The HP Mini 110

The price of netbooks just continues to go further and further down. Each year they offer better parts and lower price tags. The new HP Mini 110 definitely carries on this pattern. It resembles HP’s Mini 1000, but has many improvements and a much lower price point.

On the surface, the HP Mini 110 looks almost identical to the Mini 1000 and the Mini 1000 Mi. It features a glossy black top embellished with chic gray swirls. As you examine the netbook closer though, you are able to distinguish a few external differences. The HP Mini 110 is thicker than its predecessors, measuring more than one inch thick. This added thickness, to make room for the larger feature set and new battery set up, barely adds any extra weight to the netbook though. It manages to weigh in at a very reasonable 2.6 pounds.

The 10.1-inch widescreen is now LED-backlit and comes with 1,204 x 576 resolution. It features speakers that have been built below the screen into the frame in order to keep them hidden behind the hinge. Other important aspects to consider include the Mini’s 92 percent keyboard and mouse buttons. It also has a VGA port, an Ethernet port, a multi card reader, a headphone jack, three USB ports, and a built-in webcam. The Mini has upgraded with a 160GB, 5,400-rpm spinning drive, with the option to upgrade for something even more powerful.

Another interesting fact is that the Mini now includes a third-party software application called Syncables. Syncables allows you to connect different machines on your local network and effortlessly share photos, documents, video, and music. You can even sync e-mail accounts from Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

HP has definitely made some huge improvements with the Mini 110. It now includes a faster hard drive and a variety of new features. No its not the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 or the Acer Aspire One, but for the reasonable starting price of $329.00 it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Gateway NV Series 5214u

Gateway has just released their latest new line called the NV series. The line offers what I feel is the best performance at a more than reasonable price. The first in the line is the 5214u. Starting at the low cost of only $479 at bestbuy right now. The Gateway NV5214u is a Normal sized 15.6' notebook with a resolution of 1366x769 and weighs a resonable 6.82 pounds.

The best part about this laptop is it comes with every main feature that I am looking for in a budget laptop. It has an 2.1GHz AMD dual-core processor, it comes with 4GB of RAM, and it comes with the ATI Radeon HD 3200 Video Card which is on par with the more well known 8400GS. The reason these three things are so crucial because these are the three things that guarantee you a fast laptop that will run for a long time. Also the included bonus of a video card makes this laptop capable of playing games.

Some added bonuses on this laptop is the 320GB Hard Drive, 6 cell Lithion Ion Battery, an HDMI Port, Media Card Reader, and a webcam. This laptop is the perfect multimedia laptop, 320GB is more than enough to store all your music, photos, and video. The HDMI Port allows you to hook your laptop up to your giant plasma screen and the Media Card Reader is perfect for putting stuff on your phone. For a complete spec sheet see gateways website here.

If you are in need of a back to school laptop or just want a decent laptop that won't break the bank then this is the perfect laptop. It comes with all the needed hardware and ports for a great price of under $500.

The IdeaPad Y450

Did you think it was impossible to find an reasonably inexpensive, big screened laptop with a full size keyboard and loads of multimedia features? Well, Lenovo has changed that train of thought with their IdeaPad Y450.

The IdeaPad Y450 has a different look than any previous laptop. It sports a black cover like many other laptops on the market, except for the fact that the cover is not the traditional glossed-over top but instead a textured honeycomb pattern that gives the lid a coarse, grainy feel. This will certainly assist in promoting less fingerprints and smudges on the laptop’s cover. The edges of the lid are trimmed in a copper tone, while the inside is a stark white. This all unites to produce a stylish, modern looking laptop.

The Y450 measures 13.4 x 9.2 x1.4 inches (HWD) and weighs about 5 pounds. It features a 14-inch widescreen with 1,366 x 768 resolution. It also includes three USB ports, FireWire, Ethernet, a built-in webcam, and excellent speakers. Added bonuses not normally included in laptops in the Y450’s price range are the DVD burner, eSATA, and HDMI-out ports. Another important fact to consider is the Y450’s 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor.

