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	<title>NicoMovil &#187; Notebook</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.nicomovil.com/tag/notebook/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.nicomovil.com</link>
	<description>Using Technology For a Better Life</description>
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		<title>Introduced the Latest Technology of Cell Phone and Notebook</title>
		<link>http://www.nicomovil.com/others/introduced-the-latest-technology-of-cell-phone-and-notebook/</link>
		<comments>http://www.nicomovil.com/others/introduced-the-latest-technology-of-cell-phone-and-notebook/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:11:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>An</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Others]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cell Phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nicomovil.com/?p=247</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When we want to have a good technology of any kind of thing that we have, we have to make sure that we know for sure everything about the technology that we like to have at our house. Think about the advance of technology in our everyday life will be a great talk with some [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">When we want to have a good technology of any kind of thing that we have, we have to make sure that we know for sure everything about the technology that we like to have at our house. Think about the advance of technology in our everyday life will be a great talk with some advance in technology that we have in our house. If you want to have the latest advance of technology that up date in the market, you have to make sure that the technology will give you much kind of benefits towards your life. You have to make sure that the technology will bring you much kind of advantages in your life.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">However, you can have detail information about technology from the internet or the other resources that you like to have in your house. The <a href="http://www.zahipedia.com/" target="_new">Latest Technology</a> that will make you get lots of benefits will bring a new advance in your house with their latest technology that gives you newest technology. You can have the HP Elite Book 2740p Notebook with a number of unique features and specifications if you like in order to give you lots of information of the notebook itself in your house. When you have already found the other advance of the <a href="http://www.cellphoneinn.com/" target="_new">Latest Cell Phone</a> that you like to have, you have to find the best company or site that give you detail review about it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the <a href="http://www.myforexdesk.com/" target="_new">Forex Blog</a>, you can find detail information about everything related to the newest technology of everything that you like to have for your life. The other advantages in coming to this site, they also will give you the best information and also the other kind of benefits that you like to have in your house with lots of benefits that you like to have for your life. </p>
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		<item>
		<title>Dongles for laptops readily available</title>
		<link>http://www.nicomovil.com/others/dongles-for-laptops-readily-available/</link>
		<comments>http://www.nicomovil.com/others/dongles-for-laptops-readily-available/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:49:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>An</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Others]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3G]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Download]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laptop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nicomovil.com/?p=257</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How much mobile broadband do you use a month? Many times after receiving my monthly statement I discover that I used under 1 GB of total download for the 30 days preceding. On the other end Ive also noticed months where I used almost 20 GB of download time. For this reason I have a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">How much mobile broadband do you use a month? Many times after receiving my monthly statement I discover that I used under 1 GB of total download for the 30 days preceding. On the other end Ive also noticed months where I used almost 20 GB of download time. For this reason I have a mobile broadband plan that allows me unlimited downloads. But if I were to use my laptop computer and dongle more sparingly I might opt for a simple pay as you go mobile broadband plan. These are available from all of the major United Kingdom mobile broadband providers at prices ranging from 3 to 10 pounds per gigabyte of data download. Pay as you go programs are perfect for those who occasionally travel for business and at those times need a constant dependable connection. Another important factor is security. As with all mobile broadband 3G connections, pay as you go plans are encrypted and secure. Until recently a major deterrent in being able to use pay as you go plans was the lack of inexpensive <a href="http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/mobile-broadband-hardware.html">dongles for laptops</a>. Formerly these could only be purchased inexpensively if part of a long-term mobile broadband contract. Mass production of these devices has created a situation where <a href="http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/pay-as-you-go-dongles.html">pay as you go dongles</a> can now be had for as little as 10 pounds. Use of these systems is a perfect way to test the mobile broadband coverage throughout your travel area before making a lower priced long-term mobile broadband. Anyone who travels for business should consider smaller easily carried netbook computers. These mini-notebooks are available with <a href="http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk/how-free-are-free-laptop-deals.html">free laptop deals</a> from almost every major United Kingdom mobile broadband provider.