Asus EeePC 4G

Overview
Asus EeePC 'Black' 4G Surf Edition: Ultra Portable sub-notebookBy now, everyone and their mom has heard of the Asus EeePC, and if you haven't, now you have. This tiny gem comes in a few flavors and styles, so it's important to note that this review is specific for this model only, which happens to be the Surf 4G edition. It comes loaded with a 900 MHz processor, 512mb of Ram, a 7' widescreen LCD, and tailored operating system provided by Linux (Xandros).
What makes this thing so special is that it is relatively cheap, packs a very small footprint, and decent specs for such a tiny laptop. You would be hard pressed to find a 7' ultra-portable that has a standard (although small) qwerty keyboard, track pad, solid state disk (although not very big) 3 USB ports, and monitor output...for under $400. That's right - small in form, and not too big on price either. That is perhaps the biggest selling point for the unit, other than its coolness factor :)
But, let's get something out of the way right away, this isn't the cheapest solution you could go for portable computers. There are deals out there with laptops with larger screens, bigger hard drives, faster processors, better graphics cards and optical drives to boot; for nary a penny more nowadays. It's the fact that these laptops (often falling into the 14-15' range) is that they are NOT ultra-portables. And it's another note, that the Asus EeePC should be defined more as a glorified PDA than a laptop (out of the box). However, it does support Microsoft Windows XP, and has some following for modding the internal hardware to 'beef up' its power. However, it's still only a mediocre powered performer...but does all that power supplied by other laptops really matter when all you really do is play music, surf the net, or do casual typing - which is exactly what this is marketed as? We'll find out...
On another note of casual typing - this entire review was written on the Asus EeePC, so if you are worried about typing a lot, it can be done :)
Design
Case look and feelThe case for the EeePC is...small. Yes, ok, we know its small but it's interesting to note that it doesn't flex, it has a solid feel to it. Again, thats next to the T42 14.1 notebook its very small. The actual dimensions for the unit are 8.86" x 6.30" x 0.79 at the front, and 1.26 inches at the rear due to the battery.
The lid has a pretty big range for being open, which is nice, and it has very little flex. It also closes nicely and doesn't latch closed but rather kept closed by what seems to be a spring loaded mechanism. At a certain angle, the lid will gently snap shut, and stay that way. And depending on your flavor the case comes in either a matte black or white. Our model is the black model and has a certain mini-vader look to it with its contrasting chrome-like Asus logo on the top.
Sporting connections on the left and right, and opting for a clean front and rear (minus the AC plug-in port), it's inviting to note that this looks just like a normal laptop...only smaller. And I believe the larger siblings could take a few design cues from the Asus. Simplicity is just not simple to pull off anymore, yet the Asus EeePC does it with flare and finesse.
KeyboardSome will complain that the keyboard, even though a full QWERTY layout, is useless. I'm here to debunk that notion, and unless you have horrible finger tactile/dexterity you will get used to it rather quickly.
I actually believe I can type faster on this keyboard now than a regular keyboard because my fingers don't have to stretch as much to hit other keys. Go ahead, and think about it, you only really need to use the tips of your fingers to type (if you type correctly) and moving your tips further away on a larger keyboard means you are typing slower and less efficiently....so just think about that before you knock the keyboard on the Asus. I'm not saying the breathing room and other ergonomic features that larger keyboards present arent appreciated by all means I love them. But the EeePC keyboard does the job, and does it reasonably well.
However, it is important to note, that using the keyboard JUST to type isn't what people always do. The layout plays an important role on how efficient you will be. If you can't relearn some button placement (most notably the right Shift key as shown in the picture)it will be very frustrating. But otherwise, I have no complaints other than in the dark with our black model, it's hard to see the Fn key sets and it tends to get dusty/dirty rather quickly. Other than that, I type away just fine.
Touchpad
The built-in touchpad isn't anything fancy, but is smaller than most are used to. It takes some time to get used to but once you do, you find it does its job alright. I will suggest purchasing or using an external pointing option as most users will find this to have better response and less frustration moments, as sometimes the touchpad is either too sensitive, or not sensitive enough. You can adjust these settings within the touchpad user settings. Also, it features a up-down scroll pad that works relatviely well. Again, sometimes really well, sometimes not very well. It also features a "one button" click pad, but is seperated by a toggle format. Meaning if you press the "left" side of the chrome button, it will engage a left click, wheras the right side engagesa right click. Sometimes the pad is a little hard to press, and gives some frustration. Of all the things I have to complain about it, it would be the touchpad, but it works in a pinch. Otherwise, like I suggested earlier, the simpler (and more comfortable) solution is to plug in a simple external device, in which case, most the problems disappear.
Size & WeightThis is the Miata of sports cars. It's small, and it's shows it. When I pull it out of my messenger pack, the reaction people say is what is that? A portable DVD player? And they are pretty close, as they share almost identical dimensions...8.86" x 6.30" x 0.79. However...the EeePC has no DVD drive. Weight is just an ounce or two over a whopping 2 lbs fully loaded (unless you have lots of heavy peripherals loaded on the USB ports). Seriously, its pretty light but feels as if it has a little heft to it. And considering the alternatives while still packing a full keyboard it's amazing. Throwing this into a backpack or messenger bag is like throwing a standard small hardback book in there. It's a nice change from the 15-17 laptops most users are used to.
Heat, Noise, UpgradingHeatHeat well, despite this unit having a solid state disk drive, and a ULV processor, it does generate some heat. The fan will kick in after a few minutes of working depending of course on ambient temperature. The keypad can get rather warm, and in the users manual it strictly tells you NOT to rest this little thing on your lap as it could cause burns. Now, I think that's a little harsh, but it does get rather warm. You will find most of the heat being generated towards the right hand of the keyboard, and this is to be expected without a larger chassis to disperse amounts of heat more efficiently.
Noise
Press the chrome like power button to turn it on and expect to hear....nothing. Well, almost nothing, depending on how loud your speakers are and how warm it is in the room you will hear nothing. An almost eerie feeling...you will ask yourself if you even pressed the power button. But moments later you will see the power indicator spark to life, and the splash screen come on the LCD.
As noted above, falling into a more demanding workload (streaming music, typing this review, chat client and email running) the computer was being put to its multitasking demands, and the little fan came on in short time. It's not loud by any means, more of a subtle whine than a hum - if you were to be taking notes in class or using it on the plane/train/car no one would be bothered thats for sure.
Upgrading
Well, where to begin? Upgrading the EeePC all depends on which model you have, which version of that model, and where you bought it from it seems. There's a Wiki documentation that collects what model can be upgraded, and how. I'm not going to delve further into the topic other than that, because upgrading the Asus also depends on if you want to void your warranty. However, it really is defined by your countries laws and our model, a 701 4G Surf model has a SOCKETED SO-DIMM slot, meaning that we could (READ: will) update the unit with a larger capacity stick. Other than, first off on users lists are to purchase MMC cards (SD, MicroSD, etc) to help on the storage issue. Even though the EeePC comes with a 4 GB Solid state hard drive, only about 1.32 gigabytes are available for the user to store stuff, the rest is taken up by the operating system. So keep that in mind.
Connectivity & ImagesConnectivity comes in 3 USB 2.0 ports, a MMC card slot, and a standard Ethernet port. Under the hood is a B/G wireless card as well. It has a standard analog RGB monitor output as well.
The Front is nice and clean, as stated before. The lid is firmly shut, and you would think it would be easy to open one handed, but youre wrong. The thing is pretty tight lipped!
The left side has a RJ45 jack, a disabled phone port, a USB 2.0, Vent, Mic-in and audio-out ports.
The right has the MMC card slot, two additional USB 2.0 ports, RGB analog out, and Lock slot.
The rear has only one port and thats your power jack. It also houses the battery.
FeaturesThe Asus packs a decent amount of hardware under the tiny hood. It has a built in B/G wireless card, a 4gb solid state hard disk, 3 USB 2.0 slots, mic-in and headphone port, along with a MMC card reader slot supporting SDHC cards. It also has acceptable speakers flanking the LCD screen. It's important to note that the newer 8G models have a larger 8 GB SSD, and larger battery. Speaking of batteries...
