Acer Aspire One 722 Review

Ever since AMD's Fusion processor made their first appearance in January, the affordable ultraportable category has seen some seriously sweet entrants at enticing prices. Now that Acer has joined the party, along with HP, Sony, and Lenovo, we're seeing a more netbook-like price, undercutting them all with the $379 Aspire One 722. To offer that low price, Acer uses AMD's C Series APU instead of the more powerful E Series. However, this streamlined design (with eye-catching lid) offers more pep than Atom-powered netbooks along with long battery life. Is this bargain machine right for you?

Design

The Aspire One line has a look that's now becoming classic, but we're not complaining. The 722 looks sleek, thanks to the tapered edges and clean lines. The ripple effect on the lid, which evokes a pool of water disturbed by a single stone, is a nice touch. It helps the 722 to stand out without being gaudy. Given this effect, we prefer the aquamarine version of the model, especially as the color extends from the lid to the deck. For those who aren't a fan of blue, the Aspire One 722 also comes in black.
Unfortunately, the glossy lid picks up smudges easily (it doesn't help that we were drawn to touch the ripple all the time). This problem doesn't extend to the deck, where the plastic is matte. Even with the eye-catching color, the overall impression of the notebook under the hood is clean, not busy. Aside from the keyboard and touchpad, there's just the power button on the upper left and the status lights on the lower left.
Measuring 11.2 x 7.9 x 1.0 inches and weighing 3 pounds, the Aspire One 722 is relatively light and portable. At almost half a pound heavier than most netbooks, we did notice the weight in our bag, but we had no problem carrying this ultraportable around all day.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We've always had mixed feelings about Acer's FineTip keyboards, and this one did not impress. The keys lacked good tactile feedback and springiness, and the keyboard flexed noticeably when we typed. This caused us to make more errors than we usually do. We never got comfortable with the layout, but it gets the job done.
By contrast, the large 3.2 x 2.0-inch touchpad on the Aspire One 722 didn't give us any trouble. The matte surface is the same texture as the deck, but it sits in a small indentation, so you can find it by feel. The single mousebar underneath is long enough that we didn't confuse right and left click. We found it responsive and appropriately clicky.

Display and Audio

The Aspire One 722's LED-backlit 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768 resolution display has a glossy finish, though it wasn't too reflective under fluorescent lights. Colors are slightly muted, which is unusual for a glossy screen, and even at 100 percent brightness the panel seems slightly dim. Horizontal viewing angles aren't super wide, but three people sitting together should be able to see the screen without encountering color distortion or darkness. While watching an episode of Murder, She Wrote on Netflix, we found that pushing the display past about 25 degrees (when looking at it head-on) made colors look darker and in shadow, so there isn't a wide vertical range, either.
The two small speakers under the Aspire One 722's front lip don't produce very loud volume - we had to turn the notebook up to 100 percent to get decent audio when playing some Adam Lambert tracks.

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Sony VAIO S VPCSA290X (2011) Review

Sony is so confident that the VAIO S is a superior ultraportable laptop that the company proudly compares the notebook to Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro. And in a lot of ways this notebook is better, thanks to a lighter weight, higher-resolution display, more storage space, and a Blu-ray drive. This $1,399 Core i5 machine also packs switchable AMD graphics and lasts more than five hours on a charge--and that's without the optional battery slice that adds several more hours of juice. Does this 13-incher provide enough bang for your buck to bring down the champ?

Design

Aesthetically, the Sony VAIO S follows a less-is-more path. The notebook's jet-black magnesium lid is highly resistant to fingerprints and smudges. (You can also order this version of the VAIO S in platinum silver.) The chrome-plated VAIO insignia and hinge are the only exterior flourishes. The polished hinge looks attractive, but it didn't feel as sturdy as the rest of the system. The lid on our unit occasionally wobbled back and forth when we lifted or moved the notebook.
Following the same minimalist design as the exterior, the interior features a black aluminum deck with a smaller version of the VAIO logo and the mouse buttons done in chrome plating. The deck sinks in at a subtle angle, where it houses an island-style keyboard. The only splashes of color come from the gray touchpad, the purple text on the ASSIST button, and the power button that glows green when the laptop is on and pink when it's sleeping.
The 13.0 x 8.8 x 0.9-inch VAIO S is around the same size as the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12.8 x 8.9 x 1 inches), but it weighs in at a waif-like 3.6 pounds, nearly a pound less than the Apple (4.5 pounds) and a little less than the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 (3.8 pounds). However, the VAIO S' weight increases to 4.8 pounds--and its thickness to 1.3 inches--when its slice battery is snapped on, making it heavier than the MacBook Pro.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The VAIO S has an island-style backlit keyboard with generous space between its large black keys. The keys provided firm and ample feedback, which combined with the soft-touch palm rest allowed us to type comfortably with few errors. Using the Ten Thumbs Typing test, we achieved a strong score of 86 words per minute, a little higher than our typical 80-wpm average.

Multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger rotation, and flicks were quick and responsive on the large and smooth 3.7 x 2-inch touchpad (made by Alps). However, it took more swipes than we'd like to get from one side of the desktop to the other. Despite having a fingerprint sensor positioned between them, the long touchpad buttons were easy to activate. We just wish the fingerprint scanner itself made it easier to register a finger; we regularly received error messages telling us our swipe was either too fast or too slow.

