Laptops/PCs/Apple

A new netbook from Asus comes with two "firsts". One was to do with Asus while the other was a first for me.

This is a small neat Netbook with the faster Intel 1.66GHz processor and Windows Starter edition. Ideal for travelling as with the larger battery you could get a days use. While colour is not important to me this cream and grey offering is nice.

Yes I know it’s been a long time since I have reviewed any HP PC’s but once a company changes agencies it often takes a long time to get involved again. Now of course almost everything is Notebook, Netbook or touchscreen Tablet, here all three.

This is exactly what a modern notebook should be, well specified and easy to use. The latter is handled by it having a full suite of touch modules built it so things that used to need the mouse can now be completed using your fingers.

Netgear’s N300 RangeMax wireless gigabit ADSL2+ modem router DGN3500 has been designed to provide the higher speeds that users increasingly demand. In addition to its wide range of LAN and WAN features it can also support an external USB storage device.

On the face of it very like the professional notebook that I recently reviewed from Samsung however despite having USB3 ports gone is the non reflective screen and back has come the normal shiny black that shows fingermarks.

My first joy on opening the box was that it was not P I N K (the original PogoPlug was) this was a far more normal black. So what can the PogoPlug Pro do – apart from save your eyes – that the original PogoPlug cannot.

The last long term test panel I reviewed I ended up buying. That was when flat panels were in their infancy. This one I have been using for several months and yes I have purchased it yet again, it’s lighter, bigger and brighter.

I have been fortunate to have this longer than a standard test which means I have been able to test a larger range of software and hardware with it than normal. This is a high end offering and the differences can be found.

Adding to its popular Aspire One family of products, Acer has released the D255 model. This is a 10.1-inch netbook.

Archos has brought together media player features and Internet tablet functionality with the Android operating system

Two solutions for those who do not have a Blu-ray player and those who do not have USB3 ports that are required to run the first solution. Buffalo provide the USB3 Blu-ray drive and Lindy provides the solution for those needing US3 ports.

The Netgear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Modem Router DGND3300 offers both versatility and high performance and, despite lacking Gigabit Ethernet, should meet the needs of the majority of users. In addition to its connectivity, security and other features its USB port allows external storage to be shared by attached PCs.

This seems to be the main push in the UK for Packard Bell at the moment given the amount of advertising I am seeing in newspapers and magazine. So is it all hype or is the Easy Note a Notebook to go on a very short list.

I requested to see this in the early summer, now shortly before Christmas after many delays it has arrived. I can see why a touchscreen notebook would be possible but unless short sighted I think reaching out to touch this screen puts it a little near.

Those kind people at Laptops Direct were responsible for supplying this next product from the Acer stable of netbook/notebook catalogue.

While panels over 20inches are becoming normal, 23inches is no longer regarded as large but this monster from Acer at a true 27inches must still qualify. Remembering the weight of my first 17inch monitor this panel is far less.

This is another small Netbook this time from Samsung. Like the Acer one in the previous review it has remarkable battery life in fact I used wireless for a continuous review period of very close to seven hours use.

This is another small Netbook. Here with Windows 7 Starter edition and Office 2010 Starter. So although everything is ‘basic’ it does mean that you are still using the program and tools that almost any modern business does.

D-Link’s Wireless ADSL router model DSL-2740R is aimed at both new users as well as those who want to upgrade their router so as to get the benefit out of the improved performance of the ADSL2/ADSL2+ now widely offered by ISPs.

Your PC or Laptop is working fine with one exception you are rapidly running out of hard disc space. Simple answer get a larger hard disc but this means starting again from scratch reinstalling everything again, or does it?

Fancy a large monitor? How about 23 inches? This is a Full HD 1920x1080 offering, what I found surprising as I moved my 20inch panel aside to review the Samsung SyncMaster BX2350 is that it weights around half that of my own smaller panel.

While there are many tiny (non powered) 500GB hard drives around this 1GB unit is not one of them, its large and needs its own power but has a range on interesting LEDs and a whole raft of software provided on a CD-ROM.

While the keyboard and mouse provide the main means of communicating with your computer, it is the screen that tends to let the computer communicate with you. As you tend to view the screen constantly, it does help if it can perform to your satisfaction and not be distracting. Read on…..

This is a media storage box, but not a normal one that will only work within the local network. You can access data providing you’re my Ditto box is connected to your router from anywhere in the world securely using a USB key.

The connection between these items is of course no cable as they are both wireless. The first to give a non wireless PC that capability, and the second to enable devices such as a PDA or phone without a keyboard simular.

Hard drives no bigger than a floppy drive (3.5inch version) are now the norm. What to a man of mature years still takes some getting used to is their capacity is hundreds of time the size and the stack of floppy disk would be huge.

Not everybody needs the power and functionality offered by today’s notebooks. For some the lower specifications of a netbook will suffice.

This is a 17.3inch notebook, in fact quite a nice powerful notebook that verges onto a Desktop replacement. With that size of screen it is only really something to be moved for long distances by private transport unless you go to the gym a lot.

I had just installed this on my test system when my own modem/router decided to pop its clogs. So what would have been a ‘test’ suddenly became real life with my day to day communications relaying on the Play Max.