Toshiba’s Satellite Laptops

Toshiba has been long known as a good manufacturer of reliable laptops and it is surely not stopping. To date, Toshiba has released new Satellite and Satellite Pro laptops whose specs have yet to be revealed.
The only thing that can be said right now is the glossy black finish which combines stylish slim-line chassis design with desirable features.

The range offers a textured palm rest, touchpad with metallic mouse buttons and a quick launch multimedia bar, with touch-sensitive buttons and LED lighting.
Additionally, it will have the usual Intel and AMD chips along with some graphic card visualization to adhere towards the demands of most techy freaks today.

Sony S1 SGP-T111DE/S Tablet

When Sony makes an attempt at a new product, it tries to capture the aura of both uniqueness and surprise in hardware, plastic and commercials. So it has happened with the Sony tablet, which is not sold under the sub-branding "Vaio", but under the trademark "Sony".

If "Vaio" stands for notebooks, "Bravia" for televisions and "PlayStation" for gaming consoles, why is there no "Tabea" or "Bronko" for the new category of tablet PCs? The marketing as "Sony Tablet" could be seen as the high rank that the Japanese ascribe to the tablets. But it's more likely that the brand awareness "Sony" is to be directly radiated on the tablet. Later, when the tablet sales figures bear fruit and the products vary (screen sizes, application fields, etc.), an own brand might be created.

 Sony is well-advised with carefully entering the tablet market. The early adopters among the customers, excluding those who are already iPad fans, have equipped themselves with an Optimus Pad, a Motorola Xoom or a Samsung Galaxy Tab. These iPad alternatives have been available since the fall of 2010.

The Sony S range now encounters a matured tablet market split up between Android and Apple iOS. WebOS has disappeared from the market in the meantime. A deterrent example, that subsequently reinforced Sony's decision for Android (here 3.1). Had Sony developed its own tablet OS so late in the day, it would have quickly placed the S series on the sidelines.

We would like to present the Sony Tablet S and its hardware and software, and answer the question: Is it just another Android tablet or a fresh alternative to the "established" tablets.

Dell Launches Slim XPS 14z Laptop

Dell is about to include 14 inch new version to its latest line of slim XPS z series. The availability of the product is limited to China only.
XPS 14z is borderless and weighs 4.4 pounds; more or less similar to 13 inch laptop. Dell specialty compressed the optical drive to make it an inch thick.

14z Dell laptops hold Intel i5 and Intel i7 Core Sandy-Bridge-processors, just like the previous XPS 15z. This is the reason Dell claims, it is the tinniest PC on the planet. The model also holds Nvidia GeForce GT 520M graphics option with USB 3.0 and an LED display of 1366×768 HD.
This Dell’s product is available in China only and will be launched on its Golden Week holiday. But accessibility of this product in other regions and US will be announced shortly, probably this week.

In China, the price tag of this product will be 7,699 Yuan. The features involve i5 core processor, 4GB-RAM, 500GB hard disk and 1 GB video card. However, the exact and accurate information of pricing and sales in America is not on hand yet.

Sony updates Vaio S laptop series

Sony has quietly updated its Vaio S range of laptops boosting the specs inside and by adding a new screen size for those keen to go big.
In addition to the 13.3-inch screen size of the VAIO SA model already available, Sony has added a new 15.5-inch model that is now referred to as the VAIO SE model.

Other than the larger screen, the VAIO SE features are very similar to its smaller sibling with the thin (under one-inch) flat design, AMD Radeon Hybrid Graphics (up to 1GB VRAM) and the optional sheet battery that can double your battery life.
There was also a slight update in the VAIO SB with a new colour option of red added to the existing choices of black, white, blue and pink.

In addition, the VAIO SA, SB, and SE series now feature the latest 2nd generation Intel processors ranging from Intel Core i3 to Core i7 processor options.

HP and Dell’s ultra portable laptops

Spoiler alert for gadget lovers as the details of HP and Dell’s ultra portable laptops have been leaked on the
Internet.
 With original design manufacturer Quanta Computer readying production, HP will start producing its ultra portable laptop by the end of the year. Whereas Dell's model, manufactured by Wistron, will be released in January 2012 at the CES.   

The exact specifications are not available, but it is certain that the HP and Dell models will be in line with Intel’s Ultrabook design specs. It is assumed that these models will have Apple-esque super thin cases, powerful processors, better battery life and USB 3.0 connectivity.
Even though Dell and HP are doing just as well in comparison to Lenovo, Acer, ASUS and Toshiba, the companies are launching their ultra portable laptops alittle later than other companies. Ultra portable labtops from other companies are due out in the coming months.

