Gateway P-7811FX

Gateway has impressed with their gaming laptops as they offer excellent price to performance ratio which is hard to find in this category. Slowly gaming laptops are approaching the bar where they can be termed as true desktop replacements. Gateway recently introduced their P-7811FX gaming laptop that closes the margin further. It is an excellent offering from the manufacturer at an amazing price.

Gateway P-7811FX specifications :

• Dimensions : 15.7″ x 11.7″ x 1.7″
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 / 2.26 GHz
• Chipset : Mobile Intel PM45 Express
• Display : 17″ TFT active matrix 1920×200
• RAM : 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066 MHz
• Graphics card : Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTS
• Hard Disk : 200GB SATA-300 7200 rpm
• Optical drive : DVD Burner
• Webcam : 1.3 megapixel
• Battery : 9-cell lithium ion
• OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
• Approx. price : $1500

The Gateway P-7811FX laptop is based on the latest Centrino 2 platform. It has a bumped up processor, graphics card compared to the older gaming laptops produced by Gateway. The price for the configuration is a steal and probably the best you can expect right now in the market.

The chassis of the laptop is made of glossy black plastic and also has brushed aluminum detailing and copper accents. Looks are very subtle on Gateway laptops and so is the case with this one. The body is a magnet to fingerprints though which can get annoying at times. It features a full blown keyboard which includes a numeric keypad. Media control buttons can be found on top of the keyboard but sadly they are not touch sensitive apart from the volume slider.

The display is a 17″ beauty and has a full HD resolution of 1920 x 1200. This is great for viewing HD movies at full resolution and multi-tasking becomes a breeze. The display quality is great and offers crisp picture quality. Ports are selective and it has only 3 USB ports to go along with an eSATA port.

The laptop has a high-end graphics card in the form of Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTS which offers strong gaming performance. A 7200 rpm hard disk ensures faster performance along with the P8400 processor. It comes with 64-bit OS as the laptop has 4GB of RAM. Missing Blu-ray drive is probably the only downside.

The performance of the laptop as expected is top notch and manages to pull impressive frame rates in Unreal Tournament 3. It scores 117 fps at 1280 x 800 and 58fps at 1920 x 1200 resolutions. This is by far the highest scores you can expect on gaming laptops in this price range. The battery life is also good at close to 3 hours when viewing a DVD movie.

Pros :

• Great specifications
• Highly aggressive pricing
• Full HD display
• Excellent gaming performance
• Fast hard drive

Cons :

• No Blu-ray drive
• Fewer ports

Final Thoughts

The Gateway P-7811FX is an excellent laptop and probably the best one to invest your money in right now. It has everything perfect about it and the price makes it a killer deal. You can hardly go wrong with this one.

My Rating : 4.5/5

Lenovo IdeaPad U110

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is the latest addition to the IdeaPad ultra portable family, soon to be joined by the IdeaPad S10 and S9. In this review, we check out whether the Lenovo IdeaPad is worth the rather high price it demands, especially since the ultra portable has been revolutionized by many low cost entrants like the Asus EEE PC and the MSI Wind, which are priced much lower than the IdeaPad U110. It competes more with the likes of the Macbook Air, Sony Vaio TZ and the Lenovo Think Pad X300 at a slightly lower price and smaller form factor.

Lenovo IdeaPad U110 Specifications:

• Processor: 1.60GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 (800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
• Graphics: Intel GMA X3100
• Screen: 11.1-inch WXGA (1366 x 768 px) display
• Memory: 2GB
• Storage: 120GB Parallel ATA HDD (4200rpm)
• Optical Drive: None (External Dual layer CD/DVD recordable drive)
• Wireless and Communications: Intel 4965AGN (802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi), BlueTooth 2.0 with EDR
• Battery: 4-cell Li-Ion and 7-cell extended life Li-Ion batteries included
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, IEEE 1394 Firewire, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard/34, VGA monitor out port, AC adapter, headphone/line-out, microphone/line-in, Gigabit Ethernet

• Dimensions: 10.8″ x 7.7″ x 0.72″ - 0.88″
• Weight: 2.42lbs with 4-cell battery and 2.92lbs with 7-cell battery
• Price: $1899 (Approx)

Design

The design of the IdeaPad U110 is a refreshing change from the boxy designs of Lenovo’s classic ThinkPad line. It looks sleek, slim and small. It also has a great build quality and feels sturdy. It should easily withstand a few accidental drops without worries. It inherits the build quality from the ThinkPad line we suppose, while leaving out their average design and looks. The aluminium chassis and cover make it strong and sturdy, yet light in weight. It sports a new “Tendril” pattern on the display cover, and on the back of the notebook, which looks elegant. All of the components are styled superbly giving it a great design with superb build quality allowing it to withstand rough handling with ease.

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 features a wide range of ports - 3 USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, ExpressCard/34 slot, Gigabit Ethernet, 5-in-1 multi-card reader, Audio out, Mic in, VGA out and a standard Kensington lock slot. They are much more than the minimal ports provided by both the Macbook Air and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300. It does miss out on the HDMI port though and a standard Express Card slot, but you can’t actually ask for more in such a small form factor. It maintains an excellent balance between the available space and the essential ports provided.

Display and Sound

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 comes with a 11.1-inch WXGA display supporting standard resolutions of 1366 x 768 px. It looks good with good brightness and contrast levels, but it is a bit too glossy. The display quality is also a wee bit grainy. Due to the high glossiness, it is difficult to read anything on the display without straining your eyes. There is a bit too reflection even under standard lighting conditions. Other than these, the display performance is quite good with accurate color reproduction and vibrant colors. The vertical viewing angles are quite good, and the horizontal viewing angles aren’t too bad either.

The IdeaPad U110 comes with stereo speakers which are quite good and loud. Obviously, it won’t please the audiophiles but then they can always connect their headphones to the Ideapad U110 for better results. There isn’t any distortion and the volume is rather good for a short movie or some music. As usual, the speakers suck at bass.

Performance

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is powered by a Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 clocked at 1.6 GHZ with 4 MB L2 cache, operating at 800 MHZ FSB. Like in most ultraportable notebooks, it uses the low voltage Intel L7500 processors, which consume very less power and dissipate much less heat than conventional notebook processors. It is powerful enough to run standard Office and Multimedia applications and normal web surfing. You should not expect the performance you would from a Desktop Quadcore and you will be blissful. The Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics are good enough to run Vista with Aero on, and some light games at low settings. If you intend to play Crysis at high resolutions with AA, AF turned fully on, you should look elsewhere (read: Alienware Area 51 m17x).

The IdeaPad U110 comes with a 120 GB 4200 rpm hard drive which is low on performance but generates much less heat and consumes less power. Portability comes at the price of performance after all. But you wont feel the lag much in daily usage.
Overall, the performance is just as much as you would expect from a laptop of its size and portability. It doesn’t disappoint at all.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 features a great little keyboard which is slightly smaller than a standard laptop keyboard. It offers adequate key spacing and great key travel making it a breeze to type. The keys offer decent tactile feedback and dont make much noise. The keys sport a glossy finish and the media buttons on the top feature a cool design which add to the style factor. Regular typists can get used to the keyboard in just a matter of time. There is nothing much to complain about in the IdeaPad U110’s keyboard.

The touchpad is standard with good sensitivity and a very smooth finish. The touchpad buttons are quite good too, with just the right amount of force needed to click them. Lenovo has done away with the fingerprint reader and replaced it with its nice new face recognition technology called Veriface which performs great. It uses the built in webcam to scan your face and checks whether you are authorized to access the computer.

