computers
Latest
ICE Computer's modular xPC returns to Computex in working-prototype form, we go hands-on (video)
From one year to the next, we see many of the same characters make an appearance at the same trade shows -- this week, it's Taipei's Computex, and today, we're back to visit ICE Computer. What last year was known as "Trinity" and hadn't progressed beyond the mock-up stage has returned for 2012 as xPC -- a working prototype of the company's modular computer concept. Internet Communication Entertainment, abbreviated as ICE, envisions xPC being the only computer you'll need. The device itself is barely larger than a smartphone, and would contain either an Intel, AMD or Tegra chipset, 2 gigs of RAM, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a 1.3- or 2-megapixel webcam and a 32 or 64GB SSD -- all in a package that weighs in at approximately 50 grams. The sample we saw today was so light that we first mistook it for a plastic shell, yet it powered a typical desktop setup, complete with a monitor (HDTV), keyboard and mouse. The current prototype doesn't include a cooling infrastructure, so it was limited to a low-power 1.5GHz Intel Atom CPU for the time being. All of the company's various enclosures will feature built-in fans, however, opening the concept up to a variety of configurations. The xPC doesn't function on its own -- instead, you dock it within a variety of accessories, such as the xDock, which would sit permanently on a desk or in a home theater cabinet and includes HDMI input and output, speakers, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, Ethernet, SATA and several other connectors. The xTop is the portable variant, offering many of the same connectivity options, but on a smaller scale. Finally, there's the xPad, which brings 9.7- or 10.1-inch touchscreen control to the xPC in a tablet form-factor, yet still includes a bevy of connectivity, along with a webcam and battery. There's also an xPhone (think PadFone) concept, that packs all of the xPC's functionality into a device that doubles as a smartphone -- the California-based company didn't have any mock-ups to speak of there, however. ICE expects to ship the xPC and xDock by the end of this year, with the computer module itself ranging in price from $100 to $250 depending on how you opt to configure it. The xPad could ship late this year or sometime in early 2013, with pricing to be announced. For now, the xPhone remains a concept, without any functional prototypes or even a mock-up to speak of. ICE representatives suggested that the company may partner with a smartphone manufacturer to develop that last component, so we have no idea if or when that may come to market. All in all, it's a solid (and, thanks to PadFone, proven) concept -- you can get a closer look in our hands-on after the break.
We're live from Computex 2012 in Taipei!
Taiwan's tech typhoon is one day away from making landfall in Taipei, with thousands of manufacturers setting up shop at this year's Computex. We expect to see our fair share of laptops and tablets on the show floor, with plenty of local wares sprinkled in for good measure. Several teasers have come to light over the past few days, with ASUS hinting at dual-OS (Android/Windows) devices, Intel set to demo a barrage of third-gen Ultrabooks and Viewsonic abandoning tradition with its 22-inch Ice Cream Sandwich "tablet," so it's definitely shaping up to be a busy week. As always, you can stay on top of all the Computex news as it happens right here!%Gallery-156738%
Vizio PCs officially launch in June, home theaters look on with envy
The FCC gave us a clue that Vizio's first-ever PCs would be shipping soon, and the company is now spilling a few beans more directly. Although the official statement is still short on many of the details we've been hoping to know, Vizio is promising that the line will launch before June is up. As a refresher, the normally home theater-focused company is planning to go all-out despite being the new kid on the block, going with a trio of mid-size laptops as well as two sizes of all-in-one desktops that rely on Magic Trackpad-like input to draw attention. Mum's the word on whether or not the 10-inch tablet will be part of the June arrivals, although there's unconfirmed talk that Walmart will carry at least some of the lineup and trigger some jealousy in the 2012 Vizio TVs across the aisle.%Gallery-156696%
VIA ARTiGO A1200 lets you roll your own miniscule, fanless PC
Most ultra-compact, fanless PCs are intended for the embedded market -- that is, not for the proletariat to tinker with directly. VIA's no stranger to serving that crowd, but it's making a point of addressing home users who want this class of PC for DIY projects, like home media servers, with the ARTiGO A1200. The new design is still using the dual-core, 1GHz Eden X2 of VIA's usual embedded PCs at its heart, but it comes wrapped in a smaller, more eye-catching package with HDMI video out and support for Windows 7. That's not to say that the A1200 represents a softening, inside or out. The PC can still survive temperatures between 32F and 113F with dust resistance in the bargain, and there's an array of ports you're still less likely to find on an everyday computer, such as a CFast slot (for storage) and dual gigabit Ethernet jacks. The $320 it costs to buy the new ARTiGO today won't get you an OS, RAM or a hard drive, but its ability to survive for years in a hot, dusty closet just might be worth the cost.
