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Laptop + Ultra Mobile PC + Tablet = Fujitsu LifeBook U810. Think this mini-sub-tablet Ultra Mobile PC laptop as the Swiss army knife of ultra portable computing.
Laptop + Ultra Mobile PC + Tablet = Fujitsu LifeBook U810. Think this mini-sub-tablet Ultra Mobile PC laptop as the Swiss army knife of ultra portable computing. This little thing has a functional keyboard that can flip the screen that becomes a tablet with full touch-screen capabilities. Weighing only 1.56lbs and measuring 6.75-in x 6-in x 1-in, the Lifebook U810 is certainly is absolutely tiny, especially when you consider a fully Vista-capable computer running inside.
The U810 can turn into 3 setups: laptop, tablet, or UMPC modes. Swivel and flip the screen over, and the device can be used as a UMPC (Ultra mobile portable computer). You can pull out the stylus and use it as a portable tablet. For a tiny machine, expect a tiny 56-key QWERTY keyboard that you can (barely) use if you find you need to type as a laptop. As you may expect, due to the size, its missing a lot key connection ports like: VGA output, expansion slots, and a half dozen USB ports. Instead, youll get one USB 2.0 port, SD media slot AND Compact Flash slots on either sides, a connection port to connect a Fujitsus Ethernet dongle and accessories. The remaining ports include the charger, headphone and microphone ports. Intels mobile A110 processor found in other mobile devices (Smart phones and UMPCS) and runs at a modest 800MHz coupled with the Intel 945 chipset. Also includes 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 4200RPM 40GB hard drive. The 5.6-inch LCD screen (1024 x 600) is a sharp little glossy display with accurate touch-screen functionality that gives the imot plenty of flexibility to work with. Feel free to swivel and rotate the screen. Thankfully, the U810 is able to offer 802.11a/b/g WiFi, a finger-print access, and built-in webcam. Performance The Fujitsu comes pre-installed with Microsoft Vista. What does that mean? The load times are downright atrocious, taking up to 2 minutes to get to the desktop screen when powering up. It�s so slow that by the time Vista is fully ready to use, you already feel like the computer has already drained half the battery. However, things run much better as we noticed no slow down in web browsing and general desktop usages. The Fujitsu U810 managed only an average 3 hours of battery time running mixed video, web browsing, and data entry. Thats very disappointing for a machine of this size. Conclusion All all in one portable machine designed to offer mobile users to work, its certainly not perfect. With the lack of some ports and poor performance, its not ideal for users who demand power. Rather, its designed for casual users who need more than just a PDA. For those looking for a versatile portable computer, this is worth it. But if you dont mind having something bigger, go for a real tablet PC or ultra-portable laptop.Fujitsu U810 Ultraportable Tablet Product Photos
A powerful Multimedia notebook with HD-DVD and HD-enabled features.
With Blu-ray winning HD format war, Toshiba attempted to release an HD solution in the Qosmio G45 laptop. The laptop comes with a HD-DVD burner as well as a plethora of features to support a theater-like experience starting from the powerful speakers to the razor sharp 17-inch widescreen display Large and in charge, the Qosmio G45 comes with a black-piano finish lid that contrasts the white keyboard. Although the aesthetic design is quite impressive, picking up the laptop isn�t quite impressive. The laptop weighs in at a massive 10 pounds, which will either break your back or enlarge your biceps.
Features
The Toshiba Qosmio G45 comes with everything youd expect in a multimedia machine. HDMI-in and HDMI-out, ExpressCard slot, Memory Card slot Firewire, USB 2.0, audio ports (line-in, microphone, headphone, and S/P DIF out), LAN, S-Video, DVI, power and ports for infrared remote controls. It also comes with Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11 a/g/n. Phew! The most distinctive feature is the vibrant 1080p 17-inch Widescreen display capable of 1920x1200 resolution. What does this mean? HD quality video. Powered by GeForce 8600M graphics card, it supports for HDCP (HDMI output) and integrated HDTV encoder for 1080i/1080p TV content. Of course, having great video won�t be a complete entertainment experience with great sound. Built with 4 Harman/kardon speakers coupled with 1 Bass Reflex sub-woofer, this surround sound setup produces great sound when watching movies or digital cable.
Whether you�ll be gaming or watching HD-DVD movies, the G45 performed effectively with only a few minor slowdowns, which didn�t deter from the overall movie experience. In everyday tasks, from word processing, surfing the internet and the photo-editing, the G45 will do everything pretty well, thanks in part to the abundant 3GB RAM, which is the only upgradeable component of this laptop. The battery performance when watching a movie was dismal - lasting only half of Batman Begins on HD-DVD. The battery depleted after 1:14 into the movie with full brightness and sound on. Be sure to keep a spare battery or be near an outlet when watching movies. Otherwise, the battery performance was around 2 hours under normal, everyday use. If you need a power laptop capable of HD entertainment, Photoshop, or gaming, this unit is for you. If you plan on traveling, you probably want to opt for another system as its mediocre battery life and weight is made for the desk (or living room) and no where else.
