Archive for January, 2008

The miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile processor, developed specially for Apple’s MacBook Air ultraportable laptop, will soon be used in notebooks by other computer vendors, PC Advisor reports.

“The companies’ names weren’t revealed, but the chip could bring smaller and lighter notebooks that could compete in size and performance with the ultra-thin MacBook Air,” the report says.

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UPDATE: Asustek’s representative later confirmed the touch-screen Eee PC.

Asustek Computer will suspend plans to include the option of a touch screen panel in the next generation of Asus Eee PCs, the company’s president Jerry Shen said this week.

Shen pointed out the PC maker’s research has determined that touch screen is not a highly demanded feature for Eee PC customers.

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The Dell XPS M1730 gaming notebook is now available with the NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX SLI dual graphics card option.

Dell’s performance team says the XPS M1730 with two GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB video cards earned a score of almost 13,500 in 3Dmark06 benchmark, which is about 49% performance gain over dual 8700M GT 512MB cards in the same notebook.

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Connect-A-Desk has unveiled a new patent pending product with the same name, giving users the freedom to use their laptops while walking or standing.

“It’s great for inspectors, warehouse supervisors, inventory control specialists, bloggers, journalists, and anyone who wants the freedom to be mobile while using their computer,” the company’s press release says.

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Everex has delayed the launch of its CloudBook CE1200V ultra-mobile PC. This small and affordable system, which was scheduled for release on January 25th, will be available at Walmart.com and ZaReason.com beginning February 15th, according to the updated product page on Everex.com.

The CloudBook features a 7-inch display and a laptop-like design. It is the first device for the U.S. market based on the VIA NanoBook, incorporating the C7-M ULV processor. The CloudBook weighs two pounds and has a claimed battery life of five hours. It runs gOS V2 Rocket operating system.

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Hewlett-Packard’s Pavilion dv2700t, dv6700t, dv9700t and HDX consumer notebooks are now configurable with Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” processors, produced using new 45-nanometer technology.

The 14.1-inch dv2700t, 15.4-inch dv6700t, and 17-inch dv9700t ship with the Core 2 Duo Penryn T9300 at 2.50Ghz, with 6MB of L2 cache. These laptops are also available with older Core 2 Duo “Merom” 65nm chips. An upgrade from the basic Core 2 Duo Merom T5450 with 1.67GHz clock speed and 2MB of L2 cache to the T9300 costs $225.

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VIA Technologies unveiled yesterday the VIA “Isaiah” x86 processor architecture, designed for use in laptops, UMPCs, and desktop computers.

According to the company, the VIA Isaiah Architecture combines “all the latest advances in x86 processor technology, including a 64-bit superscalar speculative out-of-order microarchitecture, high-performance multimedia computation, and a new virtual machine architecture”.

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Hewlett-Packard has updated this week the HP Pavilion HDX entertainment and gaming notebook with a new graphic card option.

The Pavilion HDX, which was available only with the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT 256MB video card, is now also configurable with the Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB GPU.

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Dell and Microsoft will start selling Product Red-branded notebook and desktop computers on Friday. The two companies will donate $50 for every sold Red laptop and $80 for every sold Red desktop to the Global Fund, which finances health programs, including AIDS-fighting, in Africa.

The Dell computers offered under the Red brand will be XPS M1330 and M1530 notebooks, as well as a XPS One desktop PC. The machines will run Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system and will sell for the same price as regular Dell models, Reuters reports.

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The refreshed Fujitsu LifeBook E8410 15.4-inch desktop replacement laptop, which now comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” 45-nanometer processor, is available for purchase.

Along with the Core 2 Duo T7500 “Merom” 65nm CPU, the notebook can be ordered with the T8100 “Penryn” at 2.1GHz. According to a specifications sheet, the E8410 will be also available with the 45nm T9300 at 2.5GHz. The new E8410 configurations feature the integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100, while the T7500-powered model includes the Nvidia GeForce 8400M 128MB dedicated video card. Both graphics solutions manage the 15.4″ display with a 1280×800 or (WXGA) or 1680×1050 (WSXGA+) resolution. On the top of the LCD panel, there is a 1.3-megapixel web camera.

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Fujitsu has announced this week the LifeBook P1620 small and light Tablet PC, featuring an 8.9-inch touch screen display, Intel’s Centrino technology, and Fujitsu Portshutter data leak prevention software.

The Fujitsu LifeBook P1620 comes with the Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage U7600 dual core processor at 1.2GHz, which is an upgrade from the single core U1400 ULV CPU in the previous P1610 model. However, the P1620 still uses the older Centrino “Napa” mobile platform with the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 integrated GPU. The LifeBook P1620 supports up to 2GB of system memory, and comes with up to 100GB standard hard drive or a 32GB solid state drive. This convertible notebook does not have a built-in optical drive.

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Gateway announced yesterday the new chassis colors and designs of their two most popular consumer notebook lines – the 15.4-inch M-Series and 14.1-inch T-Series.

“The Gateway M-Series, which was previously available in Garnet Red and Pacific Blue, is now available in rich Merlot and luminous Silver. Both the M-Series and T-Series will be available in a new design called Arctic Bloom – delicate wildflowers on a background of icy turquoise blue,” the company’s press release says.

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The FlipStart ultra-small portable computer is now available for $699, after the latest price cut of $800.

This “super compact PC” has a 5.6-inch display, very small dimensions (5.9” x 4.5” x 1.6”), and weight of 1.5 pounds. It incorporates the Intel Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage 1.1 GHz processor, 512MB of DDR memory, a 30GB hard drive, as well as 802.11 b/g wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and an optional mobile broadband modules.

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The Gateway P-6831FX, the company’s new 17-inch gaming laptop which features the Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTS video card, is now available for purchase.

Customers can order the P-6831FX for $1,349.99 through Best Buy. This notebook, which is a part of the new P-Series FX Edition line, features the Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 processor at 1.67GHz, 3GB of DDR2 system memory, a 250GB hard drive, and a DVD burner. The GeForce 8800M GTS high end GPU in the Gateway P-6831FX has 512MB of discrete GDDR3 video memory and manages a 17″ 1280-by-800 display.

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Micro-Star International (MSI) is going to launch Linux OS-based low-cost notebook PCs in June at the earliest. The first of these products will be built on the Intel “Shelton’08” platform, and will feature a 7-inch display, according to Sambora Chen, director of Greater China sales.

Chen said that another model which runs on Windows XP is still under testing. Besides the first models built on Intel’s technology, MSI is also in talks with AMD about a potential partnership, Chen added.

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