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What is a Netbook computer?

A Netbook is a new type of laptop computer, defined by size, price, horsepower, and operating system. They are small, cheap, under-powered, and run either an old or unfamiliar operating system.

Netbooks run either Windows XP Home edition or Linux (not only is Linux unfamiliar to many, but the versions of Linux on Netbooks are not the mainstream popular distributions). They do not run XP Professional, Vista, or OS X. Microsoft arbitrarily restricts Netbooks from running the Professional Edition of Windows XP. Likewise, Apple arbitrarily restricts OS X to Apple hardware and it has never played in the low-end realm that Netbooks occupy.* Vista requires too much horsepower to run well on a Netbook. HP has been the only company to offer Vista on a Netbook. The price, however, was so high that it’s debatable whether such a machine qualifies as a Netbook.

The market for netbooks — small notebook PCs with even tinier prices — exploded in the third quarter of this year, according to market researcher DisplaySearch LLC, as vendors aimed their wares at students during the back-to-school season.

The global market for netbooks, also known as mini-notebooks, was 5.61 million in the third quarter, up 160% from the second quarter, according to a statement today from DisplaySearch, an Austin-based research firm.

Acer Inc. displaced Asustek Computer Inc. (Asus) as the netbook market leader for the first time during the quarter, taking 38.3% of the market, compared to 30.3% for Asus.

Netbook global sales in the third quarter of 2008 hit 5.61 million units, an increase of 160% from the second quarter. Acer was at the top of the list with a 38.3% market share of all those units. With a 2008 sales level of 14 million units (over 2007’s one million sold), the market for netbooks is still relatively small, but the growth is explosive. The question is this: how much margin are manufacturers gaining on these small-priced PCs? In the latest quarter, HP was in third place and Dell was in fifth place, but Acer and Asus are completely stealing the show. If the netbook trend follows in 2009, Acer — the king of low retailer PC prices — should stay on top until this fad is over.



By: johnxuster

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Apple’s Mac Mini 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (MC239LL/A) Memory is new in the line of memory’s. To recap, Apple updated the CPU, default RAM, and hard-drive capacities of both its $599 and $799 Mac Minis. The Core 2 Duo chip in the $599 Mac goes from 2.0GHz to 2.26GHz, the RAM doubles from 1GB of RAM to 2GB, and the hard drive jumps from a 120GB to a 160GB model. The $799 Mac gets a bigger performance boost with its Core 2 Duo chip going from 2.0GHz to 2.53GHz. Its RAM also doubles from 2GB to 4GB, but its hard drive stays the same size.



If you review Macs then you will came to know that you live in a world where computers are tools, where you can be operating system agnostic, and where you appreciate, but stop short of fetish zing, good design. These assumptions are based purely on its specs where you might be having concerns with the price of both new Mac Minis next to competing small scale Windows-based PCs.

Gateway’s SX2800-01 gives the new Minis Mac some stiff competition. A quite good judgment is needed which will help us to test the new Mac Minis, but our hunch is that Gateway’s $459, Core 2 Quad-based SX2800-01 slim tower would outperform or come close enough to either new Mac in processing typical workloads. The benefits of the smaller Mini Mac case may also have a hard time competing with the Gateway’s versatility that comes from an HDMI output and its upgrade options. There is an expectation of more competitive small PCs to come out over the next few weeks as the holiday buying season continues.

Even if the standard Minis Mac do compete well on recital, the server iteration of the Mac is more interesting, and we credit apple memory for listening to a specialized portion of the Mac  current user base. For $999, Apple will now sell you a Mini Mac that basically mirrors the new $799 model, apart from that instead of OS X you get OS X Server, and the DVD burner that has been replaced by a second hard drive, for 1TB of storage overall. The price might be more than the DIY crowd will tolerate, but any small workgroup environment that might benefit from an out-of-the-way traffic cop it can plug in and forget could very likely be interested in what the Mac Mini Server has to offer.



By: Sachin Mishra

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Do you ever find that you are sat on a train, in a cafe or waiting in line and thinking “I could be working now”? The new style for laptops is to buy small. That’s where the Netbook comes in. The Netbook allows you to work wherever you want without lugging a laptop around. Dell have recently bought out their own version of this pocket sized laptop. The Dell Inspiron mini is a smaller version of the home user’s laptop the Dell Inspiron. The Inspiron mini comes with an atom Z530 processor and MS Windows XP as standard. Dell recommends that all of its computers use MS Windows operating systems. The processor speed is 1.6GHz and the RAM size is 1GB. It has 160GB hard drive capacity and a 10 inch screen. Although this laptop is compact it by all accounts stands up to the job. A Netbook can be used for browsing the internet, word processing and even storing files such as photos and music. The Dell Inspiron is designed to be used as a home laptop and the Dell Inspiron mini is no exception. All of this can be found from as little as £199 for a basic spec.

Dell have a large range of products to suit everyone. They have the Inspiron for home users, they have the Precision for CAD professionals and they even have the Latitude for business users. Dell make it their business to know what people want out of their laptops and then come up with the ideal specification for that situation. The Dell Netbook is no exception. Dell have found an ingenious way of taking all the good points of a standard laptop and shrinking it down so that it fits anywhere and can be used anytime. The Netbook is particularly handy if you have children or students in the home. Because of its small size, these laptops are great for travelling in the back of cars (while watching a DVD of their choice) or sitting in front of the TV and surfing the net at the same time. The beauty is that because of the price you feel that it is giving your children some sort of responsibility but not enough to bankrupt you! You can even buy Dell laptops refurbished which will save on cost even more! Take a look at EuroPC’s full range of refurbished Dell laptops for more information.



