The Toshiba Satellite M640 and M645 offer a 14-inch laptop

The Toshiba Satellite M640 and M645 offer a 14-inch laptop with VGP-BPS13 Battery solid performance and an attractive design at a modest price. As parents and students gear up for the back-to-school season, does the Satellite VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery M640 below at the top of your shopping list? Keep reading to see what we think of this Core i5-equipped model with Nvidia discrete graphics.

Build and Design

The Satellite M640/M645 is the latest generation of multimedia notebooks from Toshiba and is designed to offer a perfect balance of performance VGP-BPS13A/B Battery and style. At first glance, the design of the M645 is pretty traditional with sculpted edges, a mixture of smooth VGP-BPS13/B Battery and textured glossy plastics, and some attractive LED accent lighting. The exterior is covered in what Toshiba calls the "Fusion X2 Finish in Charcoal." Personally, I call it black glossy plastic with a textured "chain" pattern imprinted in the surface to help hide fingerprints and dirt. Despite the silly marketing name for the finish, I have to give VGP-BPS13B/B Battery Toshiba credit here. The textured chain pattern gives you the modern look of the glossy plastics but doesn't look like a horrible magnet for smudges, dirt, or whatever else a student spills on a VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery laptop.

Build and Design

The Satellite M640/M645 is the latest generation of multimedia notebooks from Toshiba VGP-BPS13A/S Battery and is designed to offer a perfect balance of performance and style. At first glance, the design of the M645 is pretty traditional VGP-BPS13/Q Battery with sculpted edges, a mixture of smooth and textured glossy plastics, and some attractive LED accent lighting. The exterior is covered in what Toshiba calls the "Fusion X2 Finish in Charcoal." Personally, I call it black glossy plastic with a textured "chain" pattern imprinted in the surface to help hide fingerprints and dirt. Despite the silly marketing name for the finish, I have to give Toshiba credit here. The textured chain pattern gives you the modern look of the glossy VGP-BPS9 Battery plastics but doesn't look like a horrible magnet for smudges, dirt, or whatever else a student spills on a laptop.

The bottom of the notebook includes two access plates for the RAM, wireless card and the hard VGP-BPS8 Battery drive. Despite the fact that most people buying consumer multimedia notebooks don't perform upgrades, Toshiba engineers made VGP-BPS9A/B Battery is very easy to get inside this laptop. You only have to remove one screw to access the hard drive and one screw to get to the RAM and wireless card.

Screen and Speakers

The M645 has a 14-inch diagonal display with LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect ratio. The overall quality of the display is "very good" VGP-BPS9/B Battery within the narrow vertical viewing angle sweet spot. The backlight is even and bright, contrast is sharp and colors are good though the colors VGP-BPS9/S Battery are a little warm at the default settings. If there is a single obvious issue it has to be the narrow vertical viewing angles. While the VGP-BPS8A Battery horizontal viewing angles (side view) are nearly flawless, the colors become over exposed when viewed from above and significantly inverted and distorted when viewed from below. If you are using this laptop for color-accurate editing you will need VGP-BPS2 Battery to be certain you're viewing the screen from straight ahead.

The display's 1366x768 resolution is a standard resolution for mainstream notebooks. The horizontal VGP-BPS2A Battery resolution is adequate, however only 768 pixels of vertical space means a good deal of scrolling while surfing the Internet and only VGP-BPS2B Battery enough space to view about one-half of a page in a Microsoft Word.

The Satellite M645 features harman/kardon branded stereo speakers located just above the keyboard. These speakers provide an excellent range VGP-BPS2C Battery of highs, midtones and lows with surprisingly rich base for a notebook without a dedicated subwoofer. Since these speakers are located dell latitude e6400 battery above the keyboard they direct sound up and toward the user. Another item worth mentioning is dell latitude e6500 battery Toshiba's "Sleep-and-Music" feature which allows you to isten to music from your MP3 player through these fantastic laptop speakers even when your laptop is powered down in sleep mode. The headphone jack also provides a great, static-free connection for external dell latitude e4300 battery speakers or earphones

Keyboard and Touchpad

The full-size keyboard with LED backlighting on the M645 features Chiclet-style keys that dell vostro 1510 battery are responsive and provide a little extra spacing to prevent typos. The keys are large and flat and have a glossy texture that shows smudges dell vostro 1310 batteryr from your skin oils over time. There is no noticeable flex unless you apply significant pressure to the keys in the middle of the board. A individual key presses are quiet with virtually no "click-clack" noise while typing; making it an excellent choice for taking notes Dell inspiron 1545 battery in a classroom or office meeting room. The keyboard also features dedicated multimedia keys above the keyboard and dedicated home, Dell inspiron 1525 battery end, page up and page down keys.

