Systemax Epic Review
With its 13″ widescreen display, many people would pass by the Systemax Epic, because its screen is too small or its exterior is too boring. Even Laptop Magazine as they reviewed the unit pointed out the styling.
In this era of sexy, sleek notebooks, the pricey Systemax Epic is a bit of a curiosity. Despite its silver casing and jet-black keyboard, it’s dangerously close to being downright generic-looking. Once we cracked the Epic open, however, we found a solid PC just waiting to be break out of its bland shell.
The 2GHz Intel Core Duo T2500 on the inside migh surprise you though as it speeds through most of the applications thrown at it. There are other issues with the Epic, other than the design though, including the integrated video card, and lack luster battery performance. Laptop Magazine gives the Systemax Epic a 2.5 out of 5, making it very average.
AMD+ATI = Better Mobile Performance?
It’s official! AMD and ATI have announced AMD’s acquisition of the graphics chip manufacturer. Among the benefits that the two companies promise would be for better mobile computing, namely in terms of power efficiency.
Mobile Computing
As a combined company, AMD and ATI will advance mobile computing by delivering integrated platforms that are designed to extend battery life while optimizing graphics and media processing.
This is something pretty exciting, especially for those seeking for a good balance between sheer graphics processing power and energy efficiency. Today, having discrete graphics adaptors in laptops (i.e., not integrated into the main system board) would usually mean increased power consumption. This is why the Intel Centrino platform has become so popular. The Intel processor + graphics chipset + WiFi chipset combination hits the performance-power efficiency balance so well. However, people looking for more graphics capabilities tend to look elsewhere, usually sacrificing battery life along the way.
While the need for powerful graphics processing capabilities has traditionally been only felt by serious gamers and video/graphic design professionals, next year’s much-anticipated arrival of Windows Vista would mean that everyone would be wanting powerful graphics chips.
The AMD+ATI deal would do well in enhancing the no. 2 chipmaker’s position in the processor market if it hits that sweet spot in terms of power and price, with the impending release of Vista in mind.
HP Compaq nc6400 Review
Laptop Magazine takes a look at a business machine from HP, the HP Compaq nc6400.
For the indecisive among us, the nc6400 offers both a pointing stick with dedicated buttons and a trackpad below the notebook’s spacious, full-sized keyboard, proving that it is possible to please everyone. Above the keyboard sits a series of buttons devoted to HP’s Info Center, wireless on/off, presentation settings (which allow for quick display adjustments), and three volume buttons.
The keyboard and display are surrounded by rubber bumpers to prevent the display from getting tattooed by the keys over an extended period. The area below the keyboard is coated with HP’s in-mold lamination, making the surface highly resistant to the rubbing and scratches caused by prolonged use.
In the end the nc6400 grabs itself a rating of 4 out of 5, which is pretty good. The only things listed on the negative side of the board for this 14.1 inch business machine is that there is no HSDPA option yet, and the graphics take a toll on battery life.
Anti-Reflective vs. Anti-Glare
Does your laptop have those glossy anti-reflective screen overlays? Or are you looking into buying a new laptop and considering this feature? Remember that laptops are all-in-one machines, and unlike desktops you cannot just change monitors (or most other features like the form factor) when you’ve grown tired of your current one (unless you have the dough to shell out for a new laptop). So you’d better be sure what you’re getting is what you really want.
The argument for anti-reflective screens–or BrightView, ClearView, CrystalBrite, or whatever other marketing term–is essentially that images are more crisp and have better viewing angles. However, anti-reflective screens usually add a bit to a laptop’s price tag (though this is just minimal, at about $50 to $100, depending on the manufacturer). Also, they might give off more glare than the regular anti-glare screens.
Here’s a short article on bMonitors about what exactly it is that makes anti-reflective screens anti-reflective, and why you should opt for, or against, them.
Battery Care Tips for Laptop Users
Laptops aren’t meant to stay on desks all day. They’re designed so you can carry them around and play around in the park or at a cafe or even at the beach or poolside. Or at least for the creative types, it gives the ability to write or create designs wherever the muse is most likely to be there whispering into one’s ear. For the business types, perhaps in some boardroom or conference room at some building’s penthouse office. For the homebodies (and people who run home-based businesses or on telecommute arrangements), laptops give the freedom to move about.
Point of the matter is, our laptops are only as good as their batteries can give us juice to do whatever it is we need to use our computers for. So it pays to take care of one’s batteries. While today’s Lithium-based batteries aren’t as maintenance-hungry as the Nickel-based batteries of yore, you would still have to give your power packs some TLC every so often.
Doing some research on battery-saving techniques and tips, I came across this article on batteryunviersity.com. It’s quite long, but let me summarize the information for easy reference.
- Lithium-based cells provide at least 300-500 charge/discharge cycles. Okay, I do think it’s even higher than this, with modern packs reaching up to a thousand charge/discharge cycles. This means your batteries would theoretically last you a couple of years before showing degradation. Remember that a charge/discharge cycle would means running on battery power then plugging in to recharge. Repeately plugging and unplugging in rapid succession (e.g., within a few seconds or minutes) is bad because these already count as several charge/discharge cycles.
- Avoid frequent full discharges. Lithium-based cells prefer partial discharges rather than full discharges. Unlike the older Nickel-based batteries that you have to discharge fully to avoid the dreaded “memory effect,” Lithium-based cells are all right with partial discharging, and are even hurt if you always fully discharge before charging.
- Lithium-based cells should be given a full discharge/charge cycle once every 30 charge cycle. The apparent “memory effect” is caused by “digital memory,” which is the mis-calibration of the gauge in the battery’s circuitry. Do a full discharge/charge once every 30 cycles to re-calibrate.
