Toshiba AT300: First Take

Summary: Toshiba's 10.1-inch Android tablet gets a design refresh and updated specs, including a quad-core processor. It still has a few issues, but the price is attractive.

By Sandra Vogel for ZDNet UK First Take | August 14, 2012 -- 09:33 GMT (17:33 SGT)

It was only a few months ago that I reviewed the Toshiba AT300's predecessor, the AT200. Still, this new tablet has a revised design and updated specifications. There are three AT300 models: two are Wi-Fi-only with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage costing £274 and £315 (ex. VAT) respectively, while the third is a 16GB Wi-Fi/3G model priced at £329 (ex. VAT).
Toshiba has equipped the AT300 with plenty of punch and a neat physical design, while maintaining reasonably affordable prices. This  thin and light 10.1in. Android tablet measures 260.6mm wide by 178.9 deep by 8.95mm thick and weighs 590g. It doesn't have the most solid feel in the hand, but the stippled silver backplate is nice and grippy. I do prefer the look of the previous model, which is also a bit thinner and lighter, although the AT300 is certainly no monster.

Toshiba's 10.1in. Android 4.0 AT300 starts at £274 (ex. VAT) for a Wi-Fi-only model with 16GB of internal storage.

Toshiba's insistence on a proprietary power connection will irritate anyone who uses their tablet a lot and needs regular access to mains power, as it means carrying another AC adapter. The device's Micro-USB port can be used for data exchange and USB host, but not for powering the battery.
The LED backlit 1,280-by-800-pixel screen is protected by tough Gorilla Glass, but does seem to lack the top-end brightness I've seen from the very best. There's also a slight problem with sound: there are two speakers, and they deliver a fair volume, but audio quality is tinny and doesn't really improve with headphones, either.
Toshiba scores well on connectivity, with Micro-HDMI on board as well as a full-sized SD card slot. I rather like this: microSD cards can be accommodated via a caddy, but the larger slot makes it easy to get images from a camera on to the AT300. If you'd rather use the tablet's main rear-mounted camera for image capture, its 5 megapixel capability isn't that great, but it does have a small LED flash. There's a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video communication too.
The AT200 shipped with Android 3.2, which is upgraded to Android 4.0 on the AT300. Toshiba adds a fair few apps to the standard bundle, including ThinkFree Office, Evernote, a file manager, Splashtop for remote access to another device and the McAfee Mobile Security suite.
The tablet is powered by a quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with 1GB of RAM, and is admirably responsive when running applications and games.
The Toshiba AT300's build quality and camera could be better, and I really don't like the proprietary power cable. On the other hand, the quad-core processor is capable, connectivity and expansion facilities are good, and the price is attractive.

Source : www.zdnet.com

LG Optimus L7 review

LG Optimus L7

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Full Review

The LG Optimus L7 is the flagship smartphone from the Korean giant’s L-Style range, offering Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich action for the mid-level masses

LG Optimus L7 review

Love

• Slick design
• Decent camera
• Latest Android version

Hate

• Poor performance
• Terrible battery life
• Low storage

First announced back in March at Mobile World Congress (MWC) as the standout device from LG’s new L-Style of “lifestyle” handsets (which also includes the LG Optimus L3), the LG Optimus L7 won’t be heading to the Android top-table to do battle with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X.
Instead it will go head-to-head with the HTC One V, the Sony Xperia U and a plethora of other handsets on the lower-mid level shop shelves.

LG Optimus L7: Build

At first glance, our attention was aroused by the slick aesthetics of the L7 (our review sample was the fetching white version) but, on closer inspection, it’s easy to draw comparisons between it and the Samsung Galaxy S2. Pretty it may be, original it isn’t.

And, the sad thing for LG is that the build quality isn’t quite on a par with its Korean rival - although that’s not to say that the L7 isn’t a stylish device. If it has anything, it’s style, but it’s more High Street than catwalk.

Decked in a plastic chassis with a metallic edging, the LG Optimus L7 feels solid enough in hand but the removable back panel (which also contains the NFC antenna) pops off with ease and is anything but sturdy.

The presence of a physical button, despite this being an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) device, helps to reinforce the Samsung comparisons as well.
We also weren’t too keen on the two capacitive buttons that are invisible until touched. Sure, there’s not too far your fingers can stray either side of the home button but it’s surprising how often you’ll forget which side hosts which soft-touch button.

Weighing 123g and measuring 127.5 x 69 x 8.7mm, the L7 does manage to cram in the 4.3-inch screen without making the handset too bulky.

