Bem Wireless may not be terribly well known in a world saturated with different speaker options and accessories, but they caught our eye when they introduced the Speaker Trio, a set of three small Bluetooth speakers that are simple and minimalistic, as well as stylish and swanky. We decided to try them out for ourselves to see just how simple these things are, and if the audio quality can match its good looks.
The entire package comes with the base, three speakers, AC power cord, and a 3.5mm audio cable — all of which costs $299. The speakers themselves are cubes that measure six inches all the way around, and the base for which they sit upon is about an inch tall and a foot-and-a-half long. These definitely don’t take up a lot of space, so if you’re looking for a set of compact speakers, these can definitely be in the running.
Setup is fairly straightforward and it involves simply just turning everything on, pairing the speaker base with your Bluetooth-enabled device, and you’re off to the races. Turning on the base will make it discoverable over Bluetooth, and then each speaker has its own power that you can toggle for each, so if you don’t happen to need all three speakers, you can just turn on one or two and use those, leaving the third one charging on the base if you want.
Turning on each of the speakers will reveal a soft LED glow underneath the speakers around the outer edge. This is an amazing design feature that we really dig, and it gives the system a little added personality when you’re blasting your tunes. Unfortunately, when the speakers are turned on, there’s a faint humming noise that comes from each speaker. You don’t hear it at all when you have music playing, but if you pause the music, and you’re in a quiet house, you’ll be able to hear the buzzing from a bit of distance.
The Bluetooth range is about 25 feet according to Bem, so you’ll be fine if you’re in the same room as the base, but you definitely won’t be able to have control from across the house. In my 800 square foot apartment, I was able to control it from anywhere in the living room, but once I started to make my way back to the bedroom, it started to cut out at random points. Having the base placed in the middle of the apartment definitely helped with that, but if you have a bigger living space, you’ll want to think about placement and where you’ll use it the most. On the other hand, the speakers have a huge range, with a 120-foot max distance from the base. Anywhere I set the speakers, they were all able to pick up a signal. I had one in the bedroom, kitchen, and the living room — great for doing chores all around the house without having my music fade in and out.
Of course, if you don’t want to use Bluetooth, you can use the included 3.5mm audio cable and plug directly into the base. This will save on your device’s battery life, as well as increase the quality of the audio a bit, since you’re going through a hard wired connection There’s also an auxiliary-out port for effectively turning another pair of speakers that you have lying around into Bluetooth speakers, although you’ll have to keep the base nearby since that’s what you’re plugging into, but it’s a great way to turn some high-powered speakers into wireless speakers with Bem’s Speaker Trio base.
As for speaker quality, the Speaker Trio won’t replace your dedicated stereo system (if you even have one). First off, the speakers aren’t that big, so you won’t get that punchy bass that we know you love. Plus the music is being sent over Bluetooth, which will degrade the quality of the audio before it even gets to the speakers. Nonetheless, the audio doesn’t sound distorted, and if you’re not a hardcore audiophile, the speakers don’t sound too bad, frankly. They certainly beat using your laptop or mobile device speakers for sure.
Bem claims that each speaker gets around 6 hours of battery life, which should be enough to get through an average house party, unless you party really hard, in which case you probably have a high-wattage boombox anyway. I was able to go several hours without a problem. In fact, my laptop’s battery was getting low long before the speakers started to show signs of weakness.
In the end, there are a lot of great uses for the Speaker Trio. You can place them all around your house so that your music is with you wherever you are, or you could use them if you’re wanting to watch a movie or play some games on your tablet — just keep the three speakers nearby and you’ll be immersed in surround sound (although the Speaker Trio doesn’t support actual surround sound, but rather you’ll be surrounded with sound). These speakers are versatile, and even though they may not have the punchiest bass, they’re way better sounding than any laptop or mobile device speaker. However, is the $299 price tag too much for these? That really depends on how often you’ll use them. If you plan on using them every day for most of your audio needs, then laying down three benjamins might be worth it to you, but if you only plan on maybe using them for parties or just as a convenience factor at certain times, we’re not sure if $300 can be warranted here.
This week the folks at Sync Beatz have decided to revive the Tamagotchi craze with a 16th birthday present for the little toy creatures: an officially Bandai-licensed Android app! This app takes on the life of the original pocket toy, with your ability to work with the digital creature from your childhood in one of two modes: one looks like the original toy, the other utilizes your full Android smartphone display. Is it time to jump back in with the pixel-monster babysitting button-pusher once again?
When you are ready to admit you’re curious about the Tamagotchi app, you’ll be ready to start the healing. The original toy (which is still sold today, mind you) consisted of a flattened-out egg-sized plastic keychain device with a display that was able to show off a set of one-color pixels and three rubbery buttons. These buttons activated a series of options in the game, the game consisting of caring for a little smudge of a monster that grew up in real time.
The big draw with this device was that the creature had to be fed, cleaned, played with on a fairly regular basis throughout the day in order to keep it “alive”. The device needed no battery charging because it required so little computing power, and you were able to re-set your game with a holding down of the two outer buttons (of the three). Here in 2013, the story is essentially the same.
It’s quite surprising that Bandai didn’t take the time to develop the game on its own given their involvement in the increasingly mobile world of gaming already. The fact that we see a banner advertisement at the bottom of the display when the game is opened right out of the box is concerning, too – this doesn’t feel as officially representative of the source material as, say, the DIE HARD app also revealed this week.
That said, you do get to raise an electronic pixelated animal on your own, and it does take place in real time. You do get to feed it, play games with it (including a fabulous rock-paper-scissors in mobile mode), and yes, clean it’s poop up as well. You can work with a variety of sharing tools, and you can take comfort in knowing that the app works with the newest version of Android on the Nexus 4 as well.
It’s free, go ahead and grab it if you dare – there are advertisements inside, but they do fade away from time to time, leaving you in Tamagochi peace.
It’s high time you got some external battery solutions for that brand new iPhone 5, isn’t it? Why not have a peek at this fancy little monster from PoP’n, brand new to the market this week and ready for action with Apple-Certified Lightning connection for your current-gen Apple products. Of course it’s made specifically for the iPhone 5, so we’ll be having a peek at that first – but note that this battery pack comes in different iterations as well: microUSB being one of them.
In the future you’ll see this device with HTC-compatible microUSB connectors as well as Apple 30-pin connectors for iPhone and iPods and iPads before this current generation, but for now, it’s all about microUSB for everyone else and Lightning for the iPhone 5. With this device you’ll find an extremely light and smooth battery pack with a rubbery, flexible bottom tail that reaches down and back up to your iPhone.
