Tag: desktop-replacement

Dell has added a 17” desktop-replacement laptop to the XPS series

simonmackay 07/07/2020 Computer Systems, Laptop, Notebook and Netbook Computers, Mobile Computing No Comments

Dell XPS 17 laptop press picture courtesy of Dell Australia

The Dell XPS Series now appears in a 17″ screen size desktop replacement

Article

Review: Dell’s big XPS17 9700 17-inch laptop is a monster | Business Review – The Australian

From the horse’s mouth

Dell

XPS 17

Product Page

My Comments

Recently Dell has released the XPS 17 laptop which is capitalising on what their XPS range of laptops is all about – a premium-positioned value-for-money range of ultraportable or “thin-and-light” laptop computers.

Here, the Dell XPS 17 is a 17” slimline desktop-replacement laptop that appeals to those of us who value the larger screen size for content creation. A review published by the Australian described it as being fit for use at work or home or in a hotel room rather than being always taken around a conference or university campus. I would sum this up as simply where you don’t expect to carry it around many times in a day.

The baseline variant which has an Intel Core i5 CPU, 8Gb RAM, 512Gb solid-state storage and Full HD non-touch display also uses Intel UHD integrated graphics as its graphics infrastructure. This is while the other configurations use NVIDIA Geforce GTX 1650 Ti graphics infrastructure with 4Gb display memory along with the Intel Core i7 CPUs.

But, like the rest of the lineup, it has four Thunderbolt 3 over USB-C sockets which allows it to be used with an external graphics module. This is something I appreciate for those of us who may want to save money in the initial purchase of one of these machines but can look towards saving towards purchasing an external graphics module that has the graphics power that suits our needs at a later time.

Two of the higher-end variants have a 4K UHD touch display which would have appeal towards content creation and make best use of the screen size. The only limitation about this would be that the laptop will be more thirsty when it comes to battery runtime. For some people especially content creators, this may be a non-issue if the Dell XPS 17 is expected to be used primarily on external power.

What is happening with Dell and their XPS laptop product lineup is that they are creating Windows-based computers that answer what most of us are after while delivering a very well-built product. They are even getting to a point where they can provide a viable Windows answer to the Apple MacBook lineup.

Gift List–Mother’s Day

simonmackay 01/05/2013 Buying Tips, List post, Special-Occasion Posts No Comments

Sometimes you may be stuck for technological gifts to give Mum on her special day. Here, I have assembled a list of ideas to get you going, especially when it comes to high-value gifts where you can pool resources together to fund these gifts rather than buying many low-value gifts.

Tablets

Small size for the purse

Toshiba AT1S0 7″ Android tablet

The small 7” tablet computers come in to their own if the main goal is to have it on hand in your coat pocket. They can also fit comfortably even it to mid-sized handbags to use as an electronic notebook or electronic reference book.

To keep in the handbag, at home or the office

A 10” tablet may come in to its own if the main goal is to read or view online content while relaxing in that armchair or in bed. Similarly, they could come in to their own with a larger handbag or shoulder bag.

No tablet computer is complete without a matching accessory cover or wrap that suits Mum’s taste. If she owns a tablet computer, you may offer her a newer cover or wrap, perhaps to replace that tired old one that she has on that tablet.

Computers

Small ultraportables

HP Envy X2 detachable-screen hybrid tablet-notebook computer

Small ultraportable computers that range from 11” to 14” can earn their keep for “on-the-go” computing tasks. This is more so if Mum wants to create a lot of content like typing up many email letters, writing memoirs or simply working a blog.

Larger laptops

On the other hand, a standard-size laptop or “desktop tablet” computer may come in handy if the goal is a computer that is mainly used at home and the desire is to store it away neatly when not in use.

All-in-one

The “all-in-one” desktop computer, with the computing power, screen and storage in one slender box, can become an alternative computer option if you want an elegant desktop computer. They are also becoming increasingly capable rather than glorified “kitchen kiosks”.

