Laptop Reviews

Dell is one of the most popular computer brands in the world and is the preferred choice of many a shopper.  An entry level product from the Texan manufacturer, the Dell Inspiron 1545 has a lot of expectations to live up to because the last product from the Inspiron series, the Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop was one of the best products released that year.  The Inspiron 1545 is one of the most versatile and affordable mid range laptops available in the market right now.

The configuration we are reviewing is a 15.6 inch laptop with Core 2 Duo processor.  It is empowered with a 2 GHz processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard drive, DVD RW and a Webcam. Another highlight of the laptop is the fact that it is equipped with Window’s latest Operating System the Windows 7.  Being a highly customisable laptop, it is not a surprise that the Inspiron 15 line is Dell’s most popular laptop in several markets across the world. Will Dell be able to pull off another successful product? We have done extensive testing to uncover the plusses and minuses of the Inspiron 1545.

Design:

First Impressions:
Like most new models in the market, the Dell Inspiron 1545 is available in a number of different colours and a lot of artistic designs as well. The model we choose was a default Standard Black one and for any other choice of colour, you would have to shell out extra cash. The Inspiron 1545 notebook has a glossy black plastic surface on the inside and a matte black plastic on the outside, making its look rather ordinary. As the device is very glossy, people who hate fingerprint smudges would be better off choosing another colour.  Since the device is black all over, using it would attract a lot of smudges. There are no patterns such as the Toshiba A350 11N or the HP HDX 16 have to disguise these fingerprints. While semi matte palm rests are less attractive, at least they would require less maintenance.

Body:
The design is streamlined and pretty minimalistic. On the top casing was the silver Dell logo embossed on the black glossy surface. The case feels rather stiff and could be twisted a little bit on applying force. There was also some creaking noise while opening or closing the lid. The frame felt loose and the lid was fragile.

Keyboard:
The keyboard sits rather tight and only slightly gives close to the right shift and hence, the stroke is firm. We were not satisfied by the feedback we got while typing. The keys are arranged in a standard layout. They are reasonably big and are adequately spaced from each other.  The outermost column with Del, Page and Down buttons are clearly separated from the rest; thus, separating the enter key and preventing one from accidentally pressing the Enter button. Touch typists beware! The haptical marks for the home position of the hands are not really distinct. But on the whole, the keyboard seems suitable. People using desktop keyboards will have to get used to the spongy feedback.

Touch Pad of Dell Inspiron 1545:
The touchpad has a shiny surface and sadly does not seem to support multi touch gestures. The surface of the pad is smooth enough, for one not to notice any sort of resistance while the finger is gliding on it.  There are separate horizontal and vertical scroll areas, though they are not really distinct and the according areas are on the bottom right edge.  This touchpad even comes with a separate tool for setting up the width of the scroll areas. As mentioned earlier, the touch pad does not support two finger input, but it does feature zooming. The mouse buttons have great travel and feedback. The click feels hollow but is fine.

Display:
The Inspiron 1545 Laptop Notebook features a 1366 x 768 pixel screen that is HD ready as well.  It has a standard 16:9 resolution, which is a standard amongst all mainstream office and multimedia laptops. The TFT screen without an anti reflection protection, has a moderate contrast. At its maximum brightness, the display was able to achieve a contrast ratio of 205:1.  The blacks were not deep and the colours could have been even livelier. When we used the notebook in the sun, we noticed that the shine of the sun was able to outshine the brightness of the screen and hence, the notebook is less readable outdoors. The viewing angles of the Inspiron 1545 are 45 degrees when the movement is horizontal. The colours start to bleach at 30 degrees when the eyes are moved up or down.  While there is a display of higher resolution (600 x 900 pixels) is available, the screen is adequate for most tasks. However, Dell looks stingy when one considers that Sony has the 1366 x 768 pixels resolution into its 10.1 inches W series netbook, which makes it look simply stunning.

Speakers:
An aluminium bar like speaker is present right below the display. They were unusually loud and are adequate for games, songs or movies. Most of the time the volume was never above the half way mark and we had no problems whatsoever. The volume from the speakers is crisp clear and audible at lower limits. But at maximum volume, the sound scape of the stereo speaker includes a grating noise and the middle tone quality deteriorates. The sound via a headphone on the contrary, is quieter and even the annoying click sounds are inaudible.

The quality of the built in mike is bad. Built right into the front of the case, the input of the mike is low even after adjusting the input levels. So, having a conversation on Skype will be incomprehensible.

Webcam:
Dell offers the Inspiron 1545 an optional webcam. The 1.3 megapixel camera is pretty decent and it takes great pictures and is okay for video conferencing. But, the real surprise was, when we found the facial recognition software. The software adds a whole new meaning to securing personal data.

Features:

Connectivity:
The Inspiron 1545 Notebook computer is equipped with a decent set of ports. The notebook has all its ports arranged on its three sides. The rear side is spared because of the battery slot sitting in there.  The front side has a card reader and two audio ports which are pretty handy and hence, the headphones can be connected directly.  The 1545 has three USB ports, a VGA network and audio (headphones and microphones) interfaces.  The highlight however, is the Express Card 34 slot on the right. Music lovers can transfer music to a hi-fi system or enjoy headphones sound without cables. If music is not your cup of tea, you could just add a UMTS module in the Express Card 34 format. There is a wireless WLAN draft n provided as well, enabling the usage of Internet via a router. The model being reviewed also has a 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Hardware:
Beneath the glossy exteriors of the 1545 lie a few better internals, than what one would uaually expect. There is an Intel Core 2 Duo T8500 processor that runs at 2 GHz with an 800 MHz front side bus. In layman’s terms, that is sufficiently fast enough to handle any piece of software you would be using on a notebook like this. There is a 3GB memory along with Windows 7 Home edition Operating System. The Intel Integrated GMA4500 graphics card is not recommended for gaming, but is sufficient for most other things. The storage is handled by a decent 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive. The absence of Bluetooth is sadly regrettable.

Software:
The Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop has a couple of pre loaded software included in it. There is Microsoft Works 9.0 included for word processing and spreadsheet work. On the security front, Dell has McAfee Security Centre for anti virus protection bundled along with 30 days of free updates. There is also the Dell Dock included which enables a user to sort software applications on your PC into user friendly categories right on the desktop.

Operating System:
Yes, the Dell Inspiron 1545 ships with the Home Premium Edition of Windows 7.  It is solid, nimble and the most attractive Operating system till date. The Start Menu, The Task Bar and the System Tray have got a thorough makeover and the new design reduces clutter. These Windows 7 interface changes are minor, but are sensible enough to make you wonder why they were not included earlier. When it comes to speed, the Windows 7 Operating system requires lesser power to work and is highly efficient when compared to the incumbent Vista. Another highlight of the Operating System is the Windows Media Centre that allows you to watch free shows on Internet TV. Thus, the OS makes the Inspiron experience a much better one.

