Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Battery | http://www.labatterie.fr

We found HP’s system worked well: the weighty keyboard base and light lid allow you to push the screen all the way back without the device toppling over, and the 360-degree hinge works a treat. We had no problem contorting the convertible into the different positions: “stand mode” sees the base flipped all the way round with the screen facing front; “tent mode” involves the entire laptop taking on a triangular shape, with the hinge facing up and the screen out; and in tablet mode the screen is folded completely flat against the base of the keyboard. In all of the modes the hinge felt smooth, solid and sturdy.Another unusual feature is the touchpad, which is broader than average and flanked by two separate touch zones to the left and right. The idea behind this is to make Windows 8’s edge-swipes more accessible. Click the left zone and the app switcher pops up, while swiping up and down scrolls you through the available apps. Clicking the right zone does the same thing with the Charms bar.

It’s a clever idea; alas it isn’t implemented well. Since the side zones are part of the main surface of the touchpad, we found it far too easy to accidentally click or swipe into the additional zones during use. Perhaps they may have worked better if they’d been separated by half an inch on either side.There’s better news under the hood, with a Core i5-4210U Haswell CPU accompanied by 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a 1TB hard disk. It’s a decent setup for a laptop at this price, racking up a respectable Overall score of 0.64 in our suite of Real World Benchmarks. Plus, as expected from a laptop powered by one of Intel’s super-efficient Haswell processors, battery life was impressive. The x360 lasted 8hrs 40mins in our light-use battery test, with the screen set to a brightness of 75cd/m². While we’ve seen Haswell laptops last longer than this, there’s still enough juice here to give you a full day of moderate use before you have to plug it into the mains.

High-performance gaming definitely isn’t on the cards, however. The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU struggled with our Crysis benchmark, managing 35fps on Low detail settings, and put out a stuttering performance on any graphical setting higher than Medium.The x360 is also let down by its 15.5in, 1,366 x 768 LED screen. Even looking at it briefly, we could see it was low quality: images appeared limp and flat, with washed-out colours, and looked rather dim overall. We weren’t surprised, then, when the panel delivered below-par results in testing: it achieved a maximum brightness of only 209cd/m², an abysmal contrast ratio of 325:1, and colour accuracy was very poor, with an average Delta E of 9.11. At least the touchscreen layer felt responsive. We found zipping around the Windows 8.1 Start screen and apps a straightforward and fluid experience.

HP Envy 15 x360 review
Finally, connectivity is nothing out of the ordinary, with one USB 2 and two USB 3 sockets, an HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet, an SD slot and Bluetooth 4. Particularly disappointing is that the wireless card is only single-band 802.11n; it’s about time manufacturers stopped cost-cutting in this unnecessarily picky way and consigned single-band to the bin.Initially, the HP Envy 15 x360’s effective, poseable and competent core hardware had us optimistic about its prospects, but despite good performance and decent ergonomics, the screen is a real sticking point. Ultimately, there are better-balanced budget laptops around for a more reasonable price than the x360 can offer: the Asus X552CL, for example, may lack the hinge and touchscreen of the Envy (and you have to ask yourself if you really need it in a laptop of this size), but it’s just as practical, is only slightly less powerful, and boasts a significantly better screen for only £350.

The trial of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged mastermind behind the Silk Road online marketplace, has concluded just three weeks after it started, with the 30-year-old found guilty on all charges.The jury at the trial concluded that Ulbricht was indeed the Silk Road’s operator, Dread Pirate Roberts, after just three-and-a-half hours of deliberation. As such, he has been convicted of money-laundering, computer-hacking, drug-trafficking and soliciting the murder of six people.The Silk Road operated like an ebay for illegal goods and services and became particularly popular as a place to buy and sell drugs, firearms, cybercrime-as-a-service and assassinations.The users and operators of the site were able to evade detection for nearly three years thanks to the fact it operated on the Dark Web and was only accessible through the anonymising Tor browser. Additional security was afforded by the fact transactions were all carried out using the supposedly untraceable Bitcoin digital currency.

When he was detained by the FBI in 2013, Ulbricht was allegedly logged into the Silk Road on his laptop, which also contained chat logs and a diary containing information on the site.“[Ulbricht was] literally caught with his fingers at the keyboard, running the Silk Road,” the prosecutors told the court.Ulbricht, however, has always maintained his innocence. According to Forbes, his lawyers conceded the young libertarian did set up the site as “an economic experiment”, but claimed he was the “perfect fall guy” for the true operators of the website, who took control of the site before any of the crimes Ulbricht was charged with were committed. They further claimed that the evidence presented by the prosecution was the result of Ulbricht’s laptop being hacked.Indeed, a person interviewed by Forbes in August 2013 who claimed to be DPR said they had taken over running the site from another, unnamed person, although this could equally mean Ulbricht took over from the original founder.

