Elegantly designed and well-equipped

Elegantly designed and well-equipped, the Samsung QX410 delivers lots of value and looks Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery good doing it. This 5-pound machine features a fast Intel Core i5-460M processor, Intel's Wireless Display technology, Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery and Nvidia's GeForce 310M graphics with battery-saving Optimus technology. At $799 (through Best Buy), this is one deal that's hard to resist.

Design

Encased in silvery aluminum with a sophisticated brushed metal treatment, the Samsung QX410's lid and deck have an upscale feel. A raised logo Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery crafted in reflective metallic letters tastefully proclaims Samsung's handiwork. Tipping the scales at a modest 5 pounds, the Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery laptop measures 13.7 x 9.7 x 1.1 inches. The notebook fits into standard laptop bags without much Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery effort and shouldn't weigh you down.

Unlike other fashionable notebooks carved from a single block of metal (such as the MacBook Pro), the QX410's aluminum Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery style doesn't carry over to the undercarriage. Even so, the laptop's black plastic underside is smooth and keeps the eye-jarring Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery edges and vents to a minimum.

Above the keyboard, you'll find a circular Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Battery power button with a subtle blue LED, dedicated volume and mute controls, and a wireless on/off button. The overall look is minimalist, in a good way.

Heat

Despite the lack of many vents or openings, the Samsung QX410 kept cool during our heat tests. The underside stayed at a comfortable Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery 87 degrees while playing a full-screen Hulu video for 15 minutes. We consider anything over 100 degrees to be too hot to handle. Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery Measuring the temperature at the center of the keyboard returned a reading of 88 degrees, while the touchpad was coolest, at 76 Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery degrees. Be advised that the laptop's one visible vent did breathe a little fire, registering 105 degrees.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Samsung QX410's island-style keyboard was a pleasure to use. Framed in silver aluminum to match the notebook's lid, the keyboard Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery features chiclet keys that are well-spaced and offer plenty of travel. The only thing missing is a keyboard backlight, which you'll find on Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery more expensive notebooks such as the Sony VAIO F Series and the MacBook Pro.

However, we found some issues with this Sony VGP-BPS8A Battery "clickpad." For instance, while the whole touchpad depresses when you click in the center of it, you still need to double-tap to initiate an action--as with other Windows laptops. Or you can just click once on the left button area. In addition, we found selecting text on Sony VGP-BPS2 Battery a web page

to be more of a challenge than on notebooks with discrete Sony VGP-BPS2A Battery mouse buttons.

Beneath the keyboard is a wide 3.9 x 2.3-inch touchpad. As is the trend for laptop's these days, the Sony VGP-BPS2B Battery touchpad integrates the mouse buttons. Gestures worked without a hitch, including pinch-to-zoom and two-finger scrolling. Sony VGP-BPS2C Battery Navigating the desktop and opening apps were a breeze.

Can a smart phone deliver the info you're looking for almost as fast as you can take it out of your pocket? That's the Samsung Continuum's mission. Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery This Android handset from Verizon Wireless ($199 with mail-in rebate) features a ticker screen right underneath the main Sony VGP-BPS21/S Battery display that flashes social networking updates, news headlines, e-mail and IM alerts, and more. You don't even need to Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery unlock the device to peek at the ticker. In a way, the Continuum feels like it's more connected than other smart phones, but you'll need to make some sacrifices if you want to always be in the know.

Design

The Samsung Continuum looks like the Fascinate got hit with a shrink ray--in one dimension. Although it's taller than its Galaxy S cousin on Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery Verizon, the Continuum is considerably narrower (2.3 vs. 2.5 inches). It's also slightly heavier, at 4.4 vs. 4.2 ounces. The glossy black Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery handset sports nicely rounded corners and a slick fine grid pattern on the back cover, though it smudges up fast.

Interestingly, this Android phone's four buttons (Menu, Home, vostro 1510 battery Back, Search) sit between the two displays but are really all part of a single panel. While small, these buttons worked fine.

We appreciate the dedicated camera button and external microSD card slot on the right side of the Continuum for easy access. vostro 1310 battery You don't get a front-facing camera, but given the lackluster quality we've seen from Android phones thus far, that's not a inspiron 1545 battery big loss.

Display(s)

Although the Continuum looks like it has two displays and a separate area for buttons, all of these hp battery elements are part of the same Super AMOLED panel. The main part of the display, which is just as brilliant and rich as other Galaxy S phones we've dell battery tested, measures 3.4 inches, while the ticker measures 1.8 inches. While the main area has the same resolution as the 4-inch Galaxy S phones (800 x 480), everything appears smaller on the Continuum because you have 0.6 inches less real estate. For example, we had to sony battery zoom in more on websites to make out text, and typing proved more of a challenge.

Keyboards

The Continuum includes two keyboards: Swype and the stock Android layout. The former option,apple battery which is turned on by default, is best for entering text with one hand, because you can trace a line from letter to letter without lifting your finger acer battery off the keyboard. We actually prefer the latter for thumb typing, However, we found the Android keyboard more accurate when typing with two hands, despite the fact that it has ibm battery smaller keys.

iPad owners have been eagerly awaiting the release of iOS 4.2

iPad owners have been eagerly awaiting the release of iOS 4.2, the updated software akku thinkpad t60p for Apple's tablet that brings with it a number of improvements, including multitasking, folders, and wireless multimedia streaming VGP-BPS13 and printing. This new version of the OS turns an already excellent device into something you'll use even more often for work and play.

