There¡¯s an active stylus included in the box, and as this is pressure-sensitive, it¡¯s possible to take full advantage of the stylus for everything from handwriting recognition to more artistic pursuits. Disappointingly, there¡¯s no way to stow the stylus inside the VAIO Duo 13¡¯s chassis, but Sony has included a small plastic clip, which slots into the right-hand flank and holds the stylus in place. Sony has also added a flip-out stand just next to it, allowing the stylus to be propped up like a pen in an inkwell.The larger chassis now affords room for a full-sized, backlit keyboard, and while the short-travel keys are a little lacking in feel compared to the best Ultrabooks, it¡¯s easy to get up to touch-typing speed. We¡¯re not sorry to see the back of the VAIO Duo 11¡¯s optical trackpoint, but although the wide, squat touchpad is a step in the right direction, it remains far from ideal ¨C it¡¯s very thin, which means repeated strokes of the pad are required for larger movements, even with the sensitivity cranked right up.The first IdeaPad Miix failed to set the pulse racing, but Lenovo¡¯s not one to give up easily. It¡¯s delivered a pair of new hybrid devices ¨C the 10.1in Miix 2 10 and 11.6in Miix 2 11 ¨C which transform from tablet to laptop with the help of a magnetic docking keyboard.
Where Lenovo¡¯s Yoga devices work their magic with a 360-degree hinge, the Miix 2 uses hidden magnets. This allows the tablet and keyboard combo to flip into three positions. The tablet snaps flush, face-down onto the keyboard for when you¡¯re on the move; slots in upright for laptop use; or turns about-face to allow the keyboard to act as a stand.
This isn¡¯t a subtle tweak to the original Miix design ¨C the Miix 2 range has been entirely transformed. Both the 10.1in and 11.6in models look sleek and sharp, finished in tough-feeling silver plastics, and they have a nice heft to them, too. Our only moan? Lenovo¡¯s use of plastic rather than aluminium means there isn¡¯t the solidity of Microsoft¡¯s Surface tablets.
Physically, though, the pair have a pretty enviable set of vital statistics. The Miix 2 10 weighs in at 590g for the 9.2mm-thick tablet, with the keyboard adding 440g. The Miix 2 11, meanwhile, comes in at an Ultrabook-rivalling total weight of 1.35kg, and the 11mm-thick tablet alone weighs 798g.The smaller of the pair ¨C the Miix 2 10 ¨C fires into life with Intel¡¯s quad-core Bay Trail platform, 2GB of RAM, up to 128GB of eMMC storage and a 32-bit installation of Windows 8.1. Its big brother - the Miix 2 11 ¨C uses low-voltage Haswell processors, with anything up to Core i7-class CPUs taking the helm, alongside mSATA SSDs with up to 256GB of storage.
Up front, the Miix 2 10 packs a 1,920 x 1,200 display while, curiously, the 11in model plumps for a 1,920 x 1,080 Full HD panel ¨C both support 10-point multitouch, however.
While many tablets and hybrids sacrifice connectivity, Lenovo has made the most of every opportunity. Whichever model you choose, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi makes the grade, as does Bluetooth 4 and optional 3G. Micro-HDMI has external displays covered; microSD is ready to give storage a boost; and while the Miix 2 10 charges via its micro-USB port, the larger model charges via its dual-purpose USB 3 port.It looks like it might be second time lucky for Lenovo¡¯s Miix. Both models are destined for release in February of this year, and although UK pricing hasn¡¯t yet been decided, we¡¯ve got high hopes for the pair. With the 32GB Miix 2 10 slated to launch at $449 and the Core i3, 64GB Miix 2 11 coming in at $599, these two could make a big impact.Network video cameras are prevalent in the world of businesses, but for home owners they remain a rarity. The problem? Setup can be fiddly, and although many IP cameras are wireless, they still require mains power. Netgear¡¯s VueZone system aims to rectify this situation.
By using the low-powered ZigBee wireless standard, its cameras are able to operate using only a pair of CR123 batteries, so there¡¯s no need to drill holes in walls or run cables to install them. In conjunction with the system¡¯s magnetic half-dome camera mounts, which adhere to the wall with sticky pads, it¡¯s possible to get the system up and running in a matter of minutes.Before sticking the cameras to the wall, all you need to do is hook up the ZigBee bridge unit to a spare port on your router, pair the cameras with it and set up an account on the VueZone website. At this point, you¡¯ll be able to view a live feed from the cameras from either a laptop, tablet or smartphone (apps for both iOS and Android devices are available) and change settings.And because VueZone is designed to be a remote monitoring system, you can view your feeds from anywhere you like, inside or outside your local network, with no fiddly setup or port forwarding required.The VueZone home monitoring kit we tested costs ¡ê247, which sounds pricey, but there¡¯s plenty in the box. For your money you get two cameras ¨C one day and one night camera ¨C plus the bridge and a mains-powered LED lamp, which is powerful enough to illuminate a medium-sized room for night-time monitoring. Each camera has a motion sensor, which allows you to automatically record stills and video based on motion in the frame.
