Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Lenovo ThinkPad X130e preview; a rugged notebook for classrooms

Lenovo ThinkPad X130e, a special rugged notebook for students is slated for official release mid this month. The rugged classroom upgrade to Lenovo ThinkPad X120e has several striking features. Though not looking like a highly rugged and hard notebook, ThinkPad X130e will be a better pick for classrooms.

Students can handle the system in classrooms for some rough uses with no fear of harms with mild falls, shocks and impacts, reports say. The notebook is made using a rubber bumper circling its plastic chassis along with a slim bezel protected by 1.2mm thick plastic. Lenovo will sell the notebook for $469 once it lands in stores on December 20.

Lenovo ThinkPad X130e tech specs
Dimensions: The Lenovo rugged notebook is to come with 11.55 inch width and 8.5-inch height.

Weight: The rugged notebook will have a weight of 3.9 pounds (1.78kg). Compared with many newly arrived Ultrabooks, 3.9 pounds is quite attractive, especially being a rugged system.

Display: The Lenovo notebook will have an 11.6-inch LED display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It makes the device a big threat to Apple MacBook Air 11-inch. Moreover, for students, 11-inch display is enough. It makes them handle the device comfortably and carry with less effort.

Processor: The notebook comes up with two processor options; an Intel Core i3-2367M processor or AMD Fusion E-300 and E-450 APUs. You can choose between the processors from Intel and AMD.

RAM: 2GB of RAM. It can be upgraded up to 8GB, however.

Storage: The device offers 5GB of internal storage.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7.

Battery: The Lenovo laptop mounts a 6-cell battery that can run the device for 8.5 hours on a single recharge.

Connectivity: It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 for connectivity with the network.

Ports: HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, 4-in-1 memory card reader and three USB 2.0 ports are with the Lenovo notebook.

Others: The notebook features Lenovo’s RapidBoot technology to quickly boot up the device. As a result, only 20 odd seconds are required to boot the notebook.

What things to make it special?

Rugged notebook for students: There are lots of rugged notebooks in stores. But Lenovo ThinkPad X130e remains different being a special rugged notebook for the student community. Students can carry the device in their backpacks with no fear of harms from impacts and shocks. Even some rough use of the device in the classroom will not damage the notebook.

RapidBoot technology: ThinkPad X130e is to come up with Lenovo’s RapidBoot technology for instant boosting. Thanks to the feature, you just have to wait only 20 seconds to get ThinkPad X130e boot up.

11-inch LCD display: The Lenovo notebook will have a small 11-inch LED display with high definition. You can watch contents with better clarity in the display.

Drawbacks
Lenovo will unveil the notebook late this month only. So it is not possible to count drawbacks of the device for the time being.

Price and availability
Lenovo is to sell ThinkPad X130e for a price starting from $469. It will appear in shelves from 20th December, 2011.

What others say?
Dilip Bhatia, vice president, ThinkPad Business Unit, Lenovo exposes why the company went on to roll out a rugged notebook for students in its ThinkPad X130e series.

“At Lenovo ThinkTank 2011 we brought hundreds of distinguished educators together, and the resounding feature CIOs told us that ranks highest on their list of features important for PC purchases is ‘ruggedness’,”

Let us see what Paige Johnson, education strategist of Intel says of the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad X130e,

“Having a purpose-built device designed to improve learning for students is a critical foundation for education transformation. Lenovo’s ThinkPad X130e laptop powered by Intel Core i3 processors provides the capability and functions that students need for a 21st Century education.”

Wrap-up
Lenovo has been one of chief notebook and tablet makers in the world. The Chinese technology maker always brings incredibly innovative products. Its ThinkPad and IdeaPad notebook series have largely attained popularity in global markets. Indeed, the company is now coming up with a new rugged model of ThinkPad to entice customers from student communities.'

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Ivy Bridge to Bring Saner Security, Lower Power to Intel CPU Line

Intel’s Ivy Bridge mobile lineup has been leaked, and the leak confirms that the upcoming launch of Intel’s 22nm, low-power chips will mark a major shift in the chipmaker’s strategy on two important fronts: 1) the ultrabook is being held up as the new default form factor for laptops, and 2) Intel appears to be abandoning its (insane) segmentation of chips based on security features, at least when it comes to mobile.
ThinkPad Laptop battery

As Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed in May, Intel is making its 17W ultra-low voltage (ULV) products the bedrock of its mobile line. Gone are the 25W laptop chips that formed the centerpiece of Intel’s mobile family, with the 17W ULV parts slotting in beneath them as more expensive, niche products. Instead, ULV takes center stage and becomes the new normal for laptops. (Note that VR Zone speculates as to why the 25W parts were killed off, but there’s no need to guess—again, Otellini made it clear that they were going away with Ivy Bridge.)

This shift to 17W is part of Intel’s larger emphasis on promoting the Macbook Air-like “ultrabook” form factor as the wave of the future. Intel has done a lot of engineering to produce the reference designs for these, engineering that it gives away to OEMs. The company is also doing a ton of ultrabook PR, which, again, is basically free advertising for its OEMs. All told, this adds up to a massive effort on the part of Intel to make the thinner ultrabook form-factor the new default for all PC laptops. Thicker laptops will still be out there, but they’ll be for users who want battery life above all else.

I got some hands-on time with a few ultrabook models at IDF 2011 in September, and given that I was toting an 11″ Macbook Air to the event, they did not impress. But if you’re used to a larger laptop, the ultrabook might get a rise out of you. Regardless, it’s great to see that notebooks are going to be slimming down across the board.

Security: from deranged to sensible

The second important implication of the leaked slides—and this was not something that was pre-announced by Intel—is that the chipmaker is moving away from its deranged and irresponsible segmentation of chips by security and manageability features.

In the past, features like vPro, virtualization, and trusted execution technology (TXT) have been offered selectively on different parts of Intel’s lineup, so that users who pay more get more security and more functionality, and users who pay less get less. But given that Intel has been claiming security as the company’s top priority for over a year now, the idea of selling some chips that are less secure than others is complete insanity. Every chip that Intel sells should fully support every one of Intel’s security and remote manageability features, period. Anything else is derelict, and puts the lie to the claim that the security of the entire PC ecosystem is truly important at Intel.

What makes this worse is that this segmentation is totally artificial. These chips come off the production line supporting all of Intel’s features and extensions—it’s cheaper to manufacture them in bulk this way. Intel then blows sets of polysilicon fuses to shut down specific features in order to get the desired product segmentation. In other words, all of the chips come off the line supporting all of Intel’s security features, and then Intel cripples some of them so that it can sell the non-crippled ones for more money. Again, for a company that preaches so much about security, this practice is mind-bendingly irresponsible.

With Ivy Bridge’s mobile line, Intel appears to have seen the light, and is now offering all of its features and extensions across all of the mobile SKUs. Intel is now more sensibly segmenting the line by number of cores, number of threads, maximum CPU and GPU clockspeed, and L3 cache. This is what Intel should have been doing for the past five or six years, so we can be thankful that the company is finally walking the walk, instead of just talking the talk.

