LAPTOP OF THE WORLD

TOSHIBA ANNOUNCES WORLD'S HIGHEST CAPACITY HARD DRIVE: 750GB

Toshiba’s newly announced MK7559GSXP is the world’s highest capacity 2.5 inch hard drive with a standard 9.5 mm height. The Toshiba MK7559GSXP offers 750GB storage space. It is a two-platter drive with a SATA II interface and spins at 5400 rpm. Detailed specifications are given below:

Capacity: 750 GB
Interface: SATA II
Number of Platters: 2
Number of Data Heads: 4
Track-to-Track Seek: 2 ms
Average Seek Time: 12 ms
Rotational Speed: 5400 RPM
Average Latency: 5.5 ms
Buffer Size: 8 MB
Spin Up Power: 4.5 watts
Seek Power: 1.85 watts
Read / Write Power: 1.5 watts
Low Power Idle: 0.55 watts
Standby Power: 0.18 watts
Sleep Power: 0.15 watts
Dimensions: 69.85 mm x 100.00 mm x 9.5 mm
Weight: 102 g

Toshiba also announced its MKxx59GSM series hard drives with 750 GB and 1 TB capacities. These are also 2.5 inch drives but have a higher 12.5 mm height, which means that they cannot be used in all notebooks.

The Toshiba MK7559GSXP hard drives are expected to ship in the third quarter of this year. The MKxx59GSM drives are expected to ship during this quarter itself.

THINKPAD X100E NOW AVAILABLE WITH DUAL CORE CPU

In Sweden, the Lenovo ThinkPad X100e is now available with a dual core processor. The ThinkPad X100e is a thin and light notebook aimed at businesses. It has been available for a while with a single core AMD Neo MV-40 processor.

The dual-core model of the notebook has a 1.6GHz dual core AMD Turion X2 L625 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive and an integrated HSDPA/HSUPA 3G modem.
Other specifications include an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixels, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and Windows 7 Professional. The dual core model is pricey though. It costs around 7,494 Swedish Krona (about $1032 US).

SAMSUNG N210 NETBOOK REVIEW

Samsung N210 probably isn’t the thinnest or lightest netbook on the market. It’s specs aren’t particularly impressive either. Still, the N210 has a few features that set it apart from other netbooks. For example, it has great looks, a gorgeous display and a decent keyboard. It also sports a finger print resistant case. So if you are in the market for an affordable netbook with decent features, the N210 is definitely worth considering.

Samsung N210 specs
Processor: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor
Memory: 1GB of RAM
Storage: 250GB hard drive
Display: 10.1 inch display with 1024 x 600 pixels
Operating system: Windows 7 Starter
Battery: 6-cell, 48Whr battery

Price as configured: $379.99

Keyboard and TouchPad
The Samsung N210 has a chiclet-style keyboard with flat keys. There is a decent amount of space between each key. The keyboard is quite usable but you may take a little longer to get used to it because the keys appear to be a little too small and the distance between them a little too large. The touchpad supports multi-touch gestures such as pinching to zoom. It has a single button below the touch surface with a rocker in the middle. The touchpad offers decent sensitivity, but it could have been a bit wider.

Display
The display is simply great. Unlike most netbooks on the market, the Samsung N210 has a matte, non-glossy display which is quite viewable in bright settings. Viewing angles are also great. Glossy displays look better than matte displays, but you can’t use them outdoors or in well-lit office surroundings because reflections will turn the displays into mirrors. A matte display, on the other hand, doesn’t cause reflections and is quite usable in all surroundings.


Performance
The Samsung N210 has regular netbook parts. It is snappy for a netbook and has no problem handling most day to day tasks. You can even watch some low-resolution Flash videos. You may also perform some light image editing. But gaming is out of question. You won’t be able to watch 720p or higher resolution Flash videos either.

The Samsung N210 comes pre-loaded with the Phoenix HyperSpace quick boot software. HyperSpace boots in about 10 seconds allowing you to get online and perform a handful of other tasks without having to wait for Windows to boot.

