Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011

Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011

CloudTags: Wonderful , Emerging , Technologies , 2011 , laptop batteries uk , Samsung nc10 batteries , Dell latitude d630 laptop battery

1. Networking via LED philips cinema 219 gold series 2 300x300 Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011

Wi-Fi jammed? It won’t be a problem if you’re networking through your room lights. You heard right — scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications in Germany worked out a way to transmit data via normal LED light bulbs. Best of all, you can still use them for lighting, since the lights blink on and off too fast for the naked eye to see.

How fast? Quick enough to spew out 800 megabits per second (Mbps) — an impressive spec by home-networking standards. Only a few components are needed to upgrade a typical LED to become a networking illuminator (a term sure to be trademarked any second), which can reach an area of 10 square meters. One drawback: anyone walking between the light and your device will kill the connection.

In another category breakthrough this year, GiiNii also introduced a light bulb that doubles as a speaker.

2. Terminator Contact Lens

12113 lens article 300x199 Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011

What if there were a way to get visual alerts without even having to look at a device? That’s the promise of a high-tech contact lens that’s also a heads-up display. Researchers at the University of Washington developed a lens that includes all the electronics for displaying visual information to the wearer and still remain completely safe to eye tissue. There’s literally just one limitation: it can only display a single pixel. The proof-of-concept could lead to more advanced systems, though, and someday soon you may be able to order your own pair of augmented-reality contacts, ready to display information from Google or Wikipedia on whatever you look at, or immerse you live-action gameplay.

3. Building Better Batteries

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Several groups of researchers were working to help create a future where we don’t have to plug our gadgets in every night, and when we do, they won’t take long to charge. The Berkeley National Laboratory invented a new polymer so they could create a battery that holds 30% more charge than the lithium-ion batteries of today. Other lab coats at the University of Illinois developed a technique that might allow high-capacity batteries to charge and discharge within seconds. A grad student at Stanford is working on building batteries that could be recharged for decades without losing capacity. Other research at Stanford opens the door to transparent batteries that could be used in see-through gadgets. Put it all together and you have the high-capacity, instant-charging, long-life, transparent superbattery of the future. Maybe.

4. The PlayStation Holodeck

Star Trek‘s holodeck looks like a complete fantasy, but Sony created a convincing video that would make you think twice. Allegedly using no editing or post-production whatsoever, Sony Europe got a couple of London-based production companies to shoot a series of amazing videos that appear to create a holodeck-like experience. Is this the future of augmented reality?

5. Gadgets You Can Bend

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One problem with today’s touchscreen-heavy tech is that it’s fairly fragile (just ask anyone with a cracked iPhone). That would change if the screen wasn’t just a rigid piece of glass, but a bendable display. Nokia and Samsung have hinted at bendable phones, and one inventor at in Canada has shown it can be done.

6. Full Duplexing: A Path to 5G

6 cellphone tower 300x199 Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011 More spectrum, more spectrum, more spectrum — that’s the incessant cry of the wireless industry, and its solution to many problems it faces. The plea for more airwaves is valid, though the carriers could do a lot more with what they have now if they can make something of what Rice University researchers have built. The team managed to achieve full duplexing — effectively doubling the amount of data transmitted over a network — and they did it using current equipment. Although new wireless standards need to be developed to use the tech, it could be deployed quickly, with existing cell towers.

7. Smudge-Proof Screens

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Could touch screens of the future be immune to fingerprints? That’s the promise of a new kind of screen coating that repels oil-based substances. The German scientists behind the discovery were trying to make a new kind of eyeglass, but it could also lead to iPads that stay spotless — assuming they can make the antismudge coating scratch-proof, too.

8. Social Cloud Computing

8 social cloud computing 300x225 Top 8 Wonderful Emerging Technologies From 2011

Cloud computing — using several computers over an open network to combine their power to attack difficult computing tasks, like the SETI@Home project — has a lot of potential, but one big problem is if someone on the network is malicious, it can screw up the whole operation. It’s difficult to know who’s a bad guy, though, so information that’s even a little bit sensitive will never work on the model.

Or will it? Social networks like Facebook can provide a large group of like-minded parties, all of whom have a certain level of trust. After all, you’re already sharing the intimate moments of your life with these people — why not some processing power, too? That’s the essence of social cloud computing, an idea from researchers at the University of Montana. And you thought you were just hanging out.

What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (II)

What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (II)

CloudTags: New , PC , computer , technology , laptop battery , Dell latitude d630 battery life , Hp 510 batteries , Hp pavilion dv4

What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (I)

9. Place Your Programs

overclocking 415 300x216 What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (II)

We can’t decide for you what software is most necessary for your needs. We can say generically that no PC is complete without at least an office suite, a photo-editing tool, a media manager, Web browser (see above) and e-mail. And there are free alternatives for almost any program you might need; see our no-cost favorites in The Best Free Software of 2011.

If you want the same setup as your previous machine, check the Program Files folder on the C: drive of your old PC. Make a list of the programs there using an online word processor like Google Docs so you can access the list from any computer. Keep in mind that you’ll also want to carry over the settings and log-in info for e-mail and IM clients. Gather those monstrosities known as registration codes for your software. Record them somewhere permanent and accessible.

Write them on the discs themselves with a thin-tipped marker, keep them in a notebook, get a tattoo; use whatever method you have for preserving data you know you will need again. Some software is limited to a certain number of machines.For example, iTunes 10.5 (also an Editors’ Choice) will only play songs you’ve bought online on up to five PCs. So check that the software is de-authorized on the old PC if you won’t be using it there ever again.

10. Tune-Up Time

On the right hardware, Windows 7 is impressively fast, but tweaks always helpperformance. You have to decide: do you want a system that works great or is good looking? Here are a few steps to tweak your new PC’s performance in favor of speed, not appearance:

• Set the desktop to a plain, one-color background. Big photographic wallpaper can slow load time.

• If you’re not into desktop widgets along the screen’s edge, or maybe prefer those from another source (like Google), turn off Windows Sidebar. It takes up space on your desktop. In Vista, go to the Windows Sidebar Properties control panel and deselect Start Sidebar when Windows starts. In Windows 7, the control panel is renamed Windows Gadgets. But you can just right click a gadget to remove it, and it won’t come back unless asked.

