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NEC expands Valuestar 3D lineup with two new desktop PCs; laptops say LaVie
We'll have to assume NEC managed to free Willy and that its first 3D venture was a success, as the company's just revealed a brand new set of stereoscopic screens, one of which is actually not part and parcel of an all-in-one PC. NVIDIA's 3D Vision kit (with active shutter glasses) and a 23-inch, 1920 x 1080 120Hz monitor accompany this Valuestar L, with a 2.93GHz Core i7-870 processor, GeForce GT 330 GPU, 8GB of memory, 1TB of storage and Blu-ray 3D drive in an attractive white case. There's also a similarly-sized Valuestar W 3D all-in-one with a 2.53GHz Core i5-460M and GeForce GT 330M graphics, a digital TV tuner, half the memory, a 1.5TB drive and a passive, polarized display. If you're not interested in wearing glasses while chained to a desk, of course, you could always consider the new LaVie Light netbook, newly refreshed with a dual-core Intel Atom N550. And yes, we know we made a horrible pun. Sometimes we just can't help ourselves.
Acer rolls out space-saving Aspire X3, M3 series desktops
Sure, you can get an eye-catching all-in-one desktop or tower, or an especially small form factor PC (or Mac), but we're pretty sure there's plenty of folks just looking for a simple black box. Of course, there's not exactly any shortage of those, but Acer has now added a few more options with its new Aspire X3 and M3 series desktops, which it says are designed to be "efficient in form and function." That means each are small, but not too small, and pack the mid-range specs you'd expect, including your choice of AMD or Intel processors (Athlon II, Phenom II, Core i3 or Pentium E6600), ATI HD 5450, NVIDIA GeForce 9200 or integrated Intel graphics, up to 1TB of storage on the X3 or 640GB on the M3 and, last but not least, an illuminated blue power button that ensures the desktop "can be found even in a dark cabinet." Head on past the break for the complete press release, and look for the systems to be available at all the usual retailers immediately with a starting price of $449.99.
Acer expects to overtake HP as world's biggest laptop vendor by year's end (updated)
Ah, the inexorable rise of a once-small Taiwanese company. Acer chairman JT Wang has told investors in a conference call this week that his company is on track to overtake HP in worldwide laptop shipments before the year is through. That assertion is backed up by Gartner's data, cited in the Wall Street Journal, which indicates that Acer shipped 9.49 million mobile computers in the first quarter of 2010, just ahead of HP's 9.47 million. Positive vibes are also being felt on the desktop front, where Acer aims to shift 10 million units this year, while a decent $15 million is being invested into "developing a smartphone platform based on Google Inc.'s Android." We'll be curious to see whether this thrifty strategy pays off against HP's ebullient $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, but one thing's for sure: PC vendors are hungry for some of that sweet smartphone pie. Update: Gartner has corrected Acer's worldwide shipments number down to 9.12 million, placing it a close second behind HP for Q1.
ViewSonic outs energy efficient, earth-friendly VOT125 nettop -- won't help that there oil spill
Way back at CES in January, we spied ViewSonic's full offering, and we caught wind then of the VOT125 nettop -- but we didn't really have any details to go on. Well, the company's officially announced the VOT125 PC Mini today, and the slim little guy looks pretty cute. Sold as a space-saving PC with green design, ViewSonic says that the VOT125 uses up to 90 percent less plastic than similar nettops, and consumes up to 90 percent less power, making use of a range of ultra low power Intel ULV CPUs. The VOT125 boasts 2GB of memory, a 250GB hard drive, four USB 2.0 ports, plus DVI / HDMI. You can grab one up starting today, and it's got a starting price of $499. The full PR follows.
Onkyo busts out DP312 Ion nettop
Onkyo's just added the DP312 nettop to its lineup. This Ion-based box boasts a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB HDD, and a DVD player to boot. So far, it looks like you'll only be able to get this one in Japan, and sold without any peripherals, it runs ¥64,800 (that's nearly $700), and can be upgraded for an additional ¥20,000 to include 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD.