Acer showed off a slick 10-inch Android tablet at their global press conference today, and we got a chance to play around with it. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery The unit we saw wasn’t final — the tablets that ship will have Honeycomb Android instead of whatever version it was running Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery in the video — so we didn’t get a chance to truly see how amazing it is. However, what we did see was impressive. The Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery tablet (which doesn’t have a name yet) was connected to multiple Acer prducts — notebook, media server, nettop — via Clear.fi, and played streaming HD video really smoothly. The router was right nearby, so pulling content from the various sources was fast Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery and easy.

Aside from it’s great properties as a media streaming device, I also really liked the slimness Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery and how light it feels. It’s a good-looking device, if nothing else. Just like most of the other products introduced today

There was some confusion Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery amongst the Acer representatives at the event on the resolution of the display. The 1280 x 960 I mention int he video below is not correct, but since I’ve heard several different numbers, I’ll just stick to saying that the tablet is capable of playing 1080p Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery video.

AirPlay

The most fun feature of iOS 4.2 is AirPlay, which makes the entire Apple ecosystem Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery work nicely together. It lets you stream multimedia from an iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch to an Apple TV. In certain apps--such as photos Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery and videos--a small icon gives you the option of displaying content on the iPad or on a TV. We connected our iPad to an Apple TV device, and, after waiting anywhere from a few seconds to a minute, streamed music, photos, and videos seamlessly. Sony VGP-BPS8A Battery Using the multitasking feature, we were even able to play music (and control volume, too) while scrolling through Sony VGP-BPS2 Battery our photos.

There are a few caveats, though: Images and Sony VGP-BPS2A Battery videos that look good on the iPad aren't as impressive when blown up on a 32-inch HDTV. If your network is bogged down--say, you're torrenting a bunch of music--AirPlay won't work well, if it works at all. Also, AirPlay only works with a few apps Sony VGP-BPS2B Battery (Photos, Videos, and YouTube), and you can't stream videos shot on your iPhone. Hopefully, these issues will be resolved soon, Sony VGP-BPS2C Battery but the bottom line is that AirPlay makes sharing content as simple as it could be.

AirPrint

The new AirPrint feature in iOS 4.2 lets you Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery print photos wirelessly across a network to an approved printer (such as HP's Photosmart line). When it worked, the iPad and iPhone saw a HP Photosmart D110 printer almost instantly on the network, and were just as quick to send photos. However, Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery it was a little erratic--we were able to print one or two photos before the printer would stop printing, and we had to restart it. We wish sony vgp-bps21a/b battery you had a little more control over how you could print (such as the size of paper, cropping, etc) as you can with the HP iPrint app, but we liked that in the vgp-bps21a battery dock, you can see your print queue.

Multitasking

This is perhaps the most anticipated feature of the iOS 4.2 vgp-bps21b battery update, allowing you to have more than one app running at a time. Now, you no longer have to, say, quit streaming Pandora in order to check your e-mail. Double-tapping the Home button replaces the dock with a row of icons showing the apps currently Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery running. A quick tap on an icon opens that app; pressing and holding allows you to close apps.

This feature worked well, and we noticed little, if any, slowdown with multiple apps running. We were able to thinkpad x60 battery listen to our tunes while checking out friends in the Friendly app, browsing the web, or reading news in the New York Times app. However, not all apps thinkpad X60S battery can run in the background. Our song halted when trying to edit a Google doc in the Google Mobile App; strangely, we didn't encounter the thinkpad t40 battery same issue when we edited the Google Doc using the Safari browser.

Music, Brightness, Screen Orientation Widget

With the multitasking bar open, swiping all the way to the right brings up controls to lock the screen orientation, adjust the hp batterey brightness of the screen, and control the music playing. This is a nice feature to have, but it feels as if you have to make one too many gestures to reach these dell battery controls. In addition, what was once the screen lock switch is now used to mute the iPad, and you can't customize what it apple battery does.

ASUS Eee PC 1215N

The addition of Nvidia's Optimus graphics technology makes this the Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery best 12-inch notebook you can get under $500.

With each generation, 12-inch Ion netbooks sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery are edging closer to their Pinocchio-like aspirations of becoming real notebooks. The ASUS Eee PC 1215N comes the closest yet to that ideal of a sub-$500 machine that performs like systems that cost more--yet lasts even longer on a charge. That's because it's packed with a dual-core Atom processor and Nvidia's Optimus graphics-switching technology. Not only that, the 1215N features an improved design that makes it more comfortable to use for extended periods of time. Power and portability in an inexpensive package? Wish no longer.

Design

The 1215N looks very similar to the 1201PN (and the 1201N, for that matter) but comes with some welcome enhancements. The laptop Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery is slightly heavier than previous iterations, at 3.4 pounds (compared to 3.2 for the 1201PN), but remains very easy to carry. Gone is the glossy black exterior; the 1215N has a matte finish that doesn't pick up fingerprints as easily as its predecessor--but you'll still notice them after a few days of use. Chrome accents are also sparse: The power button, mouse bar, and two strips outlining the touchpad are the only metallic trim on this handsome machine.

