First Fuel Cell Finalised
At TrustedReviews they have the scoop on what is the first Fuel Cell Battery to be commercially finalised. Antig, a company that most of us have never heard of, has beaten bigger companies like Toshiba to the punch, and expects their product to be commercially available later this year.
Described as ‘CD-ROM size’, the methanol powered battery is designed to slide into a compatible notebook’s media bay slot. Frustratingly, the company did not go into details regarding what operation time it expected to see from the design. Primarily this looks to be because the companies hope to sell the format worldwide, leaving third parties to vary the quantity of methanol injected therefore creating a price range.
Antig was more forthcoming about its second project, however, a 45W producing methanol fuelled portable power system. Like a power lead, it would plug into the port on the back of a laptop and promises to keep it operational for up to eight hours. At 1.7Kg it is a little hefty for a device purely designed to make your life more mobile, but we await more developments with interest.
Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV600
Digital Tech News takes a look at the features of the Qosmio G35-AV600, an entertainment notebook.
The Qosmio G35-AV600 Digital Entertainment ‘4-in-1′ Audio-Video notebook includes the world’s first 1-bit digital amplifier in a notebook PC, usually found in high-end audio systems, Dolby Home Theater, 2- or 5.1-channel speaker systems, Bass Reflex Speaker technology from harman/kardon, Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology built around the Intel Core Duo processor.
The 17-inch diagonal widescreen display has two-lamp Ultimate TruBrite™ technology that rivals the brightness of an LCD TV, 1440 x 900 resolution, nVidia GeForce Go 7300 high-performance graphics card, 256MB of VRAM and the QosmioEngine, Toshiba’s proprietary software that enhances digital images for crystal-clear images and bright colors. An 80GB 5400 RPM serial ATA hard disk drives for a total of 160GB, 1024MB DDR2 memory, and a fixed DVD SuperMulti Double Layer optical drive compatible with current DVD formats.
The G35-AV600 will currently set you back around $2399 USD, but with desktop replacement specifications, it is to be expected.
Fujitsu LifeBook P7120 Review
Laptop Magazine reviews the P7120, and I have to say, as much as they are not impressed with a variety of things with the P7120, I can see how it earned itself a three and a half out of five: battery life. With one battery the machine lasts an amazing six and a half hours, and if you replace the optical drive with another battery, you can expect up to thirteen hours of battery life. That is almost two whole business days before needing to charge up again.
For those who spend more time on the road than in their offices, there’s the Fujitsu LifeBook P7120. This 3.2-pound ultraportable, decked out in a satin black finish (with a metallic gray base), weighs a little over three pounds yet packs in all of the features a road warrior could want. With a TPM chip and fingerprint sensor built in, it’s a good business-minded alternative to Sony’s 2.8-pound VGN-TX650P that costs $50 less.
In order to offer such a compact design, the P7120 features a small, 10.6-inch widescreen display. It’s fine for taking notes in Word and watching DVDs up close using the built-in optical drive, but its glossy coating has a tendency to reflect ambient light, which can be particularly annoying when working with an application like Word.
Panasonic ToughBook CF-W4 Review
Trusted Reviews takes a look at the ToughBook CF-W4 from Panasonic, and it earns itself an 8 out of 10 in their review scale.
If the ToughBook CF-29 is the Land Rover Defender of rugged notebooks, then the CF-W4 would have to be the Ferrari F430. The CF-W4 is s semi-rugged notebook, so it’s not as big, heavy and tough as its big brother. Instead it’s far thinner, lighter and sleeker, just like an F430. Of course just like the F430, the CF-W4 can’t take as many knocks as its more robust sibling, but that’s not to say that it can’t withstand the trials of life as a notebook computer.
Being a semi-rugged notebook, the CF-W4 can’t survive a drop of one metre like the CF-29 and CF-18. However, Panasonic will guarantee that it can withstand a drop of 30cm, which is more than you’ll get with most other notebooks. The great thing is that Panasonic hasn’t had to make the CF-W4 any larger or heavier to make it that little bit more robust. The CF-W4 can also withstand up to 100kg of pressure - so you could stack things on top of it, or use it as a seat cushion if you really wanted to.
While I like some of the features of the notebook, I am not really impressed with how they integrated the DVD/cd-rw combo drive, as a hatch that opens upwards. This worries me a bit on the durability of the drive, but I guess something like that will only become apparent later on in the machines life.
Apple to Phase Out the 15″ PowerBook
It looks like The Unofficial Apple Weblog has received a tip about Apple’s move to slowly phase out the 15″ PowerBook.
The tipster, whom we’ll call Bob for anonymity’s sake, manages an Apple B2B program for a U.S. institute. Recently, Bob noticed that, as you see in our screenshot, the 15″ PowerBook has disappeared from their program’s offerings. After Bob verified this disappearance with his Apple sales rep, the rep also (reportedly) explained that it would slowly begin disappearing from other catalogs as well.