By: Philippa Wilson

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Mini notebook, also known as netbook, is smaller than the standard notebook computer, and has a better battery life. It weighs only 2.5 pounds and is certainly lighter than the laptop that weighs 6 pounds. The light weight is definitely persuading, such that choosing a mini notebook becomes an inevitable choice. They are also accounted to be less expensive in comparison to the portable computers. They come installed with Intel Atom processors such that they are normally powerful to run Microsoft Office and Windows XP without fail.

The standard drives usually on mini notebooks are comparatively small approximately 16GB and less. However, some software such as Windows Media Player 11, Windows XP and Microsoft office 2002 require more than 4GB and therefore it may need an upgrade. The minit notebook displays have lower resolution than the standard laptop computers, but this does not highlight the reason to be deterrent from buying it as there is an opportunity to work with digital graphics. The device has graphic cards, but they normally are not equally effective as notebook computers, but for web surfing or music downloads, there is not much difference noticeable.

The mini notebook runs Linux version as the main operating system and hence are less expensive. It is appropriate as a primary computer for downloading music and loading MP3 player or emailing to friends and surfing the net. These devices are not ideal for games or even for complicated word-processing or other number crunching applications. They are becoming more important and are expected to reach a point that it will come in the palm fitting size. However, speaking of the money spent on buying mini notebooks, it is beneficial as it is cheaper, and they make great machines for people who are always on the go.

Mini notebooks are offered by notable manufacturers such as HP, Dell, Asus, Compaq and several others. These devices are appropriate for business people and individuals who are on constant move and also need WiFi connection to hotspots. However, they are not good for people desiring to customize the use of optical discs or computing experience. It is in fact best in size and performs many functions as well. For instance an Acer mini notebook contains the specifications such as Intel Atom of 1.6 GHz, Memory 512 MB, Intel 82801GBM, Intel 82945GMS, Screen Size 8.9″, LED backlight, Mass storage 8GB SSD, 5 in 1 cardreader, VGA, headphone, microphone, SD slot, Crystal-eye webcam, 3xUSB, RJ-45, Wireless with 802.11b/g with a dimension 170 (d) x 249 (w) x 29(h) mm and 2.17 lbs.

Mini notebook is a great buy for budget users as it approximately costs $398, but is most appropriate for people who need online and needs customized applications. The space is not a constraint while considering portability though it is featured only with solid state drive with eight gigabyte. Since there are so many notebook models, buying the one which is best suitable to your needs will be the best choice. For instance, a writer may find the Acer mini notebook a good choice, even though there are other models having DVD/CD ROM drive. Proper researching and ensuring a customized notebook computer will usually suit the needs of the user.



By: Roberto Sedycias

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Dell Latitude 2100

With its fun, lightweight design and built-in mobility, the Dell Latitude 2100 gives modern classrooms a new gateway to discovery and collaboration. Expand students’ capabilities to touch the future, and enjoy the convenience of these features and more:

us– http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/laptop-battery/dell-latitude-2100.htm 

Durable Case and Network Activity Light, as well as optional touchscreen and keyboard with antimicrobial protection.

Choice of rubberized colors, as well as optional carrying handle and personalization with custom inserts.

Core fundamentals of the Latitude family, including remote systems management, long lifecycles, managed transitions, and a broad range of service and support offerings.

- Rubberized coating on LCD cover and back of laptop ensure excellent grip.

- well-placed hard drive, power, WIFI activity lights on the front edge of the notebook

- LED screen is very bright and crisp. The LCD brightness has 15 levels!

- very cheap upgrade to the touchscreen

- with my large hands I find the keyboard is a decent size, keys are responsive and laid out very well

- Very light netbook, I know some people were saying it was one of the heavy ones but I think it’s a great trade off to have something built well with quality construction than to have a cheapo plastic light netbook.

- 3 USB ports especially for a small laptop!

- gigabit LAN

- bluetooth & wireless N options

- very customizable Latitude Dell BIOS

- this dell Latitude laptop runs MUCH faster with Windows 7 than XP! Going to hibernation and resuming and rebooting is very very fast and perky. Support for the touchscreen is much better in Windows 7 and it is very responsive.

CONS

- double-tapping support for the touchscreen is very flaky with Windows XP

- so far, no obvious way to turn off the “network activity light” on the LCD cover. This is very bright at night and uses dell F079N battery power. There should be an option in the BIOS to disable or at least a switch on the mainboard. A BIOS update to version A01 didn’t give any option either.

- Dell isn’t offering a free upgrade to Windows 7! This is practically Dell’s newest addition to the Latitude series and there’s no deal? Hopefull this changes

- A little bit tedious to change RAM and hard drive: 6 screws to remove on the back, keyboard then must be pushed out and unplugged, another 3 screws from the top to release the back panel. It would be nice just to have little access doors. I guess this was done to prevent easy tinkering since this was designed primarily for school use    http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/laptop-battery/asus-eee-pc-series.html      – Only upgradable to 2GB total RAM. I was surprised that I couldn’t put a $40 2GB DIMM in the expansion slot to make 3GB total. How hard would it have been to have a chipset that supports 3GB of RAM? But not TOO big a deal since Windows 7 runs very fast on 2GB. And I don’t think most people would be using big applications on these 2100s anyways.

