Laptops - Page 39

CES 2015 - Lenovo's Carbon and T450 models have received a special upgrade, in the form of Intel's new Broadwell processors. They're also being treated with new wireless technologies including 802.11ac Wi-Fi and 4G LTE, smaller sizing and a longer battery life.

Their ThinkPad Carbon X1 now measures at only 17.7 millimeters thick and comes in at 1.3 kilograms. Often described as perfectly suited for business purposes, this line of laptops will feature the fifth-generation Intel processor offerings and a 10 - 11 hour battery life. According to Steve Gilbert, the director of worldwide product marketing for Lenovo's commercial group, Intel's i-series chips were used over their lower-power consuming M series because "our business customers continue to demand the best from our products."

This model will now include its internal SSD connected through PCI-Express 3.0 technology, supporting up to 512GB of total storage. Further to this, you'll be able to throw in up to 8GB or DDR3 RAM, display your work at a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and connect to your networks via 802.11ac Wi-Fi and LTE mobile broadband. More features include a lackluster 720p webcam and a price of $1,249 - set for shipping later this month.

CES 2015 - Having crept under the recent release of their new Chromebook 15, Acer have also announced they are adding touchscreen technology to their Chromebook 13 line - described as "the industry's first Chromebook powered by an NVIDIA Tegra K1 mobile processor" in their recently issued press release.

Featuring an Intel core i3-processor, a vibrant 13.3-inch display and a battery life of up to 13 hours when displaying at 1366x768 resolution or 11.5 hours at 1920x1080, this offering will be available with touch technology as soon as January 2015.

The touchscreen models will be launched to Europe and the Middle East this month for a price of €329 ($394 US), unfortunately there isn't any mention of release in other countries as of yet, but I would expect it to not be too far off.

Known for being rather small and light, Chromebooks generally contain screen sizes of 11.6 or 13.3 inches, however Acer have just announced their super-size Chromebook addition - featuring Intel's new Broadwell chip and NVIDIA's Tegra K1 to help boost performance. With the price starting at $249.99, it's not too much of a burden on the bank either.

Weighing only 4.8 pounds, this Acer Chromebook offering comes fully loaded with support for up to 4GB of DRAM and 32GB of SSD storage, an inbuilt webcam, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. As for further storage and connection, expect it to feature USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, an SD card reader and a single HDMI output.

As with all Chromebooks, this laptop will feature Chrome OS. Chrome OS requires an internet connection for many of its applications to function and will also update its in-built security measures regularly. Said to be paired well with Intel's new Broadwell chips - you can expect Chromebooks in general to become faster and with a longer battery-life.

Back in March we heard about a fanless, thinner MacBook Air and then again in September we heard about a new Retina MacBook Air that would be fanless, and thinner.

Now, we're hearing about a new 12-inch MacBook Air that is expected to shift into mass production in 2015, and should launch toward the middle of the year. According to DigiTimes' supply chain sources, the new 12-inch MBA will feature Intel's new Broadwell processor, with units of the new MacBook Air to be in extremely limited supply with yield issues being a problem.

Apple has been rumored to adopt a new form factor that would sport a buttonless trackpad, and passively cooled internals. Intel's new Core M processor will help that along, as they just launched last month. We should see Apple launch a new Silver, Gold and Space Gray MacBook Air in the New Year.

Panasonic has just announced that they're "expanding the scope of the U.S. recall Panasonic voluntarily previously put in place of battery packs included with the Toughbook H2 rugged tablet PC and those sold separately or as a result of servicing" according to a press release.

This recall is for all Toughbook H2 battery packs manufactured between June 2011 and September 2012, following the original recall announced in May 2014 which covered battery packs manufactured between June 2011 and May 2012. The reason these batteries are being asked for return is due to a possibility of them overheating and catching on fire due to manufacturer issues.

If you're unsure about your battery packs qualification for this recall, you can check your model number and manufacturing lot number on the battery pack itself. There are two battery slots on your device, located on the left and right of the PC, only battery packs showing both numbers will qualify for this warranty claim.

The last time I remember hearing "HP" and "MacBook Air" in a sentence, was back in 2008 when the then CTO of HP's Global Gaming Business and founder of VoodooPC, Rahul Sood, used a MacBook Air to cut his birthday cake. Sood in that time moved onto Microsoft, and recently left the Redmond-based giant to form his own business Unikrn. Well, HP is taking another swipe at Apple's MacBook Air, this time with a new business-focused notebook.

The EliteBook Folio 1020 is a Windows 8-based notebook that features a proprietary enterprise port and a fingerprint scanner for added security, with the company touting it can pass military-grade drop and shock tests. Inside of the EliteBook Folio 1020 we have 8GB of RAM, an SSD between 128GB and 512GB, and around 9 hours of battery life. Intel's new fanless Core M processor makes the cut, with HP offering up two models of its new notebook.