• Aero is the name for the fancy graphics interface that delivers things like transparency in windows. Cool as it looks, Aero can slow down your system. In Vista’s Personalization control panel, select Windows Color and Appearance. In the next window, click Open classic appearance properties.

Change the color scheme to something else, such as Windows Standard, and click Effects to turn off menu shadows and the ability to see windows as you drag them. In Windows 7, you can deactivate features like transparency individually.

• Go to the System control panel, click System Protection, and on the Advanced tab, click the button in the Performance box. If you turn off every option under Visual Effects (like animated controls, fading menus, and shadows under your mouse cursor) by selecting “Adjust for best performance,” it should speed things up.

• If you’ve got a very fast USB thumb drive, insert it and activate Windows ReadyBoost. This cache can help a bit with performance while the drive is inserted.

• Adjust the power settings, especially if you’ve got a laptop that is unplugged while in use. The “high performance” pre-sets will drain juice faster.

• Download and install Soluto, a free tool that measures your boot time and helps you either remove or delay applications that might be slowing your start time.

11. Review Hardware

Getting a new PC is the perfect opportunity to reassess the hardware peripherals attached to your old PC. Before you start plugging things from that ancient XP machine into that snazzy Windows 7 system, consider carefully how much you need them. Do you really need that ancient flatbed scanner now that the pictures you take are digital? For some, the answer will be no.

Ancient USB hubs (you probably have more ports on your new box, and you don’t want a hub that doesn’t support USB 3.0), old-school ink-jet printers, and low-capacity portable hard drives could probably all stand a refresh if not outright dumping. Old hardware moved to a new PC means you need the latest drivers. DriverMax can back up drivers for when you need them later. However, it doesn’t upgrade your old XP drivers to new Windows 7 drivers, so you still need to do the legwork. Hit the manufacturer’s Web site for your scanner, printer, camera, media player, and so on to download what you need.

That mouse and keyboard that came with your new system should be considered suspect. PC vendors aren’t known for including highly ergonomic input devices. Consider instead the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 set, which comes with a wireless ergonomic keyboard and mouse. In fact, consider an ergonomic keyboard and mouse even if your new PC is a laptop, especially one you don’t move around much. Your wrists will thank you later.

12. Register Everything

It’s no guarantee of great technical support, but if you register your PC with the manufacturer, as well as the software and peripherals with their respective creators, you stand a better chance of being recognized when the time does come to call for help—and you know that time will come. Getting a vendor to honor a warranty might depend on knowing when you bought or received the product. Registering online is relatively painless.

One downside is that registration can also put your name on endless mailing lists, so if that bothers you, deselect that option when signing up or create a special email address that you can use to filter them. For example, Gmail users can stick a random period in the first part of their address (such as your.name@gmail.com) and it will still come to the account, but you can filter messages sent to it into special folders. Keep in mind that it’s smart to be registered in case there’s a recall—you don’t want to be the only person walking around with a laptop battery that might catch on fire, do you?

Easy, Mac

itunes match 300x168 What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (II)

One thing you don’t have to worry about with a Macintosh computer is crapware. Companies like Dell or HP can justify lame extras by claiming they provide functions that are unavailable (or insufficient) in Windows. The MacOS andhardware is a closed system controlled by Apple, a company that prides itself on user experience. It’s not about to sully that rep with a bunch of third-party junk; it would have no one to blame but itself. Of course, Apple will gladly sell you some extras, like the iWork and iLife suites. Mac OS X Lion (version 10.7) comes with an application firewall to control any connections made by your software to the Internet.

You can find it in the System Preferences folder to make adjustments. As for antivirus software, you can buy it— Symantec makes some—but Apple’s market share is still small enough that the Mac is seldom a target of malware. After your initial setup, the first thing you should do is setup Time Machine. Simply connect a USB or FireWire hard drive that’s larger than your internal hard drive, and Lion will ask you if you want to set it up as a Time Machine backup drive. Say yes, and the drive will be erased (make sure it’s a drive you can spare). Then Lion will periodically backup your changed files to the Time Machine backup. Time Machine backs up your entire computer, including the OS and applications.

That way you if your internal drive ever falls apart, you can simply put in a new drive and restore from the Time Machine backup. Time Machine will also help you migrate to a new Mac once your current Mac becomes too slow three to six years from now. Migrating files from an old Mac to a new is a breeze. In the Applications/Utilities folder, find the Migration Assistant. Hook the two Macs together with a Firewire cable and run the Assistant. The settings from the older Mac (with Mac OS 10.4.10 or later) will transfer to the new system with Lion. That includes data like browser bookmarks and user profiles. It doesn’t include apps that come with the Mac OS; Apple assumes the new Mac will have the latest Safari, for example. If you’ve got a modern MacBook, including the Firewire-free MacBook Air, you can migrate files over your wireless network.

If you use Apple’s iCloud service, it will do you one better: your Safari bookmarks, contacts in the address book, iCal calendars, and even your documents folder can be synced over the Internet. Just sign into and check the checkboxes for each function in the iCloud control panel. Most of that info can be synced to your iOS devices (iPhone, iPod, iPad) as well. If you’re going from Mac to Windows, or vice versa, you can always fall back on a USB drive to move files, but you’re on your own finding the data you want to transfer. And it’s slow. A faster method might be the Media Sharing Cable for PC and Mac from Kensington. This $60 cable allows you to drag and drop files between systems—very handy for really big media.

That’s a lot to pay, however. You might prefer to network the Mac and Windows, even if it is a struggle. Of course, if you plan to use both the Mac and Windows PCs regularly, real-time synchronization is definitely the way to go, and as stated, our favorite, DropBox, will do that between folders on multiple Windows and Mac OS systems.

What to Do with Your Old PC

essential programs 300x180 What Everybody Ought to Know About New PCs (II)

You can probably put your old PC to some kind of good use. But sometimes, you want that old dinosaur out of your sight. Here are some options to consider:

1. Revitalize it. You may think that ancient laptop is too slow for use, but try installing a Linux-based operating system like Ubuntu 10.10 (“Maverick Meerkat”) Netbook Edition. It may turn that geezer into the perfect Web-surfing speed demon.

