The device weighs in at 2.5kg, which is pretty impressive considering it measures 374 x 256 x 28.7mm. It would make a good desktop replacement system, but mobile road warriors would require something less bulky.
The 4530s has a full-size keyboard with numeric extensions and a 15.6in screen. One unusual aspect of the system is that it comes with two separate onboard graphics systems. The first is Intel’s Intel HD Graphics 3000 system integrated into the processor, which shares 1.76GB of system memory. The second is ATi’s Radeon HD4690M, which uses its own dedicated video memory and not the computer’s system memory.
The dual graphics cards enable users to tag applications whichever one best suits it. Standard apps like Microsoft Word could use Intel's HD graphics system, while CAD applications requiring better performance could be set up to use the ATi graphics card.
The system uses a Mobile Intel HM65 Express Chipset, and the processor is a second generation Intel Core i5-2410M running at 2.3GHz. The processor quad core rating is achieved by having two cores with dual hyperthreading.
The front side bus runs at 1333 MHz, and the 4530s has two memory slots for DDR3 dual-channel 2GB or 4GB memory SoDIMMs, up to a maximum of 8GB (2 x 4GB).
Our 4530s was running the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional, although Windows 7 Home Premium, Home Basic, and Vista 7 Home Basic are also supported. SuSe Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 is also certified for use by HP on the 4530s, as well as FreeDOS (a DOS compatible, free, open-source free operating system).
For optical media, the 4530s uses an on-board SATA HP DVD A DS8A5LH drive, which supports CD, DVD and Blu-Ray media.
Storage is provided by a 2.5in form factor Toshiba 5,400 rpm MK6465GSX 640GB hard drive partitioned into four sections: operating system, recovery, system and tools.
There’s also a protected partition for Microsoft Office 2010 Click-to-Run, a method for installing Office 2010.
Ports
The UK version of the 4530s has four USB ports, two USB 2.0 towards the front on the right hand side, and two more USB 2.0 ports on the left hand side.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Dell Latitude E5410
The Dell Latitude E5410 is a laptop built for business that doesn’t skimp on features, but strikes just the right balance that it won’t break the bank, either. It seems Dell has done their best to build a machine that doesn’t compromise too much, but that still comes in below average on price. Let’s take a look ‘under the hood’.
The first thing you’ll notice opening the Latitude E5410 up is the screen. It’s 14.1 inches (measured at a diagnol), supports a native resolution of 1440×900 pixels, and is LED-backlit, so colors appear clearly and contrast is consistent across it. We’re very happy to see that this is becoming more standard on portable computers these days.
The heavy lifting is handled primarily by an Intel Core i5 520M dual-core chip at 2.4 GHz, with a 3MB L2 cache. Multitasking on the machine is smooth, and due to its clock frequency, it stacks up well against typical desktops. Heat output is fairly low compared to the higher-clocked i7 parts, and as you might expect, this also keeps battery life from being impacted too harshly under heavy load.
Our review model came fitted with 3GB of RAM, which is a slightly odd number to see. However, it makes no noticeable performance impact in most applications, even using the memory-hungry Windows 7. Since a Core i5-series CPU is being used, it’s no surprise to see that the memory employed here is the newest available, DDR3.
Our model came with a 250GB 7200RPM hard drive by Western Digital. Some other storage options are available, but for a cheap laptop like this, we wouldn’t expect an enormous amount of storage. 250GB should be more than enough for most users, and will hold a substantial library of music, photos, movies, and standard office documents with room to spare.
Wireless is of course included, and we’d be quite concerned if it weren’t. The model on offer is an Intel chipset, model 6200AGN. It supports Draft-N, so it will be compatible with the latest other Draft-N access points you may wish to use in your home, as well as the standard A/G/B points you are likely to find at coffee shops, libraries and the like. We found range to be about on par with notebooks, maintaining a stable connection at the other end of the office with 2+ bars, well within usable range. Using wireless knocked about 90 minutes off the battery life of the laptop.
