Microsoft puts back China Windows Phone 7 launch

Microsoft expects its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system to launch in China during the first half of 2012, rather than in late 2011 as originally planned, the company said Saturday.

The US software giant is working to "ensure local citizens have a great experience with Windows Phones", and is working closely with its partners in China to determine through what channels and when buy wholesale Windows Phones will be available regionally, it said.

Microsoft had initially said it wanted to launch Windows Phone 7 in China during the second half of 2011. At the time, Microsoft had been in discussions with Chinese handset makers including Lenovo, ZTE and Huawei Technologies about developing Windows Phone 7 devices for china phone consumers.

The delay is probably due to the company wanting more time to negotiate deals with partners, or to better refine the operating system for Chinese consumers, said Mark Natkin, managing director for wholesale cell phones Marbridge Consulting. The company will likely take what it has learned from releasing Windows Phone 7 devices in other markets, and use those lessons for the launch of the phone in China.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for more information on the reasons for the delay.

China presents an important opportunity for Microsoft. The country has already surpassed the US to become the world's largest smartphone market by shipments, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. In the hiphone third quarter, 23.9 million smartphones were shipped in the country, 600,000 units more than the US.

The hottest selling smartphones in China are those using Google's Android operating system. In the third watch phone quarter, Android smartphones had a 58 percent market share, according to research firm Analysys International.

Nokia's Symbian OS had the second highest market share, at 23 percent, a major drop from the 68 percent share it elderly phones had a year ago. Nokia has now adopted Windows Phone 7 for its smartphones, and earlier this WiFi Mobile Phone

year it also plans to launch handsets with Microsoft's mobile OS in China. However, the company did not give a specific launch date.

In China, Microsoft has a strong partner in Nokia, considering that the three sim phone smartphone vendor has a well known brand and a far-reaching retail distribution, Natkin said. Microsoft could also choose to target its Windows Phone 7 devices at China's business users, a segment of the market few smartphone vendors have gone after, he said.

10 Top Holiday Deals forTablet, Laptop, and Desktop Bargain Hunters

The holiday season is closing in and time is running out for shoppers looking to send or receive gifts across the country in time for Christmas. Time may not be on your side, but the deals are. Here's a AS07A32 look at this week's best sales for all the computer geeks on your list. Whether AS07A71 they're looking for a tablet, laptop, or deskop we've found something for everyone. Take a look.

BEST BUY: GATEWAY DESKTOP, $450

Model: DX4860-UB32P

Specs: 3.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2120, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB hard disk drive, multi-card reader, 2 x USB 3.0, 10 x USB 2.0, 802.11 b/g/ n Wi-Fi, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Thoughts: This is a great buy for anyone looking for a lot of hard drive space and MS2180 a ton of USB ports for all your BTP-ARJ1 peripherals. You get a keyboard and mouse included with the tower, but you'll have to supply your own monitor.

BEST BUY: Toshiba Thrive Tablet, $300

Model: AT105-T108S

Specs: 10.1-inch display with 1280-by-800 BTP-AQJ1 resolution, 1 GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1 GB DDR2 RAM, 8GB onboard storage, media card reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC), 2 x USB 2.0, Bluetooth 3.0 +HS, 2 megapixel front-facing webcam, hp pavilion dv4000 ac adapter Android 3.1 (Honeycomb)

Thoughts: You can save about $50-$70 by picking up Toshiba's Android-based tablet from Best Buy this week. The Thrive earned a pretty good rating from PCWorld's July review with 3.5 out of 5 stars. The device was BTP-ANJ1 praised for its sturdiness and plethora of external ports, but its heaviness and poor speakers brought down the device's high marks overall.

BEST BUY: Hewlett-Packard 15.6-inch Laptop, $400

Model: G6-1c58dx

Specs: 15.6-inch display with 1366-by-768 resolution, 1.4 GHz AMD GARDA31 quad-core A6-3400M processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, webcam, 3 x USB 2.0, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, LC.BTP01.015 Windows 7 Home Premium

Thoughts: This would be a good entry-level LC.BTP01.017 laptop for anyone looking for something to take out on the road or for light use at home.

STAPLES: Dell Inspiron 620 Desktop PC, $500

Model: i620-3708NBK

Specs: 2.9 GHz quad-core BT.00803.015 Intel Core i5-2310, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB HDD, 8-in-1 card reader, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Keyboard, mouse, no monitor, 16x DVD drive, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Thoughts: Another good desktop deal to take a look at this HP DV2000 AC Adapter week with a great processor, and tons of RAM and hard drive space.

WALMART: Apple iPad 2 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G Bundle, $600

Model: iPad 2

Specs: 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor, 9.7-inch display BATBL50L8H with 1024-by-768 resolution, 16GB onboard storage, front- and rear-facing cameras, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-FI a/b/g/n, iOS 5

Thoughts: You can save $30 off Apple's list price for the iPad 2 with this 3ur18650f-2-qc175 online deal from Walmart. But Walmart's online bundles can be tricky so make sure you select the Ematic 3-in-1 Accessory Kit for 3UR18650F-3-QC228 iPad, iPhone or iPod to get the right price. You also get your choice of a Verizon or AT&T compatible device for your 3G service.

WALMART: Hewlett-Packard 17.3-inch Laptop, $399

Model: g7-1219wm

Specs: 17.3-inch LED-backlit display, 1.65 GHz AMD dual-core E-450 processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, webcam, 2-in-1 card reader, 3 x USB 2.0, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Thoughts: The processor isn't much to get excited about, but the HP DV5000 AC Adapter screen size, good amount of storage and RAM make this a great buy for the price.

AMAZON: HP 20-inch TouchSmart PC, $600

Model: 310-1126

Specs: 20-inch LCD display with 1600-by-900 resolution, 2.9 GHz dual-core ACER TravelMate C200 battery AMD Athlon II X2 245e processor, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 1 TB HDD, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, DVD drive, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Thoughts: Microsoft's touch-friendly Windows 8 operating system is HP 500 AC Adapter expected in 2012. So get a jump on the trend by picking up this touchscreen all-in-one desktop.

AMAZON: Lenovo 15.6-inch Laptop, $460

Model: G570 43347PU

Specs: 15.6-inch display with 1366-by-768 resolution, 2.2 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2330M, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB HDD, 4 x USB, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Thoughts: This laptop is a little heavy at 5.7 pounds, but the lc.btp00.001 Lenovo G570 has a good dual-core 3UR18650Y-2-QC261 processor, respectable amount of RAM, and a fair amount of hard drive space for less than $500.

OFFICE DEPOT: Lenovo IdeaPad K1 Tablet, $300

Model: 130425U

Specs: 10.1-inch display with 1280-by-800 aspire 3935 battery resolution, 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 32GB onboard storage, microSD card reader, HDMI port, front- and rear-facing cameras, Bluetooth, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Android 3.1 Honeycomb

Thoughts: Lenovo dropped the price on this AS09B56 tablet from $500 to $350 in November, but you can save HP DV6000 AC Adapter another $50 by picking it up at Office Depot this week. PCWorld's review of the IdeaPad K1 gave this tablet 3.5 stars out of 5 for its stylish design and Lenovo's tweaks to the Android interface. But the tablet was criticized for its size and poor speakers.