Battery Life

Lenovo bundles both the 4 cell and the extended 7 cell battery with the IdeaPad U110. The 4 cell battery has a rated battery life of about 2 hours while the 7 cell battery can juice it up for about 6 hours, exactly as much as Lenovo claims. The above battery life was obtained with the Power management settings turned to Laptop / Portable. You can squeeze out even more by turning off Wi-Fi and lowering the display brightness. Surprisingly, the 7 cell battery is just slightly bigger and heavier than the 4 cell battery inspite of the huge power increase it supplies. The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 completely pleases in terms of battery life and its very nice of Lenovo to include both the 4 cell and 7 cell battery at no extra charge.

Pros

• Clean Design
• Great Build Quality
• Ultra portable
• Good Battery life

Cons

• Expensive
• Extra Glossy & Grainy Display

Conclusion

The Lenovo IdeaPad U110 is a good notebook with a very stylish mix of decent power and great portability. It can be called one of the best in its range and is a much better buy than the Macbook Air. Except for the mediocre display, it doesn’t actually have any shortcomings. The bundled 7 cell battery and the external DVD drive are great additions. If you are on the lookout of a stylish notebook with a small footprint, adequate power and maximum style, we would definitely recommend the IdeaPad U110.

HP Pavilion dv5t

Its been a rather long time since HP updated the popular dv6000 series. Dell has been quick with its updates which have given them advantage over HP in the current market. But things could change rapidly with the introduction of HP Pavilion dv5t which is based on the latest Intel Montevina Centrino 2 technology. The chipset has many advantages over its predecessor such as powerful dedicated graphics.

HP Pavilion dv5t specifications :

• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor 2.26GHz

• Display : 15.4-inch WSXGA+ Infinity display
• RAM : 2GB DDR2-800 RAM (2x 1GB)
• Hard Disk : 160GB 5400RPM hard drive
• Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT 512MB DDR2 RAM
  
• Battery : High-capacity 6-cell Li-ion battery
• OS : Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
• Approx. price : $1300

Design has got a major overhaul and if the dv6000 had stylish looks, this one has killer looks. HP has put a lot of effort and thought into the design and added a futuristic look to it. The notebook is streamlined and has rounded corners. The display rests only on one large hinge instead of two. The surfaces are glossy and reflective pretty much similar to dv6000 series. The palm rest and base is metallic rather than plastic leading to a much better build quality.

The touch buttons are now a bit farther off from the keyboard but that does not affect their functionality a bit. The HP logo on the lid is backlit now, which adds a whole lot of class to this new notebook. The build quality which was not great in dv6000 series, has been looked after and dv5t has a compact and strong build.

The display resolution has also got a bump from the standard 1280 x 800. It now supports a resolution of 1680 x 1050 which is great for viewing movies especially HD ones. Also it leads to more viewable area and hence less scrolling is needed for large documents. There are two types to displays to choose from : standard BrightView and BrightView Infinity with the latter making the display borderless. Display quality is a strong point of HP notebooks and that goes for dv5t too. It produces clear and perfectly saturated images.

The speakers on the dv5t are the branded Altec Lansing ones which offer decent sound quality. There are standard stereo speakers without any subwoofer. Volume is high but not necessarily the sound quality. The media remote is the same that came with dv6000 series having good functionality to control the PC from a distance. The webcam produces clear images and handles video conferences smoothly.

Heat and noise are two issues that have also been addressed with the dv5t. The earlier series used to idle above 40 degrees even when idle and touching 70 degrees on full load. But the dv5t idles at around 30 degress and goes upto 65 degrees on full load. The graphic card though runs very hot under full load. The fan does not produce whirly sound even when running at full speed, although you can hear it running. The fan positions remain unchanged which means you need to have a solid base when running the notebook under load for optimal cooling.

Keyboard wasn’t of good build quality with the dv6000 and the keys felt wobbly. This has vanished with the dv5t as it uses a high build quality keyboard which offers tactile feedback. The feel of the keys is smoother and glossier. Overall a much better keyboard than dv6000. The touchpad is pretty much the same. It has a glossy finish and inlaid into the palm rest area. I have never been found of touchpads and this one is no exception.

The notebook has Ethernet, HDMI, VGA, e-SATA, IEEE 1394 mini-Firewire, ExpressCard slots. The right side has the optical drive with USB ports and TV tuner/modem fillers. At the front is IR Receiver along with couple of headphone jacks. Addition of eSATA is refreshing as eSATA devices are slowly making their presence felt in the market.On the wireless front, you can customise to upgarde to a wireless card having N band capability. Otherwise you get the standard 802.11b/g Broadcom card. You can also upgrade to High-capacity 6-cell from standard 6-cell battery. Battery life is low at about 2 hours when watching a movie.

You can choose not to add a graphics and use the onboard Intel X4500 Integrated graphics, good enough for casual gaming and running Vista with full effects. HP offers both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista. The performance of the notebook is great with DDR-800 memory and Nvidia 9600GT graphics card. The processor is also top notch and performs well. The graphics card ensures you can play games at latest games at medium settings. Overall the dv5t is a great performer.

Pros :

• Great configuration
• Affordable price
• Good build quality
• Excellent display
• Excellent keyboard
• Runs cool and quiet
• Great performance
• eSATA, HDMI port included

Cons :

• High graphics card temperature
• Low battery life
• Average touchpad

Final Thoughts

The HP Pavilion dv5t is a excellent upgrade from the dv6000 series and manages to address most of the issues. Apart from the battery life, this laptop is a perfect blend of style and performance. It offers great performance at an affordable price.

Rating : 4.25/5

Limited Edition Asus Eee to be Released

Limited Edition Asus Eee to be Released

Two special edition Eee PCs are being released in Korea.

Asus is preparing to launch a special edition of the Eee 901 and the 1000H.

The special edition, at least for now, will be confined to Korea. There are a few different, unnamed versions.

The first has a blood-red lid, and is covered in small flower designs (or maybe snowflakes), which likely reduces the number of male customers who will purchase it.

The next sports a bright green lid, and has a small leaf pattern covering the lower half of the lid and the keyboard.

The pre-release mentions a pink version, but it seems that pink actually means "red".

The special editions are available for pre-order through August 22nd. These will probably start hitting eBay around the end of the month.

Acer Aspire One

Acer is the latest entrant to the ultraportable ‘Netbook’ segment dominated by heavy weights like Asus, HP and MSI currently. Asus revolutionized the notebook market in 2007 with its ultraportable offering - the Asus EEE PC 701. It was soon followed by many other manufacturers offering their own versions of ultraportables with more or less similar configurations. Asus, however did win the first round of the “War of the Ultra Portables” by a landslide. Now comes the second generation of Ultraportables, more commonly known as ‘Netbooks’ now.

The new generation of netbooks comes with a whole new load of features including more powerful processors, better displays, higher storage capacities and much powerful batteries. Almost all of the new entrants sport Intel Atom processors, SSD storage ranging from 8 GB to 32 GB and better batteries. They have almost similar configurations, with slight changes in the designs and other features. Their prices are also very much in the same range, starting at around $500 to $700. The competition has fiercely hottened up with the launch of the MSI Wind U100 and the Asus EEE PC 1000H in the previous month. Lenovo and Dell are expected to jump in soon with the Ideapad S10 and E Slim respectively.

Of all these next generation ultra portables, Acer’s Aspire One is one of the cheapest, with the Linux version at just $379. It is loaded with decent features and a good design. It is a bit underpowered compared to its competitors in terms RAM, SSD capacity, battery life but can be upgraded. Besides it is at such a good price point, that it seems possible to neglect its shortcomings. Let’s have a closer look at the Acer Aspire One.

