Reviews Of Laptops And 2-In-1 PCs
Laptop PCs and 2-in-1 convertible tablet/laptop devices are the cornerstone personal computing systems for getting both work and play done on the road. From the big gun firepower of gaming laptops and desktop replacement machines, to ultra-lights and hybrids, we've got you covered here for what's hot in mobile computing.
Dell’s Alienware gaming team impressed us with its Area 51 desktop earlier this year and we’ve been impatiently awaiting the 2015 version of the Alienware 15 mobile gamer ever since. The laptop is finally here, and there’s a twist: Instead of sending a money-is-no-object configuration (like it did with the Area 51)...
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AMD previously only teased bits of detail regarding their forthcoming 6th Generation A-Series APU, code named "Carrizo." We heard from AMD about this next generation, highly integrated mobile architecture as far back as CES 2015 in January and then again in February and more recently with AMD's HSA (Heterogenous...
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Asus unveiled its latest addition to the Transformer series at CES in January, the Transformer Book Chi. Available in three sizes, the new Transformer Book Chi Series features a 2-in-1 detachable laptop design. Their flagship Transformer Book T300 Chi offers a 12.5-inch screen, an Intel Core M processor, and a fanless cooling solution. The...
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Asus announced the super slim Zenbook UX305 during the IFA trade show in Berlin in September. This ultrabook will be available in two models: one with a 1920x1080 IPS display and one with a QHD+ display that boasts a resolution of 3200x1800. Asus claims the latter model is the world’s slimmest 13.3-inch QHD+ laptop. The UX305 is powered by...
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Dell took the wraps off a fresh, new revamp of their popular XPS 13 ultrabook line, out at CES in Las Vegas last week. The new machine was widely considered best-of-show for core computing products and racked-up awards left and right from major publications, including accolades from us here. Dell seemingly hit all the...
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The PC laptop market is a funny place. Good laptops are fairly easy to find, but great laptops are staggeringly rare. This is true even at the boutique end of the market, where manufacturers have a tendency to choose powerful components, but cram them into a chassis that can't handle the heat without sounding like a jet turbine, or pick...
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NVIDIA holds the lion's share of the market in mobile graphics hardware, but it's not the only competitor. When Alienware asked if we'd be interested in looking at a notebook based on AMD's top-end R9 M290X in a single-GPU configuration, we agreed. This system is based on exactly the same hardware and chassis as the Alienware 18-inch model...
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Intel's 4th generation Core processors, based on the company's Haswell microarchitecture, have done good things for ultrabooks this year. Thanks to Haswell, Ultrabooks have moved much closer to Intel’s original vision of thin, light, low-power (but still powerful) systems that eschew outdated components and usher in new...
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Let’s just be honest right off the bat: You’re probably not reading our review of this product so much to check out benchmarks and other performance indicators as you are to see if we’ll clarify whether or not Google's strange, new browser-based Chrome OS operating system is really worth investing in. Chrome OS is indeed...
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The Asus Transformer Book T100 packs an impressive list of features into a diminutive chassis and companion keyboard dock. After working with system, it's clear that Asus is hoping to capture lightning in a bottle, for the second time in a row. It's been six years since Asus launched the first Eee PC and kicked off a miniature revolution in...
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Dell has updated its Alienware series of gaming notebooks with the refreshed Alienware 18, and what an update it is. In addition to a new generation of hardware, with both Intel's Haswell and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 780M rumbling under the hood, Alienware has completely redesigned the look of the chassis, keyboard, and touchpad, all of which...
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Calling the Alienware M18x R2 a laptop is like referring to a Harley Davidson as a bicycle. Both have handlebars and ride on two wheels, but when the rubber hits the road, the Harley's going to leave a Schwinn in the rear-view mirror. So it goes with the Alienware system we abducted from Dell. Technically, it's a gaming laptop, but more...
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For all the performance being packed into today’s super-slim ultrabooks, gaming and multimedia are often the weakest links. Most ultrabooks have Intel integrated graphics that aren’t designed to take on graphics-intensive games. Storage space, graphics processing, and display quality can be key areas in many ultrabooks that leave...
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AVADirect should include a bumper sticker with its Clevo P180HM notebook that says, "My desktop replacement beat up your Ultrabook and defiled your MacBook Air." Don't get transfixed on the notion that someone would be silly enough to own both of those ultraslim systems rather than choose one over the other. The point we're trying to make...
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Big, bad and unapologetic. These three words accurately describe the Alienware M18x. Unapologetic about its size, this is a desktop replacement notebook that almost defies the entire category of portable machines. Sure, it's portable, in the sense that you can move it from room to room or perhaps pack it up for a LAN, but you're...
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The Asus line of G73 Stealth notebooks proved to be all-around solid desktop replacements, equally ideal for gaming, multimedia, and productivity. In fact, the Asus G53 and G73 line, from Asus' Repulic of Gamers (ROG) family, has been very successful in the market, praised by press and end users alike. We took a look at the previous generation...
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There's something about the allure of a gaming notebook. Even mainstream users, not necessarily hellbent on frame rates and decked-out designs, can relate to a powerful notebook with striking good looks. It's no wonder that products like Asus' G73 series of notebooks and Alienware's M series, have been some of the most viewed pages...
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With the dust having settled on Intel's staggered Sandy Bridge launch and the early chipset issues having been ironed out, we're finally starting to see PC makers come out with builds based on the Santa Clara chip maker's second generation Core architecture. And if there's a platform ideally suited to showcase what Sandy Bridge is capable...
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Acer is a somewhat understated name in the notebook business, but even though they may not receive the sheer press that Apple, Alienware, Dell and HP do, they're still one of the world's prominent PC makers. Hanging amongst the top five in total PC output is no easy task, and the company's Aspire line has been quietly climbing the charts in...
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Is Intel's Pinetrail platform really all its cracked up to be? We recently took an in-depth look at the 1.8GHz processor / platform, but it's a different thing to take a look at the same thing in a shipping product that's available today to consumers. We have been longing for faster Atom processors, and particularly in recent months, we felt...
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There was a significant influx of CULV based notebooks earlier in the year, due in part to their excellent balance between power, performance, and price. While CULV based machines were a good fit for many users who didn't want to sacrifice much performance for longer battery life, CULV notebooks are being introduced at...
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It's been said for years by industry veterans: a lot can happen in a very short window of time when you're dealing with technology. As soon as one piece of cutting-edge tech makes it to market, the next big thing is just days, weeks or months away. In the netbook realm, that hasn't applied as much. Netbooks haven't evolved nearly as quickly...
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