Performance:

Speed:
The DELL Inspiron 1545 notebook has an Intel Pentium Dual Core 2 Processor with a clock rate of 2 GHz. The CPU features an FSB of 800 MHz and one Megabyte L2 Cache. The T4200 has 2 physical cores, something that is common in most midrange systems. Processor heavy tasks such as image processing or even video editing are inappropriate on this model or for that matter most mid range systems. As a matter of fact, The Pentium T4200 has replaced the Celeron M in most entry level PCs and hence one cannot really expect a wonderful performance.  The lack of a dedicated graphics card, applications tend to burden the CPU.

In one of our CPU rendering tests, we were able to determine that the T4200 is purely an entry level processor that takes the advantage of dual core architecture. In the 3D Mark test it scored as much as the Asus P50IJ – so036x (an Intel Core 2 Duo system with low clock rate). Anyone looking for a solid office performance can be satisfied with the T4200. The Online store from Dell has customisable processors, and if you want a faster processor you could choose the Intel P8400 which is better when combined with an ATI or a Nvidia graphics card. The Hitachi hard drive inside with 320GB capacity has meagre access times. While contemporary notebook record an average of 60-75MBps, this drive had an average of 45MBps during sequential reading on the HD tune tool.

System Noise:
One of the strengths of the Inspiron 1545 is its very low noise emissions during office use. If alteration of low demand states, and load occurs, the fan seems to flare up for a short flare up of the fan. The noise falls to a quieter state soon. This continues till the load is stopped. The sound is nevertheless okay to bear with.

Temperature:
The heat generated by the machine stays below under an acceptable limit as long as the benchmark tests are not use to increase the load. While being on idle mode, the touchpad reached a temperature of 36.3 degrees centigrade. Under normal load, the screen touched 37.5 degrees. The keyboard’s temperatures ranged from 28 degrees to 35 degrees and are convenient values for a notebook.  We did not have any inconveniences while using the Inspiron on a lap.

Energy Consumption:
The Inspiron 1545 has low energy demands. The Inspiron 1545 laptop consumes about 27w during the 3DBenchMark test and about 45w about CPU benchmark test. In reality, the power consumption of the laptop will be somewhere around 17w and 27w. On standby, the energy demand falls to a meager 0.3 watt. Putting the notebook in idle will cause the system to burn only 9 watts.

Battery Life:

Being a laptop targeted at the office goers and users looking for a desktop replacement, most of the tasks that one would do on the Inspiron 1545 would be either browsing the Internet, listening to music or watching DVDs. The Inspiron ran for about three whole hours with an active WLAN connection. That is decent in spite of being equipped with a 35w processor. The 1545 lasted 233 minutes, roughly about 4 hours on idle mode. So, if you turn down the brightness to a minimum, deactivate the WLAN connection, this figure of near 4 hour battery life is not unrealistic. But practically, the laptop would last anywhere between two to three hours. While there are CULV notebooks such as the Asus Ul50VT that have a battery life of 9 hours, three hours are alright for an office notebook in this price category. The values are meant for a six cell battery and if you want better values, you can upgrade to a nine cell model. While it offers a longer battery life, the notebook does become less portable.

Accessories in the Box:

The Inspiron 1545 package has a rechargeable lithium ion battery, an AC adapter and operating instructions, apart from the notebook.

Warranty and Support:

Dell has a standard one year warranty on parts and labour. Apart from the classic protection, Dell offers online service support as well. Their website features a solid collection of support tools such as an Flash based question widget, Online chat and a 24 x 7 toll free telephone support. Users have the choice to upgrading to a three year warranty service, but that comes with a small dent in your wallet.

Verdict:

The Dell Inspiron 1545 is something that we expected from an entry level laptop. While the look and feel of the keyboard is that of an inexpensive laptop, Dell managed to surprise us in a couple of areas. The screen of the 1545 is something that stands out from most of the crowd. Even the basic model had a reasonably decent screen. The model also scores points for being energy conscious. It is really quiet and has a low energy demand. Apart from that, it generates lesser heat than most of its contemporaries. While the internals were okay, the chassis of the body felt cheap. The hinges seemed to creak. The model also attracted our wrath for being so smudge prone. If you hate glossy surfaces, you can try out the Acer Extensa 5220. The lack of extras is unjustified and at 2.84kgs, it is not really light weight. While being able to choose everything from CPU to Wi-Fi card, too many options just confuses most users, preconfigured systems such as Dell’s very own i1545-012B or the Gateway NV5807u are not a bad idea. The Lenovo G550, which is roughly around the same cost as the Inspiron is also a good alternative.

It is really easy to criticise the device, but it is a highly competitive product in its category and that explains its popularity. If you want a cheap and simple family laptop, then this is a good choice.

Check other Dell Studio XPS 16 Reviews, Dell XPS M1530 Reviews, Ratings in this website.

Configurations Available:

Feature	Configuration Options
Operating System	Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-Bit Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic 32-BitG
Graphics	Intel®  Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Display	Glossy 15.6″ Widescreen XGA (1366×768) Bright 15.6″ Widescreen XGA (1366×768)
Hard drive	250GB4 SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) Specifications – Hard Drive 320GB4 SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) Specifications – Hard Drive
Optical drives	DVD+/-RW with Dual Layer DVD+R write capability
Memory	2GB3 Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz 3GB3 Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
Wi-Fi Options	Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Mini-Card Dell Wireless 1515 Wireless-N Mini-Card Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Chipset	Intel®  Cantiga GM45 Chipset
Webcam ( Optional)	1.3 megapixel
Antivirus software	McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial McAfee SecurityCenter, 15-Months
Power	4-cell 2.0AHr Battery 6-cell 2.2AHr Battery 9-cell 2.2AHr Battery

DELL Inspiron 1545 – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Dell
Model Name	Dell Inspiron 1545
PC type	Laptop
Dimensions (W x H x D)	14.7 x ( 1.02-1.48) x 9.6
Weight	2.64 kgs
Available colours	8 colours and 200 + designs available
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel Core 2 Duo processor T4200
Clock speed	2.0 Ghz
Processor manufacturer	Intel
Cache	2MB Cache
FSB	800 Mhz
RAM installed	3072 MB (3GB)
RAM type	800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard drive capacity	250 GB SATA Hard Drive
Spindle speed	5400rpm
Graphics and Sound
Graphics Processor	Integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD
Display	15.6” 16:9 High Definiton TruBrite Widescreen 133 x 768
Display Finish	High Contrast Glossy
Audio Processing	Realtek
Communication
Ethernet	Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
Modem	None
Wireless	802.11 b/g
Mobile Internet	None
Bluetooth	None (Optional)
Webcam	1.3 Megapixel
Connectivity
Video Connections	1 VGA port
Audio Connections	1 headphones out, 1 microphone in
Card Reader	SD, MMC, MS, MS Pro, xD
Other	3 x USB 2.0 34m Express Card Ethernet Kensington Lock
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
BATTERY
Battery technology	Li-ion
Estimated battery life (mfr)	2-3 hours
MISCELLANEOUS
Accessories	Setup guide, Warranty guide, an Adapter,some software booklet and recovery disc
WARRANTY AND SERVICE	One year and can be upgraded to three at an extra cost

Advent is a well known company in the entry level laptop segment. A brand that belongs to the popular hardware magazine PC world, the prime focus of their marketing is the United Kingdom. The company has been designing stylish yet useful laptops for home computing and everyday office tasks.  Amongst their vast range of products, the focus this time is on the Advent Roma 1000, that promises an affordable and yet powerful PC which can handle everyday tasks with ease.  Featuring an Intel Celeron M 900 processor along with the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 HD, the laptop is suited for everyday tasking and multimedia. The 15.6 inch screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels is another stunning feature on the model. The 160 GB memory and wireless capabilities are amongst its specifications. In these tough times, when price is more important than it ever was, will the price tag of the Roma 1000 help it gain a mass appeal? Read the review to find out.

