Dell today introduced two new Vostro notebooks and two Vostro desktops for emerging markets. The new Vostros are aimed for small businesses, governments, and educational institutions.

The Vostro A680 features a 15.6-inch widescreen display, with processor choices including the Intel Celeron and Core 2 Duo. Ubuntu Linux and Windows Vista are offered as operating system choices.

The Vostro A640 features a 14.4-inch widescreen display with a WXGA (1280×800) resolution and anti-glare coating.

Dell Precision M2400, M4400 now available

Dell’s two latest Precision Mobile Workstations, the M2400 and M4400, are now available. Both notebooks are based on the latest Intel Centrino 2 mobile platform.

The M4400 has a 15.4-inch display with LED backlighting and WUXGA resolution options. Graphics horsepower is provided by the Nvidia Quadro FX 770M with 512MB of dedicated memory. It currently starts at $1,469.

The M2400 has a 14.1-inch display with LED options. The graphics card is the Nvidia Quadro FX 370M with 256MB of dedicated memory. It currently starts at $1,349.

Sager NP7680 User Review

The Sager NP7680 has been reviewed in the forums by member Corbs. It is based on the Intel Centrino 2 platform and has a 15.4-inch display. This value notebook is well worth a look for the ~$1,000 price range.

Space Station Laptops get Virus

A virus has infected several of the notebook computers used on the space station; NASA is calling them a ‘nuisance.’

Full Story (SpaceRef.com)
Via (Engadget.com)

Data from:notebookreview.com

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The Logitech V500 Nano is the newest compact cordless notebook mouse generating plenty of buzz among laptop users. The V550 uses the same “world’s smallest USB receiver” found on last year’s VX Nano, but the V550 brings something new to the table: the ability to clip directly to your notebook for easy travel.

Before we take a closer look at what the Logitech V550 Nano has to offer, below are the key features and specs for this cordless laser mouse:

• PC (Windows XP or Vista) and MAC compatible
• Cordless/storable USB 2.4 GHz receiver
• Left and Right hand usage
• MicroGear precision scroll wheel
• Laser technology
• Clip-and-Go dock
• Estimated 18-month battery life
• Low battery life warning
• 3-year warranty
• Price: $59.99

Design and Features

Although the V550 Nano is certainly a compact mouse, Logitech managed to keep the size and shape comfortable enough for everyday use. While some notebook travel mice are physically smaller than the V550, none of the smaller mice I’ve used are as comfortable under my hand.

The V550 isn’t as contoured as last year’s VX Nano, but the V550 is still comfortable to use for either right-handed or left-handed users. The MicroGear alloy scroll wheel allows for hyper-fast page scrolling. Beneath the scroll wheel is a one-touch search button for rapid Google searches.

Logitech includes a software CD so that you can adjust some settings on the V550 Nano, but the mouse is designed to be plug-and-play so you don’t need to install the software to use the basic features of the mouse. However, without the software you will be unable to customize the buttons.

Despite the compact size of the V550, the mouse is powered by two standard AA batteries rather than two AAA batteries which are typically found in smaller mice. The benefit of the larger batteries is improved estimated battery life. The old VX Nano has an estimate battery life of six months while the new V550 has an estimated battery life up to 18 months with average use.

While the V550 Nano mouse is certainly impressive in its own right, the real story is the Nano receiver and the Clip-and-Go dock. Calling this receiver small doesn’t do it justice. The tab on a can of soda is larger than this thing! When you first remove the Nano receiver from the packaging it hardly looks like a USB receiver at all. As pictured below, the receiver just looks like a USB plug with a tiny piece of black plastic on the end.

That said, don’t let the size fool you. I was able to control my Windows desktop using the V550 from across the room … so the reception range is still impressive.

Logitech includes a small metal case with two Clip-and-Go docks (one silver and one black) as well as a dock removal tool and two alcohol cleaning wipes. The Clip-and-Go dock is basically just a hard plastic tab with 3M tape on one side. You clean the surface of the notebook, peel the tape from the back of the Clip-and-Go dock, then apply it to your notebook. If you want to remove the Clip-and-Go dock all you have to do is put the removal tool around the tab and firmly twist in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise motion.

The 3M tape used on the back of the Clip-and-Go dock seems to firmly hold to the notebook, but I’m not sure how long the tape will stay secure after months and months of constantly clipping and unclipping the mouse.

Unlike many other Logitech travel mice, the V550 Nano doesn’t come with a travel case. Of course, there really is no need for a travel case since the V550 is designed to be clipped to your notebook when traveling.

Usage

Everyday notebook computing with the V550 was simple and less complicated than with other mice I’ve used. Rather than having to plug in the receiver every time I wanted to use the mouse I just left the receiver plugged into my notebook’s USB port. Leaving the receiver in the USB port isn’t an issue since the Nano receiver sticks out less than a quarter of an inch from the USB port.

I cannot overstate how impressive the receiver is. You never need to remove the receiver! Just leave it plugged into the notebook and remember to bring the mouse with you when you travel.

As for the V550, it turns itself off automatically when the mouse is connected to the Clip-and-Go dock and likewise turns itself on automatically when the mouse is removed from the dock. There is also a power button located on the base of the mouse in case you want to take manual control over the mouse’s on/off functions.

One minor annoyance I ran into while using the V550 was the durability of the plastics on the bottom of the mouse. Since the V550 is constantly clipped to the Clip-and-Go dock the bottom of the mouse is always rubbing against the hard plastic nipple on the the Clip-and-Go dock. Unfortunately, since the base of the mouse is made of softer plastic than the Clip-and-Go dock the bottom of mouse is scratched every single time you connect or remove the mouse from the dock.

As you can see from the image below, scratches are obvious to the naked eye even after just using the mouse for the first 24-hours.

Another minor issue I ran into while using the V550 is the durability of the silver paint on the top of the mouse. After sliding my notebook in and out of a laptop bag the silver paint started to pick up a few scratches. This isn’t a major problem … but it makes the brand new mouse look a bit old after about a week.

