Apr
19

Toshiba Satellite l300 Laptops post

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on April 19th, 2012

Toshiba Satellite l300 Laptops post

Today we want to talk a little about the Toshiba Satellite L300 business laptop as it seems that some users are facing power or boot problems. We’d like to hear from you as to whether you have any issues with your Satellite L300.

First we’ll turn out attention to power problems and a discussion on this forum, which raises the issue. One post about this laptop says that their Satellite L300 works fine using the battery but turns off when the charger is connected. Also if the charger is connected it powers the battery but only as long as the laptop is off and the laptop doesn’t work just with the power and without the toshiba  battery. A quick look through other posts shows that some others are having the same problem and there are a few suggestions about what the problem could stem from and possible fixes.

Toshiba Satellite l300 laptop Toshiba Satellite l300 Laptops post

High quality toshiba laptop batteries , Li-ion 6-cell Toshiba pa3285u-3brs batteries , 5200mAh , 10.8V , only: £ 36.77

Another thread on this forum discusses boot problems on the Satellite L300. A user tells how when they attempt to start up, system recovery options come up but can’t find or load the OS and drivers and again there are various suggestions to remedy the situation. More threads linked to at the bottom of the forum page also show that others are having similar problems with booting.

The Toshiba Satellite L300 went on sale in 2009, aimed at the business market. It came with Windows Vista pre-installed and upgraded models were also available. Finished in black or silver the L300 featured an Intel Celeron processor, 1 or 2GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 160GB hard drive, optical disc drive and Intel GMA graphics.

We’d be interested to hear how widespread the power or boot problems are so if you have the Satellite L300 and have noted either of these issues let us know. Did you manage to solve the problem? Maybe you’ve noticed a different concern altogether with your L300? Let us know by sending your comments.


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Apr
19

What Causes Lithium-ion to Age?

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on April 19th, 2012

What Causes Lithium-ion to Age?

The lithium-ion battery works on ion movement between the positive and negative electrodes. In theory, such a mechanism should work forever, but shelf life, cycling and temperature affect the performance. Because batteries are used under many demanding environmental conditions, manufacturers take a conservative approach and specify a battery life between 300 and 500 discharge/charge cycles. Life cycle testing is easy to measure and is well understood by the user. Some organizations also add a date stamp of three to five years; however, this method is less reliable because it does not include the type of use.

Figure 1 illustrates the capacity drop of 11 Li-polymer batteries that have been cycled at a Cadex laboratory. The 1500mAh pouch cells were first charged to 4.20V/cell at 1C rate (1500mA) and allowed to saturate to 0.05C (75mA) as part of full charge procedure. The batteries were then discharged at 1500mA to 3.0V/cell, and the cycle was repeated.

lith1%282%29 What Causes Lithium ion to Age?

Figure 1: Capacity drop as part of cycling. A pool of new 1500mA Li-ionbatteries for smart phone istested on a Cadex C7400 battery analyzer. All 11 pouch packs show a starting capacity of 88–94 percent and decrease in capacity to 73–84 percent after 250 full discharge cycles (2010).

Courtesy of Cadex

Designed for a smart phone, the packs were already a few months old at time of testing and none of the batteries made it to 100 percent. It is common to see lower than specified capacities and shelf life may have contributed to this. Manufacturers tend to overrate their batteries; they know that very few customers would complain. In our test, the expected capacity loss was uniform over the 250 cycles. All sample batteries performed as expected.

Similar to a mechanical device that wears out faster with heavy use, so also does the depth of discharge (DoD) determine the cycle count. The smaller the depth of discharge, the longer the battery will last. If at all possible, avoid frequent full discharges and charge more often between uses. If full discharges cannot be avoided, try utilizing a larger battery. Partial discharge on Li-ion is fine; there is no memory and the battery does not need periodic full discharge cycles other than to calibrate the fuel gauge on a smart battery.

Table 2 compares the number of discharge/charge cycles a battery can deliver at various DoD levels before lithium-ion is worn out. We assume end of life when the battery capacity drops to 70 percent. This is an arbitrary threshold that is application based.

Depth of discharge

Discharge cycles

 Table 2: Cycle life and depth of dischargeA partial discharge reduces stress and prolongs battery life. Elevated temperature and high currents also affect cycle life.

100% DoD

50% DoD

25% DoD

10% DoD

500

1500

2500

4700

Specifying battery life by the number of discharge cycles is not complete by itself; equally if not more important are temperature conditions and charging voltages. Lithium-ion suffers stress when exposed to heat and kept at a high charge voltage.

Elevated temperature is anything that dwells above 30°C (86°F), and a high voltage is higher than 4.10V/cell. When estimating longevity, these conditions are difficult to assess because the battery state is in constant flux, and so is the temperature in which it operates. Exposing the battery to high temperature and being at full state-of-charge for an extended time can be more damaging than cycling. Manufacturers do not like to talk about these environmental conditions and release information only in confidence when so requested.

In this essay we do not depend on the manufacturer’s specifications alone but also listen to the comments of users. BatteryUniversity.com is an excellent sounding board to connect with the public and learn about reality. This approach might be unscientific, but it is genuine. When the critical mass speaks, the manufacturers listen. The voice of the multitude is in some ways stronger than laboratory tests performed in sheltered environments.

Let’s look at real-life situations and examine what stress a lithium-ion battery encounters. Most packs last three to five years, less if exposed to high heat and if kept at a full charge. Table 3 illustrates capacity loss as a function of temperature and state-of-charge. One can clearly see a performance drop of recoverable capacity caused by environmental conditions and not cycling. The worst condition is keeping a fully charged battery at elevated temperatures, which is the case when running a laptop on the power grid. Under these circumstances the battery will typically last for about two years, whether cycled or not. The pack does not die suddenly but will produce decreasing runtimes as part of aging.

Battery Temperature

Permanent capacity loss when
stored at 40% state-of-charge
(recommended storage charge level)

Permanent capacity loss when
stored at 100% state-of-charge
(typical user charge level)

0°C

25°C

40°C

60°C

2% loss in 1 year; 98% remaining

4% loss in 1 year; 96% remaining

15% loss in 1 year; 85% remaining

25% loss in 1 year 75%; remaining

6% loss in 1 year; 94% remaining

20% loss in 1 year; 80% remaining

35% loss in 1 year; 65% remaining

      40% loss in 3 months

Table 3: Permanent capacity loss of lithium‑ion as a function of temperature and charge level. High charge levels and elevated temperatures hasten permanent capacity loss. Newer designs may show improved results.