The back of this pack is covered with suction cups so it can easily attach to your iPhone without effort, the whole thing ending up being short enough for you to be able to work with your back-facing camera with ease. This pack contains 2000mAh of battery power and has a set of 4 LED lights near the top above a button you can press to see how much juice you’ve got left for the day. With the iPhone 5 already giving me nearly a full-day’s juice each average weekday, this pack is more than enough to suffice for the rest.
You’ll be re-charging the pack with an included microUSB cord that you’ll connect to your computer’s USB port (or a wall converter if you’ve got one handy). The whole pack will cost you a cool $79.99 USD if you’re getting the Apple Lightning connector version or $69.99 for the microUSB edition, and they’re available in two colors for now (black and white) with more iterations coming in the near future. Red and Pink on the way – time for a belated Valentine’s Day gift!
Gaming PCs usually come in huge full-size towers, while some builders can cram a decent rig into a mid-size tower. However, iBUYPOWER has managed to stuff a top-of-the-line gaming machine into a SFF (small form factor) case, which isn’t completely unheard of, but very few people attempt such a feat. This new computer is called the Revolt, and it was announced earlier last month at CES 2013. The new computer is expected to start shipping sometime later this month, but we ended up getting some quality hands-on time with the new rig and ran it through its paces. Let’s see how it did.
Hardware & Design
First off, the Revolt is packed with high-end hardware. This particular build is running an Intel Core i7 3770K quad-core processor clocked at 3.5GHz with 8GB of DDR3 RAM. It also has NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 graphics, a 120GB Intel SSD, a 1TB Western Digital HDD, and a slot-load DVD burner to top it all off. I’ll be covering the performance aspect of the rig later on, but in brief, this thing absolutely screams.
The case has a white and black theme to it, and it almost looks like it should be an official Portal computer case due to how closely it resembles the whole Portal vibe, which we really like. The front panel has a smooth, glossy black finish and has the “Revolt” name displayed at the top lit up by LEDs. You can actually differentiate each of the LEDs, which could be considered a slight design flaw for picky gamers who prefer to have a smooth and seamless lighting scheme. Other than that, though, the front of the PC has the power button, LED button (to change the LED colors on the side), memory card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and obviously the slot-load DVD drive. The LEDs on the side of the case come in Blue, Green, or Red, and you can cycle through each of the colors with the button on the front. However, it’s important to note that the LEDs oscillate, meaning that they don’t simply just stay on, but they fade in and out.
On the back, there are a bevy of connectivity options: four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, PS/2 (for older keyboard and mice), ethernet, various audio jacks, two DVI ports, and HDMI. We’re not quite why this rig has a PS/2 port, since the interface is pretty much extinct, but we can’t say that it’s a burden to have anyway. Simply put, it’s there if you need it. Now, there’s not as many ports as we’ve seen on past top-tier gaming rigs, but most users will be happy with the eight total USB ports, as well as the eSATA and HDMI options.
As far as upgrading the internal components and servicing the machine, iBUYPOWER says that the Revolt is user-serviceable, although we had a grand ‘ole time trying to get the case opened up. However, once we figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. You simply take off the front panel and then slide the side panels back just a bit and it should come right off. It’s all screwless, so there’s no need for tools at this point. However, when you get to the inside, it’s all pretty closed down. The only components with easy access are the storage drives, optical drive, and the power supply (which looks to be similar to a mini ITX power supply, but iBUYPOWER says it’s custom-built). Everything else is buried on the other side, which is accessible, but once you take off the outer side panel, there’s another steel panel in your way that you have to deal with. In the end, if you plan on upgrading this bad boy at some point in the future, be prepared for a long night, unless of course you want to upgrade the storage drives, in which case it’s as easy as sliding them in and out.
Software
The Revolt runs Windows 8, which didn’t seem to give me much problems gaming-wise. I was able to play all the games that I wanted, and Steam seemed to work great on the new OS. Even Call of Duty 4 — which was released well before Windows 8 — played flawlessly on top of Microsoft’s newest operating system. Compatibility is a huge deal for many PC gamers, so seeing Windows 8 handle everything fairly well was a good sign. Of course, Valve’s Gabe Newell thinks Windows 8 is a “catastrophe,” but personally I didn’t have any problems.
As far as bloatware is concerned, many OEM gaming computer companies usually keep it on the down-low when it comes to pre-installed software, and iBUYPOWER is no exception, although you won’t be greeted with a completely-stock version of Windows 8. There are several Intel utilities that come pre-installed, including Control Center, Rapid Storage, Recovery Agent, and Smart Connect. There’s also the THX TruStudio suite, as well as the 3D Vision preview pack and Photo Viewer. Many gamers might not use these programs, but they hardly get in the way, and you can easily disable them from starting up.
Performance
We ended up conducting benchmarks with our go-to benchmarking tool Geekbench, and the results were nothing short of impressive. The Revolt ended up scoring just over a 15,000, which is quite respectable, and frankly, kind of expected thanks to the quad-core i7 and the GTX 670 graphics that we were working with.
System – Generic
Manufacturer
iBuyPower
Product Type
Desktop
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Motherboard
iBUYPOWER. IBP-Z77E/S
Processor
Intel Core i7-3770K
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
3.50 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
8
Cores
4
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
8.00 MB
Memory
8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 801MHz
FSB
100 MHz
BIOS
American Megatrends Inc. P1.10
The PC played every game that I threw at, all of which were running on medium to high settings. Granted, I didn’t get to play any of the newer games, but I ended up playing a bit of Call of Duty: Black Ops without a problem, as well as Portal 2. The Revolt was able to handle the game wonderfully with little lag or clipping, and I was able to game on for several hours at a time without a hitch. Even after an extended amount of gaming time, the fans inside the rig never picked up speed, and I never noticed the temps go above abnormal levels — it seems that while all the components are crammed into a tiny case, iBUYPOWER made sure that cooling was a priority.
Benchmark Score – Generic
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
13563
15083
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
24406
Memory
Memory performance
6488
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4969
As far as the noise levels, the Revolt is relatively silent. Using my handy-dandy decibel meter app, there was a jump of about 10 decibels. A normal quiet house is just under 40 decibels, and the meter was reading around 47-49 decibels when placed next to the Revolt. Other than that, I had the rig sitting on the floor next to my desk, and I could barely hear the PC running. Granted, it was on the floor and not on my desk (where I’d be able to hear it more), which is where most gamers might put their rigs, but either way, the noise level shouldn’t be a problem. I couldn’t even hear the thrashing of the hard drive, which is a big plus and something that I personally hate.
