Laptop Reviews

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 (1600x900p) Edge-to-edge Glossy 15.6 inch Full HD WLED display (1920x1080p) Edge-to-edge Glossy 16.0 inch Full HD RGB-LED LCD display (1920x1080p)
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

Netbooks, also known as the mini notebooks or the ultra portables, have been the latest trend among people, and especially among the businessmen. Netbooks are a miniaturised version of the laptops, and are mainly used for quick computer works and web related applications. These are mainly used for accessing the internet. Almost all the electronic giants in the market have produced these themselves. As these have a great demand in the market at present, few companies have cropped up in view of their production. One of such companies is the MSI.

MSI, which stands for Micro Star International, has now announced the advent of its latest netbook, the MSI Wind U100. Wind stands for Wi-Fi Network Device and this has been named so because the main purpose of it is accessing the internet. This one, as most of the netbooks, is cheap in price and effective in performance. It is actually a competitor for Asus’ Eee PC. But this has better screen, cuter design, a better and a bigger keyboard and longer battery life. But it has stronger competitors in front of it to beat, such as HP’s Mini notebook, Acer’s Aspire One and many others. To know whether it can withstand the competition, we need to have a look at it and examine the whole of it; read the following review to know the facts for yourself.

Design:

Slim with better input controls:
Just like any other netbook, the MSI Wind U100 is very small and cute. It looks belittled due to its rounded corners and nice design. Wind U100 comes out in five striking colours of red, blue, pink, black and snowy white. Starting with the visual side of the things, if you think that the white model looks good, the grandly titled ‘Empire Black’ model looks even better. With its dimensions being (W x D x H) 10.23 x 7.08 x 1.24 inches, it is certainly quite a slim netbook and, it weighs only 1.18 kg, which is far lesser when compared to the other laptops, that weigh almost twice of this one. The design is one of the more interesting aspects of the netbook. It is almost perfectly engineered to make it look very stylish and professional. Of course, it is still glossy, and so, the fingerprints will be a problem, but the shiny finishing seems to be almost inevitable on the netbook of these days. Though there is no cleaning cloth provided, the MSI does give you a rather nice zipped case, with a fake leather exterior and soft fleece lining from the inside.

Built Quality:
Once you open the piano black lid of the nettop, you will find that the MSI logo is now off-white and the interior of the notebook is thankfully of matte black finishing. However, marks from sweaty or greasy hands will be still visible on the palm rest of the touchpad. The built quality, as in the case of its predecessor is decent enough, though the wind’s lid tends to wobble a little bit for a few seconds after you open it, and this does not inspire as much confidence in the hinge as the Eee PC’s more stable and considerably larger version. This is highly unlikely to be a problem if you are careful, which is necessitated anyway by the mechanical hard drive that is more vulnerable to the life’s bumps and scrapes than a solid state drive. Essentially, however, in terms of looks, nothing much has changed apart from the colour and a bit of that added bulk that creates a slight tilt to the machine. As you must have guessed, this bulk is mainly because of the larger battery, which is a six cell model rather than the former three cell packs that the previous Winds were endowed with. This also gives the MSI theoretical parity with the Eee PC 901 and 1000.

Display:
The 10 inch display of  Wind U100 is better than that of the 8.9 inch one and is more comfortable for viewing. The screen is a bit heavier than normal and the unit actually lifts itself off the ground a bit when the screen is tilted back too far. The TFT LCD display backlit with LED is bright with vibrating colours and the display it produces is quite outstanding for a netbook. The viewing angles are so great that it looks almost the same from different angles, and the shifts are too small to bother viewing. The screen resolution is 1024 x 600 pixels and the overall display is very good.

Keyboard and Trackpad:

The keyboard of MSI Wind U100 is a bit broader than normal and is quite comfortable for typing. The traditional notebook is comparatively uncomfortable for typing as the panel is very small and so are the keys. But this one is almost perfect. Unfortunately, the Fn key is still located on the outside of Ctrl, but aside from that it provides a pleasant typing experience. The touch pad is pretty smooth and has a good feel. At the bottom right of the front bezel, there is a series of lights that indicate whether the respective option is enabled or disabled. In order from right to left, they are the Hard disk activity LED, the scroll lock toggle, the Num lock toggle, the Caps lock toggle, battery charging, sleep mode indicator, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth light. These lights are more in number than any other netbook. We are certainly pleased with the overall design of the nettop.

