Laptops

By May 13, 2014 Read More →

Apple MacBook Pro battery issue

apple burst batteryOver the past few months I noticed a decrease in the battery life on my Apple MacBook Pro 15″. Initially the drop was not that significant but over time it became more noticable and a few weeks ago it began to turn itself off even though the battery was at a claimed 23%. I also realised that the power levels were falling quite dramatically even when the laptop was turned off.

As I do not use my MacBook on battery power all that often it didn’t bother me that much but last week I was using the MacBook on my lap on the train. I suddenly became aware that the bottom of the MacBook was getting VERY hot and the aluminium base was uncomfortably hot against my leg and the top was pretty warm too.

Realising that this was a sign that I should probably investigate what was going on I decided to unscrew the bottom of the MacBook and to take a look at the battery.

As I released the screws the bottom suddenly sprang open and the battery pack itself had burst!

So, if you have any of the symptoms above it’s definitely a good idea to either take a look at the battery or else take it to the Apple store and have them take a look at it for you. Who know’s what might have happened if I had continued to use it like this!

Posted in: Editorial, Laptops, News
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By May 9, 2014 Read More →

Asus C200 and C300 are official

asus-c200-chromebookThe first Bay Trail powered Chromebook to hit the market, the Asus C200 and C300 are official. Asus has made it official on their website. The two models have the same specs except for the screen size. The C200 is a 11.6-inch LED backlit HD glossy screen (1366 x 768) and the C300 has a bigger, 13.3 screen.

Asus C200 and C300 specification:

  • Intel® Bay Trail-M Dual Processor N2830 2.42 GHz
  • 11.6-inch LED backlit HD glossy screen (1366 x 768) (13.3 on C300)
  • 720p HD camera
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 16 GB SSD
  • 1 x USB2.0 port + 1 x USB 3.0 port
  • 1 x HDMI 1.4
  • 2.5 lbs for the 11.6 model and 3.1 lbs for the 13.3 model.

There are some confusion about the price at the moment. Some reports say that both models are priced $249. If you are getting a 13.3 Chromebook for $249, that is a sweet deal indeed. No word of UK prices.

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By May 9, 2014 Read More →

Two Chromebooks from Lenovo

lenovo-n20-chromebookLenovo announced two new Chromebooks, this time for the consumer market. It has now been revealed their next in the Chromebook line up with N20 and N20p. The new Chromebooks have flexible displays you can rotate, and one model comes with a touchscreen. The display can be rotated back to allow the N20p to form a stand, or tent mode as it has now been internationally recognised. The N20 Chrome is similar to the N20p without touch operation and the flexible display.

  • Intel Celeron 
  • Intel HD Graphics
  • Bluetooth 4.0 
  • 1,366 x 768 screen
  • 16GB SSD
  • 4GB RAM
  • 802.11ac
  • USB 3.0 
  • 2.8lbs and 3.1lbs
Posted in: Laptops, News
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By April 30, 2014 Read More →

Acer announce the Acer Aspire V 11 and E 11

P1010103Amongst a slew of new laptop’s Acer have added to their road map are a couple of interesting little 11″ Windows 8 machines. The Acer Aspire E 11 and V 11 are distinctively designed laptops with a very small footprint.

Powered by an Intel Pentium with the option of up to 8gb of memory and various storage options too from 320gb all the way up to 1tb. Unlike the smaller Aspire E 11 the V manages 2 extra hours of battery life at 7 hours and a full touchscreen experience.

The V11 has a rather distinguishing rear end curve to distinguish it from the rest and operates without a fan.

The E11 and V 11 have been priced at $269.99, no UK pricing has been made available.

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Posted in: Laptops, News, Tablets
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By April 10, 2014 Read More →

HP Chromebook 14 unboxing

hp-chromebook-14_3HP have updated their Chromebook 14 for 2014 with a stylish and modestly priced machine that brings a lot to the table.

Taking many queues from the excellent 11″ HP this bigger brother has a few extras included to separate it from the rest somewhat similar line up of Chromebooks available now. Combining some of the best looks on a Chromebook to date with a generously proportioned keyboard and a beefy Haswell enabled processor this is a serious contender for the most desirable Chromebook on the market.

