Previews and Reviews

With all the news we bring you about sub-$500 mini-notebooks, sometimes we forget that you can get some of the most powerful systems we review for around the same price, especially on holiday weekends. We felt it was our patriotic duty to inform you, dear reader, of some of the biggest Independence Day laptop deals.

Circuit City has the a 15-inch HP Pavilion dv6833us with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive for a low $699 (after rebate). It includes 802.11a/g/n. Did we mention free shipping?

Newegg also has lots of deals going on, with free shipping on most products. You can get an Acer Aspire AS5520-5281 with an 1.9-GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 for $649. The notebook sports a 15.4-inch screen, 3GB of memory, and a 250GB hard drive.

Those are some of the cheap laptops we know of thus far. Techbargains will be updating their deals over the weekend (check the notebook bargains here). Rumor has it HP is going to have a nice blowout sale starting tomorrow. Perhaps they’re making room on the shelves for new Intel Centrino 2 systems, like the dv5?

First it was just a single mini-notebook. And it was a hit. Then the Asus Eee PC quickly became a line of mini-notebooks, and models with bigger screens, larger keyboards, and faster processors multiplied to combat the onslaught of competitors coming out of the woodwork. Despite some gripes about escalating prices, the Eee PC brand shows no sign of stopping.

That’s why ASUS is rolling out the Eee Box B202 (mini desktop), Eee Stick (Nintendo Wii-like controller), and the mysterious Eee Monitor, which looks like an all-in-one PC. But why stop there? Here’s how we think Eee should be pimped out next. Share your Eee gear ideas in the comment section.

1. The WheelEee
Now that gas prices have surpassed four bucks per gallon, what the world needs is an electric car that will curb our dependence on foreign oil and help the environment bounce back. Like the Eee PC, the WheelEee 900 coupe is powered by a compact AC adapter and can run for up to five hours on a charge. The 1000H cross-over gets a little less mileage, but there’s plenty of room for the kids and all your stuff. Read the rest of this entry »

When memory-manufacturer OCZ announced its new “Core Series” line of low-cost, high performance solid-state drives, our resident storage nuts went bonkers with the prospect of securing wallet-friendly SSDs. Naturally, our inquisitive minds began to wonder how OCZ could crank out 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB solid-state drives for $169, $259, and $479, respectively, while maintaining read/write speeds of at least 120MBps/80MBps.

So we spoke with OCZ CEO Ryan Petersen about these potentially game-changing SSDs.  In our interview, Peterson confirmed that the drives are made Multi-Level Cell (MLC) flash,  and that they will be available for purchase July 12th or shortly thereafter.

Because MLC flash memory has a reputation for being less reliable than SLC, we asked OCZ a follow-up question about estimated number of write cycles to failure, and we’re still waiting for an answer beyond the 1.5 million hour MBTF number quoted in their specs. Our interview is below.

How did you manage to get the prices so low on the Core Series?
The biggest barrier to SSD adoption has been price, and we have been exploring ways to bring down the price without sacrifices in performance. With the Core Series SSD drives are able to take advantage of lower cost multi-level cell technology in a multiple channel configuration and when coupled with new proprietary firmware we can maximize the speed while simultaneously lowering the cost. The previous issues with using MLC technology in SSD limited the write speeds, reducing the overall performance to that below current high speed HDDs, with the core series this is no longer an issue.

Does OCZ manufacture its own flash memory chips? If not, who is the supplier?
OCZ, while not a foundry, is able to leverage our existing relationships with partners, in this case Samsung to bin flash ICs for the highest possible write and read speeds.

Read the rest of this entry »

Back at Computex I spotted a wooden mini-notebook made by Amtek called the Elego. Some digging on the FCC Web site yesterday seemed to confirm that the 8.9-inch netbook sporting an Intel Atom processor will be coming stateside. This version of the Elego is bumblebee yellow-and-black. The materials on the site indicate it will also be available in black and white models.

The specs are promising. Measuring 9.2 x 7.0 x 1.0-1.3 inches, the compact Elego weighs only 2.1 pounds. A 1.6-GHz Intel Atom CPU and anywhere from 256MB to 1GB of RAM give the machine its internal power. According to the printed user’s guide, this system will have a 2GB to 4GB SSD or a regular SATA hard drive. It has built-in 802.11b/g wireless connectivity.

As for ports, the Elego includes a headphone, mic, LAN, VGA-out, 4 USBs and a card reader. The screen is 8.9 inches and has a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution. A webcam is centered on top of the display and the materials indicate that it could be either 0.3 or 1.3 megapixels.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday, Verizon Wireless announced that it has partnered with Rhapsody to offer a DRM-free option for downloading music. The new alliance will allow users with the LG Voyager, Dare, and other handsets, to download a track on their phone, and another DRM-free track on their computer using Rhapsody’s software.

Once you’ve purchased a track on your phone, you can open up Rhapsody and download another copy.

Here’s how:

Read the rest of this entry »

We were just digging around the FCC’s website looking for juicy news when we stumbled across the FCC filings for ASUS’s Lamborghini phone, the ASUS ZX1. Could it be coming to the US?

