D-Link DIR-605L Cloud Router Review: Strong Monitoring Capabilities but Indifferent Performance
PCWorld Rating
3.5
/ 5 – PCWorld, May 3, 2012
Pros
- Option to hide geeky networking options
- Inexpensive
- Remote monitoring and control via iPad or Android
Cons
- Limited to 2×2 antenna array (300 mbps max)
- No support for 5GHz band
- Still a bit buggy
- Switch is 10/100 ethernet only
Bottom Line
The D-Link Cloud Router may not win performance contests, but it’s inexpensive and it lets you monitor and control network activity remotely via iPhone and Android apps.
More Information
D-Dlink’s DIR-605L is unique and inexpensive, but not exactly cutting-edge. As Wi-Fi routers go, the D-Link Cloud Router (DIR-605L) isn’t a top performer–it has the basic 2×2 antenna array required for 802.11n certification, and its LAN ports support only 10/100 (not gigabit) ethernet. But it boasts some easy-to-use remote-access features that should appeal to small businesses and consumers who want to keep close tabs on network activity without spending a lot of money.
Street-priced at a modest $ 40 (as of May 1, 2012), the Cloud Router supports iPhone and Android apps that let you log in over the Internet and see what devices are connected and what websites they’re accessing. If you don’t like what you see, you can also use the apps to block connected devices from getting online.
These kinds of remote access features aren’t new, but the Cloud Router and its mobile apps make them exceptionally easy for even the most nontechnical folks to set up and use. In my tests, the features worked, though with a few annoying glitches.
Advanced features are hidden in the basic user interface for the benefit of newbies. Installing the router took me only 10 minutes or so with the aid of the printed quick setup guide. By default, D-Link’s browser-based setup interface conceals many advanced networking options that might intimidate newbies; but advanced users can get to them by clicking the Manual Setup button at the bottom of the page.
The setup wizard detects broadband type and guides you through creating a Wi-Fi encryption key. To use the remote access features, however, you must also register with the free Mydlink service, which involves creating a user ID and a password. Mydlink started out as a service designed to allow people with D-Link Internet-connected webcams to see images beamed by the cameras, but it is now expanding to add the Cloud Router’s networking features.
The MyDlink user interface. Once you’ve registered, you can set the router to allow remote access via Mydlink Lite, available as a free Android app or iOS app, with a single mouse click. (Don’t pay 99 cents for the Mydlink Plus app; it’s for monitoring Web-connected D-Link camera feeds.) When you launch the app and log in, you’ll see the router-generated information on network performance, connected devices, and their Web-browsing history. You can also have the app send you an email alert when a new device connects to the router, when a device fails to log in, or when new firmware becomes available. You can reboot the router remotely, or disconnect specific devices from the network.
In my tests, I ran into two difficulties: First, the date and time stamps on the Web-browsing history were off, indicating that the activity had occurred in November 2011. D-Link told me that this happened because the router’s internal clock hadn’t been adjusted during setup, but I couldn’t remember being advised to set the router clock at that time. Once I made the adjustment (by going into the advanced manual setup interface), the date and time discrepancies disappeared (though only for browsing that took place after I changed the router’s internal clock).
Via the cloud, you can block any devices connected to the router.The other problem was that the Mydlink app didn’t always show all of the devices that I knew were connected. At first, only a couple of devices appeared on the list. But a few days after I set up the router, more devices began to show up. D-Link officials say that they are looking into this anomaly.
Asked whether having the ability to access network information might also expose a user’s devices to intruders, D-Link officials pointed out that all of the information comes from the router itself: It doesn’t log in to your machines to collect browsing information, for example.
Overall, I would recommend the DIR-605L to people who are willing to sacrifice some performance for the ability to monitor network activity from afar. The router’s lack of 5GHz support, in particular, is disappointing for city dwellers, who often knock each other off the narrow 2.4GHz band that the Cloud Router supports, and the 2×2 antenna array supports theoretical top speeds of only 300 mbps (new routers with a larger number of antennas are rated at up to 600 mbps). Also, some business users who want a fast wired network for backups or large file transfers will be put off by the lack of gigabit ethernet support.
That said, the DIR-605L is probably speedy enough for most general tasks that don’t involve a lot of streaming media, and its remote access features will likely appeal to certain small-business owners, parents, and others who want to keep tabs on network activity. The relatively low price should clinch the deal.
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Categories: MobilePhone News Tags: capabilities, Cloud, DIR605L, DLink, Gadget Review, Indifferent, Monitoring, performance, Router, strong
Dell XPS 15 Review
The XPS 15 is Dell’s flagship multimedia notebook. It features a gorgeous 1080p display, quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, and an excellent JBL audio system with subwoofer. Our full review details who this notebook is good for and who it’s not.
- Screen: 15.6″ glossy 1080p B+RGLED display (1920×1080 resolution)
- Processor: Intel Core i7-2670QM quad-core processor (2nd generation, Intel Sandy Bridge)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GT 525M 1GB with Optimus (automatically switches to integrated Intel graphics to save power)
- OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
- Memory: 8GB DDR3 memory @ 1333MHz
- Storage: 750GB hard drive with 7200RPM rotational speed (Seagate ST9750420AS)
- Ports: 2x USB 3.0, 1x eSATA/USB 2.0 combo, HDMI, mini DisplayPort, Ethernet, 2x headphone jacks, microphone, 9-in-1 media card reader
- Optical Drive: DVD burner
- Wireless: Intel WiFi Link 1000BGN
- Weight: 6 lbs. w/ 6-cell battery
- Dimensions: 15″ x 10.4″ x 1.3~1.5″ (width x depth x height)
- Battery: 6-cell li-ion (56Wh)
- Features: backlit keyboard, JBL speakers including subwoofer, 2.0MP webcam, aluminum exterior
- Warranty: 1-year
- Product Page: http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-l502x/pd
We purchased this unit for $ 899 after coupons during a sale which makes this notebook a superb value. The screen, quad-core processor, and all the little high-end features like the backlit keyboard and name brand speakers are not typically found at this price point.
Design and Build
This generation of XPS notebooks are a departure for Dell; it has little resemblance to XPS notebooks of the past. There’s no light displays, bleeding edge design elements, or anything to set it apart from the crowd. Dell has since moved all its gaming notebook focus to Alienware and turned the XPS line into a premium multimedia series. And based on what we’ve seen in this review, they have done a respectable job of it.
The XPS 15 has a high-end look and feel thanks to extensive use of aluminum on the palm rest and lid. The rest is ABS plastic which is of good quality. I sincerely appreciate the lack of glossy plastic; there’s only a touch of it in the keyboard surround.
Chassis strength is good; it has almost no flex. The lid has more flex than I expected but no ripples display on the screen when pressed in from behind.
Something that always speaks to me are design details. The aluminum around the palm rest is one piece and has beautifully beveled edges around all cut outs. The mirror finish around the power and multimedia buttons looks great. Lastly I’m glad to see the huge XPS badges on previous XPS notebooks absent from this generation.
Something I’m not a fan of is how the status lights are located on the back of the notebook; they can’t be seen unless the lid is closed. At least they included them – that’s more than can be said for some notebooks.
Screen
It’s gorgeous. This is a B+RGLED screen, meaning it uses multi-colored LEDs to light the screen. There’s so much color that it’s a tad oversaturated, but I won’t complain – it’s better than the alternative. It’s extra bright compared to ‘typical’ 15.6″ notebooks and the contrast is excellent – blacks look like true black. The display surface is glossy so watch out for reflections; keep a microfiber towel handy for cleaning.
