Posted 10/15/08 at 09:13:52 AM by Paul Lilly

Samsung this week announced plans to re-enter the U.S. computer market with a lineup ranging from ultraportable to desktop replacements aimed at business professionals. On the lighter side, Samsung's X-Series looks to position itself as a strong competitor to Apple's MacBook Air, and the company isn't shy about letting this be known.

"These products really go after Apple and Sony," said Bret Berg, senior product manager for Samsung's U.S. computer division. "This is the MacBook Air killer."

Samsung will look to back that statement with its X360, a 2.8-pound notebook measuring 1.2 inches at its thickest point and sporting a 13.3-inch display. For $1,900, the X360 comes with a 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9300 processor, a 120GB hard drive, and 4GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, whereas the $2,500 model steps up to a 1.4GHz U9400 chip and a 128GB solid-state drive, or twice the storage space of the Apple Air selling for $2,600.

For those who need a little more screen real estate, the X460 bumps up to a 14.1-inch display while adding in discrete graphics (GeForce 9200M GS 256MB) and a DVD burner. Like its slightly smaller sibling, the X460 will come in two flavors. The $1,700 version buys a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P3750 processor and 250GB hard drive space, or pony up $100 more for a 2.26GHz P8400 chip and a 320GB hard drive.

E-tailers will start carrying the new lineup in mid-November.

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mobile, notebook, laptop, samsung, ultraportable

Posted 10/15/08 at 07:28:11 AM by Pulkit Chandna

In a desperate bid to invite attention, or so it appears, little known Danish PC manufacturer Zepto has claimed that its Nox A14 notebook is the fastest 14-inch notebook in the world.

The notebook is available in various configurations with the base version featuring a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB DDR2 memory, 6-cell battery, a DVD drive and 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive. The Nox A14 includes a Nvidia Geforce 9600M GT graphics card with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory, which can be easily upgraded later as it utilizes the Nvidia MXM platform.

The top-end variant of the Nox A14 is outfitted with a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8 GB of DDR2 memory, 128 GB SSD, Blu-ray and 9-cell battery. The “fastest 14-inch notebook in the world” is only available in Europe at the moment with prices beginning at $1450.

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notebook, OEM, europe, zepto, nox a14, 14-inch, fastest notebook

Posted 10/09/08 at 07:40:52 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The largest and second largest PC manufacturers in the world, HP and Dell respectively, haven’t taken an instant liking to WiMax it seems. The launch of the first commercial WiMax network in Baltimore, earlier this month, inspired OEMs Acer, Aspire, Lenovo and Toshiba to launch WiMax-enabled notebooks. However, Dell and HP did not rush to take advantage of the launch.

All said, a few models in Dell’s Latitude E series of notebooks are equipped with WiMax, a fact that Dell highlighted - almost as a reminder - after the launch of Sprint’s XOHM WiMax service in Baltimore. But a spokesperson for the company went onto state that Dell has no plans of launching more WiMax-enabled notebooks in the near future.

Moving to the largest PC supplier HP, even though the company is testing WiMax it has no immediate plans of offering support for the technology in its notebooks. It has asked its customers to explore the option of purchasing WiMax enabled PC card, USB dongle or ExpressCard, if they are keen on using WiMax. Dell and HP want to wait until WiMax becomes available in other major cities.

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notebook, dell, hp, asus, lenovo, Sprint, hardware, Acer, wimax, baltimore, xohm

Posted 10/08/08 at 01:30:12 PM by Paul Lilly

The era of quad-core mobile gaming draws closer as Asus gears up to release its G71 gaming notebook. Quad-core processors in notebooks are nothing new, but the G71 will use a true mobile quad-core CPU, specifically the Intel QX9300.

The 17-inch notebook uses a GeForce 9700M GT videocard with 512MB of GDDR3 RAM to push gaming pixels on the display's 1920x1200 resolution. Users can configure up to 4GB of DDR3-1066 memory, and on the non-volatile storage front, up to two 500GB hard drives for a total of 1TB. In other words, it will be a long time before you have to decide between installing a new game or storing porn.