2. Give it away. Whether you hand it down to family or to a local charity, there’s got to be someone clamoring for your old, working PC. If you can’t find anyone, check www.freecycle.org for a mailing list of people in a city near you who love free stuff. Your junk is their gold.

3. Pick a dump spot. Find a PC Donation center in your area that will make sure PC toxins don’t end up in a landfill. Search Earth 911.com or MyGreenElectronics.org for places that will dispose of electronics responsibly. No matter what, sanitize that hard drive before you pass it on. At the very least, format the drive and reinstall the operating system before recycling the old PC.

If you’re extra paranoid, keep in mind that formatting isn’t enough to be 100 percent certain data is completely unrecoverable. Specialty softwareDarik’s Boot and Nuke or Active@ KillDisk – Hard Drive Eraser will do the job for free, but the job can take hours and hours. There’s always the Swiss cheese option: Take the drive out to the workshop and drill holes through it. Bullet holes will accomplish the same thing, but that’s overkill, even for your data.

Top 5 Laptops Had the Longest Battery Life in 2011

Top 5 Laptops Had the Longest Battery Life in 2011

CloudTags: Laptops , Longest , Battery Life , laptop batteries , Dell latitude d630 battery life , Acer aspire 5920 , Toshiba pa3536u-1brs batteries

Presented here are the top five 2011 laptops for battery life, as measured by our in-house video playback battery drain test. It’s easy to guess that Apple makes at least one appearance on this list, but there are some surprises as well. Note that these rankings only include integrated batteries, not secondary add-on slice batteries. If we included those, systems such as Sony’s Vaio Z, with a combined 634 minutes between its internal battery and a $150 add-on slice battery together, would make the list.

Note that these rankings only include integrated batteries, not secondary add-on slice batteries. If we included those, systems such as Sony’s Vaio Z, with a combined 634 minutes between its internal battery and a $150 (£96) add-on slice battery together, would make the list.

5. Apple MacBook Pro Winter/Spring 2011 (2.7GHz Core i7, 13-inch) macbook pro 2011 i1 Top 5 Laptops Had the Longest Battery Life in 2011

With a boost from Intel’s Core i-series CPUs and the switch from Nvidia graphics to Intel’s built-in HD3000, this version of the popular MacBook Pro ran for 418 minutes.

The good: CPU updates offer big leaps in performance; phenomenal battery life; excellent ergonomics, keyboard, and large, smooth, multitouch clickpad are still among the best available; 720p HD Webcam.

The bad: Graphics performance is slightly worse than last year’s 13-inch Pro; 13-inch screen resolution still low compared with the MacBook Air; Thunderbolt port still an unknown until accessories become available; limited upgrade options; expensive; no HDMI or Blu-ray.

The bottom line: Despite retaining the same price and look as last year’s model, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro’s significant CPU updates and fantastic battery life make it one of the top laptops we’ve reviewed, provided you can live with passable integrated graphics.

4. Toshiba Portege R835
portege r835 p56x laptop Top 5 Laptops Had the Longest Battery Life in 2011

This popular, reasonably priced 13-inch laptop also managed to deliver awesome battery life, running for 421 minutes.

The good: With a new Intel Core i5 CPU, sharp design, and nearly all-day battery life, the Toshiba Portege R835 is a smartly priced alternative to the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The bad: Intel’s integrated graphics are better than they used to be, but still not gamer-friendly, and features such as Bluetooth and mobile broadband are missing from some configs. There’s no Blu-ray option (only DVD), and the speakers are somewhat anemic.

The bottom line: Excellent battery life, a light weight, and great pricing make the Toshiba Portege R835 hard to beat, even in the highly competitive 13-inch laptop category.

3. Apple MacBook Pro Winter/Spring 2011 (2.2GHz Core i7, 15-inch)
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Another appearance by Apple, this time with the larger 15-inch version of the Pro, which ran for 425 minutes.

The good: Powerful updates to the CPU and GPU; excellent Apple battery life; still the best touch pad and gesture controls of any laptop.

The bad: Upgrades can get expensive; Thunderbolt is an unproven technology with as-yet no compatible products; still no dedicated HDMI, Blu-ray, or other wished-for options.

The bottom line: It’s a hefty investment, but the combination of new high-end Intel processor options and AMD graphics makes the 15-inch MacBook Pro an all-around powerhouse, with the new Thunderbolt I/O port as an added bonus.

After a now-customary period of rumors, leaks, and anecdotal evidence, Apple’s new generation of MacBook Pro laptops has arrived. And though these new models may look the same as the ones they replace, the changes under the hood are some of the most far-reaching in the history of the MacBook Pro brand.

2. Lenovo ThinkPad T420 (2.5GHz Core i5)

laptop lenovo Top 5 Laptops Had the Longest Battery Life in 2011

Lenovo’s ThinkPad business laptop line is known for its excellent quality, superior keyboards, and often, very good battery life. This recent update (being reviewed at the time of writing) to the very common ThinkPad T20 turned in one of the best battery life scores of the year at 442 minutes.

1. HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx
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Pulling off something of an upset, the longest-lasting laptop of 2011 in our test was the HP Pavilion dv7.

Few large laptops actually take advantage of the bigger footprint of a desktop replacement laptop to pack in a gigantic, powerful battery, but laptops tester Julie Rivera explains that this particular HP configuration “had a huge 100WHr, nine-cell battery”, that ran for a very impressive 513 minutes.

The good: The HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx is a nice-looking big-screen laptop with long battery life and very good performance for the money.

The bad: The dv7′s screen is low-resolution for its size and its integrated graphics drag down the performance some.

The bottom line: If you’re looking for a lot of screen real estate and enough power for work and play, the HP Pavilion dv7-6b55dx is a good place to start.

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Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop

Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop

CloudTags: Ultrabooks , Guide , Purchase , Laptop , laptop battery , Hp pavilion dv4 batteries , Dell xps m1330 laptop battery , Toshiba pa3534u-1brs

Ultrabooks are the new “It” laptops. Running Windows and carrying the latest Intel processors, laptops in this new class are feather-light and ultrathin.

With superthin Ultrabooks available now and another wave expected in the next few months, here’s how to decide which svelte laptop to buy–and when to grab it.

Intel announced the Ultrabooks label in May, and the first Ultrabook models started trickling in over the past two months. If you’re looking for a balance between portability and performance, one of these laptops may be your best bet right now. Read on to find out what you need to know about buying an Ultrabook.