OFFICE DEPOT: Toshiba Satellite 15.6-inch Laptop, $430

Model: L755-S5256

Specs: 15.6-inch display with 1366-by-768 4UR18650F-2-QC218 resolution, 2.1 GHz dual-core Intel Core i3-2310M, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 640GB HDD, 3 x USB 2.0, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Thoughts: This Toshiba L755 is HP DV8000 AC Adapter similar in specs to the Lenovo G570 Amazon is selling this week and is $30 cheaper. Even better you'll get more storage, but you'll have to deal with a slightly slower processor

A laptop would help accelerate her culinary studies

Jeannine Canales remembers the hot plate of curry chicken with rice they served her at the all-girls center where she lived 10 years ago. The aroma. The flavor. The warmth of the food.

It all enticed the 9-year-old Canales.

“I just fell in love with food,” she said. “I just wanted to know how to make lifebook s7110 battery . It was the taste, I think.”

Canales was at living at the lifebook s7010 battery Gladstone Center for Girls in South Miami after the state removed her from her mother’s care, deeming her mother unfit to care for her. The two had come from Havana to South Florida in 2001.

“I just felt like, ‘A mother losing her daughter, it’s hp 482186-003 battery kind of hard.’ I got emotional,” Canales said. “Now, I get to see her whenever I want to see her. I am happy about that.”

Canales grew up in several foster-care and fujitsu t900 battery group homes: The Gladstone Center, an all-girls foster home in Kendall, another South Miami group home. She now lives in a scarcely furnished group home in Cutler Bay.

Despite her challenges, Canales has not lost sight of what warmed her as a hp 432306-001 battery little girl, and hopes for a career in the culinary world. Today, she is a first-semester student at the Robert Morgan hp 432974-001 battery Educational Center, a vocational school near Cutler Ridge, where she is learning how to cook and the history behind different dishes.

“I want to become a famous chef,” Canales said. “I want to have the lifebook e8110 battery education on all kinds of food. I want to know about the spices and the herbs. They are the basics for all food.”

“She is an expert at making breads,” said Janet Moreno, Canales’ caregiver at the Cutler Bay group home.

From making Thanksgiving breadbaskets to hp 440704-001 battery whipping up Italian breads, pastelitos, fruit pies, sweet-potato pies and even a sweet-potato-pie cheesecake, Canales has become adept with dough.

She is eager for cooking classes to begin in the next hp 441132-003 battery semester. “I am a little tired of baking. I prefer to hp 440772-001 battery s cook because you get to add your own ingredients.” (On the list of foods she wants to learn how to make: rice with black beans, noodles, shrimp, crab, oysters, scallops and turkey with rice.)

There is one thing, however, that Canales can use hp 446507-001 battery immediately — a laptop computer.

“It’s going to be one of the tools that will help me achieve everything I want to do,” she said. “Right now, it is not hard, but it would be easier if I had a laptop.”

Without a laptop, Canales types recipes, does research on hp 535753-001 battery different dishes, writes school papers and does extra-credit assignments at the South Dade Regional Library in Cutler Bay.

The library is a half-mile walk from her home to the lifebook e8420 battery bus stop, then at least a 15-minute wait for the bus and a short ride on Lenovo T61 Battery either bus No. 1 or No. 52.

The 19-year-old, however, does not succumb to self-pity.

“It’s kind of hot out,” she said recently, “but hey, ‘It’s my education.’ ”

Aside from a laptop, Canales also hopes that for herhp 462853-001 battery first Christmas away from a foster home she will get culinary items, cookbooks and new clothes.

For the first time in her life, she also asked for something that is hp 485041-003 battery not necessary for her survival or for her education: an iPod Touch. Music is her third love, after cooking and playing basketball.

In her spare time, Canales likes to cook for the caregivers — Janet and Klay Moreno — at her lifebook e8210 battery Cutler Bay group home. On a recent afternoon, she made banana pudding for them.

After Canales sliced the bananas, crushed the vanilla wafers, mixed them with amilo l7300 battery condensed milk and put the pudding into the oven for seven minutes, she served the warm dessert.

“It’s the taste and the love behind the food when you make it that attracts me to cooking,” she said. “You feel so proud when you make something yourself. And you learn, too.”

 

 

Longest battery life laptops of 2011

hat's the most important measure of any laptop? Some might say the processor speed, or the size and weight, but at the end of the day, it's got to be battery life.

After all, these are mobile devices, designed to be used in lifebook p1510 battery coffee shops, airport lounges, and college libraries (even big laptops get carted around occasionally), so being able to spend the maximum amount of time possible away from a wall outlet is important.

During 2011, the CNET Labs team lifebook s7020 battery tested more than 100 laptops, from 11-inch ultraportables to lifebook ah530 battery monster 18-inch gaming rigs. Despite the wide range of laptop prices, components, and designs, hp 441425-001 battery life is better than ever across the board, thanks in part to Intel's current generation of power-efficient CPUs. Only a handful of systems this year had batteries that were deemed unacceptably short-lived.

Presented here are the top five 2011 laptops for lifebook ah550 battery life, as measured by our in-house video playback battery drain test. It's easy to guess that Apple makes at least one appearance on this list, but there are some surprises as well. Note that these rankings only include toshiba a105 battery integrated batteries, not secondary hp 448007-001 battery add-on slice batteries. If we included those, lifebook t4210 battery systems such as Sony's Vaio Z, with a combined 634 minutes between its internal battery and a $150 add-on slice battery together, would make the list.

Click through to the gallery to see the top five longest battery life laptops of 2011, then in the hp 513775-001 battery comments section below, let us know why battery life is, or is not, your most important factor in picking a laptop.

Five Reasons the Transformer Prime Can Replace Your Laptop

There are many reasons the Android-based Asus Transformer Prime looks appealing. In an early review, PCWorld's Melissa Perenson called it "one of the best tablet values today." Here are five reasons why your next work fpcbp42 laptop could be a Transformer tablet.

1. Portability

Whether it’s taking notes or accessing important lifebook a6110 battery documents while in the field, checking into email, or working from lifebook c1020 battery home, there is a need for portable computing. As it’s lifebook e8410 battery only 10.35 by 7.12 by 0.33 inches, and weighing just 1.29 pounds, the Transformer is even more portable than the smallest of laptops, yet its 10-inch, 1280x800 pixel display is large enough for doing real work.

2. Flexibility

Tablets aren’t often the first choice for lifebook t5010 battery extensive text input. Using an onscreen keyboard for a lifebook t4215 battery quick text message is fine, but even entering a long URL, much less writing pages of text, can be a pain. For those who prefer a physical keyboard, the Transformer Prime’s included keyboard dock is a welcome addition. You can carry the lifebook t1010 battery tablet alone, or just connect the Transformer with the hp 484170-001 battery keyboard and it becomes the hardware equivalent of a laptop. The dock includes not only a keyboard but also a touchpad, as well as a USB port and a card reader. The tablet alone weights 1.18 pounds, and becomes only 2.47 pounds with the keyboard--barely heavier than Apple’s tiny 11-inch, 2.38-pound Macbook Air.

3. Longevity

Sometimes you need to work all day without access to a power outlet. Laptop makers promise long battery life, but in common usage, most won’t provide more than five hours, considerably shorter than the hp 484171-001 battery average work day. Tablets with mobile operating systems are designed with battery life as a core consideration. Asus says the Transformer battery will last 9.5 hours playing 720p video. You can extend fujitsu t1010 battery this to 18 hours when connected to the Prime keyboard dock, allowing true all-day usage. Stay tuned to PCWorld’s review for full battery test results.

