That aside, the end result is a fast, reliable experience for mainstream users, very much in line with our expectations.On our video playback battery drain test, the Dell Inspiron 14 ran for 2 hours and 31 minutes--short of what we'd expect from a mainstream laptop. Other 14-inch systems, including Dell's own Studio 1440 and the HP dv4-1465dx, ran for well over 4 hours on the same test. Dell does offer a nine-cell battery as a $40 upgrade over the default six-cell model, but we shouldn't have to add weight and bulk to get a reasonable battery life from a laptop with an LED display and no discrete graphics.Dell backs the Inspiron 14 with a standard one-year parts-and-labor mail-in warranty. Moving up to in-home service is an extra $70, or $260 for three years of in-home service. Dell's pitches for its varied support options--In Home service, Complete Care, Your Tech Team--are confusing to follow and not clearly priced, so take extra time to choose the support option you need.The passengers from bringing onto planes any Apple and Dell laptops with their batteries still inside. That ban followed last month's recall of more than 5 million batteries from the companies' laptops. Virgin Atlantic's initial decision reflected .
In a new update on its site, however, Virgin Atlantic has said that passengers wishing to use an Apple or Dell laptop onboard can only do so once the laptop serial number has been checked by a member of the cabin crew.Only a small portion of the computer makers' laptops are affected by the faulty Sony batteries, which both Dell and Apple claim can overheat and catch fire.The airline said that if a battery is not on the recall list, the laptop can be used without restriction.If a battery comes from the affected batch as identified by Apple and Dell, it must be removed.In cabins where the seats are fitted with in-seat power supplies...leads/adaptors will be offered, the airline said. Any removed or spare batteries must be individually wrapped/protected and placed in your carry-on baggage. This is limited to two batteries per passenger.In cases where no in-seat power supplies are provided, the use of the Dell or Apple laptop with recalled batteries is strictly prohibited.A Lenovo ThinkPad T43 notebook computer overheated and began smoking and sparking on Sept. 16 at Los Angeles International Airport, but no one was injured, a Lenovo spokesman in Tokyo said. It was not yet clear what caused the malfunction.
The incident came after Dell and Apple Computer last month recalled almost 6 million Sony-made batteries, saying they could produce smoke and catch fire.The Lenovo notebook PC that caught fire was using the same type of Sony battery that was a target of Dell and Apple recalls, the Lenovo spokesman said.A Sony spokesman said the company is cooperating with Lenovo in investigating the cause of the incident, but added that Sony has not determined that the laptop in question was loaded with a Sony battery.Adding fuel to the fire, so to speak, Toshiba is now recalling 340,000 laptop batteries, claiming that there is a problem with the recharging circuit. Like the massive Dell and Apple recalls, the batteries in question were made by Sony.About 100,000 of the faulty batteries are in the United States, with 45,000 in Japan and the rest in other countries. So far, no fires or overheating problems have been reported with Toshiba laptops. Because of safety concerns, Dell recently recalled 4.1 million batteries, while Apple followed suit, recalling 1.8 million units.
If you have a Toshiba Dynabook or Satellite laptop that was manufactured between March and May of 2006, you may be affected by the recall. A FAQ on the Toshiba site has all the details you'll need to check your system and exchange your battery.The Dell Adamo is one manufacturer's attempt to offer a Windows PC alternative to Apple's svelte MacBook Air. The Asus UX30 is another. This ¡ê1,000 thin-and-light laptop with an ultra-low-voltage processor apes Apple's machine to a surprising degree.Take one look at the UX30 and there's no doubt that Asus' designers had the Air firmly in mind when they first sat at their drawing board. The two machines have almost identical footprints, although the UX30 doesn't have quite the same razor-sharp profile. It's still only 20mm thick, but the case lacks the tapered edges that make the Air -- and the MSI X340, for that matter -- so svelte.Nonetheless, the UX30 still looks very lovely, with clean lines and a sleek shape that compares very favourably with the competition in both the PC and Mac camps. Its smooth appearance continues on the seamless underside, although the lack of easy access to memory slots and the hard drive could be considered a shortcoming. It's a similar story with the battery, but, while a fixed internal cell won't appeal to everyone, we're not sure that it's such a big deal as long as battery life is up to scratch. More on that later.
The keyboard is as pleasing to use as it is visually appealing, but the trackpad isn't as good
Brushed aluminium lid aside, the UX30's case is made from sturdy plastic rather than the Air's aluminium, but this doesn't bestow any weight advantage. The UX30 tips the scales at 1.39kg, while the Air weighs 1.36kg.
