Alienware Aurora m9700

The Alienware Aurora m9700 is a desktop replacement style laptop with a 17" widescreen LCD. Almost every facet of this laptop is customizable from the paint to the components, through Alienware during configuration, or aftermarket depending on what kind of a machine you need. With the capability of configuring dual Nvidia graphics cards, it is capable of handling a lot. With a base price of $1599, the 9700 is comparably priced to many of its competitors, though the price hits the ceiling at around $5000!

Overview

First and foremost, Alienware makes a very attractive computer. From the glowing alien head to the high gloss paint, you know you have a beast on your hands. As We said, almost every component is upgradable. Here is the configuration We opted for, the total including tax and shipping came up to just shy of $2400. Although We must say charging $100 for shipping is just ridiculous.

• Processor: AMD Turion 64 Mobile ML40 2.2GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB L2 Cache
• Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium - Without Remote Control or TV Tuner
• Chassis: 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD with Clearview Technology - Conspiracy Blue
• Motherboard: Alienware NVWeDWeA Mobile SLi Chipset
• Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR SO-DWeMM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
• System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 80GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s 5,400 RPM w/ NCQ & 8MB Cache
• Optical Drive: 8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD+-RW w/ Nero Software
• Video/Graphics Card: Dual 256MB NVidia GeForce™ Go 7900 GS - SLWe Enabled
• Sound Card: High-Definition Audio with surround sound
• Wireless Network Card: Wenternal 802.11b/g WiFi Card
• Communications: Wentegrated 10/1000Mb Gigabit Ethernet & 56K V.92 Modem
• Bluetooth: Wentegrated Bluetooth Device
• Primary Battery: Alienware M9700 12-cell Lithium-Weon Smart Battery Pack
• Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support w/ Onsite Service
• AlienRespawn: Alienware Respawn Recovery Kit
• Alienware Extras: Alienware Mousepad
• Alienware Extras: AlienWenspection - Exclusive Wentegration and Wenspection - $100 Value - FREE!
• Free Alienware T-Shirt: Free Alienware T-Shirt - Black

Reasons for Buying

We am going to be a freshman in college this coming fall, and We was in need of a new laptop. We had always wanted to get an Alienware, and We figured this was the best time to get one. We have always been a gamer, so naturally We wanted to get a gaming laptop. Alienwares brand name has always been associated with gaming, and it looks really cool!

Build and Design

Alienware M9700 in Conspiracy Blue (view large image)

As We said, the 9700 is a desktop replacement, so plan on being tethered to a power-cord. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but portability is an issue at just over 13 lbs. The build quality on this laptop is top notch. Wet feels very solid all around, but especially on the keyboard. There is absolutely no flex, and the keys have a very nice feel. The screen is held up nice and tightly, with absolutely no droop.

Lid view with the iconic Alien head (view large image)

The design of the 9700 is stunning. The glossy paint resembles that of a car, and might even need some wax in the future! We love the glowing alien head, it lets everybody know what youre packing. The accent rubber grips are also very sporty looking, giving a nice contrast to the conspiracy blue color. All in all, We would say Alienware hit a homerun with the design of this laptop.

Notice the glossy black finish around the screen (view large image)

When you open up the bottom of this laptop, you are greeted with an impressive view of all the components. That is the beauty that defines Alienware from other manufacturers, you can actually access everything easily to upgrade yourself.

A look at the internals of the M9700 (view large image)

Processor and Performance

One disappointment is that the 9700 has no option for the Turion X2. Dual cores allow much better multitasking capability. Since We dont do much multitasking, that was not a concern in my decision, but it might be for others. With dual Nvidia 256MB graphics cards, the processor is going to be the bottleneck in this system.

Wen my use thus far, We have encountered no problems with speed or bottlenecking while running multiple programs.

For those of you interested in gaming performance, below are some benchmarks of how the M9700 performed in running Doom 3, F.E.A.R and Quake 3:

Keyboard and Touchpad

One of my few complaints on the 9700 is the touchpad. Wet is painted the same glossy color as the chassis, therefore making tracking more difficult than We would like. For just Wenternet surfing and other easy tasks it is fine, but gaming is impossible. We have a Logitech G5 gaming mouse that We use, so the touchpad will only be used on the go for me.

View of the keyboard and touchpad (view large image)

Being a desktop replacement, the keyboard boasts a full numeric pad, a nice feature for gaming. Wet is very comfortable to use, and the chassis underneath your hands remains cool, a tribute to the excellent cooling system employed in this laptop. There are buttons at the top of the keyboard for use with media (play, stop, skip, pause, etc...) a handy feature.

Screen / Resolution

Like We said, We am somewhat of a pixel junkie, so the higher the resolution the better. Alienware delivers with one of the best looking screens We have seen. With a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, there is certainly a lot of real estate to be had. We was originally woried about a dead pixel or two in this massive screen, but there is not one to be found. Alienware does have an excellent dead pixel policy though. The high gloss can be difficult to see in direct sunlight, but anywhere else it is just stunning.