On a final note, Ivy Bridge will be Intel’s first line of CPUs to be based on the company’s brand new tri-gate transistor. This shift to tri-gate will give Intel CPUs a large, one-off increase in performance and/or power efficiency, so ultrabooks based on Ivy Bridge should get a non-trivial boost in battery life. How big this boost is depends on the notebook, and on whether its designers opted to improve on the form factor by shrinking the battery or to keep the form factor and battery the same.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Ultrabooks Still Trying to Find Their Niche

Despite backing from the top PC makers, high prices and a disorganized software and hardware ecosystem could slow adoption of ultrabooks over the next few years, analysts said this week.

Intel is promoting ultrabooks as a new category of thin and light laptops with tablet-like features. But with prices starting at US$899, and PC makers seeking to position the systems as possible tablet competitors, it could take a few years for ultrabooks to be widely adopted, analysts said.

Ultrabooks look like Apple's MacBook Air, but are slightly thinner and can run a full Windows OS. Intel has said it will equip ultrabooks with tablet features such as touchscreens, long battery life, instant-boot features and always-on connectivity in the coming years. Ultrabooks use components such as low-power memory -- usually found in smartphones and tablets -- to extend battery life.

Early ultrabooks without touchscreens were recently announced starting at US$899, and top U.S. PC makers aired support for ultrabooks this week. Hewlett-Packard announced the Folio ultrabook, and Dell said it would launch an ultrabook in the next few months.

"What's happening is a normal evolution of the laptop form factor. It's going from thick and heavy to thin and light," said David Daoud, research director of personal computing at IDC.

Intel expects ultrabooks to account for 40 percent of consumer laptops shipped by the end of next year. Intel's expectations may not be met primarily because of high pricing, Daoud said.

The $899 starting price is high in a price-sensitive market, Daoud said. Intel has said prices would come down to $699 by the end of next year, but if consumers are wary of spending due to a recessionary climate, the machines may not be taken up in volume at that price.

The price point is especially a challenge for buyers in the U.S. and Western Europe, who are struggling economically, Daoud said. PC shipments are growing in emerging markets, but buyers in China and India tend to buy low-margin products and could skip ultrabooks, Daoud said.

Nevertheless, PC makers are looking at ultrabooks as an opportunity to grow their PC business, Daoud said. Tablets haven't helped companies like HP, Dell and Acer, and ultrabooks could be a way to revive the PC business.

Vendors are hoping to position ultrabooks as tablet-like devices, but the comparison won't make much sense to consumers until Windows 8 is available. PC makers will not be pitching ultrabooks as an iPad alternative, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

"It's not a comfortable time for the OEMs, but things will get better a year from now," Kay said. "They will have a better OS ... and silicon."

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However, by the time Windows 8 comes out, ultrabooks could have competitors in laptops using ARM processors, which will support Microsoft's upcoming OS. That could tilt the usage model around ultrabooks, and PC makers will have opportunities to explore relationships outside the traditional Wintel alliances, Kay said.

Windows 8 ultrabooks could be good business laptops because of mobility and support for legacy x86 software, which ARM will struggle with, Kay said.

Volume ultrabook shipments are not expected until the laptop prices fall, according to Stephen Baker, vice president at NPD. But if the products attract buyers at $799 or $899, it could an "interesting market," Baker said.

PC makers could choose to sell ultrabooks as high-end products with larger profit margins, much like Apple with the MacBook Air, Baker said. Alternatively, a price of $699 represents a volume opportunity for ultrabooks, and as the price falls, the product could take off with consumers over the next few years.

"There needs to be an upgrade to the ecosystem and component availability," Baker said

Research firm IHS iSuppli this week predicted that ultrabook shipments will be 136.5 million in 2015, up from less than 1 million this year.

Looking for a laptop? Give Ultrabook a spin

Everybody loved the sleek design of Ferraris in the late 1960s, back when cars were the coolest gadgets around.

So it was monumental when Datsun introduced the 240Z in 1969 — a Japanese sports car with Italian looks for less than half the price. It wasn't as exquisitely handcrafted, but the 240Z looked great, ran well and a lot of people could afford one.

That helped convince Americans that Datsun — now Nissan — and Japanese carmakers really could build sexy machines and not just boxy, cheap sedans.

There's a new generation of laptops appearing this holiday season that may have a similar effect on the Windows PC industry, which in recent years has fallen under the shadow of Apple's glamorous new hardware.

These laptops blatantly lift design cues from Apple's MacBook Air, an elegant, impossibly thin wedge of aluminum that first appeared in 2008, and they're approaching half the Air's price.

Intel calls them Ultrabooks, a brand PC makers can use if they meet Intel's criteria. Ultrabooks basically have to be thinner than a finger; run five to eight hours on a battery charge; use Intel's latest mobile processors; and have a solid-state hard drive, or SSD.

The SSD, which is like a big version of the memory card in a digital camera, is crucial because it improves performance and startup times.

I've been testing one of the first Ultrabooks, the Acer Aspire S3, which takes only a few seconds to wake from sleep and less than a minute to reboot.

It's a beautiful laptop with a brushed aluminum cover, a 13.3-inch screen and a total thickness of about a half an inch. Closed, it looks like it could be a Web tablet, and it makes mini-netbooks look chunky. At 3 pounds it weighs about the same as a MacBook Air.

Inside the S3 runs Windows 7 Home Premium on a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor.

There's also a dual drive system — a 20 gigabyte SSD plus a 320 gig standard hard drive.

Blended drive setups will appear on several new Ultrabooks. It's a way for PC makers to provide the performance boost of an SSD without the crazy expense of a full-sized Flash hard drive. A spokesman for drive-maker Seagate said its new hybrid drives add only $30 to $60 to the cost of a standard laptop drive at retail.

There are other ways that PC makers are trying to keep Ultrabook costs down.

The S3 has "chiclet" style keys similar to the MacBook Air. There's a bit of wiggle in the keys and I was concerned about the small space bar and Enter key, but I could type reasonably fast without misfires. The keyboard felt just right to my wife and daughter, who have smaller hands.

With more plastic parts, it doesn't have the exquisite, machined feel of the Air. It also lacks the fast, new USB 3.0 ports (it has two USB 2.0 ports and an HDMI port) and full SSD drives used on some other Ultrabooks.

But these things depend on your perspective. If you're upgrading from a thick, standard laptop, the S3 or other Ultrabooks may be thrilling.

Keep in mind, though, that the S3 and other ultrathin laptops don't have DVD drives. If it will be your only computer, you may need to connect an external DVD drive at some point.

The S3 lists for $900, but I've noticed some discounters are already selling it for just under $850. That's expensive, especially when you can get really powerful laptops for $400 to $700, and Thanksgiving sales are just around the corner.

Looks like a deal

Still, the S3 looks like a deal if you've been pining for an ultrathin laptop and unwilling or unable to pay for one. Windows PC makers have made gorgeous, thin laptops for years, but they're usually aimed at executives and cost $1,500 or more.

A 13-inch MacBook Air costs $1,299 to $1,599, for models with 128 or 256 gigabytes of SSD storage.

You could say that the S3 and other Ultrabooks are just copying the Air.

That's partly true.

Also at play is the cost curve. Premium components that Apple used to build such a thin machine are coming down in price. That's enabling other PC makers to build similar systems and sell them for $1,000 or less. If component prices keep falling, most laptops eventually may look like this.

Intel expects 40 percent of consumer notebooks sold by the end of 2012 will be Ultrabooks. But research firm IDC says that's optimistic; it's predicting they'll take 16 to 19 percent of the consumer laptop market next year.