Conclusion

The Logitech V550 Nano packs impressive performance and convenience into a tiny mouse. Although there are smaller mouse designs on the market, none of the smaller mice have such a convenient way to store your mouse with the notebook.

Size does matter for notebook users. The V550 cordless mouse and receiver combo is easy to live with and works extremely well. While I would have liked some tougher plastics and paint, the V550 is an excellent mouse. As of this writing, I think it’s safe to say that Logitech has given us yet another great mouse for notebook users.

Pros

• “The world’s smallest USB receiver”
• Excellent scroll wheel
• Great laser sensitivity
• Glide feet help the mouse move smooth
• Auto-off feature when mouse is clipped to notebook
• Auto-on feature when mouse isremoved from notebook

Cons

• Plastic base of mouse is easily scratched
• Clip-and-Go dock seems to hold firm … but for how long?
• Silver paint is easily scratched
• More color options would be nice (black rather than silver or gray?)

data from:notebookreview.com

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Asus Eee PC 901 12GB specifications:

• Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor
• 12GB of Flash-based storage (4GB onboard SSD and 8GB PCI-E mini card SSD)
• 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• Windows XP operating system
• 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam (1.3 MP)
• Battery: 6600 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n Atheros, Bluetooth 2.0
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• One-year warranty

Build and Design

The new Eee PC 901 looks much different, in a good way, than the older 900. The body has a much smoother design, including a very nice glossy finish that is many steps above the older pearl finish found on the 701 and 900. The Asus logo front and center on the display cover is gone, and replaced with a “Eee” branding, which in my opinion looks much nicer and more polished. The new look of the 901 does increase the size by a tiny amount around the screen bezel, which you only notice when you have it side by side with the older 900.
Build quality is better than ever, from the better paint finish to the stronger feeling screen hinge. With each revision the Asus Eee PC starts feeling or looking less like a cheap budget notebook and more like a high quality portable notebook.

Display

The display doesn’t appear to have changed from the older 900, and probably uses the exact same LCD panel. Colors are bright and vibrant, whites are clean, and viewing angles could even be considered above those of many higher end notebooks. The only complaint I have with the screen is a light sparkly effect that you can notice when looking at solid colors on the screen.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard stayed basically the same from the older 900, with a few minor font tweaks to some of the buttons. The keys and action remained identical though, so don’t expect anything above what you might have already experienced on the 701 or 900. The keyboard on two of the Eee PC 901’s we were playing with had a bulging in the center, and a slightly tweaked spacebar and alt key. After tearing the keyboard off and bending it slightly in my hand, as well as reseating the cable, we were back in action with a much better feeling keyboard. Since these were fresh off the lot notebooks, some of this might be related to assembly quirks being worked out in the Taiwan market.

The touchpad changed from the older 900, in some ways better and some ways not so much. Users gain two separate buttons instead of the seesaw clicker on the 701 or 900, which feels better overall when using it. The aspect that I didn’t really enjoy was the “grain” texture of the touchpad, which has a tendency to make your finger slide with the grain, instead of where you are directing it. The feeling did improve as the touchpad was used and collected oils, but still felt weird over a normal touchpad surface. Some of this is up to user preference, so as always; try to check out one of these notebooks in person before you decide to purchase one.

Performance

The Intel Atom processor is a very nice upgrade, proving to increase performance by a factor of two over the older Intel Celeron M. With the limited software on hand we stuck with wPrime, but it gave a pretty good indication of what performance you might expect in other areas as well.

At full speed (overlocked to 1.8GHz in Super Performance mode) the new Eee PC 901 managed 111 seconds using wPrime 1.58. The older Eee PC 900 with the Celeron M managed 200+ seconds running the same test.

Battery Life

The new Eee PC 901 offers a larger battery, 6600 mAh over the 5800 mAh in the older 900. While the increased capacity will always help with battery life, the newer power sipping Intel Atom processor really helps out. BatteryMon was indicating 5 hours and 56 minutes overall on one Eee PC 901, and 5 hours and 55 minutes on the other. With a cleaner system installation, you should be able to sqeeze out even more power.

Heat and Noise

While I didn’t have my IR gun handy to get temperature readings, the Intel Atom-equipped Eee 901 was just as hot as the 900. Most of this was already presumed from the start, since the subnotebooks are still very small and have quite a bit of thermal energy to shed. Most of this goes through the keyboard heatsink, and can make for a hand warming experience.

More to Come

As of this writing I’ve only had a few brief moments to play with the new Eee PC. Overall the Asus Eee PC 901 is a very promising upgrade and offers quite a few hints of what we can expect from the newer Eee PC 1000 that should be hitting shelves in a couple of months. The polished look is wonderful, and the much improved gloss white is incredible compared to the older pearl white finish. The biggest change, though, is the new Intel Atom platform. The Atom processor really changes this subnotebook for the better. It is hard to find complaints about a platform that gives quite a large bump in speed and lowers power consumption.

Editor’s Note

Special thanks to the teams at LaptopMag.com and Eee PC News for helping us get our hands on an Eee PC 901 long enough to write this first look review.

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The Dell Vostro 1510 is available with a range of Intel processors (from the 1.86GHz Celeron M M540 up to the T9500 2.6GHz Core 2 Duo). There are four 15.4″ screen offerings, a WXGA or WXGA+ display with matte anti-glare coating and WXGA or WXGA+ “TrueLife” glossy display. The notebook can take up to 4GB of RAM and Dell offers 32-bit versions of Microsoft Windows Vista Business or Windows XP Professional. The system is priced starting at $599 with integrated Intel X3100 graphics at the time of this writing, but is also available with nVidia 8400M GS dedicated graphics.

Our Vostro 1510 is equipped with the following specs:

Build and Design

Dell received some much needed attention in 2007 with the introduction of the sleek, high performance XPS M1330 and XPS M1530 notebooks. While these more expensive notebooks in the Dell lineup were praised for their looks and low weight, the Dell Insipron and Vostro notebooks were criticized for being bulky and unattractive laptops. Dell listened closely to this criticism when they designed the refresh for the Vostro line. The Vostro 1510 is thinner and lighter than last year’s Vostro 1500.