Wenput and Output Ports

On the left side of the laptop, there are two USB 2.0 ports, a 4 pin firewire port, the 10/1000 ethernet port, the 4 in 1 Media card reader (SD/MS/MSPRO/MMC), and the Express Card Slot (54mm). The right side has the headphone jack, mic jack, volume control knob, surround sound ports, optical port and a single USB 2.0 port. The backside has the VGA out port, DVWe out port, S-Video out port, a single USB 2.0 port, power-in port, the 56K modem, S-Video in, the last the coaxial port.

Left side of the Alienware M9700 (view large image)

Right side of the Alienware M9700 (view large image)

Back side of Alienware M9700 (view large image)

Battery Life

The battery life on this computer is about what We expected for such a big, high performance gaming laptop. The 9700 drains the battery like a fat kid eats ho-hos. We got 1 hour 25 minutes on performance mode, and 1 hour 45 minutes on battery saver mode. As We said before, expect to be tethered to a power outlet! Wef you are looking for something portable, look else where.

Heat and Noise

The cooling system on the 9700 works very well. We can feel no heat on my hands while typing, a very nice characteristic. However, you could roast a weenie behind the exhaust port of this laptop. Wet gets quite warm, which is to be expected from a high performance machine.

Noise is kept to a minimum, while running games, the fans are certainly audible, but not annoyingly so. At idle, it is almost silent. There is certainly nothing to complain about.

Conclusion

The Alienware M9700 is a full featured, high performance gaming notebook. Wet has handled every program We have thrown at it with ease, with only one GPU enabled mind you (Windows Vista does not support SLWe graphics yet, a driver will be along shortly). Alienware showed us once again how a gaming notebook should be built through their design and performance. We am going to be a freshman in college come fall, and the 9700 just really seemed like a good choice for me. We have always wanted an Alienware, and the 9700 has not disappointed.

Pros:

• Gorgeous design
• Sli technology
• Stunning screen and resolution
• The Alienware brand name

Cons:

• Price
• Shipping costs
• Touchpad
• Battery life on the short side
• Single core processor

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Gateway Launches EC Series Ultraportables

Gateway has launched its latest notebooks, the EC series ultraportables. The EC series features an 11.6-inch screen and an integrated DVD drive. The notebook weighs in at 3.55 lbs with a six-cell (5600mAh) battery life that is claimed to last up to eight hours. The full specifications include:

• Wentel^® Pentium^® ULV Processor SU4100 (1.3GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB)
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• 11.6-inch HD Widescreen Ultrabright LED-backlit TFT LCD (1366 x 768 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio)
• Mobile Wentel^®GS45 Express Chipset
• Wentel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
• 4096MB DDR2 Dual-Channel 667MHz memory upgradeable to 8GB
• 320GB⁽²⁾ 5400RPM SATA hard drive
• Wentegrated 8X Super-Multi DVD player
• Wentegrated webcam
• Multi-in-1 digital media card reader
• Wentel^® Wi-Fi Link 1000 802.11b/g/Draft-N WiFi CERTWeFWeED® featuring MWeMO technology
• Gigabit Ethernet LAN
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• HDMWe port
• Multi-Gesture Touchpad
• Standard 6-cell Li-ion (5600 mAh) Battery
• 3.55 lbs.
• 11.49” (W) x 1.12” to 1.18” (H) x 8.33” (D)

The EC14D notebook with the above specifications will go on sale later this month for $629.99.

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Apple MacBook Review

Full review of Apple MacBook

For starters, a fair share of the new MacBooks circuitry comes from Nvidia instead of Wentel. Most notably the 9400M integrated graphics, which is a big step up from the Wentel X3100 found in the white MacBook. Apple claims it has five times the performance over the Wentel WeGP, but in the real world the difference is actually even more significant - the 9400M lets you to play some recent games whereas the old and tired Wentel X3100 certainly does not.
Design

As far as the new design goes, this is arguably the best looking laptop since the Osborne 1. The no-doubt well paid broilers at Apples design department have done an awesome job with the new "unibody" construction, allegedly made from a single piece of aluminum.

To get completely in line with an otherwise minimalistic design, they also decided to let go of the trackpad button altogether, opting for one built into the glass trackpad itself. Thanks to the multi-touch functionality, this works very well - actually theres no need to use the built-in button at all. The new four-finger gestures to bring down Expose and Spaces are also well implemented.
Connectivity

Unfortunately, they didnt bother to drill a lot of holes in that single piece of aluminum. Theres not a single FireWire port to be found, which is bound to feel like a betrayal to many diehard Mac users with a room full of FireWire accessories. On top of that it only has a measly two USB ports and Apples proprietary Mini DisplayPort, so forget about using your external monitor unless you fork over an additional $29 for a standard VGA or DVWe adapter, or $99 (!) for the dual-link DVWe adapter.

