ASUS B23E: 12.5 Inch Screen And Ultra-Thin Design

A new ASUS notebook hits the market with a 12.5 inch screen and an ultra-thin design. ASUS continues to present new developments in its product portfolio for the year 2012 already runs. The new release of the company is the ASUS B23E, this is an ultraportable that stands out for having a small but very interesting 12.5-inch screen, refined design and all the power of Intel hardware.

In spite of having dimensions and appearance of an ASUS ultrabook it apart from the rest and classified as an ultraportable. The model is as powerful as a ultrabook but with a much more competitive price. The format LED screen has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels plus a non-glare interesting resource. The design is simple with a black tone prevalent, the device is actually thicker at a traditional ultrabook.

In return this is much more powerful, this model receives second-generation processor line Core i Series models Sandy Bridge Core i3, i5 or i7. The speeds of the Intel chips can reach 2.7 GHz to complete the proposed maximum performance is a notebook with compact dimensions and low weight the ASUS B23E can receive up to 8 GB DDR3 RAM, Intel HD graphics, HDMI output , 750 GB hard disk storage, input Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0 and 3.0.

The main focus of this notebook is a business market and data security resources prove this. The device features technology LoJack tracking equipment and password protection through the BIOS. The Asus B23E is available for purchase in the United States and its initial price is $ 922. Meanwhile Hewlett Packard launches a netbook with Intel Atom N2600 and the operating system Windows 7 Home Premium, HP betting on small laptops announced the launch of the new Mini 1104.

The netbook has a 10.1 inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels and comes with the new generation of Intel processors. Atom N2600 processor has two cores and 1.6 GHz frequency besides GMA 3600 graphics card and up to 2 GB of RAM. The combination allowed the manufacturer to place the operating system Windows 7 Home Premium. The laptop has specifications simple, has the WiFi network connectivity and HSPA +, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.

To store data, the netbook has a 320 GB hard drive at 5,200 rpm and a 6-cell battery that promises a range of up to 9 hours use. Hewlett Packard Mini Model 1104 is available for purchase in the North American market for the suggested retail price of $ 399.

Samsung 700G7A Gamer: Talking Surname

Theoretically, ‘gambling’ notebooks from Samsung were before. However, their performance in discriminating gamer kicked so big tears that call their game without the quotes we’d feared – laughed at the same. This time, the company rejected jokes and marketing to create a really decent laptop for gaming. no nonsense. Despite the fact that Gamer is one of the most recent Samsung notebooks and name of the model is consistent with the modern system of naming the company to fellow lineup Samsung 700G7A not like.

But an abundance of decorative elements, which in common with last year’s Samsung. The impression is that the Koreans did finally empty the bag with the old design finds. In 2012 to have them not to come back and go completely to the new style, which the company, the right word, it is to face. Laptop case is made entirely of plastic. Working panel at first glance looks like a very “shredded aluminum.”

But is it enough to touch her, and the illusion disappears: it is not even a thin tin on top of plastic, and synthetics with just an imitation – a good imitation, it must be recognized. Samsung Gamer has a spacious keyboard: with large keys, proper layout and dedicated digital unit. The latter even separated from the main part of the keyboard a solid gap. It is almost unique in the world of laptops, as a rule, manufacturers of molded “numpad” as close as possible to unify the keyboard unit 17-inch models and “pyatnashek.”

With regard to mechanical properties, with the situation is ambiguous. On the one hand, openly delighted increased key travel and correct their elasticity. On the other hand, the substrate is strongly keyboard flex on the left side – just under the most necessary keys, WASD. In the right part with it just fine. And this is puzzling. Even if we assume that reinforced concrete provide rigidity to the entire area of ​​the keyboard was absolutely impossible, it is still unclear – why it was impossible to make a “soft” right-hand side instead of the most important for gamers left?

The keyboard includes backlit. In normal mode, the keys are illuminated pale blue. If the switch to game mode, then highlight color changed to bright blue, and the WASD keys highlighted in red. Modes are selected by a special physical switch located on the right edge of the shell. Very nice point of view with tactile wheel, I must say. Speakers in Samsung Gamer only three – two normal plus a subwoofer.

