Laptop-DRV » Notebooks

New MacBooks Torn Open, Thunderbolt Chip Revealed

admin — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:20:33 +0000

Inside a brand new 15 inch MacBook Pro, finish with Thunderbolt controller

The small pinky spike sized chip you see up there, inside the green block, is almost positively the controller chip for the new MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt pier. The chip, as well as its juicy thermal pulp topping, were found inside a new MacBooks by the teardown experts at iFixit.

The Thunderbolt (nee Light Peak) controller IC is what enables it to work the multi-protocol, daisy-chaining sorcery. Without that chip to routine the serial data purgation through a copper, Thunderbolt would be small more than a reticent wire.

Other than Thunderbolt and upgrades to a CPU and graphics hardware, the brand new MacBooks have been almost unchanged from a previous incarnation. The battery is a same 77.5 watt-hour representation as before, as well as a case is probably identical. Changes have been made to the wireless card right away has 4 antennas instead of 3, as well as the IMPEL is now a same as that used in final year’s 21.5 as well as 27 inch iMacs. There is additionally lots of thermal paste dirty around in there, that suggests that things have been running hotter than prior to.

As ever, head to iFixit to see a courage if the new MBP in explicit, closeup item, as well as wonder at at just how few parts go into this thing.

MacBook Pro 15″ Unibody Early 2011 Teardown [iFixit. Thanks, Miroslav!]

Rumor: New MacBooks Come with Light Peak, Renamed ‘Thunderbolt’

admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 11:26:26 +0000

Today’s large Apple rumor concerns Intel’s super-fast Light Peak tie, an optical (or copper) wire that can broadcast only about anything along its skinny length. The rumor goes, quite convincingly, which the new range of MacBook Pros expected Thursday will soak up Light Peak, and which Apple will rename it “Thunderbolt.” Then the rumors begin to go awry.

The evidence consists of the presumably leaked spec piece for the brand new appurtenance, along with the sketch of a actual Thunderbolt pier and the screenshot of the promo page. Of these, a Thunderbolt logo looks pretty great, a port looks similar to it is the Mini DisplayPort with an idol Photoshoppped subsequent to it, and the specs may or may not be legit.

Light Peak allows mixed protocols to travel along the same handle, where they have been interpreted by a chip inside the mechanism. Thus you could plug displays, USB printers and even iPods into the same pier. It is additionally faster than USB 3.0. It’s easy to see what a minimalist Apple likes about it.

The German denunciation specs amy be real. In them, the Thunderbolt pier is total with a Mini DisplayPort connector, which fits with a print of a port at least.

Possibly leaked specs of brand new 13 in. MacBook Pro from FSCKLOG

I’m doubtful of a print, though the name and logo both have a ring of truth about them. Couple this with reports which Intel is launching Light Peak this Thursday as well as we have the pretty great pile of clues. And if Apple does launch Thunderbolt, how long will it be prior to it replaces a decrepit 30-pin dock connector?

The photo of a new pier Thunderbolt! [Mac4Ever]

Photo: Specs of a new 13 “MBP with Core i5 as well as Thunderbolt port [FSCKlog]

HP Pavilion dm1. A Notebook with the Netbook Price

admin — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:25:43 +0000

LAS VEGAS — The netbook is all but passed. Instead, we right away have a ultraportable notebook. HP’s brand new Pavilion dm1 takes a little cues from a latest MacBook Air, muscle action almost-notebook performance into an almost-netbook sized body.

The 3.2-pound dm1 has a single of AMD’s mark brand new Fusion APUs (Accelerated Processing Units), a system-on-a-chip that combines multicore CPU, video-”card” and dedicated hardware hi-def video decoding. This lets the 1.6GHz appurtenance playback cinema without braking the sweat. In fact, HP claims the battery life of 9.5 hours with a hard drive, as well as 10.75-hours with a optional SSD.

The shade measures 11.6-inches as well as packs in 1366 x 768 pixels, as well as a body binds 3 USB ports, VGA, the card-reader, HDMI-out as well as Altec Lansing speakers with Dolby Advanced Audio. Finally, the dm1 has “CoolSense”, that is what HP calls the adaptive cooling tech. This detects when the notebook is mobile regulating accelerometers, and adjusts a interior air-flow to keep the base of a machine cold as well as lap-friendly.

The dm1 does get a single thing from netbooks: looks. The chunky, cosmetic wedge shape is some-more MSI-Wind than MacBook Air. When it goes upon sale subsequent week (January 9th), a dm1 will proceed at $450.

