Tuesday, August 11, 2009
In a presumed effort to shake up the Japanese wireless industry and provide consumers with 3G-equipped PCs that aren't tied to multi-year contracts, Hewlett-Packard has quietly announced a deal with Japan Communications that will allow its machines to be sold with SIM cards that can be used on a pay-as-you-go basis. For those unaware, JCI leases network space from NTT DoCoMo, and as part of the agreement, HP will not only get to choose which devices can connect, but it'll get to keep a nice slice of the mobile data revenue as well. Here's the crazy part: the initial wave of netbooks will be sold for between $50 and $100 sans contract. That's about what users pay in America now for subsidized WWAN-ready netbooks, but there's a two-year contract tagging along. If all goes well, we could even see full-sized laptops, smartphones and digital cameras hop on the same bandwagon, but for now, we'll be keenly watching how brisk sales are when things kick off next month.Monday, May 18, 2009
Spanish electronics company iUnika has recently rolled out four new netbooks including several solar powered models. These solar-powered models are perfect for those who like to use eco-friendly gadgets since they feature plastic cases made of biodegradable starch and cellulose. Weighing at only 700 grams (about 1.5 pounds), iUnika netbooks feature a 400MHz MIPS processor, a 7-inch (800 x 480) pixel LCD display and run on Linux operating system. You can buy these green netbooks for around $177 to $218 each.
Toshiba has exclusively launched the Dynabook Satellite TXW/67JW on its e-Store. The notebook is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz CPU with an Intel GM45 Express chipset, a 4GB RAM, a 16-inch 1,366 x 768 resolution LCD display, a 320GB hard drive, a DVD Super Multi drive, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The Toshiba Dynabook Satellite TXW/67JW retails for approx. $1,412 in Japan.Sunday, April 19, 2009
It's now officially been "confirmed" by "people close to the situation"... two of them in fact. Apple will release a touchscreen netbook by Fall 2009. Doing so would go against everything they've stated publicly to date, but I think I've figured out how they'll get around that.Digitimes got this party started on Monday by reporting that the Commercial Times said "Wintek will supply touch panels for Apple's new netbook, and shipments will start in the third quarter this year". Dow Jones got in on the party soon after, confirming the story with anonymous sources who they assure us are quite friendly with the "situation". The "monitor screens" will be "between 9.7-inches and 10-inches" and Quanta will be making the computers.
Of course, there are a few problems with this. First of all the second "close source" is either contradicting the first one or just being useless, having yielded up the telling quotation "specifications and functions are still under evaluation." Also, although this doesn't necessarily mean the story isn't accurate, Dow Jones is not where I go to get my reliable Apple news. But the biggest reason this doesn't make sense is Steve Job's famous line, "we don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk." Those are pretty strong words and Apple hasn't really backed off them since day one.
My conclusion? Netbooks are hot and Apple knows it. Just like Sony caved, so too will Apple in their own fashion. Now Jobs is right about that price point but I think I've guessed their workaround, and I'm putting my $799 off to the side now so I don't spend it before September.
The much hyped thin-and-light 13.4 inch Adamo laptop is now available for preorder from Dell, and it's officially a lot less exciting than we'd hoped for.
The starting price for the Adamo is $1,999 and for that you get an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV at 1.2GHz, 2GB of 800MHz DDR3 memory, a 128GB solid state drive, and a genuine copy of Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit. Oh joy. And graphics are delivered by the mediocre Intel GM45 chip.
Sure, this is a luxury laptop and it’s arguably good looking, but put it next to its rival – the MacBook Air, also a luxury model – and it immediately pales in comparison. It also weighs 4 pounds, a pound more than the Air, which is a lot when comparing ultraportables.
Even in the best of economic climates it would be hard to sell this laptop, but right now it should prove damn near impossible. To continue the MBA comparison, the Apple ultraportable is also available with an SSD and uses more powerful 1.6GHz and 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo’s from Intel, and also has the much more capable Nvidia chipset.
Logitech has introduced two new ways to improve your general laptop using experience. If you've ever experienced overheating or had back issues from constantly staring at the screen at a bad height, these could be helpful accessories.Logitech has introduced two new items - the Cooling Pad N100 and the Notebook Riser N110.
Many laptops both current and old are prone to overheating, especially during heavier use when the fans are forced to kick in. The Cooling Pad N100 is a USB-powered fan which distributes air evenly and quietly underneath the notebook. The fan is ultra low-powered to have minimal impact on battery life. The design features comfortable waves so that it will feel good on your lap too.
If you spend hours of every day peering into a laptop screen, you have probably wished at some point that you had an external monitor so you could raise it up and actually look straight into your display rather than looking down into it. A less costly solution is just to get a notebook riser like the N110. It has three tilt angles (20, 30, 40 degrees) so that you can raise your notebook's display to an ideal viewing level. Sit with your head up, shoulders set back and eyes looking straight ahead. To use it for more than watching movies you will need an external mouse and keyboard though, since the angle is better for viewing than typing.
Both of these accessories are suitable for PCs or Macs up to 15.4" in size, and will cost you $29.99.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Based on data from computer repair and support company Rescuecom, there’s been a slight shuffle at which company produces the least troublesome computers.