</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Laptop Insurance &amp; Weird Laptop Accidents</title>
		<link>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/laptop-insurance-weird-laptop-accidents/</link>
		<comments>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/laptop-insurance-weird-laptop-accidents/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:50:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>An</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Accidents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laptop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nicomovil.com/?p=17</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Laptop computers are fragile pieces of electronic equipment that are subjected to a tremendous amount of stress and daily wear and tear. Many people do not realise just how easy it is to cause damage to a laptop, which makes laptop insurance an ideal acquisition. There are many different ways that a laptop can be [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="body" style="text-align: justify;">
<p><img class="alignleft" title="broken laptop" src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/broken-laptop.gif" alt="broken laptop" width="218" height="226" />Laptop computers are fragile pieces of electronic equipment that are subjected to a tremendous amount of stress and daily wear and tear. Many people do not realise just how easy it is to cause damage to a laptop, which makes laptop insurance an ideal acquisition.</p>
<p>There are many different ways that a laptop can be damaged, as accidents are bound to happen when you least expect it. They occur every minute of every day. This is why laptop insurance is so important, because it can reduce the expense of having to replace your portable computer at an unexpected time when you can least afford to do so.</p>
<p><img title="More..." src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" />For instance, an unusual laptop accident can occur while you are at a cafe. You could be surfing the Internet and drinking your favorite coffee when someone who is walking by your table suddenly bumps into you and you end up spilling your drink all over your computer. This will result in major damage such as short-circuiting your motherboard, keyboard or hard drive. You would have to replace your laptop due to the serious damage that has been caused. This is when laptop insurance becomes very convenient.</p>
<p><span id="more-17"></span>Another bizarre accident can occur while you are walking with a laptop carrier that happens to rip open, causing your laptop to fall on the ground. The chances of your computer working normally are slim to none &#8211; it just depends how it falls &#8211; and into what! You will most likely have a cracked screen, broken keyboard or other major damage.</p>
<p>Laptops are sensitive pieces of equipment that are not meant to withstand unusual or extraordinary circumstances.</p>
<p>A laptop computer can cost a lot of money to replace. In comparison, you can purchase laptop insurance that only costs a few pounds per month. This reasonable and affordable price is only a fraction of what you would have to spend in order to buy a brand new computer. The majority of people would have to make do without a computer for several months while they save up for the unexpected expense.</p>
<p>It would be very inconvenient to have to live without surfing the Internet, emailing your friends, creating documents, watching videos and scheduling appointments. It would become a very frustrating situation.</p>
<p>Laptop insurance is the best type of protection that you can have for your laptop computer. By purchasing an inexpensive policy, you will end up saving yourself hundreds of pounds. In the event of a loss, you will be able to promptly replace your laptop.</p>
</div>
<div id="sig" style="text-align: justify;">
<p>So make sure you cover yourself with a cost effective laptop insurance.</p>
</div>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>HP Mini 311</title>
		<link>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/hp-mini-311/</link>