2011 Ultrabooks

The first Ultrabooks out of the gate deliver on the elegant, superslim promise. The six laptop manufacturers on board so far (Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo, LG, and Toshiba) offer Ultrabooks that each weigh 3 pounds or less and measure just 0.6 inches to 0.8 inches in thickness.

Lenovo U300S2 web 540x385 300x213 Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop Lenovo IdeaPad U300s UltrabookPrices, however, are all over the map, ranging from a low of $799 for Toshiba’s Best Buy exclusive model to more than $1500 for Lenovo’s IdeaPad U300s. Compared with regular laptops that sell for under $500, the current crop of Ultrabooks isn’t cheap. You’re definitely paying for the premium design and portability of these laptops, as well as the expensive solid-state drives that most of them use.

For many people, however, a sleek, lightweight laptop that can run for more than 6 hours on one charge and promises to match the performance of larger laptops is worth such an investment. That is especially true if you’ve been seeking a Windows alternative to Apple’s popular, superthin MacBook Air, which starts at $1299 for the 13-inch model.

Buy Now or Later?

That said, the biggest consideration when you’re shopping for an Ultrabook is when to buy, since the category is still new. Tech products always cost considerably more when they’re introduced, and second-generation models often either make up for deficiencies in the earlier versions or at least add new features.

If you need a laptop sooner rather than later, though (especially if you want to take a tax deduction this year for a laptop purchase that you’ll use for business), here are the current top Ultrabook selections.

Budget choice: The Toshiba Portege Z835 costs just $799 at Best Buy, making it the best option if you need the absolute lowest price on a currently available Ultrabook. It’s also the lightest 13-inch laptop, weighing just 2.4 pounds. In his review of the Portege Z835, however, PCWorld Senior Editor Jason Cross found the performance of this Ultrabook’s Core i3 processor and other hardware to be disappointing.

Toshiba Portege Z835 main 300x249 Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop Toshiba Portege Z835 UltrabookStill, the Portege Z830 series offers some nice features, such as an array of full-size ports (hard to find on superslim laptops), a backlit keyboard, a fingerprint reader, and the TPM hardware security controller for hard-drive encryption.

Best value/longest battery life: For $100 more than the Portege (or less, in fact, with a promotion available at the time of this writing), consider the HP Folio 13. Though this model appeals to businesses with its TMP hard-drive encryption and its USB docking station, the Folio 13 offers a lot to like for all laptop users.

c03080071 300x300 Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop HP Folio 13 UltrabookIt contains an Intel Core i5 processor, a backlit keyboard, and lots of ports (somehow HP managed to fit three USB ports on this 0.7-inch-thin laptop). HP also says the battery life on this Ultrabook is more than 9 hours.

The Acer Aspire S3-951 is a good runner-up for the value category, since it also starts at $899 and offers more storage space with its hybrid 20GB SSD/320GB HDD setup (all the other currently available Ultrabooks carry only SSDs). But Acer battery life on the Aspire S3 is a bit low at just under 5 hours, and if you want USB 3.0 ports or a backlit keyboard, you need to look elsewhere.

Most compact Ultrabook: Only one manufacturer offers an 11-inch Ultrabook, and that’s Asus with its Zenbook UX21E. This 2.4-pound laptop starts at $999 for the model with an Intel Core i3 processor, but you can configure a system with a different Intel processor or an SSD larger than 64GB–for an additional cost, of course.

Ultrabook with the largest screen and a DVD drive: Samsung’s Series 5 Ultra 14-inch laptop is the only portable with the Ultrabook moniker that features a 14-inch display. It also boasts several other firsts for the class, namely an optical-disc drive, up to 1TB of hard-drive storage, and a Radeon HD 7550M graphics card. This ultraportable might be pushing the limits of Intel’s original Ultrabooks specification, however, with a weight of 4 pounds and a thickness of 0.8 of an inch. Expected to launch in Korea in late December, the Series 5 Ultra 14-incher may start around $1345.

Ultrabook Laptops Compared: Available and Announced Models

Ultrabook	Screen size	Processor	Memory	Storage	Weight (pounds)	Height (inches)	Starting price
Acer Aspire S3-951	13.3 inches	Intel Core i5 or i7	4GB	Hybrid 20GB SSD/320GB HDD or 256GB SSD	3.0	0.7	$899
Asus Zenbook UX21E	11.6 inches	Intel Core i3, i5, or i7	4GB	64GB SSD	2.4	0.7	$999
Asus Zenbook UX31E	13.3 inches	Intel Core i5 or i7	4GB	128GB SSD	3.1	0.8	$1099
Toshiba Portege Z830	13.3 inches	Intel Core i3, i5, or i7	4GB	128GB SSD	2.4	0.6	$799
Lenovo IdeaPad U300s	13.3 inches	Intel Core i7	4GB	256GB SSD	2.9	0.6	$1595
HP Folio 13	13.3 inches	Intel Core i5	4GB	128GB SSD	3.3	0.7	$900
LG XNote Z330*	13.3 inches	Intel Core i5 or i7	4GB	120GB SSD or 256GB SSD	2.7	0.6	$1500 (est.)
Samsung Series 5 Ultra*	13.3 inches	Intel Core i5	TBD	128GB SSD or Hybrid 16GB SSD/500GB HDD	3.1	0.6	$1300 (est.)
Samsung Series 5 Ultra*	14.0 inches	Intel Core i5	TBD	128GB SSD or HDD up to 1TB	4.0	0.8	$1345 (est.)

Ultrabook Announcements Expected in January

If you want more choices and lower prices, hold out until next year and wait for more competition. As many as 50 Ultrabooks are predicted to launch at the CES trade show in January. Whereas the 2011 version of the consumer electronics show highlighted the year of the tablet, 2012 may be all about these superthin laptop options.

As you probably know, however, electronics launched en masse at CES don’t always reach retailers’ shelves. And the ones that do may not be available for months, so selecting the right model is a matter of patience.

If you can afford to wait, prices are expected to fall by as much as 10 percent in early 2012, and Ultrabooks could cost just $499 by 2013.

