Laptops

Compaq Mini Notebook

LaptopsArena — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:43:38 +0000

The Mini 700 is a Compaq Mini notebook, which, to our surprise, managed to beat the HP 2133 Mini Note. The HP Compaq Mini 700 is actually a very good looking little notebook with a glossy lid and the Compaq logo which definitely got our attention. When you lift that glossy black lid, a nice matte interior will be revealed. This mini notebook is definitely good looking.

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With 261 mm x 167 x 25 mm in dimensions and 1.15 kg in weight, this little gadget is sure easy to carry out so you can use the computer whenever you need. However, the unit will be a little disappointing when it comes to battery life as this Compaq Mini notebook will manage to stay on for only 3 hours and 18 minutes. You could say that you’ve seen a lot worse when it comes to netbook battery performance but since the whole idea of mini notebook are to provide us with a computer that is highly portable, battery life should be strongest points of these small computers. Just like most other netbooks, this Compaq Mini notebook also runs on an Intel Atom N270 processor and 1 GB of RAM. This combination is common for mini laptops which belong to the same category. The storage capacity of the hard disk is 60 GB. I know that you have seen mini notebooks that can supports even 160 GB of files but let’s face it, just what kind of files are you going to store on this laptop which is not meant to be a primary computer.

The graphics card is also the most common choice for this notebook category and we are talking about the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950. Performance, as you could probably tell by now, is not one of the key elements of this unit. You also get an integrated Bluetooth device. The keyboard is awesome. The keys are square and wide and they feel very comfortable to use. They are easy to press and they offer positive feedback. The 10.2 inch display has a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

As for the ports and connections, they are not as they should be on a 10.2 inch mini notebook. We have 2 USB ports, an SD/MMC media card reader and one single headphone jack which also acts as a microphone input. There is not VGA out and frankly we have never seen such a poor selection of ports and features not even on smaller notebooks. It’s a real shame since everything about this notebook was so fine until we reached the ports and connections chapter. Back in March 2009, the price of this Compaq Mini notebook was about 243 pounds which is a good value for a 10.2 ultraportable notebook.

As you can see, overall this netbook is quite a fine machine as it fits the pattern of an ultraportable laptop. Too bad that it really hit the bucket with the selection of ports and features and I really don’t understand how HP could have made just a big mistake.

Best Notebooks

LaptopsArena — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:36:52 +0000

The Asus g73JH-A2 is one of the best notebooks that money can buy right now. In fact, it’s a gaming notebook that can be considered quite cheap for the specs that it has inside. We have discovered a powerful unit for the price of $1599 and we have decided to share the specs and features with you today.

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For the price mentioned above, you will get a notebook which is based on a 1.6 GHZ (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode) Intel Core i7-720QM processor and no less that 8 GB of DDR3 RAM. Now I can imagine this laptop literally flying when it comes to running any kind of applications because this combination between processor and RAM is absolutely amazing. The graphics card is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 with 1 GB of GDDR5 video memory. The storage capacity takes shape in dual 500 GB hard drives which adds up to a total of 1 TB of free disk space which is going to be pretty hard to fill.

The 17.3 inch display comes is a HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and it has a glossy surface that makes the colors look superb and the image looks more beautiful. The horizontal viewing angles are excellent so movie watching with friends is going to be a breeze. Aside from a pair of rather regular notebook speakers, the unit also hosts an integrated subwoofer which produces sufficient bass for you to enjoy your favorite shooting games. Along with the beautiful keyboard comes a dedicated numerical pad. The keys are supported by backlights so typing in the dark is going to be very easy. There is a bit of flex registered in the keyboard area but nothing that could disturb you while you type. The touchpad is huge and if this were not a gaming laptop, you probably would not need an external mouse. The matter surface is pleasant to the touch and it’s very responsive no matter if your hands are dry or moist. The left and right touchpad buttons are in fact one single bad which is quite hard to press.

A gaming laptop is generally very rich on the ports and connections chapter. This unit comes with 4 USB ports, one media card reader, a HDMI port, a VGA port, a Kensington lock slot, an Ethernet port and the regular headphones and microphone jack. There is no FireWire port but that didn’t bother us very much. We still believe that this is one of the best notebooks at this time. Battery life however could be a bit disappointing for some but we think that a 17 inch laptop is most likely going to stay on your desk the whole time so portability is not one of the strongest points of this unit. The included 8 cell battery does manage to keep the laptop on for about one hour and 50 minutes which is pretty good and also surprising for a gaming notebook that has the specs of the Asus g73JH-A2.