In the video below, you’ll see me unboxing our HP Chromebook 14 review unit and then checking out the hardware as well as starting up and having a look…

HP Chromebook 14 specification:

  • 14”, 200-nit display with 16:9 aspect ratio
  • 20mm thin – 4.08 lbs / 1.85 kg
  • Up to 9.5 hours of active use
  • New Intel Processor
  • 100 GB Google Drive Cloud Storage2 with 16 GB Solid State Drive
  • 60-day free trial with Google Play Music All Access, and £9.99/month pricing after that3
  • Built-in dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, 3G modem (opt)
  • HP TrueVision HD Webcam
  • 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0
  • Full size HDMI Port
  • Bluetooth®4.0 Compatible
Posted in: Laptops, Videos/Unboxings
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By March 6, 2014 Read More →

How much would you pay for Firefox?

dell_uk_firefoxIf, purchasing a Dell machine here in the UK, you decide you wish to have Firefox included out of the box then you will have to pay an extra £16.25. Mozilla are investigating the charge Dell are enforcing for the option that is entirely voluntary when selecting machine specification. When questioned about the charge Dell responded with:

“Dell Configuration Services, including the application loading service, ensure customers have a complete, ready to use product when it arrives,” a Dell spokesperson told TNW. “In this particular situation, the customer would not be charged for the Mozilla Firefox software download, rather the fee would cover the time and labour involved for factory personnel to load a different image than is provided on the system’s standard configuration.”

Dell’s website in the US, and Canada do not include the option and it really seems like Dell is pushing the boundaries. Mozilla have kinda covered this under their Software Distributions policy, the document states:

If you are using the Mozilla Mark(s) for the unaltered binaries you are distributing, you may not charge for that product. By not charging, we mean the Mozilla product must be without cost and its distribution (whether by download or other media) may not be subject to a fee, or tied to subscribing to or purchasing a service, or the collection of personal information. If you want to sell the product, you may do so, but you must call that product by another name—one unrelated to Mozilla or any of the Mozilla Marks. Remember that we do not want the public to be confused.

Money well spent you think? 

 

Posted in: Desktop Computing, Laptops, News
By March 3, 2014 Read More →

The Samsung Chromebook in faux leather

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Top leak specialist @evleaks has put out a picture of the oft rumoured Samsung Chromebook successor.

Adopting the faux leather look of the Samsung Galaxy Note III this Chrome OS notebook is touted to be running the Exynos 5 Octo and has four low-power cores (Cortex A7 1.3 GHz) and four high-performance cores (Cortex A15 1.8 GHz). The built-in graphics chip is a Mali-T628 of ARM. The product is expected to be priced at £250-£300. 

The new Chromebook is likely to have an improved resolution of 2560×1600 with 3 GB RAM, a storage capacity of between 16GB and 32GB, and a screen of 12 inches or less. Also, it is predicted to support USB 3.0, have a built-in battery lasting for at least seven hours, and weigh slightly over 1 kg. 

 

Posted in: Laptops, News
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By February 28, 2014 Read More →

Win an HP Pavilion A4 15″ Notebook

pavillion-15It has been a little while since we last had a good competition or give-away on the site but we’re back with a corker. We’ve teamed up with AMD and we have a fantastic HP Pavilion A4 Notebook, in red, worth around £450 and one lucky reader is going to be walking away with it!

To see the prize that we are giving away in more detail, check out the official video below and then you can see how to enter after that…

 

As usual we are going to make this very easy for you.

To enter, all you have to do is follow tracyandmatt on Twitter and retweet the following tweet: “RT @tracyandmatt I want to win a red HP Pavilion A4 Notebook from tracyandmatt and @AMD see how you can enter too: http://bit.ly/amdcomp” You can also click the retweet link below to save you copying and pasting the phrase. Your twitter name will be entered in to the draw.

RETWEET ME!

Your twitter name will be entered in to the draw. You’ll have to keep following us as we’ll notify winners via DM.

 

Entry is open until midnight on the 31st March 2014 and the winner will be picked on the 1st April. Will that be a lucky day for you?

We’ll contact the winner via twitter so make sure that you are still following us!

Good luck.

Posted in: Competitions, Laptops, News
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By February 11, 2014 Read More →

Another pathetic swipe at Chromebooks by Microsoft

Screenshot 2014-02-11 11.24.17

Microsft have put together another advert for their new budget Windows 8 laptop built by Asus.

Honestly, the laptop looks quite nice, however, the content of the add is anything but. Singling out the Chromebook as an online only device, users of the Windows laptop can achieve so much more without an internet connection… like Chat!  The only real factor on display is that Microsoft must really be concerned about the Chromebooks and perhaps lends more substance to the likes of Samsung ending their Windows laptop production run and Dell preferring Windows 7 over 8 as a option.

Lovely to see that Google does not feel the need to retaliate, just let Microsoft embarrass themselves.

 

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By February 10, 2014 Read More →

Toshiba Chromebook arrives

Toshiba-Chromebook-2You will be able to purchase the Toshiba Chromebook in the UK on Monday the 10th of February. We do not have details regarding other markets as yet, but now we know Currys will carry the much anticipated Chrome OS Notebook.

The Toshiba Chromebook is available for pre-order from Amazon for £249. Thankfully Currys price will be the same. When comparing to other Chromebooks, this is very similar aside from the screen size of 13.3 inches.

Posted in: Laptops, News
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