The processor to be used in HP and Dell ultra portable laptops, Intel’s Cedar Trail processor, is supposed to be delivered early next year. Any delay in the launch may be attributed to this.

acer aspire one happy 2

I won't go into the details of this laptop, because it's not very different to its predecessor. You can read the entire review of the Acer Happy on Smartbuy's website. So what does the Happy 2 have on offer?

First up, the design. Although Acer has continued to go with the fruit inspired tropical shades for the netbook, the one prominent difference is the droplet design on the cover. Another visible change is that the palm rest area, which was earlier a uniform strip of the same colour as the cover, has now been modified so that only the trackpad is coloured and the sides are white, extending down from the keyboard.

The other new feature in the Happy 2 is the processor. The Happy's Intel Atom N450 processor that I found quite slow on the netbook has been upgraded to an Intel Atom N570. Although I still wouldn't call the Happy 2 a ‘fast' netbook, performance has visibly improved – startup took about 30 seconds, and opening and switching between applications was also snappier. 

 

The Happy 2 comes with the same Windows Starter operating system, but there's also an Android boot-up option, which has been upgraded from version 1.6 to 2.1. It's not a great operating system option for laptops, but it's convenient if you're in a hurry and need to access the web on the go.

The Happy 2's LED backlit LCD screen was quite impressive for watching videos, and I found it quite comfortable to watch a few episodes of Archer. The speakers haven't improved at all though, audio was barely audible in our open office. I needed to plug in headphones if I wanted to use the netbook for any media.

Battery life was above average for a netbook, giving me about 6 hours of video playback.

Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook

What first strikes me about the Acer Aspire S3 is that it is a very thin and light laptop. I've not compared it measure for measure with a Apple MacBook Air but I'd guess it's very close to it. Turn the S3 over and it looks a bit too much like the first generation Air, but open in up and start using it and there's no doubt this is a Windows ? PC. Basically, this is a PC that you can easily carry around with you almost anywhere and it's not going to be a bother.

The Acer Aspire S3 we had for testing was the higher-end model with Intel Core i7 2637M 1.7GHz processor, 4GB RAM, and 120GB Intel SSD. The graphics are Intel's Sandy Bridge processor graphics, HD 3000, and the computer runs Windows 7 Home Premium. All this achieved a WorldBench score of 102, which is not very impressive, but in actual use everything was quick and snappy. I didn't do anything heavy like process video with the S3, and it's not really the sort of computer you would do much of that with anyway. Keep in mind though that this was the S3 with Core i7 processor. The Acer Aspire S3 lineup starts with a Core i3 processor.
One thing that particularly impressed with the Acer Aspire S3 was wakeup and reboot times. When the system is running and you close the display and want to get back into windows, it takes just over a second for the Windows login screen to appear. Even a reboot is very quick and not something you have to loathe anymore.

 
The outside of the very glossy 13.3-inch display (1366×768 pixels) is brushed aluminum but the main part of the Acer Aspire S3 is made out of something else, magnesium alloy I suspect. Although the two materials are very close to each other in appearance and touch, I would have preferred Acer to stick to one of them throughout, it would give the S3 a classier appearance as well as feel, I think.
Acer has decided to put Dolby Home Theater on the Acer Aspire S3 with two speakers on the bottom, one on the left and one on the right. Although the sound is not bad for this type of computer I'd say it's nothing to boast about. If you really care about great sound from the S3 you will get external speakers or headphones anyway. Also on the outside we find two USB ports on the rear next to HDMI port, AC adapter port and the exhaust from the processor fan. On the left side there's a 3.5mm audio jack and on the right side you find a SD card slot.
In terms of battery life the Acer Aspire S3 shut itself down after almost exactly five hours of Wi-Fi work on battery saving mode. I was on the web, writing, chat, Twitter, etc. doing my normal work without anything taxing the system and I got a warning about battery running out after about four and a half hours. Then at just about five hours, Windows shut itself down. That's not bad considering the specifications and size but if Acer could tweak that to get another hour out of the S3, that would be really good. As it stands, the S3 is at least a credible option for a full day's worth of work for many of us.
My main complaint about the Acer Aspire S3 is the keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard feels "swampy" (what an expression!), with little to no click to it, which I don't like, and the way the arrow keys and page up and down are organized is just a recipe for hitting the wrong key. Same goes for the return key, which is partnered up with "\" and I can't tell you know many times I typed "\" instead of return. The trackpad I kept hitting by mistake and it clicked, scrolled and did all sorts of things even after I had turned off almost all the gesture options; to me it seems there was clearly something wrong there. I was told by an Acer representative that these were both pre-production, and that at least the trackpad will be improved before shipping and I hope that's true.