The Fiery Source » Laptops

HP Mini 311 beats MacBook Air in graphic performance

ojunior — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:40:31 +0000

It’s not like we’re totally surprised to see the HP Mini 311 make some impressive marks concerning performance, because it has been doing that in demos for quite some time now. But seeing that the netbook is being released to reviewers its interesting to see that some of these benchmarks are more impressive then we originally thought.

Take for instance the graphics on this ION-based system. Not only did it score 1,917 on the PCMark 05 test (which by the way is 500 points better then the average netbook), it also managed to get almost the exact score as the new GeForce 9400M MacBook Air.

Should you be surprised? Probably not as we’ve always known that ION was a beast. But finally HP is showing what NVIDIA’s new platform can really do.

Check out full details here.

The Best 13 inch Laptops

ojunior — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:20:30 +0000

There used to be a time when performance would have to be scarified for form factor in terms of notebooks. Thankfully those days are over and it’s becoming more common to find great specs in the 13” notebook arena. So based on personal experiences and doing quite a bit of reviewing and hands on I decided to put together a list of the best 13” notebooks out there.

All notebooks reviewed here carry CD/DVD drives and some carry the option for Blu-ray. Since screen space is always a factor, they all come with HDMI and or VGA out ports so you can take full potential of the features they have to offer on a bigger display. Notebooks were rated based on value, price and price and maybe a little more.

Dell Studio XPS

I promised myself I would never look at Dell computers (in terms of styling), that was before I saw the Studio XPS line. Needless to say I was impressed by what I saw and decided to pick one up at the local Best Buy and put it through the paces. Five months later I have my verdict.

PROS: The pros of the system are pretty extensive as it offers everything from DDR3 RAM (expandable up to 8GB), standard 320GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9500 graphics chipset, LED-backlit screen, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, Draft N wireless, backlit keyboard and more. You would think I am reading the specs from the box of a MacBook Pro 13” but believe it or not this is a Dell. In fact it matches the baseline MacBook Pro 13” on every feature and then some. I don’t have time to go into all the features, but if you have any doubt about this system, you can match both side by side for yourself. And because you can pick one up for as little as $900.00 you can use that extra dough to buy some great software or an extended warranty.

CONS: The system can run a little hot due to the fact that the air is piped out from the back left of the system, and when the screen is opened it can block the airflow causing heat to back up in the system. Firmware update is a must if you are buying one of the earlier models as the firmware can lead to system crashes. The system is on the heavy side and although its weight is not extreme it is the heaviest on this list. Lacking CF card support is not that bad but with only 2 USB 2.0 ports I have to say this is a little disappointing.

HP dv3t Series

Another solid choice is the HP dv3t. Having used this system extensively (family member owns one) I can confess that it is a solid system. There is a reason why its one of HP’s best selling systems as well as the Editors Choice on numerous blogs and magazines.

PROS: Offers a wide selection of customization options including 512MB of dedicated video memory via NVIDIA’s GeForce G 105M graphics card. Backlit keyboard, Blu-ray ROM options and countless memory, hard drive and wireless configurations. And with a starting price of just $650 you will have plenty of cash to pack on the features before you pass that $1,000 mark.

CONS: Although HP makes great systems, they have been plagued with build qualities and the HP dv3t is no exception. I’m not saying this is the case for every system they ship, but a certain family member of mine has noticed the screen connection to be splitting less then a year into owning the system. Another problem is overheating. This thing could set your balls on fire if given the chance, so hot weather and the dv3t are definitely not friends. That said, the system is solid and offers a myriad of configurations for a great price that cannot be easily matched.

Apple MacBook Pro 13”

No doubt you were expecting to see this appear somewhere on the list. But before I go into the pros and cons of the systems let me explain why it didn’t top the list. Other then the fact that the MacBook is overpriced (check the Dell Studio XPS 13), it offers neither performance or quality over most of the other notebooks on this list that could justify the steep price. That said it’s still a great system and one that offers some great options.

PROS: Everything is here including DDR3 RAM, backlit keyboard, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and more. Thanks to an array of ports it’s easy to expand the capabilities of this system. Basically almost everything you could want is here and because it can not only run OSX but Window’s as well, you can get the best of both worlds.