Ports:
The connectivity of the MSI Wind U100 Mini Laptop is identical to its predecessor. There is a card reader available, a four- in -one type. This card reader is compatible with SD, MMC, MS and MS Pro; hence, this is a multi-purposeful card reader. There are also three USB 2.0 ports available for data synchronisation. There are two headphone jacks, one for input and one output. There is also a facility for the connection of a cable to connect the netbook to either a monitor or a projector. The netbook also sports ports for the 15- pin graphics card output, for the Microphone, a line- in port and a LAN port. All these ports are pretty much necessary for a netbook as it needs connections to various external sources for data syncing.

Features:

The MSI Wind U100 is loaded with abundant features. Let us have a look at each one of them in detail.

Processor:
The MSI Wind is powered by Intel Atom N270 processor of 1.6 GHz frequency. This is a common feature in most of the present day’s netbooks and laptops. But this processor is a single core Diamondville type, which is one of the fastest and the best processor available for netbooks. Your applications run faster and with almost no problems with this processor. For a netbook, the 1.6 GHz processor is more than enough and so everything runs smooth. The Intel 945GSE¬+ ICH7M chipset is also a special feature that pacifies the system and its programs. A chipset is like a communicator between the motherboard and the external drives. So, the better the chip, better the communication and hence, better the performance.

Operating System:
The conventional MSI Wind U100 Netbook Computer features Microsoft Windows XP, but the latest versions of these netbooks are featuring Microsoft Windows 7 Starter edition. This operating system makes your system look lively and adds a feather to its cap.

Memory:
Some of the netbooks are almost equivalent to the laptops when it comes to the HDD capacity and RAM.  Particularly, the MSI Wind is a very good performer. As discussed earlier, with the Intel Atom processor, you would expect the best performance and least problems. The 1GB internal memory is just enough for a netbook as there would be no applications that request for higher memory; and it is just the maximum amount of memory that Microsoft allows to have Windows XP loaded onto the machine. With a Hard Disk Space of about 160GB, it is not only double the capacity of the previous Wind, it is also the highest capacity hard drive of notebook we have yet reviewed, so those consumers after as much storage space as possible should find this Wind to their liking. The Hard drive is DDR2 SODIMM type and of 667 Hz frequency.

Software Bundle with MSI Wind U100:
On the software side of the things, this MSI Wind offers an odd mix of software, that is not particularly well tailored to a notebook. For instance, the only productivity software that is available is a trial version of the MS Office 2007, but you are stuck with the Internet Explorer 6 and Media Player 9, rather than the more recent replacements, unless you make an initiative to download the new versions yourself. This is accompanied by the optional installations of Norton Internet Security 2008 and the Cyberlink DVD suite and it is just as well they are optional as their use on a netbook is arguable.
For the sake of comparison, the Eee PC 1000H which also uses the Windows XP comes preloaded with the Windows Live Suite of Software that includes Windows Live Mail for POP mail, Live Messenger for instant messaging, Live Photo Gallery for image viewing and basic editing and Live Writer and Microsoft works for productivity and Star Office. Of course, except for the Microsoft Works, everything else can be downloaded for free anyway, but given the fact many of the consumers buying netbooks these days are not as familiar with such things, it is definitely an oversight on MSI’s behalf.

Connectivity:
The only other upgrade this version of the Wind has over its sibling is Wireless-N, so there is potential for slightly faster and longer range wireless internet provided you have a compatible router. Unfortunately, for all those who were hoping optional HSDPA would be part of the refresh, it is still not available. The internet features in the netbook are suffice and interesting. There is a built-in 10/100 LAN and a built-in 802.11 b/g or 802.11 b/g/n WLAN card. With all these cards, the internet access is very good and you can always connect your netbook to the internet connection in a Wi-Fi hotspot or any other network port available in your vicinity. The most advantageous fact is that the netbook access the web without many problems or any delay. Even browsing the internet is not slow and does not lead to hanging of the system. The Bluetooth facility is also not very uncommon nowadays. But this Bluetooth is better than most of the other nettops when it comes to performance.

Webcam:
The 1.3Mp webcam takes pictures of resolution 640 x 480 pixels. These pictures, though a bit scaled down, are still very good for a webcam.

