Sony Vaio VGN-NS30EW

Sony give you one of the best high-end VAIO and ultraportable laptops, but in this brand you will also conquer with lots of cheaper machines. If you want to stay in budget then this laptop is best for you.



In price range you will find it one of the best as this laptop gives you a crisp look with styled edges with a highly portable choice, 15.4 inch screen which lets you use the laptop either in office, home or on the road.



The reproduction of colors is great you will find the brightness and contrast accurate. The 1280 x 800-pixel resolution is average, with crisp images and the ability to fit several windows onscreen at once.

3 things we like about the Sony Vaio VGN-NS30EW

• Fast and excessive

• Hard drive nice-sized

• Nice design

1 thing we don’t like about the Sony Vaio VGN-NS30EW

• None found

Sony Vaio VGN-NS30EW Review

The provision of an integrated Intel graphics card makes this a machine for simple home or office use only, & you should look elsewhere if 3D capabilities are required. When we tested it through multi-tasking like played the movies, web browsing and some office work at the same time it gave us the time of 366 minutes.



The keyboard offers an excellent level of comfort with big keys which makes your comfort level a bit high. It lacks a little bit in quality as some business laptops offer a little more. The chassis of this laptop don't have any fault in it.



When it comes to power the cost cuts down it comes with a budget Intel Pentium processor. You will find this system a bit slow when you will do some multi-tasking on it other wise it runs great.



The Features of this laptop are up to the mark with the latest Wi-Fi and Gigabite network adapters. Storage space, at 250GB, is not impressive, but there is still plenty of room for all your files. Peripherals would be easy for you to connect as its with two USB ports & an Express Card slot.



Sony VAIO VGN-NS30EW has the potential to be an excellent laptop. It remains a comfortable & stylish option, but look elsewhere if gaming or multitasking is a requirement.



The budget from Sony’s laptop will come with the gloss over a high-end finish. It is will be known well for its ultra portable light yet durable features. This high finish creation is all about the best of the brand features coming along simpler in the economic perspective as well.



It comes with a crisp white finish & a number of the more one-of-a-kind as well as intelligent ranging laptop characteristics. You can use it with perfect ease at home or work or just on the road. The screen is bright with accurate color reduction processes going for it. The 1280 x 800 pixel resolution with bring about some accurate images for you. The ability to fit several windows is also going to be there with Super TFT coating. This makes the body more reflective than most other Sony models that you would come across. The 15.4 inch screen is also highly portable. No other laptop at around this range could be giving you so much ease.



Its performance is reasonable & reliable. There is also plenty of lag for successful multi-tasking. The storage space at 250GB could have been expanded. But there is room for more & should you need it you can use extensions.



There are 4 USB ports & an Express Card slot. It is easy to connect with the peripherals. Sony Vaio VGN NS30E/W has brought the potential for excellent laptop work with several economically aligned components that can hinder the everyday fast performance. But overall it is a pleasure to use if you are not up for any severe multitasking or are in to high speed gaming either. It happens to be regular & still remains comfortable & stylish.



The key aspects for this machine are the installed RAM, display size, HDD Capacity, great build quality & the reportedly long battery life. However you might be disappointed with the speed & a number of the missing multimedia features for which you would have to look elsewhere.



Costs have been cut on this machine when it comes to processing power; it uses a budget Intel Pentium processor. Keep to single tasks, & performance is reasonable, but for reliable business use we’d recommend something like the Lenovo SL500 business machine. A feature is more impressive, with the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi & Gigabit Ethernet network adapters in place. Storage space, at 250GB, is not impressive, but there is still plenty of room for all your files.

Final Words and Conclusion

Although a basic laptop, the VAIO NS is full of style & features a slim profile for nice looks & portability. With smooth rounded corners & edges, the VAIO NS sports a relaxed & natural form that looks nice by your side. The size of this Sony laptop is so slim that it can easily fit in to your bag or case. Designed to complement natural elements in the home, this texture is also comfortable to hold as your fingers are in touch with individual points than a flat surface. With a good-size 15.4" widescreen display, Without compromising the portability the Sony Vaio let you enjoy the multimedia at full extend. Sony ensures that the quality of the images will be up to the mark. Intense contrast & colors bring multimedia files vividly to life on screen. The screen of this laptop have an anti-reflective coating which brings the screen in such a way that it minimizes the glare to have fun with movies ,videos, games and photos.

Nokia N86

Once upon a time, the Nokia N95 has made our lives and we wiped our feet. It was a great smartphone with built unrivaled connectivity to satellite-nav and install applications possible. Nokia N86 is a worthy competitor for the crown of the N series and Nokia demonstrates what is best, but there were much smart-phone flavored water under the bridge from the series started. There is nothing wrong with this phone - it's a powerhouse, and 8 megapixels is fantastic - but there's nothing like an injection of what is happening and are not required to send the gadget frenzy of lust.

