Review of Asus Eee PC 1000HE part 1

Full review of Asus Eee PC 1000HE

Asus started the netbook craze with its tiny, 7-inch Eee PC. Shortly thereafter, every notebook manufacturer except Apple produced at least one tiny and inexpensive laptop just like it. Nowadays, netbooks are not that tiny anymore - little by little they have increased in size from 7" via 9" and now the standard screen size of a netbook is 10 inches. Even a couple of 12-inch models have been released.
Hardware

What they all have in common is the hardware - with a few deviations it consists of an Intel Atom CPU at 1.6GHz, 1GB or RAM, a 160GB hard drive and integrated GMA950 graphics. The Eee PC, however, has been upgraded with an ever so slightly faster 1.66GHz Atom processor and a higher 667MHz FSB speed instead of earlier models which had 533MHz.

The speed increase is not big enough to be noticeable, but you might feel better purchasing an upgraded model. Asus' main selling point with the 1000HE is the battery life. According to the manufacturer, you should be able to keep it alive for 9.5 hours without resorting to an outlet. To achieve this formidable battery life, you need to use aggressive power-saving schemes, no Wi-Fi and turn the brightness all the way down. In our general usage test it still delivered more than 7 hours, which is still more than acceptable.
Design

As far as the design goes, the Eee PC 1000 HE stays with the concept we've seen in previous Eee netbooks. The keyboard is almost full size (92%) and the trackpad buttons are slightly tilted in the front. The entire casing of the netbook is glossy, which enhances the overall look but also attracts fingerprints easily.

On the whole, the design of the 1000HE focuses on usability; it's not spectacularly thin like some of its siblings, such as Asus S101 netbook, but it certainly gets the job done with flying colors. Besides, keeping the design simple also helps keep the price to a minimum, which is often the deciding factor for a netbook buyer.

source : http://www.laptopical.com/asus-eee-pc-1000he.html

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 7417 - Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz - 14.1" TFT review 2

Features

Included Network Card: Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps)|Wireless Ethernet - 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b|Wireless Ethernet - 54 Mbps IEEE802.11a|Wireless Ethernet - 54 Mbps IEEE802.11g|Wireless Ethernet - 540 Mbps IEEE802.11n
Included Devices: Fingerprint Reader|Modem|ThinkLight
Battery Life: 4.3 hour(s)
Energy Star Compliant: Yes
Software
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Business
Dimensions
Height: 1.26 in
Width: 13.2 in
Depth: 9.4 in
Weight: 4.85 lbs
Warranty
Warranty Information: 1 Year Limited Warranty
More Info
URL: URL
General
normalized-Cache Size: 3
normalized-Display Size: 14.1
normalized-Installed Memory: 2000

Learn more :Lenovo 7417-TPU ThinkPad T400 14.1" Notebook



source : http://www.notebookreview.com/price/product.asp?productFamilyID=1196

Lenovo ThinkPad T400 7417 - Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26 GHz - 14.1" TFT review

Description
The ThinkPad T400 features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 14.1" LED-backlight widescreen, up to 8GB of PC2-8500 and integrated Intel X4500 or ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470.

Quick Specs
Intel Core 2 Duo (2.26 GHz), 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 4.6 lbs, 14.1 in TFT active matrix, Microsoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional downgrade



Detailed Specs

Detailed Specs

Processor
Processor Class: Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Cache Size: 3 MB
Bus Speed: 1066 MHz

Memory

Installed Memory: 2 GB
Maximum Memory: 8 GB
Memory Technology: DDR2

System

Input Devices: Keyboard|TrackPoint|UltraNav
Interface Connection: Audio - Line In (1/8" Mini)|Audio - Line Out (1/8" Mini)|Bluetooth|Ethernet - RJ45 Twisted-Pair (XBaseT)|FireWire 400/IEEE 1394 - 4 pin|Port Replicator/Docking Station|Serial - RJ11 Modular (Phone/Telco)|USB - Universal Serial Bus 2.0|Video - 15 pin High-Density D-shell (VGA)
Slots: Express Card 34|Express Card 54

Display

Display Size: 14.1 in
Aspect Ratio: 16:10
Display Type: LCD Display w/ LED Backlight
Max Resolution: 1280 x 800
Video Chipset: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 MHD

