HP’s New Mini Netbook Sports Intel’s Latest Atom Chip

April 13th, 2012 by batterylaptops

Hewlett-Packard on Monday declared its newest netbook, which delivers important application and graphics performance improvements with Intel’s most recent Atom processor.

The HP Mini 1104 incorporates a ten.1-inch monitor and is particularly priced starting up at US$399. The netbook has Intel’s Atom N2600 dual-core processor, which was introduced in December alongside with other chips code-named Cedar Trail.

The chip runs at a clock pace of one.6GHz and attracts three.5 watts of electricity. The chip increases netbook efficiency whilst preserving battery life. HP stated that a Mini 1104 using a 6-cell battery will have 9 hrs of battery life.

Netbooks are low-cost notebooks that allow basic responsibilities like Net browsing and phrase processing. Intel’s new chips can now manage high-definition Blu-ray video.

HP billed the netbook like a “companion PC” in a blog site entry.

The netbook weighs two.seventy eight kilos (1.26 kilograms). Other characteristics incorporate a webcam, an SDXC (Safe Electronic) card slot, up to 320GB of hard-drive storage and 2GB of RAM.

The Mini 1104 announcement arrives as HP’s rivals scale down netbook offerings, with curiosity within the low-cost pcs souring as tablets develop in reputation. Dell in December said it’s already exited the netbook market place, marketing out the remaining stock of its Inspiron Mini netbooks. Intel has mentioned that although netbook shipments have dropped within the U.S. and western Europe, the marketplace is expanding in establishing nations around the world this kind of as India and China.

HP’s new netbook is offered within the U.S. throughout the company’s internet site. HP did not right away respond to a request for info on worldwide availability.

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Apple market value hits $500B, where few have gone

March 1st, 2012 by batterylaptops

Apple’s industry capitalization topped $500 billion Wednesday, climbing into a mountain peak where couple of firms have ventured - and none have stayed for extended.

Apple was currently the world’s most respected firm. The gap among it and No. 2 Exxon Mobil Corp. has widened quickly previously thirty day period, as investors have digested Apple’s report of blow-out holiday-season revenue of iPhones and iPads. And, much more recently, Apple has elevated investors’ hopes that it would institute a dividend.

The company’s market place capitalization was close to $506 billion in late-morning trading as the shares rose $7, or 1.3 p.c, to $542.41.

On Tuesday, the Cupertino, Calif., company sent out invitations to reporters for an function in San Francisco up coming Wednesday, evidently to reveal its up coming iPad model. The start of the new design was anticipated around this time, a 12 months after the kick off with the iPad 2.

Apple is in scarce company. It’s the sixth U.S. corporation to succeed in the $500 billion milestone, along with the only one to be worth that considerably at present rates.

Exxon, now worth $411 billion, was worth just over $500 billion for 2 brief stretches on the end of 2007.

Apple’s arch-nemesis Microsoft Corp. was value just greater than $500 billion briefly at the finish of 1999, and yet again in early 2000. It even shot up above $600 billion for one day. The organization is currently value $267 billion.

Cisco Systems Inc., Intel Corp. and Basic Electric Co. also peaked just above $500 billion in early 2000. Cisco and Intel at the moment are really worth a little over $100 billion each and every, although GE is well worth $200 billion.

Exxon’s ascent for the $500 billion stage was propelled by report oil prices. Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and GE have been boosted with the general stock mania of 1999 and 2000, as well as the hunger for technologies stocks particularly.

Apple’s rise, in contrast, is powered by its mammoth product sales and income, which can be increasing at prices remarkable to get a business its dimension. And despite its sky-high market capitalization, Apple’s shares aren’t costly compared to its earnings. It truly is value 15 instances its earnings for the final year. That compares to 21 times earnings for Google Inc. and 14 occasions for the S&P 500 overall. Yet few companies inside the index grow their earnings as fast as Apple does: In its latest quarter, its earnings rose 118 % from a 12 months ago, to $13.06 billion.

Analysts expect the Apple rally to have some legs. The 35 analysts who have reported to FactSet since Apple’s latest earnings report have set an average price target of $592 per share, or 8 % higher than Wednesday’s amount. That implies a market capitalization of $552 billion.

Apple has been helped by a general recovery inside the stock marketplace following the doldrums from the financial crisis along with the recession. The S&P 500 index has posted its best February performance in 14 years, and on Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 13,000 to the first time since May 2008.

Apple’s stock accounts for 3.8 % from the value with the S&P five hundred, according to Standard & Poor’s, and it made up 6 percent with the operating income with the 500 companies in the fourth quarter.

Analysts say Apple’s sheer dimensions works against its stock price. Apple stock previously makes up a large share in the holdings of engineering and growth-focused funds, and they have little appetite for far more. Meanwhile, value-focused funds are often prevented from buying the shares because the organization doesn’t pay a dividend.

However, the company has been signaling that a dividend is under consideration, and several analysts now consider it a given that one particular will be announced this calendar year. Previous week, CEO Tim Cook told shareholders with the annual meeting that the company has more money than it needs, along with the board and management are thinking “very deeply” about ways to use the cash.

Former CEO Steve Jobs, apparently haunted from the company’s lean years while in the 90s, had a policy of accumulating cash. The company now sits on $97.6 billion.

China’s largest oil business, PetroChina, was briefly worth $1 trillion right after it listed on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2007, but only based on its price on that exchange. Its shares also trade in Hong Kong and on the newest York Stock Exchange. Based on buying and selling there, its market capitalization has never reached $500 billion.

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Hackers use malware to steal secrets

November 5th, 2011 by batterylaptops

Hackers utilized a stock Malicious program to smell out secrets from forty eight companies, according to the globally media reviews Tuesday.

A dozen of the targeted organizations have been U.S.-based, mentioned Symantec, although five were headquartered in Britain and other folks in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan.

The attack campaign tagged as “Nitro” by Symantec started from previous July and continued until finally mid-September, focusing on an mysterious amount of businesses and infecting at the very least forty eight corporations using the “Poison Ivy” remote-access Trojan.

Inside a revealed paper, Symantec scientists expounded their examination from the Nitro assaults and the usage of Poison Ivy.

“Nitro was not at the degree of sophistication of the Stuxnet,” said Jeff Wilhelm, a senior researcher with Symantec’s security reaction, “but you will find similarities with other state-of-the-art threats.”

