Dell inspiron 2650 notebook review

To get this laptop to $1,299, though, Dell makes a couple of compromises that are like cramming a turbocharged motor into a car that doesn't have the suspension to match. The marginal amount of memory—128MB—screams "compromise to hit price point," and the display resolution of 1,024-by-768 (XGA) is vanilla. Our $1,777 test unit was better-balanced. The CPU was bumped from the entry-level 1.4-GHz P4-M to a 1.6-GHz CPU; DDR system memory was doubled to reach 256MB; graphics memory on the nVidia GeForce2 Go 100 was also doubled, to 16MB; and the CD-ROM drive was replaced by a more versatile 8X CD-R/W drive. But the system still had the entry-level 20GB hard drive and a 14.1-inch active matrix display, lithium rechargeable inspiron 2650 battery.

Dell inspiron 2650 Key Specs

Processor manufacturer: Intel

Processor model: Pentium 4 Processor-M

Clock speed: 1.6 GHz

RAM installed: 256 MB

Hard drive size: 30 GB

Graphics processor: nVidia GeForce2 Go 100

Graphics RAM: 16 MB

Display diagonal size: 15 in

Dimensions (W x H x D): 32.8x3.7x27.4 cm

Weight: 3.65 kg

Operating system: Windows XP Home

Aside from its combo drive, the 2650 is a plain, simply designed, all-in-one notebook with a monochromatic case. You get some connections, including a parallel port, a VGA port, and headphone and microphone jacks. But don't look for FireWire, built-in wireless, or even the now-common TV-out port. There's no serial port, either, and you get just one PC Card slot, which will stymie some peripherals junkies.

The Inspiron 2650 battery certainly performs well, thanks to the combination of its Mobile Pentium 4 processor and 256MB of DDR SDRAM. Its Business Winstone 2001 score of 32.8 means that it runs mainstream productivity applications like those in Microsoft’s Office 2000 very comfortably. It even handles high-end programs pretty well, too, delivering a Content Creation Winstone 2002 score of 20.3. Of course there are faster notebooks, but for practical purposes, the Inspiron does what it is designed to do quite well.

Performance was not the 2650's strong suit. Our test unit delivered scores that would have been dazzling for a desktop a year ago but that now lean toward the lower end of what might be considered normal. This P4-M–based notebook is fast—but plenty of others are faster.

On key measures such as Business Winstone 2002 and Content Creation Winstone 2002, the 2650 fell about 10 percent behind P4-M desktop replacement portables that cost more (but weigh the same). And it was roughly on a par with a mix of mainstream P4-M and upper-end PIII notebooks.

The life of the eight-cell, 50-watt-hour, 3,900-mAh lithium inspiron 2600 battery on BatteryMark 2001 was 2 hours 38 minutes, about average for such early P4-M systems. Naysayers worried that P4-M systems were going to have trouble bettering 2 hours with all the thermal draw, but that isn't the case with this model. Dell keeps the inspiron 2650 battery cool with vents on one side (taking up what might have been a second PC Card slot) and a cooling fan on the bottom.

dell latitude c600 battery

Processor manufacturer: Intel

Processor model: Mobile Pentium III

Clock speed: 0.85 GHz

RAM installed: 128 MB

Wireless LAN: integrated antenna for wireless 802.11b networking via a Mini-PCI card

Hard drive size: 10 GB

Graphics processor: ATi Rage Mobility 128 AGP 2X

Graphics RAM: 8 MB

Display diagonal size: 14.1 in

Dimensions (W x H x D): 31.9x3.5x25.4 cm

Weight: 2.7 kg

Operating system: Windows 2000 Professional

The Dell Latitude C600 is a straightforward corporate laptop with excellent battery life and some special touches, it's oranginal battery code:dell 1691p.

One aspect that is unique among the machines we tested (and worth copying by others) is the inclusion of both a touch pad and pointing stick. Those who are comfortable with both features can switch back and forth, depending on the task (both are active concurrently), and those with a preference can choose between them, turning one or the other off.

The C600 has an internal antenna for wireless networking, and Dell offers, for an extra $199 (direct), an internal Mini-PCI 802.11b adapter. Unfortunately, that card needs to be plugged into the same slot as the wired Ethernet Mini-PCI adapter. So to toggle between wired and wireless networking, you'll have to use a PC Card for one of them. This is an unexpected omission, especially when the similarly priced Acer and Toshiba models include standard internal wireless network and Ethernet capability.

Hot-swapping modules to and from the single bay worked like a charm: We just clicked an icon on the System Tray, ejected one module, and popped in the new one. Another highlight is the high-resolution display. Although its 14.1-inch size is the same as most others, the screen's 1,400-by-1,050 native resolution lets you see more of a document or Web page without scrolling.