- I was surprised there was a fan in this laptop, though I rarely hear it I assumed that there would be no moving parts and noise (with a SSD drive). I did research and the N270 CPU does run hotter then it’s sister Z530 which is put in the Inspiron Minis–but–it is a higher performance CPU

- A back-lit keyboard would’ve been nice. Since this is considered a “netbook” people will be using it in hotels, on the couch in relative darkness and sometimes it’s hard to find the F-keys or function keys. Maybe instead the useless network activity light and extremely bright 3 volume buttons and caps lock indicator lights we could of had a back-lit keyboard option.



By: joan

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Dell laptops are without a doubt the world’s favourite mobile systems since the very first notebook was introduced in 1991. What is really astonishing about these particular laptops is that they can be tailored to look great too. These computers are guaranteed to be robust, performant and above all, well priced compared to similar computers of another brand. As a matter of fact, a great percentage of customers that purchases Dell mobile computers do so because they know that the after-sales service they get from this manufacturer is nothing but top notch. The reason I’ve always bought Dell laptops is their next-day on-site service. The thing about the top of the line dell computers is that they actualy have a mini agp port that the gfx card plugs into.

 

In last two years many companies like Apple, HP, Acer are giving tough competition but the Dell products are best for there durability and the servicing. Founded by Michael Dell in 1984, the original name was PC’s limited. Latter the name changed to Dell Computers with head quarters at Round rock, Texas, USA.

 

To buy a cheap dell laptop does not mean that you will get poor service and various related problems. What happens with a lot of cheaper model is the battery on it goes bad and causes numerous problems. The problem with some of the cheaper models is that the integrity of the frame is not sturdy enough, resulting in it to crash the keyboard, and another problem is actually is the wireless network and windows vista. The Dell hardware is fine on the whole; the great majority of machines are rock solid.

 

Today’s laptops are packing more power and features than ever–for less. They are one of the most useful and popular types of computer available because of their portability, style, high-performance, and flexibility. They are no longer the pricey ultra luxury items they once were and even discount laptops are a great value for the money.

More recently as technology for these types of computer has improved. When you think about all they can do, laptops are really an engineering marvel. The average weight is not more then the four pounds. As Personal computers, laptops are capable of the same tasks as a desktop computer, although they are typically less powerful for the same price. With the advent of dual-core processors and perpendicular recording, they are beginning to close the performance gap with PCs.

 

Cheap and inexpensive laptops are available plenty in number in the market. While buying laptops, price factor alone should not limit the purchase. Cheap laptops are made available to the consumer to suit the budget as well as specific requirements. The person buying a laptop should be very clear regarding the required features, options and then conduct a search to match his needs. The place of purchasing cheap laptops is also important. There are various sources from which a person can buy cheap laptops. Out of all the sources, Internet is considered to be the best place to purchase laptops. A same laptop model can be sold at different prices in different websites. The purchaser can easily select the one with a lesser price easily. Also it is better to avoid impulse purchase as far as laptops are concerned, since it is impossible for a lay man to comprehend the hi-tech lingo associated with laptop computers like the flat panel TFT, WiFi connectivity, wireless and many more features.



By: sonto

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SQU-724 laptop batteries|DELL Alienware M15X Laptop Batteries

DELL Alienware M15X computer batteries fit the below models:

Alienware M15X

M15X6CPRIBABLK

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Stay unplugged longer with the new DELL Alienware M15X 7800mAh 5200mAh Li-ion dell Inspiron Battery. This 10.8V Rechargeable Li-ion battery can replace the original system battery or be used as a spare. DELL computer batteries life (and recharge times) will vary based on many factors including screen brightness, applications, features, power management, battery conditioning and other customer preferences.

Alienware announced a compact high performance notebook a long time ago. But although it was already available in the USA for quite a while, it is just now finally coming to Europe. The Area-51 m15x notebook makes Alienware the first producer that offers a 15″ gaming notebook with a 8800 GTX graphics card and Intel Core 2 extreme processor. This is also the current maximum of what’s possible in the compact multimedia class. Compared with other Alienware models we tested so far, the Area-51 m15x looks very simple and discreet (fujitsu battery), at least as long as the various LED lights aren’t activated. The display lid and the base unit are kept in a silver-grey plastic frame. We especially liked the seamless workmanship of this part, which creates a compact impression of the notebook.

The geometrical and simple shape perfectly fits the colour scheme. The most outstanding details are firstly the two openings on the left and right of the keyboard, which contain the loud speakers, and secondly the central display hinge. But the Area-51 m15x becomes the center of attention only after turning on the LED illumination. The LEDs are very effective due to the unobtrusive case design, (Cheap FPCBP216 10.8V,3 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for FUJITSU FPCBP216)especially if other light sources are dimmed.

One can tweak the illumination of the Area-51 m15x with the Alien FX Lightning software in the command center. Various different colours or separate areas can be chosen for the light effects. The laptop distinguishes different areas of illumination, like the light pipe around the display in the shape of a small gap that emits light, the illumination of the hot keys, as well as the touch pad and keyboard. Our test sample had a keyboard without illumination however.