Audio:
As before, the speakers are nothing special, any kind of serious music listening or movie watching requires as the use of headphones.

Performance:

The performance of MSI Wind U100 10″ Laptop Computer well compliments its range of features. Its configuration is pretty decent and mainly, the processor and the memory part of it were good. The ports are very good in number. The internet connection is very good as it needed to be. The LAN ports and the WLAN cards help the performance of the internet connectivity improve. Particularly, the wireless internet and the LAN are one of the main attractions of this model. They perform well even under mediocre LAN strength. The 64 MB graphics card is minimal but as it is a mini notebook, there would not be much work for the graphics card since there would not be high end gaming on this. Everything else is fine and you can expect a very good netbook with a tag of good performance from MSI.

Battery:

The battery is naturally a lithium ion polymer type. This one is 2200 mAh battery and gives you at the most two and a half hour battery life time for a six cell type battery. The battery may vary with region also. In some region there is a 5200 mAh type battery and that one gives you a battery life of about five and a half hours. One thing you will notice with the MSI Wind is that there is an option to even decrease the battery life. It also features a turbo button that, when enabled, can further decrease the battery life in order to increase the performance. This is a bit silly to hear because you generally associate minimum battery consumption when there is the Intel Atom processor. Also, this option works only if the netbook is working on the battery power.

Warranty and Service:

MSI offers a limited warranty period of 1 year for parts and labour. Along with the warranty, there is also support over the phone from the technicians, in order to solve minute problems. This facility is available only between Monday and Thursday.

Verdict:

So there you have it. The new version of MSI’s Wind is identical to the old one, except you’re getting a 160GB HDD, Wireless-N and of course that all-important six-cell battery for nearly five hours of frugal use. It is a beauty when it comes to the design and the 10” 1024 x 600 screen gives very little reason to complain, with a nice anti-glare finishing, decent viewing angles, pleasing levels of brightness and a text reproduction that is very sharp and easy to read. It is a bit low on cost and hence very affordable, particularly to the students, as they are the primary users of these netbooks. The design is cute and the display is very good with great viewing angles. The features are fine and a few of them are very unique in their own terms. The overall performance is fine and the battery life is reasonable. This netbook may not be the right one for business professionals, but it is a very handy tool for students. Overall, it is an affordable one if you want to go with a cheaper netbook.

MSI Wind U100 Mini Netbook – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Micro Star International
Model Name	MSI Wind U100
Series	Wind
DIMENSIONS AND DISPLAY
Dimensions ( W x D x H)	10.23 x 7.08 x 1.24 inches
Weight	1.18 kg
Available colours	Red, Blue, Pink, Black and White
Display type	TFT LCD display with LED backlit
Display Finishing	Matte Anti Glare
Display size	10.0 inch
Display resolution	1024 x 600 pixel resolution
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel Atom Processor
Intel Atom Processor	1.60 GHz
Second level Cache	1MB
Front Bus Speed	667 MHz
RAM installed	1024 MB
RAM type	DDR2 RAM
Max RAM Supported	Yes
WLAN Standard	802.11b/g/n
Installed Memory	1GB
Maximum Memory Supported	2 GB
Hard drive size	160 GB
Spindle speed	5400rpm
Optical drive	DVD drive
INPUT
Keyboard	105 keys
Track pad	Normal Touch Pad
GRAPHICS, VIDEO AND SOUND
Graphics adaptor	Intel® GMA, 64 MB
Speaker Details	Built-in stereo speakers
Audio Processing	Realtek HD integrated
COMMUNICATION FEATURES
Wireless	Compliancy : Wi-Fi® Network Support : 802.11b/g Wireless Technology : Wireless LAN
Webcam	1.3Mp Integrated VGA Web Camera for Video over IP
Memory card reader	4-in-1 card reader
CONNECTIVITY	1 x DC-in 1 x external monitor 1 x RJ-11 1 x RJ-45 1 x external microphone 1 x headphone (stereo) 3 (Left 2, Right 1) x USB 2.0 1 x integrated VGA Web Camera with built-in microphone
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Genuine Windows XP or Windows 7
Office package	Microsoft Works with Office Home
PC type	Netbook
BATTERY
Battery technology	6 cell battery Lithium Ion battery , 2.5 hours lifetime
WARRANTY	One-year limited Warranty

