Futurecat - Michael Karek

The Dell Inspiron M101Z is a funny little PC.  It’s not small enough to be a netbook or powerful enough to be a full-fledged notebook, but it balances both well enough to hit the sweet spot as an excellent travel machine.

If you’re a road warrior like me, you’ll immediately love the Inspiron M101Z’s size. At a compact 11” x 8” x 1” and weighing in at 3.5lbs, the M101Z is outstandingly portable.  Even my super-light and thin Sony VAIO Z looked kind of big next to it.  I’ve been carrying it around in my Tom Bihn Ego messenger for a few days, and I can honestly say that I barely notice the weight.  My copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire weighs just about as much.

I’m using the baseline version (single-core AMD Athlon II Neo K125 processor, 2GB of RAM, webcam, 3 USB ports, HDMI, media card slot and a 250GB, 5,400rpm hard drive), and there is a higher-end version that has a dual-core Athlon II K325 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive.  Despite the more modest specs, performance with the M101Z was surprisingly good and un-netbookish. Both have the same bright, glossy 1366 x 768 resolution screen, which makes viewing documents and web pages a breeze. The PC was responsive when multi-tasking, and handled my usual barrage of Office 2010 apps (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and OneNote) without any issue.   I didn’t try any games, as a PC with 11.6” screen isn’t really optimal for gaming – unless of course that PC is an Alienware M11X.  I did, however, connect my M101Z to my home media library using Remote Media Streaming, and I was very impressed by the sound quality.  The speakers on the M101Z definitely don’t sound like a usual set of tinny, hollow netbook speakers; I filled up my office with surprisingly rich sound.

Ergonomically, the M101Z was the perfect size for me.  The keyboard is full-size and island style so typing was very easy, and the multi-touch trackpad was responsive and smooth.  As with many Dells, the mouse buttons are soft and pleasantly clickable.  I actually typed the first draft of this post on the M101Z in Windows Live Writer Beta, and I didn’t run into the normal eye-strain or hand-fatigue that I usually get when typing on a traditional netbook. 

My only wish was that the M101Z got better battery life.  Coming off many weeks with the ASUS UL30vt, which I can sometimes stretch to run almost 12 hours, the 4 hours of uptime I got with the Dell was a bit disappointing.  That being said, for most average consumers it should be plenty of time away from the outlet.

As with all of their new PCs, Dell did a great job of making the M101Z look as nice as it performs.  You can get the M101Z in one of 5 colors (mine is bright red) and the internal polycarbonate is high-gloss, so much so that at first glance you’d think it was aluminum.  It’s a beautiful machine that looks and feels like a premium box, even though it is value priced.

If you’re looking for a netbook but are worried about the small screen size and keyboard, I highly recommend you check out an 11-12” machine like the Dell M101Z.  You’ll find it to be a great compromise between the ultra-portability of a netbook and the power of a full-sized PC.

Have a question about this or any other PC?  Post a comment, hit me on Twitter or Ask Ben Anything via email.  Your question might appear in my monthly Ask Ben Anything Q&A column.

UPDATED 8/16/10, 9:32pm PST – Added a link to an even cheaper version of Office to save you more dough!

I saw an article over the weekend that said that according to the National Retail Federation, college students are cutting their back-to-school spending by 19% (about $150).  There are a lot of theories on why that’s happening, ranging from the increased capabilities of smartphones to the unstable economy to more students continuing to live at home during college.  Regardless of the “real reason” – I suspect it’s a combination of all of those – one thing is clear; families are looking to stretch their budget and make every dollar count. 

So I got to thinking – would it be easy to outfit a college student with the essentials (a laptop, digital camera, and printer) for $1,000?  The answer is most definitely yes…and its easier than you think.

First and foremost, your student needs a laptop.  This is arguably the most important piece of gear that a college students has, as its at the center of writing papers, building presentations, communicating with friends, and more.  I like 13” – 15” machines for college students as they have the keyboard and screen real estate you need for long-haul work, but are still portable enough to fit in a backpack for class-to-class commuting.   Since we’re working of a $1,000 budget, I took a look at the $500(ish) laptops in my inventory and came up with three great choices: HP G62 ($549 via Bing Shopping), the Dell Studio 15 (starting at $449 from Dell.com), and the Acer Timeline Series ($588 via Bing Shopping).  Click the product name links and read my hands-on posts to get a good idea of what each can do.

Although more and more professors accept papers and presentations in digital format, sometimes you just have to go with good ol’ paper.  Fortunately printers have come WAY down in price and you can get a pretty good one for about $100.  I checked in with Sarah, our resident device expert (and blogger) and she recommended the Lexmark Interact S605 (it’s a scanner, printer, copier all-in-one for $113 on Bing Shopping), and the Canon Pixma MP560 all-in-one that you can get as low as $69.94!).

