comparing the Xoom against my Droid Incredible, which is running a custom ROM, a Viewsonic G Tablet, and a Velocity Cruz table, both running a stock ROM.

The first test I ran is Quadrant, this test goes through many aspects of the tablet including, CPU, Memory, I/O, 2D Graphics, and 3D Graphics and at the displays a single score for everything. As you can see the Xoom once again gets a much higher score.

Quadrant

The next test is called PI. This only tests the CPU and it does this by making it calculate PI and reporting the time it took to complete the task. For this test lower scores are the best. As you can see the Xoom has the best time for calculating PI, but it just barely beat out the G Tablet. Since both the Xoom and the G Tablet have the same processor it makes sense that they would have similar scores

PI

The next two tests are for graphics. The first test is call fps2d and simply draws a 2D ball that moves around the screen, the app then calculates the FPS. This time I was surprised to see that my HTC Incredible got a higher score.

fps2D

Finally the last test is Nenamark, it renders a 3D video and at the end displays FPS for the video. As you can see the Xoom and the G Tablet got the same score. This is most likely because they both have the Tegra 2 processor.

Nenamark

Linpack

On to the battery test. Since there isn’t an app yet that does a battery test I had to invent my own. For this test I loaded up the Xoom with a bunch of movies and played them one after another until the battery died. I also set the screen brightness, and volume to 50% and turned off WiFi and 3G. I started the test a 6:38am and it took all the way until 3:55pm for the battery to run out. That is an fantastic 9 hours and 28 minutes. Not quite as good as the G tablets 10 hours and 20 minutes, but still a great amount of battery life.

Support and Warranty

The Motorola Xoom only includes a 1 year warranty, ugg. I can only shake my head in disbelief at this news. For $800 Motorola and its partners can do much better than a measly 1 year warranty.

Support is through the normal methods of Phone, Email, and Web.

Conclusion

The Motorola Xoom has a lot of potential, I am really excited about the new interface, and the new apps. The screen is beautiful, albeit glossy, and the performance is fantastic. however, despite all the positives I think the release was a bit premature. This is made very clear by the fact that both Flash and the SD card slot are both not working in this release. The high price, and required 1 month of data are also big negatives in my book. Also if you are really looking forward the the 4G capabilities, it will be a huge negative to have to send it off to Motorola for the upgrade.

If you are like me and you don’t want or need the data then I really don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t wait for the WiFi only version. Not only will it give Adobe and others time to fix their software, but it will be less expensive and not have the lame required data fees. It will also give online retailers time to get it in stock and hopefully we can skip the high tax rates in most states. My advice is to avoid this release and wait for the WiFi only Xoom. Or if you must have data then at least wait until the 4G is released so you don’t have to be without the tablet for several weeks.

Features

• 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 – Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU
• 512MB DDR2 memory
• 2D/3D Graphics processing
• HD Video encode and decode
• Ultra-low power GeForce GPU
• 1080p video playback processor
• 16GB internal memory (expandable up to 32GB via SD Card)
• 10.1″ TFT-LCD with LED driver system and 1024×600 resolution

Design

The Viewsonic G Tablet measures 7.75″ x 10.5″ x 0.5″ and weighs 1lb 12oz. Compare this to the iPad which measures 7.47″ x 9.56″ x 0.5″ and weighs 1lb 6oz. From these numbers we can see that the G Tablet is slightly larger and heaver, it’s not much, but it’s already falling behind its main competition.

Almost the entire front is taken up with the screen, which is how it should be. However, there is a 1″ space at the bottom, and a 3/4″ space on the sides and top of the screen. I would prefer that the screen goes edge to edge like my phone does, but that does not seem like the trend with tablets.

Front

At the right of the screen (when holding it horizontally) are four touch buttons. They are back, menu, home, and search. These buttons are super sensitive and it is very easy to accidentally press them with your palm when you are holding it. The buttons are not illuminated at all so it is impossible to see them in the dark.

At the top if the screen is a 1.3-megapixel Webcam, and in the top left corner is the light sensor. Unlike the Velocity Cruz tablet we reviewed last week, this sensor is actually hooked up and it is used to auto adjust the brightness of the screen.

The top edge of the tablet has the volume on the left.

Top

The left side has a power plug, headphone jack, speaker, mini USB, and a power button. Behind the little door is a micro SD card slot, and a full size USB port. Keep in mind that this tablet cannot charge via USB, you must use the AC adapter. For me this is a huge negative. I hate carrying around adapters and since I already have USB cables it is just more convenient to charge that way.

Left

Left

The bottom of the tablet has a docking port in the middle, and the microphone on the left.

Bottom

Docking Port

The right side is bare except for a speaker.

Right

Just like the Cruz tablet, the G tablet does not include the Google Market, but it does have an alternate. The G Tablet uses the Handango market. This is much like the Cruz market and is just a website with downloadable apps.

Handango Market

As I mentioned above the G Tablet uses the Tap n Tap interface. At first glance it looks like it would be very user friendly, but instead it is sluggish and comes with only a few widgets that aren’t very exciting. These widgets are spread around on three screens and they include things like weather, news feeds, clock, and a few others. None of these screens are customizable so their usefulness is limited. Fortunately, in the latest update Viewsonic gave us the ability to turn off the Tap n Tap interface and instead use the native android UI. The Native UI gives you 5 fully customizable screens, and it is a lot more responsive than the Tap n Tap UI.

Tap n Tap Home

Performance

Performance testing on a tablet is just like on a PC or Laptop. There are a variety of tools available to test the CPU, memory, graphics, and filesystem. Before we get to the actual tests lets take a look at the hardware inside the Viewsonic G Tablet.

The spec above reads like a wish list for a powerful tablet. I am expecting great things from this tablet and I hope that the benchmarks will validate those expectations.

So the first test I ran on this tablet is called Benchmark. It is a very simple test that goes through the CPU, Memory, Graphics, and filesystem and then displays a score at the end. As you can see from the scores below the G Tablet gets a higher score in every test. This is no surprise because the G Tablet has much better hardware than the rest.

Benchmark

The next test is Quadrant, it is very similar to Benchmark in that it test many aspects of the tablet including, CPU, Memory, I/O, 2D Graphics, and 3D Graphics. However, at the end of this test it just displays a single score for everything instead of individual scores. As you can see the G Tablet once again gets a much higher score.

Quadrant

The next test is called PI. This only tests the CPU and it does this by making it calculate PI and reporting the time it took to complete the task. For this test lower scores are the best. As you can see the G Tablet has the best time for calculating PI. This can clearly be explained by the Dual Core processor.

PI

The next two tests are for graphics. The first test is call fsp2d and simply draws a 2D ball that moves around the screen, the app then calculates the FPS. This time I was surprised to see that my HTC Incredible got a higher score.

fps2d

Finally the last test is Neocore, it renders a 3D video and at the end displays the FPS. The G Tablet just barely squeezes past the Incredible in this test.

Neocore

On to the battery test. Since there isn’t an app yet that does a battery test I had to invent my own. For this test I loaded up the G Tablet with a bunch of movies and played them one after another until the battery died. I also set the screen brightness, and volume to 50% and turned off WiFi. I started the test a 7am and it took all the way until 5:20pm for the battery to run out. That is an amazing 10 hours and 20 minutes.

So now that we are done with the hardware tests I want to share a few thoughts and experiences with you

One of the biggest selling points of Android 2.2+ is that it is able to play flash videos. Viewsonic even mentioned in their latest update that they were adding flash support to the G Tablet. However, every time I tried to play a flash video all I would get was an error. This is a big disappointment because this screen is great for watching videos on.

