Charging our devices might not be glamorous, but it a necessity. We have so many devices these days that all require a regular charge that the majority of our plug sockets spew tangles of various chargers across our desks and floors. Kensington has come up with a device that can charge three laptops, tablets and mobile phones at once from a single plug socket, and manages to do it in as glamorous a way as possible.

Of course, this being the rather no-frills arena of device chargers, the Kensington AbsolutePower Laptop, Phone, Tablet Charger isn’t really a head turner, but it is attractive and sleek. Most importantly, it sits unobtrusively on the desk and does a good job of charging three devices in one go.

One of the devices has to be a laptop, and there our 10 adaptors included, covering the most popular laptop manufacturers. Kensington guarantees compatibility, and from the laptops we tested we didn’t have any problems, although we can’t vouch for more obscure or older makes and models.

The other two charge ports are a micro USB port and a standard USB 2.0 port. These offer more flexibility over what you can charge, with an adaptor for the micro USB port that turns it into another standard USB port.

Verdict

If you’ve got a few devices that charge via USB, as well as a laptop, then this is a handy and space-saving solution. However, if you don’t have a laptop then one of the charging ports is useless, leaving you with just two. In this case we’d advise you to look elsewhere.

Overview

The Intel Core i7 3930K is the cheaper alternative to the top-end Sandy Bridge E processor. But then many second hand cars are cheaper than the top-end Sandy Bridge E processor.

At nearly £500 it’s still an expensive CPU, but currently it’s the only LGA 2011 processor worth a look.

The Intel Core i7 3960X, that top-end Sandy Bridge E, is a positively preposterous processor. For in excess of £800, you get a chip that’s not substantially quicker than Intel’s own Core i7 980X of two years ago.

Not at stock clocks, at least. Admittedly, the Core i7 3960X does overclock very nicely indeed and in doing so opens up a gap from ye olde 980X.

But we’ve reviewed the 3960X elsewhere and deemed it disappointing, moderately sinister (it’s prima facie evidence of Intel carpet bagging in response to AMD’s failure to bring out a really quick chip) and largely irrelevant to human existence.

This then is the Intel Core i7 3930K and it’s not the same chip. Not precisely, anyway.

Benchmarks

You can see below just how small a gap, in performance terms, there is between the i7 3960X and the i7 3930K.

It’s also interesting just how close the latest traditional Sandy Bridge chip, the Intel Core i7 2700K, is in general performance terms too, especially in gaming and single-threaded speeds.

3D rendering performance

Video encoding performance

CPU gaming performance

Verdict

Yes, this Core i7 3930K is based on the same, quite colossal 2.27 billion transistor chip, known as Sandy Bridge E. So, it shares most of the same specifications as the Core i7 3960X. That starts with six cores in Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge-generation idiom.

Next up we have a new memory controller no fewer than four (yes four, count ‘em) channels.

Intel’s previous high end processors sported a triple channel memory controller. Even that looked like overkill for a desktop processor. Four channels is getting silly and merely serves to underline the real reason the new Core i7 exists.

It’s a thinly disguised server chip.

Whatever the merits of the quad channel controller, it forces the use of a new socket, the monumental LGA 2011. If nothing else, you are getting a satisfyingly massive chip for your money.

What’s more, thanks to the ‘K’ on the end of Intel Core i7 3930K, this lower priced alternative to the Intel Core i7 3960X gets the full unlocked treatment and also benefits from the newly introduced CPU strap, the better to make overclocking a bit more flexible.

At this stage, you may be wondering what on earth the difference actually is.

The answer is twofold. Firstly it’s clocked infinitesimally lower – 3.2GHz instead of 3.6GHz, along with a commensurate climb down in the maximum Turbo speed to 3.8GHz. The other bit is less L3 cache memory to the tune of 3MB. The 3930K makes do with 12MB.

Frankly, both of these compromises in the name of cost savings fall into the ‘who cares?’ category.

In terms of desktop computing, neither is going to make a blind bit of difference to experience your PC delivers. That’s reflected in benchmarks that are barely any slower. Even better, the 3930K overclocks very nearly as well as the 3960X. Again the gap is just 100MHz, 4.8GHz on airs plays 4.9GHz.

