Ever since I moved to Korea, I’ve been missing my PS3/PS4 and all the gaming sessions I used to have with my friends back in SF. Here, everyone is busy and no one has time to just come over and play a few games. So I’ve been left to my PC games. Unfortunately my main laptop (a Thinkpad X240) comes with a woefully inadequate integrated Intel graphics card for gaming. Thus this whole year I’ve been searching for the right gaming laptop. Something that would play dota, I recently started getting into the dota championships and found out you can go to rivalry.gg/matches/dota-2-betting and bet on your favorite dota teams.
And I think I’ve finally found it. I was looking for a 17inch gaming laptop, preferably with Nvidia Gsync, so I did a few hours of research to dig into all these laptops, and found all the issues:
–Razer Blade Pro: Thin and great design, but has heating issues, like other thin gaming laptops, plus too expensive.
–Aorus X7 Pro: Very powerful for its size including SLI graphics, but again, seems to have heating issues, and too expensive.
–Alienware 17: this was one of the strongest contenders because it had a good display, good design, price is reasonable, sound is good, except it was missing Nvidia Gsync… and that may seem like a small picky issue, but it matters when all these laptops are so close in competition. Oh, and the RAM maxes out at 16GB. Hmm.. not that futureproof.
–MSI Dominator GT72: Also a very strong contender, good keyboard and speakers and Gsync, but has some minor heating issues and display is not that great.
–Lenovo Y70: Cheap, but the GPU is a generation behind, plus no Gsync, so nay.
–Acer V Nitro: Cheap, thin, good design, but just not powerful enough, and no Gsync either.
–HP Omen: I appreciate HP for making a thin, light gaming laptop, but no 17 inch screen size and lack of expandable RAM is a no no.
–Sager NP9773: Sager/Clevo/Gigabyte laptops have incredible specs including a full desktop processor, but the build quality of the chassis is just mediocre.
–Boutique makers (OriginPC,Maingear,Puget,FalconNW,AVADirect,Digital Storm,Cyberpower,Ironside,etc) are nice and you can customize literally everything, but the prices are outrageous and they use modified Clevo/Gigabyte chassis, so similar mediocre build quality.
So… notice that I’m leaving one major PC manufacturer from this list. In the end, I decided on:
Asus ROG G751
Yes, the Asus ROG G751. Why? Because all the reviews I read of this laptop seemed to indicate little to no weaknesses at all. Great cooling, no heat issues, great display (w/Gsync), great keyboard, great design. Everything is good, except for mediocre speakers and the bulk (8.6lbs), but thats to be expected of gaming laptops anyway. I do also have a Creative E5 USB DAC/Amp and Sound Blaster Roar 2 speakers, so sound shouldn’t be an issue.
All in all, the Asus seems to be a perfect gaming laptop.
On a side note, my UMPC collection is almost complete.
So far I have:
-Sony Vaio UX280 – Win XP
-Sony Vaio P – Win 10
-Fujitsu U820 – Win 7
-Fujitsu UH900 – Win 10
-Open Pandora – Linux
-OQO Model 2 – Win XP
-Toshiba Libretto W100 – Win 7
-HTC Shift X9500 – Win XP
-Samsung Q1UP – Win XP
-Viliv S5 – Win XP
-Vulcan Flipstart – Win XP
Non-UMPC:
Dell E4200 – Win Vista
Fujitsu P1630 – Win 7
HP Envy 14 Beats – Win 10
Lenovo Flex 20 – Win 8
Razer Edge Pro – Win 8
Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 14 – Win 10
Lenovo Thinkpad X240 – Win 7
Asus ROG G751 – Win 10
Mac Mini – OS X Yosemite
Total: 6 Win XP, 1 Vista, 4 Win 7, 2 Win 8, 5 Win 10, 1 OS X, 1 Linux
All of these I reviewed on my youtube, and all of them run some version of Windows XP or Vista or 7. I am closing in on getting a Vulcan Flipstart (after months of scouring eBay). Then I’ll only be missing a few, the Asus R50A (hard to find), and a few other Korean/Japanese ones, Gigabyte M705, Wibrain, Raon Digital Everun, Hanbit Pepperpad, Kojinsha, Sharp D4, etc.
