Archive for May, 2008

Asustek is going to launch the Eee Stick, a package of two controllers that use motion sensors. The Eee Sticks will enable Nintendo Wii-like wireless gaming experience on PCs and will be initially offered with the Asus Eee PC low-cost laptops and desktops.

The Eee Stick for PC gamers will be available in mid-August. The price is currently unknown.

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VIA Technologies today announced that the new VIA Nano processor family, formerly known as “Isaiah”, is now available for OEMs and motherboard vendors, while systems featuring this CPU are expected to hit the market in Q3 2008.

“The VIA Nano processor family leverages Fujitsu’s advanced 65 nanometer process technology for enhanced power efficiency, and augments that with aggressive power and thermal management features within the compact 21mm x 21mm nanoBGA2 package for an idle power as low as 100mW (0.1W), extending the reach of power efficient green and silent PCs, thin and light notebooks and mini-notes around the world,” the press relase says.

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Gizmodo.com and Direct2Dell.com published yesterday images of the Dell Mini Inspiron ultraportable laptop, the company’s first low-cost mini-notebook.

Details of the Dell Mini Inspiron are currently unknown. However, Gizmodo noticed that the small laptop has three USB ports, a memory card reader, VGA output, and Ethernet LAN port. The notebook has a red lid.

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Intel delayed the launch of its Centrino 2 mobile platform, codenamed “Montevina”, from June to mid-July. In addition, some parts of “Montevina” won’t be released until early August, CRN reports.

The chip maker plans to release the new Centrino 2 processors and “discrete graphics chipsets” on July 14, according to Bill Kircos, head of Intel’s consumer and enterprise communications group.

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VIA Technologies today introduced the VIA OpenBook ultraportable laptop reference design, featuring a 8.9-inch display and VIA’s processor and integrated graphics.

“Powered by the VIA C7-M ULV processor and the VIA VX800 digital media IGP chipset, the VIA OpenBook mini-note reference design is a small, 1kg, 8.9″ mini-notebook form factor design that supports screen resolutions of up to 1024×600 and high performance VIA Chrome9 DirectX 9.0 3D graphics,” VIA says adding that the device features up to 2GB DDR2 DRAM and can be equipped with a choice of hard disk drive and solid state storage options.

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Intel plans to launch its first dual core version of the Atom processor in Q3 2008, Fudzilla reports.

“We scored some more details and many of them were quite easy to guess. The new dual core Atom will end up branded as the Atom 330 and just as the single core Atom 230, the dual core CPU will end up at 1.6GHZ,” the report says.

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Intel is planning to launch the High Performance SSD solid state drive products by the end of the third quarter this year. The chip maker will bundle the SSDs as a part of its upcoming Centrino 2 “Montevina” laptop platform, DigiTimes’ sources at PC makers say.

The first Intel High Performance SSDs will feature 80GB of storage space and SATA interface and will come in two versions: Client X25-M with 2.5-inch form factor and 1.8-inch Client X18-M.

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Hypersonic PC has announced the Avenger AG2 notebook, a 12.1-inch ultraportable based on Intel’s Centrino technology.

The Avenger AG2 is available in five colors: black, white, blue, pink and yellow. It can be configured with an 45nm Intel “Penryn” T8100, T8300, or T9300 processor, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, and up to 250GB hard drive. Optionally, customers can choose a 64GB solid state drive instead of the HDD. This sub-notebook has a built-in optical drive. The laptop’s 12.1″ widescreen 1280×800 display is managed by the Intel GMA X3100 integrated GPU.

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FastMac recently announced “U-Charge,” a universal battery charger for Apple MacBooks, iBooks, and PowerBooks.

“The new U-Charge works externally & connects directly to the battery’s terminals to recharge the battery quickly and efficiently, without the need for a laptop. Batteries from multiple Apple laptops can be recharged using this single, compact, lightweight and portable charger,” the press release says.

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Dell has added a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive option to its XPS M1730 gaming notebook.

The new high performance 2.5-inch HDD in the M1730 is the latest Seagate Momentus 7200.3 with 16MB of cache and a SATA 2 3Gb/s interface.

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Non-profit organization One Laptop per Child (OLPC) has unveiled the XO 2.0 or XOXO, a prototype of the second generation XO laptop.

The XO 2.0 notebook for children has two touch-screens, a reduced power consumption from 2-4 watts to 1 watt, and a smaller size than the original XO, InfoSync World reports.

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XtremeNotebooks has added the Intel Xeon processor option to its Xtreme 917V notebook. The 917V is the first US-distributed laptop to feature the Xeon Quad Core CPU, designed for use in servers and workstations.

“With available options such as the new 45nm Intel Penryn CPUs, high capacity Blu-Ray drive storage, RAID 0, 1 or 5 arrays, dual SLI nVIDIA 8800 or Quadro FX series graphics cards running the highly anticipated Microsoft Direct X10, highly dependable and efficient OCZ Solid State SATAII HDDs; XtremeNotebook’s Xtreme 917V XEON based system is the obvious choice for high performance mobile server deployment and the in-the-field, on-site networking needs of military, scientific, manufacturing and engineering teams anywhere on the planet,” the press release says.

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The Acer Aspire 6920, which is the world’s first notebook with a 16-inch high definition display, is offered now through retailers in the US.

The Aspire 6920 (AS6920) belongs to the recently announced Aspire Gemstone Blue entertainment laptop series, with advanced multimedia features, an innovative design, and the latest Intel Centrino processing technology.

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The Acer Aspire 8920G, the world’s first notebook with a 18.4-inch display, is now available in the United States.

The Aspire 8920G (AS8920G) is a part of the brand new Aspire Gemstone Blue entertainment laptop PC series, with advanced multimedia features, an innovative design, and the latest Intel Centrino processing technology.

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Samsung is going to enter the US notebook market, the company’s representative announced yesterday.

According to a report on PC Pro, Samsung currently
enjoys 1.7% of the global laptop market. The company will need to more than triple that to 5.7% within three years to meet a “minimum survival” volume for its notebook division.

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