Flash Movie

Another issue I had while playing videos is that they do not resume. Several times when I was watching a video I had to switch away to do something else. When I went back to the video it forced me to start over. Fortunately it was not too difficult to skip ahead to my last position, but the fact that it does not remember the last position is a bummer.

The biggest problem I had with this tablet is the screen. The screen has some major viewing angle problems. As you can see from the image below there are several angles where the screen becomes dark or washed out and is difficult to see. This really only happened when the screen was displaying a dark image. When reading a book with a white background and black text the viewing angles were not as bad. This is actually very surprising to me because Viewsonic is a monitor company and I would have thought they would have done a better job with the screen on the G Tablet.

Screen

Support and Warranty

Viewsonic warranties the G Tablet for only one year, and there are no options to extend the warranty. I worry about this warranty because Tablets are for traveling and when you travel things get bumped around. It is possible that as the tablet is bumped things will comes loose over time and you may not get any help if your warranty is expired. I would really like to see a minimum of a 3 year warranty on products like this. It would really give consumers a sense of peace knowing that the manufacturer stands behind its products.

As far as support goes, Viewsonic offer the usual email, phone, and website.

Conclusion

So I really have mixed feelings about this tablet. As it stands I think there are more negatives than positives, but there is always the prospect of rooting the G Tablet and loading on a custom ROM, however that is beyond the scope of this review. So sticking just with the stock features and performance I have to recommend that you shy away from this Tablet. Even though it has a reasonable $399 price tag it is too limited to recommend. If the screen didn’t have such bad viewing angles, flash worked, and it had better performance then this would be a different story. I have a hard time recommending something that is difficult to use, and difficult to see.

My recommendation to Viewsonic is to quickly release a G Tablet 2. In this tablet all they need to do is fix the screen, and load Android 3.0 as the default ROM. This would be a fantastic tablet and if they could keep the price low it would smoke any other tablet on the market. It would also be a bonus if they would allow the tablet to be charged via USB, but not a requirement.

For now, if Viewsonic would release a new ROM for this tablet that completely replaced the OS with Android 3.0 then I would at least be happy keeping this one. Otherwise I may try loading on a custom ROM, and if that doesn’t fix things then I may have to sell it and wait for something better.

Features

• Full color 7″ TFT capacitive touch screen
• Android 2.0
• 512MB RAM
• 4GB AND 8GB bundled SD cards
• Li-Ion battery – up to 10+ hours of life, 24+ standby

Something else I want to point out is that this tablet comes in three flavors. They the are named the T103, T104, and T105. The only difference I can find between the three is the extra accessories that they include. For example, the T103 includes a 4GB and 8GB SD card, and the T104 (the one I got) includes 2 8GB SD cards. Also included with the T104 is a slipcase, Mini USB cable, and an AC adapter.

Box

Contents

Design

The Velocity Cruz Tablet measures 7.5″ x 4.75″ x 0.6″ and weighs 18.4oz. Compare that to the Samsung Galaxy Tab which is 7.48″ x 4.76″ x 0.47″ and weighs 13.23oz. They are almost exactly the same size, with the Cruz being slightly heaver and thicker.

Almost the entire front is taken up with the screen, which is how it should be. However, there is about a 3/4″ bezel around the screen. I would prefer that the screen goes edge to edge like my phone does, but that does not seem like the trend with tablets.

Screen

At the right of the screen (when holding it horizontally) are three touch buttons. They are back, menu, and home. These buttons are super sensitive and it is very easy to accidentally press them with your palm when you are holding it. The buttons also have lights behind them, but they only light up when pressed.

At the top if the screen is a light sensor, but I don’t think it is hooked up to anything because when I turn off the lights nothing happens. I was hoping it would turn on the light behind the buttons, but it doesn’t, which makes them very hard to see in the dark.

The top edge of the tablet has the volume, and reset button.

Top

The left side has a SD card, headphone jack, mini USB port, power plug, and the power button.

Left

The bottom of the tablet has two speakers, a docking port, and a Kesington lock slot.

Bottom

On the back is a removable cover that opens to reveal the batteries. While it looks like they can be removed and possibly replaced, I don’t know where you would go to find replacements.

Back

Batteries

The Cruz tablet does not come with the Google Market, but it does have the Cruz Market. The Cruz Market is a sorry replacement for the Google Market, but it does have a few apps that are useful, one of those is the AndAppStore.

Cruz Market

AndAppStore

Like the Cruz Market the AndAppStore is another Google Market copy, but this one has a lot more apps, and better features than the Cruz Market. One of the best features is that it will search for updates to your apps and notify you when it finds them. However, this only works for apps that were installed from the store. I was actually able to find some useful apps, including a Plants vs Zombies game that is not available on the Google Market. One thing to be aware of is that not all apps will install, and even if they do install not all apps will work. It ends up being a bit of an adventure to find the apps that both install and work.

Plants vs Zombies

One thing I found interesting is that in the Date and time settings it was set to automatically use network provided values. However, since this tablet does not have a cellphone receiver it does not have a network to get the time from. So I had to uncheck this and set the Date and time manually.

DateTime

Performance

Performance testing on a tablet is just like on a PC or Laptop. There are a variety of tools available to test the CPU, memory, graphics, and filesystem. Before we get to the actual tests lets take a look at the hardware inside the Velocity Cruz Tablet.

From the specs above I don’t think anyone is under the impression that this tablet is going to break any speed records. If you are looking for an ultra fast tablet then you might as well stop reading this review now and go find something else. Without a dedicated graphics processor, and only a 600MHz processor this tablet is certainly not for gaming.

Since I don’t have another tablet to compare this to I will be using my HTC Incredible. I ran each test several times and picked out the highest score for each.

So the first test I ran on this tablet is called Benchmark. It is a very simple test that goes through the CPU, Memory, Graphics, and filesystem and then displays a score at the end. As you can see from the scores below the HTC incredible wins in almost every test. This is no surprise because the Incredible has a faster processor and cost a lot more money. However, I extremely surprised that the Cruz got a higher graphics score than the Incredible. This does not match up with my real life experience. Games that run very smoothly on the Incredible crawl on the Cruz. So I am not sure what info the test uses to generate the score, it is certainly not game rendering.

Cruz Graphic	Incredible Graphic
Cruz CPU	Incredible CPU
Cruz Memory	Incredible Memory
Cruz Filesystem	Incredible Filesystem

The next test is called PI. This test only tests the CPU and it does this by making it calculate PI and reporting the time it took to complete the task. Again the Incredible gets a higher score, but this is no surprise because as I said above the Incredible has a faster processor.

Cruz PI

Incredible PI

The last test draws a simple 2D graphic and tracks the FPS. Again the Incredible gets a higher score, but not by much.

Cruz fps2d

Incredible fps2d

There were also several 3D graphic tests that I tried to install, but none of them would work in the Cruz.

On to the battery test. Since there isn’t an app yet that does a battery test I had to invent my own. For this test I loaded up the Cruz with a bunch of movies and played them one after another until the battery died. I also set the screen brightness, and volume to 50% and turned off WiFi. I started the test a 7am and it took all the way until 4:30pm until the battery died. That is an amazing 9.5 hours.

Now that we have gotten past the tests I want to talk about my actual experience with the tablet and some of the things I saw.

One of the first things I noticed when I took the Cruz out of the box was how heavy it is. I know it is the same weight as the Galaxy tab, but for its size it just seems really heavy. This is probably due to the large batteries I saw earlier, but those same batteries also were what gave the Cruz it amazing run time score. The weight is certainly something you have to take into account. Since the Cruz does not have a stand, or a way to prop it up, you will find yourself holding it in you hands when watching movies or reading books. This can eventually get tiring if you are not used to that weight.

