Laptops Life – Laptop and Tech Review Blog

Archive for November, 2009

<div><img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/lenovothinkpad(1).jpg" alt="Thin & Light: the Lenovo ThinkPad SL510" /></div>
Last week, Lenovo introduced three new laptops, just in time for the release of Windows 7. Among the new laptops is the SL510, a 15-inch ThinkPad that performs extremely well and is made with small to medium-business budgets in mind.

<strong>Specs:</strong>
<ul>
<li>Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 Dual Core Mobile Processor</li>
<li>4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Memory</li>
<li>320GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive</li>
<li>8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner</li>
<li>15.6" WXGA (1366×768) LED Backlit Display With 2.0 Megapixel Webcam</li>
<li>Intel GMA 4500MHD Integrated Graphics</li>
<li>Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless</li>
<li>Four USB 2.0, eSATA, HDMI, VGA, ExpressCard/34, 4-in-1 Card Reader</li>
<li>15" x 9.7" x 1.4"</li>
<li>5.7 lbs</li>
<li>Windows 7 Professional, Office 2007, Norton Internet Security</li>
</ul>
The ThinkPad SL510 isn’t exactly new. It’s an updated version of Lenovo’s original 15-inch business class laptop. The new version is not the prettiest laptop on the market – it’s very plain and boxy, with a 1.4 inch frame, but it performs well and at a $500 starting price, it’s a great deal for businesses and individuals on a budget.

And don’t let the outside fool you. The computer performs great with its Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 mobile processor combined with its 4GB of DDR3 memory, allowing it to zip through almost any application without compromising battery life.

Usability is also a plus. The keyboard, in traditional Lenovo fashion, is solid and easy to use. It also has a multitouch trackpad or the trackpoint if you’d prefer not to use the trackpad.

<img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/pcscout-300.jpg" alt="Choose a Laptop with Microsoft’s Windows PC Scout" />Microsoft has launched a new website – Microsoft.com/Windows/PC-Scout. The website features a flash audio guided tour, which is meant to help you find a new laptop. It takes you through three segments, including Laptop 101, Recommendation, and Selection. Respectively, in each segment, you’ll learn everything you need to know about laptops in general, answer questions about what you need in a new laptop and get a few recommendations, and then you have the opportunity to make a final choice and purchase your laptop. The tour is not mandatory and you can skip any part or pause it if you need to come back to it later. Looking for a desktop? Check back later. Or says the male voice behind the website. Either way, you’re out of luck right now.

If you already know what kind of laptop you’re looking for, you can skip the first two sections and get straight to the selection part to choose your laptop based on a number of different categories. They are: price ($400 – $2600), screen size (8 – 19"), processor (1 GHz – 3GHz), RAM (1GB – 5GB), storage (50GB – 550GB), and weight (2lbs – 10lbs). You can also select whether or not you need an all around, mobile studio, movies on the go, power gaming, or work from anywhere laptop.

Microsoft claims the selection of laptops comes from a compiled list from Windows experts and the final selection has nothing to do with any sort of paid advertising. Right now, the website contains 46 various laptops, but more are likely to follow in the weeks ahead, especially with the release of Windows 7. The website isn’t too detailed – your average computer user should feel comfortable with it, and the most tech-savvy folks probably won’t see the need for it.

<div><img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/8597432-828×579-200.jpg" alt="Another Reason Not to Travel with Your Laptop" /></div>
Troy Davis, a former officer with the Transportation Security Administration, has admitted to authorities that he stole laptops and video game systems from passengers’ checked luggage. Davis used to work as an airport screener at Philadelphia International Airport.

A baggage handler spotted Davis taking a laptop from a suitcase and hiding it behind an explosive-detection machine earlier this year. The witness notified supervisors who later discovered four laptops and a game console in the same area.

The 36-year-old Davis pleaded guilty yesterday to the charges and will be sentenced by a federal court in January.

It seems as though nothing is safe these days, especially when you are traveling. Once your luggage leaves your hands, you can never be exactly sure where it’ll end up or whose hands it will fall into. Could a devious airport employee like Troy Davis be waiting for the bag, containing your laptop, to pass through security? Could your entire suitcase get lost and end up in a city 2,000 miles away from where you are going?

These are certainly things to consider when packing, whether it be for a business or personal trip, but these incidents are avoidable. Whether you’re traveling to a business meeting or just taking your laptop along on the family vacation, so you can keep up with your business, you should always consider a quality Laptop Rental, instead.

There are so many different ways to save your data and most of them are compatible with almost any computer. Worried about the cost? A rental fee is a small price to pay compared to the potential thousands of dollars, not to mention the sentiment from personal files, you could lose when traveling. Instead of risking theft, loss, or damage to your personal computer, consider having a rental meet you at your destination.

<img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/Sony-Vaio-X-Series-200.jpg" alt="Sony VAIO X Series" hspace="5" align="left" />It seems, in the computer world, that thin is the way to go theses days. When the MacBook Air was released by Apple, many of us thought that we couldn’t get any thinner. well we were wrong. Sony’s VAIO X Series of laptops has proved to be smaller, thinner and lighter than the MacBook Air. While looking at this laptop, you may notice the Intel Atom processor and compare it to be the same as other netbooks. However, this machine is something different completely.

