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).

The RTC-1000A is a rugged Tablet PC designed in a variety of industrial, military, government and other vehicular, shopfloor or field applications. Measuring a very compact 10.6 x 7.25 x 1.9 inches and weighing about five pounds, the RTC-1000A is powered by an ultra-efficient Intel Atom N270 processor running at 1.6GHz. RAM is up to 2GB. Running Windows Embedded Standard 2009, the RTC-1000A can run either off a 2.5-inch hard disk or an optional solid state disk. The smart 9-cell 7,800mAH Li-Ion battery pack provides five to seven hours of life between charges.

The RC-1000A has wide-aspect ratio 10.2-inch display with a 220 nits backlight (a sunlight-readable version with 450 nits is available), a touch screen (and, optionally, an active digitizer) and WSVGA (1024 x 600 pixel) resolution. There are three USB ports (two standard ones and one mini-USB), RS232 serial, both PC Card and CF Card readers, gigabit Ethernet, a modem jack, and a pass-through connector to a cradle. Wireless connectivity is via 802.11b/g WiFi and Class I Bluetooth. A 3.5G modem module is optional.

In terms of ruggedness, the RTC-1000 has an operating temperature range of between 32 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit with a hard disk. If lower temperature operation is required, there’s an optional hard disk heater that’s good for -4F. SSD versions range from 14 to 140F. Sealing is at the IP65 level, hich means the unit is totally protected against dust and can also low pressure water jets from all directions. The unit can survive 3-foot drops and has also been tested for vibration, ESD, EMC/Safety, humidity, etc.

A row of ten numeric buttons along the bottom of the LCD allow rapid data entry. There’s also a function key, a security button, a quick launch button, backspace, enter, and a four-way navigation diamond.
Note that Aaeon also sells this platform in an Intel Core Duo U2500 based version, the RTC-1000D, which is otherwise virtually identical. In our experience, U2500 systems (10 watt thermal design power) provide about 50% more overall performance than Atom N270 based systems (2.5 watt thermal design power). With the sleek Windows Embedded OS, performance is generally not an issue, so the choice may come down to price, heat dissipation and battery life.

The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is one of the few 10 inch netvertibles I’ve tested that seems to be more than simply a netbook with a touchscreen slapped on. It has a webcam that rotates 270 degrees so you use it whether the computer is in laptop or tablet mode. There are page up and page down buttons built into the side of the display so you can easily scroll through documents in tablet mode. And the computer is choc full of touch-friendly software, whether you buy the netbook with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows 7 Professional. The NL2 convertible tablet also features a rugged design with a thick rubber case that helps protect the computer from scratches and light falls. There’s a sensor which shuts down the hard drive in the event of a fall to prevent damage. And the keyboard is spill resistant.

There’s even a handle built into the case, but unlike previous Classmate PC handles which always stuck out and looked a bit awkward, this one is retractable and looks like it’s just part of the case when not in use. The computer does have some problems. The 1024 x 600 pixel display is more than good enough for most tasks in landscape mode, but if you hold the tablet in portrait mode it turns into a 600 x 1024 screen which isn’t wide enough for viewing many applications or web pages. And the auto-screen rotate feature is sluggish and sometimes simply doesn’t work. The model featured in this review runs $599 and comes with a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel resistive touchscreen display, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Professional, 1GB of RAM, and a 160 hard drive. It has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, 2 USB ports, and a 4-in-1 card reader. The cheaper $499 model ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition or Windows XP. And in the coming weeks and months we’ll see additional options including 3G, WiMAX and GPS capabilities, a capacitive touchscreen, and a higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display.

Design
Like previous Classmate PCs, this netbook’s kid-friendly elements take precedence over aesthetics. However, gone is the leathery, Velcro-attached cover. Instead, the gray, rubberized layer encases the whole 10.5 x 7.6 x 1.2-inch system, giving the Classmate a classier air. The rounded corners and tapered edges keep the netbook looking sleek even though it’s bulkier than regular netbooks and only slightly smaller than Dell’s brick of a student netbook, the Latitude 2100. The Classmate NL2 isn’t exactly fashion-forward, but it’s an improvement.

Under the hood, the white, gray, and black palette continues to dominate with light blue accents here and there. The matte bezel around the 10.1-inch display is filled with buttons and lights, giving kids access to key functions while in tablet mode. The speakers also sit on the display bezel at the bottom.

A somewhat cramped keyboard (which should be fine for the target audience) and fairly small touchpad take up most of the deck, which is otherwise bare except for Caps and Number Lock indicator lights and two small indentations at the top. These help keep the display from wiggling on its swivel hinge when the lid is closed. The triangle-shaped stylus is more comfortable to use than the previous convertible Classmate and stows away snugly in a port on the left side.

