MSI X600

MSI X600

At first blush, the MSI X600 is intriguing. At 4.6 pounds with a 5400-milliamp battery, the X600 offers a truly full-size keyboard (including a separate numeric keypad) and a 15.6-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel screen driven by an ATI Radeon Mobility 4330 discrete graphics chip. Overall, that sounds like a pretty terrific combination, right? Well, there are a couple of warts.

A machine this big sporting Intel's Core 2 Solo low-power U3500 processor would be one of those oddities. This is a CPU you'd typically find in an ultralight laptop, like MSI's own X340. And while the X600 does sport a discrete graphics chip--something that certainly helps visual quality on DVDs--the actual pixel resolution is no more than that on the smaller, lighter X340.

HP ProBook 5310m

HP ProBook 5310m Ultraportable Laptop

HP has a thing of business-savvy beauty on its hands with the ProBook 5310m. Why do I say that? Even the guys in the PC World Labs--who see everything under the sun--were impressed by its industrial design. The sleek black aluminum case, the supple texture on the undercarriage...the list goes on. Me? I was impressed with the $699 starting price (the review unit in our office sells for $899). When they weren't ogling this slick, 13.3-inch, 3.8-pound, 0.9-inch-thin ultraportable, I grabbed the machine for my own testing.

Under the hood is Intel's Core 2 Duo SP9300 2.26GHz CPU, backed by 2GB of RAM and an integrated graphics processor. That's no scorcher, mind you, but it does run Windows 7 Professional and a few core programs (Office applications, photo editing software, and Web browsing, for instance) without balking. In fact, it has enough juice to cruise through PC WorldBench 6 earning a 99. Not shabby at all considering the size, weight and price. The battery life suffers as a result, lasting just a few minutes shy of 5 hours. Certainly better than the average all-purpose machine, but not the 6-to-7 hours advertised by HP spokespeople.

The 5310m adheres to that fine line between a computing status symbol (like, say, the HP Envy 13 or the Sony VAIO X series) and a reasonably powerful PC that actually lets you get your job done. And I'd daresay that the ProBook 5310m presents a more down-to-Earth alternative to Dell's fashionable Latitude Z600.

Acer Aspire One D250-1613

Acer Aspire One D250-1613 (Android) Netbook

The latest model in the Aspire One netbook line is fairly nondescript. The D250-1613 has the same 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, plus 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a tiny keyboard, and a microscopic multitouch pad. With its cookie-cutter netbook design, it fits into the crowd somewhere between the Fujitsu LifeBook M2010 and, say, the Lenovo S10. The only real difference is that, for a $350 asking price, Acer is offering a dual-boot system, with both Windows XP and Android tailored for a netbook. Regrettably, throwing in Google's OS gratis isn't enough to make this netbook a winner right out of the box.

Still, Android is the big draw of this netbook, so we should examine that first. Upon your first boot-up of the D250-1613, it goes into Windows XP, as just about every other netbook does. It's loaded with all the trials and shovelware you've come to love (games you won't play, security software you don't want...you get the idea). Nestled somewhere among those shortcuts, however, is the Android configuration tool. Once you complete the configuration and reboot the machine, it loads up the Acer flavor of Android in about 18 seconds.

The main interface is clean--no arguments there. By default, a few apps line the bottom; you can drag and drop others from a pull-out menu that sits on the right side of the screen. Of course, it has hooks into Gmail--the biggest draw for this netbook--so you have access to all your contacts, calendaring, and e-mail offline. It's a huge benefit for anyone who doesn't have an Android phone (or a Palm Pre, for that matter) but needs offline access to their online contacts. Change any information locally, and the next time you get online (whether through an optional 3G connection or Wi-Fi), it syncs up with your Google account. Unfortunately, this brings me to an annoying quirk that I discovered while typing an e-mail on the bus: In offline mode, you can type with no problem, but the infuriatingly tiny touchpad (more on that in a second) made me hit 'Send' accidentally. "No big deal," I figured, "just go to the outbox and open the e-mail." Wrong. For some inexplicable reason, I couldn't get it to open.