Like the 1201PN, the left side of the 1215N houses a VGA port, tiny AC adapter jack, HDMI sony VGP-BPS9 battery output, and a USB 2.0 port, as well as a memory card slot (the latter was formerly on the right side). On the right are two more USB ports, headphone and mic jacks, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington Lock slot.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard

is also unchanged from the 1201PN; it's quite sony VGP-BPS9/S battery comfortable to use and offers pretty good feedback. However, the right Shift key is slightly undersized, and there's a bit too much flex for our liking. If ASUS

were to get rid of the Home, PgUp, PgDn, and End keys along the right side, it would leave room for a larger Right Shift key. We also wish Asus would invert the function keys and make them direct action keys (for things like adjusting the brightness and volume).

The most noticeable change to the inside is that the touchpad is no longer dimpled, a trademark feature of ASUS notebooks for some time. Rather, Dell Studio 17 Battery the smooth surface is the same as the rest of the keyboard deck but is very low friction, making it easy to maneuver. We especially like that the touchpad is a good deal larger than before--3.3 x 1.9 inches versus 2.5 x 1.3 inches on the 1201PN. This made multitouch gestures, such as pinch to zoom, much easier to execute. The touch button, too, is much larger, now measuring 3.4 inches wide, up from 2.5 inches. However, it still remains a single button, and is slightly stiff.

Heat

The 1215N remained very cool during our testing. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad area Dell Studio 1737 Battery was just 79 degrees Fahrenheit, the area between the G and H keys was 82, and bottom of the system got up to 90. All are well below what we consider uncomfortable--95 degrees and higher--although the bottom next to the vent reached 105 degrees.

Display, Speakers, and Webcam

The 1366 x 768-pixel display on the 1215N is bright and crisp, though Dell Studio 1535 Battery you have to tilt the lid back a bit to get the best picture, and horizontal viewing angles could be better. The 720p videos streamed from YouTube were detailed and smooth, as were 480p TV shows on Hulu.

The dual speakers underneath the front lip of the 1215N delivered plenty of volume, though we noticed that the sound got muffled when we moved the netbook good battery from the desk to our lap.

The 0.3-MP webcam is improved from before; while our face looked a little pallid on Skype, Sony Laptop Battery it wasn't pixilated, and the image was fairly bright. A new addition is a little sliding cover that physically blocks the webcam, for those times when you'd prefer others not to see you.

Asus N82Jv-X1

The Nvidia Optimus version of this 14-inch system is an improvement Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery over the original, but battery life is still lacking.

The ASUS N82Jv-X1 is a great system that's short on time. It has an eye-catching lid covering a powerful Core i5 processor and a discrete GPU, plus Nvidia's graphics-switching Optimus technology. Unfortunately, like its non-Optimus sibling, a sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery short battery life hinders its endurance, but if you can find an outlet quick enough this system will make sure you don't regret it.

Design

At 5.2 pounds and 13.8 x 9.7 x 1.4 inches, the N82Jv-X1 ($999) is a little heavier and thicker than competitors Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery such as the lighter and slimmer Gateway ID49C08u. Though it's light enough to carry in your bag, the N82Jv-X1's bulk takes up more space than we'd like.

The lid is fitted with an interesting cubed pattern in dark brown that has a metallic VGP-BPS9 effect when the light hits it just right. Similar to the Asus N82JQ-A1, the inside deck is accented with a soft-touch matte finish that helps keep the area fingerprint-free.

The right physical power button (which has a white status VGP-BPS9/S indicator light) and corresponding left instant-on button fit in with the design of the N82Jv-X1, but we would've liked to see shortcut launch keys or dedicated media controls. Having to use a function command to adjust the volume (Function key + F12 to increase or F11 to decrease) during gameplay is slightly annoying.

The ASUS N82Jv's chiclet-style keyboard provided adequate feedback, important when playing first-person shooters, Akku Sony VGP-BPS8 and we have no complaints about the key arrangement. We noticed less flex with the N82Jv-X1 compared to the N82Jq-A1.

The 3.25 x 2-inch touchpad is fairly large and has a textured surface (the same as the cubed pattern on the lid) VGP-BPS8a that prevented our finger from slipping when gaming or navigating through Windows 7. Its single mouse button was a bit stiffer than we'd like, though.

Display and Audio

The glossy 14-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel LED-backlit display Akku HP PB992A produced reasonably bright images and sharp colors, but viewing angles left something to be desired. The screen's high gloss can be a distraction in certain conditions, but the trade-off for deeper colors is worth it. The glare wasn't disruptive even in our well-lit lab, though sunlight was a much larger problem.

When watching videos, playback on the ASUS N82Jv-X1 was smooth and noise-free. Streaming "The Wanda Sykes Show" from Akku HP compaq NX7400 FOX.com was smooth, but picture quality was noticeably pixelated. However, pixelation was absent when watching a 720p trailer of the movie "Takers" streamed in QuickTime.

Despite being positioned below the keyboard, the Altec Lansing speakers were Dell Studio 17 Battery loud and clear while listening to Jay-Z and Tupac via Pandora, and we didn't hear any distortion or tinniness typical of most notebook speakers. Their position on the front lip of the system helps keep the speakers from accidentally being blocked while typing. At maximum volume, the sound isn't overpowering, yet it's loud enough to fill a quiet medium-size room.

