Personal Computers
Samsung's lightweight X360 laptop
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With Apple’s Macbook Air firmly in its sights, Samsung was showing off the new X360 laptop at IFA in Berlin and touting the new model as, “fully featured and lighter than air”. Both claims turn out to be true with the X360 claiming the title of the world’s lightest 13.3-inch laptop coming in at just 2.8lb, (1.27kg), which is just under the Macbook Air’s 3lbs, (1.36kg), while featuring 3 USB ports, HDMI and VGA out, ExpressCard/34 slot, a 7-in-1 memory card reader, Ethernet socket and a 128GB SSD. Read More
Micron's next-Generation RealSSD Solid State Drives
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August 8, 2008 Solid State Drives (SSDs) have found a happy home in laptop computers in recent times due largely to their size, durability and low power consumption compared to traditional hard drives. Now, with SSD capacities increasing, Micron Technology believe SSDs can also find a new home in enterprise server systems where historically hard disk drives have reigned. Read More
Dell's $499 Studio Hybrid mini-PC is their smallest, greenest PC yet
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July 30, 2008 Dell's answer to the Mac Mini ups the ante with an HDMI output, optional Blu-ray drive, and some seriously green credentials. Read More
Sony’s new VAIO FW laptop is sexy in silver
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July 29, 2008 Sony’s upcoming VAIO range includes the FW laptop, which features a Macbook-style keyboard, built-in Blu-ray drive and a 16.4-inch display. Read More
CherryPal releases $249 “cloud” desktop computer
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July 22, 2008 The popularity of so-called subnotebooks such as the Asus Eee PC has led to PC maker CherryPal releasing a low-spec, low-cost desktop computer called the CherryPal C100. CherryPal have dubbed the C100 a “cloud computer” as instead of accessing programs and data from the desktop computer, the majority of information is processed and stored on the web in a secure environment called the CherryPalCloud. Read More
Panasonic improves Toughbook
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Panasonic’s Toughbook has been given a substantial boost in capability. The desktop replacement CF-52 and field-use CF-74 have been given new Intel Centrino 2 processors, expanded graphics capabilities, 160GB of hard drive space, and 802.11 Draft N Wi-Fi connectivity. The rugged Toughbooks are resistant to shocks, spills, dust, and vibration. Read More
RazorBook 400 Mini Notebook fits in the palm of your hand
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The RazorBook 400 Mini Notebook from 3K Computers may be tiny, but it’s packed with features. The hand held PC weighs less than two pounds and comes fully internet ready. Read More
Acer claims world’s first 50000:1 contrast ratio HD LCD monitor with the G24
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July 6, 2008 Acer’s new G24 LCD monitor is the first in the world to claim a 50000:1 contrast ratio courtesy of Acer’s Adaptive Contrast Management (ACM), which Acer claims produces dramatic improvements in gradation and detail, especially for dimmer and brighter scenes as well as enabling the G24 to use less power. Designed to entice PC gamers, the G24 supports high-definition (HD) graphics in a high contrast orange-black colored package that matches the Aspire Predator desktop PC. Read More
Global PC Installed base passes 1 Billion
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For all the talk of convergence centered on the computer, it is lagging far behind the mobile phone as the world’s go-to information machine for the masses. We reported a few months ago that half the world’s humans now carry a mobile phone and soon the number of active mobile services in the world will touch 4 billion. Gartner’s latest figures put the number of installed PCs worldwide as just having surpassed 1 billion units and at a growth rate of just under 12 percent annually, will surpass 2 billion units by early 2014.