But I can say now I have the vast majority of UMPCs in my collection 🙂
edit: I now have the Vulcan Flipstart in my collection which runs Windows XP and is the only UMPC with less than 1GB that I have which means it will stay on Windows XP :). Review will come up eventually.
Fun fact: All of the UMPCs I listed above all come with 1GB of RAM or more, so they can all potentially run Windows 10 (provided I can find working drivers of course). I’m probably going to upgrade all the Atom UMPCs which run Vista to Win 7, and keep the rest (A110/Via/Core Solo) on Win XP. I might upgrade some of them to Windows 10 if the drivers for Win 7 work for them.
I haven’t done a commentary on current or slightly old events for a while now… about time I did this! Maybe I will v-log it as well (also something I haven’t done in a while).
Edit: v-logs are here!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtfPZdRCx8s
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo6IVaXZ3rM
Tech trends…
Hmm. Let me give me opinion on some tech trends.
regarding VR, I think its really cool that Oculus Rift has some competition, now that Valve/HTC are entering the VR market, Microsoft made something awesome, and I hope in the future we can all watch first person porn. (Seriously tho, VR movies will probably be better than those 3D glasses).
regarding Apple Watch, It’s overpriced for what it is. I mean, you’re gonna pay $350-17k for something that will be obsolete in 2 years, and needs an Apple device to function? I’ll just take the Pebble Time Steel instead, which lasts 10 days, looks similar, works with both Apple and Android, can go swimming with it, can use any normal 22mm band, etc.
iPad Air 2/iPad Mini 3, yeah I know they came out last October but I want to make a quick note that the iPad 2, a tablet that was introduced by Steve Jobs before he died, was still being sold until very recently. In that keynote they introduced like 5 different iPads being sold at the same time! Including the iPad Mini 3 which was barely different than the Mini 2. Steve would have been rolling in his grave!
This is the clearest example of Apple caring more about profits than innovation now. You think Steve Jobs would have sold the 5th generation iPad Nano alongside the 6th generation and the previous generations of the iPods and iPhones at the same time as the new generation?? He hated confusing consumers. Thats why I miss Steve.
On a side note, how are anyone going to keep selling tablets? For what most people do with tablets, reading books, surfing the web and watching video, a 2011 tablet is good enough and there’s no reason to upgrade like there is with laptops and phones (which we do more things with). It’s an interesting conundrum.
MS killing off IE…, well I’m glad that IE is dead (even though Asia will keep on using it), and I’m sure most people are, even though its fall from grace from 95% market share as IE6 to now is well documented, I’m still worried about Having another new browser to support, which still uses Trident I believe. And also, I hope Win 10 is at least as good as 7. (I haven’t touched Win 8 with a ten foot pole since it came out).
Sony…, I love Sony and its products. I’ve always thought that they were the Japanese Apple. Great design, but high prices. Unfortunately they can’t market their products well and its sad to see them slashing so much, because a lot of Sony’s products are great. I love the PS Vita, I love my Xperia Z3C phone, I loved the Sony HMZT3 headset (which I did a review of), I love their headphones, computers, TVs, Alpha cameras and Walkmans as well, but I guess people don’t really appreciate them, which is too bad.
Steam games, I’ve bought a lot of them lately and I hope to do some gameplay videos soon. If people see my youtube, they know that I’m a big fan of Starcraft 2, Magic Online, Hearthstone and NBA 2K, but I also played Diablo 3 a lot with my friends, and Dungeon Defenders as well. Someday I can post some gameplay on those games, as well as some more obscure DOS titles or something. I love this new game though, its called Toxikk and it’s about bringing back good old school FPS action back! Like Unreal Tournament and Quake 3, which I loved to play back in the day. I will do a review of this game soon.
