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Product Asus Zenbook UX21E ultrabook
Website http://uk.asus.com/
Specifications 11.6in LED backlit 1366×768 HD display, Intel Core i5 2467M dual-core 1.6GHz processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD, headphone out, audio out, 1 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 1.1kg.
Price £850

TAIWANESE LAPTOP MAKER Asus is the latest vendor to release a Windows equivalent of the 11in Apple Macbook Air, which was a surprise hit in The INQUIRER office.

Despite a valiant effort, the firm’s latest offering isn’t quite a MacBook killer. The UX21E Zenbook is a smaller version of the Asus UX31E Zenbook in design, performance and build quality. For the most part this is a positive, but it also means that the UX21E Zenbook has the same flaws as the larger model, especially in terms of the usability of its keyboard and trackpad.

Thin and light design
Of course the first thing that you’ll notice is the shiny aluminium finish, which helps the device to stand out when showcased against rival machines, even Apple’s Macbook Air range. The V-shaped design of the chassis means that the thickness of the device varies. The front-edge has a thickness of 3mm and gets increasingly thicker as you approach the rear, maxing out at 9mm. The device weighs 1.1kg, making it 200g lighter than the 13in ultrabook and just a tad heavier than the equivalent Macbook Air at 1.08kg. It’s easy to carry around and comes with a handy little sleeve.

A common trend among manufacturers has been to seal the back cover, which stops users from swapping batteries on the move and also makes it impossible to install any upgrades such as adding RAM without taking the device to a specialist. The UX21E Zenbook will not be the last laptop to have this design feature, and although it is very annoying it looks like something users are just going to have to get used to.

IS BULLDOZER better in a workstation than a desktop? Let’s see if it can be.

AMD’s Bulldozer chip, while eagerly awaited, didn’t really have a stellar debut as a mainstream – or high end, for that matter – desktop processor, still having a way to go before seriously challenging the incumbent Intel. The core, cache and memory performance all need a bit more power, although recent news such as Microsoft Windows’ kernel patches do seem to help a little bit towards extracting more oomph from the unusual ‘two integer units sharing one floating-point’ approach.

On the server and workstation front, where many cores are far more common than on desktops, and there are different implementations to suit users’ needs, AMD could have a better chance. Its ‘Interlagos’ Opteron 6200 series dual die modules combine two Bulldozer dies in one G34 socket MCM (multi chip module) package, with a total of eight dual-core modules, four DDR3 memory channels and three Hypertransport links to up to three other Interlagos processors.

As Bulldozer did seem to have power and heat issues at high clock speeds, the lower clocks enforced by the two dies combined in one MCM might seem more fit for wider deployment in servers anyway. Workstations, on the other hand, do like high core speeds even more than desktops, so would the larger number of cores offset that somewhat?

Here we take a look at an AMD Interlagos workstation: a dual-socket AMD Opteron 6274 2.2GHz – up to 2.5 GHz in Turbo – system with a total of 32 cores, or 16 dual-core modules, 64GB of ECC DDR3-1333 RAM across eight channels, all packaged on the Supermicro reference G34 socket H8DG6 workstation platform.

The Supermicro reference workstation black box, a very popular sight for Intel reference systems as well, is a standard deep tower case, not changed in looks over the years, that allows the use of passive heat sinks even on 150W TDP CPUs by providing forced airflow from its batteries of high speed system fans and managing the resulting noise. It also has dual redundant PSU modules for beyond 1600W of combined power. The front removable storage bays are protected by a door, as seen on most of Supermicro’s workstation boxes.

The Supermicro H8DG6 mainboard is a large sized full EPS unit with a total of 16 DIMM sockets across two processor sockets, supporting up to 512GB of RAM if you’re using 32GB ECC DDR3 DIMMs. There are two full-bandwidth PCIe x16 v2 slots for high end graphics cards, supporting AMD Crossfire, obviously. The board uses the AMD SR5690 northbridge chip and the S100 southbridge chip. The test platform OS is Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, of course the 64-bit Enterprise version.

FINNISH PHONE MAKER Nokia has served up its second Windows Phone device and the handset is almost a carbon copy of the Lumia 800 in terms of specifications.

