Sunday, April 20, 2008

HP Pavilion tx2050ea

You've got to hand it HP. Although the consensus seems that the PC is the ultimate niche in a niche, he spent a fair amount of time and money trying to sell the idea for the mass market. His first attempt was tx1000, which was tidy efforts, which have shown promise, but needed some clarifications, HP and went away and come up with hope, improved version, Pavilion tx2000.

We really got our hands on engineering sample machines, which features AMD Turion X2 TL-66 works at 2.3GHz and 160GB 5400rpm SATA HDD. Nevertheless, the only model currently on the market Pavilion tx2050ea, which is identical to our sample, apart from the fact that you get slower AMD Turion X2 TL-60, who works at 2.0GHz with 1 MB of L2 Cache and 250GB HDD. Otherwise, the same system, with each package in an impressive range of opportunities for small 12.1in laptop such as this.

As usual, you get 2 GB of RAM 667 MHz DRR2, which is no more or less than you need when you start 32 - bit Vista Home Premium, as it does. NVidia GeForce Go 6150 means that there is no timetable powerful, but it is a portable laptop, and we do not expect much more. You will receive LightScribe, capable of DVD + /-RW optical drive, so you can watch DVD, DVD, burn and burn labels on them.

Network Connectivity is also a strong side, with draft-N wireless, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR all inclusive. This means that you should have no problem streaming high-definition video, or with the machine, which, subject to storage provided sufficient definitely a possibility. Indeed, there is little tx2050ea not enough. You also get 0.3 megapixel camera with built WebCam stereo microphone, fingerprint reader, a mini remote and so six to eight cells and cell-battery in the box.

At around £ 640 this little HP is astounding value for money and, given that prices could just as easily consider it a standard 12.1in notebook that happens, just to have a convertible and touch-sensitive screen, because you actually not paying much of the premium for it.

Much of that value is generated using a mobile platform for AMD, which is markedly cheaper, but weaker in terms of raw performance and battery life compared with Intel currently shares. Matters relating to the level of battery charge somewhat offset by the inclusion in the standard and extended battery, but that does not mean that with the extended eight-cell battery weighs machine hefty 2.33kg, but not insignificant for notebooks this size. Things improve with six cells, although, with a total weight of slipping below 2kg to 1.92kg.

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Toshiba Portege M700

I have never been fully convinced of the Tablet PC concept. He may look better in medical dramas and science fiction shows, where characters businesslike tap away at tablet devices, but you must remember one thing about it - they do nothing! If you ever really tried to control the computer tablet in portrait mode, you will be well aware that this is far from simple procedure. Another question I have is that PCs are not particularly easy either, so if you plan to spend their entire day wandering around the work as a clipboard, you want to place somewhere in the gym at the first. It is in this regard with some dismay that I am looking at Portégé M700 - Toshiba latest thin and light notebooks Tablet.

Pending bogged down in "tabletness" from the M700, let's take a look at the notebook base. What you want to get a 12.1in machine that slightly heavier and bulkier than non-tablet model will be. Toshiba quotes weight 2kg for M700, and placing machines at TrustedReviews scales proved that the assessment will be on the ground. This is weighty enough to 12.1in machine, especially if you consider that in the past 12.1in Toshiba laptop, I was considered a feather-like Portégé R500, which weighed only 755g! This is slightly too chunky beast measuring 305 x 239 x 37 (SH x D x).

The screen sports native resolution of 1280 x 800, which is very much on par for the course 12.1in display. What's surprising is that the screen is bright, despite the fact as to touch the surface of the screen, and digitiser pen tablet characteristics. OK, so not too bright, like many other notebooks and did not have high contrast coating, which has become so popular lately, but for office use, where the machine is the goal, the screen very well. If there is one other hand, is that rather narrow viewing angles, but it is inevitable touch screen.


Storing things in the notebook orientation, opening the M700 shows somewhat disappointing keyboard. For some reason feel the keys less than they should be on 12.1in machine, whereas the travel feels somewhat shallow and unresponsive. I was difficult to create a good gain momentum on the M700 as the keys just felt a little dead under my fingers. Part of the problem is the excessive amount of flexibility exhibited on the keyboard, with a significant portion visibly flexing with each keystroke. On the plus side, the location is good, with the Ctrl key in the lower left corner where it should be, resulting in "hot keys" easy to manage.

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Zepto Znote 3415W


Already taken viewed from the Mobile Penryn that it is time to take closer look at Penryn system used for our testing, Zepto Znote 3415W. Always one to launch the latest components as quickly as possible, Zepto Penryn processor was offering in his notebook on-line while now, all normally competitive prices and with a lot of configurability to the proposal, too. So, how this system compared with other 15.4-inch victim?

With characteristic Zepto, Znote 3415W is best described as functional. On the outside there is a simple two-tone black and dark grey gloss finish, while others wrapped system basically not described matt black plastic. Weighing 2.8kg is relatively light for its size and actual size, 355 x 257 x 35.2mm (SH x D x) to do quite pleasing form factor that free from unnecessary bulk and feels a bit cumbersome and more svelte, than you can imagine. Nevertheless, it is not a style icon and, while he put together, if you're after something a little more than symbols, you better outlook.

However, what it lacks in looks superficial, it is for inner beauty. As already discussed it uses 45nm processor Penryn, T9300, running at 2.5GHz with 800MHz Front Side Bus and 6MB L2 Cache. This is confirmed 2GBs worth of 677MHz DDR2 RAM, with fast 7200rpm 160GB SATA HDD providing storage. All this combined makes Znote 3415W very fast notebook, among the fastest we've tested.

Along with these components base you get 512 MB nVidia 8600M GT, while the 15.4in display has a fairly standard 1280 x 800 native resolution and glossy "high contrast" finish. Network Connectivity too strong, with Gigabit Ethernet as a standard and Intel wireless AGN 4965, despite a little less, you can select their own Zepto Wireless-N adapter instead. In other places in the system, you'll find 2.0 - megapixel camera set in the bezel of the display, as well as a fingerprint reader below the cursor keys.

Surprisingly, however, that not even the best configuration Zepto currently offers. Since we have received in this system for consideration Zepto revised its prices, so now you could get a similar system with 200GB 7200rpm SATA HDD and 4 GB of RAM 677MHz DDR2 around £ 850 inc. VAT, which with Vista Home Premium 64 - bits is an absolute steal. This underscores one of the continuing strengths Zepto machines, which offer greater productivity and flexibility for those who wish to specify all aspects of their notebook.

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