4. Software

If you work on the road, you probably already use lifebook t730 battery cloud-based apps like Google Docs or Office 365. There’s no need to change, as those apps work fine on the Transformer. If you don’t have network access, Asus includes Polaris Office, and other apps like fujitsu t730 battery Quickoffice HD Pro are available in the market, which allows viewing and editing of word, spreadsheet, and presentation files that are stored on the tablet itself. For the software you need to use that only runs on PC or Mac, the Transfomer includes MyDesktop software, but the market also includes many other apps which allow remote control of a PC or Mac as well.

5. Performance

It doesn’t matter what the specs are on lifebook p1610 battery paper if the actual performance of a device is slow as molasses. The Transformer has Nvidia's 1.3-GHzquad-coreTegra 3 processor, making it the first quad-core tablet. Much of the software that runs on Android hasn’t yet been fujitsu p1610 battery optimized to take advantage of this level of power, but it already performed well in PCWorld’s early tests.

Tablets are still young, and the Transformer isn’t perfect, but for what it offers, many workers could toss their laptops in exchange for a lifebook s6120 battery tablet and not look back. The Transformer promises to get PA3465U-1BRS even better as an upgrade to Andoid 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, is promised. Performance will also improve as more apps are optimized to take advantage of the quad-core processor. Would the Transformer meet your business needs?

Buying a used laptop?

Buying used or refurbished may not seem like the best way to get a new fpcbp152 laptop, but a real gem can be found for the right price. Since the cycle of new lap-top launches is so frequent now, pre-owned or refurb bargains are easier to find.

Who's selling?

Used laptops are available in fpcbp155ap abundance on Craigslist, Kijiji, eBay, TigerDirect, Newegg and others, plus returns and refurbished from fpcbp176 retailers, like Future Shop, Best Buy, Staples, The Source and the Apple Store.

Retailers are naturally credible, but private fpcbp159 sellers require some due diligence. Be sure to ask all the questions you need answered, no matter what.

Used or refurb?

Used laptops generally come from fpcbp175 consumers who have used them for personal reasons.

The smart ones wipe the computer's hard drive and reinstall the operating sys-tem to get it back to factory settings.

Refurbished laptops are returned to the manufacturer for fpcbp176ap any particular reason, then repaired and repackaged fpcbp200 with a limited warranty (usually one year) to be resold through a retailer (usually online).

Used laptops are the cheaper fpcbp215ap option of the two, with the most variety, but carry a higher risk.

Refurbished laptops will cost more upfront, but with new parts fpcbp263ap and a warranty that typically covers all damages.

What to look for?

In either case, you don't know what the laptop ms2239 battery has been through.

Has a previous user dropped it? Does it run slow? Does it have scratches?

The key lies in the specs - you have to ms2238 treat a used or refurb laptop purchase like you would a new one.

If the specs, size, weight and 4ur18650f-2-qc-ef3 compatibility fit with what you need, you may have a HP HSTNN-LB42 Battery winner at a good price.

What about price?

Compare the used or refurb price to the regular price.

Also, find out if you need to spend more for a new battery or bigger hard drive to gauge the overall cost.

A laptop bag that can charge gadgets

Thanks to a wave of new mobile technology, I can store my calendar, car keys, credit cards, music and notes all on my smartphone.

That kind of convergence is convenient, but my phone has an Achilles' heel. The PABAS057 battery doesn't last forever.

Enter the Powerbag, a line of PA3399U-1BAS battery-equipped shoulder bags and backpacks made by RFA Brands. It's a smart backup for when gadgets inevitably need to take naps.

I tested the Powerbag messenger bag for about a PA3465U-1BRS month, and I also spent a brief time using the backpack, which is very similar. On several instances during my tests, the bag proved useful on long trips or when traveling to conferences where I'm constantly making calls or doing e-mail.

Fact Box

Gadget Review: Powerbag Messenger

Features: Rechargeable PABAS069 battery connected to standard-size cords for iPod, BlackBerry and other gadgets

Price: $140

Our Verdict: A handy, stylish bag for gadget lovers who don't want to PA3465U-1BRS advertise their geekiness I had to overcome a couple of concerns before strapping on the Powerbag. For one, the idea of carrying a battery about the size of a deck of cards on my back in the rain is not comforting.

And this line in the Powerbag manual's lengthy "warnings" section is not exactly reassuring: "Improper use of this product may result in product damage, excess heat, toxic fumes, fire or explosion."

"Powerbag sources the highest quality cells and parts for the fpcbp50 batteries," a Ful spokesman wrote in a reply to my worried e-mail. "Our batteries are all rigorously and thoroughly tested, enduring the most abusive of treatment, still upholding Powerbag's high standard of safety."

When I considered that I keep my phone in my fpcbp64 pocket near vital organs, the fear seemed less rational. The fpcbp65 battery is stored in a zippered pocket at the bottom of the bag. I wouldn't take the bag on a whitewater canoe trip or a daylong hike under the blistering Egyptian sun, but the rain didn't faze it.

My other hangup involved the fpcbp79 annoyance of having one more thing to keep charged. I already charge my fpcbp80 smartphone, tablet, laptop, iPod, computer mouse and Bluetooth headset. Now I need to charge my shoulder bag, too?

However, I was pleasantly surprised by how long the fpcbp82 Powerbag's battery lasts. It went for more than a week at a time hp g62 battery retaining most of its charge. On a single charge, it can completely fill about two small gadgets -- a phone and iPod, for example.

The bag includes three standard-size cords, including one that works with iPhones and iPods, and another that charges BlackBerrys, Mi-Fis and many Android phones. An iPod can be tucked into one zippered pocket while a BlackBerry can go into another, each filling with juice simultaneously.

Unlike other battery-equipped bags, the fpcbp86 Powerbag does not advertise its geekiness.The Powerbag is able to charge an iPad, which is nice because many alarm clocks tailored to iPods and iPhones cannot. But the tablet's big battery sucks power more quickly, and it can't be fit fpcbp92 securely anywhere for charging on the go.

I was disappointed to learn that the Powerbag doesn't provide an fpcbp94 easy way to charge a laptop, which would have been useful for just a few more minutes of work on Wi-Fi at a coffee shop.

A standard USB port is hidden in the fpcbp101 battery pouch, so perhaps buying a USB-to-laptop charging cord would do the trick. An RFA Brands spokesman said that including a two- or three-prong outlet would require the bag to have a cooling system, which is something the company is not eager to do.

There's a conspicuous button on the front of the bag for checking the fpcbp102 battery's charge status: up to four small lights, which can be hard to see in daylight.

I kept the bag's charger tucked in a fpcbp104 pouch inside the bag. The cap and charging port located on the side of the bag snapped off a few days after I started testing it, and so from then on, I had to take the battery out and plug the cord in directly whenever I needed to refuel.

The RFA spokesman said this was only an issue with pre-production models, like the one I tested, and that it's fpcbp102ap been fixed for the bags sold in stores. The Messenger Powerbag costs about $140, same as the fpcbp105 backpack, and is sold at some big electronics and office supply stores, including Best Buy and Office Max. RFA also produces bags with bigger batteries for about $40 more.

There are several other travel bags on the market that have fpcbp160 batteries inside, including ones that can be charged by sunlight using solar panels on the exterior.

But most solar-powered bags look like an fpcbp144 accessory that would have gotten a kid beat up in school. The Powerbag, designed by Ful, is stylish as well as useful, making it a good companion for gadgetheads who don't want to advertise their geekiness

Apple customer service has a split personality

Apple seems to have two kinds of customer service. The public-facing one in the retail stores, and the corporate policy that accepts no blame and provides little help. Why?

A recent experience with Apple’s online and HP pr09 battery phone support has led me to believe that there are two support organizations within Apple.

