Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Top Best Laptops

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Acer Aspire S7-391-6411
Acer Aspire S7-392-6411
 
$1,449.99 list
$1,399.00 at Microsoft StoreIf you're looking for a svelte laptop to show off, yet still be able to do real work in Windows 8, the Acer Aspire S7-392-6411 is the ultrabook you want at the top of the list. It's the current pinnacle of the ultrabook trend and shows the brilliance that the PC makers can return under Intel's increasingly stringent standards for ultrabooks. Read the full review ››

Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055)
Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055)
 
$279.99 list
$284.99 at AmazonThe new version of the Acer C7 Chromebook is faster, longer lasting, and better all around. All this and its very low price tag makes it the best inexpensive Chromebook on the market. Read the full review ››

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013)
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (Mid 2013)
 
$1,099 list
Best Price at AmazonEquipped with a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor, the latest MacBook Air 13-inch shows decent performance gains. But it's the ultraportable's over 15 hours of battery life that blows away the competition. Read the full review ››

Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T
Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T

$999 list
$931.98 at AmazonThe Asus VivoBook V551LB-DB71T desktop replacement laptop is deceptively sleek and slim, offering category leading performance and battery life that will carry you through the day. Read the full review ››

Dell Inspiron 15 (I15RV-6190 BLK)
Dell Inspiron 15 (I15RV-6190 BLK)
 
$349 list
$349.99 at DellThe Dell Inspiron 15 (I15RV-6190 BLK) is a relatively thin 15-inch laptop offering Intel Pentium processing power and good battery life for under $400. Read the full review ››

Dell Inspiron 17-3721
Dell Inspiron 17-3721
 
$450 list
$449.99 at DellA large screen, good performance, nice price, and user-friendly features give the Dell Inspiron 17-3721 budget laptop a leg up on the competition. Read the full review ››

Lenovo G580
Lenovo G580
 
$479 list
$349.00 at LenovoWith its class-leading performance and admirable feature set, the Lenovo G580 is an excellent value with an affordable price tag that gives users plenty of bang for their buck. Read the full review ››

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E431
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E431
 
$484.10 list
$527.12 at LenovoWe recommend small business owners buy a true business PC like the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E431 rather than trying to repurpose a consumer budget laptop. It will pay off in comfort, performance, and peace of mind. Read the full review ››

Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro
Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro
 
$999 list
$799.00 at Microsoft StoreThe Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro is the Windows 8 slate tablet to beat when you need the performance and convenience of a PC in a compact tablet form factor. Read the full review ››
Razer Blade (2013)
Razer Blade (2013)
 
$1,999.99 list
$2,499.99 at Razer Online Store | North America/EuropeThe oh-so-portable 14-inch Razer Blade has got you covered when you want to take your gaming on the road, with an Intel Haswell processor and the latest Nvidia graphics. Read the full review ››
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HP Slate 7

HP Slate 7
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MSRP
$169.99
LOWEST PRICE$169.99
$169.99
+FREE SHIPPING
  • PROS
    Inexpensive. Attractive, sturdy design. Near stock Android, with unobtrusive customizations. MicroSD card slot. Solid performance.
  • CONSLower-resolution display than competitors. Mediocre battery life.
  • BOTTOM LINE
    The HP Slate 7 is an Android tablet that combines good looks with speedy performance, but its display just isn't up to snuff.
BY EUGENE KIM
The HP Slate 7 ($169.99 direct) is a surprisingly speedy tablet with an enticing price tag, but it's competing with tablets like the Google Nexus 7$199.63 at Amazon which features a better display, faster performance, and more up-to-date software. And the features HP touts as distinct feel a bit contrived—the native wireless printing support, while useful, is currently limited to HP printers, and Beats Audio doesn't make that big of an impact. The Slate 7 is a good budget-friendly Android tablet that falls somewhere between the Asus MeMO Pad ME172V$148.95 at Amazon and the Nexus 7 in terms of price and performance: competitive, but no category killer.