The battery is a 4400 mAh battery and tests ring it nearing 2.25 2.75 hours depending if wireless is enabled, speakers are on, and the LCD brightness. Other models (8G and regular 4G) have a 5200 mAh batter pumping out nearly 3.5 hours. Another nice feature, often overlooked, is the small wall power supply. It's proportionally sized (small!) and about the size of a Mac book power supply, and comes with a very nice cord length nearing 9 feet! It's almost overkill, but I love it. Simply plug in and let it recharge (which by the way, takes about 4 hours to recharge from a complete battery drain with the unit off)
Display & Misc FeaturesThe display, even though only at 7 inches, and only at 800x480, the ppi (points per inch) is almost 133. Considering other small displays, such as a 13.3" Mac book with its resolution at 1280x800, and 113 ppi it doesn't look bad at all. The text is pretty clear, and is plenty bright. The viewing angles aren't horrible from side to side, but the vertical viewing angles leave a little bit to be desired. But at this price point, you can't expect much more than what is presented.
Here are some screen shots showing the menu layout of the easy interface supplied out of the box. You can do a command to enable advanced mode, but we'll leave that for you to find out and discuss in our forums :)
The internet Tab pretty self explanatory. However, notice that there are two connection icons, in easy mode, its best to use the Network icon to access your wireless connections as it remembers any passkey information, the Wireless Networks tab doesnt for some reason. Or if it does, its doesnt for me. Also, don't have your Wired Network come on with boot if you have a Wireless only connection. Having more than one "network" connection REALLY confuses the EeePC, and you will have to disable one completely, do a restart, and then have only one be the startup for it to connect "automatically" on bootup. By default, wireless is enabled on boot up. Oh, and make sure your wireless is enabled by pressing Fn+F2!
Hitting the Work Tab brings you to your office programs and items. OpenOffice 2.0 comes pre-loaded on the machine, so you can take advantage of typing, viewing, presenting, and calculating just like its big brother (read expensive) Microsoft Office.
In the Accessories icon in work, there are a few hidden programs that are useful. I wonder what screen capture does?
The Learn Tab is definitely geared towards the classroom or children environment. It has basic programs to help in aid with the topics such as math, language, science and art. Theres also a quite interesting web learn tab that you should check out just for kicks.
What would a sub notebook be if there was no PLAY and all WORK? Boring, thats what. Thank god you have some options.
Some pre-loaded games, media player, photo manager and video manager. The sound recorder is a noveltyespecially with the microphone stashed next to the touchpad. It records a LOT of internal static/noise.
And heres the Settings tab heres where a lot of the controls for the unit can take place. You can add printers or programs. You can check your system with diagnostic tools and maintain it with the anti-virus. Everything here is pretty self explanatory. Oh, and VoiceCommand reminds me of Star Trek. Kind of geeky, but kind of fun!
Clicking the system info brings up some numbers that you might want to know. Motherboard is Xd outI dont know why?
Clicking on Personalization pops up the password and desktop theme stuffnotice in our picture there is a Full Desktop Mode availablethats a feature you have to enable with a little bit of finagling.
Add and Remove programs are as simple as clicking the button, having an internet connection available, and letting the program check for updates/new programs. If it finds anything, it will display it immediately following, and might look something like this:
Performance & Conclusion
PerformanceSince this comes with a Linux operating system, there are no real benchmarking systems that fall into place with our normal routine, as followed by our standards found HERE. However, we can note a few things about the processor, memory, and SSD.
The processor is a 900MHz Intel Celeron Process however, using the default BIOS, it only operates at 630mhz. Boo hoo. Well, good news for those who opt to run Windows XP - you can do normal software hacks to bring the FSB back up to the 100mhz and utilize those extra 270mhz, but for users who have the custom Xandros Linux, we just have to wait until Asus officially releases their stable BIOS update. There is a BIOS floating out there that enables the 100 MHz FSB...but it's plagued by bugs and display problems...
The memory, as stated WAY early in the review, is a single SO-DIMM DDR2 chip at 512mb clocked in at 667 MHz. However, other units come with 1 GB (the 8G version). It was originally noted that our model (Surf) would have a SOLDERED stick of RAM, which crushed us to the possibility of upgrading. Not to mention the warning stickers plastered to the bottom of the units saying that if you DID open the little door to upgrade you would void your warranty. But, the upgrading gods smiled upon us by Asus's latest press release stating that upgrading your RAM will NOT void your warranty (in certain countries like the US anyways). Check out our news post HERE.
And our unit came with a Non-Soldered SO-DIMM chip, which means we can upgrade! But again, this unfortunately varies by model, release date, and origin of purchase as reported on various blog and forum sites.
The battery test however, can be performed, although not as thorough as our other tests running a DVD we can do a normal browsing/operating battery test. Running on full display, full volume, and wireless turned on streaming an internet radio station our 4400mAh battery powered EeePC just ticked over 2 hours and 5 minutes before it shut itself down automatically. Not too bad...but somewhat disappointing in my eyes. I sought off to see how much I could get out of the battery....
Running the same test again only this time using mp3's loaded onto the SSD, we lowered the LCD brightness to 75%, the volume at 50%, and wireless turned off, we squeezed 2 hours 33 minutes out of it! A little better! Next, we lowered the LCD to its absolutely lowest setting, turned the speakers off, and didn't have the wireless card enabled. We managed to squeeze right past 2 hours 46 minutes. Of course, this all depends on what you are DOING with your EeePC. Watching movies on your SSD or flash drive will task the processor kicking on the fan which causes faster battery drain, and listening to music through the speakers will chew up power faster than using small headphones.
Since this has an embedded SSD that cannot be upgraded, you will need to know that 1.3 GB can fill up quickly if you're not careful. However, personally, using this device with a 1 gig flash drive, and a 512mb microSD card both plugged in I store enough music to last me through the day, save all my word and simple PowerPoint presentations, transfer over about 25-30 high resolution images, and still have PLENTY of space left for an EBook or two, and that's not even touching the 1.3gb available on the SSD. But, if you are worried about space, you should consider other alternatives that have larger hard drives, however, if you use the machine as it is marketed for you won't have too much problems.
If you got a little MacGyver blood in ya, you can get handy with a soldering gun to add some fun gadgets utilizing the internals. And of course, if you would like to, you could install Windows to reap the 2GB Ram utilization for your unit. But, if you're not down with voiding your warranty, or changing your OS, your upgrading options are pretty limited...as of now anyways. That however won't stop some (including myself) from upgrading some other aspects of the Asus EeePc.
ConclusionProVery user friendlySurprisingly good performance with stock hardware and supplied OSSmall footprintReasonable PriceWorks as describedCons:Wishing for a slightly larger LCDCould use better speakersBattery life could be improved.Gets warmer than anticipated
Even though the price climbed from the original quotation oh so many months ago, the unit still leaves a sweet taste in my mouth. Being new to Linux, I had no idea what to expect, but I have come off pretty impressed. It's impressively easy - definitely shakes the fear of using computers for newer users or even children. And with that stated, the unit has solid performance for its hardware. I do wish it had a larger display, better ways of implementing more permanent storage solutions, and had about an hour or more of battery life, but otherwise I can't complain too much. For being a sub notebook, fulfilling everything a sub notebook this size should and coming in HUNDREDS less than the competition, the cons listed above are perfectly acceptable. So as long as your going into the ultra portable game with this mind sets in place, you'll find yourself having a winning combination. And if you need a little more hard drive space, longer battery life, and 1 GB of RAM standard, well Asus has answered yours (and mine) answers with the 8G. Oh, the lust for technology...it's never ending is it.
Recommendation:
RECOMMENDED missing a few features/performance issues, but a great little machine.
And if you're interested, I'm starting a weekly blog stating how well the unit holds up for ONE year in our forums! Go ahead and register if you haven't already and read for yourself what I'm doing, where I've been, and how it's holding up.
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Altec Lansing XT2 Portable Laptop Audio

