Laptop Notebook Reviews

it's been awhile since I've exclusively work of oven notebook almost eight years in fact and when the opportunity arose to review the new Dell XPS 13 I was has an app first to leave the comfort of my triple LC I some home PC setup, but that during has brought me here a review, up the last notebook you may ever need the record and stream in 1080 P in 60 fps with DVD is extreme can view 3, now hold disclosure I've never been a fan of doubt in fact working retailers give me a predispose native opinion of the company based on the fact that customers usually came in with broken Dell's or customers on the phone asking where to find proprietary del RAM so they can upgrade their dying laptops

so going into this review I wasn't expecting to be wowed that would change so our contact at Dell sent us over an entire a care package for XPS 13 everything arrived in this awesome box lined with foam and inside we found a backpack with many zippers a premium sleeve for the XPS, a power brick portable power companion, Adele 4 in 1 USB 3 travel adapter, and of course the Dell XPS 13

now it's is important to note that the XPS 13 that you buy might not come with all these extra goodies so just add up let star of the specs or model that we received the XPS 13 as you might have guessed has the 13-inch screen in an 11-point nine-inch body actually measures 304 million years by 20 min me is for those wondering and it weighs in at 2.8 pounds for the touchscreen model

this one speaking touchscreen has Dell's fancy culture shock you HD Plus infinity display more on that later and the CPU is an Intel Core i5 5200 you gigabytes of ddr3 RAM 256 gigabytes of storage and Intel 5500 graphics the machined billet aluminum exterior of the Dell XPS is simply gorgeous and I truly mean that in terms of the eye on the down we have the power in Mini Display Port one USB 3 ports headset in and a bundle when pressed tells you battery life, moving past the indicator for battery we have one up to side firing speakers on the right hand side we have another speaker, a4 size SD card reader another USB 3 ports,, and a Kensington lock now if you don't think this is enough parts for you, you can actually get you some wannabes handy dandy travel adapters applause in 21 the USB ports and gives you an extra HDMI VGA Ethernet and a USB to port

now on the inside we have the IPS touch display or the Infiniti's display as del closet with edge to edge Corning Gorilla Glass so we got a 5.2 millimeter bezel and how delicate sheep this worst move the webcam from its normal standard top middle position down to the bottom left corner now this may have seems like a bit of a bizarre move on does part but the location works out taking selfish and having any sort video conferencing calls and it's well worth having out near borderless screen rather than having more depth added to the final product, on the keyboard cited things we have a white backlit chic let keyboard with a precision touchpad surrounded by carbon fiber palm rest now we all know I'm a sucker for carbon fiber onto the experience with that Dell XPS 13 I spent more than a week with the unit so far but the first thing that impressed me other than the notebook itself was the included power adapter Alice tiny thing can take three different forms and here's what I mean

the power adapter can either lay flat or stand straight and what if this isn't long enough with the cable unraveled well just the touch this portion attach the standard Mickey mouse head plug in you have a traditional power adapter with wires coming out both ends I mean let's face it if you buy a sexy notebook like this and it came with the giant traditional power brick you'd be pretty miserable to speaking of power my experience with battery life has been above average so far compared to other notebooks and ultrabooks with the Dell XPS lasting 15 hours with copious consumption up medium albeit that far from that claimed 15 our started by Dell with Intel’s wireless web benchmark five hours isn't enough well you can squeeze a bit more Jews are the XPS with the optional Dell power companion this twelve thousand million power bank will provide your XPS 13 with more battery life empower other devices while like phones or tablets I just find it redone didn't that you actually need the XPS is power or adopter to charge the power back