Also, probably the best mobile game I’ve played in a while, Monument Valley, probably ranks up there with The Unfinished Swan and Journey as the most visually beautiful games I’ve ever played.
regarding drones…, Drones are a new fad just like VR is these days, and I like the idea a lot. I’ve always wanted a little drone who auto follows me whereever I go and helps me shoot pictures and video. I’ve been on many trips where I wish I had someone shoot video of me because I was always the one holding the camcorder, so I couldn’t shoot myself. I guess the main things are a drone needs to be able to follow you using accurate GPS and bluetooth connection, and have good battery life. The Drones from DJI and Parrot I’ve seen can’t go beyond 30min of battery which is too short. Thats the main improvement that needs to happen.
Swift code, I love the idea since Apple came out with this last year. I’ve always wanted to make iPhone apps, but didn’t want to learn Objective C. Now I got a JS-like language to work with, and it should be easier to transition to it. If I have time and a good app idea, I would definitely use it.
Raspberry Pi 2, I love how the technology has made it so that a computer board is now $35. I’ve always been interested in small computers, gadgets and robots, and this makes it so that any hobbyist can make a computer now if they get a case and some parts from Amazon. (Shed a tear for Radioshack though), it was one of my favorite stores when I was a kid. Someday I will build a portable UMPC-like computer, and the Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Beagle Board, and co definitely helps.
The New Macbook, what do I think about it? Hmm.. it has potential, but I feel like they could have stuck another USB-C port in there. I like the idea of having a port that does everything, but I don’t like that they only put one. I guess I’m a little old school, since my Thinkpad still has an old 720p display, non touchscreen, and has 10 different ports including an old VGA port. But I am very impressed by how far technology has come along, fanless and decent performance, and 10 hours+ of battery life.
I remember back in the days of netbooks when every computer had a noisy fan, 3 hours of battery life was average, and was pretty thick and bulky. My classmate carried around a 17inch 10-pound beast of a gaming laptop (a Dell XPS 17). Now Razer is making Macbook Air-sized Gaming laptops (Razer Blade). Crazy. Now I really wish OEMs will start making UMPCs again. They died out in 2010 because they were underpowered and expensive, but now I believe you can make a UMPC that is tiny, fanless (Core M processor), good battery life (10hrs+), good performance (4GB+ RAM), and only needs one port (USB-C)! Somebody get on that!
Spiderman is coming to Marvel. YES. Spiderman is my favorite superhero since I used to watch the animated series when I was young, and he should have been in the Avengers all along. Can’t wait to see him fight alongside Cap and Iron Man.
Favorite movies…, I watched Kings Men a few days ago. Violent, but overall pretty good movie. My favorite movies from last year were Guardians of the Galaxy (fantastic, better than Avengers), Interstellar (on par with Inception), and Big Hero 6 (better than Frozen and other Disney movies IMO). Hope Avengers 2 does not disappoint!
NBA MVP.., I know I should probably comment on NBA events now. The MVP should be James Harden. The guy is averaging 27/6/7, and yes Russell Westbrook puts up better numbers right now, but he isn’t nearly as efficient, and Stephen Curry has a lot of help. Anthony Davis or Lebron James in a vacuum, would be the MVP, but MVPs aren’t voted in a vacuum, else Jordan would have won 8 straight. Also, I’m glad that Kobe is out. He’s still overrated and inefficient, and selfish, and I feel that both Iverson and Kobe’s MVPs should have gone to Shaq and Chris Paul, respectively. This is MVP we are talking about here, not the scoring leader.
As for NBA Finals, my predictions are Memphis Grizzlies vs Atlanta Hawks. I’m hoping the Hawks and Warriors will put to rest the misconception that you need ‘superstars’ to win. The 04 Pistons won without a superstar, and arguably the ’11 Mavericks as well since Dirk was out of his prime.
Other news…
I found a website that can clone your pets as a plushie for you. Good idea. I will definitely do that for my cat. This guitar pedal. A band in a box? Sign me up!
Also, still awaiting the release of Fallout 4, SC2 legacy of the void, Rock band 4, Yakuza 5 in English, and Just Cause 3. Get working on these games people!
