Tag Archives: ports

Aug 20

Acer Veriton 6620G has powerful CPU with Intel ...

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Acer has announced a new line of compact desktop systems, the Veriton 6620G. like its predecessor, the series is intended for business use, although it is available for consumers as well. the systems should appeal to the target audience by the presence of Intel´s vPro technology and three years of warranty. 

The 6620G series is capable of housing a third-generation (Ivy Bridge) Core i7 CPU, but can also be fitted with a cheaper processor. Acer has added 2 GB of memory to the system, which can be expanded to up to 16 GB. A 500 GB (7200 RPM) and an optical drive are also present in the base configuration. Acer claims that the motherboard uses only solid-state capacitors, increasing the stability and the life expectancy of the system.

Up to three monitors can be attached to the integrated video chip simultaneously through the 2x DisplayPort and DVI connectors. the new Veriton is available in two models; the X6620G small form factor (SFF) and the M6620G mini-tower. the first has a single 5.25″ and 3.5″ bay, while the mini-tower version offers two 5.25″ and six 3.5″ bays (two of which are external). Both systems have USB 3.0 functionality, although only the smaller X6620G has such ports available on its front panel as well.

The X6620G and M6620G have surfaced on Acer’s Australian website, where they’re priced around £630. In this cheapest configuration, the systems are powered by a 2.8 GHz Intel G640 processor with 3 MB of cache memory. It’s still unknown when the systems will be released.

Acer Veriton 6620G has powerful CPU with Intel vPro

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Jul 31

Geek deals: 20% off Lenovo IdeaPad U410 ultrabook

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When Apple took the market by storm with their ultra-thin aluminum laptops, PC manufacturers were, in a sense, caught with their pants down. While there were thin & light PC laptops available, they all tended to be lacking in one way or another; whether it was battery life, weight, or ports. After that point Intel stepped in to take matters into its own hands in 2011.

The result was the Ultrabook specification. Like with its previous technology marketing efforts, a la Centrino, Intel would put a lot of marketing effort (and dollars) behind this new platform, but partners have to meet certain requirements with their hardware. The first generation Ultrabooks, built on the Sandy Bridge processors, were more of a first step than Intel’s dream laptop. The 2nd generation Ultrabooks, just now available with Ivy Bridge processors, are noticeably improved and the final results are rather impressive. Check out Intel’s Ultrabook requirements:

  • CULV Ivy Bridge processor (17W TDP)
  • Thickness: 18mm for <13.3-inch, 21mm for 14-inch or greater, 23mm for convertible tablets
  • Minimum battery life: 5 hours
  • 7 second resume from hibernate
  • SSD with minimum 80MB/s transfer rate
  • USB 3.0

Lenovo’s new IdeaPad U410 Ultrabook meets all of these requirements and then some. Lenovo calls for up to 8 hours of battery life, which even if that’s overblown by 20% is still well over 6 hours of runtime. And that’s not even using the integrated HD 4000 GPU that most Ultrabooks resort to; the U410 packs an NVIDIA GeForce 610M 1GB graphics card. when you consider that’s running a 14-inch LCD on the latest technology with a battery that must fit in a 0.8-inch / 4 lb chassis, it is rather impressive.

The U410 doesn’t disappoint anywhere else either, four USB ports (two of which are 3.0 spec), media card reader, and HDMI output. While it unsurprisingly lacks an optical drive, the U410 does still retain an Ethernet port. Audio should be decent with two 2W speakers that get a nice quality boost from Dolby Home Theater technology (the same found on my ThinkPad, offering fully customizable sound profiles).

For a limited time you can get the U410 with a 20% off coupon starting at $759 with a 2nd gen Core i3 CPU. Bumping up to the 3rd gen Core i5 will run you $799 and give you a choice between two stunning colors: Sapphire Blue or Ruby Red.

Visit LogicBuy for the Lenovo IdeaPad U410 14-inch ultrabook

Geek deals: 20% off Lenovo IdeaPad U410 ultrabook

Jul 25

Review: Google Nexus 7

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The Google Nexus 7 costs significantly less than the new iPad making it an enticing proposition in terms of value for money.

