The Apple MacBook Pro - the collective mind is conditioned to perceive the combination of optimum functionality with sleek and stylish packaging as an improbability when it comes to portable computers and laptop PCs. Add to an intuitive modern piece of portable artistry a graphical user interface with unparalleled visual features, and the improbability turns into a straight up impossibility for most laptop enthusiasts within the portable computing populace. But this is the exact point in the technological spectrum of the world that the Apple MacBook Pro breaks barriers and stuns the world as yet another visual and technical portable masterpiece from Apple.
Bundled with the latest technology when it comes to processing power, the Apple MacBook Pro gives justice to the Intel Core 2 Duo processor when it comes to a sleek combination of functionality and style. The Intel Core 2 Duo is a processing chip that packs twice the punch you could get from a single core processor. This tiny chip can provide the Apple MacBook Pro users of the world more than 2.4GHz of processing power bundled with L2 cache features necessary to share the power between the Intel Cores whenever necessary together with 4MB of Smart Cache functionality.
Built for the purpose of graphical 3D and 2D viewing amongst its many uses, the Apple MacBook Pro can also act as a complete portable tool for your online and offline video viewing and editing needs. In addition, the Apple MacBook Pro can also provide you with a means to access state-of-the-art music viewing and editing functions while on the road that can only be found in a laptop Mac. After all, with the Apple MacBook Pro's support for 250GB digital data storage disks together with an 800MHz front-side bus compatibility feature that allows faster data processing, the Apple MacBook Pro's DDR2 memory features worth a blazing 667MHz of up to 4GB physical RAM can be seen as icing on a portable piece of modern laptop ingenuity that can only be the Apple MacBook Pro.
With the steady rise of 3d computer video games when it comes to overall visual quality and functionality, the Apple MacBook Pro assures that it will not be left behind with all the modern visual treats by incorporating the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics controller on the core of the Apple MacBook Pro's graphical processing capabilities. With an option to enjoy downright larger than 15-inch visual quality through the Apple MacBook Pro versions that come with a power-efficient and mercury-free 17-inch display optionally packed with 1920-by-1200 pixel display features, all you would get is prime visual entertainment and functionality at its finest while on the road. Being packaged in a stylish casing that measures an inch thin and weighs 5.4 to 6.8 lbs., the AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi device is built into the connectivity core of the Apple MacBook Pro laptop in order to serve its purpose as the final touches on the Apple MacBook Pro when it comes to wire-free online connectivity.
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
THE APPLE MACBOOK PRO
DELL XPS M1710 REVIEW FROM ITREVIEWS
The M1710 (N04XPS7) is the bigger brother of the M1210 and, just like its smaller sibling, it's very different in appearance to the rest of the Dell laptop range. It's powerful, too; in fact it's one of the most powerful notebooks currently available. The XPS M1710 has been around for a while but our review sample, the flagship model of the range, is one of the latest with a Blu-Ray writeable drive fitted as standard.
The M1710 comes in two colours - Metallic Black (our review sample) or Formula Red - and, as is becoming for a member of the XPS clan, enough lights to shame a Christmas tree. The design of the notebook is what you could call "funky industrial" with the metallic black lid inlay neatly set off by the metallic silver surround. It's a tough beast as well, with a magnesium alloy chassis, steel lid hinges and thick plastic palm wrests, but weighing in at 5.5kg you won't want to be carrying it around much anyway.
As the flagship model, our M1710 came powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU which is clocked at 2.33GHz, but if you want to save some money, slower processor options are available.
Backing up the CPU is 1GB of PC2-667 (333MHz) DDR2 memory in the form of two modules, but the two DIMM slots will accept up to a maximum of 4GB of memory, so as you might expect the M1710's performance should be pretty good to say the least. That's borne out by its PCMark 05 overall score of 5,900 which puts it well up with most upper-mid-range desktops and some high-end systems too.
On the other hand, battery life isn't stunning, but as the M1710 will spend most of its life attached to the mains that's pretty academic anyway. We managed to get about two and a half hours of life under test conditions with all battery saving measures turned off.
Overall performance is one thing, but what the M1710 is really about is gaming and the graphics performance is nothing short of stunning. The graphics are powered by an Nvidia GeForce GO 7950 GTX GPU backed by 512MB of GDDR3 memory, giving the M1710 a stunning 3DMark score of 9,035 at 1,024 by 768 pixels and, more importantly for gamers, an average frame rate score in F.E.A.R of 103fps at the same resolution with all game details set to maximum.
