Video Review For Satellite L655 Toshiba laptop computer

Here is a video review for Toshiba Satellite L655 laptop computer series made by laptop dot bg . Not an exhaustive review, covers mainly the looks and the connectivity but it might be helpful for a "first impression".

Today's Best Selling Laptop Computers on Amazon dot com

Today's best selling laptop computer on Amazon dot com is Toshiba Satellite L655-S5158 laptop computer with 131 days in top 100. Top ten best selling:

1. 131 days in the top 100
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5158 15.6-Inch Laptop by Toshiba
2. 85 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
3. 98 days in the top 100
Acer AS1430Z-4677 11.6-Inch Laptop by Acer
4. 66 days in the top 100
Toshiba Portege R835-P56x 13.3-Inch LED Laptop by Toshiba
5. 106 days in the top 100
HP Pavilion dv6-3250us 15.6-Inch Entertainment Notebook PC by HP
6. 86 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook Pro MC721LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop by Apple
7. 87 days in the top 100
Acer AS5253-BZ602 15.6-Inch Laptop by Acer
8. 86 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook Pro MC724LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
9. 378 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
10. 111 days in the top 100
Dell Inspiron 14R 1181MRB 14-Inch Laptop by Dell

Today's Top Ten Best Selling Laptop Computers on Amazon dot com

Today the best selling laptop computer on Amazon is MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Apple Laptop. Top ten list:

1. (304 days in the top 100)
Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
2. (Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
17 days in the top 100)
Acer AS5742-6475 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black) by Acer
3. (Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
147 days in the top 100)
HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC by HP
4. (Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
86 days in the top 100)
Samsung RF510-S02 15.6-Inch HD LED Laptop (Graphite Radiant Burst) by Samsung
5. (Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
37 days in the top 100)
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5158 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) by Toshiba
6. (Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
275 days in the top 100)
Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
7. (Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
200 days in the top 100)
ASUS A52F-X3 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) by Asus
8. (Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
44 days in the top 100)
ASUS N53JQ-XV1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver Aluminum) by Asus
9. (Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
151 days in the top 100)
HP Pavilion dm4-1160us 14-Inch Laptop PC by HP
10. (Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
108 days in the top 100)
Asus A52F-XE2 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop by Asus

Today's Top Ten Best Selling Laptop Computer List on Amazon

Today the best selling laptop computer on Amazon dot com is Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple with 223 days in top 100. On second place is Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop by Toshiba and on thisrd place is Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple.
Top ten Bestsellers in Laptop Computers:
1. 223 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook Pro MC374LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
2. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
151 days in the top 100
Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4036 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black) by Toshiba
3. 194 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
4. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
57 days in the top 100
ASUS N61JQ-XV1 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown) by Asus
5. Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
59 days in the top 100
Toshiba Satellite L655-S5107 15.6-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish in Helios Black) by Toshiba
6. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
66 days in the top 100
HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4 Hours of Battery Life (Charcoal) by HP
7. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
96 days in the top 100
HP Pavilion dv6-3013nr 15.6-Inch Laptop - Argento by HP
8. Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours
64 days in the top 100
HP Pavilion dv6-3120us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 5.25 Hours of Battery Life (Champagne) by HP
9. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
223 days in the top 100
Apple MacBook Pro MC371LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop by Apple
10. Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours
54 days in the top 100
Acer AS5742Z-4685 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black) by Acer

Today's top ten best selling laptop computer list on Amazon dot com

Best selling laptop computer on Amazon.com is the MacBook MC207LL/A Apple laptop computer with 26 days in top 100. It's followed by the MacBook Pro MB991LL/A also build by Apple and the Pavilion DV6-1354US HP laptop computer. Acer with it's Aspire Timeline AS1810T-8638 laptop has gone up in the last 24 hours and landed on the fourth spot. Here is the complete top ten best selling laptop computers on Amazon dot com, today, November 16th, 2009:
1. Apple MacBook MC207LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 26 days in the top 100
2. Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 161 days in the top 100
3. HP Pavilion DV6-1354US 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - by Hewlett-Packard Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 28 days in the top 100
4. Acer Aspire Timeline AS1810T-8638 11.6-Inch HD Display Black Laptop - by Acer Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 23 days in the top 100
5. Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 161 days in the top 100
6. Acer AS5517-1643 15.6-Inch Black Laptop by Acer Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours; 28 days in the top 100
7. Toshiba Satellite L505-S5993 TruBrite 15.6-Inch Grey/Black Laptop - by Toshiba Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 28 days in the top 100
8. ASUS UL30A-X5 Thin and Light 13.3-Inch Black Laptop - by Asus Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours; 28 days in the top 100
9. HP Pavilion DV4-1540US 14.1-Inch White Laptop - by Hewlett-Packard Ranking has gone down in the past 24 hours; 25 days in the top 100
10. Sony VAIO VGN-NW240F/P 15.5-Inch Pink Laptop by Sony Ranking has gone up in the past 24 hours; 21 days in the top 100

Today's top ten best selling laptop computer list on Amazon dot com

Today's best selling laptop computer on Amazon dot com is Pavilion DV4-1227US HP laptop. Apple is present in top ten with two fresh 13.3 inch laptop computers. The list is completed by two 14.1 inch and 18.4 inch models from Acer. Below I present you the top ten best selling laptop computers on Amazon dot com on 16Th of June:
1. HP Pavilion DV4-1227US 14.1-Inch Laptop - Espresso Black by Hewlett-Packard 61 days in the top 100
2. HP Pavilion DV6-1030US 16.0-Inch Laptop by Hewlett-Packard 156 days in the top 100
3. Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple 8 days in the top 100
4. Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple 8 days in the top 100
5. HP Pavilion G60-230US 16.0-Inch Laptop by Hewlett-Packard 162 days in the top 100
6. Compaq Presario CQ60-210US 15.6-Inch Laptop by Hewlett-Packard 90 days in the top 100
7. Toshiba Satellite A355-S6924 16.0-Inch Laptop by Toshiba 67 days in the top 100
8. Apple MacBook MB466LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple 245 days in the top 100
9. Acer AS4530-6823 14.1-Inch Blue Laptop by Acer 53 days in the top 100
10. Acer AS8730-6918 18.4-Inch Laptop by Acer 19 days in the top 100

PriceGrabber's top ten list of best selling laptop computer

On PriceGrabber dot com top ten most popular laptop computer list number one is ThinkPad X200T Lenovo laptop. It is followed by Apple MacBook MB881LL/A Notebook and Acer Aspire ONE A110-1588. Below is the entire top ten most popular laptop computer listing:
1. Lenovo ThinkPad X200T Core 2 Duo SL9400 1.86GHz/2GB/160GB/agn/BT/FPR/12.1" WXGA/VB by Lenovo
2. Apple MacBook MB881LL/A Notebook 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 120GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - by Apple
3. Acer Aspire ONE A110-1588 Blue Netbook 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB DDR2, 8GB SSD, Windows XP, 8.9" LCD – by Acer
4. Dell Inspiron 15 Notebook 2GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Basic, 15.6" LCD – by Dell
5. Toshiba Satellite Pro L350-S1701 Notebook 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile P8400, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Business, 17" LCD – by Toshiba
6. Lenovo TopSeller ThinkPad X200T Core 2 Duo SL9400 1.86GHz/2GB/T/160GB/UB/DVD-R/agn/BT/12.1"/VB with vPro by Lenovo
7. Acer Aspire AS5735-6694 Notebook 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T6400, 4GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVDW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, 15.6" LCD – by Acer
8. Asus Eee PC 1000HE Black Netbook 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Windows XP, 10.2" LCD – by Asus
9. Lenovo TopSeller ThinkPad X200T Core 2 Duo SL9400 1.86GHz/2GB/160GB/UB/DVD-R/agn/BT/12.1"/VB-XPP with vPro by Lenovo
10. Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet PC 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile SL9400, 2GB DDR3, 160GB HDD, Windows XP Pro, 12.1" LCD – by Lenovo