Design and display

From the moment you take the Nexus 7 out of its box it’s clear that this device is going to be a significant game changer in the tablet market. It sells from just $249 in Australia but its build quality compares to rival and in most cases, inferior, tablets that retail for well over $500.

In fact, there’s no real evidence at all that the Nexus 7 is a budget device. It’s impressively constructed, with no signs of poor craftsmanship. It doesn’t creak or rattle when you apply force to its case. It’s not easily scratched or marked. the buttons and ports are well laid out, comfortable and easy to access, regardless of how you hold it. the screen doesn’t handle fingerprints any worse than the iPad. although it’s a little reflective, the Nexus 7′s display performs no worse in direct sunlight than most other tablets.

We particularly love the soft feeling plastic on the back of the Nexus 7. the small indents printed all over the rear make it look and feel a little like leather. More important than looks, the material makes the Nexus 7 very comfortable to hold. This is a tablet that’s easy to use single-handedly without the risk of it slipping out of your hands. further, its light weight makes it a perfect device for reading books and the smaller form factor means it can fit in places where bigger tablets can’t, such as the inside pocket of your suit jacket, or in a ladies handbag.

The Nexus 7 has a 7in LCD display with a resolution of 1280×800, which is quite impressive for its size. despite the difference in size and price, the screen is going to be compared with the iPad. It stacks up relatively well, but the display of the Nexus 7 lacks the true clarity of the iPad when it comes to super fine text. It has a pixel density of 216 pixels per inch (ppi) which leaves it behind the iPad (264ppi) but ahead of most other Android tablets on the market.

However, the Nexus 7 doesn’t display blacks as well as many rival displays, even though its viewing angles are good. It lacks the true colour vibrancy of super AMOLED screens, like the one used on the Toshiba Tablet AT270, for example. however, these imperfections are easy to overlook when you take into account the low asking price.

There will be an ongoing debate between the validity of 7in tablets versus larger 10in tablets. in our opinion, however, the Nexus 7 is near perfect for portability. It’s a great size for reading books and magazines, playing games and browsing the Web. For more productive tasks, like editing documents, or taking long sets of notes, you’ll likely prefer a larger screened tablet.

Software and performance

The Nexus 7 is one of the the first devices to run the Google’s new version of the Android OS, 4.1 Jelly Bean. the Jelly Bean 4.1 platform is a minor upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, hence the version number jumping from 4.0 to 4.1, rather than leaping up to 5.0.

The main feature of Android Jelly Bean is what Google calls “Project Butter”, which centres around making the software smoother, faster and fluid. the company claims using Jelly Bean feels a lot smoother than previous versions of the platform and we have to agree. This is by far the best version of Android yet. using it on a day-to-day basis is smooth, intuitive and fast. there is no sign of any evident lag during everyday tasks. Home screens are butter smooth to swipe through, even with multiple widgets on the screens. Apps open quickly, with no delay. the default browser, Google Chrome, is fast, renders pages efficiently and offers good performance.

Games, too, run effortlessly and we didn’t experience any performance issues during testing. the Nexus 7 handled graphically intense titles like Shadowgun, FIFA 12, Dungeon Hunter 3 and Dead Trigger with relative ease.

Jelly Bean has a similar look and feel to the previous Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, but Google has made some tweaks and added plenty of new features. the notification centre has been revamped, now showing more information if you swipe down with two fingers. you can also action various notifications, like snoozing a calendar reminder or sharing a screenshot, without having to leave the notifications window. the notifications screen can get cluttered though, and for this reason we would have liked the option to not expand notifications by default. we also found the two finger swipe a little fiddly to action.

An improved keyboard that offers shortcuts, a new transition screen when switching between apps, a new actions menu to open apps and the ability to auto-organise widgets or app shortcuts when adding new widgets are other notable usability improvements. the widget implementation is a small but much appreciated feature, while the ability to create keyboard shortcuts is a long requested default feature.

A big advantage of opting for the Nexus 7 over rival Android tablets is software updates. Regardless of what model Nexus 7 you own, you’ll always receive the updates as soon as Google makes them available. other Android tablets, like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.7, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime and Toshiba’s Tablet AT270, for example, are currently stuck on older software versions of Android. Some of these models may not ever see the latest Android updates and if they do, it will be months after the Nexus 7.

