http://laptops-reviews.com en-us http://laptops-reviews.com N/A thuram0401@yahoo.com Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:53:37 WIT 20 http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/323/1/HP-Slips-Intel%26%2339%3Bs-Penryn-Processor-into-Consumer-Laptops HP has quietly rolled out the latest Intel mobile processor family, code named Penryn, into their Pavilion dv2700t, Pavilion dv6700t and Pavilion dv9700t consumer targeted notebooks.If you visit HPShopping.com now and go to the configuration screen you will get an option for selecting an Intel T9300 2.50GHz Core 2 Duo processor.  The  comes from the latest Core 2 Duo line of Penryn processors and offers a larger 6MB L2 cache and about a 10% performance boost over the equivalent Santa Rosa processor.  HP is one of the first major vendors to offer Intel's Penryn in a mainstream non-gaming notebook, Dell is notably absent from having Penryn available in any of its laptops at the moment. laptop reviews Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/320/1/Seagate-Momentus-5400-PSD-Hybrid-HDD Seagate Momentus 5400 PSD Hybrid HDD Seagate has launched the Momentus 5400 PSD laptop-use hybrid hard drives, featuring 256MB of embedded Flash memory for faster boot-up and better system performance. "What you do is take a logical address of a hard disk drive - say, sector 0," Barnetson illustrated for us, "and rather than having it reside on magnetic media, you say it now resides on Flash media. Any operations that are done to it, whether they be read or write, are not so much cached as they are pinned, or physically moved from the magnetic media over to the Flash memory." A sector which contains frequently accessed files or other elements, such as a FAT table, could be pinned to Flash memory for faster read and write performance, he said. laptop reviews Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/319/1/Samsung-SPH-P9200-UMPC-Details-Revealed Samsung SPH-P9200 UMPC Details Revealed The leaked manual for the Samsung SPH-P9200 revealed the full specifications of this ultra-mobile PC device. The UMPC features a 5-inch 800×480 touch-sensitive display, a folding keyboard, a Via C7-M processor at 1GHz, 512MB of RAM, and a 30GB hard drive, and supports Wifi, Wibro and HSDPA networks, according to the manual. In January 2007 Samsung  showed the SPH-P9000 UMPC device which features Mobile WiMAX technology, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2007 in Las Vegas. Samsung SPH-P9000 also incorporates Windows XP operating system, and full QWERTY keyboard laptop reviews Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/318/1/Gateway-17-Inch-Notebooks-for-the-Holidays Gateway 17-Inch Notebooks for the Holidays Gateway, Inc. today unveiled the P-6301 and P-6822 17-inch entertainment notebook PCs, which will be sold through retail stores this holiday season. According to the press release, the P-6301 and P-6822 have wireless LAN connection, three USB ports, and a 5-in-1 media card reader, while the P-6822 additionaly incorporates an HDMI connector, and an 1.3-megapixel web camera. Gateway's P-Series meets the budget and performance needs of a wide range of consumers thanks to 17-inch widescreen Ultrabright displays, Intel Pentium Dual Core and Centrino Duo processors, integrated graphics, a gigabyte of memory, and plenty of hard drive storage space. These P-Series multimedia laptops weigh 8.34 pounds with a standard six-cell battery and come with laptop reviews Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/317/1/Fujitsu-LifeBook-V1010-Budget-Laptop Fujitsu LifeBook V1010 Budget Laptop Fujitsu today announced the affordable LifeBook V1010. Starting at less than $800 and delivering the performance and reliability usually associated with higher-priced LifeBook models, Fujitsu claims the LifeBook V1010 notebook "eliminates the need to sacrifice quality for a lower price." The basic Fujitsu LifeBook V1010 configuration features the Intel Pentium Dual-Core T2130 processor at 1.86GHz, 1GB of DDR2 system memory, a 120GB hard drive, a DVD burner, and the Intel GMA 950 integradted graphics, managing the 15.4″ widescreen display with 1280-by-800 resolution. Customers can also purchase the V1010 with the Core 2 Duo Processor T5200 at 1.6 Ghz and 2GB of RAM for an additional $100. laptop reviews Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/316/1/Asus-miniBook-Ee-PC Asus miniBook Ee PC In conjunction with education body RM it has announced the 'miniBook', an ultra small, ultra affordable laptop designed for basic computer functionality such as composing documents, sending and receiving emails and searching the web. I also suspect this may in fact be Asus' Eee PC in its final form - though I have heard no official confirmation yet from the company. In the United States, the Eee PC is available for preorder through the AllASUS website. The retailer claims it will start shipping these 7-inch Intel-based laptops in early October. laptop reviews Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/313/1/Windows-Vista-Gets-New-Performance-Stability-Patch Windows Vista Gets New Performance & Stability Patch Love it or hate it, Windows Vista is here to stay as the default operating system for those buying PC laptops on the market today. We all know Vista requires more hardware power, such as 2GB of RAM being almost a necessity to get decent performance, but are there Vista OS and software tweaks you can do to improve performance without buying better hardware laptop reviews Tue, 09 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/312/1/Toshiba-New-Hand-Motion-Recognition-Technology Toshiba New Hand Motion Recognition Technology Toshiba has showcased at the CEATEC electronics show in Japan its technology for recognition of hand motions. It lets users control a DVD player without touching a mouse or keyboard. "The laptop-based technology runs on the company's new 'SpursEngine' chip, which can process motion detected by a camera and turn it into commands to control a DVD player. It's based on the same Cell chip design that powers Sony's PlayStation 3 gaming console," Associated Press reports, adding that the camera can detect hand motions from 10 feet away. According to AP, the 'SpursEngine' chip also can manipulate laptop reviews Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/311/1/Rock-Offer-HD-DVD-Fitted-Notebook-Ranges Rock Offer HD DVD Fitted Notebook Ranges Rock is definitely a company that thrives on its reputation as a dealer in high-end electronics products, as we have seen, so it may not surprise many to learn that in addition to all the high-end gaming components crammed into its systems, Rock is now adding high-def to the mix by including HD-DVD drives as standard across the Pegasus 670 and Xtreme 770 ranges. The last Rock notebook we reviewed was in fact the previous version of this Pegasus, the 330. Spode gave it eight out of ten right across the board but that was way back in June of last year and naturally technology has moved on a bit since then. So, will the new version still fly high or has the Pegasus had its wings clipped? While we've seen many manufacturers add the drives as an option, this is the first time we've seen the option removed, so to speak, and perhaps more to the point, without it adding significantly to the cost. laptop reviews Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/310/1/ASUS-Xonar-U1-USB-Audio-Device ASUS Xonar U1 USB Audio Device Asustek has introduced the ASUS Xonar U1 external USB audio device, aimed to provide laptop and desktop PC users with an improved audio experience. Obviously not having to scramble around inside a case is a great enhancement, while the specs don't appear to have taken too much of a hit either. "The Xonar U1 is an external USB audio device that improves the laptop or PC's underachieving audio by first eliminating electromagnetic interference (EMI) and noisy DC circuits inside the PC chassis. It then utilizes the high quality DAC (digital to analog convertor) to bring about crisp, clear music or gaming audio in the original flavor that was meant to be heard. The Xonar U1 provides a huge boost to PC gamers by supporting EAX and DirectSound HW acceleration for best gaming experience laptop reviews Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/309/1/Toshiba-updates-Satellite-Qosmio-series-with-new-laptops Toshiba updates Satellite, Qosmio series with new laptops   Toshiba is going Sony way by simultaneously announcing new models in already existing laptops line up. The firm today issued five press-release to let the world know about its latest updates. There's nothing too flashy, they've just bumped up configuration of Satellite and Qosmio Series notebooks. The models which benefited from todays updation are Satellite U305, P205, M205, A205 and Qosmio F45 (pictured above). All these models cater to different kind of users, so there's something for everyone. Media users can look up to Satellite P205 and Qosmio F45, while the people looking for value-for-money product can go for A205 and M205. And the U305 is an ultraportable for business users.  The available Toshiba Satellite M205-S3207, M200-ST2001, and M200-ST2002 models are priced at $949, $999, and $1,179 respectively. Toshiba Satellite M205-S3207, M200-ST2001, and M200-ST2002 laptop reviews Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/308/1/Gateway-One-at-DigitalLife Gateway One at DigitalLife Interesting thing about this machine is that its almost wire-free. The One requires only one cable, plus it uses wireless peripherals making your desktop more elegant. The 19-inch widescreen display provides 1400 x 900 resolution, 850:1 contrast ratio and less than 8ms response time. It also houses integrated speakers (based on NXT SoundVu technology) and a power button. As reported previously, it comes in three models -- two online and one retail. All of them includes dual layer DVD burner, up to 4GB RAM, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, TV Tuner, an infrared Media Center remote control, and Vista. laptop reviews Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/307/1/Gyration-M2000-Travel-Air-Mouse Gyration M2000 Travel Air Mouse Now you can lean back in your chair or on your couch while controlling your Windows desktop or navigating your media content in much the same way you use a television remote. The cool Wiimote like mouse is designed by Gyration for road warriors to give them "enhanced freedom and flexibility when performing mouse actions in the air." Its air-action is similar to Logitech's MX Air Mouse which was launched about two months ago. The M2000 Travel Air-Mouse uses UltraSense technology and works on a flat surface or in the air with a 100' range of wireless freedom. It lets you initiate any command with a flick of the wrist using Swipes technology and control volume, skip a song or launch a presentation special effect with a quick hand motion. This concept is actually good for couch potatoes as they can easily control their media (or any application for that matter) while sitting on a couch. laptop reviews Sat, 06 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/298/1/Panasonic-Thoughbook-Series-rugged-laptop-PC-Refreshed Panasonic Thoughbook Series rugged laptop PC Refreshed Panasonic has refreshed its Thoughbook rugged laptop PC series with four new models featuring the Intel "Santa Rosa" notebook platform and enhanced protection from drops and spills. The chassis is constructed from magnesium alloy and the result is a very light notebook considering its size. Panasonic has unveiled their new 7-series line of Toughbooks with models CF-R7, CF-W7, CF-T7, and CF-Y7. The specifications for the models are as follows; all feature the Intel 965GM series chipset, Intel X3100 integrated graphics, Intel 4965AGN wireless card, 1GB of RAM, an .... laptop reviews Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/297/1/MALIBAL-Announces-Nine-Series-Quad-Core-DTR-Notebook MALIBAL Announces Nine Series Quad Core DTR Notebook MALIBAL yesterday announced the release of its new Nine Series line of 17-inch desktop replacement notebooks (DTR), featuring Intel Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo Extreme desktop processors. The complete selection of Microsoft operating systems, including Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, is available when purchasing.The MALIBAL Nine Series is a big notebook that has correspondingly big power. Configurable with dual NVidia 7950 GTX graphic cards, three hard drives and an Intel Core 2 Extreme desktop processor the MALIBAL Nine Series is designed for those that simply want the fastest machine money can buy. "In addition, the Nine Series also holds three hard drives with up to 750GB of space with RAID 0/1/5 support, and Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series GPUs with DirectX 10 that deliver a fully optimized experience of Vista and all of the upcoming DX10-based games including Microsoft's hit Flight Simulator laptop reviews Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/292/1/Dell-XPS-M1730-Laptops-Launch-Delayed Dell XPS M1730 Laptops Launch Delayed The product specifications leaked from the Dell's official website say the XPS M1730 will be configurable with the Intel Core 2 Duo T7300 at 2GHz, T7500 at 2.2GHz, T7700 at 2.4GHz, and the Core 2 Extreme X7800 at 2.6GHz. All of these CPUs have 4MB of L2 cache and a 800MHz front side