Acer Aspire 5738DG-6165

Acer Aspire 5738DG-6165 All-Purpose Laptop

The Acer Aspire 5738DG-6165 grafts a 3D panel onto a mainstream laptop. It's a gimmick, a feature that caters to maybe 1 percent of the computing population--and at first I was completely skeptical. People are offering 3D as a crowd-pleasing extra in movie theaters, as a ploy to justify the purchase of Blu-ray discs, and now as a new reason to buy a high-end graphics card. But in a $780 all-purpose laptop?

After kicking the tires on the 5738DG-6165 for a few days, I've seen some mixed, finicky--but also at times surprisingly good--results. Since the rest of the laptop (even the discrete GPU driving the visual experience) is so average, I have to make the 3D panel the focal point of this review.

But before we dive into the specifics of the panel, you need to understand the three different 3D technologies currently available. The first approach is the old standby, in which you use red-blue cardboard glasses. The effect tints your world a little (mutes colors), but it's fairly effective in everything from comic books to movies. The second approach is more advanced. A while back, nVidia proudly trotted out its 3D Vision goggles--powered, shuttered glasses that blink in time with a screen's refresh rate. Similar takes on the technology have been used for some time, and it yields pretty solid results. With nVidia's version, you plug the goggles into a powerful PC, make sure that your screen has at least a 120Hz refresh rate (or, if it's a CRT, at least 100Hz), and you're in business. The third approach, employed in the Acer laptop, uses polarized lenses. In this case the entire thing works thanks to a combination of Oakley-shades look-alikes, the polarized panel, and TriDef software.

Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 (2847-22U)

Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 (2847-22U)

Lenovo's new SL510 won't surprise anyone who has used a ThinkPad before--it's an excellent laptop that's oriented entirely toward no-nonsense use. The matte black housing, the iconic nub in the middle of the keyboard, and the deep-set keypad are all comfortingly familiar, as are its black, boxy looks, with the familiar "ThinkPad" logo on the top of the case's corner. The machine's lightweight feel is surprising but welcome. It's the return of an efficient, gifted friend--a friend who is now marginally less awkward at social events. And it'll set you back $889 (as of 11/9/2009).

At 15-by-9.7-by-1.4 inches and weighing 5.7 pounds, our review unit was big, but not too bulky. The latchless case opens easily, and the join between screen and laptop feels rock-solid. Our review unit's 15.6-inch screen was matte, not glossy, which means a bit less brightness and color but makes the screen easy to view under just about any lighting you like (a glossy screen is available). The native resolution is just 1366 by 768, but going any higher would have required Lenovo to pack a little more graphics dynamite under the hood.

Sony VAIO X Series

Sony VAIO X Series Netbook

Sleek, sexy, and slim, the Sony VAIO X Series is the perfect netbook for the stylish, executive jet-setter. While this machine is smaller than most netbooks and measures just 0.55 inch thick, it packs a bit more gusto--and, starting at $1299 (our unit sells for $1499, as of 11/10/09), it carries an over-the-top price tag that screams, "CEO only!"

I quickly fell for the golden, brushed-aluminum body and the matching widely spaced keys. (Not feeling flashy enough for the limited-edition gold version, like the one we received? The X Series also comes in black.) Measuring 10.95 by 7.29 by 0.55 inches and weighing 1.6 pounds, the X Series out-smalls the MacBook Air and gives the upcoming Dell Adamo XPS a run for its money.

The X Series boasts an 11.1-inch screen that measures merely 0.125 inch thick. The laptop comes with two interchangeable batteries: a standard (3.5-hour) battery and a larger, heavier, battery-and-stand combo that supposedly lasts for up to 14 hours, according to Sony spokespeople. They were wrong. It lasts just a few minutes under 15 hours -- that's easily the longest running laptop we've tested to date. International jet-setter, we've found your PC. The additional battery brings the weight of the X Series to approximately 2.2 pounds. (For reference, the popular MacBook Air weighs about 3 pounds.)