kind defeats the whole purpose I mean the power bank if you have the charger I mean wise will use charges that Arabic but top 1000 Mile empowered that's a lot and it comes with different adapters for different does as well so that's cool the keyboard was probably the hardest thing to get used to all the Dell XPS 13 maybe it's just been my years abuse are mechanical keyboards but I being felt weird at times and there are a bunch times right just wanted a plug a mechanical keyboard just the right this review but the one upside to the keyboard that it is a backlit making it a whole lot easier to work in a doc still the keyboard IQ is the biggest letdown out the XPS 13 watching content on XPS is quite a delight with the 3200 by 1800 resolution no black bars on the top or bottom one watching YouTube videos and that's all we really want is an no black bars US now even though that sounds like an unusual perk it definitely provides more immersive experience while consuming media but with that being said are you didn't have some minor backlight bleeding on the bottom half to the left and right sides which does take away from the beauty of the almost Bester screen, the sidebar speakers are surprisingly loud for all to pick up the size I mean to be fair I wasn't expecting dealt the lover on the hillside things which resulted in me being taken aback so

the speakers a good so who is the Dell XPS 13 meant for honestly with different price points and specs ranging from core i3 to core i7 level of performance I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for portability empower without having to go over to the apple cider things what I said okay the Dell XPS 13 is definitely a contender for anyone looking to get a Mac Book air but might want stick with Windows and or not sell their soul for Mac, that's just my opinion.

all kidding aside I've always had bad impressions up Dell products in general and with the Dell XPS 13 shown up during the past CES I was definitely intrigued to say the least and when the opportunity arose to review the XPS I have my doubts at first it handled everything after added from running the script to repine emails and watching TV shows and watching movies but this past week and have spent with the XPS 13 has really got me to think will this be the last notebook you may ever need I would think yes until downsized improve on XPS by adding USB Type C,  just saying so that's it for this quick is review of the Dell XPS 13.

I thought I'd try something a little bit different you know Dell makes these XPS ultrabooks, they're nice ultrabooks for a Windows effect this one has a Windows eight key on it but I running Windows 8 on here this is running Ubuntu Linux this is the Dell XPS 13 developer edition and it is a Linex laptops at the first the dell has sold but it's been a while since we've seen one it's got a boon to 1204 long term support version on it now that's important explain why a second I in it runs at the box beautifully the camera works a nice HD camera keyboard trackpad one other problems a lot of people have with putting limits on existing laptop is going that track better be responsive to work well in this one does because Dell's provide all the drivers for all the hardware them

 they made Uses our sources the hardware they make sure that Ubuntu 1204 worked fine and it does and you might want stay with 1204 LTS because if you go to a version 13 as I did things may not work quite as well the drivers may not be as readily available I found one thing that broke immediately was chrome because somehow for some reason Ubuntu and never Jan 13 eliminated the key library the crime was using crumbs Google's fix this by offering a chrome install that fixes that labor buttery awhile to figure out what was going on and that's really the problem if you're a Olympics geek you're goanna love this but I can't recommend Line is an alternative desktop for anybody who would normally be in the market for Windows or Mac

it's a pretty beefy machine it's gotten three-point up to 3.1 gigahertz, i7 in here eight gigs ddr3 RAM, a 256 gigabytes SSD so it's fast and I love the screen in 1920 by 1080 13.38 screen very high resolution very crisp I it doesn't say IPS but I think it must be IPS given that I cant did look at this angle and read the screen very clearly I'm it's a really spectacular screen at that resolution you know 9020 I by 1080 on a 13 screen this is the kind thing latex kicks love because they have a nice big terminal they get a nice big I D E they can have a chat working running they'd like to have more on your, it does have a AL at nice a mini display port on the side and I was able to drive a variety among others with that no problem it's even got usb3 and USB to you to ports on it no SD card I am and the keyboard doesn't light up which does your couple things that people buy windows left us maybe a little surprised at under three pounds its light its then no optical drive but a very nice developer edition a tell you a course if your Linux kin you probably part of the fun of it is getting a two-run on Windows hardware but if you don't want spend the energy doing that this is a great choice for a developer anybody who wants to use latex just pure straight at the box I did a couple customization some us right away I'm not a fan of the Unity desktop that would who is chosen for 1204 so I replaced it with the ex Ubuntu's Xfce desktop action using X Ubuntu desktop with Xfce that's a nice lightweight effect Linus Torvalds recommend said he says I don't like unity either, so he uses Xfce not a perfect desktop but that's where the Vantage is a flex very customizable

