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ASUS UL-series laptops surface at e-tailers with Core i3 ULV processor
If the pint-sized ASUS laptop above looks a wee bit familiar, it's because you've seen it before -- the 12-inch UL20FT is basically a refreshed UL20A, but with the surprisingly elusive Core i3 ULV guts. The UL20FT appeared at ExcaliberPC this weekend, while its Optimus-equipped big brother appears destined for Amazon; in a slight change of plans, both feature the 1.2GHz Core i3-330UM processor. While the $600 UL20FT is a solid netbook alternative, the $900 UL80JT has double the capacity (500GB) and memory (4GB) plus an optical disc drive, and if our review of its doppelganger is any indication, the 14-inch switchable graphics machine will have stellar battery life. Still, we can't help feel a little bummed by the lack of the Core i7-640UM we were originally promised. [Thanks, David T.]
ASUS Eee PC 1215N to ship in the US at the end of August
With the NVIDIA Ion 2-powered Acer Aspire One 532g falling by the wayside and the ASUS Eee PC 1201PN hitting the market sans NVIDIA Optimus, all eyes are on the ASUS Eee PC 1215N to be the true Ion 2 machine. Well, super-charged netbook fans, we've got good news: the 12-inch laptop, which has a 1.8GHz dual-core Atom D525 CPU and NVIDIA's Optimus to intelligently switch between discrete and integrated graphics, will ship in the US around August 23. And while an MSRP hasn't been set in stone, we're told "it should be below $500." Sure, a glance at the calender will reveal that you won't get your mitts on this bad boy for at least 40 days, but we're confident you'll find something to pass the time.
ASUS U43JC and U43F show up at Best Buy boastin' bamboo bods
ASUS has been showing off bamboo laptops at trade shows for about three years now, but actual machines adorned in the special wood haven't quite made it to market for what we'd call affordable prices... until now. The sub-$1,000 U43JC and U43F have been hanging out on Best Buy's website for the last couple of days, and will be shipping towards the end of the month. Internally, these two 14-inchers certainly match their strong exterior -- the $999 U43JC is a lot like the U30Jc we reviewed a few months ago with its Core i5-450M processor, NVIDIA Optimus / GeForce 310M graphics, and a 640GB hard drive. The $950 U43F has the same Core i5 processor, but instead sticks with Intel's graphics to get some WiDi bragging rights. We're planning to review at least one of these puppies in due time , but hey, don't let that deter you from hitting those pre-order links below.
Gigabyte's 'Codfish' Android phone comes to Portugal as the 'Boston'
We doubt Bostonians appreciate being cast as obsolete, cheap, or chock-full of plastic -- but for whatever reason, Portuguese carrier Optimus has recently started offering Gigabyte's so-called Codfish as the Boston (not to say the name "Codfish" is any more accurate). The phone's actually not a bad way to get into Android cheaply, we suppose, featuring a 3.2-inch display, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 5 megapixel camera for €160 (about $201) -- but the problem we see is that Android 1.6 is looking awfully long in the tooth at this point, particularly for a newly-released device. With any luck, Optimus can swiftly deliver an update, lest Boston's good name be sullied any longer than it needs to be. [Thanks, SmoothMarx]
LG debuts Optimus smartphone series, Froyo-powered 'One' and 'Chic' arriving first
While all of you Droid, Incredible and EVO 4G owners wait patiently for an official Froyo update to call your own, LG's wasting no time introducing its first phones based on the latest and greatest Android build. Over in the UK today, the company has decided to launch the Optimus Series, a family of smartphones that'll run "on a range of operating systems as well as Android." If all goes well, LG will introduce around ten new smart devices worldwide in the second half of this year under the Optimus label, though only two are being partially revealed for now. The Optimus One with Google and Optimus Chic will both ship with Android 2.2 onboard, with the latter being specifically aimed at fashionistas who just might appreciate the "sleek curves" that make themselves so apparent. Further details surrounding pricing, availability and specifications remain to be seen, but here's hoping this is just the beginning of the Froyo flood to come.
ASUS Eee PC 1215N with NVIDIA Ion and dual-core Atom D525 is a netbook powerhouse
The phrase "netbook powerhouse" would typically be considered an oxymoron. That was before ASUS announced its Eee PC 1215N bumpin' a 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor with NVIDIA Optimus to intelligently switch between its NVIDIA Ion discrete and integrated graphics. That means it'll cut through 1080p video without any problem when displayed on the 12-inch 1,366 x 768 pixel display or out to an HDTV via the included HDMI jack. Other specs include Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11n WiFi, integrated webcam with lens cover, choice of 250GB or 320GB hard disk drives augmented by 500GB of ASUS WebStorage, and pass-through USB to charge connected devices like cellphones when the Eee is powered off. Sorry, no mention of battery performance, price, or availability on this so-called netbook.
