laptop review , laptop battery

The ASUS UL20FT is an all-new update to the popular UL20A. Featuring a high-performance VGP-BPS9/B Intel Core i3 processor and impressive battery life, this thin and light laptop has a great deal to offer. The team at Notebook Review has an exclusive first look at this new 12-inch notebook, and we’re excited to show you how this lightweight laptop performs. Read on to find out if the UL20FT deserves a place VGP-BPS9A/B on your notebook shopping list.

Build and Design
The ASUS UL series were some of the first laptops on the market to use Intel Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors. These CPUs VGP-BPS9 consumed only a fraction of the power that other processors required, meaning any laptop running a CULV processor could last longer on a single battery charge and the laptop itself could be made thinner and lighter because these processors didn’t require the massive VGP-BPS13 cooling systems that other laptops needed.

The ASUS UL20A was the first 12-inch laptop in the UL series and quickly became popular VGP-BPS9/S with students and working adults who needed a lightweight laptop. The unfortunate down side to the UL20A was that it used a relatively low-performance version of the CULV processors. Now ASUS has revived the UL20 as the UL20FT, featuring a new Core i3 low voltage processor and a larger hard drive. The notebook chassis Vostro 1510 Battery itself remains unchanged other than a slight modification to accommodate a new 16:9 ratio widescreen display.

The build quality of the UL20FT is very VGP-BPS13A/B good with a solid main chassis that doesn’t squeak, creak, or flex even under significant pressure. The Inspiron 1545 battery screen hinges are nice and tight, making it a little difficult to open the laptop with one hand but also helping to keep the screen where you want it. The metal-covered screen lid feels extremely nice and offers a fair amount of structural rigidity, but the middle of the screen still flexes under heavy pressure. The screen itself also shows E6400 Battery obvious signs of distortion when you press on the back of the screen lid, so the attractive metal lid might not offer much protection.

The bottom of the notebook includes a single access plate for the RAM and the hard drive. The two VGP-BPS13/B RAM slots are located side-by-side rather than being stacked. This internal layout helps keep the chassis design as thin as possible. The 2GB memory module only takes up a single slot so it’s easy to upgrade to 4GB simply by purchasing an extra 2GB stick of memory. Unfortunately, it’s significantly more difficult to access Studio 17 Battery the wireless card because of the thin design, so don’t expect to swap out the Wi-Fi card for another model without completely disassembling the laptop. That said, the target audience for this notebook probably isn’t likely to make any changes beyond memory upgrades an a possible hard Studio 1737 Battery drive swap.

Screen and Speakers
The 12.1-inch diagonal display on the UL20FT-A1 features LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect Studio 1535 Battery ratio with 1366 x 768 resolution. We’d give this screen a "good" rating within the narrow vertical viewing angle sweet spot. The backlight in our review unit is even and bright but the top left corner of the screen suffers from a little backlight bleed. Contrast is sharp and colors are good at default settings. Vertical viewing angles E5400 Battery are just as narrow as we typically see with most laptops while the horizontal viewing angles (side view) are nearly flawless. If you are using this laptop for color-accurate editing you will need to be certain you’re viewing the screen from straight ahead.

The ASUS UL20FT features Altec-Lansing stereo speakers located just below the palm rests on the bottom front edge of the notebook. The speakers E4300 Battery sound terrific when the laptop is resting on a hard surface like a desk as the sound bounces up off the desk and toward the user. Unfortunately, the sound isn’t as good if you’re using this notebook as a "laptop." In the NotebookReview.com test lab we usually call downward-facing speaker "crotch speakers" because E6500 Battery they direct sound at your lap rather than your ears. If you’re using the UL20FT on your lap you can expect the audio to sound muffled and distorted against your legs. On the other hand, the headphone jack provides a great, static-free connection for external speakers or earphones.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The Chiclet-style keyboard on the UL20FT is an E5500 Battery adequate design with a good support frame underneath. Individual keys are a little mushy, but still provide acceptable feedback when pressed. There are no dedicated multimedia keys, but the arrow keys do serve double duty as media controls when used with the function (fn) key. Each key is flat with a nice matte texture and a little extra spacing to prevent typos. The keyboard frame (the silver surrounding the black keys) on our review sample suffers from a bit Vostro 1400 Battery of bounce or flex when you press down firmly with your fingers, but this isn’t a problem when typing.

The Synaptics touchpad is a quality touchpad interface with a lightly textured surface and excellent Vostro 1500 Battery responsiveness. The touchpad itself is a little small, but that is to be expected on a 12-inch laptop. The touchpad drivers good battery provide excellent accuracy and minimal lag with a range of options. The touchpad buttons are hidden under a single "rocker bar" and have a shallow press with audible "click" when pressed. I really hate single touchpad buttons … particularly when there is no clear division between the left and right sides. I frequently pressed down too close to the middle of the single button and either failed to activate the touchpad button or accidentally pressed the wrong side of the touchpad. ASUS designers need to either completely separate the touchpad buttons or at least make a small indented area in the middle so you can fell where the left touchpad button ends and the right battery button begins.

Ports and Features
The ASUS UL20FT offers a fairly average number of ports for a 12-inch notebook. ASUS dell battery gives you three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, two video out ports, a media card reader and dual audio jacks. This is pretty much par battery for the course when it comes to thin and light laptops and netbooks. Still, we would have liked to see at least one high speed data port, suach as USB 3.0, eSATA or even an ExpressCard slot, on this laptop. The UL20FT also lacks an optical drive in order to make the chassis as thin as possible, but this will probably hp battery only bother people who like to watch DVDs during a flight.

This smart phone app does it all–anti-virus, data backup, and a way to find your phone should it go missing.

Now that smart phones are proliferating the market, it’s only natural for wayward VGP-BPS9/B developers to create malware for the platforms. Enter Lookout Mobile Security, a mobile app that not only prevents harmful programs from getting on your smart phone, but also backs up (some) of your data and can even help you find your handset if it’s lost. Not bad for a free app.

Installation
Lookout Mobile Security is compatible with Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile phones, and can be downloaded from those respective markets, or by going to www.mylookout.com and creating an account. We used the latter VGP-BPS9A/B method and registered our Nexus One phone; it was as easy as entering our phone number. After synching, an image of our device appeared on the left side of the web page, and below it, our phone number.

On the right are tabs for Dashboard, Anti-Virus, Data Backup, Missing Device, and Settings. The Dashboard view is selected by default, and it shows at a glance the status of your phone. If everything is okay, a green bar indicates so; below it are three large green check marks, indicating the status of Anti-Virus, Backup, VGP-BPS9 and Missing Device.

