core i5
Latest
ASUS Zenbook UX31 review
It was just last week that we got to take home the Acer Aspire S3, the first Ultrabook to go on sale here in the States. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to the pillars laid out by Intel: its performance trails similar machines, its battery craps out early and the design, while portable, is too chintzy to make it a bellwether for skinny Windows laptops. Our verdict, in a sentence, was that you'd be better off getting a MacBook Air, or at least considering other Ultrabooks -- namely, ASUS' line of Zenbooks. Samsung Series 9 (NP900X3A) laptop review ASUS debuts Bang & Olufsen ICEpowered N-series laptops and 3D gamer displays ASUS outs UX21 ultrathin laptop with up to Core i7 CPUs (video hands-on!)As it turns out, one showed up on our doorstep just a few days later. In many ways, the UX31 is everything the S3 is not: it has a gorgeous all-metal design and comes standard with an SSD and 1600 x 900 display (not to mention, a case and two bundled adapters). And with a starting price of $1,099, it undercuts the entry-level (and similarly configured) MacBook Air by two hundred bucks. So is this the Ultrabook we've all been waiting for? We suggest pouring yourself a large beverage, settling into a comfy chair and meeting us past the break. We've got a lot to say on the subject. %Gallery-137239%
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook review
Until now, Windows fans have had precious few alternatives to the MacBook Air. Sure, there's Samsung's Series 9, but just like the original Air, it's far from cheap. Since then, of course, Apple has cut the Air's starting price to $999, while the Windows options -- now marketed as Ultrabooks -- are about to mushroom in number. And so far, they're all starting in the (more reasonable) neighborhood of a thousand bucks, making these pinch-thin, long-lasting laptops accessible to the budget-conscious masses. Acer's Aspire S3 was the first to hit the market here in the States, and with an entry price of $899, it's currently the least expensive. That it's skinny (just 13mm thick, to be exact), should be a given, but it also claims to wake from sleep in two seconds flat and reconnect to known networks in two and a half. But, as the least pricey Ultrabook on the shelf, it also forgoes some specs you might have liked to see -- namely, all-flash storage and USB 3.0. But does that matter much when you're potentially saving hundreds of dollars? Let's find out. %Gallery-136411%
AMD FX processor brings eight cores to battle, we go eyes-on (video)
AMD fans have endured a long wait for this, while being reduced to spectators as Intel spews out an ever-increasing horde of Sandy Bridge variants and builds up the hype around its next-gen Ivy Bridge architecture. But the new FX series of processors is finally here and will be available to buy in the next few days, with the top-end FX-8150 priced at $245 in exchange for eight cores, a 3.6GHz base clock speed and easy over-clocking to 4.8GHz using the packaged Overdrive software. Your AM3+ motherboard is crying out for the upgrade, but don't succumb until you've clicked past the break -- we've got details of the full range and pricing, our initial impressions and an eyes-on video that includes a detailed chat with the guys from AMD.
Acer Aspire S3 Ultrabook hits the US and Canada this week, rings in at $899
And the Ultrabooks have arrived! We just got word that the Acer Aspire S3 will go on sale in the US and Canada this week for $899 -- making it the first pinch-thin, MacBook Air competitor to hit the market, landing ahead of competing models from Toshiba, Lenovo and ASUS. To recap, this 2.98-pound aluminum beaut has a 13.3-inch (1366 x 768) panel, is rated for six hours (or 50 standby days!) of battery life and promises to wake from sleep in a mere two seconds. For the money, you'll get an ultra low voltage Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 20GB of solid-state storage combined with a 320GB HDD. No word yet on how many additional configs will be available, though Acer did confirm that this $899 version will be followed by models with Core i3 and i7 processors and beefier storage capacity. Intrigued? Have a gander at our hands-on preview if you missed it the first time around, and find some fancy press shots below. %Gallery-135994%
Samsung announces the Series 7 all-in-one, its first desktop for the US market
There must be something in the water: first Toshiba decides to give this all-in-one thing a whirl and a few months later, Samsung's jumping on the bandwagon, too. The company just added a desktop to its Series 7 lineup, making it Sammy's first all-in-one for the US market. It'll be available in two configurations, but either way you're in for a 23-inch, 250-nit display with 1080p resolution and support for two-finger gestures. Other specs include four USB 2.0 ports built into the base (along with one of the 3.0 persuasion), a 1TB 7,200RPM hard drive, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth 3.0 and dual four-watt speakers. And, depending on which config you choose, you'll get either a 2.6GHz Core i3-2120T CPU and 6GB of RAM or a 2.7GHz Core i5-2390T processor with 8GB of memory. Sadly, both models cap the graphics off with Intel's integrated option, which means this may or may not be the right choice for game-loving Samsung fans. Look for them on October 10th for $999 and $1,199, depending on the model. Oddly, the company isn't issuing a press release until Monday (we'll update this post when we see it) but for now, skip past the break for one extra pic. Update: We've added the official press release after the break.
