Here are 6 things to consider before buy widescreen monitor,

First, Old or new monitor? Old monitor is equal to CRT and new monitor is the LCD. The benefit of LCD is about the slim form, which means it can save more space compare to CRT. Old monitor is making more radiation and much thicker than LCD. In fact, LCD is produced in varieties of sizes. Other benefit of LCD is the lower radiation that will make eyes feel more comfort to incessantly visual the monitors even though for hours. This is also valid for LCD for television.

Second, 4:3 or 16:9? This is about the comparison of aspect ration between the former LCD that has 4:3 aspect ration and the contemporary LCD 16:9, which the latest one is better because it is absent from dark sidelines and it makes the visual become more comfort. Unlike the 4:3 that is similar to CRT, which will appear that dark sidelines during viewing the monitor.

Third, Small size or big size screen? The bigger monitor will give better visual than smaller. But of course it will depend on your budget and needs. The benefits of big screen is that the more resolution, which will give better quality of picture. It is offered in market monitors with varieties of sizes, it is starting from 7-inch screen to 52-inch screen.

Forth, Screen surface. There are monitors with matte screen surface and other are with glossy screen surface. Choosing between one of them is about your taste. They all have benefits and cost. The good thing about matte screen is that anti reflective coating and resist from dust, but it can not make quality color as good as the glossy screen.  Meanwhile, glossy screen can create bright color and image, and easy to clean but it gives reflections particularly in the condition of bright room either from light or sunshine.

Fifth, Trade name. Each trade name has strengths and weaknesses. The more information you collect from reviews the better you can choose about which trade name or brand of monitor is the best one. They all offer distinctive features warranty and services. Trade name is about trust and image. People, who have more experience for certain trade name, know exactly which one constantly give the best quality product.

Sixth, Shape and Fashion. A good monitor will have a fashionable look, this will be one parts that customers will be attracted to besides its functional performance. Monitors are produced in varieties of colors like black, grey or white, shapes like curved or sharp cutting edge. Choose the best that can fit to your room design concept.

The most revolutionary is about the mobility that possess in tablet laptop. Users are still able to connect on internet while they are walking, sitting, standing on the line and other situation.

Touch screen in tablet laptop gives the practical use for consumers. They just need to use that pen to operate the tablet laptop while walking around or standing anywhere. If you plan to draw digital art than you can simply do it with the pen and begin to make that picture in that existed space. No keyboard needed to write down data that you want to create and no mouse needed to point out keys. Or if you do not want to use that pen, you just point your finger tips to that touch screen. In case, users want to work on the desk, they can also plug in that mouse.

The model of screen is swivel or rotates for the tablet laptop with convertible figure. This will make more comfort for users, especially if they only have limited room to do the job or simply need certain condition to make it more comfort. When the keyboard is position in normal place it looks just like traditional laptop, but if the screen is rotated, it will appear as digital notepad. And when the screen is folded down, it will look like there is no keyboard at all. This rotate able screen is delivering the flexibility for users to look at the most comfort position of that screen.

If talking about price, it is clear that traditional laptop is cheaper than tablet laptop. Tablet laptop is more expensive about $300 more ordinary laptops.

The Satellite T235′s keyboard is one of the best we’ve used on any consumer notebook, even more comfortable than that on the Satellite T645. The keys are generously spaced, offer strong tactile feedback, and have no flex at all. The 3.3 x 1.5-inch touchpad offered just the right amount of resistance, allowing us to navigate around the desktop with ease. It also supports multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. Its two discrete buttons provided good tactile feedback without feeling stiff.

The 13.3″ LED-backlit screen on the T235D appears to be identical to the display panel used on the T135 and T135D. Colors didn’t appear quite as overly saturated as the screen on last year’s model but the contrast ratio still looks below average with fairly light black levels and a lab test contrast ratio of just 182:1. Horizontal viewing angles are good out to at least 45 degrees to either side before you start to notice color distortion. Vertical viewing angles are below average as the display becomes over exposed or colors begin inverting after moving the screen 15 degrees forward or back. Overall screen brightness is good enough for indoor usage under bright office lights or in the shade outdoors. The glossy screen makes reflections something of a problem if you try to use the screen outdoors under direct sunlight.

Port selection is fairly good when compared to ultraportable notebooks and netbooks, but we’re starting to believe that every notebook (even budget-priced consumer notebooks) should have at least one USB 3.0 port. USB 2.0 is fine for now, but we’re seeing more and more accessories that take advantage of USB 3.0 and laptops need to keep up with the times. The T235D includes three USB ports (one of which is a combo eSATA/USB port), VGA and HDMI-out, LAN, audio jacks, and a Kensington Lock slot. Expansion slots include just the 6-in-1 SDHC-compatible card reader.

With only a 1.2-GHz Intel Pentium U5400 CPU, 5,400-rpm hard drive, and integrated Intel HD graphics, we didn’t expect the T235 to be as snappy as it was. Whether we were playing HD video, transcoding an MPEG-4 file, or circling the globe in Google Earth, the notebook handled each program with aplomb. Only truly demanding tasks, like playing the game Far Cry 2, slowed the system down. The Satellite T235′s 5,400 rpm, 320GB hard drive booted Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) in 63 seconds, which is just slightly below the 60.3-second category average and about the same as the AMD-powered T235D, which took 61 seconds.

On the LAPTOP Battery Test, which involves continuous surfing over Wi-Fi, the Satellite T235-S1350 lasted a strong 6 hours and 11 minutes, which is roughly 40 minutes longer than the category average (5:32) and about 50 minutes longer than its AMD-powered sibling, the Satellite T235D. Still, slower competitors like the MSI X350 (7:05), the ASUS UL30A (9:55), and last year’s Satellite T135 (7:23) lasted longer.

In theory, the Sattelite T235 would make the ideal consumer laptop for many shoppers. In practice, Toshiba falls a little short in execution. The Toshiba Sattelite T230/T235 is a fine thin and light notebook with good overall performance for general use, but it lacks a quality finish (both literally and figuratively).

