|
Intel, AMD battle over claims on battery life for laptops
Seattle Times Benny Villanueva recalls being in a Starbucks rushing to finish a college paper that was due when his laptop battery, which he'd been led. … For AMD, following Intel's numbers hard to do |
I was obviously intrigued and skeptical when I heard that a netbook was being sold for under a dollar, so I felt the urge to investigate further. Here’s what I was able to uncover. Sprint Nextel has teamed up with Best Buy to offer the Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX Netbook for 99 cents. As incomprehensible as that seems, its true, but the required two-year service contract is where the money is being made.
The Compaq Mini offers a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and 160GB hard drive. It also features a 10.1-inch anti-glare widescreen display, 5-in-1integrated digital media reader, 92 percent keyboard, built-in-webcam, and a variety of eye-catching features.
The 3G wireless service that you are required to purchase through Sprint will cost you $60 a month for 5GB of data per month. This adds up to costing you around $1,440 once you have purchased the wireless service over the two years.
Verizon Wireless and AT&T plan to also sell the Compaq Mini with a two-year service plan for $199.99 through Best Buy. Verizon currently offers two different wireless service packages. You can select the $40 a month plan which offers 250MB of data monthly or the $60 a month plan that allows for up to 5GB of data per month.
AT&T offers very similar pricing. For up to 5GB of data it will cost you $60 a month, and for 200MB of data it will cost $40 a month. The advantage to AT&T’s deal through Best Buy is that it doesn’t just offer the Compaq Mini but gives you the option to choose between it, the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, or the LG Xenia all for a base price ranging from $50 to $250.
Although this is an offer that could easily draw in a crowd, if customers do the math they will realize that with the two-year service plan these netbooks will end up costing them way over $1,000 in the end. Hopefully people will realize that this isn’t such a hot offer and will search for a better, cheaper mini-laptop deal.
The price of netbooks just continues to go further and further down. Each year they offer better parts and lower price tags. The new HP Mini 110 definitely carries on this pattern. It resembles HP’s Mini 1000, but has many improvements and a much lower price point.
On the surface, the HP Mini 110 looks almost identical to the Mini 1000 and the Mini 1000 Mi. It features a glossy black top embellished with chic gray swirls. As you examine the netbook closer though, you are able to distinguish a few external differences. The HP Mini 110 is thicker than its predecessors, measuring more than one inch thick. This added thickness, to make room for the larger feature set and new battery set up, barely adds any extra weight to the netbook though. It manages to weigh in at a very reasonable 2.6 pounds.
The 10.1-inch widescreen is now LED-backlit and comes with 1,204 x 576 resolution. It features speakers that have been built below the screen into the frame in order to keep them hidden behind the hinge. Other important aspects to consider include the Mini’s 92 percent keyboard and mouse buttons. It also has a VGA port, an Ethernet port, a multi card reader, a headphone jack, three USB ports, and a built-in webcam. The Mini has upgraded with a 160GB, 5,400-rpm spinning drive, with the option to upgrade for something even more powerful.
Another interesting fact is that the Mini now includes a third-party software application called Syncables. Syncables allows you to connect different machines on your local network and effortlessly share photos, documents, video, and music. You can even sync e-mail accounts from Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.
HP has definitely made some huge improvements with the Mini 110. It now includes a faster hard drive and a variety of new features. No its not the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 or the Acer Aspire One, but for the reasonable starting price of $329.00 it seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Did you think it was impossible to find an reasonably inexpensive, big screened laptop with a full size keyboard and loads of multimedia features? Well, Lenovo has changed that train of thought with their IdeaPad Y450.
The IdeaPad Y450 has a different look than any previous laptop. It sports a black cover like many other laptops on the market, except for the fact that the cover is not the traditional glossed-over top but instead a textured honeycomb pattern that gives the lid a coarse, grainy feel. This will certainly assist in promoting less fingerprints and smudges on the laptop’s cover. The edges of the lid are trimmed in a copper tone, while the inside is a stark white. This all unites to produce a stylish, modern looking laptop.
The Y450 measures 13.4 x 9.2 x1.4 inches (HWD) and weighs about 5 pounds. It features a 14-inch widescreen with 1,366 x 768 resolution. It also includes three USB ports, FireWire, Ethernet, a built-in webcam, and excellent speakers. Added bonuses not normally included in laptops in the Y450’s price range are the DVD burner, eSATA, and HDMI-out ports. Another important fact to consider is the Y450’s 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor.
