17-Inch Apple MacBook Pro Design Overview

The Apple Macbook Pro has long defined itself as the premier notebook in style features and performance. And while it has not been one of the cheapest notebooks, it still gets high praise for its keen adherence to design and performance.

The design of the new Unibody MacBook Pro is one more of refinement then innovation. For
starters the system is now housed in a shell made from a single sheet of aluminum. According to Apple this allows the system to be more environmental friendly as well as
providing easier access to parts and components.

The screen has now been embellished with a new edge to edge glass screen which results in significant glare in highly lit rooms. Ironically Apple offers an anti-glare option for a cool $50. Clearly Apple is aiming this laptop at photographers and graphics designers as it touts the high color gamet of the screen.

The keyboard has also been reworked and has been given the spaced click-it keyboard that has been in the MacBook 13-inch for years. We have noticed that while they look the same, the feel is above average for the MacBook Pro and feels a lot more refined.

The touch pad has also been reworked. In all the single button has been removed and instead has been replaced with a multi-touch pad that can accept one, two and four finger gestures. The whole thing has been turned into a giant click pad which does get some getting used to but is totally worth it.

You've probably heard about the integrated battery. This has been our major problem with the new system. Although it does perform nicely (and lasts for 1000 charges according to Apple) it still falls short for those who would be tempted to use this computer for more then six hours without charging it or an extended battery.

In terms of specs: the system can take up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM (equivalent to 16GB of DDR2), up to 500GB HDD and or 128GB SSD, NVIDIA integrated and discrete graphics as well as 3 USB ports Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n.

We just wish Apple would have given a little thought to putting a card reader into the thing and a Blu-Ray option.

Silk White -Sony NS230 Series 15.4" Laptop Features

Sony NS230 powered by an Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3400, genuine Windows Vista Home Premium, 3GB system memory, 250GB hard drive, 15.4" diagonal high-definition XBRITE-ECO widescreen display, 1-year limited warranty


Features Sony NS230

* Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T3400 (2.16GHz, 1MB L2 cache)
* genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1
* 3GB DDR2 system memory
* 250GB (5400rpm) SATA hard drive
* 15.4" diagonal WXGA high-definition XBRITE ECO widescreen display (1366 x 768)
* 802.11b/g/n WLAN

* 1.3MP Motion-Eye Webcam with integrated digital microphone

Measured Performance of Netbook Acer Aspire 5520

The Netbook Acer Aspire 5520 comes with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 mobile processor running at 1.7 GHz with Nvidia’s GeFroce 7000M graphic card. The performance is mixed of Netbook Acer Aspire 5520. You could not play many games simply by Acer Aspire 5520 because the graphic card is not strong enough of it.

You will get 1 GB ram which is not enough to run Windows Vista so if you plan on getting Acer Aspire 5520 netbook you should stick to Windows XP. On PCMarks we got a score of 2821 points, if Acer Aspire 5520 netbook only had a little bit stronger graphic card the performance would have been a lot better overall.

However, the 160 GB hard drive of Acer Aspire 5520 netbook will be able to store most of your files. So, the storage place is good. The screen of Acer Aspire 5520 netbook is simply a 15-incher running on a 1280x800 resolution. The screen is good overall with and the viewing angels are good. The battery of Acer Aspire 5520 netbook life lasted a little bit over 2 hours. 2 hours and 10 minutes to be exact, this is average for a laptop in this price class and it is quite acceptable.

The Netbook Acer Aspire 5520 is good for freshman users but not recommended for the gamers. The hardware in the Netbook is great all except from the poor graphic card. You will not be able to use Windows Vista but running Windows XP. However this machine works great if you just want to surf the internet and, work and don’t play to many high-end games.

Overview and Features of Netbook Acer Aspire 5520

The Acer Aspire 5520 is a good laptop from Acer with a good design and good features. The design for the Acer Aspire 5520 is nice with a matte black color, curved angles and couple of sharp lines. The case dimensions of Acer Aspire 5520 are 426x366x274 mm, and weight is 2.75kg.

The Acer Aspire 5520's screen opening mechanism is a little bit annoying because one need to hands to open and close the laptop simply because it is so stiff and when one closing the screen the mechanism doesn’t always lock it.

The Acer Aspire 5520 laptop could also been just a little bit thinner but overall it looks good. The speakers, keyboard and touchpad of Acer Aspire 5520 are made in good quality here and seem to be solid overall.

The Acer Aspire 5520 comes with many good features. You will get facilities like Ethernet, Wireless, modem, 4 USB connectors, ExpressCard 54 slot, D-Sub output for the monitor, S-Video out, SPDIF, FireWire, integrated mic, headphone out, mic in, audio out, 5 in 1 card reader, 1.3 MP webcam etc. Overall, you will be satisfied.