LG Optimus L7: Features

The LG Optimus L7 trumps the Sony Xperia S and matches the HTC One V by running Android 4.0, albeit with a custom UI thrown over the top. However, LG’s UI is fairly minimalist and doesn’t really take away from the Ice Cream Sandwich experience. There are a couple of notable native omissions such as face-unlock and widget resizing but that’s no great shakes.

Although, speaking of widgets, there are a distinct lack of options to place on the five homescreens that the custom skin provides. There are some nice touches in LG’s Android interface though; we love the unlock screen that lets you peer, portal style, onto the homescreen and the way the icons bounce between homescreen swipes is fun.

The 5-megapixel camera is another plus point, with LG providing a wide range of shooting options and settings (including a fantastic point to focus mode) and the sensor producing clear, bright images. But video recording isn’t great – just 640 x 480 VGA footage.

On board storage for your digital lifestyle is a paltry 4GB although you do have the option of expanding this with microSD.

NFC features aren’t anything to get too excited about at this point. You won’t be throwing away your credit cards and cash just yet – the only NFC action out of the box is an automated settings tweak using a supplied tag. Stick the tag on your desk at work, for example, and you can quickly switch off Wi-Fi, put the L7 on silent mode, and so on.

LG Optimus L7: Screen

The display on board the L7 is a spacious 4.3-inch IPS LCD one, with a resolution of 800 x 480. It’s okay for watching standard definition video, browsing the web, tweeting, email and so on, but throw anything HD at it and you notice its shortcomings. It’s also terrible under bright sunlight.

4.3-inch seems to be the flavour of month with Android handsets at the moment and, in our experience, is the perfect size for viewing HD video content.

LG Optimus L7: Performance

Not that your L7’s innards would appreciate you trying to play HD content on it. Anything 720p and above is a no-no, as are games with anything more than basic graphics. Music playback is good, however, with strong sound from both the internal speaker and out of the 3.5mm jack.

All of the action is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 1GHz CPU, which, to be honest, is massively underwhelming in a smartphone world that’s being dominated by dual and quad-core chipsets.

512MB of RAM is hardly mind-blowing either and it’s this low-key power setup that results in frequent performance issues. App loading and switching is often slow and laggy, and the L7 is also prone to the occasional freeze or crash.

LG Optimus L7: Battery

 

Again, not brilliant. Our stress test – streaming HD video from YouTube on a loop – resulted in a lifespan of 183 minutes, at least 100 minutes short of what the likes of the Sony Xperia S and the HTC One V managed.

And, even with brightness turned down and some power saving features enabled, you’ll still need to charge the LG Optimus L7 before the day is done.

LG Optimus L7: Verdict

The LG Optimus L7 may have style, but it doesn’t have a lot of substance. Call clarity is great and it’s fine for basic tasks. But, try to push it even a slightly bit further and you’ll come unstuck.

We know that this isn’t the handset that LG intends to signal its big return to the Android arena with (that’s the task of the LG Optimus 4X HD) but it’s one that it will want to make an impression on the mid-level masses. Sadly, the LG Optimus L7 fails to compete with what’s already available from HTC, Samsung and Sony.


