Scientists question if wi-fi laptops can damage sperm/BBC News

Scientists are questioning if using wi-fi on a laptop to roam the internet could harm a man's fertility, after lab work suggested ejaculated sperm were significantly damaged after only four hours of exposure.
The benchside tests showed sperm were less able to swim and had changes in the genetic code that they carry.

Experts stress this does not mean the same would occur in a real-life setting and say men should not worry unduly.
But they are recommending more studies.
The preliminary research, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, looked at semen samples from 29 healthy donors.
Each donor sample was separated out into two pots. One of these pots was then stored for four hours next to a laptop that was wirelessly connected to the internet. The other was stored under identical conditions, minus the laptop.
The scientists, from Argentina and the US, suspect that the effect seen is unrelated to the heat kicked out by a laptop, although heat can damage sperm.
Under investigation

The UK's Health Protection Agency has been closely monitoring the safety of wi-fi.
It says people using wi-fi, or those in the proximity of wi-fi equipment, are exposed to the radio signals it emits - and some of the transmitted energy in the signals is absorbed in their bodies.
However, the signals are very low power.
The HPA says there is no consistent evidence to date that exposure to radio signals from wi-fi adversely affects the health of the general population.

UK fertility expert Dr Allan Pacey, senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: "The study is very well conducted, but we should be cautious about what it may infer about the fertility of men who regularly use laptops with wi-fi on their laps.
"Ejaculated sperm are particularly sensitive to many factors because outside the body they don't have the protection of the other cells, tissues and fluids of the body in which they are stored before ejaculation. Therefore, we cannot infer from this study that because a man might use a laptop with wi-fi on his lap for more than four hours then his sperm will necessarily be damaged and he will be less fertile.
"We need large epidemiological studies to determine this, and to my knowledge these have not yet been performed."

He said men should still be cautious about balancing a laptop on their thighs for hours on end.
"We know from other studies that the bottom of laptops can become incredibly hot and inadvertent testicular heating is a risk factor for poor sperm quality.
"There is a case report of a man who burnt his penis after using a laptop resting on his lap for a long time. Therefore, there are many reasons to try and use a laptop on a table where possible, and this may in itself ameliorate any theoretical concerns about wi-fi."

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Top 10 Most Expensive Laptops in the World

Most people do not spend too much money on their personal computers or laptops. The majority of people would typically rather have a big house,a nice convertible car,the most wanted cellphone or a Plasma HDTV.  Some people though can only accomplish their goals through expensive computer systems, often known as superlaptops. Let’s see a top of the ten most expensive laptops in the world :

10. Acer Ferrari 1100: $3000

It’s built with ultralight design that wear resistant carbon fiber chassis. The laptop is built using AMD Turion X2 Dual Core CPU, 4 GB of RAM and of course all other features like Wifi. With the good specification of hardware, it’s hoped that it will get the maximal speed like Ferrari car. It’s a worthed buying with $ 3000.

9. Dell M6400: $3000

It’s featured with Intel Core 2 Quad Core Extreme Edition Processors. The reason of using this laptop is for ripping complex analysis that need large data and graphics memory as the laptop have 16 GB of 1066 MHZ DDR 3 Memory for data as well as 1 GB of graphics memory. You won’t think that this laptop is the same as the low priced dell in all aspect. The price of this notebook reaches $3,000.

8. Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV660: $3500

The special thing about this laptop is can handle HD DVD. The laptop is powered by 2.0 GHZ Core 2 Duo, 240 GB RAID 0 HDD and Nvidia GeForce Go 7600. This is the first laptop computer that utilize with HD DVD player with 17 inch screen in 1920 x 1200 resolution.

7. Lenovo ThinkPad W700DS: $4500

The additional dispaly is very useful for excel and CAD programs. The display itself is also very high in quality. This laptop is equipped with 2.53 Ghz Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9000, 4 GB RAM, Dual 250 GB 5200 RPM Hard drives. The price is $4,500.

