Dell made a serious effort in 2007 to listen to customer feedback criticizing Dell’s older, thick and heavy laptops. The result was the amazingly thin and light XPS M1330, one of the sexiest looking notebooks of 2007. The new Dell XPS M1530 is an impressive 15.4″ screen notebook designed similar to (just larger than) the very successful 13-inch XPS M1330.

Our pre-production XPS M1530 is equipped with the following specs:

• 15.4-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) CCFL glossy screen
• “Crimson” red paint (also available in “Tuxedo” black or “Alpine” white)
• 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, Santa Rosa chipset (up to 2.4GHz available)
• 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM (up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM available)
• 160GB 5400 RPM SATA HDD (32GB SSD drive available)
• Slot-loading dual-layer DVD±RW drive
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 8600M GT with 256MB GDDR3
• WWAN option for Verizon
• Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n (Intel 4965), Bluetooth option
• Integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam
• HDMI, VGA, S-Video, Firewire/1394, three USB 2.0 ports, integrated media reader (MS, SD, xD), fingerprint reader
• Media Center remote located in ExpressCard slot
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Dimensions (with 6-cell battery): 14.06″ x 10.34″ x 0.93″ - 1.38″
• Weight starts at 5.9 pounds with 6-cell battery (6.29 pounds with 9-cell)

Source : www.notebookreview.com

The first clamshell convertible in a UMPC form factor, Fujitsu’s LifeBook U810 is a strong contender in a growing field, despite some quirks. We’re still apprehensive about this mini-PC category, and we’d like to see a mobile broadband option, but at only $999, the U810 has a lot to offer highly mobile users who are in the market for a companion to a primary PC (view our photo gallery).

Our tested configuration came in white, but only black units will be available in the U.S. If not for the four-cell battery hanging off the back, this notebook would be about the size of a small Mead notepad. As it is, the 1.6-pound, 6.7 x 6 x 1-inch U810 is small enough to fit in a large purse or a side pocket in a shoulder bag.

Fujitsu packs in lots of buttons and external controls, starting with the mouse pointing stick on the right, above the keyboard. Next to that are two scrolling buttons and a Function toggle. On the left are the mouse buttons and a small speaker. Navigating the system with the mouse and buttons was intuitive when we held the system in our hands. On a desk or table, however, navigation became awkward. And in both situations, our hands started to cramp after only a few minutes. Also, we had to slow the mouse-tracking down a notch to gain accuracy; its default setting made us miss the mark too many times.

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The ThinkPad T61 14.1″ widescreen notebook was recently released by Lenovo as an update to the T60 series. The T61 uses the new Intel Centrino Duo platform (Santa Rosa) and offers a number of design updates.

Important to note is that this review covers the 14.1″ widescreen version of the T61 series. As with any laptop model series, there are going to be widely varying configurations you can choose that will greatly affect system performance. For this review, we’re dealing with a T61 with the following specifications:

Specs

• Processor: Intel T7300 Core 2 Duo (2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB, 4MB Cache)
• Graphics: Intel GMA X3100
• Operating System: Windows Vista Business
• Display: WXGA+ 1440 x 900 (LG screen)
• Hard Drive: 100GB 7200RPM (Seagate Momentus 7200.1)
• Memory: 2GB (1GB x 1GB), up to 4GB max
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 FireWire, Monitor out, modem, Ethernet, headphone out, microphone in
• Slots: 1 PC Card Slot, 1 ExpressCard slot (optional media card reader and Smart Card reader)
• Optical Drive: Ultra-slim Super-Multi Drive
• Dimensions: 13.2″ x 9.3″ x 1.09 - 1.26″ (335mm x 237mm x 27.6 - 31.9mm)
• Weight: 5.1lbs

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Like most international students studying abroad for university, a notebook is almost essential (it is possible to buy a desktop, but during holidays, when most students return home, it can become a problem and huge drawback). This will be my main (and only) laptop, so a powerful desktop replacement would be needed, but portability is also an issue. Although I will rarely be carrying this around, carrying a 10lb brick in addition to luggage while traveling from university to home is a great hassle.

The Apple PowerBook G4 15-inch (released end of summer this year) provides both power and portability. The machine I choose has the following specs:

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A sports car is a blast, but on a long drive its tight confines and sacrifices in creature comforts make a sporty luxury car more alluring. The same line of thinking is behind the $2,399 Acer Ferrari 5005WLMi (a Windows Vista Ultimate version is available for $2,699). It delivers the sharp looks of the ultraportable Acer Ferrari 1000 but in a scaled-up package that’s more comfortable to use in the home, office, or dorm.

