Category: Laptops

Japanese brand, TSUKUMO has churned out Nvidia GeForce GT 745M equipped 15.6 inch laptop. Called the N1540, it features full HD display, 500GB hard disk drive, Intel Core i5 4200M 2.5 GHz processor, 4 gigabytes of RAM, and as said earlier, a GeForce GT 745M GPU.

Choice of operating systems include Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. Ports include SD card slot, USB 3.0 × 2, USB 2.0 × 2, IEEE 802.11b/g/n compatible wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.0, HDMI output, mini D-Sub15 pin, Gigabit Ethernet, 720p-enabled Web camera, audio input and output jack.

Despite all that horsepower, the TSUKUMO N1540 manages to yield battery runtimes between 2.5 to 3.1 hours. It measures 388 × 265 × 25.3mm, and weighs 2.1 kilograms.

official webpage link

MSI GT60 2OD-261US, and GT60 2OKWS-278US are two high end laptops with ultra sharp displays, packing more than 2880×1620 pixel resolution panels. Asking price for GT60 2OD-261US is $220, while the 2OKWS-278US will cost you 2800 dollars.

Continue reading “MSI GT60 2OD-261US, 2OKWS-278US Specs Price”

Epson Direct Corporation has launched a 15.6 inch laptop computer called Endeavor NJ3900E. Prices start at 66,150 Yen ($640) for the starting configuration. Specs include 15.6 inch screen, 1366×768 pixel resolution, Intel Celeron 2950M processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, 250GB hard disk drive, DVD ROM drive, and windows 8.1 64 bit operating system.

Port and connectivity include 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, SDXC card slot, webcam, headphone / microphone jack, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and TPM security chip. Battery life is said be 6.6 hours, but with the optional full HD display, it gets reduced to 5.6 hours.

The Epson Endeavor NJ3900E  measures 388 × 265 × 26mm and weighs about 2.4 kilograms. You can find its official product page here.

We finally had the opportunity to use and review the Western Digital Black 2 that comes equipped with both SSD and HDD. Since it measures just like any other 2.5 inch HDD, you can use it in any laptop out there.

When you install it in your laptop, its 128GB SSD part is not recognized by the computer – you cannot find it in My Computer. Fortunately, you can initialize it using Disk Management. It is easy for an intermediate user, but an average Joe might not find it easy. Its 1TB HDD part is recognized automatically though.

In Crystal Disk Mark benchmark app, the SSD part yielded about 400 MB/s read and 150 MB/s write speed. While its write speed is not at par with modern SSDs, it is still much faster than a traditional HDD.

And here are the HDD benchmark results using the same software.

As you can see, you get 110 MB/s and 107 MB/s read and write speeds.

Over-Priced: We fully understand the fact that it is SONY. But, paying so much for a device that performs so poorly does not make any sense
Super high resolution: What is the point of giving the user super high resolution in an 8-inch screen? Is SONY under some contract of putting so outrageous resolutions in small screens? Looks like they learned nothing from their UX series which squeezed 1024×600 pixels in an 4.3-inch display
HDD not easily upgradable: Although we do not upgrade the HDD everyday, but it should be easily swappable in case something goes wrong with the HDD or if the user wishes to use SSD

Continue reading “Top 10 reasons you should NOT get a SONY VAIO P”

There are many games for the Windows Mobile platform, both freeware or paid-ones. There are few games that offer 3D racing game experience. It is harder to find ones that will work on VGA screens (640×480). Even then, those games have a long way to go when compared to other operating systems. This review/guide is intended to show the games that offer 3D-experience and how they perform on devices that come with VGA display. Although there are few ported games like “Doom” or “Call of Duty”, I will focus on some newer ones.

Flux Challenge

Flux challenge is made by PDAmill. This game is a racing game where you fly in a ship against other ships. In short, you have to go through 24 races and in those races, you get to glide, skid dive in what appears to be underground sewer pipes. Different tracks provide different obstacles. In the end, you get to choose between 6 ships.  You can use either the D-Pad or the screen to move around. To move around on the screen, you just use your stylus or finger and tap the direction you want to go in. The graphics are pretty fluid. There was little stuttering here and there. I tried the game using the game on a Sprint Touch Pro which has the QUALCOMM chip that is known to have issues with graphics. All in all, the game is well worth the $3.00 PDAmill is asking.

Need for speed: Undercover

Need for speed: undercover is made EA games. This is another racing game.  There are 11 cars you get to chose from, where the cars range between Porsche, Nissan. The game is about scoring points. You do this by evading cops; going through the street looking for curves to drift on as well as winning races.  The game can be controlled by either your touch screen or the hardware buttons. The graphics are fluid and run nice and smooth. There is a bit of trick in doing the drift. The game is kind of pricey compared to the others. This came will set you back 10 dollars. But if you’re a racing fan, it’s a must buy.