Toshiba launches world's lightest laptop with 128GB Solid State Drive
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In the world of laptops slim is definitely in. Toshiba’s Digital Products Division has announced the addition of a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) to the latest incarnation of its Portégé laptop series. The 2.4 pound Portégé R500-S5007V with a 128GB SSD is billed as the world’s lightest laptop, beating the much hyped Macbook Air, which weighs in at 3 pounds and, unlike the Macbook Air, even manages to include a built-in optical drive into a unit that measures as thin as 0.77-inches. This does mean that the Macbook Air 0.76-inch high Macbook Air retains its world’s thinnest title and it does feature a slightly bigger display – 13.3-inches to the R500’s 12.1-inches. Read More
Samsung rolls out promised new HDDs
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June 23, 2008 Two previously announced Hard Disk Drives (HDD) from Samsung have entered mass production. The 500GB capacity Spinpoint M6 HDD for laptops and the Spinpoint F1 RAID Class (F1R) 3.5” SATA hard drive that features 1TB capacity were on show at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last January and are joined by the new Spinpoint MP2 - a 250GB 2.5” hard drive operating at a 7200rpm rotation speed. While the Spinpoint M6 and MP2 are built for the booming laptop market, the Spinpoint F1 is designed for enterprise storage and surveillance applications. Read More
NVIDIA unleash GeForce GTX 200 GPUs
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NVIDIA’s new family of GeForce GTX 200 graphics processors (GPUs) - which includes the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs - include NVIDIA CUDA technology and the new CUDA runtime for Windows Vista, which allows programmers to offload the most intensive processing tasks from the CPU to the NVIDIA GPUs. The GPUs also deliver 50% more gaming performance over the Company’s previous NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU with impressive shading horsepower at resolutions as high as 2560 x 1600. Read More
Toshiba announces 160GB, 1.8-Inch, serial ATA interface HDD
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While the future for mobile hard drives looks certain to be Flash memory based SSDs, there is still some life in the traditional platter based drives for a while yet with Toshiba announcing a new line-up of 1.8-inch hard disk drives adopting a serial ATA interface. The new releases include the industry's first drive of this type with a capacity of 160 gigabytes. The new 160GB drive, MK1617GSG, and an 80GB drive, MK8017GSG, boost interface speeds to 1.5Gbps and offer rotation speeds of 5,400 rpm, faster than the current generation of Toshiba 1.8-inch HDDs. Read More
BlueLounge CableBox organizer
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The age of wireless electrical power could still be some way off, so until then there's still room for simple solutions that cover-up the unsightly entrails of home electrical devices. Bluelounge has added to its range of organizing solutions with the CableBox, a neat hide-away for power-strips and electrical cables. Read More
OLPC to produce sub $100 dual-touchscreen laptop
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May , 2008 The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) project looks to be on track to meet its target of producing a laptop for a price per unit below US$100 set out when the initiative was launched in 2005. At a press event OLPC project founder Nicholas Negroponte gave the “State of the State” address on the project to date and the evolution of the XO laptop, presenting the design for the next generation of XO hardware. According to Negroponte, work is already underway on the "XO-2" laptop, which will be cheaper and smaller and will use less power than its predecessor. The XO-2, or XOXO as it's also called, comes with Nintendo DS-like dual-touchscreen displays, which allows one of the touchscreens to be used as a keyboard, which can be customized for different aged children, different applications or different languages. Read More
LaCie updates d2 Blu-ray drive
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May 29, 2008 LaCie has doubled burn speeds to 4x for its d2 Blu-ray Drive and has updated the aluminum alloy case and software suite. The multi-format drive records, rewrites and reads 25GB or 50GB BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewritable), as well as DVD±RW DL and CD±RW and comes fully equipped with Roxio burning software, including Easy Media Creator for Windows, and Toast Titanium for Mac, and dual FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces. Read More
Dell first to ship systems using new high performance Ultrastar Hard Drives
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May 26, 2008 Dell is the first computer supplier to ship server and storage systems using high performance 450GB SAS disk drives based on Hitachi's new Ultrastar 15K450. The 3.5-inch, 15,000 RPM drives deliver 450GB of storage and a 30 percent improvement generation-to-generation in sequential throughput. They also have 50 percent more available capacity than their 300GB predecessors, but similar low power characteristics. The drive features average seek times as low as 3.3 milliseconds and the fast rotational speeds reduce average latency time to 2 milliseconds. The drives are available with either 3Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) or 4Gb/s Fibre Channel (FC) interfaces. Read More