Acer Aspire One Specifications :

• CPU: 1.6 GHZ Intel Atom N270
• RAM: 512MB (Upgradable to 1.5 GB)
• SSD: 8 GB
• Display: 8.9″ WSVGA LCD @ 1024 x 600
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• Operating System: Linpus Linux Lite
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, Ethernet, Headphone & Microphone jack, VGA
• Other: 5 in 1 card reader (SD, xD, MMC, MS, MS Pro), 0.3 MP VGA Webcam
• Size: 9.8 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Price (Approx): $379
• Warranty: One year limited

Design

The Acer Aspire One is a beautifully built machine. It looks sleek and has a metallic feel to it. It is available in 4 colors- pearl white, black, pink and navy blue. On the face of it, it never feels or looks like a cheap notebook. Instead it looks quite regal and expensive. The Pearl White Aspire One sports a glossy finish on the lid and exteriors which further accentuates its great design.

The Aspire One is both slimmer and lighter than the other 8.9″ers - Asus EEE PC 901 and the HP Mininote 2133. It weighs just 2.2 pounds which makes it one of the lightest ultraportables, and a joy to carry around. It scores slightly above the EEE PC 901 and HP Mininote in terms of looks and portability. The Build quality is good too and feels robust.

The port configuration of the Aspire One is very similar to the EEE PC 901 or the MSI Wind. On the left, it has the VGA port, Ethernet, a USB port and a SD card reader. On the right is the 5 in 1 card reader, 2 USB ports and headphone and mic jacks. Above the keyboard are the various status indicators.

Display and Sound

The Acer Aspire One sports a 8.9″ LCD display supporting resolutions of 1024 x 600 px which is the standard for 8.9″ and 10″ netbooks these days. It is brighter than the EEE PC 901 and MSI Wind displays and has good contrast levels with solid colors. The horizontal and vertical viewing angles are decent. The 1024 x 600 px wide screen resolution is optimum for watching movies and surfing through webpages. You can also connect your Aspire One to any external CRT / LCD monitor or projector using the VGA port.

It also comes with a 0.3 MP webcam and mic above the display. It performs decently with slightly grainy quality while the mic is good and clear. The speakers are loud enough to be heard around a small room but the sound quality isn’t much to speak of. The EEE PC’s Dolby certified speakers can easily trump these. You can plug in standard earphones of your choice using the 3.5mm audio jack.

Performance

The Acer Aspire One is powered by the Intel Atom N270 clocked at 1.6 GHZ and with 512 KB L2 cache, the same as in Asus EEE PC 901 and the MSI Wind and many other upcoming netbooks . It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. The Aspire One comes with a rather low 512 MB of RAM which can be upgraded to 1.5 GB. It comes with Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 onboard graphics which is capable of running low end games and multimedia playback. It also has a 8 GB SSD for storage which is a bit less compared to other netbooks. One interesting addition is the second only SD card reader which seems to be there only for expanding the storage of the Aspire One through SD cards.

The Aspire One is loaded with Linpus Linux Lite but is fully compatible with Windows XP as well. The Linux Linpus Lite OS runs quite fast and is very responsive despite having just 512 MB RAM at its disposal. It is inspired slightly by Asus’s Xandros OS and sports a very minimal interface with four sections - Connect, Work, Fun and Files. Under ‘Connect’, you’ll find Firefox, an IM client with AIM, GTalk, MSN, and support, an RSS reader, Skype, Wikipedia links, Google Maps etc. ‘Work’ houses OpenOffice, Contacts, Calculator, Notes, and Calendar. ‘Fun’ has Media Master, Photo Master, KolourPaint, a webcam, and some games. ‘Files’ has the My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, My Downloads, and My Files folders.You can easily multitask 3-4 apps without any lags or delays. The SSD contributes a lot to the speed of the Aspire One. It also adds to the durability of the Aspire One and consumes less power.

The Wi-Fi reception is great with rare disconnections. It offers about 90% signal strength about 20 feet around the access point. Pages load quickly with no lag and even video / audio streaming works great on a decent connection.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Keyboard is around 86% of a normal QWERTY keyboard and is quite good to type on. It has ample key spacing and travel. The keys are responsive and offer good feedback. Typing shouldn’t at all be a problem on the Aspire One. It is quite suitable for touch typing.

The touchpad is very similar to the one on the HP Mininote 2133. It has the left and right mouse buttons on the sides instead of the bottom which is quite an annoyance for normal users. The touchpad is also a bit small vertically, making it difficult to traverse the whole screen at a time. The buttons are a bit hard to press but that is workable.

Battery Life

The Aspire One comes with a 3 cell battery but falls short when it comes to battery life even with the Atom processor and SSD. It offers just about 2 hours with normal usage. There is an optional 6 cell battery upgrade available in case you want more juice of of your Aspire One.

Pros

• Inexpensive
• Good design & Build quality

Cons

• Low RAM
• Low SSD capacity
• No Bluetooth

Conclusion

The Acer Aspire One misses out on a lot of features but it also comes with a whole lot of upgrade options. The base price - $379 is sweet. Though if you can afford to, the EEE PC 901 or the MSI Wind would be a better option as the upgrades are a bit too costly. On the other hand, it is a much better option than the $399 EEE PC 4G 701. All in all, its a good buy for the budget conscious. If you can wait, the upcoming Lenove Ideapad S10 is priced the same as the Aspire One and promises to be better.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

MSI Introduces Ultra-Portable Wind 'Love Edition'

MSI has started a global charity program to help poor children learn essential computing skills.

MSI has introduced a special edition line of their ultra-portable notebook, the Wind, that will be used to help poor children in several different countries.

The special edition Wind is dubbed the 'Love' edition, and comes in white only, and features a series of gray and tan/yellow hearts.

The donations from this charity drive will go to help poverty-stricken children in China, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Korea, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

Unfortunately, it is not clear if individuals purchase a laptop that will get sent overseas, or if the consumer gets the laptop and the proceeds go to the charity.

Judging by the wording of the press release - that these notebooks will be used to teach children essential computer skills - it seems the purchased laptop will be sent to one of the countries listed above.

Asus EEE PC 901

Asus was the pioneer of the ultraportable notebooks, more commonly known as “Netbooks” now. It revolutionized the notebook market in 2007 with its ultraportable offering - the Asus EEE PC 701, a 7″ sub notebook with enough power to run basic applications and became the ultraportable of choice. It was the winner of the first round of the “War of the ultraportables”, mainly because there wasn’t much competition in that segment then. However now, the competition has heated up with loads of sub notebooks with similar features and form factors entering the market, the MSI Wind and the HP MiniNote 2133 being the main competitors.

There are many more yet to come, like the Dell 500, ACi Ultra Mini and Acer Aspire One. The main USP of the EEE PC was the small form factor offering maximum portability while the major shortcomings were its small, low resolution screen and low SSD capacity. Asus is back with the new iterations of the EEE PC, the EEE PC 900 and the EEE PC 901 with a higher resolution 8.9″ LCD display and larger SSD capacities. Both of them have exactly the same configuration with a some changes, the EEE PC 901 is powered by an Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ processor while the EEE PC 900 still has the older Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ. Both the EEE PC 900 and EEE PC 901 are available in Windows XP and Linux flavors, with the Windows XP version having only a 12 GB SSD compared to the Linux version’s 20 GB.

In this review we check out the EEE PC 901 and see whether it is a viable option and whether it can beat the other competitors like the MSI Wind and the HP Mininote 2133.