While we are on that topic, the included battery on our test unit was 9-cell, with the typical Lithium-Ion battery chemistry. This battery protrudes a little from the back of the unit. This machine can also be purchased with a standard 6-cell battery that will sit flush with the edge of the unit. This will of course yield less battery life, but reduces cost. The included one has a capacity of 85 Watt Hours (WH), and yielded about 5.5 hours of life in our web browsing test with the wireless enabled. Very impressive!
From a physical standpoint, build quality of the unit appeared quite high. Measuring at 13.3 long by 9.6 wide by 1.31 inches thick and weighing 5.21 pounds, the unit is small enough to tuck under your arm and take to and from work or school every day, but not nearly as light as a netbook would be. You can decrease the weight a bit by using the 6-cell battery instead, but it’s not a huge difference.
The first thing you’ll notice opening the Latitude E5410 up is the screen. It’s 14.1 inches (measured at a diagnol), supports a native resolution of 1440×900 pixels, and is LED-backlit, so colors appear clearly and contrast is consistent across it. We’re very happy to see that this is becoming more standard on portable computers these days.
The heavy lifting is handled primarily by an Intel Core i5 520M dual-core chip at 2.4 GHz, with a 3MB L2 cache. Multitasking on the machine is smooth, and due to its clock frequency, it stacks up well against typical desktops. Heat output is fairly low compared to the higher-clocked i7 parts, and as you might expect, this also keeps battery life from being impacted too harshly under heavy load.
Our review model came fitted with 3GB of RAM, which is a slightly odd number to see. However, it makes no noticeable performance impact in most applications, even using the memory-hungry Windows 7. Since a Core i5-series CPU is being used, it’s no surprise to see that the memory employed here is the newest available, DDR3.
Our model came with a 250GB 7200RPM hard drive by Western Digital. Some other storage options are available, but for a cheap laptop like this, we wouldn’t expect an enormous amount of storage. 250GB should be more than enough for most users, and will hold a substantial library of music, photos, movies, and standard office documents with room to spare.
Wireless is of course included, and we’d be quite concerned if it weren’t. The model on offer is an Intel chipset, model 6200AGN. It supports Draft-N, so it will be compatible with the latest other Draft-N access points you may wish to use in your home, as well as the standard A/G/B points you are likely to find at coffee shops, libraries and the like. We found range to be about on par with notebooks, maintaining a stable connection at the other end of the office with 2+ bars, well within usable range. Using wireless knocked about 90 minutes off the battery life of the laptop.
While we are on that topic, the included battery on our test unit was 9-cell, with the typical Lithium-Ion battery chemistry. This battery protrudes a little from the back of the unit. This machine can also be purchased with a standard 6-cell battery that will sit flush with the edge of the unit. This will of course yield less battery life, but reduces cost. The included one has a capacity of 85 Watt Hours (WH), and yielded about 5.5 hours of life in our web browsing test with the wireless enabled. Very impressive!
From a physical standpoint, build quality of the unit appeared quite high. Measuring at 13.3 long by 9.6 wide by 1.31 inches thick and weighing 5.21 pounds, the unit is small enough to tuck under your arm and take to and from work or school every day, but not nearly as light as a netbook would be. You can decrease the weight a bit by using the 6-cell battery instead, but it’s not a huge difference.
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Asus U46SV
The Asus U46SV all-purpose laptop sets itself apart from the crowd through great performance and outstanding battery life, two attributes that rarely cohabitate.
The primary reason for the long 6-hour, 41-minute run time is an unusually large 74-watt-hour battery. The large battery is also responsible for the U46SV's hefty 2.2 kg static and 2.7 kg travel (with AC adapter) weights, but clever design makes the unit feel lighter than those numbers might lead you to believe.
The battery protrudes about a half-inch beneath the back of the otherwise one-inch thick unit. That gives you a firm, yet comfortable grip when toting it about (part of the reason it doesn't feel as heavy as it is) and also adds a slight forward rake that puts your hand at a better typing angle. All told, the heavier, larger, longer-lasting battery should please more users than it discourages them.
The U46SV sports a stylish aluminum lid and keyboard deck, though the effect is cheapened slightly by chrome touchpad buttons and a rather bright power button. Still, while the touchpad buttons are distractingly reflective, they also have just the right amount of resistance. The U46SV's breathable Chiclet-style keyboard feels exactly like those found on Lenovo's U series (a good thing); crisp, even though the keys travel only a short distance. The touchpad is nicely responsive as well.