Ports and Webcam

The N82Jv-X1 certainly isn't lacking for ports. On the left Dell Studio 1737 Battery side of the system is a VGA connection, headphone and mic inputs, an HDMI port, and a super-fast USB 3.0 port. Hidden behind a small plastic door on the right side is a standard USB 2.0 connector, an eSATA port, and an Ethernet connection. Between the speakers on the front of the system is a 5-in-1 memory card reader.

The 2-megapixel webcam produced clear images when video conferencing through Skype and audio Sony Laptop Battery quality was crystal clear. On the other hand, images were a bit noisy and motion detection lagged a little. The N82Jv-X1 is bundled with ASUS's LifeFrame software that allows you to capture video

and snap pictures, then edit the content and apply special effects. Its facial recognition technology isn't perfect, but the pre-effects in LifeFrame are worth trying out.

The Netbook Revolution is Over. So What Did You Win?

Congratulations! The netbook revolution is over and you won. Monday, Intel Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery announced the general availability of new systems from most major vendors featuring its dual-core Atom N550 processor. The company also shared that it has shipped over 70 million Atom CPUs since it first launched the low-voltage, low-priced platform back in 2008. Yet with so much success has come massive stagnation—and even declines in sales. The problem isn’t that netbooks have failed. On the contrary, they’ve succeeded so well that they have become irrelevant.

To understand where the revolution sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery went wrong, we must go back to its roots. Like many movements, this one was started by a few idealistic academics. Nicholas Negroponte, formerly of MIT, was the Che of cheap computers, heralding a new era of low-cost, long-lasting laptops that would destroy the digital divide. He started out with a radical agenda, promising sub-$100 laptops to children around the world.

The OLPC laptops would not run a bourgeois operating system like Windows. Instead, they would run Sugar, a special VGP-BPS8 version of Linux, the people’s platform. They would even use Marxist technology like mesh networking, which shares an Internet connection “from each computer according to its ability, to each according to its need.”

However, as with many radical movements, OLPC’s populist ideas didn’t put bread—or in this case, little green computers—on the table. Shortages were commonplace and One Laptop Per Child was often more like half a dozen laptops per VGP-BPS8a village. Worse still, trying to surf the Web or compose an e-mail with the XO laptop’s cryptic Sugar UI and cramped keyboard was more difficult than trudging through twenty miles of Siberian winter for a tiny ration of spoiled borscht.

As the OLPC-kevites struggled to gain power and influence among the people, their Akku HP PB992A core ideals were co-opted by the man. ASUS’s Eee PC 701 gave lip service to Negroponte’s radical agenda: small 7-inch size, long battery life, and a Linux OS, but when you peaked below the hood, you saw capitalist components like a Celeron processor and a licensed, proprietary version of Xandros. Still, the original Eee PC had an ideology; it was designed as a secondary device for surfing the Web and sending e-mail only, not as a smaller laptop.

During this early revolutionary period, Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery many interesting ideas were floated. Some companies, like Everex, thought that a gOS-based platform was the future. Others, like Emtec with its Gdium Liberty 1000, wanted to start an anarchist state, so they built a netbook without an operating system or The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.

Learn Morehard drive, and invited the people to bring their own flash drives. In its original Mini-Note, HP even tried a VIA processor that ran hot enough to sterilize a Federline.

But despite these unique experiments, the bourgeois class began to demand creature comforts like 10-inch screens, 5,400 rpm VGP-BPS9 hard drives, and familiar operating systems. Intel obliged by developing its Atom platform, which first appeared in late Spring 2008. Suddenly, everyone from Acer to Viewsonic was building netbooks and Microsoft even lowered its prices for the new category, saying “let them have Windows XP.”

Since that time, the entire notebook world has changed, mostly for the better. Netbooks VGP-BPS9/S helped PC manufacturers to focus on low-cost and long battery life. They proved that, for many users, having the fastest processor isn’t nearly as important as having a light-weight system that lasts all day on a charge. So netbooks began to morph from the hippie on the corner shouting “down with optical drives” to the CEO in the boardroom, editing spreadsheets on his HP Mini 5102. They grew as large as 12-inches in size, started carrying huge hard drives, and offering HD screens with Graphics chips are responsible for processing all images sent to your computer?s display.

Learn Morediscrete graphics.

Ultraportable notebooks began to get more affordable too. Where Dell Studio 17 Battery 12- and 13-inch notebooks were once the exclusive province of business executives with over $1,000 to spend, a new generation of ultra-low voltage consumer and small business systems appeared with prices under $600 and battery lives close to those of their netbook counterparts.

So Sony Laptop Battery what are your considerable spoils from this revolution? Cheaper, lighter, longer-lasting portable computers. In other words, a huge win.

However, dual-core processors are just the latest in a long line of improvements to the netbook that make it nothing more than a 10 or 11-inch Dell Studio 1737 Battery ultraportable laptop, a far cry from its radical beginnings as a secondary web-focused device. How long until vendors give up the ghost, stop calling them netbooks, and begin to market them as 10-inch notebooks? Tiny as they are, many people use them for Microsoft Office, photo editing, or even playing World of Warcraft at a low resolution.

Today’s revolutionaries come from the smart phone and tablet worlds. Companies like Apple, Dell Studio 1535 Battery Google, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung are the new radicals pushing a web-connected future of secondary devices with many of the leading netbook vendors (ASUS, Acer, HP, MSI, etc) looking to join the insurgency. Let’s just hope this generation sticks to its ideals.

