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Asus W5 Notebook Computer Review

Monday, January 11th, 2010 | Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews | View Comments

You can buy it from Amazon here

The Asus W5 is not longer available but I recommend the Asus UL20A as an even-better replacement for the Asus W5.

This laptop was quite expensive at the time and is now well above the price of most 12.1 inch notebooks. The standard set of features hasn’t changed that much, but are now available at lower price levels.

Here are some the features:

• 12.1 inch screen
• 1280 x 768 resolution
• 4.2lbs

Check the Asus UL20A for a newer, slicker Asus alternative to the ASUS W5.

Tags: 12.1 inch, Asus, Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews, notebook computer reviews, portable, ultrathin

Asus UL20A-A1 12.1 Inch Notebook Review

Friday, January 8th, 2010 | Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews | View Comments

You can buy it from Amazon here

This popular “sub-notebook” us the best value for money offering of all the 12.1 inch screen ASUS notebooks. It offers less battery life than the more expensive models, but makes up for that in the slightly lower price.

The Asus UL20A hits that spot between a full notebook and the ever-popular netbooks. It costs the same as a high-end netbook, but offers a larger screen, and performance and specifications that are more typical on a notebook computer.

Here’s some of the features:

• 1.3GHz Intel SU7300 Core2 Duo CPU
• 2GB of memory
• 250GB SATA hard drive
• 12.1 inch WXGA LED LCD display
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
• Webcam and built-in microphone and speakers
• Windows 7 Home Premium

The weight of the Asus UL20A is a little high. Netbooks come in at less than 3lbs, whilst this model weights 5.4lbs. Not a major setback, but a little heavy for a computer of this size. UPDATE: this model comes in at 4.18lbs which is much more reasonable and pretty standard for this size. Not too much effort to lug it around. Will give you a bit of workout if you drag it around all day. The ultra-thin design is very appealing however, so despite the weight it still fits comfortably in a big bag of backpack.

The speed will not disappoint; with a processor that is pretty well specced. The memory is what helps the most and the system will be able to handle as many of the standard programs you care to throw at it: web browsing, instant messaging, typing documents and even doing graphics will all be fine. As with all notebooks, fast 3D games will not handle very well.

The not so technical features are worth noting too. The battery lasts for up to 8 hours, which is most of the day. There’s an accidental damage warranty which covers against some common things like spilling coffee on the keyboard and touts a 3 business day turnaround time for repairs.

Overall a decent amount of power in a very thin package.

Good:

• Very thin
• Long battery life
• Large hard drive
• Powerful

Not so good:

• A little heavy

Tags: 12.1 inch, Asus, Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews, notebook computer reviews, windows 7

Asus P4P8X Pentium 4 Motherboard Review

Thursday, January 7th, 2010 | Motherboard Reviews | View Comments

You can buy it from Amazon here

Here’s a golden oldie. Released over 4 years ago this board is still available for those who want to add a new motherboard to a Pentium 4 system.

Old computers can last for a very, very long time and often get disposed of long before their capabilities run out and the components give up the ghost. This board solves one particular problem with very old boards, and that is the lack of upgrade capabilities.

But before we look at those, here’s a list of features:

• Pentium 4 support
• Two port SATA RAID
• 3 x PCI expansion card slots
• 1 x PCIe x16
• 8 x USB
• Onboard audio
• LAN port

I can honestly admit that I still run a Pentium 4 processor on my primary (and only) computer. It has been in service for 7 years. And still going strong.

I upgraded primarily to take advantage of SATA RAID. After my hard drive crashed and I lost all my data I realized that I needed some sort of RAID solution for safety’s sake. The upgraded motherboard had this as a built-in feature.

For an older P4 system this motherboard will allow the addition of a RAID setup and upgrade to a decent graphics card. The built-in features like audio and LAN can be some nice added extras too.

The pricing is not too low, but this product has been through the paces and come out a winner. With years of proven performance behind it, it’s guaranteed to work well.