The ruggedizing touches add weight: the Classmate is 3.6 pounds, almost a pound heavier than the average netbook. The integrated handle also adds to the heft, but since it’s retractable it doesn’t ruin the netbook’s smooth lines, and makes it easier to carry. While its rounded edges and rubber coating made it comfortable to hold either in portrait or landscap mode, it usually ended up on the table or our lap; we quickly tired of holding the NL2 in the crook of our arm.

Tablet performance
The CTL 2Go Convertible Classmate PC NL2 is a bit of a mixed bag when used as a tablet. On the one hand, it’s probably one of the best Intel Atom powered tablets I’ve used to date due to the software that came with this computer and a few key design decisions. On the other hand, saying it’s one of the best isn’t really saying much. I’m starting to think that while the Intel Atom processor is more than capable of powering a typical netbook it might not be fast enough to handle the demands of running Windows 7 on a tablet-based computer. While capacitive multitouch displays are all the rage these days, the base model of the NL2 ships with a resistive, single-input touchscreen. That means you can use the included stylus or your fingernail to tap at the screen. But it won’t recognize more than one input at a time, and it can’t perform two-finger gestures such as pinch to zoom. In fact, it won’t even notice if you touch the screen with your fingertip.

This is a good and a bad thing. It’s good because it makes it much easier to write notes on the display than it would be with a capacitive display which only recognizes finger input. Since the NL2 is designed for classroom use, handwriting support is pretty important. The computer won’t recognize any input from your palm if you happen to rest your palm on the screen while using the stylus to write — much the way you would with a piece of paper. But a resistive display still isn’t the best screen type for handwriting, since it doesn’t recognize variable pressure. That means you can’t differentiate thick strokes from light ones, which makes it touch to write accurately and even tougher to draw. For that kind of precision, you need an active digitizer, which would drive up the cost significantly. You can pull up the Blue Dolphin software from any screen by hitting the Home button on the side of the screen. If you hit the Home button twice you bring up the “Quick Controller app which lets you adjust the volume and screen brightness, calibrate the display, and enable or disable auto screen rotation. The $599 model also comes with Windows 7 Professional, which includes a number of optimizations for touchscreen displays. For instance, any time you tap a text input box in a web browser or other application, an option to launch the on-screen keyboard will appear. And tapping and holding on a shortcut, link, or other part of the screen will simulate the action of right-clicking a mouse button.

There’s also support for “flicks,” which let you navigate through Internet Explorer and other applications by flicking your stylus across the screen instead of relying on scrollbars. You can also use flicks to perform certain editing tasks such as copy, paste, and undo.
By far the biggest problem with using the computer in tablet mode is that a 600 x 1024 x display just doesn’t give you much real estate for displaying web sites or applications designed for larger screens. Even the Blue Dolphin program launcher will only show you a single row of program icons when you’re holding the tablet in portrait mode.

Performance
The 1.67-GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU and 1GB of RAM earned the Classmate NL2 a score of 1,090 in PCMark Vantage, almost 200 marks below the netbook category average (1,231) and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t convertible (1,227). The Classmate’s Geekbench score of 848 is only 20 points below average (868) and more than 40 points ahead of the Viliv S10 Blade convertible (803). Unfortunately, it lags far behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (961) and the ASUS Eee PC 1001P (908). This performance delta was most noticeable when multitasking. While writing this review in Open Office Writer, we switched between Art Rage, Windows Media Center, and Google Chrome with up to 8 tabs open. The browser began to slow once we created more than five tabs, and background tasks like streaming audio made the system more sluggish.

By contrast, the 5,400-rpm, 160GB hard drive is speedier than the competition. It completed the LAPTOP Transfer Test in 3 minutes and 28 seconds for a transfer rate of 24.5 MBps. This speed is comfortably ahead of the IdeaPad S10-3t (22.1 MBps), the Eee PC 1001P (17.5 MBps), and the category average (16.7 MBps). The S10 Blade’s score of 9.4 MBps doesn’t even come close.

Though the hard drive is fairly fast, the boot time of 1:10 is slower than both the average (1:01) and the Dell Latitude 2100’s speedy 35 seconds; this is most likely due to the Blue Dolphin interface that loads on startup.