Unfortunately, the lighter weight and thinner profile come at some cost. Namely, the plastics used in the chassis feel thin and in some areas, such as above the keyboard and on the palmrests, there is a significant degree of flex. The edges of the chassis are also sharper than what we’ve seen on earlier Dell notebooks and these sharp edges and thin plastics make the design of the Dell Vostro 1510 feel slightly unfinished or unrefined.

Like all Vostro releases, the 1510 doesn’t come in multiple colors or display lid patterns. Black is your only option. However, this year Dell decided to get rid of the matte black finish in favor of a glossy black finish with just a hint of metal flake. The black paint with the fine metal flakes is inlaid with the molds so there’s no risk of the glossy finish coming off.

Although I wasn’t a huge fan of the glossy black plastic lid with metal flake paint on our Vostro 1510, it does look and feel nice. Still, the new glossy lid design is a magnet for fingerprints and might not resist light scratches as well as the matte black finish on the previous generation Vostro notebooks.

Another of the new innovations for the Vostro line is the “Hyperband Multi-Antenna” housed inside the LCD lid which Dell claims “can provide excellent reception and help reduce dropped signals” for both Wi-Fi and bluetooth. I’ve never had serious problems with dropped signals while using older Dell notebooks so I can’t speak to whether the new internal multi-antenna actually improved wireless reception … but I can say that I never experienced dropped Wi-Fi connections during the testing period.

Screen

Display options for the Vostro 1510 include a matte finish 15.4″ Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) and a 15.4″ Widescreen XGA (1280 x 800) with TrueLife (glossy finish). Dell also offers higher resolution WXGA+ (1440 x 900) displays in both matte and glossy configurations.

The screen on our review unit looks flawless from straight on and the horizontal viewing angles are great. Upper vertical viewing angles are good with just a slightly washed out look, but colors did begin to invert at lower viewing angles when the screen is tilted back.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Media Controls

The keyboard on the Vostro 1510 suffers from severe flex near the center of the keyboard. The keys almost “bounce” as you press them. The keys have a nice matte texture with proper spacing and each of the keys have excellent travel and cushion. There are dedicated page up and page down keys but the home and end keys require the use of the function key, so this might be a little frustrating for users who do a lot of coding.

The touchpad surface utilizes the same matte texture with just a hint of metal flake that is used on the palm rest surface. The touchpad is nice and responsive but feels a little smaller than it should be. The touchpad buttons have excellent travel and cushion. Unfortunately, because of the way in which the touchpad buttons are slightly recessed the touchpad buttons are not very comfortable to use.

A series of touch-sensitive media buttons with blue LED backlights are located above the keyboard similar to the buttons on the XPS notebooks. One nice feature about the media buttons is that the blue LEDs only stay lit for a fraction of a second after being pressed, so they won’t distract you by staying lit all the time. The power button also features a blue LED backlight, but this light says on whenever the notebook is on.

Conclusion

Overall, the Dell Vostro 1510 is a solid budget notebook with clean looks and acceptable performance. Whether you need a simple business notebook or a budget portable laptop with modest gaming capabilities, the Vostro 1510 makes a fine choice.

That said, the chassis isn’t as nice as we hoped … the edges are sharp and could be smoother or more rounded, the case feels hollow and flimsy compared to the earlier Vostros, the touchpad button placement is bad, keyboard suffers from significant flex.

So why buy a Vostro 1510? One huge advantage to the Vostro line is the support, lack of bloatware, and excellent return policy. Dell will let you purchase a Vostro, use it for 30 days, and if you don’t like it you can send it back for a full refund without any restocking or shipping fees. That’s just amazing.

In short, the Vostro 1510 is a good addition to the Vostro family and gives business professionals and consumers on a budget another alternative to the Dell Inspiron 1525. Unfortunately, the price as configured ($684) places it neck-and-neck with the Inspiron 1525. Although the Vostro has a lot to offer, the Inspiron 1525 has a better chassis design, and for roughly the same amount of money businesses can purchase a 15.4″ Dell Latitude notebook or Lenovo ThinkPad R61.

Pros

• Thinner and lighter than the Vostro 1500
• Reasonable battery life
• Nice screen and easy-to-use media buttons
• Solid performance
• No bloatware
• Available with Windows XP
• Excellent return policy (NO restocking or shipping fees within 30 days!)

Cons

• Glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints
• Chassis plastics feel too thin and hollow
• Uncomfortable touchpad buttons
• No docking station port for desktop use
  
• No S-video or HDMI port
  
• Price is a little expensive compared to the Inspiron 1525, Latitude D530 or D531

Data:notebookreview.com

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First, let’s review the system specs for the all new Eee PC 900:

• Intel Celeron M ULV 900MHz processor
• Integrated Intel GMA 900 GPU
• 12GB of Flash-based storage (4GB onboard SSD and 8GB PCI-E mini card SSD)
• 1GB of DDR2 RAM (667MHz)
• Windows XP operating system
• 8.9-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, 1 VGA monitor out, headphone jack, microphone input, SD card reader (SDHC compatible), Kensington lock slot, Ethernet 10/100
• Webcam (1.3 MP)
• Battery: 4-cell 5800 mAh 7.2V Li-Ion (rated at 3.5 hours)
• Wireless: 802.11b/g Atheros
• Input: Keyboard and Multi-touch touchpad
• Dimensions: 22.5cm(W) x 17cm(D) x 2cm~3.4cm(H)
• Weight: approximately 2.2 lbs with battery, 2.8 lbs travel weight with AC adapter.
• One-year warranty

Build and Design

Like the original Eee PC, the designers at Asus had no easy task creating an attractive ultraportable notebook while also making it cheap to produce. Customers also indicated that they wanted a larger screen and a larger touchpad, so both of these features had to be incorporated into a very small footprint.

The chassis seams match up with reasonably tight tolerances, plastics feel thick (though the pearl-like white plastics look cheap) and the display hinges are molded into body with the battery. Overall, the Eee PC 900 is almost identical to the original Eee PC. The only obvious differences are the larger screen and the slightly deeper dimension (front to back) in order to accommodate the larger touchpad.

