Samsung’s Light-Weight N100 Takes Off

Samsung has launched a new netbook today, called the N100. It’s based on the Intel Atom N435 dual-core processor that runs at a speed of 1.33 GHz. Unlike almost other netbooks in the market, the N100 runs on Intel’s MeeGo operating system. The 10.1-inch display netbook comes bundled with 1 GB of DDR3 memory and a 250 GB 5400 rpm hard drive. The display supports a standard resolution of 1024x600. Graphics is powered by an integrated Intel GMA 3150 solution. The battery on the N100 is only a 3-cell one. Being a netbook, it’s light-weight and weighs no more than 1.03 kg. 

One of the first to offer the MeeGo OS

Samsung claims that the new MeeGo operating system should offer good energy efficiency and performance. The operating system is optimized to let users view online and offline content easily, as well as social networking services. Samsung is also offering options for a free DOS operating system version and Windows 7. The keyboard on the N100, according to Samsung has been designed with good spacing, making the typing simpler. The Samsung N100 is priced for Rs. 12,290, which makes it one of the cheapest netbooks around. 

Samsung Launches 3G Ready NC110 Netbook Exclusively for Croma Stores

Samsung have launched a new 3G enabled netbook, the NC110, exclusively for Croma retail outlets. The 10.1-inch netbook is priced around Rs.21,500, but the exact configuration details are still unknown. With the 3G boom currently happening in India, Samsung hopes to take advantage of this and create a new segment in the netbook space. 3G Ready! The NC110 will run Windows 7 Starter Edition and will come with a built-in 3G modem, which means all you have to do is slip in a 3G ready SIM card and you should be good to go. The netbook is pretty light as well weighing in at just 1.18kg (when using the 6600mAh battery). If you wish to get your hands on it though, you’ll have to visit your nearest Croma outlet, since that’s the only place you’ll find it. A 3G ready netbook makes sense as you don’t lose a USB port for a data card plus it looks a lot neater than having a dongle sticking out of the side.

Acer Ushers in New 5830TG TimelineX Multimedia Notebook

Acer’s TimelineX series of notebooks have always been received well, ever since they were launched more than a year back. Like any annual upgrade cycle, Acer has once again refreshed the series with new specifications and design with the new Aspire 5830T and 5830TG (with discrete graphics) notebooks. Prices start from Rs.32,999 for the base model.

Slim, yet power-packed

Configurations include a choice between a Core i5 or Core i3 SandyBridge CPU, up to 4GB of memory, 500GB hard drive and an optional GT 540M graphics card. It will also pack in two USB 3.0 ports, HDMI, Bluetooth 3.0 along with the regular assortment of ports and connectors. On the audio front, we have Dolby Theatre v4 audio for richer sound and the notebook will also feature Creative’s ClearFi streaming media service, which can connect to any DLNA certified device. No word on the battery life but if Acer decides to implement Nvidia’s Optimus then we could expect above average backup time.

Acer Redesigns Its Aspire TimelineX Series

Acer India has further expanded its product portfolio with the introduction of its Aspire 5830T and Aspire 5830TG range of notebooks

The Aspire 5830T and Aspire 5830TG range of notebook is powered by the latest second-generation Intel Core i5 and i3 processors with Turbo Boost technology. The inbuilt Acer PowerSmart Technology reportedly provides extended battery life for up to eight hours on a single charge. 

The new TimelineX 5830T/TG notebook reportedly features a 16:9 HD Widescreen LED-backlit display. The Aspire TimelineX notebook has the NVIDIA G540M, enabling the users to switch between graphics options. The notebook is is said to provide High-definition audio support, through Dolby Theatre v4 Audio, with its two built-in 3DSonic Stereo speakers. The notebooks also have HDMI output, and USB 3.0 port and feature a chiclet keyboard and a large multi–gesture touchpad.

Mr S Rajendran, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer India, was quoted in the press release as saying, "Acer Aspire TimelineX is our flagship product, mobility and convenience being the key factor for customers to choose their notebook; we have launched this product with acute technology that would help users in all day computing. The designs measure about an inch thick making it extremely convenient for users to carry their notebook where ever they go. This series further embodies style and performance while maintaining its slim and sleek form factor."