Thats all the updates I have for now, in the meantime I made some guitar videos for fun:
If you have read my previous posts, like this one, or my other gadget collection posts, you would know that I love collecting gadgets. In fact I should probably be a full time reviewer from the number of gadgets I collect.
I love collecting small electronic devices, with these criteria:
-The device should be usable for many years. It should not rely on any data servers that might be outdated. For example, the Tmobile Sidekick relied on Danger’s servers for data, else it was a paperweight. I want devices that are just as usable 10 years ago as now.
-It should be really portable, and the screen size <= 7 inches. 7 inches is probably the maximum.
-weighs under 2lbs
-It should have something special or unique about it, either hardware wise and/or software wise. For example, if the tablet looks just like any other tablet out there, then its not going to be as desirable as say, a tablet that can turn into a laptop or has a slide out keyboard.
-Unique software is always a plus. For example, if the device runs Maemo, or Linux or MeeGo or Firefox OS.
-Reasonably obscure and rare. So, an iPhone wouldn’t really score as high as a Nokia N9 for example.
With that in mind, let’s look at the some of these devices:
Price: $65 on eBay Device type: Palm sized PC Special features: touchscreen, special build of Windows CE 3, easily hackable OS: Modified Windows CE 3.0 related: Casio Cassiopeia Pocket PCs, HP Jornada Pocket PCs
Price: $100 on eBay Device type: netbook Special Features: the original and first netbook ever, runs Windows CE .NET OS: Windows CE 4.2 .NET Related: HP Jornada Handheld PCs, Toshiba Libretto Handheld PCs, NEC Handheld PCs, Psion handheld pcs, Sony CLIE PDAs
Price: $200 on ebay Device type: Handheld PC Special features: one of the last handheld pcs, runs linux, unavailable in USA, touch screen, camera, keyboard, screen rotates, last Zaurus made OS: Linux Related: Psion Handheld PCs, NEC Handheld PCs, Toshiba Libretto Handheld PCs
Price: $60 on eBay Device type: smartphone Special features: dual slider, camera, one of the greatest non touchscreen phones OS: Symbian Related: Nokia E series, Sony Ericsson walkman & cybershot phones
Price: $200 used on eBay Device type: UMPC Special features: most powerful UMPC ever, slide out keyboard, touch screen, runs full Windows OS: Windows XP Related: OQO model 2, Samsung Q1, Viliv S5, Vulcan flipstart
Philips PMC 7230 (2006)
Philips PMC7230
Price: $90 on eBay Device type: PMP Special features: last Media Center OS PMP, has kickstand, built in TV recording abilities OS: Media Center OS Related: Creative Zen Portable Media center, iRiver PMC
Price: $60 on eBay Device type: PMP Special features: The last hard drive based mp3 player from Creative, one of the most best mp3 players ever, touch strip, plays many video/audio formats, FM radio recording and voice recording OS: Creative OS Related: Apple iPod, Archos PMPs, Cowon PMPs, iRiver PMPs
Price: $100 on ebay Device type: Smartphone Special features: the last communicator made, dual screens, dual touchpad and keyboard OS: Symbian Related: Nokia N series
Price: $200 used on eBay Device type: PMP Special features: the last PMP with DVR recording capability, plays many video/audio formats, touchscreen, can go on internet, can be GPS and FM radio OS: Archos OS Related: Apple iPod, iRiver PMPs, Cowon PMPs, Creative Zen Vision W
Price: $100 on eBay Device type: Pocket PC Special features: touchscreen, one of the last and best Pocket PCs, last iPAQ made OS: Windows Mobile 6 Related: Dell Axim pocket pc, Palm Treo pocket pc
Price: $60 used on eBay Device type: PMP Special features: Last Zune model, multi touch screen, can go on internet, inspired Windows 7 Phone OS OS: Zune OS Related: Apple iPod Nano
Fujitsu UH900 (2010)
Fujitsu UH900