Features the new Fusion Finish, the M305 places itself in a rather more expensive looking crowd. Not a bad thing to achieve, however, it still seems a little thick for our tastes.
Meet the M305 from Toshiba. It features the new Fusion Finish - a gloss and appeal that makes this laptop seem to fit in a rather more expensive looking niche. The LCD lid is an amazing gloss with chrome letters, and the that treatment is carried straight onto the display as well - with it's 1280x800 display, it seems crisp and vibrant gathering this is only a 14.1 inch display. The keyboard also gets the glossy finish.
The glossy keyboard looks and feels awesome, but gather fingerprints like a dollar menu item after closing time - quick, fast, and there in the morning to remind you of what you ate the night before. But, at least the harmon/kardon speakers that are on either side sound nice, and look the part of it as well.
Lights surround the upper trackpad bezel - and that's about the best thing for the trackpad. It was too small and too unresponsive for our taste. It could be down to drivers, but the trackpad needs vast improvement.
Features, Performance, and Conclusion
The M305 features a standard amount of connectivity for the package. And understanding that this is the more budget friendly line-up for the Toshiba Satellite series; we weren't taken back at this price point. It carries a card slot, standard RGB output, fan, FAKE HDMI output (which leads me to believe other units may poses this function, or at least this chassis will get that upgrade) two USB 2.0 ports, a mini-firewire port and audio out / mic in. It also has an Express card slot tucked above the latter ports, which offer some benefit to using newer technology. The right side of the unit houses the DVD-RW Labelflash drive, another USB 2.0 port, Modem and Ethernet port, along with your standard slot-lock. The rear is really simple, housing only the power jack
Performance was ample enough for Vista Home premium, and with 3GB of Ram, a 250gb 5400rpm hard drive, and a speedy T8100 Core2Duo - applications experienced little to no lag. However, the unit did get a bit warm (due to it's small and restricting chasis) and didn't do well in 3d gaming. But, that's not what it's made for.
The Toshiba Satellite M305 didn't exactly wow me, but it didn't leave me unimpressed. I'd love to see the updated unit with a dedicated graphics. But for under a $1,000, it looks good and performed good. Small is the new big, and this one looks to be pretty decent.
Promoted by Toshiba as a desktop alternative for the business class, the L350 is indeed powerful enough to do your everday tasks, but that power comes in a large and clunky package that leaves mobility something to be desired.
Meet Toshiba's L350 laptop computer from their Satellite Pro lineup. It is a budget computer for today's business professional promoting all the features you need, without the fuss and flair of much more.
Our unit weighed in at about nine and a half pounds, fifteen inches across and roughly two inches thick, this laptop is a beast to lug around, and really makes a difference in the style one can mobilize with this amount of weight.
Aesthetically, the machines plastic casing with a dull gray and black finish stress that the L350 is certainly not intended to promote PC envy amongst fellow corporate users.
Features, Performance and Conclusion
The L350 features a full-size keyboard with a number pad and raised black, plastic keys.
Regrettably, this Satellite doesn't come with much of an impressive list for connectivity, but it does match what is needed most by business professionals. Featuring a wireless on/off switch, multi-media card reader mic-in / audio out, and that handy volume knob.There is also a VGA output, Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 ports ExpressCard slot and a standard modem connection.
Performance was very decent, but with integrated Graphics it left something to be desired - another thing to note is this unit comes pre-packaged with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system, which leaves something else to be desired with Vista hitting mainstream acceptance.
At a little over a $1000 purchase price, the Toshiba L350 Satellite Pro may be the laptop for you - if you need a 17 inch budget laptop.
The newest mobile computer from Alienware has landed. The Area-51 m15x mixes high-end features found in desktop computer housed in a mobile design. This 15.4--inch gaming machine can cost up to $5,000 if you want the complete bells and whistles.
Enclosed in a silvery design that attempts to mimic a space ship from out of this world, the Alienware m15x doesnt look anything completely striking. In fact, it seems Alienware wanted to maintain a more conservative look with the m15x than their typical offshoot Alien-looking design found in the past. In terms of build-quality, the m15x faces creaks and groans. If one moved the lid, even before the lid angle is adjusted, it emits a creaky staircase noise. Even worse, it doesn't make much difference where you grip the lid.
One striking new feature is the the 86-key keyboard that emits a blue LED light that surrounds each key. Typing on the keyboard is excellent, while keeping perfect key travel and ample space for large hands. However, flex evident as we noticed a fair amount of keyboard flex, but only to the dead center of the keyboard.