I wish more notebooks would come with a 1080p screen – that means a lot of extra working space. It has 1920×1080 pixels total resolution, meaning two windows can easily be used side by side. Those that use Microsoft Excel will love the available vertical space.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The XPS 15′s full-size keyboard has a superb feel and is one of my favorites in a long time. The keys have sufficient key travel to provide good tactile feedback with pleasantly soft key presses. It makes little noise with no ‘clacking’. The backlighting is helpful when there’s not enough ambient lighting – and it just plain looks cool.
The oversized Synaptics touchpad is large like a MacBook Pros’ and has an excellent matte surface. The two buttons are soft and provide good feedback as well. Overall I can’t say enough about the quality of the input devices.
Dell XPS 15 Performance
Most if not all $ 500 budget notebooks have enough power and ‘oomph’ for the outright majority of tasks including Internet surfing and office productivity. Those needing a bit more spend more for something like this XPS 15. The only thing the XPS 15 isn’t good at is gaming, which we’ll talk about in a moment.
The quad-core Intel Core i7 processor is the fastest mobile processor available and I couldn’t trip it up. It has a total of eight processing threads, meaning it’s superb for applications where number crunching and other intensive processing is required – video editing, encoding media, and so on. And if you do something like Folding at Home, this processor will surely get you up the ranks fast.
Our XPS 15 is equipped with an ample 8GB of RAM, which is great if you like using Photoshop or other programs that typically take up a lot of memory. Additionally it has a large and relatively fast 750GB hard drive spinning at 7200RPM. Dell also offers a 256GB SSD for a few hundred more; an SSD has no moving parts and is leagues faster starting up and launching programs.
Then there’s the graphics card; an anemic Nvidia GeForce GT 525M. It has plenty of video memory – 1GB – but it’s depressingly weak and not capable of playing modern 3D games at anything more than low settings. Dell offers a slightly faster GT 540M 2GB but it’s not fast enough to quality the XPS 15 as a “good” gaming notebook. I get the feeling that Dell could have included a more powerful graphics card but decided to not cannibalize its Alienware sales. Still, I wouldn’t have minded a graphics card just a bit more powerful than this one.
We ran a series of benchmarks on the XPS 15 to compare its performance to other notebooks in this segment; it did quite well as expected, except of course in 3D performance.
PCMark 7 – Measures overall system performance
| Laptop | PCMark 7 Score |
| Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-2670QM, Nvidia GT 525M 1GB RAM, 8GB RAM, 7200RPM HD) | 2,522 PCMarks |
| HP Pavilion dm4t Beats – Intel Core i5-2430M, Intel HD3000, 8GB RAM, 5400RPM HD | 2,382 PCMarks |
| Sony VAIO SA (Intel Core i5-2430M 2.50GHz, AMD Radeon 6630M, 4GB RAM) | 2,022 PCMarks |
| HP Envy 17 3D – Intel Core i7-2670QM, AMD 6850M 1GB, 8GB RAM, 7200RPM HD | 2,592 PCMarks |
| Lenovo IdeaPad U400 – Intel Core i5-2430M, AMD Radeon 6470M, 6GB RAM, 5400RPM HD | 2,287 PCMarks |
PCMark Vantage – Measures overall system performance, higher scores are better
| Laptop | PCMark Vantage Score |
| Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-2670QM, Nvidia GT 525M 1GB RAM, 8GB RAM, 7200RPM HD) | 9,011 PCMarks |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y470p (Intel Core i5-2450m, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, 5400RPM HD) | 6,727 PCMarks |
| HP Pavilion g6z (AMD Fusion A4-3305M 1.90GHz, 4GB RAM, 5400RPM HD) | 3,322 PCMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad X130e (AMD E-300 1.30GHz, AMD 6130, 4GB RAM, 5400 RPM HD) | 1,981 PCMarks |
| HP Folio 13 (Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60GHz, Intel HD3000, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) | 9,026 PCMarks |
| Dell Vostro 1440 Review (Intel Core i3-370M, Intel HD, 6GB RAM) | 4,931 PCMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 – Intel Core i5-2410m 2.30GHz, 4GB RAM | 6,056 PCMarks |
| Dell Vostro 3450 – Intel Core i5-2410m 2.30Ghz, 4GB RAM | 5,901 PCMarks |
| Dell Inspiron N411z – Intel Core i3-2330m 2.30GHz, 4GB RAM | 5,285 PCMarks |
| Lenovo ThinkPad T420 – Intel Core i3-2310m 2.1GHz, 2GB RAM | 3,204 PCMarks |
3DMark Vantage – Measures 3D graphics performance, higher scores are better
| Laptop | 3DMark Vantage |
| Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-2670QM, Nvidia GT 525M 1GB RAM, 8GB RAM, 7200RPM HD) | 4,211 |
| HP Envy 17-3000, Intel Core i7-2670QM, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, 7200RPM HD | 6,970 |
| Dell XPS 17 (Core i5-2410m 2.30GHz, Nvidia 550m, 6GB RAM, HD 7200RPM) | 4,747 |
| HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition – Intel Core i5-2410m, Intel HD 3000 Graphics, 6GB RAM | 1,845 |
3DMark 11 – Measures 3D graphics performance, higher scores are better
| Laptop | 3DMark 11 |
| Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-2670QM, Nvidia GT 525M 1GB RAM, 8GB RAM, 7200RPM HD) | 1,022 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y470p (Intel Core i5-2450m, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, 5400RPM HD) | 1,339 |
| Dell XPS 17 (Core i5-2410m 2.30GHz, Nvidia 550m, 6GB RAM, HD 7200RPM) | 1,041 |
Input and Output Ports
The XPS 15 has a solid array of ports for a consumer class notebook.
The left side holds a single USB 3.0 port and the cooling exhaust vent:
The right side has the optical drive, two headphone jacks, the microphone jack, and the eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port:
The front of the notebook has just the 9-in-1 media card reader:
On the back we have a mini DisplayPort, HDMI, the Ethernet jack, TV tuner (optional; not on our test unit), AC power jack, a USB 3.0, and the Kensington lock slot.
I am a big fan of putting ports on the back of the notebook; on a desktop replacement notebook this placement makes sense since they’ll be in one place most of the time and it keeps cables out of the way (the power cord especially). Business class notebooks typically have the majority of ports on the sides since they’re designed to be used with docking stations.
Battery Life
I measured 4.5 hours of life out of the standard 6-cell battery while surfing the Internet with half screen brightness. This is a respectable time for a desktop replacement notebook. Dell also offers the XPS 15 with a 9-cell battery that effectively increases the battery life by 50% since it has that much more capacity.
Speakers
Dell says the XPS 15 speakers have 20W of total power output which is crazy on a notebook (at most we’ve seen a couple watts). However after listening it’s not hard to believe. The dedicated subwoofer on the bottom provides almost table-shaking sound and the speakers located on either side of the keyboard are loud enough to fill a medium-size room (like a dining room). There’s certainly enough sound to entertain a few people watching a movie, for example. This is an impressive setup.
The XPS 15 also features two headphone jacks, which is an overlooked but convenient feature.
Heat and Noise
There’s a single fan on the left side of the notebook. It stays off most of the time for basic tasks like surfing the Internet.
Conclusion
The Dell XPS 15 is one of the most well put-together notebooks I’ve reviewed in some time. The only thing it’s not good at is playing games; the Nvidia graphics cards it’s offered with are simply not powerful enough. However it excels everywhere else and fills its role as a premium multimedia notebook nicely. The 1080p screen is a must-have upgrade. The build quality and design are well above average; the speakers are the most convincing I’ve heard on a notebook; lastly the keyboard and touchpad are excellent.
And to top it all off, the XPS 15 is an excellent value – look for coupons and check out the Dell Outlet for the best deals.