However, the prosecution said in closing arguments this was a “wild conspiracy theory” and a “desperate attempt to create a smokescreen.”Ulbricht’s sentencing will take place on 15 May this year, where he faces a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum full life tariff.Apple is expected to host a launch event for the MacBook Air Retina in Cupertino either later this month or the beginning of next, according to reports.The event will take place either on 24 February or early March, depending on which rumour you want to believe, and will also feature the release of iOS 8.2 and the final launch of the Apple Watch. According to BGR, which cites “trusted sources”, iOS 8.2 will bring important fixes to Apple’s mobile OS. However, arguably the more important feature of iOS 8.2 is it will, apparently, support the final version of the Apple Watch.

A new MacBook Air has been widely expected this year, largely because of Apple’s release cycle and, as PC Pro editor-in-chief pointed out after CES this year, Apple’s at risk of its competitors overtaking the MacBook Air’s reputation as the super-desirable, super-light laptop of choice.In order to try and boost its presence again, Apple will apparently launch a 12in MacBook Air with Retina display and reversible USB Type-C port, which is significantly smaller than the USB 3. As well as allowing interoperability with upcoming devices from other manufacturers, this would also allow the new MacBook Air to be even thinner than it is now. (9to5 has some concept art here).Inside, the MacBook Air with Retina Display, there will apparently be an Intel Broadwell Core-M processor, which could improve battery life both due to the chip’s efficiency and by allowing fanless operation. This would also help reduce the thickness of the machine.

There are also rumours the Macbook Air Retina will feature MagSafe inductive charging, as the Apple Watch and current MacBook Air do, but that it has had to be redesigned as the current hardware is too thick for the redesigned chassis.An intriguing rumour is there will be a limited release of the new MacBook Airs in multiple colours, as seen on the 1999-2000 iBook series, the predecessors to the MacBook.Tim Cook confirmed in the latest Apple results call that the Apple Watch will go on sale this April, however the February/March event could see Cook reveal the final version of the smartwatch, with particular focus on how its apps work.iOS 8.2 – which is expected to be fully compatible with Apple Watch – will apparently go live at the same time, with the watch itself becoming available to pre-order ahead of general availability in April.http://www.dearbattery.co.uk

CES 2015: Ultra-light laptops have been the order of the day for Thursday at CES. PC Pro’s roving repoter (and editor-in-chief), Tim Danton, has got his hands on two of the most exciting, as well as taking time to see a 4k quadcopter and E Ink interior decor. Scroll down for more.CES is one of the world’s biggest technology trade shows, attracting 160,000 visitors to Las Vegas each January. It’s a time for product launches, keynote speeches and more hype-per-second than should be legal.There’s no egos here at PC Pro (not bad ones anyway), so there’s no shame when say CES is too big for us to cover by ourselves. To combat that the news section below will be a mix of our own unique reviews as well as the best from the web.Despite the fairly dull name, the DJI Inspire 1 Drone is a hugely exciting piece of kit. The tablet-controlled quadcopter can capture 4K video with a steadier hand (or blade) than any human. Check out Tim’s (rather meta) video of the videocopter below.

The other contender for the MacBook Air’s throne is Lenovo’s ultraportable LaVie Z, which comes with a shiny new magnesium-lithium chassis and weighs less than 800g, but falls down when it comes to battery life and storage capacity. Still, we wouldn’t say no to taking it for a test drive.As usual, Intel made a splash in its keynote today, with Curie, a button-sized computer for smart fashion. Apparently, Curie could enable smart handbags, smart rings and other jewellery, and smart clothing. (No, we have no idea why you would want a smart ring either). CEO Brian Krzanich also showed off new uses for its RealSense camera technology in such scenarios as opening doors using facial recognition, 3D gesture controls on laptops to stop your hardware getting “yucky” while you’re using it in the kitchen, and, er, drone-pong.Blu Products has unveiled a smartphone with a battery life of four days. Sporting a 5000mAh battery, the Studio Energy claims to last up to four days with “standard” use.

Aside from it’s impressive longevity, it’s fairly underwhelming in terms of specs, with a 1.3GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM. The 720p screen isn’t going to be any real competition to flagships either. However, if you’re in the market for a bare-bones budget smartphone, with a projected price of $179 (£118 at current conversion rates) coupled with the battery’s enhanced capacity, the Studio Energy could prove a very attractive prospect.The Sulon Cortext is a new Oculus Rift-style headset being demo’d at CES 2015 that aims to blend virtual reality with augmented reality. Unlike the Oculus Rift or Sony’s Project Morpheus, the Cortex is an independent device, and does not need to be tethered to a PC or PlayStation. One of the more interesting features is the ability to produce, via its inbuilt sensors, a life-like digitised version of the user’s surroundings, into which it can then drop AR elements such as portals and game objects.It can also transition to full-on VR similar to the Oculus Rift, with the added bonus of hand-tracking down to the individual fingers. It’s got some slight teething problems with resolution, software kinks and similar issues, but it’s a very exciting piece of kit that we’ll be keeping a close eye on.

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