Despite being a common addition in many high-end consumer PCs, Blu-ray support is relatively limited in laptops and ultra-portable computers. One reason for the weak support is the poor screen resolution of many consumer portable; the average notebook screen barely reaches the pixel density required for true HD playback.

And while the R720‘s screen has that same limitation – its maximum resolution falls slightly below full 1080p HD – it remains one of the most effective multimedia laptops out there. Sporting a Blu-ray drive and capable of quickly burning DVDs, it’s one of the most capable laptops we’ve tested.

Power is provided by an Intel P7450 dual-core processor, which offers reasonable multitasking performance and enough juice for the latest gaming titles. A healthy dose of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 4650 graphics card round out performance, making the R720 a surprisingly competitive gaming laptop.

It’s an experience that’s dramatically improved by the inclusion of a full seventeen-inch display. The R720 boasts one of the most usable and vivid displays we’ve seen, bested only by Apple’s Macbook Pro 17 – a notebook which costs almost three times as much as the Samsung. While falling slightly short of full HD resolutions, it’s a great display for watching movies and online video.

The R720 is a reasonable workstation laptop, with a numeric keyboard and large touchpad making basic office computing and internet browsing simple and comfortable. The keyboard itself is quite comfortable, though it doesn’t use the isolated design we’ve grown to expect from consumer laptops. Usability is great, and despite using standard black plastic the enclosure feels quite robust.

Despite its prowess as a gaming laptop and media centre, the R720 does have some clear flaws. The seventeen-inch display and sizeable keyboard make portability limited, while a three-hour battery lifespan give the R720 questionable usefulness as an around-town laptop. When used as a media centre the battery’s longevity drops even further, giving the R720 limited potential as a travel laptop.

However, its combination of slick and professional design, reasonable power, and huge potential as a multimedia centre make the R720 one of our favourite budget media laptops. We tested it through almost every office situation and found it to perform remarkably well, making it just as adept and usable as a workstation as it is for Blu-ray movie playback.

If portability is a non-issue, the R720 is one of the finest laptops you’ll find for under £1,000. At three kilograms and larger than a business binder, it’s certainly not the first laptop you’d choose for a lengthy vacation. However, it is the first model we’d pick for inexpensive, flexible, and stress-free home computing.

It’s fitting then, that Lenovo’s latest Thinkpad – the W701 – is designed from the ground up for total professionals. Priced well in excess of £2000 and relatively spartan in its appearance, the Thinkpad W701 is a triumph of performance over appearance and usability over display value. It’s in many ways the antithesis of HP’s latest Envy line, a notebook that’s powerful, usable, and valuable while lacking the flashy design cues often expected from such a device.

It’s difficult to look past the W701; the system’s huge physical size and imposing design make it a hard object to avoid staring at. Boasting a seventeen-inch screen running at one of the highest resolutions we’ve seen on a laptop – 1920×1200 pixels – the Thinkpad W701 is large to the point of being prohibitively bulky for many users.

But that sheer size is put to good use, as the laptop’s screen is one of the most crisp, usable, and appealing that we’ve seen in recent years. Lenovo have clearly taken inspiration from Apple’s matte Macbook Pro lineup, using similar technology to provide incredible colour strength and display clarity. Managing multiple windows is simple, with the large screen able to accommodate text files alongside a squashed internet browser window or other reference document.

It’s this power and usability that makes the Thinkpad W701 ideal for professionals, especially those able to deal with its hefty price tag and lengthy list of physical drawbacks. Mouse input is handled through a touchpad or control stick, although most users will want to make use of a connectable USB or bluetooth mouse. A graphics tablet is housed beside the control pad, although we found it to be more of a hindrance than a help for basic word processing and office tasks.

Battery life is predictably abysmal, although we’re sceptical that any users would see the Thinkpad W701 as a travel-friendly notebook. We’ve yet to see the battery’s longevity extend beyond 150 minutes under standard office usage, although with this type of power under the hood it’s unlikely that the Thinkpad will ever be used outside of the office; most users will simply attach the W701 to the nearest power outlet and work away.

The Thinkpad W701 is not a portable laptop and it’s certainly not something that casual users will appreciate. It’s a business machine, a laptop that has been built from the ground up for immense performance and unquestionable reliability. If the £2200 price tag and formidably bulky design aren’t enough to put you off, this powerhouse of a computer could deliver the ultimate mobile computing experience.

USB 3.0 has been touted as the ultimate in file transfer, but ageing hardware could render it no more powerful than a standard USB 2.0 port. Tests across a variety of laptops, desktop PCs, and ultra-portable computers have shown that data transfer formats such as USB are next to useless when paired with low-end PC hardware and slow hard drive operating speeds.

Tested alongside eSATA – the current alternative found on many high-end laptops – USB 3.0 provided a limited speed boost for file transfers. Several file size tests have revealed that new formats such as eSATA are equally as effective as USB 3.0 for delivering high-speed data on modern PC hardware.

Of course, that’s not to say that USB 3.0 isn’t the future of local file transfers, only that the future could be quite a while away. With 5400RPM hard drives relatively common in laptops, particularly in the popular ultra-portable laptops available today, it could be a while before users see any benefit from new USB technology.

Freecom, a leading manufacturer of USB hard disks and storage units, believes the true potential of USB 3.0 won’t be revealed for several years. Much like the extended period required for computer hard disks to adapt to USB 2.0 – today’s standard file transfer type – the newest form of USB could require a change in computer hardware standards before its benefits become apparent.

However, high-end PC owners and multimedia users are likely to benefit from the changes right away. Many camera, data storage, and technology companies are integrating USB 3.0 support into their devices as standard, shortening transfer times for large video and data files. While home and casual users may have to wait, this is one file transfer revolution that will be appreciated by techies.

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