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HP's Compaq business notebooks get the Merom touch
Oh, how we love new processor releases. Just when you think that you have every last spec-bumped PC covered, along comes HP with Core 2 Duo options for nearly all of its business-oriented Compaq notebooks. As we've seen almost all of these models before, you're probably quite familiar with their features, so we'll gloss over those and instead concentrate on the five new CPUs available to each machine. Starting at the low end we have the 15.4-inch nx7400 series, which along with the previous Celeron M, Core Solo, and Core Duo configurations, now offers you a choice of the 1.66GHz T5500, 1.83GHz T5600, 2.0GHz T7200, 2.16GHz T7400, or 2.33GHz T7600 flavors of Merom. Next up are the nx6320 and nc6320 members of the 6300 series, which retain their respective 14.1-inch and 15-inch screens, but add the same Core 2 Duo options as the nx7400. Then we have the 14.1-inch widescreen nc6400, which used to only offer Core Solo and Duo processors, and now (guess what?) gives you all the Merom you can handle. A little higher up on the food chain are the 17-inch nx9420 (pictured) and 15.4-inch nx8420 and nc8430 notebooks, once highlighted by their 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 GPUs, and now best known for their Core 2 Duo configurability. Finally, the last machines to get the Merom bump are the 4400 series, a set of 12.1-inch ultraportables that ship as either regular notebooks or convertible tablets. That's all for now folks, but like a bad penny, these re-speced laptops promise to keep turning up no matter how hard we will the deluge to end.[Via MobileMag]
Dell Latitude D820 with Core 2 Duo reviewed
Somehow those good ol' boys down in Texas got sneaky on us -- while we were busy getting ready for Labor Day, Dell went and updated the Latitude, Inspiron, and XPS series with Core 2 Duo chips. Laptop took the new bumped Dell Latitude D820 for a spin and wasn't dissappointed. This spiffy new laptop topped the charts on the magazine's MobileMark 2005 test with an all-time high score of 308. Further tests showed that the Core 2 Duo scored high marks when processing more information at a time, such as running a virus scan while ripping a CD: the Core 2 Duo machine scanned 15,446 items and ripped the CD in 8 minutes 32 seconds while the Core Duo scanned 2,579 items and ripped the same CD in 6 minutes 36 seconds. We're still waiting to see if Apple will follow Dell's lead -- maybe that's what's happening next week in San Francisco?
Velocity Micro's Merom-powered NoteMagix L80
You probably thought we were done with this latest volley of Merom-powered laptops. Ha -- you were wrong. Next up to board the Core 2 Duo train is Velocity Micro's 15.4-inch NoteMagix L80 "Ultra Notebook Computer," which adds T5500, T5600, T7200, T7400, and T7600 options (ranging from 1.66GHz to 2.33GHz) to the already available suite of regular Core Duo and Celeron M configurations. So besides the latest processors, what makes this model so "ultra"? Well first of all, it ships with a 256MB nVIDIA GeForce Go 7600GS card standard -- a refreshing change-up from the usual integrated graphics we see around here -- plus an option to bump the LCD resolution up to 1,680 x 1,050 from a ho-hum 1,280 x 800. You can also cram in as much as 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 7,200 RPM 100GB hard drive, and dual-layer DVD burner, with WiFi, a card reader, and three USB 2.0 ports part and parcel of any configuration. Available immediately, you can pick up a decently-speced L80 for about $1,655, but of course for the one we'd want, pricing is a little closer to $2,600.[Via laptoping]
Fujitsu drops a quartet of new notebooks
