Subject

Notebook Computers :

• Processor, The processor in almost notebook computers are the cheapest one, thus you cannot experience enough satisfaction when watching movies or playing games.
• Hard Drive, Notebook computers use SSD (Solid State Drive) instead of HDD (Hard Disk Drive). SDD is smaller and has no moving parts like HDD that causes SDD to be faster in writing and reading data compared to HDD.
• Disc/DVD Drive, Notebook computers are not provided with disc drive. If consumers experience the necessity to have disc drive, there are several notebook computers which sell disc drive separately.
• Screen Dimension, Due to the smaller display size of notebook computers: range from 12 to 14 Inch TFT Screen, it will not meet the customers’   satisfaction. With minimum graphic, it matters particularly when watching movies or playing games.
• Keyboard Dimension, Notebook computers have the smallest functional keyboard, thus most of the customers are having difficulty to type. Consider more if you are intended to purchase notebook when you will do a lot of typing in the future.
• Transport, Incredibly easy to carry.
• Price/Cost, Notebook computers are more affordable.

Laptops :

• Processor, The processor built in the laptops is a lot better compared to the notebook computers.
• Hard Drive, All laptops use HDD and works at a slower rate in reading and writing data.
• Disc/DVD Drive, Laptops are provided with built-in disc drive and are capable with reading and or writing CD/DVD.
• Screen Dimension, Laptops have larger display size and better graphic resolution. So customers will be more satisfied in watching movies or playing games, as well as reading and viewing data.
• Keyboard Dimension, Laptops are provided bigger keyboards and typing becomes a lot easier.
• Transport, Rather heavy to be carried compared to notebook computers.
• Price/Cost, Laptops have more complete components rather than notebook computers, and thus the price becomes more expensive.

In summary, notebook computers are provided to the consumers who need more intense portability and less power, they are extremely needed by consumers with high intensity of traveling. Laptops are more considered for substituting the function of personal computers to more less-spaced computers.

• 17.3-inch 1080p (1920×1080) display with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core i7-740QM processor (1.73GHz/2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB L3 cache)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB GDDR5 Memory
• 8GB DDR3-1066 RAM (4x2GB)
• Two 500GB 7200RPM hard drives (Seagate Momentus 7200.4/ST9500420AS) (Non-RAID)
• Atheros AR9285 802.11n Wireless LAN adapter
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• Blu-ray reader/8X DVD Super Multi drive
• Two-year limited warranty (one year on battery pack) with one year of accidental damage protection
• 8-cell battery pack (14.8V, 5200mAh, 75Wh)
• Weight: 8.79 pounds
• Dimensions: 16.3″ (W) x 12.6″ (D) x 1.8″ (H)
• MSRP: $1,745

G73JW is 100% DX11 compliant – offering all the benefits of the latest graphics standard. It has a beautiful 17.3-inch 16:9 display with a resolution of 1920×1080. Support for 3DTV Play from NVIDIA allows you to project HD images via HDMI 1.4 onto a compatible 3DTV.

A great thing of G73JW is the storage. Two 500GB 7200 RPM hard drives are offered for 1TB of total storage. This is essential for avid gamers that have many games installed at one time. It also supports three USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, Ethernet, VGA and HDMI-out, and a SDHC-card reader.

Design

The 2.8-pound NB30 has the same basic design, features, and size (10.4 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches) as the N210, the main difference being the semi-rugged aspects of the outer chassis. The lid and underside of the netbook feature raised ridges that flow in wavy curves, giving the NB30 a bit of class while providing users with an easy-to-grip surface. Under the lid a matte bezel and deck greeted us, just as on the N210. We were pleased to see the same keyboard layout and matte screen, but not so happy to note that SD Cards still stick out about half an inch when plugged in.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Samsung NB30 features a spill-resistant keyboard with a chiclet-style layout, meaning there are flat keys with a little space between each one. It also features a spill-resistant design, meaning you should be able to spill a glass of water over the keyboard without causing any serious damage to the laptop — a nice feature to have, but not one that I would recommend testing just because you’re bored one day.

The touchpad is a little on the small side, but it works reasonably well. It supports multitouch gestures, including using two fingers to scroll. The left and right buttons below the touchpad, on the other hand, are somewhat small and a little tough to use for two reasons. First, there’s actually just one button with a divider in the middle, making it a little difficult to detect the left and right click areas without looking. And second, you have to press the button somewhat firmly or the clicks won’t register.

Display & Audio

Here’s another notable novelty on the NB30: it has a matte screen. The 10.1-inch wide-screen LCD display offers a 1,024×600-pixel native resolution, which is standard for a screen this size, although we’ve seen 10 inchers with 1,366×768-pixel resolutions more often lately (and some for only $20 more than this model).

Text and icons come across clearly and images looked sharp, but Web-browsing tended to feel a little cut-off at this foreshortened vertical resolution–you’ll most likely need to browse with all toolbars off-screen. Though matte definitely cuts down on glare, the side effect is a slightly grainy look to images and video, but we’ll take that compromise gladly. Built-in stereo speakers do the job for YouTube and basic audio, but they don’t achieve very high volumes and they lack any serious musical clarity.

Ports and Webcam

As with the N210, the NB30 includes one chargeable USB 2.0 port on the left side. Otherwise, the port spread is typical for a netbook. On the left: the aforementioned chargeable USB 2.0, Ethernet, headphone, and mic. On the right: VGA, two USB, and a Kensington lock slot. The front houses a power switch and 3-in-1 media card reader. The 0.3-megapixel webcam delivered images with decent color and backlight balance; we weren’t surprised when our Skype friend noted that our image blurred each time we moved while chatting, even if the motion was slight. Samsung bundles CyberLink YouCam with the NB30 for adding effects to stills and video capture, plus one-touch uploads to YouTube.