Asus has clearly put plenty of thought into how the UX30 looks and has resisted the urge to deck it out with superfluous design frills. Lift the lid and you'll see that the inside is as sparse as the outside, with just a couple of matching silver buttons to brighten up the expanse of black plastic -- one for power, and one that activates both the pre-boot Express Gate operating system and the various power modes when Windows Vista is running.Using the chiclet keyboard is just as pleasant an experience as looking at it, but we were less taken with the large multitouch trackpad. It's simply a shallow part of the glossy plastic wrist rest, and its shiny surface is difficult to use unless your fingertip is bone-dry.
The 13.3-inch screen sits behind a glossy top layer that stretches to each side of the lid, creating much the same 'frameless' appearance as on the unibody MacBooks. It looks pretty chic too, although Asus has spoilt the effect slightly by using thin plastic, rather than glass. The screen's 1,366x768-pixel resolution is the same as that of both the X340 and Air, and we have no quibbles about its quality. It's a 6-bit display though, and we could easily spot the dithering required to simulate areas of subtle shading on some images, a blank Internet Explorer 8 page being a case in point.The advisory says that passengers are prohibited from operating Dell laptops on board Korean Air flights. People may still carry them on board if they first remove the battery from the laptop. The ban includes all Dell laptops, regardless of whether the model or battery is part of the official recall.The advisory also requires passengers to remove the batteries from Apple iBook and PowerBook laptops before bringing them onboard a Korean Air planes. Korean Air did not specify whether passengers are also prohibited from using Apple laptops with an external power source, and the company was not immediately available for comment on this.
, announced a similar policy in mid-August. Qantas passengers are allowed, however, to use laptops plugged into an external power source if they have removed the battery.Both the Korean Air and Qantas bans are in response to recalls of Sony batteries in some Dell and laptops that have been reported to explode while in use.The Korean Air ban will remain in place until further advisory is issued, according to the company.Another day, another laptop battery recall. This time it's Matsushita, parent company of Panasonic, recalling lithium-ion batteries used in Panasonic laptops sold in Japan. Unlike the Dell and Apple recalls, which involved nearly 6 million batteries, this is a drop in the bucket--only 6,000 suspect units.The problematic Dell and Apple batteries were made by Sony, but Matsushita, without revealing the manufacturer, says that neither Sony nor Panasonic supplied the bad batch currently being recalled. According to the company, the problem lies not in the battery circuitry itself, but with a faulty spring-loaded latch, which could jar loose and cause a short if the laptop is dropped or hit. No cases of actual fires have been reported.
In the battle for Netbook market share supremacy, Intel's Atom CPU stands nearly unchallenged, despite a handful of offerings with AMD and Via CPUs. So it's surprising we found so much to like about the 11.6-inch Gateway LT3103u, which uses an AMD Athlon 64 L110 processor to provide a smoother overall experience than most Atom-powered Netbooks, while keeping the price in the typical Netbook ballpark.The larger screen has a high-definition 1,366x768 resolution, which is becoming increasingly common in higher-end Netbooks. But at only $379, the Gateway is cheaper than other 11-inch Netbooks such as the Asus Eee PC 1101HA, as well as 10-inch models with high-def screens, such as the Sony Vaio W.The battery life, while not insultingly short, is definitely a weak point (especially for a bulky six-cell battery)--and the Vista operating system is a known performance bottleneck for Netbooks. Still, the AMD CPU gave us one of the best Netbook experiences we've had, while undercutting the 11-inch, high-def screen competition.
The basic black design of the LT31 won't turn many heads--although Gateway gets consistency points for matching the industrial design of its mainstream MD series laptops, down to the vertical chrome accent bar on the back of the lid. The system also feels like a slightly refined version of sister-brand Acer's 11-inch Acer Aspire One 751h.
The interior is matte black on the keyboard tray, gloss black on the screen bezel, with a subtle indented dot pattern on the wrist rest. We were torn by the keyboard. The large, flat-topped keys looked snazzy with their gently rounded corners, and were big enough for even fat fingers to use comfortably. But, they also felt somewhat insubstantial, flexing too much under our fingers, and had a cheap, plastic, clacking quality.The touch pad was of adequate size, but the mouse buttons were unfortunately relegated to one of those thin, annoying rocker bars--an implementation we regularly discourage. Like nearly all current Gateway and Acer models, the touch pad supports limited multitouch gestures, such as photo zooming with a two-fingered pinch. The pad is small enough to keep this from being a particularly useful feature, but we liked swiping two fingers horizontally to move forward and back in our Web browser history.The 11.1-inch display has a native resolution of 1,366x768, which is becoming slightly more common in Netbooks, even if the vast majority still use 1,024x600 screens. Of the 1,366x768 Netbooks we've seen (both 10-inch and 11-inch models), the LT31 is among the least expensive. Both Sony and Dell charge a premium of about $100, while Asus' 11-inch 1101HA is about $40 more. Corporate cousin Acer's Aspire One 751h is also less than $300, but its sluggish performance should take it out of the running.
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