Another interesting gadget to personalise the m15x is the aluminum plate on the bottom of the notebook, on which up to 23 characters chosen by the soon to be owner (FUJITSU LifeBook M2010 laptop batteries), are engraved by laser. The text is translated into alien characters and also added to a foil which is put on the touch pad.

Ah yes, don’t forget the well known alien face on the display lid, which is illuminated as well. It starts to pulsate if the notebook is put into standby mode, which is also called “breathing” by Apple. The Alienware m15x unfortunately fails to do this smoothly, so that it looks more like it is clearing it’s throat.

We also had to clear our throat on closer inspection of the case, which makes a compact and robust impression at first due to the design, but clearly disappoints in the actual test (Cheap F310J 11.1V,9 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for DELL F310J). Holding the notebook, lifting it, or applying a bit of pressure, always results in creaky noises, which seem to be the norm with the m15x. Especially bad in this regard are the display and display hinges.

Although the display is with 12 millimeter not exactly slim, it seems to be very susceptible to any kind of pressure or twisting. Just opening and closing the display is apparently already too much for the notebook and results in loud creaking and squeaking. Furthermore, deformations and even colour changes on the display are noticeable. (Cheap a32-f82 11.1V,11.25V,6 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for ASUS a32-f82 ,brand new, 1 year warranty! Ship to most countries)

The hinge itself failed to make a good impression as well. Even though the resistance while adjusting the display is acceptable, the noise it creates and the wobbling of the display after it is put into the desired position is clearly not. Considering it is a compact notebook, which can be carried around, those problems are rather serious.

Especially the creaking noises while working with the notebook overshadow the impression of the m15x. The only average haptics of the plastic parts also fail to change this fact. The low quality is particularly hard to understand if one considers the current price of the Alienware Area-51m15x in our configuration of 2.799.- Euro. (Replacement battery for ASUS A32-U80, 11.25 voltage, 5600 mAh, 6 cells, Li-ion Laptop Batteries)

The front and the back side of the notebook stay clear of connections. On the front right side of the notebook is a card reader (7in1) followed by an ExpressCard slot (54mm). Both slots are closed by well shaped flaps. Rubberplugs or plastic dummies are thus unnecessary.

Further back is a HDMI port, which allows a full digital transfer of image and video data. After that comes an USB 2.0 port and a Firewire 1394b (9-Pin) interface, which is a bit unusual for notebooks. Completely at the back is a Kensington lock.

The left side of the m15x is occupied by the power supply, LAN port, two USB 2.0 ports and audio connections (microphone, earphones). All those ports were located at the back half of the left side, which concentrates various cables and prevents annoying cable tangle. The Area-51 m15x has thus not only an extensive enough interface equipment, but also very good alignment of the available ports.

The DVD multi drive is located on the left side on the front. The SmartBay slot could also be equipped with another optical drive, like for example a Blu-Ray drive . Another possibility would be to put an additional hard disk or SQU-724 battery into the SmartBay slot of the m15x.

As opposed to other drives, the Optiarc AD-5540AD doesen’t have a reject button on the drive itself. Instead, it can be opened with the key combination FN+F8.

The m15x has also various integrated communication modules. The gaming notebook offers a Gigabit Ethernet module made by Broadcom for fast transfers over local networks, as well as a wireless LAN card by Intel, standard4965AGN. A Bluetooth 2.0 module provides wireless communication with various extra devices.

Alienware offers only a Kensington lock regarding security, but at least this allows to fix the notebook to a table or other heavy items on LAN parties, to prevent thieves from stealing the notebook.

Included in the shipment of our Alienware m15x test sample was a small leathercase containing the rather short user manual, a thin protection cover, recovery and driver CD (Cheap UM09A75 11.1V,6 cell 9 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for ACER UM09A75), as well as Nero 7 Essentials. Further included was a mouse pad in Alienware design made by Func, which turned out to be very suitable for gaming in our tests (in combination with a Logitech MX510 mouse).

The Alienware Area-51 m15x offers a standard keyboard without additional number pad, which is not surprising for a 15.4 inch notebook. The lack of layout experiments, 18×18mm standard keys and the generous enter and space keys, make typing intuitive and adjustments unnecessary.

Typing on the keyboard, which offered a soft stroke and good resistance, was very pleasant as a result. Another positive feature is the quiet typing. The keyboard was also robust, even punctual pressure didn’t cause much deformation of the keyboard unit, which is especially handy when playing fast games that often lead to strong pressure on single keys in the heat of the moment. (Replacement battery for ACER UM09A31, 11.10 voltage, 7200 mAh, 9 cells, Li-ion Laptop Batteries)

The individual keys seem a bit overloaded, because of the coloured border every key has, which emit light on models with integrated keyboard illumination (38.- Euro extra).

The touch pad is optically very well integrated into the look of the Alienware m15x. It is evenly built into the surrounding case and offers a single continuous touch pad button. The main weakness of the pad is the smooth surface. Alienware included two stickers with rough surface with the notebook that can be put on the touch pad, in order to improve handling. Most users will probably prefer the rough surface, which leads to the question why the pad wasn’t equipped with that surface from the beginning. Compared with the original surface, handling was clearly better after putting the sticker on the touch pad.