		<comments>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/hp-mini-311/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:46:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>An</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[311]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mini]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netbook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nicomovil.com/?p=11</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The HP Mini 311 promises the best possible netbook experience thanks to the use of Nvidia&#8217;s Ion graphics. Can this netbook with an 11-inch screen, HDMI, and a great keyboard overcome the limits of Intel&#8217;s Atom processor? Keep reading to find out. Our HP Mini 311 (311-1000NR) features the following specifications: Operating System: Genuine Windows [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" title="hp-mini-311" src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/hp-mini-311-300x224.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="224" />The HP Mini 311 promises the best possible netbook experience thanks to the use of Nvidia&#8217;s Ion graphics. Can this netbook with an 11-inch screen, HDMI, and a great keyboard overcome the limits of Intel&#8217;s Atom processor? Keep reading to find out.</p>
<p><img title="More..." src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" /><span id="more-11"></span>Our <strong>HP Mini 311</strong> (311-1000NR) features the following specifications:</p>
<ul>
<li>Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (32-bit)</li>
<li>Processor: Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.60GHz (533MHz FSB)</li>
<li>Memory: 1GB DDR3 SDRAM</li>
<li>Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD</li>
<li>Display: 11.6-inch diagonal WSVGA+ (1366&#215;768)</li>
<li>Graphics: Nvidia Ion LE</li>
<li>Wireless: 802.11a/b/g</li>
<li>Expansion: 4-in-1 media card slot</li>
<li>Dimensions (H x W x D): 0.78-1.20 x 11.4 x 8.0 inches (including feet)</li>
<li>Weight: 3.34 lb (not including weight of AC adapter).</li>
<li>Power: 6-cell Lithium-Polymer battery</li>
<li>Warranty: One-year standard warranty</li>
<li>MSRP: <strong>$399.99</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Build and Design</strong><br />
The HP Mini 311 looks like an obvious evolution of the HP Mini design. In fact, if it weren&#8217;t for the larger size of the 311 you could easily mistake this netbook for the old Mini 1000. In short, nothing substantial has changed in terms of the build or design of the latest generation of Mini netbooks. That said, this isn&#8217;t a bad thing. HP engineers did a lot of things right with the earlier Minis, and the Mini 311 likewise offers a nearly fullsize keyboard, large touchpad, and acceptable build quality at a low price. The clamshell-like design gives the Mini 311 a very clean look and the &#8220;Black Swirl&#8221; Imprint finish features a nice spiral pattern design that looks like either a bunch of black/silver galaxies bumping into each other or a bed of black roses. This Imprint design not only gives the lid a distinct appearance, but also helps protect the lid from scratches.</p>
<p>When open, the glossy black plastic extends around the glossy 11-inch screen. The entire exterior of the chassis is a combination of glossy black plastic, glossy silver plastic, and matte black plastic. Obviously, whenever we look at a laptop with this much plastic we&#8217;re concerned about build quality &#8230; and the Mini 311 was a bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand, the keyboard feels nice and firm with no flex. Likewise, the screen and rear of the netbook feel quite solid even under significant pressure. On the other hand, the front of the netbook suffers from some annoying &#8220;creaking&#8221; in the plastics of the palmrests. if you pick up the Mini 311 from either palmrest you will hear some unpleasant creaking sounds and feel some uncomfortable flex in the plastic. That said, we suspect the Mini 311 will hold up about as well as any plastic netbook priced below $400. The various parts of the chassis come together with tight seams and good attention to detail. The Mini 311 is also available in white just in case black isn&#8217;t your color of choice.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Screen and Speakers</strong><br />
The new 11.6-inch screen on the Mini 311 is a nice LED-backlit display panel with a 1366&#215;768 native resolution. The glossy screen surface helps to improve color and contrast, but we noticed the colors look a bit &#8220;washed out&#8221; or &#8220;pastel&#8221; compared to what our test desktop background looks like on other laptops. Although the 1366&#215;768 resolution is a nice step up from the 1024&#215;600 resolution seen on most netbooks the washed out colors made the viewing experience less than perfect. Vertical viewing angles are average with some color distortion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors remaining unchanged at extremely wide viewing angles; you won&#8217;t have trouble sharing a YouTube video with friends using this display.</p>
<p>The built-in speaker performance on the Mini 311 is extremely good for an 11-inch netbook. I&#8217;m not a fan of the location of the built-in speakers since they&#8217;re located on the bottom front edge of the netbook, but the audio quality is quite good. The speakers produce excellent volume (enough to fill a small room) and there is minimal distortion even at higher volume levels. The speakers lack much bass, but the range of highs and midtones are perfectly enjoyable.</p>
<p>Granted, most audiophiles will want to use external speakers or headphones for a better listening experience &#8230; but the built-in speakers work well in a pinch. The audio output from the dual-function headphone jack/microphone jack produced some high frequency background noise/distortion with some of the headphones we used during testing, but other headphones worked fine with no distortion.</p>
<p><strong>Keyboard and Touchpad</strong><br />