So, here’s the best bit. The 3930K costs over £300 less.

OK, £500 is still a big ask. But the difference in price alone is enough to buy a half decent desktop PC or a cheap laptop.

The point, then, is that this cheaper Sandy Bridge E gives you everything the top chip delivers for a lot less money.

There’s absolutely no reason to spend. We’re not completely convinced even this truly means the Intel Core i7 3930K is good value for money, but it’s still a very fast processor and the chip we’d buy if we had a big budget.

We liked:

The fact that you’re getting almost the same sort of performance out of this £500 Sandy Bridge E as the £850 Core i7 3960X makes it a more intriguing prospect.

The other boon of the Core i7 3930K is that it’s got the same huge amount of overclocking headroom sitting in that CPU package. You can reach extraordinary speeds out of this architecture.

We disliked:

As it’s still based on the same architecture as the Core i7 3960X it’s also got the same flaws, namely that it’s actually an eight-core CPU with a couple of cores turned off.

And despite the fact it’s over £300 cheaper than the top end chip, the Core i7 3930K is still an incredibly pricey processor.

Final word:

Much better value than the 3960X. The obvious choice if you’re thinking of the LGA 2011 platform.

Kensington is well known for creating laptop locks that can anchor your portable PC to something sturdy to keep it from getting lost or nicked. Its locks have been so successful, in fact, that if you own a laptop it’s very likely that it has a small rectangular slot for attaching a Kensington lock to it.

This level of success is certainly impressive – after all not every company has provisions for its products built into most computers. However, this success hasn’t translated to the popular tablet, the Apple iPad 2.

Apple’s uncompromising focus on streamlining features on its flagship tablet has meant there’s no room for a Kensington lock slot. With tablets being just as easy to lose or steal – if not more so – than laptops, Kensington has been keen to come up with a solution. Of course, it also wants to capitalise on the iPad’s popularity.

Its solution, the Kensington SecureBack Security Case, isn’t that great, unfortunately. It involves a rather unattractive case that clips on to your iPad. With it installed, the once sleek and attractive Apple tablet looks bulky and a bit ugly. Who knows, maybe making the iPad a less attractive gadget is part of Kensington’s plan to deter thieves.

But if it keeps your iPad safe, who cares about looks? Well, how well it keeps your iPad protected is a concern. The case itself is rather flimsy and a tiny bit cheap feeling. A determined enough thief wouldn’t have much trouble breaking the iPad free.

Verdict

We wouldn’t feel completely safe leaving an iPad in a busy caf

There’s not a lot that surprises us, and when we unboxed the Novatech nSpire Black Ed 2760, we feared the worst.

A flimsy chassis and the lack of style that we’ve become accustomed to on high-end laptops indicated another lacklustre machine, but it appears that we were mistaken.

Under the hood is an Intel Core i7 2460M processor, which stormed our benchmark tests, scoring among the highest figures we’ve seen in our labs. This was also helped by the 8GB of RAM that makes this laptop positively sing.

Next up is the impressive Nvidia GeForce 555M graphics card, which is easily capable of playing HD movies and the latest games. It got strong scores in our lab tests, and while you might not be able to play Battlefield 3 on full settings, with the detail turned down, you shouldn’t have any problems.

Battery life also impresses, with our power hungry tests achieving a very strong 222 minutes. This means you could work away from the power for over four hours, and even watch an HD movie on the move.

While there’s enough juice for working on the move, at 2.8KG we wouldn’t recommend the Novatech as a portable laptop. It’s bulky, heavy and cumbersome, and not one for a day on your back.

TechRadar Labs

Battery Eater ’05: 222 minutes
Cinebench: 18842
3DMark 2006: 11654

Screen burn

However, for all the impressive tech that’s packed inside, the poor build quality of the exterior does more than let this machine down aesthetically.

We tested a number of movies on the Novatech, and found the screen appalling. There was no vibrancy to the colours, it was grainy when playing back HD content, and there was substantial screen tearing. We hope this was just a problem with the review sample, but as the issue is caused by a disparity between the graphics card and screen refresh times, we think this is simply a gulf in quality between the two items.

