IT News and Technology

BlackBerry Passport Full Review

15:01

Display:The first question people asked me when they gazed upon the superwide Passport for the first time was, "Why?" Unlike your standard smartphone slab, BlackBerry's new device sports an extrawide, 4.5-inch-square Gorilla Glass 3 screen that's supposedly ideal for reading.

This 1440 x 1440-pixel LCD fits about 60 characters across (depending on the app), compared with 66 characters for an actual book and 40 for the iPhone 5s. With the Passport, I felt like I was using a minicolor Kindle as I read Diane Ackerman's "The Human Age," and I didn't have to flip the phone around to scan important documents.Unfortunately, the display's square aspect ratio makes video viewing scrunched with black bars above and below. When I watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay trailer on YouTube, the tip of Katniss' arrow looked razor sharp, but the overall picture was so small that I felt like I was watching the clip through a peephole. (No, flipping the phone doesn't help.)

At least the Passport's display is quite bright at 423 nits, which is well above the 353-nit average. It also offers accurate colors, registering a Delta-E score of 1.2 (0 is best). The hues in that Hunger Games trailer looked a bit flat, though, which explains why this handset displays only 90 percent of the sRGB color gamut (100 percent or more is best).

Keyboard: Very Smart, But Slow Going

I have to admit that using the BlackBerry Passport made me miss the tactile feel of a real, physical keyboard on a smartphone. It's actually hard to make a typo on this ultrawide, sculpted layout, although I'm not a fan of the spacebar being in the middle of the third row.

To save space, BlackBerry moved the special characters to a dedicated row at the bottom of the screen. For instance, if you're typing an email, you'll see the comma, colon, period and other punctuation above the QWERTY, ready to tap. I appreciated having these options at the ready, but ergonomically speaking, switching between the touch screen and "real" keyboard is like dancing with one bare foot and one clog.

On the plus side, as you type, the Passport offers three word suggestions on the screen (above the symbols). You can accept one of these suggestions by simply swiping up on the corresponding area of the physical keyboard -- left, middle or right. I got the hang of this feature in no time.

How did BlackBerry do this? With the addition of a capacitive layer beneath the surface, the Passport's keyboard doubles as a sort of touchpad. You can scroll websites and documents by dragging your finger up and down on the layout. Even more handy, you can drag the cursor around with awesome precision.

My issue with the keyboard is that I just couldn't type as fast as I wanted. Even allowing for the fact that I've become used to touch keyboards, the Passport's layout felt too wide and stiff. Tapping out short replies was a chore, though I improved my pace over the course of a few weeks. Also, forget about typing with one hand.

BlackBerry 10 OS 10.3: Some Fresh Ideas

If you haven't used BlackBerry 10 before -- and not many of you have -- there's definitely a learning curve. You swipe up from the bottom of the display to return to the home screen and see your open apps displayed in a grid. And you make the same gesture, but with a right turn at the end, to access BlackBerry Hub, which displays alerts for email and social networking accounts. With OS 10.3, BlackBerry now displays up to eight open apps ("active frames") on the home screen, which you can move around if you desire.

My favorite new BlackBerry 10 feature is the Action Bar, which prominently displays what should be the most commonly used feature within an app. For example, if you're in BlackBerry Hub, you'll see a large Compose button at the bottom of the screen, but when you click on a message, you'll see a Reply All button flanked by Reply and Forward buttons. The calendar put a big Add button at the bottom, and so on.

Security Features: Rock Solid

It wouldn't be a BlackBerry without robust security. The Passport promises to safeguard your data and identity in several ways. For instance, you can encrypt your data (both on the device and microSD) using 256-bit AES encryption. And you can set application permissions by app and type of function (like location). Although the Passport lacks a fingerprint reader, you can opt for a very secure device password that combines a picture and number.

The Passport also includes BlackBerry Protect, which lets you secure and locate your device if it's lost or stolen. You can locate your device on a map, have it emit a loud sound for about a minute, and display a message on screen (such as "Please return for a reward … call XXX"). If you're not able to track down your Passport, you can wipe the data on the device and microSD card.