Design:

First Impression:
Inexpensive laptops do not really score that high when it comes to style but the Roma is more appealing than most in the category. Advent Roma 1000 laptop looks great and the black design uses a combination of matt and glossy plastics for that stylish effect. The black case is complimented by a subtle pattern of concentric circles that are molded on to the plastic .The glossy lid is highly prone to attract scratches and fingerprints; the matte coated interior is more resilient. There is a mirrored plastic strip that runs along the front edge of the base that masks several status LEDs. The build quality does feel more luxurious than what the low price suggests.

Dimensions:
The Roma 1000 is a firmly built laptop with a smooth lustrous body. It is 369mm wide, 43 inches deep and a height of 260mm and weighs a huge 2.9 Kgs.

15.6 Screen Display:
The Advent Roma 1000 features a large 15.6 inch screen display which ensures one gets large and clear pictures. The screen size is perfect for a budget notebook like this. With a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, the screen is capable of displaying HD content flawlessly. If you would prefer a larger screen then you should check out the Packard Bell EasyNote LJ65-RB-055K which has a 17. 3 inch screen that would ensure impressive visuals. However, the screen continues to be amongst the pros of the model as it is one area where no compromises have been made when it comes to cost.

Keyboard and Touch Pad:
The Advent Roma 1000 Keyboard has large and well spaced keys with an almost flat profile. There are the usually set of keys you would expect to find in a normal ordinary laptop. The keys have a slightly spongy feel which can hinder comfort. The board also seems to flex but does respond accurately even though if it is a little bit noisy. The touchpad is nothing extraordinary. It is an ordinary one that is neither small nor fiddly.

Speakers:
When one needs to maintain a low manufacturing cost of a notebook, the quality of the components are sometimes compromised. The Roma 1000 has 2 tiny speakers that lie below the screen. They are not really that good for anything other than inbuilt Windows chimes.

Webcam:
The Advent Roma 1000 has a webcam that is provided for video chatting as well as taking photographs. The picture quality was pretty decent; however, the video quality seemed to be inconsistent when we tested it on Skype.

Ports:
The Advent Roma 1000 15.6″ laptop computer features 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, VGA port and a HDMI port. Thanks to the HDMI port, one can hook up a better screen if there is a choice provided. And mind you, it is a rarity at the price. It lets you connect to an external HDTV for the ultimate full home cinema screen.

Features:

Processor:
The Advent Roma uses an Intel Celeron 900 processor that clocks at 2.2GHz. It is basically a single core processor that does not support hyper threading. It is a Pentium M with a halved level 2 Cache and limited on FSB 400. An important characteristic of the processor is its speed which is just a little bit slower than the equivalent Pentium processor. Though it still is not quicker than most other notebooks’ Intel Atom processor, it is capable of running Windows 7 smoothly without any issues. Another important aspect of the processor is that it has a very small power consumption.

Graphics:
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500HD is the chipset provided within the Roma 1000. Thanks to 2 more shaders and a higher core clock, it is faster than the older GMA X3100. However, in spite of all this it is still not recommended for gamers. Games that require Direct X 10 can be playable only with very low settings. The integrated processor is however capable of decoding HD videos with AVC, VC-2 and MPEG 2 formats.

Operating System:
It is one of the very few laptops to feature Microsoft’s latest operating system Windows 7. Windows 7 released in October was met with rave reviews and is considered to be a massive improvement over Vista.  The newer OS is faster and provides a more intuitive user experience than Vista. If you use a system with a Windows Vista, it is the perfect time to quit it and enjoy the credentials of Windows 7. The OS needs less memory for its smooth execution when compared to the earlier versions. Apart from that the shut down and boot up times are smaller. So, it is suited to run on budget laptops unlike the earlier Operating Systems which needed a rather more powerful machine.

Memory:
These are times when even net books have equivalent HDD capacity and RAM as much as laptops do. The 250 GB drive of the earlier Roma has now been replaced by a 160 GB drive and that is still sufficient for most users. The Hard drive is a 4 GB DDR2 RAM.

Connectivity:
The networking features of the device are limited when compared to other models in the market. One can access the Internet using either wired Ethernet or wireless Wi-Fi. 802.11b/g WLAN is the WLAN standard for the device. Another point to notice is that this model lacks Bluetooth support.

Performance:

Good for Basic Tasks:
The Advent Roma 1000 is focused on users who would want a laptop that would serve to the basic day to day tasks such as browsing the internet, editing Word, Excel and other documents and basic photo editing. The TFT screen is bright and sharp enough for office and internet applications. Thankfully Windows 7 ran smoothly and was a pleasure to use. A note of caution is that the Advent Roma 1000 NOT recommended for gaming or editing videos.

Mediocre Visual Performance:
The problem with cheap or low budget laptops is that you cannot expect much in terms of performance. The Advent Roma is amongst one of them.  The Celeron processor is usually a compromising option as it is cheaper than the Intel Pentium processor.  The 2.2 GHz Celeron processor, in spite of partnering with a 3GB RAM, scored a meager 0.78 in a benchmark test. Another victim of the low price is the 3DMark06 score. The Roma 1000 scored a 735 which means 3 D gaming is out of the question. The Intel 4500M does support Direct x 10 but most games will be playable in very low settings. With a score of 5fps in Crysis at low detail, one can safely conclude that the Roma 1000 is useless for hardcore gaming and can be used to play older games.  However, the graphics chipset was able to accelerate high definition video performance and was a saving grace.

Audio:
The Audio was also not up to the mark and are not anything special. Any serious music listening or movie watching would require the usage of headphones. However, at higher volumes, the speakers sounded flat and this was a bit of a minor irritant.

Battery Life:

The Laptop has a really poor mobility rate.  In one of our rigorous battery tests, it lasted just 44 minutes. An average user can expect somewhere around one hour and 40 minutes. Way better than the 44 minutes, it is mainly suited for home use.  One cannot expect to be close to the mains all the time and the Roma 1000’s low battery life goes against it.

Warranty:

There is a warranty period of one year on the Advent Roma 1000.

Verdict:

The latest version of the Original Roma is an impressive machine with its set of flaws. The budget laptop does not thrill us at least in terms of performance. While it continues the strengths of its predecessor, it suffers from a poor battery life and a mediocre performance. The performance is sufficient for basic tasks and one would probably be not bothered about the battery life assuming the laptop would be mostly at home connected to the mains. As said earlier, its low battery life makes it ideal for usage at home.  But at the time of writing, very few budget laptops have Windows 7 in them and that gives the Roma an edge over its rivals.  The full sized keyboard and a DVD writer make it an appealing alternative to users who would look to but a net book. So, judge according to your needs and see if it appeals to you.  If not, there are other choices available.