The most significant feature of Jelly Bean, however, is Google now. It’s best described as a contextual aware assistant. Swipe up from the home button or the lock screen to open it and it will present you with a range of “cards” that display relevant information. Google now uses voice recognition to answer queries and questions, reads back responses like Apple’s Siri service and provides information to you in these cards based on your location and your Google search history.

It will quickly work out where you live and where you work, providing a constant weather forecast in each of these locations. When you have a meeting saved in your calendar, it will notify you when you should leave to get there based on your location and using Google Maps to navigate there. It will show traffic along these routes. if you’ve just searched for pizza restaurants in North Sydney, the next time you open Google now it will present you with a list of nearby pizza places in this location. Google says the service will naturally improve over time as it learns your daily locations and search habits.

In our experience, Google now is far from perfect, but definitely interesting. Sadly, not all of its features, such as displaying flights, sports results and public transport currently work in Australia which is a disappointment.

What also lacks in Australia is Google’s multimedia content. Where US users can purchase magazines, books, music, TV shows and movies in the Play Store, Aussies can only buy books and rent movies. there are plenty of other ways to load content on the Nexus 7 but the lack of options in the Australian Play Store is a black mark on a device specifically designed for consuming Google content.

Battery life and other features

The Google Nexus 7 isn’t a perfect device. the home screen won’t rotate into landscape mode, even though many Android apps will. Google seems intent on encouraging users to hold the tablet in portrait mode, except when viewing multimedia content. while the natural tendency is to hold the Nexus 7 this way, we would have appreciated a bit of flexibility.

There’s no rear facing camera to take photos on the Nexus 7, and the front-facing camera for video calls is of very poor quality. It works in apps like Skype and Tango Video Calls but the quality is best described as lacklustre. There’s a very handy app in the Play Store called Camera Launcher for Nexus 7 that allows you to use the front camera to take photos, but again, the quality is extremely poor.

There also remains an issue with many Android apps. many apps haven’t been designed specifically for tablet use. This means they won’t work as well as they should on the Nexus 7. Some don’t work at all. there are examples both ways. the excellent Flipboard media aggregator, the Pulse Reader app, Pocket and Evernote all work fantastically well on the Nexus 7. on the other hand, the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Spotify work, but there are instances where it is painfully obvious these apps were designed for a smartphone rather than a tablet. Spotify, for example, does not rotate into landscape mode, a hugely annoying oversight.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the Google Nexus 7 is a lack of expandable memory. the tablet comes in either 8GB or 16GB models with no expansion option, a disappointment for those who may have wanted to store vast amounts of media content on the device. Curiously, it isn’t the first time Google has relied on internal memory only for its Nexus devices — the Google-branded but Samsung-built Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus smartphones both lacked removable storage. There’s also no 3G/4G connectivity option, so the Nexus 7 is a Wi-Fi only tablet.

Google says the Nexus 7′s battery will last up to nine hours for HD video playback and will offer 300 hours of standby time, though the specifications page quotes eight hours of “active use”. we found battery life a little disappointing in real world use, as we were often forced to charge our review unit on a nightly basis. Battery performance will obviously depend on your usage pattern, but if you’re using the Nexus 7 constantly it does tend to suck up a lot of battery power.

The Google Nexus 7 is available to pre-order in Australia through the Google Play store. It is priced at $249 for the 8GB version and $299 for the larger capacity 16GB model, plus delivery charges of around $20.

The Nexus 7 is also sold in Australia through various major retailers including Harvey Norman, JB hi Fi, Dick Smith, Bing Lee, the good Guys, Retravision, Radio Rentals, Officeworks, EB Games, Costco, BSR and other authorised resellers.

Review: Google Nexus 7

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Jul 22

Toshiba Tablet AT270 Android tablet

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A great design and a gorgeous touch of Super AMOLED

On paper, the Toshiba Tablet AT270 (called the Excite 7 in other markets) seems like a prime competitor to the Google Nexus 7. It’s a much thinner device (7.85mm) compared to the Nexus 7 (10.5mm) and it’s also one of the best designed tablets we’ve reviewed for some time. we particularly love the grippy, aluminium panel on the back. This surface makes the AT270 comfortable to hold and the metallic silver finish contrasts nicely with the glossy back front.

