Totally Hardware

The manufacturers, Windows PC, have announced the coming of the new Acer Aspire S3-951. This is the first of its type, as it is a clone of the Apple MacBook Air.

Intel have dubbed this new product category ultrabook, hoping to keep the order-books for their processor filled as consumers desert their netbook which used to prop up the sales of the underpowered Intel Atom processor.

Positive first impressions of the ultrabook with the lid closing quickly turn to disappointment as what you expect to be all-metal construction is actually revealed to be a plastic laptop, a slim skin of brushed metal covers the lid only. The computer is assembled with plastic, and painted silver-grey to resemble the Air’s metal construction.

Acer have deliberately been cutting down on weight to beat Apple’s example. The sample reviewed was 1338g, 3g lighter than the Apple, on the subject of the Apple, their keyboard is similar to the Scrabble tile type; however the precision is not there.

They have placed the ports beneath the screen hinge, at the back: Cooling vent, HDMI, power inlet and two USB 2.0. At the sides are a headphone jack and SD card slot.

Although the Acer Aspire S3-951 is smaller in size to the MacBook Air, the monitor has an identical 13.3in headline size, however due to a wider 16.9 aspect ratio, it is smaller in area. The MacBook Air’s 16:10 screen would be better suited to a PC. Small speakers are included, which vent through the keyboard and the bottom, however they sound very tinny.

The unit runs very quickly, thanks to the Intel Core i7, with the almost 250GB SSD from ADATA and memory of 4GB.

The unit is not ideal for playing games, due to its integrated graphics, however on a positive note, its built in battery gives a little over 6 hours.

The Android 4.0 filled Optimus L7 will hit the UK market later this month. This was confirmed by LG literally just hours after the Samsung Galaxy S3 was unveiled here.

Their latest flagship Android handset was unveiled at MWC 2012 earlier in the year. The unveiling was slightly overshadowed by Samsung’s announcement and so far the price has not been decided but it should be here in May and soon afterwards onto the global market.

So, taking a look at the specifications,the Optimus L7 has a 4.3 inch WVGA display with an extra wide viewing angle. This allows the user to get enhanced visual displays from any direction it is viewed from. The workhorse of the L7 is a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor. There is a rear- mounted, 5 megapixel camera with an LED flash. This can provide you with some really impressive pictures.

The whole thing is just 8.7mm thick. The LG Optimus L7 also comes with a 480 x 800 IPS touchscreen, the 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. The main 5 MP camera has High Definition 1080p video. There is a video calling facility, of course, 4 GB of internal storage and the whole thing is powered by a 1700 Ah battery.

The President and Chief Executive Officer of the LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, Dr. Jong-seok Park, has said that LG are confident the Optimus L7 will be an attractive option for consumers who want style and sophistication in their smartphone. They also have high expectations that it will be one of their most popular models.

With new, updated versions of the popular Windows operating system coming out every few years, many users wonder if it is worth the trouble to buy in to the newest version. Many users were disappointed enough with reviews of Windows Vista that they stayed with Windows XP or even downgraded the operating system on their system to run on XP. Investing in the newest version of an operating system may seem unnecessary, and in most cases it is possible to get by on an older version of Windows. However, when considering the improvements that Windows has included in its newest installment of Windows, Windows 7, it is worth the effort and the cost to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system.

Overall, Windows 7 is faster than Windows Vista, which alone is one of the most desirable reasons for upgrading. Using Windows 7 allows users to open and close programs faster, and computers running Windows 7 will boot up and close down faster than computers that are running Windows Vista. When you consider how often you boot up a computer or how many times a day you wait a few seconds for a program to load, you begin to realize that all these seconds add up. In total, the increased speed could mean a difference of a few hours when stretched out over a lifetime, or maybe even a full day! If you switch to Windows 7 and continue to upgrade to faster operating systems throughout your life, you can take comfort in knowing on the day that you die that you might have enjoyed an entire twenty-four hours of extra activities that you would have otherwise spent waiting for your computer to boot up.

