Laptops - Page 87

Hot on the heels of the new HP ION based netbook, we see VIA is launching what it is calling a "NetNote". Besides the ridiculous sounding name, this new product category is noteworthy for the fact that it is capable of playing back 1080p HD video.

This is the same high-end resolution that the NVIDIA ION platform is shooting for. Now while this is very impressive, what I did not see in the press release was any indication that the associated netbooks were able to display this on its tiny little 10.1 - 12-inch displays. If they cannot playback 1080p natively in the display, it does reduce the impact of having this feature available in the first place. They might manage 720p in a 10-incher, but I doubt 1080p is going to happen. I would think that if this was the case, we would see it bandied about in the text of the PR. Instead we only see VIA working hard to create a new category in the mobile world exactly where we do not need a new category.

VIA is getting this performance from its VX855 media processor combined with its Chrome9 HCM IGP. The company is also dropping in an HDMI port to turn your NetNote(Book) into a mobile HD media center.

Still it is nice to see competition in the world of the Ultra-Portable. As it stands, while netbooks may look a little different on the outside, internally they are pretty much the same. This makes for a very boring market segment.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery they say. Well if that is true then the new Envy from HP is very flattering to Apple. When I first saw the leaked imaged of the new Book from HP I thought it was a mockup with the Apple logo removed.

But that was only with a glance; once I looked it was obvious it was not a Mac. Still, it is close in the front image. After that first impression I started reading a little more about the Envy.

It was then that I realized that this new book is using a name from the Voodoo line without actually being a Voodoo product. This is an interesting development. Right now all of the Boutique PC makers are having a rough time as custom built PCs and system are a luxury commodity that many just simply do not see as necessary. This move could be a way for HP to convey a sense of quality and performance but at a lower price.

The HP Envy should be out in both 13 and 15 Inch flavors but no official specs have been released. I am curious to see what the Envy 13 and 15 do have under the hood so that we will know if HP took more than the name from Voodoo.

Remember the Dual Screen Laptop we told you about? Well there is some additional information out about it now.

It is looking like the specifications are firming up (although they could change). The first models out should be either 16 or 17 -inches. They will have a 2.8 or 2.53GHZ Core 2 Duo (T9600 or T8700, up to 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM, an Intel P45M chipset and an nVidia 9800M with 512MB dedicated memory.

These specifications are interesting. I would have thougt they would be planning for a mobile quad core and a better GPU but as they say all of the specifications are subject to change.

Pricing and availability is still up in the air but we do know that the first models will be sold directly from gScreen or on Amazon. They hope to have these available in Best Buy within one year from launch. Personally I cannot wait to try one of these out. I tend to always need more and more screen real estate as I work.

There should be additioanl images and a video of the gScreen in action soon.

After we heard the big news on Tegra being dropped into the new Zune HD we had a chance to talk to nVidia about this new System on Chip product.

At the time nVidia was unusually willing to talk about future generations of Tegra but was very tight lipped about what Tegra might be used in.

We hear tiny rumors of Smart Books, Smart Phones, and MIDs in general but nothing concrete or detailed.

Well now we hear that Tegra could be making its way into products from both Lenovo and Acer. But that is not the only interesting news, it seems that unlike many ARM based products these will not be running Embedded XP or Android but Google's Chrome OS. There is no indication on if these will be called netbooks or if they will be the new "Smart Books" that have been talked about.

This development will be fun to watch on many levels. With Tegra it will show if the tiny system can indeed keep up in the computing world. Meanwhile Chrome OS will need to show that it can compete in the world of Windows and OSX.

We will be watching this development very carefully to see if the rumors are true and how they play out if they are.

Asus' Eee (EEE??) PC line up has been aired. Someone has gotten a hold of a few slides from what looks like an inside product/roadmap briefing and they have put them up on the internet. This means that as of right now just about everyone has read them.

So what is new in the Eee line up? Well the first thing that jumps out is the switch from XP Home to Windows 7. This does not mean that the Eee PC is now a power house. It just means that MS is pushing the new OS and it is slimed down enough to work on the new netbooks (I have it installed on an MSI Wind U100).

Next up is the inclusion of nVidia ION chipsets. This comes as a surprise; there was much talk at Computex from Asus that they would not be moving to ION. However it is interesting to note that ASRock (still controlled partially by Asus) has a couple of ION offerings. This may have been a case of Asus using ASRock to test the waters and once they saw they were ok, jumping in themselves.

Last on the list is the inclusion of a few touch/multi-touch models. This is a very cool option and one I cannot wait to get put into play.

If you have never heard of the company gScreen you are not alone. I had never heard of them either before this morning. But they are going to be in my head for a long time to come.

gScreen is coming out with a dual screen laptop. This is not like Lenovo's where they tacked on a small 10-inch screen to one side. No this is a full dual screen notebook.

And they did not scrimp on power either. According to the specifications this book 15.4-inch book will have some healthy power under the hood.