Heat

After 15 minutes of streaming Hulu at full screen, the VAIO's touchpad registered a chilly 85 degrees Fahrenheit, while the space between the G and H keys measured 91 degrees. The bottom of the laptop was slightly warmer at 97 degrees, two degrees warmer than what we deem to be comfortable. The hottest point on the VAIO S was the vent located under the back hinge, which kicked out hot 113-degree air.

Ports and Webcam

The right side of the VAIO houses one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, a VGA port, an SD card reader, a Memory Stick PRO Duo media slot, and a power jack. The left side features a Blu-ray drive and a headphone jack. On the notebook's front lip sits the wireless switch.



The VAIO S' webcam can capture stills and video up to 1280 x 1024. Images were vivid but somewhat grainy under florescent lights. We achieved better results at home in natural light after making a few adjustments in the ArcSoft Webcam Companion settings panel. We also noticed that the camera's autofocus and facial tracking were quick and accurate, thanks to the built-in Exmor sensor, which also adjusted for the low-light conditions.

Display and Audio

The VAIO S' 13.3-inch, backlit display has a matte finish and a relatively high resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels. We appreciate the extra pixels because it translates into more real estate when viewing web pages and opening windows side by side. Unfortunately, the picture quality wasn't that impressive. During the 1080p YouTube trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, we noticed that images were rather muddy, nullifying the electric blue stream of power from Voldemort's wand. An episode of the The Daily Show on Hulu looked better.

Audiophiles in search of crisp, clear sound should look elsewhere. Audio provided by the four tiny slots masquerading as speakers was loud enough to fill a small room, but it sounded flat. As we listened to "E.T." by Katy Perry featuring Kanye West, we noticed the bass line was non-existent while Perry's vocals were high and tinny, especially during the chorus. Engaging the Dolby Audio Enhancer under the VAIO S' settings helped clean up the sound a little.

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Lenovo G570 Review

While Lenovo is known for its business notebooks, the company has been making consumer machines for a while now. The Lenovo G570 ($749) is a 15-inch laptop that has a little more flair than its ThinkPad cousins, featuring a glossy lid and a metal palm rest. But you also get ThinkPad-like amenitites, including an AccuType keyboard. Add to that a fast Intel Core i5 processor and a roomy 500GB hard drive and you've got a solid system.

Design

With the exception of a little swoop toward the back, the Lenovo G570 looks rather bland when closed. A bright chrome Lenovo logo adds a bit of personality, but the glossy plastic dark-brown lid is a fingerprint magnet. The notebook's interior looks better, thanks to its black brushed-aluminum deck. The black matte keyboard resides in a recessed space surrounded by a thin strip of darker chrome. The touchpad is also slightly recessed and surrounded by a thin strip of lighter chrome.
Located above the keyboard to the left are the power button and a button to launch the OneKey Recovery software. In terms of aesthetics, we prefer the HP Pavilion dv6t's sleek brushed-aluminum exterior and interior; its dark umber finish with silver accents helped highlight the notebook's rounded edges and more elegant, cleaner lines.
Measuring 14.8 x 9.8 x .6 - 1.3 inches and weighing 5.2 pounds, the G570 is easy to move around the home or office and was light enough for an hour and a half of a standing-room-only subway trip.
Keyboard and TouchPad
Lenovo packs an island-style keyboard with a full number pad on the G570. Similar to the ThinkPad Edge line, the large AccuType "smile-shaped" keys are generously spaced and provided nice, firm feedback. While it's one of the better keyboards we've tested on a consumer notebook, we took issue with the un-dersized right Shift and Enter keys, especially during the Ten Thumbs Typing Test. We consistently scored 40 words per minute with a four-percent error rate, which is a bit worse than our usual 50 wpm and one-percent error rate.

The 3.5 x 1.7-inch touchpad has slightly raised dots, creating a pleasant texture for our fingers to glide on. Selecting text and moving text within a document was quick and responsive. Pinch-to-zoom worked fairly well, although we noticed some lag, and rotating photos didn't always work on the first try. Two-finger scrolling was too quick and oversensitive, but three-finger flicking was smooth. We appreciated the two large touchpad buttons, which clicked firmly.

Display and Audio

The G570 comes with a glossy and bright 15.6-inch anti-glare widescreen display with a native resolution of 1366 x 768. We saw beautiful images during the Transformers: Dark of the Moon trailer; Rosie Huntington-Whitely's blue eyes popped amidst all the wanton destruction, as did Optimus Prime's red and blue chassis as he chopped Decepticons to bits.

Music got loud on the G570, but it sounded somewhat flat. While the speakers were powerful enough to fill a small room, the bass line in Katy Perry's "E.T." was lacking, and the synthesized instrumental sounded distorted. When we listened to Drake's monotone warbling on "Marvin's Room," we heard non-existent bass. You'll want to stay away from the max volume setting to avoid harsher-sounding audio.

Heat

This is one cool customer. After streaming video on a full screen video on Hulu for 15 minutes, the G570's touchpad registered 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The space between the G and H keys was a little warmer at 93 degrees, while the notebook's bottom came in at a lap-friendly 88 degrees.