Optimus Popularis keyboard finally pictured, still on track for sub-$1000 release
Art Lebedev doesn't have a fantastic track record when it comes to timing, but we'll be damned if those boutique devices don't look hot when they hit the scene -- just check out this first render of the Optimus Popularis keyboard, which the studio informs us will still (despite years in the making) cost less than $1000 when it eventually arrives. We're loving the new chiclet keys with typewriter spacing, even as we mourn the loss of a dedicated numpad in favor of industrial design -- though Art Leb says a press of the FN key will remedy that issue. When every button has a screen built into it, you can put that ten-key wherever you want, right?
Art Lebedev stacks Optimus Popularis keys up against Maximus: smaller, higher res
Art Lebedev gave us an update on its slimmer, long-promised Optiumus Popularis keyboard last month, but the design shop hasn't ever provided many concrete details about it apart from the fact that it won't be OLED-based this time around. We now at least know a bit more about those all-important keys, however, which are said to be both smaller and higher-res than the OLED keys on the Optiumus Maximus -- 15 mm square and 64 x 64, to be specific -- and have a much smaller "inactive" area (as illustrated by the gray border above). Still not much more than that, unfortunately, but this is Art Lebedev, so you can count on a trickle of information to continue right up until the keyboard rolls out at the end of this year / early next year -- assuming it isn't delayed, that is.
Gateway's glowing ID laptops arrive along with new LT series netbooks
Oh sure, Acer may have spent the first half of the week convincing us that its newest laptops and netbooks were the sweetest systems around, but now it's turning the attention to its Gateway brand only tempt us with equally as enticing options. The ID series has been on our radar ever since we saw its blue-glowing touchpad at Computex, and luckily both the 14-inch ID49 and 15.6-inch ID59 will hit US retailers for less than $800 in the coming weeks. The exact configurations are unclear, but they'll have Core i3 / i5 CPU options as well as NVIDIA Optimus graphics. On the netbook front, Gateway's bringing out the 10.1-inch LT23, which looks the same as the LT22 we caught a glimpse of a few weeks back. Powered by an Intel Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, the netbook will start at a tempting $329. Check out the gallery below for some shiny press shots and the full press release after the break. Oh and Acer, we're giving you permission to chill on the new laptops for a bit! %Gallery-96075%
Toshiba Satellite M645 boasts NVIDIA Optimus and improved aesthetics, Satellite A665 makes its 3D arrival
We know, that's a pretty loaded headline, but that's exactly what Toshiba's new laptops are... loaded. Let's start with that beauty pictured above -- the now fairly familiar and often leaked 15.6-inch Satellite A665. Starting at $1,599, the 3D bad boy boasts pretty much everything you'd want in a mobile gaming rig under two grand, including an Intel Core i7-740QM CPU, NVIDIA GeForce GTS 350M graphics with 1GB of VRAM, a 640GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM, and a Blu-ray drive that supports 3D playback. It comes with NVIDIA's 3D Vision kit, which includes the usual active shutter glasses and emitter. But it's not all about the specs on the A665 -- both it and the M645 have been redesigned with chiclet keyboards and a new Fusion X2 finish that combines a glossy and matte coating. Those taken with the A665 but aren't into the 3D stuff can configure a 16-inch version, which starts at $799, with a choice of Intel Core 2010 processors. The 14-inch M645 is the smaller version of the A665 and features Core i3, i5 and i7 CPU options as well as AMD's Phenom II Quad Core processors. On the graphics front, we're extremely happy to see the line use NVIDIA's Optimus technology to automatically switch between the GeForce 310M or GeForce GT330M GPU and the IGP. To boot, the systems can be configured with Blu-ray and 7,200rpm hard drives. We should also mention that both the A665 and M645 have Toshiba's new Sleep + Music capability, which allows you plug a music player into the mic jack and blast out your tunes through the laptop's Harmon Kardon speakers even when it's powered down. We told you these machines were loaded. We'll be bringing you full reviews soon, but in the meantime enjoy the pics and full PR below. %Gallery-95111% %Gallery-95196%
NVIDIA shows 16 new Optimus laptops at Computex, teases GTX 460M GPU
Just in case you were wondering where and when you might get a taste of the Optimus elixir, NVIDIA has handed us a detailed list of Computex debutants that will be taking the graphics switching technology with them to retail. A total of sixteen new Optimus machines are on show in Taipei, and although ASUS is still the biggest purveyor (with six SKUs, not counting previously announced products), Lenovo and Acer have also jumped on board, with the IdeaPad Y460 and a pair of Packard Bell EasyNotes, respectively. Notably, the FX700 above from MSI is marked as using an "unannounced" next-gen graphics chip, which we suspect might be the GTX 460M, a mobile GPU that NVIDIA is showing, but not talking about yet. Guess that'll be slotting in just below the recently unveiled GTX 480M. We've got pictorial evidence of the 460M's existence after the break, along with the full list of new Optimus-ized machines, which you can also scope out in the gallery below.%Gallery-94167%
Four more major laptop manufacturers will use NVIDIA Optimus by the fall
It's no secret that we've been big fans of NVIDIA's automatic graphics switching Optimus technology, but we've had one major complaint -- there's just not enough systems with it on the market. While ASUS has been employing the technology in most of its new systems, others, like Lenovo and HP, have been quite tight-lipped on the GPU tech. But apparently that's about to change. When we crossed paths with NVIDIA's Vice President of Worldwide Sales Rene Haas at the Netbook Summit, he revealed that at least four more major manufacturers will be using Optimus by the end of the summer. He wouldn't share any details on brands, but he did say that there should be a total of 50 Optimus lappies on the market by the fall. Of course, we don't know how many of those will be made by ASUS or will be Ion 2 netbooks, but it surely looks like the momentum is growing, and we're hoping to learn more at Computex next week. Fingers crossed that we can count the Alienware M11x among them.
