NOTEBOOK AND LAPTOP REVIEWS

CREATIVE ZIILABS LAUNCHES ZMS-08 CHIPS TO BRING FLASH AND HD VIDEO TO NETBBOKS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:10:30 PST

Creative ZiiLABS has launched its next-generation ZMS-08 chip that brings flash and HD video to netbooks. The new Zii chip is based on a 1GHz ARM Cortex-8 processor. It supports 1080p HD video playback and Flash acceleration. The chip also supports OpenGL ES 2.0. The Zii chips were originally built for use in hand held media devices. But the new ZMS-08 chip is built for use in low power and high

ASUS EEE PC T91MT TABLET NOW SHIPPING

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:37:35 PST

The Asus Eee PC T91MT is an updated version of the Eee PC T91. The new version offers multi-touch functionality and runs on Windows 7 Home Premium. The notebook started shipping this weekend. Detailed specifications of the notebook are as follows:Processor: 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 ProcessorMemory: 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 1 Slot, 2GB MaxStorage: 32GB Solid State Drive + 500GB Free Eee StorageDisplay: 8.9

HP PAVILION DM1 AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:27:51 PST

The HP Pavilion DM1 is the first HP laptop with an 11.6 inch display and a CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) processor. The device is now available for pre-order in the UK. There are still no US release dates. The Pavilion DM1 is a thin and light entertainment notebook powered by an Intel Celeron Dual Core Processor SU2300. It runs on Windows 7 Home Premium. Up to 1GB of DDR3 RAM can be installed

TEGRA 2 COMING NEXT YEAR

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:44:08 PST

Nvidia’s Tegra platform combines an ARM-based processor with Nvidia graphics. The resultant device can play HD video fluently. Processors based on the Tegra platform deliver impressive performance on low power devices. One of the first Tegra powered device to hit the market was Zune HD, a portable media player. Now more and more manufacturers have started using the platform. And if some reports

FLYBOOK V5 PRICEY BUT IMPRESSIVE

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:07:41 PST

After having a nice run in Europe, the Flybook V5 is now available in the US. While the machine has some impressive specifications, it is still pricey. The Flybook V5 is a convertible tablet style notebook. It has an 8.9 inch display which can be folded down over the keyboard for using the device in the tablet mode. The machine is powered by a 1.2GHz dual core Intel CULV (Ultra Low Voltage

GIGABYTE UNVEILS NOTEBOOK WITH EXTERNAL GRAPHICS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:09:18 PST

Gigabyte has unveiled a notebook that allows the option of using an external graphics card through a docking station. The new M1305 notebook has a 13.3 inch display with 1366x768 pixels. It runs on Windows 7 and can be configured with Intel Core 2 Duo, Pentium or Celeron ULV processors. The notebook has an integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD. But if you want better graphics performance you can use the

TOSHIBA LAUNCHES NEW BUSINESS CLASS NOTEBOOKS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:26:09 PST

Toshiba has made new additions to its Satellite Pro and Protégé line of business notebooks. While all the new notebooks offer support for Windows 7, most of them come pre-loaded with Windows XP. The new additions to the Satellite Pro line have models with 13.3, 15.6 and 17.3 inch display sizes. Prices start at $529. The new Satellite Pro U500 has a 13.3 inch multi-touch screen display. Prices

ACER UNVEILS ASPIRE 8940 18.4 INCH NOTEBOOK

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:20:27 PST

Acer has unveiled its Aspire 8940 notebook with an 18.4 inch display. It is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor. The machine is equipped with a full 1080p screen resolution. Detailed specifications of the model are as follows:Processor: Intel Core i7 Processor 720QM (1.60GHz, 6MB L3 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)Display: 18.4" Full HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display with 1920x1080 pixelsMemory:

FSP NB S90 UNIVERSAL NOTEBOOK ADAPTER REVIEW

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:33:17 PST

Universal power adapters are more affordable than OEM replacements. They are also compatible with a wide range of notebooks. In this article we will see how the FSP NB S90 Universal Notebook Adapter performs. FSP NB S90 Specifications: * Input Voltage: 100V AC to 240V AC, 50 ~ 60Hz frequency * Output Voltage: 15~17V OR 18~21V * Peak Power Output: 90W * Operating Efficiency: 85%+The

ASUS INTRODUCES 3D NOTEBOOKS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:03:37 PST

Asus has introduced two laptops with 3D displays – the G51J3D and the G72GX. The G51J3D is powered by an Intel Core i7 processor with 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce 160M graphics processor. It has a 15.6 inch display. The G72GX is bigger with its 17.3 inch display. Its specifications have not yet been disclosed. The Asus 3D notebooks are different from 3D notebooks released by Acer. Asus claims that the

CASZH CA-L11B NETBOOK REVIEW

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:31:43 PST

Chinese PC maker Caszh has released several impressive mini-laptops of late, one among them being the CA-L11B. This 11.1 inch device is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor.SpecificationsThe CA-L11B has the regular netbook specifications. It has an 11.1 inch display with 1366x768 pixels. Up to 1GB of RAM can be installed. The hard disk capacity is 160GB. It runs on Windows XP.Ports and

MOBLIN LINUX 2.1 BETA VERSION OUT FOR TESTING

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:04:04 PST

Netbook users can now download and test a new beta version of Moblin Linux. The Moblin 2.1 as it is dubbed has enhanced features including the following:It supports 3G data connectionsAllows Bluetooth device managementHas updated browser with plug-in supportSupports more connectivity options including Ethernet, WiMax, WiFi and 3GHas integrated application installer for Moblin GarageThe new

