Digital Travel Scales As Seen in the Sunday Times Good Gear Travel Guide

luggage scale

Travel suitcase scale

This smart light weight scale does a big job, see features below:
Weighs up to 50kg (110lb)
Lithium battery with 2 year life (included)
Auto Hold feature & Back lit LED Display
Low battery indicator.
Easy to use just clip on and lift.

Are you preparing half term holiday? this is a useful gadget for your luggage.

RRP price is £14.99, you can buy it for only £10.99,  can be purchase at here.

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2012 Best laptops under £500

2012 Best laptops under £500

Lenovo G570 15.6 inch Notebook (Intel Pentium B940 2.0GHz, RAM 4GB, HDD 500GB, DVDRW, WLAN, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium) – Black

£329.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK

Buy it here


Technical Details

  • Intel Pentium B940 2.0GHz Processor
  • Sleek exterior design with smooth top cover and single-piece brush-metal interior paneling around the keyboard providing a cool-to-touch surface
  • Multi-touch touchpad to move things around with two or more fingers
  • AccuType keyboard with individual rounded keys for comfortable and accurate typing
  • Lenovo ReadyComm – advanced networking and internet connection management
  • Energy Management – protects the long-term durability of the battery and uses advanced energy-saving technology to increase time spent between charges

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Acer Aspire 5749 15.6-inch Laptop (Intel Core i3 2350M 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, DVDSM DL, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Integrated Graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit)

Price: £378.00    Buy it here

Technical Details

  • Powerful PC performance – Aspire series notebooks pack today’s best processors, and memory options so your system always runs efficiently
  • Latest communication tools – surf the Internet and stay in touch with your people with reliable, high-speed connectivity
  • Attractive Aspire appeal – Aspire series notebooks are attractive, ergonomic and durable; slim profiles, cool aesthetic accents, and eye-catching colours abound, while easy-access controls ensure effortless handling

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Asus K53E 15.6-inch Laptop (Intel Core i5 2450 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM, 750GB HDD, DVD SuperMulti DL, LAN, WLAN, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit)

Price: £491.73    Buy it here

 

 

 

Technical Details

Processor: Intel Core i5 2450M 2.5 GHz
OS: Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Display: 15.6 inch, HD TFT, 1366 x 768, Color-Shine
Graphics: Integrated
HDD: 750 Gb 5400 rpm
ODD: DVD SuperMulti Dual Layer
Memory: 4 Gb DDRIII 1066 MHz
Audio: Built-in Altec Lansing speakers, microphone
Card Slot: 4-in-1 (SD/MS/MS Pro/MMC)
I/O Port: Microphone-in, Headphone-out, VGA, 3 x USB 2.0, RJ45, HDMI
LAN: 10/100/1000 Mbps
WLAN: 802.11 BGN
Webcam: Yes
Numeric Keypad: Yes
Software: ASUSDVD 6-in-1, Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0, Trend Micro Internet Security 2010, ASUS SmartLogon, Asus Power4Gear Hybrid, Asus Live Update, Asus Multi-Frame, ASUS Wireless Console, Virtual Camera, ASUS Splendid, Asus Screen Saver, Fancy Start, eManual, AI Recovery, ASUS FastBoot, ControlDeck
Battery: 6 cell
Warranty: 1 year
Dimensions (WxDxH): 378 x 253 x 28.3 – 34.9 mm
Weight: 2.60 Kg

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Best laptops for university students.

Forget those expensive textbooks, non-stick pans and packets of noodles — the most important thing you can buy as a student is a laptop.A laptop will be your office, your media hub and a valuable connection to your friends’ goings-on (and maybe to your parents if they’re lucky), all wrapped up in a few inches of plastic and metal. Sounds like magic, right?

Unless you’ve got cash coming out the wazoo, you’re going to want your machine to last at least the three years you’ll typically spend at university, so you shouldn’t skimp on the important bits. Look for solid construction (a metal chassis is best), and a full-size keyboard for comfortably typing long essays.