Price: $500 used on eBay Device type: netbook Special features: smallest and best netbook, runs full windows, 2 usb ports, 2gb ram and SSD, multitouch high res screen OS: Windows 7 Related: Sony Vaio P series, Asus EEE PCs, Viliv S7/N5
Price: $700 on eBay Device type: UMPC Special features: Last Libretto PC made, one of the last UMPCs, dual 7inch touchscreens, virtual keyboard OS: Windows 8 Related: Netbooks, Fujitsu LOOX, Fujitsu Stylistic
Price: $40 on eBay Device type: Smartphone Special features: Dell’s last smartphone, multitouch screen, slide out keyboard, one of only 2 windows phones to have a keyboard OS: Windows 7 Phone Related: HTC 7 Pro
Price: $80 on eBay Device type: smartphone Special features: slider, camera, keyboard, the last phone to use WebOS OS: WebOS Related: Blackberry, iPhone, Android phones
Price: $100 on eBay Device type: smartphone Special features: multi touch screen, camera, only phone to run MeeGo OS: MeeGo Related: Blackberry, iPhone, Android phones
Price: $130 used on eBay Device type: tablet Special features: the only tablet that can be folded, dual screens, multi touch screen OS: Android 3.1 Related: Apple iPad, other Android tablets
Price: $130 used on eBay Device type: tablet Special Features: combination game console/tablet, built in controller, multi touch screen, game streaming from PC OS: Android 4.2 Related: Wikipad, Archos gamepad 2, Sony Xperia Play
Price: $200 on eBay Device type: smartphone Special features: multi touch screen, dynamic 3D perspective, Firefly, Mayday, runs Fire OS OS: Fire OS Related: Blackberry, iPhone, Android phones
Neptune Pine (2015)
Neptune Pine
Price: $300 on eBay Device type: smartphone/smartwatch Special features: Smallest phone/tablet to run full Android, touchscreen, camera OS: Android 4.2 Related: Moto 360, Apple Watch
I’ll have pictures and video up soon for these gadgets, as I own most of them. Stay tuned!
Edit: review is up!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UdDM83Spm0
Second edit
One of my pipe dreams is to build one of those old school like UMPC devices except with modern components. The problem with new tablets these days is that they still can’t match up with the old UMPC form factor – like the old OQO model 2 or Sony Vaio UX, its just cool to have a 5inch Windows PC with keyboard in the palm of your hand.
Its fully possible to build a much slimmer, much faster PC, with better battery life these days using modern components. Unfortunately with Windows 8 tablets, there’s still no tablet thats 8″ and below and has full USB and keyboard support. You can use bluetooth sure, but thats not the same. That’s 2 devices you have to carry. I’m talking about one device. If I build a device it would have the following components:
-5″ IPS FHD capacitative touch display (1080p)
-a sliding keyboard form factor a la the OQO model 2 / Sony Vaio UX or a convertible display a la the Sony Clie UX-50 or Fujitsu U820
-an HD front camera for web conferencing
-an 8MP back camera for pictures
-micro-HDMI output
-miniUSB for charging
-SD card reader
-2 USB 3.0 slots
-Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac wireless
-fingerprint reader for security
This won’t be a tablet.. its a full PC running Windows 8.1
Running internally:
-Intel broadwell processor ensuring its fanless – speed should be ~1.3-1.6Ghz
-4GB RAM
-256GB SSD
…I’m sure if Lenovo can make a fanless 13″ convertible, then they can make this.
Ok I haven’t formally updated for a while (just made lists of NBA players and gadgets) so here’s whats been going on:
Life…
I’ve been increasingly irritated these days, but not sure of the exact reason. Ever since I came back from Korea, I’ve been depressed and thinking about it everyday and wanting to go back.
I’ll finally get my chance to go back this weekend (finally!). But I’m not sure why I’m so moody these days. I’ve been getting into a lot of arguments with my friends over silly things and swearing a lot more and its just not like me.