Lenovo C200 brings NVIDIA Ion 2 stateside for $499
If you've been patiently waiting on a low-cost NVIDIA Ion 2 system it looks like today is your lucky day since it looks like Lenovo has scored an early lead in unleashing the wrath of the new Atom / GeForce combo. Available sometime this month, the 18.5-inch C200 all-in-one isn't going to replace that Core i7 rig for ripping through Command & Conquer 4, but its Intel dual-core Atom D510 CPU can handle the light productivity while its GeForce G210 GPU will automatically turn on -- thanks to Optimus -- to deal with some Spore or 1080p video. Unfortunately the C200 only has a single touch, 1366x768-resolution display and a standard integrated DVD drive rather than Blu-ray, but we guess we can't expect much more for its appealing $499 price tag. Lenovo will also offer a sans Ion and touch version of the C200 for $399. We told you today was going to be your lucky day! PR and press pics for your viewing pleasure below. %Gallery-89877%
Intel profits recover to $2.3 billion in Q4 2009, company describes it as 875 percent jump
Yo Intel, when your 2008 fourth quarter was one of the worst you ever recorded, it's slightly, just slightly, facetious to go trumpeting an 875 percent improvement in your 2009 fortunes. The self-appointed chipmaking rock star has clocked up $10.6 billion in revenues for the last quarter, which filters down to $2.3 billion in pure, unadulterated, mother-loving profit. That's good and indeed technically nearly nine times what the company achieved in the same period the previous year -- we'd just appreciate this to be represented as the recovery it is, rather than some major leap forward in the face of a global financial meltdown. Either way, the Santa Clara checkbook is now well and truly balanced, even if it would've looked fatter still but for the small matter of a $1.25 billion settlement reflected in last quarter's results.
Worldwide PC shipments up slightly in 2009 -- is an even more decent 2010 underway?
An IDC Quarterly PC Tracker report released yesterdays found that PC shipments overall for 2009 were up about 2.8 percent over 2008 -- not exactly a game changing stat or anything, but we're sure the manufacturers will take what they can get. The upswing was apparently largely due to the strong fourth quarter (and the positive debut of Windows 7), which made up for the abysmal first quarter, second quarter, and semi-abysmal third quarter. In that last quarter of the year, PC sales showed a 15.2 percent growth over 2008 worldwide, while in the US, sales were up 24 percent over the last year, with 20.7 million units shipped. Another trend noted in the report, is, unsurprisingly, the fact that people continue to purchase cheaper PCs -- mostly in the form of laptops and netbooks. All this means that retailers and manufacturers profit margins are thinning out, but hey, we'll leave the worrying to the economists -- where's that circular for the fifteen dollar netbook?
Asus Eee Box 1501 with Blu-ray on its way to Switzerland
Good news, everybody! If you're looking into one of Asus's Eee Box 1501 nettops but weren't exactly into the built-in DVD burner, well, better days may be ahead. It looks like a new version of the 1501 is on its way, this time packing Blu-ray. In case you've forgotten the specs, the Eee Box 1501 packs NVIDIA's Ion chipset, an Intel Atom 330 dual-core CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and an HDMI port for good measure. There's no official word on this yet, but the release of the Blu-ray boasting updated nettop looks likely for Switzerland in the near future, so we'll keep our eyes peeled for more information.