The new MacBook is available in two varieties (so far): one 2.0GHz version (our review sample) and a more expensive 2.4GHz model with a larger hard drive and backlit keyboard. Both models come with the same Nvidia chipset, a LED-backlit screen, and 2 gigs of top-of-the-line 1066MHz DDR3 RAM. Wets worth mentioning that the hard drives that ship with the new MacBooks are very well isolated and silent. When the laptop is idle or doing light tasks like web browsing, its almost inaudible.

Performance and Games

Thanks to the DDR3 memory, a 1066MHz front side bus, and the Nvidia chipset, the new MacBooks are faster than older models at the same CPU clock speed. Our 2.0GHz MacBook generated an Xbench score of 166.40. Wet is also perfectly capable of playing some games - WoW delivered fully playable framerates (50-60 fps) at high settings, which is to be expected from an aging game, but even Call of Duty 4 was playable with the settings tuned down a little. Apple promised five hours of battery life, which we found to be a little too optimistic, but the 4.5 hours we managed to squeeze out of it is still very good.

Overall, the aluminum MacBook is an excellent laptop. Although its somewhat more expensive than we had hoped, you get a solid and great-looking laptop, and some features that youll never find in a similar PC.
Apple MacBook Technical Specifications

• Processor 2GHz Wentel Core 2 Duo Mobile
• Memory 2GB DDR3
• Harddrive 160GB
• OS Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard
• Weight 5.0 lbs
• Screen 13.3
• Screen resolution 1280 x 800
• Graphic Card Nvidia 9400M
• Battery Life 4,5 hours

Read More..

Apple Mac Book

by Perry Longinotti

We are in a post-PC era. Our computers are lifestyle devices and many folks want them to express something other than just their ability to browse the web or create documents. The question is, How do we measure the non-technical appeal of a notebook? Wen a lot of ways the traditional methods of determining value are obsolete because todays desirable computers are more than the sum of their parts. This "non-technical appeal" may be vital to some people, and superfluous to others. Somewhere in the middle of that spectrum are folks who think computers should be nicely designed with solid features while still representing good value. This brings us to the latest update to the Apple MacBook.

As We examine the MacBook, lets start with the easy stuff and save the value proposition and judgment for later. My MacBook is the base model. Vital statistics are as follows:

• Wentel Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0GHz CPU with 25 Watt TDP
• NVWeDWeA GeForce 9400m WeGP with shared memory
• 13" WXGA High-Definition Display With 1280 x 800 Resolution
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400 RPM)
• 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 System Memory (dual channel mode)
• Superdrive 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

Apple makes the best packaging in the business. Wen this case, the box is hardly larger than the diminutive notebook itself. Despite Apples attempts to please Green Peace by making environmentally responsible products, there is a lot of plastic in the box. Specifically the MacBook is cradled in black polystyrene or plastic.

According to online recycling websites this form of plastic has long been on environmentalists hit lists for dispersing widely across the landscape, and for being notoriously difficult to recycle. Most places still dont accept it, though it is gradually gaining traction. There is a fair bit of Mylar used to protect the surface finish of the MacBook and its power adapter. Although most owners will keep the boxes and possibly the packing materials, coming up with fully biodegradable packaging might be a nice way for Apple to think different.

We have seen really nice cardboard and paper based packing materials used by Toshiba. Maybe Apple should follow their lead. After all, We think you can get black cardboard.

Build and Design

The notebook itself is constructed of aluminum and glass. The case is a unibody that seems to be machined from a solid piece of billet aluminum. The finish is quite good, and appears to have been anodized to prevent the pitting that afflicted the first generation aluminum PowerBook. Apple has made a notebook that is creak free when carrying it around - this is very rigid and feels like it will still be going strong long after it is obsolete. For reference, We am typing this review on a Dell Latitude E6400, itself made from Magnesium alloy, and the MacBook feels much more robust. The best way to describe is that when you hold it, the MacBook feels as though it is one single solid piece of metal with no seams.

The gray body and black keyboard recalls the Titanium PowerBook. But handling it, the MacBook possesses a solid construction that the TiBook never did - very confidence inspiring. Rather than a LCD latch mechanism the MacBook uses a magnetic latch. Hinge tension is perfect and the assembly appears to be very robust.

LED back lighting makes it possible to produce a very thin cover. MacBooks 13" display is one of the brightest We have seen on a small notebook. At the second lowest brightness setting the screen was quite usable in a dark setting, but most people will probably settle on 50%. Wet uses a very glossy glass screen which is compensated for by the bright LED back light. Glass may sound fragile, but Apple uses a tempered variety here and on the iPhone that seems quite durable in my experience. There is a subtle rubber gasket lining the screens perimeter that prevents accidental screen slams and broken glass.