Intel’s integrated GMA 3150 graphics earned the Classmate NL2 a score of just 150 on 3DMark06, which is on a par with most other netbooks with this chipset such as the Eee PC 1001P (155) and far better than the Latitude 2100 (122). But the IdeaPad S10-3t trumps it with a score of 164, and the netbook average (which includes Nvidia Ion systems) of 214 is over 60 marks ahead. We don’t expect students to do any video transcoding on the NL2, and that’s good because it took the netbook 8 minutes and 29 seconds to transcode a 5:05 MPEG-4 video clip (114MB) to the AVI format using Oxelon Media Converter. This is almost 2:30 longer than the netbook average (6:01) and well behind the IdeaPad S10-3t (5:51), Eee PC 1001P (6:02), and even the Viliv S10 Blade (6:42). Despite the low graphics scores, standard definition video runs smoothly on the Classmate, though the system struggled with a 720p trailer for The Discoverers. And we were able to watch Hulu and YouTube video at full screen with minimal hitching.

The HTC HD2 uses the first capacitive touch display on a Windows phone to make viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microsoft Office files, PDF documents and pictures easier with just a pinch of your fingers. The large display also enables faster, more efficient and accurate typing using the onscreen keyboard. Utilizing Qualcomm’s new 1Ghz Snapdragon mobile processor, the HTC HD2 offers enhanced performance that improves the speed of applications, videos, games and more.

Developed with a passion for enhancing peoples lives through innovation, design and ease of use, HTC Sense is rooted in three fundamental principles of Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Make It Mine
The HD2 continues HTCs drive for personalization by reflecting not only what you want on your phone, but also where you are. Using its large 4.3-inch window-like display, HTC has brought a new dimension to weather with a localized, animated weather experience that utilizes HD2s entire display without being invasive to your important content and information. The HD2 can also be further enhanced to reflect your needs and style by downloading a wealth of applications at the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Stay Close
The HTC HD2 helps you stay close to the important friends and colleagues in your life with HTCs people-centric communication approach that provides a single contact view that displays individual communication snapshots of your conversations with the people in your life regardless of whether a call, text, Facebook status update or email were used. While in the midst of email exchange with someone you can easily transition to a call by pressing the call button. HTC has also included a new Windows-based version of its Twitter application, HTC Peep. The pictures you take with the 5MP camera can also be quickly shared via Facebook or Twitter.

Discover the Unexpected
With the HTC Sense experience, the HTC HD2 includes a variety of enhancements that expand and improve the overall phone experience. The HD2 includes a variety of sensors including a proximity sensor that is used to prevent false screen touches when the phone is picked up to answer or make a call. A light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the display. Leveraging its 3G broadband connectivity, the HTC HD2 also offers personal Wi-Fi anywhere for your computer or other devices.

Also available for the HTC HD2 is the optional car kit that automatically transforms HD2s user interface into a finger friendly in-car navigation experience for driving.

Windows phone
As a new Windows phone, the HTC HD2 showcases the powerful messaging, browsing and productivity capabilities delivered by Windows Mobile 6.5. Offering a best in class e-mail experience complete with the ability to synchronize with Microsoft Exchange, you have the ability to check and manage multiple email accounts. Microsofts new My Phone service enables you to automatically back up and synch photos, music, contacts and text messages for free from the HD2 to the web.

Availability
The HTC HD2 will be available later this month with selected operators across Europe, before rolling out to other regions in the coming months.

1500 mAh lithium-ion battery
Galaxy Spica proudly boasts the very best battery on the market. The 1500 mAh lithium-ion battery is a heavy-duty battery that can handle the most intense web usage and serious Wi-Fi abuse – providing for an uninterrupted, unmatched, all-in-one mobile experience.

A-GPS enabled
Equipped with A-GPS and with access to My Location, Galaxy Spica automatically determines where you are – giving you turn-by-turn navigation, real-time info on traffic condition and local businesses. What’s more, with Google Latitude, you can share your current location and status with online friends on a map. Meeting up’s never been easier.

Android
The innovative Android platform not only allows you to experience the web as you would on a full-sized computer, a master of multitasking, it allows you to copy and paste from one app to another – switching between up to 6 apps at once. And with access to the ever-growing Android MarketTM, you can choose from over 10000 apps that are bound to bring you endless hours of entertainment and delight anywhere you go.

Brilliant 3.2” Touchscreen & Multimedia
With high-resolution image quality and strikingly saturated colours, the impressive 3.2″ touchscreen is perfect for watching DivX movies on the go.

Global Roaming with email client
Equipped with an email client, Galaxy Spica syncs up your emails, contacts, and calendar events in one place, in real-time – so you can stay connected with friends, family, and work at all times. And with global roaming, you can talk, work, and play in any country you go.

Built-in support for DivX and Xvid
As the first Android device with built-in support for DivX and Xvid coded content, Galaxy Spica is set to expand your entertainment universe, allowing you to playback an impressive 98 % of all video files in high-resolution.

