Launching an affordable lightweight laptop that appeals both to lifestyle and business markets is a fine idea and one lenovo clearly thinks has mileage in it. The new ThinkPad Edge is a stylish and affordable machine that is tasked with getting the ThinkPad brand into the world’s coffee shops, as well as its board rooms.
Previous ThinkPads tended to have both eyes fixed firmly on solidity and functionality rather than style and, while the Edge is still no beauty queen, it’s a clean and sober piece of design with enough appeal to straddle both consumer and corporate camps.
Besides a choice of either matte or gloss lid finishes, for the first time with a ThinkPad you get a choice of colours. So, besides the usual Henry Ford black, you can also have your Edge in a rather fetching heatwave red or the rather less adventurous can opt for the greyish, midnight black. Looks are only slightly let down by the exterior lid design, which does rather remind us of the trays used in motorway service station cafeterias. Also, the wide plastic screen bezel on the inside which looks a little cheap. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Intel launched its latest generation of netbook-centric Atom processors right at the end of 2009. While the following weeks saw plenty of announcements heralding new machines based on the chips, those PCs have only now started to arrive on shop shelves.
Asus is, of course, the genuine pioneer of the netbook arena, launching the very first machine in this class back in late 2007 – the Eee PC 701. Two and a bit years on, we have here the latest model: the 1005PE.
It’s essentially a revision of the 1005HA machine Asus launched in the summer of 2009 as the second netbook in its curvy Seashell series. The 1005HE followed the slimline 1008HA, losing the latter’s slimline, integrated lithium-polymer battery in favour of a more geek-friendly but bulky removable battery.
Give or take a few aesthetic tweaks, the 1005PE’s body matches that of the 1005HA. While it tapers sleekly to a thin front edge, the netbook’s keyboard section has a chunky rear end, almost entirely due to the six-cell 4400mAh battery that clips into a space at the back. While it’s flush with the back of the netbook, the battery bulges out below it, forcing Asus to fit the 1005PE with a set of longer-than-usual feet so that the base doesn’t rest on the battery. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Late last year we were left somewhat underwhelmed with Acer’s attempt at a 3D laptop. The Aspire 5738DZG was underpowered, making 3D gaming nigh-on impossible. Now Asus has entered the fray, with the G51J 3D, which handles the whole 3D thing in a very different way.
Asus’ G51J 3D: combining 3D and raw power
Instead of using a polarised pair of specs, Asus has opted for Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology. Just as important, however, is that the G51J 3D is much more powerful under the bonnet, with an Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory and Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M all combining to provide far more oomph than Acer’s attempt. As you might expect, this also means it will set you back a fair bit – £1,699, to be precise.
It’s a fairly bulky piece of kit, measuring 375 x 265 x 41mm. The battery also pokes out from the rear, which is a shame since given the size of the laptop there should have been room to keep it in within the confines of the chassis.
The laptop’s styling is questionable. The lid looks like Wolverine has gone to town on it, with a large tear motif sitting in the middle. Asus has also deemed it necessary to adorn the chassis with lights – two strips on either side and a third on the lid – as well as illuminating its Republic of Gamers logo. Somewhat annoyingly, it’s not possible to switch these blighters off. Worse still, leave the laptop in standby with the lid closed and the two lights on the top will endlessly flash. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Given its unparalleled success in the mobile phone market, it was only a matter of time before Nokia tried its hand at creating a laptop. The Finnish manufacturer isn’t keen on its Booklet 3G being called a netbook, though. Instead, ‘mini laptop’ is the preferred term. But with features such as 10.1in screen and Intel Atom processor, it sure looks like a netbook to us.
A common complaint with netbooks (not least from Reg readers) is that prices have crept up and up ever since Asus started the whole thing off back in 2007 with its £220 Eee PC 701. Given the Booklet 3G’s price tag is nearly three times this figure, we’re fairly confident a large proportion of you will instantly dismiss it. Before we deliver our judgment, though, we’ll take a closer look at exactly what that £649 gets you.
At 264 x 185 x 19.9mm and weighing 1.25kg, it’s on a par with other 10in netbooks in terms of portability. And were it not for the Nokia logo on the glossy lid (it’s available in black, ice and azure flavours), you’d be forgiven for thinking this netbook had crept out of Apple’s labs. Indeed, with its aluminium chassis and minimalistic design, it has a certain mini-MacBook feel to it. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Sony discovered it had a major problem when the first round of netbooks hit the market in late 2007. Having spent years educating well-heeled consumers that small notebooks were expensive, shoppers were hit by a deluge of small, light laptops that did everything they wanted for a fraction of Sony’s traditionally high prices.
Sony’s Vaio X series: weight loss comes at a price
Sony finally caved, and produced the tempting, sub-£500 Mini W, which frankly only makes the admittedly beautiful X series even stranger. At £1200 in its cheapest incarnation, it’s perhaps the most expensive Atom-powered machine available today – an odd contradiction, since spending more money on a laptop normally results in more power. Read the rest of this entry »
