Lenovo Thinkpad X120e Review

Professional Performance: The ultraportable ThinkPad X120e is small in stature by design, but it now packs an even more powerful punch for business productivity. Integrating an AMD Fusion E-Series APU gives users 65 percent faster graphics performance1, which speeds up Web searches, page loads and running business applications. At the same time, the ThinkPad X120e gives users longer battery life – up to 30 percent longer – for more than six hours2 and meets Energy Star 5.0 specifications. It also carries the EPEAT Gold rating for its environmental attributes. Additionally, the ThinkPad X120e comes with an HDMI port for projecting content on another monitor or a TV screen.




“Mobile users no longer have to trade battery life for great graphics performance,” said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager, Client Division AMP Products Group, AMD. “AMD Fusion APUs allow for thinner, cool-running devices that can last the day and do what’s demanded of today’s professional.”

Just-Right Fit: As compact as it is, the ThinkPad X120e is designed to fit just right for business users who need to balance portability and usability. An 11.6 inch screen and a full-size keyboard give users plenty of room to work comfortably, and the contemporary ThinkPad keyboard features a progressively clean look while retaining the same comfortable feel of the ThinkPad classic keyboard.

Incredibly Mobile: Starting under three pounds3, the ThinkPad X120e includes WiFi and optional Bluetooth and mobile broadband.

Business-Class Support
Lenovo offers a portfolio of service and support offerings to protect the ThinkPad X120e and to support IT departments. ThinkPad Protection covers repairs resulting from accidents, drops and spills, while ThinkPlus Priority Support provides 24×7 business-class technical support for IT administrators.


Pricing and Availability4
The ThinkPad X120e laptop will be available beginning in February through Lenovo business partners and www.lenovo.com. Models start under $400.

source: http://gadgetsreview.info

HP Pavilion dm1z AMD Fusion Netbook

While most PC manufactures apply decorative touches to the lid only, the HP dm1z applies its plastic imprinting technology on both the top and bottom of the laptop. The plastic resin has certain characteristics of metal, like its texture and solid construction, but doesn't feel as cheap as glossy plastic. Right now, the only color option is black, but knowing HP, there will be others to choose from in the near future. The dm1z is less than an inch thick and weighs 3.5 pounds, which is slightly heavier than the Dell Inspiron M101z ($580 direct, 3.5 stars) (3.4 lbs) and Asus EeePC 1215N ($500 street, 4 stars) (3.3 lbs). Ten-inch netbooks like the Samsung NF310-A01 ($399.99 street, 4.5 stars) (2.4 lbs) and HP Mini 5103 ($650 street, 4 stars) (3 lbs) have smaller screens and are therefore lighter than the dm1z. 

Features
The dm1z also features HP's CoolSense technology, which involves better part placement and design methodology. It uses a combination of plastic, glass, and soft-touch paint on the outside, while metal is used strategically on the inside to reduce heat conductivity. The air vents are placed toward the back, where the air is blown away from the laptop rather than toward it, which is what happens when vents are placed on the bottom. The main component generating heat, AMD's APU, resides below the keyboard rather than where your palm rests. Not that these parts are hot to begin with, but the dm1z was indeed a cool-running netbook.
The dm1z boasts an 11.6-inch widescreen with a 1,366-by-768 resolution, which matches that of the Dell M101z and Lenovo ThinkPad X100e ($550 direct, 4 stars). The Asus 1215N, on the other hand, bumps the screen size to 12 inches while keeping the same 1,366-by-768 resolution. If you drop down to a 10-inch screen, it's likely you'll end up with a 1,024-by-600 resolution. There are exceptions, though: The Mini 5103 and the Samsung NF310 have 1,366-by-768 resolutions on their 10-inch screens. The dm1z ships with a full size, chiclet-style keyboard, as opposed to the 93% one found in previous generations. I came away pleased with the typing experience, and the infamous "clickpad," which is usually HP's weakest link, wasn't a huge distraction but could still use some refinement. 

The dm1z has the same features that can be found in netbooks like the Dell M101z and Asus 1215N. Its HDMI port is notable, since it can't be found in smaller netbooks like the Samsung NF310 and HP 5103. It has 3 USB ports, VGA, Ethernet, and a multimedia card reader. A fast 320GB, 7,200rpm hard drive comes standard with this configuration, although you have the option of getting a drive as big as 750GB as an added $140 option on HP's site. Later on, the dm1z will also have an embedded 3G option, with Verizon and AT&T as its carriers.

Performance
The dm1z is the first 11-inch laptop I've reviewed to use AMD's E-350 APU. You'll see similar offerings from companies like Lenovo, Sony, MSI, and Toshiba, as this combo chip has a big upside over the Intel Atom in terms of CPU and graphics performance. The dm1z finished Handbrake, a video transcoding test, in 9 minutes 4 seconds, when netbooks like the NF310 and Mini 5103 couldn't even run the test. On SYSMark 2007, an overall performance gauge, the dm1z pulled in the highest score (57). The dm1z comes standard with 3GB of RAM, expandable to 8GB, which is more than any amount the Intel Atom processor can support.
AMD is calling its Radeon HD 6310 a discrete graphics chipset, even though it resides on the same die as the processor. Although this chipset will run circles around Atom's integrated graphics, I wouldn't recommend the dm1z for any kind of intense gaming. This is a netbook after all, although certain video editing packages and future Web browsers, like Internet Explorer 9, can take advantage of a discrete graphics chip. In 3DMark06 tests, the dm1z (2,403) is light-years ahead of its Atom counterparts. The Asus 1215N (2,817) was the only exception to this rule, since it runs on a desktop-class Atom processor and Nvidia GPU. The dm1z was able to run the Lost Planet 2 (12.6 fps) benchmark test, albeit with unplayable frame rates; its Atom counterparts couldn't even launch the test without crashing.
Battery life was easily the biggest question mark, since AMD is known to underwhelm in this department. The AMD E-350, for the record, will put these worries to rest. It's as battery efficient as an Intel Atom N550, holding its own with a score of 7 hours 8 minutes—3 minutes better than the Atom-equipped Samsung NF310 (7:05). And it didn't need a huge battery to get that score, the dm1z has a simple 6-cell battery (55WH). It easily beat the Asus 1215N (5:40), Dell M101Z (4:30), and Lenovo X100e (5:23), all of which have similar batteries. Although it came up just short against the HP 5103 (8:40), the battery tradeoff is well worth it for the extra horsepower gained.
AMD is now officially a contender in the netbook and cheap ultraportable space, and the HP Pavilion dm1z is the proof. Processor and graphics performance were never an issue with AMD processors; it was battery life that held it back from stardom. Is AMD a bit tardy to the netbook game, now that tablets have taken a huge bite of that market? Not necessarily. There's still a big demand for cheap ultraportable computing, and the dm1z, with its AMD Fusion APU, offers the best of both worlds: faster-than-Atom speeds and great battery life.