Between those common characteristics, added Wilhelm, was the attack’s slender focus.

Poison Ivy was planted on Windows PCs whose proprietors fell for any dodge delivered via electronic mail, said Symantec.

Individuals email messages, which were delivered in tiny numbers — touted meeting requests from respected business companions, or in a few cases, as updates to antivirus software program or for Adobe Flash Participant.

When users fell in enjoy with the trick and opened the communication attachment, they unknowingly mounted Poison Ivy on their personal computers.

Then the attackers had been in a position to issue guidelines for the compromised personal computers, troll for higher-level passwords to achieve entry to servers hosting confidential information, and sooner or later offload the stolen content to hacker-controlled techniques.

Twenty-nine from the 48 corporations which were effectively attacked had been within the chemical and state-of-the-art components trade — a number of the latter with connections to army autos — although the opposite 19 were in a number of fields, which includes the protection sector.

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Acer Veriton VN282G Desktop PC: Lots of USB Ports, Little Performance

October 31st, 2011 by batterylaptops

The Acer Veriton N282G is a sleek, flexible, business-oriented compact Computer. Our assessment design, priced at $449 (as of November 23, 2010), features a 1.8GHz Intel Atom D525 processor, 2GB of installed RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), and an integrated Nvidia Ion 2 GPU. The system also sports activities a 320GB harddrive and it is outfitted together with the 32-bit version of Windows seven Specialist.

The Veriton N282G’s slate-gray and black, diamond-shaped chassis sits on a shiny black V-shaped stand, positioned at a minor angle to generate access to the ports a lot more convenient. If you’re quick on room, it is possible to mount the Pc onto the back again of a monitor or underneath a desk (the mandatory hardware happens bundled with the personal computer). The Personal computer is not hard to get rid of from its mounting, also.

Weighing in at about two.three lbs, the Veriton N282G is simple to move. The chassis actions 7.six inches vast by seven.six inches lengthy by about 1.4 inches thick. The front in the chassis has four USB 2.0 ports, a card reader that accepts several formats, and headphone and microphone jacks. The facility button is situated on the ahead “point” with the diamond-shaped chassis, and two a lot more USB two.0 ports show up on the best. The again of the chassis sports a gigabit ethernet jack, and VGA-out, HDMI-out, and serial ports. The program also has built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, along with a mini-PCI Express slot for expansion.

The bundled keyboard is fairly significant and very flat. The big, matte-black keys provide little tactile feedback, along with the keyboard’s mix of weak suggestions and flatness invitations uncertainty once you kind regarding whether a key press has registered. The keyboard has several media buttons together the top, like ones for playback, World wide web, and e-mail. A quantity wheel inside the higher appropriate corner looks a bit low-cost but operates properly.

The generic three-button optical mouse includes a left-click button manufactured of shiny clear plastic above slate-gray; the rest with the mouse is matte black.Since it is squared off and long, the mouse felt a tad unnatural in my hand.

The Veriton N282G acquired a score of 42 in PCWorld’s WorldBench 6 checks, indicating that the system is within the slow aspect, even for the compact Laptop. By comparison, the ViewSonic VOT530 Laptop Mini earned a WorldBench 6 mark of 90, although it’s drastically more expensive at $750. The Dell Inspiron Zino High definition 410, which attained a 78, is geared towards high-definition media consumption and costs $825.

Acer boasts that the Veriton N282G’s Nvidia Ion two GPU provides the computer 10 occasions the efficiency of regular integrated graphics. Within our exams, the device handled streaming High definition video clip with relative ease, though we occasionally noticed stuttering in fast-moving scenes. Then again, the Personal computer did not generate playable frame premiums on our Unreal Tournament benchmark game check at any good quality environment and at any resolution, so you can rule out enjoying graphics-intensive games.

To health supplement Windows seven Skilled Edition’s built-in security features, Acer offers its Veriton Manage Center suite of applications, which we talk about at duration in our critique in the Acer Veriton X498G. The Management Middle offers user-friendly front ends for regular Windows 7 capabilities. Energy Saver controls the machine’s energy-management features; Wise Boot lets you specify which apps Windows ought to activate at startup; eSetting enables you to review your system’s status and specs; and eLock Conduite gives you the chance to grant use of the terminal to other end users. They are pretty regular abilities, but they are beneficial nevertheless.

Acer’s Veriton N282G is an affordable compact Laptop with excellent connectivity. Most of its performance deficiencies are regular for any Computer of its course, and its better-than-average safety features support it stick out amongst low-cost enterprise devices. For a little more funds, however, you’ll be able to buy a Laptop of comparable dimension that provides significantly stronger functionality.

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Sprint 3G/4G MiFi: Great Potential, Erratic Performance

June 19th, 2011 by batterylaptops

Together with the eagerly awaited Sprint 3G/4G MiFi Mobile Hotspot 4082 ($80 following a $200 instantaneous rebate), Novatel Wireless brings assistance for Sprint’s much-promoted 4G WiMax network to its pioneering line of diminutive cell broadband routers. But the MiFi 4082’s efficiency was extremely erratic in my exams, with velocity and battery-life benefits all over the map.

Although its credit-card-size footprint is approximately equal to that of earlier models, the MiFi 4082 can be a bit thicker than the authentic MiFi–more like 50 percent a deck of cards than a number of stacked bank cards. Still, at 3 ounces, it can be no hardship to have about and really should match into any pocket that can accommodate an iPhone.


Simple Setup

Charging the machine utilizing the integrated adapter (which connects by means of a Micro-USB port) requires a number of several hours, but setup is really a breeze (assuming that you’ve got activated your Sprint account). Just link a Laptop or Mac to the machine via Wi-Fi (it can be unsecured out of the box), and you happen to be good to go. Even so, Sprint (and we at PCWorld) strongly suggest that you simply safe your network by managing the first-time wizard, which appears when you originally access the device’s browser interface by typing http://mifi.mlp into your address discipline right after generating the Wi-Fi connection.

The setup wizard guides you through the approach of making each network and administrative passwords (the latter retains outsiders from altering the previous at the same time as other network settings). If you fail to finish the first-time wizard, it’s going to seem anytime you try to open mifi.mlp with your browser. Once you have finished the wizard, however, going to mifi.mlp brings up the MiFi interface landing web page, which not simply displays basic battery-life and connection info but in addition supplies access to common router settings and obtainable MiFi widgets–applications that use the MiFi platform.

