New Technology Reviews!.: Dell

Review: LG BD670

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 24px;"></span><br />
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 12px; font: normal normal normal 13px/19px Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Bitstream Charter', Times, serif; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding-bottom: 0.6em; padding-left: 0.6em; padding-right: 0.6em; padding-top: 0.6em;">
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.02-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.02-200-200.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
LG is currently embroiled in a smart TV war with rival Samsung for dominance of the internet-connected living room landscape. In both TV and Blu-ray, the pair are going head to head with similarly monikered portals (Smart TV and Smart Hub) stuffed with comparable apps and video streaming content, such as in Samsung's recent BD-D7500, which costs around £100 more than the LG BD670 we have for review here.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A cursory glance might indicate that there's not much between the two brands. But just how compelling is LG's Intelligence Quotient?</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Certainly, at first glance the BD670 doesn't look particularly smart. It's quite scruffy in fact; from its dull black plastic body, to the embossed buttonry, it's a bit of a duffer.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Rear side connectivity comprises a single HDMI, Ethernet LAN, optical digital audio, phono AV and component port. There's only one USB port, and that's on the front. This is an inconvenience, because the Blu-ray player lacks persistent memory for BD Live applications, so you'll have to live with a thumbdrive sticking out the front if you use BD Live, swapping it over when you want to play media.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
At least there's no need for a Wi-Fi dongle – that's built-in and works well. You can connect via WPS (if your router supports this) or manually. I took the latter route, and popped the player wirelessly on my network in as much time as it took me to plod around the soft-keyboard.</div>
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="LG ui" class="aligncenter" height="140" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.menu-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.menu-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Thankfully, the LG BD670 smartens up its act considerably when you get to the user interface. The main Home menu consists of a jolly line of colourful function buttons, designated Movie, Photo, Music, Premium and Apps. Click on any one of the first three and the player will show you other DLNA/uPnP clients on your network, allowing you to drill down and stream your media content.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
For online content options, hit the remaining buttons. Premium takes you to LG's streaming portal (which, bizarrely, appears to reside at the fork in a virtual road, if the background graphic is anything to go by).</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
There's a fair amount of entertainment on tap. In addition to BBC iPlayer and YouTube, there's DailyMotion, Acetrax, Cinetrailers and internet radio service VTuner. Filling out the roster is some easy-to-ignore Google Maps twaddle.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Hop over to the apps store and there's more to explore. Curiously, sandwiched between various colour blindness tests and a typo-ridden keep fit tutorial, we found more than a dozen movies, all free to watch. Ultra low-budget indie efforts, they have rather inventively sidestepped traditional movie distribution to end up as download fodder. We don't mind saying that we were rather chuffed with this haul. It's like suddenly discovering a film festival on your doorstep. Free treats like this make smart TV tech such fun to own.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The LG BD670 can also stream media across a network and from USB, with a generally good hit rate. MP3s play, along with album art when available, as do AAC files, although both FLAC and WAV are off limits. And, for reasons I can't explain, my standard WMA test rolled out at high speed. Video file support over the network covered AVI, MKV and MOV content.</div>
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="LG bd670" class="aligncenter" height="158" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.wood01-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/Home%20Cinema%20Choice/HCC%20199/HCC199.lgbd670.wood01-420-90.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 640px;" width="420" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
High-definition image quality is suitably sharp from the LG BD670. The Blu-ray deck scrapes a massive amount of detail from 2D HD platters. <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Battle: Los Angeles</span> looks sumptuous. Shot in a high frame rate HD, shaky cam-style, skin tones and textures pop from the screen.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The smart, connected Blu-ray player also does a reliable job disgorging the DTS-HD MA soundtrack.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Stereoscopic footage has the potential to look equally sharp. Of course much depends on what your display will do to the image before it hits your peepers. At least the deck itself does a fine job. Naturally, the LG BD670 is quite at home with home-grown, DIY 3D shot in AVCHD.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Disc loading is a tad tardy. The player took a lazy one minute six seconds to go from tray to Bond logo, on the Java-heavy <span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="em" mce_style="font-style: italic;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.5;">Goldfinger</span>Blu-ray disc. Simpler Blu-rays load rather faster.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As a CD spinner, the LG BD670's performance is functional. With no Super Audio CD compatibility to give it a resolution boost, this player's unlikely to convert too many audiophiles to its cause.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
But its overall presentation is fun: when playing a CD, it pulls album art direct from the Gracenote database. It also features Music ID, designed to identify any tunes in a platter you're playing, at the touch of a button (it sometimes works).</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
As a DVD player, the LG BD670 does a decent job. My venerable Silicon Optix HQV test platter confirms deinterlacing and upscaling to be of a creditable standard. If you have a large collection of SD discs, they'll be in reasonable hands here.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Overall, the LG BD670 is a great value internet-connected Blu-ray disc player. Sure, it might have the sartorial style of an impoverished funeral director who dresses in the dark, but it's jazzy where it counts.</div>
</div>
</div>

Review: LG BD670

LG is currently embroiled in a smart TV war with rival Samsung for dominance of the internet-connected living room landscape. In both ...