Battery Life: It's Awesome

There's one big benefit to carrying around such a big smartphone. The BlackBerry Passport packs a huge 3,450-mAh battery into its chassis, which is rated for up to 25 hours of mixed use. I'm a believer. With light to moderate usage, which included music streaming, playing Angry Birds Stella, and checking email and other tasks, this device lasted well over a day on a charge.

After unplugging the Passport at 6 a.m., the smartphone still had 25 percent battery life at 3:30 p.m. the next day. That's epic. (Unfortunately, our usual battery test could not run on BB 10.6.)

Technology News

lenovo thinkpad T450S Full Review

14:29

Any mainstream notebook can run popular apps like Microsoft Office, just as any pair of sneakers will protect your feet while you play basketball, but working on the Lenovo ThinkPad T450s feels like running down the court in Air Jordans. Lenovo's ThinkPad T Series of business laptops has long been known for its first-class combination of long battery life, sharp screens, durable design and best-in-class keyboards. Starting at $881 ($1,592 as tested), the 14-inch T450s takes mobile productivity to the next level with a speedy Intel 5th Generation Core i5 CPU, over 15 hours of potential battery life and the most comfortable typing and navigation experience anywhere.

Design

Lenovo's notebook uses the same chassis as its predecessor, the ThinkPad T440s, and that's a good thing. With the T450s' rectangular shape and raven-black lid, sides and bottom, the device has the quiet but classy ThinkPad aesthetic that's equally at home in the boardroom or the coffee shop. The red TrackPoint pointing stick and its red-striped buttons add small splashes of color. ThinkPad logos with glowing red lights for the dot in the "i" sit on the lid and the deck, blinking to show you when your system is asleep.Even if you don't like the ThinkPad T450s' conservative looks, you have to love its durability. With a carbon-fiber lid, magnesium body and interior roll cage, the notebook is designed to take some abuse, passing MIL-SPEC tests for extreme temperatures, humidity, vibration, sand, shocks and fungus. The company also tests the T450s by opening the device's stainless steel hinges 30,000 times and dropping metal balls on the machine from over a meter in the air. The keyboard also has a drain to help it survive spills. If typing comfort and speed are important to you, there is no better choice than the ThinkPad T450s. At 13 x 8.9 x 0.83 inches and 3.8 pounds, the ThinkPad T450s (touch-screen version) isn't the thinnest or lightest business notebook in its size range, but it was more than svelte enough for me to carry around indoors or bring to work in my laptop bag. If you get a regular display rather than the touch screen our review model came with, your ThinkPad T450s will be just 3.5 pounds. This makes it the same weight as the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12.4 x 8.6 x .71 inches, 3.5 pounds), though a bit larger.Lenovo's own ThinkPad X1 Carbon has a 14-inch screen and is significantly thinner and lighter (13 x 8.9 x 0.73 inches, 3.07 pounds), but it costs more, and has shorter battery life and shallower keys. Using the extended battery rather than the default adds 0.4 pounds of weight and 0.3 inches of thickness to the bottom back of the T450s, but getting more than double the battery life will be worth it for many users.

Keyboard

If typing comfort and speed are important to you, there is no better choice than the ThinkPad T450s, which has the best laptop keyboard money can buy. It's even better than many other ThinkPads. With 1.9mm of travel and 63 grams of actuation force (55-60 is typical), the keys have a strong tactile feel that makes typing incredibly comfortable and accurate. Almost as good is the subtle indentation in the keys themselves, which makes it easy to feel your way around and avoid adjacent-key errors.Because of the fantastic key feel, I achieved a rate of 96 words per minute on the Ten Thumbs Typing Test, matching the highest score I've ever gotten and well above the 80 to 86 wpm I usually score on other laptops. The keyboard comes standard with a two-mode backlight, which was more than bright enough on its lower setting and even more powerful on the higher one.