Batteries are also exposed to elevated temperature when charging with wireless chargers. The energy transfer from a charging mat to the portable device is 70 to 80 percent and the remaining 20 to 30 percent is lost mostly in heat. Placing a cellular phone on the heat generating charging mat stresses the battery more than if charged on a designated charger. We keep in mind that the mat will cool down once the battery is fully charged.

Equally stressful is leaving a battery in a hot car, especially if exposed to the sun. When not in use, store the battery in a cool place. For long-term storage, manufacturers recommend a 40 percent charge. This allows for some self-discharge while still retaining sufficient charge to keep the protection circuit active. Finding the ideal state-of-charge is not easy; this would require a discharge unit with an appropriate cut-off. Users should not worry too much about the state-of-charge; a cool and dry place is more important.

The voltage level to which the cells are charged also plays a role in extending longevity. For safety reasons, most lithium-ion cannot exceed 4.20V/cell. While a higher voltage would boost capacity, over-voltage shortens service life. Figure 4 demonstrates the increased capacity but shorter cycle life if Li-ion were allowed to exceed the 4.20V/cell limit. At 4.35V, the capacity would increase by 10 to 15 percent, but the cycle count would be cut in half. More critical than the extra capacity is reduced safety, which would be the results of a higher charge voltage.

lith2 What Causes Lithium ion to Age? Figure 4: Effects on cycle life at elevated charge voltages Higher charge voltages boost capacity but lower cycle life and compromise safety.

Source: Choi et al. (2002)

Chargers for cellular phones, laptops and digital cameras bring the Li-ion battery to 4.20V/cell. This allows maximum runtime, and the consumer wants nothing less than optimal use of the battery capacity. The industry, on the other hand, is more concerned with longevity and prefers lower voltage thresholds. Satellites and electric vehicles are examples where longevity is important.

We have limited information by how much lower charge voltages prolong battery life; this depends on many conditions, as we have learned. What we do know, however, is the capacities. At a charge to 4.10V/cell, the battery holds a capacity that is about 10 percent less than going all the way to 4.20V/cell. In terms of optimal longevity, a charge voltage limit of 3.92V/cell works best but the capacity would be low. Besides selecting the best-suited voltage thresholds, it is also important that the battery does not stay in the high-voltage stage for a long time and is allowed to drop after full charge has been reached.

The voltage threshold of commercial chargers cannot be changed, and making it adjustable would have advantages, especially for laptops as a means of prolonging battery life. When running on extended AC mode, the user would select the “long life” mode and the battery would charge to only, say, 4.05V/cell. This would get a capacity of about 80 percent. Before traveling the user would apply the “full charge mode” to bring the charge to 4.20V/cell. This saturation charge would take about an hour and would fill the battery to 100 percent capacity.

Realizing the stress on the battery, some laptop and cellular phone manufacturers choose an end-of-charge voltage that is less than 4.20V/cell. A slightly larger pack compensates for the reduced runtime. Another option to extend battery life is removing the pack from the laptop when running on the power grid. The Consumer Product Safety Commissionadvises the public to do this out of concern for overheating and causing a fire. Removing the battery has the disadvantage of losing unsaved work on power failure.

Heat buildup is always a concern and running a laptop in bed or on a pillow may contribute to this by restricting airflow. Not only will heat stress electronic components, elevated temperature causes the electrodes in the battery to react with the electrolyte and this will permanently lower the capacity. Placing a ruler or other object under the laptop to increase floor clearance improves air circulation around the enclosure and keeps the unit cooler.

The question is often asked: Should I disconnect my laptop from the power grid when not in use? Under normal circumstances this should not be necessary because once the lithium-ion battery is full, a correctly functioning charger will discontinue the charge and will only engage when the battery voltage drops to a low level. Most users do not remove the AC power, and I like to believe that this practice is safe.

Everyone wants to keep the battery as long as possible and use it in a way that is least stressful. This is not always feasible. Sometimes we need to run the battery in environments that are not conducive to optimal service life. As a doctor cannot predict how long a person will live based on diet and activity alone, so also does the life of a battery vary, and it can always be cut short by an unexpected failure. Batteries and humans share the same volatility.

To get a better understanding of what causes irreversible capacity loss in Li-ion batteries, several research laboratories* are performing forensic tests. Scientist dissected failed batteries to find suspected problem areas on the electrodes. Examining an unrolled 1.5-meter-long strip (5 feet) of metal tape coated with oxide reveals that the finely structured nanomaterials have coarsened. Further studies revealed that the lithium ions responsible to shuttle electric charge between the electrodes had diminished on the cathode and had permanently settled on the anode. This results in the cathode having a lower lithium concentration than a new example, a phenomenon that is irreversible. Knowing the reason for such capacity loss might enable battery manufacturers to produce future batteries with longer life spans.

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Mar
10

Lenovo’s Ultrabook – Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 10th, 2012

Lenovo IdeaPad U300s Ultrabook post by bestlaptopbattery.co.uk

Unlike the rest of the Ultrabook crowd, there’s no way you could possibly accuse the IdeaPad U300s of being a MacBook Air clone.

From the first moments with Lenovo’s Ultrabook, we were seduced. The slight lip around the base and lid make it easy to peel the lid open, which itself is held shut by hidden magnets, and the combination of stark, sharp edges and gentle, curved accents make for a tremendously classy laptop.

it photo 175864 52 Lenovo’s Ultrabook Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review

The almost completely featureless exterior feels great in the hand, and at 1.32kg, it’s plenty light enough. It doesn’t feel quite as bombproof as either of Asus’ Zenbooks, though, with the UX31 and UX21 both impressing.

It takes barely any pressure on the lid to cause show-through on the display, and there’s a little side-to-side give in the base. Look even closer, and there are also a few areas where the finish isn’t quite immaculate, such as the hole for the power socket that doesn’t match up with the indent beneath.

Nit-picking aside, though, there’s much to like. The keyboard is well up to Lenovo’s usual high standards. We’re not keen on the half-height Enter key, or the narrow right-hand Shift key, but the overall feel more than makes amends. There’s just the right amount of travel, each dab of a key giving a crisp dig of feedback followed by a soft bounce at the end of the stroke. It’s superb.