The Synaptics touchpad is a fairly nice with a matte texture Dell latitude d630 battery that provides smooth cursor movement. The touchpad drivers provide excellent accuracy and minimal lag with a range of options. This is a multi-touch touchpad with customizable gestures and overall this touchpad works exactly like you want a touchpad to work. However, Dell studio 15 battery the touchpad buttons have very shallow feedback with moderately loud clicks when you press the buttons.

Ports and Features

The Satellite M645 features a great range of ports--making this laptop one of the good battery more "future proof" 14-inch notebooks we've recently reviewed. You get two USB 2.0 ports and a combo eSATA/USB 2.0 port in battery case you want to use fast external storage drives. The M645 also features dual video out ports: a VGA connection battery for old-school projectors and HDMI for new monitors and HDTVs. More importantly, the M645 includes an ExpressCard slot so you can upgrade this battery laptop with USB 3.0 ports if you need them. All picture descriptions are left to right.

How Good is the Gaming on Windows Phone 7?

When you have a franchise like Xbox in your arsenal, you better use it vgp-bps13b/q battery to full effect in the smart phone wars. And it looks as though Microsoft is trying to do just that with the launch of Windows Phone 7. We had a chance vgp-bps13a/q battery to check out a few of the titles expected to launch at or around the same time as the hardware VGP-BPS13 battery and came away mostly impressed with the visuals and Xbox Live integration.

Here’s a quick look at a few of the premiere titles, as well as a brief video overview of what Xbox Live offers. (We vgp-bps13/b battery think a lot of people will play with avatars for hours.)

ilomilo (Southend Interactive)

We first took ilomilo for a test drive, a gorgeous puzzle game whose goal is to get two vgp-bps13/q battery cute-looking characters to unite. The backgrounds are wild, and you can zoom in and out using multitouch gestures. We just wish the camera did a slightly better job VGP-BPS13A/B Battery of following us around.

Need for Speed Undercover (EA)

If you’ve played this game on the iPhone, there’s not a lot of new here. But it’s nice to VGP-BPS9 Battery see EA throwing its weight behind the Windows Phone 7 platform. Accelerometer controls worked well, and the graphics looked pretty stunning on the Samsung Focus’ AMOLED display. Plus, only this version integrates VGP-BPS10 Battery with Xbox Live.

The Harvest (Luma Arcade)

An action-RPG game that Microsoft claims VGP-BPS9/B Battery is the best-looking 3-D mobile phone game to date, The Harvest thrusts you into a fight against cyborgs as a mech you can trick out with new weapons and abilities as you progress. The touch-based controls were easy to pick up. In the video you’ll see a sweet stomp move that mows VGP-BPS9/S Battery down all nearby enemies.

Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (Microsoft Game Studios)

Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst is a tower defense game with a cool twist. Using Bing Maps you can VGP-BPS9A/B Battery defend buildings and other structures right around you. The action is pretty fast and furious, and it’s a clever mash-up. Those PA3534U-1BRS who want to play with friends can team up with other players to build up their defenses.

Rocket Riot (Code Glue/Microsoft Game Stuidos)

At the risk of sounding repetitive, Rocket Riot is a riot. On the surface, this side-view shooter looks pa3535u-1brs like it belongs on ancient gaming console. Then when we fired the game up we realized the 8-bit graphics are just a tip of the hat to an VGP-BPS2A earlier era. The gameplay itself is all modern, involving lots of swiping in different directions with your right hand to shoot as you control your jet pack-equipped hero with a finger on your left hand. Absolutely everything in the environments is destructible–just as it VGP-BPS2C should be.

Xbox Live Quick Tour

With Xbox Live integration on board, gamers can create fun 3D avatars and trick them VGP-BPS2 all with all sorts of accessories. Your gamer profile allows you to track scores and wins, and you can challenge others. However, multiplayer gaming VGP-BPS2B for now on Windows Phone 7 is only turn-based, not simultaneous multiplayer like Game Center for iPhone.

Early Impressions

Overall, gaming on Windows Phone 7 looks like it will be satisfying, and this is only a partial list of what will be available. EA dell studio 17 battery alone today announced that it’s brining Tetris, The Sims 3, and Monopoly to the OS, in addition to Need for Speed Undercover. We’re dell studio 1737 battery also excited to see Star Wars: Battle for Hoth and Bejewled Live. However, we’d like to see EA add more of its marquee dell studio 1535 battery titles to the mix (like Madden), as well as other big developers show us what they have up their sleeves. There’s also no Angry Birds here, though it’s rumored to be making its way over to the platform.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, though, we can tell that Microsoft has paid a lot of attention to the gaming experience on Windows dell latitude e5500 battery Phone 7, and we expect it to only get better through the holiday season and beyond. Although the good battery Android camp is quickly playing catch-up with iOS, Xbox Live on WP7 is already looking better than what Google phones have to offer.