With consumers paying an average of $686 for laptops nowadays, according to IDC, Ultrabook prices need to fall before they take off, said IDC Vice President Bob O'Donnell. "The issue is this first batch is really expensive, unfortunately — too expensive," he said. "In my view it needs to be $799 or less before it really gets attention from people."

O'Donnell said the combination of Ultrabooks and Windows 8 will be appealing, in part because the new operating system will further improve startup times.

Another research firm, HIS iSuppli, projected Ultrabook sales will grow from 1 million this year to 136.5 million in 2015.

Presents challenge

For now, Intel's requirements for Ultrabooks — especially the SSDs — are a challenge for PC makers trying to lower prices, O'Donnell said. He met last week with Taiwanese manufacturers who are working on "Ultrabook class" systems with less expensive components that don't quite meet Intel branding standards.

Perhaps Intel will be more flexible with processor prices. It's about to introduce the next generation of the "Core" processors that are the basis of its Ultrabook strategy. These processors, code-named "Ivy Bridge," are supposed to have better performance, power savings and improved graphics.

Ivy Bridge PCs will go on sale in the first half of 2012. It's a safe bet that laptops and tablets built on the platform will be shown in January at the Consumer Electronics Show. Apple's also likely to upgrade its computers to the new processors.

Having "old" and "new" processors on the market could lead to a broader range of prices for Ultrabooks and they'll all be upgradeable to Windows 8.

Meanwhile, the S3 is worth a look if you're in the market for a laptop, especially if you need a fast, light, full-powered Windows PC. It's not the Ferrari of laptops, but it's still a pretty nice ride.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

ASUS UX31E & UX21E: Finally, the Ultrabooks that should have been first to market

ASUS has finally launched the sexy Ultrabooks everyone's been waiting for - the ideal machines to kick start the Ultrabook campaign after Acer's first lukewarm efforts.

The UX31E and UX21E on the shag pile at the launch

When Intel's Ultrabook concept first surfaced, it wasn't long before ASUS showed off a prototype Ultrabook that stunned everyone with its machined aluminium looks and razor-thin slimness. But it was Acer that went to market in Australia first with the Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook. And once we got our hands on one it wasn't so much sexy as practical – thin, sure, but with a conservative design and built out of a magnesium alloy that managed to look and feel like plastic. Worse, the model we tested - with a 320GB mechanical drive - at times took longer to boot up applications than the low-power ultraportables it was meant to supersede. All this for a hefty $1,399 (for the version with the Intel Core i5 processor and 320Gb mechanical drive) .

It wasn't an amazing start for Ultrabooks, and it was soon followed by stories of Ultrabook makers cutting production numbers after initial sales were not meeting expectations. At the same time, we spotted a retailer already discounting the Aspire S3, just weeks after it hit the market.

Thankfully, the main act took the stage this week. ASUS launched the 11.6in UX21E and 13.3in UX31E Ultrabooks, finally giving consumers Ultrabooks they can get excited about, even if it calls them Zenbooks. The Ultrabook trademark and specifications were created by Intel to put sexy back into the laptop category after tablets (ie, the iPad) started eating into notebook sales. And there was also a stunningly successful example of the concept: Apple's MacBook Air, which has been selling in the millions in part thanks to not having any competition from Wintel machines.

The UX31E and UX21E are exactly what Intel ordered and the four models released yesterday (an Intel Core i5 and Core i7 version of each) can justifiably be considered direct competitors to the MacBook Air. Even if the pricing is still relatively high, it's easier to see these machines justifying it than the Aspire S3. When passed around to people at the launch, the ASUS Ultrabooks generated the same kind of "wow" response that the MacBook Airs used to get when they first arrived. They are unnervingly thin (both an insane 3mm at the front edge and around 17mm at the back) but surprisingly solid thanks to their machined aluminium unibody which is finished in striking concentric circles.

The whole point of Ultrabooks, however, is that they have to be more than just razor-thin supermodels. On this alone the Samsung Series 9 notebooks and some Sony Vaios would give them a run for their money. Ultrabooks have to meet a set of Intel specs that ensure they are superior to the ordinary notebooks that Intel wants to eventually see gone, in just about every aspect. The ASUS modes are a great example of the Intel Ultrabook requirements in action, which include:

Slim design - less than 21 mm thick

The UX31E - 3mm at the tip, 17mm at the back

UX21E - as above, but 16.76mm at the back

The ASUS UX31 is 17mm at its thickest and the UX21E is 16.76mm, so they come in well under. Their slimness is the very first thing you notice, prompting you to wonder how any components can fit inside, let alone powerful processors like Core i5s or Core i7s and drives of any kind. Most ordinary notebooks tend to be between 25mm to 35mm thick, a contrast that highlights how much easier it is to slip an Ultrabook into a case or bag of documents instead of having to carry it separately in its own computer bag. The big challenge when you're shoehorning a computer into a razor is not just making the components fit, but heat management as well. Here ASUS has designed custom cooling technology which apparently uses a V-shaped channel with a copper fin design for improved airflow and cooling. We say apparently because we couldn't peek inside one of their Ultrabooks yesterday.

Less than 1.4kgs in weight

The UX31E, head on

The UX31E is 1.3kgs, the UX21E 1.10kg. Like the slimness, weight is one of the triumphs of these machines. They weigh as much as netbooks (and double most tablets), but with the performance of real computers. This gives Intel the opportunity to promote one of the Ultrabooks' advantages over tablets – they let you do serious work, instead of just web surfing and lazy media consumption.

When you consider the crazy slimness and ethereal weight of the things, the hardware ASUS has been able to fit within the dimensions is astonishing. The 13.3 display on the UX31E delivers a resolution of 1,600 x 900, which is superior to the MacBook Air's 1,440 x 900. The 11.6in gives you 1,366 x 768, which means it fits the same amount of pixels in its tiny screen as a big lumbering laptop on its 15.6in display.

Both have attractive, well-spaced chiclet style keyboards and a sound system that uses ASUS's SonicMaster and Bang Olufsen's ICEpower audio technologies. We weren't able to get a good read on the sound amid the noise of the launch, but ASUS assures us the Bang Olufsen connection optimises the entire system so it can produces above-average sound, using power management, amplification, acoustics and even optimised digital signal processing. Some reviewers who've had a good listen agree the sound is excellent, saying the quality is also helped by the rigidity of the US31E and UX21E's chassis.

Ports are usually the first things to be sacrificed when notebook makers attempt to create slim machines and were the first things to be left out when the iPad was designed. The UX31E has two USB ports (one with the USB 3.0 superfast standard), a mini-HDMI port, an SD card reader, a mini-VGA port and an audio/microphone jack. The UX21E loses the SD card reader. Both have a camera.

Ultra-fast start up

This UX21E resumed from sleep in less than 2 seconds and took 18 seconds to cold boot

One of the frequently quoted advantages that tablets have over notebooks is lightning-fast resume from sleep mode. Ultrabooks are expected to be nearly as fast, so Intel has mandated a technology called Intel Rapid Start for every Ultrabook. This is essentially a system that hibernates the machine to NAND, a type of volatile flash memory on the laptop motherboard that doesn't require power to retain data. Basically it means that even if the system is not drawing any power it will remember what was in memory when you resume. The result is an ultra-quick resume of around two seconds, which we've seen on both the ASUS and Acer Ultrabooks.

