ASUS N55S Review: Great Multimedia Laptop With Some Issues

This multimedia powerhouse has a full HD display, Blu-ray writer, Bang & Olufsen speakers, plus a 2GB Nvidia graphics card for playing the latest games.

Build and Design
ASUS got more right than wrong with the N55S' design. The exterior is an aesthetically pleasing mix of black and silver. The lid is a glossy black which looks great at first glance but quickly becomes an eyesore thanks to fingerprints. I like the silver trim piece going around the lid and the brushed aluminum piece right below the screen - they give the notebook that extra high-end look.
The N55S is constructed of plastic and reasonably strong plastic at that; the palm rest barely flexes when pressed down upon. I'm greatly appreciative that ASUS used anti-glare plastic instead of glossy plastic, which is all too common on consumer notebooks. Chassis flex is average for a consumer notebook; nothing alarming, however. Fit and finish is good; there are no uneven gaps between parts or sharp edges.
Those looking to upgrade the N55S will find it straightforward to do so; two removable panels on the bottom of the chassis provide access to the hard drive and memory slots (RAM).

Ports and Features
The N55S has an average selection of ports for a multimedia notebook although it is good to see two USB 3.0 SuperSpeed ports. It lacks eSATA, an ExpressCard expansion slot, and DisplayPort. The absence of those ports might bother some shoppers.

Lenovo IdeaPad U400 Review: The Latest MacBook Pro Challenger

The 14-inch all-metal IdeaPad U400 is an impressive MacBook Pro competitor that offers good performance and six hours of battery life for $879. Keep reading to find out if Lenovo can deliver a killer premium notebook at a fair price.

Build and Design
The IdeaPad U400 is a departure from the standard Lenovo IdeaPad notebooks of the past; it has a metal exoskeleton instead of the plastic (albeit sturdy) shells that have dominated this line for a long time. As few pieces of metal as possible were used in the construction, lending the U400 a clean look. At less than an inch thick and 4.3 pounds the U400 is easy to carry around.
The actual design of the U400s is reminiscent of the Apple MacBook; it's a little too similar for my taste. It's clean but not sophisticated. The build quality is excellent overall; there is no chassis flex. The metal lid provides good protection; pressing in on the back doesn't yield any ripples on the screen. The lid can be opened with one hand and that is very convenient. Something I don't like about the design is the rather sharp edge around the display and bottom of the chassis; a more rounded-off design is preferred.
Those planning to upgrade the U400 should think again; this notebook has no user-accessible panels for changing out the memory or hard drive. Additionally the battery is not removable. If you're looking at this notebook as a Apple competitor then it makes sense: Most MacBook owners don't upgrade components.

Ports and Features
The U400 has a scant selection of ports; it has three USB ports (one of which is USB 3.0), HDMI, and a slot-load DVD burner. It lacks VGA (remember this if you need to hook up to projectors), DisplayPort, and shockingly enough, there's no media card reader; I can't remember the last time I reviewed a notebook (or even a netbook) without one. Those of you with digital cameras – be prepared to carry around a USB adapter for your SD cards.
Lenovo is taking a gamble that most of its customer base will not need extra ports – it's a rather risky gamble in this reviewer’s opinion. Something else I'm not sold on is the lack of status lights; there is no hard drive or wireless indicator lights. There is a very faint power light on the front of the chassis; the power button itself is not illuminated. All picture descriptions shown below are listed from left to right.

Toshiba Portege Z835 Review: The Best Ultrabook

This $899 Best Buy exclusive features a 13.3-inch display, 128GB solid state drive, backlit keyboard and six hours of battery life. Read our take to find out what makes this Ultrabook really impressive.

Build and Design
The Portege Z835 (also called the Z830) is an Ultrabook, a new class of notebook computers characterized by their thinness, light weight, and use of Intel Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) processors. These are essentially the Windows alternatives to the Apple MacBook Air.
The Z835 has a professional-looking design with normal straight lines and squared-off edges; Toshiba’s Portege line of notebooks has typically been business oriented so this makes sense. The Z835 will most certainly draw wandering eyes despite its utilitarian appearance due to the sheer thinness – it really is that thin at only 0.63 inches high. The chassis is constructed entirely of magnesium alloy, a lightweight yet strong material. As a result the Z835 feels like almost nothing at 2.4 pounds.
The chassis is remarkably stiff and hardly flexes; it is almost a necessity for Ultrabooks to be built as such since they are designed for constant travel. If the chassis allowed flex, the internal circuit boards could bend and increase the likeliness of failure due to stress cracks over time. The fit and finish is good; all areas of the notebook seem to have received about the same attention to detail. The corners of the chassis are a bit sharp as is the cut-out for the Ethernet port on the back of the notebook.
Upgradeability is not something Ultrabooks are designed for; there are no user-accessible panels on the bottom of the chassis. The entire bottom of the chassis needs to be removed to get at any of the internals. An additional impediment to upgradeability is the non-standard SSD; you can’t simply put a normal SSD or hard drive in this notebook as the chassis is not thick enough to accommodate them.