Check 2010 Latest Laptop Reviews, Specs in this website.

Advent Roma 1000 Notebook Computer – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Advent
Model Name	Advent Roma 1000
Series	Roma
DIMENSIONS AND DISPLAY
Dimensions (W x D x H)	369 x 43 x 260 mm
Weight	2.9 kg
Display resolution	1366 x 768 pixel resolution
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel® Celeron® Processor 900
Intel Atom Processor	2.2 GHz
Second level Cache	1MB L2 Cache
Front Bus Speed	800 MHz
RAM installed	3 GB
WLAN Standard	802.11b/g WLAN
Hard drive size	160 GB
Spindle speed	5400rpm
Internal Disk interface	SATA 300
Optical drive	DVD Rewriter
INPUT
Keyboard	A Regular one minus the number pad
Track pad	Normal Touch Pad
GRAPHICS, VIDEO AND SOUND
Graphics adaptor	Intel GMA 4500MHD
Sound	Realtek HD Audio
COMMUNICATION FEATURES
Wireless	Compliancy : Wi-Fi® Network Support : 802.11b/g Wireless Technology : Wireless LAN
Webcam	A 1.3MP camera
Extension Card Slot	1 x ExpressCard 3/4
CONNECTIVITY	1 x HDMI 1 x VGA 1 x external microphone 3 (Left 2, Right 1) x USB 2.0 1 x Webcam
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Genuine Windows XP or Windows 7
BATTERY
Battery technology	Lithium Ion battery , 1 hours 45 minutes lifetime
WARRANTY	One-year limited Warranty

Dell has recently launched the new Dell Studio XPS 13 and 16.  Yes, you have read that right. Dell has combined the mid range Studio series with the higher end XPS lines to make way for its Studio XPS lineage.  Designed for a power packed performance, cutting edge features and style, the Studio XPS 16 will certainly grab attention. Available in plain 15.6 inches LED and RGB LED, the model is being projected as a multimedia powerhouse. But more essentially, combining both the series means that we are getting a true 16: 9 16 inch laptop, similar to the Acer 6920G launched last year.  The first 16 inch laptop from Dell in recent times, the model offers viewing pleasures as good as the Sony VAIO VGN Z11WN/B which is a larger and a far more expensive model.

The Dell Studio XPS 16 offers a full a 1900 x 1080 pixel RGB LED backlit display which means it has one of the widest colour gamut on a notebook.  That makes it not only for watching films, but also for editing pictures, where high colour accuracy is a concern.  It combines portability with actual media centre capabilities and has competition in the form of Acer Aspire 6930 and HP Pavilion HDX 16. But in these times of recession, is it worth shelling out extra for a niche luxury laptop? Read the review and find out.  Trust us, the Dell Studio XPS 16 will not disappoint.

Design:

“Sleek” attracts:
In the earlier half of the decade, Dell laptops were criticized for being heavy think and boxy. Fortunately, they realized that companies like HP, Apple and Sony had huge market shares partly due to sleek notebooks and decided for a major overhaul in the way their laptops looked.  2007 marked the launch of the Dell XPS M1330 which was followed by more attractive notebooks in the form of Studio, XPS and Inspiron series. Thanks to the success of the XPS brand, Dell now offers a modifier for their notebooks which means one can customize their laptop according to their needs.

A Hybrid:
Anyone who has seen the Studio XPS 13 would recognize that the XPS 16 looks identical except for its larger frame. The rounded hinge and tapered design of the XPS 16 is a reminiscent of the fact that the laptop is a hybrid of the XPS and Studio lines.  The sleek lines and brushed aluminium accents from the XPS brand and the chassis design of the Studio make it sport a radically new design.

Stylish:
The glossy black exterior with a leather patch on the lower half of the LCD cover not only enhances the style but makes carrying it more comfortable. The Black lid with Dell’s logo emblazoned on it has an anodized strip which stretches from the width to the top. At the back of the lid is present a matching black leather trim near the hinge which did seem arbitrary. This is not the first notebook to use leather, but here the leather makes it look a bit more appealing. For people who carry their laptops with the hinges pointed down, the leather area provides a surface to hold and keep a tight grip.

Superb Built Quality:
The magnesium alloy chassis gives it spectacular build quality and is perhaps amongst the best laptops that Dell has ever made. The XPS 16 is not as sturdy as the Dell Latitude series but can resist a fall from a desk without any physical damage.

A bit too glossy:
The Studio XPS 16 Laptop is available in black, white and red finishes. The problem with glossy black laptops is that they tend to attract dust and are fingerprint prone. The problem is not only with the body but also with the display as well. The edge to edge glossy sheet of plastic tends to attract a lot of smudges as well. Fortunately, Dell has included a cloth to wipe away all those fingerprints.

Display:
This is perhaps the USP of the device and as we stated earlier, the display is the real gem. The XPS 16 features a brilliant 16 inch Widescreen WLED LCD display with a maximum resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The display quality is simply marvellous. The viewing angles are wide and that is essential for a multimedia centric notebook. The display looks almost frameless and being an LED display, it is highly power efficient as well.  The wide colour gamut is obvious from the moment one turns the machine on. Though it might appear oversaturated, one can calibrate it accordingly. The fidelity of the RGB LED is simply mind blowing and easily surpasses some great desktop displays. The only problem would be with the glossy display (which uses a separate glossy layer in front of the screen) is that it is extremely difficult to be read in strong sunlight because of significant amounts of reflections.

Design issues:
We did have an issue with the LCD cover. The rear side of the laptop has ventilation only on the back left corner. So what is the problem? you may ask; the problem is that when one opens the laptop, the bottom edge of the laptop blocks the only exhaust port making the system warmer. Another issue we had been with the bottom access panel. The XPS 16 uses a single massive panel at the bottom of the notebook which does make things easier for people who make multiple modifications. But since it lacks a separate RAM cover, upgrading your RAM means removing all those screws.

Keyboard:
The Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop Computer has a standard studio keyboard with proper shaping and a standard key layout. Unlike the Studio 17 which features a dedicated number pad, the keyboard looks smaller than it actually is thanks to the speaker grills located on the keyboard. The keys have a great travel and offer good feedback. It has no sort of flex in the keyboard area – a touch typist’s dream. It does have a sturdy chassis and has a pretty nice feel to it. Typing is rather soft and with clear feedback and a short key travel.  Some users however might find the keys a bit too flat and will probably have a learning curve while using the notebook. Above the keyboard is a series of touch sensitive media controls. These touch controls will allow you to play/pause music, skip tracks, raise/lower/mute volume, eject discs, and toggle Wi-Fi radio on/off. These white LED backlights located above the keyboard stay lit constantly rather turning off. This would not have much impact on battery life though.