How is this netbook so thin you may ask? Well for starters, the motherboard has all of its components soldiered onto one side of it. In addition to that, all the components are stuffed into the back of the motherboard leaving the front half to house the battery. This interesting choice of design has resulted in the thinnest machine on the market coming in at 16mm throughout. If you want to plug in an Ethernet cord, then you are going to have to the drop-down legs at the back of the netbook because the Ethernet connection is thicker than the actual laptop.

The keyboard has nice spacing, allowing you to easily type at speed. However, the keys only move a fraction when under pressure and don’t have much space for travel which will not suit all users. The touchpad is tiny but responsive allowing precise control and the accompanying buttons are somewhat big and do not offer much movement. The X Series comes with an 11.1inch display which is expected for a mid-range laptop although this is better than nearly any one currently on the market. It has amazing color reproduction and comes with a 1366×768 pixel resolution.

Just like the VAIO P Series, the X Series has an Intel Atom Processor and came in at 2GHz offering enough power for most of your office tasks. It also comes with a 256GB solid state drive but only only has 2GB of memory. The X Series chassis is made out of carbon fiber which helps keep it light at a 775g. But this light weight comes at a price. The body flexes heavily under light pressure. But the carbon finish and glossy lid makes the device feel like a premium product.

The X Series is limited on ports having only two USB ports located on the left side of the device and one VGA and one Ethernet on the right side. Support for SD cards can be accessed on the front as well as a place for Sony’s memory stick formats. The X Series has 802.11n Wi-Fi as well as Gigabit Ethernet and range topping models get 3G/HSDPA with the SIM card sliding in behind the battery. As soon as you see this thing your first reaction is going to be "whoa". It literally is that small. If you are a business man who values tiny dimensions as well as the lowest weight possible then the VAIO X Series is the exact laptop for you.

<img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/dualscreens-350.jpg" alt="Thinkpad W700 Rentals " />Lenovo’s ThinkPad W700 is the first notebook computer with dual screens. How does that work exactly? Well, it features a 10.2 inch display which slides out from behind a 17-inch widescreen. The editors at PC Mag rate it "very good" and use the term "supercompuer" in their review. It even won their Editor’s Choice award in the workstation category.

It’s heavy, but it’s powerful – powered by an Intel quad core processor and a NVIDIA Quadro mobile graphics card – and it’s got a lot of neat features. Those features include a Pantone color sensor, a Wacom digitizer that is made into the palm rest, dual 160GB hard drives and ISV certified graphics. It also has five USB ports, a FireWire port, a webcam, and a fingerprint reader.

While many notebooks are usually specific to one part of the population, the Thinkpad W700′s features will accommodate anyone. Whether you are a gamer or business professional or graphic artist, this computer has what you need all built into one. While many workstations emphasize style over substance, this one takes the professional route and focuses on performance.

<img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/Kohjinsha-dual-screen-netbook-250.jpg" alt="Kohjinsha Prototype Dual-Screen Netbook" hspace="5" align="left" />Have you ever been working on your laptop and thought "man this would be so much easier if I had two screens!"? Well now your little wish is granted with a new dual-screen prototype netbook from Kohjinsha.

Kohjinsha unveiled their prototype at this year’s CEATEC and it quickly caught the eye of many event goers. Like myself, anybody who works on dual-monitors knows that it makes work so much easier and more efficient. That feature was one thing desktops had over laptops until recently.

This netbook from Kohjinsha boasts dual 10.1-inch LCD monitors, each of which are capable of outputting either 1024×600 or 1366×768 resolution. If the dual-screens are feeling unnecessary and you want to switch over to a single screen then you can thanks to a unique sliding mechanism. This allows you to hide one screen behind the other when not in use.

Another feature that many people will like is the fact that the base swivels up to 15 degrees. The dual-screened netbook is powered by an AMD Athlon MV-40 as well as a 2.5-inch SATA HDD. It can handle up to 4GB of DDR2 memory and comes shipped with the latest Windows 7 Home Premium operating system.

This isn’t the biggest netbook on the market but it isn’t the smallest either. This one weighs in under 4lbs and is around 1.7-inches at it’s thickest and 0.75-inches at it’s thinnest. But this is a small price to pay for the value you receive from the screens. Due to this netbook still being in the prototype phase there is no set price and no release date. The battery life is also something of an enigma. However, considering you have two screens being powered you can probably bet on this thing doing any favors for energy reserves.

Needless to say this is one great innovation in the world of netbooks and this one from Kohjinsha seems to already have a lot going for it. We can only sit in anticipation until more news about this product comes our way.

