So here’s a laptop cake

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaamy!

Overall, this laptop has a nice and simple all black design, the build looked good but a bit fragile (plastic should have been of a better quality) and the keyboard is big and comfortable to use, especially considering the size of an ultraportable notebook. When the lid is close enough to its fully closed position, it automatically goes in and sits in place. The size is big enough to house a 13.1” screen because of the large borders around the screen which seem to be useles. However, this fact allows a more spacious keyboard to be implemented, which is a lot more comfortable to use.

Since the notebook lacks shortcut buttons (and most new models on the market benefit from this), so you must learn to use the “Fn” button for shortcuts. With the 2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo, 1 GB memory (but one mention here: Windows Vista requieres more if you want to enjoy working with demanding software under this system), a 128 MB dedicated graphics card (nVidia 8400m G), this notebook compromises no part of performance for portability or else.

The touchpad is nice as well. Also, the F9S is equipped with a fingerprint reader, definitely an asset for those of us who get tired of entering passwords! When under intense usage this notebook produces a considerable amount of heat, specialy on the left side. Also, the only factor producing noise constantly is the fan, which isn’t loud enough to bother most people. For an ultra-portable, you might expect a long battery life, but, considering the configuration I just mentioned, it happens to get only up to 2.5 hours battery life.

Asus F9S Specifications

A written review.
Lenovo V200 Specifications

The Lenovo V200 replaces the V100 as the top-of-the-line model in the Lenovo 3000 series of budget-priced ultraportables, so it has the same design (all silver outside and black inside), a quite attractive look for travelers and small business consumers. The build is durable with a slight amount of flex (it’s made of a sturdy plastic material), but the LCD is having ripples if you push in on the back side of the lid. Thanks to the Intel Santa Rosa Core 2 Duo processor platform, and the 2GB of RAM on board, the V200 is a remarkably capable performer, allowing Windows Vista Business to run trouble free without any lag. The Intel X3100 integrated graphics processor isn’t very powerful, but provides more than enough power for a business notebook.

With the 6-cell battery the V200 tips the scales at 4.4 lbs which is by far NOT the leightest portable laptop and also not the thicker. Instead of that, you get a built-in optical drive, video camera, fingerprint reader, and a low price, so people on a budget might be willing to carry this notebook. The screen has a glossy finish causing the strong reflections on the screen from overhead lights (common to office settings) to be very frustrating, but, otherwise, it provides richer, deeper colors and a better media viewing experience. It’s not as bright as some competing 12.1″ notebooks, so that might be an issue for some, while the vertical viewing angles are as poor as in any other laptop so don’t worry too much about this.

As for the speakers, these aren’t the worst notebook speakers … but they aren’t the best either: bass is lacking as usual, and, when used at higher volume, the sound gets unrealistic. What I don’t like very much is the position: in front of the laptop - the sound might be ubstructed. The V200 is remarkably quiet, the fan is generally silent and the CPU temperatures stayes in the 40-degrees Celsius range. The touchpad is ok but not brilliant, and as for the keyboard, every key is responsive with minimal travel and the entire keyboard has very little flex. After 3 hours and 18 minutes the 6-cell battery dies - it’s a good time.

Lenovo V200 Specifications

LG LM70 is the first notebook that tooked Intel’s updated Centrino platform and runs on it. With it’s extremely impressive list of specifications and with the new range of at least double permormance laptops, most people don’t take a look at this one. However, it’s a good cheap tool for basic use in some corners of the world where other expensive high performant laptops can not yet compete. It is packed in a white magnesium chassis (it is very important for a notebook that is going to be used by business travelers to be light and sturdy), and it’s design is very thin.

At 2.3 kg, the LM70 is highly portable, despite its ample 15″ high resolution screen. The LCD, with a native resolution of 1400*1050, is firmly mounted in a reassuringly flex free frame. One more thing: in offices with lots of artificial light a glossy coating is more headache than its worth. The controls and indicator lights are well laid out, having a nice distinctive tastefully subdued look.
In matter of performance, LG has equipped the LM70 with Intel’s 915 core logic chipset, bringing a whole boatload of performance enhancements to the Centrino platform including faster dual channel memory (DDR2), better hard drives (SATA), more powerful video (PCI Express-based chips) and new peripheral support (SuperCard).