The Lumia 710 features a 3.7in Clearblack display, a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage.

The Windows Phone operating system is loaded on the handset and the mid-range price tag – free on a £20 contract – might make it an attractive buy. µ

As enthusiasts and professionals we spend a lot of time checking out what's under the hood of the computers and devices we use, but thankfully more and more we're paying attention to how we actually interact with hardware, what the user experience is like. User experience has been a major selling point of Apple's products, but there's one place where even Apple has been a bit neglectful: the keyboard. On notebooks your options are limited, but on the desktop you have access to mechanical keyboards. Today we'll take a quick look at Rosewill's RK-9000 mechanical keyboard and see if it's worth the price premium.

Product Toshiba Satellite Z830 ultrabook
Website www.toshiba-europe.com
Specifications 13.3in LED backlit 1366×768 display, Intel Core i5 2467M dual-core 1.6GHz processor, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD, headphone-out, audio-out, Ethernet, USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA, SD card reader, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 15.9mm, 1.1kg.
Price £899

THE ULTRABOOK is the new class of notebook promoted by Intel and Toshiba’s Satellite Z830 is a sturdy first ultrabook from the Japanese firm.

When splashing out the cash on a premium product like an ultrabook we expect the design and look to be top quality, and the Z830 does look attractive. For starters the magnesium alloy casing looks sleek and the laptop is most definitely thin at 15.9mm.

Clever design
A really nice design touch that we like is that you can open the lid of the laptop with one finger. Traditionally you have to hold the bottom half of a laptop down to stop it from lifting up along with the lid, but that’s not the case here. The action is smooth and satisfying.

The inside features the same good looking finish as the outside with a black keyboard. Unfortunately the overall shape of the device is quite square with harsh edges, which means that it doesn’t look as good as rivals like the Asus Zenbook and Apple Macbook Air.

The Satellite Z830′s compact design makes it versatile and a great laptop for taking around with you. Toshiba has managed to get the weight down to an impressive 1.1kg, undercutting the Zenbook at 1.3kg and the Macbook Air at 1.35kg. A laptop this light deserves credit and we found carrying it around to be no problem at all.

Good specifications but no higher option
A high-end laptop should provide a decent set of specifications and the Toshiba is a good example of this despite its slim profile. Our review model came with the capable and reliable Intel Core i5-2467M dual-core processor with a clock speed of 1.6GHz. Using Intel Turbo Boost technology the clock speed can rise to 2.3GHz.

If you want to save a bit of cash then there is a Core i3 version, but it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t opt for an Intel Core i7 for this ultrabook.

Tomorrow will be our last day at CES but we've still got a lot more to cover. If you haven't been following our extensive coverage on Pipeline, I've grouped our CES coverage below for easy reading:

CPUs & GPUs

- Intel Sort of Demonstrates Ivy Bridge Graphics at CES 2012
- AMD Radeon HD 7970 Launch Recap
- Intel Confirms Working DX11 on Ivy Bridge
- Sapphire Shows Off Vid 2X, Motherboards, etc.
- Gigabyte's 7-Series Ivy Bridge Motherboards at CES
- Intel's DX11 Demo, Now on an Ultrabook
- AMD's Trinity APU at CES, Shipping in Mid-2012
- AMD's Lightning Bolt: Low Cost Thunderbolt Alternative for USB 3.0/DP

Cases & PSUs

- SilverStone Continues to Shake Things Up
- EVGA Plans to Enter the PSU Market with the NEX PSU
- Zalman Updates the CNPS Line, Shows Off Cases
- Checking in with the Boutiques
- Corsair Continues to Expand
- Cooler Master and Thermaltake Continue to Expand

SoCs

- Lenovo At CES: Android TV and First Krait Tablet
- FXI Cotton Candy Demo: More Power than You Can Shake a (Thumb) Stick at
- AppliedMicro's Catalina: Integrated USB 3.0 and 802.11ac Support for NAS Platforms
- Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon S4 Member MPQ8064, new Atheros WiFi and Powerline Chipsets
- Ambarella Shows off iOne SoC Applications, Wireless Camera Development Kit
- TI Shows Off OMAP 5 & ARM Cortex A15 at CES

