Intel Atom processor CE4100 announced

25 September 2009 – Intel Corporation today unveiled the Intel Atom processor CE4100, the newest System-on-Chip (SoC) in a family of media processors designed to bring Internet content and services to digital TVs, DVD players and advanced set-top boxes.

The CE4100 processor, formerly codenamed “Sodaville,” is the first 45nm-manufactured consumer electronics (CE) SoC based on Intel architecture. It supports Internet and broadcast applications on one chip, and has the processing power and audio/video components necessary to run rich media applications such as 3-D graphics.

“Traditional broadcast networks are quickly shifting from a linear model to a multi-stream, Internet-optimized model to offer consumers digital entertainment that complements the TV such as social networking, 3-D gaming and streaming video,” said Eric Kim, senior vice president and general manager, Intel Digital Home Group. “At the center of the TV evolution is the CE4100 media processor, a new architecture that meets the critical requirements for connected CE devices.”

Intel Atom Processor CE4100

The CE4100 processor can deliver speeds up to 1.2GHz while offering lower power and a small footprint to help decrease system costs. It is backward compatible with the Intel Media Processor CE 3100 and features Intel Precision View Technology, a display processing engine to support high-definition picture quality and Intel Media Play Technology for seamless audio and video. It also supports hardware decode of up to two 1080p video streams and advanced 3-D graphics and audio standards. To provide OEMs flexibility in their product offerings, new features were added such as hardware decode for MPEG4 video that is ready for DivX Home Theater 3.0 certification, an integrated NAND flash controller, support for both DDR2 and DDR3 memory and 512K L2 cache. The CE SoC contains a display processor, graphics processor, video display controller, transport processor, a dedicated security

processor and general I/O including SATA-300 and USB 2.0.

LG's New WIDEBOOK Notebook Series Offers a Cinematic Experience

Seoul, Korea, September 17, 2009 - LG Electronics (LG), a global leader and technology innovator in mobile communications, today unveiled its new WIDEBOOK notebook range. Each model in the series features a wide 16:9 HD LED-backlit display and Intel Core 2 Duo processor to offer an extreme entertainment experience to consumers.

The WIDEBOOK range comprises five models -- the R580/R560, R480/R460 and R380 -- and further cements LG's position as a global notebook player. LG recognizes consumer demand for notebook over conventional desktop PCs is building, as is evidenced by the growth of the netbook market.

Notebooks are more popular than desktop PCs in many parts of the world due to their mobility and connectivity. The key to success in the market going forward is to design lighter, more stylish notebooks with powerful PC-like functions, said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. We believe that LG's advanced technology and experience in the mobile sector positions us well to deliver cutting-edge products to our consumers.

The WIDEBOOK series is available in various screen sizes, with the R580 and R560 boasting a 15.6" display while the R480 and R460 units include a 14' screen and the diminutive R380 packs a 13.3' panel. The R580 and R480 are positioned as premium models and sport a stylish design, while the R560 and R460 are reliable everyday workhorses and the R380 offers a blend of performance at an affordable price.

Mobile Entertainer

The WIDEBOOK series boast superb features to help them serve as mobile entertainment stations. The 16:9 widescreen display is optimized for HD content and ships in 1600 x 900 and 1368 x 768 HD pixel resolutions, depending on the model. The LED backlight also means that the screens draw 15-20% less power than existing notebooks, which also helps boost battery life. Each machine in the range includes SRS TruSurround HD sound to bring movies to life.

The premium R580 notebook is sure to prove popular with movie buffs thanks to its inclusion of a Blu-ray drive.

The WIDEBOOK range packs Intel Core 2 Duo processors with 2GB or 4GB of turbo memory and a NVIDIA GeForce graphics chip with up to 1GB of DDR2 video memory, providing plenty of power for general use and adequate punch for 3D games. In fact, according to tests using 3DMark06, these graphics subsystems offer between three and six times the performance of Intel�s GMA X4500MHD chipset.

Smart Features

LG has bundled a Smart Pack with the WIDEBOOK range to help provide customization and quick diagnosis of errors to help even novice users maintain a problem-free PC. Smart Indicator is a customizable quick-launch feature that helps the user set up a list of frequently used functions for quick and easy access. Smart Care and Smart Recovery provide intelligent diagnosis and repair of system errors.