Battery
The Samsung N210 gets around 7 hours of runtime during normal usage. Watching videos or playing games will easily reduce the battery life. While 7 hours isn’t very bad, many netbooks with similar price points and specs offer nearly twice as long.


Verdict
Netbooks have never really been performance machines and the Samsung N210 is no different. It has enough power to handle day to day tasks, but if gaming is your priority, you need to look elsewhere.

Another problem is the $379 price tag. At that price, the N210 is costlier than competing netbooks from Asus, Acer and MSI. But if Samsung can reduce the price a bit, you have no reason not to consider this netbook.


Pros
Great display
Attractive looks
Nice keyboard
Snappy for a netbook

Cons
Pricey
Average battery life

NVIDIA OFFICIALLY UNVEILS ITS GEFORCE GTX 480 AND GTX 470 GPUS

NVIDIA has officially unveiled its GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 high-end graphics cards. Both GPU’s are part of NVIDIA’s next-generation GPU architecture codenamed Fermi or GF 100. The GeForce GTX 480 has the following specs: 480 CUDA cores, 700 MHz graphics and 1,401MHz processor clock speeds, plus 1.5GB of onboard GDDR5 memory running at 1,848MHz (for a 3.7GHz effective data rate). The GTX 470 is the liter version with a humbler 1.2GB of memory plus 607MHz, 1,215MHz and 1,674MHz clocks.

The GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 are NVIDIA’s first cards to support the DirectX 11 standard. They are supposed to compete with ATI’s Radeon HD 5870 and HD 5850 and deliver higher frame rates than their competitors in some in-game benchmarks.

ASUS EEE PC NETBOOKS AND EEE BOX NETTOPS TO GET USB 3.0 PORTS

Asus is the company that sparked the netbook revolution. Apparently, Asus is keen of sparking the USB 3.0 revolution as well.

The USB 3.0 standard offers up to 10 times faster data transfer speeds than the 480Mb/s you get with the USB 2.0 standard. You would probably think that these superspeed ports willl be first available on high-end computers, but that isn’t quite the case. Asus will soon update its budget line of Eee PC netbook and Eee Box nettop with the USB 3.0.

And since these ports offer data transfer speeds up to 5Gbps, they will probably be the fastest part of your computer. But does that help? Well, not really. In fact, you are unlikely to get the full benefit of USB 3.0 if yours is a cheap netbook with an Intel Atom or ARM based processor, simply because the other components can’t handle that kind of speed.

FUSION GARAGE JOOJOO TABLET NOW SHIPPING

Fusion Garage has finally started shipping its JooJoo tablet. This is the same machine that used to be called Crunchpad until a few months ago. The folks at Fusion Garage says that buyers who have already placed their orders should start getting their tablets by March 29th.

The Fusion Garage JooJoo has a 12.1 inch display. It runs a custom operating system built around a web browser and some web-based applications. But since it is powered by an Intel Atom processor and NVIDIA ION graphics, you can install any OS of your choice on the tablet. And the NVIDIA ION will give the machine enough power to handle HD video playback.

At $499, the JooJoo has the same price as the base model of Apple iPad. It also happens to have a bigger display. But do these factors justify buying this tablet over iPad? We can’t say, until we get to read some real reviews of JooJoo.

ASUS EEE PC T101MT TO SHIP IN APRIL

Sources claim that Asus will finally start shipping its Eee PC T101MT in April. The Eee PC T101MT is a convertible netbook style tablet PC with a 10.1 inch display. The capacitive touchscreen display supports multi-touch gestures and can be folded down over the keyboard for using the device in the tablet mode.

The Italian model of the Eee PC T101MT will have a starting price of 499 Euros. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 graphics, Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth and a 0.3 mega pixel webcam. The battery is expected to provide around 6 hours of runtime. Other features include 3 USB ports, an SDHC card reader and VGA.