bus. There is no Core 2 Extreme X7900 option, which was expected to appear in Dell's new 17-inch widescreen gaming laptop. The notebook's TrueLife glossy display with 1920-by-1200 pixel resolution is managed by the NVIDIA GeForce Go 8700M GT 256MB dedicated video card in single or dual (SLI) configuration laptop reviews Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/291/1/Toshiba-Satellite-X205-Now-with-Dual-Graphics-Cards-SLI-Technology Toshiba Satellite X205 Now with Dual Graphics Cards SLI Technology Toshiba today announced the addition of NVIDIA SLI technology to its latest Satellite X205 gaming notebook series with an HD DVD drive designed for a mobile gaming and high-definition entertainment experience. The dual NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video cards in SLI mode are available in the Satellite X205-SLI1 and the Satellite X205-SLI3 configurations. In support of the Satellite X205-SLI launch, Toshiba plans to host a "Gears of War" tournament during this year's DigitalLife tradeshow in New York later this week. As part of Toshiba's commitment to HD DVD technology, the Satellite X205-SLI notebooks feature an HD DVD drive as part of the standard configuration. To complete the high definition experience, the Satellite X205-SLI incorporates a high-definition, 17-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite display. "Both models feature dual NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processing units (GPUs) with combined 512MB of dedicated video RAM and are compatible with Microsoft DirectX 10, ensuring that gamers can take full advantage of the cutting-edge graphics technology that are available within laptop reviews Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/283/1/The-Hello-Kitty-Laptop The Hello Kitty Laptop Hello Kitty's new laptop is a very cute device. Don't you think the kids are getting to become very demanding these days! And hence, the Hello Kitty pampers and spoils them by claiming one Epson laptop for their own. And now the Kitty Lovers can choose from two other A4 machines to exhibit their collection. Apart from going overboard with utter cuteness, the machines weigh 6.6 pounds and also include a 1.73GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1GB of RAM laptop reviews Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/280/1/Intel-Quad-Core-Notebook-Processor Intel Quad Core Notebook Processor Intel plans to launch a quad-core notebook CPU in the third quarter of 2008 according to a DigiTimes report. During the first half of next year Intel will launch eleven new 45nm processors. Specifications of the quad-core CPU include a 1066MHz front side bus, 12MB L2 cache, and 45W maximum TDP. Intel noted that most Montevina notebooks will not support the CPU; it will only be offered in Extreme versions, quad-core Penryn-based processors on its upcoming Montevina mobile platform. The new mobile quad-core processor features a 35 mm x 35 mm die in PGA packaging. The chip will drop into a Socket P infrastructure. laptop reviews Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/279/1/Intel-Santa-Rosa-Refresh-Montevina-Notebook-Platform Intel Santa Rosa Refresh Montevina Notebook Platform Intel has released more details about the upcoming Santa Rosa Refresh at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). The Refresh will include Penryn processors using 45nm technology and improved graphics. The Penryn processor will allow for more performance with increased efficiency. But Montevina isn't just bringing performance improvements, with the reduced package size of the 45nm processor, notebook motherboards can be reduced in size. This means that notebooks can also be made smaller and thinner. In fact Dadi indicated that the Montevina motherboard would be 60 per cent smaller than the current Santa Rosa board, while the new platform can also allow for notebooks that are 25 per cent slimmer. Montevina will utilize new chipsets dubbed Cantiga GM and PM, both replacing Crestline which laptop reviews Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/278/1/Alienware-notebooks-Offers-320GB-HDDs-in-Its-Laptops Alienware notebooks Offers 320GB HDDs in Its Laptops Alienware has started to offer single and dual Samsung 320GB hard drive configurations in RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes in the 17-inch Area-51 m9750 and Aurora m9700 notebooks, as well as a single Samsung 320GB configuration in the 15.4-inch Area-51 m5550 notebook."The Area-51 m9750 and Aurora m9700 are the laptop reviews Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/277/1/New-Sony-VAIO-FZ190-Maya-Hayuk-Edition-Laptops New Sony VAIO FZ190 Maya Hayuk Edition Laptops "Never Stop" design on the left and "Grow" design on the right The VAIO FZ190 has been given a new paint job in the form of two different art designs by New York City based artist Maya Hayuk. The two designs are called "Grow" and "Never Stop", you can see these rather funky designs below: These limited edition laptops, based on the 15.4-inch Sony VAIO FZ series, will be available in two designs - "Grow" and "Never Stop". laptop reviews Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/276/1/Nehalem-Micro-Architecture-Taped-out-and-Running-Windows Nehalem Micro Architecture Taped-out and Running Windows Intel at the IDF demonstrated a new generation of processors that step up performance while at the same time not require any additional power. CEO Paul Otellini said that the company plans to finish the new chips in 2H 2008. The new architecture has been codenamed Nehalem. It will have up to eight cores. Nehalem chief architect, Glen Hinton, tells the philosophy behind 731 million transistor, 45nm Nehalem is an extension of the approach to Penryn and 65nm Core 2 Duo processors: a universal, robust core design that will scale from mobile to server applications. "We wanted to build the highest performance per core that could be used in notebooks all the way to high end servers," stated Hinton. This year Intel will introduce the Penryn processor on November 12, which will be the first mainstream 45nm processor. The current standard is 65nm laptop reviews Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/274/1/Logitech-AudioHub-Notebook-Speaker-System Logitech AudioHub Notebook Speaker System Logitech Tuesday introduced the AudioHub Notebook Speaker System with Integrated USB Hub. It is a 2.1 speaker system with three built-in high-speed USB ports. The AudioHub is compact and should fit behind most notebooks. "The AudioHub combines a unique 2.1 one-piece speaker system and three integrated Hi-Speed USB ports in a compact design that fits neatly behind most notebooks," the company's press release says.Logitech claims exceptional audio quality thanks to an adjustable one-piece, three-chamber speaker system with an integrated subwoofer, providing solid lows and clear highs. The AudioHub has a mute button that mutes the volume without cutting off power to the hub. The Logitech's new product for laptops also provides three USB 2.0 ports, and a webcam stand. laptop reviews Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/273/1/HP-Pavilion-dv2600-Verve-Edition-Laptop-Arrive-this-Week HP Pavilion dv2600 Verve Edition Laptop Arrive this Week Hewlett-Packard will launch the HP Pavilion dv2600 14.1-inch customizable laptop this week, The HP dv2600 was featured this weekend at a tech show in Singapore. The dv2600 is basically the same as the currently available dv2500t notebook, but with the new Imprint Finish called "Verve". The "Verve" design, "inspired by the fluidity of life" and "laser-etched by an inlaid moulding process", has been already seen on the dv2550se (special edition) laptop, sold through BestBuy earlier this summer. laptop reviews Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/270/1/Asus-Offers-Notebook-Accidental-Damage-Warranty-for-Free Asus Offers Notebook Accidental Damage Warranty for Free All major laptop manufacturers offer a long menu of extended warranty options, each menu item with its own price tag. The two biggest components that factor into the cost of an extended warranty are duration and location. The standard (standard in this case meaning free) warranty on a new laptop typically runs anywhere from 90 days to a year. That probably doesn't seem like much when you consider how long you expect to own your laptop. What happens when your laptop poops out on the 91st day? laptop reviews Sat, 22 Sep 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/267/1/Mobile-Intel-Penryn-Core-2-Duos-Revealed Mobile Intel Penryn Core 2 Duos Revealed Intel's "Santa Rosa" platform gets a "Penryn" refresh before "Montevina" arrives. Info has been leaked about Intel's upcoming Penryn-based Core 2 Duo processors for the Santa Rosa refresh. The new processors have not been given names yet but their basic specifications are known. All four use the 800MHz Front Side Bus of the Santa Rosa platform. Intel does not plan to employ the 1066/1333MHz Front Side Buses of their desktop parts for mobile chips. The chips are as follows  Penryn-based mobile Core 2 Duos Model CoreFrequency FSB L2 Cache TBA 2.6 GHz 800 MHz 6MB TBA 2.5 GHz 800 MHz 6MB TBA 2.4 GHz 800 MHz 3MB TBA 2.1 GHz 800 MHz 3MB All four mobile Core 2 Duo processors make use of an 800MHz FSB, matching Merom-based models laptop reviews Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/265/1/Intel-Overclockable-Core-2-Extreme-X7800-Notebook-Processor Intel Overclockable Core 2 Extreme X7800 Notebook Processor Intel officially announced the Core 2 Extreme X7800 yesterday. This marks the first time that the "Extreme" nomenclature has made its way over to Intel's mobile processors. The Merom-based processor is clocked at 2.6GHz, has an 800MHz FSB and features an alphabet soup of technologies including VT, EIST and EM64T. Be prepared to have some extra layer of protection between this laptop and your lap top. Once overclocked, it will be one hot beast. IIRC, the best option when overclocking a processor is by changing the multiplier. All other Merom-based mobile processors have featured a locked multiplier. So while it was likely possible to overclock by using the FSB within BIOS it also means overclocking your memory. And I don't know of many "boutique" notebook memory modules that support heavy overclocking. laptop reviews Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/264/1/HP-Compaq-2710p-Tablet-PC HP Compaq 2710p Tablet PC HP Compaq company just announced pricing for its HP Compaq 2710p Tablet PC which also features Santa Rosa framework. Tablet PC market is a niche market in PC portables. The number of people looking for tablet PCs that want/need a discrete video GPU is even smaller. Gateway had a 14" tablet for a while with a discrete GPU. Seemed perfect for students who might play the Sims on the side.The 2710p has a base weight of 3.6 pounds (with a 6-cell 44 WHr battery) and is just 1.11" thick. Ultra Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processors are used on the 2710p and up to 4GB of DDR2 667MHz memory is supported. Intel's X3100 integrated GPU is the only graphics card available for the 2710p. HP will never say this but you would be better of running one of the open-source *nix OSes on this (Linux,FreeBSD,OpenBSD) or maybe Windows 2000. Vista designed to run effectively on 2Ghz+ systems with 2GB of ram with 128MB+ DirectX 9 accelerators laptop reviews Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/263/1/E6850-vs-Q6600---same-price-which-performs-better E6850 vs. Q6600 - same price, which performs better? Intel today announced a new lineup of 1333 MHz front-side bus dual and quad-core processors. The new Intel 1333 MHz front-side bus lineup consists of three dual-core and one quad-core processors. The dual-core lineup features the new Core 2 Duo E6550, E6750 and E6850. The middle of the 1333 MHz front-side bus consists of the Core 2 Duo E6750. Intel prices the Core 2 Duo E6750 at $183, $20 more than the E6550. The extra $20 yields a 330 MHz higher clock speed. Intel's Core 2 Duo E6850 fills the top of the dual-core lineup. The Core 2 Duo E6850 raises the clock speed another 330 MHz to 3.0 GHz. The increased clock speed comes at an extra $83. Intel Core 2 Duo E6x50 Model Core Frequency L2 Cache FSB Pricing E6850 3.0 GHz 4MB 1333 MHz $266 E6750 2.66 GHz 4MB 1333 MHz $183 E6550 2.33 GHz 4MB 1333 MHz $163 Intel Quad-core Model Core Frequency L2 Cache FSB July 22 Pricing QX6800 2.93 GHz 8MB 1066 MHz $999 Q6600 2.40 GHz 8MB 1066 MHz $266 Also launching today is a new Core 2 Quad processor, albeit with a 1066 MHz front-side bus. The new Core 2 Quad Q6700 clocks in at 2.66 GHz, similar to the previous Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Intel debuts the Core 2 Quad Q6700 at $530. Despite the new product introductions, there are no price cuts on existing products today. Nevertheless, Intel plans to cut prices on most dual and quad-core products next week. When the new price cuts go into effect, the entry-level Core 2 Quad Q6600 drops down to $266, matching the Core 2 Duo E6850 in price. laptop reviews Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/262/1/LG-e-Book-Best-Concept-Design-laptop LG e-Book Best Concept Design laptop LG introduced e-Book, an ecological laptop concept that uses fuel cell batteries and features organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. This concept notebook received a Red Dot Award