If you want to watch films and TV shows on it — which I assume you do — you’ll need a large screen of at least 14 inches, with a minimum resolution of 1,366×768 pixels.

Mac or PC?

Do you go with an Apple Mac or a Windows PC? That will largely depend on how rich your parents are feeling or how much of your gap year you spent saving up cash rather than trotting off to south-east Asia.

MacBooks are built extremely well and age slowly, but you’ll have to splash plenty of cash. If your course is in graphics then a Mac would be a good choice, but a well-specced Windows machine will also tackle your work admirably and your uni should hopefully provide powerful machines for editing.

Windows laptops come in a much wider variety of shapes, sizes and prices, but you’ll need to stay on top of upgrades to squeeze a three-year degree out of them.

Portability

Whether you prefer portability over toughness is a personal choice. Don’t shy away from a heavier laptop — after all, it might discourage you from taking it to the pub, where many a student computer has met a beer-soaked end. Try and find a healthy balance, as you may be carrying it around with you all day between lecture halls, library desks and friends’ sofas.

If most of your work and play is within reach of a power socket, battery life will not be a primary factor in your buying decision. But if power points in the library become scarce near exam time, you’ll want it to last at least a couple of hours between charges.

Specs

When it comes to the processor and memory, don’t get carried away. As long as the laptop can run office software, surf the web and stream videos, there’s little point in splashing out on the latest silicon unless you specifically need it for your course. A dual-core processor clocked at 2GHz is a good minimum set-up.

If you’re likely to be running various programs at once alongside multi-tabbed web browsing — perhaps checking out all your new coursemates on Facebook — you could do with a good serving of RAM. A minimum of 4GB is advised, but if you can get 6GB, then all the better.

A large hard drive is a bonus but you’d be better off using a high-capacity external drive to back up all your work in case of a fatal computer crash.

A high-powered graphics card is fine if you’re big on gaming, but it shouldn’t be a massive concern, what with all the work you’ll have to do. Best to get yourself a dedicated console to play all those grade-dropping games on.

Most laptops come with DVD drives as standard. Blu-ray drives are available for film buffs but these will add a premium to the price tag.

With all that in mind, swot up on our suggested laptops down below, and when you come to emptying your piggy bank, don’t forget to ask about student discounts. And if you’re super-skint, don’t worry — we’ve got a roundup of the best laptops for under £500 too (just don’t blame us if they don’t last past freshers’ week).

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Core i5 vs. Core i7: What’s the Difference?

Since its release in early September, 2009, the Core i5 has been branded as the mainstream version of Intel’s Core i7. So what are the real differences between Core i5 and Core i7, and how do Intel’s two product lines compare? Updated to reflect Sandy Bridge architecture.

Core i5: The New Middle Class


Intel recently re-released the Core processors in the i3, i5 and i7 processor brands. This was necessary because Intel has released a new architecture, called Sandy Bridge, which brings improved performance when compared to the previous Core i branded products.

While the hardware has changed, Intel’s branding scheme remains the same, and Core i5 remains Intel’s primary mid-range processor. It is targeted at the heart of the market, with pricing that is not at budget levels but still affordable, and performance that is extremely quick but not the fastest Intel offers.

Intel’s high-end processor line is the Core i7. Many users who are looking for a high-performance part end up considering both i5 and i7 products. The i5 is quick, but the i7 promises to be faster – is it really, and if so, does the extra performance justify the cost?

A Unified Socket and Chipset

Perhaps the best news to come out of Intel’s new line of i5 and i7 processors is introduction of a single socket for all Sandy Bridge Core i3/i5/i7 processors. This is a state of affairs that may not last forever, as it is rumored that Intel will release a new high-end socket alongside a new chipset and new processors towards the end of 2011.