Key features

* Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE support
* 3G with HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps
* Android OS v2.1 Eclair, upgraded from v1.5 Cupcake
* 3.2″ capacitive touchscreen of HVGA resolution
* 800 MHz CPU
* 3.15 megapixel autofocus camera
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and GPS receiver
* Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
* Standard microUSB port for charging and data
* Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
* microSD card slot, up to 32GB support
* Standard 3.5mm audio jack
* Great DivX/XviD video player
* Limited smart dialing
* Voice dialing
* Equalizer presets are a first in the Android realm

Main disadvantages

* Inadequate sunlight legibility
* No ambient light and proximity sensors
* Erratic performance under Android 2.1 (noticeable lag in some apps)
* No Live Wallpapers
* No 3D view in the gallery
* No preloaded document viewer
* No multi-touch support
* CIF video recording is below par
* No Flash support for the web browser
* No two-position camera shutter key, slow autofocus
* Average loudspeaker performance

Desaign and Keys

Milestones button which is almost one hundred percent black is very sturdy, but its design a bit stiff. 165 grams of weight that it felt excessive. however, its size is 115.8 x 60 x 13.7 mm is still quite okay for category hape hape-style QWERTY slider. Even including the dimensionless thin milestone in its class. Holding it in left hand while right hand trying on the menu, a milestone is a convenient device to be played. power button located on the top right corner. Tto reach it must be touched first, then press. Less ergonomic, since this button will be frequently used. In addition to hape started the switch, the on-off it will be useful also to enable or lock the screen. type of haptic touch buttons are in sequence down the screen. they are back, menu, home, and search. Because of sensitive, sometimes this haptic haptic accidentally touched but it was no big deal. With the presence of vibration feedback, haptic model it becomes interesting. QWERTY keypad. geserannya very solid technique. but this is not the full form factor slider. milestone only just opened the bottom half of the field. this news is less good, because it becomes less QWERTY space maximum. Here must be satisfied with the layout and structure of rigid QWERTY keypad buttons are squeezed. It’s QWERTY keypad buttons are made of fairly soft rubber material, but less so crisp.

Multimedia

Multimedia in Motorola Milestone still feels responsible. No radio, but still retain the music, camera, and GPS. For games can be downloaded from the android market. resolution 5-megapixel camera with features supported a complete picture. There otofokus, macro mode, nightmode, and two types of dual led flash. Milestone in the video recording can record level D1 (720 x 480 pixels) at a speed of 24.5 fps. The music features, the audio quality is quite satisfactory. 3.5mm plugs role here will be very useful, to get better sound quality. Using GPS through A-GPS. Through google maps, location points can be acquired only in a matter of seconds. Complemented by MotoNav navigation. But unfortunately this map are shareware.

Stable and Fast Internet

Internet at this hape really stable and fast. browsers and applications are amazing. the milestone has been able to do multi-touch and multi-window support. with qualified browser application, a stable internet connection applications and widgets on the homescreen widget that floats realtime will always be connected to the internet, will be faced with the high cost of internet access to enjoy them. all of these features can also be disabled but will leave its core features. probably would be great if this milestone comes with unlimited internet access card.

Complete Connectivity

Oversized battery milestone is highly qualified internet hape. With the existence of the HSDPA connection 10.2 mbps and 5.7 mbps HSUPA have been very promising although the later will depend also on the quality of an organized network of operators. another point is the wifi connection. for connections between devices, existing types of data cable microusb, which already supports bluetooth A2DP and a 3.5mm standard audio hole. Battery is enough slack in the milestone. Heat the battery very quickly felt at the accidental casing dominated the metal material. With the level of brightness (brightness) screen in auto mode, with normal use, a milestone can burn up to 2 days. But when it is often used to connect online with the occasional hotspot point, hape is reeling. can only survive less than half a day.

Key features

* Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
* 10.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
* 3.7″ 16M-color capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480x 854 pixel) resolution
* Android OS v2.0 with kinetic scrolling and pinch zooming
* Slimmest side slider with full QWERTY keyboard yet
* Great build quality
* ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU, PowerVR SGX graphics accelerator; 256 MB of RAM
* 5 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash and geo-tagging
* D1 (720 x 480 pixels) video recording @ 24fps
* Wi-Fi and GPS with A-GPS
* 133MB storage, microSD slot, bundled 8GB card
* Accelerometer and proximity sensor
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1

Main disadvantages

* No DivX and XviD video playback
* No smart and voice dialing
* Somewhat clumsy camera interface and limited camera features
* No free GPS navigation solution
* No Flash support for the web browser
* No FM radio