TrackPoint And Touchpad

Like other ThinkPads, the T450s comes with two different pointing devices: a touchpad and a TrackPoint pointing stick. I prefer the TrackPoint, because it offers much more precise navigation, allowing me to highlight text, click small icons and zoom from one side of the screen to the other, without having to lift my hands off of the home row.The ThinkPad T450s features dedicated left, right and center buttons for the TrackPoint. This is a huge improvement over the 2013-2014 ThinkPads, which built all three buttons into the top of the clickpad, forcing stick users to move their fingers down further and push with much greater force. Lenovo got some well-deserved criticism for taking dedicated buttons away on the T440s, so the company deserves some credit for listening to its customers and bringing those buttons back on the current model.If you prefer a more traditional touchpad, the ThinkPad T450s' 3.9 x 2.25-inch clickpad more than fits the bill. It offered smooth navigation around the desktop in my tests while accurately registering multi-touch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom, two-finger rotate and four-finger swipe for showing the task manager. Many gestures, including Windows 8's swipe to change apps, were disabled by default, but after visiting the Advanced Settings in Control Panel, I was able to turn them all on. I also found that it was easier to move my pointer across the screen in one motion after turning the speed of the touchpad up a couple of notches.

Display

The 1,920 x 1,080 touch screen provided sharp, colorful images in our tests. When I watched a 1080p trailer for the Avengers: Age of Ultron, the red in Black Widow's hair and the green in the Hulk's skin appeared deep and rich, while the battle scarring on Captain America's shield really stood out.The T450s' display managed to produce 100.8 percent of the sRGB gamut on our color test, which means that it can show significantly more shades than the average notebook in its category (76.6 percent), the X1 Carbon (86 percent) and the MacBook Pro (91 percent). Its colors are reasonably accurate, as it returned a Delta e error rate of 3.9 (0 is perfect), a score that's decent but not as strong as the MacBook Pro's 1.2 mark.At 236 nits on our light meter, the T450s' screen is not as bright as the 242-nit category average, and far below the MacBook Pro's blinding 389 nits. Viewing angles were solid up to about 60 degrees to the left or right, with some loss of dark shades at more extreme positions. However, the glossy touch screen shows fingerprints quite prominently in black areas.The screen responded quickly and accurately to all of my touches, whether I was tapping on a tiny window widget or swiping in from the left to switch apps. The digitizer supports 10 points of touch, as I was able to draw with all of my fingers at the same time in Windows Paint and perform multi-touch gestures, such as pinch-to-zoom with ease.

Audio

While not quite high fidelity, the ThinkPad T450s's speakers provide sound that is loud enough to fill a large room and highly accurate. Whether I was playing Mark Ronson's drum-centric "Uptown Funk" or Chic's bass-heavy "Good Times," the audio was good enough to dance to and did not suffer any tinniness or distortion.Dolby Digital Plus audio software enhances the sound quality a bit and allows you to customize the equalizer or choose from profiles, including those for movies, music and gaming. When I toggled the Dolby software to off, the music sounded a bit flat.

Heat

The ThinkPad T450s stayed pleasantly cool throughout our tests. After 15 minutes of streaming video at full screen, the touchpad measured just 82 degrees, the keyboard clocked in at a mere 85 degrees and the underside was only 89 degrees Fahrenheit. We consider temperatures below 95 degrees acceptable and those below 90 degrees imperceptible. In other words, you won't feel any heat under normal circumstances.

Ports

Unlike thinner notebooks, such as the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, the ThinkPad T450s has a full compliment of ports, letting you connect to a variety of peripherals and networks without using a dongle. On the right side sit a USB 3.0 port, an Ethernet connection, VGA out, a headphone/mic jack, a Kensington lock slot and a 4-in-1 card reader. A number of business notebooks lack Ethernet, making it more difficult to connect to wired networks, and VGA, which is still standard on many conferencing systems and projectors.The left side houses a mini DisplayPort out and two more USB 3.0 ports, for a total of 3. By comparison, the MacBook Pro has no Ethernet port, and the X1 Carbon has an extender port, which requires an adapter. The X1 Carbon also lacks an SD Card reader.