The public face of the Genius Bar at the retail stores HP pr06 battery has been an unexpected source of customer support pleasure. I know that when I walk into an Apple store for my Genius Bar appointment, they have been uniformly helpful and courteous, and even hp 4530s battery provide alternative solutions if something is out of warranty and they are unable to cover the service.

I recently had an issue with a Mac Mini belonging to hp probook 4530s battery one of the employees in my office, and due to the service desired–upgrading the hard drive to a third-party SSD drive–they were unable to assist. They did, however, provide me with the names and locations of alternative authorized Apple service locations that were able to accommodate me without voiding my warranty.

Then there’s the phone support. My qk646aa employer had a MacBook Pro 17″ model that had the expanding battery issue. Since my foray into the Apple hp 4430s battery world is still relatively recent, I wasn’t really aware of how big an issue this was.

I checked the serial number of the hp probook 4430s battery laptop and saw that it was outside of warranty and AppleCare coverage. However, I also knew that Apple will handle out of warranty replacements if hardware is defective .

When I called phone support, I was told that since the hp 633805-001 battery laptop was out of warranty, we would simply have to buy a new one. I countered that a battery which expands so much that it literally breaks the laptop is, by definition, defective. I was then informed that the PABAS209 battery expansion was actually by design, to prevent it from exploding at the end of life.

I pointed out several things that render this declaration to be asinine. For one, batteries typically just stop working. If they have a tendency to explode at end of life, you don’t design them to expand. You don’t SONY VGP-BPL9 battery even sell them. You send them back to the manufacturer and get ones that DON’T EXPLODE. For another, designing a battery to behave in such a fashion is like designing a car to drive you off a PABAS211 cliff with you in it when it’s time to buy a new one.

Finally, there are plenty of people who Toshiba NB200 battery experienced this issue in the middle of the battery life-cycle. Normally it lasts for about 300 recharges, but there are quite a lot of people on the Apple support forums that experienced the battery expansion Satellite E105 battery only halfway through the recharge cycle lifespan.

Apparently the only way they will replace the obviously defective, dangerous battery is if it actually explodes or does physical damage to the rest of the pa3534u-1bas laptop. Otherwise you’re on your own. I’ve since discovered that the pa3535u-1brs quality of these batteries has not improved over the past few years, and the third-party ones are even worse.

The conversation with the phone support person pabas098 and the supervisor I asked to be escalated to did not improve after that point. I accepted that since the battery was out of warranty, I would have to buy a new one and consider myself fortunate that the MacBook Pro hadn’t been damaged.

In hindsight, however, I wonder if I toshiba a105 battery wouldn’t have simply been better off just taking the expanded battery to an Apple store and asked if they could replace it. It’s too late now, but I suspect that my experience in front of PA3399U-1BRS live people instead of a faceless phone support person might have been a lot more agreeable and productive.

It seems to me that there are two PA3399U-2BRS support policies at place within Apple. The stores themselves seem to have a lot more PA3399U autonomy and leeway to deal with specific issues, and the online/phone support follows a hardline corporate policy of “it’s not our problem”.

This is disappointing, and is something Tim toshiba PA3399U Cook should look into improving for the future. It would go a long way to expanding into the corporate sector, where service and support are paramount in large organizations.

2012: Year of the Ultrabook

During the last three months of any year, PC vendors sell about 45% of all of the PCs that they offer in that calendar year. And if consumers buy enough of these PCs, the vendors are able to turn a profit for the year. That’s why selling as many PCs and laptops as they can in the last quarter is so important.

That’s good news for APPLE A1322 battery consumers, because it means amazing bargains on PCs and laptops between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And while buying a new laptop APPLE MacBook Pro 13 battery now is still a good idea this holiday season, it’s also important to understand what will happen in portable computers next year. In fact, 2012 will probably be the most disruptive year in portable computing designs since the industry introduced “thin and light” laptops a decade ago.

(MORE: Eight New Tablets and Ultrabooks You Should Know About)

The first big change in laptops during 2012 will be a push by Intel and Microsoft to brand and sell what they’re calling ultrabooks. If you have seen an Apple MacBook Air, you have already seen APPLE A1245 battery an ultrabook. And Apple’s spectacular success with this laptop has not gone unnoticed by competitors—their answer to the MacBook Air is the ultrabook. Traditional PC vendors are quite APPLE MacBook Air 13 battery excited about this new lightweight and sleek laptop design and have set a goal of making these products 40% of all of the laptops they ship in 2012.

A few of these ultrabooks are on the market now from SONY GP-BPL19 companies like Acer, with the S3, and Asus, with the UX31. They’re priced between $899-$1299 and today are not aimed at mainstream, price-conscious consumers. By definition, ultrabooks have to be ultra slim and under three pounds but still have the processing power of bulkier SONY VGP-BPS19 laptops and battery life of at least five hours. But here’s the bad news: With the industry moving fast to push ultrabooks into the mainstream and get prices under $699 by mid-year, many of the laptops bought this holiday season will look TOSHIBA PA3820U-1BRS dated very quickly. Sure, the mainstream PCs sold this holiday will work well, be great values, and last at least three to four years. But ultrabooks will be the darlings of 2012, and those who can wait about six months can probably get these very sleek laptops at more consumer-friendly prices.

(MORE: Can UltraBooks Save the PC Industry?)

The second new design that has the potential to shake up the PC industry is called the hybrid laptop. These will be ultrathin laptops that will most likely be dubbed hybrid ultrabooks, and will feature screens TOSHIBA PA3821U-1BRS that can be lifted off to become highly portable tablets. Think of it as a TOSHIBA PABAS231 laptop and tablet combination. These designs will not show up until after Microsoft releases the official version of their Windows 8 tablet in mid-October 2012, though.

However, I have seen some prototype designs TOSHIBA PABAS232 for this tablet that are spectacular. For Windows users, this FPCBP263 combo approach of marrying a laptop and tablet could be a big hit. In laptop mode, this machine would use either Windows 7 or Windows 8 with the new Metro UI operating system, and in tablet mode it would use the Windows 8 tablet interface.

And the big plus will be that it can run all Windows apps in either mode. But to be clear, on the Windows 8 tablet, traditional Windows programs can’t take advantage of the Metro Touch user interface. In these FPCBP263AP cases, people will use a stylus to navigate and 593548-001 interact with these older programs. However, Microsoft is pushing the LF246AA software community to create new programs optimized for the Metro Touch UI and helping them build a full ecosystem of software optimized for the new Windows 8 tablet. That should all kick into gear by Q4 of 2012.

(MORE: 50 Windows 8 Screenshots, Hardware Photos and More)

There’s one more interesting product in the WY165AA works, too. Three years ago, netbooks were all the rage, but they have now fallen out of favor since tablets have hit the scene. But research shows that there’s still some demand for a really cheap and light laptop, especially in 42T4534 education, that can mainly surf the web and run some basic apps. So by late 2012, you can expect at least three ultra thin and light Windows laptops that look a lot like Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air, but at prices around $269 to $375. They’ll have much slower processors and minimal storage space, but they’ll be excellent web access laptops and many of them will most likely have Android on them, so they can run some Android apps as well.

One truism in the world of tech is that if you buy 42T4535 something today, it will be eclipsed by a new version tomorrow. This is an industry run by Moore’s law; a law that says the power of processors doubles every 18 months. Tech products get better and more powerful very fast.

But in 2012, there will be a twist to this 43R9253 concept. Thanks to ultrabooks and hybrid ultrabooks, laptops will not only get better and more powerful, many of these new models will also break the mold of what a laptop looks like today and will set the design tone for the laptops of the future.