As previously mentioned, the HP Mini 311 features a nice and large keybaord that is 92% of full size. Most of the primary keys are the same size as the keys you&#8217;ll find on a typical notebook and the spacing is likewise normal, but the space bar and some of the keys that are used less frequently are smaller than normal. If you prefer the shape and feel of traditional keys then you&#8217;ll probably like this keyboard. That said, I personally prefer the &#8220;Chiclet&#8221; style keyboard used on many netbooks and ultraportables since there is more space between the keys to prevent me from accidentally hitting the wrong key when working in tight quarters. Still, the keyboard on this netbook is quite usable and should be perfectly fine for typing quick emails or editing documents while traveling.</p>
<p>The ALPS touchpad used on the Mini 311 is a multitouch gesture-enabled model that allows you to use multi-figure gestures such as &#8220;pinching&#8221; your fingers together or &#8220;pulling&#8221; your fingers apart to zoom in or out. The ALPS control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. Sensitivity and tracking seemed accurate even when you move your fingers quickly over the touchpad surface. Speaking of which, the touchpad is covered in a glossy smooth surface that sometimes makes it east to slide your finger across the surface and other times causes your finger to &#8220;skip across the surface because of the lack of texture/traction. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath the touchpad and each button has shallow feedback with loud clicks when pressed.</p>
<p><strong>Input and Output Ports<br />
</strong>In terms of port selection the HP Mini 311 offers a few more bells and whistles than your average netbook. You get three USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader, dual-function headphone/microphone jack, Ethernet port, and two video out ports in the form of VGA and HDMI.</p>
<p><strong>Performance and Benchmarks</strong><br />
The performance section of a netbook review is generally the most boring part because all netbooks have virtually identical performance. That said, HP hopes the Mini 311 will change that thanks to the use of Nvidia&#8217;s Ion graphics. In this case, our test configuration comes with Nvidia Ion LE &#8230; basically standard Ion with some of the features crippled via software. Despite this, our performance benchmarks indicate Ion indeed gives the Mini 311 a nice boost over netbooks that use Intel GMA 950 graphics.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Nvidia&#8217;a Ion graphics can&#8217;t do anything to overcome the performance bottleneck of the Intel Atom processor. Although the latest version of Flash Player supports GPU acceleration, we didn&#8217;t see much (if any) improvement in HD Flash playback because of the weak processor. When we tried to watch Hulu HD on this netbook there was significant lag and the video and audio playback was out of sync. In fact, if you watched a Hulu HD clip with a man and woman having a conversation the audio was so out of sync that it looked like the woman&#8217;s voice was coming from the man and the man&#8217;s voice was coming from the woman.</p>
<p>Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and even watching standard definition movies. If you&#8217;re in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing. Unfortunately, the Intel Atom N270 processor still feels painfully weak for general computing &#8230; which means multitasking. Typical multitasking (such as switching back and forth between a full-screen web browser and Microsoft Office) was sluggish at best and frustratingly slow at worst.</p>
<p>All of the synthetic benchmarks we use to rate the performance of a laptop show the HP Mini 311 offers slight improvements over typical netbooks, but &#8220;real world&#8221; use is still limited by the weak processor. For example, games like <em>World of Warcraft</em> play flawlessly, but games like <em>Counter-Strike: Source </em>dropped to an unplayable 12-15 frames per second at the lowest detail settings whenever the CPU had to handle a large level map.</p>
<p><strong>Heat and Noise</strong><br />
Temperatures on the new HP Mini 311 are quite comfortable and typical of most current-generation netbooks. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained &#8220;lap friendly&#8221; during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when I stressed the GPU and CPU when playing games.</p>
<p>The cooling fan often kicks on, particularly when the netbook is plugged in, but the noise wasn&#8217;t particularly loud. If you are very sensitive to noise then the fan might bother you in a quiet room, but chances are you&#8217;ll never notice it.</p>
<p><strong>Battery</strong><br />
Battery life with the integrated 6-cell lithium-ion battery . In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, and wireless active, the Mini 311 stayed on for 6 hours and 18 minutes of constant use. Although some netbooks offer closer to 10 hours of battery life, the battery also has to feed the power-hungry Nvidia Ion graphics and larger 11-inch screen. All things said and done I think it&#8217;s safe to say 6 hours of battery life will be fine for most people.</p>
<p><strong>Conclusion</strong><br />
