Announced at CES 2011, the Asus Slider is a dual core tablet computer that can be used as a slate or users can slide it open to reveal a keyboard, addressing one of the complaints some users have with the iPad. The Asus Slider has a 10.1″ display and is powered by a dual core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor which powers Android 3.0 HoneyComb.

Asus has been showing off the sliding tablet at CeBIT in Germany this week and we are starting to see a collection of hands on reviews and accounts coming in from users who are now getting more time to play with the device and a more polished HoneyComb experience.

The first Asus Slider Hands on comes from Tablet-Blog.de who shares the following video of the Asus slider from CeBIT 2011.

Electric Pig also provides an account of the Hands on experience with the Asus Eee Pad Slider running HoneyComb at CeBIT with the following findings and plenty of pictures of the Slider.

“Sadly though, we’re not quite so keen on said QWERTY – it’s not just that using a keyboard without a wrist rest of any form is a weird sensation. The buttons on the Asus Eee Pad Slider are unnecessarily small, and mechanism now feels spindly and rickety – a step back from January, curiously.”

Via Electric Pig

It’s also worth looking back to CES 2011 where jkkmobile has a nice look at the Asus Slider, including a close up of the keyboard to show you might be typing on come May.

Asus Slider Price and Availability: Expect to see the Asus Eee Pad Slider arrive in May for $500 to $800.

Asus Slider Specs:

• 10.1″ 1280 x800 resolution display
• NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor
• 1GB RAM
• 5MP rear facing camera
• 1.3MP front facing camera
• Bluetooth 2.1
• Wireless N
• Mini HDMI
• MicroSD slot
• USB 2.o
• Android 3.0 HoneyComb
• full keyboard (slide out)
• Optional 3G

Asus Slider Hands On Roundup: Impressions of the EeePad Slider from CeBit is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

The Gateway ID49C07u is a new Intel Core i3 powered notebook that is part of the new ID series from Gateway. It is a good fit mobile device for users who need a capable device without breaking the bank.

Gateway ID49C07U Quick Specs:

The Gateway ID49C07u comes with a metal case that houses a 14-inch HD widescreen LED-backlit display with Ultrabright technology and 1366 x 768 resolution, an Intel Core i3 processor. 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive, and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD integrated graphics.

Who is this Notebook For?

The Gateway ID49C07u is a good fit for most students, as well as home and office users, who don’t need a business class machine. The 14″ screen provides a large enough display to allow for side by side work without detracting from the overall portability of the device and at $579.99 the ID49 is a good fit budget wise for both students and home users. This specific notebook was purchased for use by my father who will be taking with him on sales calls and needs a reliable machine that can handle basic office and web tasks.

Build and Design

Overall,the Gateway ID49C07u‘s design is rather impressive, providing a look that is reminiscent of the MacBook Pro. This gives the notebook a classy, high-end look. The metal cover of this notebook feels nice and seems very durable. The outer cover has a small lip, which makes it easy to hold onto the notebook if it is being carried without a sleeve. At just an inch thick it maintains portability.

Note the lip on the left end.

Screen

The Gateway ID49C07u‘s display is very bright but there are two issues that detract from the overall quality of the screen.

First off, the picture seems to be a little washed out. It just seems like the colors aren’t quite as vibrant as they should be. This really isn’t an issue unless you plan on using the laptop for photo editing or print production, where you may require truer color. Many users may not notice the washed out colors, but if you are picky about your display you should visit Best Buy to check out the display yourself.

The other complaint is the glossy screen. Though it isn’t as bad as some glossy displays I have seen, you can clearly see the reflection of what is behind you. If you will be working in well-lit areas, such as outdoors, this could prove to be an issue. If you are bothered by glossy screens, but are still interested in this laptop, a simple $30 anti-glare film should help fix the glare.

Mouse and Keyboard

The Gateway ID49C07u has a great, full-sized keyboard. Initially, it was a little difficult to get used to, due to the addition of the volume keys on the right side of the keyboard that shifted the position of many keys to the left a bit, but after some use the shift was easy to adjust to and did not impact typing. Located above the keyboard are touch sensitive media buttons as well as an eject button for the disk drive.

The trackpad is a really nifty part of the laptop. The entire trackpad clicks when you click the bottom left or right, which is very similar to the MacBook Pro. Additionally, when you come into contact with the bottom left or right of the trackpad, it glows. This is a unique feature, but not something you would call useful.

Trackpad glows when you touch below the lines.

When using the trackpad, I found it to be problematic at times. Sometimes the cursor would fly to the other side of the screen, or it wouldn’t move at all. These instances were very brief, but happened more often than one should expect. After adjusting the tracking speed, it worked a little better, but still had instances of erratic behavior.

The clicking feature also seemed a little stiff and double-clicking anything took a little bit of skill. This was remedied by lowering the double-click speed in preferences, but in the end I found it easier to just tap the trackpad instead of using the physical click. Overall, you may want to pick up a good mobile mouse to go along with this notebook.

Performance

With its Core i3 processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM, the Gateway ID49C07u is a well equipped machine. Though we haven’t had a chance to do extensive testing, the ID49C07u handled working in office documents and web work without any trouble and, based on its specs, should be able to handle light photo and video editing.