Moving on is the astounding 15.4-inch display with a native resolution at 1920x1200. Yes, that means: WUXGA! That is plenty enough pixels per inch. Although we did notice the monitor seemed to produce a softer image than most displays at this resolution. However, this may be a better thing because it made it easier to stare at the screen for longer periods of time.
The Alienware m15x weighs in at 7 pounds and can increase or decrease depending what drive you insert in the hot swappable Smart bay: 2x Blu-ray Disc Burner, secondary 300 GB hard drive, or an extra Li-Ion battery.
In terms of connectivity, its fully loaded. And we mean fully loaded. Youll get latest internal Intel a/b/g/n wireless card, Gigabit Ethernet port, three USB 2.0 ports, connections for both headphones and microphone, Firewire B, HDMI, ExpressCard and 7-in-1 media card reader. Inside the space ship, the m15x is powered by the high-end NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX video card with 512 MB of discrete memory. This offers a strong performance punch, but can really suck yourbattery dry like an icy-cold lemonade on a hot summer day.
Luckily, Alienware included a feature called BinaryGFX which can enable video to run off of integrated memory only, really saving you some battery time on those long business journeys. Feeling colorful? Bundled is the AlienFX technology (available through the Command Center) allows you to change the color of the lid border, keyboard, touchpad border, and all associated lights (Blue or Red) depending on what program you're running.
Recommendation
Combined with the powerful Core2Duo Xtreme processor with a speedy 512 MB 8800m GTX video card and 4 GB of RAM, this machine simply screams in power. With that, carries some baggage. The base machine will cost you $1,799 and our model with all the bells & whistles comes to a close $4,808.00. Granted our m15x came with all the extras, like a secondary hard drive, Blu-ray disc burner, and an extra battery. We love the addition of an HDMI port for home theater connection. So, if you want the market a high-class gaming laptop -have money to spend, and love the new Alienware design, this is an excellent purchase. Buy me one too.
Acer sponsorship of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team brings the compact Acer Ferrari 1000 Laptop.
Acer sponsorship of the Scuderia Ferrari racing team brings the compact Acer Ferrari 1000 Laptop. Featuring Carbon Fiber lid, fierce candy red trim, and the speed-invoking Ferrari logo. The similarities do not stop at the exterior, as the Ferrari 1000 is filled with power, thanks to its AMD Turion Dual Core chip and 768 MB RAM. Light weight, it weighs four pounds (3.85 lb.) and with a thickness of only 1.36 inches means its designed for portability.
Design
Classified as an ultra-portable, taking this laptop out and about is a pleasure thanks to its small size and light weight. To help reduce size and weight on the Ferrari 1000, an integrated optical was excluded, instead comes with an external optical drive. Opening the laptop was designed to make you feel as if youve entered the cockpit of a supercar. Starting with the Carbon Fiber lid, it is flanked by red trim and has a distinct logo adorning the center.
Features and Performance
Powered by AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-56 dual core processor, this CPU sports a 2x512KB L2 cache, runs on an 1800 MHz HyperTransport Bus, and is built on a 90nm manufacturing process. Maximum power dissipation (Thermal Design Power, TDP) of the TL models is at 35W. ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 chipset equips an integrated graphics. Not to mention, 768MB DDR2 667MHz RAM and supports up to 4GB RAM and a Seagate Momentus 5400.3 (ST9160821AS) 160GB 5400RPM 8MB cache SATA drive.
Lets get to more goods: the vibrant 12.1-inch WXGA (1280 x 800 native resolution) widescreen display with Acer CrystalBrite high-brightness LCD and with LED backlight. It enhances the viewing experience, as color and contrast are much more rich and vibrant. Viewing angles were respectable and color inversing was minimal.
Attached within the LCD panel-mounted is a 1.3 megapixel camera located above the display. You also get Acer VisageON software, which tracks 22 points of the users face so it to remains centered in the frame.
The Ferrari 1000 came with two batteries: one 6-cell rated at 4800 mAh and one 3-cell rated at 2000 mAh. The larger 6-cell capacity battery protrudes from the rear of the machine but the 3-cell does not. Overall battery life with the 6-cell isnt that great.
Recommendation:
The Acer Ferrari 1000 is stylish, feature rich and and is plenty fast but there is a caveat. For a 12-inch ultraportable, it is heavy. Battery life stinks, and the optical drive is external (which could be a pro or con). Gamers need to look elsewhere for their gaming delight and try the M1330 instead. Instead, users who opt for this machine will appreciate the slick Ferrari styling and great performance. While its bigger brother, the Acer Ferrari 5005 outperforms the 1000 in almost every respect, the Ferrari 1000 is tailored for a different audience. If you must have the Ferrari styling and prefer a lightweight stylish machine, then the Ferrari 1000 could be a good choice for you.