For now, however, the Sandy Bridge processors all use the LGA 1155 socket. In case you’re wondering, this socket is not backwards compatible with previous LGA1156 processors – don’t try it unless you like junking your hardware. The new chipsets at P67 and H67, and they’re targeted towards performance and mainstream users respectively. The P67 offers processor overclocking support and 16 additional lanes of PCIe bandwidth – these are the primary advantages over H67.

The new, more unified approach to sockets and chipsets certainly makes constructing a system much easier than before. At the moment, you can buy any Sandy Bridge processor and any H67 and P67 motherboard and expect the two to work together.

Intel Turbo Boost

Intel has made Turbo Boost a standard feature on all Core i5 and i7 processors, from the least to most expensive. Intel has also reduced the gap between the maximum turbo boost frequency on different processors. Previously, some of the older Core i7 processors actually had a much less efficient Turbo Boost feature than some newer Core i5s.

All of Intel’s current Core i5 and i7 processors offer a boost of between 300 and 400 MHz. The least expensive i5s offer the 300 MHz boost – for example, the Core i5 2300 has a base clock speed of 2.8 GHz and a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.1 GHz. The Intel Core i7 2600, on the other hand, offers a base clock speed of 3.4 GHz and a maximum Turbo Boost of 3.8 GHz.

Besides the clock speed difference, Turbo Boost is essentially the same on the i5 and i7 processors.

Difference in Hyper-Threading

Another significant performance difference is how the Core i7 and Core i5 products will be handling hyper-threading. Hyper-threading is a technology used by Intel to simulate more cores than actually exist on the processor. While Core i7 products have all been quad-cores, they appear in Windows as having eight cores. This further improves performance when using programs that make good use of multi-threading.

All Sandy Bridge Core i5 processors have hyper-threading disabled, and all Sandy Bridge Core i7 processors have hyper-threading enabled. This is a major feature difference of Core i5 vs Core i7 processors, and it will give the Core i7 products an advantage over Core i5 processors in some heavily multi-threaded applications.

The New IGP

All of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors make use of a new integrated IGP that is part of the processor architecture. While far from a gaming-grade video solution, the integrated IGP offers reasonable performance without consuming much power. It also enables features like Quick Sync, which can transcode video extremely quickly.

There are two versions of this IGP; the 2000 and the 3000. The only difference between the two is the number of execution units. The 2000 has 6, while the 3000 has 12. This doesn’t mean the 3000 is twice as quick, but it does means the 3000 is about 50% quicker in most benchmarks.

The type of IGP receives isn’t tied to the processor brand. Instead, Intel has tied it to the “K” series. Intel offers a Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K, and these are the only processors with the 3000 series IGP (for now). The K series processors also have unlocked multipliers for easy overclocking.

i5 vs. i7: What it Means to Consumers and Power Users

The type of IGP receives isn’t tied to the processor brand. Instead, Intel has tied it to the “K” series. Intel offers a Core i5-2500K and Core i7-2600K, and these are the only processors with the 3000 series IGP (for now). The K series processors also have unlocked multipliers for easy overclocking.

i5 vs. i7: What it Means to Consumers and Power Users

Currently, the Core i5 processor brand makes up most of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor line. The prices of these processors range from $177 to $216 with base clock speeds between 2.8 GHz and 3.3 GHz. Intel only offers two Core i7 products, the Core i7-2600 and Core i7-2600K, both of which have a 3.4 GHz base clock speed. The i7-2600 has a price tag of $294.

As you may have guessed, paying about $80 more for the 100 MHz clock speed increase between the fastest i5 and the i7 isn’t a great deal. The main reason to pay this additional cash for a i7 is hyper-threading, but this advantage will only be evident if you frequently use programs that can actually make use of 8 threads.

For most users, the i5 is clearly the better deal. The i5-2500 makes the most sense in my opinion, as it offers an extremely quick base clock speed of 3.3 GHz for about $200. Of course, the value of this is subject to change in the future as Intel fleshes out its product line with new models.