My evaluation unit came with a weather conditions widget preinstalled, for example. Since the MiFi has geolocation help, you can examine for the forecast within your place by clicking a refresh button. The MiFi also incorporates a slot to get a MicroSD card (not offered); in the event you use a card, anyone related to your MiFi hotspot can entry files saved within the card by means of the MiFi browser interface (once more, by heading to mifi.mlp). This lets small workgroups effortlessly reveal paperwork although around the street. For protection causes, individuals who make use of the browser interface are logged in as visitors by default, so that they can not fiddle with network configurations; to accessibility people, you have to log in using the administrative password you created throughout initial setup.


Position Window

Status details is available to the MiFi itself; fairly inconveniently, nonetheless, it’s not all in a single area. On the front in the MiFi, a bar-shaped screen window shows the network strength, too as regardless of whether you might be at present roaming, the remaining battery level, no matter whether the system incorporates a GPS resolve, and how many products are connecting through Wi-Fi (Sprint states it supports as much as five). The device presents that last little bit of information via dots, which can be a little more difficult to go through than an easy range. Irrespective, all the details could be a little difficult to examine indoors, since the screen utilizes precisely the same E Ink engineering present in Kindles along with other e-book viewers. Outdoors, below bright light, the contrast improves dramatically.

A multicolored LED on a facet edge signifies the network form and velocity. A blue LED signifies that you’re in 4G nation; green is for 3G, and amber implies that you just aren’t within array of a supported data network. That’s simple plenty of, but a sound colored light just indicates the presence of a network: Only if the colored light flashes could be the MiFi truly connected to the network–and a lot more confusingly, Sprint states the velocity of the flashing denotes the velocity from the network connection. Given that you might have no position of reference for judging whether or not the light is flashing swiftly or little by little, it’s not easy to inform how excellent the network speed is.
Connection Speeds

My admittedly anecdotal velocity exams, executed in downtown San Francisco and Seattle too as in many San Francisco Bay Area suburbs, backed up reports we’ve seen suggesting that WiMax performance tends for being better outside than indoors. I ran tests five instances on the laptop Personal computer and five periods on an iPhone at every of 4 locations; in Seattle I carried out my indoor tests within a hotel place having a window overlooking Qwest stadium, and in San Francisco my indoor assessments ended up in my loft close to the Bay Bridge, about 40 ft from an unobstructed window. I executed outdoor exams up coming to my auto within a few of mall parking plenty.

With all the MiFi lights indicating a 4G connection, down load velocity checks on Speedtest.net occasionally registered an extraordinary 8 megabits per 2nd outdoors–but much more frequently they had been inside the array of two to 3 mbps (the typical was five.6 mbps). Speeds sometimes different broadly inside the identical group of tests run inside a minute or two: In one outside group of 5 assessments, I registered a low of two.8 mbps along with a higher of 8.5 mbps.

Indoors, down load speeds also diverse substantially. On 1 day, the MiFi 3G/4G averaged 6 mbps, that has a substantial of 7.33 mbps along with a very low of 4.6 mbps. But during another set of assessments conducted in the exact same location on the diverse day, download speeds averaged one.two mbps, with a substantial of one.9 mbps plus a very low of 500 kbps.

Uploads had been much more consistent–but far slower–across the board. Outside, the speed averaged 750 kbps; indoors, the common was 730 kbps.

Functionality just isn’t always only a quantities sport, however. I had problems making an attempt to look at streaming Netflix films employing the MiFi 3G/4G. In 3 of 4 attempts, the movie simply stopped streaming after about sixty to 90 minutes–the MiFi’s World wide web connection had either slowed to a crawl or halted entirely, so I couldn’t even browse the internet, permit alone stream video clip. To the fourth attempt, however, I used to be able to look at a complete film. Clearly the MiFi is able of good performance, nevertheless the inconsistency is troubling.

Latency was normally mediocre, with ping results ranging from 200 to 300 milliseconds. Results ended up pretty related in checks using Ookla’s Speedtest.net app on my iPhone. Because the 4G final results different so broadly, I discovered it tough to gauge how well the unit was undertaking in handing off 4G to 3G connections.
Battery Lifestyle

Sprint states the MiFi’s battery need to assistance four hours of use, but in my assessments battery lifestyle appeared to get nearer to three hrs.The Wi-Fi on the unit supports 802.11b/g/n, which ought to make the MiFi quickly for transfers amongst units around the local network; for Internet searching along with other Web duties, although, the pace of 802.11n is mostly wasted because the mobile broadband connection is much slower than 802.11n Wi-Fi.

Sprint charges $60 a month for unrestricted 4G usage–a great deal if you’re in a region with 4G coverage and you use a good deal of bandwidth. Nonetheless, the carrier imposes a 5GB cap on 3G (EVDO-Rev. A) data utilization, as well as a 300MB cap on knowledge consumed although roaming.

In general, I suspect that the erratic performance in the Sprint MiFi 3G/4G Cell Hotspot reflects issues in Sprint’s WiMax protection more than it indicates issues using the Novatel Wireless hardware. But although the MiFi 3G/4G can be superfast, its inconsistency makes it tough to suggest. (For far more, go through our have a look at the burgeoning cellular hotspot group.)

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Acer Iconia Tab A500: Android Tablet Impresses, But Still Misses its Mark

June 18th, 2011 by batterylaptops

The Acer Iconia Tab A500 is the most current while in the ongoing parade of Android three.0 tablets, and using a value that undercuts Apple’s iPad 2 by $50, the $450 Iconia Tab (cost as of 4/23/2011) distinguishes itself within a crowded discipline. This tablet earns props for its a lot of strengths, such as its inclusion of both a USB port as well as a microSD Card slot, its assistance for Dolby Mobile audio, and its customized property display widgets that support organize applications. Nevertheless, as the Iconia Tab goes far toward the objective of swapping a laptop computer, it still falls short–in aspect as a result of its individual hardware constraints, and in component due to its software program.

The Iconia Tab A500 may be the biggest with the 3 tablets that Acer has by now introduced. The model examined here is Wi-Fi-only and carries the designation A500-10S16u. A 3G-enabled model is coming on AT&T.
Stylish Design

The elegant, two-tone Iconia Tab is one of the bulkier tablets available today. The 10.1-inch multitouch display has a black bezel, plus rounded silver edges and backing made of brushed aluminum. The display is hardly oleophobic, but then, none from the tablets I’ve seen so far can actually do effective battle against the fingerprint monsters.