The WIDEBOOK R380 also includes a Smart On feature that enables the machine to be booted in only five seconds. Smart On enables users to rapidly access commonly-used applications including a web browser, messenger, games, photo viewer and MP3 player.

Connectivity and Stylish Design

The WIDEBOOK series includes a 3G modem chipset to enable convenient and easy access to the internet. This feature provides a straightforward connection to wireless networks in any location offering GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA networks.

The WIDEBOOK series is packed with a range of easy-of-use features as well. A 1.3-megapixel webcam is included and the You-Cam viewing software offers editing and an integrated UI for video chatting and conferencing. WIDEBOOK models offer an e-SATA port to connect with current-generation hard drives and a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connector is included.

Beyond the widescreen and high-performance multimedia features, the WIDEBOOK offers a stylish exterior to suit the most style-conscious consumers. The cutting-edge style includes a UV coating and trendy low-profile chrome hinge. The premium R580 and R480 models also include a row of backlit blue buttons to provide quick access to features.

The WIDEBOOK is also available in a range of colors including shiny white and crystal black colors for the R580 / R560 and R480 / R460 to add a sleek look and feel. The R380 is designed for the youth market and is available in white, black and pink schemes.

The five new WIDEBOOK notebooks will be rolled out first in Turkey, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, followed by other countries in Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America throughout September.

Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 Multimedia Laptop

The Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 is a large, fairly capable and highly stylish multimedia notebook offering. The glossy 16-inch widescreen is impressively large, as is the multitouch capable touchpad. Throw in an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz processor, 4GB RAM, a 320GB HDD, a 256MB NVIDIA GeForce G105M GPU and you’ve got yourself some respectable internals to go with the gorgeous externals. And did we mention the weight is only 5.6lbs, and felt like less? If only the price were a little lower and the keyboard a little larger, this laptop would have some pretty high marks all around.

Design - Case look and feel

Lenovo has clearly put some time into the look of the Y650. The black, subtly honeycombed matte lid is smooth to the touch and easy on the eyes, with nothing marring it save a silver Lenovo logo in the bottom right corner. Above the glossy LCD a black webcam is embedded in the bezel, and the whole display is surrounded by an attractive copper trim. The keyboard is completely white, with a pair of JBL speakers and a couple of buttons surrounding the strangely recessed keyboard (more on that later). Above the keyboard lie a few touch buttons in black, and below it is the nicely oversized touchpad. The touchpad and wrist rests are also white and even the IdeaPad logo in the bottom right corner glows white. The only other color besides white here is the copper trim around the base and the copper function accents on the keyboard keys.

Size and Weight

The IdeaPad Y650 does an excellent job of being large without being either bulky or heavy, and for that it should be commended. With dimensions of 15.4” x 10.2” x 1.0” it almost, but not quite, achieves MacBook-like slimness. It does this despite having a 16-inch screen compared to the MacBook’s 15-incher and only weighing a tenth of a pound more at 5.6 lb. It’s obviously pretty wide compared to standard aspect ratio 14-15 inch laptops, but as long as you know what size laptop you’re getting you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the weight and thickness of this laptop. Considering its size, we were very impressed with the portability.

Keyboard and Touchpad

With a laptop this large you can generally expect a large keyboard. Personally, I’m a fan of dedicated numberpads if they can fit comfortably, and the 16-inch form factor is about where you start to see them appear. However, Lenovo has decided to play tricks with our mind here, taking a keyboard you might see in a 14” laptop and literally shoving it towards the very top of the available keyboard space, giving the whole thing a fairly scrunched look. We can understand the lack of a numberpad, as they aren’t terribly common, but were disappointed to see shrunken keys (like right shift and tab) with so much available space.

The shrunken backspace even went so far as to make an annoying springing noise every time we touched it, as if it weren’t quite settled into its slot. On the flipside, the touchpad is wonderfully large, and even boasts some basic pinch-me multitouch functionality. The keyboard and touchpad are both comfortable to use, with just a little flex in the center and a comfortable gridded feeling respectively. Finally, a few push and touch-sensitive buttons casually surround the keyboard on three sides. The features are nice, but we’re not sure why Lenovo included two different and redundant ways to adjust volume or call up OneKey. We’ll explain more below.