Smartphones

- Huawei Announces Ascend P1 S with 6.68mm thickness
- Live at the AT&T Developer Conference Keynote
- ION Audio Expands iCade Lineup with iCade Core, iCade Mobile, and iCade Jr.
- Samsung Galaxy Note Joining AT&T's Stables
- AT&T and HTC Announce HTC Titan II with 16 MP Camera
- Motorola Announces Droid 4 with LTE, RAZR MAXX
- Verizon Announces Jetpack – Two new LTE-enabled WiFi Hotspots
- Apple releases iOS 5.1 Beta 3 – Updates Baseband Again, 3G Toggle is Back
- Nokia Announces Lumia 900 with AT&T LTE
- Intel Announces its First Medfield Smartphone Partner at CES 2012 – Lenovo K800
- Intel Announces its Second Smartphone Platform Partner – Motorola
- Hands-on with the Sprint Galaxy Nexus LTE
- Motorola Droid 4 Early Test Data Confirms RAZR Internals and Software
- More Shots of the HTC Titan II & Nokia Lumia 900
- Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX, Droid 4, and Lapdock 500 Pro Impressions

Tablets

- ASUS' Transformer Prime TF700T: Improves Wireless, Adds 1920 x 1200 Panel, Available in Q2
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE Headed to Verizon Wireless
- Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF700T: Hands On with ASUS' 1920 x 1200 Tablet running ICS 4.0.3
- CES 2012 Nvidia Press Conference
- Lenovo IdeaTabs Shown Off with Krait, Tegra 3, and Atom
- Hands-on with the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE and Galaxy Note
- More Lenovo Krait Tablet Details: 9 Price Target
- Transformer Prime Gets 4.0.3 (ICS) Update
- NVIDIA Tegra 3: Games Plus SplashTop Streaming of Skyrim
- Sneak Peek at Future Toshiba Tablets
- TI Wireless Charging – New Chipsets and 10W charging for Tablets
- Updated: ASUS Eee Pad MeMO ME370T Shipping in Q2 2012

Ultrabooks, Notebooks & Netbooks

- Acer Unveils the Thinnest Ultrabook, a 15" Ultrabook, a 1080p Tablet and AcerCloud
- Intel's Functional Nikiski Concept PC: Transparent Touchpad Doubles as a Screen Window
- ASUS Zenbook UX Series, Now in Pink
- ASUS Eee PC Flare 1205C/1205CE, X101CH, and 1225B
- Lenovo ThinkPads at CES
- Hands-on with the Samsung Series 9
- Dell Launches XPS 13 Ultrabook
- Intel Shows off Thunderbolt, AppUp on Ivy Bridge Ultrabook Reference Design
- Acer’s Upcoming Laptops: S5 Ultrabook with IVB, TB, and a Motor
- HP Announces ENVY 14 Spectre Ultrabook
- Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 13 with Windows 8: This Is the Ultrabook We Want
- Hands on with HP's Envy 14 Spectre, Envy 15, and Folio

SSDs & Storage

- OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G 480GB SSD Upgrade for MacBook Air
- OCZ's Indilinx Everest 2 Launching in June 2012, Features Vastly Improved Random Performance
- OCZ's 4TB 3.5" Chiron SSD
- OCZ Z-Drive R4 CloudServ (RM1616) Features Sixteen SandForce Controllers
- OCZ Scores an Ultrabook Design Win for Everest: LG Super Ultrabook Z300
- HighPoint Aggressively Pursuing Consumer Market
- Patriot SSDs, Flash, and Large Memory Applications
- Mushkin's 1.8", mSATA & PCIe SF-2281 SSDs at CES
- Patriot’s Portable Cloud Storage and Media Streamers
- Crucial 50GB Adrenaline SSD Cache, Available in Q1
- CES: Seagate Combines 500GB Portable Drive With Mobile Hotspot in Proof of Concept
- Synology's DSM 4.0 with CloudStation : A Private Dropbox Solution
- QNAP at CES : SMB Lineup Refresh and a 200TB+ SAS Storage Rack
- Dune HD Pro : A Premium Entertainment System using the Sigma Designs SMP8910
- Some Thoughts on SandForce's 3rd Generation SSD Controller
- Super Talent: Demos PCIe-based RAIDDrive upStream and RAIDDrive II SSDs