Lifting the display cover you find the same amazingly small keyboard surface found on the original Eee PC. In short, the build quality is quite high despite the low cost.

The design of the original Eee PC was something truly unique in the market. Weighing in at just two pounds and delivering a performance level similar to a full-featured budget notebook, the only notebook that came close to “directly” competing with the Eee PC in 2007 was the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 tablet PC … which retailed for more than $1,000 last year. After the success of the original Eee PC, other manufacturers have started to flood the market with low cost mini notebooks. The Eee PC isn’t the only kid on the block anymore, which is why Asus is trying to raise the bar with the Eee PC 900.

Screen

The Eee PC 900 features a nice 8.9-inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution. While this might not be the most impressive resolution we’ve seen, it’s much nicer than the native 800 x 480 resolution on the original Eee PC 4G. Still, most owners of the original Eee PC 4G use modified display drivers to scale 1000 x 600 or higher resolutions on the original Eee PC … so this higher resolution screen isn’t as impressive as it could be.

In any case, the screen on our review unit was free from any problems such as stuck pixels and color and backlighting were both excellent.

Operating System and Software

Unlike the original Eee PC, the Eee PC 900 doesn’t come with Linux. This notebook comes pre-installed with Windows XP. While XP might not be the most modern operating system on the market, XP is still one of the most robust and stable versions of the Windows OS. Most importantly, Windows XP doesn’t have massive system requirements … so it still runs fast on a relatively under-powered notebook like the Eee PC 900.

Speakers

Asus received some criticism over the speakers on the original Eee PC because of there massive size located on both sides of the screen. The bezel around the screen on the Eee PC 900 is much thinner than the thick bezel on the original Eee PC and the speakers have been relocated to the bottom of the notebook. Speaker output quality is good, but because of the location of the speakers the sound is quite muffled when you’re using the Eee PC 900 as a “laptop.”

Keyboard and Touchpad

Most low-priced notebooks currently on the market feature poorly built keyboards that show significant flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied. Much to our surprise, the keyboard on the Eee PC 900 (like the original Eee PC) is remarkably firm, though the keys are small and have a large degree of “wiggle” when pressed.

The keyboard on the Eee PC 900 is very, very compact. The first few days spent typing on this keyboard probably will be quite frustrating as the small footprint and tiny keys require you to use a “hunt and peck” style of typing rather than traditional touch typing methods. This means that passwords get mangled, emails look like gibberish, and playing games that require keyboard commands becomes quite aggravating.

Of course, once I got used to typing on the tiny keyboard the keys felt just fine … but this keyboard isn’t designed to be used as a primary/main computer. For users who would buy this notebook as their “main computer” in their home or office, a full-size keyboard and external mouse are recommended.

The touchpad and single button (with left and right “rocker” buttons underneath) are easy to use and responsive. The Eee PC 900 actually has a slightly larger touchpad button which makes it more comfortable to use than the original Eee PC. The touchpad is likewise larger than the touchpad on the original Eee PC and this touchpad also features multi-touch functionality so that you can zoom in or zoom out on things like PDFs in order to view the text more easily.

Performance

Overall, the Eee PC 900 is a snappy little budget notebook. Granted, the 900MHz ultra-low voltage processor doesn’t have the performance of a modern Core 2 Duo processor. The flash-based storage drives on the Eee PC 900 help with the benchmarks since they provide virtually instant data access times.

In short, the Eee PC 900 provides plenty of performance for travel and short-term use, but this mini notebook isn’t designed to be a primary computing workhorse.

Heat and Noise

Even with the low voltage processor and SSD drives, the Asus Eee PC 900 produced an incredible amount of heat. Granted, other low-cost mini notebooks we’ve reviewed get even hotter, but we hoped the Eee PC 900 wouldn’t get this toasty. The keyboard and bottom of the notebook got quite hot even under normal use, and the fan was always running in an attempt to keep the system cool. Fan noise was among the quietest we’ve heard. The only way to tell the fan is blowing is to put your hand next to the air vent to feel the warm air blow past.

Wireless

Just like the original Eee PC 4G, the Eee PC 900 uses an Atheros AR5BXB63 wireless module for 802.11b/g wireless Internet access. Reception is quite good for a budget notebook. The Eee PC 900 maintained a connection to my home router from anywhere inside my three-level home and from anywhere in my front or back yard. At the editorial offices for NotebookReview.com the Eee PC 900 managed to stay connected to the office router even after I left the building and walked across the parking lot. The wireless connection only dropped to 75 percent signal strength after I walked more than 50 yards away from the building. Being able to travel a distance equivalent to half the length of a football field means you won’t have trouble browsing the web with the Eee PC 900.

Battery

Under normal use, backlight at 100 percent and using wireless for web browsing and watching a DivX movie at 75 percent volume, the Eee PC 900 managed to deliver less than 3 hours of battery life (2 hours and 53 minutes) with the standard battery. Needless to say, this was rather disappointing. The original Eee PC 4G was able to deliver more than 3 hours of battery life.

Our tests also found the battery meter wasn’t always accurate: sometimes indicating an unplugged power adapter or low battery even when that wasn’t the case.

Conclusion

Last year our editorial staff was absolutely amazed by the original Eee PC. The original Eee PC finally delivered something that many consumers have wanted since laptops first arrived on the market: an extremely portable laptop with reasonable performance for travel at an extremely low cost. It’s a shame that Asus seems to have forgotten the original idea behind the Eee PC.

When Asus first announced the Eee PC in 2007, their goal was to sell this laptop for a mere $199. That $199 price point is what got our attention. In the months that followed, the price gradually increased and the specs decreased until the Eee PC 4G was released at a price of $399. At a $400 price point the original Eee PC was still a fantastic deal … a practically “disposable” travel laptop. Now, as more and more companies begin releasing their own mini notebooks, the price keeps increasing with only a modest increase in features.

The Eee PC 900 would be a “can’t miss” deal if Asus sold it at the same $399 price point as the original Eee PC 4G. Unfortunately, at the current street price of $550 to $600 we have a hard time recommending the Eee PC 900.