Performance

Like most netbooks with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, the Samsung NB30 offers more than enough power for basic day to day tasks such as surfing the web with multiple browser tabs open. It also supports some light multitasking and you should have no problem, for instance, editing a document while listening to music and keeping an instant messenger window open. The computer can handle 720p HD video playback, but 1080p video looks like a slide show rather than a movie. The computer cannot handle HD Adobe Flash video from the web, since the processor isn’t fast enough to process the video and the integrated GMA 3150 graphics don’t offer hardware acceleration for Flash (or H.264) video.

HARDWARE
Laptop Case
Now, we’re going to start with cleaning the outer case of your laptop so you can keep it looking new and fresh. Use a damp cotton cloth to clean the exterior of the laptop. It is recommended that you just use water, but if there is something on the case that cannot be cleaned with water, it is suitable to use rubbing alcohol. Do not use any household cleaners though.

Screen
Keep your notebook or laptop closed when not in use, this will help keep your screen clean. Try to keep small children away from your LCD devices, especially laptops. Some children may confuse a laptop for an etch-a-sketch like toy and create a masterpiece on your shiny new laptop. Ouch! Wipes are good for cleaning LCD on the road or when traveling. One person has suggested Absolute Vodka as a good cleaning solution! Make sure you cover your mouth when sneezing or couching around any LCD screen. It is not a good idea to use mineral or tap water because they may leave white spots from the dissolved salts. Purchase a can of compressed air – this comes in handy for removing dust and cleaning your keyboards or hard to reach places. If you buy any LCD cleaning product, try to get one that has an anti-static element in it. This will help keep down the dust and lint on your LCD screen. If you use any LCD screen in a dusty place, you may considering buying a protective covering. It is best to buy this directly from the manufacturer to ensure the cover fits your device perfectly.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keys on a laptop keyboard are different from a standard keyboard and they usually cannot be removed. So, to clean this, use the same damp cotton cloth you used to clean the exterior of your laptop. Just wipe the cloth over the keys and some of the dust and dirt particles will be removed. You can also use compressed air to get some of the debris out from in and around the keys. It’s a very good idea to clean your laptop’s touchpad every once in awhile. It can help your laptop to look new, as well as, improve the quality of the motion and response of the touchpad. You can use the same damp cloth to clean this one too. Just run the cloth over the touchpad area and make sure you squeeze in around the corners to catch any debris that may be sitting there.

Get the dust out
Dust and hair (especially from pets) can fill your laptop’s vents, causing the machine to overheat. Pick your notebook up to check the underside. If you see dust bunnies covering the vents, brush or blow it out with compressed air. More adventurous types can unscrew the bottom of their notebook and give it a more thorough cleaning, including the fan. Just be careful you’re not voiding the warranty on that particular model.

SOFTWARE
Remove old file and program
There’s no reason to let junk pile up. Delete programs you don’t use regularly to help save space. In the Control Panel, select Programs And Features. Right-click on the columns, and select Last Used On. This should show you the last time particular programs were used. Uninstall those apps that you haven’t used for a more than a few months by clicking Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall A Program. Select the program you want to delete and click Uninstall.

Get rid of unnecessary startup items
Programs that automatically launch when you boot your laptop can be memory hogs. Speed up your system by getting rid of those you don’t really need, such as instant messenger programs or video managers.

From the Start menu, type msconfig in the search box, and press Enter.
Select the Startup tab—this shows what programs launch when you turn the notebook on.
Next to each program is a check box. Deselect the apps that you want to disable, and click OK. You will need to reboot your notebook for the changes to take effect. Make sure you know what you’re deactivating, though!

Clean out old and unused files
Opening certain online content automatically downloads ActiveX controls and Java applets. These are stored in the Downloaded Program Files folder on your hard disk, and simply take up space. Tidy up your The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.
Learn Morehard drive by throwing these out. From the desktop, select Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools. Then select Disk Cleanup. You can choose the drive you want to clean and the files you want to delete. Soon, you’ll have plenty of room for those new MP3s.

Capacity

So how much space do your games, media files, and documents need? High-end games such as Crysis or World of Warcraft take between 10 and 15GB of disk space. However, simulation games such as The Sims 3 tend to use 5 to 7GB. So, with a 128GB drive (a common size for SSDs), for example, you can fit all of this with room to spare:

• Operating System (depends on your operating system, including virtual memory, hibernation files, etc.)–20 to 30GB
• Applications: Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc.–10GB
• Music: 5,000 Songs (approximately four minutes each)–20GB
• Photos: 3,200 images–10GB
• HD Video: 5.5 hours (approximately)–20GB
• One Large Game–15GB
• Total Memory Used–105GB

That said, the smallest notebook hard drive these days is 160GB, and it’s not difficult to find a low-cost notebook selling inside a 250 or 320GB unit.

SSD

Before upgrading your notebook’s hard drive to SSD, read reviews of any drive you may be considering. Look for a model with a good quality controller chip. If you’re buying a new notebook with an SSD built-in, you may not know the exact make and model of the SSD your notebook comes with, unless you have the notebook in front of you, or read a review from an objective source. Fortunately, most current notebook vendors use quality SSDs that have high-speed controllers from Intel, Samsung, or Toshiba.

Hard Drive

If you’re getting a notebook with a regular hard drive, speed is key. If given a choice, pick a 7,200 rpm model over 5,400 rpm, because the higher rotation speed means data transfers that are approximately 25 percent faster. Modern 7,200 rpm drives also have solid power-saving features, which means they won’t significantly impact your notebook’s battery life. Even if you don’t need all the storage space, we recommend a hard drive with at least 320GB.