Rechargeable batteries now must be recycled in New York

The Rechargeable Battery Law, signed by then-Gov. David Paterson a year ago, prohibits the disposal of rechargeable batteries, such as those in laptop computers or cameras, in non-recyclable containers.

The ban includes cellphone dell Studio 1458 battery , which are typically replaced every 18 to 24 months, and rechargeable alkaline DELL Studio 14 Battery.

The rechargeable batteries must be returned to recycling bins at retail stores.

In June, retailers were required to provide dell Studio 1457 battery recycling receptacles to consumers in their stores if they sold rechargeable batteries. Small food stores that sell rechargeable batteries are exempt.

Failure to provide the receptacles can lead to fines FUJITSU FPCBP268 battery of up to $5,000 for retailers. Individuals, who would have to be proven to have knowingly thrown out the batteries, face fines of $50 for a first offense and $100 for a second.

"Those disposal bans are very difficult to enforce. You don't have garbage police, you don't have municipalities or private haulers rummaging through people's garbage bags and saying, 'You're not allowed to FUJITSU LifeBook PH520 battery throw this out,'" said Laura Haight, a senior environmental associate for New York Public Interest Research Group.

The law covers most rechargeable dry cell, non-vehicular batteries weighing less than 25 pounds. It lists hp envy 14 battery any rechargeable battery as ones using nickel-cadmium, sealed lead, lithium ion or nickel metal hydride.

"I think it's going to make a significant impact in keeping toxic hp pavilion dm3 battery chemicals out of landfills and other places where it can do harm in our environment," said Assemblyman Robert Sweeney, D-Suffolk County, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation.

Haight and Sweeney said the law so far has been LENOVO ThinkPad X200 battery successful in terms of the placement of the receptacles and the numbers of people using them.

Battery manufacturers are required to retrieve the LENOVO ThinkPad X201 battery collected batteries and submit an annual report to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

"It puts primary responsibility on the manufacturers and the retailers to deal with it on the back end, when it is being disposed of," Sweeney said.

Benefits Of A Solid State Drive – An SSD Primer

SSD BENEFITS

The first question that most ask when entering an SSD conversation for the first time is, “What makes them so special?” There are really a variety of answers for that question which will be different for each person. For a ASUS AP31-1008P Battery university student or any professional really, how valuable is the data on your laptop? I remember back when laptops Eee PC 1008P Battery first became popular (dating myself here I know) and I dropped my work unit with a 380 page report on the hard drive that took me weeks to compile. It then took me weeks to compile once again. Would that security alone be worth the price of an SSD?

Lets take a close look at some of the benefits of a solid state drive that might appeal to the consumer:

START UP SPEED – The typical SSD ACER AL10C31 Battery starts up in about 15 seconds compared to a hard drive which takes ACER AL10D56 Battery over a minute. In considering the value of your time, a typical person starts their computer 5 times a day which would be a savings of 3 3/4 minutes per day of just under a full day a year…waiting for your computer to start. What is a full day worth to you?

NO MOVING PARTS – An SSD has absolutely no moving LC.BTP00.130 battery parts, whereas a hard drive has a disk that spins as high as 7200RPM typically, or 67 miles per hour on its outer edge. As you can imagine, this becomes a natural concern for such things as battery life, temperature, and endurance. The hard drive is depicted on the left with SSD on the right.

Laptop computers are now sporting a new option that is going to amaze most as a result of the visible speed improvement and many will never really understand why.

Some will boast of how quick their new laptop starts ACER Aspire 1551 battery while others will read the fine print to see that there is this new thing called a solid state drive which has replaced the hard drive. The latter will most likely comprise of those reading this article and wanting to know what a SSD is and how it does what it does.

Our article today hopes to be the beginning of efforts to tackle many of the questions surrounding solid state drives and today’s report will examine what exactly makes the SSD so special in today’s world of ACER Aspire 1830T Battery computing. Follow-up reports will be added regularly to Aspire One 721 Battery tackle the many questions the ‘new SSD enthusiast’ has about this new technology and we encourage comments and questions which will, in turn, form the direction we follow in assisting with your SSD education.

THE BEGINNING

Solid state drives have been around for Dell Inspiron 1370 Battery many more years than we would believe and have traditionally been relied upon in military, medical and aeronautical fields before their first entry into the consumer space in 2007. By sheer coincidence, I was one of, if not, the first to receive a DELL W358P Battery enhanced laptop computer and remember writing a rather Dell MT3HJ Battery enthusiastic article which started things rolling for The SSD Review. Even then, I remember going from a computer that took an eternity to start to one that started in 27 seconds. I was amazed.

Although I would never pay such, that SSD pushed the selling price of that Dell XPS M1330 to just under $3500 and I went on to review other SSDs that were valued as high as $2500 for a 128GB capacity drive.

In fact, one company (from a very distant land) sent me a Dell Inspiron M301z Battery drive and made me promise not to send it back because of the probable implications of sending out such a high valued item at the time.

Today, we are seeing Ultrabooks that weigh less than 2.5 lbs are thinner than a pack of playing DELL U597P Battery cards with a super speedy SSD that is one-third the size of a business card and the height of a 25 cent piece. Click on the picture for a high res enlargement.

 

Li-Ion Battery Costs Challenge Engineers on EV Safety

The dark cloud hanging over electric vehicles in the wake of recent Chevy Volt fires may not lift, no matter how much engineers to do improve EV safety. That's because they're up against the gating factor of battery pack cost.

Experts say rising concerns over safety are going to make it tougher for hp 367759-001 battery engineers to dramatically cut the costs of lithium-ion battery packs. Already, General Motors is reportedly considering a redesign of its lithium-ion battery pack to help prevent damage during a collision.

"We just don't know how much lower we can go in hp 436281-141 battery terms of price," says Donald Sadoway, a battery expert and the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's not as if we can stand on the fujitsu t4220 battery shoulders of all the work that's been done on cellphone and laptop batteries up to now. Laptop batteries don't have to be crashworthy."

The Chevy Volt battery pack caught fire three weeks after a crash test damaged it.

Photo courtesy of GM.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said one Volt fire hp 454668-001 battery occurred after a side crash test was performed on it in hp 441611-001 battery May. During the test, the vehicle's battery was damaged, and a coolant line was ruptured. The fire occurred three weeks later. Three similar tests in November did not result in fires, though one damaged battery did emit sparks and smoke, the agency said.

Experts are confident that current cooling systems, coupled with hp 464059-141 battery improved crashworthiness, will keep electric cars safe. "We will learn how to better deal with the safety issues," says Elton Cairns, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of hp 497694-001 battery California-Berkeley and a designer of fuel cells for the Gemini spacecraft program during the 1960s. "After all, any battery that can fit on a vehicle stores much less energy than a tank of gas."

Still, the concern is that PA3465U-1BRS lithium-ion batteries are already too costly, and that new safety measures will hp 398752-001 battery prevent them from dropping significantly in cost, even as economies of scale kick in. Today about half of the cost of an EV battery pack lies in its "non-cell" portion, according to the National Research Council, and that number could go up if crashworthiness becomes a big issue.

Will Linux’s Hardware Requirements Stifle Its Acceptance?

The Mobile Turn?

It may seem unremarkable that the hp 464059-121 battery hardware requirements for Linux distributions are on the rise — after all, that’s been the clear trend in the computing world in general for decades and decades, and Moore’s hp 395789-002 battery Law remains on the mark.