I think I really started getting irritated from the beginning of this year, when my iPhone5S was stolen by a douchebag while I was sitting at a bus stop (I chased him down with my parkour skills but the phone was broken). Ever since then, I’ve not only been more paranoid, checking around me all the time, but also have more of a hatred towards American society. I can’t stand the way Americans do things anymore, I can’t even listen to English unless I’m at work anymore. This has caused me to be more irritated at life in general, just because I’m stuck in America and want to go to Korea.
This, and all the stress at work with my micro-managing co-worker. You can tell I really need a break.
Korean
I haven’t been studying Korean as much as in Feb/March which is sad. I blame this on Diablo 3 Reaper of Souls [shakes fist at game]. And I finished my second semester at Sejong Institute (where I had to sing and rap CNBlue at the ending presentation and take a quiz show).
And also working on my Korean app. The main blocking issue for that is now I have to upload an Apache configuration snippet up to my server which required me to switch to a VPS for Bluehost so I have to pay $300/mo but on the plus side, this site should be more stable. I have to upload that Apache snippet because my Korean app is using AJAX for everything and thus Google won’t be able to crawl it unless I make the server return escaped fragments via Seo4ajax.com. So yes working on that…
Tech stuff
I bought a NAS storage! A NAS storage is basically a networked array of hard drives that can serve as your personal “cloud” storage, if you will. Anyway I bought a Synology DS412+ and filled it with 4 3TB WD Reds so now I have 12TB of total storage that is networked and RAIDed, so 6TB of RAID 1 storage.
Synology DS412+ w/4 WD Reds
I had about 5 external hard drives I was using before, and now I just put all the data onto my NAS server now so it has everything on it :). And its also DLNA compliant so I can hook it up with my WDTV Live and BAM! I get to stream all my videos, movies, shows, etc from my NAS!
WDTV Streaming from the NAS
Oh and did I mention the Synology Linux-based OS is awesome? There’s video managers, photo managers, music managers, iTunes integration, a Torrent download client(!), and can be also used as a web server too. AND you can also access it from anywhere! Amazing purchase.
Synology OS
Gadgets
Yup! I got more gadgets to review again! I got a Sony P-series VAIO (came out in 2009) and a Sony UX-series VAIO (2006) for review, and also I did a little bit of hardware mods: First I modded my HP Envy 14, replacing the 6GB of Stock RAM for 8GB of Corsair Vengeance, then replaced the 500GB 7200rpm HDD with a 250GB Samsung EVO SSD, so it runs alot faster now :). Also I modded the UX VAIO I just got as well, replacing the 40GB 4200rpm HDD with 1.8″ 60GB MX Nano SSD. Not bad. It was a hell of a time dis-assembling it though, and given that it only accepts PATA ZIF connectors instead of the standard SATA/mSATA/PCI-e connectors, it was tough to find and replace. Here’s my handiwork:
HP Envy modSony UX mod
Reviews
I have a lot of reviews! I try to do at least one music video or review per week.
Diablo 3 & Starcraft II & Blazblue CP CE Review:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBUSRFghCb4
Sony P series + Sony UX series Review:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of-ZS1jASuE
Yup! It’s another gadget article! This time we’re gonna look at the coolest computers that have come out over the past decade (2004-2014), as PCs come in many different shapes and sizes. Of particular interest to me are PCs that are quirky or unique in some way, as Handheld PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs interest me greatly, being very niche devices. That said, a lot of people may not know some of these PCs exist, which is the purpose of this article to provide some rare PCs that have been available.
This is a Handheld PC from Sony that weighs only 1.4lbs, has the potential to have up to 256GB SSD, a single core Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, and 8″ 1600×768 screen.
This is the first UMPC that came out. UMPCs are like small PDA sized devices that run full blown windows, this one comes with up to Intel Core Solo 1.33GHz processor, split keyboard, 2GB RAM, 60GB HDD, SD card slot, 1024×600 screen, and weighs 1.72lbs.
This is another UMPC thats pretty cool. Runs on a VIA 1.6Ghz CPU, 64GB SSD, 2GB RAM, 5″ 800×480 OLED screen, only weighs 0.91lbs, and runs full blown Windows Vista, has a built in keyboard and comes with a docking station as well.