The touchpad is pretty good, too, although we were grateful for the ability to disable it: we often found our thumbs brushing past the pad while typing, sending the cursor zipping into another paragraph. That aside, it’s innocuous enough. The glass touchpad depresses with a firm, solid click, and the multitouch scrolling and zooming is prompt and intuitive.

Under the hood, Lenovo has opted for the same 1.6GHz Core i5 processor found in many of its competitors, and partnered it with 4GB of memory and a 128GB SSD. A result of 0.56 in our benchmarks puts it squarely mid-pack, but the JMicron SSD makes for a system that feels unerringly quick.

The IdeaPad also manages to keep going when some rivals have exhausted their batteries. Enduring 7hrs 7mins in our light-use battery test leaves it trailing Toshiba and Asus’ long-life models, but it isn’t far behind.

it photo 175879 52 Lenovo’s Ultrabook Lenovo IdeaPad U300s review

The first stumble comes with the Lenovo’s audiovisual performance. With a maximum luminance of only 160cd/m2, the IdeaPad’s display looks noticeably dim to the naked eye. It’s a shame the backlight isn’t stronger, since image quality is reasonable. The measured contrast ratio of 225:1 puts it just ahead of all bar the Samsung Series 9, and when it comes to colour fidelity, the IdeaPad makes a reasonable stab of delivering neutral, untainted tones.

Connectivity is typically frugal. The IdeaPad U300s has a single USB 3 port, a single USB 2 port, a full-sized HDMI socket and a headphone jack. There’s no Ethernet socket, and wireless connectivity is limited to single-band 802.11n and Bluetooth 3.

The dim screen weighs heavily against the IdeaPad U300s, but this is still an alluringly lovely laptop. A recent price drop, from £934 inc VAT to just £799, makes it a tempting alternative to the leaders of the Ultrabook pack.

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Mar
9

What’s the Better Buy: a Consumer or a Business Laptop?

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 9th, 2012

Laptop makers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo carefully label and target their laptops for either “business users” or “home users,” which implies that they’ve done their homework for you and selected the best models for your type of usage.

But even if you’ll be using the laptop in your living room rather than during board meetings, should you skip shopping in the business laptop department altogether? The answer is, well, it depends.

I compared similarly configured consumer and business laptop offerings from several major laptop vendors, and found several good reasons for home users to consider business laptops–including more configuration options and better warranties.

But it isn’t always a cut-and-dried decision. Here’s what you need to keep in mind when selecting your next laptop.

Six Reasons to Consider a Business Laptop

Lenovo ThinkPad T420 business laptopLenovo’s ThinkPad T420 business laptop.Better durability and build quality: Business laptops are designed to take a beating, literally in some cases. Lenovo’s ThinkPad line of business laptops are military-spec-tested to endure heat, humidity, pressure, shock, and other extremes so that the laptops can survive anything business travelers and outdoor workers toss at them. (Seriously, Lenovo testers even throw laptops out of airplanes.)

The company’s IdeaPad consumer laptops don’t get that same extreme treatment, because regular laptop users supposedly don’t torture their laptops as much.

Even if you don’t plan on working in severe conditions, a business laptop’s more rugged design may help you get more long-lasting value out of your laptop, thanks to the use of premium materials. The HP ProBook 4530s laptop for professionals, for example, might look quite similar to the silver HP Pavilion dv6t in the consumer line, but the ProBook 4530s is constructed of “high-strength precision-formed aluminum” while the dv6 simply has a metallic finish. The ProBook’s aluminum is deeply anodized to be scratch-, smudge-, and wear-resistant.

Asus U36SThe Asus U36S, a high-end consumer laptop.However, high-end materials have started to show up in premium consumer ultraportable laptops, such as the Asus U36S, which has a magnesium-aluminum alloy cover. But business laptops generally are still constructed and tested to be tougher.

For instance, Asus reinforces its business-oriented B23E laptop with metal hinges and metal brackets to cushion the hard drive, and tests both the hinges and the panels beyond consumer standards. Here’s some information on how Asus tests.

And the Dell E6520 not only has a spill-resistant keyboard (a protective seal guards against everyday spills), it also comes with a 360-degree bumper around the LCD panel, and even its latch is made of a zinc alloy for durability.

More build-to-order options: You’ll find many preconfigured laptop models to choose from in the home/consumer site of any major laptop manufacturer, but if you want to fine-tune a laptop’s specifications to a greater extent, head to the business side.

For example, with the entertainment-focused Lenovo IdeaPad Y470, you can select from consumer models with Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors and different memory and hard-drive capacities. But your customization options for those models are limited to adding on more years to the warranty or selecting laptop accessories.

Select the business-oriented Lenovo ThinkPad T420 model, on the other hand, and you can opt for a higher-resolution display, swap in a discrete graphics card, upgrade the hard drive, add a fingerprint reader, and much more–at additional cost, of course.

Longer warranties and better support: If you want more protection for your laptop, business laptop warranties typically trump consumer ones. The Toshiba, Dell, and Asus business laptops I looked at, for example, came with standard three-year warranties, versus a one-year warranty on the consumer models.

The ThinkPad was configurable for up to a four-year warranty, while the IdeaPad warranty only went up to three years. Each year of additional protection and support is worth between $50 and $100 dollars, and gives you more peace of mind should your laptop break down beyond a one-year period.

Priority service is also sometimes available to owners of business laptops, whether or not you use it for business purposes. HP EliteBook buyers, for example, will soon be getting their own dedicated tech support person to talk to.

Additional security built in: Because lost business laptops are a huge liability and concern for business owners and IT departments, security features that consumer laptops don’t get are practically standard here. All of the business laptops I looked at offer at least the option to add a fingerprint reader, and many come with TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Embedded Security chips to encrypt your laptop’s data. HP touts its own suite of security tools (“ProtectTools”) that promises to wipe your drive remotely, shred files, check credentials on boot-up, and more.

More expansion and connectivity options: Want to quickly plug in or unplug your laptop from an external monitor and the many peripherals you own? A business laptop is more likely to have a matching docking station or port replicator, perhaps because business users are more likely to want a setup both at the office and at home, or because they need quick connectivity if they travel often.

Matte screens: Finally, consumer laptops tend to come with glossy displays that may show vibrant colors but also are subject to terrible glare. Business laptops generally have antiglare displays or at least antiglare options. These screens are easier on the eyes, easier to view outdoors, and have better viewing angles.