Asphalt 4: Elite racing

This is just another street racing game. In this game, you get to chose between 10 elite cars ranging between Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari F430 Spider and Nissan GT-R. You also get the chance to race in 6 cities threw out the world each with their own stunning graphics cities include Monte Carlo, Beverly Hills, Shanghai, NYC, Dubai, Paris.  This game also allows you to use either your D-Pad or screen to move around other cars. This game is my favorite one. The graphics are really nice for a windows mobile device. I had no issue while playing the game. There was no stuttering all my turns and nitro boost looked smooth. I also found that using the screen to move around had no lag like the lag experienced in Need 4 speed.

Xtrakt

This game, although not official or even beta provides another type of racing game. The game is pulled from Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. The game had to be modded to make it work on VGA devices as it was designed for WVGA only. The Xperia sports a larger screen with higher resolution (800×400). In this game, you are a girl (maybe) and you have to go through a futuristic city fighting off the robots who are trying to knock you off from your motor bike. With you kill a robot, you earn points as-well-as a diamond. I only managed to get to level 3 so far. Due to that reason, I don’t know how many levels are there in the game. The game recommends that you use a stylus for the game but I had no problem using my finger. Overall, the graphics are impressive and the game play is very fluid and addictive. This game is going to be hit, once it’s officially released. At this point, there is no price or official release date. There is no word, if it would be released for other devices (other than the Xperia).

Like I said in the opening that this wasn’t an attempt to go into extreme detail, but enlist the games that are suitable for the VGA devices. There is a lot of rumbling that iPhone OS has so many great games, but people don’t realize that similar games can also be made for the Windows Mobile Platform.

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LINKS:

Flux Challenge

Asphalt 4

NFS undercover (handmark link)

Even cheap mobile phones play games, so don’t think you need to get the most expensive phone.

Lenovo made its entry into the netbook business last year by launching two netbooks, namely Ideapad S10 and S9. Lenovo did not join the netbook arena in its initial stages. Instead, it watched the whole game and learnt from the mistakes of other manufactures. So, are we impressed by the Lenovo Ideapad? Read on to find out!

Let’s first take a quick glance its specifications:

• 10.2″ WSVGA (1024 x 600) display
• 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
• 1GB  DDR2 SDRAM @ 667MHz
• Windows XP Home Edition
• 1.3MP camera
• 160GB HDD @ 5400rpm
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless and Bluetooth
• 4-in-1 Media card reader and ExpressCard slot
• 3-Cell Li-ion battery
• Size 9.8″ x 7.2″ x 1.2″
• Price: $420-$480 (differs from region to region)

Hardware and Design

The Lenovo S10 is a very well designed netbook. The company Lenovo is often associated with high built quality when it comes to the laptops and the Ideapad S10 is no different. Immediately, when you touch, you feel quality.

On the right side, you will find the Kensington lock, USB 2.0 port, earphone jack, microphone jack and express card slot.

On the left side, you will find the power port, VGA port, USB 2.0 port and multi-card reader.

Display

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 has a 10.2-inch matt display. It has the usual netbook resolution of 1024 x 600. Having said that, we expected more from Lenovo as it entered late into the netbook market. Do not get us wrong, the resolution is perfect for the 10.2-inch and colors looks nice and vivid. Had it come with something like 1280 x 800, it would have it an obvious edge over the other netbooks for sure.

Keyboard

I always stress on keyboard a lot when doing netbook reviews. This is because people buy these 10.2-inch netbooks mainly because it provides the manufactures to fit in bigger keyboard. So, how is the quality of the Lenovo keyboard compared to the keyboards of Acer aspire one, ASUS EEE 1000H and S101? Just for the sake of comparison, I was able to type at 100+wpm on all the 10.2-inch netbooks. On S10, I achieved 80wpm. This does not mean that the quality of the keyboard is any less than found in other netbooks.

Trackpad

The trackpad is small when compared to other 10.2-inch netbooks. The EEE S101 and EEE 1000H or 904HA feature a much bigger trackpad. That said, we did not face any problems in using the trackpad. It is quite responsive. However, if you do something like graphic designing on your netbook, you will find using the small trackpad a little cumbersome.

Memory

The Ideadpad S10 comes with a respectable 160GB HDD and 1GB of RAM

Upgradability

The Lenovo has made upgrading the HDD as-well-as RAM quite easy for the end user. You do not have to seek for any experts help or visit service center just to change RAM or HDD.
I posted a “how-to” on how to change the HDD and RAM of the S10. I’ve just pasted the contents of that post here:

Here are the instructions:

1. Flip the unit over such that it rests on its front cover. You will see two screws that provide the access to the HDD and RAM.

2. Unscrew the two screws. You will need Jeweler’s scewdriver to unscew them. Once done that, carefully remove the back panel starting from one side.