Touchpad:
Below the keyboard is the touch pad located slightly on the left.  A Synaptics touch pad, it is highly responsive and has good sensitive levels. There is a nice textured feel to the touch pad which makes navigating easier. It also has horizontal and vertical areas for scrolling. The touchpad buttons feel nice and offer good feedback too. Driver updates will also enable some basic multi-touch functions on the touchpad. We wish it were a bit larger.

Webcam:
Most users would want security for their data and Dell does not disappoint users here.  While it lacks a biometric fingerprint reader, it has the FastAccess facial recognition technology which when used in conjunction with the 2 MP Webcam allows users to login only after it recognizes the user. The quality of the video during a Skype chat was reasonably good.

Speakers:
Being a multimedia oriented model, the focus was on the audio as well. It features speakers in the form of two 7W drives on either side of the keyboard.  The dual stereo speakers also feature a built in sub-woofer, something that is common in multimedia notebooks. The sound quality is good and offers great volume. At moderate volumes, music, movies and games sound rich and have plenty of bass. The speakers are enough for watching a movie or listening to songs occasionally. However, we wished it had Dolby Home Theatre had been included. The speakers’ grills also tended to collect grime but that is a minor issue.

Ports:
The 15.2 x 10 x 1 inch magnesium alloy chassis enabled Dell to include all the ports you were likely to use. There are 3 video connections: VGA, HDMI and DisplayPort. One of the first systems to use a DisplayPort connection built in, it is raising standards in a huge way. The built in HDMI is great if you would want digital video and audio output. There are 3 USB ports one of which is a memory card reader, a four pin Firewire, a 54mm ExpressCard slot and eSATA/USB dual function port.  The rear side of the model has no ports, but only the battery and heat exhaust. There is an IR receiver, dual headphone outputs and microphone input as well but the lack of an included remote disappointed us.

Hardware:
The Studio XPS 16 Notebook reviewed in the model has an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU with 6MB L2 Cache and a 1066MHz front bus. This configuration is more than enough for basic multitasking use such as Web browsing, document editing and media viewing. The system memory can be upgraded to even 6GB and 8GB as well. One has the option to choose different processors as well ranging from 2.4GHz P8600 up to the 2.93GHz T9800. There is present the 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670 and is sufficient for light gaming chores. The graphics outpace most of the midrange NVIDIA ones. Draft N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Gigabit Ethernet are provided as well. The other specifications are ones you would expect from a high end notebook. One can have a Blu-ray drive and a TV tuner included. That way, you can take full advantage of the RGBLED display. One particular configuration with a lower resolution, non RGB LED 720p display, no blu-ray driver and no Tuner seems shoddy considering that the HP HDX X16 1005ea offers all this and is significantly cheaper.

Features:

RGB LEDs:
You must probably know what LED backlit screens are; they are used in net books as they help in thinning down of the device and making it lighter. RGB LEDs use Red, Green and Blue LEDs as compared to the usual LEDs which emit only white light. These colours can reach almost 100 percent of the Adobe RGB colour space giving it a wide colour gamut. This makes the Studio simply great for viewing TV and high definition video.  However, we noticed that they do not change intensity as far as the CCFLs or white LEDs.

Operating Systems:
The Dell Studio XPS 16 initially featured Windows Vista. But the latest versions of the model have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit or Windows 7 Professional 64 bit or Windows 7 Home Ultimate 64 bit. One has the option to choose the better versions of the Windows 7 OS but at a higher rate.

Dell Dock:
Another feature incorporated into the XPS 16 is the Dell Dock on the desktop. To make the OS friendlier, there is a dock on the desktop akin to what one finds on the Mac OS X. Except, the dock is located on the top of the desktop by default. One can customize the location and colour of the dock by simply right clicking it. One can also add shortcuts by dragging icons into it. It reduces the need to keep digging into the Start Menu.

Software:
Dell has done a good job by cleverly choosing decent software for the XPS 16. Apart from the usual applications such as Bluetooth manager, software such as McAfee Security Centre and Dell Data Software is provided. The list of pre installed software includes PowerDVD DX, Adobe Acrobat Reader 9, Microsoft PowerPoint  viewer, Dell Video Chat, Dell Webcam, FastAccess Facial recognition, Roxio Creator DE, Internet Explorer and a couple of Windows games. So, nothing really special here.

Backlit Keyboard:
Another Standard feature of the Studio XPS line is the backlit keyboard. This is an aesthetic feature that the Dell model shares with the Apple and Sony laptops. Backlit keyboards enable you to work in dark conditions and are highly useful in presentations and conferences.

Performance:

Performance factors with the insides:
The Studio XPS 16 System came with 4GB of RAM and an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 CPU. There is the ATI Mobility Radeon HD3670, the presence of which surprised us. This is a powerful video chip as powerful as the nVidia 9600 GS. While the XPS brand was synonymous with exceptional performance and was pure pleasure for gamers, the Studio XPS 16 has steered away from that image. The XPS 16 focuses more on multimedia considering the presence of a Blu-ray player, an inbuilt TV tuner and HD screens in 16:9 aspect ratios. In the 3D Benchmark Test, the XPS 16 achieved 4279 points, which is 700 points more than the category average. This makes the XPS 16 as powerful as the XPS M1530.

On the PC Mark 2005, it scored 6449 points making it one of the most powerful laptops in the segment. Also one noticeable aspect is that the XPS 13 is more powerful than the 16.  The inbuilt graphics card operated well and outperformed its nVidia counterparts. The RAM capacity of 4 GB, half of the maximum 8 GB was decent as well. One has various options when it comes to mass storage. There are HDD models in 400 rpm, 7200 rpm, and HDDs without mechanical parts. But the current limit is 500 GB for a 5400 rpm drive. The transfer speeds of the built in drive was about 61.7MBps which is a pretty decent score. The access time of 16.6 milliseconds is convenient too.

Display:
The Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop Notebook Computer features a high resolution 1080p full HD display with RGB LED. The high resolution and the colour representation help it in realizing a big representable colour space. In our test, we recorded a brightness of 268 cd/m² and it falls towards the corners.  Illumination at 81 percent of brightness at display brightness of 232.1 cd/m² is favourable.  The black value was as low as 0.55 cd/m² and the contrast of 487:1 was excellent. The impressions of the pictures are good thanks to high sharpness and rich contrast. These numbers demonstrate that display with a RGB LED light provides a good picture.

Colour Representation and Viewing Angles:
While for most users colour representation is not important, it offers details regarding how well the colours can be displayed. Almost all the current colour spaces RGB, Adobe RGB or CMYC are covered.  Thanks to a reflecting surface display, the outdoor operation is not really strength of the XPS 16. However, it is possible to work well in outdoors without direct sunlight. In spite of disturbing reflections, the brightness was sufficient. Viewing angles offer decent vertical angles for stationary operation. In the vertical directions, it might appear that the colours actually suffer distortion and reflections tend to increase in horizontal direction.

Audio:
The availability of 2 loudspeakers and a built in subwoofer are responsible for a nice sound scape. The acoustics was very present and clear. The highly clarity is perhaps due to the advantageous location. The subwoofer did leave its impact. Though the system had a great audio, it could not reach the standards of Harman Kardon sound system of the Toshiba Qosimo Series.  At higher volumes, the subwoofer seemed to falter slightly.

