Review : Asus Zenbook UX31A

The Asus ZenBook UX31A is exactly what the first generation of ZenBooks should have been. While it still inhabits a head turning, champagne coloured aluminium chassis, it’s more than just an Ivy Bridge update. Asus’ latest puts in a vastly improved, backlit keyboard and swaps out the Sentelic pad for an Elan, something that was done midway through production of the original Asus ZenBook UX21A adapter. The Elan experience is worlds better in tracking and reliability, and also enables the simultaneous-double-tap gesture, which is interpreted as a right click. The only issue we’ve found with the Elan pad so far is to do with old Windows help files (of .CHM format), where double finger scrolling for some reason also magnifies the page uncontrollably. It’s an vanishingly niche problem, but nonetheless exists.

Running the Zenbook Prime show is a third generation (Ivy Bridge) Intel Core i7-3517U CPU, which is an ultra-low-voltage (17W) CPU with a 1.9GHz frequency (it can go up to 2.4GHz in this Ultrabook in Turbo Boost mode), two cores and Hyper-Threading. It’s a CPU that gives this Ultrabook a lot of power for Asus ZenBook UX31A AC adapter regular office tasks, and it can also be used for transcoding media files (when you want to convert files for use on a mobile device, for example). It’s accompanied by 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM (1600MHz) and a 256GB SanDisk U100 solid state drive, which has a formatted capacity of 220GB. It’s a strong configuration all up, and it allowed the Zenbook Prime to put up good results in our tests.

The ASUS UX31A is an Ultrabook with a Full HD 1920x1080 13.3” display. It is powered by Intel’s Ivy Bridge processor and features an Intel HD 4000 GPU. Having an Intel Centrino N 6205 Wi-Fi module, the Ultrabook is capable of Intel’s Wireless Display technology (WiDi). Unlike its smaller sibling UX21A the UX31A does feature a full size SD Card reader.

Despite the squeaking space bar and a cursor that sometimes skipped all over the screen as we typed, the Asus ZenBook UX32A adapter offers a much better overall user experience than its predecessor. It’s comfortable for lap use, its keyboard is enjoyable to type on and, above all, it’s screen is simply beautiful to look at, whether you’re working on documents, editing photos or watching movies.

ASUS has one of the more well-received Ultrabooks with their Zenbook line, no thanks to its sharp and beautiful all-aluminium chassis with Bang and Olufsen ICEpower audio, and later from their Prime models, a full HD 1920×1080 IPS+ panel even on the diminutive 11.6” UX21A. Today, we take a look at their latest 1.4kg creation with Windows 8 touch capabilities added – Zenbook Touch.

You would not believe the number of registration questions and silly widgets that fire up the first time you start the UX31a. It is such a shame and totally detracts from the otherwise entirely slick experience. The packaging looks great, so does the laptop, so why do this to Windows.

Put to the test with our colorimeter, the Full HD display delivers: the 1032:1 contrast ratio and a maximum brightness of 424cd/m2 are as good as laptop displays get, and the average Delta E of 3.1 indicates outstanding colour reproduction. If we have a moan, it’s minor: the panel’s 6185K colour temperature is some way off the Asus ZenBook UX21A AC adapter, and lends images a warm, rosy tint.

As you might expect, the internal components have also been updated. The older Sandy Bridge processor has been replaced with a new Ivy Bridge Intel Core i7-3517U running at 1.9GHz. With Turbo Boost, it can reach a lofty 3GHz, and Windows will see four separate CPU cores thanks to Hyper-Threading. The ZenBook Prime sped through our multimedia benchmarks, scoring 58 overall, and the 256GB SSD helps speed up boot times and leads to snappy performance.

I have good vision, but even I was straining my eyes a bit to read text at native resolution and scaling. Turning Windows’ scaling up to 125 percent or 150 percent should alleviate the issue for most people, and that small bump doesn’t introduce quite as many problems as does something like 200% scaling. Scaling or no, it can’t be denied that the screen here is head and shoulders above the type of panels usually found in Ultrabooks, and it even beats out the MacBook Air in resolution and viewing angles.

