Archive for August, 2007

Hewlett-Packard has expanded its 15.4-inch notebook lineup with the affordable Compaq Presario V6500Z, featuring AMD processor and NVIDIA nForce 630M chipset.

The Presario V6500Z is offered with a choice of the AMD Sempron Mobile or the Athlon 64 X2 dual core CPU. The laptop’s chipset incorporates the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M integrated graphics, which manages the 15.4″ widescreen 1280-by-800 pixels display. There is no dedicated graphics module option. The HP Compaq Presario V6500Z comes with 512MB DDR2, 1GB or 2GB of system memory, and with a 80GB, 120GB or 160GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive, depending on the customer’s choice. There are also DVD burner and Combo drive options.

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Hewlett-Packard updated today its HP Pavilion notebook lineup with the dv6500z and dv9500z models, both powered by AMD’s processors and NVIDIA’s nForce 630M chipset.

The 15.4-inch HP Pavilion dv6500z and the 17-inch dv9500z feature AMD Turion 64 X2 dual core processor options. The dv6500z is offered with Turion 64 X2 CPUs clocked at up to 2.2GHz, while the dv9500z additionally provides a choice of the latest Turion 64 X2 TL-66 processor at 2.3GHz. By default, these laptops ship with the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M graphics integrated into the nForce 630M chipset, while for more demanding users there is the NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS dedicated video option.

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AMD confirmed it still aims to launch the notebook platform codenamed “Puma“, incorporating “Griffin” processors and the RS780M chipset, in 2008. In addition, the company announced during its Asia Analyst Tour it will launch in 2009 the “Eagle” platform featuring the “Falcon”, the first “Fusion” processor with a CPU and a GPU core in a single package.

The chip maker said earlier the “Puma” platform will provide longer battery life, graphics and video processing enhancements, and improvement in overall system performance. One of the main innovations in the “Puma’s” RS780M chipset will be the PowerXpress technology for dynamic switching between an integrated and a discrete graphics to extend battery life.

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Samsung Electronics America has announced the Q1U-SSDXP, Q1U-XP and Q1U-ELXP, the three new additions to its Q1 Ultra ultra-mobile PC lineup. All of the new models feature Microsoft Windows XP Tablet Edition operating system, while the main innovation in the Q1U UMPC series is a solid state drive in the Q1U-SSDXP.

With its 32GB Flash memory based SSD and a 800MHz Intel Ultra Mobile A110 processor, the higher-end Q1U-SSDXP UMPC is priced at $1649. The Q1U-XP comes with a 800MHz A110 processor and a 60GB standard hard drive, and has a $1149 price tag. The most affordable among the three new Q1U computers is the Q1U-ELXP, which runs a 600MHz A100 processor and features a 40GB HDD. It is priced at $999.

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The final version of the Microsoft’s Windows Vista Service Pack 1 will be released in the first quarter of next year, the software maker officially announced.

The Service Pack 1 for Vista will include updates strictly to fix bugs and enhance the performance, reliability, and application compatibility of the Microsoft’s latest operating system. Vista SP1 will not break any applications already running on the OS, according to David Zipkin, senior product manager for Microsoft.

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NVousPC Corporation announced the launch of its customizable laptop PC line and website www.nvouspc.com, offering customers to personalize the notebooks with custom paint jobs and graphic design.

“Customers first configure their notebooks online, and can then upload images to the website with the option of painting any of the four notebook panels. After submitting the designs online, customers receive a preview of their artwork via email, and have the opportunity to interact with an NVousPC designer to perfect their design. NVousPC then individually paints each notebook with a durable high-quality finish, similar to that of a luxury automobile,” the press release says.

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Samsung unveiled today at its 4G Forum 2007 in Korea the Deluxe MIT SPH-P9200 ultra-mobile PC (UMPC), featuring an innovative design with a folding keyboard and a 5-inch touch-sensitive display.

“This one looks like a new and improved version of the older one they used to show. The design is pretty innovative, notice how the keyboard folds and has game controls and a touch pad on the other side. Much better then the weird swiveling screen of the predecessor. Shame this probably wont see a release in any other place than Korea,” UMPC portal reports.

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The laptop version of the NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 video card will be launched soon, according to Fudzilla.

Designed for use in gaming notebooks, the GeForce 8800M will be offered in Dell’s upcoming XPS (M1730) 17-inch laptop reportedly, which will also feature the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor option.

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Acer Inc., the world’s third PC vendor, announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gateway Inc., the fourth largest PC company in the United States. The deal is worth $710 million.

“The acquisition of Gateway and its strong brand immediately completes Acer’s global footprint, by strengthening our US presence. This will be an excellent addition to Acer’s already strong positions in Europe and Asia. Upon acquiring Gateway, we will further solidify our position as number three PC vendor globally,” said J.T. Wang, Chairman of Acer.

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The color options are the main source of shipping delays on the new lineup of the Dell Inspiron notebooks, according to the post published on the PC maker’s Direct2Dell official weblog.

“Basic colors like black are easier to produce. Premium colors and finishes like we use on the Inspiron models introduce complexity into the process, and that’s holding things up,” the post on Direct2Dell says.

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VIA has refreshed its ultra-low voltage “Eden” processor family with a new model featuring a maximum power consumption of 1 watt and an idle power of 0.1 watt.

“The World’s Most Power Efficient x86 CPU”, aimed at use in the embedded systems and ultra-mobile devices, has a 500MHz clock speed, a 400MHz front side bus, and 128KB L2 cache. This processor is fanless and is produced using 90-nanometer technology.

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Sonnet Technologies has launched two new devices compatible with laptops’ ExpressCard slot. The first is the 21-in-1 Multimedia Memory Card Reader ExpressCard/34, while the other one is the Combo FireWire/USB ExpressCard/34.

The Sonnet’s 21-in-1 Multimedia Memory Card Reader for notebooks with ExpressCard slot supports the most popular memory card formats used in digital cameras, cell phones, and other electronic devices, including Memory Stick, MMC (Multimedia Card), SD (Secure Digital), XD-Picture Card, and all their variations, according to the press release. It is compatible with MacBook Pros running Mac OS X Version 10.4 or later and with PC notebooks with ExpressCard/34 or ExpressCard/54 slot, running Windows XP SP2, or Windows Vista.

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AGEIA Technologies today announced AGEIA PhysX 100M, the world’s first PhysX processor aimed at gaming notebooks.

“AGEIA PhysX Mobile Technology features incredibly low power and thermal design with power dissipation of nearly 10W under gameplay conditions. It also includes active power management to throttle down the clock in high heat system conditions and reduce the clock when not active. This new technology provides optimized PhysX processing resources to deliver the same peak PhysX processing throughput as the original AGEIA PhysX processor for desktop PCs,” according to the press release.

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Intel officially announced today the Core 2 Extreme X7900 laptop processor at the 2007 Games Convention in Germany.

Designed for use in “Santa Rosa” platform-based gaming/high-performance notebooks, Intel’s Core 2 Extreme X7900 has two processing cores clocked at 2.8GHz. As same as the earlier introduced Core 2 Extreme X7800 at 2.6GHz, the X7900 mobile CPU features 800MHz front-side bus and 4MB of L2 cache. It is also overclockable.

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Samsung Electronics announced today the hard drive model with 160 gigabyte of storage in company’s Spinpoint N2 1.8-inch HDD series.

The 160GB Spinpoint N2, with the industry’s largest capacity for a 1.8-inch form factor, spins at 4200rpm, according to the press release.

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