“For the Galaxy S 4 16GB model, approximately 6.85GB occupies [the] system part of internal memory, which is 1GB bigger than that of the Galaxy S3, in order to provide high resolution display and more powerful features to our consumers” the company told CNET. “To offer the ultimate mobile experience to our users, Samsung provides [a] microSD slot on Galaxy S 4 for extension of memory.”

Unlike with other high-profile devices, such as Apple’s iPhone 5 and the more recent HTC One, owners of the Galaxy S 4 can choose to buy a cheaper, low-capacity version of the handset upfront and then add on storage at a later point. That’s often a cheaper route than going for a higher-capacity model; a $100 difference between 16GB and 32GB tiers is commonplace.

However, while 64GB microSD cards are broadly available now – with a street price of around $54 – they don’t offer quite the same flexibility as onboard storage. The Galaxy S 4 will use memory cards for keeping multimedia, such as purchased music or photos and videos taken with the smartphone’s camera, but it will not allow applications to be installed to them.

Instead, if you want to install an app, that will have to be to the internal storage, which may prove limiting if you’re a fan of the latest games with high-res graphics to make the most of the Galaxy S 4′s Full HD display. There’s more details in our full Galaxy S 4 review.

Hardware and Design

Sturdy and relatively conservative, the Inspiration headphones mix leather earcup inners with brushed-metal finish outer housings. The band itself is interchangeable – it uses magnets on the straps to clip them into place – and Monster will offer a selection of aftermarket alternatives as well as including two in the box from the start.

Also interchangeable are the cables, of which Monster supplies a total of three. In addition to a basic 3.5mm cord, there’s a “ControlTalk” version with in-line buttons and microphone for use with Apple devices, and a “ControlTalk Universal” cable with the generic equivalent for Android phones and those from other manufacturers. It’s an admirable bundle, given most headphones – even if supporting changing cables – generally only include one in the box.

Finally there’s a zippered pouch for transporting the Inspiration headphones and keeping them scratch-free. The earcups fold inward to make the bundle smaller overall. A pair of AAA batteries – also included – power the active noise cancellation system.

The rectangular earcups themselves are long but relatively narrow: as a result they overlapped our ears somewhat, though not to the same extent that a traditional (and usually round) over-the-ear pair of headphones might do. Still, they were comfortable even for extended periods – we were able to wear them for hours at a time with no discomfort – and managed to cling to our heads while we went about our daily business.

They’re heavier than other headphones we’ve tried, though, and that means you do tend to notice you have them on more than rivals which blend into the background. Those with smaller heads might find they can slip forward some if you move suddenly.

Performance

With its work with Beats Audio and Dr. Dre, Monster has built up a reputation for bass-heavy sound, and though the branding might be different, the Inspiration headphones still show an affinity for the lower range of the frequency spectrum. There’s a noticeable emphasis on bass tones, and that makes them particularly suited to RnB, rap, and dance music.

At the other end, the trebles are bright but can be overpowering, and the headphones can be finnicky about how they’re placed on your ears. Slightly offset, and it can sound hollow. Get the fit right, though, and they sound solid, though the mids can end up getting lost somewhat in the process, overpowered by the heavy bass and piping treble.

The noise cancellation system can be selectively operated; without it, there’s a little isolation from the well-fitting earcups, but with it turned on the Monster system does a reasonable job of ironing out background noise. As with all such active cancellation systems, it can’t really smooth out irregular or unexpected sounds – you’ll hear a car horn, for instance, though it’ll be a little quieter – but it performs well with persistent background noise, such as you might encounter on a plane. It’s good, but it’s worth noting that it also appears to bump up the audio volume somewhat too, which artificially distracts from what’s going on around you.

Wrap-Up

The collision of fashion and headphones has left shoppers not only with far more options from atypical names, but with some more difficult choices to make. Whereas headphones might once have focused on providing as transparent sound as possible, attempting to pass on as much of the core audio as possible, now individual brands have their own “house style” of tuning.

Monster’s Inspiration headphones don’t fall far from what we’ve seen the company produce before, albeit with different branding. An emphasis on bass and aggressive treble suits the target audience, though it’s not at home with jazz, classical, or more sedate vocal tracks. The styling doesn’t scream in the same way Beats does, though there’s plenty of room for outlandish dressing-up with the interchangeable strap inserts.

Whether they’re worth $299.99, however, is questionable. Viewed solely as a way to enjoy music, the Monster Inspiration headphones can be fussy about their fit (though are comfortable when you have it right) and are certainly tuned to a particular genre of music. You need to factor in the fashion element – and a few bundled goodies – to decide whether what your ears are wearing is as important as how they affect what you’re listening to. They’re a solid pair of headphones, but you pay extra for the Monster cachet.

Design

BMW has based the X1 on the chassis of its 1- and 3-series cars, and the design pulls details from both sedan ranges too, albeit somewhat inflated to suit the SUV silhouette. Up front, BMW’s traditional kidney grille has followed the range trend and grown into a pair of snorting nostrils, flanked by angry headlamps – with LED highlights if you opt for the Xenon package – and new chrome accent strips. The hood is long and broken up with sharp crease-lines, BMW having pushed back the cabin space for a profile that’s sporty from the front three-quarters but can look ungainly when viewed fully side-on.

The profile works better the further toward the rear you get, a strong waistline rising steeply to pinch off the back glass. It’s meant that BMW could keep the roofline higher than is often the case in crossovers, preserving rear seat headroom, without losing the sporting stance.

There’s less black plastic than on earlier, European versions of the X1, pushed down to discretely protect the side-skirts, rear apron and front bumper edge. Slices of matte-finish silver plastic also lighten the effect, meaning the X1 doesn’t feel bottom heavy. Steeply angled rear window glass looks good, compared to the slab-sided finish some rival crossovers suffer, though does eat into interior room.

Engines and Performance

BMW will offer two engine options in the US, in addition to a choice of rear-wheel or all-wheel drive. Entry-level is the 2.0-liter four cylinder, putting out 245 HP and paired with an 8-speed auto gearbox; it will be available as the rear-wheel drive sDrive28i or the all-wheel drive xDrive28i, each offering Auto Stop-Start, Brake Energy Regeneration, and Electric Power Steering. BMW says to expect a 6.2s 0-60mph dash, or 6.3s if you opt for 4X4.

More powerful is the 3.0-liter six cylinder, producing 306 HP through a six-speed auto gearbox and found in the xDrive35i. That has all-wheel drive as standard and all the electronic gizmos of the 28i models, bar the Auto Stop-Start. BMW’s 4X4 system can shuttle power between the front and rear wheels, depending on road conditions and how fast you take the corners. The 3.0-liter manages a 5.3s 0-60mph run.

BMW put us behind the wheel of the X1 xDrive28i, and it cuts a good line between sure-footed and swift. High-speed cruising in eighth gear is as comfortable as you’d hope for from a luxury marque, but the X1 isn’t afraid of sportier driving either. The eight-speed ‘box is eager to step through its selection of gears, dropping down rapidly when you plant your right foot, while the car’s sedan underpinnings held true. There’s little in the way of body roll, and we never found ourselves forced to back off out of a shortage of grip. Happily the brakes are well matched too, dragging the X1 to a stop with the minimum of fuss.

Despite the potential for action, the X1 is also able to post some respectable economy figures. With a steady foot we came within a digit or two of the official 26mpg combined figure (BMW quotes 22mpg for city and 33mpg for highway driving) in the 2.8-liter AWD; expect 2mpg more in combined and city driving for the rear-wheel drive version with the same engine. Unsurprisingly, the 3.0-liter is a thirstier beast, posting 21mpg combined (18mpg city and 27mpg highway).

Interior

Inside, BMW has all the soft-touch plastics and pleasing details you’d expect for a $31k+ crossover. The center console, angled slightly toward the driver, is topped by a large LCD, with the HVAC, entertainment and other controls arranged into straightforward sections stacked underneath. The three-spoke wheel has a number of easily-reached buttons for controlling music, phone, and other features.

Leather seats – available in multiple colors, ranging from sober blacks to eye-catching red – are a $1,450 option, and are paired with a leather-wrapped wheel in BMW’s Sport Line trim. The stubby silver-finished gearstick can be tapped side-to-side to force gear-changes, if you’re unhappy with the X1′s selection, and sits in front of BMW’s now-traditional iDrive control wheel. One option that particularly grew on us is BMW ConnectedDrive, which includes the company’s take on augmented reality, projecting speed and other information up onto the dashboard.

As for interior space, that high roofline means rear headroom is fine for adults, and the rear seats fold 40:20:40 for maximum flexibility in loading. That’s important, as we couldn’t fit a full set of golf clubs into the trunk of the X1 without dropping at least one rear seat down. If your cargo is a smaller than that, then there are plenty of hidden cubbies under the rear floor.

Pricing

The crossover SUV market is increasingly crowded, and there are plenty of sub-$30k options for those wanting a loftier driving position. In contrast, the X1 range starts at $31,545 for the entry-level sDrive 28i, rising to $33,245 for the xDrive 28i; if you want the Sport Line package it’s an extra $1,900, or $3,000 for the M Sport Line package.

The X1 xDrive 35i, meanwhile, starts at $39,345, with Sport Line priced at the same $1,900 but the M Sport Line package slightly cheaper at $3,500. That M Sport Line package, incidentally, throws in a lower chassis and tauter suspension, as well as modifying the electronics to suit sharper driving.

Wrap-Up

Demand for BMW’s smallest SUV in Europe has obviously been sufficient to convince the Germans that there’s a market for it in North America. The current fashion for crossovers would certainly seem to prove that, and the persistent badge status of BMW vehicles means those with the X1 on their SUV shortlist are unlikely to find the $31k+ price tag too off-putting.

Your money gets you a distinctive and well-built vehicle, but arguably most importantly it’s a car that drives more like a BMW sedan than an SUV. No wallow, no sluggishness around the corners; just taut handling and – particularly with the 8-speed gearbox in the 2.8-liter models – the sort of spirited performance we’d expect from a 3 series not a crossover.

That more advanced gearbox, along with the economy advantages of the smaller engine, make the 28i models our pick of the X1 line-up. The xDrive 28i is the most sure-footed of that pair, but the sDrive 28i is a capable and persuasive option for those wanting some sporting luxury with their premiere driving position.

Gallery

The new gapless microlens design offers an 8-channel readout that doubles the transfer speed between sensor and imaging processor. Meanwhile, there’s 61-point AF and up to a crazy 102,400 ISO. The shutter release is certainly faster – you can hear the difference in speed between the new 5D MkIII and the old model. There’s full hardware specifications in our announcement round-up here.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Unboxing:

We’ll be putting the EOS 5D Mark III through its paces over the coming week before making a final judgement, but early impressions are very positive. In the shot below, the edited jpeg shows the difference between full resolution against cropped:

The image below, meanwhile, is a full frame shot unedited from the camera in jpeg format. Click for full-sized:

As for video, we’ve been experimenting with the 5D Mark III’s 720p HD video output, as that’s generally the best balance between web-friendly and quality. Again, the following clip is unedited and straight from the camera, and was filmed hand-held:

5D Mark III Sample Video (720p):

We’re hugely excited about a camera that’s already shaping up to be the best prosumer model around, and we know we’re not alone on that front. Expect the full SlashGear review soon!

Hardware

Netgear’s chassis is sober but sturdy, with a blocky metal casing that’s larger than some rivals thanks to its use of regular 3.5-inch desktop hard-drives rather than smaller – generally more expensive and lower capacity – 2.5-inch mobile drives. Up front there’s a USB 2.0 port with a dedicated “backup” button that pulls the content of any removable storage plugged in off and to a preset folder, along with a power button, activity and drive lights.

As the Duo name suggests, this particular ReadyNAS supports a pair of HDDs which are hot-swappable. Storage can be set up as either RAID 0 “striped” for speed without redundancy, or RAID 1 “mirrored” for data redundancy but half the capacity. However, extra capacity can be added using the two USB 3.0 ports on the back of the ReadyNAS, a welcome update over the more typical USB 2.0 connections.

Inside, Netgear has updated the processor to a 1.6GHz Marvell chip paired with 256MB of RAM. The company reckons that makes the Duo v2 twice as fast as its predecessor, with file transfers and higher-bitrate media streaming each said to benefit from the extra performance.

Netgear will offer three versions of the ReadyNAS Duo v2. Cheapest is the empty, barebones shell, intended for those wanting to use their own hard-drives, and priced at $199. Then there are 1TB and 2TB versions – each with a single drive – at $269 and $299 respectively. Our review unit was supplied with two 1TB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 7K1000.C SATA 3.0Gb/s drives, spinning at 7,200 rpm with 32MB of cache.

Software

Backup isn’t really sexy, and so a home NAS needs to be easy to use if owners are going to stick with it through not only setup but taking advantage of the various value-adds Netgear and others throw in. The ReadyNAS Duo v2 gets a double-whammy: Netgear has updated its RAIDiator 5 setup software to reduce complexity, and throws in a three year warranty too. For the first 90 days users get access to 24/7 customer service to help them set the NAS up; after that, three years of 24/7 support and hardware replacement is $99. If that seems too rich, three years of hardware replacement alone – within seven business days of a fault being diagnosed – is $29.

We didn’t need to call for help, however, and we doubt most reasonably confident home users would need to either. Once the ReadyNAS boots for the first time, a simple browser-based setup wizard walks you through formatting your drives in either RAID 0 or 1, and then drops you in a straightforward GUI.

As well as access to documentation and Netgear’s online support, RAIDiator 5 consists of various panes for setting up user accounts and shared folders, monitoring the “health” of the NAS including temperature and fan-speed, and checking which “Add-ons” have been installed. For most, the latter will consist of ReadyNAS Remote, which allows you to use Netgear’s iOS and Android apps to log in from your smartphone, browse through folders and download content, and ReadyNAS Photos II, for hosting your own Flickr alternative directly from the NAS.

The Remote app works well, though since you’re accessing your files from your own “personal” cloud – i.e. through your home broadband connection – the speed at which they filter through to your smartphone (or indeed the standalone OS X and Windows software) depends on your home upload speed. That’s less of an issue for photos and most documents, but may make accessing video and higher-bitrate music files a struggle. Still, being able to remotely grab a missing file while you’re at the office or in a meeting can be a very useful thing.

ReadyNAS Photos II bills itself as a free, more controllable alternative to Flickr: since the storage is all on your end there are no hosting fees, and it’s entirely private. Only those you share the link with can access them, and there are various options for limiting visibility to those with accounts or opening them to unregistered guests.

Finally there’s native UPnP/DLNA streaming support, meaning the ReadyNAS Duo v2 can send multimedia across your network to an Xbox 360 or PS3, your digital TV set-top box streamer, iTunes, SONOS kit or Logitech’s Squeezbox platform. Netgear has over 100 different Add-ons – some of its own creation, others from third-party developers – to download, allowing owners to enhance the capabilities of their NAS. Power users may prefer the more advanced “desktop” layout of Synology’s DSM software, which allows multiple add-ons and other windows to be seen simultaneously, but home users will likely find the simple panes of the Netgear interface easily navigable.

Performance

We started off testing the ReadyNAS Duo v2 with a single drive installed. Transferring a single 5GB file to and from the system saw 36.5 MB/s write rates and 100 MB/s read rates. Transferring 5GB worth of 20MB files saw write speeds stay the same, at 36.5 MB/s, but read rates dropped to 85.6 MB/s.

We then installed the second drive in a RAID 1 “mirroring” array, which basically provides drive redundancy. With the 5GB single file, write speed rose slightly to 39 MB/s, though read speed dipped to 94.4 MB/s. For the 5GB of 20MB files, writes took place at 36.2 MB/s and reads at 84.8 MB/s.

Finally, we used the two drives as a RAID 0 “striped” array, which bypasses data redundancy in the name of speed. In this setup, the 5GB single file wrote at 41.3 MB/s and read at 90 MB/s, while the 5GB of 20MB files wrote at 40 MB/s and read at 79.4 MB/s.

Given the relative price and capacity of 3.5-inch drives (compared to 2.5-inch drives) we’d recommend most home users opt for RAID 1 with as big a pair of drives as they can afford. That will provide the best balance of data security and speed.

Wrap-Up

Persuading home users to invest in backup can be difficult, and so the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2′s sub-$200 – albeit drive-free – sets the NAS off to a good start. The company’s home user focus extends to the straightforward setup and the reassurance of the helpdesk support, and those looking for more sophisticated functionality, such as remote access, can have that too thanks to the iOS and Android apps.

The only real potential pain-point is the speed, with the ReadyNAS Duo v2 falling behind what we saw from the Synology DiskStation DS211 (With Diskstation V3.x). Still, Synology’s barebones DS211 is around $100 more expensive than the Netgear, and for general backup and media access many home users won’t particularly notice the difference.

Compromises, then, but acceptable ones when you consider the overall package. Small business and more advanced home users may want to look elsewhere where more expensive NAS offer stronger performance, but for its balance of usability and accessibility the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2 hits the consumer spot.

Hardware

Synology’s design language tends toward the subtle, and the DS712+ is no exception: a 157 x 103.5 x 232 mm box clad in matte and glossy black plastic. Under the hood, the DS712+ is powered by a 1.8Ghz CPU and 1GB DDR3 Memory. The twin 3.5-inch drive bays are accessible from the front (and can be used with 2.5-inch drives too), each with an LED indicator to show activity. Each hinged bay-door has a lock, too, though it’s more to prevent accidental drive removal rather than a real security feature.

Other front-panel lights include two LAN LEDs – the DS712+ has a pair of gigabit ethernet ports – and a status indicator, while there’s also a power button/light and a dedicated copy button that pulls the content from an external drive plugged into the front USB 2.0 port to a preset folder. The rear panel is dominated by a 92mm fan, but there’s also a pair of USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port along with the power input and dual Gigabit ethernet ports.

Installation is straightforward: slot in one or two drives, each up to 3TB in capacity, and then plug into your network. Synology allows the two ethernet ports to offer either link aggregation or network failover: you can either double-up with two connections to a single network, for faster throughput, or have the DS712+ linked to two separate networks so as to be accessible even if one goes down.

Synology’s fan is temperature controlled, running slowly if the DS712+ isn’t under load. During our throughput tests it spun up to a solid hum – though was still quieter than a desktop computer – whereas under normal use it was barely noticeable amid the rest of the hardware in our test area.

If two drives aren’t enough for you, the DS712+ is compatible with Synology’s DX510 Expansion Unit, offering a further five bays. The DX510 plugs in via eSATA and makes for a maximum possible total of 21TB. It’s not a particularly cheap setup, however: the DS712+ has a list price of $499.99, and a DX510 is a further $499.99, neither coming with actual drives.