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Design and FeaturesThe Slate 7$169.99 at Quill.com is a handsomely designed device with a sturdy frame, soft-touch plastic back, and stainless steel accents along its perimeter. At 7.76 by 4.57 by 0.42 inches (HWD) and 13.05 ounces, the Slate 7 is right in line with the MeMO Pad and Nexus 7. Along the bottom are two stereo speaker grilles flanking a micro USB port for charging and syncing with the included cable and power adapter. Along the top you'll find the 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot, and Power button, with Volume buttons along the right edge. I'll delve deeper into the Beats Audio later on, but note that the enhancements are for headphone output only and not for the built-in speakers—they get decently loud, but sound tinny, like most tablet speakers.  
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The 1,024-by-600-pixel LCD is OK. It's lower resolution than the Nexus 7 and not an IPS panel, but the HFFS technology here does produce a wider viewing angle than found on the MeMO Pad's display. The 169 pixels per inch isn't going to blow anyone away, but it doesn't look terrible on the 7-inch screen.
This is a Wi-Fi only tablet that connects to 802.11b/g/n networks on the 2.4GHz frequency only. You also get Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, which worked fine with a pair of Bluetooth headphones. The tablet comes in a single 8GB model, and our 32GB SanDisk microSD card worked fine, but not our 64GB card.
Performance and AndroidThe Slate 7 is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Rockchip Cortex-A9 processor with 1GB RAM. I had admittedly low expectations for performance, given the low price point, but I was pleasantly surprised. The tablet scored high marks on the Antutu overall system benchmark, coming within striking distance of the quad-core Nexus 7 and easily besting the Asus MeMo Pad. Browsermark and Sunspider benchmarks were equally impressive here, and the Slate 7 actually outperformed the Nexus 7 on some of our graphics benchmarks as well. You get a good helping of processing power with the affordable Slate 7.
HP's first stab at Android is understandably minimal, which will appeal to a large swath of Android enthusiasts, but it lacks some genuinely useful features other companies have added through skinning. The Slate 7 is running a near-stock Android 4.1.1. HP promises an update to 4.2, but couldn't give any timetable for release.
There are two main software customizations at work here: Beats Audio and native wireless printing capability. In some products, like the HTC One, the Beats moniker goes with custom hardware like an amplified 3.5mm headphone jack. On others, it's simply a software equalizer that jacks up the bass. The Slate 7 falls under the latter category, but here it's not just booming bass. HP offers specific settings that are tuned for different types of headphones (on-ear or in-ear). From what I could tell, the main difference between On-Ear and In-Ear settings was volume levels, with In-Ear mode reducing the volume. I didn't notice any variations in stereo image when switching back and forth between the two, just volume differences. Now, protecting ears by dropping the volume for in-ear headphones makes sense, but you can achieve that same effect with the volume rocker.
The wireless printing feature is built into the Slate 7, meaning a handful of native apps, like the Gallery or Email app, will have an option to directly send printing jobs to compatible internet-connected HP printers. I tested the Slate 7 with the HP Envy 110 printer, and found setup and printing was a snap. If the printer is properly connected to your Wi-Fi network, it'll automatically show up in the print options of your Slate 7. Then just press print and you're good to go—supremely easy and admittedly pretty useful. The only problem is that this function, for the time being, only works with HP printers. If you happen to own one, great, you'll love this feature. If not, well, it's not going to be very useful. On top of that, the feature is only built into a handful of native apps: Gallery, Browser, and Email, not Gmail or Chrome. There's also an ePrint app preloaded, which works with ePrint compatible printers—it basically assigns an email address to your printer and allows you to send printing jobs through the app. The ePrint app isn't exclusive to the Slate 7, however, and you can find it in the Google Play app store.
For media playback, the Slate 7 supports MP3, AAC, WMA, and OGG audio files, but not FLAC or WAV. Video support includes MPEG-4, H.264, and WMV files at resolutions up to 1080p, but not DivX or Xvid. Those omissions are a bit disappointing, but downloading any number of apps in Google Play can alleviate that.
In our battery rundown test, which loops a video with screen brightness set to max and Wi-Fi turned on, the Slate 7 lasted 4 hours, 9 minutes. Compared with the herculean 10 hours turned in by the Nexus 7 on the same test, the Slate 7's endurance leaves something to be desired.
For cameras, you get a VGA front-facing camera and a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera. HP touts this camera as a key advantage over the Nexus 7, but I have yet to find a tablet camera that is actually worth using. That trend continues on the Slate 7, with noisy, low-quality images in indoor lighting and just serviceable shots in bright, outdoor lighting. It'll suffice in a pinch, but I wouldn't count on it. Still, people do like to take pictures with their tablets, so if you need a camera on your tablet, the Slate 7 has you covered.
ConclusionsHP has a laudable effort in the Slate 7, but it just doesn't really offer many reasons to choose it over a tablet like the Nexus 7. There are a few key areas where the Slate 7 just isn't up to snuff—namely the lower resolution screen and modest battery life. At $170, it's more affordable than the Nexus 7 and offers competitive performance, but I'd take the sharper screen, stellar battery life, and timely updates direct from Google any day. Unless a rear-facing camera and a microSD card slot are must have features, I'd spend the extra $30 and grab the Nexus 7. 
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HP Pavilion Chromebook 14