The 0.8 Watt speakers do a good job of reproducing sound, but the LM70 is not really great for multimedia enthusiast. You will get the best experience by using a good set of headphones or external speakers.
The harddrive is one weack point of this laptop: Fujitsu MHT 2080BH Hard Disk uses the Serial ATA interface rated for 150 MB/second and it spins at 5400 RPM, having an 8 MB buffer, but, this drive is not as fast as the Hitachi 7200 RPM Travlestar ATA drives. However, for me, the weakest point is the fact that the laptop includes a multi card reader that supports SD, MMC and MemoryStick formats but not the ubiquitous Compact Flash.
For wireless performance, the LM70 uses a ‘Dual Hexa Band’ antenna which converts the band down into 6 bands and uses an optimized antenna for each band for wider coverage and enhanced network connectivity. With the standard 6 cell battery you get up to 120 minutes of usage.

LG LM70 Specifications

This model it’s targeted towards business users and professionals, featuring Intel Core Duo processor inside the durabile case. Actually, durability (due to the steel hinges), security, usability and performance are all important characteristics of the ThinkPad T-series. It’s a powerful notebook that you can use for work as well as some demanding games in your free time. This laptop’s screen is one of the most sturdy (no ripples or flex) and the best when it comes to keeping its brightness and color regardless of what angle you look at it.

I can not say the same abou the speakers. The sound is as poor as in all laptops, but, furthermore, the speakers are positioned in front of the notebook below the palm rest, which means that the sound gets obstructed. Lenovo T60 is a silent notebook. However, when playing DVDs, you can actually hear some noise. You can adjust the speeds to reduce the noise level. It gets a little warm on the bottom upper left hand corner, but not too bad and you can rest your palms without problems. This laptop has Bluetooth, and Intel 3945 wi-fi card, as well as Verizon WAN card and all of them do a great job in matter of connection speed, range and stability.

ThinkPad T60 also has a nice and sturdy keyboard, with only a slight flex and plenty of hotkeys.
Dedicated buttons include: Power on/off, Volume up/down/mute (3 buttons), Wireless on/off, ThinkVantage shortcut button (shortcut to system support, security and diagnostics suite). Battery lock and releaseThe touchpad is bigg, soft and it feels like having alot of control over it. Above it, there is also a fingerprint reader. With all the settings high (screen brightness, processor speed), the 9-cell battery will hold up to 2.5 hours. Maybe it would have been better for this laptop to have more than 3 USB 2.0 ports, otherwise, I love it.

Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Specificatons

Break your Laptop…

And buy a better one!

For those of you who desire a laptop with a large 17 inch wide screen, here’s one to consider: LG LW70. Because of it’s size, it weights 3.1 kgs so it’s more likely to become a desktop replacement. Compared to Dell Inspiron 9300 (another 17 inch laptop), the LG LW70 is faster, lighter, thinner, and runs longer on battery. The design is nice and simple not straying far from their previous designs and quite similar to Dell notebooks (same black and white combination), also very rigid and sturdy.
The power/volume buttons are centered above the keyboard, and in addition, two “instant on” buttons, “DVD” and “Music” are present to offer maximum multimedia usability.

On the front of the notebook there are 2 decently sized speakers (woofer on the bottom) and a remote-control sensor. The sound system has 5.1 channel audio, and it’s quite clear and full compared to other notebooks. It also has a microphone implemented directly on the laptop. The keyboard (similar to a PC - full size 99 key keyboard with a dedicated number pad) is pleasent to use, with many hotkeys (touchpad on/off, 3 User functions, sleep, standby, wifi toggle, video mode, hibernate, screen brightness up/down, battery miser settings), and, because there is plenty of room, the touch pad stays out of the way when typing.