While watching movies the video randomly stops with a message “Sorry, this video cannot be played”, but the audio keeps playing. However, when I restart the movie it will play just fine. I cannot directly blame the tablet because it may have something to do with my encoding method.

Also reading books is very nice on this tablet. Switching pages can be a bit laggy but otherwise the text is very clear and easy to read.

The biggest problem I had was with the screen. Velocity Micro lists this screen as being “Ultra Sensitive”, but what I experienced was just the opposite. The sensitivity was so bad that I originally thought this screen was resistive, but when I tried using a stylus it would not respond. The problem is that quite often the screen would not recognize my touch at first. My initial reaction was to press harder, but since this is a capacitive screen that did not help. Instead I just had to wait until the screen responded. This made flipping between the home pages quite difficult because you have to move your finger quickly, but was tolerable with everything else like movies and books.

Also the screen has some viewing angle problems. When tilting in certain directions it darkens and it is difficult to see. I put together the image below to give you an idea of how the screen looks from different angles.

Screen Angles

The touch buttons, on the other hand, are Ultra Sensitive. It is very easy to accidentally press the buttons while holding the tablet and send yourself back to the home page, this is especially annoying when reading a book or watching a movie. The touch buttons also don’t lite up in the dark, they have a back light, but it only comes on when a button is being pressed.

Last, but not least, I would like to mention the audio. The Cruz Tablet has two speakers which are at the bottom of the tablet, but they are fairly weak. When playing movies at full volume I had a hard time clearly hearing the words that were spoken, even in a quite room. When in a noisy room it was impossible to hear anything. I highly recommend a set of headphones if you are planning on watching movies on this tablet.

Support and Warranty

Velocity includes a 1 year warranty with the Cruz tablet. Not a great warranty by any means, but certainly better than the 0 day warranty you get if you by a Chinese knockoff tablet.

As for support, Velocity has the standard methods for getting help, including Phone, email, website, etc. I did buy a desktop from them several years ago, and when I needed replacement parts their support team was always helpful. I don’t have any reason to believe that tablet support would be any different.

Conclusion

This is by no means a high end tablet. With a paltry 600MHz processor and only 500MB of internal RAM it will not win any performance awards. However, it also does not come with a high end tablet price. The Velocity Cruz tablet retails for $250, but I managed to pick mine up for $80 off. At only $170 I think this tablet does a great job of playing movies and display text. I am very comfortable recommending it to anyone looking for a cheap, but usable tablet. Add to that the amazing battery life of 9.5 hours and I think I have a winner.

Features

• Outstanding Workstation-class features

  Maximize onscreen performance with industry-leading, workstation-caliber graphics. Choose from the NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M or 1800M with 1 GB of video memory. HP’s extensive ISV certification program ensures highly reliable performance across the most demanding workstations-specific applications.

• Maximize your performance

  Enjoy new performance levels with the new 2010 Intel® Core™ i5 and i7 processor family, capable of working in a true 64-bit environment and 16 GB of memory capacity. Share information with fast transfer speeds using two USB 3.0 ports.

  Connect to external displays and get sharper, deeper images with DisplayPort.

• Industrial design

  Starting at 6.4 lb. (2.89 kg) with a 1.28-inch height in front, this Mobile Workstation combines premier design with business rugged construction. With a gunmetal finish, the HP EliteBook 8540w is designed to meet tough military standards (MIL-STD

  810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and high temperature.

• HP Professional Innovations help you focus on your business

  Built to simplify. HP SkyRoom provides convenient video conferencing directly from your notebook with the ability to conference up to 4 locations at a time.

  Optional integrated HP Mobile Broadband allows convenient access to the internet, corporate intranet, and e-mail in more places than ever. With the WWAN card installed, you also gain a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to determine your position. Couple this with available applications to turn your notebook into a GPS device.HP QuickLook 3 provides quick access to email, calendar, contacts and tasks at the touch of a button without long boot-up time. HP QuickWeb grants access to the web in seconds… even if your notebook is turned off.

  Built to conserve. HP Power Assistant measures and logs reported platform energy usage and delivers comprehensive reporting (time, watts, energy cost and carbon footprint). The EliteBook 8540w is a BFR/PVC-free notebook.

Design

At 15″ the HP EliteBook 8540w is just the right size for a laptop. It’s not so small that it is hard to be productive, and it’s not too big that it cannot be carried about.

Because the 8540w is designed for the traveling business person it is important that is has a usable, yet rugged design. The HP EliteBook 8540w is lightweight, rugged, has an aluminum surface, and meets military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature.

The case is made out of HP’s DuraCase material which is a magnesium alloy with a scratch-resistant anodized aluminum surface. The laptop also has metal hinges with hardened steel pins in the axles. The display is enclosed in a magnesium shell attached to anodized aluminum, all of this is able to withstand up to 300 pounds of pressure. To protect the hard drive against bumps and drops, the EliteBook uses 3D DriveGuard. 3D DriveGuard uses a three-axis digital accelerometer that stops the hard drive to reduce damage to your data.

Top

The right side of the 8540w has a Blu-ray drive, 2 USB 3 slots, an Ethernet and phone port, and a Kensington Security Slot.

Right

On the left side are a few more USB slots, a display port, eSATA, Firewire, Microphone, and Headphone jack.

Left

On the back is the power plug, and VGA port.

Back

As mentioned above the 8540w has a few durability features and a couple of those are found on the keyboard. The keyboard is spill resistant, and the keys are coated with a special material that prevents the print from rubbing off. I really like how the keyboard goes from edge to edge, but what is even more impressive is that HP managed to fit a separate number keypad in this space. This shows that HP is really trying to maximize the available space and make typing as comfortable as possible. They keys also have a very nice feel, and they provide good feedback when pressed.

Keyboard

Keypad

HP also includes both a pointing stick and a touchpad. The pointing stick does its job well by providing accurate navigation, but personally I don’t like them because they are not as precise as the touchpad, so I didn’t use it much.

The relatively small touchpad is adequate for moving around the screen, but just barely provides enough room to move around comfortably. I would prefer if HP removed the pointing stick and its buttons, and in their place made the touchpad a lot bigger. If you look at the picture you can see that without the pointing stick buttons HP could make the touchpad taller and wider. On a side note, both the pointing stick and touchpad buttons have a nice rubbery feel and they are easy to press.

Touchpad

To the right of the touchpad is the fingerprint reader. This can be used for logging into the computer. However this is another piece of hardware that I would prefer to do without, it just ads cost without adding a lot of functionality.

The screen on the 8540w is a 15.6-inch HP DreamColor display. The Dreamcolor display is capable of displaying over 1 billion colors on its 30-bit LED balcklit, IPS, LCD panel. I know that is a lot of acronyms, but what it all means is that you are going to get very accurate colors in all your applications. I was also very excited to see that the screen has a matte finish. I really dislike the glossy screens that seem to have taken over consumer laptops.

As you can see from the image below the screen has good color no matter what angle you view it at.

Screen Angles

One bit of trouble I noticed about the screen is that it seems to be a bit discolored near the hinges. It is almost like the screen is being pinched by the hinges. It really only shows up when looking at a really dark pictures, but it is there and so I wanted to mention it.

