So you’re hopping on a flight and you sit next to a sexy member of the opposite sex. You’ve got to get some work done so you whip out your nasty laptop, a fat and ugly IT department-supplied monstrosity (probably from Dell or HP). Your seatmate looks over, idly contemplating your potential as a lifemate, and sees your junk laptop and starts reading the Skymall catalog. After all, laptop makers for years have been saying that a persons value as a genetic donor is wrapped up in the look and feel of their hardware.
That’s right: if you don’t buy something from the Dell Vostro 3000-series, you will die alone. → Read More
What’s least energy efficient part of your laptop? The LCD, correct. What are your options? Stop using computers? I would if I could, believe me. Or, you could be a little adventurous and try to swap out the LCD with another, more energy efficient one. Sort of like hammering a nail with a sledgehammer, yes. → Read More
Touchscreen keyboard sentiment can be divided into two camps: those who don’t mind it and those who can’t do without a physical keyboard. If you’re part of the first camp, you may be excited to hear that Acer might just be working on a notebook so thin that it uses a frameless screen and touch keyboard, according to DigiTimes. → Read More
What is it with the last three letters of the alphabet? Why aren’t the letters STU more popular? We have the Sony Z-series and now what amounts to the LG X-series. Anyway, this wee laptop is only 17.5mm thick and weighs 2 pounds, which makes it considerably smaller than the Z-series. Standard specs: a 2GHz processor, 11.6-inch screen, and a 1.3-megapixel webcame. X-citing! No US availability right now. It is, as so many things are, Asia-only. → Read More
The infinity pools of the computing industry, frameless laptop screens are expected in the second or third quarter of this year, according to DigiTimes. → Read More
Short Version: A tiny-but-mighty universal adapter that can power most full-sized laptops. → Read More
Kudos, I guess, to Asus, being the first manufacturer to incorporate Nvidia’s Optimus technology into actual products. The Taiwan-based company has announced five laptops (note: I refuse to use the term “notebook” when referring to laptops; I think the name “netbook” is dumb, too, so at least I’m consistent) that range in size from 13.3 inches to 17.3 inches, all of which use Optimus. “What is Optimus?” I’m glad you asked! It switches between the Nvidia GPU and the Intel integrated GPU as the situation warrants. So, using Firefox? Let the Intel handle it. Playing World of Warcraft? Nvidia takes over. It’s not too hard to understand. → Read More
Everyone’s all excited about that Freescale gizmo, but it looks like it may have competition. The Lenovo U1 has a similar convertible design, though with a slightly more rounded look. It’s also different in function: when docked, it runs Windows 7 on the dock’s low-power Intel processor, but once detached it uses an ARM CPU to run a lightweight Linux distro.
Not sure how it’s going to handle the segue if you’ve got work in progress and need to dock it, but I’m sure Lenovo has that handled. → Read More
This is an interesting development. The latest Vaios leaked out a little while ago, and for the most part they were what one would expect: improved performance, better battery life, that sort of thing. But there’s an interesting feature that wasn’t on the leaked spec list (and isn’t confirmed to be, either): a “quad” SSD composed of four SSD drives working together in RAID 0.
If the chipset and other hardware are designed with something like this in mind, it really could be extremely fast. → Read More
The 1.5-pound, half-inch thick Sony VAIO X Series notebook is easily one of the most impressive portable computers I’ve seen in quite some time. I can’t convey how light it is. It seems to defy logic. My brain doesn’t understand that it’s seeing my hand hold up an 11.1-inch notebook that weighs less than half of what most other notebooks its size weigh. → Read More
What else do you have to do this morning? I mean think about it: there’s maybe a cup of coffee waiting for you in the break room and maybe someone brought some donuts. It’s the holidays. Who is doing anything today? Not you, that’s for sure. So sit back, take off your tie, and watch some dude open the Kohjinsha DZ dual screen laptop. You can thank me nine minutes from now when you come out of this video a better person. → Read More
Short Version: The Deimos is the latest addition to BFG’s new line of computers. Intended as specialist gaming machine, the Deimos is big, beautiful, and very fast. Heat, bulk, and short battery life are to be expected from a gaming laptop, and aside from those it provides an excellent experience. → Read More
Acer’s new 18.4-inch AS8940G-6865 is a desktop replacement. And by “desktop replacement” I mean that you could attach four legs to it and use it as your desk. It’s big, is what I’m trying to say. Don’t actually attach legs to it, but I guess take with you the impression that this is a large laptop. Also, it’s powerful, so keep that in mind as well. → Read More
Oh, right, 3D laptops. I almost forgot. If you like 3D so much that you want to have it with you wherever you go, then 3D laptops may or may not soon be all the rage. No need to wait, though, as Acer’s 15.6-inch Aspire 5738DG will be available this week. → Read More
Here’s a quick look at the new MacBook. Look for a full review later this evening. → Read More
We’ll have more on this little gem this week but I present to you the HP Envy 13, the first netbook notebook (HP is citing the heavy-duty Core 2 Duo processor in there) I’d actually consider buying. It hit 2813 on Geekbench, lasted about three hours on one charge, and is smaller and lighter than a MacBook. Best of all it runs Windows 7 Professional like a champ and has HP’s instant-on technology for quick media and communications applications. Hot, hot stuff. Click through for a gallery and expect a review on Friday. → Read More
Oh my God is that the HP Pavilion dv3, complete with a fancy touchscreen? Oh my God it is! And is that the Engadget watermark? Oh my God it is! Man those guys are crazy! → Read More
Deftly dodging the netbook moniker, Toshiba has announced its line of Satellite T100 ultra low voltage machines. They’ll be available on October 22nd with 11.6-inch or 13.3-inch displays and over nine hours of battery life. → Read More
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