Source : www.t3.com

Microsoft reveals Windows RT OEMs, device specs, battery life

Microsoft reveals Windows RT OEMs, device specs, battery life

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After an ominously protracted silence, Microsoft has finally revealed more details about the Windows RT (Windows 8 on ARM) development cycle, which OEMs are on board, and what kind of size/weight/battery life we can expect.
Until today, the only confirmed Windows RT devices were the Asus Tablet 600 and Microsoft’s own-brand Surface RT. Microsoft has now confirmed that Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung are also building Windows RT devices, with the obvious omissions being HP, Toshiba, and Acer. HP and Acer had already signaled their distaste for Microsoft’s move into the hardware business, and we can only assume that Toshiba has now joined their disgruntled ranks.
Though we don’t have any model names or launch dates, we do have are some basic, generalized specifications for Windows RT devices — and yes, according to Microsoft, there will be Windows RT clamshell laptops, as well as tablets and detachable-keyboard transformers. All devices will have a diagonal screen size between 10.1 and 11.6 inches, weigh between 520g and 1200g, and be between 8.35mm and 15mm thick. On the low end, 520g and 8.35mm would be considerably thinner and lighter than the iPad 2/3 and Galaxy Tab 10.1. Presumably the 1200g/15mm form factor is a laptop.
On the battery life side of things, the incoming Windows RT devices have battery capacities ranging from 25 to 42 watt-hours. These will provide between 8 and 13 hours of HD video playback, and between 320 and 409 hours of connected standby. Connected standby is a new low-power state that allows Windows 8 devices to occasionally connect to the internet and download the latest email/tweets/FB status updates, without significantly hitting battery life. These battery-life figures are in-line with the iPad, which is a good sign.
Microsoft hasn’t only been working with OEMs, though — it seems like significant time has been spent with its low-level silicon partners, too. Intel and AMD, of course, will produce chips that work perfectly with Windows 8 — and Microsoft is now saying that it has successfully produced a single Windows RT binary for Qualcomm, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments ARM SoCs. Surprisingly there’s no mention of Samsung’s Exynos SoCs, despite Samsung being a Windows RT OEM. With certified hardware, and thanks to extensive graphics subsystem overhauls, Microsoft says that the Windows RT UI animations will be locked at 60 fps — smooth.
Beyond that, the only hardware info we have is regarding the touchscreen controller: Apparently, instead of a normal multi-chip solution, Microsoft worked with its silicon partners to develop a single-chip design, reducing its size and power/heat footprint. This single-chip solution can track each of your fingers with a sampling rate of 100Hz (which Microsoft says is “industry-leading.”) Microsoft also worked with laptop touchpad vendors to provide firmware-level support for Windows 8′s gestures, again improving responsiveness and power consumption.
There’s still absolutely no info regarding the price of Windows RT devices, but with screen sizes confirmed at 10.1 to 11.6 inches we can safely rule out any $200 Nexus 7 competitors — unless Microsoft loss-leads with the Surface RT, which would be rather exciting. For the most part, we are probably looking at Windows RT tablets that are around the iPad’s $400 price point — but even that might prove difficult for OEMs, given Apple’s supply chain dominance. It’s also worth pointing out that Microsoft hasn’t confirmed that third-party Windows RT tablets will launch on the same day as Windows 8 and the Surface RT (October 26).

Source :  www.extremetech.com

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)

Product categories come and go, grow and wither, revolutionize the world and then slowly fade into a state of cold, quiet, everlasting obsolescence. It happens all the time, sometimes over the course of just a year or two (see: netbooks) and, while companies have made billions by establishing truly new categories, rarely has anybody rocked the world by splitting the difference between two very closely aligned ones.
That's exactly what Apple is trying to do here. The company's MacBook Pro line is one of the most respected in the industry for those who need an ostensibly professional laptop. Meanwhile, the MacBook Air is among the best (if not conclusively the best) thin-and-light laptops on the market. Now, a new player enters the fray: the MacBook Pro with Retina display. It cleanly slides in between these two top-shelf products, while trying to be simultaneously serious and fast, yet slim and light. Is this, then, a laptop that's all things to all people, the "best Mac ever" as it was called repeatedly in the keynote? Or, is it more of a compromised, misguided attempt at demanding too much from one product? Let's find out.

Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display review (mid 2012)

Hardware

When physically placed between the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch Pro, it's clear that this new guy (who, for now, is simply called "MacBook Pro with Retina display") leans far toward the latter when it comes to design. With both closed, at a quick glance you would almost not notice there's anything different between this new Pro and the also-new-but-yet-old one. Still, it doesn't take long to spot the thinness -- or the lack of the slot-loading optical drive on the right.

That thickness measures in at 0.71 inches (1.8cm) while the width is 14.13 inches (35.89cm) and the depth is 9.73 inches (24.71cm). Those figures compare quite favorably to the old 15-incher (at 0.95 inches thick) and it's very nearly as thin as the Air, which is 0.68 inches at its thickest. Weight? A healthy 4.46 pounds (2.02kg). That's just over a pound less than the full-sized MacBook Pro and about 1.5 pounds more than the 13-inch Air.

The new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro.

That may sound like an even split between the two sister models, but in reality the new Pro feels considerably heavier than the Air and not that much lighter than the old Pro. That said, much of this depends on where you're coming from. If you're an Air user, carrying this around is going to feel burdensome. However, if your regular daily driver is a current 15-inch Pro (or, heaven forbid, a 17-incher), the new Pro could feel like a refreshing reduction in curb weight. And, with even more resolution and performance than the outgoing 17 inch model, we think this new model makes for a more than compelling alternative.
In exchange for your pack getting a little lighter, you're not being asked to give up all that much. Yes, the optical drive is the most obvious omission, the only physical media you'll be supporting here is the SD slot located conveniently on the right. The lack of ROM support helps this new model be as thin as it is -- and provides room for the extra batteries needed to keep that Retina display brightly and brilliantly backlit.