Ports and Features
The thinness of Ultrabooks prevents them from packing much beyond the bare essentials. Fortunately the Z835 makes what space is available count; it has full-size HDMI and VGA-out ports as well as a single USB 3.0 port. The Z835 lacks ExpressCard and DisplayPort. All picture descriptions are left to right.

Toshiba Satellite L755 Review: Basic Home Essentials

The Satellite L755 (also sold as the L750) is a 15.6-inch budget notebook with a good keyboard and satisfactory overall performance. With the holidays fast approaching, is it worth recommending this laptop at nearly $700?

Build and Design
The Toshiba Satellite L755 manages to look respectable despite its budget notebook classification. That is, until you start using it. Every visible inch of the notebook has a glossy surface which attracts fingerprints and dust like no other; it quickly turns into a mess. Notebook makers use glossy plastic solely as a means of making the notebook look more attractive on a display shelf. Glossy plastic fails the practicality test and is the worst characteristic of this notebook. Even the keyboard keys are glossy.
The build quality of the notebook is satisfactory; it feels sturdy enough and the chassis resists twisting rather well. Most of the plastic surfaces visibly flex when pressed down upon, however. The plastics used have adequate quality but aren't robust as would be expected on a business notebook, for example.
The display has a surprisingly strong backing which prevents any distortion from showing on the screen when pressure is applied from behind. The screen hinges seem a bit weak as the anchor points are quite small and the display can actually move side-to-side a bit.
Upgrading the L755 is a relatively simple task; two access panels on the bottom of the chassis provide access to the memory and hard drive.

Ports and Features
The L755 includes the bare essentials and nothing more as is the case with most budget notebooks. This notebook lacks the new USB 3.0 SuperSpeed port, eSATA, and DisplayPort; they can't be added either since the L755 also lacks an ExpressCard expansion slot. All picture descriptions are left to right.

Alienware M14x Review: The Best or Worst Portable Gaming Laptop?

Alienware shocked many gaming enthusiasts earlier this year when the company discontinued its popular M15x gaming notebook and replaced it with the slightly smaller M14x. Did Alienware make a good call replacing a 15-inch laptop with a 14-inch laptop? We took an in-depth look at the M14x to find out if it indeed is "The most powerful 14-inch laptop in the universe."

Build and Design
Love then or hate them, Alienware notebooks feature one of the best known designs among gaming laptops. The M14x might be a new notebook for 2011 but it incorporates all of the key elements that make the Alienware notebooks unique. Combine a stealth fighter with a H.R. Giger drawing and mix in a generous helping of multi-colored LEDs and you'll get something that starts to look like an Alienware design.

The build quality of the M14x is very good with a combination of metal and plastic parts. Most of the exterior contact points (lid, palm rests and keyboard surround) are plastic. Nevertheless, the M14x feels solid ... in no small part due to the unusually thick design. Alienware's designers make no apologies for the roughly 1.5-inch thickness of this laptop; this gaming PC needed to take up less space in a bedroom or dorm room. One of the common complaints from owners of the old 15-inch Alienware m15x was that it was as large as most 17-inch laptops. Alienware decided to make a high-performance gaming notebook with a smaller footprint on your desk, but in order to make it smaller they had to make the chassis thicker to accommodate the cooling system needed for the processor and graphics.

And so the Alienware M14x was born: A 14-inch gaming notebook that takes up roughly as much space as a 15-inch laptop.

Despite the unique lines and thickness of the chassis, it's the AlienFX LED lighting system that most people usually notice first. The colors of virtually every light on the notebook can be changed to virtually any color. In fact, you can even set the lighting to a combination of multiple colors or strobe between the entire rainbow of colors. Of course, you can also shut off all of the lights if you don't desire unwanted attention.

The bottom of the M14x takes a page from the design playbook of the Alienware m11x with a fully integrated battery and no easy access to system RAM, hard drive or wireless cards. In short, you'll have to spend some time disassembling the M14x if you want to upgrade it yourself.

Ports and Features
The M14x has a very good selection of ports for a 14-inch laptop; no doubt a benefit of the unusually thick design. This Alienware laptop includes two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, HDMI, DisplayPort, VGA, Ethernet, memory card reader and slot-loading optical drive. The only item that's missing is an ExpressCard expansion slot ... but, for better or worse, very few modern gaming notebooks include an ExpressCard slot anymore. All picture descriptions are left to right.