The Altec Lansing XT2 laptop speakers are an update to the critically acclaimed XT1 laptop speakers. The XT2 system features a sleek, lightweight form that is perfect for mobility, and is aesthetically pleasing with its innovative looks. Although they require some fine tuning, the XT2's provide higher volumes and richer clarity than built-in laptop speakers. These speakers also include a built-in microphone for Voice over IP communication or online gaming. Best yet, these speakers fold easily to fit in the accompanying travel case which holds your speakers, cables, as well as an AC adaptor with different plugs for different countries. While the speakers can be powered by USB or convenience, you can also plug in an AC adaptor to boost sound volumes, and take a load off the laptop's battery or power-supply. The speaker also supports an optional subwoofer for the extra bass punch.
Design
The radiant blue glow of the power indicator, sleek mesh front, and silver design make the XT2 speakers pleasing to the eye whether you're a picky Mac user, or a fashionable PC user. With built-in controls, and a microphone on the primary speaker, the XT2's are simple to use, and even easier to setup.
The controls consist of volume and power on the right speaker. Unfortunately there is no controls for bass or treble.
The fold out metal stands keeps the speakers positioned upright, and can easily fold in for travel.
With mobility in mind, the XT2 speakers are lightweight and take up little desk space thanks to their thin form factor measuring 2.2'(W) by 1.4'(D) by 7.4'(H).
The XT2's also come with an easily pliable USB cord, and a retractable wire connecting the secondary speaker to the primary. Pliable USB cord on the left speaker/Right speaker contains Sub-out and DC-IN for optional ac adapter.
Best yet, the XT2 come with a travel case which holds the speakers, cables, and adaptors. It also comes with several power adapter sockets to be used in other countries with the different power ratings in case you travel overseas. Sockets for EU, Korea, UK, and Middle East.
Features
Built-in MicrophoneDesigned for Voice-over-IP (VoIP), the XT2 includes a built-in microphone on the primary speaker (right one) with a slight bump in mesh front plating at the top. The microphone works as expected, and is a great solution for VoIP communication as well as internet gaming.
USB Powered The XT2 can be powered by USB for added mobility and convenience. You can opt for an AC adapter which will then boost volume and put less drain on one's battery life (pumping 4 watts RMS power compared to 1.6 watts RMS with USB). Also included are adaptors so you can use these speakers in other countries.
ControlsOn the side of the primary speaker are three simple controls, power, volume up, and volume down. Sadly, there is no bass or treble control.
AUXAnother nice addition is the AUX port allowing one to plug-in an external audio device such as an iPod or CD player to the speakers.
Conclusion
Pros:
Great design
Easy to setup
Lightweight
Built-in microphone
Cons:
Lack range, treble, and bass
Require tuning for optimal performance
Expensive
RecommendationThe XT2 produces big sounds for laptops, even louder and more powerful than the XT1. Distortion could be heard if the volume is turned up too high and bass performance is also lacking compared to the previous generation XT1, however you can purchase an external sub-woofer (BB2001 for $49.95) to accommodate your low frequency needs. While not a vast sound improvement over the popular XT1 system, the XT2 still shines with the extra features. Designed to replace built-in laptop speakers, the Altec Lansing XT2 is an excellent set of speakers that come with a nice set of travel accessories and even a built-in microphone for gaming or voice over IP communication. Though not comparable to a 2.1 desktop sound system, if you want better quality audio for your portable computing needs, these will do the job nicely. Availability/WarrantyThe Altec Lansing XT2 is available now for suggested retail price of $149.99. Altec Lansing offers two year warranty on all multimedia speaker systems.
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Sony VGN-NR485 All-Purpose Laptop

Using Vista Home Premium version and powered by a 2-GHz Core 2 Duo T5750 processor, Sony VGN-NR485 is a feature-rich machine priced at a reasonably low rate. This laptop is highly ranked as it has earned a score of 75 of WorldBench 6 tests which is no mean feat. Sony VGN-NR485 measures 14.2-by-10.6-by-1.5-inch and features front-mounted SD and Memory Stick
slots, four USB ports, and an ExpressCard/34 slot.With its Core 2 Duo T5750 processor, Sony VGN-NR485 is fast enough to handle almost any application. The overall performance is stable and reliable. This new laptop weighs 6.2 pounds and it comes with a standard (not high-definition) DVD burner, a 200GB hard drive and a high-gloss 15.4-inch screen. The display quality is satisfactory, bright and it has an easy-to-read 1280-by-800-pixel resolution. The built-in battery can last for approximately 4-hour before the next recharging. The keyboard for this laptop is rather shallow. But if you don’t mind the short stroke, the spacious keys can be rather enjoyable to use. Other shortcoming include its inferior stereo speaker and integrated Intel graphics chip.
Selling at $849, it is a good bargain for users who budget below $1000 for a new laptop which has all the necessary features for general use.
Share and contribute or get technical support and help at My Digital Life Forums.
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IBM ThinkPad

The IBM Thinkpad series of notebook is one of the longest running, most admired and most well-known laptop brands in the notebook world. Most IBM Thinkpad's are colored black and they have a distinguishing and unique look among laptops for their black case, squared off businesslike manifestation, and TrackPoint pointing device, a point stick in the mid of the keyboard coming into view as a small red button which allows you for fine control of the onscreen cursor along with the standard below keyboard touch pads. IBM Thinkpad was one of the first notebook computer brands to open up this approach to controlling the mouse, and the grouping of black case and red TrackPoint provides the essential look for IBM Thinkpad laptop computers.
IBM Thinkpad notebook come in a broad variety of models and are designed to be adaptable for both home use and trade applications. IBM Thinkpad notebooks are solid and trustworthy, with technological modernization like the Active Protection System, which shuts the hard drive down when the IBM Thinkpad is falling to keep it from taking scratch, the TouchPoint control system described above, and other innovations like double wireless antennae and built in security technology like the biometric readers and encryption.
With the extensive range of IBM Thinkpad's obtainable since 1992, you can get an IBM Thinkpad to suit any kind of utilize and in practically any price range. You can find an older used or redecorated model online from an online retailer that specializes in refurbished machines or on a sale website like www.ebay.com for a few hundred dollars or less. The newer models have the most recent technology and innovations and continue to be formed by the computer producer Lenovo, which bought the IBM PC partition in the year of 2005. Lenovo's achievement of the IBM PC has done nothing to change the status of the IBM Thinkpad line for company and home users, and the IBM Thinkpad brand of laptop individual computer continues to flourish with latest models selling for thousands of dollars. As notebook computer technology continues to improvement, the IBM Thinkpad brand is sure to be at the cutting edge of hi-tech development for well into the next decade if not everlastingly...........link