It seems the number is modest, and fashion label some of the manufacturers of Hi-Fi-equipment there, but the volume and sound quality is very, very decent. Good external speakers these speakers, of course, not replace, but to watch a movie or play in the field with them is quite possible. Touchpad Samsung Gamer has a large size, suitable for right thumb sliding cover and convenient buttons.

It is a pity that such a fit pad will remain unused in most cases – a gaming laptop itself begs the corresponding mouse.

Introduction Of HP G Series Notebooks

The G series notebook combines a Hewlett-Packard quality with an attractive design. The model that we know today is G42-372br version, this is considered an intermediate notebook but it has great results in demanding activities. For many users who are looking for a machine to do the basics with a good performance this is an option to be considered by the balance of its features and MSRP which attracts a lot.

The design of the G42-372br Hewlett-Packard is one of the main highlights of this team. The notebook is really nice, dark gray outer shell gives her a sober tone while the texture and gray accents a little clearer to give you a smoother appearance to the notebook becoming very visually pleasing. The model has at its base straight lines which further strengthens the professional air. By using the notebook is perceived the use of solid materials in its construction.

Also it is a lightweight equipment weighing 2.2 kg. This is the type of notebook that perfectly combines the use anywhere. Your screen has good viewing angle and 16:9 aspect ratio which gives us a more than interesting for viewing videos. The screen is fourteen inches with a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. An interesting detail is the touchpad which is primarily necessary to calibrate but then gives us a great performance.

If we talk about team performance Hewlett-Packard comes with an AMD dual core Turion II P560, this processor has a clock of 2.5 GHz and AMD graphics card is a Radeon HD 6370 resulting in satisfactory performance most daily activities. During testing with equipment that is perceived performance could be even better if the notebook had 4 GB of RAM instead of 3 GB and a version of Windows 7 64-bit is present instead of the Windows 7 version Home Basic 32-bit.

Such restrictions were made for the price of the product is ultimately more accessible. In addition to this within the G-series models are more robust configurations. So nothing prevents the user can perform an upgrade to a RAM 8 GB such as the team to support this amount of memory, as well as the user can change the operating system present.

One bright spot of the notebook from Hewlett-Packard is the 500 GB hard drive with a speed of 7,200 revolutions per minute and usually in this type of equipment we record with a speed of 5,400 revolutions per minute. Meanwhile the battery is six cells and offers a range more than reasonable allowing 3 hours of use. If finally we talk about the relationship between cost and benefit the Hewlett-Packard G42-372br is an option to be considered by those who need a laptop that offers performance and flexibility in the daily mobility.

In a final conclusion on Hewlett-Packard team definitely has an excellent design and finish, an attractive price than a hard drive with a speed more than niche appeal, the disadvantage we have little memory and an operating system version little basic.

Overview

The burning question with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer prime release, as with any tablet, is this: is it better than the Apple iPad 2?

The immediate follow-up question is usually a bit less thrilling: can it beat the reigning champion of Android tablets, the super-slim and light Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1?

We’ll explore both questions in depth, but for those whole don’t like to wait around for the punch line, we’ll say that the super-thin and light Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime might just be the best tablet ever made.

But first, the basics – in the UK, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime will go on sale in January 2012. There’s only going to be one version over here, which is a 32GB SKU bundled with the keyboard,a charger, cleaning cloth, USB cable and earbuds.

This bundle will cost you £499, which is £70 more than the 16GB tablet-keyboard bundle that the original Eee Pad Transformer came in when it launched earlier in 2011.

The most important spec on the new Transformer is the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Everything amazing about the Prime tablet rests on this quad-core, 1.3GHz chip.

HD videos play smoother (and longer, with up to 12 hours of battery use for video) than ever before. Games suddenly look fluid and dynamic, with water ripple effects, smoke, fog and explosions that mimic what you’d normally find in a PC game.

The super-crisp IPS display, which is similar to the one used on the iPad 2, is refreshingly easy on the eyes even in outdoor locations or with incandescent bulbs blazing around you.

The rear 8MP camera is a wonder of engineering. In several tests, HD videos recorded at 1080p looked smooth and clear, unlike the grainier results from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Even the 1.2MP front-facing camera worked well for video chats, without the typical fuzziness of other tablets.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime also includes a free intuitive Asus webstorage app for offloading your files, and you can pop in a microSD card in a left-side slot up to 32GB each.