HP Pavilion Notebook

LaptopsArena — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:59:16 +0000

The dv4t is one very special HP Pavilion notebook that deserves all our special attention. This unit came at a price of $1470 back in 2008 but the prices have dropped considerably since then so one quick look on the HP official website will tell you everything you need to know in terms of price.

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Let us take a look though the configuration of the unit reviewed. This HP Pavilion notebook came with a 2.8 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 processor and 4 GB of RAM. So far, this combination seems perfectly capable of handling multitasking without any problems or slowing down the performance of the system. The graphics card is the nVidia GeForce 9200M GS with 256 MB of dedicated video memory. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 320 GB. It also comes with a Blu-ray optical drive which is quite a pleasant surprise even if it should be a must for most multimedia laptops from the market.

The 14 inch display comes with a native resolution 1280 x 800 pixels which offers bright and sharp colors and an excellent overall image. The horizontal viewing angles are excellent and the levels of brightness and contrast are also above average. The keyboard is fully sized and it feels very pleasant to type on. There is not the slightest amount of flex registered in the keyboard area and the keys have great travel and good response. It is about the same case with the touchpad which is also very responsive and there is a very little amount of lag registered. The surface of the touchpad is very glossy and this is going to be a burden to use until it collects some natural finger oils.

The selection of ports and features is important on any laptop and it is even more important on a multimedia laptop because it increases the amount of devices that can be attached to the unit. For 1 14 inch laptop, this HP Pavilion certainly manages to impress as it comes with no less than 3 USB ports, an eSATA and USB combo port, an Express Card slot, the Ethernet port, a 5-in-1 multi format card reader, an Expansion port, a VGA out, a HDMI port, a Kensington lock slot and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. The combination between the HDMI port and the Blu-ray optical drive is certainly something we would love to see more often as we can now attach external HD TVs and enjoy HD movies on the Blu-ray drive right onto those beautiful plasma TVs. As for the battery life, the unit manages to stay into the limits of the category average. The 6 cell battery will provide us with 3 hours and 25 minutes of laptop usage if we set the display brightness to 60% and activate the wireless card while we set the Windows power management on “power saver”. With a good selection of ports and good performance for quite an acceptable price, this notebook is definitely one of the best choices when it comes to small multimedia notebooks.

HP Mini Notebook Reviews

LaptopsArena — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:54:43 +0000

Out of all the HP Mini notebook reviews that we have read recently, the one that impressed us the most is the HP Mini 5102. From a starting price of $749, the price tag of this laptop has dropped all the way down to $399.

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Let us take a quick look through the specs and see just why this mini notebook is considered to be so popular. First of all, it runs on a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 processor and 1 GB of RAM. The total storage capacity of the unit is 160 GB and the graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150. With this unit you will also receive a preinstalled version of the Windows 7 Starter operating system. The 10.1 inch display has a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The matter surface means we will never deals with annoying reflections. The horizontal viewing angles are ok compared to the vertical ones which were never our area of focus anyway.

The unit comes with a built in speakers which is quite ok for a 10 inch mini laptop. Even when you turn the volume up to the maximum level, there are no sound distortions. However, it is difficult to really enjoy a movie unless your ears are close to the mini notebook so a good set of headphones or external speakers are always welcome. The keyboard is 95% fully sized and it is also spill resistant which is good news for people that generally enjoy their coffee in front of the computer. The chiclet style keyboard is very similar to the one found on the Apple MacBook and it feels very comfortable to use it. It may be a bit odd for those that never typed on such a keyboard before because of the spacing between the keys. However, the keys offer positive feedback once you get used to typing on them. There is no flex registered in the keyboard area. The touchpad also bring good news. It is very responsive and if generally netbook touchpads are a real pain due to their reduced size, this one is a pleasure to use. The glossy surface is very smooth and feels pleasant on your fingertips. The left and right mouse buttons are easy to press even when you use your thumbs.

Let us see what there is to report about the selection of ports and features on this unit. The unit comes with 3 USB ports, one Ethernet port, one security lock slot, a VGA out, a 4-in-1 media card reader and headphones out plus a microphone in jack. As for the battery life, all the HP Mini notebook reviews about the HP Mini 5102 have nothing but good thing to say. With the display brightness set to 70% and the wireless card activated you will get about 8 hours and 43 minutes which is great performance and just what you would expect to get from an ultra portable mini laptop. We have to hand it to HP for finally giving us a product that we like.