Build quality falls somewhere between the T-series and Edge-series ThinkPads. The 15-inch L512 didn’t seem to have as much chassis flex as the larger Edge 15 that we reviewed last month, but it still had more than the similarly sized T-series. Screen protection is very good on the L512, showing no distortion on the LCD with heavy pressure applied to the cover.

The keyboard is very comfortable to type on and has a very similar look and feel to the keyboards on the T-series ThinkPads. The layout has been slightly tweaked, using a single row of function keys instead of the two rows seen on higher models. Tactile feedback is excellent from the keyboard with soft key-presses that give off a very mild click when fully triggered. Media buttons have been moved from above the top row as seen on the T-series to the left side of the keyboard. Lenovo still gives buttons for speaker mute, microphone mute and volume up and down.

Lenovo seems to have switched back to a Synaptics touchpad on the L512. The previous SL510 we reviewed used an ALPS model touchpad, so this is a nice update. The touchpad supports multitouch gestures including two finger tap, pinch zoom, rotation, three finger press and three finger flick. Sensitivity is excellent out of the box and once you “break in” the touchpad surface, cursor movement is very fluid. Tap and drag movements were flawless, which can be a weakness with some touchpads, releasing the item too soon or not at all. The L512 also includes a pointing stick for those interested in using that form of navigation over the touchpad. We found the interface very snappy with minimal wandering after you lifted off from the pointer.

Alike L412, Lenovo Thinkpad L512 is also intended for businessman, employees and students. The technologies integrated in it help them to be productive in their day to day activities.

The processor options are Latest Intel core i3 or i5 integrated with Turbo Boost and Hyperthreading technology. The 15” HD backlit display of Lenovo ThinkPad L512 incorporates antiglare feature with 16:9 resolution. Graphics option includes Intel integrated or ATI Mobility Radeon graphics. Other features it incorporates are :

• HDD 500GB with 5400 revolutions per min
• Up to 8GB DDR3 RAM
• Choices of 3G or 4G connectivity
• Gobi 2000 module support for AT&T, Sprint and Verizon
• connectivity- 4 USB ports, combo eSATA/USB port, display port(Audio) VGA
• Operating system Windows 7

The overall features coupled with Windows 7 boost up the booting process up yo 57%. Shutdown process also become faster. As the Laptop is targeted for entrepreneurs, it is integrated with features like powerful web conferencing. Lenovo Thinkpad L512 also comprises of “ThinkVantage” Technologies tools such as Access Connections to enhance the productivity. Same features will also available in Lenovo Thinkpad L412

• 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.

The EON17 has the following specifications:

• 17.3 Full HD Widescreen, 16.9, 1920 x 1080
• Up to Intel Core i7 980X Desktop Processors
• Up to Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480M Video Cards in SLI
• Up to 24GB of Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
• Up to Three Hard Drives
• Full Size Keyboard with Numeric Key Pad
• HDMI In and Out; Optical Digital Out, and 7.1 HD Audio
• Touch Sensitive Multi-Gesture Pad and Instant Access Buttons

The Origin EON 17 features a 17.3 inch Full HD wide screen display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and it is capable of displaying Full HD video in 1080p. From the latest Blu-Ray movies to multifunctional presentations your ORIGIN PC will deliver a Grade-A visual experience. Therefore, the EON 17 definitely has the crystal clarity. 2GB’s of GDDR5 video ram, NVidia’s PhysX and CUDA technology completes the excellence of EON 17.

The Origin team also comes with their special offer. Collaborating with Killer Paint, the best in custom airbrush artistry, the Origin team brings you the best in personal design for your perfect PC. The Origin team will work with you to quote out anything you want airbrushed onto your custom EON laptop. Costumers will be able to do this just by sending their desired design. Moreover, if color doesn’t do it for you, the team will replace the ORIGIN logo with your personalized imagery or logo on the outside of your EON17.

• 15.6-inch 720p (1366×768) glossy panel with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel Core i3-330M dual-core processor (2.13GHz, 3MB L3 cache, 2.5GT/s QPI, 35W TDP)
• Intel HM55 chipset
• Integrated Intel HD graphics w/ shared video memory
• 4GB DDR3-1066 dual-channel RAM (2x 2GB)
• 320GB 5400RPM Western Digital hard drive (WD3200BEVT)
• Broadcom 802.11n wireless LAN card
• DVD burner (Optiarc DVD RW AD-7585H)
• 1 year limited warranty
• 6 cell Li-ion battery (11.1V, 48Wh)
• Weight: 5.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 14.8” (L) x 9.8” (D) x 0.7~1.4” (H)

The G560 has a 15.6-inch screen with a 720p (1366×768) resolution and LED backlighting; this is the only available screen. While its glossy mirror surface helps colors stand out and improves sharpness, it also acts as a mirror, especially when there are light sources behind it. It also has HD graphics support and HDMI connector. Unfortunately, the display wasn’t as bright as we’ve seen on other 15.6-inch laptops; plus it had a very narrow viewing angle, and the glossy screen too easily caught annoying reflections. Moreover, cleaning is also difficult.

The Lenovo G560 comes with technologies and features designed to make things easier, including OneKey Rescue System for easy data backup and recovery. The new and improved Lenovo Energy Management provides not only extended battery life and long-term durability, but also keeps noise to a minimum with intelligent fan control, so you can concentrate on your work. It also uses a single-piece touch pad, which integrates the mouse buttons directly into the touch pad. Another added bonus is that one of the USB ports is a combo port that also works with eSATA devices.

Design

The MSI GT660 series was designed in partnership with Dynaudio to create a gaming notebook chassis that also offers a “true-to-life sound experience.” The speaker housing structures, speaker circuits and overall position of the stereo speakers and subwoofer were designed to combine the extreme performance of a gaming notebook with the rich audio performance of a premium multimedia notebook.