Gaming Performance:
Considering the XPS brand was great for gaming, we tested the Studio XPS 16 on a couple of games. First we tested the model by playing Crysis as this shooter game is used as an endurance test for PCs as it can bring down the best machines on their knees.  For Crysis to run on full capacity, the settings need not be high. For medium detail, the Studio XPS 16 notebook achieved 29 fps in the GPU benchmark test, which is too less for a smooth run. One can play it even on low details, but the graphics would not be enjoyable. For Games like Race Driver GRID even at low resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, low detail and with anti aliasing disabled, the performance fell before 30fps which does not even allow a reasonable game play. In GTA IV the benchmark test revealed a score of 20.6 fps. The game was marred with constant stuttering and hence will disappoint many users.  The graphics card is a bit weak for running contemporary games at high detail and resolution. It is possible to play games, but only at low resolution.  This is sad considering that the same model uses RGB LED panel.

Heat and Noise:
We would not be wrong if we say that the heat produced by the device is amongst its cons. being flat and the fact that the model has only one ventilation port made the fan run the entire time. The unit we reviewed tended to get hot especially when we put the processor to tough tests. A couple of tests and 30 minutes of Blu-ray Playback later, the XPS 16 got uncomfortably hot. The processor and the graphics card usually generate a lot of heat, but the system fan seemed unable to cool down the notebook. If high temperature notebooks are not okay with you, you would perhaps be better not using it as a laptop.

Noise was not much of an issue with the XPS 16. The Cooling fan did not seem to make much noise. It gets completely silent when in idle mode. Apparently, the fan runs all the time and at a low speed and hence fails to cool the system down efficiently. But we would have not minded more fan noise if you would have a cooler laptop for it. The notebook is rather silent, but gets a bit noisy when demanding tasks are done. Though the slot loading disc made some noise while ejecting / inserting a disc, it was easily amongst the quietest slot loading drives in the market. Dell has even managed to cut down noise from the hard drive and is well appreciated.

Battery Life:

The Studio XPS comes with either a 6 cell or a 9 cell lithium battery with a capacity of 53.7 Wh. The 9 cell battery would come with a better life but is at the expense of a larger and slightly heavier notebook. When the LCD screen ran at maximum brightness, one could lose up to 10 to 60 minutes of power. At 280 nits (the maximum brightness), the model uses 9W more power. But that is the price we pay for the beautiful LCD display. That is quite significant, even by normal standards. With Windows Vista’s power management running at a brightness of 80 percent and with wireless on, the 9 cell battery life was about 2 hours 55 minutes. The 6 cell battery model has a battery life of two thirds of the 9 cell one, about 2 hours. That is nothing special when compared to other notebooks. We wonder why Dell has not included the hybrid nVidia 9400M integrated graphics card as its 13.3 inch cousin does. Though the battery life of the Studio XPS 16 is meagre when compared to the MacBook Air (whose battery life is claimed to be 8 hours), the values are not really bad for a 16 inch notebook.

Accessories:

On opening the elegant black box of the XPS 16 , one finds a velvet sheet in which is present the machine, Setup guide, Warranty guide, an Adapter and some software booklet filled with restore discs.  There is neither a mouse nor a kitchen sink provided.

Warranty:

Dell offers a warranty of one year on the basic model of the XPS 16. The higher end versions have a warranty and service period of 2 years.

Verdict:

After checking the model thoroughly we can safely conclude that this model is easily amongst the best models launched this year. Its simple case, solid cover and leather pad give it a high score when it comes to design.  It has all the necessary ports such as HDMI, display and VGA included leaving nothing else to be desired. The Backlit keyboard helps in intensive typing and is a great aesthetic add on. The FastAccess Face Recognition in place of a fingerprint reader is a nice feature too. But the best part of the XPS 16 is the high resolution panel with RGB LED backlight. No other notebook screen has been able to reach the colour quality, contrast and illumination and brightness levels of the XPS 16.  The ATI Mobility Radeon graphics card disappointed us because it seemed unable to run contemporary games at even normal resolution. The High temperature and its Poor battery life were sadly huge let downs.  However, it is recommended for multimedia applications of all kinds including picture, graphic and video editing. It offers a great value and a solid set of features and is advisable only if you go for the RGBLED option.

Check Lenovo Laptop Reviews, specs, Toshiba Laptop Reviews, Ratings in this website.

Configurations Available:

Feature	Configuration Options
Operating System	Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Genuine Windows Vista® Business Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
Graphics	ATI Mobility RADEON HD 4670-1GB
Display	Edge-to-edge Glossy 15.6 inch HD WLED display (1600×900p) Edge-to-edge Glossy 15.6 inch Full HD WLED display (1920×1080p) Edge-to-edge Glossy 16.0 inch Full HD RGB-LED LCD display (1920×1080p)
Hard drive	Up to 8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM 4
Optical drives	8X DVD+/-RW Slot-load Drive
Wi-Fi Options	802.11g standard; 802.11n options
Optional	Blu-ray disc and in built TV tuner

Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop Computer – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Dell
Model Name	Dell Studio XPS 16
PC type	Laptop
Series	Studio XPS
Dimensions (W x H x D)	15.15 x ( 0.95-1.34) x 10.02
Weight	2.87 Kg
Available colours	Black, White and Red
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
Clock speed	2.6 GHz
Processor manufacturer	Intel
Cache	6 MB Cache
FSB	1066 MHz
RAM installed	3072 MB (3GB)
RAM type	667MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM
Hard drive capacity	500 GB SATA Hard Drive
Spindle speed	7200rpm
Optical drive	Fixed 8x DVD±RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
Speakers	Built-in 2 x 1.5-watt stereo speakers
Communication Setup
Wireless support	Wi-Fi, 802.11b/g Support, Ethernet
Memory card slot	5-in-1 card reader
Connectivity	3 USB 2.0 ports, Audio line in, Audio line out, Express Card slot, VGA D-Sub 15-pin video output
Other Detail
Warranty	1 Year International traveller warranty
Optical drive	Fixed 8x DVD±RW Slim Slot Load drive, including SW
GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Installed Graphics Type	Onboard Graphics
Graphics processor	ATI Mobility RADEON® HD
Sound Card	Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio – Software Enabled
COMMUNICATION FEATURES
Ethernet	RJ45 Ethernet port (10/100)
Modem	N/A
Wireless	Dell Wireless Mini Card Wireless Bluetooth® 2.0
Webcam	2 mega pixel
CONNECTIVITY	S-Video 3 USB 2.0 HDMI VGA Firewire (IEEE 1394a) RJ45 Ethernet port (10/100) 8-in-1 card reader 1 ExpressCard 54 mm slot
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Genuine Windows Vista® Business Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
BATTERY
Battery technology	Li-ion
Battery capacity	53.7Wh
Estimated battery life (mfr)	2 hours 50 minutes
MISCELLANEOUS
Accessories	Setup guide, Warranty guide, an Adapter,some software booklet and recovery disc
WARRANTY AND SERVICE	One year for the basic model and two years for other models.