Today's top ten best selling laptop computer list on Amazon dot com

Today's best selling laptop computer on Amazon dot com is a Pavilion DV4 HP laptop computer. Below you can see the entire top ten best selling laptop computer list from Amazon dot com:
1. HP Pavilion DV4-1227US 14.1-Inch Laptop - Espresso Black
by Hewlett-Packard
2. Apple MacBook MB466LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
by Apple
3. Apple MacBook MB881LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop
by Apple
4. Toshiba Satellite A355-S6924 16.0-Inch Laptop by Toshiba
5. HP Pavilion G60-230US 16.0-Inch Laptop by Hewlett-Packard
6. Toshiba Satellite L355-S7902 17.0-Inch Laptop
by Toshiba
7. HP Pavilion DV6-1030US 16.0-Inch Laptop by Hewlett-Packard
8. Apple MacBook Pro MB470LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop by Apple
9. Toshiba Satellite A355-S6925 16.0-Inch Laptop
by Toshiba
10. Toshiba Satellite L305-S5924 15.4-Inch Laptop
by Toshiba

Best selling laptop computer list on Pricegrabber dot com

Pricegrabber dot com did not separated the netbook most popular list from the laptop computer most popular list. Below are the top ten spots in the PriceGrabber dot com's list of most popular laptop computer list.
1. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Black Netbook 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 512MB DDR2, 4GB, Linux - MPN: DNCWXA41
2. Dell Inspiron 15 Notebook 2GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4200, 3GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Basic, 15.6" LCD - MPN: DNDOZM1
3. HP (Hewlett-Packard) G60-230US Notebook 2GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile T4200, 3GB DDR2, 320GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium, 16" LCD - MPN: NB041UA 4. Asus Eee PC 1000HE Black Netbook 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Windows XP, 10.2" LCD - MPN: EPC1000HEBLK005X
5. Apple MacBook MB881LL/A Notebook 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 120GB HDD, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - MPN: MB881LLA
6. Acer Aspire ONE A110-1588 Blue Netbook 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB DDR2, 8GB SSD, Windows XP, 8.9" LCD - MPN: LUS030B043
7. Apple 13.3" MacBook Notebook 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - MPN: MB467LLA
8. Apple 15.4" Macbook Pro Notebook 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR3, 250GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 15.4" LCD - MPN: MB470LLA
9. HP (Hewlett-Packard) Pavilion dv6-1030us Notebook 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T6400, 4GB DDR2, 320GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, 16" LCD - MPN: NB145UA
10. HP (Hewlett-Packard) Mini 2140 Netbook 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Windows XP, 10.1" LCD - MPN: KS143UT
As we can see the top spot is occupied by Dell's netbook Inspiron Mini 9. There are three more netbook computers: Asus Eee 1008 HE, Acer Aspire ONE A110 and the HP Mini 2140.