Despite its heft, the Iconia Tab felt surprisingly good in my hands. It’s slightly longer and wider than the Motorola Xoom, measuring 10.two by 7.0 by 0.5 inches, to the Xoom’s 9.8 by 6.6 by 0.5 inches.

It is also slightly heavier than the Xoom: 1.7 pounds to the Xoom’s 1.6 (to be precise, on the PCWorld Labs scale, the Iconia Tab weighed just 0.05 pound more, at 1.66 pounds to the Xoom’s 1.61, though Acer lists its weight at 1.69 pounds). Nevertheless, the Iconia Tab actually gave me the perception of being lighter than the Xoom when I held it in hand. I tried the two side-by-side, and consistently preferred the overall balance and weighting in the Iconia Tab to the Xoom’s. Neither tablet is something I’d want to hold in one hand for any extended period of time, but of the two, I’d give the Iconia Tab the nod. If weight were out from the equation, I’d even prefer the Iconia Tab to Apple’s iPad 2; while the iPad two, at 1.three pounds, will be the lightest from the three, its 7.3-inch width makes it less conducive for holding in vertical orientation and typing with two hands.

The tablet feels solidly made in other ways. The buttons and ports are all logically situated. The volume rocker and the rotation lock running along the right edge near the top are distinctively contoured and easy to press. Likewise, the power/sleep button is easily found at the upper right corner, and conveniently glows an unobtrusive, alternating red and white although charging. Even the flap that pulls out with the right side to reveal the microSDHC card slot (and the SIM card slot on other models within the A500 series that support 3G) feels sturdy.
The Iconia Tab Inside and Out

In its core specs, the Iconia Tab mirrors the Motorola Xoom. It runs a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 250 dual-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. It also has a 10.1-inch, 1280-by-800 pixel display that has a 16:10 aspect ratio (great for high-definition content); 16GB of internal eMMC storage (the Xoom has 32GB); plus a microSDHC card for up to 32GB of additional storage.

A drawback is how the internal eMMC storage is configured: In some from the file manager apps I downloaded, including the popular Astro File Manager, the memory is seen as being SD card storage, which makes it confusing to tell the difference between internal storage and actual external storage.

The display looks good–both bright and colorful–most in the time, and the angle of view is adequate (but not terrific–just 80 degrees according to Acer’s very own specs), but I had a couple of issues. First, a grid is quite visible on the display. Acer says that the grid should be visible only at specific angles, and that it’s there because in the touchscreen technology the company uses; I say it’s visible all the time, at any angle, and the cross-hatch effect is very disruptive and distracting. It seems to cheapen the high-res screen and makes it harder to enjoy photos and read text (large text sizes and certain fonts aid mitigate this feeling). As for photos, color quality varied depending on the app I viewed the images in; the default Android 3.0 experience left me feeling that this display screen was better than those of the Xoom and the T-Mobile G-Slate, but it even now lacks the natural skin tones and color balance with the Apple iPad 2’s display.

The broad-reaching specs also include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, GPS, and a compass. It has Bluetooth two.1 and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity. The Iconia Tab uses Acer’s Clear.fi branding for its DLNA media server support, and a Clear.fi app helps facilitate connecting the tablet to other DLNA sources; but I ended up using it as another way to view my multimedia on the tablet, and had problems sharing the content and grabbing content from other sources.

When held within the landscape orientation, the tablet has its power and headphone jacks at the left edge, toward the top; Micro-HDMI output along the left edge, at the bottom; along with a micro-USB port for tethered data transfers and a USB-A port at the lower right edge. Along the top may be the flap protecting the microSDHC card slot, and at bottom will be the obtrusively bulky dock connector (the dock is an optional $80 accessory that includes an IR remote control).

The Iconia Tab could be the first in the Android three.0 tablets to ship with both a functioning card slot plus a full USB-A host port that accepted a keyboard and all the external USB storage I threw at it, including USB flash drives, a USB media card reader, and even a portable hard drive. Having these ports is a huge boon, in light of tablets like the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook and the T-Mobile G-Slate, neither of which have a USB port, or even a microSD card slot.

Unfortunately, the USB port can only go so far, but how much use you get from the ports will be determined by what you’re trying to do and what apps you’re using. For example, I could get the Gallery and Acer’s Photo Browser 3D app to display digital photos from external storage; but I couldn’t get a preloaded trial model of Documents to Go to recognize the USB port, let alone access documents off a flash drive. Furthermore, Acer failed to include a file manager app for Android 3.0, and of the a few apps I tried, none could access the USB flash drive.

The built-in cameras are, spec-wise, among the better tablet cameras: The Iconia Tab has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with flash, plus a 2-megapixel front-facing camera (at the upper right corner, below where the power button sits) for video chat. But once again the hardware underperforms: The rear-facing camera’s image quality is surprisingly mediocre; colors were off, and it was slow to focus. Given that this could be the third Android three.0 tablet where I’ve been dissatisfied with the camera quality, it’s hard to tell if it’s an Android three.0 issue or the fault with the hardware.

If it’s an Android 3.0 issue, it certainly wouldn’t be the only one. As on other tablets running Google’s OS, Android three.0 is prone to crashes, and apps often don’t work right, either. And the Gallery app continues to do a poor job rendering digital images, instead showing pictures that lack sharpness and detail.

The issues with image rendering and pixelated text I’ve observed on all a few Android 3.0 tablets (Motorola Xoom, T-Mobile G-Slate, and now Acer Iconia Tab) make me increasingly wonder just how hard it is for Google’s OS to properly render these elements. I found it interesting that Acer is the first to offer not one but two alternatives to the Android Gallery app to display images, but one of these (Nemo Player) introduces even more artifacting, and the other (Acer’s homegrown Photo Browser 3D), although it shows better colors and slightly better sharpness, nevertheless can’t approach the crisp clarity of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7-inch, a RIM BlackBerry PlayBook, or even the Apple iPad 2.
Entertainment Features

For audio output, the Iconia Tab has stereo speakers, situated parallel to one another at the back from the tablet, in landscape mode. I found my hands could block the speakers, but I also had the choice of rotating the tablet so the speakers were situated at top, not bottom, as they would be if you hold it in landscape, with the front-facing camera at the upper left corner in this orientation.

