Following on from the claim by Dell that some models in its new Latitude range can be configured to provide a 19 hour on battery life, comes HP’s announcement that its new HP EliteBook 6930p can be configured to deliver “all-day computing”.  Well of course hardware vendors in the computing world are always making big claims for their products, but what is the real story behind these claims?

With the Dell Latitude you need to have opt for a 9 cell battery instead of the standard 6 cell battery and purchase a 12 cell slice. This slice is a separate “slice” of laptop that fits beneath the laptop effectively giving you over three times the normal battery capacity.  Well it is a similar story with the HP in that you have to purchase a 12 cell ultra-capacity battery.

The story is slightly different though in that HP are providing optional energy efficient components, rather than massive battery power, as part of the mix which have to be selected to meet the all day computing goal. The technologies include solid-state hard drives (SSD) and LED displays. The SSD drives can reduce energy requirements by around 7% (and are also significantly faster and much less likely to fail) while the LED displays will also increase battery life substantially. To get HP’s claimed performance you have to choose these optional components which will obviously have a significant upward impact on the final cost.

However both of these components I expect to see become much more common in laptops in the near future, so I am giving the kudos points to HP.  The new HP Elitebook will be available from next month, however the Dell Latitude E6400 is now available through PriceGrabber.

Dell last week announced the release of a new range of its Latitude business range of laptop computers which we looked at in a previous post. One of the ways that Dell is seeking to differentiate its laptops from those of other vendors is through something called Dell Latitude ON. This feature allows access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the Internet very quickly without actually booting into Windows Vista.

The idea

The idea is that a lot of the time, e-mail, the Internet and chat are all we want to do with our laptop, so if you have the ability to do that without having to wait minutes (although it is always seems like hours) for our laptop to boot up that would be a very compelling feature, especially if your on the move a lot. Also by using this feature you are using very little power potentially having a very positive effect on battery life.

How it works

I promised in the previous post that I would investigate how this is achieved. It would appear that the Latitudes that support this feature (not all do) will utilise a completely separate dedicated, Linux subsystem using  a low-power ARM processor and flash memory. This will run completely  independently from the laptop’s main CPU and storage. The custom Linux OS Enterprise will includes a Firefox-based browser and email, calendar, and contacts applications as well as MS Office and PDF viewers to view attachments.  As far as I understand on board data is not accessed locally so data has to be pulled from a central source via a wireless connection.

Dell appears to have got a head start on the other mainstream vendors although Asus have been playing with something similar for a while. These “instant on” operating systems seem like they could be really useful and is something that we may see grow in importance over the next few years. What do you think?

In the meantime the existing Dell Latitude range are presently available with some nice discounts, of which the Dell Latitude D630C is a nice example (follow the shop link to see the discounts).

Asus the manufacturer of the Eee PC are now busily trying to capitalise on the massive  success of the Eee PC Brand and fight off the growing competition. They have introduced a number of new versions under the brand name.  Yesterday I blogged about the Eee PC 901, the most up to date version of the original Eee PC, but in this post I want to look at the Eee PC 1000. This is the newest release from Asus and one which departs from the original vision somewhat.

Asus Eee PC 1000

The Eee PC 1000 departs a little from the original concept of a small and lightweight PC in that it is significantly bigger and also quite a bit heavier.  The main reasons for the size increase is to accommodate a bigger 10″ screen and a bigger keyboard.  The weight increase (1.3 -1.45 kg) comes from both its bigger size and a bigger more powerful battery. The 10″ screen comes with a good 1024 x 600 resolution and the keyboard is now claimed by Asus to be about 95% of the size of a standard laptop keyboard. As the small keyboard on the original Eee PC was considered to small to be truly usable this will make a lot of people happy and from the reviews I have read so far most consider the keyboard a big improvement.

Apart from the storage (more on that in a minute), the other updates are all similar to those on the Eee PC 901 with a Intel Atom CPU, 1 GB RAM, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth wireless.  The battery life is now an impressive 5 - 8 hours depending on usage and what storage options you go for.  The  on board storage has increased  significantly with both 40 GB SSD and 80 GB standard hard drive options available, both of which offer a big increase over the original models.

Options

The Eee PC 1000 is available in both a Linux and Windows XP version (1000H), the only difference apart from the operating system is that only the Linux version comes with the 40 GB SSD. The Windows XP version (1000H) has a 80 GB standard hard drive however if you were so inclined you could install your preferred operating system on either model.

Verdict

Making the perfect netbook is always going to be a balance between size , weight, screen and keyboard size and battery life.  Asus appears to have decided that you can’t please everybody and have produced two versions each with a different emphasis on these criteria, which I think is the right approach.   The Eee PC 1000 is a capable machine that will make the Eee PC brand stronger.

