Why the Apple Tablet (or iSlate) Will Change Everything

Apple's upcoming vgp-bps8 battery tablet computer, which is expected to be vgp-bps8a unveiled tomorrow, has vgp-bpl8 battery everyone talking. Let's examine the most reliable rumors and explain why this will likely be the most important consumer electronic device since the iPhone.

The editor of our sister website, Brighthand.com, vgp-bps10 recently published an editorial about why the Apple iSlate (the likely name for Apple’s new tablet computer) might be doomed to fail. Although the team of engineers and designers at Cupertino have produced a number of flops over the years (Anyone still using an Apple Newton out there?) it’s safe to say Apple knows how to make great handheld devices.

Apple: The forbidden fruit everyone wants

Even if you’re a dedicated PC user and don’t own a MacBook, chances vgp-bps8b are good you own one of Apple’s many, many variations of the iPod. There’s a reason for this: Apple delivered a cool yet affordable MP3 player and a simple content delivery service (iTunes) that made it remarkably easy for consumers to make the transition from CDs to digital content. Likewise, the iPhone revolutionized smartphones by delivering a cool, consumer-friendly smartphone and a simple content delivery service (the App Store) to help people make the most of a versatile handheld device.

As a current tablet PC user I’m honestly looking forward to the release of an Apple vgp-bps9 tablet simply because of Apple’s track vgp-bps9a/b record with making handheld devices overwhelmingly popular among consumers. The reality is that tablet computers have been around for ages but there’s a reason most people don’t use them: They suck.

While that comment might seem overly harsh, a slate vgp-bps9/s tablet (or convertible tablet notebook) is vgp-bps2c basically just a notebook PC with the two most useful input devices (the keyboard and the touchpad) removed in order to make it more portable. Touchscreen tablets don’t really work well with a traditional Windows-like interface designed for use with a keyboard and mouse. This is why the most successful touchscreen smartphones don’t use traditional operating systems. A successful touchscreen computer really needs an operating system that was designed from the ground up to work with a touchscreen. Say hello to my little friend ... iPhone OS 4.0.

Think Different. Think The Same.

Forget Windows. Forget Mac OS X. The future interface for tablet vgp-bps2a computers vgp-bps2b will be based on smartphone operating systems. In the case of the iSlate, the new iPhone OS 4.0 will very likely serve as the heart of the user interface. Apple doesn't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to a touchscreen interface because the iPhone operating system is already almost perfect for the iSlate.

Obviously, whatever hardware goes into the iSlate will likely sony vgp-bps10 be more robust than what's inside the iPhone and iPod Touch. That said, the current iPhone OS can easily be tweaked to provide greater functionality with a larger screen, more powerful processor and better graphics. The big reason to use the iPhone OS is access to the App Store. The iPhone would have never been a success without the App Store providing all those useful (and useless) applications for consumers to use with their new toys. The same thing will hold true for the iSlate. If Apple doesn't make it easy to put useful applications and entertaining content on the iSlate then this tablet is already as dead as the Newton.

If the iSlate is latitude d630 battery indeed released tomorrow there are a few things you can rest assured you’ll see (other than an overwhelming number of TV and magazine ads) after the announcement:

It won't use traditional notebook hardware. xps m1330 battery Nvidia is one of Apple's largest partners when it comes to graphics hardware, but multiple Nvidia representatives have gone off record to state that Nvidia's new Tegra platform will NOT be powering the iSlate. Likewise, you can probably forget about Intel's Atom processor. While the Atom "might" be an option, the tiny Intel CPU gets hot inside extremely small, fanless enclosures and requires a massive (heavy) battery for more than 6 hours of battery life. Bottom line, Apple should be using non-traditional processors and graphics in the iSlate.

Updated iPhone OS 4.0 for use with the iSlate and new iSlate applications available in the App Store. As stated previously, this one should be a no-brainer for Apple. Stick with what you know works.

Priced below $999. It's hard to speculate on exactly what inspiron 1525 battery Apple will try to charge for the iSlate, but it's safe to assume that it will be more expensive than an iPhone and less expensive than a MacBook. The iSlate will essentially fill the "netbook" role in Apple's lineup ... hp pavilion dv2000 battery an ultraportable computer designed to fill the gap between an iPhone and a hp pavilion dv6000 battery MacBook. In other words, the iSlate is Apple's netbook but unlike netbooks this one promises to be extremely useful.