<div><img src="http://www.xponex.com/images/dellnick-300.jpg" alt="" /></div>
Dell’s latest Mini-laptop is definitely family-friendly. The new version of the Inspiron works like any other Dell laptop, but it certainly doesn’t look the same. A green splash of paint resembling Nickelodeon’s trademark "slime" covers part of the laptop’s outside cover and inside palm rest. The laptop also provides interactive Nickelodeon creative content. In addition, it features mobile connectivity, an optional external DVD drive to watch or burn CDs, and a 10.1 inch display.

Specs include:
<ul>
<li>Processors: Intel® AtomTM N270 (1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K L2Cache) & Intel® AtomTM N280 (1.66GHz/667Mhz FSB/512K L2Cache)</li>
<li>Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition SP3</li>
<li>Memory: 1 GB, DDR2, 533MHZ</li>
<li>Chipset: Integrated Intel® 945GSE UMA Graphics Media Accelerator</li>
<li>Graphics: Integrated Intel® 945GSE UMA Graphics Media Accelerator</li>
<li>LCD Display: Glossy 10.1 inch display (1024×600) WSVGA</li>
<li>Audio & Speakers: Main Speakers (quantity) : 2 x 1.0W and Microphone – Integrated single analog</li>
<li>Hard Drives: 160GB77 SATA HDD 2.5 inch 5400RPM</li>
<li>Optical Drives: External only</li>
<li>Camera: 1.3MP Webcam</li>
<li>Wireless: Wi-Fi: Dell 1397 WLAN 802.11g – Half mini-card and Dell 1510 WLAN 802.11g /n Mini Card; Bluetooth: Bluetooth® Internal (2.1+EDR) mini-card</li>
<li>Ports, Slots & Chassis: Externally Accessible: Kensington lock, AC Power-in, 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS), Integrated network connector 10/100 LAN (RJ45), VGA connector, (2) USB and (1) Power USB, Audio jacks (1 line-out, 1 Mic-in); and Dimensions and Weight: Height 26.8 – 28.3 mm (front – back), 1.06 – 1.11 inches (front – back), Width: 261mm, 10.26 inches, Depth: 182mm, 7.19 inches, Starting weight: 2.5 lbs with 3 Cell battery</li>
</ul>
The Nickelodeon Dell Inspiron Mini Laptop can be yours for $329.

<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386885445442112946" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 196px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_oqh8s_Mmng8/SsIPxY1MjbI/AAAAAAAAAUo/fWXaoI5xhr8/s200/Windows-7-logo.jpg" border="0" alt="Windows 7" />With the anticipated launch of Windows 7, we are seeing a ton of new laptops coming out that already have Windows 7 integrated into them. Toshiba has just launched a new line of slim laptops entitled the T100 series. Toshiba has unveiled two new laptops for the T100 series, the 13.5-inch T135 and the 11.6-inch T115. Each device is less than one inch thick with multi-touch touchpads and LED backlight displays.

One new feature included in the T100 series, as well as most of the recent Toshiba laptops, is the extremely useful sleep-and-charge feature. The sleep-and-charge feature lets you connect an iPod or other device to the USB port to allow you to charge them even if the system is in sleep mode or off.

These two devices have some nice specs about them. The T115 comes with your choice <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386884641966846690" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oqh8s_Mmng8/SsIPCnpw8uI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/Z2-En38dDOM/s320/Toshiba-T115.JPG" border="0" alt="Toshiba T115" /> of an Intel Pentium processor SU4100 or Intel Celeron processor 7435 and a starting 250GB (5400 RPM) HDD7 disk with up to 4GB of memory. The T115 also has Windows 7 Home Premium OS, eSATA/USB combo port with USB Sleep-and-Charge, 1 HDMI port, built-in webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition, stereo speakers, microphone, 5-in-1 memory card reader slot, Toshiba Hard Drive Impact sensor, 802.11 b/g/n wireless 8 10/100 Ethernet, a 6-cell battery with up to 9hrs of charge and an 11.6-inch diagonal widescreen HD TruBrite LED Backlit display. All of this comes in at around $450.

The T135 comes with your choice of an Intel Pentium SU4100 processor or Intel <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386884907581364498" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 203px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oqh8s_Mmng8/SsIPSFJM2RI/AAAAAAAAAUY/s22sN0D8-5U/s320/Toshiba-T135.JPG" border="0" alt="Toshiba T135" />Pentium SU2700 and a starting 250GB (5400 RPM) HDD disk with up to 8GB of memory. The T135 also has Windows 7 Home Premium OS, eSATA/USB combo port with USB Sleep-and-Charge, 1 HDMI port, built-in webcam with Toshiba Face Recognition, stereo speakers, microphone, 5-in-1 memory card reader slot, Toshiba Hard Drive Impact, 802.11 b/g/n wireless and 10/100 Ethernet, a 6-cell battery with up to 9hrs of charge and a 13.3-inch diagonal widescreen HD TruBrite LED Backlit display. The T135 is a little more expensive than the T115 coming in at around $600.

With the release of Windows 7 growing ever nearer, we can expect most laptops coming out in the future to be equipped with Windows 7 and if Windows 7 delivers even some of what it promises then we can all be excited.