SONY VAIO P GETS A SPECS BUMP

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:25:17 PST

Sony has updated its Vaio P line of netbooks. The new models will have Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional as against the previous models which had Windows Vista. Sony has also upgraded the hardware. The new specifications aren’t totally new. Many of them were already available on Japanese models. The upgraded models will run on Intel Atom Z5xx series processors clocking at up to

TOSHIBA INTRODUCES 320GB HARD DRIVE

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:06:15 PST

Toshiba has unveiled a new hard drive that is big in capacity but small in size. The new Toshiba MKxx33GSG hard drives can hold up to 320GB of data and spin at 5400rpm. These are not the highest capacity hard drives out there but they are better than the 160GB and 250GB hard drives usually found in netbooks. The new hard drives measure just 1.8 inches and can easily fit inside an iPod or a

AMAZON OFFERS GIFT CERTIFICATES WITH THE PURCHASE OF ASUS NOTEBOOKS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:49:31 PST

In an older post we mentioned that Amazon plans to offer customers a $75 gift certificate when they buy an Asus UL20A thin and light notebook through their online store. Well, Amazon has made the promotion page live, and there are more laptops on offer.Besides the UL20A, the offer is available with two other models as well. Customers who buy the Asus UL50A and Asus UL80A through Amazon will get a

SPRINT BEGIN SELLING DELL INSPIRON MINI 10 AT SUBSIDIZED RATES

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:29:24 PST

US wireless carrier Sprint has started offering the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 at a subsidized price. To avail of this offer, customers have to sign up for a 2-year Sprint Mobile Broadband service plan. The laptop will cost $199.99 with the 2 year service contrast. The Inspiron Mini 10 starts at around $300. The model available at the subsidized price also has an internal EV-Do modem.The Inspiron Mini

GAMING LAPTOPS

noreply@blogger.com (XHardware) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:07:03 PST

Top 5 Gaming LaptopsA few years ago, the notion of a laptop being used solely as a games machine was an absurdity, or at the very best, a price mark that very few of us could ever hope of dreaming to reach. Yet, with the reduce in both hardware size and price, while at a similar rate, the increase in power of these machines, gaming laptops in recent years have become more of a reality.Yet, with

UBUNTU 9.10 UTILITY TO CONTROL CLOCK SPEED OF ATOM PROCESSORS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:08:48 PST

The Ubuntu 9.10 has been released with a number of netbook-friendly features including the optional Ubuntu Netbook Remix user interface. Ubuntu is a popular version of Linux specifically optimized for netbooks running on Intel Atom processors such as Asus Eee PC. The only major problem with this OS is that it doesn’t allow users to easily adjust the clock speed of Intel Atom processors. But the

NVIDIA TO GIVE AWAY ION-POWERED NETBOOKS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:04:06 PST

Nvidia certainly wants to show off the capabilities of its ION graphics. The graphics chip maker is running a contest in which participants can win an HP Mini 311 laptop, an HDMI cable, HP external Blu-Ray drive, a laptop case and a truckload of software including some high end games. The contest is open through November 22nd. The HP Mini 311 is famous for being the first netbook to feature

OLPC SCRAPS DUAL-TOUCH SCREEN X0-2 CONCEPT MACHINE

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:26:55 PST

The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) team has scrapped their ambitious dual-touch screen XO-2 concept machine due to budget constraints. The folks are now busy building an XO laptop version 1.75. The first XO laptop arrived a few years ago and it sort of sparked the netbook revolution.The first XO laptop featured an AMD Geode processor. The next version XO 1.5 had a faster VIA processor. The proposed

VIA RELEASES UPDATED NANO PROCESSORS

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:13:14 PST

VIA has updated its line of low power Nano processors. The new Nano 3000 chips come with a 64-bit architecture and run between 1GHz and 2GHz. VIA claims that the new chips are capable of decoding 1080p HD video content. According to VIA, the new chips deliver 20% better performance than the previous versions in the PCMark 05 and 3Dmark 2006 benchmarks. In the same tests, the Nano 3000 processors

LENOVO IDEAPAD S12 NOW AVAILABLE WITH NVIDIA ION AND WINDOWS 7

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:55:37 PST

Lenovo has equipped its IdeaPad S12 with Nvidia ION chipset. The new and improved S12 can handle full 1080p HD video. The machine is now available for purchase. The ION-equipped S12 was supposed to be the first NVIDIA ION netbook in the US, but that distinction ultimately went to HP Mini 311. Lenovo delayed the device because it wanted to release it with Windows 7. Now Windows 7 is here, so is

LITL EASEL WEB COMPUTER RUNNING ON LITL OS UNVEILED

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:29:26 PST

Litl Easel has released a new notebook called ‘Web Computer’. The device runs on Litl operating system rather than Windows. The laptop has better specifications than conventional netbooks, but it is smaller than a typical notebook. The Litl Web Computer runs on an Intel Atom Z540 1.86GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. At 12.1 inches the display is slightly larger than what you would find on most

INTEL ATOM PINE TRAIL MOTHERBOARDS START HITTING SHELVES

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:27:58 PST

Intel hasn’t officially launched its next-generation Pine Trail Atom processors, but unofficial sources claim that Intel Essential Series ITX motherboards with two Pine Trail processors – the Atom D510 and D410 – have started hitting shelves. The Atom D510MO motherboard has a dual core 1.67GHz Intel Atom D510 CPU with 2x512kb of cache and a 13W TDP. It has Intel GMA 3150 graphics built onto the

WALMART'S MIRUS NETBOOK FOR $248

noreply@blogger.com (ESL Study Center) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:26:10 PST

The Mirus JWHX netbook won’t win any award for its looks or design. It doesn’t have any particularly impressive specification either. The only feature that sets this machine apart from its competition is its price. The Mirus netbook is now available from Walmart for $248. A true deal especially when you consider the fact that not many netbooks launch at that price. For this price you will get a