History of Laptop Computers - History

Left - Modern Laptop Today
It is a little hard to determine what was the first portable or laptop computer, the first portable computers did not look like the book-sized and folding laptops that we are familiar with today, however, they were both portable and lapable, and lead to the development of notebook style laptops. I have outlined several potential firsts below and how each qualifies, many of the off-site links provide good photos of the computers that will let you see the progression in design. The First Laptop? Maybe Designed in 1979 by a Briton, William Moggridge, for Grid Systems Corporation, the Grid Compass was one fifth the weight of any model equivalent in performance and was used by NASA on the space shuttle program in the early 1980's. A 340K byte bubble memory lap-top computer with die-cast magnesium case and folding electroluminescent graphics display screen.
Gavilan Computer As The First Laptop? Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives who were starting to use computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted his machines as the first "laptop" computers in May 1983. Many historians consider the Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer.
The First Laptop Computer - Osborne 1 The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher founded Osborne Computer and produced the Osborne 1 in 1981, a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds and cost $1795. The Osborne 1 came with a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large collection of bundled software programs, and a battery pack. The short-lived computer company was never successful. (second photo)
More History of Laptop Firsts
Also released in 1981, was the Epson HX-20, a battery powered portable computer, with a 20-character by 4 line LCD display and a built-in printer.
In January of 1982, Microsoft's Kazuhiko Nishi and Bill Gates begin discussions on designing a portable computer, based on using a new liquid crystal display or LCD screen. Kazuhiko Nishi later showed the prototype to Radio Shack who agree to manufacture the computer.
In 1983, Radio Shack released the TRS-80 Model 100, a 4 lb. battery operated portable computer with a flat and more of a laptop design.
In February 1984, IBM announced the IBM 5155 Portable Personal Computer.
Three years later in 1986, Radio Shack released the improved and smaller TRS Model 200.
In 1988, Compaq Computer introduces its first laptop PC with VGA graphics - the Compaq SLT/286.
In 1989, NEC UltraLite was released, considered by some to be the first "notebook style" computer. It was a laptop size computer which weighed under 5 lbs. (second photo)
In September 1989, Apple Computer released the first Macintosh Portable that later evolved into the Powerbook. (second photo)
In 1989, Zenith Data Systems released the Zenith MinisPort, a 6-pound laptop computer. (more Zenith laptops)
In October 1989, Compaq Computer released its first notebook PC, the Compaq LTE.
In March 1991, Microsoft released the Microsoft BallPoint Mouse that used both mouse and trackball technology in a pointing device designed for laptop computers.
In October 1991, Apple Computers released the Macintosh PowerBook 100, 140, and 170 - all notebook style laptops. (more on Powerbooks)
In October 1992, IBM released its ThinkPad 700 laptop computer.
In 1992, Intel and Microsoft release APM or the Advanced Power Management specification for laptop computers.
In 1993, the first PDAs or Personal Digital Assistants are released. PDAs are pen-based hand-held computers.

Touch Screen Laptops

Touch screen laptops are one of the most recent technological developments in the laptop’s world. Simple by touching the screen of your laptops touch screen with a single touch screen laptops stylus, you can control the positions of the pointer without utilizing a point stick, touch pad, or external mouse. Touch screen laptops offer a new level of comfort and intuitive design for laptop use, and touch screen laptops are becoming increasingly popular, not just among the purchasers of high end business tilting laptop personal computer models, but also among common people who are looking for home laptops and amusement laptops with the extra money to spend on the expediency of touch screen laptops.
While touch screen laptops can still be estimated to be quite more expensive than normal laptops, there is no denying that being able to change events on the screen with only a touch from a stylus is easier to realize and lets people work more rapidly. Touch screen laptop finally delivers on the promise of laptop computers to reproduce the paper standard in computer form and make the implementation of computer related tasks as fast and easy as they can possibly be. A laptop's touch screen should be taken think about carefully and you should make additional sure that it is not scratched or subjected to wear and tear, as this can also interfere with the touch screen operation.
Touch screen laptops usually cost several thousand dollars, with less expensive models being obtainable on the internet for about two thousand, and many other business tilting touch screen laptop computer models being sold for between four and fiver thousand dollars. To find deals on touch screen laptops, check out the website www.nextag.com and enter "touch screen laptops" in their search field at the top of the page. Most of the offers on www.nextag.com are Panasonic business best oriented models. You can also search for "touch screen laptops" in a search engine like MSN, Yahoo or Google and check out the peak listings, but hold back from clicking on the ads that come up unless they clearly say that they are offering for touch screen laptops, many of them just guide to deals for ordinary computers. Make sure to read the fine print when you purchase and make sure the touch screen is essential part of the deal. Good luck buying your subsequently touch screen laptop!.....link

Gaming Laptops

When you are looking for gaming laptops to play the most up-to-date, high-speed computer games, the Internet is the best place to find great deal! Gaming laptops are offered by a numeral of companies that concentrate in producing gaming laptops preinstalled with the newest drivers, three-dimensional graphics speeding up hardware, and high speed processors. Here are some judgments on how to select your next gaming laptop.
One of the most admired companies for gaming laptops is Alienware. Alienware concentrates in gaming laptops, lots of memory, with fast processors and the latest graphics cards. Alienware gaming notebooks can be procure from the Alienware official website at the address of www.alienware.com, or search for Alienware in a search engine like Google or Yahoo. Alienware tends to be expensive, but they sometimes have deals on gaming laptops or offer free gaming laptops for competitions. Alienware is one of the most familiar names in laptops built for gaming, so be sure to verify for gaming laptops on their site.
Another admired gaming laptop company is Voodoo PC. Voodoo offers all kinds of dissimilar laptops, but they specialize in laptops for gaming, as you can easily tell from a tour to their official website, www.voodoopc.com. If you are buying a gaming laptop, the best laptop for gaming might be a Voodoo PC. Be sure and check out their site as well as you search for the best gaming laptop you can pay for!
While the most excellent gaming laptop is likely to set you back several thousand dollars, economical gaming laptops are also obtainable on the internet. One suitable way to get a cheap gaming laptop is to simply purchase an Alienware or Voodoo PC gaming laptop that is one year or two year old and used. If the previous possessor is spending the big bucks on one of the most recent models, he may well be attracted in letting go of his previous gaming laptop at a low down price. Check online auction sites like eBay to find deals like this. Gaming on internet laptops go hand in hand, and be sure to search for "gaming laptops" on your favorite search engine as google to find assessments for top rated gaming laptops as you plan your next purchase. Good luck finding gaming laptops!......link

