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Sony cuts the VAIO SA's starting price to $1,000, starts shipping the 15-inch VAIO SE
Lots of PC news flowing out of Sony Electronics' US headquarters this fine Sunday morning. First, the company slashed the starting price of the 13-inch VAIO SA laptop from $1,250 to $1,000, while the lower-end SB series now starts at $780 (it had been going for $800 after instant savings). We asked Sony's PR team what that means for folks who recently purchased either of these through Sony's online store, and still haven't gotten a response, but the company was quick to remind us that it's up to retailers such as Best Buy to set their own price protection policies. (Thanks, Sony!) Moving along, that 15.5-inch VAIO SE series we reviewed a month ago is at last up for sale, beautiful 1080p display and all. You can find her on Sony's site starting at a thousand bucks with a Core i5-2430M processor, 4GB of RAM, a 640GB 5,400RPM hard drive, DVD burner and, of course, that 1920 x 1080 panel. So, is all that worth a flaky trackpad and poor battery life (sans $150 slice)? That, friends, is a decision you'll have to make for yourself. Finally, in more granular news, the 14-inch C and E series are getting expanded Sandy Bridge processor options, while the 16-inch F series and L series all-in-ones will come with Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum, Sound Forge Audio Studio and ACID Music Studio pre-installed. In addition, the SA, L, F and E series are all getting speed bumps, as are pre-configured SB and Z series laptops. Oh, and the SB is now available in red. Got it? Good. Lots of up to date specs at the source link.
HP Envy 14 review (2011)
HP redesigns its Envy laptops, announces the Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D (video) HP releases Q4 2011 earnings: $9.7 billion operating profit for fiscal year Toshiba's quad-core Satellite L750D goes on sale for $699 as one of the first available Llano laptops The last time we reviewed the Envy 14, we concluded, by and large, that HP got it right. The company succeeded in delivering good performance and graphics punch, all while correcting a teensy overheating problem and adding an optical drive and backlit keyboard. Then there was that rock-solid, engraved metal chassis that made it one of the most attractive notebooks on the market -- a distinction it still holds to this day. So as you can imagine, when HP refreshed the Envy 14 this summer, there wasn't exactly a lot to improve. What we have here is a nearly identical machine, with the same stunning design -- not to mention, $1,000 starting price. Now, though, HP is selling it with Sandy Bridge processors and USB 3.0 -- the kind of tweaks laptop makers have been rolling out for the better part of this year. Normally, that kind of speed bump wouldn't warrant us re-reviewing a laptop. In fact, we probably wouldn't be revisiting the Envy 14 if it weren't for two things. For starters, we've received an unusual number of emails, tweets and comments from readers, imploring us to weigh in on the Sandy Bridge version before they pull the trigger. Secondly, in addition to that processor swap, HP has fine-tuned the touchpad drivers, and assures us the trackpad isn't the flaky mess it was the last two times around. So how much better is the Envy 14 in the year two thousand and eleven? Let's find out. %Gallery-132905%
Sony Vaio Z gets Core i7 processor, 1920 x 1080 display in the US
Sony's rather quietly refreshed its VAIO Z laptops in the US -- to include Intel's Core i7 processor and a new, optional 1920 x 1080 display. The new display upgrade is free until July 3rd so if you've been thinking about grabbing up a VAIO Z, now's probably the time to do it. You can check out our full review of the earlier VAIO Z here. Hit up the source if you just can't wait to start shopping. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Motorola boosts Milestone XT720 spec with 720MHz CPU and 512MB RAM
Some of you weren't too pleased to see Motorola's new Milestone hitting Europe with just 256MB of memory and a 550MHz processor, and it seems like Moto has listened. We're sure the XT720 would've done just fine running Android 2.1 with its previous spec, but we're hardly going to begrudge a free upgrade. The TI OMAP3440 is now running at 720MHz -- something Motorola had told us the phone was always capable of, though the company had initially opted to downclock away from it, presumably in an effort to extend battery life. RAM gets a healthy doubling to 512MB, bringing the Milestone XT720 more in line with its "premium multimedia" boast, while the launch date seems to remain unaltered: later this month for Europe and a big fat question mark for the USA. [Thanks, Thomas F]
Apple gives Mac mini a spec bump, adds dual-HDD Mac mini server
Apple's high-noon extravaganza is touching just about every aspect of the company's consumer lineup today, and considering just how long it's been (okay, so maybe not that long) since the Mac mini saw any love, we're thrilled that it's amongst the crowd seeing updates today. The new $599 Mac mini configuration gets fitted with a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo CPU (up from 2GHz), 2GB of RAM (up from 1GB) and a 160GB hard drive (up from 120GB). The $799 build features a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB of memory (up from 2GB) and a 320GB hard drive (same as before), and both machines sport the same GeForce 9400M GPU and 8x SuperDrive as they did in March. The most intriguing news on the mini front, however, has nothing to do with the standard rigs. Apple is today introducing an all new machine in the Mac mini server, a system that's formed in the exact same enclosure as the standard mini but without an optical drive of any kind. Instead, there's room for an additional hard drive, and the $999 model ships with two 500GB HDDs. It also includes Snow Leopard Server (unlimited clients), a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, a GeForce 9400M GPU and the same port assortment (meaning no mini-DisplayPort) as found on the other guys. It's hard to say just how well something like this will do, but we're guessing Apple doesn't much mind if it remains a niche product. Catch Apple's official blurb after the break. %Gallery-75968%
VAIO P spec bumps coming?
According to the folks over at Sony Insider, Sony might have something more than just color changes up its sleeve when it comes to forthcoming variations on the VAIO P. Supposedly, the company has a new series of the diminutive laptop in the pipeline numbered 700 (as opposed to the current 500 line), which SI says looks just like a typical Sony scheme for spec refreshes. Inside the new digits there's a designation for upcoming colors, but the existence of a fresh starting point as well as an additional "Q" in the mix might also mean that there are legitimate hardware changes happening as well. At this point this is just speculation, and it certainly wouldn't surprise anyone if Sony were to bump some of the internals of the netbook... er, ultraportable, but it would likely be a welcome change. For a more detailed analysis, hit the read link.
Apple MacBook Pro 15-inchers get quiet CPU spec bump
While poring over the metric ton of PR this morning, we didn't immediately notice that Apple has turned up the juice ever-so-slightly on MacBook Pro 15-inch models. Instead of coughing up a CPU bump from 2.4GHz to 2.53GHz, the company now offers an upgrade path to 2.66GHz and the 17-inchtastic 2.93GHz, which should ensure your lap is ruined for ever and ever. Any other surprises Apple?
Apple MacBook line gets spec bumps
Looks like there's some new hardware at Apple today after all. MacBooks now start at 2.0GHz with 1GB of memory, 80GB drives, 802.11n (of course), and run up to 2.16GHz if configured or in black. They're still on that 667MHz FSB though, indicating that they haven't yet moved to Intel's Santa Rosa platform (which we'd expect the MacBook Pro to have done first anyhow). On Apple today for the usual $1,100 in white, and $1,500 in black.[Thanks, Wayne]