Printers

HP Photosmart 7510 multifunction inkjet printer – predecessor to the Photosmart 7520

As for printers, it may be worth looking towards a durable network printer that is cost-effective to run. Be careful of the printers that are cheap to buy because these units will be expensive to run due to short-capacity inks and toners, with situations where the cost of replacing ink or toner is as much as buying a printer of the same standard.

HP Photosmart 6520 or Photosmart 7520 desktop printers

HP Envy 120 – a neat aesthetically-pleasing printer for low-demand applications such as being a secondary printer

Brother MFC-J825DW or DCP-J725DW / DCP-J925DW

Small music system

1-piece including speaker docks and wireless speakers

Marantz Audio Consolette speaker dock

These single-piece systems, including speaker docks and wireless speaker systems, typically have a small footprint and can fit well on the kitchen bench or on the sideboard. Some of these may offer a “full” sound that encompasses te bass notes and the treble notes properly.

Denon Cocoon series
Marantz Audio Consolette network speaker
Pioneer XW-SMA3 network speaker
Pure Sensia 200D Connect (review)
Roberts Stream 63i internet radio with CD
Bose SoundDock 10 Bluetooth speaker system

3-piece

Sony CMT-MX750Ni Internet-enabled micro music system

Sony CMT-MX750Ni – an example of a DLNA-compliant music system for a hotel room or serviced apartment

A three-piece system with separate speakers has increased flexibility. Here, you can keep the main unit on the sideboard and position the speakers further away, including mounting them on the wall or having them flank a fireplace or feature window.

Sony CMT-MX750Ni (review)
Denon CEOL (review)
Denon CEOL Piccolo (without CD player) (review)
Marantz CR603 CD receiver or Rotel RCX-1500 CD receiver (review) with small good-quality speakers

Earphones and headphones

Creative Labs MA930 in-ear mobile-phone headset

Creative Labs MA930 in-ear headset

I would suggest that you look towards a few sets of headphones that suit different activities. For example, a pair of lightweight supra-aural headphones can work well for jogging or walking with good examples being provided by B&O (Form 2 – review), Bose, Denon, Sennheiser and Sony.

Earphones can also work well for public transport and other noisy environments especially where discreet use is required. Similarly a pair of good circum-aural headphones can go a long way for detailed music listening at home or in noisy environments.

It is worth having a look at this buying guide to be sure that the headphones fit yours and Mum’s desires.

Gaining the most out of the Internet experience

Internet setup

If there isn’t a broadband Internet service at Mum’s home, it could be a good gift idea to set up one there and install a good-quality router for the network as in the article that I had done about the “family house”.

To the same extent, optimising the home network with at least 802.11n dual stream coverage everywhere, preferably simultaneous dual-band 802.11n dual-stream Wi-Fi. As well, I would make sure that there is a HomePlug AV powerline segment in that network even if there is Ethernet in the house. This is to cater for ad-hoc wired-network setups.

The reason I would think of this is that you may be dealing with increased use of multimedia from online sources at the TV, laptop or mobile devices and you want reliable operation from these services.

Education

Similarly, you may pool resources together to give Mum access to IT education and support programs/ This is more so if she hasn’t got much in the way of computer skills.

Online content

As well, pooling resources to an online content service such as Spotify, Netflix, Hulu or QuickFlix may be a way to give her access to the music and movies that these services provide. In the case of Spotify, this may be about using it as an online music library or as a “music tryout” service that can be part of her complete music experience.

These services are not about replacing the existing content library but about hunting for new content that may be of interest.

Conclusion

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous Mother’s Day with lots of fun, with you using this as a way to choose the right gift that will be value for money.

Product Review–Toshiba Satellite P870 multimedia laptop computer

simonmackay 31/03/2013 Laptop, Notebook and Netbook Computers, Product Review No Comments

Introduction

I am reviewing the Toshiba Satellite P870 which is a 17” desktop-replacement laptop that has a lot of features and expectations of a modest fully-equipped desktop in a laptop chassis. It is the first of its kind that I have reviewed that comes with Windows 8 but the lack of a touchscreen doesn’t really do the operating system justice.