Quad-Core Gaming Laptop Computer from Toshiba: X305-Q725

The X305 is a 17" gaming laptop computer. Here Toshiba stick with a maximum native resolution of 1680x1050 instead of 1920x1200, but not everyone likes the small text on WUXGA displays. The X305-Q725 Toshiba laptop computer is one of the most recent versions, but it's not the fastest either for gaming or other purposes. Here's a quick look at the base specifications. As stated, this is a gaming laptop, which is obvious with one glance at the 9800M GTX graphics chip. NVIDIA hasn't launched a new top-end mobile GPU for almost a year, and the current 9800M is just a minor revision of the previous 8800M. The 9800M GTX is slightly slower than the desktop 8800 GT 512MB that was launched in late 2007. Similar to the renaming of the 9800M GTX+, the new GT 100M/200M are renamed versions of the older GPUs. NVIDIA states that they use "a highly-refined 55nm variant of the G92 graphics core", but it's still essentially the same G92 core at heart. NVIDIA's own documentation suggests that the GTX 280M will be on average 22% faster than the 9800M GTX utilized in the Toshiba X305, so it's not a dramatic difference in performance. However, if you are looking for maximum performance, clearly you would now want the GTX 280M - preferably in SLI. As it stands, even without the newly launched mobile GPUs, a single 9800M GTX is going to end up being slower than dual 9800M GTS SLI solutions, though it will also use less power. Looking at the chassis, you can be immediately struck by the sheer size of the X305. Besides being very large, the chassis feels somewhat cheap because of the plastic materials used for construction. It does not look worse than most other laptops, but when looking at a notebook with a nice aluminum - or even partial aluminum - exterior and can immediately notice the difference. When you spend this much money on a notebook, it would be nice to feel like you're getting the absolute best in materials and workmanship, and we honestly can't say we feel that way. It's not all bad news for the Toshiba, though. Some people will like the bling and styling of the chassis, and we will agree that the chassis is good looking. The chassis also comes with four speakers that manage to produce a very good sound encountered in a laptop. The large chassis also manages to deal with hot components quite well, and temperatures for the exterior of the chassis were typically cooler than many other laptops - even those that may not target the gaming sector.
As expected, Toshiba offers plenty of expansion ports on the X305. Users get three USB ports, plus one more that can function as either a USB or an eSATA port. FireWire, gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard/54, and audio ports are present. A small cover on the right side at the integrated flash reader (xD, SD, or MS), along with a modem. HDMI and VGA ports provide the external video connectivity. Considering the size of the notebook, there seems to be plenty of space where more USB ports can be added. This notebook is clearly intended to stand out from the boring laptops and make a statement of power. The X305 comes in a bright design that is sure to turn heads, and perhaps it's also meant to convey just how "hot" this system is.
The optical drive is moved to the front of the X305. Toshiba didn't add a Blu-ray drive, which is a little surprising considering the target market and price point; upgrading to a Blu-ray reader would have added less than $100, and that would arguably be a better choice of where to spend money than some other included options.
An interesting item I didn't mention yet is the volume knob on the right side. This is a pseudo-analog dial, which can be a bit more convenient when you want to adjust the volume quickly. However, you need to reach a certain threshold in terms of how fast you spin the dial to get the system to recognize that you are adjusting the volume, so fine-grained tweaks can be a bit tricky. The only other item to mention is the WiFi on/off switch on the front of the laptop.
The keyboard is one area we really feel can make or break a laptop, particularly in a DTR system where presumably you will do most of your typing. It is possible to adapt to any keyboard layout, certainly, or you could use an external keyboard, but most people will use what comes as part of the laptop and they'll want it to feel right. The keyboard layout is nice, including the number keypad, as it provides access to all the commonly used keys. It's not bad, but the keys do feel a little soft, and personally I like a keyboard with a bit more texture. The glossy/smooth keys work fine, but I'd still rate the keyboard in the Dell XPS M1730 as being better - plus it includes LED backlighting as an added bonus. One nice feature that the keyboard includes are shortcut "zoom" keys (Fn+1 and Fn+2), which quickly switch between resolutions. This functionality should be seen on more laptops in the future - especially laptops with higher DPI LCD screens. It's not perfect, but it's better than going through the display settings dialogs under Vista just to switch resolution for a while.
Overall, the design is pretty much what you would expect from a 17" notebook with support for dual GPUs and quad-core processors. It's large, heavy, and can be extremely fast. The power brick is huge, adding a couple more pounds to the total carrying weight - and if you ever go on the road, you will definitely want to bring along the power brick, as battery life struggles to break the one hour mark. There are quite a few different X305 models, with the main difference being the selected components - note that the X305-Q725 we're looking at only includes a single GPU, while the X305-Q708 includes dual 9800M GTS and a QX9300 CPU - and costs $1700 more. We'd like to see the option for a 1920x1200 LCD - preferably one that can provide color accuracy and a color gamut to match the rest of the top-end components. We would also really like to have an integrated GPU with the option to shut off the power-hungry 9800M GTX, but so far few manufacturers have offered such an option with high-end mobile GPUs, which is truly a shame. The X305-Q725 gaming laptop computer comes fully populated, so the only way to upgrade the memory or hard drives is to remove what's already there.
At the top of the motherboard, you can see the GPU module, and there's room to the right for an oversized card. Most likely, the SLI variants have an extra large GPU module. Listing all of the components and specifications inside of the laptop is easy enough to accomplish, but that doesn't really tell you much about what it's like to really use the laptop on a day-to-day basis.
Overall performance is very snappy, easily fast enough for anything that we do on a regular basis. Then again, outside of gaming and a few specific benchmarks, and processor made in the past three years would meet our requirements. The quad-core CPU does keep things running smoothly even when there are lots of applications open, helped out by the 64-bit OS, SSD, and 4GB of memory. It's a good thing too, because the default system configuration has a ton of running processes. Even after trimming out the fat (running Internet security suite and antivirus software can make a system feel extremely sluggish), we are still left with 60 running processes, which is far more than usual. Quite a few of these are driver related: modem, GPU, audio, Intel chipset and RAID utilities, touchpad, and five Toshiba specific processes related to power saving and keyboard shortcuts. A clean installation on a desktop would usually involve about 40 processes, but most laptops have at least 10 extra processes for the integrated components.
The latest universal mobile drivers from NVIDIA have made things better, but the experience still isn't as seamless as desktop solutions. If you don't absolutely require maximum 3D performance, a single GPU can be a more pleasant experience, but I think most people looking at this sort of laptop are going to be interested in 3D performance. We can also run into situations where we are CPU limited, since very few games take full advantage of four processing cores. In most instances, a higher clocked dual-core CPU like the 2.66GHz P9600 is going to provide a better gaming performance than the 2.0GHz Q9000. Faster quad-core parts are available, which would help matters, but the Q9000 simply wouldn't be the processor of choice.
The general opinion is split on the topic of SSDs; some of us think they're great, and others feel they're just too expensive for what they offer. For better or worse, Toshiba includes a 64GB SSD in the X305-Q725. That adds at least a couple hundred dollars to the price, and we can think of other ways to spend that money (like a second GPU). Perhaps more importantly, however, is that Toshiba shows some seriously brain-dead reasoning when it comes to partitioning hard drives. As shipped, the 64GB SSD only has 50 GB of usable space, with 15 GB already occupied by the operating system and other utilities. Where did the remaining space go? We will be astonished to see that Toshiba had included a 12 GB recovery partition - yes, on the SSD! The whole point of having dual hard drives, one for performance and one for storage, is that you don't use the performance drive to store less important, infrequently accessed data. A recovery partition is the ultimate in infrequently accessed data, and Toshiba used 20% of this expensive media for that purpose.
The X305 Toshiba laptop has a 1680x1050 display, but it only "officially" supports resolutions of 1680x1050, 1280x1024, 1280x720, 1024x768, or 800x600. Noticeably absent are standard 16:10 aspect ratios like 1280x800 and 1440x900, and unfortunately we were not able to hack in support for those resolutions.
This gaming laptop computer model is fast, but it's also heavy and expensive, and unfortunately for Toshiba there are similarly priced notebooks that are faster, offer better battery life/features, and/or are much more practical from a price/performance standpoint. Toshiba's own X305-Q708 is more promising, at least from the pure performance perspective, with 9800M GTS SLI and a QX9300 CPU; admittedly, that's at an even higher price point. We simply don't see a lot of need for this type of laptop at present - i.e. with a lower clocked mobile quad-core CPU. If you're in the market for a powerful desktop replacement notebook - or perhaps a mobile workstation - you might as well go all the way. Saving a couple pounds but getting similar battery life and lower performance hardly seems practical; weight just isn't a critical concern with a 9+ pound notebook. Overall, the X305-Q725 with the Q9000 looks like a good choice for highly threaded workloads, and the SSD can help in a few instances as well. However, there are competing laptops that offer similar performance for less money, or more performance for a similar cost, which makes the X305-Q725 more difficult to recommend.