Toshiba deserves plenty of credit for the build quality of the Tablet AT270. the plastic body doesn’t creak or rattle, even when you apply some force to the back case. the rounded edges are smooth and don’t dig into your fingers regardless of how you hold and use the device. Weighing just 350g, the Toshiba Tablet AT270 provides excellent ergonomics for single-handed use.

The Toshiba Tablet AT270 is well designed and has excellent ergonomics

Despite the thin body, Toshiba has included plenty of ports on the Tablet AT270. On the right you’ll find a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro-USB port for connecting to a computer and a microSD card slot. the power, screen rotation lock key and volume controls on the top all provide good tactility and are comfortable to press, even if they aren’t raised much. On the bottom there’s two speakers which flank Toshiba’s rather enormous proprietary dock connector that charges the device. the connector looks ridiculously large when connected as it’s thicker than the tablet itself, perhaps the only blight on an otherwise excellent design.

The Toshiba Tablet AT270 is just 7.85mm thin. It’s also very light.

The Toshiba Tablet AT270′s design is complemented by an outstanding screen, a 7.7in super AMOLED Plus panel with an impressive resolution of 1280×800. the display is responsive, has excellent brightness, vivid colour reproduction and is very bright. the 1280×800 resolution may not sound all that special on paper, but when you consider this is the same number of pixels used in most 10in Android tablets, the overall result is an impressively sharp and crisp image. Text isn’t as sharp as Apple’s new iPad, but it’s not vastly inferior, either. a pixel density rating of 196ppi (pixels per inch) leaves the AT270 slightly behind the Nexus 7 (216ppi) but the screen is 0.7in larger in diameter.

A vanilla slice of Ice Cream Sandwich

The Toshiba Tablet AT270 runs an almost completely stock version of Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich Android OS. the user interface is almost entirely void of any software customisation by Toshiba, aside from some video and audio enhancements that don’t add much to the overall package.

There are a wealth of included apps that otherwise normally wouldn’t come with Ice Cream Sandwich. these include Amazon Kindle, the ThinkFree Office Suite, a File Manager, the rather useless WildTangent Games app store, Norton Security, the PrinterShare app, Toshiba’s Service Station app for software updates, the Skitch drawing app, a sound recorder, the Splashtop remote desktop app and the TuneWiki social media player.

Toshiba pre-loads plenty of apps on the Tablet AT270, though most are underwhelming.

Most of these are underwhelming apps that will quickly be uninstalled, though Toshiba’s Media Player is definitely worth a second look. in addition to acting as a player for video and music files, the app also allows you to stream content including photos, podcasts and other files to compatible DLNA devices like televisions. There’s also a link in the menu to the AT270′s online users manual, which negates the need for a printed manual in the box.

The default ICS software runs largely without issues on the Tablet AT270. Performance is impressive and the only real issues are the same ones we’ve experienced on almost all Android tablets — the browser often lags when scrolling or zooming in on pages, especially image-heavy sites, the screen takes too long to rotate when you change the orientation and there aren’t enough Android apps optimised for a tablet. a good example is the Spotify app, which ridiculously only works in portrait mode because it was designed to be used on a smartphone and not a tablet. However, none of these issues can solely attributed to the AT270 itself and are merely a problem of the Android platform as a whole.

The browser does occasionally lag, but general performance is excellent.

What can be attributed to the Toshiba Tablet AT270 is the fact it excels at gaming, particularly as its small size makes it comfortable to hold for long periods. Graphic intensive titles like FLCommando, GTA III and Shadowgun play with ease. we didn’t experience any lag while playing these titles and both the graphics and frame rates are impressive. It’s clear the AT270′s powerful 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM work overtime to deliver these excellent graphics. the result is a good example of what powerful Android tablets are capable of.

Terrible cameras but loud speakers

We generally have little time for rear cameras on tablets. Google seems to agree, as it ditched a rear camera completely on the Nexus 7. Toshiba may as well have done the same as it has equipped the Tablet AT270 with one of the worst cameras we’ve seen yet. Almost all of the photos we captured with the AT270 suffered from a lack of focus, lots of image noise and a complete lack of detail. As much as it may sound absurd, the 5-megapixel rear camera hardly takes better quality images than the front-facing 2-megapixel camera. all in all, don’t bother taking pictures or recording video with the Tablet AT270.