Design
The Aspire Timeline 4810T has brushed aluminum that not only gives it a sleek look but also contributes to its lightweight nature, coming at only 1.6kg. The Aspire Timeline 3810T is 24mm thick and rising just 5 mm at it’s highest. The machine’s keyboard offers reasonably large keys so regardless of your hand and finger size, using it for long periods of time won’t prove tiring or troublesome. The trackpad complements this offering responsive performance and good feel though we have to say this trackpad doesn’t feel as good under our fingers as the Lenovo T400s (also reviewed on ITP.net) pad. The key tops are very glossy, smooth and flat making for a different feel than I am used to with most keyboards that have a slight concavity to the tops of the keys. Typing feel for the odd keyboard is good with a tactile feel and a decent click when keys are pressed. After a while, you do forget that the keys are flat. The 14-inch screen of the notebook is definitely geared more towards multimedia use than general productivity with its glossy finish. I have said it before; I am not a big fan of highly glossy screens because of the glare you have to deal with. You are in for some grief if you try and use the notebook outdoors. The screen works well, though, and has good color reproduction and no major issues with smearing or tearing when watching video online.

Performance
One of the big claims that Acer makes with the Timeline is all day computing from a single charge. Acer figures that the battery is good for a full eight hours of use per charge. If you read the benchmark section you know that with Battery Eater Pro and the Timeline set to 50% brightness and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off I was able to squeeze over four and a half hours from the battery. That is almost half the runtime that Acer promises, but as I said before, Battery Eater Pro is harder on batteries than most people will be in the real world. The battery life of the little machine is very impressive. Performance was the only area in which the 4810T struggled to impress and this was largely due to a lack of processing firepower. The machine relies on a Core 2 Solo 1.4GHz (single core) processor and while this will run most applications on the market, it won’t win any races. This fact shone through when we ran our PCMark Vantage benchmark as the Aspire scored a rather basic score of 1602 in the overall PCMark Suite test. The T400s by comparison managed a far higher figure of 5248.

Even with improving technologies and longer lasting batteries, it is still a pain in the butt having your laptop with a dead battery, in the middle of a 8 hour flight. Laptops tend to lose their charm quickly when you’re constantly looking for the nearest power outlet to charge up. I have seen on how to squeeze every second of juice from your lappy’s battery. How do you keep your battery going for as long as possible?  Here are some easy ways to do so.

1. Defrag regularly – The faster your hard drive does its work – less demand you are going to put on the hard drive and your battery. Make your hard drive as efficient as possible by defragging it regularly. (but not while it’s on battery of course!) Mac OSX is better built to handle fragmentation so it may not be very applicable for Apple systems.
2. Dim your screen – Most laptops come with the ability to dim your laptop screen. Some even come with ways to modify CPU and cooling performance. Cut them down to the lowest level you can tolerate to squeeze out some extra battery juice.
3. Cut down on programs running in the background. Itunes, Desktop Search, etc. All these add to the CPU load and cut down battery life. Shut down everything that isn’t crucial when you’re on battery.
4. Cut down external devices – USB devices (including your mouse) & WiFi drain down your laptop battery. Remove or shut them down when not in use. It goes without saying that charging other devices (like your iPod) with your laptop when on battery is a surefire way of quickly wiping out the charge on your laptop battery.
5. Add more RAM – This will allow you to process more with the memory your laptop has, rather than relying on virtual memory. Virtual memory results in hard drive use, and is much less power efficient. Note that adding more RAM will consume more energy, so this is most applicable if you do need to run memory intensive programs which actually require heavy usage of virtual memory.
6. Run off a hard drive rather than CD/DVD – As power consuming as hard drives are, CD and DVD drives are worse. Even having one in the drive can be power consuming. They spin, taking power, even when they?re not actively being used. Wherever possible, try to run on virtual drives using programs like Alcohol 120% rather than optical ones.
7. Keep the battery contacts clean: Clean your battery’s metal contacts every couple of months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps the transfer of power from your battery more efficient.
8. Take care of your battery – Exercise the Battery. Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three weeks. Also, do not let a Li-On battery completely discharge. (Discharing is only for older batteries with memory effects)
9. Hibernate not standby – Although placing a laptop in standby mode saves some power and you can instantly resume where you left off, it doesn’t save anywhere as much power as the hibernate function does. Hibernating a PC will actually save your PC’s state as it is, and completely shut itself down.
10. Keep operating temperature down – Your laptop operates more efficiently when it’s cooler. Clean out your air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner, or refer to some extra tips by LapTopMag.com.
11. Set up and optimize your power options – Go to ‘Power Options’ in your windows control panel and set it up so that power usage is optimized (Select the ‘max battery’ for maximum effect).
12. Don’t multitask – Do one thing at a time when you’re on battery. Rather than working on a spreadsheet, letting your email client run in the background and listening to your latest set of MP3’s, set your mind to one thing only. If you don’t you’ll only drain out your batteries before anything gets completed!
13. Go easy on the PC demands – The more you demand from your PC. Passive activities like email and word processing consume much less power than gaming or playing a DVD. If you’ve got a single battery charge – pick your priorities wisely.
14. Get yourself a more efficient laptop – Laptops are getting more and more efficient in nature to the point where some manufacturers are talking about all day long batteries. Picking up a newer more efficient laptop to replace an aging one is usually a quick fix.
15. Prevent the Memory Effect – If you’re using a very old laptop, you’ll want to prevent the ‘memory effect’ – Keep the battery healthy by fully charging and then fully discharging it at least once every two to three weeks. Exceptions to the rule are Li-Ion batteries (which most laptops have) which do not suffer from the memory effect.
16. Turn off Wi-Fi and BlueTooth – Most laptops have shortcut keys to instantly disable wireless networking. Turn off Auto-save features in Microsoft Office and other applications, turn offscheduled tasks.