We hope you already understand going into this review that the X305-Q725 is going to have rater dismal battery life. To say that battery life isn't a major focus is a big understatement. This is evidenced by the battery itself, which is a 6-cell 58Whr unit. The single GPU means that the X305 consumes less power than most SLI notebooks, but with the smaller battery we still end up at just over one hour of mobile usage before you need to plug in.
If you choose to run your LCD at maximum brightness, you may lose anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes depending on the laptop - the latter is mostly for ultra-mobile options while the former is for gaming notebooks. We'd really like to see more fine-grained adjustment here, as cutting the brightness in half is far too big a drop for one "step". However, even at the reduced brightness the battery life is poor (and we only lost about 5 minutes by setting brightness to 100%).
What's more surprising, however, is that there doesn't seem to be any reasonable way of increasing battery life. The Clevo D901C behaves in a similar fashion, so it appears many desktop replacement systems spend very little effort in improving mobility.
As we've mentioned in the past, Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro provide an almost untouchable amount of battery life. To give you a true apples-to-Apples comparison, we've calculated the amount of battery life you get per Whr (Watt Hour) of battery capacity: The X305-Q725 actually does better than a couple notebooks in life per Whr, beating the D901C by 67%. The combination of a 45nm CPU with DDR3 memory results in only moderately high power requirements. Obviously, the desktop CPU and second GPU in the D901C really kick the power usage up a notch.
Power requirements when a laptop is plugged in don't necessarily reflect power requirements when a laptop is on battery power. In particular, high-end GPUs run at lower maximum clock speeds when using the battery power. Power requirements are actually pretty reasonable, considering the components in the X305-Q725. Despite the high-end components, the X305 remains relatively quiet during operation. The large chassis has plenty of room for air circulation, and noise levels are competitive with most other notebooks. Temperatures are also quite reasonable for the X305, with the bottom of the laptop measuring 25-28C under load, except for the very back edge that reached 33C in places. Exhaust temperatures at load are much warmer at up to 45C, however, so you definitely don't want to block the back of the system. While many would assume that such a large, powerful notebook would be hot enough to fry eggs, the reality is that it often runs cooler than midrange options simply because of the size of the heatsinks and fans. We have stated repeatedly that laptop LCDs pale in comparison to typical desktop LCDs, and the X305 doesn't break any new ground. If you're not a fan of large desktop replacement notebooks, the X305-Q725 won't change your mind. It's still bulky and heavy, battery life is poor, and performance still isn't anywhere near the level of top desktop solutions. However, some users don't want a desktop and don't mind the added size and weight; all they want is a powerful laptop that they can transport from place to place when the need arises. If you're looking for that sort of system, can the Toshiba X305-Q725 meet your needs?
For gaming performance there are faster options out there. We don't even need the new GTX 280M graphics chips to surpass the single 9800M GTX; two 9800M GT or 8800M GTX chips will offer up to 80% more performance. You might guess that such laptops will cost more than the X305-Q725, and certainly some do, but others are available at very competitive prices.
So if gaming performance isn't the selling point, what about the quad-core CPU? Is the X305-Q725 with the Q9000 a good selection for highly threaded tasks? If all you need is raw CPU performance, there are other laptops with quad-core CPUs that cost quite a bit less. One example that just launched is the Gateway FX P-7808u, which has a GeForce 9800M GTS 1GB and a Q9000 and retails for around $1850.
If you want even more performance, there's no beating desktop CPUs. The Clevo D901C can support up to a Q9650 (3.0GHz), which should be about 50% faster in CPU limited tests than the Q9000. Throw in dual 9800M GTX GPUs and in some cases it will be nearly twice as fast. Clevo also has the D900F ready to begin shipping in April, which will pack a desktop Core i7 CPU for true workstation level performance. The X305-Q708 is another option if you like the design of the 725 but want more performance. It includes dual 9800M GT cards, though, so from a price and performance standpoint the Clevo D901C would be the better buy.
Looking at the big picture, the X305-Q725 currently has an MSRP of $2700. That's less than a faster, more powerful DTR, but the jump from $2700 to $3300 is only a 22% increase for 50% to 100% more performance. If you're willing to spend $2700 on a large, powerful laptop, an extra $600 that will bring non-linear performance improvements seems pretty reasonable. (Note that you can skip the second 9800M GTX on the D901C and save the $700.)
For what you get, the Toshiba laptop X305-Q725 is a decent DTR (desktop replacement) type notebook. It definitely doesn't break any notions about what a desktop replacement can provide, but the overall feature set is pretty good. If you feel you need a quad-core CPU, high-end mobile GPU, and an SSD, the X305-Q725 is a viable option. However, the periodic stability issues are a serious concern, and when you're spending this much money that can be a deal breaker. We don't recommend DTRs for most users, but even so we feel there are better options out there. This is not going to be a best selling laptop computer.

Asus and Lenovo laptop computers seem to be the most reliable laptop computers in 2009

Rescuecom, a New York-based reseller of computers and IT services published his Computer Reliability Report for the first quarter of 2009, based on 15,000 consumer service calls throughout this period. According to Rescuecom, the PCs reported to have the strongest reliability scores are:
1. Asus and IBM/Lenovo (tied)
3. Apple
4. Toshiba
5. Acer
6. HP/Compaq
7. Dell
8. Sony
Rescuecom’s rankings are based on a proprietary formula that takes into account market share based on IDC numbers and Rescuecom’s own consumer services calls for tech support. Although Lenovo separated from the IBM brand few years ago, analysts continue to list the two companies as a joint brand because of legacy systems in the install base. Other factors that can affect a vendor’s ranking include the vendor’s ongoing support of its own products. For example, Apple users may likely be going to Apple stores for tech support. Vendors that provide better product support and vendors that have more reliable products are more likely to rank high on the list. Rescuecom President Josh Kaplan notes that Asus’ high reliability score this quarter may be misleading because the company made big market share gains since September 2008 when it released a highly popular subcompact notebook. But that notebook’s long-term reliability has yet to be seen, says Kaplan.
This is the article found on channelinsider dot com. The story starts with the statement that the most reliable laptop computers are Asus and (former IBM) Lenovo laptop computers. they throw in another information that Apple secured the the top spot on the list of most reliable laptops at the end of 2008, (with the fewest number of service calls). It's old news that Asus with it's Eee PC series have topped the sales rankings in the last year. Launching and keep improving this new kind of laptop computer was a good move from Asus, harvesting the good impressions that OLPC had seeded in the market. All is fine till now. but my opinion is that the information is blurred and the author doesn't have a clear idea about desktop/laptop differences or is trying to to seed more seo terms into his article, since portable computers are hot today and desktop computers sale are going down compared to laptops. In the same article the ranking list is specified to be a PC (which is the acronym for personal computer). It says nothing to be laptop computers or desktop. We also know that notebook computers shipments exceeded for the first time in history the desktop computers shipments in the 3rd quarter of 2008. Adding to this the top five OEM ranking where first is HP with 18.8%, Dell following with 13.9%, Acer with 12.2%, Lenovo with 7.4% and and Toshiba fifth with 4.6% I find hard to believe for Asus to overcome in such a short time a market share to significantly influence this ranking. All in all my belief is that laptop computer focus of this article is false. The article itself states that the ranking is about PC's, and not about laptop computers. The history of Rescuecom rapports is about the PC's and not specifically about desktop or notebook computers.
But in the same time, when talking about a brand well known in the computing industry we cannot say that is a big quality difference between laptop computers and desktops.
Bottom line is this. Ranking is about PC's and not specifically about laptop computers. Asus indeed may have gained a big market share slice but far from really competing with the 3 top ranking manufacturers.
It is useful this reliability report for all future customers, even it is about PC's in general, because Rescuecom has no allegiance to any hardware manufacturer, it's top priority being customer satisfaction.

Dell is launching world's thinnest laptop computer

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 Dell launched the new Adamo laptop, which is world's thinnest laptop computer as they say. The laptop is only 0.65 inches (1.65 centimeters) thick. The laptop specifications are not mind blasting but can be considered impressive. It's powered by a 1.4/1.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4Gb/2Gb 800 MHz DDR3 dual channel memory, Windows Vista Home Premium SP 1, 64bit operating system, wireless N, Bluetooth 2.1, one RJ 45 port and optional Mobile Broadband. Display is a 13.4 inch widescreen 16:9 display with edge-to-edge glass.
In a world dominated lately by netbook computer sales Dell is launchig this new series of premium Dell laptop products. The name they gave to this series is Adamo and will "serve as a flagship in a line of products created to disrupt the personal computing space with the combination of new design aesthetics, personalization choices and sought-after technologies," Dell said in a statement. The laptop is the first product under Dell's Adamo brand. Adamo is derived from the Latin word meaning "to fall in love."
This Dell laptop will have a $1,999 price tag and will be available in pearl and onyx colors. The Adamo laptop is available for preorder on-line with shipping starting today, March 26th. In the current economic environment there is a general doubt about how the public will receive this laptop. The market research company Gartner predicted a 11.9 percent drop in global personal computer shipments, the sharpest year-over-year decline.
The future will tell us if Dell will succeed capturing customers attention with this new fine design.