pros and cons are or what I didn't mention the biggest but I'll save it for the cons a pros and cons on this the Pro is fabulous screen it is Linex at the box works great everything works great and it's a high end laptop with a lot of nice features const no backlit keyboard I am that kind of a negative and lack of an SD card I am out mostly though the biggest con is the price 1649 dollars this is a pricey laptop I after 1549 1649 is that is this starting price but for some reason tell the San ever sell it at that price they take a hundred bucks off the top okay 1549 still very pricey pretty much the same prices are Acer s7 which arguably has some a advantages over if you're good with clinics and drivers I am I think you probably just buy a Windows laptop and the pull-in excite yourself is so strange though to see a Windows 8 K I connect a laptop come on tell make you Kb how was a good pop this one of put one with the talks on OK would you do me a favor that's ridiculous at least they do take off the windows inside and they do give you a little Ubuntu logo on the bottom I do I love how it feels it's fun having a Linux laptop that works so well at the box but I have to say it's a don't buy simply because the price you can get a cheaper laptop or a laptop with more features at the same price pull-in excite yourself

the new 2015 Mac Book Pro and Mac Book Air I'm going to compare the two machines against one another so what should you purchase that dinner cheaper Mac Book Air where this slightly more expensive slightly heavier Mac book pro with improved specs and apples revamped track pad let's find out

you at a preference for details on my new iphone 6 Giveaway Redis pick you up and stick around until the end Navistar we're going to run through some specifications and benchmarked has on Apple's latest Mac battery for Ashes following a quick boot up, now although both have them are equipped with 128 gigabytes have onboard PCI based flash storage the Mac Book Pro will actually Buddha head a Mac Book Air now looking at the specs these are both the bees 13-inch models which will provide an accurate representation under varying levels of performance, as the two are corresponding models across both the Pro and air Mac Book lines on the left we have the less powerful air which features a 1.6 gigahertz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU with turbo boost up to 2.7 gigahertz and Intel’s integrated HD graphics 6,000 as well as four gigabytes Bram now on the right the beast 13 inch Mac Book Pro is powered by 2.7 gigahertz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU with turbo boost up to 3.1 gigahertz and Intel’s iris graphics 6100 as well as 8 gigabytes of RAM

so we already have a processor that one point one gigahertz or 41 percent faster not counting Turbo Boost better graphics capabilities and double the RAM on the pro but let's use some tools to determine whether this back improvements are nominal or provide significant performance boosts will start with Nova banks which evaluates a number it's back related factors including processing power traffics capabilities toward read and write speeds, in more to provide a cumulative computing score that axes a numeric representation up the computers overall power hence the term benchmark speeding this process along we have a general score a $587 on the air versus 732 on the perot with a significant jump in mostly attributed to the processor, well interestingly they score about the same for the graphics pass processing 95 n97 3d frames per second with the latter of course being a pro

next we'll look at the flash storage which is indeed the same capacity on both being 128 gigabytes using black magic it will write a file to the storage and in turn I read it to assess the speed abort tasks in theory they should score the same scene as they're the same capacity right, pretty much after letting it run for a while they both have write speeds between 632 640 megabytes per second in read speeds around 1332 1340 megabytes per second

another we have the ride at the way I'm going to conclude by briefly getting into the opinion portion of this comparison, starting with the bees price have both been 999 dollars and twelve hundred ninety nine dollars for the Mac Book air and the Mac Book Pro respectively I personally think that if you're spending, the money to buy a Mac but anyway and if you can afford it due to the combination a better specs on the pro, the retina level resolution on the pro which air doesn't even come close to you as well as the completely revised track pad which is extremely cool seeing as it doesn't click or moving anyway like a traditional track pad would thanks to the same tactic engine found in upcoming Apple watch I think the more expensive Mac book pro is the way to go

class but the new Mac Book Apple unveiled last week being dinner lighter and having a higher resolution than the air the machine is somewhat antiquated additionally its footprint is actually larger than that above the Mac Book Pro which has an infinitely better design in my opinion with that said for me at least the Mac Book Pro is the clear winner

