Sony unveils Vaio TZ notebook range
11547
Sound good on paper at least... Today in London in a somewhat understated fashion, Sony released details of its latest Vaio notebook range: the TZ series, aimed predominately at the higher end of the market.â¦
357961
Intel Monday officially launched Penryn-based dual-core processors for notebooks, but also indicated that users expecting quad-core mobile processors may have to wait until issues surrounding power consumption are resolved.The company&#39;s Core 2 Duo processors will be delivered to laptops based on the Centrino mobile platform. Manufactured using the 45-nanometer process, the new CPUs (central processing units) will provide laptops with better performance and improved battery life, said Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager, Intel Mobile Platforms Group.Intel&#39;s dual-core processors are good enough for notebooks at present as they perform required tasks and do not strain battery life, Eden said. Quad-core processors have power-consumption issues and are not ideal for laptops yet, Eden said.Although Eden did not talk about Intel&#39;s mobile quad-core processor road map, he said notebooks in the near future will continue to see energy-efficient dual-core processors. Quad-core processors may first make their way to the high-end gaming and workstation notebooks that require heavy processing power, Eden said.To preserve battery life, the Penryn-based Core 2 Duo processors have an advanced power management state called Deep Power Down Technology, which reduces a processor&#39;s power when not functional.While cutting down on power usage, Penryn processors jump to higher clock rates and feature cache and design improvements that boost the processors&#39; performance compared with earlier 65-nm processors, Intel has said. The improved processors deliver better video performance with the help of instruction sets designed to process graphics and high-definition video tasks.Penryn processors feature smaller transistors and cut down on electricity leaks, according to Intel. The processors use high-k metal-gate transistors, which make the processors faster and less leaky compared with earlier processors that have silicon gates.The improved Centrino mobile platform, called Santa Rosa Refresh, will feature the Intel Mobile 965 processor and support for 802.11n wireless networking. An upgrade to the platform code-named Montevina is already being planned by Intel, and is due out in the second half of 2008. The Montevina platform will include Echo Peak, a mini-card that integrates WiMax and Wi-Fi wireless technology on one chip.The new Core 2 Duo processors -- the T8100, T8300, T9300 and T9500 -- feature clock speeds between 2.10Ghz and 2.6Ghz, with 3M bytes to 6M bytes of shared L2 cache. Prices for the chips range from US$209 for the T8100 chip to $530 for the T9500 chip.Intel also introduced the Core 2 Extreme X9000 processor, which runs at 2.8GHz, includes 6M bytes of shared L2 cache and is priced at $851.No vendors made announcements of systems including the new processors at the time of press.Intel also added Penryn-based server and desktop processors on Monday.It released Core 2 Quad quad-core desktop processors with clock speeds of 2.5GHz to 2.83GHz and prices ranging from $266 to $530. Intel also released four dual-core desktop processors, including the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 processor, which runs at 3.16GHz, includes 6M bytes of L2 cache and is priced at $266.Intel will ship three new Xeon quad-core processors, with clock speeds ranging from 2.5Ghz to 2.83GHz and shared L2 cache from 6M bytes to 12M bytes, with prices from $266 to $530. The company&#39;s new dual-core Xeon E3110 processor, which runs at 3GHz and includes 6M bytes of shared L2 cache, is priced at $188.
574901
Portable computer maker OQO said Monday it would offer a version of its device that would feature integrated wireless connectivity provided by Verizon's EV-DO broadband network. The device features up to a 1.5GHz CPU, 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, shock-resistant 60GB hard drive, and Windows Vista preinstalled.