Software

Both Synology’s home and business NAS use the company’s excellent Synology DiskStation Manager software, a custom-built interface accessed through the browser and which is head and shoulders above the clunky UIs of rival products. DiskStation Manager (DSM) resembles a Windows or OS X desktop, offering various tools and apps that can be accessed simultaneously with a windowed layout. It’s also extensible, with Synology offering various “packages” that can add extra functionality to the box.

At its core, DSM allows you to set up a pair of drives in the DS712+ as either two separate disks, JBOD (i.e. one large disk that combines the capacity of both), RAID 0 or RAID 1, or Synology’s own Hybrid RAID. The latter is arguably the most useful: not only does it provide storage redundancy (i.e. with two 3TB drives you get 3TB of total storage, one mirroring the other in case of HDD failure) but you can use it with mismatched drives. So, if you have a 3TB drive and an older 2TB drive lying around, you can combine them into a Hybrid RAID setup and still have some redundancy (DSM figures out exactly what data security can be offered, in the case of mismatched drives).

Beyond that there’s functionality for just about everything you might want to use a NAS for, whether business, pleasure or a combination of the two. Basic things like user accounts (with optional capacity limits) are obviously supported, as is Windows and Mac backup; Synology offer a PC backup app, and DSM is Apple Time Machine compatible. There’s remote access – either limited to the local network or over the internet – and the ability to use the DS712+ as a standalone FTP, mail and web server, as well as a standalone BitTorrent downloader. Two USB printers can be plugged in and shared across the network too.

Multimedia use, meanwhile, sees the DS712+ step up as an iTunes server, a photo/video/audio streaming station, Squeezebox Server for those using Logitech’s distributed audio system, and as a way of pulling in internet radio. DSM has its own music playback app too, also living in the browser, and there’s DLNA/UPnP support for serving content to a PS3, Xbox 360 or other compliant device. Finally, there are streaming media and remote file access apps for iPhone and Android, allowing you to remotely access your content and documents without filling up your phone’s memory.

Other NAS devices offer some of this functionality, but what sets DSM apart is how straightforward to use it is. It’s definitely the most multimedia-friendly NAS software we’ve seen, but it doesn’t stint on advanced features. For instance, the DS712+ can transcode audio files on the fly, in case your UPnP client doesn’t support a certain file-type, as well as transcoding MKV video for playback on your PS3.

Performance

All that flexibility would be pointless if the DS712+ didn’t deliver on network performance, but happily that’s not the case. Synology claim up to 97.04 MB/sec write speeds and up to 107.09 MB/sec read speeds when transferring a 5GB file; if you use link aggregation, bonding the two ethernet ports, those rates jump to 105.59 MB/sec write and 180.91 MB/sec read.

We tested both setups, and found Synology’s figures to be surprisingly accurate. With a bonded network setup of the two gigabit ethernet ports, transferring 80.56GB to the DS712+ took 17 minutes and 22 seconds, reaching 103.62 MB/sec write rate. Copying files back from the NAS hit 183 MB/sec.

With just a single ethernet port in use, we saw 91 MB/sec write speeds to the NAS, and then 101.02 MB/sec read speeds, again both using Rsync to copy files to and from our computer. That’s considerably better than the DiskStation DS211 we tested last, though the DS712+ is more expensive.

Wrap-Up

It’s hard to argue with the DS712+’s performance and software flexibility. The hardware is compact and easy to set up, quiet in operation, and the data throughput – especially if you bond the twin gigabit ports – is strong. Synology’s DiskStation Manager is hands-down the best NAS interface we’ve seen, combining advanced features with a user-friendly UI.

Our only concern would be capacity, the dual drive bays and pricey DX510 expansion unit meaning adding storage beyond the 6TB maximum of the DS712+ itself could quickly get expensive. Still, Synology also offers the DiskStation DS411+II, with similar quoted performance figures but four internal drive bays and a $649.99 price, for those who think they’ll want more capacity from the outset.

6TB is plenty for many home and small business users, however, and on that basis the small footprint of the Synology DiskStation DS712+ and easy usability make it another impressive product from an impressive company.

Gallery

We’re looking for a weekday editor, generally covering the 11AM CST to 7PM CST timeslot, and a weekend/night editor, covering Saturday and Sunday as well as 8PM CST to 11PM CST Monday thru Friday. The successful candidates should be able to work independently, but must also be willing to take direction in content as well as subject matter choices. They must be comfortable speaking about gadgets and technology of all kinds, especially in the fields of personal computing and mobile, with gaming being a bonus attribute.

Since news doesn’t break only during work hours, you’ll need to have a flexible schedule and understand that you may be asked to accommodate out-of-hours events and coverage, usually but not with always with notification in advance. You must be able to produce content on a steady, timely basis, bring a strong voice to the table, and work with teammates to produce a body of work in which no bit of content is left unchallenged, no writing left unchecked.

Being based in the San Francisco or NYC areas is a plus but not essential. If you think you’ve got what it takes, email us at jobs@ slashgear.com (remove space before slashgear.com) with your bio and CV for more information. Additionally, please include at least three samples of articles you believe fit with the SlashGear style, along with references.

Open to SlashGear’s US readers, entering is incredibly straightforward. To take part, you must:

1. Add +Ewdison Then (url: http://ewdi.jp/+) to your Circle(s) on Google+*

2. Comment in our SlashGear Archos 101 Giveaway thread with a comment tagging +Ewdison Then : this will count as your entry, and note that you may only enter this giveaway ONCE – all additional entries beyond your first will be deleted.

3. You are now entered into the SlashGear Archos 101 giveaway!

*if you don’t already have access to Google+, send your name and email to giveaway @ slashgear.com

Rules

Giveaway begins July 25 and ends August 1, 11:59PM CST barring any complications finding a winner.

Competition is open to residents of the US over the age of 18. Family members of Archos and SlashGear/Android Community are not permitted to enter. Competition entries are only accepted via the specified SlashGear Google+ Page — entries left in the comments section of this or any other post will not be recognized. One entry per person (and yes, we check).

The winners will be contacted by a SlashGear or Android Community staff member upon being selected and will be expected to respond to that staff member; they will be expected to respond within 24 hours else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winner agrees that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to, Three, SlashGear, and Android Community.

Prize consists of one Archos 101 Internet Tablet. There is no cash alternative or any other alternative for prize winners unless this prize should become unavailable, in which case SlashGear and Archos reserve the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value.

Giveaway provided by SlashGear/Android Community. Prizing provided by Archos. Any questions regarding this giveaway should be directed to Giveaway @ SlashGear.com

Hardware

Your $800 gets you Intel’s Core i5-2410M processor, normally running at 2.3GHz but capable of up to 2.9GHz with Intel’s Turbo Boost, and paired with 6GB of DDR3 1066MHz memory, NVIDIA GeForce GT520M graphics with 1GB of dedicated video memory, and a 640GB 5,400rpm hard-drive. There’s also WiFi b/g/n, an 8x DVD burner and Bluetooth 3.0+HS.

The display is a 15.6-inch panel running at 1366 x 768 and, like most notebooks around today with a decidedly glossy finish. Still, colors are impressive and the LED backlighting is even and bright. Above is a 1.3-megapixel webcam. Ports include three USB 2.0 and a separate USB 3.0 port, VGA, HDMI, audio in/out (supporting S/PDIF digital) and gigabit ethernet. There’s also a multi-format memory card slot.

It’s all wrapped up in an eye-catching metallic blue chassis, and while Acer has opted for somewhat blunt edges with its industrial design, it’s still reasonably compact for a 15-inch notebook. At 14.88 x 9.8 x 1.0/1.23 inches it’s not the slimmest notebook we’ve used, but given its class and price it’s still slim. The width allows Acer to fit in not only a full-sized keyboard but a separate numeric keypad, as well as give the arrow keys plenty of space rather than crowding them with function buttons. The touchpad, meanwhile, is reasonably large and recognizes multitouch gestures, though the buttons beneath were on the clicky side.

Software and Performance

Acer preloads Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and then goes crazy with apps and bloatware. First there are the in-house titles: Acer’s Backup tool, ePower and eRecovery Managers, Clear.fi music streaming, Crystal Eye webcam tool and Video Conference manager. Then come the third-party apps, and there are plenty of them: Office Starter 2010 and a preinstalled version of Office 2010 waiting for your product key, Adobe’s Flash Player 10.1 and Reader 9.1, eSobi, the Bing search bar, New York Times Reader, B&N’s Nook for PC ereading app, AUPEO, Norton’s Online Backup and a trial of McAfee’s Internet Security Suite, NTI’s Media Maker, WildTangent, Microsoft Silverlight, Skype and Windows Live Essentials 2011.

In all, there are more than 20 apps already waiting for you on the TimelineX, each with various levels of installation. We can appreciate Acer gets some kick-back – and probable helps subsidize the price of the notebook itself – thanks to those software deals, but as always it’s a poor first-impression of a new Windows PC. A cluster of “suggested apps” with shortcuts would be far preferable, and reduce the first-boot sluggishness which sours the initial experience of the Acer.

It’s a shame, because otherwise performance is strong. NVIDIA’s Optimus technology is used to intelligently and automatically switch between the integrated Sandy Bridge graphics and the dedicated GeForce GPU. We measured performance using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory, and the TimelineX AS5830TG-6402 scored 5251. Compared to a Core i5 Acer notebook using Intel’s 2010 CPUs, which managed 4814, that’s a fair jump, though the extra 2GB of memory in our newer review unit accounts for the bulk of the change.

Day to day tasks like playing Full HD video, doing graphics processing with Photoshop and browsing online across multiple tabs were a walk in the park for the TimelineX. The GeForce GT520M is also capable of some gaming, and we found the well-spaced keyboard lent itself to button-bashing during FPS gameplay.

Battery

Acer quotes up to 9hrs runtime from the standard 6-cell 6,000 mAh battery, though you’ll need to be doing practically nothing to actually eke that out. In reality, with heavy use kicking the GeForce GPU into action, we managed 2-3 hours, whereas more casual browsing over WiFi (for which the integrated graphics were sufficient) 6hrs was around the maximum.

Wrap-Up

Acer has made a few odd decisions and omissions in specifying the TimelineX AS5830TG-640. There’s no Blu-ray for a start, not even playback, which seems strange for a media notebook, and the 5,400rpm hard-drive is slower than we’d like to see. Still, on the flipside you get a discrete GPU and Bluetooth 3.0 as standard.

The TimelineX AS5830TG-640 may not be the fastest desktop replacement around, but as a combination of usable size – both of the decent display and well-proportioned keyboard – and portability it’s keenly priced. Acer’s motherlode of bloatware is an early blip, but get past that (with some judicious use of Windows 7′s Remove Programs dialog) and you’ve a solid notebook at an affordable price.

Unboxing Video

Gallery

There’s also Dolby Home Theater v4 Audio, HDMI, USB 3.0 – which is persistently powered even when the notebook is shut down, so as to continue charging external devices – and an HD webcam running at 1280 x 1024 resolution. Connectivity includes WiFI b/g/n and gigabit ethernet as standard, with Bluetooth an option.

The Aspire TimelineX 3830T is 4.12lbs and 0.87 to 1.15 inches thin; the Aspire TimelineX 4830T and 5830T are 4.88lbs and 5.6lbs respectively. The latter two also have DVD burners and dedicated numeric keypads. Pricing for the range – which is available now – kicks off at $599.99.

Press Release:

Acer TimelineX Notebook PCs Deliver Big on Style, Mobile Performance, Long Battery Life

Award-winning line delivers new slim sophisticated design with more entertainment features including Dolby Home Theater v4 Audio

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 7, 2011 – Acer America today elevates its highly-touted Acer Aspire TimelineX series notebooks with a new sleek and stylish, thin and light design complemented by long battery life and the latest technology and new entertainment features, including Dolby Home Theater v4 Audio.

The Acer Aspire TimelineX Series is a best-in-breed notebook line that combines performance and portability in an incredibly beautiful and refined form factor. The notebook’s upscale look and feel centers around its uncluttered, elegant design. The notebooks have a clean layout with a large touchpad and chiclet keyboard to promote both enjoyment and productivity. Available in three sizes – the 13.3-inch 3830T, 14-inch 4830T and 15.6-inch 5830T – the designs measure about an inch thin and are very light-weight.

Powered by the latest second-generation Intel Core i5 and i3 processors with Turbo Boost technology, the Acer TimelineX notebooks deliver the performance that savvy consumers, students, small businesses and families have come to expect for running multiple websites, videos, email, games and more. In addition to providing superb performance, Acer PowerSmart Technology provides extra long battery uptime of up to nine hours on models with integrated graphics and up to eight hours for models with discrete graphics, as well as a long battery lifecycle of up to four years(1).

The new Aspire TimelineX notebook PCs are perfect for entertainment thanks to new High- Definition audio support with Dolby Home Theater v4 Audio that delivers crisp and clear sound through its two built-in 3DSonic Stereo speakers and when connected to a home theater system. The notebooks also have HDMI 1080p output, so customers can use a convenient single cable connection to deliver HD video and audio to an external source. In addition, the notebooks have a USB 3.0 port for fast transfers. Plus, the port can charge USB devices even when the notebook is turned off.

The new Acer Aspire TimelineX models feature an HD Widescreen CineCrystal™ LED-backlit display with 16:9 HD True Cinematic View and excellent 1366×768 resolution for stunning clarity and viewing at any angle. Several models in the new lines come with integrated NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M and Nvidia 520M graphics with NVIDIA® Optimus™ technology to deliver crystal-clear images, brilliant color and lifelike video while maximizing battery life. Additional models feature Intel® HD Graphics to provide superb visual performance with sharp images and rich color.
“From its inception, the Acer Aspire TimelineX Series has hit the mark in style, mobility, performance and battery life for ultimate PC productivity,” said Eric Ackerson, senior product marketing manager, Acer America, “The new updated models build upon this proposition to provide even more value for our customers.”

The thin and light TimelineX Series is ideal for staying in touch on the go. The HD webcam has a high 1280×1024 resolution and is placed in the center of the notebook for convenient video-chatting and capturing photos and video. The built-in digital microphone supports the webcam to convey excellent voice quality, while minimizing background noise and echoes. All of the new models have 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi for connecting to wireless networks as well as Gigabit Ethernet LAN for a reliable wired connection. Also, many configurations include Bluetooth.

A Range of Sizes to Meet Customers’ Needs
The Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830T thin and light notebook has a 13.1-inch display, weighs only 4.12 pounds and measures only 0.87-1.15 inches thin.

The Acer Aspire TimelineX includes models for customers that want extra features along with portability, battery life and performance capabilities. Both the Acer TimelineX 4830T (14-inch screen, 4.88 pounds) and Acer Aspire Timeline X 5830T (15.6-inch screen, 5.6 pounds) come with integrated DVD drives and feature a dedicated numeric keypad for quick and easy number input.

Software, Pricing and Availability
The new Acer Aspire TimelineX 3830T, 4830T and 5830T models are ready to use right out of the box with Windows Home 7 as well as useful extras including Nook for PC, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Reader, WildTangent Demo Games, Skype, Norton Online Backup, and Microsoft Office 2010 (preloaded for online purchase).

The new Acer Aspire TimelineX notebooks also come with Acer clear.fi, a cross-platform solution for media enjoyment and sharing with DLNA-compliant devices, so customers can easily access, store and enjoy digital media from almost anywhere in an office, home or from the cloud.

The products are available at retailers now. The Acer TimelineX Series starts at a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of $599.99.

Limited Warranty
The new Acer Aspire TimelineX models come with a standard one-year parts and labor warranty, which can be extended to three years with the Acer Advantage service. All Acer netbooks are backed by toll-free service and support.(2)

There’s also WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, digital TV and an HDMI output, despite the phone measuring in at 64 x 127 x 11.9-13.8 mm. The display is a glasses-free 3D panel, and the camera has onboard ProPix image processing and various auto scene modes.

NTT DoCoMo slap the TapFlow UI on top, and of course there are the usual Android niceties. The Sharp AQUOS PHONE SH-12C will drop in Japan on May 20, price tbc; no word on whether Sharp will cook up versions for North America and/or Europe, but we’re hoping they do.

Press Release:

NTT DOCOMO Unveils 24 New Mobile Devices
— Including biggest and most diverse lineup of smartphones —
Products & Services
TOKYO, JAPAN, May 16, 2011 — NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced today its 2011 summer lineup of 24 new mobile devices for launch on or after May 20, including nine smartphones, the largest and most diverse collection of smartphones ever released by DOCOMO, plus a wide variety of feature phones compatible with DOCOMO’s i-mode™ mobile Internet platform, as well as mobile Wi-Fi® routers for DOCOMO’s Xi™ (read “Crossy”) LTE extra-high-speed service.

The smartphone lineup offers user-friendly features for tethering, mobile-wallet (Osaifu-Keitai™) and infrared-based data exchange, plus downlink speeds up to a theoretical maximum of 14 Mbps starting from early June. The lineup also boasts the world’s first wirelessly chargeable smartphone. All Android™ smartphones, including the globally popular Xperia™ and GALAXY models, are preinstalled with Android 2.3.

DOCOMO’s new lineup meets a broad range of needs for mobile users in Japan:

Numerous i-mode services and technologies available for smartphones, including Area Mail™ disaster information service, i-channel™ push-based information service and Melody Call™ ringback tones.
Smartphones offering enhanced convenience and operability thanks to the new “docomo Palette UI” feature for easy sorting, searching and management of apps.
Eleven high-spec, i-mode-compatible feature phones equipped variously with 3D screens for dynamic viewing, HD-quality cameras and much more.
The i-motion™ video-clip distribution service for FOMA™ 3G feature phones now offers 50 MB capacity for both long and high-definition video. Batch downloads of various content are possible with DOCOMO’s new “content package” service.
Two mobile Wi-Fi routers compatible with DOCOMO’s Xi-brand LTE service, offering fiber-optic-level mobile connectivity for wireless devices. LTE service will include Japan’s six largest urban metropolises by July and other large cities including prefectural capitals by March 2012.

NFL players Ndamukong Suh, Clay Matthews, Dwayne Bowe, Felix Jones and Steven Jackson launched the new uniforms, which will be worn by University of Oregon, Boise State University, and University of Florida collegiate teams this coming season. As well as the adaptive traction system, the Zoom Alpha Talon cleats have Flywire uppers, low-profile cushioning and Nike’s own Pro Deflex padding around the ankle.

