Posts in Notebooks
Dell goes solid state come June
Darius Chang | May 18, 2007
According to Dell Singapore's spokesperson, the new range of Latitude notebooks will start offering solid state and hybrid harddisks in the business-centric L attitude series to Asia come June.
The new Santa Rosa laptops are not merely refresh models of its existing lineup. The chassis has been toughened with magnesium-alloy materials, and the standard-aspect display goes widescreen in its 2007 business range. Offering the flash-based hard drive solution can only increase data integrity, as the solid state memory is more drop resistant than its mechanical counterpart. The first wave of flash-based Latitudes will likely include a 32GB storage option, not enough for multimedia users, but sufficient for productivity users.
Unfortunately, solid state technology is still in its infancy and hence rather expensive. A hybrid drive uses traditional magnetic technology coupled with a 512MB flash component. The latter acts as a fast buffer for accessing the contents of the storage platter. Hybrid drives would likely be offered at a premium over normal harddisks, but certainly a lot cheaper than flash-based solutions.
Apple releases new MacBook laptops
Caroline McCarthy | May 16, 2007
Apple announced on today that it has updated its MacBook laptops with faster processors, more memory and more hard drive space.
The new laptops are now available from Apple retail stores, product resellers and the company's online store.
The new consumer laptops, all of which are an inch thick and have a 13.3-inch display with 1,280 x 800-pixel widescreen resolution, are available in three models: White with the option of 2GHz or 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, or black with the faster processor.
All three models are equipped with 1GB of RAM that can be expanded to 2GB of RAM. They also have built-in iSight video cameras, AirPort Extreme wireless cards capable of 802.11n wireless networking, two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port.
The lower-end white MacBook, with a starting price of S$1,799 (US$1,322.79), comes with an 80GB hard drive; its 2.16GHz counterpart, which has a 120GB hard drive and a faster, double-layer support 8x SuperDrive DVD drive, costs S$2,188 (US$1,608.82). The black MacBook, identical to the faster white MacBook except for the color and a beefed-up 160GB hard drive, is priced at S$2,488 (US$1,829.41).
Apple also manufactures higher-end MacBook Pro laptops, which did not receive updates this week.
As reported on CNET's Crave blog on Monday morning, the new MacBooks do not include several features rumored to be included in their next iterations. Among those features are Intel "Santa Rosa" processors, solid-state hard drives and LED backlit displays.
LG Z1 gets two faces 
Darius Chang | May 14, 2007
| Editors' note:
LG has announced that Singapore will be the first in the world to launch the Z1 (Dual LCD) (also known as the Chocolate Notebook). We have updated the article below with the latest information.
|
Following in the footsteps of the ASUS W5Fe, the latest LG Z1 notebook will ship with dual LCDs to take advantage of Windows Vista's Sideshow concept.
The LG Z1 (Dual LCD) is a 12.1-inch widescreen notebook with Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz processor, 1GB memory and comes in at a light 1.86kg. The top lid holds a second display with signature red touch-sensitive buttons reminiscent of the LG Chocolate phones. Strangely enough, though the system uses the ATI Mobility Radeon X1350 graphics card, the secondary panel is powered by Nvidia's Preface technology and Windows Vista's Sideshow concept, allowing users to access system information, emails, music playback and more on the smaller LCD.
This model is currently launched only in Singapore, with availability to other countries to be announced at a later date. The LG Z1 (Dual LCD) retails for S$2,999 (US$2,205.15) and should be available in the upcoming PC Show 2007.
View larger image here.
Danish consumer group finds design flaw in iBook G4
Tom Krazit | May 07, 2007
After an investigation, Denmark's Consumer Complaints Board says it has found evidence that a design flaw in Apple's iBook G4 causes the notebooks to stop working after about a year of use.
The board's investigation found that turning the laptop on or off over time causes a solder joint to loosen and eventually separate, preventing current from flowing through the joint. Owners of Apple's iBook G4s had complained about system problems, and even filed a class-action suit to advance their claims, but Apple has not admitted to any sort of design flaw with the systems. The MacBook--with Intel's processors--replaced the iBook last year.
Given the new findings, however, the board has settled several claims on behalf of Danish customers of Apple International, it said. Its investigation could have an effect on other iBook G4 customers who have experienced similar problems, but an Apple representative declined to comment on the report.
A copy of the report can be found on the board's Web site. A lot of the site is written in Danish, but there is an English copy of the report and photos of the test setup.
Dell gets feisty with Linux
Darius Chang | May 02, 2007
A long-time partner of Microsoft, Dell will be getting a little naughty with the latest sweet young thing from Linux--the Ubuntu "Feisty Fawn" edition.
According to a report by news.com, Dell will be offering desktops and notebooks bundled with Ubuntu's latest Linux flavor at the end of May. The PC manufacturer said that one of the top requests at its IdeaStorm site was for the open source software to be pre-installed in its computers. As such, it will be offering the Ubuntu operating system side-by-side with Microsoft's Windows program as options when selecting Dell systems.
This initiative, however, is still currently restricted to the US market. According to a Dell Singapore representative, the company is still working on a global program to roll out this offering to other regions.
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