Notebook Review

Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook Coming next Week, User Manuals Available Now

We covered the unveiling of the Dell XPS 13 during CES 2012, which revealed some general information and specifications. But maybe you’re still looking for more details to help decide whether you want to throw a thousand bucks at Dell’s new XPS 13 Ultrabook? Well, it looks like you counted your lucky stars because several user manuals and documentation have found their way online a week before its release! The guides contain a plethora of information including detailed specifications and other things like pictorial instructions on how to remove many of the XPS 13’s parts, such as the keyboard, battery, and I/O board.

Overall, we believe that the XPS 13 will be a strong Ultrabook competitor; its high quality and compact design and its 13-inch screen definitely make this laptop unique and is great for those who prefer a smaller footprint for their laptop. However, the lack of an SD card reader and HDMI port might curb some enthusiasts from buying it.

Here’s the list of leaked documentation, so have a read and decide for yourselves!

The XPS 13 owner’s manual has guides on how to disassemble the XPS 13 such as you see in the diagram below that shows how to remove the SSD:

You can reserve the XPS 13 at Dell’s official website, which simply means they’ll send you an email invite to purchase the XPS 13 when it becomes available next week.

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Lenovo IdeaPad U300e Ultrabook now Available, Costs under $1,000

The Lenovo IdeaPad U300e Ultrabook that was announced at CES 2012 is now up for sale on Lenovo.com and has a rather attractive price of $ 959 with the current coupon offers.  The U300e is essentially a budget version of the higher priced U300s Ultrabook that starts at a much higher $ 1,499 on Lenovo.com.  However, back in January Lenovo had said the U300e will start at $ 799 so obviously the $ 959 is above that and may disappoint some who were holding out for an $ 800 U300e.

The Lenovo U300e for sale at the $ 959 price has the following specs:

• Processor: Intel Core i5-2476M 1.60GHz
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
• Graphics: Intel HD3000
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• Display: 13.3” glossy display, 1366 x 768, 200 nits
• Storage: 32GB SSD (mSATA) + 500GB 7200RPM HD for total of 532GB
• Ports: Two USB 2.0, one USB 3.0, HDMI, Ethernet
• Dimensions: 12.8″ x 8.5″ x 0.72 (W x D x H)
• Weight: 3.48lbs
• Web Camera: 1.3MP
• Wireless: Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi

The U300e is slightly thicker than the U300s, but still comes it at around 0.7 inches and so meets the Ultrabook standards.  The extra thickness also allows space for an Ethernet port, which is nice for those that like to plug in at a desk and still don’t buy into this whole “wireless” thing.  The weight of the U300e is not exactly Ultrabook like at 3.48lbs, that’s a full 1lb heavier than the Toshiba Portege Z835 we reviewed.

One very nice feature the Lenovo U300e has is the HD + SSD combo.  The OS and program files reside on an mSATA SSD with a 32GB capacity while the more spacious 500GB or 750GB HD (depending on what you configure) stores all your larger media files and space hungry documents.

Lenovo is touting that the keyboard on the U300 is “breathable”.  That doesn’t mean it has a set of lungs and inhales and exhales, but rather makes it easy for heat to pass through and prevent the laptop from overheating, a sure concern with an ultra skinny laptop with limited space inside.  The keyboard is an AccuType variety, which is basically a chiclet style design with molded keys for easier typing.  The touchpad is made of glass and has multi-touch (no prizes for who inspired that).

Stay tuned for an upcoming review of the Lenovo U300e!

Source: Lenovo.com U300e Order Page

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New HP Coupons for President’s Day Sale 2012

HP has some new laptop coupons for their current President’s Day Sale 2012 that’s taking place.  Here’s a rundown on these new coupons:

HP dmt Beats Edition Laptop

• $ 415 Off HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition
• $ 350 Off HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition
• • Use coupon code NBDM7565 at checkout to get $ 350 off a customized HP dm4 Beats Edition laptop.  Coupon expires after 450 coupons redeemed or 2/25/2012, whichever occurs first
• $ 450 Off HP dv7t Quad Edition Laptop
• 15% Off HP Envy laptops Coupon
• • Use coupon code NBE4836 to get 15% off a customized Envy 15 or Envy 17 laptop.  Excludes HP Envy 14 Spectre.  Coupon expires after 450 uses or on 2/25/2012, whichever comes first.