Storage

Included Drives: DVD+-RW DL
Hard Drive Capacity: 160 GB
Number of Storage Drives Included:


source : http://www.notebookreview.com/price/product.asp?productFamilyID=1196

Samsung P3 part 3 review

by Tom Gideon

The haptic feedback adds little more than charm. A little vibration occurs every time you press an onscreen button. I suppose this is to alert you that you've successfully pressed it, but shouldn't you know you have because the screen changes? I think it was included for the same reason Sleep Cat was: It's kind of fun. The goofiest—and worst-named—use of the feedback is a feature called "VibeWoofer," which makes the player vibrate to the beat of whatever song you are listening to. (Insert dirty joke here.)

Samsung estimates the battery life for the P3 at an admirable 40 hours for audio and 6 hours for video. Our own battery-rundown test yielded 28 hours 27 minutes of audio—still respectable, but not quite 40 hours.

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Samsung is one of my favorite PMP manufacturers because, like Apple, it sticks with the formula that works: Make a good-looking, simple user interface and wrap it in a case with a slick design. Although the nice looks remain, the new interface lacks the simplicity found in previous Samsung iterations like the YP-T10's, and the screen's sensitivity issues are annoying. Basically, Samsung is making the same mistake competitors like Cowon have made in trying to beat Apple by emulating its designs. But a touch screen alone isn't enough to make a device exciting, and although the P3 is generally solid, its flaws and omissions (no accelerometer, no Wi-Fi) make justifying its prices difficult for me. As it is, the Samsung P3 is somewhere between an iPod touch and an iPod nano in ability, but without the grace of either.

source : http://www.pcmag.com

Samsung P3 part 2 review

by Tim Gideon

File support is, as usual for Samsung, strong for audio and weaker for photos and video. The P3 plays MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, WAV, and ASF audio files. Video support is limited to WMV9, MPEG-4, and H.264; for any other file you want to watch, you'll need to convert with the aforementioned software, which is easy to do but can be time-consuming for longer files. Only JPEG, BMP, and PNG files are supported for photos.

Samsung players are consistently strong at playing back music. Like Sony, Samsung knows how to make an EQ that both looks cool and responds as it should to user adjustments. But because the screen buttons are slow to respond, navigating to the music menu and playing a song is slower than on the iPod touch, even though both processes involve about the same number of steps. The Now Playing screen has several different animated graphics to choose from; my favorite, the "Spectrum," shows EQ bands pulsating to the music, like an eighties-era stereo system. Another cool feature in the music menu is the "horizontal stroke" option, which lets you skip a certain time interval in a given song when you swipe your finger across the screen. Alas, there's nothing here like Apple's Cover Flow that truly utilizes the touch screen's capabilities, and there's not even an accelerometer to switch the screen to horizontal mode when you rotate the player—something you find on other touch competitors, like the Cowon S9. (Accelerometer aside, the S9 is inferior to the P3 in just about every respect.)

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Video is a pleasure to watch. Sure, the P3's screen's resolution is slightly lower than the touch's (480 by 320 pixels), but because the P3's screen is half an inch smaller, images end up looking just as crisp. All files automatically switch to a horizontal orientation on the screen, and, as with music, playback controls appear when you select a file and tap the display.

For a player with no Internet access, the P3 still has plenty of features, even if they're not all mind-blowing. Among them: an FM radio with 30 presets and a recorder, a voice recorder, and Samsung's usual Bluetooth pairing options. (Want to answer your cell-phone calls through your player? Simply pair the two and you're set.) The included games are incredibly simple—one involves popping virtual bubble wrap by tapping on the screen—and not always consistent given the screen's fickle response to fingers. The widget collection is extensive, if a little underwhelming: a short-term alarm called Sleep Cat makes an animated kitten meow when your alarm sounds, there's a detailed virtual map of every major subway system in the world, plus an international clock, a calculator, an address book, and a memo pad. These extras pale compared with most of the free apps you can load onto an iPod touch, but they do add value to the P3.

source : http://www.pcmag.com

Samsung P3

by Tim Gideon

Samsung's P3 is a touch-screen player with an icon-based menu. Sound familiar? At $149.99 (8GB), $249.99 (16GB), and $299.99 (32GB), Samsung is clearly taking aim at the more-expensive iPod touch. The preloaded software, excellent FM tuner, and haptic feedback are steps in the right direction. But the P3, an update to 2007's P2, lacks Internet access and an accelerometer, making the touchy touch screen feel like a gimmick—and the player seem overpriced.