As the above image shows, the cameras on the Toshiba Tablet AT270 are best described as abysmal.

Toshiba includes a software based SRS sound enhancer on the Tablet AT270 but it doesn’t have too much of an effect on the speakers, which lack volume and sound muddled. There’s a wide range of audio settings available to tweak including wide surround, volume boost, voice clarity enhancement and an automatic volume adjustment but all are best suited to listening through headphones rather than the speakers.

Two other features of the Toshiba Tablet AT270 make it well worth considering. the 16GB of internal memory can be expanded with a microSD card slot, making it far more flexible than the Nexus 7. the Toshiba Tablet AT270 also boasts impressive battery life, lasting for almost 9 hours during our tests. the lack of 3G connectivity obviously helps it preserve precious juice, but it’s clear the AT270 should easily get you through two days of use.

All in all, the Toshiba Tablet AT270 is a very good Android tablet, but it’s ridiculously overpriced when you start looking at competing models, particularly Google’s excellent-value Nexus 7. the AT270 may have a rear-facing camera and removable storage, both lacking on the Nexus 7, but neither feature is worth such an extra outlay.

The Toshiba Tablet AT270 is available now through major Australian retailers for $539.

• Toshiba outs 13.3in Android tablet • Toshiba Tablet AT330 preview • Toshiba Tablet AT200 review • Toshiba Tablet AT100 review

Toshiba Tablet AT270 Android tablet

Jul 11

Acer Aspire 5600U All-in-One PC Specs Revealed

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Remember, Acer announced a couple of new all-in-one PCs last month? The company has now released the full specifications of one of the two –  the Acer Aspire 5600U. The device comes with a choice of Intel’s latest core i3 and core i5 processors.

The new Acer Aspire 5600 U has a 23 inch full HD touch screen display, featuring a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. There is also NVIDIA GeForce GT630M graphics card that provided premium multimedia experience. The Acer Aspire 5600 U also comes with a maximum of 8GB DDR3 RAM.

It also offers advanced 10 point touch technologies which ensure a smooth and highly responsive multi-touch experience. The desktop can recline to an angle of 60 degree, and hence the touch capability is enhanced largely.

Added to this, the improved gesture recognition system offers better functionality and delivers a faster and more intuitive experience.

Further, the Acer Aspire 5600 U includes two USB 3.0 ports and three USB 2.0 ports. There is a multi format card reader HDMI and a TV tuner called “Acer Instant on” makes the Acer Aspire 5600U competitive to traditional TV turn-on timing.

It also comes with Ethernet and WiFi.The Blu-ray Disc optical drive (optional), which is multi-in-one card reader and the TV-tuner complete the stunning entertainment experience, brining together all aspects of your digital life, from movies to games, from TV to pictures.

How much the new PC would price is not yet revealed by Acer, but we will soon find it out.

Acer Aspire 5600U All-in-One PC Specs Revealed

Jul 08

Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Review – Watch ...

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The ultrabook revolution of 2011 has become a deluge in 2012, which means one thing: lower prices. if you were hunting for a reasonably thin Windows laptop with good battery life at a reasonable cost, you couldn’t have picked a better time. the Lenovo IdeaPad U310 is a perfect example: it’s an update of sorts to the IdeaPad U300s, one of the first Windows ultrabooks we reviewed last fall that carried a MacBook Air-like $1,195 price tag. this time, the cost is a mere $799 — but, with some compromises made along the way.

The IdeaPad U310 is a different machine: it’s got a significantly heavier and thicker chassis and a standard magnetic platter-type mechanical hard drive instead of a solid-state drive (SSD). However, its internal specs are very good, with a third-gen 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and all the ports you’d need (Ethernet, USB 3.0, SD card reader, HDMI). It’s still an ultrabook by definition, but not quite as sleek a product.

It’s a pretty similar package to what the identically priced Sony Vaio T offers, although the Vaio T is lighter and has a better battery life. It’s also similar to what the new Dell Inspiron 14z offers, although the Inspiron 14z also has dedicated AMD graphics.

