Just in time for the fall semester, we've gone and reviewed more than two dozen new back-to-school laptops. For this particular roundup, we stuck to relatively recent configurations that were available on the shelves of big consumer electronics stores (so, for example, you'll find the in-store version of Dell's 1525, rather than the configurable version available on Dell's Web site).
You can peruse the entire collection of 27 back-to-school reviews, but we've gone ahead and picked our favorites in four different price ranges.
For the Entry Level category, which is laptops from $600 to $700, most of these systems had older Intel Dual Core processors, and were pretty fairly matched in terms of performance. They are usable for Web surfing, writing papers, and e-mailing, as long as you keep your expectations modest. We liked the Sony VAIO NR430 for being at the top or close to it in our performance tests and in battery life--and it's got a pretty decent-looking design for such a cheap laptop, which put it over an essentially identically configured Dell 1525.
We call the $700-$800 range Budget--and in that category, we move up to standard Core 2 Duo processors, and maybe add some more RAM and hard-drive space. The Gateway T-6836 is our pick, because it had the 64-bit version of Vista and 4GB of RAM, which helped edge out the competition in performance--and it still had decent battery life.
Of the laptops in the $800-$999 price range, which we're calling Mainstream, the Dell Studio 1535 was our favorite. It features some of the design features of the high-end XPS laptops, but sells for prices that more closely resemble Dell's Inspiron models.
While every other Intel-based laptop in our mainstream group uses the Core 2 Duo T5750, the Dell Studio S1535 has a faster Core 2 Duo T8100 processor, which helped it come out on top in performance, along with a healthy three hours of battery life.
In the $1,000-to-$1,500 range, which is High-End (for students at least), you'll see bigger 17-inch models that are better for use as a dorm-room multimedia center than for lugging around from class to class. The Gateway P-7811FX is the best deal we've seen on a desktop replacement, even outside of our back-to-school roundup, thanks to a 19-inches wide by 12-inches tall display, decent Centrino 2 P8400 processor, and Nvidia's high-end GeForce 9800 graphics.
Naturally, you should only enjoy the extremely high gaming-frame rates after all your schoolwork is done.
Two final notes on our back-to-school roundup: First, we haven't forgotten Apple fans--the 13-inch MacBook is a popular choice on campus, and for good reason. But that system hasn't has an update in a while, so our previous review still stands. Second, even though I'm posting this wrap up, this project was a big team effort, with the 27 reviews written by myself, Michelle Thatcher, and Matt Elliott, and all systems bench-marked by Julie Rivera and Joseph Kaminski.
(Credit:
Rafe Needleman/CNET News)
This week's Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco kept us all busy this week, with plenty of new components and products that use them. We'll start off with the event host, Intel, which announced small-form-factor versions of its Centrino 2 processors (that should ignite plenty of rumors about a Centrino 2-based MacBook Air). Intel also broke out a SATA solid-state drive and announced a dual-core version of its Atom processor, due next month. The company also showed off an update to its tiny Classmate PC, which will include a touch screen.
There were plenty of other manufacturers' Netbooks and UMPCs on display at the show as well; check out our photo gallery for a peek at all the little guys. We also got wind of more details about Dell's upcoming Netbook. Given the sheer number of these devices that are being released these days, is it any surprise that Intel reportedly expects to ship 20 million Atom processors this year? (If you're feeling overwhelmed with Netbook choices, check out our article on building the perfect Netbook.)
In product announcements, Lenovo refreshed the ThinkPad X300 with Centrino 2 and called it the ThinkPad X301; HP broke out some ultraportable EliteBooks; and Dell started decorating the cases of its Studio 15 and 17 laptops. Also, we filled in the gaps on the mobile workstation front with news about two new Dell Precisions.
In Reviews, we had a look at Dell's latest business system, the Latitude E6400. We also all but closed out our roundup of back-to-school laptops, where the Dell Studio 1535 took top honors in the sub-$1,000 category and the Gateway P-7811FX was declared king of the desktop replacements. In fact, the Gateway's $1,449 price tag was so low that it prompted us to wonder whether there's even a place for high-end expensive gaming laptops any more.
Also worth reading: Eric Franklin takes a look at Hydra multi-GPU technology from LucidLogix; Acer dropped the price of its Aspire One Netbook; NotebookReview continued its How It Works series with an explanation of graphics hardware; and David Carnoy wonders why tech companies have to make their product names so incoherent.
Have a great weekend!
Nvidia, Dell, HP, step inside...
Hey, remember when Nvidia issued that business update saying it was expecting to lose money repairing or replacing flawed graphics cards, but then declined to state which cards were affected and which manufacturers bought them?