While slightly warmer than its predecessor, the Asus ZenBook UX31A adapter managed to stay pretty cool during our tests. After streaming a Hulu video at full screeen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured 83 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 91 degrees, and the middle of the underside was 92 degrees. All are less than what we consider uncomfortable: 95 degrees.

Retuning for an encore is the same dark lid featuring concentric circles. The 13-inch computer is the same thickness — 0.11 inches in the front, 0.35 inches in the back. It also has the same ports: two USB 3.0, mini VGA, micro HDMI, and an SD card reader. The only noticeably external changes are the screen, which is now super glossy, and the newer Windows logo on the keyboard.

Audio through a speaker grille at the very top of the keyboard tray was predictably thin, despite the Bang & Olufsen ICE Power branding. Audio volume controls are mapped to alternate F-key functions, so you’ll need to hit, for example, Fn+F10 to mute the sound.

Despite the glare and gloss, it has less glare than the competing Samsung Series 7 Ultra with 1080p touch screen: in our comparison video, you’ll note the Samsung looks a little washed out vs. the Asus and that’s because the Asus ZenBook UX32A AC adapter glared like a monster at our video camera, and it really isn’t washed out. The Asus 350 nit display is more than adequate to fight glare in well lit settings and at 50%, it’s almost too bright for in-home use under incandescent lighting. I’ve yet to find a setting where I really want to use 100% brightness.

The CPU performance is not to blame: the Computation  and Productivity scores beat all i5 systems (UX31A with i5: -10 %) and stands at the same level as an i7. The System Storage (a sub-score of PCMark 7) grants the ADATA XM11 a score of 5,332 points, which can compete even with the RAID 0 SSD of the Aspire S7 and S5. The Storage score is found by running multiple read and write tests. We explore the score in more detail using the Crystal Disk Mark and AS SSD benchmarks. The grounds for such a weak overall score is the Entertainment score, which is 105% lower than that of the UX31A with i5 and 85% lower than that of the Dell XPS 13 with the same CPU.

The UX31A Touch’s specs are the makings of a high-end laptop: a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U processor with 4GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD made by ADATA and Intel HD Graphics 4000. Its scores on benchmark tests such as PCMark7 surpassed even similarly configured machines like the Acer Aspire S7, and it offered blazing read and write speeds in the disk benchmark ATTO: a max of 554 MB/s and 523 MB/s, respectively.

The Asus Zenbook Touch UX31A isn’t the perfect ultrabook. Its limited storage capacity and so-so port selection are obvious shortcomings. Even with these flaws, though, it comes close to delivering a superlative Windows 8 experience. Its brilliant, touch-enabled screen, incredibly thin design, and great battery life, make it worthy of serious consideration. Throw in the fact that its $1,100 price tag is on par with its competitors, and it becomes a no-brainer. This is the ultrabook to beat, and it justifiably replaces the Asus ZenBook UX32VD AC adapter as our Editors’ Choice award for high-end ultrabooks.

Specifications:
-1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U Dual-Core Ivy Bridge CPU
- 4GB of DDR3 RAM
- 128GB SATA III 6Gbps Solid State Drive
- Integrated Intel HD 4000 Graphics
- 13.3” Widescreen IPS Antiglare Display
- 1920 x 1080 Native Resolution
- 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0
- Bang and Olufsen ICEpower Speakers
- Integrated Webcam and Microphone
- Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Categories: Asus

Review : Lenovo ThinkPad T440s

Among Lenovo's newest offerings this year is another release in the T-Series lineup, the T440s. With this ultrabook comes all the trimmings you'd expect to see: Windows 8 Pro, a touchscreen display, Intel Haswell under the hood, and the ever-present TrackPoint nestled in the keyboard. The T440s stands out as a larger offering when compared to the ThinkPad X240 we reviewed last month, but in many ways they are the same, targeting the same general type of user but bringing its own flair to the table. Read our full review to find out what the Lenovo T440s offers those in the market for a ThinkPad ultrabook.