Thunderbolt

- LaCie at CES: 2big & eSATA Thunderbolt Hubs
- OCZ's Portable Thunderbolt SSD: Lightfoot
- Elgato's Thunderbolt SSD: Bus Powered, 120/240GB, Available in February
- MSI's Z77 Ivy Bridge Motherboards at CES, Now With Thunderbolt Support
- MSI's GUS II: External GPU via Thunderbolt
- Seagate's GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapters
- Belkin Brings Home Automation, TV and Thunderbolt Solutions to CES
- Cactus Ridge: Understanding the New, More Affordable Thunderbolt Controller
- The First Thunderbolt Speed Bump: Likely in 2014

HTPC

- Zotac's Cedar Trail ZBOX ID80 Uses Discrete GPU
- Zotac's ZBOX AD04 Gives HTPC Users an AMD E-450 APU

Networking

- Dropcam HD: Cloud Based Home Surveillance Goes Mainstream in 720p
- D-Link at CES : Cloud-Friendly Routers and IP Cameras
- 802.11ac RF Hands-On with Buffalo AirStation WZR-1750H
- j5Create Wormhole Switch Brings KVM and File Sharing Across Mobile and Desktop

Displays

- ASUS' VA278Q: 27-inch 2560 x 1440 IPS Display Due Out This Year
- Canonical Brings Ubuntu To Televisions

Input Devices

Art Lebedev Studios Expands Optimus Line

CHINESE MANUFACTURER Lenovo will be the first manufacturer to ship a smartphone with Intel’s Medfield processor, a surprise considering the firm’s lack of pedigree in the handheld market.

The K800 is a large high-end device that sports an angular frame, much like Lenovo’s ThinkPad range. One of the best features is the 4.5in display with a resolution of 1280×720. We found the video playback was very vibrant and the screen was a good size.

With a thickness of 10mm, the device appears quite chunky compared to other handsets on the market such as the Samsung Galaxy S II (8.5mm) and the forthcoming Huawei Ascend PS 1 (6.68mm).

The K800 was running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with a unique overlay. On first glance it didn’t even look like the device was running Android. However, we found this to be quite user friendly. Lenovo does expect to upgrade the device to Ice Cream Sandwich.

On the home screen there are shortcuts that allow you to access calls, messages, IMs and mails. In the middle is an icon to view contacts. It’s not too fancy, and there are options to customise this so we like it. However, questions will remain over how the overlay will impact battery performance. From experience we have seen overlays such as HTC Sense drain a lot of juice.

Performance of the device was very snappy with the Intel Atom Medfield chip running at 1.6GHz and providing more than enough grunt to power applications.

Lenovo provides 16GB of internal memory, but it looks like there wil not be any micro SD support.

It remains to be seen whether the K800 will make it to western markets. We can’t help but feel that Intel’s reference smartphone is more likely to make an appearance in the UK than this device.

Product Viewsonic PLED-W500 projector
Website www.viewsoniceurope.com/uk/
Specifications LED projector, 1280×800 resolution, 500 lumens, 6000:1 contrast ratio, 16:10, 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios supported, RGB input, S-video, HDMI, VGA, USB, Mini-USB, SD card slot, 2 Watt speaker
Price £500

DISPLAY SPECIALIST Viewsonic has attempted to address the needs of gamers, movie lovers and even business users with a portable projector.

The PLED-W500 projector has a small frame that packs some impressive specifications including a 500 lumens LED lamp, 1280×800 native resolution and up to 100in picture size. However, the device is ultimately let down by poor performance.

Viewsonic has given the device a glossy finish and it does look swish. With a weight of 1.2kg, the projector is as heavy as most 13in laptops and can be carried around and placed on surfaces conveniently. As with most projectors, no setup is required, with users simply having to plug in a source of content.