6. Alienware Area 51: $5000

The laptop is using Intel Core 2 Extreme Packs with Nvidia Geforce 9800M GT in dual SLI Configuration with 1 GB in graphic performance. This laptop has 1 TB of storage in high speed RAID 0 configuration. The storage is equipped with a smart bay system that can record HD TV and film with the built in TV tuner. For $5,000 this laptop is very reasonable in price.

5. Rock Extreme SL8: $5000

This laptop is claimed to be the world’s fastest laptop computer with specs of Intel Core 2 Quad Processor, NVIDIA 9800 GPUs in SLI and 8GB of RAM. Equipped with blue ray that can display in high definition.

4. Voodoo Envy H:171: $8500

The specifications of the laptop are Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, 4 GB of RAM, twin Nvidia Quadro FX Go 2500M graphics chipset, 1.3 Megapixel webcam, dual 250 GB hard diskk, 7 in 1 memory card reader, dual layer DVD RW drive and high resolution 17 inch 1920 x 1200 display.

3. Ego for Bentley: $20,000

The laptop can match the color of the Bentley car. This laptop usually bring by rich women that can spend $20.000 just for fashion purpose. For your intention this laptop just use 64 bit for vista and 160 GB Hard Disk.

2. Tulip E-Go Diamond: $355,000

The grip of the laptop can be replaced with white gold and diamonds. The price of this laptop can reach $355,000. Don’t ask about performace as this is the same as usual laptop. It’s just 12 antiglare screen display, 2 GB of RAM, 160 GB Hard disk, integrated webcam, bluetooth 2.0 and DVD burner

1. Luvaglio One Million Dollar Laptop: $1,000,000

This laptop is also designed so the owner can upgrade the hardware themself. This laptop is equipped with 128 solid State drive, MP3 player, built in USB stick and equipped with “integrated screen cleaning feature”.

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Special Gadgets/Nokia Booklet 3G

While Nokia might not be the first name you'd think of when shopping for a new netbook, the company is looking to change that with the Nokia Booklet 3G ($TBA). Running what looks like Windows 7, the Booklet offers solid specs, including an Intel Atom processor, a 10-inch HD display, integrated A-GPS, 3G/HSPA, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, a built-in SD card reader, HDMI output, webcam, an impressive 12-hour battery, and stylish aluminum chassis.

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Acer reveals Aspire S3 Ultrabook/ Review

Acer has announced its first dip into the Ultrabook market at this year's IFA. A more obvious leaning towards the trend-setting MacBook Air design than Toshiba's Portégé Z830 notebook, the Aspire S3 will come with a choice of second generation Intel Core processors, either solid state or hybrid hard drive storage and promises an impressive battery life. We got up close and personal with the pre-production models on show in Berlin, but were left less than impressed.

Externally, the light aluminum/magnesium alloy chassis and the fingerprint-free metal finish lid of the new Aspire S3 from Acer certainly gives it the look of Apple's classy, super-thin notebook. Despite this durable appearance, we found that there was a lot of "give" in numerous places and the frequent handling by tech journalists had taken its toll on the hinge of one of the show models, too, which was very loose and caused the upper lid to fall backwards of its own accord. Such issues may be rectified in the production models, but it's something to keep in mind.

The S3 is somewhat thinner than the MacBook Air, and even manages to beat Toshiba's svelte appearance by a couple of millimeters - coming in at just 13 mm (0.51-inch). It's not as light as the Portégé Z830, but still occupies a light featherweight position at just 3 pounds (1.4 kg).
The Aspire S3 has a 13.3-inch, high definition, LED-backlit display and will be powered by a choice of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors, with storage offered as either a 240GB SSD or 320GB/500GB HDD with embedded SSD to cater for fast startup. Acer is making a big play over its Acer Green Instant On technology, which may result in users putting their S3's into sleep rather than switching off given that standby battery life is claimed to be in the region of 50 days.
If the Ultrabook is just having a light snooze, Instant On is said to wake the device to full operation in just 1.5 seconds, while a Deep Sleep takes a touch longer at 6 seconds. Acer goes on to say that Instant Connect will get users online in a super fast 2.5 seconds. Once up and running, the battery is claimed to offer some 7 hours of usage between charges.