ASUS Eee PC 1215 with Ion receives Optimus and USB 3.0 augmentation (video)
When we found out that the Ion 2-packing Eee PC 1201PNs lacked NVIDIA Optimus tech for switching graphics hardware on the fly, well, it was a bit of a bummer to say the least. But, ASUS is at least fixing its successor, the Eee PC 1215. It's largely the same machine as the 1201, packing a dual-core Atom D510 processor and Ion graphics to complement the onboard graphics. This one, though, will have the Optimus hardware to switch betwixt the two, saving battery life all the while. The case has also been subtly refreshed but, most interestingly, ASUS saw fit to throw in a pair of USB 3.0 ports, their cerulean insides shining like beacons to guide us toward the future of high-speed file transfers. We're not sure when the 1215 is destined to hit retail and make the 1201PN obsolete, nor how much of a premium it will cost when it does, but there are plenty more pictures of the thing and even a few benchmarks at the source link. Update: We've got a video of some hot benchmarking action after the break.
NVIDIA puts its Tegra 2 eggs in Android's basket, aims to topple Apple's A4
Microsoft's Kin One and Kin Two might not turn out to be the most auspicious devices for Tegra's debut in the smartphone arena, but NVIDIA seems to be learning from its mistakes. Admitting that the company committed too strongly to Microsoft with the first-gen iteration, Jen-Hsun Huang has now said that the second generation of Tegra will look to Android devices first and foremost. This newfound focus will materialize with both smartphones and tablets in the third and fourth quarter of this year, and will, according to Jen-Hsun, offer device makers a viable competitor to Apple's A4 SOC. In other news, NVIDIA has now shipped "a few hundred thousand" Fermi cards, and has also achieved 70 design wins with its Optimus graphics switching technology. Eleven of those are now out in the wild, but the vast majority are still to come, mostly as part of the seasonal "back to school" refresh at the end of the summer. These revelations came during the company's earnings call for the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year, and you can find the full transcript at the source below. [Thanks, TareG]
Optimus Popularis keyboard is still on target, due next year
Is your Optimus Maximus feeling a little... dated? OLED keys just not quite doing it for you any longer? Looking for something a little different, and maybe a little smaller? That's the Popularis, a product announced just about two years ago that the good folks at Optimus would like to remind you is still progressing quite nicely. Plans are to start production later this year with a release sometime in 2011. Like the Maximus, the Popularis will have full-color keys, but they are said to not be OLED-based this time, leaving us wondering. When it was initially announced the keyboard was set to retail for the bargain price of under $1,000 but, given the rate of inflation since then, we could be looking at an MSRP closer to $1,010. Better skip today's Starbucks run.
First wave of Ion 2 ASUS Eee PC 1201PNs lack NVIDIA Optimus
Well, this is sad. While we told you earlier this week that the Ion 2-powered ASUS Eee PC 1201PN wouldn't be arriving until late May, a number of European sites have gotten early review samples of the 12-inch "netbook" -- if you choose to call it that -- and have discovered that it doesn't use NVIDIA's Optimus automatic graphics switching technology. That's right, instead we're told by NVIDIA that the discrete GeForce 201M GPU runs continuously and Intel's integrated chip is never used -- a configuration which sounds like it'll absolutely kill the battery life on this machine. According to Hardware Zone, ASUS made this choice aiming to be the first to market with the next generation of Ion, but an Optimus version of the ASUS Eee PC 1201PN will be ready later this quarter. It also appears that an Eee PC 1215N with both Ion 2 and Optimus is floating around, but we haven't confirmed what's going on with that. We're sorry if we confused you even more, but we'll be keeping our eyes out for the early reviews of the 1201PN to see if our predicted two hours of battery life is on the mark. Update: The 1201PN cannot be updated with firmware to enable Optimus -- the hardware isn't there for the automatic switching.
