2015年7月24日星期五

Review of Dell Inspiron 14-7437 Notebook

A bit boxy but with shiny silver aluminum and a glossy touchscreen for the preloaded Windows 8 - that is the Dell Inspiron 14-7437. 
Dell uses aluminum and the light alloy really lives up to its name: The Dell Inspiron 14 is conveniently light, easy to transport and the stability is very good. 
The flexible display hinges are a nice addition. Unlike a convertible, you cannot flip the display completely, but 180 degrees are no problem. The hinges do a good job and keep the display in position well.
The thin construction also resulted in the compact and compressed internal layout of the Inspiron. The battery is screwed inside the case and it is not easy to replace it - even after you remove the maintenance cover. Maintainability in general was not very important for Dell. You can remove the bottom cover and access the components, but the whole process is not very easy. 
Friends of many ports will be disappointed by the Inspiron 14. The manufacturer only integrates two USB 3.0 ports - one each on the left and right side of the case, as well as one HDMI-out, one SD card reader and a stereo jack. Neither an Ethernet port nor a Kensington Lock is available. 
This limited port selection can be a problem, especially with the lack of a docking port. One wireless mouse or one USB stick already occupies 50 percent of the USB ports, so you will probably have to use a USB hub quite often. 
One advantage however is the port layout. All the few ports are in the rear area of the sides, so attached cables will not be a problem when you use a mouse.  

Communication

Due to the lack of an Ethernet port, the user of the Dell Inspiron 14-7437 will have to use the wireless modules of the ultrabook - or an appropriate USB-LAN adaptor. 
That leaves the Intel WLAN adaptor 7260, which supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks as well as Bluetooth. The signal quality in the individual setup of our editor was inconspicuous, but in a positive manner: The notebook still had a connection two floors away from the router with a gross transfer rate of around 144 Mbps (2.4 GHz). 

Accessories

The Inspiron 14-7437 does not come with many accessories. Besides the notebook, a small power supply unit and some warranty information there are no additional extras. There is no docking port; you will therefore have to use a standard portreplicator to expand the meager port variety. Dell does offer relevant products in its online shop, but (less expensive) products from other manufacturers work as well.

Maintenance

Dell's ultrabook is not perfect in terms of maintainability. You can remove the whole bottom cover after you loosen some screws, but this process is rather fiddly and does not work without a sharp object to lift the cover. This cover is only secured by a few plastic clips and is very thin in the area around the ventilation fins, so it might be best that Dell service performs this operation, as this is the way the manufacturer obviously intended it. 

DELL Inspiron 14-7437 battery:

1003483 battery (pic 4)

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2015年7月14日星期二

Review of HP ZBook 15u G2

Advantages of HP ZBook 15u G2:
Durable, lightweight design;  Many ports; Runs cool; Bright, accurate display

 Disadvantages of HP ZBook 15u G2:
Graphics could be better; Weak audio

 The HP ZBook 15u G2 is a lightweight work notebook that offers a military-standard durable design and solid overall performance. 



Design

The HP ZBook 15u G2 sports a suit in three shades of gray, a professional design that looks understatedly sleek and demure - the strong, silent type. The shiny HP logo in the center of the lid is the darkest, while the area surrounding it is a slightly lighter shade of brushed aluminum. It's bordered by another layer of aluminum whose smooth finish matches the rest of the notebook's magnesium-reinforced body.

Durability and Security

Don't let its pressed-suit looks fool you - the ZBook 15u is a tough workstation. It passed MIL-Spec 810G testing, so it's protected against drops from up to 3 feet, altitudes up to 15,000 feet, as well as dust and shocks. It can also withstand extreme temperatures, performing regularly in minus-60 degree weather as well as in a boiling 160 degrees.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The full keyboard on the HP ZBook is comfortable enough to use all day, and backlighting makes it easy to see even when the lights are out. The keys don't have a lot of travel -- just 1.42 millimeters -- and with 60 grams of actuation they are clicky yet soft. On the TypingTestOnline.Org challenge, I managed an average of 80 words per minute, a bit lower than my 90-wpm average.