Online Editorial Director Avram Piltch oversees the production and infrastructure good battery of LAPTOP’s web site. With a reputation as the staff’s biggest geek, he has also helped develop a number of LAPTOP’s custom tests, including the Notebook batteries provide power to the system whenever it’s unplugged.

Learn MoreLAPTOP Battery Test. Catch the Geek’s Geek column here every other week or follow Avram on twitter.

Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011

This suite includes an intuitive interface, 10GB of online storage, Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery and thorough protection against identity thieves.

You may know Webroot best for free security software, particularly its tools designed to make web surfing safer. However, the company offers one of the most compelling security suites we've tested, Internet Security Complete. In addition sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery to a simple interface, it offers a generous 10GB of storage, as well as thorough identity theft protection and an easy way to port your security settings to other PCs you may be using. If it offered parental controls, it would be practically perfect.

User Interface and Setup

After installing the 300MB program, we had to restart once, making it a pretty painless process. The program's user interface Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery is intuitive, and does a particularly good job of keeping the home screen streamlined while quarantining a host of advanced settings elsewhere.

Like other security programs, Internet Security Complete relies heavily on green, yellow, VGP-BPS9 and red color-coding to communicate to users that their PCs are either safe or in danger. If your PC is secure, for example, the home screen will appear green with a large check mark and the words, "You are protected." You'll see a short list underneath showing how many items have been removed, how many have been blocked, and most importantly, when your last update took place.

Beneath that is a row of four squares, the VGP-BPS9/S program's pillars: Identity & Privacy, PC Security, Sync & Sharing, and System Cleaner. Each has a color-coded icon in the upper left-hand corner that lets you know how well your PC is covered in that area (e.g., a green check mark or yellow exclamation point). Roll over each square to see a pop-up menu that lets you edit settings in that category.

If you click Edit Settings, you'll be taken to one centralized page where there are settings tabs for each section Dell Studio 17 Battery of the program. We appreciated having a one-stop shop for adjusting settings instead of having to bounce around through menus. These settings, too, can be advanced for users who crave that kind of control. For instance, users can modify the filters allowing content through the firewall, as well as decide which third-party applications' files are subject to cleanup (more on that when we get to the program's PC tune-up features). When you're done, a home button sits in the upper left-hand corner, which will you bring you back to the minimalist main screen.

Performance and PC Tune-Up

In addition to scanning for malware, Webroot also includes ratings next to search results Dell Studio 1737 Battery in a web browser, and attempts to block unsafe sites (users can bypass these warnings at their own risk). While Webroot isn't tested by Anti-Virus Comparatives or AV-Test.org, it did pass West Coast Labs' and ICSA Labs' tests for virus detection and removal. Power users will appreciate Gamer mode, which delays routine scans while a game is in progress. Users (or the parents of users) can also set time limits on their gaming--say, four hours--to ensure they don't get carried away.

Like other security suites, such as McAfee Dell Studio 1535 Battery Total Protection, Webroot Internet Security Complete caused Firefox to launch in two seconds, not one, a small blip for end users. What impressed us most, though, was that it shrank our boot-up time from 1:17 to a much shorter 43 seconds (Total Protection brought the startup time down to 54 seconds).

As with the rest of the interface, the PC optimization feature, called System Cleaner, is easy for novices to use, but also offers enough advanced options to satisfy more tech-savvy users. You can simply click Cleanup Now to run all of the cleanup processes, which removes Internet items, Windows and Microsoft Office files, VGP-BPS13B/Q and third-party application files, as well as permanently delete files. Or, you can disable any of these processes, even customizing which browsers and third-party applications are exempt. Norton 360, to name a formidable competitor, doesn't have a button for running all of these processes at once, nor does it offer as many advanced settings. Best of all: it's fast. Our system cleanup took just 13 seconds (you can see on-screen how much time has elapsed).

Identity Protection

The software also has robust identity protection controls, which are located not in the desktop VGP-BPS13/B client, but at my.webroot.com. Through these controls, you can add favorite sites, as well as your passwords for them. You can also add profiles containing information that you're frequently asked to fill in, including credit card numbers. By default the anti-spam filter is turned off, but the anti-phishing tool is enabled.

Although we sometimes resented having tot launch our browser to access this feature, we appreciate that working in the browser allows users to install a toolbar (Firefox and IE-compatible) that lets users fill in forms and passwords no matter what Dell GD761 Battery computer they're using. As an added bonus, Webroot throws in a free credit report so that users can make sure their reputations are still pristine.

Backup

Webroot Internet Security Complete comes with a generous 10GB of online backup, whereas most of its competitors offer 2GB. Setting up an online account was easy: through a website, we provided our e-mail address and selected a password, whose strength Webroot rated on a weak-to-strong spectrum. Once you've toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery signed up, you can view your stored files, identity protection settings, and remaining free space at my.webroot.com.

In addition to the relatively large amount of storage space, the versatile features offered in Webroot's dell Vostro 1710 Battery online backup won us over. Not only can users back up and store files, but they can be synced across multiple PCs. Use the Magic Briefcase feature to do the syncing, and Web Archive to save multiple versions of a file. Also, when you upload photos, you can create an album whose link can be shared with either the public or specific friends (you can always keep your stuff private, too). There's even a music player for audio files stored in the cloud. While every security suite offers online backup, Internet Security Complete is the only one that pulls extra duty as a file syncer, cloud-based music player, and photo sharing service.