Intel to show third-gen Ultrabooks at Computex, makes USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt a necessity
When Intel first unveiled its grand plans for Ultrabooks at last year's Computex, many of the fireworks were consciously reserved for Ivy Bridge-based variants in 2012 -- well, they're here. This year's show in Taipei will show off the third generation of the skinny, MacBook Air-inspired platform, and Intel is toughening up the design requirements in the process. The thickness requirements are the same as last year, at 18mm for systems with screens under 14 inches and 21mm for bigger machines, but high-speed ports are now mandatory to get that coveted "Ultrabook" label and the full marketing weight of Intel's $300 million Ultrabook Fund: if a PC doesn't have either USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt, it's out of the running. Intel also wants security built-in, rather than optional, as well as guarantees that a system is quick and responsive when it's fully awake. Not that this would be terribly hard with the low-voltage Ivy Bridge processors launching at the same time, mind you. Just to reinforce the importance of it all, Intel is noting that the flood of Ultrabooks is about to pick up in a big way as the category hits the mainstream. We were promised 75 Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks this year in a presentation back at CES; that number's now up to 110, 30 of which will be Windows 8-friendly touchscreen models and another 10 opting for the convertible tablet route. At least some of those lightweight portables should pop up at Computex next week, and you can be sure we'll be investigating as many of them as we can to see just how well Intel's partners have advanced the game.
Lian-Li designs a moving train PC case, makes plugging in a challenge (video)
Lian-Li is a fan of odd-looking PC cases, but the boxes have usually had a tendency to remain stationary. The CK-101 takes away that one certainty: the design stuffs a fully functioning PC case with hard drive bays, a slim optical drive and USB 3.0 ports into an on-the-move model of a steam engine train. There's more than a few questions about how it works -- including whether or not it needs a battery to stay rolling, and just what's generating the 'steam' -- but it's already apparent from the video (below) that wired peripherals won't be much fun if you're chasing your computer down the tracks. There's a chance that Lian-Li will be selling a considerably more fixed-in-place version; we'll know more when the CK-101 is shown off at Computex in early June, where there will also be a show-specific, SUV-like Q15 case to sate your appetite for very literal car computers.
Steve Ballmer's Windows 8 rig measures 80 inches, so... does that do anything for ya?
To all the executives out there, consider what you have hanging on the walls of your office. Perhaps it's a fine work of art -- maybe even an original -- but it most certainly isn't an 80-inch Windows 8 computer. That curious distinction belongs to Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, who has eschewed use of his phone, notepad and a more practical email solution in the name of awesomeness (or, perhaps compensation for those lagging Windows Phone sales.) Initially said to be a machine that'd be marketed and sold by Microsoft, the company has since clarified that no such effort will take place -- although the door remains open for independent vendors to step in and sell similar behemoth Windows 8 setups. Unlike most tablets, we've a hard time imagining ol' Steve throwing this one under his arm as he scoots out of the office... but then again, the man can afford some mighty good chiropractors.
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.
Microsoft details Windows 8's pre-boot world, helps you skip the F8 F8 F8 routine
Microsoft has been going into very exacting detail as to how Windows 8 works, but one area it hasn't explored much is what happens before you even see the Start screen. As user experience manager Chris Clark notes, the days of mashing F8 repeatedly to reach a pre-boot configuration are (mostly) over: you can invoke it either through an "advanced startup" in settings, through Start menu shortcuts or, if your PC is truly sick, let it show automatically. At least on systems blessed with UEFI instead of an aging BIOS, you'll get a lot more to tinker with as well, including going straight to the command prompt, recovering from a system image or booting from external storage. The emphasis on choosing your environment before you hit the power button is virtually necessary. A Windows 8 PC with a solid-state drive leaves just a 200-millisecond slice of time for any user input, and Microsoft would rather not have users caught in an infinite loop of restarting their systems as they unsuccessfully try to boot from USB drives. You'll likely discover the pre-boot space first-hand when the OS ships later this year, but for now you can check the source for more.