My own choice would be for the Linux version to get the SSD drive and a reduced weight machine which will also run cooler. What would you choose?

Asus the manufacturer of the Eee PC are now busily trying to capitalise on the massive, and I suspect somewhat unexpected, success of the Eee PC Brand. They have introduced a number of new versions under the brand name.  I blogged about my first impressions of the Eee 900 the first update of the original Eee PC a few days ago, but now I want to look at some of the newest releases from Asus starting in this post with the Asus Eee PC 901.

Asus Eee PC 901

The Eee PC 901 is essentially the Eee PC 900 updated to take advantage of the new Intel Atom CPU. This low power processor improves battery life while maintaining or even improving performance and operating at lower temperatures. This coupled with the better battery and low power requirements of the 20Gb SSD (Solid State Drive - like USB flash drives) means that Asus are claiming up to 8 hours battery life for the Eee 901 which is important for the intended go anywhere vision associated with the Eee.  There are other small changes such as  802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth wireless capability all improving the capability of Eee without taking away what makes it special.

The Eee 901 is available in both a Linux and Windows XP version, the only difference apart from the operating system is that the XP version comes with only a 12GB SSD instead of 20GB, which presumably reflects the additional cost of Windows.

So updated with new features and with a new CPU and better battery, the Eee PC 901 still delivers the small, easy to use, go anywhere spirit which the original embodied. In the next post we will look at the slightly bigger Eee PC 1000.

Dell has this week announced the release of a new range of its Latitude business range of laptop computers. Nothing too strange about that you might think, vendors are always coming out with new releases of their products as technology advances and prices come down. But this is a little different if Dells claims are true, in that these systems are capable of 19 hours battery life!

Of course battery life claims by the laptop vendors always seem to be optimistic to say the least, but a 19 hour claim is huge. After further research I found that to reach this goal you will need to have opted for a 9 cell battery instead of the standard 6 cell battery and purchase what Dell calls a 12 cell slice. This slice is a separate “slice” of laptop that fits beneath the laptop effectively giving you over three times the normal battery capacity. Still if battery life is important to you this might be a nice solution for you.

Other things that Dell offer do not appear to be big steps over the competition but this is what you would expect in such a commodatised marketplace. However there are some nice touches with things like an ability to provide access to e-mail, calendar, attachments, contacts and the Internet without actually booting into Windows.  More on this in a later post. Other nice touches include LED-backlit displays, backlit keyboards, and USB ports that can charge cell phones and MP3 players even when the system is powered off.

All in all a competent new range of business laptops. What this means is in the short term though is that you can get some real nice deals on the existing models. The Dell Latitude D400 range is selling at about a 20% discount if you follow the links through from the PriceGrabber website.  The Dell Latitude D4300 is presently a good example of such a nice bargain.

If you have been reading this blog regularly then you will know that I am a big fan of the Asus Eee and that I have invested in an Asus Eee 4G PC  which was supposed to be a first computer for my youngest son. I say supposed because it often gets requisitioned by my wife who seems to prefer it to the other notebooks available in the household.  Early this year Asus launched a updated version of the Eee called the Asus Eee 900 and we have talked about the updated specifications in a previous post. Recently I got the chance to get my hands on one of these and I thought I would share my first impressions.

First of all there appears to be little change in terms of size and general appearance when closed, however as soon as you open up the lid you immediately notice the much bigger screen which fills the entire lid real estate. The screen resolution has increased also to very nice 1,024 x 600 which combined with the larger screen really makes the Eee 900 an even better experience than the original 4G PC.  The touchpad is now bigger and in my opinion nicer and easier to use and the keypad seems a lot more responsive although of course still the same small size which does take a little bit of getting used to.

A lot of the other improvements which don’t have an instant impact are present under the bonnet, such as increased memory, storage and camera  which are obviously important  and will improve overall performance. All in all the new Asus Eee 900 has improved the capability of the Eee brand for a small increase in price.

I still think that price is worth paying although it might be worth looking at the even newer models that Asus have recently released. We will have a look at those in an upcoming post.

I have talked before about how useful a mini mouse can be for using with a laptop. especially so when working while traveling. I find that using a mouse rather than the trackpad of a laptop is a much better way of maintaining a good position when working on a laptop for long periods of time.  In other words the sort of thing you often end up doing when working in some faceless hotel in some city or country around the world.

Unfortunately my previous mini mouse suddenly stopped working for reasons unknown. But what I do know is that my younger kids could not help themselves from endlessly playing with the retractable cable holder that is designed to hold the connecting USB cable neatly while the mouse is not in use. They just loved pulling the cable out and back on an almost continuous basis. Now I can not confirm that this caused or even contributed to the demise of my mouse but I thought I would look around for a replacement with out the cable.

