Todays & Tomorrows Technology

As well as the somewhat VAIO-esque Mini 5101 netbook they announced this morning, HP have also got a new ProBook full-sized notebook for you to consider. The HP ProBook 4310s has a 13.3-inch display and the same styling as the rest of the S-series the company announced back in April; there’s also optional Gobi WWAN mobile broadband, DDR3 memory and a full-sized keyboard.
Under the hood, there’s a choice of Intel Celeron CPUs up to 1.9GHz, or Core 2 Duo CPUs up to 2.8GHz. RAM is up to 8GB, while storage is either up to 500GB of 5,400rpm HDD or 500GB of 7,200rpm HDD; you also get a choice of DVD burner or Blu-ray optical drives.

In addition to the optional WWAN there’s WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and gigabit ethernet, and you can also specify a standard modem if you’re feeling retro. Ports include three USB 2.0, HDMI, audio in/out, an ExpressCard 34 slot and an SD/MMC card slot. There’s a 2-megapixel webcam and microphone array.

Graphics are courtesy of either Intel’s GMA 4500MHD chipset or ATI’s Mobility Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB of its own memory. Other options include a fingerprint reader and a choice of XP, Vista or Linux OS. The HP ProBook 4310s is expected to arrive on July 20th, priced from $799.

Dell’s upcoming 12-inch budget notebook, the Vostro 1220, has leaked, and it scores a few points for being neither CULV nor Atom based. Instead, the Vostro 1220 gets an Intel Core 2 Duo T6750 processor, up to 4GB of RAM and a 320GB hard-drive, plus a DVD burner.

There’s also an ExpressCard slot, SD card reader and biometric fingerprint security. Ports seemingly include three USB 2.0, ethernet, a modem, VGA and audio in/out, and there’s a row of handy touch-sensitive media control buttons above the keyboard.

We’re not sure of pricing or availability for the Dell Vostro 1220, but it’s likely to be on the cheap end of the scale. It could very well take the place of the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, the demise of which has been rumored since February.

Sony have announced a new VAIO laptop, the NW-series, packing a 15.5-inch WXGA XBRITE display, 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 processor and an optional Blu-ray drive. The Sony VAIO NW is also being priced competitively: the standard model is $800, while adding Blu-ray to that is just $80 more.
Other specifications include an optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card, standard webcam and chiclet keyboard. Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, SD and Memory Stick card slots, and HDMI; there’s also a dedicated “display off” button to switch off the VAIO’s screen when using an external monitor, and an instant-on mode for speedy internet access without booting into Windows Vista.

WiFi a/b/g/n, a 400GB hard-drive and up to 4GB of DDR2 memory are on offer, while battery life ranges from a paltry 1.5hrs with the standard pack and up to 5.5hrs with the extra-chunky pack. The NW-series will be available in white, grey and brown, complete with a strangely textured lid finish, chiclet keyboard and translucent trackpad. It’ll go on sale this month.

The first image and set of rumored specs for the ThinkPad T400s was leaked a few days ago. While Lenovo is still mum about the release date, price or specs come these two videos of the T400s. The first video demonstrates just how well built and tough this thing is. No worries, I won’t spoil the ending for you – just make sure to click on over to watch it get run over by a 26,000 pound DOW truck. The second video shows the T400s getting physically abused by the “tornado chasing” team members. It’s a crime treating such a great laptop this way!

According to the rumor mill, this new model is only 0.83-inches thick, bringing down the size considerably from the 1.12-inch thick original T400 model. It comes with a 2.4GHz or 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an integrated 4500MHD graphics processor, 2GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. The display is 14.1-inch LED-backlit featuring a 1,440 x 900 resolution.

Expect the T400s to come preloaded with Windows Vista Business, has a DisplayPort, eSATA port, Ethernet, a 5-in-1-card reader, Bluetooth, a 3G radio and a fingerprint scanner. Pricing information or a release date is forthcoming.

If you’ve been looking for a gaming notebook that captures the power of a desktop computer, you might just be in luck. CyberPower just announced their Xplorer X7-Xtreme S1 gaming laptop and this thing packs a punch.