Display Quality

The display quality of the Y650 is well above average. The LED backlit screen is bright and helps fight the glare of the glossy screen, which makes the colors sharp. There is even a button to set the display to “movie mode” with brighter colors still. Horizontal viewing angles are good, although distortion sets in a little sooner than we’d like on such a media-centric unit. Vertical viewing angles are fine though, especially from below.

Connectivity

You can’t shed pounds without making some sacrifices, and the connectivity is a little weaker than we would have hoped. However, we can’t say Lenovo was lacking for creativity, going so far in their space saving measures as to load the DVD tray in the front. There is also HDMI and eSATA, which we’re always happy to see.

The left side of the unit contains the power jack, followed by the HDMI and VGA ports. 1 of the 2 (yes, there’s only 2) USB ports follows this, and then you’ll find the fan exhaust.

The right side features an Ethernet port, Expresscard34 slot (no 54), eSATA, audio in/out and the last USB port.

The front of the laptop sports the DVD drive and a wireless on/off switch, with a few status lights in between.

The back is bereft of ports as the display hinges downward, covering it entirely when in use.

Upgrading

The Y650 has an all-in-one bottom plate that you have to remove to access any of the internals, which makes it easy to do big upgrades, but kind of a pain to do small ones. Our laptop was more or less the high end of the Y650s on Lenovo’s site, but it’s possible to tick down the processor to a P8600 and get 3GB RAM on 32bit Vista if you want to save $100. You could also opt for integrated graphics, but currently it won’t save you a dollar (thanks to a Lenovo sale), so we don’t recommend this unless you’re insanely concerned about battery life. There doesn’t seem to be a way to get a higher resolution screen or bigger battery, both of which would be nice additions.

Features

The IdeaPad Y650 comes loaded with Veriface facial recognition technology, which essentially lets you capture an image of your face with the integrated webcam and use it instead of a password to login. The feature is cool and extremely quick and easy to use, but in extreme cases it can still be hacked just like a password, so it’s no reason to be careless if you store sensitive material on your laptop. The Y650 also comes with the front loading DVD drive, which we’re counting as a feature just for its uniqueness.

Other nice features include the enormous touchpad, measuring 4.4 x 2.5-inches, which Lenovo boasts is the largest on any laptop. There is a touch slider at the top which brings up a menu composed of Easy Capture, Ready Connect, Veriface and OneKey. There is also a touch button to switch between “movie mode” and “regular” and next to that, a touch button to call up Dolby sound software. There are physical buttons on either side of the keyboard, but aside from the power button they only let you adjust volume and call up OneKey. OneKey can be run from the slider and the volume is also a function feature on the regular keyboard, so we suspect these buttons were only put in place to take your mind off the fact that the keyboard is so scrunched.

Performance

On a multimedia notebook we don’t always expect the best performance in terms of gaming, but with a dedicated GPU and plenty of RAM and processor speed, we expected good performance and were not disappointed. For more information on our testing practices, see here: http://www.laptoplogic.com/about/test/

Windows Vista Experience

Overall	4.3
Processor	5.4
Memory	5.9
Graphics	4.3
Gaming Graphics	5.0
Primary Hard Disk	5.3

Surprisingly, gaming graphics posted a very respectable 5.0 here, leaving regular old graphics in the dust as the low man. Everything else posted average to above average scores.

PCMarkVantage

Lenovo IdeaPad Y650	3867
Lenovo ThinkPad T400	3746
HP Pavilion HDX16	3320
Sony VAIO FW270j	3235
Lenovo IdeaPad Y530	2872
Dell Studio 1537	2845

The Y650 performed excellently in PCMark’s test, posting a notably better score than the recently reviewed Y530.

WorldBench 6

Lenovo ThinkPad T400	91
Lenovo IdeaPad Y650	81
HP Pavilion HDX16	80
Dell Studio 1537	79
Sony VAIO FW270j	74
Lenovo IdeaPad Y530	70

WorldBench puts the Y650 back into the realm of the average, although it again spanks the Y530.