Well, this week, both Dell and HP finally came out with a list of laptops that included the defective cards. Check your laptops, people, or you too may be treated to "multiple images, random characters on the screen, lines on the screen, no video" or even a "notebook (that) does not start."
Moving on, analyst group Gartner says the $100 laptop is a pipe dream, but the $200-$500 laptop is going strong. This week saw Intel's Classmate PC primed for a third-generation release; the MSI Wind started shipping with a 6-cell battery (though that bumps the price to $550); and Asus reportedly prepared an Eee PC 701 powered by Intel Atom chips.
That last item is apparently part of Asus' plan to cook up a total of 23 varieties of Eee PC over the coming months (or years, the timeline isn't clear). It's enough to make me wonder if Asus will continue to manufacture any non-Eee PC computers in the next few years. Or will we soon be receiving a press release announcing that Asus is changing the company name to Eee?
Meanwhile, memory maker Buffalo gets our carpe diem award for recognizing the market opportunity in DIY solid-state drives for the Eee PC. First runner-up is Samsung, which finally recognized business users as a prime market for the UMPC and added a few enterprise features to its Q1 Ultra.
... Read more
Grab your board; another wave of netbooks is coming!
It was nice while it lasted. After a multi-week break from overwhelming netbook news, we were hit with a second tidal wave of tiny systems from Asus, Acer, and Sylvania. Feeling a little left out of the party, LG is supposedly mulling over a netbook of its own. Rumor has it that HP is contemplating a low-cost version of its 2133 Mini-Note. And Asus, not quite content with its many varieties of Eee PC, is reportedly working toward "whole-day" battery life on its netbooks.
The elderly among us may remember that before there were netbooks, there was the ultra-mobile PC. We got one of those this week, too, in the form of a prototype from Toshiba.
In Reviews, we continued through the queue of off-the-shelf laptops for the back-to-school season. Up this week: the 15.4-inch Compaq Presario CQ50 and Toshiba Satellite L305-S5875, plus the 14.1-inch HP Pavilion dv2945se. We've also declared our favorite back-to-school laptops for the $600-$700 and the $700-$800 price ranges.
Also worth reading: Panasonic refreshed two Toughbook laptops; an Intel exec confirmed a quad-core mobile processor for August; bloggers speculated about a possible "MacBook Touch" in the third quarter of this year; we compared three different configurations of the Dell Inspiron 1525; and the fine folks at NotebookReview continued their series of explanations, this time digging into how processors work.
Finally, if you plan to configure a new laptop anytime soon, make sure you're not buying RAM you can't use.
Have a great weekend!
Yeah, that's pizza. Trust me, it applies.
My new tagline for This Week in Laptops: The antidote to iPhone fever. Catchy, no?
While our colleagues toiled away on iPhone rumors, iPhone release stories, iPhone reviews, and iPhone software news, the CNET Laptop Reviews team continued to fill out our roundup of back-to-school laptops that will be on retailers' shelves this summer. The latest additions: a $649 Dell Inspiron 1525, the $799 HP Pavilion dv2915nr, and the $799 Gateway T-6836. Keep checking back for more reviews as the first day of classes draws near (already?!). Not wanting to leave gamers out in the cold, we also pulled together a list of the latest gaming laptops.
Unfortunately, laptop fans couldn't completely avoid Apple this week, as AppleInsider pointed to some photos of an alleged new MacBook Pro design. Also, CNET News.com's Daniel Terdiman offered his thoughts on the MacBook Air after carrying one--actually, two--with him on his summer road trip. And CNET blogger Dave Rosenberg became the poster child for the perils of cloud computing when his MacBook Air started acting funny, just as Google Docs was offline.
In little-laptop news, MSI announced on Tuesday that it was finally shipping the much-anticipated (and delayed) Wind. Apparently the news release wasn't sent to retailers, who all listed the Netbook as out of stock. (It did finally show up on NewEgg later in the week.) Meanwhile, the gang at CNET U.K. found the Advent 4211, which uses the same chassis as the Wind but costs less (in the U.K., that is). The Acer Aspire One went on sale at a handful of U.S. retailers. And the 10-inch ECS G10IL will be making it way to our shores this fall (let's hope the company comes up with a catchier name).
Also worth reading this week: HP is reportedly readying laptops based on the forthcoming Centrino 2 platform; Intel is reportedly readying a graphics chip based on Pentium cores; and the rumor mill kicked up more info on Sony's forthcoming Z series laptops.
And finally, we leave you with NotebookReview's motherboard explainer, which relies heavily on a pizza metaphor. Mmmm, pizza.
Have a great weekend!
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