Despite the heavy use of plastics, the exterior surfaces of the GT660R are covered in a scratch-resistant coating to improve durability. The screen lid itself is also covered in “MSI Color Film Print Technology” which is essentially in multi-layer printed image imbedded into the plastic. In this case you can see a faint honeycomb pattern in the lid similar to the texture used on the palm rests when you open the notebook.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Chiclet-style keyboard on the GT660R offers a reasonably enjoyable typing experience and is also fine for hours of gameplay. Individual keys are a little mushy and the center of the keyboard flexes inward under heavy typing pressure, but the individual key action still delivers acceptable feedback when pressed. The typical gaming keys of W,A,S,D feature special red paint to help you quickly identify where your fingers need to be during a game (just in case you didn’t already know). Each key is flat with a nice matte texture and a little extra spacing to prevent typos. A backlit keyboard would have been far more useful than lights next to the touchpad or under the edges of the palm rests.

The touchpad itself offers a quality interface with a lightly textured surface and excellent responsiveness. The touchpad itself feels just the right size for the notebook: any smaller and it would have been too small and any larger would have made this notebook even bigger than it already is. The touchpad drivers provide excellent accuracy and minimal lag with a range of options. The touchpad buttons are hidden under a single “rocker bar” and have a shallow press with audible “click” when pressed.

Performance

Starting with an Intel Core i7-740QM processor running at 1.73GHz and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M with 1GB of GDDR3 dedicated memory, this system easily ranks among the best gaming notebooks you can buy for less than $2,000. As impressive as that might sound, MSI wasn’t going to stop there.

The GT660 series features a complete system overclocking feature called TDE+ which overclocks the CPU and the GPU simultaneously at the touch of a button. MSI claims this “Turbo mode” provides a “16% performance boost” but our own lab testing shows the exact percentage of improvement varies greatly depending on a variety of factors.

Since this is intended to serve as a gaming machine, it’s important to point out that different games will react differently to the CPU+GPU overclocking feature on this notebook. In most cases, such as when we tested Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Shattered Horizon and Resident Evil 5, there was an obvious increase in the frame rates while gaming at the native screen resolution with detail settings maxed out. The bottom line is that the overclocking feature offers some added value for serious gamers but it isn’t a magic bullet for all your gaming needs.

Battery Life

Let’s be perfectly honest: No one buys a high-performance gaming notebook and expects it to deliver great battery life. Between the high-performance CPU, the high performance graphics, the dual storage drives and the giant cooling fans, there is simply a ton of hardware to keep running on a battery. In the “balanced” power mode with 75% screen brightness, the MSI GT660 lasted for two hours and 31 minutes of non-stop use while surfing the Internet and using a word processor. This is pretty pathetic for a general use laptop, but since many gaming laptops deliver less than one hour of battery life we can’t complain too much. You can also extend the battery life by dropping the screen brightness to the lowest useful setting.

Conclusion

The MSI GT660R is an impressive-looking gaming notebook with solid performance, great speakers and the ability to easily overclock the CPU and GPU at the touch of a button. The variety of ports including USB 3.0, the ability to upgrade to 12GB of RAM and the super-fast 1TB of storage make this an attractive choice for gamers looking for a strong system for $1,700 or less.

The weak battery and the thick and heavy chassis are par for the course when it comes to large gaming notebooks, but some consumers might not like the glossy plastics and the fact that the screen resolution is just 1366×768.

Design

The Sager NP5125 is a custom notebook built on the Clevo B1500M chassis. It has a pedestrian-looking exterior with no significant design features. Little evidence suggests the designers of this notebook intended it to look attractive. The chassis has a standard rectangular shape with mildly rounded edges. The NP5125 has a light weight for its class, coming in under six pounds and about one inch thin. The construction is all-plastic. The plastic has a matte non-glare surface with the exception of the screen border, which is preferable to the glossy plastic found on many mainstream notebooks. Matte plastic is easier to keep clean and does not show dust and fingerprints as easily.

The build quality overall is unfortunately below average. The plastic is thin and feels cheap, giving the notebook a hollow feel. Some rattling noises can be produced by tapping the plastic with a fingernail. The chassis itself seems to be of reasonable strength; despite the thin plastic it does not flex when pressure is applied in most places. The chassis bends slightly when grabbed by the corners and twisted, though nothing out of the ordinary.

Screen

The NP5125 has a 15.6-inch screen with a 1080p (1920×1080) resolution and LED backlighting. The screen is definitely the highlight of this machine; it is simply gorgeous. Side-to-side viewing angles are near-perfect and there is minimal color distortion from above; from below, colors are accurate until about 20 degrees below center. The backlighting is almost perfectly even.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The NP5125 has an island-style keyboard where the keys are raised above the base. The keys have an unsophisticated plasticky feel when pressed. Fast typing is possible however typing confidence is undermined by rattling sounds; the plastic used in the construction of this notebook really lets it down here; the keyboard does not feel well-settled at all. Like the chassis, the keyboard has little flex. The keyboard would be a lot more pleasant to type on if it felt more solid.

Performance

The overall idea behind the NP5125 is to provide good performance for the money. It is already well-equipped in its base configuration. As the numbers will show, the NP5125 is a viable gaming machine and multimedia notebook.

Battery Life

Three hours and 15 minutes of battery life  using the included 6-cell 48.84Wh battery. The test was run while surfing the Internet with the screen brightness at one notch above minimum.

Conclusion

The NP5125 has its ups and downs. It offers very good performance for the money and is a capable gaming machine. The full HD display is beautiful and makes multitasking easy thanks to its high resolution; not many 15.6″ notebooks, let alone ones under $1,000, offer such a screen. Its excellent cooling system and light weight are also big pluses. A major downside is the subpar build material; the plastics used on the exterior feel fragile and the keyboard is not well-seated, which results in unpleasant rattling sounds.

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.

