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All posts tagged "ultralight"


Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sony's VAIO Z Hands-on Review: Super Powerful and Expensive

Posted by Michael Knutson in "Sony Laptops & Netbooks" @ 10:30 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/29/...-z-review-2011/

"We see countless laptops come and go through the seasons, but a rare few have built up something of a following. Make no mistake: the Sony VAIO Z, a skinny ultraportable brimming with cutting-edge technology and powerful innards, is that kind of gem. So when it disappeared from Sony's online store earlier this year, more than a few techies took note. After all, the Z is part of a small fraternity of notebooks that combine an impossibly lightweight design with performance worthy of a larger system."

Sony has taken the newest generation of their ultralight, ultra-powerful and expensive laptop in a new direction. No more wedge. No more on-board optical drive, and even though it's still ultralight, Samsung's Series 9 and the MacBook Air are thinner, but not lighter. An included Power Media Dock now handles discrete graphics: with an AMD Radeon HD 6650M card with 1GB of video memory; a LightPeak (Thunderbolt in Apple's vernacular) port; and an optical drive. The Z is still constructed of aluminum and carbon fiber, and now uses integrated Intel graphics, along with a Sandy Bridge i7 processor, and keeps a large complement of ports along the sides.

Performance is still by far best-in-class, but at the expense of fan noise and heat, with the track-pad that is a bit troublesome, in part due to the integrated fingerprint reader. Battery life ranges from very good with the standard battery, to excellent when the optional ($150) sheet battery is added, with a tested runtime of about nine-hours. This a quite a system when the configuration is maxed-out, but it's expensive, at over $2700. Less expensive (but less powerful) alternatives are the Samsung Series 9 and/or the MacBook Air.


Thursday, March 31, 2011

Toshiba Portege R835-P56X: Update to the R700 Series

Posted by Michael Knutson in "Toshiba Laptops & Netbooks" @ 10:30 PM

http://www.laptopmag.com/review/lap...-r835-p56x.aspx

"The premium ultraportable notebook category has never been more competitive. Between the long-lasting ThinkPad X220, the gorgeous Samsung Series 9, and the instant-on 13-inch MacBook Air, consumers have a wide range of compelling options. But what if you don't have well over a grand to spend? Enter the Toshiba Portege R835-P56X, an update to the company's popular R700 series that costs a very reasonable $929 (and starts at $829). This 3.2-pound speedster includes a second-gen Core i5 processor, USB 3.0 support, and Intel's nifty WiDi 2.0 technology for streaming video wirelessly to a TV."

A nice incremental upgrade to the ultralight R700 series, the R835's direct competitors are the new Samsung Series 9 and the MacBook Air. While still not a gaming system, the graphics do a good job with videos and "light" gaming, battery life has been improved, WiDi is built-in, to stream HD video to a larger screen device (but you still need a additional receiver), the touchpad has been improved, the processor runs cooler than its predecessor, and there is a USB3 port. Negatives reported include smallish keys, disappointing WiFi performance, and lots of Toshiba-installed crapware. I've actually used the old R705, and was suitably impressed, so it'll be interesting to see Toshiba's improvements.


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