6 things we like about the Nokia N86

• Photo quality is excellent
• Music and gaming buttons are dedicated
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• GPS
• Headphone jack 3.5mm
• FM and Internet radio

5 things we don’t like about the Nokia N86

• We find the Nokia's Ovi Store still weak
• The user interface looks dated
• Not easy to use
• Wi-Fi is fiddly when connecting
• We found the keys small

Nokia N86 Review

Before a rare animal is just a few months ago, 8-megapixel camera phones now, the phone roam savannas in mass. In general, you should demonstrate how easy it is for more megapixels to take a good photo, but the N86 camera is impressive. With good lighting, has a steady job capturing the colors, bright accurate. But, even in low light, the camera - both LED lights shine photo - really. It is not the proper image quality for a compact camera, but our favorite is frighteningly clear, even if we simulate the dark lighting and shaky hands while taking a night for the film.

The button on the camera itself may be longer, but a minor complaint, especially when we know that Nokia all packed inside. There are many parameters, such as an easy to use, while the panorama mode, and many treatment options for growing and optimizing images. There is even a small sliding door with Carl Zeiss lens cover to keep them. Opening starts the camera automatically.

Unfortunately, the exchange of insurance is not as easy as other phones. The photographs of the vessel for the implementation of information exchange Vox, Flickr and Nokia Ovi own service, but it would be good to look at other options, such as Facebook, even there. When we tried to download the test plans for our Flickr and made them a message absurd and useless. The N86 is much more than just a camera phone, but it is a good choice if you are looking for a quick snapper with higher quality and more extras.

In fact, all the buttons are rather difficult. There are several call buttons on the front of the phone below the screen - five-button navigation and End keys, two context-sensitive keys, a Delete button, a menu button on the right corner. It helps cool the phone, but there are so many easy opportunities to snap that one cannot avoid the N86 too much sacrifice usability for style.

The N86 is a slider phone with two ways. Sliding the screen shows the way the keys are the size and shape of large grains of rice - a potential problem for people with thick fingers. Sliding the screen in the other direction is based on four main strong, capable of controlling the media player or games. It is a refreshing, it finds that the phone is not only bigger, and transparency is stable and well made.
If you have never used phone Nokia, you have no problems with the N86, but it is not the easiest phone to operate. For example, there are tons of great applications out there for phones Nokia, but to find and install them to accept vague in most cases, a process with many confusing messages.

Nokia Ovi new stores helps a lot, but unfortunately many of the best applications are not on the Ovi-Store. There are still some good, even though, as the application of Facebook, so it's worth checking out.

He could not understand why the N86 probably use Facebook and YouTube has applications in the applications, if in fact it is only links to relevant websites instead of complete applications are installed. The Facebook application is much better than the mobile site.

It is time for Nokia to boost the morale of the user interface. In general, the task it wants to connect to Wi-Fi is available, but is usually too many confusing steps. When web applications based on transparency, we are sometimes asked if we wanted to Wi-Fi in Crave Towers, sometimes called, and sometimes kicks the network 3G. It can lead to Nokia smart phones to the masses proud, but other handset manufacturers have a lot of work to do smart Drop the phone easier to use and Nokia need to catch up.

If we could connect, Web browsing is very nice on the N86 66 mm (2.6 inches) display. YouTube and BBC iPlayer also works very well, and that AMOLED screen is decent. There is even a small stand that appears on the back of the phone for the proposal while you watch. Overturning the state will automatically open the gallery, where you can access your photos. It's a cute idea, but it's really annoying when you have a video all cued up and ready to go.

The N86 is a phone with good music, thanks to the special keys for music and a standard 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, which means you can use your headphones do not have the adapter. It will also support FM radio and the radio on the Internet, with a good podcast. There is a lot of space to store all your music with 8GB of internal memory and memory card slot microSD, which up to 16 GB more.
Synchronize music; video and other data are quite simple with Nokia PC Suite, which has steadily improved over the years, the promotion of shit to clean up. Offering great benefits, such as the ability to synchronize via Bluetooth, text and type your computer before it is sent to your phone so you can use a real keyboard. But still cannot compete with the Party Music Manager PC Suite software with its own music, so you may prefer the N86 in mass storage and sync your music with your favorite music software for calling. It is also useful if you have a Mac, because PC Suite only works on computers.

Final Words and Conclusion

The Nokia N86 8 MP does not break much new ground, but it is a good place in the popular N series from Nokia. It is so easy to use than the iPhone or HTC hero, using, for example, but actually packs in features, if you can find, there are millions of fantastic applications out there to make it even better. Best of all, a phone that takes good pictures with almost no shutter lag. A top-of-the-phone-camera online with all the power of a smartphone that we believe is the N86, it is worth.

Nokia Surge 6790

The Nokia 6790 for AT & T pushed as a starting point for the Finnish phone manufacturer. It runs on Symbian S60 platform to support exchange and includes a number of productivity tools, GPS and support for 3G. However, this increase is not in line with the same target group of intended users, businesses and power than others, but also for a younger audience, offering easy access to social networking sites, and a spacious full QWERTY keyboard for easy messaging. The wallet-friendly price of $ 79.99, with a two-year contract is also very attractive, but it must have data plan with him. We love the design, but the jump Nokia definitely fill a gap in the range of AT & T for a younger clientele looking for something a little better, a basic phone message for a price reasonable.