Pros
- Solid design and build quality
- Gorgeous 1080p screen
- Excellent keyboard and touchpad
- Great speaker system
Cons
- Low end graphics card
- Fan can be a tad noisy
Where to Buy
Categories: Notebook Review Tags: Dell, Gadget Review
Samsung Series 9 Review: Ultra-thin, but Hard to Use
Razor-thin laptops are nothing new, thanks to the influx of Ultrabooks in the market. But Samsung’s latest Series 9 laptop isn’t quite an Ultrabook–it’s better. The 2012 Series 9, which comes in two flavors (13.3-inch and 15-inch) is thinner, more powerful, and simpler than both its predecessor and the average Ultrabook.
This review is for the 15-inch Series 9, which costs $ 1500. The 15-inch model is a mere 0.6 inches thick, which is thinner than the 0.7-inch thickness standard for 13.3-inch (and smaller) Ultrabooks. The Series 9 weighs in at just 3.7 pounds, minus accessories.
Our review model comes packed with an Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 8GB ofRAM, and a 128GB SSD. It also features built-in Wi-Fi 802.11n/a/b/g, a built-in webcam and microphone, and a full-size backlit keyboard. It runs a 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, and relies on integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics.
Performance
In our WorldBench 7 benchmark tests, the Series 9 scores an impressive 154. Thanks to this very high score and some very long battery life, it earned a overall performance score of 91 (relative to other ultraportable laptops). The average overall performance score of past three ultraportables we’ve tested is 76, so the Series 9 scores very well for its category.
Graphics performance on the Series 9 is also good for its category, but not great overall. In our Dirt 3 graphics tests, the Series 9 managed an acceptable frame rate of 43.9 frames per second, but only at low quality settings and resolution. Of course, when we upped the quality settings to high and the resolution to 1366 by 768 pixels, the Series 9 eked out a barely-playable frame rate of 15.6 FPS. This laptop is no gaming machine, but it’s not meant to be, as it has no discrete graphics card.
The Series 9 also does well when it comes to battery life, which is surprising, considering it’s got a 15-inch screen. We managed to get seven hours and 36 minutes out of the Series 9. The average battery life of the past three ultraportables we’ve tested–all of which have 14-inch or smaller screens–is six hours and 21 minutes.
Design: Chassis, Keyboard, Trackpad
This year’s Series 9 is even simpler and more minimalist than last year’s design. It’s housed in a solid black aluminum chassis, which has none of the plastic accents from last year’s model. Its cover is a soft matte-black, with a small silver Samsung logo on the left side. The interior is also simple, with a solid aluminum keyboard deck, four pinprick-sized blue LEDs (including one on the Wi-Fi toggle function key and one on the power button), and a small rectangular power button. There are no additional buttons on the keyboard deck, though the keyboard has several function keys for adjusting screen brightness, volume, keyboard backlight, etc.
There aren’t a ton of ports on the Series 9, but Samsung gives you a nice selection with what little space it has. On the left side of the machine there’s a Sleep-and-Charge USB 2.0 port, as well as a combination headphone/microphone jack, a mini-HDMI output port, and a small proprietary port for plugging in an included port-to-ethernet dongle. On the right side you get two USB 3.0 ports, a micro-USB port, and a barely-noticeable SD card slot under a little door.
The keyboard and trackpad on the Series 9 are disappointing. The keyboard has island-style keys that are large and widely-spaced, but that are very, very shallow. Thanks to this lack of key travel, the keys offer weak tactile feedback, which makes it difficult to type accurately over long periods of time.
The touchpad is large and soft, and looks and feels like Apple’s glass touchpad. It has a thin silver outline and no distinguishable buttons. Unlike the touchpad on last year’s model, I didn’t find this touchpad to be too sensitive; I found it to be not sensitive enough. Even after installing a driver update, the touchpad didn’t always respond when I wanted it to, and multitouch gestures were jerky and inaccurate.
Screen and Speakers
One of the Series 9′s most impressive features is its big, bright, matte LED-backlit screen. We were impressed with the previous model’s screen, and this model’s screen is essentially the same, just with a higher resolution (1600 by 900 pixels instead of 1366 by 768 pixels). It is incredibly bright at the highest brightness setting, which means it’s perfect for working on in bright or direct sunlight. It also offers excellent viewing angles, vivid colors, and an anti-glare matte finish.
Audio is another story. Though I don’t expect studio-quality from laptop speakers, especially one as this as the Series 9, the speakers here are even worse than average. Sound is not just tinny, strung-out, and bass-less, it’s also fuzzy at higher levels. For example: I tried watching a Saturday Night Live clip and I could barely make out the announcer’s words over the audience’s applause, because the different sounds kept running into each other.
The Bottom Line
Initially, Samsung’s 15-inch Series 9 looks almost perfect. It’s thinner, but with a bigger screen, than most Ultrabooks; it’s attractive and simple in design; and performs very well for its category. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks–namely its shoddy keyboard and touchpad, but also its less-than-impressive speakers. Substandard keyboards and touchpads are more of an issue in ultraportables, since users are unlikely to want to carry around an external keyboard and mouse. The Series 9 also lacks some of the higher-end features we’re used to seeing in 15-inch notebooks, such as an optical drive.
The new Series 9 is a tantalizing machine, and it fills the niche of the 15-inch Ultrabook. But I know Samsung can do a better job on the keyboard and touchpad. While they get on that, you may want to opt for a cheaper Ultrabook with more accurate input devices, unless you’re absolutely set on a 15-inch screen.
Categories: MobilePhone News Tags: Gadget Review, Hard, Samsung, Series, ultrathin
Minecraft Pocket Edition Review: Build Blocky Masterpieces on the Go
You too can craft sandbox masterpieces on the bus ride to work, thanks to Mojang’s Minecraft Pocket Edition for Android. Minecraft Pocket Edition is a smooth port of the PC game, with a few modifications to make it work on Android.
When you boot up Minecraft PE, it allows you to choose a game mode: Creative or Survival. In Creative mode, the goal of the game is to build, build, and build some more. You can fly around by double-tapping the jump button, and nothing impedes you from building to your heart’s content. In Survival mode, you have a more defined objective, which is to stay alive by eating sheep and killing zombies, while, of course, building things. Survival mode also brings a day/night cycle similar to the one in the desktop version of Minecraft.
Gameplay in Minecraft PE is simple. In the lower-left corner, you get a virtual directional pad with arrow keys and a middle button for jumping. You’ll rarely use the jump button (except to fly), because your character automatically jumps up to the next block. To look around (or change the direction you’re facing), you can tap and drag anywhere on the screen.
At the bottom of the screen are three buttons that let you select building materials, as well as a button with an ellipsis on it. You tap the ellipsis button to access more building materials, including doors, ladders, and water.
Minecraft PE makes placing and destroying blocks easier than regular desktop Minecraft does. To place a block, simply choose the building material you want to use, and tap anywhere on the screen. To destroy a block, just tap it and hold your finger down; a circle will appear, and when that circle fills up, the block will explode.
In Creative mode, you have access to unlimited materials, so you don’t have to worry about harvesting or mining. In Survival mode, you get survival tools (such as shovels and weapons), and you still have access to an unlimited supply of most materials. Some materials–such as mushrooms, flowers, and bamboo–require harvesting, however.
When Minecraft PE first came out, it featured only Creative mode–which, while fun, limited the game to block artists. With the addition of Survival mode, though, the game now caters to artists and traditional goal-oriented gamers alike.
The game’s graphics render smoothly and look good (though there’s not much to say about a retro-styled game that consists of blocks). The game world is a little small, and you’ll find yourself reaching its borders fairly quickly. The title offers no real online multiplayer mode, but it does allow you to play with friends over a local Wi-Fi network. Options are pretty basic, though you can invert the Y-axis and switch the virtual d-pad over to the right side of the screen, if you desire.