Webcam

The T450s' 720p webcam captured colorful images of my face, which were just a little noisy under the somewhat dim fluorescent lights of our office. In a very dark room, the picture was more pixilated but still vibrant and detailed. Frequent video-conferencers will appreciate the notebook's dual-array microphones, which can be optimized for either single- or multi-voice conversations.

Performance

With its 2.3-GHz Intel Core i5-5300U, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD, our configuration of the ThinkPad T450s was more than powerful enough to handle any productivity task. On Geekbench 3, a synthetic benchmark that measures overall performance, the T450s scored 5,993. That's below the 7,082 thin-and-light notebook category average but on par with similarly specced systems like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon. The MacBook Pro 13-inch and its 2.7-GHz Core i5-5257U were noticeably faster, notching 7,113.Ideal for office work, the ThinkPad T450s took just 4 minutes and 41 seconds to complete the Laptop Mag Spreadsheet Macro test, which involves matching 20,000 names with their addresses in OpenOffice Calc. That's a minute faster than the category average (5:41) and 33 seconds quicker than the T440s (5:14). The MacBook Pro fared better, finishing in just 3:28.Because of its speedy 256GB Toshiba SSD, the T450s finished the Laptop Mag File Transfer test in just 34 seconds. That's a rate of 149.7 MBps, about 40 percent above the 104.2 MBps category average but not quite as fast as the MacBook Pro, which notched a rate of 386 MBps. The more than 15 hours of battery life is enough juice to fly from New York to Taiwan.

Graphics

Though nobody would mistake the ThinkPad T450s for a gaming machine, its integrated Intel HD Graphics 5,500 graphics processor is fast enough for casual gaming and serious productivity. The notebook scored 59,843 on 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, a synthetic benchmark that measures graphics. That number is slightly behind the 65,420 category average, but many products in the thin-and-light category are designed with discrete graphics.When we fired up a game of World of Warcraft, the T450s achieved a highly playable rate of 36 fps in 1080p resolution at the default settings, much better than the MacBook Pro (24 fps). When we turned the special effects up, that rate dropped to a slide-show-like 14 fps, which was actually a little less than the also-weak MacBook Pro (17 fps).MORE: Top Laptops With the Longest Battery Life

Battery Life

If you want enough juice to make it through an international flight (with Wi-Fi on), get the ThinkPad T450s, pop in Lenovo's high-capacity battery and prepare yourself for epic endurance. With the six-cell battery attached, our T450s with touch screen lasted a strong 15 hours and 26 minutes That's long enough to fly from New York to Taiwan and more than double the 6-hour and 8-minute thin-and-light notebook category average.That 15:26 time is also more than three hours longer than the MacBook Pro 13-inch's time (12:04) and nearly double the ThinkPad X1 Carbon's time of 8 hours. Thanks to its power-efficient fifth generation (Broadwell) Core i5 CPU, the T450s even improved on the T440s (12:37) by nearly 3 hours. Considering that touch screens drain a lot more power than regular displays, the nontouch configuration of the T450s is likely to last several hours longer.With the standard three-cell battery, the T450s lasted a more-pedestrian 7 hours and 31 minutes. However, you can purchase the six-cell version, which is the same exact battery used by the T440s, from e-tailers like Amazon for around $78. Hopefully, Lenovo will start offering this battery as a configuration option soon, just as it did with the T440s.In addition to its external battery, the T450s has an internal pack that provides some of its power and allows you to hot swap units without shutting off the machine.