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Mar
8

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Edge E220s is going to face stiff compeition

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 8th, 2012

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Edge E220s post by bestlaptopbattery.co.uk

Lenovo‘s ThinkPad Edge E220s is going to face stiff compeition with the new ultrabooks but its pricing of under $800 is going to be very attractive for businesses or consumers that are looking for a relatively thin and capable ultraportable. It retains the solid build quality that Lenovo has been known for along with their excellent keyboard designs. Its glossy design does have its drawbacks including an exterior that frequently needs cleaning of fingerprints and smudges plus the display lacks the anti-glare coatings common to most ThinkPad models.

Lenovos ThinkPad Edge E220s Lenovos ThinkPad Edge E220s is going to face stiff compeition

Pros

  • Solid Build Quality
  • Excellent Keyboard Design
  • Good Pricing

Cons

  • Glossy Exterior Shows Fingerprints Easily
  • Display Is Too Reflective

Description

  • Intel Core i5-2467M Dual Core Mobile Processor
  • 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Memory
  • 320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
  • 12.5″ WXGA (1366×768) LED Backlit Display With 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
  • Intel HD 3000 Graphics Integrated Graphics
  • Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth
  • Three USB 2.0, One eSATA (Shared), HDMI, VGA
  • 12.3″ x 8.4″ x .9″ @ 3.5 lbs.
  • Windows 7 Professional, Office Starter, Norton Internet Security

Review – Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s

Lenovo’s ThinkPad Edge is designed as a low cost business ultraportable. With the rise of the ultrabooks, the ThinkPad Edge is facing much more competition from a broader range of systems. While the Edge E220s is not consider an ultrabook, it does share very similar size and components. For instance, it is based around the Intel Core i5-2467M dual core mobile processor that is used in the majority of the ultrabooks. It is paired up with 4GB of DDR3 memory. The result is performance that is pretty much equal to pretty much all the ultrabooks on the market. This is more than enough for the average business application which focuses on productivity. It will struggle on more demanding applications such as desktop video which is better served by a larger more traditional laptop.

The big difference between the ThinkPad Edge E220s and ultrabooks is in the storage system. While ultrabooks are using solid state drives, the E220s uses a traditional hard drive. This provides it with a larger 320GB of storage space that is over double what the typical low cost ultrabook comes equipped with. The downside is that it does means that the system has a slower feel to it. Booting will take longer and applications don’t load as quickly. Still, the system is several hundred less which is a key selling point for the system. In addition, the thicker design of the Edge allows the system to have more peripheral ports. Most ultrabooks tend to have just two USB ports but this one has three. They are just USB 2.0 ports but one of them is shared with an eSATA port for use with high speed external storage if you need additional space.

The small dimensions of the ThinkPad Edge are thanks to the smaller 12.5-inch LCD panel. It features the same 1366×768 resolution that is common to most laptops. It can be folded back very far which is uncommon to most display but can make it a bit easier when trying to share the display with several people. The big problem is that unlike most of the ThinkPad laptops, this display uses a glossy coating and is very reflective. The result is a display that is extremely difficult to use outside or in certain lighting conditions that can produce glare. Like most ultraportables, it relies on the Intel HD Graphics 3000 that are built into the processor. This is fine for standard application work but it lacks much performance for 3D applications. It does provide some acceleration for encoding media files with QuickSync compatible applications.

Lenovo’s keyboard design remains one of the best in the industry. It uses the isolated design unlike the other ThinkPad models but it offers a nice concave key design that makes typing accurate with a nice feel that works well for touch typists. It certainly has a better feel than any of the new ultrathin systems. The trackpad is still a bit too sensitive at times but thankfully it keeps the trackpoint option in the keyboard as an alternative.

With a thicker profile, one might assume that the ThinkPad Edge E220s would provide a larger battery pack but it comes with a relatively modest 40.7WHr capacity model that is smaller than many thinner laptops offer. In video playback testing, the system was only able to run for under three and three quarter hours before going into standby mode. This is pretty much expected from the battery size but it falls short of what many other systems can achieve. The closest competitors to this system in the ASUS U36SD and Toshiba Portege R835 both provide longer running times but both do cost more. At least Lenovo is upfront with just a 5.4 hour running time claim which is properly fairly accurate for light usage.

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Mar
7

Is bolder better for PC gamers? Razer Blade gaming laptop Review

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 7th, 2012

Razer Blade gaming laptop Is bolder better for PC gamers? Razer Blade gaming laptop Review

Razer’s bold, somewhat experimental foray into gaming laptops has finally begun shipping in the US, and we have one at CNET to check out at long last.

First off, the Razer Blade is hardly cheap; US$2799 places it at the higher end of gaming laptops. Regular laptop shoppers would quake in their boots at those prices, and rightfully so. However, the Blade does incorporate some design and technology that make it a design piece of sorts.

It’s a bit like a collectible Nike shoe: not completely practical, but sexy for a certain kind of person. The matte black, solid-metal construction has an attractive if fingerprint-collecting appeal, and the Blade does have some solid specs, with a 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor (3.5GHz in Turbo mode), Nvidia GeForce GT 555M graphics, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and a 17.3-inch 1920×1080-pixel display.

The Blade has no optical drive, which means that you’ll be downloading your games from Steam, Origin or something similar. In that regard, having only 256GB of storage could be limiting for some (the Razer Blade comes in only one configuration). There are gaming laptops with faster graphics than the included Nvidia GeForce GT 555M, which is another consideration. Of course, Razer representatives have explained that this is partially because of thermal concerns and a desire to make a more portable gaming laptop. That makes sense; after all, the Alienware M11x made similar sacrifices to fit into an 11-inch ultraportable chassis. However, one problem with the Razer Blade is that although it’s thin, it’s most definitely wide. The large footprint resembles a 17-inch MacBook Pro. Some love that type of design in a laptop, but it’s not for everyone.

Neither is the Razer Blade, but, in all fairness to Razer, it’s clearly not trying to be. The Razer Blade is a living-concept laptop, a first-gen take on a new platform, an evolution of the Switchblade prototype that we saw two Consumer Electronic Shows ago. The most surprising and revolutionary feature of the Razer Blade is its Switchblade UI, which consists of a touch pad that doubles as a second LCD screen, and 10 customisable LED buttons above it. Those buttons have full LED colour graphics that can be customised for separate profiles and game functions. They can be programmed with macros, like dedicated gaming keyboards and mice can, and a triple-finger swipe on the touch pad can cycle between different sets of key functions, enabling a theoretically vast degree of flexibility.