First Look: Google’s Netbook Has Its Head in a Cloud

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 08:51:28 +0000

>View all

Google’s Cr-48 netbook is the earnest but incomplete step towards a life lived entirely upon the internet.

It’s not a consumer laptop, it’s a test appurtenance designed to showcase how Chrome OS netbooks will work. As the result, you can’t buy one, but you can sign up to get in line for Google’s pilot program.

Here have been the initial impressions after a few hours using a appurtenance. A full examination will follow.

The all-black Cr-48 looks like a stealth fighter. It has rubberized black surfaces, no logos anywhere and has minimal accoutrements: a built-in camera, a single USB pier, a single video-out port, the headphone jack and a energy supply. Dual-band Wi-Fi as well as the world-mode 3G radio have been built in, as have been a microphone and speakers. It has a 12.1” screen as well as the full-sized set of keys. At 3 pounds 10 ounces, it weighs some-more than I approaching it to.

We’re still digging up specs about a courage, though a little impressions: It’s flattering zippy, but not that zippy. We know there’s an Intel Pine Trail processor inside. It’s certainly as quick as well as manageable as you’d expect from a netbook, but it’s not scarcely as fast as a MacBook Air or the reasonably versed, sub-$1,000 laptop. While scrolling web pages, playing some web-based games and watching videos from YouTube as well as the Onion, I beheld a little jerkiness as well as skipping.

Flash Player is pre-installed (and presumably sandboxed) but watching Flash videos is a bit of the sucky knowledge, generally in full-screen mode. But all at least works as advertised, as well as it’s still all usable.

The keyboard is full-sized, but it has a little quirks. Much has been done of a Cr-48’s miss of a caps lock pass, though it’s all fine by us since a caps close key is now the search key — press it as well as the new browser tab opens with a cursor in the URL/search club, or the “omnibox” as Chrome conditions it. Just start typing and you get present search results from Google (the default engine, yet Yahoo and Bing have been additionally options). If you skip the caps close pass, it can be remapped by clicking on the wrench idol in a top-right. That’s where all a complement settings live. You can also re-map a Alt as well as Ctrl keys (helpful if you’re a Mactard similar to me) and you can set a keyboard to barter between Dvorak and normal-person mode.

Also gone are a function keys. They’ve been replaced by browser controls (including the dedicated “refresh” symbol that will presumably get a lot of use) as well as your customary brightness as well as volume controls. The trackpad is the little bigger than the credit label, and it’s a tap-to-click accumulation but a button. You use dual fingers to right-click. Finally — as well as I’ve never seen this before — the minute keys have been all lowercase.

It’s important to note that almost zero is stored upon this laptop. Chrome OS is just a very thin complement OS with Chrome browser using on tip. The desktop is gone, all you see is the browser. You log in with your Google comment when you first turn it upon, as well as it syncs up all of your settings, bookmarks and personal interpretation through the cloud cover.

When I initial started it up, it had a couple of problems connecting to the “Get Started” pages on Google’s servers. Also, you tried to connect to the Chrome Web Store as well as got a security rapt for the certificate violation. Oops. But after logging out as well as logging behind in as the different user, all went smoothly.

It’s extraordinarily easy to log in as well as get started. You feed it your Google certification as well as inside of seconds, you’re seeking during the Chrome browser window. You’ve been here the million times prior to, and you know exactly what to do. Most of a familiar browser set of keys shortcuts have been there. Ctrl-T as well as Ctrl-W open and close tabs. Ctrl-N launches the brand-new workspace, as well as you can swap in between workspaces using the key formerly known as F5.

From a time you press the energy button, it takes about 15 seconds to get to the “desktop.” All your Chrome bookmarks crop up at a top of a screen, and you can begin searching as well as browsing right divided. Some biggies — Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps, YouTube — come pre-installed. There are additionally dual pre-installed games, Poppit and Entanglement. When I contend “installed,” I fundamentally mean there have been shortcuts displayed in a grid upon a default Chrome “new tab” shade. Click upon a candy-flavored idol and the web page launches in that add-on.

As the cloud-dependent netbook, a Cr-48 does not fare so good but the net connection. I away from a bureau Wi-Fi as well as, after about a 30 second postponement, I was able to keep regulating some apps in offline mode.