Minecraft PE provides a nice balance between the classic desktop version of the game and optimization for a mobile platform. The general performance is excellent, the game doesn’t drain a phone’s battery too quickly, and the controls are accurate. If you’ve been looking for a way to play Minecraft while on the go, the Pocket Edition for Android is worth every penny.
We tested this app using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0.2.
Categories: MobilePhone News Tags: Blocky, build, Edition, Gadget Review, Masterpieces, Minecraft, Pocket
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 Review
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 is a 14-inch screen Intel powered laptop Ivy Bridge both designed to provide power and portability. The Y480 replaces the previously popular Lenovo Y470 by adding some updates of some design and of course the revision of the internal components. The Y series has become popular with students because of its crowd size advantage for easy mounting on a desk, relatively light weight for transportation on campus and still having enough performance for just about any task you can throw at it. We examine the Y480 comes with a new Intel Core i7-3610QM processor 2.30GHz, Nvidia GeForce GT 640M graphics LE and 8 GB of RAM, here is a complete implementation by specification:
- screen: 14 “LED backlit display, glossy, 1366 x 768 resolution, 220-nits brightness, contrast ratio of 500:1
Processor: Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3 GHz Quad-Core (third generation, Intel Ivy Bridge)
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory THE
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
- Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz @
- Storage: 750 GB Hard Drive with speed 5400
- Ports: Two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, 6 -in-1 media card reader, Ethernet port, a headphone jack, microphone input, VGA monitor out port, HDMI port
Optical Drive: DVD Super Multi-Burner
Wireless : 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Sun
Weight: 4.85 pounds
Dimensions: 13.6
- “x 9.4″ x 0.8 “- 1.3″ (Width x Depth x Height)
Battery: Lithium Ion 6-cell, 48Wh
Features:
- backlit keyboard, integrated web cam
Warranty: 1 year
The price of Y480 is just one more question at this time of writing. The Y480 were purchased was price of $ ? 999 on TigerDirect.com , Y480 will be available at Lenovo.com in the During May 2012, so from this day, we do not know what Lenovo will load as a starting price of Y480. If you want to see the unboxing pictures for this laptop, just check Y480 thoughts first article , we have posted.
Design and Construction
Y480 comes with a couple of different design options, you can opt for either a black case with patterned lid or brush metallic gray finish. The model is covered in this review has the brushed metal gray. It’s a bit more traditional and conservative than the black finish. The design has the same gray metal brush finish all courses, while drawing black has orange accents and a funky pattern on the lid. The image above shows our model Y480 and for the sake of comparison, we have shown below an image of Lenovo media finished in black and orange.
In addition to new colors, there are a couple of other design features have changed from the previous Y470. Lenovo removed some of the sensitive media keys at the top of the keyboard, the Y480 has just one button and mute button adjusting the color display while the Y470 had a volume up / down buttons and more of them.
I like the fact that the media buttons are physical buttons now, but you do not have the volume up and down control that you used to get there. At the top of the keyboard on the left are two other buttons, the one for food and other Lenovo recovery of a button, one touch and you can restore your PC to the original factory image.
A touch of design
I could do without the glossy bezel around the screen, it tends to pick up fingerprints and show them, a trait annoying when you consider that you have to restore the screen to close the lid. On positive side, the rest of the case is fairly resistant to fingerprints, if the lid does show some of my paw marks after a few opening and closings. Another thing to mention is that the top edges of the keyboard area are a little high, you are not going to cut yourself on the edge, but it would have been nice to see some rounded edges.
We mentioned on the brushed-metal the Y480, and it is indeed a thin metal layer added on the lid and the keyboard area to resemble metal. However, most cases consists of a rigid plastic, not metal. Nevertheless, the Overall laptop feels solid and durable. The build quality is very good and I feel comfortable throwing the Y480 in a backpack and its application along with a pile of heavy books. The only area of flex is noticeable on the bottom of the laptop under the optical drive, but that is typical of most laptops as it is difficult to strengthen the hollow space in the area of optical drive. Disappointment The one I have in For the construction is that the display hinges on Y480 are not as rigid as they might be. If you press the screen, it wobbles a bit, this is in contrast to the ThinkPad X220 I own that resists shifting, no matter how you flip the screen or push.
Screen
The Y480 has a 14.0 “screen with a finish brilliant. The glossy finish can make colors pop, but downward it creates unwanted glare from the screen when you have a strong light source behind or above. The display on the Y480 is made by AUO. It has beautiful color and depth, blacks and whites appear to be both accurate and true color is good when viewing directly onto an angle perpendicular to the eyes. Since the screen does not use IPS technology, as used in the Apple iPad, the colors distort viewing angles widen. The view of the screen from different angles can be seen below:
You can see that when tilted back the screen colors distort considerably. It’s not a big deal, most people display the right anyway.
Lenovo provides an optimization feature color display and a button called OneKey Theater, you press the button on the top right side and a screen display allows you to switch between Normal movie mode and intelligent mode. Movie mode presents the richest colors and the brightest full color screen in normal mode it is easier to read documents. If you switch to “smart” mode, the Y480 will actually detect when you play a movie and go to color in cinema mode, a pretty cool feature.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The Y480 keyboard has not changed since the Y470 other than an important factor – there is now a backlight The backlight function the keyboard is a real luxury, he see the keys in dimly lit rooms so much easier, thus increasing the usability factor!. Even if you’re a typist, you may sometimes need to look at the keyboard to find those on the cursor keys or shortcut keys range of motion, and if it is dark, then finding them is hard to do without back- lighting.
In terms of usability, the keyboard is great Y480. The keys are well spaced and have a good amount of travel and tactile feedback. It’s the same sensation as the keyboard found on ThinkPad and not quite the same quality, but for a consumer notebook, it is certainly above average. A chiclet style design is used, which offers both a stylish and increases key spacing reduces typing errors. Lenovo calls AccuType chiclet design.
Lenovo Y480 Performance
This is the part of those most interested buyers of Y480 are looking for a computer mobile phone which has serious human rights performance. The technology of the Y480 sports as Intel Core i7-3610QM processor and Intel HD 4000 graphics. Also included is an Nvidia GeForce GT 640M dedicated graphics card LE. This GPU is not using the new Nvidia Kepler architecture, but the Fermi old. The Lenovo Y480 in the 640M is going to disappoint some users, as it is on par with last year’s graphics card releases, such as AMD and Nvidia 7690M GT 555m which came into the Y470. Later in the year Lenovo should have configurations of the Y480 available to accelerate the 650M or 660M Nvidia graphics cards, but right now it is not an option.
