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Gigabyte X11 review: slim and powerful but not without flaws
Gigabyte was certainly feeling brave when it unveiled the £857, 11.6-inch X11 Ultrabook earlier this year. Appearing shortly before the arrival of Windows 8, it straddles two OS life cycles, with a feature set that's more faithful to Windows 7 than to the touch-centric future. Still, with a Core i5 Ivy Bridge CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, the current holder of the "world's thinnest Ultrabook" title is specced to compete -- and, as you'd imagine, this is a fast and powerful little machine. But has Gigabyte sacrificed compelling features to achieve the X11's extra-skinny frame? Join us after the break to learn if this unit, only available outside US, is worth the import fees.
GIMP now (finally) available as a native Mac app
This is something that's been a long time coming, and it's finally here. GIMP is an excellent Photoshop-esque open source photo editor. While it's been available on Mac for a long time, it has required the X11 Window environment, which itself needs a separate (and somewhat messy) installation. For a long time, the programmers working on GIMP have been promising to eventually take it native, but it hasn't happened until just recently. As of version 2.8.2, you can now simply go grab the GIMP .dmg file from the main website, and then install and run on your Mac as needed. That's good news for those of us who appreciate a powerful photo editor like this but don't necessarily have the cash for big-name apps like Photoshop or Pixelmator. Congrats to everyone who's worked on GIMP in the past. If you like the app and want to support great open sourced work, they could probably use a donation or two. [via LifeHacker]
Macs abound at NASA/JPL Mars Curiosity mission control
For those of us who stayed up late last night to watch the streaming coverage of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars, it was a treat to see the huge numbers of MacBooks, iPads, and even iPhones that were in the control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The image above shows one of the EDL Ops (Entry, Descent and Landing Operations) engineers gazing intently at the screen of a MacBook Pro at incoming data. Other photos we've seen show a conference room full of engineers and scientists at JPL sitting around a table loaded with MacBook Pros with nary a Lenovo or Dell laptop in sight. Why the love of Macs? It's probably because OS X is the "Unix that works," the mainstream operating system that's built upon the BSD UNIX beloved by scientists and engineers (and is also certified by the Single UNIX Specification group as an Open Brand UNIX 03 product). Of course, the scientific and engineering community may not be thrilled with the recent shift away from bundling Apple-branded X11 with OS X in Mountain Lion, as that's often used to run legacy apps. The current X11 solution is the XQuartz open source project, which is heavily supported by Apple. Be sure to check back later; TUAW's Mel Martin is following up with a post about more reasons for all of this Apple love at JPL. [h/t Jeff Gamet] #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
A closer look at the Gigabyte X11, the world's 'lightest' Ultrabook
Technically, Computex doesn't open its show floor until tomorrow, but if you ask Gigabyte, the show has been in full swing since last week. After a little tease, the company announced the X11, an 11-inch laptop that claims to be the world's lightest Ultrabook, at 975 grams, or 2.15 pounds. At the time, we brought you a few hands-on shots from our colleagues at Engadget Chinese, but we couldn't resist getting hands-on ourselves when we found it on display here in Taipei. Follow past the break for detailed impressions from Engadget's resident laptop reviewer or, if you've got a short attention span, check out our hands-on pics and walk-through video.