Gaming Notebooks

LaptopsArena — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:07:08 +0000

When you are on the market looking for gaming notebooks, you have to make sure that you are willing to spend quite a lot of money because these laptop have powerful components inside which can cost a lot.

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The Alienware Area-51 m17x is one of the best gaming notebooks that money can buy. The starting price is $3849 but the unit reviewed costs $5899. The unit is based on a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor and 4 GB of RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 500 GB and as for the video performance we can say that the unit has 2 nVidia GeForce 9800 M GT graphics card with 512 MB of video memory. The 17 inch display has a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels and it is covered is a glossy display which provides beautiful images with sharp and bright colors. Using this laptop in a powerfully lit environment could be a torment as glossy screens tend to reflect almost anything that is in front of it. Aside from the integrated stereo speakers, this laptop also has an integrated subwoofer which means you can hear bass very well on this unit. Even when you turn up the volume, it could still cover a big room with no need for external speakers.

The fully sized keyboard is great and it also comes with a dedicated numerical pad. There is some flex registered in the keyboard area but none where the numerical pad is located. The touchpad is matte and it has a rubberized finish and it feel very pleasant to the touch. However, since this is a gaming laptop, it is much better to use an external mouse as your hands will get all tangled up during gaming if you have to use the touchpad and the keyboard at the same time. The selection of ports and features is always satisfying on a 17 inch laptop so it has to be even better on a 17 inch gaming laptop. The unit has 4 USB ports, an S-Video port, a HD TV tuner, an Express Card slot, a HDMI port, a FireWire A and a FireWire B port, a Kensington lock slot, an Ethernet port, an infrared port receiver, a SmartBay modular bay, a 7-in-1 media card reader and a headphones out and microphone in jack. Battery life is never too good on a laptop that has a Core 2 Extreme processor and dual nVidia GeForce graphics cards. This unit will stay on for one hour and 5 minutes with the Windows power management profile set to “power saver”. This is because the components inside will eat up a lot of battery life. The unit offers excellent gaming performance. Too bad it’s going to be difficult to carry the unit around and brag about it to your friends because the unit weighs 11 pounds. The fans are pretty loud and the keyboard does show signs of flexing but it compensated with the good selection of ports of ports and features.

Acer Mini Notebook

LaptopsArena — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:51:54 +0000

When someone refers to an Acer mini notebook, most people will think about the Acer Aspire One netbook which is an 8.9 inch laptop that has sold a lot of copies worldwide. A quick look through the specs will reveal an Acer mini notebook which is based on a 1.6 GHz N270 Intel Atom processor and 1 GB of RAM. Intel Atom processors are very common on netbook because such a machine is generally used for the most basic computing needs like surfing the internet and working on documents. This means that the components inside the laptop are weak.

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One of the main reasons why mini laptops have weak components is because certain sacrifices have to be made in order to get such a small laptop. When we are dealing with powerful components, they generate a lot of heat which could cause severe damage inside the unit. The laptop usually comes with a preinstalled version of the Windows XP Home Edition operating system with service pack 3. The display measures 8.9 inches in diagonal and it has a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. The display is covered in a glossy coating which makes colors sharper and a lot more vibrating which eventually leads to an improved quality of the image. The horizontal viewing angles are excellent but movie watching with friends is not going to be great because of the reduced dimensions of the display. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 120 GB, quite sufficient for such a small notebook.

The keyboard is generally a problem for such a small laptop but the 9 inch Acer Aspire One does not seem to cause much trouble when it comes to typing. The keyboard is stretched all the way to the edges of the notebook and so it looks that the laptop is actually smaller than it already is. There is no flex registered in the keyboard area which makes typing a real pleasure. The touchpad feels pleasant to the touch but it is awkward to use the left and right touchpad buttons which are placed on the left and right side of the touchpad.

As for the selection of ports and features, the unit comes with 3 USB ports, one multi format media card reader, a Kensington lock slot, a VGA pot, an SDHC storage expansion slot, an Ethernet port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. You always expect to get good battery life out of such a small laptop. With the screen brightness set to 60%, the wireless card enabled and used to surf the internet, the Acer Aspire One will stay on for about 2 hours and 23 minutes. For as low as $400, you get quite a good notebook, 2 card readers and a mini laptop which can provide you with good performance. Too bad there is no way to open it up and upgrade the main components and the cooling fan could be considered loud by some people but this is without a doubt one of the best netbooks on the market.