Meanwhile, the Pro Combat System uses the same Pro Deflex padding for better thermoregulation, complete with two-way airflow and improved wicking. Intended to be worn under a jersey, there’s a Flywire collar to hold it in place, along with extra hip and knee Pro Deflex padding for impact protection.

Lenovo has asked for our help – and for the help of the SlashGear readers – to identify non-profit agencies in the US and Canada whom we believe could make good use of the M90z’s abilities. The company has put together three M90z packages, each consisting of five of the ThinkCentres, and are looking for suggestions as to what organization would be worthwhile.

Taking part is very simple: all you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling us which non-profit you think worthy of an M90z package. By making a suggestion, you’ll be entered into the SlashGear giveaway to win a ThinkCentre M90z of your own.

Now, the non-profit should be a worthy medical or educational institution, such as a clinic, hospital, school, community center, adult education facility, or similar, and – like entrants in the giveaway itself – it has to be located in the US or Canada.

Entries will be accepted up until midnight pacific time on December 13 2010, at which point we’ll pick one winner at random to take home an M90z, and put forward your best suggestions as to non-profit groups to Lenovo, where they’ll be considered alongside the ideas from the other sites taking part (there’s a list of them below).

Make sure to read all the rules below, and good luck!

Participating sites also giving away the Lenovo ThickCentre M90z:

• Dec 1 – Dec 5: Medicine and Technology
• Dec 2 – Dec 6: Geeks Room
• Dec 3 – Dec 7: Neowin
• Dec 4 – Dec 8: Gear Diary
• Dec 5 – Dec 9: The Medical Quack
• Dec 6 – Dec 10: Digital Home Thoughts
• Dec 7 – Dec 11: Chip Chick
• Dec 8 – Dec 12: Teach 42
• Dec 9 – Dec 13: SlashGear
• Dec 10 – Dec 14: Medgadget
• Dec 11 – Dec 15: Absolutely Windows
• Dec 12 – Dec 16: Sales Rescue Team
• Dec 13 – Dec 17: Cool Cat Teacher
• Dec 14 – Dec 18: Web 2.0 Classroom
• Dec 15 – Dec 19: The Healthcare IT Guy
• Dec 16 – Dec 20: Gear Live
• Dec 17 – Dec 21: Healthcare IT Strategy
• Dec 18 – Dec 22: Active Win
• Dec 19 – Dec 23: The Healthcare Blog
• Dec 20 – Dec 24: Practical Theory
• Dec 21 – Jan 2 : Holiday Break

Rules:

Competition is open to residents of the US and Canada over the age of 18.  Family members of Lenovo and SlashGear are not permitted to enter. Competition entries are only accepted via the specified SlashGear post; entries left in the comments section of any other post will not be recognized. Entries should be submitted before midnight pacific time on December 13th 2010; one entry per person (and yes, we check).

The winners will be announced on SlashGear and contacted via email; they will be expected to respond within 24 hours else their prize may be forfeit and another winner selected. Editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Winner agrees that their name and details of their entry may be used for promotional purposes by, but not limited to, Lenovo and SlashGear.

Prize consists of one Lenovo ThinkCentre M90z PC. There is no cash alternative. Should this prize become unavailable, SlashGear and Lenovo reserve the right to substitute another prize of equal or greater value. If you have already won one of the Lenovo M90z giveaways on another site, you are not eligible to win again on SlashGear. The winner of SlashGear’s giveaway will not be eligible to win a giveaway on another site with a contest closing after ours.

Hardware

Our Aspire 5745DG-3855 review unit is certainly an imposing machine, both physically and in terms of the core specs. Measuring a bulky 14.9 x 9.8 x 1.25 – 2.27 inches and tipping the scales at 6.6lb, it’s heavy for a 15.6-inch notebook and the standard 9-cell battery protrudes considerably from the base. Design-wise, it’s in keeping with other Acer machines we’ve looked at recently, with decent plastics and a mixture of glossy and matte silver and black.

Inside there’s a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-450M processor paired with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard-drive. Graphics are courtesy of NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 425M GPU, though there’s no Optimus switching between the onboard Intel HD GPU and the discrete chip; in fact, the Intel graphics are basically disabled, since there’s no option to use anything but the NVIDIA chip. It powers a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, and though we’d like to have seen some extra pixels in there, it’s a decent – if highly glossy – panel. Viewing angles are good horizontally, though the combination of slightly reduced vertical angles and the gloss finish can make finding the ideal lid position a little trickier.

The broad width of the Aspire 5745DG has allowed Acer to slot in both a full-sized keyboard and a separate numeric keypad, which follows the fashionable chiclet-style design. It’s a good keyboard, too, with nicely weighted response and little bowing during typing. Underneath is a multitouch trackpad, offset to the left to fall beneath the space bar, and Acer also includes a button to turn it off should you find yourself accidentally hitting it.

Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit ethernet, HDMI, four USB 2.0 ports and audio in/out (with S/PDIF), along with a DVD burner and multi-format memory card reader. No Blu-ray, however, which seems a bizarre omission on a media-centric machine, nor eSATA, USB 3.0 or ExpressCard. A webcam above the screen and integrated microphone round out the main specs.

In the box there’s also a set of NVIDIA’s 3D Vision glasses, recharged via miniUSB. These take advantage of the 5745DG’s 120Hz display, synchronizing with an infra-red emitter built into the bezel and flicking the view between the two lenses while the GPU serves up each half of a 3D image alternately. The end result is a 60Hz 3D picture.

Software

The Acer Aspire 5745DG runs Windows 7 Home Premium, and as we’ve complained about before there’s the usual array of bloatware and trials pre-loaded. Several of those are of Acer’s own creation, handling webcam, registration and driver updating, but then you also get trials of Microsoft Office and McAfee Internet Security, Google’s Toolbar pre-installed, Skype, Norton Online Backup and more. The end result is a system that feels sluggish at the first power-on, and we wonder when Acer – and other manufacturers – will see sense and sacrifice the referral fees from the software companies in favor of a more favorable first-impression for the user.

NVIDIA’s 3D Vision system is currently supported by over 450 games by the company’s own count, and of course there’s 3D video to think of as well. Since there’s no Blu-ray drive, that content will likely be downloaded rather than supplied on a disc; NVIDIA preloads sample media which performs well, but 3D content online is still in its infancy.

Performance

With no Blu-ray on this particular SKU, you’d be forgiven for assuming the 5745DG-3855 was targeted at gamers. Unfortunately, the mid-tier GPU may present a stumbling block for system-intensive modern titles. We kicked off our benchmarking with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance, and as you’d expect the Core i5 CPU puts in a decent show. The 2.4GHz Aspire scored 4814, roughly on a par with the similarly-specified HP ENVY 14, and around 200 points behind the 2.53GHz Gateway ID49C.

Unfortunately PCMark proved unable to detect the GeForce GT 425M GPU, so we turned instead to Cinebench. The Acer scored 20.67fps in OpenGL and 2.15pts in CPU. In terms of real-world performance, we had no problems with regular daily tasks, such as browsing with multiple tabs and windows open, or simultaneously playing video and audio.

However, recent games such as Call of Duty 2 struggled with the power on offer, only playing comfortably when a knife was taken to the quality settings. It’s worth remembering, too, that 3D games place more of a demand on the GPU than 2D titles: the NVIDIA chip has to create left- and right-eye graphics for each frame, and that can take a significant toll on framerates. Need for Speed: Shift was more successful, with the 3D effect proving impressive.

Ironically, the 120Hz screen actually showed its worth more during regular 2D gaming and multimedia, where – just as on 120Hz HDTVs – faster content such as sports was smear-free. Glasses-free 2D viewing also avoids the inevitable brightness loss encountered during 3D playback, which can leave darker movies and games murky and uninspiring.

Battery

With a 9-cell battery, you’d hope the Aspire 5745DG could offer above the odds in terms of runtimes, but the Core i5 CPU and always-on GPU chew their way through a significant amount of power. Acer quote up to 4hrs normal use from a full charge. The absence of Optimus is a particular frustration, though the GT 425M is able to underclock itself depending on activity and load. Still, it’s not as frugal as Intel’s HD GPU.

With a mixture of browsing over WiFi and some media playback, we managed around 3hrs 30mins of runtime. Playing DVD content continuously sapped that down to just under 3hrs.

Wrap-Up

There’s no denying that NVIDIA’s 3D Vision technology works, although those who already wear glasses or struggle to remember to charge their phone will likely find the necessary 3D eyewear a frustration. The question we’re left asking is why Acer decided to cut corners on the optical drive, given you’d expect the company to want Aspire 5745DG owners to have access to as much 3D content as possible. With no Blu-ray option, that choice is seriously curtailed.

The limitations of the NVIDIA GPU, meanwhile, mean 3D gaming isn’t quite the Acer’s natural forte either. There are plenty of games that run perfectly well on the GeForce GT 425M, but they’re generally not the most recent and that doesn’t bode well for future 3D titles on the Aspire. Mix in the absence of Optimus technology and its impact on battery life, and you’re left with a fair few compromises for the Aspire 5745DG’s 3D offering.

For most users, those compromises are unlikely to be worth the benefits. 120Hz displays on notebooks are relatively rare today, but as 3D Vision gains traction we imagine that will change; holding off will also give GPUs a chance to catch up and offer more future-proofing for system-intensive gaming. A combination of lacklustre content availability and middling performance leaves the Acer Aspire 5745DG-3855 underwhelming.

Hardware

We’re used to SSDs being packaged in basic cardboard boxes – and Samsung do offer an OEM version of the 470 Series drive with more mundane packaging and a basic casing – so this new 256GB is particularly distinctive. The plastic packaging is reminiscent of an iPod, while the SSD itself is finished in glossy plastic and brushed metal with bright orange highlights. Most of the time you’ll never see it past installation, of course, but it has a premium feel that sets it apart from the more business-like Intel X25-M.

The drive itself is a 2.5-inch model with a SATA 3GB/s interface. This 256GB SKU is the largest – Samsung also offers 64GB and 128GB versions, the capacity neatly stencilled onto the corner of the drive – and uses homegrown Samsung controllers and NAND flash. There are also two 128MB cache chips, for a total of 256MB.

Samsung quote 250 MB/s read rates and 220 MB/s write rates, along with 0.24W active power consumption and 0.14W when idle. It’s worth noting that the 470 Series’ TRIM support is only useful if you’re running Windows 7, since Mac OS X lacks support for the technology. This won’t affect Mac performance out of the box, but over the lifetime of the drive its speeds will be better – or, more accurately, will degrade by a smaller amount – in a Windows 7 computer.

Performance

We first looked at sequential read and write speeds, comparing the 470 Series SSD with Intel’s X25-M 160GB SSD. On our test Windows 7 PC, sequentially transferring a 1GB file saw the Samsung hit 248.2 MB/s read speeds and 241.7 MB/s write speeds, while the Intel managed 235 MB/s and 98.0 MB/s respectively.

Moving to random 512K files, the Samsung managed 172.0 MB/s reads and 185.2 MB/s writes, while the Intel came in at 177.2 MB/s and 88.9 MB/s respectively. Finally, on random 4K files, the Samsung scored 15.9 MB/s read and 58.2 MB/s write, while the Intel scored 18.5 MB/s and 53.1 MB/s respectively.

Under OS X, meanwhile, the Samsung managed 117.0 MB/s reads and 231.1 MB/s writes with sequential 4K blocks, and 203.6 MB/s and 192.2 MB/s with sequential 256K blocks. Finally, with random 4K blocks it scored 13.4 MB/s read and 78.98 MB/s write, while with random 256K blocks it managed 147.2 MB/s read and 196.2 MB/s write.

Plenty of numbers, then, but the takeaway is that the Samsung generally balances its read and write performance more than the Intel is capable of. Writing large files is a particular strength of the 470 Series SSD, at more than double what the X25-M could manage. It’s worth remembering that these large file rates are measured across the whole transfer period, and while the drives will hit those speeds it won’t consistently manage them. Still, it’s only just below what Samsung quotes for read rates, and exceeds their write rate predictions.

Wrap-Up

With an RRP of around $550, the 256GB 470 Series SSG certainly isn’t cheap. However, what you do get is a solid, well-balanced shot of performance in not only read-rates, as most SSDs (and indeed faster HDDs) manage, but in write-rates, which is a rarer talent. The appealing aesthetics may be wasted on anybody without a windowed case, but it adds to an overall feel of this being a polished product.

Mac performance was less impressive, and the absence of TRIM support under OS X is worth bearing in mind since it will impact longer-term performance, but that’s an issue affecting all SSDs running on Apple machines. With an RRP of $280, the 128GB version Samsung offers may be a more affordable option, but for those demanding capacity and performance the Samsung 256GB 470 Series SSD certainly delivers.

Gallery

Hardware

Unlike its more sober – and expensive – siblings from the Synology line-up, the DS211 comes with a crisp white chassis and a bright LED panel on the fascia. At 161 x 218 x 88 mm it’s not too large to sit in the corner on your desk, and Synology include the necessary AC adapter, installation kit and a 2m ethernet cable to get you wired up. You’ll also need at least one hard-drive: the DS211 will take either 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives, each up to 2TB, for a total of 4TB altogether.

Ports include a single gigabit ethernet, two USB 2.0 on the back and a single USB 2.0 on the front. There are indicator lights for overall status, network status, each drive and power. Like the DS411+ NAS we reviewed back in July, fitting the drives requires opening up the chassis rather than simply slotting in a couple of caddies at the back; a pair of screws hold the casing in place. A single 70mm fan keeps everything cool, including the 1.6GHz processor paired with 256MB of memory.

Software

The DS211 runs Synology’s DiskStation Manager 3.0 (DSM 3.0) OS, and it’s a comprehensive platform that covers more than just multi-PC backup. As with most network-attached devices, setup and control is managed via your browser; however, DSM 3.0 gets a new, multitasking UI with various independently draggable windows that can be viewed in a single browser tab. The whole thing looks like a blend of Windows 7 and OS X, complete with drop-down task menus and desktop icons, and it’s even possible to reskin it with different color themes.

While having a more aesthetically-pleasing NAS UI might not seem the best use of Synology’s resources, it does make using the DS211′s media functionality more pleasant. Load your multimedia, and the NAS has its own audio player that also supports internet radio; meanwhile there’s also DLNA/UPnP streaming to funnel that content around your home to compatible computers, HDTVs and STBs.

By default, with two drives the DS211 will set up a mirrored array that provides redundancy for your data: should one drive die, the other will still keep the data safe. Alternatively you can choose to bypass redundancy and set the two up as a single volume. With only two bays – unlike Synology’s larger NAS units – there’s no more complex arrays possible; however, you can add external drives via USB, or use the DS211 as a print server with a USB printer.

For backups, Synology provide their Data Replicator for PC users and Time Machine compatibility for Mac OS X. The front panel USB port has a Copy button which automatically pulls backs-up the contents of any camera, USB drive or memory stick you plug in. An app on the NAS itself makes for straightforward secondary backups, copying all the data on the array over to a local USB drive or a remote DiskStation or rsync station. Unlike with Data Robotics’ DroboProFS, you can remotely back-up to any server, not just an identical NAS.

There are many more apps on offer, including standalone BitTorrent downloads, photo and video slideshows – with companion apps for iPhone and Android – and SqueezeCenter compatibility for those using Logitech’s streaming audio system. Small office users, meanwhile, get the same security camera monitoring, virtual web host, PHP/MySQL, mail server and other business-friendly options as in Synology’s more expensive models. We were able to easily set up media streaming, simply by loading some audio files into a folder and ticking a few boxes, and even creating a web server was surprisingly straightforward.

Performance

Despite the relatively low amount of RAM Synology has outfitted the DiskStation DS211 with, we had no issues with performance. Set up as a RAID 1 array, the DS211 managed 101.37 MB/sec read rates and 56.12 MB/sec write rates, when tested with a 1.5GB file. That makes it roughly on a par with the DS411+ when it comes to read speeds, though around half as fast when writing data.

Wrap-Up

There’s a huge amount to like about the Synology DiskStation DS211. Not only is the NAS well made and compact, the DiskStation Manager 3.0 software stands head and shoulders above rivals for not only ease of initial setup but for ongoing use.

We’d like to have seen integrated wireless, too, though Synology do provide a list of compatible third-party USB WiFi adapters that can be used. Still, having it fitted as standard – even with the ensuing throughput limitations – would make for more flexible placement for home users willing to sacrifice some speed.

The data transfer speeds may not match Synology’s faster models, but then the DS211 is also half the price of the DS411+. Small businesses may want to look to models with more drive bays for greater future-proofing – and still get DSM 3.0 – but home users wanting not only data security but stable media access and more should definitely have the DiskStation DS211 on their shortlist.

Hardware

Our particular ID49C review unit is the Gateway ID49C13U, with a 2.53GHz Intel Core i5-460M processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard-drive, along with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics with 1GB of VRAM. There’s also Intel HD graphics, using NVIDIA’s Optimus automatic switching technology to balance power use and performance.

Ports include HDMI and VGA, along with four USB 2.0, audio in/out (the latter doubling as an S/PDIF digital output), gigabit ethernet and a multi-format memory card reader. A DVD burner is on the right side – though there’s no hardware eject button, only a touch-sensitive key above the keyboard – and there’s a 1.3-megapixel webcam above the 14-inch 1366 x 768 glossy 16:9 aspect display. Inside you get WiFi b/g/n but no Bluetooth as standard. Similar absent is USB 3.0 or eSATA.

Gateway has made no small amount of effort to elevate the ID49C above its mainstream rivals, so you get a real aluminum skin on the lid and some reasonably tactile keyboard and palm-rest materials inside. The company has used a chiclet design for the keyboard itself, but it’s definitely not the best we’ve used. There’s a significant amount of bow in the middle of the ‘board, leaving it feeling spongy and cheap, but more frustrating is Gateway’s odd decision to use the row of keys on the far right for dedicated volume controls and a shortcut to their “Social Networks” app. We’d rather see them get buttons above the keyboard, as usual, and have page up/page down instead (which are relegated to Fn shortcuts with the arrow keys).

The backlit trackpad is another odd decision. Tap its rubber-textured surface and it lights up brightly; unfortunately that’s all it really does. Multitouch gestures are supported, as per usual, but there’s no real justification for the backlighting. Gateway could’ve thrown in some sort of notification app, flashing the trackpad when new emails arrive perhaps, but instead it feels gimmicky and we wish they’d made the keyboard backlit instead.