The poor build quality manifests itself elsewhere too. The grey plastic wrist rest flexes when you push it, as does the lid. The keyboard is awful, with little refinement given to the black plastic keys. They’re barely cushioned and feel loose and spongy to the touch.

The trackpad is better and we much prefer it to the current trend of single buttons which are a nightmare to master.

What we have with the Novatech is a fantastic powered laptop, admirably capable of dealing with most things you can throw at it. There’s limitless performance power, great graphics and it even has a decent battery life as well.

Unfortunately, we’re still yet to be surprised by a laptop, and the Novatech is no exception; a model hobbled by cost saving and corner cutting, that more than explains its low price. It’s impossible to really enjoy movies or games on the poor screen, and if you have £750 to spend, we’d recommend saving up the extra for quality machines like the Dell XPS 15z.

At first glance, the Acer Aspire 7750 seems like a good choice for a 17-inch multimedia laptop. It has a simple, clean design with plenty of storage space and powerful speakers. Unfortunately, a couple of underlying issues pull the overall experience down somewhat.

Firstly, the grey and silver plastic design is nondescript. It looks much nicer on the inside of the laptop, though, offset against the black keyboard and screen bezel.

As this is a 17-inch laptop, there’s lots of space to go around, and Acer accentuates this by putting a regular keyboard square in the middle of the chassis, adding a touchpad and leaving it at that.

There are no hotkeys, no flashing lights and although it’s difficult to tell from the picture, the chassis feels expansive and spacious. All well and good, until you realise that the build quality (of the keyboard in particular) is pretty shabby. We felt quite a bit of flex around the edges of the chassis and the keyboard was practically bouncing up and down as we typed.

The machine isn’t particularly heavy at 2.9kg, but since most people buying a 17-inch laptop aren’t looking for portability we’d be happy with a few extra grammes in exchange for a more solid build.

While we’re on the subject, we’re going to assume most people buy a 17-inch laptop for the screen – be it to browse the web or watch a movie. The screen here is decent, complete with Super-TFT reflective coating, but the 1366 x 766 pixel resolution limits you to 720p HD content when, really, we’d quite fancy the full-blown effect of a 1920 x 1080 resolution.

Similarly, the integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics card means the latest games and editing suite will have trouble running here.

Huge hard drive

If you want to put your media on the Aspire 7750 – high-definition or otherwise – you have a huge 720GB hard drive to fill up. If music is your thing, then the Dolby Advanced Audio speakers will go some way to convincing you this is the laptop to buy. You can get plenty of volume, but at no point does the audio become fuzzy or distorted – no mean feat for a laptop.

General performance is no slouch either. The Aspire rocks an Intel Core i5-2410M CPU that coped admirably with both our benchmark tests and general usage. We should probably attribute some of that to the generous 6GB of RAM Acer has stashed away inside. It’s more than the average 4GB and while it won’t make much of a performance difference for the average user, it will help your laptop last that little bit longer into the future.

TechRadar Labs

Battery Eater ’05: 135 minutes
Cinebench: 9652
3DMark 2006: 4646

Yet, in spite of the positives, we have difficulty recommending the Aspire because it doesn’t specifically do what we want a 17-inch laptop to do – which is provide an awesome visual experience.

We understand Acer wanting to keep the price down, but a better choice would be the Dell Inspiron 17R or the Lenovo G770.

Mobile Workstation HP EliteBook 8760w Review

It may seem that the idea to buy for personal use, mobile workstation – a serious professional tool – it looks a bit strange. But if you think it’s the only way to get a thoughtful and practical design with serious performance. And in what other notebook offers a smart IPS-display?

In large corporations there is one problem: their ambitions are sometimes hampered by a sober and articulate to the customer a coherent reason why he should choose a product thereof, of the corporation. Take, for instance, is from HP laptop – Mobile Workstation HP EliteBook 8760w. He has a lot of positive features, but there is a most striking and perhaps unique: it uses a display technology built by IPS.