Our Y480 came with a capacity of 750 GB HDD generous, but it is a slow spinning 5400. It’s a bit depressing that the hard drive is really the bottleneck of performance. We ran most of the benchmarks using the floppy drive stock configuration, but could not resist the temptation in the new budget friendly
PCMark 7 – Measures the overall system performance
width = “289″> Notebook width = “289″> PCMark Score 7
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM, NVIDIA THE 640M, 8GB RAM, HD 5400) | PCMarks 2.502 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM, Nvidia 640M LE, 8GB RAM, Intel SSD 330) | PCMarks 5.251 |
| Lenovo IdeaPad U400 width = “289″> – Intel Core i5-2430m, Radeon 6470M, 6GB RAM, HD 5400 | PCMarks 2.287 |
PCMark Vantage – Measure the overall system performance
width = “289″> Laptop width = “289″> PCMark Vantage Score
| width = “289″> Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM, Nvidia 640M LE, 8GB RAM, HD 5400) | width = “289″> PCMarks 8634 | ||||||||||
| width = “289″> Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM, Nvidia 640M LE, 8GB RAM, Intel SSD 330) | width = “289″> PCMarks 18,170 | ||||||||||
| width = “289″> Lenovo IdeaPad Y470p (Intel Core i5-2450m, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, HD 5400) | PCMarks 6.727 | ||||||||||
| width = “289″ > HP Pavilion G6Z (AMD Fusion A4-3305m 1.90GHz, 4GB RAM, HD 5400) | PCMarks 3.322 | ||||||||||
| width = “289″> href = Lenovo ThinkPad X130e (E-AMD 300 1.30GHz, AMD 6130, 4GB RAM, 5400 RPM HD) | PCMarks 1.981 | ||||||||||
| width = “289″> href = HP Folio 13 (Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60GHz, Intel HD3000, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD) | PCMarks 9.026 | width = “289″> Dell Vostro 1440 Review (Intel Core i3-370M, Intel HD, 6GB RAM) | PCMarks 4.931 | width = “289″> Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E420 – Intel Core i5-2410m 2.30GHz, 4GB RAM | PCMarks 6.056 | width = “289″> Dell Vostro 3450 – Intel Core i5-2410m 2.30Ghz, 4GB RAM | PCMarks 5.901 | width = “289″> href = Dell Inspiron N411z – Intel Core i3-2330m 2.30GHz, 4GB RAM | PCMarks 5285 | width = “289″> href = Lenovo ThinkPad T420 – Intel Core i3-2310m 2.1GHz, 2GB RAM | PCMarks 3.204 |
PerformanceTest 7.0
width = “151″> Score overall computer width = “131″> 1721.6width = “156″> 1869.5width = “150″> 1074.5width = “151″> CPU Mark width = “132″> 8857.4 width =” 156 “> 7209.9width =” 150 “> 3528.1width =” 151 “> 2D Graphics Mark width = “132″> 419.2width = “156″> 389.6width = “150″> 326width = “151″> 3D Graphics Mark width = “132″> 655.7width = “156″> 412.5width = “150″> 236.9width = “151″> Mark Memory width = “132″> 1535.0width = “156″> 1725.6width = “150″> 1040.0width = “151″> disk Mark width = “132″> 560.6width = “156 “> 1704.5width =” 150 “> 561.6
| width = “130″> Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 ( Intel Core i7-3610QM, Nvidia 640M LE, 8GB RAM) | width = “156″> HP EliteBook 8470p (Intel Core i7, Intel HD 4000, 8 GB RAM) | width = “151″> ThinkPad X220 (Intel Core i5-2410m, Intel HD 3000, 4GB RAM) |
1M Super Pi calculated to
Yes, we know how the benchmark Super Pi is faulty (it is not multithreaded), but people still like to know the score! The Intel Core i7-3610QM calculated Pi to one million digits of accuracy in 11 seconds. Not bad! The Intel Core i5 processor-powered 2410m in my X220 takes 15 seconds for the calculation, if you want to improve processor speed by 25% in single thread mode, a program that can use multiple cores for speed improvements are still high.
3DMark Vantage – 3D Graphics Performance Measures
href = “http://www.laptopreviews.com/lenovo-thinkpad-e420-review-2011-08″rel =” lightbox “> 
width = “283″> Notebook width = “198″> 3DMark Vantage
| Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM , THE NVIDIA 640M, 8GB RAM, HD 5400) | 5587 |
| HP Envy 17-3000, Intel Core i7-2670QM, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, HD 7200 | 6970 |
| Dell XPS 17 (i5- 2410m 2.30GHz, Nvidia 550m, 6 GB RAM, HD 7200) | width = “205″> 4747 |
| HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition – Intel Core i5-2410m, Intel HD Graphics 3000, 6 GB RAM | width = “209″> 1845 |
3DMark 11 – Measures of 3D graphics performance
Notebook 3DMark 11
| width = “295″> Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 (Intel Core i7-3610QM, Nvidia 640M LE, 8GB RAM, HD 5400) | width = “295 “> 1333 |
| width =” 295 “> Lenovo IdeaPad Y470p (Intel Core i5-2450m, AMD 7690M, 6GB RAM, HD 5400) | width = “295″> 1339 |
| width = “295″> Dell XPS 17 (i5-2410m 2.30GHz, Nvidia 550m, 6 GB RAM, HD 7200) | width = “295″ > 1041 |
While the CPU Ivy Bridge is undoubtedly impressive, the NVIDIA GT 640M THE proves to be a mid-range graphics card, unable to outdo the last generation of Nvidia or AMD graphics 7690M graphics 555m. Indeed, the 1333 3DMark 11 score is almost exactly the same as the Y470p marked with its AMD 7690M, but we must consider the fact that the processor actually contributed to the score up a bit so because AMD 7690M graphics may better than the NVIDIA GT 640M LE.
Input and Output Ports
The Y480 has a generous selection of ports for a laptop of 14 inches. Take a tour around each side to see what port you get and where.
On the left side of the Y480 is a VGA port, Ethernet RJ-45 LAN port, HDMI and two USB 3.0 ports:
href = “http://www.laptopreviews.com/dell-inspiron-14z-review-n411z-2011-12″rel =” lightbox “>
On the side right you get a headphone jack, microphone jack and two USB 2.0 ports:
href = “http://www.laptopreviews.com/lenovo-thinkpad-t420i-review-2011-09″ rel = “lightbox”>
On the front is on the 6-in-1 media card reader for SD cards and tastes:
href = “http://www.passmark.com/products/pt.htm” rel = “lightbox”>
Battery
Lenovo claims 4 hours of battery life for the Y480 has a battery 6 – Cell 48Wh. Usually most manufacturers quote the battery life, but in our tests we actually got better than 4 hours with a scenario of use of light. With the screen dimmed to 1/3 brightness, Windows power set to “Power Saver” on the wireless laptop and the idling of Y480 was able to reach 5 hours of life Battery . Now it’s a very optimistic scenario of use. In more normal conditions to have the brighter screen, streaming video and do lots of surfing the web you can expect close to the mark of the battery 4 hours. However, if you really want to stretch the battery and then dimming the screen, using the power mode and switching to integrated graphics can prolong life.
Speakers
The speakers on the Y480 is certainly above par for a 14-inch laptop. The sound of these speakers JBL brand can fill a room, the audio provides low booming and clear highs. There is no annoying noise metal that is present in many portable speakers. If you press OneKey Theater and switch to film, the surround sound feature is enabled.
There are also Dolby Home Theatre v4 Audio contributor to give more of a surround sound effect, since the integrated speakers obviously can not be positioned behind the claims of 5.1 surround sound are somewhat misleading, but still it is a nice feature added and only allow you feeding a 5.1 surround sound home theater sound if you plug in a receiver via HDMI.
Heat and noise
An important aspect of laptops that is often overlooked is how they do it with respect and stay cool minimizing fan noise. This is particularly a problem with small laptops that are powerful components packed inside, the concern is that the laptop overheats because of its small size and inability to dissipate the heat. We are pleased to announce that the Y480 does not suffer from any type of overheating or fan noise annoying symptoms. In fact, the Y480 should be commended for his ability to stay cool and keep the fans running to a minimum. The Y480 has a great cooling system, and larger openings and heat sync is definitely better when it comes to cooling. the warmest was 96F Y480 obtained around the area of heat dissipation and (somewhat unfortunately) in the middle of the keyboard. However, 96F is not that bad still lower than the temperature of the human body. He had to run demanding 3D landmarks for long periods of time to warm the Y480 and force the fan to spin at a higher level, something you will not be done all the time.
Categories: Notebook Review Tags: Gadget Review, IdeaPad, Lenovo, Y480
Radeon HD 7770 Review: Bare Minimum for Serious Gamers
PCWorld Rating
3.5
/ 5 – PCWorld, Apr 23, 2012
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Energy-efficient
Cons
- Requires 6-pin power plug
- Double-wide card not suitable for everyone
Bottom Line
For gamers on a really tight budget, this is not a bad deal. But to get the most out of modern games, you’ll need a more powerful card.
