Laptops Arena

The nc8430 is HP's business class high-powered 15.4" notebook, often popular for its solid build, gaming capability, and business class support through HP. HP nc8430 starts at a base price of $1,449 with a three year standard warranty, but you can purchase the notebook as one of several pre-configured models or make a custom-to-order.

I ordered my laptop with the following specifications for $2410 as configured:

* Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 (2.16 GHz, 667 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 Cache)
* Windows XP Pro
* 2048MB (2GB) 667MHz DDR2 (1GB factory installed, 1GB customer installed)
* 100GB Hard Drive @ 7200 RPM
* 15.4" WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050)
* 56Kbps Modem & 10/100/1000 NIC
* 8 Cell Primary Battery
* Dual Pointer Devices
* Intel 802.11a/b/g & Bluetooth
* Embedded TPM 1.2 & Fingerprint Reader
* 3/3/0 Year Onsite Warranty in US
* HP Advanced Docking Station

Overall, HP nc8430 is a very fine machine that has done much to impress both myself and my co-workers. While it does have its minor flaws, the notebook itself is build business-class touch. It delivers top notch gaming and processing performance while still maintaining a sleek and small profile for a 15.4" notebook. Most of the ports are positioned very well on the notebook, and its functionality is further enhanced with the Basic Docking Station. However, with power there comes great responsibility -- don't put this notebook on your lap and play a couple of high powered games.

For general purpose activities the notebook is fine no matter where it sits, so feel free to check your email, play solitaire, and surf the net from your living room couch. And for the amount of power in this notebook, the battery life is also very respectable and can be further enhanced through the secondary battery options provided by HP.

View full review on notebookreview.

Today we take a look at Toshiba Canada's Qosmio G30 (specifically the PQG31C-HD202E ). The Toshiba Qosmio G30 closely resembles Toshiba USA's QosmioG35-AV650 in specification so this review should give you an idea of that unit's performance. Both models are priced at about $2,499.99 direct from Toshiba – street prices may be a little lower. For the remainder of this review I will refer to this notebook as the G30.

Qosmio is Toshiba's line of desktop replacement Microsft Windows XP Media Center Edition notebooks. Think entertainment center to go and you have the right idea. One thing the G30 has that your Hi-Fi system might not is an HD-DVD player - a major part of the G30's cost justification.

The G30 is a first gen HD notebook, and it is burdened with too many compromises to fully recommend it. The only person I could recommend this to in good conscience is someone with a fat wallet and who is prepared to live with the early adopter compromises in order to be the first one on the block with an HD-DVD notebook.

View full review on notebookreview.

Acer announced the Aspire 5680 Core 2 Duo 15.4" screen notebook.

In addition to the powerful Core 2 Duo processor the Acer Aspire 5680 features an Nvidia Go 7600 graphics card, 15.4" CrystalBrite display, 5-in-1 media card reader and up to 2GB of dual channel memory.

Following are the full specs of the Acer Aspire 5680:

* Intel Core 2 Duo processor options
* 15.4" 200-nit Acer CrystalBrite display
* NVIDIA GeForceT Go 7600 3D graphics with 256 MB of VRAM e
* Up to 2 GB of dual-channel DDR2 533/667 RAM
* A serial ATA hard disk up to 160 GB
* Acer QuickCharge
* The choice of a slot-load DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive
* Intel 3945 802.11 a/b/g wireless
* 1-year standard warranty
* Windows Vista Ready
* A hybrid TV-tuner hands your home another TV set, with TV recording and video capturing features
* S/PDIF support brings movies to life with amplified digital audio
* A 5-in-1 card reader
* A built-in microphone lets you directly converse with friends over the Internet
* Acer Bluetooth VoIP phone
* Acer SignalUp wireless technology
* Gigabit Ethernet
* Enhanced Bluetooth V2.0+EDR

Availability is expected in North America some time in October in retailers online and nationwide.

Via notebookreview.

The new LifeBook A series from Fujitsu targets budget-level consumers with a choice of Intel or AMD dual-core processors.

According to the Japanese manufacturer, the A series is "designed to cater to the requirements of corporate, home office and value-conscious consumers". However, there are few bells and whistles included in this lineup, making this budget offering more suitable for simple computing tasks.

Both the LifeBook A6010 and A3110 are 15.4-inch midsized notebooks, with the former sporting an Intel Core Duo processor and the latter with either an AMD Turion 64 X2 or Mobile Sempron chip. Corporate features include a harddisk sensor which parks the reader arm in the event of shock to protect data integrity, as well as a spill-resistant keyboard.

The sensor can also be set to automatically password-lock the storage device if it detects motion, preventing a thief from accessing your valuable data. Missing from these notebooks is a fingerprint sensor, TPM security chip and Bluetooth connectivity.

The LifeBook A3110 will be available from October with a starting price of S$1,998 (US$1,271.15) for the Sempron model. The price and availability of the A6010 will be confirmed at a later date.

Via asia.cnet.

LG Electronics introduced the new LG AV XNote Notebooks.

The new line of LG Electronics XNote AV notebooks feature integrated DMB-T tuner and EVDO mobile broadband connectivity.

The new LG AV XNote Notebooks are available with 12-17 inch screen sizes and run on the Intel Core Duo 2 CPU (T7400).
Other features include ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card, 5.1ch surround sound, HDD 100/120/160GB SATA HDD options, Wi-fi and 5-in-1 card reader.

Via i4u.