Since the introduction of the first VAIO P last year, Sony has insisted that the VAIO P is not a netbook. No sir. It’s a “Lifestyle PC.” What’s a “Lifestyle PC,” you ask? I’m not sure but somehow the Sony VAIO P seems to fit perfectly. For starters, netbooks generally cost under $500, feature 10- to 12-inch screens with relatively low resolutions, and function similarly to standard laptops. The newest VAIO P, on the other hand, starts at $900, features a small screen with a huge resolution, and functions somewhere in between a UMPC and a standard laptop. It doesn’t really function similarly to a phone aside from the built-in accelerometer and the fact that it’s small.

Design

The VAIO P’s unique form factor is, by far, its greatest asset. At 9.7 x 4.7 x 0.8 inches, the VAIO P is small enough to fit in a woman’s purse or in a man’s long coat pocket. And at 1.4 pounds, it weighs half as much as a netbook, yet has a full-size keyboard that’s fit for touch typists. If you’re familiar with the original P series, you’ll notice that the biggest design difference is the color. While the original P had a classy metal keyboard and deck with tasteful lid colors such as Garnet Red or Onyx Black, the new P has a plastic keyboard and deck that matches its lid and comes in loud neon shades like lime green or hot pink. Conservative white and black colors are available, too.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Most low-priced, full-size notebooks currently on the market feature poorly built keyboards that show significant flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied. Thankfully, most netbooks have remarkably firm keyboards due to the fact that the chassis is so small there isn’t much empty space inside the notebook for the keyboard to flex or bounce. The keyboard on the VAIO P is less cramped than what we’ve seen on the 7-inch and 8.9-inch netbooks, but the Sony keyboard is still very compact. Most netbook keyboards are quite frustrating to use because the small footprint and tiny keys require you to use a “hunt and peck” style of typing rather than traditional touch typing methods. This means that passwords get mangled, emails look like gibberish, and playing games that require keyboard commands becomes quite aggravating.

The touchpad is, well, completely absent on the VAIO P. Rather than a typical touchpad the VAIO P uses a touchpoint or trackpoint pointing stick similar to what you find on many business-grade notebooks. The trackpoint is quite sensitive and easy to use, and even though I usually prefer to use touchpads I found the trackpoint to be very enjoyable. The left and right touchpoint buttons are located in the correct position beneath the space bar and have a shallow feedback and produce a light “click” when pressed.

Display

Note to self: Be careful what you wish for. I’ve personally been cursing the 1024×600 netbook screens since the very beginning, so to see that Sony somehow managed to cram 1600×768 pixels into an 8-inch LED backlit screen is truly a sight to behold. Unfortunately, trying to actually behold text on websites is another story. Unless the screen is about six inches from your face, forget about reading most of the web without zooming. Thankfully, Sony’s not only included zoom-in and zoom-out function keys, but a handy quick-resolution toggle button that kicks the 1600×900 display down to a much more legible 1280×600 in a matter of seconds. However, you run into that godforsaken 600 lines of vertical resolution that plagues cheap netbooks. It cuts off information windows and makes web page scrolling an almost non-stop activity. In the end, I found myself using the VAIO P most often at the full 1600×768 resolution with a liberal amount of zooming.

Ports

Port selection was something of a surprise with this Sony, since some netbooks that are slightly larger have fewer ports than what the VAIO P offers. You get two USB ports, two memory card readers, a headphone jack, and a dedicated expansion port used to connect a dongle that provides Ethernet/LAN and VGA out. The dongle connects to the AC power adapter so you can either keep it with the power adapter or carry it separately. There isn’t much to complain about here, although there might have been enough space in the chassis design to support an additional USB port or Firewire.

Performance

Regardless of how cool the Sony VAIO P looks there are many potential buyers who only care about one thing: performance. This is one area where the VAIO P might be a tough sell for some. In order to keep temperatures and power consumption as low as possible in this little notebook, Sony decided to use a 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor rather than the 1.6GHz Atom processor used in larger netbooks. While this helps keep the VAIO P from overheating and promotes better battery life, the bottom line is the VAIO P has a pretty weak processor.

Like most Atom-based netbooks, the VAIO P has enough processor performance for basic tasks like web browsing or working in Microsoft Office, but don’t expect to use this as a multimedia entertainment notebook. Since Sony includes Windows Vista with the VAIO P we also decided to test the new Windows 7 beta during our benchmark tests. Thankfully, Windows 7 seems to improve the overall performance of the VAIO P and makes this mobile computer a much more useful laptop. Windows Vista is okay, but Windows 7 makes the VAIO P much, much better.

Design

Aesthetically, there’s a lot going on with the GT660. Almost too much. Unlike the GT725 and GT627, which lacked the audacious flair of most gaming notebooks, it seems like MSI pulled together as many cool-looking elements as they could while still keeping the GT660 below two grand. So it’s got some funky cuts along the edges and a glossy, beveled lid complete with glowing MSI logo.

Under the hood you start to notice how busy the GT600 looks. There’s a mix of matte and glossy–though the latter dominates–and the piano black of the display bezel and top of the deck fades into a glossy slate color, which then turns into a textured honeycomb pattern on the palm rest surrounding the touchpad.

Two speakers ringed in red sit on the left and right of the upper deck, and between them is a control deck outlined in red and chrome with touch-sensitive LEDs. Though MSI claims this element evokes a Knight Rider aesthetic, it reminded us more of Aquaman’s underwear. A light tap activates each function, including enabling or disabling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or the Windows key, and switching between power modes. There’s even a button users can program to launch an oft-used app. A shield-shaped power button sits in the center. Though we found this strip very useful, it picked up fingerprints.