ASUS originally announced the Lamborghini ZX1 at Computex in May, and it claims the phone is “designed by racers, for racers.” Because race car drivers talk while driving, too.

While most of the phone sports a car-like interface with a gauge-based UI system, the underlying OS is Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Since it supports UMTS 850/1900/2100MHz networks, as well as EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 bands, it could potentially serve as a 3.5G phone on AT&T in the United States.

Other notable features include built-in GPS, WLAN 802.11b/g support, and a 3 megapixel camera. Whether or not we’ll see this on store shelves is still up in the air, but I have my doubts that a carrier would pick up a, likely expensive, Lamborghini flavored phone. Even if a carrier doesn’t choose to sell it, the phone may be sold as unlocked so T-Mobile or AT&T subscribers could buy and use it on either GSM network.

Gallery, including internal pics, is below.

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If Eee mania hasn’t set in yet, it’s about to. Earlier this week pictures of the Eee PC 903, 904, and 905 were leaked. Joining these “unofficial” pictures of new Eee PCs are some shots of the Eee Monitor, or what looks to be an Eee PC all-in-one, which was first talked about by the Taiwanese company at Computex 2008.

Our ASUS rep had no specs on the monitor or availability. However, based on the photos, we’re wondering whether this is actually a monitor or a new all-in-one PC or a rip off of the iMac.

To our discerning eyes, the monitor looks to be 19 to 20 inches and has a webcam centered on top of the display. Below the screen are controls for adjusting the brightness and contrast. The right side of the display sports 2 USB ports and a card reader.

In addition to 4 USB ports, the back of the monitor is strangely equipped with two Ethernet ports, three audio ports, one for a mic, and 2 audio-outs. What we don’t see is a VGA or DVI port, making us wonder whether this is meant to be a monitor for an Eee PC or a self-contained all-in-one computer. If it’s meant to serve as a monitor, it must also double as a docking station, because otherwise there’s no reason to have Ethernet and audio ports.

The Denon logo on the bottom right of the display indicates that this potential all-in-one may have a built-in Denon amplifier and speaker system. If it is a standalone system, we suspect its CPU is none other than Intel Atom, but other than that we have no clue what’s inside. The Eee Monitor has been rumored to have a built-in TV tuner and a starting price of $500.

We have all the shots you could dream of below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today, memory-maker OCZ announced the release of a new line of low-cost, high-performance SSDs. Dubbed the OCZ Core series, the drives will be available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities at groundbreakingly low MSRPs of $169, $259, and $479 respectively. OCZ also promises the drives will provide read speeds of 120-143MBs and write speeds of 80-93MBs, along with a seek time of 0.35ms. (via Engadget)

All of these rates, if accurate, would make the Core drives as fast as or faster than industry-leading drives like the the Samsung SATA II SSD (100MBs Read / 80MBs Write) , the Mtron MSP 7000 series (rated at 120MBs read / 90MBs write), or the Memoright MR25 (120MBs Read / 120 MBs Write). It would even share the read, but not the write speed of the Mtron MSP 7500 (130MBs read / 120MBs write), which is widely considered the fastest SSD on the market today, but is intended for servers and costs well above $1,000 at even the 32GB size.

If the price and performance of the OCZ Core Series live up to expectations, the entire hard drive market is in for some earthshaking changes.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following in the unfounded trend of releasing girlie pink gadgets, Fujitsu unveiled today its ultraportable LifeBook P8010 LE in a rose-colored pink. The specs of the system have changed slightly since we reviewed the P8010 back in April: The lid of this special edition is available in a shiny, high-glossy pink and has a 3G mobile broadband option. We are happy to see that the ultraportable now sports a built-in HSDPA modem, as the lack of one was popular complaint about the original.

Otherwise, the machine still sports a 1.2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo low-voltage processor, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and a built-in optical drive.

Update: According to a Fujitsu rep, the LifeBook P8010 will not be available in North America.

This isn’t the first time Fujitsu’s gone pink. It released its LifeBook P7230 in pink last year. Which leaves me still wondering, do women really want pink gadgets and laptops?

Americans are patiently waiting until July 7 to get their hands on an MSI Wind. But not Germans. German consumer-electronics manufacter Medion is bringing its Akoya Mini E1210, a rebranded and recolored MSI Wind, to Deutschland for €399. Oh, and did we mention those Germans get it this week? The machine sporting almost identical specs to the Wind will be on sale at German ALDI this Wednesday, July 3.

The Akoya Mini has a 10-inch with a 1024 × 600-pixel resolution and looks like the MSI’s identical twin in the shots below. While it might lack the Bluetooth found in the Wind, it is bundled with Corel’s WordPerfect. I have reached out to Medion to see if the Akoya Mini will make a stateside appearance, but it looks like U.S. patriots will be waiting for the Wind over the Independence Day weekend. In the meantime, you can buy this MSI Wind e-mail address on eBay. Hey, it’s free shipping!