CES 2010: The Best And Worst Laptops

HP and Lenovo made the biggest splash in terms of notebooks during this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Lenovo, makers of the ThinkPad line of business notebooks, are determined to grab a larger market share among consumers this year.

The new IdeaPad S10 Tablet is an Intel Atom-based netbook with a 10-inch touchscreen that rotates 180 degrees in either direction. Available with either a flush 3-cell battery or extended life 6-cell battery this netbook tablet looks like it will give the ASUS Eee PC T91 a run for the money. As we've come to expect with Lenovo notebooks, the keyboard on the new S10 Tablet is second to none in this form factor. The screen bezel might be large, but that was done on purpose to provide more room for the larger keyboard. The keys feel fantastic with just the right amount of throw and there is no sign of flex in the pre-production keyboard we used.

Some Smartbooks Are Smarter Than Others
Smartbooks, a new category of thin and light laptops that bridge the gap between a smartphone and a netbook, will probably be a major push from several manufacturers in 2010. The Lenovo Skylight was the first of these smartbooks to go public.

Sure, the Skylight is thin and lightweight. It's also got a great keyboard and screen. It even has the smartphone-like ability to almost instantly wake from sleep mode (a huge time saver compared to netbooks and ultraportable notebooks). However, the smartphone-like user interface just screams out for a touchscreen. The fact that user will have to control the Skylight with a standard touchpad and keyboard is probably the least smart element of this smartbook. Yes, a standard display makes the Skylight thinner, lighter, and cheaper but we're starting to think that smartbooks, like all modern smartphones, really need to have a touchscreen.

Thankfully, it looks like our editors aren't alone in wanting smartbooks with touchscreens. Although HP isn't ready to announce a touchscreen smartbook, they did have an extremely interesting smartbook prototype on display at CES this year. The yet-to-be-named HP smartbook is based on HP's current Mini family of netbooks, but this ultraportable is thinner, lighter, and based on the Snapdragon ARM II processor just like the Lenovo Skylight. The HP smartbook prototype runs a customized version of the Google Android operating system and, more importantly, features a touchscreen like you'd expect to see on a device that's intended to act like an enlarged smartphone.

HP representatives were all quick to point out that this prototype may never see the light of day, but it should serve as an indication of what form factor HP thinks will work best for the smartbook category.

Not to be outdone, Lenovo also debuted the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 hybrid netbook and slate tablet/smartbook. Our entire staff was pretty impressed with this innovative concept ... and even more impressed that it's ready for sale. The IdeaPad U1 works just like a standard Intel Atom-based netbook with a full keyboard and touchpad running Windows 7, but with the flip of a switch you can unplug the touchscreen display and you've got an ARM-based tablet PC ready for travel with it's own operating system and flash storage. What makes the U1 even cooler is that you can connect the bottom half of system to an external monitor and use it as a Windows desktop PC while the top tablet portion of the laptop is being used by someone else. When you reconnect the tablet to the bottom half of the laptop then the data will automatically synchronize so that you don't lose your work. Time will tell whether consumers want smartbooks with thin standard screens or if they're willing to buy a slightly thicker smartbook with a touchscreen interface.

Best Buy Gives You The Blues
One of the major stories from Sony, Dell, and Toshiba at the 2010 CES was their partnerships with Best Buy. Best Buy's Blue Label 2.0 program will introduce exclusive notebooks that will only be available from Best Buy. The lineup includes a 14" Toshiba notebook, 15.6" Dell, and a 13" Sony. All of the Blue Label 2.0 notebooks feature Intel Wireless Display technology, enabling consumers to wirelessly stream HD video and pictures directly from the notebook to HDTVs. For example, Hulu and Netflix shows can be streamed in up to 720p quality. The notebooks feature the latest Intel Core i5 processors and start at $899.99.

While the Dell and Sony Blue Label notebooks are nice, we were most impressed by the Toshiba Blue Label laptop we saw at CES. The fresh design of the new Toshiba Satellite E205 14-inch notebook looks quite different from previous Toshiba offerings, and the addition of Intel Wireless Display technology should prove to be extremely exciting for consumers. Research suggests that many shoppers ask for laptops with HDMI out so that they can connect their notebooks to their HDTVs, but most of those same consumers never bother to connect the two devices because running a physical cable from your laptop to your TV is rather inconvenient. Wireless display technology finally solves this problem and should help the laptop become the wireless center of your home theater.

2010: The Year of AMD?
One of the biggest and perhaps most welcome changes on the show floor at this year's CES was the high visibility of laptops with AMD processors and ATI graphics. Dell, HP, Toshiba, MSI, Acer, ASUS, and Lenovo are just a few of the manufacturers offering high-profile laptops with AMD processors and/or ATI graphics in 2010. Although Intel still dominates the top of the CPU food chain with while multi-core CPUs like the Core i3, i5, and i7 processors, AMD is in a great position to dominate the ultraportable and budget mainstream laptop market in 2010. Ultraportable laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e and Acer Ferrari One offer fantastic performance and usability thanks to AMD processors and ATI graphics while keeping costs low enough for people to afford during rough financial times. ATI may likely continue to hold the largest market share for laptop graphics thanks to a strong price-to-performance ratio, but let's hope AMD/ATI learn a lesson from NVIDIA in 2010 and start offering mobile GPU drivers on their website.

