Archive for July, 2007

Laptop Magazine, CNet, PC Magazine, and NotebookReview have reviewed recently Dell XPS M1330, the PC maker’s new flagship laptop with innovative industrial design.

The XPS M1330, advertised as “the World’s thinnest 13.3-inch notebook”, is one inch thick and weighs starting at 3.97lbs. It features “Santa Rosa”, the latest mobile platform from Intel, and comes with Core 2 Duo processor. There are two versions of the XPS M1330. The first is built on GM965 chipset with the integrated Intel GMA X3100 graphics, while the second version has PM965 chipset paired with dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS 128MB. Both of these solutions manage the notebook’s 13.3″ LED backlight display. The models incorporating the NVIDIA’s 8400M video solution (all of reviewed units feature this graphics card) additionally feature an HDMI output. Along with wireless N, there are also broadband wireless options and a built-in web camera.

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Acer Inc. has filed this week a counterclaim against Hewlett-Packard Development Co. (HP) before the U.S. Eastern District of Texas Court, with the reason of patent infringement.

“This counterclaim is part of Acer’s response for the “Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Acer Inc. and Acer America Corp.” case (No. 2:07-CV-103), and includes innovations with respect to the antenna and DVD ROM head technologies. With or without a legal proceeding, Acer persists to take all necessary steps to protect and enforce its patented technologies,” Acer’s press release says.

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Asustek has unveiled ASUS A8Sr 14.1-inch widescreen laptop, claimed to be the world’s first notebook to utilize DirectX 10-compatible ATI Mobility Radeon HD2400 video card.

Asus A8Sr is based on Intel “Santa Rosa” mobile platform with PM965 chipset and Intel Core 2 Duo processor (T7500/T7300/T7100). There is no information on notebook’s screen resolution. The similar A8Sc model powered by NVIDIA’s graphics comes with 14″ WXGA (1280×800) or WXGA+ (1440×900) display. Asustek’s press release also doesn’t mention system memory, hard drive, and optical drive options in the A8Sr.

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Although it was expected that Microsoft will release the Beta version of the Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista operating system this week, the software maker issued a statement instead, claiming that SP1 Beta will be made available “sometime this year”.

“There will be a Windows Vista service pack and our current expectation is that a beta will be made available sometime this year. Service packs are part of the traditional software lifecycle — they’re something we do for all Microsoft products as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, and providing early test builds is a standard practice that helps us incorporate customer feedback and improve the overall quality of the product,” Microsoft’s official statement says.

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Worldwide PC shipments grew by 12.5% in the second quarter of 2007, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker.

Market researcher IDC says Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) returned as the fastest growing region with volume increasing more than 20% from the same quarter one year ago.

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Toshiba recalled today about 5,100 laptop batteries, sold with its Dynabook, Dynabook Satellite, Satellite, and Tecra notebooks in Japan, the U.S., Europe, Australia, and China.

According to Toshiba’s representative, there were three cases in which these batteries caught fire - two in Japan and one in Australia. However, there were no injuries.

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Sony Electronics today announced the U.S. availability of the Sony VAIO TZ 2.65-pound ultraportable notebook, featuring 11.1-inch screen, up to 7.5 hours of battery life, and Intel’s ultra-low voltage processor.

The “luxuriously sleek” VAIO TZ is less than 1-inch thin. It has carbon-fiber casing in a classic black, premium carbon, champagne gold, and hand-painted Bordeaux variants, with the keyboard’s keys slightly raised above bezel layer.

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VoodooPC today introduced ENVY H:171, its new 17-inch gaming notebook PC, which can be also used for demanding tasks like 3D and 2D rendering, and photo and video editing. The ENVY H:171 features a desktop-use Intel Core 2 Extreme processor, up to two NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards, and up to three hard drives.

Along with Core 2 Extreme X6800 CPU with 2.93GHz clock speed, VoodooPC ENVY H:171 is configurable with Core 2 Duo E6600 at 2.4GHz and E6700 at 2.66GHz, also designed for desktop computers. The system comes with up to 4GB of DDR2 PC-5300 system memory. Although press release says that this notebook delivers up to 600GB of storage space, the configuration page on VoodooPC’s website enables selection of three 250GB hard drives for a total of 750GB data storage. The system supports RAID 0, RAID 1 or RAID 5 HDD modes, and comes with a DVD burner.

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Intel “Penryn” mobile processors, the first notebook CPUs produced using 45 nanometer technology, are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2008, along with refreshed “Santa Rosa” laptop platform supporting these chips, DailyTech reports.

Intel’s roadmap has revealed the details of the chipmaker’s five upcoming Core 2 “Penryn” mobile processors. The first two of these unnamed models are entry-level Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs with 2.1GHz and 2.4GHz clock speeds respectively and 3MB of L2 cache. Another two are higher-end Core 2 Duos at 2.5GHz and 2.6GHz with 6MB of L2 cache, while the fifth is Core 2 Extreme “Penryn” at 2.8GHz, also with 6MB L2 cache. In addition, it has an unlocked multiplier for overclocking. All of these processors have 800MHz frontside bus.

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Cooler Master has introduced NotePal Infinite, the new product in NotePal laptop cooling pad series.

NotePal infinite cools down multiple heat sources in laptop at once, such as processor, graphics chip, memory modules, optical drives, and hard drives accordingly.

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Asustek has announced the Asus T500 3.5G High Speed PC Card, supporting GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, and WCDMA 2100/1900/850 mobile services.

The T500 PC card is able to provide users with 3.6Mbps data download speed, and offers unique phone communication functions for the desktop or laptop PC, according to Asustek.

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Chip maker Intel and non-profit organization One Laptop per Child (OLPC) today announced they have agreed to work together “to bring the benefits of technology to the developing world through synergy of their respective programs”.

Under the agreement, Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content. In addition, Intel will join the board of OLPC.

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HP Compaq 2510p, the Hewlett-Packard’s recently announced ultra-portable business notebook built upon Intel Centrino Pro “Santa Rosa” platform, is now available for purchase.

Along with 12.1-inch 1280×800 widescreen display with LED backlight and ambient light sensor, HP Compaq 2510p features Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor and Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 incorporated in GM965 chipset. The 2510p supports up to 2GB of main DDR2 memory and comes with 1.8-inch SMART PATA hard drive at 4200rpm, providing up to 100GB of data storage capacity. This ultra-portable has built in optical drive, with a choice of combo drive or DVD burner.

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Hewlett-Packard’s 12.1-inch HP Compaq 2710p tablet PC, based on Intel Centrino “Santa Rosa” platform, is now available for purchase.

Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor paired with Intel GM965 chipset featuring integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 powers HP Compaq 2710p convertible notebook. The new tablet PC is currently offered with 1GB or 2GB of main DDR2 memory, which is expandable up to 4GB. It is configurable with up to 100GB 4200 rpm SMART PATA hard drive. Regarding optical drive, there is an option of HP 2700 Ultra-Slim Expansion Base dock with 7mm DVD+/-RW SuperMulti Drive.

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Intel Corporation today introduced Intel Core 2 Extreme X7800 dual-core processor for laptops, claimed to be the world’s highest-performing mobile CPU.

The first Core 2 Extreme mobile processor, aimed at gaming and other high demanding operations, features two cores running at 2.6GHz and has notebook-specific power-saving features. The X7800 has 800MHz front side bus and 4MB of L2 cache, and ships to OEMs for $851.

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