Check out a list of all current HP coupons, and below are links to reviews of the laptops available with coupons right now:

HP Laptop Reviews:

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Tom Bihn Cadet Laptop Bag Review

Laptops by their nature are portable devices. Things that travel frequently tend to be abused more often.  You’ve just spent a nice chunk of your hard earned money on a new laptop, the next logical question after “when will I get it” is “how should I protect it when carrying it?”  The Tom Bihn Cadet could be the answer to that question. Tom Bihn has been designing and making high quality bags in Seattle since the 80s. The Cadet is their newest offering. Below we’re going to take a look at pros and cons of the Cadet to see if it lives up to the Tom Bihn name.

Features & Specs

• Material: 1050 denier Basllistic Nylon Exterior/Dyeema Ripstop Nylon Lining
• Zippers: Splash-Proof
• Dimensions: Width – 16.25” x Depth – 4.5” x Height – 12.5”
• Weight: 2.0 lbs
• Comes with the removable Cadet Cache Notebook Sleeve
• Removable Organizer Cube(s)
• Padded Should Strap
• Ergonomic Handle
• M.S.R.P: $ 170

The Cadet can only be purchased via TomBihn.com or their Seattle retail store if you happen to be in the area.

Design

Upon first glance the Cadet looks like just another 15” notebook bag, which it is, but a closer inspection reveals the care and attention to detail that went into the design and manufacture of the Cadet. Our review unit is the Steele (kind of a silver gray thing) colored version of the Cadet. The interior is a bright yellow. There are several other color combos if that doesn’t work for you. The Cadet was designed with Apple laptops and the iPad in mind, but I’m pretty positive Mr. Bihn wouldn’t mind if you toted a lowly PC around in it.  There two sizes of the Cadet – a 11/iPad version, which is designed for use with the 11” MacBook Air and the iPad. We’ll be reviewing the 15/13, which is made for the 13”/15” MacBook Pros and the 13” MacBook Air.

The Cadet is well made and you can tell a lot of thought went into its design. The exterior of the Cadet is made from 1050 denier Ballistic Nylon. It’s tough, and resistant to scrapes and scratches. It also has a nice soft tactile feel to it. The interior is lined with Dyneema Ripstop Nylon. It’s light, and doesn’t tear or rip easily. The Cadet uses splash-proof zippers, which should be a no-brainer for a bag from Seattle. The handles are soft and stay together, making it easy to pick up. The bottom of the Cadet is flat, but one issue I had with it is depending on how it’s loaded, it doesn’t always stay upright when placed on a flat surface. It has a tendency to fall over, which might be annoying if it’s next your chair in a meeting and you need access to it.

The review unit also came with the Absolute Shoulder Strap, which is a $ 20 upgrade over the standard strap. It’s an upgraded shoulder strap with extra padding that’s supposed to be more comfortable. I didn’t carry it around all day with 25 pounds of stuff in there to truly test it out, but it certainly felt more comfy than the standard strap in every day use. Our review unit also had one 3D Clear Organizer Cube (more on that below).  Oddly the cube included was green, while the Cadet was steel colored.  The Cube is a $ 22 add-on accessory piece.

Pockets

Starting from the front and working our way to the back, we’ll take a look at the each of the pockets on the Cadet.

Front Pocket

The front pocket, as the name implies, is a small pocket that sits on the very front of the bag. It’s lined with ultrasuede and makes for an ideal spot to place your phone, hard drive or MP3 player without it getting scratched. Anything bigger than those and it’ll probably have to go elsewhere. My wallet, which is average sized, sticks out the top.

Organizer Pocket

The organizer pocket sits on the front of the Cadet. It has dual zippers that go about half way down to gain access. It’s the second largest pocket after the main pocket. It has an assortment of pouches for pens, hard drives and other essential knickknacks. There are also two o-rings at the top of the pocket. They can be used to clip Organizer Cubes to the bag so you don’t forget them. Organizer Cubes are small zippered containers with clear sides. They’re nice for putting small objects into, but since they’re clear you can still see what’s in there when attempting to fish something out. The nylon lining inside is bright yellow. The yellow makes small things stand out and easy to see. It could use a few more pouches, I noticed no pouch was big enough to accommodate an optical drive. That might be of concern for MacBook Air users who might carry an external optical drive as the Air does not have one built-in.