Keyboard & Touchpad

Open up the lid and you’d be greeted with an extended keyboard that includes an alpha-numeric keypad on the right side. It’s a nice addition but if you’re a regular laptop-user, the orientation is confusing that you always tend to hit the wrong keys when typing. One needs some time to get used to the extra keys and learn to familiarize where the Enter button is. The chiclet-type keys are appropriately sized with special color labels on the gaming keys (asdw) and the arrow keys. And while it’s glossy black on the outside, it’s rough and textured in the inside — the palm rest has this honeycomb finish and the trackpad feels like sand-paper and is somewhat flushed to the left. The left and right click buttons are not separated but shaped accordingly to differentiate the two.

The touchpad is pretty big–3.2 x 1.9 inches–but it could be even larger if the designers had used more of the available space. The slightly rough touch surface and mouse button has a thick chrome outline that flows down into a chevron shape. Under the single mouse button are status indicators for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Battery, Sleep, and the hard drive are appreciated. Plus, our fingers kept naturally gravitating to the bottom edge of the notebook where the mouse buttons usually sit. On this system they’re higher, which took some getting used to.

Display

The 16-inch display is bright and crisp with a maximum resolution of 1366×768 pixels (I was actually expecting it could be higher, somewhere in the 1600×1200 range, because of the large real estate). The glossy display is also prone to glare in the outdoors and against bright light sources.

Ports and Webcam

MSI was certainly generous with the ports on the GT660. On the left you get two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, a memory card slot, and an Express Card slot. The Blu-ray drive takes up most of the right edge, leaving room for the other USB port, headphone, mic, audio in and audio out ports. Finally, the eSATA, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet and power ports sit in the center of the notebook’s back edge. The webcam on the GT660 is a surprisingly high-end unit that can capture video in HD: 1280 x 720, 30 fps. Video quality at this size isn’t stunning, but once we adjusted the settings (brightness, hue, saturation, etc.) the resulting images were decent.

Performance

MSI Exclusive TDE+ technology: MSI’s GT660 gaming notebook  is the world’s first NB computer to come with TDE+ technology to enhance both processor and display performance. With MSI’s own TDE+ (Turbo Drive Engine+ technology), you can increase processor, memory, and display chip performance instantly with one touch of the luminescent Turbo hotkey above the keyboard. The power boost gives you crisp response even with resource-hungry graphics applications and more importantly, when you’re slaying orcs or battling baddies on the other side of the galaxy.

Advanced nVIDIA GeForce GTX 285M discrete graphics card: The MSI GT660 gaming laptop comes equipped with nVIDIA’s most advanced GeForce GTX 285M discrete graphics card with 128 3D stream processor and 1GB GDDR3 of display memory and nVIDIA® CUDA™ technology to truly unleash the machine’s image and graphics processing potential, allowing the GT660 to execute such high load tasks as conferencing and ripping with ease. The GeForce GTX 285M discrete graphics card also supports nVIDIA® PhysX™ Technology, introducing you to a whole new world of extreme playing, courtesy of super dynamic and realistic graphics.

Battery

Autonomy is not really the highlight of the GT660. The laptop took 1 hour 46 minutes during our endurance test, despite its new battery cells 9800 mAh. Finally, its size, 16 inches, and weighing 3.46 kg really does not help to nomadism. We therefore speak more portable, but it is the case for all of these machines, apart from some exceptions including Alienware M11x.

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.

The Green Electronics Council makes simple to determine green notebooks along with EPEAT, (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). The actual device rates high laptops on their own environment impact, within supplies, packaging, energy usage, and more, utilizing discrete as well as in depth criteria. Depending on what percentage of these needs are met, the actual council gives them a Gold, Silver, or even Bronze rating.

Everything from the way the laptop is built to how it may be recycled helps a notebook move one step nearer to becoming green. These types of five factors not only help EPEAT think about how green a notebook is, however will help you as well.

1. Lower power consumption.

Energy Star rates items for energy effectiveness as well as examines laptops and their power usage. Taken into account whenever rating the notebook is the power management within three operating settings: standby, sleep, as well as in use. LED-backlit displays help reduce power draw, utilizing thirty percent much less power than traditional Lcd displays. Energy Star–compliant computer systems must also convey more effective inner power materials. You can use the actual Energy Star research tool on www.energystar.gov to look up a specific model laptop by logo and identify.

2. Use of environmentally sensitive materials.

The materials used in the actual production of a laptop are essential in evaluating it’s greenness. EPEAT often describes Europe’s RoHS (Stops associated with Harmful Substances Instruction) regular for assessing the most harmful ingredients in consumer electronics when evaluating laptops. Particularly the use of environmentally harmful supplies such as cadmium, mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium, flame retardants, plasticizers, as well as PVC are discouraged. Additionally laptop electric batteries should be free of lead, cadmium, and mercury.

3. Product life span and cycle extension.

If you buy the laptop and its particular components are outdated red carpet several weeks, you would just be creating waste materials. EPEAT prices exactly how easy it is to upgrade the notebook with parts, including RAM and hard drive, without the need associated with expert support. Additionally taken into account may be the laptop’s guarantee. The corporation requires that all notebooks have the choice of the extra three-year guarantee or even service agreement open to buyers.

4. Eco-Friendly notebook packaging.

Not only do the laptop’s supplies give rise to its greenness, but its packaging can have an impact as well. The actual loan consolidation of packaging performs to the assessment, but so do the materials those containers and protective items tend to be made from. EPEAT requirements need which heavy metals not be included to any packaging or packing component. Numerous manufacturers, including Apple as well as HP, have started using recyclable supplies to produce laptop packaging.

5. Design for end of life.

It is estimated that Americans get rid of a lot more than 19 thousand a lot of laptops annually. How individuals laptops tend to be divided and obtain recycled is part of end-of-life management evaluation. The actual greenest notebooks are the ones that don’t contain paints and films upon bigger plastic components that aren’t recyclable or reusable. EPEAT requires that laptop producers include the choice to purchase the take-back or even recycling where possible service. In addition they need exactly the same support be available for the laptop’s battery.