However, Google Docs doesn’t have offline mode, so you can’t edit documents but the connection. (Google Docs’ offline mode being reworked as well as will be behind in early 2011, says Google, and presumably this won’t be an emanate by the time Chrome OS laptops are in all available.) When I switched tabs to write the couple of e-mails, I found that Gmail was nonchalant, as well. Instead, I played the few games of Entanglement as well as read the headlines story I had formerly loaded. When I reconnected, all incited back upon in a few seconds as well as my Gmail inbox rested.

I additionally kicked on the 3G radio. One click connects you to Verizon’s network and brings you to a screen where you can simply configure your machine. Every Chrome OS laptop will come with free Verizon interpretation use on condition that 100MB of data per month for two years.

Back upon Wi-Fi, I visited a store and commissioned a little Chrome apps, together with The New York Times, The Onion, as well as Tweetdeck. All of these are basically just web pages, though they’re specifically tailored for Chrome users. For example, when you browse the NYT app, you don’t see the Times website. You get the customized blueprint that looks and feels some-more similar to an iPad app than the normal website. It doesn’t have iPad-like smoothness, but it is tablet-esque in design.

When using apps, there have been some cases when a appurtenance really feels underpowered. Most websites and things like Gmail as well as Google Docs work with no problems and really small latency. But a Times app isn’t so smooth. The Onion’s app, that puts the big video player front as well as center, lags. Tweetdeck, that is a mix of Flash as well as HTML5, is clunky.

But this is, after all, the exam appurtenance. The Atom processor inside will probably need the boost prior to Chrome OS hardware hits the shelves. Otherwise, people who would otherwise be excited about the fast, web-connected portable powerhouse will be dismayed by a relations miss of flesh.

However, anybody who needs something stable, elementary as well as fully synced that’s now informed out of the box will be gay.

Google’s Gorgeous Cr-48 Notebook Ditches Caps-Lock

admin — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:34:21 +0000

Google’s Chrome OS, voiced Tuesday, comes along with a small something that creates us gadget-freaks pretty vehement: the monolithic, plain-black Cr-48, an Atom cover that will be shipped to comparison developers as well as others as part of Google’s Chrome Pilot Program.

Just look at it. Normally Google’s things have been practical but solid, if not plain ugly. a Cr-48, yet, is gorgeous, coming on some-more similar to a stealth-fighter than a low-powered laptop.

The matt-black box contains the 12-inch screen, weighs 3.8-pounds and sports a full-sized set of keys. It will give 8-hours of make use of upon a single assign and Google says it will foot in 10 seconds, or resume from sleep instantly. There’s the webcam, the trackpad looks like a single of the hulk pads found upon Apple’s MacBooks, as well as the cover ditches a tough drive for flash memory. After all, who needs a lot of storage in the cloud-based OS, especially when a machine packs the global 3G radio along with its Wi-Fi.

But most appropriate of all, Google has killed a Caps-Lock key, the weapon of comment-trolls a world over. No longer will these idiots be able to SHOUT THEIR RETICENT OPINIONS but holding down an additional pass. And the rest of us will no longer have to retype a sentence after incidentally enchanting this undeveloped annoyance. The key is still there, reassigned to trigger poke.

Google has also ditched the traditional row of duty keys, replacing them with a media-keys that most notebooks brew up with a duty keys these days.

The section itself is beautiful. Over at the sister blog, Epicenter, you can find out about the brand-new Chrome OS which it will run, as good as the Chrome Store, from my esteemed co-worker Michael Calore. And if you wish a single of these hot machines? Bad fitness, unless you get really, very lucky as well as have been supposed for the commander module.

With Chrome OS, Google Doubles Down on the Cloud [Epicenter]

Cr-48 Chrome Notebook [Google]

PeeWee Pivot 2.0 Tablet Notebook Official

admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:04:47 +0000

The PeeWee Pivot 2.0 is a convertible cover come inscription who’s shade rotates to emanate your desired device. Its versed with a 10.1 inch shade as well as is accessible in dual fortitude options possibly: 1024 x 600 or the somewhat higher 1366 x 768 fortitude shade.

Powered by an Intel Atom processor as well as has 160GB HDD together wit 2-in-1 SD/MMC memory card reader it has been written to with mount additional difficult love from category mates, with the durable, drop as well as brief resistant construction.

It additionally propitious with a web camera and has integrated UMS Intel graphics and comes with the stout cosmetic case as well as removable carrying hoop. Preinstalled program on a device includes: 15 Educational Games and 2 Security Suites together with Microsoft Windows 7 Starter, Microsoft Works 9.0.