After searching around and even trying out various models of wireless mice, I finally settled on the Logitech V450 Laser Cordless Mouse which after using for a couple of days I am really happy with.  I like the design which although slightly bigger than my previous mouse seems to be even more comfortable to hold. I have had absolutely no connection problems with the wireless and even better, the mouse seems to be able to cope with a lot more different surfaces than my old one.  If you are look for a wireless mouse for your laptop than I can certainly recommend this one.

Do you use a mouse with your laptop?

One thing about using a laptop with other peripherals such as an external screen,  mouse and keyboard is that it is such a pain to have plug all these external devices into the various slots in your laptop. Once answer used by a lot of corporate workers, especially at work is to have a docking station or port replicator that you can just plug or slot your laptop into and away you go.

Laptop ergonomics

You should be doing this by the way, especially  if you use are essentially using your laptop as a desktop replacement, either at work or at home.  Spending significant amount of time each day using just your laptop without an external screen etc. breaks just about every rule in terms of ergonomics, and could lead to significant health and posture problems later on.

Universal docking station

However the majority of docking stations are proprietary to a specific manufacturer and even to specific models. So what can you do if you are looking for another port replicator at home, and would like one that could handle all makes of laptops?  Well one answer could be the Toshiba USB Dynadock Port Replicator.  We have all heard of the universal remote well this device attempts to be the universal docking station.  It handles the connection to multiple makes and models of laptops by using a single USB connection rather than any proprietary connection slots. You have your monitors, external drives, sound systems, key board etc, permanently connected to the Toshiba USB Dynadock and then when anyone wants to use their laptop they just attach one USB cable (assuming they got the drivers installed).   It is also a very stylish looking device which won’t look at all bad on the desk.

How do you manage docking you laptop with your external devices?

In the last post we looked at laptops for gaming and when I was looking around for good examples I found quite a few.  I thought I would share today what I think must probably the ultimately gaming laptop that I found.  Have a look at the Rock Xtreme SL Pro XSLPRO-TL60 Laptop.

Gaming Power

If you remember that for gaming the most important requirements are a good fast processor, a fast GPU (graphics card) and plenty of memory. Well the Rock Xtreme SL Pro comes with a massive 20 inch screen, a fast AMD dual core CPU,  two SLI Nvidia graphics cards and two hard drives.  This should be more than able cope with any game that you chose to play.

True gaming value?

Of course while the Rock Xtreme SL Pro is obviously a very capable computer, it comes with quite a hefty price tag and with a 20 inch screen it is beginning to move from portable to a “luggable” computer.  In other words it can be lugged around if required, but it is hardly something you are going to carry around everywhere you go!  These aspects also illustrate nicely the point I made in my previous post that laptops are the not in my opinion the way to go for the dedicated gamer.  Just imagine the desktop gaming rig you could put together given the same money, probably something with even better components complete with large screen, awesome sound and good gaming peripherals.

Do you have examples of what you think is the ultimate gaming laptop?

We have previously looked on this blog at computers for gaming. In that previous post we looked at a desktop computer as an example of a possible gaming rig.  But as laptops these days are outselling desktop computers it is probably about time to have a look at gaming laptops.  So what is a gaming laptop and what makes a good one?

What is a gaming laptop?

A gaming laptop is essentially a notebook computer that is both portable but also plays games as well as it does any of the other things you want a computer for.  A laptop that is as happy playing the latest game as it is for writing emails and running office applications.

What makes a gaming laptop?

Most modern games require power, so just like in our previous post a gaming laptop will have to have a powerful, near top of the range components.  The single most important component is the graphics processor, look for the laptop with the best you can afford.  Next important is a powerful CPU followed up by us much RAM memory that you can get.  Essentially there no such thing as a specialist gaming laptop (although there are some that are marketed as such), it just needs to have sufficiently high specification components to be able to meet our gaming requirements. A great example of a good gaming laptop would be MSI GX700-204 UK which comes with a great graphics card, an Intel dual core processor and 3GB of RAM.

Desktops still better for games

In my opinion though, unless you spend a lot of time traveling and need the portability that a laptop gives you, a gamer is going to be far better off with a desktop. Why? Well there can be big downsides to these laptops in that, they are inevitably big & heavy,  get very hot and can be very expensive.  Often for the same price as the laptop you can buy a desktop with a great screen, even better core components and this coupled with high quality peripherals such as joysticks, keyboards would ultimately deliver a superior gaming experience.

Do use a laptop for gaming? Why did you go for the laptop rather than a desktop?