Audio

The DTS Sound-equipped speakers on the HP ZBook 15u G2 don't provide the best audio quality. Vocals in the Lumineers "Ho Hey" were clear, but the guitars and other mid instruments were weak, sounding like they were being played from miles away.

Performance

Powered by a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-5500U dual-core processor, 16GB of RAM and a 256 GB PCIe SSD, my HP ZBook 15u G2 handled multitasking with ease. It never slowed even with 11 Chrome tabs and multiple PDF files open, while streaming music.
On the Geekbench 3 test, which measures overall performance, the ZBook 15u scored 6,892, slightly better than the Lenovo W550s (6,860, with a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-5600U CPU), but lower than the mainstream notebook category average (9,259) and the monstrously powerful MSI WS60 (13,003, with a 2.5 GHz Core i7-4710HQ CPU).

HP ZBook 15u G2 Battery Life

The HP ZBook 15u G2 lasted 6 hours and 44 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (Web surfing via Wi-Fi).  That's about half an hour longer than the mainstream category average of 6:12, and more than twice as long as the 3:05 battery life on the MSI WS60. However, the Lenovo W550s beats them all out with a crazy 15:54 life, thanks to its 3-cell and 6-cell 72 watt-hour batteries.
1003434 battery (pic 4)

Graphics

The HP ZBook 15u G2 comes with an AMD FirePro M4170 GPU, which is competent, but not the fastest on the market. On the 3DMark Fire Strike graphics benchmark test, the system scored 1,461, which is on a par with the Lenovo W550s (1,457 with Nvidia Quadro K620M graphics) but isn't nearly as good as the MSI WS60 (1,649 with Nvidia Quadro K2100M graphics). 
In World of Warcraft, the ZBook 15u notched 22 frames per second at 1920 x 1080 on full settings. That's the worst of the bunch, with the MSI WS60 (44 fps) and the Lenovo W550s (36 fps) both performing better at the same settings.

Software and Warranty

My review model of the HP ZBook 15u G2 came with Windows 7 Professional 64, but it's also available with Windows 8. It also has programs such as HP Client Security for software- and hardware-level protection of your information, and HP Drive Encryption. HP Performance Advisor lets you fine-tune your device's settings based on your most popular applications.
The ZBook 15u comes with HP's standard 3-year limited warranty, which covers parts, labor and online service.
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2015年7月10日星期五

Review of HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2

Advantages of HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2:
Bright, vibrant display; Thinner and lighter than competition; Useful fingerprint scanner 

 Disadvantages of HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2:
Touchpad has no tactile feedback; Expensive, given its performance


 HP's EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 is a sleek and strong 14-inch business laptop that's lighter than the competition, but the touchpad falls flat. 

Design

Thin, dark gray and curved at the corners, the sleek HP EliteBook 1040 G2 was designed to fit easily into your travels. Its aluminum-alloy lid prominently features HP's logo, also seen on the bezel below the display. When you open the 1040 G2, you see a wide speaker on the deck, with the webcam and microphones above.

Durability

With an aluminum-alloy deck, the HP 1040 G2 feels strong and durable enough to survive life on the road. The keyboard is spill-resistant, so it can take a few ounces of water, provided you drain it immediately.

Display

The 1040 G2's 14-inch full-HD (1920 x 1080) screen wowed me with rich, lush colors. The pageantry of the early scenes of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire looked great, from the greens of the grassy estate lawns to the orange sparks of Katniss' costume at the start of the games. Dark corners of the abandoned homes also came through well, looking very saturated on the 1040 G2.
The screen rendered 105.4 percent of the sRGB gamut (where 100 percent is a good score), giving it a better range than the Latitude E7450 (91.6 percent), the ThinkPad T450s (100.8 percent) and the category average (77.9 percent). 
The 1040 G2's display also fared well on our Delta E color accuracy test, notching a score of 1.3 (close to 0 is ideal). That's also better than the category average (4.25), the Latitude E7450 (1.48) and the ThinkPad T450s (3.9). 