Software

OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, on top of which Gateway unfortunately borrow ideas from parent company Acer and install a fair amount of bloatware. In addition to the Gateway MyBackup app, power management app, recovery management app and Social Networks app, there’s Cyberlink PowerDVD and Nero 9 Essentials and Microsoft Office Starter 2010. The latter is an ad-supported bundle of Word and Excel, which have had some of their more advanced functionality stripped out and get a permanent help/upgrade/advert bar running down the right hand side of the display.

Performance

As usual, we turned to Geekbench to benchmark the ID49C, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. The ID49C scored 5,042 overall, with expectedly strong processor scores. That puts it ahead of the 2.4GHz HP ENVY 14, which scored 4,830 with its Core i5-450M processor, and the 2.4GHz Lenovo IdeaPad Y460, which managed 4,930 with its Core i5-520M.

Real-world use, however, can hit a couple of snags. Gateway’s choice of a 5,400rpm hard-drive rather than a 7,200rpm model means we encountered some slow-down during drive-intensive applications; that made gaming bumpy at times, as well as introducing some stalling into video processing. The GT 330M GPU is certainly stronger than Intel’s HD graphics chipset, but while games like Mass Effect 2 will run, that’s only at their very basic settings. This really isn’t a gaming machine, and it’s not helped by an underwhelming display with noticeable shortcomings in color saturation and lackluster blacks.

Gateway estimate up to 5.5hrs of runtime from the ID49C’s standard 4,400 mAh 6-cell battery, aided by the judicious intervention of NVIDIA’s Optimus system and the company’s own power management software. The latter consists of a number of apps that individually allow you to shut off the DVD burner or leave screen brightness/power to the whims of the ID49C. Browsing over WiFi, we managed a little over three hours before the Gateway expired; playing a 720p video (from the hard-drive, not a DVD), meanwhile, the ID49C lasted around 2.5hrs.

Wrap-Up

The Gateway ID49C’s core hardware is decent, but we’re left confused by the company’s decisions in how they wrapped it up. The ID49C is certainly a good looking notebook, but in real-world conditions the attention seems to have been paid to the wrong components: a pointless backlit trackpad instead of a more useful backlit keyboard, and money spent on an aluminum lid rather than a better quality LCD display. At $849.99 it’s $150 more affordable than the IdeaPad Y460 and benchmarks faster, but we’d rather have the Lenovo’s battery life, Blu-ray drive and eSATA, not to mention its more usable keyboard and screen.

Hardware & Design

You can’t accuse Acer of stinting on the core specifications. The Aspire 8943G packs Intel’s 1.73GHz quad-core Core i7-740QM, paired with 8GB of DDR3 memory and Radeon HD 5850 graphics with 2GB of dedicated memory. Storage is a single 500GB 5,400rpm hard-drive, and the display is an 18.4-inch LCD running at 1920 x 1080. Acer quote 220-nit brightness and 8ms contrast ratio, and the screen is certainly bright and clear, with sharpness that puts other notebooks to shame. A webcam is embedded in the bezel, and there’s a combo Blu-ray player and DVD burner.

Connectivity, meanwhile, includes WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR as standard, along with gigabit ethernet, HDMI, VGA, FireWire, eSATA, five USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out, S/PDIF and a 5-in-1 multiformat memory card reader. Acer has found space for five separate speakers and a subwoofer in the Aspire 8943G’s chassis, for surround sound, and there’s 5.1-channel output for those wanting to use an external speaker setup. The built-in set outperform the HP Beats Edition speakers found in some of HP’s high-end notebooks.

So far so good, but it’s the quality and design of Acer’s chassis that really impresses. Swathes of high-quality brushed aluminum cover help with a truly premium feel, and the full-size, 103-key keyboard (with separate numeric keypad) is one of the best we’ve used on a notebook. There’s no flex whatsoever in the keyboard tray, leading to a really solid typing experience.

Underneath is a decent sized, glossy trackpad supporting multitouch gestures like two-finger scrolling, pinch-zoom, rotate and flip. It’s crisp and responsive. However it also doubles as a media console panel, with backlit buttons for movie and music app shortcuts, play/pause, stop, previous and next. Considering the Aspire 8943G’s multimedia aspirations, it’s a useful addition and works surprisingly well.

Software

The Aspire 8943G runs Windows 7 Home Premium, but Acer seem intent on weighing the notebook down with as many add-ons, trials and general bloatware as possible. There are a full nine Acer apps – ranging from webcam tools, update managers and remote-support – then add-ons from Google, Adobe and Windows Live Essentials. Microsoft’s Works, Silverlight and a 60-day Office trial, a trial of McAfee Internet Security, North Online Backup, NTI Media Maker, Skype and eSobi round out the rest.

We’ve no doubt that the Core i7 processor and sizeable chunk of RAM can handle the bloat, but it adds up to a poor user experience and a machine that feels cluttered even on first boot. Acer obviously make some money from preloading the trials and other apps, which we can accept somewhat when it deals with the budget end of the company’s range, but on what’s meant to be a premium machine we’re less forgiving.

Performance

We began our benchmarking with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. The Acer Aspire 8943G scored 5850, with particularly strong processor scores. That’s around 500 points less than the mid-2010 2.66GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro we reviewed in April 2010, which had half the RAM of the Acer but a faster processor.

We then turned to PCMark Vantage, which looks at various categories of PC use and rates system performance in each. Overall, the Aspire 8943G scored 6053, with particularly strengths in gaming (6000), music (4831) and productivity (4752).

The Acer’s strength is in its multitasking abilities. Since it has a quad-core processor (unlike the dual-core MacBook Pro CPU) any multi-threaded tasks will run faster on the Aspire 8943G. That means it’s particularly adept when it comes to video processing, especially with the capable ATI GPU on board. Still, it can be a loud system: the Blu-ray drive itself is quiet, but the system fan kicked in periodically throughout movie playback, and it’s a noticeable hum. Similarly, the fan was running continuously – and loudly – during graphics-intensive gaming.

Battery Life

Acer’s eight-cell lithium-ion battery may add considerably to the Aspire 8943G’s 10.1 pound weight, but with the high-performance components the runtime estimates are modest. Acer suggest up to 3 hours from a full charge; in practice, we managed 2.5 hours consisting of an hour of Blu-ray playback, 30 minutes of gaming and the remainder browsing over WiFi.

The Core i7 MacBook Pro is rated by Apple for over twice the runtime as the Acer, though we found that with reasonable use it could manage around four hours. In short, if you’re looking to take advantage of the high-end specifications of the Aspire 8943G, you should probably find an AC socket first.

Verdict

With an RRP of $1,599 (and a street price roughly $100 less) you’re getting plenty of laptop for your money with the Acer Aspire 8943G. Yes, the Core i7 MacBook Pro edges ahead in raw benchmarks, but it’s also significantly more expensive; the review unit we tested in April cost $2,199. Video editing and gaming should make better use of the Acer’s quad-core processor, too.

There are a few disappointing omissions – the lack of USB 3.0 ports being one of them – and we wish Acer had used a 7,200rpm hard-drive rather than the 5,400rpm model that’s fitted as standard, but it’s hard to pick holes otherwise. Stylish, solidly-constructed and powerful, if you’re in the market for a Windows-based desktop replacement then the Acer Aspire 8943G should be near the top of your shortlist.

Gallery

Hardware

Microsoft’s minimum specifications for Windows Phone 7 devices leave little room for differentiation, though the Surround does manage to introduce some exclusive features into the mix. At its core it’s most like the HTC 7 Trophy: a 3.8-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen in a sturdy chassis. The regulation 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 processor is paired with 512MB of ROM and 448MB of RAM, along with 16GB of flash storage for media. On the back is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 720p HD video recording.

Connectivity includes 850/1900/2100 HSDPA/WCDMA, WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a 3.5mm headphone socket, with a microUSB port for charging the 1,230 mAh battery. There’s also GPS, a G-Sensor, digital compass, proximity sensor and ambient light sensor. The handset measures 4.71 x 2.42 x 0.51 inches and weighs 5.82oz. The microUSB port and volume rocker are on the left side, the power/standby button and headphone jack on the top edge, and a camera shortcut on the right side.

The HTC 7 Surround’s unique feature is its slide-out stereo speaker, with the fascia – the touch-sensitive back, Start and search buttons running underneath – pushing a quarter-inch or so to the left. That reveals stereo speakers behind a silver mesh, together with a button that turns on a virtual surround sound mode. On the flip-side, opening the speaker reveals a flip-out stand which can be used to prop the smartphone up for watching videos.

HTC have a reputation for creating solid devices, and the Surround is no different. The sliding mechanism feels solid and reliable, and the chassis in general is sturdy. We wish there was some more of HTC’s unibody-style metal work in evidence, as on the HTC 7 Mozart, but that’s more an aesthetic preference more than anything else.

Software

We’ve covered Windows Phone 7′s core functionality at depth in our Technical Preview, so won’t retread too much old ground; we’d recommend reading that for a better understanding of the Microsoft OS as a software experience. We’ve also reviewed the AT&T Samsung Focus and the Orange HTC 7 Mozart, and we’d recommend reading those reviews for other Windows Phone 7 details.

The following two videos, meanwhile, give a broad overview of the various applications and features preloaded and available through the Windows Phone Marketplace. While they show the Samsung Focus, the core phone experience is basically identical. In them, you can see the Seesmic Twitter app, browsing on the IE7/IE8 based WebKit browser, Bing Maps, the calendar (which supports day, month and agenda views, but no week view), messaging and more.

What’s unique to HTC’s devices is the HTC Hub, a suite of mini-apps that more closely resembles the company’s Sense experience on Android devices. Loaded via a dedicated tile on the homescreen, it’s packed with HTC’s favorite weather animations and a selection of mini-apps including a flashlight, basic photo editor, stocks app, notes app (in which the notes visibly age the older they are), a sound equalizer and a converter app. HTC has also said it will be releasing further apps for the Hub for users of its devices. While they all work, the overall theme sits uncomfortably with the regular Windows Phone 7 UI, and Microsoft’s decision to prevent OEM modification of the core visuals of the OS means it’s easy to forget HTC’s extras.

As with the HTC 7 Mozart, the 1GHz processor keeps applications running quickly, and we haven’t experienced any slowdown during the frequent animations and pivots that run throughout Windows Phone 7. The Surround has less RAM than some of its counterparts, too – 448MB versus the 512MB of the Mozart, for instance – but that’s also yet to have caused any issues.

Camera

The 5-megapixel camera, meanwhile, is responsive and quick to focus, and has a range of settings including multiple shooting modes – Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Beach, Backlight, Candlelight and Macro – together with various effects – Grayscale, Negative, Sepia and Solarize – plus flicker adjustment, a choice of metering – center, average or spot – and flash on/off/auto. Colors can be over-saturated, but generally they’re reasonable if not particularly inspiring.

Video fares better, with the HTC Surround recording 720p HD clips. Fast moving scenes can lead to uneven wobbling in the edges, but with a more steady subject there’s little blurring or shadowing. The Surround’s display is clear and fairly bright, and can be seen outdoors as long as there is no direct sunlight. There’s no sharing option with video, however, not even attaching clips to an email. The only way to offload content, in fact, is via the Zune desktop app.

Unfortunately, the HTC Surround’s main feature, its slide-out speaker, falls short of delivering the knock-out blow for the handset. It’s certainly loud, but it lacks clarity and sharpness; the surround sound mode, meanwhile, is audibly different from the default setting, but we wouldn’t say it was theater-like either. We suspect most users would rather use a set of headphones – either wired or A2DP Bluetooth – instead of blasting their audio on the subway or in another public place.

At home, meanwhile, a computer or TV screen will offer a far better picture (and far better audio, too), leaving the HTC Surround in an odd place in-between. It works well as a speakerphone, true, where the shortcomings in audio finesse are less important. However, we’re not sure a stronger speakerphone experience is worth the extra weight and bulk of the handset.

Battery and Phone

HTC rate the Surround’s battery for up to 250 minutes WCMDA talktime (240 minutes GSM) or up to 255 hours WCDMA standby (275 hours GSM). In practice, the smartphone was capable of managing a full day’s use with push email turned on and moderate use of the internet and Bing maps functionality. Still, it’s definitely a phone that will require a nightly recharge. Call quality, meanwhile, was fair, and we had no issues with AT&T’s network nor audio on either end of the call.

Wrap-Up

The HTC Surround is a solid Windows Phone 7 option, but its fellow AT&T handset, the Samsung Focus, outclasses it with its 4-inch Super AMOLED display. In contrast, the Surround’s unique feature, its slide-out speaker, falls short both on usability and performance. It’s certainly not a bad handset, and Windows Phone 7 is a surprisingly strong play by Microsoft, but we’d pick another device running the OS instead of the Surround.

Unboxing Video

Gallery

Acer’s Predator range has been through a few iterations now, each putting high-end hardware into an eye-catching case and promising a generally budget-friendly alternative to rival machines from Alienware and others. The AG5900-U3092 is a little less eye-searing in its color scheme – previous Predators have been all-orange, with shifting drive bay panels and odd mechanical flaps – but it’s still solidly made and has a little theater in its design. The DVD burner, for instance, opens up like a Predator’s mouth.

Inside, Acer has paired Intel’s 2.93GHz Core i7-870 processor with 8GB of DDR3 1333 memory, a 1.5TB 7,200rpm hard-drive and ATI Radeon HD 5850 video card with 1GB of its own memory. There’s also a 16x DVD burner, integrated audio and gigabit ethernet, and two spare PCI-E x1 slots and a single PCI slot. Connectivity includes four USB 2.0 ports on the front, eight on the back, two PS/2, three audio ports and a multi-format memory card reader. No integrated WiFi, but Acer do throw in a USB keyboard and optical mouse, while the OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Considering it’s a reasonably large chassis, there’s understandably a decent amount of upgrade potential in the Predator. Two hard-drives slot in at the front on simple tray-style bays, though while it’s easy to access the trays, they’re not hot-swappable. Open the left-hand panel, meanwhile, and there are another two 3.5-inch drive bays, this time facing out toward the side. The molded plastic top section of the chassis angles the USB and audio in/out ports up, useful considering the PC will mostly likely be sat on the floor under a desk, and also has a tray which can hold your iPod or other gadget while it charges.

Power on, and one thing is clear: Acer has sold a fair chunk of its soul to the bloatware devil. As well as the usual McAfee and Office 2010 trials, Netflix, eSobi and WildTangent have got their claws into the Predator, and then there’s Adobe and Acer’s own tools. Yes, some users might find them useful, but we’ve a feeling most will, like us, consider them pointless annoyances and have to spend a not-insignificant length of time uninstalling them.

When we’d done that, we turned to benchmarking. Our first step was Geekbench, a synthetic test of process and memory performance we run on all desktop and notebook systems. The Predator AG5900 scored 9,315, with particularly strong CPU performance as you’d expect.

That puts it certainly higher than most desktops, though it falls short of some of the more spec-heavy gaming models we’ve tested in recent times. iBUYPOWER’s beastly Paladin F Series – which we reviewed all the way back in March – scores more than 50-percent more, at 15,710, with its hexacore Core i7-980 Extreme CPU; it’s also more than twice the price of the Acer, however. It’s worth noting that the Predator’s fans are reasonably quiet, even when the system is under full load.

We then looked to PCMark Vantage for some more in-depth testing. Overall, the Acer scored 8,986 PCMarks, with unsurprisingly high scores in the gaming (9,766) category. Again, that’s well under half what the iBUYPOWER system managed, but it’s also worth noting that in the test games we looked at, we had no problems running the most recent titles at maximum resolution. Yes, the Predator isn’t the fastest machine out there, but right now it doesn’t have to be in order to make it comfortably equipped for what owners might be throwing at it.

In the end, it’s the balance between price and performance that makes the Acer Predator AG5900-U3092 a strong contender. There are undoubtedly more powerful gaming PCs on the market, but they generally can’t match Acer’s pricing; at $1,349.99, it’s a few hundred dollars cheaper than a similarly specified Alienware desktop. We’d liked to have seen USB 3.0 as standard, and hot-swappable drive bays, though the Predator isn’t a server and the latter probably isn’t something most owners would miss. Acer’s Predator-series chassis designs might be pretty crazy, but the AG5900 is actually a reasonably sensible buy.

Acer’s TimelineX series – itself a development of the Timeline range – is reasonably mature now, and the design language has evolved into a slick, handsome line-up of variously sized notebooks. The TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 is the smallest on offer, at 11.6-inches, and is a roughly 1-inch thick slice of black brushed aluminum. It’s lightweight, too, at 3.1-pounds, and feels sturdy and well-built.

Open it up, and there’s a full-sized keyboard that’s particularly comfortable in use, together with a trackpad that supports multitouch gestures. It’s worth noting that the Acer’s trackpad is particularly accurate and responsive. The screen, meanwhile, runs at 720p-friendly 1366 x 768 resolution, and we can’t really fault it either; it’s sharp, the LED backlighting is bright, and the viewing angles are great. Meanwhile color accuracy is also strong.

Where once a machine like this would’ve used a mere CULV processor, the TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 squeezes in one of Intel’s latest ultra-low voltage chips, specifically the Core i7-680UM dual-core running at 1.46GHz. It’s paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard-drive, together with Intel HD graphics (with 128MB of dedicated system memory).

Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit ethernet and Bluetooth 3.0 as standard, while there’s also an HDMI port, VGA port, three USB 2.0 ports, a multi-format memory card reader and audio in/out (the latter optionally outputting S/PDIF digital audio).

We benchmarked the Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. The ultraportable scored 3,805, with particularly strong CPU scores courtesy of the Core i7 chip. That’s less than we’ve seen from other notebooks of late, predominantly because of the compromises in performance that have been made to reduce power consumption. Still, it’s significantly ahead of Apple’s MacBook Air (itself long overdue an update) but around half the price.

Acer claim users should see up to eight hours of runtime from the standard six-cell, 5,800mAh battery. In practice, we almost managed to reach that figure. Browsing over WiFi, the AS1830T-68U118 lasted for 7 hours and 25 minutes, which is impressive. HD playback took more of a toll; the TimelineX could get through 3 hours and 50 minutes of a 720p HD .mkv video file before expiring. More general use should see runtimes somewhere in-between those figures.

Interestingly, despite the workload, the Acer still remained relatively quiet. Unlike many ultraportables, which have tiny, shrieking fans, the TimelineX’s active cooling is more tolerable. It doesn’t underperform, either; at no point did the AS1830T-68U118 become uncomfortably hot for lap use.