Parental Controls

If one thing is missing from this feature-rich, beautifully designed security suite, it's Sony Laptop Battery parental controls. For some people, of course, this won't be a deal-breaker, but parents who take comfort in being able to monitor and even control their childrens' web surfing, chatting, and social networking will be more satisfied with suites such as Norton Symantec 360, which offers thorough parental controls that cater to different parenting styles (e.g., those who seek to keep kids from doing certain things, and others who just want to keep an eye on what they're doing).

Verdict

Although parents looking to monitor their childrens' computer use will be good battery disappointed (we recommend they check out Symantec Norton 360 for $69.99 a year instead), we still like Webroot Internet Security Complete (a relatively pricey $79.95 per year) for its simple user interface, and rich identity protection settings. Additionally, you get a generous (and more usable) 10GB of online backup. If you don't require parental controls, its interface and practical amount of storage won't disappoint.

Help Me

Help Me, LAPTOP! Should I Get a Tablet to Take Akku HP Compaq PB992A Overseas to College?

It’s not just businessmen and women who travel abroad. Students, too, go overseas for college, and like those they’ll eventually join on that long gray line, need something portable yet powerful. Ri, one such student, is looking for such Akku TK330 a laptop, and possibly one that’s a tablet, too.

Ri writes:

I’m a high school student going overseas for college next year in January and so I’m planning VGP-BPS8 on getting a new laptop to go with me. Currently I own a netbook and a 4 year old Fujitsu T4210, but they’re both proving to be too slow for strenuous use. So, I’m looking for a practical laptop for some serious work, including elaborate powerpoint presentations, basic graphic design and relatively intense video editing that isn’t overly heavy (anything around 2kg will do me good) and won’t have me living off the nearest power outlet, as I constantly work on the go.

I’ve done some research and is quite interested in Alienware MX11, HP VGP-BPS9/B Battery Touchsmart, Fujitsu T900 and Toughbook C1. Because I’ve been using tablet PCs for 4 years, I’m not sure if I’ll be comfortable without one but they are more expensive that normal laptops; however are more portable than typical laptops and more practical than netbooks. At the same time though, I can forgo some of the computing power on the laptop as I have the option of bringing my heavy-duty desktop overseas with me and choose to have a laptop that is portable and practical for note taking, report writing and won’t lag when VGP-BPS9A/B Battery multi-tasking and running simple presentations. Especially with a very flexible budget, I’m torn between buying a tablet netbook AND a practical laptop or just heavy-duty tablet and or a good old traditional laptop. Please help!!

First off, I would say to leave the desktop at home; you don’t want to schlep that thing overseas. If you feel you can’t live VGP-BPS9 without a tablet, we very much like the Panasonic Toughbook C1, which, although quite expensive (around $2,800 for the configuration we tested) has the benefit of being a rugged system. A less expensive option is the Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet; when we reviewed the system, it cost around $1,900, but now a base model (Core i5 processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB The storage device that holds your OS, programs, and data.

Learn Morehard drive) costs $1,499—just be sure to get the extended battery if you’re going to VGP-BPS9/S be on the go all day. However, since both have Graphics chips are responsible for processing all images sent to your computer?s display.

Learn Moreintegrated graphics, neither is particularly Sony Laptop Battery suited for intense video editing. We would advise against buying a tablet netbook; in our experience, their weaker processors make for a less than desirable tablet experience.

If you don’t need a tablet, then the Alienware M11x would be a good fit for a laptop that not only is powerful, but lasts a good while, too. You may just want to invest in a larger monitor for when you get back to your dorm room. Other options would be Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro which, while its GPU good battery isn’t as strong as Alienware’s, can also do a fair amount of video editing, and has excellent endurance and a larger screen

Test HP EliteBook 2540p Subnotebook Display

Die 12.1-Zoll (30.7 cm) WXGA-Anzeige des Elitebook 2540p löst mit 1.280 × 800 Bildpunkten sony akku (16:10) auf. Das eingesetzte Panel wurde entspiegelt. Im Gegensatz zu den üblichen HD Ready Auflösungen (1.366 x 768; 16:9) stellt das verwendete Format einen Zwischenschritt auf dem Weg zum 4:3 Seitenverhältnis dar.

Ein übersichtliches Arbeiten gestaltet sich wegen der VGP-BPS8 geringen Bildhöhe zum Teil schwierig. Große Excel Dokumente, Website-Backends oder Unternehmens-Software mit fixen Abmessungen stoßen mit nur 800 Pixeln Höhe schnell an ihre Grenzen. Ob das ein Kritikpunkt ist, das liegt aber im Ermessen des Anwenders. Viele Nutzer werden die WXGA-Auflösung einfach als ansprechend groß und nicht zu klein empfinden.

Für ein Arbeits-Subnotebook ist das Panel passabel aber nicht perfekt. Das Anti-Glare verhindert Reflexionen, aber der Schwarzwert von VGP-BPS8A 1.45 mit dem Kontrast von 139:1 sind sehr gering.