Also gone is the Ethernet port, replaced by a Thunderbolt adapter that is not included with the laptop. (It'll cost you $29.99.) Likewise, the FireWire 800 port has been removed, replaced by a separate Thunderbolt adapter. Leaving all those things behind will be difficult, but stay strong, road warrior, because the new Pro is there to help, supporting your love of modern standards with two USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt ports. (Interestingly, Apple chose not to make the USB ports blue, as they're both 3.0 and, therefore, there was no need to differentiate.) Inside is an 802.11n radio providing some of the fastest wireless connectivity available, but there's no option for 3G/LTE broadband. Those who want to roam past the confines of a hotspot will have to bring their own modems.
There's the now-standard single headphone jack on the left side and the soon-to-be-standard MagSafe 2 connector. This new connector is a few millimeters shorter than the old one and a few millimeters wider. Apple says this is needed because of the laptop's thinner profile and, indeed, the new Airs also make the change to MagSafe 2. But, since the old Airs got by just fine with the slightly chubbier connector, and since there's still plenty of room for the relatively massive USB ports, we're just not seeing the need for a redesign right now.

Where the last design will grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them.

Whatever the reason, all those scratched-up, white, plastic power bricks you've accumulated over the years won't work here -- at least, not without a $10 adapter. That's a bummer, but there is some good news: the new MagSafe is no longer the same size as a USB port. Where the last design would grab and hold the end of whatever USB cable you pointed its way, the new MagSafe wants nothing to do with them. That, at least, is some true progress.
Settled between all these ports and interconnects is the keyboard, which hasn't really changed from the current Pro. That's a good thing. Apple has shown itself extremely proficient in crafting fine, island-style keyboards on its portable machines, and neither that layout nor feel has changed with the new Pro. Well-weighted and nicely spaced keys make for a great typing experience -- even in the dark, thanks to the backlighting.

On either side of the keyboard are the speakers, said to be louder and more effective than those in the previous Pro. We didn't notice a huge change here, but they're certainly more than capable of turning your hotel room into an impromptu dance party -- albeit one without too much bass. Beneath it all lies the glass trackpad, which feels just like it always has: really good. MacBooks have the best touch experience in the business, hands down, and this latest one is no different.

Display

Sure, it's a quarter thinner and lighter than before, but the real story with this new laptop has nothing to do with external dimensions and everything to do with internal density. Pixel density, to be specific, a figure measured at 220 ppi. That's far lower than the 326 ppi the iPhone 4 delivered when it introduced the world to Retina and, indeed, the 264 ppi rating on the new iPad.

The new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

But, held at the appropriate distance, this new panel is said to meet the mystical requirement to be labeled "Retina" and, while that threshold for pixel-invisibility seems to be slinking lower, we're not here to be cynics. We just know one thing: the new display is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Text is incredibly sharp and clear, 1080p video is amazing and images, of course, look great -- when they're of a high enough resolution to do this 2880 x 1800 panel justice.
Curiously, you can't actually select that resolution in the OS any longer. Where on other Macs you can explicitly select what display resolution you'd like to use (optionally going lower than the native resolution of the panel), here we have a slider with five positions ranging from "larger text" to "more space." In the middle sits "best" which presents apps, icons and text in roughly the same size as you'd find them on a non-Retina display -- rendered in a higher resolution. It's perhaps more friendly for novice users, but remember: this is a laptop with the word "Pro" in the name.

Let's not ignore the fact that this new display has much more to offer than just additional pixels. Viewing angles are expanded compared to Apple's other high-end displays, so the annoying drop in contrast that happens from odd vantage points is all but abolished. Contrast, too, is boosted and, interestingly, glare reduced. Yes, this is still a glossy display and no, there still isn't an option for matte glass. But, Apple promises a reduction in glare here from previous Pros.
Indeed, this laptop does have less glare than the thicker Pros, but it's no better than the current Air, which already takes advantage of the new, reflection-reducing construction. You might, then, want to turn off that lamp behind you.

Performance and battery life

We tested both the base 2.3GHz and higher-spec 2.6GHz quad-core Ivy Bridge CPUs that are on offer (there's an even faster 2.7GHz build-to-order model for another $250), and neither disappointed. In fact, you'd have to be a seriously jaded desktop user to want more oomph from your on-the-go machine. The new MacBook Pro handled absolutely everything we could throw at it and did so with aplomb. General productivity tools fly and more... intensive things run impressively well.

The SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and read speeds topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast.

We ran all the major benchmarks and saw some big, big numbers. For the 2.6GHz model, Geekbench gave us an average of 11,591 -- that crushes the 9,647 we scored with the last MacBook Pro, which is itself far from sluggish. The new 2.3GHz model wasn't far behind with a score of 11,082. Xbench was similarly close: 486 for the higher-spec'd model, and 457 for the lower. Finally, the SSD delivered write speeds hovering around 390MB/s and reads topping out at 440MB/s. That's properly fast.

	MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.6GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro with Retina display (mid 2012, 2.3GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro (early 2011, 2.2GHz Core i7)	MacBook Pro (early 2010, 2.66GHz Core i7)
Geekbench	11,591	11,082	9,647	5,395
Xbench	486	457	340	228
Battery Life	7:49	9:22	7:27	5:18

Paired with those quad-core chips is 8GB of 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M Kepler unit with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Also on tap is integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics, the hotter of the two GPUs toggle on when the situation demands. To create such a scenario, we installed one of the hottest games of the moment, Diablo III, and cranked it up to full resolution and full graphical details. We did, however, make one exception: anti-aliasing. When you're running at 2880 x 1800, there's no real need.
We were quite happily surprised to see the frame rate hovering between 25 and 30 fps as we explored a few towns and crawled a few dungeons -- perfectly playable at an obscene resolution. Turning it down to something a little more reasonable, 2048 x 1280, netted 40 to 45 fps and running at a relatively mundane 1280 x 800 delivered frame rates over 70. This, then, is a quite passable gaming machine.

Still, it only took a few minutes of hacking and slashing to get the bottom of this unit warm, and then noticeably hot. That, of course, caused the redesigned fan system to pop on, which draws in air from a pair of vents on the left and right sides of the bottom of the chassis and blows it out through the hinge. It's been optimized to create a less obnoxious sort of whirring noise. Indeed it's a subtle and unobtrusive white kind of sound, but it's definitely not silent. In fact, the fan doesn't sound particularly different than that on the current MacBook Air, though a few decibels less obtrusive. Still, you'll always know when your system is really cranking.

Despite all that performance, we were still impressed by the battery life. In our standard rundown test, which involves looping a video with WiFi on and the display set at a fixed brightness, we netted an impressive seven hours and 49 minutes on the 2.6GHz model. The 2.3GHz model lasted an average of nine hours and 22 minutes -- a runtime so long we at first thought it was a fluke. After repeated runs, though, we kept turning up similar results.

Software

Right now, the new MacBook Pro is running Lion, but buy yours now, and you'll find a free upgrade to Mountain Lion in your inbox. We already know quite a bit about Mountain Lion, which is, as of this writing, about a month away from launch. But what we didn't know was the high-resolution support needed for these Retina displays. As of now, that support is sadly far from pervasive.

Right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible.

The primary Apple apps -- Safari, Mail, the address book, etc. -- have all been tweaked to make use of all these wonderful pixels. Sadly, little else has. While we got assurances that third-party apps like Adobe Photoshop and AutoCAD are in the process of being refined, right now, seemingly every third-party app on the Mac looks terrible.
Yes, terrible. Unlike a PC, where getting a higher-res display just means tinier buttons to click on, here OS X is actively scaling things up so that they maintain their size. This means that non-optimized apps, which would otherwise be displayed as tiny things, instead are displayed in their normal physical dimensions with blurry, muddy edges. You do have some control over this scaling, with five separate grades to choose from, but none will make these classic apps look truly good. At least, not until their developers release the updates they're no doubt frantically working on at this very moment.
Take Google Chrome, for example. You might forgive the buttons and UI elements for being ugly, but even the text rendered on webpages is blurry and distorted. It's bad enough that you won't want to use Google's browser until it's updated, which will surely leave some cynics wondering if indeed this isn't a ploy to get folks to spend a little more quality time with Safari. Good thing Safari's about ready for its own update.

Configuration options

The Retina display MBP starts at a lofty $2,199. For the money, you'll get a 2.3GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB solid-state drive, seven-hour battery and dual graphics -- Intel's integrated HD 4000 and NVIDIA's Kepler-based GeForce GT650M, paired with 1GB of video memory. Of course, the three-year Apple Care Warranty is sold separately, for $349.
If money is no object, you can select the highest-tier model for $2,799. Though this has the same battery, graphics and 8GB of RAM, it steps up to a 2.6GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, and doubles the storage capacity to 512GB. Not impressed? You can upgrade further to a 2.7GHz CPU for $250 or select 16GB of RAM, to the tune of $200. You can also max out with a 768GB SSD, provided you're willing to part with an additional $500. For those keeping track at home, that brings the outside cost to $4,098, the extended warranty included.
Disappointingly, you can't add the higher-capacity SSD to the lower-spec CPU. And, since the storage is proprietary, swapping in your own will not be a particularly easy task. If you want more than 256GB of storage, you'll just have to step up to the 2.6GHz model.