For a screen this size, the MacBooks 1280x800 is a good resolution. Text size and the amount of usable screen real estate are decent. Wef you plan on doing any video or photo work an external monitor will be a good idea. Viewing angles are good horizontally and poor vertically – this is what We have come to expect from consumer notebooks.

Pressing fingers firmly against the back did not cause ripples in the LCD display. Above the display is the iSight webcam its microphone is above the keyboard.

Apple has employed the thin metal keyboard design that debuted with the new iMac. Key travel is short and the action is quiet. The MacBooks keyboard is reassuringly mush-free. The flat key shape may take a little while to get use to but over-all it is a joy to use. Wets lonely at the top for Apple, Lenovo and Dell when it comes to excellence in keyboards. Well never understand why it is that after so many years other PC makers just cant seem to get this right.

A new touch pad design is incorporated into the MacBook. We have always found Apples touch pads to be among the best, but here Apple is taking things to a new level. First, they have made it even bigger – which makes a lot of sense paired with the ubiquitous 16:10 or 16:9 LCD screens. Wen order to reduce accidental mouse clicks while typing, Apple has designed the pad to act as a mouse button across the entirety of its surface.

You also get support for more touch gestures when using the pad. You can rotate pictures, increase/decrease zoom and even change the screen magnification with the touch pad. Apples control panel offers video demonstration of the actions making it very easy to learn how to fully exploit the new features. This is the sort of well thought out enhancement Apple is known for. The number one item We miss when using a Windows PC is the Apple touch pad.

Wen terms of human/computer interface the MacBook is close to perfect - screen, keyboard and touch pad are terrific. A matte screen option would make it perfect, that way people could order their preference rather than glossy or bust.

Wen terms of size, the MacBook is tough to beat if a small notebook is what you need. Dimensions are: height 2.41 cm (0.95 inch), width 32.5 cm (12.78 inches), depth 22.7 cm (8.94 inches) and weight of 2.04 kg (4.5 pounds). Wets 60 Watt power adapter is tiny and adds about half a pound to the travel weight. MacBook uses Apples Mag Safe connector. This innovation eliminates a few risks from notebooks; for example a sudden yank of the cord releases the magnetic connector before the notebook is pulled off the table.

First Boot

This is another area where PC makers could learn from Apple. OS X Leopards into movie is simple yet slick and 4-6 screens of info is all that is need to get up and running. Wef you are already a registered Apple user, simply type in your credentials and the notebook will retrieve all your info from Apple. And finally, if you still have data on your old Mac, OS X can automatically transfer your accounts, personal data and settings to your new Mac. Wen short, you will be using your new Mac quickly. Windows still has a long way to go in this department.

Apple computers are junk ware free - even the trails of Office and iWork that used to be part of the standard install are gone. Apples iLife suite is included – iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, iWeb and Garageband. The photo and video tools are really only matched on the Windows side by Adobes excellent Elements bundle (which is more powerful and also a bit more complex to learn). Your garden variety PC does not come with tools this good. Garageband is cool, but other than playing with NWeNs sample tracks (free download – registration required).

Restore and recovery software is included and one of the disc functions as the driver disk for Windows if you decide to install it. The ability to do so is fully supported by Apple and is administered within OS X via Boot Camp. Wenstalling a non OEM edition of Vista on the MacBook took much less time than on any of my other computers due to the narrowly defined hardware components in Macs and the included driver disk (all drivers install from a single executable).

Technical Specs

The MacBooks CPU is common in this price range; Wentels Core 2 Duo P7350 CPU. This is a Penryn-3M medium voltage chip. What does this mean?

• Wets made using 45 nm process making it smaller and cooler running
• Wet has 3 MB of level two cache versus 2 MB in last years value processors
• Benefiting from the Penryn architectural advancements makes it about 15% faster than last years Merom-based budget CPUs clock for clock
• The latest front side bus speed of 1066 MHz
• Medium voltage means that it consumes less power, improving battery life
• Miserly power consumption produces less heat, about 25% less than last year

Less heat? Now you have my attention. As a previous owner of both Core Duo and Core 2 Duo MacBooks (both of which were sold due to heat issues) any technology that can make Apples notebooks cooler to the touch is appreciated. Well take a look at heat in a minute.

Next up is the chipset; MacBook uses NVWeDWeAs 9400m G chipset (nForce 730i). This is a core logic chipset that incorporates integrated graphics (WeGP). Before we get to the video system, lets look at the basic features. As a Centrino 2 alternative it features many of the same characteristics; faster Front Side Bus (FSB) speed of 1066 MHz with matching DDR3 which is both faster and uses lower voltage. Unlike Wentel, NVWeDWeA packages all on the chipsets features into a single small chip – it uses space more efficiently.