More-Evolved Ultrabooks

Next year’s expected deluge of Ultrabooks may offer more than just lower prices, too. Word on the street suggests that Ultrabooks may gain 1080p full high-definition displays or even “retina-quality” displays and PayPass NFC technology for tap-and-pay convenience on your laptop.

Ultrabooks may even start to arrive with touchscreens that swivel, bringing back the convertible design that allows you to use your device in tablet mode or as a traditional laptop with a keyboard. The arrival of the touchscreen-friendly Windows 8 next year could give such convertible Ultrabooks a big boost.

How To Get Better Wi Fi 225x300 Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop Intel Ivy Bridge processorAlso among the major updates expected for laptops in 2012 is the debut of Intel’s next-generation processor, code-named Ivy Bridge. Current Ultrabooks already have a fairly long battery life of around 6 hours, but Ivy Bridge will take that a step further, producing noticeably longer running times as well as better graphics performance.

So far, Ultrabook adoption among computer makers has been limited to a few key players. As the category grows and as light, thin, and affordable laptops become the norm, however, you can expect other laptop makers like Dell, Fujitsu, and MSI to jump on board.

More Competition for Ultrabooks

131583 mbair large 300x124 Ultrabooks Buying Guide: What You Need to Know About Purchase an Ultrabook Laptop Of course, by the time the next group of Ultrabooks arrives, Apple may have already refreshed its MacBook Air lineup with more performance-oriented features and possibly even a 15-inch version. (Rumors peg a 15-inch MacBook Air announcement as coming in the first quarter of 2012.)

Ultrathin laptops sporting AMD processors–AMD’s answer to Intel-based Ultrabooks–are also expected to pop up in January.

Regardless, one thing is for sure: The ultralight and superthin performance laptop category should see lots of competition next year.

Both Acer and Asus in particular have shown a commitment to making Ultrabooks, and Intel’s Ultrabook subsidies indicate that the chip maker is intent on making these laptops a success against the rising tide of tablets.

If you don’t need an Ultrabook this year, it’s probably best to wait, so that you can see what next-generation Ultrabooks offer–or, at the very least, so that you can cash in on the inevitable price drops on the original Ultrabooks.

6 Free Software Packages You Should to Load on Your New PC

6 Free Software Packages You Should to Load on Your New PC

CloudTags: Software , PC , laptop battery , Toshiba pa3534u-1brs battery , Dell inspiron 1525 battery

If you’re among the lucky ones to receive a new PC this holiday season, rejoice. There are few things as exciting as the potential of a brand-new machine.

images 11 6 Free Software Packages You Should to Load on Your New PC Assuming it’s not a Mac–or a machine with Linux preloaded–Windows almost certainly came installed on your device. If you’re a Windows fan, that’s great–you’re all set for an operating system, then. If not, the hard part is choosing what to install instead.

In any case, the world of free and open source software has you covered, both for an operating system and for just about any other software you might need. Where to begin? Here are six suggestions.

1. Ubuntu Linux or Linux Mint

If you’re not crazy about Microsoft Windows, or if you’d like to have an alternative on hand, there are countless Linux options you could try.

Among the two most popular, though–and the ones most agree are best suited for new users–are Ubuntu Linux and Linux Mint.

Ubuntu, of course, was long the No. 1 Linux distribution out there, and rightfully so. It was the first to put Linux on the “map” with mainstream users, I’d argue, and it still offers a really nice, easy-to-use open source operating system. The latest version of Ubuntu is “Oneiric Ocelot,” or version 11.10, which can be downloaded for free from the Ubuntu site.

linux20mint 5234192 6 Free Software Packages You Should to Load on Your New PC Linux Mint, however, has recently usurped Ubuntu’s No. 1 spot, largely because of Canonical’s decision to begin using the Unity interface by default in Ubuntu. That’s been less than entirely popular with many longtime users, in particular, giving Mint a new boost.

Mint is a great distribution as well–also very focused on ease of use–and it gives users a number of choices for the desktop environment they want to use. So, for flexibility in your computing environment, you won’t go wrong with Mint.

There are, of course, numerous other Linux distributions as well. I’d say pick one and give it a try; if you don’t like what you see, it’s easy to switch.

2. Firefox or Chrome

Assuming you have Windows, you probably have Internet Explorer as well. There are many reasons to consider installing something else, however–either in addition or instead of that browser–and Firefox and Chrome are the most obvious examples.

Chrome recently assumed the No. 2 spot in the browser market–displacing Mozilla Firefox–and it’s widely considered the most secure choice. Firefox, however, just got a really speedy update, and it’s designed with numerous ethical considerations in mind.

All in all you really can’t go wrong with either of those, and of course they’re both free.

3. Thunderbird

Also made by Mozilla, Thunderbird is free, cross-platform e-mail client software that I’ve been using for years. It’s very easy to set up and customize, and it’s available in countless languages. Numerous extensions are available as well.

4. LibreOffice

It used to be OpenOffice.org that was the most commonly recommended free and open source office productivity suite, but over the past year or so LibreOffice has taken its place.

I use LibreOffice every day for my writing, and I can attest that it’s a great alternative to Microsoft Office and the other big competitors out there. Just like Office, it includes modules for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.

LibreOffice is free, it’s open source, it’s business-ready, and it does everything most people need. There are also lots of extensions that extend its capabilities even further.

5. GIMP

If you ever work with photos or other images, GIMP is a must-have alternative to Adobe’s expensive Photoshop software. GIMP is great for making Web graphics, creating marketing materials, and retouching product photos, and any images you create can be saved in numerous formats, including Photoshop. Once you try out GIMP’s high-end graphics editing and creation features, you’ll be amazed that it doesn’t cost anything.

6. ClamAV

Finally, whether you’re running Windows or not, it’s a good idea to have some sort of antivirus protection in place, and ClamAV is a great free choice. The popular cross-platform tool detects Trojans, viruses, malware, and more.

Cameras Smartphone Technology: The Future of the Camera

Cameras Smartphone Technology: The Future of the Camera

CloudTags: Future , Camera , Smartphone , Technology , digital camera batteries , Canon nb-4l batteries , Olympus li-10b camera battery

camera with wireless lens Cameras Smartphone Technology: The Future of the Camera

First it was smartphones integrating cameras. Could we be about to see the inverse – cameras integrating smartphone technology? That’s the concept being explored by Seattle design company Artefact. They’ve come up with an intriguing prototype for a camera that incorporates smartphone technology – a.k.a. a SmartCam. Artefact claims that innovation has stalled in the camera industry, that there hasn’t been much new in camera devices over the past 10 years. They’re aiming to shake up the camera industry and are already talking to camera companies (and others) about implementing their vision. I spoke to Artefact’s founders to learn more.