Battery Performance - General Use
Runtime in minutes

Dell Studio 1537	357
Lenovo ThinkPad T400	334
Sony VAIO FW270j	181
HP Pavilion HDX16	156
Lenovo IdeaPad Y650	148

Here the Y650 lags behind the pack, posting less than 2.5 hours during general use. It should be noted that these were under the “natural” settings achieved when disconnecting the power cord. If you use the included battery stretching software to the fullest, it’s likely you can reach just about 3 hours. We said it before about the USB ports, you can’t shed pounds without making sacrifices.

Battery Performance - DVD Use
Runtime in minutes

Dell Studio 1537	206
Lenovo ThinkPad X301	117
Sony VAIO FW270j	101
Lenovo IdeaPad Y650	84
HP Pavilion HDX16	80

Considering the general use battery life, the Y650 didn’t do too badly here, comparing reasonably well to multimedia laptops like the HDX and FW270. This test was conducted with the brightness and sound-boosting movie mode enabled too. Still, it would be nice to actually finish a movie before the (rather irritating) low battery warning starts to chirp.

Real Life Usage

In general use, the IdeaPad ran cool and fairly quiet, even during DVD playback. It felt surprisingly light and the large widescreen in conjunction with the helpful “movie mode” was excellent for watching media. The relatively short battery life didn’t prove problematic for us, but then again we never tried to take it on the road beyond going to the office and back. With an external mouse and a USB thumb stick in tow it was worrying that there were no other USB options, and we anticipate trouble for those used to leaving their printer plugged in at home or charging electronics in a spare port. The recessed keyboard design also had the unfortunate side effect of extending the palm rests, which is less than comfortable. However it was weirder than it was awkward and didn’t affect typing as much as the shrunken keys themselves did.

Conclusion

The IdeaPad Y650 is surprisingly powerful for a laptop whose power isn’t a selling point. From a beautiful thin design to a large screen and wonderfully small weight, the IdeaPad is stylishly designed for multimedia. Of course, you can’t have your cake and eat it too, so the IdeaPad is a bit skimpy on battery life and ports.

Apple MacBook

Overview
It's big news whenever Apple announces new products and now Apple’s bestselling consumer notebook receives the long rumored major redesign that is no doubt, another stunner. Just when you thought Apple couldn’t make the previous generation MacBook any better, they come around and offer this aluminum and glass beauty that is even thinner, lighter, and more powerful than before. Now that Apple has brought its renewed MacBooks ($1299 starting) and MacBook Pros ($1999 starting) even closer together by offering the same design, engineering, and -for the first time on the MacBook - aluminum body to both notebook lines, the once straightforward consumer and pro-line product differentiation is slowly fading away. Is this the best MacBook to date? Is it safe to call the MacBook, the MacBook Pro "mini"? Read on.

Design
The new MacBook and MacBook Pro make some significant strides in the design department. First, the MacBook for the first time, joins the MacBook Pro in offering an all-aluminum body, ditching the white polycarbonate plastic that once defined the consumer line. In fact, both machines look pretty much identical to each other - offering a black glass bezel screen and black "chiclet-style" keyboards to reflect the new Apple design direction first introduced with the current iMac and iPhone. It's a stunner for sure. The exterior borrows cues from the MacBook Air using tapered edges that trick you into thinking it's even thinner than it already is. The magnetic latch opens and closes the display with buttery smoothness and without mechanical parts. Aa satisfyingly solid "thunk" can be heard when closed. Available in the more expensive $1599 model are LED backlit keys - a first for the MacBook.

Aside from the switch to a fully aluminum casing that replaces the now-defunct white plastic and/or black matte finish of the previous generation, Apple is touting its new manufacturing process as a technological and engineering breakthrough. Using a full slab of aluminum to construct the MacBook and MacBook Pro, not only does this revolutionary process create a body and chassis that is much stiffer with no flexing, these new notebooks use less mechanical screws, parts and pieces to construct together, and thus allow Apple is able to achieve a lighter and thinner product. The result is a notebook that is so clean and so sleek looking in design, it's devoid of any evidence of screws to piece it together and without any vents, confirms that this new design doubles as an effective heatsink.

