Can the company that's synonymous with business notebooks create a machine VGP-BPS13 that excites consumers? Yup, and the IdeaPad U260 is exhibit A. With its magnesium alloy chassis, orange lid and bottom, and soft leather palm rest, VGP-BPS13A/B the world's first 12.5-inch ultraportable combines executive sleek with casual cool. Meanwhile, a low-voltage Intel Core i5 CPUs provides plenty of pep for $899. Just don't forget to pack the AC adapter along with this 3-pound VGP-BPS9/S head-turner.

Design
The IdeaPad U260 has the kind of flair we wish ThinkPads had. The lid comes in VGP-BPS9 Clementine orange (our version) or Mocha brown, and the design is made from a single piece of magnesium-aluminum alloy that lends the VGP-BPS9A/B notebook a sense of smooth, minimal professionalism. Measuring just 0.7-inches thin and weighing one-tenth of a pound more than the most recent 2.9-pound Apple MacBook Air, the U260 slips so nicely into bags and backpacks, it's easy to forget the VGP-BPS9/B machine is there.

Loudness is one thing, but sound quality is another. While the Bone Horn Stand VGP-BPS13A/S Amplifier offers a significant boost in decibels, it does have a limited range. Thanks to the speaker's horn shape (which acts as a sort of funnel), your VGP-BPS8 amped-up music won't travel very far beyond the speaker itself. Additionally, we detected a fair amount of tinniness when using the speaker, and bass-heavy tracks often sounded muffled and distorted. If you're planning on listening to your music while doing a task VGP-BPS8A nearby (such as cooking dinner), the amplifier should add the necessary decibels to enjoy your beats. Still, the Griffin AirCurve reliably bested the VGP-BPS13A/Q Bone Horn Stand by as much as 10dB--and its sound traveled farther.

Verdict
The Bone Horn Stand amplifier for the iPhone offers VGP-BPS13/B a clever, compact way to boost your tunes. The accessory added as much as 12 decibels to our music. Overall, we prefer the sound quality offered by the $19.99 Griffin AirCurve, but if you're looking for something you can stuff in your pocket, the VGP-BPS13B/B Bone Horn is the way to go.

When the notebook is open, your eyes are quickly drawn to the LED status icons that VGP-BPS13B/Q are traced in illuminating dots, and your hands are drawn to the soft, leather-textured palm rest. The U260's left, right, and front sides, as well as the VGP-BPS13/Q bezel around the display, are lined in a smart-looking, polished black plastic.

The 3.2 x 1.7-inch glass touchpad was silky smooth when moving the cursors, as well as when using the touch scroll VGP-BPS2 and tap-to-select options. However, multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom felt somewhat sluggish. The two discrete chrome mouse buttons were VGP-BPS2A very responsive.

Ports and Webcam
Along the left edge, the U260 has a miniPCIe VGP-BPS2B and USB ports, along with a dual headphone-and-microphone jack, Wi-Fi on/off switch, and a spare slot for a card reader (not included). The front and back edges of the device are clean, and on the right side are the remaining ports, VGA, Ethernet, VGP-BPS2C HDMI, and another USB slot.

The 0.3-megapixel webcam didn't perform well. When we used it in our brightly lit VGP-BPS21A/B office, the camera failed to pick up enough light to show our face. The webcam performed better when the light shone from a source in front of us, but in VGP-BPS21/S other cases, we couldn't even get Lenovo's facial recognition software to recognize the portrait we'd shot using the same camera just half an hour earlier.

Lenovo didn't skimp when it came to the notebook's base, either. Not only does the smooth chassis material extend VGP-BPS21 all the way around the notebook, but the rubber stands on the bottom of the system give the U260 a slightly elevated and sloped footprint. Plus, the bottom air VGP-BPS21A vents, cut in a fresh mosaic serpentine pattern, add some pizazz.

Heat
Lenovo's Breathable Keyboard gives the U260 air to VGP-BPS21B let out heat. That, along with Intel Advanced Cooling technology, helped keep temperatures around the touchpad and keyboard to a respective 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The middle of the base registered a somewhat uncomfortable 95 degrees, but VGP-BPS22 the real hot spot is the back vents just beneath the display hinge, where the temperature reached a sweaty VGP-BPS22A 107.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The U260's chiclet keyboard sits in a slight basin that made typing comfortable, with plenty good battery of space and travel. While some of the keys on the right side, such as Shift and Backspace, are smaller than what you'll find on a full-size layout, we still dell akku found them easy to find by feel. The keyboard is also water-resistant.