Laptop Softwares

Many softwares are obtainable for laptop computers. Softwares mean the programs that you use to do any things like play games, chat to your friends online, or surf the web. Softwares are simple to find and download online. Here are some ideas for softwares and how to find cool latest softwares for your computers.
Laptop computers oprated most of the same kinds of software that other computers do, but there are also some special laptop softwares for things as keeping track of how much battery power your laptop has left. Notebook softwares are only one kind of software that you can easily find on websites like www.tucows.com. Tucows is a popular website for downloading all types of free and shareware softwares, and you can get many valuable programs by going there.
If you do not have a note pad computer yet, one way to purchase cheap laptops is to get a second-hand notebook computer from someone else on a site like eBay that has online auctions for numerous things including economical quality laptops. To get the best purchase on laptops, search eBay and look for a used laptop that can run the laptop softwares you are attracted in running. You can also purchase laptops cheap from companies that sell redecorated laptops. These are used laptop that have been checked and fixed up so you recognize that they will run when they reach at your home. You can find laptops in every style and color. To find black laptops, just search for "black laptops" in a search engine on the internet like msn, Yahoo or Google, and you will find a large number of online sites that sell whatever kind of laptop you are searching for.
Laptops plug up into the wall when charging just resembling an ordinary computer, but they use a extraordinary power source that connects between the computer and the wall. This power basis plugs in the laptop outlet. When the laptop is finished charging, you can get it anywhere!
Good luck in finding an economical notebook computer that can run the software you want to use. A economical notebook laptop is easy to find on the net and you should have one every time!.......link

Laptop Brands

While shopping for your newest laptop, you may be confused by the great number of laptop brands that are at present available. Laptop brands can be puzzling as there are so various of them, but here are a special number of the better laptop brands you may be familiar with as you search for the best laptop brand for you.
Dell is a simple laptop brand for many. This laptop brand is designed to be easy for people who are presently getting into computers. It comes preinstalled with the simple and common operating system software and has sufficient new technology for you to be competitive if you are utilizing the laptop for job. It can also be easily used to play simple games or to top the web, as any of the notebook brands that you can buy online today are nearly everyone likely to come with included Wifi for fast wireless Internet access. Make sure when you purchase your laptop that the laptop is Wifi capable, as this is a common feature among all modern laptop brands. Dell is also considered a relatively economical laptop brand, as they are one of the main laptop brands and offer their products in large part to family who want to get into computing on a little or limited financial plan.
If you are attracted in getting a high-powered gaming assembled, Alienware is a more popular laptop brand that comes ready with graphics speeding up and lots of memory. Search for Alienware in your favorite search engine to get information on Alienware laptops. While Alienware is not considered a price cut laptop brand, and you usually won't find this laptop brand cheap, they are just the right laptop brand to select if you have interest in gaming.
The finest, and practically only suitable place to buy laptop parts is online. Major stores generalyl only carry the total laptops. Luckily, it is not complicated to shop online for laptop parts. Immediately make sure that you know faithfully what you are doing before you void the guarantee on your laptop. The more luxurious option, obviously, is to take your laptop to a refurbish shop, but those may be more hard to reach.
Finally, there are many programs online that can help you to win a free notebook - often these are based around getting a sure number of people to sign up for some kind of service. While it can be tricky to get enough people interested in signing up for you, these programs have been description to have good results.Good luck purchasing for your laptop!........link

Laptop Types

There are numerous laptop types available on the Internet for all types of users, no matter what reason you have for wishing a laptop. Whether you necessitate a laptop personal computer for residual use; surfing the web and emailing your contacts and family, for business use on the road or homes and the offices, or just for playing the newest computer games, laptop types can be found online that suit for your needs.
While there are many laptop qualities, most people would divide the list of laptop types one of most ways: you can divide laptops by grouping for home / business use, and gaming use, family use, or you can divide laptops into groups by cost. The most luxurious laptop types are those with the latest technologies, sold directly by the manufacturer or at a brick and mortar retailer. Economical laptop types include those which are previously owned / used and put up for sale on online auction sites like eBay, or refurbished laptops which are fixed up and sold by fanatical companies specializing in selling renovated laptop personal computers online.
While selecting among the dissimilar types of laptops, remember there is no one best laptop type; just give the impression of being the types of laptop that best suit your necessities. If all you need is an reasonably priced computer that you can take with you wherever you want, wholesale laptops can frequently be bought online from overstocked distributors, or you can easily find a figure of deals for buying a cut rate laptop from renovation companies, online auction sites, and directly from the manufacturing companies when they have extraordinary sales. The lowest priced laptop deals are usually for used laptops that are a not many but 1 or 2 years old, and these cheapest laptops can regularly be purchased from students who are on advancement to newer laptop types. The market for used notebooks is huge, so you can moreover search for them online, or just go to the nearby college campus and check the bulletin board; you are probable to find some aggravated sellers. Finally, for excellent prices on laptop accessories, like a laptop printer, check out a PC oriented online seller like www.pcmall.com. Good luck picking out your laptop!.........link

Laptop Battery

Of all the things you can obtain for your laptop, a laptop battery is the most imperative. For many, laptop batteries are by far the most important part of a laptop. The more power that a laptop battery can store, the more use you get out of your laptop when you get far from a connected power source. Notebook batteries are one of the best reserves you can make when increasing output and the effectiveness of your laptop.
The best place to find a new notebook battery is without any doubt the Internet. The multiplicity of great deals on laptop batteries for every possible brand of laptop make it easy to assessment shop and get the lowly possible price on discount laptop batteries.
When searching for a laptop battery, just enter the expression "laptop battery" in a popular online search engine such as Google, Msn or Yahoo, and you will immediately see a long list of online companies presenting laptop batteries. A universal laptop battery that works in almost any kind of laptop can be an outstanding investment, as you might not always have faithfully the same kind of laptop, but you know that all laptops have one thing in similar - they eat lots of power! An outdoor laptop battery charger is an additional great deal, as it allows you to charge up without necessitating to get anywhere near a wall outlet, and that means extra time using your laptop computer and less time waiting for it to charge or staying anywhere where you are attached to the wall.
With add-on laptop’s batteries, many laptops these days can go increasing twelve or more hours with no having to recharge, and this makes it easiest to get your work done. When you don't have to worry on finding a power source, you can do your job more professionally and effectively. Laptops are supposed to offer you the power to take your significant information and your computing wherever you require to, and with the range of great deals obtainable now on laptop batteries, there is no cause you shouldn't be capable use your laptop to its fullest potential!.....link

Car Adapter

With more and more public doing business on the go these days, laptop technology has to be well matched our car centric lifestyle. A wide range of car adapters are now accessible so that you can charge your laptop while driving and not even have to be anyplace near a power outlet!
Car adapters for the Dell laptops allow you to charge your laptops directly from your car's battery. This gives you the independence to do business on the go, taking your laptop far into the field when you capacity not have the luxury of a hotel room or maybe you just don't have time to let the notebook or sit next to a power outlet. By charging during travel time, you make the whole things much more efficient and cut down on the time you spend babysitting your expertise while rising the time you get to utilize it to get your work done. If you are detecting you'll need laptops in cars, think buying a car adapter today! Better to have one earlier than later, as it is certainly better to have one and not need it than require one and not have it. Of course, the price of a car adaptor is extremely little compared to the savings you get from having contact to your laptop at any time without having to be anxious about running out of power at a critical moment. A car adaptor for Dell laptops can permit you to use your Dell laptop anyplace, even in the outback of Australia!
Car adaptors for laptops are a popular laptop ornament that can be bought in stores or off online catalogs on the Internet. Just search for "laptop charging in the car" to get a range of great deals on car adapters. Car adapters are one of the most suitable laptop accessories for people who need to take their information with them wherever they take place to go. With a car adapter, additional power is never farther away than the dashboard of your car, and you can easily take your laptop everywhere you need it. Check out the great online deals obtainable for laptop vehicle adapters today!.........link

