Toshiba Qosmio G45

Full review of Toshiba Qosmio G45

With Blu-ray winning HD format war, Toshiba attempted to release an HD solution in the Qosmio G45 laptop. The laptop comes with a HD-DVD burner as well as a plethora of features to support a theater-like experience starting from the powerful speakers to the razor sharp 17-inch widescreen display Large and in charge, the Qosmio G45 comes with a black-piano finish lid that contrasts the white keyboard. Although the aesthetic design is quite impressive, picking up the laptop isn�t quite impressive. The laptop weighs in at a massive 10 pounds, which will either break your back or enlarge your biceps.

Features

The Toshiba Qosmio G45 comes with everything youd expect in a multimedia machine. HDMI-in and HDMI-out, ExpressCard slot, Memory Card slot Firewire, USB 2.0, audio ports (line-in, microphone, headphone, and S/P DIF out), LAN, S-Video, DVI, power and ports for infrared remote controls. It also comes with Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11 a/g/n. Phew! The most distinctive feature is the vibrant 1080p 17-inch Widescreen display capable of 1920x1200 resolution. What does this mean? HD quality video. Powered by GeForce 8600M graphics card, it supports for HDCP (HDMI output) and integrated HDTV encoder for 1080i/1080p TV content. Of course, having great video won�t be a complete entertainment experience with great sound. Built with 4 Harman/kardon speakers coupled with 1 Bass Reflex sub-woofer, this surround sound setup produces great sound when watching movies or digital cable.

Whether you�ll be gaming or watching HD-DVD movies, the G45 performed effectively with only a few minor slowdowns, which didn�t deter from the overall movie experience. In everyday tasks, from word processing, surfing the internet and the photo-editing, the G45 will do everything pretty well, thanks in part to the abundant 3GB RAM, which is the only upgradeable component of this laptop. The battery performance when watching a movie was dismal - lasting only half of Batman Begins on HD-DVD. The battery depleted after 1:14 into the movie with full brightness and sound on. Be sure to keep a spare battery or be near an outlet when watching movies. Otherwise, the battery performance was around 2 hours under normal, everyday use. If you need a power laptop capable of HD entertainment, Photoshop, or gaming, this unit is for you. If you plan on traveling, you probably want to opt for another system as its mediocre battery life and weight is made for the desk (or living room) and no where else.

Toshiba Qosmio G45 Technical Specifications

• Processor Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz
• Memory 3GB DDR2 RAM
• Harddrive 320GB
• OS Windows Vista Ultimate
• Weight 10.6 pounds
• Screen 17-inch
• Screen resolution 1920x1200
• Graphic Card Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT 512MB
• Battery Life 2 hours

Pros

• Great everyday performance
• Good gaming performance
• HD-capable laptop
• Good sound for a laptop
• Lots of connectivity options
• Black piano chassis
• Giant 17-inch 1080p display
• HD-DVD burner

Cons

• Short battery lif
• HD
• Not for travel
• Included digital cable tuner requires CableCard

Fujitsu U810 Ultraportable Tablet

Full review of Fujitsu U810 Ultraportable Tablet

Laptop + Ultra Mobile PC + Tablet = Fujitsu LifeBook U810. Think this mini-sub-tablet Ultra Mobile PC laptop as the Swiss army knife of ultra portable computing. This little thing has a functional keyboard that can flip the screen that becomes a tablet with full touch-screen capabilities. Weighing only 1.56lbs and measuring 6.75-in x 6-in x 1-in, the Lifebook U810 is certainly is absolutely tiny, especially when you consider it�s a fully Vista-capable computer running inside.

The U810 can turn into 3 setups: laptop, tablet, or UMPC modes. Swivel and flip the screen over, and the device can be used as a UMPC (Ultra mobile portable computer). You can pull out the stylus and use it as a portable tablet. For a tiny machine, expect a tiny 56-key QWERTY keyboard that you can (barely) use if you find you need to type as a laptop. As you may expect, due to the size, its missing a lot key connection ports like: VGA output, expansion slots, and a half dozen USB ports. Instead, youll get one USB 2.0 port, SD media slot AND Compact Flash slots on either sides, a connection port to connect a Fujitsus Ethernet dongle and accessories. The remaining ports include the charger, headphone and microphone ports.

Intels mobile A110 processor found in other mobile devices (Smart phones and UMPCS) and runs at a modest 800MHz coupled with the Intel 945 chipset. Also includes 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a 4200RPM 40GB hard drive. The 5.6-inch LCD screen (1024 x 600) is a sharp little glossy display with accurate touch-screen functionality that gives the imot plenty of flexibility to work with. Feel free to swivel and rotate the screen. Thankfully, the U810 is able to offer 802.11a/b/g WiFi, a finger-print access, and built-in webcam.