Ranking top position in best selling laptop computers in 2008 netbooks is making promises for 2009

In 2008 netbook experienced strong demand with the improvements of display, which grew from the initial 7-8 inch to more acceptable 10 inch screens. People are buying netbooks, not as primary work machines, but as personal machines or secondary machines for those times when sleeker is better. They are willing to pay half of what a laptop computers has on it's price tag for fewer features in a smaller package but proving to be enough for what a portable computer should do on the road. Another feature that boosted demand for them, besides screen size was the availability of Windows XP as operating system apart from the previous Linux that first netbook models on the market came with. The truth is that the first five to ten spots on Amazon dot com best selling computer list was dominated by this kind of ultraportble laptop computers. According to DisplaySearch market tracker in the three month period that ended September 30 netbook sales grew 160 % reaching 5.6 million units. This come o contradict Steve Jobs from Apple who said that "not a lot of them (netbooks) getting sold."On the same period of time only 4.7 million iPhones were sold. Steve Jobs also said that iPhones can do the same things as netbooks when rumours about Apple releasing a a small notebook computer, in the form of a netbook emerged. I personally do not think that will be a surprise from Apple to launch a netbook sometime this year, but knowing Apple we can say that for sure it will not be cheap. With many important improvements announced for this year and the next netbooks will become a feasible option even for companies to consider.

Laptop computers sales exceeds desktop computers in Q3 in 2008

Following a trend visible in previous years global laptop computers shipments exceeded those of desktops on a quarterly basis for the first time ever in the third quarter 2008, marking a watershed event in the history of the industry, according to iSuppli Corp. Notebook computers shipments rose almost 40 percent in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units according to the same source. “While the third quarter will be remembered as the time when the scale of the global economic/credit crunch truly became apparent, the PC market managed to deliver strong unit shipment growth during the period,” said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli.
Top-5 PC OEM listings and rankings for the third quarter of 2008, according to iSuppli:
No.-1 Hewlett-Packard Co. of the United States retained its No.-1 ranking position in the third quarter of 2008, with shipments of 14.9 million units, and a market share of 18.8 percent.
No.-2 U.S. PC maker Dell Inc. maintained its second-place ranking with shipments of slightly less than 11 million units, giving the company a market share of 13.9 percent.
No.-3 Acer, with a market share of 12.2 percent resulting from shipments of 9.7 million during the quarter—a standout performance.
Rounding out the Top-5 PC OEM rankings were Lenovo and Toshiba Corp., ranked fourth and fifth, with market shares of 7.5 and 4.6 percent, respectively.
The Information Network estimates that 11.4 million netbooks were sold in 2008, up from 400,000 in 2007. For 2009, the firm estimates that netbook sales will grow 189 percent to 21.5 million. Meanwhile, the firm estimates that 145.9 million notebooks were sold in 2008 and projects that number will grow 21.8 percent in 2009 to 177.7 million.
Now the 2008 sales confirms that laptop computers becomes the best selling computers and we may say that the best selling laptop computers list became the best selling computers list.

Today's best selling laptop on Amazon.com is Asus Eee PC 1000 HE netbook

Today's best selling laptop on Amazon.com is Asus Eee PC 1000 HE netbook.After reading numerous reviews, I think Asus Eee PC 1000HE is the best netbook you can buy now. As Darren Gladstone, PC World said on Washingtonpost.com:“The streamlined and redesigned Asus Eee PC 1000HE takes no prisoners. While the previous Asus Eee PC 1000 offered a solid netbook, Acer's Aspire One stole all the attention with its lean and incredibly affordable approach. With the latest incarnation of the Eee PC 1000, the "HE" might as well stand for "Holy Enhancement!" “. The Eee PC 1000HE is the latest netbook refresh from ASUS that offers a revamped chicklet style keyboard and the new Intel Atom N280 processor. The exterior and interior look nearly identical to the 1000HA and 901, so if you liked the old style you will love this. The biggest change users will find on this new model is the extended 9.5 hour battery life, thanks to a battery 30% larger and improved power management.

The Eee PC 1000HE has a similar chassis to the 1000H. Both have the same black glossy lid and port placement. The 1000HE, however, has worked its glutes to get rid of the unseemly battery bulge found on its older brother’s backside. The system’s battery is now flush with the chassis, giving it a much slimmer profile. However, at 10.3 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches, the 1000HE is still chunky in comparison to other 10-inch netbooks but still a hair thinner than the older, clunkier Eee PC 1000 released last year. Build quality is very good with strong, durable plastics used throughout the body that help keep panels flex-free and the creaks to a minimum. The Asus Eee PC 1000HE laptop holds its own ground inside a backpack, even against other heavy objects competing for space (like other laptops or books). For the average user this means you won’t find oily key impressions on the screen after you wedge this Eee PC into a backpack full of books on your way to class. The first, most obvious thing you'll spot is the cut-out keyboard. Just like you'd find on an Apple MacBook Air or on Sony VAIO laptops, the keys poke through the plastic, creating a wide gap between buttons. In that respect, this feels and looks great, and is generally more usable. And because it uses an island layout, there is no flex to the panel which was the downfall of the Eee PC 1000H. Overall, the manufacturing quality on the 1000HE keyboard is just better. The placement of the keys has also been revamped. There were complains in all ASUS Eee PC reviews about the placement of the Shift key to the right of the up arrow. ASUS must have been listening to them as they have finally pulled the Shift key in to the left of the up arrow now. The new keyboard comes very close to tipping the scales against the HP Mini 1000 and 2140 but it would probably have to be a tie for best netbook keyboard.ASUS uses an Elantech touchpad on the Eee PC 1000HE for its multitouch capabilities, which works great if you want dual finger control, but not so great if you want fast response and sensitivity. I found that it had some lag during quick movement and didn’t have the nice high sensitivity of similar Synaptics models. One problem we noticed after a few hours of use was the touchpad surface slowly peeling up on one side like a loose sticker, but after pressing it back down it didn’t come up again. It may have just been a manufacturing flaw where it was not seated correctly during assembly. The touchpad buttons were large enough for easy triggering by the side of thumb and worked great if you hit them dead center or on the very edge. Feedback was minimal with a very shallow click when pressed. The trackpad is just spacious enough -- I particularly like its metal framing and the few multitouch functions incorporated into the design. However, we found the pad slightly twitchy to control. No deal-breaker, but noticeable.The display. The 10” LED-backlit display found on the Eee PC 1000HE is easy on the eyes and a real treat to view for hours on end. Whites are clear, colors are vibrant, and backlight levels are very bright and consistent. While many netbooks get the short end of the stick for some components such as processing power, they easily make up for it in screen quality. The panels found on most netbooks offer better viewing angles and brighter backlight levels than screen found on larger notebooks. Vertical viewing angles which tend to quickly invert colors on full-size notebooks stay accurate longer on the display found on the 1000HE. Horizontal angles are the same way, allowing the user to easily share a movie with a passenger on either side. To check the screens viewing angles see this links for front, side, upper and from below views. However, the highly polished bezel that keeps the screen in place can get a little distracting at times.

ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Specifications:

• Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor
• 160GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive (Seagate 5400.5)
• 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• Windows XP Home operating system with SP3
• 10” WSVGA LED-Backlit 1024 x 600 LCD
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam (1.3 MP)
• Battery: 7.2v 8700mAh 6-cell 63Wh battery
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0
• One-year warranty
• Size: 10.47” x 7.3” x 1.12-1.50”
• Weight: 3lbs 2.4oz, 3lbs 9.9oz travel
• Price: $399 ($374 with $25 preorder discount)

System performance was great for average use which includes browsing the web, typing up a document, or doing light work inside a photo editor such as GIMP. There is not much of an increase in performance over the older Asus Eee PC 1000HA, even though the Asus Eee PC 1000HE is technically faster with a higher clock speed and front side bus. In some benchmarks notebookreview.com saw results that decreased, especially with the newer Seagate 5400.5 hard drive. Access times ended up being 50% slower than the previous 5400.4 model, even though every other variable stayed the same including capacity.

HD video playback capabilities were roughly the same as previous Intel Atom netbooks, playing some lightly encoded 720p trailers with 40-50% CPU usage, and normal HD content like TV episodes at 60%+ while also dropping frames. The Intel N280 processor does support a newer GN40 chipset, but it does not appear to be included with this netbook. All of their testing software points to the standard Intel 945 chipset found in other Atom netbooks. For the sake of comparison, most of the netbooks that came out late last year used the N270 CPU, which runs at a lower frequency (1.6-GHz) and a slower frontside bus speed (533MHz as compared with 667 MHz in the N280). The laptopmag.com team run a comparison GeekBench benchmark versus the Eee PC 1000H. The Eee PC 1000H notched a score of 871 (888 for processor integer performance and 748 on processor floating point performance). The Eee PC 1000HE scored 38 points higher with a score of 909 (931 for processor integer performance and 780 on processor floating point performance).

Port selection is average compared to most netbooks, but less than what some new netbooks offer. ASUS doesn’t include an ExpressCard slot for external WWAN radios, like the Lenovo S10 or HP Mini 2140. The 1000HE offers three USB, LAN, headphone/mic jacks, a Kensington lock slot, and VGA. A SDHC 4-in-1 multi-card reader located on the side handles flash cards from digital cameras or storage expansion. You can check the front (activity lights), rear (battery), left (Kensington lock slot, LAN, 1 USB, Headphone/Mic) and right (SDHC 4-in-1 card reader, 2 USB, VGA, AC Power) views of ports placement.

Heat buildup and noise from the cooling system was minimal during battery powered use, as the system scales back the processor which then puts off less heat. While on AC power using high performance or super performance modes the system does warm up quite a bit, leaving the fans running constantly at a low speed. You can also check this link to see pictures with the external temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit that notebookreview.com team measured on test runs – front view and back view.

The 1000HE has a battery that is substantially larger than the one found in the old 1000HA that gave only 4 hours and 28 minutes run time. To move up towards the claim of nine and a half hours ASUS bumped the capacity from 49Wh to 63Wh and tweaked the power management software so the processor sipped even less juice. Both of these changes led to some very impressive real world results. With the screen brightness set to 60%, wireless active, and processor set to auto it stayed on for 7 hours and 36 minutes. If you are going for longest possible time, you can shut off the wireless cards, put it into power saving mode, and lower the brightness all the way and it gets an estimated 9 hours and 20 minutes of battery life.

The speakers are good enough to enjoy some music or a movie, but they are too small to produce any bass or midrange. At peak volume the 1000HE can fill up a smaller room with music to share with a couple of friends, but you might be fighting against background noise in a public setting. Headphones are a great option for private listening or if you want volume levels high enough to hurt your ears.

ASUS has built in a very convenient one key solution (F9) for recovery. The Eee PC 1000HE netbook does not have optical drivers to read the recovery CD (so do all other netbooks). So the function key is very useful when you need it.

Other notable features thrown into the mix: InterVideo WinDVD (which seems to be a little bit of overkill, I'd recommend you try out KMPlayer), and 18 months of 10GB of free online storage.

The Eee PC packaging comes with an ASUS Eee PC 1000HE, AC adapter, and printed operating instructions. It's backed by a 1-year warranty on parts and labor.

I found a customer review with a heads up about the 802.11n for this netbook. The radio in the Asus Eee PC 1000HE will only see/connect to 802.11n on the 2.4 GHz spectrum. This is a let down because all the speed and range advantages of 802.11n is when you use the 5ghz spectrum not the 2.4ghz spectrum. making 802.11n more of a buzz word for this product, and not anything useful.

Bottom line ASUS made some good improvements to the Eee PC1000HE, most notably the newer keyboard. The keyboard is more comfortable to type on over the old style thanks to the new chiclet keyboard design and the improved spacing helps to reduce typing errors. The keyboard on the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE is what people have been hoping to see from the netbook leader for months now and gives it an edge in the now very crowded market. The design has few changes, with some areas gaining glossy paint over a matte finish before, but the average user might not tell the difference unless both were sitting next to each other. The newer Intel Atom processor with a faster clock speed and faster bus speed had little improvement over its predecessor and HD content is still unfeasible unless you are playing low bitrate videos. The battery life also improved by a wide margin, moving past seven hours under normal use, which is the greater than any netbooks on the market. Overall I would say ASUS has an impressive new netbook and a very affordable starting price. You can always find a better netbook down the road, like a dual core netbook with the same price (if not cheaper) by next year. But if you cannot wait for so long, Asus Eee PC 1000HE is surely one of the best solutions in the market.

Today's best selling laptops on Amazon.com, 12.09.2008

1.ASUS Eee PC 1000H 80G (10-inch Display, 1.6 GHz Intel ATOM Processor, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Fine Ebony
2.Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Sapphire Blue
3.Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) White
4.Apple MacBook MB403LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive) White
5.Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB Solid State Drive, Linpus Linux Lite) White
6.Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E/H 16.4" Laptop (2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, Vista Premium) Grey
7.ASUS Eee PC 900 16G (8.9-inch Display, Intel Mobile CPU, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB Solid State Drive, Linux, 4 Cell Battery) Galaxy Black
8.Apple MacBook MB404LL/A 13.3-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive) Black
9.ASUS Eee PC 900 16G (8.9" Display, Intel Mobile CPU, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB Solid State Drive, Linux) Pearl White
10.ASUS Eee PC 901 12G (8.9-inch Display, 1.6 GHz Intel ATOM Processor, 1 GB RAM, 12 GB Solid State Drive, XP Home, 6 Cell Battery) Fine Ebony
11.Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 1.0 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive, XP Home) Blue
12.ASUS Eee PC 900 16G (8.9" Display, Intel Mobile CPU, 1 GB RAM, 16 GB Solid State Drive, XP Home) Galaxy Black
13.ASUS Eee PC 901 20G (8.9" Display, 1.6 GHz Intel ATOM Processor, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB Solid State Drive, Linux, 6 Cell Battery) Fine Ebony
14.Apple MacBook Pro MB133LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD SuperDrive)
15.Asus EEE PC 901 20GB Linux (White)