Our main complaint about the Acer comes down to its graphics; while the Intel HD is far more capable than previous integrated GPUs, we’d still prefer to see a dedicated GPU for extra performance. Something like NVIDIA’s intelligently-switching Optimus graphics would be ideal. Other than that, USB 3.0 seems an obvious omission, but the main pain-point is the sheer quantity of bloatware Acer preloads. Not only are there various Microsoft, Norton, McAfee, Google and Windows Live trials installed, but seven individual Acer apps covering power management, updates and security. They slow down the system, and give a poor first impression of what’s otherwise a speedy machine.

Still, a little work in the Uninstall Programs menu and much of the bloatware is gone, and you’re left with one of the best value, most appealing ultraportables around today. Priced at $899.99 it’s hard to argue with the Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118′s specifications, nor its battery life or build quality. If you’re in the market for an ultraportable but are unimpressed with the larger netbooks, this new TimelineX could very well fit the bill.

As with other Data Robotics products there is single or dual drive redundancy using the company’s BeyondRAID system. There’s also a new Drobo Sync application for automating backups across multiple machines, while the DroboPro FS supports simultaneous off-site replication to a remote unit as well.

The basic unit starts at $1,999 without drives, but various preconfigured packages will also be available.  These will top out at $3,299 for a full 16TB unit made up of eight 2TB hard-drives.

Press Release:

DATA ROBOTICS CONTINUES INNOVATION FOR SMALL BUSINESS WITH BREAKTHROUGH FILE SHARING AND OFFSITE BACKUP SOLUTION

New DroboPro FS Leverages Proven BeyondRAID Technology and Drobo Sync Backup Application to Deliver Unprecedented Ease, Affordability, and Data Safety

SANTA CLARA, CA – October 5, 2010 – Data Robotics, Inc. (“Drobo”), the company that is changing the way the world stores and protects digital content, today introduced DroboPro FS, the newest member of the Drobo family of automated storage products. Building on the success of the award-winning Drobo FS (introduced in April, 2010), the DroboPro FS with the newly integrated Drobo Sync application is tailored to enable small businesses to deploy network storage and offsite backup without complexity. DroboPro FS is ideal for any small office environment that requires a simple, safe, and affordable device for sharing and backing up files over the network.

“There is a significant need for simple, expandable storage solutions that address the relentless data growth happening within personal and small to medium business markets,” said Liz Conner, Senior Research Analyst, Storage Systems and Personal Storage at IDC. “Data Robotics has had success in addressing the personal and SOHO storage market with its Drobo FS. The company is aiming to meet the increasingly rigid requirements for data availability with its DroboPro FS by enabling off-site backups while preserving its simple-to-use nature that can scale with the capacity needs of its users.”

“We are reinventing storage solutions that meet the specific requirements of small business owners,” said Tom Buiocchi, chief executive officer, Data Robotics. “Your typical small business needs data storage and protection, but has limited budget and technical resources. We provide the smart alternative to the overly complex and expensive solutions being offered. The DroboPro FS delivers ease of use, functionality, and affordability that many small businesses did not know could exist in a single solution.”

DroboPro FS Features and Benefits

BeyondRAID Technology for The Best Storage Experience Ever: Like all Drobo products, the new DroboPro FS is based on patented BeyondRAID technology, which provides unprecedented and unmatched ease of use, affordability, self-healing data protection, and expandability.
Pay-as-you-Grow Storage Capacity – Small businesses with growing storage requirements can easily and affordably add data capacity by simply inserting a new SATA hard drive or by replacing the smallest drive with a larger one, even when all eight drive bays of the DroboPro FS are full.
Network File Sharing: The DroboPro FS connects directly to any Gigabit Ethernet network for a true plug in and share set-up experience, supporting Microsoft, Apple, and Linux computer systems.
Automated Backup: Every DroboPro FS includes the new Drobo Sync application that will automatically backup (locally or remotely) all data to another DroboPro FS. Drobo Sync is both efficient and flexible, only transmitting portions of files that have changed and allowing backups to be conveniently scheduled.
Redundant Network Connections for High Availability: DroboPro FS provides two Gigabit Ethernet ports with network protection mode to ensure the highest data availability over the network.
Automated and Continuous Thin Provisioning: Unlike any competitive storage system in the market, the new DroboPro FS provides automated and perpetual thin provisioning to customers, allowing users to further stretch their storage investment and utilization.

“Our SMB customers are looking for a cost-effective storage product like the DroboPro FS that combines key features including instant expansion, self-healing technology, and offsite backup and recovery. Data Robotics clearly understands the needs of SMBs and we’re excited to be the preferred launch partner for the DroboPro FS”.

Pricing and Availability

DroboPro FS is currently available from select partners worldwide, including preferred launch partner CDW (www.cdw.com) at a starting price of $1,999 MSRP and multiple configurations to $3,299 MSRP for a 16TB bundle. For a complete list of partners, please visit www.drobo.com/where_to_buy.

It’s certainly compact enough to get lost under your HDTV, just 5.7 x 3.9 x 2.0 inches and made of sturdy metal and silver plastic. Although there are rubber feet for standalone use, you can also VESA mount it to the back of your display. Ports include audio in/out/microphone on the front, together with two USB 2.0 and a miniUSB, then VGA, HDMI, two further USB 2.0 and gigabit ethernet on the back. There’s also a DC power input – the external PSU is a reasonably small block – and a connector for the optional WiFi antenna.

Although described as barebones, there’s not a huge amount that the ARTiGO A1100 is missing. It comes with VIA’s single-core 1.2GHz U2500 Nano processor and the company’s VX855 MSP, the latter combining the GPU, Northbridge and Southbridge into a single chip. All the buyer need fit is a 2.5-inch SATA hard-drive and a stick of DDR2 SODIMM memory (up to 2GB). VIA don’t add WiFi as standard, but do offer an optional board which is easily connected, and there’s an optional SD card reader too.

Setup, then, is pretty straightforward, though you obviously also have to add the OS of your choice. Though the U2500 is happy with 64-bit platforms, don’t expect to get the full Windows 7 Ultimate experience from the A1100: the VX855 falls short of Aero compliance, meaning much of the graphical niceties in Microsoft’s flagship OS are absent, and multitasking with anything but the most basic of tasks is wishful thinking.

Opt for Windows XP or a Linux OS, however, and things are a whole lot slicker, though you might fall foul of VIA’s DirectX 9 limitations. We generally prefer the more flexible VLC over Microsoft’s own Windows Media Player app, but the VX855 lacks hardware acceleration for anything other than WMP. That leaves you at the mercy of the CPU.

In use, it’s a quiet system; not fanless, but the tiny 25mm fan is a discrete whirring and likely to be drowned out by whatever else is in the room. Unfortunately it’s also not especially capable, and the ARTiGO A1100 box gets very hot in use. We’d have happily accepted a little extra noise – and perhaps a slightly larger chassis – for a bigger, more effective fan. The miniUSB port is a neat addition, however, allowing you to hook the PC up to another computer and treat it as an external drive.

The CPU/GPU pairing was sufficient to play 720p HD video smoothly, but 1080p HD was less successful; at best we had some mild stuttering, while at worst there were multiple dropped frames and mis-matched audio. Obviously with no integrated optical drive or TV tuner, the ARTiGO’s HTPC credentials aren’t entirely solid. Office tasks and basic photo editing were more in line with the PC’s abilities, just as long as you’re content to do one thing at a time.

If the performance isn’t quite up to regular HTPC standards, neither is the basic functionality – at least not right now. We were unable to set the ARTiGO A1100 to boot up with its HDMI output active, instead finding it would always default to the VGA output. VIA is apparently working on a firmware update to fix this, but until that’s released it’s a frustrating flaw.

As with all barebones PCs, perhaps, the VIA ARTiGO A1100 isn’t really suited to a regular home user. With a street price of around $230 (budget $45 for the WiFi b/g adapter and $25 for the SD card reader) it’s cheaper than a prebuilt nettop, certainly, but factor in the time and money required to install an HDD, memory and OS, and then tweak the latter into giving the best performance with the CPU/GPU pairing, and you’re facing what’s obviously an enthusiast’s product.

If you’ve the patience and inclination, there’s plenty of potential for the VIA nettop. Its frugal power consumption makes it an ideal embedded device, as long as you’re willing to pretty much dedicate it to a single purpose: a simple file server, for instance. Unfortunately, what it won’t do is broaden VIA’s market among home users, at least until the company rolls out updated versions with faster, dual- and quad-core versions of the Nano CPU.

Rover is Clearwire’s new youth-oriented pre-paid arm, offering WiMAX data products without demanding credit checks or long-term agreements. As well as the $149.99 Puck mobile hotspot they offer a simple USB modem called the Rover Stick (which is $99.99); beyond that, if you don’t want to use any data then you have nothing to pay. $5 gets you a day’s unlimited 4G data; $20 gets you a week’s unlimited data; and $50 gets you a month’s unlimited data.

We’ve obviously seen mobile hotspot devices before, but the Puck differentiates itself by connecting to up to eight WiFi clients – more normally it’s five. The hardware itself is certainly distinctive, if a little on the large side. A broad, flat disc – around 4.25-inches across – it’s finished in glossy black plastic and has a row of tiny LED status lights at the bottom of the central section. The only wired connectivity is a microUSB port on the side, used for recharging the fixed internal battery, and Clear provide a USB cable, USB AC adapter and USB in-car adapter to juice it up.

Power it on, connect your computer to the default SSID, and the first thing you’re faced with is a status page from which you can manage the Puck as well as your data package. The router supports WiFi b/g/n together with 64- or 128-bit WEP, WPA or WPA2 encryption, and you can also set two SSIDs for personal and guest access. That lets you shut off the guest network when you want to keep all the bandwidth to yourself.

Given they want your money on a regular basis, Clearwire has made it pretty easy to get the Rover Puck online. The three packages – for a day, a week or a month of service – can be purchased online using a credit card, or alternatively they’ll be offering $20 and $50 vouchers in select retail stores. That should mean teenagers and those without credit cards (or with bad credit scores) can still get online as long as they’ve got the cash.

Beyond that it’s business as usual for any mobile hotspot; you connect as you would to any WiFi router. We tested the Rover Puck in Dallas and found on average 4.2 Mbps download speeds and 0.6 Mbps upload speeds. That falls roughly in the middle of Clearwire’s claims of 3-6 Mbps downloads and up to 1 Mbps uploads.

As with the Clear iSpot, the Rover Puck’s biggest drawback is the absence of any sort of 3G connectivity. The Puck has a 4G modem but no EVDO Rev.A backup for when you’re outside of WiMAX coverage. That means it’s important to check Clear’s coverage maps to make sure you’re actually going to be getting service.

You’re also reliant on the Puck’s battery, and we know WiMAX can be pretty hungry from using connection-sharing apps on the HTC EVO 4G and Samsung Epic 4G. Clearwire quote up to four hours of active use from a full charge, though in our experience it feel short of that. With a strong WiMAX signal we managed 3 hours and 20 minutes, though it’s worth pointing out that the unit got extremely hot during that time; certainly to the point where it could be uncomfortable in a pocket. The WiFi will stay active even when charging, so as long as you’re near a power source you can remain online.

Clearwire’s 4G speeds are good enough that we could imagine sporadic internet users – or those unimpressed by lengthy agreements – opting for the Puck rather than a home broadband connection. It would also serve students well, or indeed anyone who spends part of their time in a 4G-served area and who wants to get online.

Still, without 3G as a backup, the Rover Puck’s flexibility is significantly curtailed. We’re guessing – as with the iSpot – that it’s this 4G-only capability that allows Clearwire to offer it at such a competitive price, but it still means the target audience is far smaller than it could be. It’s also worth noting that you pay for the privilege of service flexibility. Clear already offer month-to-month service plan options, with no long-term contract (but assuming continuity of service), with their Clear Spot hotspot priced at $99.99 outright and unlimited data at $40 per month ($10 less than the Rover rate).

If you’re served by 4G and you want a flexible way to get online without tying yourself into a contract, the Clearwire Rover Puck is a solid way of doing so. That’s not to say it’s perfect, mind; there’s a premium for pre-paid data, and no 3G to fall back on when you drop out of WiMAX range. Clear’s own iSpot, meanwhile, is cheaper again if you’re only looking to get Apple portable devices connected (or don’t mind doing some unofficial hacking). Nonetheless, there’s little that offers quite the versatility that Rover’s plans do, and for that it’s a welcome addition to the gear bag.

The ThinkStation C20′s diminutive stature is down to its rack-mount friendliness: with the optional brackets you can stack up to 14 of them in a standard 42U rack.  Of course, it also means a smaller footprint – either on the desk or underneath it – for users with just one C20.  Aesthetically it’s Lenovo’s usual somber black handiwork, with the front panel mostly vent meshwork aside from a single optical drive – in this case a DVD burner – together with FireWire, two USB 2.0 ports, audio in/out and the power button.  On the top edge is a recessed handle lined with soft-touch plastic, which makes moving the C20 particularly straightforward.

On the back, there are three fans (two system fans, one in the PSU) together with more meshwork and a further eight USB 2.0 ports, a gigabit ethernet port, two S/PDIF digital audio ports, analog surround audio outputs and a serial port, together with whatever graphics outputs your choice of video card offers (more on that in a moment).  The side panel opens to reveal a surprisingly straightforward internal layout, with tool-less mounts making upgrades and modifications relatively simple despite the comparatively small space.

There are some neat touches, too, some of which are obvious to the user and others less so.  Lenovo has used over 50-percent post-consumer recycled plastic and low-noise fans, which is always good, and the front panel port labels are backlit which makes plugging in peripherals simple when the C20 is under a desk or in a dim server room.

Of course, the real meat is what’s inside the chassis, and Lenovo sent over a loaded ThinkStation for us to test out.  The range kicks off at $1,199 with a single 2.0GHz Intel Xeon E5503 processor and 1GB of RAM, but our C20 has a pair of 2.66GHz Intel Xeon (Westmere) X5650 processors for a total of twelve cores.  There’s also 8GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard-drive and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 video card, with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit as the OS.  Expect to pay around $6,774 for a similarly specified C20, though this isn’t the most outlandish configuration you could opt for.  Faster Xeon chips are on offer, together with up to 48GB of memory across six DIMM slots, dual graphics cards, a Blu-ray burner and twin hard-drives (HDD or SSD) with optional RAID.

The NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800 deserves some attention, considering it alone adds $1,475 to the C20′s sticker price.  Currently near the top of NVIDIA’s workstation card range, it targets animators and designers running graphics-intensitive applications like 3D rendering.  At its heart is the new GT200GL GPU, with 192 CUDA cores, paired with 1.5GB of dedicated memory and 384-bit memory width; together, NVIDIA says the FX 4800 is capable of 76.8GB/s memory bandwidth, crunching 300 million triangles per second and 38 billion texels per second.

Of course, the CUDA cores are flexible in their abilities, and rather than being limited to pure graphics rendering they’re in fact each an individual multi-threaded processor.  Compatible software – which generally means the latest image, CAD and other high-end apps – can take advantage of any unused cores to speed up other processing tasks, offset from the PC’s main CPU(s).  As for outputs, you get two DisplayPort, one dual-link DVI-I and a stereo audio port, with a max 2560 x 1600 resolution and NVIDIA 3D Vision/3D Vision Pro compatibility.  It’s worth remembering that – if your wallet can hold up to it – you can outfit the C20 with two of these cards.

It came as little surprise, then, to find the ThinkStation C20 blitzed our benchmarks.  We started off with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance, and the Lenovo ThinkStation C20 scored a massive 19565.  That was primarily held back by memory performance and bandwidth; the processor scores themselves were well in excess of 20k.  The closest score in our benchmark database is the iBUYPOWER Paladin F Series, which packs a single Intel Core i7-980 Extreme, and was around 400 points lower (though it’s also in the region of $3,000 less than the C20).

We then turned to PCMark, which is a broader test of system abilities.  Overall, the ThinkStation scored 10030, with particular strengths in the Communication (10805), Music (7794) and Gaming (7640) tests.  Lowest score was 5250 in the HDD testing, likely a result of the single 7,200rpm drive in our review machine.  Looking back, the iBUYPOWER system (which is targeted at gamers) scored almost twice as well in PCMark, though in pro-level graphics applications the Quadro FX card of the Lenovo would likely make a more significant difference while an SSD would also help.

Still, this is mighty impressive performance from a relatively small machine, and we can’t help but be blown away by the sheer crunching ability of the dual Xeons.  In everyday use we had trouble slowing the C20 down – this isn’t a PC where opening a few dozen browser windows will cause lag – and it stayed admirably quiet too (though fan noise did ramp up as the system was stressed during benchmark testing).

The Lenovo’s price tag puts it out of contention for most people, and with its workstation credentials it’s not intended to replace high-end gaming machines. Graphics professionals, video editors or anyone looking to do vast amounts of crunching in minimal amounts of time, however – and without turning their office into a server farm – should definitely be considering the C20.  Its primarily limitation (bar price) is the mere two internal drive bays, but that’s the trade-off for its compact chassis; to be fair, Lenovo offer several larger alternatives in their S20 and D20 ranges that accommodate bigger RAID arrays.  For those unwilling to give space to such behemoths, the ThinkStation C20 delivers the power without the bulk.

We said the iSpot’s data package was a bargain, and we weren’t kidding: $25 per month is significantly lower than you’d normally pay for either 3G or 4G mobile data. Clear are also selling the iSpot contract-free, which means once you’ve dropped $99.99 on the hotspot itself there needn’t be any ongoing service fees if you decide not to use it.

As you might expect, there’s a handful of compromises involved. First off is the Apple device limitation – more on which later – but perhaps equally important is the absence of 3G network support. If you live in an area with 4G coverage the iSpot is great; if you’re not in one of those (currently) limited areas then there’s no falling back onto the 3G network, you simply don’t get any data service whatsoever. That makes it particularly important to check Clear’s coverage maps, though even then there will be dead patches to content with where signal strength varies.

The simplicity of the connectivity adds up to a straightforward chunk of hardware. The iSpot is fatter than a 3G-only MiFi 2200, with two front-panel LEDs for status and a power button on the side. There’s no microSD card reader as we’ve seen on some recent MiFi-style devices, for turning the hotspot into a mobile NAS of sorts, and nor is there a display: anything more complex than WiFi and WiMAX status are relegated to the browser-based control panel.

Inside the iSpot there’s a relatively huge 2,700mAh battery that Clear reckon is good for the usual quoted 4hrs of hotspot service. It charges using a miniUSB AC adapter, and of course since you can access the battery compartment you could feasibly pick up a second pack. Unlike some mobile hotspots you can’t plug the iSpot in via USB and use it as a tethered modem.