HP dumps four Pavilion Elite HPE desktops into existence
HP's just unleashed four new Pavilion Elite HPE desktops -- the 110f, 120f, 130f, and 170f. Terrifically creative naming scheme aside, the HPE series offers a choice of processors, including AMD Phenom II Quad-Core or Intel CPUs, and ATI Radeon or NVIDIA GeForce graphics. The desktops are also configurable for an up to 2TB hard drive, and up to 24GB of DDR3 RAM. Other features of these bad boys include front panel 15-in-1 card readers, DVD burner, wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g/n, an optional tv tuner, pocket media drive, and Blu-ray. We don't have pricing or availability yet, but we'll update you when we do. Full press release and specs are after the break. %Gallery-81559%
Intel Core i3, mobile Core i5 processors coming January 7
Intel's Arrandale chips haven't been the best-kept secret around, and today Chipzilla made 'em official: the Core i3 and mobile Core i5 will launch on January 7, and we'd guess a bunch of new machines come along for the ride. Although the desktop Lynnfield Core i5 is a quad-core, both the new Core i3 and mobile Core i5 are dual-core -- and in a first for Intel, both of the new chips have an integrated GPU core that's being branded "Intel HD Graphics." The new GPU is supposedly good enough for "high-end" HTPC use, but manufacturers can add switchable discrete GPUs, so don't fret too much. Both Arrandale chips have Intel's latest hyperthreading tech, and the mobile i5 also has the Turbo Boost core-overclocking feature found in the desktop i5 and i7, which redirects power to a single core to boost performance when needed. We got to see a few Core i3 and i5 laptops and desktops in action at Intel's pre-CES briefing today, although we didn't get to run any tests. The mobile Core i5 systems on display were doing a fine job running Call of Duty 4, while the scaled-down Core i3 rigs were playing Blu-ray movies and World of Warcraft -- not a bad demo, but we'll let you know when we see some real numbers. %Gallery-80522%
Overall Mac sales up 21%, desktops up 74% year over year
There's probably a number of reasons why this might have happened (and we're sure you can come up with more than we can), but nevertheless, here you go: overall Mac sales are up by 21 percent in October and November since last year at the same time, according to Gene Munster (not pictured), analyst at Piper Jaffray. Desktop Mac sales are especially huge, with the rise as high as 74%, which seems like a typo next to MacBook and MacBook Pro increases of just five percent. In fact, those gigantic desktop sales, some reason, might actually be the reason behind the recent iMac delays. At any rate, no matter why, Apple is making a boatload on Macs this quarter already. Even without the bulk of the holiday season, the desktops were already flying off the shelves in huge numbers compared to last year.
Samsung planning tablets, multitouch, 3D, making LED backlighting standard
No heart-stopping new revelations here, but it's always good to get an official indication of a company's plans for the forthcoming year. Samsung, it appears, is firmly set on building and selling a tablet of some sort, whether it be a Joojoo-like buttonless wonder or a more conventional keyboard-equipped device. There's also a note on multitouch and 3D, with Sammy promising to introduce more mainstream displays with support for them, as well as converting all its laptop and desktop screens to LED backlighting from the middle of 2010 onwards. We're happy to see CCFL consigned to the annals of history, but Mr. Samsung, if you really want to excite us good and proper, you'd add an O to the front of that monitor technology and stick to the same schedule. [Thanks, Daniel]
Create a fluid transition from login window to desktop in two easy steps
I always thought it would be cool if you could customize the background image of the Mac's login screen. That's the image you see behind the login panel when you turn your Mac on (if you have disabled Automatic Login in System Preferences). Why? Because if I could have the login image match my desktop image it would create a more fluid transition if, when I entered my password, the login box would fade away and my desktop and all its items would seamlessly appear. Necessary? No. Cool? Heck, yeah! Until Apple gets around to building this functionality into the OS, I'm going to show you how to do it on your own. Step 1: Set your desktop background image. Open up 'Desktop and Screen Saver' in System Preferences and select your desired desktop image.
iBuyPower lets out five liquid-cooled gaming desktops
It's never too early to start thinking about that desktop that you really, really need under the tree by the third week in December, and rather than waiting until the last moment and getting stuck with some random configuration and a lofty overnight shipping fee, iBuyPower is encouraging you to have a gander at the five new liquid-cooled rigs that it just unveiled at NewEgg. The low-end is propped up by the Gamer Extreme 922 SLC at just $989, while the spec'd-out Gamer Supreme 979SLC will set Santa back just under four large. At the top, you'll find luxuries such as Intel's Core i7 975, a Blu-ray drive, 128GB SSD and 1.5TB of HDD space, while lower-end systems snag the likes of a Core i7 860, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. Peek the via link below for a more robust look at the specifications, and feel free to get your order in now if you like resting easy.