Configuration Options

Our review configuration of the Lenovo ThinkPad T450s carries a current street price of $1,592.10. For that price, you get the notebook with a Core i5-5300U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, Windows 8.1 Pro and a 1080p touch screen. Lenovo lets you configure the system to order, and you can save a lot of money by choosing more affordable options. The touch screen alone adds $310 over the base price.The base model ThinkPad T450s costs a very reasonable $881 and comes with a 2.2-GHz Core i5-5200U CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, Windows 8.1 non-Pro and a 1,600 x 900 nontouch screen.To get the best mix of price and features, we recommend configuring the T450s with a 1080p nontouch screen ($70), which will give you a sharp picture, along with longer battery life and a lighter chassis. Go with the 2.2-GHz Core i5-5200U CPU that isn't much slower than the Core i5-5300U on our review system, but costs $100 less. If you can live with less internal storage, the 128GB SSD is a $90 premium versus $280 for the 256GB model. If and when the six-cell rear battery is available as an option, it's worth every penny; on the T440s, it was only a $5 premium.

Software And Warranty

Lenovo preloads the ThinkPad T450s with a few helpful utilities and a minimum of crapware. The touch-friendly Settings application allows you to control audio, wireless, power and TrackPoint/ touchpad configurations. Lenovo Companion provides access to the company's support forums, system updates and user guides, along with a mix of Lenovo promotional articles and links to news on various sites. Lenovo Fingerprint Manager lets you set up the optional fingerprint reader.Lenovo QuickControl allows you to use your smartphone as a remote control, moving the pointer around, typing into fields and pausing or playing media, but in my experience it frequently disconnected from my Galaxy Note 3. Shareit provides a quick and easy way to sync files with a mobile device over Wi-Fi. Reachit searches the local storage on all of your devices (Windows, Android or iOS) at the same time.The T450s also comes with Pokki Start Menu, a third-party app that sits in the taskbar and launches its own "Start menu" without actually replacing or enhancing the actual Windows 8.1 Start button. A lot of the options in Pokki's software lead you to the company's app store, which makes the whole menu feel more like a promotion than a useful utility. Windows 8.1 users who want a useful Start menu replacement have a lot of other options, including Classic Shell, which is a free download.Lenovo backs the ThinkPad T450s with a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor. You can buy an extended warranty that goes up to four years or add on on-site service and accidental damage protection, with prices ranging from $39 up to $399.

Bottom Line

Even if you're not buying it for business, the ThinkPad T450s is the best notebook for getting work done. You can find other laptops with solid performance and high-res screens in the $850+ price range, but the T450s stands head and shoulders above the crowd with its best-in-the industry keyboard, durable chassis and epic battery life.If you're looking for more portability and are willing to accept less battery life and keyboard comfort, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a strong choice. If you want more performance and a brighter display, the MacBook Pro should be near the top of your list. However, if you're looking for the ultimate combination of productivity and portability, the ThinkPad T450s is your best option.

Laptop Reviews

Lenovo Thinkpad W550S Review

14:17

For graphics professionals who want a workstation that can endure long days, Lenovo's ThinkPad W550s is a dream come true. With a 3-cell battery in front and giant 6-cell battery in back, the W550s lasts a practically obscene 16 hours on a charge. The 15.5-inch W550s ($2,640 as tested, starting at $1,133) also features Lenovo's traditional no-nonsense design combined with MIL-SPEC 810G durability on the outside and an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and Nvidia K620M GPU on the inside. While its performance lags just a bit behind workstations from MSI and HP, the W550s's comprehensive feature set and superior ergonomics make it the most well-rounded.

Design

The design of the W550s doesn't differ much from that of previous ThinkPads, but that's not a bad thing. The W550s maintains its professional look with Lenovo's classic matte-black plastic body (reinforced by carbon fiber), with a chunky steel hinge and a silver ThinkPad logo embedded with a blinking red LED.Inside, the matte-black finish continues to the deck, broken up by a fingerprint reader below the arrow keys and an offset touchpad beneath the spacebar. Ports are placed along the sides, while the bottom features a plethora of vents for cooling the Nvidia K620M GPU.At 15 x 10.2 x 0.92 inches and weighing 5.47 pounds, the ThinkPad W550s is thicker and heavier than such competing workstations as HP ZBook 15u G2 (14.8 x 10 x 0.84-inches and 4.23 pounds), and the MSI WS60 (15.4 x 10.5 x 0.78-inches and 4.36 pounds), although only the HP has a similar level of durability.