Above the screen is the usual webcam, and the HP exclusive keyboard light. The webcam is nothing special at only 2 MP it is fairly low resolution. HP includes some facial recognition software that allows you to log into the PC without having to type a password or swipe your finger. The software works fairly well and only gave me trouble a couple times.

Web Camera

The sound is adequate, but not great. The speakers are located at the front of the laptop on either side of the SD card slot. The speakers are small and because they are front facing they are aimed at your stomach. Having them face up would have been a much better choice. I could hear movies, but not clearly, and when I was in a noisy room the sounds were definitely harder to understand.

Performance

To test the performance of this machine I am going to run several tests. These tests include a battery, graphics, and full system test. However, before I get to that lets take a quick look at the specs of the EliteBook 8540w.

The first test is 3DMark Vantage. This test focuses on testing the graphics system. The EliteBook 8540w got a score of 3412. While this is not the highest score I have seen, it is also not the slowest.

3DMark Vantage

Next I ran another graphics test. This time the test is Cinebench. As you can see from the scores the laptop did a fairly good job.

Cinebench CPU

Cinebench Score

Another graphics test I ran is SPECviewperf 11. This test is different than the 3DMark because it directly targets the graphics system and bypasses the CPU and other parts of the computer that might slow down the graphics. Here is the official SPECviewperf 11 results page, you can compare the results below and see that this laptop did a fairly good job.

SPECviewperf 11

The next test is PCMark Vantage. This test is an overall system test and does not focus on any particular system. The EliteBook 8540w got a score of 6162. Again, not a spectacular score, but when compared to other laptops of similar size it comes out near the top.

PCMark Vantage

The last test is the battery test. To test the battery I use MobileMark 2007, with WiFi off and the screen brightness set to 50%. As you can see from the image below the laptop came in at 174 minutes (2 hours 54 minutes) of run time. This is not a horrible run-time, I have certainly seen worse, but it is also nothing to brag about. I would certainly take this into consideration when looking to buy.

MobileMark 2007

As I ran these tests I paid attention to the noise level and the heat that was produced. I never felt like there was an excessive amount of either.

Support and Warranty

HP backs the 8540w with a three-year warranty and a one-year warranty on the primary battery. This includes pick-up or carry-in, and toll-free 7 x 24 hardware technical phone support. On-site service and warranty upgrades are also available.

I have never had to directly communicate with HP customer support, so I don’t know how they are, but I have also never heard of any major problems. Also given the fact that this is a workstation you are going to get a better level of support than a consumer level laptop will get. HP knows how to treat their business customer really good.

Conclusion

In the end I am impressed with the strength and quality of the of this laptop. It is put together with some top quality parts. My main concern is the battery life. A 15″ laptop is a good travel size and is going to be taken on the road, but with just under 3 hours of battery it is not going to last long if you don’t keep it plugged in. If you are a traveler I do recommend a second, or larger battery.

If your in the market for a mobile workstation that has lots of power, but is easy to carry around then I don’t think you will be disappointed with the EliteBook 8540w. However, if you want something that is going to last all day without plugging it in then you are going to have to look at something much smaller with much less power.

Since the Artisan 835 and the Artisan 810 are almost exactly the same, this review is going to be very similar to the Artisan 810 review that I did earlier.

Features

• Smart, 7.8″ touch panel — large display lights up only the buttons you need; includes a 3.5″ LCD to preview, edit and print photos
• Ultra Hi-Definition prints from the world’s fastest 4″ x 6″ photo printer — brilliant 4″ x 6″ photos in as fast as 10 seconds; DX5 MicroPiezo technology provides the finest color and detail without sacrificing speed
• Send faxes fast, even in color — fax in as fast as 3 seconds per page; store up to 60 speed dials and receive up to 180 pages in memory; also faxes legal-size documents; includes PC-Fax software
• Built-in wireless and Ethernet networking — built-in wireless (Wi-Fi CERTIFIED n) and wired networking; print, scan, and access memory card slots from any room in the house
• One-of-a-kind projects — easily create coloring books, personal note paper, invitations and greeting cards using your own photos
• Results ready to share — lab quality photos are smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant
• Perfect photos made easy — Auto Photo Correction and red-eye removal with and without a computer
• Versatile paper handling — automatic two-sided printing with two paper trays, plus 30-page Automatic Document Feeder to quickly copy, scan or fax stacks of originals
• Bring old, faded photos back to life — easily restore the color to faded photos
• Individual ink cartridges — replace only the color you need
• Quickly print from your mobile device — print photos, office documents and more, see

When it comes to printing options, the Artisan 835 has a pluthera. This printer can print on just about any type of surface meant for printing, from photo paper, to printable DVDs. With the included duplexer, two-sided printing is a snap. Even without the duplexer you can still print on two sides, it just takes a little more effort.

This printer uses Claria Hi-Definition Ink which is currently one of the best and longest lasting inks you can get. Because of this, Epson claims that the photos that come out of this printer will last 4x longer than photos that are printed in a photo lab.

The Artisan 835 has at least five ways to connect it to a computer. First, you can connect it directly to the computer with a USB cable, this is good if you only have one computer. If you have more than one computer and a wireless network, then you can use the second way which is WiFi, or if you have a wired network then you can use the third way which is an Ethernet cable. The fourth way is using an optional Bluetooth adapter, so if you have a phone or camera with Bluetooth then you can print directly from those devices. Finally, the last way is to plug in a memory card or USB stick into one of the memory slots or the PictBridge port.

Not only can you print directly from a memory card or a USB stick, but the printer can enhance and fix those photos if they have problems like red eye or are too light or dark.

Printing photos and text is not the only thing this printer can print. The Artisan 835 is also able to print lined, grid, and coloring pages. All of these things worked out really great. I would only make one comment. The coloring pages can only be printed from a scanned source, or memory card and not from a picture on a PC.

Grid Paper

Coloring page

The printer has a built-in paper tray that functions like two paper trays. The bottom part of the paper tray is for larger paper, it can hold up to 8.5″ x 14″, and the top tray can hold up to 5″ x 7″ paper, which is great for photo paper.

Design

The printer is very compact. On top is an Automatic Document Feeder and the scanner. The ADF can hold up to 30 pages and the maximum size that can be scanned is an A4 document. I really like the design of the ADF because when you are not using it, you can close it up.

Top

ADF

The controls for the Artisan 835 are very unique. On the front is a very large 7.8″ touch panel with a 3.5″ LCD right in the middle. This is a very high resolution screen, and is great for not only displaying the menus and options, but also for showing photos that will be printed. If you are printing from a memory card or USB stick then you can use the screen to preview the images and see what they will look like before they are printed. The screen is not large enough to see a lot of details, but you will get a good idea about the results.

Screen

To the left of the screen are six touch panel buttons. Those buttons are Display/Crop, Menu, Home, Left arrow, Auto, and Back. The Display/Crop button is for printing buttons from a flash card. With this button you can choose how to display the pictures (full, thumbnails, or full with details) and you can also crop the images for printing on photo paper. The menu button will display the menu for whatever screen you are currently viewing. The Home button will always take you back to the main screen. The left arrow is used to scroll through each menu’s screen. The Auto button turns on and off the Fax auto answer. The back button takes you back one screen.

On screen buttons

To the right of the screen are another 7 buttons. The buttons are plus and minus, Clear Settings, right arrow, Start, OK, and View Auto Correct. The plus and minus buttons are for increasing and decreasing the number of copies of each picture you print. Clear settings is self explanatory. The right arrow is just like the left arrow in that it moves through screens. The Start button will start a copy, or fax. The OK button accepts any setting changes. View Auto Correct turns on the auto correction and displays it on the screen.