This is the fifth post in our series looking at how the user experience (UX) of consuming – and producing – media is changing with the increasing popularity of devices other than the PC. So far we’ve looked at music on smartphones, news apps on the iPad, RSS Readers on smartphones and online radio in cars.

The camera has been a staple of the technology industry since the 19th century. Nowadays, with the huge popularity of smartphones, more people carry and use a camera than ever before. The latest model iPhone – the iPhone 4 – has a 5 megapixel camera, which is more than sufficient for the casual photographer.

As smartphones integrate ever more powerful cameras, what can the traditional camera companies do to compete? While there will always be a market for high-end cameras – specialist devices used by professional photographers – it’s that middle and lower end market which is slipping away from the likes of Kodak, Canon, Olympus, Sony and Nikon.

Artefact has created a concept camera for the smartphone age, called the WVIL. That acronym stands for Wireless Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens. As you can see from the photo above, it looks like a normal camera. One obvious difference is that it detaches in two, one part looking very much like a modern day smartphone. Artefact further describes the WVIL as a “new architecture that combines the lens and sensor together into one wireless unit.”

The founders of Artefact, Gavin Kelly and Rob Girling, told me that this concept camera gave them “an opportunity to re-think how to interact with our cameras.” In the video below, you can see how touchscreen technology is used to provide a new way to interact with your photos. It essentially brings the smartphone user experience to the camera.

This isn’t entirely unique, because some high-end cameras – such as the Canon SD3500 - have touchscreen controls. Plus newer digital cameras often have input sensors (e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes). However, Artefact takes these features a step further, for example by adding apps and social functionality.

10 300x168 Cameras Smartphone Technology: The Future of the Camera Artefact is envisaging new types of software and apps for their camera. Such as software that teaches you better photography by giving you real-time coaching tips. This would use the sensors in the camera, so it knows what you’re doing and can then guide you to use a certain technique or feature if appropriate.

Artefact’s camera is, like the popular smartphones, built on a software platform that uses touchscreen technology. Other types of apps that Artefact foresees include apps that post-process photos, share images and enhance the camera’s functionality.

Finally, this concept brings the social media functionality that smartphones famously have and deposits it into a digital camera. According to Artefact, current digital cameras have limited social functionality.

For power users of photography, having the ability to manipulate and share photos direct from the camera does seem like a compelling feature. The general consumer is already well served currently by apps like Instagram and Foodspotting, so this wouldn’t be so compelling to them. Arguably smartphones still have the edge in innovation too, for example with an app like Color that mixes social networking and photography in a new and potentially disruptive way. Also see Camera+, a new photo enhancement app for smartphones.

Will Artefact’s SmartCam be implemented by a camera company? The founders told me that early discussions are under way, including with companies not currently in the camera market.

Whether or not this concept – or something like it – is implemented, the current digital camera market seems ripe for innovation. It has to innovate, because the newest smartphones have sophisticated cameras which are ‘good enough’ for the general consumer. What do you think of Artefact’s concept, would it fly with you?

Apple Patents Promise Fuel Cells Give MacBooks Battery Life

Apple Patents Promise Fuel Cells Give MacBooks Battery Life

CloudTags: fuel cells , MacBooks , battery life , Dell battery for inspiron 1525 , Sony NP-FH60 camcorder battery , Dell inspiron 1545 laptop battery

Today we’re lucky if a laptop can last six or seven hours. But what if, in a few years, notebook computers could have an uptime of days or weeks? That’s what Apple may be hoping to accomplish with a new patent. The filing shows plans to bring fuel cell power to MacBooks.

images 10 Apple Patents Promise Fuel Cells Give MacBooks Battery Life Apple appears to be looking at the possibility of powering notebooks using hydrogen fuel cells – potentially giving them a battery life of weeks.

It’s applied for two patents entitled titled ‘Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device’ and ‘Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device’.

These describe how fuel cells could be built into electronics devices and managed to optimize performance while keeping weight down.

A fuel cell is a device that uses a chemical reaction to convert chemical energy from a fuel into electricity. Bringing fuel cells to a portable computer has numerous obstacles in cost and portability, but Apple has a plan. Its method would use a hydrogen fuel cell in combination with a standard notebook battery — the fuel cell would both draw power from and provide power to the battery, creating a symbiotic relationship that would give the MacBook unreal battery life (or hydrogen life perhaps?).

download 1 Apple Patents Promise Fuel Cells Give MacBooks Battery Life Apple’s filing takes on a bit of a socio-political tone, as it details the United States’ current dependence on unstable Middle East countries for oil. It uses this to segue into the need for renewable resources, which transitions into the benefits of fuel cell power in laptops. While we have no doubt that fuel cells can help to reduce dependence on foreign oil, the huge sales potential of a laptop that lasts for weeks on a single charge might also have something to do with Apple’s interest.

This isn’t the first time that Apple has shown interest in fuel cell tech. Another Apple patent filing, uncovered in October, proposed a method of building a more efficient fuel cell by connecting them in parallel connection to a power bus.

The idea of using fuel cells for portable devices has been around for some time – Hitachi produced a methanol-based prototype back in 2003, for example. But while most existing versions are designed as separate charging devices, Apple’s planning to incorporate them right into the laptop itself.

As with all Apple patent filings, you won’t want to hold your breath on seeing it on store shelves. The company is known for patenting a thousand ideas for every one that makes it into a product. Even if fuel cells end up powering future MacBooks, we’re looking at years — if not a decade — before we actually see it.

Top Tips – How to Keep your PC Running Smoothly

Top Tips - How to Keep your PC Running Smoothly

CloudTags: Tips , PC , Running , Smoothly , Hp pavilion dv5 laptop battery , Dell xps m1330 replacement battery , inspiron 1300 laptop battery

7vgocodd Top Tips How to Keep your PC Running Smoothly

Many of the issues sent into us on the Computing Helpdesk could have been avoided if some simple house keeping steps had been taken to keep the PC in tip top condition. After all you wouldn’t keep driving your car for years and years without ever checking the oil or windscreen wash level! And so it’s no different with your computer, a little care and attention goes along way – prevention is better than cure.