The new TimelineX notebooks are also reportedly embedded with Acer clear.fi, a cross-platform solution for media enjoyment and sharing with DLNA-compliant devices, so customers can easily access, store and enjoy digital media from almost anywhere in an office, home or from the cloud. The notebook also comes with fast ethernet, Bluetooth 3.0+HS, and is Wi-Fi certified.

The press release stated that the eXtreme 15.6-inch TimelineX notebook range starts at Rs. 32.999+taxes.

Toshiba Launches Industry’s Smallest 8MP CMOS Sensor

Acouple of days back, Toshiba announced the world’s smallest 8MP CMOS sensor with 1.12 micrometer pixel size. Even with this size, it still manages to capture great quality, thanks to the back side illumination (BSI) technology, similar to the sensor currently being used in the iPhone 4. The smallest one yet Packing 8MP into a sensor that small would usually mean degradation in image quality due to the way in which the lens are packed which limits light absorption. Positioning the lens in the rear, boosts light sensitivity and allows finer image pixels in a smaller CMOS sensor. Toshiba have managed to pack in 8.08 million pixels in to a ¼-inch sensor.  This will most likely be used in upcoming mobile phones and tablets, but it could very well be used for compact cameras, as well. The new sensor will go into mass production from the end of 2011, so it doesn’t seem like the iPhone 5 would be packing one of these, or would it?

Sandia Labs Develops Revolutionary Heatsink for Microelectronics

The traditional heatsink fan design is one where a fan rotates at a high speed, while placed above a metal heatsink that’s usually made of alumunium or copper. Sandia National Labs in Livermore, California has designed a new heatsink design, which they claim will shake up the conventional air cooling heatsink market. The new Sandia Cooler that’s also known as “Air Bearing Heat Exchanger” was designed by Jeff Koplow, a researcher at Sandia Labs. The new Sandia Cooler uses a slightly different approach. A brushless motor drives a slightly different arrangement of fins which is positioned closely to the base metal heatsink.

Effective, quieter cooling solutions on the horizon

Traditional coolers have dead air that cling to the fins of the heatsink. The new heatsink design should make heatsinks more efficient and also a lot quieter. Sandia Labs is looking out for interested parties who wish to use the mass produce the product for commercial purposes. There’s also benefits to be repeated in other coooling systems in other products such as air conditioners. If used on a large scale, the technology should be able to cut down power consumption by 7 per cent. 

Corsair Announces Worldwide Availability of H80 and H100 CPU Coolers

With their H50 and H70 coolers doing swimmingly well, Corsair has added two more CPU coolers to their Hydro Series lineup. The H80 and H100 are very similar in terms of features and only differ in the size of their radiators. Both include Corsair's Link digital connector that lets you monitor the temperature and control the fan speed.

Dual radiators for efficient cooling

Both feature the latest cooling technology from Corsair and are easy to install and maintain, just like their smaller siblings. The cooler itself is light weight and features a copper cold plate and a split-flow manifold for better cooling. It also has a digital fan control with three presets. The H80 is designed for standard ATX cases and packs just a single 120mm radiator, while the H100 uses a dual 120mm radiator and is compatible with larger cases.

India prices are not yet known but in the US, the H80 carries a retail price of $109 (Rs.4,905) whereas the H100 sells for $119 (Rs.5,355).

Logitech Launches N200 Cooling Pad in India

Logitech have launched the successor to their N100 cooling pad, the N200, for a retail price of Rs.1,595 with a two year warranty which will be available starting this month. The N200 features a similar padded base so you can comfortably use it on your lap, as well.

Comfortable to use

The Logitech N200 features variable fan speeds (two settings) and a larger fan for more silent operations. The cooler is powered by USB and features rear and side grills for air intake. The front portion is curved a bit, so the laptop doesn’t just slide off when you move. You will be losing one USB port, though and there isn’t any USB hub to compensate that.

Acer Aspire One 522 Netbook Review

Today, we have Acer’s new Aspire One based on the AMD Fusion platform - the Aspire One 522. This 10.1-inch budget series netbook is targeted towards anyone looking for a trendy and compact netbook under 20K. The recently reviewed Asus 1015PX also falls in the same category so let’s see how well the Acer 522 fares against it.