Lenovo is one of the more popular laptop makers in the market and their products have had favourable reviews.  The ThinkPad is an iconic brand that combines professional respect, blandness and solid features that enjoys a surprising appeal. Their ThinkPad reminds most of us of the T series model which had an alloy uni-body chassis, a rubberized black paint and looked boxy. Most of us however, are not aware of the fact that Lenovo offers a small business line called the SL series which offers almost all the same features as that of the T series and at a much lower price.

The ThinkPad SL510 is a part of Lenovo’s Windows 7 Product launch and the company is using this as an opportunity to tweak and improve some of the features in its existing line. The SL510 will not surprise users who have already used a thinkpad before – Not only is an excellent laptop that is oriented towards no-nonsense use, it also has a stylish design and has a lightweight feel to it. We feel that it is a nice system for personal or business use that offers solid performance and will last a long time. Read the following review to judge whether the Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 is just what you need.

Design:

Toned down version of the T series:

No Surprises here. At first glance, the Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 Laptop looks just like its previous ThinkPad predecessors.  However, it is a toned down version of the more rugged T series. It looks generic and could have been a model from five years ago. But the classic black design is simply timeless. The entire casing is made out of plastic but has a softer finish and a smooth texture when compared to the rubberized paint on the more expensive ones. The model has sloped sides and has seen a few aesthetic changes such as a redesigned screen hinge assembly and a few minor tweaks in the body. Otherwise, they look identical.

Solid Built:

The build quality when compared to its predecessors the T400 and the T500, is inferior; but nevertheless still better than most other laptops in the market. The laptop’s little chassis flex gives it a very solid feel.  The screen cover provides sufficient protection for the screen and prevents any form of visible distortion under moderate finger pressure. The keyboard and palm rest also work under strong pressure and the plastic feels durable enough to resist mild abuse. Thanks to the matte black finish, the scratches do not stand out. So, for business users, the laptop is a nice step up from the average multimedia laptop without costing as much as a high end one.

Access Panels provide for Easy access:

The panels on the bottom of the chassis allow easy access and upgrades. There is a primary panel which provides access to the system memory, hard drive and processor. One can notice no warranty void if stickers removed. There are two smaller access panels which when opened up uncover a mini PCIe slot for a WAN card and a sim card slot if the system is equipped with 3G.

Screen:

A 16 x 9 inch screen is new to the SL510 and hence watching DVDs and HD movies would be more enjoyable. Lenovo gives the users a choice of both matte and a glossy screen included on the SL series both of them being WGXA Resolution. The model we reviewed happened to be a matte model, but if you prefer more vibrant colours and an increased glossy contrast, you could go for the other option.  The 1366 x 768 pixels native resolution looked good although we have seen better resolutions than this. When compared to other notebooks in the consumer segment, the WXGA panel was average and could have got a boost from a higher resolution. The viewing angles were decent but once could notice the colours beginning to shift beyond 10 degrees. The horizontal viewing angles were true past 70 degrees forward or back and the viewing brightness was perfect for a bright office with partially visible outdoors.

Great Keypad:

The Keyboard of Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 15.6″ Laptop Computer was comfortable to use and was similar to the T series ThinkPads. However, the layout of the keyboard is different. The first noticeable difference is the lack of an extra row of function keys at the top. We do think that the exclusion of a number pad is rather odd as it could have been easily fit in the extra space on the keyboard. The main area has been left unchanged. As mentioned earlier, the key action was great and required some moderate pressure to use. But thanks to the soft spring, this keyboard is quieter than the others. It has a red pointing stick in the middle of a full sized keyboard and two mouse buttons below the spacebar. That red pointing stick is actually a track point rubber nubbin lodged between G, H and B keys. Under that is the muti touch keypad which is a really unique feature to this model. Under this track pad are two more pointer buttons. The multi touch track pad allows for two fingers gesturing such as pinching, rotating and scrolling and allows you to slide, zoom and etc. One can turn the pad off if you are not using it and that makes it handy. On the whole, we think it works great and is a nice touch. There are some quick access buttons on the left side which can be used for muting the volume and microphone and adjust volume levels.

ALPS Touchpad:

The Touch Pad is an ALPS model that feels identical to the newer ThinkPad models. The pad is mount to the palm rest and has a soft texture. But in general, the touchpad was very responsive and we found no difference between this and the one found in higher end models. When tapped to select, the cursor would sometimes not let go of an object after a deliberate click. But then again, this problem is common in the ALPS model and can be avoided most of the time.

Speakers:

Located below the screen, facing outwards, the speakers performed reasonably well for a basic mid size desktop replacement notebook. The Bass and mid range seemed to be lacking, but if you listen or stream radio or even YouTube videos the audio was good. The quality was passably fine and it did not suffer from any sort of sound muffling thankfully. The peak volume level was better when compared to other consumer notebooks. But if you want a better experience, try connecting the analogue audio out to a pair of external speakers. You could also use the HDMI to pass a digital stream to an outside stereo system.

Ports and Webcam:

If you tend to travel a lot, then the SL510 Notebook Computer has a complete assortment of ports which would not disappoint users. Like earlier models in the ThinkPad series, the port selection was surprisingly good. There are 3 USB ports, an eSATA/USB combo port, VGA, HDMI and audio jacks. There are also a SDHC card slot and an ExpressCard /34 slot for expansion. Apart from all these, there is a wireless on/off switch and a standard 20 V ThinkPad power connection.  There is a dual layer 8x DVD recorder disc drive but a Blu-ray and DVD RW combo drive is also available.

There is a 2.0 megapixel webcam on top of the screen provides workable and yet unremarkable image quality. A Skype call revealed smooth video accented with muted colours.

Configuration Options:

We reviewed a Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 that ran Windows 7 Professional and a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P8700.  There are configuration options that let you choose between a 5400 and a 7200 rpm drives with sizes up to 500 GB. One can include an optional ATI Radeon 4570 graphics chip up to 8 GB of DDR 3 RAM, a four, six or a nine cell battery and a variety of Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs.

Features:

Built for Business:

The ThinkPads have always been focused on the business users. Hence the SL510 is tailored to suit their needs. Apart from a robust Intel Core 2 processor and multi-touch, the ThinkPad SL510 laptop features a long battery life and an array of connectivity options. Video conferencing is possible because of the adaptive 2 megapixel camera and the HQ speakers. There is Skype included as well. Security is assured considering the laptip features fingerprint ID which allows only the user to access the laptop. Features such as Self Encrypting drives and Hardware password Manager enhance security on the laptop.

ThinkVantage Tool Box:

The SL510 consists of a ThinkVantage Toolbox that combines system health, security and support services to keep your ThinkPad run safely and efficiently. The toolbox monitors critical system components and not only do they notify users of problems, they also offer solutions to quickly repair the system before any data is lost. The push button operation and the intuitive interface make using the toolbox a comprehensive solution for your laptop.  The main menu has 5 following tabs: System Health Tab, System Security Tab, Ultimate Business Tool Tab, Diagnostic Tab and the Support Tab.  The System Health tab displays the status of key processes in the system. The Security Tab monitors password anti-virus firewall and other security settings. The Ultimate Business Tool tab provides the user with an overview of support messages and information from Lenovo. The Diagnostics tab provides component and system diagnostics and resolves issues. The Support tab displays information from Lenovo.

