Lenovo IdeaPad Z580

The IdeaPad Z580 doesn't look like a typical budget notebook with its sleek brushed aluminum palm rest and lid. The design is quite detailed too; I like the fancy speaker grille above the keyboard and the touchpad's beveled edge.

Like most Lenovo notebooks, the build quality is again surprisingly good for a budget laptop. The chassis is stiff and no ripples show up on the screen when you press in on lid from behind. Ideally a notebook's internal parts should be subjected to as little flex as possible so they can last a long time; flex is bad for circuit boards. Thankfully, the Z580 feels very solid for a consumer laptop in this price range ($500-$750). Attention to detail is another positive aspect of this notebook; there are no rough or unfinished edges.

Users looking to upgrade the Z580 will find easy access to the storage drive, RAM and wireless card through a single access panel on the bottom of the notebook. The battery is also user-replaceable.

The Z580 has a respectable array of input/output ports including two USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and a media card reader. It lacks an ExpressCard slot, eSATA and DisplayPort. Still, you would be hard pressed to find a budget-priced, 15-inch consumer laptop with ExpressCard slot and DisplayPort so we can't complain too much.

Lenovo's 'Chiclet' style keyboards are amongst the best out there in terms of feel. The Z580's keys have plenty of travel and are able to provide ample tactile feedback. The keys make pleasant clicking sounds which add to the feedback. The keyboard feels solid with zero flex. The layout is good; all the keys are in their expected positions; the only nuance is that the keys on the number pad are about 2/3 the size, which takes some getting used to. Keyboard backlighting is not available on the Z580.

The oversized touchpad is actually a clickpad with a press-able surface. While I still prefer a traditional touchpad with separate buttons, this clickpad is actually quite good; it doesn't take too much effort to push down and it has an excellent smooth surface. The clicks are a bit louder than I prefer but that's my only real complaint.

The Lenovo IdeaPad Z580 represents a great value thanks to its combination of good build quality, a solid keyboard and touchpad, good performance, and six hour battery life. The only areas that need improvement are the screen -- 1366x768 is low and hard to be productive with -- and speakers, which sound tinnier than expected. The fan also has a slight whine but isn't loud enough to be annoying.

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Razer Unsheathes Blade 2 Gaming Laptop

Even though the original only started shipping in late January, gaming peripheral company Razer unveiled the successor to its Blade gaming laptop at PAX Prime on Friday. The good news is that despite boasting better innards, the Blade 2 will cost $300 less than its predecessor.

Described by Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan as being “insanely powerful,” the Blade 2 packs an unnamed (and unannounced) quad-core 3rd Generation Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M graphics with 2GB VRAM, 8GB of 1600MHz DDR3, and a storage combo consisting of a 500GB hard drive and a 64GB SSD. Here are the detailed specs:

• Future platform with 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor
• NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660M with NVIDIA® Optimus™ Technology
• 2GB Dedicated GDDR5 Video Memory
• 8GB 1600 MHz DDR3 Memory
• 17.3-in. LED Backlit Display (1920x1080)
• 500GB 7200RPM HDD (Primary Storage)
• 64GB SATA III SSD with NVELO Dataplex™ Software (Cache Acceleration)
• Wireless Network 802.11 A/G/N + BT4.0
• 16.81" (Width) x 10.9" (Depth) x 0.88" (Height); 6.6lbs (Weight)

At 6.6lbs, the Blade 2 is slightly heavier than its predecessor (6.4lbs), but there is no change where dimensions are concerned. According to the official press release, the Blade 2 will go up for pre-order for $2,499 on September 2 and begin shipping on September 30.

"With the new Razer Blade, we set out to design something truly phenomenal with extreme performance for gamers in an ultra-thin form factor," said Min-Liang Tan in a press release. "The design and hardware advancements, combined with our revolutionary user interface, make the new Razer Blade, without doubt, the very best gaming laptop we've ever designed. The Beauty is now the Beast."

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Acer B113 11.6″ Ultra-Thin Aimed at Business Has Turned Our Head

Acer is coming out swinging with their new line up of Ultra-thins, the Acer Aspire B113 is a new 11.6-inch notebook for professionals.It is technically the consumer version Acer Aspire V5, so it has a lot in common but has some slightly better hardware, the main difference is that the B113 comes with a 4400mAh battery and the V5 comes with a ridiculous 2500mAh mini battery. Technically, the two devices are very similar but we hear that it’s only going to cost 420€, which makes me wonder who will pick up the V5.

