The case is built from a solid black plastic that is very strong and produces little to no flex while the top half is a glossy, dark blue, and serves mostly as a fingerprint magnet even if it protects the LCD screen well as I could never produce any ripples. The interior of the notebook is built from medium weight plastic that also feels strong, meaning that the big 17 inch laptop is sturdy enough for general and multimedia use. The keyboard itself is also strong and firm, just the palm rest is having a flex.
Except a little lacking in bass, the sound coming from this laptop’s speakers is one of the best found on notebooks so far. The screen is big and very bright, colors are vibrant and beautiful in any horizontal angle, but vertical angles are very unpleasent (like most of the laptops from all companies). The P205 con be configured to feature a budget Santa Rosa processor that clocks in at 1.66GHz, with only 2MB of L2 Cache and a 667MHz FSB if your purpose is to keep the battery alive as long as possible, or, a higher Santa Rosa processor if this is suposed to be a multimedia laptop at home, on a steady desk next to power plug-in. Speaking of multimedia, the Toshiba Satellite P205 integrated the latest generation of integrated graphics cards offered by Intel: the X3100.
The notebook does a good job when playing movies, watching music, or doing other office and multimedia tasks, but it is not a gamer’s tool by any means. The laptop stays remarkably cool and it is very quiet no matter of how intensly it is used. The keyboard and touchpad feel as good as they look, with firm but flexible keys - only one complain: space bar just is not wide enough. At the front of the notebook we see the WiFi switch (excellently placed and built switch), Audio-In Jack, Headphone Audio-Out Jack, Volume Control Wheel, 5-in-1 Media Card Reader, and the status light indicators, while on the right are 4 USB Ports, Modem (RJ-45), HD-DVD Drive, and Security Lock Slot. The AC Adapter ports, VGA-out, heatsink vent, 10/100 Ethernet, another 2 USB Ports, S-Video out, ExpressCard/54 slot, and one FireWire 400 port are located at the left.
With full brightness, WiFi On, a “Power Saver” power profile, and minimal activity like typing this review and browsing NBR, the laptop clocked in at 1 hour 45 minutes which is, unfortunetly, disapointing.
Toshiba Satellite P205 Specifications
The HP Pavilion HDX gaming notebook (the first HP gaming notebook) bundle Intel’s Santa Rosa-based Core 2 Duo processors (2.20Ghz) with NVIDIA GeForce Go 8000-series GPU along with an option for a HD DVD. The Pavilion HDX also has a HDMI output and a webcam for extended use as a multimedia system.
This premium model insipres quality with the futuristic design that also includes touches such as a micro-fibre cloth to keep it shiny and a nice poster. The laptop is constructed using strong plastics and alloys for that all important hinge mechanism, resulting in durability and strenght of all parts. The use of the touch buttons also gives the laptop a good futuristic feel.
The 20 inch (and more than enaught resolution) screen is absolutely perfect - brilliant colours, brightness and flawless viewing angles (a rare thing but expected feature on a high price gaming laptop). Unlike many laptops with only 2 speackers, HP Pavilion HDX provides a very clear sound using 4 speakers built into the monitor, as well as a subwoofer underneath the laptop.
Despite the great hardware parts upon it’s build, Pavilion HDX missed the hard disks, which is spinning at a lowly 4200rpm and there is no option of configuring faster hard disks when purchasing the laptop.
You can occasionally here a whisper of the fans if you sit silently next to the laptop while heat is acceptable for this type of notebook. The full black keyboard has a numeric keypad also, and the dimpled touchpad (there is a button above the touchpad that turns it on and off) has a nice design an feel but external mouse is still better. The touch sensitive quickplay buttons present on this model are a pleasure to use and improve the functionality. Also, the most unique feature, the laptop includes a remote. As for the ports, with the exception of PCMCIA (uses ExpressCard instead), it has everything. The laptop has a built in infrared sensor on the front, as well as coming with an IR extender to be used with remotes or connecting to a satellite.
Wi-fi and Bluetooth are present (enable/disable works from the same button) and work just fine, as expected. Naturally, such a big notebook that uses the latest technologies and features, can not have a long lasting battery life, so the maximum you can get is 2 hours. Windows Vista Home Premium comes pre-installed, growing the price even more.
HP Pavilion HDX Specifications
Asus created this cheap ultraportable laptop with an attractive look (based on white titan) of the very tiny keyboard and touchpad, but, still with a build quality that is quite high despite the low cost. The screen is 7-inches diagonally with LED back lighting and has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, bright enaught for you to be confortable in front of it even if is not glossy nor highly contrastant. Windows opperating system does not fit this small model, but the laptop comes equiped with Xandros Linux which is easy to use and includes 40 applications for everything from work and email to listening to music and watching movies.
For a full suite of fgeatures, Asus included a built-in 0.3 megapixel webcam which can be enabled from the BIOS. The location of the speackers is perfert for a clear sound that waves directly to you from the right and left side of the screen. No big distortions at high volume. The keyboard on the Eee PC is remarkably firm, though the keys are small, so you won’t have to worry about flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied.
The touchpad has a single button with left and right “rocker” buttons underneath that are easy to use and responsive except for the fact that you might hit the wrong one. This laptops is ment for extreme portability in case of travel, but for users who would buy this notebook as their main computer at home or office, a full-size keyboard and external mouse are recommended.
Ports: 10/100 Ethernet port, empty modem port, 3 USB 2.0 ports, SD card reader, Kensington lock slot, microphone in, and headphone jack. The leds are located on the front, right side.
Under normal use, it goes up to 110 degrees Farenheit on both up and down side, which is about the average for ultraportable notebooks. Also, under the same normal use (which includes Wi-Fi on, 100% brightnes of the screen and some opened applications), you can get up to 3 hours and 20 minutes or even more. Eee PC uses an Atheros AR5BXB63 wireless module for 802.11b/g wireless Internet access, providing good connection in matter of range and detection. All in one phrase: the Asus Eee PC is the single most impressive notebook priced below $400.
Asus Eee PC 701 4G Specifications
