Laptop News: gScreen, Samsung, New Choice For PC ...

New Laptop Have You Seeing Double

In some work environments it is not unusual to see workstations with two monitors. This enables improved workflow and increased output and is relatively standard in some settings. Now laptop users can enjoy this type of efficiency with the release of the SpaceBook 17 by gScreen.

The folks at gScreen however have managed to fit two 17 inch displays into the package, giving users the ultimate mobile workstation. One screen closes over the other when the laptop is closed, at which time it looks more like a standard laptop, just bulkier.

The SpaceBook 17 laptop weighs 10 pounds according to reports, which would likely be a turnoff for the average user. This is more than double the weight of some of the sleeker brands on the market today. Even so, for professionals in some industries this is a godsend. Engineers, software developers, video editors are just a few of the folks who might very well find this product indispensible.

The weight aside there is another factor which might be regarded as a negative. It offers only an hour and a half of battery life. Since many users want portability, this is a potential drawback. However, the dual screen display already seems to be garnering lots of interest, so the SpaceBook may turn out to be the next big thing.

A New Midsize Offering From Samsung

Tech giant Samsung is getting ready for the official launch of a new laptop line, the Series 7. The laptops will be available as 13, 14 and 15 inch models, and prices reportedly start at $999. According to Samsung, the design of the Series 7 was influenced by the design of its popular plasma TVs.

The company claims that these laptops will boot up or restart quickly from sleep mode ending the wait for the machine to be usable. The specs include an AMD Radeon 6750M graphic card, quad-core Core i7 CPU, and it is powered by the Intel Core i5. Samsung devotees can expect to see the Series 7 in tech stores by October 2.

A Sharp Product For Gamers

Gaming hardware provider, Razer hopes to cut a bigger slice out of the PC gaming market with its latest product. Aptly called the Razer Blade this is the company’s first foray in the PC end of the industry. Previously they were best known for products like the Boomslang gaming mouse. The new offering has all the makings of a winner among PC gamers.

Its impressive specs include a 17-inch display, and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics processing unit, it is virtually guaranteed to deliver brilliant visuals. This beauty also has 2 GB of dedicated GDDR5 video memory. This gaming workhorse is powered by a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 8 GB 1333MHz DDR3 memory. At almost seven pounds it is slightly heavier than many brands but avid gamers probably won’t care about an extra pound or two.

One of the most notable features of this laptop is what is called the Switchblade User Interface. This has a set of special key which can adapt based on the user’s needs. For one, the keyboard itself has an LCD built in that allows it to double as a touch screen if there is no mouse available. This way the player can still interact with the game environment. When a mouse it plugged in, it reverts to a display mode. This has led one industry expert to suggest that new games may have to be developed to keep up with this technology.

Min-Liang Tan, Razer’s creative director and CEO said of the development, “The Switchblade User Interface on the Razer Blade is a revolutionary innovation that truly defines the new standard for gaming experiences on a laptop.” If this is true, then PC gamers have something special to look forward to. The laptop will be priced at around $2,799.99 and the company expects it to hit American store towards the end of the year.

The PC gaming market has been in a slump in recent years but this move by Razer demonstrates its confidence not only in the Blade abut also in the industry itself. Time will tell whether or not this gamble has paid off.

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Review: Toshiba Laptops

Note by editor: Toshiba laptop reviews is a guest review by one of our readers: Jim J. Donalds.

Today we are going to take a look at three popular Toshiba laptops each with a different price point and purpose. Exact model numbers will be listed followed by the most basic but important stats. Also included for comparison purposes is average price from several popular and reputable websites. After a brief review of the pros and cons a recommendation will be made for each model.

Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5043
Price: $400
The Stats: 15.6″ screen, AMD V120 2.2GHz processor, 2gb DDR3 ram, 320GB HDD, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250, Windows 7 64 bit
The Facts: It’s a $400 dollar laptop, expecting it to do anything other than basic word processing and surfing the web, email etc. is currently unrealistic. That said this laptop does surprisingly well considering it’s minuscule price tag. 2gb of ram is too little in this day and age, thankfully Toshiba has left one ram expansion slot open so when the buyer gets tired of dealing with the low ram they can easily toss in another 2gb stick and call it a day. One of the more recommended cheap laptops on the market.
Recommended for: Basic email and web surfing.

Toshiba Satellite A505-S6035
Price: $1,000
The Stats: 16″ screen, Intel i7-720 QM 1.60 ghz processor, 4gb DDR3 ram, 500gb HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M gpu with 1gb vram , Windows 7 64bit
The Facts: Toshiba actually delivers a laptop at the thousand dollar mark that turns out to be a decent gaming laptop. You won’t be able to play the latest and greatest games at max settings but for the price the performance can’t be beat. As a gaming laptop it is of course able to handle any other basic tasks thrown at it with aplomb. At 6.5 lbs it’s hit’s that middle of the road spot for portable laptops. Still with a shorter than usually battery life and 16″ screen while you could use this as a literal laptop I think of it more as a mobile desktop, something to set up at a desk or table at the airport. While Toshiba earns points for making sure the laptop stays cool they get a negative for the amount of bloatware that comes per-installed.
Recommend for: Budget conscious gamers

Toshiba X505-Q890
Price: $1,700
The Stats: 18.4” screen, Intel Core i7 740QM 1.73GHz processor, 6GB DDR3 ram, 500GB HDD, 64 GB SSD HDD, Bluray Combo Drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360 M
The Facts: This is a monster of a computer in laptop form! While you definitely will not be using this beast in your lap for any extended period of time it’s great for setting setting up at your destination and not having to regret leaving a desktop behind. Huge 18” screen will playback your blu-ray movies from the combo drive in full 1080p HD! The 64GB SSD drive will ensure quick boot times and load times of Windows and other essential programs. The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360 M will allow you to play the newest games on high settings with all the trimmings. Other than the size and possibly the price tag there isn’t anything not to like about this laptop and honestly if your even looking at this model neither of those will come across as a negative.
Recommended for: Gaming and desktop replacement.

There you have it, three very different notebooks on sale from one reputable company. Something for everyone and even if none of the three Toshiba models covered in the article quite meet your needs the reviews can still give you a good place to start from. Decide which model closest meets your needs and then check out other laptops from that model line. Happy shopping!

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Review: Dell Laptops

I’ve had several different brands of laptops over the years, but the brand I keep coming back to over the years is Dell. They have a huge selection of laptops to choose from, everything ranging from a purse-sized netbook, to an entry-level laptop, to the ultimate gaming laptops.

The first laptop I ever purchased from Dell was an Inspiron 15R. The Inspirion 15 starts at about $399, making it ideal for first-time laptop users, students, and anyone else looking for a sturdy, dependable, entry-level model. Fully customizable, the Inspiron line features 2.26Gh Intel Core processors – fast enough for any computing the average user does and comes preloaded with Windows 7. The basic Inspirion comes with 2GB single-channel memory, but I recommend upgrading tot he 4GB dual-channel, as I find it adds significantly to the performance/speed of the laptop. All Inspirions come with a massive 320GB hard drive, Intel HD Graphics card and 5-hour battery, although for heavy users you may want to upgrade the battery or purchase an additional one. It’s one of the best cheap Dell laptops you could buy.

The next laptop I purchased from Dell was my netbook, or as Dell calls them, “Minis”. These are by far the best cheap laptops out there. I got mine refurbished for under $200 on Dell’s outlet store; a new model starts at $299. The thing I absolutely LOVE about the netbooks are the small size. I can tuck it into my diaper bag or purse whenever I go out – it’s perfect for web browsing and or writing that essay I’ve been trying to postpone. I have to admit I jumped the gun a bit and bought one of the first Mini 8′s. With an 8GB hard drive, it was virtually impossible to run anything on it. However, all the Minis now come with a minimum 160 GB hard drive so that’s no longer an issue. That being said, the Minis aren’t great on power. You really can’t have any apps on them or they tend to run at snail’s pace, so make sure you have another laptop or desktop to run your beefier programs on because the Minis come with a mere 1GB of RAM. However, if you are looking for a truly portable laptop for web-browsing, the Mini is what you want.

