Come on, you knew this was coming! Oh yes, Apple’s pulling the curtain off its new MacBook Pro family, and compared to the last refresh cycle, there are a serious amount of updates.
Just as we had heard, all three will be getting new Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD 6000M graphics (bye bye, NVIDIA!), FaceTime HD cameras, and some super fast Thunderbolt I/O transfer speeds.
There are two new 13-inchers, two 15.4-inch versions, and one lone 17-inch model. How much will they cost you and what are the exact specs? You’ll want to hit the jump for all of that and the official press release.
Aesthetically, the new Macbook Pro models don’t seem to be have been altered all that much — they’re still the aluminum unibody machines we know and love. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Jan 31,2011
Notbook (n.) — An affordable ultraportable laptop, typically with a 11.6-inch or 12-inch display that is not a netbook. It packs more power than a netbook (i.e. can handle 1080p video and Flash at fullscreen) and provides a more comfortable computing experience than the typical, 10-inch underpowered, shrunken Atom-based laptop.
Most do not have optical drives, but do last for over five hours on a charge. Unlike pricey ultraportable laptops, notbooks are more affordable and start at around $400.
About six months ago, the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z arrived on my doorstep for review. The AMD Neo-powered system looked like a slightly enlarged netbook, but in a briefing with Dell, the product manager reinforced quite a few times that the system was absolutely “not a netbook.”
I can’t remember his exact wording, but he made it crystal clear — the $449 Inspiron M101z was so much more powerful than an Intel Atom netbook that it could be one’s primary machine. Obviously, I started calling these sorts of laptops “notbooks,” and over the next few months, more and more of them started popping up. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Jan 31,2011
It’s been a long time since we used a laptop that had a monochromatic display — it was a giant white block of a thing that is not missed — but flip around just about every laptop we use today and you find a backside that stubbornly refuses to change color no matter the light that hits it. Is that a problem?
Not really, we think it’s quite fine since we’re not often staring at that bit, but for Toshiba such tedium simply won’t do, so it’s introducing the Dynabook Qosmio T750 with a color-shifting lid.
Turn it in the light and it shifts and shimmers, just like the chameleon paint tuners have been using on custom rides for decades.
Here, though, we’re told it’s done with multiple layers of film, no paint at all. Oh, the inside? A 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB of DDR 3 memory, and a 15.6-inch, 1366 x 768 display that’s LED backlit — which is also capable of displaying multiple colors, in case you’re interested.
Samsung has sought to take market share from all manner of iProducts over the years, and it seems the company is now shooting to steal Apple’s MacBook thunder in 2011.
Sammy sold ten million laptops in 2010 — only 150,000 less than Jobs & Co. through the first nine months of the year — and purportedly plans to move between sixteen and seventeen million portable machines in 2011.
That is a massive increase in sales, but if the Korean company’s 9 Series is an indication of what’s to come, we can’t say it’s a completely unrealistic goal.
Whether they move more product than Apple is still to be determined, but given its record Q4 earnings, there’s no indication that the Cupertino crowd will be slowing down any time soon. Game on, fellas.
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Jan 9,2011
Acer has made something very clear here at CES — it’s going to enter the tablet market much like it entered the netbook one, with lots of options. In addition to the Android tablets (it’s got 4.8-, 7-, and 10-inch versions) and the dual-screen Iconia, the company will be bringing its 10.1-inch Windows 7 tablet to the US market for about $550 in the coming months.
Just as we had heard, the tablet will use AMD’s Fusion platform and will come with a keyboard dock. We got a chance to check out the whole package and the dock / tablet fit together in a unique fashion — the tablet and keyboard are surrounded by magnetic borders that latch onto each other.
When you pull ‘em apart you can attach the tablet via USB to the keyboard or just use it on its own. The whole attachment mechanism felt very flimsy on the two units we saw at the show and the entire thing felt very top heavy when docked. The chiclet keyboard is different from Acer’s typical variety, but we really like the addition of the pointing stick in the center for navigating Windows 7. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Oct 24,2010
We are looking for people to try, test and keep a new Dell XPS Laptop in the color of your choice! (Participation required. See below for details.)
Laptop Features:
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 2.53GHz
- Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium
- 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM
- 500GB Hard Drive
- Blu-ray Drive
8 out of 10 customers would recommend the Dell Studio XPS to a friend, so don’t miss your chance to experience the ultimate mobile freedom with a lighter design and longer battery life.
- Author: adryana
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Jul 1,2010
Mini LCD display laptop is consuming most of the battery. So what would you change it with one that simply consuming less? The folks at Pixel Qi, which produces technology with the same name, are planning to soon offer users kits “DIY with Pixel Qi displays that they can buy and then you can install on netbooks own sites instead of normal LCDs.
Pixel Qi can provide more autonomy mini laptop batteries because Pixel Qi LCD display consumes between one quarter and half of the energy needed for a normal LCD. Basically, these displays can operate both as a normal LCD and as an e-paper. Black and white mode e-paper saves much energy, are clearly visible in sunlight and a special feature, run videos. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Mar 30,2010
With specs and prices easily reaching into the stratosphere, we weren’t quite sure where Dell’s new 15-inch Precision M4500 workstation would land — the 17-inch M6500 has a starting price of $1,799, but that’s only after $310 of “instant savings.”
Well, it looks like we’re getting off (relatively) easy with the M4500, with a Core i5-520M 2.5GHz model running for $1,549 and still managing to pack in those NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M Graphics.
Of course, we imagine you’ll quickly be running up that bill — 2GB of slow RAM, a 1366 x 768 LCD, and no WiFi just aren’t going to cut it — but with tempting options like a secondary 64GB SSD minicard drive and the ever-frivilous Precision ON, it’s not like we were sticking near that base price anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Mar 30,2010
Ever since we first met Lenovo’s ThinkPad X100e at CES we’ve had it on a virtual pedestal as the perfect solution between a netbook and a larger 13- or 14-inch ULV ultraportable.
That’s because in addition to carrying the renowned ThinkPad brand, its AMD Neo processor / ATI graphics combo promise more power than the typical Intel Atom N450-powered netbook, and with an 11.6-inch screen the chassis can accommodate a wider keyboard and touchpad.
Sounds like the perfect mobile computer, right? Unfortunately, there are two things that hold the $549 X100e from being all we wanted it be. Thought we were going to give it up that easily? Pssh. Hit that read more link for the full review. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Mar 17,2010
Let’s face it. Size does matter. However, in the 21st century, smaller is definitely better when it comes to certain gadgets such as our laptops.
Here’s a rundown of a few notebooks that are guaranteed to be easy on your back, and extremely easy to carry anywhere you need to go. They are actually pretty power packed, much more so than a netbook or UMPC.
These are the 10 Thinnest and Lightest laptops on the planet. Read the rest of this entry »