There are some variants of this model including one variant that has all the multimedia fruit such as 16Gb system RAM, 1.5Tb hard-disk storage with 8Gb solid-state caching, a 1080p screen and a full Blu-Ray burner.

Price – this configuration	RRP	AUD$1599
Form factor	Regular laptop
Processor	Intel Ivy Bridge i7-3630M
RAM	8Gb extra cost: 16Gb	red with graphics
Secondary storage	1 Tb hard disk, extra cost: 1.5Tb hard disk 1 Tb with 8Gb SSD cache 1.5Tb with 8Gb SSD cache	Blu-Ray ROM / DVD burner, SD card reader Extra cost: Blu-Ray burner
Display Subsystem	NVIDIA Geforce GT 630M 3D discrete graphics + Intel HD4000 integrated graphics	2Gb discrete display memory
Screen	17” widescreen (1600×900) extra cost: 17” widescreen (1080p)	LED backlit LCD
Broadcast Reception	Extra cost: digital / analog TV tuner
Audio Subsystem	Intel HD audio
Audio Improvements	Harman-Kardon speakers
Network	Wi-Fi	802.11g/n
	Ethernet	Gigabit Ethernet
	Bluetooth	4.0 Smart Ready
Connectivity	USB	3 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0 with Sleep and Charge
	Video	VGA, HDMI
	Audio	3.5mm audio input, 3.5mm audio output, digital output via HDMI
Operating System on supplied configuration	Windows 8
Windows Experience Index – this configuration	Overall:5.9	Graphics: 6.5 Advanced Graphics:6.5

The computer itself

Aesthetics and Build Quality

There is a lot of use of the aluminium panelling around the Toshiba Satellite P870’s keyboard escutcheon and palm rest as well as on the back of the lid. This provides for a use experience that feels more cool to the touch and less sweaty.

I have noticed the durable construction for a machine of its value as well as no overheating under normal use. Even video playback doesn’t cause the Toshiba to overheat. This means that you can use it on your knees without it feeling hot, and you don’t hear a fan kicking in, trying to cool the laptop down, as you use the computer.

User Interface

The keyboard that the Toshiba Satellite P870 is equipped with has the backlit keys. But they are pretty slippery. On the other hand, the keys are easy to locate by touch and wide enough so you can touch-type comfortably.

There is a numeric keypad which is good for working spreadsheets, bookkeeping and other number-crunching applications.

The trackpad is overly sensitive when it comes to typing and the ability to disable it is very similar to what happens with recent HP laptops and can cause confusion. Personally, I would prefer that Toshiba maintain the separate hardware switch for controlling the trackpad. As well, I would prefer Windows 8 users to use a Bluetooth mouse for better control of the screen because this computer isn’t equipped with a touchscreen and the trackpad can take a fair bit of getting used to.

Audio and Video

Toshiba Satellite P870 desktop-replacement laptop Harman-Kardon speakers

Harman-Kardon speakers to give this laptop full sound

The visual experience for the Toshiba Satellite P870 was very smooth and responsive although you may not know what graphics mode you may be using for the application, thanks to the NVIDIA Optimus setup. Here, this engages discrete or integrated graphics depending on what you are doing as well as whether there is much battery runtime left in the computer’s battery.

When I played some music using Toshiba’s Media Player software, the laptop yielded full-response sound, thanks to the Harman-Kardon sound tuning. It didn’t sound wimpy and was adequate for a desktop replacement computer. Also, I was watching some content from SBS Video On Demand and found that the sound quality was impressive when it reproduced the dialogue and sound effects from the movie while I was using the integrated speakers.

Connectivity, Storage and Expansion

Left-hand-site – Gigabit Ethernet, 2 USB ports and a Blu-Ray reader / DVD burner driver.