The single touch pad key was apparently also produced to please the eye, and not to be user friendly. The continuous button has a very large dead area in the middle (about a third of the total width!), and can only be pressed properly on the left and right edges (Cheap AL31-1005 10.8V,11.25V,6 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for ASUS AL31-1005). We thus highly recommend to use an external mouse, which should be the not a question for a real gamer anyway.

A touch sensitive panel above the keyboard of the m15x provides additional control of the notebook. The term “touch sensitive” is in our opinion not very accurate however, because the symbols require the finger to rest on them for a rather long time to actually react.

Especially annoying in this regard is the adjustment of the volume. A lot of patience is required to get the desired volume.

Alienware currently offers two different displays for the 15.4 inch models. They differ in supported resolution and type of display surface. The choice is between a 1440×900 pixel WXGA+ display with ClearView technology (glossy surface) and a 1920×1200 pixel WUXGA display with matte surface and HD compatible resolution. (ASUS Eee PC 1101HA laptop batteries)

Our test sample was equipped with the high resolution WUXGA display (LPL1801) and was instantly loved because of it’s non reflecting surface. This is unfortunately rare, since multimedia notebooks hardly ever offer matte surfaces. It is thus impressive that Alienware went against the common trend, and offers their high end display with an eye friendly surface.

Fears that the matte display might not be able to compete with glossy displays regarding brightness, colours or contrast, quickly disappeared after a couple of tests. The WUXGA display achieved a very good maximum brightness of 191.3cd/m2 in the central display area. The illumination of the panel is with 87.6% significantly above average.

The measured minimum brightness (black value) of the display was 0.37cd/m2. This, together with the maximum brightness of 191.3cd/m2, resulted in a maximum possible contrast of good 517:1 . Subjectively, the display is always sharp and with good contrast. (Cheap A32-F80 11.1V,6 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for ASUS A32-F80 ,brand new, 1 year warranty! Ship to most countries)

Rather untypical for a gaming notebook, but possible nonetheless, is the outdoor use of the Alienware Area-51 m15x . The dim display surface and the high brightness of the display allow outdoor usage with proper image quality.

The dim WUXGA display offers enough viewing angle stability in vertical and horizontal direction for a sufficiently large working area. The image does hardly change even if the horizontal viewing angle is very flat. Deviations from the optimal viewing angle in vertical direction have a bigger effect however, and overshadowing of the display happens quickly if the viewing angle gets flatter. But this shouldn’t be much of a problem in stationary use. (Cheap AS09C71 11.1V,6 cell Laptop Batteries,battery for GATEWAY AS09C71

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Alienware praises the Area-51 m15x to be the first 15″ notebook with Geforce 8800M GTX graphics. This is correct, but it is very likely that other producers will follow soon. Clevo for example, exhibited a 15.4″ model at the last Cebit, which is planned to be equipped with a Geforce 8800 graphics card. We look forward to a direct competitor to the m15x, but it will play in a separate class until then.

The hardware of the Area-51 m15x reads like the wish list of a gamer to Santa Claus: nVIDIA Geforce 8800M GTX with 512MB GDDR3 video memory and Intel Core 2 Extreme processor with 2.8GHz and 6MB L2-cache are the fastest possible configuration of the m15x. This not only marks the top components of the m15x series, it is also the maximum possible performance of 15.4″ notebooks. No series notebook is currently available that matches the performance of the Area-51 m15x.  http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/dell-laptop-battery.htm 

A first glimpse at the impressive performance gives the 3D Mark benchmark tests. 15805 points in 3D Mark 05 and 9217 points in 3D Mark 06, catapult the Alienware notebook to the top. Even the former top dog in the ranking, the Dell XPS M1530, has to content itself with the second place far behind the m15x.

This result is not very surprising, and a comparison with various all-round multimedia notebooks seems almost pointless . The Alienware Area-51 m15x is a high performance machine, which would sacrifice everything in favor of performance. This idea was also applied when choosing the hard disk : A Hitachi (HTS722020K9A300) with a speed of 7200r/min and a capacity of 200GB. The most outstanding feature is of course it’s performance. In the HDTune test it achieved excellent transfer rates of up to 70.5MB/sec and an exceptionally low access time of only 15.2ms. This result makes the hard disk one of the best of it’s class.

The m15x uses both available memory slots for RAM, which can hold up to 4096MB and supports dual-channel mode. Our test sample contained two 1024MB DDR2 PC5300 memory modules. Additionally, a Intel Turbo Cache module is available.

Apart from all the pushing to achieve maximum performance, the m15x also has a very interesting feature: The user can switch between the Geforce 8800M GTX and an integrated Intel graphics chip (BinaryGFX), by simply pressing the key combination FN+F7 (lenovo laptop battery). Even though this makes a system restart necessary, it gives all the benefits of an integrated graphics card, like significantly lower temperatures, and thus quieter fans, as well as much lower energy consumption

The performance of the test sample convinces in the PCMark 2005 benchmark test as well. The m15x moves with 7669 points ahead to the top of the multimedia class once more. But that is not all. Even performance giants like for example the Dell XPS M1730 (still with Merom processor) are beaten by the m15x in this test. The main reason is the powerful Core 2 Extreme processor, which is fully utilised in this test.  http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/fujitsu-laptop-battery.htm 

This result is supported by the Cinebench R10 benchmark test. The Alienware Area-51 m15x manages top results in rendering and shading again. Actually, the Alienware m15x could also be used professionally for graphics and calculation intensive applications, but it’s main strength will always be games.