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/dealing-with-hot-notebook.html http://www.primenotebook.com/dealing-with-hot-notebook.html#comments Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:38:25 +0000 tito http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72821 If you’ve read our article on the causes and potentially devastating effects of notebook heat, you know that thanks to external temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit,  some notebooks can feel more like portable grills than portable computers.  While inadequate heat dissipation is the manufacturer’s fault, users aren’t helpless. If your notebook is getting a bit too warm for comfort, there are several settings you can change to make it cooler. While none of these is guaranteed to transform a 110-degree palm rest into an ice machine, the changes can help. A poorly cooled notebook is extremely uncomfortable to use. In fact, though heat-related injuries are rare, some systems actually carry warning labels. For example, many current Toshiba Satellites have stickers affixed to their bottoms which state: “Caution: PC base can become hot! Avoid prolonged contact to prevent heat injury to skin.”

Some of the tips below involve editing the advanced power settings in Windows Power Options.  To access the advanced power settings:

1. Open Power Options either by clicking the icon in the All Control Panel Options menu or by double-clicking the Windows battery icon in your system tray.
2. Select Change plan settings next to the power plan you are using (balanced, power saver, etc).
3. Select Change advanced power settings.

The amount of heat given off by a component will be the same no matter what notebook it’s used in. The differences from notebook to notebook, however, are based on air and heat flow within the system, the amount of power consumed, and notebook chassis material. While notebooks made from sleek-looking aluminum and other metals are increasingly popular, such systems tend to feel hotter. That’s because of differences in thermo-mechanical properties of the materials, according to Rajiv Mongia, principal engineer for Intel’s Thermal Technologies team. For example, an aluminum chassis will feel hotter to the touch than a plastic chassis of the same temperature.

1: Enable Active Cooling
Make sure that, in the Windows power settings or in your notebook’s proprietary power management software, the highest level of cooling is enabled. The menu option for enabling active cooling varies from notebook to notebook, but in some cases, the option will actually say “active cooling” and in others the option will say “maximum performance” as opposed to “maximum battery life.”

2: Enable all power saving options for the CPU, graphics, wireless card, etc.
It’s simple physics. The more power your notebook consumes, the more heat it generates. If you’re willing to sacrifice a little performance by running your notebook’s key components in low power modes, it will generate less heat.

To use less juice and generate less heat, we recommend changing the advanced settings in the Windows power manager’s, both for “on battery” and “plugged in” states:

• Wireless Adapter Settings: Maximum Power Saving
• Link State Power Management: Maximum power savings
• Graphics Power Plan: Maximum Battery life or the equivalent, based on what video card your notebook has installed.
• PCI Express -> Link State Power Management: Maximum power savings
• Processor power management -> Maximum processor state: Set to a lower percentage such as 30-percent.

3: Unplug Your Notebook
Some notebooks are manufactured to consume more power (and generate more heat) when plugged in than on battery alone, even with the exact same power settings enabled. After lowering all your power saving settings (as in tip #2), you may want to try pulling the plug.

4: Put the notebook on a table or desk
Many of a notebook’s vents are located on the bottom of its chassis, so when you put the notebook on your lap, you’re partially obstructing those vents.  And if you put the notebook on a on a fabric surface like a bed or couch, you’re really choking its airflow. If the bottom of your notebook is getting really hot, consider putting it on a table or using a lapdesk that sits between you and the notebook.

5: Using a cooling pad
Some might say that this is the most obvious tip and should appear first, but cooling pads add bulk to your notebook bag and make your system less portable. So while cooling pads like the great Cooler Master Notepal U2 may be the only choice for a burning hot notebook, they shouldn’t always be your first.

Design
The first thing anyone notices about the Adamo XPS is its profile. It measures 13.39 inches wide by 10.78 inches long. With the lid closed, it measures 0.41 inches at the thickest part of the chassis (the back) and slopes down to 0.38 inches at the front. Compare that with the original Adamo, which measured 0.65 inches thin all around. The Adamo XPS weighs 3.2 pounds with the standard 4-cell battery. Despite the light weight (no doubt partly attributable to its aluminum chassis) the Adamo XPS felt solid in my hands.

There is a colorless, capacitive touch strip at the front edge of the Adamo XPS’s lid. Simply run your finger across the strip, and the lid opens with an almost inaudible click. It’s this kind of unexpected touch (no pun intended) that I think will distinguish the Adamo XPS from others in the luxury ultraportable category.

Keyboard & Touchpad
When fully opened, the keyboard sits at about a 20-degree angle. It’s an unusual setup, but one that provides a better raised typing experience than the average flat laptop keyboard (although some readers have told us they dislike angled keyboards). We also liked the solid-feeling metal keys and the reasonably large touch pad. The right Shift key is smaller than the left one, but not horribly so, but the row of Function keys is both small and set flush to the keyboard tray surface, making them hard to hit. Still, the overall typing experience is good, and we quickly adapted to the layout and its flat, widely spaced keys. Measuring 3 x 1.7 inches, the touchpad on the Adamo XPS is decently sized, and offered little resistance while sliding our finger across. Multitouch gestures are enabled, and we found it easy to pinch to zoom in on photos and documents. Two discrete mouse buttons below were a touch soft, but were otherwise fine.

Ports and Webcam
adamo-webcamAt the base of the notebook by the battery are two USB ports, one on each side, and a DisplayPort on the left. On the right is a headphone and mic port. Helping make up for this paucity of ports is a dongle that comes with the unit, and allows users to connect Ethernet and DVI. An optional VGA and HDMI dongle costs extra. The 2-megapixel webcam offered fairly good visuals while chatting with a friend over Skype, but he noted that the image froze every now and then; however, this was most likely due to our Internet connection.

Display & Audio
The 13.4-inch wide-screen LED display offers a 1,366×768-pixel native resolution, which is standard for an upscale 13-inch system. Screen images were bight and clear, although the overly glossy screen coating picked up plenty of glare. The stereo speakers, mounted on the bottom surface (which would be raised off the ground when the laptop lid is open) are tinny and underpowered; we suggest headphones for almost all audio use.