A new airflow design (including fan optimization) is said to dissipate warm air away from the rear of the notebook, Acer saying that any warm components have been positioned away from where the user has contact with the notebook so users won't feel any heat discomfort.
Other specs detailed include cinema-style surround sound audio courtesy of Dolby Home Theater v4, an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam for high resolution video conferencing or online chat over an 802.11b/g/n wireless connection, Bluetooth 4.0, a 2-in-1 media card reader, a full-size HDMI out port and some USB ports.
The Aspire S3 Ultrabook also features a full-size chiclet-style keyboard, which we found rather strange to use because of the short travel to the keys. We also noticed that the steady stream of IFA attendees wanting to get their hands on Acer's new baby had left its mark on the space bar on one of the demonstration units, which barely functioned at all. The plastic trackpad that sits underneath also left us seriously wanting given the spacious glass offering on the MacBook Air.

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Samsung Series 9/ Review

STARTING PRICE : $1649

Samsung's Series 9 laptop isn't the first Windows-bearing PC to try to steal Apple's MacBook Air limelight.  At less than three pounds and 0.7 inch thick, the Series 9 gets the hardware part right, and narrows the price gap a little. The Series 9 is costlier than the competing 13-inch MacBook Air with a starting price of $1649 (compared with Apple's $1299), but it offers mostly superior hardware and is eminently usable.

EDGE OVER MACBOOK AIR

The biggest advantage that Samsung's slim wonder has over the Air is in the processor. Apple is still using a two-generations-old Core 2 Duo, while the Series 9 comes equipped with a new "Sandy Bridge" Core i5 2537M. So, while the default clock speed of the Air is 1.86GHz (with a 2.13GHz option available), and the ultralow-voltage CPU in the Series 9 is only 1.4GHz, the Samsung laptop is actually a bit faster. Some of this is due to architectural differences between the old Intel chip and the new one, and some of it is because the Core i5 2537M allows for Turbo Mode speeds up to 2.3GHz. Also note that while Apple gives you 2GB of RAM, Samsung includes 4GB.

Battery life is quite decent for a laptop this thin. It lasted 5.5 hours,  half an hour longer than the 13-inch MacBook Air. The Series 9 comes standard with a 128GB SSD, just as the Air does, and this really helps the system to feel responsive and quick, to boot up fast, and to resume Windows, when you open the lid, in less than three seconds.

EDGED BY MACBOOK AIR

 The Series 9 falls a bit short when it comes to 3D gaming, relying on Intel's HD Graphics 3000 to push pixels. There's a huge improvement over previous Intel integrated graphics, but it's still not powerful enough to run the latest games without severely compromising visual quality. Older games, and simple casual games, work great. Performance is actually quite similar to the integrated Nvidia GeForce 320M found in the MacBook Air. Intel's new integrated graphics does a great job with video decoding, so even hi-def material plays smoothly.

DESIGN

 Samsung says its handsome brushed-metal exterior is made from Duralumin, an aluminum alloy first made for rigid airships and planes. That may or may not be a bunch of marketing hooey, but the system is definitely attractive and feels stiff and sturdy, with very little flex in the main body. The 13.3-inch LED backlit screen stands as one of the laptop's best features. The 1366 by 768 resolution is appropriate for its size, but it's the vibrant colors, excellent viewing angles, bright backlight, and matte antiglare finish that really make it stand out. That's right: It's a colorful, bright screen on a high-style laptop that doesn't leave you staring at reflections of yourself all day!

FEATURES

The full-size keyboard is quite easy to type on. There isn't a lot of travel to the keys, but they have a distinct "clicky" feel and are all sized and spaced so that touch-typists can easily achieve their full speed without errors. The touchpad is less fantastic. It's a huge, buttonless clickpad that has a nice smooth feel and tracks quite well, but it's just too sensitive. Even after tweaking the Synaptics driver, I found the cursor occasionally jumped around a bit, or the palm-cancellation would briefly fail when I was typing. All the fancy multifinger gesture controls in the world don't make up for a clickpad that sometimes does what you didn't want it to do. Things go more smoothly after a period of adjustment, but the overtouchy clickpad was definitely the one usability sore spot in my testing.