Other features include a 2MP webcam, secondary keyboard display so you can keep an eye on your MSN Messenger IMs while gaming, optional Blu-ray drive, HDMI, eSATA, and everything else you'd expect to find on a modern high-end laptop.

Pricing and availability have not yet been announced, but did we mention it comes with a quad-core processor?

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games, gaming, mobile, notebook, laptop, asus, quad-core, Videogames, g71

Posted 10/01/08 at 02:45:32 PM by Paul LIlly

Battery life isn't just the bane of desktop replacements, but even moderately spec'd notebooks aren't immune from woefully short runs before requiring a recharge. And while HP has laid claim to breaking the 24-hour battery barrier, by and large we're simply not at the point of seeing extraordinary long battery life as a way of mobile life.

That doesn't mean headway isn't being made, and Toshiba thinks it can give traditional Li-Ion batteries a run for its money. Toshiba's calling its prototype the Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB), which is being designed for notebooks. And by Super Charge, Toshiba says SCiB is capable of recharging up to 90 percent in just 10 minutes or less.

Still not impressed? Not only does SCiB hold the potential for wicked fast recharge times, but its said to both last longer and endure more charging cycles when compared to today's lithium-ion batteries. And it's not even close. Whereas lithium-ion batteries can be expected to last 500 charging cycles on average, Toshiba says its SCiB technology will last anywhere between 5000 to 6000 recharges.

Too good to be true?

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Posted 10/01/08 at 12:20:05 PM by Paul Lilly

By our own admission, MacBooks aren't half bad. In Maximum PC's Apple's Notebooks Take On the PC Competition, Apple's MacBook walked away as best-in-class in the professional segment, much to the dismay of the PC faithful. But that doesn't mean we're willing to squeeze our wallet dry to own one.

On average, you can expect to pay twice as much on an Apple PC versus a Vista computer. And people are doing just that. Windows PCs still dominate the lion's share of the market at 80 percent, but Apple continues to cling to a respectable 20 percent slice of the pie. Making its piece even more savory, Apple's making over 35 percent of the revenue share. Think about that. Despite claiming one-fifth of the market, Apple's cashing in on over a third of the revenue.

These numbers come courtesy of the latest NPD sales information, but some feel that Apple has done as well as it ever will at the current price point. Joe Wilcox from eWeek writes, "What's next? I predict that Apple's grab for dollars has gone about as far as it can, without price cuts. Apple's higher prices buck industry trends."

That may be the case, but can trendy hipsters be expected to buck the trend of overpaying?

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Posted 10/01/08 at 10:49:02 AM by Paul Lilly

Dell last week said it planned to make a major push in outfitting all of its notebooks with LED backlighting by the end of 2011, which not only represents a step towards being green, but will have customers saving green to the tune of $20 million based on a 220 million kilowatt-hour reduction. That's good news for all involved, and it gets even better if other OEMs jump on board, and it appears they are.

Citing "market watchers," DigiTimes reports that LED backlighting will make headway anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of the notebook market in 2009. Overall penetration for 2008 has been much less at 10 percent, but Dell and other big name notebook vendors have put an increased emphasis on LED-backlight models resulting in a strong 15 percent penetration in the fourth quarter. Momentum is expected to carry over to next year and beyond.

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Posted 09/26/08 at 09:40:35 AM by Paul Lilly

S3 Graphics, now a joint venture with VIA Technologies, will look to capitalize on the mini-notebook frenzy with a triple play of low wattage videocards under its Chrome 400 Ultra Low Power (ULP) mobile GPU series. The Chrome 430 ULP, 435 ULP, and 440 ULP all support DirectX 10.1, potentially making them competitive alternatives to ATI's line of GPUs. The company's ChromotionHD technology also comes as part of the package, allowing for high definition playback without stressing the CPU. S3 also says its new GPUs will process sophisticated algorithms and power control mechanisms to extend battery life.

On the lowest end, the 430 ULP sips less than 7 watts. While specifics weren't given for the two higher models, S3 claims the 435 ULP and 440 ULP will outperform competitor products by over 40 and 60 percent respectively.

S3 says its mobile graphics are available now, but didn't mention any notebook OEM customers other than Fujitsu.

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graphics, mobile, notebook, laptop, gpu, ultraportable, s3