2008 was a very good year for laptop aficionados, as there were multiple releases which were simply delightful to work with in every respect of the term. While we were drawing our list however, there was only one laptop that actually leapt out at us for its impeccable design and feature-set overall – the Macbook 13.3.
Now people may argue what is so special about this entry-level Mac? Well the answer is very simple. Apple who has often been accused of not being generous with its entry-level machines, simply rebooted the segment with the introduction of a spanking classy new design, that allowed Apple to manufacture the laptop and its entire range of components using a new process simply called ‘Unibody’. The body was carved from a solid block of aluminum and this allowed it to shed its dowdy, plastic finish in favor of a sexy sleek aluminum finish.
Apart from just making it look good, Apple also upgraded the new 13.3-inch machine to a backlit LED panel that offered brilliant performance, a great keyboard/touchpad combo and powerful specifications that allowed it to sail through all kinds of performance tests without any issues. When you consider its price of Rs. 79,700 and the segment it’s placed in (13.3 inch ultra-portables), its combination of great looks, amazing performance and unique styling rightfully allows it to claim the tag of “Laptop of the year”.
Runner-Up: Dell XPS M1730
The inclusion of a Dell in this lineup should hardly come as a surprise. The XPS M1730 that we have selected as runner-up here was easily the most powerful machine we have reviewed this year and this showed in both its design and performance. The M1730’s design was a radical departure from the slim lines of its younger brothers. It was a behemoth of a laptop, with its measurements of 406 x 302.6 x 50.7 mm and its weight of 4.81 kg. Its sense of styling and finish were top-notch too, with a beautiful dull-gloss black finish which was accentuated by a series of LEDs housed on the lid.
Since it is a gaming machine, it came loaded to the hilt with an incredible set of specifications which included an Intel Core 2 Extreme 9000 CPU clocked at 2.8 GHz (overclockable to 3.4 GHz), 4 GB of DDR2-667 RAM, a pair of Nvidia 8800M GTX cards in SLI, a 17-inch full-HD LED panel, and a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy HD audio chipset. This kind of specification allowed it to achieve segment leading scores.
The Dell XPS M1730 costs Rs 1.71 lakh. At this price it’s a brilliant purchase as it scores over other laptops in this range, as it’s the only one that’s SLI-Ready and offers playable frame rates at very high resolutions (HD/Full HD). This kind of performance and styling is what allows it to easily claim the title of being our runner-up of the year, in laptops.
Best Value: Dell Inspiron 1525
This segment was perhaps the most competitive, when it came to making a selection. There were several excellent choices from virtually everyone here including Acer Gemstone series, HP’s DV series, Lenovo with its Y series and ultimately Dell with its Inspiron Range. If that was not daunting enough, Dell decided to further complicate matters by introducing a new range called Studio that stood between the higher end XPS line up and the entry-level Inspiron range. Ultimately after a lot of brainstorming, arguments with colleagues and taking price into factor, we decided to declare the Dell 1525 as the winner of the title “Value laptop of the year”.
Even though as we have mentioned there were several excellent value laptops, the Dell 1525 ultimately emerged as the winner purely because of the number of positives that came attached with it. Firstly Dell re-invented the Inspiron range by giving it a more tapered streamlined look, with an improved finish that gave it a touch of class and style only found in the more expensive XPS range. Dell also worked on user complaints that the LCD panel of the Inspiron range was a little too bland and fixed this problem by offering its tru-life screens in the new Inspiron 1525. Furthermore the company retained the strong points of previous Inspiron models such as the sturdy build quality, excellent keyboard /mouse duo and enhanced it by introducing a huge variety of hardware options as its specifications.

The Cowon A3 is a very feature-rich PMP that’s loaded with goodies for a vidiot. It’s 4-inch, 800 x 480 pixel, 16 million color display is a perfect for just propping up and sitting back with a good movie. It has a wide support for video and audio formats including DivX, Xvid and FLAC. It also allows playback of video files with 1280 x 720 resolution and all media can be simply copy pasted onto the drive (30GB, 40GB, 60GB). What really stands out when it comes to the features is the live recording option that allows users to record from a TV or a camcorder. It also has a Line In and Out, standard 3.5mm earphone socket and USB connectivity. You can view images as well as .TXT and .PDF files. The company has also made it a point to bundle the player with all the relevant wires required for all connectivity options available.
Runner up - iPod Classic