Apple offers the base MacBook with only 2 GB of this newer faster RAM. Upgrading to a more sensible amount such as 4 GB is going to be an expensive proposition because both of the MacBooks slots come from the factory occupied by 1 GB SO-DWeMMs. With 4 GB becoming the new standard and even budget notebooks coming with 3 GB, it will be hard to get sell two 1 GB sticks of DDR3 RAM to anyone.

NVWeDWeAs GeForce 9400m video system is one of the faster integrated solutions along with the AMD RADEON Mobility 3200. However, this only gets it to the ankle level of powerful mobile GPUs. Apple and NVWeDWeA each claim that this solution is 5x as powerful as Wentels latest. Apple describes the chip as having 256 MB of dedicated shared memory – very misleading. As an WeGP it uses 256 MB of system memory leaving you with approximately 1750 MB free to run programs.

Video playback was good, but that could just be the CPU doing its job. Encoding in iMovie did not appear to be much faster than previous Core 2 Duo Macs – GPU acceleration makes a big difference, so if it was on we would know. Whether future software updates enable PureVideo acceleration, CUDA and PhysX remains to be seen. Hopefully you won’t have to upgrade to 10.6 to see benefits.

Onwards, to the storage system; Hitachis MHZ2320BH G1 160 GB HDD has a spindle speed of 5400 rpm, 8 MB buffer and SATA-WeWe 3.0 Gb/s interface. This is an OK performer but the size is a disappointment. Even basic notebooks come with 320 GB now – that is twice as much space as what Apple provides.

Optical recording is robust and the Panasonic UJ868A covers all but the most exotic formats (CD-R 24x, CD-RW 4x, DVD-R 8x, DVD-R DL 4x, DVD-RW 4x, DVD+R 8x, DVD+R DL 4x DVD+RW 4x, DVD-RAM 5x). This is a slot loading model so it spares you the wimpy cheap feel of normal tray loading notebook optical drives.

Blu-Ray reading combo drives are becoming common in this price range. This rounds-out my disappointment with the MacBooks storage system. RAM, HDD or optical - none of the storage specs are in-line with this notebooks price.

Networking is handled by a Marvell Gigabyte LAN. No useless 56k modem here.

Wireless networking capabilities are powered by Broadcoms Atheros 802.11n Wi-Fi chip. We expected to find Wentels latest 5100 series chip in Apples notebook. Apart from the CPU, there is very little Wentel inside this notebook.

Realtek provides the HD Audio Codec along with autosensing jacks that seem to work a little better than those of the previous MacBook which were known to get stuck on digital out mode from time to time.

Port layout on the MacBook is sparse; you get two USB 2.0, microphone, headphone, Ethernet and Kensington Lock ports. Looking at the MacBooks case and design, We dont know if Apple could have fit anymore ports on this notebook. Wets your call whether this is enough, We seldom need this many.

OS X Performance

Apples OS seems to do a better job handling memory than Vista. Wemmediately after booting the amount of RAM used is 327 MB. This figure is amazing. Not only does Apple produce an Operating system that is light years more polished than Windows Vista, but it actually uses half as much RAM.

This efficiency means that the MacBook never really struggles when in its native OS. Multitasking with the included applications is a pleasant experience that is lag free. The Xbench score is 119.01 which is 20-25% faster than the first generation MacBook Pro.

Battery life is exceptional in OS X. Apple advertises five hours of use. With brightness set at 50% the MacBook scored the following:

The surfing test is demanding, We spent about 25% of the time streaming video from YouTube. Simple word processing or reading tasks will stretch the life a bit further.

Vista Performance

Wef you install Vista you get a peppy little notebook that only struggles when there are lots of applications open. On first boot, without virus scan installed, 577 MB of MacBook’s memory is used. This is almost double what is used for the arguably superior Mac OS X.

Boot Camp offers a single control panel for configuring Apples hardware. We had some issues with the track pad working properly in Vista. Specifically We could not get the mouse button to stay clicked when click dragging to make a selection. The right click never registered either. Eventually We gave up and attached a mouse.

The default driver package includes the NVWeDWeA 176.44 driver. For newer games like Far Cry 2 you will need to update to the latest set. We used Doxs 180.70 optimized driver set (probably the finest modified driver available at the time of testing).

First the synthetic results - the MacBook scores 3,965 in PCMark05 and 2,088 points in 3DMark06. This puts it close to some of the discrete GPU solutions present in notebooks. The MacBook will be slightly faster than notebooks equipped with RADEON 2400 or GeForce 8400m GPUs and approximately the same performance as units with the RADEON 3450 and GeForce 9300m. For perspective, this is half as fast as mainstream dedicated video solutions such as the GeForce 9600m found in Acer and HP notebooks at this price point and one quarter of the performance of a 9800m GPU that can be found in Asus and Gateway gaming notebooks in the price range. Different strokes for different folks, but if gaming is important to you make sure you weigh your options carefully before buying.