Main Pocket

This is where the laptop goes. The pocket is large. It swallowed up my 15” ThinkPad R60e with plenty of room to spare. I’m betting a 17” laptop would fit too. It has a divider made from the ripstop nylon. You could put larger items that wouldn’t fit in the organizer pocket in the front of the main pocket. There’s another two o-rings at the front of the main pocket for more Organizer Cubes.

The main pocket also contains the Cadet Cache. The Cache is a foam sleeve intended to provide an extra layer of protection for your notebook. There are two sizes for the Cache – one for the 13” Macs and one for the 15” models. You’ll need to choose that when you buy one. Our unit has the 13” Cache. Both the 13” Air and my ThinkPad X220 fit nicely. The Cache is removable from the Cadet if you want to take only your notebook, but the removal process is not the most intuitive I’ve seen. The odd part about the Cache is there’s no way of securing the flap to the the sleeve. Velcro or perhaps a button would seem like a good choice, but I think you’re supposed to tuck the fold into the sleeve. It would be tragic if your notebook slid out while your mind was elsewhere.

Rear Pocket

The rear pocket is more of a sleeve. The top does not have a zipper. It would make a good place to store magazines, some folders or a spiral notebook. The bottom does have a zipper, which allows access to the lower portion of the sleeve. It would make a good place to put an AC adapter or something similar.

Conclusion

There’s no question the Tom Bihn Cadet is a very nice laptop bag, but quality and inexpensive do not usually go together. Is it a good fit for you? If you have indeed spent a nice chunk of change on your laptop and want to invest in protecting it, then the Cadet is a very good choice. It’s well built and should last a long time. It affords a fairly high degree of protection and has some nice organizational touches, which make it easy to pack. If you just got the $ 300 Wal-Mart laptop special and need a bag, that buyer probably isn’t going spend a couple hundred dollars on a laptop bag.  But if you like something unique, high quality and need a professional looking bag to carry your premium laptop to work, take a close look at the Tom Bihn Cadet.

Pros

• Attractive Design
• Built to last
• Some Nice Design Features
• Made in the US of A

Cons

• Cadet Cache removal process could be simpler
• At times does not stand up when placed on the floor
• Could use a few more organizer pouches
• Price

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HP Pavilion g6z Video Review

The HP Pavilion g6z is a budget home laptop offered via HP.com.  The g6z is equipped with an AMD Fusion processor as opposed to the similar g6x and g6t laptops equipped with Intel processors.  The particular g6z we have under review has the budget friendly AMD A4 processor inside.  With the AMD A4-3305M processor the g6z starts at a price of $ 449.99 on HP.com before any coupons or discounts.  However, as we all know there are always HP coupons available to knock the price down, so make sure to check out coupon codes before buying.

Below is a 6 minute video review of the HP Pavilion g6z:

We’ll have a more in depth written review to follow, but for those that just need a quick look and tour of the laptop the video might be enough to convince you this either is or isn’t the laptop for your needs.

The g6z is what HP classifies as an “Everyday Computing” laptop, which is to say it gets the job done but won’t allow you to get your gaming on and the design won’t turn any heads on the fashion catwalk.  The g6z is built with a plastic casing, no fancy aluminum or metal like you get with higher priced laptops.  The case is quite strong despite the use of plastic, the palm rests and other important structural areas are firm with no flex.

When configuring the g6z on HP.com you get a choice of colors: charcoal grey, sonoma red, pacific blue, pewter, or sweet purple.  The default color is charcoal grey and what you see in the pictures and video here.  Any other color is a $ 25 upgrade.  There are no fancy design touches, it’s pretty much just a glossy plastic finish in whichever color you pick all over with a black rim around the edges.  It’s a minimalistic type of design that certainly won’t offend anyone yet won’t stun anyone either.