At the end of the day we all have more questions than answers when it comes to the Apple tablet that "might" be announced tomorrow. However, one thing is an absolute certainty: Every tech journalist on the planet will be paying attention to Apple's press event on January 27th.

Fujitsu Lifebook T4010 Tablet PC notebook

The Fujitsu LifeBook T4010 fujitsu lifebook t4010 battery vgp-bps8 is a Tablet PC notebook convertible device. Fujitsu has more than 60 % of the worldwide Tablet PC market-share and they have been in this market since the beginning, so it seems that Fujitsu has the best experience with this type of product. The T4010 vgp-bps10 is not a pure Tablet like the Fujitsu Stylistic ST50xx series, the ST50xx is a slate style Tablet PC (no keyboard, just electric pen as input). The T4010 meanwhile is a kind of a "variable" notebook, meaning that in normal mode you can use the T4010 as an ordinary notebook, but when you flip the screen over on top of the keyboard, it transforms into a tablet style device, and thereby brings to the table the advantages of a tablet and notebook all-in-one.

Fujitsu LifeBook T4010

The T4010 vgp-bpl8 battery is targeted at professionals and business people, students vgp-bpl8 in certain disciplines might find this device highly useful too, but the $2,000+ price tag might put it out of the price range for such people. One field where tablets are doing well is of course medicine. This makes a lot of sense because you can use a tablet easily while you are on your feet, with a regular notebook you really need a flat surface to rest on. With a Tablet PC you can hold the device with one hand and the pen in the other hand acts as a mouse and input device. I personally like to use this Tablet PC feature in situations when an ordinary notebook is uncomfortable, such as in a car behind the steering-wheel (when parked in traffic or waiting for somebody, not while vgp-bps2b driving preferably!) or even in bed. If you're flying in cramped conditions with little room in front, a Tablet PC may be easier for input purposed then too. Taking notes by hand in a meeting and capturing sketches, not just writing, is a nice feature. Engineers, scientists, designers and anyone capturing flow diagrams could appreciate this feature. And if you're worried that the operating system might be tough to get used to, well just remember that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is nothing more than Windows XP Pro with some added features, there's not too much of a learning curve.

The left side bay on the T4010 vgp-bps9 is hot swappable and modular

The T4010 belongs to Fujitsu's LifeBook series of products. So besides just being of good vgp-bps8a built quality (it feels really sturdy and the screen holds perfectly for this one point flip-over hinge in both positions) you will have some useful goodies that come with all LifeBook products. One such feature is a modular bay system. The optical drive (DVD/CD) is the default item that goes in the modular bay, but an additional vgp-bps8b battery or hard drive can be placed there instead and all those devices are hot-swappable. The sweetest part is that you can share those devices with other model series LifeBook notebooks too, except for the tiny LifeBook P and B series products that is. A second useful feature is the built-in TPM (Trusted Platform Module). With SmartCard reader (built-in or separate) and SecureIT Suite (smart card and software for it) you can encrypt your LifeBook`s hard drive easily. Encrypting a hard drive is beneficial if you have sensitive data so in case of theft, all data stored on the hard drive disk is not accessible, even if somebody tries to put it in another computer to read it. On the bottom of the screen is the so called "security panel", five buttons for BIOS level password. A very impressive feature is what's called an integrated bridge battery. This integrated bridge battery means that you can swap the main battery out, without vgp-bps9a/b shutting the machine down (you do have to put it on sleep) and then put in a freshly charged battery. After you put the T4010 in sleep mode, you can remove main battery and it will still be stay in an operating mode for 30 seconds, which is surely enough time to swap a juiced up battery in. Like all Lifebook's, the T4010 vgp-bps9/b is designed to work seamlessly, so sleep is the natural mode vgp-bps9/s if you are not actually using the notebook. I like my tools to be ready anytime within seconds so I keep the T4010 in sleep mode a lot, I don't want to wait for Windows to fully boot, the only concern is Windows itself because temp files and other garbage will build up over time. However, one restart on a Sunday evening each week seems to solve this problem for me.