The phone app interface is just as simple: At the top is a green check mark and the words "Everything is OK." Below are three larger check marks indicating the status of Anti-Virus protection, Data Backup, and Missing Device. From the phone itself, you can run a virus scan and perform a backup, as well as set the frequency of both. You can also choose the types of files to back up. The app is designed to run quietly in the background; company reps told us it used less than 1 percent VGP-BPS9/S of the battery’s resources; indeed, Lookout rarely, if ever, showed up on the battery usage meter.

Anti-Virus
Users can check their phones for malware by pressing the Run Virus Scan button in the Lookout app. A full scan of 86 apps on our Nexus One took about 6 seconds. Lookout told us that some of the analysis is done on the device, while some takes place on Lookout’s servers, keeping phone resource requirements to a minimum. After scanning, a log is created on the Lookout website stating the number of files scanned, dangerous apps found, Vostro 1710 Battery and recommended actions. The app also checks to see if any apps being downloaded are dangerous and warns you against installing them. Unfortunately, there is no identity protection yet.

Backup
Data backup can be performed either from the phone or website by pressing the Start Backup button. Currently, backups are available only for photos, contacts, and records. Once the data was saved to Lookout’s servers, the web interface made it easy to view all three types individually, as well as when they Dell Studio 17 Battery were backed up. We were also given the option of deleting or downloading the data.

Users get 2GB of free online storage and can schedule backups on a recurring basis, as with virus scans. From the website, users can also restore the data to their phone, or transfer it to a new one. This feature will be even more useful once Lookout Dell Studio 1737 Battery supports app backups (not scheduled as of yet).

Phone Recovery
Probably the most useful service Lookout provides is finding your phone should it go missing. Provided your phone is turned on, pressing the Locate button on the website pulls up a map showing the approximate location of your phone. In practice, it was fairly accurate. Within 16 seconds, it had narrowed the location of our handset within 500 meters of its actual position, shown as a large circle on the map. After 1 minute, the circle shrank to 70 meters, and after 2 minutes, it was down to 50 meters. Even better, Lookout e-mails Dell Studio 1535 Battery you a link to the map, as well as its latitude and longitude. However, GPS must be activated; there’s no way for the app to turn it on.

If you’ve misplaced your phone, Lookout’s "Scream" feature makes the phone emit a loud siren noise for about a minute. After we pressed the Scream button on the website, an on-screen window warned that the sound would be loud and annoying, which it was. The alarm will activate good battery even if the phone is set to silent. The one thing that would make this service even better is if you could remotely wipe your phone, though that feature is typically reserved for paid apps.

Verdict
For a free app, Lookout Mobile Security packs in a lot of functionality. Not only does it protect your phone against the emerging threat of malware, but it makes sure your data is protected in case your phone goes missing. And if it does get lost, Lookout provides two ways to try to find it. While the likelihood of getting a virus on your phone is still quite small (for now), the chances of misplacing your smart phone are much greater; it’s nice to know that Lookout Mobile Security battery has you covered in both regards.

Believe it or not, hackers have grown lazier. According to security experts, digital sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery miscreants and criminals no longer have to spend hours creating their attacks. They can just check off a few boxes to generate convincing phishing websites and malware that’s made to look like legitimate security software. Symantec alone receives roughly 20 million pieces of malware each month, up from 10 million in 2008. We sat down with Patrick Martin, senior manager at Symantec’s security response and Dmitri Alperovitch, vice president of threat research for McAfee, to get a handle on which threats to watch out for and how to protect your data.

Antivirus In Disguise
File this under “rotten scams that have gotten worse.” Researchers from Symantec and McAfee agree that “rogue AV,” or malware that pretends to be security software, has become more common. The scary thing is that you can Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery encounter a dialog box belonging to malicious so-called security software even while browsing a legitimate website. Once you download the malware (surrendering your credit card number in the process, of course), the thieves can not only use this information to extort more money, but sell other hackers access to your computer, install password-stealing trojans to extract more sensitive data, or use your PC as a bot that spams and infects other computers.
Fortunately, updated security software should keep you safe, but for added protection we recommend that if you see a pop-up from an unfamiliar security program, click the back button in your browser and get off that site as fast as possible. If the pop-up is a dialog box, just click the X to close it.
Martin says the problem will only continue getting worse so long as there are suckers out there falling for such scams. “It works: people click,” he said. “It’s just like marketers. People send junk mail because it works.” McAfee, for one, has a free cybercrime response unit, including an online scanner as well as access to agents sony VGP-BPS9 battery who can help resolve problems.

Antisocial Networks
In the 1980s people fell prey to a series of scams that became known as Nigerian bank fraud, in which con men from this African country sent letters to Americans, posing as exiled princes in need of a loan. Since the Internet has become ubiquitous, these scammers have turned to e-mail, either sony VGP-BPS9/S battery asking for sensitive information, such as bank account numbers, or leading people to fraudulent websites that pretend to be bank portals.

Recently, though, ploys like these have grown more convincing. By hacking into someone’s Facebook or Twitter account, a hacker can send messages to that user’s friends, pretending to be the owner of the account. Symantec’s Martin Dell GD761 Battery and McAfee’s Alperovitch have each seen plenty of instances in which thieves pretend that the owner of the account has found him or herself in a foreign country, robbed or otherwise bereft of money.

Other hackers embed their messages with links to phishing sites. Alperovitch warns that once a hacker has gained access to your friend’s profile, he has a dangerous amount of information about both his victim and you. “If you have a Facebook page that’s talking about your personal life,” he said. “Your friends—all PA3534U-1BRS that information can be accessed by fraudsters and used to craft a phishing message that’s targeted specifically at you.”
Regardless of what form the attack takes, the consensus is that on social networks, people let their guard down around virtual friends. “The level of awareness, the inhibitions someone might have in saying, ‘I don’t know if that’s safe to do’ is sometimes lower,” said Martin

How Much Would You Pay For A Streaming-Only Netflix Account?

Canadian Nextflix subscribers had something to celebrate this week as the company Vostro 1710 Battery launched a Streaming Only subscription option for just $7.99/month. With this users get no DVDs in the mail but access to all the on demand content they can watch. Currently there’s no equivalent subscription offer here in the U. S. — for $8.99 you can stream all you want and get 1 DVD a month — but Netflix is apparently considering it, according to this blog post.

I spend far more time watching on demand content good battery from Netflix then maintaining my DVD queue these days, so I could definitely go for this. The price for streaming plus 1 DVD is already less than Hulu Plus (and contains no commercials), so I suspect the price will fall into the realm of the Good Deal. However, my hope would be something along the lines of $4.99, not $7.99. We’ll see how it shakes out.