Windows 7 has reduced the number of programs that come with the operating system, which might seem like a reduction in the things you can do with the operating system, but when you realize that the programs that were eliminated were not frequently used, the decision to reduce the built-in applications that come with the Windows operating system seems to be a wise choice. Windows 7 is in many ways a leaner and more streamlined update of Windows Vista. Windows 7 is also a more reliable operating system than Windows Vista because it doesn’t tend to crash the system the way that Windows Vista is sometimes prone to do. This trait of stability is in itself enough to motivate an upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7; the ability to reduce the number of times the system freezes up is one of the main reasons to produce an upgraded version in the first place. The user interface of the Windows 7 system is also sleeker and easier to use, which reduces the tendency for the interface to clutter up.

Depending on what you use your computer for you will most likely want to upgrade. The operating system runs smoother and is able to handle multiple large programs with ease. For those people with Dell a Dell Windows 7 upgrade will be worth your time and money. Dell machines are made with performance in mind and Windows 7 won’t disappoint.

One of the most convincing advantages that Windows 7 holds over Windows Vista is the fact that, as the most recent update, Windows 7 will be supported by updates that will fix bugs in the system and improve computer security, while Windows Vista won’t receive the benefit of such updates.

The new tablet computer from Acer, the Iconia A100 operates on the dual core Nvidia processor that has become very popular for tablet computers. It also comes with a standard amount of RAM, one gigabyte. This makes it a tablet computer that is going to be able to compete in the market, but doesn’t make its performance particularly exceptional.

This tablet computer is smaller than the other offerings from Acer, and the market leader, the iPad 2. It is a lighter tablet computer with a smaller screen than many other models currently on the market.

Despite aiming for it to be a lightweight device, it still weighs in at 470 grams. While this is significantly lighter than other larger tablets, it is heavy, when you consider the size of its screen. If you choose to go for the Galaxy Tab you’re going to get a much larger screen for only 100 grams of extra weight. This weight leaves the device feeling heavy and chunky in the hands, which is not a particularly pleasant browsing experience.

On top of the device you will find a headphone jack as well as a power button and there are volume controls on the outside as well. The device comes with a Micro SD card slot so you can expand the memory, and this is housed under a plastic flap on the outside of the device. There are some other ports on the device including USB connectivity and an HDMI port.

Some people might fault the device for not being able to charge through its USB cable, and having an additional power port. However, this means that the device will be much quicker to charge than many other tablets, and it can go from empty to fully charged with the power cable in just one hour.

When you first look at the new ZTE Light Tab you will probably think that it is just your normal low-cost tablet computer and is like the many others that are currently on the market. The device is generally good looking though and it performs well for a budget tablet computer.

The device is running the Android operating system and it has been overlaid with a specific interface by ZTE. This is a somewhat cartoon like interface and it is very colourful. It has a powerful processor with a 1.4 gigahertz chip and this makes sure that everything runs reasonably quickly. It is possible to browse through the menu and desktop with ease and the transition effects are nice.

Unusually for a tablet device, it is possible to take the back off the tablet computer and access the battery. This is where you will be able to insert a sim card so you can use the device for sending text messages, browsing the web and making calls. As well as having 3G connectivity, it is also possible to connect the device to the Internet via Wi-Fi.

There is a camera on the device as well which is capable of three megapixels and it also comes with software that allows you to adjust the exposure, saturation and ISO balance. The camera is also capable of recording video and if you want to make Skype calls there is also a camera facing forwards.

Browsing the Internet on the tablet is also a pleasant experience, the experience is smooth and speedy and websites will load quickly, even when you are connected through 3G. The build quality of the device is excellent and the price is exceptional when you consider that it can connect via 3G. Unfortunately, the audio that the device has lets it down and it is also not possible to access Google Play.