Design

The T4010 converting to Tablet PC mode

The T4010 looks good from the outside. A combination of black screen latitude d630 battery cover and solid silver magnesium is maybe a little bit conservative for some people's tastes, but this adds a "business-class" feeling. The weight of the T4010 is a little less than 2 kg (4.40lbs) which is quite good, all things considered. The 12.1" XGA (1024x768) screen is non-reflective and especially good if using this notebook in poor lighting conditions, it even works somewhat well in sunlight. On the right or bottom side (depends whether you're in tablet or notebook mode) of the T4010 xps m1330 battery are some small LCD lights that give information about the hard drive status, battery/batteries and so on, a power button and then five buttons related to security (BIOS password) and other tasks, e.g. scrolling pages, switching screen modes, acting as ENTER and function key and others. The pen, called a digitizer, is located on left side of the screen. Included in box is twine for connecting the pen with the notebook, this is a really useful "small matter" that prevents losing the pen, which happens to cost $40 or more. Also on the upper and bottom sides of the screen are two built-in microphones.

Input Devices

Fujitsu T4010 inspiron 1525 battery in notebook mode with keyboard available for use

The beige colored "apple-look" keyboard, similar to other Lifebook's, is sturdy and responsive. The key pitch is around 3-4 mm and I personally like the soft sound that gives audible so you both hear and feel a key has been pressed correctly. Do not think I mean the audible feedback of the keyboard is a cheap clack, the sound is really soft but solid feeling. The Left Ctrl key is in the right place -- that being the bottom left corner, so many notebooks have inspiron 6400 battery a function key there and it's really annoying. LifeBook's have never followed such annoying keyboard mistakes, often done by other manufacturers. An almost full size Enter key is a blessing too. The Windows key is in the right place, right where it should be. Call me lazy, but I prefer keyboard shortcuts and that's why I never liked IBM's ThinkPad keyboards without the Windows key. If you want to hit Window-key + D to access the desktop or just open some program or document, there is no key presented on IBM's ThinkPad and so you are forced to use the touchpad or stick. I don't like to be forced to do something I don't want to do! The only concern for the T4010s keyboard is that the Home and End keys share their place with PgUp and PgDn keys and are accessible only in conjunction with using the Fn key. The Touchpad is made by Alps and does well as usual. Beneath the touchpad are left- and right click buttons with a scroll button between them.

Speakers

Tiny stereo speakers are located at the front and are usable mainly for VoIP (e.g. Skype). You can listen to music too, but do not expect anything of great quality. However, for VoIP they are cleverly placed because no matter what mode the T4010 inspiron 1545 battery is in, tablet or notebook sound from the speakers will not interfere with microphones. Using it either way with Skype or MSN audio conversation service is pleasant and can cut some serious numbers from your phone bill.

Front side of T4010

On the front of the notebook is placed a power indicator, a headphone/line-out port, microphone line-in connector and a socket for MemoryStick/PRO/SD cards. On the right side is an optical drive (or whatever is there, remember it is a modular bay system) and standard Kensington slot for security. On the back are located (from left to right) power inlet, standard modem port, USB port, infrared and behind small plastic covers LAN and VGA output. latitude e6400 battery On left side can be found a Firewire port, second USB port, PCMCIA slot, SmartCard reader and hard switch for wireless connectivity. Especially good is the last button because it's the easiest way to manage connections and save some battery if WiFi or Bluetooth are not needed. Antenna-switch-module software lets the user configure how this button will act for wireless LAN and Bluetooth. Also on the left side is the hot air outlet for cooling the system, air inlets are placed on bottom. This is good to know because if you use the T4010 as notebook while in bed where intake is blocked, the T4010 will get very hot and noisy. Generally noise is not a concern with the vgp-bps2a T4010, only under heavy load does the cooling kick-in and you can hear it. Ordinarily Office application use is not demanding enough to stress the Pentium M, even when multitasking. But if I play Quake 3, the T4010 will be noisy. For me this doesn't matter as I use headphones anyway. Besides, this notebook is not designed for gaming, and Quake 3 is the upper limit of gaming for which you can expect decent frame rates.

Above view of T4010

On the bottom of T is an expansion bus for the port replicator. A port replicator lets inspiron 1501 battery a user connect all the external devices once to the replicator and then use the notebook as a pseudo-desktop machine by placing it in the dock. There are 4 USB ports on the replicator, headphone/line-out, microphone/line-in, VGA, DVI, LAN pass through and power adapter inlet.