All of the typical connection options are here: Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1, a 3.5mm headphone jack on the right and a micro HDMI port (also on the left) for connecting to an HD TV.

The 263 x 180.8 x 8.3mm tablet is wider than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, although the screen, at 1280 x 800p resolution and 10.1 inches, is the same size.

At 586g, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is lighter than the iPad 2 but a touch heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, although nobody will notice a few grams.

It’s also the thinnest tablet on the market today, bar none.

The 25Wh lithium-polymer battery lasts for about nine hours on a charge for normal use. Asus claims a battery life of 12 hours if you watch mostly videos, because of the way the Tegra 3 manages power.

The tablet comes running Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but Asus says it’s compatible with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, if you wish to upgrade when the update becomes available next year.

Features and interface

Features

We said up front that we will answer questions about whether the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime beats the Apple iPad 2 and the leading Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Truth be told, some of the factors that will help you decide between the three similar tablets are subtle, yet important.

Let’s start with the hardware design. All three tablets look remarkably similar. An untrained eye wouldn’t know the difference between them.

Turn the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime over on its back, and there’s a silver back cover that looks much more durable than the white plastic back of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and grey back of the iPad 2. The front IPS screen, made with Gorilla Glass, is also durable and sharp.

There’s a proprietary charge port below the main horizontal screen on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. This is the same port you use to pop the device into the laptop dock.

There are two extra ports that secure the tablet to the dock, and when housed that way, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime works reliably as a touchscreen laptop.

The dock isn’t ideal for long typing sessions, and matches the quality of other lapdocks such as the one for the Motorola Atrix 2. In other words, they are functional and provide a mouse pad, quick access function keys, a USB port and an SD memory card slot. But otherwise it doesn’t match the responsive typing of a regular full notebook computer.

Some of the port covers on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime’s dock are a bit hard to remove. For example, the one that covers the USB port might require some prying loose with a knife.

Overall, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is easy to handle. It’s wider than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, so is easier to grip, with a slightly wider bezel. But it seems a bit less portable for that reason as well.

The back is metallic and durable, but not exactly scratch or smudge-resistant, as we found out. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a bit more of a pick-up and go feel to it only because the Asus is wider and felt just a hair wider and longer.

Interface

Asus packed some choice extras onto the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, but generally stuck to the basic Android 3.2 Honeycomb user interface. In fact, there are just a few extra widgets for quickly reading your emails, seeing the weather forecast and controlling music tracks.

There’s a goofy app called MyZine that automatically adds your photos into a magazine-like layout, but it has a limited purpose and might be the first one you drag to the trash.

There are no extra app widgets like there are on the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet for adding favorites to an app wheel or an app launcher. Frankly, these additions offer a nebulous value beyond the stock operating system.

Asus used a slightly modified treatment for the bottom row of icons. There’s a back button, a home button and a pop-up multitasking button that shows you open apps and enables you to switch between them. Here you can also click a small X that shuts down any open app to save memory.

There’s not too much more to say about the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime’s interface, because Asus kept things simple. There are no extra tools for storing apps like there is on the Toshiba AT100 (known as the Toshiba Thrive in the US), but some of those enhancements don’t really add to the value anyway. The simple core Android OS makes the Prime easy to use.

Market and apps

Android Market and Apps

The Android Market included on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime has been upgraded with a new interface that is surpassingly easy to use. Following the lead of the well-designed HP TouchPad app store, there are panels with rich photos that draw your eye and make you want to purchase more apps. The new look also mimics the Windows Phone 7 look, in that it is image-centric to draw the eye.

Of course, once you drill into the Market a bit you will realise that this glossy magazine-like front-end interface is just icing on the old cake – the Market works about the same as always. You can rent movies and television shows through the Market as you can on other recent tablets.

Where Asus scores extra points is with the included apps. It has quite outdone itself for this model.

First, there’s a MyLibrary app for ebooks, magazines and newspapers. Then not quite as extensive as the Amazon Kindle Store (OK, far less extensive), the Asus @Vibe store, which is really just a portal to Versent Books, lets you buy major bestsellers such as John Grisham’s The Litigators.

Pricing is suspiciously the same as most Amazon Kindle store bestsellers. Some books were noticeably missing, including the latest Michael Lewis book called Boomerang, which is featured prominently in the Kindle store.