Asus EEE PC 901 Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Atom 1.6 GHz N270
• Storage: 12GB / 20 GB SSD (4GB onboard + 8GB / 16 GB PCI-E mini SSD card)
• RAM: 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• OS: Windows XP operating system
• Display: 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n Atheros, Bluetooth 2.0
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, mic input, SD card reader, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam: 1.3 MP
• Battery: 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• Dimensions: 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″
• Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Price: $599

Design:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is very different from the original EEE PC 701 and the EEE PC 900 which was just a rehash of the EEE PC 701. It has a much more smoother design with a nice glossy finish and rounded edges. The Asus EEE PC 901 is only slightly bigger than the EEE PC 900. The Asus branding has been replaced by an EEE logo. The build quality is superb and the EEE PC 901 feels sturdy and can easily withstand a light drop. It has a new circular hinge which is stronger than the old EEE 701’s. The EEE PC 901 has dimensions of 1.6″ x 9.0″ x 6.9″ and a weight of around 2.5 pounds which make it the ideal ultra portable computer.

The port configuration is pretty much the same as the older EEE PC’s. It houses an Ethernet port, USB 2.0 port and headphone and mic jacks on the left while there is the card reader, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out on the right. It also has the shiny new activity and status LEDs on the front near the Touchpad.

Display and Sound:

The Asus EEE PC 901 has a 8.9″ LCD screen which supports resolutions of 1024 x 600 px natively and is almost the same as the display of the EEE PC 900. It has good brightness and contrast levels with solid colors. It has decent viewing angles and good visibility under sunlight. The 1024 x 600 px wide screen resolution is a relief after using the default 800 x 480 resolution on the EEE PC 701. Most webpages don’t need horizontal scrolling at all. You can also plug it to any external CRT / LCD monitor or projector using the VGA port. It also comes with a good quality 1.3 MP webcam above the display.

The Dolby certified speakers add to the overall experience of the EEE as a multimedia device with their great sound quality. The volume is louder than most laptops with amazing clarity. You can also plug in headphones of your choice through the standard 3.5 mm audio jack.

Performance:

The Asus EEE PC 901 is powered by the latest Intel Atom N270 which is clocked at 1.6 GHZ with 512KB L2 cache. It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 667 MHZ RAM, upgradable to 2 GB. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics which can manage low end games and multimedia playback easily. It comes with two Operating System options - Windows XP and Linux, with the XP version priced at $50 more than the Linux version having the same configuration. It boots Windows XP in lesser time than most notebooks and can handle 4-5 applications without any lag. The difference between the Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ and the Intel Celeron M ULV 900 MHZ is noticeable both in terms of performance and efficiency. It is capable of running all the basic Media, Office and Web applications easily. The configuration of the Asus EEE 901 is very similar to that of the MSI WInd except that the EEE PC 901 sports a 12 GB / 20 GB SSD while the MSI Wind sports a 80 GB 2.5″ HDD. Due to this, the EEE is more responsive and fast and consumes less power. It can also absorb shocks easily due to no moving parts. Overall, the performance of the EEE 901 is great and it is very power efficient due to the use of the new Intel Atom processors and the SSD.

Keyboard & Touchpad:

The keyboard on the EEE PC 901 is the same as the one on the EEE PC 900 with minor differences if any. It feels cramped and the key spacing is a bit less. The MSI Wind and HP MiniNote 2133 have much better keyboards than the EEE PC 901. On the other hand, the EEE PC 901 features a bigger multitouch enabled trackpad. It is far more roomier than its previous versions and feels good to work with. You can use multitouch gestures with the trackpad to perform certain functions like zooming in and out of pictures. The functionality of the trackpad is limited but it is surely going to improve with some updates. The EEE PC 901 now has two separate mouse buttons instead of the single clicker in the older versions which is a welcome change.

Adding to all this, the EEE PC 901 also features 4 new buttons on the top of the keyboard which allow you to turn off the monitor, switch between screen resolutions, change between power saving modes. The 4th button is a user definable launcher. There is also a Power button to the extreme right. You can switch between the following resolutions - 800 x 600, 1024 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1024 x 768 compressed. There are 3 power saving modes, running the CPU at a clock speed of 1.2 GHZ, 1.6 GHZ and 1.8 GHZ respectively to increase battery life. You can also lower the display brightness and turn off Wi-Fi to increase battery life.

Battery life:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes with an awesome 6 cell 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion battery which is very powerful and can easily keep the EEE PC 901 juiced up for 4.5-5 hrs. This is partly due to the new low power Atom processors being used and the use of an SSD. To extract more juice out of the battery, you can turn off Wi-Fi, use the power saving mode to underclock the processor and lower the display brightness. The battery life comes up to be one of the strongest plus points of the EEE PC 901.

Pros:

• Bigger, Better Display
• Light and Portable
• Multitouch Trackpad
• Great battery

Cons:

• Cramped Keyboard
• Slightly Expensive

Conclusion:

The Asus EEE PC 901 comes out to be an ideal ultra portable, offering a great blend of portability, power and style. It scores nearly the same as the MSI Wind in most criterias and does better it in some like battery life, less weight, smaller dimensions, better trackpad etc. However it is priced higher than the MSI Wind which can account for all the added features. It has some really cool new features like the multitouch trackpad which make it a great buy. However, new customers may want to wait for the upcoming EEE PC 1000 series.

Rating: 4.20 / 5.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL400

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 is the latest addition to the ThinkPad family and promises to offer features and performance at a fraction of the cost of other ThinkPads. Lenovo's new IdeaPad line of notebooks might give consumers plenty of attractive options, but The new SL series is the first line of small business notebooks designed with ThinkPad styling at an affordable price. Is there more here than just traditional ThinkPad shape and a low price? Our full review of the SL400 shows why this laptop might (or might not) be perfect for you.

Our ThinkPad SL400 has the following specifications:

• Processor: 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 (1066MHz FSB, 3MB Cache)
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS 256MB
• Screen: 14.1" WXGA, Anti-glare (1280x800, 200nit)
• Memory: 2GB(up to 4GB configurable)
• Storage: 160GB SATA HDD (5400rpm)
• Optical Drive: Dual layer CD/DVD recordable drive
• Wireless and Communications: Intel 4965AGN (802.11 a/b/g/n wi-fi), BlueTooth 2.0 EDR
• Battery: 6-cell Li-Ion
• Dimensions: 13.2" x 9.7" x 1.3"-1.5")
• Weight: 5.5lbs with battery
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Warranty: 1-year

The pricing on the SL400 starts at around $799. As configured, the price of our review unit of the ThinkPad SL400 is $1,119. While that puts it above the range of most "budget" laptops, this configuration does offer a new Intel "Montevina" processor, and dedicated graphics card at a reasonable price. Needless to say, this is one of the more budget-friendly ThinkPads on the market. More to the point, Lenovo has gone out of its way to give you multiple reasons to consider the SL series over the competition.

Build and Design

The ThinkPad SL400 is quite solid in terms of build quality, though the plastics used in the chassis construction do give in to some case flex when squeezed. The entire chassis exterior is plastic and while the appearance is nice, the "feel" of the notebook is a little less rugged than we've come to expect from ThinkPads. Unlike with the other ThinkPads, you don't get a double latch mechanism with button release to make sure the screen is held down when it is closed and being carried. Instead, the SL400 uses hinge tension to hold the screen in place.

Speaking of the tension hinge, the hinge on our review unit didn't provide nearly as much tension/resistance as we would have liked. Specifically, if you pick up the base of the SL400 and lightly shake the base of the notebook forward and back the screen will "flap" forward and back as you shake the notebook.