This will be the first tablet with Dolby Cellular audio built in, and the advantage that offers quickly became clear. The stereo speakers coupled with Dolby Cellular could translate into big sound, once you futz with the Dolby Cellular equalizer settings. And those settings are, annoyingly, buried in the general settings menu. At the standard settings, the audio sounded miserably tinny; once adjusted, music sounded reasonably good, given its source. I’d nonetheless prefer to pair up a Bluetooth speaker like the Aliph Jambox, but the stereo speakers even now sounded superior to what I’ve heard on most other tablets; only RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook can best the Iconia Tab in audio quality.

As the device itself can play only 720p high-definition video, the Micro-HDMI port can output video at 1080p; but to get that quality, you’ll have to wait for an over-the-air update due inside the second quarter.

Acer says the tablet’s two 3260mAh Li-polymer batteries will provide a total of 8 hours of game-play and movie-playback time, or 10 hours of Web browsing over Wi-Fi. We’ll update this review with test results from the PCWorld Labs when they’re available.
Software package: A Light Custom Touch

Like the Motorola Xoom and T-Mobile G-Slate, the Iconia Tab supports Adobe Flash 10.two, but, as on the G-Slate, you’ll have to follow a link inside the Apps Menu to Flash’s Android Market page to download and install the most recent edition.

And since there’s nevertheless no Android three.0 model of Facebook, Acer’s solution is to have a browser link to Facebook, right in the Apps menu. At least Acer calls it a link to Facebook, unlike RIM’s approach on the BlackBerry PlayBook (which has app icons for Facebook and other Web services, when those are really just browser links).

Android three.0 has a lot to like amid its shiny veneer. Nonetheless, as on the other tablets, the OS has issues once you dig deep and really start using it. That, coupled with the lack of selection of tablet-optimized apps, makes for a limiting experience at this time.

Although nothing about this install of Android three.0 stands out, I appreciated Acer’s efforts to customize the Android three.0 experience.

Instead of wholly changing the Android 3.0 interface, Acer instead provides its very own widgets that appear on the property display screen as apps. Ereading, Games, Multimedia, and Social–each of these icons look just like any other app icon. But choose any of them, and you’ll find yourself in a very bookshelf-style display screen having a page for each of these categories. You move among the categories by tapping the left or right arrows at the bottom. And within the main screen of each category are app shortcuts to related content.

Acer kindly gets us started inside the eReading section by showing Google Books and the company’s LumiRead app, which can read PDFs and ePubs you transfer to the device, but is intended for downloading content in countries where Acer has agreements with publishers (for now, the U.S. market is not one of those). The Social section has SocialJogger, a variant on the SocialJogger software seen within the Acer Iconia notebook, with hooks into Facebook and Twitter; it also has a link to Facebook’s house page while in the Web browser, plus a link to Google Talk.

The Multimedia section is prepopulated with links to Photo Browser 3D (Acer’s individual app for viewing photos), NemoPlayer (customized by Acer for photos, videos, and music), MusicA, Aupeo!, YouTube, and Clear.fi. And the Game Zone links to the included versions in the games Need for Speed: Shift and Let’s Golf. Ready to add apps to any of these pages? Simply tap the big “+” symbol within the upper right, and select the apps you want from among your installed apps.

My experience with the Acer Iconia Tab A500 is mixed, to be sure. As a tablet, the device comes the closest I’ve seen yet to fulfilling the potential for a tablet–with any operating system–to replace a laptop. It’s a great choice if you want the ability to access your content via USB sources, but the current limitations of Android three.0 and what you can do with that content via USB, coupled with this tablet’s display quirks, nonetheless make it a qualified recommendation.

If you’re set on buying an Android tablet today, the Iconia Tab is one of the best bets at this writing–it tops the Xoom in functionality, and its $450 price is significantly cheaper than the $750 no-contract price with the G-Slate. The Iconia Tab is no iPad-killer, but it does give hints from the power of Android’s more open and flexible platform. While I found faults with the Iconia Tab itself, several of my gripes lie with Android three.0; if Google could only fix that OS’s issues and get the native app ecosystem jump-started, Android tablets might be on to something.

Tags: WG317, PCGA-BP2E, BTP-AS1681, 661-2927, 60.48T22.001

Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi

June 17th, 2011 by batterylaptops

5 months right after releasing the initial 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, the business has eventually shipped a Wi-Fi-only version, because it promised to try and do way back once the Tab debuted in September 2010. This Tab delivers no surprises: We have seen the hardware just before. What’s distinct right here is it lacks the wireless connectivity offered on the tablets from AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon. And since it has no carrier involvement, there’s no need to mess around with contracts: Instead, the Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi is priced at $350 (as of April 27, 2011), with no additional costs.

Of course, $350 is still 75 percent more than the current $200 price for an unique Galaxy Tab at T-Mobile. It’s also considerably cheaper than the HTC Flyer, another Wi-Fi-only tablet, which just went on presale at Best Buy for $500.

Nonetheless, prior to you decide that this tablet is a bargain, consider whether you want to spend this kind of money on a product that isn’t the newest technology in town.

When I first reviewed the Tab, I noted that Samsung had succeeded in delivering the smoothest implementation of Android on a tablet to date–and that it had done so on a smoothly designed piece of hardware that was a far cry from the generic slabs coming out of Asia. What’s also clear is although the Galaxy Tab is a fine 1.0 product, the tablet has room to grow.

We should see that growth in the Tab’s larger cousins, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 8.9. Both of these larger-screened yet more sleekly designed models will use the newer, tablet-optimized Google Android 3.0 instead of the Android 2.2 within the 7-inch Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi. The 10.1-inch tablet ships in June, while the 8.9-inch tablet is coming this summer.

With those revamped models so close, the question is whether the 16GB, 7-inch Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi is too little, too late. Right now, I’d answer that question with a qualified maybe. It has a smaller screen than the 16GB 9.7-inch Apple iPad 2, but at least the price reflects that difference, unlike the price of the HTC Flyer.

The 7-inch Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi still feels zippy and responsive; in fact, while I was typing, it somehow felt even more responsive than I recall from my early experiences within the first Tab (more on that below). The Tab also still looks nice, thanks to Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. I know that the interface has its detractors, but I continue to appreciate how it makes icons and text pop more than they do on stock Android 2.2.