Ports and Webcam

The right side of the G570 houses a USB 2.0 port, a DVD burner, a headphone jack, and a microphone jack. On the front sit a 5-in-1 card reader and a wireless on/off switch. The left side features three USB 2.0 ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port. There is also a HDMI port, VGA, Ethernet, and a Ken-sington secure lock. We woud've liked to seen a USB 3.0 port, though.


Using the included Cyberlink YouCam software, the G570's 2-megapixel webcam recorded bright, clear video under the florescent lighting in our office. However, when we used Skype, a caller reported that we appeared rather dark and that there was blurring when we began to move. The audio, however, came through loud and clear without any background noise.

For an added measure of security, the G570 comes with Lenovo's VeriFace face-recognition software. After a five-minute setup process (which involved scanning our face five times), the app quickly unlocked the notebook with a quick facial scan.

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Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Review

If the Dell Latitude E6420 ATG seems familiar, it should. It's the semi-rugged version of the business-centric Latitude E6420, which has a stylish, durable design and a great keyboard. Dell has built on those strengths by beefing up the system's durability and ruggedness, and adding a solid state drive for even greater performance. Our configuration even includes a touchscreen, which field workers might appreciate. But do those improvements warrant the $3,012 price tag?

Design

Like the E6420, the E6420 ATG's MIL-STD810G tested, Tri-Metal chassis is designed to withstand almost anything business users can throw at it, including drops, extreme heat and cold, and dust. Its lid is covered in sharp gray, anodized brushed aluminum that is bordered by a black, textured scratch-resistant hard plastic, which helps make the lid feel exceedingly sturdy. The lid also has two conveniently placed status lights in the upper right-hand corner that turn on when the system is in use and running low on battery power. The underside of the unit is protected by the same black, powder-coated magnesium base found on the E6420. Other features carried over from the E6420 are the system's metal hinges and sturdy closing latch, but on the ATG, the ports are protected by rubber covers.

Open the E6420 ATG's lid and what you'll find is essentially a carbon copy of the E6420. It features the same comfortable, spill-resistant keyboard, complete with adjustable touch-activated backlight and pointing stick. A bright orange pinstripe surrounds the keyboard and adds some personality to the Latitude's design.
The E6420 ATG's matte-black deck offers a comfortable palm rest and includes a set of volume buttons on its right-hand side. On the deck's upper left-hand corner are three indicator lights that give the status of the system's battery, hard drive, and wireless signal. To help protect the E6420 ATG's display, Dell has reinforced the screen's frame and equipped it with a spill-resistant seal.
The price you pay for all of the E6420 ATG's protective features is its sheer size. Measuring 4 x 9.7 x 1.5 inches (with its port covers) and weighing in at 6.6 pounds with its nine-cell battery, the 14-inch E6420 ATG is larger and weighs 0.4 pounds more than the E6420 (which includes the same battery back) and 2 pounds heavier than Toshiba's Tecra R840 (S8430).

Ruggedness

In terms of durability, the ATG sits between the business-rugged E6420 and the fully rugged E6420 XTR. While the standard E6420 can withstand some dings, the ATG is meant to take the type of damage that a business traveler would likely throw at it, such as additional bumps, knocks, and spills. The XFR, however, is meant for police work and the military, and can withstand intense rain, extreme temperature changes, and drops of up to 6 feet.
Dell claims the E6420 ATG passed 16 MIL-STD810G durability tests and the IP5X dust test. According to Dell, the laptop can survive 26 drops from a height of 30 inches onto a 2-inch piece of plywood with the system powered down and its lid closed. Dell also claims the system can withstand a 1-inch diameter ball bearing dropped onto the screen from a height of 30 inches 20 times, and up to 6 ounces of water spilled on the keyboard.
With the E6420 ATG closed and turned off, we dropped it once off of one of our desks onto a carpeted concrete floor, a distance of 30 inches. The laptop didn't sustain any cracks, and the notebook booted up right away.
We then poured approximately two ounces of water on three evenly spaced locations on the keyboard. After tilting it on its side and letting it drain for two minutes, we turned the system back on and it functioned normally. However, roughly an hour later, the E6420 ATG's keyboard stopped working. No other functions were affected.
We tried traditional troubleshooting methods (restarting the system, turning it off and removing the battery), but nothing seemed to work. As a last resort, we turned the unit off, propped it up on its side, and left it overnight. In the morning the keyboard was fully functional, but that's a long time to be unproductive.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The concave keys on the E6420 ATG's keyboard were sturdy, offering little give and providing excellent feedback. Using the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, we scored an average of 63 words per minute with an error rate of two percent; that's the same rate and error percentage we scored on our office desktop. Depressing the keys also activated the keyboard's adjustable backlight.

We found the laptops's recessed pointing stick to be somewhat difficult to control. However, the stick's three programmable buttons (above the touchpad) proved quite useful. The E6420 ATG's nicely proportioned, matte-black 3.1 x 1.7-inch touchpad and two rubberized buttons were smooth and accurate, offering excellent feedback. Multitouch gestures such as two-finger pinch-to-zoom, rotate, and three-finger quick launch features worked similarly well, although each needed to be activated upon initial startup under Dell's touchpad settings menu.