At the end of 2008, Apple had secured the lead with the fewest number of service calls, but has since been overtaken by Asus and IBM/Lenovo both companies were listed together, perhaps due overlap from older ThinkPads.
Asus and IBM/Lenovo shared the top spot, with the rest in ranked order being Apple, Toshiba, Acer and HP/Compaq.
Rescuecom calculated PC reliability scores based on a sample of over 15,000 servce calls throughout the quarter.
Rescuecom does note in its data that Asus started shipping a new version of its Eee netbook in September 2008, making its shipping numbers skyrocket in the last few months of the year, yet the repair company received a disproportionately small number of calls to its support line for help with this product.
"The results are in, and although Asus is the leader this quarter with a reliability score of 972, Asus's reliability score should be taken with a grain of salt, even though it was more than 600 points ahead of IBM/Lenovo. We look forward to seeing if Asus is able to maintain the same demand and reliability over the coming quarters," says David A. Milman, Rescuecom's founder and CEO.
Rescuecom's next report, which may reveal evidence of whether or not Asus sustains its reliability momentum, is due out next quarter.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wow, this upcoming laptop from Dell looks so gorgeous. Called ‘Adamo‘, the notebook seems to be the most stylish machine to date. It is also now the world’s thinnest laptop, breaking MacBook Air record, with less than an inch thick (0.65-inch to be precise). The hardware configuration are not disappointing either with a combination of a 1.2Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 2GB of RAM, a 128GB of Solid State Disk (SSD), a 13.4-inch LCD screen with 16:9 aspect ratio, WiFI, Bluetooth, and an optional integrated mobile broadband. All placed inside an aluminium chassis and a scalloped backlit keyboard. Once again, wow!Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Australian company, Kogan introduces the Agora 10-inch netbook PC, that has the same name as the Android phone. Based on the MSI Wind, there’s othing to surprise about the netbook. It is powered by an Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive. It has a 3-cell battery
There is also the Agora Pro with 2GB RAM and a 6-cell battery. There run the gOS and are priced at AUD$499 and AUD$549.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
This is VAINO, aka COOLVAIO, is a netbook that clones Sony’s VAIO P. In terms of physical dimensions, this VAINO, measuring 250 x 185 x 31mm, is more close to a standard netbok than the VAIO P.
The VAINO is powered by an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. You can find a 10.2-inch LCD display and a 1.3 Megapixel webcam, together with support for WiFi 802.11b/g. The VAINO COOLVAIO runs Windows XP. It weighs 1.3kg.
The VAINO is priced at just 2599 Chinese Yuan.
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Toshiba adds three new models to its Portégé M750 tablet PC lineup, including the Portege M750-S7211, Portege M750-S7212 and Portege M750-S7213. All these tablet PCs have similar configurations except the processor. They have 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, 160GB hard drive, a 12.1-inch LED Backlit LCD WXGA Display supporting Digital Pen, fingerprint reader and WiFi 802.11a/g/n.
The Portege M750-S7211 includes a Core 2 Duomag-glass_10x10 Laptop : Toshiba Portege M750 line has three new models T6570 2.1GHz processor, the Portege M750-S7212 gets the P8600 2.4GHz and Portege M750-S7213 has the T9400 2.5GHz. The M750-S7212 and M750-S7213 are more advanced models offering a DVD SuperMulti DL burner, Bluetooth, and integrated webcam. All of them have an eSATA/USB combo port.
Toshiba’s new Portege M750 models are priced at $1,279, $1699 and $1799 respectively. These tablets all get the EPEAT Gold status for energy efficiency.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Acer has confirmed the availability of a 10.1-inch Aspire One netbook. The netbook comes with a widescreen LED backlit display (1024×600 pixels), an Intel Atom processor, up to 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and an optional 6-cell battery for up to to 7 hours of operation on a single charge. The Windows XP-powered netbook is based on the Mobile Intel 945GSE/82801GBM chipset. Other features include a built-in webcam, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, optional 3G or WiMAX broadband connection, and a multi-in-one media card reader.
The new Satellite Pro S300-EZ1511 business notebook model for $529 at Toshiba Direct. The 15.4-inch (1280×800) laptop features the Intel Pentium T3400 processor running at 2.1GHz, GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics, 1GB of DDR2 memory, a 120GB hard drive, and a DVD burner. Other features include 802.11 b/g wireless LAN, Gigabit Ethernet, a 56k modem, three USB ports, an eSATA/USB combo port, PC Card slot, DVI-D video output, Firewire, 6-in-1 media card reader, and Serial port.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Toshiba launches new Satellite A350-ST3601 notebook, the latest member of the A350 series. The Satellite A350-ST3601 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 processor, 4GB of RAM, integrated GMA 4500MHD video chipset and 400GB hard drive.
Toshiba’s A350-ST3601 has a 16-inch 1366×768 LCD displaymag-glass_10x10 Toshiba Satellite A350-ST3601 Notebook PC, a DVD+/-R DL burner, built-in harman/kardon stereo speakers, a 5-in-1 card reader and an eSATA/USB2.0 combo port. It supports WiFi 802.11a/g/n.
Toshiba Satellite A350-ST3601 notebook is priced at $749.
