Posts Tagged ‘Netbooks’
Gaming Notebook Has Touch, Full HD, Core i7
The latest touch-enabled gaming laptop doesn’t look too shabby.
IBUYPOWER sent over a press release Tuesday afternoon announcing its Battalion Touch CZ-11, a new multi-touch gaming notebook that houses Intel’s Core i7 processor and AMD’s 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics. The “game-ready” configuration pricetag isn’t all that bad either–$1,200–however gamers can configure the laptop to their specific needs and budgets for as low as $1100.
“Multi touch is one of the fastest growing PC gaming interfaces,” said Darren Su, Executive Vice President of iBUYPOWER. “Pairing those capabilities with a Core i7 processor, high definition LCD and graphics card allows the CZ-11 to meet the mobile gaming needs of almost any user.”
This portable rig provides a 15.6-inch, Full HD, multi-touch capable LCD with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080. Also thrown into the mix is Windows 7 Home Premium, a fingerprint reader, 4GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 memory, a 500GB hard drive, and an optional 2X Blu-ray drive.
Gamers wanting to max out this laptop can option for the meatier Intel Core i7-820QM processor, 8GB of DDR3, and a 512GB Corsair Performance Series P512 MLC SSD. Ultimately gamers can spend well over $4300 on the laptop, and that includes Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Edition and popular PC games such as Mass Effect 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Modern Warfare 2, and Bioshock 2 tacked onto the pricetag.
HP Launches New Netbook Mini210
Hewlett-Packard India, has expanded its Mini notebook portfolio (netbooks) with the launch of HP Mini210.
With the broad HP Mini portfolio, including the previously introduced Mini 110 and HP Mini by Tord Boontje, customers have a choice of sleek companion PCs that let them stay connected from anywhere. The HP Mini by Studio Tord Boontje is crafted with environmentally friendly materials.
“The new HP Mini210 range has been conceptualised after extensive research to offer the best Digital experience and a variety of options to consumers. With a full breadth of color and feature options, we are inspiring, engaging and equipping the digital generation with unexpected fun and endless possibilities,” said Rajiev Grover, Director Mobility Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP India. “In todays market its about development of a continuum of devices that meet consumers’ unique needs. We are helping consumers discover the world of possibilities by infusing innovation, technology and design into our new range of HP Mini notebooks,” added Grover.
The HP Mini210 boasts of the latest Atom 450 with advanced features and power packed applications for all users’ computing needs including chicklet keyboard, touchpad with multi gesture support, stereo speakers, wireless LAN, integrated webcam, Bluetooth, Microsoft Windows 7 OS and battery life of more than 9.5 hours.
Starting at 1.22 kilos (with HDD) and measuring less than 1-inch thin, the HP Mini 210 is available in a colorful choice of stylish Black Crystal, Silver Crystal, Pacific Blue or Sonoma Red HP Imprint finishes.
With a 10.1-inch diagonal standard or optional BrightView Infinity HD LED widescreen display and an island-style keyboard that is 93 percent of a full-size QWERTY keyboard, the 210 also features a built-in WLAN, webcam, microphone, GPS-ready system and optional 3G broadband connectivity.
Users can keep their music in sync with HP QuickSync software. The software synchronizes files created or edited on the road with a home or business PC over a wireless connection when connected to the same network. HP QuickWeb allows users to access the web without booting up the notebook by simply pushing a button. HP Cloud Drive allows users to access their synchronized content including documents, photos and music from the cloud without having to store it on a local drive. With HP MediaStream users can stream multimedia content from one PC to another over the Internet, without requiring data to be downloaded.
In addition to viewing HD content on the Internet, users can experience their own personal multiplex via an optional Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerator, which allows users to enjoy up to 1,080-pixel HD content.
The HP Mini210 costs Rs. 16,000 onwards.
Desktop PCs are Dead What is Next
Over the past few years, technology pundits have been decrying desktop PCs as dead or dying. It’s certainly true that due to the recent bad economy, along with greatly reduced laptop prices, desktop PC sales have dramatically dwindled. As a result the writing is on the wall for the desktop PC that it will soon be nothing more than a fading memory.
This ideology is complete and utter nonsense, and the tech pundits should be ashamed of themselves for being proponents of it.
In many aspects of business, and even consumer usage, the desktop is unnecessary. You don’t need a desktop for email, documents, spreadsheets. Programmers usually don’t need a desktop for their work. Most mundane tasks can be handled with a laptop, a netbook, and even a smartphone in some cases.
But let’s face it — laptops just aren’t as powerful as equivalent desktops. Hard drives are slower. CPUs run hotter, so they can’t run as fast without burning up. Graphics chipsets aren’t as beefy. And internal expansion and upgrade of components is not an option.
Laptops are static systems. You can add some RAM, you can put in a bigger hard drive. But you can’t upgrade the CPU or graphics. You usually can’t put in more than one hard drive. You can’t replace the screen with a bigger one, although you can plug in an excternal one. Portable computers’ main advantage is that they are portable.
The average business worker doesn’t need a desktop. They can perform all of their daily tasks on a laptop. They can plug in a keyboard, mouse and monitor and have a desktop-like environment at their desk, and unplug the laptop when they need to be mobile.
With the exceptions noted above, the business community could dump the desktop and save a ton of money on electricity — the laptop draws much less power than a desktop system. They take up less space, they generate less heat, and they’re easy to repair or replace when needed.
Now consider a graphics design shop. They need high-end desktop systems, either Windows or Mac, driving high end design programs. A typical graphics designer or computer artist needs a lot of RAM, a powerful CPU and a high-end graphics card, possibly even a RAID array for storage to provide improved hard drive speed. And quite often they will need to upgrade these components.