Tags: Asus, motherboard, p4p8x, pentium 4, raid, sata

Dell Inspiron 545 Desktop PC with 22-Inch Monitor Review

Monday, January 4th, 2010 | Desktop Computer Reviews, Uncategorized | View Comments

You can buy it from Amazon here

A powerful desktop computer with a big hard drive and large monitor thrown in for good measure.

For a full desktop computer this system from Dell doesn’t look too bad. There have been complaints about the pricing of Dell desktop computers being a little high compared to the offerings from the other big boys in the home computer market. But his model fights back with a whole lot for under $700.

Here’s a bunch of numbers:

• 2.6GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core E5300 CPU
• 6GB memory
• 640GB hard drive
• DVD writer
• 6 USB ports
• 22-inch monitor, 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Windows 7

Lets just start off by saying that this is not the fastest or newest processor out there, however it is more than enough for most intensive programs. Graphics programs will have no problem, although heavy games that need powerful graphics cards will have a hard time.

One interesting thing is a review on CNET that pointed to this computer being low on the value scale and not matching up to its near competition.

With the price lower than their review and the 22-inch model thrown in for good measure it at least measures up to similar models in terms of pricing and has a more reasonable amount of memory at 6GB. The speed increase from 4GB upwards is not worth the money most of the time.

Hidden behind the shiny black front cover is a DVD writer and a media unit for plugging in the myriad of memory cards gathered from various home electronics.

One of the biggest upsides to the whole deal is the great monitor. Quite often 22-inch monitors still don’t support 1920 x 1080, which I think should be the absolute minimum specification for this sort of machine. So it’s not just a cheap add-in to pick up sales of the main machine, it really is a worthwhile addition to the set.

Note that the system does include mouse and keyboard, although not pictured above.

Like

• Big, high-resolution monitor
• Ample memory
• Big hard drive
• Decent speed

Not so much

• No Wifi (included on some rival machines)

Tags: cheap desktop computer, desktop computer, Desktop Computer Reviews

Dell Inspiron Mini 10.1-Inch Obsidian Netbook Computer Review

Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews, Uncategorized | View Comments

You can buy it from Amazon here

A nice little little netbook with a decent price, but with a slower-than-average processor.

Netbooks are not known for their great speed. The vast majority of netbooks use a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, whilst this one uses a slower 1.33GHz version.  Not a massive game changer, but does make something that is already pretty slow, even slower.

Rather than droning on about the speed of the processor, here is a breakdown of the major features.

• 10.1″ screen
• 1024 x 600 maximum resolution
• 1GB of memory
• 160 GB hard drive
• Windows XP
• Built-in microphone, speakers and webcam
• LAN port
• 3 x USB ports
• WiFi

So there is pretty much the standard spread of features.

Overall, people’s experience with this little computer are pretty good. But there have been a few hassles, which should be noted to avoid any hassles.

There is no Windows CD included, so you cannot uninstall it then reinstall it. Not everyone needs to do this, but if you do you’ll have to get hold of a recovery disk somehow. Note that one user reports Windows 7 not working if you are planning on trying it.

The HDMI port is for video only and does not support any audio. Typical HDMI supports audio, but most computer video outputs only output video, so you’ll have to wire the audio from the microphone output.

The other bits and pieces work as expected. Wifi works in locations with good signal, and the system offers the standard 802.11b/g which is fast enough for anything that involves using the web.

All the features needed for  video conferencing are there. The webcam to handle the video and the built-in microphone and speakers to handle the audio aspects.

The battery life of 8 hours is average. There are more expensive “ultra-low voltage” laptops that can go for 10 hours and a lot of other netbooks that can also go for 10 hours. Eight is not the most, but not bad either.

The good:

• Decent battery life
• Nice price
• Complete set of features

The not so good:

• No Windows CD
• No audio on HDMI

Tags: Laptop and Notebook Computer Reviews, netbook computer reviews, notebook computer reviews