If you are looking for a powerful, and I mean powerful laptop, check out Dell’s Alienware line. My most recent purchase, the Alienware laptop was my husband’s last Christmas present – he was not disappointed! Built for gaming, the Alienware 15X is available with a Intel® Core™ i7 940XM Quad Core Processor, the fastest laptop processor in the world. You can also pack in a whallopping 8GB of dual-channel (yes, I said dual) memory and an available 256GB solid-state hard drive. The 15X comes with a beautiful HD screen, and with an available 1 GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX video card, you can make sure all your graphic-intense games look great on it. The 15X starts at $1350, but with available options can top out at well over $3000. For hard-core gamers, it’s a small price to pay for premium performance.

Dell laptops are available nationwide at retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. You can also customize your laptop online (their Studio line is available in 200+ designs) at dell.com. If you are truly looking for a great deal, check out their online outlet. You can get brand-new and refurbished laptops at a fraction of the cost, so if that costly system you’ve been eyeing has been alluding you, you’ll definitely want to check them out.

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Laptops On Sale: What To Look For

The first step to purchasing very cheap laptops is knowing what you want it to do. If you intend to perform any gaming, it is important that your prospective laptop have some form of NVidia or ATI graphics processor: An Intel GPU lacks 3D processing capability and is therefore only suitable for web browsing and other office work. For gaming purposes, accept nothing with less than 2 GBs of RAM. At the time of this writing, the Intel-family processors dominate the AMD equivalents in performance and cost, but AMD processors are generally somewhat cheaper.

If gaming is not a serious concern for you, go with the cheapest thing you can: Just about anything will run your word processor and browser. For an operating system, unless you are purchasing more than 3 GBs of RAM, try to stick with Windows XP: Support and compatibility are simply better at this point time. However, be aware that you will need a 64-bit operating system (Win7 64 is recommended) if you intend to exceed this amount of memory, as 32-bit operating systems such as XP are unable to effectively utilize more memory.

The next important point in buying laptops on sale is to know where to look. For this, we turn to the Google. Key in a helpful query like notebooks on sale, and peruse the hits returned. Competitive price offers begin at the $200 range, but these lower-end models will not be suitable if you intend to use your computer for portable gaming. Under no circumstances, however, should you seriously consider spending more than about $800, which should be more than adequate.

Finally, take a look at the addon options provided: Some sort of external USB mouse can be very useful as the trackpad is not suited for precision control. While not normally recommended for a desktop PC, the extended warranty of up to 3 years is worth considering: Laptop computers often have high failure rates due to battery failure, loss of external components such as the rubber feet, friction wear of the built-in mouse touchpad, and failure from overheating. As laptops are not particularly user-serviceable, you can’t count on being able to fix this yourself or have a technical friend fix it for you: When laptops fail, they pretty much have to be sent back, and that means you’ll want the warranty. Be sure to keep track of when your warranty will expire and send it back for one last servicing before it does, and get those lost rubber feet, the dead battery, damaged power jacks, and other wear-and-tear issues fixed up for the last time.

With all this in mind, an external hard drive is a worthwhile consideration, to back up all your data when you send it in. Expect to have to do this! Plan ahead, because within a year of the warranty expiring, you’ll be the proud owner of a doorstop, paperweight, or brick. Good thing you know how to get cheap new laptops, right?

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10 Most Popular Laptops On Sale

Are you looking for laptops on sale? Here’s a list of the ten most popular ones. Before you rush out and purchase laptops for sale, consider all your options. Also, check our coupon codes for notebooks on sale.

