Posts filed under 'reviews'
Acer’s TravelMate 8210-6597 blurs the line between business and consumer notebooks, making for an all-around good travel companion. While its business side comes through with an included Bluetooth VoIP phone, SmartCard security, and an integrated webcam, its multimedia chops-including a Blu-ray drive and discrete graphics-help justify the high price. The 6.6-pound 8210-6597 is housed in an elegant charcoal-and-glossy-black case and finished with bright silver trim. Under the checkered lid is a curved keyboard, which is roomy and responsive, as is the touchpad controller. However, we found the mouse buttons a bit stiff and noisy. Four programmable quick-launch buttons and a power switch are located above the keyboard off to the right, but the system lacks a set of media control buttons.
The 15.4-inch widescreen display has a 1680 x 1050-pixel resolution, but the screen looked a bit dim and slightly washed out, even with the brightness setting cranked all the way up. The viewing angle however, is quite good, as we saw no significant color shift from the sides. Above the screen you’ll find a 1.3-megapixel webcam that swivels 225 degrees.
You can use the camera for still photography and videoconferencing with the included Bluetooth VoIP phone, a PC Card device that connects to the 8210-6597’s Bluetooth. We tested the phone using Skype and the Bluetooth connection. It worked okay, but we noticed a crackle and time delay on both ends of the call. That’s par for the course with a VoIP and Bluetooth combination, though, and pairing the phone to the notebook was a snap. The webcam is adequate for video chatting, but the images looked slightly grainy.
The left side of the notebook holds a hot-swappable modular Blu-ray optical drive, which means you should be able to play high-definition DVD movies and record to BD recordable media. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the drive to recognize any Blu-ray discs, but we suspect this is a driver issue that Acer will fix soon. The only option for output to a larger screen is an S-Video connection, but we’d prefer an HDMI port or that the DVI supported HDCP to optimize the HD capability. So the Blu-ray drive will be best used to burn large amounts of data to disc. Getting this system without Blu-ray will save you $1,000.
A green button marked “e” takes you into the Acer Empowering Technology applet, where you can change system and security settings, create backup discs, and restore the system to its original factory settings. Embedded in the front edge of the system are two speakers. The speakers are typical for this class of system: too much treble and hardly any bottom.
The 8210-6597 comes with a pair of SmartCards and 360 Degree Web’s PlatinumSecret software, which, when used in tandem, prevents unauthorized access to the notebook, and more importantly, your data.
The 8210-6597 gets its power from a 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor and 2GB of DDR2 memory, which resulted in an impressive score of 286 on our MobileMark 2005 tests. Equally impressive was the unit’s battery life; the nine-cell li-ion battery lasted for four hours and eight minutes. Unfortunately, wireless performance offered a dismal throughput of 6.7 Mbps from 15 feet and 6.3 Mbps from 50 feet.
The ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics managed a very good score of 8,056 on our 3DMark03 tests but crashed when we tried to run the more demanding F.E.A.R. gaming tests. So while you should expect a very good Windows Vista experience (for $2,999), this system is not recommended for gamers.
We would like to see better wireless performance and a brighter display to make the most of the high-end features in the 8210-6597. But there’s a lot to like about this TravelMate, and it’s worth considering for both office workers and travelers, who will appreciate the built-in VoIP phone and webcam.
March 25th, 2007
The Toughbook line continues to impress with the CF-19, a machine that begs to be used and abused in a rough-and-tumble environment. Its daylight-readable touchscreen is the standout feature, along with its bevy of tucked-away slots and ports. At almost $4,300, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill, spill-a-little-coffee-on-it semi-rugged notebook. It’s a fully ruggedized computer that’s designed to perform in the field.
A quick look at the five-pound CF-19 reveals that it is made for tough environments. The industrial-design magnesium-alloy top panel with black hard rubber bumpers looks like it yearns for a dusty, dirty factory or warehouse floor. All of the ports on the back and sides are protected behind hinged plastic doors. An ingeniously placed clasp on the front panel can clamp down the screen in either Tablet or notebook mode and can be hidden out of the way when not needed. On the spine of the notebook is a handy nylon carrying strap, but it doesn’t seem nearly as sturdy as the CF-19 itself and tends to block access to the connection ports on the back panel.
Inside, the hard drive and display are both shock-mounted. Panasonic claims that the system has passed many of the MIL-STD-810F durability tests, including the drop, vibration, water resistance (spray), dust, and humidity tests.
The 10.4-inch screen on the CF-19 may be small by current notebook standards but is typical for rugged Tablets. An extremely fine pixel density enables the screen to support XGA native resolution, or 123 pixels per inch-more than 50 percent greater than a typical screen. As a result, text appeared a bit small, but photos looked extremely sharp. This display held up extremely well in sunlight; we were able to view it outdoors with only a slight loss in contrast. The screen looked fine when rotated, but there was a very noticeable color and brightness shift when tilted up or down. Worse, when we switched to portrait mode to use the CF-19 as a Tablet, the disparity in brightness along the vertical axis became horizontal, making the screen very difficult to read.
The touchscreen on our test unit worked fairly well. Panasonic sells a version of the CF-19 that is compatible with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition ($128 extra) and as a result requires a special stylus. But our version responded to simple touch. Using a plastic stylus, our finger, and even a gloved finger all worked well. We were disappointed, however, that the onscreen keyboard was much too small to be used with anything other than the stylus.
If you don’t like using the virtual keyboard, there is always the real one in notebook mode. Unfortunately, the system’s small footprint means the keyboard is also tiny. The keys are spaced at just over 17mm (2mm fewer than is standard). Also, the typical inverted-T arrow keys are now laid out in a backward L arrangement, and the tab key is barely the size of a pea. Despite the water-resistant design, the keys felt good, but the small size and unorthodox layout make touch typing difficult. If it helps, you can get a backlit keyboard for $335.
