Computer Systems - Page 48

CES 2013 - I visited Digital Storm's suite and the focus of the room really was this massive system known as the Aventum. A fully customizable system, the Aventum starts at just shy of $5,000 and can run all the way up to $8,000 or more. It sits in a case custom designed by Digital Storm and fabbed locally in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The case is simple and elegant, and the model they were showing off in the suite, and subsequently at the Intel party tonight, featured hard-plumbed watercooling, an Intel 3970K, dual EVGA GTX 690s, and a plethora of other high performance components.

It features the Digital Storm A.R.E.S. cooling system, which allows lights, fans, and monitoring to be controlled from within Windows. If you're in the market for a new system, you should definitely check the Aventum out.

The tiny Raspberry Pi has been a popular system among hackers and educators alike. For $35, you get a fully functional PC to mess around with, program, and do what you like. If you own one and don't know where to start, you're in luck, as the system has gotten a free educational manual courtesy of a team of UK teachers from Computing at School.

The manual is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 unported licence, which in non-legal speak means you can use, redistribute, change and copy. There's only one limitation: you can't sell it. There's lots of information in the manual, such as information of Scratch, Python, and the command line.

You can grab it from the Pi Store, or from this link if you don't have a Pi yet. Raspberry Pi would also like to issue a thanks to those who helped in the creation:

LG is teasing us with some information about their 2013 lineup of PCs and notebooks ahead of their CES 2013 debut. All of the machines are Windows 8-powered and use LG's IPS display technology, which should make them ideal for users who need accurate color reproduction, such as photographers.

The first is LG's hybrid notebook, the H160 Tab-Book, which features an 11.6-inch display and QWERTY keyboard that is hidden beneath. It weighs in at 2.3 pounds and is only 0.6 inches thick. It reportedly has 12.5 hours of battery life, though the processor isn't detailed. I would venture to guess an Atom will power the machine. A second model, the Z160, comes with all of the same specifications, but comes with an i5 processor and higher specifications.

LG's Ultrabook, the Z360, comes in at 2.5 pounds and 0.5 inches thick and will be powered by a core i5 processor. It features a full HD IPS display. Finally, LG is showing off the AIO V325, which will have a 23-inch display. The screen will feature 10-point multitouch support and will be powered by an i5 coupled with a GT 640M. Interestingly, it will feature a TV tuner and picture-in-picture so that you can watch both TV and your desktop at the same time.

ORIGIN PC, a boutique manufacturer of laptops and desktops, has announced today that they are bringing back ready-to-ship models for the holidays so that you can get that new system on time to game on Christmas Day. The systems are like most pre-configured system in that they have already been built and can be shipped out next-day.

According to the press release, "These high-performance systems are available while supplies last and offer the same unmatched quality and performance as every custom ORIGIN PC without the wait and without any compromise. Every RTS system is put through the same rigorous benchmarking and testing and built and supported in the United States. With included popular PC games, features such as professional overclocking and award winning Lifetime 24/7 Support, the ORIGIN PC RTS system makes the perfect holiday gift."

You can choose ready-to-ship models from the MILLENNIUM, EON15-S and EON17-S lines of computers. The EONs are both laptops, while the MILLENNIUM is a desktop gaming rig.

If you thought that the Raspberry Pi models found in the cheap Model A and Model B offerings were great - well, things are about to get a whole lot Moore's Law-sy with Hardkernel's latest offering.

The product in question is the ODROID-U, which costs just $69 but sports a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 4412 CPU, you know - the same thing that powers Samsung's Galaxy S III and Note II smartphones. On top of its quad-core processor, it has 1GB of RAM, a quad-core Mali 400 graphics chip, micro-HDMI out, USB ports, a headphone jack and Ethernet connectivity.

One thing the ODROID-U doesn't have is on-board flash memory, Hardkernel have left this out and provided a microSD card slot instead. For an additional $20, you can get yourself double the ram at 2GB, and get the chip clocked up to a nice (and hopefully not toasty) 1.7GHz on the ODROID-U2 model.