30038
High-speed internet on the move Sony has upgraded six Vaio notebooks to include High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connectivity. It claims the SZ6 and TZ20 series, which consist of six notebooks in all, will eventually provide users with download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps while on the move.â¦
381004
Notebook PCs coming out this year will likely include more colorful screens thanks to LED (light emitting diode) backlights and Blu-ray Disc optical drives this year, an executive from&#160;Micro-Star International (MSI)&#160;says, as well as more environmentally friendly attributes.But other technologies such as WiMax and SSDs (solid-state discs) probably won&#39;t see as much widespread use, said Sam Chen, director of notebook PC sales at MSI.There are a number of new technologies people are likely to find more readily available on notebook PCs this year. For one, the size of the standard screen is likely to expand to 15.6-inches from the current mainstream standard, 15.4-inches, as users snap up notebooks with bigger screens, said Chem. And colors on those screens will probably be better due to the use of LED backlights, which are coming down in price.LED backlights not only help create a better picture, they save power compared to current mainstream backlighting technology, CCFLs (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps).More laptop PCs will launch with Blu-ray Disc optical drives inside this year as well, Chem predicted. Blu-ray Disc, the high definition optical disc in line to replace DVDs, gained a march over rival format HD DVD earlier this year when Hollywood studio&#160;Warner Bros. announced it would shift from producing in both formats to just Blu-ray&#160;alone. The decision means five of the seven major Hollywood studios now back Blu-ray Disc exclusively, while the HD DVD camp has just two, Paramount and Universal.On Monday, market researcher Gartner said that it expects Blu-ray Disc will be the winning format in the consumer market by the end of this year.Currently, MSI makes laptops with either HD DVD drives or Blu-ray Disc drives inside. Chem suggested that in future, the company will likely only use Blu-ray Disc.A few other technologies people may find in greater use in laptops this year is digital TV and better, 2-megapixel Web cams. Digital TV is growing, Chem said, and people are likely to demand it on more than just mobile phones.WiMax, the wireless technology in line to replace Wi-Fi for wireless Internet use may be a function included in a lot of notebook PCs, but it probably won&#39;t drive sales because the technology is still to early, said Chem. Outside of some major cities, there are few WiMax networks being built globally, he said.Energy savings will be one of the biggest trends this year, as companies vie to offer laptop PCs with better battery performance and more environmentally friendly materials inside. &quot;This is an important trend. Al Gore&#39;s film &#39;An Inconvenient Truth&#39; really pushed environmental issues to the fore, he said.
32529
Leather-bound for executive class It's been 15 years since IBM first unveiled the ThinkPad laptop and about two years since Lenovo acquired it as part of a $1.25bn spending spree. So, in an attempt to capitalise on its purchase, Lenovo has unveiled a leather-bound, 5000-unit limited edition ThinkPad.â¦
72754
Notebook a +9%, hardware +1,2%, in calo computer desktop
581418
A new wafer-thin laptop and a movie rental service for iTunes starred in this year&#39;s keynote from Apple CEO Steve Jobs at Macworld Tuesday.The notebook, called the MacBook Air, wasn&#39;t the ultraportable that pundits had predicted, but it is &quot;the world&#39;s thinnest notebook,&quot; according to Jobs, who produced it from a manilla office envelope to make his point.Priced from $1,799, the notebook has a 13.3-inch widescreen display and a full-sized backlit keyboard. To keep the MacBook Air compact, it uses the same 1.8-inch hard drive found in the iPod and a smaller version of Intel&#39;s Core 2 Duo processor built especially for Apple, Jobs said.The model shown at Macworld was in brushed silver. It is three quarters of an inch thick at its thickest part and just 0.16 inch along the front edge, Jobs said. He compared it to another popular thin laptop, the Sony TZ series. At 3 pounds (1.3 kilograms), it is about the same weight, he said, but the new Apple notebook is about half its thickness.&quot;To fit an entire Mac in this thing was a major feat of engineering,&quot; Jobs said.The MacBook Air will ship in about two weeks. It lacks an optical disk drive, which could make it tricky to load software. To get around that, Apple developed a program called Remote Disk, which allows users to download software from the optical drive of a nearby computer using its built in 802.11n wireless connection.The standard configuration comes with an 80GB hard drive, 2GB of main memory, and a 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo. Options include a 64GB solid-state drive and a faster 1.8GHz processor.Intel developed a Core 2 Duo chip package for Apple that is 60 percent smaller than the standard version, according to Jobs. &quot;It&#39;s the width of a dime and as thick as a nickel, with 400 million transistors,&quot; said Intel CEO Paul Otellini, who joined Jobs onstage.Apple will sell an optional portable optical drive for $99, Jobs said. He promised a battery life of 5 hours while surfing the Web and with Wi-Fi enabled.Many had expected Apple to announce an ultraportable notebook, which would have filled a gap in Apple&#39;s notebook product line, noted Robbie Laughlin, an assistant retail manager with Apple reseller Carbon Computing in Toronto.