The performance of the g6z of course varies based upon how you configure it.  You get a choice of the following AMD Fusion processors:

• AMD Dual-Core A4-3305M Accelerated Processor (2.5GHz/1.9GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)
• AMD Dual-Core A4-3320M Accelerated Processor (2.6GHz/2.0GHz, 2MB L2 Cache)
• AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated Processor (2.4GHz/1.5GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
• AMD Quad-Core A8-3520M Accelerated Processor (2.5GHz/1.6GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)

Our review model has the base level A4-3305M processor.  The performance boost from the A8 quad core processor would be significant, but it costs $ 105 more.   If you want a laptop for everyday tasks such as web surfing, editing office word processor or spreadsheet documents, watching online video, video chat or even outputting 720p video to your TV then the AMD A4 processor is just fine.  Since the HP g6z is intended as a laptop for basic home or school use most people will not pay to upgrade the processor.

Though there’s nothing particularly outstanding about the HP g6z, the one thing we did find outstanding was the low amount of heat and fan noise.  The g6z was very quiet in operation and simply did not get hot.  Even when running benchmarks the laptop didn’t break a sweat.

We’ll have a more in depth written review to come, but for those that have arrived here and are looking to buy now it’s suffice to say that the HP g6z is a reasonable budget laptop that can serve well for users that are not overly demanding and want a simple laptop for web surfing, video watching and chat and basic productivity tasks.

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Intel to Delay Shipments of Ivy Bridge Processors

Intel has indicated to its partners that it will be postponing mass shipments of Ivy Bridge processors, with large shipments not expected to occur until at least July. However, Intel still plans to unveil and announce the Ivy Bridge processor family in April 2012 and start to ship a small volume of the processors sometime in early April. Initial shipments will include the high-end Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors for gaming laptops. Business laptops and mainstream consumer laptops that rely more on the Core i5 processors probably won’t get updated until summer based on this news.

The reason behind the delay is due to weak laptop demand so far this year and a surplus inventory of current Sandy Bridge generation processors. As a result of the existing oversupply, sources have indicated that Intel was forced to delay mass shipments of Ivy Bridge processors in order to minimize the impact. The oversupply of processors is in direct contrast to the tight supply on hard drives due to last years floods in Thailand. Because of the low supply and high prices of hard drives manufacturers have not been able to drop laptop prices to try and sell through the glut of processors.

Notebook manufacturers have already started to adjust their Ivy Bridge projects in light of this news. Despite this, however, they are still not overly concerned, as they view the Windows 8 launch as a more critical element to this year believing that its launch will drive people to replace their current laptops. Until the release of Microsoft’s next iteration of Windows (which is slated for a late summer/early fall release), it will be a slow year in sales for laptop replacements.

Source:  Digitimes

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Lenovo ThinkPad X130e Review

The Lenovo ThinkPad X130e laptop is specifically designed for Elementary aged children and is equipped with the technology needed for an educational laptop.  That said, the X130e may appeal to some business buyers or home users.  It’s a small and portable laptop with a rugged build, comfortable keyboard and budget friendly price.  All characteristics that might appeal to a crowd other than 8 year olds. When purchasing the X130e you have a choice of an Intel Core i3 or AMD Fusion E300 series processor.  The Intel processor is better performing, but also costs around $ 100 more.  Pricing on the ThinkPad X130e AMD model starts at $ 469 while the Intel model current starts at $ 589.

The ThinkPad X130e we have under review is the base AMD model with the following specs:

• Processor: AMD Fusion E300 1.30GHz
• OS: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• Memory: 4 GB DDR3 – 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
• Screen: 11.6″ HD LED 1366 x 768 resolution
• Weight: 3.9 lb (1.78kg)
• Wireless: 802.11 Wi-Fi
• Storage: 250GB HD
• Ports: VGA, HDMI 1.4, Gigabit Ethernet, Mic (microphone)/speaker combo jack, 3 USB 2.0 (including 1 powered USB), 4-in-1 media card reader (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC)
• Weight: 3.93 lbs
• Warranty: 1-year

At the time of purchase this configuration cost $ 429 via Lenovo.com.