The glossy black plastic display cover is probably the most interesting design element on the SL400. Lenovo also decided to modify the traditional ThinkPad logo by adding a small red LED to the dot above the "i" in ThinkPad. I suppose someone still thinks "bling is the thing" in the world of small business. In any case, this certainly isn't a boring ThinkPad.

Expandability and expansion are pretty simple with this chassis design. The two access panels on the bottom of the notebook provide access to the wireless cards, RAM, processor and graphics. The side panel on the opposite side of the optical drives allows you to swap out the hard drive for a replacement drive.

Input and Output Ports

The number of ports the SL400 has is fairly good and certainly much better than the average budget notebook designed for small business. Here's a run down of the ports:

• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• Firewire
• ExpressCard slot
• Gigabit Ethernet and modem
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Audio out, microphone in
• VGA monitor out
• HDMI (video and audio)
• Kensington lock slot

About the only thing you might consider "missing" on this notebook is an eSATA port. Since eSATA is rapidly becoming a new standard for external data storage, it would have been nice to see an eSATA port on the side of the SL400. On the other hand, it may only be a matter of time before we see USB 3.0 ports that surpass the performance of eSATA.

There's also no option for a docking station, you have to go with a USB-based port replicator (or ExpressCard/34) to get the additional ports you would want at a desk. Obviously engineers had to make design trade offs and you can't have it all on a notebook in this price range. Personally, I feel like the SL400 provides an excellent balance of ports for its size and cost.

Left view.	Right view.
Front view.	Rear view.

Performance and Benchmarks

Although it's nice that Lenovo is bringing a small business solution to the market for less than $800, the price wouldn't matter if the SL400 can't provide great performance for your dollar.

The Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor in our review unit provided ample processing power and never presented any problems when running applications or encoding video and audio files. The synthetic benchmarks below suggest the P8400 processor is one of the more capable processors from Intel and should satisfy the needs of any business professional.

Likewise, the NVIDIA 9300M GS dedicated graphics card with 256MB of RAM allows you to play most average games at a reasonable frame rate. This certainly isn't the laptop designed to play Crysis, but you'll have enough power to handle 1080p Blu-ray movies and some games (during non-work hours, of course).

Screen

The 14.1" WXGA, Anti-glare (1280 x 800) is nice and reasonably bright at 200nit brightness, color, contrast, and viewing angles are all good. More importantly, the display on our review unit uses a anti-glare matte finish ... something important to many business professionals and something we're glad to see.

Like most budget laptop displays, the screen on the SL400 does suffer from some minor color inversion at the lower vertical viewing angles ... but this is rarely a problem unless your laptop is resting on a desk and you're looking at the screen from down on the floor.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the ThinkPad SL400 has zero flex and excellent key travel with quiet presses. The keyboard is remarkably similar to the keyboards on the older ThinkPad R-series notebooks. There's little to complain about here from a functional standpoint. Sure, it's not the most attractive keyboard on the market ... but it works great. Of course, the SL400 wouldn't dream of calling itself a ThinkPad if it didn't include the iconic red Trackpoint pointing stick in addition to the standard touchpad.

The palm rest area is pretty plain: it has a matte black finish so it both feels and looks nice. It's very smooth and the touchpad is nicely textured with a responsive surface. Lenovo also decided to include the standard fingerprint reader for those businesses concerned with security.

Speakers and Audio

The built-in speakers are ... well ... average built-in speakers. In short, the speakers are small, underpowered, and produce tiny sound with plenty of highs and acceptable mid range but almost no bass. This is similar to what we've seen from other laptops in this class such as the Dell Vostro 1510 and Toshiba Satellite Pro L300. In other words, this ThinkPad is designed for small business and consumers who want a laptop that isn't flashy. Don't expect amazing speakers in this type of notebook.

On the bright side, the headphone jack produced distortion-free audio and works perfectly for earphones or external speakers.

Heat and Noise

The ThinkPad SL400 does a good job keeping heat under control. Even when the system was under stress during the performance benchmarking tests the SL400 remained relatively cool. Most users certainly won't have any trouble using this as a "laptop" since the these low heat levels won't cause any discomfort to your lap. Below are the external temperature readings listed in degrees Fahrenheit:

Noise was never an issue with the SL400, and this is one of the quietest notebooks we've seen (or rather heard) in this class. The system fan is extremely quiet, the hard drive rarely makes a peep even when it's actively writing data, and the DVD drive is fairly quiet (though not as quiet as some tray-loading DVD drives we've seen. In other words, the ThinkPad SL400 won't disturb your coworkers or the person seated next to you on a long flight.

Battery Life

With the notebook power settings in "balanced" mode, wireless on and the screen brightness set to 50 percent, the SL400 drained it's full battery after 3 hours and 13 minutes. Interestingly, Lenovo's proprietary Power Manager software accurately monitored the power consumption during the course of the battery test as the estimated battery time remaining changed depending on the level of activity. The battery life estimate jumped between a little more than four hours (when the notebook was left idle) to a little less than two hours when I was typing Word document and opening several applications at the same time.

While road warriors will cerrtainly want more battery life than what the SL400 has to offer, the notebook does a reasonable job in terms of travel power and provides battery life similar to the competition in this class.

Conclusion

Overall, there is a lot we can say in favor of the ThinkPad SL400. Lenovo is offering a solid budget ThinkPad for only $799 and also offering pre-configured models with better performance and features for $1,249 or less. That said, like most notebooks in the small business class, the SL400 suffers from cheap plastics used in the chassis construction, weak built-in speakers, and an overall build that is slightly thicker and heaver than needed.

As it stands now, there are a number of reasons you might want to pick up an SL400 rather than a similar notebook from the Dell Vostro lineup or Toshiba Satellite Pro line. That said, diehard ThinkPad owners might criticize the glossy lid, lack of lid latch, and the type of plastics used in some places. The performance of our test configuration suggests the SL400 packs enough raw power to satisfy most small business owners, but it's clear that the new SL series isn't the same ThinkPad we've seen before.

Pros:

• Affordable price

• ThinkPad quality keyboard and trackpoint

• Good screen (matte option is great)

• Solid performance

• Nice pre-configured options

• Stays cool and quiet
  

Cons:

• Thick and boxy overall

• Weak speakers

• Glossy lid is a magnet for fingerprints and dirt

• Plastics are thin and weak in some places

• Weak hinge tension on display lid

MSI Wind U100

The MSI Wind is the latest entrant to the already overflowing ultra portable notebook market with the Asus EEE PC 700 / 900 / 1000, HP 2133 Mini Note, ACi Ultra Mini, Everex Cloudbook, HCL MiLeap fighting for market share and the Acer Aspire One and Dell 500 just about to enter. This promises to be a savage competition and is currently being led by the Asus EEE PC’s having the first mover’s advantage. The Asus EEE PC 701 was a runaway hit following its launch in 2007 and grabbed many awards including the “The most wanted Christmas Gift”. It was a favorite everywhere and created a new low cost, ultra portable notebook or “Netbook” category with many other manufacturers jumping in to offer their creations. Of these, the new MSI Wind seems to be the most promising one with its good balance of price, features and portability. It seems to be the only viable option to the EEE PC’s. The new range of EEE PCs namely the 900 / 1000 are priced a bit high, competing more with normal notebooks in terms of price. They aren’t very portable either like the EEE PC 701’s. In this review we look at the MSI Wind and check whether it manages to grab the crown from the ruling EEE PC’s.