While Intel did not set a requirement for startup from a cold boot, the SSDs help here. They enable the Ultrabooks (or any other laptop with an SSD drive) to start more rapidly than machines with mechanical drives. For the UX21E, we counted a cold boot start of 18 seconds. That's massively faster than the minute or more that it takes a Windows PC to get going.

CULV (Consumer Ultra-Low-Voltage) processors

Intel's CULV processors are not the same kind of anaemic low-voltage processors that blighted previous ultraportables, on which opening a big PDF was a 5-minute struggle. Based on our testing of the Acer Aspire S3, the processors are, in fact, nearly as powerful and in some cases exceed the performance of first generation Intel Core full-power processors found in standard notebooks. While using the Acer Aspire S3 heavily for a week, we didn't notice any lethargy that could be attributed to its low voltage Core i5 CPU (which is the same as the Core i5 in the ASUS UX21E). The Core i5 and Core i7 processors available for the ASUS Ultrabooks will handle daily computing tasks and much more with ease. An 11.6in 1.1kg notebook with a Core i7 in it has a power-to-weight ratio that's unheard of at prices less than the Greek national debt. Incidentally, the UX21E also comes with a Core i3 option. The processors in the UX31E and UX21E are mated with 4GB of RAM. This CPU and RAM "engine room" is helped along by the solid state drives in both laptops. There are no nasty SSD/Mechanical drive combos here, just superfast SSDs.

Extended battery life

Intel demands at least 5 hours of laptop battery life for the thinnest/smallest Ultrabooks and ideally 8 hours for the bigger ones. We weren't able to test the ASUS Ultrabooks at the launch but ASUS claims a battery life of around 5 hours for the UX21E and 7 hours for the UX31E. It strikes us as reasonable. With the Acer Aspire S3 we got about 4.5 hours (doing word processing and web surfing, and using an USB mobile broadband dongle), which was pretty good considering the S3 also housed a big 320GB mechanical drive. Compared to the 2-3 hour battery life of most laptops, the Ultrabooks are way ahead. ASUS also reckons an in-house technology it calls "Super Hybrid Engine II" helps it extract more battery life than its competitors and gives the UX31E and UX21E two weeks of stand-by time. Until we test an ASUS Ultrabook, we'll have to take their word for it.

Flash-based SSDs

On the machines meant for the Australian market, storage on the UX31E comes in 128GB and 256GB SSD options, while on the UX21E it's 128GB only. SSDs are one of the reasons the Ultrabooks deliver good performance, but SSDs are also less likely to fail than mechanical drives, can be made thinner and don't draw as much battery power. In fact, Ultrabooks would not be possible without SSD drives. Even the Acer S3 with the mechanical drive has a 20GB SSD onto which it loads programs to speed things up.

Intel HD 3000 onboard graphics

This is to prevent Ultrabook makers from adding third party discrete graphics cards that would be a massive drain on battery life and make cooling more difficult. Graphics cards are one of the big rorts in laptops, often included as a marketing ploy to reassure consumers that the notebooks will handle graphics well. In fact, the HD 3000 graphics embedded in all Intel second gen CPUs will meet the graphics requirements of 95% of all notebook users. You only really need a discrete card in a notebook if you have to play games at full details, which Intel's onboard graphics won't be able to do, generally managing between low and medium settings for most games. So at this stage, Ultrabooks are not ideal for playing intensive PC games at maximum resolution, but how many people want to do this anyway?

OPTIONAL: Anti-theft technology

This is an interesting one. Intel requires the Ultrabook makers to include anti-theft hardware in the Ultrabooks. Used in combination with anti-theft software provided by companies such as McAfee, this hardware communicates with an Intel security server and is able to shut down and remotely lock the notebook if this is stolen. The anti-theft system can take action if it suspects the notebook is stolen (too many password attempts) or if you report the machine as stolen. It then disables the Ultrabook and data access even if the Ultrabook's hard drive is removed, replaced or reformatted. But while anti-theft technology is part of the Ultrabook spec, it's a premium service that's purchased through the notebook retailer, not Intel or ASUS. Dick Smith is the first Australian retailer to offer the "Anti-theft" service for $49.95 for two year, if you buy a UX31E or UX21E from there. However, it will offer a complementary free subscription until the end of the year.

No optical drive

Why would you ruin these amazing aesthetics with a CD/DVD drive?

In this day and age of fast Wi-Fi and USB 3.0, optical drives are just nasty and Intel has mandated them out of the Ultrabook spec. They can prevent Ultrabooks from being made thin enough, will soak up battery charge if in use and the great Steve Jobs himself banned them from Apple's MacBook Airs and latest MacBook 13in notebooks.

Sub US$1,000 price

At current exchange rates, the Ultrabooks released in Australia don't meet this loose requirement. In fact, hardly any Ultrabooks do, with most coming in over the US$1,000 mark. Pricing is one thing Intel can't enforce and the vendors have taken advantage of it. The ASUS UX31E powered by the Core i5 and with 128GB hard drive costs AU$1,499 (exchange converted to US$1,550) and the UX21E AU$1,399 (US$1,450). In the US, however, these same Ultrabooks come closer to meeting the Intel pricing requirement. The comparable ASUS UX31E (with the core i5 and 128GB SSD) is $1,099 in the US and the UX21E (Core i5, 128GB SSD) actually sneaks in under US$999. In Australia the pricing seems directed more at getting close to the MacBook Air's price. For instance, the equivalent MacBook Air to the aforementioned UX21E (with the 11in screen and 128GB SSD) is $1,349. The 13in MacBook Air that matches the UX31E (Core i5, 128GB SSD) is $1,449.

We believe there is no question that Ultrabooks will succeed, with the rate of their take up determined mostly by pricing. In just about every aspect Ultrabooks are superior to standard notebooks. Who wouldn't want a stunning, razor-thin ultralight machine with long battery life and as much performance as that big clunker on their desk? But these early Ultrabooks are still charging a premium for their extreme portability, and while their bigger notebook opposition is heavier and uglier it can still give you machines with Core i7s, 8GBs of RAM and 1 terabyte hard drives for around $800. Once Ultrabooks start to fall below AU $1,000 then it's game over for ordinary notebooks.

Ultrabooks to Make Up 40 Percent of Notebooks by 2015

Intel's Ultrabook initiative could start to pay heavy dividends in the next few years, according to IHS, formerly known as iSuppli. In a report issued Friday, the research firm predicts that the thin-and-light laptops will account for more than 40 percent of all notebook shipments by 2015.

"To compete with media tablets, notebook PCs must become sexier and more appealing to consumers," said IHS analyst Matthew Wilkins, in a statement accompanying the report. "With media tablets having already reversed the expansion of the previously fast-growing netbook platform, PC makers now are keenly aware that the notebook must evolve to maintain market growth and relevance.

"Enter the ultrabook, which borrows some of the form-factor and user-interface advantages of the media tablet to enhance the allure of the venerable notebook," Wilkins said.

IHS projects rapid growth for the ultrabook category, which the research firm said accounted for less than 1 percent of notebook shipments in 2010, and projected to account just under 2 percent of the market this year. But ultrabooks will make up nearly 12 percent of laptops in 2012, according to IHS, and the category's penetration will shoot up to better than 28 percent in 2013, nearly 38 percent in 2014, and about 43 percent by 2015.