nomination for "Best Concept Design" for 2006.The batteries of the LG e-Book use natural gas, methanol, and other eco-friendly liquid fuels. The fuel is stored in a transparent cylindrical hinge. The LG's future laptop uses organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for display instead of the current liquid crystal display (LCD) panel. Unlike LCD, OLED does not need a frame around it, and it consumes less electricity. The keypad will also be made of a singe OLED panel, like the one used in LG's Chocolate Phone, according to the report. laptop reviews Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/254/1/Acer-TravelMate-6292-UltraPortable-laptop Acer TravelMate 6292 UltraPortable laptop Acer has published the details of its TravelMate 6292 ultra-portable notebook, based on Intel "Santa Rosa" platform. Acer TravelMate 6292 features the new ProFile design, a 12-inch widescreen display with 1280×800 resolution and Mobile Intel GM965 Express chipset supporting the latest Intel Core 2 Duo T7100/T7300/T7500/T7700 processors. The GM965 incorporates the integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 and provides support for up to 4GB of DDR2 system memory. This ultra-portable system comes with up to 200GB Serial ATA hard drive and a DVD burner. laptop reviews Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/253/1/Compenion-laptop-concept Compenion laptop concept The super sexy and futuristic "Compenion" laptop is designed by Felix Schmidberger. SciFi.com has published the renderings of a Compenion laptop concept designed by Felix Schmidberger. The sleek Companion concept features OLED touchscreen, which serves as both monitor and keyboard, as well as a series of docking stations. Lately we have seen many concept computers such as Canovo dual screen laptop, Intel Metro concept, Fujitsu Fab PC, and Lenovo Yoga concept. The Compenion sports an OLED touchscreen that acts as a monitor and keyboard and can be controlled with "senstylus" pen or by hand. The notebook includes a series of docking stations for different environment; the home dock might have a projector for viewing video, while the office might include ergonomic stuff like an external keyboard. laptop reviews Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/252/1/The-upcoming-Toshiba-Satellite-X200-gaming-laptop-PC The upcoming Toshiba Satellite X200 gaming laptop PC The upcoming Toshiba Satellite X200 gaming laptop PC. The first spotted model in X200 series features a 17-inch widescreen display with 1440×900 resolution, Intel "Santa Rosa" notebook platform, Core 2 Duo processor T7300 with 2Ghz, and Nvidia GeForce 8700M GT 256MB dedicated video laptop reviews Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/251/1/Sony-introduced-VAIO-CR-entertainment-notebook-series Sony introduced VAIO CR entertainment notebook series Sony today introduced VAIO CR 14.1-inch entertainment notebook series, featuring Intel "Santa Rosa" mobile platform and "eye-popping colors and a chic design". Trimmed in silver and available in five interestingly named colors (sangria, cosmopolitan, dove, indigo and black) the new CR notebooks are more at home in a college dorm than a boardroom. Interesting touches include a specialized keyboard font, an LED that pulsates beneath the notebook's trim to indicate what is happening -- booting up, powering down, hibernating -- and glowing and fading accordingly. Each CR notebook comes with its own VAIO branded wallpaper and optional color-coordinated carrying bag and mouse. laptop reviews Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/250/1/Lenovo-Xiang-Olympic-themed-notebook Lenovo Xiang - Olympic-themed notebook   After designing the Olympic torch, Lenovo is all set to launch a full laptop range around Olympic theme. The firm has previewed it's Olympic-themed special notebook called "Xiang". They've roped-in Liu Xiang - the 110-meter hurdle gold medal winner in Athens 2004 event to laptop reviews Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/249/1/Everex-StepNote-NC1501-budget-laptop Everex StepNote NC1501 budget laptop Everex has added a new notebook in their StepNote series for price conscious consumers. The energy efficient NC1501 is based on 1.5GHz VIA C7-M processor. It features 15.4-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution, Vista Home Basic, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, DVD combo, and VIA Chrome9 HC IGP 128MB graphics. "Teaming up with VIA, Everex has been able to create an exciting new category of energy efficient portable computers," stated John Lin, Vice President of Sales for Everex. "Unlike products which rely on costly, power hungry processors or potentially hazardous batteries, the ground-breaking design of the NC1501 provides consumers with a true, no-compromise alternative." laptop reviews Sat, 12 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/248/1/Dell-Latitude-D420%2C-D620-ATG-Now-with-SSD Dell Latitude D420, D620 ATG Now with SSD Dell announced that it is offering a 1.8-inch 32GB solid state drive (SSD) from SanDisk on Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks. "Dell sees potential for flash-based drives and is committing to offer them across next generation Latitude notebooks because they enable better reliability, increased performance and noise reduction", according to press release. Dell explains SSD is a hard drive alternative based on flash memory. Unlike a traditional HDD which uses spinning discs and read/write heads, a SSD is designed with flash memory with no moving parts. The new drive has the same shape and size as a HDD and uses the same connectors for integration into existing systems. laptop reviews Sat, 12 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/246/1/ThinkPad-T61-R61-Santa-Rosa-based-laptops ThinkPad T61 R61 Santa Rosa based laptops ThinkPad T61 Santa Rosa based laptops Finally we got exact word on the release of the new Lenovo T61 (pictured above) laptop. As we mentioned some time ago, its very similar to T60. The Santa Rosa leaks are still flowing with the latest offense being made by Lenovo. Fujitsu leaked three Santa Rosa notebooks last week and today is Lenovo's turn with the new ThinkPad T61 and R61.Both systems are based around Intel's Core 2 Duo processors (T7100, T7300, T7500, and T7700) and used the Intel GM/PM965 chipset. 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista are offered as is Windows XP Professional. Intel's new Wireless Wi-Fi Link 4965AGN and the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 IGP will be available for systems without discrete graphics. The X3100 is Intel's new integrated graphics chip to replace the GMA900/950. While it's great to see Santa Rosa on the near horizon, I wonder when we'll see news of the C2D processors with 800 FSB (T7300/7500/7700)? That'll complete the full Santa Rosa package. laptop reviews Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/245/1/Acer-Recalls-Sony-Made-Laptop-Batteries-Due-to-Overheating Acer Recalls Sony-Made Laptop Batteries Due to Overheating The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Acer America Corporation, today announced a voluntary program for the replacement of certain notebook computer lithium-ion batteries containing Sony-made cells. Over 10 million lithium ion laptop batteries have been recalled worldwide since last year. A long list of computer manufacturers has felt the effects of the defective batteries, including Sony, Dell, Apple, Lenovo and Toshiba.In the interest and concern of consumers, the IEEE announced last November that it will revise its laptop battery standards to improve overall performance while make systems more reliable. Meanwhile, battery engineers are hard at work to develop new, safer battery technologies. Panasonic is now producing laptops with an improved lithium ion battery technology that safeguards against overheating."As announced previously by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been 16 reports of notebook batteries overheating. These reports were associated with earlier recalls by other notebook computer manufacturers of batteries containing these Sony cells. These previous reports involved only minor property damage and two minor burns. None of these reports involved batteries in Acer notebook computers," Acer published.The following Acer notebook computer models sold in the United States and Canada may have battery packs affected by this recall: laptop reviews Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/238/1/Dell-Offer-Blu-Ray-Slot-Loading-Drive-in-XPS-M2010 Dell Offer Blu-Ray Slot Loading Drive in XPS M2010 Dell announced that it would be offering a 500GB of storage on board their XPS M2010 and today the M2010 will also be the first portable PC to offer a 2x slot loading Blu-Ray optical drive. Dell says that the XPS M2010's footprint takes up less space than a typical desktop computer; we're not so sure. Measuring 16.75 inches deep, 19.25 inches wide, and 3 inches thick, the XPS M2010 is definitely larger than any other late-model, desktop-replacement laptop we've seen, including the 19-inch Eurocom M590K Emperor. It's quite big even next to the desktop competition: small form-factor PCs from niche gaming vendors such as Shuttle and Falcon Northwest, and even business systems such as the Lenovo ThinkCentre M series, are all considerably more compact, though far less easy to quickly pick up and move. That said, between the display, the CPU, and the keyboard, the XPS M2010 weighs 18.3 pounds; with its bricklike AC adapter, it reaches 20.8 pounds. Though it's more portable than almost any desktop PC, it's simply too heavy to regularly carry any further than from room to room or out to the car. laptop reviews Fri, 04 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/241/1/Intel%92s-Quad-Core-Penryn-For-Notebooks-in-2008 Intel's Quad-Core Penryn For Notebooks in 2008 Along with Intel's next generation dual-core "Penryn" laptop processors produced using 45nm technology, the quad-core 45nm "Penryns" for notebooks will hit the market during 2008, the General Manager of Mobile Platforms Group at Intel Shmuel (Mooly) Eden said yesterday at Intel Developers Forum (IDF) in Beijing. Penryn is the specific codename a 45nm shrink of the Conroe core, but the codename may also be used to describe the entire product family. Early last year Intel announced it would optically shrink to the next process node every two years. Staggered one year later, the company would also announce a new microarchitecture. This philosophy of shrink followed by architecture revision will undergo its first real milestone with the node shrink from 65nm to 45nm Penryn. One year after the 45nm Penryn shrink, Intel is also expected to announce its next-generation microarchitecture successor, Nehalem. The quad-core mobile "Penryns" will be designed for use in gaming laptops and in mobile workstations, "where users are willing to trade battery life for more performance". But, this CPU with four processing cores is unlikely to find its way into most notebooks for some time, IT World reports. "You'll see it at the high-end, but I don't see it running so fast into the mainstream because I don't believe there will be enough threaded applications that will justify the tradeoffs," Eden said. laptop reviews Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/236/1/NEC-LaVie-C-J-L-series-laptops NEC LaVie C, J, L-series laptops NEC LaVie  L series laptops NEC has kicked out new good looking models in their LaVie series. The LaVie C (pictured above) is a high-end ($2,690) lappie with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 processor, Blu-ray drive, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (512MB) graphics card, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 15.4-inch display with 1440 x 900 resolution, HDMI, and Vista. The 12.1-inch LaVie J packs 1.