Tip 1 – Install the latest Windows Updates

This is important to keep your system stable and performing reliably. Many times we have been called on to work on a reader’s computer and we discover that important updates such as Service Packs have not been applied. Many people are understandably wary of Microsoft updates, but we can assure you that the benefits outweigh the negatives. They also contain many device drivers for the gadgets you plug into your computer everyday such as drivers for external hard drives and digital cameras.

Tip 2 – Remove old programs

If you have a system running reasonably well but is several years old, you’re likely to have a number of programs you have collected over the years you don’t use anymore. Look in Control Panel, in Windows XP this will be ‘Add & Remove Programs’ and ‘Programs & Features’ in Vista/Windows 7. Click on the column tab heading at the top for ‘size’ - this will order the programs in terms of how much space they take up on your hard drive. Remove the ones with a large footprint that you are sure you do not use any more.

Tip 3 – Check for Malware

It’s very important to keep your security system up-to-date otherwise it will not work correctly. Whenever the system gives you an indication it needs updating, this is usually a small icon in the system tray (bottom right hand corner of your screen). Click on this to update it. Some systems should update automatically, but others will need some input from you, so just be aware of this. Finally run a full system scan once a week or once a fortnight just to be on the safe side; these will be more thorough than some of the quick daily system scans.

Tip 4 – Backup your files

There are all sorts of ways you can backup. Some are automated and some you can carry out yourself. Remember to backup those files that really matter to you. A good example of these types of files are your photos. A simple solution to this is to copy them to a flash drive as a backup at the same time as you are copying them to your computer’s hard drive. Another good system is to back up your files online. Some of these are free such as the Sky Drive, which is included with Windows Hotmail – you get up to 25Gb of free storage. It may not help your PC’s speed, but if you’re properly backed-up installing a fresh operating system is a lot easier.

Tip 5 – Limit startup programs

If you’ve got lots or programs opening when you boot-up, it can slow not only the boot speed but also your PC’s overall speed. To help reduce these programs, check your Notification Area (bottom right of the Taskbar). There will be a series of little icons here (and clicking on the arrow will display more).

Hover over any you don’t recognise to find out what they are. If you don’t need them to launch at startup, then right-click and choose the options or preferences setting, if offered.

There should be an option to disable auto start, run on startup or similar. Use it to stop the program launching at start up.

Top 7 Trends to Watch, CES 2012

Top 7 Trends to Watch, CES 2012

CloudTags: CES , 2012 , technology , Acer aspire 5920 battery life , Toshiba pa3536u-1brs batteries , Gateway squ-412 laptop battery

cesPREVIEW 1mf1 Top 7 Trends to Watch, CES 2012

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is like the Super Bowl of tech, and this year it will attract 140,000 attendees looking for the next big thing. What makes the show fun for us, though, is that there isn’t just one next big thing. There are several trends we’re keeping an eye on, from Microsoft’s next OS and Ultrabooks to Android Ice Cream Sandwich and the next generation of car tech.

What’s in store for CES 2012? Here are our top 7 trends to watch.

Windows 8: Hurry Up and Wait

Given that Steve Ballmer will once again kick off CES with an opening keynote, it shouldn’t be any surprise that he will trumpet the benefits of Windows 8 and the progress being made on the platform. We’ve already test-driven the sleek software using the Developer Preview on both a tablet and a laptop. And most recently, Microsoft showed off the new Windows Store, where Windows 8 users will be able to download apps.

So what’s left? Ballmer will hopefully provide more details about the launch of the public beta of the OS—planned for late February—as well as show off some exciting hardware. The challenge: keeping the excitement going all the way to the end of the year—and convincing us that the software makes just as much sense for notebooks as it does slates. This will also be Microsoft’s last hurrah at CES, as the company announced plans to pull out of the show starting in 2013.

Ultrabooks Get Bigger… and Cheaper

Rumors are swirling that Apple is readying a 15-inch MacBook Air, so you can bet that Windows notebook makers will make a pre-emptive strike at CES. We expect to see ultra-thin laptops that meet Intel’s definition of Ultrabook—less than 0.8 inches thick, fast boot and resume times—but that also stretch screen sizes beyond 13 inches. At the same time, vendors will look to undercut Apple by making their wares more affordable.

By back-to-school time, starting prices will likely sink to $699. The Ultrabook trend isn’t just for consumers, either. We expect to see at least one model tailored for the business crowd, joining the HP Folio. Also look for Intel to provide more info on its Ivy Bridge processors, which should supercharge Ultrabooks later in the year.

Ice Cream Sandwich Tablets Galore

Android Ice Cream Sandwich 300x218 Top 7 Trends to Watch, CES 2012 Now that smartphone shoppers have gotten a taste of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, it’s time for tablets to get in on the action. The software certainly looks more polished and should make multitasking easier, but it’s not clear to us yet what advantages the new OS will have for larger-screen devices. Thus far, the only hot-selling Android tablet is the Kindle Fire, which runs an older flavor of Google’s software and uses a completely different interface, so Google and its partners certainly have their work cut out.

In fact, Google’s chairman Eric Schmidt recently told an Italian newspaper, “In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.” So what does that make the stuff coming out at CES? Crap?

Nokia + Windows Phone = Relevance?

With market share at a measly 2 percent (according to NPD), Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 platform isn’t exactly setting the world on fire. But Nokia hopes to turn things around with a big push in the U.S starting in 2012. The company has scheduled a press conference for January 9th, at which many expect Nokia to unveil a variant of the Lumia 800 with 4G LTE capability. AT&T is expected to be the carrier, but it’s certainly possible that Verizon could be in the mix.

We generally liked the latest OS in our Windows Phone 7.5 review, and Microsoft’s marketplace stocks plenty of quality apps. But the hardware hasn’t really excited us. For Nokia and Microsoft, it’s put up or shut up time.

