HP Elitebook 6930p with 24hr battery life is the Jack Bauer of laptops

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That’s right – 24 hours. What could you do on a laptop in 24 hours? You could listen to 432 songs, or watch 11 films, or even make money on the internet. Except you probably couldn’t do those things, because published battery life always assumes a computer just sitting there, not doing anything. Using speakers, WiFi or the DVD drive, or anything will drain that battery faster…

The latest burning tech: Sony recalls dodgy Vaio laptops

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Cast your mind back to the number of notebook batteries recalled last year due to the risk of them exploding and taking out delicate bits of anatomy on the way.

One seriously affected company was Sony, and it seems the company’s woes aren’t over yet. It’s just recalled 73,000 Vaio TZ-Series laptops sold in the US because of the potential risk of a short-circuit of wires near the hinge that could lead to users being burnt.

The telltale sign of a problem is if there’s a loose screw in the hinge. Loose, possibly, because it’s been touching up electric cables…

Whoever owns the Commodore brand is getting in on the Netbook scene, with the UMMD 8010/F

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Honestly, my dad’s got a Netbook coming out this Autumn. He’s pitching it against my mum’s, which is simply a lower-spec version of the one my sister put out last year.

The point is, everyone’s releasing bloody mega-portable Eee PC-alikes these days – even companies we all thought had long since stopped existing. Like Commodore here, with its all-new UMMD 8010/F, a netbook featuring pretty much what we’ve come to expect from one of these new wave mini laptops. Brace yourselves, the technical specifications paragraph is coming up next…

Sony and Tosh top notebook PC reliability chart, third of Americans want Apple

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A recent consumer survey by Which? magazine suggests that Sony and Toshiba top the pile when it comes to laptop reliability, both scoring 93%.

Perhaps surprisingly given how they’re used, and the belief that laptop computers don’t last as long, portable PCs scored better than their desktop relatives.

Apple tied with Dell and Compaq at the top of the chart for desktop computer reliability, with 86%.

Of course these results are based on consumer experience rather than scientific measurement, so it doesn’t mean those brands at the top of the pile are necessarily the best…