Our test unit featured an Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, 8GB of DDR3 memory and a 750GB hard drive. It also had both Intel HD Graphics 3000 for everyday use and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 540M GPU that propelled the unit to playable gaming frame rates; in the 60s at low detail and high 30s at high detail at 1024x768 resolution. You can also buy the U46SV with a Core i3, less memory and less capacious hard drives if our configuration's price tag seems too steep.
Besides the stellar battery life, the U46SV scored a 123 on WorldBench 6, excellent for a Core i5. Video of all resolutions plays smoothly and is rendered to good effect on the U46SV's 14 inch, 1366x768 display. So good, in fact, that when I tested with a 1080p DVD of True Grit (the Coen Brothers version), I wound up watching nearly the entire movie. Of course, it's also a very good movie. That experience was best with headphones; the U46SV's speakers sound weak and thin despite the Sonic Focus audio enhancement software that tries to overcome that fact.
The U46SV's ports include VGA and HDMI, three USB ports (one of which is USB 3.0), ethernet and an SD card slot. The laptop includes both headphone and microphone jacks, as well as a Kensington lock port on the back. You get a webcam, too, but for some reason Asus opted for a relatively low resolution 0.3 megapixel unit.
Though the U46SV turned in very nice performance numbers, it performs sluggishly for the first minute after booting with the stock software configuration. This is largely due to loading a whopping 32 non-standard startup items, the majority of which aren't particularly useful or necessary.
The primary reason for the long 6-hour, 41-minute run time is an unusually large 74-watt-hour battery. The large battery is also responsible for the U46SV's hefty 2.2 kg static and 2.7 kg travel (with AC adapter) weights, but clever design makes the unit feel lighter than those numbers might lead you to believe.
The battery protrudes about a half-inch beneath the back of the otherwise one-inch thick unit. That gives you a firm, yet comfortable grip when toting it about (part of the reason it doesn't feel as heavy as it is) and also adds a slight forward rake that puts your hand at a better typing angle. All told, the heavier, larger, longer-lasting battery should please more users than it discourages them.
The U46SV sports a stylish aluminum lid and keyboard deck, though the effect is cheapened slightly by chrome touchpad buttons and a rather bright power button. Still, while the touchpad buttons are distractingly reflective, they also have just the right amount of resistance. The U46SV's breathable Chiclet-style keyboard feels exactly like those found on Lenovo's U series (a good thing); crisp, even though the keys travel only a short distance. The touchpad is nicely responsive as well.
Our test unit featured an Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, 8GB of DDR3 memory and a 750GB hard drive. It also had both Intel HD Graphics 3000 for everyday use and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 540M GPU that propelled the unit to playable gaming frame rates; in the 60s at low detail and high 30s at high detail at 1024x768 resolution. You can also buy the U46SV with a Core i3, less memory and less capacious hard drives if our configuration's price tag seems too steep.
Besides the stellar battery life, the U46SV scored a 123 on WorldBench 6, excellent for a Core i5. Video of all resolutions plays smoothly and is rendered to good effect on the U46SV's 14 inch, 1366x768 display. So good, in fact, that when I tested with a 1080p DVD of True Grit (the Coen Brothers version), I wound up watching nearly the entire movie. Of course, it's also a very good movie. That experience was best with headphones; the U46SV's speakers sound weak and thin despite the Sonic Focus audio enhancement software that tries to overcome that fact.
The U46SV's ports include VGA and HDMI, three USB ports (one of which is USB 3.0), ethernet and an SD card slot. The laptop includes both headphone and microphone jacks, as well as a Kensington lock port on the back. You get a webcam, too, but for some reason Asus opted for a relatively low resolution 0.3 megapixel unit.
Though the U46SV turned in very nice performance numbers, it performs sluggishly for the first minute after booting with the stock software configuration. This is largely due to loading a whopping 32 non-standard startup items, the majority of which aren't particularly useful or necessary.