4 things we like about the Nokia Surge 6790

• Flash lite with full HTML browser
• 3G support
• In affordable price you get GPS as well
• You will also have access to social networking sites

2 things we don’t like about the Nokia Surge 6790

• Build quality is not good
• Without opening the keypad you can’t dial the number

Nokia Surge 6790 Review

When we saw the blossoming of Nokia in images, we do not really know what they want to draw, and now we have at hand, well, this is interesting. The Surge is much weaker than expected, with only 3.8 centimeters high and 2.2 centimeters wide and 0.6 cm thick and 4.3 ounces. Although the small size is nice, we were not so enthusiastic about the smooth and plasticky feel of the phone and the battery door is creaking at the slightest amount of pressure.

It also provides the user interface of the many falls on a cell phone from a smartphone, has more to do with the Symbian operating system aging. The screen is also very limited, so it meant a little more scrolling and it was the best for viewing videos and Web pages. It is also a magnet for fingerprints and spots. That said you're probably on the phone in landscape mode, much of the time, so at least you will have a wider viewing area where the screen is horizontal. To make things easier for your monitor has a built-in accelerometer so the screen orientation automatically switches from portrait to landscape mode when you rotate the phone. The accelerometer was quick and changed the screen with little or no delay. However, we note that some of the icons on the screen as he saw the screen go cut myself in Fritz, but never during our test.

Around the ads are a handful of navigation and shortcut commands. The display (if the phone), held vertically, you have the standard keys, Talk and End keys and a keyboard with four lanes with a center select button on the left side, there are shortcut keys to page navigation menus and messages. While handy for surfing the mobile phone have to say, press the keys is hard and cracks on the phone when trying to punch. Another irritation is that you open the package, not dial phone numbers from your address book. Although we are not big fans of the above tests, we are very pleased with the full keyboard QWERTY. You can do this by using the screen to the right and the sliding mechanism is smooth and locks securely. The keypad buttons are nice and big and I feel very muddy or flat, so the typing experience is great.

At the top of the device, you will find players to find a 2.5mm headset jack and attached the power connector, protected by a cover. The Micro-USB on the left side also has a protective cover, which we appreciate, but it is difficult to eliminate and get a time in the way you try to connect the various cables. There is a volume rocker and camera activation / capture button on the right. Finally, the camera is on the back, while the microSD slot can be found behind the battery compartment.

Do not let their small size, soaring Nokia has many functions and a complete smartphone platform based on Symbian S60. Although the operating system looks quite outdated compared to some contests, they may still be working on the synchronization of Microsoft Exchange, and support for personal accounts such as Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live has done, and Gmail. The device also comes with the QuickOffice suite for working with Office documents and an array of productivity tools, including a reader PDF, voice recording and calendar, among others. At this point, the momentum delivered by an application called Juice Caster preloaded with which you news, updates, photos and videos to view other social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Flickr, or your own Juice Caster network. AT & T is also seeking to enter the social game and make an AT & T stock, application for Facebook with AT & T for the freedom of choice, on Facebook, where users can gain followers and number lots a points system. Juice Caster is quite clever, though a little kludgey to navigate with all the different options and tabs. There is little work to do if the media like Facebook and MySpace publish the pages you access, incorporated in the code and so on.

To download pictures and videos on these pages, you have many choices. Select), you can group your files are already in 120MB internal memory of the phone, or you can use the media on a card microSD (which can take up to 8 GB card shop Surge. Surge Nokia is also a 2 megapixel camera with video recording capabilities, so you can capture moments on the road.

The device offers all the usual options, including the quality and resolution of the means of reception, the white balance settings, a stopwatch and more. The image quality is not as important as the images look dull and has a blue tint. On the other hand, recorded clips looked decent, with a fairly clear and less blur.

The transition from the core of most social skills Surge Nokia as a phone, the epidemic has quad-band world roaming, a speakerphone, speed dialing, three way call, teleconferencing, voice commands, and text and multimedia messages. The address book is limited only to available memory (the SIM card has additional 250 contacts) and allows you to connect multiple numbers, email addresses, job title, and other personal information to a contact. You can also use video calls with AT & T Video share service, but note that the recipient has a share of video-enabled phone and the service is $ 4.99 per month. Bluetooth 2 0 is on board with support for mono headsets and stereo Bluetooth hands-free for the car, object push profile, dial-up networking, audio-visual distance control and more.

The increase also supports 3G (HSDPA 850/1900MHz), to be more flexible browsing experience on the Web, the AT & T 3.5G networks should correspond to services streaming media, including AT & T Music and AT & T Video supported both on the phone for help. I hope that the 3G network of AT & T is very reliable, because where you live; the smartphone has integrated Wi-Fi too.

In a post-smartphone level, the increase proposed by some of the older boys with a full browser support for Web HTML with Flash Lite. We were able to identify YouTube pretty well, but it took several attempts to get to play video. Once the river for the most part was smooth, although sometimes a video, you need to push.

