Sunday, October 26, 2008
Lenovo Thinkpad X61 76744NQ
Apple MacBook Pro
- Very well built
- Great overall performance
- Smaller dimensions and weighs less than other laptops in its class (1lb less than the Acer 8204 for example)
- Can run Windows XP or OS X (and potentially Linux)
- Very quiet
- Amazingly bright non-glare type screen
- High quality web cam
- Decent battery life
- Plays WoW like a champ
- Comes with a remote for media and powerpoint
- Somewhat hot when plugged in
- Boot Camp not quite ready for the masses
- Underclocked GPU
Acer Ferrari 1005WTMi
Sony VAIO VGN AR49G
Dell Latitude ATG D630
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Alienware Area-51 m17x
- Keyboard
- Touchpad
- Touch buttons
- Alienware logo below display
- Alien head power button and emblem on back of display
Display
Heat and Noise
- Phenomenal gaming performance
- AlienFX LED lighting system
- Solid build quality
- Fantastic screen
- Good keyboard & touchpad
- Input & output port selection
- Modular bay (SmartBay)
- Sky-high price
- Loud fans
- Keyboard flex
- Weight (11 pounds)
- Dismal battery life (66 minutes as tested)
Lenovo N100
- Pros
- Speedy Performance
- Glossy WSXGA Screen
- Excellent Burn Quality From LG Drive
- Decent Battery Life
- Cool & Quiet
- Software Bundle
- Easy To Upgrade(Not The Video Card)
- Bluetooth
- Cons
- Scratchable Case
- WiFi Card Dropouts
- Poor Speakers
- Thickness
- Missing Home/End Keys
Lenovo W700
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9300 (2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 12 MB L2 cache)
- Memory: 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM
- Screen: 17" 1920x1200 WUXGA TFT LCD
- Storage: 160 GB HDD (7200 RPM) x 2, RAID 0 configuration
- Optical Drive: DVD recordable
- Wireless: Intel Wi-Fi Link 5300 (802.11a/g/n), Bluetooth 2.0
- Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700M with 1 GB
- Battery: 9-cell lithium-ion (84 Wh)
- Dimensions: 16.1" x 12.3" x 1.5"
- Weight: 8 lbs, 10 oz (with battery)
- Price As Tested: $4,333.30
- Starting Price: $2,531.30
- Quad-core performance offers a desktop-esque experience
- Solid Lenovo keyboard, touchpad
- Built-in digitizer a handy addition
- Color calibration console couldn't be simpler
- Impressively rugged build for a 17 inch system
- Display doesn't quite meet lofty expectations
- Speaker audio makes everything sound like a Paul Harvey broadcast
- Supplied pen is small, feels cheap
- I don't have a spare $4,333.30
HP Compaq 2230s
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Getac A790
This is a review of the GETAC A790 fully rugged notebook computer, a machine specifically built to provide maximum performance and utility under the harshest possible environmental condition. Also, right upfront, if you wonder why the system unit part of the machine shown in the picture below is so thick, that is because it is one of the very few notebooks that can handle two 3/4-length desktop-style PCI cards in an optional PCI Expansion Unit that's bolted onto the bottom of the notebook. The machine shown in this picture has the PCI expansion unit installed. Why is this important? Because while today's notebooks come fully equipped, some functionality is only available via standard PCI expansion cards, and if an application requires that functionality, the GETAC A790 is one of the very few state-of-the-art rugged notebooks that can deliver. And not just PCI cards. GETAC has expansion units for older legacy ISA cards and the new PCI Express cards also.
Existing and potential GETAC customers are likely familiar with the company background and so I'll only state the basics: General Electric-Aerospace and Mitac Group of Taiwan founded GETAC back in 1989. Ever since, GETAC has been at the very forefront of ruggedized mobile and portable innovation for military and other demanding markets worldwide.
By now, the company is closing in on 20 years of experience in building water-tight enclosures, thermally efficient no-vent equipment, resistance to shock and vibration, accommodating operation in very wide temperature ranges, and whatever else it takes to building computers that can handle dust, sand, snow, water, hazardous materials and other environmental conditions.
The A790 benefits from all this experience. It also benefits from the numerous man-years of testing and using the platform in military, industrial, and extreme commercial applications. That's because the A790 is the latest version of a field-proven, reliable platform that builds upon the success of the GETAC A770, A760, and going all the way back to the A740 running on a Pentium 200MMX chip. From a design standpoint, this machine has been a success from its inception. And GETAC made sure it kept the technology of the A-Series up-to-date.
GETAC A790 highlights:
- Full size, rugged computer with up-to-date technology
- Massive battery power (well over 200 watt-hours) via main and two auxiliary batteries
- Extensive onboard connectivity, including advanced optical drives
- Availability of ISA, PCI, PCI Express expansion units
- Availability of all current and advanced wireless options
- Beefed-up security with fingerprint reader and TPM chip
- No fan = virtually silent operation
- Fairly large and heavy, especially with expansion unit
- Rubber keyboard takes getting used to
- Touch screen option only on smaller 12.1-inch screen