This is Dell’s discontinued 20″ desktop-replacement “laptop”, and the form factor was pretty darn cool. It came with a Core Duo 2.16Ghz processor, 2GB RAM, ATI X1800 GPU, 2 100GB HDDs in RAID 0 configuration, and also came with a Media center remote and detachable keyboard. Did I mention this thing has a handle on it??
There’s a lot of Windows 8 convertible ultrabooks out there, and this is one of the coolest. It looks like the evolution of the Vaio Duo series. Intel Core i7 1.8Ghz, 12GB RAM, 2880×1620 resolution, Geforce GT 735M, 1TB HDD, has a multitouch screen and weighs 5 pounds. The coolest part of this notebook is that the screen flips into three configurations: presentation mode (reversed), normal mode, and tablet mode.
It’s an ultrabook that has two screens. Two. Screens. The one on the inside is non touch and the lid itself is a touch screen. They can be dual-screened or mirrored for presentations too. Comes with Core i5 1.7Ghz, 4GB RAM, 2 13.3″ 1920×1080 FHD screens, 256GB SSD, and weighs 3.4lbs.
Now this looks like a high performance machine! Looks like a car… performs like one too: Core i7 CPU, Nvidia GTX 460M graphics, FHD display, 16GB RAM and a whopping 8.4lbs.
Asus just doesn’t stop with the cool looking PCs. This one is designed with audio in mind, with massive Bang and Olufsen powered speakers attached to it. It also comes with the Core i7 processor, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, Nvidia GT 335M GPU, FHD 18.4″ display, and weighs a massive 9.7lbs. For a multimedia laptop though, can’t get better than this.
What’s next Asus? How about a PC made with Bamboo? Like a high end piece of furniture? This elegant notebook comes with a Core i5 processor, 6GB RAM, Nvidia 310M GPU, 14″ 720p display, and weighs 5lbs.
Sony’s VAIO series of PCs are very diverse, and this is Sony’s UMPC entry. It came with Core 2 Solo 1.2Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, 48 GB SSD, 4.5″ 1024×768 screen, a keyboard, a fingerprint reader, weighed around 1.2lbs and ran full blown Windows Vista. This was probably the most powerful UMPC out there at the time.
Well Dell makes some pretty cool laptops too. This one is only 10mm thin, and fits the keyboard inside the display when closed, which acts as a stand as well. It came with a 1.4Ghz Core Duo, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD, 13.4″ 720p display, and weighed 3.2lbs.
This is probably the most powerful “tablet” I’ve seen yet. Razer made a tablet (actually a full PC) that could play heavy games with a proprietary controller joystick that attaches to it. The specs? HD display, 8GB RAM, Core i7 1.9Ghz CPU, Nvidia GT 640M GPU, 256GB SSD, and weighs 2.1lbs. Have you ever seen a tablet that had that kind of specs??
Yes, this is a PC!! Actually its a 27″ table-top PC that you can either use flat on a table to play party games, or as a massive desktop computer. The specs? 27″ FHD resolution display, 1.8Ghz Core i5 CPU, 8GB RAM, Nvidia GT620M GPU, 1TB HDD, and weighs a massive 15.7lbs.
Panasonic Toughbooks are renowned as incredibly durable laptops. They are military spec tested and they look like a tank. Fully rugged, 10″ swivel screen, Wacom stylus, Core i5, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD, fingerprint reader and weighs about 5.1lbs. You will not find a tougher looking notebook than this.
Fujitsu makes some very interesting looking laptops and tablets. In fact they were one of the first to make slate tablet PCs. This one came with Core 2 Duo CPU, 10.4″ 1024×768 display, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, fingerprint reader and weighed 3.5lbs.
This is a UMPC/Handheld PC from Fujitsu, slightly smaller than the Sony P series, but also a convertible tablet that has a digitizer and fingerprint reader as well (!). It comes with an Intel A110 processor, 1GB RAM, 40GB HDD, 5.6″ screen, a webcam, and weighs 1.5lbs.