Wrap-Up
In the end, the Revolt is a solid gaming rig for those that need the power in a smaller package. Of course, many dedicated PC gamers would gladly build their own machine, but for those that are just getting into PC gaming, or aren’t yet brave enough to tackle the building challenge, buying pre-built is the next best option. Of course, stuffing top-tier gaming components into a SFF case isn’t something that most computer builders would even attempt to do, so leaving it to the highly-trained and professional builders at iBUYPOWER may be the way to go if you’re wanting a SFF gaming rig. Pricing for the Revolt starts at $499, which will land you a Core i3, 4GB of RAM, and integrated Intel HD 2500 graphics. This particular build, however, is in the $1,400 range, so you’ll definitely be paying up if you want top performance.
This weekend we’ve had the pleasure of trying out one of the most beautifully simple looking apps ever made for iOS: Mailbox. This app is made to make your email experience simple, striking first for the Gmail crowd who otherwise would be working with the built-in iOS mail app or the Google-made Gmail app (or Sparrow, also owned by Google). It’s not easy entering this space successfully when the actual creator of the service you’re trying to vampire has their own app on the market – let’s talk about why Mailbox might do it – starting with the never-fails strategy called keeping a line outside.
Design
When you open Mailbox, you find that you’re either standing in line or you’re allowed to start your Gmail-connected journey in only a few extremely simple steps. Once you’re inside, it’s all about swiping left or right. You can add multiple Gmail accounts, your whole user interface is just lovely, and both writing and reading is perfectly tuned. Typographers clearly had a hand in creating this app, that much is absolutely clear.
From a graphic design standpoint, there’s nothing wrong with how Mailbox works. It works great, it acts quick, it connects perfectly fine. The only problem here is the disconnection you’ll feel when you head to your desktop. If you use your iPhone for Mailbox and use its many features to create lists and read-it-later pushes, you’ll be glad to see that mobile experience working fabulously.
Usability and Compatibility
If you expect to see these same lists and read-it-later features when you get to Gmail, you’ll be out of luck. Most of the features you see inside Mailbox – stay inside Mailbox. One exception is the toggle between read and unread – once you open an email inside Mailbox, it’ll show up as read inside Gmail no matter where you are.
If that limit isn’t a problem for you – that is, if you use your iPhone for most of your Gmail reading, you’ll be good to go. With Mailbox you’ll be using a series of simple gestures to work with all of your email – as outlined in our first Mailbox is alive! post from last week.
One of the finer points in this app is the ability to put off reading an email with a series of timed periods. You can make that email return to your mailbox “later today” or “in a month”, or even “someday.” Of course there’s no “random” button – you’ll be adding in the specifics with each tap – but this is just about as easy putting off work has ever been – and did I mention it looks nice, too?
Verdict
The Mailbox app from Orchestra is absolutely free at this very moment, and until we hear otherwise from the developers, we expect it to remain free into the future. Because of this alone, this app deserves a try by you at least. It’ll introduce you to a whole new way of working with your email and you’ll be part of the “cool crowd” working with this app right this minute.
Orchestra is benefitting from a whole lot of press coverage and forum talk this week, this making it downloading and using their Mailbox app a super hip thing to do. It’s not the sort of thing that you’ll be using to take special fancy photos with, nor is an exclusive club, but it is an important step in the evolution of app development – it’s not often that an email app grabs this much attention.
Upon first glance, you might think that the EliteBook 2570p came straight out of 2002, and while first opening it up to get a look at it, I thought I had mysteriously jumped through a time warp that took me back ten years and didn’t even know it. However, as much as I’d like to travel back in time, that wasn’t the case. The 2570p is a business laptop from HP that’s meant for the business-minded road warriors who need durability and reliability when it comes to portable computers. It may not have good looks that will turn heads, but it has enough horsepower on the inside to make any suit wearer happy. Let’s have a look at what the 2570p offers and see if it can be considered a must-have in the competitive business laptop market.
Hardware & Design
The 2570p is built to last, and it’s somewhat thick structure gives it some ruggedness so that it’ll withstand more than the usual beating. It has a magnesium alloy shell, which should tell you right away that this thing isn’t messing around. Plus, it’s extremely portable, even with it’s added thickness. It’s got a 12.5-inch display with a 1366×768 resolution. Certainly nothing magical in that case, but considering it’s only a 12.5-inch screen, an HD resolution is a welcomed surprise. The hinges connecting the display to the bottom portion of the laptop are made of aluminum, which means you could open and close the lid as much as you want and the hinges won’t weaken one bit, which is a big plus, especially since I’ve seen my fair share of hinges weaken over time.
However, while the palmrest and the top outer shell are made of magnesium alloy, the bottom of the laptop, as well as the screen bezel, is made of plastic. Granted, it’s a really durable plastic that’s a bit more sturdy than what you’d find on most other plastic-lined notebooks, but it’s a slight bummer that the entire laptop isn’t encased in the beautiful aluminum that we’re big fans of. Either way, the entire thing weighs about 4.6 pounds, which certainly isn’t bad at all and it makes it easy to stow away in a bag without having to use two hands. However, for a 12.5-inch laptop, 4.6 pounds definitely isn’t light, so don’t expect to be twirling it around in your hands, and while I was able to carry it around and pick it up with one hand, it definitely wasn’t a breeze to do so.
As far as hardware is concerned, the 2570p definitely isn’t messing around, but it’s also not a powerhouse machine. It sports an Intel Core i5 3210M dual-core processor clocked at 2.5GHz with 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. This kind of performance will definitely allow you to open apps quickly and browse without a hiccup, and I’ll discuss the overall performance a bit later, but the 2570p only comes with Intel HD 4000 graphics, which will be able to play HD video depending on your player, but don’t expect to do much else graphics wise.
The keyboard is quite impressive. It’s a chiclet-style keyboard and the keys have a DuraFinish coating on them, making them resistant from long-term wear. It’s also spill-resistant, meaning that a small mug of coffee won’t do any damage, but it may leave a sticky mess. Of course, you won’t be able to dump a tall glass of liquid all over the surface, but it can withstand some minor spills if they do end up happening. The keyboard isn’t black-lit, which almost seems like a must nowadays, but the laptop does come with a retractable LED light where the webcam is. It’s not extremely bright, but it works in a pinch. To round out the keyboard, there’s a biometric fingerprint scanner on the right side of the palm rest, just in case you want added some security to your laptop — a subject that many companies are serious about.