External Drives

If you’re going to go external, you have two options: build your own drive, which can be cheaper (and oftentimes smaller), or buy a ready made external drive.

External drives have two ways of connecting to your notebook: USB 2.0 or FireWire (IEEE1394). Some drives offer just USB 2.0, some offer FireWire, and some offer both, and what you want is dependent on how you’re going to use the drive.

So, what if you want to assemble your own? Well, you can purchase an enclosure for 3.5″ drives, but you can also get one for 2.5″ drives. So if you’ve replaced the drive in your notebook, you can always buy an enclosure for that old one and use it as an external for added storage space. 3.5″ externals always require an external power supply, but the 2.5″ ones can often be powered off of two USB ports, so that’s food for thought if you even want your external drive mobile. But again, that’s a 2.5″ drive, so you’re sacrificing speed and capacity. Assembling an external drive is usually fairly simple and most enclosures come with good instructions.

]]> http://www.primenotebook.com/notebook-hard-drives-component-guide.html/feed 0 http://www.primenotebook.com/notebook-maintenance-guide.html http://www.primenotebook.com/notebook-maintenance-guide.html#comments Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:59:45 +0000 tito http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72794 Like every mechanised device in your home or even workplace (or each), there are a few points a person can perform to keep it from becoming delivered to the repair center frequently. For novices, do not touch as well as apply stress towards the notebook’s Lcd screen with uncovered hands or fingertips. Essential oil or even oil to deal with stain or even smudge on the goblet solar panel which may be hard to get rid of. In order to clean the actual display removed from dust and/or unsightly stains, New laptop North america service specialist Gil Vidar suggested using merely a gentle, non-abrasive fabric mildly drenched within water to clean it thoroughly clean.

“Try in order to stay away from detergents or cleansers in your Lcd screen,” Vidar advised. “In the event you possess a stain which merely won’t come out just by utilizing water, then there are foam-type glass cleansers accessible. Purchase one of those, spray it on to the cloth you have and not the display straight, and then wipe this thoroughly clean.” Be wary of which facial cleanser can be used, he or she additional, because certain types of goblet cleaners can perform more damage than good for an Liquid crystal display screen through leaving either a haze or even glare.

Another handy tip: regularly clean your notebook’s fans or air flow system. Use a vacuum cleaner first to get rid of just as much dust and debris in the laptop’s exhaust vents. Stay away from a compressed atmosphere container to wash the actual grills without vacuuming first, which means you do not distribute the actual dirt further to the notebook. If you use a pressurized air container, aim at the notebook’s in-take air vents and spray in the direction of the standard airflow. Do not insert the nozzle suggestion too insidewithin all the notebook, since the enthusiast might rewrite freely past its ranked revoltions per minute, or you could flex the cooling fins with the nozzle.

“First away, prevent dirt as well as locks build up from affecting your notebook by keeping your atmosphere thoroughly clean. For instance, don’t set your own notebook on a carpeting or even near domestic pets,” he or she mentioned.

Vacuum the laptop keyboard regularly having a brush-tipped nozzle, and work with a canister associated with compressed air in order to whack dust off associated with and away from the keyboard set. End up being gentle about the key hats when cleaning. Do not eat near a laptop lest food crumbs as well as dirty fingers leave food debris and/or stains about the secrets, which can slip down into the pc and have an effect on it’s circuits.

In the event of the tragic coffee or even drink spill along with the keyboard set, immediately shut internet connected computers off as well as towel this dry as soon as possible. However, if heavy spillage occurs, have the notebook checked by an official service provider as quickly as possible.

An additional common faux pas — particularly along with students — keep clear associated with how you pack as well as transport a notebook. Many times individuals may throw their notebooks into a knapsack or purse prior to completely closing the program down, which may cause your notebook in order to extreme heat as well as lock up, added New laptop system professional Serta Senechal.

And avoid jerking the notebook regarding once the hard disk is being accessed, Senechal recommended. Moreover, load up the device tightly right into a proper transporting situation.

“Wait until your own notebook is actually completely shut down and also the Brought gentle is away prior to moving it,” he or she mentioned. “Be sure to load up it into a warm transporting situation to make sure it’s secured and not crawling about inside a knapsack, but do not over-pack possibly. Avoid inclined about the device or even seated on top of it while it is inside your bag, and don’t toss the bag close to.”

Vidar recommends when moving a system, prevent having to wrap the ability adaptor cords around the Ac Adaptor, because doing this will eventually arena the actual Air conditioning Adaptor wires. Also, detach the actual Ac Adaptor, computer mouse, and other wires from the notebook prior to placing them in the transporting case.

On the software part, Senechal said hello is actually prudent in order to frequently (every day or at a minimum, weekly) scan and get rid of spyware, adware, and other malware in the system. The best anti-virus as well as scanning software may miss a few points so it’s recommended to check out the system with more than 1 anti-adware or even anti-spyware software solution.

“Too much spyware or adware on your system can result in hard drive failing,” Senechal mentioned. “And thoroughly clean out your system’s temporary folders and/or Internet temporary ringbinders or this too might lead to computing degradation.”

Regularly carry out disk defragmentation about the program to maximise it’s computing room inside the hard drive. And, Senechal additionally adds, customers should “clean up your start up tab”.

“Check away useless programs which release on their own through start up,” he or she mentioned. “Ensure you regularly keep up with just about all Windows improvements if you are operating the actual Microsoft Windows based pc. Many people are afraid to achieve that simply because they are not particular what it is that they’re downloading it, however security updates are essential and you must do all of them as much as possible to protect the body from or adware.” Senechal added a solid anti-virus option would be important.

