Computer Reviews

Need a higher specced laptop at a decent price. The HP Pavilion DV6-1354US offers a 15.6 inch screen, a dual-core processor and 4GB of memory, a great desktop replacement laptop for home use and light travelling.

Here’s a quick rundown of the main features:

• 2.2GHz Intel Core2 Duo T6600 processor
• 15.6″ LED backlight screen
• 4GB memory
• 500GB hard drive
• DVD burner
• Wifi draft n 300Mb/s

This processor is a bit of an unknown featuring the Penryn core. Jumping to a new core in the T series, it offers slightly lower power consumption which is somewhat negated by the higher speed it is run at. The processor will provide enough oomph for daily activities. With more power than the ultra-low voltage processors on offer in this price range, this computer will only last up to four hours on battery, but give more speed.

The 4GB of memory is more than enough and is being seen on more and more notebook computers around the $700 price mark. That’s great because upgrades will not be necessary that often. That’s enough memory for browsing the web, instant messaging, using tweetdeck, writing documents, listening to mp3s and creating spreadsheets all at the same time.

I sometimes wonder why hard drives on personal computers continue to increase in size as so much information is going online. Currently my local hard drive usage is limited to storing the photos and movies that I will later upload to my Picasa account where they are safely stored. Online storage can be safer than local storage because the computers your information is stored on are purposefully designed for storing information and have backup systems in place, unlike the hard drive in your computer. This computer offers enough to store around 100 DVD movies on it.

More useful for those who spend a lot of time online are the fast network connections. The standard Ethernet is offered, giving a very standard wired option for connecting to a network or to the Internet. This is always the failsafe as Ethernet is widely used in both the home and office. The slightly more exciting bonus is 802.11n Wifi connectivity which offers up to 300Mb/s transfer speed, perfect for a home network and a nice fast connection for Internet connectivity.

The wide screen monitor is always appreciated in these smaller form factors. Adding a large monitor to the notebook computer while at home is not problem as the extra monitor will just connect to the video outputs for a larger viewing area. This system boasts an LED backlit monitor which is a newer technology for lighting up the screen.

Software-wise, the addition of Windows 7 is welcome and it’s the 64-bit version to boot. Adoption of 64-bit technology has been slow in the consumer marketplace, but it should pick up with the support of Windows 7.

The ASUS UL80Vt-A1 is one of a newer bread of laptops with a ultra low voltage processors. The ultra low voltages give the computer extended battery life because of reduced power consumption and at the same time allow much thinner and lighter designs.

The ASUS features a 1.3GHz dual-core processor and comes with Windows 7 as standard. It also comes with a wide 14 inch screen with 720p resolution.

Here are some of the main features

• 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU
• 4GB of DDR3 memory
• 1366 x 768 screen resolution
• HDMI graphics port
• Wifi
• DVD burner
• Media card reader

The SU7300 is an ultra low power processor, which is why the design is so slim, and why the claimed battery life is over 10 hours. In reality that 10 hours might be a bit of an exaggeration, but at least a few solid hours will be possible while using Wifi, surfing the Internet and bashing out some documents.

The included 4GB of memory is a welcome addition to the setup. Only recently, after increasing my online activity did I realize just how much I needed more memory for my computer. With only 1GB on my work computer I sometime run out of memory when running Tweetdeck for using Twitter, Digsby for chat, Firefox for browsing the web (with about 10-15 tabs open) and Microsoft Word for doing some documents. 2GB would probably be enough, but memory is not expensive and the extra will save one trip to the computer guy in the future.

The hard drive is 320GB which is just fine for storing just about anything. I have never needed more than that, and with an every-increasing amount of information, photos and videos being stored online, a large hard drive is not extremely necessary. This one is more than enough anyway.

The system comes with Windows 7, which is the replacement for Windows Vista. Vista was marred with problems and 7 seems to have things together, which should mean less headaches on the whole.

The wide screen is pretty common on most laptop computers and allows windows to be placed side-by-side, although the width is not great enough for two full windows. Perhaps a chat client and a web browser next to each other is possible, but still a little cramped. Video output is handled by a VGA port and the more useful HDMI port. The HDMI is a digital video port, so it will connect to any screen that accepts digital input. The VGA port is a great legacy port though and will connect to pretty much anything.

Networking consists of a Gigabit Ethernet port, great for anyone running a super-fast home network, and high speed Wifi. The Gigabit Ethernet port will run at slower speeds if necessary, but allows the faster connectivity when connected to a network that support 1000Mb/s speeds. Wifi supports b/g/n standards which offer up to 300Mb/s speeds. The seeming lack of Bluetooth is very disappointing for a laptop though.

Three USB ports are available, audio output, line input, microphone input and built-in microphone and webcam are amongst the other extras.

Pros:

• Long battery life
• Lightweight
• Lots of memory

Cons:

• Bluetooth???

This laptop computer review item goes for just under $1000, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510 offers a well-rounded package with fairly high performance processor, decent sized screen and enough extras to keep most users happy. Ahead with the notebook computer review.

The screen is a around 14 inches and offers 1280 x 800 screen resolution. I always find this a little disappointing. The screen resolution doesn’t allow much more than a standard amount of desktop space, that is to say it will fit a document or a webpage, but struggle to fit both. I suppose that’s reasonable for the size, but even if the text is small, I like to be able to fit two windows comfortable beside each other. On the other hand, I do use a 1280 width monitor for work and it’s usually enough.

The dual-core processor gives a bit of punch, and allows multiple programs to be run simultaneously, whilst the load is spread over the two cores.

Here are some of the main specs for the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510:

• Intel Centrino Core2 Duo
• 3GB of memory
• 250GB hard drive
• DVD writer
• Windows Vista Home
• 3 USB ports
• Wireless 802.11b/g/n
• Fast Ethernet
• Up to 4 hours battery life

A major plus is the amount of memory and hard drive space. 250GB of hard drive space is enough to store plenty of photos, songs and videos. 3GB of memory gives a lot of memory for Windows Vista to play around with. Windows Vista needs at least 1GB and this gives it more than it needs.

Wireless connectivity supports up to 300Mb/s, faster than most internet connections. The Ethernet port only supports up to 100Mb/s, which is a little strange, because the wired networks usually support much faster speeds than the wireless. However, there are probably more fast wireless networks around than Gigabit wired networks.

At a tad under 3kg, this is not a light notebook, but makes up for the extra weight with a full house of features. Add to these Lenovo’s VeriFace security software, which verifies users by their facial features and you get a very capable machine quite worthy to be a desktop replacement laptop.