As far as the touchpad goes, it’s extremely tiny. There’s not a lot of room to move around your finger to navigate windows and such, but there are several different options that you can choose from. First, the touchpad has top and bottom mouse buttons. Traditionally there only on the bottom of the touchpad on most laptops, but you now have the choice of having them on top, which I actually find more suitable. There’s also a mini joystick in the middle of the keyboard that you can use to navigate the mouse cursor. It takes some time to get used to and I wouldn’t say it’s any better than the touchpad, but it’s there if you want it.
As far as ports go, there’s quite a bevy of them. On the left side is the power jack, Ethernet port, optical drive, and then a smart card reader that may come in handy for a lot of business folks. On the right side, there’s an ExpressCard 34mm slot, SD card reader, dual headphone/microphone jack, DisplayPort jack, eSATA and USB 3.0 port (combined), and a docking connector towards the back. On the back of the laptop, there’s a VGA-out port, one extra USB 3.0 port and a USB 2.0 port. So in all, there’s three USB ports, which is certainly respectable, and along with all the other ports you get, we have to say there’s not a lot that HP left out. Businesses most likely won’t be disappointed by the 2570p offerings.
As far as the 2570p’s display, it’s just a normal LED screen, and there’s no IPS technology included, meaning that viewing angles are extremely limited. This probably won’t be a huge deal for most business users, but it’s at least something that’s worth keeping in mind. I personally didn’t have a problem with it since there was need to view the screen at an odd angle, but if you’re in a business meeting, for example, and need to quickly huddle around your laptop to show coworkers something, it may not be ideal.
Software
The EliteBook 2570p runs Windows 8, which from a business standpoint is a huge downside. Windows 8 has yet to prove to be a solid OS for business use. Personally, it’s an OS strictly meant for consumers, and it no way does it scream, “business.” Granted, when the laptop was first released, it came with Windows 7, but if you plan on buying any laptop anytime soon, it’ll have Windows 8 on it, no doubt. Luckily, if you buy the 2570p directly from HP, you can actually configure the laptop to include Windows 7, so not all hope is completely lost in this case.
As far as bloatware goes, there’s no shortage of it. It comes with the CyberLink Media Suite, which includes a photo organizer/manager, media player, video editor, and webcam software. There’s also an HP support app, HP Client Security (which uses the fingerprint scanner), and HP’s SoftPaq download manager. Other than that, the computer comes pre-installed with Evernote and PDF Complete, two apps that are proven business tools.
There’s definitely a lot more bloatware than what we’ve seen on past HP computers that we’ve reviewed, but for a business-oriented laptop, that’s not too surprising. My only huge complaint with the software is that it’s Windows 8. I’m not quite sure if PC manufacturers realize that Windows 7 is the business OS that we need to use, or if they’re only concerned about updating to the latest and greatest OS, no matter what. Maybe there are actually some business men and women out there that prefer Windows 8 for their business needs, but it seems that most companies aren’t jumping on the upgrade bandwagon just yet. Again, we’re glad that HP is still giving us the option to stick with Windows 7, but that won’t last forever.
Performance & Battery
As mentioned earlier, the 2570p comes with a dual-core 2.5GHz Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, with integrated Intel HD 4000 graphics. Everyday use proved to be speedy, and while more-intensive apps tended to take a bit longer to load, other apps like Google Chrome, Mail, Calendar, etc. opened up swiftly. However, as expected, benchmarks weren’t anything to write home about, but they also weren’t bad by any means. The 2570p scored just under a 7,000 in Geekbench. Either way, the average user probably isn’t going notice a lot of hiccuping with everyday use. Plus, those business folks that’ll primarily use this type of laptop will mostly use it for documents, spreadsheets, and maybe some video conferencing, but video performance was excellent. Even viewing a 1080p YouTube video wasn’t a challenge for the laptop. It played it nearly flawlessly with little lag.
System – Hewlett-Packard HP EliteBook 2570p
Manufacturer
Hewlett Packard
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 17DF
Processor
Intel Core i5-3210M
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
2.49 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
3.00 MB
Memory
3.87 GB DDR3 SDRAM 799MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
Hewlett-Packard 68ISB Ver. F.34
The really good news is that fan noise remains low most of the time. While streaming video would cause my MacBook to get really hot and force the fans to spin at max speed, the 2570p stayed calm the entire time, and I didn’t even notice the laptop getting too hot at any point. This was probably the most impressive facet of the performance of the laptop. I hate fan noise, and while you can still hear the fans running most of the time, they hardly ever get to the point where they start to sound like jet engines.
Benchmark Score – Hewlett-Packard HP EliteBook 2570p
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 Pro (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
5366
6953
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
9652
Memory
Memory performance
5904
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
5167
As for battery, you’re looking at anywhere from 4-6 hours, and this is from my own testing. Light browsing and document work doesn’t put a lot of strain on the battery, but doing more intensive tasks like video conferencing or watching movies will definitely see a hit on the battery. Of course, screen brightness plays a huge roll as well, and just lowering it down a bit added a good hour of extra battery time for me.
Wrap-Up
In the end, the EliteBook 2570p is a sturdy, well-built laptop that screams professionalism, and can prove itself out in the field. The Core i5 keeps the laptop humming along nicely, and while the integrated graphics aren’t anything too special, they prove that big things can come in small packages. As far as price, the 2570p starts at $949, which certainly isn’t cheap by any means, so what you’re paying for is ultimately the build quality of the laptop, along with all of the port options along the edges of the notebook. Sure, you could get a laptop with similar specs for slightly cheaper, but the 2570p will last you a long time, and needing a laptop that’s rugged will be well worth the investment that you put into it.
The action camera known as the HD Ghost is one that Drift innovation delivers as their premiere top-of-the-line on-the-go media collector for the next mobile-friendly generation. With it, you’re going to be able to collect 1080p HD Video, 11 megapixel photos, and up to a massive 120fps video (in VGA mode). The basics for a top-tier action camera are all here – now it’s all about making sure we’ve got the connections we need to compete with the the other big guns in the industry.
