Asus Lamborghini VX1

Design
The VX1 comes in two flavours: black, and the more traditional Lamborghini yellow. Both are attractive, but our yellow review sample makes an instant retina-searing impression straight out of the box, making it the more suitable poser's accessory. Asus says the laptops use the same paint finish as the iconic cars, incorporating subtle golden paint flecks that catch the light of the sun, as well as the famous Lamborghini logo.

The lid of the VX1 has a moulded plastic section that is reminiscent of a car boot spoiler, but it's actually inspired by the engine cover slats of a Lamborghini Gallardo. It's a nice touch, giving the laptop a sleek overall look. Unfortunately, the 'spoiler' section of our review sample was a slightly different shade of yellow to the main body of the laptop -- a flaw which Asus says won't be present on final retail models.

Features
Any laptop bearing the name of a high-performance sports car deserves high-performance components, and the Asus Lamborghini VX1 doesn't disappoint. It's not the most insanely well-equipped laptop we've seen, but its 2GHz Intel T2500 CPU and 2GB of DDR2 RAM give it a very potent foundation from which to build.

We'd have preferred if the laptop used the 2.2GHz T2600, the fastest CPU in the Centrino Duo range, but this is an acceptable alternative. Graphics performance comes courtesy of a custom Nvidia chip, the Geforce 7400 VX. This is essentially a GeForce 7400 that was renamed for Asus' use, but it's a welcome and capable inclusion for a laptop that doesn't tout itself as a dedicated gaming machine.

Unusually, Asus has opted not to use a widescreen 16:9 display on the Lamborghini VX1. Instead, you get a 15-inch screen with a native resolution of 1,400x1,050 pixels. This is fine for everyday use, but its 4:3 aspect ratio limits the number of windows you can view side by side, and means you get a letterbox view when playing 16:9 widescreen movies. Some may take exception to the screen's glossy coating, which is a tad too reflective to use in direct light, but aside from this, we were very impressed with the image quality. Colours were recreated faithfully, and the screen was able to accurately display the subtle tonal differences.

Also impressive was the capacious 160GB hard drive. It's the largest laptop drive on the market and is perfect for storing a wealth of games and other multimedia content. You also get a dual-layer DVD rewriter drive that lets you burn up to 8.5GB of data per DVD disc. Unfortunately it's quite slow at 4x, and is a tray-loading model. We'd have preferred a slot-loading drive to help maintain the sleek lines of the laptop.

The Lamborghini VX1 features the usual assortment of ports, including three USB ports, a 4-pin Firewire port, plus a Gigabit (1,000Mbps) Ethernet port. You also get a 5-in-1 memory card reader which supports all major formats, but there's no sign of a modem -- you'll need to buy your own USB modem, as is the case with most new laptops.

All told, the VX1 has a strong specification, but its AU$4199 price tag is in excess of what you'd pay for a laptop without the Lamborghini badge.

Performance
As a high-end laptop, we expected a lot from the VX1, and it delivers in most respects. Its 2GHz CPU helped it reach a commendable PCMark 2005 score of 4,212, which isn't quite enough to catch the all-conquering Acer Travelmate 8204WLMi's tally of 4,236, but the difference between these two systems is marginal.

Where the Lamborghini trails slightly is in its graphics performance. It clocked up a 3DMark 2006 score of 1,403, which again is lower than the Travelmate's score of 1,999. In real terms this equates to 48 frames per second in Doom 3 versus the Acer's 56.6fps, both at a resolution of 1,024x768 pixels.

Ultimately, the VX1 isn't as potent in this department as many of its rivals, but it provides sufficient graphics horsepower to run most games, albeit at modest resolutions and image quality settings.

Hands-on with the Dell XPS 16:9 Full HD laptop

One of the most interesting laptops on display at CES, this 16-inch concept laptop from Dell can offer true 16:9 HD perspective, unlike the 16:10 most laptops are limited to. In other words, you'd be able to watch HD movies on your notebook without any black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. The problem is, glass manufacturers who make displays for notebooks don't like building custom sizes, so we may never get to see this concept realized. Still, Dell is probably one of the few OEMs with enough purchasing power to make something like this become a reality. Release: January 2009. Price: $2000.

Pros: True 16:9 perspective for watching HD movies

Cons: May never become a reality

SONY VGN-FZ31Z.CEK

Sony laptop featuring Windows Vista Premium, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, 300GB hard drive, Blu-ray disc compatible and a 15.4" widescreen display.

True colour

Beautiful image quality is essential for business, especially if you make a lot of multimedia presentations. Sporting the very latest X-black LCD technology, the VAIO FZ-Series gives you an ultra bright, glare-free screen that’s great for working outdoors.

Compact

Here’s one of the most compact notebooks around with a 15.4” screen - barely larger in size than most 14” notebooks! We’ve gone back to basics, redesigning the batteries and motherboard to create a truly mobile machine weighing 2.7 kilos that’s light enough to take to meetings, conferences and home for the weekend!