Port space is extremely limited on a laptop this thin, and Samsung mostly does a good job with what it gives you. You have a USB 2.0 port on each side, one of which is a "sleep-and-charge" port that can power your devices while the laptop is asleep. You also get a Mini HDMI output port, a combination headphone/mic jack, and a microSD card slot. That last one is a bit unfortunate--it looks like there's room for a full SD card slot, and that format would have been much more useful for importing photos from digital cameras. The MacBook Air and Series 9 are too slim to fit the RJ45 jack necessary for an ethernet plug, but while Apple just does without it, Samsung's got your back: A slim proprietary port on the left side is for plugging in an included, short port-to-ethernet dongle.

APPLICATIONS & SOFTWARES

Preinstalled software is relatively minimal, thankfully. You get trials of Norton Internet Security and Online Backup, a few casual games from WildTangent, plus Skype and CyberLink YouCam. Samsung includes its own emergency system restore software as well as a simple Control Center that's a one-stop shop to adjust brightness, join Wi-Fi networks, enable or disable Bluetooth, and so on. In short, you don't have a tray full of useless junk eating through all your precious RAM and processor cycles, and I didn't feel the need to clean the fluff out of this brand-new computer.

CONCLUSION

Samsung is clearly trying to make a statement here, creating a high-concept halo product that will attract customers to its brand even if they can't stomach the price of the Series 9. Is it worth the $1600-and-up asking price? For the average person, no. You're certainly paying for style here, and you can get considerably better performance for the price or get the same performance in a less impressive body for a lot less money. It actually stacks up well against the MacBook Air in terms of value. Sure, it's $350 more, but you get a faster processor, a matte screen, an ethernet jack, and twice the RAM.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X220/Review

 It's fast and light,  has a great 12.5-inch display, and it continues the company's tradition of superb input ergonomics, offering an innovative buttonless touchpad and a long-stroke keyboard. It also provides excellent battery life  with a bottom-mounted battery slice. The laptop's boxy, businesslike appearance and somewhat cluttered keyboard deck might lack the sex appeal some users are looking for.

Exact prices for the various ThinkPad X220 configurations are unavailable but its starting price should be $979, with additional costs for better CPUs, solid-state drives instead of standard hard drives, and more RAM. CPUs range from an Intel Core i3 to a Core i7, the unit accepts up to 8GB of system memory, and storage options start with a 160GB hard drive and end with a 160GB SSD. The aforementioned 12.5-inch, 1366-by-768-pixel display is available in two flavors: one with an IPS panel for wider viewing angles, and one without.  Performance for any task outside of enthusiast gaming and high-end 3D workstation applications is of no concern with the X220.

Some of the keys are a tad odd on the ThinkPad X220, such as the extralarge Esc and Delete keys above the main alphabetical keys. However, unlike other vendors' keyboard quirks, they help, not hinder your typing. As usual for Lenovo, the long-throw feel of the keyboard is nothing short of excellent. The touchpad is a buttonless design--you press down on the left or right front edge to click, which makes it easier to use than standard buttons when you're using the thumb and forefinger of one hand. Two normal buttons sit above the touchpad, and Lenovo's TrackPoint eraserhead pointing device is also in attendance. Mute buttons for the dual microphones and the 720p Webcam join the volume rocker and ThinkVantage (toolbox) buttons at the top of the keyboard deck.

The X220's battery life is outstanding, and you can enhance it with options.  You may also opt for three-cell and nine-cell main batteries, for less weight or longer run times respectively, and add a bottom-mounted $179 battery slice. The slide adds 0.4 inch of thickness but nearly doubles battery life to over 14.5 hours. For world travelers, the extra 1.6 pounds of weight and bulk will be an acceptable trade-off.

