Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 has a 13.3 inch screen with resolution of 1,366x768 pixels. This resolution is standard for 13-16 inches screen these days. The display has LED backlighting. Pictures look bright enough and the text too is readable. But when seen from wide viewing angles, the screen looked a bit washed out. The stereo speakers are located in the front base and sound is emitted through the grilles. You can watch movies through these speakers but music quality is really awful. There is a built-in Webcam above the display meant for Web chatting but the quality is not really good. Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 doesn’t have Bluetooth or an optical drive but apart from this, the port collection is similar to other laptops in this size. The manufacturer has also added a combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port which can charge your devices even when the laptop is switched off. This is called the  [...]

The Aspire One series of Netbooks have been really popular amongst the Acer's laptop lineup and this is because the company has kept the prices really low. It also offers decent design and good construction. The latest Aspire One laptop to turn up in my labs was the Acer Aspire One D260-23797. This is one of the D260’s fixed configurations and each of them comes with a bit of different components. I really liked this Netbook for its small size, and thin-and-light design even for a ten inch Netbook. I will also praise the manufacturer for providing a decent sized keyboard and a good touch pad. Acer Aspire One D260-23797 is priced at $329 and it is a mainstream Netbook. This is the first Netbook ever to have the new Intel Atom N475 processor. Previously, the N450 dominated the Netbook line up. This processor has a speed of 1.83 GHz as compared to N450's 1.66GHz. But in  [...]

This is the second Alienware M11x I am getting in my labs for review. The first one had a Core 2 Duo CPU where as this one is based on Core i7 chips with Nvidia Optimus technology. This laptop looks quite attractive. The interiors are all black and the multicolor, LED backlight keyboard is quite similar to what we have on other Alienware laptops. The screen is 11.6 inches big and it has an edge-to-edge, glossy design. The chassis is quite sturdy and a bit compressed. Other than that, the keyboard of this notebook is better than other 11 inchers. This product, just like other Alienwares has a bold colored keyboard with a grille. You can customize the Alienware logo lights in any of the rainbow colors. You will have to use the Alienware apps for this. Screen of the Alienware M11x is 11.6 inches big and you get resolution of 1,366x768 pixels. I liked the edge to edge glossy veneer over the  [...]

This is an excellent example of a perfectly average laptop. It is powered by solid dual-core AMD Turion II processor, four gigs of RAM, 14 inch LCD and 320 GB hard drive. The hardware is strictly made for budget users and the chassis is really awful. But when it tested this laptop in my labs, I found that it was much faster than what I initially expected. But the battery life is really small and hence this notebook is not recommended for frequent travelers. This belongs to the upper class of budget laptops. Priced at $599, I would say that there are less expensive notebooks in the market like Asus K50IJ-BBZ5 which is faster too. I won’t recommend this laptop if you are looking for excellent value for money. There are cheaper ones available in the market. Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4030 doesn’t have an HDMI port and the built in speakers sound quite awful. On the bright  [...]

Sound quality on the Toshiba Satellite A665-S6050 is stellar especially considering the price at which it is offered. There is a pair of Harmon Kardon speakers located above the keyboard and it is covered by rectangular grills. The sound is full and quite loud. It is been a while since I saw a good set of speakers on a laptop. The depth that the speakers offer is really surprising. The oomph is there for the movies and at times, the sound gets so loud that you have to turn it down while sitting in front of the notebook. You will still have to resort to a set of external speakers for filling up a small room. Toshiba Satellite A665-S6050 comes with some software utilities. ReelTime gives you a row of big thumbnails on the bottom of the screen and this shows the recently viewed Web pages and documents. The thumbnail row is made to resemble a movie reel. I found it quite useful  [...]

When it comes to student laptops, the cost is really important since this section of the notebook-buying crowd is on a stiff budget. I am writing about some of the best budget laptops I have ever tested in my labs. This list was compiled last year too but making writing about it again was a different experience. Economic climate has changed now and notebook makers are not that generous with components and features for the budget systems. The manufacturers refuse to go below a certain price limit as they believe that users are better off with a Netbook if they don’t have much money to spend. Amongst this list, the Asus K501J-BBZ5 is my favorite; it is based on an Intel dual core chip (this is not the current Core i3 processor which you will find on many step up notebooks). My only gripe here is that there is no HDMI output. Be wary of this if you are a movie bluff. This laptop won’t  [...]

If you are a style conscious guy, it is hard to go for a plain jane looking device. You will probably look for some eye candy on the exterior. This laptop is aimed at such people and Gateway makes you pay more for the good looks. This laptop will put you back by $799 and if you look closely in the market, you will find faster notebooks for this price sans the high end looks. In fact, this laptop is the same as Gateway NV5933U in terms of hardware which costs $649. Gateway NV59C09u, on the other hand, has sexier looks. There are a few differences between the two laptops but none of them are really big. NV5933U is recommended instead of this laptop as it has the same specs and costs lower too. There is also Samsung NP-R580 which costs $30 more but it comes with a faster Core i5 CPU, discrete graphic card and bigger hard disk.  Gateway has changed the keyboard and touch pad design but this  [...]

This notebook is targeted towards both Inspiron (mainstream)and Latitude (buisness oriented) notebooks. But then all Dell Vostro notebooks are made like this. The Dell Vostro 3300 is a 13 inch notebook from Dell and you get to choose from Core i5, or i3 processors. This computer is not as slick as Dell Vostro 13 but it is still a good inexpensive alternative to the step up Dell Adamo. This laptop too has a outer body made of metal and it sports the same sexy looks. The price of this device starts from $599 and for this cost, you get two gigs of RAM, 250 GB hard disk for storing data, and Core i3 chip. All this is quite affordable and light weight too. Our only gripe is that the battery life is pretty small and this makes it less than ideal for travelers. Dell Vostro 3300 has a two megapixel Webcam above the screen and the image quality is better than what you normally get. The sensitivity  [...]