Toshiba Tecra A3X Review

One of the biggest brand names for laptops is Toshiba, and with it coming out with models for every marketable group, they are all the more appealing.

Pocket-lint takes a look at their affordable Tecra A3X with its 15 inch display and 40GB hard drive.

At this price, don’t expect the latest of components either as it comes powered by an Intel Celeron M 370 (1.5GHz) processor and 512MB of DDR2 memory. If you’re simply looking for a cost-effective machine to handle office tasks, check email and generally surf the web, this configuration will be fine.

Where this notebook starts to stand out from similarly priced machines is in the build quality, which is superior and designed for long-term use. The plastics used are solid and gives the machine a good feel.

The Tecra A3X has a great price, and is lightweight, but in order to achieve both things there were many sacrifices made, as the graphics are integrated, and the battery only lasted around two hours, so the reviewer only gave it a 7 out of 10. I think for a few more dollars you could get a much better machine, even from Toshiba.

Toshiba Satellite M105-S3004 Review

What I consider to be the standard size of laptops, at 14.1 inch screen is quickly being replaced by 15 inch and above models, but Toshiba knows how perfect a 14.1 inch screen machine can be, and has put one on its Toshiba Satellite M105-S3004. Laptop Magazine reviews this reasonable in every way machine to see if it is a machine of the past.

The Toshiba M105-S3004 sports a very basic appearance when the lid is closed. Once you pop the top of this 5.4-pound machine, you’re greeted with a very well-designed interior. The front and back of the base has subtle curves that give the unit’s 13.5 x 9.5 x 1.5-inch frame a sleek appearance.

In the upper right and left corners of the keyboard are twin Harman Kardon speakers that churn out decent sound. Between them sits a power button, handy quick-launch keys for the Web browser and Media Center, and CD/DVD playback controls. The lower right of the laptop has an integrated fingerprint reader for increased security.

In the end they give the Satellite M105-S3004 a four out of five, and say that the worst things about it are the highly reflective display, and the hollow feeling keyboard. Listed at a little more than one thousand U.S. dollars, it might be worth checking out.

Inventure Laptop Backpack from Samsonite

Having recently bought a V2000-series Compaq, which is smaller relative to my old fullsized 14-incher ThinkPad, I thought I’d also be better off getting myself a portable carrying case. I’ not fond of carrying around my laptop in those shoulder-type leather or nylon bags that come deafult with the package. Instead, I make it a point to get myself backpacks for easier transporting, and so it wouldn’t be too obvious that I’m carrying around a notebook computer (see my article on preventing laptop theft).

For carrying around my laptop and all the junk that I usually bring with me, I have a medium-sized Echolac laptop backpack. But it’s still heavy and quite bulky, especially with the junk I tend to carry along with me (which includes cables, coin purses, keys, notebooks, some extra shirts for emergencies, a small umbrella, documents, my toothbrush, and all that).

So yesterday evening, I finally got to buy that small-ish backpack I’d been eyeing for some time now. It’s the Inventure ICT Backpack A4 039 (pictured above) from Samsonite. It’s your basic one-zipper laptop case that’s designed to carry your laptop and only the most necessary of accessories (that is your AC adaptor and perhaps some cables and USB peripherals).

The backpack is designed to accommodate small/thin 14-inch laptops and of course smaller-sized ones such as 12-inchers and, of course, sub-notebooks. The V2000 initially didn’t fit as well as expected, because while it’s a 14-incher, it’s in widescreen format, so it’s as long as a 15-inch laptop would normally be. But a little adjustment does the trick and my laptop fits although there’s not much allowance in terms of play.

Inside

Inside the Inventure is your basic laptop case fare. You have the laptop pouch itself, which is padded but not as thickly as with larger ICT cases. The pouch is still suspended inside the backpack’s body, though, so that’s good for added protection, especially when you’re setting down the case bottom-part down. There’s a document holder, which is expandable by adjusting the velcro straps. Then there are two pouches that can hold PC cards or other accessories (such as my card-reader, which is the bluish thing you see on the photo).

On the front part of the internals are a set of businesscard holders and loops for holding pens/pencils. There’s also a mesh-type pouch where you can put in all those small articles you’d rather not lose elsewhere in the case. I keep my USB flash drive and earphones here. For those who like listening to music while on the move, the case has a small hole for earphone wires.