The ports and connectivity on the X220 are top-notch. The system has three USB ports, one of which is powered (for charging cell phones and the like) even when the laptop isn't turned on. Optionally, with the i7 CPU, one port can be USB 3.0. You'll also find an ExpressCard slot, an SD Card slot, a Wi-Fi switch, a VGA port, and a gigabit ethernet port. A dock is available with a multiformat burner, Bluetooth is on board, and the Wi-Fi is dual-band 802.11n (2.4GHz and 5GHz). Our test laptop arrived with IBM's biometric finger-swipe sensor to facilitate security.

If there's anything you should be wary of with the X220, it's the number of "value-added" applications and unnecessary background processes. The Windows 7 Professional operating system has just about every software feature you need for a laptop, yet on our machine a quick glance at the Windows Task Manager revealed nearly 90 processes running and almost 30 percent memory usage--without one user application running. One or two of the background apps are worthwhile, such as the Bluetooth manager or the tool that shuts down the hard drive in case of a fall, but additional battery meters and Wi-Fi handlers are generally useless. A trial version of Norton Internet Security and Microsoft Office 2010 Starter are bundled.

ThinkPad users won't find anything mind-blowingly different about this latest addition to the X2xx series, but the improvements are noticeable and all enhance the usability of the system. If you're not looking for a supersexy laptop, or if you're trying to get away on the cheap, the Lenovo ThinkPad X220 is the best thing going in an ultraportable.
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Pros

• Lightweight, with great battery endurance and options
• Excellent performance and ergonomics

Cons

• Comes overloaded with background apps

Bottom Line

Fast and light, with great input ergonomics and battery life, this powerhouse ultraportable is best-of-breed, though its old-school looks may not appeal to everyone.
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Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78 3D Laptop/REVIEW

The good: The Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78 is a stereoscopic 3D laptop with excellent CPU performance and high-end graphics. The Nvidia 3D Vision system works as advertised. Tons of RAM and hard-drive space and a Blu-ray-RW drive are part of a big feature list.

The bad: Bulky and heavy, this isn't a laptop that's ever likely to leave a desk--especially with its unsurprisingly poor battery life.

The bottom line: Those in the market to spend more than $1,000 and get a 3D-enabled, Blu-ray-equipped laptop with plenty of horsepower for games should strongly consider Toshiba's latest high-end Qosmio. It's not cheap or portable by any means, but it's certainly powerful.

The $1,899 Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV78 is bulky, heavy (8 pounds), and expensive, but it's also got top-of-the-line features. A quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, powerful Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 graphics, and dual hard drives with a combined 1.25TB capacity come wrapped in a chassis that's--no joke--smaller and lighter than previous Qosmios, although still far larger than any average laptop.

This particular Qosmio also comes packaged with Nvidia 3D Vision technology  and a pair of Nvidia 3D active-shutter glasses. Both look good on the large 17.3-inch 1,920x1,080-pixel display, or either can be output to a 3D-compatible HDTV with Nvidia 3DTV Play software.

The Qosmio X775-3DV78 won't leave your desk much, even if it's slightly smaller than previous Qosmios. The value of 3D entertainment is also up for debate--honestly, even in the years since 3D laptops were introduced, it's never been more than a high-end novelty, although Nvidia 3D Vision does work (to varying degrees) with most mainstream games and 3D Blu-ray movies.

Price as reviewed	$1,899
Processor	2.0GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM
Memory	8GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
Hard drive	1.25TB (500GB HDD, 7,200rpm + 750GB HDD, 5,400rpm)
Graphics	Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M
Operating system	Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Dimensions (WD)	16.3x10.8 inches
Height	1.4 inches
Screen size (diagonal)	17.3 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	8.0 pounds / 10.3 pounds
Category	Desktop replacement

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Dell Vostro 1015 /Review

Dell Vostro 1015 The affordable 15.6" Vostro 1015 is packed with great technology to help keep you connected,Productivity-Boosting Features: Intel A CoreTM 2 Duo processors and energy-efficient WLED screen,Excellent Wireless Connectivity: Next-generation draft Wireless-N Wi-Fi helps reduce dead spots so you can connect wherever your business takes you.