What is the point of paying $550 or more for a laptop with significantly less performance than similarly priced 14-inch and 15-inch notebooks? Yes, the Eee PC 900 is small, but if you have to sacrifice both performance and cost for the convenience of size then it simply isn’t a very good deal.

In short, if you’re in the market for a low cost travel notebook the original Eee PC 4G is still a great notebook. We’ll pass on the Eee PC 900 at its current price.

Pros

• Small and light
• Reasonably well built and durable
• Flash-based storage
• Nice multi-touch touchpad

Cons

• Too expensive for what you get (particularly compared to original Eee PC)
• 12GB of storage isn’t a single drive (one 4GB drive and one 8GB drive)
• White plastics “look” cheap
• The battery meter isn’t very accurate (reports low battery or AC adapter unplugged even when that’s not the case)
• Temperatures are a little too hot

Data:notebookreview.com

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This review will cover the AMD version of this notebook, which is the base configuration at the price of $749.

Satellite L355D-S7810 specifications:

• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 32-bit version)
• AMD Turion 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology TL-60 (2.0 GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, HyperTransport Technology @ up to 800MHz)
• 2GB PC5300 DDR2 SDRAM memory (Maximum capacity 4GB)
• 200GB (4200 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive
• DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) with Labelflash drive supporting 11 formats
• 17.1″ diagonal widescreen TruBrite TFT LCD display with 1440×900 native resolution (WXGA+)
• ATI Radeon X1250 128MB-831MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory
• Built-in stereo speakers
• Atheros 802.11 b/g wireless-LAN
• 3 USB Sleep-and-Charge ports, 5 in 1 SD-Card Reader, 10/100 LAN, 56k Modem
• Built-in Webcam and microphone
• 4000mAh 10.8v battery and 75w AC Adapter
• Weight: 7lbs 0.6oz
• Dimensions: 15.6 x 11.4 x 1.8″
• One-year standard Limited Warranty

Build and Design

The Toshiba L355D has a design that we are very familiar with, that has changed very little from the older P200 series notebook. The notebook body slimmed down across the board, but without comparing pictures between each model it would be hard to tell the difference. The peak height at the feet remained very similar, but the notebook profile is thinner in the front and back. The biggest change is the hinge design, which went from a “hidden” design to a double hinge setup. The rest of the notebook looks fairly untouched, with the same multimedia controls, stepped sloping palmrest, and near identical look when closed. The final visual change that many will notice is the lack of glossy finish on the display cover, which was replaced with a silver metallic matte finish. Users who complained of easy scratching and smudged fingerprints can now rejoice.

Build quality has remained the same, with a solid feel and only a slight amount of flex in the palm rest and screen cover. The body as a whole feels quite durable, with few squeaks or rattles when picked up and carried around. The keyboard has very good support, with little flex apparent when you press firmly on the keys. The display cover keeps away most ripples from the LCD, but with a firm jab to the back of the cover some circular distortions do show up. The newer matte paint finish seems to hold up much better, with the biggest difference being no fine scratches after a trip in my backpack.

Display

The display on the Toshiba L350 series notebooks is of average quality, with even backlight and minimal light bleed. Colors are vibrant when viewing head on, but wash out or invert at steep angles. Horizontal viewing angles go about 45 degrees before the colors start dim or wash out. Vertical viewing angles are not so lucky, inverting quickly after about 20 degrees of movement.

My comfortable viewing range on this screen was at 60% brightness in a bright room, and a few notches lower in a dark room.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard is excellent, with tight keys that require little pressure to trigger. Key wobble is minimal, making it easy to type very fast with few errors as you are not hitting the sides of other keys. Key throw is perfect, not too long and not too short.

Being a 17″ notebook, key spacing and size is not a problem in the slightest. The keyboard found on the L350 is fullsize, including the number pad on the side. A few users will also enjoy the correct placement of the Ctrl key on the far left of the keyboard, instead of the Function key which sometimes gets placed there.

Toshiba was also nice enough to include several dedicated media buttons located just above the keyboard. None of the media buttons have an annoying LED backlight and all of them are easy to use.

The touchpad is surface is excellent, with just the right amount of space for easy movement, as well as near perfect finger sensitivity. The texture is a soft matte finish, that is very easy to glide your finger across. The touchpad buttons are of decent size, but I would have preferred better feedback when clicking the buttons. As it is, the buttons have a shallow click when pressed.

Performance and Benchmarks

For day to day use, the notebook performs quite well with great startup and shutdown speed. Opening software such as Internet Explorer, Adobe Reader, or iTunes loads in no time. Much of this can be attributed to the Dual Core AMD Turion X2 TL-60 processor and 2GB of RAM, which this notebook offers as standard equipment. Compared to older generations where you might have been stuck with 512MB or even 1GB of RAM, this gives you a pretty substantial bump in performance. If you’re willing to spend an extra $50 you can also configure a version of this notebook with an entry-level Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Notebook performance is great for a budget machine, but don’t expect to play any modern games on this machine. Games that are two-three generations old should still be playable, as long as you tone down the eye-candy settings. Since most users looking at this notebook arent expecting gaming performance from this notebook, this should not be a problem.

WPrime 32M comparison results

WPrime is a benchmark similar to Super Pi in that it forces the processor to do intense mathematical calculations, but the difference is this application is multi-threaded and represents dual core processors better. Lower numbers indicate better performance.

Hard drive performance was more than adequate, even though it was a 4200rpm drive. The access times and transfer speeds were more in line with a higher performance 5400rpm drive.

I am also really disappointed that this 17″ notebook did not offer an additional drive bay, to further expand on storage space or increase performance with a RAID setup.

Ports and Features

Port selection on the L350 felt lacking, with fewer options compared to the older P200. It now has half the USB ports, no S-video out, no Firewire, and lots of blank open plastic that could have been used for additional ports. As previously mentioned, another missing feature of this notebook is the 2nd HD bay, which is fairly uncommon for a 17″ notebook.

With some 13.3″ notebooks having a much more expansive port selection than this 17″ notebook, it makes you think what items might have been cut in order to lower the overall cost of the computer. Three USB ports on a 17″ notebook is my biggest complaint though, when many similarly sized notebooks have four or six.