How it fares

• Protection. I’d say the Inventure gets a 6 out of 10 for protection, as it’s the padding is not as thick as I’d personally be comfortable with. Also, since the Compaq V2000 just fits the bag snugly lengthwise without any allowance, I wouldn’t want the top part of the case to hit something hard. If I were using a 12-inch laptop, I’d probably rate the backpack higher by two points.
• Comfort.I give the backpack a 8 out of 10 for comfort. It’s light and comfortable enough. My only gripe is that the shoulder straps aren’t made of that sweat-resistant material that lets your skin breathe (which my Echolac backpack has). The part that goes to your back actuall has this feature, but the shoulder straps have this velvety material that’s soft but can get hot with prolonged use.
• Portability. The saving grace in terms of comfort would be the fact that that the case is so light and that I’m not tempted to carry around all my junk. So my back’s saved from all the aches and pains associated with carrying heavy backpacks. In this area, I give the backpack a 10 out of 10.

Overall, I give the Inventure an 8 out of 10. Average in terms of protection. Not so perfect in terms of comfort. Perfect in terms of portability.

Optical Drive, Do You Really Need One?

Almost every day I read reviews on notebooks, and tablet PC’s and they lose points for not having an included optical drive. Sometimes they are even reduced half a point or more for not including a DVD burner, which I think is a little rediculous, despite how prevalent they are in regular computers.

So the question I want to talk about today is, do you really need an optical drive in your laptop?

Wireless Prevalence
As wireless gets more prevalent, being able to get online is getting easier and easier, though in most places it still costs a fair bit. With longer distance wireless technologies coming out, I believe optical drives will be of less and less use. If I can connect to a high speed Internet connection and download the applications I need, then what use is an optical drive?

Burning Discs
Currently, the only thing I use my optical drive for in my ThinkPad is to play the occassional movie. The only time I have used it to burn anything as of yet is to burn the restore disks that the ThinkPad does not come with. Had it come with restore CD’s, I would not have used the burning properties at all as of yet.

Multimedia
Being able to watch movies on the laptop is really the only thing I have used the optical drive for, but with hard drive sizes continuing to grow, even for laptops, I see no reason why many movies and whatnot can’t be played right from the hard drive thanks to many of the virtual drive programs and whatnot that there are.

I, myself, have watched many episodes of my favourite online cartoon, CTRL+ALT+DEL The Animated Series on my laptop. I transferred them all from my computer’s shared folder onto my laptop.

Conclusion
I do see that there are still some needs for optical drives, but I don’t think that laptops without an optical drive should be docked points in ratings, unless it is made for multimedia. You can function perfectly well without an optical drive. It might make some things a little less convenient, but you can easily manage without one, and had I the money, I would replace my optical drive with a battery that fits in its place.

Does Your Laptop Get You the Nod?

Kathy Sierra writes over at Creating Passionate Users writes on how some gadgets evoke the nod, or that ever-familiar sign that another person is into what you’re also interested in, or that people find your gadgets cool and worthy of praise.

Sit in a cafe with a Mac PowerBook, and chances are you’ll get The Nod–that acknowledging, approving, knowing, we’re-special look. MINI Cooper owners give each other The Nod at intersections. Display GNOME on your ThinkPad and you’ll get The Nod. But run Windows on your Dell and you won’t. (Never confuse the “I feel your pain” look with The Nod.)

Yes, a PowerBook (or now, a MacBook Pro) will certainly evoke that nod, even from non-Mac enthusiasts. It’s simply cool. A ThinkPad would certainly evoke such a nod, too. I’m of the opinion that there are only a few laptops or laptop brands in this world that have that certain X factor, or the cult following in terms of fans and dedicated user-bases. Mac Books and Thinkpads share that honor.

So, what emotions does your laptop evoke? Is it of awe? Is it of admiration? Or is it of pity (or at least that look that seems to say “how generic”)?

I’ve yet to use my new Presario V2000 in public, and I hope it’s cool enough to merit good attention. My ThinkPad seemed to evoke the Nod in its heyday.

Gateway NX560x Review

Laptop Magazine reviews the Gateway NX560x, a notebook that is powered by an Intel Core Duo processor. They feature the notebook’s price as it is only $1200 USD, which makes it one of the cheapest Core Duo laptops out there.