2015 the year that my mom's finally lost the battle on their display, is the Dell XPS 30 mister the 2015 version, this is the laptop that we saw at CES back in January this is the Dell laptop it's an ultra-portable a 13-inch laptop basically an 11-inch form factors of you familiar with the 11-inch MacBook Air, it's like the 11-inch MacBook Air but the screen size, is comparable to that have a 13 inch laptop and how they were able to do that was basically by eliminating the basil around the LCD the lid is basically all scream, there's not much of a basilar to speak up after seeing it and using it I believe that all laptop LCD is will follow this design in short order

this is like when they added much to laptops yes once upon a time laptop did not have an integrated pointing device was just a keyboard and then somebody said we need to fix that and then Compaq tried to put a trackball on the LCD screen and then that didn't work and it was just a mess and so here we are finally somebody was like we finally have the technology to eliminate the laptop LCD bezel and thus was born this you know it's gorgeous really is no reason not to do it this way.

the XPS 13 is a little thicker and heavier than I expected though but it somehow doesn't feel bulky it does feel solid and well engineered, the lid is equal parts aluminum frame fuse with the relatively fixed touch class you can see this sort of looking at the edge but is fused to so while they don't detect me give at all even pushing on the back to this it feels like one piece if you like what I would expect something from Star Trek true like because the changes to the LCD, the webcam has to be located in the lower left-hand side of the display this is really the only sort of Basel area to speak up sort is at the bottom of the display, so that's where they stuck the webcam this is the maximum angle that the display can be open to the lower part of the keyboard is aluminum and service carbon fiber bill says its carbon fiber with touch-friendly paint or something but it feels like carbon fiber and it doesn't really give when you push down on it the only complaint I have here is the code else is the key word travels 1.3 mil meters I say the last point one millimeters at that feels like you're smashing the key into some sort of up like oatmeal I guess just the way those keys bottom out just not very satisfying to me on this is that this is really in new pics I don't read too much into that

the touchpad however is the largest I've ever seen on a 13 inch Dell it's also the best touchpad that I have ever used on any Dell hands down Bell has finally got the track pad exactly right the track pad on the 2014 XPS was rubbish and I’m glad to see that it has finally been fixed on the edges or USB 3.0 port with power share this means you can use a laptop battery to charge phone for example when the laptop is off you just plug cable into a put your phone into its like an auxiliary battery pack a mini Display Port Jack we test this at 4k 60-hertz much to my surprise it worked flawlessly the first time did have a bit drivers and helpful with it but which is to grow the box put into a 4k Display Port 1.2 monitor and it worked perfectly I was blown away has one headset jack 01 noble Lockport that's like the security Lockport an SD card reader in another USB 3 ports on the other side doesn't have USB 3.1 and the power adapter is just a normal you know micro bear old-style DC adapter the power brick though is tiny and really lightweight it comes with both a power cable because from the wall to the brick and this little sort of adapter religious order clip it onto the into the power brick a minute to talk directly to the wall about this is a nice touch a lot of people sort expect this now and about half the laptops out there come with this arrangement we can use a cable or the wall adapter people to travel a lot and 10+2 prefers or the wall efforts that I have to keep another table with them in the way the cable wraps from the adapters preemie

the cooling situation on this laptop is  pretty good on the bottom of the laptop there are two raised to rubber feet this has the effect absorb lifting the laptop of the work surface that you're working on running almost the entire with the laptop is a air vent has designed a poll air in from under the laptop normally this air will be exhausted arm in the LCD him up Sony LCD is open there's a gap between the LCD hinge area in the back the laptop into the air the warm air will be blown out there it'll just exhaust out up naturally even though this laptop is not as thin and light as offerings from other vendors I think it's thin and light enough is remarkably starting really feel solid you know your hands are really feels like they can carry around like to be a little bit rough with it and it's not goanna break it doesn't give in my hands doesn't really flex it doesn't do anything weird the RAM is soldered on so whatever Remy order it with his whatever Ramos goanna have now until the end of time but our friends I fix it tore this thing down in the internal him say the hard drive is not so theoretically that can be replaced and the replacement for them so hard I really didn't look like it will be that challenging although we haven't broken down this model yet another neat thing that's worth a mention is that this laptop is also available with Ubuntu how about who is the in New Linux operating system which is cool if you're into that kind thing although a lot of people seem to be opting to swap the Mini PCI wireless card for the other removable components on this with something that is better supported Ubuntu it's weird because the one that this ships with is supported in Ubuntu but apparently it bug you flick your something when the laptop wakes up from sleep or in other situations and so the consensus on the forms right now seems to be to just swap the hard work but I would be surprised by some fixed in short order in it does work out of the box is just an annoyance