Dell's Inspiron One 19 pops official in Japan
It won't be the first time we've seen an all-in-one from Dell launch first in Japan, and if we were the betting type, we'd guess it won't be the last. The Inspiron One 19 has just popped up over on the outfit's Japanese website, and unless our eyes are badly deceived, this definitely isn't the same as the Studio One 19. Offered up in two basic configurations, consumers can get one outfitted with a 2.6GHz or 2.93GHz Intel processor, Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB or 4GB of RAM, an 18.5-inch display (1,366 x 768), a 320GB or 500GB SATA hard drive and a DVD burner. It also looks to ship with a budled keyboard and mouse, and unless someone in the back has gone crazy with the Photoshop eraser, both of those connect sans wires. The new AIO can be ordered up now starting at ¥69,980 ($770), though only time will tell when (or if) this one will head stateside.
Acer fulfills prophecy, overtakes Dell as number two PC maker worldwide (update)
As if on cue, here's some new data research firm Gartner lending credence to Lanci's boasting. Looks like Acer has leapfrogged over Dell for the number two spot in global market share for the third quarter of 2009, from 12.5 to 15.4 percent of the Big Pie Chart™. Meanwhile Dell is just below at 12.8 percent, and HP is sitting happily atop with a 19.9 percent ownership. Update: Let us adjust our glasses a bit. According to the charts, Acer is number two in worldwide PC sales, not in US as this previously reported. Stateside, the company is sitting at number three at 13.9 percent, behind HP (25.7 percent) and Dell (26.2 percent). Apologies for the confusion, the person responsible for eyesight has been subsequently sacked, the person responsible for the sacking has been sacked, etc.
Acer: we'll overtake Dell as world's number two PC maker... soon
Acer's President Gianfranco Lanci is talking some big talk these days, but not completely without reason. The Taiwan-based computer manufacturer says it does not expect to see a decline in revenue this year over last, meaning that it should clear somewhere in the realm of $17 billion -- its 2008 revenue figure. Much of the good news (and sales) hails from Asia, where retail markets have not been as hard hit by the economic insanity of the last year. Moreover, Lanci also said that with these figures, Acer "can finally pass Dell" sometime between this quarter and the next. He also added that the company expects to "breach the gap with HP" when it comes to notebooks, netbooks, and smartphones. So... that means we can expect a ton of Acers this year, right? Right. Update: Well, that was fast.
Haiku Alpha 1 available now: BeOS lovers of the world rejoice
A mere eight years in the making, the Haiku Project has announced the release of Haiku R1/Alpha 1, the first official development release of the low footprint open source OS formerly known as OpenBeOS. Since it's an alpha release, you'll be expected to do your part identifying bugs and reporting glitches and the like -- but here's hoping that they at least got Firefox to run in relative stability this time 'round. We know you're too damned giddy at the prospect of installing this thing on your netbook for any more of our prattle, so why don't you just hit the read link and get started, then?[Thanks, Hawkje]
Gold, diamond-leafed Gaiser PCs might just bring Marie Antoinette back from the grave
Don't get us wrong -- we're all in favor of purposeless, ostentatious, and classless displays of wealth -- but we prefer it to be a little less... tacky? German manufacturer High End PCs have the high end part down pat -- they'll dip your desktop in all manners of gold (up to 24 karat!), cubic zirconia and of course, diamonds. Now, we don't have any specs on these puppies -- though we suspect performance is beside the point. Our only real qualm with the product is that it looks like a Kleenex box from Don Johnson's bathroom in 1986. But, if you have a stack of money hanging around and you just can't be bothered to think of really awesome things to do with it, Gaiser's PCs start from about $8,000 and run up to around $33,000. [Via Oh! Gizmo]