Gateway’s NX560x delivers multitasking power in a sub-six-pound package, along with Media Center and more than four hours of battery life.

On the outside, the NX560x is pretty standard fare for a mainstream notebook. Its basic silver-and-black-chassis offers a 15.4-inch widescreen and a full-sized keyboard. The glossy WXGA Ultrabright display is tailor-made for watching DVDs or for putting on slideshows using the Media Center OS. (Like all glossy screens, you’ll notice a glare in rooms with ambient light.)

Some of the things they liked about the NX560x is the dual-core performance, Media Cener OS, low price, and good battery life. Things that hinder the notebook include a small hard drive, and a boring design. Odd that with storage being so cheap that they would skimp on it. They give the machine a three and a half out of five.

Preventing Laptop Theft

What’s worse than losing a $2,500 laptop you just bought a couple of months back? It’s losing the data inside, which is usually more valuable than the hardware itself. It’s not uncommon for laptop users to consider the contents of their computers as priceless, regardless of what these are. For business users, these can be important company documents or sensitive, confidential communications. For individuals, these can be personal files like family pictures or other such multimedia documents that are likewise valuable and irreplaceable.

A quick estimate pegs the value of a laptop’s content at about $800,000, and that’s just for personal email alone. What more with business secrets and data?

Some companies have even experienced losing laptops that contained huge client and user databases in unencrypted format. These proved to be very embarassing P.R. nightmares, where the involved parties lost some public confidence due to the lapse in security.

IT rumour site The Register has quite a number of articles on laptop theft. We also have some news snippets and quick tips on how to protect yourself.
(more…)

Dell XPS M1210 Review

Laptop Magazine looks at the XPS M1210 from Dell, a powerful, and small machine that is a bit on the pricey side.

Put simply, the XPS M1210 is the most powerful and feature-packed 12.1-inch notebook we’ve seen. This sleek 4.8-pound system combines a dual-core processor with a 256MB discrete graphics card, plus integrated mobile broadband and a built-in webcam.

One of the best things about the M1210 in my opinion is not the integrated webcam, or the fact that it is dual-core, but instead the battery life which was rated at four and a half hours with Wi-Fi turned on.

In the end they gave the XPS M1210 a four point five out of five as well as an Editor’s Choice badge. The only negatives they list for the machine are the price and its tinny sounding speakers, neither a big deal, as long as you can afford nearly $2400 USD for a notebook.

HP Compaq tc4400 Tablet PC Review

HP has released a new tablet PC of their own, the tc4400, and while it does not do as well as the Toshiba Portégé M400, that was reviewed a few days ago, it still has some good points to it.

Laptop Magazine put it through its paces and had this to say:

HP’s newest convertible, the Compaq tc4400, is out to prove that the age of the sluggish hybrid is over. Notebook functionality and performance now blend well with tablet PC functionality, so traveling power users can have the speed of a top-notch mainstream notebook and get tablet PC pen-style computing in one portable system.

The 12.1-inch display sits on a very sturdy swivel pin. We found the screen to be flatter and less vibrant than the display on the Toshiba M400 convertible we tested last month, as well as some of the slates we have seen from Electrovaya and Motion.

In the end they gave the tc4400 a three and a half out of five. They loved its speed, keyboard, and stylus performance, but found the LCD lacking, and the unit a bit too pricey.

Toshiba Portégé M400 Review

Laptop Magazine reviewed the Toshiba Portégé M400, a tablet PC with an optical drive. I am not a fan of tablets, but I think as technology gets better and better they will come into their own more and more.

While the Lenovo X41 ThinkPad tablet remains the best convertible available in the sub–four-pound class, the Toshiba Portégé M400 is as good a hybrid as you’ll find with a built-in optical drive. Toshiba delivers a strong laptop that will sometimes be used in tablet mode, but we expected a little more out of the company in terms of tablet ergonomics.

At 4.5 pounds, the M400 is very travel friendly. It’s 1.5-inches thick, but it feels solid.

The M400 earns itself a four out of five thanks to its excellent speed and strong stylus performance, but if you want something thin and light, you will have to look elsewhere as the M400 is a little thick.

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