Apple just can't catch a break lately - iPhone 5s are experiencing issues, their stock is dropping like its not hot, and now there's rumors circling that Apple's previous warnings of the new iMac model would see "significant shortages", may actually push the release of the new Retina-sporting iMacs into 2013.

Apple currently states on their US site that the new 21.5-inch iMac will be released later this month, with the 27-inch model coming next month. But, if the rumors are actually true, we could see a delay of the new iMac in relation to Apple's new production method which has been dubbed "friction-stir welding".

This method utilizes intense heat and pressure, which is used to create an even more seamless join than previous techniques used. We've heard about delays, with Apple CEO Tim Cook stating in a conference call with analysts that the new iMac would see "significant shortages" but didn't state why, but continued to expect that the new Retina iMacs would make their original November and December delivery dates.

Being based in Australia is great for some things, the culture, the laid-back lifestyle, health care, and the weather - but there are huge downsides in that we don't see a lot of great IT brands getting any recognition in this company which excites me that little bit more when I get to be involved with companies like Digital Storm and their latest creation, Bolt.

Digital Storm's new Bolt is the company's slimmest, custom-designed gaming PC yet. Digital Storm's engineers went on a search for a slim chassis, but didn't find any on the market that suited their needs, so they did the next best thing - created their own chassis from the ground up, as you do.

This means that every aspect of Bolt's design from cooling, performance and upgradeability were designed not only specific to the bolt, but to the highest possible standards. Digital Storm's Bolt measures in at just 3.6-inch wide, and 14-inch tall. The thin chassis that makes up the Bolt is also designed to effectivity vent out heat allowing it to sport the best components on the market, without worrying about it breaking a sweat.

"The Mac mini is packed with great features. But the action on this product and the update is on the inside." Four USB 3.0, SD card reader, HDMI, i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB or 256GB of flash. Server model comes with a 2.3GHz i7, 4GB of RAM, and dual 1TB drives for $999. Both ship today.

Phil really rushed through that to get to the iMac refresh. The iMac has gone through 7 generations, with "each one better than the last." The new one is incredibly thin. "It's stunning from every side. Edge-to-edge glass... Would you like to see one in person?" "The most beautiful Mac we've ever made."

And here comes the specifications. At the edge, its only 5mm thick. It features no optical drive, an IPS screen, and all of the internal components have been "re-engineered."

If you thought the Raspberry Pi was impressive, you ain't seen nothing yet. Intel have asked their engineers to build the absolute smallest fully-featured compute unit possible, which is something they like to call the Next Unit of Computing.

On a board measuring just 4 inches by 4 inches, you'll find an integrated Core i3 processor on a 7-series chipset, mini-PCIe slot, mSATA slot, two SO-DIMM slots and three USB ports. Power is supposed through an external AC/DC adapter, but there's also a header for an optional internal power supply. Filling out the external ports we have an ethernet port, and two HDMI outputs.

Intel's Next Unit of Computing isn't a standard form factor just yet, which means the chipmaker had to work with a chassis vendor in order to put together the reference platform. Intel are hoping to sell you a chassis, PSU and Core i3-powered motherboard for the $399 or so mark. This would also include an mSATA SSD of some description, but would be OS-less. $399 is impressive, at that size.

HP unveiled four new all-in-one PCs on Monday, starting with the SpectreOne. The SpectreOne is jut 11.5mm thin, making it HP's thinnest all-in-one PC yet. Sporting a 23.6-inch flush-glass Full HD display with a curved back, the SpectreOne looks swish.

Together with its wireless trackpad with multi-touch technology, with the ability of easily scrolling, swiping and tapping through Windows 8's tile-based OS, it is very, very Apple iMac-like. The SpectreOne is filled with an NVIDIA GPU, optional SSD and optional ExpressCache, two USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.0 ports.

It also, surprisingly, sports NFC technology, where you can transfer pictures, videos and other goodies to the PC just by tapping a smartphone or NFC tag to its base. HP has also said that the SpectreOne sports "the latest Intel processors", but has left out any specifics. HP's SpectreOne desktop will be made available across the US in November, with a starting price of $1,299.