Posted 03/16/10 at 10:44:57 AM by Paul Lilly

HP came under fire recently when it was reported that several laptops sold in China were faulty. The problem stemmed from overheating videocards, prompting affected consumers to seek out a law firm to help handle the issue. They may not need it.

HP said it is extending the warranties on motherboards in certain laptop models, covering Chinese owners for two years if the mobo was already repaired. The OEM is also offering to test laptops for free, and is currently discussing potential compensation for buyers who already paid postage or repair fees for their motherboards.

"We believe this [plan] will eliminate clients' concerns," HP said in a statement.

But is it enough? Not according to Liu Yongbin, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, which prepared the initial complaint. Youngbin claims that the "warranty extension cannot fundamentally solve this problem," and instead wants HP to recall the affected laptop models.

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Posted 03/12/10 at 09:16:15 AM by Paul Lilly

MSI is pretty stoked about the latest entry to its gaming notebook line, the 17-inch GE700. The new notebook couples an Intel Core i5 processor with ATI Radeon HD 5730 graphics (with 1GB GDDR3 memory), along with a few other noteworthy goodies.

Among them are two "cinema-class" speakers and a subwoofer, an HD webcam capable of 720p video up to 30fps, two hard drive bays for up to 1TB of storage, MSI's exclusive GPU Boost technology (switch between the integrated and discrete graphics solutions), HDMI output, eSATA, 4-in-1 memory card reader, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

MSI put a bit of attention into the GE700's styling, including a "super-cool exterior" with a glossy black finish. You'll also find luminescent touch-sensitive hotkeys.

No word yet on price or availability.

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Posted 03/11/10 at 07:22:19 AM by Paul Lilly

Want to make waves in the mobile market? Slap a Core i7 Extreme Edition processor into a 15.6-inch chassis and call it the "world's most powerful" mobile workstation in its size class.

That's exactly what Dell has done with its just-announced Precision M4500. In addition to the super fast processor, the M4500 also boasts Nvidia Quadro FX 1800M graphics, an optional SSD MiniCard (another first for 15.6-inch mobile workstations), an optional HD+ sRGB LED screen, optional 3MP camera, and support for 32-bit and 74-bit versions of Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, and XP, as well as Red Hat Linux 5.3 64-bit support.

"The Dell Precision M4500 establishes new heights for performance and mobility for a workstation," said Greg Weir, senior manager, Dell Precision workstations. "This system provides the freedom to discover, create and imagine on your terms, wherever creativity takes you. Top that off with the assurance that you are backed by our robust ‘eco system’ of ISV partners and our ability to deliver the application performance you need to be productive…now that’s getting it done!"

No word yet on price or availability.

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Posted 03/10/10 at 08:56:02 AM by Paul Lilly

HP could soon find itself in court, as over 100 Chinese consumers are none too happy with what they claim are faulty laptops, a lawyer for the group said this week.

According to Reuters, Jiang Suhua, a lawyer at Yingke Law Firm in Bejing, claims the problems have to do with overheating videocards ultimately causing the laptops to malfunction. Suhua said there are about 170 complaints so far for a problem that apparently dates back to 2007.

"Yes, we can bring it to court, but right now it has not reached that state," Suhua said.

HP says it had a program in November 2007 to offer a free repair to anyone with an affected laptop, but the OEM stopped short of commenting on this specific complaint.

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Posted 03/10/10 at 08:24:50 AM by Paul Lilly

MSI has once again beefed up its Wind notebook line, this time with a pair of AMD-based models built around a 12.1-inch form factor. The new Wind12 U230-033 and U230-040 replace the Wind12 U210, "a favorite among netbook users looking for a larger screen and more computing power," MSI claims.

The U230-033US ships with an Athlon Neo MV-40 processor, ATI Radeon HD3200 graphics, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 1.3MP webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, HDMI-out, 4-in-1 memory card reader, a 6-cell battery, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Upping the ante, the U230-040 trades the Neo processor for an Athlon X2 L335 and swaps the 250GB hard drive for a 320GB HDD. All other specs remain the same, including MSI's EDS (Ergonomic De-stress) keyboard with keys that are 51 percent larger than those on a standard keyboard.

The 033 and 040 models are available now for $430 and 480, respectively.

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Posted 03/10/10 at 07:26:59 AM by Paul Lilly

As 2009 came to a close, the top five PC makers each held their position, but it's the battle for second place that's particularly interesting. According to iSuppli, Acer grew by 21 percent in 2009, ending the year with 38.5 million shipments, up from 31.8 million in 2008. No other top five PC maker enjoyed more growth.

Meanwhile, Dell was the only top five vendor to post a decline in shipments for the year, dropping 9.9 percent from 43.3 million PCs to 38.96 million. That means Dell shipped enough to maintain a lead over Acer, but only by a hair (0.2 percent).

"Acer's 2009 success was driven by the notebook PC market," said Matthew Wilkins, principal analyst, compute platforms research, for iSuppli. "Notebooks accounted for nearly 80 percent of Acer's shipments ni 2009. This allowed the company to capitalize on the fast-growing mobile-computing segment while limiting its exposure to the moribund desktop segment."

Acer may have already leapfrogged ahead of Dell by now (we won't know until the quarterly numbers are tallied), but even if it hasn't, given the continued growth of notebooks, we fully expect Acer to stand in the No. 2 spot by the end of the year. Watch out HP.

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Posted 03/09/10 at 04:28:56 PM by Bart Salisbury

Dell has just announced release of a new Vostro series, the 3000, which will add some punch to Dell’s business laptop offerings. The 3000 series, which will range in size from 13-inches to 17-inches, will sport a range of Intel's newer Core processors.

The new Vostros are the 3300, with a 13.3-inch display, the 3400, with a 14-inch display, the 3500, with a 15.6-inch display, and the 3700, with a 17.3-inch display. All four Vostros have the Mobile Intel HM57 Express chipset, and are paired with i3 and i5 dual core processors, except for the 3700, which has the option of an i7 quad core processor. Graphics support is provided by an NVIDIA GeForce 310 with 512MB of memory, with the 3700 having an NVIDIA GeForce GT330M with 1GB. All LED screens are high definition and anti-glare. The 3500 will also have a touchscreen option (available in April). All use DDR3 memory, with support for up to 8GB (but only 6GB “offered”).

The basic goodies appear on each machine: USB 2.0 ports (no USB 3.0 sightings), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, gigabit Ethernet, and flash card readers. There’s some variability, such as HDMI connectors only on the 3500 and 3700.

Starting prices are $669 for the 3300,  $649 for the 3400 and 3500, and $679 for the 3700. All are available now at Dell’s web site.

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Posted 03/09/10 at 10:41:16 AM by Paul Lilly

Arrandale is proving to be quite the popular platform of late, with the newest entry coming from MSI. We're talking about the X-Slim X360, which the company claims offers up to 9 hours of battery life.

Underneath the 13-inch hood sits an Intel Core i5-520UM processor, Intel HM55 chipset, up to 4GB of DDR2 memory, up to a 500GB hard drive, 2-in-1 memory card reader, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 1.3MP webcam, HDMI, two USB 2.0 ports, and either a 4-cell or 8-cell battery.

In an attempt to combine style with portability, MSI touts its exclusive rhombic pattern and Color Film Print, along with an ultraportable chassis measuring less than 1-inch thick and weighing just over 3 pounds.

No word yet on price or availability.

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