Design and Build Quality
I quite like Acer’s minimalistic design of the 522, it gives the appearance of a slim netbook without any extra fluff. It’s stylish as well, with a lacquer gloss finish on the lid. It will certainly appeal to the younger generation. Despite its slim profile, it doesn't feel very light weight at 1.3kg. There are a total of three USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, VGA port, LAN jack, microphone and headphone jack and finally the card reader. The battery protrudes a little from the back giving the netbook a slight elevation. It’s not too much to cause an ugly bulge though.

Good paint job

Opening up the lid, we have a glossy 10.1-inch screen with a rather high resolution of 1280x720, not a common occurrence in netbooks of this size. The glossy effect does introduce reflections but it’s not too bad since the brightness is sufficiently high to cancel most of it. The chiclet keyboard packs in slightly larger than normal keys for a netbook which is good for those with fat fingers. There’s just a power button up top with a blue LED light around it. The Acer bundles a carry pouch and charger along with some instruction booklets and the warranty card.

Overall, I really liked the build and finish of the 522. It’s crafted well from good quality plastics and you wont find any creaks even if you press it.

Features
At the heart of the Aspire One 522, we have AMD’s Fusion APU, the C-50, which is a dual-core running at 1GHz. Rest of the specifications include 2GB DDR3 RAM and a 320GB hard drive, good enough for a budget netbook. The OS is Windows 7 Starter which offers all the basic options you’ll ever need on this machine.

Looks smart!

Acer also throws in some bundled software like McAfee Antivirus (Trial) and Office Starter Edition. They also have some of their own software like Crystal Eye Webcam which lets you capture and record videos and Acer Game Zone which is a collection of mini games. The 522 is also “AMD HD Internet” certified which means the netbook should handle HD media streaming and playback with ease. Finally we have Bluetooth and WiFi ‘n’ built-in as well. Next let’s see how it performs.

Performance PCMark Vantage gave us a score of 1572 PCMarks which is standard for a netbook. The rest of the scores are in the table below. In SiSOFT SANDRA, the C-50 is not able to keep up with the Atom N570 which runs at a faster speed. The same is reflected in our video encoding tests, it took a whole 4 minutes longer compared to the Asus. POVRay fared better since the on-board GPU of the Fusion chip is superior to Intel’s HD graphics. Good GPU performance but can't say the same about the CPU General and Multimedia Windows 7 feels really  sluggish due to the lower powered C-50 APU. When it comes to rendering graphics, the GPU is more than capable but sadly the CPU lacks the raw processing power which is why even navigating through Windows Explorer feels slow and there is a noticeable lag. Applications take longer than usual to open and doing multiple tasks tends to bog the netbook down. Although it may be a dual-core, it doesn't feel like it - in fact the first generation Atom felt snappier. I also noticed the bottom left portion warms up pretty quickly even if the netbook is sitting idle. The problem appears to be the lack of proper ventilation on the side. Coming to the screen, the vertical viewing angles are pretty poor as well although the horizontal ones are slightly better. Chiclet keyboard makes typing easier I set out to test the “HD Internet” certification that the 522 flaunts. After installing the latest version of Flash  for IE, I fired up a 1080p YouTube video . The playback was smooth although at times I noticed a slight stutter in the video. Non-flash based HD videos fare much better though. A quick install of K-Lite Codec pack and I was able to play a 1080p MKV with just 40% of CPU usage. This time playback was smooth with out any skipping of frames and there wasn’t any lag jumping back and forth in the movie. The high resolution screen makes watching movies a real treat, however the sound is weak with the built-in speakers so you might want to use external speakers or headphones. Battery life With Battery Eater Pro, the Aspire One 522 lasted 3 hours, which is lower than the Asus1015PX which managed 30 minutes more. Under normal use, you should expect around 4-5hrs of back up time. This is very average for a netbook and I expected a lot more from it especially since the APU is clocked at a lower speed. Verdict The end user price of the Acer Aspire One is Rs.16994, which is fairly decent for a netbook capable of playing back 1080p videos. If that’s all you care about and don’t mind the overall sluggish performance of Windows, then I’d recommend it. However, if you’re ok with just playing 720p and want a snappier performing netbook then the Asus 1015PX offers better value and is quite a bit cheaper as well. The Acer 522 has some good things going for it like the HD screen, 1080p video playback, HDMI-out and great design and build quality. However, it runs unnecessarily warm, has an average battery life and worst of all, the APU is too weak to handle Windows 7 smoothly

Plextor PX-256M2S 256GB SSD

Solid State Drives were said to get popular and it appears, that’s happening. A majority of people though are still clueless as to what an SSD is. There are those who think of them as external drives or larger capacity flash drives. In India, SSDs are not mainstream or as well known as hard disk drives. We don't blame them for not being aware as SSDs are a fairly recent form of storage as compared to hard disk drives.

