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May 25, 2017

DELL XPS L501x Battery

The same can be said for the U31SD's speakers: the Altec Lansing stereo speakers don't live up to their high-end branding. They push their sound through narrow grilles at the front edge of the laptop, under the palm rest. Maximum volume isn't particularly loud, and we found the sound quality leaned toward the tinny. They'll do in a pinch, but headphones are a better bet. The included Sonic Focus equalizer software helps adjust levels for movie watching.The included VGA Webcam comes with Asus' LifeFrame camera software, offering a variety of settings for recording video and snapping pics, including gimmicky Photo Booth-like backdrops and effects. Maximum resolution is a measly 640x480 pixels, with light sensitivity and contrast suitable for basic Web chats. Networking Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband Optical drive None DVD burner There aren't any surprise bonus ports or connections in the Asus U31SD: in fact, its no-frills feature set lacks Bluetooth and USB 3.0, along with the aforementioned optical drive. That will be a turn-off for some. At least the included 4GB of RAM and roomy 640GB hard drive are a little above standard for the size and price.

The U31SD-A1 we reviewed has a 2.1GHz second-generation Intel Core i3-2310M processor. The performance of this Sandy Bridge Core i3 CPU is rock-solid for everyday work, but it's notably slower than the Core i5 processors we've seen in recent, similarly priced laptops such as the Toshiba Portege. Performance benchmarks show the Asus U31SD-A1 falling into the middle of the pack of notebooks with identical Core i3-2310M CPUs such as the HP ProBook 5330m.Interestingly, the Asus U31SD-A1 comes with pretty decent Nvidia discrete graphics, too. The GeForce 520M GPU has Optimus automatic switching and performed well enough in our game testing to suit most mainstream games. Street Fighter IV ran at 44.3 frames per second in full-screen native resolution with 2x antialiasing. It's an odd disconnect for discrete graphics to be paired with a lower-end Core i-series CPU, but these step-up graphics are one of our favorite features on this laptop, so we won't quibble.

The HP Pavilion dv7-6101sa's aluminium shell makes it both sturdy and attractive. With a 17.3-inch screen and Beats by Dr Dre speakers, this laptop is also well suited to movie playback. But, at around £560, is its performance any cop?Measuring 416 by 36 by 275mm, the dv7-6101sa is no commuter's friend. You'd be hard-pressed to squeeze this laptop into a rucksack. In fact, if you're going to stuff it into a bag, you might like to consider one that has wheels -- this machine weighs a not inconsiderable 3kg. That's what we call a port line-up. The 17.3-inch screen begs to be your media buddy. It's bright, with decent contrast and colour levels, making this laptop a good choice for watching flicks. The dv7-6101sa bears 'Beats Audio' branding, after Dr Dre's line of bass-heavy Beats headphones. We tested the speakers with some dirty dubstep tunes. Compared to the utterly appalling speakers on most laptops, these ones provided plenty of volume, as well as more bass, thanks to a small subwoofer on the underside of the machine.

While the speakers are definitely better than average, you'll still need to hook the laptop up to a proper speaker set, or use some good headphones, if you want to fully enjoy your music and movie soundtracks.The dv7-6101sa is wrapped in a very sturdy brushed-aluminium shell. The sleek metal is also found on the keyboard surround and wrist support. The whole package looks rather stylish and up-market. If it's important to you, most people will probably think you paid more than £560 for this machine.The keyboard itself has isolated, square keys that are set slightly too far apart for our liking. They're decent enough to type on, but it took us a while to get used to the feel of them. Thanks to the large chassis, HP has been able to whack in a numeric keypad to the right, but, for some reason, felt it necessary to make the up and down arrow keys half-size, so they're awkward to use. Those half-size up and down arrow keys make our blood boil. The trackpad is of an average size. We aren't keen on the coating, though, as it makes the trackpad feel stickier than it needs to be. The buttons are fat and wide but feel pretty cheap and unpleasant to click. It's not a major point, but we do appreciate the click of a good button.

You'll find a decent set of ports around the side, including two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI and VGA outputs, two headphone sockets, a mic socket and a multi-format card reader. We were disappointed to see a DVD drive, rather than Blu-Ray drive, on this guy -- if it really wants to be a movie mogul, it should let us use our high-definition discs. At this price, we can't complain too much though.The dv7-6101sa packs a 1TB hard drive, so you can safely download as much hi-def content to your machine as you want, without worrying too much about it eating up of all your storage space.There's no denying that Sony makes great laptop hardware. Its Vaio brand is often a go-to choice for design-minded shoppers, and the brand's relative scarcity in retail shops (compared with HP, Dell, and others) makes it desired by those wanting to stand out from the laptop crowd. Add in the fact that most Vaios are in the upper registers of the price spectrum, and you have one of the only laptop lines that can make Apple's MacBook Pro feel populist by comparison.