Intel has led the ultrabook charge, touting its "new" category at the Intel Developer Forum in September—though Apple could be credited for laying the groundwork for a thin-and-light notebook revolution with its MacBook Air, the first edition of which was released way back in January 2008.

IHS notes Intel's role in the ultrabook push, but the research firm describes the category not as an Intel-only affair, but rather a generic one for "extremely light and thin" notebooks that measure in at "less than 0.8 inches in thickness." The chip giant, however, has been clear in its intention to only brand notebooks as Intel-approved Ultrabooks if they meet more detailed specifications, not least of which is having Intel chips inside.

To qualify as an Intel-branded Ultrabook, a 13-inch notebook must be no more than 18 millimeters thick, while those with larger screens can be up to 21mm thick. Other requirements issued by Intel include Wi-Fi connectivity, battery life of at least five hours during active use, and the clincher—the inclusion of Intel Rapid Start technology that uses flash storage embedded in a laptop's motherboard to enable quick boot times.

So in other words, if the category does grow at the pace IHS thinks it will, this could start to get pretty confusing. Research firms like IHS may use lower-case terminology to define the growing ultrabook category as open to all manufacturers of ultra-thin-and-light laptops, but Intel is likely to stick to its definition of big-"U" Ultrabooks, and that's not going to include those with chips from Advanced Micro Devices, et. al.

Just to bring that point home, future editions of Apple's MacBook Air, the original "ultrabook" for all intents and purposes, may not qualify as "Ultrabooks" if Apple doesn't play along with whatever future specifications Intel sets for the category. Apple being Apple, that seems like a major clash that's almost destined to happen.

Intel has also said that pricing for Ultrabooks would be optimally set at $999 in the early going, though the chip giant isn't strictly dictating the amount that its OEM partners can charge for their Ultrabooks. The sub-$1,000 threshold already looks to be a difficult one for early Ultrabook makers to adhere to—Asus has set the price at $1,099 for the 13-inch Zenbook UX31, one of first products shipping in the Ultrabook category.

For more on Ultrabooks, here's what you need to know.

IHS Ultrabook Projections

Kindle Fire, a Grown-Up E-Reader With Tablet Spark

It's often said that there isn't really a tablet market, just an Apple iPad market with a bunch of other contenders fighting over the remnants. But, starting this week, that is likely to change, because Amazon is adding a multifunction color tablet to its popular Kindle line that costs less than half as much as an iPad 2.
This new $199 device is called the Kindle Fire, and after testing it for a week, I think it's a good—though not a great—product and a very good value. It doesn't just add color to the Kindle, it adds a robust ability to store and stream music, TV shows and movies—and a weaker ability to store and display color photos. And it offers about 8,500 apps at launch, including Netflix, Angry Birds and QuickOffice.
To be clear, the Kindle Fire is much less capable and versatile than the entry-level $499 iPad 2. It has a fraction of the apps, a smaller screen, much weaker battery life, a slower Web browser, half the internal storage and no cameras or microphone. It also has a rigid and somewhat frustrating user interface far less fluid than Apple's.
But the Fire has some big things going for it. First, the $199 price, though the Fire's seven-inch screen is less than half the surface area of the iPad's display. Second, the Amazon and Kindle brands, already known and loved for e-readers and more. Third, Amazon is the only major tablet maker other than Apple with a large, famous, easy-to-use content ecosystem that sells music, video, books and periodicals. The Fire can be thought of as a hardware front end to all that cloud content.

Finally, while the Fire, like many other tablets, is based on Google's Android operating system, Amazon has taken the bold step of hiding Android. It shuns its user interface and nearly all of Google's apps and services, including Google's app store. The Fire's software is all about the content and apps Amazon has sold you and the easy purchase of more.

When compared to the iPad 2, I suspect the Fire will appeal to people on a budget and to those who envision using the iPad mainly to consume content, as opposed to those who see the larger tablet as a partial laptop replacement. For instance, while the Fire has a decent Web browser and a rudimentary email program, it lacks basic built-in apps, such as a calendar, notepad or maps. However, for people primarily interested in reading books and periodicals, the Fire may seem too heavy and costly when compared with a low-end Kindle or Nook.

The Fire isn't only competing with the iPad and other general-purpose tablets. It has to contend with a new, low-price, similar-size color tablet out this week from e-reader rival, Barnes & Noble. This device, the Nook Tablet, is B&N's second-generation color slate and costs $249, still less than an iPad. I've also been trying it out for a few days and found it has some pluses and minuses compared with the Fire.

The Nook Tablet boasts double the internal storage and a slot to expand it. It has better battery life and a more interactive approach to children's books. But beyond books and magazines, it lacks either Amazon's or Apple's large, simple, built-in ecosystem for other kinds of content, such as music, movies and TV shows.

Instead, Barnes & Noble boasts it offers choice, by including video apps like Netflix and music apps like Pandora. However, these same apps also appear on the Fire and the iPad, along with the Amazon and Apple stores.

And it appears to offer even fewer apps than Amazon does (Barnes & Noble doesn't provide a number.) Also, while its screen is the same size as the Fire's, the Nook is larger overall, though a bit lighter.

Hardware

The Fire's hardware is plain and clunky. It's a thick black box with zero style. There isn't even a volume control or a physical home button, and the on/off button is a small thing hidden inconveniently on the bottom edge.

In the quest to meet the $199 price point, Amazon omitted many features common on other tablets. There are no cameras or microphone, no GPS for determining your location, no Bluetooth for headsets or wireless speakers and no included earbuds. The Fire is Wi-Fi only—it has no built-in cellular connectivity.There isn't even an included cable for connecting to a computer, something you may want to do to get photos into the Fire, since Amazon lacks an online photo service.

There is just 8 gigabytes of memory, half the total of the base iPad or the Nook Tablet, and only about 6 gigabytes of that is available to store content. If you want to download movies, you won't be able to fit many into the Fire.

User Interface

When I first saw it, I really liked the Fire's user interface. Instead of screens full of icons or folders, it presents virtual shelves filled with the books, magazines, music, TV shows, movies, apps and websites you've used. A large one has the most recent items, with smaller shelves below it. These are for your favorite items. Across the top is a search bar and a list of categories, like Books, Music, Videos, Apps.

But I became frustrated with the interface. There's something off with the touch calibration on the top shelf, or Carousel, which scrolls through a seemingly endless stream of items. It can be difficult to get it to stop on the item you want and it takes more pressure than it should to open the selection.

Also, you can't configure the main screen much. You can't reorder the top shelf, and while you can place items on the favorites shelves, they are in the order you added them, not how you like them.

On the Nook Tablet, the user interface is a jumble of different approaches, which I consider confusing. There's a main screen where you can place favorite icons but also see a scrolling row of items, a drop-down list of other items and a bottom row of tiny icons representing categories. But there's also a separate interface called the library, with categories and shelves.

Browser

A big selling point for the Fire is a supposedly speedy Web browser called Silk, which splits the task of fetching Web pages between the tablet and Amazon's super-fast cloud computers. The latter can cache common, static page elements and learn which sites and pages people most often use, so they are pre-fetched and ready to go when needed.

However, in my tests, the Fire's Silk browser was noticeably slower than the iPad 2's browser.