Images (click to enlarge)
Though the Radeon HD 7750 is meant to be an upgrade that anyone can afford, and to be a GPU that works in any PC, the faster 7770 model reviewed here has some restrictions. While it runs modern games 25 percent to 30 percent faster, it also requires enough room in your system for a double-wide card and a six-pin PCIe power plug, which not all computers have. It’s fast enough for modern games, but just barely.
Nobody likes spending more than they have to, but serious PC gamers will probably want to pony up more than the $ 139 asking price for the Radeon HD 7770. There’s a vast difference in performance between graphics cards priced around the $ 200 level and this one. The 7770 is even a fair bit slower than its closest competitor in price, the GeForce GTX 560. We can look at an individual game, like Crysis 2, and see that the Nvidia card is a good 20 percent faster.
In fact, when we average together the results from all our test games (Crysis 2, Dirt 3, Metro 2033, and Just Cause 2), we find the GeForce 560 to be over 25 percent faster. That’s a substantial difference in performance that any serious gamer would certainly take notice of.
So why would a gamer with $ 140 to spend choose the Radeon HD 7770 over the GeForce 560? Simply put, the AMD card is more energy-efficient. While both cards require auxiliary power, the 7750 needs only a single six-pin power plug, while the GTX 560 requires two. Both cards are similar at idle, but when you fire up a game, the difference is remarkable.
Like the Radeon HD 7750, the 7770 is based on the low-end version of the Graphics Core Next series of GPUs from AMD. You get all the same DirectX 11 features you’ll find in the impressive Radeon HD 7970, at a much lower cost–and, correspondingly, a much lower performance. The 7770 finds itself in a bit of a tough position, though. While the 7750 could be excused for its middling performance because it requires no power plug and fits into a single slot, the 7770 requires a double-wide slot, as most of the more powerful graphics cards do. The GeForce 560 it competes with on price requires two power plugs, while the 7770 only needs one. But either way, the card is beyond the reach of all those who have PCs with no extra power plugs for graphics cards at all.
The overall performance of the Radeon HD 7770 is satisfactory for the price. You get right around 30 frames per second at 1080p resolution in modern games, with the detail settings cranked up high. A couple of judicious choices about where to reduce quality should provide a nice experience with almost any new game. Still, it doesn’t fit into nearly every system like the 7750 does, and it’s not as fast as many other similarly priced cards. If you’re a gamer, spend just a little more and you’ll be a lot happier. If you’re not, spend less and be just as happy with a card that’s compatible with a wider range of PCs.
Asus Transformer Pad TF300 Review: Value Tablet Delivers A Solid, But Mixed, Experience
The 10.1-inch Asus Transformer Pad TF300 aims to reshape the tablet market by delivering top-tier performance at a value price. It largely succeeds in this mission, delivering performance that’s on a par with its pricier Transformer Prime sibling. However, the Transformer Pad had to make some compromises in components and display to achieve its goal. And more worrying than those compromises–which include a slightly heavier weight and different build materials than what’s found on the premium Prime–were the frequent glitches I seemed to encounter, with no rhyme or reason, while using this Android 4.0 tablet.
Priced at $ 379 for 16GB of storage, and $ 399 for 32GB of storage, the Transformer Pad is the new value tablet in Asus’ lineup. The Transformer Prime, which was released last December and was the first Tegra 3 tablet, remains at the top of the pyramid, for now; that model stars at $ 100 more than the Pad for the 32GB version. (Asus has already announced high-definition, 1920 by 1280 resolution 10.1-inch models, coming later this spring/summer season.)
Those prices also put Transformer Pad in direct competition with the 16GB Apple iPad 2, which is priced at $ 399. And if you’re just interested in specs, the Transformer Pad has the advantages over the iPad 2 in spades, starting with the fact that you can get twice as much internal storage for the same price. Why anyone would consider spending just $ 20 less for the 16GB model is beyond me, though; for the cost of less than two movie tickets, you can double your storage capacity for your media and apps. The Transformer Pad’s extra bang-for-your-buck resets the bar of expectation for other 10-inch class Android tablets, too, since no other tablet offers 32GB for $ 400.
Transformer Pad: What You Get
Given their shared heritage, it’s only natural to wonder how the Transformer Pad stacks up to the Transformer Prime, which is currently our top pick among Android tablets (only Apple’s third-generation iPad and iPad 2 rank higher). The answer is simple: They have a lot of shared DNA, but the two tablets are not identical.
Both run on Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor and come with 1GB of RAM; both offer 32GB of storage in addition to a microSD card slot; both have an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera (no flash on the Transformer Pad, unlike the Prime) and 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera; and both have a keyboard dock accessory that transforms the tablet into a compact, netbook-like clamshell. The Transformer Pad comes with Bluetooth 3.0, and it adds Wi-Fi Direct support so wireless devices can directly connect with one another.
Those similar processing specs–the Transformer Pad has a slightly slower clock speed, 1.2GHz to the Prime’s 1.3GHz–powered the Transformer Pad to comparable performance results to the Transformer Prime. This means the Transformer Pad ranks among our top-performing tablets. We saw a few minor differences between the two in our testing, but nothing that should impact a buying decision. In a preliminary battery test, the Transformer Pad’s battery lasted 7 hours 7 minutes, same as on the the Transformer Prime.
The displays are different, too. Both are 1280 by 800 resolution IPS panels, but the Prime has a Super IPS+ display with 600 nits brightness, while the Transformer Pad maxes out at 350 nits. That brightness edge makes the Prime better suited to those who need to use the tablet outside in sunlight.
I also noticed some other, subtle differences between the two tablets’ displays. Neither tablet did better than average in our image testing suite, and the Transformer Pad actually bested the Prime at displaying an image of a Web site, and of an athlete’s hand grips. Of the two, the Transformer Pad has a slightly larger air gap between the touchscreen glass and the LCD beneath; this created a slight bit more glare, but it wasn’t as distracting as on some competing tablet models. Images overall didn’t have as much contrast and detail as on the Prime, though the Prime’s display also seemed to be too bright overall.
The Transformer Pad comes with stereo speakers (side-by-side in a single speaker outlet at the speaker back right of the tablet). I found the audio output passable, but unimpressive. Although both models have Asus’ SonicMaster audio technology, the Transformer Pad lacks the Prime’s sub-woofer—which would explain why I preferred the audio output by the Transformer Prime. I found audio on the Transformer Pad sounds thin and echoey by comparison.
Physical Design
The Transformer Pad measures 7.11 by 10.35 by 0.38 inches, and weighs 1.39 pounds. That makes it a shade thicker than the Prime (by 0.6-inch), and 0.11 pound heavier; and 0.5-pound lighter than the new iPad. I found the Transformer Pad size and weight to be an improvement over Asus’ previous low-cost tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 (0.2-inch thicker, and 1.49 pounds). But the Transformer Pad is still heavy enough that I wouldn’t suggest it for lengthy one-handed reading sessions.
Unlike the aluminum-clad Prime, the Transformer Pad tablet is made of plastic, with a concentric circle design at back. While I could feel a bit of give in the plastic back, it is still of a far superior design compared to the ample flex in the original Transformer TF101. I also liked the feel of the volume rocker and power buttons; I found them easier to press than those on the Transformer Prime.
The Transformer Pad comes in blue, white, and red. The blue version ships first, available this week, while the red and white versions will follow in June, according to Asus.