On screen buttons

To the left of the touch panel are two additional buttons. The top button is the power button, and obviously it is used for turning on and off the printer. Below that is the CD tray button, and it is used for ejecting the CD tray so a CD can be placed on it.

The whole control console lifts up freely. This serves two purposes that I have found so far. The first is to give you a better viewing angle, and the second is to open up a space so you can get to the CD/DVD tray. As you lift the controls up they will lock into place. To get the console to go back down you need to press the unlock button, which is at the top left of the controls, above the power button (it has a yellow stripe). Pressing the Unlock button will lower the display automatically, do not press it down or it will damage the lock and you may not be able to lower it ever again (trust me, I know from experience).

Below the control console is the CD/DVD tray, paper output, and input trays. The first one closest to the top is the CD/DVD tray. Pressing the CD/DVD tray button causes this tray to come out, but the tray does not come out very far, so before you can put a disk on it you must lift the control console up. This opens up a space so you can reach in and place the disk on the tray.

CD tray out

CD on tray

Below that is the paper output tray. It pulls out and can support anything from 4″x6″ all the way up to 8.5″ x 14″.

Paper output tray

To the right of the paper trays are the memory card slots and the PictBridge port.

Memory card slots

At the very bottom is the paper input tray. Actually it is two paper trays built into one. There is an upper and lower section, the lower section is for large paper, up to 8.5″x14″ and the upper section is for smaller photo paper, up to 5″x7″.

Paper tray

The back of the printer has a spot for power, USB, Ethernet, and phone cables. There is also a rather large Duplexer attached to the back. This is responsible for automatic two sided printing. The Duplexer can be removed if you are trying to squeeze the printer into a tight space.

USB/Phone/Ethernet

Duplexer

If you open up the top and take a look inside there are really only two spots of interest and one is the ink cartridge holders. Almost all of the previous printers that I have reviewed have had the ink located right on top of the print head, but not with this printer. On this printer they are located off to the side. The small green tab that you see is a kind of lock. It is used to lock the print head into place while being transported. It must be moved before you plug in the printer, failing to do this may damage the printer. The Printer has a special place for it just above so it does not get lost.

Inside

Performance

Performance testing is where printers either shine, or fall flat on their face. One of my complaints about previous Artisan printers is that it required new cartridges before they would initialize. This meant that if you were upgrading from an older Artisan then you could not use the ink from your old printer, and many times the old ink was just thrown away. However, because I am frugal I always try and use the old ink. So I was pleasantly surprised when the Artisan 835 did not force me to insert new cartridges to begin the setup. However, during the setup it prompted me to insert new cartridges for Cyan, Magenta, and Black, I can only assume the old cartridges ran out of ink.

At the end of the setup I like to check the ink levels just to see how much was used. I was completely astonished by what I saw. As you can also see in the below image, half my black ink is gone, this was a new cartridge. This only affected the black, as you can see the Cyan and Magenta are still full (the other colors are the old cartridges). It is possible that I screwed up the initialization by using old ink, but I still think this is very bad, no printer should use that much ink during the setup.

Ink levels

The first thing I always like doing is printing out lots of pictures. Printing with the 835 is extremely quick, the Artisan 835 can print up to 38 pages per minute and a single photo can be printed in as little as 10 seconds.

The photos that printed are fantastic. I printed off several photos from different printers to compared the quality of each. I printed photos from the Artisan 835 and the Artisan 810. The photos appeared identical, this makes sense because the 835 and 810 photo printing specs are also identical.

One of the features of the Artisan is that it will auto correct photos that are printed from a memory card or USB stick. It can also automatically remove red eye. I could not see a difference between the auto corrected and regular photos. The red eye reduction, also worked reasonably well, except that it missed one of the red eyes in my test photo. If you want everything perfect, it is always best to do the touch-ups yourself.

Printing documents is also very fast. I was able to print 7 full color pages in 55 seconds. By default the pages print in order, which means the first page is on the bottom. Luckily, I found a reverse option which prints the last page first. I think this option is in the word processing software and not the printer drivers. Either way I appreciate having it and I wish it was the default.

Printing DVDs is a lot of fun. I have bought printers in the past just because they could print on CDs and DVDs. The Artisan 835 makes the process really easy because it is all built-in. The quality is also superb, as you can see from the images, it is very easy to see even the smallest detail.

CD on tray

CD Printed

Next, I wanted to test the printing of text. This is where most inkjet printers have the hardest time. I compared the Artisan 835 against my HP P2035n laserjet printer. The first image is the P2035n and the second one is the Artisan on normal text, and the third is the Artisan on fine text. As you can see the P2035n does a better job with text, but the Artisan 835 is not far off. I think you will find that no matter what inkjet you buy, a laserjet is always going to do better with text, that is why I have one of each.

p2035n text

835 text fine

835 text normal

In addition to just printing text I also tried out the Duplexer. I am happy to report that double sided printing completed without a problem. The only thing I would mention is that the printer pauses for about 5 seconds after it prints the first side. This may make you think it is done, but do not remove the paper otherwise the second side will not print. The printer will pull the paper back in and flip it over so it can print on the other side.

To test scanning I have some professional color charts that I like to scan. This gives me a good idea of how well the scanner performs. As you can see it did a decent job, the colors are not perfect, but they are really good.

Charts

Last, but not least, is faxing. To test this I sent a 7 page document to myself. I was very happy to see that the fax did not actually dial until all the pages had been scanned into memory. The scanning was quick, taking about 5 seconds per page. Once they were all scanned the fax dialed the number and sent them to the destination. I was sending black and white pages so it was fairly quick. The whole process took about 5 minutes. I don’t have a second color fax, but I imagine that it would take quite a bit longer, because it takes longer to scan color, and color documents would also have more data to send to the destination.

All during these tests the printer was really quiet. Sometimes I had to watch the printer just to make sure it was printing. The scanner is also really quiet and fast, so if you are not paying attention you will miss it.

The entire Artisan line uses the same ink. So if you upgrade you can keep your old ink and use it with the new printer. The ink is not super expensive, costing about $9 per cartridge if you buy all the colors together, and $18 per cartridge for the high capacity black.

Warranty and Support

The warranty for the Artisan 835 is simply a one year warranty that covers parts and labor for manufacturer defects. Epson also offers a one year extension to the warranty for $39.95 and two year extension for $59.95. In my opinion this is a weak warranty, and a cheap trick. The Artisan 810 included a two year warranty, so by reducing the warranty to one year it seems like Epson is trying to make more money by selling warranty extensions.

My experience with support has been positive. On a previous model I accidentally broke the lock release for the screen (I pushed it down instead of using the release button) and Epson was very easy to deal with. They sent a new 800 and even paid for return shipping for the old one, no I did not tell them I was writing a review, I spoke to them like a normal customer.

Conclusion

So to sum everything up, the 835 is still produces great quality prints, it does not require new ink to activate, and it is wireless N certified. However, it does have a shorter warranty, and it used up half my black ink just in the activation.

Because the upgrades aren’t really that great, the lower warranty, and the ink wasting, I am going to recommend that you skip the 835 and get yourself an 810 instead. Since the 810 is last years model you can save quite a bit of money, and you should still get the 2 year warranty if you buy it new.

Features

• Full HD 1080p recording
• HD 720p video calls
• Life-like stereo audio
• 10-megapixel snapshots
• Face-recognition login
• RightLight 2 technology
• Carl Zeiss optics

You can record in breathtaking widescreen Full HD 1080p.

You’ll get 720p video calling on most major instant messaging services and Logitech

You’ll be sure your loved ones will hear the real you thanks to dual stereo mics.

