Sunday, June 30, 2013

Egypt protests set for showdown, violence feared

By Alastair Macdonald and Tom Perry

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mass demonstrations across Egypt on Sunday may determine its future, two and half years after people power toppled a dictator they called Pharaoh and ushered in a democracy crippled by bitter divisions.

The protesters' goal again is to unseat a president, this time their first freely elected leader, the Islamist Mohamed Mursi. Liberal leaders say nearly half the voting population - 22 million people - have signed a petition calling for change.

But with the long dominant, U.S-funded army waiting in the wings, and world powers fearing violence may unhinge an already troubled Middle East, Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and militant allies pledge to defend what they say is the legitimate order.

Several people have been killed, including an American student, and hundreds were wounded in days of street fighting.

Mursi calls opponents bad losers backed by "thugs" from the rule of Hosni Mubarak. He is banking on the "Tamarud - Rebel!" coalition fizzling out, as other challenges in the streets have done since he took power a year ago on Sunday.

An economic crisis deepened by unrest and political deadlock may spur many less partisan Egyptians to join the rallies, due to start in the afternoon in Cairo. But many, too, are weary of turmoil and are skeptical that the opposition's demand to reset the rules of the new democracy is better than soldiering on.

U.S. President Barack Obama called on Egyptians to focus on dialogue. His ambassador to Egypt has angered the opposition by suggesting protests are not helping the economy.

Liberal leaders, fractious and defeated in a series of ballots last year, hope that by putting millions on the streets they can force Mursi to relent and hand over to a technocratic administration that can organize new elections.

"We all feel we're walking on a dead-end road and that the country will collapse," said Mohamed ElBaradei, former U.N. official, Nobel laureate and liberal party leader. "All Egypt must go out tomorrow to say we want to return to the ballot box, and build the foundations of the house we will all live in."

"CIVIL WAR"

Religious authorities have warned of "civil war". The army has said it will step in if violence gets out of control but insists it will respect the "will of the people".

Mursi, who on Saturday met the head of the military he appointed last year, interprets that to mean army support for election results. Opponents believe that the army may heed the popular will as expressed on the streets, as it did in early 2011 when the generals decided Mubarak's time was up.

That would depend on a massive turnout, which is uncertain. Islamists suspect that agents of the old order are intent on shedding blood to trigger a military intervention.

In Cairo, thousands of people gathered on Tahrir Square, the seat of the January 25 uprising of 2011, some saying they will camp out until Mursi goes. Others gathered outside the presidential palace several miles away, which was under heavy guard.

In a nearby suburban neighborhood, the Muslim Brotherhood and allies who include former militant organizations, have set up camp outside a mosque. Guarded by baton-wielding civilians in protective clothing, the Islamists say they will defend Mursi.

Both sides say they want to avoid violence but that has not prevented incidents in which the Brotherhood says several of its offices around the country have been attacked and at least five of its supporters killed in the past week.

"It will be imperative for peaceful protesters to clearly separate themselves from the thugs that use them as cover," an aide to Mursi said. "And it will be more important for the leaders calling for these protests to back away from the language of violence and demonization."

U.S. CONCERN

The United States has evacuated non-essential diplomatic staff and families and Obama said protecting U.S. missions was a priority. He was criticized at home when the ambassador to Libya was killed last year in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

The Egyptian army, half a million strong and financed by Washington since it backed a peace treaty with Israel three decades ago, says it has deployed to protect key installations.

Among these is the Suez Canal. Cities along the vital global waterway are bastions of anti-government sentiment. A bomb killed a protester in Port Said on Friday. Beyond the canal, in the Sinai peninsula which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, a police general was gunned down in an ambush on Saturday.

Visiting the other end of Africa, Obama said in Pretoria: "Every party has to denounce violence ... We'd like to see the opposition and President Mursi engage in a more constructive conversation about how they move their country forward because nobody is benefiting from the current stalemate."

Mursi renewed an offer last week to include opponents in a new panel to review a controversial new constitution and has complained of a media campaign of vilification. The authorities have taken legal action against journalists and owners.

Opponents cite that among evidence that the Brotherhood, suppressed for decades under Mubarak, aims to use its organized, vote-winning power to entrench itself and its Islamic agenda deep in the state, in much the same way as the ousted leader.

Observers note similarities with protests in Turkey this month, where an Islamist prime minister with a strong electoral mandate has been confronted in the streets by angry secularists.

With much of the Arab world in turmoil after the uprisings that also brought sectarian civil war to Syria, the fate of its biggest nation may be determined by events in the coming days.