Hardware
The ThinkPad T440S is an ultrabook, though it falls on the chunkier side of that laptop spectrum at 0.80-inches thick. The machine features a 14-inch Full HD display, above which sits a 720p HD webcam with low-light sensitivity and face-tracking technology. This is accompanied by 4GB of memory and a 128GB SSD, offering moderate storage. Audio is similar to other products launched this year with Dolby Home Theater version 4.

Under the hood, users will find a fourth-generation Intel Core i5-4200U processor offering up to 2.6GHz, while graphics come by way of Intel HD Graphics 4400. Along with the aforementioned TrackPoint, the T440s features a ThinkPad keyboard with a backlight (Fn + Space allows it to be toggled on and off), as well as a 5-button glass TouchPad. All three work well, with the keyboard being the familiar, somewhat thick-keyed design those familiar with ThinkPads will recognize. The TrackPad is smooth and works well without any hints of sticking or problems detecting touch.

As far as ports go, this ThinkPad model offers a Mini-DisplayPort with audio, as well as a VGA video port, a combo standard 3.5mm MIC/headphone jack, a 4-in-1 SD card reader, Ethernet, and three USB 3.0 ports. Connectivity comes via 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0. The battery is a 3-cell 23.5 Whr in addition to a Power Bridge secondary battery, which is available as either another 3-cell offering or a 6-cell, depending on which the user selects. Using a 6-cell along with the 3-cell, we got phenomenal battery life, coming in at several hours with music playing non-stop and frequent Internet browsing and related activities.

The ThinkPad T440s, as with the X240 of last month, brings with it some new elements to the design, among them being the designation of lightest and thinnest T-Series model thus far. The TrackPad has double the surface area of previous models, and the keyboard brings with it Windows 8-specific function keys, cutting down on work time by making tasks more efficient. This laptop also bears the new Graphite Black cover paint, which is visually pleasant and slightly soft to the touch. There are a couple drop-down hinges that allow for opening to 180-degrees flat, as well as a Hinge Tension Cam-spring for easier opening and closing than in other models. The speakers are hidden and the ports are all black, contributing to a more streamlined look, and the bezel is narrower. Rounding out the design changes is the elimination of ThinkVantage and TrackPoint buttons, as well as the latches.

Security
Given the nature of the ThinkPad T440s, particularly the ultra-durable construction and the targeted user base, it isn't surprising that the model comes with a biometric security element in the form of a finger-print reader. It's a simple, subtle bar located on the right side of the keyboard, entirely unobtrusive enough to be ignored for those who don't want to use it, yet placed in such a way that it is easily accessed to authorize the login.


Performance
To test out the device's performance, we used the trusty Geekbench benchmarks app, the results of which are available below. You can head on over to our Laptop Reviews portal and compare the performance to other laptops, seeing how it held up. The T440s is snappy and runs well, with no performance issues being notable when performing various tasks, whether that be watching videos or browsing the Web. Windows 8 runs well on the system, which isn't surprising given the hardware it is running.

Wrap-Up
The ThinkPad T440s might disappoint you if you're in the market for a very thin, sleek ultrabook, as this model is neither of those things. It is a black-colored, no-nonsense ultrabook with a bit of heft behind it and the durability necessary to handle some pretty rigorous usage. The notebook doesn't stand out too much among other comparable Lenovo laptops, such as the aforementioned X240, but it does stand out among nearly all laptops in terms of battery life.

With the highest-capacity secondary battery used in conjunction with the internal battery, you can get more than 14 hours of usage on this laptop, giving it one of the longest spans among any laptop out there. If you're in the market for durable laptop with a somewhat large display and excellent battery life, the T440s fits the bill all around.

Categories: Lenovo

Review : Dell Precision M3800

The reining laptop maker Dell has introduced a new product to its well-known Precision series, in form of Dell Precision M3800, which claims to have a sturdy body and incredible design and performance. Offered with a thin and light chassis, the device has made a promising entry to impress business as well as home users. The product line offered under this series is widely known for its business-oriented features, power-packed performance and amazing battery life. Dell has incorporated all the essential features of an ideal ultrabook in this 15.6-inches yearly refresh of the series. Owing to its extremely thin screen and minimal weight, the manufacturer has coined the term ‘Mobile Workstation’ to showcase their product along with its two major improvements.

