PC Magazine - 2009 11.pdf - Libertad Zero

Quick looks HARDWAREDESKTOPSLAPTOPSGateway DX4300-03ASUS K50IJ-C1$680 streetHP ProBook 4310s$880 directGateway LT3103u$380 street$749.99 listL l l m m L l l h m L l l h m L l l h mPROS• Multimedia oriented• New styling• Device tray on top• Included TV tuner• Built-in Wi-Fi• Cheap desktopreplacement• Numeric keypad included• Big, bright screen• Good battery life• Fast hard drive• Matte screen minimizesglare• RJ11 and fingerprintreader• Lightweight• Generous, atypical11-inch widescreen• Full-size keyboard• 2GB of memory• Big hard drive• Competitively pricedCONS• No Blu-ray drive• Lots of bloatware• Short 60-day subscriptionto Norton InternetSecurity• No HDMI-Out• Design is a little boring• Mouse buttons makeclicking sounds• Boxy, thick design• Only 37-Wh batteryavailable• Not enough battery lifefor road warriors• Battery life falls short ofits rivals• Bland designBOTTOM LINEA middle-of-the-roadquad-core desktop for themultimedia enthusiast,the DX4300-03 is good at alot of things, but great atnothing.The K50IJ-C1 is as cheapas a desktop replacementlaptop can get without sacrificingtoo many featuresor too much performance.The HP 4310s is inexpensiveand comes with a nicemix of business and consumerfeatures, but makesure you buy an additionalbattery.The Gateway LT3103u goesagainst everything thatcoined the term netbook,but you’ll like the price,11-inch screen, and the fullsize keyboard.SPECS2.4-GHz AMD PhenomX4 9750 processor; 8GBSDRAM; 1TB hard drive;1GB ATI Radeon HD 4650graphics; DVD±RW drive;Vista Home Premium (64-bit).2.1-GHz Intel Core 2 DuoT6500 processor; 4GBSDRAM; 250GB hard drive;15.6-inch screen; Atheros802.11g Wi-Fi; 5.7 pounds46-Wh battery; Vista HomePremium (32-bit).2.2-GHz Intel Core 2 DuoT6670 processor; 4GBSDRAM; 320GB hard drive;13.3-inch screen; IntelWi-Fi Link 5100 AGN; 4.6pounds; 37-Wh battery;Vista Business (32-bit).1.2-GHz AMD Athlon64 L110 processor; 2GBSDRAM; 250GB hard drive;ATI X1270 graphics; 11.6-inch screen; 3.2 pounds;56-Wh battery; WindowsXP Home.Product name in RED indicates Editors’ Choice.28 PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION NOVEMBER 2009