Laptops/PCs/Apple

Not as you may think a printer/scanner/copier but a PC that is built into a flat panel. It comes complete with corded keyboard and mouse. Viewsonic are best known for monitors/flat panels and of course the latter is heart of this unit.

As a regular user of an Acer TravelMate laptop, I was pleased to receive one of the company’s 8000 Timeline series for review. This was the slim-line TravelMate 8371 which is aimed at the business users and currently comes with Windows Vista Business.

Not everybody needs a full featured notebook and so the netbook was developed. In the same way not everybody needs a high end desktop computer.

This natty device aims to provide your home computers with safe storage for important documents and a central store for shared media files.

Another in an ever increasing range of Netbooks from Asus, this one (sorry not shaped like a seashell or made from shell although they do make a different unit from Bamboo) promises 8.5hours of battery life between charges.

Two further items from those clever USB people in Hong Kong. First a LED torch that gives a good bright light and it has another big plus. Second for those without a built in web cam. A Minocam that works with a PC or Notebook and as you should expect from Brando it is also something else.

Not one but two Kensington Wireless mice, both using a tiny Nano receiver that fits almost invisibly into any USB port. The two being looked at are the SlimBlade and then the catchily named Ci95m, both of course are free to move without wires.

This is yet another nice Netbook; it boots and shuts down quickly but still runs Windows XP. The finish is nice and all in all it is a rather nice unit that you could whip out of a smallish bag or case without having to grow extra muscles.

According to recent figures, notebook sales are outnumbering desktop systems in some quarters. In many cases the notebook is being purchased as a direct replacement for a desktop system. However this approach could raise a problem with regards to connectivity.

This is very new notebook (well desktop replacement) from Acer. It has almost everything you might want in a single unit. The 18.4 inch screen means you do not need to skimp of image size and you even have a Blu-ray drive inside.

I first saw this unit when it was launched at a show in the spring of 2008, finally I got one to look at in the spring of 2009, however other pressing reviews stopped it being looked at until now with summer flourishing.

Verbatim and Genius have both introduced mid-range mains operated speakers. While the Verbatim Multimedia Audio Bar is an innovative and yet practical design for a 2.1 speaker system with a built-in microphone, the Genius SP-J330 Elegant 2.0CH Multimedia Speaker set is an attractive conventional 2.0 system.

Over the recent years Archos have produced a lot of interesting devices but not until now a notebook, here is their first offering a 10.2 inch Netbook and it of course comes with extras that others do not seem to provide.

Of course the two items are not bulk standard offerings from this clever USB company in Hong Kong. First a keyboard that is compact and more and then a mouse small enough to fit in any pocket but big enough to work with.

Not small and not big this 13.3inch offering from Acer might be just the size for those who need to travel and also need to work in an office. The lid is a dark chocolate brown so may well appeal to the ladies.

My own modem/router started playing up just a couple of weeks ago and a few days before this arrived it gave up working at all, the wireless side had stopped working some months ago and recently I had to reboot it often two or three times a day.

Netbooks continue to hold a fascination for both manufacturers and consumers. Since their introduction by Asus some 20 months ago, these mini laptop devices, running either Windows XP or Linux, have racked up impressive sales figures for various companies – some more impressive than others.

This is the second Blu-ray drive notebook from Asus that I have reviewed recently. Outwardly it seems to have everything you could want providing you have transport to ferry it about as the weight of just over 3kilos might make public transport a chore.

This is the second notebook I have seen recently that has a Blu-ray drive. The drive itself is not that special but it’s the power needed in the notebook to drive it so you can watch the latest movies with the special Dolby sound quality and therefore the speakers provided are.

Apart from a very heavy Dell (purchased second hand) my first 17inch monitor was the then new Flatron brand. It still – touch wood – works on my Windows ME system that still performs, this is of course smaller lighter and has a much larger display area.

Having recently reviewed a number of small and light notebooks this is somewhat of a culture shock. In fact a doubt anyone without personal transport would ever think of it as a notebook more of a desktop replacement.

I first saw this unit last autumn and then one of those black hole moments happened and my review vanished - around the same time as a 2GB SD card without all the photos backed up – but now the panel is with me again.

Around ten days ago (18-05-09) I told you about a method to expand your desktop via a second monitor that offering was from Lindy, here another such unit this time from Kensington who are perhaps better known for Mice.

Technology is making great inroads into all forms of education. Traditional methods of gaining information and storing content are being superseded by the Internet and computers.

While netbooks are the current hot topics, notebooks continue to push boundaries with regards to performance and style.

Want a second monitor/panel but no connection is available then perhaps the solution could be this little unit from Lindy. Assuming you have enough USB ports you can connect up to six adapters to a single PC.

Over the last couple of years I have reviewed quite a number of items from these clever people in Hong Kong. Here I am looking at two of their best, first a three port hub and four socket card reader, second a bilingual speaking calculator.

Two mice from Kensington, first the SlimBlade Media Mouse ideal for those out of office moments. Second the SlimBlade Trackball Mouse that has the box claim ‘finally a mouse that works everywhere’

Another rather nice small PC from Asus marketed under the Eee brand. The main difference that will encourage you to look at this unit is that it has a claimed ‘working day’ of battery life, this is stated to be 9.5 hours. With the average battery life of most notebooks around 3 hours this is huge.

A few weeks ago I told you about Clickfree a painless backup solution, that used its own external hard disk. This option allows you to use any USB drive you might already own it consists of a dongle with the Clickfree software on it.