Lenovo IdeaPad V470
The Lenovo IdeaPad V470 is an ideal choice for users who want a budget-conscious notebook with both home and office features. It's equipped with a second-generation Intel dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, Intel HD graphics, and an HDMI port. Keep reading to find out more about this notebook, including full specifications, an overview of its build quality, and more.
BUILD AND DESIGN
The first thing you'll probably notice about the V470 is that it's an extremely attractive-looking notebook. It has a clean, dual-color scheme of metallic gray and black, as well as a glossy screen bezel. The look appears business-casual and classy. And, at 4.8 pounds with a 14.0-inch screen and just over an inch thick, it's portable, too.
The display cover and palm rest consist of brushed aluminum while the base is made of hardened plastic. Hardly any flex was seen when we pressed down on the palm rests with considerable pressure; it's constructed very well. The display cover isn't constructed as well, though -- it's just too thin to be considered sturdy. I could break it easily if I tried. Ripples appear on the screen when both top corners are bent inward. The chassis is much more durable; it doesn't flex much at all. Overall, we would consider the V470 to have good build quality if the display cover was thicker and less worrisome.
The hard drive and memory can be swapped out from the bottom panel. To replace the hard drive, simply remove a few screws as well as the drive compartment. The memory can also be increased up to 8GB (dual-channel) as there are two SO-DIMM sockets. If desired, the mini PCI Express card and optical drive can also be removed.
PORTS AND FEATURES
The V470 has a great port selection; above average for its price range. Even though it doesn't have USB 3.0, it has a total of four USB 2.0 ports, along with a 6-in-1 memory card reader, VGA, HDMI, eSATA, separate headphone and mic jacks, and an optical drive with CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD-Multi capabilities. The memory card reader is compatible with SD, SDHC, MMC, MS, MS Pro, and xD-Picture memory cards. The V470 also has a fingerprint reader to the right of the palm rest.
Front: Activity lights, speaker, 6-in-1 memory card reader, Wi-Fi on/off switch
Left: Lock slot, exhaust vent, VGA, Ethernet, HDMI, eSATA/USB 2.0 combo, USB 2.0
Right: Headphone jack, mic jack, USB 2.0, optical drive (CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD-Multi), USB 2.0
BUILD AND DESIGN
The first thing you'll probably notice about the V470 is that it's an extremely attractive-looking notebook. It has a clean, dual-color scheme of metallic gray and black, as well as a glossy screen bezel. The look appears business-casual and classy. And, at 4.8 pounds with a 14.0-inch screen and just over an inch thick, it's portable, too.
The display cover and palm rest consist of brushed aluminum while the base is made of hardened plastic. Hardly any flex was seen when we pressed down on the palm rests with considerable pressure; it's constructed very well. The display cover isn't constructed as well, though -- it's just too thin to be considered sturdy. I could break it easily if I tried. Ripples appear on the screen when both top corners are bent inward. The chassis is much more durable; it doesn't flex much at all. Overall, we would consider the V470 to have good build quality if the display cover was thicker and less worrisome.
The hard drive and memory can be swapped out from the bottom panel. To replace the hard drive, simply remove a few screws as well as the drive compartment. The memory can also be increased up to 8GB (dual-channel) as there are two SO-DIMM sockets. If desired, the mini PCI Express card and optical drive can also be removed.
PORTS AND FEATURES
The V470 has a great port selection; above average for its price range. Even though it doesn't have USB 3.0, it has a total of four USB 2.0 ports, along with a 6-in-1 memory card reader, VGA, HDMI, eSATA, separate headphone and mic jacks, and an optical drive with CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD-Multi capabilities. The memory card reader is compatible with SD, SDHC, MMC, MS, MS Pro, and xD-Picture memory cards. The V470 also has a fingerprint reader to the right of the palm rest.
Front: Activity lights, speaker, 6-in-1 memory card reader, Wi-Fi on/off switch
Left: Lock slot, exhaust vent, VGA, Ethernet, HDMI, eSATA/USB 2.0 combo, USB 2.0
Right: Headphone jack, mic jack, USB 2.0, optical drive (CD-RW/DVD-RW/DVD-Multi), USB 2.0
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