Even at the screen's native resolution (1,920 x 1,200) you get an average frame rate of 40fps, which you can increase by turning the game details down a notch or to, getting a more playable figure. The GO 7950 GTX also provides a VGA and a DVI out connector so you can hook up the M1710 to either an analogue or digital external monitor.
The screen is really good, too; a 17-inch WUXGA widescreen with the aforementioned 1,920 x 1,200 pixel native resolution and Dell's TrueLife glossy coating which is claimed to allow bolder colours and greater contrast than a standard coating.
You may be surprised by the smallish size of the Dell's keyboard given the size of the laptop itself, but the reason for giving so much space to rest your palms and part of your wrist is because primarily the M1710 is a gaming notebook, so all the keys used by gamers can be comfortably used for long periods. But this doesn't diminish the overall ease of use of the excellent keyboard and touchpad.
As the M1710 comes with Vista Home Premium we gave the Vista benchmark a spin and got a score of 5.9 and 5.8 for the graphics and gaming graphics respectively, but because of a slowish hard drive and just the one gig of memory, the overall Vista score is a fairly average 4.3.
Storage comes in the form of a 120GB, 5,400rpm Hitachi drive but if you want faster transfer rates, a 7,200rpm drive is an alternative you can choose when you configure your M1710. Also provided are an Express Card slot and a 5-in-1 Card Reader. Joining these on the right-hand side of the chassis are two audio ports and a 4-pin FireWire port. The left-hand side holds the Blu-Ray drive and two USB 2.0 ports.
The rear of the chassis has all the other ports, and in addition to the monitor outputs you also get four more USB 2.0 ports, S-Video out, LAN and modem ports (connected to integrated Gigabit Ethernet and V.90 controllers respectively). You get 802.11a/b/g Wireless as well.
"What about all the lights?", I hear you cry. Oh well, you had to ask. The two XPS logo cut-outs in the lid, the speaker grilles, the fan grilles and the logo cut-out in the touchpad are all back-lit by LEDs. But it doesn't end there: with the exception of the mouse pad all the colours can be changed - with what Dell calls the XPS LightFX - and you have a palette of 16 colours to choose from. These can be changed easily in the BIOS or by the harder-to-find 'gaming' tab of the Dell Quickset utility in the program menu.
As with all the XPS range you get special treatment for spending all that hard-earned cash, in the shape of two years on-site warranty and the special, dedicated, XPS 24 free phone technical support.
Lenovo to auction off Olympic Torch-themed notebook PCs for global charities
Celebrating the one-year-out mark for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Lenovo yesterday announced plans for a major philanthropic auction, with limited-edition notebook computers inspired by their 2008 Olympic Torch on offer.
From February 8th next year, at the six-month mark, week-long back-to-back auctions for these "Cloud of Promise" notebook PCs will begin, concluding just prior to the start of the Games. Several of the PCs will be autographed by athletes.
All proceeds from the auctions will go to the Lenovo Hope Fund charities, including Right to Play, and other charities and organisations bringing sports to communities of children.
* Gale Emms, badminton, Great Britain, 2004 Olympic silver medalist
* Libby Lenton, swimming, Australia, 2004 Olympic gold and bronze medalist
* Eamon Sullivan, swimming, Australia, 2004 Olympian
* Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, beach volleyball, United States, 2004 Olympic gold medalists
* Adam van Koeveden, canoe/kayak, Canada, 2004 Olympic gold and bronze medalist
* Liu Xiang, track and field, China, 2004 Olympic gold medalist
Sony adds artwork to laptops
Just in case the usual laptop custom design options--usually a bold primary color on the lid, or maybe a set of flaming skull stickers--aren't doing it for you anymore, the creative minds at Sony have a new way to support computer users' self-expression. The company has commissioned artist Maya Hayuk, a painter whose work has been seen on several album covers and an Absolut ad campaign, to create new designs for Vaio laptops.
The result was unveiled Tuesday night by Sony, in the form of two limited-edition 15.4-inch Sony Vaio FZ series laptops, with the new designs on the back of the lid.
The flowery "Grow" design and the angular "Never Stop" are both available only through SonyStyle retail stores and the SonyStyle Web site, starting at around $2,500. The systems also include matching desktop wallpaper, a video clip of the artist discussing her work, and a signed certificate of authenticity
Fujitsu Lifebook A1110 Laptop
Meet Lifebook A1110, the first notebook with swappable lid. Arrive with a 15.4-inch screen, Its lid is changeable lid and available with green mod labyrinth, bright pink design with butterflies, or a cool blue Victorian print.Running Windows Vista Home Premium OS, Lifebook A1110 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 or T5800 processor, up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM, up to 320GB HDD, and a DVD burner.
Comes with a 6-cell battery, A1110 has $799 price tag.