Introduced at the starting price of $1,799, the latest ultrabook by Dell becomes available for purchase during February 2014. Empowered with the Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia Quadro GPU and the Windows 8 Professional OS, the device has been claimed to perform immensely that can boot up to the solid-state drive within just a few seconds. Equipped with a huge segment of ports and enhanced connectivity features, the device allows you to stay connected to your mails and the Internet, no matter where you go. Offered with amazingly thinner and lighter design than the previous Precision series, the gadget can be easily handled during travel, flights, video conferences, remote locations and boardroom meetings.

Design
The entry model is priced at $1.799 but you can upgrade your device to a higher version and configuration, if you’re willing to pay more than this amount. The ultrabook does look quite simple yet attractive at first sight, but its hidden features are at par with the high-tech products that are currently available in the market for business users. Featuring excellent connectivity features, sturdy design and construction, the device is imparted with measurements of 14.65 x 10 x 0.71 inches that makes it ideal for carrying along on flights and travels.

Weighing around 5 pounds, the Precision M3800 is made available in metallic carbon color that provides a rich business look to this tech-advanced gadget. The main unit is carrying the metal, glass, plastic and a rubberized surface that offers convenient handling and sturdy built to the device. The connection between the base unit and the display is managed by hinge, which provides the limited maximum opening angle to the display. Empowered with hinge and a sturdy display lid, the device possesses a 15.6-inch QHD+ Dell UltraSharp LED-backlit display.

The manufacturers have used additional wide view and touchscreen panels that offer smooth functioning of apps while using them through a 5 finger multi-touch feature. The integrated dual audio output, light sensitive HD video webcam, a classic keyboard and various other amazing features make this gadget ideal for business users.

Display
The 15.6-inch ultrabook by Dell possesses QHD+ Dell UltraSharp LED-backlit display. Having a screen resolution of 3200×1800 pixels per inch, the device produces crystal clear and vivid images during boardroom meetings, web conferences and active video playback. Supported by the excellent viewing angles incorporated with multi-touch features, the gadget produces vibrant images and is highly responsive while pausing and resuming the video using touch technology.

Owing to its anti-glare and anti-reflective display surface, the device is best suited for outdoor use, boardroom meetings, travels and other outings. Empowered with ultra-high-resolution displays, the device can easily zoom in to at least 200 percent and allows the user to comfortably read text published on various websites. Having amazing colors and contrast features, the device is efficient in producing a higher degree of contrast and brightness levels that may be as high as 328 Lux.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Trackpoint
The Precision M3800 is well-equipped with a classic full-sized backlit keyboard and twin-button touchpad. The keyboard is having a full plastic finish and is placed right in the center of the device to make it highly comfortable for use. The keys have precise pressure points, low noise emissions and are highly comfortable while typing business documents and official Word files. The keyboard does not have a separate NUM pad but its highly integrated backlit features make it an ideal ultrabook while typing for longer hours in dark environments.

Incorporated with 104 x 80 mm touchpad, the device is holding it just below the keyboard .i.e. exactly in the center of the ultrabook design. The touchpad is highly responsive to several multi-touch gestures when moving the cursor. It’s gliding properties, dedicated buttons and quick reaction speed help you a lot while meeting business deadlines on time. The pointer is very smooth to operate and can be easily moved around the screen with ease. The touchpad supports all the actions related to clicking, swapping, dragging, selecting and others. As per the gadget gurus, a real professional device should always be empowered with the traditional trackpoint but to your disappointment the device misses that.

Ports and Connectivity
Despite being an amazingly thin and light device, the latest ultrabook by Dell carries an unbeatable selection of ports and connectivity points. The port section includes three USB 3.0 ports with PowerShare, an SD card reader, one USB 2.0 with PowerShare, and one mini DisplayPort. You can easily use HDMI or a mini DisplayPort to attach projector screens, Ultra TVs and other large high-resolution external displays. For catering all the requirements of music freaks and voice chat enthusiasts, combined microphone/headphone is incorporated in the device.