Design
The A11’s matte black lid is dimpled with a handsome pattern that doesn’t show fingerprints, and it continues on the deck; the bezel is also a matte black plastic, but lacks the fancy design. Overall, this a very understated look that will no doubt appeal to business users, but it lacks the panache of the HP ProBook series, which has a more elegant brushed aluminum lid. Above the keyboard are buttons for launching Toshiba’s Eco utility, outputting the screen to a projector or larger display, and volume controls. These are handy to have, but we think they would be better put to use if they offered quick access to, say, PowerPoint or some other business-centric function. Measuring 14.7 x 9.9 x 1.5 inches and weighing 5.8 pounds, the A11 is a bit too bulky to carry around; those who travel often should look elsewhere. This notebook is certainly portable enough to take to meetings, but you’ll need to keep an eye on that battery meter (more on that below).

Display
We found the Tecra’s main appeal is the large 15.6in display with its 1,366×768 resolution that makes for comfortable viewing of spreadsheets and web pages, while its size also means there is plenty of space to rest your palms while using the keyboard. This resolution is a bit low for a screen of this size, but users can obtain resolutions up to 2,048×1,536 on an external display. In terms of performance, the 2.4GHz Core i5 processor, which looks like four CPUs to the system because of Intel’s Hyperthreading technology, seemed to make little difference in normal use. That was until we tried an action such as opening a graphics-heavy PDF, which the Tecra took in its stride, while another PC we viewed it on struggled to display it, especially when scrolling up and down. The Windows Experience Index in Windows 7 rated the Tecra at just 3.9, but this result is pegged back by the performance of the Intel graphics built into the processor itself, with the processor, memory and disk subsystems all showing high scores of 5.1 and above.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The A11’s deck is large enough to comfortably fit a full keyboard and number pad. The black matte keys are of the traditional variety, had a nice textured surface, and responded well when typing. We were up to our usual speed in no time. The 3 x 1.6-inch touchpad is comfortably large, and its surface let us move around with ease. Below, the two mouse buttons (separated by a fingerprint reader) are made of a shiny metallic plastic, which makes them really stand out on the all-black deck. Despite picking up fingerprints, the buttons were large and responsive.

Battery life
Another point worth noting is the relatively poor battery life of this model. Toshiba quotes a life of four hours and 40 minutes from the 55Wh lithium ion battery, but we found that it lasted no longer than one hour and 23 minutes in our tests using the Battery Eater Pro benchmark. This suggests that, while the Tecra A11 is a good overall workhorse machine, it should be regarded as a portable computer for lugging between sites where there is mains power, rather than to be used much on batteries while travelling.

Software
As with other Toshiba models we have seen, the Tecra A11 has numerous utilities that load when the system boots. We counted no fewer than 15 in the system notification area on the taskbar, including McAfee Security Centre, Intel’s Rapid Storage Technology tool, and Toshiba’s own Tempro performance tuning tool, PC Health Monitor, Eco Utility, HDD Protecton and Fingerprint Utility for log-on. Other software installed includes a 60-day trial copy of Microsoft Office, which now requires a live internet connection to work, Toshiba ReelTime for finding recently accessed files, Toshiba Assist for technical help, and a tool for the built-in webcam, which supports resolutions up to 1,280×800 pixels.

Performance
Powered by a 2.66-GHz Intel Core i7-620M processor and 4GB of RAM (expandable to 8GB), the A11 scored a blazing 7,029 on PCMark Vantage, almost 2,800 points above the mainstream laptop average, and better than the HP EliteBook 8440w (6,975) and Apple MacBook Pro in Boot Camp (6,699), both of which utilizing the same processor and amount of RAM. The A11’s 7,200-rpm, 320GB hard drive was fast, duplicating a 4.97GB folder of multimedia in 3 minutes and 3 seconds, a rate of 27.8 MBps. That’s about 5 MBps faster than the average and just above the HP ProBook 5310m (26.2 MBps), but below the Lenovo Thinkpad SL510 (29.2 MBps). Using Oxelon Media Converter, the A11 transcoded a 114MB MPEG-4 to AVI in a blazing 48 seconds, beating the mainstream average by 16 seconds.

Ruggedized Laptops. If your budget allows, purchase or lease a ruggedized laptop if you will be outside in cold temperatures for extended periods of time. Ruggedized laptops have been designed to work under extreme weather conditions. When you rely on your laptop and can’t count on the weather to co-operate – a ruggedized laptop is worth considering. Most ruggedized laptops have been tested according to MIL-STD-810F standards.

Careful storage. Do not leave laptop in trunk of vehicle in freezing weather. This may freeze the laptop and data may also be lost. It is also not advisable even if the device is well padded and insulated.

Let It Warm Up. Once you bring a laptop in from the cold – allow it to warm up to room temperature before booting. The same is true when you go outdoors – allow the laptop to acclimatize to the outside temperature before booting up.

Incorrect warming methods. Do not use pocket warmers or such devices to warm the laptop. These devices may warm the laptop from wrong places causing the components to melt internally.

Laptop Warmers. There are laptop warmers designed specifically for the purpose of keeping a laptop warm and these are what you should use. Laptop warmers have been tested to ensure they will safely protect your laptop and are a wise investment.

Excessive heat build-up. It is not recommended to use your laptop while it is still in its bag because there is no room for air to circulate. Always keep laptop on a raised platform to ensure that there is circulation. This will prevent the laptop from overheating. You can also develop your own box, but make sure that you keep laptop on a raised platform even in the box. The box will keep the heat inside thus keeping the device warm.