HP Pavilion Chromebook 14
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MSRP
$330.00
LOWEST PRICE$309.95
$309.95
+FREE SHIPPING
  • PROS
    Larger display makes multitasking much easier. Larger keyboard allows room for extra function keys and more comfortable typing. Plastic construction, though clearly budget-friendly, feels solid.
  • CONSShort battery life. Port selection feels sparse. Comes with all the usual caveats about Chrome OS.
  • BOTTOM LINE
    The HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 is the first Chrome device from HP, blending the best of a budget Pavilion with the web-friendly Chrome OS.
BY BRIAN WESTOVER
Google's Chromebook may not get much respect in some tech circles, but HP offers a vote of confidence with a Chrome-based laptop of its own, the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14. Blending the design aesthetics of a budget Pavilion laptop with the free web-centric Chrome OS, the 14-inch Pavilion Chromebook is the closest thing we've seen to a standard laptop coming out under the Google flag.

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Design
Were it not for the candy-colored Google Chrome logo on the lid of the laptop, the HP Pavilion Chromebook would look like a 14-inch version of the HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15z-b000$449.00 at Microsoft Store, HP's inexpensive, AMD-powered ultrabook alternative. The chassis uses the same plastic construction, with a glossy "sparkling black" finish. The entire laptop is also fairly lightweight, tipping the scales at just 3.73 pounds.
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The chiclet keyboard feels like an HP keyboard, with comfortable spacing but a slightly insubstantial feel when typing. Unlike other HP laptops, the Pavilion Chromebook features a layout that has been tweaked specifically for use with Google's Chrome OS. Instead of a Windows key, there's a search key that opens up a fresh Google search screen. The F1-F12 buttons have also picked up a few Chrome-specific functions (Across from left to right: Escape, Back, Forward, Reload, Full Screen, Next Window, Brightness Down/Up, Volume Mute/Down/Up, Power), while a row of keys along the right-hand edge of the keyboard add a few familiar functions not offered on the smaller Chromebooks, like a Delete key, along with Home, Pg Up, Pg Dn, and End keys.
The touchpad is also a bit closer to the Windows-norm than the buttonless clickpads seen on the Samsung Chromebook Series 3 (XE303C12)Best Price at Amazon or the Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055)£237.99 at Amazon Marketplace. Instead, you'll get the more familiar right and left buttons, along with a textured touchpad that supports Chrome's one- and two-finger gestures, like tapping with a single finger for a standard mouse click, and tapping with two for right-click functions, and two-finger scrolling.
The Pavilion Chromebook is the largest Chromebook yet, with a 14-inch display that dwarfs the 11-inch displays seen on the Acer C7 and the Samsung Series 3. The Google Chromebook Pixel (64GB, LTE)$1,649.00 at Amazon comes closer in size (12.85 inches) but with its Retina-like resolution, touch capability, and unique 3:2 aspect ratio, the Pixel's display isn't really comparable to any of the inexpensive Chromebooks. Instead, the Pavilion Chromebook, with its 14-inch screen and 1,366-by-768 resolution display, is again most similar to the HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15z-b000, which was actually a bit bigger at 15.6 inches.
With that 14-inch display and slim dimensions—0.83 by 13.7 by 9.4 inches (HWD)—the Pavilion Chromebook is the first to really take the Chromebook from netbook-like designs into a more laptop-like form factor. In some ways this is an excellent move, as the larger dimensions make for more comfortable typing and the larger display makes multitasking easier. But in other ways, it detracts from the Chromebook experience, by reshaping expectations—instead of a pleasantly surprising netbook experience, it's a laptop experience without full laptop capability.
Features