While it's nice to see the MacBook now offer the same look and materials as the MacBook Pro, Apple may now run the risk of cannibalizing sales of its own pricier MacBook Pros, as they both look almost identical to each other and features-wise, the line between the two is blurring. Call it the MacBook Pro mini if you will in appearance, Apple has revolutionized a new way to build quality notebooks that are also environmental friendly.

Size and Weight
Impressively, the new MacBook is even thinner and lighter than before, achieving a thickness of only .95 " - the same as the new MacBook Pro. At 4.5 pounds, the new MacBook is 1.5 pounds lighter than the outgoing model with weight evenly distributed across thanks to its unibody construction (read: less parts). At 12.78" x 8.94", the new machines are pretty much identical in dimensions to the last generation models.

Keyboard
Love it or hate it, Apple has now transitioned its entire Mac lineup to the retro-looking "chiclet-style" keyboard with the new MacBooks. Rather than color match the keys with the aluminum body, Apple's new design direction employs the use of black keys to give the notebook an interesting design contrast. The downside of having black keys is noticeable fingerprint smudging from oily fingers; At least it won't look and get dirty like the older white MacBooks. Aesthetics aside, the full-size keyboard is a real pleasure to type on with very solid and satisfying clicks. The keys may be flat and spaced out, but it's oh-so-comfortable to type on with just the right amount of key travel and spring action. The higher end model also offers LED backlit keys for the first time on a MacBook - once again, blurring the lines between the MacBook and MacBook Pro in features.

Display
With a gorgeous 13.3" LED-backlit LCD screen fully encased beneath a black bezeled glass, the MacBook's display is stunning to look at even when powered off. The glossy finish makes colors really pop and adds to its enhanced vibrance, but at the cost of massive glare, making outdoor viewing difficult. Indoor viewing is not as bad, but reflections abound so be mindful of viewing angles and tilt adjustments. At first glance, the display seems identical to the previous MacBook screen with the same 1280x800 native resolution, but thanks to the new LED-backlighting, the display is evenly lit across the screen and noticeably brighter than the previous generation models. Watching movies was a real treat even though you'll find yourself seeing your own reflection in lighted areas. But when compared to the MacBook Pro's larger screen, the MacBook's picture quality is still inferior and you'll notice the contrast and blacks drop out when viewed from an angle - The MacBook Pro's, on the otherhand, looks great at any angle. This is a big reason why Apple would like for you to pay the extra money to go Pro for the better screen. A built-in iSight camera is included as well like before on the top of the display.

Buttonless Glass Trackpad
Apple once again leads the competition by offering zero buttons...no really! Apple has created the first "buttonless" trackpad built entirely of glass that also includes multi-touch technology. The entire trackpad is essential a button in itself where pushing down creates a solid click to confirm depresses. While it takes getting used to at first, the trackpad actually turns out to be very intuitive with a smooth glossy feel. The MacBook Air introduced 3-finger scrolling and the MacBook and MacBook Pro now offer 4-finger multi-touch scrolling for calling upon Expose and Spaces functionality. While quirky, you'll soon appreciate the wonders the new glassy trackpad's buttonless design provides.

Connectivity
Apple has shrewdly and neatly moved all ports to the left side of the notebook (the right side now occupies the lone optical drive), giving it a very clean and organized look so there's no cluttered wires coming out of either side. With the MacBook, you get 2 USB 2.0 ports, gigabit ethernet port, audio in/out jacks, MagSafe charge port, and the new mini DisplayPort that replaces the old mini-DVI out in an effort to save precious component space. Also of convenience is the battery meter on the same side. In a surprising move, Apple has curiously decided to omit FireWire in the new MacBook that was previous made standard across the entire Mac lineup. Now, the only way for media heads to take advantage of FireWire connectivity is to shell up the $700 for the MacBook Pro or buy a pricey adapter. While most people can argue that FireWire's adoption is dwindling in favor of USB, one of the unique things that made FireWire so special for Macs is the target disk feature, allowing the computer to boot OS X off any FireWire external drive. Call it cost-cutting or the death of FireWire adoption, we call it a disappointment.