In the meantime, what would you pay for a Streaming Only option for Netflix? And under what conditions? The recent battery announcement of more content from NBC is definitely a good thing, but movie hounds don’t have as much to choose from as those of us who mainly use the service to watch TV shows

The Acer Aspire 5735Z is a low-priced mainstream notebook with a 15.6”, 16:9 aspect 131L Battery ratio display. It retails for less than $500 and has reasonable build quality, a full keyboard with number pad, and decent battery life.

I picked up the 5735-4744 for $399.99 plus VGP-BPS9/B sales tax at Best Buy. The specifications are more than reasonable for the amount of money paid. There are higher-end configurations available with larger hard drives and more RAM, but they are naturally priced higher.

Build and Design
The 5735Z has a no-frills plastic construction and a relatively simple design. It feels surprisingly solid in the hand, and despite the all-plastic construction, generally does not flex. The 5735Z has a sound internal frame since the chassis is stiff resists flexing. The palmrests are inflexible, as are the surfaces surrounding the keyboard. The VGP-BPS9A/B bottom of the notebook is made of thicker plastic than I expected and also does not flex. There are no squeaks or creaks while handling the notebook.

The plastic surrounding the keyboard is a smooth dark gray color with a non-glossy finish, which seems to be relatively durable. The lid and screen casing are a glossy black plastic, which attracts fingerprints easily and is more prone to scratches than the dark gray plastic. The bottom VGP-BPS9 and sides of the notebook are a textured black plastic, which is more durable than the other plastics used.

The lid is secured to the chassis by two strong hinges that do not let the display wobble. The lid itself resists twisting well, partly because of its stocky shape since it has wider than usual 16:9 aspect screen that lends more support. Pushing in VGP-BPS9/S on the back of the display will yield small ripples on the screen, but only if abnormal pressure is used. When closed, the lid is securely held down by a latch.

The design of the 5735Z is simplistic. The notebook is quite wide relative to its width, again due to the 16:9 aspect ultra-widescreen Vostro 1710 Battery display. The 5735Z places function ahead of form.

The 5735Z is not built like a tank, but it has pleasantly sturdy build quality and feels solid. This notebook should be able to stand up to everyday use and last for many years if proper care is taken.

Screen
The Aspire 5735Z has one of the new 16:9 aspect ratio displays; most notebooks have 16:10 displays, so 16:9 screens are wider than usual. The 5735Z’s panel measures 15.6” diagonally and has a 1366×768 pixels resolution (a typical 16:10 display is 15.4” diagonally and has a 1280×800 resolution). It takes some time to get used to the extra-wide 16:9 display. Only 768 pixels of vertical space mean a lot of scrolling, but it is difficult to throw up any flags here given the price point of this Vostro 1510 Battery notebook. The extra wide resolution means working with two windows side-by-side is doable.

The picture quality of the display is beautiful. The display, made by AU Optronics (model AUO10EC), has an 8 ms response time and is advertised to have a 33% wider color gamut (color range). The colors are vibrant and contrast is very good. The display has ample brightness. There is some light leakage from the bottom of the screen, but it is unnoticeable unless the screen is completely black. Side-to-side viewing angles are decent, Inspiron 1545 battery with minimal color inversion. Colors invert sharply from above and below, but this is normal for an LCD panel.
Overall, the display beat my expectations and is pleasing to look at. The resolution is a bit limited in terms of vertical space, but it is difficult to complain.

Speakers
There are two stereo speakers located above the keyboard. These are typical notebook speakers, with little to no bass E6400 Battery and they sound rather tinny. For a more enjoyable audio experience, use a pair of headphones or speakers.

The 5735Z has volume up/down buttons right above the speakers, which are convenient and a welcome addition to any notebook.

Processor and Performance
I will run a few benchmarks on the 5735Z to demonstrate its performance capabilities.

Windows Experience Index (WEI) is a benchmark built into Windows Vista. It scores various components of a computer out of 5.9. Higher scores are better.

The 5735Z is held back by its E5500 Battery integrated graphics, which bring the score down to an average 3.5. The other components – the processor, memory, and hard drive – have reasonably high scores.

wPrime is an arithmetic benchmark that forces the processor to calculate the square roots of numbers. Lower times are better.

This time places the Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3200 within 15% of the performance of a Core 2 Duo E6500 Battery with a similar frequency (around 2.0 – 2.2GHz). The T3200 is essentially a Core 2 Duo with reduced specifications.

HDTune tests the read, write, and access time of a hard drive. Higher numbers are better for transfer rates, and lower for access time

The Western Digital 160GB 5400RPM drive posts some nice results. An average transfer rate E4300 Battery of 50MB/s is very respectable for a 5400RPM hard drive. This particular drive, the WD1600BEVT, has a single platter, which greatly helps performance.

The Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics card is designed to lower costs and save energy while providing enough power for smooth video playback and light 3D applications. We run 3DMark06 to compare it to other graphics cards:

A typical gaming notebook scores north E5400 Battery of 3,500 points in this benchmark, so gamers will obviously not be flocking to the 5735Z.

Heat and Noise
A single fan on the left side of the 5735Z keeps its internal components cool. The fan is always on but is difficult to hear, even in a quiet room. There is minimal noise even at full tilt. The surface temperatures of the notebook are docile, not more than 10-20 degrees above room temperature in most places. The bottom of the notebook gets about ten degrees warmer than on the top. The heat generated by this notebook is insignificant – there is not much of it to begin with.

Keyboard and Touchpad
A computer’s input devices, especially the keyboard, are of utmost importance to me when it comes to buying a computer. The 5735Z PA3534U-1BRS does well in this area. The full-size keyboard and separate numeric keypad have good tactile feedback. The feel is a bit soft but movements are defined enough to allow accurate typing. There is some flex in the center of the keyboard but it does not detract from the overall typing experience. The keys have a matte non-slip surface. The four column numeric keypad is a very welcome addition to this notebook. For someone like me that does spreadsheet work all the time, it is a valuable asset.

The touchpad is proportional to the screen dimensions. It has a matte surface Dell GD761 Battery and is easy to track on. The two buttons are very loud, so be sure to tap-to-click in quiet places instead of using the buttons. The 5735Z’s touchpad has some unique features. Using two fingers in a pinching motion will zoom in and out, and moving a finger in a circular motion will scroll.

Input and Output Ports
Let’s take a short picture tour. All descriptions are left to right.

The 5735Z does not have a lot to offer in terms good battery of connections, but I imagine a few USB ports and the Ethernet jack will be all most buyers of this laptop require. The memory card reader is an added bonus.

Wireless
The 5735Z comes with an Atheros AR5B91 wireless card supporting 802.11a/b/g/draft-N bands. Wireless range and signal strength is excellent, superior to the wireless solution in my HP Pavilion dv5t. I had no trouble connecting to a variety of wireless networks. It is surprising to see a draft-N wireless card in a battery budget notebook.