Eine Besonderheit der EliteBooks ist das Fehlen VGP-BPS9 von HDMI zu Gunsten von DisplayPort. Hier können wir externe Anzeigen mit bis zu 2.560 x 1.600 Pixeln anschließen. HDMI würde dasselbe ermöglichen, jedoch müsste HP für die Nutzung eine Lizenzgebühr abführen. DisplayPort-TFTs gibt es in 22-Zoll bereits ab 190 Euro.

Die Luminanz des 12.1-Zollers liegt mit durchschnittlich 195 cd/m² auf keinem hohen Standard. Perfekt helle Outdoor-Begleiter liegen bei VGP-BPS9A/B 230 bis 300 cd/m². Die Ausleuchtung ist mit 90 Prozent sehr gleichmäßig, der hellste Punkt misst 202 cd/m².

Die Helligkeit kann automatisch per Umgebungslichtsensor eingestellt werden. Der sitzt im VGP-BPS9/S unteren Rahmen des TFTs. Je nach Helligkeit im Raum regelt die Sensorik die Leuchtstärke der LEDs im Panel. Unter Sonnenlicht dreht das Hintergrundlicht auf Maximal. Bei Nacht regelt es sich bis fast auf 100 cd/m² herunter.

Grund für den Sensor ist das Energiesparen sowie die VGP-BPS10 Augenschonung. Weil das Hintergrundlicht mit 3 bis 5 Watt zu Buche schlägt, ergeben Sparmaßnahmen an dieser Stelle Sinn. Zudem ist ein zu helles TFT in einer dunklen Arbeitsumgebung eine Belastung für die Augen. Dem Nutzer wird das manuelle Nachstellen abgenommen. Für die Helligkeitsmessung war der Umgebungslichtsensor per Fn+F11 deaktiviert.

Anti-Glare, perfekt für Draußen? In der Tat ist die Entspiegelung eines Panels die erste und wichtigste Voraussetzung für entspanntes VGP-BPS13A/B Arbeiten unter Tageslicht. Wie wir den 2540p auch halten und wenden, keine Spiegelungen stören. Die nur durchschnittliche maximale Helligkeit von 195 cd/m² ist aber zu gering, um den Beifall der Redaktion zu erhalten. Nebenstehende Fotos zeigen das Displaypanel bei leichter Bewölkung. Bei frontalem akku Blick reicht die Luminanz aus, seitlich kann es schon deutlich abdunkeln. Steigt die Intensität der direkten Sonnenstrahlen an, so wird die Anzeige für das angenehme Arbeiten zu dunkel.

Stabile Blickwinkel stehen für hochwertige Notebook-Panels, denen bei seitlichem Blick auf die Anzeige VGP-BPS2 nicht gleich Helligkeit und Farben abhandenkommen. In dieser Disziplin schlägt sich der 2540p nur durchschnittlich. Der 12.1-Zoller hat die gleiche geringe Blickwinkelstabilität wie geschätzte 80 Prozent unserer Testnotebooks: Vertikal schlecht, horizontal ausreichend.

Wer von seitlich oder oben in die Anzeige schaut, der erlebt VGP-BPS2C massiv invertierte Farben und ein verdunkeltes Bild. Horizontal gibt es nur bis 45 Grad klare Farben. Danach invertieren selbige deutlich und die Helligkeit fällt deutlich ab. Von der Elite-Klasse der HP Business-Notebooks hatten wir uns etwas mehr versprochen. Die akku Farb-Stabilität eines Desktop-TFTs kann das EliteBook bei weitem nicht bieten.

Test HP EliteBook 2540p Subnotebook Leistung

Die Maximalbestückung des 12.1-Zollers EliteBook 2540p ist ein Core i7-640LM (2.13 GHz). Wir haben VGP-BPS2C uns diese Variante statt des Alternativen Core i5-540M (2.53 GHz) in die Redaktion geholt. Der 540M ist kein Low Voltage Prozessor, was der Akkulaufzeit des mobilen Gerätes im Test geschadet hätte.

Die 640LM-Westmere-CPU hat nativ zwei VGP-BPS8 Kerne mit je 2.13 GHz (Standard-Takt). Der reale Takt variiert ständig zwischen diesem Standard und 2.93 GHz (Intel Turbo-Boost). Der Turbo ist eine prozessorgesteuerte Übertaktung, bei der je nach Anforderung durch Single- oder Mehrkern-Anwendungen einzelne Kerne VGP-BPS8A übertaktet werden.

Das Hyper-Threading Feature des Core i7-640LM stellt vier Rechenkerne zur sony akku Verfügung, zwei davon virtuell. Anwendungen können demnach auf bis zu vier Threads zugreifen. Turbo-Boost greift natürlich auch bei den virtuellen Cores.

Der 640LM hat inklusive Speichercontroller und VGP-BPS9 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD einen TDP von 25 Watt. Für einen Low Voltage Prozessor erscheint das viel. Ein Core i5-520UM hat einen TDP von 18 Watt (Acer Aspire 1830T). Die Intel HD taktet mit 266-566 MHz (variabel wenn kein Turbo Boost aktiv) und VGP-BPS9A/B erreicht 1.205 3DMarks2006.