Hardware
Here with this hardcore amalgamation of metal, soft-touch plastic, and real-deal Gorilla Glass protection, you’ve got a camera that’s ready to be tossed around. Of course you’re going to want to treat this several hundred dollars worth of electronics with the care that such a price describes, but you should take rest in the fact that this device was indeed built to take a hit or two. The Drift HD Ghost is water proof to 3m (9.84ft) right out of the box, too – mind that correction in the hands-on video here:
The Drift HD Ghost works with what Drift notes is an “Enhanced 7 Element Lens Design”. In this case they note that with seven separate unique elements right up front, you’ll be able to capture high clarity video with “stunning” color no matter where you’re filming. You’ll be able to judge that for yourself in the set of images and video we’ve got below, should you care to take a look. This unit’s lens works at 170 degrees (or just 130 degrees at 60fps) and is fully rotate-friendly – and it’s so tightly connected you’ll never turn when you don’t want to!
In addition to being able to capture audio right from the built-in microphone on the device, you’ve also got a 3.5mm microphone connector coming out the back. This port is accessible with one of several in-box backs you can attach to the device, each of them with their own unique purpose. The back we’ve got on the device here also allows you to connect directly to your computer through the device’s mini-USB port. Under the back you’ve also got a mini-HDMI port (Type c) so you can play videos and videos you’ve captured straight through an HDTV!
Inside the box you’ve also got a goggle mount, curved and flat surface mounts, a universal camera clip, and a velcro strap. The battery you get with this camera is 1700mAh strong and has lasted us over a week at a time with regular use – it’s almost magical. And if you need more time away from civilization, Drift sells individual batteries you can swap in and out. Also in the box is a miniUSB cable, 3.5mm microphone extension cable, accessory travel case, and a simple guide (if you happen to need it).
Software
This device uses its own unique user interface and software as you’ll see plainly in the hands-on video above. It also connects easily with your iPhone right out of the box using wifi. All you’ll need to do is click in to the settings on the camera, turn on wifi, and connect to the camera as you would on your iPhone to any other wifi network – the HD Ghost is the projector of said wifi signal rather than the receiver. Control works then through your iPhone with the free Drift App straight from the iTunes app store – it’s just called “Drift App”.
This device also connects to an included two-way remote that works with a couple of buttons that make operating extremely simple. Turn it on, connect, and you’ll have only to press record from there. This “Drift Active Status Two-Way Remote” allows you to capture media from up to 30 feet (10 meters) away wirelessly in each of the device’s main capture modes: Video, Photo, Timelapse, and Photoburst.
In short – the software is surprisingly simple to use given the four-button control you’ll be using on the camera itself. Connecting remotely is even simpler than the basic on-device experience, too – anyone can do it. This control panel interface also works in 15 languages so the whole universe can have a try.
Video and Photos Examples
This device is able to capture 11 megapixel photos, but more than likely you’ll be working mainly with video capture at 1080p at 30fps. Our first example of video is captured from a shopping cart exiting a department store in the evening on an otherwise snow-covered clear day. Note that this capture was done with the straight out-of-box camera experience, no attachments or audio enhancements made – standard mic, that is.
The camera has thus far proven itself to be a generally generous video capturer, though not one we’d use outside of hardcore situations that require such protection for the unit itself. In other words, if we’re heading to a birthday party and where a gift opening needs to be filmed, it makes a bit more sense to simply use a smartphone. If we’re jumping off a cliff with a parachute, it’s time for the Drift HD Ghost. Below you’ll see a collection of photos captured with the device as well. Note that the wide-view angle is one of the stronger points of excellence on this device.
Wrap-up
The Drift HD Ghost is a strong device in its ability to attach to a variety of equipment and capture video and photos on-the-fly. It’s extremely easy to use, and outputs media that you’ll be more than pleased you captured. Drift Innovation is the sort of company you know will continue to support this device, also, into the future – so official accessories and replacement parts will be available to you for some time to come – they’re already several cameras deep!
Right this minute you’ll be able to pick up the Drift HD Ghost action camera for around $399.99 brand new. Again, it’s the highest-end solution offered by Drift and it’s a real contender in this space!
Have a peek at the Looxcie HD Explore as well as the ContourROAM reviews we’ve done in the past to see what else is available out there for you, and note that GoPro Hero series is also available to you as one of the high-end solutions in this space. Mobile connections are hot, hardcore action is a must, and right this minute the Drift HD Ghost is one of the top pacesetters for this type of device, without a doubt!
Microsoft met some resistance with its first Surface tablet, but that isn’t stopping the company from making a second attempt, this time with a full copy of Windows 8. Where the Surface RT left would-be tableteers confused with its partial app support, the Surface Pro is Windows on far more familiar territory: Intel silicon inside, and the full flexibility of a regular PC, simply with a touchscreen up-front. Of course, that also brings with it the same issues that have always plagued Windows-based tablets: battery life, weight, heat, and software usability. Does Microsoft’s own-brand slate finally put those criticisms to rest, and is this the tablet you should have in your bag? Read on for our full review.
Hardware and Design
You could easily mistake the Surface Pro for the ARM-based Surface at first glance, given how aesthetically similar each tablet is. Look a little closer, though, and the key differences become apparent. Microsoft has used the same VaporMg treated magnesium alloy for the casing, and it still feels great in the hand: smooth and easy to hold, but still sturdy and scratch-resistant.
Surface Pro is a little bigger than the original Surface: at 10.81 x 6.81 x 0.53 inches, it’s slightly taller and noticeably thicker, a side-effect of accommodating PC-class components and a bigger capacity battery. That makes it heavier, too, a smudge under 2lbs versus the 1.5lbs of Surface. It’s still comfortable to hold, but for single-handed use we found ourselves cradling the slate in the crook of our arm, rather than gripping it by the bezel as we might do with an iPad. The fact that Windows still prefers landscape to portrait orientation emphasizes that too.
Microsoft’s approach to cooling is an interesting one. Rather than a patch of obvious grills for ventilation, there’s a slot that runs all the way around the edge of the Surface Pro, and from which warm air is pushed out while cool air is pulled in. Two fans, rather than one, have been used to dynamically adjust the airflow depending on what’s hottest and how you’re holding the tablet. Altogether, the design makes it difficult to figure out where, exactly, the tablet is venting from; plus, it helps mask the noise of the fans. In regular use, the Surface Pro is near silent, in fact.