(Reporting by Asma Alsharif, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed, Maggie Fick, Alastair Macdonald, Shadia Nasralla, Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh in Cairo, Yusri Mohamed in Ismailia and Abdelrahman Youssef in Alexandria; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-violence-builds-american-among-dead-054530510.html

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Friday, June 28, 2013

Daughter says Mandela "still there", raps media "vultures'

By Siphiwe Sibeko

PRETORIA (Reuters) - Former South African President Nelson Mandela is still clinging to life, his eldest daughter Makaziwe said on Thursday, but she criticised foreign media "vultures" for violating his privacy as he lay critically ill in hospital.

Makaziwe's outburst came as anxiety increased over the faltering health of the frail 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero, admired across the world as a symbol of resistance against injustice and of racial reconciliation.

Late on Wednesday, President Jacob Zuma's government reported a downturn in Mandela's condition after nearly three weeks of treatment in a Pretoria hospital for a lung infection.

This forced Zuma to cancel his participation in a regional summit in neighbouring Mozambique on Thursday.

But Zuma paid a second visit in 24 hours to Mandela on Thursday and was told by his doctors that he had improved overnight. "He remains critical but is now stable," presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

"I won't lie, it doesn't look good," Mandela's daughter Makaziwe told state broadcaster SABC after visiting her father.

"But as I say, if we speak to him, he responds and tries to open his eyes. He's still there".

Accompanied by a group of grandchildren, she angrily criticised the "bad taste" of foreign media she said were intruding on the privacy of her father and his family.

"There's sort of a racist element with many of the foreign media, where they just cross boundaries," she said, after running the gauntlet of the pack of camera crews and reporters gathered outside the hospital.

"It's truly like vultures waiting when the lion has devoured the buffalo, waiting there for the last of the carcass. That's the image we have as a family," Makaziwe added.

Her criticism followed several sharp rebukes from Zuma's spokesman against some foreign media reports that have given alarming details of Mandela's deteriorating condition.

Maharaj declined to comment on the latest report by a major U.S. TV news network that South Africa's first black president was on life support. He said this was part of Mandela's confidential relationship with his doctors.

Daughter Makaziwe said: "If people say they really care about Nelson Mandela, then they should respect that. They should respect that there is a part of him that has to be respected."

She compared the massive media attention on Mandela, who has been in and out of hospital in the last few months with a recurring lung infection, with the coverage of the death in April of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

"We don't mind the interest but I just feel it has gone overboard. When Margaret Thatcher was sick in hospital, I didn't see this kind of media frenzy around Margaret Thatcher," she said. "It is only God who knows when the time to go is."

OBAMA SAYS MANDELA "PERSONAL HERO"

Mandela's fourth hospitalisation in six months has forced a growing realisation among South Africans that the man regarded as the father of their post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" will not be among them for ever.

"Mandela is very old and at that age, life is not good. I just pray that God takes him this time. He must go. He must rest," said Ida Mashego, a 60-year-old office cleaner in Johannesburg's Sandton financial district.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who is due to visit South Africa this weekend, said his thoughts and prayers were with the Mandela family and South Africans.

Speaking in Senegal, his first stop on a three-nation African tour, Obama said Mandela was a "personal hero" of his.

"Even if he passes on, his legacy will linger on," Obama said. He confirmed he still planned to travel to South Africa in the coming days, in response to speculation he might re-schedule his trip because of Mandela's deteriorating health.

Mandela is revered for his lifetime of opposition to the system of race-based apartheid rule imposed by the white minority government that sentenced him to 27 years in jail, more than half of them on the notorious Robben Island.

He is also respected for the way he preached reconciliation after the 1994 transition to multi-racial democracy following three centuries of white domination.

Well-wishers' messages, bouquets and stuffed animals have piled up outside Mandela's Johannesburg home and the wall of the hospital compound where he is being treated in the capital.

South Africans seemed resigned to the prospect of losing their hero, but expressed gratitude for what he had done.

"That great man who is in God's hands now fought so a black woman like me could move into this whites-only area in 1991," teacher Nthabi Chauke, 54, said outside the hospital. "Now I know what freedom feels like. I came here to say thank you."

Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one five-year term in office. Since then he has played little role in public life, dividing his time in retirement between his home in the wealthy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton and Qunu, the village in the impoverished Eastern Cape province where he was born.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-waits-mandelas-condition-worsens-063610319.html

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3rd man held in Aaron Hernandez murder probe; Puma drops NFL star

Law enforcement officials have confirmed that Aaron Hernandez, who has been charged in the murder of Odin Lloyd, is also being investigated for two 2012 murders. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports and NBC legal analyst Lisa Bloom discusses the revelations.