What sets Chromebooks apart from any other laptop is Chrome OS, Google's web-centric operating system. It's a different approach to the operating system, focusing almost exclusively on the web browser and shifting many of the familiar tools of a PC into the browser by way of browser extensions, cloud services, and apps. Most of your basic functions are still there, with a basic file manager, Google Drive (Google's Office analog), Google Media Player for video and music playback, and Gmail, all with an offline option for those times you're away from Wi-Fi.
Google's growing stable of apps and browser extensions do the work of locally installed software, but with a cloud-based twist—most (but not all) apps rely on online data, or shift storage or processing demands elsewhere. Whether it's photo editing (Pixlr), accounting (Wave Accounting), CRM and sales tracking (base), and a wide array of games and entertainment options, Google's thousands of apps and extensions should fill most of the needs filled by software in other circumstances. It may require shifting your perceptions and necessitates embracing the always online mentality, but there's not a lot you can do with a laptop that you can't also do (to some degree) using Chrome OS.
The Pavilion Chromebook 14 is equipped with three USB 2.0 ports, a headset jack, a wired LAN connection, HDMI output, and a full-size, full-depth SD card slot—by contrast, the SD slot on the Samsung Series 3 Chromebook irritatingly left half the card sticking out when in use. Internally, the 14-inch Chromebook boasts 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, along with an HP TrueVision webcam and integrated microphone.
As with the Samsung Series 3, the Pavilion Chromebook 14 offers little in the way of local storage—a mere 16GB—but the lack of onboard storage is meant to encourage storing data to the cloud. To ease this transition, Google gives new Chromebook owners a free 100GB of added capacity in Google Drive for storing all of your documents, media, and files. HP also covers the Pavilion Chromebook 14 with a one-year warranty, as well as one year of hardware support and a year software support (with product registration, otherwise 30-days). Customer reviews on sites like Amazon, however, suggest that HP's normally excellent tech support may not be trained to deal with Chrome OS, so troubleshooting may be more problematic.
Performance
The HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 is outfitted with a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 processor, paired with 2GB of RAM, which can be upgraded to 4GB. This is the same processor found in the Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2847)£237.99 at Amazon Marketplace, and the performance is similar, though not identical. According to BrowserMark test results, the Pavilion Chromebook 14 is slightly faster than the Samsung Series 3, but falls a bit behind the Acer C7. The newer Acer C710-2055, on the other hand, which also uses an Intel Celeron 847 but with 4GB of RAM, continues to reign as the fastest of the inexpensive Chromebooks.
HP has also equipped the Pavilion Chromebook 14 with a removable 37Wh, 4-Cell lithium-ion battery. This opens up the possibility of purchasing a second battery, which is almost a necessity—the battery lasted only 3 hours 36 minutes in our streaming video rundown test. While this is about half an hour longer than the life of the first Acer C7 (3:02) but falls short of the Samsung Series 3 (5:25) and the longer-lasting Acer C710-2055 (4:12).
While the $329 HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 isn't the cheapest of the inexpensive Chrome devices, it's still a heck of a lot less than most budget laptops, and is perhaps the easiest transition from Windows to Chrome. The full-size keyboard and 14-inch display will be welcomed by anyone who thinks the 11- and 12-inch Chromebooks a tiny and cramped, and the whole package is slim and light enough to pick up and take on the go. Unfortunately, the larger design doesn't translate into longer battery life. While the longer lasting Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2055) is our Editors' Choice for inexpensive Chromebooks, the HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 is still a solid entry into the unique category, and a solid deal for the always online set.
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