A laptop can be successful only if it offers a set of features without any major miss-outs on design or portability. Though this machine has come quite a long way in the past few years, they were not able to compete with desktops when it comes to features of prices. And size wise, the smaller it is, the more compromises it had on it. Apple has earned a niche for itself in design. The year 2007 marked the beginning of its rise that contributed to the fact that they have managed to transfer their PCs to the hardware platform of Intel, welcoming new users. Mac Computers now are fully compatible with Microsoft OS and allow you to use Mac OS on the same PC simultaneously as well.  Apple Notebook is probably the thinnest in the market right now and probably the finest too.  Ultrathin and Ultraportable, its new processor really pushes performance up to the extremes. But is the price justified? Read the following review to figure that out.

Design:

Classy design:

Apple has its own class when it comes to design. The first look is a hybrid of Apple’s other 2 laptops. The Apple MacBook Air Notebook has a shiny aluminum body and the really interesting backlit keyboard. Its uni-body design results in a clean seamless appearance and is simply a marvelous piece of design. But perhaps, the most impressive is its thinness. At 0.16 inches at its thinnest and 0.76 at its thickest, it is perhaps the thinnest available laptop in the market. The skillful use of rounded curves gives one that it is airy and weightless. While it is not weightless, 1.36kgs is all that it weighs. But is it really that portable? The thicker Sony TZ and the older Apple model are perhaps more portable. But the Air is a much easier machine to work on and feels sturdier than the other 2.

Full-size, full-feature keyboard:

The Keyboard of the Mac is similar to that of the MacBook, differing only in terms of thickness. The spacing in between the buttons is the same as the MacBook as well. The keyboard is the same square key capped design with backlighting included. The full size keyboard along with its backlit keys allows working in dim conditions. There is an in built ambient light sensor that adjusts the keyboard illumination and display brightness. The Multi-touch allows you to control certain functions using a thin touchpad. Rotating 2 fingers in iPhoto rotates the image and using 3 fingers up and down to swipe allows switching between photos, web pages etc. Though the touchpad is not very effective nor smooth, it is a great addition.

Display:

The Apple MacBook Air Slim notebook has a 13.3 inch widescreen LED backlight screen. Its 1280×800 resolution allows viewing vibrant images. However, the screen is notably different because the lighting is from an LED. Instead of starting out dim and gradually increasing in brightness, like in the MacBook, the Air’s display starts on full brightness. A tiny sensor is located to the left of the iSight camera which allows to automatically adjust the brightness of the display.

There is a 90 Degree bend in the Air notebook; though it is nicer, the bend makes it harder to snap into place. The older Magsafe adapters fit well, but the plug when resting on a table, knocks it off.

Ports:

The absence of the usual set of ports is slightly disappointing. On the right side of the notebook is a single USB 2.0 port, Micro DVI Connector and a jack for analogue headphones. Yes, a single USB port is a mockery for a contemporary notebook like this. However, the absence of Firewire ports is more frustrating as it would not allow connecting digital cameras to MacBook Air Notebook.

The absence of a DVD Drive and a single expansion port is not convenient nor is it acceptable.  However, it would not make much of a difference as this notebook is not a replacement to a standard desktop system.

Features:

Solid State Drive:

The Apple MacBook Air runs on a Solid State Drive or an SSD. An alternative to the conventional HDD, it does not feature any moving parts. The SSD is basically just an array of computer chips solder on to a board unlike the HDD, which resembles a phonograph. The lack of moving parts in an SSD allows it to read instant access data from one region of storage to another without delay. This kind of reading is referred to as Random Read/Write and in contrast to the random, there is a sustained read write. This gives consistent access to data over a sequential area. HDD has an advantage of speed here as it is faster to change flux in a particle of silicone than on a charge on a platter.

Connectivity:

The Apple MacBook Air 13.3″ Laptop does not support wired network as Apple believes that in this hi-tech era of wireless technologies, Wi-Fi is more than enough. It supports an 802.11 protocol with 248Mbit/s peak bandwidth. You could also buy an Ethernet adapter from Apple separately.

