Archive for May, 2009

Dell announced today the Studio 14z consumer laptop, featuring a 14-inch display, Intel’s Pentium or Core 2 Duo processors, and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.

With a starting weight of 4.3 pounds, the Dell Studio 14z, also includes up to 500GB hard drive, up to 5GB of DDR3 memory, a 6- or 8-cell battery, a built-in 1.3MP web camera, stereo speakers, an HDMI output and a Display Port, a Wireless-G or Wireless-N card, a Gigabit LAN port, optional Bluetooth and mobile broadband connections, three USB ports (one with eSATA functionality), an ExpressCard slot, and Firewire. The 14z does not feature a built-in optical drive.

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Hewlett-Packard today expanded the HP Mini netbook family with three new models - the HP Mini 110 XP Edition and Linux-based HP Mini 110 Mi, both for consumers, and the HP Mini 1101 for business users.

The Mini 100 / 1101 models, all with 10.1-inch LED backlight displays, are based on Intel’s Atom N270 / N280 processors. The Mini 110 XP will additionally include an optional Broadcom HD video chip for decoding of 1080p high-definition content.

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Along with the IdeaPad S12, Lenovo introduced today two new laptops - the 13.3-inch IdeaPad U350 for consumers and the 15.6-inch G550 for small and medium business users.

The U350 is a thin-and-light notebook based on Intel’s ultra low voltage processors - Core 2 Solo and Pentium ULV - and features up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, and up to 500GB of hard drive space, while its LED backlight display has a movie friendly 16:9 aspect ratio. The new IdeaPad also sports an HDMI output, Dolby Sound technology, and an Ambient Light Sensor which “automatically adjusts the screen’s brightness according to the lighting environment”.

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Lenovo today announced the IdeaPad S12 netbook that will feature the NVIDIA Ion platform in select models.

The company’s first 12-inch netbook includes a full-size laptop keyboard, the Intel Atom processor, Intel’s integrated GPU or 1080p-capable Ion graphics, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, a battery life of “up to six hours” with a 6-cell battery.

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Asustek has revealed details of the Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook, featuring company’s new Seashell design.

The Eee PC 1005HA sports a 10.1-inch LED backlight 1024×600 display, the Intel Atom N270 or N280 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive with Windows XP Home or GNU Linux preloaded, a 3- or 6-cell battery for “up to 10.5 hours” of run time, and a built-in 0.3MP or 1.3MP web camera.

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Dell has launched the Latitude 2100 educational netbook, featuring a 10.1-inch display, Intel’s Atom CPU and a ruggedized design.

The Dell Latitude 2100 is aimed at K-12 students, as we as “any business or public institution that needs affordable, durable, Internet-ready devices for e-mail and collaboration”.

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Acer’s new 10.1-inch netbook, the Aspire One D250, is now available in the US.

The 2.4-pound Acer Aspire One D250, also known as AOD250, comes with the Intel Atom N270 processor at 1.60GHz, the GMA 950 integrated graphics, a 160GB hard drive with Windows XP Home preloaded, 1GB of RAM, a 3-cell battery as a standard, and a built-in web camera. The 10.1″ display has a resolution of 1024×600 pixels.

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The MSI GT725 is a recently launched 17-inch gaming laptop based on Intel’s CPU and the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4850 graphics.

In the US, there are three models available - the MSI GT725-074US with the Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz processor, the GT725-075US with the Core 2 Duo P9500 at 2.53GHz, and the 2GHz Core 2 Quad Q9000-based GT725-212US. Besides the Mobility Radeon HD 4850 dedicated video card with 512MB of DDR3 VRAM, all models include 4GB of DDR2 system memory, a 320GB hard drive, and Drive Engine Technology for CPU overclocking when on AC power.

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AMD will showcase a new mainstream notebook platform called Tigris at the upcoming 2009 Computex Show in Taipei, Chinese Commercial Times reports.

The Tigris includes a 45-nanometer dual-core “Caspian” processor and the RS880M chipset.

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Blog Macles has revealed the Acer Aspire One 571 10.1-inch netbook that features a dedicated HD video chip and a mini Blu-Ray optical disc drive.

The Quartics Q1721 Multimedia Coprocessor in the Aspire One 571 accelerates decoding and encoding of high definition video codecs, and also adds hardware scaling and filtering, according to Macles.

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The recently announced Acer Aspire 3935 13.3-inch laptop can be purchased now in the US.

Newegg, B&H, BuyDig, and Amazon offer the Acer Aspire AS3935-6504 model with the Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor at 2GHz, the GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, 3GB of DDR3 memory, a 250GB hard drive, and a DVD burner.

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The Asus K40IN-A1, Asustek’s notebook that belongs to the new K Series, is now available in the US.

The 14-inch laptop features the Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 CPU at 2GHz and the GeForce G102M 512MB dedicated video card, which is “NVIDIA’s lowest power GPU with dedicated frame buffer”. Other core components of the Asus K40IN-A1 are 4GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB hard drive, and a DVD burner.

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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard, yesterday announced a voluntary recall of Lithium-Ion batteries used in select HP and Compaq laptops.

The recall includes around 70,000 units that can potentially overheat, “posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers”.

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Dell’s Inspiron Mini 10v 10.1-inch netbook is now available for purchase in the US.

Instead of the Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz/Z530 1.6GHz processor in the standard Mini 10, the Mini 10v includes the Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU. The Z-series Atom chips are paired with the Intel GMA 500 integrated graphics, whereas the N270-based 10v features the GMA 950 IGP.

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Lenovo today officially announced the IdeaPad S10-2, an improved version of their 10.1-inch S10 netbook.

The S10-2 is 0.2kg lighter and 4mm thinner than the S10 and includes a slightly larger and improved keyboard and larger touchpad, a 6-cell battery for “up to 30 percent more battery life than before”, an additional USB port for a total of 3 ports, and a new cover pattern and color design. The netbook’s sound system is upgraded with Dolby headphone technology, while select models also include a built-in 3G mobile broadband module.

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