Looking for the longest battery life laptop ? Actually, many factors affect the amount of time that a laptop battery can deliver power before it must be recharged.H ow to extend laptop battery life? Here are some more tips to improve your notebook’s battery life:

1. If you do not use your laptop for extended periods of time (a week or more), remove the battery pack from the laptop.
2. Do not expose the battery to high heat or freezing temperatures. Do not leave your battery in your car in the summer. Hot batteries discharge very quickly, and cold ones can’t create as much power.
3. Make sure to plug your laptop charger adapter into a UPS and not directly into a power outlet or surge protector.
4. If you have a nickel-metal hydride battery, completely drain and recharge the battery once a month to maximize its capacity to hold a charge.
5. Fully charge new battery packs before use. New pack needs to be fully charged and discharged (cycled) a few times before it can condition to full capacity.
6. For laptops that work as Desktop Replacement, the battery should be re-installed every 3-4 weeks and allowed to fully discharge.

If you asked us in the past if we like HP’s netbooks, we’d tell you, “It depends.” We love the business-focused Mini 5102, for example, because of its great keyboard, sturdy design, and over 10 hours of endurance with its 6-cell battery. But the company’s consumer 10-inch netbooks haven’t measured up to the competition from ASUS, Acer, and Toshiba. HP has put its best foot forward with the Mini 210 ($384 as configured), which takes Intel’s Atom N450 processor and wraps it in a sleek new design with an improved keyboard. This configuration also pairs a high-def screen with Broadcom’s Crystal HD Enhanced Media Accelerator for HD playback. However, this netbook doesn’t last as long on a charge as other Pine Trail netbooks. The bottom also runs warm, and its touchpad requires a bit of a learning curve. Should you make this Mini yours?

Design
The HP Mini 210 is a netbook with better than usual styling and design. It feels almost futuristic with its textured lid and base, edge-to-edge glossy screen and concealed touchpad buttons. Furthermore it has no annoyingly visible and extremly bright status lights – it’s almost stealth-like in this regard. The power, hard drive and battery indicator lights can be found on the sides. The Wi-Fi, caps lock, mute and ‘touchpad disabled’ lights are visible on the top of the system, but only when these features are enabled. Even the panel on the base of the HP Mini 210 netbook seems futuristic: you don’t have to use any tools to remove it in order to get to the single memory slot and 2.5in hard drive bay. Simply remove the battery, press the release buttons and pop off the cover with your fingernails. Admittedly it can be a little difficult to remove and at times it feels like the plastic clips that hold the panel in place might snap, but if you’re slow and careful they won’t. The bottom panel of the HP Mini 210 doesn’t have any vents and it is one single piece of plastic. To keep cool, the internal components rely on an air intake vent on the right side and an exhaust vent on the left through which the small system fan pushes out the accumulated warm air. When you use it on your lap – even after a short amount of time – the vents can get blocked and it gets noticeably warm around the hard drive and CPU areas. This becomes uncomfortable after a short while and it’s not a good thing for a notebook that’s designed to be highly mobile and used on a lap.