Worst In Show: Rebadged Netbooks
If there was a single blemish on the shine from this year's CES it has to be in the netbook category. Despite new graphics options such as NVIDIA's ION or entirely new platforms such as AMD's CONGO processors and graphics, most of the netbooks we saw at CES were just minor refreshes of old netbooks with the latest Intel Pineview Atom processors. While it's true that the newest Intel Atom processors are a little beefier than previous models and the latest Intel integrated graphics are better (particularly when paired with the latest Adobe Flash plugin), these Atom-based netbooks are still horribly underpowered and simply don't deliver a great user experience. Manufacturers still haven't realized that consumers want more than just the same weak hardware inside a new netbook shell.

Related Articles:

• CES 2010: The Countdown Begins
• Lenovo Launches First ARM-Based "Smartbook"
• HP Announces New TouchSmart tm2 and Mini Netbooks
• Lenovo Introduces IdeaPad S10 Netbook Tablet

 

Um, that's not true. Flash video might run better on Pineview, but it has nothing to do with the GMA 3150, which is incapable of HD acceleration.

If we're talking Moorestown, then the GMA 500 graphics cannot be considered the "latest" Intel integrated graphics. In any case, Intel has positioned Moorestown for the MID market.

 

QFT! Seriously....

 

AMD already learned a lesson from Nvidia: How to rebadge lower model desktop GPUs as higher model notebook GPUs.

 

That U1 looks really cool.

 

Really liked to see the Acer Aspire One hooked up to a ATI Mobility HD 5870 playing Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.'s with three monitors.
But rebadging HD 4000 cards for their HD 5000 IGP is sad, since i was looking forward to AMD's newest Neo (45nm) with a 5000 Dx11 card.

 

Appreciate your efforts Jerry but very dissappointing article for someone who is hunting hard for a notebook/netbook with the newest in technology.

I understand the sites necessity to promote Lenovo (Ideapad S10/Lenovo Skylight/Ideapad U1/Lenovo X100) but it seems to encompass most of the article, not given the fact that Lenovo is charging an unrealistic amount for the new X100 with substandard specs of most netbooks being released today.

Would love to have heard a bit of new systems 14" and below using the latest in technology....

http://zedomax.com/blog/2010/01/08/asus-ul30jt-hands-on-review-ces-2010/

Appreciate the effort but would have liked to seen the Best and Worst...truly.

 

Sorry, but the SmartBook concept has FAIL written all over it. Yet another device . . . no thank you. Its feasibility is questionable, and honestly if you have trouble explaining what a device is and convincing a customer of its usefulness, there's something wrong with it (ahead of its time, not useful at all, etc).

Bridge netbooks and smartphones? Let me see if I can understand this.

1. Use smartphone while walking to the coffee shop
2. Use SmartBook while standing in line at the coffee shop since it's got a bigger screen but not too big of a screen
3. Use 3G netbook while sitting down at the coffee shop since the netbook is much easier to use thanks to its bigger screen

I guess that bridges the gap?

 

I agree a tablet should be min 12inch's any smaller it's not that useful.

I was hoping for some new SSD news... i guess there's little reason to hold off on by an other intel G2 80GB

 

I thought more about laptops was going to be said...no new flagships announced from? The Envy 14? A refreshed Envy 13? From HP...the new Elitebooks.

From Dell consumer and business laptops? Lenovo ThinkPads? And the plethora of Sony VAIOs introduced?

 

From the show like: Toshiba Satellite E205, Asus UL30JT, and Lenovo's X100e, and the new Z.

 

At least their dedicated GPU updates are actual updates. With nVIDIA, the GeForce 360 GTS is the same as the GeForce 260 GTS, but with DX 10 instead of DX 10.1. Same for most of the rest of the 300's - they're almost identical, in some cases entirely identical, to the corresponding 200 GPUs. There's a couple such as the 335 that are a bit different, but even those few don't offer any real "new" technologies.

And yeah, the article doesn't seem very well balanced. I find more of a problem with that it's almost all netbook, when the title says laptop, than that it's a bit Lenovo-heavy. If it were "The Best and Worst Netbooks", I might find it more palatable.

 

I think the worst laptops are the Shuttle. Jeeze, they feel like some re-branded cheap Acer.

 

You can read my rebuttal in these threads:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=417193&page=77

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=449020

 

Lol although i could see someone doing something like this, I will agree its a little excessive. I guess Im just old fashioned and use my cell phone and then my 14in or 17in laptop. A sign of the times and my age I guess.

Personally Im not the biggest netbook fan. At first when i got an acer aspire I thought I could be but actually using ans relying on one changed that fast.

Ill agree, but rebranding anything, even the slightest bit is just plain wrong. Granted ATi didn't do as bad as nvidia has done over the past few years, but its still wrong.