At the end of the day HP created a very nice netbook with an 11-inch screen, reasonably powerful graphics, and a nice keyboard &#8230; and then crippled it with Intel&#8217;s Atom processor. If all you want to do is very basic web browsing, email, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and play <em>World of Warcraft</em> then the HP Mini 311 is a great ultraportable laptop.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Intel Atom N270 processor is still painfully weak for general computing. Although the latest version of Flash Player supports GPU acceleration, we didn&#8217;t see much (if any) improvement in Flash playback because of the weak processor. Translation: don&#8217;t try to watch Hulu HD on this netbook. Typical multitasking (such as switching between the web browser and Microsoft Office) was sluggish at best and frustratingly slow at worst.</p>
<p>In short, the HP Mini 311 gives you a netbook that&#8217;s better than a typical netbook (one that uses Intel GMA 950 graphics) but still suffers from one of the same problems as other netbooks: a weak processor. Although the Mini 311 is a nice netbook we have a hard time recommending this netbook at this time considering that there are a number of Intel CULV-based ultraportables and soon a variety of AMD-based ultraportables for the only $50 to $100 more.</p>
<p><strong>Pros:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Nvidia Ion graphics boost performance</li>
<li>Improved port selection</li>
<li>Good battery life</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Cons:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Still using weak Atom processor</li>
<li>Good graphics limited by CPU</li>
<li>Touchpad surface isn&#8217;t great</li>
</ul>
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		<item>
		<title>Dell Studio 14z</title>
		<link>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/dell-studio-14z/</link>
		<comments>http://www.nicomovil.com/computer/dell-studio-14z/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:44:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>An</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[14z]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Studio]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.nicomovil.com/?p=7</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Dell&#8217;slatest premium 14-inch consumer notebook,the Dell Studio 14z, promises to give students everything they want in a high-performance notebook for the back-to-school season. The Studio 14z is indeed the thinnest and lightest 14-inch notebook Dell has ever produced and promises more than 6 hours of battery life, but you might have to make a few [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;"><img class="alignleft" title="dell-studio-14z" src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/dell-studio-14z.jpg" alt="dell-studio-14z" width="295" height="295" />Dell&#8217;slatest premium 14-inch consumer notebook,the <strong>Dell Studio 14z</strong>, promises to give students everything they want in a high-performance notebook for the back-to-school season. The Studio 14z is indeed the thinnest and lightest 14-inch notebook Dell has ever produced and promises more than 6 hours of battery life, but you might have to make a few sacrifices. Keep reading to discover what we found after spending a few weeks with the Studio 14z.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><img title="More..." src="http://www.phonello.com/wp-includes/js/tinymce/plugins/wordpress/img/trans.gif" alt="" /><span id="more-7"></span>Dell Studio 14z Specifications:</p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 cache)</li>
<li>OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64 bit)</li>
<li>Memory: 3GB Shared DDR3 at 1066MHz</li>
<li>Storage: 320GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)</li>
<li>Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G</li>
<li>Screen: 14.0 High Definition (1600 x 900) LED Display with TrueLife</li>
<li>Software: 15-month McAfee SecurityCenter subscription, Microsoft Works</li>
<li>Other: Ruby Red lid, LED Backlit keyboard</li>
<li>Wireless: Dell 1515 Wireless N</li>
<li>Battery: 8-cell 74Whr Li Ion Battery</li>
<li>Dimensions: 0.79&#8243;-1.2&#8243; x 13.2&#8243; x 9.0&#8243; (H x W x D)</li>
<li>Weight: 4 lbs, 9 oz</li>
<li>Retail Price as configured: <strong>$979</strong></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Build and Design<br />
</strong>The design of the Studio 14z looks extremely similar to the Studio 15, but Dell managed to make this notebook much thinner and lighter &#8230; thanks in no small part to the removal of the optical drive. At first glance, the lack of a built-in optical drive might seem to be a disadvantage, but most students and mobile users will confess that they rarely use an optical drive when away from a desk. You can, of course, purchase a matching external optical drive (DVD burner or DVD burner/Blu-ray player) &#8230; just in case you need it when you&#8217;re working at the office.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The notebook chassis is constructed from a combination of plastics and magnesium alloy for a balance of light weight and durability, and I have no doubt the Studio 14z can survive several years of use and abuse by college students, although I&#8217;d feel better about the build quality if the plastic palmrests where made of magnesium alloy instead.