The US model of the netbook apparently has lower-end specs including Windows 7 Starter Edition,160GB hard drive and 1GB of RAM. This model will have a starting price of $499.

SAMSUNG R430, R480, R580 AND R780 NOW SHIPPING

Samsung’s R30 and R80 Touch of Color laptops have started shipping. These machines were unveiled at CES early this year. They are now available for purchase from Best Buy. Prices range from $629.99 to $829.99.

The Samsung R430 is the cheapest in the series and is powered by a Core 2 Duo T6600 processor with 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. It has a 14 inch display and starts at $629.99. The Samsung NP-R480 has a Core i3-330M processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive and a 14 inch display. It has a starting price of $729.99.

The Samsung NP-R780 and R580 are powered by Intel Core i5-430 processors, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard drive. While the R780 has a 17.3 inch widescreen display, the R580 is equipped with a 15.6 inch display. All models in the series run Windows 7 Home Premium.

ACER UNVEILS ASPIRE ETHOS 8943G AND 5943G ENTERTAINMENT NOTEBOOKS

Acer has just unveiled a new line of entertainment notebooks called the Acer Aspire Ethos series. The two models that have been announced include the Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G and the Acer Aspire Ethos 5943G. Both notebooks are available with a choice of Core i5 or i7 processors and ATI Mobility Radeon HD5000 discrete graphics.

The Aspire Ethos 8943G is the bigger model with an 18 inch 1920 x 1080 pixels display. The Aspire Ethos 5943G has a smaller 15.6 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixels. The dual hard drives offer up to 1.28TB of storage. Other features include DVD / Blu-ray, eSATA, USB, HDMI, VGA, FireWire, webcam, fingerprint reader, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1 and Dolby Home Theater surround sound. No word on pricing or availability at the moment, but you don’t have to try too hard to figure out that these are going to be pricey.

HALERON ILET HAL 7 INCH TABLET NOW SHIPPING?

Haleron says that its iLet HAL 7 inch tablet PC is now shipping. The Haleron iLet HAL has a 600MHz VIA ARM-based processor, an 800 x 480 pixel display, 2GB of storage, 128MB of RAM, WiFi 802.11b/g and an SDHC card slot for additional storage of up to 32GB.

The tablet apparently comes in two sizes – you can pick up a model with a 7 inch or an 8 inch display. The 8 inch model is expected to be available in May. Both models run Google Android. The 8-inch model also seems to have a SIM card slot for an optional 3G modem.

The 7-inch iLet HAL is now up for order for $229. You can bring the price down to $199 per tablet by ordering 5 or more tablets.

A word of caution
Some bloggers have pointed out the possibility of Haleron being a scam. Haleron says that it has released several netbooks and smartbooks in the past year or two, but surprisingly nobody has posted a single review of a Haleron product so far. If the products are real, shouldn’t there be at least one review? So place your orders with caution.

SAMSUNG N150 GETS CORBY BRANDING AND COLORFUL LIDS

Samsung has introduced a new colorful version of its N150 netbook in Europe. The netbook has also acquired some Corby branding. The new, Samsung Corby N150 is available in Flamingo Pink, Bermuda Blue and Caribbean Yellow. The keyboard and underside of the netbook will sport white color. Samsung, we are told, also plans to offer mobile phones with matching colors.

Bloggers who got to check out the new Corby version of the N150 says that the netbook looks quite distinctive from the regular N150. Aside from the colorful lids, the Samsung Corby N150 has the same specs as the regular N150 available in the US. The netbook is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Windows 7 Starter and 6-cell battery. The 10.1 inch anti-glare display has 1024 x 600 pixels.

The Samsung Corby N150 is not available in the US at the moment and Samsung hasn’t revealed any plans to make it available in the future either.