The first model listed is the gScreen SpaceBook 2009. It should have a 2.26 C2D, 4GB DD2, 320GB 7200 RPM HDD either an nVidia 9800M GT (512MB dedicated memory) or an nVidia Quadro FX 1700M again with 512MB memory.

The dual screen mechanism is designed so that if you do not need both screens it can slide out of the way. gScreen also has 16, 17 and 13-inch models planned for the future.

gScreen hopes to have these out to the hungry public by December of 2009.

Personally I am hoping that Santa can arrange a 17-inch version of one of these with a GTX280M, Core i7 Mobile, 6GB DDR3, and a couple of 500GB SSDs under the hood for Christmas.

Important news for any Lenovo ThinkPad owners as Lenovo announces another recall on their batteries.

This is not the first time Lenovo has had to recall its batteries but this one is not about anything overly dangerous. These batteries are merely defective and cause mundane things like "irreparable damage" errors popping up.

Other indications are your battery life becoming very short. a message saying that the battery cannot be charged. Lenovo has announced that they will replace the batteries for free and have even posted a tool to help you determine if you have a bad battery.

The affected models are R60, R61, T60, T61, X60, and the X61,

I have been reading an interesting rumor about the Netbook market. It says that Asus and Acer are delaying netbook launches until 2010. The netbooks in question are Acer's upcoming Dual boot (XP and Android) offering and Asus' Android based model.

One of the reasons, the rumor goes on to say, is that Intel delayed Pinetrail until next year. The Acer delay is also being linked to supposed research showing a dual boot netbook is not something that will not work in the market just yet (I could have told you that). I would have thought that lesson would have been learned after the initial Linux based launches.

I wanted to know if there was any credit to the rumor so I contacted someone I know at Asus and asked directly. The response was interesting but not truly conclusive.

"I can say that at this time that the only model we have talked about is the 11-inch. When we have new models to talk about -- and we will -- we'll make a formal announcement."

To me this would indicate that no new models are planned beyond the mentioned 11-inch model in fact I was told that the launch plans have not changed at all. I do not see a true delay if they are not ready for launch as designed. After all if part of the design includes a CPU with an IGP there is no way to launch without that. If the provider of that part does not have them ready it is not a conscious delay. The rumors that are going around would seem to indicate that Asus is not launching them and making the conscious decision to wait, not that they are being forced to wait due to a lack of parts.

Of course the root of this is whether or not Intel is actually delaying the Pinetrail. This has also been plastered around the internet but as far as I can tell there has never been a confirmation from Intel. I took the opurtunity to ask Intel and was told that Pinetrail is still on track for a late 2009 launch.

As for CULVs well Asus feels that while these are new products they are not the same as when the netbook launched. They do not anticipate quite the same buzz or excitement that netbooks generated. They are planning to launch a few CULV based laptops and should be annoucing them soon.

So we have another rumor that does not stand up to the existing facts. Intel says there is no delay planned for Pinetrail, and Asus is saying they do not have any plans to change launch schedules.

As of this writing Acer has not replied to my questions.

Good grief, it seems that everyone has a netbook or a "net" system now. Phone companies are giving them away, stores are marking them and now even monitor manufacturer Viewsonic has one. The funny thing is that they are all about the same in terms of hardware so one is just about as good as another.

The Viewsonic offering is called the VNB101 and has the typical Intel Atom N280, 1GB DDR2 RAM, and the standard 160GB HDD. Nothing new to see here; except perhaps the space for a 3G SIM and a Lithium-Polymer Battery. It does look a little like an Asus with some added color but then again most netbooks look alike anyway.

But here is the rub, as with anything inexpensive to build and sell, there is a saturation point that kills the market. I think we have just about hit that point. Furthermore the marketing for the netbook/nettop is terrible. They are being marketed as inexpensive laptops. That is something they are not; just ask anyone that has tried to use to replace a standard one and you will see.

Of course I am waiting for someone like Wicked, or Vivid to make one, now that would be something interesting.

Last week we told you that Microsoft received a call from Apple asking to remove the "laptop Hunters" ads. At the time we were told that MS thought it was a joke and laughed it off.

The story said that Apple claimed that since they had reduced the price of the Mac Books by $100 then the ad was no longer accurate. Now this in itself is funny as there is very little about Apple ads that are accurate. It would be interesting to see someone ask for the ads claiming that Macs do not crash, and have no security problems to be removed. But that is for another story.

What is interesting is that some lawyers (perhaps looking for s bit of the spotlight) say that Apple might have a case. Now I am not sure what part of the world they are from but the ads clearly say what they are comparing. So if the MS ad says you can get a better 17-inch laptop for X dollars less than a Mac or for under a certain dollar ammount; and someone finds one then the ad is accurate.

Sorry Apple, it is a nice try (and I am sure they will still try) but the laptop hunters ads just do not constitute false or misleading advertising.