Setup is straightforward, especially if you’re content with the preset SSID and WPA settings. The password is printed on the label on the bottom of the iSpot, but can be changed via the browser interface. As with most routers you can also change WiFi channel (or leave it on automatic) and disable password protection altogether; interestingly, it’s also possible to change the power settings for the WiFi radio. That means you can notch it down in order to maximise battery life, if you know your WiFi devices aren’t going to be too far away.

In terms of speed, we tested the iSpot in Lewisville, TX, and saw average download speeds of 4.14Mbps. That’s impressive stuff, though upload rates were a different story; they averaged just 0.28Mbps. For most users, though, that will fit in with their mobile ambitions: only those wanting to upload large amounts of data (which admittedly is unlikely if you’re using an iPad, iPod touch or iPhone) will be frustrated.

Battery life, meanwhile, generally exceeded Clear’s estimates, with our unit managing around 4.25hrs with WiFi taken down to its shortest range setting (still sufficient for a regular room or office, so you can have the iSpot next to the window and still be browsing from the couch). Clear’s use of a miniUSB port for recharging is annoying, given most mobile devices have settled on microUSB, but of course the Apple gadgets it’s intended to play with use their own, proprietary connector.

A cheap source of high-speed mobile connectivity is appealing to more than just iPad, iPod touch and iPhone owners, however, and so it’s unsurprising that hacking the iSpot for broader access is a hot topic. Clear has used MAC filtering to identify what device is trying to connect, blocking anything else. To work around that, you’ll need to figure out how to spoof your notebook/tablet/smartphone’s MAC address; instructions for that are broadly available online, though Clear are unlikely to smile upon anyone caught doing that.

If you’re not comfortable hacking your device, the obvious alternative is Clear’s own Spot 4G – exactly the same unit as the iSpot but without the Apple limitation and in a black casing. Unfortunately, while the Spot 4G is priced at $99.99 too, service plans start from $40 per month and require a contract; in contrast, the iSpot’s data plan is $25 per month and demands no contract.

That makes it a definite bargain, and if you decided not to opt for a 3G iPad or prefer faster connectivity than AT&T’s 3G on your iPhone then the allure of Clear’s WiMAX can’t be denied. With no slower connection to fall back on, the Clear iSpot has limited appeal until the carrier broadens their coverage, but if you’re an occasional mobile data user living in a 4G area and carrying a bag full of Apple mobile hardware then the iSpot is hard to argue with.

While the ENVY 14 range kicks off with Core i3 CPUs, our particular review unit gets Intel’s Core i5-450M dual-core paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 500GB hard-drive. Graphics include both the integrated Intel HD chipset and a dedicated ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5650 with 1GB of its own GDDR3 memory, driving the 14.5-inch 1600 x 900 display.

Connectivity, meanwhile, includes WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth, HDMI and a trio of USB 2.0 ports (one of which doubles as an eSATA). There’s also Mini DisplayPort, gigabit ethernet, a multi-format memory card reader and slot-loading DVD burner (no Blu-ray option, sadly). OS is Windows 7, but HP also splash a considerable amount of third-party apps and bloatware on the ENVY 14: as well as various Adobe Elements apps (including Photoshop Elements), Cyberlink DVD Suite, Roxio backup and several Corel apps, there are trials of Office 2010, Norton security and others. To be blunt, we’d far prefer to see these trials offered as mere links or on bundled DVDs rather than preloaded; we seem to spend the first hour with a new system wiping off unwanted apps.

HP’s final surprise is Beats Audio, a collaboration with the company better known for their headphones technology, and which is billed as studio-quality. It’s part of an attempt to lift the ENVY 14 out from the morass of mid-range notebooks, along with the backlit chiclet keyboard and broad multitouch-capable trackpad. It’s certainly not hard to see where the frequent MacBook Pro comparisons come from, but it’s also worth noting that a similarly priced machine from Apple would run to $1,899 versus the $1,289.99 of this HP.

We benchmarked the HP ENVY 14 with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. The notebook scored 4830, slightly lower than Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y460 which uses the Core i5-520M CPU and the same amount of RAM. We then turned to PCMark for a broader perspective on the HP’s overall abilities; it scored 6427 PCMarks, with particular strength in the music (6433), productivity (5517) and gaming (5482) categories.

Practically speaking, the ENVY 14 runs surprisingly well, with the Core i5 certainly sufficient for everyday multitasking. We comfortably multitasked between several browser windows, media playback and IM in the background, while the discrete ATI graphics make the HP usable for gaming. Video editing, too, proves well within the ENVY 14′s capabilities, though when under load fan noise is considerable. On the plus side, we didn’t notice undue levels of heat passing through the alloy chassis, so all that fan activity is obviously doing something useful.

The chiclet keyboard offers some of the best response this side of a MacBook, while the oversized trackpad is precise and accurate. Meanwhile the audio quality is a revelation for a notebook; there are only two speakers, but the performance is stronger than many multi-speaker laptop setups than we’ve tested. Happily – for media playback – the ENVY 14′s display can keep up; our review unit has the higher-resolution 1600 x 900 “Radiance Infinity” panel rather than the standard 1366 x 768, and is bright and crisp. It’s a shame HP don’t offer a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, at least as an option; while neither panel would support Full HD playback, the HDMI output makes hooking up an HDTV simple.

Battery life from the standard 8-cell Li-Ion pack is estimated at up to six hours using the dedicated graphics and up to eight on the integrated Intel HD chipset. Unplug the mains adapter and the ENVY 14 automatically flips to the low-power option. We’ve managed just under 4.5hrs of browsing, audio playback and IM using the Intel HD graphics; with the ATI graphics active, that fell to more like 3.5hrs, while actively gaming in this mode pushed it well under the 3hr mark.

As a package, we’re impressed by the ENVY 14. Apple’s machine undoubtedly offers more battery longevity, but the HP throws in a broader selection of ports and for a lower price. The etched alloy case might not to be everybody’s taste, but it’s extremely well built and, in the metal, looks far more impressive than in stock photos. While it’s a little thicker than the MacBook Pro – 1.1-inches versus 0.9-inches – it’s also lighter, at 5.25lbs versus 5.6lbs from Cupertino.

Where Apple can afford a relatively leisurely upgrade cycle, HP is forced to compete in a far faster moving ecosystem; buyers of PC laptops are spoilt for choice, complete with some bargain-basement pricing on offer too. The ENVY 14 could be seen as HP’s attempt to push through into a premium segment that would allow them a little more breathing room, though they’ve not short-changed the buyer in the process. Apple’s extra budget goes on the nicer elements of garnish – the HP’s power adapter lacks the finesse and magnetic connector of the MacBook Pro’s, and the ENVY 14′s ports protrude from the angled edges of the chassis rather than feeling punched through a unibody – but we imagine many buyers would prefer to have the cash in the bank. It’s a balancing act, and HP has done well with it; Blu-ray is the glaring omission, but generally the HP ENVY 14 offers a strong mixture of performance, style and quality.

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With a laptop like this, the spec sheet is king. Intel’s quadcore Core i7-820QM 1.733GHz processor takes center stage, paired with 4GB of Kingston DDR3 memory and a Seagate Momentus XT 500GB Hybrid hard-drive (that uses 4GB of onboard flash memory to speed up performance). Graphics are courtesy of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 480M with 2GB of discrete GDDR5 memory, and then there’s a Blu-ray burner, 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD glossy display.

Connectivity includes gigabit ethernet, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, a modem and HDMI, along with S/PDIF digital audio output and analog audio in/out. There’s also a USB 3.0 port, three USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, FireWire, DVI-I, an ExpressCard 54/34 slot and a multiformat memory card reader.

As for the chassis it’s all packed into, Clevo have sensibly avoided go-faster stripes and outlandish graphics. Instead the W880CU is relatively sober, dominated by the large 16:9 aspect display (with a 2-megapixel webcam above it) and a full-sized chiclet style keyboard. Build quality for the hefty 4kg machine is very high, surpassing Alienware machines in our opinion, with great keyboard spacing and a tactile, responsive multitouch trackpad. Clevo has squeezed in not only four speakers but a subwoofer, too.

First things first: performance. We kicked off with Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance, and the Clevo W880CU scored a healthy 6490. That’s almost 200 points higher than Apple’s Core i7-620M dualcore MacBook Pro. We then turned to PCMark to put the 2D/3D graphics and multimedia performance of the W880CU through its paces. Overall, the Clevo score 6445 PCMarks, with stand-out categories being gaming (8453), productivity (7240) and music (6623).

It’s also worth remembering that the W880CU’s everyday performance will likely improve somewhat over time, thanks to the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid hard-drive. As we found when we reviewed the Momentus XT a few weeks back, its so-called Adaptive Memory technology learns to prioritize commonly accessed programs and data, shifting them into its 4GB of flash memory for speedier recall. That’s the sort of thing that won’t show up in regular Geekbench testing, but will definitely be noticeable in everyday use; for instance, we found after a few reboot cycles in our Momentus XT Hybrid review, Windows 7 ended up booting in just half the time.

Clevo and AVADirect bill the W880CU as a gaming notebook, and unsurprisingly it’s a strong performer when it comes to the sort of modern titles most notebooks might blanch at. The NVIDIA GPU is easily capable of full-framerate play, and with the sort of hardware that a decent desktop wouldn’t be ashamed of – together with great keyboard action – the W880CU doesn’t disappoint.

As for multimedia performance, the W880CU’s Blu-ray drive and surround-sound speakers do a decent job. We saw no ghosting while watching high-definition action footage, and both viewing angles and brightness are impressive. Unfortunately sound doesn’t quite live up to the visuals, with audio being crisp but – despite the subwoofer – a little lacking on the low end. Still, given the space Clevo have to work with, it’s probably expecting too much for true home theater audio from a laptop.

It feels almost criminal to use the Clevo for everyday browsing and email duties, but of course it handles them without breaking a sweat. Windows 7 Home Premium’s HTPC functionality was also welcome, though the internal TV tuner card option wasn’t fitted to our review unit. The W880CU is supplied admirably bloatware-free, which is very welcome in a world where most Windows machines arrive overloaded with trials and demos.

The W880CU’s main shortcoming is its battery life, with Clevo estimating a mere 90 minutes of unplugged runtime with the NVIDIA GPU active. In practice, that estimate is pretty accurate with general use; if you’re trying to do any serious gaming then expect it to dip beneath 60 minutes. Really, this is a portable desktop replacement rather than a laptop in the traditional sense, something you can realistically move to another room or the nearest LAN party but not intended for gaming on the go.

Its likely audience is well aware of that, however, and prioritizes performance over battery longevity. They’ll probably also dip further into the customization options: as well as the TV tuner you can specify a second hard-drive with optional RAID setup, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, CPUs up to Intel’s Core i7-940XM, and even what thermal compound is used. Altogether it’s relatively straightforward to come up with a machine that makes the $2,975.26 sticker price of our review unit look halfway to a bargain.

For most, the Clevo W880CU is overkill. Everyday tasks are just as easily performed on machines less than half the price, while the gaming experience can be ostensibly similar on significantly more affordable rivals. Nonetheless, with its combination of sturdy build, quietly confident styling and hardware not just sufficient for today’s breed of high-end games but titles around the corner too, we can’t help but find the W880CU appealing. Niche, certainly; expensive, undoubtedly; but the Clevo makes perhaps the strongest case to date for bypassing a traditional desktop PC.

The IdeaCentre Q150-40816AU bears the mark of Lenovo’s latest updates, throwing out the old single-core Atom chip of its predecessor and replacing it with an Intel D510 with twin 1.66GHz cores. That’s paired with 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 500GB hard-drive, NVIDIA Ion 2 DX10 graphics chipset (with 512MB of dedicated VRAM) and WiFi b/g/n. Ports, meanwhile, include HDMI, VGA, two USB 2.0, ethernet and audio in/out on the back, while there are another two USB 2.0 ports and an S/PDIF digital audio output on the front under a plastic flap. Lenovo supply a stand for propping the Q150 upright, or alternatively there’s a VESA mount on one side so you can hide it behind your HDTV or monitor.

In the box, Lenovo supply a power brick and a wired USB keyboard and mouse set; however, the company also sent us their N5901 wireless keyboard. A distinctive, chubby T-shape, the N5901 has a full QWERTY thumbboard across the top and a trackball underneath, and is primarily intended for those wishing to use the IdeaCentre Q150 as an HTPC.

Setup of the Q150 is straightforward, since it’s a regular Windows 7 Home Premium PC. Obviously there’s no optical drive, and Lenovo save around 30GB of the HDD as a service partition (for re-imaging the PC should you want a fresh install), but generally it’s a case of hooking up a monitor or other display and then getting to work. For HTPC use the front-mounted S/PDIF port seems ill-placed, seeing as it’s unlikely to be the sort of thing you’re regularly plugging in and unplugging, but most will likely use HDMI anyway, which carries both audio and video. We had no trouble connecting to a WiFi network to stream content both from the Q150 and from a standalone NAS.

Intel’s Atom D510 processor may be a step up from earlier iterations, but we still weren’t expecting dramatic performance from the low-power chip. We benchmarked the nettop using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance, and the IdeaCentre Q150 scored 1242. That’s only a few points higher than we were seeing from Atom 330 machines, and is unsurprisingly akin to what you’d see from a netbook.

In terms of real-world use, the Lenovo lived up to its multimedia billing. Previous machines using the Ion GPU were criticised for patchy performance, since things like Flash didn’t support hardware acceleration and, as such, relied solely on underpowered CPUs. With Flash 10.1, however, the Ion 2 in the Q150 is responsible for HD decoding, and it manages it with minimal fuss. Full-screen Hulu looked great, as did local content. Regular Windows apps, however, were less impressive; with the GPU out of the equation, the Atom CPU struggled with anything more than a little multitasking. Try to do more than surf with a couple of windows open while playing music in the background and the Q150 starts to get a little sluggish.

As for the Lenovo N5901 wireless keyboard, that uses a proprietary USB wireless dongle (which stows in a niche underneath) and is plug-and-play with Windows 7. As well as the QWERTY ‘board there are dedicated multimedia keys, and the whole thing sits nicely in the hand; we wish Lenovo had used the same soft-touch plastic on the front as they have on the back, though, since the glossy finish is a real fingerprint-magnet. The keys themselves are slightly convex, making for easier typing, and while you wouldn’t want to input anything of length, it’s certainly sufficient for searches, Twitter messages, brief emails and URLs. The trackball, meanwhile, is usable, though we wish Lenovo had opted for a gyroscopic navigation system instead. Still, that would add to the price, which at $59.99 is reasonable.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about the IdeaCentre Q150. Notable omissions are Bluetooth and any sort of memory card reader, though of course you could add either via USB. An integrated card reader would arguably be less than useful if your Q150 was mounted behind the TV, too. It’s a quiet-running system, and thanks to GPU acceleration is capable of stutter-free 1080p HD local and streaming video; 500GB is plenty of space for a nettop, too. Currently priced at $399 – $50 more than the single-core model with mere Intel GMA 3150 graphics and a 160GB HDD – it makes for a capable HTPC; throw in a cheap USB TV tuner and you could record TV too, since Windows 7 Home Premium natively supports media center functionality. This isn’t the machine for gaming or video editing, but then we doubt many would confuse it for such: instead it’s a great little media PC that serves up high definition content with minimal fuss.

We weren’t joking when we described the DS411+ as sober. A charcoal gray box measuring 168 x 184 x 230 mm, the front panel has little of note aside from the power button and indicator lights for status, LAN and each of the four hard-drive bays. There’s certainly no LCD display to tell you how much capacity is left. On the back there are two 80mm fans and then power, gigabit ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port, together with a Kensington lock hole.

There are also four thumbscrews, which when removed allow you to slide off the top section of the chassis. Unfortunately, that’s what’s required every time you want to access the four internal 3.5-inch hard-drive bays. We’d prefer to have some sort of front or rear accessed caddy system instead, which would make for easier hot-swapping. Up to 8TB can be installed (four 2TB drives) with a choice of RAID 0, 1, 5, 5+Spare, 6, 10 or JBOD.

The DS411+’s processing is taken care of by an Intel Atom D510 1.67GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM, while the software is flexible enough to do plenty more than just network backup. In addition to mirrored storage there’s the usual DLNA/UPnP media server streaming for audio, video and image files (including to PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles), standalone BitTorrent downloads, FTP and PHP/MySQL website hosting and iTunes server functionality. You can also use the DS411+ to monitor up to twenty IP webcams (as long as they’re compatible models), network-share two USB printers, and load various optional “Synology Packages” that turn the NAS into a SqueezeCenter or email server. Unsurprisingly there’s customizable user quotas for shared storage, Time Machine compatibility and all the usual NAS flexibility, while the two USB ports and the eSATA port can be used to add external drives.

All that would be for naught if the DiskStation DS411+ fell short in its performance; happily, it does not. We slotted in four Seagate 1TB hard-drives in RAID 5 configuration, and then measured transfer speeds with 1GB and 5GB files. Reading, the DS411+ managed 102MB/sec with the 1GB files and 110MB/sec with the 5GB files. Writing, the DS411+ managed 94MB/sec with the 1GB and 98MB/sec with the 5GB. That’s surprisingly close to the quoted 112MB/sec read and 106MB/sec write from the official specifications.

The front panel of the DS411+ may not be especially noticeable, but then neither is the sound; obviously it’ll depend to a large extent on which hard-drives you pick, but Synology’s fans are relatively quiet despite keeping the NAS cool to the touch. They’re also secured in place using regular Philips-head screws, so replacing them yourself shouldn’t be too arduous a task.

In all, we’re highly impressed with the Synology DiskStation DS411+. Not only does it get within spitting distance of its quoted specifications, it has the backup and multimedia flexibility to suit both home and small-business users. While we’d like to have seen a more accessible chassis, and the front panel could benefit from a status display, there’s no arguing with the NAS’ performance. At $650 for the barebones drive it’s not cheap, but if you need reliable, consistent speed then it’s at the top of the pile.

The Portege R705′s reasonably sober aesthetics are quickly forgotten when you first pick the notebook up: at around 3.2lbs it’s an incredibly light machine. Screen open, you can hold it upright in one hand by the corner with little in the way of straining; it’s also sturdy, with no flex or twisting. The shiny metal hinges and discrete metallic blue finish to the plastics make it feel more in line with the higher-spec $1,300+ configurations than the $800 the R705-P25 actually commands. Toshiba has used a new, honeycomb internal palmrest configuration and a custom cooling system in collaboration with Intel, and the end result is a sturdy and easily totable ultraportable that’s a mere 16.8mm at its thinnest point.