Battery
The included six-cell battery is rated for 11.1V and 46Wh/4600mAh. This battery’s capacity is not particularly high but is on par with the six-cell batteries in competing notebooks. In power-saving mode with the screen brightness at half, I measured two hours and fifty battery minutes of life while surfing the Internet. Only the buyer can determine whether this time is sufficient; for my personal use, it is more than enough.

Operating System and Software
The 5735-4744 comes pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1. Usually very inexpensive notebooks like this one come with Vista Home Basic, a cheaper and more limited version of Windows, so Home Premium is nice to see.

Acer includes many pre-installed utilities, including Acer GridVista and Acer Empowering Technology. NTI Backup Now! Software is included and allows you to make a backup of your entire hard drive. A lot of "bloatware," or junk good batteries software, is also pre-loaded. I spent upwards of thirty minutes uninstalling games and other garbage from the Control Panel.

The ASUS UL20FT is an all-new update to the popular UL20A. Featuring a high-performance 131L Battery Intel Core i3 processor and impressive battery life, this thin and light laptop has a great deal to offer. The team at Notebook Review has an exclusive first look at this new 12-inch notebook, and we’re excited to show you how this lightweight laptop performs. Read on to find out if the UL20FT deserves a place on your notebook shopping list.

Build and Design
The ASUS UL series were some of the first laptops on the market to use Intel Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors. These CPUs consumed only a fraction of the power that other processors required, meaning any laptop VGP-BPS9/B running a CULV processor could last longer on a single battery charge and the laptop itself could be made thinner and lighter because these processors didn’t require the massive cooling systems that other laptops needed.

The ASUS UL20A was the first 12-inch laptop in the UL series and quickly became popular with students and working adults who needed a lightweight laptop. The unfortunate down side to the UL20A was that it used a relatively low-performance version of the CULV processors. Now ASUS has revived the UL20 as the UL20FT, featuring a new Core i3 low voltage processor and a larger hard drive. The notebook chassis itself remains unchanged other than a slight modification to accommodate a new 16:9 ratio widescreen VGP-BPS9A/B display.

The build quality of the UL20FT is very good with a solid main chassis that doesn’t squeak, creak, or flex even under significant pressure. The screen hinges are nice and tight, making it a little difficult to open the laptop with one hand but also helping to keep the screen where you want it. The VGP-BPS9 metal-covered screen lid feels extremely nice and offers a fair amount of structural rigidity, but the middle of the screen still flexes under heavy pressure. The screen itself also shows obvious signs of distortion when you press on the back of the screen lid, so the attractive metal lid might not offer much protection.

The bottom of the notebook includes a single access plate for the RAM and the hard drive. The two RAM slots are located side-by-side rather than being stacked. This internal layout helps keep the chassis design as thin as possible. The 2GB memory module only takes up a single slot so it’s easy to upgrade to 4GB simply by purchasing an extra 2GB stick of memory. Unfortunately, it’s significantly more difficult to access the wireless card because VGP-BPS9/S of the thin design, so don’t expect to swap out the Wi-Fi card for another model without completely disassembling the laptop. That said, the target audience for this notebook probably isn’t likely to make any changes beyond memory upgrades an a possible hard drive swap.

Screen and Speakers
The 12.1-inch diagonal display on the UL20FT-A1 features LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect ratio with 1366 x 768 resolution. We’d give this screen a "good" rating within the narrow vertical viewing angle sweet spot. The backlight in our review unit is even and bright but the top left corner of the screen suffers from a little backlight bleed. Contrast is sharp and colors are good at default settings. Vertical viewing angles are just as narrow as we typically see with most laptops while the horizontal viewing angles (side view) Vostro 1510 Battery are nearly flawless. If you are using this laptop for color-accurate editing you will need to be certain you’re viewing the screen from straight ahead.

The ASUS UL20FT features Altec-Lansing stereo speakers located just below the palm rests on the bottom front edge of the notebook. The speakers sound terrific when the laptop is resting on a hard surface like a desk as the sound bounces up off the desk and toward the user. Unfortunately, the sound isn’t as good if you’re using this notebook as a "laptop." In the NotebookReview.com test lab we usually call downward-facing speaker "crotch speakers" because they direct sound Inspiron 1545 battery at your lap rather than your ears. If you’re using the UL20FT on your lap you can expect the audio to sound muffled and distorted against your legs. On the other hand, the headphone jack provides a great, static-free connection for external speakers or earphones.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The Chiclet-style keyboard on the UL20FT is an adequate design with a good support frame underneath. Individual keys are a little mushy, but still provide acceptable feedback when pressed. There are no dedicated multimedia keys, but the arrow keys do serve double duty as battery media controls when used with the function (fn) key. Each key is flat with a nice matte texture and a little extra spacing to prevent typos. The keyboard frame (the silver surrounding the black keys) on our review sample suffers from a bit of bounce or flex when you press down firmly with your fingers, but this isn’t a problem when typing.

The Synaptics touchpad is a quality touchpad interface with a lightly textured surface and excellent responsiveness. The touchpad itself is a little small, but that is to be expected on a 12-inch laptop. The touchpad drivers provide excellent accuracy and minimal lag with a range of options. The touchpad buttons are hidden under a single "rocker bar" and have a shallow press with audible "click" when pressed. I really hate single touchpad buttons … particularly when there is no clear division between the left and right sides. I frequently good battery pressed down too close to the middle of the single button and either failed to activate the touchpad button or accidentally pressed the wrong side of the touchpad. ASUS designers need to either completely separate the touchpad buttons or at least make a small indented area in the middle so you can fell where the left touchpad button ends and the right button begins.

Ports and Features
The ASUS UL20FT offers a fairly average number of ports for a 12-inch notebook. ASUS gives you three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, two video out ports, a media card reader and dual audio jacks. This is pretty much par for the course when it comes to thin and light laptops and netbooks. Still, we would have liked to batteries see at least one high speed data port, suach as USB 3.0, eSATA or even an ExpressCard slot, on this laptop. The UL20FT also lacks an optical drive in order to make the chassis as thin as possible, but this will probably only bother people who like to watch DVDs during a flight.

The Fujitsu LifeBook A1110 notebook is a 15.4” desktop replacement VGP-BPS9/B which offers a user-customizable screen cover. With a spill resistant keyboard and durable design it fits in well with the college crowd — who might not be overly kind to their computers. Prices start as low as $799; our review unit has a suggested retail price of $999 with some upgraded components. Read on to see if this notebook is worth the price and deserves a spot on your desk.