If you cannot get enough of the video, the increase also comes with the mobile application, and there are many other entertainment venues as well, including an integrated media player (AAC, AAC + V1 supports AAC + V2, WAV, MP3, WMA 9 and RealAudio 10 files), FM radio and XM, and a handful of games.

Last but not least, the Nokia Surge GPS / A-GPS support for AT & T Navigator. With this service, depending on location, you can get the real time control, data, voice, routing, navigation and other tools. Currently, the AT & T Navigator for the first 30 days are free, but you will be charged $ 9.99 a month if you cancel the operation.

We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA 850/1900) Nokia Surge in San Francisco with AT & T services and the quality was OK. Voices sounded a bit tinny on our end of the interview and the call will remove all the time, so we ask our friends to repeat them.

Our partners are not particularly impressed by the sound quality, either. Some have reported a slight clicking noise, while others said they did not seem very clear. Speakerphone quality was not particularly remarkable. Unaffected, there was plenty of volume, and should bear able to talk without problems.
We paired the headset with the touch of Logitech Mobile Traveler Bluetooth and the Motorola Bluetooth Active Headphones S9. We were big fans of the sound quality of the latter, but he came to practice listening to music, because the climb is equipped with 3,5 mm for headphones and we don 'have access to a sound card or a compatible headset . As for calls, speaker phone with music pumping high volumes, although we do not know how many friends will miss your songs through the speaker.

Final Words and Conclusion

AT & T 3G network coverage is somewhat uneven, here in San Francisco, not only to provide impressive speeds, either. Nokia has a push 1500mAh lithium ion battery and has a rated talk time of 4.7 hours (4 hours for 3G) and up to 16 days standby. In our test battery leakage, the expected increase in 10.25 hours of talk time on a single battery charge.

Sony Ericsson Aino

The new Sony Ericson Aino is making its space in the market. You will find the screen pretty big. The plus point we have noticed in this set is its keyboard which is gentle and easy to use. Battery timing of these sets is not good but this set will give you good battery timing. As it’s new right now so a little expensive. To know more about this phone you can read our full review on Sony Ericsson Aino.

4 things we like about the Sony Ericsson Aino

• Screen is big
• Keypad is good
• Battery timing is also good
• Audio and video quality is nice

2 things we don’t like about the Sony Ericsson Aino

• Video streaming is jerky
• A little expensive

Sony Ericsson Aino Review

The Sony Ericsson Aino is a slider phone that had an entire room excited when at release, it claimed to have the ability to playback content directly from your PS3. But alas, it's not the PSP phone; instead you receive a solid and heavily featured phone with the ability to access media anywhere.

While it's seldom going to win the plaudits of the Sony Ericsson Satio, the Aino (pronounced I-no) is a lovely phone in its own right, and manages to edge above being basically solid into 'impressive' territory. It doesn't have the new Symbian interface; instead relying on Sony Ericsson's standard UI, which means that feature-wise it's not as rich.

The first thing you notice is the weighty feel of the handset (as well as the startlingly dark hue the Obsidian Black is sporting, with your eyes feeling like they have been sucked into a vortex of mobile phone gravity). It's a reassuring weight, with a button layout that will be familiar to a quantity of the Sony Ericsson fraternity.

While this phone doesn't have the hidden D-pad that a PSP phone might sneak out to titillate us with, it does have some decent media capabilities that are clearly extended beyond the range of the phone itself as is shown by the location-less Media Go functionality.

What's weird is that while the Aino has a touch screen, it only works in media mode, meaning they would not have known it was there unless they were told. It's easy to imaging a quantity of people poking their phone normally to no avail and then being perplexed when the touch screen fires up in media mode.

Anyway, the whole thing was had a lovely feeling to it, and watching videos on the included dock was easy thanks to the pleasant angle offered.

Audio was excellent on both music and video with the bundled wireless buds, and you get the feeling that in this phone Sony Ericsson has had a lovely think about what it takes to make media on a phone work well. The touch screen in media mode worked well, perhaps not in the same sensitivity league as the Satio, but still a decent effort nonetheless.

However, it's as well there's bundled wireless 'buds given there is no 3.5mm jack, which you would have expected on such a media-centric phone. At least you get an 8GB microSD card in the box, which makes up for the teeny 55MB of memory on board.

When docked and closed, the phone also doubles as a nightstand clock, with a flick of a virtual arrow needed to be pulled up in order to release it from its silvery time prison. They found this impossible to do, and it took 20 goes to get right. Either they could not master the action needed (SURELY not) or the touch screen was a tiny glitch; either way, a weird choice to unlock the screen.

However, there is as well as a small button on the top that can do the job for you, so that might make more sense.

The camera, an 8.1MP job, is over adequate but sadly pales by comparison to the 12.1MP behemoth attached to the Satio. It's easy to forget that the C905 has an 8MP camera and has long been regarded as five of the best camera phones around, so you cannot say much bad about a phone that is 15.5mm thick yet still takes some great pics, with a plethora of decent settings including geotagging and face detection.
The interface being standard means that other options, like messaging or accessories, aren't much to write home about, as SE has stuck with roughly the same UI principles for years. It is not a criticism of the handset per se, but after playing with Satio you cannot help but crave a tiny bit more.