You’re going to want to remember all of those great college experiences, right?  Then you’ll also need a digital camera.  Sarah just did a blog post on the Kodak EasyShare M530.  It’s a 12 megapixel, Device Stage-ready camera, and you can get it under $100.  Hard to beat that spec line at the price

Let’s see where we stand if we go with the cheapest combination:

• Laptop: Dell Studio 15 ($449)
• Printer: Canon Pixma MP560 ($69.94)
• Camera: Kodak EasyShare M530 ($89.95)
• TOTAL:  $608.89

That leaves us $391.11 in our imaginary budget.  What else can you get for that dough?  Well, you’ll need a good backpack to lug your new machine around in, and for that, I recommend the OGIO Mastermind, which I use when I’m carrying a heavy laptop load.  You can get one for $64 on Bing Shopping.

Now we’re down to $327.11.  That’s a perfect amount for a copy of Office 2010 Home and Student ($113 via Bing Shopping), Office 2010 Academic Professional for $79.99 and an Xbox 360 Arcade to play when your schoolwork is done ($199 via Bing Shopping).

15 48 bucks to spare!  Plenty for pizza to share with your friends while you show them your new gear.

Have a question about any of this gear?  Post a comment, hit me on Twitter, or Ask Ben Anything via email.  Your question might appear in my monthly Ask Ben Anything Q&A column!

This morning I took part in 21 (yes, 21) live TV and radio interviews with stations from all around the country showing off some of the latest and greatest Windows PCs for the back-to-school season.  Not all of the stations made their clips available online, but luckily the Microsoft News Center did.  Check out the clip to see the quickie version of what I recommend:

If you want more information, hit the respective websites for the Gateway LT Series Netbook, Lenovo ThinkPad Edge, Dell Studio 15, Sony VAIO Z, Toshiba Portege R705, and the ASUS UL80vt.

Have a question about this or any other PC?  Post a comment, hit me on Twitter, or Ask Ben Anything via email.  Your question might appear in my monthly Ask Ben Anything Q&A column!

As I mentioned in my first BlogHer post, we’re giving away a few PCs exclusively through Twitter.   The contest starts very soon, so here’s what you need to do to get in on the action:

• First, follow me on Twitter.  That’s the first and most important step to entering.
• The Twitter giveaway runs from 9am EST to 5pm EST on Friday, August 6.  
• Tomorrow at 9am, I’ll tweet two questions about Windows 7 and Windows Live. If you’re a BlogHer attendee, @reply me and respond with your answers.   Be sure to use the #Win7BlogHer hashtag in your reply, and you’ll be entered to win!  I’ll randomly pick two of the qualifying @replies as winners.
• One winner will receive two Toshiba Portege R705’s and the other winner will receive two Dell Inspiron 14R’s for themselves and for them to giveaway on their blog.  Both of these are rock show PCs!
• Winners will be announced on Saturday morning and contacted directly to pick up their Windows PCs in the suite. 
• Full rules for the legally inclined are posted here.

That’s it!  Good luck…and see you tomorrow at the conference!

We’re in the thick of Summer, and for millions of people around the world that means one thing – Summer vacations!  If you’re anything like me (and you probably are, or you wouldn’t be reading these posts!), you always bring  PC with you wherever you go so you can keep an eye on your email, look up a local restaurant or attraction, or take a look at the next day’s forecast.  The next logical question is “What PC should I bring with me?”  To help answer that question, my PC partner-in-crime Ryan Asdourian and I pulled together a short video review of some of our favorite portable PCs – the wicked light Asus UX30, the media friendly Sony VAIO EA, the racecar-inspired Acer Ferrari ONE, the Best Buy Blue Label Toshiba e205 & ultraportable Toshiba t-135, the super-customizable Dell Mini 10, the fashion-forward HP Mini 210 Vivienne Tam Edition, and the bafflingly small Sony VAIO P.  Check it out:

Now that you’ve seen some of our favorite travel PCs, Ryan and I want to know…what’s yours?

Have a question about this or any other PC?  Post a comment, hit me on Twitter, or Ask Ben Anything via email.  Your question might appear in my monthly Ask Ben Anything Q&A column!

Congrats BillGatesII, you’re our winner! I’ve sent you an email.  If you don’t have it, hit me up at @winashbrown.

And check this out – Windows DJ Darek Mazzone opening for President Bill Clinton at WPC 2010 in Washington, DC.  Yep, that’s his gorgeous Dell laptop.

We’re still waiting to hear from @xabbott, our first winner.  On Monday, we’ll do a backup drawing to award the first prize pack.