Review: Dell Inspiron 15r N5110

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;">
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.dellbackground-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.dellbackground-200-200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Dell has impressed us lately with a great range of laptops to suit all users, and the Inspiron 15r N5110 is no exception. It's quite expensive for a mid-range laptop, but still offers great value for money, thanks to its excellent performance.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
That extra cash buys you the latest Intel Core i5 2410M processor, which is a step above the Core i3 processors found in most of the other machines at this price. While other laptops can comfortably run all of your applications, the Dell provides an extra bit of future-proofing and won't need replacing any time soon. Even the most demanding software loads quickly and runs smoothly.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You also get a powerful dedicated Nvidia GT 525M graphics card, while most other laptops make do with basic integrated graphics, where the processor also has to handle image rendering. The result is much better multimedia performance. High-definition (HD) movies run perfectly, you can comfortably edit all of your media, and gamers can play the latest titles without sacrificing graphics quality for a smooth frame rate.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Tech Lab</span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Battery Eater '05: 166 minutes<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Cinebench: 9743<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />3DMark 2006: 18,968</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
If you enjoy kicking back with action games after a tough day of studying, this is the laptop for you.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Bright screen</span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The 15.6-inch screen is bright, although the Packard Bell EasyNote NS44 HR-033UK compact screen is sharper. However, we found the Dell's screen was vibrant enough to fully enjoy our photos and films, with decent viewing angles.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The built-in SRS speakers are some of the most powerful, making them good for music and movies, although audiophiles will prefer a dedicated external pair.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
While the Dell offers good performance, it's by no means the most portable. We didn't quite get three hours of use from the battery when watching films, although this isn't a bad result, and if you're simply typing out an essay or doing some other light work, you can expect to get another hour or so out of the battery.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
At 2.7kg it's quite heavy for a laptop, which also limits portability. Still, it can be carried around if needed and the body isn't too chunky to be a pain when you have to cram it into your backpack.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
This laptop might not be perfectly portable, but it's certainly attractive. The dark brushed-metal finish looks slick, with only a little flex around the edges, and our model came with one of Dell's swappable SWITCH lids. You get a choice of over twenty colourful designs, which make a refreshing change from the standard plain efforts. If you get sick of one design, just order a new one from Dell and they'll ship it out.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Like many of the laptops here, an isolation-style keyboard has been used. The keys are well spaced, but we found the board to be spongy, with considerable flex in the middle when typing. It's not a serious issue and you soon get used to it, but we expected better.</div>
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Dell inspiron 15r" class="aligncenter" height="167" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.dellbuild-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.dellbuild-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Connections are plentiful, with VGA and HDMI ports for hooking up external displays and even an eSATA port for attaching external hard drives. With 500GB of built-in storage, you'll most likely only need an external drive when backing up your important files.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
If you need the extra power and have the cash to spare, the Inspiron 15r is a great student laptop that will last you for a few years. However, portability and usability aren't as strong as we would have liked.</div>
</div>
</span></div>

Review: Dell Inspiron 15r N5110

Dell has impressed us lately with a great range of laptops to suit all users, and the Inspiron 15r N5110 is no exception. It's quit...