- Oxidation is your enemy. Lithium-based cells deteriorate after two to three years not because of capacity loss, but because internal resistance builds up due to oxidation. Hence your cells would still hold juice after this time, but cannot deliver the necessary power because of high resistance inside the circuitry.
- Heat is your enemy. Heat accelerates oxidation. Storing your batteries in hot places or running/charging your device at high temperatures would shorten your battery’s life.
- Cool at 40%. Lithium-based battery packs are best stored at 40% capacity in cool places.
Remember, take care of your gadgets, and your gadgets will serve you well.
Laptop not a Book
Noticed computers replacing books in libraries? Noticed more and more students are doing research on computers? Well according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a laptop computer is not a textbook, and as such, money set aside for textbooks cannot be spent on computer hardware.
The opinion is in response to questions raised by the State Board of Education after state Rep. Kent Grusendorf, R-Arlington, authored a bill that would have changed the word “textbook” in state law to “instructional materials” to include the purchase of laptop computers. The bill failed to make it out of the state Legislature last year.
Textbooks are paid for out of the state’s Permanent School Fund, which is controlled by the State Board of Education. The fund contains about $20 billion and generates about $800 million each year. If the definition of “textbook” had been broadened to include laptop computers, the fund would have been gutted, said Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, chairwoman of the education board.
I think that laptops, used correctly could be a great educational tool, but I don’t think they should be given to students directly. I think they would help in certain situations, where words or basic pictures can’t do something justice. I think that their should be a larger computer fund for schools, and that textbooks, while important, are not as important as they used to be, especially since much of what is contained within the book can’t compete with the Internet in my opinion.
Source: Star-Telegram
Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010 Review
Laptop Magazine has reviewed the LifeBook Q2010, and while the machine does not come from the year 2010, its weight is said to be very surprising.
When you pick up the Fujitsu LifeBook Q2010, your first reaction will be disbelief at how little it weighs. Your second reaction will be to hand it to someone else to see their reaction. That’s how light the Q2010 feels. If smallness and lightness are your primary concerns when buying a laptop, the Q2010 will delight. Just be aware of the trade-offs this 2.2-pound, three-quarter-inch-think chassis necessitates.
Happily, one trade-off is not the size of the display. Fujitsu includes a sharp, clear 12.1-inch glossy widescreen. In fact, the company correctly claims that the Q2010 is the slimmest, lightest 12.1-inch notebook on the market. The panel’s WXGA resolution (1280 x 800) makes good use of the screen real estate, though type and icons might be a tad on the small side for aging eyes. Viewed head-on, the screen image is stunning. But the panel’s ideal viewing angle is not as wide as we’ve seen with other screens; you’ll notice color shift and a drop in brightness as you move off axis.
They make note of its size and weight many times in the article, and put it in the “pro” column for why they love this laptop so much. Other things of note were the spacious 80GB hard drive, and sharp, bright widescreen display. A few things they did not like included a short battery life, cramped keyboard, and the cost, thus dropping the LifeBook Q2010 to a three and a half out of five in the final rating.
Laptop Batteries Suspect in Plane Crash
It looks like exploding laptop batteries are making airlines concerned about laptops. The US Nation Transportation Safety Board is looking at a strong possibility that an on board fire was caused by an exploding laptop battery.
Investigators found several computer laptop batteries were on board the plane, and that in some cases portions of the laptop batteries had burned.
There have been a number of similar incidents where lithium batteries have caught fire aboard airplanes, it appears.
Two months ago a spare laptop battery packed in a bag stored in an overhead bin started emitting smoke. Fortunately the plane had not taken off yet. Shipments of lithium batteries have ignited in 1999 and in 2004, mostly on cargo planes.
via The Inquirer
Flash Drives May Rule Laptop Market Someday
By 2013, when you buy a laptop, you may not be getting the same type of hard drive you see in them today, as Samsung and other companies move towards using a SSD flash drive.
Over at Channel Register they talk about the new hard drives and where it could go.
That’s according to market research firm In-Stat, which bases its conclusion on a survey of 389 mobile computer users. Doesn’t sound like a massive sample to draw such a conclusion, but enough for In-Stat to “weigh…the perceived benefits of SSDs with the rapidly declining cost/gigabyte trends of Flash to develop a demand sensitive forecasting model”. Users are prepared to pay a little more for SSDs in return for power saving benefits.
I think it is really great where technology is going in this regard, but I think we are still a long ways away from 300GB flash based hard drives.
Lenovo 3000 C100 Review
The Lenovo 3000 C100 is the first notebook series to use the Lenovo name since taking over IBM’s ThinkPad business, and while they learned a thing or two from the ThinkPad, the 3000 is not a ThinkPad.
Laptop Magazine takes a look at the Lenovo 3000 C100 series, and headlines it with saying “The first Lenovo-branded notebook looks bland but offers plenty of bang for the buck.”
Fans of ThinkPad notebooks will be happy with Lenovo’s decision to carry over the legendary ThinkPad keyboard but may be disappointed by the lack of a trackpoint mouse pointer. Instead, the system utilizes a responsive two-button touchpad controller with four-way scrolling.
The C100 is more than capable of handling everyday office and multimedia applications and notched a MobileMark 2005 score of 203, which is about average for this class of processor. More impressive is the C100’s battery life; it lasted 5 hours and 2 minutes with the Wi-Fi turned on.
In the end the C100 only managed a three out of five, the weak integrated graphics, lack of configuration options, and boring design lets down what could have been a great machine.
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