Probably the most important advantage of the Alienware m15x is the performance when running current games – at least this is what Alienware says. We obviously take this announcement as an invitation to immediately test Crysis performance on the Alienware m15x.

The Area-51 m15x provided a good impression of it’s performance. With a resolution of 1024×768 pixel and medium details, it achieves about 45 frames per second (fps) in the benchmark. Increasing the resolution to high details lets the result drop to below 30 fps. When playing the first single player level with 1024×768 and high details, it ran with 20 – 40 frames per second . The game was playable, but had frequent frame drops.

The m15x also achieved good results in the performance test of the real time strategy game World in Conflict with medium details (DirectX9). It managed an average of smooth 47 fps even on the maximum resolution of 1920×1200 pixels.

Changing to DirectX10 on the other hand, puts even the well equipped Alienware m15x under pressure. While it manages acceptable 31 frames per second with a 1024×768 resolution, it drops to 19 fps in native resolution (1920×1200).

This result changed in the practical test of a multiplayer game (2 vs. 2, map Seaside), which was sufficiently playable with 20-40 fps, despite DirectX10 and native resolution. But for LAN battles with more opponents it would be a good idea to reduce the resolution or detail level.

A mandatory test candidate is of course also the currently very popular multiplayer first person shooter Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare . The practical test of the first single player mission with a resolution of 1024×768, anti-aliasing deactivated, other settings on default, resulted in frame rates between 50 and 90 fps.

An increase of the resolution to 1920×1200 pixel reduced the frame rates slightly to 40-90 fps. But even with those settings the game was smoothly playable and looked excellent.

The Alienware Area-51 also successfully passed the Unreal Tournament 3 practical test. The observed frame rate (map Heat-Ray, details standard – level3) with a resolution of 1024×768 and native resolution of 1920×1200, stayed between 60-65 fps. Only an increase of the details to level 6 (world and textures), slowed the frame rate a bit down to 40-60 fps. But the game is still smoothly playable with those frame rates.

Our last test sample was Supreme Commander – Forged Alliance. In the practical test of the real time strategy game we played a four player multiplayer game with a resolution of 1024×768 and medium details, and observed a frame rate of 25-30 fps. The game was even with the maximum resolution of 1920×1200 pixel with 20-25 fps playable.

Note: Various forums discuss currently about a Bios update of the m15x, because the first m15x notebooks that appeared in the USA had apparently problems with heat sensors, which caused performance drops.

Our test sample already had the Bios version vX30P3, which should fix the issues and we also didn’t notice anything during the game tests (DELL F310J Notebook Battery). Just in case some users still have problems, Alienware offers another Bios update to version X32RC1. For more info and download, go here.

Depending on how the Area-51 m15x is run, it has two completely different noise levels. In office mode with little load it is possible to run it virtually silent. Two options make this possible: Either the stealth mode, which lowers performance of the m15x and can be activated by pressing a hot key above the keyboard, or by switching from powerful Geforce graphics card to the slow integrated Intel graphics chip. These options significantly reduce the noise level during undemanding tasks like internet surfing or typing, to quiet 32.8dB(A), which is an excellent result.

This quietness quickly changes to loud fan noise under load without any attempt to reduce performance and activated 8800M GTX graphics. The noise level of the m15x ranges, depending on game or application, from 43.3 dB(A) up to a maximum of 50.6 dB(A) if both cores and graphics card work at the limit. The fan noise can be described as unpleasant loud at this point. But gamers will probably be able to ignore the fan screaming, considering the performance the notebook offers.

The surface temperature also reflects the performance of the Area-51 m15x. Although the upper side of the base stays with 43.4°C at reasonable levels, the situation looks different on the bottom side around the central area, which heats up to a very hot maximum of 51.4 °C. It is thus important to always put the notebook on a flat and solid surface to guarantee proper airflow, especially if the notebook is often under load.

The m15x offers two speakers, located on the left and right above the keyboard, which produce clear sound. Although we wished for a bit more sonority and more bass for music replay, the sound quality is sufficient.

Although mobility isn’t so important for a gaming notebook like the Alienware m15x, it is actually capable of mobile use away from the power plug as long as only undemanding applications are used.

Important in this regard, apart from acceptable case size and weight, is the DELL Alienware M15X laptop battery life. The m15x has an ace up it’s sleeve that helps a lot – the option to switch to integrated graphics. The test of the maximum possible battery life (BatteryEater readers test) shows the difference: While the notebook runs for only 138 minutes with activated Geforce 8800M GTX graphics, despite having all energy savings activated (energy saving profile, stealth mode activated, minimum display brightness, WLAN and Bluetooth deactivated), it manages 223 minutes with the same settings after switching to integrated graphics.

Battery lifetime under load with dedicated graphics card (BatteryEater classic test) is only 77 minutes.

Acceptable is the laptop battery life when watching DVD’s. The m15x runs for 124 minutes with integrated graphics card, and is thus able to show a complete movie with average length.

Even better is the result in the practical WLAN test (integrated graphics,energy saving mode, brightness level 6 out of 7), with a battery life of 170 minutes.

Alienware makes with the Area-51 m15x a big step forward in the compact gaming segment. Somebody who is looking for high performance among 15.4″ multimedia notebooks will quickly notice a distinct lack of competition for the m15x .

