Talking about the audio performance, the inbuilt speakers aren’t all that great and tend to be harsh and tinny at times. Though are loud enough for a small room, I would still recommend using a headset. During calls made through Skype the audio quality was pretty much decent and was clearly audible using the inbuilt microphones. The 2-megapixel camera also displayed satisfactory performance during the skype call test. Though the pictures were pretty clear the callers complained of a bluish tint around the edges. As far as our benchmark tests are concerned the Battalion performed pretty well in most of our tests. Programs like Mozilla Firefox almost opened instantenously and the others like the media player took not more than two secs to open. Also when it came to duplicating media files this one scored really well against most of its other competitors. Its most amazing feature  [...]

Unlike most of the notebooks which use the Intel Atom processor, gateway uses an AMD athlon 64 L110 Single-Core Processor which I found out to be more efficient compared to the Atom. Well, it’s not as fast as the ULV system but it could give the Atom a run for its money anyday. Also it comes accompanied with the Windows Vista as compared to the Windows XP version which most of the notebooks use and along comes the same sluggishness of the Vista. I tried comparing its boot time with most of the other notebooks and it took almost 30 secs more which was kind of disappointing but then who said that the Vista was fast. The stereo speakers on the LT3103u provide adequately loud sound for a netbook. While bass was lacking and higher tones are somewhat tinny, the midrange vocals on Weezer’s “Island in the Sun” came through well. Since the speakers are mounted on the underside of the  [...]

One of the best things about the Lenovo Ideapad s10 4231 4505 3121-1 is the improved battery life and quick start interface in the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor laptop. This also includes a standard hard disk drive instead of the small solid-state drives that many laptops now have installed. This is one of the laptops that are used by business people even though it is from the Lenovo consumer line of laptops, with the larger battery that was changed from the original 3-cell battery. The three hour battery under testing lasted about two hours, which is not the optimum for laptop mobility performance and has since been changed to the 6 cell batter for longer mobility life. Now the Lenovo IdeaPad s10 is equipped with a 6 cell battery  [...]

The IdeaPad Y650 4185 with the 16.9-inch screen is not only good for surfing the net it is a good lightweight notebook for movies and other videos. This laptop is equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz processor and 4 GB DDR3 and meets the environmental and energy standards compliance. This is Lenovo’s answer to the home user rather than the previous ThinkPads that were for the businessperson’s use, which includes the Intel processor and 4GB DDR3 for speed and the 320 GB hard drive. The speed and the size of the hard drive is one of the things that make this computer a good choice for the person that likes movies and videos that take space and need speed to run. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 4185 is one of the laptops that is perfect for streaming video, movies and other media on a 16.9 inch screen that is bright, with brightness and contrast with the  [...]

The Toshiba Portege R600-St520W is one of the more portable notebooks and one that sports a built in DVD burner. For its higher price, it has a lot to offer the person looking for one of these small notebooks, with a longer lasting battery, the built in DVD burner and has a 1.4GHz processor capable of handling spreadsheets, office documents and other business needs. The usability, the backup options, along with the battery life makes the R600 the perfect lightweight business notebook. The Toshiba has a Core 2 Duo processor and is WiMAX ready all in an ultra light design weighting 2.4/3 pound. This is one of the Toshiba portables that can provide the level of performance for producing work in a lightweight notebook without forfeiting quality for its mobility. This is only matched by the security options that are a part of the Portege  [...]

The Samsung N110 laptop has features that offer the user a longer battery life, without a bulky battery. This is Samsung’s second generation higher end laptop with an Intel Atom 1.6 GHz processor with 1GB DDR2 SDRAM. These features and a long lasting AC battery give the Samsung model the usability that computer users want from a portable notebook that is 10.3 inches by 7.3 inches is compact and light weight enough to carry when traveling or as an easy way to surf the net in any room of the home. The Samsung N110 has a slim frame with a 160 GB hard drive and the standard features of the laptop are: The 1.6 Hz Intel Atom N270 processor 1GB, 533 MHz DDR2 memory This model features a 160 GB 5,400 rpm hard drive The  [...]

The Gateway UC7807U laptop model is an Intel core processor with a 13-inch screen that features quality components and a good computer for most Internet users. This is a portable way to surf the web. Although the battery life could be a little longer, but this model has the option of power management to help extend the amount of time the AC battery will last when the notebook is running on the battery. The Gateway UC7807U features a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and 3072 MB DDR II SDRAM giving it the speed to do all of the computer user’s tasks while on the Internet and off for multi tasking or videos and other media. This is a laptop that is easy to travel with at a weight of about 6 pounds and in the price range of under $1,000, and a 13-inch wide screen. The Gateway UC7807U is able to handle the everyday jobs and also a good  [...]

The Gateway TC7804u notebook is a well designed laptop with a 16.9 inch wide screen display with a nice sized keyboard and other features that gives the user the feel of a more expensive notebook for a reasonable price. The one downfall is the notebook is not Bluetooth ready, which for most laptop user’s is not something that can be corrected. What is more important is the 2.00 GHz Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processor and the 4096 MB DDR II SDRAM that is installed in the model. The design is made for the laptop user with the advantage of the 16.9-inch wide screen and a large hard drive that is media friendly. This Gateway notebook can be compared with the other Gateway TC7804u 15 and 14 inch screen that are build with quality components. The features that are found in the economically priced Gateway RC7804u Laptop are: 2.0GHz Intel Core 2  [...]

Before I became a regular laptop user, i was impartial to the size of the laptop I used. Most of these were company issued, anyway, so I didn't care a bit whether I brought an IBM Thinkpad, a Toshiba Satellite or a Compaq Armada to meetings. But when I actually purchased my first notebook computer, size was a big consideration. Before netbooks became popular, your laptop sizes usually came in 14-inch, 15-inch, and 12-inch variants. Then there were the odd-sized laptops, like the 17-inch and 19-inch ones with big screens, and 10- or 11-inch ones that were very portable. And the screen size of the laptop you used was usually descriptive of what you did for a living, or at least what you use laptops for. 14-inch: the standard I considered 14-inch screens as the basic standard for laptop sizes. The first laptop I purchased was actually a 14-incher.  [...]

Even during the very slow winter months of the year at my company, I still use my MacBook Pro an endless amount of hours each and every day throughout the week. If my friends and colleagues are not able to find me busy at work in my office or lounging leisurely on the couch in my home as I’m busy working my fingers to the bone, then they know they can generally find me sitting on a bench at one of the local parks in my neighborhood. The only bad thing about going to the park however is the fact that the 2.53 ghz battery that is used in the laptop does not last nearly as long as it should. I have tried other batteries as well and I’m still lucky if I am able to get a mere hour and a half of usage. This fact certainly makes me wonder if the problem does not lie somewhere else other than in the battery itself. What makes it even more frustrating is how  [...]