SSDs use memory chips instead of a moving platter like the ones found in HDDs, thus they are less susceptible to shocks, are virtually silent, and have lower access time and latency. In addition to this, solid state drives are normally found in a 2.5-inch form factor and are extremely light weight and can also fit into your notebook.

Silent and cool

Plextor is a company we haven’t heard about in a while. They were last known for their optical drives, but have dipped in the SSD market and launched a 2.5-inch SSD in three different capacities. We have the largest capacity model, the Plextor PX-256M2S 256 GB SSD for review.

Design and Features
Internal drives are rarely good to look at, but we were surprised by the design of the PX-256M2S, with its stylish brushed metal exterior. The Plextor PX-256M2S 256GB falls under the M2 Series of SSDs, as the latter half of the model number suggests. You can also find 128GB and 64GB models in this series. The drive features a SATA 6 GB/s interface. With hard drives, there’s little worry of SATA2 being a bottleneck, but with an SSD, there’s a good chance that the drive could be faster. Having SATA3 support is a good thing in this case.

Furthermore, the drive features a Marvell 88SS9174 controller chip, and Plextor boasts of sequential read rates up to 480MB/s and sequential write rate up to 330MB/s with this drive. Read on to see if these real world test scores actually live up to the company’s claims.

The drive also features TRIM command which is basically a command that allows an operating system to inform an SSD which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.

256 GB with incredible speed at a cost!

Test Rig Specifications
Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40 GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte P67A-UD3R
Memory: Corsair Dominator GT 4 GB DDR3 (2 x 2 GB)
Hard drive: WD Velociraptor  300 GB
GPU: Palit GTX560 Ti
PSU: Cooler Master 1000W

Performance The Plextor PX-256M2S solid state drive was put through the regular tests undertaken in our labs, which included synthetic tests, as well as real world file transfer speed tests. To start off, after running each test, the entire rig was completely shut down and restarted, so as to prevent any kind of caching. In addition to this, no application was running in the background and our system was isolated from the network. In the synthetic benchmark tests, we ran SiSoft Sandra and the average write speed recorded was 417 MB/s, which is expected from a high-performance SSD such as this. The random access time noted through the same synthetic test was 60ms. Real world scores were recorded by running a file transfer test from our Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB to the Plextor SSD. We copied test data sets from the WD drive to the SSD and back. There was also a copy test between partitions in the Plextor SSD. In this case, we noticed that the WD Velociraptor tends to be a bottleneck while transferring data, so we used a software to generate a data set and directly dump it on the SSD. The write speed noticed on to the Plextor 256GB SSD was 261MB/s for a single file transfer and the assorted file transfer recorded a speed of 334MB/s. The inter partition file transfer tests were done using a real world data transfer test. For the single 4GB, we recorded an average speed of 146MB/s, while the multiple file transfer test notched an average score of 132MB/s. We tried writing data from the SSD back to the Velociraptor, and noticed a major drop in performance due to the bottleneck. Write tests from the drive were undertaken using the same real world file transfer test and the average speed for a single 4G file transfer seen was 109 MB/s. The multiple 4 GB file transfer came off a little worse with the average speed recorded was 81 MB/s. Slim and light weight Verdict It’s clear that the Plextor PX-256M2S is an impressive performer. The read, write and copy tests were all way higher than any drive we’ve tested, so far. The inter-copy drive testifies that. Usually, even the fastest of hard drives crawl at 40 - 60 MB/s in inter-partition copy tests, but a score of 146 MB/s takes the SSD to a completely new level An MRP of Rs. 27,500 makes it an extremely expensive storage solution. It’s definitely not value for money, even if you consider its scorching transfer rates. Anyone building an extreme high-end performance rig wanting the absolute best of performance and reasonable storage capacity should buy this. The only other way to get this kind of performance might be by using RAID on two or more very fast hard drives.

