Tag: notebook
Asus: out with the 7" & in with the Eee PC 1008HA
Hands up who wants a 1-inch thick laptop with an edge-to-edge 10-inch screen from Asus? Keep your hands up if you mind that it’s just a touch over 1kg. And keep them up still if you’ve a problem with paying 600 Euros for it. What about if I tell you the battery is non-replaceable? Yeah, I’m not seeing quite so many takers now.
Still, the Asus Eee PC 1008HA is pretty little
Asus unleashes ultra-thin U and UX series of laptops
We’ve just been dropped word of some new laptops from Asus, the U and UX series. I normally strip out press release fluff, but there’s an amazing bit here that I’ll quote to you:
“Each of them a masterpiece so immensely desirable, the U and UX Series takes modern day computing to the streets, bringing delight to the users’ senses and allowing them to work or play in style.”
Hilarious. That’s not the only ridiculous section, it’s all insane. Go read it here. If you’re more into hard specs, though, then here’s the skinny. Both models have backlit keyboards, and the U series has a 15.6″ display, Core 2 Duo processor, 500GB hard drive, 512MB of GeForce G105M graphics, illuminated trackpad and Altec Lansing speakers.
The UX, on the other hand, we don’t have any info about beyond the fact that it has a slot-in optical drive and a combination of matte and gloss finishes. Let’s hope we get a bit more info soon, as well as a video of that illuminated trackpad on the U series. Pricing and availability info TBC.
Asus Press Release
Apple PowerBook explodes in London office
Laptops don’t explode much. When they do, it’s usually rather on the spectacular side. Rather spectacular, therefore, were the scenes in the London office of an unnamed marketing company the other day, when an Apple Powerbook went KABOOM.
First, it started smoking, and the laptop’s user called the IT manager. It stopped, and he picked it up, but when he put it back down again it suddenly went BANG, caught fire and started shooting sparks everywhere. After evacuating the office, he returned to the laptop to find six-foot flames shooting out of it. He hit the fire alarm, and legged it.
After a fire marshall showed up, he used most of a fire extinguisher on the burning wreck, which calmed it down temporarily, but as soon as he stopped, it started flaming again, just as vigorously as before, with the inside red hot and glowing. They then waited for the fire department to show up.
Apple is checking the serial number to see whether it was part of the series whose batteries were recalled a few years back. If not, it could prompt another recall, but it’s just as well that this was in an office. In an empty flat, or a car or plane, things could have been a lot worse.
(via the Inquirer, who have plenty of good pictures)
Two MSI X-Slim laptops announced
These little Apple-aping beauties are the X340 and X600, from MSI. They’re part of the X-Slim range, which also includes the X320, which we spotted at CES.
The smaller X340 has a 13.4″ screen, with the X600 going up to a more standard 15.6″. They both offer HDMI-out as well as VGA and pack Centrino 2 processors. The X340 is suggested to cost somewhere between $699 and $999, which is a bit like saying London is between Spain and Scotland.
No release date, or UK prices yet. Shame, because these do look rather nice, even if they’re a tad on the derivative side.
(via Engadget)
Orange adds HP Compaq Mini 700 and Toshiba L300 to its 'connected' product line
Since November, Orange has been offering the Eee PC 901, complete with a 3G module, for £25 a month on a two-year contract. It’s an interesting blend of the mobile phone and PC business models, and has presumably proved successful, because the company is rolling out more laptops.
The HP Compaq Mini 700 and the Toshiba L300 have been added to the available range. You’ll get the former for £30 a month, and the latter for £35. They both come with the ‘internet everywhere’ service – meaning ‘everywhere you can get a phone signal’, anyway. That gives 3GB of monthly data allowance – not a great deal for heavy users.
Toshiba announces Satellite A350: its first 16" widescreen laptop
What do you do when a 15-inch laptop is just that little bit too small, but a 17-inch one is a bit big? Simple! Buy a 16-inch version, like the Satellite A350 widescreen notebook from Toshiba…
TECHNOLOGY DEATHMATCH: Notebook vs Netbook
It was just over a year ago now that netbooks first hit the scene. Of course, we didn’t know them as netbooks at the time. They were Eee PCs, until the world and his wife brought their own versions out and suddenly we needed to invent a new category.
We toyed with sub-notebook for a while and you’ll still see me drop it in the odd post when I’m searching for another word for netbook but this isn’t the point. The point is that they’re here now. The game has changed. The paradigm has shifted and now that the dust is settling is the novelty wearing off?
So, today here on Technology Deathmatch, I’m affording you an entirely subjective view on the matter with the odd bit of balance thrown in. It’s George vs the Dragon, David vs Goliath, Jonah vs the Whale – yes, NOTEBOOK VS NETBOOK!…
SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Asus N50 laptop
Here’s the surprisingly-snazzy N50 laptop from Asus. Ignore the fact that it’s got an ‘air ionizer’, take note of the high specs and low price instead. Those are what’s really impressive about this machine. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to find out any ‘official’ (non-eBay) price yet. I’ve got an email in to Asus asking, so I’ll update this post when they reply.
Related posts: CES 2009: Hands on with the Asus T91 | Asus launches quad-core gaming laptop – claims ‘fastest in the UK’
CES 2009: HP Mini 2140 netbook
Here’s HP’s netbook, the Mini 2140. It’s really rather nice, packing a good size keyboard, 10.1″ screen and 80GB SSD. Decent price, too – but I’ll let Zara reveal that one. Check out the video above to find out.
(via Shiny Shiny)
For more CES coverage than would fit on an 80GB SSD, click through to our index post.
Rock adds Intel's Q9000 quad-core chip to its Xtreme 780 gaming laptop
There are very few true PC gamers that’ll willingly buy a laptop over a desktop, primarily because the performance-price difference is so great. Rock’s just added an Intel Q9000 chip to its flagship gaming laptop – the Xtreme 780, but I suspect the majority of gamers out there simply won’t care.
It’s not even that great a machine. Quad-core aside, the 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9800M GTS is merely adequate, the 2GB of memory will look very meagre before the end of 2009, and a 250GB hard drive is considerably less than most gamers will need. For £1700, which is what the Xtreme 780 costs, you could make two desktop PCs that outspec this laptop.