Durability and Security

The W550s features military-standard 810G durability, which means it has been tested to withstand temperatures ranging from -4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, humidity up to 98 percent, UV radiation and more. The carbon-fiber-reinforced body is also designed to resist high acceleration and repeated mechanical shock. However, without the super-chunky bumpers seen on systems such as Dell's Rugged Extreme notebooks, the W550s is not meant to handle a full-out rough and tumble lifestyle.MORE: Best LaptopsThe W550s also has multiple security features, such as a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip, optional fingerprint and Smart card readers, and the ability to set passwords for power on and storage.

Keyboard and Touchpad

I loved typing on the ThinkPad W550s. The backlit keys have a long, 2.3-millimeter travel distance with a 62-gram actuation weight that feels soft without being mushy. These factors combined to let me hit 82 words per minute on10fastfingers.com's typing test, which is higher than my typical average of 75-80 words per minute.Lenovo also customized the keyboard layout, moving Print Screen to the lower right, while adding shortcuts above the number pad for commonly used tools and functions like Calculator and Internet. The W550s has drains strategically placed around the keyboard, so the system can resist spills and splashes.The touchpad measures a spacious 4 x 2.2-inches, which works in tandem with the three additional mouse buttons and a responsive and accurate pointing stick to provide a wealth of control options. The pad features a smooth, matte surface, although I wish the stiff upper section had the same satisfying click I felt on the bottom. As expected, two-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom gestures worked smoothly.

Display

The ThinkPad W550's 15.5-inch 2,880 x 1,620 touch screen delivers accurate colors and an anti-glare coating that minimizes distractions. One issue is that the coating adds a faint rainbow iridescence to the display, making colors appear a little less vibrant, especially on lighter backgrounds. This meant that when I watched the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the wrecked Star Destroyer in the background didn't look as sharp as it did on other displays.When measured with a light meter, the W550s's screen produced 312 nits of brightness, about the same as HP's ZBook 15u G2 (307 nits), but almost 100 more than the MSI WS60 (215 nits).The ThinkPad W550s also has a nearly perfect color range, covering 100.2 percent of the sRGB spectrum. The HP ZBook 15u G2 features a nearly identical range of 100.4 percent, while the MSI WS60 placed far behind, at just 78.1 percent.In terms of color accuracy, the W550s notched a Delta-E rating (closer to zero is better) of 2.72, slightly behind the HP ZBook 15u G2 (1.68), but much better than the MSI WS60 (11.6)

Audio

The ThinkPad W550s features stereo speakers hidden behind grilles on the bottom of the laptop. Unfortunately, the sound quality is mediocre at best. When I listened to The Fashion's "Like Knives" at max volume, the speakers crackled and popped with distorted audio. When I turned the volume down a bit, I was disappointed by hollow mids, tinny highs and weak bass.

Heat

On the Laptop Mag Heat Test (15 minutes of streaming HD video from Hulu), the bottom of the W550s reached 101 degrees Fahrenheit. While this is above our typical 95-degree comfort threshold, it's still 10 degrees cooler than the scalding 115-degree temps we saw on the MSI WS60. Thankfully, the touchpad and the space between the G and H keys were more pleasant to the touch, at 80 and 86 degrees, respectively.

Ports and Webcam

This ThinkPad's ports are split between the left and right sides with connections for power, VGA, headset, Ethernet, SD Card and one USB 3.0 slot on the left, and two USB 3.0 ports and a mini DisplayPort on the right. On the bottom lies a connector for Lenovo's ThinkPad Ultradock ($300), which adds multiple video connections (VGA, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort), headset jack, 6 USB ports and pass-through charging when you're set up at a desk. Above the display, there's a webcam that captures images at 1,280 x 720, with support for video up to 30 fps. In a self-portrait in our well-lit office, the W550s' camera did a good job of capturing individual strands of my hair, but the low-resolution photos looked grainier than I'd like.