The DisplayPort is another interesting move on Apple's part to capitalize on a new standard that not only saves component space from the larger DVI and mini-DVI ports, but transitions across all future Macs. Unfortunately, Apple is skimping on the accessories as you'll have to shell the hefty $99 for the mini DisplayPort adapter kit to connect an external monitor. Harsh.

For the common consumer, the MacBook provides just enough of what you need and nothing you don't in terms of available ports. Trimming the fat, Apple still doesn't offer any built-in digital card reader into the unit when compared to the competition and ExpressCard is a feature you'll only find on the MacBook Pro. Limited but more than sufficient.

Upgrading
One of the pains of owning an Apple notebook before was the difficulty in upgrading the basic hardware components. It took a few dozen tiny screws just to get to the harddrive! Not so with these new notebooks. Apple clearly did it's homework when redesigning the MacBook and MacBook Pro, making it very easy to open and upgrade. Only 2 aluminum plates pieces hold the base together, providing easy access into the harddrive compartment and RAM slots through a simple flip of a latche. The big news is the removable battery, now tucked neatly beneath one panel next to the hard drive. Upgrading is limited to your standard harddrive upgrade (SATA or SSD) and adding more RAM (up to 4GB max).
Performance

We've ran the awesome xbench scoring system for the Mac OSX system. The following xbench file has been generated:


Results 166.40
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.5.5 (9F2088)
Physical RAM 2048 MB
Model MacBook5,1
Drive Type FUJITSU MHZ2160BH FFS G1
CPU Test 130.27
GCD Loop 231.33 12.19 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 110.01 2.61 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 89.98 2.97 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 161.79 28.17 Mops/sec
Thread Test 223.78
Computation 394.19 7.99 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 156.24 6.72 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 169.95
System 187.15
Allocate 219.84 807.34 Kalloc/sec
Fill 160.39 7798.53 MB/sec
Copy 190.62 3937.16 MB/sec
Stream 155.64
Copy 148.05 3057.84 MB/sec
Scale 147.50 3047.36 MB/sec
Add 165.94 3534.84 MB/sec
Triad 162.89 3484.61 MB/sec
Quartz Graphics Test 156.66
Line 144.27 9.60 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 187.28 55.91 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 153.22 12.49 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 151.91 3.83 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 152.99 9.57 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 137.40
Spinning Squares 137.40 174.30 frames/sec
User Interface Test 263.01
Elements 263.01 1.21 Krefresh/sec
Disk Test 34.41
Sequential 40.08
Uncached Write 60.79 37.32 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 24.75 14.00 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 29.32 8.58 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 113.16 56.87 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 30.14
Uncached Write 11.14 1.18 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 65.17 20.86 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 58.06 0.41 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 96.87 17.97 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Battery Life: 187 minutes Recharge Time: 122 minutes

Features:
The MacBook is a real engineering marvel. It's stunning good looks compliment the bevy of new advanced technology and engineering features. The Intel Core2Duo 2.0Ghz model ($1299) we received proved plenty capable of handling most common computing tasks and comes with a 160gb harddrive and 2gb of RAM (with the 1066Mhz FSB). A 2.4Ghz model is available as well for an additional $300 sticker price and includes a 250Gb SATA drive. Both models offer the option of the pricey but fast SSD drive.

Ditching the weak integrated graphics chipset from Intel, the MacBook finally offers a dedicated true graphics engine in the form of the nVidia GeForce 9400M making for better handling of 3D graphics and video. The results, are quite noticeable in speed and video performance throughout the system. Another great feature with this card is that it results in lower heat generation as the CPU no longer has to work so hard in processing these tasks. However, don't expect the GPU to bowl you over in graphics-heavy applications though (read gaming). But, the 9400M certainly does pack a good amount of 3D punch to your videos, media, and gaming sessions, especially with the likes of the new Adobe Photoshop utilizing thus features.

Wireless-N, Bluetooth, SuperDrive and iSight are all standard features as usual.