Apple speeds up iMac line with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors
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April 30, 2008 Apple has updated its all-in-one iMac line with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors with 6MB L2 cache and a 1066MHz front-side bus across the line. The new iMacs come with 2GB of memory as standard in most models, but support up to 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, and for the first time, the 24-inch iMac features an optional NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory, delivering up to two times standard performance for graphic intensive applications in tests conducted by Apple. Read More
Porsche 911 leather steering wheel for PC and PS3
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April 29, 2008 Gamers have long been able to take their dream ride for a virtual spin, and now high-end input device producer Fanatec is offering Porsche fans and gamers alike an authentic look and feel with the introduction of the Porsche 911 Turbo Racing Wheel for PC and Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3). The leather-covered wheel features a tuning display that allows gamers to change settings like sensitivity or Force Feedback during gameplay. A Mabuchi RS 550 Motor is responsible for the extra strong Force Feedback effects with additional Force Feedback actuators in the wheel used to stimulate motor vibrations. Read More
Prototype energy-saving computer delivers significant efficiency boost
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April 14, 2008 Using off the shelf technology researchers have developed a highly energy efficient computer that consumes 70 percent less energy than ENERGY STAR labeled computers. Researchers Peter May-Ostendorp and Nathan Beck of Ecos collaborated with chip makers Intel, AMD and Via Technologies to see how much they could reduce the energy demand of computers operating in today’s business environment by using the hardware makers’ most-efficient computer platforms and adding best-in-class components such as hybrid hard drives and right-sized 80 PLUS power supplies. Read More
IBM set to supercede Flash with superfast, high capacity, low cost Racetrack memory
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April 11, 2008 Nanotechnology was more science fiction than fact when Dr. Eric Drexler released his seminal 'Engines of Creation: the Coming Era of Nanotechnology' in 1986. 20 years later, this revolutionary discipline, which focuses on the manipulation of matter at an atomic or sub-atomic level, is starting to bear fruits in a vast array of bleeding-edge technologies. With nanotech innovations spurring the latest advances from solar energy capture that works in the dark, to long-range, high-power, quick charging batteries for electric cars, to fog-free glass and smart self-thermoregulating fabrics already maturing as viable technologies, the latest advances in nanowire data storage from IBM seem set to thrash both hard drives and flash memory at their own games. It'll be incredibly fast, virtually indestructible thanks to no moving parts, its capacity will be absolutely enormous, it'll use next to no power and produce next to no heat - and it will be 100 times cheaper per byte than flash memory. What's more, IBM says the public debut of this amazing "Racetrack" memory "could be closer than you think." Read More
HP releases customizable PC lineup
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April 4, 2008 A webcam with up to 12-megapixel still photo resolution, a 17-inch diagonal flat-panel monitor and a range of customizable desktop PCs which allow consumers to mix and match options are among the highlights from HP's new line-up. Read More
Planon DocuPen RC800 ultra-portable color scanner
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March 28, 2008 Planon Systems Solutions has released a slimline hand-held color scanning device that promises a fast and convenient means of digitally capturing full-page documents on the go, with enough memory to store hundreds of pages of text, photos and graphics.
Alienware Area-51 Desktop PC
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March 25, 2008 Alienware’s new Area-51 desktop PC now offers unprecedented multitasking capabilities thanks to an Intel QX9770 Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core processor featuring four cores churning out clock speeds of 3.2GHz. With Intel building the QX9770 around 45nm microarchitecture and its dynamic thermal management solutions the Area-51 has the grunt to take next-generation games, 3D and video rendering or day-to-day productivity applications in its stride. A 1600MHz Front Side Bus allows for faster read/write speeds between the processor and memory and any PCI-Express devices while the new NVIDIA nForce 790i motherboard, with support for both DDR3 memory and PCI-E 2.0, ensure the Area-51 desktop speeds keep power users happy. Read More
Sony’s TP2 - the living room PC
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March 6, 2008 The Sony VAIO is a fully functioning PC that integrates HDMI connectivity, a bundled HD TV tuner and Blu-ray playback capability to turn a HD TV into a high definition PC monitor and form the hub of digital entertainment in the home. Read More
Xyber Technologies' silent, fan-less PCs
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February 28, 2008 Consumers who use PCs for high-end gaming or media work can invest in a top-of-the-line computer and still be held hostage by a ticking time bomb cooling system. While fan-based systems are slowly corrupted by dust, and liquid cooling systems face the problems of evaporation and highly damaging seeping, Xyber Technologies offers an alternative that it claims is quieter, more efficient, and more stable. Read More