But with the expansion of desktop operating systems onto smartphones and tablets, the situation has begun to change. Mobile hardware is not as powerful as traditional PCs, and developers have hp 440704001 battery recognized that fact by slimming down the hp 367760-001 battery processor and CPU requirements of their code. The most obvious example is Windows 8, which — if Microsoft’s promises hold true — will demand fewer resources than its predecessor.

Granted, the projected system requirements for Windows 8 are still considerably higher for those than either Ubuntu or Fedora. And it’s silly anyway to measure the value of Linux only in comparison to its proprietary competitors.

Yet, given the stark increases in system requirements HP HSTNN-IB13 Battery that mainstream desktop Linux has undergone in recent years, I wonder if these distributions might be setting themselves up for failure — or, at least, a more difficult ascent — as they hope to HP 371785-001 battery gain a foothold in the world of mobile computing, which DELL Inspiron 15R Battery Ubuntu Project founder Mark Shuttleworth recently earmarked as a goal for Ubuntu. If developers want to maintain consistency in the user experience across the PC and mobile versions of Linux — and to capture the attention of budget OEMs — they may need to stem the trend toward hungrier software.

Or maybe we’ll just end up running LXDE on our phones, which wouldn’t be that bad either.

Linux’s ability to run on old or budget hardware has long been a popular talking point among free software advocates. Yet in recent years, the system requirements of mainstream desktop Linux distributions have been skyrocketing. At the same time, Windows 8 is slated to demand fewer resources than its laptop ac adapters predecessors. What could this mean for Linux? Here are some thoughts.

Before we get ahead of ourselves — and I get flamed for spreading FUD — let’s state the obvious: Linux still can be plenty friendly to old or otherwise “slow” computers. The Damn Small hp 579320-001 battery Linux distribution, for example, can be installed in full on as little as 50MB of disk space, and run perfectly hp laptop batteries uk well on a 486 processor — with a hp 580956-001 battery graphical user interface. It’s not the Linux kernel that’s become resource-hungry, but the distributions that are built on top of it.

In addition, system requirements are Acer Aspire 3935 Battery always a fuzzy thing. A geek who tries hard enough can often get things working with fewer resources than those recommended as a bare minimum, and computers that meet the hp 411463-141 battery suggested standards sometimes perform well short of acceptably.

System Requirements, Now and Then

Nonetheless, it’s clear the hp 371913-001 battery official system requirements for leading desktop Linux distributions have been on the hp 516915-001 battery rise steadily in recent years.

The desktop edition of Ubuntu 8.04 demanded 5GB of disk space and as little as 64MB of memory. Fast forward to the present and the recommended minimum system requirements for hp 432307-001 battery Ubuntu are 15GB of disk space and 1GB of memory.

The hardware requirements for Fedora, another leading version of desktop Linux, are a bit lighter than Ubuntu’s, but still have demonstrated a similar trend over recent years. Circa Fedora 11, which debuted in hp 572032-001 battery June 2009, the operating system could run a graphical desktop on 192MB of memory. In Fedora 16, released this month, that number has more than tripled to 640MB, with 1152MB as a recommended minimum (compared to 256MB in Fedora 11).

What’s more, at the same time that disk and memory requirements have expanded, a 3D-capable video card has also become essential for a complete desktop experience. The current desktop interfaces of both hp 383492-001 battery distributions — Unity on Ubuntu and GNOME Shell on hp 380443-001 battery Fedora — are designed for computers that support 3D effects. Fallback options are currently offered for hardware that’s not up to par, but they compromise usability and likely will not be around forever.

 

Lenovo ThinkPad T420 review

The Lenovo ThinkPad T420 is a 14-inch notebook equipped with an Intel Sandy Bridge CPU. It's designed for business users.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T420 is a 14-inch, business-focussed hp 451085-141 battery notebook. It has many of the features you would expect from a ThinkPad laptop, including a TrackPoint-style device (as well as a regular touchpad), a great keyboard, a keyboard light, and a hp 462889-121 battery non-glossy screen.

The 14-inch display means the T420 offers a nice combination of user comfort and mobility, and the keyboard is comfortable to use.

Around the edge of the laptop is a range of ports: laptop batteries uk USB 3.0, eSATA, VGA/D-sub, a headphone and microphone combo jack, wired networking and DisplayPort. The ThinkPad T420 also includes SD and ExpressCard/34 slots. Other features include a SAMSUNG AA-PB9NC6W Battery webcam, 802.11n Wi-Fi (including WiDi support), a fingerprint reader hp 501935-001 batteryBluetooth connectivity. There is also a DVD burner and a port for connecting a dock.

The display has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels. The notebook's matte SAMSUNG AA-PB9NC6B battery screen means you don't have to worry about reflections from ceiling lights. Its vertical viewing angles could be better, but overall it is a decent screen.

Running the Lenovo Thinkpad T420 is an Intel Core i5-2520 CPU: A 2nd hp 916-2160 battery Generation Core processor that runs at 2.5GHz. The notebook also has 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM and a 320GB, 7200rpm hard drive.

During our benchmark tests the T420 performed hp 593548-001 battery well, beating the Sony VAIO SB Series, which has the same hp 586031-001 battery processor. The integrated graphics HP F4809A battery card is good enough to use for processing videos and high-resolution photos, and you will even be able play a few games in your downtime. The notebook's hard drive transfer rate of 39.25 megabytes per second is also a good showing.

In our battery test, in which we disable power management, enable Wi-Fi, maximise screen brightness and loop an Xvid-encoded video, the ThinkPad's 6-cell, 57 Watt-hour battery lasted 3hr 30min. This is a HP F4812A Battery very good result for a 140-inch laptop and it's even better than the 3hr 19min achieved by the HP HSTNN-DB13 Battery 13.3-inch Sony VAIO SB. You can get even more life out of it if you manage the hp 593576-001 battery power options properly through ThinkVantage. If you want the longest possible battery life, then you can consider getting an additional 9-cell battery slice that can be added to the bottom of the laptop.

The Lenovo ThinkPad T420 can be picked up for $1159. If you're looking for a business notebook that's sturdy and reliable, then it's a great choice.

Samsung Series 7 Chronos (NP700Z5A-S04AU) notebook

The Samsung Series 7 Chronos has the look and feel of a premium laptop. Its thin and well-built base houses plenty of features, its keyboard is backlit and comfortable to hit and it has a lovely, slot-loading DVD burner that just makes hp 367760-001 battery you want to get your discs out of storage and start using them again. However, it's not a perfect notebook by any stretch of the imagination and its touchpad, in particular, was a source of frustration for us.

Specifications and performance

The Series 7 Chronos has a strong configuration that includes a 2.4GHz, quad-core Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a 7200rpm, 750GB hard drive and an AMD Radeon 6750M graphics adapter. It proved to be hp 371916-001 battery a little bit sluggish, however, recording 49sec in our Blender 3D rendering test, 1min 5sec in our iTunes MP3 encoding test and 1hr 2min in our DVD-to-Xvid video conversion test. All of these times are slower than what we expected of its CPU (see the Medion Akoya P7812, for example, which has the hp 383492-001 battery same CPU but more RAM). It felt pretty zippy during everyday use though and we have no problems with its swiftness when it comes to launching programs and undertaking office, Web and multimedia tasks.

It comes with a built-in, 8GB flash drive that's designed to be a hp 395751-321 battery cache. It can make the notebook boot quicker and it can hp 395789-001 battery make applications launch quicker. In our tests, it shaved about 7sec off the cold boot time of the unit, allowing it to be usable 24sec after we hit the power button, compared to hp 576833-001 battery 31sec when the cache wasn't used. Application execution was hp 395789-003 battery not as easy to measure. Our most commonly used application, Firefox felt like it launched in the same amount of time (less than 2sec) whether the cache was on or off. However, Internet Explorer definitely gained a couple of seconds. The laptop came out of sleep mode in under five seconds in most cases.