This pattern was consistent over scores of Web pages, and on four Wi-Fi networks and two different Fire devices. Amazon's explanation is that its split-browser system requires lots of user data to achieve its speed advantages, and only a small number of people are using it, so it will get faster over time.

Content

I found it easy to buy, stream, download and use content on the Fire. Reading books was a pleasure, as on any Kindle. Movies and TV shows looked good, and music played quickly and well, despite weak speakers. In general, I found magazines and newspapers looked better on the iPad, mostly due to the larger screen.

Recognizing this, Amazon offers a "text view" of magazines, which makes them easier to read but loses the original formatting.

Screen

After years of suggesting the gray-scale, E-Ink screen on the Kindle was better for reading than a color LCD screen, Amazon now has a Kindle with the latter display. If anything, it struck me as glossier than the iPad screen. It's vivid and sharp, but not high definition. When I asked an Amazon executive about the reading issue and the company's past position, he suggested people who prefer E-Ink buy one of each Kindle and use the older style for reading, pointing out the pair would cost less than an iPad. I said, while that was true, such people would be carrying two devices, not one.

Battery Life

In my standard tablet battery test, playing back to back videos with the wireless turned on and the screen at 75% brightness, the Fire lasted 5 hours, 47 minutes, or less than 60% of the iPad 2's performance on the same test, and about an hour less than the Nook Tablet's performance. In more general use, I didn't find myself worrying about the battery. But the Fire requires charging much more often than the traditional Kindle.

Bottom Line

At $199, and with Amazon's content ecosystem behind it, the Fire is an attractive alternative for many people who might otherwise have bought an iPad or another Android device, especially if their principal interest is content consumption.

The Nook Tablet also is worth considering, though it lacks a music and video ecosystem.

Buying Guides: Choosing a Notebook

Our notebook computer used to be our second machine -- the one we'd take with us on the road, then stick in our desk drawer under our "real" computer when we got home. But now, they're our primary workhorses.

The Basics

Ultrabooks
"Thin and light" -- the guiding principle of mobile electronics makers as long as we can remember -- is currently driving all the innovation in the notebook PC market. The white hot category at the center is the so-called "ultrabook," amazingly light, super-slim laptops with features like new Intel processors, integrated graphics, and solid-state storage drives. Price-wise, most are right in the middle of the laptop field: between $900 and $1,500. They're scarce, though -- not everyone makes an Ultrabook, and those who do only have a few configurations to pick from.

Netbooks
Netbooks are small, light and basic laptops with cheaper components. They have integrated graphics and slower processors, so they aren't great for gaming or for serious video work. But netbooks are a great choice for those who want to save some cash, or for kids and students who really just need something to send e-mail, write papers and surf the web. Budget travelers also like them -- at $400 or $500, they won't cause as much of a headache if they get banged up or lost.

Full-Featured Laptops
Nestled between ultrabooks and netbooks are regular old full-featured laptops. They're pricier ($1,200 to $2,300), and, of course, heavier. But they have more muscle in almost every department. People who need a portable machine that's as powerful as their desktop should look at this category. Every PC manufacturer makes a laptop in this class, so there are dozens of options, but their popularity is fading as more slimmed-down models take over.

Chromebooks
If a web browser is really all you need, check out a Chromebook. The notebooks in this budding category are powered by Google's ChromeOS. There's no Windows OS, and no native apps, just a web browser. All your apps and data live in the cloud. Chromebooks are only $400 or $500, as they're bare-bones and don't have much power or storage space. But if your Chromebook breaks or gets stolen, you don't lose any data -- it's all saved up there in the cloud, where you can access it from any other computer.

Buying advice:

Ultrabooks really are the best choice for almost everyone. Sure, you lose some performance when you join the "thin and light" party. Ultrabooks also have fewer expandability options, some are missing DVD drives, and battery life can vary. But the truth is, most Ultrabooks have everything 90 percent of the people out there need, so we'd recommend almost start there.

Bottom line, go for a computer that's comfortable to carry and comfortable to type on, and with the screen you like the best. Don't fret too much over the interior specs -- unless the machine is intended for serious production work, the feel of the keyboard and the quality of the screen almost always have more of an impact on your overall satisfaction than the speed of the processor or the number of USB ports. Netbooks can sometimes fit the bill, but their smaller keyboards can feel cramped, making them less comfortable to work on. Choose a netbook only if cost is your main concern.

HP Rolls Out New ENVY Notebooks, New Wireless Accessories

Envious? You might be now. Shortly after Meg Whitman announced that the personal PC department wasn't leaving HP anytime soon, the company has introduced a spate of new ENVY notebooks, including a refreshed ENVY 15, ENVY 17 and ENVY 17 3D. All of those are sporting the token all-metal chassis, rounded edges, a classic black / silver finish, with red accents. The Radiance Backlit keyboard is a new technology that has been developed by HP to provide outstanding keyboard illumination using individual LEDs dedicated to each keycap. In addition, the keyboard works with an advanced proximity sensor to illuminate when it detects a user approaching the notebook and deactivate after the user leaves.

With six powerful speakers and a subwoofer, the new ENVY notebooks deliver the optimal sound experience, featuring HP Beats Audio, an exclusive, high-performance technology developed by HP and Beats by Dr. Dre. An aluminum analog volume dial acts as a visual design cue to the premium audio featured on the ENVYs. Using ball bearings to create resistance, the dial works seamlessly with the Beats Audio Manager so users can easily and precisely adjust audio levels. The HP ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 deliver the raw performance needed for even the most demanding tasks, with optional Intel Quad Core and AMD Mobility RadeonTM HD graphic processors. With optional 3x3 wireless technology, the ENVY notebooks offer the best wireless performance options, providing up to three times the speed and twice the range of typical network connections.

Both the ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 are available with optional Radiance Full HD Infinity displays – either 15.6-inch diagonal or 17.3-inch diagonal respectively – that provide premium clarity and quality. Radiance displays offer higher resolution, improved color richness, better brightness and wider viewing angles than traditional notebook displays. The ENVY 17 display offers 50 percent greater brightness than standard. Both the ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 offer integrated support for multiple displays. The ENVY 15 includes an HDMI and full-size DisplayPort for connecting two external displays simultaneously. The ENVY 17 has an HDMI port and two full-size DisplayPorts for up to three external displays.

The ENVY 15 offers up to 9 hours of battery life while the ENVY 17 can achieve up to 9.5 hours in ideal conditions. The ENVY 17 also offers an advanced and high performance option with support for a 128GB mSATA SSD and up to two 1TB hard drives providing the ideal balance of SSD performance with the storage capacity of hard drives.

