Starred Reviews

If you are AMD fan and looking for budget notebook which can able deliver notable performance in both home computing as well as multimedia, then Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 will be a good choice. With price tag of $550, you can enjoy home computing, home office computing, watching HD video and able to enjoy low to medium end game. Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 belongs to Acer’s 1551 family and has 11.6” screen.

Let us see what specs it equipped with-

Specification of Acer Aspire AS1551-5448

Processor- The Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 is supported by AMD’s energy saving Turion II K625 processor has a 2 MB L2 cache and clocked at 1.5GHz. The TDP of the AMD Turion II K625 is 15 watts. The processor is based Nile platform comes in combination with the AMD M880G chipset has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics boarded onto it . Performance wise the processor is equivalent to 1.3-1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processors.

Graphics- The Aspire AS1551-5448 comes with The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 which is incorporated in M880G chip set with 384MB dedicated memory DDR2, rest it utilizes system memory.

Display- The 11.6” screen of the Acer 1551 model comes with HD display has resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. The display is LED back lighted.

Memory- The Acer 1551-5448 notebook comes with 4GB DDR3 memory incorporated in 2 slots. Maximum memory 8GB of memory can be installed.

HDD- The notebook comes with 320GB SATA HDD with 5,400rpm on which Windows 7 home premium preinstalled.

Extra features it includes are  3USB 2.0 ports, VGA port, HDMI port, RJ 45 connector, 5 in one card reader, 802.11b/g/Draft-N wireless LAN, webcam

Audio- Audio comes with HD audio format and Dolby Sound Room Audio Enhancement,

Battery – The Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 comes with 6 cell li-ion battery has 5 hours of battery life( claimed)

Build and Design

When comes to build and design, the Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 is very light weight, weighing about 3.1 Lbs and easy to carry. The keyboard comprises of 84 keys. Keys are big in size. No dedicated numeric keypad. It has multi-gesture touch pad. The Mesh black cover has elegant design which is impressive one. The matte surface doesn’t attract finger prints.

Pros of  Acer Aspire  AS1551-5448

HDMI support , the ATI graphics can decode 1080p content

Ultra thin and portable

Power saving processor

Budget priced

Cons of  AS1551-5448

No DVD drive

Glossy display though Acer’s matte display doesn’t support HD content

Final thought

At $550 you can’t expect a gaming giant but Acer Aspire AS1551-5448 wouldn’t disappoint you. You can still enjoy High definition videos can able to play low to medium end game flawlessly. Only thing there should be a DVD burner.

Notebook Reviews

Acer is one of the popular brands for cheap entry level laptop and PC. Recently they unveiled Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731 notebook which belongs to Aspire 7741 family. Aspire AS7741Z-5731 is a budget notebook and comes with price tag of 470$-498$. Price varies from store to store. Let us see what kind of performance the laptop has to offer to its consumers. To do so first we need to analysis the specification of the notebook-

Specification of Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731

Processor -Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731 notebook is equipped with Intel Pentium dual-core P6000 processor. Now talking about Pentium P6000, it comes with 1.86Ghz clock speed. However, neither it support Turbo boost or nor it incorporate Hyperthreading technology. So you can’t expect over clocking it. Though performance wise it is better than Celeron P4500 processor due to 1066MHz Front Side Bus. Comparing with other core 2 duo Intel Pentium P6000 performs better because it is equipped with integrated media controller.

Graphics:-When comes to graphics it comes with Intel HD graphics which is actually onboard graphics or integrated graphics with DirectX 10 support

RAM- Aspire AS7741Z-5731 offers 3GB DDR3 RAM in two slot which is upgradeable up to 8GB

Hard Drive- 250GB SATA hard drive space

Display- The Acer AS7741Z-5731 model showcased a 17.3″ HD LED-backlit TFT widescreen display with resolution of 1600 x 900 in 16:9 ratio format.

When comes to ports and connectivity features, the notebook comes with 3 USB 2.0 ports, VGA port, HDMI output, headphone jack, microphone jack,  RJ-45 Ethernet port Built-in HD Webcam with 1280 x 1024 resolution. Wireless connectivity supported by 802.11b/g/n wireless support.

The Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731 provides 5 in1 card reader for elective (MMC, SDC, MS, MS pro and XD).

6 cell lithium –ion battery provides up to 3.6 hours of battery life.

When comes to exterior, the AS7741Z-5731 comes with mesh- designed black cover and incorporates full sized keyboard which incorporates dedicated numeric keypad.

The laptop is energy star and wi-fi certified.

Pros

Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731 comes with HDMI port

Large widescreen display

No finger print related issues

DDR3 memory

Great price

.

Cons

Average battery life

Final thought

If you consider the laptop’s price vs the feature it offers, you will find Acer Aspire AS7741Z-5731 is noteworthy one. However, you can’t expect powerful gaming from it but you can play light games as well as enjoy high definition multimedia features.  Those who are looking for home computing and home office computing the laptop is perfect.

Notebook Reviews

Sony recently unveiled VAIO E series of laptop and VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI is one of the notable machine of the series. The 15.5” notebook is build for multimedia enthusiast and comes with price tag of $699. Before reaching any conclusion let us see what this laptop has to offer-

SONY VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI build and specification

SONY VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI comes with matte black chassis and has standard size keyboard (103) keys with dedicated numeric keypad. It has professional outlook. The laptop is available in white (VPCEB23FX/T) and matte brown (VPCEB23FX/WI) as well.

Processor- The VAIO VPCEB23FX laptops come with Intel core i3-350M processor worked at 2.26GHz clock speed. Intel core i3-350M is a dual core processor. It doesn’t support Turbo Boost, so it can’t be over clocked. However it does support hyper threading and is able to manage 4 threads at a time.

GPU-When comes to graphics, it equipped with Intel integrated HD graphics (shared graphics).

RAM- SONY VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI comes with 4GB DDR3 RAM and expandable up to 8GB. There are 2 slots and each comes up with 2GB

HDD- The laptop is equipped with 320GB Hard drive disk and the frequency of the drive is 5400rpm.

Display. The 15.5” (diagonally) widescreen display comes with resolution of 1366*768p

OS- windows 7 home premium 64 bit.

The VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI comes with HDMI port, VGA output, 4 USB 2.0 port in which one is in combo with eSATA; integrated DVD drive, card reader (MS pro, SD) and 1 – Express Card Slot/34. It also comes with webcam

The network connectivity is supported by RJ-45 Ethernet Connector and Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6200 (802.11a/b/g/n) for wireless. It has Bluetooth support as well.

The most notable feature of SONY VAIO VPCEB23FX groups of notebook is it comes with Intel Wireless Display which allows user to access external display without using any wires and to enable this feature you need to buy additionally NETGEAR® PTV1000 Push2TV Wireless TV Adapter

The Standard li-ion battery gives 2.5 hours of battery life.

Pros of Sony VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI

Presence of HDMI output

Integrated DVD writer

Intel wireless display support

Cons

HDD with 5400 rpm

Less battery life

Final thought

At $700 SONY VAIO VPCEB23FX/BI laptop offers notable amount of features. You can’t play powerful games with this machine, but user can enjoy older low power demanding game at low setting. Again ULV Core processors are comprises of lower clocked GMA HD graphics. Thus, they are slower. It can play HD videos very well.

Note:- Sony VAIO VPCEB23FX/T and Sony VAIO VPCEB23FX/WI have similar specification. Only difference exist in their colors

Notebook Reviews

This year Toshiba has launched many satellite PCs in every segments of computer space. The ultra thin portable Toshiba Satellite T235D is one of the featured laptop in 13.3” inch display segment. The T235D comes with professional chrome finish with stylish pattern on outer side of the cover. It is available in 3 colors red (T235D-S1345RD) black and white (T235D-S1345WH). The satellite T235D-S1345 weighs about 4lbs (approx) and only 1 inch in height. Let us see what this laptop has to offer.-

Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 Specification

Processor- Overall Satellite T235D segment comes with AMD processors  and  Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 comes with AMD Turion™ II Neo Dual-Core Processor K625 processor which is equivalent to Intel 1.3-1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processors. But power consumption is higher than Intel based core 2 duo processor. When benchmark concerned, AMD Turion™ II Neo Dual-Core Processor K625 processor’s PCMark Vantage outcome is better than its intel counterpart.