Dell Inspiron 14z

Dell Inspiron 14z

The Dell Inspiron 14z laptop makes a clear statement: You are probably a student, you want a whole lot of battery life on a Windows 7 machine, and you probably don't care much about performance. A small, sleek portable, the 14z mainly looks good and has a very long battery life. There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you know exactly what you're getting. As reviewed, the 14z would cost about $849--a sizable chunk of change considering its lack of horsepower. At first sight, this model seems to be an echo of the Dell Studio 14z that we reviewed just a few months back.

The Inspiron 14z is a pretty notebook. At 13.4 by 9.5 by 1.1 inches, it's slim and sleek, with lines that suggest speed from its edging to the shape of its hinge. A silver wristpad encircles a sleek black keypad and monitor frame, while the distinctive silvered-circle Dell logo rests on the top of the machine in the middle of a clean, slick paint job. It feels a little heavier than it looks, with models starting at 4.4 pounds, but this is still an easy machine to throw in a small bag or to carry under your arm without worrying about its weight--or about looking too much like a nerd.

Nokia Booklet 3G

Nokia Booklet 3G Netbook

Nokia spokespeople are quick to correct you if you slip and call the Booklet 3G a netbook. Well, let's see: It has a tiny, clamshell, laptop-like design. It has meager specs (1GB of RAM, Intel's Z530 1.6-GHz Atom CPU, and a 4200-rpm 120GB hard drive). It has a 10.1-inch screen. Last time I checked, that was pretty much the definition of a netbook. The Booklet 3G just happens to be a reasonably well-constructed model with a focus on being 3G wireless-ready. But are you willing to shell out $599, sans contract (price as of 11/13/09), for Nokia's maiden effort in the netbook market (or $299 subsidized through an AT&T data plan)?

As you can probably tell, I'm not exactly enamored with what lies under the Booklet's hood--certainly not at the asking price. Let's start with the hard numbers. In PC WorldBench 6, the Booklet slogs along to a 27. That's what happens when you have a underpowered machine running Windows 7. In a a quick, subjective performance spin, it seemed painfully pokey. From a cold start, it takes 45 seconds to boot into the Windows 7 Starter Edition desktop. Try opening up more than two applications at a time, and brace for the lag. As for battery life, it's a slightly better story. In our labs, the Booklet lasted an impressive 8 hours, 39 minutes. It may be nearly delivering on that promise of all-day computing. You just might need that time to get the computer to run.

The nondescript guts aren't the real story here, however--it's the Booklet 3G's upscale lines. The machine's smart styling is almost techno-retro, making this little laptop look like, well, a large cell phone. The glossy plastic lid may be a smudge magnet, but it nicely offsets the sturdy aluminum case. The mouse buttons have a swooping design. Heck, I half expected to see a version of Snakes running on this thing. In short, Nokia seems to think that it's still 2002--and I'm okay with that.

ASUS UL80Vt-A1

Asus UL80Vt-A1 Delivers Impressive Flexibility

Asus has its work cut out for it in finding a market for the UL80Vt-A1. This ultraportable laptop has a higher price ($849) than many similarly specced competitors, though it's in the same ballpark as its $800 stablemate, the Asus UL30A. So how does Asus justify the price tag?

The answer is surprisingly simple: long battery life (6 hours on our review unit) and better-than-average flexibility. The UL80Vt-A1 includes both a discrete nVidia G210M graphics system and an integrated Intel alternative, so users can switch on the fly to adjust the laptop's performance and battery life to the task at hand. Another appealing feature is the unit's power-sipping LED backlit display.

The UL80Vt-A1 comes with 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and 4GB of DDR3 memory installed. The Intel processor at the heart of the ultraportable is a 1.3GHz CPU factory-overclocked to 1.7GHz. The UL80Vt-A1 earned a WorldBench 6 score of 76--reasonably swift for its class but hardly smoking fast. In any case, the user experience was generally positive.

Toshiba Satellite U505-S2980

Toshiba U505-S2980 Gets in Touch With Multitouch

The Toshiba U505-S2980's main gimmick is a multitouch touchscreen. Outside of that, it is, for the most part, a decent laptop, even above average in many ways. But that one gimmick is the root of my issues with this 13-inch notebook--and helps raise its cost to a somewhat pricey $1050 (as of 11/24/09).