Introduction

Dell Vostro 1015 (Black) is a bold member of the Vostro line with a sturdy and smart chassis and a 15" screen suitable as a desktop replacement for both multimedia viewing and all kinds of computing work. 

Unique design

Vostro laptops are constructed with an absolute tough material for long term use and are designed to withstand daily wear and tear. Though the laptop does not fall into the thin and light category, it has good ergonomics and the chassis is wrapped in classic black and silver to suit your lifestyle. The 1015 includes a 15.6" WLED Widescreen for crisp viewing. The keyboard has a nice matte texture with proper spacing. A quick to respond touchpad with same matte texture along with a slight hint of metal flake is present. Many touch-sensitive media buttons having blue LED backlights have their position located right above the keyboard.

Core technology

The affordable 15.6-inch Vostro 1015 Laptop is power-packed with cutting edge technology and like all laptops it is also designed to offer workhouse performance. With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and energy-efficient WLED screen, it is meant for faster multitasking. The configuration of the Vostro 1015 with 4GB RAM; 250 HDD and Intel GMA integrated graphics performs adequately. Genuine Windows 7 Home Basic comes preloaded here and this configuration will meet or exceed the need for daily computing work.

Flexible connectivity

You can keep in touch and stay connected with wireless connectivity and take advantage of video conferencing capability. Connectivity options include 4 USB ports, Express Card slot, Slot-loading optical drive, VGA, Ethernet, Fire wire, microphone jack, headphone out and 5 IN 1media card reader. Both wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are placed on board. You can do videoconferencing online with the integrated 1.3 megapixel camera and digital microphone. The speaker quality is on par with notebooks of this size and price range. The battery delivers around 3 hours of battery life.

Cons

The absence of HDMI port comes as a great disappointment.

Verdict

Overall, this Dell Laptop is a solid budget notebook with neat looks and decent performance. It comes with Dell?s reliability and service warranty if you are looking for a mainstream laptop with modest gaming capabilities, then it surely will be a wise choice for you.

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Toshiba Portege R835-P56X/Review

Nearly physically identical to the R700, the new models add current-gen Intel CPUs, along with USB 3.0, while keeping the same magnesium alloy chassis and thin, lightweight design. The biggest surprise is the vastly improved battery life, topping 7 hours, and beating even the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

A few different configurations include or exclude Bluetooth or Intel's Wireless Display technology, or drop to a slower Core i3 processor, so check the features list carefully, especially as the price difference between most configs is only about $30.

Much like last year's R700 series, the R835 has a subtle dark blue tint to its brushed-metal magnesium alloy chassis. The body feels sturdy despite its light weight, but this is not nearly as thin as Samsung's Series 9 or the MacBook Air--both of which are much more expensive. Sadly, this new version keeps the one visual element we disliked last time: the overly chromed screen hinges, which just look cheap.

The keyboard, like most current consumer laptop keyboards, uses flat, widely spaced island-style keys, except these keys are slightly more rectangular than most, which may throw off touch typists. This does, however, leave more room for the oversize touch pad, which is close to what you'd see on a MacBook, except with a pair of large standalone left and right mouse buttons.

Toshiba's keyboards typically have a vertical row of dedicated page-up, page-down, home, and end keys along the right side. This makes them easy to find, but at the same time pushes the Enter and Right Shift keys in from where you'd instinctively expect them to be. Media control buttons, volume, mute, etc., can also be hard to find, relegated to alternate F-key assignments and indicated on dark gray on black keys. Like the R705, the R835 lacks a backlit keyboard; for $900 it should be a standard feature. Despite these flaws, the R835 still offers an excellent overall typing and touch pad experience.

Returning for the second year is a handful of custom Toshiba software utilities. ReelTime displays recent documents and Web pages in thumbnail form along the bottom of the screen, and Bulletin Board combines photos and notes in a single workspace. Both are slick, usable programs, but they're proprietary and require a time investment in learning them, which you may not want to bother with unless you're dedicated to using only Toshiba computers.