Bluetooth technology, several wireless modules and inbuilt Wi-Fi adapter is incorporated for offering excellent connectivity and networking to this device. The Dell Precision M3800′s 720p camera takes colorful images, which makes it highly suitable for web conferences and video chats.

Audio
The bottom front lip-mounted speakers in this device produce satisfactory sound volumes as compared with an ultrabook of its size. Excellent bass and frequency setup makes the background sound crisp but there is a little bit of distortion on higher tones. The device pumps out similar audio than your average ultrabook and scores about 82 decibels, when played in a medium-sized room.

Performance
The device is empowered with a 4th generation Intel Core i7-4702HQ quad core processor and 16GB of DDR3 RAM, which enable it to meet your expectations with better performance and improved multitasking ability. Supported by a 256GB LiteOn SSD, the ultrabook by Dell has the optimal storage capacity to store all of your valuable data on the drive.

An Nvidia Quadro GPU integrated graphics card ensures an amazing experience during light gaming and streaming of your favorite videos. The gadget is running on Windows 8 Pro OS, followed by a 64-bit architecture, and is capable to boot up and wake up from sleep mode within a few seconds. The gadget is equipped with 6-cell 61 Whr battery and promises a battery life of around 6 hours and 54 minutes with continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi connectivity.

Conclusion
Dell Precision M3800 is an ideal ultrabook with enhanced portability and stability features to make it ideal for conferences, outdoors and travels. Empowered with higher RAM and amazing system storage drive, the device needs just a few seconds to boot up and to be active from sleep mode. Owing to its crystal clear display and enhanced sound technology, the gadget provides amazing video and audio support while watching your favorite movies. Offering high comfort while switching between apps with highly responsive Trackpad, the device needs to work upon improving storage capacity, viewing angles, and missing Trackpoint.

Categories: Dell

Review : Alienware 18

There's a premium to be paid, but the massive Alienware 18 is a show-off-worthy desktop replacement that takes down even the newest PC games and is just plain fun to use.

Sometimes nothing will satisfy quite like a desktop-dominating monster with an 18-inch screen and a body built like a tank. After a couple of years of ultrabooks and hybrids, it's surprising how much fun a huge PC, one that barely qualifies to be called a laptop, can be. That's the appeal of the Alienware 18, a rare entry in the oversized gaming laptop space.

Design
A laptop? Technically speaking. Portable? Only in the broadest sense of the word. The Alienware 18 weighs a back-breaking 5.5 kilos without its brick-like power cable and 7 kilos with it. At 2.3 inches thick, it feels as if the keyboard and touch pad are hovering over your desk rather than resting on it.

That issue creates one of the major ergonomic problems I had with the system. The lid itself is thick, so the keyboard sits 1.75 inches above the table versus less than a quarter of an inch for many slim laptops. For gamers who spend a lot of their time with fingers poised on the WASD keys, that can mean your arm and wrist are raised at an awkward angle.

Because the chassis is so large, the standard-size keyboard is set well back from any of the edges. The backlit touch pad is a good size and keeps separate physical left and right mouse buttons rather than using a newer clickpad-style surface. The touch pad is fully backlit, can glow in any of a couple of dozen colours and lights up when touched.

The Alienware 18 has an 18.4-inch display, with a full 1920x1080-pixel native resolution. Playing games pushed all the way to 1080p resolution is stunning, especially games with a lot of eye candy. One issue with the 18-inch screen is that 1080p may not be enough for the highest-end gamers any more.

Performance
Now, it's clear that Alienware parent Dell stacked the deck by sending us a system configured with nearly every high-priced upgrade possible. The Alienware 18 starts at US$2099 and can be ordered with either Windows 7 or Windows 8. Our review configuration included an upgraded Intel Core i7 processor, a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD)/750GB hard drive storage combo, two Nvidia GeForce 780M graphics cards and a whopping 32GB of RAM, possibly the first time we've tested a laptop with that much memory. The cost? A budget-breaking US$4249. (The closest Australian configuration, with 16GB of RAM, runs north of AU$5500.)

