Laptops/PCs/Apple

This is a Tablet designed for business use. This means that it will not be cheap and just for once the screen surround will not be shiny black so although the fingermarks will still be there they will not show up unless you look.

Small and light is not something that used to be applied to 24inch monitors or for that fact to early 24inch panels, however both can be applied to this offering from Hannspree the HL249 Hanns.G with LED Technology.

It is small enough to fit in a pocket and can handle your productivity and entertainment needs but takes a different path to other non-Apple tablets.

This is another in a range of decent good sized panels recently seen. This one from Viewsonic offers a not particularly reflective screen and joy of joys someone has produced a panel surround that is not reflective shiny black.

At last shiny black all over is not what all notebooks seem to be. Here a 15.6inch screen offering with a quad core Intel i3 processor. While the base is matt black the lid is patterned grey, sadly the screen surround is still shiny black.

Several people have pointed out to me that it has been a long time since anything from Lenovo has been reviewed so here is one of their latest notebooks a very powerful Intel i5 quad core machine with 6GB of RAM.

Where once tablets were a form of medication, now they take on the role of an entertainment and information delivery device.

I first heard of this last September, unfortunately the PR promises seem shall we say optimistic and it only arrived with me this year. Not the longest wait for something but certainly worthy of a reason as to why it was delayed.

Here I am looking at two different but similar small keyboards from Brando in Hong Kong; the first is Wireless with IR Remote. The second is a wheel micro wireless keyboard mouse with added presentation abilities.

Certain things take a long time, this certainly in one such item, I remember seeing a pre production unit in the late spring with promise that it would ship in September 2011 but it arrived with me after the start of 2012.

This Android device will easily fit in a pocket or purse, the screen is however larger than you think as it hinges in the centre giving a view that is far larger than the overall size of the Tablet and certainly worth a look.

Microsoft OneNote, which is an integrated part of Microsoft Office 2010, is arguably the forgotten application. Even though a great many MS Office users probably know that it exists, and that they installed it as part of the suite, quite a proportion don’t take advantage of it. The Plain & Simple book Microsoft OneNote 2010 by Peter Weverka, and which was published last October, will enable the uninitiated to get to grips with this m

Kingston produce a slightly oversize memory stick and this can easily be 32GB, they also produce one that the cap is bigger than the memory module – think tiny USB receivers for keyboards and mice – and these can be 8 or 16GB.

The portable computer family continues to expand. First we has laptops/notebooks, then came netbooks closely followed by tablets. Now Ultrabooks join the party.

Solid State Drives (SSDs), which have been talked about for a long time as alternatives to hard drives, are now starting to become a reality so that users are increasing able to take advantage of the their higher effective speed, robustness and low power consumption. Although this is mainly in netbooks and high end laptops, an SSD can also often be used to rejuvenate a machine which is not in the first flush of youth and make it the ideal tool for carrying around. Crucial ma

Here I am looking at two rather different USB hubs. The first is branded with the Highstar name and not only is a hub but also a memo pad and has a clock and temperature sensor. The second is far more normal both come from Brando in Hong Kong.

Netbooks continue to be a useful solution; however this one nearly did not get reviewed. It was slow to boot almost as slow to shut down and as for opening any applications, luckily I am known for my determination so read on.

When buying any computer kit one wants to plan ahead to give oneself a degree of future-proofing without going to the too expensive extreme. The Netgear N600 wireless dual-band gigabit ADSL2+ modem router model DGND3700 will provide more than adequate performance today while, at the same time, has enough facilities and performance to meet needs for the next year or two which is, after all, as far as it is reasonable to plan -- even if one switches from ADSL to cable or fibre.

If you are in the market for a large flat panel then certainly this offering from Samsung should be on a very short list. It is described as a 27inch monitor but for something so big it is not heavy or in any way really bulky.

This is a slimmer, faster and better specified version of the original Packard Bell oneTwo. It is a full featured Windows PC with Touch Screen working out of the box but it is also a Windows Media Centre unit with remote.

During my review of the Motorola XOOM Android 3.1 Tablet I found no real problems but the one discovered very near the end. It is a fast unit running what is currently the latest version of Android; it is rapid and far more intelligent than some other such units.

With its policy of providing systems for different needs and pockets, Acer presents its Aspire 5755G model for your delectation.

This is a wide screen pivot enabled 1920x1080 display. You have a choice of VGA or DVI connection and for good measure it has a four port USB hub built in. Is this the sort of display to give your office that extra wow?

The arrival of a battered box is not always bad news, the arrival of a box with space in it probably is. This unit had been doing the rounds and when it got to me all I got was the system box, not even a power lead or any instructions.

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary a “tab” is a small flap, strip, tag or tongue; an account, tally; and keep an account of. However in more recent parlance, a tab is also the abbreviated form used to describe the latest hot topics with regards to computer hardware. In this particular case it is the Liberty Tab from Packard Bell.

Adding to its already impressive range of laptops is the Aspire Timeline X from Acer.

While I have had the opportunity to check out various Acer laptops, this is the first chance I have had to take a close look at a Packard Bell laptop.

This has a rather special extra, it is a four port router it is a modem and it has a USB port and while a lot of other modem routers also have a USB port few (if any) can not only print but also scan and do other MFU tasks.

Often having a Blu-ray drive in a notebook or PC makes it a high price purchase and buying an external unit can be cheaper. I recently purchased a new PC and it came just with a DVD multi drive, add this Plextor unit and it’s complete.

Finally I think some manufacturers are listening when people moan about the black surrounds showing fingermarks. The solution is to simply remove the black, on this only the base and the keyboard area are the dreaded black.