Security

The 1040 G2 features HP Sure Start, a self-healing solution against BIOS attacks. If Sure Start detects that the notebook's BIOS has been compromised, it will replace it with a clean, secure version, and provide a log of what went wrong. 

Keyboard

With only 1.44 mm of travel and keys that are on the softer and less-clicky side, typing wasn't that enjoyable on the 1040 G2. Using the 10FastFingers typing test, I averaged only 60 words per minute, which is well short of my desktop average score of 67 wpm. The keys on the ThinkPad T450s, which delivered a great typing experience, had 1.9 mm of travel, while the Latitude E7450 had 1.55 mm.
Amazing HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G2 laptop battery:

Picture explain: 1003670 battery (pic 1)
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2015年7月1日星期三

Review of Lenovo ThinkPad X250 laptop

Advantages of Lenovo ThinkPad X250 laptop:

 Long battery life with extended  Lenovo ThinkPad X250 laptop battery; Comfortable keyboard; Accurate touchpad and pointing stick; Solid performance; Plenty of ports

 Disadvantages of Lenovo ThinkPad X250 laptop:

 Bland screen colors; Tinny sound; Middling endurance with default battery

 Conclusion:

 Lenovo's 12.5-inch ThinkPad X250 fits epic battery life, a sharp display and a snappy keyboard into a lightweight, durable package.

The ThinkPad X250 has Lenovo's simple but classy ThinkPad aesthetic, with a raven-black lid, deck, sides and bottom. The red TrackPoint pointing stick and silver ThinkPad logos on the deck and lid provide a splash of color.

 At 12.03 x 8.21 x 0.8 inches, Lenovo's 12-inch ultraportable isn't the thinnest laptop on the market, but its girth allows it to provide strong battery life and all the ports you need, a worthwhile trade-off. During my testing, the X250 slipped into my bag easily and felt very comfortable in my hand as I carried it around the office.

 Like other ThinkPads, the X250 is designed to withstand some punishment. Its carbon-fiber- reinforced plastic lid and glass-fiber-reinforced plastic bottom allow it to pass 11 MIL-SPEC durability tests, including those for extreme temperatures, pressure, vibrations and dust.

 The ThinkPad X250 offers a better typing experience than most notebooks on the market, with a good tactile feel and a lightly curved key shape. Because of the snappy feedback, I scored 95 words per minute on the typing test, which is my typical rate. The keys have a solid 1.8mm of travel and require 56 grams of actuation force, which is excellent. However, the 14-inch ThinkPad T450s' keyboard is even snappier, providing 1.9mm of travel and 63 grams of actuation force.

 Like other ThinkPads, the ThinkPad X250 offers both a TrackPoint pointing stick and a traditional touchpad. Though it's not for everyone, I prefer the TrackPoint because it provides extremely accurate navigation and lets me keep my hands on the home row. While some business notebooks from Dell, HP and Toshiba also have pointing sticks, the competitors' nubs just aren't as comfortable or accurate as Lenovo's TrackPoints. The X250's TrackPoint has its own trio of mouse buttons, which is a big improvement over the X240, which built these buttons into the top of its touchpad.

 The ThinkPad X250 has four different screen options: 1366 x 768; 1366 x 768 with IPS; 1920 x 1080 nontouch (also IPS); and 1920 x 1080 with touch but less brightness. Our review unit's 1920 x 1080 IPS touch screen offered sharp images and plenty of screen real estate, but dull colors and middling viewing angles.

 The notebook's speakers were loud enough to fill an office, but I didn't enjoy listening to music on them. When I played the bass-heavy "Forget Me Nots," the drum-laden "Uptown Funk" and the guitar-centric "Holy Diver," the sound was tinny, flat and downright unpleasant. The included Dolby Digital Plus software allowed me to choose from different sound profiles, such as Movies or Music. Enabled by default, it added some depth to the audio as the music sounded even worse when I turned Dolby off.

 Amazing Lenovo ThinkPad X250 laptop battery:

 1003489 battery (pic 4)

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