The Switchblade UI’s biggest limitation right now is developer support. Razer says that around 10 or 15 games will have their own preset button configurations and graphic assets that will work on the Razer Blade, while others will be easily customisable via Razer’s own software tool. Switchblade requires initial set-up using Razer’s Synapse 2.0, a cloud-based way of syncing game-customisation settings for the Blade across multiple peripherals (Razer’s Star Wars: The Old Republic keyboard and Razer Naga mouse, for instance). Once that set-up’s done, you can use the customisable LED buttons even when offline.

Razer supplies a default set of button apps to start with, including a calculator button that turns the touch pad screen into a number pad, and YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Gmail launch buttons that launch videos and mail or news feeds into the smaller screen. It’s a clever, show-off idea, but it’s clearly a demonstration of how second-screen gaming could expand into PC gaming at large. Unfortunately, no PC games have such second-screen functionality on the Razer Blade at this point. Investing in a Razer Blade and its Switchblade UI, therefore, is an investment in a concept that’s still in its infancy, and may not necessarily gain traction. The Switchblade UI SDK has been made available to developers, but it hasn’t been made fully open. That could challenge adoption.

Ports only on one side

Plugging in a mouse would require running a cable behind the screen if you’re right handed. It’s a shame, since it makes no sense; the right-hand side of the Razer Blade is bare, and has no optical drive.

Customising buttons on the Switchblade UI

It seems like a somewhat time-consuming process, if you want to do it right. Ideally, I’d love it if fans could upload their own macro-mapping button layouts so that others could quickly install button mappings and be good to go.

We’ll have the full review on the Razer Blade up shortly, but mark it up as interest in a fascinating concept. Razer hasn’t indicated if or when it’ll be coming to the Australian market.

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Mar
6

Laptop Review – Samsung series 9 13.3 – inch notebook

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 6th, 2012

Tablets and touch-based media devices may be a gadget fiend’s new crack. But laptops refuse to quietly go the way of the dodo bird. Nope, the “Ultrabook” is the latest thin and shiny new weapon in Intel’s mobile computing arsenal. The company has even submitted the newish Ultrabook buzzword to be trademarked. But what’s an Ultrabook? According to Intel, to meet the standard, a device must be housed in a thin design with reduced weight and use the company’s “Rapid Start Technology” for speedy boot-up and zippy recovery from sleep/hibernation. Five hours or more of battery life is also mandated. Furthermore, Ultrabooks  feature less power-hungry Intel processors and utilize SSDs (solid state drives) for responsiveness and speed in operations.  They are worthy competitors against tablets–namely for those who want a familiar user experience on the go and are not sold on the more fondle-friendly touch devices.

Bottom Line: The Samsung Series 9 is a near-perfect machine.  The flaws are significant enough to push some toward the refreshed model for more coin. But it is a fun and highly efficient device for your mobile business computing needs.

9 series cover open650 Laptop Review Samsung series 9 13.3 inch notebook

Pros

  • Fun and efficient
  • Looks sharp
  • Quick and responsive
  • Reasonably priced
  • Thin and built for portability

Cons

  • Underwhelming resolution
  • Requires adapters for HDMI and LAN
  • Trackpad is not for everyone

What I present to you today is sadly, not an Ultrabook. (Snatching the jam right out of your donut, aren’t I?) However the Samsung Series 9 notebook literally falls short of Ultrabook status by mere centimeters. Father Time is also partly to blame for the Series 9 overshooting the Ultrabook landing strip.  It was launched in Q2 of 2011 before Intel ever dreamt up the moniker. Yet, again it gets enjoyably close. Despite some of the more flawed thinking in its features, the Samsung Series 9 is an impressive “Notebook”  on paper, and in my tenaciously tech hungry hands. Let me show you why.

Even at first glance, you want to put your hands on it. Its shiny black finish, supermodel thinness and attractive backlit keyboard is suggestive and whispers, “Come hither!” The Series 9 is encased in duralumin, which is supposedly used in advanced jets and other aircraft. Sounds like hyperbole to me! More importantly for us, duralumin is lighter and stronger than aluminum. And while I have yet to test its durability in supersonic high-altitude flight, I can confirm, it don’t weigh much– 2.88lbs to be exact. Additional external features include a 13.3-inch LED HD display, the aforementioned backlit keyboard and an assortment of connectivity options…well, sort of. Back to that in a minute!

Whirring under the hood is a snappy Intel 1.6Ghz Intel i5 Processor, 4GB DDR3 system memory (expandable to 8GB), 128 GB SSD, stereo speakers, 1.3 megapixel web camera, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi adapter and high speed Bluetooth functionality. Not a bad pedigree to pair with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Like most notebooks, some I/O features and any CD/DVD drives are omitted in favor of lightweight and super thin design. There’s just not enough room! (Yes Dear, that optical drive does make you look fat. Ha!) What is offered are 2 USB ports (one rechargeable), headphone jack,  microSD slot and a mic-in port. There is also a mini HDMI-out and RJ45 LAN port for wired ‘net and network connectivity. All of the ports are nicely hidden away behind two small pull-down doors, which help complete the sleek design of the device when closed. It’s quite a nice touch!

Oddly, the mini-HDMI and RJ45 LAN ports require adapters for use. This is one of my main gripes concerning the Series 9. Personally I have no use for a microSD slot. Give me a traditional adult-sized HDMI-out instead. Adding insult to injury, is the chore of remembering to pack these adapters when I’m on the go. Wireless connectivity is more commonplace than the old school CAT-5 anchor. But many hotels still offer the tethered solution in place of any WiFi option. As for that HDMI-out adapter… Well that brings me to my next grievance: a paltry display resolution.

The 13.3-inch display on the Series 9 supports a max resolution of 1366 x 768. That’s not much, and the diminished screen size compounds the issue. Something like 1600 x 900 would have been much more alluring. This coupled with the HDMI adapter juggling, makes it incessantly difficult to view anything at a higher resolution without a bit of hassle. This was personified perfectly when I noticed the HDMI-out adapter was not included in the review unit sent to us. The irony of it all was amusing for about 10 seconds. Then I just wanted to pants the Product Manager.