Dell Inspiron 15R (N5110) - Good Value for Money

Dell’s Inspiron range has always been the go-to notebook whenever you’re looking for something cheap, but reliable. The series has always managed to offer a great balance of features and performance without costing a bomb which is why it's so popular. The Inspiron line up gets its annual dose of upgrades and every year we see a refreshed design with new internals depending on what Intel has to offer. At the start of 2011, we reviewed Dell’s new Inspiron 15R notebook, which featured a funkier design (huge upgrade from the old drab one) and new innards at an attractive price.

Dell recently launched a slightly tweaked version of the 15R and for reasons unknown calls it - New! Inspiron 15R. Silly as it sounds, the ‘new’ series brings with it quite a significant change compared to its predecessor. Let’s see if this offers a better bang for buck.

Design and Build

Fashionable look

The design hasn’t changed all that much and from far you won't be able to tell the two apart. The new addition is a removable faceplate which can be swapped for a variety of colors and designs. There’s a little button added below the lid that lets you unlock the faceplate. Installing a new one is pretty simple, simply allign the hinges and it snaps into place.

USB 3.0 ports offer good future proofing

The ports have also been shufled around a bit. The right side now has the DVD burner, headphone and microphone jack and a USB 3.0 port, a first in the Inspiron series. The rear has another USB 3.0 port along with LAN jack, charging port and a VGA port. On the left, we have a multi-card reader, a USB 2.0 port and an ESATA/USB port, which can also charge any USB device when the notebook is off. There’s nothing on the front other than the status lights.The build quality very good. Although, it’s primarily plastic, I didn’t find any creaking parts, or too much screen flex.

The screen has a glossy finish to it which makes the picture pop a little, but also introduces reflections. The area around the keyboard has a matte finish and there’s plenty of space around the palm rest for the largest of hands. Dell has included a chiclet keyboard which makes typing very comfortable even for long durations. The keys are sized well and have sufficient spacing around them. They also have a better response than the older Inspiron 15R and the flex issue is slightly reduced. The trackpad is very large giving you ample room to work with. 

Features
The changes to the Inspiron 15R are not merely cosmetic. It packs the latest Sandy Bridge Core i3 2310M running at 2.1GHz. Along with that, we have 4GB of memory, a spacious 320GB hard drive and an Nvidia GT 525M with 1GB dedicated memory. Coupled with Windows 7 Home Premium, it seems like a very potent notebook for multi-media.

Large screen is perfect for movies

The 15.6-inch screen gives you plenty of real estate to work with, although we wish the resolution would have been a little higher than 1366x768. It also features Intel’s WiDi (Wireless Display) technology which allows you to mirror your screen on a compatible HDTV. Along with this you get the regular software suite from Dell like PC Restore, DellSafe, Dell Webcam Central, McAfee Antivirus (trial), etc pre-installed.

Performance 3DMark Vantage - P3840 3DMark 11 - P888 SiSOFT SANDRA 2010 Processor Arithmetic Dhrystone (ALU) - 34.5 Whetstone (iSSE3) - 24.5 Processor Multimedia Integer (x8 iSSE3) - 62 Float (x4 iSSE2) - 85.8 Memory Bandwidth Int (iSSE3) - 9.45 Float (iSSE2) - 9.46 Dirt 2 (1366x768, all High, DX11-On) - 35FPS General and Multimedia usage The N5110 may be built well, but it's also quite heavy to lug around. At roughly 2.65kg, it’s not really light and you’ll certainly feel the weight in your backpack. It’s ideal use would be at home, perhaps as a desktop replacement. The glossy screen makes quite a difference when viewing web pages, photos or videos, everything seems richer and more vibrant. I quite enjoyed using the keypad and while the feedback from the keys feels a little spongy, it's not a deal breaker in anyway. Keys have a good feedback The trackpad was very problematic, though and refused to work properly. There is quite a bit of lag when you use it and many times it would just behave erratically. We tried re-installing the drivers, but didn’t have much luck. Another odd thing we noticed, was that both the display adapters (Intel and Nvidia ) are active which is something we usually see in Optimus enabled notebooks. After a little digging around, I found that the GT 525M does indeed support Optimus, but it’s up to the manufacture to implement it. Dell doesn’t seem to have bothered with this and it’s a real shame, since the resulting product could have been so much better. Swappable faceplates HD movies look really good and the sound is not bad, either. The speakers are placed in the front towards you and are SRS certified which makes them really good for music and movies. The sound does tend to distort a bit at high volumes and the bass is virtually non-existent. The vertical viewing angles aren’t the best, but the horizontal angles are good enough for watching a movie with a couple of friends. Finally, I wanted to try Intel’s WiDi technology, but sadly you need a WiDi compatible box to be connected to the the TV first to pair both of them. Battery Life The N5110 is fitted with a 6-cell 48Whr battery, which managed to give us a battery life of just 1hr 30min in Battery Eater Pro. This is with the notebook set to ‘Balanced mode’, Wi-Fi off and the screen brightness set to full. If Dell had used Nvidia’s Optimus technology, we could have seen a much better battery life. Verdict The configuration we received works out to Rs.40,150 from Dell’s website and is inclusive of shipping and delivery costs, which is a very aggressive price. With this kind of feature set and components, you’re set for the next two years, at least. Dell has taken an already popular series of notebooks and just made it even better by offering a better processor, USB 3.0 and a discrete DX11 graphics card – all for a lower price as compared to its predecessor. My main problem with this is the annoying trackpad, average battery life and lack of Nvidia’s Optimus implementation, which is what’s stopping the new N5110 from being a real steal.