As for the audio capabilities, the speaker volume was very low: For presentations, you'll need an external pair of powered speakers. The keyboard layout, spacing,Dell latitude c600 battery and feel were all comfortable. One notable keyboard feature is the Dell AccessDirect button, which calls up the on-disk documentation. You can also program this button to launch a frequently used application or—even more useful for IT managers—to preconfigure each machine with a specific support resource.

Dell's Inspiron 4000, Inspiron 8000, and C-series Latitude notebooks now integrate wireless networking--a first for the company. The Pentium III-750/600-based Latitude C600 includes a TrueMobile wireless LAN mini-PCI card that connects to an antenna (which Dell has been building into the three notebook lines since last fall),dell 1691p. Add an access point and you have 802.11b-compliant wireless local-area networking. Dell offers the $899 TrueMobile 1150 Wireless Access Point for the office and the $299 Wireless Network Hub for the home. In addition to hassle-free wireless networking, the handsome, lightweight C600 has features designed to appeal to companies whose employees share notebooks. It boasts an easy-to-remove hard drive, eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices, and an internal bay that can hold one of seven different devices. Dropping a dummy module into the bay cuts the notebook's weight to a svelte 5.5 pounds. Rear connections sport color icons that allow you to hook up peripherals quickly but good as the dell 1691p

Unfortunately, you can't have built-in wireless networking and built-in standard networking, too. The TrueMobile wireless network interface mini-PCI card occupies the internal mini-PCI bay normally used by the combination modem and network adapter. To add standard connectivity, you'll have to add a PC Card, such as the Xircom RealPort modem/NIC combination that was bundled with our review unit. (You can also order your notebook with a modem/NIC mini-PCI card and add a TrueMobile PC Card for occasional wireless networking.) Dell's documentation could be better: The C600 ships with a thin printed manual, leaving you to fish for most information in a difficult-to-search HTML user's guide.

The C600 is a sedate-looking, dark-gray laptop with a keyboard that's designed well but is somewhat noisy. The single bay, located on the front, accommodates either the 10X-24X CD-ROM drive or the floppy drive you get for its as-tested price, or any one of five optional devices--an 8X DVD-ROM drive, an 8X/4X/24X CD-RW drive, a Zip drive, a second battery, or a second hard drive. You can use the floppy drive alongside other devices by attaching it to the parallel port with an included cable. Aside from an S-Video port, the C600 is short on multimedia features; the 1691p is well,its sound is only so-so and it has no extra audio buttons. The Latitude's PC WorldBench 2000 score of 164 is slightly above average for a Pentium III-750/600 notebook running Windows 2000.

The C600 offers almost everything a company would want in a portable, highly flexible business laptop: wireless networking, both eraserhead and touchpad pointing devices, and the ability to rotate a wide range of add-in devices, including a second battery. The $2486 price looks high for a Pentium III-750/600 laptop, but seems reasonable considering everything else you get.

Sony VAIO PCG-V505EX PC Notebook review

I got this laptop when it first came out and it has been great every since.

The first thing I noticed is the insane amount of garbage software that Sony gives you. Many free trials and internet providers. They also give NO RECOVERY CDs! It really made me mad that they could not include a few CDs in an almost $2000 laptop. You have to burn the CDs yourself once you get the system started for the first time and this takes about 1 hour.

Once I had all the drivers and Sony utilities I wanted, I reformatted the hard drive and did a clean install of Windows XP(using my own CD). The system is much faster once you remove all the garbage. Then I got around to using this wonderful machine.

Battery life (Original Sony PCGA-BP4V & PCGA-BP2V)is excellent at about 5 hours. The 1.5Ghz Centrino is very powerful and great for all processor intensive tasks. The system runs quite cold and I have not had problems with overheating even when running at full load for days.

The screen is very bright and sharp. It is adjustable with a few presses of the keyboard. The great thing about the screen is that it is a standard screen and NOT wide. This is better for all applications except for DVD movies. However, the standard screen makes the laptop quite deep and uncomfortable for cramped flights. The native resolution is just right.

The speakers are crisp and loud for their size. The sound retains quality even at top volume. The CD-RW/DVD drive is quick and does it all. The only problem is that the drive is fixed and impossible to upgrade.

