Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (LED)

Each year, several new technologies come along to help make laptops more powerful, efficient, or stylish. Currently, PC makers are making aesthetics a major priority. Here we look at two innovations that are changing the appearance of notebook computers, both their external design and the way images look on screen. One such technology lets manufacturers decorate laptop covers with eye-catching designs. The other lets computer screens display images that are sharper and have truer colors (while improving power efficiency as well).Gateway T140X

Several computer makers are using a technique called in-mold decoration (IMD). This use of industrial design can be found on the lid and palm rests of the HP Pavilion dv2500t and the Gateway T-140X. IMD enables vendors to achieve different effects and textures that are complete when the notebook comes out of the mold. An alternative to paint jobs or stickers that come off over time, IMD creates and decorates the laptop frame in one shot. The procedure involves encapsulating graphical overlays between a thin film and the frame, rather like laminating a library card. What you get in the end is a smooth piano finish, with long-lasting patterns. (A simple and more direct approach is to offer a variety of colors, in the form of vendor-customized snap-on lids. You have eight to choose from with the Dell Inspiron 1420.)

Another technology to keep an eye out for is LED backlighting, used to illuminate screens. LED backlighting has quickly gained prominence, having been implemented already by big names such as ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, and Sony. Recently, the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (LED) replaced the fluorescent lamp used to light its screen with an LED backlight. The benefits of an LED screen include truer colors, finer detail in dark areas, sharper images, and greater power efficiency. This technology can potentially lead to thinner form factors, as well. We -noticed significant battery life improvement with the MacBook Pro 15-inch (LED), and we suspect that LED backlighting is the driving force behind that improvement.