Protecting Your Display. Don’t use heating pads or other external sources of heat to warm up or thaw a laptop display. Allow the display to warm on its own and do not boot up a laptop if you suspect the display is frozen.

Stay out of cold. Keeping your laptop away from direct exposure to extreme weather conditions will help the keyboard from freezing. Also it will reduce the likeliness that any other problems related to extreme weather conditions will develop.

Change Power Settings. By changing the power settings from power save mode will help keep the laptop warm as it continues to run. Instead of having the hard drive shut down, keep it spinning. The longer the laptop can be kept left running, the warmer it will stay as it generates its own heat.

Don’t get creative. Do not make or use any devices on your own to keep your laptop warm. It may damage the device internally. Internal components may melt if heating is applied to wrong parts. It may also be damaged beyond repair.

Quite unlike desktop computers, notebook computers are often moved from one place to another and are even taken for jogs. This is a real challenge for notebook hard drives because shock may cause data loss or even physical damage. To this end, enhanced shock protection technologies have been developed for higher shock tolerance. A 7,200 RPM notebook hard drive can withstand a shock load of over 200 Gs during operation, whereas just half that (100 Gs) is sufficient for failure in desktop hard drives. Notebook hard drive specifications, including capacity, spindle speed, cache, and interface — each have parts in determining the performance of not only the hard drive, but the notebook it is installed into as well. Choosing a notebook hard drive that best suits your requirements and your notebook’s tech specs is easy after understanding them.

Having analyzing the characteristics stated by manufacturers (they can be found on the manufacturers’ web sites), we’ve come to a conclusion that almost all modern drives, which have the same spindle rotation speed and buffer size, show similar productivity. Thus, there is no point in taking productivity as the main criterion. So what HDD characteristics should we consider in making a choice? First of all, it’s a storage capacity you need. Then the reliability comes (pay special attention to the warranty). People trust their very important data to the notebooks (and, hence, to the hard drives) more and more often. That’s why those devices must be effectively reliable. At this point we could have finished looking for the other choice criteria, but, taking into consideration that notebook drives are used in a specific way — they are mobile, we will name one more criterion, which is a power consumption: the higher it is, the less time will notebook be able to run from a battery.

Ideally, your new hard drive will be faster and hold more data than its predecessor, but its most crucial parameter is whether it’s compatible with your laptop’s drive controller. Serial ATA (SATA) and Ultra ATA/IDE are the typical interfaces used in laptop systems. A typical ATA/IDE 2.5-inch laptop drive has a 44-pin edge connector and four jumper pins (resembling a desktop IDE drive), while SATA drives employ SATA-standard slot-style connectors. Some laptops employ a proprietary pin connector that connects the drive to the controller. Usually, this connector is mounted on the drive caddy (a carrier that inserts in the laptop’s hard drive bay) or attaches directly to the drive’s pins; either way, the connector must be detached from the old drive and connected to the new one.

With the 6000 Series, Fujitsu finally bowed to the pressure of converting to a fashionable 16:10 ratio “wide format” display. While the 5000 Series used the “old” 4:3 aspect ratio, the ST6012 comes with a transmissive 12.1-inch display with WXGA 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. While older Fujitsu slates were usually available with a variety of displays both in size (10.4 and 12.1 inches) and display technology, the 6000 Series, for now, seems limited to the 12.1 inch transmissive LCD. This is an indoor/outdoor-viewable display with a wide 160+ degree viewing angle.

Overall dimensions have not changed much. If you look at the older ST5100 model, you can see that the design already provided room for a wide-screen format. What has changed is some of the ergonomics. Whereas the 5100 Series had all of its hardware controls arranged on the right side (when used in portrait mode), the new model moved the four cursor control keys to the upper left. The overall look has changed as well, with the silver metallic finish of the 5100 being replaced by matte black.

The complete redesign afforded Fujitsu the opportunity to update the Stylistic’s innards with Intel’s latest processor technology. The ST6000 uses a 1.4GHz Intel SU94000 Core 2 Duo processor that provides more punch, but is rated at the same thermal design power of about ten watts, which means battery life of the new machine won’t suffer. The new chip is complemented with Intel’s GS45 and ICH9-M chipset and Mobile Intel GMA 4500M HD circuitry for graphics. For wireless, the new Fujitsu slate is available either with the Intel WiFi Link 5300 or the Atheros HB92, so Fujitsu continues to make WiFi available from either Intel or Atheros.

On the connectivity side, things have changed a bit. There is no longer a modem port, and IEEE1394 FireWire also has gone by the wayside; with USB 2.0 so fast, there really isn’t a need for it anymore for most applications. The PC Card slot has been replaced with an ExpressCard slot, another sign of the times (the model offered in the US lists a PC Card slot), and there is now a 1.3 megapixel integrated vidcam. Else, Fujitsu offers Bluetooth v2.1, 3G/UMTS wide area wireles (three dual band WLAN and two UMTS antennas, according to Fujitsu literature).

As far as the operating system goes, Fujitsu offers a “TwinLoad.” The ST6000 models come with pre-installed Vista Business, but users also get downgrade rights and can easily change to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.
As usual, Fujitsu offers several optional stands and docks and other accessories needed for business or vertical market applications.

Battery life remains impressive: initially listed as up to six hours with the standard 56 watt-hour battery, and up to nine hours with the high-capacity 84 watt-hour battery, Fujitsu upped the estimates to 7.5 and 11.5 hours. 2.5-inch hard disks are shock-mounted and come in larger capacities than ever, ranging up to a 250GB 5400rpm SATA drive. Optionally you can also get a 64GB solid state disk.