Ports and Webcam

On the right side of the Latitude E6420 ATG are an ExpressCard/54 slot, DVD drive, two USB 2.0 ports, and one USB 2.0/ eSATA combination port. The left side of the system offers an additional USB 2.0 port, VGA, a combination microphone/ headphone port, and a smart card reader slot. On the back of the unit are HDMI and Ethernet ports and a Kensington lock slot. An SD card reader is located on the front of the system. All of the ports are protected by rubber covers. The underside of the E6420 ATG includes two covered slots from which users can connect a carrying handle. Conspicuously absent from the unit is a USB 3.0 port, which we expect on a system this price.
The 2-megapixel HD webcam on this notebook functioned very well, providing crisp images in both light and dim environments. When we used the webcam in a cubicle, image quality was excellent. The Dell Webcam Central software lets users upload and share their photos and videos with the software's integrated e-mail, YouTube, and Photobucket support, and a custom avatar creator helps users make and share their own avatars for video chats.

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Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G Review

What good is a mammoth 18.4-inch screen on a laptop if you have to sit right in front of it to fire up a slideshow or control movie playback? Acer thinks it has the answer with the Aspire Ethos 8951G, a notebook with a removable touchpad that doubles as a remote control. With a full HD display, Dolby speakers, and Blu-ray drive, the Ethos 8951G packs a veritable home theater into an 8.8-pound chassis. But with a price of $1,599, this system faces hefty competition for your hard-earned cash. Read on to find out if the Ethos is awesome or overkill.

Design

The Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G's subdued all-black chassis won't clash with anything in your living room, but it won't stand out either. The lightly brushed aluminum-magnesium lid resists fingerprints. Inside, an all-black deck with a chiclet-style keyboard, glossy touchpad, and a few status lights completes the plain but functional aesthetic.
At 17.3 x 11.3 x 1.4 inches and 8.8 pounds, the Aspire Ethos 8951G is significantly heavier than such 17-inch competitors as the ASUS G73SW (16.6 x 12.8 x 2.3 inches, 8 pounds) and the HP Pavilion dv7 Quad (16.3 x 10.8 x 1.2-1.4 inches, 7 pounds). We wouldn't recommend toting the notebook with you to school or work, but you can easily move it around the house or put it in a large backpack and haul it across town to a LAN party.

Keyboard

The Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G's island-style, backlit keyboard has large, well-placed keys, and provides a reasonable amount of tactile feedback. The palm rest felt a little hard against our wrists as we typed, but we managed a strong 86 word-per-minute rate on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, a bit higher than our 80-wpm average.

Touchpad / Remote

The 4.25 x 2.25-inch glossy touchpad on the Ethos 8951G pops out of its socket to become a remote. With it, you can control media on the notebook from a few feet away. A mode-change button sits in the upper-right corner of the touchpad. In default mode, the pad remains unlit and you can use the entire surface to navigate around the desktop, tapping to left-click.
Click the mode-change button once, and video and music icons light up on the right side of the pad, along with a media mode changing button and a menu button. Tapping on the video or music icons launches the corresponding section of Acer's Clear.fi media player, and tapping the mode-change button toggles between the video, music, and photo viewing modes in Clear.fi.
Hit the button again, and the left two-thirds of the touchpad surface light up with media controls for pausing, playing, and forwarding through your videos, songs, and pictures. The player controls work in both Clear.fi and Windows Media Player, but not in QuickTime. If all of this sounds confusing, that's because it is. It took us a while to get the hang of the layout.
In our tests, the media remote was responsive at up to 5 feet from the notebook, but it became extremely jerky and then stopped working as we stepped back another couple of feet. After we stepped out of range and then back in, the pad sometimes became miscalibrated, so swiping side to side would move the cursor up and down. However, putting the device back into its bay always fixed the problem. The size of the Windows pointer presents a more serious problem, because it can be difficult to see the small white tip of the pointer when you're standing a couple of feet away from the high-res screen.
Unfortunately, when docked or used as a remote, the pad feels slippery; our finger sometimes slid around while we were navigating. Even worse, we found that the pointer often got stuck in the middle of the screen, forcing us to pick up our finger and swipe again.

Heat

The Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G stayed pleasantly cool throughout our testing. After we played video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured a cool 87 degrees, the keyboard a reasonable 89 degrees, and the bottom a chilly 84 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures below 90 degrees extremely comfortable.

Display and Audio

The Acer Aspire Ethos 8951G's 18.4-inch, 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit screen offers plenty of real estate and vibrant colors. However, viewing angles leave much to be desired, as movies washed out significantly at just 45 degrees to the left or right. Whether we were watching a 1080p QuickTime trailer for Apollo 18 or a YouTube 1080p trailer for Mission Impossible 4, motion was smooth and images were relatively sharp. However, colors in dark scenes inverted as we moved left or right, which is not conducive to multiuser viewing.
The Dolby-tuned speakers on the Ethos 8951G provided accurate music playback that was loud enough to fill a room. When playing both the bass-laden "Forget Me Nots" and the guitar-heavy "Shout at the Devil," we were able to make out some separation of sound for bass and treble, though the playback was not rich and layered like it is on Dell's XPS line of notebooks. Toggling the Dolby Home Theater software on and off made little difference in the sound quality.