Main storage is handled by the 750GB drive, which is partitioned into a 270GB system drive and a 405GB data drive. In CrystalDiskMark, it recorded read and write rates of 110 megabytes per second (MBps). In our own file copy test, it recorded a more modest 40MBps.

In the graphics department there are two hp 383965-001 battery adapters: the CPU-integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics and a discrete AMD Radeon 6750M adapter. The laptop can switch between these adapters automatically, or you can choose which adapter your hp 516916-001 battery applications need to use. There is not a great deal of difference in the real-world performance of these adapters, however, with the Radeon adapter being only slightly faster at processing 3D graphics. It recorded 5483 in 3DMark06, whereas the hp 446506-001 battery Intel graphics recorded 3373. Games such as Battlefield 3 and Need For Speed: The Run will not run smoothly enough to be enjoyable, even if you lower the resolution and graphics detail level, as we did for our tests. That said, the Series 7 Chronos is not designed to be a gaming laptop.

Design and build quality

We found the overall build quality of the hp 485041-001 battery Chronos to be very good. It's relatively thin and light considering it's a fully-kitted 15.6in notebook, weighing 2.4kg and boasting a thickness of around 24mm with the lid closed. The bottom part of the base and the sides are a hp 498482-001 battery single piece and the top part of the chassis is seated in it and screwed in place from the bottom. Holding the unit with one hand from either side won't cause the chassis to bend much and we think it's very solidly hp 480385-001 battery constructed despite being a little creaky at times. Even the side with the DVD burner feels sturdy, although the keyboard tends to bounce a little on that side due to the void created by the slot-loading drive — the keyboard doesn't bounce on the side without the DVD burner.

Curves are a big part of the Chronos' design and we love the hp 482962-001 battery smooth looks that they provide. It feels comfortable to handle the notebook and we didn't find it to be a burden when carrying it to and from the office with its power supply. The lid is latch-less and the balance of the hp 456864-001 battery notebook is great as you can lift the lid with one hand without the base coming up off the replacement laptop battery table.

The 15.6in screen sits in a lid that has a thin frame and its design looks great. It's a matte screen that's quite bright (there is also an ambient light sensor, which is quite sensitive) and it has a resolution of 1600x900, rather than 1366x768, which can hp 516355-001 battery be found on most mainstream 15.6in laptops. However, its viewing angles are not great. We spent most of our time adjusting the tilt angle, especially when looking at photos and watching videos. This is a complaint we have of most laptops on the market.

When the CPU or graphics are working hard, the notebook's fan will also start to work hard, and it got noticeably loud during our tests — even when we were just watching YouTube videos. The extraction vents are on the hp 593572-001 battery spine of the chassis and very close to the hp 484170-002 battery screen's hinge. This means that there isn't much space for the air to move and that it's funnelled upwards. It's this action that makes the airflow so audible and it could get quite annoying if you're in a hp 367759-001 battery quiet room. There is a silent setting in the 'Easy Settings' software that hp mini 210 battery comes pre-installed on the notebook. Its purpose is to spin the fan at a constant low rate, rather than changing its speed dynamically, but we didn't notice any difference when we enabled this setting.

The speaker vents are located near the air hp 493202-001 battery vents, too, and we found their quality to be flat, but not too bad for a laptop. They produced enough volume and clarity for us to enjoy listening to music and watching videos, but, as always, if you want great sound with hp 371785-001 battery good bass, you'll have to plug in some big speakers.

Battery life

The sealed design of the base means that the TOSHIBA PA3399U-1BAS battery is inside the unit and can not be removed. This isn't a hp 916-2150 battery bad thing. In our rundown test, in which we disable power management, enable Wi-Fi, maximise screen brightness and loop an Xvid-encoded video, the battery lasted a whopping 4hr 42min — an absolutely great result for a 15.6in notebook.

Furthermore, when we used the laptop for word hp 398752-001 battery processing, viewing photos and Web browsing, and with lower screen hp 436281-422 battery brightness, we got almost a full day's worth of use out of it. It's this aspect of the notebook that impressed us greatly.

Samsung ships the notebook with a utility that allows you to charge the hp 346971-001 battery within 80 per cent of its capacity, which can prolong the life of the battery in terms of the number of charging cycles it can withstand (it's rated at 1500).

Touchpad and keyboard

The Chronos has an ELAN multi-touch touchpad that's 107x77mm. It's a big pad with the hp 383493-001 battery left- and right-click buttons located under it, and it's not the best touchpad we've ever used — far from it actually. The pointer often sticks and inadvertent clicks and selections occur too frequently — it was almost impossible to make multiple file selections without hp 441132-001 battery copying those files prematurely. Sometimes clicks didn't register until we hit the hp 398065-001 battery pad two or three times. We found it to be a very frustrating touchpad to use and reinstalling the drivers and adjusting its settings didn't help. You could always plug in a mouse, but this notebook is hp 454931-001 battery designed with portability in mind. As such, it's always disappointing when vendors put so much effort into producing sought after notebooks with good battery life but then skimp on something as important as the touchpad.

The keyboard, on the other hand, is hp 374762-001 battery excellent. It has a chiclet style with backlit keys that are a pleasure to hit. They are hp 398832-001 battery soft and produce good bounce. The backlight can be adjusted in eight levels and it's a cool, white colour that looks beautiful when typing at night. The layout of the keys is hp 411462-141 battery standard, it includes a number pad and the arrow keys have a little space around them that makes them easy to distinguish. The delete key doubles as the eject button for the slot-loading DVD burner.

Other features

Around the edges, the hp 436281-251 battery Series 7 Chronos includes three USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0), HDMI, a combination headphone and microphone port, a micro DisplayPort and an SD card slot. You also get a hp 396600-001 battery Gigabit Ethernet port, which has a little hinged part that moves down to allow Ethernet cables to be hp 462890-541 battery plugged in. It's designed this way so that it could fit in the slim, curved design of the base. Bluetooth, 802.11n (a 2.4GHz Broadcom module) and a webcam are also part of the features list.

Conclusion

There's no doubt in our minds that the hp 440265-abc battery Series 7 Chronos is a good laptop hp 462890-251 battery. The problem is, it could have been great. If only it had a touchpad with hp 586021-001 battery better accuracy and responsiveness, and hp 371915-001 battery perhaps a screen with wider viewing angles. Apart from those issues, we like the design of this notebook; its keyboard and battery life are excellent and its feature-set (including the slot-loading DVD drive) is useful.

Samsung Series 7 Chronos (NP700Z5A-S04AU) notebook

The Samsung Series 7 Chronos has the look and feel of a premium laptop. Its thin and well-built base houses plenty of features, its keyboard is backlit and comfortable to hit and it has a lovely, slot-loading DVD burner that just makes hp 367760-001 battery you want to get your discs out of storage and start using them again. However, it's not a perfect notebook by any stretch of the imagination and its touchpad, in particular, was a source of frustration for us.