As of early October 2008, the ST6000 model was listed on the Fujitsu Siemens website in great detail. As of this update (March 2009), the ST6012 is also on the Fujitsu USA site with minor differences in specs.
There isn’t much information on ruggedness. Fujitsu has a general white paper on testing, wuality and reliability, but it does not show what tests are performed on which product (see here). As is, Fujitsu mentions a shck-mounted hard disk, a Fujitsu Shock Sensor Utility, 41-95 degree operating temperature, but no sealing or drop spec. This information is becoming increasingly important.

The Stylistic ST6000 platform is a reliable, well executed slate computer from a blue-chip vendor that gets the job done. The new models are technologically up-to-date, provide a good balance between performance and battery life, and remain light and handy. Note that the ST6000 and ST5100 lines are now the only remaining full tablet in Fujitsu’s lineup; all other Tablet PC models are notebook convertibles (T1010, T2020, T4220, T5010).

Build and Design
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 is remarkably compact for a network attached storage (NAS) enclosure that contains two 3.5″ desktop hard drives:
• Width: 3.15 in (80mm)
• Length: 7.875 in (200mm)
• Height: 4.92 in (124.97mm)
• Weight: 4.85 lbs (2.2 kg)

The enclosure is all black and has a very simple design with the Iomega logo on both sides. The top, bottom and sides are made of solid metal and the front and rear of the dual hard drive enclosure have vents to keep the drives from overheating. The design isn’t particularly attractive, but we’re talking about a NAS here. Who cares how it looks? You’re going to connect this thing to your network and then stick it behind your router or in your closet.

The back of the enclosure has a dual USB slot, power button, DC plug and a LAN plug along with the cooling fan vent. There is also a security lock slot on the enclosure to deter theft is located on the bottom along with the S/N, Mac address, series code, etc. The construction of the Iomega StorCenter ix2 does make it difficult for accessing the drives inside the enclosure; in fact you would need to remove multiple screws and disassemble the internal framework of the enclosure in order to access the drives, making it less than ideal for do-it-yourself repairs.

Features
One of the main features of the Iomega StorCenter ix2 is that it’s remarkably simple to setup and use. I honestly lack the words to describe just how easy it is to setup this device. The software engineers at Iomega deserve a great deal of praise for creating one of the easiest software installation and setup applications we’ve seen for a NAS enclosure in our office. Simply insert the included software CD, type your desired user name and security password, click a couple of on-screen buttons to confirm the installation and you’re ready to start using your new StorCenter ix2! Network attached storage doesn’t get any easier than this.

The StorCenter ix2′s main configurations are all accessed through the supplied software or via a web browser by simply typing in the IP address. Through web access, users can view all the shared content, add users/groups, and manage RAID settings, network settings, disk backup, etc. from anywhere on either a Mac or PC computer.
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 also has USB connectivity for setting up a print server or adding information directly from other devices, but like most consumer NAS enclosures the built-in USB ports only support USB 2.0 Full Speed (12Mbs).
For those who might be concerned about security, the included encryption from RSA helps secure your data inside the StorCenter ix2 and protect the NAS from malicious attacks during installs and product updates.
Another feature worth mentioning is the low power consumption on the Iomega StorCenter ix2 for users who want access 24/7; the average consumption of this Energy Star qualified system is 12-15W while idle.

Performance and Benchmarks
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 drives are each 500GB separately but the RAID 1 mirroring gives the user a combined total space of a single 500GB drive. The Iomega StorCenter ix2 is rated at a theoretical maximum of 1000Mb (megabits) transfer rate on a 1Gb network which equates to 125MB (megabytes) per second. Atto is one of the standard synthetic benchmarks we use to test the performance of a storage drive. Below you can see the average read and write times for the StorCenter ix2 over a standard 100Mb network connection. In short, the main thing these benchmarks indicate is that the Iomega StorCenter ix2 has more than enough horsepower to push a typical 100Mb network connection (12.5MB) to its limit. Using a 1Gb network switch will allow you to gain even better data transfer speeds. As it stands, this NAS provides transfer speeds similar to a cheap generic USB flash drive connected directly to your computer’s USB port.

Of course, if you’re using a NAS you didn’t buy it for the fastest transfer rates (an eSATA external enclosure is better in terms of raw speed). People buy NAS enclosures so that they can store huge amounts of data in one secure location and access it from any computer with an internet connection. Notebook users should be particularly interested in this because it allows you to store huge multimedia libraries on a secure drive at home and access those files via the internet without having to store those files on your notebook’s hard drive … and without having to pay monthly subscription fees for online storage.

Heat and Noise
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 runs a bit louder than some of the other NAS enclosures we’ve tested. The cooling fan is extremely silent, but both the storage drives inside the enclosure produce a substantial amount of noise when reading and writing files. The twin Seagate 7200.11 hard drives inside the enclosure aren’t known for being particularly loud, so we suspect the noisy “clicks” are the result of the all-metal enclosure and lack of cushioning or sound dampening. Temperatures inside the enclosure remained above 110 Fahrenheit which is still a little hot but isn’t as bad as many other NAS enclosures we’ve tested. Bottom line, long-term stability of the storage drives probably won’t be something you need to worry about.

Conclusion
After everything is said and done, the Iomega StorCenter ix2 is an excellent network storage solution for consumers and small businesses. The amazingly simple software installation and setup combined with the amount of storage and reasonable transfer speeds make the Iomega StorCenter ix2 one of the best stand-alone network storage solutions we’ve tested.

Like almost any networked attached storage enclosure, the Iomega StorCenter ix2 doesn’t offer the same speed as an eSATA drive connected directly to your computer. Likewise, the ix2 suffers from some degree of security vulnerability unless the network is well secured. In other words, if you just plug this drive into your unsecured wireless router at home and don’t use a password on the StorCenter ix2 itself then just about anyone in range of your router could have access to your files. Nevertheless, these minor issues are common to all NAS enclosures.