Asus @Vibe Music is a welcome addition. With functionally similar to the Google Music app, this music app works like Last.fm in that you can search for an artist and play their songs.

Each “station” lets you play random songs by that artist. The @Vibe store also lets you play songs you have purchased from the Asusvibe.com store, as long as you have used a supported Asus laptop or netbook.

Asus MyCloud is a handy cloud storage portal similar to Dropbox. You can use 2GB of storage for free, or pay about US$9 for three months of unlimited storage. Keep in mind, though, that the service limits file size to 500MB per file for the free account.

Also, while the app lets you offload files to the cloud, you can also access files on one computer that is sharing files through the service.

The Asus MyNet app works exactly like the Samsung Allshare service, in that you can set up a connection to and from another computer on the same router network to share music, photos and videos. We tested the app with a Sony all-in-one desktop PC and could easily share files between the tablet and the desktop computer.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime we tested also came pre-loaded with a wide selection of pre-release Tegra 3 games, including BladeSlinger, ShadowGun and Davinci THD. These titles will be available through an app portal called the TegraZone, and generally cost about the same as normal Android games.

One important point to make about gaming on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is that the games look astounding – the best we have seen on any tablet. ShadowGun in particular uses water effects that look ultra-realistic for a portable device (although nothing like, say, Battlefield 3 on a console).

The most interesting comparison we discovered was between the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime playing the same game, Riptide. On the Prime, the water effects were much more convincing, with waves flowing back and forth and whitecaps that change as you drive your jet ski.

At the same time, the Apple iPad 2 may not play games as smoothly, but there is a much wider selection of games, and many are arguably more in-depth. For example, the gameplay for Infinity Blade II on the iPad 2 is far more advanced, with magic ring power-ups, duel-wielding options and collectible gems.

Many of the games on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime are more like visual effects demos, with limited gameplay value.

Office

The Transformer Prime also includes the Polaris Office app for opening and editing word processing and spreadsheet documents. It’s completely compatible with Microsoft Office.

The app does add value, especially since competing office apps like Openoffice cost £9.99 or more.

Screen

Screen

The 1280 x 800 resolution, 10.1-inch screen on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is sharp and easy to read.

We had no complaints reading an entire ebook on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime and browsing dozens of websites. Finger swipes and presses registered accurately, and typing was fast and responsive.

Asus chose to use a Super IPS display for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, and there are pros and cons with this.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is not as bright, colourful, or crisp as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, so if you plan to watch movies and view photos routinely, the Samsung is the better tablet.

In comparing the exact same videos and photos on both devices, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime has a slightly dull and washed out look. The Apple iPad 2 looks marginally better than the Prime (they both use IPS displays) but not as vivid as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Clearly, Asus decided to make functionality a higher priority than superior colour reproduction.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime works better than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in a variety of lighting conditions. There’s even a super-bright outdoor mode that makes the display easier to read.

There is much less glare on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which means the screen works better, for reading emails and books and for browsing the web.

Unlike some recent tablets, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime doesn’t use haptic feedback for the keyboard or for any parts of the touchscreen. Presumably this is a trade-off with the IPS screen tech that makes it easier to view the tablet from an angle or to view the screen in bright sunlight or by a lamp.

It didn’t hamper the experience of using the tablet, though some users might find that haptic feedback on other tablets gives you a tactile sense that the tablet has registered your finger press.

One surprise is that the screen uses an oleophobic fingerprint-resistant coating. Even more surprising is that it actually works. The chemical agent reduced grime and finger print build-up. We found that movie-watching was more enjoyable when there wasn’t a thin residue coating parts of the screen.

Usability

Usability

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is one of the most user-friendly tablets we’ve tested, and matches up easily with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Apple iPad 2 in terms of portability, user interface and media playback.

Between the three tablets, the only major difference is that the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is just a little wider and longer, even though the screens are all the same size. That’s not a negative pronouncement, and in fact means the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is a bit easier to grasp for long web browsing sessions or for watching movies.

The original Asus Eee Pad Transformer felt bulky, overly thick and designed from a bygone age of Windows slates.

Asus skipped any dramatic interface enhancements and sticks to the basic Android 3.2.1 Honeycomb user interface. That means three buttons for navigating back, home, and to a pop-up app list on the lower left.