The Alienware 18, as configured, ran our BioShock Infinite test (high settings, 1920x1080) at 141 frames per second. The Alienware 14 from earlier this year ran that same test at only 35 frames per second. The very challenging Metro: Last Light test, also at high-quality/high-resolution settings, ran at 35.3fps. Dell's current Alienware 17, with a single GeForce 780M card, ran that same test at 18.7fps.

In an anecdotal test with the Alienware 18, I loaded up Battlefield 4, a new high-end game that's much more ambitious on a PC than on consoles. I was able to crank the video setting up to "ultra" at 1080p without a problem.

Of course, if you're looking for all that performance and decent battery life, too, you're out of luck. The Alienware turned in battery life numbers the likes of which we haven't seen in some time, running for just two hours and 25 minutes in our video playback battery drain test. Note that the GPUs aren't taxed during this test, so actual gaming time could be even less.

Conclusion
Fully tricked out, as our review model was, it's hard not to like the Alienware 18 as a game-playing monster, but it's so big it's likely to eat all your desk space, and gamers this serious are just as likely to go with a build-it-yourself (or at least configure-it-yourself) gaming desktop. Aside from a few ergonomic tics, however, using the system was just plain fun, especially when it easily ate through the latest PC games.

Categories: Dell

Review : Acer Aspire P3-171-6820

The Acer Aspire P3 - 171-6820 is a cleverly designed hybrid / convertible tablet featuring a ten - point touch screen , an ultra - low voltage Core i5 processor , a Bluetooth keyboard case , and a 120GB solid state drive . The keyboard is handy for those times when you do just a keyboard , but it does not do a very good job of supporting the tablet and it has touchpad . Priced at just under $ 900 ( list ) it is relatively affordable hybrid as far away, but it can not match the performance of such pinepresyuhan hybrids , including our current Editors ' Choice , the Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro .

P3 - 171-6820 is packaged in a sleek brushed silver aluminum chassis that weighs 1.7 pounds and measures 11.6 -by - 7.5 -by - 0.04 inches ( HWD ) . A micro - HDMI port and a full - size space share USB 3.0 port on the left side of the tablet with a microphone , left button , and the power jack . On the right side is a headphone / speaker jack , the power button , a battery status indicator , and a volume key . There are already two vents on top , a rear - facing five - megapixel camera on the back , and an embedded at the top of the screen 720p HD camera .

There are two small speakers embedded in the bottom of the tablet . Along with Dolby Home Theater software to bring them to a much bigger sound than the size would indicate , though bass response does not exist . Missing is a slot card reader .

The 11.6 - inch glossy screen has a maximum resolution of 1366 -by - 768 , which is disappointing as it may not show the video in full ( 1080p ) high - definition such as Microsoft Surface Pro and Pro 700T Samsung Ativ SmartPC ( XE700T1C - A01US ) . However , it does a good job with 720p content , sending rich colors , sharp images , and good viewing angles . Screen using 10 - point touch technology , providing effortless and precise swiping , gesturing , pinching and zooming .

Unlike Sony VAIO Duo 11 ( D11213CX ) and Samsung 700T , P3 aspire keyboard is separate and stay that way as it uses Bluetooth technology to communicate with the tablet . Simply snap the tablet keyboard case , press the power button on the top side of the keyboard deck , slide the screen into the groove at the top of the keyboard , and you're ready to type . Beware , though : the tablet will not sit too tight in the groove and can be knocked loose with a slight pressure on the top of the screen .

Typing is pretty comfortable but with large hands may feel a bit cramped . There is no room for a touchpad here either , but there is a mini - USB port on the top left side . The black textured case adds keyboard 0.78 - inch overall thickness of P3 - 171-6820 and 1:32 - pounds to the overall weight .

The 120GB drive is loaded with Windows 8 and the usual assortment of apps including Skype , Amazon Kindle , Netflix , and trail versions of MS Office and McAfee Internet Security Suite . There is also eShopping , eReading , and iCookbook programs , as well as software and Nero Backitup Acer Cloud .