Heat and noise wasn't much of an issue with the new MacBooks thanks to the entire aluminum unibody acting as a giant heatsink. The notebook runs warm but not quite as hot as older models and a soft hum can be heard only when the fan kicks in intermittently. No issues here. In our battery tests, watching a DVD yielded about 2:40 of juice, and in basic tasks such as web browsing and word processing, a respectable 4:30 of life.

Conclusion

Overall, we found the new MacBook a real pleasure to use as with all Mac products we've tested. It's a gorgeous, sexy piece of machinery and certainly the best MacBook yet. But we do question Apple's decision to make the MacBook so closely identical in looks and features to the MacBook Pro... Anyway, at $1299 starting, it's a tad more expensive than we had hoped it would be, but you do get a lot for your money namely the aluminum casing, glassy multi-touch buttonless trackpad and of course, the revolutionary unibody "brick" construction and for a whole $700 cheaper than the cheapest MacBook Pro model. Nonetheless it's a excellent buy for one of the best notebooks around on the market. Some may not like Apple's new design direction (myself included) utilizing black keys to contrast the aluminum, but there's no denying this is one of the best looking laptops available.

Samsung R610 multimedia laptop

The Samsung R610 is one of Samsung’s first offerings for the American market, and it makes an interesting statement. For a 16” laptop, it is relatively thin and light, measuring 1.25” at its thinnest point and weighing only 6lbs with a rather stylish design. At the same time, with a rather average Intel T5800 2.0GHz, 3GB RAM, a 250GB HDD and 512MB NVidia GeForce 9200M GS, it is lacking in features and performance that many other 16 inchers have. Read on to see if the R610 has what it takes to compete in the crowded 16-inch multimedia laptop market.

Case look and feel

The black glossy lid emblazoned with a small and centered silver Samsung logo is classy. If you can keep the fingerprints off of it, it lends an attractive air to the laptop too. A black trim surrounds the display and hides the integrated webcam almost completely. At the bottom of the display you’ll see a fairly muted Samsung logo near the even more subdued model number – Samsung has clearly gone to lengths to keep the look smooth and unmarred by too many shining logos or blinking lights. To that end, the only light above the keyboard is a small blue light on the power button, which is actually housed in one of the two speaker grills. The black edges move on to surround the keyboard but bleed into a deep garnet as they approach the far end of the wristrest, which is a nice effect. The keyboard itself is black with standard white lettering, and the touchpad is a normal looking black square bordered in silver. Along the side edges there are some dull port markings and in the front you’ll find the expected group of blue and green status lights. Overall, a sleek, but stylish effect pulled off rather well.
Size & Weight

When 16-inch laptops first started to appear with their 16:9 ratio screens, some of them were bulky models reminiscent of days yore. These days competitive models from the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo all weigh in the 6 lb range as the R610 does, but do it measuring as much as half an inch less. While it does seem a bit bulky when you wrap your hands around it, or if you sat it next to a MacBook or Lenovo IdeaPad Y650, Samsung was able to keep the weight down to only 6.2 lb so that it’s not too cumbersome to tote.

Keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is full sized and, much to our joy after recently reviewing the keyboard-impaired IdeaPad Y650, even boasts a full numeric keypad. It looks like some of the keys are just a tad smaller than they had to be to make this fit, but none of the usual culprits – backspace, shift, tab – are shrunken at all, so maybe it’s just in our mind’s eye. The R610 conveniently manages to sneak in a second function key above the right arrow to go along with the one on the left side of the keyboard, but it’s not perfect, as the home/end and pgup/pgdn keys share space with the number pad. While it’s only nitpicking to complain about the size and placement of any keys, and there is little to no flex anywhere, the overall feedback on the keyboard could be nicer. The touchpad is comfortable but doesn’t support multi touch functions, and the buttons, while easily pressed, are a little on the noisy side.

Display quality

With a 1366x768 resolution, the R610 is set for widescreen viewing but a far cry from the 1920x1080 found on many other 16” laptops. Resolution aside, the display quality is fine. The LCD is plenty bright, and the horizontal viewing angles are good, though the vertical viewing angles could be a little better. The screen is glossy which goes along well with the overall glossy look of the laptop, and improves the color quality as long as the brightness is high enough to counter the glare.
Connectivity

The connectivity is pretty standard fare, with an array of ports laid out in a pretty traditional fashion. The R610 gives you an HDMI port and enough USB ports, but no FireWire, Blu-ray or really anything else of much note.