MSI Wind U100 Specifications

• Processor: Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHZ
• Display: 10″ WSVGA (1024 x 600) LCD
• OS: Linux / Windows XP Home Operating System
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950 Integrated
• RAM: 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 Memory
• HDD: 80 GB 2.5″ SATA
• Connectivity: Wifi-802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0
• Battery: 3 Cell 11.1v 2200mAh Battery / 6 Cell
• Size: 10.2″ x 7″ x 1.3″
• Weight: 1.3 KG
• Price: $549.99

Design

The MSI Wind has a nice clean design and looks very similar to the white EEE PC with an almost similar layout and battery position. It has a glossy look and soft rounded edges which make it great to look at and work with. In all, it has a nice sombre look that looks great and likeable. It has an excellent build quality which is inspired from the Asus EEE PC and the HP Mini Note 2133. The build materials used are top quality which makes working with the MSI Wind U100 a pleasure. The MSI Wind has dimensions of 10.2″ x 7″ x 1.3″ and is slightly bigger than the EEE PC due to its larger 10″ screen. It is light and very portable at just 1.3 KG.

The MSI Wind houses a USB 2.0 port, a 4 in 1 memory card reader, mic and headphone jacks, a VGA port, and an Ethernet jack on the right side. On the left, you find 2 more USB 2.0 ports and the power jack and the fan exhaust. On the rear is the battery and the front is graced by cute little activity LEDs.

Display and Sound

The MSI Wind features a LED backlit, 10″ LCD with a default resolution of 1024 x 600 px (WSVGA). It is good with vibrant colors and great brightness and contrast levels. It has good wide viewing angles both horizontally and vertically. The horizontal viewing angles are less then the vertical though. The visibility is good under direct sunlight too so it might be your perfect companion on that camping trip. The 1024 x 600 resolution is optimum and requires almost no horizontal scrolling when surfing the internet. It also has a 1.3 MP webcam and a mic seated right next to it.

The speakers are quite decent but not very loud. They suffice for casual users - the MSI Wind wasn’t meant to be a media powerhouse anyways. The volume levels are good but a bit low while the clarity is good. You can always plug in your headphones if you need to.

Performance

The MSI Wind is powered by the latest Intel Atom N270 which is clocked at 1.6 GHZ and offers 512KB L2 cache. It is very power eficient and has a very low TDP of 2.5W. The Wind can be operated in 2 modes - Normal and Eco, to switch between powersaving and performance mode. In the normal mode, the Wind runs at full power - 1.6 GHZ clock while in the Eco mode it is underclocked to 800 MHZ increasing the battery life and decreasing the heat. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 667 MHZ RAM, upgradable to 2 GB. It has the Intel GMA 950 onboard graphics which can easily manage low end games and almost all non-HD video playback. It comes with two Operating System options - Windows XP and Linux, with the XP version priced more than the Linux version having the same configuration. It boots Windows XP in less time and can handle 4-5 applications without any lag. It is capable of running all the basic Media, Office and Web applications easily. It has a 2.5″ 5400 RPM SATA HDD which means that it is slower and heavier than the SSD counterparts in the EEE PC. But it does have a great space advantage. The overall performance is great just as expected from an ultraportable.

Keyboard & Touchpad

The MSI Wind U100 features one of the best keyboards we have seen in ultra portables. It is close to a full size laptop keyboard with good key spacing and travel and offer good feedback. The keys are covered with some protective material increasing their life. It has a slightly changed key layout but that takes very little time to get used to. It is a great keyboard and should be comfortable enough for most users.

The touchpad on the MSI Wind is a bit too small to scroll the whole screen at once but is good and sensitive. It features a bar at the bottom for the left and right mouse buttons. The buttons require a firm click which is a bit of a problem. It could have been more responsive. However it is perfectly usable and features no other significant problems that could hamper its usability.

Battery life

The MSI Wind comes with a measly 3 cell 2200 mAh battery which offers just about 2 hrs 40 mins of battery life under normal usage. However it comes with a 6 cell battery upgrade at an extra cost which boosts the battery life greatly offering about 5 hrs. You can also switch to the ECO mode to increase battery life at the cost of performance. It runs absolutely cool with minimal fan noise and temperatures peaking out at about 48 C after about 2-3 hours of usage.

Pros:

• Nice clean design
• Light and Portable
• Great Display
• Runs cool

Cons:

• Low battery life

Conclusion:

The MSI Wind U100 is a great little notebook, offering the right mix of portability, features and price. It is priced slightly lower than the EEE PC 1000 with similar specs and seems to be a good alternative to it. It doesn’t have any major shortcomings. You can’t get more features than the MSI Wind’s at $550. It works great for casual and outdoor usage and isn’t a replacement for your desktop. We like this notebook and definitely recommend it.

Our Rating: 4.25 / 5.

Acer Aspire 6920

The all new Gemstone Blue series notebooks from Acer offer a cinematic experience with a 16-inch 16:9 ratio display, built-in subwoofer, and touch-sensitive multimedia control panel. Going beyond the multimedia experience, Acer also give this Gemstone notebook one of the most innovative designs we have seen in years. From a semi-transparent LCD cover with an LED outlined company logo to blue LED illuminated chrome screen hinges Acer really went all out to make this notebook stand out from the competition. Now does Acer really deliver a "true cinematic experience?" Read on to find out.

Specifications:

• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 (2.0GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Level 2 cache)
• Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium
• Memory: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300)
• Hard drive: 250GB (5400rpm)
• Screen: 16" HD Acer CineCrystal (glossy) display (1366 x 768)
• Graphics: Intel X3100 integrated graphics
• Optical drive: DVD SuperMulti DL
• Ports: Ethernet, modem, VGA, microphone in, two audio out jacks, four USB ports, 5-in-1 card reader, ExpressCard slot
• Wireless: 802.11a/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0
• Dimensions: 10.8" x 15.1" 1.7" (HxWxD)
• Weight: 7.3 lbs.
• MSRP as configured: $899

Build and Design

Build quality of the Acer Aspire 6920 is very solid and held up quite well during our testing. Whether it was being tossed inside of a backpack haphazardly or carried around by the edge of the palmrest, it didn't make one creak of noise. The plastics used throughout the notebook are high quality, and give it a tough feel (might even be subliminal with the brick textured palmrest) which doesn't bend under a strong grip. The glossy plastic bits located throughout, including the media control panel, held up well without showing much wear or scuffing. Those thinking about stuffing the notebook into a backpack full of heavy textbook needn't worry, as the screen cover resists a strong push without distorting the LCD, although I wouldn't go as far as standing on it.

The design of the Gemstone Blue series is a bit unlike anything I have played with or experienced before. Acer paid attention to all of the minor details when designing this notebook, leaving no surface untouched of some sort of special feature. The screen cover which can generally be a pretty basic element of a notebook has a very advanced look to it. It consisted of multiple layers and soft gradient changes from dark blue around the edges to a semi-transparent blue in the center. It is a subtle touch that you don't notice at first, but once you do it is pretty awesome. LED lighting is another design element used throughout the design of this notebook, and they can be found in many areas:

• Hinge endcaps
• Power button outline illumination
• Media control area
• Acer logo on the cover

The only areas Acer didn't really add to the design of this notebook are found on the lower end configuration models. Acer shares the same plastic trim and palmrest between models, and if your notebook didn't come equipted with HDMI, TV-Tuner, or Fingerprint scanner you are left with tacky looking blanks. The worst one is the fingerprint scanner blank, which makes it look like you have one, but it is actually black plastic bar. This even confused a few retail sites which list lower configurations as having a fingerprint scanner, even though they don't.