Now that I’ve summed up what is new and various, let’s step back again and revisit the Galaxy Tab hardware itself. (Editor’s note: Portions of the remainder of this review echo what we have said about carrier versions of the Galaxy Tab.)
Hardware: The Specs

Inside, the Galaxy Tab has Samsung’s 1GHz Hummingbird Application processor, a 3G radio for data connections, and Wi-Fi and DLNA support. The Tab runs Android 2.2, supports Adobe Flash 10.1 and Microsoft’s PlayReady DRM, and features a tablet-optimized version of TouchWiz 3.0, the interface found on Samsung’s Galaxy S smartphones.

The back again panel of the Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi is white. The sides are matte black, while the front panel is glossy black, with a row of four touch-sensitive buttons along the bottom of the screen, just as around the Galaxy S smartphones.

The first thing that jumps out about the Galaxy Tab is its manageable size. The Tab measures 7.5 by 4.seven inches and stands at a half-inch thick. The depth is the same as that of the initial Apple iPad, and that of other tablets such as the Motorola Xoom and T-Mobile G-Slate, but the 7-inch RIM BlackBerry PlayBook is 0.4 inch deep.

The dimensions and weight allow you to hold the Tab and type on it with your thumbs at the same time, using two hands or even one hand. Users with smaller hands will have to stretch to type one-handed; for larger hands, the arrangement is no problem. I found the keyboard very usable and responsive–far better than many Android on-screen keyboards I’ve tried, and definitely more manageable for holding in two hands and efficiently thumb-typing.

Unlike with earlier shipping iterations of the Tab, this operating system install provides the pop-up letters common to Android 2.x; prior to, their absence hindered my accuracy, whereas on this tablet I could type speedily and catch errors more quickly.

One issue persists: The screen’s sensitivity still makes it too easy to activate keyboard buttons accidentally (something that also proved to be a big issue with the capacitive-touch menu buttons when I held the device in landscape orientation).

Not surprisingly, the front face is all screen. With a 7-inch display and a weight of 0.8 pound, the Galaxy Tab is small enough to fit into some tight spaces (such as a roomy pocket), light enough to hold with one hand, and large enough to provide satisfying viewing. Like the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook, the Tab is particularly comfy to hold in one hand; even at 1.3 pounds, the Apple iPad 2 is too heavy to grasp with a single hand for any length of time.

That said, as time wore on and I read a tome on the Amazon Kindle app, I realized that in an era of half-pound e-readers, I couldn’t see myself holding the Tab for lengthy reading sessions of 30 minutes or more.

The wide, Super VGA, 1024-by-600-pixel TFT display appeared bright, with pop-out, borderline oversaturated colors at the default settings. It had a pleasing angle of view; I could tilt and share the screen without altering the quality of the display.

In use, however, it didn’t handle the glare of sunlight especially well. (It also clearly shows fingerprints–lots of them.) The screen was slightly more viewable in daylight than the higher-resolution iPad, but it’s for use in a pinch only. To be honest, to say that it’s better than the iPad outdoors is a stretch–I could make out the time, but not how to adjust the time. In the end, I’d recommend neither product if your routine will take you outside, or into rooms that always have serious glare.

In contrast, the Galaxy Tab looked gorgeous in ambient and darkened lighting. Yes, I noticed some pixelation in Android games. And I noticed the dots that make up the letters–but I see that on the iPad, too, and the effect is worse there because of the iPad’s lower pixel density. My observations come as someone whose eyes have been spoiled by the resolution within the iPhone 4.
More Specs

The Galaxy Tab has two cameras–a rear-facing 3.2-megapixel camera and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera–and a camcorder for video chat. The back-facing camera provides passable quality, but none of the pictures I took with it, either indoors with the flash or outdoors in natural light, particularly impressed me. I found the device surprisingly easy to use as a camera, though: The big viewfinder (otherwise known as the screen) was a kick, but no way are you going to be subtle when taking a photo with the Galaxy Tab.

It’s worth noting that the Tab has a number of camera controls in its software, but the differences in the modes I tried were subtle at best. I also thought that images had a slightly bluish cast.

Physically, the device has little else on it aside from volume-up and -down controls and a power button. It has 16GB of internal memory, and one MicroSD slot for expanding storage up to 32GB. To use the camera, you must have a card in place.

The Tab has a proprietary charging port, a negative in that it requires you to have Samsung’s charger on hand. The device charges very slowly over its included AC power adapter; if you plug the Tab into a computer’s USB port, it will power up at an even pokier rate around the trickle charge. One thing I did like: When powered off and charging, the device shows the percentage of the battery charge.
All About the Software

Like all Galaxy Tab models, the Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi has Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 Android overlay. I like how TouchWiz adds pop to Android’s otherwise-indistinct icons, making the screen feel more like Apple’s iOS than stock Android.

The Tab uses Swype for potentially faster typing through gestures; Samsung’s Social Hub for aggregating your messages across e-mail, text, and social networks; Facebook; Qik Video Chat, Think Office (for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF files); and Samsung Media Hub for accessing television shows and movies for download and rental.

Samsung has optimized some core Android apps, redesigning the memo functions, e-mail, file-management system, calendar, contacts, music player, and video player to take full advantage of the extra screen real estate.

E-mail, for example, presents a dual-pane view in landscape mode that shows both the open message and your various inboxes. Samsung has slightly tweaked the Android Desktop, too: A sliding tray of icons (browser, apps, e-mail, and the like) runs along the bottom of the display, while widgets occupy the middle expanse of the screen and an enhanced status bar runs along the top. Above that is the Android-standard notifications bar, which you can drag down with your finger as on any Android device. You can pinch to view all of your multiple home screens, too.

The Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab has some minor tweaks in its software selection as compared with the carrier versions of the tablet. For one thing, it adds an updated, more versatile Daily Briefing widget. It also has the new Music Hub for accessing your music collection. The added Samsung Apps icon, though, was disappointing: It didn’t lead to anything of note, and was populated with painfully few apps when I tried it. Other preloaded items include Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, plus Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, and Moviefone apps.

The Tab carries the Google-certified logo and has the Android Market on board. But many of the apps available there still don’t play well with the Tab’s roomy screen size and resolution, and they fail to recognize the Tab as a tablet and not a phone. Of the apps I downloaded that weren’t optimized for a large screen, all but one (a game) appeared centered in the screen at 800-by-400-pixel resolution.