Wearable Tech Gets Smarter

According to reports, Apple is working on a bendable iPod and other wearable devices that would communicate with an iPhone. And Google has a pair of smart glasses in the pipeline that would display information on a built-in screen.In the meantime, plenty of companies are hoping to make wearable tech sexy, including the Italy-based i’m Watch. The device looks awfully similar to the iPod nano but runs Android and comes with a watchband.

WIMM is yet another company marking an Android-powered timepiece. The WIMM One has a less-sexy design, but lets you read RSS feeds on your wrist and comes with “micro apps.” The wearable tech trend also extends to fitness gadgets such as the MotoActv and Jawbone Up, so we fully anticipate similar devices to debut at CES.

Car Apps Take Over

You know it’s going to be a big show for car tech when the head of Mercedes Benz and the president of Ford are both giving keynotes at CES 2012. After all, shoppers are more psyched about apps inside their vehicles than the number of cup holders. Dr. Dieter Zetsche of Mercedez Benz will outline his “vision on the interplay between automotive innovation and the digital realm.” The brand will look to catch up in the app race and is expected to show off integration with Google’s Street View in its new vehicles, among other services.

Ford pioneered in-car tech with its Sync system, and the company’s AppLink technology lets users leverage select smartphone apps. We can’t wait to see what comes next. In fact, we’ll have two people from LAPTOP dedicated to this category alone at CES.

Smartphones Jump to Quad Core

First came the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet, but the next frontier for Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 chip is smartphones. Nvidia is hosting a press conference on January 9th, where we expect the company to show off what its chip can do inside handsets. Some expect HTC to be among the first to put Tegra 3 inside a handset, but we just don’t know yet who will be among the first partners.

So what’s the big deal about quad core? Mostly graphics performance, but Nvidia says its CPU is more efficient and uses less power. We didn’t observe any battery life gains on ASUS’ new tablet, but we have higher hopes for the first batch of superphones. And Nvidia is not alone. We’ll be meeting with Qualcomm to see a demo of its new Snapdragon S4 chip.

Fast Corporate Ultraportable Laptop: Dell Latitude E6220 Review

Fast Corporate Ultraportable Laptop: Dell Latitude E6220 Review

CloudTags: Corporate, Ultraportable , Laptop , Dell laptop , Latitude E6220 , Dell battery , Dell inspiron 1525 battery , Dell inspiron 1750 battery

Pros

Excellent battery life
Very good performer

Cons

Not cheap
Heavy for an ultraportable

Bottom Line

Though pricey for a 12.5-inch laptop, this ultraportable delivers in performance and battery life.

dell latitude e6220 1163567 g1 Fast Corporate Ultraportable Laptop: Dell Latitude E6220 Review Though not particularly svelte or eye-catching, the Dell Latitude E6220 fits the bill perfectly for a corporate ultraportable laptop. It’s fast, it has state-of-the-art components, and it has the warranty and service options that large businesses expect. It also provides battery options that let you travel light or compute for nearly a day, depending on your need.

A 128GB Samsung solid-state drive combined with an Intel Core i5-2540M CPU and 4GB of system memory powered our test E6220 configuration to an impressive WorldBench 6 score of 132. Graphics work falls to the integrated Intel HD 3000 GPU, but the E6220 still managed smooth 1080p video playback, as well as frame rates between 30 and 40 frames per second in our low detail, low-resolution gaming tests.

The E6220 is also available with a Core i7-2620M and 8GB of memory if for some reason you need even faster performance. At just over $2000 (as of December 20,2011), our test unit is hardly entry-level; with the faster CPU and doubled memory, you’ll pay $2300 and change. A 256GB SSD is an option for an additional $350.

This laptop can run for quite a while isolated from wall sockets. In fact, if you add the optional bottom-mounted battery slice, you can increase the E6220′s run time from the “mere” 7 hours, 28 minutes that the internal battery provides to somewhere in the region of 20 hours. Of course, that fat bottom battery turns the normally 3.7-pound E6220 into a heavy little 5-pound rascal, but if you need the extra computing time, you need to accept that trade-off. The bottom slice also adds a nice forward rake to the unit, which helps when you’re typing.

laptopbattery11274 Fast Corporate Ultraportable Laptop: Dell Latitude E6220 Review

Dell latitude e6220 battery
- Voltage : 11.1V
- Capacity : 4400mAh
- Battery Color : Black
- Availability : In Stock
- List Price : ~~£ 57.63~~
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The E6220 is more accurately described as sedately handsome rather than stunning. Put another way: You won’t get your head lopped off for showing up the boss’s laptop, but it still looks like you forked over more than just a couple of Benjamins for your machine.

Ergonomics, a far more important quality, are first class. Despite the small footprint of the E6220–with its 12.5-inch, 1366 by 768 display–I’d fully adjusted to the keyboard after only a few seconds. It has a nice little bounce to it that lets you quickly set up a typing rhythm. The touchpad and buttons are, in a word, smooth. The screen has a wide viewing angle and plenty of usable brightness.

We found little in the way of junkware to clutter up the Windows 7 Professional operating system our unit shipped with. The PC comes with a utility for the webcam plus Trend Micro’s Client/Server security software, and that’s about it. You can opt for lesser versions of Microsoft’s OS if you want to cut down on the price of the E6220. Most larger businesses and corporations will have their own productivity software and licenses, but you can add Microsoft Office 2010 Professional if you’d like–for the full price of $349.

Although lacking USB 3.0, the E6220′s ports and connections are otherwise state-of-the-art. You’ll find a combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port and two USB 2.0 ports, as well as both VGA and HDMI ports to handle any type of external display or projector you encounter. Bluetooth is available ($20 and present on our test unit), and Dell offers options for 802.11a/b/g/n. Ethernet is gigabit, and the laptop includes an ExpressCard slot for legacy devices. A headphone jack and dual-array microphones sit next to the 1280 by 720 Webcam for voice input.

As part of Dell’s Latitude line, the E6220 sports a standard three-year warranty, and the model is promised to be available for 18 months, with parts available for quite a bit longer. You’ll also get around-the-clock telephone support–and to be honest, you’ll be treated better than if you’d purchased a box-store unit.

The Dell Latitude E6220 is a great performer with good battery life and all the support and warranty options necessary for a fleet rollout. It’s sturdily constructed, it’s up to snuff technology-wise, and overall it’s a well designed and well conceived business laptop.

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Monthly Archives: December 2011