The hard drive of the standard configuration is only 80GB - I personaly find this amount of storage a little to less for a multimedia user who would store movies and music in large quantities. After using it for awhile the fans can be heared but they are not very loud and the laptop stayes fairly cool under use. The wireless card is an Intel 2200BG (b/g) internal PC card with a hex-band antenna, which allows better connectivity on the move. A minus for LG: there is no built in bluetooth (only IrDA Infrared and a remote controll sensor) even if most new laptops do have it. The standard 6 cell battery will last at minimum Brightness (1/8) : 4 hours, at medium (4/8) : 3 hours, 50 minutes, and at full brightness (8/8): 3 hours, 15 minutes.

LG LW70 Specifications

HP made a laptop with outstanding features at a great price under the name of Pavilion. Dv6500z model from this series has a very nice sleek design, with a beautiful glossy feel, black lid (feels quite durable, and is fairly rigid) and black keyboard surrounded by a silver cover over the palm rest. The touchpad design resambles the same design technique, only it is surrounded by a black finnish. The body has all smooth, rounded edges, making it really comfortable in your hand while carrying it around and very eyecatching - like a gaming laptop should be.

The body of the dv6500z feels pretty durable (the plastic material is of high quality), and doesn’t creak when being held, but the palm rest has some flex. The glossy display on the dv6500z is very bright and vibrant, but vertical viewing angles have the same issue like all laptops: too far forward the screen starts getting washed out, and too far back the colors darken or invert.
Speakers are located above the keyboard and provide a good quality sound in terms of laptops (this means that you should not expect to hear the bass). The two headphone jacks, however, make their job without any hiss or other forms of distortion.

The key action was very smooth, and only require only a light press. Also, you will enjoy the ctrl key placement on the far left side, with the function key just right of it. HP did not forgot to include a button for touchpad enable/disable, and, by the way, the sensitive touchpad is a pleasure to use. The combination of dual core AMD Turion TL-60 processor with the nVidia 8400m GS video card is what makes this laptop have a sufficient performance for any demanding game. This is also the reason why the machine gets a little hot but within reasonable temperatures. Noise usualy depends on how intensive it is used, but overall it’s a quiet notebok. The 6 cell battery can hold up to 3 hours and 30 minutes, while the 12-cell allows you to get 4 hours and 50 minutes.

HP Pavilion dv6500z Specifications

At a quick glance, the R60 (14″ or 15″ screen size) improves the old ThinkPad R52 by offering the faster new Intel Core Duo processor, an extra USB 2.0 slot (there are now 3 instead of 2 in the R52), optional integrated WWAN, magnesium-alloy roll cage for extra internal component protection plus the offering of an ATI X1400 graphics card. Also, to make another comparison, the R60 does not use the same case construction as the T60 and it is not as wonderfully thin and light, which is why it is cheaper. Plus, the regular UltraBay the R60 has is thicker and not swappable on the fly; Fire GL graphics card is available in the T60 but not the R60, an IPS is screen available in the T60 but not R60.

The design of this laptop is pleasant: a complete black body, with some colored keys. However, the build could be better: there is some flexing of the outside plastic case, while inside you have a magnesium constructed roll cage to protect components, so although plastic will succumb to cracking during a fall more so than magnesium alloy, your internals are further protected. As far as brightness and quality, the R60 screen is good, but the usual aspect of poor vertical angles remains a problem for this one too.
Because this is a configurable laptop, I can only give a few general tips on how it will perform: if you want speed and graphic performance, go with a Core Duo processor and opt for the ATI X1400 graphics card (it’s not high-end by any means, but far superior to integrated graphics). If you want to save money and don’t care so much about overall performance (like for example business use) get a Celeron processor (this will be about 25% - 35% slower overall).

The Lenovo laptops poses simple speakers so if you want to listen to music with any type of enjoyable experience, you will need to plug in headphones or external speakers. Ports: a FireWire (IEEE 1394 port), ethernet and modem jack, headphone out and microphone in, USB 2.0 vertically oriented port, dual PCMCIA / ExpressCard 54 slot, S-Video connector, swappable UltraBay optical drive, 2 USB 2.0 slots. While it only has 3 USB ports, it comes with a 9 cell battery for a long high performance life without stream from the power network: 3 hours 47 minutes of battery life when used lightly and over 3 hours with Wi-Fi on. By the way, the wi-fi card has a good, no troubles, and the antenna of the R60 is in the screen to give extra range.

Lenovo ThinkPad R60 Specifications