Build and Design

The Fujitsu A1110 has a fairly large footprint and is thicker than most notebooks in its category. The body has a black and dark grey layout, not including the replaceable cover which gives a splash of color to the rather bland look. The trend VGP-BPS9A/B continues inside the notebook, with the palmrest, trim, and keyboard all black. The sides of the notebook look very clean and uncluttered, with the downside being that few ports exist around the notebook. It is clear that much of the notebook smacks of unrealized potential, leaving out some desired features that would have cost very little to add.

The user-replaceable cover is the main attraction of this notebook and probably the best implementation VGP-BPS9 of one that I have seen. Older designs used by Dell and others looked like something stuck onto the notebook and out of place. This cover snaps into position and looks as if the it were an integral part of the notebook. It is very tight fitting and the paint quality is very good. Removing the cover takes little effort as long as you grip in the correct place; you could also leave it off if you wanted. One side benefit is you’ll have a spare lunch tray with you at all times.

Build quality is average — fairly durable plastic trim, although the chassis could have increased rigidity to reduce some flex. The palmrest and lower chassis flex inward with a light grip, almost as if the notebook has large sections of open space. The screen cover without the colored lid attached gives very mild protection for the LCD, but with a light grip you can still produce ripples on the screen. With the colored lid attached very little protection is added. Another point of concern VGP-BPS9/S is the notebook doesn’t include any sort of internal frame for added support, which may explain the copious amounts of flex.

One feature Fujitsu has offered on some notebooks that we think is strange is a removable dust filter for the processor which is normally large enough to keep coins from moving through the ductwork. This particular notebook lists the dust filter Vostro 1510 Battery as a feature, but it appears to be just a flat cover. Since no other filter piece is included in the accessory box, one idea that this port might serve is better access for an air gun to blast dust away from the inside-out.

Display

The WXGA glossy panel rates average with comfortable viewing angles and a bright backlight that works in a well lit office setting. Colors are vibrant and contrast is very nice with the glossy screen surface. The vertical viewing range offers a good sized sweet spot with accurate colors with 10 degrees forward and back before colors start to invert. Horizontal viewing angles are better, but at steeper angles the screen starts to dim and you start seeing reflected surfaces instead of the display. The screen brightness overcomes Inspiron 1545 battery the lights in a bright office setting, but outside viewing would be limited with the reflective glossy screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is easy to type on with a full-size layout and comfortable key spacing. Individual key texture is smooth with a very mild matte finish that gives just enough traction to trigger keyswithout slipping when your fingers get sweaty. The keys’ action is smooth with a mild click when fully pressed. Typing is very audible with a springy surface that makes some of the noise echo off the notebook chassis. This notebook also includes a spill resistant keyboard which will contain E6400 Battery water without letting it drip inside and short out components. After spilling a bowl of partially melted ice cream on my ThinkPad keyboard one time, I can easily say I will never buy another notebook that doesn’t offer a protected keyboard. It is usually much cheaper to replace the keyboard after an accident than try to replace a motherboard which could easily cost more than a new notebook.

The Alps-based touchpad is sensitive for accurate finger tracking, but does add mild lag to the cursor’s movement. The touchpad surface has a matte finish and is painted to match the keyboard bezel and palmrest. The touchpad buttons are large and easy to trigger with the side of your thumb without much effort. They have good battery shallow feedback and click loudly when pressed.

The GT627 is MSI’s latest 15” gaming notebook with a sleek brushed metal finish Latitude 131L Battery and an easy overclocking Turbo button. Housed inside its stylish exterior is an NVIDIA 9800M GS graphics card paired up with an Intel P8400 Core 2 Duo to handle any modern game a user can throw at it. This notebook is targeted against other low-cost gaming rigs such as the Gateway P-series that offers high-end gaming performance for less than $1,300. Just how well does the GT627 stack up against the competition? Read our review to find out.

Build and Design
The GT627 has a sophisticated look with a brushed metal finish and red plastic accents. From the outside you might think it was a business notebook (with a splash of color) and not a portable gaming system. Put this in contrast to some of the gaming sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery machines from Toshiba or Dell and you realize MSI was going for a more subdued everyday-notebook look for this rig. One added benefit is you wont feel embarrassed pulling this notebook out in the middle of a business meeting, which the same couldnt be said about some gaming notebooks.

Build quality is great in most areas with some help from the metal exterior but there are some weak areas that should have received some extra support. The display lid stays rigid and solid enough though it is very thin. The magnets that keep the screen lid closed are super strong, needing two hands to pry the display open. The brushed finish holds up to scratches and fingerprints very well, although an encounter with a heavy object might leave a dent. The palmrest shares the same brushed metal finish, but not the same treatment Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery in rigidity or support. It has an unfortunate amount of flex which in some cases pushes against keyboard tray making a clicking sound.

Users looking to upgrade anything from RAM to hard drive should know that MSI puts a Warranty Void if Broken across both the main access panel and hard drive bay. While I can understand the main area that houses the RAM, video card, and processor could be considered off limits, why sony VGP-BPS9 battery prevent users from upgrading their hard drive?v

Display
The 15.4 WXGA glossy display is perfect for gaming with fast response times and high backlight brightness. Colors were bright and vibrant, and contrast levels were adequate to view detail in dark settings. At full brightness the GT627 sony VGP-BPS9/S battery was viewable in a bright office setting without looking washed out. In my home I found the brightness level best set between 30-40% for comfortable viewing since my lighting is nowhere near as bright as our office. Viewing angles were average, with a great horizontal viewing range, but limited vertical range. Colors would quickly distort and invert as you would tilt back the screen, or wash out if you angled it closer to you.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The GT627 has a fullsize "gaming" keyboard with highlighted frequently used game keys and a numberpad squeezed in on the left side. I am generally a fan of numberpads on most notebooks, but they are larger notebooks (usually 16 and up) and dont reduce the size of the standard keys to make room. Most keyboards have square shaped keys, including netbooks that use smaller square keys. This typically makes it easy to adapt switching from machine to machine once you get the size-ratio worked out. This notebook has keys shaped more like rectangles which made it really difficult to type accurately. Even after a few days of using it I still had to type visually instead of just by touch unless I wanted to type out a Vostro 1510 Battery garbled mess. The keyboard had quite a bit of flex and felt as if it was floating above the support structure. This made it feel like you were typing on a springboard. The keys themselves had a moderate throw with a mild click when pressed, and would slightly wobble.

The large Synaptics touchpad worked great once I installed the latest drivers, as the system came with no Synaptics utility installed. Without the utility you cant adjust scroll bar width, customizable tap zones, and most importantly touch sensitivity. Response times were quick with no perceptible lag, even in games that demanded quick movement. The size was appropriate for a gaming machine with enough space to move around without hitting the edges … although I would have good battery preferred buttons with a longer throw. The buttons shared the same brushed aluminum surface with the palmrest with small cutouts for flexing movement. They had shallow feedback with a muted click when pressed.