The biggest weakness of the Area-51 m15x is the case of the notebook. The plastic parts don’t convey high quality, neither regarding feel of the surface nor stability , not to mention the constant creaking noises when handling the notebook.

Although the m15x only offers a small amount of ports, everything a gamer needs is available. Especially the alignment of ports impressed during the test. So did the excellent keyboard, which is ready for a successful gaming career.

A strength of the Alienware Area-51 m15x is certainly the display, which offers a high resolution, good brightness and illumination, as well as excellent contrast and a matte surface, which prevents annoying reflections.

There is not much more to say about the performance. An increase in the 15.4″ class would currently only be possible, if a producer managed to put two Geforce 8800M GTX graphics cards in one 15.4 inch notebook, which seems highly unlikely for several reasons (hp mini series laptop battery). The m15x offers thus awesome gaming performance, although a reduction of the detail levels in DirectX10 games might be necessary, if one wants to play at native resolution.

Another important point that speaks for the m15x is the low noise level in office and internet mode, because the notebook offers the possibility to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics , which significantly reduces the noise. This obviously doesen’t help in high performance mode, which results in a very loud notebook when using demanding programs.

The integrated graphics chip also helps to extend the battery life of the Area-51 m15x to acceptable levels, which makes mobile usage possible.

Pros

* Fabulous gaming performance – packs power typically only found in large 17-inch desktop replacements into a slim 15.4-inch form factor

* Ability to transform from a high-performance gaming machine to a practical on-the-go companion

* Great hp battery life for a gaming notebook: two graphics cards give the best of both worlds – integrated for battery life, and dedicated for performance. Standard battery life is about 2.5 hours and with the Smart Bay battery, 4 to 5 hours are possible

* Stealth mode keeps the m15x silent

* Sleek, striking design and AlienFX customizable lighting – this machine turns heads everywhere

* Smart Bay functionality – use it for an optical drive, extra battery, or another hard drive

* Beautiful display – high-resolution WUXGA screen is a gem

* Nice keyboard – it is backlit, plus it feels great

* Wide variety of ports – the usual plus HDMI and a 9-pin powered Firewire

* Available with Blu-ray and Windows XP

Cons

* The price – adding options brings up the price quickly

* The keyboard flexes on the bottom right side around the arrow keys

* The touchpad is not the best – too slippery and scroll zones are visually undefined

* The screen wobbles – it should have stiffer hinges

* The speakers are unimpressive – more volume and bass would be nice

* Fans at full load are louder than expected

* Touch controls are subpar – volume slider is not responsive and others require too much pressure

- The body isn’t Anodized aluminum like the M17x. It’s Magnesium.

- The battery life is only around 2 hours with a 9 cell battery.

- Stealth Mode doesn’t work but a bios update may fix this.

- No HDMI

- According to Dell it’s the most powerful 15″. WRONG. Clevo released a 15.6″ laptop with a i7 and GTX280m.

from: http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/article/article.php#Laptop Batteries

more info;  http://www.cheap-laptop-batteries.com/



By: joan

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update : Dell latitude D630

The Latitude D630 is Dell’s latest update to the D620, a light-weight business class machine. It was in May that Dell announced its intent to implement the new technologies provided by Intel’s new mobile computing platform codenamed Santa Rosa, and known as Centrino Duo. In short the latitude D630 is a real powerhouse and unbeatable value machine.





Dell latitude D630 Spec

Processor : Intel? Core? 2 Duo T7250 (2.00GHz, 2M L2 Cache, 800MHz) Dual Core

Media Bay Devices : 24X CD-RW/DVD w/ Cyberlink PowerDVD?

Memory: 1.0GB, DDR2 SDRAM, 1 DIMM

Hard Drives: 80GB2 Hard Drive, 9.5MM, 5400RPM

Graphics: Intel? Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

Battery: 6 Cell Primary latitude D630 Battery

Wireless LAN (802.11): Dell Wireless? 1395 802.11g Mini Card

Dimensions (LWH): 13.3 x 9.3 (10.3 with extended battery) x 1.3 inches

Screen size diagonal) 14.1 inches



The D630 sports the same ergonomics that we loved about the D620: a pointing stick, dedicated volume and mute buttons, and a roomy, spill-resistant keyboard with minimal flex. That’s near the outer limit for a thin-and-light, though just 0.4 pound heavier than the Lenovo ThinkPad T61. Also The notebook also incorporates a thorough set of features for business — including corporate-level security measures and optional WWAN — for a lower price than competitors such as the Lenovo ThinkPad T61.

Includes a 14.1in display with a 1,440 x 900 native resolution that’s a significant improvement over the 1,280 x 800 often found on displays of this size. The latitude D630 can paly almost the vedio and game clearly.The screen facing the sun while indoors. Easily readable. . The movie looked good from most horizontal angles, but shifting the LCD up or down resulted in a distorted picture.

The D630’s 2.2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of RAM enabled the system to produce a strong PCMark05 score of 4,568. That’s slower than the ThinkPad T61 we tested. The design behind this is most likely for the battery use and people that need a faster processor (multimedia users).The machine is extremely quiet, the fan hardly goes into full blast, even with the CPU at 100 percent.