Delivers be-there-quality video and lets you take high-definition 10-megapixel snapshots (software enhanced).

Log in to your computer and your favorite sites with the included face-recognition software. It’ll save you time and impress your friends.

Even if you make a video call in dim or poorly backlit settings, the camera will intelligently adjust to produce the best possible image.

You’ll enjoy razor-sharp images from a lens designed with the help of one of the pioneers in the industry.

Design

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 is very simply designed. On the front is the camera, the camera uses a Carl Zeiss glass lens. On either side of the lens are microphones. These two microphones are what allows the C910 to record stereo audio. But this is not the most interesting part of the camera.

Front

The most interesting and unique part of the webcam is the clip on the back. The clip is what holds the webcam onto a monitor or laptop lid. The dual-hinged mount extends out the back of the camera and serves two purposes. First, as I mentioned above, it can be used as a clip to attach it to a monitor or laptop lid. Second, it can be used as a stand.

Side	Monitor Side

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 also comes with its own software and it provides quite a bit of functionality. As you can see from this image the software allows pan and zoom. However, it is all digital and I don’t recommend its use. There are also a series of special effect, like avatars, face accessories, filters, and video masks. The effects can be fun for a few things, but in all practicality they are not very useful.

Avatar

Face Accessories

Filter

One thing I found interesting is that the video effects did not work when the resolution was set to 1080p. I’m not sure why, but I did contact Logitech support and they think the camera is defective.

Performance

To get started, Logitech recommends a 2.8GHz, single-core Pentium 4 PC running Windows 7, Vista, and XP (SP2 or higher). For HD video recording or live chats, Logitech recommends a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor or faster, with 2GB of RAM and a free USB 2.0 port. You’ll also need 1MB/sec upload speeds from your cable or DSL modem. I tested the C910 on a custom Intel Core i7-920 PC with 6GB of RAM and 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

The video from the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 is quite amazing for a webcam. The auto focus is especially nice. It was able to keep my face clear and in focus at all times. However, there were times when the color seemed a bit off.

The dual microphones also did a great job picking up my voice. I never had any trouble hearing myself in all the recording I did. In addition all the people I talked to via video chat also said I sounded clear.

However, the best way for you to see if this is the right webcam for you is to see it in action. So I recorded a video review using the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910. All you have to do is click play on the video at the top of this review.

Support and Warranty

The Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 includes a 2-year limited hardware warranty. Since this webcam will just sit on top of my monitor, I don’t think it will take much abuse. I expect that it will continue to function long after the warranty runs out.

Support comes in the form of phone, email, or an online discussion forum and FAQ. As I mentioned above I have contacted Logitech support for the video effect problem. I chose to contact them via email, and while I found the support agents to be courteous, the replies always took 1-2 business days. This is not as fast as I would have liked, but if I wanted it to be faster I should have used the phone.

Conclusion

I am really impressed with this webcam. Despite the high retail price of $99, I think it is worth it. The video quality is top notch, and the audio sounds really good. The only minor frustration that I had with the camera is the clip. Since my monitor is a bit old it is also quite thick. This thickness didn’t give the clip anything to hold onto so it is slightly unstable.

If your in the market for a webcam, especially an HD one, I really recommend the Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910.

Features

• Capture HD video up to 1080i
• Watch and record High Definition video content directly to laptop
• Compatible with Windows 7
• Supports real-time H.264 recording
• Digital recording in MPEG-2, AVI, H.264 (iPhone, & iPod), PSP
• Compatible with Microsoft Expressions Encoder 4 and Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3.1
• Supports Adobe Premiere Pro CS4

The AVerTV Express HD DVR, with its 34mm express card form factor, allows users to watch and record High Definition video content directly on a Laptop via Component inputs. Users can connect to their home cable/satellite set-top-box, record video up to 1080i resolution directly to their laptop, and view it later while on the go.

AVerTV Express HD DVR makes game play portable. It allows users to connect any High Definition Game Console and play it directly on their laptop in Real-Time. Users can record their live game play in HD, post it online and share their high scores with family and friends.

The AVer MediaCenter software focuses on both quality and compression efficiency. It allows you to stream uncompressed raw video data thru the PCIe bus and preserves the original video quality. It supports real-time, up to1080i High Definition H.264, recording, which not only allows you to preserve the crystal-like HD picture, but also saves up to 3 times your hard disk space.

Compatible with Microsoft Expression Encoder 4 and Adobe Flash Media Live Encoder 3.1, AVerTV Express HD DVR allows you to broadcast high-quality live events in real time. The Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 support also makes it the best solution for professionals.

Design

The design of the AVerTV Express HD DVR is extremely simple. As a 34mm ExpressCard it is very small and rectangle. The AVerTV Express HD DVR also comes with a 54mm adapter so that if your laptop has the bigger slot it can still work.

On one end of the card is the plug for the computer, on the other is the plug for the cables.

Card

Cables

The software also plays a part in the design, if it is hard to use, it could turn a great product into a bad product. So with that said, lets look at how the software works.

When the software is started you will see the main screen. Their are tabs across the top for TV, Video, Music, Pictures, and Settings. As you click on each one you are taken to the respective section. However, if you don’t have the card plugged in then you will be in for a surprise. Each time you click on a section the software checks to make sure that the card is plugged in. If it doesn’t find the card then you see a message telling you it cannot find the card. Unfortunately, you cannot access any of the sections without the card, even things like Video, Music and Pictures, which have nothing to do with the TV card, are blocked.

Main

No Card

When the card is plugged in, the GUI opens up and is easy to navigate. Under the TV section there is access to the live video feed, this includes anything that is plugged into the card. This is also where that feed can be recorded, and played back. One thing to keep in mind is that this card only supports unencrypted video. So if you were hoping to use this to copy DVD, or Blu-rays from your player, then you will be very disappointed.

TV

Recorded

The Video, Music, and Pictures sections are all very straight forward. The inclusion of these sections leads me to believe that AverMedia would like us to use the software for all our media playback. However, this is unlikely to happen because these sections are blocked if the Express Card is not plugged in. So if you happen to be using the Express Card slot for some other device the entire software suite is useless. In addition, these sections are very basic when it comes to features so they are not very useful. I personally recommend only using this software for video recording and do the rest with something else. My recommendation to AverMedia is to ditch these other sections and focus all their development time on the TV section. There is no reason to compete with iTunes and Windows Media player.

Video

Music

Pictures

Performance

The card claims that it can play and record video with resolutions of up to 1080i, but it does not come for free. The hardware requirements might be more than your laptop can handle. For real-time SD capturing a laptop will need an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or Equivalent AMD processor. For real-time HD H.264 capturing a laptop will need an Intel Core i7 920XM 2.0GHz or Equivalent AMD processor. These can be fairly heavy requirement, so make sure your laptop fits before you run out and buy this card.

Luckily for me I just finished a review of the HP EliteBook 2740p Tablet PC and it meets those requirements. So before I send it back to HP I decided to run some tests. Here is a quick look at the laptop specs.

To test this I am using the unencrypted video from my Xbox 360 (it’s the only HD device I have that outputs unencrypted video).  I am not one to start small so I immediately started with 1080i video. Below is a short video of my gameplay at 1080i, and a screen shot of the CPU usage. You will notice how choppy the video is, it really makes the game unplayable. Since the CPU usage was so low I am not sure what the problem is, maybe the hard drive is not able to keep up.

1080i CPU

Next I reduced the video quality to 720p. The video below and the CPU screen shot show that the usage and choppiness are down. This is much nicer for playing, but still not smooth.

