Maximum PC ultra-thin RSS Feed

Dell Announces Leaner, Cheaper Adamo - World's Thinnest Laptop

Pulkit Chandna — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:13:21 -0600

Dell has announced the second laptop under its Adamo by Dell brand, which was introduced in March this year. Its latest ultraportable, the Adamo XPS, is slimmer than its predecessor. It will not only replace its elder sibling as the world’s thinnest notebook but also become the cheapest Adamo variant when it debuts with its $1800 price tag. The Adamo XPS is 9.9mm thick and features a 13.4-inch high-definition display, Intel Core 2 Duo (1.4 Ghz) ultra-low voltage processor, 4GB memory, and a full-size keyboard.

No Adamo announcement can be complete without pitting the upcoming Dell ultraportable against Apple’s MacBook Air, a rival that also serves as a yardstick. Both our contestants weigh just over 3 lbs. While the Adamo XPS is thinner of the two and features 4GB memory compared to the Air’s 2GB, Apple’s ultraportable boasts more power and a longer battery life. Dell plans to have the Adamo XPS ready for action in time for the holidays.

Image Credit: Dell

MSI and Gigabyte Optimistic About Notebook Shipment Growth in 2010

Bart Salisbury — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:15:55 -0500

With Annie-like optimism, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology are reporting their notebook shipments are up in the second half of the year, and both are looking to tomorrow, when “there’ll be sun.”

MSI chairman Joseph Hsu wasn’t entirely positive in his future outlook, however. Windows 7, according to Hsu, will help pick up lagging notebook sales. But a shortage on optical drives and DRAM, which is expected to continue into 2010, will put a crimp on MSI’s ability to meet expected demand.

Gigabyte, on the other hand, is a behind on its projections to ship 200,000 notebooks in 2009 because of a lousy first half. But, the trend in the third quarter is upward, and Gigabyte expects it will get at least 120,000 notebooks out the door by year’s end. For 2010 Gigabyte vice president Richard Ma expects to ship 300,000 notebooks, with half made in-house, and the other half made by Quanta Computer.

On the netbook side of things, MSI reports that the proportion of netbooks shipped dropped from 50% of all notebooks to 30%. Market demand, according the HSU, for ultra-thin notebooks was also weak. Ultra-thin shipments should pick-up in 2010, however, once Intel starts shipping a dual-core CPU for this market segment.

Image Credit: MSI, Gigabyte

AMD Will Launch Congo Platform for Ultra-Thin Notebooks in Early November

Paul Lilly — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:26:20 -0500

According to the latest chatter emanating from the major notebook players, AMD is planning to finally launch its Congo platform for ultra-thin notebooks by the end of the month, or beginning of November at the latest. AMD had originally intended to go forward with Congo in July, but ended up postponing the launch citing lower than expected demand for ultra-thins.

AMD's Congo platform will consist of a dual-core Turion Neo X2 L625 or Athlon Neo X2 L335/L325, or a single core Athlon Neo MV-40 processor plopped into an M780G chipset, DigiTimes reports.

The chip maker has yet to announce the platform, but rest assured, it's coming. HP, for example, launched a 12.1 inch ultra-think notebook in Taiwan built around the Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, the same one that will be used in Congo, but with a different chipset.

The sources also added that AMD will launch a couple more ultra-thin platforms over the next two years: Nile and Brazos.

Image Credit: AMD

Acer Chairman Expects Company to Notch Up 10% Sales Growth in 4Q09

Pulkit Chandna — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:36:48 -0500

Acer owes its rapid strides in the PC market to its success in the netbook segment. Now it expects to benefit from the launch of Windows 7 and a resurgent global economy. Acer chairman JT Wang is confident that the company will meet its revenue forecast for Q4 2009. The company is expected to register a 10% growth in consolidated revenues during the ongoing quarter.

Wang told investors that his company plans to cash in on the upcoming launch of Windows 7 with new PCs based on the OS - all priced between US$499 and US$599. While big and small companies of all ilks are queuing up to enter the e-reader fray, chairman Wang is in no hurry. But that might change once the e-reader market grows beyond 50 million units.