Measuring 4 by 2.1 by 0.4 inches (HWD), weighing 3.3 ounces, and sporting a 3-inch 480-by-272-pixel touch screen, the P3 has both a smaller frame and display than the iPod touch. A reset pinhole doubles as the microphone, which is found on the bottom panel with the proprietary-to-USB connection and the headphone jack. The top panel houses the Power/Hold button, volume controls, and a built-in speaker. The rest of the controls are internal, operated via the touch screen. Samsung's included earbuds are pretty weak—as usual, we suggest upgrading to something like the Shure SE115, or, for lovers of low frequencies, the Radius Atomic Bass. Also included with the P3: a connection cable for syncing with (and charging from) your PC, and a CD containing EmoDio, Samsung's music- and video-management and video-conversion software. The conversion software is pretty straightforward, but for managing your files, I'd stick with Windows Media Player.



Media players should be easy to use, but the P3 is not especially intuitive. It's easy to navigate to a menu from the main screen, but because the virtual "Home" button is hidden under a flip-up menu (usually at the top of the screen), getting back to where you started can be tricky. The screen is also somewhat insensitive, generally needing several taps to select an option, and it's quite easy to select the wrong one. It's a shame, because Samsung has clearly poured some hard work into the interface's graphics. The main menu is a little cluttered, but it can be customized with various wallpapers. But no matter how nice the graphics are, navigating the device is a generally slow process, and this is bound to annoy all but the extremely patient.

source : http://www.pcmag.com

iPhone 3G review part 3

by Ryan Block

All our tests were conducted with 3G on, WiFi on (not connected), Bluetooth off, no data fetching enabled (unless specified otherwise). Media tested with stock headphones, medium volume, and medium screen brightness, auto-brightness disabled.

* Music (continuous playback, large library, occasionally turning on screen): 31h 23m
* Video (continuous playback, no push/fetch data): 7h 5m
* Video (continuous playback, with push and 15 minute fetch data): 5h 24m
* Daily data use (browsing, email, and GPS / maps): ~6h 30m

Those numbers definitely are not bad, but if you're anything like us and you kill time on your phone reading feeds and checking email like a fiend, by 3 or 4pm you'll likely be wondering if you'll even make it home with any power left -- especially if you leave on the 3G data. So be warned, because the kind of prolonged usage you used to get away with on the original iPhone probably isn't possible with the iPhone 3G. For some, this may be an issue. Others may never notice.

There have been a number of other fixes to better the device as well. For example, the phone now has two proximity sensors to better detect when it's held to your ear. We also found that while the camera was essentially identical, we were getting images that were ever so slightly sharper and crisper than the original iPhone on 1.1.4 (check it out below). Still, knowing that HTC's Touch Diamond -- which features a 3.2 megapixel sensor and mechanical autofocus -- could pack such a great camera in an even smaller form factor than the iPhone's left us pining for something a bit more than the same 2 megapixels from the first time around.
Gallery: iPhone 3G review - camera test

What we're probably the most excited about, though, is that two of our biggest hardware-related gripes from the original device have finally been addressed: first, the headphone jack is now flush, which means any standard (3.5mm) headphones will work in the iPhone without the need for an adapter. The new jack has a solid, confidence-inspiring feel that won't leave you worrying about damaging the device or your headphones. To this day we still have no clue why Apple pushed the jack in -- it was kind of funny hearing Steve pitch the flush jack as a feature at WWDC. It's the simple things, you know?

Second, the speaker volume has been jacked up significantly, giving your calls (or music) a much more workable volume level if you're not blessed with superhuman hearing. It's not the loudest speaker we've ever heard on a device, and unlike many Nokia Nseries phones, it's still mono. But it's definitely a step up compared to the first iPhone, which was not only quiet, but also seemed to distort at much lower volumes.



source : http://www.engadget.com/