Laptop: I Need a Long-Lasting Portable Notebook

Back-to-school season may be six months away, but some are already looking ahead to the laptop they’ll need when they hit the books in the fall. One such person is Joyce, who’s looking for a notebook she can take on her overseas volunteer trip this summer, and then to school.

I will be entering first year university for Concurrent education this coming September, and will be volunteering overseas this summer. I have a very well-equipped desktop system at home, so all I need is something extremely portable, with a long-lastingbattery life. Streaming videos on youtube is a nice bonus. The primary use is note-taking, so something that works well with Microsoft Office would be great. (I am open to other alternatives for word processing, though.) I am thinking about buying a netbook, and my budget is pretty flexible. HELP ME!!! PS: Is there a recommended time to purchase a netbook? (ie: Holidays? Back-to-School?)

Best, Joyce Lin 

Well Joyce, there are a number of different options, depending on how much money you’re willing to spend.

For less than $300, you can pick up either the Toshiba mini NB505, which lasted 7 hours and 32 minutes, or the HP Mini 1103, which lasted 8:27. Keep in mind, though, that these two are 10-inch netbooks, so while you’ll be able to stream videos on YouTube, Hulu might get a bit choppy.

If you want something a little larger, the AMD Fusion-powered HP Pavilion dm1z weighs 3.4 pounds, has an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) screen, costs $479, and lasted 6:37. Not only that, but it provides more than enough power for watching videos and taking notes.

If you feel like splurging, then we suggest two systems: The Lenovo ThinkPad X220, ($1,299) which also weighs just 3.4 pounds, but has a larger 12.5-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel display, and lasted 7 hours and 51 minutes with its six-cell battery. If you want really ridiculous endurance, then pick up the 9-cell battery and optional battery slice, which extend the X220′sbattery life to over 20 hours. If you’re looking for something really slim, the 13-inch MacBook Air ($1,299) weighs just 2.9 pounds, is 0.68 inches thick at its widest, and lasted 6:36.

Regardless of what you choose, be sure to invest in some sort of security, such as a Kensington lock. The last thing you want is for your brand-new laptop to disappear.

As for your other questions, Open Office is a good–and free–alternative to Microsoft Office that you can download.

And while you can find some good deals around the holidays and back to school time, you needn’t wait until then. Also, if you buy a notebook through your school, you may be able to get an education discount, which will leave you more money for late-night pizza.

source

READ MORE

Report: Red Bull Mulling to Build Road Cars with the Help of Infiniti

Enzo Ferrari didn’t initially intend to manufacture road cars when he started his Scuderia Ferrariteam in 1928. It wasn’t until almost two decades later, in 1947, that the first road car bearing the prancing horse, the V12 125S, was produced mainly to finance his team’s racing activities.

Ferrucio Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Trattori in 1948, a successful manufacturer of tractors and other agricultural equipment. In 1959, he opened an oil heater factory, and later started producing air conditioning equipment. Naturally, he became very wealthy.

Enzo met Lamborghini's dissatisfaction with Ferrari’s sub-standard quality and after-market service with derision. In 1963 he decided to build his own car company, Automobili Lamborghini, in order to manufacture a supercar superior to Ferrari’s and get his revenge. The rest, as they say, is history…

And McLaren made its Formula 1 debut in the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, but didn’t build its first road car, the record-breaking F1, until 1992 –and it sold only 102 units, including the race versions. Its first volume production car is the recently launched MP4-12C.

Dietrich Mateschitz, who owns Red Bull, decided to buy not one, but two Formula 1 teams: Jaguar Racing in 2004, which he renamed to Red Bull Racing, followed two years later by Minardi, which became Scuderia Toro Rosso (Italian for Team Red Bull).

Now, Herr Mateschitz wants to follow the example of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren and extend his activities beyond F1. His intention is to become a car manufacturer, as RBR boss Christian Horner revealed to Autocar: “Red Bull used to be known only as an energy drink company, but now it is recognized as an engineering team. It’s a natural evolution for us to get involved in road car engineering.”

However, he doesn’t intend to start from scratch. He already has a partnership with Nissan-Renault’s luxury brand, Infiniti, which is advertised on the RBR F1 cars powered by Renault. Infiniti sources are acknowledging that their brand’s awareness has increased because of their involvement in F1.

So Red Bull’s first step will likely be a Red Bull Racing-badged special edition of a yet unknown, Infiniti model (we would bet on the G37 coupe). But while the brand plans to expand its European range with a medium-size crossover and a LEAF-based EV with increased performance, don’t be surprised if Red Bull starts an actual car company in cooperation with the Renault-Nissan alliance.

After a tractor manufacturer and two F1-team owners, an energy drink company that also happens to own last year’s F1 champion-winner to build it own cars? Well, why not? The G37 sounds like a good base - and, given that Renault doesn't manufacture supercars, how about a GT-R-Based Red Bull Mr. Mateschitz?

By Andreas T.

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/

READ MORE

Buy a new laptop or tablet? 8 can be considered

The first thing to note is to replace your laptop, you should probably wait. Apple ipad tablet is in the computer industry to enable the reset mode, coming behind them.