Screen

The 16:9 Acer CineCrystal LCD rates average compared to other notebooks, having good color and contrast, but lacking a wide viewing range. The display has a very narrow viewing sweet spot and even a small 5-10 degree change up or down will start to invert colors on the top or bottom half of the screen. Side to side viewing angles were better, but still lacking compared to other displays.

The aspect ratio of the screen does help reduce the some of the aspect ratio correcting bars found while watching some movies, but doesn't entirely get rid of them which some might think. Depending on the movie you watch you will still have some bars, either super small, or upwards of an inch tall.

Keyboard and Touchpad

From the first day seeing this Acer notebook opened, I wasn't sure how much I would like the keyboard with the angled spacebar and right ALT key. Well I am happy to say that although the design is a bit odd, it didn't impede my typing abilities, which I was nervous about at first. The keys are great, with a shallow cupped surface, and good quiet feedback when typing. Support underneath the keyboard could be better, with some mild sag under moderate finger pressure. The layout and spacing were great and I didn't miss a full number pad, although it could have fit one if it didn't have the media controls.

The touchpad surface was great to use, with a unique brick-like surface texture that let you finger effortlessly slip across it even if your hand was a bit sweaty. Sensitivity was excellent out of the box, and if you wanted to, you could adjust it further through the control panel. The scrolling region of the touchpad was defined with a small ridge that separated it from the main area, which had a tendency to confuse you during use. Your finger would slide over and try to scroll inside the main area, since you would think you were hitting the far edge of the touchpad.

Input and Output Ports

Port selection on the Acer Gemston Blue was decent, but was missing a few common ports that we would have liked to see. Firewire was nowhere to be found, and for those who selected lower configurations, all you get is a blank HDMI and TV tuner port. Acer included 4 USB ports, instead of just 3 which you sometimes find on 15" or even 17" notebooks. Below is the full port selection list:

• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• ExpressCard slot
• Gigabit Ethernet and modem
• 5-in-1 multi-card reader
• Headphone
• Microphone, Line-In
• VGA monitor out
• Kensington lock slot

eSata and a true docking connection were also missing. I would have personally enjoyed not seeing a modem jack and the extra space used for eSata or a proprietary docking connection.

Front: 5-in-1 multi-card reader

Rear: Subwoofer

Left: AC Power, Modem, VGA, LAN, 1 USB, Headphone/Mic/Line-in

Right: Optical Drive, 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot

Performance and Benchmarks

The Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 processor found in our review configuration isn't exactly the fastest processor on the market, but it was more than fast enough for your average workload. Office productivity applications and internet browsers were no problems for this computer. Even more difficult tasks such as compressing audio or video files in iTunes completed without much delay. Overall most users will have a hard time telling the difference between a top of the line processor and base budget model during day to day work. Gaming and more stressful applications where something with that amount of grunt is needed.

The lack gaming abilities of the X3100 integrated graphics chipset on the other hand really put a damper on any fun with this notebook. Without a more powerful dedicated graphics chipset, you won't be able to play current or even last generation games without horrible frame rates, or even getting the game to load at all. Another downside to the X3100 graphics on this notebook is the removal of the HDMI port (come standard in higher configurations), leaving you with only VGA out for connection to a larger display.

Gateway P-172X FX

Gateway has a gaming laptops in various budget levels, which makes them attractive buy for gamers. Gateway P-172X FX is a medium budget gaming laptop. It features the Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS which offers rich gaming performance. It offers all the features required by gamers along with a huge 17″ screen.

Gateway P-172X FX specifications :

• 
• Dimensions : 15.7″ x 11.7″ x 1.7″
• Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 2.4 GHz
• Chipset : Mobile Intel PM965 Express
• RAM : 2×2 GB DDR II SDRAM 667 MHz
• Display : 17″ TFT active matrix
• Display Resolution : 1920 x 200
• Hard Drive : 160×2 GB SATA-150 7200 rpm
• Graphics : Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB
• Optical Drive : DVD Writer
• Webcam : 1.3 Megapixel
• Battery : 9-cell Lithium ion
• Weight : 4.2 Kg
• OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium
• Warranty : 1 year warranty
• Approx. price : $1999

The Gateway P-172X FX offers excellent value for money and it offers high-end components at a highly affordable price. Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS is bound to attract a lot of gamera at this price along with a strong processor, 4 gigs of RAM and a 17″ screen.

The look is almost same as other Gateway laptops, making it hard to distinguish it from the lot. It has a glossy black finish with a huge FX logo on the lid. The keyboard has a numeric keypad and the keys are spread out nicely. The control and function keys have swapped places creating a mess. It will take time to get used to the new layout, which is frustrating. Media control keys can be found above the keyboard but do not offer enough tactile feedback. The volume slider is touch sensitive though.

The display offers a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, allowing you to view HD movies in full resolution. Text size does seem small at higher resolution, but movies are a pleasure to watch. The display quality as expected is top class and the finishing was between glossy and matte, making it perfect.

Laptop offers a full range of ports including HDMI and eSATA ports. It has the standard DVD Writer as the optical drive, not a Blu-ray one which is slowly making its way into laptops.

The gaming performance is good with 60fps frame rate in Unreal Tournament III at 1440 x 900 resolution. The processor and graphics card along with 4GB RAM ensure smooth gaming performance. The battery life of the laptop is a little above two hours on full throttle. This is disappointing as it features a 9-cell battery which holds a lot more juice.

Pros :

• 
• Good specifications
• Attractive price
• Great display
• Good performance
• HDMI, eSATA ports

Cons :

• Low battery life
• Not configurable
• Swapped keys

Final Thoughts

The Gateway P-172X FX offers excellent price to performance ratio. It is a dream laptop for gamers on a medium budget looking for everything that high-end laptops have on offer. Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS ensures smooth gaming performance. The processor and RAM are enough to supplement it. Overall a great package to put your money in.

Rating : 4.35/5

Sony VAIO FW

The VAIO FW is a brand new Centrino 2 platform notebook from Sony, offering a much needed facelift, as well as a 16.4" widescreen. What sets this apart from other widescreen notebooks is the aspect ratio of the screen lets movie aficionados enjoy a video without ugly bars above and below the screen. Our full review gives you all the details you need to find out if this notebook is right for you.

Sony VAIO FW Specifications:

• Screen: Sony XBRITE-HiColor 16.4" 1600 x 900 display, glossy
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 (2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 6MB Cache)
• Operating System:Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 (32-bit)
• Memory: 4GB RAM (only 3GB usable)
• Storage: 320GB HDD (5400rpm)
• Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW / BD-R DL
• Wireless: Intel 5100 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 w/ EDR
• Graphics: ATI Mobility Radeon 3470 w/ 256MB
• Built-in web camera
• Battery: 4400mAh Li-Ion Battery
• Dimensions: 15.12" x 1.14"-1.45" x 10.27" (38.4cm x 2.9-3.7cm x 26.1cm)
• Weight: 6.83 lbs (3.1kg)
• Retail Price: $2,149

Build and Design

The fit and finish of the Sony VAIO FW is wonderful, and the overall design is beautiful. The notebook has a streamlined sculpted look, and when opened has a palmrest and keyboard surround that looks like the graceful sloping surface of a car hood. The surface starts out flat, has a small dip, and then gracefully slopes down to the screen hinges. From working day in and day out at a ThinkPad, it is much easier on the eyes to say the least.

Build quality is excellent, with the overall chassis feeling rigid and sturdy. Although thin at the very edges of the palmrest, you can pick the notebook up from the corner with minimal flex from the chassis. Even the super thin screen shows that quite a bit of effort went into making a durable design, as you are able to man-handle and even punch the back of the LCD panel and no ripples or distortion shows on the display.