So Fujitsu's got four portable machines for us to peep today, but unlike the slew of Merom-powered notebooks we've been seeing, only one of these models rock that dual-core goodness. First off are two new members of the 15.4-inch Biblio NF family (pictured above), the NF60T with a 1.6GHz Turion 64 X2 CPU, and the 1.46GHz Celeron M 410-powered NF40T. The 60T rocks ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 graphics, 512MB of RAM (4GB max), and a 100GB HDD, while the 40T also gives you 512MB RAM (only expandable to to 2GB, though) and just 80GB of HDD capacity and integrated graphics; both machines, however, offer a full complement of connectivity options, with WiFi, FireWire, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, PCMCIA, ExpressCard, and D-Sub standard. Next up is the Core Solo-equipped (1.20GHz U1400) FMV-Biblio LOOX Q, with a 12.1-inch WXGA LCD, integrated graphics, 30GB HDD (hey, it's really slim, at least), 512MB of RAM, and both WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0 radios. Finally we have the 8.9-inch LOOX P70T/V convertible tablet, which sports the exact same specs as the Q, but obviously replaces the XP Pro OS with Tablet PC Edition 2005. Look for the ¥185,000 ($1,581) NF60T and ¥150,000 ($1,282) NF40T to drop on September 2nd, the ¥260,000 ($2,222) LOOX Q to be available on the 15th, and the ¥250,000 ($2,136) P70T/V to hit shelves on September 28th -- all initially in Japan, of course.Read- Biblio NFRead- LOOX Q and P
Sony gives FE, AR, and SZ Vaios the gift of Merom
Never one fall behind its competitors (well, except maybe on the portable audio front), Sony's stepped it up and given Core 2 Duo options to a total of eight different laptop configurations: one in the 15.4-inch Vaio FE series, three in the 17-inch AR series, and four in the ultraportable 13.3-inch SZ series. The VGN-FE770G is currently the cheapest way to get your Merom-on through Sony, though you're still getting a decent feature set for your $1,350: a 1.83GHz T5600 CPU, 1GB of 533MHz DDR2 RAM, a 120GB, 5,400RPM HDD, and a dual-layer DVD burner- though just a 1,280 x 800 resolution and integrated graphics that eat up 128MB of that RAM. As for the SZ series, you're starting out with the $1,950 VGN-SZ320P/B (T5600, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, DVD burner, nVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 graphics) and ending up with the $2,550 VGN-SZ370P/C, which jacks the processor up to a 2.0GHz T7200 and the RAM up to 2GB but leaves the rest of the specs untouched. Finally we have the AR's, with the $1,800 VGN-AR230G being your cheapest 17-inch option; here you get that ole T5600, a GeForce Go 7400 card, 1,440 x 900 resolution, 1GB of RAM, 200GB of HDD capacity, and obviously, a DVD burner. If you're looking to go high end, Sony's got you covered there too, as the $3,500 VGN-AR290G (pictured) sports a T7200 with 4MB L2 cache, GeForce Go 7600GT graphics, two gigs of RAM, 200GB of storage, a sweet 1,920 x 1,200 WUXGA resolution, and best of all, that multi-format Blu-ray burner that will make you the envy of all your friends and colleagues. We could bore you with an even longer list of specs for all eight lappies, but instead we'll just link you to their respective product pages and let you peruse at will....Read- VGN-FE770GRead- VGN-SZ320P/BRead- VGN-SZ330P/BRead- VGN-SZ360P/CRead- VGN-SZ370P/CRead- VGN-AR230GRead- VGN-AR250GRead- VGN-AR290G[Via laptoping]
Japan gets new Core 2 Duo laptops from eX., PC-Koubou, Faith, and Mouse
These are pretty much exclusively for the Japanese market, but it somehow feels wrong not to at least mention that ten other new Core 2 Duo lappies were announced today from Tsukomo, PC-Koubou (and its sub-brand, Faith), and Mouse Computer. Click on for all the gory details.