Featuring an Intel Core i7 processor, a 17-inch LCD display with a 1,920 x 1,200 resolution and up to 6GB of DDR3 Tri Channel Memory, this is no ordinary laptop model, that’s for certain.

Other features include an Intel X58 chipset, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M video card and a 320GB hard drive. This laptop comes with a Blu-ray player, Windows Vista Home Premium and a 3.1-megapixel webcam to boot. However, all of these specs can be fully customized, if you wish. The base price for the CyberPower Xplorer X7-Xtreme S1 is $2,335.

In-the-wild photos of Dell’s upcoming Latitude Z600 notebook have emerged, and while there are no solid specifications known at present, it’s looking to be an interesting portable. The Z600 is tipped as having a 15-inch display, while the logos suggest Intel’s Centrino platform serves up the underlying grunt.

There’s also a fingerprint scanner, webcam and an oddly angled rear section that holds the ethernet port. Ports include USB 2.0 and DisplayPort; we’d expect there to be WiFi and Bluetooth inside, too.

No news on when we might see an official reveal from Dell for the Latitude Z600, but with units in the wild it seems only a matter of time until the spec sheet is confirmed. More photos of the notebook in the gallery below.

MacBook Pro confusion this weekend, as some owners of the new unibody 13- and 15-inch notebooks are reporting that their machines are apparently limited to 1.5Gb/s SATA connections rather than the faster 3.0Gb/s SATA-II. Full details are unclear, but it seems that Apple have either switched to SATA hardware or used firmware for the newest MacBook Pros that limits hard-drive connections to the slower speed.

The move has the most impact on those who upgraded to the SSD option in their new MacBook Pro. Regular hard-drives, which the notebooks are both fitted with as standard, will prove unaffected, as the read/write speeds of the drive are slower than SATA. However SSDs, which can manage higher sustained read rates, are clocking in with lower speeds compared to previous-generation MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

Any impact on real-world performance, however, is unknown. Transferring files to external drives would be limited by the USB/Firewire connection rather than the choice of SATA or SATA-II. It’s possible that a new firmware update could “unlock” the faster connectivity, but so far Apple have not publicly commented.

We’re still getting to grips with what the new Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch offers, but if you’re less interested in benchmarks and more in seeing the notebook’s parts spread across a bench, iFixi have the breakdown for you. They’ve dismantled Apple’s newly-promoted notebook, to highlight any differences between it and the last-gen unibody version.


The biggest difference, of course, is the non-user-replaceable battery, and the good news is that while it’s certainly less accessible than in the old design, getting access to it isn’t exactly a terrible chore. The 10.95V 60Wh Li-Poly pack - rated for up to 7hrs use - can be disconnected by pulling off a wire and removing two screws.

Ironically, Apple describe the hard-drive as “user-replaceable”, but it sounds like it’s actually trickier to do that than it would be switch out the battery (Apple will charge $129 for the new battery and the labor involved in changing it). Getting to the hard-drive takes a large number of screws; happily the RAM is more easily addressed.

Apple’s new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro notebooks were a surprise for their WWDC 2009 keynote, not least because most people were only expecting the iPhone 3G S. Still, we won’t turn our noses up at new unibody machines with boosted specifications, and so when Apple invited us to check out their new MacBook Pros we gladly accepted. Check out our hands-on first impressions after the cut.


You could say that the two new MacBook Pro machines are more of the same. They each keep the unibody casings of their predecessors, making them thin and light, but they now use non-user-serviceable batteries as in the MacBook Air and the 17-inch MacBook Pro. Apple say this allows them to squeeze high-capacity Li-Poly cells in there, boosting runtime to up to 7hrs; we won’t know whether that pans out until we’ve spent more time with our review units.

Acer are reportedly considering phasing out their 11.6-inch Aspire One netbook, in favor of a new model in their Timeline range with the same screen size. The news, which comes from industry sources in Taiwan, suggests that the new 11.6-inch Acer Timeline will launch in June, with the netbook either discontinued or discounted to differentiate between the two models.