One of the big hooks of Asus’s Transformer series is that the company’s tablets can use the docking port to connect into the optional $ 149 Mobile Dock. The Mobile Dock, redesigned to match the Transformer Pad tablet, provides a highly portable option for productivity fiends to supplement their tablet with a keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, USB 2.0 port, and SD card slot, plus an additional battery, too. The dock adds another 1.2 pounds to the overall weight of the tablet, but it’s still an appealing option if you crave the tactile feel only a physical keyboard can provide.
I really liked the design of the new Mobile Dock. The keys had a bit more flex than I’d like, though, with the keyboard dipping when I touch-typed my way through emails and documents. I did appreciate the dock’s new touchpad design, which has an easy-to-press single mouse button. this dock laces (By comparison, the touchpad on the Prime is actually a clickpad pointing device with an easy-to-press single button, combining touchpad with mouse buttons in one.) Unfortunately, when connected though, the dock didn’t always seem to work smoothly; the pointer often ended up moving easily without me having intended for it to have jumped location, an effect I had not experienced with other Asus tablet/dock combinations.
Asus outfits the Transformer Pad with a selection of pre-installed software and several welcome Android customizations, such as redesigned menu buttons, and a redesigned settings pop-up that brings frequently used settings to the forefront. Asus also provides its own software, like Asus WebStorage (with 8GB of free storage), MyLibrary ebook reader, MyNet (for streaming media from a PC to the tablet), and MyCloud (for wireless desktop access); and third-party software like Polaris Office 2.0 and SuperNote 1.5 for annotating and drawing.
While using the Transformer Pad, I did experience a few oddities and glitches. Occasionally, I saw a flicker in the display’s edge, and had to do a cold reboot of the tablet to regain control of it. I also had apps freeze on me several times. The tablet ships with Android 4.0.3, and Asus says it’ll release firmware update in the unspecified near future to support Hulu. Whether this update will fix the random wonkiness I experienced, though, remains to be seen.
In spite of the stability issues I encountered, the Asus Transformer Pad makes for a good, large-screen value Android tablet. The extra storage you’ll get will come in handy, but you’ll have to be willing to sacrifice niceties like a subwoofer, rear-camera flash, and super IPS display to go with this lower-cost model. If you like the idea of extra storage and saving some bucks, the Transformer Pad makes a good choice.
Categories: Techno Tags: Asus, Delivers, Experience, Gadget Review, Mixed, Solid, Tablet, TF300, Transformer, Value
Asus Transformer Pad TF300 Review: Value Tablet Delivers A Solid, But Mixed, Experience
The 10.1-inch Asus Transformer Pad TF300 aims to reshape the tablet market by delivering top-tier performance at a value price. It largely succeeds in this mission, delivering performance that’s on a par with its pricier Transformer Prime sibling. However, the Transformer Pad had to make some compromises in components and display to achieve its goal. And more worrying than those compromises–which include a slightly heavier weight and different build materials than what’s found on the premium Prime–were the frequent glitches I seemed to encounter, with no rhyme or reason, while using this Android 4.0 tablet.
Priced at $ 379 for 16GB of storage, and $ 399 for 32GB of storage, the Transformer Pad is the new value tablet in Asus’ lineup. The Transformer Prime, which was released last December and was the first Tegra 3 tablet, remains at the top of the pyramid, for now; that model stars at $ 100 more than the Pad for the 32GB version. (Asus has already announced high-definition, 1920 by 1280 resolution 10.1-inch models, coming later this spring/summer season.)
Those prices also put Transformer Pad in direct competition with the 16GB Apple iPad 2, which is priced at $ 399. And if you’re just interested in specs, the Transformer Pad has the advantages over the iPad 2 in spades, starting with the fact that you can get twice as much internal storage for the same price. Why anyone would consider spending just $ 20 less for the 16GB model is beyond me, though; for the cost of less than two movie tickets, you can double your storage capacity for your media and apps. The Transformer Pad’s extra bang-for-your-buck resets the bar of expectation for other 10-inch class Android tablets, too, since no other tablet offers 32GB for $ 400.
Transformer Pad: What You Get
Given their shared heritage, it’s only natural to wonder how the Transformer Pad stacks up to the Transformer Prime, which is currently our top pick among Android tablets (only Apple’s third-generation iPad and iPad 2 rank higher). The answer is simple: They have a lot of shared DNA, but the two tablets are not identical.
Both run on Nvidia’s Tegra 3 processor and come with 1GB of RAM; both offer 32GB of storage in addition to a microSD card slot; both have an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera (no flash on the Transformer Pad, unlike the Prime) and 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera; and both have a keyboard dock accessory that transforms the tablet into a compact, netbook-like clamshell. The Transformer Pad comes with Bluetooth 3.0, and it adds Wi-Fi Direct support so wireless devices can directly connect with one another.
Those similar processing specs–the Transformer Pad has a slightly slower clock speed, 1.2GHz to the Prime’s 1.3GHz–powered the Transformer Pad to comparable performance results to the Transformer Prime. This means the Transformer Pad ranks among our top-performing tablets. We saw a few minor differences between the two in our testing, but nothing that should impact a buying decision. In a preliminary battery test, the Transformer Pad’s battery lasted 7 hours 7 minutes, same as on the the Transformer Prime.
The displays are different, too. Both are 1280 by 800 resolution IPS panels, but the Prime has a Super IPS+ display with 600 nits brightness, while the Transformer Pad maxes out at 350 nits. That brightness edge makes the Prime better suited to those who need to use the tablet outside in sunlight.
I also noticed some other, subtle differences between the two tablets’ displays. Neither tablet did better than average in our image testing suite, and the Transformer Pad actually bested the Prime at displaying an image of a Web site, and of an athlete’s hand grips. Of the two, the Transformer Pad has a slightly larger air gap between the touchscreen glass and the LCD beneath; this created a slight bit more glare, but it wasn’t as distracting as on some competing tablet models. Images overall didn’t have as much contrast and detail as on the Prime, though the Prime’s display also seemed to be too bright overall.
The Transformer Pad comes with stereo speakers (side-by-side in a single speaker outlet at the speaker back right of the tablet). I found the audio output passable, but unimpressive. Although both models have Asus’ SonicMaster audio technology, the Transformer Pad lacks the Prime’s sub-woofer—which would explain why I preferred the audio output by the Transformer Prime. I found audio on the Transformer Pad sounds thin and echoey by comparison.
Physical Design
The Transformer Pad measures 7.11 by 10.35 by 0.38 inches, and weighs 1.39 pounds. That makes it a shade thicker than the Prime (by 0.6-inch), and 0.11 pound heavier; and 0.5-pound lighter than the new iPad. I found the Transformer Pad size and weight to be an improvement over Asus’ previous low-cost tablet, the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 (0.2-inch thicker, and 1.49 pounds). But the Transformer Pad is still heavy enough that I wouldn’t suggest it for lengthy one-handed reading sessions.
Unlike the aluminum-clad Prime, the Transformer Pad tablet is made of plastic, with a concentric circle design at back. While I could feel a bit of give in the plastic back, it is still of a far superior design compared to the ample flex in the original Transformer TF101. I also liked the feel of the volume rocker and power buttons; I found them easier to press than those on the Transformer Prime.
The Transformer Pad comes in blue, white, and red. The blue version ships first, available this week, while the red and white versions will follow in June, according to Asus.
One of the big hooks of Asus’s Transformer series is that the company’s tablets can use the docking port to connect into the optional $ 149 Mobile Dock. The Mobile Dock, redesigned to match the Transformer Pad tablet, provides a highly portable option for productivity fiends to supplement their tablet with a keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, USB 2.0 port, and SD card slot, plus an additional battery, too. The dock adds another 1.2 pounds to the overall weight of the tablet, but it’s still an appealing option if you crave the tactile feel only a physical keyboard can provide.