Fujitsu Siemens kits up with football club crested laptops
Custom laptop designs are a dime a dozen these days, with everything from fast car logos to glorious "Pink Feather" designs being stamped onto the back of LCDs in an attempt to draw the eyes of punters looking for a new lappie. The latest custom job on the market is Fujitsu Siemens' team of soccer themed laptops which don the colors and crests of four different UK clubs: Celtic, Aston Villa, Everton, and Tottenham Hotspur, to be precise. Under the soccer shirts, the laptops are Amilo 1536 models featuring 1280 x 800 15-inch displays powered by a 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics adapter. Dig a little deeper and you'll find a 1.83GHz Core Duo processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and a roomy 120GB 5400RPM SATA drive. Not quite striker material, we know, but the £1000 (plus three year warranty) price tag ain't too shabby considering the bundled paint job. Fujitsu Siemens is promising other clubs will join the line-up to celebrate the recent start of the Premiership season, although don't expect any teams with notable rivalries to be released at the same time. If you follow English football, you'll notice that the first four club themed laptops are a rather disparate lot: there's no Liverpool to go with Everton, no Rangers to go with Celtic, and so on. These guys obviously know how to manage their laptop teams without starting a football riot.[Via Reg Hardware]
Battery recall cause for panic? Null says no
With all the sensational press about battery recalls and exploding laptops (much of it found right here on these very pages), you might think that your own notebook is a ticking timebomb set to blow at any moment (Qantas sure does). Therefore, many people have been tempted to eject their recalled batteries as quickly as possible and send them off to Dell (and now Apple) before they burst into flames and become fodder for numerous gadget blogs. But is the situation really that urgent? Former Mobile editor-in-chief and current Wired and Yahoo! Tech contributor Christoper Null sat down to do the math, and figured that the odds of your lappy going boom in, say, the next two months, are actually pretty slim. Using the Dell recall as a baseline, Null went in with the assumption that the problem is much worse than the company knows about (or is reporting), and that over the next three years, ten times as many batteries will blow as have already combusted so far. Even in such a pessimistic scenario, the odds of your particular Dell pulling a Dell in the next 60 days (1 in 1,230,000) are far less than the chances that you'll die this year from freezing to death, choking on your own vomit, and even falling out of bed. While you may disagree with Null's numbers and methodology, the point here is clear: there's no real need to panic, and if your notebook hasn't already turned into a charred husk of its former self, you'll probably be okay waiting out the initial flood of returns and sending your battery back in a few weeks. After all, if we let the defective batteries change our way of life, then the defective batteries have already won.
Sony announces price on battery recall, checks couch for loose change
Product recalls are certainly nothing new to the tech industry, but two significant PC players (Dell and Apple) having to recall a collective 5.9 million batteries has to sting just a little for Sony. Macworld is reporting that the Japanese company announced an estimate on the cost of said sting: between ¥20 billion to ¥30 billion (US$172 million to $258 million). The moral of this story? QA is a good thing.Let's hope the upcoming summit in San Francisco on li-ion battery manufacturing standards - jointly held by the likes of Apple, HP, Dell and Lenovo - helps cut down on the exploding notebooks so we can all get back to our daily routines.
Asustek busts out new ASmobile laptop brand
If you weren't quite following along with the whole Asus/Asustek dual-identity thing, this latest news from Asustek might really throw you for a loop, so try and keep up. Asustek is developing a new brand, titled "ASmobile," to denote a new line of "open architecture" laptops. ASmobile computers will be aimed at DIY types and desktop replacers, and will be built to accommodate off-the-shelf parts while featuring supposedly "light and slim design." Asus is planning on bypassing budget buyers with these models, and instead hopes to milk cash from their brand-loyal enthusiast base, with plans to ship 100,000-200,000 of the laptops this year. So, yeah, this whole brand thing might not be so confusing after all, but it's not like we're going to let something silly like being reasonable stand in the way of a bit of Friday morning drama.[Via Laptoping]
Daewoo Lucoms' Core Duo-powered Solo M410 notebook
We recently brought you the Solo M1 UMPC from Daewoo-spinoff Daewoo Lucoms, and now the company is back with another member of the Solo family, but this one is a regular old Core Duo-powered notebook. The 5-pound, 14-inch M410 sports a 1.83GHz T2400 processor, WXGA display, 512MB of DDR2 RAM (maxed out at 1GB), and an 80GB hard drive. Also on board are a DVD Super Multi Drive, 1.3 megapixel webcam, 4-in-1 card reader (which is a bit misleading -- it really has just 2 slots for SD / MMC and MemoryStick / MS Pro), an Intel wireless card supporting 802.11a/b/g, and as you'd expect, Intel integrated graphics. As far as ports go, you're getting four USB 2.0 jacks, and one each of FireWire, Ethernet, VGA, Parallel, and S-Video -- though obviously no DVI or HDMI. Pricing seems to range from 1,490,000 to 1,590,000 won ($1,543 to $1,646) depending on configuration, and as the currency indicates, this model will only be hanging out in Korea for the time being.