The Vaio E series is one of the less expensive Vaios, and this particular Vaio EB (the reasoning behind the Vaio naming scheme still eludes us after years of study) clocked in at $799, but can be found for $50 to $100 less online. For the sheer quality of the physical hardware you get--this system looks slick and feels rock solid--it's a great deal. However, the EB44FX is sadly saddled with an outdated CPU.For a laptop released halfway through 2011 to have a late 2010 Intel Core i3 CPU is inexcusable. This isn't just a case of keeping up with the Joneses; the current Intel chips bring not just a reasonable bump to performance, but also significantly better battery life and better integrated graphics. Most laptop makers have phased out the older parts (except, perhaps, for the lowest-end budget systems), and for a midprice laptop such as this, Sony should do the same.

From our anecdotal conversations with laptop buyers over the years, it's safe to say that next to Apple, Sony is probably the No. 1 laptop brand choice for design snobs (a term we use without prejudice, as it probably applies to us). While not as fancy as the high-end Vaio S or Z series laptops, the E series model is still quite a looker.Our review unit came with a pearlescent white interior, offset by a light gray lid and black base. Sony being a big proponent of laptop colors that pop, several other color options are available, and many current Sony Vaio laptop models can be dressed up with a custom-fit keyboard skin.These little rubber overlays, which are designed to fit specific Vaio laptop models, come in a wide variety of colors, and cover the entire keyboard area, edge to edge. To hear Sony tell it, these have been incredibly popular, and nearly everyone who buys a Vaio laptop in one of Sony's retail stores walks out with one or two of these $20 accessories. Truth be told, it's pretty fun to change up the look of your laptop in an instant; the swath of color from the keyboard skins fits the existing design perfectly, and if you choose a complementary color, it can look as if the laptop was designed that way in the first place.

The skins do, however, make the excellent Sony keyboard a little harder to use. They grip tightly, but not quite tightly enough, and the rubber skin moved just enough under our fingers to lead to more typing errors than usual. With practice we did get better, and of course the keyboard skins are entirely optional.The widely spaced island-style keys have long been a favorite, with full-size Shift and Enter keys. This midsize model also has a full number pad and there's a trio of quick-launch buttons above the keyboard (just outside of the area covered by the keyboard skin). The quick-launch buttons launch a self-help support suite, a Web browser, and Sony's proprietary multimedia software.The touch pad, though not as large as it could be on a system this size, was especially pleasant to use, thanks to a slightly raised dot pattern that offered just enough tactile feedback. Big left and right mouse buttons sit beneath, and the entire touch-pad package is centered under the keyboard spacebar, which means it sits slightly to the left on the chassis, as the keyboard is offset by the number pad on the right.

You may want to jump into the touch-pad settings and shrink the default right-side scroll zone. We've always found it set too wide on Sony laptops, and are constantly accidentally triggering it while moving the cursor.The 15.5-inch display is one of the few areas where the lower price is evident. The screen resolution is 1,366x768 pixels, which is common enough for budget-to-midprice 15-inch laptops, but the Vaio EB looks like a more expensive machine, so our eyes expect a higher screen resolution. Off-axis viewing was decent, but the screen is so glossy we easily picked up glare and reflections from nearby lights.As a nice bonus, Intel's Wireless Display technology is included. With it, you can beam your desktop (including video or photos) to any nearby TV with the help of a sold-separately receiver box. It's not quite fast enough for gaming, but for video playback, it's great.The company has been working to make Chrome less power-hungry for some time, with old rival Microsoft insistent that its own browser Edge is the more power-efficient of the two.Google says that Chrome 57 will throttle individual background tabs "by limiting the timer fire rate for background tabs using excessive powerâ€.

The most important feature for many laptop shoppers is battery life, and rightly so. We carry these devices to meetings, to class, on airplanes and even just from room to room at home. Maximizing time away from the power outlet keeps you mobile and lets you move around without lugging a power brick.Based on the extensive battery testing conducted in the CNET Labs, these are the 25 PCs with the longest battery life scores over the previous 12 months, including Windows and MacOS laptops, Windows 2-in-1 hybrids, and Chromebooks running Google's Chrome OS. (Not included are Android or iOS tablets.)This week we run down the best battery life laptops of 2011, and you'll never guess what the No. 1 system is. Ty pops in with some TV buying advice and clears up the whole LCD/LED thing, while Scott offers last-minute holiday gift ideas. Also, check out this demo of the OnLive app playing high-end PC games through an iPad.Are you tired of poor battery life from your Windows laptop? If so, we're here to help. Our battery-saving tips will help you get the most out of your laptop's battery, so you can leave the power adapter in your bag a little longer.

Begin with the most aggressive battery-saving options and customize the power plan as you go. In Windows 7, start with "Maximum Battery Life" and adjust the settings to your preferences. These settings will tell Windows to adjust the brightness when running on battery, when to dim the display, when to turn off the display, and when to put the computer to sleep.While adjusting power plans, click on "Change advanced power settings" and set the period of inactivity before Windows turns off the hard disk. Also, enable hibernation so when you walk away from your laptop for an extended period of time, your laptop will turn off. Hibernation differs from sleep in that hibernation saves your work to the hard disk and actually shuts off the computer. Sleep saves your work to RAM and turns off the display and hard disk, but draws more power so it can be quickly resumed. We recommend experimenting with the other advanced settings to get the best results for your needs.

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