Performance

Featuring a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i7-5600U CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the ThinkPad W550s shrugs off typical multitasking situations, even with upward of 20 tabs open in Chrome while simultaneously streaming two 1080p videos from YouTube.When we ran GeekBench 3 to evaluate overall system performance, the W550s scored 6,860. That's slightly behind the HP ZBook 15u G2 (6,892 with an Intel Core i7-5600 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 256GB PCIe SSD), but just half that of the MSI WS60 (13,003 with an Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM, dual 128GB SSDs and 1TB HDD).The big disparity in performance scores is due to the MSI WS60's RAID 0 SSDs. The W550s has a single 512GB SDD, which took 32 seconds to duplicate 4.97GB of mixed-media files. That makes for a transfer rate of 159 MBps, which falls within the expected speed for an SSD, but is slightly behind the 175.6 MBps of the HP Zbook 15u G2's 256 PCIe SSD, and half as fast as the WS60's RAID 0 SSDs (365.5 MBps).When we used OpenOffice to match 20,000 names and addresses, the W550s finished in 4 minutes and 42 seconds. That's a little more than 20 seconds slower than the Zbook 15u G2 (4:15), and almost a minute longer than the WS60 (3:53).

Graphics

While the K620M and its 2GB of video RAM are part of Nvidia's line of entry-level professional graphics, the W550s didn't fall too far behind its competition in terms of visual horsepower. When I played Dota 2 at 2,880 x 1,620 and max settings, the W550s easily stayed above our 30 fps playability threshold.On 3DMark's Fire Strike graphics benchmark, The W550s scored 1,457, almost identical to the AMD FirePro M4170-powered HP ZBook 15u G2 (1,461), but about 13 percent behind MSI's WS60 and its more powerful Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU.In World of Warcraft at 1,920 x 1,080 and Ultra settings, the W550s averaged 36 frames per second, behind the WS60 (44 fps), but ahead of the HP ZBook 15u G2 (22.1 fps).

Battery Life

With its combination of a 3-cell internal and 6-cell 72 watt-hour external batteries, the W550s lasted a chart-topping 15 hours and 52 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits of brightness). That's five times longer than MSI's short-lived WS60 workstation (3:05), and twice as long as HP's ZBook 15u G2 (6:44). Thanks to Lenovo's Power Bridge technology, you can swap in new batteries for even longer life without ever needing to turn the system off. MORE: Laptops with the Longest Battery LifeBut that longevity doesn't come without a cost. The bulky 6-cell battery pack juts out from the bottom of the case, raising the back of the laptop up by about half an inch when it's resting on a flat surface. And both the 3-cell front battery ($45) and the 72-Wh battery ($10 upgrade) are optional extras; only the 6-cell 47 Wh rear battery comes standard.

Configurations

Lenovo offers a ready-to-ship W550s configuration featuring an Intel Core i7-5500U CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, Nvidia Quadro K620M graphics card with 2GB of VRAM and a nontouch 15.5-inch 2,880 x 1,620 screen, all for $1,669.If you're looking to choose your own components, the W550s starts at $1,130 for an Intel Core i7 CPU, 1,920 x 1,080 screen, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD and an Nvidia Quadro K620M CPU, and goes up in price from there. Our $2,460 review unit packs an Intel Core i7-5600U CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, Nvidia Quadro K620M GPU and a sharper 2,880 x 1,620 touch screen.

Software and Warranty

The W550s comes preinstalled with Windows 8.1 Pro, a suite of Lenovo utilities, some Microsoft software (Skype, Bing Translator, Office) and such third-party apps as Norton Internet Security, Evernote and Adobe Reader. The Norton trial pop-ups are a little annoying to deal with, but once you get rid of those, you're left with a relatively clean install.Unfortunately, the W550s comes with just a one-year standard warranty instead of the three-year warranty seen on some of Lenovo's other business PCs such as its M83 Tiny mini PC.

