M50
Latest
BMW's i4 EV arrives next year starting at $55,400
BMW has revealed more specifications about the i4 electric sedan it unveiled in March along with the US pricing and availability.
Star Citizen's latest ship is ready for the races
Not every spaceship is slated for combat or trade; some ships exist to go as fast as possible. The Origin M50, Star Citizen's newest offering, is a racing ship that can do double duty as a courier or interceptor. The craft is dominated by a pair of engines that provide an incredible amount of thrust and maneuverability. Players who cough up $90 can put one of these sleek machines in their collection right now. The devs promise that the M50 is "hanger-ready," meaning that you can admire it in person via the hanger module. Taking it out for a spin? That may be a while yet. [Thanks to James for the tip!]
ASUS G50 prototype with additional 4.3-inch Tegra-based PC
We have a few more details on that prototype ASUS laptop we caught on video last night. Essentially two computers in one chassis, the modified M50 sports a separate Tegra APX-based 4.3-inch touchpad PC below they keyboard, for an effect somewhat reminiscent of (but nothing like) good 'ol SideShow. More than a second display, Tegra's "system on a chip" architecture allows for lightning fast boot times and excellent picture quality -- and since it runs off the same power source as its Atom-based host, the little guy should get up to 12 hours battery life when playing back video.
Video: ASUS features modded G50 with 4.3-inch secondary computer, oh my
What's 1 primary laptop plus 1 secondary, smaller computer equal? Want, that's what. ASUS just showed us a modified G50 M50 media laptop with a secondary 4.3 LCD display computer with some help from Microsoft here at ASUS' CES presser. Microsoft actually calls it "two computers in one chassis" running independently from each other but sharing a common battery. The smaller computer will run for over 12 hours for all your widgeting (contacts, email, etc) needs -- alas, it does not appear to be removable. Funny thing is, not a single mention by Microsoft about SideShow. Check the video after the break, it's compelling and nerd sexy to see a movie launch from the small, second computer onto the larger display.Update: We spoke to ASUS and learned that this prototype is planned for production this year. A version featuring a removable, secondary computer (think MID) is a possible followup.
DeviceVM's Splashtop comes to ASUS laptops as Express Gate
DeviceVM's Splashtop -- the (almost) instant-on Linux system -- has made its way onto an ASUS laptop before, but the company has announced today that said application is coming to even more of ASUS' rigs. If you'll recall, ASUS decided to bring Splashtop to all of its motherboards earlier this month, and now consumers who snap up a M70T, M50V, M51Vr, F8Va or F8Vr series machine can also look forward to having near-instant access to multimedia playback, chat capabilities, etc. as soon as they hit the power button. On these lappies, the system will be dubbed Express Gate, but you can rest assured it's absolutely the same thing. We'd hold off a few days on picking up one of the aforesaid units, however, as the pre-loaded models aren't slated to ship until next month.
ASUS reveals 15.4-inch M50 multimedia laptop, Blu-ray / Penryn included
Just a week after we laid hands on a pair of new multimedia powerhouses from Acer, along comes ASUS to keep things interesting. Announced today, the 15.4-inch M50 packs quite the punch, with options for Intel's latest smattering of Penryn processors, an optional Blu-ray drive and an available ATI Mobile Radeon HD3650 with 1GB of VRAM. The unit also comes with your choice of WXGA, WXGA+ or WSXGA+ panels, any Vista flavor you like, WiFi, up to 4GB of RAM, HDMI and a built-in hybrid TV tuner. Also included is a dual-function trackpad, which enables users to flip through tracks or playlists and adjust the volume of the Altec Lansing speakers when not mousing about. Regrettably, ASUS has yet to dole out any accompanying pricing information, but we doubt this bundle of joy will be anywhere close to a bargain.
Hands-on with Pentax's new Optio lineup
There doesn't seem to be a lot of excitement when Pentax releases new cameras in its Optio range -- do you people only love them for their DSLRs? -- but nonetheless, we gave them the same hands-on treatment that everyone else gets. Below you'll find the new S12, E50, and M50 in all their seemingly-unpopular glory, despite the fact that they seemed like fairly stylish, solidly-built products to us. Still with us? Great, we've got a lot of multi-colored point-and-shoot action in store for you.%Gallery-15027%
Hands-on with the ASUS M50 and M70 terabyte laptops
After we heard ASUS stepped into Crazytown with two new terabyte-capacity laptops, we knew we had to swing by the booth and bust out our cameras. It seems like the company has really been stepping up its game both on the design and spec front, with a solid build from the sleek black top and touchpad-integrated media controller, straight on down to the Core 2 Duo CPUs and -- of course -- the ultra-gigantic storage space. Peep the gallery below for a full on tour of the two systems.%Gallery-13313%
Asus M70S and M50S notebooks boast 1TB of storage
As you may have read in our coverage of Hitachi's new 5K500 2.5-inch 500GB drive, Asus will be the first manufacturer to pack a pair of these capacious components into a set of upcoming widescreen models, giving the 17-inch M70S and 15-inch M50S the distinguished honor of being the world's first one terabyte laptops. Besides those oddly-sized drives (which can configured in either RAID 0 or RAID 1), these machines will also offer up to WUXGA or WSXGA+ resolutions (for the M70 and M50, respectively), 2.4GHz T7700 Core 2 Duo processors, AMD ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics, and a fingerprint reader, along with an optional hybrid TV tuner and remote. As usual, the good stuff (pictures, pricing) will be coming in a few days at the Show of Shows.
Hitachi's 5K500, E5K500 hit the mythical 500GB mark for laptops -- with a catch
Oh, how long laptop drives have awaited to reach that magical 500GB / 1TB mark for single and dual drive machines, respectively. Well, today, thanks to Hitachi, road warriors everywhere can find sweet release from their so-very-cramped Toshiba / Western Digital 320GB drives with a new Hitachi 5K500 or E5K500-equipped machine. Except there's just one catch. This jump in storage didn't come from advancements in storage technology -- it came from Hitachi cramming another platter onto the stack. More platters equal more thickness, and the 5K500 and E5K500 are 3mm thicker than your industry-standard 9.5mm thick 2.5-inch drive. In other words, Hitachi copped out in the race to 500GB and created a non-standard sized drive that more than likely won't fit in your laptop or external enclosure.Furthermore, while they'll start at $400 (the E5K500 will likely cost a bit more, it's the enterprise drive with bulk data encryption and is rated for 24/7 access) when they're available in February, you won't be buying them; even assuming your device is engineered with enough room to accommodate the drives' expanded girth, Hitachi doesn't intend to sell them except to OEMs for systems integration. First on the chopping block: Asus, and its M50 and M70 laptops, which will be getting dual-drive configs for a mobile terabyte. One more glamor shot after the break.