(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)

So, where does that leave the IdeaPad U310? It’s not a bad deal for what’s under the hood, but the U310 doesn’t feel as surprising as last year’s U300s. nor is it. It’s really the smaller cousin of the IdeaPad U400: a MacBook-like Lenovo laptop with a good keyboard, a solid set of features, and a pleasing design that could make an excellent back-to-school computer. Students should look into the IdeaPad U310, especially if it’s on sale. you might want to comparison-shop the growing landscape of affordable ultrabook-alikes at the time of purchase and see if you can do better, but the bottom line is this: be happy. Ultrabooks have larger hard drives (without SSD), and are cheaper than ever. That’s a good thing.

Price as reviewed $799 Processor 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U Memory 4GB, 1,333MHz DDR3 Hard drive 500GB 5,400 HDD Chipset Intel HM77 Graphics Intel HD 4000 Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Dimensions (WD) 13.1×8.8 inches Height 0.7 inch Screen size (diagonal) 13.3 inches System weight / Weight with AC adapter 3.68 pounds / 4.2 pounds Category ultrabook

At 0.7 inch thick and 3.68 pounds, the IdeaPad U310 is thin and light, but not quite as thin and light as other 13-inch ultrabooks. It’s somewhere between “normal” 13-inch laptop and ultrabook, and feels more like the former. It’s heavier than the Sony Vaio T ultrabook, and lighter than the new Dell Inspiron 14z.

Unlike the sleek, black IdeaPad U300s, the U310 is both whitish and candy-colored. its larger cousin that it looks the most like is the IdeaPad U400, a machine that was closer in size and function to a 13-inch MacBook Pro. the U310 is more backpack- and small-bag-friendly, but also ditches the slot-loading DVD drive in the process.

(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)

You’d better get used to hearing, “Hey, you’ve got a new white MacBook!” because you’re going to hear it a lot at coffee shops. the IdeaPad U310 is MacBook-like, and there’s no way around it. Sure, the outer wraparound Aqua Blue aluminum on the lid and underside (also available in Graphite Gray and Cherry Blossom Pink) is distinctive, but open the lid and the white surfaces, black raised keyboard, and large touch pad — even the bezel around the screen and keyboard — practically scream “MacBookalike.” the anodized, colored-aluminum exterior sandwiches the slightly off-white plastic interior when closed, giving the laptop a two-tone look and a booklike profile.

It’s a comfortable laptop to use, too: the palm rest is spacious, the multitouch clickpad gigantic, and the keyboard nearly as excellent as most Lenovo keyboards.

Why nearly? because the keyboard’s not backlit, and the keys themselves have an ever-so-slightly lower-quality feel compared with the high bar of ThinkPads. It’s still good, but I found keys not registering every once in a blue moon, and the column of keys on the right side makes the Backspace key very hard to locate by touch. to make matters worse, the keyboard exhibited some flex on our review model. at least the function keys are reversed (the media-control buttons for volume and screen brightness work without the Fn key held down).

(Credit:Sarah Tew/CNET)

The very large touch pad is the same size as that on a MacBook, but not as good. Pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling are less instantly responsive and more prone to jumpiness. Chalk that up less to Lenovo than to Windows 7.

The audiovisual experience on the IdeaPad U310 is similarly adequate but not outstanding. a glossy 13.3-inch screen has an utterly normal 1,366×768-pixel resolution, but is prone to screen glare. the screen isn’t all that bright at its highest setting, and off-axis viewing angles are poor. It’s fine for a budget computer. the stereo speakers are louder than you’d expect from an ultrabook, but sounded hollow and flat when playing back music or movie trailers.

On the other hand, the included 720p Webcam looked sharp via the preinstalled Cybervision YouCam software.

Lenovo IdeaPad U310 Review – Watch CNET’s Video & Read Our Review

Jun 28

Dell XPS 13

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By Gabey Goh The Star/Asia News Network Monday, Jun 25, 2012

I have to admit, when I first set eyes on Dell’s XPS 13 Ultrabook – yes it’s still Ultrabook season – I really, really liked it.

This sleek-looking model sports a brushed metal lid with the Dell logo its only ­embellishment, and an aluminium rim with a translucent layer of rubber covering its ­carbon-fibre shell.

When closed, the tapered form factor is 6mm at its thinnest and 18mm at its thickest, making this a very slim and compact piece of hardware.