The one thing that slows down the system is the awful 4200RPM Hard Drive. The size is decent at 60GB but the transfer speed is awfully slow. The processor is always starved for information and everything else is much too fast for this drive. A very nice 7200RPM drive can be picked up for $100-200. With a nice drive this system is as fast as most desktops.

sony pcg-v505ex battery


Battery Run Time:
2.5 Hours

Battery Technology: Lithium ion



Stylish mobility, serious power! The next generation of the award-wining VAIO 505 line, the 4.34 lb. V505 Series includes an integrated CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive in one of the lightest Mobile Intel Pentium 4 Processor-M based notebooks available. Plus, with the optional double-capacity Lithium Ion PCGA-BP4V battery get extended battery life up to 7 hours!

Acer travelmate 4600 review

Acer travlmate 4600 laptop review

The Acer TravelMate 4600 provides more than enough performance, battery life, and features to satisfy home and small-business users interested in simple tasks such as e-mailing, Web surfing, and document creation. We think its $1,149 price tag is pretty good, though you should know that Acer skimps on phone support. If 24/7 help is important to you, look to slightly more expensive laptops, such as the HP Compaq Presario V4000 or the Gateway M460S.

The TravelMate 4600 falls toward the lighter end of the midsize pack. It weighs 6.4 pounds and measures 13.2 inches wide, 11.2 inches deep, and 1.4 inches thick. By comparison, the HP Compaq Presario V4000 weighs 6.5 pounds, while the Gateway M360X comes in at 6.2 pounds. The TravelMate 4600's three-prong, 0.8-pound AC adapter is about the size of a candy bar cell phone.

The laptop features Acer's signature ergonomically curved keyboard, which makes typing more comfortable. The touch pad is wide enough, but the mouse buttons are uncomfortably small; a large scroll button sits between them. Though the system lacks multimedia controls, it has a handy Wi-Fi on/off button and three configurable quick-launch buttons for applications. It operates quietly, except for the occasionally loud DVD burner and a few noisy spins of the internal fan at bootup.

We liked the TravelMate 4600's large, bright, 15-inch display, but we wish it had a higher native resolution than 1,024x768 (XGA). The system's two speakers on the front edge lacked bass and distorted at full volume.

The TravelMate 4600 includes one of the most complete collections of ports, jacks, and slots that we've seen in a $1,149 laptop. The right edge accommodates an infrared port, one Type II PC Card slot, and a 6-in-1 card reader that supports all of the major flash memory cards. The back edge features a Gigabit Ethernet jack plus ports for four-pin FireWire, S-Video out, docking, VGA, DVI, and USB 2.0. The left edge has headphone, microphone, and 56Kbps modem jacks, three more USB 2.0 ports, and the integrated single-layer DVD burner. This feature selection is slightly better than that of the HP Compaq Presario V4000, which costs $400 more than the TravelMate 4600.

Beyond the Windows XP Professional operating system, you don't get much software with the TravelMate 4600. Acer bundles CyberLink PowerDVD and NTI CD & DVD Maker for disc playback and burning, respectively. The only other application is an Acer utility for managing passwords, power management, and other basic settings. This package is typical for a low-cost laptop.

We tested the TravelMate 4600, one of two preconfigured systems in the TravelMate 4600 series. The TravelMate 4600 has a suggested retail price of $1,149, though we found that most online resellers have priced it at more than $1,200. Still, that's a pretty good deal, considering the system's respectable mix of components, including a fast 2GHz Pentium M 760 processor, 1GB of speedy 533MHz RAM, a huge 100GB hard drive rotating at a decent 5,400rpm, and an Intel 915GM chipset that borrows a maximum 128MB of main memory to use as VRAM.

In Labs' benchmark tests, the TravelMate 4600 took full advantage of its components. It ran 25 percent faster than the $1,579 HP Compaq Presario V4000, which has a slower 4,200rpm hard drive, and 26 percent faster than the $1,370 Gateway M360X, which has a slower 1.7GHz Pentium M 735 processor, just 512MB RAM, and a 4,200rpm hard drive. Though the speed difference might not be obvious when conducting such basic tasks as e-mail and word processing, multitaskers and people who like working with lots of windows open will probably benefit from the TravelMate's additional performance.

The TravelMate 4600 also proved a winner in our Labs' battery-drain tests: its battery lasted for a long 4 hours, 1 minute. Both the Presario V4000 and the M360X held out for about three hours.

We can live with the TravelMate 4600's average one-year warranty, which includes mail-in or carry-in service. But we're disappointed with the company's failure to fulfill its 24/7 phone-support claim. Acer claims that tech-support calls placed outside of "live" hours (Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and weekends from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT) will be returned within the hour. But we called and left a message at 3 p.m. PT on a Sunday, and a tech rep never returned our call. Worse, you can't turn to convenient electronic support features, such as real-time tech-support chats, since Acer doesn't offer them.