On the back, there’s a kickstand to prop the Surface Pro up on your desk. It actually snaps out to a slightly different angle – a little further reclined – than the stand on the Surface RT, though whether you’ll notice the difference in day-to-day use is questionable. More interestingly, there’s a change in the selection of ports Microsoft spreads around the slate: you now get a full-sized USB 3.0, rather than USB 2.0, as well as a Mini DisplayPort instead of the Surface RT’s HD video output. Otherwise, there’s still a headphone jack and a microSDXC card slot, along with a magnetic cover port for attaching the same Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard accessories as we’ve seen before.
Specifications
Where the Surface RT ran its pared-back Windows on NVIDIA’s Tegra 3, the Surface Pro has far more familiar fare inside. An Intel Core i5 3rd-gen processor is the tablet’s beating heart, with Intel HD Graphics 4000 driving the 10.6-inch display (more on which later). Memory is doubled, to 4GB, while two storage versions are offered: 64GB and 128GB.
Here, though, is the first of the issues the Surface Pro runs into. Windows is a notorious drive hog, and when coupled with the default applications and the mandatory recovery partition – provided in-lieu of recovery discs or, as Apple includes with its recent driveless notebooks, a USB stick with the OS – there’s a surprisingly small amount of space left for users themselves. On the 64GB version, in fact, only around 23GB of space is actually available, while the 128GB model does a little better with 83GB free.
Microsoft points out that owners wanting more capacity can throw in a memory card – a 64GB microSDXC can be had for around sixty bucks – but it’s still likely to be a surprise for those expecting closer to the number printed on the box. There’s also cloud storage, such as Microsoft’s own SkyDrive, which could help fill in the gaps, though without an integrated cellular modem you’d need to be within range of a WiFi network in order to actually access it. It’s possible to create your own bootable USB drive, and then delete the recovery partition manually, but we can’t help wishing Microsoft had done this for us.
In addition to the USB 3.0 port, the Surface Pro has WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. Inside, there’s an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, and a digital compass, though no hardware GPS. Microsoft has found space for stereo speakers, as per the Surface RT, but only a single microphone against the RT version’s dual mic array. The pair of 720p HD cameras – one on the front, one on the back – remain.
Pen and Display
Microsoft had high hopes for its ClearType-blessed display on the original Surface, but we found the 1366 x 768 resolution to be underwhelming in comparison to better-than-HD panels on the iPad and Nexus 10. Happily, the Surface Pro brings with it a far better screen: still 10.6-inches and 16:9 widescreen, but running at 1920 x 1080 Full HD.
The difference is vast. Where once we had slightly fuzzy text, everything is now crisp. Viewing angles seem better too, and we’re impressed by the richness of the colors. It might not be the Retina-level resolution of the latest iPad, but it’s far more in keeping with what, at upwards of $899, is most definitely a premium tablet.
The Surface Pro’s talents don’t end at a great display, though. In addition to 10-finger multitouch – double what the Surface RT can recognize – there’s also pen support. Not the fake-finger capacitive styli offered for the iPad and other tablets, but a special pen that works with an active digitizer embedded in the screen.
Usually, the pen clings to the right side of the tablet, magnetically attached. It’s a firm grip – Microsoft says it purposefully increased the magnet strength from what holds the keyboard on – and should keep it in place even if you drop the whole thing into your bag. As the nib gets within a few millimeters of the display, the usual capacitive touch is shut off and everything is controlled via the pen instead: you can wave it above the surface of the screen to move the mouse pointer, and then tap to mimic a left mouse click. A button on the side does right mouse click duty.
On the opposite end to the nib is an “eraser” which, as long as the app recognizes it, allows you to rub out mistakes. Just as you’d expect, there’s palm-rejection that means you can lean your hand on the screen and not have it skew your digital ink. The pen is battery-free, too, getting its power from the digitizer layer in the Surface Pro itself.
Microsoft obviously intends for the pen to play a big role in the Surface Pro experience: it’s included as standard in the box, whereas the Touch Cover and Type Cover are both optional extras. Windows tablets aren’t exactly unfamiliar with stylus control, but in the early years of the iPad modern tablet use got associated with finger control, and the technology fell from favor. Since then Samsung has restarted interest in what can be done with a digital pen, with the Galaxy Note series, and the Surface Pro can wear its stylus with pride.
Windows 8
Special screen and VaporMg chassis aside, the Surface Pro is basically just another Windows PC. We’ve already comprehensively reviewed Windows 8, though it’s worth noting that the tile-based UI makes far more sense when you’re swiping and tapping through it with your fingers than it does when navigated using a mouse.
As you’d hope from a Core i5 processor and 4GB of memory, there are no noticeable slow-downs and the Surface Pro handled any app we threw at it. Capacity concerns aside, Microsoft’s use of flash storage also lends a welcome boost to software load times, while multitasking is instantaneous, flipping between apps without delay.
Slot on a Touch Cover or Type Cover, meanwhile – the same accessories for the Surface RT will work with the Pro – and you’ve got a workable ultrabook alternative. We still prefer the Type Cover for anything more than the basics of text-entry, mind; the zero-profile keys of the Touch Cover, while an improvement over on-screen typing, nonetheless lack the responsiveness that makes extended use comfortable.
An alternative to both is using the Surface as the hub of a desktop setup, something that’s easy to achieve if you opt for a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. The Surface Pro is more than capable of powering a large display over Mini DisplayPort, leaving the USB 3.0 port free for hooking up an external drive or other peripherals. Since this is full-fat Windows, there’s no making sure that your accessory of choice is on Microsoft’s “approved” list, as is the case with Windows RT.
When the Surface Pro really comes into its own is when the pen gets involved. Frustratingly, Microsoft hasn’t really done everything it can to demonstrate what benefits a stylus brings: the obvious showcase app would be OneNote, which was offering Evernote-style digital notetaking functionality long before Evernote sprouted in the cloud, but Surface Pro buyers will need to cough up $69.99 for a copy (or get it as part of Office 2013 or an Office 365 subscription).
It’s worth it, though, as is trying out a digital art app, such as the copies of Autodesk SketchBook Express Microsoft and Fresh Paint Microsoft had loaded onto our review device. The Wacom stylus can differentiate between 1024 different levels of pressure, automatically adjusting the thickness of the on-screen ink depending on how hard you press, for instance, and it’s a far more user-friendly way to sketch out ideas (even if your art skills fall short). Surface Pro also supports being turned into a graphics tablet of sorts: hook up an external display and you can tell Windows 8 to map your pen movements on the tablet to the external screen by default, mimicking a standalone Wacom tablet.