It would seem that – any marketing material unless it makes sense to start with this abbreviation, the familiar fans of high-quality images, then certainly at least a generous pour its first few pages of each presentation, the description of the press release. Because, for example, durable metal case has a lot for anybody. Not to mention the quad-core Core i7, which, if you’re willing to pay for it, you will install at least in a juicer. But worthy of display in the notebook market there are vanishingly rare.

But no. The fact that the HP EliteBook 8760w is equipped with IPS-matrix, you can learn from the reviews that did – such as this, for example. Because the company prefers to call the display name of his own invention – DreamColor. Maybe it would work well in a perfect world. But in our reality, and all sorts of SuperMegaView UltraMultiExtraColor bred so much and they mean is usually so small that for this kind of “brand” works reliably integrated into the brain of any modern human system AdBlock.

Externally EliteBook 8760w recalls a more compact model of the same series, we tested a couple of months ago, – EliteBook 8460p. However, the workstation has its own characteristics, which strongly affect the general perception of the appearance of your laptop. The dark gray color of the body instead of light gray, large size and slightly at an angle of the side faces are changing the style of all recognition.

Cover artwork HP EliteBook 8760w reminds ultrabuk ASUS UX31E – the same grinding of concentric circles, which plays in the light. However, here the game is not so pronounced, in most cases. Housing EliteBook 8760w is completely made of metal. Plastic, by and large, only the frame around the display. Despite the impressive size, rigidity body is flawless. It may be that break through the brick wall of this laptop does not work, but the opposite is also unlikely.

Classic hinges, so the laptop is able to unfold in all 180 degrees – and even more. Also, fans will be pleased to know the tradition that the lid is held closed with a physical latch mechanism rather interesting – it is opened by pressing the large button in the center of the front side of the body.

Sony Introduces High-End Notebook — Soyy Vaio Y

The Japanese manufacturer Sony returns to bet on the more advanced configuration netbooks and renews its 11.6-inch model. The new Sony VAIO Y VPCYB39KJ was updated in Japan and designed for users who want a little more performance in a small size computer. Apparently the new Sony VAIO Y does not have great aesthetic modifications in relation to the model and is sold in the world. This maintains the same compact lines, presented in a rather sober gray.

In his side can clearly see the activity indicator and equipment in the typical green color of the line Sony. No doubt the aesthetic shows a simple and versatile product adapted to the new type device designs that Apple launched its MacBook Air. So long ago Apple introduced the chiclet keyboard layout that makes typing extensively and in turn the simpler designs we see in this Sony VAIO Y.

One of the windows of this netbook is a 11.6-inch display which offers a better display of information. Besides this, with 1.5 inches in size the manufacturer was able to place larger size keys becoming more comfortable typing. Combine these features with its low weight, we can conclude that the Sony VAIO Y is a good choice for many who needs digital texts anywhere. The screen has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels display, ensuring sound and video files from the work area of ​​the operating system.

The processor is an AMD E-450 of 1.65 GHz that works in partnership with a Radeon HD 6320. The netbook also has 2 GB DDR3 RAM, 500 GB hard drive, webcam, memory card reader, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and HDMI port. The operating system model is the Windows 7 Home Premium. For its part, Sony disclose the price of memory cards PS Vita, with the launch of Playstation Vita closer promising some details about the Sony laptop are being revealed as the battery that has displeased many people and now the price of memory cards used by this.

Probably looking to reduce the cost of production and consecutively the final price of the device to the public, Sony chose not to include internal memory in the Vita and therefore have to buy storage cards for content such as movies, games and songs. The big problem is as usual in the Japanese firm will use the game cards themselves and some people that something suspicious was confirmed, the price charged by them will be well more than what I paid on an SD card for example.

Overview 


The Asus Zenbook UX21 is the first 11-inch ultrabook to hit the shelves, joining the likes of the Acer Aspire S3 and its bigger brother, the Asus Zenbook UX31.

It expands the lineup of the new breed of super light and thin laptops, which has been nurtured by Intel. The ultrabook market is quickly expanding, with the Lenovo IdeaPad U300 and Toshiba Portege Z830 expected at the end of November.

The Asus Zenbook UX21 brings the exceptional power of the Intel Ultrabook to the small form laptop market, making it a different proposition to any existing netbook.