Front: Wireless On/Off switch, SD-Card Reader, Headphone/Mic, Volume switch

Speakers

The speakers on the L350 are average, able to reach high volume levels without much distortion, but you have no bass content. High and midrange audio was good, and users will have no worries about using the internal speakers to listen to music or watch a movie. As always, I still prefer using headphones in most situations for privacy and not to annoy others in crowded areas. The headphone jack was great, giving clear audio without any hissing background noise.

Heat and Noise

Noise performance on the L350 is great, with the fan barely noticeable at low speed, and still whisper quiet under load. Temperature levels are also low overall, but it did have a few odd hot spots. After the notebook has been on for a couple of hours, the touchpad managed to reach 98F, with the rest of the top surface being much cooler.

Battery

Battery performance was very good for a 17″ notebook with only a 4000mAh battery. With wireless enabled, screen at 70% backlight, and notebook set to the “Balanced” power profile, it managed 2 hours and 47 minutes before it shut off. Here’s hoping that an extended battery option comes out for the mobile warriors.

Conclusion

The Toshiba L350 series notebook offers consumers an excellent budget desktop replacement notebook with a great deal of features for a low starting price of $749. As a mild refresh from the previous P200 series notebook the L350 gives you a slimmer and lighter body, as well as a smudge and scuff resistant matte paint finish.

Pros

• Very quiet with great thermal management
• Nice keyboard with excellent support
• New matte paint finish doesn’t scratch as easily as older gloss finish
• No fingerprints visible anywhere on the finish when my review was completed

Cons

• Only three USB ports and no firewire

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Throwing away old technology is a non starter in most cases. It is either environmentally irresponsible or ignores the inherent value of an object. Almost everything (even old tech) has a market.

So rather than add to this world’s toxic troubles why not connect and find a market for your old notebook? Put a smile on a Luddite’s face and walk away with a little more jingle in your pocket. Conducting this type of transaction is much less daunting than it seems. Much of what follows is common sense, and not all of it applies all of the time but it should be enough to get you started.

Donating a good piece of computer equipment to a school or charity is laudable and may get you into whatever heaven you believe in a little bit faster, so definitely consider it. Charity acts are easy to do and rewarding - you don’t need help (although some of the points below may still apply as a courtesy to the recipient).

Prepare to sell

You have your old notebook that you are ready to sell. Here are some considerations:

• Inventory
• Description
• Photos
• Diagnostics
• Selling price
• Security/Privacy

Start off by gathering together all of the notebook’s components - this means everything. Power cables, network cables, disks, manuals, boxes, stickers and any other accessories that came with the notebook or which you are including as extras. Little things like original packaging and documentation can make all the difference to certain buyers (particularly Apple fans). Do not underestimate the value of this stuff if you have it lying around. This is a good time to snap some pictures. Every blurry shot is probably a little less money in your pocket so do this right.

Make sure you do not leave memory cards or optical media that you want to keep in the computer by mistake.

The next step is to get an accurate assessment of the notebook’s condition. If this was your primary notebook you should have a good idea what, if anything, is wrong with it. Perhaps this notebook has collected dust in a closet for some time. In that case start it up and use it for a few days to determine how well it works. This is the best time to write a description of the item - a couple hundred words is plenty. Be honest.

Things you will want to watch out for and document are physical flaws or damage, battery life, and LCD condition (backlight and stuck/dead pixels). Check that memory, HDD, optical drives, network devices, USB ports, CPU are all enumerated properly in the system summary. Testing stability is probably a good idea too. One option is to download a free utility such as wPrime and run an overnight stress test. Being able to answer questions regarding condition will increase the value of your notebook to many potential buyers.

The degree to which you’ll want to do this work will probably be linked to the value you hope to get from the notebook and the reputation you want. A $50 ThinkPad 300 might not be worth it, but a 2006 Toshiba Qosmio would be. Likewise, if you plan to do this regularly a good reputation will come in handy.

A good way to determine selling price is to check the local market and eBay’s completed auctions for similar items. Keep in mind that eBay selling prices tend to be inflated. You may not be able to fetch an eBay price locally. In general, unless you are very lucky you should expect to fetch 50% of retail price (or less) within the first year to eighteen months after purchase. Exceptions to this rule include Macs and highly sought after notebooks that are uncommon (like a Ferrari for example).

Set your “asking” price at 10-15% more than what you really want to get from the sale. It is in people’s nature to squeeze for more. In a lot of cases people will ask for a discount even when they know a deal is great. They can’t help themselves. A no nonsense approach where the “price is the price take it or leave it” is admirable but why not just accept human nature and spare your self the aggravation of explaining your philosophy to buyers?

Now that you have collected everything together, know how well it works and have documented it you will want to prepare the notebook for sale. Security and privacy are a concern given how people use their computers. There can be remnants of sensitive information on the HDD.

Here are three common ways to clear contents from a HDD (in ascending complexity).

1. Restore the Operating system doing a full (rather than a quick) format.
2. Use a third party application to securely erase or write zeros on all sectors of the HDD.
3. Remove HDD and obliterate it with a hammer.

Clearly there is no “beating” number three if you want to be thorough. Either of the first two options should be fine for most folks.

Where to sell

You are now ready to market your item. Here is a summary of considerations:

• Local classifieds/craigslist
• eBay
• Web Forums
• Know the game/negotiation

First choice should always be to sell locally, face to face. There are countless local buy/sell/barter websites and publications in most North American markets. The majority of these are free. Craigslist in particular seems to be good in my experience because of how well word has spread about it and the fact that it is free. eBay’s competitor for Craigslist is Kijiji but I find it inundated with spam and tainted with advertisements.

Perhaps you reside in a remote area, or there isn’t a good local market for what you are trying to sell. In that case eBay may be your best bet. Many people have soured on eBay - the constant nickel & diming plus the almost useless buyer/seller protection are two principle complaints. Even if you feel this way it is hard to ignore eBay and the market it offers. You will need an account, and there are more steps than a simple Craigslist ad. If you have a low reputation score your final selling price may be adversely affected. People pay for peace of mind and for many people your seller rating equates to that. Also, factor the selling fees that typically include listing, final sale and payment processing - these are dollars coming directly out of your pocket.

