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Dell announced the Vostro 5460 recently and I have the opportunity to take a first look at this sleek and beautiful laptop.

My first impression is that the Dell Vostro 5460 is pretty thin and lightweight for a 14 inch laptop. The laptop is just 1.83cm thick and weighs 1.54kg. This is not the thinest and lightest in the market but pretty good for the price range. The Vostro 5460 has a full sized Chiclet keyboard and a multi-touch gesture touchpad. The 3-cell integrated Lithium Ion battery is able to provide up to 5 hours of battery life.

The Vostro 5460 comes with integrated stereo speakers and a dedicated subwoofer powered by HD audio with Waves MaxxAudio 4.0. Sound quality is ok but the tiny subwoofer lack punch. Well, that’s the case for most subwoofer in laptops anyway.

And I think the key selling point for the Dell Vostro 5460 has got to be the price point. Or should I say, cheap without looking cheap thanks to the beautiful brushed aluminum chassis. Pricing for the Vostro 5460 starts at $749. Comes in graphite silver or fire red colour.

The only thing I don’t like about the Dell Vostro 5460 is the lack of touchscreen. But let’s be honest here, I don’t expect to see a touchscreen at this kind of price point. If you have no issue with using Windows 8 without a touchscreen, then the Dell Vostro 5460 is worth considering.

Sony showcased its latest Sony Xperia Z (and Xperia ZL) in Singapore today after announcing the flagship phone last week at CES.

The Xperia Z has a 5 inch full HD 1080p Reality Display, Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor, 13 Megapixel fast capture camera and 4G LTE. All these in a slim 7.9mm body that weighs just 146grams.

But perhaps the most impressive feature of the Xperia Z is the dust and water resistance (IP 55 & IP 57). This means that when all the ports and covers are firmly closed, the phone can be kept under 1 meter of freshwater for up to 30 minutes. But no, you can’t play Angry Birds while swimming cause capacitive screen can’t work underwater.

This is not the first time Sony release a Smartphone that is water resistant. Sony (together with their ex-partner Ericsson) released the Xperia active in 2011 which is also water resistant. But this is perhaps the first time that we see a water resistant phone on a high end model.

Will water and dust resistance be one of the major deciding factor when consumers buy a smartphone?

The Xperia Z is available in Black, White and Purple. Both the Xperia Z and the Xperia ZL will be launching in Singapore in Q1 2013. Pricing and exact availability date is still unavailable.

It is hard for me to describe the amazingness of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon. On the outside, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon looks like your ordinary ThinkPad. It has the classic no nonsense black professional look. But don’t judge the laptop by its look. This is currently the world’s lightest 14 inch ultrabook. And from the look of it, I think it is going to hold on to the title for quite a while.

You will be amazed when you pick up the ThinkPad X1 Carbon for the first time. It weighs just 1.36kg. That’s pretty impressive for a 14 inch laptop. The X1 Carbon is able to be this light thanks to its carbon fiber construction. And it still retain the durability that ThinkPad is well known for. The X1 Carbon is pretty slim too. At 33.1 x 22.6 x 1.885 cm. Yeap, just 1.885cm thick. In case you are wondering, the 13 inch MacBook Air weighs 1.35kg and is 1.7cm thick.

According to Lenovo, the X1 Carbon is able to provide up to 8 hours battery life. And even though it is slim and lightweight, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon comes with a generous multi-gesture glass surface TrackPad. TrackPoint fans will be glad to know that the X1 Carbon comes with the little red TrackPoint. But sadly, Lenovo have decided to dump the classic ThinkPad keyboard in favour of the chiclet keyboard. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried the chiclet keyboard and it is pretty good. But personally I feel that nothing beats the classic ThinkPad keyboard. (Oh well, more on that in another blog post)

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is now available in Singapore starting from S$2,349. It you are at COMEX 2012, head down to the Lenovo booth to check it out.

Oh ya, did I mention that it comes with an optional built in 3G mobile broadband? Sweet.