Overall, the Iomega StorCenter ix2 offers a remarkably easy-to-use stand-alone network drive and gives you lower power consumption than a full desktop running as a networked drive. Road warriors and netbook owners who are either worried about the security of their laptop hard drive or have limited storage space on their netbook might want to consider the purchase of this NAS for their home networks.

Pros:
• Easiest setup software we’ve ever used
• Fast transfer rates over 1Gb Ethernet, acceptable over 100Mb Ethernet
• USB connectivity for more storage
• Solid build quality
• Reasonably compact

Cons:
• Hard drives are a little noisy
• Difficult to access drives inside enclosure if repair is needed

Pricing and Availability
The Iomega StorCenter ix2 ($299.99 for 1TB, $479.99 for 2TB) is available for purchase on the Iomega website or at many retail and online stores.

The Asus Eee PC 900 is the updated version of the Asus Netbook, Eee PC 701. It has an 8.9 in LCD screen with a resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels, with more storage, more memory, a multi-touch touchpad, 1.3 megapixel webcam and wireless capabilities. It has built-in stereo speakers. This netbook is said to perform faster than its predecessor. It is in the size of a hard book with dimensions of Width 8.9 in, Depth 6.7 in, Height 1.3 in and weighing at 999g. The Eee PC 900 can last approximately three hours on its standard battery.

Features
The 8.9-inch display has a native resolution of 1,024 x 600 pixels which is significantly higher than the 800×480-pixel screen on the old 7-inch model. The Eee 900’s screen and high resolution allow most web pages to fit on the display, with no need for horizontal scrolling. The vertical viewing angle and the horizontal tilt need to be adjusted to get a perfect picture. However, the horizontal viewing angle is wide enough to allow two users to watch a DivX movie side by side. The speakers are at the bottom of the system, below the wrist rest. The mouse track pad has a wide aspect ratio to match that of the screen. The left and right selector buttons sport a silver finish making it easier to press. The track pad allows you to scroll horizontally and vertically through documents by swiping two fingers up or down across the surface of the track pad. You can also zoom in or zoom out of pictures by making pinching or stretching movement with your fingers. The Asus Eee PC 900 uses the same Intel Celeron 900MHz CPU as the old 701, but with the backing of 1GB of DDR 400 RAM, which is twice as much as its predecessor. The amount of storage on the Eee PC 900 depends on whether it is a Linux version or Windows XP as an operating system. The Linux model comes with a 20GB of storage whereas the Windows XP model has just 12GB. However, the SD card reader accepts SDHC cards which allows up to 32GB of additional storage. The Asus Eee PC 900 supports flash memory cards, such as Multimedia Card, SDHC Memory Card and SD Memory Card. Both versions of the Eee PC 900 use Samsung flash memory chips rather than an actual off-the-shelf hard disk drive.

Specifications
Manufacturer : ASUS
Model name : Eee PC 901
Model id : Linux, 20G
CPU type : Intel Atom (Diamondville)
CPU speed : 1600 Mhz
Graphics : Intel GMA 950
OS : Linux
Display Size : 8.9″ 1024 X 600
RAM : 1024 MB
Flash : 19.5 GB
Keyboard : YES
Mouse Pointer : YES
Battery capacity : 49 (Wh)
Weight : 1140gm / 40.2 oz.
Size (w/h/d mm) : 226/175/39 mm
Size (w/h/d inches) : 8.9/6.9/1.5

Design
As a member of Asus’ “Republic of Gamers” line of gaming laptops, the G51J 3D is predictably flashy looking, with glowing lights lining its sides and what looks to be a claw mark etched into its black-and-navy lid. It’s not too gaudy, but by the same token, it’s not necessarily the sort of machine one would feel comfortable taking out at a serious business meeting.

It’s also a bit bulky. Despite its average-sized 15.6-inch screen, it measures 1.6-inches thick and tips the scales at 7.7 pounds. It feels more like a 17-incher than the standard-sized notebook it should have been.

But there’s little else to complain about. The full-sized keyboard with numeric pad is comfortable and quiet, as is the mouse pad, the buttons below which are composed of smooth brushed metal.

Plenty of ports, including four USB, one HDMI, and one E-SATA, ring the edges, and are found in comfortable, non-intrusive locations.

It also comes with some valuable extras, including an excellent laptop backpack branded with the Asus gaming logo, a quality wired Asus gaming mouse, and, of course, those 3D spectacles from Nvidia.

Display

Although it lacks a full HD screen as on the G51J-A1, the 1366 x 768-pixel panel on the G51J 3D still exhibits great colors and definition. Horizontal viewing angles on the 15.6-inch display were excellent—nearly 90 degrees to either side—but the screen washed out a bit when we tilted it too far back or forward.

The Altec Lansing speakers delivered excellent highs when we listened to music streamed from Pandora, but bass-heavy songs (such as Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”) didn’t have their normal thump, and sounded a bit muddy in the middle. Volume was generally satisfying, but when we really wanted to crank the music, we found that the speakers didn’t produce very loud sound.

Keyboard & Touchpad

The premium look of the G51J 3D extends to the keyboard, where a white backlight gives each key a soft halo that can be raised or lowered through the use of the Fn and F3/F4 keys. Because the layout doesn’t extend to the edges, some keys are undersized, such as the right Shift key and the numbers on the dedicated number pad. Nevertheless, the island-style keys are springy, which made for a solid typing experience.