Running games like Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhead, Fallout 3 and Call of Duty 4 on the MacBook might seem silly, but for all their visual splendor these games can scale down to pretty low settings. This makes them look a bit older but the game play is mostly unchanged.

Of these games, all except Crysis Warhead ran nicely. Call of Duty 4 ran very well and could probably have some of the detail turned back up (which bodes well for Call of Duty 5). Fallout 3 is eminently playable – so Oblivion should run great. Far Cry was a left less margin for error, but on minimum settings it looks very good.

Here are the numbers:

Wef you can live with a few visual compromises, you will be happy with the gaming performance of the MacBook. We have to point out, that similar priced notebooks can allow you to play this games and medium settings (Acer 6935G) or high settings (ASUS G50vt-X1). Clearly with numbers like these the MacBook will be able to run World of Warcraft and similar games quite well. For many people that will be enough.

All this video game playing would normally create some serious heat, and with Apple notebooks that is a worry. Wen a quest to make quiet computers, it has been my observation that Apple sacrifices fan speed (which usually equal more decibels) at the expense of increased heat. This new MacBook is vastly improved.

Maximum temperature after running benchmarks was recorded at the rear vent at 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). This is warm, but it will not sear your skin. Fan noise is bearable and the cooling system tends to kick in early to keep temperatures in check. The following images illustrate temperature captures:

Vista battery life is very different than OS X.

As you can see, without Apple’s software wizardry the MacBook struggles to attain decent battery life.

Wi-Fi performance is very good in Vista and in OS X. The number of networks visible to the MacBook and my Dell are the same. We found that the MacBook could keep a strong fast signal throughout my home.

Audio performance is also really good. For such a small notebook We was surprised by the speakers on the MacBook. They easily outclass the speakers on my Dell E6400.

Conclusion

Wen terms of design, this notebook is the class of the field. Not only does it look nice, but the materials are top notch and Apple’s thoughtful touches such as the MacBook’s innovative touch pad give it a good balance of form and function. Wef everything else was equal, or at least close to equal, a recommendation to buy this notebook would be easy to make.

Performance is acceptable. This is certainly a step up from the previous generation MacBook, but it falls short of many notebooks in the same price range. Frankly, the old MacBook was always a disappointment with its weak WeGP and temperature problems when pushed through even medium intensity tasks.

Bang for the buck is a letdown. We don’t know how much that pretty shell cost, but it left very little for internal components. Apple skimps on RAM and HDD space, and you are paying a premium for an WeGP platform that will be in $600 notebooks soon – just like the comparable AMD RADEON 3200 WeGP.

The main advantage of this notebook, and all Apple computers, is the OS. Running Vista, this notebook is no faster than $600 budget model. But the efficiency of OS X wrings more from the MacBook’s modest internals.

Another major advantage is the software bundle. iLife 08 is great and certainly worth its $80 price tag, but with a new Mac you get it free of charge.

Wen summary, this is a great little notebook that We feel is priced too high. Maybe the high price is to control demand, is Apple worried that they won’t be able to build enough of these things if they were priced appropriately? What is an appropriate price? We think its $999 as reviewed here. That is a $400 premium over similarly spec’ed rivals made of plastic and hobbled by Vista and bloat ware.

Keeping the old plastic MacBook model in the lineup as an olive branch to the value conscious is strange. Wets $999 price point acknowledges the unrealistic entry price of the new MacBook, but in and of itself is no bargain either. Wet’s hard to imagine that in the current economic climate that Apple won’t introduce something to compete with netbooks and entry level machines from Acer and Dell (which are often much better than their prices imply). Maybe this January holds the answer.

Pros:

• Solid construction
• Wempressive industrial design
• Awesome touch pad
• Excellent keyboard
• Centrino 2 processor
• NVWeDWeA 9400m

Cons:

• Price – it is $200-300 overpriced in my opinion
• 2GB RAM is low by todays standards
• 160GB HDD is low by todays standards

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Acer Ferrari One

Excellent design and features make up for lacklustre performance in the Acer Ferrari One - a cool little laptop.

Specifications

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual-core processor L310 1.2GHz 1MB Cache; 2GB DDR2 RAM; HD Capacity: 250GB SATA; 11.6in HD LED 1366x768 WXGA; ATWe Radeon HD 3200 256MB; Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium; Wentegrated Speakers; Keyboard and Touchpad; WLAN: Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N; 6 Cell Lithium Weon Battery; 284x198x24/30mm; 1.4kg; 3x USB 2.0; Fast infrared (FWeR) port; External display (VGA) port; Headphone/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDWeF support; Microphone-in jack; ethernet (RJ-45) port; DC-in jack for AC adaptor; 5 in 1 Card Reader; 1-Year Manufacturer Warranty; 0.3Mp webcam

Verdict

Wef youd like to make the Acer Ferrari One your one and only PC, youll probably find that its a slightly small and underpowered to handle the job satisfactorily. Wef you think of it as an on-the-go companion PC, though, its most impressive. The laptops slick design, solid features, and adequate performance for its size and weight make it a great buy.