Power of Acer travelmate 4600

(Longer bars indicate better performance)

Battery part#Acer LCBTP03003,BT.T5003.001

The Acer LCBTP03003 Battery Type is Li-ion.It can supply more power time than avg battery.It have a capability of 4400Mah and output 14.80 volts.

System configurations:

Acer TravelMate 4600

Windows XP

Pro; 2GHz Intel Pentium M 760;

1GB DDR2 PC4300 SDRAM 533MHz;

Intel 915GM/GMS 910GML

Express 128MB;

Power supplied by Acer lcbtp03003 battery

Seagate ST9100822A 100GB 5,400rpm

 

Dell latitude d600 laptop review

Product: Dell Latitude D600 laptop Product Page
Price as configured: US$1,806
Processor: Pentium-M (Banias) 1.4GHz
Display: 14.1" SXGA (1400x1050) screen
Video: ATI Radeon Mobility 9000 w/32 MB DDR
Hard drive: Hitachi Travelstar 40GB 5400rpm HDD
Operating system: Windows XP Professional
Original battery code:DELL 312-0068

You can get the configuration:

• Intel 1.4Ghz Pentium-M CPU


• 640MB DDR2100 RAM (128MB included, 512MB from Crucial)
  
• 40GB Hitachi Travelstar 5K80 5400rpm HDD


• 14.1î SXGA+ (1400x1050) display


• ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 w/ 32MB DDR RAM (dedicated)


• Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 802.11b mini-PCI card


• DVD/CD-RW and second standard battery
  
• Dimensions: 1.2" height x 12.4" width x 10.1" depth


• Weight: 5.3lbs


• Price tag: US$1,606, after 512MB upgrade and US$200 instant rebate


• Battery: dell latitude d600 battery

If legacy connections and long battery life are what you need in a business laptop, the Dell Latitude D600 delivers. The slim Wi-Fi-ready unit weighs 5.4 pounds and has parallel and serial connections for old office peripherals. For typists, the D600 provides both a low-profile pointing stick in the center of the keyboard and the more popular touchpad. The two sets of mouse buttons cater to polar-opposite tastes: The pointing stick's buttons are squishy and deep-depressing, while the touchpad's buttons are extremely stiff. In our battery tests, the D600 lasted just over 4 hours, about an hour longer than the average laptop.

The thin-and-light Latitude D600 series, based on the new Pentium M processor, marks the start of an ambitious new corporate look for Dell. Not only has the company redesigned all of its popular Latitude laptops, it has also reworked its docking stations, port replicators, and media modules. The notebooks carry the very latest components, including Pentium M processors and Intel's new 855 chipset. The D600 series isn't always a true-blue Centrino, but it can be except the dell latitude d600 battery,The company offers either the Centrino-completing Intel Pro wireless mini-PCI card, known as Calexico, or Dell Computer's own TrueMobile Wi-Fi mini-PCI cards, supporting 802.11a/b/g. If your corporate budget includes money for a new laptop line, the Latitude D series is a wise way to spend it.

Design of Dell Latitude D600

If the old Latitude C600 was the comfort food of corporate computing, then the new Latitude D600 series would be the dessert. The silver D600 is a smaller, sleeker version of the gray C600, measuring 1.2 by 12.4 by 10.1 inches and weighing an easy-to-tote 5.3 pounds. It still includes an internal swappable bay that houses a second battery or one of various drives: CD, DVD, CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, floppy, or a second 40GB hard drive.

Like the C600, the Latitude D600 series includes both a pointing stick in the middle of the spacious, comfortable keyboard and a touchpad centered in the wrist rest. There are four mouse buttons: two below the spacebar (you're supposed to use these with the pointing stick) and two below the touchpad. Three handy buttons for volume--Up, Down, and Mute--are located in the upper-left corner above the keyboard.

If you'd rather rely on an external keyboard and mouse, Dell's new D/View monitor stand ($69) and port replicator ($199) make it easy to connect them. And in a unique twist, the monitor stand lets you use the notebook's screen as your main monitor, though setting it up takes some getting used to. First, attach the notebook to the monitor stand, place that on the port replicator, then lift up the back of the port replicator (there's a hinge in front). Open your notebook and slide the system up or down until the display reaches eye level. Next, connect an external keyboard and mouse, and voilà--you have a desktop-PC-like setup. The two downsides to this setup: you might tire of looking at the laptop's keyboard propped up in front of you, and you might find the whole setup difficult to use.