There’s Sandy Bridge power for starters, and power to match any full form laptop, but Asus has condensed all this technology into the smallest of chassis.

Of course, comparisons will be immediately drawn with the Apple MacBook Air, which is one of the best ultra-portable laptops money can buy, and these two 11-inch portables are very closely matched.

The Asus Zenbook UX21 matches the Apple MacBook Air in every respect. It’s just as well-built, made out of a single piece of aluminium, just as light and oozes the same head-turning style and class that makes people cast admiring glances while you work in public.

It has the same Intel Core i5 low voltage 1.6GHz processor, and a 128GB solid state hard drive, which keeps the system really responsive and fast.

While they’ve slashed the size of this waif- Ultrabook, and retaining some top class tech, Asus has created the best netbook ever made.

Specifications

Despite being only 11 inches in size, this netbook-sized ultrabook doesn’t scrimp on power. Under the Asus Zenbook UX21′s hood there’s a low-voltage Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5 2467M processor, clocked at 1.6GHz.

Despite only having a clock speed of 1.6GHz, the low voltage Core i5 still packs plenty of power, and there are four cores to make mincemeat out of most tasks.

The Asus Zenbook UX21 has a few more tricks up its sleeve. It has 4GB of RAM, (the MacBook Air has just 2GB) and a 128GB SSD card that aids performance. And at £849, it’s a whopping £150 cheaper.

The Asus Zenbook UX21 is a Windows machine, so there’s no sleek OS X 10.7 Lion, should you have a preference, and there’s no superfast Thunderbolt port, but one of the two USB ports is the brand new USB 3.0 standard.

This whole package weighs just 1.2kg and measures just 9mm at its thickest point, making it frighteningly portable yet strong.

It’s clear from the outset that the Asus Zenbook UX21 has the right to rival the Apple MacBook Air, and the build quality is superb.

The aluminium body offers no flex, the lid rises smoothly from the body, the keys are tactile, comfortably spaced and easy to type on despite being on a netbook-sized portable laptop, and it’s comfortable to type on, although the reduced size did lead to more mistakes than a standard-sized laptop.

If you spend most of your day bashing out long documents, then you would probably want to opt for the Asus Zenbook UX21′s larger 13-inch cousin, the UX31, or the excellent Acer Aspire S3, which is available for £699 for the Intel Core i5 model.

The screen looks fantastic for such a small laptop, and it’s ideal for watching movies while you’re on the move. Colours were vibrant, the picture sharp, and this makes the Asus Zenbook UX21 a great media machine for regular business travellers who need a functional machine when they reach their destination.

One bugbear we had is with the Asus Zenbook UX21′s trackpad. For an 11.6-inch laptop, it’s well sized and smooth, but it’s extremely sensitive. This led to some chaotic moments, where clicks were registered accidentally, so things were dragged accidentally.

This is one area where the MacBook Air prevails, and its multi-touch track pad is smart enough to work out what you’re trying to do, and is seamlessly integrated with every part of the operating system.

We were impressed to find a handy protective sleeve in the package, because the brushed metal will scratch easily, but it will do little to help protect against crushes or bangs, so it’s worth upgrading to something more durable.

Performance

TechRadar Labs

Cinebench 10: 7297
3D Mark ’06: 4096
Battery Eater: 189mins

The Asus Zenbook UX21′s Intel Core i5 2467M processor scored well in our lab tests, notching up 7297 in Cinebench, making it easily as fast as chips found on most mid-range laptops. It’s fully capable of multitasking standard tasks such as web browsing, streaming online video, picture editing and playing HD video.

When you consider the waif-like form of the Asus Zenbook UX21, it’s incredible that it can compete with bulky portable laptops.

In terms of graphics performance, the numbers that denote the quality of games, video rendering and programs such as Photoshop show that the Asus Zenbook UX21 doesn’t stack up so well.

There’s no dedicated graphics card here, so the processor handles the 3D effects instead. There’s enough power to watch video and make simple edits to video, but hardcore graphics programs and even mid-range games would test the system beyond its limits.

Battery life is also good, and we achieved 189 minutes using our lab software, which involves simulating document writing while looping HD video in the background. In real terms, you can watch a full HD movie before reaching for the charger, or expect around five hours of web surfing and writing before your laptop dies.