What isn¡¯t such good news is that to make the most out of the system, you have to pay a subscription. The basic service is free, but this will only allow you to view the cameras live, and record and still snapshots. To have the system record video clips, or add more cameras to the system, you need to pay ¡ê4 per month (or ¡ê35 per year) for a Premier account.That¡¯s pretty restrictive, but what makes it worse is there¡¯s no option bypass this and record the cameras¡¯ output to a local NAS drive, and the VueZone portal is slow and clunky. With no option to drill down even by specific date, browsing through hundreds, and possibly thousands of clips becomes a horrendously slow job.The biggest problem, though, is with image quality. Because the VueZone cameras are battery powered and can¡¯t be asked to carry out processor intensive tasks, both resolution and frame rate are limited. The cameras are able to record at a maximum of 640 x 480 at 3fps, or 320 x 240 at a mere 6fps. The resulting snapshots and clips are, as you might expect, severely lacking in detail, and don¡¯t convey enough information to identify faces in clips. There¡¯s also no audio.
Ultimately, the VueZone system simply doesn¡¯t do enough to justify the price. It¡¯s the simplest home camera system we¡¯ve come across to set up and deploy, and it appears to be good value at first glance. However, the free subscription service level locks you out of too many features, the image quality is poor and the management portal is far too basic and clunky.Acer has today unveiled the latest additions to its laptop line-up at a launch event in London.The company revealed the successor to its Aspire Timeline range of laptops - the Aspire Timeline X series - its new roster of mid-range entertainment notebooks, and its luxurious new Aspire Ethos models.The Timeline X range continues to focus on ultraportability, and includes 13.3in, 14in and 15.6in models which Acer claim weigh in at 1.8kg, 2.2kg and 2.4kg respectively. The 11.6in models announced in the US won't be coming to our shores until later in the year.Read Sasha Muller's first impressions of the Acer Timeline X Series here
The redesigned chassis' measure as little as 25.4mm thick, and portability goes hand-in-hand with the promise of all-day computing. Acer claims that the Timeline X models will run for a minimum of eight hours, and as long as 12 hours with its proprietary PowerSmart software. Prices are expected to start at around ¡ê600 inc VAT.
The consumer-focussed lines have also received a welcome update, with a raft of Aspire models redesigned from the ground up. The additions consist of both 15.6in and 17.3in models replete with 16:9 ratio displays. Intel's latest Core processors take centre stage alongside ATI's 5000 series of DirectX 11 compatible graphics chipsets.Acer is also bolstering its high-end credentials with the arrival of the Aspire Ethos: a huge, metal-clad 18.4in desktop replacement. With a focus firmly upon entertainment, the Ethos partners a 1080p screen with a Blu-ray drive and an integrated set of 5.1 speakers. Prices are expected to begin at ¡ê1,099 inc VAT.The 3D craze has broken free of its early-adopter shackles, thanks in no small part to the huge success of Avatar, and manufacturers are stepping up their assault on the tech-savvy public. This model of the Asus G51J is the first 3D Vision laptop, and comes complete with the necessary glasses and transceiver in the box.It¡¯s not the first 3D laptop we¡¯ve seen ¨C last year's Acer Aspire 5738DZG 3D used a polarised panel and passive glasses ¨C but it¡¯s the first to use Nvidia¡¯s superior active-shutter technology. The quick-start guide will be a help for most people, but it isn¡¯t difficult to set up: a wizard within the Nvidia drivers holds your hand through the process, and a demo animation allows you to dial the stereoscopic effect to a comfortable level before diving into any games.
The good news is that the 3D effect works exceptionally well, and we¡¯re beginning to see game developers make proper use of it in the latest titles. Even going back to an older title such as Far Cry 2 sees the niggles from our early tests last year all but ironed out after a host of driver revisions. If major titles keep building it in from the start, we can really see it being attractive to hardcore gamers.The 15.6in screen size isn¡¯t the hindrance we¡¯d imagined provided you sit close to it, and the frame of the chassis creates the appearance of a window into a deep game world. The speakers are loud and full by laptop standards, which adds to the immersion, and this well-planned bundle includes a comfortable but cheap Razer Salmosa mouse to aid your gaming performance.If this all sounds like a glowing recommendation, there are still major issues that need to be overcome. The glasses are about as clunky and unappealing as you¡¯d believe possible, although that¡¯s for Nvidia to rectify. A bigger problem is that of brightness: as the shutter glasses darken things significantly the screen needs a strong backlight to compensate, and the Asus can¡¯t match a decent 3D monitor in this respect. It meant we often missed things in the heat of battle, particularly when foes hid in the shadows.
The other main stumbling block is the graphics card. This works by producing two full-resolution images and alternating them, which puts added pressure on the GPU. The Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M coped as well as it could ¨C and the fairly low 1,366 x 768 resolution makes a lot of sense to limit the strain ¨C but it still whined audibly and roasted the desk like a hairdryer during games.China's quality control watchdog claims HP sold faulty laptops and ignored consumer protection regulations.The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement that after consumer complaints, it had found several models were affected by defective video cards and displays.The faulty video cards caused overheating, crashes and blank screens on some HP Pavilion DV2000 and Compaq Presario v3000 laptops. Six models including the HP 541 also had problems with their screens, the findings added. The statement did not say how many computers were affected overall.It's not clear whether the problems are related to the faulty Nvidia GPUs that affected several laptop manufacturers in 2008, including HP and Dell, which had similar problems with overheating.
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