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">When closed theStudio 14zfeels nice and thin, but the weight of the 8-cell battery in our review unit makes the notebook feel like it&#8217;s a little too heavy in the rear. The Ruby Red screen lid features a nice thickmatte paint with a rubberized texture that should hold up over the years of travel to and from classes. The screen lid shows signs of obvious flex under strong pressure, but I wasn&#8217;t able to create any screen ripples when pressing on the back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Dell Studio 14z is currently available with your choice of colors including, Black Chain Link, Midnight Blue, Promise Pink, Spring Green, Plum Purple, and Ruby Red. Dell will also donate $5 to <em>Susan G. Komen for the Cure</em> from the purchase of each Promise Pink laptop. Starting in September the Dell Design Studio will offer the Studio 14z in your choice of more than 120 different designs, so you won&#8217;t have to worry about owning a laptop that looks identical to a classmate&#8217;s notebook.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The bottom of the notebook features the battery anda singleaccess plates that must be removed in order to upgrade the RAM. My only frustration here is that you haveno easy access tothe hard drive, so be prepared to completely disassemble the notebook if you want to upgrade the hard drive on your own.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Screen and Speakers</strong><br />
The 14-inch high-definition panel on the Dell Studio 14z easily rates as one of the better screens we&#8217;ve seen with vibrant colors, excellent contrast, and good viewing angles. The LED backlighting in our review unit is pretty even and offers a range of brightness settings. Yes, it is a 16:9 screen ratio, but this is starting to become standard for all notebooks andDell was wise enough to offer the Studio 14zwith a higher resolution 1600&#215;900 display like the one in our review unit. Horizontal viewing angles are extremely good, so you won&#8217;t have any trouble sharing a movie with a friend or two. Upper vertical viewing angles are a little better than average since the colors don&#8217;t wash out too much when viewed from above, butcolors begin to distort and invert as you move the screen back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">At first glance the two tiny speakers located above and to either side of the keyboard on the Studio 14z look weak and pathetic. Most people would expect speakers like these to produce weak, tinny sound &#8230; but we&#8217;ll forgivethose peoplefor jumping to conclusions. In fact, the Dell Studio 14z includes four stereo speakers: the two tiny speakers located above the keyboard that direct sound up and two larger speakers located beneath the palmrests that direct sound down. The two smaller speakers focus on the high frequencies while the two larger speakers are tuned for the midtones and bass. The sound isn&#8217;t quite as impressive as what you&#8217;ll hear from two large speakers and a dedicated subwoofer, but this is easily the best sound quality we&#8217;ve heard on any 14-inch notebook. Bottom line, if you don&#8217;t need to fill an entire room with sound for a party then external speakers are NOT needed with this notebook. The built-in speakers perform surprisingly well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Keyboard and Touchpad<br />
</strong>The keyboard on our review unit has full-sized keys with good key spacing and an excellentdepth tothe key throw. Each key has a textured black finish and a relatively flat surface. More importantly, the keyboard is available with optional backlighting for easy typing in a dark classroom or dorm room. The only complaint that I have with the keyboard on the Studio 14z is the surprising amount of flex across the entire width of the board. Even when typing with minimal pressure the keyboard bounces and flexes as you type. If you apply heavy pressure then the keyboard almost feels like a trampoline. Considering that theStudio 14z doesn&#8217;t have an optical drive to create an empty cavity beneath the keyboard we were very surprised to find this much keyboard flex while typing.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, if you can overlook the keyboardflexthis really is a very nice keyboard.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The multi-touch, gesture-based touchpad is reasonably large for a thin and light 14-inch notebook and the dual touchpad buttons have deep feedback with quiet clicks. The touchpad itself is an ALPS model that uses Dell proprietary touchpad drivers. I&#8217;m not a fan of the Dell touchpad drivers, but the touchpad was reasonably responsive with good sensitivity and very little lag.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Ports and Features</strong><br />
The port selection on theStudio 14z is a bit of a mixed bag. Dell included three USB ports, one of which isa combo USB/eSATA port, as well as FireWire and an ExpressCard/34expansion slot.If you have a new external monitor or HDTV thenyou&#8217;ll also bepleased to hear that the Studio 14z includes both HDMI and DisplayPort for digital video and audio output. Unfortunately, Dell madethree sacrifices with the Studio 14z that might be problematic depending on what your needs happen to be.As previously mentioned, there&#8217;s no built-in optical drive, so forget about watching DVDs or installing software from a installation disk unless you&#8217;re usingan external optical drive. Second, Dell forgot to include a built-in SD card reader with the Studio 14z. Dell does offer an optional SD card reader that fits inside the ExpressCard slot, but it&#8217;s 2009 &#8230; every laptop should have a built-in SD card slot. The lastthing you mightfind missing on the Studio 14z is the lack of a standard VGA port. Granted, most new monitors and HDTVs use either HDMI or DisplayPort, but there are stillmany projectors that require a VGA port. Considering that many students might need to use this notebook to show a presentation in class it seems odd that there&#8217;s no VGA port for a classroom projector.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Performance</strong><br />
