Acer Aspire 5634WLMi

The Acer Aspire 5634 WLMi is a Core 2 Duo powered notebook with an NVidia Go 7300 card. This Acer notebook is sold in Australia and certain parts of Europe. Following is a full review of this 15.4" screen multimedia focused laptop.
Introduction
Around mid-2006 I had considered either upgrading my Acer Travelmate 281 (Pentium 4M 1.8GHz; 256MB Ram; 20GB HDD; CD-Rom Drive) or replacing it. I had opted to go for another Acer as I was working for an electrical retailer in Australia at the time (Retravision) and could get a staff discount.

Initially I considered the Acer Aspire 5670 (Intel Core Duo 1.66; 1GB Ram; 100GB HDD; DVD-Super Multi Drive; WLAN; Bluetooth) however had heard that heat was a major issue with that model and with Core 2 Duo coming out, had decided to wait.
Finally in December 2006 I settled on the Aspire 5634WLMi. The Aspire 5634WLMi retails at $1,999 ($1,577 USD), although there was a $99 cashback offer when I purchased it (now $199). The term ‘cashback’ is somewhat deceptive as the manufacturer increases the cost to the retailer by $99 and the retailer increases their price by $99, thus any gain is effectively negated.
System
Intel Core 2 Duo T5600 (1.83GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB)1GB PC4200 DD2-SDRAM (2x 512)8X DVD-Super Multi drive15.4” CrystalBrite LCD (glossy)120GB 5400rpm Seagate HDDNvidia GeForce Go 7300Integrated High-Definition audio supportIntegrated 1.3 megapixel Orbicam6 Media keys (volume up/down; play/pause; stop; forward/next; backwards/previous)Weight- 2.95 KgBuild and Design

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Dell Debuts Its First Rugged Notebook

Given that Dell has been selling PCs for more than 20 years you’d think it would have every base covered, but not until now has it offered a rugged notebook.

The Latitude ‘ATG D620’ is the rather militaristic name given to a machine which claims to meets military requirements for vibration, humidity and altitude (though I’ve always found klutzes to be a far more demanding subgroup than armed forces).
Inside you’ll find a shock mounted hard drive while the keyboard is spill resistant, the ports have covers and it is coated in what Dell loosely describes as ‘high durable paint’.
On the specs side of things there’s the usual range of Intel Core 2 Duo processors, capacity for up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM and WiFi while the 14.1in screen is protected with a glass overlay while an anti-reflective coating and boasted brightness improve readability outdoors.
Being a rugged machine, the ATG D620 comes with a price premium but at $2,499 it is significantly less than most laptops of this ilk. It’s on manoeuvre in the US now and is scheduled to scale our beaches in the next few weeks.

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Samsung Aura R20 laptop

Samsung knows a thing or two about designing notebooks. The Q35 Red that I recently reviewed created quite a stir every time I pulled it out of my bag at CES last month, and the ultra-slim Q30 won over many users who were looking for a machine that was ultra-thin and light. But now the Samsung design team has pushed the boat out and created the new Aura series of notebooks, which look set to go head to head with Apple’s ultra-stylish MacBooks.

The first Aura out of the gates will be the R20, which Samsung will be officially announcing next week. The R20 really does look the business with its glossy black finish and minimalist styling. In fact, if you placed it next to a black MacBook you’d be forgiven for thinking that they share the same DNA. That said, you could say the same about a Nintendo DS Lite!

But the beauty of the R20 is more than just skin deep. For a start this is the first notebook I’ve heard of to use the new AMD/ATI RS600ME chipset for Intel processors. As such, the R20 is not Centrino branded, but the upshot is that you’re getting the fastest integrated graphics solution currently available. The Radeon Xpress 1250 Hyper Memory graphics chip puts a bit of gaming on the menu, and should certainly be a step forward from the Intel integrated graphics that MacBook owners are stuck with.

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