T-Mobile G2 Hands-on: What We Like, What We Don’t

Last night we had a chance to get our mitts on the very hot T-Mobile G2, the Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery carrier’s first HSPA+ phone. With this technology inside the G2 promises 4G speeds in 65 major markets and Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q Battery counting. It’s also the most beautiful Android phone yet, in our opinion, and it has a unique slide-out keyboard with a Z-hinge design.

We’re working to bring you our full review of this Android 2.2 device soon, but in the meantime here’s a quick summary of what Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery we like and what we don’t, along with a tantalizing gallery.

What We Like:Toshiba PA3594U-1BRS Battery

•Great Design: The G2 weights a relatively hefty 6.5 ounces, but it looks and feels like a Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery truly premium smart phone, complete with an aluminum back and accents up front. The rest is solid plastic. We also like the Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery optical trackpad underneath the screen, and the brilliant S-TFT display itself (800 x 480 pixels).

•It’s Snappy: The 800-MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7230 processor combined with the relatively clean load of Android 2.2 made this Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery phone very swift when moving between menus and opening apps.

•Killer Keyboard: The G2′s keyboard has plenty of space between the keys, making it easy to Sony VGP-BPS13A/S Battery type quickly. We prefer the clickier keyboard on the Epic 4G, but the G2 is a close second.

•4G-Like Speeds: Although T-Mobile is Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Battery still building out its HSPA+ network, we saw speeds between 3 and 4 Mbps in Toshiba PA3591U-1BRS Battery San Francisco. We’ll have to see how well the phone performs in New York City.

What We Don’t Like

•Z-Hinge Design Raises Concerns: The G2 isn’t your typical slider phone. The screen literally rises above the keyboard on a Z hinge as you Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery push it back, kind of like leapfrog. That means when you hold the phone upside down the display will hang down from the keyboard portion Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery of the device. We also have to wonder about the long-term durability of this hinge. I certainly wouldn’t give the G2 to my kids to play with.

•No Mobile Hotspot Feature: When you Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery deliver 4G speeds, you want to be able to leverage that with your laptop. Unfortunately, the G2 doesn’t offer this feature, unlike several other Android phones on the market. You also can’t tether the device to your laptop via USB, though it’s possible that this feature Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery will be added later.

•Googleware You Can’t Delete: As Engadget pointed out in its review, the G2 comes loaded Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery with lots of Google apps you can’t get rid of, including Places, Shopper, Earth, Sky Map, Latitude, Tracks, Finance, Listen, Translate, and Google Talk. We didn’t find these apps to negatively impact performance, but some may find them annoying.

Quick Take: The G2 looks like it Sony VGP-BPS8A Battery belongs at the top of T-Mobile’s Android lineup alongside the Samsung Vibrant, giving the carrier a great one-two punch. If you want a physical keyboard, it’s a no-brainer. However, some may want to wait for the new T-Mobile myTouch, which will offer video calling. Stay tuned Sony VGP-BPS2 Battery for a full review of the T-Mobile G2.

Best of CTIA Fall 2010

As CTIA Enterprise & Applications comes to a close, there were a few big trends that defined Sony VGP-BPS2A Battery the event: the continued explosion of Android phones, more competition in the 4G wars, and renewed reports that the iPhone was coming to Verizon Wireless (we’ll believe it when we see it). After spending three days scouring the show floor and meeting with lots of companies, we narrowed our favorite products and services Sony VGP-BPS2B Battery to five top selections. So without further ado here is our favorite smart phone, app, wireless accessory, enabling technology, and software from the fall CTIA show, products that have the potential to shake up the mobile tech industry and inspire even more Sony VGP-BPS2C Battery innovation

In a sea of new Android phones, the Motorola Droid Pro stands out because it was built Toshiba PA3479U-1BRS Battery from the ground up for business users. Ideal for those looking to step up from a BlackBerry, this device sports a Toshiba PA3480U-1BRS Battery comfortable keyboard that’s always front and center, plus QuickOffice Mobile Suite for editing documents on the go.

The Droid Pro also covers Toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery all the security bases, with remote wipe and password management, as well as data encryption right on the device (coming early next year). While the 3.1-inch screen is on the small side, this 1-GHz handset has plenty Toshiba PA3593U-1BRS Battery of power

HP has updated its powerful and attractive business netbook, the Mini 5103

HP's durable but pricey netbook gets serious sony vgp-bps8 battery with a dual-core processor and robust software package.