Fujitsu Announces Bay Projector for Two Lifebook Laptops

Fujitsu has just announced a one of a kind mobile projector that fits into the Lifebook S761 and P771 converting your laptop into a mobile cinema. The projector is only compatible with the above two models though and not for any other notebook. No pricing has been revealed till now.

A handy little projector

The design is completely modular so when you don’t need the projector, you can easily swap it for an optical drive, a second battery or simply leave it open less weight. The projector weighs just 210g, so it’s quite light. It’s also compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7. The projector also comes with brightness and keystone correction and the lamp has 40ANSI lumens. The brightness level is a bit low so ambient light will be a problem. There’s no mention of how large a screen you’ll be able to project but we hazard a guess of 60-inches or five feet. The projector is great for businessmen who travel a lot - this way any darkened space can be a meeting room for your presentations.

Acer Announces Two Notebooks in the Aspire Ethos Range

Acer is adding some more mettle to their already-existing, huge range of laptops by bringing in the 8951G and the 5951G notebooks. Belonging to the Aspire Ethos series, these laptops seem to be well-equipped, at least in terms of features and specifications.

An expensive Ethos

Both the 5951G and the 8951G will be featuring Core i processors and graphic cards from NVIDIA’s stable – GeForce GT500, to be precise. While the 5951G has an HD display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, the 8951G will have a Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution and both of these displays are encased in scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass.

The new Aspire Ethos notebooks also boast of Dolby Home Theater v4 solutions. The 8951G has five Dolby-tuned built-in speakers and Acer’s own Tuba CineBass subwoofer. On the other hand, the 5951G will support 5.1-channel surround sound with built-in stereo speakers and with the Acer Tuba CineBass booster. Rest of the specifications include an option between a Blu-Ray or an optical drive, USB ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and what Acer calls as big sized HDD for storage purposes.

While the specs and features look good, these Ethos notebooks will be priced from a whopping £999 (approx Rs. 73,400).

Computex 2011: MSI Unveils Wind Top All-in-One PC Series

At Computex 2011, popular brand MSI unveiled at the event, its latest range of Wind Top series – Wind Top AP2000 and Wind Top AP2011. The desktop range has been readied keeping in mind the varying needs of MSI’s dynamic clientele, MSI stated. The Wind Top AP2000 is MSI’s All-in-One PC AP2000. The Wind Top series, MSI states upholds the needs of the business men and other professionals. Here’s a look at the specifications in detail:

Soaring high...

• Intel Pentium Processor P6200 (2.13 GHz)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
• 20” 16:9 widescreen single touch panel (1600*900)
• 2GB DDR3 Memory, Max to 8GB
• 500GB Hard Drive
• Tray-in DVD Super Multi
• 1.3M Webcam and Microphone

In addition to the specifications mentioned above, MSI claims to have added several features including LED panels on their All-in-One desktop range to enhance its inclination towards global environment protection trends. Since LED panels consume 30 per cent lesser electricity, they seem to be a friendlier option.