An iPod is the epitome of music and video playback on a portable device but some how it’s constant tie in with a proprietary PC software and USB connectivity option poses little bit of an issue. Nothing you can’t get by of course. The latest 160GB iPod Classic allows users to transport their entire music collection in single device for playback anytime anywhere. The upgraded firmware has made it a funkier and more intuitive device than the previous models with games and a new UI on it’s a 2.5 inch TFT LCD that sports a 320 x 240 pixel resolution. It’s the same device that Apple users have loved since the first gen model was out but the new UI, a vast amount of storage space and a slightly better finish on the body makes it little more appealing.
Sony Walkman NWZ E436F
The E436 Walkman DAP comes equipped with a 2-inch QVGA TFT LCD display that’s good enough to watch short video clips and view images. The sound quality of the device is really good and can of course be enhanced with the aid of the in-built customizable 5 band graphic EQ. Although it comes with a bundled PC software for data transfer and management it’s not really necessary to use it. Files can be copy/pasted and stored in folders of your choice for playback so there’s no need to create playlists. It’s available in a range of funky colors in 4GB models.
Digital Audio Players
Creative Zen Stone Plus with Speaker
The reason we’ve chosen the Zen Stone with the Speaker as the DAP of the year as opposed to the Stone or Stone Plus is because of the obvious added advantage of having the ability, albeit not the loudest ability, to share music via the built in speaker. The player also offers a lot more. The comfortable earphones will ensure you don’t necessarily need to buy a more expensive set if you don’t want to, an FM radio is present for those who like to ride those waves, it also has a stopwatch and EQ presets as well as customizable option with a five band equalizer. It’s available in 2Gb and 4Gb models.
iPod Shuffle

The iPod Shuffle hasn’t really been re-invented too drastically in quite awhile now. Its design is still essentially been consistent and maybe that’s a good thing. It’s innovative yet absolutely simplistic design is what we find most appealing. The built in clip makes for easy portability with having to worry about a separate strap option or carry case of some sort. A very simple five-way nav-pad for audio control and a sequence/shuffle selector also make sit easy to operate and use. Hover it’s tie into a proprietary software like iTunes for file transfer is still something we are not yet ready to tolerate, but audio quality is still quite up there with the best.
Samsung YP-S2
Another very simplistic player is the YP-S2 Pebble from Samsung. It’s a very sassy looking player with a smooth curved surface on top and a neatly designed five way nav-pad underneath. The earphones are part of the necklace strap, so it can easily be attached with a locking system. Since its light weight, small and looks quite chic, it can be worn around the neck like a pendant. With Samsung’s DNSe sound engine, the audio quality is something to talk about with a well balanced dynamic range of tones. It also offers a couple of EQ presets for personal preference and a PC software to adjust audio levels and create playlists if you don’t prefer the copy and paste method. It’s available in 2GB capacities and in a few jazzy colors as well.
These have been Tech2.0’s choices for the best potable media players of the last year, 2008. Of course we’re expecting things to be taken up a few notches in 2009 and it’s that anticipation of what’s to come that makes this job worthwhile.
This system is a new release by Onkyo, one of the most popular brands in the mid to high level Home theater segment in India. They have always belted out good systems, and most of all they have a variety that surpasses most. At Rs. 36,000 this system really delivers the goods, with 3 HDMI sources switching, 130 Watts RMS power per channel, and Onkyo’s plethora of proprietary features like Audyssey 2EQ room-correction technology. The latter is a great method of getting the best possible sound setting for the speakers, according to your room acoustics. The sub has a 20 cm driver, and a good 90 watts of power. The speakers have 8 cm cone woofer and 2.5 cm balanced dome tweeter. The overall sound is quiet balanced and powerful, more suited to surround sound movie experience. But music does not sound bad too, thus the system is great overall, not to mention it fits in with contemporary interiors, due to it sleek black design.
Runner Up - Philips Soundbar HTS6100
Even though they cannot replace the real thing entirely, I really like the concept of soundbars since their inception, and this year our reputable electronics giant Philips released a couple of models. These handy units can double up as an HT system for those with space constraints, who simply cannot place surround speakers. We reviewed the higher model, though the HS6100 product has won the runner-up prize for a number of reasons, mainly due to its subtle and mature good looks, superb build and decent features. It costs about Rs.35000, so it’s within reach. Philips sound quality is one of the best in the consumer category, with heavy bass and impressively powerful sound. The unit has built in DVD player, thus it acts as a one stop solution for your full AV needs, plus it can play DivX, read off USB drives, and has inputs for connecting external media players. It also supports upscaling to 1080p.
Best Value – Yamaha YHT195
Whenever budget Home theaters are spoken about, yamaha really leads the way. The YHT195 costs about 25,000 bucks, and anything below these prices, like the ones below 10,000 bucks by more popular brands, sound like crap. This unit comes in black or grey, a very simple yet attractive design. The satellite speakers weigh a little less than a kilo each, and are neat little rectangular boxes. It has 500W of total RMS power, at 100W per channel, plus 50W for the subwoofer. Connections include 2 HDMI-ins, 1 HDMI-out, 3 component-ins, a 5.1 analog audio-out, and a host of composite-outs. There are 3 digital audio-ins: one coaxial and 2 optical-ins.. The speakers are rated at 6 ohms. There are regular Yamaha proprietary features like YPAO, CinemaDSP etc. The sound quality is quite nice, and offers the engulfing power that a decent Home theater needs to deliver.
8 months ago
•
0 notes