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 processor, 1,024×768 resolution, dual layer DVD super multi drive, and same remaining specs as it's high-end sibling. Price for this one varies from $2,059 to $2,185. The 15.4-inch LaVie L comes in advanced ($1,806) and basic ($1,428) version. The advanced one offers Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 / 1.73GHz Celeron M 430 processor, ATI Radeon Xpress 1250,TV tuner, Office Personal 2007 and same other config. The basic model is based on AMD processor laptop reviews Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/234/1/Intel-Eaglelake-chipset-to-launch-in-2008 Intel Eaglelake chipset to launch in 2008 Intel plans to launch it's next generation chipset in the second quarter of 2008. Intel has yet to launch its Bearlake-family consisting of the G33, G35, P35, Q33, Q35 and X38 Express chipsets, but, the launch is imminent. Intel has named its next chipset family Eaglelake and has premium and mainstream models in the pipeline. There are no planned Eaglelake-Q and Eaglelake-X variants yet. It comes in two versions - Eaglelake-P and Eaglelake-G. The chipset supports 1333MHz FSB processors (including 45nm dual core Wolfdate and quad core Yorkfield), DDR3-1333, and DDR2 memory up to DDR2-800. Eaglelake features compatibility with Intel's upcoming Wolfdale and Yorkfield45nm quad and dual-core processors. Eaglelake also supports other 1333 MHz, 1066 MHz and 800 MHz front-side bus processors including Conroeand Kentsfield. Intel pairs Eaglelake with DDR3 and DDR2 memory compatibility. Intel officially supports DDR3 1333 MHz, 1066 MHz, 800 MHz and DDR2 800 MHz and 667 MHz with Eaglelake laptop reviews Thu, 03 May 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/224/1/VESA-approves-DisplayPort-1.1-as-Industry-Standard VESA approves DisplayPort 1.1 as Industry Standard VESA (Video Electronics Standards Association) has approved DisplayPort 1.1, the intended replacement for DVI and VGA ports. It will co-exist with HDMI, meant for HDTV connectivity. DisplayPort is about the size of a USB connector and offers roughly twice the performance of DVI. According to VESA, the DisplayPort standard has come quite a long way. "DisplayPort 1.1 gives manufacturers of LCD panels, monitors, graphics cards, PC chipsets, projectors, peripherals, components, and consumer electronics a next generation digital interface that is designed to replace LVDS, DVI, and eventually VGA," said the statement. The small size of DisplayPort is good news for laptop users; most laptops today come with VGA ports because of DVI's size and expense. DisplayPort will solve this problem. Among other features, HDCP 1.3 content protection is built-in. VESA indicates that the benefits of DisplayPort are significant and important, and that the group thinks DisplayPort will be integrated into many next-generation PCs. "Our task groups and committees within VESA worked very hard to ensure that DisplayPort 1.1 satisfies the important objectives it is designed for, and as a result, this new version has widespread support among all the leading computer and consumer electronics suppliers." laptop reviews Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/223/1/Transcend-ExpressCard-16GB-ExpressCard-SSD-Announced Transcend ExpressCard 16GB ExpressCard SSD Announced The flash memory maker Transcend today announced its ExpressCard/34 SSD series. This flash memory-based solid-state disk, which fits in notebook's ExpressCard/34 slot, comes with 2GB, 4GB, 8GB or 16GB storage capacities. The SSDs are Windows Vista ReadyBoost compatible, feature Error Correction Code (ECC) and wear-leveling algorithms to ensure data integrity. And thanks to the USB 2.0 interface, the SSD shows up as a regular USB flash drive in Windows.Transcend is also bundling an ExpressCard to USB adapter with the drives for those that would like to use it externally or don't have an ExpressCard slot. Transcend's ExpressCard SSD will be available in capacities of 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and 16GB. Pricing and availability have not been announced, but will surely follow later this month. The Transcend ExpressCard/34 SSD (Solid State Disk) has a huge capacity (up to 16GB) and low power consumption, which makes it perfect for use as a mobile storage solution in notebook computers with ExpressCard slot. This type of slot is a new standard developed by PCMCIA to carry forward the benefits of `plug-in` I/O cards to the next generation of personal computing devicesAccording to Transcend, the ExpressCard/34 SSD provides low power consumption, laptop reviews Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/221/1/Lenovo-ThinkPad-x60-Laptops--Tablets-Now-with-C2D-L7400 Lenovo ThinkPad x60 Laptops, Tablets Now with C2D L7400   Lenovo has updated its ThinkPad X60 notebook and tablet PC series with models featuring the latest Intel Core 2 Duo, code-named Merom, L7400 processor. The 64-bit L7400 low voltage CPU, clocked at 1.5GHz and with 4MB of L2 cache, is incorporated in 12.1-inch widescreen X60 mobile computers, which are based on Intel 945GM Express Chipset. The L7400 is slower than its T7400 Merom counterpart at 2.16 GHz, but it provides improved battery life when compared to T7400.Lenovo ThinkPad X60 also features Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, up to 4GB of main memory, wireless and Bluetooth connections, Ethernet LAN and a 56k modem. The cheapest ThinkPad X60 Tablet with L7400 processor is priced at $2,412. Currently there is no information on pricing of L7400-equipped X60 laptops. laptop reviews Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/218/1/Gateway-E-100M-Refreshed-with-Core-2-Duo-ULV Gateway E 100M Refreshed with Core 2 Duo ULV The Gateway E-100M ($1,299 direct) successfully marries a shockingly thin 0.8-inch magnesium-alloy chassis with a low price tag, something rarely done in this category. And though its performance won't rock your world, it's good enough to get you through your day successfully. Gateway will be among the first OEMs to offer Intel's Core 2 Duo (Merom) ultra-low voltage processor in an ultra-portable laptop. Starting May 3, Gateway customers will be able to order an E-100M business sub-notebook with Intel's new U7600 ULV CPU, eWeek reports. Weighing in at 3.2 pounds, the E-100M is no drag to carry around. The 12.1-inch widescreen, high-contrast transflective display has a resolution of 1,280-by-800 and, despite its small size, is ideal for viewing videos, as well as Microsoft Office documents and PowerPoint slides. It is expected that the inclusion of the recently announced ultra-low voltage Merom processor will add $75 to the current E-100M's price. The E-100M has just two USB ports, both of which are located on the same side. There's also a FireWire port, a VGA output, and even Bluetooth support. The 80GB of storage capacity is not too bad either. The system also includes a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), which encrypts personal files and passwords using a hardware component on the motherboard laptop reviews Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/217/1/Addonics-CF-hard-drive-adapter-replaces-HDD-with-a-flash-card Addonics CF hard drive adapter replaces HDD with a flash card Addonics has introduced a new series of hard drive adapters that enables you to replace 2.5-inch hard drive with one or two compact flash cards. The low power and shock resistant CF media can be used on any machine be it a PC or notebook. Once installed, the CF appears as an ordinary hard drive to any OS and can be configured as a boot device. Addonics' single-slot AD44MIDECF and dual-slot AD44MIDE2CF accept CompactFlash cards and plug into a standard 2.5" IDE connector. The adapter features an LED light for drive access, supports CompactFlash Type I and Type II cards, is bootable and supports almost any operating system imaginable.The single and dual slot will set you for $24.99 and $29.99 respectively. And the SATA version which comes in single CF slot costs $35.99. The adapters will be available from this month. Century came up with a similar idea with its 4-slot 2.5" Secure Digital IDE SSD adapter. That device, however, is priced at a whopping $265.92 USD. The CF connection is essentially an IDE connection with a slight modification. Connecting to an IDE interface is cheaper and easier. I imagine than a SATA version of this device would require some sort of bridge chip which would add to the cost. They have had these converters for a while. The compact flash interface is actually a scaled down IDE connector so these converters are fairly easy to make. These have been popular with the mini-itx and embedded communities for quite a while. laptop reviews Wed, 11 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/211/1/FireWire-audio-interface-FireOne-from-TASCAM FireWire audio interface FireOne from TASCAM FireWire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed. The innovative new FireOne from TASCAM and Frontier Design Group is a FireWire audio interface that combines stereo audio I/O with a great-looking and feeling control interface. The FireOne includes a copy of Live Lite 6 TASCAM Edition, the music creation, and production and performance software from Ableton. Live's drag and drop interface makes it easy to seamlessly move from basic song ideas, to studio production, to the stage. The FireOne features a pair of mic inputs with phantom power, pad and line switches. A guitar input switch for recording direct and MIDI input and output are also provided. It will be the first FireWire interface in its class to record and play at up to 192 kHz/24-bit resolution (with a future free software update). Transferring data at up to 400Mbps. Now with the new 1394b standard, the speed is doubled to 800 Mbps. With its high data-transfer speed and "hot plug-and-play" capability, FireWire is the interface of choice for today's digital audio and video devices, as well laptop reviews Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/209/1/Sager-has-introduced-their-latest-budget-notebook-the-NP6650 Sager has introduced their latest budget notebook, the NP6650 Sager has made a name for itself as a strong supplier of performance laptops that don't cost the earth. The Sager NP 5860 is a desktop replacement style laptop with a very nice swappable bays and powerful 3D graphics. It may not look elegant but price for performance means that this laptop makes a lot of sense. Sager has introduced their latest budget notebook, the NP6650. It features a 15.4" widescreen display and Intel processors. It has solid build quality and is targeted at home and business users. Specifications are as follows: Intel Processors - Celeron M 430, Core 2 Duo T5500/T5600/T7200 DDR2-667 Dual-Channel RAM (2GB max.) laptop reviews Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/207/1/New-Bio-Fuel-Cell-Extracts-Electricity-From-Air New Bio Fuel Cell Extracts Electricity From Air New bio fuel cell prototype does away with platinum-based catalysts and fuel-separation membranes. The electricity is generated from air to which a 3% hydrogen mixture has been added...so not quite energy out of thin air. Pulling electricity out of air may be a feasible option in the future according to researchers at Oxford University. Fraser Armstrong, Ph.D. and his research team have managed to develop a revolutionary bio fuel cell which promises clean and renewable energy.The bio fuel cell contains two electrodes that are covered with oxygen-sensitive FeFe hydrogenase enzymes. The enzymes are attached to the electrodes using strong covalent and non-covalent linkages to allow for fast electron transfers. The electrodes and enzymes are then placed within a container of air which has a 3% mixture of hydrogen. "I can see potential uses for it. Imagine a home or office building with a hydrogen generator in it, constantly keeping a low-H2 mix distributed throughout the building. Now, you can replace all your battery-powered (and low-draw "wall-wart" powered) devices with this instead, eliminating the need to ever change batteries or run wires. You'd obviously lose some energy through convection with the outside air, but you'd gain a great deal in convenience and simplicity. And, if one assumes the enzyme-based cells were highly-efficient, you might even wind up saving on energy costs. Obviously, the generator would require some automatic safety features, but otherwise the scheme appears feasible"Current testing shows that the prototype fuel cell is capable of powering small electronic devices such as a wristwatch."We are at the tip of a large iceberg, with important consequences for the future, but there is still much to do before this generation of enzyme-based fuel cells becomes commercially viable," said Armstrong. "The idea of electricity from hydrogen in air, using an oxygen-tolerant hydrogenase is new, although other scientists have been investigating enzymes as electrocatalysts for years. Most hydrogenases have fragile active sites that are destroyed by even traces of oxygen, but oxygen tolerant hydrogenases have evolved to resist attack." laptop reviews Fri, 06 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/206/1/Dell-notebook-includes-LoJack-for-Laptops-Theft-Protection Dell notebook includes LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection There are three kinds of laptop protection: 1) against theft 2) against physical damage 3) data security. Dell Inc. has announced the inclusion of LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection service into their notebooks. Dell's CompleteCare Accidental Damage Service, available in most states, provides coverage for issues not covered under the standard limited warranty. These include spills, drops and electrical surges. Computrace LoJack for Laptops gives consumers additional benefits by providing security software that helps track down a notebook computer if lost or stolen and helps protect any personal data on the system. The move makes Dell the first PC manufacturer to deliver a higher degree of peace of mind by combining theft recovery measures with accidental damage protection, the press release says. What a wonderful news, isn't it? Now Dell users don't have to worry about losing their valuable data in case laptop gets stolen. All your worry ends once you install the software. If your lappie gets stolen, report the theft on Absolute Software's website, then the Absolute Recovery Team tracks the computer's location (through internet) and work with the police to recover it.  