Laptops, Netbooks, Notebooks, NetTops, Eee PC, SmartTops, Mobile PC, Tablet PC

Lenovo bills the X1 as the thinnest ThinkPad yet. At around 23mm, it’s still a little chunky compared to other ultraportable. It’s built for speed and durability, and the Windows 7 Professional operating system reveals Lenovo’s intended business audience.

Two processor options are on the table, with the XI available with either a 2.1GHz Intel Core 13-2310M or 2.5GHz Core i5-2520M. We tested the latter, with 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive.

Using the built-in battery, the ThinkPad XI lasted for 4 hours 6 minutes in MobileMarK 2007; with the extra 36Wh pack, it managed 8 hrs 11 mins. Read the rest of this entry »

The aluminum unibody Flyer is extremely well built and feels compact and good to hold. The prime USP of the Flyer is its pressure sensitive Magic Pen stylus. This digital pen lets you annotate, highlight, draw (and erase) in digital ink—but only in apps that support it. And right now, it seems that it’s just the default (and excellent) Notes app and a drawing app called Scribbles. Notes are built to sync with Evemote. The pen is works very well with no evidence of lag. Unfortunately, there’s no handwriting recognition in there yet. HTC is encouraging developers to build pen apps with the Tablet Pen API in its OpenSense SDK but there doesn’t seem to be too many takers. Skinned with HTC Sense 2.1 atop (a non-tablet version of) Android, the Flyer supports Adobe Flash and HTML5. The screen is bright and vibrant with good viewing angles. Web browsing is smooth. Speakers enhance the video. Read the rest of this entry »

Until now, if you wanted a Honeycomb tablet, yon had to have a screen of 9in and above. Smaller device1, have been restricted to running adapted smartphone versions of Android, hut the 7in Acer Iconia Tab A100 comes with Android 3.2, which has specific optimizations for smaller screens.

In the case of the A100, the most noticeable change is the height of the System Bar that occupies the bottom 48 pixels of the 1,024 x 600 screen, or 7mm in real money. On Honeycomb tablets with 10in screens, the System Bar is 8.5mm high. In use, it means the A100 is almost as easy to use as its larger cousins, with menu options, buttons and bars all perfectly proportioned. It also means the tablet feels as at home in portrait mode as it does in landscape.

HP’S surprising partnership with hip-hop producer Dr Dre has bumped it up in the cool stakes, and brought some much-needed quality to the beleaguered world of laptop speakers. While HP’s mid-range multimedia DV7-6103ea isn’t quite as sleek as the company’s Envy range, it has pilfered the same design finesse and also comes with the superior Beats Audio experience.

Taking a leaf from the Envy range, this laptop is solidly built and looks great. The burnished gunmetal finish gives a great streaky effect, adorning the top of the lid and surrounding the Chiclet keyboard. Shame it’s only plastic but, at 3kg, it feels sturdy enough. Read the rest of this entry »

Lenovo’s staggeringly powerful and well-equipped B570 easily asserts itself as one of the best laptops in this group test.

The plain black chassis design puts function firmly before form. The tough, ridged plastics easily withstand scuffs and scratches and the firm lid capably protects the screen from damage.

Although this is not the heaviest laptop we’ve seen, at 2.4kg it’s also not ideal for regularly working on the move. The 157-minute battery life is average and can keep you working on short journeys, but falls far short of the four-hour mobility of the compact Alienware in this group test. Read the rest of this entry »

Intel’s thin-and-light Ultrabook concept has been gathering steam over the past few months, with a host of players looking to take on Apple’s hugely popular MacBook Air. Proudly leading the charge is Asus with its 13in Zenbook UX31E. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and this little laptop looks startlingly familiar.

From the design of the box to the hardware itself, it seems Asus has been taking notes from Apple, but the Zenbook is still strikingly attractive in its own right – it isn’t only pretty by Ultrabook standards, it ranks among the prettiest laptops to sport a Windows sticker. Concentric circles shimmer across the dark-grey lid, the brushed-metal finish softening to a lighter grey on the base, and the combination of sharp angles and smooth curves makes for a beautiful design. Read the rest of this entry »