&quot;They had a 12-inch PowerBook a few years ago, and I&#39;d like to see something small like that reintroduced,&quot; he said before Jobs began his speech.Still, Apple&#39;s computer business is riding high from the popularity of its iPods and iPhone, Laughlin said. &quot;They&#39;re still on an upswing. We&#39;ve seen a huge uptick in switchers the last six months, people who wouldn&#39;t normally walk into an Apple store.&quot;The other big focus of Jobs&#39; speech was movies, including a movie rental service for iTunes and a new version of Apple TV that allows renting and downloading movies directly to a TV without using a PC.Apple signed major film studios -- Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Sony, Universal, and Paramount -- to sell movies through the store. Rentals are $3.99 for a new release and $2.99 for older films, or a dollar more for high-definition versions.The movie rentals are available in the United States from Tuesday, and later this year internationally, Jobs said. Apple pledged to have 1,000 films available by the end of February, and films will come to iTunes 30 days after their DVD release, he said. Users will have 30 days to watch a film after renting it, and 24 hours to finish watching it after they have started.Apple TV wasn&#39;t more successful because it was sold as &quot;an accessory for your computer,&quot; Jobs said. &quot;That&#39;s not what people wanted. ... So we&#39;re back with Apple TV 2. It still syncs with your computer [if you want it to], but no computer is required.&quot;Apple TV also received a price cut to $229 from $299. The new version will be available in two weeks, Jobs said, and existing customers will be able to update to the new software.He didn&#39;t show a 3G iPhone as some had expected, but he did announce software updates available from Tuesday, including the ability to map an iPhone user&#39;s location with Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers. The iPhone update also lets people send a text message to multiple users.The iPhone shipped 200 days ago and 4 million have been sold since, Jobs said. The software developer kit for the iPhone will ship in February, he said.Jobs also introduced a wireless backup product called Time Capsule, a companion to the&#160;Leopard operating system&#39;s Time Machine, which constantly backs up work to a desktop hard drive. Time Capsule will ship in February and is basically an Airport Extreme base station plus a hard drive, Jobs said, &quot;so you can back up your notebook wirelessly.&quot;Time Capsule will come in two models, with a 500GB offering for $299 and a 1TB version for $499.
361621
LED-backlit display and Blu-ray Disc drive too Hardware Widow Asus has formally announced its anticipated U1F 11.1in compact notebook, a luxury laptop run up in carbon fibre and magnesium-aluminium alloy, decorated with piano lacquer, and mounted with a made-to-measure leather palm rest. It even has a Blu-ray Disc drive.â¦
364581
(InfoWorld) - In the race to make ever lighter laptop computers, ToshibaÂ is poised to take the lead in the 12-inch screen class with new models coming from June. The Dynabook SS RX1, which will be sold in the U.S. as the Portege R500, is available in several configurations, the lightest of which is just 768 grams (1.7 pounds), Toshiba said Tuesday. That's more than 100 grams lighter than Sony's Vaio G laptop that wasÂ launched in late 2006Â and had been regarded as the lightest in its class until now. In the hand the new laptop feels impressively light and well balanced, unlike the Vaio G, which I found felt a little heavier towards the back of the machine than at the front. Toshiba has obviously put a lot of work into the machine. The keyboard is just a few millimeters thick but the keys still travel enough that typing is comfortable. There are also some nice design features. For example, the top half of the laptop with the screen is slightly smaller than the bottom half so the screen is better protected, according to Toshiba, if the laptop is dropped and lands on its side. The thickness of the magnesium body also differs to provide more protection where it's needed, the company said. It's also thinner at the front than at the back where the hinges are -- 19.5 millimeters versus 25.5 millimeters. That's so it's easier for business people to push the laptop into a shoulder bag, said Akitoshi Shiraga, group manager of Toshiba's laptop consumer product planning group in an interview. And for people who are using the machine outside in direct sunlight, there's a conveniently located button just under the display that switches off the backlight to make the transreflective screen easier to read. At the computer's heart lies a 1.06GHz Intel Corp. Core2 Duo processor. The screen has WXGA resolution (1,280 pixel by 800 pixel) and all models pack 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi, an Ethernet port, 3x USB2.0 ports, iLink (IEEE1394), monitor socket, microphone socket and headphone jack. U.S. models will also include support for 802.11n Wi-Fi, Toshiba said. The lightest of the configurations -- the one that weighs 768 grams -- uses a 64GB solid-state disk (SSD) in place of a conventional hard-disk drive. SSDs use flash memory chips to record data and are therefore quieter, faster and more energy efficient than hard drives, which record data on a fast rotating magnetic disk. Users can choose to replace the SSD with an 80GB or 120GB hard-disk drive and add an optical drive to increase the machine's specifications and, inevitably, the machine weight. However a full-featured machine with hard-disk, optical drive and six-cell long-life battery is still pretty light at around a kilogram. The long-life battery, which includes six cells and doesn't protrude beyond the edge of the machine, provides enough power for up to 12 and a half hours of use based on a Japanese industry benchmark, said Toshiba. In Japan, the laptop will sell for about Â¥225,000 ($1,846). Toshiba's U.S. and European business units will announce availability in their respective markets later.
