Dell Unveils Mike Ming Masterpieces on Dell Studio Laptops
September 8, 2008
Enhancing personal expression and style, Dell today launches five bold and contemporary Special Art Edition designs for the Dell Studio 15 and 17 laptops, exclusively created by urban artist Mike Ming. Building off of the inaugural Ming art work for the Inspiron 1525 laptop, Dell extends its offering with new designs that showcase Ming’s fluid organic style. Read more
Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-S1001X Review
July 16, 2008
Choosing a suitable laptop with which to outfit a small business is an important decision if you’re an entrepreneur. If enterprise laptops are way over your budget and consumer laptops are not professional enough, a small-business laptop like the Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-S1001X is a viable, in-between selection. Exceptional qualities such as a bloatware-free configuration and a $1,049 (direct) price point could lower your operating costs down the road.
Lenovo ThinkPad X300 Review
July 16, 2008
With the ThinkPad X300 (about $3,000 street), Lenovo is out to prove that the Apple MacBook Air is not the only laptop that can fit snugly into a manila envelope. Granted, it’s a tough act to follow and frustrating, too, especially since the ThinkPad X300 was being developed at the same time as the MacBook Air. Apple made it out of the gate first, putting together a marketing campaign and creating the kind of suspense only it can pull off. But let’s be practical and set aside this race for thinnest laptop. The ThinkPad X300 is an all-around, more sensible solution for business travelers. It weighs about the same as the MacBook Air, depending on how you configure it, and the removable battery, a built-in optical drive, integrated WWAN, and multiple USB ports make this little ultraportable much more desirable from a business standpoint. How to write off the $3,000 price tag, however, is another question.
Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Review
July 15, 2008
The Lenovo ThinkPad X300, introduced last February, is easily Lenovo’s greatest gem. But though it’s as close to an impossible act to follow as an ultraportable can get, it has one major flaw—it costs $3,000! This was done, presumably, to give its other X-Series siblings such as the ThinkPad X200 ($1,199, direct) room to flourish. The X200 isn’t likely to trump the X300 anytime soon, but it does have several things that make it a terrific business ultraportable. It’s one of the first laptops to receive Intel’s latest Centrino 2 platform (codenamed Montevina), including a powerful 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor that has a very favorable affect on battery life. Furthermore, every wireless technology imaginable is at your disposal, and your savings account won’t take nearly as big a hit as with the X300. Read more
Apple MacBook Pro Review
July 10, 2008
The updated MacBook Pro range now goes up to 2.6GHz if you’re the sort who’s always converting one sort of file into another sort of file and needs the extra processor power, plus there’s Multi-Touch support for easier navigation. And it’s thinner. What’s not to love?
Apple MacBook Review
July 9, 2008
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn), at $3,149 (direct), isn’t the first laptop to undergo an Intel brain transplant in the form of a next-generation Penryn processor , but it’s among the most sizzling we’ve seen so far. At the heart of this MacBook Pro, the 2.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU and 4GB RAM played a pivotal role in tearing up performance tests, including a compelling 15 percent increase in battery life. There are other new additions worth talking about, but performance enhancements alone should encourage first-generation MacBook Pro owners and frustrated Windows users to take the plunge. For that, it retains the Editors’ Choice for mainstream laptops.
Apple MacBook Air Review
July 9, 2008
Browsing through Apple’s growing list of products, you’ll find there’s no shortage of lightweight yet still powerful laptops that rival, and to some extent surpass, many of their Windows counterparts. For instance, there are the MacBook Pro 17-inch and 15-inch laptops, arguably the lightest in their respective categories. But for quite some time now, Apple fanatics have been calling for something that can actually be classified as an ultraportable, something that breaks the 4-pound barrier. Finally, Apple has answered with the Apple MacBook Air ($1,799 direct).
Apple MacBook Pro Penryn Review
July 9, 2008
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Penryn), at $3,149 (direct), isn’t the first laptop to undergo an Intel brain transplant in the form of a next-generation Penryn processor , but it’s among the most sizzling we’ve seen so far. At the heart of this MacBook Pro, the 2.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 CPU and 4GB RAM played a pivotal role in tearing up performance tests, including a compelling 15 percent increase in battery life. There are other new additions worth talking about, but performance enhancements alone should encourage first-generation MacBook Pro owners and frustrated Windows users to take the plunge. For that, it retains the Editors’ Choice for mainstream laptops.
Apple MacBook Review
July 9, 2008
The Apple MacBook 13-inch has captured the hearts of several generations of users frustrated with the complexities of Windows. It’s a campus favorite and a hit among teens and novice users. Now, the MacBook 13-inch has made the transition to Intel’s latest “Penryn” processor core, which has boosted speeds and battery life across every laptop we’ve seen it on. Thanks to this upgrade, Apple ’s impeccable customer support network, and the MacBook’s overall sex appeal, we expect sales of the new incarnation—the Apple MacBook 13-inch (Penryn), priced at $1,299 direct—to thrive for now. But other laptops are offering more features and cool designs for less money. Apple needs to work on a makeover, as well as improving the feature set and price, in order to keep the 13-inch MacBooks flying off the shelves.
Dell XPS M1730 (Penryn) Review
July 9, 2008
The newest Dell XPS M1730 (Penryn) ($4,184 direct) is an awe-inspiring piece of technological splendor. A bold statement, yes, but one that’s easily warranted by this masterfully designed gaming laptop, despite its size and heft. Weight is, in fact, this rig’s only limitation, considering that gems like the Alienware Area-51 m15x are obliterating gaming benchmarks with lighter frames. The overall design of the Dell XPS M1730, which I reviewed last September, has not been touched, but now the laptop comes equipped with a Penryn-based Intel Extreme processor and a top-of-the-line SLI nVidia 8800M GTX configuration.