This 11.6-inch ultra-thin comes with a 1366 × 768 that also sports a matte finish. Under the hood the device ships with an Intel Pentium 967 with two 1.3 GHz cores, or the 2nd generation Intel Core i3-2377M running at 1.5 GHz. So even does have a “Sandy Bridge” CPU, it’s still an interesting device, but if you’re looking for more power the V5 does come with a 3nd generation Ivy Bridge Core i5 option.

Acer continues to offer 4GB of installed RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. There are two USB 2.0 ports and a USB 3.0 port, HDMI, 5-in-1 card reader, VGA port and an Ethernet port along side a 1.3-megapixel webcam, and wireless-N. The battery provides, as mentioned, a quite good capacity of 4400mAh, which should offer around five hours on a single charge. It will be running Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional depending on the edition. The basic version seems to come sporting a Pentium 967, which is listed at 420€. If you’re looking for the Core i3 version expect to pay around 499€ and if you’re looking for Windows 7 Professional add another hunderded to that.

The device weights 1.38 pounds which makes the system nice and light. If the fact that the system currently isn’t being offered with the latest Ivy Bridge processor have no fear there is a 3rd generation Core i5-3317U on the way in the near future.

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Motorola Droid Razr Maxx Review: Now With More Battery Life

The Droid Razr Maxx is pretty much identical to the Droid Razr in design however it is slightly thicker and heavier. But really, the difference isn’t too noticeable. The Razr Maxx weighs 5.11 ounces and measures 0.35 inches thick while the Razr weighs 4.48 ounces and measures 0.28-inches thick. The Razr Maxx is still incredibly thin and is on par in slimness with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, also on Verizon.

The soft-touch back is made out of Kevlar, a material found in high-end speedboats, bulletproof jackets, and bicycle tires. According to Motorola, Kevlar is five times stronger than steel. Using Kevlar on a phone seems a bit, well, weird, but I was surprised with how delicate it felt and how attractive it looked.

The solid feel comes from the Droid Razr’s stainless steel core. It also has splashguard technology, which will protect it if you happen to get caught in the rain or spill something on your phone.

We’ve knocked other Motorola smartphones, such as the Photon (Sprint) and the Droid Bionic (Verizon) in the past for its PenTile displays. The Droid Razr, however, ships with a 4.3-inch qHD (Quarter High Definition), 960-by-540-pixel Super AMOLED display. According to Motorola, the Super AMOLED technology should solve some of the battery issues associated with LTE phones. This technology has lower current consumption, which helps to conserve battery life.

The Droid Razr’s display has excellent viewing angles and visibility outdoors, two trademarks of Super AMOLED technology. Blacks are very deep and whites are bright, but colors look a bit oversaturated (another trademark of Super AMOLED display technology.

I did a side-by-side comparison of the Droid Razr against the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S has a slightly higher resolution at 960-by-640, with a pixel density of 330 pixels per inch (I could not find any pixel density information for the Razr). While I appreciated the extra screen real estate on the Razr, the iPhone 4S’s 3.5-inch display looked sharper, with better color accuracy.

As I mentioned previously, we haven’t yet lab tested Motorola’s claims that the Droid Maxx can withstand 21 hours of talk time. I did some informal tests over 4G, however and was quite impressed with the Droid Maxx’s battery life. After playing Minecraft for 20 minutes, battery life decreased only 5%. I also ran the State of the Union address on YouTube (which runs for 1:05:13) in HQ (high quality) and battery life only dropped by 20%. I played the game Madden NFL 12 (which comes preloaded on the Razr Maxx) for 10 minutes and the battery didn’t drain at all.

Not only did battery life hold strong in these games, but performance was excellent. The graphics look terrific on the Razr Maxx’s display and gameplay was smooth without any glitches. Overall, this is an excellent gaming phone. The Razr’s 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor scored a notable 1040 on the Vellamo mobile benchmarking app for Android (made by Qualcomm).