Tips & Tricks

How to Root the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge

11:50

If you're looking to truly clean up your curvy new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, or the flatter Samsung Galaxy S6, you might want to consider rooting it. Rooting, aka the process of gaining administrative rights on your device, can allow you to truly remove some bloatware from the device --instead of just disabling it. It'll free up memory - both of the RAM and storage variety - and that's just the beginning. If a custom recovery exists for your device, you can even flash newer versions of Android, remove TouchWiz entirely, and more.Regardless of where you intend to end up in the rooting world, gaining root access and getting that Superuser icon in your app drawer is the first step. Let's get started, shall we?

Things to keep in mind before you get started:

At present, this only works on the T-Mobile or International versions of the phones.
This tutorial requires a Windows computer.
Please make sure to backup anything you are worried about losing before beginning
.Rooting the phone may disable two secure features: Samsung KNOX and Samsung PayWith that said,
here's how to root your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge.
1. Download and Install the Samsung USB Drivers.
2. Go to Settings > About Phone and write down your model number.
3. Head to the AutoRoot homepage, locate your model number and click download.
4. Download the root package and save it to your desktop.
5. Extract the AutoRoot .zip file.
6. Right-click the Odin exe file and run it as administrator.
7. On the phone, go to Settings > About Phone and continuously tap on Build Number until it tells you are a developer.
8. Now, since we enabled them, go to Settings > Developer Options and check on USB Debugging.
9. Plug the phone in via USB. This will let the proper drivers install before continuing thenunplug it again.
10. Turn off the phone and turn it back on by holding down power, volume down, and home at the same time until it gives you a blue screen.
11. Tap Volume Up to continue.
12. Plug the phone in via USB again.
13. In Odin, click on AP and select the .tar.md5 file from inside the extracted AutoRoot folder.
14. Click Start.When it reboots you should be presented with your home screen and you'll see the Superuser icon in your app drawer if it all worked.
15. If you have the T-Mobile Galaxy S6 Edge and you get stuck at the Samsung logo, hold down volume down, power, and home until it goes back into Odin mode.
16. Head back to the AutoRoot site and download the G920T file this time (the file for the regular Galaxy S6) and extract it to your desktop.
17. In Odin, click on AP and select the .tar.md5 file from inside the latest extracted AutoRoot folder.
18. Click Start.Now, it should work and you'll be presented with the Superuser icon like normal.

Tips & Tricks

How to Take a Screenshot on the Galaxy Note 4

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The Galaxy Note 4 has one of the sharpest, most colorful screens on any smartphone. The 5.7-inch AMOLED display provides a detailed, 2560 x 1440 resolution and shows an impressive 163 percent of the sRGB color gamut. However, if you want to capture the images you see on-screen, whether it’s the appearance of a zombine in a mobile game or an image of a web page, you need to perform a screen capture Depending on whether you want to save the entire screen or just a piece of it, there are a couple of ways to take a screen shot on the Galaxy Note 4.

Capture the Whole Galaxy Note 4 Screen

As with other Samsung phones, holding down the power and home buttons simultaneously will cause the Galaxy Note 4 to take a screen shot. You need to be very precise about hitting both buttons at the same or else you’ll but the phone to sleep or send it home, instead of getting a screen capture.

Hit power and home buttons at precisely the same time

If you hit the buttons successfully, the borders of the screen will briefly flash white and make the same shutter sound the camera app makes when capturing photos. You’ll also see a message and small thumbnail of your screen shot in the notification drawer.

You can tap on the notification to view or share your screenshot. You can also find all your screenshots in y our image gallery or in the /Pictures/Screenshots folder on phone’s storage drive.

Capture Part of the Galaxy Note 4 Screen

If you only want to grab some of what you see on screen, you can the use the Note 4’s image clip function to draw a lasso or box around the desired area.

1. Launch the Action menu. The Action menu appears when you remove the stylus from its holster or hit the stylus button.