Screen

I have to say that my first impression of the true HD screen format was one of hatred. Another odd format I would have to get used to, and more odd screen designations to remember. I figured it would be just another gimmick ... but then I started to enjoy it. Outside of watching movies, the extra-wide wide screen is great for organizing many tasks on the screen, where a normal widescreen display just starts to feel crowded. Two documents side by side, a webpage next to a document, or even a webpage with my IM buddy list far off to the side. Of course it is nice for movies as well.

Moving past the widescreen experience and onto the LCD quality itself, it was rather disappointing on our review model. On anything but full brightness you could see a tunnel effect where the sides and corners were much darker thand the center of the screen. At full brightness it was more even, and was passed by early on. Not counting the tunneling effect, brightness range was more than adequate. I found the most comfortable setting at home to be 50-60% and 70-80% in the office. Anything above that it strained my vision.

Colors appeared to be rich, if not slightly over saturated. Contrasted felt washed out, with black levels seemed to be leaning more towards grey/white. Watching a dark movie at high brightness became very distracting, especially with the unevenbacklight.

Viewing angles were better than what I have seen on some notebooks, with a larger sweet spot before colors started to invert or distort. Vertical range had about 45 degrees down and 35 degrees up before colors started to get funky. Horizontal viewing range was flawless besides a mild orange tint at extreme angles.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The "MacBook Style" keyboard on the Sony FW (yes, Sony did it first, but most people recognize this style of keyboard as a "Mac" keyboard) was delightful to type on once you got the hang of finger placement and distances between keys down. Spacing is just slightly off from a standard keyboard, and without the cupped keys, it can be difficult to type on the keyboard without some practice. That said, compared to other keyboard of similar design (MacBook, MacBook Air) the keyboard on the Sony FW was much nicer to type on.

Key throw distances were about the same as most keyboards, and with each press came a soft click feeling. Support underneath the keyboard was great with little to no flex. It felt as if you could stand on the keyboard without making anything cave inward.

The touchpad surface was great, large enough for wide motions and sensitive for smooth sliding without having to adjust any settings. The touchpad buttons were the only drawback, being at the same height as the palmrest, and just barely off the surface of the touchpad. Finding the key without looking down usually ended with tapping the touchpad instead of the button.

Movie Experience

True HD displays are basically what you have in your living room or TV room if you own an HDTV. 720P or 1080P screens are slightly shorter than what you usually find on a computer. For example on a WUXGA notebook has a resolution of 1920x1200, where as a Full HD 1080P screen is 1920x1080. This has to do with the way most movies are recorded, and in the end thinner or no bars at all showing up during a movie. Below I picked 3 Blu-ray titles from my collection, to give you a good idea of what you might expect to see on this screen format.

• Swordfish (2.40:1): Far from full widescreen, with almost 1 inch bars top and bottom.

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• The Prestige (2.35:1): Very similar to 2.40:1, huge bars.

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• Open Season (1.85:1): Almost fullscreen, just two thin bars top and bottom

Ports and Features

Port selection on the Sony VAIO FW rates average, and one USB port less of perfection. Users have two video outputs (HDMI and VGA) for easy hookup to external monitors or your home theater HDTV. In some ways the design of the notebook hinders the port layout, as some curved locations which would be prime for an extra USB port end up being too small to work out. The ports and feature selection include the following:

• 10/100/1000 LAN
• Modem
• VGA
• HDMI
• FireWire
• ExpressCard/34
• Memory Stick Reader
• SD-Card Reader
• Headphone/Mic
• 3 USB Ports

Front: Activity Lights, Wireless On/Off, Memory Stick Reader, SD-Card Reader, Headphone/Mic

Rear: Hinge

Left: AC Power, Kensington Lock Slot, CPU Exhaust, LAN, Modem, VGA, HDMI, FireWire, ExpressCard/34

Right: 3 USB, Optical Drive, Power On/Off

Speakers and Audio

The speakers on the Sony FW were rather anemic. To enjoy a movie or game at normal volume levels meant putting everything to 100%, and still not being at the level you wanted it to be. Getting past volume levels, bass and midrange were entirely lacking, which is very disappointing for a multimedia oriented notebook.

For external audio, the headphone jack worked fine providing clear audio from what I could hear through my Sennheiser HD80 headphones. This option would be preferred over having to listen to the speakers. The third and probably best option for external audio is the HDMI port. The ATI 3470 graphics supported audio out through the HDMI port, and thus worked perfectly for enjoying your favorite movie on the big screen.

Performance

System performance was very good for most tasks not involving 3D graphics. Working with office productivity software, surfing the web, encoding video, or just looking through your iTunes library performed quite well without any lag. The disappointing part was trying to play semi-modern games such as Half-Life 2 or Portal, and getting very poor frame rates. The ATI 3470 graphics didn't really help with much besides offloading video decoding while enjoying a Blu-ray movie. I would have much rather seen a 3650 series graphics card, considering notebooks like the Toshiba A305 which fall into the same price category offer this. To give you a quick example of what the game play was like, here is my average FPS while playing HL2: Episode 2 and Portal.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 (1360x768, textures on low and most settings disabled): 18-23FPS depending on what scenery you were looking at. Extra characters on screen like enemies or gunfire brought it down even more.

Portal (1360x768, textures on medium and most settings disabled): 40FPS walking around, 28FPS looking through a portal. High action scenes where you are flying through the air slowed down even further into the low 20 range.

While you technically could lower the resolution even more to one of the lower 4:3 settings, you would be looking at a warped screen and really lose any fun while playing. Trying to play at the native 1600x900 was even worse than the scaled down resolution of 1360x768, with frame rate levels dropping by 5 or 10. For a notebook of this size and cost, it is a big letdown with no higher graphics option available.

HDTune results:

Battery Life

Working away from a power outlet was not a fun activity with this configuration that included a 4400mAh battery. In the balanced profile with the screen brightness set to 60%, I squeezed out 2 hours and 39 minutes before the notebook shut itself down. Watching a Blu-ray movie decreased the battery life further, putting me into the range of a movie, with enough time to safely shutdown once the film ended ... figure 2 hours and 10 minutes overall. The one thing I can say though, if you have the option to select the extended battery, get it.

Charging times were slower than what I am accustomed to, taking almost 30 minutes to go from dead up to 15%. Most notebooks would get into the 30-40% range in this amount of time.

Heat and Noise

Temperatures on your lap felt slightly above that of the average Core 2 Duo notebook with dedicated graphics. Some of this might relate to a fairly laid back cooling system that liked to keep the fan off or at very low speeds unless the system was under severe stress. Lap performance would score probably a C-, making my legs sweat after about an hour of surfing the web on the balanced profile. Fan noise at low and high speed was minimal and in a quiet room the notebook would not stand out.

Conclusion

The VAIO FW is a great step forward for Sony, and a worthy competitor to the Dell Studio 15 or even the Toshiba A305. The design is great, but more importantly the build quality is excellent. It feels solid, with a reasonably firm screen cover and keyboard that feels as if a child could walk across it. Performance was more than adequate in every area except 3D performance, but hopefully Sony decides to offer a higher performing graphics card as an option at a later date. The only real flaw that stood out to me was the screen, with its uneven backlight. Hopefully this is a preproduction unit flaw, and not something that shows up on shipping models.

Pros

• Great design
• Solid build quality
• Extra-Widecreen (neat for movies and more perceived screen real estate)
• Comfortable keyboard once you get used to it

Cons

• Battery life with smaller battery is poor
• LCD backlight unevenness
• Speakers sound rather anemic