Dell profit drops 33 percent in Q1, both home and corporate sales take a hit
Dell hasn't been having the greatest of years, and the blows are still as heavy as ever in Round Rock's fiscal Q1. Its net profit dipped a steep 33 percent to $635 million, while its overall revenue was down four points to $14.4 billion. Unlike in Q4, the PC builder couldn't point to strong enterprise sales as its savior, either: while its enterprise services' revenues were up two percent, its Large Enterprise group dropped by three points. Outside of small business sales and China, Dell's segments took hits as a whole, with the consumer group down a flinch-worthy 12 percent. The Texas firm is keen to stress that it's morphing into an "end-to-end IT provider" that downplays home sales, but without too many signs of strength in pleasing the suits and ties, we wouldn't count on investors being happy after they read the full details below.
Cheap £149 PC and broadband bundle gives the UK something to smile about
Charitable entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox has teamed up with Microsoft, TalkTalk, and Simplify Digital to bring a cheaper option for cash-strapped folks in the UK. Starting today, you can buy a refurbished computer with broadband service for a year (with a 40GB monthly cap) for as little as £149 ($240) -- and that price drops even lower for people on state benefits. The "Go On UK" initiative also throws in a WiFi router and Windows 7 to further spread that non-profit love around the nation -- just like we have going on in the US.
DICE to require 64-bit OS for some 2013 games, that Windows ME box in the den isn't cutting it
We're entering a world of mainstream 64-bit computing -- whether we like it or not. Just weeks after Adobe started requiring 64-bit Macs for CS6, DICE's Rendering Architect Johan Andersson has warned that some of his company's 2013 games using the Frostbite engine will need the extra bits as a matter of course. In other words, it won't matter if you have a quad Core i7 gaming PC of death should the software be inadequate; if you're still running a 32-bit copy of Windows 7 come the new year, you won't be playing. The developer points to memory as the main culprit, as going 64-bit guarantees full access to 4GB or more of RAM as well as better virtual addressing. Andersson sees it as a prime opportunity to upgrade to Windows 8, although 64-bit Vista and 7 (and presumably OS X, if and when Mac versions exist) will be dandy. Just be prepared to upgrade that Windows XP PC a lot sooner than Microsoft's 2014 support cutoff if you're planning to run the next Battlefield or Mirror's Edge.
Dell Precision R5500 lets four graphics pros work on one PC, we wish it did gaming
Workstations aren't normally our focus, but when Dell shows off a new Precision system that lets four media pros share its graphics hardware at once, you can be sure the company has our attention. If your IT chief springs for a Precision R5500 with four Quadro 2000 cards, each of those cards can take advantage of a graphics pass-through in Citrix's virtualization to render 3D models at speeds much more like what you'd get if the Quadro were sitting in your own PC. Before you have visions of four-player Modern Warfare parties after-hours at work, the inherent barriers of distance and the virtual machine itself will likely rule out any game sessions.
FXI Cotton Candy ICS-on-a-stick gets May release date, sweetened design
Is that an Ice Cream Sandwich riding shotgun atop your Cotton Candy stick? It may sound like a delicious carnival delight, but munching on this bad boy will send you to the hospital faster than a family pack of deep-fried Oreos. Keeping up the confection theme, FXI has coined the treat in question as Cotton Candy, and we got our first taste of the refresh back in February at Mobile World Congress, where we went hands-on with the bite-size computer-on-a-stick. FXI reps promised a March ship date at that point, but the refreshed model appears to have been worth the wait, with a 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor, quad-core ARM Mali-400MP graphics and support for Android 4.0 and Ubuntu, along with embedded virtualization clients for Windows, Linux and Mac. There's a gig of DRAM on board -- up to 64GB of storage will come in the form of a bring-your-own microSD card. There's a 1080p-ready HDMI port at one end of the 3-inch stick and a USB 2.0 connector on the other side, along with a female micro-USB port for peripheral connectivity. Customers with pre-orders in Scandinavia (FXI is based in Norway) should expect their $199 Cotton Candy devices by the end of the month, while those in the rest of the world (including the US of A) will need to hang tight until the end of the summer. There's a MWC-era hands-on awaiting you just past the break.
Intel knocks ARM's legacy app dilemma in Windows 8, says it has a 'big uphill fight' ahead
Intel has typically kept its cool in responding to Windows 8 on ARM, but that war of words (and chips) just got a little more heated at an investor meeting. CEO Paul Otellini saw his more mobile-oriented competition facing a "big uphill fight" without the presence of legacy Windows app support. That's a big drawback for corporate buyers that have legions of traditional apps they want to keep running, the executive said. He also used the opportunity to rib ARM over a lack of any existing Windows hardware. There's certainly no question that Intel has a head start in Windows 8 support, but the remarks do come with a degree of irony. Intel is cutting into ARM's territory with Atom-based Android phones, and while it won't have as much of a problem with legacy OS support as ARM will with Windows, Intel has a lot to prove on its own.
