DIGITAL INK: Full HD on your laptop
High-Definition resolution has hijacked our gadgets and got us addicted.
Nothing below full HD looks good any more. With our TVs and smartphones now capable of streaming full HD content, laptop screens too are going beyond 1366x768 pixels. Quite a number now have full HD displays.
Understanding HD: The 'resolution' of a TV, a computer screen or any other device is either the number of pixels per unit (width multiplied by height) or the number of lines running horizontally per unit of display.
In the old CRT TVs, the maximum number of lines supported was 480; with flat panel TVs, be they LED, LCDs or Plasma, the number goes up to 1080 lines.
The image is correspondingly sharper with colours more vibrant. HD devices provide a resolution of either 1020 lines or 1080x720 pixels.
Full HD, also called 4K, gives a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
Laptop screens are going beyond 1366x768 pixels, with many now boasting full HD displays
Retina display: There have been debates over which is better: full HD or retina display.
Actually, they do not measure exactly the same thing. 'Retina Display' is the term used by Apple for displays on its devices that have such a high pixel density that the human eye is not able to spot individual pixels from an average viewing distance.
HD Laptops: Laptops, like other gadgets, started with resolutions of 1280x720 pixels and 1024x768 pixels.
This slowly increased and by last year, 1366x768 pixel resolution got fairly standardised and Asus ZenBook Duo 14 Specs was available on many laptops, irrespective of the size of the display. Here are some laptops with full HD displays:
Lenovo IdeaPad Y500: This has a 15.6 inch full HD display along with a powerful graphics card.
It is powered by the Intel 3rd Gen Core i7-3632QM quad core processor clocking at 2.2GHz.With 8GB RAM becoming the standard, it also has the Nvidia GeForce GT650M (2GB) graphics chip and 1TB hard drive. Lenovo packs in the 64-bit Windows 8 operating system on the Y500.
This machine is for those who need power and are likely to use it for playing games, and obviously, watching HD videos and movies. Cost: Rs 67,000.
HP Envy 15-J001TX: It uses the latest quad core Intel Core i7- 4700MQ CPU, 8GB of DDR3/1600 memory, a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 740M graphics processor and a 15.6-inch 1080p display.
It performs perfectly while multi-tasking and playing games. Games load quickly. The bight display is accompanied with a brilliantly laid backlit keyboard. Cost: Rs 84,990.
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The HP Envy performs perfectly while multi-tasking and playing games
Sony Vaio S15125CN notebook: With a magnesium-aluminium frame, this is a robust machine.
It has a Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM and a 750GB hard drive. For, the Nvidia GeForce GT640M (2GB) chip is onboard. While it has less powerful specifications in comparison to the others, it packs a 15.5-inch IPS LCD display with a Full HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
It is a good machine for anyone working on graphics or visuals and requiring fine display. Cost: Rs 68,000.
Toshiba Satellite P50: Toshiba has launched a new series of premium notebooks with aluminium frames.
Of these, the Satellite P50 comes with an HD web-camera, a full HD screen and the new HDMI 4k output specification. The latter enables connecting the laptop to HDMI 4K, and supports Ultra HD TV via a High Speed HDMI cable. The two variants in P50 run on Windows 8.1 and have a 1TB hard drive with HDD 3D Motion Sensor.
Cost: Rs 63,375.
Brewster is a personalised address book that helps in maintaining a wide range of contacts along with keeping in touch with them.
Available free, it can be linked to various accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. with this app.
Contacts can be searched using keywords like family, gamer, the company in which a friend is employed, friend's hometown and so on. It keeps a check on how users interact with their contacts using text messaging, email, Facebook and others.
While 'smart lists' populates all contacts under different categories, 'my lists' allows users to create personalised lists.
There's an updates tab as well, which shows upcoming birthdays of people.
Moto's sub-15k offering
The affordable Moto G
Motorola has returned to the Indian market with the launch of Moto G.
This affordable Android smartphone, priced at Rs 12,499, boasts a 4.5-inch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. It has a 1280x720 pixels resolution on its display with 329 ppi and water-repellent nano-coating.
It is powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with Adreno 305 GPU, paired with 1GB of RAM and will run on Android 4.3 with an option to upgrade to Android KitKat within a few days.
It also has a 5MP rear camera with LED flash, 720p HD video recording at 30fps and a 1.3MP front-facing camera.
It packs a 2070 mAh battery and offers connectivity options including 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS.
Curiously this device will not be available everywhere, but only on the shopping portal, Flipkart.
The device was out of stock within an hour of its official launch.
This seems to be a good choice in the under Rs 15,000 price category, which is dominated by the likes of Micromax and Karbonn. Also, Samsung and Nokia, which have been doing fairly well in this segment, will see some competition.
Music without wires
Portronics Pure Sound Pro was a portable speaker with a host of connectivity options.
But one thing it lacked was Bluetooth connectivity. The company has now come up with Pure Sound Pro BT that plugs this gap.
The Sound Pro BT is a triangular bar shaped sturdy speaker. The speaker grill dominates the front.
The right side of the speaker has a panel comprising a small display, power key, volume controls, modes and music control.
On the right edge of the speaker are various ports for aux in, headphone, memory card, USB and a mini USB port.
It also has an inbuilt FM tuner. When turned to the FM tuner, the speaker quickly scans music stations, the way car audio systems do.
The speaker also supports voice prompts that tell you what mode it is in when powered on or paired over Bluetooth.
The sound is respectable too. Whether it is playing music over Bluetooth or the FM tuner, the sound quality is pretty good.
There weren't many distortions at the highest volume either. The volume can go up to 40, which is good enough for an outdoor picnic or a terrace party.
When indoors, it did a decent job at 30 too. The battery can be removed and stored separately.