It might be interesting to compare how these services to, say, Hyper-V and VMWare. This is another area where I believe Microsoft is still quite far behind the market leader, but it’s still established itself as a credible number two.While I have a huge problem with the way Microsoft handled the “Get Windows 10” upgrade advertisements in Windows 7 and 8.1 for much of the past year, this kind of pop-up, as described by Laptop Magazine, is perhaps more defensible.Windows 10 — the operating system, not the Edge browser itself — has apparently begun encouraging users to switch away from Chrome, warning them that it’s a drain on their laptop batteries.The premium notebook has a hybrid battery split into two thinner pieces, offering a battery life up to 9 hours 45 minutes. Priced at Rs 1,19,990, HP Spectre will be available in India from July 25, 2016. A hit or a miss, only users will tell.
HP ticked all the boxes it wanted to when it developed the Spectre 13. It's an incredibly thin laptop that won't take up much space no matter where you store it, nor will its 2.45-pound weight break your back. Thanks to its Core i5 and i7 processors and solid overall performance, you can get a lot of work done on this laptop without it slowing you down. It also won't overheat on you thanks to the hyperbaric cooling system, even if you'll have to deal with the occasional hum of the fan.
The Spectre 13's metallic-enhanced design may not be everyone's style, but I do give HP props for not making a MacBook or MacBook Air clone. Windows users have another flashy notebook to choose from in the Spectre 13, and one that will surely make a couple of heads turn. I also appreciate that HP didn't try to make the Spectre 13 a hybrid—it's a laptop for people who prefer laptops thanks to its sturdy hinge and comfortable keyboard. I only wish the trackpad gave me more room to breathe.
Overall, there are scant few compromises with the HP Spectre 13. It doesn't have any 4K or touchscreen display options, so keep that in mind if you've wanting a laptop that supports either. You also won't be able to lean the display back very far due to the hinge's design, but that's a small price to pay. If you've considered the new, £1,049 MacBook but are not married to OS X, the HP Spectre 13 is a good alternative that has more connectivity options and a fair bit more computational grunt.
The Surface Book is a totally new product in Microsoft's range, representing the first laptop the company has ever made. The new but more familiar Surface Pro 4, which launched alongside the Surface Book on 6 October, is designed to be tablet first, laptop second, while the Surface Book takes a laptop-first, tablet-second approach with a 13in detachable touchscreen and a full-size, sturdy keyboard. Here's our review of the Surface Book. Is it 'the ultimate laptop'? Let's find out. Also see: Best new tablets coming in 2016.
You might also like: Surface Pro 3 vs Surface Pro 4 comparison
Update 30 June 2016: A 1TB version of the Surface Book is now available in the UK, but it costs a staggering £2649 from the Microsoft Store. This new model comes with an Intel Core i7 and 16GB of RAM for beastly performance.
MICROSOFT SURFACE BOOK REVIEW: PRICE, MODELS AND RELEASE DATE
In the UK there are four (update: now five) Surface Book models to choose between with variations on the processor, amount of RAM and storage capacity. There's also the optional dedicated graphics card which is housed in the keyboard. Take a look at table below for specs of each Surface Book model.
Microsoft originally decided not to launch the 1TB model in the UK. The official Surface Book release date in the UK is 18 February. You'll be able to buy the Surface Book from Microsoft, PC World and Currys which kindly supplied us with one to review.
Prices range from £1,299 up to £2,649 so the Surface Book is not a budget laptop by any stretch of the imagination. It's not totally outrageous either but it more expensive than a key rival, the MacBook Pro, which starts from £999 for the 13in model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage. You need to spend £1,999 on the 15in model to get a discrete AMD Radeon R9 graphics card; the rest have Intel Iris Pro Graphics.
Lithium-ion batteries are part of items that we use every day and we hardly think about them, but they can cause explosions and fires if they’re prone to overheating. That’s the case for batteries that are part of laptop computers sold in the last few years by HP and by Sony, and now those batteries have been recalled.
Both HP and Sony recommend powering down your computer and removing the battery if you have an affected model. Run the computer on A/C power, and contact the company for a replacement that should be less prone to overheating.The HP recall includes batteries sold between March 2013 and August 2015, and that work with the HP ProBook, HP ENVY, Compaq Presario, and HP Pavilion. They may have come with the computer or been purchased separately for a backup battery. The CPSC has the specific battery barcodes that you should look for if you have an HP or Compaq laptop. If you have an affected model, go to HP’s recall site or contact the company at 888-202-4320.
Sony also announced a much smaller recall last week, but we thought we’d mention it as long as we’re talking about laptop batteries. The risk of overheating and fire is similar, and these batteries also came from Panasonic. There haven’t been any reported fires or injuries, though, since there are significantly fewer of these batteries out there.
The Sony batteries were for sale from February 2013 through October 2013, and customers could have received them as part of their computer, from a repair by Sony, or purchased separately for a backup battery. The CPSC has the list of affected Vaio models, and you should contact the company at 888-476-6988 for a replacement battery if you have one of them.