CONS: Price is our biggest issue with this system (and basically everything else from Apple excluding software). But if you have $1,300, and can afford it, I would suggest no other system. The only other problems I had was its lack of Blu-ray support, meager hard drive space (yes it can be upgraded though), as well as lack of an integrated card reader. Also the glossy screen can be very distracting as it doubles as a mirror.

Sony SR Series

Sony makes the sexiest Windows notebooks (and netbooks) hands down, so its no surprise that the SR series rivals both the Dell Studio XPS 13 and MacBook Pro 13” in styling. But it was its spec sheet that got it into the list.

PROS: To be honest, there isn’t much that stands out about the SR series that the others on this list aren’t packing. But it still comes with Blu-ray support, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 Series graphics with 512MB VRAM and a beautiful 13.3 inch LED backlit screen.

CONS: My only major problem with this system is price and for that reason it ranks number 3 on this list. For the price of this you can get better options from HP and Dell. But it still is a great system and offers style and portability in a sexy package.

Satellite M500-ST6421

Toshiba is notorious for providing some of the best business notebooks in the industry, but they also have a good selection of consumer models and the Satellite M500-ST6421 is one of those. Being a former owner of a Toshiba laptop, while they might not be the most stylish on the market, they still offer great performance.

PROS: This system carries a good array of options such as LED-backlit keyboard, up to 4GB of RAM, Windows Vista Ultimate and 2.80GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and up to half a terabyte of hard drive space.

CONS: I couldn’t find much complaints with this system, other then the fact that it can run hot at times, it’s a little weighty and thick for this form factor and does not come with any big performance difference then most of the others mentioned.

Sony Z Series

Arguably the sexiest laptop on this list, the Sony Z series sits at the pinnacle of both design and performance. There isn’t much to say about this system except it outperforms every other 13 inch notebook. Unfortunately the reason why it ranks last is its price tag which starts at $1700+.

PROS: Everything you could think of is all here including discrete and integrated graphics options, Blu-ray support as well as DDR3 RAM and SSD plus HDD for RAID support. Reading through the feature list would remind you of a MacBook Pro 17” or the Sony AR series.

CONS: The only major strike against the Z series is price, as said before, is this system clocks in at $1700+ for the base model. But if you have the dough and want the best performance you could possibly get from a 13.3” system then by all means check out the Sony Z series.

HP Pavilion Dv2 Review

Bob — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:26:32 +0000

Although HP has been one of the major players in the netbook field,‭ ‬it has,‭ ‬like so many other companies,‭ ‬seen that eventually the netbook and notebook will merge.‭ ‬We’re guessing that this has been the major philosophy behind their new Pavilion Dv2. This cross between a notebook and netbook carries some impressive features like the ability to handle full‭ ‬1080p HD playback from a Blu-Ray option and with a starting price of‭ ‬$699,‭ ‬it’s not the cheapest option out there,‭ ‬but is a great compromise between performance and size.

DESIGN

The specs and design of the Dv2‭ ‬sits more in line with that of the standard netbook.‭ ‬But features and specs are closer to an ultra portable. The system comes with a‭ ‬1.6MHz AMD Athlon Neo‭ ‬64-bt processor,‭ ‬ATI Radeon HD‭ ‬3210‭ ‬GPU with‭ ‬256MB of dedicated memory.‭ ‬Of course with those specs you can expect nothing less than Vista Home Premium SP1‭ ‬32-bt.‭ ‬Memory s‭ ‬3GB DDR2‭ ‬with the option for‭ ‬4GB.‭ ‬A standard‭ ‬160GB Hdd as well as external Blu-ray drive with DL support.

All these come in‭ ‬12.1‭ ‬inch HP BrightView Widescreen Display‭ (‬1280‭ ‬x‭ ‬800‭) ‬with‭ ‬802.11B/G WLAN and‭ ‬4-cell Li-Ion battery. In terms of ports you get‭ ‬3‭ ‬USB‭ ‬2.0‭ ‬ports,‭ ‬HDMI‭ ‬1.3‭ ‬connector,‭ ‬5-in-1‭ ‬multi-card reader,‭ ‬microphone in and headphone/audio ougt545 In terms of ports you get‭ ‬3‭ ‬USB‭ ‬2.0‭ ‬ports,‭ ‬HDMI‭ ‬1.3‭ ‬connector,‭ ‬5-in-1‭ ‬multi-card reader,‭ ‬microphone in and headphone/audio out ports,‭ ‬VGA out and Kensington lock slot.