Dell recall prompts inquiry into all Sony laptop batteries
Just as we suspected, Dell may not be the only manufacturer recalling countless batteries due to fire hazards, as the Sony-made lithium-ions are also found in laptops from Apple, HP, and Lenovo, not to mention a variety of other consumer electronics products. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission acknowledged on Tuesday that the batteries "are not unique to just the Dell notebook computers," and have launched a review of all Sony laptop cells manufactured between April 2004 and June of this year. Some manufacturers, like Apple, claim to be looking into the matter on their own, while others -- namely HP -- have publicly distanced themselves from the affair by stating that "It's a Dell issue." Sony itself also believes the problem is limited to batteries in Dell PCs, while Lenovo seems to be side-stepping the recall with claims that "we have not seen any unusual pattern of problems in our notebooks." Although it's true that the recent spate of toasty lappies does indeed seem confined to machines from the Texas-based manufacturer, we have a hard time believing that Sony was only sending crappy batteries to Dell while everyone else got quality product. That being said, we're anxious to hear the results of the CPSC's inquiry, but until that time, we certainly won't be so cavalier about keeping our notebooks powered up 24/7, regardless of branding.
Laptop mag puts tech support through the torture test
Usually when shopping for a computer, the only two factors that really matter to most people are cost and features; if you can get the specs you want at a price you can afford, well, you're probably a happy camper. What many folks don't consider -- until it's too late, that is -- is the quality of the tech support provided by your PC's manufacturer when a problem arises. Well luckily Laptop magazine is very interested in customer support: so interested, in fact, that they actually concoct fake problems and call up the various manufacturers to see how they fare with what would normally be considered very simple issues. This time around, they switched off the WiFi on their notebooks and installed a number of startup-slowing applications, and then graded the nine major laptop makers on both their online and phone support. Coming out on top were Apple and Lenovo -- followed closely by Fujitsu -- whose websites were so well stocked with info that they precluded the need to call for help in the first place; they still called, just for kicks, and found all three support teams to be prompt in both picking up the calls (no long hold times) and solving the problems. Gateway, Sony, Dell, and HP all ended up in the middle of the pack, performing well in some areas but floundering in others. The worst of the bunch were Acer and Toshiba, with the former earning a "D" for its lousy online documentation (though hold times were non-existent), while the latter apparently experienced some damaged phone lines to its Manila call center during the testing, and was unable to solve any of Laptop's problems (or even answer the phone in under an hour, for that matter). While these results should not be considered gospel on the quality of the support you're going to get from each manufacturer, they're probably a decent representation on what you can expect following your purchase of a particular machine -- or maybe not. Readers, do you have any first-hand experiences which either support or disprove these rankings?
Samsung's ultraportable Q40 is pretty in pink
Proving once again that people seem to be willing to overpay for underpowered gadgets that could possibly be seen as "fashionable," Samsung has released a new £1,300 ($2,460) notebook whose main (read: only) selling point is its bright pink exterior. At this price point we'd expect to see words like "Core Duo" and "GeForce" on the spec sheet, but the new 12.1-inch Q40 only manages to throw down a disappointing 1.2GHz ULV Core Solo processor, just 512MB of RAM, a scant 60GB hard drive capacity, and those integrated Intel graphics which will only please gamers who are into Minesweeper and Sudoku. Still, you are getting a built-in DVD burner and Windows XP Professional as the operating system, so this lappy isn't a total lost cause. Although the shiny Q40 is available exclusively at PC World, we have a feeling that you'll soon be seeing it in the hands of celebutantes worldwide, and perhaps even being given away as a door prize on a future episode of My Super Sweet 16.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Core 2 Duo laptops to get SLI?