Battery Charger

Are you attracted in buying laptop accessories? There is a wide range of accessories for laptops, and laptop accessories can simply be shopped for using the internet!
When you go to purchase any accessory for your laptop, whether that accessory is a new CD-ROM drive, supplementary memory, or a new battery, use the internet to evaluate and contrast deals and find the best possible price. All kinds of deals are obtainable online for laptop accessories, and to find some you require only go as far as searching for "cheap accessories" in your most wanted search engine, or point your web browser towards www.ebay.com and get a great range of implausible deals on not only laptop accessories, but also used laptop computers! Used economical laptops are plenteous on eBay, and you can even buy renovated used cheap laptops from companies online that concentrates in buying laptops used and upgrading them with modern technology. When you buy or PC laptop or notebook accessories online, make sure that you belief the seller. Search for the product that you are interested in and see what kind of online reviews it is getting. Also check the retailer by searching for the seller's name in forums and seeing what users who have done business with the seller say about them too.
If you utilize the internet to search the best possible deal and find of good reputation seller to provide you with a new laptop or pc notebook accessories, you will be sure to locate the best laptop computer or laptop accessories for your requirements at a very competitive price. These days, a cheap laptop computer with all the accessories is well within the price range of even the most financial plan conscious individual. Whatever you need a laptop computer with laptop computer accessories for, whether you would like it for home use or for business on the go, check out the huge range of cool deals obtainable now on the net, and comparison shop until you find accurately what you are looking for at a price that works for you. All in all, it has never been easier to buy laptops and their accessories!...........link

Laptop Accessories

Are you attracted in buying laptop accessories? There is a wide range of accessories for laptops, and laptop accessories can simply be shopped for using the internet!
When you go to purchase any accessory for your laptop, whether that accessory is a new CD-ROM drive, supplementary memory, or a new battery, use the internet to evaluate and contrast deals and find the best possible price. All kinds of deals are obtainable online for laptop accessories, and to find some you require only go as far as searching for "cheap accessories" in your most wanted search engine, or point your web browser towards www.ebay.com and get a great range of implausible deals on not only laptop accessories, but also used laptop computers! Used economical laptops are plenteous on eBay, and you can even buy renovated used cheap laptops from companies online that concentrates in buying laptops used and upgrading them with modern technology. When you buy or PC laptop or notebook accessories online, make sure that you belief the seller. Search for the product that you are interested in and see what kind of online reviews it is getting. Also check the retailer by searching for the seller's name in forums and seeing what users who have done business with the seller say about them too.
If you utilize the internet to search the best possible deal and find of good reputation seller to provide you with a new laptop or pc notebook accessories, you will be sure to locate the best laptop computer or laptop accessories for your requirements at a very competitive price. These days, a cheap laptop computer with all the accessories is well within the price range of even the most financial plan conscious individual. Whatever you need a laptop computer with laptop computer accessories for, whether you would like it for home use or for business on the go, check out the huge range of cool deals obtainable now on the net, and comparison shop until you find accurately what you are looking for at a price that works for you. All in all, it has never been easier to buy laptops and their accessories!............link

Laptop Computers

Nothing is more suitable for computing at home than a laptop. Laptop computers provide you the freedom to move wherever you need and most comfortable in the house while working or playing on your computer. With laptops in the home, you can work while you are watching TV or you can work in whatever recess or cranny of your home you find it easiest to contemplate in. Cheap laptops are easy to find on the Internet nowadays for your home. Laptop ratings can be evaluated and contrasted on a number of specialized sites. Just search for laptop computers on your favorite Internet search engine, like Google, Msn or Yahoo, to find a number of outstanding websites for comparison shopping in the ease of your home.
Notebooks are simple to use for all members of your family and fit easily into the way you live, work and play at your home. With a notebook you can surf the Internet or email and IM your friends from anywhere at your home. Today's laptop computer market is filled with reasonably priced new and used laptops which come integrated with Wifi so you can easily attach them to your DSL access point and roam around the house unreservedly.
A laptop computer is so helpful for such a wide variety of tasks that it makes an ideal present for birthdays, holidays - you name it! There has never been a superior time to log onto the Internet or go to your home store and shop for a economical laptop, as even the most reasonably priced cheap laptop computers today have integrated Wifi for high speed internet entrance, and the capacity to do basically anything you could want them to do. Discount laptops normally cost somewhere in the range of five hundred to two thousand dollars, with some inexpensive notebooks going for under five hundred dollars. If you are comparison-shopping for the best laptops, you should definitely consider shopping online and getting your laptop shipped to you, as it makes it much easier to compare a extensive variety of prices. Still, depending on your needs, remember that a used laptop might be the best purchase. Whether you make a decision on a new laptop computer or a used laptop computer - remember that laptops are a constructive investment for your home..............link

How to Buy a Computer to Suit Your Needs

Personal computers have become more and more prevalent over the years. It's safe to say that buying a computer is always easier then building your own. Both methods have their own advantages. This article offers some advice for those interested in purchasing their own computers. StepsKnow your computing needs. For example, are you a casual Internet user or a gamer? Think about what you'd like to accomplish on your new computer. Have you been dreaming of starting a new website with Flash? Do you play games online, or do you play the latest retail games when they are released?Choose a computer line that fits your needs now and in the future; don't buy just any computer! If it's an expensive computer, optimized for something such as video editing, and you're not going to use it for editing videos, then don't buy it!"Value" line computers. These PCs are good for checking emails, surfing the web, and word processing, but they are not geared towards much else. Dell, HP (Compaq), Gateway, and other large-volume retail computers offer excellent values for a complete value series package."Enthusiast" line computers. Computers of this category are suitable for most power-user tasks, multimedia, and casual gaming. Again, Dell and other major brands will be a good choice."Gaming" line computers. These are best for media creation, workstation publishing, and intensive gaming. Typical tasks that require a fast computer include recording music and making Flash movies. Larger computer builders may not be the best choice, but a few of them such as Dell's XPS line, Dell's Alienware brand name, and Northwest Computers, might be good choices. Most users with needs in this category typically build their own PCs, purchasing individual parts from a computer component retailer such as Newegg.com.Spend time comparing the processor speed, memory, hard disk space, video card, and other components and features of each model that interests you. This will help you find the best deal.Look for alternatives. It's easy to miss out on opportunities if you're not looking for them. Do you have friends who are computer savvy? What about your neighbors? Do they build their own PCs? If you're looking for a powerful computer, purchasing all of the components and assembling it yourself is often less expensive than purchasing a package deal. If a friend is willing to help you build your own, it might be a worthwhile experience. Avoid this if all you need is a value line PC, because major brands will often get rid of their older components by bundling them in value line PCs.Check compatibility. If purchasing components to build your own, double check each component's compatibility. For example, if you want to purchase a motherboard with an LGA775 socket, make sure you buy an LGA775 socket CPU. If in doubt, read user comments on products and research the different standards online. The most important compatibility considerations:Motherboard: CPU socket type, graphics card slot type (PCI-E or AGP), and memory type and speedCPU: Intel or AMD, and the socket type (ie: AM2, LGA775, 478, etc.)Memory: Type (DDR or DDR2) and speed (ie: PC3200/DDR400 or PC2-6400/DDR2800)Power supply (often included with a case): how many watts do you need for your components?Purchase your new computer. Major brands such as Dell provide a web-based configuration tool for customizing a PC before you purchase it. This may be a more relaxing experience than being rushed by a sales representative over the phone. If there is something you don't understand when configuring your PC, call that company's sales line for answers.