As the G51J 3D is designed for gamers, there are a number of gaming-specific icons scattered across the keyboard: Arrows highlight the WASD keys (which are typically used for movement), and the 1 and 6 keys are highlighted with white circles, so you can quickly tap whatever number you need to switch weapons. Above the keyboard is a grill that houses Altec Lansing stereo speakers, and buttons that let you cycle through visual modes (Gamma Correction, Normal, Soft, Theater, Vivid), and power settings (Battery Saving, Entertainment, High Performance, Quiet Office). To the right of those are three buttons: Express Gate (ASUS’ brand of the Splashtop instant-on operating system), Power, and TouchPad Enable/Disable.

The nontextured touchpad allowed us to navigate the desktop with ease. The brushed-metal mouse buttons look cool, but felt a little stiff.

Ports
The port selection was simply amazing and it has almost everything you may need. There are four USB Ports, an eSATA Connection, both HDMI and VGA to connect external monitor, FireWire 400, Ethernet and three audio jacks. There is also an Express Card 54 Slot and SD card Reader. What else do we need? A Coffee Cup holder would perhaps be the choice!

Performance

The standard system comes with a Intel Core i7 – 720 QM Processor clocking at 1.6 GHz with 6MB cache and 1333 MHz FSB. There are two 2GB PC3 8500 DDR3 memory modules making up a total of 4GB of RAM. Opening more than 30 tabs in internet browser at the same time with a video being encoded in the background and a music playing, switching between the tabs did not show any sign of lag as expected from the processor that can handle 8 threads at the same time. With its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M graphics with 1GB GDDR3 memory, decoding a 1080p video was flawless. High end games like Left 4 Dead pumped out very high frame rates ranging more than 60 frames per second. The two 320GB Seagate 7200 rpm hard disks are really fast and loading games from the HDD showed its high performance benefits. The 1.6 GHz processor can be overclocked to 2.8 GHz but it does not significantly improve the performance benefits.
The good: Built-in Nvidia 3D Vision technology; fast Intel Core i7 CPU; decent gaming performance.

The bad: Expensive; 3D gaming is still niche; small screen for a gaming rig.

The bottom line: The Asus G51J-3D is the first laptop to incorporate Nvidia’s 3D vision technology. If you absolutely love the idea of 3D gaming, this proof-of-concept system will work well for a pricey showpiece.

Spec
CPU 1.6-GHz Intel Core i7-720QM
Operating System MS Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
RAM 4GB
RAM Upgradable to 8GB
Hard Drive Size Dual 320GB
Hard Drive Speed 7,200rpm
Display Size 15.6
Native Resolution 1366×768
Blu-ray discs.
Optical Drive DVDRW
Optical Drive Speed 8X
Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M
Video Memory 1GB
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.1 EDR
Mobile Broadband
Ports (excluding USB)
Dual Headphone; eSATA; Ethernet; Firewire 400; HDMI;Hicrophone; VGA
USB Ports 4
Card Slots 6-1 card reader; ExpressCard/54
Warranty/Support Two-year global; one-year accidental;
Size 14.6 x 10.3 x 1.6 inches
Weight    7.3 pounds

Design Dimensions and Weight
One of the reason people switch to laptops from desktops is mobility. You can’t carry desktops with you when you work outdoors but yes notebooks are designed to coup with this problem. Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S comes with robust silver chassis with a modest weight of 2.7kg. If your nature of job requires traveling, you can rely on Sony Vaio as it would never let you down when it comes to performance and reliability. With slim dimensions of H29 x W370 x D249mm, and a robust brushed aluminium casing, Sony Vaio could very well be a reliable travel companion.

Processor Performance and Graphics
The Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S has an Intel Pentium T4300 processor, and has dual Core technology one of the best on the market now!. It has 3GB DDR2 RAM and 2.16GHz Dual Core T4300, this allows you to run multiple applications with less stress on the laptop for a smoother experience. Also enjoy superb quality videos and pictures on the 15.6 inches X-Black Wide screen LCD display for vibrant colours and sharp image resolution.There is also Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M which allows movie watching and playing 3D games without any problems.

Display Screen and Battery Life
Enjoy high-quality videos and pictures on the 15.6-inches X-Black Widescreen LCD display which reproduces vibrant colours and sharp image resolution. Sony comes with an energy saving illumination technology which doesn’t let the screen dry access battery juice. Despite having a high quality screen, a fully charged Sony Vaio VGN can provide 4 hours of battery life which is justified if you realise the overall specifications of this machine.
A 15.6-inches screen is suitable for ordinary picture size but you can also connect an external plasma or large screen monitor to Sony Vaio VGN through VGA port. Viewing angles are impressive, as you can easily view couple of web pages side-by-side and enjoy videos in their real formats without any irritating side bars.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Typing on Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is very easy and comfortable. The Keyboard on the Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is well designed for ease of use and comfort with large keys. palm rest and a touch pad which is very highly responsive.

Camera and Connectivity
For video conferencing, you can use the webcam fixed on the front screen panel. Getting online is also possible with the built-in Wi-Fi technology which connects you to any Wi-Fi enabled network so that you enjoy a smooth uninterrupted internet service. For data sharing through wire, there are 3 USB ports and an Ethernet port for networking.
Hard Disk and Optical Drive
The storage capacity is excellent, you have a massive 320GB of hard drive space which give you plenty of room for storing movies, music, pictures document and all your applications. It has a DVD+-RW/+-R DL/RAM DVD to play all your favourite cd’s DVD’s. You can also Burn your important data files on blank CDs and DVDs using the optical drive.

Verdict. Verdict
Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S is a sleek and practical laptop offering some high quality specs and decent battery life which is always demanded. If you are hunting for a performance laptop from a leading brand with an affordable price tag then go for Sony Vaio VGN-NW20EF/S without any doubts.