3. Here you will find access to the HDD (left side) and RAM (right side). Just a little pull towards the left will take the HDD out. You can swap it with a SSD or HDD of your choice. To take the RAM out, gently push the holders in opposite direction to which they are pointing to and then pull the RAM out carefully. Put in the RAM of your choice. Upto 2GB can be used.

Here is the HDD used in the Lenovo S10.

4. After upgrading, make sure to go to the BIOS and check if the S10 has recognized your RAM properly or not. You can enter BIOS by pressing the F2 key of your keyboard immediately upon bootup.

Battery Life

The Lenovo S10 comes with a 3-cell Li-ion battery. Axiomatically, we did not expect it to break any records in terms of battery life. We were able to squeeze 1 hour 45 minutes, which is fine for its capacity. However, if you turn off the wireless, you may be able to cross the 2 hour mark.

Speakers

The speakers are located on the front of the device. They produce adequate amount of sound. They are perfect for skype and for other audio conversations. Although, like other laptop/netbook speakers, they lack bass.

Lenovo One Key Recovery

Most of the netbook manufactures do not give a lot of heed to the software side of the netbook. Unlike other netbook manufactures, the Lenovo Ideadpad S10 comes with Lenovo One Key Recovery software. To explain its functionality, let me give you an example:
Say you are away from home and some random virus messes up the OS. Since, you are not at home, you do not have access to the external DVD drive and you cannot reinstall the OS. Note that this is the most common case with most of the netbook manufactures. They bundle a recovery DVD with the netbooks. With Lenovo S10, you do not need a DVD drive to restore the OS. When the device is off, just press the One Key Recovery button and the system will ask you, if you would like to make back up or to restore the OS. You can restore it to factory image or to some user defined image.

Crystal Disk Mark benchmark result

Some Size Comparisons

Thickness comparison of EEE S101 and Ideapad S10

EEE 701, S10 and S101

Final Thoughts

The Lenovo Ideapad S10 is a perfect mobile companion of those who want top-notch netbook from a reputed notebook manufacture. The processor is fine for the normal tasks that one does on-the-go. The battery life is little low, but if you can manage with that, you have a winner in your hands.

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Pros:

• Excellent build quality
• Sophisticated design
• Nice performance
• Lenovo One Key Recovery
• Easy to upgrade
• Light weight
• Responsive keyboard
• Good value for money

Cons:

• Awkward right shift key placement
• 1.5 hours battery life

ASUS has been lately producing impressive range of laptops and netbooks. I see one common thing in ASUS products: amazing built quality. There is a fierce competition in the category where the ASUS F80s wants to compete in. Is it able to offer some good competition to it’s fellow competitors? With a ATI Radeon HD 3470 graphic card with 256MB RAM and 4GB RAM under it’s hood, it would be interesting to see how it performs.

Design and Build

As said earlier, the Asus notebooks always are build from great materials especially when it comes to the plastic. It has a basic black body and a glossy cover with a nice modern pattern. ASUS claims that the glossy surface is scratch resistant and it does seems so. Although, I won’t like to do any tests to prove myself wrong. Continue reading “ASUS F80S review [Laptop]”

Many people still go for the SSDs models for netbooks due to their rugged nature and more reliability. Manufactures often go for the SSDs with smaller storage capacities to keep the price of the netbooks down. The user of the netbook often has to face storage problems. I advice all of these users to use these tips to have some more free storage memory on their netbook.

Move location of “My Documents” to storage card: Do this by right-clicking on “my documents”>properties and change the target

Move the TEMP files to RAMdisk

1. Press ‘windows’+break
2. Go to advanced tab
3. Click on Environment Variables
4. For User Variables TEMP and TMP, edit and change it to R:/Temp where R: is our RAMdisk
5. Do the same for System Variables TEMP and TMP too

Also, I would advice the users to use the RAMdisk to keep their device clutter-free. Move the Temporary internet files and firefox’s cache to the RAMdisk for performance and storage gains.

For IE:

1. Go to Tools>Internet Options
2. Under Temporary Internet Files, click on Settings
3. Click on Move Folder and select R:/IEtemp

For FIREFOX:

Type browser.cache.disk.parent_directory in the filter box. If it does not exists, make one and give it this value R:BrowserCache and restart firefox

Here “R:” means your RAMdisk. Learn more about RAMdisk here.

Normally, we do not cover notebook news much, but HP Pavilion dv3 has caught our attention. HP has recently announced the Pavilion dv3 series, which comes with the a 13.3″ LED lit screen and super multi DVD drive. It’s perfect device for those who are so lazy that they do not want to carry extra accessories with them. It is a worthy successor to the Pavillion dv2 series as that didn’t include the DVD driver and featured a smaller 12″ display.

HP Pavilion dv3 has a AMD 2.4GHz dual-core processor, 8GB RAM, three USB ports, SATA combo and HDMI connector, which makes it a great overall deal. It is attractively priced at $799 for the base model. Truly, HP has not forgotten the proper notebook lovers. HP Pavilion dv3 page.