Battery Life

Gateway claims that the Gateway ID49C07u will last up to 4 hours on a single charge. Our testing found that the battery lasts about as long as advertised, close to 4 hours, with the screen slightly dimmed and power saver settings turned on. The folks over at LAPTOP Magazine claimed that they also squeezed 4 hours and 3 minutes out of the ID49C07u. This is about 40 minutes shy of the thin and light average.

Sound

The sound on the Gateway ID49C07u is very impressive, thanks to the Dolby Home Theater v3 enhancement. Even turned all the way up, there was no distortion or tinny-ness from the built-in speakers. While it did lack a little bit of bass, the speakers sounded great for a notebook.

Connections

The GateWay ID49Co7u has 4 USB ports, a HDMI port, a VGA port, an Ethernet jack, headphone and microphone jacks, and an optical disk drive. Also, built into the front edge of the laptop is a multi-format card reader.

Conclusion

While there are some issues with the trackpad and display, our first impressions of the GateWay ID49Co7u are good. This notebook offers a good keyboard, nice looks, and an Intel Core i3 processor for a price that is hard to beat.

The Gateway ID49C07u is currently available at Best Buy for $579.99.

Gateway ID49C07u Detailed Specs:

• 14-inch HD widescreen LED-backlit display with Ultrabright technology (1366 x 768 resolution)
• 2.26GHz Intel Core i3 processor
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 500GB HDD
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi
• Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
• 1.3-megapixel webcam
• Multi-format card reader
• 4 USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• Dolby Home Theater v3 enhancement
• Multi-gesture glowing touchpad
• Full keyboard
• 6-cell battery for up to 4 hours of battery life
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• H x W x D – 1″ x 13.5″ x 9.6″
• 5.1 lbs

Gateway ID49C07u Hands-On and First Impressions is a post by Carter Sprunger from Notebooks.com.

The new Acer Aspire 5745PG notebook is a sleek and sexy looking notebook on the outside, but like so many things in life it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. In this case it’s not just the Intel Core i5 processor and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M GPU with 1GB RAM and CUDA — it’s a multitouch screen. That’s right, the entire 15.6″ screen is a multitouch surface that can be used in the standard Windows 7 interface or in a special touch-designed mode.

Acer sent over the new 5745PG so we could put it through its paces and try to determine how touch fits into your mobile lifestyle in a notebook form factor.

Here’s a look around the Acer Aspire 5745PG and a closer look at the touch interface and how multitouch works on such a large vertical surface.

One thing we will continue to look into is if the multitouch screen remains a fun and productive way to interact with the notebook over the course of our review.

Aside from the touch screen the notebook is a powerful device that is clearly aimed at a user who wants to create and enjoy multimedia. A task made easier thanks to the powerful GPU, Dolby Home Theater sound and generous hard drive. The only thing that is noticeably missing in this first look is a Blu-Ray drive. But, we do appreciate the low price that is likely possible in part due to this omission. The Acer Aspire 5745 can be found under $700 which is pretty impressive given the inclusion of a powerful GPU and a multitouch display.

Acer Aspire 5745PG Detailed Specs:

• Intel Core i5 Processor 2.4GHz
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 1GB RAM with CUDA
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• 500GB hard drive
• 15.6″ Multitouch display
• DVD SuperMulti Drive
• 6 cell Battery

If you have questions about the device be sure to leave them in the comments so we can address them in our full review next month.

Acer Aspire 5745PG Hands On and First Impressions (Video) is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Lenovo has lent us a new Lenovo Edge 13″ notebook, for review. The Edge is a new series from Lenovo aimed at small business professionals who are on the go and in order to give it a fair shake I will be taking it with me to CES to see how it handles on the road. In fact, I am working on it in the terminal right now.

Before I left for the airport I’ve worked the 13″ notebook into my daily routine; using it to blog and to prepare a syllabus for my upcoming class on e-commerce so that I could get used to it and tweak anything that didn’t fit my workflow.

So far, I have been pretty pleased with the Lenovo Edge. My biggest gripes where with the keyboard; but I have been able to solve them all with built in changes and SharpKeys which let me swap the Delete and End keys. I was able to change swap the function and ctrl keys in the Edge’s Bios which was a major help and I am pretty impressed that Lenovo offers this functionality out of the box. When I received the Edge the spacebar was a bit sticky; but after playing with it for a few minutes it is now operating as normal, and provides nice tactile feedback and an audible click. The rest of the keys provide a similar tactile feel but thankfully, no audible click.

As far as size and weight go the Edge is compact and portable to go with me almost anywhere and I really enjoy the 13″ screen ad full size keyboard when compared to my netbook. Battery life has been good so far with 5 hours being easily achieved; I haven’t strained the machine yet but I expect that I will do so at CES this week.

One of the things about the Edge that loyal ThinkPad users will appreciate is the Thumbstick and mouse buttons that come over from the traditional ThinkPad line and accompany the multi-touch trackpad on the Edge. Personally, I wish they had discarded the extra mouse buttons for a bigger trackpad; but the existing size still works.

That’s all for now, more details after I put the Edge to the test on the road and at CES.

Lenovo Edge First Impression On The Road is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.