Inside is an Intel Core i3-350M processor running at 2.27GHz, paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard-drive and a DVD burner. There’s also integrated Intel HD graphics, WiFi a/g/n – with support for Intel’s Wireless Display “WiDi” technology – and gigabit ethernet, while ports include two USB 2.0, a combo eSATA/USB, HDMI and a memory card reader. OS is Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit). Unlike Toshiba’s Portege R700 models, the R705-P25 is a fixed configuration; that means you can’t add Bluetooth or pick from the faster Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs, nor swap the 5,400rpm HDD for an SSD.

Usability is high, with a bright 13.3-inch 1,366 x 768 16:9 LED-backlit display over a chiclet-style non-backlit keyboard and a multitouch trackpad. Unlike the R700 we saw at launch there’s no biometric fingerprint scanner in-between the two trackpad buttons. Still, the keyboard is tactile and comfortable, with a pleasantly springy feel, while the trackpad is smooth, easy to control and has well-placed keys. Horizontal viewing angles on the screen are decent, but vertical angles are narrower; happily the screen angles back to a reasonable extent – though not entirely flat – so we could usually find a usable balance.

We benchmarked the Portege R705 using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. It scored 4,150 overall, with a strong CPU showing held back by memory bandwidth performance; that’s almost 450 points more than the 13-inch MacBook Pro, with its 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and the same amount of RAM.

In terms of real-world performance, as you might expect the Portege R705 is certainly sufficient for everyday multitasking, though it falls short of gaming prowess. We were able to browse with several windows and tabs open, playing music in the background and occasionally writing emails without seeing any slowdown. The Intel HD graphics are comfortable with HD video playback – the 1,366 x 768 display supports 720p, while the HDMI output can handle 1080p – but games will have to be lightweight if they’re to avoid dropped frames.

As for battery life, Toshiba reckon the R705 is good for up to eight hours from its standard 6-cell 66Wh pack. Unsurprisingly that’s on the ambitious side, and with average use as described above the Portege lasted just over five hours at medium brightness. Playing a DVD on repeat saw that knocked down to a under four hours, however, which is something to bear in mind if the integrated optical drive is a key draw to the ultraportable.

That media content can be enjoyed either on the R705 itself or wirelessly using Intel’s WiDi system; there’s a dedicated button to turn it on, just above the keyboard on the top right, though you’ll need to pick up a WiDi adapter like Netgear’s Push2TV to take care of the TV side. Budget around $100 for that. With everything hooked up, you can either use your HDTV rather than the Portege’s own display, or extend your desktop across, and the connection is quick enough to handle a 1080p Full HD video.

Toshiba made a big deal of their new cooling system, which, rather than pushing out hot air, pulls in cool air over the repositioned hotter components. In reality we didn’t notice much of a difference: during regular use the R705 was as cool running as any other 13.3-inch ultraportable, while during intensive tasks the hot part of the chassis was simply moved from where the CPU is to along the edge near the outlet vent. It’s a quiet running notebook, though, which is certainly welcome. We’d be interested to see how the more potent Core i5 and Core i7 systems handle heat, since they’ll likely be pushed harder than the Core i3 of the R705-P25.

That’s not to say this Best Buy special falls short. Toshiba took a risk putting their Portege brand to a (relatively) budget machine, and happily the risk paid off. While we might like to have seen Bluetooth instead of WiDi, the R705-P25 neatly balances everyday performance with impressive portability and strong build quality. Mobile professionals looking for heavy crunching abilities should look to Toshiba’s more expensive models, and we wish there had been space and budget for a dedicated graphics card rather than the Intel HD chipset, but it’s a relatively minor complaint when you consider the target audience. At under $800 it’s hard to argue with the Toshiba Portege R705-P25.

My quest started with ViaTalk, and after hearing so many people vouch for it across multiple discussion forums, I was excited to see what all the buzz was about. The sign up process was simple, but you won’t be getting instant access to the service until your order has been processed, something which takes 24-48 hours. ViaTalk charges $15.75 / month for unlimited service in the US and provides 60 minutes international calling to certain countries. I received my credentials within 24 hours and was able to configure my Softphone and my VoIP adapter (not used simultaneously). The ViaTalk control panel is well designed and thought out; you can control many aspects of the line, including call details and privacy (for both inbound and outbound calls). Unfortunately I didn’t have much luck with ViaTalk’s quality; during initial calling tests I was unable to hear the other party’s audio, despite them being able to hear me quite clearly – this happened both on the softphone and the VoIP adapter. Several hours later, I gave it another try and it works; however, the audio was choppy and full of static. Test calls over 3G connections weren’t any better, and sometimes incoming calls failed to come through. I wouldn’t recommend ViaTalk based on my personal experience.

Vonage is not a BYOD provider, but they do have a softphone package that allows you to use your own device; the downside is that you have to be a Vonage subscriber. For $9.99 you can get 500 minutes of outbound calls (inbound is free) on Vonage. I was not able to set it up on my PAP2 VoIP adapter as I was told Vonage does not support it, even with my softphone package. Over WiFi, the audio clarity is close to landline quality, and still decent on 3G with echo suppression enabled. For those who do not use many outgoing minutes and who are also Vonage subscribers, I would only recommend the Vonage softphone package if you are mobile most of the time. However, Vonage is well known for increasing their subscription fees unexpectedly, and I tend to stay away from providers like that.

Several years ago, I was a BroadVoice subscriber and had a horrible experience with them (mainly with their tech support). I bravely signed up with BroadVoice again this around for the sake of this article. I picked the BYOD-lite plan that cost only $5.99 a month ($11.42 after tax and other fees); the package offers 100 minutes of outbound calls (inbound are free). I liked how BroadVoice tells everything upfront on what fees they are charging, putting it in a very visible place on the signup page. I was only able to register one device/line, so I set it up using my mobile softphone. Voice call quality was decent, however there was noticeable echo over WiFi connections. Calls over 3G, however, were not good at all, with the conversation being choppy for both sides. I called support to cancel my account and, unlike my previous experience with them, the support call was answered quickly, by someone who is a native English speaker, and who quickly understood my complaints and acted accordingly. Still, I would recommend BroadVoice only if you do not have multiple devices to use, and intend on connecting via LAN or WiFi only.

Toktumi Line2 is a different kind of BYOD VoIP provider, eschewing SIP and opting instead to develop its own softphone. The downside of this is that you can’t use a generic SIP-compliant device like the PAP2 VoIP adapter or your softphone app of choice. However, there are more upsides than downsides with Line2; the app for iPhone is well polished, with features including visual voicemail, iPhone contact integration and, best of all, it runs on the background on iOS4. The app is also available for BlackBerry handsets, while Peter Sisson, CEO of Toktumi told me that their Android client is coming. The sign-up process is fairly straightforward but requires a US mobile number. Pricing, meanwhile, is very attractive at $14.95 per month for unlimited calls without all the extra fees, plus 30 days free trial. Line2 to Line2 calls use a wideband codec with HD-clarity audio (you can actually hear a pin drop on WiFi calls); over 3G, I was able to hear the audio clearly and so could the other party. Live support (web chat) is excellent with quick responses and cancellation is as simple as clicking the “cancel” link in the account options. I highly recommend Toktumi Line2 if you are in the market for mobile VoIP, especially for iPhone, Blackberry and, soon, Android device users.

Last, but not least, my quest brought me to onSIP, a business-oriented BYOD SIP provider. While onSip’s target audience is small businesses, consumers can also utilize their service with their “a la carte” plan that doesn’t require you to sign up for auto attendants, extensions, voicemail, etc. I was able to buy just a phone number and voicemail that cost me $7 in a one-time setup fee (for the phone number) and $4/month ($2 for the phone service and $2 for voicemail). Inbound and outbound calls using PSTN will cost $0.029/minute; this might leave question marks to those people who love “unlimited” plans, but if you really think about it, you might save more money in the end if you don’t use a lot of minutes and simply want a secondary phone line. On our test calls, audio on both ends proved crisp and clear no matter whether over WiFI or 3G. I found onSIP to be very reliable and I enjoyed using their service. If you don’t use your VoIP line too much, onSip is a very good choice; for businesses, I highly recommend it.

Not all VoIP providers are suitable for everyone, but from time to time, there are one or two that would stand out from the crowd whether by virtue of their technology, the functionality they offer, or their pricing. To me, reliability is the top priority and having a VoIP provider that keeps innovating is also important as technology around us evolves. This post is meant more to share my experience than it is a review of each VoIP provider; still, Toktumi Line2 stands out for their mobile experience, while onSip’s flexibility is notable. Still, there are plenty more providers out there competing for our business, and I’d be interested to hear your experiences with other VoIP services. Let us know who you’ve found – and who you’ve learned to avoid – in the comments!

Physically the iMo Mini-Monster looks a little like a basic tablet, with minimal screen bezel surrounding the 10-inch, 1024 x 600 touchscreen display. On the back there’s a hinged stand that flaps out to prop the screen up, while the ports are recessed at the side. Nanovision quote a 400:1 contrast ratio and 350cd/m2 brightness, and the whole thing measures 9.7 x 6.3 x 1 inches and weigh 1.77lbs.

As with the other MIMO displays we’ve tested, the iMo Mini-Monster relies on DisplayLink’s virtual graphics driver technology. Rather than plugging into a true video output – such as a VGA port or HDMI – the DisplayLink drivers create a virtual monitor connection and the Mini-Monster gets both power and signal over the same USB 2.0 connection. The plus side is that you don’t need another graphics card (or to use your spare video output on a sub-display); the negative is the CPU impact of doing the necessary graphics crunching.

On a desktop PC or a decent notebook, running a single MIMO display isn’t going to bring your system to a halt. However, because you can have several such displays going at the same time, each with their own virtual graphics driver, it’s possible to bring general performance noticeably down. If you’re on a low powered machine to start with, such as a netbook, the impact of the DisplayLink drivers will be even more considerable.

You’ll also need a USB port with sufficient power to drive the display. A double-headed USB cable (two full sized USB plugs on one end, a mini-USB plug on the other) is supplied just in case a single port isn’t enough. There are also two USB ports on the iMo Mini-Monster itself, to use it as a simple hub; Nanovision throw an AC adapter into the box to power these extra sockets. Otherwise the only feature of note is the pull-out stylus for more precise use of the touchscreen.

That touchscreen, meanwhile, is a resistive panel rather than a capacitive one, supporting a single point of contact rather than multitouch. Unlike some of Nanovision’s smaller MIMO displays, the OS X touchscreen driver (for Intel based Macs only) is freely available alongside its Windows counterpart; previous displays from the company used a proprietary OS X touchscreen driver that added a further $30 to the bill. Accuracy is reasonable but of course lacks pressure sensitivity; this isn’t the display for an artist, unless you’re content sketching out the most basic of lines.

The Mini-Monster is billed as suitable for both desktop or handheld tablet-style use, though since there’s no accelerometer or physical rotation button you’ll need to dig into the DisplayLink settings in order to flip the screen orientation around. As with other MIMO screens, it comes into its own with Photoshop toolbars, IM windows, Twitter apps and music playback controls: the things you’d like to have constant access to, but don’t want to pin on top of your regular work area. Unlike other models there’s no integrated webcam, speakers or microphone.

It all works as you’d expect, then, and while we’d prefer a more flexible stand (or, indeed, a VESA mount) it’s a relatively straightforward way to get extra display real-estate. Our concern, then, regards the price. At $259.99, you could certainly get a regular LCD display that’s considerably larger than the iMo Mini-Monster, or indeed a netbook with the same screen size and resolution. Now, neither of those would have the touchscreen layer, but you could easily use the netbook as a secondary display with an app like MaxiVista ($39.95).

If the touchscreen is a dealbreaker, though, and the compact dimensions of the iMo Mini-Monster a boon rather than a drawback – admittedly we’d rather not carry a full-sized LCD in our laptop bag, whereas the MIMO slots in nicely – then adding another 10-inches of screen has never been so easy. Most users will be satisfied with the regular 7-inch MIMOs – kicking off at $179.99 for a touchscreen model – but if you demand the biggest of the small screens then the MIMO iMo Mini-Monster fits the bill.

There’s a little of the Lenovo in the Aspire X3400′s design, a solid black mini-tower (standing 10.5-inches high) with a minor splash of blue the only attempt to brighten things. Up front there’s a DVD burner, five USB 2.0 ports, a multi-format memory card reader and audio in/out; at the back there are a further four USB 2.0 ports, both HDMI and VGA, gigabit ethernet, audio in/out (with 5.1-channel support), an eSATA port, PS/2 ports for legacy keyboard and mouse (Acer’s supplied peripherals are both USB, and of reasonable quality if not anything outstanding) and of course power. Build quality is decent, with a pleasant mixture of gloss and matte black plastics.

Inside there’s a 2.9GHz AMD Athlon II X3 435 processor paired with 4GB of DDR3 memory and integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics with a 500GB hard-drive, though no integrated Bluetooth and WiFi. Acer offer a 2.9GHz X4 635 processor and up to 1TB of storage as options, while the Aspire X3400 can handle up to 8GB of DDR3 memory. Of course, because of the small size there are no free drive bays inside: the optical drive takes up the 5.25-inch bay and the HDD occupies the 3.5-inch bay.

Software is Windows 7 Home Premium, complete with a basic array of Acer’s own applications. Probably of most interest to the HTPC aficionados likely to be eyeing the Aspire X3400 is the eRecovery Management app, which automatically makes backups of your multimedia store. There’s also the usual trial of Office Home & Student 2007 (together with a full copy of Works 8.5), a trial of McAfee, Google’s Toolbar and Nero 9 Essentials.

We benchmark tested the Acer Aspire X3400-U2012 using Geekbench, a synthetic test of processor and memory performance. It scored a reasonable 5,108, primarily thanks to a strong showing by the processor. In comparison, Gateway’s ZX6900 – which uses a 2.93GHz Intel Core i3-530 with 4GB of RAM – scored slightly higher, at 5,313. Acer’s own all-in-one, the Aspire Z5600, scored 5,475 with Intel’s 2.33GHz Core 2 Quad Q8200 and 4GB of RAM.

The Aspire X3400′s integrated GeForce 9200 graphics are certainly showing their age, and this isn’t the GPU for you if you’re hoping to do any serious gaming. While it may run titles like Crysis it’s at their very minimum settings, and you’ll still see dropped frames. Instead, think of the Aspire X3400 as a home multimedia PC, perfectly sized to slot under your TV, hook up via HDMI (with HDCP support) and act as a media player. On those terms its capabilities are far more adequate; Windows 7 Home Premium includes native media PC features, though you’ll need to add a USB TV tuner if you want to record/pause broadcast TV. It’s a shame Acer didn’t throw a remote control in the box (or at least wireless keyboard/mouse peripherals).

In use, the Acer runs reasonably quietly – there’s some fan noise which may be noticeable during quiet media playback, but nothing extreme – and shows little in the way of lag. We happily browsed several internet tabs with media playing in the background and the Aspire X3400 had no problem keeping up with us. Paired with a sizeable NAS it would certainly work well as an HTPC.

We’d like to see a bigger hard-drive as standard, and obviously the GPU falls short of anything a semi-serious gamer might be looking for, but considering the $459.99 MRSP there’s plenty to like about the Acer Aspire X3400-U2012. Solid – if not outstanding – performance together with an admirably small footprint and lashings of connectivity add up to a strong contender for your living room or home office.

First impressions are of high-quality leather and no shortage of heft. Saddleback use thick-cut 4-5oz full grain boot leather, stitched up with industrial marine grade polyester thread and riveted stress points; there are only three major seams, all placed vertically, which the company claims will help absorb the impact of an accidental fall. Inside the two compartments – each 2.25-inches deep – there’s pigskin lining (though suede is an option); one also has a 6 x 6 inch expandable pocket for files. Four leather colors are available, from the Carbon Black of our review bag through Chestnut, Coffee and Dark Tobacco. The 15-inch is $411 while the 17-inch is $423.

The chunky leather and riveted metal parts add up to a heavier than average bag: the 15-inch model is around 4.25 pounds while the 17-inch is around 5 pounds. Certainly a lot more than most laptop bags, but it’s also the best constructed, highest-quality bag we’ve used. The cutting and stitching is flaw-free, and there are no zippers or snaps that could break over time.

As well as a regular bag with a shoulder strap, Saddleback have added various metal loops that allow you to convert it into a rucksack. Unclipping the strap, threading it through a ring up by the handle and then clipping it back to the bottom loops allows you to wear it over both shoulders; this actually became our preferred carrying method, since it spreads the weight out.

In terms of space inside, there’s sufficient room for a laptop roughly twice as thick as a MacBook Pro in one compartment and then all the cables, papers and accessories you might need in the other section. There are places to hook pens on either side, though given the sturdiness of the leather there’s no give in the construction: this isn’t a bag you can pack full of things and expect elasticated seams to give you a little extra wriggle room.

From initially blanching at the thought of a $400+ bag, we soon began to appreciate the Saddleback Leather Company’s briefcase. Yes, it’s heavy and not inconsiderably priced, but it’s also incredibly well constructed, classically designed and likely to last not only your own lifetime but that of whichever lucky person you hand it down to. Not an impulse purchase, no, but something that could well be the companion to every laptop you own from now on.

Features

Under the hood is an Intel Core i3-330M 2.13GHz processor paired with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard-drive. The 15.6-inch display runs at 1,366 x 768 and uses integrated Intel HD graphics, while connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n, three USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, ethernet, audio in/out and a 5-in-1 memory card reader. There’s also a Blu-ray drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam and integrated microphone, but no Bluetooth (even as an option).

Multimedia is certainly Gateway’s intent with the NV59C09u – the Blu-ray drive and HDMI output are testament to that – but the notebook’s display disappoints. Picture quality is fair, with no noticeable ghosting, good color balance and high brightness when notched all the way up, but the 1,366 x 768 resolution is underwhelming when you consider the rest of the hardware is capable of Full HD. Meanwhile audio performance is loud but lacks definition. Better to plug in your HDTV via HDMI, and enjoy the very quiet Blu-ray drive. The NV59C09u is one of the quieter multimedia notebooks we’ve used, something you’ll appreciate if you’re watching a more subdued film.

Design

Design-wise, the NV59C09u is inoffensive but hardly inspiring. The shiny aluminum-effect lid and matching palm-rest contrast nicely with the chiclet keyboard, and Gateway has managed to squeeze in a separate numeric keypad despite the notebook measuring 15.0 x 10.0 x 1.3 inches and tipping the scales at 5.4 pounds. Key feel is reasonable, and the trackpad – which supports multitouch gestures and is slickly integrated into the palm-rest – is responsive, though the buttons underneath could do with a little more tactile feel. The top row of keys double up as multimedia shortcuts.