Design
Both the lid and the deck of the Aspire 5742 are a matte black that resists fingerprints. It has grid-like indentations patterned acer akku to look like diamond plating. Looks-wise, it's on a par with less expensive Toshiba Satellites, such as the L or C series, ibm akku but not as attractive as the pricier apple akku Samsung SF510 ($629), which has a distinctive wave design, ivory lid, and chocolate brown interior.

As with most budget notebooks, the 5742 is otherwise unadorned with stylized accents or special buttons. Above the keyboard hp akku is a nondescript speaker grille; on the left are a power button and status lights for the hard drive and Wi-Fi.

Weighing 5 pounds even, the 5742 is fairly portable for a 15-inch notebook. While you sony akku probably wouldn't want to lug this laptop on a business trip, it's thin and light enough to carry around the house with ease.

Quick: What's the most popular size notebook? What's the asus akku most popular price? If you guessed 15 inches and $500, you'd be right on both counts. The Acer Aspire 5742 hits both of these sweet spots, and while compromises must be made when you're talking about a budget system, this notebook largely fujitsu akku satisfies. While its specs (Core i3 CPU, 1366 x 768 display, 320GB hard drive) won't blow anyone away, they're good enough for the vast majority of people toshiba akku who just need a notebook to surf the web, do office work, watch videos, and stay on top of social networking feeds.

Heat
After streaming a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the acer laptop akku Aspire 5742's touchpad was just 89 degrees Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H keys was 90 degrees, and the middle of the underside was a cool 79 degrees. All spots are well below what we consider uncomfortable (95 degrees and higher), apple laptop akku although the area by the vent on the left side did reach a hot 103 degrees.

Design
Available in black, green, light brown, and white, the uniquely designed Bone Horn Stand is imb laptop akku compatible with the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G/3GS, and the iPhone 4. We like its soft-touch, rubbery texture, and its light weight (just 3.2 ounces hp laptop akku compared to 11.2 ounces for the Griffin AirCurve and 1.2 pounds for the Clingo Universal Parabolic Sound Sphere) makes it easy to toss in your bag (or jacket pocket) and take sony laptop akku with you.

The Horn Stand can hold an iPhone both vertically and horizontally; while it can accommodate a asus laptop akku rubber iPhone 4 bumper, bulkier cases will have to be removed first. When an iPhone 4 inserted, we could easily connect our sync cable, fujitsu laptop akku and a raised rubber home button made it easy to activate that function. Unfortunately, the amplifier tipped over with the cable inserted; without the cable Bone Horne stood toshiba laptop akku upright.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The 5742 uses Acer's now-standard FineTip keyboard, which has flat, island-style keys. While it's dell laptop akku not as comfortable as a Lenovo keyboard, we appreciated the large keys, as well as the full-size number pad on the acer notebook akku right.

The 3.2 x 1.8-inch touchpad was a decent size and friction-free, but given all the space on the deck, it could have been larger. The mouse apple notebook akku buttons are combined into a single bar, which worked fine, but we prefer discrete buttons. Even an indentation in the middle would ibm notebook akku help.

With a gimmicky design that evokes an old-school hp notebook akku gramophone, the Bone Horn Stand Amplifier offers an impressive sound boost considering its diminutive size. This passive iPhone amplifier ($24.95) provides more volume than you'd expect for such a small package, and it doesn't use any battery life. sony notebook akku What's not to like?

The Bone Horn is rated to increase your iPhone's sound by 13 decibels, and--to our asus notebook akku pleasant surprise--it delivered plenty of volume. "Hong Kong Garden" by Siouxsie and the Banshees registered 8 decibels louder (90dB versus fujitsu notebook akku 82 without the speaker). In fact, unlike the Sound Sphere, this speaker reliably boosted every song we played. Blasting Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" gave us a 10 decibel advantage over the iPhone's speaker (66dB versus 76dB), though the track sounded toshiba notebook akku warped. However, the $19.99 Griffin AirCurve delivered 86dB for the same song--and the bass sounded dell notebook akku clearer.