No one knows yet if it is true, but if it does happen, many people will probably not be surprised, though maybe a little upset, as some applications like Adobe’s Creative Suite will not be Intel-ready until atleast 2007.
Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi Review
Pocket-Lint reviewed the Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi and it almost got a perfect rating with a nine out of a possible ten. The only con’s they list is its weight and price.
The TravelMate is powered by the Intel Core Duo T2500 version, which has a clock speed of 2GHz and is the fastest chip on offer. Paired with the new 945 chipset, you’ll find an improved 667MHz Front Side Bus, so improvements over the old Pentium M are immediately noticeable. Even when running simply applications, this notebook moves. Open multiple applications and you won’t see any serious drop in performance. True, at this price you get 2048MB DDR2, which keeps things ticking over in trim fashion but as an example of what can be achieved using dual-core, Acer has the right idea.
If you think that previous mobile chips have seen a steady but non-spectacular improvement over the last 3 years, dual-core is a real leap, as we found this machine handling tasks almost 50% more effectively than a Pentium M. so, you’ll be able to carry on working while running menial but necessary checks, like anti-virus software, without seeing a slow down, which is the real benefit of having two chips in your notebook.
ChemBook 2260 Review
The ChemBook 2260 was recently reviewed by Laptop Magazine, and they gave it a three and a half out of five, which puts it pretty decently above average for those looking for a laptop.
For frequent travelers who require a notebook that’s compact and lightweight, but doesn’t skimp on performance, Chem USA delivers a capable thin-and-light machine that won’t break the bank.
Slightly larger than a sheet of 8.5 x 11-inch paper, and one inch tall, the ChemBook 2260 isn’t much of a looker, but it has a slim and unassuming profile. The case’s designers crammed in as many ports as they could within the small confines, including a Type II PC Card slot and a MMC/SD/Memory Stick combo slot. The battery sticks out in the rear and raises the notebook slightly in the back; it weighs about a pound. The power brick is small and light, but it can get hot during regular use.
While I think the specifications on the machine are okay, I don’t see this as a laptop that I would choose, as there are many better ones out there.
Acer Aspire 9504WSMi Review
Trusted Reviews took a look at the Acer Aspire 9504WSMi and gave it a final rating of 8 out of a possible 10.
To aspire, means to strive towards or to look up to, so it’s quite appropriate that the 9504WSMi sits atop Acer’s range of Aspire notebooks. As a flagship product with a powerful specification, the 9504 is something of a kitchen sink notebook, and can perform a large number of roles. It’s undoubtedly a desktop replacement notebook aimed at entertainment with some business focused tools thrown in as well. You could argue that it lacks focus, but we all like to mix business and pleasure sometimes.
Acer once again offers superb value with a fully fledged entertainment notebook that will be perfect for the student or home office, though you’ll need to accustom yourself to the layout of the keyboard if you want to have a happy relationship with your notebook.
One of the features that I really like about this notebook is the remote that it comes with to control DVD playback and whatnot, very cool for a notebook, and it is stored in a PC Slot, making it easy to travel with.
Samsung X11 Core Duo
The X11 has been highly praised as a really decent machine to have, and now it comes with a Core Duo processor which they say will give an increase of 30% in “speed” compared to the non-Core Duo version.
We still get a 14.1″ screen, 2×2W SRS WOW TruSurround speakers, an nVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 with 512MB of RAM, an 80GB SATA HDD, a/b/g Wireless for 1500 EUR (in Korea).
Source: Akihabara News
Notebook Gets 19in LCD, SLI 7800 Go
I thought that the 17 inch screens on some laptops were huge, and the fact that they had dedicated GeForce 6800 Go video cards made them into a pretty decent gaming computer, but now companies are going to blow those old top of the line specifications away with 19 inch screens and SLI (2x) GeForce 7800 Go video cards, making it more powerful than most consumer PC’s that people have in their households currently.
Trusted Reviews with the details:
Having successfully incorporated the nVidia GeForce Go 7800 into one of its machines way back in October, the jump isn’t a surprise but the stand out nature of the surrounding system certainly is. Backing up the M590K’s headlining Go 7800 cards (each equipped with 256MB of DDR3 VRAM) is a stunning 19in widescreen LCD. I could be churlish and ask for the res to go higher than the already superb native 1680 x 1050, but I’m in fantasy land already here.
2GB of DDR RAM and a 100GB 7,200RPM hard drive are also highly noteworthy cast members, as is the AMD Turion 64 MT-40 processor and the (almost compulsory) ensemble of a hybrid TV Tuner, DVD rewriter, WiFi, five USB2.0 ports, FireWire, HDTV port, Bluetooth, 4-In-1 card reader, 10/1000 Ethernet, ad infinitum…
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