They briefly saw the Media Go application (syncing with your PC) and the Remote Play options demonstrated by Sony Ericsson, but they get the feeling it's something we're going to want to have a much longer play with to find out whether it's easy to set up and if they want to have regularly updated content from your PC.

However, it's as simple as docking every night to have a new set of podcasts ready to listen to every day, then that is an exciting prospect. The Aino is lovely phone from Sony Ericsson, and as a 'middle brother' from the trio released, it's a lovely effort indeed.

They like the layout of the buttons and the chassis, although they would have loved some PSP branding and more to be made of the touchscreen. However, we're ready to reserve judgment until they receive a proper chance to play with it, so look out for our in-depth review of the Aino coming soon.

The protocol relies on HSPA connectivity, while the 55 MB internal memory is expandable through microSD cards, five 8 GB included in the package. Do not miss the GPS, FM radio and Bluetooth. The battery, according to official data, allows autonomy of 4.5 hours talk time and 367 hours standby time. Price not reported, while the availability is scheduled for September.

AINO is an innovative mobile phone that combines the traditional keyboard touch interface for easy access to multimedia content, and with five push, the user can enjoy music, videos and photographs, seen on the screen high-quality 3 “. AINO is able to connect remotely by Wi-Fi or 3G access to the Play station 3 and so on streaming all content in the Play station, from movies to music and photos.

Final Words and Conclusion

This phone really surprised us as it provides you vest coverage. The concept of this phone is not like Sony Ericson so this change was good. The 8 megapixel camera really brings it out. I think this phone is worth every penny you should really give it a chance.

Dell Vostro 420 Tower

Dell's Vostro line of tiny business desktops just got a makeover with the release of two redesigned systems: the Dell Vostro 220 Mini Tower (with a beginning price of $319), the Dell Vostro 220s Slim Tower (with a $379 beginning price), & the Dell Vostro 420 Tower (beginning at $549). On first glance the new method design appears subtle: the front of the chassis has gone from a matte black to a glossy black finish.

But the more significant changes are found under the surface. For starters, the entire line now features integrated Gigabit Ethernet; previously, only the highest-end model (the Vostro 410 Tower) included integrated Gigabit Ethernet--the other models (the Vostro 200 Mini Tower & the Vostro 200 Slim Tower) topped out with integrated 100Mbps Ethernet controllers. Equipped with new motherboards, the Vostro line now uses the Intel G45 Express Chipset. Other updates include two PS/2 ports for legacy input device support & optional Blu-ray drives. The Vostro 220 & 220s can support up to 1TB of hard disk storage space, while the Vostro 420 supports up to 4TB. The Vostro 420 also includes dual-display functionality & 10 USB ports (two over the Vostro 410). Presently, the standard configuration for all two systems includes a Windows Vista Business disc with the Windows XP SP1 downgrade installed.

Vostro gives you Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 processor, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 graphics, & an 80GB SATA 7,200-rpm hard drive, 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz memory. Depending on which Vostro 420 configuration you pick (there's two), you can configure the method with up to a 2.83GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 processor, 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz memory, 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800GT graphics, & two 1TB SATA 7,2000 hard drives. Note that adding additional 1TB hard disks drives the system's price up substantially.

All Vostro systems come with at least a one-year warranty that includes on-site service. Upgrade options for Dell's proSupport service cost $59 for two year, $99 for two years, & $129 for two years. ProSupport promises telephone access to "North-American based technical support technicians who are available in two minutes or less." With an eye firmly on tiny businesses, Dell promises "24x7x365" telephone support, remote diagnosis, on-site support, & techs who use "straightforward, non-technical terms," with even the lowest-price warranty option. & most users will be happy to know that all Vostro systems ship with no pre-installed trial ware (often more crudely referred to as bloat ware) & a minimalist Windows desktop with few icons.

5 things we like about the Dell Vostro 420 Tower

• Highly customizable
• RAM upgrades are affordable
• Comes standard with a video card
• Overly powerful enough
• Fairly priced

2 things we don’t like about the Dell Vostro 420 Tower

• Downgrade to Windows XP now costs $150
• Comes with 1GB of RAM standard

Dell Vostro 420 Tower Review

The unit arrived with multiple hardware problems. The CPU fan was not plugged in, halting the boot with an error. Then the hard drive was not recognized. The phone tech told me to reinstall Windows. So now the drive has no diagnostic partition. It is difficult to imagine that Dell ever tested this method before shipping it. The ton of software accumulated on my old machine over 8 years moved over without a hitch, using a USB hard drive.

Very quiet. The fans do run at full speed for a moment on power up, & then they are loud. Two time the fans ran faster for a minute, varying in speed & tone, & that was hard to ignore. But it never happened again, even when some benchmarks ran power consumption up to 160 watts.