Despite it all, I am having a blast with the Series 9. None of these things are deal-breakers. Intel’s Smart Start Technology brings the ebony slab to life in mere seconds. It goes from dead to desktop in under 10 seconds and recovers from sleep and hibernation in about 5 seconds. The keys are highly responsive and the layout is smart and uncongested. The backlit keyboard produces a warm blue-white glow, which can be adjusted to your taste or left adaptive for automatic adjustment based on surrounding ambient light. Programs boot up in a snap and ultimately everything feels significantly crisp and zippy. The multi-touch track pad is a bit sensitive; but I got used to it very quickly. Some complain that the left- and right-click buttons should be more clearly defined and not melded into the bottom part of the track pad. Meh! It’s a nonissue for me. I enjoy it and the multi-touch lends itself to familiar gestures such as pinch to shrink or zoom out. You can access the Notebook’s own Control Center by pressing the function key+F1. Within, you can easily tweak setting such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Silent Mode, Adapative Brightness, keyboard backlight, battery life extender, toggle Fast Start tech, toggle USB chargeability on or off and play with coloring options specific to movie watching. It’s all right there in a single utility. The entire device is smart handy and efficient!

The screen resolution may be underwhelming and the wonky adapters for tethered net connectivity and HDMI-out are just flat out missteps. Yet without question, the Samsung Series 9 will help you get things done on the go. It’s a worthy contender (even thumbing its nose at the MacBook Air) and provides a highly enjoyable user experience in a sleek black 0.64 inch thin form factor.

But we all know what they say about opinions… Lucky for you I have numbers too! I put the Samsung Series 9 Notebook through every single hurdle offered on Futuremark’s newest yardstick – PCMark 7 benchmark for analyzing Win7 systems. Click here to see how the Series 9 made out. You can also click here and see results for any manner of PC config in their community. Just configure your search criteria for your desired system configuration. If you’re a member, compare my results to your own lap-warmer du jour.

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Mar
5

Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 5th, 2012

Top 5 New Gadgets of the Weekpost by bestlaptopbattery.co.uk

Tagcloud: Top 5 New Gadgets , Best gadgets , discount laptop batteries,  Compaq 484170-001 batteries , Hp 530 batteries , Mitac bp-8089 batteries

It was raining phones and tablets this week. Over 50 phones and tablets were announced this week at Mobile World Congress, a large mobile tradeshow in Barcelona. On top of that, some other very notable gadgets made there way into the world and are now ready for purchase.

We’ve rounded up some of the best of the week. So, if you’re interested in a phone that becomes a tablet, a $25 computer, or a camera that let’s you focus after you’ve taken the picture, you’ll want to start clicking.

Galaxy Note 10.1

ht samsung note jp 120227 wb Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

Yes, the iPad 3 is on the way, so we wouldn’t suggest buying a tablet just yet, but Samsung did announce its Galaxy Note 10.1 this week. The 10.1-inch tablet is like an enlarged version of the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note with Samsung’s S-Pen which lets you doodle on the screen. It also runs the newest version of Android — Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich — and has two cameras.

Asus Padfone

ht asus padfone jp 120227 wb Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

The Padfone is undoubtedly one of the most interesting mobile gadgets to ever see the light of day. The Android 4.0 phone is a regular phone until you place it in the back of a 10.1-inch tablet that comes along with it. The phone becomes a full-on tablet. It can also be purchased with an optional keyboard dock, so the tablet can become a laptop of sorts. You see, way more than a phone! Asus hasn’t announced pricing, but it says it will start shipping in April.

Lytro

ht Lytro Electric Blue jt 120302 wb Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

The Lytro doesn’t look like any camera and that’s because it isn’t just any camera. It is the first light-field camera available to real people, meaning you can take photos that can be refocused afterwards. Take a picture of a flower but then want to refocus on something in the background? You can do that. The camera is now available for $399.

HTC One X

ht htc one x jt 120302 wb Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

Lots of phones were announced at Mobile World Congress this week, but the HTC One X has a number of standout features. And it’s one of the entries we know for sure will be making its way to the U.S via AT&T. The phone is large thanks to its 5.3-inch display, but the screen itself is bright and crisp. It also has a high quality 8-megapixel camera, a fast dual-core processor, and LTE speeds. (The version shipping overseas will have a quad-core processor.) It will be coming to AT&T sometime in the second quarter of this year.

Raspberry Pi

ht rasberry pi computer jt 120303 wb Electronics Tech: Top 5 New Gadgets of the Week

A $25 computer. That’s the Raspberry Pi. But it’s not a computer like you might imagine, it’s just the guts of a very-low powered, Linux desktop. For $25 you get all the components of a small desktop which is capable of running a web browser and word processing. It has the ports to hook up a display and a mouse, but you will need to buy those separately. Raspberry Pi is a non-profit company with the goal of getting its cheap computer in the hands of children in the developing world. The $25 computer has sold out for now, but should be available in a couple of weeks, says the company.

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Mar
3

Laptop Technology – Laptop of Dell Inspiron 14z Review

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 3rd, 2012

Dell Inspiron 14z Laptop post by bestlaptopbattery.co.uk

Tagcloud: Laptop Technology , Dell Inspiron 14z , dell laptop , laptop batteries dell , Dell inspiron 1525 batteries , Dell d630 batteries , Dell inspiron 6400 batteries

Dell’s Inspiron 14z provides consumers with a laptop that possesses an impressively fast performance and solid design, all at an unbeatable price.

It’s easy to forget that most people who buy new laptops buy inexpensive ones. Pay attention the next time you visit the house of a technically un-inclined friend — or even visit a coffee shop — and you’ll see plenty of Dell Inspirons, HP Pavilions and Lenovo IdeaPads. They’re not as hip or cool as a MacBook Pro, nor do they carry the geek cred of a rugged ThinkPad. But they are cheap, and they are quick, so they sell.

Enter the Inspiron 14z. The name itself is interesting, a mashup for Dell’s entry-level brand and the “z” designation, which is reserved only for the company’s thinnest and lightest designs. As far as we can remember, the Inspirion 14z is the first laptop to be badged with both bits of marketing lingo.

The result is a laptop that aims to be the everyman’s thin-and-light. You can buy one for as little as $549 on Dell’s website and still enjoy a chassis that’s under an inch thick. Though that is the base model, it still comes equipped with an Intel Core i3 processor and 4GB of RAM.