Call quality was very good over Verizon’s network in San Francisco. I got coverage almost everywhere I went and never experienced any dropped calls. My friends and family sounded loud and clear, with no static or distortion.

The Droid Razr runs Android 2.3.5. It isn’t a pure version of Android, but it isn’t Motorola’s busy (and often annoying) custom overlay/service, MotoBlur. It does retain some of the MotoBlur widgets. The interface is almost identical to that of the Droid Bionic, but with a few tweaks. The widgets are resizable, and you can scroll through them; in the calendar widget, for example, you can scroll through a whole day’s worth of events rather than viewing one event at a time.

Like the Bionic, you get the ZumoCast app/service, though here it has been renamed MotoCast. MotoCast lets you access remote files on your PC without having to upload or sync your files. You can access everything from PowerPoint files to your iTunes playlists on your Razr. Even though the Razr has plenty of capacity (1GB of RAM, 16GB of on-board storage, and a preinstalled 16GB MicroSD card), I find it nice to be able to access videos, documents, photos, and other media files without having to download them to the device or upload them to a cloud service.

Motorola is determined to solve the LTE battery life situation. Smart Actions, a new app, lets you set reminders to notify you when you should recharge your phone (for example, when you go to bed). If you forget to plug your phone in, you can set a Smart Action called “Nighttime Battery Saver,” which adjusts your phone’s network and screen settings to make your battery last longer the next day.

Smart Actions aren’t just about saving battery life. You can create different profiles (Work, Home, Workout, and so on) and set rules for each scenario. If you don’t want your phone to ring out loud when you’re at work, you can set a rule called Quiet Location so your phone automatically goes into silent mode during work hours. Overall, Smart Actions is an easy-to-use, clever app. Although you’ll have to spend a bit of time setting up the rules for each profile, once that's done, Smart Actions will make all the adjustments for you.

The 8-megapixel camera on the Razr Maxx is identical to the original Droid Razr. And unfortunately, image quality isn’t the best. All of my photos seemed to have a bit of a dark cast to them--even photos taken in natural light. Details weren't as sharp as I would have liked, either. The flash tends to blow out colors and details quite a bit, so use it only when absolutely needed.

Like the Droid Bionic and the Photon, the Droid Razr is compatible with a slew of accessories, such as the LapDock 500 Pro, a laptop-like portal for the phone. The LapDock 500 Pro has a 14-inch display and a front-facing camera. When you connect to the Webtop dock, you can access the full Firefox browser as well as lots of specially made productivity apps. Other accessories include an HD Station, a vehicle navigation dock, and a standard dock.

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Dell Launches Two XPS Laptops, One with Ultrabook Capabilities

Dell has unveiled two new additions to its XPS laptop lineup including a 14-inch clamshell that can be configured as an Ultrabook and a more high-powered 15.6-inch device. The new laptops feature thin aluminum casings, edge-to-edge displays with hardened Corning Glass, backlit chiclet keyboards and multigesture touchpads. Both of the new laptops are available now and the specs are pretty close to what leaked to a Chinese tech site earlier in June.

Shared specs between the XPS 14 and 15 include USB 3.0 ports, a mini DisplayPort, HDMI Out, a 3-in-1 media card reader, and a 1.3 megapixel Webcam. Both devices also come with an Ethernet jack, but Dell says the devices were too thin to offer a full Ethernet option. To get around this problem the company included a hinged Ethernet port that expands to fit a cable when you open it.

The XPS 14 standard configuration includes a 14-inch WLED display with 1600-by-900 resolution, dual-core 2.6 GHz Ivy Bridge Core i5-3317U, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. For storage options you can choose a 500GB hard drive, a 500GB hard drive with 32GB mSATA SSD, or a 512GB SSD. If you choose one of the SSD options, the XPS 14 qualifies as an Ultrabook, according to Dell’s chief blogger, Lionel Menchaca. Dell claims battery life for the XPS 14 is between 8 and 11 hours, depending on the configuration.

To keep the XPS 14 thin Dell decided not to include an optical drive; the laptop measures 0.81 inches thick. Despite the XPS 14's thin size you will still feel it when you throw this thing in a backpack as the weight for the base configuration is 4.6 pounds.