A stylish but dumb idea is the slick black hinged flaps that hide the DVD & similar drives, because they also hide the drives' identities & indicator lights. & on the DVD tray the drive bay door catches.

Hard to quantify, but a lot faster than my old single core machine! Boots to Windows XP in 72 seconds, with my startup processes. Waking up from the power-efficient sleep mode takes 12 seconds. (USB keyboard will wake it up, but PS2 won't.)

Case is sheet metal, but lightweight, an unstyled rectangle except for the shiny black front panel. Drive bays are held together by pop rivets, not screws. I thought I'd miss the clamshell case of my old Dell Dimension, but this is much more practical. Ventilation slots behind the front panel should keep the hard drives nice. No legacy ATA power connectors for my old drives. The method as shipped (including E2209 flat panel monitor) uses about 130 watts walking & 100 watts idle.

While the world of desktop computing is becoming ever more competitive, there are few companies with the power & reputation of Dell. The Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer is a perfect example of what they can offer at a price well within the reach of the masses. Even though it is what is under the surface which matters, the Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer offers a sleek & stylish design, reflecting the nature of the machine.

Moving now to the real deal, the spec of the machine & what it can actually do for you. This particular model has a 2 quad-core Q6600 processor (2.4GHz, 1066MHz & 8MB) offering you speed & processing power which many competitors will find hard to match. 2048MB 667MHX dual channel DDR2 is being offered, together with the 1TB Dual Hard Drive RAID 0 Stripe facilities. The Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer also come with nVidia & GeForce video & graphics cards, giving you a crisps sharp look to your display & animated video output.

The sound method is supported by HDA 7.1 Dolby Digital Audio, giving you the power of Dolby & the reliability which goes with the leading sound method company. The Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer comes pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Addition as well as a choice of monitors which go up to 22 inches in size (wide flat panel).

While the name Dell will already fill you with confidence, these systems come with the highest spec available on the market. Dell has been in the computer industry for decades & the likes of the Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer reflect all of their experience & investment over the years. Whether you are looking for something to use around the home, something to use on the move or something to kick start that small business idea you had, the Dell XPS 420 Desktop Computer offers everything you will need.

The processing time is very speedy, the memory is over you could reasonably be expected to use & the display capabilities reflect a great all round offering. Dell has been at the cutting edge of technology & the lower finish of pricing for some time, so if you are looking for a new method, Dell is a great place to visit!

Final Words and Conclusion

A quiet, quick, expandable computer. I'm happy with it now, but had to wrestle with hardware problems for a few days. And the BIOS might be a work in progress. Hugely expandable - five drive bays, five PCI and five PCI-e slots. Nice price point and XP for free at the time I ordered it; has come down a bit since.

Samsung Jet

The Samsung Jet is making its market quite nice. The home screen can be played with widgets. Keep yourself connected as it has the Wi-Fi connectivity. The pictures and video of this phone is up to the mark you will get the best quality from its camera.

7 things we like about the Samsung Jet

• AMOLED clear screen
• Home screen is customisable with widgets
• Headphone jack is standard
• Wi-Fi connectivity
• Video and photo quality is good
• Memory is expandable
• One-finger zoom function which is innovative

5 things we don’t like about the Samsung Jet

• A little jerky
• User interface is confusing
• Touchscreen is resistive
• Web browsing speed is average
• Keyboard layout is not good

Samsung Jet Review

Speed and responsiveness is the one most important feature for a touchscreen, so we had high hopes for the Jet, which Samsung claims to be the fastest full-touch handset in the world. But we weren't blown away by the Jet's speed.

For example, when we swiped a finger to switch between home screens, the transition wasn't any faster or smoother than we have seen on other touchscreen phones, and was far less smooth than a top-of-the-range touchscreen gizmo like the iPhone 3GS. There is a split-second delay between the swipe and the change, the widgets each take a moment to appear on the screen, and the speed of the transition doesn't match the speed at which you swipe your finger.

Applications like the Web browser load up very quickly -- as they do on most phones at this level -- but we didn't find rendering rapid. Our favourite site, CNET UK, took 15 seconds to load on the Jet over Wi-Fi, compared to 4 seconds on the 3GS. The Jet invites the comparison by calling itself the world's fastest touchscreen phone, but we cut it some slack -- it is much less costly than the iPhone -- and also compared it to a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. The 5800 took 10 seconds to load the site -- 5 less than the Jet.

Even subtracting the 2 seconds that it took both the Jet and the 5800 to load the Flash elements on the page -- the fancy-pants iPhone doesn't support Flash -- the Jet we tested proved far from the fastest phone for browsing the Web.

Everyday tasks like beginning a new text message, opening the Web browser and viewing contacts don't feel any faster on the Jet than on the 5800. The Jet's 800MHz processor may make a difference when you're running several applications at once and making large demands on the processor, but we weren't able to prove it in our tests. A rapid processor means little if the operating process doesn't take advantage of it and the Jet didn't impress us in the real world.