History of personal computers

IBM 5150 as of 1981The capabilities of the PC have changed greatly since the introduction of electronic computers. By the early 1970s, people in academic or research institutions had the opportunity for single-person use of a computer system in interactive mode for extended durations, although these systems would still have been too expensive to be owned by a single person. The introduction of the microprocessor, a single chip with all the circuitry that formerly occupied large cabinets, led to the proliferation of personal computers after about 1975. Early personal computers - generally called microcomputers - were sold often in kit form and in limited volumes, and were of interest mostly to hobbyists and technicians. By the late 1970s, mass-market pre-assembled computers allowed a wider range of people to use computers, focusing more on software applications and less on development of the processor hardware.Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, home computers were developed for household use, offering personal productivity, programming and games. Somewhat larger and more expensive systems (although still low-cost compared with minicomputers and mainframes) were aimed for office and small business use. Workstations are characterized by high-performance processors and graphics displays, with large local disk storage, networking capability, and running under a multitasking operating system. Workstations are still used for tasks such as computer-aided design, drafting and modelling, computation-intensive scientific and engineering calculations, image processing, architectural modelling, and computer graphics for animation and motion picture visual effects.[1]Eventually the market segments lost any technical distinction; business computers acquired color graphics capability and sound, and home computers and game systems users used the same processors and operating systems as office workers. Mass-market computers had graphics capabilities and memory comparable to dedicated workstations of a few years before. Even local area networking, originally a way to allow business computers to share expensive mass storage and peripherals, became a standard feature of the personal computers used at home

Sony Vaio FZ21M

It is an Intel Core2 Duo T7250 2 GHz, an L2 cache of 2 MB to 800 MHz, 2 GB of RAM, 200 GB hard drive, 15.4-inch LCD screen X-black technology WXGA and a resolution of up to 1280 × 800 pixels, Graphic Card NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT 256 MB of video and up to 1024 MB of graphics memory full, three USB 2.0 ports, webcam Motion Eye 1.4 mpx, reader Blu-Ray, SD cards and Memory Stick Pro, HDMI output, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. Everything built into a casing design Sony Vaio, and weighing 2.7 kg. I have yet tested the Blu-Ray because I am hoping that arrives by courier 'Spiderman 3', the regalaban with the purchase of a Vaio with BR. But I imagine that I will now Christmas with my first titles in High Definition and will begin to take maximum advantage of the benefits ........link

How to Buy a New Computer

Whether you need it for home, school or your business, a new computer can be a major purchase. There are a lot of factors to consider like price, reliability, warranty, memory, CD drives and pre-installed software packages. This article will help you to figure out what you want, and how to get it.StepsDecide what you need your new computer for. If you need one for work, a simple bare bones system with Microsoft Word (or OpenOffice.org) will suffice, but if you're an avid gamer then you'll want something more advanced. If you want one for gaming, skip to step 5.If you need a work computer: consult companies like Dell or eBuyer, as they provide low-cost workstation deals for the "common user." On such sites, you can get a computer without a monitor for under $200, and a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor costs under $50 (the fat ones that stick out at the back).Work specs: for an average computer, get anything with over 1.5 gigahertz (Ghz) of processor speed. You should also get at least 512 Megabytes of RAM. Hard drives have dramatically increased in capacity and come with quite a bit: 40 gigabytes (GB) is more than enough for work (If you are installing multiple operating systems such as dual booting Windows and Linux you might want a larger hard drive such as 120 GB). Then you want a CD drive of any kind, and you also want a couple of Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports as many devices for the techno phobe are used through this.Windows Vista takes a large toll on system resources, make sure you have plenty of memory to spare (1 Gigabyte of RAM is required for Home Premium) And try to get a dual or quad core processor, it will make your computer run faster. Linux and Windows XP are much less demanding on your processor and RAM, so if you want to save money it might be better to try to go for a XP or Linux computer to get the same level of speed of a more expensive Vista computer.Get any kind of monitor you want. Get one that's at least 15" or you can't see; they range from 17-22" approximately for a CRT. A 17" can cost as little as £40 but for a 22" it costs £250.Realize that you will need a good budget for a gaming machine. Visit Alienware (for more budget options) or VoodooPC (for more expensive machines). In high end gaming machines, you want a Core 2 Duo based processor, at least 1GB of high speed RAM (random access memory) and a high end graphics card.LCD monitors are getting cheaper and larger.If you are buying a computer to run an open source operating system such as Linux, it may be better to prefer distributors that allow to configure components (like Dell). This way you may clearly select devices that do have the drivers for your operating system (it is easy to check with web search). Many current distributions will have the latest kernel of Linux, which has a wide range of hardware support already built-into the operating system. Unusual, niche, or specialized hardware may need special configuration, drivers, or may not be currently supported.TipsSometimes an extended warranty is nice, however most of the time its not needed, for a computer at your workplace you should ask your boss before you buy a warranty.Most of the software you need can be found in Free/Open source variants online to download, so don't think you need to buy all the software you think you need unless you've checked it out online.WarningsDon't get pushed into buying useless stuff, such a card reader, if you have no cards, or a webcam if your not going to use it.Most of the time computer salespeople work on commission so chances are you are going to be told to buy unnecessary software such as Microsoft Office while Open Office is free, and Anti-Virus software is many times not needed if you are not going to be online.If you plan at least to try Linux, check the the availability of the Open source (or at least any) drivers. Realizing the driver problems too late is a common unpleasant mistake

AMD unleashes triple-core, 5 new quad-cores Processors

Everything hasn’t exactly been great for AMD lately, but the plucky chip maker has some news for us today. Despite the tough times, the company earned a number of positive reactions from the recent 780G announcement, and it is following that up with three announcement today.First, triple-core is finally here. We have been hearing about this for months, and after all complaints about triple-core being nothing more than failed quad-core processors, consumers will be able to find out for themselves. The triple core Phenoms will launch as mainstream processors, aimed at users who are interested in additional performance relative to dual-core offerings, without having to substantially increase the amount they are spending. AMD says that triple-core Phenoms will be ideal for budget-minded users who have high-definition content in mind, and that the processor will be a great match for 780G.So far, we know about the Phenom 8600 (2.3GHz) and 8400 (2.1GHz). They will have L1 cache sizes of 64K of instruction and 64K of data cache per core (512KB total L1) and L2 will hold 512KB of L2 data cache per core (2MB total L2 per processor). These are 65 nm processors that are backwards compatible with AM2 motherboards. The TDP for both models is 95W. We are still waiting on pricing information, but it looks like they will be a bit over US$150.The next piece of news dropped concerned new quad-core processors, including the Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition and Phenom X4 9750. These are additions to AMD’s quad-core lineup that will run at 2.5GHz and 2.4GHz, with TDP ratings of 125W. The new in the 95W TDP are the 9650 and the 9550, which will come in at 2.3GHz and 2.2GHz. So, nothing groundbreaking, but the larger point is that AMD is aiming to make quad-core accessible, while maintaining it as the company’s high-end offering. A quad-core Phemon matched with the 790 chipset is the companies top-shelf offering for gaming, supposing you also pony up the dough for a competitive video card. These are bug-free B3 revision processors. link