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Apple MacBook Air (11-inch, 2011) Review

The 11-inch MacBook Air has been on a tear ever since it first debuted back in October of 2010, combining a razor-thin design with instant-on responsiveness for an affordable price. Apple believes the latest version is so good that it has decided to let the smaller of the two Airs kill off the MacBook, making this laptop the only $999 option in the company's lineup. That's a lot of pressure for a notebook that weighs just 2.4 pounds. But the 11-inch Air is definitely up for the challenge. It now features a more powerful Core i5 processor to run the new Mac OS X Lion, a backlit keyboard, and a Thunderbolt port for blazing fast transfer speeds. (Our $1,499 configuration ups the RAM from 2GB to 4GB and adds a whopping 256GB of flash storage.) Does this machine have what it takes to be your everyday notebook?

Design

Although it's been nine months since the 11-inch Air launched, the design still looks thoroughly modern. From the sleek profile and rounded edges to the large glass touchpad and backlit logo, this notebook is iconic. Both the display enclosure and base are made of aluminum, giving the 11-inch Air a sturdy feel. While the model we reviewed last fall suffered from a display that flopped backward when you picked it up, this time around the lid didn't budge.

At 2.4 pounds, the 11-inch MacBook Air weighs a tenth of a pound more than its predecessor because it now features a backlit keyboard. However, this elegant notebook is still the lightest system in its class. The Acer Aspire One 722 (3 pounds) and HP Pavilion dm1z (3.4 pounds) are both heavier, as is the 11-inch Samsung Series 9 (2.9 pounds). Only the Samsung rivals the 11-inch Air's thickness; Apple's ultraportable still measures 0.11 to 0.68 inches at its thickest point, while the Series 9 measures 0.66 inches.

Heat

It's cool and pretty quiet. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the 11-inch MacBook Air registered 88 degrees Fahrenheit between the G and H keys and only 78 degrees on the touchpad. We consider anything higher than 95 degrees uncomfortable. Even the underside stayed a relatively frosty 86 degrees. The only area that really warmed up was the bottom-left side by the hinge, which reached 97 degrees.
The only time the 11-inch MacBook Air's fan got loud was when we ran the demanding Cinebench benchmark, and even then the laptop was quieter than the VAIO Z.

Keyboard and Touchpad

So much for one of the few complaints we had about the original 11-inch MacBook Air. Apple has managed to add a backlit keyboard, which makes it easier to use the laptop in dim conditions. An ambient light sensor adjusts the strength of the backlight automatically, but you can also change it manually using shortcut keys on the keyboard. For such a thin design, the layout on the 11-inch Air offers a very comfortable typing experience. The keys offer plenty of travel and springy feedback. Plus, all the function keys are tied to a direct action, whether it's adjusting the brightness or activating the Launchpad (a new feature in Lion).
At this point, Apple should probably just put on a clinic for Windows laptop makers on how to make a great touchpad. The huge 4.1 x 2.5-inch glass trackpad on the 11-inch Air is by far the best in its class. And you can do more with it now, thanks to the Lion OS. We could easily double-tap with two fingers to zoom in on a specific area of a website, and we used a three-finger swipe up to launch Mission Control (where you can see everything running on your Mac).
As expected, two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom both worked flawlessly. And there's a new way to scroll; Apple has added a natural scroll option under settings that lets you scroll as you would on the iPad or iPhone. So you drag down to drag up content; if this doesn't feel natural to you, you can just disable this setting.
Making selections on the 11-inch Air's trackpad is as easy as clicking down on the trackpad, though you can activate tap-to-select under the settings.

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ASUS G74SX-A2 Review

ASUS' newest powerhouse, the 17-inch G74SX-A2, looks like the kind of rig that gamers' dreams are made of. It's equipped with a powerful quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a discrete Nvidia GeForce graphics chip with 3GB of RAM, and two hard drives, one of which is an SSD. Still, when a laptop is priced north of $2,000, most gamers want to make sure they are getting a quality machine that can handle today's--and tomorrow's--most intensive games. So does the G74SX offer the best bang for your gaming buck?

Design

With the G74SX-A2, ASUS has once again drawn inspiration from a stealth vehicle. But unlike the stealth fighter-inspired G73SW and G73Jh, the design of the G74SX-A2 was inspired by the US Navy's Sea Shadow stealth ship, which is evident in the system's sleek, sculpted angles and menacing black color scheme. The lid of the G74SX-A2 is covered in a soft-touch rubberized material that feels smooth, resists finger print smudes, and provides an overall sense of quality. Below the inlaid silver ASUS logo is ASUS' Republic of Gamers logo. Around back you'll find the G74SX-A2's most defining feature, two oversize fan vents that span nearly the entire width of the unit. Surrounded with chrome accents, the vents are clearly made to stand out, and they certainly do.
The G74SX-A2 is as sleek inside as it is outside. The deck is a dark-silver brushed metal that helps to break up the notebook's overall black color scheme. ASUS coated the G74SX's palm rest with the same rubberized material used on the lid, giving it a soft, comfortable feel, something users will undoubtedly appreciate during marathon gaming sessions.