Behind the scenes, Optimus (not) at work on new MBPs?
Update: While Engadget originally reported that Optimus was behind the MBP power-saving switch feature, AppleInsider is citing NVIDIA representatives that the feature isn't based on their tech -- they say it's home-grown by Apple. Thanks to our commenters for pointing this out. Great power is lurking inside the new MacBook Pros, just waiting to be unleashed. Along with support for up to 8GB of RAM and the heftier i5 and i7 processors, the new machines also include on-the-fly GPU switching courtesy of NVIDIA's GeForce GT 330M and 'Optimus,' as the company calls its dynamic handoff feature. which NVIDIA says is Apple-original. The power-saving trick has already appeared on several Windows laptops. As was pointed out by Gizmodo back in October of 2008, the original dual-GPU MacBook Pro models (with the 9400M/9600M GT card combo) were capable of dynamic switching on the fly. The bad news was that Mac OS X hadn't "switched on" the feature, even though it did work in Boot Camp on similarly-equipped Windows laptops. The good news is that now we see Apple supporting the feature in software for the newer gear -- but will it ever work its way back to the old reliables? Imagine vintage MBPs switching between the GPUs as needed, without having to log in and out. Better yet, the GPU could switch depending on state (plugged in or unplugged?) or even per application... the power management boost would be delightful. Now that we see NVIDIA's GPU management technology helping save power on new MBPs, we have to wonder: will older machines be able to take advantage of the on-demand switching with a firmware upgrade? Only The Shadow knows.
ASUS U30Jc review
Core i3 laptops with no more than 2.5 hours of battery life... seen 'em. Intel ULV laptops that last for more than 5.5 hours... seen 'em. A Core i3 laptop with NVIDIA's Optimus discrete graphics that boasts 9.5 hours of battery life? Well, now that sounds new, and that's exactly what the 13.3-inch ASUS's U30Jc promises to be – that perfect chocolate vanilla swirl of portability and performance. But like us, you've got to be thinking there's got to be sacrifices here, right? We thought so too, but surprisingly enough they're extremely minimal considering the $900 pricetag. You aren't going to find out what they are up here -- hit that read more link for our full review. %Gallery-90291%
Alienware M11x getting NVIDIA Optimus and new Intel CPUs this summer?
Either someone at Alienware is reading our reviews or the engineers over there happen to be as smart as us. What was our top complaint about the M11x? The lack of NVIDIA Optimus to automatically switch between the IGP and the GT335M GPU to help save battery life, of course. Well, if Notebook Review forum commenter Darkhan, who apparently has some affiliation with Alienware, is to be believed the company is working on adding just that to an updated M11x. Said to be released in the June / July time frame, the refreshed 11.6-inch laptop will apparently also be getting some new Intel Core 2010 CPUs. It does seems a bit early to update a product that started shipping just a month ago, but we wouldn't put it past those crazy gamers. Dell wouldn't comment on the rumor, so the only thing we can promise at this time is that we'll be keeping an ear to the ground on this one. Updated: Darkhan has updated the Notebook Review forum page saying that he isn't an employee of Dell or Alienware and that he just hears rumors like everyone else. We still have a hunch that some sort of update is headed to the M11x, but to reemphasize it is all just wishful thinking at this point.
ASUS U30Jc on sale today, come get your Optimus-ized Core i3 in a thin and light package
Lusting for the ultimate compromise between a desktop replacement and an ultraportable computer? The ASUS U30Jc might -- in spite of its generic name -- be just the ticket for you, since it packs in a 2.26GHz Intel Core i3-350M CPU plus an NVIDIA GeForce GT310M graphics chip, which will be used in the most efficient fashion possible thanks to the addition of that newfangled Optimus auto-switching technology. ASUS also manages to fit in an optical drive, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 320GB hard disk (5,400RPM), HDMI-out, WiFi, and the usual webcam and mic. The 5,600mAh battery is rated to last 9.5 hours according to ASUS (sounds pretty optimistic to us) and the display's resolution is 1366 x 768. That last spec is the only thing we can find wrong with this package, and the $899 sticker and immediate availability should garner plenty of fans out there. If you need a little extra convincing, keep an eye out for our forthcoming review. Full PR after the break.