He believes that the entry of Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba into the ultra-thin notebook segment is bereft of seriousness, and this very lack of sincerity is preventing Intel’s ultra-thin notebook technology from taking off.

Toshiba Touts Power and "All-Day" Battery Life in New Slim Satellite T100 Series

Paul Lilly — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:15:57 -0500

In the mobile world, having your cake and eating it too means packing power and battery life into a lightweight laptop, and that's exactly what Toshiba claims to have done with its new Satellite T100 series.

Measuring just one inch thick and weighing in at 3.49 pounds, Toshiba says it didn't cut corners on its slim T100 series, which will be available in two screen sizes and various color options. The Satellite T135 will come with a 13.3 inch display and be offered in Nova Red, Nova Black, and Nova White, while the T115 sports an 11.6-inch display and offered in Nova Red and Nova Black.

On the hardware front, the T135 sports an Intel Pentium SU2700 processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and a 6-cell battery. The T115 drops the processor down an Intel Celeron 743 processor and maximum RAM to 4GB, while keeping most other components the same. Both systems come with Windows 7 and claim up to 9 hours of run time on a single charge.

Both models will be available starting October 22, 2009, with the T135 carrying an MSRP of $600 and the T115 selling for $450.

Image Credit: Toshiba

Asus Sets Goal to Ship 1 Million Ultra-Thins by End of Year

Paul Lilly — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:50:20 -0500

Someone's feeling ambitious, and that someone is Asus. According to company president Jerry Shen, the multifaceted manufacturer expects to ship 600,000 ultra-thin notebooks by the end of the year and could ship as many as one million units.

The mobile platform has been good to Asus, which further expects that its combined notebook shipments will reach 7.35 billion units in the first three quarters of 2009, and a respectable12 million units by the end of 2009. Driving those shipments is Asus' uber popular Eee PC line, with netbooks accounting for about 40 percent of the total shipments, Shen said.

Looking forward, Shen added that ultra-thins will likely account for 30 percent of the company's total notebook shipments in 2010. And in terms of competition, Shen said he believes Asus will reach its goal of becoming a top-three global vendor by 2011.

Image Creedit: Asus

Asus to Launch Ultra-Thins Powered by New Intel CPUs

Paul Lilly — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:55:34 -0500

In exactly one week from now, Asus will launch a pair of new ultra-thin notebooks built around Intel's upcoming 45nm Celeron 743 and SU2300 processors, according to the latest web chatter. The ultra-thins will ship first to Taiwan, China, and Europe before making their way to the U.S.

According to Asus president Jerry Shen, his company plans to aggressively pursue the ultra-thin market and says these types of portable PCs will account for 10 to 20 percent of Asus' total notebook shipments in the third quarter of 2009. And while there's no word yet on how much the two upcoming models will run, both will target the entry-level market with the Celeron 743 and SU3200 CPUs running just $107 and $134, respectively.

In related news, MSI is also expected to announce new ultra-thin laptops very soon, though details remain sparse.

Image Credit: Asus via Ubergizmo

Ultra-thin Notebooks to Account for Only 4% of Worldwide Notebook Shipments

Pulkit Chandna — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:09:37 -0500

Although HP and Dell are planning to introduce new ultra-thin notebook models, based on Intel’s Consumer Ultra Low-Voltage (CULV) platform, in the fourth quarter, Digitimes Research has forecast a rough road ahead for the segment. According to Digitimes’ research wing, global ultra-thin notebook shipments are expected to account for 4% of all notebook shipments in 2009. It anticipates that 6 million ultra-thin notebooks will be shipped this year. It blamed their high prices for their low desirability with respect to netbooks. “In terms of the price/performance ratio, the ultra-thin notebooks' components carry higher prices than most of the standard parts, but their working performance is only slightly better than netbooks,” said Joanne Chien, senior analyst at Digitimes.