With its glossy carbon-fiber-patterned lid, red accents, and yellow prancing-horse logo, the 5005WLMi stands out from the field of gray and silver notebooks, without being as outlandish as the Alienware Aurora or Asus Lamborghini models. At 6.6 pounds and an inch thick at its leading edge, the unit is manageable to carry.

Pop the lid and you’ll find a sharp black-on-black color scheme. The full-sized keyboard is laid out in Acer’s unique “smile” configuration, which makes for a more natural wrist position for touch typists (the shape is subtle enough not to be offensive to traditionalists). The expansive keyboard deck is covered in a rubberized material that feels good under your palms, and the touchpad features a four-way scroll rocker switch between the two mouse buttons, though in this price range we would have preferred to see a fingerprint reader there. Given the room around the keyboard, dedicated multimedia control buttons would also have been nice.
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Fujitsu calls its display technology “Crystal View”-we just call it amazingly bright and clear. The colors on the C2310’s 15-inch LCD are particularly well saturated, and there’s a good 140-degree viewing angle, which is nice if you want to give a presentation to a small group or share your DVD movie with a seatmate. If you’re looking for a multimedia-friendly laptop for your home or home office, this is a worth a look.

The LifeBook C2310 looks almost as good with its lid closed. Unlike a lot of other desktop replacements, the brushed silver case is not the least bit gaudy. The three-spindle design means that you get a floppy disk drive, along with a DVD burner and a large 80GB hard disk. This makes the LifeBook a good candidate for a desktop replacement system for home or office use. There is no PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, but our review system did have four USB 2.0 ports, so you can plug in a USB keyboard and mouse without having to add a hub.

But, back to that display. Fujitsu rates it at 300 nits of brightness. Most good-quality desktop LCD displays are often rated between 250 and 275 nits of light output, so you can get an idea of how bright the C2310’s screen appears. If you want to dim the display when you’re running on battery, it’s easy to do directly with a button at the top of the keyboard.
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“Business” is the first word the Toshiba Tecra A9-S9013 brings to mind. Sporting a simple design, the Tecra is a durable, reasonably priced solution for the clumsy notebook owner. But despite packing Intel’s latest Santa Rosa chipset, it doesn’t have the best performance punch.

The 6.6-pound Tecra A9 is housed in a simple silver-and-black case that’s smooth to the touch. Though it won’t break your shoulder in a laptop bag, its 13.2 x 10.6 x 1.2-inch chassis doesn’t leave room on the tray table for a cup of coffee. The spill-proof keyboard is roomy and comfortable, as is the touchpad controller and the track point. We had some problems hitting our intended keys, mostly because of the inlay on the keyboard’s left edge, which is home to the Power button, Toshiba’s Assist shortcut button, and Windows Mobility Center launch button. We wish there were a volume control on the main panel; instead it’s located on the front edge of the case.

The 15.4-inch matte widescreen display has a 1280 x 800-pixel resolution but was dim even at its brightest setting. Vertical viewing angles were good, but horizontal angles were limited. We were impressed with the speakers located in front of the screen’s hinge. Bob Dylan’s Restless Farewell came through loud and clear; when the laptop was positioned in another room, we could still hear the harmonica.
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The notebook under review is Hewlett Packard’s 14” dv2550 Special Edition (Verve) Pavilion. It is built on Intel’s Centrino Duo (Santa Rosa) platform, and is marketed as an “Entertainment PC”. The notebook has been used daily for a period of 40 days at the time of review. The specs of the dv2550se are as follows:

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Can $1,000 buy you a good desktop replacement notebook? Acer offers up a definite “yes” with the Aspire 9300-5005, a $949 desktop replacement that comes equipped with a 17-inch widescreen, competent processing power, and enough muscle for midrange gaming and graphics tasks. Though it lacks some of the niceties found on higher-end multimedia systems, this notebook delivers outstanding value.

At 15.7 x 11.6 x 1.2 inches, the Aspire 9300-5005 is average sized for a desktop replacement with a 17-inch display. At 8.1 pounds, it’s far too heavy for regular travel but light enough to bring into the next room without undue strain. Its black-and-silver coloring and functional design are inoffensive but unremarkable.

The keys are large but spongy and packed together, partly because of the dedicated number pad–a nice feature for spreadsheet jockeys but not much of a value add for anyone else. We’re fans of the Aspire 9300-5005’s large touchpad, which features both horizontal and vertical scrolling zones. A four-way rocker switch between the large mouse buttons facilitates navigating through long documents and Web pages.
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