Today's fifth place on best selling laptop list on Amazon.com: HP Pavilion DV2840SE

Today the fifth place on best selling laptop list on Amazon.com is HP Pavilion DV2840SE. For sure this laptop is designed for customers who want an artistic touch on their portable machine. Next you can find the product main features:
· Entertainment-centric special edition notebook PC with widescreen 14.1-inch LCD, integrated webcam, and multi-colored high-gloss finish with organic Verve imprint
· 2.1 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 dual-core processor, 250 GB hard drive, 4 GB installed RAM (max capacity), LightScribe dual-layer DVD drive
· Quad-mode Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n); 10/100 Ethernet; Nvidia GeForce Go 7150M graphics (up to 1071 MB of available memory)
· Connectivity: 3 USB, 1 FireWire, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, expansion port 3 connector, ExpressCard 54/34, 5-in-1 memory card reader
· Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1); includes remote control
It comes with the following external connectors:
· 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
· 1 FireWire (also known as IEEE 1394 or i.Link) port for connecting digital video camcorders and other peripherals
· Video out: 1 VGA monitor port and 1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV or projector
· 1 ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
· 2 headphone jacks
· 1 microphone jack
· 1 Expansion Port 3 connector (for use with the HP xb3000 Expansion Base or the HP Notebook QuickDock)
· 1 IR receiver
· 5-in-1 memory card reader (Secure Digital, MultiMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, xD Picture Card)
· 10/100 Ethernet
· 56K modem (V.90)
Weighing in at 5.25 pounds and measuring: 13.15 x 9.33 x 1.54 inches, it features the HP exclusive high-gloss, organic Verve imprint finish, which flows freely across the top cover then bursts across the palm rest area. A significant change in color appears as well, with a rich bronze top cover carrying through to the palm rest area to morph into golden copper shades then fade to deep black near the touch-sensitive media control panel. It offers a widescreen, BrightView 14.1-inch display, which provides improved viewing in direct sunlight. You can control settings for audio and video playback from up to 10 feet away with the included HP remote, then store it conveniently in the PC card slot.
Preloaded SoftwareWindows Vista Home Premium as operating system.Includes Microsoft Works, Microsoft Office 2007 Student and Teacher Edition (60-day trial), Muvee Autoproducer, Cyberlink DVD Suite, PC Recovery, HP PhotoSmart Essentials, and Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008 (with 60 days of Live Update).
What's in the BoxThis package contains the HP Pavilion dv2840se notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, IR remote control, earphones, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase as well as technical telephone assistance for one year. Software is also covered for 30 days from date of purchase. In a latter post I will be back with details on its features and pros and cons from the professional and customers reviews.

Not a best selling laptop, but a powerful niche laptop for gamers or professionals, the Alienware Area-51 m9750

Today I will not write about any best selling laptop on Amazon or another online store. Instead I will say something about a niche laptop, about Alienware Area-51 m9750. When you first lay your eyes over its technical specifications you will be impressed by its capabilities and promises for future performance. When ordering customers will enjoy a large array of options to customize this portable machine. You can make a powerful gamming rig or a reliable professional editing tool out of it. You can even opt for a SLI dual graphics cards solution for better performance in games, or for the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M GDDR3 graphic card for advanced 3D creative professionals. Other interesting option is the 7200 rpm hard drive or the solid state drive. Below I will present you the entire array of options for this powerful laptop. In a latter post I will be back with conclusions from user comments and reviews screening.
Operating Systems
Windows® XP Media Center
Windows® XP Professional
Windows Vista® Home Premium
Windows Vista® Ultimate
Processors, Chipset & Memory
Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors (4MB Cache, 667MHz FSB)
Intel 945PM + ICH7M-DH Chipset
Up to 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz
2 dedicated SO-DIMM slots for Dual Channel DDR2 Memory
Graphics & Video
NVIDIA GeForce SeriesHigh performance for the game and entertainment enthusiast
Single Graphics Cards
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT GDDR3 – DirectX 10 Enabled
Dual Graphics Cards
Dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT GDDR3 - DirectX 10 enabled with NVIDIA® SLI™ technology
NVIDIA Quadro FX SeriesPowerful mobile solution for the advanced 3D creative professional
Single Graphics Card
512MB NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M GDDR3 – Higher level of performance and ultra-realistic effects for OpenGL
Storage
Easily-removable Slot Loading Hard Drives
Single Hard Drive
5400 RPM - Up to 320GB SATA with NCQ
7200 RPM - Up to 200GB SATA with NCQ
Solid State - Up to 64GB SATA
Dual Hard Drives in RAID 0
5400 RPM - Up to 640GB (2 x 320GB)
7200 RPM - Up to 400GB (2 x 200GB)
Solid State - Up to 128GB (2 x 64GB)
Optical Drives
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW
8x Dual Layer CD-RW/DVD±RW w/ LightScribe Technology
Dual Layer Blu-Ray/DVD±R/W/CD-RW Burner
Networking
Wireless Connectivity
Internal Intel PRO Wireless 3945 a/b/g Mini-Card
Internal Intel PRO Wireless 4965 b/g/n Mini-Card
Integrated Bluetooth 2.0
Wired Connectivity
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45
Integrated 56K V.92 modem RJ-11
Audio
7.1 Digital High-Definition Audio
Two Speakers with SubWoofer
Connectivity
1 headphone jack
1 microphone jack
1 Front Speakers jack
1 Surround Speakers jack
1 Center Speaker jack
1 TOSlink Optical Audio
Peripheral Connections
4 Hi-speed USB 2.0 ports
Express Card Slot /54mm
IEEE 1394a (4-pin) port
4-in-1 Memory Card Reader (SD / MS / MSPRO / MMC)
LCD Panel
17” Wide Screen WUXGA 1920 x 1200 with Clearview
17” Wide Screen WXGA+ 1440 x 900
Keyboard & Touchpad
Full Size Keyboard with Separate Numeric Keypad
Full Size Touchpad with Scroll Functionality
Instant Access Buttons include:
Internet
E-mail
Windows Media Player
Power DVD 7
Windows Media Center*
Play/Pause
Skip Forward
Skip Backward

Considering the amount of performance the Area-51 m9750 pumps out, a light chassis that can manage thermals efficiently and has plenty of strength to protect everything inside is essential. Steel or plastic simply won’t cut it. That’s why the Area-51 m9750 features magnesium alloy, which is 75% lighter than steel and provides better rigidity than plastic to deliver the optimum solution. Alienware’s innovative material, Stealth Black, proves to be scratch and fingerprint resistant, scratches that occur from day to day use and, even though the style leaves quite an impression, your fingerprints never will. And if you do manage to get fingerprints on the material, they easily wipe off.