At the top of the deck are a speaker bar, power button and Power4Gear Hybrid Key, which provides users with a shortcut to switch between various power settings. On models equipped with a 3D display, the key enables or disables the system's 3D functionality. Four pin-size status lights (for battery life, Wi-Fi connection, hard drive, and keyboard backlighting) are located at the bottom of the deck, but they are difficult to see under even the dimmest lighting.
Weighing in at 10 pounds and measuring 16.6 x 12.8 x 2.3 inches, the G74SX-A2 is a hefty machine, even for the desktop replacement category. Its dimensions match up evenly with ASUS' previous gaming powerhouse, the G73SW (16.6 x 12.8 x 2.3 inches), but the G74SX-A2 is more than a pound heavier. The system also dwarfs several of its competitors, including HP's dv7t (16.3 x 10.8 x 1.4 inches, 7 pounds), Dell's XPS 17 (16.3 x 10.5 x 1.5, 8.9 pounds), and even Alienware's M17x (16 x 11.9 x 1.8 inches, 9.6 pounds). Carrying around the notebook wasn't too much of a hassle, but you'll want to invest in an oversized backpack if you plan on traveling with it.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The first thing you'll notice about the G74SX-A2's keyboard and number pad is that they are separated by a roughly 1-inch column of empty space, at the bottom of which you'll find the system's directional keys. What's nice about this design is that it gives the keyboard the feel of a standard-desktop keyboard setup, and provides gamers with enough room to use the directional buttons without accidentally hitting any nearby keys. ASUS also increased the size of the Control and Shift keys on the left side, making them easier to tap, which proves helpful when playing fast-paced games that require quick and accurate key inputs.

Overall, the G74SX-A2's keyboard was a big improvement over the previous generation. The keys still don't offer much tactile feedback, but we didn't have to be as deliberate with our keystrokes as last time around. Structurally, the keyboard is solid, with only a small amount of flex. When using the Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor, we averaged 63 words per minute with a four-percent error rate. That's comparable to the 64 words per minute and two-percent error rate we scored on a desktop keyboard.
The G74SX-A2 also offers several hot keys, including the Splendid key, which lets users toggle between different display color modes to improve contrast, brightness, skin tone, and color saturation. The Power4Gear Hybrid key lets users switch between different power settings ranging from high performance and entertainment to quiet office and battery-saving modes. Gamers will appreciate the touchpad toggle key, which helps eliminate accidental input from the touchpad when using an external mouse.
ASUS outfitted the G74SX-A2 with an enormous touchpad. Measuring 4.1 x 2.5 inches, it's larger than the one found on Alienware's M17x. We found scrolling to be smooth and accurate, and the two buttons were soft and offered great feedback. Multitouch gesture support includes two-finger scroll, pinch-to-zoom, and image rotation.

Heat

The two massive air vents located on the back of the G74SX-A2 aren't just for show. ASUS chose to vent heat out the back of the unit rather than through the sides and back, as is typical of most laptops. This design allows hot air to be blown away from the user. During our heat test, which entails streaming a Hulu video for 15 minutes, temperatures between the G and H keys reached no higher than 81 degrees, while the palm rest area measured only 80 degrees. The underside of the system, meanwhile, stayed a relatively chilly 78 degrees.

Display and Audio

The G74SX-A2's bright 17.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 display was top-notch. Trailers for Captain America and Cowboys & Aliens looked great, and a Blu-ray of The Sum of All Fears was clear and crisp. Viewing angles for the display were decent, with images only washing out slightly at 40 degrees. The Splendid key's multiple display color modes (which include Correction, Gamma, Normal, Theatre, and Vivid) proved quite useful when we watched a movie in a darkened room. The screen's only drawback was its glossy finish, which kicked back reflections under bright lights.
The G74SX-A2's Altec Lansing speakers pumped out impressive sound, with enough power to fill a small room. We found the system's audio quality to be spot-on while listening to Radiohead's "OK Computer." That's in no small part thanks to the the notebook's THX TruStudio software. The software offers three different sound profiles for use with the G74SX-A2's built-in speakers, external speakers, or stereo headphones. When TruStudio is turned off, audio quality degraded drastically. Songs instantly went from sounding full and rich to flat and tinny, which makes us question why you would ever turn it off.
ASUS also includes Realtek's HD Audio Manager for those users who want to really fine-tune the G74SX-A2's sound. We did notice a difference in the speakers' audio quality as we changed the software's settings from CD to studio quality, but the effect wasn't nearly as dramatic as when we flipped through TruStudio's settings.

Ports and Webcam

The G74SX-A2 comes with every port under the sun. On the right side are a USB 3.0 port and USB 2.0 port, as well as Ethernet, HDMI, and VGA connections. You'll also find a 5-in-1 media card reader. On the left side of the rig are two more USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out ports, and a Kensington Lock, as well as the system's Blu-ray drive.


This notebook's 2-megapixel webcam offered crystal-clear images in both brightly lit and darker rooms. When viewing a local image through Skype, we couldn't see any pixels or shadowing around faces, and when we moved to a position with a bright window behind us, the cam compensated for the additional light. Curiously, ASUS does not ship the G74SX-A2 with any webcam software for recording videos or adding special effects during your video chats, but its Virtual Camera Utility lets you tweak the camera's settings, such as sauration and brightness.

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Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 Review

The Lenovo IdeaPad Z370 makes us feel blue, but in a good way. This 13-inch thin-and-light laptop gives consumers a welcome pop of color in a market flooded with grays and blacks. But the Z370 is more than a pretty face. For $629, it packs a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive. Does this notebook have the substance to match its style?