Gigabyte makes 975g X11 official, claims 'world's lightest' 11.6-inch notebook (update: hands-on video)
Well hello there again, Gigabyte X11. Hot on the heels of yesterday's leak, Gigabyte's just made its 11.6-inch X11 laptop (or is that an Ultrabook?) official. At 975g (2.15 pounds) it claims the title of "lightest notebook on earth" -- and weighs even less on Mars. Design-wise, you're looking at a 16.5mm (0.65 inches) to 3mm (0.19 inches) thin Macbook Air-like body made of real carbon fiber (!) with an aluminum hinge. Under the hood you'll find unspecified third generation Intel Core processors (read Ivy Bridge), 4GB of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Intel HM77 Express chipset with Intel HD Graphics 4000, a 128GB SSD, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. Ports include power, USB 2.0 and mini DisplayPort on the left side plus microSD, combo audio and USB 3.0 on the right. While the specs also mention gigabit Ethernet, there's no sign of it anywhere in the press shots. The display is a 1366x768-pixel LED-backlit affair dotted with a 1.3 megapixel webcam. A chiclet keyboard, buttonless trackpad and 4730mAh 7.4V Li-ion polymer battery (likely sealed) complete the package. There's no word on availability, but prices will range from $999 to $1299 with Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional in tow. Expect more information when we get our hands on this sexy beast at Computex next week. Update: Our colleagues over at Engadget Chinese just got to spend some time with this svelte black slab. Take a look at the gallery below and hit the break for the hands-on video.%Gallery-156515% %Gallery-156511% In addition, Gigabyte's announcing two 14-inch laptops -- the U2442 and U2440 -- which feature third generation Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce graphics. Unfortunately, we're still busy drooling all over the X11 gallery, so we'll direct you to the full PR after the break for the complete details. Andy Yang contributed to this report.
Press pics of Gigabyte's X11 lightweight laptop reportedly pop up online
Last week, Gigabyte teased us with the promise of a new bantam laptop, the X11, that would be the "lightest notebook on earth." Today, it appears the good folks at Pocket-lint have taken a bit of the wind out of the company's sails by posting a plethora of press pics of the new machine for all the world to see. Naturally, we can't say for sure that this is the forthcoming X11, but whatever it is, it's a slim little black beauty that looks to be right at home with the MacBook Airs and Ultrabooks of the world -- it's got a wedge-shaped silhouette and a modicum of external connectivity (one USB socket and one DisplayPort). Want to see more of it's ebony exterior in advance of tomorrow's official announcement? Head on down to the source link for the full spill.
Gigabyte to unveil X11 on May 31st as lightest laptop ever, spooks us with talk of 'sixth element'
Gigabyte is clearly hoping to carve out a name for itself in a very crowded ultraportable space; it sent us word of a media event for a new X11 laptop in its native Taipei on May 31st, just a few days ahead of Computex. The PC designer claims that the X11 will be the "lightest notebook on Earth," a pretty audacious claim considering the featherweight competition. Most of the braggadocio, we suspect, is rooted in the choice of material: Gigabyte is promising rather ominously to "conquer the 6th element," and unless it's financing the sequel to a Luc Besson movie, we're reasonably sure the firm means extra-light carbon fiber. Other details are scarce, including whether there's any relation to the U2442 Ultrabook due this summer. We'll know in just over a week.
webOS port of Xorg in the works, OpenOffice support the inevitable result
In the absence of a full, editable version of Documents To Go (DataViz still hasn't released it), this might be of some serious interest to the Palm community -- or those that are willing to muck around a bit, anyway. X.org's X server implementation has been successfully shoehorned onto a Pre, meaning that we're well on our way to being able to run arbitrary Linux-based X11 apps on our phones -- including the mighty OpenOffice, as demonstrated here. It seems we're still a ways off yet; the devs have some file system issues to work through, which they say will likely take "weeks to months, rather than days" to fix, but it's a promising start. What, you'd never dreamed of running a desktop office suite on a 3.1-inch display? Follow the break for video.
LG's X110 netbook hits the FCC, insightful user manual in tow
LG's X110 netbook has been floating about Europe since last year, but it is apparently still headed this way, and it's now once step closer to availability now that it's passed through the FCC. Not surprisingly, the netbook itself appears to remain unchanged, with it still packing the usual 10-inch display, an unspecified Intel Atom processor, up to 1GB of RAM, a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive, built-in Bluetooth, a 1.3 megapixel webcam and, apparently, your choice of a three-cell or six-cell battery. One thing we hadn't caught a glimpse of before, however, is the manual, which offers no shortage of insight into the proper use of a netbook, including reminders to not use it in a sauna or laundry room, to be aware of any potential foul odors, to not use the battery as a pet chew toy and, of course, to not leave any object closer than 15 centimeters from the computer. Head on past the break for just a brief sample of it (including a profound warning for any gamers out there), and hit up the link below for the rest of the FCC goods.