I really liked the design of the new Mobile Dock. The keys had a bit more flex than I’d like, though, with the keyboard dipping when I touch-typed my way through emails and documents. I did appreciate the dock’s new touchpad design, which has an easy-to-press single mouse button. this dock laces (By comparison, the touchpad on the Prime is actually a clickpad pointing device with an easy-to-press single button, combining touchpad with mouse buttons in one.) Unfortunately, when connected though, the dock didn’t always seem to work smoothly; the pointer often ended up moving easily without me having intended for it to have jumped location, an effect I had not experienced with other Asus tablet/dock combinations.
Asus outfits the Transformer Pad with a selection of pre-installed software and several welcome Android customizations, such as redesigned menu buttons, and a redesigned settings pop-up that brings frequently used settings to the forefront. Asus also provides its own software, like Asus WebStorage (with 8GB of free storage), MyLibrary ebook reader, MyNet (for streaming media from a PC to the tablet), and MyCloud (for wireless desktop access); and third-party software like Polaris Office 2.0 and SuperNote 1.5 for annotating and drawing.
While using the Transformer Pad, I did experience a few oddities and glitches. Occasionally, I saw a flicker in the display’s edge, and had to do a cold reboot of the tablet to regain control of it. I also had apps freeze on me several times. The tablet ships with Android 4.0.3, and Asus says it’ll release firmware update in the unspecified near future to support Hulu. Whether this update will fix the random wonkiness I experienced, though, remains to be seen.
In spite of the stability issues I encountered, the Asus Transformer Pad makes for a good, large-screen value Android tablet. The extra storage you’ll get will come in handy, but you’ll have to be willing to sacrifice niceties like a subwoofer, rear-camera flash, and super IPS display to go with this lower-cost model. If you like the idea of extra storage and saving some bucks, the Transformer Pad makes a good choice.
Categories: Techno Tags: Asus, Delivers, Experience, Gadget Review, Mixed, Solid, Tablet, TF300, Transformer, Value
HP Envy 14 Spectre ultrabook review
The HP Envy 14 Spectre claims to be the world’s first glass laptop and it makes for an impressive-looking addition to the ultrabook genre, with some beefy specs to match. But it’s heavier and larger than many of its competitors.
Design
The scratch-resistant black Gorilla Glass lid might have something to do with the extra weight, but there’s no doubt that it looks and feels gorgeous. We didn’t try dropping it, but scuffing it with coins and keys left nary a mark, which was quietly impressive. The HP logo in the corner lights up when you switch on too — a nice touch.
It’s not thin either, and at 20mm thick and a hefty 1.8kg it’s more Katie Price than Kate Moss, and if you think that ultra slimness is essential in an ultrabook, you’d be advised to look elsewhere.
The 13.4-inch HD LED-backlit BrightView Display offers a fine pixel display of 1,600×900 — the same size and resolution as you’ll find on the equally impressive, but much thinner Asus Zenbook UX31. It looks startlingly bright and sharp, and the extremely thin bezel means it reaches almost to the edge at the sides.
The backlit keyboard features well-spaced keys with a good sense of travel which is very comfortable to use, even for long periods. The trackpad is nicely sensitive and supports pinch to zoom and two-fingered scrolling but the left and right buttons, hidden beneath a single slice of plastic, seemed a bit awkward to press.
The keyboard can be a bit freaky at first, since a motion sensor acknowledges that you’re close and switches on the backlighting before you’ve even touched it. It feels kind of welcoming after a while though.
Performance
It comes with an Intel Core i5-2467M processor, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB solid state drive, and it proved to be pretty nippy. Intel Rapid Start Technology seemed to help, since it only takes a few seconds to power up, and PCMark delivered a decent performance benchmark score of 3,494, which puts it ahead of the Asus Zenbook. Encoding our test 11-minute movie for iTunes took just three minutes and 20 seconds, a little over half the time it took the Zenbook. Gaming frame rates on Portal proved to be in the early 100s for the most part too, so it should handle most current 3D games reasonably well.
There are lots of high-end audio companies vying to have their sonic technology in trendy laptops, and with HP it’s Beats Audio. Sound quality is decent though not spectacular (there’s only so much you can do with the micro speakers required for a laptop’s dimensions). Still, it does give a bit of extra oomph to the bass, which you’ll notice more from the audio processing when you plug in a set of speakers or headphones. There’s also a volume wheel, mute button and Beats settings button on the side, where they’re nice and easy to get to.
The battery put on a pretty good show, lasting a good eight hours before it needed a recharge.
Conclusion
It’s a bit thicker and heavier than most ultrabooks, so if you’re counting the grams it’s not going to work for you. Performance is average though nothing to be ashamed of, but that luscious glass casing is most likely to be the main appeal. A decent alternative to look at would be the Asus Zenbook UX31.
Categories: Notebook Review Tags: Envy, Gadget Review, Spectre, Ultrabook
Localicious Review: Finding Local Search Results Has Never Been Easier
Instantly find trending businesses in any neighborhood. Real-time tips and trends allow you to quickly and decide where to eat, shop or even get your car’s oil changed.
- Over 80,000 U.S. neighborhoods and 21 million local businesses
- Find the places you’re looking for fast with laser-focused neighborhood search.
- Auto detects your neighborhood to show the best popular businesses nearby.
- Realtime tips and hot spot alerts keep you updated on what’s happening in your ‘hood.
- Tap to map another neighborhood and explore across town or across the country.
- Foursquare users can pre check-in before arriving – just set it and forget it!
“Automatically detects your ‘hood and show you the bestest and most popular spots, and pre check-in before arriving for foursquarers. Its fast, clean, and SIMPLE. It’s so easy a caveman can do it.”
- Appyhours
“Users in Hollywood won’t be forced to go over the hill to the Valley. More importantly, those in Manhattan’s TriBeCa district won’t be sent over a bridge to Jersey just because it happens to be geographically proximate.”
- All Things D
“The app uses information from business reviews via algorithms and locations found on foursquare to give users a comprehensive list of businesses to access while on the go.” – Mobile Marketer
“It’s got a nifty pre-check-in feature that lets users automatically check in at a location when they arrive.”
- GigaOM
“It allows people to search local listings by neighborhood as opposed to just geographic distance.” – CNet
“A “neighborhood-aware” Android app that features real-time tips and a seamless connection to Foursquare, all so you find the best spots around.” – Best Android Apps Review
Recent changes:
Adding support for moving the app to an SD card.
Heads up: If the app is moved to SD, you’ll need to launch the app to re-enable advance check-ins for foursquare.
Content rating: Medium Maturity
If you are looking for neighborhood-based, relevant business results in your quest to find a place to eat, shop, and more, look no further than Localicious.
“What’s Good In the Hood” is the motto of Localicious, an app that delivers neighborhood-based results for restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses that are close by. While other apps may show you results all over your city, Localicious shows you what’s good within your own neighborhood.
When you first launch Localicious, you’ll see a splash screen featuring a city skyline. The app homescreen allows you to search businesses by name or category, as well as by location. If you are not sure what you are looking for, Localicious will show you places around you below the search fields. A scrolling ticker at the bottom of the page will show you user-submitted tips on nearby businesses.
What really impressed me about this app is that it shows businesses that are actually close by, unlike other apps that may sometimes display results farther away. The information provided about businesses–including reviews, pictures, payment options, and phone numbers–is clear and comprehensive. Localicious grabs all information about a business that is available on the Web and brings it to you.
Integration with the geolocation service Foursquare allows you to “pre-check in” so that when you arrive at the location, the app will automatically check in for you. Reviews about businesses and tips for places nearby are also provided by Foursquare users.
User Reviews of Localicious Android App
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Categories: Gadget Review Tags: Been, Easier, Finding, Gadget Review, Local, Localicious, Never, Results, Search
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