Memory:

The Air runs on an 80GB 1.8 Samsung Spinpoint S2 inch drive which is sturdy enough to withstand normal usage. Its small size despite capacity is its main advantage. The 5 mm thick drive has a speed of 4200 rpm and an access time of 13ms.   However it is not as fast as the 2.5 inch laptop drives and will lag behind in storage and it uses the outdated Ultra ATA 100 interface. If you can afford for a 6GB SSD, the reliability, performance and battery life would get a huge boost.

Software and Remote Disc:

The Apple MacBook Air Notebook runs on the Leopard OS slightly modified to take advantage of the touch pad. There are videos included on how to make gestures. Though it is not the most practical solution to control, the touchpad seems to be intuitive and well integrated.

Apple’s Remote Disc allows the Air to borrow a networked computer’s optical drive. The disc is very hefty and the drive does not support a lot of playback. Sadly, it can neither rip CDs or DVDs nor play back songs and is only functional for installing programs.  The Remote Disc works not only on the Mac OS X but also on the Windows as well.  For the MacBook Air, it is recommended to buy a Superdrive, especially if you are on the go.

Hardware:

The Air has a reasonably good hardware. It runs on an etiolated Ultra Low Voltage performance chip. So low was it that Intel was forced to repackage a slower version of its Core 2 Duo processor. It is a Mobile Core 2 Duo with 4MB L2 Cache and 1.6 GHz frequency. There is a newer version of the Air that runs on a faster 1.8 GHz. The X3100 graphics core means that you cannot make the Air a gaming platform as its 3D graphics are weak. The only limitation when it comes to maximum screen resolution supported by the DVI port does not exceed 1920×1200.  The Realtek dual channel codec produces very poor audio quality. The only speaker is under the keyboard and one will hardly be able to listen to anything except the OS beeping.

Multimedia and iSight:

The limited space available on the Air restricts the multimedia to a webcam, a microphone, a speaker set. The microphone and webcam are on the top of the screen and the mono setup speaker is under the keyboard. The colour accuracy and the image quality are as good as that of a high end cell phone.  The webcam can be used along with the in-built microphone and the iChat software. One could use iSight for taking pictures and editing them. You do no need to install the software as it is already in built and you can use it with QuickTime and share it to iTunes and Youtube.

Apple MacBook Air Performance:

Performance is usually what matters to most users. The speed of the MacBook has surprised all of us. In the native OS 10.5, its performance was lacking. Boot times are as long as a minute and starting up an array of programs took longer than usual. The Bootcamp performance was on the snappier side.  When we tried the tests on the Vista environment, we were in for a pleasant surprise. The machine ran better on Vista than it did on the native OS. That is perhaps, because the MacBook Air firmware version for Microsoft OS is not impeccable at all.

However, there were a lot of bugs throughout the bootcamp. The touchpad was the source of several problems including the Blue – screens and lockups due to multiple touches. The system benchmarks in Vista were quite well and gaming ran on decent frames. The 1.8GHz core 2 processor is nothing compared to the mammoth 3.2GHz available in the market today.  But perhaps where the computer shines is in everything that does not hog many resources. Because of the SSD, Microsoft Word, MATLAB, Photoshop and other applications pen up in fraction of a second.

The performance demonstrated by the Air is quite good, since it has pretty up to date hardware With a Core Micro architecture working at 1.6GHz frequency and 2 GB of high speed RAM performance on Vista was pretty good. Though the Spinpoint HDD Drive cannot boast of great performance, it is not that slow as well. There were more bottlenecks in the configuration. Because of some firmware problems, when the processor’s clock speed was slowed down, the CPU seemed reluctant to return back to nominal levels.

Heat:

The aluminum design of the MacBook Air notebook makes it act as a gigantic heat sink.  The processor is right under the top left part of the keyboard, a portion many gamers place their hands. The surface of the notebook is very hot and sometimes gets unbearable. Gaming alone is not responsible; CPU intensive activities such as compressing music will put one in a similar situation under heavy workload, the temperature reaches 46 degrees and the CPU reaches dangerous levels of about 85 degrees centigrade.  Normal web browsing does not heat-en up the processor; however the notebook gets heated up faster than other notebooks. The temperature however does not affect the thermal conditions of the HDD as it is placed on the cooler side of the laptop.