Radical design

Its sleek and streamlined design looks good by your side whether you’re in the office or on the way to client meetings. The VAIO FZ-Series is elegantly finished in black and silver to reflect your professional image and strong enough to take the rough and tumble of business travel. A perfect combination of style and practicality.

Instant videoconferencing

There’s nothing like face-to-face communication to get your message across. With an integrated camera and microphone on your notebook, it’s easy to hold instant video discussions with customers and colleagues wherever you are in the world. You can also save time and improve your efficiency in the office by cutting back on time-consuming meetings.
Go wireless

Working and communicating from airports, train stations and client receptions can be a challenge.

The VAIO FZ-Series makes that challenge as easy as possible with a variety of special buttons including a one touch wireless switch to fire up your wireless LAN and useful shortcut keys to save on mouse clicks. Don’t make life harder than it needs to be!

Sony VAIO TZ

Build and Design
Sony's designers worked overtime to make the TZ not only an ultra portable notebook, but to make it an ultra portable notebook that looks good. Lines match up, panel thicknesses stay the same, hinges are molded into body with the battery, AC plug, and power button integrated, and it's topped off with a carbon fiber lid to seal the deal. Lifting the display cover you find the glossy keyboard surface reflecting the world around you with keys standing out like ripples on a pond. This notebook could be perfectly described in one word; glamorous.

The build quality of this notebook is excellent. Having such thin panels merging together across various parts of the notebook you would almost expect to see uneven panel spacing or gaps, but this notebook has none. Panels merge together with razor thin clearances, and even flexing the notebook doesn't make the parts squeak or groan from plastic rubbing together. Support is excellent around the base of the laptop, leaving just the screen with some amount of flex. I can't really place too much blame on Sony for that, since it is only 4.75mm thick. Overall I found the Sony TZ to be of excellent quality, only lacking on allowing certain parts to be upgraded by the user.

Screen
Sporting a new LED backlight screen, a first for a Sony ultra-portable, the laptop is able to achieve great color reproduction and backlight distribution. Watching movies, editing pictures, or just browsing the web was very enjoyable. I only wish this laptop had the performance of a gaming machine, so that the screen could be used for more recreational purposes. Comfortable brightness levels on the TZ were around midrange, with anything above too bright for my poor eyes. As is common with most notebook displays, viewing angles were excellent horizontally, but poor vertically. The purple anti-glare screen coating combined with the poor viewing angles helped make dark colors invert at shallow angles.
Protection of the screen from the display cover is on the weak side, since it is extremely thin. Throughout the review procedure, the only damage I was able to inflict were key marks left on the screen from the LCD pressing on the dirty keys. These were only temporary marks, I was able to rub them off with a soft cloth (which Sony included with the notebook). Besides flexing the screen into a taco shape or accidentally sitting on it, I don't see most users having any problem with the screen.

Speakers
The speakers on the Sony TZ are located right below the pivot point of the display, providing a clear path to your head for maximum listening pleasure. They worked quite well for watching movies, playing games, or listening to some music around the office. With the volume set to max, the decibel meter registered ~64dB at one foot. The audio was only slightly distorting on high notes, but stayed mostly clear. During normal use high and upper midrange came through well, but don't expect any lower notes from speakers this small.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard on the Sony TZ is very compact, and takes a bit to get used to typing on. It took a few hours of use before I could type without peaking at the keys. Passwords were mangled, friends were confused with my typing, and websites locked me out for too many login attempts. Once I got used to it the typing was fairly comfortable, but this keyboard is not ideal as a primary machine used during an entire work week. For users who would buy this machine as the main computer in their office, a docking station with full-size keyboard would be highly recommended.
The touchpad was easy to use, and very stable with finger tracking. It did not appear to have any lag moving across the screen, nor did it have any pause when it sat idle. My only complaint with the touchpad was the upper boundary was flush with the keyboard tray, making it easy to slide your finger right off the surface. The soft texture made the touchpad easy to control, as well as very comfortable on the fingertips.

Performance and Benchmarks
The only modern game I found to work at decent frame rates was Half Life 1 as mentioned in my first look. Watching movies, editing photos, and using productivity software worked out much better. The beautiful LED backlit screen really made those activities enjoyable. Below are the standard benchmarks to see how this laptop stacks up against others notebooks. Keep in mind that the TZ compares favorably to other notebooks in the ultra portable notebook class.

MacBook Air

The MacBook Air is driving me insane. I want it like no other hardware. It's thin, yea, ok, we know this. And many power users have been bitching for more: 3G, bigger storage, more USB ports, and an internal drive. If you feel that way, this computer isn't for you. I'll go ahead and call it the most simple, focused, and beautiful laptop ever. And the MacBook Air's shortcomings matter no more than the discomfort that fashionistas endure while wearing high heels, or car fanatics do when they have to fill up their tanks twice a week in their 5MPG sports cars. It just doesn't matter to those who are smitten. For the rest of you, here are the facts.