HP has updated its sony vgp-bps13b/q battery powerful and attractive business netbook, the Mini 5103, with features that will appeal to small business users and students alike. While retaining the same rugged yet sleek aluminum and magnesium chassis as before, the 5103 now comes with Intel's new dual-core Atom sony vgp-bps13a/q battery processor, which will allow you to do more without compromising portability. Its price tag ($542; $668 as configured) is sony vgp-bps13/b battery nothing to sneeze at, but long battery life, good security apps, and a high-def display make this Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery netbook a compelling choice.

Editor's Note:The configuration HP sent us Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery for review is different from the configurations available to U.S. customers. Our model came with a high-definition, multitouch display, but consumers will only have the option to add a touchscreen to models with the 1024 x 600 resolution. Our review unit also sony vgp-bps13/q battery came with Windows 7 Professional, but that is not a pre-configured option available through HP.com. The price as reviewed reflects a Sony VGP-BPS13 battery configuration with a high-definition panel, but not the touchscreen, and Windows 7 Home Sony VGP-BPS9/S Battery Premium.

Design

Like the Mini 5101 and 5102 before it, Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery the 5103 very much looks and feels like a shrunken HP ProBook, which is a compliment. HP hasn't changed the outer design much for this generation, which is mostly a good thing (with the exception of the touchpad). You get a case with anodized aluminum on top Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery and magnesium alloy on the bottom. Add in a soft-touch treatment on the deck and a clear HP DuraKeys coating for the keyboard, Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery and you have a netbook that can stand up to a fair amount of abuse. Not that the 5103 doesn't have style; the Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery lid on our unit was a brown espresso color instead of the standard black, a treatment that carries over to the deck.

Weighing 2.8 pounds (with the six-cell battery) and measuring 0.9 inches thin, the Mini 5103 Dell Vostro 1510 Battery can easily slip into a backpack or briefcase. The six-cell battery protrudes a bit from the bottom of the system, but it's Dell Inspiron 1545 battery hardly noticeable. To make the 5103 more attractive to students, a carrying handle is available; it screws on and replaces the rear feet.

Heat

Like its predecessors, the 5103 stayed fairly cool during use, though we noted that the areas around the vent and on the bottom right got a bit hot Dell Latitude E6400 Battery with the system in our lap. After playing a Hulu video at full-screen for 15 minutes, we measured temperatures on the touchpad Sony VGP-BPS2A Battery at 88 degrees, between the G&H keys at 87 degrees, and the center of the bottom at 94 degrees, all within Sony VGP-BPS2C Battery our acceptable range. The area on the bottom right and by the vent reached 99 degrees, which is uncomfortable.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The island-style, spill-resistant keyboard on the Mini 5103 remains one of the best in the netbook category. At 95 percent of full-size, we had no Sony VGP-BPS2 Battery problem typing this review at a fast clip using the included copy of Corel Home Office. We especially like the relatively large Sony VGP-BPS2B Battery right Shift key and Enter key. Some may find the feedback a little mushy, but we found it to be snappy enough. Above Toshiba PA3399U-1BAS Battery the keyboard you'll find a row of keys--such as brightness and volume controls--that don't require the Function key to activate.

The DuraKey coating over the keyboard adds a slight friction that compensates for the keys being completely flat. The coating also protects Toshiba PA3399U-1BRS Battery the letters from wearing off due to heavy usage.

The touchpad on the Mini 5103 is a bit small at 2.5 x 1.3 inches (compared to 3.1 x 1.6 inches Toshiba PA3451U-1BRS Battery for the Toshiba mini NB305). We're also not fans of the glossy black surface; the resulting friction made Toshiba PA3450U-1BRS Battery it somewhat difficult to move the cursor. Still, the dedicated left and right mouse buttons, which received a soft rubberized treatment, responded well.

Display and Audio

Colors on the Mini 5103's glossy HD display are vibrant and the blacks are deep, though we were disappointed to find that both vertical Toshiba PA3465U-1BRS Battery and horizontal viewing angles aren't very wide. While surfing the web or working with an office document, users can Toshiba PA3457U-1BRS Battery push the screen all the way back or share the screen with two others. But when watching video, colors look distorted unless you're in the Goldilocks zone. The 1366 x 768 resolution makes Windows 7's elements rather small on the 10.1-inch screen: We found ourselves squinting to see smaller elements, but were Toshiba PA3475U-1BRS Battery glad we could fit more on the screen when working with two documents Toshiba PA3478U-1BRS Battery side-by-side.

The speakers on the 5103's front lip produced decent volume and offered good audio quality for a netbook. Treble came off tinny as we listened to Sarah Solovay's "Gone," but at least bass proved strong when Last.fm offered up Superchick's "One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix)." At 50 percent volume we were able to hear music clearly, but in order to hear Hulu clips clearly battery we had to turn it up batteries to 75 percent. At this level, the audio was still clear and loud even when we good battery added low-level background noise to the mix.