PERFORMANCE

The performance on the system is a lot better than expected.‭ ‬HP‭ (‬like Sony‭) ‬has stressed that this is not a netbook but rather an ultra portable and not a netbook.‭ ‬We would have disagreed with them had they not included such specs that not only sound good on paper but translate into real performance.‭ ‬Thanks to the included Neo‭ ‬64-bit processor you get a scaled down version of AMD’s notebook processors that boost‭ ‬50%-150%‭ ‬the performance of the regular Atom processor.

Not only that but the discrete graphics option‭ (‬thanks to ATI‭) ‬means that you will be able to play World of War Craft without any hitch though we would not suggest trying Crysis on this system.
Performance on Vista is great and all the Aero features of the OS work without a hitch.‭ ‬The only time you may notice a little lag is during very heavy graphic intensive games but regular graphical programs like Photoshop,‭ ‬Flash and Premier can all perform very nicely.

CONCLUSION

The Pavilion is supposed to hit streets in March and will cost between‭ ‬$700-1000.‭ ‬That might not sound like a bargain but if you actually put it in the league it belongs in‭ (‬Voodoo Envy‭ ‬133‭ ‬and Macbook Air‭)‬,‭ ‬this works out to be quite a bargain.‭ ‬No doubt that won’t justify spending your life savings on this system,‭ ‬but we’re sure that if you should decide to carry one home,‭ ‬your Macbook Air and Voodoo Envy‭ ‬133‭ ‬fans won’t be laughing at you anymore.

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Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds Review

Bob — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:24:18 +0000

You’d think that the most powerful notebook on the market would go to Apple. But sadly (for Apple that is) Lenovo has had that crown in their hands for some time. The ThinkPad W700 is the best of the best when it comes to performance and as to be expected it is the best of the best in price.

But if you fall into the category that has thousands to waste on a notebook that you will probably never exhaust or you’re the traveling 3D graphics professional who finds himself on the road too often than you might want to check out the W700ds which is an update to the original W700 and the quad core version.

DESIGN

There is no doubt that you can find the same features of the ThinkPad W700ds elsewhere for hundreds less. But the reason why this system is marketable is its portability. Granted the every day user and even most people who work in the graphical or entertainment industry will never find use for most of the features on the system, yet there will still be niche that will be thankful for such a system.

Those will most likely include film makers, photographers and of course 3D graphical professionals.

The system is pretty heavy and weighs an astounding 11 pounds. But all that weight is not for anything and it sports some spectacular features. The system is built on a 2.53-GHz Core 2 Quad Core Extreme QX9300 design that comes with 4GB DDR3 RAM that is upgradable to 8GB. The native resolution is 1920×1200 via a 17-inch screen and graphics card options include the Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M with 1GB of DDR3 memory. WiFi includes 802.11a/g/n as well as Bluetooth 2.0. There are an astounding 5 USB ports on the system as well as a 7-in-1 card reader as well as ExpressCard.

All of this fits inside a system that is 2.1 inches thick. But the major reason why the system was upgraded was to include a WACOM pad that utilizes an additional screen that slides out from behind the system (hence the ds in the notebooks name standing for dual screen).

PERFORMANCE

Competition was a no show when it came to performance. The W700ds totally trumped the competition and was only beaten by its older brother the quad-core W700. That said most of the performance marks doubled that of most desktop replacements.

As for gaming though the W700ds was still unable to beat the powerhouse of the Alienware Area-51 m17x although it did beat it out in the DirectX 10 tests. But that is not to say that the system fails at graphical performance because it is more than capable at doing this as out Far Cry, F.E.A.R, Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 tests showed.

In terms of battery life though the numbers were expected to be low and we were right. The systems 9-cell battery was only able to muster an hour and 45 minutes out of a single charge so you might not want to open one of these op on the plane (not taking into consideration the weight).

CONCLUSION

The W700ds is a monster at performance. We give it a solid 10 for the performance to price ratio. But if you are interested in a system like this be willing to spend in excess of $5,000 which was the region for our test system.

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