The HP Mini 1000 Mi Edition (Mini 1110NR) is a cool-looking, low-cost netbook focused on easy Web access and entertainment. It uses the same design as the Mini 1000, but runs the Mobile internet (Mi) software rather than Windows. Mobile internet is an easy-to-use interface 131L Battery built on Linux, but is it enough for most people to enjoy their e-mail, Internet, digital photos, music, and video?

Last year’s HP Mini-Note 2133 looked great, but it was let down by a pokey slow VIA C-7 CPU and 4200rpm HDD. I can imagine many people who got to handle a 2133 trying to rationalize how they probably VGP-BPS9/B didn’t need too much CPU power because of how well-built and attractive the 2133 was. I know I did, but thankfully I came to my senses before plunking down $500 on what was sure to be a disappointing investment.

We’ll never know why the VIA/Centaur C-7 was picked for the 2133 (everyone loves to cheer for the underdog, and I am sure that the VIA Nano will rock when its released in 2012), but its descendants like the HP Mini 1110NR we are reviewing here come equipped with the much better Intel Atom processor. Here are the 1110NR Specs:

* Processor: Intel Atom N270
* Graphics: Intel 900 IGP
* Operating System: HP Mobile Internet UI (Ubuntu Linux)
* 1GB DDR2 667 RAM
* 8GB SSD (1.8” Form Factor)
* 8.9” LED LCD (1024 x 600)
* 802.11g, 10/100 Ethernet, Bluetooth
* MSRP: $379 USD, $449 CDN

Build and Design

Even before we get our hand on the 1110NR configuration of the Mini 1000 Mi edition we can see that HP has really pushed their game up a level. Much like their recent Touchsmart and HDX line, the Mini comes in an attractive black box. In terms of packaging, HP is not quite at Apple levels yet. For example the Mini box VGP-BPS9A/B is much larger than it needs to be, but HP are giving us a better first impression than Toshiba or Acer.

Inside the box, you have a nice startup guide. The Mini is suspended in two nasty plasti-foam blocks (come on HP, cardboard works just as well). Its battery is pre-installed and the power cord is stored in a cardboard compartment and that’s all you will find VGP-BPS9 . There is no case/sleeve nor is there detailed documentation or recovery media. HP’s documentation claims that we will be able to download a Mi recovery disk utility ’soon.’ For now, a recovery partition on the SSD allows you to go back to factory fresh.

Netbook specs are so similar that manufacturers have to find other ways to differentiate them. Right now appearance seems to be one of the big differentiators, and the HP Mini looks great. Its black body is clean and svelte. You will immediately notice how thin it is. Actual dimensions are: 10.3 in (L) x 6.56 in (W) x 0.99 in (H). It VGP-BPS9/S weighs 2.25 lbs so you will hardly notice the extra heft of this netbook in your bag.

Construction and materials used on this netbook feel solid and durable. Like many other HP notebooks the Mini has a distinctive geometric pattern on its lid. This motif is carried into the OS with matching operating system. It’s cool and pulls the design together.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Pop the lid open and you’ll see a nicely proportioned keyboard – complete with function buttons. Keys make a light plasticy sound and travel is short. The base of the keyboard does not flex at all. You’ll notice that the Windows keys are replaced with dedicated HP MI ‘Home’ and ‘Task Studio 17 Battery Switcher’ keys. The hardware is well integrated to the software. A selling feature for English speaking Canadians is that you can get a plain US English keyboard on the HP Mini up here in Canada – something that is becoming rare in favor of French keyboards.

The touchpad borrows the unorthodox layout from the Acer One and HP 2133, putting buttons on the left and right side rather than underneath. A vertical scroll zone is present, but unlike the Asus Eee and Apple MacBook there is no multitouch capability. The mouse control panel has a couple of interesting options such as Dwell Click (where the software detects no mouse motion and prompts you if you want to click) Studio 1737 Battery and Simulated Right Click (hold the left button down for a definable period to right click) but neither of these works as well as two finger clicking and scrolling.

Screen

On the 1110NR a 8.9” LCD screen fits where a 10.2” would normally be, so this means there is a large bezel to fill the otherwise empty space. Resolution is 1024*600 like almost every netbook on the market. Its LED backlit is bright and even.

A solid looking metal hinge with integrated speakers holds the screen in place. Hinge tension is good, but the range Studio 1535 Battery of motion is limited – you can’t open the HP Mini enough to lay it flat.

Ports and Features

Port selection looks like this: On the left side there is a power jack, USB 2.0, proprietary connector (you can buy a VGA cord that fits this port), multipurpose minijack, and Ethernet (with rubber cover).

On the right side you have an SDHC Card slot, one normal USB 2.0 VGP-BPS13B/Q and one recessed USB 2.0 (HP has a line of flash storage accessories planned for this slot). Whether these ports are sufficient really depends on personal preference and need. I suspect most folks will be disappointed that there are not more ports (standard VGA being a real sore point).

First Boot

The setup prompts are brief and you’ll be up and running in a minute or two. Pick your username, password, location and away you go. During startup a quick Linux error message flashes on the screen, and you’ll wonder if something is broken. But it does boot so be patient. Likewise when shutting down there is a crunchy static sound blast that emanates from the speakers.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the Mini 1110NR’s operating system. HP has adapted Linux to their needs and the results are very good. Their distribution is called the Mobile Internet Experience and is built on top VGP-BPS13/B of Ubuntu (8.04 I think) and the Gnome desktop environment.

HP software, particularly the shells it has created for Windows and in this case Linux have a distinct look and feel. A black, high contrast theme couple with HP’s own user interface elements. It seems like a great way to differentiate their product in the WinTel world without resorting to making their own OS.

In this case HP has designed a simplified interface that is much better than those found on other Linux netbooks such as the Acer One and Asus Eee PC. The main feature is HP’s Home screen which gives you access to email, web, music, photos and program launcher. The Home screen has a dedicated button on the keyboard and an icon where you would expect to find the Windows Start menu. Switching between running programs is accomplished by clicking on a switcher icon in the system tray, or pressing the dedicated task switcher button.
I have to say, HP might be on to something here. I prefer this UI to both Windows (XP, Vista and 7) VGP-BPS13 and OS X for basic computing tasks. I am not just referring to the eye candy factor. Having almost everything I want to do waiting for me on the Home screen as soon as the computer boots is great. It’s like the Today screen on PocketPC PDAs but adapted for full featured computers. You can ignore it if you like, but I like the convenience. Also, unlike some simplified Linux shells access to the terminal is just one quick setting away (Fn-F2 brings up a command line where you can launch the terminal – or anything else).