Yet another one, in the series that was unveiled was the Wind Top AP2011 that comes packed with Intel’s second generation Core processor with immense power, which MSI claims is apt for multitasking purposes.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Laptop Comes to India

Popular technology brand, Lenovo has officially launched the ThinkPad X1 in India, today. The ThinkPad XI is a part of Lenovo’s much spoken about ThinkPad X Series.

Slim...

Lenovo claims that its ThinkPad X1 would make for an apt buy for those who look for cutting edge performance, a host of entertainment options, and mobility. One of ThinkPad’s most noticeable features would be the fact that it measures less than 17mm, which translates to a super-slim body. The ThinkPad's height is approximately that of a U.S. penny. The ThinkPad X1 comes with a 13.3 inches screen made of Corning Gorilla Glass which Lenovo claims add to its durability and rigidity.

The other features that Lenovo has packed include RapidCharge – a feature that can recharge batteries to 80 per cent in merely 30 minutes. Additionally, the ThinkPad includes VOIP experience bundled with noise and echo cancellation. The Lenovo ThinkPad is now available from Rs. 90,000 onwards, with the prices depending on the configuration.

Dell Launches Inspiron 14R and 15R Laptops

Dell, a popular brand in the innovative technology space has introduced two additions to its existing Inspiron range in the country. The range, as the name suggests, is Dell's attempt to introduce its latest mantra - Change is Easy to the consumers. The Inspiron R range includes the 14R and 15R, these are 14 and 15 inch laptops respectively by Dell. The 'Change is Easy' mantra translates to its latest changeable lids concept. All set to Inspire? Adding a pinch of style, Dell offers as much as 10 different lids which can be changed by a 'pop and a click'. Additionally, the Inspiron R range comes packed with Intel's second generation core processors. It also comes loaded with Windows 7 Premium and upto 4GB of memory. Other features of the Inspiron R range, include - Weight starting at 2.24 kg for the Inspiron 14R 6-cell battery SRS Premium Audio and high-definition video performance Support for Blu-ray 3D movie playback when equipped with the optional Blu-ray drive and connected to your 3D TV (HDMI 1.4 required)  Integrated Dell Stage software, providing one-click access to photos, music, videos, social-networking sites, e-books and more HD capable webcam Chiclet-style keyboard The Inspiron 14R is available now, with prices starting from Rs. 34,300, and the Inspiron 15R is available for Rs. 35,300. The interchangeable lids has been made available at an additional cost of Rs. 1,999.

Best laptops under Rs 30,000

Recently, we’ve been getting queries as to what one should buy; a netbook or a laptop, from a budget point of view. Well, both these devices serve different purposes, while netbooks are mainly meant for basic computing on the go, laptops are capable of doing more than just chat, email, casual Internet surfing and such. Even the most entry-level laptop is much more powerful than a standard netbook. Unlike netbooks, laptops are more comfortable to work on, in terms of ergonomics. Laptops are better at handling demanding applications like designing suites, multimedia, video playback and such. But netbooks tend to become sluggish even with multiple tabs during heavy Internet browsing, let alone multitasking and heavy applications. However, this fact is also about to change soon when netbooks with Nvidia’s Ion platform and dual-core Intel Atom processors take the market with storm.

We’ve listed a few budget laptops, a few of which might already be owned by some of you and some might be new. All laptops in this list fall under the Rs 30,000 price bracket, and most of them can perform the daily computing tasks seamlessly. Let’s take a quick look at them and see which one bags the ‘best pick’ title.

Samsung R522
Price: Rs 26,250
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300, 2.1 Ghz
RAM: 3 GB DDR2
HDD: 320GB
Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
DVD-Writer
Screen: 14-inch HD
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Basic

Samsung R528-DA01IN
Price: Rs 24,000
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core T4400, 2.2 GHz
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
HDD: 250 GB
Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
DVD-Writer
Screen: 15.6-inch HD
Operating System: DOS

Samsung R528-DA03IN
Price: 27,750
Processor: Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo T6600, 2.2 GHz
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
HDD: 250 GB
Connectivity: Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
DVD-Writer
Screen: 15.6-inch HD
Operating System: DOS