Availalble to squeeze from PeeWee PC for $599

Via Slashgear

Jolibook Netbook Runs Jolicloud OS. Jolly Good

admin — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:53:15 +0000

If you still demand on shopping a hard-to-use, plasticky netbook in these days of poor tablet computers, then you could do the lot worse than opting for a Jolibook. The hardware is a expect same pedestrian, commodity bag-of-chips that creates up any netbook, but a OS is essentially pretty good.

The Jolibook runs a Jolicloud OS which, as you might guess from a name, is an easy-to-use cloud-based OS (built on Linux). I commissioned the beta chronicle of a OS (now upon v1.1) as well as found that it worked good upon a netbook. Jolicloud comes pre-loaded with many all you’ll need (Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, VLC as well as so upon and has a big-icon interface that is undiluted for a small-screen. I even installed it onto the Windows inscription I tested a whilst ago but the miss of touch-screen drivers (since remedied) busted a knowledge.

The dedicated Jolibook, that could be upon sale this month, sports the dual-core Atom N550 processor and the 250GB hard drive (for when you’re not continuous to a cloud cover. The battery is the six-cell indication, as well as a alternative specs, whilst still underneath wraps, should be just a same as any alternative netbook.

Like I pronounced – a OS makes this a single value the look, though if you already have the netbook gathering dust (And really, what else have been they great for?) afterwards you might consider resurrecting it with the giveaway Jolicloud OS alone.

Introducing a Jolibook [Jolicloud]

Photo: Jolicloud/Flickr

Giant Asus ‘Laptop’ Could Crush Desks

admin — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:11:24 +0000

When does a laptop stop to be the laptop? At a guess, we’d contend it should dump a name when it becomes large enough to crush your femurs and it is tough to essentially collect up as well as fist it into an additional room.

Asus clearly didn’t get a memo, as well as its NX90JQ-A1 is outrageous in each way, together with a name. The shade of this “laptop” is an 18.4-inch monster, bigger than a TV you had when I was growing up, and a complete machine measures roughly 22-inches across. It’s complicated, as well, weighing in at 9.4-pounds.

But it’s those speakers that unequivocally pull this appurtenance from plain uncanny to silly. They’re done in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen, as well as are fed by an 11-Watt amp which is apparently powerful enough not to need the apart sub-woofer. Clearly this, along with the 1080p display and a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, make this the semi-portable media-center some-more than a correct cover. The twin 640GB 7,200rpm hard-drives unequivocally infer this, charity copiousness of storage for movies as well as song.

Inside, things are likewise outsized. A 1.6GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core processor is joined by the batch 8GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics card (LAN parties!).

The oddest feature, though, is a trackpad, or rather, trackpads. There have been two of them, a single upon each side, creation this as annoying as the desktop to essentially make use of.

How most does this silly unsteadiness cost? $2,500, and change. And you’d better put in a little income for an prolongation connective tissue, too: a NX90JQ-A1’s battery lasts for reduction than 3 hours, as well as is not removable.

Asus NX90JQ-A1 exam [PC Mag]

HP Ships G62m Notebook Computer

admin — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 11:26:42 +0000

HP has announced that it is right away shipping the brand-new bill notebook in time for a legal holiday selling deteriorate. The brand-new cover is called a HP G62m series and it is the simple appurtenance with the price of $429.99 to start with. The appurtenance has multiform options which will drive a cost up over a starting point.

The notebook runs the variety of Intel Celeron processors with options including the Celeron 900, T3300, and T3500. The cover can be propitious with up to 4GB of IMPEL as well as storage up to 500GB. Graphics have been Intel GMA 4500M with HDMI out as well as VGA outputs.

The screen of a notebook is the 15.6-inch LED backlit unit with a fortitude of 1366 x 768. The visual drive includes an 8x DVD burner or an optional LightScribe enabled drive. Other facilities embody the memory card reader, WiFi, as well as Bluetooth.

AUO Solar Powered Touch Notebook Keyboard

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:25:20 +0000

AUO good know for the LCD manufacturing skills has launched the new 14 inch solar powered touch set of keys notebook.

The notebook is propitious with a specifically written solar panel magnitude just 2.1mm in thickness. The further of a row inside of the cover helps cut the complement power use by up to 20%.

The solar row is built into both a keyboard and notebooks cover on condition that areas to drawing extra energy from natural and artificial light sources even if a cover is closed.

AUO’s brand-new origination will be showcased upon November 10 during a arriving FPD International 2010 during November 10-12 in Chiba, Japan.

Via Engadget