Have a great weekend everyone! 

It’s family time here at Ask Ben Anything! Not just because my son Evan James was born on June 30^th, but also because this month I got literally dozens of questions that began “I’m looking to get my mom/dad/brother/sister/boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/etc. a brand new PC and am having some trouble picking one…”. So I thought I’d share a few that were representative of the types of questions that I got over the last few weeks.

Remember that if you have any kind of PC buying question, you can Ask Ben Anything by finding me on Twitter @BenThePCGuy, leaving a comment on one of my posts, or emailing me at benthepcguy@live.com.

Hey Ben –

My brother is looking for a laptop that meets the following reqs:

1. Cheap, as in, $300 or UNDER. (this is probably the biggest req, so I put it first. )

2. Screen size of 14″ or greater.

3. Processor and RAM at least 1.5 ghz and 1 GB, respectively.

- Thomas S.

$300 means you’re going to be almost exclusively looking at netbooks, but since they all run Windows 7 beautifully, that shouldn’t be a deal breaker. I’ve recently grown fond of the Gateway LT210 series and I recommend you check them out – they look great, perform well, and are right in your brother’s price range. If you can get him to go up just a bit to the $500 range, you can get some really great full-size machines. I’d first have him check out the Acer Timeline 5810, 4810 and 3810 series. I reviewed them a few weeks ago and was impressed by their performance-to-price ratio. We also schlepped one of the 5810’s to our press event last month, where it was very well received. You might also want to look at the HP G62.  It’s got a Core i3 processor, sharp design, a very nice display, and it runs right around $500. My mother-in-law just got one and I really liked it when I played with it. …and by “played with it” I mean “was conscripted to set it up for her.”

My sister is in the market for a new laptop and needs something sturdy (can handle being tossed around a bit) and optimized for entertainment (music, TV, movies, photos). She is willing to spend up to $1,000. Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

- Julia K

At that price you have lots of options, and all of our recent offer machines – the Sony VAIO EB, the Toshiba e205, or the HP dm4 – meet your criteria. The latter is the one I’m most intrigued by right now because it has switchable graphics and a really slick laser-etched aluminum case. All are under $1000 and very solid machines with big drives, Core i5 processors, and nice, bright screens. The Asus UL80vt, the big brother of the UL30vt that I’ve been carrying as my main travel machine for the last few weeks is also a good bet. It also has switchable graphics, a big 500GB drive, and gets 10+ hours of battery life.

Then again….

If you want REALLY sturdy, go with a ruggedized laptop. I’m a devotee of the Panasonic ToughBook 30 and the Dell E6400 XFR. Both are shock, water, dust and impact resistant, and feature fully armored cases and crack resistant screens. They’re used mainly by professionals in heavy industry, law enforcement and the military, but they’re available for moms to purchase as well.

My mom is looking at iPads, but uses a Windows 7 PC for work and loves it (she’s a teacher). She wants something she can travel with (they live in Ecuador, so lots of traveling), that’s super light so she could answer email if she wanted, listen to music, read eBooks and watch TV shows.

Is there a sub $1000 (or around that price point) netbook or super lightweight PC you’d recommend? She likes the idea of a touch screen for the ebooks, but that isn’t a deal breaker.

- Beth N.

If lightweight is key, netbooks are always a good bet. I just got my hands on an HP Mini 311 which has NVIDIA ION graphics inside, meaning it’s very capable of handling movies and recorded TV shows. If you go to full-size lappies, I’m a new fan of the just-released Toshiba r705. It’s under $1000, has a Core i5 processor, and Toshiba bills it as the lightest full-feature laptop ever made (it weighs just over 3lbs.). There’s also Dell’s brand-new Inspiron R series, which are also pretty impressive in terms of specs and video playback and available under a grand. And while it’s (way) over her ideal price point, I can’t leave out the Sony VAIO Z. It’s wicked light, nasty powerful, and super slick.

Thanks again for all of your questions – keep ‘em coming!

Following up on the release of Internet Explorer Platform Preview 3 last week, Lionel Menchaca Dell’s chief blogger took it for a spin. In this guest post, Lionel shares his impressions.

Microsoft’s release of the latest Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview brings a new level of hardware acceleration to the web. I took some time to play around with IE9 trying several of the demos on the IE Test Drive site. In a word, I’d say I’m “impressed.”

In a lot of ways, people tend to relegate web browsing to the low-end of computing hardware spectrum along with activities like e-mail and other basic productivity apps. I think that could very well change with the hardware acceleration in Internet Explorer 9.