The first model is lighter than Apple's MacBook Air, with the Standard Edition being slightly heavier than the MBA, packing a 12.5-inch 1080p display, which is also upgradeable to a touchscreen. The lighter model, the Folio 1020 Special Edition, features a 12.5-inch QHD display, without a touchscreen option. There's a nice red accent on the hinge, which sweetens the deal. The Standard Edition will be made available next February, while the Special Edition will be made available in April 2015.

Do you remember the beginning of the Tablet craze? Even schools have adopted tablets and it seems that almost everyone owns or previous owned one of these devices - however we're now seeing them on the decline. Alongside this information, we've just seen reports that touchscreen PC's are also on their way out.

At Computex in Taiwan in 2013, Intel announced that it would use its Ultrabook fund to boost their production of large touchscreens, claiming a projected 3-5 times increase in consumer demand in the coming years. Alongside this, they stated that their Haswell platform laptops with touchscreens have tripled the sales of their previous generation, the Ivy Bridge.

Reading ZDNET's findings, it seems that touchscreen laptops are still in abundance in the North American brick-and-mortar retail market.

Self proclaimed as "Australia's Largest Retailer", Kogan is well known amongst tech savvy Aussie locals as providing a cheaper alternative for devices such as TV's, monitors and camera hardware. However, in latest news they've just released a Windows 8.1 operational laptop for just $329 AUD with decent specifications.

Named the Kogan Atlas X1510 Laptop, this $329 bargain will be released to the public on December the 15th - said to be just in time for Christmas. Based around an Intel N3540 quad-core processor running at 2.16GHz, it comes coupled with 4GB or DDR3L RAM and a 500GB HDD. The display comes in the form of a 15.6-inch screen displaying at 1366 x 768 pixels and sees the device measure at a total of 274mm long, 259mm deep and 2.1kg in weight. Although well-priced, it's not a particularly small object, but it does offer the user a reported 9.5 hours of battery life.

Connectivity is fairly standard on this device, offering up a HDMI port, VGA capabilities, one Gigabit Ethernet port, one USB 3.0 port, three USB 2.0 ports, a headphone and separate microphone port, full-sized SD card reader and provides you with the ability to connect through 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0. Reportedly being released with a $15 discount for Office 365, this laptop looks good so far - we're interested to see what the build quality, feel and actual operation are like however.

Chromebook devices are seeing strong growth, with sales increasing 67 percent quarter over quarter, but still have a long way to go, according to ABI Research. Acer leads the current Chromebook market, ahead of Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and Dell - but each company hopes to see the low-cost laptops continue to see increased interest from consumers and vertical industries in 2015.

"Consumers are hungry for a product that is cost effective but also provides the versatility and functionality of a laptop," said Stephanie Van Vactor, ABI Research Analyst, in a statement. "The growth of the Chromebook market demonstrates a niche that is gaining traction among consumers."

The price of mobile hardware is dropping in price, and Chromebooks are often significantly cheaper than other laptops, so it will take time for the market to develop. Total Chromebook-powered device shipments are expected to tally 4.1 million in 2014, a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated 300 million shipments of traditional PCs.

ASUS has unveiled its new Republic of Gamers G751 series gaming laptop, which can be configured up to be a serious gaming powerhouse. This includes the option of an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900M series GPU, the second-generation Maxwell chip that is doing wonders for gamers, as well as the exclusive ASUS TurboMaster GPU overclocking technology from ASUS.

First up, the G751 has a "stealthy F-22 Raptor-inspired" design, which definitely looks like a mean gaming machine. On top of that, we have a 17.3-inch Full HD display, with touch support being included on the G751JM model. The configurable specs start with multiple options of Intel's Core range of processors. We have the i7-4860HQ and i7-4710HQ for the G751JT model, the i7-4710HQ for the G751JT, and finally, the Core i7-4710HQ or i5-4200H for the G751JM.

The ASUS ROG G751 can house up to 32GB of DDR3L 1600MHz RAM, a slew of storage options with up to a 512GB NGFF PCIe-based SSD, but when it comes to GPUs, this is where it gets fun. The new gaming notebook from ASUS can be configured with up to the new Maxwell-based, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M with 4GB of GDDR5 RAM, on the G751JY at least. The G751JT features the GeForce GTX 970M with 3GB of RAM, while the G751JM includes the GTX 860M with 2GB of RAM.

Alienware has a very powerful gaming laptop in its new Alienware 18, but now news is coming out that the gaming laptop can be configured with its Core i7-4940MX processor overclocked to an incredible 4.4GHz. While this clock speed might not be all that impressive on the desktop, for a notebook with limited cooling abilities, and a very limited space to dissipate heat, this is damn impressive.