The competition

You say you're looking for a laptop with a 15-inch screen, top-notch build quality and a pinch-thin frame? Fortunately for those of you who feel paralyzed by choice, that criteria whittles down your options to two notebooks, tops. The only other contender we can think of is the 15-inch Samsung Series 9, which starts at a more palatable $1,500. At 3.5 pounds and 0.58 inches deep, it's barely thicker than the 13-inch version, which is saying a lot, since that's one of the thinnest Ultrabooks in its own right.
The 15-inch Series 9 is far skinnier and lighter than the MacBook Pro, then, but it matches the MBP in build quality, thanks to a rock-solid unibody aluminum chassis and some funky aquamarine keyboard backlights. Ultimately, too, both deserve to be handled with kid gloves: whichever machine you choose, you'll find the smooth metal finish is quite vulnerable to scratches and greasy fingerprint smudges.

It's with the display that the MacBook Pro starts to justify its higher starting price. On its own, the Series 9's matte, 400-nit 1600 x 900 panel is still worlds better than what you'll find on most laptops. Certainly, it's a triumph for Ultrabooks, which tend to get saddled with subpar displays, even on higher-end machines. Still, the Series 9's SuperBright Plus screen can't compete with the MBP's tightly woven pixels and wide, wide viewing angles. On the inside, too, the new MacBook Pro offers potentially better specs, with options for twice the RAM and a more spacious 768GB solid-state drive. It's also offered with multiple Core i7 processor options, whereas the Series 9 is only available with Core i5, and with integrated graphics only.
These unflattering comparisons aside, the 15-inch Series 9 is still one of our favorite Windows machines -- heck, one of our favorite laptops, even. It remains a sterling choice for Windows fans, or anyone who's willing to spend $1,500 on a notebook, but not $2,200-plus. The two are also well matched when it comes to battery life: the difference in runtime is only about 20 minutes. Even so, if the Retina display MBP is aimed at people who demand the very best, it sweeps at least two key categories: specs and display quality.
If it's discrete graphics you're really after, we also recommend checking out the HP Envy 15, which starts at $1,350 (not counting promotions) and can be configured with Ivy Bridge Core i5 and i7 CPUs, a 1GB Radeon HD 7750 GPU, up to 16GB of RAM and either an SSD or spinning hard drive (storage options max out at 300GB and 1TB, respectively). Here, too, you'll find a better display than most laptops have to offer, though the IPS-quality Radiance panel has noted color calibration issues, and the 1080p resolution is still no match for the Retina display.

Wrap-up

Is this the best Mac ever? You can't ignore the Air as an amazing piece of machinery, especially with the new, higher-powered Ivy Bridge processors and faster SSDs tucked inside its wedge profile. But, this new Pro is on another level of performance. With a quad-core processor and up to 16GB of RAM it's a proper beast -- a proper beast that you can throw in your messenger bag and carry around all day without spending all night complaining about an aching back.
That said, this is not exactly a small machine, heavy enough that those happy Air users who've been feeling tempted might want to take a swing by their closest Apple Store and lift one themselves. It's expensive, too. If you want a machine with enough storage to keep up with all that processing and gaming power you'll be looking at a price of $2,800 -- and that assumes you can resist all the upgrades.
So, then, is this a laptop that's creating its own new product category? Not exactly. This is a laptop that stands poised to kill an existing one, one that Apple has dominated. The new Pro is good enough to make the old Pro (even the updated version) look and feel obsolete. It pushes and redefines the category, raising the bar higher than even its brethren can jump. If you can afford the premium and aren't set on a 13-inch model there's no reason to buy any Pro other than this Pro.

Source : www.engadget.com

Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy

In 2008, when the Eee PC was revolutionizing the computing world and driving every manufacturer to make cheaper and smaller laptops, Sony washed its hands of the whole thing. The "race to the bottom," the company said, would profoundly impact the industry, killing profit margins and flooding the market with cheap, terrible machines. Sony was wrong, its stance lasting about a year before joining the competition with its own VAIO W.
Four years on we're buying better laptops than ever before and, with the netbook class now more or less dead, that downward competition seems to have shifted to the tablet front. A flood of cheap, truly awful slates preceded Amazon's Kindle Fire, the $200 tablet from a major brand that looks to have been the proper catalyst in plunging prices. The latest challenger to enter the competition is ASUS, partnering with Google to create the first Nexus tablet, a device that not only will amaze with its MSRP, but with its quality. It's called the Nexus 7, it too is $200, and it's better than Amazon's offering in every way but one.

