Much to the dismay of kids across the country, it’s time to start back-to-school shopping. Could be that a new laptop will cheer them up a bit. We’re testing a new batch in our labs, and the results will be out soon. Meanwhile, here’s a sneak peek at what we’re looking at.
Acer. Acer’s got the least expensive laptop we’re testing in this batch. A 14.4 15.6-inch model, the Acer AS5516-5474 is priced at $300. The Aspire AS5536-5883, $480, has a 15.6-inch display, 3GB of memory, a 320GB hard drive, and uses a dual-core AMD Athlon as its processor.
Apple. The 17-inch MacBook Pro’s been updated with a 2.8GHz processor and 500GB hard drive. With 4GB of memory, it costs $2,500.
Asus. We’ll check out Asus’ claims of 5-hour, 50-minute battery life in this 15.6-inch laptop (the UX50V-RX05) with an Intel Core 2 Solo processor. For $750, you get a 500GB hard drive, 4GB of memory, and 512MB of video memory.
Compaq. A budget ($400) 15.6-inch system from Compaq, the Presario CQ60-417DX, runs on an Intel Celeron processor and includes 3GB of memory but a relatively small 160Gb hard drive.
Dell. We’re taking a look at laptops from Dell that represent both mainstream systems and home-entertainment computers. Prices range from $430 for the 15.6-inch Inspiron 15 with a Pentium dual-core processor to $750 for the 14-inch Inspiron 14 with a Core 2 Duo processor. In between sits the Studio 14z, a $650 14-inch laptop with a Pentium dual-core.
Gateway. Part of Gateway’s NV Series, described by the company as laptops that combine performance, style, and energy efficiency, the NV5214U runs on an AMD Athlon X2 dual-core processor. It has 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive, and costs $480.
HP. We’re testing five laptops from HP, including a G70, three Pavilions, and an HDX. With 13-, 14-, 16-, and 17-inch displays, the systems cost from $650 to $1,200. We’ll also see how Intel’s quad-core performs in laptops, as the Pavilion dv7-2180us is based on that processor.
Samsung. We’re looking at a 15.6-inch laptop from Samsung, the $680 R522-FA02US. It’s got an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of memory, and a 250GB hard drive.
Sony. Three Sony laptops are in this batch of systems. Sony positions its SR series (we’ve got the 13.3-inch SR420D/H, $1,200) as a business machine, but it’s also got a Blu-ray player. With a 16.4-inch widescreen display and a Blu-ray player, the FW480J/T is definitely geared toward entertainment. Style is the focus of the NW125J/T; its case is designed to look like a textile. It’s a 15.5-inch laptop with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory, and a 320GB hard drive. [Correction: the SR420D/H does not have a Blu-ray player. —Ed.]
Toshiba. The four Toshiba laptops in our labs range in price from $450 to $750. Each has a different processor: the AMD Athlon X2 (L505D-S5965); Intel’s Core 2 Duo (A505-S6960); an Intel Pentium (M505-S4940); and AMD’s Turion X2 (P505D-S8930).
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