720p CPU

Lastly I reduced the quality to 480p. You will notice that the CPU usage is really low and the video does not have any choppiness at all. I was finally able to play the game without any of the video problems getting in my way.

480p CPU

So this didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. I was really disappointed that the video was so choppy at the higher qualities. So I decided to see if there was anything in the settings that might explain what was happening. What I found was a section that would allow different encoders. The default is MPEG-2, but there are also options for AVI, H.264, and iPod. So I decided to change the encoder to H.264 and see what happened. As you can see from the image and video below, the CPU usage went way up, but the video quality also improved.

1080i H.264 CPU

So in the end, it seems like this software is not setup to encode HD video in MPEG-2. If you want MPEG-2 then you definitely need to use H.264 encoding.

Something else I found interesting is that the 480p, and 720p videos recorded at 60 frames/s. Maybe someone can explain why this would happen? Just for reference the 1080i mpg recorded at 29 frames/s and the 1080i H.264 recorded at 22 frames/s.

1080i H.264 frames/s

1080i frames/s

720p frames/s

480p frames/s

Support and Warranty

The AVerMedia AVerTV Express HD DVR card comes with a 1 year parts and labor limited warranty. This isn’t too bad, but for a device with no moving parts, it does seem to be really short.

If you do want or need support you should visit their website. They have setup a decent set of resources to help you discover and solve problems. As of this writing they do not have a lot of data just because the product is so new. Once the card has seen more action I am sure they will update the website with more useful information.

Conclusion

The AVerMedia AVerTV Express HD DVR has potential, but it is very CPU intensive. If your going to use this correctly you are going to need a very powerful, and expensive, laptop to run it on. If you already have one, then great, but if not the cost may put this out of reach. I would really like to see a card like this with some built-in hardware encoding, this would reduce the load on the CPU and allow it to work in less powerful laptops. This would certainly make it more appealing to a much wider audience.

If you are are like me and looking for a way to record your gaming, and you already have a powerful laptop, then I recommend you pick this up. However, if you don’t have a powerful laptop, then I suggest you wait until something else comes along that has more reasonable hardware requirements.

Features

A new twist on business computing:

• Use the pen or the pen and finger touch (with multi-touch gesture support) to easily navigate applications, turn pages and complete tasks.
• 12.1-inch diagonal WXGA UWVA LED display with or without multi touch. Additional optional Outdoor View display with multi-touch for easier viewing in natural light

Built for work on the go:

• Lightweight, yet rugged design with aluminum surface meets military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature
• Extensive wireless connectivity options—HP Mobile Broadband, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ WLAN and Bluetooth
• Global Positioning System (GPS) identifies your location around the world and guides you where you need to go

Smart solutions for mobile security and productivity:

• Access and modify e-mail, calendar, contacts and websites without waiting to boot up using HP QuickLook 3 and HP QuickWeb
• Hard-drive data is protected from drops and sudden impact with HP 3D DriveGuard
• Enhanced security with integrated TPM chip, HP ProtectTools software—data encryption and HP Fingerprint Sensor

Better designed for you and the environment

• Reduced environmental impact thanks to smarter power management, the optional HP Long Life Battery solution, greater recyclability and fewer substances of concern

Design

Because the 2740p is designed for the traveling business person, and can be used as a tablet or laptop, it is important that is has a usable, yet rugged design. The HP EliteBook 2740p is lightweight, rugged, has an aluminum surface, and meets military standards (MIL-STD 810G) for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature.

The right side of the 2740p has a couple of quick launch buttons for QuickWeb, and QuickLook, a headphone jack, SmartCard reader, 2 USB ports, phone jack, and a Kensington lock slot. I would really like to see the removal of the phone jack, is anyone still using a dial-up modem?

Right side

On the left side is the Wi-Fi switch, Firewire, and another USB.

Left

On the back is the power plug, Ethernet, and VGA port. Above those, on the back of the lid is a rocker switch, esc button, screen rotate button, and a small hole for ctrl-alt-delete, these are used when in tablet mode. The rocker switch will move the cursor up and down, and the screen rotate button switches between portrait and landscape mode.

Back

As mentioned above the 2740p has a few durability features and a couple of those are found on the keyboard. The keyboard is spill resistant, and the keys are coated with a special material that prevents the print from rubbing off. I really like how the keyboard goes from edge to edge. This shows that HP is really trying to maximize the available space and make typing a comfortable as possible. They keys also have a very nice feel, and they provide good feedback when pressed.

Keyboard

HP also includes both a pointing stick and a touchpad. The pointing stick does its job well by providing accurate navigation, but personally I don’t like them, so I didn’t use it for very much.

The relatively small 1.1″ x 2.75″ touchpad is adequate for moving around the screen, but does not provide enough room to move around comfortably. I would prefer to remove the pointing stick and its buttons, and in their place make the touchpad a lot bigger. If you look at the picture above you can see that without the pointing stick buttons HP could make the touchpad an inch taller and wider. On a side note, both the pointing stick and touchpad buttons have a nice rubbery feel and they are easy to press.

The screen on the 2740p is a 12.1-inch WXGA resolution ultra-wide viewing angle (UWVA) display. I was very excited to see that the screen has a matte finish. I really dislike the glossy screens that seem to have taken over laptops.

Open Front

Above the screen is the usual webcam, and the HP exclusive keyboard light (I only say this because I have yet to see any other laptop maker include a keyboard light). Along the top of the bezel of the screen is a flip out wireless antenna. It is spring loaded, so as soon as you flip the switch it automatically comes out like a pocket knife.

To convert the laptop into a tablet it just takes a quick turn of the screen, and then it lays flat on top of the keyboard. Be careful though, because the screen only swivels one direction. If you try and swivel the screen the wrong way it will break. It would be nice if the screen could swivel either way, but currently that is not an option. I do like how securely the screen locks into place when in tablet mode, it uses the same locking mechanism in both laptop and tablet mode.

Screen twisted

Tablet

When the the 2740p is first put into tablet mode the screen may not be facing the correct direction. As far as I could tell there was no automatic way for it to rotate to fit the way it was being held (no gravity sensor), so you may have to press the screen rotate button several times to get it correct. It would be nice if the screen would automatically change as the tablet is rotated.

Once in tablet mode the screen can be used with either your finger or the supplied pen/stylus. I found using my finger was better for most functions, but when trying to press small buttons I had to use the pen.

The screen is also multi-touch, so you can use up to two fingers with some programs. Unfortunately, not all programs support multi-touch so it is trial and error process to find the ones that do. HP supplies a couple games and one of them does support multi-touch.

The biggest complaint I have about the tablet is the OS. I’m sorry, but no matter what Microsoft and others say, Windows 7 is not a tablet OS. Many of the buttons are too small (for example minimize, maximize, and close buttons), and just try and touch any of the icons down by the clock, they are so small it is almost impossible. It would be so much better if the OS would switch to a more touch friendly interface (i.e. larger icons) when in tablet mode.

The sound is adequate, but not great. I could hear movies, but not clearly, and when I was in a noisy room I could not understand anything. The speakers are down facing, which could explain why the sound was not very clear. However, HP is in a tough spot because up facing speakers would only work when in laptop mode, and not when in tablet mode. The only solution would be to put the speakers around the edge of the display. However, I don’t know how much room there is for speakers, so it may not be possible.

Performance

To test the performance of this machine I am going to run several tests. These tests include a battery, graphics, and full system test. However, before I get to that lets take a quick look at the specs of the EliteBook 2740p.