1 – HP Pavillion dv5t

The dv5t features an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, up to 4096MB DDR2 System Memory, NVIDIA GeForce Go graphics available and 15.4″ diagonal WXGA BrightView Widescreen. It only weighs 5.5lbs Starting price $1100.00. This is one of the best HP laptops on sale.

2 – Dell Studio 15

 Our Dell Studio 15 review : This screen is just 15.4″, it’s OS is Windows Vista® Home Premium, 2.00GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, with 3GB of memory. CD/DVD burner, 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 video card. As well as a 56 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell). Starting price $749.00. It’s one of the better cheap Dell laptops on the market today.

3 – Lenovo ThinkPad T61

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T9300 (2.5GHz 800MHz 6MBL2), genuine Windows Vista Home Premium, it’s screen is only 14.1″, Hard Drive 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm with Disk Encryption, 2 GB PC2-5300 Memory, 9 cell Li-Ion Battery. Starting price $1082.00

4 – Dell XPS M1530

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor ,Genuine Windows Vista ® Home Premium Edition,Size: 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive, 2GB memory, 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS, along with a 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery. Starting price $999.00

5 – Sony VAIO FW

It’s screen is 16.4″ makes it great to watch DVD’s and Blu Ray discs. Weighs only 6.4lbs, Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium . Capable to hold 400GB hard drive, 4GB RAM and a 2.80GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. A battery life of five and a half hours. Starting price $1059.00

6 – Toshiba Satillite A305/A300

AMD Turion™ X2 Dual-Core Mobile Processor RM-70, 4GB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz SDRAM, 320GB hard drive, a 15.4″ display screen. Starting price $899.00

7 – Lenovo ThinkPad T400

2.0MB Intel® Core™ 2 duo processor, Genuine Windows Vista ® Business Edition, The T400 has 14.1? display screen, up to 320GB of hard drive, and 8GB RAM, The unit weighs quite a bit less than most at 4.7lbs. Starting price $1130.00

8 – Dell XPS M1330

2.0MB Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor, Genuine Windows Vista ® Home Premium Edition, It comes with built-in camera Standard Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam, 2GB of memory,Size: 160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive, Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 video card. Starting price $949

9 - HP pavilion dv6700t

The HP Pavilion dv6700t Entertainment Notebook PC delivers a 15.4″ Brightview display, dazzling new high-gloss design, Intel’s Core Duo processors and the option to upgrade to an Nvidia GeForce 8400M GS graphics card with 256MB dedicated video memory. The weight is up there at 6.3lbs Starting price $899.00

10 – Dell Insprion 1525

1.0M/2.0GHz Intel® Celeron® 550, Genuine Windows Vista® SP1 Home Basic Edition, 15.4 diplay screen, 1GB memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 video card. Starting price $499

Update: This review was submitted by our reader Brandon A.

To date, I have purchased an HP G60-610CA Notebook, a Toshiba Satellite A660, and a Lenovo IdeaPad 12 Intel Atom N270 Laptop, and the Lenovo model was the cheapest of the three. Having said that, it also ran just as good as its peers (meaning the two other laptops I have purchased), and quite frankly, performed significantly better than I had ever expected. With an inexpensive price tag of only $350, I didn’t expect outstanding results or anything of the sort, but I was pleasantly surprised. I bought this laptop for basic internet browsing, instant messaging, and basic document work, and I found that the 1 GB of RAM and 160 HD more than met my needs. Is it the fastest and most powerful laptop on the market? No, absolutely not. Is it a very capable model that will certainly satisfy most, if not all, consumers? Yes, it will. The Lenovo IdeaPad 12 Intel Atom N270 Laptop is lightweight, compact, and durable, and quite frankly, a steal amidst other high priced competitors.

Reader Question: What is the best deal you’ve ever gotten on a laptop and what brand was it?

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