The 13.3-inch LED display has a native resolution of 1,366x768 pixels--roughly comparable with the MacBook's 1,280x800 pixels, but less than the 1,440x900-pixel 13-inch display found in the 13-inch MacBook Air. Though bright, the off-axis viewing angles on the R835 weren't great, and we've never been impressed with the onboard audio in the Portege laptops.

With a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M, 4GB of RAM,and a 640GB 5,400rpm hard drive, our Portege R835 ran slightly behind the newest Sandy Bridge Core i5 MacBook Pro, by a small amount in single-app tests, but by a larger margin in our multitasking test. Both outperformed Samsung's 9 Series 13-inch, which also has a new Intel CPU, but of the low-voltage variety. While the Series 9 is thinner and all-around sexier, the Portege R835 was much faster than the Samsung in all of our tests. It's also worth noting that you could almost buy two Portege R835 laptops for the cost of a single Samsung Series 9.

The latest Intel integrated graphics are better than those from last year, but that still won't make this a great option as a dedicated gaming machine. In our older Unreal Tournament III test, the game ran at 63.9 frames per second at 1,366x768 pixels, which is respectable. But in a newer game, Street Fighter IV, we got 27 frames per second at the same resolution, just short of playable.

Battery life is really where the Portege R835 shines. Last year's R705 model ran for 3 hours and 56 minutes on our video playback battery drain test, which was decent, but not spectacular. Thanks, we suspect, to Intel's more efficient new processors, the R800 series model ran for 7 hours and 1 minute, beating even the 13-inch MacBook Pro (if only by 19 minutes).

Many laptops claim long battery life in this ballpark, but that's typically under a series of unrealistic power conditions designs to fudge the numbers. That makes our results even more impressive, as our battery test can be especially grueling.

Toshiba includes an industry-standard one-year parts and labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, and a customized support search page can direct you to online documents and driver downloads for this specific model.

The good: With a new Intel Core i5 CPU, sharp design, and nearly all-day battery life, the Toshiba Portege R835 is a smartly priced alternative to the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The bad: Intel's integrated graphics are better than they used to be, but still not gamer-friendly, and features such as Bluetooth and mobile broadband are missing from some configs.

The bottom line: With three more hours of battery life over last year's model, Toshiba's new R800 series of Portege laptops are hard to beat, even in the highly competitive 13-inch laptop category.

System configurations:

Toshiba Portege R835-P56X

Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated)/1696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm

Processor: 2nd Gen Core i5 Intel i5-2410M / 2.3 GHz ( 2.9 GHz ) ( Dual-Core )

Memory: 4 GB / 8 GB (max)

Hard Drive: 640 GB - Serial ATA-300 - 5400 rpm

Display Type: 13.3 in TFT active matrix

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition

Price as reviewed / starting price : $929 / $899

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SPECIAL GADGETS/Razer Blade – The World’s First True Gaming Laptop

Gamers will get to make up their own minds at Penny Arcade Expo this weekend, where PC gaming manufacturer Razer is showing off its first gaming laptop. The Razer Blade is a high-powered, portable Windows 7-based laptop priced at $2,800 and targeted for the market later this year.

Borrowing a page from Apple’s minimalistic MacBook Pro laptops, Razer’s managed to make an all matte 17.3-inch laptop with a 1080p resolution that combines gorgeous design, portability and uber power in a chassis less than one inch thick and weighs under seven pounds. Based on an Intel Core i7-2640M CPUs (clocked at 2.8 GHz), the notebook measures 17.3 inches and has an LCD with a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels (Full HD). 8 GB of RAM are present, as is an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M discrete graphics card, whose own dedicated memory is 2 GB. It also sports a 320-gigabyte hard drive, wireless connectivity and built-in webcam. The sleek computer’s top is emblazoned with the company’s snake logo.