This impressive, budget-friendly laptop can be purchased in retail stores for around $599. Yes, there are plenty of other thinner and lighter laptops on the market, but they will dig a lot deeper into your pocket. The IdeaPad Y450 has excellent features, a slick design, and a heart-warming price tag. I think this is certainly a laptop that can satisfy most average people laptop needs.

The New Acer Aspire One

The new Acer Aspire One is now thinner and lighter than any previous Acer netbook. Acer managed to eliminate a sizeable amount of plastic within their best-selling netbook design to allow for these qualities, while still maintaining their reasonable price point.

Netbook design is not really one of Acer’s strengths. Although the plastic-topped Aspire One does not win any beauty pageants, there are many qualities that make up for the netbook’s lack of style. The Aspire One beats most comparable netbooks with its mere 0.8-inch thickness. This makes it thinner than the Samsung N120, the ASUS EeePC 1000HE, the ASUS EeePC 1008HA (Seashell), and the HP Mini 1000. The new Acer netbook is now also lighter. With the three-cell battery, it only weighs 2.4 pounds.

Considering other aspects, the Aspire One retains the standard 10-inch screen, 1,024 x 600 resolution, and customary keyboard. The 89 percent keyboard is certainly a feature that Acer needs to attend to. Acer was able to include mutitouch capabilities into the Aspire One, but with the limited space you have to work with performing such actions can be difficult at times.

The Aspire One features three USB ports, VGA-out, an Ethernet port, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, 802.11 g WiFi, and a 4-in-1 card reader. It also has a 160GB hard drive, which is the same or better than all other netbooks currently on the market. The Aspire One contains a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of memory, and Intel integrated graphics.

Even with the new updates found in the Acer Aspire One, Acer has managed to retain its affordable price. The Aspire One is the most reasonably priced netbook to be found at about $300, which is the reason why the previous Acer model was the best-selling netbook available. The Aspire One is lighter, thinner, and cheaper than most other netbooks out there. If you’re looking for an inexpensive netbook, this is definitely one to check out.

MSI X-Slim X320 13-inch Notebook

The MSI X-Slim X320 is the worlds thinnest and lightest 13-inch notebook on the market right now. The X320 should not be mistaken for a low quality netbook. The latest X320 model comes with a 250GB Hard Drive and 2GB DDR2 RAM. Some low notes though is it comes with a Intel Atom 1.6GHz Processor that will be sure to bottle neck the notebooks performance. It also only comes with a 4 cell battery, but with such a barebones laptop you could probably expect the battery to be more than suitable.

The real selling point for the MSI X-Slim X320 is its size, weight and low cost. The laptop is 6mm at its thinnest and 20mm at its thickest. Also with the low weight of 2.8 pounds you should never have to worry about the hassle of carrying around your laptop. The price really makes it a great buy. Coming in at only $599 right now on sites like newegg.com you can expect this to be a hot seller.

The 13″ 16:9 glare type display has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels and uses LED backlight.

The MSI X320 also comes with a 1.3MP web camera, speakers, wifi, Bluetooth, an ethernet port, thre USB ports, card reader, and a VGA port. One feature that is a real disappointment is the MSI X320 lacks an optical drive to read cd’s and dvd’s. This is no doubt due to its extremely thin design, but it seems like an almost necessity to have in a laptop for watching movies, installing programs, and ripping music. Overall a great ultra thin and light notebook that lacks some features, but makes up for it with the price point of only $599.

The New Revolutionized MacBook

The new and improved MacBook is certainly one of the sleekest most well designed notebooks I have ever seen. It has revolutionized the way notebooks are designed with its seamless covering made from a single sheet of aluminum. This allows for a remarkably noticeable difference in the weight and size of the laptop. The whole enclosure is lighter and thinner than the previous MacBook and just seems to have a more sophisticated air about it.

The MacBook embodies many other incredible qualities. The keyboard is crisp and wonderfully responsive, and comes with the now standard feature of illuminated keys. The trackpad on the MacBook has currently been engineered not only to assist in navigation, but also to double as a button. By pressing down on the trackpad you can easily click on anything you need to select. Also, the MacBook now features Multi-Touch gestures. Use two fingers to scroll up and down the page, a pinch to zoom in and out, three fingers to flip through photo libraries, a four finger swipe to switch between open applications, or a variety of other gestures to assist in your computing experience.