If you’re away from the mains all day, then you might not consider five hours to be enough, but you’d have to look to the Sony Z Series to get anywhere near the same power and portability as the Asus Zenbook UX21, and that would mean a huge jump in weight and price. The Sony Z Series and its external power pack cost in excess of £2,600.

One of the most noticeable attributes of the Asus Zenbook UX21 is the speed in which it resumes from sleep. Using innovations from Intel, the Zenbook resumes instantly, without the hangs and loading periods that have historically plagued Windows machines. This is the most tangible benefit, and brings the fight to the host of tablets on the market.

The screen itself is excellent, and it’s one of the best panels we’ve seen in a small form notebook. With the resolution equivalent to that of a larger 15-inch laptop, you can enjoy text documents and web pages properly, not like on a netbook, where the lower number of pixels means that web pages look zoomed it, meaning you have to scroll every few lines.

If you’re a regular traveller, and you like watching movies, then the Asus Zenbook UX21 is perfect, and has enough power to play back high-definition video. The extra two inches over a tablet makes all the difference too, and this means it’s a fantastic machine for those who mix work and play while on the move.

Verdict

At over £100 cheaper than the Apple MacBook Air, with 2GB more RAM and an almost identical chassis, the Asus Zenbook UX21 is a fantastic buy for anyone looking for an ultra-portable laptop.

Some will argue that £850 is too much for a laptop that is too small to be an effective primary machine, and will need to be used in conjunction with something more powerful.

We liked

The form and size of this petite portable laptop is mind-blowing, especially when you consider the Sandy Bridge processor that’s inside.

You can play HD video and enjoy most tasks short of gaming and HD editing without coming across any issues, which genuinely offers an alternative to tablets such as the Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

The extras that Asus has packed into the box are also worth a special mention, and getting a thin protective sleeve and carry case for the extremely small charger add an extra bit of detail to this excellent all-round package.

We disliked

The problem we have with the Asus Zenbook UX21 is that few people would want to use this little laptop as their primary machine, due to the uncomfortable size and lack of connectivity options.

At £850, it seems like a very expensive addition to someone’s portable armoury, and less versatile than its big brother, the Asus Zenbook UX31.

The trackpad also is also crossed off the Christmas card list, and while you do get used to it eventually, it seems designed to infuriate users who are starting out with this wonderful portable PC.

Final verdict

As a piece of modern laptop engineering, the Asus Zenbook UX21 is sublime. Only Apple has previously been able to make something this sleek, light, powerful and desirable, and for those who want to stick with Windows, this moment could not have come soon enough.

Any major faults are not with the Asus Zenbook UX21 itself, but with the merits of an 11.6-inch machine.

If you need something for long trips away, £850 seems steep when excellent 13-inch ultrabooks are available that could arguably be used as a primary machine. The Acer Aspire S3 Intel Core i5 version retails for just £699.

Up against a host of great tablets, including Asus’ own Eee Pad Transformer Prime, it’s hard to justify the outlay.

Despite this, the stunning power and portable body make this a great buy. As netbooks continue their rapid decline, this ultrabook could replace them, and with it show the world that laptops are here to stay.

Some Useful Softwares Help You With Your Laptop Battery

The laptop battery is a important part of our laptop. Without it, our laptop can’t work normally. So we should take good care of it. However, there are some factors that could not be avoid and then cause damage to our laptop battery. But don’t worry, there comes the useful softwares to help us. Today I will recommend you some good ones.

LAlarm Systems
LAlarm is a free alarm for laptops. LAlarm emits a loud alarm when a thief tries to steal a laptop and recover and destroy sensitive data if the laptop is stolen. In addition, alarms when the battery voltage is low to preserve battery capacity and prolong battery life. Also, the alarm when the battery level is low to prevent loss of data due to sudden power loss.

Pwqsoft
Battery Alarm is a tool for protecting the laptop battery for Windows, is designed to protect the battery from deep discharge laptop, laptop battery can last 3 years or more after using this software. The alarm configuration default Windows power is not good, can cause deep discharge battery dela. Alarm Battery change the power management scheme to provide that the battery is discharged in profound ways.