This impressive, budget-friendly laptop can be purchased in retail stores for around $599. Yes, there are plenty of other thinner and lighter laptops on the market, but they will dig a lot deeper into your pocket. The IdeaPad Y450 has excellent features, a slick design, and a heart-warming price tag. I think this is certainly a laptop that can satisfy most average people laptop needs.
Incoming search terms for this article:
y450 ubuntu11 10 (1)
The new Acer Aspire One is now thinner and lighter than any previous Acer netbook. Acer managed to eliminate a sizeable amount of plastic within their best-selling netbook design to allow for these qualities, while still maintaining their reasonable price point.
Netbook design is not really one of Acer’s strengths. Although the plastic-topped Aspire One does not win any beauty pageants, there are many qualities that make up for the netbook’s lack of style. The Aspire One beats most comparable netbooks with its mere 0.8-inch thickness. This makes it thinner than the Samsung N120, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE, the ASUS EeePC 1008HA (Seashell), and the HP Mini 1000. The new Acer netbook is now also lighter. With the three-cell battery, it only weighs 2.4 pounds.
Considering other aspects, the Aspire One retains the standard 10-inch screen, 1,024 x 600 resolution, and customary keyboard. The 89 percent keyboard is certainly a feature that Acer needs to attend to. Acer was able to include mutitouch capabilities into the Aspire One, but with the limited space you have to work with performing such actions can be difficult at times.
The Aspire One features three USB ports, VGA-out, an Ethernet port, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 802.11 g WiFi, and a 4-in-1 card reader. It also has a 160GB hard drive, which is the same or better than all other netbooks currently on the market. The Aspire One contains a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of memory, and Intel integrated graphics.
Even with the new updates found in the Acer Aspire One, Acer has managed to retain its affordable price. The Aspire One is the most reasonably priced netbook to be found at about $300, which is the reason why the previous Acer model was the best-selling netbook available. The Aspire One is lighter, thinner, and cheaper than most other netbooks out there. If you’re looking for an inexpensive netbook, this is definitely one to check out.
A laptop is one of the most important pieces of equipment a person needs, especially if you are always on the road traveling for business reasons. But finding an affordable laptop that has all the features you need for your business is no easy task.
well HP’s new laptop, the ProBook 4510s, is perfect for any traveling businessman by offering substance as well as style at a reasonable cost. The ProBook is HP’s entry-level computer for business users. The laptop has a black, glossy lid which is prone to fingerprints, a glossy keyboard, a speaker strip lining the top of the laptop as well as a satin palm rest. The ProBook has a thin bezel which is easy to focus. An interesting design feature is the turquoise blue glow that emanates from the QuickLook 2 buttons, the power button, and LED lights on the system and if black isn’t your style and you are looking for a hotter look, the ProBook also comes in red, or Merlot, as HP calls it.
The ProBook also has a good size to it. It measures 15.6 inches and weighs about 5.6 pounds. It has a 16:9 display with a wide footprint of 14.6 x 9.8 inches and 1.2 to 1.5 inch thickness. The ProBook is also the first laptop from HP to have island-style keys which makes for a more refined look. The slight texture to the keys, which are also scratch resistant, have a nice finish and are spaced apart comfortably. The touchpad, which measures 3.3 x 1.7 inches, has a rubber-like surface which gives the perfect amount of friction but the buttons on the touchpad are different from traditional ones. The touchpad buttons on the ProBook only depress at the end closest to the user. It kind of gives the feeling of pressing a piano key, which some people may like or dislike.
The 15.6 inch display is bright with an LED backlight and has a matte finish that provides really good viewing angles. The sound system varies depending on what you are listening to. Video clips and movies sound good whereas music was faint, even at max volume.
Considering this is a business computer, the ProBook 4510s has a plethora of ports for all of your needs. It comes with Ethernet and modem jacks, a Kensington Lock slot, headphone and mic ports, one VGA output, one HDMI output, and four USB 2.0 slots. For low-profile broadband cards, the ProBook comes with an Expresscard/34 slot and also has a 5-in-1 memory card reader. Another interesting design feature is that none of these ports are located on the back of the laptop, aside from the memory card reader, mic ports, and headphone ports which are located on the front, all the ports are located on the sides. The ProBook also comes with a good battery life. The six0cell battery lasts you around four and a half hours which is longer lasting than the average laptop by about 70 mins. There is also an optional eight-cell battery upgrade which claims to add 34% more battery life at a $10 fee.
All in all this computer is perfect for anybody on the road constantly for business trips, meetings, or one who is just in the habit of traveling. A definite recommendation for anyone looking for an affordable business laptop.
