T7200
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Intel issues product discontinuance notice for seven Merom chips
Oh, Merom. It felt like just yesterday that we were shaking our heads in disappointment after reading lackluster reviews and wondering when you'd finally make an appearance in Apple's MacBook Pro. Thankfully, times change, and with Intel's mobile Penryn stealing all the limelight of late, we 'spose it's about time the Merom lineup cashed out its 401(k) and sailed off to Maui. According to a PCN (product change notification) from the chip maker, the Core 2 Duo T7200, T7600, T5500, T5600 and LV L7200 are being flagged for discontinuation along with the less potent Celeron M 520 and 530. Granted, the whole family will still be available to ship until sometime in 2009, but for us, it's on to bigger smaller and faster things. [Warning: PDF read link][Via TGDaily, image courtesy of Gutenberg]
Asus G2P 17-inch gaming laptop reviewed
The folks over at PC Perspective finally got their hands on the Asus G2 gaming lappy we first saw all the way back in October, and while it's got a couple trick features, it's also hot, heavy, and held back by a midrange GPU. Based on the massive Asus A7J, the G2 bumps the processor to a 2GHz Intel T7200 Core 2 Duo and the GPU to a 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1700, repackaging the whole deal in a slick metal case with an integrated OLED screen (no SideShow though, bummer), 1.3 megapixel webcam, and side-mounted red LED strips that throb with DirectX activity. Flossing all that gamer style doesn't get you anywhere if you can't run with the big boys, though, and that's where PC Perspective found that that X1700 just wasn't always up to the task, slowing down considerably during some of their tests. But despite this and some other potential dealbreakers (like being the heaviest 17-inch laptop PC Perspective has ever tested and requiring near-total disassembly to upgrade the RAM) the G2 left a favorable impression, offering competent, if not great, performance with more than a dash of style for $1900. Peep the read link for the full review.
Sotec goes Merom with Winbook DN7010 and DN8010
Like HP, Sotec's also got a pair of Merom-powered notebooks for us to drool over check out today, spec-bumped members of its Winbook DN7000 and DN8000 series. The 15.4-inch DN7010 features a 1,280 x 800 resolution, between 512MB and 2GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM, anywhere from 40GB to 120GB of HDD capacity (all running at 5,400RPM), DVD Super Multi Drive, and most importantly, Core 2 Duo CPUs in either T5500, T7200, or T7400 flavors.You're getting almost the exact same configuration options on the DN8010, expect this model sports a larger 17-inch display with 1,440 x 900 pixels to play around with. The 8010 also throws in FireWire, an eSATA port and an SD / MMC / MS card reader, while both machines sport 802.11a/b/g, an ExpressCard slot, Ethernet (Gigabit on the 8010), four USB 2.0 jacks, and S/PDIF, D-sub, and S-Video outs. Both notebooks will be available for purchase on September 11th, with the DN7010 rocking a ¥109,800 ($938) pricetag and the DN8010 starting at ¥119,800 ($1,024).Read- DN7010 Read- DN8010[Via Impress]