Our review unit arrived with modest upgrades, including a Core i5-2430M processor and two extra gigabytes of RAM, bringing the total to six. Graphics power is provided by Intel HD 3000 graphics, the only option on the 14z. These upgrades bump the price up to $649, but that is still extremely reasonable. Let’s see if this is a budget hero.

Design

Despite the affordable price, the Inspiron 14z comes clad in a metallic finish that covers both the display lid and most of the interior. The metal, along with our unit’s Espresso Black paint, provides a refined, understated aesthetic. Those looking for a more exciting exterior can buy the laptop in Fire Red instead. Both coats are only semi-gloss, so fingerprints aren’t a serious issue no matter your choice.

Look closely at this laptop and you’ll find a lot of unexpected details. The chrome trim around the keyboard is just enough to add some class, but not so bold that it becomes tacky. Around the display, you’ll find a bezel that is matte instead of glossy, which reduces the perception of display reflections. The hinges are stiff and every surface feels resistant to minor bumps and bruises. Like the HP g6, the Inspiron 14z is an example of a budget laptop that manages to offer build quality on par with laptops costing hundreds more.

2482278287 Laptop Technology Laptop of Dell Inspiron 14z Review

Not everything about the design is perfect, however. Dell’s engineers — or perhaps the marketing team — apparently thought the laptop’s ports marred its smooth design. To fix this, they added flaps over all the connectivity options. Opening them is difficult and the plastic used to attach them feels flimsy.

Once you remove the annoying covers you’ll find two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, HDMI, DisplayPort, a combo headphone/microphone jack and the obligatory card reader. This is a solid, though not exceptional, array of connectivity for a consumer laptop.

User Interface

You don’t have to use the Inspiron 14z long to fall in love with its keyboard. It isn’t the best we’ve ever touched, but it provides reasonable key travel and comfortable, rounded keys with large gaps between them. The layout makes excellent use of available space and provides plenty of palmrest space, as well. Typing on this laptop is just as easy as typing on a larger 15.6” machine.

Our only complaint centers on keyboard flex. While the chassis of this laptop is robust, a fair amount of squish can be produced by pressing with moderate pressure on the center of the keyboard. We didn’t find it distracting, but some potential buyers might disagree.

Below the excellent keyboard is a not-so-excellent touchpad that appears to have been designed by Dell on opposite day. It’s as small as the keyboard is large, the buttons offer next to no travel, and there’s no texture or detail added to give it a premium feel. Don’t misunderstand us — it’s perfectly usable. You just won’t enjoy the experience.

Display and Audio Quality

Our review unit arrived with a 1366×768 display. Dell has a reputation for offering high resolution options, but the 14z doesn’t have an option for packing in more pixels. Gloss is the order of the day and makes using this laptop in bright rooms difficult. The backlight isn’t strong enough to overcome strong reflections.

Glossy displays aren’t without their perks, however. When playing movies and games this laptop performed well, offering a good visual punch. Test images revealed that black level performance is only average, but the gradient banding test image was fairly smooth. It’s unlikely you’ll have any complaints so long as you stay away from serious image editing and movies with numerous dark scenes.

1692802838 Laptop Technology Laptop of Dell Inspiron 14z Review

Audio quality doesn’t impress. There is enough volume for movies, podcasts and other relatively simple audio sources, but complex music quickly overwhelms the laptop’s speakers, resulting in mild distortion. Some bass sounds disappear entirely. If you value your audio experience, you’d best pack a pair of headphones.

Cooling

Though thin, the 14z isn’t ridiculously slim, and this seems to have a positive impact on its fan. Normally it is quiet, making no sound that would be notable above the ambient noise of a typical apartment. Stressing it ramps up the fan significantly, but still keeps the volume within tolerable limits.

Heat generation is more than tolerable at low load. The bottom of the laptop is no warmer than the high 80s, while the keyboard and palmrest hover just above room temperature. Stressing the processor produced almost no rise in temperature. The hottest portion of the laptop, the bottom near the left-side exhaust vent, rose to just over 89 degrees.

What this translates to is a laptop that is generally great for lap use. Don’t underestimate the value of this. Many laptops fail to remain cool enough during heavy load to be comfortable for use on anything besides a desk or some other flat surface.

Portability

A typical 14-inch laptop is likely to be portable, but the 14z is particularly easy to carry around. Because of the small bezels around the display this laptop is actually just slightly larger than some laptops packing 13.1-inch or 13.3-inch displays. Combine this with a profile that’s less than an inch thick, and a weight of about four pounds, and you have a device that’s easy to slip in a bag.

Our review unit came with a six-cell battery, which is standard. With this battery the 14z was able to last an impressive six hours and thirty-two minutes in the Battery Eater Reader’s Test, and a respectable one hour and forty-three minutes in the more intense Standard Test. Typical web browsing will put you much closer to the former figure.

1501923699 Laptop Technology Laptop of Dell Inspiron 14z Review

One quick note about that six-cell battery: it sticks out from the bottom of the laptop slightly. If you want a flush battery you have to take the optional four-cell. We advise that you stick with the six-cell and put up with the slight increase in bulk.

There are certainly laptops with better endurance, but not many, and they’re typically much more expensive or much smaller (i.e. a netbook). It’s nice to see robust battery life from a mid-size laptop that doesn’t cost a fortune.

Software

Dell is one of the worst bloatware offenders today, and the 14z is just another victim of the company’s overzealous software strategy. There are several hokey desktop overlays installed by default, including an Accuweather widget and a row of folder and utility icons that seem entirely redundant with the desktop itself. Several of the choices, such as “Books,” launch pre-installed software instead of sending you to a folder or giving you an option to choose what you want to use to read e-books.

To make matters worse, Dell includes backup and update utilities that love to produce annoying notifications. If you choose to close them, they slide away using the slowest animation ever created by man.

With all of this said, you can simply uninstall the software and be done with it. There is nothing here that causes a performance problem.

Performance

As mentioned, our Inspiron 14z review unit arrived with a Core i5-2430M processor, which has a base clock speed of 2.4 GHz. This is a nice mid-range Core i5 processor, and in benchmarks, it proved capable of performance on par with other laptops we’ve reviewed. SiSoft Sandra’s Processor Arithmetic benchmark returned a combined score of 40.38 GOPS, which is on the high end among the Core i5 laptops we’ve reviewed. 7-Zip provided a more mid-range result of 6823.

