Tech Terrain

The Consumer Electronics Show seems like a world away, but in truth it was only four months ago. In all that time, we haven't seen an official device intended for a retail release that used AMD 's new Temash APU that they announced at the show. This week, we may have gotten the first of many - the Acer Aspire V5 . The specific model is the V5-122P-0643 (as you might guess, there are a lot of different Aspire V5s so proper nomenclature is important). According to the Acer product page, the computer comes with the AMD A6-1450 APU . That includes a quad-core 1 GHz processor (which can 'turbo' boost 1.4 GHz) and a Radeon HD 8280 GPU. The APU has an unusually low power requirement - less than 5W - that allows for passive cooling in tablets. That'd be equally useful in a laptop. I actually reviewed the current generation Aspire V5 and found it to be pretty lacking, with one of the biggest issues to be the terrible battery life, with the machine's 2500 mAh

The Dell Precision M4700 is a laptop with all the bells and whistles you’ll find in a desktop, without being as cumbersome. Check out the specifications: · Intel Ivy bridge processor, available in Core i5 and i7 · GPU: choice of NVIDIA Quadro mobile graphics chip, AMD Fire Pro or Intel 4000 · Display: 15.6 inch screen with UltraSharp FHD with resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels · Storage: 750 GB, RAM: 16 GB, expandable up to 32 GB · Battery life 6 hours plus · Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Cellular Connectivity · Windows 7 OS, with option for Windows 8 · Blu-Ray Player, DVD read write drive · Optional: Multi touch trackpad and track stick, HD webcam, backlit keyboard · IT serviceable system; easy upgrading, installing or changing of parts possible. What these specifications mean is that this speedy, expandable and reliable mobile workstation. The drive bay easily pops out meaning you can