Duo-Touch II rugged PC
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February 25, 2008 General Dynamics Itronix has announced the availability of the Duo-Touch II, the second generation of the company’s lightweight rugged tablet PCs. Combining processing power with an ergonomic tablet design for one-handed operation, the Duo-Touch II enables rugged, high-performance computing for mobile professionals in industries such as public safety, telecommunications, utilities, government, and insurance. The unit also features Dynavue display technology that meets military standard for cockpit displays for direct sunlight viewability. Read More
Mtron develops a 128Gb-1.8 Inch High Capacity SSD
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February 25, 2008 South Korean Solid State Drive (SSD) products manufacturer Mtronstorage Technology has completed the development of a new 1.8 Inch ZIF-type SSD for laptop PCs. Mtron’s new SSD with Single Level Cell (SLC) Flash memory supports PATA (ZIF-type) interface and has a maximum reading speed of 120MB/s and writing speed of 100MB/s - more than 6 times faster than the current 1.8 inch HDD. Therefore when it’s used in laptop PC and UMPC, Mtron claims it delivers much faster performance than desktop PCs. Mtron has also released a 1.8 inch SSD with Multi Level Cell (MLC) Flash memory, which provides maximum memory capacity of up to 128 GB along with a maximum reading speed of 110 MB/s and writing speed of 40MB/s. Read More
Sony Ericsson announce new HSPA ExpressCards
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February 12, 2008 Sony Ericsson has launched their first HSPA 7.2/2.0 devices with the ExpressCard/34 form factor, the EC400 and EC400g. Both mobile broadband ExpressCards fit a laptop’s ExpressCard slot to give instant wireless Internet access. The EC400 and EC400g incorporate HSPA technology, allowing upload data at rates of up to 2.0 Mb/s and download speeds of up to 7.2 Mb/s. Additionally, the EC400g is equipped with an inbuilt GPS receiver, which automatically shows the user’s current location on Google Maps or similar service or can feed into any other location-based service. Read More
Callpod Dragon Bluetooth 2.0 Headset offers 100+ meter range
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February 4, 2008 Callpod Inc’s Dragon Bluetooth headset for mobile phones, PDAs, VOIP products and computers boasts a range of 100 meters or 328 feet – a big step up over the standard 10 meter or 30 feet range common for Bluetooth headsets. The Dragon also silences ambient noise and annoying pops and clicks with its proprietary Dual-Mic Noise Suppression technology, which isolates the user’s voice while removing background noise. In addition, the Dragon can connect with the PC for Skype calls while on a mobile call, allowing users to switch between the PC and mobile phone with a press of a button. Read More
GETAC expands rugged range with new ultra-lightweight tablet PC
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January 25, 2008 Rugged computer manufacturer GETAC Inc. has added the ultra-lightweight GETAC E100 slate-style tablet PC and the “bright-as-you-need-it” GETAC B300 notebook PC to its growing roster of versatile mobile computing solutions. Read More
1TB LaCinema Premier Multimedia Hard Drive
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January 16, 2008 Lacie has announced a new multimedia hard drive with up to 1TB of storage capacity that plugs directly into a television for playback of a wide range of video, audio and photo formats. Read More
NVIDIA's hybrid technology balances PC performance and power consumption
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January 12, 2008 NVIDIA has announced the industry’s first hybrid technology for PC platforms that increases graphics performance and reduces power consumption. NVIDIA Hybrid SLI technology is based on the Company’s GeForce graphics processor units (GPUs) and SLI multi-GPU technology and enables NVIDIA motherboard GPUs (mGPUs) to work cooperatively with discrete NVIDIA GPUs (dGPUs) when paired in the same PC platform. Hybrid SLI provides two new technologies - GeForce Boost and HybridPower - that allow the PC to deliver graphics performance for today’s applications and games when 3D graphics horsepower is required, or transition to a lower-powered operating state when not. For lower energy consumption and quieter PC operation, HybridPower allows the PC to switch processing from a single GPU or multiple GPUs in SLI configuration to the onboard motherboard GPU. Read More
Lenovo's new IdeaPad line of notebooks
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January 10, 2007 Lenovo has launched a consumer-oriented line of PCs that encompasses three IdeaPad notebooks - the Y510, Y710 and U110 - that incorporate unique design features such as a frameless screen hinging back from the keyboard, touch sensitive controls and GameZone keys along with VeriFace face recognition, which uses embedded camera and facial recognition software in lieu of password protection. Read More
Kingston 19-in-1 Media Reader
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December 14, 2007 Flash memory formats continue to expand but fortunately, so too do the transfer solutions. Kingston’s latest external, hi-speed multi-card reader supports 19 types of Flash memory cards in a 3.61" x 2.71" package for USD$17. Read More