Toshiba adds 23-inch DX735 to its multitouch all-in-one family
Of all the "TV-like" all-in-one PCs we've seen, this Toshiba is perhaps the most convincing. Something about its glossy black, consumer electronic packaging and Onkyo soundbar just screams (tiny) HDTV. But, behind that 23-inch 1080p, multitouch panel is a Windows 7 PC powered by a Core i5 or i7 and 4GB of RAM. You also get a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, a 1TB hard drive, a DVD drive and a lone USB 3.0 port. There's also an HDMI in jack for use with a game console or cable box -- not bad for the oddly specific starting price of $957. When the DX735 starts shipping exclusively from Best Buy on October 2nd you'll also have the option of adding on a TV tuner for a truly all-in-one entertainment solution. Check out the gallery below, as well as the PR after the break. %Gallery-134993%
Samsung Series 7 laptop now available for pre-order at Best Buy
About a month ago, we got handsy with a certain 15.6-inch Samsung Series 7 laptop. Now, it appears that svelte, quad-core notebook's ready to flood the mass marketplace. Up for pre-order on Best Buy, Sammy's 4G WiMAX-enabled entry for the "design conscious" will cost you about $880 -- already chopped down from its near $1,000 price tag. For that handful of Benjamins, you can look forward to a 2.2GHz Core i7-2675QM, a 1600 x 900 HD matte display, 750GB of storage, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a couple of USB 3.0 ports, an optical disk drive and Windows 7 Home pre-installed. If you were hoping to get your game on, then we'd advise you to hold out for the company's other Series 7 family member slated to hit this fall. You can get a head start on the anorexic goods by hitting up the source link below.
ASUS' U46SV-DH51 goes up for pre-order, ships to bezel haters on October 1st (video)
Do you despise thick bezels, yet harbor an unnatural aversion to portables from LG and Samsung? We're not here to psychoanalyze, but ASUS' U46SV-DH51 might be more to your liking. The "Brushed Champagne" notebook is notable for its diminutive bezel, which, like Sammy's smaller Series 7, allows for a 14-inch display to exist in a 13-inch chassis. It's got some punch too, packing a Core i5-2410M, 4GB of RAM, NVIDIA's GeForce GT 540M and a DVD burner (remember those?). Not bad for a 4.85-pound laptop that'll supposedly go 10 hours between charges and set you back $879. You'll find a pre-order page at the source below, but before you go, why not hop past the break and indulge in a video? [Thanks, Danijel]
Samsung Series 3 350U laptop delivers colorful ultraportable computing to the Korean masses
Sorry folks, this colorful Series 3 lappy from Sammy is for the fine citizens of Korea only, at least for the moment. The 350U weighs in at just under three pounds and 0.8-inches thick, while housing a Core i5, up to a 640GB HD, a 12.5-inch anti-reflective screen, and a battery large enough to keep it chugging along for over eight hours. Really, the big difference between this notebook and the same-sized Series 3 shipping here in the states are the color options. While Americans all get the same gun-metal gray, our friends across the pacific can pick black, silver or pink (you know, for the ladies). The 350U is priced starting at 1,090,000 won, just over $1,000. Check out the gallery below. %Gallery-134069%
Intel hypes Ivy Bridge, leaves poor old Sandy in its wake
Intel reps just can't resist whispering about their 2012 Core i-series. AnandTech is reporting a claimed 60 percent boost in 3DMark Vantage scores from the next-gen integrated graphics compared to Sandy Bridge, which could well put an end to Intel's frame-rate humiliation at the hands of AMD's A-series APUs. The bragging also extended to Quick Sync, which is "privately" said to deliver video encoding at twice the current speed. However, these claims only relate to the top tier of the Ivy Bridge range and they skirt around the key battlegrounds of raw CPU power and pricing -- which is precisely where we suspect AMD's FX series will bring the ruckus.