The ports are pretty well distributed, with the left side carrying the greatest load with 1USB and the VGA sandwiching the exhaust along with the HDMI port, audio in/out, and an ExpressCard 54 slot.

The right side sports another USB port as well as the optical drive, but that’s it.

The ever-so-slightly tapered front has snagged the multi card reader, and the back houses the power jack along with the Ethernet/modem and 2 more stacked USB ports.

Upgrading

There isn’t a lot you can do on Samsung’s website (although we did see a configuration with 64-bit Vista and 4GB RAM, where ours has 3GB and 32-bit), but Samsung has been so kind to actually label the different screws under the laptop with denominations such as “memory,” “kbd,” and “hinge,” so DIY-ers should have an easier time than they’re used to. The battery life leaves something to be desired (we’ll get into that below), but for those who are interested the one thing Samsung does offer by way of an upgrade is a 9-cell battery – it effectively doubles the otherwise meager lifespan.
Features

This is a tricky paragraph, and it might be the shortest if we don’t get creative here. The R610 lacks any sort of goodies like a fingerprint reader, multimedia touch buttons, or even Blu-ray. It does have two programs, the Magic Doctor and Easy SpeedUp Manager, built into the function buttons, and the notification graphics that come up when you check the battery life, disable the touchpad or change the volume/brightness look nice and don’t longer on the screen too long. But they ended up with enough space to have a dedicated function button for the Euro sign, and there’s still nothing for F11.

Still, there is Wireless-N and HDMI, and of course the best feature, a thin-and-light frame on a 16” screen.
Performance

Given the very average specs on this laptop, we expected average performance for a 16” laptop. It has a decent (3GB) helping of RAM and a 512MB dedicated GPU, but we weren’t sure it would be enough to overcome the pretty outdated CPU.

The performance is pretty respectable here, representing enough power for all the daily usages of a laptop, but as you can see the low end NVIDIA graphics hold the system back.

Samsung’s R610 managed to beat the 15” Dell Studio and stay out of the cellar, but it lagged just behind most of the 16” multimedia laptops we’ve seen thanks to the slower T5800 processor.

In its best score so far, the R610 manages to squeak by the HDX16 and gain 3rd to last instead of second. At this point it’s clear that Samsung clearly opted for lower cost and lighter weight over higher performance across the board with the R610. The one nice thing we can say about the battery is that there is a handy LED meter on it to check the life without powering up the computer. Also, that you can replace it with a 9-cell which promises more like 5-6 hours, although it will add some bulk.

Real-Life Usage

On the whole the laptop was quite comfortable to use. It was light enough and, equally important, ran cool enough that we could use it comfortably on our laps. The chassis feels stable but a few parts felt a little flimsy – there is flex in the wristrests and the hinge looks dangerously hollow – but that’s part of the tradeoff for being both light and inexpensive. The laptop ran quietly in general and we really can’t complain about any noise, unless of course you’re talking about the sound that comes out of the speakers, which gets the job done but not much more than that. On the whole though, using the R610 for general tasks gave us no cause for complaint.

Conclusion

Powered by a T5800 2.0GHz CPU and packed with 3GB RAM, a 250GB HDD and a 512MB NVidia GeForce 9200M GS, the Samsung R610 is slightly underwhelming on paper. Testing, as it turns out, confirms this – it performs reasonably well, but certainly at or below average for most things when compared to other 16” notebooks. Why, then, did we actually enjoy using the R610? It runs cooly, quietly, and was impressively mobile for its form factor. For light usage, it’s not a whit slower than any other machines, and looks good enough to be proud of in the office or in the coffeeshop. And the kicker is that you can find these online for $800 and change. It doesn’t really have the guts to satisfy the heavy gamer, and if you like to encode (or even watch) HD video you’ll be left a little disappointed. But the dedicated GPU opens the door for light to moderate gaming. And if you’re looking for a computer to use for normal tasks at home or in the office, you won’t find many lighter or more attractive models at the 16” form factor – and certainly not at the $800 price point.