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: General
- Date: Feb 4,2011
If you’ve seen our Hong Kong feature from awhile back, then you would’ve already heard about my favorite gadget hangout Sham Shui Po.
By chance, my post-flight stroll in said district yesterday coincided with Apliu Street’s Chinese New Year flea market, which featured many vintage items like jade figurines, paintings, jewelry, video tapes, vinyl records, etc.
Naturally, what really caught my attention were the old gadgets that were literally piled up along the street, and from just HK$30 (US$3.85), you could easily pick up an old classic such as a Sony Clié, an HP iPaq, a WonderSwan Color, an original GameBoy, a MiniDisc player, or even a proper old school laptop or camera.
Hell, some guy even had a couple of Nintendo Micro VS Systems (Donkey Kong Hockey and Boxing)! 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: 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
What if we told you there was a way to have the svelteness and power of Dell’s $1,500 Adamo for less than half the price? You’d be interested, right?
That’s exactly why we’ve been trying to get a Dell Vostro V13 in-hand since its launch a few months ago. Besides starting at $449 – our unit’s configuration rings up at a higher $844 — the less-than-an-inch-thick, aluminum clad Vostro V13 promises five hours of battery life and good-enough everyday performance.
Sure, it was created for small business types, but its blend of style, performance and price had us convinced that it could be the best ULV laptop out there. Ah, but is it? We’ll tell you everything you want to know after the jump in our full review. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Feb 9,2010
What do you do if your netbooks are starting to look so last season? Well if you’re ASUS, you hire a leading industrial designer like Karim Rashid to revamp it, of course. The Eee PC 1008P’s snazzy new design and removable battery certainly caught our eye at CES, but now so is its $499 pricetag.
Positioned as a designer netbook, the 1008P is a mixed bag of specs — it has got the now-typical Intel Atom N450 processor, boasts 2GB of RAM and larger 320GB hard drive, as well as a disappointingly small three-cell battery. So, are the 1008P’s slimmer body and eye-catching design enough to make you shell out $100 more than the typical netbook?
And how does the the smaller capacity battery compare to the $380 Eee PC 1005PE’s that lasts for eight hours on a charge? Follow on past the break for some answers. Read the rest of this entry »
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Feb 9,2010
Fujitsu’s stylish little Lifebook MH380′s just popped up over on the company’s site for sale. The 10.1-inch, Pine Trail Atom N450-boasting netbook’s specs include 2GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, built-in Bluetooth, six-cell battery and a 1366×768 resolution screen.
It also seems to be available in brown, white, black, and red — though the only one that seems to be available to buy on Fujitsu’s site as of now is the Glossy Red model. Let us know when that cute little brown number’s up for grabs and we’ll probably be back.
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Feb 9,2010
Back in the beginning of December, when Dell outed its business-oriented, 17-inch Precision M6500 laptop, it boasted some pretty meaty specs: Core i7 CPU, up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, a choice of ATI FirePro M7740 or NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M graphics chips, plus support for up to three storage devices, and a 1920×1200 LED-backlit display.
Well, it’s added some new configuration options today, including USB 3.0 and a Core i5 processor, making this one bad boy all around.
There’s no word on the pricing yet, but the previously available Core i7 configuration runs around $2,700. We’ll let you know when we find out what these new options will cost you.
- Author: admin
- Filed under: Laptops
- Date: Feb 3,2010
Hey there, what’s this little surprise? Sony’s colorful VAIO E Series laptops have arrived to cheer us up — and it looks like they’re going to do the trick, we have to tell you.
These 15.5-inchers come in a wide range of colors, and you can mix and match lid and keyboard shades, if you dare. Inside, you get a 2.13GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a DVD burner and a 500GB hard drive. A Core i5 version is also right around the corner.
You can pre-order one of these bad boys now for shipping in March — but it’ll cost you about $800. Hit the read link to check them out. There’s one more shot after the break. Read the rest of this entry »