Rounding out the feature set is Wi - Fi a / b / a / and Bluetooth 4.0 radio , mini - USB to full - sized USB adapter ( for use with the keyboard ) , and a micro - HDMI to VGA video dongle . Acer P3 covered with a standard one- year warranty .

Categories: Acer

Review : Alienware 17

Design
Alienware 17 is very much similar to the Alienware 18. Apart of the size both are very much identical to each other. Its solid body feels very high-end in the hand with a soft touch hand. Most of the part of its body is made from gray anodized aluminum with a thick band of black. Its edges are also very soft and rounded throughout the design. It has a 17.9 x 12.9 x 2.23-2.23 inch dimension with 9.2 lbs weight out of 9.4 pounds on its own and 11.4 pounds with its power cable which is still heavy but noticeably lighter. Its keyboard tray has a 1.75 inch size which is good for gamer who spend a lot of their time on the WASD keys. Its large keys are placed at the top to avoided accidental keystrokes. It has the large Shift, Control and other keys often used in PC gaming are very well placed. It has also a full number pad to its right side. Its touch pad has a good size which keeps separate physical left and right mouse buttons. At the left side of it we have a Kensington lock slot and the power jack towards the rear with HDMI and Mini-Display port in the middle. It has also 2 USB 3.0 port as well as three audio jacks towards the front. On the left side it has a glossy power button glowed warmly due to its elegant lighting. Similarly on its right side it has LAN port with 2 USB 3.0 ports are pushed all the way to the back. On its front edge it has two speakers with a 2 megapixel camera along an integrated stereo microphone. It has wrapping a strip of light around the sides and backlighting the touchpad which gives it a cool and fabulous look. Its logo in the bizel and keyboard light up as well. Just like its previous generation user can choose or custom their own profile which gives option to user who can assign 20 colors to each of the notebook’s 10 zones.

Display
Screen is one of the key feature when you selecting a laptop for purchasing and especially when you want to purchase it for gaming purpose. It has a dynamic and large 17.3 inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels along full HD display. Its screen is not glossy as on the Alienware 17. Its anti-glare display is specially appreciated and prevent the annoying glare that glossy display exhibit. It gives us an eye- catching bright, Clean and colorful display. Its color reproduction is quite decent but it is not suitable for professional graphic artist. Its viewing angles are as broad as you'd expect on an IPS display, you shouldn't have any trouble working with the machine in your lap, or sharing the screen with a friend while you watching movies with your friends and family, you can watch display from any angle or any place (Indoor or outdoor). It has an IPS display which is "nice to have" on a laptop. It has a full HD display which will give pleasure especially when you play the games on it then you will realize the actual quality of its screen. Picture quality is also very good with its color balancing. It has some minor bleeding in the upper and lower display edges. With the 307 lux, it’s outperforming both the 249 lux desktop replacement average and the 240 lux display of the GT70. Its display panel is matte and decently bright, especially when looking at the dark screen content.

Speakers
Alienware 17 provides you a two quality stereo speaker mounted at the bottom side of the laptop under the palm rest. Its volume output is loud and good enough for a small conference room. Its audio performance is also up to standard and you will enjoy a quality sound during video conference, movies, listening songs or playing 3D games. We don’t have any issue with its sound quality even when we turned up to its volume, although the speakers start distorting at around 75%. It has a Dolby Home Theater v4 audio (tuned stereo speakers, headphone output and audio processing software) which deliver a better multimedia experience. It has a VoIP conversation as well as other sounds like explosions which gives good pleasure to the user while he playing games.

Battery
Alienware 17 gives you a (86WH) good battery which provides you a nine hours battery backup. Due to its different power saving options its battery back time can increase 4 more hours. So it is fair to say that you can not spend much time away from outlet. On the Laptop Battery Test (web surfing through Wi-Fi) Alienware 17 score 4 hours and 9 minutes which is jut 2 minutes less than average time that is 4 hours 11 minutes. During the gaming test battery give us just an hour and than we have to recharge it. Important thing is that the GPU performance is severely reduced.