MEET ELITEBOOK 8740W: HP'S MOST POWERFUL MOBILE WORKSTATION EVER

The HP EliteBook 8740w is the most powerful mobile workstation ever built by HP. The EliteBook 8740w is available with your choice of a Core i5 or i7 processor, a 1GB NVIDIA Quadro or ATI FirePro discrete gPU, 7200rpm hard drive and up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM. Other specifications include 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2MP webcam, eSATA, VGA, RJ45, DisplayPort, mobile broadband with GPS and Firewire. Surprisingly, there is no HDMI port.

The major highlight of the notebook is the 1920 x 1080 DreamColor LED-backlit screen that features HP’s Dreamcolor technology for professional color reproduction. But it comes at a price. In fact, even the fully decked-up $3,899 model doesn’t come standard with the Dreamcolor display.

The Elitebook 8740w is quite rugged and meets the military standards for high temperature, humidity, vibration, dust and altitude.

The HP EliteBook 8740w will start shipping in early April. Prices start at $1,999.

HP ELITEBOOK 2540P OVERVIEW

HP’s recently unveiled EliteBook 2540p is probably the smallest and lightest EliteBook ever. It weighs just 3.38lbs and measures 1.1 inches in thickness.
The HP EliteBook 2540p has a 12.1 inch LED-backlit LCD display. The notebook offers two configuration options. If speed and performance is what you seek, you can configure the notebook with a standard Core i5 or i7 processor and a 7200 rpm hard drive. This model does not have an optical drive. If endurance is what you are after you may opt for a low voltage processor and a 5400 rpm hard drive. This model may be slightly slower, but it will decent battery life. It has also got an optical drive.

Other specifications that are common to both models include up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, integrated Intel graphics, and Display port. The HP EliteBook 2540p runs Windows 7. An optional degrade to Windows XP is also available. The notebook ships with multiple battery option that include 3-cell (4 hours) , 6-cell (8.5 hours) and 9-cell (12.5 hours).

The EliteBook 2540p is rugged, too and has a spill resistant keyboard. It also meets the military standards for vibration, dust, humidity, altitude and high temperature.

T-MOBILE AND CLEAR TO OFFER DELL INSPIRON MINI 10 AT SUBSIDIZED RATES

Two US-based wireless carriers plan to offer the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook at subsidized prices to customers who sign up for a long term broadband plan. Starting tomorrow, the Inspiron Mini 10 with integrated 3G modem will be available from T-mobile for $199 if you sign up for a 2-year contract. This offer is only available in Chicago, Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles.

Starting April 1st, Clear also plans to start offering the netbook with integrated 4G WiMAX modem for $250 if you buy a service plan. The Clear 4G plans offer unlimited data transfer with download speeds reaching as high as 6Mbps. The T-Mobile 3G plan has a monthly data transfer limit of 5GB and offer speeds up to 7.2Mbps.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is a 10 inch netbook with a 1024 x 600 pixel display. It is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor and runs Windows 7 Starter Edition. The base model without a 3G or 4G modem costs $299.

SONY ADDS 14 INCH AND 17 INCH NOTEBOOKS TO THE VAIO E SERIES

Sony has refreshed its VAIO E series. The new additions feature 14 inch and 17 inch displays, and much like the other notebooks in the VAIO E series, these machines are also available in a range of colors.

The 14 inch Sony VAIO VPCEA1S1E has a 2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5145 graphics. The display has 1600 x 900 pixels.

The 17 inch model has a 1920 x 1080 pixels display and sports better specs including a Core i5-430M processor, 1TB of storage and ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics. While the 14 incher has a DVD drive, the 17 inch model sports a Blu-ray drive. Other specifications that are common to both models include Bluetooth, WiFi 802.11b/g/n and HDMI output.
No word on pricing or availability at the moment.

The stunning new Apple Macbook Pro

Apple Mac products have always enjoyed a special place in the hearts of connoisseurs. For eons, the Mac PCs have ruled the roost and Apple has always ensured that its technology never turns obsolete by adapting to changing scenarios and adhering to the norms of technological evolution. The Macbook Pro has carried on the legacy of its legendary ancestors and to further it, Apple has released the new Macbook Pro, with all new features and additions.

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