Samsung Series 7 review: first look

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

The super-slim Series 9 laptop drew many an admiring glance, and Samsung’s Series 7 range looks likely to repeat the trick. In a meeting room at PC Pro, we were given an exclusive first glimpse of the 15.6in Samsung 700Z.

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Smartphone crapware: worse than laptops?

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

A couple of years ago I holed myself up in the PC Pro Labs with some new laptops to see what impact their pre-installed software — known as crapware, bloatware and shovelware — had on performance.

The results proved shocking but, when it comes down to it, that software is pretty easy to deal with – it’s just a matter of uninstalling everything and, if you’re really particular, running an app like CCleaner to get your Registry back to its fighting weight.

Not so with smartphones. On Friday, I eased the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro from its box, turned it on, and was greeted with a message urging me to set up McAfee WaveSecure before I’d even set up the phone with my Google account. (more…)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 review: first look

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

It’s already made its stateside debut, but over in good ol’ Blighty Lenovo has finally shown off its latest business ultraportable, the 13.3in ThinkPad X1.

From the off, it’s an unmistakeably classic ThinkPad. A sea of smooth matte black – magnesium alloy top and bottom – stretches all around, interrupted only by the occasional flash of red. It’s seriously slim, too, measuring just 17mm thick and adding a claimed 1.7kg to your laptop bag.

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Webuyanylaptop – but not for very much

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

If you’re looking to get shot of an old laptop, then you’re faced with a decision. You could advertise on eBay – if you can stomach the fees – or resort to the cheapskate’s site of choice, Gumtree. Alternatively, you could point your browser at www.webuyanylaptop.co.uk.

It’s gloriously simple. Use the web-based wizard to select the brand and model of the laptop in question, then enter details about its processor, RAM, hard disk and general condition. Once you’re happy with the offer, the company sends you a box, postage pre-paid, and in goes the laptop. Then all you have to do is wait for the cash to appear in your account.

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The next killer smartphone feature: a decent battery

Friday, March 18th, 2011

I got an Amazon Kindle for Christmas. I charged it for only the third time yesterday, despite using it almost every day. In fact, my only problem with the Kindle is remembering where I left the charger several weeks ago.

Similarly, I can’t remember the last time I ran out of juice on my laptop. Until a couple of years ago, I could barely complete a train journey home without peering at the Windows battery meter and praying the laptop didn’t abruptly conk out mid-way through a match in Football Manager (I do work on the train sometimes, in case my publisher is reading).

Yet, with the extended battery pack on my Dell XPS M1330, the battery lasts about three or four hours – plenty long enough to get me to and from the office. And by today’s standards, that’s even starting to look pretty feeble. The 13in MacBook Pro lasted for in excess of 10 hours in our light-use battery tests, for example. Like the Kindle, it’s practically reached the point where you barely need to worry about the battery.

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Sony VAIO S Series review: first look

Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011

After our exclusive reviews of Sony’s brand-new CA Series notebook and L Series touchscreen all-in-one, Sony’s launch event in London’s Century Club promised to be tinged with an overwhelming sense of deja-vu.

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How to physically secure your business hardware

Friday, January 21st, 2011

There seems to be something of a misconception, at the smaller end of the business scale at least, that data security is somehow a terribly complex thing that is also expensive to achieve properly. This myth is no doubt massaged just a little bit by small business consultants with one eye on the invoice.

The truth of the matter is somewhat different, of course, and basic data security is neither difficult nor expensive to achieve. All it takes is a little bit of technical know-how and an awful lot of common sense.

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Samsung ZX310 review: first look

Friday, January 7th, 2011

Samsung’s laptop division have two things to boast about at this year’s CES: the elegant sliding tablet TX100 and equally elegant ZX310.

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BBC lost laptops: a case of trial by PR

Monday, August 9th, 2010

You can tell it’s the summer silly season. Take, for example, the story doing the rounds today about the BBC losing 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerrys to the tune of a headline-friendly £240,000 over the past two years.

It sounds terrible, especially given that the money comes from the public via the licence fee, but when, or if, you stop to think about it – that actually represents less one and a half laptops a week.

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How (and why) Sony designed the new VAIO P Series

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Contrary to the beliefs of the rest of the PC Pro team, I didn’t spend all my time while stuck in Japan drinking sake and impersonating Elvis in debauched karaoke bars. Along with going behind the scenes to see the VAIO testing setup, I had the good fortune to hear directly from the chief project manager behind the Sony VAIO P Series – both the original and its successor – on how exactly this innovative laptop came into being.

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