Performance

We used Geekbench to test the NV59C09u’s performance, a synthetic test that measures processor and memory. Overall, the Gateway scored 3,925, held back primarily by its memory bandwidth. In the real-world, that translates to strong abilities in everyday tasks, such as browsing with multiple tabs open while simultaneously playing music or even a Blu-ray disc in the background, though the integrated graphics mean gaming or heavy-duty media processing aren’t the NV59C09u’s forte. Expect significantly lowered framerates and a generally poor experience.

Battery Life

Gateway reckon you’ll see up to 4.5hrs runtime from the standard six-cell battery, but you’d need to be doing very little with the NV59C09u in order to get near that. Playing video constantly took it from 100-percent to shutdown in around 2.5hrs, while a mixture of media playback, browsing over WiFi and word processing stretched that out by a further hour.

Applications

Preloaded applications are often little more than an excuse for unwanted bloat, though Gateway do at least show some imagination with the NV59C09u. A dedicated shortcut button loads their Social Networking Service, an aggregator app that pulls in Facebook, Flickr and YouTube updates from your friends and contacts. It’s also possible to add new updates of your own via the same UI, though there’s no Twitter integration which seems an obvious omission. Elsewhere it’s the usual batch of trial Office 2007 Home and Student, Norton Internet Security and various DVD and backup tools, while the webcam app – which pops into view annoyingly every time you move the mouse near the top of the screen – allows you to capture stills and video. Unfortunately, despite the 1.3-megapixel resolution, the webcam falls short in comparison to rivals; video in particular proved prone to blur and graininess.

Verdict

With an MRSP of $799.99 (NV59C09u) – including a two-year warranty rather than the usual one-year – the Gateway NV59C09u is a solid if uninspiring choice. We’d like to see a higher resolution display to match the Blu-ray drive, and for a multimedia notebook the 320GB hard-drive is miserly and, at 5,400rpm, slow. Performance, meanwhile, is sufficient for everyday tasks but gamers should look elsewhere. The HD-capable optical drive is the NV59C09u’s biggest draw, though we’d suggest shopping around since mainstream notebooks often see significant discounts and could well offer better storage than the Gateway manages. NV59C series starts at $579.

Gallery

Outwardly it’s not exactly the most eye-catching of devices, a gloss-finish black plastic box roughly the size of a book. Up front is a hinged door hiding the GoFlex drive bay, on the side a single USB 2.0 port, and along the back are power, component and composite outputs (both requiring the included adapter cables), digital S/PDIF, an HDMI 1.3 port, a 10/100 ethernet port and another USB 2.0 port. Seagate also bundle an infrared remote control and an ethernet cable, though there’s no integrated storage.

That’s because the GoFlex TV HD is intended to be used with your existing GoFlex HDDs, or at least that’s what Seagate are hoping. It’s certainly the slickest solution: open the bay, push in the HDD and the SATA connector hooks up and leaves you navigating the drive’s content via the on-screen UI and the remote. If you haven’t bought into Seagate’s interchangeable-connector platform, or you want to augment it with other drives, thumb-drives or even plug in your digital camera, you can use either of the USB 2.0 ports.

If you’ve plugged in a DVD player or cable box you shouldn’t have much trouble with the GoFlex TV HD. Easiest is HDMI – a single cable carrying video and data – but the bundled composite and component adapters are straightforward too. If you’ve a separate A/V receiver then you can hook up the Seagate’s S/PDIF digital audio output; it supports Dolby Digital among other formats. An ethernet connection isn’t necessary, but it does add some useful internet-based functionality – more on which in a moment – and Seagate will also sell you a USB WiFi adapter which takes up one of the ports but does mean you can avoid another trailing cable.

The GoFlex TV HD’s UI is straightforward and not especially glamorous, though it gets the job done. The main menu has options for movies, pictures (up to 20-megapixel shots supported), music, internet and “browse”, the latter of which isn’t a web browser but a more simple file manager view of the drive’s contents. Underneath are shortcuts to internet services, like Flickr, YouTube, Picasa and others, while at the bottom are shortcuts to connected devices like TVs or media streamers hooked up over the network using UPnP. The remote has basic controls – navigation, playback, volume and menu – and feels reasonably responsive, though there’s a little slow-down on drives that are packed full of content.

For basic local media playback it’s a matter of choosing the content type and hitting play – the GoFlex TV HD supports a broad range of video codecs (MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (VOB/ISO), MPEG-4 (Xvid), DivX®, DivX HD, Xvid HD, AVI, MOV, MKV, RMVB Real Media, AVC HD, H.264, WMV9, VC-1, M2TS, TS/TP/M2T) at up to 1080p HD resolution, audio codecs (AAC, MP3, Dolby® Digital, DTS, ASF, FLAC, WMA, WMA Pro, LPCM, ADPCM, WAV, OGG) and photo types (JPEG, MJPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF) – and the quality is decent, presuming your original file is up to scratch. Viewing content over the network is a little trickier, predominantly because file size and network capacity enter the equation. With nothing else hooked up we managed to stream a 1080p Full HD video via the Seagate’s 10/100 ethernet port, but as soon as we connected anything else to the network we started seeing dropped frames. Lower-bitrate files were more resilient, though we still wish Seagate had opted for a gigabit ethernet port.

As for internet-based content, its usefulness depends on what online services you use. The GoFlex TV HD supports Netflix, YouTube, Paramount, vTuner, Mediafly, Picasa and Flickr, as well as offering video and text RSS feed support and custom finance and weather widgets. You can’t do anything as complex as add Netflix titles to your Instant View queue, or upload a video to YouTube from a connected camcorder (or, indeed, photos to Flickr from a connected camera) but it’s a simple way of watching video and galleries on your biggest screen.

So, gigabit ethernet aside, where else is there room for improvement? Well, with Seagate’s emphasis on port flexibility in the GoFlex range, we’d have liked to have seen an eSATA and/or a FireWire port on the TV HD, or perhaps even USB 3.0. Of course the company’s own modular drives slot right in, but third-party drives are limited to USB 2.0. A USB Host port would be useful, too, to quickly load content onto a GoFlex HDD without having to eject it, plug in a cable and hook it up to a computer separately.

Still, there’s plenty to like about the Seagate GoFlex TV HD, and while it doesn’t necessarily do anything – barring the internal HDD bay – that we’ve not seen in other media players, as a part of the company’s new ecosystem it’s a consumer-friendly way of viewing digital content on a bigger display. If you’re opting for GoFlex for your external storage then, at $129.99, the GoFlex TV HD seems a reasonable addition. If you’re content with your regular drives then we’d suggest shopping around: there’s no shortage of internet-connected HD media players out there right now, offering more ports than just USB 2.0.

In this latest iteration, Gateway have certainly made the ZX6900-01e reasonably living room friendly. You could almost mistake the black and silver plastic chassis for one of a regular TV, though annoyingly there’s no integrated TV tuner to actually use it as such; for that you’ll have to wait for a new model, due sometime this month, which also bumps the CPU to a Core i5 650 chip.

Instead, here there’s an Intel Core i3 530 processor running at 2.93GHz (from Intel’s desktop range, rather than their notebook line-up), paired with GMA HD graphics, 4GB of DDR3 memory and a 640GB 7,200rpm HDD. In the side of the casing is a slot-loading Blu-ray player (that doubles as a DVD burner), while up front is a 1920 x 1080 23-inch widescreen display. Gateway are quoting 300 cd/m2 brightness, a 5ms response time and 1,000:1 contrast ratio. It’s certainly bright and reasonably crisp; meanwhile the touch system is very responsive and accurate, though Windows 7 Home Premium remains a less than finger-friendly OS. We wish Gateway had developed some sort of touch-pack customization that ran on top, at least for multimedia and internet access.

Connectivity, meanwhile, includes WiFi b/g/n, gigabit ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports – two on the side, four on the back – eSATA and HDMI, along with a multi-format memory card reader. We’re a little disappointed not to see an HDMI input – which would allow you to easily use the ZX6900-01e as a display with your games console – though the native 5.1-channel audio support is handy. Obviously you’ll need a suitable speaker system, though, since alone the ZX6900-01e only has a pair of average-performing 5W speakers for basic stereo. Happily the Blu-ray drive is pretty quiet in use, and so even the integrated speakers are enough to listen to movie soundtracks without straining your ears.

We used Geekbench to put the ZX6900-01e’s hardware through its paces, an artificial benchmark that gauges processor and memory performance. The all-in-one scored a very respectable 5313 altogether, surprising us in fact. That score also holds true for day-to-day use, with the Gateway proving responsive in pretty much everything we threw at it. With the integrated Intel graphics this probably isn’t the machine you’d turn to for video processing, but internet access – including playing 1080p HD YouTube content – together with local HD video playback and multitasking turned out to be a walk in the park for the ZX6900-01e.

At $1,019.99, the ZX6900-01e is larger and cheaper than Apple’s entry-level iMac, as well as packing touch and Blu-ray which aren’t even options on the OS X machine. Still, their respective target audiences seem very different, with the Gateway One feeling more at home in a family, multi-user environment. The addition of a TV tuner would make this one of the best choices for kitchen PC around, though of course there’s always a USB tuner if you can’t wait for Gateway’s updated model (or don’t want to pay more for a Core i5 CPU you might not use).

Frankly, with the surprising level of performance the Core i3 CPU delivered, we reckon most people would be better off adding that cheap USB tuner and opting for the ZX6900-01e. Multitouch works well – despite us wishing there was an operating system that made better use of it – and everything you’d expect from a family PC was delivered in spades. As a package, the Gateway One ZX6900-01e surprised us with its completeness; you can’t really ask for more than that.

Meanwhile we’ve also picked our ten favorites from the creative entries.  These ranged from (relatively) sensible uses for the hardware HP are offering, to more bizarre suggestions that made us laugh.  The people being put forward are: Brandon Blackmoor, Nathan Slover, Paul Gillespie, “j-man”, “sjd78″, “millisa”, “mrwizard93″, “Toph08″, “drm” and Francois Luong.

We’d like to thank HP for donating the HP Data Vault X510 for us to give away, and we’ll be forwarding the ten creative entries to them so they can judge which should win the other prizes after all seven sites have run their competitions.

Out Of Space

I need a new server my old one’s gone astray
Hard disk overloading and my data isn’t safe
(I know it)
My CPU’s condition was the first to fall apart
And sometimes when I need it most, it won’t even start

Oh-oh (etc.)
My PC’s hot, the system clock has stopped
Oh-oh (etc.)
My PC’s hot, the system clock has stopped

Can’t keep my, can’t keep my
Can’t keep my files I’m out of space
(I could use some help somebody)
Can’t keep my, can’t keep my
Can’t keep my files I’m out of space

I need a data vault so I can back up please (please)
I saw the SlashGear contest sponsored by HP
(I saw it)
Playing chat roulette will make you wish you owned a gun
So you can shoot yourself when your server comes undone

Oh-oh (etc.)
My PC’s hot, the system clock has stopped
Oh-oh (etc.)
My PC’s hot, the system clock has stopped

Can’t keep my, can’t keep my
Can’t keep my files I’m out of space
I could use some help somebody
Can’t keep my, can’t keep my
Can’t keep my files I’m out of space

Remember, you can head over to Geekazine and enter their competition this week too!

1. Neowin (competition closed)
2. Jake’s MediaBlab (competition closed)
3. Hardwaresphere (competition closed)
4. SlashGear (competition closed)
5. Geekazine (9-May to 16-May)
6. AbsolutelyWindows (16-May to 23-May)
7. GottaBeMobile (23-May to 30-May)

The Alex has a 6-inch 600 x 800 E Ink display, capable of showing eight grayscale levels (the panel itself can support 16, but Spring Design have limited it to eight in their implementation), together with a 3.5-inch 320 x 480 capacitive touchscreen with a color LCD panel. Connectivity includes miniUSB, WiFi b/g and a microSD card slot, and there’s a 2.5mm headphone socket. Android 1.5 is running on a 624MHz processor with 256MB of memory, plus there’s a 2GB microSD card included, stereo speakers and a built-in microphone. Spring Design reckon the 1,530mAh battery is good for up to 7,500 E Ink page turns or 6hrs of media playback.

Of course, it’s hard to look at the Alex ereader without also considering the Barnes & Noble nook. Both pair E Ink panels with a capacitive LCD touchscreen and an underlying Android OS, and if you listen to Spring Design their IP was actually instrumental in the nook’s design. An ongoing lawsuit will decide exactly who – if anyone – was at fault, but for the moment the two ereaders share the title of being the only dual-display Android based models on the market. The Alex is longer than the nook, at 8.9 x 4.7 x 0.4 inches, but both thinner and lighter.

For all that the Alex resembles Barnes & Noble’s nook – or, as Spring Design would prefer you have it, the nook resembles Alex – the two ereaders are curiously different in their approach. While the nook hides its underlying OS under a simplistic UI, the Alex is proud in its Android roots and the LCD display shows the desktop we’re familiar with from smartphones. Around the touchscreen are a cluster of physical buttons, many of which have different uses depending on whether they’re pressed or held. Reasonably large page-turn keys also function as Android’s Back or – if held – Home or Menu shortcuts, while the power button shuts the screen off with a short tap or completely powers down the Alex with a longer press. It’s reasonably intuitive, though we wish the page-turn buttons were physically higher up the ereader: while they’re well placed for the LCD, when you’re actually reading text on the E Ink panel they’re too low to be entirely comfortable.

Though the Android desktop may be familiar, since the Alex isn’t a phone – though there’s a 3G-data enabled version in the pipeline – some of the apps we’re used to are missing. What you do get is the usual Android Email app (though not the Gmail app), Media Player, Browser, YouTube Calculator and Gallery, and Spring Design have loaded their own BookStore app, a Library app for accessing and managing ebooks, and a shortcut to the digital version of the Alex’s user guide. Most obviously absent is the Android Market, though there are already hacks detailed online that remedy that (and you can sideload APKs and install that way); for their part, Spring Design are apparently working with third-party developers to come up with Alex-specific apps which will eventually be distributed via an on-device store.

Unlike the nook, navigation is primarily done through the LCD display, and considering that’s far snappier in its response than the E Ink panel, we reckon it’s a good thing. In-between the two displays is a sync button, and that’s where the upper screen really comes into its own. Basically, it flips content between the two panels: if you’re reading an ebook on the E Ink screen, the sync button brings it – and any color images or embedded internet links – down to the LCD screen. Meanwhile, if you’re browsing the internet on the LCD display and you come across an article you’d like to more leisurely read, hitting the sync button pushes it up – after a few seconds delay – to the top panel, saving both battery life and your eyes.

Unfortunately, the sync button functionality isn’t native to Android, and requires that apps be specially coded to play nicely with the dual-displays. While the preloaded titles are obviously compatible, apps you load via Android Market workarounds are unlikely to be. There can also be some resolution hiccups, since there’s no way to, say, highlight just the text you want to transfer from LCD to E Ink, and you’re only working with an 800 x 600 panel. Still, it’s a brilliant way to consume long-form articles online: we found sending ourself an email with a list of links was far easier than clipping pieces and then trying to sync them to a Kindle. One thing worth remembering is that the upper display isn’t fixed: it periodically updates as you browse on the lower display, so if you flip up an article to read you’ll need to do that straight away unless you want it to navigate away.

Of course, the primary expectation is that Alex owners will use their ereader for regular ebooks, and in that respect the E Ink panel presents no surprises to anyone familiar with a Kindle, nook or Sony Reader. Five font sizes are supported and page turns seem reasonably swift. All of the annotation, bookmarking and other features are handled by the touchscreen, including basic navigation between the general library, ebook contents and bookmarks list. If the ebook supports annotation then there are also controls for adding notes and highlights (including audio notes), a process which pulls down the text from the E Ink screen to the LCD, allows you to drag across a selection (and use an onscreen keyboard for text notes) and then shoots it back up to the E Ink panel highlight-intact. One frustration is that – whether a limitation of the touchscreen, the ereader app or the processor – the onscreen keyboard can be quite sluggish.

Content is accessed via the preloaded BookStore app, which currently has shortcuts to various online ebook stores and repositories: Google Books, Epub Books, Gutenberg, Web Books, Feed Books and Smash Words. Spring Design have partnered with Borders and the Alex will go on sale in-store later in the year; more importantly, Borders will be selling ebooks on-device, which should open up the selection beyond what right now is predominantly public domain titles. If you’ve already bought ebooks you’ll be pleased to hear the Alex supports ePub (both DRM-free and those which use Adobe DRM, though you’ll need to register the device’s Adobe ID with the DRM server), TXT, HTML and PDF files.

Spring Design’s bizarre choice of a 2.5mm headphones jack rather than the more common 3.5mm is partially offset by their including a suitable headset complete with inline microphone for voice-note recording, but we’d have preferred to see an adapter in there too for people who’d prefer to use their own headphones. The stereo speakers are small but surprisingly loud, and you can have music playing in the background while you read. The Android Media app also supports video playback (3GP, FLV and MP4), though of course only on the LCD display.

Battery life is, as with any wireless-enabled ereader, a tale of two halves. With WiFi shut off Spring Design reckon you’ll see up to two weeks use, though that’s based on an “average” number of page turns. If you’re using the Alex as its features encourage, though, Spring Design say to expect more like six hours with the LCD and WiFi active. With average use we found that prediction to be pretty accurate, though by toggling the LCD off when it’s not needed you can stretch that out for several hours more.

There’s no denying that the Alex will be a more compelling device when it gets its 3G update later in the summer and – Spring Design promise – an Android 2.x update too. According to what the company told us back in March, they’re busy negotiating iPad-style data plans that will see ebook purchases delivered (over 3G) free, while there’ll also be various levels of general data bundle similar to Apple’s AT&T packages (which are $14.99 for 250MB or $29.99 for unlimited). No final pricing has been announced, but we’re told to expect an $80 to $100 premium over the base price of the WiFi model.

That, unfortunately, brings us to what’s perhaps the biggest fly in the Alex’s ointment. At $399 (for either a black or white unit) the ereader is $140 more than a Kindle or nook, and we’re not sure its extra functionality and the flexibility of the open Android access makes it worth the premium for the everyday user. That’s before you look to Apple and the fact that a 16GB iPad is only $100 more. Those who enjoy tinkering with Android and who are willing to put in some legwork when it comes to digital content will find plenty to occupy them, and there are certainly aspects of the Alex which we wish Barnes & Noble would “borrow” for the nook, but right now this feels a niche device within the ereader market.