At 1.36kg, it’s slightly heavier than one would expect for a 13in Ultrabook but the heft won’t be debilitating for any (relatively) healthy human being.

Feature-packed

The coolest part about the XPS 13 is the ­curious metal flap located right smack in the middle of the Ultrabook’s base. some ­newfangled feature? An additional slew of ports? Nope.

Flip it open and your eyes will be ­feasting on a host of familiar (and ugly) ­specification and verification stickers that have been a long standing feature of any Windows ­notebook.

Dell gets major points for being ­stubborn enough about not having those needed ­stickers spoiling their design vision, but I’m also deducting some points for making me think they had some crazy cool feature hidden beneath that flap.

Speaking of ports, it’s a pretty slim but ­serviceable selection as one would expect from the lightweight and thin category of machines and the XPS 13 offers a 3.5mm headset jack, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port and a mini DisplayPort.

There is no SD card reader on this model so for those who rely on them, you’ll need an external reader. Open the XPS 13 up (you’ll need to exert a bit of effort as the hinge is a little tight) and you’ll find a 13.3in edge-to-edge Gorilla Glass covered HD display (1,366 x 768-pixels) and a 1.3megapixel webcam.

You’ll also see the standard full-size, spill-resistant keyboard and touchpad with gesture support. The keyboard, with its backlit and decently sized keys had some spring to it when typing which had to be my single most favourite feature.

My eyes welcomed the presence of those backlit keys and it remains a pity that more models in the market don’t offer it.

On the flip side though, I almost cried when trying to use the touchpad as it was unresponsive for the most part and usually takes multiple attempts just to get the cursor moving.

I lasted about three days before I just gave up and dug out a portable mouse to bypass using the touchpad, which is unfortunate as the surface actually feels really good.

After which, my relationship with the XPS 13 improved significantly, especially since due to the timing of the review unit’s arrival, I had the opportunity to throw Diablo III at it (but more on that later).

Running on Windows 7 and powered by a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor (Dell also offers a Core i7 variant), with 4GB RAM and SSD (solid state drive) with up to 256GB of space, the XPS 13 also houses an Intel HD 3000 graphics chip.

In terms of bundled software, the XPS 13 comes with Adobe Reader X and the usual slate of Microsoft products such as Microsoft Office Starter and Windows Live Essentials Wave 4.

Dell throws in its DataSafe for cloud-based storage backup and Stage, which syncs and delivers photos, music, videos, social media via the Internet and first appeared on its Streak tablet.

True to its category definition, the quick boot on this machine was pretty fast at about 15 seconds and from Sleep mode, just a ­couple of seconds which is great for impatient types such as myself.

In terms of battery life, it managed to last just over half a day with sporadic usage and about five hours with continuous usage, WiFi switched on and screen brightness set to almost maximum.

Dell XPS 13

Jun 24

Acer’s 1080p Android tablet up for preorder ...

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The Acer Iconia Tab A700 is one of the first Andorid tablets to feature a 1080p HD display. Actually, with a 10.1 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel screen, it kind of has a 1200p display, but the bottom few pixels will be occupied by the Android status bar most of the time.

Acer introduced the tablet six months ago at CES, but now it’s finally up for pre-order, for a rather reasonable sounding $449.99. It’s expected to start shipping by the end of June.

The Iconia Tab A700 features a 1.3 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of built-in storage, and a microSDHC card slot for extra space. It runs Google Android 4.0.

Acer says the tablet should get up to 13 hours of battery life, depending on how you use it.

Ports include a micro HDMI output, micro USB port, and headset jack.

It can handle 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1, features an HD front-facing camera for video chat and a 5MP rear camera with auto-focus for snapping photos.

The Acer Iconia Tab A700 measures 10.2″ x 6.9″ x 0.4″ and weighs about 1.5 pounds. It’s available in black and silver.

Acer isn’t the first company to ship a tablet with a high resolution display. Apple’s latest iPad has a 9.7 inch “retina” display with 2048 x 1536 pixels. In other words, it’s even sharper than the A700 screen, but I bet you’d have a hard time seeing the difference unless you pressed your nose against the glass screen.

Apple’s tablet also has a higher starting price of $499 for a 16GB model, making Acer’s 32GB tablet $50 cheaper.