Battery

TheT4010 has a 6-cell 4800 mAh battery vostro 1000 battery and Fujitsu claims runtime for up to 5 hours on this. As usual, small print says that it depends on applications used and other circumstances (first and foremost it means reduced screen brightness, which I really hate). The battery life depends so much on actual usage that there should be some scenarios. For comfortable battery life what you really need is a second battery -- an added 3800 mAh can make the T last even longer. I played my beloved Quake 3 using two batteries (regular 4800 mAh and additional 3800 mAh) and I got a very impressive result, I could play almost 2 hours. Watching a DVD (with main battery only, WiFi active for MSN and Skype) resulted in battery runtime of 2 hours 41 minutes. Office usage with main battery only (Outlook, Avant Browser with 4-5 tabs, 2 Word documents, 2 simultaneous MSN conversations, WiFi and Bluetooth active, highest screen brightness) resulted in 3 hours 57 minutes of battery life. Not bad results at all.

Wireless connectivity

The T4010 I have came with an Intel PRO 2200 BG vostro 1500 battery mini PCI card for the internal wireless card. It rests beneath the keyboard and worked as expected, after Intel released 9th series drivers for this wireless card, all is seamless. The Alps Bluetooth is good too. I hooked up a Fujitsu PX mouse, GPS, Samsung SGH-D500 as a GPRS modem and Samsung Bluetooth headset and there was no problem to manage all those devices even if they were used at the same time. Products from Alps Electric are always something you can count on and drivers for them never cause problems either, that's why Alps parts are often used in quality notebooks.

Conclusion

From a notebook perspective the T4010 has good build quality, looks great and offers vgp-bps2c a lot of security and data safety related features. Performance wise it is powerful enough for me. From a Tablet PC perspective, I probably never used all the capabilities offered by this machine. But I am now getting a new notebook, the LifeBook S7020, and I already know I will miss some of the features offered by the T4010. Most of all I will miss the possibility to browse the net or use MSN messenger while in bed! With Tablet PC it is far more comfortable then with ordinary notebook.

Pros

Long battery life

Modular bay system

Rich software bundle

Variable between notebook / Tablet PC

Looks nice

Solid build quality

Comfortable keyboard

Cons

A little bit expensive

You can fall into some habits that are hard to break!

Sony VAIO TZ Review

The Sony TZ is the latest offering from Sony in the ultra portable market. With its small size and extreme low weight, it is a must on any business traveler's notebook list. The Sony TZ original battery code : sony vgp-bps8 , vgp-bpl8, vgp-bps8a, vgp-bps8b combines a new LED backlight display, solid state drive, over-sized battery, and ultra low voltage processors from Intel to make it an all around extended battery performer. Read on to find out how the paper specs stack up in real world use.

The touchpad was easy to use, and very stable with finger tracking. sony vgp-bps9 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 sony vgp-bps9a/b decent frame rates was Half Life 1 as mentioned in my first look. Dell inspiron 6400 battery 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.

Software

Once you dig deep past the bountiful bloatware, and get a chance to uninstall most of it, the TZ laptop battery really becomes different machine. Power usage drops, programs load faster, startups and shutdowns speed up ... I can't recommend enough that users clean off all of the bloatware before they start using the notebook. If you add up all the preinstalled software, by far the most has to do with specific Sony notebook features like backlight adjustment or eject functions. If you take off too many, you start to lose vital functions. I really wish Sony incorporated all system functions into one software package.

Battery

Under normal use, backlight at 80 percent, Sony vgp-bps8 vgp-bps9 Optimized power profile set, and using wireless for web browsing, the TZ vgp-bps9a/b pulled off six hours and 43 minutes. I vgp-bps9/s vgp-bps9/b was hoping for more, as the preproduction model seemed to go more than seven hours, but it was still very good. Watching movies on the laptop got just less than four hours, meaning you could get through even the longest movies on a flight without a recharge.

Charging the battery took quite long compared to what I have been used to. More than five hours to get a complete charge was not out of the question, and two hours to get over 50 percent. Most other laptops will charge at a faster rate up to the 75-80 percent level, but the TZ had no such feature.

Heat and Noise

Even with the low voltage processor and SSD drive, the Sony TZ sony laptop battery dell laptop battery could produce heat with the best of them. The bottom of the notebook got quite hot even under normal use, and the fan was always running after the notebook had been on for over 20-30 minutes. Fan noise was minimal, and the only way to tell it was blowing would be sticking your hand next to the outlet, and feeling the warm air blow past.

Below are heat overlay images showing where the Sony warmed up (in degrees Fahrenheit) during normal extended use

Conclusion

Compared against every other ultra portable notebook I have worked with, the Sony TZ was by far the brightest, lightest, and smallest of the bunch. The screen was gourgeous, battery life was excellent, and the notebook barely weighed anything. I would recommend this notebook to anything considering a portable laptop, especially those who demand the lightest possible items for travel.