The MacBook also features built in wireless capabilities, ultrathin 13.3-inch LED backlit screen, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, tons of memory, and up to 5 hours of wireless productivity. I believe that this notebook is obviously a huge advancement in the field of laptops, but the draw back is the price. Starting at $1299, these notebooks are on the pricey side. Of course you pay for what you get. This is a technological masterpiece and contains many incredible features. You will not be disappointed with the quality or let down by the advancements of the new MacBook. I guess you just need to decide whether the amazing new features of the MacBook are worth the price tag to you.

ASUS Eee 1008HA Seashell Review

ASUS seems to be getting a lot of stories on our humble little blog. Maybe its because every time we turn around there is something new from ASUS coming out. You'd think they'd get tired by now but ASUS is still pumping out the goods.

Well now we have a review of the ASUS Seashell. One of the main things you will notice first about the Seashell is it's style. ASUS has definitley taken a step forward with their design. The Seashell somewhat resembles the style of the MacBook Air. It has a thin, curved chassis that measures only an inch thick at the largest point. It comes with a glossy finish which means your going to get a lot of smudges on it, but it will still look really slick. But the slimmed down design isn't all just for looks. The design has some practical value to it as well. The slimmer design makes the Seashell very comfortable to hold and is easily carried one handed and only weighs 2.4 pounds. The 1008HA is not as top heavy as some of the other netbooks on the market. This just means it wont capsize over backwards off your lap while you are using it. ASUS has taken great lengths to make the Seashell look good. All of the ports on the laptop are hidden behind little doors so you have a smooth uninterrupted look.

The interior of the Seashell is also very nice. The keyboard is around 92% of a full size keyboard which makes it very comfortable to use. If you are highly into the details of things, then you will be very pleased to know that the Seashell is the very first Eee PC to offer a full size right shift key. The touch pad works fairly well. It has dimples and a two finger zoom in and out function but lacks two fingered scrolling. The chrome rocker is nice with its clicky responsiveness and the whole mouse package overall is way better than most netbooks on the market.

The specs on the Seashell are pretty standard for most netbooks. It comes with 1GB of DDR2 RAM, Intel GMA 950 graphics, and a 160GB hard drive. It has a better processor than most netbooks on the market with its 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 as opposed to the N270 put in most of the other netbooks. The Seashell only has two USB 2.0 ports, a min VGA port, and a headphone jack, all of which are behind those little doors mentioned earlier. There is a mini VGA to VGA adapter that comes in the box to make up for the lack of an actual VGA port. Located on the bottom of the chassis is a magnetic slot designed to hold the adapter which is a good solution to the annoying situation that could arise from the adapter. One potential problem with those little flaps on the port, however, is that larger USB keys will not fit requiring you to get an adapter. Yet the Seashell still has 802.11 B/G/N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, and a non-removable, high-density, lithium polymer battery with a supposed life span of 6 hours.

The Seashell's performance is about the same as some of the other netbooks on the market. It can still do all the mundane, everyday tasks like browsing the internet, editing documents, or streaming video but is in no way more special than other netbooks. It does boot up a little faster and opens things like Word faster but isn't anything special. The high-gloss screen has quite a glare if you are out in the sun which can become an inconvenience for many users. The battery, advertised as lasting for 6 hours, actually lasts around 4.25 to 4.50 hours. However, if you turn off the Wi-Fi, disable the camera, take it down to 40% LCD brightness, and turn on power saving mode, you can squeeze out 5.75 hours, which is pretty close to the listed battery life.

The Seashell's skinny form makes for a really enjoyable user experience. Then if you add to it the awesome keyboard, the nice touchpad, and the boosted you come up with a pretty awesome netbook. The Seashell is more expensive than most netbooks coming in at a price tag of $430. But if you think about it, you can get the HP Mini 100 for around $414 or the Dell Mini 10 for around $349, not to mention the huge line of ASUS netbooks already on the market. The Seashell is definitley geared towards people seeking a higher-end netbook and has bumped the netbook category up a notch. The Seashell isn't your run-of-the-mill netbook, even though it does have some of the average specs about it. Definitely one of the best netbooks on the market and definitely one worth looking at.