Performance

The 1.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 and 4GB of RAM powered the Adamo XPS to a PCMark Vantage score of 3964, 1200 points above the ultraportable average. The only other system with similar specs—the Samsung X360, which had the same processor and a 128GB SSD—scored 3,184. Still, the Sony Vaio Z, which costs $100 more, but has a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor and two SSDs, scored two and a half times higher: 9936. The Adamo XPS’ Samsung 128GB SSD (PB22 JS3) was quite zippy, booting the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system in just 33 seconds. The drive duplicated a 4.97GB folder of multimedia files in 1 minute and 54 seconds, a rate of 44.6 MBps. While that’s more than twice the ultraportable average (21.6 MBps), it pales in comparison to the Vaio Z’s transfer rate of 127 MBps (which has twin SSDs). Transcoding a 114MB MPEG-4 to AVI using Oxelon Media Encoder took 1 minute and 46 seconds, 12 seconds faster than the ultraportable average, but about a minute longer than the Vaio Z.

Predictably, graphics scores from the integrated Intel GMA4500MHD GPU were pretty low. The Adamo XPS scored just 701 on 3DMark06, about 150 points below the category average, and other recent 13-inch systems, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 (908), and the Sony Vaio Y (906). The Sony Vaio Z’s integrated graphics also proved far superior, notching 1,900 on the same test.

When playing World of Warcraft at 1024 x 768 and with graphics set to default, we eked out just 23 frames per second. Still, the machine was powerful enough to make for a smooth experience when flying around New York City in Google Earth.

“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 design of the HP Pavilion dv5t is simply beautiful. It is sleek and ultramodern, with tasteful accents. The entire notebook is streamlined, and no matter what angle you look at it, it looks great. This notebook has a “soft” design with all corners rounded off. Looking at the side of the notebook, the backside is a semicircle, and the front curves up like the bow of a boat. When the display is shut, the back of the notebook has a raked look to it, which is appealing. The display only has one large hinge, which adds to the sleek look. The chassis is relatively thin, at 1.37 – 1.65 inches thick.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The dv5t’s backlit, chiclet-style keyboard isn’t just attractive, it’s also comfortable. Resting our fingers on the soft keys felt natural, even if the right Shift key is undersized (we couldn’t tell while touch typing). Although it wasn’t distracting, we could see and feel the keyboard panel move beneath our fingers as we typed. Still, we scored a decent 81 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, and quickly raised our score to 88 wpm after some more hands-on time.

Touchpads have recently been HP’s Achilles’ heel, and the dv5t is no exception. When we first started using it, the surface felt smooth, and the two integrated touch buttons were easy to press. In fact, we still like the giant button and the satisfying click it makes, but the touchpad became frustrating to use. Often, we would bring the cursor close to where we wanted to click, and then it would suddenly feel sluggish, making subtle movements with the cursor take effort. The touchpad also supports multitouch gestures, although pinching two fingers to zoom is considerably easier than panning back out.

Screen
With the introduction of the HP Pavilion dv5 series notebooks, HP is finally offering high-resolution displays. The dv5t is currently offered with a WXGA or WSXGA+ resolution. The WXGA screen (1280 x 800 resolution) is what most 15.4-inch notebooks in stores have, and the most common resolution on 15.4-inch notebooks. The WSXGA+ display (1680 x 1050 resolution) is what my notebook has. It has 42% more viewable space than the WXGA display, which is the reason I chose it. Higher-resolution screens allow you to see more and scroll less. For example, if I view a large web page, I could see 42% more content on the WSXGA+ display than on the WXGA display. Another example- while viewing a high-resolution picture, I can see 42% more detail on the WSXGA+ display than on the WXGA. WSXGA+ makes it possible to use larger windows side by side; you would be hard-pressed to practically view two spreadsheets side-by-side with a WXGA display, but with the high-resolution WSXGA+, it is more than possible (you could do it without shrinking the windows too much).

HP offers two display finishes in addition to the resolutions – the standard BrightView or the BrightView Infinity. The Brightview display has the standard glossy finish that nearly all new consumer notebooks come with. The Infinity display is a new option introduced on the dv5 series notebooks. The Infinity display is basically a large piece of clear plastic over the entire display. It makes the display look like it has no borders. I have the Infinity finish on my notebook. While it makes the notebook look sleeker and more modern, it does increase the amount of reflections over a standard glossy finish. I personally do not mind the reflections. If you are used to a regular glossy display, the Infinity display is not that different in glossiness. I would choose the Infinity display again, since it makes the notebook look sleeker.

Ports and Webcam
The dv5t’s ports include three USB ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port for high-speed transfers; HDMI and VGA output for connecting to high-def and standard-def displays; an Ethernet jack; and headphone and mic ports. It also has a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Pretty standard for a consumer notebook. The VGA webcam won’t deliver sharp photos or videos thanks to its low 640 x 480 resolution. They were brightly lit, which someone on the other end of your video calls will appreciate, but the colors were off. Specifically, there was a bluish tint across the entire picture; even our black sweater appeared navy. In general, image quality was noisy.

HP’s MediaSmart Webcam software offers an easy interface in which you can click thumbnails to review photos and videos you recently shot, as well as add fun special effects. The sound quality was also excellent: we didn’t hear any echoes, and even when we moved farther away from the notebook it was still easy to hear us.

Operating System & Software
HP offers 32- and 64-bit versions of Vista on the dv5t. Home Premium is standard, while Ultimate is available as an upgrade. I have Home Premium 32-bit on my machine. I went with 32-bit because some of the devices I use do not have 64-bit drivers. HP unfortunately pre-loads a good deal of bloatware into the factory hard drive image. Upon receiving the notebook, I immediately wiped the drive and did a clean install of Vista using orev’s excellent Clean Install Guide in the forums. This allowed me to start with a fresh install of the operating system and drivers only.