Design

The Z370's glossy plastic exterior is a brilliant blue that immediately draws the eye (consumers wanting a more muted color can get the laptop in brown). The lid features a 3D square geometric pattern that radiates from the middle of the lid and transitions into a dotted pattern and then a solid pattern. We were expecting the Z370 to be a fingerprint magnet, but were pleasantly surprised that the lid remained fairly clean. However, the large gap between the laptop lid and the base was a little jarring.

We were pleased that Lenovo chose to continue the glossy blue motif on the Z370's interior. The keyboard rests in a recessed area surrounded by a blue keyboard deck. Located above the keyboard are two built-in speakers. A metallic gray power button is also located above the keyboard, as are touch-sensitive buttons for changing volume, Lenovo's OneKey Theater settings, and thermal management. The blue buttons are slightly recessed and--as a nice visual accent--they light up.
Measuring 12.9 x 8.7 x 0.8-1.3 inches and weighing 4.6 pounds, the Z370 is small and light enough to carry around comfortably. Still, the HP Pavilion dm4t has nearly the same footprint, weighs 0.2 pounds less, and manages to cram in a larger 14-inch display.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The Z370 packs a black matte island-style keyboard with generous spacing between its large, flat keys. Similar to the ThinkPad Edge line, the Z370 features "smile-shaped" Accu-Type keys that provided firm feedback. While Lenovo is known for its great keyboards, we were disappointed with the undersized right Shift key. We found ourselves making more typing errors than usual.

We enjoyed running our fingers over the Z370's textured touchpad. Comprised of a series of raised dots, the 3.3 x 1.6-inch touchpad gave us plenty of room to maneuver. We were able to navigate documents and websites as well as select and highlight text with ease. Multitouch gestures were turned off by default; you have to activate them in the control panel.

Display and Audio

The 13.3-inch widescreen 1368 x 768 display is surrounded by a glossy black bezel. Unlike other laptops, we were able to work outdoors unabated thanks to the Z370's anti-glare display. Text on LaptopMag.com was sharp and easy to read, while images were bright and vivid. Aside from the non-stop action in the YouTube 1080p trailer of Immortals, we were blown away by the rich reds and golds that appeared throughout. However, we noticed slight pixelation during night scenes in the Super 8 trailer.

The Z370 provided a relatively balanced audio experience. Dialogue during movies and news reports was loud and clear. As we listened to The Lonely Planet's "The Creep" featuring Nikki Minaj, vocals and music blended together without losing any of the highs, mids, or lows, and the speakers easily filled a small office. Still, bass junkies will feel somewhat deprived; songs such as Jay-Z's "On To The Next One" lacked a thumping lower end.
Pressing the OneKey Theater button let us change the Z370's audio and screen temperature between one of three settings: Intelligent, Movie, and Normal. The latter two settings added more bass to music and videos and increased the contrast on the screen.

Ports and Webcam

The right side of the Z370 houses a USB 2.0 port, DVD burner, headphone jack, microphone jack, and the power jack. In addition to a wireless switch, the front of the machine features a 5-in-1 card reader. An additional USB 2.0 port resides on the left side of the laptop along with an eSATA port, HDMI port, VGA, an Ethernet port, and a Kensington Lock slot.


Using the Z370's 2-megapixel camera, we were able to capture clean, bright images in an office setting. Using CyberLink's YouCam, the notebook records footage at up to 1600 x 1200 pixels. During a Skype session, our caller could hear us well, and video was equally clear. Lenovo's VeriFace face-recognition software let us set up an extra layer of security for logins without much effort.

Heat

When it comes to heat, the Z370 is one cool customer. After 15 minutes of streaming video on Hulu, the touchpad registered a 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The area between the G and H keys was slightly cooler at 86 degrees, while the laptop's underside registered 89 degrees. All are well below the threshold of what we consider uncomfortable--95 degrees.

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HP Pavilion dm4t (2011) Review

Consumers and students looking for a budget laptop don't want the notebook to look, well, like a budget laptop. The HP Pavilion dm4t fits the bill: Its aluminum body, island-style keyboard, and fingerprint reader have all the hallmarks of HP's premium laptops, but the dm4t starts at just $579. Yes, it doesn't have mind-blowing performance, but its Core i3 processor will see you through most everyday tasks, as will its fantastic battery life.

Design

Similar in style to the higher-priced dv6 and dv7, the Pavilion dm4t has a brushed-aluminum lid and deck with a dark umber finish that's classy and keeps fingerprints away. An HP logo in the bottom corner of the lid glows when the system is on. Accents of shiny metal grace the hinges, power button, and ring the keyboard and touchpad, adding just enough flair to this understated notebook.


Measuring 13.4 x 9 x 1-1.3 inches and weighing 4.4 pounds, the dm4t is small and light enough to slip into a messenger bag. Although the dm4t has a larger 14-inch screen, it's essentially the same size and weight as the Lenovo IdeaPad Z370, which has a smaller 13-inch display.