The Basic Guts:
The Air has a Core 2 Duo chip in a specially designed package and small motherboard that help reduce its thickness. The LCD screen is backlit with LEDs, which saves battery, and allows the screen to be dimmed much lower than CCFL screens for additional battery. It has Wireless N/B/G, Bluetooth 2.1 EDR, and is available in two basic configurations: $1799 for a 1.6GHz chip, plus 2GB of RAM and a 80GBs 4200 RPM Drive. For almost double the price at $3098, you can get a 1.8GHz chip with the same 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state drive module that, like all SSD, is shock resistant. There is no ethernet port, only a USB to ethernet jack that needs to be bought separately. And there is no optical drive, save the $99 optional external. For all the bitching we do about it not having 3G cellular data, Apple considered it but couldn't fit it into the case and didn't want to lock consumers into one carrier.

The Hardware Details:
The Air has a few notable hardware elements all paying homage to the original conceit of a stripped down laptop. It has one USB port, a headphone jack, and an external monitor port, all tucked away in a fold down compartment. The USB port is difficult to get to, and keeps fatter USB devices from mounting. There's no firewire, so no target mode. Above the keyboard and screen, there's an iSight camera for video conferencing and stills, which records to 640 by 480 res (same as other iSights). Next to each are laser cut grills. One is a light sensor which adjusts the keyboard backlight. The other is the microphone. The Air has a single speaker, but its much louder than the speakers on the MacBook (But not those on the MacBook Pro.) Oddly enough, it's built under the arrow keys on the keyboard. The touchpad we'll address later. BTW, even the insides are beautiful (yes, we already opened it) reminding me of the Fake Steve Jobs rant about the iPhone's CPU not being perfectly centered. Fake Steve would not be able to complain about these guts. Build quality is excellent. The general twisting you get in the frames of most laptops is practically gone. One minor quirk. The right side of my screen is not flush with the main chassis when the lid is closed. The cooling system is adequate. Using it on your lap is perfectly acceptable, temperature wise. Oh one more thing about thinness: While using the Air, you never feel that edge of the front wrist rest because it is so narrow. Very, very nice.

Performance:
It's the slowest Mac you can buy right now. But our benchmarks show it to be sufficiently fast, and between the performance of a last generation MacBook and MacBook Pro (machines people likely have.) We tested the 1.6GHz 80GB MacBook Air and several things were clear: The CPU was adequate, the 2GB of standard config RAM helped with multitasking and big file handling, and the 4200 RPM drive was a bit of a bottleneck, especially compared to the aftermarket drives in the older machines. We look forward to testing the SSD version of the laptop.

The battery ain't that bad:
The 34 watt internal battery of the Air has been a point of contention for pros who do lots of field work. That's fair, considering this is a highly portable machine. You shouldn't worry. We took that mother apart and found it was far easier to deconstruct than any notebook Apple's ever made. With a small philips head screwdriver, the thing takes 5 minutes to disassemble. And the battery was simple to swap, no glue, just a few screws. I even think the aftermarket can make a new aluminum base that allows for battery swaps. I'll update this post with battery life info very soon, but a preliminary test shows that it's slightly lower in capacity than what Apple's 5 hour rating. (No surprise.) We'll see if using 3G on this smallish battery (fine for the low power system itself) go to mush with serious use. UPDATE: The first rundown test included putting the Macbook Air on normal power settings, prohibiting the screen, computer and drives from going into power save mode. Then we ran mp3s through the speakers using iTunes. We're at 3:15 and its just about done. More rundowns tomorrow. UPDATE: A second day of battery testing shows the Air lasting 4:30 by lowering LED brightness from full to midpoint. An alarming find is that the 45watt Magsafe adapter (an ipod adapter sized brick) will charge the Air from empty to full in 8:30 with the Air in sleep mode. We've confirmed this twice. Will test with a Macbook Pro adapter to see if that changes anything. (I doubt it, but we'll see.) UPDATE: Phew. Retests show the Macbook Air charges to full battery in about 3 hours with either charger.

Value:
It's hard to put a price on such a thin, simple and interesting machine. The $1799 MacBook Air with a 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 80GB of space is not a deal, but this is the lightest OS X machine out there. $3098 for the 64GB of SSD and a relatively meaningless bump to 1.8GHz is ridiculous. If this is a secondary machine, you shouldn't pay more for this than a more powerful and capable MacBook Pro. For comparison, some SSD laptops include 128GB of storage for $3k.

Asus F9S-Swivel 240° for Total Image Capturing

The ASUS F9S´s stylish design for modern sophistication is perfect for today´s urban metropolitans who demand more than functionality in digital devices.

Enjoy revolutionary entertainment on the go - Intel® Core™2 Duo processor in F9S enables breakthrough mobile performance, new high-definition capabilities and improved battery life.

See and be seen with the ASUS F9S eye for style
No matter where you are, the F9S´s built-in 1.3 mega-pixel 240° swivel webcam will bring your vision to wherever you wish to be. Built-in microphone and the exclusive LiveFrame software, especially developed for F9S, allow easy capturing, recording and playing of photos and videos.

stylish Design for Modern Sophistication
As technology gradually integrates with daily life, we look for things beyond functionality in our devices. With black and white being the most enduring classics of fashion, make a statement with the F9S stylish design available in both colors.