By Richard Esposito and Erin McClam, NBC News

A third man was in custody Friday in Florida in an expanding murder investigation swirling around Aaron Hernandez, the star NFL tight end accused of orchestrating the shooting death of a friend.

Massachusetts State Police

Ernest Wallace, 41, known as ?Fish,? turned himself in in the Miami suburb of Miramar, police said. Massachusetts police had said they were seeking him as an accessory after murder, and that he was considered armed and dangerous. They were on their way to Florida to pick him up, NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston reported.

Hernandez, an All-Pro who was released by the New England Patriots after his arrest earlier this week, is charged with first-degree murder in the execution of the friend, Odin Lloyd. He was denied a second request for bail Thursday.

Sources told NBC News that he was being investigated in another case ? the drive-by killings of two men in Boston last year. The men were shot to death in an SUV after leaving a nightclub.

Hernandez, who is being held in a Massachusetts jail, lost a second endorsement deal Thursday. The Puma sportswear company, which signed Hernandez to a two-year deal in April, told CNBC it was ending the relationship ?in light of the current situation.? CytoSport, maker of the Muscle Milk supplement drink, dropped Hernandez as a pitchman last week.

Authorities have said Hernandez took part in Lloyd?s killing in the early hours of June 17 after summoning two friends from out of state. Lloyd?s body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez?s home in North Attleborough, Mass. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty.

Connecticut authorities said Thursday that they had charged another man in connection with Lloyd?s killing ? Carlos Ortiz of Bristol, the city where Hernandez grew up. He was charged as a fugitive and agreed to return to Massachusetts, authorities said.

Authorities have not spelled out the connection they believe Wallace and Ortiz have to the killing. They have said Lloyd was killed by two shots fired from someone standing above him, but they have not said who they believe pulled the trigger.

Ortiz was being held on $1.5 million bail. His public defender declined comment on Thursday.

Prosecutors say that text messages ? including from Lloyd to his sister when he was worried about his safety ? and surveillance video are part of their case against Hernandez. The judge who denied his second request for bail, Renee Dupuis of Superior Court in Fall River, described the state?s case as ?circumstantial but very, very strong.?

Prosecutors said they had uncovered four new pieces of evidence in less than 24 hours after searching a condo leased by Hernandez. They said they had found ammunition, a clip and a picture of Hernandez with a Glock handgun.

William McCauley, an assistant district attorney, also said that Hernandez had interfered with the investigation by home surveillance-camera video and instructing his girlfriend not to talk to investigators.

?The evidence of his guilt is overwhelming,? prosecutor William McCauley said.

Hernandez?s lawyers argued that he deserved bail because of his upstanding character and clean record, and because he was not a risk to flee. They noted that he stayed put last week, when rumors circulated that Hernandez was about to be arrested.

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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Texts, video cited in charges against Hernandez

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, left, stands with his attorney Michael Fee, right, during arraignment in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

FILE - This Dec. 25, 2012 file photo taken by a sister and provided by the Boston Bandits football team shows Odin Lloyd, 27, whose body was found Monday, June 17, 2013 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. Former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez was arraigned Wednesday, June 26, 2013, on a charge of murdering Lloyd. (AP Photo/Lloyd family via the Boston Bandits, File)

Family of Odin Lloyd react during the arraignment of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in Attleboro District Court Wednesday, June 26, in Attleboro, Mass. Hernandez was charged with murdering Lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits, whose body was found June 17 in an industrial park in North Attleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/The Sun Chronicle, Mike George, Pool)

(AP) ? In the final minutes of his life, Odin Lloyd sent a series of texts to his sister.

"Did you see who I was with?" said the first, at 3:07 a.m. June 17. "Who?" she finally replied.

"NFL," he texted back, then added: "Just so you know."

It was 3:23 a.m. Moments later, Lloyd would be dead in what a prosecutor called an execution-style shooting orchestrated by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez because his friend talked to the wrong people at a nightclub. Hernandez was charged Wednesday with murder.

Hernandez was cut from the NFL team less than two hours after he was arrested and led from his North Attleborough home in handcuffs, and nine days after Lloyd's body was discovered by a jogger in a remote area of an industrial park not far from Hernandez's home. The 2011 Pro Bowl selection had signed a five-year contract last summer with the Patriots worth $40 million.

His attorney, Michael Fee, called the case circumstantial during a Wednesday afternoon court hearing packed with reporters, curiosity seekers and police officers. Fee said there was a "rather hysterical atmosphere" surrounding the case and urged the judge to disregard his client's celebrity status as he asked for Hernandez, 23, to be released on bail.

The judge, though, ordered Hernandez held without bail on the murder charge and five weapons counts. If convicted, Hernandez could get life in prison without parole.