X11 on G1 hack is for those who like a little extra OS in their OS
Android may be doing its best to exterminate Linux on the mobile platform, but a dedicated group of fans is doing its best to keep it alive and on the move. One of those is a G1 user by the handle ghostwalker who managed to get a full X-Windows environment running on his handset. Building on the already working Debian version for the G1, he installs LXDE (the Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) on top and then connects to that using the Android VNC viewer. The process sounds straightforward (as far as these things go) and is fully detailed at the read link, but as always don't blame us if you break your poor Android's shell -- and heart.[Via Hack A Day, thanks Neerhaj]
Run IE on your Intel Mac, if you absolutely have to
If you're a Mac-based web developer, a sysadmin at SomeBigCo, or an Outlook Web Access user, you might find yourself needing to use MS Internet Explorer from time to time. No, not IE for Mac OS X, frozen in amber within Applications folders around the globe; I mean IE for Windows, the hairy scary Active-X enabled browser that for better or worse represents a huge chunk of the web-surfing world.Getting 'real' IE on the Mac, up until now, has meant OS emulation (Virtual PC), virtualization (Parallels/VMware), API translation (Wine/CrossOver) or remote access (RDC). Now there's another option for Intel Mac owners: ies4osx, a Mac port of the ies4linux package. Built on top of the Darwine version of the Wine Win32 API translation layer, ies4osx downloads and installs an official version of IE (you pick from v5, 5.5, 6 or 7) and then runs it inside the X11 environment on your Mac. The resulting browser looks a little weird -- almost like a Bizarro version of IE, with the slightly altered type and menu look of the X11 windowing system -- but this bear can dance. OWA runs nicely, with full rich-text editing and message search, and the administration pages for MS Virtual Server also work pretty well. I wouldn't depend on ies4osx in a production role, at least not with the current build, but for one-off testing of websites in IE it's worth the (free) download. The ies4linux developer plans to roll the Mac-specific fixes back into the main package, so the next version of ies4 will probably support both Mac and Linux users from the same codebase.[via MacApper]
iOPS mimics the mini, showcases diminutive X11 PMP
You won't color us surprised to find that another Asian company has knocked off one of Apple's products, and we certainly aren't shocked that this time around it's iOPS (again). The firm's X11 is crafted from white or graphite aluminum, comes in at just 9-millimeters thick, and boasts a very, very familiar click wheel mechanism. Regardless, this PMP offers up 1/2/4GB capacities, and features a 1.3-inch color LCD, rechargeable Li-ion battery, JPEG / text viewer, FM radio tuner, built-in equalizer, USB 2.0 connectivity, and upgradeable firmware. On the audio front, it supports MP3, WMA, and OGG music files, while it plays nice with AVI, MPEG4, DivX, XviD, and WMV video files, and although we aren't certain of how much coinage this thing will require (if it actually makes it to market, that is), this looks like a very functional alternative to Apple's rendition if you get the itch to import.
Apple updates X11 for second time in two weeks
Hot on the heels of X11 1.1.2 comes X11 1.1.3.From the Read Me:This update addresses several issues in the X11 for Mac OS X package, enabling it to better handle: - GLX stereo visuals - offscreen rendering to GLX Pbuffers and Pixmaps To tell X11 to take advantage of stereo visuals, enter: $ defaults write com.apple.x11 enable_stereo -bool true This update also addresses font issues present in X11 1.1.2, and is recommended for all users.FYI - Stereo viewing is a common technique to increase visual realism or enhance user interaction with 3D scenes and is typically used in scientific applications.