ThinkPad X130e Video Overview

For those who don’t like to read dense text, here’s a quick video overview of the X130e I did:

Design and Build

The ThinkPad X130e can be considered a derivation of the X120e, I like to think of it as an armored version of the X120.  Here are the important ruggedized improvements the X130e offers over the X120e:

• A top cover rubber bumper to absorb impacts to the side of the laptop
• 33% stronger corner to reduce the chance of damage when dropped at an angle
• Stronger reinforced hinges, tested to last up to 30,000 opening and closings
• Reinforced and recessed ports to decrease the effects of wear and tear
• Stronger Bezel (area around the laptop screen) with 1.2mm thick plastic to protect the LED panel

All that reinforcement is designed to make sure kids using these in school don’t break the equipment easily and create a hardware support headache.  The rounded off front corners also help to prevent young ones from injuring themselves on any sharp corners.  The difference in build quality over the X120e is substantial.  The hinges absolutely feel more rigid and are as stiff as those on the ThinkPad X220 I own.  The lid feels so thick it could take a bullet, no amount of pushing or knocking is able to cause ripples in the LCD screen, a sure sign there’s some thick protection in place.  The rubber bumper lip around the lid is substantial enough that you could put wheels on the X130e and play bumper cars with other X130e’s in the room.  Even the rubber bumper feet on the X130e are thicker than normal, dropping the X130e onto the table from a height of around 1” provides a fun bounce, not a clunk of plastic on wood.  There is no doubt this is the most rugged and durable $ 400 laptop on the market.

From an aesthetic design perspective the X130e looks a lot like any other ThinkPad — it’s all black, has a red trackpoint, a ThinkPad logo, matte screen and a case made of hard durable plastics.  A couple of differences to the Enterprise targeted ThinkPads such as the X220 is the chiclet style keyboard and a blinking red “i” on the ThinkPad logo on the lid and right palm rest.  Those design touches are borrowed from the ThinkPad Edge line.

One interesting note in terms of design of the body is that the battery actually plays a role in the overall structure of the laptop, take the battery out and you have a gaping hole in the X130e at the top of the keyboard:

If you use the machine plugged in and with the battery removed it could be a fun place to store pens and knick knacks, the screen uses a drop hinge design so it’s a nice little enclosed space back there when the screen is open!

Screen

The X130e has an 11.6” screen with 1366 x 768 resolution.  The screen layer finish is matte so to avoid reflection and glare.  The screen sports 200 nits of brightness, that’s not very bright but adequate for indoor use though certainly nowhere near bright enough for outdoor usage.  At the top of the screen is a built-in web camera with a rather low 0.3-megapixel resolution.  The camera does offer low light sensitivity, which is generally more useful than more megapixels.  Kids in class will now be able to interact with other students around the world if teachers allow such things, or use Skype to call home and let mom know they forgot to bring lunch.

As far as screen viewing quality, there’s nothing exceptional here.  The screen seemed a little grainy to my eyes, but colors were fairly accurate.  The screen viewing angles were typical for a TN panel technology display, you’d have to pay much more for a laptop to get a higher quality IPS display with wide viewing angles and more accurate color representation.

For kids, the X130e display is just fine.  If you’re extremely picky about screens you need to be spending more money, you won’t find a premium screen in this buying category.

Keyboard and Touchpad

It would of course be criminal to sell a ThinkPad without a top notch keyboard and trackpoint so you already know that the X130e is going to have one of the best keyboards in its size class.  Which it does.  The X130e has a chiclet style design, but still manages to stay close in feel to other ThinkPad notebooks.  The X130e keyboard doesn’t have quite the same stiffness and firmness of press the keys as on the X220 I use, they’re a little lighter to the touch.  Traditional ThinkPad typists will certainly notice this keyboard is different, and maybe not up to snuff, but it’s certainly a better keyboard than any other 11” laptop I’ve used.  The Delete and Backspace keys have increased in size from the X120e, which is a user friendly touch, even us non-students make a lot of typing mistakes and have to correct ourselves.

The touchpad on the X130e is also different to the X120e.  Instead of using dedicated lower mouse buttons they have now been integrated into the touchpad, the same way they are on the X220.  The touchpad has a textured surface so it’s easy to feel without having to look down.  Because the touchpad is so small you tend to run out of room to move the cursor around and make scrolling or zooming gestures.  The trackpoint supplants anything you would use the touchpad for and is easy and more efficient to use, whether kids will master using a trackpoint is questionable.  An external mouse is probably the most intuitive and easy to use thing for the elementary aged crowd.