The smaller, and cheaper Alienware 17 can be configured with an overclocked Core i7 processor, with its i7-4910MQ capable of being configured to hit 4.1GHz. Intel's latest Core i7-4940MX has a stock clock speed of 3.1GHz, and boost clock of 4.1GHz. Alienware's laptop system designers decided to crank it up a bit with some factory overclocking, with Intel writing through its 'Chip Shot' blog that the overclocked i7-4940MX to "enable some of the highest-performance laptop PCs on the market". The company is aware of the thermal issues with an overclocked processor in a gaming notebook, where it added "Alienware engineers really got creative and developed a new thermal solution to ensure reliable and cool operation in such a small system".

The Alienware 18 gaming notebook is quite a beast, with an 18.4-inch 1920x1080 display, configurable with up to two, yes two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880Ms in SLI, or two AMD Radeon R9 M290X GPUs in Crossfire. Up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR3 1600MHz RAM, a slew of storage and ODD options, as well as an 8-cell 86wHr battery. The Alienware 18 starts at $2099, but if you build it up as serious as those aforementioned specs, you're looking at closer to $5000.

Lenovo has the best Windows notebook on the market, where I totally fell in love with, and still gloss over, the Yoga 2 Pro. The company has just unveiled its successor, the Yoga 3 Pro, which improves on the small amount of things the Y2P had problems with.

The Yoga 3 Pro is 17% thinner, and 15% lighter than the Y2P, with Lenovo claiming that the change in results has it "weighing less than a bottle of water". We still have the 13.3-inch 3200x1800 QHD+ display, which was super crisp on the Y2P. Lenovo has spent time improving the already great hinge design, with the Y3P featuring a "watchband" hinge that Lenovo claims is "hand-assembled from more than 800 individual pieces of steel and aluminum".

Inside, we have Intel's Broadwell-based Core M-70 processor running the show, backed up with up to 8GB of RAM (still no 16GB, Lenovo?), and up to 512GB of SSD. The company has fixed the Wi-Fi issue on the Y3P, baking in a new 5GHz 802.11ac chip into the Yoga 3 Pro. Lenovo has also improved the software inside of the Y3P, with something it calls "Harmony" that automatically adjusts settings to optimize whatever software you're using. If you were to be reading an e-book for example, Lenovo's Harmony software will "change the brightness and color temperature according to the environment lighting". If you are watching a movie, Harmony will automatically adjust the audio settings to give you a better sense of immersion.

Sitting here, I was watching an episode of Under the Dome when I had a random thought about my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, and when the Yoga 3 Pro was coming. I decided to Google it, and noticed that Lenovo had a listing on its website, going as far as listing the Yoga 3 Pro, but it hitting a 404 error.

This set me off on some digging, with some sources stating that the upcoming Yoga 3 Pro will feature Intel's new Core M processor, and most of the same specifications of the already impressive Y2P. We should see 8GB of RAM, varying SSD sizes, and the beautiful 13.3-inch 3200x1800 IPS display.

Samsung has withdrawn from the European laptop market, pulling its Ativ notebooks and Google Chrome-powered Chromebooks. Overall, the PC market has struggled as smartphones, tablets, and phablets take over - and the laptop market has also suffered. For Samsung, the company continues to have great success utilizing Google Android on its smartphones and tablets, which is where future focus will remain high.

"We quickly adapt to market needs and demands," Samsung said in a statement. "In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of laptops including Chromebooks for now. This is specific to the region - and is not necessarily reflective of conditions in other markets. We will continue to thoroughly evaluate market conditions and will make further adjustments to maintain our competitiveness in emerging PC categories."

Sony spun off its VAIO laptop business to completely separate itself from the declining sector.

According to a new report from Jack March, the upcoming 12-inch Retina MacBook Air will offer a slew of improvements. It seems like it's close to being reworked in every department, from its display, processor, speakers, charging technology, and more.

First off, the report states that the upcoming Retina MBA will offer a "noticeably thinner design", where it will be completely fanless. Fanless, you say? This is thanks to Apple adopting to Intel's new Core M processor, which offers performance improvements, as well as lowered thermals and power requirement. OEMs can bake these into their devices, offering up fanless tablets and laptops.

Next up, the source said that "the display bezels are noticeably thinner, quite similar to the current MacBook Pro Retina lineup" with next to no space between the keyboard and the edge of the upcoming 12-inch MBA. Additionally, the speaker has been moved above the keyboard, and is still "visible". The source continues with a juicy rumor, stating that Apple will get rid of the already impressive MagSafe connector, replacing it with a new charging technology that has never been used on any Mac to date. I'm hoping we see wireless charging, but I won't be holding my breath. Lastly, Apple will reportedly replace the standard USB ports on the new 2015 Retina MacBook Air with the new reversible USB Type C ports. The company should offer the new MBA in various color options, sometime in mid 2015.