Going back to the Media Hub for a moment, the app is designed so that you can share an account among up to 5 Galaxy devices, although at this time you can’t start watching something on one device and then return to the same spot and resume viewing on another. That capability is in place for e-reader software such as Amazon’s Kindle apps; if Samsung can establish something comparable for Media Hub, that could give it a competitive advantage over Apple’s iTunes.

Media Hub is no iTunes, though, with a still-thin selection. In theory, with a greater selection of TV and movie options, better design, and integration with other Samsung connected devices (such as the company’s HDTVs or Blu-ray players), Media Hub could become an asset to Samsung’s Galaxy products.

My frustrations with the Galaxy Tab lie partly with what it lacks–a USB port, a nonproprietary connector, a better keyboard–and partly with Google’s Android 2.2 operating system, which was never intended as a tablet OS. Android 2.2, with the help of Samsung’s enhancements, can make for a serviceable tablet environment; just be prepared for some heartaches if you run into issues with apps. On the whole, I’d still say that Android 2.2 does better than I initially expected it would on a 7-inch tablet, but the OS’s nuances and quirks, such as its heavy reliance around the back button to get out of menus, feel more annoying on a larger screen.

With the Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi, we now have a great choice for anyone looking to dip a toe into the tablet universe without spending a fortune. It has its limitations, and it lacks the cutting-edge technology and OS of newer tablet models, but it also still has its strengths too. Think of it as a tweener until you graduate to the big leagues. It’s a good alternative to an off-brand, low-cost Android tablet; the Galaxy Tab beats those products by miles, and it remains a viable, albeit less-sexy-than-it-once-was gadget for mobile e-mail, Web browsing, and multimedia consumption.

See more like this: TM00742, A22-P701, 909-2420, 312-0741, SSB-X15LS6, BT.T4807.001

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y460: Plenty of Gaming Muscle, but All Business When Needed

June 2nd, 2011 by batterylaptops

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y460 laptop computer is most likely the closest issue to a Transformer I’ll ever have my fingers on. As tested, the Core i5-520M processor, four gigs of RAM, as well as the 64-bit version of Windows 7 collectively provide plenty of energy — the car sort, so to communicate, with the Y460. But flick a swap up front, as well as the Y460’s ATI Mobility Radeon High definition 5650 graphics card springs into action, turning the device right into a power-chugging powerhouse. It’s a awesome feeling to abruptly have tons more power when you need it, but is it value its checklist price of $1199?

This IdeaPad isn’t going to break from Lenovo’s common chic styling for that line, with significant hinges, a geometric pattern laid into the black situation, as well as a daring red-orange line bisecting the circumstance. Complete fat is about 5 lbs, filling out a 13.4-by-9.2-by-1.2-inch frame and making the entire package light and little, contemplating the electrical power it can be packing.

When operating within the Core i5-520M’s integrated graphics, the chip (with two.4GHz clock speed) will hum along. You get just above four hrs of ability from that. But a 1200-buck buy? Clearing that $1000 dollar barrier comes courtesy with the capability to flick a swap and abruptly possess the 1GB ATI Radeon High definition 5650 throwing out respectable mobile graphical energy.

The discrete card is more than capable of efficiently rocking the 14-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel screen, whether you happen to be viewing video clip or enjoying a video clip game. The device earned a WorldBench score of 106 inside our testing, which implies (in brief type) yes, you’ll be able to play just about any modern day video clip game on this factor. But only for about an hour or hour as well as a 50 percent — the 5650 gulps down power like Energon Cubes. For anybody who missed the Transformers reference previously, which means you run from juice quickly.

Ringing the laptop are 3 USB ports, a USB/eSATA port, a VGA-out, an HDMI jack, a headphone and microphone pair of jacks, an ethernet port, and Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n wireless. The keyboard is great, with plenty of responsiveness and comfy keys, though I rue the day that Lenovo decided to set the “Function” crucial outdoors from the “Control” button. As well as a row of fantastic touch-sensitive controls is just above the keyboard. They search awesome, and control points like quantity easily. Sadly, up coming to those buttons is really a row of touch-sensitive buttons you might have to “zip” your finger along to utilize, but they never do anything at all far better than the non-zipping buttons. Stick to the touchpad, with its multitouch and fantastic responsiveness.

It can be a shame no Blu-ray player is here (it’d be nice to possess the alternative for the display that may assist Blu-ray’s highest resolution as well, but it can be a shock to see a “full” High definition screen on the machine this size). Amongst the ability along with the HDMI output, a Blu-ray player could be a sensible addition even with the monitor’s default resolution. But you are not able to purchase a Blu-ray player even though you would like a single.

This hits on the greater problem of the complete lack of customization. When you might be buying, you simply pick your processor, graphical ability, and support options. No changing storage, memory, drives…practically nothing. You also can’t choose among a glossy as well as a matte display screen; not uncommon for Lenovo, but the screen is cripplingly glossy. I personally enjoy this laptop computer — the electrical power, the versatility, the search, the really feel — but the screen is simply also glossy for me to take into account using it; its glare is really a actual showstopper.

Over meets the eye? Completely. But you’re undoubtedly paying a price for that versatility, the two in bucks and in battery existence when you happen to be not in Battle Mode. If there was a matte edition of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y460, I’d select it up within a hot moment. For customers who don’t thoughts a (quite) glossy display and want that option between electrical power and power-saving about the go, the Y460 is a wonderful machine.

Tags: FRU 92P1137, 29H9033, FRU 42T5251, 0U600P

Asus Eee PC 1215N Netbook Review

May 31st, 2011 by batterylaptops

The Asus Eee Computer 1215N is a netbook that does not look like a netbook.

Like its predecessor, the Eee Personal computer 1201N, the 1215N gives a vivid 12.1-inch LCD display having a native resolution of 1366 by 768 pixels. That moves the Asus from netbook to entry-level ultraportable, however the internals are all netbook-class components–albeit a high-end netbook.

The CPU is now the Intel Atom D525, a dual-core processor supporting Intel’s hyperthreading technologies, generally located in tiny “nettop” desktop computers. It permits the method to handle approximately four simultaneous process threads. The clock price is additionally juiced up somewhat compared to older Atoms, to one.8GHz.

Despite the fact that the D525 is a 64-bit-capable CPU, Asus ships the 1215N having a 32-bit model of Windows–Windows Residence seven Premium, that is a step up from most netbooks. Employing a 32-bit OS makes sense in light of the 1215N’s 2GB of memory, even though the D525’s memory controller can help approximately 4GB of RAM.