Performance

I know when I used to use a computer in school the only concern was how well it ran Lemonade Stand, Oregon Trail or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  But back then each room got one computer and not one laptop per child as I guess is the standard being pushed for today.  However, one thing that hasn’t changed is kids will (or should) be using computers for educational means, and the standard productivity program or educational games a 4th grader will use doesn’t require much performance.  The AMD E-300 1.30GHz processor on board this X130e is certainly not a performance beast, it’s a low voltage processor and doesn’t create much heat, meaning it’s battery life friendly.  If you’re an educator using laptops in a classroom then battery life is more important than extra performance, you can’t have 30 kids all plug-in to an outlet, a laptop needs to potentially last an entire class day to avoid the hassle of plugging in.  And so the AMD E-300 processor makes sense, it allows the X130e to achieve battery life levels of just over 7 hours and has enough performance for web browsing, watching videos, playing educational games, email, or taking online practice tests.   And it has enough power for using the HDMI port to output video to TV to watch movies on a larger screen after school work is done.

With that said, what’s a review without benchmarks?   Here’s how the ThinkPad X130e scored on PCMark Vantage and its score relative to other laptops:

As you can see, compared to more powerful laptops with an Intel Core i3 processor or above the overall system performance falls far short.

How about a comparison to the X120e?  Running PCMark 7 yielded a score of 856 on the AMD E-300 equipped X130e and 874 on the AMD E-350 equipped X120e:

Specs wise at the base configuration the X130e is fairly similar to the previous X120e offering either an AMD E-300 1.3GHz processor in the X130e or E-350 1.6GHz processor in the X120e.  Graphics are served by the same AMD HD 6310 in each, a hard drive is standard for storage and you can configure memory up to 8GB.   In terms of perceived performance, the X120e and X130e aren’t going to be noticeably different, even though the X120e with its base configuration E-350 processor does get slightly higher benchmark scores.

Weight

The X130e is unsurprisingly quite a bit heavier than the X120e due to all the extra armor protection it has on.  The X120e weighed in at 3.28lbs while the X130e weighs 3.82lbs according to the scales I have on hand.  That’s a half pound difference, and certainly you can feel that if you pick it up with one hand.

The ThinkPad X130e can be carried with one hand if you’re an adult, but it’s definitely not a good idea for a kid to carry this with one hand.

Ports

The X130e comes with a nice selection of ports for this sized laptop.  It even has an HDMI port, not necessarily something you’d expect in a laptop targeted at academia.

On the right side you get the 4-in-1 media card reader, powered USB 2.0 port, regular USB 2.0 port, power jack:

On the left side you get a VGA monitor out port, HDMI port, USB 2.0, Ethernet jack and microphone / headphone combo jack:

On the front side there are no ports, the speakers are located on the underside of the front:

On the back there are no ports, just the area where the battery can slide in:

Heat & Noise

One thing the X130e with the AMD E-300 processor does really well with is staying cool and quiet.  Even when running benchmarks the X130e was fan was virtually inaudible in a room with ambient noise and heat is just not an issue, everywhere on the laptop surface stays cool under any usage scenario.   The laptop did get warm on the bottom when running demanding benchmark applications, but nothing terrible and under regular usage the bottom stayed just luke warm.

Battery Life

Lenovo claims up to 8.5 hours of battery life on the X130e.  That’s probably achievable if you dim the screen all the way down and take some other battery saving measures such as turning off wireless.  Under a more realistic usage scenario with screen brightness set to medium, wireless on and the power setting set to the Windows “Balanced” mode battery life was right around the 7 hour mark.  That’s enough to get you through a day of classes, or if you’re a business person that will see you through a New York to San Francisco flight.

Conclusion

The ThinkPad X130e is an interesting little laptop, it certainly fits well as a computer for kids in the elementary school age group due to its durable design, nice keyboard and battery life long enough to last a school day.  The X130e performance is so-so with the AMD E-300, it’s well suited for everyday work tasks but beyond that you’re going to be limited in the applications it can run well.  It is noticeably slow relative to say an Intel Core i5 desktop replacement style laptop.  If you’re looking for a small laptop that’s very durable, has a nice keyboard and is budget friendly at under $ 500 then you’ve found the huckleberry you’ve been looking for right here with the X130e.