Sony VAIO S - Slim, Trim but Mighty

The introduction of netbooks brought in low-power computing, but it also brought along compact laptops that were easy to carry around. Suddenly, ultra portable notebooks were seen as extremely expensive. Sony's new compact VAIO S notebooks for those who want less baggage People have always wanted light-weight notebooks and it looks like Sony’s new VAIO S series might be offer users just that. They offer better performance and also, an optical drive which netbooks can’t. We’ve received one of the models from this series - VAIO S VPCSB16FG.   Features The VAIO S comes with a 13.3-inch display that supports a resolution of 1366x768. The processing power comes an Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor, the Core i5 2520M that’s clocked at 2.50 GHz bundled with 4GB of DDR3 memory. Sony bundled Windows 7 Home Premium on this particular model. There’s also an AMD Radeon HD 6470M graphics solution which should offer good HD playback performance as well as graphics performance sufficient for some gaming.   External connectivity options include USB 3.0 devices Apart from that, the laptop comes with a USB 3.0 port along with two other USB 2.0 ports. External displays can be connected using the HDMI port or the D-Sub port. Two memory card readers are present on the side. One of the readers is dedicated for SD cards while the other for Sony’s Memorystick cards. There’s an slot hidden under a flap at the bottom of the laptop that is there to allow you to connect an extension battery to the laptop.  Activity indicators and a switch to turn on wireless connectivity There’s a dedicated slider for the wireless connectivity that lets you switch it on or off quickly. One of the other controls is the Stamina-Speed slider which sets the laptop into a more power saving mode and the speed mode offers better performance. LED indicators for the Caps lock and Num Lock are present above the array of keys.   Build Quality and Design The back of the laptop has a rough matte finish unlike most other notebooks that come with a clean glossy finish. The same treatment is given to the sides of the noteboook. Overall, the notebook is pretty sturdy.  Something different - a rough matte finished back The hinge isn’t very sturdy and it wobbles with the slightest of movements. We weren’t terribly fond of the trackpad and the buttons on it. The clicks are hard to register if you press on the edges of the buttons.   A decent keyboard layout that's easy to get used to The keyboard is pretty good fun to use. The isolated keys - chiclet design is easy to use. Key strokes are hardly missed after a while of getting used to it. The layout is pretty spread out and there’s no clustering of keys. Being a 13.3-inch display notebook, it lacks a dedicated numerical pad. The keys don’t feel very sturdy and we noticed some squeaking sounds from some of the keys while using them rather roughly. Although this laptop isn’t designed for gamers, you might not want to go easy on the keys  Performance CPU and memory subsystem performance was decent. PCMark Vantage scores were 6771. Video encoding of our standard clip took no more than 1 min 12 seconds, which is pretty good for a notebook. It’s almost twice as fast as a good netbook but a little slower than a decent Core i7 based netbook. Frame rates in Cinebench R11's OpenGL test was 18.32 fps, which is respectable. Frame rates in Unigine averaged 11.1 at high settings.  One should be able to do some amount of gaming on it at medium and low quality settings. Older games from a couple of years back should run perfectly fine though. Switch to toggle between performance and power-saving modes The hard drive performance was average. With a sequential 2GB set of data being written on the drive, we recorded speeds of 37.5 MB/s. In terms of power, it’s a relatively powerful configuration for mainstream desktop application, but not necessarily suitable for gaming or high-end content creation suites.   Our intensive battery life test ran for 56 minutes, which is slightly below average. The battery test we run does stress the entire system quite a bit, but we’ve seen laptops run for close to an hour and a half.   A fairly large trackpad, not necessarily the best The touchpad supports multitouch and gestures, but it’s not the most sensitive and most accurate of trackpads we’ve seen. The viewing angles on the VAIO S are decent. The color rendition is pretty saturated and is great for browsing and watching movies. The contrast levels aren’t as impressive though. The darks appear grey instead of pitch black. Speaker quality is decent but they aren’t really loud.    Verdict At Rs. 56,990, it’s not exactly great value for money as far as performance is concerned. It’s design like many of Sony’s other designs are catchy. As you plan on using it as a mobile workhorse, you’re bound to get better performance in the battery-life department for cheaper. There’s a price to pay for slightly higher performance - in terms of money, as well as battery life. If you’re going to be using this laptop at home or at in office on a powered line, the battery life shouldn’t be an issue and the new VAIO S makes a good buy for anyone looking out a light-weight portable laptop to carry everyday. There are other manufacturers offering solutions at similar prices but few of them include an optical drive solution.