Features of Dell Latitude D600

The Pentium M on which this series is based comes in 1.3GHz, 1.4GHz, and 1.6GHz speeds--all paired with Intel's new 855PM chipset. You can order your Latitude with anywhere from 128MB to 2GB of fast 266MHz DDR SDRAM; a 40GB hard drive spinning at a speedy 5,400rpm or 20GB, 30GB, and 60GB drives running at 4,200rpm; a 32MB ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chip; and a number of swappable modules for the single internal bay, including CD, DVD, CD-RW, DVD/CD-RW, floppy, a second hard drive, or a second battery. The average-sized, 14.1-inch screen isn't as impressive as some of the other components; fortunately for those who deal with detailed graphics, it comes in a fine 1,400x1,050 native resolution. (You can save a little money by dropping back to a 1,024x768 display instead.) The configuration we tested included the 1.6GHz PM processor; 512MB of DDR memory; the fast 40GB hard drive; and the ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 with 32MB of video memory.

Battery life of Dell Latitude D600

The Latitude D600 makes the dell latitude d600 battery beyond the four-hour battery-life barrier, which is impressive when compared to older, non-Pentium M systems. However, most of the new Pentium M notebooks we've tested last at least four hours; one, the IBM ThinkPad T40, lasted nearly seven hours--an astonishing feat. The Latitude D600's 11.1V, 4,320mAh is mostly to blame for its middling score. That battery is just not large enough to compete with the IBM's power source or that of the D600's closest competitor, the Compaq Evo N620c, with its 14.4V, 4,400mAh battery.

Kodak Easyshare DX7440 review

The Kodak Easyshare DX7440 is a fairly compact 4 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 33mm -132mm on a 35mm camera). It has a large 2.2" Colour TFT screen and powerful KLIC-5000 rechargeable battery. The camera comes with 32mb memory built into the camera, and can be upgraded with an additional SD card. The camera takes a proprietary Lithium-Ion battery. The camera also records unlimited 640x480 videos at 13fps and 320x240 videos at 24fps with sound. The camera can be bought for £129 (UK) / $272 (US) from Amazon. The camera is compact with a size and weight as follows: Dimensions: 100.3x69.2x40.2 mm (4.0x2.7x1.6 in.). Weight: 224g (without batteries or recording media).

Specifications
/ Features:

• Professional-quality
  SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH VARIOGON 4X Optical Zoom Lens


• 4.0 MP for sharp, vibrant prints up to 20"x30" (50x76 cm)


• Exclusive KODAK Color Science Image Processing Chip
  
  Manual and custom controls


• 2.2" 153K pixel resolution indoor/outdoor display


• High-speed, low-light auto-focus


• Continuous shooting and bracketing modes


• 22 scene and color modes


• Sharing is one-touch simple


• Ready to go - right out of the box
  
  

Full Specifications
can be found on Kodak's
site.

Unlike most cameras in this class which have a 3X zoom lens, the DX7440 has a 4X lens! The one here has a maximum aperture range of F2.8 - F4.8, and a focal range of 33 - 132 mm (in 35 mm terms). Hopefully the disappearing text on the lens isn't a bad omen! As I mentioned in the previous section, the 7440 supports a number of conversion lenses.

To the upper left of the lens is the built-in flash. The flash has a working range of 0.6 - 4.0 m at wide-angle and 0.6 - 2.3 m at telephoto, which is comparable to the competition. You cannot attach an external flash to the DX7440.

To the upper-right of the lens is the hybrid autofocus sensor. This helps the camera focus quickly and accurate in both good and bad lighting. It's not the same as an AF-assist lamp but it works quite well nonetheless.

As with all Kodak cameras, the DX7440 is very easy-to-use. Their EasyShare system makes printing or e-mailing photos a piece of cake. You can use the camera in automatic or one of the many scene modes without any trouble. For those who want more control over exposure, the 7440 offers manual shutter speed and aperture settings. Shooting performance is excellent, most notably in the focusing area -- this is one of the fastest focusing cameras out there, even in low light. Speaking of which, the larger-than-average-sized LCD "gains up" in low light so you can see what you're looking at. In bright outdoor light, the LCD is remarkably viewable as well. The 7440 has as good -- but not great -- movie mode which lets you record 640 x 480 video until the memory card fills up, albeit at a sluggish 13 frames/second. The camera is expandable as well, with support for numerous conversion lenses and filters. The powerful KLIC-5001 battery can used for about 3 hours.

Box Contents:

• KODAK EASYSHARE DX7440 Zoom Digital Camera


• Lithium rechargeable klic-5001 battery charger


• USB and audio/video cables


• High-capacity Li-Ion KLIC-5001 battery (1050 mAh)


• Wrist strap


• KODAK EASYSHARE Software


• Getting started kit


• Custom camera insert for optional KODAK EASYSHARE Camera and Printer Docks