Related Reviews:

Where to Buy

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HP g6-1d60us Laptop $330 at Staples after $50 Coupon

Here’s another great deal on an HP laptop at Staples, use coupon code 62996 when purchasing the HP g6-1d60us at Staples.com and the total comes to $ 330 after a mail-in rebate of $ 50.   The HP g6-1d60us is a 15.6” screen laptop with an AMD dual core processor, here are the full specs:

• Processor: AMD Dual-Core A4-3305M
• Memory: 4GB installed memory
• Storage: 640GB hard drive
• Screen: 15.6-inch diagonal BrightView LED-backlit display (1366×768)
• OS: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, VGA, RJ-45, HDMI, SD card reader
• Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD burner
• Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6480G
• Web Cam: HP Webcam with integrated digital microphone
• Battery: 6-cell 47WHr lithium-ion battery
• Weight: 5.5 lbs
• Dimensions 14.72″ (L)x 9.65″ (W) x 1.20″ (min H)/1.43″ (max H)
• Warranty: 1 year

While the AMD A4 processor is now as powerful as an Intel Core i3, it’s still going to provide enough power for every day tasks such as web surfing, office applications and basic photo and video editing.  The battery life will be around 4 hours on this model, so you can do some work away from a power outlet.  Also note that the g6-1d60us has an HDMI port.

This particular model laptop is sold in a customizable fashion on HP.com as the HP g6z and starts $ 449.99.  As a matter of fact, a custom configured HP g6z with the exact same specs as this g6-1d60us model is $ 449.99, so you’re basically saving $ 120 if you purchase via Staples.com.  Shipping is free or you can do an in store pickup.  Taxes do apply, so that cost will generally be around $ 20.  The rebate has to be applied for after you purchase the laptop, you have to apply for the rebate using the Staples Easy Rebate site – no paperwork necessary, just a quick online wizard and they’ll send you a check.

While there aren’t any reviews out there for this specific g6 model, there are custom reviews on HP.com, here are a few review quotes:

• “This is my first lap top, and I am VERY pleased!! Easy to use. Easy to set up, open and go!! And I am tech challenged! I love that Skype and WLM were already built in. Get this lap top, you will NOT be sorry!!”
• “My two daughters, my wife and my mother are all very pleased with their new laptops and have been using them for a month now with no issues and my daughters really love their purple and red computers. Thank you HP for a great product at a great price.”
• “The HP Pavilion g6z customizable Notebook PC is a good buy, easy to use and powerful enough for routine home computing needs (e.g., email, word-processing, photo/video editing and budgets). I recommend it.”

Overall it seems like customers are happy with their purchase when they know what to expect, a no frills laptop that is simply intended for basic usage.  If you prefer an Intel powered HP laptop, the dv6-6b26us with a Core i3 processor is on sale for $ 399.99 and does not require an instant rebate.

Buy Link

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HP Pavilion dv6-6b26us 15.6″ Laptop $399 at Staples after $50 Coupon

There’s a $ 50 off coupon for laptops and tablets at Staples right now for both online and in store, just use code 62996 at checkout on Staples.com  and you’ll automatically get an additional $ 50 off any laptop or tablet purchase.  One of the best deals to be found is on an HP dv6-6b26us laptop you get get for $ 399 after using the 62996 coupon.  The HP dv6-6b26us has an Intel Core i3 processor, 6GB of RAM and a large 640GB hard drive, here are the full specs:

• Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2330M Processor (2.2GHz)
• Memory: 6GB installed memory
• Storage: 640GB hard drive
• Graphics: Intel HD 3000
• Optical Drive: SuperMulti DVD burner
• Screen: 15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366×768)
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Ports: 4 USB (2 USB 2.0 and 2 High Speed USB 3.0), HDMI, VGA monitor out, Ethernet LAN port
• Wireless: 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth
• Digital Media Card Reader for Secure Digital and Multimedia cards
• Full-size island-style keyboard with numeric keypad
• Web Cam: HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated digital microphone
• HP SimplePass with integrated fingerprint reader
• Battery: 6-cell 55WHr lithium-ion battery; Up to 6 hours of battery life
• Dimensions: 14.88″ (L) x 9.71″ (W) x 1.23″ (min H) -1.39″ (max H) (5.78lbs)
• Warranty: 1 year