The newly designed pop-up menu on the lower left (which shows a taskbar for time, app downloads and open apps) is a pleasant departure, though. You can quickly see the Wi-Fi network you are using, your battery level and access settings.

There are three icons you can use to set the power level – eco mode, balanced and performance. You can also enable screen rotation, check Wi-Fi level and enable Bluetooth connections. There’s an option for setting the brightness level, or using auto, and enabling the outdoor brightness.

Otherwise, this pop-up then shows notifications about recent downloads, schedule reminders and email alerts. You can also view Gmail chat messages here. In general, the new design for this pop-up works remarkably well for controlling basic functions on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. The pop-up is well-designed as well.

One gripe, though, has to do with accessories. Sure, there is a lapdock included as a bundle for the UK version. However, the Apple iPad 2 offers many more choices for docking stations, covers, cases and even microphones you plug into the 30-pin connector.

The original Asus Eee Pad Transformer didn’t become iconic in the sense that hardware accessory companies started making add-on devices for it. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime may catch on, but we doubt it will develop the widespread third-party support that the iPad 2 enjoys, or even come close.

The keyboard dock is helpful for a few purposes, though. For one, it adds another 8 hours to the total battery life (the dock itself can take a charge, and then charge the tablet.) The dock has a USB port and an SD port. Measuring 263 x 180.8 x 8 to 10.4mm, and weighing 537 grams, the dock is small enough to fit into a laptop bag, but is like carrying another tablet around all day.

And then there is the quality of the keyboard. If you’ve used a netbook before, you already know what this dock is like – typing speed suffers from the slightly cramped confines of the lapdock, but you get used to it after a while and it’s still easier than typing on the screen.

There are dedicated keys for changing brightness level, volume, and wireless, which makes it easier to control the tablet. When docked, you can use the mousepad or finger input on the tab. One helpful software change would have been to disable the mousepad when you type because the small size of the keyboard makes it easy to inadvertently brush the mousepad. In a pinch, the keyboard helps you type up longer docs but it in no way competes with a full notebook keyboard.

Battery life

For battery life, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime lasted about nine hours on a charge but of course with the extra 8 hours provided by the keyboard dock, that’s a battery span of 17 hours which is phenomenal.

Media

Media

Our first experience with media files was a bit of a letdown. We download the movie Conanthrough the Android Market and were greeted by an error message. Asus said it must be a Google problem, but the same file and same Android version on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 worked fine.

Otherwise, all of our media tests were blazingly fast, smooth and played without any problems. One of the most impressive tests was for the Battleship trailer, which used a high frame rate, looked colourful and clear, and played in full 1080p resolution. Every video we tested played smooth and fast.

Music playback on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime also worked reliably and sound quality was excellent.

Like most tablets, the speaker on the Prime isn’t exactly state-of-the-art quality, and is only serviceable in a pinch when you absolutely can’t use headphones. Yes that is just the one speaker, instead of the two speakers we saw on the side of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

That said, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is just a bit louder than both the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Apple iPad 2 when we cranked up the volume, even if the sound quality wasn’t that great and sounded a bit distorted at times.

No tablet on the market has really exceptional sound, though, and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is in the same league.

We tested both H.264 movie files and those encoded as MPEG as they worked smoothly. This tablet does not support Quicktime, but the Tegra 3 does support H.264 1080p30/60i (HP @ 40Mbps), VC1-AP 1080p30, MPEG2 1080p30/60i, MPEG4 1080p/30, DivX 4/5/6 1080p30, XviD HT 1080p30, H.263 4CIF/30, Theora, and VP8 720p30.

Audio files like MP3 and AAC played without any problems. For audio, the Tegra 3 supports AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, MP3 VBR, WAV/PCM, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, BSAC, MPEG-2 Audio, Vorbis, WMA 9, WMA, Lossless, WMA Pro, G.729a, G.711, QCELP, EVRC.

Camera

Camera

Photos we took with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime looked clear and colourful.

In a few cases, the colours weren’t as vivid as those taken with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but they were always sharper than the somewhat blurry images we took with the Apple iPad 2. All three tablets were used for the same photo comparisons below.

Taken with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime…

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Taken with the Apple iPad 2

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Taken with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1…

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Asus doesn’t offer any extended features for taking photos on the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, but you can change basic settings such as white balance and choose from a few scene modes including Indoors or Night.