With only an 8GB SSD, of which 2.1GB is available for use, having music and photos on the Mi Home screen is a bit of a tease. This OS really calls for either a full sized HDD or integration to online services (such as Live, Flickr, Google, etc.). The Mini needs one VGP-BPS13A/B or the other – its either a cloud computer or it needs proper storage capacity. As it stands the Mini seems to have a foot in each camp and that compromises the experience. It’s incomplete.

HP’s MediaStyle although striving for a Windows MCE look and feel is very basic. It’s like a simplified Apple Front Row. Sure, it can display photos but I was hoping to find some integration to online photo hosting. Pulling a photo stream from Flickr would be a great way to provide photos without requiring proper storage capacity. When dealing with local storage the app is too slow. Reading a series of forty 10MP images off a Dell GD761 Battery SanDisk Extreme III SD card was pretty sluggish. Thumbnails took a while to load, flipping through full size views was also a bit laggy.

Likewise, MediaStyle’s video playback was spartan. You’ll obviously need a memory card to keep a video library because there is no room on the Mini for more than a full resolution single Xvid movie. YouTube integration would be a good idea in MediaStyle.

MediaStyle’s music capabilities are more of the same; a nice simple interface but very little common sense applied to the challenge of how to play media on a device that has 2.1GB of available storage. Some Internet radio capabilities would be great for this device as it would give you access to lots of music despite the limited PA3534U-1BRS storage space.

If you click the MediaStyle "Settings" tab the only option is "About." Perhaps this is so we know where to send complaints. If I were the developer of this product I would want to stay anonymous. Overall I really don’t see the point of this application it seems to be a big part of HP’s plans but it is too basic to really be of any use.
HP needs a service like Apple’s Mobile Me that is relatively full-featured with applications good battery and tight OS integration. Lack of cloud service integration is the missing link here that HP needs to address – it would really fill the holes in a product like the 1110NR. HP does have an online storage and backup service called HP Upline that starts at $59/year for unlimited storage space – you get a free six-month trial if you live in the USA (other regions are not available yet). If they could tie the MediaStyle browser directly to Upline or their line of HP MediaSmart home servers they could really have a nice vertically integrated solution.

Looking at the installed client applications we find the staples battery of any Linux distribution: Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird, Skype, Pidgin and a pile of crappy looking games. In general all the applications work well but there is a slight lack of polish. For example, the Open Office languages were not installed on my 1110NR, making a basic spell check impossible (my monkey-like typing style requires a lot of proofing).

HP directs the package manager/installer application to a special repository rather than the standard Ubuntu one. This gives them control over compatibility of the software with HP’s hardware, but it also makes it harder to install applications you might want. In my case, WINE and Gnome-RDP. I would really like battery to see something like Apple’s iPhone app store here.

Alienware introduced the original M11x at CES this year with Pentium Dual-core 131L Battery and Core 2 Duo processors. While the notebook was originally envisioned using the slightly stronger Intel Core 2010 chips, Intel hadn’t yet put these chips out on the market – and Dell wanted to get the M11x out the door in enough time for CES.

The Alienware m11x occupies a unique niche within the computing realm: a gaming ultraportable. Some might even call it a netbook, but the notebook really sits on a different level of performance entirely. Our original review of the M11x VGP-BPS9 was very positive: we even awarded it an Editor’s Choice. One of the cons, however, was the fact that the notebook had very limited processor options. In fact, it only had two – the Pentium Dual-core SU7300 @ 1.3GHz (like our review unit) or the Intel Celeron SU4100 @ 1.4GHz.

Alienware is rectifying that situation with the recent release of new processors for the m11x – Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 models. The Core i5 and Core i7 models are available in the U.S. right now. The Core i3 models are currently only available in Asia; you can even go onto the Asia Dell website VGP-BPS9/B and check them out.

I actually found an Alienware m11x equipped with an Intel Core i3 ultra low voltage processor sitting in the Alienware booth here at E3. Surprised, I mentioned this to Dell and before any benchmarks could be run, I was taken upstairs and the notebook was swept away. Despite being available in another country, companies like Intel don’t like it when one of their partners accidentally makes certain products available too soon.

Despite that, we still got some hands-on time with the m11x notebooks equipped VGP-BPS9A/B with Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs. As product manager Joe Olmsted points out, gamers who upgrade to an M11x with the improved processors can expect a certain number of improvements to performance, though increased framerates likely won’t be one of them.

Faster. Sort of.
I ran wPrime, which exclusively tests CPU performance, on both a Core i5 and a Core i7 version of the Alienware M11x. It’s one of the benchmarks that was run on the Pentium Dual-core version of the M11x NBR originally reviewed, so VGP-BPS9 it’s an easy point of comparison between the different chips.

Dell was quick to point out that these notebooks were – technically – still just engineering units, which means that there might be some unforeseen quirk affecting performance that wouldn’t be found in the shipping versions. It’s unlikely, however, and the wPrime results we got today should be similar to the ones users can expect VGP-BPS9/S on finished versions.

Both chips, despite having worse clock speeds than the Prenium Dual-core SU4100 (PDC: 1.3GHz, Ci5: 1.066GHz, Ci7: 1.2GHz), showed their might in the CPU benchmark. The Core i5 finished the test 11 seconds earlier than the SU4100, and the Core i7 finished it almost 27 seconds faster. Interestingly, though, the overclocked SU4100 actually beat out the natively-clocked Core i5. Both the Core i5 and Core i7 versions are themselves overclockable, but we weren’t able to test it out today.

Games today are largely – though by no means exclusively – GPU-bound. That means Vostro 1510 Battery that modern games tend to be constrained more by the performance limits of the graphics card than the processor. As a result, most games that fare well on the Pentium SKU of the m11x will fare just as well on the Core i7 version. Games that run poorly will probably still run poorly – with a few notable exceptions.

One of the games Jerry, who reviewed the Pentium dual-core-equipped M11x, found ran poorly on the gaming ultraportable was Shattered Horizon. It seemed like the GeForce GT 335M graphics within the machine churned out levels Inspiron 1545 battery with no issue, but the math-intensive CPU calculations posed a serious problem. In fact, the average framerate sat somewhere around 20fps with regular drops down into the single digits. In a word, it was unplayable.

Hopefully, that’s where chips like the Core i5 and Core i7 shine. Unlike the Core i3, these two chips also feature Intel’s Turbo Boost technology. Turbo Boost monitors chip utilization and when applications are invoked that only stress one of the two physical cores, it automatically and invisibly overclocks that core. That way, games E6400 Battery and other apps that don’t multithread well can still take advantage of the additional clock speed.