More patchy are plain Windows apps, which lack distinct touchscreen support and, as a result, can be a little more difficult to control with your fingers. Browsers are a good example: Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer gives the best touch experience, while others – Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. – generally expect you to be using a mouse, and hence navigate by using the scroll bars on the side of the screen rather than flicking and pinch-zooming. In the traditional Windows desktop you can optionally enlarge the scroll bars to give yourself a bigger target, but it still lacks the immediacy of, say, the iPad’s Safari browser.
Where the Surface Pro’s internet experience does pull ahead is in speed. We expected strong browser performance from the grown-up processor and full OS, and sure enough the SunSpider results – the test of JavaScript performance, where faster results are better – delivered. In IE, the test was complete in 144ms, while Safari and Chrome took a little longer, at over 240ms apiece. Contrast all three results, though, with the 4th-gen iPad with Retina display, which took 879ms to complete the same test.
The Surface Pro’s integrated graphics – rather than a discrete GPU – preclude any serious gaming or video editing, unfortunately. Still, we were able to load up Photoshop and complete some of the more day-to-day tasks without the tablet stumbling to a halt.
It’s in day-to-day use that the Surface Pro arguably shows its full hand. The combination of the kickstand and the broad display viewing angles meant the tablet generally followed us around the home, stood up on whatever surface was nearby. The kitchen counter was a particular favorite, at which point the Windows 8 Live Tiles showed their merit. Surface Pro sits quietly updating, flagging up new messages and the like; however, it’s also a great at what we’d call “natural discovery,” where content you might have forgotten about or overlooked is brought to the fore.
A good example of that is the photo integration. Windows 8′s abilities to bring online galleries through to the Live Tiles and cycle through photos meant we rediscovered whole folders-worth of images, including those shared by friends. It’s an engaging way to interact with the Surface Pro, and helped by the fact that software in the Metro-style interface co-exists neatly with what’s running on the traditional desktop. So, we could have the full Spotify app playing music in the background, while using the more finger-friendly UI to browse the web and flick through galleries.
Battery
To say Microsoft is shy on making battery life predictions is an understatement: beyond the confirmation that it’s a 42Wh pack inside the Surface Pro – up from the 31.5Wh of the Surface RT – there’s little indication of what sort of runtime owners might expect. Still, with specifications akin to a mainstream ultrabook, it comes as little surprise that the Surface Pro manages roughly ultrabook-length longevity.
In a test with the display permanently on, and playing streaming media constantly, the Surface Pro lasted for between 4.5 and 5 hours. In a slightly more mixed test, with a combination of web browsing while listening to Spotify, as well as streaming via Netflix and YouTube, that rose to six hours.
Both of those scenarios are probably some of the biggest battery challenges the Surface Pro might be expected to take on. More typical daily use, then, could see the tablet run for a few hours more, especially if you’re predominantly web browsing, emailing, and using art apps.
Wrap-up
With a new 128GB iPad with Retina display on the scene, it’s easy to make comparisons between Apple’s tablet and the Surface Pro. In practice, however, they’re very different beasts. The iPad is focused resolutely on the mass market, and if you want one you have to be willing to concede to Apple’s Way: their decision about what apps are worthy of the App Store, their decision about what accessories can be used, their decision about what, exactly, you can do with the tablet you just spent more than a few hundred dollars on. In contrast, the Surface Pro is a paragon of freedom. If you have unusual requests of it, you can probably find the software and/or hardware to achieve them. It is, after all, a touchscreen ultrabook wearing a different costume.
If you actually need a full Windows PC that you can strum with your fingers is the question. Not being limited to pared-down versions of apps is a big bonus if there’s particular software you need access to; however, that flexibility comes with its fair share of compromises, such as the limitations on battery life compared to ARM-based slates, the increase in bulk, and the higher price.
The Surface Pro is slickly designed, its digital pen a joy to use – if you have the need of it – and it comes without the software niggles that dampened our enthusiasm about the Surface RT last year. Think of it as a touchscreen notebook with an optional keyboard and it makes the most sense. That may be semantics, but it also means the Surface Pro is more likely to cannibalize ultrabook sales than eat into Apple’s iPad market. Whether that’s the market Microsoft was aiming for, we’re not sure, but the Surface Pro makes considerable sense for the prosumer.
This week the folks at Paramount Pictures have released a very special app for the next blockbuster science fiction film in the Starfleet universe: Star Trek Into Darkness! This app is not just your everyday average movie companion app, it’s a straight up scavenger hunt that uses the camera on your smartphone as well as the sensors you’ve got under the hood of your device to sent you out into the wild to collect a series of media bits as well as real physical location markers. This technology is made real with Qualcomm Labs’ Gimbal technology and Qualcomm Vuforia augmented reality platform.
Interestingly enough, the Qualcomm technology we’re using here in this app isn’t limited to the Qualcomm processor you may or may not have in your smartphone or tablet device. Instead its built in to the app itself, allowing you to use the app on essentially any iOS or Android device you’ve got on hand. This app takes you diving directly into the Star Trek universe with a selection of media bits you unlock yourself, each available right out of the box or revealed at a later date as we drive closer to the final release of the movie itself.
The original announcement of this app took place back on January 7th at CES 2013 where Qualcomm’s CEO Paul E Jacobs made it clear that the company here demonstrates the ability to “harness the power of the smartphone to bridge the digital and physical world” with Gimbal! In addition to collecting images with your smart device’s camera, you’ll be playing sounds with your computer that your smartphone hears and recognizes and actually moving out into the real world (outside your office or home) to find the full collection of locks.
This app uses a geofencing function that has you heading to specific GPS-based lock points – and the Star Trek Into Darkness movie itself down the line. This app currently brings a series of photos and video to the viewer that they’d otherwise (for the most part) be able to grab online if they know where to look – but the finding of everything is fun, and the content can be used as wallpapers, lock screens, and more, and it’s all sized appropriate to the device you’ve got on hand – iPhone 5 for us here in this test.
The real reason you’re going to want to download this app is to stay up to date on Star Trek Into Darkness news straight from the source and to attain exclusive opportunities you wont be able to get anywhere else. You can get this app right this minute for free from the iTunes App Store or the Google Play App Store by heading to the Star Trek Movie website right this minute. You can also simply search for “Star Trek App” and poof! There it will be – believe it or not!