Battery life:

The second generation MacBook Air runs on a 37 w Lithium polymer battery, selected to be as light as possible. It has a quoted battery life of 5 whole hours and it is fairly accurate. The Air can run for around 5 hours in optimal conditions and even longer if all you do is some light internet browsing. The Power Adapter provided is a 45W brick which is specifically shaped due to the Air’s slim design. But there is one complaint with the battery – the time it takes to get charged is a lot. It takes about 8 and half hours to get fully recharged and that by standards is pathetic.  The Integrated battery does not allow you to swap the battery in case it dies making matters worse.

Warranty:

The Apple MacBook Air Laptop Notebook is covered under a warranty period of one year from the date of purchase. Defects from Service are covered by a warranty of 90 days.  However, one can extend the warranty to up to 3 years. If the battery’s capacity to store charge diminishes, Apple will replace it even if the warranty expires.

Verdict:

It is hard to put a judge on such a thin, simple and interesting machine. The MacBook Air with a 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 80GB of space is expensive, but this is the lightest OS X machine out there. At double the rate, the 64GB of SSD and a 1.8GHz processor is a joke. The MacBook Pro is much cheaper and more loaded. The notebook however is beautiful, innovative and portable and hence is recommendable to users who would want a second laptop .The Apple MacBook Air is not a notebook in the sense of the word, but is a gadget with notebook functionality. Most Apple lovers would be disappointed with it as it is perhaps not a mainstream product. When Vista was installed and tried out, the Air worked wonderfully well. That would help Apple gain lots of Windows fans. This is not the best choice for an ultra portable Wintel solution. If you are looking for an airy design and Microsoft OS, this is the best way to go.

Check our Apple Laptop Review section for other Apple laptop Reviews and check 2010 Latest Laptop Computers in our website.

Apple MacBook Air – Technical Specification Table

Manufacturer	Apple
Series	Apple MacBook Air
PC type	Notebook
Series	MacBook
DIMENSIONS AND DISPLAY
Dimensions (H x W x D)	12.8 x 8.9 x 0.76 inches
Weight	3 pounds
Available colours	White
Display type	LED-backlit glossy widescreen display
Display size	13.3-inch
Display resolution	1280 x 800 pixels
PROCESSOR, MEMORY, STORAGE
Processor type	Intel Core 2 Duo processor
Clock speed	1.86GHz or 2.13GHz
Front Side Bus	1066MHz
Chipset	Intel 945GSE with slight modifications to allow usage of Multi-touch
RAM	2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM onboard
Hard drive size	250GB 300GB, 500GB – Optional
Spindle speed	4200 rpm
Optical drive	Optical SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
INPUT
Keyboard	Built-in full-size keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys and backlight.
Track pad	supports two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, double-tap, three-finger swipe, Multi-Touch track pad for precise cursor control; tap, four-finger swipe, and drag capabilities
GRAPHICS, VIDEO AND SOUND
Installed Graphics Type	256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Graphics processor	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor
Speaker Details	Built-in mono speakers
Microphone	Built-in omni directional microphone
Audio Output	Combined optical digital output/headphone out Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone
Video out options	DVI output VGA output Dual-link DVI output
COMMUNICATION FEATURES
Ethernet	Nil
Modem	Nil
Wireless	Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
Mobile internet	None
Webcam	Built-in iSight camera
CONNECTIVITY	MagSafe power port Mini DisplayPort One USB 2.0 port(up to 480 Mbps) Audio in/out
SOFTWARE
Operating System	Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard and Microsoft Vista
Other software	Xcode Developer Tools, Quick Look, Spaces, Time Machine, Dashboard, Mail, iChat, Address Book, Safari, QuickTime, Spotlight, iCal, Photo Booth, Front Row, DVD Player
BATTERY
Battery technology	Built-in lithium-polymer battery
Battery capacity	60-watt-hour
Power Adaptor	45W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management system
Estimated battery life (mfr)	5 hours
MISCELLANEOUS
Box contents	MacBook 60W MagSafe Power Adapter, AC wall plug, and power cord along with Printed and electronic documentation
Environment friendly features included	BFR free, PVC free, mercury free, arsenic free display, recyclable polycarbonate display, 20% smaller packaging, meets energy star version 5.0 requirements and rated EPEAT gold.
WARRANTY AND SERVICE	One year warranty for Parts and Labour 24×7 toll free service support