Specifications and performance

The Series 7 Chronos has a strong configuration that includes a 2.4GHz, quad-core Intel Core i5-2430M CPU, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, a 7200rpm, 750GB hard drive and an AMD Radeon 6750M graphics adapter. It proved to be hp 371916-001 battery a little bit sluggish, however, recording 49sec in our Blender 3D rendering test, 1min 5sec in our iTunes MP3 encoding test and 1hr 2min in our DVD-to-Xvid video conversion test. All of these times are slower than what we expected of its CPU (see the Medion Akoya P7812, for example, which has the hp 383492-001 battery same CPU but more RAM). It felt pretty zippy during everyday use though and we have no problems with its swiftness when it comes to launching programs and undertaking office, Web and multimedia tasks.

It comes with a built-in, 8GB flash drive that's designed to be a hp 395751-321 battery cache. It can make the notebook boot quicker and it can hp 395789-001 battery make applications launch quicker. In our tests, it shaved about 7sec off the cold boot time of the unit, allowing it to be usable 24sec after we hit the power button, compared to hp 576833-001 battery 31sec when the cache wasn't used. Application execution was hp 395789-003 battery not as easy to measure. Our most commonly used application, Firefox felt like it launched in the same amount of time (less than 2sec) whether the cache was on or off. However, Internet Explorer definitely gained a couple of seconds. The laptop came out of sleep mode in under five seconds in most cases.

Main storage is handled by the 750GB drive, which is partitioned into a 270GB system drive and a 405GB data drive. In CrystalDiskMark, it recorded read and write rates of 110 megabytes per second (MBps). In our own file copy test, it recorded a more modest 40MBps.

In the graphics department there are two hp 383965-001 battery adapters: the CPU-integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics and a discrete AMD Radeon 6750M adapter. The laptop can switch between these adapters automatically, or you can choose which adapter your hp 516916-001 battery applications need to use. There is not a great deal of difference in the real-world performance of these adapters, however, with the Radeon adapter being only slightly faster at processing 3D graphics. It recorded 5483 in 3DMark06, whereas the hp 446506-001 battery Intel graphics recorded 3373. Games such as Battlefield 3 and Need For Speed: The Run will not run smoothly enough to be enjoyable, even if you lower the resolution and graphics detail level, as we did for our tests. That said, the Series 7 Chronos is not designed to be a gaming laptop.

Design and build quality

We found the overall build quality of the hp 485041-001 battery Chronos to be very good. It's relatively thin and light considering it's a fully-kitted 15.6in notebook, weighing 2.4kg and boasting a thickness of around 24mm with the lid closed. The bottom part of the base and the sides are a hp 498482-001 battery single piece and the top part of the chassis is seated in it and screwed in place from the bottom. Holding the unit with one hand from either side won't cause the chassis to bend much and we think it's very solidly hp 480385-001 battery constructed despite being a little creaky at times. Even the side with the DVD burner feels sturdy, although the keyboard tends to bounce a little on that side due to the void created by the slot-loading drive — the keyboard doesn't bounce on the side without the DVD burner.

Curves are a big part of the Chronos' design and we love the hp 482962-001 battery smooth looks that they provide. It feels comfortable to handle the notebook and we didn't find it to be a burden when carrying it to and from the office with its power supply. The lid is latch-less and the balance of the hp 456864-001 battery notebook is great as you can lift the lid with one hand without the base coming up off the replacement laptop battery table.

The 15.6in screen sits in a lid that has a thin frame and its design looks great. It's a matte screen that's quite bright (there is also an ambient light sensor, which is quite sensitive) and it has a resolution of 1600x900, rather than 1366x768, which can hp 516355-001 battery be found on most mainstream 15.6in laptops. However, its viewing angles are not great. We spent most of our time adjusting the tilt angle, especially when looking at photos and watching videos. This is a complaint we have of most laptops on the market.

When the CPU or graphics are working hard, the notebook's fan will also start to work hard, and it got noticeably loud during our tests — even when we were just watching YouTube videos. The extraction vents are on the hp 593572-001 battery spine of the chassis and very close to the hp 484170-002 battery screen's hinge. This means that there isn't much space for the air to move and that it's funnelled upwards. It's this action that makes the airflow so audible and it could get quite annoying if you're in a hp 367759-001 battery quiet room. There is a silent setting in the 'Easy Settings' software that hp mini 210 battery comes pre-installed on the notebook. Its purpose is to spin the fan at a constant low rate, rather than changing its speed dynamically, but we didn't notice any difference when we enabled this setting.

The speaker vents are located near the air hp 493202-001 battery vents, too, and we found their quality to be flat, but not too bad for a laptop. They produced enough volume and clarity for us to enjoy listening to music and watching videos, but, as always, if you want great sound with hp 371785-001 battery good bass, you'll have to plug in some big speakers.

Battery life

The sealed design of the base means that the TOSHIBA PA3399U-1BAS battery is inside the unit and can not be removed. This isn't a hp 916-2150 battery bad thing. In our rundown test, in which we disable power management, enable Wi-Fi, maximise screen brightness and loop an Xvid-encoded video, the battery lasted a whopping 4hr 42min — an absolutely great result for a 15.6in notebook.

Furthermore, when we used the laptop for word hp 398752-001 battery processing, viewing photos and Web browsing, and with lower screen hp 436281-422 battery brightness, we got almost a full day's worth of use out of it. It's this aspect of the notebook that impressed us greatly.

Samsung ships the notebook with a utility that allows you to charge the hp 346971-001 battery within 80 per cent of its capacity, which can prolong the life of the battery in terms of the number of charging cycles it can withstand (it's rated at 1500).

Touchpad and keyboard

The Chronos has an ELAN multi-touch touchpad that's 107x77mm. It's a big pad with the hp 383493-001 battery left- and right-click buttons located under it, and it's not the best touchpad we've ever used — far from it actually. The pointer often sticks and inadvertent clicks and selections occur too frequently — it was almost impossible to make multiple file selections without hp 441132-001 battery copying those files prematurely. Sometimes clicks didn't register until we hit the hp 398065-001 battery pad two or three times. We found it to be a very frustrating touchpad to use and reinstalling the drivers and adjusting its settings didn't help. You could always plug in a mouse, but this notebook is hp 454931-001 battery designed with portability in mind. As such, it's always disappointing when vendors put so much effort into producing sought after notebooks with good battery life but then skimp on something as important as the touchpad.

The keyboard, on the other hand, is hp 374762-001 battery excellent. It has a chiclet style with backlit keys that are a pleasure to hit. They are hp 398832-001 battery soft and produce good bounce. The backlight can be adjusted in eight levels and it's a cool, white colour that looks beautiful when typing at night. The layout of the keys is hp 411462-141 battery standard, it includes a number pad and the arrow keys have a little space around them that makes them easy to distinguish. The delete key doubles as the eject button for the slot-loading DVD burner.

Other features

Around the edges, the hp 436281-251 battery Series 7 Chronos includes three USB ports (two of which are USB 3.0), HDMI, a combination headphone and microphone port, a micro DisplayPort and an SD card slot. You also get a hp 396600-001 battery Gigabit Ethernet port, which has a little hinged part that moves down to allow Ethernet cables to be hp 462890-541 battery plugged in. It's designed this way so that it could fit in the slim, curved design of the base. Bluetooth, 802.11n (a 2.4GHz Broadcom module) and a webcam are also part of the features list.

Conclusion

There's no doubt in our minds that the hp 440265-abc battery Series 7 Chronos is a good laptop hp 462890-251 battery. The problem is, it could have been great. If only it had a touchpad with hp 586021-001 battery better accuracy and responsiveness, and hp 371915-001 battery perhaps a screen with wider viewing angles. Apart from those issues, we like the design of this notebook; its keyboard and battery life are excellent and its feature-set (including the slot-loading DVD drive) is useful.