None of the settings really add to the value of the camera or compete with a more powerful smartphone or digital camera. Photos, like the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime’s screen, tended to look a bit washed out but still useable.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime has a much faster shutter release than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. However, the focus wasn’t always as reliable. The Samsung tablet tends to focus slowly, but the results are sharper Asus.

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Video

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0bsHgWZQo4

One initial complaint when shooting video with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime was that, when we recorded a 1080p video with the tablet, we noticed a few stuttering problems during recording. But playback of this file was smooth and didn’t have any stuttering.

Asus recommended we try again without any apps running in the background, and the test recording didn’t stutter at all when doing this, with smooth-as-butter playback.

Recorded videos also looked super-crisp, which is an important finding compared to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which tends to film grainy and almost unusable videos.

As it stands, no tablet is ideal for shooting photos or recording video, because you can’t hold the device in a way that makes it easy to capture stills or video – there is often a shaky-cam look no matter how you hold them. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is no different, although the somewhat more rigid design and wider bezel makes it a hair easier to grip.

In one case, while shooting a video, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime suddenly went in and out of focus sporadically, trying to focus on the subject. The problem never happened again, though.

Verdict

Is there any reason not to rush right out and get the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime when it starts shipping in January?

Not really. The Prime is an outstanding Android 3.2 tablet.

It is also the first tablet to use the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor for faster gaming, better movie playback, and long battery life.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is light and thin, with a durable design that will withstand a few spills, and even a drop or two. The device uses an understated slim design with a metallic back cover that seems durable.

The included Asus first-party apps add to the value: they enable you to store files in the cloud, buy music and books, and stream content from a desktop or laptop computer on the same network.

The two major reasons we would avoid this model are relatively minor.

One is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 does have a brighter, more colourful screen. Games and movies tend to pop off the screen in a more vivid way than they do on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime. This is a trade-off though, because the Prime is also easier to view in direct light or from a side angle.

The other reason to delay an impulse purchase has to do with apps. Asus does include quite a few compelling first-party apps, and they make the device more enticing.

That’s all well and good, but the Apple iPad 2 is still a better choice if you prefer quality apps that offer unique features. For example, many of the games on the iPad are superior to the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime in terms of gameplay options and variety.

We liked

More than any other spec, we liked the Tegra 3 processor on this tablet. It’s fast and nimble, pumping new life into apps we’ve used for the past nine months and speeding up the operating system overall. HD movies played smooth and fast, without the typical stuttering (for the most part) of other tablets.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is one light and thin tablet. In fact, it’s the thinnest tablet available. Any thinner and we’d start wondering about durability.

Battery life was good, at about nine hours, and video playback lasts up to 12 hours.

Games were visually superior to every other tablet. Smoke and water effects looked convincing, and frame rates were exceptionally high. Most apps ran faster than we’ve seen on any other Android tablet, without any stuttering, memory pauses, or crashes of any kind.

The lapdock, which is included in a bundle for the UK and sold separately in the US, is a smart addition. It turns the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime into a notebook for typing longer documents in a pinch, and has a built-in mouse pad and USB port.

We disliked

We’re fans of the IPS display tech, because it means getting more use out of tablets in a variety of lighting conditions and at a side viewing angle, but the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime’s screen is still just slightly less colourful than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

To test this theory, we asked various people in the office to give us their first response to the same photo on both tablets, and everyone said they preferred the Samsung’s screen.

There’s also still a lingering question about apps compared to those available for the iPad 2. We just can’t get around the fact that the iPad has superior apps – one called Djay that works like a real DJ turntable, the Apple first-party apps such as GarageBand and Keynote, games such as Infinity Blade II that offer deeper gameplay and so on.

Asus can’t do too much about this problem, but if you want to have the best apps for a tablet, the iPad 2 is a better choice.

Of course, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime won’t attract nearly as many third-party hardware companies to make add-ons for the device, even if Asus does offer a handy lapdock accessory. That’s not a ding against the Transformer per se, but a praise for how popular the iPad has become.

Camera and video quality were good, but we ran into a few snags here and there. The resulting photos were usually sharp and focused, but not as colourful as those taken with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Final verdict

There’s a nagging sense with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime that holds us back from declaring a sweeping victory compared to the Apple iPad 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Overall, when you consider the specs, we know the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the better tablet. For hardcore tech enthusiasts, this is the tablet you want, because it has the latest next-gen processor and supports true HD movie recording and playback.