Hardware acceleration in this case means offloading computing cycles from the system processor (CPU) to the graphics processor (GPU) in your system. Letting the GPU handle graphic-intensive tasks makes sense because GPUs are better at handling these tasks than the CPU. That efficiency translates into more overall speed and less battery life required (which is kinda important when you’re talking about laptops, netbooks and other mobile devices). Microsoft’s approach to new web technologies like HTML5 is new. They use Direct2D and DirectDraw, two components of DirectX that are supported in Windows 7 and Vista. Dean Hachamovitch refers to it as running through Windows.

So what does this mean to the average user when they are surfing the web?

• More speed
• The need for fewer proprietary web plug-ins
• Improved efficiency

All good things in my book… especially as the web becomes a more integral part of how we consume content and interact with information on computers. Harry McCracken says the IE9 could usher in the era of hardware acceleration to the web. I hope he’s right. I agree that Microsoft is onto something with what it’s bringing to the table with Internet Explorer 9.

Here’s what I’d love to see happen: bring hardware acceleration to web browsing for desktops, laptops and netbooks. Seems like Microsoft is well on its way delivering that. Then bring it to smaller mobile devices. The end result is something that’s good for hardware geeks and casual technology users alike. Empowering a range of devices that can do more on the web, using standards-based web technology all more efficiently than before?

Sign me up.

Lionel Menchaca, Dell

Last week I promised you an update from Sonar in Barcelona and never doubt that I am a man of my word! For the uninitiated, Sonar is Europe’s premier electronic music festival. Over time it has grown into a highly respected weekend for music lovers to experience the best in cutting edge music and audiovisual art.

Last Sunday, Windows DJs Darek Mazzone and Deadbeat spun on the roof of the Hotel Pulitzer to a packed house. For those of you who don’t know Deadbeat, he’s Berlin-based Scott Monteith and our favorite music technology junkie.

Darek took a few minutes at Sonar to talk with Scott about why he likes creating with Windows and how Windows 7’s versatility and affordability are opening doors for young, up-and-coming artists to make awesome music (be kind to our video: it’s a music festival and it’s loud so we had to get close for good sound).

 I’m looking forward to bringing more music magic your way. Be sure to follow @winashbrown for the latest.

I recently got in a shipment of HP Pavilion dm4’s, the same machine that is part of today’s offer that Ashley just told you about. The dm4 is a capable machine, and given that it starts at little over $700 it’s very friendly on the bank account, too. The model the Microsoft Store is lists for $849 but through the offer you can get it, and an Xbox Arcade for $794 – that’s a savings of $200, and means you get both for less than the price of the PC. No matter how you slice it, that’s a heck of a good deal.

The thing that jumped out at me immediately when I opened the box is the laser-etched aluminum case. Sure, lots of PCs are incorporating metal into their chassis, such as the Dell Adamo, the Asus UX series, and HP’s own Envy lineup, but the dm4 is just different enough that it stands out from the crowd. The hue is softer, almost pinkish, and it’s accentuated by a deeply textured design on the caseback and palm rest. That’s the real difference for me – while most OEMs are going with a brushed finish (which I do like) HP is taking a different direction. Not everyone will love it, but it is unquestionably different.

Specs on my dm4 are impressive for a sub-$1000 machine. Core i5, 4GB of RAM, 320GB HDD (which you can spec up to 640GB, if you need the space), webcam, built-in optical drive, and a bright & readable 1366 x 768 display. I think my favorite feature of the dm4 is its switchable graphics – you can toggle between Intel HD integrated graphics, and ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5450 discrete graphics. The latter has plenty of power to play almost any game you want, and ATI’s Catalyst Control Center is smart enough to automatically switch between the two options depending on scenario. Not surprisingly, the default is to work off the integrated GPU when on battery, and off the discrete card when plugged in. The screen does flicker when you jump back and forth, but it happens very quickly and is well worth the battery-to-performance balance you get. The auto settings were enough to get me about 6 hours of battery life under normal workloads – plenty to get me through the day. As always, your mileage may vary depending on how hard you push your system.

As with all HP’s, the keyboard is spacious and very easy to type on. The keyboard isn’t backlit – a minor annoyance for me – but not a deal breaker. When I used the dm4 in the dark, the light from the monitor, even with the brightness turned down, was enough for me to clearly see the keys. The dm4 is also impressively light for a 14” PC with a metal body and DVD drive, weighing in at just a hair under 4.5 lbs. Schlepping it around in my Timbuk2 laptop messenger was a breeze.

Even if the Xbox offer wasn’t on the table, I’d recommend the dm4 as a very capable & very attractive PC. With the offer in place, it’s a can’t-miss.

Have a question about the dm4? Leave a comment or find me on Twitter.  And remember you can always Ask Ben Anything about PCs!