Performance

The Fujitsu comes pre-installed with Microsoft Vista. What does that mean? The load times are downright atrocious, taking up to 2 minutes to get to the desktop screen when powering up. It�s so slow that by the time Vista is fully ready to use, you already feel like the computer has already drained half the battery. However, things run much better as we noticed no slow down in web browsing and general desktop usages. The Fujitsu U810 managed only an average 3 hours of battery time running mixed video, web browsing, and data entry. Thats very disappointing for a machine of this size.

Conclusion

All all in one portable machine designed to offer mobile users to work, its certainly not perfect. With the lack of some ports and poor performance, its not ideal for users who demand power. Rather, its designed for casual users who need more than just a PDA. For those looking for a versatile portable computer, this is worth it. But if you dont mind having something bigger, go for a real tablet PC or ultra-portable laptop.

Fujitsu U810 Ultraportable Tablet Technical Specifications

• Processor Intel A110 800MHz
• Memory 1GB DDR2
• Harddrive 40GB
• OS Windows Vista Premium
• Weight 1.2
• Screen 5.6 inches
• Screen resolution 1024x600
• Graphic Card Mobile Intel Express 945GM
• Battery Life 3

Pros

• Amazingly small
• Unique swivel and fold design for versatile applications
• Best-in-class UMPC keyboard
• Tablet and touch-screen capabilities
• Well thought-out ergonomics and controls
• WiFi, Bluetooth, fingerprint scanner, and webcam come standard
• Quality materials and build finish
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Cons

• Sluggish performance
• Abysmal startup time
• Runs on Vista
• Too tiny to type comfortably
• Love it or hate it styling
• Obtrusive battery
• Poor battery life
• Lack of ports and expandability
• No Ethernet port built-in

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

Full review of Lenovo ThinkPad X200

Thin and light is in. The new Lenovo ThinkPad X200 is the newest ultraportable designed to replace the ThinkPad X61 ultra-portable. A little brother to the 13.3-inch ThinkPad X300, the X200 encompasses elements of both machines in a lightweight package. Incorporating Intels newest Montevina platform, the Thinkpad X200 features Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 clocked at a speedy 2.4GHz with 3MB L2 cache and a low 25 TDP power consumption.

With respect to design, the ThinkPad X200 maintains the conservative black rubber finish built in a rugged chassis. Weighing in at only 2.95 pounds with the 4-cell battery, the ThinkPad X200 is designed for mobility. Our unit came with 9-cell battery which offered over twice the battery life but protrudes from the rear and adds additional weight. The 12.1-inch widescreen display features 1280x800 resolution with 16:10 aspect ratio. Overall, the display is nice to the eyes. Viewing angles are adequate and display-brightness is sufficiently lit. With a thin and light machine, the Thinkpad X200 omits an optical drive. Instead, you're welcome to order an external USB 2.0 DVD drive (like the MacBook Air). In terms of the ports, this thin and light machine offers: 3 USB ports, monitor-out, Gigabit Ethernet, ExpressCard 54mm slot, Bluetooth and WLAN. There is an option for 1 media reader, or an SD card slot. Lenovo allows you to upgrade its hard drive up to 320GB capacity or 64GB Solid State Disk (SSD).

Some new stand-out features we should mention: spill flow keyboard, biometric finger print reader, LED light for dark environments, Webcam, ability to connect to GPS WWAN services from Verizon, Vodafone, or Telus. Battery Performance With our 9-cell battery, we were ecstatic to operate the machine for approximately 8 hours and 47 minutes. You read right. Normal usage of web surfing, word processing, and listening to music.

Conclusion

The Thinkpad X200 will serve a specific audience: mobile professionals who demand power and portability. The X200 fills this void without a doubt, offering excellent battery life and power under the hood that matches most mid-size entertainment laptops twice its size. Although the X200 isnt like the X300, its more affordable The ThinkPad X200 is a welcome improvement over the popular X61 series.

Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Technical Specifications

• Processor Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4 GHz
• Memory 2GB
• Harddrive 160GB
• OS Windows Vista
• Weight 3
• Screen 12.1-inch
• Screen resolution 1280x800
• Graphic Card Intel
• Battery Life 8 hours

Pros

• Business Professional's black design
• Powerful Intel components
• Awesome Battery life with 9-cell
• Decent display resolution for it's size
• Sufficient connection options

Cons

• Huge Battery really increases weight
• No optical drive option
• Minimal Graphics Options
• Ackward upgrade options