Toshiba Announces Latest Performance Rich Satellite P205 Destop Replacements

LAS VEGAS (CES Booth #12832), (Jan. 7, 2008) – Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced two new additions to its performance rich Satellite P205D desktop replacement line featuring AMD processors and ATI graphics for greater gaming and productivity capabilities. The Satellite P205D notebook series provides a wide range of computing configurations that will meet the needs of both power and casual users. The Satellite P205D-S8812 incorporates ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 24001 and DirectX® 10 technologies to bring a superior gaming experience to the AMD platform and provide life-like realism and stunning visual effects to DirectX® 10 compatible games. Powered by the AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core Mobile Technology Gold Edition TL-642, the Satellite P205D-S8806 offers the power and performance of a desktop computer in a mobile form factor to provide users with a robust computing solution. With the combination of AMD’s most innovative dual-core mobile CPUs and Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system, the Satellite P205D notebook series provides advanced compatibility with today’s latest wireless LAN and graphic technologies. Such versatile computing solutions enhance the overall performance by allowing the computers to process more information with greater speed and efficiency, while using less power for an extended battery life, which makes for an ideal solution for families and students. Each Satellite P205D features a standard 17-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite® display that provides a clear, crisp and sharp image for viewing business related files and digital entertainment. For greater ergonomic comfort and easy data entry, each Satellite P205D notebook also sports a full-size keyboard with a 10-keypad. Additionally, each Satellite P205D notebook includes Dolby® Sound Room™ technology, which delivers an amazing virtual surround sound experience from either stereo speakers or a pair of headphones. Dolby Sound Room was designed for environments where multiple surround sound speakers are neither practical nor possible. The new Satellite P205D notebook series is currently available at www.toshibadirect.com and at a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide, and has a starting price of $999.993....link

LG Laptops

LG revealed the P300 last December when it was programmed for its start-on in Korea, but LG has in conclusion done the well-mannered thing and brought it from corner to corner to Europe. In the course of action it has in addition provided the specifications a well-mannered upgrade, probably making LG's the 13.3 inch laptop to have, in anticipation of every other company makes similar developments to its lines. The progressions in question see the processor spiked from a 2.4GHz T7700 to a correspondingly clocked T8300 Penryn chip, with anticipation of rendering better battery life and performance. Units memory is spooked up to 3GB, with a non-specified NVIDIA graphics chip, most expected Ge-Force 8400M, providing ample graphics acceleration. The display panel is still the matching 1,280 x 800, LED-backlit concern is as experienced elsewhere, so no improvement in that section, and building up for the lack of a built-in DVD drive; a USB power-driven model is packed. Weight wise the LG P300 maintains itself at less than 1.7Kg, which while not to Toshiba R500 levels of fluffiness is certainly not going to fetter undue damage to anyone carrying the notebook around frequently. Oddly, the P300 is not updated on LG's UK site quite yet, but it is duly expected to be rectified soon link

supercomputers

A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation (at the time of its introduction). The term "Super Computing" was first used by New York World newspaper in 1929.Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC), and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research. He then took over the supercomputer market with his new designs, holding the top spot in supercomputing for five years (1985–1990). Cray, himself, never used the word "supercomputer"; a little-remembered fact is that he only recognized the word "computer".A supercomputer generates large amounts of heat and must be cooled. Cooling most supercomputers is a major HVAC problem.Information cannot move faster than the speed of light between two parts of a supercomputer. For this reason, a supercomputer that is many meters across must have latencies between its components measured at least in the tens of nanoseconds. Seymour Cray's supercomputer designs attempted to keep cable runs as short as possible for this reason: hence the cylindrical shape of his Cray range of computers. In modern supercomputers built of many conventional CPUs running in parallel, latencies of 1-5 microseconds to send a message between CPUs are typical.Supercomputers consume and produce massive amounts of data in a very short period of time. According to Ken Batcher, "A supercomputer is a device for turning compute-bound problems into I/O-bound problems." Much work on external storage bandwidth is needed to ensure that this information can be transferred quickly and stored/retrieved correctly.Technologies developed for supercomputers include:Vector processiLiquid coolingNon-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)Striped disks (the first instance of what was later called RAID)Parallel filesystems

Artificial Intelliegence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is both the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it.Artificial intelligence has successfully been used in a wide range of fields including medical diagnosis, stock trading, robot control, law, scientific discovery and toys. Frequently, when a technique reaches mainstream use it is no longer considered artificial intelligence, sometimes described as the AI effect. It may also become integrated into artificial life.The broad classes of outcome for an AI test are:optimal: it is not possible to perform betterstrong super-human: performs better than all humanssuper-human: performs better than most humanssub-human: performs worse than most humansFor example, performance at checkers is optimalperformance at chess is super-human and nearing strong super-human and performance at many everyday tasks performed by humans is sub-human

Latest Informaton on Dell Inspiron 530 Desktop computers

Both the midtower and the slim chassis offer two hard drive bays (which you can populate with two 500GB drives for a 1TB of storage) and the option for a PCI Express graphics card (the half-height variety for the 530s and 531s units). Also available in all models but particularly useful in the slim models, which are likely candidates to be shoehorned into home theater racks, is an optional 802.11b/g (but sadly, not 802.11n) Wi-Fi card, which will save you from having to run an Ethernet cable through your living room. Another living-room friendly technology, Bluetooth, is an option, and a Blu-ray drive is offered on a higher-end model. One note about the optical drive: the Intel G33 motherboard features only serial ATA connections, meaning you're out of luck if you want to add in an old parallel ATA optical drive you may have lying around. Aside from the slim/non-slim choice, the Inspiron range is split up into two types, an Intel based platform, which has the model number 530, and an AMD one, which you'll no doubt be flabbergasted to know is called the 531 (the slim versions are 530s and 531s). Both come with the same shiny white case and configuration options, though our particular review sample had a number of components and peripherals that are not currently available on the UK Dell website and the case was even wrongly labelled as a 531. We are assured that these issues will soon be ironed out though. Dell's Inspiron 530 desktop is a very flexible system that can be configured as a low cost budget system or as a mainstream system. In terms of those looking for a moderately priced performance system, it has potentional for those willing to go through the process of customization and parts selection to get it configured just right. While the key difference between the two models is the pick between AMD and Intel microprocessors, there are a few other differences that are noteworthy as well. For instance, since Dell employs Intel's motherboard in its 530 series, the onboard graphics adapter is Intel's Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 as opposed to NVIDIA's Integrated GeForce 6150 in the 531. Then there's the inclusion of Intel's Pentium Dual Core E2140 microprocessor with 1.60GHz clock speed, 1MB of L2 cache and 800MHz system bus. 531, on the opposite end, packs an AMD Dual Core chip, albeit a faster one. Since this particular machine is also a bit cheaper, system memory is dropped from 1GB to 512MB, Microsoft's Windows Vista is downgraded from Home Premium to Home Basic and of course, the obvious difference in clock speeds, and therefore, performance difference between the two systems is present as wel "Dell's latest range of home user PCs are better looking than ever and for the basic models, they're still as cheap as chips. However, as soon as you start adding extras to your configuration the price quickly rises and alternatives from other manufacturers may be worth a look. Also, the down turn in the quality of Dell's monitors means I'd recommend looking elsewhere for your display............link