Operating system- Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Display- Satellite T235D- S1345 comes with 13.3” inch display when measured diagonally. The screen is LED-backlit HD widescreen in nature. Display resolution comes with 1366*766p with latest 16:9 format and support HD content of 720p

RAM- 4GB DDR3 memory which is expandable upto 8Gb.

Graphics – ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics card. Actually it is an onboard graphics card and is part of AMD M880G chipset and comes together with AMD Turion II Neo K625. The mode of video memory is shared and 256MB-1405MB memory dynamically defined.

Toshiba Satellite T235D- S135 comes with 320GB HDD with 5,400 rpm frequency

The memory card reader supports SD, SDHC, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Multi Media Card

Other Features- 2 USB 2.0 port, one USB eSATA/USB (2.0) combo port with Sleep and Charge feature, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, wifi (802.11b/g/n), HDMI VGA, mic and headphone jack.

The 6 cell 48Wh Lithium Ion battery provides up to 9 hours of battery life.

Pros

Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1345 comes with pretty good battery life

Sleek design

HDMI port

Good touchpad

Relatively low Bloatwares

Cons

No inbuilt DVD drive. You need external DVD drive

No Bluetooth

Weak speaker

Final thought

If you are looking for a laptop for home computing or for school or college, then Toshiba Satellite T235D –S1345 can be a good choice. Only you need an external DVD drive. The T235d-S1345 comes with price tag of $600.00 at Toshibadirect, Ebay, Amazon and Newegg. Here is the Ebay link Toshiba t235d

Notebook Reviews

Acer recently unveiled the Acer Aspire AS7745G notebook series which has lot to offer to its consumers at very decent price. It comes with latest Intel i7 quad core processor, discrete graphics, and Dolby home theater. The notebook is perfect for gamer. Let us see how Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 model stand out from others.

The Whole 17.3” Aspire 7745G series of notebook comes with glossy black cover and they are thin and portable in weight. The keyboard comprises of large keys with discrete media keys. It also comprises with dedicated numeric keypad. The touchpad offers multi gesture feature. Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 model weighs only 7 lbs.

Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 specification

Processor- Acer Aspire AS7745G-6742 is a featured model and incorporates Intel core i7- 720QM processor operating at 1.6GHz frequency

RAM- 4GB DDR3 RAM available in 2 slots; 2 + 2, though there are 4 slots and each slot can hold up to 4GB memory. So user can expand it to 16GB

Chipset- Intel HM55 Express

Hard Drive- The model of Aspire AS7745G comprises of 500GB hard drive space operating at 5400 rpm frequency. The notebook comprises of dual HDD support as well.

Display: Acer Aspire 7745G has 17.3 inches HD display which is LED back lighted and have resolutions of 1600 x 900 pixels, 16:9 aspect. However, the feature is common in almost all newly released Aspire series of notebook.

It incorporates Home premium version of Windows 7 as operating system (64 bit)

GPU- One of the noteworthy feature of the Acer Aspire AS7745G-6742 notebook is its graphics. It comes with dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 comprises of 1GB video memory.

Audio- Optimized Dolby Home Theater v3 audio enhancement,

The other connectivity  features it incorporates are DVD Super multi Drive, 4 USB 2.0 port HDMI port, VGA port, 5-1 card reader(SD/MS/MMC/XD/MS-Pro), Head phone out, Mic-in, 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth® v2.1, 1.3 Mega-pixel webcam.

Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 comes with Six-cell lithium ion battery which provide up to 2.5 hours life depending on configuration and usage a user choose with. The notebook comes with 1 year warranty and is energy star certified.

Pros

The Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 incorporates quad core processor and discrete graphics with dedicated memory which is perfect for gaming. There are lots of memory options. User can play all latest games.

Cons

Touchpad is very sensitive, but problem will be resolved once you get used to be. Otherwise one can use mouse as well.

Bottom line

Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 is available at Amazon and Newegg at $999 at the time writing the review. If you are hardcore gamer and looking for budget friendly, big screen light notebook, then this one perfect for you. The only lower side I feel is the HDD frequency. It should come with 7200rpm frequency.

Acer Aspire AS7745G-6572 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Notebook Reviews