HP G60t Series Notebook

LaptopsArena — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:32:17 +0000

The HP G60t series notebook is our main focus for this article. This is because the HP G60t series notebook could be a great laptop for a lot of occasions since the starting price of the unit is as low as $530. Let us see if this 16 inch beauty has something to offer that could catch out attention. First of all, it does just that though the low price as budgets laptop are something more and more people are looking to buy.

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When it comes to looks, the G60t series follows the same pattern of design as the other HP Pavilion laptops. It comes with a glossy black lid and a silver glossy interior. It looks elegant and beautiful, just like most HP Pavilion models do. This unit comes with a 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium T4200 processor and 4 GB of RAM. Even if the processor is not the fastest one around, the RAM is sufficient for running multiple applications at the same time at good speed without stressing the laptop too much. The graphics card is the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 160 GB. If you wish to have a more powerful unit, you could go with the 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the 500 GB hard drive and even the nVidia GeForce 9200 graphics card.

The selection of ports and connections is always important on a 16 inch laptop which could make a good desktop replacement. The HP G60t series notebook comes with 3 USB ports, an Express Card slot, a VGA out, an Ethernet port, a HDMI out, a multi format digital media card reader, a headphone plus a microphone jack. Some people may miss the FireWire port but I find the included HDMI port a very nice feature. Aside from the keyboard, we also have a dedicated numerical pad which is going to be a relief for people that have to work with spreadsheet and other type of data entry. An external mouse could turn out to be a better idea than to use the integrated touchpad. Not that the touchpad is bad, it’s just that the left and right touchpad buttons may not have the travel and response that you would expect.

The 16 inch display comes with a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels HD. The colors are vibrating and beautiful and both the brightness and the contrast levels are more than acceptable. The glossy display tends to reflect the objects in front of it when you are in a powerfully lit environment. When it comes to battery life, we did not set our expectation to high as we never do when it comes to desktop replacements. With the 6 cell battery you could get about 2 hours and 30 minutes of battery life while doing some word processing in the Windows Vista “power saver” power management profile. If you wish to have an extended battery life, you could choose the 12 cell battery which will surely improve the period for which you laptop could stay up and running.

Sager Notebooks

LaptopsArena — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:05:24 +0000

When it comes to Sager notebooks, i really do not believe there is that much to discuss about. Even if Sager models are not that numerous, it is safe to say that the ones launched on the market are actually high quality laptops. One example of a good unit is the Sager NP5791, a laptop which comes with a 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 and 2 of RAM. This may not be most powerful combination between RAM and processor but back in 2007, you could definitely get your job done with the specs.

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The graphics card is the nVidia GeForce 8700M GT with 512 MB of DDR3 video memory. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 80 GB. Back in 2007 when the review was written, the price of the configured unit was $2000 but since the prices on laptops have dropped considerably, you could get this unit quite cheap at the present time. This Sager notebook is available in 2 different screen resolutions, the WSXGA+ (which is available in a resolution of 1680 x 1050 pixels) and a glossy WUXGA display (which is available in a native resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels). The levels of brightness and contrast are great and the colors are sharp and beautiful and the image is clear and very pleasant to our sight. The horizontal viewing angles are enough for you to watch a movie together with a couple of friends.

The speakers have quite an unusual location as they were placed near the display hinges. They do not offer the most spectacular sound you could ever find on a 17 inch desktop replacement notebook but they are nothing to complain about either. External speakers are recommended especially since this laptop is not going to travel too far away from your desk too often. Aside from the regular keys, this is one for those Sager notebooks that pleases us through the presence of a dedicated numerical pad. The keyboard does feel nice as there is not flex registered when you type. The keys offer positive feedback and they feel very pleasant to the touch. The touchpad is covered with a texture that also feel pleasant on our fingertips and the left and right touchpad button produce a pleasant click when you press them, without any annoying noise that could bother us.

As for the selection of ports and features, this notebook manages to provide quite an impressive variety of options. First of all, we have 4 USB ports, then there is an Express Card slot, a mini FireWire port, a modem jack, an Ethernet port, a coaxial connections (for TV Tuner), a Kensington lock slot, a memory card reader, an S-Video out, a SPDIF port, a serial port, a DVI-D port and the regular headphones out an microphone in jacks. With 17 inches in diagonal, you could never expect such a big notebook to perform amazingly when it comes to battery life. The laptop does manage to stay on for 2 hours and 40 minutes with the display brightness set to medium level and while surfing the internet and working on documents.