One especially nice perk is the included Wi-Fi Catcher (activated by pushing the Wi-Fi switch to the far right), I did not have enough time to test it with the screen at a medium level but Vista tells me I can safely say it can push a little over six hours with Wi-Fi. If you get the Media Bay battery to go along with the nine-cell, I would venture about 7.5 or more hours. Of course, this is assuming you are using it for lightweight programs and you have 1GB or more of RAM.

Battery life with the primary 6-cell battery was fairly standard stuff, and you can expect between two to three hours battery depending on how you use the notebook. But Dell Latitude D630 included a nine-cell battery that extends about 2.5cm in front of the system. The extended battery served the Latitude well in our taxing DVD battery-drain test, where it held out for 4 hours 45 minutes.

In all, dell latitude D630 is Dell’s latest update to the latitude D620, so it has better performance. It is enough competent for your daily work and study. Dell’s incredible website with full instructions about servicing the laptop. All of the diagrams give me so much confidence installing more memory (or if I need to replace the drive).

The article is from laptop battery blog



By: laptopsbattery

About the Author:

Crack Feed

Computer Forums

While computer technology and technology as a whole continues to advance, the discussions based on computer technology continues to grow online also. All of the who, what, when, where and how questions are posted and answered at forums by people from around the world. Computer enthusiast and novice users alike all take part in detailed discussion centered around computers. There are various kinds of computer forums online to choose from. Forums may be solely based on a particular computer brand or one of the many computer parts and accessories. Sections may include computer security; Operating Systems (OS), software and hardware just to name a few. Or, all of the above.

Computer forum benefits

One of the primary reasons people join and view computer forums is for the troubleshooting help. Imagine yourself having trouble with your computer. For XP users, this shouldn’t be very hard to do! You may have several options available to you that could resolve the issue. The only problem is, you may not even know where to begin. Chances are that the same computer worries you are having someone else has had also. No only that but the same problem has probably been extensively discussed at one of the many computer forums. Everything from the symptoms, causes and yes, even fixes. In my own personal experience, simply visiting a computer forum was all I needed to do to obtain help. This is very beneficial to personal computer users and companies alike. This is because large amounts of money can be spent trying to solve common computer problems.

Technology forums

Some of the best computer forums around are not advertised as such. Many blogs and websites that specialize in technology also have forums with computer themes. This is because the content on the site is often computer orientated and the regular visitors are computer savvy. Instead of targeted direct computer related sections, you may instead find broader computer topics. Nevertheless, they are usually computer related and worth checking out.

What to look for in computer forums

Finding a computer forum isn’t hard in the least bit as stated earlier. However, finding one that suites your needs may be. One of the first things you should check for in a computer forum or any forum for that matter is site activity. If people aren’t posting on a regular basis, chances are you won’t be able to get any questions you may have answered. Mac. and Linux users may have a harder time in this area since Windows dominates the market. Your best bet in this scenario is finding a computer forum devoted exclusively to your computer brand/model or OS. You would be surprised to see how many people are completely ignorant to non Windows based parts, software and OS’s. If you can join a forum that has trained computer technicians as members or staff, you will find this very helpful in the long run. Forums with chartrooms or shout boxes should have priority over regular forums if you would like to have more personal, one-on-one conversations about computers.



By: Dave Page

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Crack Feed

As the name suggests, a desktop computer is a personal computer that is placed over the desk. Due to its three different parts that are comparatively big in size, the desktop computers are not portable. Both individuals and the corporates make use of desktop PCs. Desktop computers are high on its features. An added benefit of desktop computers is that it can be upgraded and updated very easily.  Though its size gives rise to compactness issues, it serves the purpose of all round high configuration computer usage. The

motherboard is a key component of the desktop computer. It connects with other computer accessories like the display screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer, DVD-ROM etc to increase its utility and perform variable duties.

The Desktop Computers can be broadly divided into three main types. They include: Desktop computer, Work Stations, and Gaming PCs. The general Desktop computer systems are those that are generally used at home or in the office. Workstations are those computers designed for self operation. They have a mirror hard disk for their back up. In order to run multi user operating systems, they are connected to a local area network (LAN). They are more like a server for many computers, tend to integrate multiple computers.  As the name suggests, the gaming compu

ters are specifically built to play computer games. The games can be played at comparatively high resolutions than domestic computers. To give enhanced gaming satisfaction these computers feature extraordinary exteriors and technically advanced components.

When users opt to buy desktop computers, each person has a different set of demands. Therefore to deliver the best desktop computer that serves the users needs, mostly desktop computers are separately assembled. Such desktop computers are called the assembled ones. In this type of computers, the best components available in the market are put together to deliver the best desktop computer with the best combinations. However in such cases care should be taken, to ensure that all the added components are compatible with the motherboard configuration. In most cases, drivers are added into the system to support all kinds of accessories.

Desktops can be made use of for different purposes with minor changes in its settings. For eg: it can be attached to powerful speakers and can be switched into a home theater system. By adding an external hard disk, it can be made a huge storage device for all the documentation and entertainment files. Thus a desktop computer can be used as the user wants.The assembled ones are more popular in the local market than the branded ones.

But nevertheless, the branded ones offer more security and good after sales service. So it is upon the user to fix the price when he decides to buy a desktop computer, as an assembly of chic accessories and high configuration could cost a desktop far more than a laptop or a branded desktop computer.



By: Pooja Lapasia

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