Archive for February, 2008

Microsoft Corporation plans to cut prices of its Windows Vista operating system sold at retail outlets, Reuters reports.

“In the United States, Microsoft will reduce prices for Windows Vista Ultimate, the company’s top-end operating system, to $319 from $399 for the full version and cut the price for an “upgrade” version to $219 from $259 for consumers who already run Windows XP or another edition of Vista. It also cut prices for upgrade versions of Vista Home Premium, its mainstream product, to $129 from $159,” Reuters says, adding that the price cuts will vary by country.

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Dell has added Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” 45-nanometer processor options to its Precision M2300, M4300, and M6300 mobile workstations. In addition, the new NVIDIA Quadro FX video card is now available in the M6300.

Along with the older 65nm Core 2 Duos, the 14.1-inch M2300, 15.4-inch M4300, and 17-inch M6300 are now available with the T8100, T8300, T9300, and T9500 45nm CPUs, clocked at 2.1GHz, 2.4GHz, 2.5GHz, and 2.6GHz respectively. The new chips have the same prices as their corresponding precursors. According to the product pages, the Precision M6300 notebook will be also available with the Core 2 Extreme X9000 “Penryn” at 2.8GHz.

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Hitachi has announced the availability of the Travelstar 5K320 2.5-inch notebook hard drives, featuring 320GB of storage capacity, a rotational speed of 5,400rpm, and the Serial ATA 2 3Gb/s interface.

“The Travelstar 5K320 elevates the standard for hard drive reliability with design enhancements that include altitude-sensing Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC), an improved actuator latch and fourth generation perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) head technology. These features combine to safeguard user data that might otherwise be compromised as a result of accidental falls, bumps and rough handling. The drives also include TrueTrack technology, which improves tracking accuracy in high shock or vibration environments,” the company’s press release says.

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Intel’s next-generation Centrino 2 notebook platform, codenamed “Montevina“, will be available with both high performance and mainstream integrated graphics processors, incorporated into the GM47 and GM45 chipsets respectively, VR-Zone reports.

“Intel GM47 Express chipset will be the highest end mobile part clocking at 640MHz for the integrated graphics while the GM45 Express chipset clocks in at 533MHz. Both chipsets are based on the Intel GMA X4500HD graphics that enhances HD experience with native HD-DVD and Blu-Ray support. Intel GM47 chipset delivers up to 2X the performance in 3DMark over the (current) GM965 chipset and has broader DX10 game compatibility and support,” the report says.

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“The thinnest and lightest full-function notebook in its class” - the Lenovo ThinkPad X300 13.3-inch ultraportable - is now available for purchase.

“The ultra-thin ThinkPad X300 measures less than three-fourths of an inch at its thinnest point, or approximately the height of a U.S. quarter coin,” Lenovo’s press release says.

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VR-Zone has revealed the prices of the first Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” 45-nanometer mobile processors for the next-generation “Montevina” Centrino 2 notebook platform. The new Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme 45nm CPUs will be priced in range from $209 to $851 in 1000-unit tray quantities, which is the same range as in the “Penryn” processor line for the current “Santa Rosa Refresh” Centrino platform.

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Apple today updated its 13.3-inch MacBook and 15.4- and 17-inch MacBook Pro laptops with the new Intel Core 2 Duo 45-nanometer “Penryn” processors, larger hard drives, and 2GB of system memory standard in most models. In addition, the Macbook Pro notebooks now have the latest Nvidia GeForce video cards and Multi-Touch trackpads.

“The new MacBook Pro features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo technology with up to a 2.6 GHz processor with 6MB of shared L2 cache; up to 4GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory and up to a 300GB hard drive, plus NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 512MB of video memory. Every MacBook Pro now includes a trackpad with Multi-Touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe, an illuminated keyboard, and a built-in ambient light sensor,” Apple’s press release says.

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After a few delays, the Everex CloudBook CE1200V ultra-mobile PC is now available for purchase through Wal-Mart.

The CloudBook is the first computer for the U.S. market based on the VIA NanoBook low-cost device with a 7-inch display and a laptop-like design.

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Fujitsu today announced the release of its new series of MHZ2 BT 2.5″ hard disk drives with data storage capacity of up to 500GB.

The Fujitsu MHZ2 BT HDDs use the Serial ATA 3GB/s interface and spin at 4,200rpm. These drives have 8MB of buffer memory.

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The MacBook Air, Apple’s latest ultraportable notebook which gained a lot of interest, has been reviewed recently by several websites.

This laptop, advertised as “the world’s thinnest notebook” features a 13.3-inch LED backlight display, a modified Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support, 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive or an optional 64GB solid state drive, 802.11n wireless connection, Bluetooth 2.1 technology, the Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics, a micro-DVI port, and only one USB port. Ethernet LAN port and modem are provided via external USB adapters. The MacBook Air has no built-in optical drive. The system weighs three pounds and starts at $1,799.

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Nvidia Corporation has introduced the Quadro FX 3600M professional video card for laptop workstations.

The Nvidia Quadro FX 3600M is available in the MXM v2.1A type-III form factor and features 512MB of GDDR3 memory, a 256-bit memory interface, and 51.2 GBps graphic memory bandwidth. The GPU supports OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.0, and DirectX 10.

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Dell has expanded its Ubuntu Linux OS-powered notebook PC line with the new Inspiron 1525N.

Customers who purchase the 1525N can choose a 30-day support for Ubuntu beginners, 1-year basic Ubuntu support, or 1-year standard support, for additional $65, $125, and $275 respectively.

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Dell U.S. has added the Intel Core 2 Duo “Penryn” processor options to its Inspiron consumer notebook line.

The 45-nanometer “Penryn” CPUs are available in the 14.1-inch Inspiron 1420, 15.4-inch 1520, and 17-inch 1720 laptops. The 1420 and 1520 are now configurable with the T8300 at 2.4GHz, while the 1720 optionally comes with the T8300 and the 2.5GHz T9300.

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Alienware has updated its Area-51 m15x 15.4-inch gaming notebook with the new Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors, based on the latest 45-nanometer “Penryn” chip.

The Alienware Area-51 m15x is now available with the 45nm Core 2 Duo T9300 CPU 2.5GHz, T9500 at 2.6GHz, and the Core 2 Extreme X9000 at 2.8GHz, which is advertised as “the world’s highest performing mobile processor”.

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Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will no longer develop, manufacture and market HD DVD players and recorders, ending a battle against Sony Corp’s Blu-ray high-definition technology.

“Toshiba will begin to reduce shipments of HD DVD players and recorders to retail channels, aiming for cessation of these businesses by the end of March 2008. Toshiba also plans to end volume production of HD DVD disk drives for such applications as PCs and games in the same timeframe, yet will continue to make efforts to meet customer requirements. The company will continue to assess the position of notebook PCs with integrated HD DVD drives within the overall PC business relative to future market demand, Toshiba’s press release says.

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