There are an ample number of input ports available so you will pretty much be able to connect the W500 to most devices you might have scattered around the house or office. The device supports most major formats including PC applications output as well as MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H264, MP3, VC1, WMA, WMV and RMVB.

Avid gamers will probably use the HDMI and VGA the most to connect their PS3, Xbox or PC. The W500 also comes with a USB port and SD card slot so you can plug in a memory stick and watch content without having to connect a device. This is a good way of showing family members those embarrassing holiday snaps or giving an impromptu presentation.

Viewsonic claims that the device is capable of producing 33in images from a distance of one metre. We found the optimal image size to be around the 60in mark, as the edges start to fade away the larger the images get. The automatic keystone correction is a nice touch and something that is generally not found in portable projectors, but does make an appearance in the W500 and means the device can be placed at an angle.

However, despite the good picture quality we found that the picture cut out at regular intervals when the projector was connected to a PS3 via an HDMI cable. The projected image would abruptly cut to the Viewsonic logo as it began “searching” for the signal and the picture would reappear after about five seconds.

The Viewsonic logo would appear every 10 or so minutes either mid-game or during a movie. During a three hour stint on Fifa, this became very frustrating. We didn’t notice the same problem when connecting a laptop to the projector via a VGA cable.

THE WORLD OF 3D can be a minefield, so we’ve outlined how some of the technology works and the differences between them, focusing mainly on how 2D to 3D conversion stacks up against dedicated 3D.

3D comes in several varieties, most commonly with passive or active shutter glasses and less commonly, glasses free.

Passive shutter glasses use the kind of 3D that you experience in the cinema with light weight polarised glasses. The screen shows two images on the screen simultaneously with one intended for each eye. The filters on the glasses make sure each eye sees only one image.

Active shutter glasses are heavier, battery operated glasses that work in synchronisation with the screen. The two images are quickly alternated instead of showing them at the same time and the glasses block the vision of one eye alternately in time with the screen.

2D to 3D conversion is seemingly a misunderstood and almost unknown technology that is in fact present in most 3D capable TVs. In LG’s case, it is a standard feature on its entire 3D range. One of LG’s product managers told us that 80 per cent of the UK is unaware of 2D to 3D conversion.

The feature is actually quite simple. Its method involves taking a 2D image and creating a second version of it. Behind the scenes, the TV analyses the image to calculate the background and foreground objects using complex algorithms. The two images create one 3D image that can easily be adjusted to the viewer’s liking by simply sliding them closer together or farther apart.

As the method involves creating a duplicate image, it will work with any 2D image that is on the screen, no matter the source. The best thing about it is that it can do it all in real time, meaning that things like live TV or a 2D DVD can be watched in 3D at the click of a button.

A major difference between 2D and 3D is the way the content is produced. 3D programs and films are shot with 3D cameras that have dual lenses and therefore produce two images. There is also the fact that the content is created with 3D in mind and what it will look like, while it’s unlikely that the producers of Eastenders give any thought to it.

If you have a 3D TV then it doesn’t matter what content you’re viewing. Whether it be a 2D image translated into 3D by the TV or a 3D Blu-ray film, you will be using the same method to view the image so this doesn’t affect things.

Either method gives you 3D, just using two different standards. The conversion option gives a sense of depth into the screen rather than in your face pop out of the screen effects. It looks reasonably good, especially for still images, but suffers when the action on screen is moving fast or the camera pans quickly.

You can expect, in theory, that dedicated 3D content will provide a more immersive and impressive experience. The 3D is much more effective, giving much more wow factor and a sense of being able to touch what you’re seeing, though not every 3D film or program reaches the kind of standards set by James Cameron’s Avatar. µ

The Nokia Lumia 800 is without a doubt one of the most interesting devices produced by the iconic Finnish smartphone manufacturer in a long while. There’s a huge amount riding on the Lumia series, which are Nokia’s first devices running Windows Phone 7.5. At the same time, we haven’t touched many Windows Phones since our initial review what seems like ages ago, but the platform has moved along, giving us an opportunity to finally take a formal look at the new things Windows Phone 7.5 brings.

Read on for the full review!