 

Lenovo U1 Smartbook/Tablet is my favorite. My only question is the performance in Tablet mode, it's the same CPU as in the Nexus One (sheesh)

 

From the article:

Another way to look at this would be to say that many users don't actually want a netbook.

If you are not content with the basic features and performance regular notebooks had years ago, a netbook is not for you.

I bought a netbook because I wanted a netbook, knowing what they are and more specifically what they are not, not because everyone had one. Those I know who fit the later category are in general a bit disappointed with the poor performance. As I said to them, they only have theirselves to blame for not thinking about what they were getting.

If you want performance which is more in line with todays tech, but can't come up with any good plans for robbing a bank, take a look at thin and light notebooks.

 

U1 is nice. I'd like to see it on a larger scale though. Say a 15" or 17" where the tablet mode packs a CULV.

 

I am with you brother. I am desperately trying to find myself the best 14" notebook out there and I am having huge problems with it. I just personally boxed up a UL80VT-A1 after using it for about an hour. It is being returned for a refund. I absolutely hated it. I've never owned a notebook before and now am in search of what the best new notebook with me for this new year!!

 

I can understand why you are returning the UL80Vt - I didn't like it when I reviewed it either. Poor build quality and a subpar keyboard/touchpad, not to mention a host of other annoyances. It is a great concept but a botched execution by ASUS.

Maybe we can help you find the right notebook - fill out the FAQ and make a thread in this forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

True; yet another factor to consider is improper marketing. This is the description of netbooks on Best Buy's website:

Going off that, to Joe Consumer it sounds like a netbook has the functionality of a regular notebook.

Netbooks have very high return rates for a reason, especially the non-Windows ones.

 

ATI has posted mobility drivers on their site since before AMD bought them, unfortunately their OEM licensing contracts forbid them to publicly advertise it. Until they're all renegotiated I don't think it's possible to show or support them. I've been using this link since at least Cat 5.5:
http://ati.amd.com/online/mobilecatalyst/

Count me in as one who doesn't get the smartbook play.

 

I came here just to point this out, but foxyshadis beat me to it. +rep

 

I was personally impressed with the HP tm2 (review plox!), Asus UL30Jt and UL80Jt and Asus nx90.

 

In CES, there is a new Ferrari One? Or is it the existing one?

The current Ferrari One only rocks with the design, nothing else. No HDMI & only HD3200. The Athlon Neo X2 L310 also loses to Intel Celeron SU2300 too.

I am looking for a better AMD ULV processor with HD5200 (or whatever it calls), at least with HDMI. e-SATA/USB combo is a plus.

 

I disagree to the point that I'm planning to buy a new tablet that's much smaller than the 12.1" tablet I've already had for years.

 

To be honest, this article really leaves me cold. I'm sick of seeing reviews of netbooks and rather amused that this article is announcing now what I realised nearly a year ago. Netbooks have always been horribly underpowered and yet I still see reviews saying "overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable". Reading those reviews, you'd think that a netbook was a reasonable alternative to a laptop, which is isn't. The very fact that this article is titled "The Best and Worst Laptops" and yet talks mostly about "smartbooks" and netbooks is ridiculous in itself.

The idea for smartbooks is ridiculous. Sure, I can see why it sounds like a good idea when discussed around the boardroom table but I really don't see where the "gap between netbooks and smartphones" is. Why would I want to buy something with the same features as my smartphone but which is too large to fit in my pocket? At what point would I ever find that I don't want to use a 3" smartphone, find it too inconvenient to carry an 8" netbook but am fine with carrying a 5" smartbook?

 

The only thing that interested me at CES in terms of actual 'OK, I'd like to buy that' was the new Sony Z. If I were buying Sonys anymore that is - although the refresh is certainly giving me food for reconsideration.

There seems to be no real high-end anymore. Hell, Dell seems to be actually holding up the high-end these days. Dell! It's been like this for at least two years.

It's either gaming machines designed by 12 year olds with engineering which simply amounts to throwing all the latest things in there, affordable lightweights or it's netbooky junk. What seems to generate the buzz is 'it's got x, it's got y and most importantly it's under a thousand bucks'. Where is the standout 'envelope-pushing', not just 'innovations' for the easily marketed-to from Apple et al?

The U1 was certainly interesting, but that was it. Bah.

 

Hey, what happened to the bowl on the cat's head? I like that one better (looks less photoshoppy).

I think even the Sony Z has some price point compromise in there, so maybe the build quality will still not up to your bar, actually. Still, option for 1920x1080 on 13.1" screen and the quad-SSD RAID 0 (so I guess you technically could go 512GBx4 if they fit) on top of i7-620M & GT 330M should give you some pretty amazing power at 3.3 lb.

 

It's Conan cat. Regular bowl cat will resume shortly.

 

Old news now, but I recently found out that ATI provides mobility drivers for the 2000 to 4000 series mobility cards right on their driver screen - but only if you choose the windows 7 option. (Which works in Vista, iirc, but I haven't tested performance.) So as long as you have 7, the biggest complaint about ATI hardware in new laptops is pretty much wrong.