Features
The exterior of the Mini 210 is so nice that it’s rather disappointing to discover that underneath the exterior lies a rather plain netbook recipe. Windows 7 Starter edition sits on top of an Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz, 1GB of RAM and an Intel GMA 3150 graphics solution. The display screen is a 10.1-inch 1024×600 LCD panel, same as pretty much every other vendor. Wireless is supported, but it’s only 802.11b/g. Officially HP sells five variants on the Mini 210. There’s the entry-level AU$449 1015TU model, and then five models at an AU$599 price point; the 1016TU, 1017TU, 1018TU and 1020TU. The difference between the top tier models is only in the colour of the lid (Black, White, Red and Blue respectively), but the difference between the sole AU$449 model and the AU$599 models lies in storage, power and integrated Bluetooth. The AU$449 model comes with a 160GB hard drive, no Bluetooth and a three-cell battery. The AU$599 models bump that up to a 250GB hard drive, integrated Bluetooth and a six-cell battery. We tested with the 1020TU, which is the model with the blue casing. Aside from Windows 7 Starter, HP also offers up a quick launch operating system based on Splashtop Linux OS. Being HP, it’s subtly re-branded as “HP QuickWeb” and offers a near instantaneous boot for simple web browsing, music playback, photo browsing, Skype and chat applications. If you don’t like Splashtop it’s easily disabled from within either QuickWeb or Windows 7.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Here’s an instance where we’re glad a notebook maker borrowed design elements from the business side of the house. Like the Mini 5102, the island-style keys of the Mini 210 have a rubber-like matte coating that offered a pleasant tactile feel. Due to its nearly edge-to-edge footprint, the keyboard felt nice and roomy, and we were able to reach our normal typing speed and error rate right away. We appreciated the snappy return, proper placement, and sizing of the keys, even along the edges. As with other HP systems, the Function keys along the top row are reversed so that users have one-touch access to multimedia controls, volume, brightness, the wireless toggle, and more. Generally speaking, we’re not fans of touchpads with integrated touch buttons, but the Mini 210 is one of the better implementations we’ve used on a netbook. The 3.1 x 1.8-inch clickpad fills up as much vertical space as possible, jutting right up against the keyboard above it. We encountered a little more resistance than we’d like when navigating the desktop, but the integrated buttons worked well, offering solid feedback. Nevertheless, we continue to prefer the discrete touchpad and buttons on the Toshiba mini NB305. Multitouch gestures were smooth, though there aren’t many beyond two-finger scroll and pinch-to-zoom. When typing, we didn’t find ourselves accidentally brushing the touchpad (even though it’s so close to the keys), but users prone to this issue can adjust the sensitivity in the mouse properties or double tap the dot on the upper left corner to disable the touchpad altogether.

Display
The screen has a native resolution of 1024×600 and it’s bright enough to use outdoors and indoors with the lights on. It has a glossy plastic pane that extends from edge to edge. This will reflect light, which will possibly infuriate you while you try to view photos and videos. It has a webcam at the top as well as a microphone and two concealed Wi-Fi antennea. The netbook’s lid is strong and the hinges hold it perfectly in place.

Ports & Webcam
The Mini 210 has a typical spread of ports for a netbook: VGA, USB and headphone/mic combo ports on the left; Ethernet, 5-in-1 memory card reader, Kensington lock slot, and the remaining two USB ports on the right. We like that the right USB ports sit closer to the back of the system, keeping connected devices out of our way. HP bundled the Mini 210 with ArcSoft’s WebCam Companion 3, which not only allows users to record video and take pictures, but also to edit and upload them to YouTube or Snapfish directly from the program. The webcam delivered acceptable image quality when chatting over Skype, though the output was somewhat grainy. A quick adjustment of the hue setting resulted in truer colors, and upping the contrast produced richer images. Unfortunately, each time we moved our Skype companion we noticed blur, regardless of how fast or slow we were. It wasn’t distracting, but it was

Performance
The Mini 210′s physical build ensures a pleasant computing experience for the most part. Like most thinner netbooks, heat build-up can be an issue. Likewise, in common with other six-cell models, the bulky battery juts out of the back at an angle that can be a little uncomfortable on the lap, but these are minor quibbles. The keyboard response is excellent with well spaced keys and a responsive clickable touch-pad. Atom processors and PCMark05 haven’t always behaved well together in previous tests, and this was exactly the case with the Mini 210 which crashed the test suite repeatedly. Based on simple application testing and the fact that the Mini 210′s innards are quite standard, you can expect a slow performance out of the 210. 3DMark06 did complete, but its score of 155 puts it solidly in the Solitaire-only camp. We ran the Mini 210 through our standard battery testing regime. This involves switching screen brightness to maximum, disabling all power-saving features entirely and setting a looping XviD file to run to the point of battery exhaustion. It’s a test that’s designed to be brutal and give a “worst-case” battery life scenario. In actual usage — especially with a dimmed screen, less intensive processing and judicious use of Wi-Fi only when needed — you can expect a lot more than we get with this test, which only gives us a base line. The Mini 210′s base line was highly impressive, however, lasting four hours and 45 minutes before conking out. HP has historically placed something of a premium on its netbook designs, so the fact that the RRP of the Mini 210 is in line with the current netbook norm is highly pleasing. Combine that with a great keyboard, instant-on Linux capability and very good battery life and you’ve got an excellent netbook.