Because the panel is a touchscreen, the U505-S2980 suffers from grainy picture quality. This exacerbates a more basic problem of the screen just being dim. Viewing angles and backlighting are all right--the hinge actually sets the screen to the perfect angle when the unit is fully open--but the screen is really not bright enough. What you wind up with is a display that's made too many compromises for an idea that just doesn't work in practice. (In all fairness the touchscreen variant of the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s and the Dell Latitude TX2 were also a little dim--it's not something unique to Toshiba).

I suspect Toshiba wants you to use the touchscreen more than anything else, but I'm just not sold. The 13-inch screen runs at a resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels, far too fine for a proper touch interface without a stylus. Sure, you can up the font size, but it grossly reduces usable space on an already cramped resolution. Multitouch also seems silly, given how awkward it is to reach forward and manipulate the bundled multitouch application when the notebook is upright. That bundled app--software for posting notes and images like a blackboard--is in itself quite cute, but hardly practical. That said, with the touchscreen, it's a breeze to zoom in and out of images or Websites. And if you want to do some on-screen doodling in something like Photoshop, you can.

Lenovo Skylight Smartbook

First Look: Lenovo Skylight Smartbook

At first blush, the Lenovo Skylight is exactly what the netbook should've been.

Instead of slapping a pared down OS onto low powered hardware, the Skylight approaches the widget-centric Internet we've grown accustomed to on our mobile phones, armed with a full-sized keyboard and clamshell design.

Technically, it's an oversized smartphone. Announced at CES on Tuesday, the Skylight is powered by 1.8 GHz Snapdragon processor, with built in WiFi and 3G mobile broadband. Its 10.1-inch HD screen offers 1280 by 720 resolution. And despite being a featherweight at 1.95 pounds, the machine felt sturdy, with a solid hinge and chassis. The full-sized keyboard is typical Lenovo-fare: comfortable, roomy keys made my admittedly limited typing session a pleasant one. The track-pad wasn't as responsive as I would liked, but I was told that this iteration would change before the unit starts to ship in April.

Acer Ferrari One (FO200-1799)

Acer Ferrari One Has Lexus Design but Gremlin Performance

Acer's partnership with Ferrari to build laptops containing Ferrari design elements goes back at least to 2004. The Ferrari One, however, is a totally different machine from the large and expensive Ferrari laptops of the past. It weighs just 3.3 pounds with its standard six-cell battery in place, and it measures roughly an inch thick; yet it contains an Athlon X2 dual-core low-voltage CPU and 4GB of RAM. Is it a large and relatively high-powered netbook, or a small and somewhat low-powered ultraportable? From here, it appears to straddle the line effectively and appealingly.

The system's styling is great for fans of Ferrari Red. The laptop is quite thin and light, with a smooth glossy finish and nice lines. Only the large cooling vent on the left edge breaks up the sleek finish. Despite the svelte frame, Acer crams plenty of ports into the sides: three USB ports, gigabit ethernet, a VGA output, mic in and headphone out, a multicard reader slot, and even a slot for ATI's optional external graphics.

One of the best things about the Ferrari One is its low cost: The base price of $599 includes a 1366 by 768 backlit LED screen, which delivers nice contrast and color; a 250GB hard drive; 4GB of RAM; and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge

If you're a fan of Lenovo's ThinkPad line, you're used to a boring industrial design that looks like it's stuck in 2002, but are willing to put up with it because ThinkPads are so rugged and just plain usable. The new ThinkPad Edge marks the first really significant change to the look and feel of the line in years, but thankfully, it retains almost everything you love about ThinkPads.

The design of this ultraportable is still quite conservative; you won't be embarrassed to pull it out in a serious business meeting. It's simply more modern, with cleaner lines, a smooth, glossy lid, and silver accents along the edges. The lid's glossy finish looks great, but it's a magnet for fingerprints. You might opt for the matte finish if this is a concern (it costs the same). If we had to pick a nit about the design, it would be the location of the ethernet jack, which is quite far toward the front edge of the left side. Open the lid, and the system has the same basic, utilitarian look of other ThinkPads with a large keyboard and touchpad.