Archive for September, 2006

HP announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire gaming laptop and desktop computer maker VoodooPC. This acquisition, once closed, will extend HP’s presence into the high-performance gaming market and globally expand the reach of the VoodooPC brand, HP published.

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Hewlett-Packard added HD DVD ROM to its 17-inch widescreen HP Pavilion dv9000t entertainment laptop. For additional $450, you can replace notebook’s DVD double layer burner with a HD DVD ROM.

HP Pavilion dv9000t with incorporated HD DVD has an integrated HDMI port which enables HD content playback on a high-definition TV or monitor. This optical drive also supports double layer DVD burning.

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Dell announced today that it has increased the number of battery packs containing cells manufactured by Sony, from 4.1 million units, recalled in August, to approximately 4.2 million units.

According to the reports, those additional 100,000 laptop batteries can short-circuit and have been blamed for causing battery overheating.

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Toshiba widens its laptop battery recall to 830,000 batteries, after recalled 340,000 notebook batteries worldwide on September 19, Reuters reported. Toshiba said that recall could affect customers of the Satellite A100, A105, M50, M55, M100 and M105 laptops, as well as the Toshiba Tecra A6 and Tecra A7 notebooks. Only computers purchased between March and May of 2006 are affected. The recalled batteries do not overheat, or pose any safety related issue or concern, the Toshiba laptop battery recall page says.

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Sony will initiate a global replacement program (recall) for certain laptop battery packs that utilize Sony-made lithium ion cells used by notebook computer manufacturers, because of recent over-heating incidents. According to Sony’s press release, the company is discussing this plan with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

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Intel announced next generation of its Centrino notebook platform, codenamed ‘Santa Rosa’. Designed for use with Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor, the Santa Rosa will incorporate 802.11n Wireless standard, ‘Robson’ NAND Flash hard drive cache, Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 integrated card and 3G WAN card. The new Intel Centrino platform, introduced at Intel Developer Forum, will feature 667Mhz up to 800MHz frontside bus, but the bus speed can be dynamically reduced and raised, as required by the operating workload.

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Lenovo and IBM, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced the voluntary recall of approximately 526,000 ThinkPad laptop lithium-ion batteries worldwide, of which 168,500 in the United States. The batteries are manufactured by Sony. Lenovo offers free-of-charge replacement batteries for all recalled units. Lenovo has confirmed that these batteries can be subject to overheating, posing a potential fire hazard.

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Acer America yesterday announced the US availability of the Core 2 Duo (Merom)-powered TravelMate 8210 notebook, featuring Blu Ray drive and ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card with up to 512 MB HyperMemory and up to 256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 VRAM . The first model of the 15.4-inch widescreen 8210 “Small Office Home Office” series, Acer TravelMate 8216WLHi, is now available at select online retailers such as CDW and Best Buy, and it costs from around $2950 to $3000.

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Acer TravelMate 6460, the 15.4-inch widescreen laptop feturing Intel Core 2 Duo Merom processor and ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 graphics card with up to 512 MB of HyperMemory, was announced by Acer America. The new TravelMate, categorized as Desktop Replacement notebook, has up to 4 GB of memory and a up to 160 GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive protected with Acer Disk Anti-Shock Protection (DASP+) Technology.

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Acer announced TravelMate 6410 notebook, which belongs to group of “Desktop Replacement” laptops. The Acer TravelMate 6410 features a 15.4-inch widescreen, an Intel’s Core 2 Duo Merom processor, up to 4GB of memory, up to 160GB SATA hard drive with Acer Disk Anti-Shock Protection (DASP+) Technology, and a DVD double layer burner.

Based on Mobile Intel 945GM Express chipset, the Acer TravelMate 6410 incorporates Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with up to 224 MB of shared memory, an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (802.11a/b/g) or Intel PRO/Wireless 3945BG (802.11b/g) Wi-Fi and Gigabit Ethernet. It has Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), while Acer Video Conference offers built-in VVoIP (Voice and Video over IP) capabilities via the 1.3 megapixel Acer OrbiCam, mounted on the top of the screen, and Acer Bluetooth VoIP phone.

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Acer Aspire 5680, the Mobility at Work laptop, addressing corporate and medium-sized companies, was announced yesterday. According to Acer America’s press release, the 15.4-inch widescreen Aspire 5680 features new Intel’s Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor.

The Aspire 5680 product page on Acers Worldwide web site says that new notebook features NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics with dedicated 256MB of VRAM, up to 4GB of memory, a SATA hard drive with storage space of up to 160GB, and a double layer DVD burner.

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Acer America today announced Acer Aspire 9810 laptop to update it’s 20.1-inch widescreen notebook line with the new Intel’s Core 2 Duo Merom processor. This Home Entertainment notebook features NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics card, HD DVD optical drive and two Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers and one Acer BasSonic subwoofer, while Dolby Digital Live allows the Acer Aspire 9810 to be hooked up via a single digital connection to a Dolby Digital-equipped audio/video receiver or digital speaker system. The laptop also has integrated an analog and digital TV tuner.

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Acer America Corporation today announced the 15.4-inch screen Acer Aspire 5630 laptop, based on Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile (Merom) processor. The product specifications on Acer’s Worldwide site says that the new Home Entertainment Aspire 5630 notebook features T5500, T5600, T7200, T7400 or T7600 Merom CPU and has up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. It has up to 160GB SATA hard drive. According to the Acer America’s press release, Intel 945GM Chipset based Acer Aspire 5630 has integrated Intel’s Graphics Media Accelerator with up to 128MB of shared memory, but the laptop’s Worldwide product page says that the 5630’s graphics can also be powered by NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 card with dedicated 256 MB of VRAM.

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Scientists at the University of Cambridge (UK) have developed a series of ‘morphing’ structures, capable of changing shape, which could be used to as roll-up laptop display screens, keyboards or re-usable packaging. An example of the technology’s potential application would be the ability to make an A5-sized flat screen tubular so that it could then be stored in someone’s pocket or briefcase.

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Sony today announced 13.3-inch widescreen, slim and fashionable Vaio C notebook series in five colors, featuring Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom) processor.

“Just like clothing styles, the Sony Vaio C Series reflects individuality with such color offerings for the casing as seashell white, blush pink, spring green, espresso black and urban gray. Complementary colors frame the touchpad of the unit and accentuate the casings, while a dimpled texture adorns the palm rest of the PC”, Sony’s press release says.

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