Inside is a 1.6-GHz Intel Core Duo processor and an 80GB hard drive. As with many rugged systems, the CF-19 offers a wealth of wireless connectivity options. Our unit came with Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11a/b/g transceivers, and you can add EV-DO and HSDPA WWAN adapters, as well as GPS. On our tests, Wi-Fi throughput was very good at 17.6 Mbps at 15 feet and 16.8 Mbps at 50 feet.
The CF-19 did quite well on our performance tests, too. The MobileMark 2005 score of 190 is about what we expected: midway between the averages for an ultraportable and a thin-and-light notebook. The 3DMark03 score of 1,087 means this system is better suited for real war games than those of the electronic variety. Where the CF-19 really stands out is in battery endurance. On our productivity tests, it lasted 6 hours and 19 minutes with wireless off, more than an hour longer than the average ultraportable.
Panasonic backs the system with a relatively generous three-year limited warranty with lifetime technical support, which is available 24/7. Although it involves making some compromises, the Toughbook CF-19 is a good rugged solution for workers who need both a touchscreen and long endurance.
March 25th, 2007
The first laptop to take advantage of Windows Vista’s much-hyped SideShow feature, the Asus W5fe lets you read e-mail, play music, and access photos and other content via a secondary 2.8-inch, full-color display integrated into the outer lid of the laptop. The idea is a good one: SideShow offers a quick window to your data, without requiring you to boot up your laptop-or even open it. Between the module’s less-than-elegant navigational interface and relative dearth of functionality, however, the W5fe suggests that SideShow is not yet ready for prime time. More importantly, the W5fe falls short of delivering a compelling ultraportable experience.
At 12 x 8.6 x 1.3 inches, the W5fe’s case is average sized for a laptop with a 12.1-inch display; at four pounds, it’s portable enough for regular travel, though there are plenty of lighter models in its price range. The keyboard is a bit spongy and cramped, but the keys are roomy enough for reasonably comfortable typing. The W5fe’s small, textured touchpad is serviceable, but the little mouse buttons are overly sensitive, and we experienced a number of clicking misfires.
The W5fe’s primary 12.1-inch widescreen display, featuring a standard 1280 x 800 native resolution, delivers bright, crisp images and passable DVD video quality. There’s enough screen real estate for most productivity tasks, including editing documents side by side and working in multiple windows.
The SideShow concept shows promise. The secondary display, with a 320 x 240 resolution, is more than adequate for checking your calendar, reading e-mail (Windows Mail only, a new feature that comes with Vista), checking stock prices, and playing music files from Windows Media Player 11. Unfortunately, we found the interface somewhat clumsy: The enter, back, and menu buttons, the On/Off switch, and the four-way rocker switch are all intuitive enough, but navigating through the menus is confusing and inefficient. The selection of downloadable gadgets for SideShow is pretty slim at the moment, but we hope that improves soon.
The two stereo speakers, placed directly below the display, deliver the thin, weak audio typical of most ultraportables, and when playing audio files via SideShow (with the lid closed), the sound quality is nominally worse. That said, we appreciate the external volume-control wheel on the W5fe’s right edge, though the laptop lacks a full set of dedicated multimedia controls.
For an ultraportable, the W5fe comes equipped with a solid assortment of multimedia features as well as a standard batch of ports and connections. On top of a dual-layer DVD burner, which can read and burn all of the major DVD and CD formats, the W5fe has three well-distributed USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire port, S-Video and VGA outputs for connecting to an external display, one ExpressCard slot, and a 4-in-1 media card reader (as well as an expansion module that supports another four media card types).
In addition to Windows Vista Home Premium (our test unit came preloaded with Vista Ultimate), Asus throws in some nifty software and utilities including MultiFrame, which shuttles windows to whichever quadrant of the display you choose, and LifeFrame, a useful application that lets you easily record still photos, video, and audio clips with the built-in, pivoting 1.3-megapixel webcam. Better yet, the webcam has a row of dedicated buttons that let you instantly zoom in, take photos or video, or record audio.
The W5fe’s built-in networking features include Ethernet and modem jacks, 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. Also on board is a wireless on/off switch, handy for preserving battery power when out of range of an Internet signal. The W5fe’s throughput of 6.2 Mbps at 15 feet and 5.6 Mbps at 50 feet was far below average, however, so you’ll want to travel with an Ethernet cable as much as possible.
Our $2,199 test unit included a robust array of hardware components, especially impressive for an ultraportable: In addition to a high-end 2.16-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7400 processor, which provides two processing cores for improved multitasking performance, the W5fe comes equipped with 1.5GB of DDR2 RAM (the maximum for this system) and a gigantic 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive. The W5fe turned in a 3,589 on our PCMark05 benchmark, which isn’t bad for an ultraportable, and a 1,047 on 3DMark03-proof that it can handle most standard productivity tasks. Its integrated GPU handled Vista’s Aero interface, but this system doesn’t have the muscle for gaming and demanding graphics work.
Unfortunately, the W5fe’s competent processing was overshadowed by mediocre endurance: The W5fe’s six-cell battery (it comes with an additional three-cell battery) lasted 2 hours and 35 minutes while playing a DVD. You should expect close to four hours of runtime when performing regular productivity chores, but that’s still an hour less than the average ultraportable.
We’re pleased with the idea of SideShow and that Asus has managed to be the first on the market with a reasonable platform for it, but at this stage the W5fe doesn’t live up to its potential. This notebook is certainly innovative, but it’s not the best ultraportable you can buy for the money.
March 25th, 2007