For the masses, and just for the overall top spot in the tablet market, the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime can’t compete with the iPad 2 for app selection and quality.

And we have to give the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 the nod for a superior screen. That’s hugely important: the screen is what you look at all day.

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is faster than any tablet, and matches the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Apple iPad 2 for size and weight.

But we can’t quite declare the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime the winner overall. The iPad 2 still has that honour.

For Android tablets, we’ll say that the faster, lighter Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime ties with the excellent-screened Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

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.

]]> http://www.laptop-advices.com/notebooks/some-useful-softwares-help-you-with-your-laptop-battery/feed/ 0 http://www.laptop-advices.com/notebooks/a-light-business-notebook/ http://www.laptop-advices.com/notebooks/a-light-business-notebook/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:07:36 +0000 editor http://www.laptop-advices.com/notebooks/a-light-business-notebook/

With the people’s pace of life increasingly fast,people want to reduce the burden of life.Easepecially the business people,their pressure is even worse,and as the close contacts with business,the notebook vgp-bps9aturn into an indispensable helper for business people.In the past the heavy form do not meet current needs of business people,even becoming a burden for business people.In such cases,under the premise of homogeneity in performance,businesses have started to introduce thin business notebooks.

ASUS U36J notebook vgp-bpl9 is a main light business notebook,which is specially launched from Asus.Although Core Duo I3-380 processor and NVIDIA GT310M alone significantly are the same entry-level hardware configuration,but for business users,they are fully capable of providing adequate performance of office support.And 2GB memory,500GB hard drive and also belong to the mainstream of the current configuration.

Slightly different,the ASUS U36J notebook faded original business class notebook that serious coat layer of rigid,simple replacement of a more professional faces.Around the commercial notebook market now,most of them have adopted a metal body.On the one hand the whole metal body can make the notebookDell Vosr1o 1710 バッテリーlook more rich texture,on the other hand is to make the body more rigid.This ASUS U36j laptop’s also body on the use of magnesium alloy material.

ASUS U36j laptop’s the roof after a soft touch nano coating, while the bottom of the fuselage is a breakthrough to join the glass fiber material.The new shell design,lighter weight magnesium alloy material,high hardness,resistance to stress more hp pavilion dv6000バッテリー features.Nano super anti-fouling coatings,anti-corrosion and anti-radiation capabilities,as well as high tensile strength of glass fiber material,the advantages of heat shock resistance to high humidity combined together to create a light and a more robust model.

As located in the commercial,ASUS U36J laptop’s appearance is not very bright.The body’s design is simple and clear,providing products from the official figure,only two colors,a silver line of products can be used by men and women,and the black lines that are suitable for older users to buy.ASUS U36J notebook’s vgp-bps9a/bscreen axis damping force of the control is very good,the user can easily open the screen with one hand.

Asustek’s 18.4-inch Asus NX90Jq multimedia notebook with an innovative design and SonicMaster audio technology is now available for purchase.

Several e-tailers in the U.S. are offering the NX90Jq-A1 model, which features the Intel Core I7-720QM 1.6GHz quad-core processor, Nvidia GeForce GT335M 1GB dedicated graphics, 8GB od DDR3 memory, 1.28TB of storage using dual 640GB hard disks, and a Blu-ray Combo drive.

Its LED-backlit 18.4″ display has a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels.

According to the company, incorporated SonicMaster audio technology co-developed with Bang & Olufsen provides “the best codec and highest-powered notebook amplifier available” which “delivers wider sonic range, louder volume and deeper bass.”

The speakers in the Asus N90X are integrated into the lid, as opposed to the main chassis, which is made of aluminum in this case. Another innovation are dual touchpads positioned at either side of the keyboard, serving as an “intuitive and enjoyable way for you to manage and play your multimedia content”.

The mobile media center also includes a 2MP web camera, microphone, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth, two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports (one shared with e-SATA), a digital/analog TV tuner, 8-in-1 media card reader, and HDMI and VGA outputs.

It weighs 9.7 lbs with the standard 6-cell battery and comes with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS.

The Asus NX90Jq is available for about $2,200.