ASUS Eee Slate B121 slabs it up for the enterprise market
Temper that excitement. This isn't the rumored quad-core, Kal-El running Transformer 2. Still, ASUS is doing its best to port the tab buzz to the enterprise set with its quietly introduced Eee Slate B121. Unlike its tablet PC brethren, this business-minded slate runs Windows 7 Professional atop an Intel Core i5 processor, and comes loaded with the security tweaks necessary for the corporate road warrior: like Computrace LoJack for remote location and data wipe, and a Trusted Platform Module microchip that stores encrypted data. Also tacked on to the $1,500 12.1-inch package are a Bluetooth keyboard and Wacom Digitizer stylus. As for the specs, well, there's a 1280 x 800 LED Gorilla Glass display, 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, dual USB 2.0 ports, mini-HDMI out, SD card slot and 2 megapixel front-facing camera. No official word on exactly when this biz-friendly tablet'll be available, but now would be a good time to convince your IT department to order it up. Be sure to hit the source below for the company's soft sell.
Maingear intros redesigned Vybe gaming desktops, stuffs 'em with updated internals
If you've been hunting for a new Windows 7 gaming rig, we've got good news: Maingear's just stepped up its line of Vybe desktops and it sure looks appetizing. Like before, there's a trio of pre-fabricated variants, but the goodies are now packed within a redesigned shell finished in black or white (SE and SS models only). The $949 Vybe S starts things off admirably with an overclocked 2.9GHz Intel Core i5 2310 rated at 3.3GHz (capable of turbo-boosting to 3.7GHz). It's further loaded with a 1GB NVIDIA GTS 450 GPU, 4GB of RAM, a 1TB 7,200RPM HDD, 7-in-1 card reader, 7.1 surround sound support and a 24x DVD burner that's all hooked into a USB 3.0 / SATA 6G Intel DP67BA motherboard. The $1,129 SE spices things up with an overclocked i5 2500 rated at 3.7GHz (boosting up to 4.1GHz) and a 1GB GTX 560 GPU that's connected to an SSD-toting Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 motherboard. Lastly, there's the $1,699 Vybe SS for those who like their noob-slaying experience with extra picante. It's packing an overclocked and water-cooled 4.5GHz+ Core i7 2600K, a duo of those GTX 560 GPUs and 8GB of RAM to make sure you won't experience any hang-ups running Crysis. You can opt to customize the SE and SS rigs with more powerful parts, although you'll be waiting a bit longer for shipping. You'll find details at the source and healthy serving of eye candy in the gallery below. %Gallery-132803%
Intel adds 16 CPUs to Sandy Bridge stable, slashes prices on some older silicon
It's been a few months since AMD threw down the gauntlet on Intel with its lower-priced Llano lineup, and now Chipzilla's responded with some new bargain basement Sandy Bridge silicon. The refresh includes 11 new desktop CPUs: a Core i5 chip, three Core i3s, and a handful of dual-core Pentium and Celeron processors as well. There are also five new mobile chips, including three new quad-core Core i7s (2960XM, 2860QM, and 2760QM), and the dual-core Core i7-2640M and Celeron B840. In a separate nod to these tough economic times, Intel cut the prices on a few of its existing models, too. Granted, it's only a six-percent discount at the most, but we're sure you can put those dollars to good use elsewhere in your next DIY rig.
Lenovo announces U300s Ultrabook, U300 and U400 IdeaPads, we go hands-on (video)
The unchallenged reign of the MacBook Air on the thin-and-light domain is nearing an end -- the Ultrabooks are coming, and the Lenovo U300s looks to be one of the strongest competitors we've yet seen. It's a new entry to the IdeaPad lineup, the thinnest and lightest of a redesigned and reborn U Series that will also include the slightly stockier 13.3-inch U300 and the even bigger but even more serious 14-inch U400. All three are shipping in October, and we recently got a chance to try out the tiny trio. Read on for full details and our full impressions. %Gallery-132309%
Sony VAIO SE Series review
Sony VAIO F Series review (late 2011) Sony Vaio Z gets the in-house teardown treatment (video) Acer announces redesigned Aspire TimelineX Series laptops, prices start at $599It's sad to say, but most of you who are going back to school have probably already returned by now -- though if you're in class right this moment you should probably be paying attention. If you managed to get back to campus without bringing a new laptop along, you might just want to keep reading -- Sony's just released a 15.5-inch addition to its VAIO S Series that not only adds a crucial bit of extra display acreage, but also bumps things up to a full 1080p.Yes, this is a laptop that can not only be configured with a Blu-ray drive but has enough pixels to do the resulting footage justice, meaning it could make a passable player for movie night. But, does it have the chops to do your workload justice? Is it worth the $1,000 minimum asking price, at least a $100 premium over Sony's 13-inch models? Join us as we find out.%Gallery-132136%
Sony Vaio S line gets mild refresh with second-gen Core CPUs
That slinky 13.3-inch Sony Vaio S is getting itself something of a refresh. Not much is changing about the sub-four-pound notebook -- you're looking at the same 4GB of RAM and superb battery life, even on the base models. The folks at Sony are simply giving the line something of a brain transplant, swapping in Intel's latest Core processors (that's Sandy Bridge for those of you in the dark). You'll still have your choice of i3s, i5s and i7s, but now they'll run a little bit faster and a little bit longer. The slightly refreshed models will land on October 2 and no change in price has been announced. Check out the PR after the break.