Performance
Alienware 17 has a 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 4800MQ power full processor with 16GB of RAM and 1600MHZ DDR3 SDRAM. In addition it has a 4 GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 780M. It is perfectly capable of handling any streaming HD video you want to watch and can even play some games. Its non gaming application performance is better than Alienware 18 with Core i7 even if you are a heavy multitask person. Because Aliemware 17 is a gaming laptop so here its gaming performance is a matter which is good. It has three storage drives. First one is a 256GB SSD. Secondary it has 750GB hard drive which can increase up to 16 and 32 GB of RAM is available. You will enjoy for playing the latest 3D games and intensive work like Adobe Photoshop and video editing. In PC Mark 7 test Alienware 17 scores 4193 points which is an average score. Similarly it takes 35 seconds for booting Windows 7 which match the average time. On the other hand file transfer test it duplicated 4.97GB of multimedia files in 28 seconds which is well above the average time.

Conclusion
Alienware 17 is very much similar to the Alienware 18. It has a good solid and thick body with its soft edges rounded throughout the design. It has a good gaming laptop but apart of gaming its performance is up to average. It has a large 17.3 inch large LCD with 1920 x 1080 pixels along full HD display. Although its claim that it has a good battery backup but this battery is not good for a gaming laptop. It has a good pear of stereo speaker which producing a quality sound. It is a good gaming laptop but it is not good for business purpose.

Categories: Dell

Review : Dell Chromebook 11

Affordable Chromebook announced by Dell : 
Dell announced the expansion of its portfolio of next generation learning solutions with the Dell Chromebook 11, an affordable and portable Chromebook designed to facilitate integration of technology in the classroom for teachers, students and administrators. Wrapping into Dell’s end-to-end education portfolio, the Dell Chromebook 11 is a laptop that is fast, secure and allows easy-to-manage access to applications and content. The new Chromebook joins Dell’s next generation learning solutions that deliver an optimal combination of platforms, education content and secure IT efficiency that schools and universities are seeking to personalize the learning experience and improve student outcomes.

Dell Chromebook 11 features:
The Dell Chromebook features exceptional manageability and security with an easy to use web-based console that enables centralized configuration and tracking. The management console allows IT administrators and teachers to quickly push or remove applications and enforce safe browsing practices across all Chromebooks in a school’s network or in a specific learning environment. Automated updates and security features like sandboxing, verified boot, data encryption and easy recovery block or avoid malware, viruses and data loss, saving significant time on maintenance and troubleshooting so that educators can focus on student success.

16GB embedded Solid State Drive:
With its slim design and high performance, the Dell Chromebook 11 features 4th Generation Intel Celeron 2955U processor, 11.6-inch screen, up to 10-hours of battery life and vto facilitate a fast boot-time of under 8.4 seconds. The Dell Chromebook 11 will be available in two models, one which includes 4GB of internal DDR3 RAM, and the other which includes 2GB of RAM. This provides options for the education ecosystem, allowing students, teachers and administrators to access, create and collaborate throughout the day at a price point that makes widespread student computing initiatives affordable.

Exciting opportunities for collaborative learning:
The Dell Chromebook 11 features an 11.6-inch, edge-to-edge glass screen that produces amazing viewing clarity at a maximum resolution of 1366x768 pixels and is powered by Intel HD Graphics. The high-performing display coupled with a front-facing 720p web camera creates exciting opportunities for collaborative learning in a variety of learning environments. With Dell’s 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, students can easily and quickly connect to wireless networks. The Dell Chromebook 11 is less than one inch in height and starts at 2.9lbs, making it highly portable. With two USB 3.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0 and an HDMI port, students and educators have endless possibilities for collaborating, creating, consuming and displaying content.

Dell Chromebook 11 pricing & availability:
The Dell Chromebook 11 price is expected to be around $300 USD. Prices may vary from country to country. The Dell Chromebook 11 4GB configuration will be available January 2014. The Dell Chromebook 11 2GB configuration will be available during the first quarter of 2014. Availability of optional Chromebook accessories may differ depending on the country. Please visit the Dell website in your country for more information.

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