The performance of the Studio 14zwith an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 processor and Nvidia GeForce 9400M G graphics is quite goodfor a mobilemultimedia notebook. It&#8217;s worth mentioning that our review configuration of the Dell Studio 14z has very similar specs to the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro but our performance benchmarks suggest the Dell has better performance for less than the price of the MacBook Pro.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">System performance is excellent considering the sub-$1,000 price. The Nvidia 9400M graphics offer superiorvideo playback and gamingwhen compared to Intel integrated graphis. With an average 3DMark06 score of more than 2,200 3DMarks, it is comparable to low-end dedicated options and can handle previous generation games with some tweaking of the resolution and detail settings. In our test of the game <em>Portal</em>, the Studio 14z delivered 39-45 frames per second (FPS) at 1280&#215;800 resolution on high settings looking through a single portal. Looking through no portals the framerate would be as high as 60FPS, and if you were looking through two it would drop down to about 23-25FPS.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Indeed,the $649 starting price of the Studio 14z starts to look even better when you consider the Nvidia graphics performance and large storage drive options. Unlike netbooks that usually feature no more than a 160GB hard drive, the Studio 14z is available with up to a 500GB hard drive that can store a full music library of up to 125,000 songs, 142,000 photos or 133 DVD quality movies. The 320GB hard drive in our review unit offers a good balance of performance, storage capacity, and price.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Battery</strong><br />
With the screen brightness set to 70%, wireless active, and the Vista power profile set to &#8220;Balanced&#8221; theStudio 14zstayed on for 4 hours and 58 minutes. For use in the classroom or on your lap in front of the TV this amount of battery life was fine, but it may be cutting it close for all-day traveling. The 8-cell 5400mAh 74Wh battery seems to do a pretty acceptable job for 14-inch laptop, but this isn&#8217;t even close to Dell&#8217;s claim of &#8220;more than 6 hours of battery life.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Heat and Noise</strong><br />
The cooling system does a reasonablyimpressive job keeping the external temperatures down. After extended periods of use the right palmrest gets quite warm and the bottom of the notebook near the hard drive and RAMget warm, but temperatures remain well below 100 degreesFahrenheit. The temperature readings below were taken after stressing the system with performance benchmarks for 30 minutes and should reflect typical external temperatures after more than an hour of serious use.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Noise levels are fairly quiet when running on battery as the fan produces a constant weak &#8220;hum&#8221; as hot air is pushed out. The fan gets louder when the laptop is set to the &#8220;high performance&#8221; power profile under Microsoft Vista and was plugged into the AC adapter, but the fan should only benoticeable by others in a very, VERY quiet room.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Conclusion<br />
</strong>TheDell Studio 14z is an impressive 14-inch notebook that arrives just in time to give students (and parents) something to consider for back-to-school season.If your childoryourfamily is looking for aconvenient laptop for general use then the Studio 14z can handle just about anything you throw at it. The overall price/performance ratio makes theStudio 14z one of the more impressivenotebooks on the market if you&#8217;re looking for something with a 14-inch screen. The nice design, great sounding speakers and a gorgeous screen make the Studio 14z a touch act to follow.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">That said, theStudio 14zhas some strong competition from notebooks like the Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 and the popular HP Pavilion dv4t. The fact that the Studio 14z lacks an optical drive, SD card slot, and standard VGA port means that some potential buyers will need to look elsewhere.Likewise, the keyboard flex was more than a little disappointing. Still, if you wantan alternative to the MacBook Pro that is both attractiveand reasonably powerful then the Studio 14zmakes asolid choice.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Pros:</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>Attractive design</li>
<li>Good overall performance for the price</li>
<li>Great screen and speakers</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Cons:</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
<li>No optical drive</li>
<li>No standard VGA port</li>
<li>No standard SD card slot</li>
</ul>
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