Star Trek Into Darkness will be released to theaters in May 17th, 2013, and you’ll be blown away by everything inside it. Without a doubt. Stay tuned to our Star Trek tag portal for more information and news updates galore up until and through that time too!
This week we’re having a look at the Acer Iconia W500 series, specifically in the model tagged Iconia W510-1422 with full Windows 8 and multiple modes of computing action. This machine works as a tablet, as a notebook with its keyboard dock (in the box with this model), and with 295 degrees of twist in its hinge – a third “presentation” mode, complete with the extra battery power of the dock in-tact. This machine takes full Windows 8 to the tablet universe with a rather solid setup and a base cost of right around $750 USD – if that sounds like a deal to you, make with the tapping.
Hardware
The Acer Iconia W510-1422 is not just a tablet first, notebook second sort of situation like many modern multi-mode machines are. Instead you’ve got full Windows 8 (as opposed to the tablet-centric Windows RT) along with a solid touchscreen display and a keyboard dock thats clearly made to be part of the full package rather than an after-thought. The keyboard here is clearly the bottom half of the unit rather than the piece you leave at home when you’re feeling no need to key.
Because you can bend the display back to a display position (with the keys of the keyboard then facing down towards the table) you’ve got a rather nice and nearly unique situation on your hands. While we’ve seen this position for tablet convertible machines several times over the past few months, you can rest assured that Acer does it right with a well-balanced and relatively rugged delivery of all pieces involved. And it feels natural to use this machine in each of its three major positions – that’s important when it comes to this modern touch-friendly Windows 8 environment we’re in here in the first part of 2013.
On this unit you’ve got a LED-backlit TFT LCD HD 10.1-inch display up front with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution covered by a smooth sheet of Gorilla Glass 2. Viewing angles are essentially perfect across the grid and the brightness you’ve got here is ready for everyday action (everywhere save direct sunlight). You’ll be rolling out with 5-finger touch as opposed to the 10 you’ll find on desktop PCs in 2013 for the most part, but unless you’ve got something rather unique on your hands that needs more than a couple fingers at a time, you’ll never notice.
Inside you’ve got wireless connectivity as well as Bluetooth 4.0+HS and all around the rim you’ve got high-quality connections and blasters of media. Two speakers sit on the sides of the tablet portion of this setup to the left and the right, this allowing sound to bounce off your palm and into your ears with ease. This machine has an integrated digital microphone that works well with the cameras in front and back and you’ve got a set of ports for USB connectivity as well.
On the tablet itself you’ve got a microUSB port and a microHDMI port for 1080p output as well as multi-display. With this port you’re able to use a massive display as a second screen – as you well should – and it works smooth as if it were a single-unit solution. The microUSB port allows you to connect to whatever other PC you’ve got handy and works with the microUSB-to-full size USB converter accessory that comes in the box as well – great for mice.
The keyboard portion of this setup also has a full-sized USB port for additional accessories, and the whole setup is powered by a port (with included power cord) that exists on the tablet itself and on the keyboard dock. When the tablet is connected to the keyboard, it does so with this port, leaving the keyboard dock to do all the powering of the whole unit.
Camera
The front-facing camera you’ve got here is more than ready for great video chat – better than some desktop machines these days with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 1080p video recording ready for action. The back-facing camera is also decent, though not exactly on-par with the camera you’re getting on most modern smartphones with the same specifications. have a peek at a few demo photos below to get an idea of what you’re working with here.
Note that most of the photos are taken with the back-facing camera indoors while the photo looking upward at the dog was taken with the front-facing camera. Again, this front-facing camera should be used primarily for video chat rather than photography, mind you.
Software and Performance
The full Windows 8 experience you’ll be working with here offers up a collection of Acer-added applications for cloud computing, security, connectivity with your other wireless devices on the web, and everything in-between. This machine features the “Acer Ring” with its ability to quick-launch apps and websites as well as take screenshots on-the-fly. Acer Ring is essentially a home screen replacement app that allow you to take control of your machine in tablet mode, this version of the app made specifically for this device. You’ll find each of the ports sitting in their right places and all of your media action controllable from one location – great stuff!
You’ll be able to run nearly every kind of app you’d be able to run on any other Windows 8 machine (within reason.) While the whole experience is fluid and surprisingly powerful for what the physical size of the unit implies, you wont be anywhere near the monstrous power of desktop machines like the Acer Predator. Don’t expect to play Hawken at full power here (not yet, at least).
Benchmark Score – Acer ICONIA W510
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (32-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
1587
1410
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
1391
Memory
Memory performance
1203
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
1271
Under the hood you’ve got an Intel Atom Dual-Core processor from the Clover Trail generation that proves its might by doing well with every app the device comes with and some of the more interesting nearly high-powered oddities you’ll find like Remote Desktop. With Remote Desktop you’ll be able to work with your computer from another over a wireless network – the Iconia W510-1422 keeps up rather nicely. The exact model we’ve got here is the Intel Atom Z2760 1.5GHz (dual core) complete with Intel Burst Technology up to 1.8GHz (1MB L2 cache).
System – Acer ICONIA W510
Manufacturer
Acer
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
Motherboard
Acer ICONIA W510
Processor
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU Z2760 @ 1.80GHz
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 53 Stepping 1
Processor Frequency
1.80 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
24.0 KB
L2 Cache
512 KB
L3 Cache
0.00 B
Memory
1.96 GB -1MHz
FSB
18.4 EHz
BIOS
Acer V1.0B
Also under the hood you’ve got a 64GB Solid State Drive, 2GB of DDR3 SDRAM, and Intel Graphic Media Accelerator technology with 64MB of dedicated system memory. Battery time with the tablet alone has proven to be right between 7 and 8 hours when we’re using it and several days if it’s just sitting on the desk on its own, asleep. The tablet itself works with a 3450mAh battery while the base includes an additional battery that adds nearly as much battery time again. Together you’re looking at several days of standby time at LEAST with around 11 hours of up-time just so long as you’re browsing the web and playing videos (high-powered games give you a bit less).
Wrap-up
This machine is ready for the 2013 season of Windows 8 action, but it’s not going to replace your MacBook Air. It’s not meant to – if you’re a Windows user and want a mobile device ready for everyday action and a relatively large amount of battery time, that’s where you’ll find the greatness in the Iconia W5. The whole setup is solid, the presentation is ready to take on the top competition in the market today, and it’s easily one of our top choices for convertible tablets running full Windows 8 today – and not just because there aren’t many of them out there!
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