Currently, the Core i5 processor brand makes up most of Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor line. The prices of these processors range from $177 to $216 with base clock speeds between 2.8 GHz and 3.3 GHz. Intel only offers two Core i7 products, the Core i7-2600 and Core i7-2600K, both of which have a 3.4 GHz base clock speed. The i7-2600 has a price tag of $294.

As you may have guessed, paying about $80 more for the 100 MHz clock speed increase between the fastest i5 and the i7 isn’t a great deal. The main reason to pay this additional cash for a i7 is hyper-threading, but this advantage will only be evident if you frequently use programs that can actually make use of 8 threads.

For most users, the i5 is clearly the better deal. The i5-2500 makes the most sense in my opinion, as it offers an extremely quick base clock speed of 3.3 GHz for about $200. Of course, the value of this is subject to change in the future as Intel fleshes out its product line with new models.

 

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2012 Best deal netbook – Acer Aspire One D255E 10.1 inch Netbook (1 GB RAM , 250 GB HDD)

If you are looking for a best deal netbook under £250, this Acer Aspire One D255E is a hot choice.

Acer Aspire One D255E 10.1 inch Netbook (Intel Atom N455 Processor, 1 GB RAM , 250 GB HDD, BT 3.0, Windows 7 Starter 32-bit, 8 hours battery life) – Black


Now £246.89 Buy it whilist stock last.

Technical Details

  • Intel® Atom™N455 Processor
  • 1 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD (5400 Rpm)
  • 2-in-1 card reader
  • Bluetooth® 3.0+HS
  • Windows 7® Starter 32-bit

Product Description

With up to 8+ hours battery life, the Aspire One D255E is ideal for people on the move

With up to 8+ hours battery life, the Aspire One D255E is ideal for people on the move.

Aspire One D255E — A New Standard in Style and Mobility

Get fantastic mobile connectivity in your shade with the 10.1″ Aspire One D255E. Available in four striking colours, the design is stylish and ultra-thin. Stay mobile with 8 hours* of battery power – smart usability and easy ‘carry-ability’ make this netbook ideal for everyday computing on the go.

Get the Colour that Suits You Best

You can choose from four colours to fit your style and personality: Diamond Black, Sandstone Brown, Ruby Red and Seashell White – get the one that matches your wardrobe best! With these attractive shade on offer, coupled with elegant chrome-plated logos and a transparent floating-effect power button, the Aspire One D255E truly is a fashionable accessory, as well as a portable digital companion.

Closer Ties Anywhere

Time and distance are barriers that were meant to be broken with the Acer Aspire One D255E. It’s easy to interact with friends and family across continents anytime you wish thanks to the Aspire One D255E’s advanced communication technologies. Use the built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi for fast reliable connections to hotspots at home or when you’re out and about. You can also hook up via the Fast Ethernet LAN port, or easily connect to devices for high-speed file transfers and sharing via Bluetooth 3.0+HS (available on selected models).

A 93% standard-size keyboard makes for more comfortable typing, wherever you are.

A 93% standard-size keyboard makes for more comfortable typing, wherever you are.

Full-day On-the-go Power

A fast, energy-conscious Intel Atom processor and an LED-backlit display enable the Aspire One D255E to deliver up to 8+ hours of portable performance on battery power alone, allowing you to work, play and communicate for longer than ever before. The 10.1″ LED-backlit TFT LCD enables 22.2% power savings compared with other netbook displays.

Enjoy the Windows 7 Starter Experience or InstantOn with Android

With the Aspire D255E you’ll be able to experience all of the features of Windows 7 Starter Edition. Windows 7 is the latest operating system from Microsoft and features an improved and intuitive user interface and great new features. As Windows is one of the world’s most popular operating systems, you’ll find it’s compatible with all your favourite programmes and applications.