Review: Acer Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman','Bitstream Charter',Times,serif; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; padding: 0.6em;">
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="150" mce_src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.acerbackground-200-200.jpg" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.acerbackground-200-200.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="200" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Students on a tight budget will find great value to be had from the Acer Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk. Strong performance is just the icing on the cake, with plenty of great features to speak of, although the short battery life is a pain.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk looks immediately familiar with Acer's usual raised keyboard filling the interior. Anyone used to bevelled, rounded keys might be put off by the completely flat design, but we find them perfect for touch-typing, thanks to the generous key size. Only the arrow keys are a little cramped.</div>
<ul style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; list-style-type: square; margin: 0px 0px 24px 1.5em;">
<li style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;">Acer Aspire 5742G review</li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
However, the gaps between the keys are a magnet for crumbs, so typing while eating crisps is not recommended.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
The body features a matt-black finish, which prevents fingerprints and other marks from showing up, although we did notice some flex around the palmrests when we pushed down on them.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
At just 2.4kg it's perfect for slipping into backpacks, thanks to the slender frame. Unfortunately, the battery dies quite fast, lasting just two hours when watching video.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Colourful screen</span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Like every laptop here besides the Packard Bell, the Aspire 5742G has a 15.6-inch screen. It's not particularly bright, but it is colourful and great for enjoying your photos and movies. The display also tilts back almost to horizontal, so you're bound to find a comfortable viewing angle even when the machine's resting on your lap.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
However, the integrated speakers are rather muted compared to the likes of the HP G62-b32SA, so you'll need a decent pair of headphones or earphones to enjoy your music.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
A previous-generation Intel Core i3 380M processor provides strong performance, despite being older technology than the new Sandy Bridge Intel processors. In our benchmarking tests, the Acer was beaten only by the Dell Inspiron 15r N5110 and HP G62-b32SA.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You can comfortably do all sorts simultaneously making it perfect for any multi-tasking student who needs to bash out an essay while doing web research and chatting with friends through instant messenger programs. The 4GB of memory keeps everything running smoothly.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Acer has included dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 520M 1GB graphics, which makes this the best multimedia laptop after the Dell Inspiron 15R. If you need to edit video or perform other complex media tasks, or simply want to play games, this is a great option. Just bear in mind that you'll need to turn down detail levels on some of the more recent games to keep things running smoothly.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" mce_name="strong" mce_style="font-weight: bold;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5;">Tech Labs</span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Battery Eater '05: 120 minutes<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />Cinebench: 7836<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />3DMark 2006: 11,935</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
You can fit a huge number of games and high-definition (HD) movies on the 640GB hard drive, which offers twice as much storage space as most other laptops at this price. A 2-in-1 memory card reader can also be found on the side of the laptop for backing up important files.</div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
This laptop also features built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, so you can quickly access the internet by connecting to a wireless network. You also get HDMI and VGA ports for attaching monitors or televisions, and a DVD drive for watching films and installing software.</div>
<div mce_style="text-align: center;" style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px; text-align: center;">
<img alt="Acer detail" class="aligncenter" height="167" mce_src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.acerbuild-420-90.jpg" src="http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/Review%20images/What%20Laptop/WLT%20153/WLT153.rev2.acerbuild-420-90.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px auto 12px; max-width: 640px;" width="252" /></div>
<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; margin-bottom: 24px;">
Despite the short battery life, the Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk is still a great-value laptop that will suit almost any student. The strong multimedia performance, huge hard drive and excellent keyboard make it an option well worth considering.</div>
</div>
</span></div>

Review: Acer Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk

Students on a tight budget will find great value to be had from the Acer Aspire 5742G-384G64Mnkk. Strong performance is just the icing ...

Dell Streak 7 Pre-Production Commercial Stills Leaked

<img alt="" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21376" height="299" src="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7-580x322-540x299.jpg" title="Dell-Streak-7-580x322" width="540" /><br />
Just a few hours after the mystery Dell tablet received its WiFi certification, a new in-production commercial has been leaked which seems to confirm a few things.<br />
<br />
<br />
<center></center><br />
First, it looks like this device is the 7-inch version of what was previously known as the Looking Glass. It seems to be production ready and will go under the safe, recognizable name of the Dell Streak 7.<br />
<br />
The leaked commercial isn’t in video form yet, it’s more in a storyboard format with captured stills and descriptions describing what will be taking place in that part of the commercial. From these stills we see the same Stage UI that was recently added to the 5-inch Streak. While “Looking Glass” was definitely a more creative name, it looks as if we will have to make due with the Streak 7.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7x2-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dell-Streak-7x2" border="0" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" src="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7x2-150x150.jpg" title="Dell-Streak-7x2" width="150" /></a></div><a href="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7x-150x150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img alt="Dell-Streak-7-580x322" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" src="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7-580x322-150x150.jpg" title="Dell-Streak-7-580x322" width="150" /><a href="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7x-150x150.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dell-Streak-7x" border="0" class="attachment-thumbnail" height="150" src="http://cdn.androidcommunity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Dell-Streak-7x-150x150.jpg" title="Dell-Streak-7x" width="150" /></a><br />
<br />
[<a href="http://www.slashgear.com/dell-streak-7-in-production-commercial-leaks-out-23121066/">Via</a> SlashGear]

Dell Streak 7 Pre-Production Commercial Stills Leaked

Just a few hours after the mystery Dell tablet received its WiFi certification, a new in-production commercial has been leaked which seems ...