Asus builds the 1215N on best of an Nvidia Ion chipset, which delivers a lot more robust graphics capacity compared to integrated Intel GMA 3150. Graphics change automatically between the Intel integrated graphics and also the discrete GPU because of Nvidia’s Optimus engineering. Regardless of acquiring a quicker, dual-core CPU and Ion chipset, the 1215N’s battery existence lasts 5 hours, 24 minutes, above an hour greater than that of the older 1201N.

The keyboard is also quite excellent, with all the typing keys virtually full-size. Better still, every alphanumeric essential includes a slight depression, easing touch typing and making this one of the much better keyboards I’ve used in this class of device. The trackpad is yet another story. The pad itself is twitchy, and brings about the mouse cursor to jump close to, seemingly fully at random. The pad buttons demand abnormal strain. You may want to get a laptop computer mouse should you will be making use of the 1215N extensively.

The bigger exhibit is excellent for typical desktop use–the larger resolution helps substantially when creating or editing documents. Nonetheless, video clip proved to be disappointing. The Nvidia Ion graphics are able to dealing with high-definition video really properly, along with the Hd video clip clips I viewed looked wonderful, as did standard-definition video. But when I checked out video sequences with lots of action–sports, for example–the movement smearing about the LCD proved extremely distracting. Viewing angles will also be usually bad, but most end users is going to be sitting inside the sweet spot, anyway.

Audio turned out to get a nice surprise. As you may well expect, the speakers offer zero bass material. But the total tonal balance was largely clean on vocal and acoustic instrumental content material. Volume amounts had been very loud for any small laptop computer at the same time. For more significant audio, you are going to even now want headphones, but the speakers appear a lower previously mentioned most little laptop computer speakers.

Efficiency is rather significantly on the par with most netbooks, except for your scores on Pc World’s game checks, which have been boosted through the Ion graphics. Still, this laptop computer is very good only for casual gaming, at greatest.

The unit contains a lot of ports. Two USB 2.0 ports and quickly (10/100) ethernet and audio jacks are on the correct side. A 3rd USB 2.0 connector, as well as VGA and HDMI, are on the left facet. The 1215N also contains 802.11n, producing the Wi-Fi connection theoretically more rapidly than wired, but real throughput is dependent on router load and distance.

Inside the stop, the Asus 1215N blurs the line among netbooks and lower-end ultraportables. The larger display and sound keyboard give it an edge about most netbooks, but it really is also bulkier and heavier than most (it weighs3 lbs, 6 ounces without having the energy brick). Performance lags behind a lot of thin-and-light laptops, but the cost is higher than most netbooks (just under $500, as of 11/22/2010). The Asus 1215N actually defies simple categorization. End users trying to find prolonged battery existence, a decent exhibit, as well as a fantastic keyboard will be satisfied. Individuals seeking greater performance–and prepared to devote more–might take a look at ultraportables as a substitute.

Tags: F3172-60901, A1189, AA-PB0NC4B/E, VGP-BPS21A, VGP-BPL7, JY366

Asus N53SV laptop review

April 26th, 2011 by batterylaptops

Asus’s good-looking N53-series laptops have proved to be some of the more rapidly all-purpose notebooks available on the market. This kind of will be the newest N53SV design, as well, only more so due to its new state-of-the-art second-generation Intel Core CPU. Our examination configuration, which sells for $1219, sports activities the high-end 2.0GHz Core i7-2630M processor that pushed the unit to an excellent WorldBench score of 126. However, it is possible to save some money at the cost of overall performance by ordering it with the i5-2410M or i3-2310M.

All configurations ship with an Nvidia GT-540M GPU, which helps make for excellent gaming. A sport like Unreal Tournament 3 tops 100 frames per second in all the resolutions supported by the 15.6-inch, 1366 by 769 show. With far more strenuous games, naturally, you’ll be able to count on decrease frame rates. The other, less-glamorous principal elements contain 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory, a 750GB, 7200-rpm hard drive (slower, 5400-rpm drives with less capability are available in some designs), and an 8X DVD burner.

At 15.six inches by 10.6 inches by 1.6 inches thick and six.four kilos, the slate-gray N53SV is around the significant aspect for an all-purpose laptop, bordering within the desktop replacement class. Nevertheless, besides accommodating the large screen, it also permits for the spacious keyboard deck. The keyboard and touchpad are without a doubt roomy, and also have a nice if considerably soft experience.

Sadly, the keyboard annoys you with odd layout selections: The placement with the cursor keys shortens the duration in the appropriate shift important, and several oft-used editing keys this sort of as Delete are stuck in nonstandard locations. You will find also no separation from the primary alphabetical keys from your explained cursor keys or even the numeric keypad. This leads to visual and tactile confusion occasionally. One particular button was faulty on our unit and sometimes essential a fantastic whack ahead of it might respond.

1 other small matter is that the built-in Atheros AR9285 Wi-Fi adapter is single-band, two.4GHz-only. You won’t manage to link to the 5GHz networks which might be swiftly gaining reputation. Around the other hand, the unit has Bluetooth and gigabit ethernet, and a single with the three USB ports is the new, sublimely quickly USB 3.0. Other ports incorporate a headphone jack, a microphone input, and an SD/MMC/MS/xD card reader.

Asus touts the Bang & Olufsen audio on the N53SV, and as far as it goes, it sounds good–loud, spacious (with software aid), clear, and punchy. But “as far as it goes” is only down for the reduced midrange. No matter what audio company’s logo is on a notebook, the notebook needs a largish speaker and some air to provide bass response. As you’d count on with the processing horsepower that the N53SV has on board, video played supersmoothly.

Asus bundles some great software to take care in the peripherals: Cyberlink’s PowerDVD for playing DVD movies, Power2Go for disc-burning chores, PowerDirector for making movies, and MediaEspresso for converting videos and music between various device formats. You may also boot the N53SV towards the Asus Express Gate Cloud–a Linux-based interface that provides quick access to photos, a calendar, the Internet, and so on. Even so, the N53SV boots to Windows 7 so quickly, you might find yourself not bothering.

The NV53SV has some superb features. The price-to-performance ratio is wonderful, and it’s never been whacked with the ugly stick. If the minimal keyboard issues don’t bother you, it’s worth a look.

Tags: 315338-001, 516479-121, 02K7034, FPCBP200, 2523T, NB200-110, 2533t