Acer’s 1080p Android tablet up for preorder for $450 – Liliputing

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Jun 23

ViewSonic ViewPad E100 Android 4.0 ICS Tablet ...

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ViewSonic has just released a new device for it’s of Android 4.0 tablets; the ViewPad E100. this Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet sports a 9.7-inch SuperClear IPS multi-touch capacitive display with 1024 x 768 resolutions. more details after the jump.

Aside from the aforementioned features and specs above, the ViewSonic ViewPad E100 also geared with standard mobile features such as WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI output, Mini USB, and Micro SD ports. It is also geared with a 1.3 Megapixel front facing camera for voice over IP video calling via Skype, Google Talk, and more. The device is powered by a 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. Additionally, the device also comes with ViewScene 3D UI offering special animations and effects and custom 3D widgets.

The ViewSonic ViewPad E100 is available for $299.

ViewSonic ViewPad E100 Android 4.0 ICS Tablet Available for $299

Jun 16

Acer C120 LED DLP Projector Review

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Small and simple, the Acer C120 LED DLP projector is a no-frills device that, while lacking some of the features of its competition, costs half as much. This projector, which can be found for as little as $229 at Amazon, can be powered by USB alone and has the barest of controls. but sometimes that’s all you need.

Design

Click to EnlargeMeasuring 4.7 x 3.2 x 1 inches, the C120 is a bit smaller than other mini-projectors such as the ViewSonic PLED W200 (5.1 x 5 x 1.3 inches), and weighs just 6.4 ounces, far lighter than the W200 (14.6 ounces). still, they’re both pretty small and will disappear inside a bag.

The C120 is an exercise in minimalism. the top is a glossy black plastic that’s a fingerprint magnet. the sides have a number of ridges running horizontally, and the bottom is a matte black. On the left side is a small focusing wheel, and the right has ports for USB 3.0 and power. That’s it. There’s no on/off button, no menu buttons, nothing. Some may like this less-is-more approach while others lament the lack of features.

One thing we wish Acer had included was an adjustable foot. All the C120 has is a small flip-out tab that barely elevates the image. however, given the absence of an anti-keystoning feature, you’ll want to keep the C120 level with whatever surface you’re projecting onto, anyway.

Setup

Unlike other portable projectors, the C120 uses USB 3.0, not a VGA port, to connect to a notebook. the projector comes with a USB y-cable, as it requires two USB ports next to each other, which could be an issue on some ultraportables. as soon as you plug it into your notebook, the C120 automatically installs the required software.

While this means the projector will take up two of your USB ports, it also means that it doesn’t require an external power source to work. however, one is provided. If you don’t use the external power supply–which is the same type used by Acer’s netbooks–the brightness is cut in half.

Interface

Unlike most other projectors, there’s no on-screen menu for the C120. That means there’s no anti-keystoning, or settings for brightness, contrast, and so forth. the only controls are within the taskbar on your computer, which lets you mirror or extend your display.

Performance

Like the ViewSonic W200 and ASUS P1, the Acer C120 uses a DLP LED, only it’s rated at 100 lumens, compared with 200 lumens for the other two.

When 6 feet from a wall, the C120 projected an image that was 49 inches diagonally, with an average brightness of 94 lux when using the external power supply. While smaller than the W200, which projected a 78-inch image from the same distance, it was marginally brighter, by about 4 lux. When we switched to USB power, the C120 averaged just 45 lux.

Picture quality was quite good for something this size. While not as rich as the W200, the red Starfleet uniforms and the blackness of space in “Star Trek” showed up well when we played the movie through the C120. We noticed some lag when moving the mouse while playing an HD movie, but it was barely noticeable. the small focusing wheel on the side required a bit of finessing to make sure our image was sharp, though.

After 15 minutes, the top right corner of the C120 was 114 degrees Fahrenheit, and the bottom was 100 F. This despite the fact that the fan on the C120 whirred noticeably, even when we had music playing.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeYes, the Acer C120 may lack a number of features found in other mini-projectors such as the ViewSonic PLED W200 and the ASUS P1, but it’s just as portable and, at $229, costs half as much. If all you need is something small and light for PowerPoint presentations, the C120 should fill the bill. just be aware of its limitations.

Acer C120 LED DLP Projector Review