Unverständlich sind die knauserigen 2.048 MB DDR3 (PC3-10700, Hyundai) auf dem Mainboard. Der VGP-BPS9/S einzige Speicher-Slot unter der Klappe auf der Unterseite ist leer. Wir vermuten, dass die zwei Gigabyte aufgelötet sind. In dieser gehobenen Preisklasse sollte ein Speicher-Upgrade erst bei vier Gigabyte beginnen und nicht schon bei zwei.

Wie schnell rechnet der Core i7-640LM? Wir nutzen den Cinebench R10 Single (32bit) zur Analyse. Beim Rechnen mit nur einem der vier Threads (Turbo Boost bis 2.933 GHz) schafft das Testsystem 2.980 Punkte. Alle Achtung, viele unserer 15-, 17- und VGP-BPS10 18-Zoll Multimedia-Notebooks mit i7-720QM liegen auf einem identischen Niveau (z. B. Asus G51J, Dell Precision M6300). Testgeräte mit i5-520M liegen im Durchschnitt mit 3.050 Punkten geringfügig höher (z. B. Samsung NP-R580-JS03DE).

Die Erfolgsmeldungen in Sachen Low Voltage Performance setzen sich im Vergleich mit den bisher stärksten Low Voltage Core 2 Duo Prozessoren fort.VGP-BPS13A/B Ein SP9400 (2.4 GHz) dümpelt mit 2.650 Punkten dahin (Dell Latitude E4300). Ein SL9400 (1.86 GHz) schafft gerade mal 2.205 Punkte (Lenovo ThinkPad X200s). Der niedrig taktende SU9400 (1.4 GHz) ist mit seinen 1.532 Punkten weit abgeschlagen (Panasonic Toughbook CF-W8).

Der Turbo Boost des i7 treibt den 2540p in Single Core Anwendungen also zur Höchstleistung. Tritt dasselbe VGP-BPS2 bei den relevanteren Multi-Thread-Operationen ein? Wir prüfen mit dem Cinebench R10 Multi (32bit). Unser Testsystem taktet jeden Thread mit 2.3 bis 2.66 GHz und holt für sich 6.043 Punkte heraus. Jetzt rennen die im Single-Core-Test etwa gleichwertigen i7-720QM-Notebooks dem Low Voltage Modell mit 7.800 bis 10.000 Punkten davon (z. B. Toshiba Qosmio X500-10V). Auch ein i5-520M ist mit zirka 6.819 Punkten etwas besser (z. B. Dell Vostro 3500).

Selbstmitleid ist jedoch unnötig, denn der i7-640LM im 2540p ist um Längen besser als der Core i5-520UM aus der Consumer-Ecke (3.368 Punkte, Aspire 1830T). Sofern übertaktet (Asus PL30JT, Asus UL30JT) schafft der 520UM aber auch schon sony VGP-BPS2C einmal 5.225 Punkte. Auch die im Single-Thread Test überholten Schwestermodelle SP9400 (5.000 Punkte) und SL9400 (3.850 Punkte) sind abermals durch den 640LM geschlagen.

Die Low Voltage CPU im EliteBook 2540p bietet folglich eine hohe Rechengeschwindigkeit, die deutlich oberhalb der früheren Core 2 Duo Low Voltage Elite liegt. Wer vermutet, dass sich dies in einer brachialen i7-Anwendungsperformance zeigt, der hat zum Teil sogar Recht.

Der PCMark Vantage ermittelt 5.149 Punkte. Dieser Score toppt den i5-520UM (übertaktet, Asus PL30JT-RO030X, 4.536 Punkte) und schlägt das Acer Aspire 1830T-52U4G32n deutlich (nicht übertaktet, 3.950 Punkte). Selbst das schnellste SP9400-System (Dell Latitude E4300, 7.200 U/Min HDD) gibt sich mit seinen 3.732 Punkten akku geschlagen.

Die Anwendungsleistung liegt knapp auf dem Niveau von i5-430M-Notebooks mit Mittelklasse GPUs (z. B. HP ProBook 6540b WD690E). i7-720QM-Systeme liegen je nach Geschwindigkeit ihrer Festplatte bei 5.091 (Deviltech Fire DTX) oder auch bei 6.225 Punkten (MSI GX740-i7247LW7P). Die Aussage, das akku EliteBook 2540p arbeitet auf echtem Core i7-Niveau ist damit gültig, wohl aber wiederlegbar.

Es hätten noch einige Punkte mehr im PCMark Vantage werden können. Die Toshiba Festplatte (Typ MK1633GSG) mit einer Bruttokapazität von 160 GByte ist vergleichsweise langsam. Sie arbeitet zwar mit den üblichen 5.400 U/Min, aber es handelt sich um eine 1.8-Zoll microSATA HDD.

HDTune ermittelt im sequentiellen Lesen einen Durchschnittswert von 43.4 Megabyte pro Sekunde. Dieser Durchsatz liegt deutlich unter dem Durchschnitt von 2.5-Zoll Festplatten. Hieraus resultiert die niedrige HDD-Score im PCMark Vantage von 3.046 Punkten.

Die Festplatte stellt damit den größten Performance-Unterschied zwischen dem 2540p und den größeren akku EliteBooks/ProBooks 8540w und 4720s. Dort verbaut HP standardmäßig schnelldrehende 7.200 U/Min Festplatten (zirka 80 MB/s), welche tendenziell zu einer besseren Systemleistung führen (PCMark Vantage HDD-Score: 4.000 Punkte).