And then there’s the rest of the Razer Blade’s unique design, like its Switchblade User Interface. According to Razer, it’s composed of 10 dynamic adaptive tactile keys for easier access of in-game commands, and an LCD capable of two modes: one mode that displays in-game information when a mouse is in use; and another mode that functions as an ultra-sensitive, multi-touch panel designed for gaming on the go. But it can also be used to display whatever else you’d like. Want to watch a hint video on YouTube while you’re still playing the game? Chat with friends on Twitter? You can do it on the small screen, without having to multitask on the monitor.

We designed a product for ourselves — for gamers, by gamers. Compared with current gaming laptops, the Razer Blade is thinner and lighter: The key for us was to have something that was so portable, that you could pull it out of your bag with a single hand and be something you could bring along with you. And not only is this thinner than the Alienware (laptops), but by the time we were done (designing) it, it is thinner than a MacBook Pro and more powerful. It’s the most powerful and thinnest 17-inch laptop today, said Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan at a preview event.

In short, the Razer Blade is a powerful, lightweight, portable gaming machine with a unique keyboard and layout. Is it enough to shake up the PC gaming landscape?

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Toshiba Portege Z830 Ultrabook Billed as World’s Lightest 13-inch Laptop

The flow of announcements of light and thin Ultrabooks is starting to strengthen after yesterday’s Lenovo’s IdeaPad U300s and today’s introduction from Acer of its Aspire S3.

So, what does the series of Toshiba Portege Z830s announced Thursday offer that these other Ultrabooks don’t? Toshiba claims the Z830 is the lightest 13.3-inch laptop in this class at less than 2.5 pounds.

Toshiba’s Z830 announcement states that the company has shaved about 20% of the weight and 40% of the thickness in the laptops from the Portege R830 Series-- which was already pretty svelte--for the Z830.

While the Portege Z830 has a slim 0.63-inch profile, it lacks the unibody design of the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s and is less of an Apple MacBook-Air clone than other Ultrabooks.

Priced at Under $1000

However, you may find a Portege Z830 more attractive just for its sub-$1,000 starting price, that magical price point Intel sold us on for this new class of ultraportable laptops. Toshiba may have managed that low price by sticking a relatively small 128GB SSD in its Ultrabook.

If you can live with the smaller storage capacity and are looking for the (self-proclaimed) lightest 13-incher available, you can pick up the Portege Z830 starting in November.

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SpaceBook, the World's First Dual 17-inch Screen Notebook announced

One of the things that keep a lot of people from working happily on a notebook is that many of them lack the screen space people get used to with a home or office on a desktop.

However, there are a few ways to get a larger screen on your notebook. You can use an external DisplayPort or HDMI monitor and there are some portable USB monitors as well. Another option has surfaced from a company called gScreen known as the SpaceBook. The notebook is the world's first dual display 17-inch notebook.

Each of the 17-inch screens has a 1920 x 1080 resolution and they sit side by side on the notebook. The machine allows you to 50% more work done than on a typical 17-inch notebook. The screens can be had with a glossy or a matte finish. The notebook weighs in at about ten pounds making it about three pounds more than the typical 17-inch notebook computer.

Inside, the machine features Windows 7, a Intel Core i7 processor with quad cores, 8GB of memory, and a 500GB HDD. A discrete NVIDIA GPU is included and the machine has a webcam, HDMI output, and a Super DVD drive.

The customer can also get the Trade-Back program free on the notebook. This program allows the user to trade their current SpaceBook in for a 50% discount on a new SpaceBook when the next version launches.

Microsoft's, Ben Rudolph reviewed the SpaceBook, stating, "...when I run across something that’s truly groundbreaking, something totally unique and never seen before, I get excited. Like really, really excited. And that’s exactly how I felt when I first got to use the gScreen... SpaceBook. The SpaceBook is unlike any laptop before it. Rather than have a single display, it has two that slide out from the center to create and amazing panorama display. Both panels are 17” full HD (1920 x 1080) glass, available in either a glossy or matte finish. It’s a really amazing design that’s really functional; the panels slide open and closed very easily."

The 17” SpaceBook will start shipping to buyers in November with prices starting at $1,899.

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