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Toshiba Qosmio V65 laptop brings Core i5, SpursEngine and Blu-ray to low-res screen
With Toshiba's Core i7-toting Qosmio X500 series laptops starting at a bit over a grand these days, we're not sure how excited we are about the company's new V65 portable PC. Though the former model spun Blu-ray discs into a fine-pixeled 1080p, this new model's SpursEngine-powered content's been relegated to a 1,366 x 768, 15.6-inch backlit screen. While Japanese consumers do get a 2.4GHz Core i5-450M processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 500GB hard drive, plenty of ports and a digital TV tuner for the price, said price is an estimated ¥180,000 -- or about $1,972 in hard US currency if the machine ever comes stateside. A wee bit steep, in our estimation.
MSI's customizable GX640 gaming notebook now shipping
MSI's gaming laptops have looked the same for years, but we aren't going to judge. As Mother always told us, it's what's inside that counts, and the new GX640 -- now stateside after a two month vacation in Europe -- is quite the upgrade. That familiar red-and-black chassis now houses a 2.26GHz Core i5-540M alongside 4GB of DDR3 memory, and the 1680 x 1050 LCD display is driven by a Mobility Radeon HD 5850 for mondo graphical performance. 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a six-cell battery and a 500GB, 7200RPM HDD round out a value-packed $1100 Amazon.com package, but if you're looking for a little more juice (and prepared to squeeze), you'll find you can customize this mean, 5.8 pound machine with a Core i7 CPU, up to 8GB of RAM, SSDs and a nine-cell Li-ion at XoticPC.
Toshiba Satellite E205 (with Intel Wireless Display) review
So it's been a long day, you plop down on the couch, turn on the TV and grab your laptop and a cold beverage. But while you're watching that re-run of The Office on TBS you come across an awesome video on the web – probably the Engadget Show – and instead of watching that expensive 40-inch HDTV you end up staring at the smaller screen. Okay, so maybe that's our specific scenario, but you'd probably hook up your laptop to a TV in a number of different situations if it didn't involve cables, dongles, and extra software -- basically if it were just easier. Well, it's supposed to be with the $999 Toshiba Satellite E205 and its included Netgear Push2TV adapter. Exclusively sold at Best Buy as part of its Blue Label program, the 15-inch Core i5-powered laptop is outfitted with Intel's Wireless Display -- what we've taken to calling WiDi -- which wirelessly connects the laptop to any HDTV using the included Netgear with just the push of a button. But can you really watch Hulu on the big screen without leaving your couch? And is the E205 even a laptop you'd want to use in the first place? We've been "testing" it -- or watching loads of web video on our TV -- for the last couple of days to find out. Read on for our full review! %Gallery-84327%
Acer rolls out new budget-focused Core i3 and Core i5 Aspire laptops
Those Intel Core i3 and Core i5 mobile processors we've been hearing about for quite awhile now are finally finding a home, and one of their first stops is Acer's Aspire lineup. Notoriously known as solid performing and affordable rigs, both the new 15.6-inch Aspire AS5740 and 17-inch Aspire AS7740 will start at under $800. Not too shabby considering the $750 AS7740 configuration includes a 2.14GHz Intel Core i3-330M CPU, 4GB of RAM, Windows 7 Home Premium and a Blu-ray drive. While the $750 AS5740 doesn't have Blu-ray, its got a 2.2GHz Intel Core i5-430M processor, 4GB of RAM, and discrete ATI graphics. Acer will offer lots of variations on the specs, but at the end of the day these guys are talking performance and a price we can get behind.
Intel's Arrandale and Clarkdale CPUs get benchmarked for your enjoyment
Whoa, Nelly! Just weeks after Intel came clean with its new Pine Trial nettop and netbook platform, the company is today cutting loose with a few more. This go 'round, we've got the 32nm Arrandale (which consists of the Core i5 Mobile and Core i3 Mobile) heading for the laptops and the 32nm Clarkdale chips over on the desktop front. Starting with the former, most reviews found the CPU + GPU solution to be faster than rivaling Core 2 Duo + integrated GPU options, with the Core i5 being particularly potent in highly threaded applications. Better still, battery life didn't seem to take a hit even with the extra performance, though high-end, high-res gaming was still a lesson in futility when working without a discrete graphics card. Overall, the chip was a welcome addition to the fold, but we got the feeling that the first wave was priced too high and offered too little of a performance increase on the gaming side to really warrant a wholehearted recommendation. As for the Clarkdale? The Core i5 661 that everyone seemed to snag was found to be blisteringly fast, with most folks deeming it the outright champion in the dual-core realm. Unfortunately, the integrated GPU was -- again -- not awesome for hardcore gaming, and the questionable pricing didn't exactly thrill some critics. Do yourself a favor and dig into the benchmarks below -- we get the feeling we'll be seeing oodles of machines hit the wires this week with these chips within. Update: Check out the Arrandale in action after the break! Arrandale reviews Read - HotHardware Read - AnandTech Read - Tom's Hardware Read - PCPerspective Read - Legit Reviews Clarkdale reviews Read - NeoSeeker Read - HotHardware Read - HardOCP Read - TechSpot Read - MissingRemote Read - AnandTech Read - PCPerspective Read - Legion Hardware Read - Overclockers Club Read - Bit-tech