Apple updates X11
Apple released X11 1.1.2 (Update 2006) yesterday. The 50MB update addresses several issues in the X11 X Window system, enabling it to better handle GLX stereo visuals and offscreen rendering to GLX Pbuffers and Pixmaps. To tell X11 to take advantage of stereo visuals, you'll need to fire up the Terminal and enter:$ defaults write com.apple.x11 enable_stereo -bool trueThis update requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later and X11 1.1 or 1.1.1
Give thanks and praise: native OpenOffice arriving next month
No, you aren't hallucinating: Macworld UK is reporting that a truly native version of OpenOffice (not the java-powered NeoOffice port) will be shipping next month. OpenOffice's journey to running on Mac OS X in a native format has been a rollercoaster ride over the years, with a post on their site in January of '05 basically nixing a native port altogether.However, the stars have realigned and the port will see light of day after all. If you need visual proof, one of OO's developers posted some native screenshots on his blog. As far as when we can get our hands on a non-X11 OpenOffice package, we're tossing our chips in with Macworld UK's that we'll most likely see this release at September's OOoCon. Stay tuned.
Samsung X11 Core Duo notebook reviewed
Samsung seems to be on a roll with the Core Duo laptop gig, so it's not surprising to see the X11 taking some heat for not quite living up to the standards set by the well-received Samsung Q35. While you can customize the notebook to your liking, TrustedReviews' test unit packed a T2300 Intel Core Duo 1.66Ghz processor, 80GB hard drive, 512MB RAM, 14.1-inch 1,280 x 800 glossy display, and uninspiring integrated Intel 945GM graphics. The X11 has a fair amount of ports, featuring VGA and S-Video out, a trio of USB 2.0 inputs, 4-pin FireWire connector, and the obligatory WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. Reviewers didn't find all this hardware incredibly thrilling, however, and the X11 seemed to underperform across the board. Although the benchmarks weren't awful in any one category, it got knocked for its overall lack of style and the (understandably) annoying "sticking spacebar." The two biggest performance digs came from the "lack of sharpness" the LCD provided and the 2 x 256MB RAM setup that was "a bit 2004;" TrustedReviews felt that dual 512MB DIMMs would have been more appropriate, but noted this was an available option if you pony up the extra coin. Ultimately it was deemed that the Samsung X11 could "get the job done," but was priced too closely to the Q35 to be considered a solid value, and at £799 ($1,492) -- only £81 cheaper than the aforementioned little sibling -- we can't find much room to disagree.
X11 on Intel Macs
Despite my initial inability to find a proper X11 installer the other day, it is included on the disk with my new iMac (although nowhere that I could find on Apple's website, which I think is a mistake on Apple's part). So, I installed X11 and OOo and the Gimp. The X11 launcher app is installed in your Utilities folder and, after the initial launch of the program, launches quite speedily (just one bounce in the Dock!). Launching the Gimp takes a bit longer with 9 bounces in the Dock and then a very speedy splash screen load. OpenOffice.org 2.0 takes even longer with one bounce and about 14 seconds total loading time.Great. So what? Well, here's the interesting bit: both the Gimp and OOo (which is really only an alpha release) launch and run faster than Microsoft Office and Photoshop running in Rosetta. So, if you have a new Intel-based Mac and you are lamenting Photoshop and Word sluggishness, why not give these open source softwares a try? There's an initial learning curve, but, hey... they're free. Free is good.
OS X-native GIMP coming
StyleMac has discovered that GIMP is making its way to OS X native goodness, as Mikael Hallendal, involved with the project, posted on his blog. For those not familiar with GIMP: it's basically an open source version of Photoshop. No, it isn't an exact, feature-for-feature alternative, but it's one of the best available analogies I can think of.As far as I've found, there's no ETA on when you'll have one less reason to run X11, but this will certainly be a welcome addition to OS X's graphic edition options.