Hernandez stood impassively with his hands cuffed in front of him as Bristol County Assistant District Attorney Bill McCauley laid out a detailed timeline of the events, cobbled together from sources including witnesses, surveillance video, text messages and data from cellphone towers.

Lloyd, 27, a semi-pro football player with the Boston Bandits, had known Hernandez for about a year and was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee, the mother of Hernandez's 8-month-old baby, McCauley said.

On June 14, Lloyd went with Hernandez to a Boston club, Rumor. McCauley said Hernandez was upset Lloyd had talked to people there with whom Hernandez had trouble. He did not elaborate.

Two days later, McCauley said, on June 16, Hernandez texted two unidentified friends. He asked them to hurry to Massachusetts from Connecticut. At 9:05 p.m., a few minutes after the first message to his friends, Hernandez texted Lloyd to tell him he wanted to get together, McCauley said.

Later, surveillance footage from Hernandez's home showed his friends arrive and go inside. Hernandez, holding a gun, then told someone in the house he was upset and couldn't trust anyone anymore, the prosecutor said.

At 1:12 a.m., the three left in Hernandez's rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. Cell towers tracked their movements to a gas station off the highway. There, he said, Hernandez bought blue Bubblicious gum.

At 2:32 a.m., they arrived outside Lloyd's home in Boston and texted him that they were there. McCauley said Lloyd's sister saw him get into Hernandez's car.

From there, surveillance cameras captured images of what the prosecutor said was Hernandez driving the silver Altima through Boston. As they drove back toward North Attleborough, Hernandez told Lloyd he was upset about what happened at the club and didn't trust him, McCauley said. That was when Lloyd began sending texts to his sister.

Surveillance video showed the car entering the industrial park and at 3:23 a.m. driving down a gravel road near where Lloyd's body was found. Four minutes later, McCauley said, the car emerged. During that period, employees working an overnight shift nearby heard several gunshots, McCauley said.

McCauley said Lloyd was shot multiple times, including twice from above as he was lying on the ground. He said five .45 caliber casings were found at the scene.

Authorities did not say who fired the shots or identify the two others with Hernandez.

At 3:29 a.m., surveillance at Hernandez's house showed him arriving, McCauley said.

"The defendant was walking through the house with a gun in his hand. That's captured on video," he said.

His friend is also seen holding a gun, and neither weapon has been found, McCauley said.

Then, the surveillance system stopped recording, and footage was missing from the six to eight hours after the slaying, he said.

The afternoon of June 17, the prosecutor said, Hernandez returned the rental car, offering the attendant a piece of blue Bubblicious gum when he dropped it off. While cleaning the car, the attendant found a piece of blue Bubblicious gum and a shell casing, which he threw away. Police later searched the trash bin and found the gum and the casing. The prosecutor said it was tested and matched the casings found where Lloyd was killed.

As McCauley outlined the killing, Lloyd's family members cried and held each other. Two were so overcome that they had to leave the courtroom.

The Patriots said in a statement after Hernandez's arrest but before the murder charge was announced that cutting Hernandez was "the right thing to do."

"Words cannot express the disappointment we feel knowing that one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation," it said.

Hernandez, originally from Bristol, Conn., was drafted by the Patriots in 2010 out of the University of Florida, where he was an All-American.

During the draft, one team said it wouldn't take him under any circumstances, and he was passed over by one club after another before New England picked him in the fourth round. Afterward, Hernandez said he had failed a drug test in college ? reportedly for marijuana ? and was up front with teams about it.

A Florida man filed a lawsuit last week claiming Hernandez shot him in the face after they argued at a strip club in February.

Hernandez became a father on Nov. 6 and said he intended to change his ways: "Now, another one is looking up to me. I can't just be young and reckless Aaron no more. I'm going to try to do the right things."

___

Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy in Boston and Howard Ulman in North Attleborough contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-27-Hernandez-Police/id-77a1132e687d417ab840a4fc2be1d099

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Lenovo IdeaPad S405


As a budget system, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 comes with all the usual caveats: lower quality construction, fewer features, and good-enough hardware. That said, for an inexpensive laptop that will get you online and get you through your homework, the Lenovo IdeaPad S405 looks good, has passable performance, and does it all for an affordable price.

Design
The IdeaPad S405 looks sleek with a metallic finish, but it's superficial, with its 3.4 pound chassis made largely out of plastic. Measuring 0.83 by 13.2 by 9.5 inches (HWD), it is reasonably slim for a low-priced laptop, but the chassis flexes and bows noticeably whenever you pick up the laptop by the corner or type on the keyboard.