Data Recovery:

Like other ThinkPads, the SL510 features Rescue and Recovery 4.2 with Express Repair that can correct many corruptions within a span of just 2 – 3 minutes making it the fast recovery solution in the market. This one button rescue solution includes a set of self recovery tools which help users diagnose, get help and recover from a virus or a crash.  There are administrative tools that can be configured to help deploy updates to corrupted systems. There is the Antidote Delivery manager which allows delivering of customized critical updates to your systems. The System Rejuvenation option lets you restore back your system while keeping all your data and personality settings.  The specialty of the Rescue and Recovery 4.2 is the fact that it can help you recover files that were not backed up prior to the problem and can save them to a storage device.

Other Features:

The ThinkPad SL510 Laptop Notebook comes with a standard suite of ThinkVantage utilities which includes a power manager, a Wi-Fi manager and a PC health monitor. There is InterVideo Win DVD which allows users to play discs and the Roxio Creator Small Business Edition for burning discs and editing simple videos.

Performance:

The SL510’s 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 3GB RAM allowed the system to achieve a decent score of 3493 on the PCMark Vantage test which measures overall system performance. This score was slightly more than the score of the HP ProBook 4510s. The System was smooth and responsive.

The SL510 was ahead of its competitors when it comes to video transcending. It was able to convert a 115 MB MPEG 4 file to AVI in a little under 6 and half minutes, almost a minute faster than its competitors.  The SL510’s 7200 rpm 320GB Hitachi drive booted up Windows 7 in a minute which is pretty much the standard time. The speed of the drive was apparent when we conducted our laptop transfer tests. It took 3 whole minutes to transfer 5 GB of media files from one folder to another. That is about 30 MBps per second beating the ProBook’s measly 15 MBPs and the ThinkPad T400S’s 17 MBps. Also the active protection system is capable of detecting movement and stops the hard drive to prevent data damage.

Decent Graphics:

The SL510 has both discrete and integrated graphics options. The Integrated Intel GMA X4500 graphics chip returned a weak score in our 3DMark06 test, roughly about the third of the category average. However, the ProBook did even worse. These scores indicate that these laptops are not meant for hard core gaming. When we played Far Cry 2 on the system, the rate was as low as 3 fps which made the game look more like a slide show. However, for lower intensity graphics such as navigating around in Google Earth rendering was smooth.

Good for Business users:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 Business Laptop offers quick startups and shutdowns and a snappy application use as well. Adobe Photoshop was able to handle big files very well. Multimedia use was also pretty pleasant considering the DVD movies were able to load quickly and play without hiccups.

Wi-Fi:

The SL510’s Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100 802.11 a/b/g/n wireless card was able to connect to a router and transfer data up to 19.5 mbps from a distance of 15 feet.  And as we got further away, the speed came down. It was able to transfer data with speeds of 16 mbps from 50 odd feet away. These are pretty much average scores and the HP ProBook returned slightly better scores and so did the ThinkPad SL 400 series.

Heat and Noise:

The system generated less amount of heat but a couple of spots on the laptop did feel warm. The panel the hard drive at the bottom was the warmest spot and it was expected so because the 7200 rpm drive consumes a lot of power and emits more heat. Under mild stress, the plastic panels were within very reasonable temperature ranges without any inconvenience. The fan noise was also minimal with the fan staying off majority of the time when running on battery power. Sometimes it turns on to bring fresh air to the system. Even under high stress levels, the fan would not get very loud.

Decent Battery Life:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 ran for almost 3 hours 21 minutes when we tested it for our video drain test using the six included cell battery. When compared to the ThinkPad T 400 series it is better than average for a laptop about this size. It lasted 4 hours when backlight was at about 50 percent and with Wi-Fi on. That is impressive but the HP ProBook 4510s lasted almost 4 and a half hours and the original ThinkPad lasted a solid 5 hours 20 minutes.  If you are a casual user and tend to use the laptop for Web browsing and office use, expect the laptop to last longer. This is using the standard 55Wh battery which does not extend from the back of the system. There are customizable options and buyers have the choice to opt for a 4, 6 or a 9 cell battery.

Power Consumption:

The older CCFL backlight screen made sure power consumption of the SL510 was double than that of the more efficient T series. Under a light load, the system used almost 12 watts.

Warranty:

There is a one year, parts and labour, mail in warranty with the laptop; although there are models in the market those offers a 3 year warranty and we expected the SL510 to have the same. One can access to a three year warranty plan for some amount. One even can purchase extra services which are targeted at businesses that do not have large IT departments. These services include backing up data, onsite service, accidental damage protection and theft protection. Lenovo offers hard disc retention which lets you keep a failed hard drive even after a replacement so that you do not have to hand over any sensitive data to them.  There is support available 24 x 7 through toll free line and an easy to navigate online support with a reasonable knowledge base and driver downloads is available.

Verdict:

The Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 is a solid notebook for business users that has a couple of security related features added to it, but it also makes a nice home office or personal laptop. While it is slightly bulky and is less rugged than the T series models, it is a good solution for workers looking for a sturdy laptop as it combines above average performance, a comfortable keyboard and business features. Though it is a good buy in a highly competitive market, it is an appreciable evolution of the SL series.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Lenovo
Series	Lenovo ThinkPad SL
PC type	Notebook
Name	Lenovo ThinkPad SL 510
DIMENSIONS AND DISPLAY
Dimensions (H x W x D)	15 x 9.7 x 1.4 inches
Weight	5.3 pounds
Available colours	Matte Black
Display type	TFT active matrix
Display size	15.6-inch
Display resolution	1366 x 768
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel Core 2 Duo P8700
Clock speed	2.53GHz
Data Bus	800MHz
Chipset	Mobile Intel GL40 Express
RAM	2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard max : 8GB
Hard drive size	320 GB Serial ATA and 500GB – Optional
Spindle speed	7200 rpm
RAM form factor	SO DIMM 204-pin
INPUT
Keyboard localization	English US
Input Devices	Keyboard , UltraNav , TrackPoint
GRAPHICS, VIDEO AND SOUND
Installed Graphics Type	256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Graphics processor	Intel GMA X4500 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0
Speaker Details	Built-in mono speakers
Microphone	Built-in omni directional microphone
Audio Output	Sound card
COMMUNICATION FEATURES
Ethernet	Nil
Modem	Nil
Wireless	Intel WiFi Link 5100
Wireless LAN supported	Yes
Webcam	Yes
CONNECTIVITY	3 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x Display / video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x Audio / video – HDMI, 1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX – RJ-45, 1 x eSATA / Hi-Speed USB, 1 x Microphone – Input – Mini-phone 3.5 mm, 1 x Headphones – Output – Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium – English
BATTERY
Battery technology	4 cell lithium battery
Estimated battery life (mfr)	3 and a half hours
MISCELLANEOUS
Energy Star Compliant	Yes
WARRANTY AND SERVICE	WARRANTY AND SERVICE One year warranty for Parts and Labour 24×7 toll free service support