The first thing to note is to replace your laptop, you should probably wait. Apple ipad tablet is in the computer industry to enable the reset mode, coming behind them. If you have a tablet, less frequently, you can rely on your laptop is their long life. Available tablet companies trying to achieve the quality of a laptop or tablet PC laptop, otherwise, you probably may find the next one to two years, you might want a more attractive choice .
Timing

Inklings of a few early: the MacBook Air and Apple, Samsung Series 9 Windows-based, as a tablet, which starts almost immediately, to save the file to the tablet, instead of chips for the hard drive Please use. They also have applications in such cases, such as tablets and business applications for the Mac apps have already had, Apple is immediately appears with a program called the Lion of the new Macintosh operating system. Microsoft is working on a version of Windows, it will show the concept of a backup next year and the Tablet PC, perhaps. Software today runs on multiple computers, more adapted to this system, new hardware is coming.

For tablets, some companies in some way on the design of the submission going to work on the iPad, the traditional physical keyboard, and ports have been integrated. This is certainly blurs the line, you If we wait, there is provided a compelling new option.

Laptop vs. Tablet

As buyer of the laptop I said in my last book is now in a secondary, if they're looking for a machine, especially a very portable enough whether the drug should be considered. Now, starting at $ 499 New Apple iPad 2 yet, more than twice the horsepower of the original model, and provides applications that are optimized for 65 000 tablets. It is gradually to edit video, for example, are platforms that can be converted to productivity. It and now the version of the Tablet's new guidelines for $ 499 and the Android operating system of Google, are strong just like the competitors are running the Tablet of the first Research in Motion, joined the new operating system and hardware-speed have. The new drug is based on techniques of Palm Hewlett - Packard is coming soon.

Small tablet weight, the trend towards low-cost laptop, battery life and speed start to beat. And they, Web browsing, email, social networks, play or document, reference, photos, videos, and competition for many common tasks, such as music.

However, intensive work won laptops, such as creating such a long document yet to do anything that requires a physical keyboard and the benefits of, or accuracy. They are also compatible with printers and external hard drives.

You can not wait, if you do not want a tablet, or six months, the laptop, the land has changed relatively little. Here is an overview of what should be for the laptop.

Windows vs. Mac



As always, we are much more diverse and Mac laptops cheap notebook PC with Windows 7. Basic 800 U.S. dollars to 500 U.S. dollars on Windows systems, full size range with some of the models carefully with Windows and $ 300, $ 999 for an early end. And Apple is decreasing, as the Windows category has refused to make a few netbooks. However, Apple's laptop battery, simplicity, customer service combines rugged durability and good reputation. If it is the only program for Windows, Mac, Windows, you must use an additional charge, and they better come with a built-in software. Finally, it is designed so that almost all run on Windows, Mac users are not owned by the malicious software in general.

Memory

At 2 gigabytes, as long as the Mac is doing something right to create complex graphics, I have a memory of 4 GB, RAM or a new Windows computer is recommended. The new Windows machine, to achieve the best performance, "64 bits" must have been displayed.

Processor

The latest, and most, Intel's consumer laptop i3 is advertised in the i7 chips and model i5. However, usually cost less rival AMD,, PC with a chip from Intel's dual-core chips or an older, most users are not okay.

Graphic

In addition, there is no big video game, or does not, please consider this. Many computers, the graphics chip to offload a non-graphics tasks for high speed operation.

In general, the machine Wimpie inexpensive graphics hardware is more expensive and more powerful graphics. Some will have both, you can switch between them as needed.
Hard disk

250 gigabytes is a lot better for the average user, 320 GB hard drive, you must be a minimum on most PC's. Solid state disks, is expensive and the lack of fast moving parts, low power consumption flash memory, please use. But they generally have the capacity. Online as more data is stored, the local memory capacity is no less important.

Port

今Ni many PC that comes with the HDMI connection is easily connected to a high-definition television, and was called. It is much faster new USB port, named, USB 3.0, is only a few peripherals that can use it. And Apple has another high-speed connections has been introduced called the Thunderbolt has been very useful.

Change in the industry, if you can wait to buy a laptop so you increased the tablet. However, if you need to take the risk, please do not buy a laptop more than necessary.

READ MORE

New Alfa Romeo 4C Promotional Film

If Alfa Romeo follows its most recent timetable, the 4C mid-engine sports coupe should arrive in European showrooms sometime in the first half of 2012 with a few examples making their way into the U.S. by the end of the year.

But let's not forget, it's the Fiat Group we're talking about here; the same company that has turned Alfa Romeo's U.S. introduction into something a joke by constantly pushing back the launch for the past decade.

Whatever the future holds for the 4C, Alfa Romeo's marketing arm is getting ready for the introduction and has now released a new promotional video on the sports model, which was previewed at the Geneva Salon this past March.

The pint-sized Italian model is powered by Alfa's 1.7-liter Turbo engine delivering 200-horses to the rear wheels via a twin clutch automatic transmission for a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of under 5 seconds and a top speed of 250km/h (155 mph).

Source: Youtube via Autoblog.it

READ MORE