Review on Toshiba Satellite A215-S5849, a brief presence in Amazon's top best selling laptops

Last day I noticed a brief presence on the 5th place of the Amazon.com’s best selling laptop list, the Toshiba Satellite A125-S5849 laptop. Today it’s on the 42nd place. Brief presence but it was there, therefore I will say something about it. Technical details:
· Bright 15.4-inch LCD accented with an onyx blue metallic LCD cover and webcam integrated into bezel
· 2.0 GHz 64-bit AMD Turion 64 TL-60 processor, 200 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM (4 GB max), dual-layer DVD drive (with Labelflash disc printing)
· 54g Wi-Fi (802.11b/g); 10/100 Ethernet; integrated ATI Radeon X1200 graphics (up to 319 MB of available memory)
· Connectivity: 4 USB, 1 FireWire, 1 VGA, 1 S-Video, 1 headphone, 1 microphone, 1 ExpressCard 34/54
· Pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium (with Media Center capabilities)
Preloaded software: Microsoft Works 9.0, Google Desktop and Picasa, Ulead DVD MovieFactory 5, Norton 360 All-in-One Security (30-day trial), and Microsoft Office 2007 Home and Student Edition (60-day trial). The box contains the A215-S5849 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a one-year limited hardware warranty. Approximate Unit Dimensions - 14.3 (W) x 10.5 (D) x 1.55 (H) Approximate Unit Weight - 5.78 pounds. When normal used, I mean surfing and office software the battery will last for about 2 and a half hours. I have to remind you that this model from Toshiba is part of the recently (April 1,2008) updated Satellite® A200 series laptops. The main and most needed update is the system memory increase to 2 GB from the previous 1 GB. This memory amount increase will help to a better running of Windows Vista OS. In this price bracket the big players this year seem to be the Toshiba Satellite A210/A200, Dell Vostro 1000 and Acer Aspire 47xx and 55xx Gemstone series. All are good choices. Where the Toshiba having an edge over the Vostro 1000 is in the buyer's ability to walk into a store and touch/feel the notebook. Things like keyboard and design are very personal and hard to convey in a small web photograph. Aesthetically the Toshiba is better looking. The Vostro can be bought with Windows XP - a vastly superior Operating System for PCs. The Dell has a more orthodox keyboard layout - for a lot of people this alone could be the clincher. It also comes with a smaller 120GB HDD, but is spins faster. Comparing the A210 to Acer's Aspire, the chassis is nicer on the Toshiba. The two Acer notebooks at this price both had Celeron CPUs - one was spec'ed with 512MB RAM and an 80GB HDD. So the Toshiba has an edge in terms of performance and specifications. Like the Dell, Acer uses a standard keyboard layout. When searched thru users comments I noticed two main issues. First was about screen going blank, and the solution seems to be a bios update. If you are not so much of a computer connoisseur that can be a big issue because Toshiba official support looks to be a little confused about this hardware problem and often blaming Vista for it. The second issue is about battery life being around 2 hours. The Satellite A215-S5849 laptop best feature seems to be the good quality of picture the display provides. In conclusion, if u are not a power user or a gamer and keep the expectations appropriate to it’s entry level line u can be satisfied by its performance, and, of course, if with this recent April updated line of laptops Toshiba fixed the blank screen problem.

Latter edit: Amazon.com seems to have the best deal on this laptop with the 699$ offer.

About PriceGrabber.com and Best Selling Laptops and Notebooks

In a previous post about laptop buyers and Microsoft Windows where I argued a point made by Preston Gralla on his post about the same topic, I mentioned PriceGrabber.com related to best selling laptops. Now it’s time to go deep into this matter. PriceGrabber.com is an online comparison shopping engine with approximately 26 million consumers each month and up-to-date daily pricing of products supplied by more than 12,000 sellers. It’s pointless to say that we cannot provide a best selling laptops list from PriceGrabber.com since this is only an online shopping comparison engine and he cannot track online sales made on online stores that PriceGrabber.com is monitoring. The tool provided to online shoppers instead is a most popular list that tracks the clicks on items provided by its users. The conclusion is that PriceGrabber.com tracks the online shopping intention and not the actual transaction closing between buyer and the online shop. Considering the purpose of PriceGraber.com engine I think that this information can be reliable though. Most of us do not visit an online shopping comparison engine if we do not actually want to buy something. So, from now I will take a look at PriceGrabber.com’s most popular laptop list. Initially I wanted to use the most rated list too, but since the top rated product in laptops list is Powerbook G4 notebook I believe that this list is not relevant to our purpose. Below I present u the Top 15 Most Popular Laptops on PriceGrabber.com on April 12th, 2008:

1) Toshiba Satellite A205-S5804 Notebook
1.6GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2330, 1GB DDR2, 120GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium, 15.4" LCD - MPN: PSAF3U0NR00V
2) Asus Eee PC 4G Surf Notebook - Black
900MHz Intel Celeron M 353 , 512MB DDR2, 4GB SSD, Linux, 7" LCD - MPN: 90OA01A20102111U305Q
3) Apple 13.3" MacBook Air Notebook
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 80GB, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - MPN: MB003LLA
4) HP (Hewlett-Packard) F750US Notebook
1.9GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57, 1GB DDR2, 120GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium, 15.4" LCD - MPN: KC489UA
5) Apple 13.3" MacBook Notebook
2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile, 1GB DDR2, 160GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - MPN: MB063LLB
6) Apple 15.4" MacBook Pro Notebook
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile, 2GB DDR2, 160GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger, 15.4" LCD - MPN: MA896LLA
7) Apple 15" MacBook Pro Notebook
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 200GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 15" LCD - MPN: MB133LLA
8) Asus Eee PC 2G Surf Notebook - Blue
800MHz Intel Celeron M 353, 512MB DDR2, 2GB SSD, Linux, 7" LCD - MPN: 90OA02AC0004111U105Q
9) Asus Eee PC 4G Surf Notebook - White
900MHz Intel Celeron M 353, 512MB DDR2, 4GB SSD, Linux, 7" LCD - MPN: 90OA06A40101111U105Q
10) Sony VAIO VGN-FZ240E/B Notebook
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7250, 2GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium, 15.4" LCD - MPN: VGNFZ240EB
11) Dell Latitude D600 Notebook
1.3GHz Intel Pentium M, 256MB DDR, 20GB, CD-ROM, Windows XP, 14.1" LCD - MPN: D600
12) Apple 17" MacBook Pro Notebook
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile, 2GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 17" LCD - MPN: MB166LLA
13) Sony VAIO VGN-CR320E/R Notebook
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7250, 2GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD±RW DL, Windows Vista Home Premium, 14.1" LCD - MPN: VGNCR320ER
14) Apple 13.3" MacBook Notebook
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, 160GB, DVD±RW DL, Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard, 13.3" LCD - MPN: MB403LLA
15) Sony VAIO VGN-FZ340E/B Notebook
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7250, 3GB DDR2, 250GB, DVD±RW DL,Windows Vista Home Premium, 15.4" LCD - MPN: VGNFZ340EB

On latter posts I will cover the notebooks that I didn’t reviewed on this blog yet.