Performance
Our configuration of the dv5t had a 2.26-GHz Intel Core i5 430M CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium, and a 7,200-rpm, 500GB hard drive. For the most part, this combination proved powerful: the notebook scored 5,725 on PCMark Vantage (a Windows benchmark), which is 1,700 points higher than the average thin-and-light. For its specs, though, the dv5t’s performance is right on the money. The $849 Dell Studio 15, which has the same configuration save for its discrete graphics and lack of a Blu-ray drive, scored an almost identical 5,735. The $829 Samsung R580, which also has identical specs (including a Blu-ray drive) except for a slower 5,400-rpm hard drive, scored even higher (5,804).

The dv5t’s 7,200-rpm hard drive transferred a 4.97GB mixed media file at a rate of 28.8 MBps, while the average notebook in this class does so at a slower rate of 23.4 MBps (the Studio 15 managed a similar 28.3 MBps). Still, the hard drive couldn’t make the notebook boot quickly; its startup time of 1:18 seems sluggish when you consider that the average notebook this size can be up and running within 56 seconds (even the Gateway NV59C09u, which has a slower 5,400-rpm hard drive, booted in 1:03).

The dv5t didn’t hiccup when we ran a full scan using Norton Internet Security in the background while streaming music through Slacker and jumping between open tabs in IE8. As we said about HP’s new Pavilion dm4, however, sometimes this fast laptop felt slower than it should have, thanks to the dragging cursor. We also saw the spinning Windows circle a lot, even when trying such tasks as minimizing our Norton scan or ending a video capture in MediaSmart Webcam. When it came down to more intense crunching, the notebook transcoded a 114MB MPEG-4 file to AVI in 1 minute flat, just 3 seconds faster than the average thin-and-light.

Design
The MSI X350 has a distinct appearance, thanks to its ultra-thin form factor. People will instantly get attracted to its slimness and lightweight. The X350 is easy to carry around and won’t weigh your backpack down. It comes in black and silver color options, while most of its body has a diamond cluster design pattern. This texture feels nice, especially the palm rest area. However, the top half is covered by a glossy material that attracts fingerprints. Earlier, we’d complained about the X340′s flimsy build quality, but we’re happy to report that things have improved in the X350. Although it isn’t built like a tank (in other words, like the Macbook Air), the build quality’s quite decent. A feeling of sturdiness is delivered due to the metallic lining covering the bottom half. The screen hinge offers fair resistance as well. On the inside, we have a 13-inch display bearing an ideal 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. The display portrays good clarity for text and visuals. The brightness was upto the mark as well, and it was a good experience to watch HD movies on it. The webcam is pretty decent too.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The MSI X350’s large island-style keyboard is one of the most comfortable and responsive we’ve tested. After just a few minutes of using the notebook, we managed to get a score of 92 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor test, 12 wpm above our typical 80-wpm score and a new personal best for this reviewer. We found the 4-inch-long palm rest a comfortable place to put our big wrists, but those with particularly short arms and fingers may find themselves stretching a little to get to the keys. Our only gripe is that some keys are undersized, including the right Shift, Enter, and Backspace keys.

The large, 3.5 x 2-inch touchpad on the X350 has a comfortable black surface that gave us plenty of room to navigate around the desktop with accuracy. It also supports multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom; the Sentelic driver software that comes pre-installed gave us very fine control over the pad’s sensitivity and various multitouch gestures. Because the touchpad is so large and does not have palm rejection capabilities, we initially had a problem with moving the pointer while we were typing. However, after we turned on the touchpad’s typing detection, our problems were solved. While we always prefer discrete mouse pad buttons to a single bar, the X350’s single bar offered decent tactile feedback and was not too stiff.

Ports
Moving on, to the left we have a VGA, LAN, HDMI port and SD/MMC card slot. To the right, there are two closely packed USB ports. Thus, if you have a slightly wide peripheral like some of the wireless data cards, it will cover a part of the other port, thus rendering it useless. Also, just two USB ports could prove insufficient for some. These are followed by a headphone/microphone jack and the power port. We like the fact that thin and light models like the X350 come with petite power adapters like the ones bundled with netbooks, which are easier to carry.

Performance
The MSI X350’s 1.3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU, integrated Intel GMA 4500 graphics, and 5,400-rpm hard drive won’t set any speed records, but they offer more than adequate performance for everyday tasks, from watching high-def videos to surfing the web, transcoding video, and navigating the globe in Google Earth. However, several larger and heavier 13-inch notebooks in the same price range carry more powerful processors that turned in stronger results.

On PCMark Vantage, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance, the X350 scored 2,631, which is nearly 1,000 points better than last year’s single-core MSI X340, but 600 points below the ultraportable category average. The 4.8-pound ASUS U30Jc-1A ($879), which costs $20 less than the X350 and sports a 2.26-GHz Intel Core i3 CPU, scored a massive 5,334. And the 4.8-pound Apple MacBook ($999) managed an impressive 4,259 as well.

The MSI X350’s 5,400-rpm, 500GB Toshiba hard drive booted into Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit) in a mediocre 64 seconds, 5 seconds slower than the category average. Perhaps part of the problem is the 14 seconds of BIOS POST time that takes place before Windows even starts loading.

The X350’s hard drive took 3 minutes and 58 seconds to complete the LAPTOP Transfer Test, in which we copy 4.97GB of mixed media files. That’s a rate of 21.4 MBps, which is a little slower than the category average of 25.3 MBps, but still faster than some of its competitors. The U30Jc-1A managed only 20.9 MBps and, when running Windows 7 via Boot Camp, the MacBook was even slower at 19.6 MBps.

The X350 took 1 minute and 52 seconds to transcode a 114MB MPEG-4 video to AVI format using Oxelon Media Encoder. That’s 15 seconds faster than the category average of 2 minutes and 7 seconds. However, the U30Jc-1A finished in only 1 minute and 12 seconds, while the MacBook took only 1 minute and 7 seconds.