Absolute Software, the maker of LoJack for Laptops, explains that LoJack laptop reviews Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/205/1/Lenovo-ThinkPad-T61-series-on-the-way Lenovo ThinkPad T61 series on the way Lenovo is all set launch a new laptop ThinkPad T61 this May. Based on latest Intel Santa Rosa platform, the 14.1- / 15-inch notebook sports Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and ATI Mobility Radeon X1800 graphics card. Lenovo ThinkPad T61 notebook PC series will be launched in May and will be built upon forthcoming Intel Santa Rosa (also known as Centrino Pro) laptop platform, according to members of ThinkPads.com forum.Here's the information that members have found so far about the T61: The ThinkPad T61 line will include a widescreen 14" option, currently only a 15" widescreen T-series ThinkPad is available. The 14" model will also be offered in the standard 4:3 screen size ratio that's always been around. The 15" T61 will only be available in widescreen format. This is likely due to the popularity of the current T60 widescreen laptop reviews Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/204/1/Intel-Penryn-to-Improve-Laptop%92s-Performance-and-Battery-Life Intel Penryn to Improve Laptop's Performance and Battery Life Intel Corporation has announced that it will begin producing next-generation Penryn family of processors in the second half of this year. These new processors benefit from enhancements to the Intel Core microarchitecture and Intel's 45nm technology, providing higher CPU performance and better energy-efficiency, especially in notebook computers. Although, with the move to 45nm Intel has taken the time to implement some tweaks and improvements, higher core frequencies and increased IPC (instructions per clock cycle). We will be back into the 3GHz+ region, although there was no mention of where the frequency ceiling would be on the new platform. In addition there's a new Fast Radix-16 Divider, which is essentially an improved division engine that can divide four bits at once instead of two. This can be used on both floating point and integer divide function, as well as square root calculations providing an average of 2x increase in performance in this sector. This may seem unimportant, but geometric and physics calculations in games, 3D rendering and many scientific applications inherently rely on math functions. Six Penryn family processors will include dual core laptop-use processors and dual and quad-core desktop CPUs under the Intel Core brand name, as well as Xeon server CPUs. The mobile Penryn processors will have a new advanced power management state called laptop reviews Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/202/1/Boot-Camp-Now-Officially-Supports-Windows-Vista Boot Camp Now Officially Supports Windows Vista, Mostly Apple says that Boot Camp 1.2 beta contains several updates and is intended for all new and previous Boot Camp beta users. Boot Camp 1.2 beta includes: Support for Windows Vista (32-bit) Updated drivers, including but not limited to trackpad, AppleTime (synch), audio, graphics, modem, iSight camera Support the Apple Remote (works with iTunes and Windows Media Player) A Windows system tray icon for easy access to Boot Camp information and actions Improved keyboard support for Korean, Chinese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, and French Canadian Improved Windows driver installation experience Updated documentation and Boot Camp on-line help in Windows laptop reviews Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/201/1/Asus-Branded-Notebooks-to-Be-Made-by-Asusalpha Asus-Branded Notebooks to Be Made by Asusalpha   Asustek plans to separate its own-brand laptop computer business under its wholly-owned subsidiary Asusalpha Computer, Digi Times reports according to industry sources. Taiwan-based laptop makers, feel that such a move would weaken Asusalpha's competitiveness in the OEM market."Though Dell has placed orders for around one million notebooks with Asustek, the company is demanding that Asustek complete the spinoff of its own-brand notebook unit by the first quarter of 2008 or else future orders from the company may be in question, according to sources at notebook makers. Coupled with the fact that laptop reviews Wed, 04 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/194/1/EVDO-Revision-B-with-9.3Mbps-Download-Announced-Bluetooth-v2.1-%2B-EDR EVDO Revision B with 9.3Mbps Download Announced Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR  Qualcomm, the wireless products provider, unveiled the addition of EVDO Revision B technology to its roadmap. The EVDO Rev. B will provide claimed download data rates of up to 9.3Mbps. It is an upgrade of current EVDO Rev. A featuring 8Mbps downlink speed. According to Arstechnica, the 9.3Mbps download would be a dream come true to many cell phone and notebook computer users who rely on EVDO for the constant net connection."But we know very well that actually achieving that kind of download speed anywhere outside of Fantasy Island is unlikely in the near future. Verizon, which currently supports EVDO Rev. A, says that users should expect performance to be lower than the theoretical maximum, going down as far as 450kbps down-just a hair above the halfway mark of the advertised max (800 Kbps) for Rev. A. But even laptop reviews Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/192/1/Dell-To-Start-Shipping-PCs-With-Linux Dell To Start Shipping PCs With Linux You may remember Dell IdeaStorm - it is the interactive customer forum the PC giant setup at the end of February. Within one week polls had convinced the company to offer laptops without a preinstalled Windows OS and now, just one month later, opinion has pushed Dell into releasing its first Linux based machines.In a statement Dell revealed that Linux support has been the most popular request at IdeaStorm and it responded by launching a survey which garnered over 100,000 responses - 70 per cent of which were in favour of a Linux Dell PC. "The most popular threads on Wednesday included demands for Linux-based laptops, consumer PCs that are not pre-loaded with unsolicited applications and requests for Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice applications instead of Microsoft's Office suite. Popular requests also included a preference for Mozilla Firefox Web browser instead of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and pleas for Dell to stop routing service calls to operators in overseas countries such as India," IDG News Service reports. laptop reviews Sat, 31 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/188/1/Samsung-Announces-64GB-Flash-SSD Samsung Announces 64GB Flash-SSD Samsung doubles the capacity of its SSD. The battle in the solid state disk (SSD) arena continues to get fiercer as Samsung has announced a new 1.8" 64GB SSD to accompany the existing 32GB unit. The new drive offers read and write performance that has been increased 20 percent and 60 percent respectively over the latter offering. What matters is not just whether they degrade, but how much they degrade. With 100,000 writes possible on some NAND flash, and flash controllers that keep track of how many times an area has been accessed to spread the access evenly. Further, there can be error correction when an area does fail (and the controller remembers which areas have failed!). So flash can be extremely reliable for a very long time, better than a HDD, and plenty good enough for our use. Samsung's new 64GB SSD takes advantage of SLC flash and offers read speeds of 65MB/s and write speeds of 45MB/sec. The older 32GB SSD drive introduced last year puts up numbers of 53MB/sec and 30MB/sec respectively. For comparison, SanDisk lists the read speeds of its newly announced 2.5" 32GB SSD drive at 67MB/sec -- write speeds were not given. Adtron's latest SSDs trump both offerings, however, with read speeds of 65-70MB/sec and write speeds of 65-55MB/sec. The 100 per cent storage increase isn't the only thing Samsung has been working on though, oh no, there are also performance gains with the read and write performances increased by 20 per cent and 60 per cent respectively over the 32GB SSD Sammy showed off last year. laptop reviews Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/179/1/Estari-DC15-and-Canova-laptops-with-dual-touch-screens Estari DC15 and Canova laptops with dual touch screens The Estari DC15 is driven by an Intel Dual Core Processor 1.83GHz. It comes with a 2 GB RAM and a 60-100 GB Hard Drive for storage. The marvelous 15" widescreen stares back magnificently at you with all the glory of a masterpiece. With support for USB and Wi-Fi, the Estari also provides with 2.5 hours of battery life. The most interesting feature of the DC15 is its dual touch screen (Like Canovo or Canova New Dual Screen Notebook Concept) which can be used either horizontally or vertically. The company has installed virtual keyboard software and users can even use wireless keyboards (or USB ones) if they feel uncomfortable laptop reviews Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/177/1/Motorola-ML910-Rugged-Notebook Motorola ML910 Rugged Notebook Motorola Inc. today announced the new ML910 Rugged Notebook and MW810 Mobile Workstation, the "fully-rugged, wireless-enabled mobile computers that give government, public safety and enterprise mobile workers quick and secure access to vital information". This unique line of equipment must meet strict military guidelines, and must be tested under extremely stressful conditions before being made available to the consumer. Test models are repeatedly dropped from a height of approximately one yard - more than two dozen times - and tested for extreme temperature fluctuations, humidity, and intense exposure to sand, dust and water.These mobile computers are ideal companions for those in high-risk occupations such as laptop wielding law enforcement officers, who must work under hazardous conditions, and may be called upon to perform during a high speed car chase, when camouflaged by sand on the front lines or exposed to the water, heat and smoke of the firemen's arena. They can typically withstand up to four inches of rain per laptop reviews Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/174/1/ASmobile-C90S-barebone-notebook  ASmobile C90S barebone notebook Asus will release soon its ASmobile C90S barebone notebook featuring world's first D-Door design, allowing quick and easy upgrading of the key components like the CPU, graphics card, memory, hard drive, optical drive and wireless components. Pictured above is an example of the ASmobile range, a unique range of notebooks that boast unheralded upgrade ability. For example, the version above comes with a 15.4in widescreen display, but, should you wish to have a higher quality, higher resolution panel - or replace a broken one - then you can and thanks to clever design it's easier and cheaper to change than on a traditional notebook. So, if you're prone to spilling coffee or soup on your notebook then this could be for you. This also means you can truly tailor a notebook to your needs, specifying the exact key components you want. laptop reviews Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/173/1/Clevo-D900C-Gaming-Noteboook-to-Feature-Desktop-Chipset-CPU Clevo D900C Gaming Noteboook to Feature Desktop Chipset CPU Laptop maker Clevo will unveil at CeBIT Show in Germany this week the new D900C gaming laptop, which will be based on Intel's desktop PC-use 965 chipset with Core 2 Duo Extreme processor and with Nvidia's SLI graphics system utilizing two video cards. Clevo, a Taiwanese manufacturer of high-end gaming laptops has launched a new model, the D900C. The pro-gamers notebook benefits from Core 2 Duo Extreme and dual Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX w/512MB (each) in SLi. The 280W mobile computer is definitely going to increase your energy bill. If you are too much into gaming then you should consider this PC. The 17-inch lappie packs an Intel Core 2 Duo / Extreme X6800 processor, Intel 965 chipset, WXGA (1680 x 1050) or WUXGA (1920 x 1200) resolution, above mentioned Nvidia card, up to 4GB RAM, 3 hard drives, DVD super multi drive, TV tuner, and webcam. laptop reviews Wed, 21 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/166/1/Fujitsu-Announced-160GB-2.5-Inch-SATA2-HDD-at-7200rpm-Speed Fujitsu Announced 160GB 2.5-Inch SATA2 HDD at 7,200rpm Speed Fujitsu today announced the development of the new MHW2 BJ series of world's first 7,200rpm 2.5-inch hard disk drives with a serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s - also known as SATA2 - interface. Featuring the MHW2160BJ with "the world's highest storage capacity of 160GB for a 2.5-inch HDD with 7,200rpm rotational speed", the new series is targeted primarily at high-performance notebook computers. While Toshiba still holds the capacity crown with the 4,200RPM 200GB 'MK2035GSS', Fujitsu's MHW2160BJ (above) attains a capacious silver at 160GB while rocketing performance up to 7,200RPM. I don't know about you - but I'd rather have that performance than an extra 40GB any day... 7200rpm notebook hard drives have higher access times than their desktop counterparts so that nullifies the benefits of the higher density offered by perpendicular recording. laptop reviews Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/161/1/Dell-ready-Sell-Linux-certified-Laptop Dell ready Sell Linux certified Laptop Many notebook users are now looking to Linux as a premier operating system. However, compatibility issues with Linux can be discouraging. That pesky penguin continues to offer a stiff wing to its biggest competitor Microsoft, as it gains confidence with laptop users. Indeed the Linux Penguin has waddled into almost 80 percent of today's companies, and can be found on web