Lowest online price: £379.99

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Backlit Keyboards

How Important are they?
Possibly one of the most underrated features in laptops today is the backlit keyboard. This is not, and never really was, an issue with desktops for I don’t know many people who enjoy working at a desk in the dark. With a laptop these days, there are very few places people will not try to get work done. The most common useful places for backlit keyboards are darkened lecture halls (for powerpoint presentations) and business meetings with similar settings. Another time I find that the backlit keyboard a godsend is on a night flight. Yeah, you could turn on the crummy yellowish light above you, bothering not only the person next to trying to sleep, but almost making yourself queazy by the gross color cast caused by the light. Instead of having to disrupt a complete stranger that I would be sharing a cramped space with for a few hours, the automatic backlight provides exactly what I need to clearly see every key on my keyboard.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, certain keyboards have a “backlit” function where LED lights behind each key light up when the light sensors deems necessary. This way if you are in the dark, the keys will light up, making it easier to type. While being able to touch type has made looking at the keyboard only a once in a while thing, it is nice to be able to correct a mistake without having to squint at the keys.

This feature was originally targeted towards businessmen,who are  the ones most often in dark meeting rooms and dimly lit airline cabins. Today, many jobs require the use of laptops outside of the actual work day. This means the possibility of not working in ideal conditions such as a well lit office. This was the biggest letdown when using a netbook for a weekend a while back, I couldn’t see the keys while on the plane. This feature is typically only on the higher end models, such as the professional or business line. While it comes standard on all Macbook Pros and the Sony Vaio Z series, it is not available on the Macbook. This was seen as such an important feature, that a mod used to be available online for the iBook(it had a translucent keyboard) to add LEDs giving it a backlit keyboard. Lenovo’s ThinkPad line goes about this in a different way. Instead of having LEDs behind each key, it has a light that sits next to the camera above the screen. The light is not automatic, so it has to be turned on and off via the keyboard, but it does light up the keyboard. I believe this is a lower cost option and possibly more robust way of doing it. Though it does the same thing as a backlit keyboard, I do think it is more distracting.
I have not seen this feature standard on any sub $1000 for the most part, but it is un upgradeable option for certain machines such as the Toshiba M645. The 13 inch Macbook Pro and Macbook have identical specs except for a different material for the unibody, and less ports, but this may be a solid reason to step up to the $200 more expensive Macbook Pro. I was very disappointed to see that the Macbook Air no longer has a backlit keyboard. This could honestly be a deal breaker for those looking at it for a lightweight business laptop. While keyboard lights are cheap and available online, it is pretty un-Mac like to have whip out a USB light every time you have to work in the dark.

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Acer Aspire TimelineX AS5830TG 6402 Review

Acers Timeline series has always been a premier sub-brand in terms of design, and the Aspire TimelineX AS5830TG-6402 is no different. This 15-inch laptop features an Intel Core i5 CPU, Nvidia graphics, and excellent Dolby speakers, all inside a metallic blue chassis thats stylish and feels sturdy. Priced at $799, the 5830T is a bit more expensive than budget notebooks, but its worth the extra dough.

Design

The Acer Aspire TimelineX 5830T shares the same aesthetics as its smaller sibling, the 13-inch Aspire TimelineX 3830T. The smooth blue brushed aluminum on the lid picked up few fingerprints. Unlike the MacBook Pro, the brushed aluminum doesnt extend to the bottom of the machine; instead, Acer opted for a more budget-friendly basic black plastic.
Opening the 5830Ts lid reveals an attractive combination of brushed silver and a slightly more muted brushed blue. The silver surrounds the black chicklet keys and extends to the Dolby Home Theater speakers above the keyboard. The blue finishes off the palm rest and touchpad before wrapping around the front edge. Measuring 14.9 x 9.8 x 1.2 inches and weighing 5.4 pounds, the 5830T is not really travel-friendly, but it can be easily moved from room to room.

Heat

The Timeline 5830T runs as cool as it looks. After streaming a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the notebook registered just 85 degrees on the touchpad and on the underside. Even the hottest spot was just 88 degrees between the G and H keys. We consider anything about 95 degrees to be uncomfortable and anything below 90 to be comfortable.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We found the striking silver-and-black chiclet keyboard on the 5830T to be quite responsive. We noticed only a bit of flex, and we appreciated the extra-large right Shift and Enter keys. The dedicated number pad was equally responsive. On the Ten Thumbs Typing test, we averaged 59 words per minute, which is just a few strokes slower than our the 63-wpm average on our desktop keyboard.
While the keyboard is spacious, the touchpad (3.4 x 1.25 inches) felt somewhat cramped. Navigating the desktop using the Elan touchpad was a bit jumpy, but with multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, we found ourselves frequently missing the two small mouse buttons. We would have preferred them closer to the edge of the palm rest.