All ye Intel faithful, we come bearing (potentially) sterling news. According to DigiTimes' Taiwan notebook manufacturer sources, with the addition of Intel's Core 2 Duo mobile processor lineup also comes the addition of SLI support; yes, it could be that you'll no longer be shackled to faster, cheaper, cooler-performing AMD chips to get your double-barreled graphics adapter-equipped mobile gaming rig on. Supposedly they're building in support for NVIDIA SLI and CrossFire both, but don't be surprised if ATI gets the rug pulled out from underneath them at the last moment now that they've officially joined the AMD cadre. In fact, until support is officially confirmed don't be surprised if it just never happens at all.[Via Laptoping]
Dell laptop + ammo = no go
We'd think by now people might have heard about some of those Dell laptop mishaps, but it looks like a few boxes of ammo and a vintage Ford pickup are the latest casualties in an incident of laptops gone bad. While it's yet to be proved certainly that the Dell Inspiron 1300 in question did actually start the fire that blew up the ammo boxes of two outdoorsmen on a fishing trip (uh, who needs ammo on a fishing trip?) and overtook Jenny, the '66 F-250, we've little doubt that the laptop's, ammo's, and truck's owner Thomas Forqueran regrets ever placing the three within the vicinity of one another. ConsumerAffairs, from whom we sourced this story, did make mention of the Dell battery recall website some Engadget users have been tossing about -- you know, the launched in December of last year to take back some 22,000 batteries. Calls to Dell this week about the program went unreturned, but one thing is definitely for sure: if you've got a Dell laptop, do yourself (and your truck) a favor and still check and see if you can get it taken back, would you? We know you like your lap / desk / shoulder bag / car / plane in good working order.Here's that Dell recall page one more time, keep it handy, would ya? http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/[Thanks, Robert]
Dell laptop number 3 explodes
This time it was in Singapore, a Dell Latitude D410. We'll keep posting these until we see a recall or a solution, so please Dell, treat 'em right.[Thanks, Robert]
Microsoft pushing for designer PCs?
Now that Macs are PCs -- we mean really real PCs that run Windows n' stuff -- the beige box world is having a harder time than ever keeping peoples' interest when their inner John Hodgman longs to walk on the wild side and snap up a Macintel. Re-enter Microsoft: the company's latest kick is, of course, vertical integration (see: Zune), so it should come as no surprise that Redmond's supposedly been issuing a strict aesthetic best-practices kit, called the Windows Vista Industrial Design Toolkit, to PC OEMs like HP and Gateway; apparently Microsoft's got a team of twenty some-odd designers working to guarantee the first round of Vista boxes are "objects of pure desire," sure to re-obsess jejune PC-buyers like it was Win95 all over again, even in spite of Cupertino's best laid plans. The claim is that Microsoft is in no way enforcing these guidelines or requiring PC manufacturers to pretty up their boxes, but even if they were, well, given how often Windows boxes tend to get hit with the fugly stick it might not be such a bad thing.[Thanks, CoreyTheGent]
Fujitsu to add Core 2 Duo options to LifeBook N6400 series
We've sure seen a lot of Core 2 Duo- and Core 2 Extreme-equipped desktops today, so props go out to Fujitsu for breaking up the monotony and announcing a laptop spec-bump instead. Available sometime during the fourth quarter, the new and improved LifeBook N6400 series -- which was one of the first to get the original Core Duo treatment -- stays true to the lineup's origins by featuring the same 17-inch, Crystal View display and built-in subwoofer as its predecessors, but speeds things up a bit with some of that Merom-style Core 2 Duo love. The rest of the specs probably won't change too much either, so you can expect to see configurations sporting dual 160GB hard drives, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, and most likely a non-integrated graphics chipset of some sort. With the release still more than a month away we don't have any pricing details to share with you, but the current-generation N6410 (pictured) goes for around $1,700, so maybe that will give you some idea of what to prepare for.[Via laptoping]
Intel's Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme ten chip lineup
Seems like only yesterday we were firing off Core Duo announcement after Core Duo announcement (with the occasional Core Solo thrown in for good measure), and now the Merom (aka Core 2) family has finally landed. We can expect ten new Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme chips from Intel today; we'll leave the bithead biz to the fine folks at Tom's and the like, but expect to Leap Ahead into "performance enhancing" buzzwords like Wide Dynamic Execution, Smart Memory Access, Advanced Smart Cache, Advanced Digital Media Boost, and 64 bit processing (from the Core 2 Extremes and Duo desktop chips), as well as Core 2 Duo mobile processors' new Dynamic Power Coordination, Dynamic Bus Parking, and Enhanced Intel Deeper Sleep with Dynamic Cache Sizing, all intended to drop processor juice usage even further. Should we expect to see some announcements of machines based on these long awaited processors? Well, check back in a couple hours, why don't you? In the mean time, Intel assures us that boxes with Core 2 Extreme chips are already ready to rumble, but unfortunately you'll have to wait for the Core 2 Duo desktops and mobiles until early and late August, respectively.P.S. -If you're of the bencharking ilk -- and somehow we have a feeling you are -- PC Perspective's got a load of early-release performance data they just threw up. Thanks Ryan.