servers, network monitoring systems, desktops, notebook computers, you name it. Afer Lenovo Announces Linux Support for ThinkPad T60p on August 2006, now Dell Inc. will the most likely start selling Linux-certified laptop and desktop PCs, the computer maker announced after thousands of users voted for that idea on a company's blog called Dell Idea Storm. The industry's first Linux-based Lenovo ThinkPad mobile workstations are officialy announced today. Novell's recently released SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system will run on the ThinkPad T60p laptop. The new laptop is aimed at electronics engineers and chip designers. Dell ready Sell Linux certified Laptop "It's exciting to see the IdeaStorm community's interest in open source solutions like Linux and OpenOffice. Your feedback has been all about flexibility and we have seen a consistent request to provide platforms that allow people to install their operating system of choice. We are listening, and as a result, we are working with Novell to certify our corporate client products for Linux, including our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude notebooks and Dell Precision workstations. This is another step towards ensuring that our customers have a good experience with Linux on our systems," Dell published. laptop reviews Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/159/1/Adtron-Announces--160GB-Laptop-SSD-2.5-inch-flash-drive Adtron Announces  160GB Laptop SSD 2.5" flash drive Adtron announced that it will begin offering what will be the largest solid-state disk (SSD) drive on the market - matching the capacity of the upcoming mainstream hard drive capacity in notebooks. Unfortunately, the drive will be priced well out of consumer reach. Word on the grapevine is that translates to somewhere between $13,000 and $16,000 dollars per unit! Remember SimpleTech's 128GB solid state hard disk that debuted way back in March 2005. For reference, SanDisk's 32GB drive is pegged at around $600 while Ritek's 32GB drive will likely come in slightly below that figure so you do the math. 32 GB Adtron Flashpak drives are currently offered through Internet shops for around $10,000. 56 GB drives currently retail for about $16,000. SSDs from M-Systems, a subsidiary of Sandisk, are offered with up to 64 GB of capacity for about $10,500. NAND Flash will move from being a purely memory-card focused technology into the mass storage market over the course of this year. Flash solid-state discs (SSDs) have generated a lot of interest from mobile users in the past few months. SanDisk has showed off its 32GB 1.8" SanDisk SSD Ultra ATA 5000 back in January, while Ritek plans on launching 16GB, 32GB and 64GB SSDs later this year. It's perfectly reasonable to make SSDs for notebooks first. Think of the abuse that notebook HDDs undergo everyday. A desktop drive sits in a secure, ventilated case on a stable, level surface. 2.5" drives are crammed in with a bunch of other poorly cooled components that get collectivly slung around almost everyday. While spinning, a 2.5" drive has to deal with people moving around--rarely is the drive running at the same plane for very long, unless it's on a desk/table. It's amazing 2.5"s last as long as they do. laptop reviews Fri, 02 Mar 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/156/1/New-Panasonic-Laptop-Battery-Safety-and-New-Li-ion-Technologies New Panasonic Laptop Battery Safety and New Li ion Technologies Matsushita Electric Industrial, best known for its Panasonic brand, announced that one of its battery subsidiaries has established a mass-production system for a lithium-ion battery that incorporates technologies to ensure safety. The company began shipping the industry's first 2.9 Ah high capacity batteries for notebooks in April this year and is now ready to mass production. Last November, the IEEE announced that it would revise its laptop battery standard to improve safety guidelines. The IEEE has named Panasonic as one of the interested participants in the formation of a new standard, but Panasonic did not comment on its specific involvement with the IEEE. Buckner did have this to say about the upcoming standard: "While nothing has been approved yet, we feel it best that any proposals set safety levels but not mandate the methods for manufacturing the cells, which could increase the costs significantly."Panasonic has already made developments in improving laptop battery safety, independent of the IEEE. Parent company Matsushita announced in December that it has established a mass-production system for a 2.9 Ah lithium-ion battery that incorporates heat resistance layer technologies to ensure safety. We asked Buckner if these new batteries were now available to North American consumers. "Yes, the 2.9Ah lithium-ion batteries are our second generation batteries and are shipping in the latest generation of Panasonic Toughbooks," he replied. "Several other manufacturers are also designing notebooks for these cells and you should see these coming to the market this year." Matsushita representatives said the new design improved battery safety by forming a heat resistance layer (HRL) consisting of an insulating metal oxide on the surface of the electrodes. Lithium-ion batteries contain a thin plastic separator to insulate the cathode from the anode. When a separator is pierced by an electrically conductive material such as a metal particle, a short-circuit develops, causing the battery to overheat and, in the worst case, catch fire. The HRL used in the Panasonic battery, however, has better insulating and heat-resistant characteristics than plastic. Even if a short-circuit occurs, it will cease without causing the battery to overheat. laptop reviews Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/155/1/NVIDIA-GeForce-8-Series-for-Notebooks-Coming-Soon-NVidia-DX10-Card-for-Notebooks NVIDIA GeForce 8-Series for Notebooks Coming Soon : NVidia DX10 Card for Notebooks NVIDIA plans to release GeForce 8 series video cards for notebooks in time for Intel's Santa Rosa laptop platform launch, chief executive and president of Nvidia Jen-Hsun Huang said recently, during a conference call with financial analysts. The Nvidia 8-series is likely to be the first DirectX 10-compatible notebook graphics hardware unless ATI has a hidden surprise. There is no word on the pricing.The Santa Rosa platform, also known as Centrino Pro, is likely to be launched in late Q1 or early Q2 2007, which means that commercial shipments of GeForce 8 for gaming and multimedia notebooks are just around the corner, X-Bit Labs reports. "We are ramping production on our GeForce 8 family of notebook GPUs, the industry's first DirectX 10 and high-definition video GPU for notebooks. GeForce 8 will be the only DX10 GPU shipping in the upcoming Santa Rosa notebook launch," Mr. Huang said. DirectX 10 alters a lot of things, but the biggest change is the introduction of a geometry shader. This means that geometry is no longer processed on the CPU, but instead created directly on the GPU where it can then be manipulated or destroyed. This is a natural progression and lends itself easily to having physics processed on the GPU as well. With this in place, a lot less data is being inefficiently transferred across the PCI Express bus laptop reviews Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/153/1/InPhase-Ships-Holographic-Storage-Writer-and-Media InPhase Ships Holographic Storage Writer and Media Holographic Storage 300GB now, 1.6TB later. Well, as far as HD DVD vs. Blu-ray goes, it looks like we've pretty much passed the point of no return now; with each passing day it seems less and less likely that a compromise will be reached on a next-gen format. It's disappointing, but however you feel about the fact that the HD DVD and Blu-ray factions squandered countless chances to make it right and come together, it looks like in just a few short months they're going to be duking it out mano a mano right in our livingrooms. While the bickering between HD DVD and Blu-ray has become tiresome to say the least an alternative contender is sneaking up behind them. InPhase Ships Holographic Storage Writer and Media 300GB This week, InPhase technology announced that its 300GB holographic discs have begun shipping to various customers including Turner Broadcasting, Lockheed Martin and the US Geological Survey. DailyTech last reported on InPhase and its cooperation with Hitachi-Maxell on producing media. Originally, InPhase's discs were supposed to ship in 2006, starting with 300GB and later transitioning to 1.6TB discs this year. laptop reviews Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/151/1/Apple-Released-Support-for-Novatel-HSDPA--EVDO-Cards Apple Released Support for Novatel HSDPA, EVDO Cards Apple has added the software support for the Novatel's WWAN products to its Mac OS X 10.4.8 based systems, such as MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Owners of the Intel-powered Macs are now enabled to use Novatel HSDPA and EVDO wireless modems for Cingular, Sprint and Verizon networks with Apple's official drivers. EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) and HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) 3G PCI ExpressCards/34. Novatel Wireless has delivered pre-commercial samples of both its EVDO and HSDPA ExpressCards, which are being developed pursuant to agreements and purchase orders from the company's principal customers - laptop manufacturers and major carriers. ExpressCards are designed to be a compact, high-speed and cost-effective solution, and more than 50 platforms from major laptop manufacturers are expected to offer external ExpressCard slots. Many new notebooks either will support both PC Card and ExpressCard form factors or only the ExpressCard form factor. Novatel Wireless' EVDO ExpressCards will enable subscribers to access EVDO networks at speeds up to 2.4 Mbps (Megabits per second), and its HSDPA ExpressCards will enable subscribers to access HSDPA networks at speeds up to 3.6 Mbps, in each case through external ExpressCard slots. laptop reviews Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/144/1/Sony-VAIO-UX-Premium-Micro-PC Sony Launches UX UMPC : Sony VAIO UX Premium Micro PC Sony announced that VAIO UX Premium Micro PC, a flash drive version of its VAIO UX Micro PC, will become available this February. Sony has just passed us deets for its latest UMPC, the surprisingly desirable 'UX1'.  Looking identical to previous incarnations - the UX50 and UX90 - the UX1 is actually lighter than both models coming in at 480g (verses 520g and 492g respectively) and features an enlarged 32GB solid state hard drive. These drives, known as solid state discs/drives (SSD), provide faster speeds for booting up and accessing data, greater reliability and lower power consumption. laptop reviews Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/142/1/AMD-Athlon-and-Sempron-Price-drop---02-12-07 AMD Athlon/Sempron Price drop - 02/12/07 this is AMD's SECOND price drop in less than a month - further proof that the Intel vs AMD price war is alive and well, and that AMD means business. I think they HAVE to do this to win back the SMB dealers they burned by dumping all of their product to Dell a few months ago, leaving the channel bare. OPN Description Price Change ADA5200CSBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 5200+ ($64.00) ADO5000CZBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 5000+ ($64.00) ADA5000CSBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 5000+ ($64.00) ADA5000CUBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 5000+ ($64.00) ADO4800DDBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 4800+ ($29.00) ADO4600CUBOX AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor 4600+ ($21.00) laptop reviews Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/136/1/New-AMD-Notebook-Platform-Roadmap New AMD Notebook Platform Roadmap AMD's current laptop PC platform codenamed 'Kite', featuring Turion and Mobile Sempron processors, is to be refreshed at 2007. The refresh will include notebook processors update, as same as use of hybrid graphics and forthcoming wireless 802.11n standard, according to the unveiled company's public roadmap. The 'Hawk' processors will debut in Q3 next year with an 800MHz DDR2 memory support. The Hawk will be a 65nm CPU, according to the reports. Additionally, in 2008, Griffin processors and 'Puma' notebook platform will bring low-voltage computing. The current AMD mobile platform, called Kite, will be refreshed with the codename "Hawk" CPU, which will support 800MHz DDR2 memory around Q1 - Q2 of 2007, right on time to compete with Intel's Santa Rosa. It will most likely be a 65nm chip, and will be the foundation for future Turion and Sempron processors, both dual- and single-core. New mobile chipsets will also debut with Hawk, and be able to support the HDMI interface, hybrid hard drives, and hybrid graphics chips. Hybrid graphics chips automatically switch between a dedicated and integrated GPU, depending on circumstances. Hawk's successor will be "Griffin," which, combined with the new chipsets, will be the "Puma" platform. This platform will support the final version of 802.11n (or at least AMD hopes), the VESA org's DisplayPort monitor port, the UVD (Universal Video DecoderP) technology, DirectX 10, PCI Express 2, and HyperTransport 3. Griffin will be a low-voltage processor. Griffin