PCMark 7, which provides a general overview of performance, returned a final score of 2183. That is a mid-range result among laptops with mechanical hard drives. The 14z did extremely well in Computation, but faltered in the Entertainment and System Storage categories.

530468955 Laptop Technology Laptop of Dell Inspiron 14z Review

3DMark 11 won’t run properly on this laptop because the Intel HD 3000 integrated graphics component is unable to handle DirectX 11. We instead relied on 3DMark 06, which returned an average result of 4579. That is right in line with similarly equipped competition, and indicative of a laptop that can play many modern 3D games, but only at reduced detail settings.

Overall, this laptop is a strong — but not exceptional — performer. We guessed this would be the case from the start, as there’s nothing exotic about the hardware used or the way it has been implemented. Most buyers will be happy with what is on offer here, so long as games are not a priority.

Conclusion

The Inspiron 14z lives up to its promise as an obtainable thin-and-light. It ticks off the three check-boxes that concern buyers looking for a portable laptop in this price range. It’s fast, it has good battery life, and it’s affordable.

Of course, this laptop isn’t hurt by the fact that is has a great keyboard and solid design. Anyone going in expecting only average quality will find themselves pleasantly surprised once they handle the 14z. This laptop looks and feels more expensive than its price tag suggests.

You will find the corners that have been cut, if you look hard enough. Touchpad quality is lackluster. The lack of a higher resolution display option is disappointing and some other laptops offer better audio quality. We’d also like to see a discrete graphics option — though Dell’s marketing department is probably concerned that this would step on the toes of its own XPS 14z, which does offer an optional Nvidia GT520M.

These complaints are not major concerns, however. What you receive is excellent for the price. Speaking of which, we recommend that buyers keep towards the lower end of this laptop’s price bracket. Higher-end models heap on the RAM (which isn’t needed) and offer slightly better processors. We feel our $649 review unit is the sweet spot, but the Core i3 powered $549 base model would be a fine choice for anyone on a shoe-string budget.

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Mar
2

ASUS Transformer Prime: Perfect for business trips

bestlaptopbattery.co.uk on March 2nd, 2012

ASUS Transformer Prime laptop post by bestlaptopbattery.co.uk

Keywords: ASUS Transformer Prime , Perfect business laptop , Asus laptop , batteries laptop technology , Hp 485041-003 batteries , Hp hstnn-db42 batteries , Hp Pavilion DV4 DV5 DV6 batteries

The Tranformer Prime is the top Android tablet with powerful hardware, and coupled with the optional laptop dock becomes a viable alternative for leaving the laptop at home.

front view ASUS Transformer Prime: Perfect for business tripsMy quest for a tablet/ keyboard combination that will let me leave the laptop behind on short business trips took an unexpected turn with the arrival of the Transformer Prime. The Transformer Prime is a top-of-the-line Android tablet from ASUS that runs Ice Cream Sandwich and has a Tegra 3 quad-core processor. The tablet is as good as it gets in the Android world, and when you throw in the laptop dock the pair is unequaled in capability.

side view ASUS Transformer Prime: Perfect for business tripsTransformer Prime Hardware specs:

  • Display: 10.1-inch Super IPS+ (1280×800)
  • OS: Android 4.x (Ice cream Sandwich)
  • Processor: Tegra 3 quad-core
  • Memory: 1GB
  • Storage: 32GB (64GB available)
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi, bluetooth
  • Cameras: 1.2MP front; 8MP rear (F2.4), auto-focus, flash
  • Ports: 3.5mm audio, HDMI, microSD slot, dock
  • Battery: 25 wH (12 hours)
  • Dimensions: 263 × 180.8 × 8.3mm ; 586g
Laptop Dock Hardware specs:
  • Ports: SD card slot, USB 2.0
  • Battery: 22 wH (8 – 10 hours)
  • Dimensions: 263 × 180.8 × 8~10.4mm ; 537g

The 10.1-inch screen of the Transformer Prime is nice and bright, and when you turn on IPS+ mode the 400 NITS is bright enough to use in broad daylight. Everything about the Transformer Prime indicates good design and construction, and ASUS includes software that rounds out a great tablet.

The tablet easily pops into the optional laptop dock, which is basically a laptop without the screen. The chiclet keys are nearly full-sized, and are good for touch typists. There is a full row of special function keys that work with the Transformer Prime to perform common tasks. The trackpad with integrated buttons can be toggled on and off with one of those keys. The four arrow keys are excellent for working with the tablet for precise cursor placement.

profile ipad 2 transformer prime ASUS Transformer Prime: Perfect for business tripsL: iPad 2 ZAGGfolio case; R: Transformer Prime docked

The tablet and laptop dock turn the Transformer Prime into a no-compromise Android laptop, which makes it a great alternative on business trips. I have been testing the iPad with keyboard cases for replacing my laptop for short periods, and the Transformer Prime has proven to be a better fit for my needs. The Transformer Prime keyboard is better which is important for a writer, and one app available for the Transformer Prime makes it serve my needs better than the iPad 2 I have been testing.

A lot of my work is done online in a browser, and the Google Chrome Beta is as good a browser as the desktop version. Using Chrome on the Transformer Prime is the difference of being able to do most (but not quite all) of my work while travelling, and being able to do everything. I can complete everything I do for my work with Chrome and the Transformer Prime, making it clearly the best fit for my needs.

ipad zaggfolio transformer prime ASUS Transformer Prime: Perfect for business tripsiPad 2 in case vs Transformer Prime thickness

I’m not saying this is the best tool for everyone, but for my needs I could travel with this kit and leave my laptop at home. That has distinct advantages, the real-world 18 – 20 hour battery life chief among them. There is no need to worry about batteries life with the 10 – 12 hours of the Transformer Prime and the second battery in the laptop dock that extends it to the max. Portability is another advantage this has over the laptop, as the tablet in the laptop dock is no bigger than the iPad 2 in a tiny keyboard case. It’s a win all around carrying the Transformer Prime, functioning as a good laptop when needed and a great tablet out of the dock.

ASUS announced a newer model of the Transformer Prime, the Transformer Infinity, at the MWC this week so the Transformer Prime may not be available much longer. Pricing for the newer model has not been given by ASUS. The Transformer Prime as configured has a MSRP of $499 and the laptop dock another $149.

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