The Jet also suffers from a resistive touchscreen, which feels squishy and requires pressure to make it respond. As a result, it seems less responsive than a capacitive touchscreen. We prefer the touchscreen on Samsung's budget phone, the Tocco Lite. We usually needed to use a fingernail, than a fingertip, to get the Jet to respond. The Tocco Lite shows that a resistive touchscreen can be decent, even on the cheap, so we are disappointed that Samsung has not managed to accomplish the same with the pricier Jet.

The Jet's AMOLED screen is gorgeously bright and vivid, though. Web-sites look great, although scrolling and zooming tends to be jittery. Zooming works by holding down a finger and sliding it up and down. That is an innovative idea, and it does away with screen-hogging zoom controls, but it means you can only zoom in on the centre of a page.

Samsung's version of the Symbian operating process is much better-looking than the version Nokia uses on the 5800, but it is confusing and too convoluted at times. For example, when we could not connect to a Web page, the error message was: 'Failed to connect to DPS. No response from AP.' that is not much help, even for mobile-phone experts.

The Jet's on-screen keyboard switches from an alphanumeric version when you hold the phone in portrait mode to a Qwerty keyboard in landscape mode. The keyboards are both rapid and responsive, but we dislike the layout. For example, the key to switch languages is given as much space as the other keys, although, unless you're an MEP, you'll probably seldom use it.

On the other hand, we like the fact that you can run several applications at once -- a long press of the jewel-like centre key brings up everything that is running. We also like the widgets on the home screen. They're basic, but there are some nice ones, like the one that controls the music player. Unfortunately, there is no way to lock them in place, and we often accidentally moved them when we were trying to slide around the home screens.

The Jet also offers some innovative user-interface ideas, such as Media Gate 3D, which is essentially a spinning cube of shortcuts that gets its own launch button next to the camera shutter button. You can tap it or control it by shaking the phone, but it is pointless in our opinion.

Another new idea is gesture-based unlocking. When the phone is locked, you can draw a letter on the screen to unlock it. You can also set the letter that unlocks the phone to act as a speed-dial number so that, once you enter the letter, the phone rings one of your contacts. That is handy for phoning home, but we wish it worked with simple cursive, than capital, letters, which often require several strokes.
We were impressed with Jet's 5-megapixel camera, despite its 3-second shutter lag. Our snaps were clear and showed nice color reproduction, and photos and videos looked striking on the Jet's 79mm WVGA-resolution screen.

The Jet supports MPEG-4, H.263 and DivX video formats, but we struggled to get videos on the phone using Samsung's syncing application. Videos didn't get automatically converted to a format the phone could read, so we ended up wasting time transferring files that we could not play. We'd suggest downloading videos over the phone's built-in Wi-Fi or 3.2Mbps HSDPA instead. There is lots of room for downloads, thanks to a microSD memory card slot that supports up to 16GB of storage. There is also support for heaps of music formats, and a built-in FM radio. You can listen to your tunes at their best, thanks to a standard 3.5mm headphone jack, the inclusion of which always gives us a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

The Jet reminds us a great deal of the 5800, from its resistive touchscreen to the Symbian OS. But the Jet far exceeds the 5800 in terms of looks, working a bigger screen into a slimmer, more solid-feeling body. The rounded back features interesting shiny red stripes, which remind us of the red-hot bars in an electric fire. But a large drawback of the case is that the bezel around the lens and the raised speaker keep the Jet from lying flat, which is a pain when you need to tap with both hands when playing games.

Final Words and Conclusion

The Samsung Jet's fast processor doesn't offer you much speed there are some claw backs in it. Like the web browsing speed is not up to mark. Touch screen is a little resistive when using it in a flow. The layout of keyboard is also not that good. But still you can give it a try.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3EB-K

I was first introduced to the LX3 at a lavish press launch held in Monaco earlier this year. While there I had a chance to try a pre-production sample of the camera, & I was immensely impressed by it. I've been looking forward to getting my hands on a production model for a full review, & so for the past week I've been out & about putting the LX3 through its paces. I've not been disappointed; it is every bit as lovely as I remember.

Over the coursework of a year, I review around 100 digital cameras, maybe two or four more or less, but a lot by any standard. Naturally some are better than others. Some are hopeless rubbish & some are lovely, but it is only a couple of times a year that a camera comes along that stands out from the crowd. The Panasonic Lumix LX3 is two of those cameras.

3 things we like about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3EB-K

• Compact but comfortable design
• Bright lens
• Broad manual-shooting feature set

2 things we don’t like about the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3EB-K

• Proprietary connectors
• Artefacts under certain conditions

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3EB-K Review

Even with such an impressive specification the LX3 may seem high priced at around £300, however it's worth pointing out that the essentially identical Leica D-LUX 4 costs six times as much, at around £570. The LX3 doesn't have a lot of competition at this finish of the market. It will find itself on the same page of the catalogue as the Canon PowerShot G10 (£370), the Nikon CoolPix P6000 (£340) & the Ricoh GR Digital II (£399), & against those that £300 doesn't seem so high priced anymore. Of coursework you can get an entry level DSLR for less, but then the LX3 is not competing with a DSLR.

