By MIKE BERMAN
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
In keeping with their on-going attempts to both dazzle and confuse consumers, notebook manufacturers continue to hit store shelves with new offerings that are bigger and better than the one you bought last week. And this new crop of easily portable PCs is no exception.
For example, the new Toshiba R25-S3503 ($1,300) is a great middle-of-the-road notebook computer that not only delivers great sound and graphics, but offers something the others you'll see here don't: It flips its top to become a tablet PC.
The latest in a line of "convertible" notebooks offered by major manufacturers, this new Toshiba gives you the best of both worlds. It can be used as a high-end multimedia computer or you can flip and twist its 14.1-inch widescreen display to sit atop its keyboard and use it as a tablet PC to take notes in class, jot down shopping lists or anything else you'd do with pen and paper.
On the downside, the biggest objections I have are its weight (a hefty 6 pounds _ 7 with the power supply), and the screen tends to wobble a bit when in tablet mode. This isn't a computer you'd want to lug all over campus on a daily basis.
Its key features include:
_ An Intel Core Duo 1.6 GHz processor.
_ 1 GB of RAM installed with a capacity for 4 GB.
_ It can support up to 128MB of video RAM.
_ It comes with a 100GB hard drive rated at 5400 rpm, a 5-in-1 card reader, two built-in speakers, a wireless LAN antenna and a dual-layer DVD burner.
The new dv6001xx notebook from Hewlett-Packard ($750) and the Aspire 5102WLMi from Acer ($899) feature the new AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core processors and a multitude of multimedia features. Both have built-in Webcams, decent speakers and deliver exceptional video. So what sets them apart?
The 6.5-pound HP notebook features a strip of multimedia controls across the top of its keyboard, giving you instant access to everything you need to play music or videos. It also features an NVIDIA GeForce Go video card, 256MB of turbo cache video memory and integrated Altec Lansing stereo speakers. You can also play movies and music without booting up the computer.
The only thing this multimedia powerhouse has going against it is its short battery life (an average of two hours).
It also features:
_ Up to a 120GB hard drive rated at 5400 rpm.
_ Up to 2GB of RAM.
_ A LightScribe multiformat DVD burner.
_ Built-in wireless LAN (Bluetooth optional).
_ Processor speeds up to 2 GHz, depending on which AMD processor you choose.
_ 15.4-inch widescreen display.
_ Two headphone ports, a five-in-one card reader, and two built-in microphones.
At 1.6 GHz, the new Acer isn't as fast as the HP, but its sleek design and bevy of features make it a worthy contender. This is the only notebook of the trio that comes with Windows Media Center Edition 2005 and a longer-lasting 2.5-hour battery.
On the downside, its built-in speakers and display are adequate, but not exceptional, especially when compared with the Toshiba and HP.
Its key features include:
_ 1GB of RAM with the capacity of 4GB.
_ A five-in-one card reader.
_ A LightScribe multiformat DVD burner.
_ A 120GB hard drive rated at 4200 rpm.
_ 15.4-inch widescreen display.
_ Optional Bluetooth wireless networking.
_ Built-in wireless LAN.
More information can be found at www.toshibausa.com, www.hp.com and www.acer.com.
(Mike Berman can be reached at jocgeek(at)earthlink.net or through his Web site at www.jocgeek.com.)
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