The first test is 3DMark06. This test focuses on testing the graphics system. The EliteBook 2740p got a score of 1936. At first this seems fairly low, but as I went back and compared it to some other laptops I have reviewed it actually seemed really good. The only laptop, of similar size, that got a higher score was the Asus F6Ve.

3DMark

The next test is PCMark Vantage. This test is an overall system test and does not focus on any particular system. The EliteBook 2740p got a score of 5929. Again, not a spectacular score, but when compared to other laptops of similar size it comes out near the top, with only the Asus F6Ve getting a higher score.

PCMark

The last test is the battery test. To test the battery I use MobileMark 2007, with WiFi off and the screen brightness set to 50%. As you can see from the image below the laptop came in at 322 minutes (5 hours 22 minutes) of run time. This is exceptional for a laptop this size and I am extremely impressed. This is better than any other laptop I have tested, including the Asus F6Ve.

MobileMark 2007

As I ran these tests I paid attention to the noise level and the heat that was produced. I never felt like there was an excessive amount of either.

Support and Warranty

HP backs the 2740p with a three-year warranty and a one-year warranty on the primary battery. This includes pick-up or carry-in, and toll-free 7 x 24 hardware technical phone support. On-site service and warranty upgrades are also available.

Conclusion

I really like this laptop, it is powerful, and versatile. If you travel a lot then the EliteBook 2740p would be great because of its compact size. If you need a tablet, but you also need something more powerful than an iPad or Android tablet, the 2740p would also be a great fit. All in all the EliteBook 2740p will fill many shoes and work well in any situation.

Features

• Computing muscle. The latest Intel processors, including Intel Xeon CPUs with Turbo Boost Technology, aren’t just fast, they’re designed for intelligent performance and energy efficiency, automatically adjusting based on your usage needs. To amp up responsiveness, we’ve made room for as many as 12 DIMM slots on select workstations.
• Cutting-edge graphics solutions. Select ThinkStation workstations integrate NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics with SLI technology and the Tesla high-performance computing solution. The result? A powerful, versatile solution engineered to meet your high-performance graphics and computing demands.Learn more about professional graphics solutions
• ISV-certified. Lenovo works closely with leading software partners, and ThinkStation workstations have hundreds of independent software vendor (ISV) certifications, ensuring that you have the performance you need to run the world’s most demanding applications.
• More to see. With support for up to a whopping eight monitors at once, ThinkStation C20 and C20x* help you analyze more, create more and earn more—faster.
• Less waiting. Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7 PCs boast significantly faster boot-up and shutdown times as well as hardware and software innovations to help you work more productively.

Design

One thing workstations are not known for is fancy designs, and the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 does not deviate much from the standard box shape with a door on one side. However, this is good because a workstation does not get points for fancy design, it gets points for being able to fit under a desk or in a rack.

The front houses a single DVD drive, power button, 2 USB ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and an optional IEEE 1394 FireWire port. The rest of the front is taken up by a grill so it looks like this case will not hold anything else. Judging by the orientation of the drive, and ports, this workstation is suppose to be stored on its side, most likely in a rack.

Front

Front Panel

The back has all the normal ports including eSata, SPDIF in and out, 8 USB, 1 Ethernet, and 6 audio ports. In addition, the machine I received also has 2 DisplayPorts, and 1 DVI, these are part of the graphics card.

Back	Back Panel

The left side has the door and it opens to reveal the inside. Inside I immediately noticed the dual CPUs and the memory slots. I found it interesting that the fan for one CPU was facing up and the other was facing sideways. This is probably necessary because of the small case, but I worry that the fan from one CPU will blow heat on the other.

Inside

CPU Fan 2

Below the CPUs are the PCI cards, but they are covered with a small metal panel. The panel is used to keep any PCI cards from slipping loose during shipping, it also hides the cards from view when you open the side panel. The panel is easy enough to remove, and once it’s removed we see the graphics card.

Panel Removed

Below the graphics card is the power supply and hard drives. At first it looks like the hard drives are going to be difficult to replace since they face the power supply. However, after playing around a bit more, I discovered that the front of the case comes off and the hard drives slide out. This is not quite as hard as I thought, but I still had to squeeze my fingers into a tight spot to get the cables connected.

PCI Cards

Hard Drives

Performance

Before I get into the tests, here is a breakdown of the hardware that is included in the ThinkStation C20.

Performance with a Workstation is difficult to determine. It cannot be compared to desktops because they use a different class of hardware. Workstation hardware is more about quality and not quantity, it is tuned to give the best quality even if it has to sacrifice frame rate. Desktop hardware is tuned to put out as much as possible even if it must skip a few frames or even throw out a bad pixel or two. So I cannot rely solely on the normal desktop benchmarks, they favor desktop hardware. Instead I must also use more professional tools. For this I turn to programs like ViewPerf and Cinebench.

Viewperf is a very unique benchmark because it is designed to test the video of a computer without relying at all on the CPU. They did this so that the graphics test would not be slowed down by any CPU processes. This guarantees that the numbers we get from this test will truly represent the full capacity of the video system. Since I don’t have another Workstation to run Viewperf 11 on I can only compare my results to what is on the spec website. As you can see below the scores that were achieved with the ThinkStation C20 are fairly low. I will let you come to your own conclusions, but to me the numbers seem a bit lower then I expected.

Viewperf

Next I move on to Cinebench. This benchmark also tests the graphics card, and it also tests the CPU as well. It does so by rendering a short video, and a large graphic. The graphic is rendered twice, once with just a single thread, and a second time where it is broken up into multiple threads. This is done to get a base measurement, and then to test the full capacity of the CPU. As you can see from the scores below it did reasonably well. It scored slightly less than the HP Z800 I reviewed a couple months ago, but the Z800 also had a slightly faster CPU.

Cinebench

Next I decided to run 3DMark Vantage. I know that this is a consumer desktop benchmark and not designed for Workstations, but since I ran this test on the Z800 and the Z800 also had a Quadro FX 4800 graphics card, it might be an interesting comparison. As you can see below the C20 scored slightly less than the Z800. This is consistent with the Viewperf results and adds validity to the thought that the C20 is just a little slow in the graphics area.

3DMark

Another point of interest in the performance of a machine is the noise level. I am happy to say that the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 was very quiet during all my tests. There were a couple places that the noise level rose slightly, but it was never more than a whisper. However, this is not the case when you first turn it on. When the C20 is first turned on all fans go to 100% for about 10 seconds. During this time they are extremely noisy and may catch you off guard if you are not ready for it.

Warranty and Support

The warranty that comes with the ThinkStation C20 is a 3 Year On-Site Topseller Warranty. This is included with all machines and I could not see a way to upgrade it. As I mentioned above the support you get with a workstation is one of the selling points. Having three years of on-site service is certainly a big help in case any problems are ever encountered.

Just like all the other large computer makers, support comes through phone, email, and website resources, or an on-site technician if the issue cannot be solved any other way.

Conclusion

I appreciate the fact that Lenovo is trying to make the case smaller, but I think the sacrifices in ease of use out weigh the benefits of a smaller case. I think Lenovo could take a few design tips (both inside and out) from the HP Z800 and make a better machine. Despite the shortfalls of the C20 it is still a solid performer, and I am confident it could perform any task it is given. Priced at about $7,800 (as configured) it may seem like a lot to a desktop owners, but this is actually very reasonable for a workstation. As a comparison, the Z800 I reviewed a few months ago would run for over $11,000.

If you’re looking for a good, but inexpensive workstation I suggest you take a look at the Lenovo ThinkStation C20.