overall I'm really impressed with his laptop this is a 13-inch laptop, in an 11 inch form factor with a full-size keyboard you know for 13 inch form factor a 13-inch display the display is a gorgeous 3200 by 1800 it is amazing I think all displays need this now bill doesn't actually let you get the 3200 by 1800 display and once you also get a touch version, don't get the touch for your own a good night but any for going on these pictures to get the touch screen and make sure that you're getting the for 200 by 18 100 every the spring but I was really goanna get 1920 by 1080 I think you'll be disappointed by that bob has been the overview and quick benchmarking the Dell XPS 13 2015 addition be sure to check out those benchmarks affection did not come and if you've got all these or you pick one up when you have some party running Ubuntu on other some

What if I told you that you can get a decent laptop for $150 well that's exactly what you will get if you pick up the new Chrome book from high sense? So this is the high sense Chromebook and it packs a quad-core processor with two gigabytes a ram, and 16 gigabytes of hard drive space which when compared to a flagship smartphone, kind of seems disappointing



the Chromebook is mostly made out of plastic with a woven texture finish on its cover, however the track pad an armrest is made out of aluminum, is very thin and lightweight as well weighing about 2.3 pounds, I did notice that the laptop is the fingerprint magnet and just by simply touching it you can see smudges on it, on the back at the laptop is where the speakers are located which sound the scent and they're also for rubber pads to keep it from sliding while typing

Dyson's Chromebook has an eleven point six inch LED display with a resolution of 1366 by 768, although you can increase the resolution to 1536 by 864, however the scaling makes the pond distorted and blurry which is why do you recommend you stick with the default, also on a top is the 720 P party scene camera and microphone which is sadly more than the new Mac bucks on the left side you will find the charging port a USB 2.0 an HDMI, and the other side is the headphone slash microphone port and other USB 2.0 any micro SD card reader, high sense also promises up to eight and a half hours of battery life which is really good

Specs:
Hisense Chromebook (11.6" Quad-Core Processor)
Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz
System Ram: 2 GB
Hard Drive Size: 16 GB
Laptop Screen Size 11.6 inch
Screen Type: LED Backlight, HD Display
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Card Reader Type: 1 x Micro-SD Card Reader
Battery Life: 8.5Hrs
Battery Type: Lithium Ion
Network Connection: 802.11ac/a/b/g/n Wireless LAN 2.4GHz and 5GHz Dual band

now because this is a Chromebook it is heavily dependent on internet connection , comics are basically used for browsing the internet typing up where documents and even light gaming, that I sense is running the latest software of Chrome OS and we're beginning to see more and more APs being able to run off line, which is a good thing watching videos into ATP is smooth there is no lag or starter whatsoever, but you have to make sure you are looking directly at the center at the screen because the viewing angles are pretty bad, the more you turn or till the display the more visual distortion there appears maybe try watching 4k video that's where you run into problems, there just isn't enough processing power for 4k streaming which is why the laptop starters and lags a lot, for basic games that are available through the Web Store the coma candles are pretty well with no lag

the more graphic intensive it is the more you start to see stutter and Mac, the I sent also features a full keyboard minus the 10-key and the keys are very responsive however at this feel kind spend your time zone your typing, for $150 this crime book is a pretty damn good deal if all you need is a laptop or typing up were documented accessing the Internet then this is honestly the best option for you