The XPS 15 features a 15.6-inch WLED display with 1920-by-1080 full HD resolution, a dual core 3.1 GHz Ivy Bridge Core i5-3210M or you can upgrade to a quad-core 3.1 GHz Ivy Bridge Core i7-3612QM. Standard features include a Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics card with 1GB GDDR5, a 500GB hard drive with 32GB mSATA SSD, 802.11 a/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and a slot load DVD-RW (Blu-ray drive upgrade option available). The XPS 15 base configuration weighs 5.79 pounds and measures 0.91 inches thick.

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Sony Launches First Vaio Ultrabooks

Sony is joining Intel's ultrabook push with the new Vaio T family, which includes models with 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch screens, the company said on Wednesday.

The Vaio T ultrabooks will start shipping in May, Sony said, without elaborating on what they will cost or where they will ship.

As with many other ultrabooks, Sony has taken some inspiration from Apple's MacBook Air when it comes to choice of materials. The Vaio ultrabooks are made of magnesium and aluminium, the company said.

The 13-inch model measures approximately 226 millimeters by 17.8mm by 323mm and weighs about 1.6 kilograms with a standard battery, heavier than the 13-inch MacBook Air's 1.35 kilograms.

A configuration of the 13-inch model detailed by Sony is powered by a Intel Core i3-2367M processor.

The company didn't announce any configurations powered by Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors. The first ultrabooks with Ivy Bridge processors are expected to arrive in June.The detailed 13-inch model also has 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard disk.

There will also be configurations that use SSD flash drives and hybrid configurations that combine hard disks and SSD memory using Intel's Smart Response Technology, according to Sony.

Sony also promises battery power that will last a full working day -- up to 9 hours when using SSD storage -- and a deep sleep mode can be used for up 90 days without running out of power.

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New MacBook Pro: Apple’s portable iMac replacement

The long keynote by Apple execs today at the WWDC was long on new products, the most impressive being the new MacBook Pro. The 15.4-inch Retina Display pushes the portable line into the high performance realm, with powerful components packed in a MacBook Air thin frame. The new MacBook Pro is not a budget system, but looks to be aimed as a replacement system for those using a desktop system.

ZDNet has good coverage of all the announcements at WWDC, so I will concentrate on the newest in the laptop line from Apple. The starting configuration for the MacBook Pro shows the system is aimed at those needing a high-end performance laptop.

• Display: 15.4-inch Retina Display (220 ppi); 2880×1800
• Processor: Quad-core i7, 2.3 GHz , 2.6 GHz
• Memory: 8 GB
• Storage: 256 GB SSD, 512 GB SSD
• Graphics: Intel Graphics HD 4000, Nvidia GeForce GT 650M, 1 GB memory
• Ports: MagSafe 2 power; 2-Thunderbolt; 2-USB 3; HDMI; Audio; SDXC;
• Battery: 95 W/Hr Lithium-polymer; up to 7 hours run time; 30 day standby
• Wireless: Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.0
• Dimensions: 0.72 x 14.13 x 9.73 inches; 4.46 pounds

The two basic configurations are priced at $2,199 and $2,799 configured as indicated above. The top model can be augmented with a 2.7 GHz processor, 16 GB of system memory, and 768 GB SSD for a healthy $3,749. The most expensive upgrade is the bigger SSD (512GB>768GB) at $500, the extra 8 GB of memory is $200 and the faster processor bumps the price $250.

The new MacBook Pro is not much thicker than the MacBook Air, but it is quite a bit heavier. That makes sense given the larger display and extra stuff inside. The weight is about the same as my 2008 unibody 13-inch MacBook, so it’s pretty light for a much bigger notebook.

The pricing and high performance configuration makes me think Apple is aiming the new MacBook Pro at users currently using an iMac at the desk and maybe a MacBook Air for a mobile system. Those two devices together can approach the price of the new MacBook Pro alone, yet given the fast performance and high-res 15.4-inch display the new laptop can be a decent replacement for the iMac or even both of those devices.

Having a single device to buy and contend with may be enough of a draw to get current iMac owners to drop them to go with the MacBook Pro. One thing is sure, based on the great Retina Display on the new iPad, the MacBook Pro screen should be a nice upgrade for many.

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