HP today also introduced two new wireless accessories – HP Wireless Audio and the HP Wi-Fi Touch Mouse x7000. Pricing is unavailable for the whole lot, but the notebooks should be shipping in early December.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

LENOVO 57Y6459 battery 4800mAh 11.1V

Product site:http://www.laptop-battery.org/laptop-battery.php/1+LENOVO+57Y6459

Details of LENOVO 57Y6459 battery
Battery type: Li-ion
Battery Volt: 11.1 V
Battery Capacity: 4800 mAh
Dimension: 212.35 x 74.80 x 20.45 mm
weight: 386.4 g
Color: Black
1 year warranty, 30 days money back

This LENOVO 57Y6459 Laptop Battery is compatible with the following models:

LENOVO IdeaPad U150, IdeaPad U150 SFO, IdeaPad U150 STW, IdeaPad U150-690968U(red), IdeaPad U150-690969U(black), IdeaPad U150-6909H9J, IdeaPad U150-6909HAJ, IdeaPad U150-6909HFJ, IdeaPad U150-6909HGJ,

Contact info:
Our website: http://www.laptop-battery.org
E-mail: info@laptop-battery.org
Tel: 510-226-0701
Toll-free:877-313-7867
LENOVO ThinkPad Battery
laptop Battery

LENOVO 57Y6460 battery 4800mAh 11.1V

Product site:http://www.laptop-battery.org/laptop-battery.php/1+LENOVO+57Y6460

Details of LENOVO 57Y6460 battery
Battery type: Li-ion
Battery Volt: 11.1 V
Battery Capacity: 4800 mAh
Dimension: 212.35 x 74.80 x 20.45 mm
weight: 386.4 g
Color: Black
1 year warranty, 30 days money back

This LENOVO 57Y6460 Laptop Battery is compatible with the following models:

LENOVO IdeaPad U150, IdeaPad U150 SFO, IdeaPad U150 STW, IdeaPad U150-690968U(red), IdeaPad U150-690969U(black), IdeaPad U150-6909H9J, IdeaPad U150-6909HAJ, IdeaPad U150-6909HFJ, IdeaPad U150-6909HGJ,

Contact info:
Our website: http://www.laptop-battery.org
E-mail: info@laptop-battery.org
Tel: 510-226-0701
Toll-free:877-313-7867
LENOVO ThinkPad Battery
laptop Battery

LENOVO 57Y6527 battery 4800mAh 11.1V

Product site:http://www.laptop-battery.org/laptop-battery.php/1+LENOVO+57Y6527

Details of LENOVO 57Y6527 battery
Battery type: Li-ion
Battery Volt: 11.1 V
Battery Capacity: 4800 mAh
Dimension: 206.65x64.40x20.30 mm
weight: 313.5 g
Color: Black
1 year warranty, 30 days money back

This LENOVO 57Y6527 Laptop Battery is compatible with the following models:

LENOVO 3000 G430, 3000 G430 4152, 3000 G430 4153, 3000 G430 Series, 3000 G430A, 3000 G430L, 3000 G430LE, 3000 G430M, 3000 G450, 3000 G450 2949, 3000 G450 Series, 3000 G450A, 3000 G450M, 3000 G530, 3000 G530 4151, 3000 G530 444-23U, 3000 G530 DC T3400, 3000 G530 Series, 3000 G530A, 3000 G530M, 3000 N500, 3000 N500 4233-52U, 3000 N500 Series, G430, G450, G530, G550, G550 - 2958LEU, G550 - 2958LFU, IdeaPad B460, IdeaPad G430, IdeaPad G430 20003, IdeaPad G430 Series, IdeaPad V460, IdeaPad V460A-IFI(A), IdeaPad V460A-IFI(H), IdeaPad V460A-IFI(T), IdeaPad V460A-ISE, IdeaPad V460A-ITH, IdeaPad V460A-ITH(A), IdeaPad V460A-ITH(T), IdeaPad V460A-PSI(H), IdeaPad Z360, IdeaPad Z360 - 091232U, IdeaPad Z360 - 091233U, IdeaPad Z360A-ITH, IdeaPad Z360A-PSI,

Contact info:
Our website: http://www.laptop-battery.org
E-mail: info@laptop-battery.org
Tel: 510-226-0701
Toll-free:877-313-7867
LENOVO ThinkPad Battery
laptop Battery

LENOVO 57Y6528 battery 4800mAh 11.1V

Product site:http://www.laptop-battery.org/laptop-battery.php/1+LENOVO+57Y6528

Details of LENOVO 57Y6528 battery
Battery type: Li-ion
Battery Volt: 11.1 V
Battery Capacity: 4800 mAh
Dimension: 206.65x64.40x20.30 mm
weight: 313.5 g
Color: Black
1 year warranty, 30 days money back

This LENOVO 57Y6528 Laptop Battery is compatible with the following models:

LENOVO 3000 G430, 3000 G430 4152, 3000 G430 4153, 3000 G430 Series, 3000 G430A, 3000 G430L, 3000 G430LE, 3000 G430M, 3000 G450, 3000 G450 2949, 3000 G450 Series, 3000 G450A, 3000 G450M, 3000 G530, 3000 G530 4151, 3000 G530 444-23U, 3000 G530 DC T3400, 3000 G530 Series, 3000 G530A, 3000 G530M, 3000 N500, 3000 N500 4233-52U, 3000 N500 Series, G430, G450, G530, G550, G550 - 2958LEU, G550 - 2958LFU, IdeaPad B460, IdeaPad G430, IdeaPad G430 20003, IdeaPad G430 Series, IdeaPad V460, IdeaPad V460A-IFI(A), IdeaPad V460A-IFI(H), IdeaPad V460A-IFI(T), IdeaPad V460A-ISE, IdeaPad V460A-ITH, IdeaPad V460A-ITH(A), IdeaPad V460A-ITH(T), IdeaPad V460A-PSI(H), IdeaPad Z360, IdeaPad Z360 - 091232U, IdeaPad Z360 - 091233U, IdeaPad Z360A-ITH, IdeaPad Z360A-PSI,

Contact info:
Our website: http://www.laptop-battery.org
E-mail: info@laptop-battery.org
Tel: 510-226-0701
Toll-free:877-313-7867
LENOVO ThinkPad Battery
laptop Battery

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Dell Vostro V13 review

What if we told you there was a way to have the svelteness and power of Dell's $1,500 Adamo for less than half the price? You'd be interested, right? That's exactly why we've been trying to get a Dell Vostro V13 in-hand since its launch a few months ago. Besides starting at $449 – our unit's configuration rings up at a higher $844 -- the less-than-an-inch-thick, aluminum clad Vostro V13 promises five hours of battery life and good-enough everyday performance. Sure, it was created for small business types, but its blend of style, performance and price had us convinced that it could be the best ULV laptop out there. Ah, but is it? We'll tell you everything you want to know after the jump in our full review.

No matter how you look at the Vostro V13, it's clear that it inherited its handsomeness from the flashier Dell Adamo – its screen lays on top of the bottom deck and its bottom is enclosed with a solid piece of aluminum. Though you won't find the Adamo's glossy lid or silver trim, the V13's brushed aluminum, champagne colored lid has a more understated business look that we actually prefer. Like the Adamo, most of the ports – a USB, a combo eSATA/USB, Ethernet and VGA – lie on the back edge. The right side makes room for an SD and an ExpressCard/34 slot, but that's all you'll find along the slim, flared edges. The front edge is home to its mic and headphone jacks.

We're most impressed with the .65-inch V13's thin bod, and after doing some comparison, we've determined it's the thinnest budget CULV lappie out there – the ASUS UL50Vf is an inch thick and the Acer Timeline 1.1-inches. The 3.5-pound chassis is also lighter than the 4-pound Adamo, and it's easy to tote from the desk to the couch with just a hand. Still the V13 feels incredibly solid, and its build quality is remarkable for the price -- the entire casing along with its reinforced zinc hinges are as rigid as it gets.