This is a great configuration for $ 399, and to add to that the build quality of the HP dv6 is excellent.  This particular model is much like the HP dv6t Select Edition we reviewed and that is customizable on HP.com where it starts at a much higher price of $ 579 right now.   Note, that the $ 50 off coupon code 62996 is stackable with other coupons and rebates, we went through the checkout process on Staples.com and added a coupon on top of the already existing $ 75 off coupon and it did stack for a total of $ 125 off the already sale price:

There haven’t been many good laptop deals lately, so if you’ve been waiting for a deal this could definitely be it.  The $ 50 off coupon works on all laptops at Staples.com so if you need something more powerful then you can certainly spend more on another laptop and still use the coupon.  For most people this dv6 configuration will be ample power.

Link: Staples.com dv6-6b26us laptop on sale for $ 399

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Asus X101CH and 1025C Now Available for Pre-Order

The Asus X101CH and 1025C are now available for pre-order at JR.com (X101CH, 1025C) and ExcaliberPC.com (X101CH, 1025C) with anticipated shipping dates of February 29^th and February 20^th respectively according to Excaliber PC.  Apparently Asus is taking advantage of the extra leap year day to still claim the February availability they promised.  Both the Asus X101CH and 1025C were announced and on display at CES 2012 this past January.

The X101CH is equipped with the Intel Atom N2600 Dual-core processor giving users both multi-tasking productivity abilities and a multimedia experience. The X101CH netbook is designed for easy portability with its slim profile that’s less than 1-inch thick and weighing in at just over 2 pounds.  Color choices for the X101 include either black or white.

Here are the full specs of the X101CH:

• Operating System: Windows 7 Starter
• Display: 10.1″ LED Backlight WSVGA Screen (1024×600)
• Intel CPU & Chipset: Intel Atom N2600 Processor (1.60GHz)
• Memory: 1GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
• Wireless Data Network: WLAN 802.11 b/g/n
• Hard Drive: 320GB Hard Drive
• Camera: 0.3 Mega Pixel
• Audio: High Quality Speaker
• Input/Output: 2 x USB 2.0 1 x Audio Jack (Headphone/Headset)
• 1 x Card Reader: Micro SD
• Battery: 4hrs (3cells, 28W/h) Battery Life
• Dimensions: 10.31″ x 7.01″ x 1.02″~1.44″
• Weight: 2.05 lbs (with Battery)

The 1025C is available in black, pink or white.  It has specs virtually identical to that of the X101CH; the only difference is its battery size, which is approximately double. Though this triples the battery-life, it also increases its weight to 2.75 pounds.

• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter
• Display: 10.1″ LED Backlight WSVGA Screen (1024×600)
• Intel CPU & Chipset: Intel Atom N2600 (1.60GHz) Dual Core Processor
• Memory: 1GB DDR3 SO-DIMM
• Wireless Data Network: WLAN 802.11 b/g/n @2.4GHz
• Camera: 0.3 Mega Pixel
• Audio: Hi-Definition Audio CODEC Stereo Speaker
• Battery: Li-ion Battery 6-Cell (56W/h)
• Battery Life: 10 Hours
• Dimensions: 10.31″ x 7.01 x 0.93″~1.43″
• Weight: 2.79 lbs (with Battery)

The Asus 1025C is priced at $ 299 while the cheaper version X101CH is $ 269.00.

Asus and Acer are two of the only manufacturers to announce new netbooks at CES this year.  Acer has already stated they’re looking to get out of netbooks due to the slim margins (aka no profits) and focus on ultrabooks, yet they still recently released the D270 netbook.  Apparently leaving the netbook industry is like trying to kick a bad habit – hard to do.   The sales of netbooks have been plummeting of late as tablets cannibalize the potential buying audience.  That said, some people refuse to go without a physical keyboard and like their cheap and small laptop equivalents, so if Asus is the only man standing then they might make a business of it.

Stay tuned for reviews of these new Asus Eee PC laptops!

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