NEC's 13.3-inch LaVie Z Ultrabook weighs just 2.2 pounds, brings lithium-magnesium into your life
Just in case you thought NEC was done with its PC updates this week, the Japanese PC builder has thrown its hat into the Ultrabook ring with a unique contribution of its own. The LaVie Z has a 13.3-inch screen like your garden variety ultralight, but it weighs just 2.2 pounds through a new lithium-magnesium alloy shell about half the weight of the aluminum that some companies love to use. Unfortunately, that weight and the slim frame are about all we know so far: NEC isn't providing any internal specifications, possibly because it's waiting on Ultrabook-ready Ivy Bridge chips. Even so, if you're hanging around Japan and want the lightest possible laptop you can get at a 13-inch screen size, the wait until the planned summer release will feel like an eternity.
Packard Bell EasyNote LV, TV laptops bring Ivy Bridge to speed-hungry Europeans
Most laptops being updated to Intel's Ivy Bridge processors have come from international brands, so it may be some relief to European PC buyers that Acer's local Packard Bell badge has made the leap as well. The 15.6-inch EasyNote TV and 17.3-inch LV will each use the new 22-nanometer processors both to push performance that little bit farther as well as get a middling five hours of battery life. NVIDIA graphics in GeForce GT 620M and 630M flavors will spruce up the gaming side, however, and Packard Bell is delivering a 20 percent more responsive multi-touch trackpad, dedicated music / social keys and a bamboo-like lid pattern to add a little dose of style. The duo will surface in Europe during June at prices starting from €499 ($656). Acer has sometimes brought Packard Bell PCs to the US as roughly equivalent Gateway models and vice versa, so Americans shouldn't be surprised if they get counterpart laptops before long.
Vizio keyboard and mouse roll through the FCC, PCs may ship by July 31st
The wait for Vizio's first PC range we first saw at CES may feel like an eternity, but our friends at the FCC have made that wait a little shorter with a pair of approvals. Both the wireless keyboard and its equally cable-free trackpad companion have been given clearance to pair up with your future all-in-one desktop when it reaches the US. There's even a clue as to the release timing baked into the filings: Vizio wants manuals and photos for both kept secret until July 31st to protect the "actual marketing of the device," suggesting we might have our designer PCs in hand by then. You're looking at the keyboard above, and you can read through for a view of the trackpad.
Dell spreads the Ivy Bridge love to new XPS 8500, Vostro 470 PCs (video)
Not willing to let the new Alienware lineup have all the fun with Intel's Ivy Bridge rollout, Dell has seen fit to trot out a pair of new desktop systems using the new 22-nanometer chips. The XPS 8500 is arguably the center of attention here and comes with your pick of the third-generation, quad-core i5 or i7 processors, along with a new choice for a 32GB or 256GB solid-state drive to cut down on those pesky loading times. The more sober-minded among us can opt for the Vostro 470 business desktop, which skips over the raw video prowess of its rebellious XPS cousin in favor of supporting up to 32GB of RAM, not to mention stacking up the extra security and support that makes IT administrators happy. Should you want to take the plunge, $750 will get you into the XPS 8500 fold, while $550 is all it takes for the Vostro 470 line. Head in past the break for a video peep at both PCs. Update: we've included the full press release after the break.
IDC: nearly 1 billion 'smart connected devices' shipped last year
Know that gadget you're currently using to read this article? It may be one of 916 million "smart connected devices" that shipped in 2011, with global revenue totaling some $489 billion last year. But the IDC expects that figure to jump to 1.1 billion for 2012, with a total of 1.84 billion new web-connected gadgets hitting the market in 2016. Those numbers include most devices that connect to the internet, such as tablets, smartphones and x86-compatible PCs -- the latter of which now represent 36.9 percent of the market, but will slip to a 25.1-percent share in 2016. Android's piece of the pie will grow from 29.4 percent to 31.1 percent by 2016, while iOS will make the jump from 14.6 to 17.3 percent in the same timeframe. IDC reps say that Asia will be partially responsible for increased smartphone sales, where mobile operators in China are subsidizing purchases to make devices more accessible to consumers. Do you plan to take possession of one of the 1.1 billion gadgets that IDC expects will ship this year? Jump past the break and let us know in the comments.