Web forums are a last resort. There are trustworthy sites with active buy/sell forums (like NotebookReview.com for example) but it is safest to use them for local transactions unless you know who you are dealing with. If a long distance deal transacted through one of these forums goes sour there is almost no recourse for either party. Escrow services exist, but this adds a layer of complexity to a deal and the benefits in case of a bad transaction are debatable - do you really want to lose a notebook and deal with an insurance company? That is a double whammy.

A major reason why people prefer the impersonal nature of the internet is negotiation. If you followed the advice above regarding asking price, you will be fine. This is not something to be feared. Do your research and know the minimum you will accept for the notebook. Determine this before you ever meet someone. Never sell below this. A deal needs to benefit both parties. If you are confident that you are selling at a fair price that fact will assuredly be conveyed to the buyer - and if not there are always other buyers.

If you have followed this article’s advice you are ready to accept payment and meet-up or ship.

Managing the transaction

• Payment
• Managing expectations
• Shipping
• Feedback

Online selling is rife with scam artists. Scams are perpetrated against sellers and buyers and this leads to a lot of uncertainty. Sell local and in person if you can for this reason. Here are some guidelines for meeting a collecting payment in person, skip ahead to the online payment and shipping paragraph below if you are not selling locally.

In Person Transaction

Meeting in person can present its own set of challenges and concerns. Think these things through. Do you want the buyer to know where you live? Are you comfortable inviting a stranger into your house? Are you home alone? Do you want to expose your kids to a stranger? Can you manage a buyer around other valuables in your home? What if the buyer comes with a friend? This is scary stuff if you do not know who you are dealing with so be cautious and stay within your comfort zone.

For a lot of people, a common ground meeting place works better than inviting strangers into your house. Meeting at a popular coffee shop midway between your place and a buyer’s location is probably a good idea. You will find a lot of people suggesting this these days if for no other reason than gas is expensive and not everyone has a GPS to find you. The best rule is to choose a place to meet where you are comfortable. Make sure the buyer understands that this is going to be a cash transaction. Be prepared to come back home with the notebook - in other words do not waste too much time or gas driving to a meeting place.

Pick a meeting place with room to move - the buyer is going to want to check the notebook out and ask some questions. Most people who buy used have a pretty good idea what they are looking at. An inspection can be pretty fast. To expedite things you may want to have the notebook suspended to disk with a full charge in order to skip boot up and to prove battery capacity.

Assuming the buyer likes your notebook, the next step is payment. A sharp buyer will come prepared with bills in a few denominations - cleverly hidden in various pockets so that when they offer you less than your asking price it will look as though they only have exactly what they offered. Be confident when they ask. If you have wiggle room, use it now. Make sure the buyer understands this is the final price. Be prepared to walk away if they have a problem with it.

If the buyer agrees to purchase your notebook, count the money and set expectations. Can they call you for support? Are you offering a warranty? Can they obtain the receipt from you (if not included) for manufacturer warranty purposes? Clarity is just as important at this stage as it was when you first wrote the notebook’s description. If done right you will get paid for the item and realize additional benefit afterwards in the form of positive feedback.

Remote Transactions

Online payment presents a different set of challenges. The 900 lb Gorilla of online payment processing is Paypal. If you are going to have just one online payment processing account this should be it. Paypal is very far from perfect, but understand how it benefits you and what the risks are and it can be a valuable too

Paypal makes it easier for people to pay by virtue of its overwhelming lead in market share. It also offers a modicum of protection against scams. If you delve into the fine print, you will see there is actually very little on offer here other than convenience. Paypal can not make an iffy transaction more secure. You can still be scammed.

The reputation of Wire transfers has been tainted by years of scams. A real wire transfer results in cash in hand paid out at a Western Union branch or similar. There is very little doubt if you have cash safely in hand prior to shipping. Move on to shipping the notebook.

Cheque and money orders are tricky. Although your bank can release funds into your account, they can also later come back and reclaim the funds. There really is no safe period to wait before shipping - I have heard of banks cluing in weeks after a scam and reclaiming funds directly from bank accounts.

Is this fair or not? Is it even legal? Most folks are not experts in banking regulations or consumer rights. Spare yourself a hard knocks education on the topic. Take the cheque or money order to the issuing institution and get it cashed. Hopefully the bank does not know you and therefore has no way to raid your account. This is as it should be, banks are in the risk business - you are not. Make the issuer earn their service fees.

Cash in the mail is a very bad idea but you will still find this offered from time to time by purchasers. Needless to say it is bad for both parties.

Packing and Shipping

If you kept the original packing materials you should be fine - this is how your notebook was sent out from the factory. In most cases it is safe to ship your notebook out exactly the way it came to you.

Replacing lost shipping materials is trickier. You might be able to re-purpose the box from your new notebook, but that will leave you with the same predicament in a few years. When packing the notebook you want to insure that it is kept away from the sides of the box to reduce the chance of damage from impacts during shipping. You also want to insure the notebook does not shift around the inside of the box when it is moved. This can ruin the finish. Use the packaging methodology of your new notebook as a guide.

Shipping the notebook out is the next step. You may have your own preferences, but most folks like USPS (or national postal service in your country) and FedEx. UPS is reliable, but they have a tendency to add mysterious fees (particularly for international shipments) that the other carriers do not. International shipments are straightforward, although they sometimes require additional paperwork (it varies a lot for some reason depending on shipping company and agent).

You may want to incorporate some time and labor charges into your shipping fee. If you do so, make sure the buyer has a good estimate of inclusive shipping costs before you finalize that sale. This protects you too. If you just guess at shipping costs you might have an unpleasant experience at the cash register when its time to pay.

Lastly, if everything has gone right do not forget to ask for feedback. Most online marketplaces have feedback systems integrated. Any transaction conducted outside of a system with feedback can be still be tracked if you use a free service like www.heatware.com. Both parties have to agree to use these services, but each successful transaction gives you more credibility in the future. This is good for buyer and seller alike.