It’s difficult to think of a single major notebook manufacturer who hasn’t also brought out a netbook by now. Unfortunately, in their haste to get on the mini-mobile-PC bandwagon, many of them have sacrificed considerations like ergonomics. Initially, it would appear Toshiba’s NB100 netbook is yet another casualty of this trend, but let’s find out how it actually holds up in this and other regards. Toshiba offers several different versions of its netbook, being available with a choice of Ubuntu or Windows XP Home, 512MB or 1024MB of memory and hard drive sizes of 80 or 160GB. Of course, core components like an Intel N270 Atom processor running at 1.60GHz and Intel integrated GMA 950 graphics remain constants. There’s also a selection of colours available, though unfortunately these are tied to specific configurations.

Design
The design is worse than just starkly utilitarian – it’s old fashioned, like something found in a time capsule buried beneath Toshiba HQ. With its chunky chassis, black plastic panelling and silver plastic trim around the edges the NB100 is an unwelcome blast from the past which shrieks “Hello, 1980s!” and takes us back to the era when laptops could never be more than boring business tools. That’s a huge disappointment compared to the stylish Toshiba notebooks we’re seeing of late. The NB100’s only concession to this is the glossy lid, coated in shiny black and generously flecked with sapphire blue. However we’re worried this would scratch very easily, especially since Toshiba doesn’t even include a slip case or sleeve to protect the netbook between sessions. Opening the NB100 up reveals a mostly matte black interior, with the small power-button and accenting around the sides and touchpad the only exceptions. To be honest, after the classy and relatively attractive exterior, the interior of Toshiba’s netbook looks plain and dull. This is not helped by the thick bezel around the screen with its integrated speaker grille, or the touchpad which thanks to being a slightly different shade of black than the rest makes the whole affair look somewhat cheap and toy-like.

Display
If you deduced from the name of Toshiba’s netbook that it has 10inch display, we must disappoint you with the fact that NB100 has 8.9inch display with resolution of 1024×600 pixels and average viewing angles. This glare type display with LED backlight didn’t make to positive impressions on us but it does its job correctly. The 1024 x 600 screen uses one of Toshiba’s ‘TruBrite’ panels with a glossy high-contrast finish. This makes for crisp and vibrant images when there’s not too much light around, but is otherwise prone to excessive glare. Weight of this netbook is 1.05kg and it is one of the lightest netbooks that we saw so far.

Keyboard and Touchpad
Another negative that becomes immediately obvious when opening the NB100-128 up is that the keyboard has tiny, cramped keys and our favourite bugbear: the right-Shift to the outside of the upward cursor key, just like on the original 7in Eee PC. Somehow, though, Toshiba has managed to make the keyboard even worse, with squishy and occasionally unreliable feedback. Nor is the touchpad much of a step up. It’s quite a bit smaller than the off-black champagne-bordered section suggests and feels just as cramped to use as the keyboard. In a nice touch, Toshiba has made the main left-click button wider than the right one, but goes and spoils it by making both touchpad buttons a little thin and difficult to press.

Port
All up, we found only a few truly noteworthy features on the NB100. Toshiba deserves a tip of the hat for sensibly locating some ports on the rear of the NB100 rather than the sides. The VGA port sits at the far right, to one side of the extended battery booty, allowing plenty of room for the VGA connector and shroud. Ethernet and AC sockets, which you could imagine often being used at the same time, are grouped together on the left. Audio-wise, things take a few steps back again. Not that the speakers on most other netbooks are anything to write home about, but the Asus Eee PC has shown (or made audible, rather) how it can and should be done. Having said that, they’re perfectly adequate for an episode of your favourite TV show and there’s always the option of using headphones.

Performance
At the heart of it all lives the same 1.60GHz Intel N270 Atom processor as found in most other netbooks currently on the market, which is capable of handling everyday tasks but will struggle with things like decoding 720p video and other CPU-intensive tasks. 1GB of memory should be just about enough to keep Windows XP happy, though you will want to avoid heavy multitasking. So as with every netbook we’ve reviewed to date, everyday usage is fine but it obviously won’t keep up with notebooks when the going gets tougher. The 120GB hard drive is average for a netbook, since there are plenty of models on the market that offer 160GB, but then again there are ones that only have 60GB. In terms of networking, Toshiba hasn’t been overly generous. Ethernet is of the non-Gigabit variety, Wi-Fi is only up to 802.11g and Bluetooth is completely absent. One point that’s remarkable is how quiet the NB100-128 stays during use. Most netbooks are fairly silent little things, but the Toshiba is practically inaudible even under load. Despite this, it never gets uncomfortably warm.

Spec
Processor Intel Atom N270 at 1,6 GHz
Chipset Intel 945GSE
Memory 1GB DDR2
HDD [GB] 120
Optical Device none
Graphic Adapter Intel GMA950
Screen 8,9″ (1024×600)
Connectors 3xUSB, VGA, Bluetooth, Wireless 802.11b/g, card reader
Weight 1.05kg