488704
Sony's VAIO AR60 laptops now run on Intel's latest Core 2 Duo processors.
372372
IBM , Sony Corp. (6758.T) and Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) on Monday revealed their plans for the powerful new "Cell" processor the three are jointly producing to run next-generation computers, game consoles and televisions.
709252
(InfoWorld) - Via Technologies is shipping a faster version of its C-7M ultra low-voltage processor, and the 1.6GHz chip has found a home in an updated version of OQO's diminutive handheld computer, the company said Monday. The updated OQO Model 02 has the same slide-up display that reveals a QWERTY keyboard. Equipped with the 1.6GHz C7-M ULV processor, the handheld computer is priced starting from $1,849. The Model 02 weighs less than 1 pound (454 grams) and measures 14.2 centimeters (cm) by 8.4cm by 2.5cm. It runs Windows Vista and comes with an 80GB hard-disk drive and 1GB of RAM. Swap Vista for Windows XP Home Edition and choose a slower version of the C7-M, and the price of the Model 02 can fall to $1,249. At that price, you get a 1.2GHz C7-M ULV processor, a 40GB hard disk, and 512MB of RAM. A Model 02 based on the 1.5GHz version of the C7-M starts at $1,599. For users who want a powerful system, the Model 02 is available with Windows Vista, a 120GB hard drive and a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) 2000-1x EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) mobile data card for $2,199. A 32GB solid-state drive is also available, starting from $2,349.
348594
At only over 1 pound, Sony&#39;s VAIO U Ultra Portable PC is a full Microsoft Windows XP computer, on a form factor that resembles that of a PDA.
692053
(InfoWorld) - Via TechnologiesÂ has developed an ultraportable notebook reference design that will soon hit European markets. The Via NanoBook, which will be unveiled Wednesday at the Computex exhibition, uses the company's 1.2GHz C-7M processor and has a 7-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) touchscreen and Wi-Fi. The small notebook PC is intended to ship with either a 30GB or 60GB hard disk, and can run either Windows XP or Windows Vista. The notebook weighs less than 2 pounds, or 900 grams, and has a battery life of up to five hours. The NanoBook is aimed at the same market as theÂ Ultramobile PCÂ (UMPC) reference design developed by Microsoft and Intel, but has different specifications. For instance, the UMPC is designed around an Intel microprocessor and does not include a full keyboard. Via trails far behind Intel and Advanced Micro DevicesÂ in the microprocessor market and is counting on reference designs like the NanoBook to win more business from hardware vendors, said Richard Brown, the company's vice president of corporate marketing. The strategy appears to be working. On Sunday, Taiwanese contract manufacturer First International Computer (FIC) leaked details of a NanoBook produced by the company. That device is being made under contract for Packard Bell, which will put the device on sale in Europe during the third quarter, according to a source familiar with the deal. A similar device will be made for sale in the U.S. but will not be sold under the Packard Bell brand, the source said. Via's NanoBook reference design includes at least one feature that will not appear in the device sold by Packard Bell. Because the screen is smaller than the notebook's lid, there is space for a removable module that sits next to the display. Via has developed three modules that can be changed by users to suit their needs. These modules include a world clock, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, a VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) phone, a DVB television receiver, and a 3G (third-generation) cellular module. Â
178164
Asus will unveil at next week's CES the M70S laptop that comes with 1 terabyte of storage space.
665994
Well-designed notebook lets you play movies and music sans Windows.