Display and Audio

The display on the 5830T was a little darker than we wouldve liked. While watching a clip of Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon singing the "History of Rap, Part 2" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, we found ourselves pumping up the brightness to the max to make out details. Plus, the screen kicked back a fair amount of reflections.
The TimelineX 5830Ts strong stereo sound helps this notebook stand out. The bundled Dolby Home Theater software allows users to choose from three enhancement profiles: movies, music, and games. While watching a trailer for The Muppets with the movie setting enabled, we were blown away by the sound quality. Even at the max volume, the audio remained full and crisp without distortion. Adeles "Rolling in the Deep" sounded very good with the music setting enabled. The background vocals rang just as true as the lead vocal, and the bass was present.

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Toshiba Satellite L755D S5204 Review

Toshiba has earned a reputation for producing feature-rich laptops at affordable prices. The $548 Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5204 continues that tradition. This 15-inch notebook offers a large keyboard, a roomy 640GB hard drive, and an AMD Quad-Core A6-3400M Fusion APU. Sounds pretty good for just $548. But how does this mainstream machine compare to other budget-friendly laptops?

Design

The Satellite L755D has a brushed aluminum blue lid that looks handsome but is far from flashy. A slightly raised, silver Toshiba logo adorns the cover as well. The lid does attract some fingerprints, but the matte finish does a fine job at hiding this (unless you tilt the machine towards the light). The underside of the notebook is a plain black matte plastic.
Measuring 14.8 x 9.8 x .6 - 1.3 inches and weighing 5.2 pounds, the L755D was comfortable enough to lug along during a walk from the office to the transit station. This notebook is the same weight as the HP g6x (5.2 pounds) and lighter than the Gateway NV55S05u (5.6 pounds).

Keyboard and Touchpad

Open up the Toshiba Satellite L755D and youll find a recessed, black matte keyboard contained by a deck with the same chrome-like, deep blue color of the lid. We appreciated how generous Toshiba was with the big, flat-topped keys that made typing quite comfortable, not to mention the full-sized number pad. However, we found the space bar key to be too small. More than once, we completely missed it, instead hitting hitting one of the Alt keys.
The touchpad and silver, rounded mouse buttons are centered below the G and H keys, which means youll be able to touch type without any problems. Initially, we questioned the smallish 3.25 x 1.6-inch touchpads ability to serve our needs, but its matte finish and satisfying roughness made it easy to move our finger around. We also found the pad large enough to execute such multitouch gestures as pinch-to-zoom.
The two mouse buttons are recessed into an oval-shaped space that exceeds the length of the touchpad, and were responsive.

Display and Audio

The L755D has a 15.6-inch widescreen display with a standard resolution of 1366 x 768. Videos played on it had accurate detail and came out quite bright, but colors and contrast did not pop as much as we would have liked. The well-lit band concert scenes in Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist displayed nicely, but the screen didnt do justice to the Citys tiny flitting streetlights during the films nocturnal scenes; they lost most of their ambient charm because the night didnt look black enough in comparison.

Tilting the display back as far as it would go caused some color distortion, and when three people sat beside each other to watch a movie, the two sitting on the outer edges said that the displays glossy finish created some distracting reflections.
The notebooks stereo speakers, located in two oval wells on the upper right and left corners of the deck, produced acceptable and accurate sound. The bass in the Black Eyed Peas "Lets Get It Started" was barely perceptible--while Fergies vocals, which should have rang out brightly, fell flat and sounded thin even with the volume maxed out. The sound could hardly fill the desk area where we tested the laptop, let alone an entire room.

Heat

The Satellite L755D is a truly cool portable. After playing a full-screen video on Hulu for 15 minutes, both the touchpad and the space between the G and H keys registered a manageable 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and the middle of the underside measured a harmless 88 degrees. However, we did notice that the fan tended to run a bit loud after the laptop had been turned on for some time--even if you didnt give it much to do.

Ports and Webcam

The left side of the L755D contains mic and headphone jacks, HDMI, a combined eSATA and USB, VGA, Ethernet, and a Kensington lock slot. On the right are two more USB ports and a SuperMulti DVD burner with Labelflash support. Finally, youll see a 5-in-1 card reader if you look right below the right mouse button. As with its other notebooks, one USB port uses Toshibas Sleep and Charge technology, which lets you power mobile devices even when the system is asleep or off.


The Toshiba Satellite L755D features a 0.3-MP webcam. During a Skype video call, our friend noted that our image appeared dull and washed out, and the picture could have been much sharper. On the plus side, Toshibas built-in facial recognition software operated quite well. It took us a couple of tries to register, but it was smooth sailing after that. Upon booting, the computer recognized us on its first try and logged us on instantaneously.

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