Lower than expected sales of the 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One have led the company to reduce orders with OEM manufacturer Quanta. One possible reason for the netbook’s poor result is the choice of Intel’s Atom Z520 processor, a low-power chip which has proved unable to keep up with the 720p-capable display credentials of the AO751.

Quanta are tipped as the manufacturer of the new 11.6-inch Timeline, though no specifications have been revealed for the ultraportable. The existing Timeline range begins at $598, and consists of 13.3-inch, 14-inch and 15.6-inch models.

HP have announced their latest mainstream notebook, the HP dv6z Artist Edition, and as you can see it’s not exactly adopted a retiring color scheme. As the name might suggest, HP pack the dv6z with media creation software, including Magix Music Maker 14, Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, Painter Sketch Pad and VideoStudio X2, all running on one of a choice of AMD Turion processors.

The display is either 15.6 or 16-inches, depending on model, and there are ATI discrete graphics cards to be had too. The optical drive is a DVD burner as standard, but a Blu-ray drive is optional. Standard battery is a 12-cell pack, though HP haven’t revealed what sort of runtime can be expected.

Pricing for the HP dv6z Artist Edition starts at $949.99 when it goes on sale on Wednesday June 10th. That gets you the notebook plus a custom-sleeve, mouse and universal notebook stand. Alternatively, there’s a slightly more sober version, the HP dv6t, which drops the graphics and art software bundle plus shaves the price down to $649.

Apple has updated its MacBook Pro range, announcing a new 15-inch MBP with a built-in battery that is apparently good for up to 7hrs of runtime. It also drops the ExpressCard slot of the previous model and replaces it with a far more user-friendly SD card slot. Meanwhile the 17-inch MacBook Pro gets a price cut to $2,499, while the 13-inch MacBook now graduates to the Pro line with integrated 7hr battery among other things. Full details after the cut, plus a big price-cut for the MacBook Air.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,699 with a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, a 250GB hard-drive, SD card slot and 7hr non-user-accessible battery. Then there’s a $1,999 model with 2.66Ghz processor, combination GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT graphics, and a 320GB hard-drive. Finally, the $2,299 model boosts that to a 2.8GHz processor and 500GB hard-drive. The battery is apparently good for around 1,000 recharge cycles. All three notebooks are shipping today.
As for the unibody 13-inch MacBook Pro, that comes in two standard configurations. $1,199 gets you the 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics, a 160GB hard-drive and SD card slot (there’s no ExpressCard slot). $1,499 steps that up to a 2.53GHz processor, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive. Options include up to 8GB of RAM and up to 500GB hard-drive; standard are a backlit keyboard and FireWire 800 port. It’ll be available today.
Finally, the MacBook Air gets a new price point with significant discounts. $1,499 gets the 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo with 2GB of DDR3 RAM, GeForce 9400M graphics and a 120GB hard-drive, while $1,799 gets the 2.13GHz processor and the 128GB SSD. The SSD model is, in fact, $700 cheaper than it was previously.

After rumors back in April that HP were planning to launch a 3D laptop courtesy of NVIDIA’s GeForce 3D technology, now comes word that Acer are planning their own 3D rival. According to Campbell Kan, VP of Acer’s mobile computing business unit, the 15.6-inch Aspire 3D laptop will arrive at the end of October 2009, and require stereoscopic glasses in order for the 3D effect to be viewed.

Initial uses for the visual technology will include 3D movies and gaming, and Acer will preinstall software that, it claims, is capable of taking 2D footage and converting it into 3D. The hardware has been jointly developed with Wistron, though beyond that Acer have given no suggestion as to whether it will use NVIDIA’s system. However it’s worth noting that Wistron were the OEM tipped to supply HP’s 3D laptop.

Since the machine will run Windows 7, Acer are declining to comment further on any more details until the OS has been released. However they did confirm that they are working on a version which does not require 3D glasses; that, though has “quite a few technological obstacles to overcome” says Kan.