Conclusion

Don’t let this verbose guide scare you from selling your used notebook (or other items for that matter). You may want to start with something small and then try a high value item like a notebook, or just leap right in. It is really quite simple and can be mastered after one or two careful transactions.

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In that sense, think of this list as the “most clickable laptops of the month” … the notebooks that most of the people on this site are interested in learning about. There were no big surprises for the month of March as most of the laptops in the top ten have been popular for a while. The Dell XPS M1530 maintained strength in the top spot and the Dell Vostro 1500 and Lenovo ThinkPad R61 returned to the top 10 list.
1. Dell XPS M1530

2. Lenovo ThinkPad T61

3. Toshiba Satellite A200

4. Dell XPS M1330

5. Sony VAIO SZ

6. Apple MacBook

7. Lenovo ThinkPad R61

8. HP Pavilion dv6700t

9. Dell Vostro 1500

10. Dell Inspiron 1525

11. Apple MacBook Pro

12. Sony VAIO FZ

13. Lenovo ThinkPad X61

14. Asus Eee PC

15. Sony VAIO NR

16. Dell Inspiron 1520

17. Sony VAIO CR

18. HP Pavilion dv9700t

19. Dell Vostro 1400

20. Dell Latitude D630

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Our review unit of the Averatec AV2575 has the following configuration:

• AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-64 (2.2GHz)
• Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
• 2GB DDR2-667 dual-channel RAM (2 x 1GB)
• 250GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
• 12.1″ WXGA (1280×800) Glossy
• ATI RS690T Integrated Graphics
• Super Multi DVD Burner
• Atheros AR5007EG 802.11b/g
• Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and microphone
• Ports: 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot, LAN, Headphone/Mic, VGA, SD Card Reader, ExpressCard/54, 10/100 LAN
• Size: 12.88 x 9 x 1.0/1.53″
• Weight:
  • Notebook 4lbs 0.8oz
  • AC Adapter 13.5oz
• 65w AC Adapter
• 4-Cell Battery (14.4v, 2500mAh)
• Warranty: 1 Year standard, 6 months on battery
• Price: $1,099.99

Build and Design

For a 12″ ultraportable notebook the Avertac AV2500 series is somewhat larger than you would expect, more in line with a 13.3″ notebook. Some of this size you can see around the screen bezel where there is almost an inch of space on each side of the LCD. On the keyboard side this extra space is used to make a larger keyboard than you would usually see on a 12″ notebook.

Build quality is excellent, having a very rigid chassis with minimal flex. The screen frame is very strong, although it doesn’t keep away all the ripples on the screen when you try to flex it or press on the back of the cover. The screen hinges gave a good amount of tension and usually required the use of two hands to open up the notebook.

The screen latching design was one element that stuck out for me, where it was the simple design that I loved. It is a latchless system that uses magnets and the hinge tension to keep the notebook lid closed. Unlike hinge tension only setups, the magnets keep the lid firmly closed, and give a satisfying click when “latched”.

One area that has us concerned with the screen cover is the glossy finish did not hold up as well as we had expected, and scuffed very easily from day-to-day use. If you are looking at purcashing one of these notebooks, I would put thought into a notebook case with a soft interior to keep the screen cover perfectly glossy from day one.

Display

The display is a glossy 12.1″ WXGA screen that is advertised as “super-bright”. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it is ultra bright, as it ranks right on average with other glossy screens we have come across. Colors are bright and vibrant, and the backlight is very even and consistent with minimal backlight leakage. I would rate it pretty well for viewing images or watching movies, although movies might be difficult away from an outlet.

Viewing angles of the screen were average, with great horizontal range, but limited vertical range. Tilting the screen forward or back will wash out or invert the colors once you go past the screens 10-15 degree sweet spot.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Unlike many 12″ notebooks, the keyboard on the Averatec is far from cramped, and is spaced out like a fullsize keyboard you would find on a 14″ or 15″ notebook. All of the keys are full-size, with no ultra-slim function or ctrl keys found anywhere. This is a huge plus for many people who can’t stand a cramped notebook for extended periods of typing.

Keyboard quality is excellent, with great travel and key feedback. When pressed, each key gives off a nice quiet metallic click. Key wobble is minimal, on par with my ThinkPad keyboard.

The touchpad is a Synaptics design model, with great sensitivity and of normal size. Measuring in at 2.46 x 1.76″, it is actually larger than the one found on my 15″ T60 ThinkPad. Touchpad button feedback is shallow, and gives off a soft click when pressed.

Speakers

Audio performance is average for a notebook of this size, considering the speakers are the size of pennies. For watching movies or music without caring about perfect audio quality or bass they are fine, but I would recommend using headphones for extended listening if you can. The headphone jack on this notebook provided clear and static-free audio, and could output high enough volume to hurt your ears.

Performance

System performance is rated average, running standard applications with ease, but really lacking the performance to play older games with minimal settings. While most notebooks of this size aren’t gaming machines by any stretch of the imagination, the ATI integrated graphics didn’t perform as well as Intel integrated graphics. Performance in regular tasks, or multimedia content was stellar, as it did not weigh as heaviliy on the graphics chipset. HD Movie content or DVD movies played with ease. Office productivity software loaded without lag, so handling office loads while traveling would not be a problem.

Benchmarks for this system are listed below:

wPrime is a program that forces the processor to do recursive mathematical calculations, the advantage of this program is that it is multi-threaded and can use both processor cores at once, thereby giving more accurate benchmarking measurements than Super Pi. Lower scores indicate better performance.

Conclusion

The Averatec 12.1″ ultraportable AV2575 notebook offers a great value at a price of $1,099. While it is heavier than other notebooks of this size, the build quality, keyboard, touchpad, and thermal performance is excellent. The one area that I could see some improvement on is battery life, which hopefully an extended battery would help with.

Pros

• Clean basic design
• Durable, rigid chassis
• Low noise and heat
• Great keyboard

Cons

• Sluggish gaming performance
• Glossy finish scuffs easily

Data:notebookreview.com

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