Acer has just announced the new Chromebook 13, which is the industry's first Chromebook that is powered by NVIDIA's very capable Tegra K1 mobile processor. It's also the first Chromebook the company has made with a 13.3-inch display.

The company makes its new Chromebook 13 available with two display options, with the default 13.3-inch display with a resolution of 1366x768, but for those who crave more pixels, there's an option that crams a 1920x1080 resolution onto the 13.3-inch display. Acer's Chromebook 13 does have a star, with that star being the Tegra K1 processor, which features a 192-core GPU. This means that people will be able to have a super-fast device, with great battery life, with the ability to play some games, too.

Acer's new Chromebook 13 is both thin and light, at just 0.71 inches thick, and only 3.31 pounds. The Acer Chromebook 13 is completely fanless, so users will enjoy a near silent system. Acer has provided 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity, with the 2x2 MIMO antennae providing plenty of bandwidth for users. There a re also two USB 3.0 ports, and an HDMI port for some video output. We also have a 720p front-facing webcam, two built-in stereo speakers and a microphone.

We should see Apple unveil its MacBook Pro refresh in September, but according to some new leaks, we now know what to expect in the hardware department. As it stands, the 13-inch MBP includes 4GB of RAM, while the 15-inch MBP sports 8GB of RAM by default.

There are of course upgrade options, but it looks like Apple is upping the amount of memory in the stock models of the upcoming refreshed MacBook Pro laptops. We should see the 15-inch MacBook Pro with 16GB of RAM by default, which should open the doors to upgrade it to 32GB of RAM. This will be nice for video editors on-the-go, and other uses where 32GB of RAM is actually used to its full potential.

CPU options should be beefed up, with the current 15-inch MBPs including a 2GHz or 2.3GHz Core i7 processor. The upgrades on these include 2.2GHz, 2.5GHz and 2.8GHz options, with the 2.2GHz model rocking Intel Iris Pro graphics. The two other models feature NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M GPUs with 2GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM. The new models with 16GB of RAM by default should come with a 2.8Ghz Core i7 processor, and the GT 750M GPU. We should expect the refreshed MacBook Pros to come in at the same $2599 price, but I'm sure we're going to see it clock up closer to $3000, especially when we're talking 16GB or 32GB of RAM.

A few months ago, Sony sold its "VAIO" series notebooks name and dedicated operations to a Japan-based private investment company called Japan Industrial Partners. The investment group re-launched it as a standalone branch with no less than 240 employees.

Sony was facing losses not just in Japan, but also worldwide. The company was not able to keep up with smartphone and tablet business. Eventually, the multinational brand had to lay off many employees and sell away many of its businesses.

Initially, it was rumoured that Lenovo would be taking over Sony VAIO. Later, the electronics giant sold out its TV business and laid off 5,000 employees during February 2014. In May 2014, Sony VAIO's fate was set, as the company sold it to the investment firm and completed the sale was completed by July 2014. Looking at the time frame, it seems that the investment group didn't want to waste time to cash in on VAIO's brand presence among the consumers. The group also is using the same brand name, though only time will tell if the VAIO brand will maintain or grow its reputation in Japan.

Computex 2014 - The Clevo notebooks are something I just have to see when I'm at Computex, with this year being no different. There were a few great notebooks on display, but the standout was definitely the P377SM-A.

With a name that will make it hard for people to remember it, or notice it, the Clevo P377SM-A is a powerhouse of a notebook. Clevo has crammed in an Intel Core i7 Extreme processor into the 17.3-inch notebook, a display that features a resolution of 1920x1080. The GPUs (yes, plural) in the notebook packs quite the punch. There's an option of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 880M in SLI, or AMD's Radeon R9 M290X in CrossFire.

For storage, we have two HDDs, or two SSDs, Creative's Sound Blaster X-Fi MB 3, and a gaming keyboard. It's a beauty in person.

Computex 2014 - GIGABYTE has come out swinging at Computex this year, unveiling its new super powerful, but also very light 13-inch gaming notebook, the AORUS X3.

GIGABYTE has crammed in quite an array of technology into its AORUS X3 notebook - with it coming in two models, the X3 which is a 13.3-inch model, and the slightly bigger X3 Plus which comes in at 13.9 inches. The X3's 13.3-inch display has a resolution of 2560x1440, but you can opt the X3 Plus with either the 2560x1440 panel, or go one better with the QHD+ 3200x1800 display.

When it comes to pushing those pixels in games, you need a serious GPU, right? Well, GIGABYTE has used the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M with 6GB of RAM, something that should ensure you keep those FPS numbers up high. There's two 512GB Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF) M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 for your storage needs, while 16GB of DDR3L 1600MHz RAM will keep everything running smooth.