Asus Notebook Computers

LaptopsArena — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:58:44 +0000

Asus notebook computers may not be as popular or well sold as Dell or HP laptops but that does not means that they are inferior in quality or that their specs can never live up to the expectations of the public. One of the nicest models when it comes to Asus notebook computers is the Asus UL50Vf.

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This laptop has a 15 inch display with a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels which is pretty low for a laptop with a 15 inch diagonal if you consider the fact that there are more and more laptops on the market with a 11 inch display diagonal and which have the same resolution of this Asus over here. The levels of brightness are acceptable but the contrast is quite low. With this laptop you will get the chance to test the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system (the 64 bit version).

The unit runs on a 1.3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Ultra Low Voltage processor and 4 GB of DDR3 RAM which is well known for offering better file transfer rate and being more powerful compared to the DDR2 type of RAM. The total storage capacity of the hard drive is 320 GB and the graphics card can be switched between the Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD and the nVidia GeForce G210M with 512 MB of DDR3 video memory. For a starting price of $850, you can also get your hands on one of these beauties.

The speakers are not that amazing but they are acceptable considering that this is not a high end multimedia notebook. The touchpad is very similar to the one found on the Apple MacBook except that this one is black and is also comes with a dedicated numerical pad. If you apply pressure, you will notice some flexing in certain areas of the keyboard. The keyboard can be considered too noisy by some people. The touchpad has a glossy surface which could become uncomfortable at a certain point. Nothing special to report here. As for the selections of ports and features, the unit comes with 3 USB ports, one HDMI port, a media card reader, a Kensington lock slot, a VGA out, an Ethernet port and the regular headphones out and microphone in jacks. A Blu-ray optical drive would have gone along just fine with that included HDMI port.

Generally, I have not met a lot of 15 inch laptop which could be proud of their battery performance. However, the Asus UL50Vf manages to impress with the battery figures obtained after the performed tests. With the screen display set to 70%, the wireless card activated and used to surf the internet and the with Windows 7 operating system set to “balanced mode”, this Asus notebook will provide you with up to almost 9 hours of battery life. This score is amazing and you have to admit that you don’t get this kind of performance even from netbooks. Can you imagine the performance that this battery could reach if the wireless card were disabled and the display brightness lowered?

Mini Notebook Computers

LaptopsArena — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:53:56 +0000

Mini notebook computers are often referred to as netbooks because they are built in such a manner and using such components that they are only suitable for running the most basic of computer applications. Some people choose them because they are cheap, as mini notebook computers generally have prices below the $500 limit. Other people buy them because they are ultra portable and because of their size and weight, they are easy to carry around even you have to move here and there all day long as the weight will not bother you.

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We are going to briefly show you some models that people absolutely fell in love with and this is easy to see from the number of laptop units that each of these manufacturers has sold. One of these best selling models is the HP Mini Note. The starting price of this mini notebook is about $499 but if you add some of the extra features, it is going to cost you more. However, If you are looking for a portable laptop to be your secondary computer and want to spend less than $1000, the HP Mini Note is definitely a good choice. With a 1.6 GHz VIA C7-M ULV processor and 2 GB of RAM, this mini notebook may not be the most powerful one on the market. There are different storage options as you can choose between a 120 or 160 GB hard disk.

The 8.9 inch display has a native resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. The unit comes with 2 USB ports, one VGA out, an Ethernet port, an Express Card slot, an SD card slot, an integrated webcam (this feature is optional) and the headphones out and microphone in jacks. The unit comes with all sorts of other features like preinstalled software which might prove to be useful (Microsoft Office, Roxio Creator etc.).

Another good mini notebook computer which you can purchase for as low as $399 is the Toshiba Mini NB205. This unit comes with the Microsoft Windows XP Home operating system. This netbook has a display which is just a bit bigger at 10.1 inches in diagonal. The unit is based on the regular choice for a netbook processor which is the 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N280. The graphics card is the Intel Graphics Media 950 which is the common integrated video card which is chosen for the weaker laptops. With 1 GB of memory, we can’t say that this is unit is going to amaze us with the multi tasking performance but this 1 GB will surely help you get your job done as long as you stick to the basic computing needs. the total storage capacity of the hard drive is 160 GB and thanks to the SD media card reader you can increase that figure. The unit also comes with a 0.3 Megapixel webcam, a 6 cell battery and almost 3 lbs in weight. The dimensions are 10.4 x 8.3 x 1.0/1.27 inches so portability is one of the strongest points of this unit.