Nexus 7 review

Hardware

Though that low cost is the big talking point about this tablet, you'd certainly never know it just by holding the thing. Okay, so there's more polycarbonate than panache here, but the design of the Nexus 7 feels reasonably high-end, starting with that rubberized back. Yes, it is rubber, but it's very nicely textured, nice enough to fool one tech journalist into thinking it was leather.

Though the cost is the big talking point about this tablet, you'd certainly never know it just by holding the thing.

No cow shed its skin to cover the back of this tablet, of that we can assure you, but the dimpled pattern here is not unlike the sort you might find on leather-wrapped racecar steering wheels. While there's no MOMO logo to be found, the feel is much the same and, we presume, rather more durable. There are two other logos to be found, though, starting with the Nexus branding embossed in big letters on the top, with a much smaller ASUS graphic on the bottom. That's it, though: understated and sophisticated. Just how we like it. (Even the FCC logo and other noise are on a piece of plastic you can easily peel off.) There's also no camera lens poking out here, as the 1.2-megapixel shooter up front is all you get.

Nexus 7 vs. Galaxy Tab 7.7 vs. Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

Move further down toward the bottom of the back and you'll find the device's single speaker. It's a slit that runs roughly two-thirds of the way across the back, centered and sitting about a half-inch above the bottom -- which is, by the way, where you'll find the tablet's only ports. Centered down there is a micro-USB connector and, to the far right side when looking at the display, the 3.5mm headphone jack. That's it. Thankfully, ASUS's proprietary connector found on the Transformer tablets doesn't make an appearance here, but neither do we get a dedicated HDMI output, which is a bit of a bummer. (You can, of course, use an MHL adapter if you like.)

On the left edge of the device, similar dock contacts to those found on the Galaxy Nexus can be found, presumably waiting to be tickled by some future accessory, while up top you'll find ... nothing. Just the silvery ring that runs around the full device. It looks like brushed metal, but feels more like plastic. Even so, the tablet has a very sturdy, strong feel to it -- but that's partly thanks to it being just a little bit chunky.
It measures 10.45mm (0.41 inches) thick, which is just half a millimeter thinner than the Kindle Fire -- itself no slender belle. But, crucially, it weighs much less: 340g (12 ounces) versus 413g (14.6 ounces) for the Fire. That's a very noticeable difference and it makes the Nexus 7 much nicer to carry around. Its curved edges, too, make it far more comfortable.
On the inside is an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor running at 1.2GHz (though it can step up to 1.3GHz when it wants to) and paired with 1GB of RAM with either eight or 16 gigs of flash storage (doubling the capacity will cost you a $50 premium). As there's no microSD expansion here, you'll probably want to pay the extra cash. WiFi (802.11b/g/n) is your only option for data connectivity, though there's naturally Bluetooth and NFC, not to mention GPS, an accelerometer, a digital compass and a gyroscope, too.

Display and sound

Budget tablets typically make the biggest sacrifices on the display front, and certainly the 1,024 x 600 resolution on the Kindle Fire feels a bit constricting at this point. Not so with the Nexus 7, which is fronted by a very nice 1,280 x 800 IPS panel rated at 400 nits of brightness. While more pixels is always better -- the new iPad and its Retina display having made us yearn for ridiculously high resolutions in all our devices -- WXGA feels perfectly adequate here. Text is rendered very well and 720p videos look great.
Much of that, though, is thanks to the other, less quantifiable aspects of the screen. Viewing angles are top-notch, with contrast staying strong regardless of which side you're coming from. And, it's plenty bright, too, a properly nice screen that, like everything else here, is just a little nicer than you'd expect given the cost.
Audio, however, isn't exactly fighting above its class. The speakers integrated in the back and peeking out through a slender slit toward the bottom deliver a decent amount of sound that isn't too unpleasant to listen to. It passes the "loud enough to fill a hotel room" test but the quality at those levels will leave you reaching for your earbuds.

Performance and battery life

When Jen-Hsun Huang teased Tegra 3-powered tablets would drop under $200 this summer he obviously knew what was coming, but what we didn't know was just how far back those tablets would have to be scaled to make that price point. If you've been reading all the way through to here (and we love you for it) you'll know we haven't yet found a real compromise made to achieve that price. Compromises will not be found in this section, either.
Okay, so a 35-second boot time does leave a little bit to be desired, but once you're inside the OS, applications load quickly and respond briskly, even graphics-heavy ones like the Google Play magazine app. Webpages are rendered promptly and swiping through them is snappy. Sure, there are the occasional stutters and hiccups here that even a coating of Butter doesn't completely eliminate, but we've experienced those with even the top-shelf tablets, like the recent Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 with its 1.7GHz version of the Tegra 3 processor.