The 14-inch display offers standard 1,366-by-768 resolution, high enough for 720p video and side-by-side multitasking, but no support for full HD content. The TFT Color LCD display is best viewed head-on, as the viewing angles are quite narrow, and even when viewed at a slight angle?as one would when sharing a video with someone?I saw color distortion.

The keyboard, though made by Lenovo, doesn't feel as luxurious as on more expensive models, largely due to the all plastic construction. The keyboard flexes as you type, and the keys don't quite have the solid smooth feel experienced on other (pricier) IdeaPad laptops. That said, the sculpted keycaps and relatively smooth key movement is better than you'll get on most laptops in this price range.

The IdeaPad S405 is equipped with two-watt speakers and Dolby Advanced Audio v2, but sound quality was good, not great. When testing the bass with Silent Shout by the Knife, you could hear the bass, but it was empty. When testing treble and volume with Jimi Hendrix's Bold as Love instrumental, the speakers initially produced clear sound sound, but the clarity dropped off the higher the volume went. At full volume, there's enough oomph to fill a large room, but you won't be able to ignore the buzz that comes with it.

Features
The IdeaPad S405 is outfitted with a modest collection of ports, with two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port, SD card slot, and a compact Ethernet port. While you also have 802.11n Wi-Fi, you won't find Bluetooth?that's one of the compromises you'll make for the lower price. Lenovo also has built in its OneKey Recovery, which gives you a single button to restore your system in the event of a crash or other problem.

The IdeaPad S405 features a 500GB, 5,400 rpm hard drive, which isn't particularly large, but is a common size in value-priced systems. You won't have all 500GB available out of the box, however, with space being occupied by the operating system?Windows 8 (64-bit)?a recovery partition, and several preinstalled programs. On the start screen you'll find several apps, like AccuWeather, Kindle Reader, Rara Music, Evernote, and a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office 2013. Dig in further on the desktop side and you'll also find McAfee Internet Security, Lenovo Cloud Storage (with SugarSync), and Nitro Pro PDF reader. Lenovo covers the IdeaPad S405 with a one-year limited warranty on parts and labor.

Performance
Lenovo IdeaPad S405 The Lenovo IdeaPad S405 uses a 2.1GHz AMD A6-4455M APU paired with 4GB of RAM. AMD uses a slightly different take on the CPU, which AMD calls the APU, which puts the processor and the accompanying graphics processor?an AMD Radeon HD 7500G?on the same chip die. This isn't the newest processor to begin with (this same processor was actually used in the HP Envy Sleekbook 6z-1000 last August), and when stacked against the Intel Core processors used in competing systems, like the Acer Aspire V5-571-6891 and Toshiba Satellite C875-S7340, it has a tough time keeping up. In Cinebench, the IdeaPad S405 scored 0.79 points, falling far behind the Acer V5-571-6891 (1.80 points) and Toshiba C875-S7340 (2.41 points). Even the similarly-equipped HP Envy Sleekbook 6z-1000 pulled ahead (0.87 points).

Lenovo IdeaPad S405

This performance gap was made all the more obvious in our Handbrake and Photoshop tests, which the IdeaPad S405 crawled through in 4 minutes 14 seconds and 11:33, respectively. By comparison the Lenovo G580 completed those same tasks in less than half the time (1:18 Handbrake; 5:32 Photoshop), and the Toshiba C875-S7340 wasn't far behind (1:28 Handbrake; 5:47 Photoshop). The IdeaPad S405 will be fine for light productivity and Web browsing, but it will slow down dramatically in any processor intensive application.

Despite the inclusion of the AMD Radeon HD 7500G graphics processor, the IdeaPad S405 had somewhat limited graphics capability. Though sufficient for Web browsing and video playback, gaming performance will be limited to online and casual games, not the high-performance games often associated with a discrete graphics card.

The IdeaPad S405's 4-cell lithium-ion battery did reasonably well in our battery rundown test, lasting 4 hours 7 minutes, identical to the class-leading Acer V5-571-6891 (4:07). This is actually one area where the IdeaPad S405 outperformed its rivals, with the Toshiba C875-S7340 lasting a mere 2:39.

Conclusion
Some value-priced laptops offer more than simple affordability, with features and components that belie the budget-friendly price. While these systems may cut corners with wobbly construction or a trimmed down feature set, they do so while still delivering adequate performance. The Lenovo IdeaPad S405 is definitely affordable, but it comes with too many shortcomings to recommend?the sluggish performance and limited capability are too much to give up for the price. For a similar price without the compromises, we recommend the Editors' Choice Lenovo G580.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/86_f3omB8RI/0,2817,2421038,00.asp

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