Samsung unveils Series 7 laptops, we go hands-on
One of Samsung's Series 7 laptops was outed not long ago, but that PC was made for fragging, while the rest in this line of laptops is meant for more pedestrian purposes. The new members of the family come sheathed in the same silver aluminum skin, but sport a smaller 300-nit, 1600 x 900 matte display in both 15.6-inch and 14-inch versions. Those displays are surrounded by a minimalist bezel, which allowed Samsung to stuff a 14-inch panel into a 13-inch chassis. Around the sides, there are two USB 3.0 ports (and one of the 2.0 variety), Gigabit Ethernet and HDMI and VGA sockets (the latter requires an included dongle a la the Series 9). On the inside, users can get up to a Core i7-2675QM CPU clocked at 2.2GHz, up to 8GB of RAM, Radeon HD 6750M graphics and a 750GB HDD spinning at 7,200RPM. On all but the base model, there's an additional 8GB of flash memory mounted on the motherboard that helps shave boot times down to mere seconds using Sammy's FastStart technology. A lithium polymer battery powers everything, and Samsung claims the 80Wh cell will maintain 80 percent of its original capacity for up to 1,500 charges. Prices start at $1,000, and run all the way up to $1,300 for all the fixins'. Sound good? Head on past the break for some hands-on impressions. %Gallery-132087%
LG unveils S430, S530 Aurora laptops for people who like muted hues
LG has added two new stars to its constellation of Aurora laptops, with the LG S430 and LG S530. Both models are powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, with the S430 boasting a 14-inch, 1366 x 768 HD LCD and the S530 rocking a slightly larger, 15.6-inch display, available in either HD or HD+ (1600 x 900) resolution. Both also feature 8GB of DDR3 memory and up to 750GB of HDD space (5400 RPM), along with your standard WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity. Perhaps most notable, however, is their sleek, metallic veneer and crystalline, scratch-free finish, available in both purple and blue. Pricing remains a mystery, but the pair should be available in Africa, Asia and the Middle East by early next month, before making their way to Europe and the US shortly thereafter. Details galore await you after the break, in the full PR.
Acer TimelineX AS5830TG-6402 review
When Acer unveiled its first Timeline laptops in 2009, these slim numbers felt like a revelation. Imagine: thin notebooks rated to last hours and hours on a charge and priced well under a grand! Fast-forward two years and that proposition seems a bit quaint, doesn't it? Pretty much every PC maker has been working on slimming down their wares and extending battery life with -- shall we say? -- mixed results. Still, Acer has kept on keeping, and its latest TimelineX laptops carry the torch as thin, long-lasting and inexpensive. As always, the company released Timelines in assorted screen sizes, ranging from 13.3 to 15.6 inches. We took a look at the 15-incher, the $800 AS5830, which promises to last up to nine hours unplugged and also packs a discrete graphics card – a feature many of its competitors have been skipping. But are impressive battery life and a relatively trim physique enough to make this notebook stand out in a crowded field of inexpensive, good-enough laptops? Let's see. %Gallery-131151%
Dell Vostro 360 inadvertently revealed, shows off all-in-one specs
Are you a fan of grayscale technical drawings? Or perhaps you're in the market for an all-in-one desktop, but don't own an educational institution? Dell's satisfying those key constituencies -- and more! -- with support documents for its upcoming Vostro 360. Ahead of any official announcement of pricing or availability, the PDF lets us glean a few specs: we're looking at an Intel h61 Express chipset with Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processors – or, if you're feeling especially nostalgic, you can opt for a Pentium Dual Core. The system will max out at 8GB of memory, with integrated Intel graphics or a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M, and a touchscreen option, if you'd rather let your fingers do the computing. Oh, and there's a built-in camera privacy cover you can glue shut the next time you disgustedly swear off Chatroulette. [Thanks, Emperor John Hancox]
