Netbook Reviews – Laptop Reviews

Acer’s latest laptops have adopted a new slim design, and the 7741 is no exception. The smart, textured lid opens to reveal a brushedmetal keyboard surround, with none of the gaudy LEDs or touch-sensitive controls of previous designs. It’s not all about looks, though: you can find packed inside the 17.3in 7741 a powerful Core i3  330M processor.

The backlight is bright and even, and the glossy finish adds vibrancy to colours. Colour accuracy was also good, and contrast was excellent, although tight vertical viewing angles mean you have to adjust the tilt of the screen carefully. Read more…

Stylish isn’t an adjective that applies to the Lifebook S760. Matt plastics in a mixture of colors and lots of sharp angles make it clear this is an ultra-portable laptop aimed squarely at business users.

As with most business-focused machines, the 13.3in display has a matt coating to keep reflections to a minimum. Although the screen has an impressive tilt of over 180°, viewing angles are tight. The backlight isn’t very bright but colors are accurately reproduced. Two speakers mounted above the keyboard produce average quality audio. Bass notes are audible but have no strength. Read more…

The EliteBook 8440p ultra-portable uses some powerful components.

The Intel Mobility Core i7 processor runs at 2.66GHz, but Turbo Boost provides improved performance in single-threaded applications. This alone is enough to fly through most tasks, but HP has gone a step further, installing Windows 7 Professional to a 160GB solid-state HDD.

The keyboard has flat, rubberised keys that provide very little tactile feedback when typing. Most are full size, but the function keys feel squeezed in at the top of the keyboard tray.

Mouse input can be controlled using either the touchpad or the central touchstick. There are two separate sets of mouse buttons, so you can take your pick. Read more…

The HP DM3 looks great from almost every angle. The metallic-effect body is smooth, with rounded corners and few LEDs or shortcut keys to clutter the appearance. The chiclet-style keyboard looks smart and is great to type on. Keys are widely spaced and full-sized, but to avoid breaking the design scheme by adding extra keys, shortcuts such as the volume and brightness keys are paired with the function buttons.

While many laptops do the same, the DM3 sets each shortcut as the default, rather than secondary, action. This is annoying if you frequently use the function keys in combination with the Alt key, as it also requires holding down the Fn key. Read more…

From the outside it’s difficult to notice any differences in this new model. The smart textured lid and silver case remain unchanged, as do the chiclet-style keyboard and large touchpad.  The keyboard is comfortable to use, but minor issues such as the small tab key and relocated backslash are annoying.

The 10.1in screen has a glossy coating but is fine to use in well-lit areas and doesn’t create distracting reflections. Brightness isn’t dazzling and color reproduction is slightly inaccurate.

The 1,024×600 resolution is the standard for this screen size, but images look sharp. Audio is disappointing: the downward facing speakers are quiet and poor quality. Read more…

Acer has made some questionable design choices with the Aspire One range in the past, but the new 533 is possibly its best-looking netbook to date

The glossy black screen bezel detracts slightly from the overall design. However, the keyboard is mostly full-size; only the function and arrow keys have been shrunk to make room for the rest of the chiclet-style keys.

Despite the low 1,024×600 resolution, the 10.1in screen produces sharp images. The screen has fantastic vertical tilt, lying almost flat at its maximum, but usable angles that produce accurate colours are limited. Read more…

The EeePC 1015PE is the latest Asus netbook to use the Seashell design scheme. Its rounded corners and straight lines look great from any angle. The wedge-shaped body appears very thin from the front, but even from the back it’s a very sleek netbook. The white colour scheme looks great, even if the contrasting black screen bezel looks slightly out of place.

The 10.1in screen is very thin, but it includes an embedded webcam. This has a low resolution of 640×480, but it’s still fine for basic tasks such as Skype conversations. The screen itself has a resolution of 1,024×600, which is standard for netbooks of this size. Read more…

Acer’s newest 10.1in netbook may be cheap, but it still looks stunning. At just 24mm high the D260 is slimmer than any netbook we’ve seen recently. The display is excellent too, with consistent and bright LED backlighting.  Colours are vibrant and contrast is good.

Unsurprisingly on such a slender netbook, the keyboard has little travel, but we wouldn’t be put off buying the D260 because of it.

There are the usual three USB ports and a memory card reader, but no HDMI output, with only a VGA connector. A small 160GB hard disk is fitted, with Windows 7 Starter edition installed. Read more…

Although from the outside it may not look that different from any other laptop, Acer’s 5745DG comes with hidden depths. Under the smart-looking lid is a stunning 3D display.

The laptop comes with a pair of active-shutter glasses. An infrared emitter hidden in the display bezel syncs the glasses to the screen, displaying alternating images to each eye to create a 3D effect.

The 15.6in LED backlit panel has a rapid 120Hz refresh rate so each eye sees 60 frames per second. Read more…