will go well into 2009, when AMD will start to churn out mobile versions of its Fusion platform. The next inovation which will be introduced in 2007 is hybrid graphics, combining integrated and discrete GPUs. According to AMD, simply plugging in or unplugging the AC adaptor will automatically flip between the discrete and integrated graphics. The battery life is to be saved by using less power-demanding integrated graphics chip, when laptop is unplugged from power supply. laptop reviews Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/135/1/Asus-Gears-Up-New-Lambo-Laptop-New-Successor-Asus-Lamborghini-VX1-Laptop Asus Gears Up New Lambo Laptop : New Successor Asus Lamborghini VX1 Laptop Asus has announced a successor to its VX1 Lamborghini laptop and - once again - held back on the specs. The old's Asus VX1 comes in two flavours: black, and the more traditional Lamborghini yellow. Both are attractive, but our yellow review sample makes an instant retina-searing impression straight out of the box, making it the more suitable poser's accessory. Asus says the Lamborghini VX1 laptops use the same paint finish as the iconic cars, incorporating subtle golden paint flecks that catch the light of the sun, as well as the famous Lamborghini logo. Asus Lamborghini VX1 Features :Any laptop bearing the name of a high-performance sports car deserves high-performance components, and the Asus Lamborghini VX1 doesn't disappoint. It's not the most insanely well-equipped laptop we've seen, but its 2GHz Intel T2500 CPU and 2GB of DDR2 RAM give it a very potent foundation from which to build. We'd have preferred if the Lamborghini VX1 used the 2.2GHz T2600, the fastest CPU in the Centrino Duo range, but this is an acceptable alternative. Graphics performance comes courtesy of a custom Nvidia chip, the Geforce 7400 VX. This is essentially a GeForce 7400 that was renamed for Asus' use, but it's a welcome and capable inclusion for a laptop that doesn't tout itself as a dedicated gaming machine. laptop reviews Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/133/1/Toshiba-Announces-First-Laptop-With-HD-DVD-R Toshiba Announces First Laptop With HD DVD-R Toshiba has rushed out of the gates early, adding HD DVD support to its Qosmio G30 notebook offering. This makes it both the first notebook computer to be equipped with HD DVD worldwide, as well as the first HD DVD player to reach Australian shores. Laptops were always going to get HD DVD writeable drives sooner or later and Toshiba has thankfully decided on sooner. In an logical upgrade to the excellent Qosmio G30-102, the company has confirmed that the laptop will soon be receiving the world's first HD DVD-R drive. Consequently the fiddly digits that follow G30 will now read '97A' instead of '102' which, confusingly, actually sounds like a downgrade.Elsewhere the G30 97A remains as terrifyingly fearsome as before with a stonking 17in 1920 x 1200 display for Full HD related hi-jinks, sports a 2GHz Core 2 Duo T7200 CPU, (just?) 1GB RAM, dual 160GB HDDs and a 256MB GeForce Go 7600 graphics card. One factor that will undoubtedly hinder the take-up of HD DVD devices is the fact that HD DVD content/media is currently non-existent in the Australian market, and there are no firm dates as to when it will arrive. Of course, keen early adopters can order content from US outlets over the internet. Additionally, HD DVD is compatible with the current DVD format, so users can continue using the device like a regular DVD player until HD-DVD discs arrive. Being an HD purist's machine the G30 97A also features the prerequisite HDMI port with HDCP along with every other connection this side of a NASA R&D lab: S-Video, S/PDIF, gigabit Ethernet, WiFi, PCMCIA, ExpressCard, USB2.0, FireWire and on and on and on and laptop reviews Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/132/1/Seagate-Makes-World-Fastest-2.5in-HDD-The-Savvio-15000RPM-spin-speed Seagate Makes World's Fastest 2.5in HDD : The Savvio-15000RPM-spin-speed Seagate Technology has announced what it claims to be "the world's fastest hard drive" - the Savvio 15K with a seek time of a mere 2.9 ms. The new 15K-RPM addition to the Savvio family offers a number of advantages over 15K-rpm 3.5-inch drives including size and weight (due to 2.5-inch form factor), 30% decrease in power consumption (5.8 watts at idle), and reliability (1.6 million hour MTBF). The move to small form factor enterprise disk drives was driven by data center requirements for greater storage performance density while focusing on lowering power consumption and cooling costs. Assuming a 3.5" and 2.5" platter, at the outside edge of the platter the velocity of the platter is only about 7% faster than a 3.5" 10k drive. Of course the speed advantage would increase as move toward the spindle from there and the access time of the 15k is theoretically 50% faster than 10K.  A major improvement of a huge bottleneck. Hard drives have been a huge bottleneck for all PCs since the get-go. Going from a 5.4K to 7.2K RPM Drive is a major boost, even for home users. The high priced 10K raptors and the like are another "trim" off the bottleneck. At 15K, things are even better. laptop reviews Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/130/1/Dell-New-XPS-Desktop-Monster-XPS-710-H2C-Edition Dell New XPS Desktop Monster It seems that new XPS systems are more regular than hardcore Kellogg's Bran Fakes eaters so it's no surprise that Dell has graced us with another monster system with which to kick off the New Year. Both the aluminum case and the banded red plastic across the front and back panels (it's also available in black) give the XPS 710-case a fighter-jet feel. Red LEDs on the front and the back light up the various ports and drive-panel buttons in the dark-one of the few truly functional applications for lighting we've seen on a desktop. An easy-pull tab and a clever latching mechanism make the side panel easy to remove and replace The 'XPS 710 H2C Edition' is the hefty mouthful the company has chosen to describe this state of the art gamers' paradise which now features an Intel Core Extreme QX6700 quad core CPU overclocked to a ridiculous 3.2GHz. Grunting and groaning alongside this is a pair of nVidia's latest GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards running in SLI and a stupidly large 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM. Dual 160GB 10,000RPM drives mean the madness doesn't stop there though the screams and cackles of its insanity will be kept well muffled thanks to a custom built 'liquid-to-air' cooling system. A Dell UltraSharp 2007WFP widescreen 20in LCD, panel mount speakers, Razer Tarantula gaming keyboard and Copperhead gaming mouse are optional extras. There's more to the XPS 710 H2C than simply speed, though. The "H2C" in its name refers to a specially designed CPU cooling unit inside the PC that helps keep it superquiet. The H2C cooler uses a combination of liquid and Peltier cooling to chill the processor. The major benefit is that it doesn't involve any fans for CPU cooling, which in turn makes this system exceedingly quiet. Compared to the noisy Velocity Micro Raptor Signature laptop reviews Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/129/1/Asus-Makes-First-External-Laptop-Graphics-Card Asus Makes First External Laptop Graphics Card The world of portable high end graphics is still dominated by hefty, brick-like monster laptops but Asus has realised they don't have to be…In one of the most sensible announcements of the year so far the prolific laptop maker has shown just how to make (better) use of that idle Express Card slot by filling it with the world's first 'External Graphics Card Station'. The device itself looks a bit like the front of car stereo and has a lot of colourful flashing lights indicating GPU temperature and clock speed, fan speed and it will measure the framerate for you, which seems quite handy. Perhaps the best feature though, is that it is just equipped with a standard PCI-Express slot so you'll be able to swap and upgrade your grahics cards whenever you feel the need. Needless to say, replacing your laptop's integrated graphics card with something like an NVIDIA 7900 is going to result in an unprecedented leap in performance and the price of a PCI-E card shouldn't break your bank either. laptop reviews Fri, 02 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/127/1/Alienware-prepares-m9750%2C-m5790-gaming-notebooks Alienware prepares m9750, m5790 gaming notebooks Alienware have been around since mid to late 90s I think so they are newer than the likes of Dell, etc. They were one of the first companies to make PCs built specifically for playing games so the gaming community took to them pretty quickly. And now, Alienware will be launching two new 17" gaming notebooks based on the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors. There has been no set date for release, although it is probable that they will be released around the end of January. Area-51 m9750 The Alienware Area-51 m9750 is the first 17" notebook to feature Nvidia SLI technology and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Alienware calls it "the most powerful 17" system in the world." It comes with dual Nvidia graphics cards and dual SATA hard drives. Additional features of the m9750 include an integrated TV tuner, full-size keyboard with numeric keypad, and exclusive Alienware design. If not quite extraterrestrial, the Alienware Area-51 m9750 is unique among multimedia laptops. Some notebooks offer better entertainment chops, such as models in Toshiba's Satellite and HP's Pavilion lines, but no multimedia laptops I know of flex as much desktop replacement muscle as the m9750. Style-wise Alienware has draped its notebook range laptop reviews Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/125/1/Alienware-offers-notebook-with-overclocked-Core-2-Duo-processor-Alienware-Area-51-m5790%2C-m5550-Now-Overclockable Alienware offers notebook with overclocked Core 2 Duo processor : Alienware Area-51 m5790, m5550 Now Overclockable Miami (FL) - Alienware today announced a "special edition" of its Area-51 m5700 notebook. The system does not look different that the normal m5700, but can be equipped with a few goodies that are only available for this model, the manufacturer said. There's something kooky about Alienware. It's the kid at school who threw balled-up paper around during maths lessons, but then quietly snuck off to read up on relativity at lunch time. The Alienware brand says 'late-90s raver', but the Alienware components and price-tag say 'I'm deadly serious about my PC'. When it comes to mobile gaming, the folks at Alienware are always on top of the latest in graphics hardware and CPU power. The company's new Area-51 m5790 Special Edition notebook is no exception as it packs loads of high-end components into a 17" desktop replacement frame.Characterised by a distinctive alien-head logo, Alienware's quirky PC designs have always been a favourite of extreme gamers. The Area 51 laptop continues the company's tradition of amphetamine-ramped machines for the Half-Life-2-obsessed.Pricing for the base model starts at $1300. A Core 2 Duo T7600 processor overclocked to 2.66 GHz will add $800, a 1920x1200 pixel display $200, 2 GB of memory $430, a 200 GB hard drive $270, a Blu-ray drive $600 and an ATI X1900 graphics card another $350, which elevates the bottom line to nearly $4000. laptop reviews Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/121/1/Santa-Rosa-or-Intel-Centrino-Pro Santa Rosa or Intel Centrino Pro Is it even possible to make the Intel® Centrino® brand any better? Yes it is! In April/May, Intel will launch Intel® Centrino® Pro Mobile Technology representing premium Intel technology for business empowering IT managers to inventory, diagnose, repair, and protect their PC fleet even when they are powered off or when the operating system (OS) is inoperable. Intel Centrino Pro mobile technology represents energy efficient performance for quick responsiveness and productive multitasking, battery life for sustained productivity, small and innovative form factors, and wireless connectivity for untethered data access. So based on this it seems the Intel Centrino Pro branding will be targeted strongly towards business and IT professionals for its integrated security features and enhanced wireless access, but it's likely Centrino Pro laptop reviews Sun, 21 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/119/1/Intel-Core-2-Solo-ULV-Processors-Coming-in-Q3-2007 Intel Core 2 Solo ULV Processors Coming in Q3 2007 After Intel U1300 ULV Core Solo and U1400 ULV Core Solo Processors Launched at April, 2006. Intel U1300 ULV Core Solo and U1400 ULV Core Solo processors, which consume no more than 5.5 watts of power when running at their maximum, have been launched today. For comparison, A LV (low voltage) Intel Core Duo CPU runs at 15 watts, and a standard Duo runs at 25 watts. Considering lower power consumption and lower heating, these ultra-low-voltage processors will improve laptop computers by saving battery life and allowing use of these CPUs without cooling fans, which will make future laptops even smaller. Intel U1300 processor operates at 1.06GHz, while U1400 works at 1.2GHz. Intel ULV processors have 2MB of L2 cache, run over a reduced 533MHz frontside bus and are paired with the Intel 945GMS chipset. Intel U1300 ULV carry price tag of $241, while U1400 ULV costs $262. Today, Intel Core 2 Solo processors, the single-core ULV (ultra low voltage) CPUs for thin and light laptops, will arrive in Q3 2007, HKEPC reports. "Since single core has a better power consumption than dual core, Intel decided to make Core 2 Solo ULV for the need Sub-Note market," the report says. laptop reviews Sat, 20 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/116/1/Sony-PSP-gets-GPS Sony PSP gets GPS How many times have you been out on the road, driving along quite happily, then been lost? Have you ever sat in traffic on a side road, no idea where you are, and thought - "Gosh, if only my trusty PSP had a GPS, I'd know how to get out of this terrible situation," ? Rather than release some games worth playing, Sony is attempting to re-juvenate the platform by making it into more of a multi-function device, and has now released a plug-in GPS add-on for bad map readers everywhere. The add-on plugs into the USB port on the top of the unit, and costs around $60. You can try and import it, if you can find somewhere that Sony hasn't already shut down. Obviously the PSP isn't touch screen, which immediately makes this less user-friendly than almost any other GPS solution on the market today. There are a ton of uses for the video, and I can see people buying a PSP just to be able to encode and watch their own content on that great screen. Gamespot is even releasing video reviews you can download and dump straight to your PSP. It adds a lot of value, is easy to pick up with the third-party software, and with a big memory card you can carry a lot with you (if you can stomach the high price of the media, that is). laptop reviews Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/113/1/Nintendo-Wii-Preview Nintendo Wii Preview Nintendo has always promised that it would be making the Wii affordable, but last week's unofficial announcement that the console would cost £149 turned out to be inaccurate, with Nintendo announcing a retail price of £179. This compares to pricing of €249 and $249 - once again proving that our friends over the pond get a slightly better deal than us Brits. That said, it's still an affordable price point, especially when you consider what you're getting in the box.It's been a long time since I bought a games console that had a game free in the box. In fact I'd probably have to go as far back as the Sega Master System, if my memory serves me correctly. As everyone had been hoping for months, Nintendo will be bundling Wii Sports with the console, and you couldn't ask for a better game to demonstrate the true individuality and pure entertainment that the Wii offers. It's already fairly well documented that Wii is no graphical powerhouse. Nintendo has never released the official clock speeds of either the CPU or GPU, but most reports suggest them to be roughly twice as high as those found in the GameCube; making it on paper slightly more powerful than the original Xbox. Put simply, though, to judge Wii on graphical prowess is missing the point entirely. If you can't live without the very best graphics on offer then Wii may not be for you, though you'll be missing out on a number of the unique benefits only found on this system. laptop reviews Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/112/1/iPhone-Officially-Announced iPhone Officially Announced It turns out that much of the commotion surrounding a mobile phone device from the Mac-maker was completely misplaced. Considering the iPod, iTunes, iMac, iBook, etc were never named iPlayer, iMusic, iComputer, iLaptop, my guess is they will probably call the apple phone iTalk without any marketting problems. Yes, the iPhone is officially real today, but it's not from Apple - The iPhone was announced today by Linksys as its new line of VoIP devices. Products in the iPhone product line integrate Skype and Yahoo! Messenger with Voice and can toggle between the VoIP calling options and traditional landline service with the click of a button.The iPhone Dual-Mode Internet Telephony Kit for Skype (CIT400) embeds the client into a cordless phone base station that is attached directly to the home network via Ethernet, allowing the user to place calls to other Skype users, mobile phones, or landlines without turning on a computer. The iPhone Wireless-G Phone for Skype (WIP320) makes Skype portable by integrating it into a Wireless-G handset, allowing consumers to place calls from anywhere they can connect to a wireless access point. Just because someone else is making something called iPhone doesn't imply that Apple won't make a phone. According to reports at ThinkSecret, the Apple phone is supposed to be called "iChat mobile"--or something along that line. Both new iPhones products allow voice calls in addition to real-time contact list access and presence information that lets the user know if the intended call recipient is available. The new phones also support Skype calling services, such as SkypeOut, SkypeIn and voicemail. "Each generation of phone offerings from Linksys has offered Skype users increased flexibility in how they make calls," said Gareth O'Loughlin, director of hardware product management for Skype. "We're thrilled to work with Linksys and give users even more options to use Skype off the PC - whether at home, at work or on the move."The iPhone product family (though not all yet branded as such) also includes products like the Wireless-G IP Phone (WIP330) that integrate the SIP VoIP protocol. Consumers can use the WIP330 to access music, photos, and streaming video from sources on the Internet so they can combine the product with wireless video cameras like the Linksys Wireless-G Compact Video Camera (WVC54GC). iPhone products are expected to retail for between $79.99 and $369.99. laptop reviews Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/111/1/Gefen-Announces-Wireless-USB-with-100-Foot-Range Gefen Announces Wireless USB with 100-Foot Range Last year Gefen announced a wireless USB hub with a 30-foot range. In a couple of weeks at CES Gefen is announcing a wireless USB hub with a 100-foot range, along with wireless extenders for component audio, HDMI and VGA. Gefen claims that three of these products are already in production. The four port USB extender uses Wisair's 3.5GHz ultra-wideband and will have up to 400 Mbps throughput for $249. The component audio extender can deliver up to 1080i resolution within 300-feet line of site. It will cost $1,499. The wireless HDMI extender uses TZero's ultra-wideband, will have a 30-foot range, and support resolution up to 1080i and 400 Mbps transfer speeds for $499. The VGA extender has a 100-foot range and supports 1280x1024 or 780p resolutions, no word on pricing. A word of caution though, Gefen announced a similar device at this time last year and we're yet to see it. This could be similar vaporware. laptop reviews Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/106/1/-Fujitsu-Announces--250GB-and-300GB-ultra-high-Notebook-Drive  Fujitsu Announces  250GB and 300GB ultra-high Notebook Drive Just last March, Fujitsu launched the first 2.5" Serial ATA hard disk drive to feature up to 200GB of storage space. The MHX2300BT series will begin shipping in the first quarter of 2007. Fujitso is looking to start shipping a 200GB 2.5 inch serial-ATA hard drive in the fall of this year. They claim that the drive will have desktop equivalent performance, as the drive will include a hardware accelerator to improve native command queuing performance. Native command queuing allows the hard drive controller to queue up and re-order up to thirty two instructions, greatly improving performance. The drive takes 1.6W consumption, has a track to track seek time of 1.5ms, and a host transfer rate of a maximum 150MB/s. The drive will be named the MHV2200BT, and if you have to write that down when you go buy one, you won't be the only one. No details of pricing are yet available. Fujitsu today announced the MHX2300BT series of mobile hard disk drives featuring impressive storage capacities of 250GB and 300GB, making them the first 2.5" PMR hard disk drives in the industry to attain these high levels of capacity. PMR, or perpendicular magnetic recording technology, is essential to Fujitsu achieving the increased capacity per platter. PMR technology places the data bits standing on end so that more data can fit onto a disc, allowing for greater storage capacity while reducing corruption factor. Here are the stats on the new ultra-high capacity hard drive from Fujitsu: laptop reviews Sat, 23 Dec 2006 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/104/1/Corsair-Announces-16GB-Flash-Drive Corsair Announces 16GB Flash Drive Corsair's Flash Voyager sizes up. Corsair, Sony, SanDisk Bigup Flash MemoryCorsair today announced the latest addition to its Flash Voyager line of USB drives. So it's come as quite a surprise to discover that Corsair's announced release of a 16GB Flash Voyager. These rubber coated sticks that never forget, are waterproof, shock proof and bounce around our labs on a regular basis. The latest Flash Voyager drive arrives in a new 16GB size while retaining the portable form factor of smaller drives. An all-rubber housing surrounds the Flash Voyager 16GB USB drive and allows it to be somewhat water-resistant. Corsair equips the Flash Voyager with a USB 2.0 interface for speedy transfers up to 22MB/s reads and 7MB/s writes. Carrying 16GB in your pocket opens up a range of possibilities that I'm sure we're going to see developed in the future. Yes these are slow, and yes it should be increased in speed, but slow is not everything. What would everyone else use these for? I know what I would us it for. I would install linux on it (heck probibly do a dual partition with windowsXP on the other if possible) Store backup programs and trouble shooting programs, like ad-aware. Store important documents. store pictures (not porn) and maybe store a movie clip or two. I don't know if that would take up all the space, but it would take up a lot of it. Hopefully it would not take up all the space as I would like to have a little extra to manipulate if needs be. laptop reviews Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/103/1/AMD%26%2339%3Bs-Centrino-Pro-competitor---Hawk%2C-Griffin-notebook-CPUs AMD's Centrino Pro competitor - Hawk, Griffin notebook CPUs AMD is preparing to battle Intel's ever-successful Centrino platform. The current AMD mobile platform, called Kite, will be refreshed with the codename "Hawk" CPU, which will support 800MHz DDR2 memory around Q1 - Q2 of 2007, right on time to compete with Intel's Santa Rosa. It will most likely be a 65nm chip, and will be the foundation for future Turion and Sempron processors, both dual- and single-core. After, AMD-ATI to launch "Yokohama" notebook platform in Q4. AMD and ATI will jointly launch a new notebook platform by Q4 of this year, currently codenamed Yokohama. It uses AMD's Turion 64 X2 processors and ATI's future chipsets (RS690M, RS690DC, RS790M). It also may use wireless chipsets from Broadcom, Atheros Communications, or Airgo Networks. AMD is likely to build its own Centrino-like platform for high performance laptops using ATI chipsets. ATI held 63.1% of the world's market of discrete notebook GPUs in Q2 2006. AMD and ATI are to launch a notebook platform next quarter, it has been claimed. The move appears to build on AMD's past portable-platform development efforts, in particular 'Yamoto', it's attempt to devise a set of specifications based on its CPUs not unlike Intel's Centrino laptop reviews Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 WIT http://laptops-reviews.com/articles/97/1/ATIs-Radeon-X1650-XT ATI's Radeon X1650 XT Price: $147.94  TigerDirect.com, Buy Today, Ships Today! The really sweet part about ATI's Radeon X1650 XT though is its price. The card carries an MSRP of just $149. That puts it squarely in GeForce 7600 GT territory. Ever since it was first introduced in March, the GeForce 7600 GT has been an enormous hit for NVIDIA, and a thorn in the side of ATI. Its got 12 pixel shaders and 5 vertex shaders, and sports clock speeds similar to the Radeon X1600 XT, but our testing has shown that the GeForce 7600 GT delivers significantly more performance in today's games. Now ATI's taking a real stab at dethroning the GeForce 7600 GT with their Radeon X1650 XT, and its RV560 GPU has all the right specs on paper to do just that. RV560 is armed with 24 pixel shaders, and 8 vertex shading units. In comparison, this is twice the number of pixel shaders as the Radeon X1600's RV530 GPU, which only contained 12 pixel shading units, and three additional vertex shaders than RV530. ATI also outfits RV560 with 8 texture address units and 8 render back-ends (ROPs), this is twice times the number of texture units and ROPs as the Radeon X1600, which was the achilles heel of that GPU, particularly with older titles that weren't pixel shader heavy.Like the Radeon X1600 XT, the Radeon X1650 XT's RV560 GPU retains ATI's ring-bus memory architecture. The GPU feature a 256-bit internal ring bus, with a 128-bit interface to the board's memory. In terms of clock speeds, the Radeon X1650 XT's RV560 GPU runs at 574MHz, while the board's memory runs at 675MHz (1350MHz effective). Both of these figures are a little slower than RV530, which ran at 590MHz core/690MHz memory. laptop reviews Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:00:00 WIT