Keyboard, touchpad and screen

In what is obviously a cost saving move, Dell hasn't extended the aluminum casing under the lid, and instead the deck is covered in black, matte plastic. The full size keyboard, while comfortable to our digits, has a bit too much bounce and flex to it. We should also mention that we happen to like the clickyness of the keys, but those that prefer a quieter typing experience may not dig the V13's typing experience. Honestly though, it would be hard for a ULV laptop's keyboard to best that on the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 -- we're still madly in love with it.

For the first time in a long time, we don't have absolutely horrible things to say to a touchpad. The pad itself is quite spacious, and though the dedicated right and left mouse buttons are a bit mushy, they are absolutely tolerable. Even more surprising is that multitouch gestures were decently responsive – two finger scrolling was smooth as was pinching to zoom. Can we get a Hallelujah!?

The V13 has one of the nicest screens we've seen on a budget laptop. The 1,366 x 768-resolution, 13.3-inch matte display doesn't kick back any glare, and the horizontal viewing angles were quite good when watching Desperate Housewives on Hulu. Vertical angles are a bit worse – when we titled the screen backwards we lost some of the brighter coloring. Regardless, we much prefer it to the glossy screen on Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 and the ASUS UL50Vf.

Like most ULV laptops, the V13 isn't a powerhouse, but it definitely holds its own for the basic productivity chores and Web browsing. Our unit was configured on the higher end with a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo S7300 processor, 7,200rpm 320GB hard drive and 4GB of RAM, all of which provided acceptable performance for simultaneously writing this review in Microsoft Word 2007, toggling between tabs in Firefox and listening to Lady Antebellum's new album in iTunes -- hold the judgment, please. We expect going down to 2GB of RAM or using the lower end Celeron / Intel Core 2 Solo processors will diminish performance a bit, but it will knock you into a $600 price bracket and we suspect that performance would still be good enough for basic activities. On the graphics front, it still uses Intel's GMA 4500MHD -- so while it could handle 720p and 1080p videos, it's going to have nothing on the NVIDIA GT335M-equipped Alienware M11x when it comes to 3D gaming.

Battery life is where the Vostro V13 comes to a screeching halt. On our video rundown test the V13's six-cell, 30Wh battery lasted only 2 hours and 39 minutes with brightness set to 65 percent. That's more than half the runtime of the ASUS UL50Vf. Even worse is that because of its solid aluminum build the battery cannot be swapped out. There's really no good news when it comes to battery life here -- the reality is that you'll spend more of your time looking for an outlet with this ULV than others out there. Because it's a small business laptop, Dell bundles the V13 with its own BackUp and Recovery software, but other than that the desktop arrived quite clean.

The Vostro V13 -- or what we have taken to calling the poor man's Adamo -- has us all torn. Its thin and sturdy design (the very thing we love so much about it) is what causes its unacceptable dell vostro battery life and the inability to swap out the cell yourself. When it comes to budget ULV laptops, the Vostro V13 is the best choice out there when it comes to thinness and design, but for those that put more value on battery life (and graphics for that matter) we have to recommend the ASUS UL50Vf. Good luck convincing yourself to forget about this form factor, though.

more info:
Dell vostro battery
Dell studio battery
Dell latitude Battery
Dell inspiron battery

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Digital Storm xm15

You may not have heard of Digital Storm, a small computer company that specializes in custom gaming rigs, but don't let that deter you from giving its xm15 notebook a look. This $1,049 laptop sports a minimalist design, but inside it packs a quad-core Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics for playing the latest titles. Can Digital Storm hold its own against machines from larger companies?

Design

The xm15's design can be summed up in just one word: utilitarian. That's not necessarily a bad look for a gaming rig, but it's certainly lacking the outward flair found on Alienware and MSI systems. The glossy lid's gray-on-black dotted pattern is the boldest thing about it. Under the hood, a matte plastic deck (complete with a faux brushed look) underscores that the xm15 means business... when it comes to games.

On the upper right side of the deck are buttons for toggling Wi-Fi, audio, and the webcam. On the upper left sits a button labeled VGA and several LED indicator lights. Owners can use the VGA button to turn Nvidia's Optimus graphics-switching technology on (orange) or off (green). When the Optimus graphics are switched off, the notebook will use integrated graphics only. Users will be able to tell when the system engages the discrete or integrated options by the LED indicators to the right of the button. The laptop battery light glows green for Intel's chip, while the meter light glows orange for Nvidia's.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We like that the xm15 includes a narrow number pad on the side, but some keys, such as the right Shift, are shrunken. We'd classify the keyboard feedback as just fair; there's plenty of travel, but it felt somewhat hollow when typing. Unlike the XPS 15 or Alienware, the keyboard isn't backlit.

The 3.5 x 1.75-inch touchpad is nice and wide, though we'd appreciate more height. The surface has a rough coating that felt somewhat like cheap plastic under our finger, but it did ensure friction-free movement. Multitouch gestures didn't execute smoothly each time, in part because we had to use a bit of force to get the surface to respond.

While the two mouse buttons underneath offered good feedback, they're small because a fingerprint reader sits in the middle. Something tells us that gamers could live without this feature.

Display and Audio

The 15.6-inch LED-backlit display on the xm15 offers a full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), popping colors, and deep blacks. However, due to the glossy surface, we often saw our reflection, even on mostly white screens, such as when using a word processor. Despite this, we enjoyed wide horizontal angles when watching an episode of House. Vertical angles were acceptably wide.

For a gaming and mulitmedia notebook, the xm15's audio is sorely lacking. Despite the addition of the THX TruStudio Pro drivers and software, the speakers under the front lip of sounded weak and thin. When we listened to Adam Lambert's "Pick U Up," S. J. Tucker's "Alligator in the House," and Daft Punk's "Derezzed," tininess overwhelmed, and bass was barely present. When we played games such as Dragon Age II, the flat and low audio kept us from a truly immersive experience. Thankfully, the S/PDIF output allows users to hook up better speakers.

Ports and Webcam

A generous port spread graces the left and right edges of the xm15. Of the four USB ports, two are USB 3.0. Plus, users get an eSATA port for high-speed backups and file transfers to compatible drives. We don't like that SD cards stick almost half an inch out of the 3-in-1 card slot, but at least its placement on the lower left edge of the xm15 keeps them out of the way. Otherwise, there's VGA, HDMI, Ethernet, headphone, mic, S/PDIF output, and an 8X DVD-RW drive.

We tested the 2-megapixel webcam above the display using Skype and found that it captures slightly pixelated, washed-out images in bright light and struggled to auto-adjust as conditions changed.

Heat

During testing, we noticed that the Digital Storm xm15 got pretty toasty on the left edge above the vent, even with the notebook on a passive cooling stand. The temperature on the left underside by the vent reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit; the heat rose up and noticeably warmed our left hand as we typed this review. Other parts of the notebook stayed cool: The touchpad and space between the G and H keys measured 81 and 88 degrees, respectively, and the middle of the underside only rose to 89. These are well under the acceptable threshold (95 degrees).

more info:

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every day: HP Pavilion g6x

HP Pavilion g6x

A sub-$600 laptop never sounded so good--literally. The new HP Pavilion g6x ($544 as configured) offers a snappy Core i3 processor and stereo speakers that beat the pants off of most budget notebooks. A DVD drive is also part of the deal, as is a roomy 500GB hard drive. Just as important, the Pavilion g6x doesn't look cheap, and shoppers can choose from multiple eye-catching colors. Check out our full review to see if this mainstream machine is right for you.