If benchmarks are to be believed, this little guy actually performs better than its bigger brothers.

In fact, if benchmarks are to be believed, this little guy actually performs better than its bigger brothers. SunSpider tests, which look at JavaScript rendering speeds in the new Chrome browser, were completed on average in a relatively speedy 1,785ms. The tablet burned through Vellamo with an average score of 1,650 and notched 11,713 in CF-Bench. Only the Quadrant score was on the low side compared to the much higher-priced competition, coming in at 3,501.

	Nexus 7	ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700	ASUS Transformer Prime
Quadrant	3,501	4,685	4,137
Vellamo	1,650	1,475	1,418
AnTuTu	Would not run	12,027	10,269
SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms)	1,785	2,012	1,861
GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps)	63 fps	75 fps	68 fps
CF-Bench	11,807	7,874	11,861
SunSpider: lower scores are better

Since there were plenty of people freaking out about the new iPad getting warm when gaming and doing other intensive tasks we'll point out briefly that the Nexus 7 was noticeably increasing in temperature as these benchmarks cooked away. But, at no point did it become disconcertingly hot. Just a little toasty.

Tablet	Battery Life
Nexus 7	9:49
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7	12:01
Apple iPad 2	10:26
Acer Iconia Tab A510	10:23
ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime	10:17 / 16:34 (keyboard dock)
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1	9:55
Apple iPad (2012)	9:52 (HSPA) / 9:37 (LTE)
Apple iPad (2011)	9:33
ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700	9:25 / 14:43 (keyboard dock)
Toshiba Excite 10	9:24
Motorola Xoom 2	8:57
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1	8:56
HP TouchPad	8:33
ASUS Transformer Pad TF300	8:29 / 12:04 (keyboard dock)

And of course a tablet is only good for as long as you can use the thing, and we were quite impressed by the longevity here. We came within spitting distance of 10 hours on a charge using out standard rundown test, which has the tablet connected on WiFi and looping a video endlessly. That's very, very good for a budget 7-incher and bests many bigger, more expensive slates.

Software

The Nexus 7 is the first device shipping with Android 4.1. We'll defer to our full review of Jelly Bean for full impressions, as it's far too much to get into here, but there are a few aspects of the latest additions to Android that are worth pointing out.
Like those magazine subscriptions we mentioned above, for example. The Play Magazines app is a perfectly respectable reader that has a great selection of content and very smooth performance. While pinch-to-zoom is quite fluid, thanks to the reasonably high-res screen you won't necessarily have to do so as often as you might on the Fire. That's because text is clear and readable if you still have the eyesight to match -- though should you want something a bit easier to parse there's a handy text view.

Google Maps in Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)

In terms of pricing, though, we found many magazines to be slightly more expensive here than they are on the Fire. Music, too, tends to cost a dollar or two more per album than what Amazon offers in its MP3 download store. Thankfully, since all that music is DRM-free, there's nothing stopping you from loading up your tablet with what you've bought elsewhere. Nothing, at least, other than the somewhat limited amount of internal storage.

You can finally uninstall that ancient Chrome to Phone plugin.

And then, of course, there's the new stock browser, Chrome. Not a lot has changed since our first impressions a few months ago, so it's still a nice step up from the boring, old Browser app on previous versions of Android. Rendering performance is generally good, and the ability to import open tabs from a desktop browsing session is very handy, indeed. You can finally uninstall that ancient Chrome to Phone plugin.

Wrap-up

The Nexus 7 is an amazing package for something that costs a penny less than $200. It feels like something that could sell for much more. It has a great screen, solid performance and a clean, clear, uncluttered version of Google's latest operating system, Jelly Bean. From a pure hardware standpoint it beats the Kindle in every way possible -- except for content. Amazon's selection almost always trumps that of Google's, both in terms of variety and cost, but that's one wonderful problem to have, because almost all of that content is just as available on the Nexus 7 as it is on the Fire. The only major exception is Amazon Instant Video, and with Netflix, we can live with that.

So, while we tend to prefer larger tablets that better differentiate themselves from phones, if you've been toying with the idea of getting a real Android slate but didn't want to spend big bucks for a big device, this is what you've been waiting for. This is the best Android tablet for less than $200 and the best budget 7-inch tablet on the market. For the moment. The race to the bottom in the tablet space is, after all, just getting started and, if the Nexus 7 is any indication of what's to come, we're in for a very good ride.
Update: We received some bogus information on the MHL. We've now confirmed that the Nexus 7 does not support MHL, meaning there's no way to connect this over HDMI to get video output.


Source : www.engadget.com