Zu-Fi Software
Make the lock and unlock your computer screen using a cell phone or mobile. BT Watcher Pro program in an automated way you can lock your computer whenever you are away from it and also unlocked when you are back and you are close to that computer. The application can also automatically suspend and wake up the computer monitor, thus saving energy and also the case battery life of laptop computers, which can put them into hibernation. BT Watcher Pro The utility will only show a small icon in the notification area, system tray, so it will be almost invisible at the time you are working.

PassMark Software
A Windows program easy to use that allows the monitoring of laptop batteries and power supplies ininterruptible (UPS). Graphically Obseve charge / discharge rate, diagnose problem battery cells and compare the performance of the same to the report provided and wait and see the individual status of each battery (when multiple batteries are used) More than 20 statistics are are supplied including chemical voltage and capacity.

SB Project
“Smart Battery Workshop” is a useful tool for repairing batteries in notebooks. Use the Parallel Port Adapter Philips Standard I2C can be assembled within an hour someone with no knowledge of electronics component and requires no hard to find. The total cost of the components is about $ 1.

Toshiba’s Satellite Pro range is designed for business use, but solid build quality, strong usability and decent specifications make the C660-1UX suitable for home use.

Its sturdy plastic chassis has all the resilience you’d expect from a business machine. The textured, matt finish feels great and protects well against scuffs and scratches. Build quality is impressive throughout, with no flex in evidence on any of the panels. Even the thick screen is well put together and sure to withstand frequent family use.

The keyboard is fixed well to the chassis and there’s almost no sign of flex when typing. The keys respond accurately, although a long range of motion can cause occasional errors when typing at speed. However, by striking the keys firmly, it’s easy to avoid such problems.

The touchpad is small and narrow, making it awkward to navigate onscreen at times. It is far wider than it is deep, so it takes a few swipes to get from one side of the screen to the other. In contrast, the mouse buttons are huge but are recessed too far, so they too can be awkward to operate.

At 2.5kg this is not a laptop built for travel use, but it is light enough to be carried occasionally without too much discomfort. While the 159-minute battery life is average, it betters the Advent, Lenovo and Samsung in this group.

Sharp display

The most striking feature is the vivid 15.6-inch screen. The 1,366 x 768-pixel resolution means you can enjoy high-definition 720p content and the display is bright, sharp and vibrant.

Photos and videos look great and the Super-TFT coating is one of the least reflective we’ve seen. The Toshiba lacks an HDMI output, though, so you can’t connect to your TV. An analogue VGA – or D-Sub – port is fitted, for connecting older PC monitors and projectors, but the lack of HD connectivity is surprising for such a new laptop.

Performance is equally disappointing. The Intel Celeron 925 processor is vastly outperformed by the Core i5 and i7 chips of the Acer Aspire 5943G, Alienware M11x and Lenovo B570. Even the Celeron-powered Samsung doubles the power on offer here, making the Toshiba only suitable for basic use.

Graphics fare even worse and the integrated Intel graphics card struggles with the simplest tasks. All its rivals at least double the power on offer and, in some cases, provide almost twelve times the performance of the Toshiba, so consider your needs carefully.

TechRadar Labs

Battery Eater ’05: 159 minutes
Cinebench: 2544
3DMark 2006: 703

Storage is also disappointing. While the 250GB hard drive is average for this price, most rivals in this group better it. The Lenovo, for example, provides three times the storage. The DVD rewriter and five-in-one card reader compensate somewhat, letting you back-up files to DVD, CD and multimedia cards to save space on the hard drive.

The Toshiba continues to fall short when assessing its other features. The two USB ports limit the amount of peripherals you can connect; there is no Bluetooth for wirelessly sharing files; you only get 2GB of memory as standard and even the fixed Ethernet connectivity uses the older and slower 10/100 standard.

If you’re looking for a tough, usable laptop with a great screen, the Satellite Pro C660-1UX is a good choice. With such high-quality rivals, though, its limited power and features are far too pronounced. The similarly priced Samsung 200B5A provides better value for money, making the Toshiba hard to recommend.