However, if you need to get online quickly, a push of a button will launch Android InstantOn. Utilising the speed and power of Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices, you’ll be able to access the Internet without waiting for a full Windows boot up process – ideal for when you’re out and about, and need to check opening times or train schedules instantly.

Bluetooth 3.0+HS

The Aspire D255E features Bluetooth 3.0+HS, an easy way to quickly transfer files wirelessly between devices. Lots of products support Bluetooth, and it’s simple to share files between your netbook and your mobile phone, or with friends. You can either use it to wirelessly attach peripherals, perfect for when you’re on the move.

Great Performance You Can See

Designed for mobile netbook users, the Intel N455 Atom processor is energy efficient to give you long battery life and great performance on the go. Designed to give you the best experience when internet browsing or doing office work, the N455 also includes support for fast DDR3 memory, which offers twice the speed of DDR2, ensuring faster, more efficient tasking.

Also included is the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150, with 64 MB of dedicated system memory, supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 9. Designed to help you get most from the 10.1″ high-brightness LED-backlit TFT LCD, you’ll be able to experience the next level of mobile internet enjoyment.

Small Form, Big Functionality

The Aspire D255E is less than 1″ thin and about 1 kg, so it’s easy to carry wherever work or play takes you. Ultraportable yet fitted with regular-size notebook ergonomics, this netbook features a 93% standard-size keyboard with bigger keys for comfortable typing, and a wide multi-gesture touchpad for mouseless, fingertip navigation and control.

The Aspire One D255E comes with a revolutionary multi-gesture touchpad

The Aspire One D255E comes with a revolutionary multi-gesture touchpad. Click here to see how it could put you firmly in control.

Who needs a mouse? Thanks to Acer’s multi-gesture touchpad technology you’ll quickly be controlling your netbook without one.

  • Scroll – Navigate web pages, files, music playlists and photos using a two-finger vertical scroll motion.
  • Pinch – Pinch to zoom in and out of application windows.
  • Flip – Browse photos, websites, documents and photo albums with a back-and-forth, two-finger horizontal slide motion.
  • Rotate – Rotate images 90 degrees in either direction with a two-finger pivot motion.

Click here to see more details on the multi-gesture technology.

Explore the Full Acer Aspire One Range

The Aspire One D255E is available in Diamond Black, Sandstone Brown, Ruby Red and Seashell White. For those wanting more power from their netbook, the Aspire One D255E is also available with a dual-core Intel Atom N550. See the full Aspire One D255E range here.

If you want to experience mobile HD computing, check out the Acer Aspire One 522 series, available in a choice of colours. Want to see the bigger picture? The Acer Aspire One 753 and 721 series feature stunning 11.6″ screens and powerful Intel Celeron and AMD Athlon processors. Why not browse the latest range of Aspire netbooks, and find the perfect partner for your digital life?

*The listed battery life is based on MobileMark 2007 productivity mode testing with wireless on. Details of MobileMark2007 testing are available at www.bapco.com. Battery life rating is for comparison purposes only. Actual battery life varies by model, configuration, applications, power management settings, operating conditions, and utilised features. A battery’s maximum capacity decreases with time and use.

 

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

The Best Entertainment Experience On Your PC

Windows 7 Home Premium makes it easy to create a home netWindows 7work and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. You can even watch, pause, and rewind TV or record it to watch whenever and wherever you want. For the best entertainment experience, choose a PC with Windows 7.

Windows 7: Your PC Simplified

Simplifies everyday tasks, works the way you want, and makes new things possible.

  • Improved desktop navigation features like Snap, Peek, and Shake, make it easier to manage all of your open windows.
  • Creating a home network has never been easier. You can even share files and printers with all the PCs with Windows 7 on the network.
  • Find virtually anything on your PC–from documents to songs to email–just by typing a word or two with Windows Search.
  • Designed to make your PC sleep and resume quicker.
  • Watch, pause, rewind and record TV with Windows Media Center to watch whenever and where ever you want.
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