Heat

HP updated its CoolSense technology to make it easier for consumers to use. Now, there are just three settings: On, Off, and Auto. When turned on, the notebook will regulate the fan and processor to make sure the notebook stays cool. The Auto setting uses the dm4's accelerometer to determine whether a notebook is resting on your lap. CoolSense will then automatically adjust the system to make it cooler to the touch, but will deactivate cooling when it senses that the notebook is on a table.
After we streamed a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad was a cool 80 degrees, the space between the G and H keys was 83, and the middle of the underside was 82 degrees. The hottest point, by the vent, reached 95 degrees, the threshold of what we consider uncomfortable.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Like most other HP notebooks, the dm4t has an island-style keyboard that's very comfortable to use. While the keys are spaced a tiny bit too far apart--we found ourselves reaching a little bit--they offered excellent travel and have a soft-touch finish that's comfortable for extended typing. We also like that HP opted to reverse the Function key row, so we didn't have to press the FN button to access media controls, for example. Unlike its pricier cousins, though, the dm4t does not have a backlit keyboard.

While not very large, the 3.5 x 1.5-inch Alps touchpad on the dm4t was big enough to let us navigate the desktop and perform multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. The two dedicated mouse buttons below had just the right amount of snap.

Display and Audio

The dm4t's 14-inch glossy screen has a standard resolution of 1366 x 768, and we found it to be plenty bright and crisp, whether watching Hulu videos or playing games. The red of the Dillon Lions uniforms popped during an episode of Friday Night Lights. Viewing angles were good enough for two people to sit on either side of the notebook and comfortably watch the action.

It may not boast Beats Audio, as found in the Envy line, but the dm4t has nothing to be ashamed about. Its Altec Lansing speakers (located under the front lip) provided enough oomph to fill a small room. While bass was limited, the harmonies in Alicia Keys' "Doesn't Mean Anything" really soared. Tweaking the audio settings using the Dolby Home Theater utility (located in the Control Panel) also helped.

Ports and Webcam

The dm4t has a typical spread of ports: two USB 2.0 and a tray-loading DVD drive on the right, and HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, a third USB 2.0, and headphone and mic jacks line the left. A memory card reader sits just under the lip on the left.


The 1.3-megapixel webcam on this laptop performed adequately. Using the included CyberLink YouCam app, the dv4t did a good job of showing accurate skin tones when there was a fair amount of ambient light. When we turned off the lights, the camera adapted fairly well, but the picture looked grainier.

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Lenovo IdeaPad S205 Review

Riding the wave of affordable AMD-powered ultraportables, the IdeaPad S205 aims to charm shoppers by pairing a stylish design with a lot more muscle than a netbook. For $579, this 11.6-inch notebook also offers a spacious keyboard and cool temperatures.

Design

The S205 gives off a subtle but sophisticated vibe. We like that the glossy plastic lid has a subtle artistic pattern to it (dubbed a "cityscape finish") and that the brown dominates the entire notebook. The deck has a striated pattern, which makes a cool record-scratch sound when you rub your fingernails over it. This not only keeps fingerprints away, but also feels good to touch.
Weighing just 3.3 pounds, the S205 is the kind of notebook you can carry around all day without feeling weighed down. It measures 11.4 x 7.6 x 1.0 inches, so it'll slip into a small bag or briefcase and still leave room for your smartphone or tablet.

Heat

Thanks to the low-power APU inside, the IdeaPad S205 stays relatively cool. After we played a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the hottest area was the underside, where we measured 91 degrees Fahrenheit at the center. This reading is still below the 95-degree threshold of what we consider uncomfortable. Even the area near the vent didn't get hot enough to notice while we used it. On top, the touchpad and keyboard only reached 88 and 89 degrees, respectively.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the S205 has the familiar Lenovo AccuType design with a chiclet-style layout. Overall, the typing experience was comfortable, but the Backspace key and some other keys are shrunken.

The touchpad on the S205 is small even for a netbook, nevermind an 11.6-inch notebook. Still, the lightly dimpled 2.4 x 1.4-inch surface made navigating the desktop pretty easy. Because of the limited real estate, we had to be more deliberate than we'd like when performing pinch-to-zoom and three-finger flicks on the Synaptics touchpad, but they worked well.
We're definitely not fans of the two mouse buttons underneath the touchpad; they have a mushy feel, and there's a weird lip underneath them that's just plastic. We had to train ourselves to hit the buttons instead of just dead plastic.

Display and Audio

The 11.6-inch display on the IdeaPad S205 has a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The glossy panel produced vibrant colors when we streamed an episode of The Cleveland Show on Fox.com, though the viewing angles were narrow due to reflections.

The small speaker grilles just under the front lip of the notebook produced relatively clean audio for an 11.6-inch laptop. The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication" was nearly loud enough to fill a medium-size office. However, the audio quality sounded somewhat muffled when we placed the system on our lap.

Ports and Webcam

The IdeaPad S205 features most of its ports on the right side of the laptop. From front to back, you'll find the headphone and mic jacks, HDMI, and two USB 2.0 ports. The left side of the notebook houses a 6-in-1 memory card reader, a third USB port, VGA connector, and power jack.


The 1.3-megapixel webcam above the display captured images that looked a little washed out, especially under fluorescent light. Colors weren't deep enough, but they were at least recognizable. There wasn't too much blur when we moved around while recording video in CycberLink YouCam 3 or chatting on Skype, and the mic picked us up at over 4 feet from the notebook.

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