The Toshiba Satellite P870 has plenty of connections like a VGA and HDMI output, separate audio input and output jacks, Gigabit Ethernet and 4 USB ports. Three of these are the 3.0 variety for newer higher-performance peripherals while one of these is a 2.0 variety for external mice and similar peripherals. The USB 2.0 port also provides the user-selectable “Sleep and Charge” function so you can charge your mobile phone or other USB-charged gadgets from this laptop especially while it is plugged in to AC power. This function worked as expected when I set the Toshiba up to charge my Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone and can be a bonus if you are in those areas where there aren’t many power outlets to plug mobile-phone charges in to.

Right-hand side – audio input and output, 2 USB ports, HDMI and VGA video outputs.

The hard-disk capacity for each of the variants of this model is realistic to current expectations for a desktop replacement especially where you intend to take the Toshiba between home and work. This is more so if you are a media packrat and you have heaps of digital pictures, music tracks and video material on the hard disk.

The release button on the optical drive is located on bevel underneath the laptop, and is asking for trouble due to accidental opening when the computer is switched on. Personally, I would have the switch located on the front of the optical-drive tray or, for the price position, I would prefer to run with a slot-load drive.

Battery life

For regular use, the battery runtime is very good when you engage in most tasks. If you do intend to watch online video for longer than an hour, you have to make sure that the battery is charged up fully or you are using external power.Similarly playing a DVD would last for around two and a half hours from a full battery.

With this class of machine, I wouldn’t really expect to have a long-tine of battery use when engaging in multimedia.

Other usage notes

The Toshiba Media app that come with this laptop is no crapware. Infact it worked tightly with the home network and was able to play what was on my WD MyBook World Edition network-attached storage clearly and reliably.

Limitations and Points Of Improvement

For a laptop of its price range, the Toshiba Satellite P870 could benefit from a touchscreen, which would make the Windows 8 user experience worthwhile. Similarly, the Wi-Fi network functionality could be set up for 802.11a/g/n dual-band across the range.

Conclusion

I would recommend the Toshiba Satellite P870 Series of desktop-replacement laptops for its purpose as a desktop-replacement computer rather than primarily for portable “on-the-road” use. This would be preferred by those who value the large screen for imaging, multimedia and related activities. It is one of these laptop computers that suit a person who lives out of their car boot (trunk) and only uses it in the location where they stay; or those of us who want to have a computer that they can easily move around the house or stow away in a drawer out of sight.

Samsung still staying on with the 17” desktop replacement

simonmackay 01/05/2012 Laptop, Notebook and Netbook Computers No Comments

Article

Samsung unwraps 17in Ivy Bridge beast • reghardware

My Comments

Apple who may call the direction of personal computing may say that the 17” desktop-replacement laptop is “out of fashion” or “uncool” and cease running this form factor for their MacBook. But it is not so for Samsung’s up-and-coming Ivy-Bridge-powered Windows 17” multimedia desktop replacement known as the Series 7 Chronos 17.

But, as I have outlined in my recent laptop buyer’s guide, this screen-size form factor does still have relevance as a portable computer, especially when it comes to a large-screen “stow-it-away” solution for those who need to regularly set up and pack up their computing environment. Examples of this kind of use include the dining or kitchen table is your home office, a large-screen work-home laptop or project-based computing.

The Samsung, with its dual-graphics functionality with NVIDIA Optimus switching and 2Gb NVIDIA GT650M dedicated graphics, could still earn its keep as a games or multimedia machine with that large screen. Even on economy integrated-graphics mode, this unit and others with Ivy-Bridge chipsets will have a bit more in the graphics “oomph” that what the previous Sandy-Bridge chipset.

It also has the Blu-Ray player and 1Tb of hard disk storage plus 8Gb on the RAM. The big question to ask is how much this unit, especially this configuration, will cost. More or less, it still shows that the Windows-driven multimedia desktop-replacement laptops still have that credibility on the stage.