The top model in Panasonic's compact camera range, the Lumix LX3 is a high-spec compact camera aimed primarily at enthusiast & semi-professional photographers. Its lots of features include a 10.1-megapixel sensor of the larger 1/1.63-inch type, Venus Engine IV image processing, a very high quality F2.0 - F2.8 Leica-branded 2.5x zoom lens equivalent to 24-60mm, a 3.0-inch monitor with 460k dot resolution, a full range of manual exposure & metering options, & can shoot in Raw mode.

Handling the LX3, it's impossible not to be impressed by its smart design, solid build quality, slick performance & general feeling of competence. It is an very enjoyable camera to use, & while it's complex it is not complicated. Some people may have a problem with the tiny joystick-like control that operates the Speedy Menu, however two times you get used to it, it's very speedy & easy to use.

The main menu is also comprehensive. The main image control setting is the Film mode, which offers a quantity of presets, including six monochrome settings, all of which can be customised for contrast, sharpness, saturation & even noise reduction. Naturally the LX3 has multi-zone, centre-weighted & spot metering, & also has a wide range of AF modes, including a manual spot AF. Like most top-end cameras, particular setups can be saved & assigned to two custom settings on the main mode dial.

Although it's a comparison that I would normally dismiss, I have to say that the level of user control offered by the LX3 is not far short of that of a good digital SLR. I like the six position aspect-ratio switch on the top of the lens barrel. I found myself switching aspect ratios to suit the subject far more often that I normally would, with good results.

While the limited 24-60mm zoom range might sound like a restriction, in fact it's right for general intention scenic photography, & anyway the superior speed of the F2.0 - F2.8 maximum aperture over makes up for it. That is around two stops faster than lots of compact camera zoom lenses, & combined with the excellent optical image stabilisation technique it means fewer blurred shots. For those times when 24mm is not wide , a 0.75x wide conversion lens is available.

Other features include Raw mode, as well as two Raw + JPEG settings. However it's worth noting that even the latest version of Adobe Camera Raw does not yet recognize the LX3's Raw files, so you'll have to convert them using the supplied software.
The LX3 also has a very good video mode, offering 1280 x 720 HD at 24fps, or WVGA (848 x 480) & VGA at 30fps, although clips are limited to 15 minutes.

In terms of overall performance, the LX3 is quietly impressive. It starts up in a tiny over two seconds, & in single-shot mode at maximum JPEG image quality it has a shot-to-shot time of approximately 1.7 seconds, which is impressive when you consider that it's moving files averaging about 5MB each. Even more impressively, shooting in the Raw mode with its 11.5MB files the LX3 can maintain a shot-to-shot time of 1.8 seconds, & even in the Raw + Fine JPEG setting it can manage a shot every 2.3 seconds. I have used some DSLRs that cannot shoot that fast.

The LX3 is no ultra-compact, but considering its specification it's surprisingly tiny. It measures 109 x 62 x 45mm with the lens retracted, or 70mm with the lens extended, & weighs 264g including battery & card. The body is comfortable to hold thanks to a lovely finger grip on the front (not present on the Leica version) & a tiny textured thumb grip on the back. It will fit easily in to a jacket pocket, but like most serious cameras it comes with a good quality neck strap, & there is an optional & retro-looking leather case.

The autofocus technique is also very impressive, both for its speed & for its incredible low light ability, which is among the best I have ever seen. It has a tiny & not terribly bright AF assist lamp, but even so it's able to focus in total darkness seemingly as fast as it does in daylight.

The LX3 has a two of a kind pop-up flash which is surprisingly powerful for such a tiny unit, with a wide-angle range of over four metres at auto ISO setting. It's bright to provide shadow fill-in even in very bright sunlight, but is also very well metered so it doesn't burn out close-up highlights.

The Leica-branded lens is basically fantastic, producing virtually no distortion or chromatic aberration, although to be fair a number of that is achieved during processing. Nonetheless images are pin-sharp from corner to corner, with an incredible level of detail. The LX3's sensor is of the larger 1/1.63-inch type, the largest normally used in compact cameras (Sigma DP1 excepted). As a result the LX3 has better than average dynamic range & outstanding colour reproduction.

As for image quality, see the sample shots attached & judge for yourself. I am not exaggerating when I say that the LX3 has better image quality than some DSLRs that I have used. Images at 80 ISO are much perfect, with deep rich colour, sharp detail & no noise at all, & the quality is maintained even at higher ISO settings. It's two of the few compact cameras that can produce useable images at 1600 ISO. The auto white balance is the LX3's only significant problem. It does tend to produce slight tints if there is a strongly-coloured object dominating the frame, but this can be avoided by either manual WB setting or shooting in Raw mode.

Final Words and Conclusion

The Panasonic LX3 is four of the very few digital cameras that I would consider buying for myself. It is a superbly designed plus immensely capable all-purpose compact that will satisfy any keen photographer, but is also capable of producing nice results in the hands of a novice. Build quality, performance plus versatility are all of the highest order, plus picture quality is as nice as ever gets. It may seem costly, but I think it would be money well spent.