Additionally, users who pick a model configured with a Core i5-520UM (and presumably the Core i3-330UM when it inevitably launches) can take advantage of the NVIDIA Optimus graphics technology. Optimus makes transitioning between Intel’s on-die integrated graphics Studio 17 Battery and the discrete GeForce GT 335M seamless.

The increased CPU capability, for what it’s worth, does come at a price. Two, in this case. Firstly, the new models are more expensive: the Core i5 m11x is an additional $150, with a $949 starting price; the Core i7 is an additional $300, coming in Studio 1737 Battery with a $1,099 starting price. That’s a pretty big pill to swallow when options such as the HP Envy 14 are available for just $999 (granted, it’s larger, but still).

Additionally, the more powerful CPUs will have a noticeable impact on battery life. In the battery original review, battery life was found to be just as impressive as the rest of the notebook – right around seven hours. Dell mentioned that the Core i7-equipped M11x can be expected to get right around five and a half hours or so.

Regardless of the cost, the Alienware m11x is still in a class composed of, well, itself. The new chips are definitely faster – the Core i7 especially – and even though they’re cost more in terms of money and battery life, they do make a noticeable good battery difference. The Core i7-based Alienware m11x felt extremely snappy, with zero menu lag and quick dialog boxes; the extra CPU power will also likely come in handy in smoothing out CPU-intensive games like Shattered Horizon.

Be sure to check out NotebookReview early next week for our full review of Alienware’s M11x, replete battery with a Core i7-640UM processor. We’ll cover more in-depth tests then, including the same popular games tried out on the Pentium version of the notebook as well as a full suite of battery tests.

The Mini 210 HD is the latest netbook from HP, Latitude 131L Battery offering a full 720P-compatible 1366×768 resolution on a compact 10.1-inch display. This model includes the 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 processor standard-with the faster 1.83GHz N475 for $25 more-as well as Intel GMA 3150 integrated graphics. In this review we see how well this netbook holds up against the competition and if you should consider this over a slightly more powerful CULV notebook.

Build and Design
The new design of the HP Mini really helps to enhance its looks and raise the expectation that this netbook isn’t a toy but rather a full-fledged designer notebook. The new Mini uses painted panels for the screen cover sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery and bottom cover, adding a touch of color to each model. Compared to normal designs that leave the bottom with bland, unfinished black plastic, this really helps in the looks department. The interior was also given a facelift, featuring a flush-mount Synaptics touchpad with integrated buttons. It also makes use of a redesigned Chiclet keyboard with integrated function-key lights to show when certain features are activated. The new look is nothing short of astonishing.

Build quality is very good even with the bottom panel that snaps into place. When completely closed the HP Mini 210 has a sturdy feel and doesn’t show much flex under pressure. The screen cover does a good job of protecting the LCD and the bottom cover doesn’t creak or feel loose when properly reinstalled. On the inside the Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery keyboard feels solid in its tray with very little flex or movement. The palmrest also holds up well, although if you have adult-sized hands your palms are hanging over the notebook and almost resting on the desk surface. In short, it is a pretty solid netbook with all things considered.

The HP Mini 210 has one of the most DIY-upgrade friendly designs we have ever seen in the NotebookReview offices. You can access all internal components without ever using a screwdriver … and the same can’t be said about other notebooks. HP designed the Mini 210 with sony VGP-BPS9 battery a bottom panel that comes off using old-fashion finger power. With the bottom panel off users have access to the Wi-Fi card, open mini-PCIe slot for a Broadcom HD or WWAN card, system memory and hard drive. Any upgrade can be performed in seconds, and is much less intimidating for even the most basic of users.

Screen and Speakers
The display on the HP Mini 210 HD is unlike most other netbooks. It has a higher WXGA (1366×768) resolution instead of the usual 1024×600 panel found on other models. This is useful in a number of ways, including properly sony VGP-BPS9/S battery displaying menu windows and reducing excessive horizontal or vertical scrolling. Another added benefit is being able to watch 720P video, although it also relies on you having a Broadcom CrystalHD decoder card configured with the system. Without that card the system would be unable to play the content, let alone display it on the higher resolution panel at reasonable framerates.

The panel itself is easy to read–at least with my eyes–and text doesn’t appear to be that small compared to other mobile devices. If you can read VGP-BPS13/B small text on a mobile phone, you should be able to view the screen without any problems. Color and contrast are very nice, although at times I felt reflections off the all-glass surface seemed to obscure part of the panel. Backlight levels were great for viewing the screen in bright office conditions, but outdoor viewing was out of the question. Viewing angles were average compared to other notebooks, with colors starting to invert or distort when the screen was tilted about 15 degrees forward or back. Horizontal viewing angles were better, but the reflections seemed to obscure the panel past 45 to 50 degrees.

The small speakers on the HP Mini 210 HD are located on the front edge of the palmrest, PA3534U-1BRS angled downward towards your lap. On a flat desktop they easily filled up a small room with music but once you placed the netbook in your lap they became muffled and easily blocked by clothing. Sound quality was average compared to other similarly sized netbooks, with weak bass and midrange.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The HP Mini 210 HD features a 93% fullsize Chiclet keyboard. For short term use the keyboard is comfortable to type on and feels as strong as typing on a regular notebook. The size though can feel slightly cramped depending on if you Dell GD761 Battery are used to typing on a larger notebook. For short term travel or light usage in the home for web browsing you probably won’t have any problem. If you intended to use this as your primary system, you might want to consider moving up to the 11.6" ultraportable form-factor which is closer to standard full-size while still being very portable.

Function keys on the keyboard are direct access, meaning you don’t need to press the "Fn" button to adjust the screen brightness Dell Vostro 1510 Battery or enable Wi-Fi. Another feature is built-in indicator lights for the mute and wireless on/off buttons. While there is no performance different between this and side mounted lights, it helps in the aesthetics department.

The touchpad on the Mini 210 HD is a button-less Synaptics ClickPad with multitouch support. Compared to the twitchy variant found on the HP ProBook recently reviewed, we found no such problems on this particular version. Unlike the earlier version, if your finger was resting good battery on a pre-defined left/right button box, any movement on the main touchpad section would activate pinch-zoom. Now those areas are dead zones, preventing a lot of frustration we previously had. The touchpad surface was very smooth and almost glossy in texture. Sensitivity was excellent without any adjustment needed and acceleration on both axes was equal. It’s hard to say if the touchpad has reached the same ease of use level of the one found on the MacBooks’, but it is getting very close.

Ports and Features
The HP Mini 210 HD features three USB 2.0 ports, VGA-out, one audio headset jack, and Ethernet. The system also includes a SDHC card slot. Optional battery features include GPS, WWAN, and a Broadcom CrystalHD card for HD video decoding.