I know a lot of PCs in this post are Handheld or UMPCs, but they are all very unique and niche PCs so I want to cover this one as well. The Vulcan Flipstart has a 5.6-inch screen with 1024×600 resolution, a 30GB hard drive, built-in Wi-Fi, bluetooth, VGA webcam, Pentium M ULV processor running at 1.1 GHz, and 512MB RAM. Curiously, this unit has a small screen on the lid when closed, that displays PIM information like Calendar, time, email, etc.
Manufactured by a company called Dialogue Technology, the Flybook VM has a unique design that allows the screen panel to be lifted up, swung forward, and tilted into a more ergonomic position, or used in a traditional position. It came with a 12″ screen, 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 80GB HDD, a DVD burner, a sim card reader, fingerprint reader, webcam, and weighs 3.5lbs.
This is one of the most unique netbooks I’ve seen. A 62B SSD, low voltage Pentium processor, 2GB RAM, netbook specs but has a unique dual 7″ touch screen display with a virtual keyboard and a clamshell form factor. This is the last Libretto Toshiba ever released, and in limited quantities.
As of Sept 2014, the best convertible ultrabook on the market. Weighing only 2.6lbs, with new Core M processors, 8GB RAM, 3200×1800 display, 256+GB SSD, a gold color option, and a unique watchband hinge that allows it to be ultra thin, this is how ultrabooks look in the future.
I put this one here only because its the smallest gaming laptop that has been released recently (barring the Razer Edge Pro). Yes, it’s an 11″ gaming laptop with all the fancy AlienwareFX lights, with an 1.3Ghz Core 2 duo, 4GB RAM, 11.6″ 720p display, 160GB HDD, Nvidia GT 335M GPU and weighs 4.4lbs. It’s an ultraportable gaming laptop.
Asus’ EeePC’s started the netbook trend, and this one is the original convertible netbook. 8.9″ touch screen, 1.33Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB SSD, and weighing 2lbs put its in the standard netbook/UMPC territory.
Can I say UMPC’s look cool? Yes they come in all sorts of flavors, but most of them didn’t catch on because they were too expensive and too underpowered. This one had looks like an oversized Sony PSP, had a 4.8″ screen, a 1.2Ghz Via processor, 30GB HDD, only 512MB RAM, and weighed 1.2lbs.
Similar to the Fujitsu Lifebook U810 and U900, Viliv makes quite a few UMPC/Netbooks (you can also check out the S5 and the S7, and this one is the lightest of the lot, weighing a mere 0.85lbs!! It had an Intel Atom 1.33Ghz CPU, 64GB SSD, 1GB RAM, and 4.8″ touch screen.
The OLPC Project, or the One Laptop Per Child Project, was designed to provide a cheap computer to children in developing countries. They were powered by a 433Mhz AMD CPU, 256MB RAM, 1GB Flash disk space, 7.5″ LCD display, and averaged 3 hours of battery life. They had a handle, could be rotated into ‘e-book’ mode as a convertible laptop, and can be powered by a hand-crank generator. Unfortunately, they still ended up costing $200, more than the $100 target price, with specs that are lower than the average netbook.
I swear Asus and Sony make the coolest laptops. This one has a second display on the lid of the notebook that displays PIM information making using of Windows Vista “Slideshow” feature. It came with a Core 2 Duo processor, Intel GMA 950 (infamous integrated graphics), 12.1″ 1280×800 display, webcam, and weighed 4.2lbs.
What an interesting laptop. Can be an ultrabook, a tablet, an Easel, a Star-trek enterprise mode… quite a versatile machine. Similar to a cross between a Sony Vaio Duo and a Sony Vaio Multi Flip… specs are 15.4″ 1080p screen, core i5 processor, SSD and HDD options and 6GB of RAM, and weighs a relatively heavy 5.2lbs.
A 3 in one computer! It runs Android on the display which can also become a tablet, and the keyboard itself is a core i5 PC with 500GB HDD. So it’s actually two computers in one! That’s pretty cool, I think. The keyboard can also hook up with another monitor to become a desktop as well.
