News Bits: Asus Eee PC Hands-on, New Panasonic ToughBooks, Voodoo ENVY M:152 Arrives

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Hands-on with the Asus Eee PC

Image courtesy 3dnews.ru (view large image)

The budget-friendly Asus Eee PC subnotebook has undergone a hands-on test by 3DNews.ru. Their particular Eee PC features a 7-inch widescreen display and a Celeron M ULV processor at 900MHz. It is based on the older Sonoma platform with a 910GMLE Express chipset.

3DNews liked the quality of the display but found its 800x480 resolution to be too low. The sound was flat but no different than a normal laptop. The keyboard and the touchpad received good marks and the Eee PC has plenty of connectivity. Please see the link to read the rest of the review.


15.6-inch widescreen notebook panels in development

A 15.6-inch widescreen notebook LCD panel with a 16:9 aspect ratio is under development by Taiwanese LCD manufacturers AU Optronics (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). Volume production is slated to take place next year. The panel makers are looking to shift from 15.4-inch panels because they are more economical to produce.

Mainstream notebook vendors including Asustek and Acer are designing new notebooks for the panels. HP is working on notebooks with 16-inch panels.

Figures from DisplaySearch say that 15.4-inch notebooks will make up 50 percent of the overall notebook market in 2008.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


More LED notebook screens on the way

LCD panel makers in Taiwan and Korea are becoming more competitive in the LED notebook panel market; the manufacturers are now looking toward 14.1-, 15.4-, and 17-inch widescreen displays with LED backlighting.

Samsung plans to launch a range of 12.1- to 17-inch notebook panels this year and LG.Phillips LCD and Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology are planning to launch 13.3-inch screens.

DisplaySearch states that while the backlight penetration in the notebook market will be less than 5 percent in 2007, it will be 40 percent in 2010.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


Panasonic introduces 7-series Toughbooks

Image courtesy Akihabaranews (view large image)

Panasonic has unveiled their new 7-series line of Toughbooks with models CF-R7, CF-W7, CF-T7, and CF-Y7. The specifications for the models are as follows; all feature the Intel 965GM series chipset, Intel X3100 integrated graphics, Intel 4965AGN wireless card, 1GB of RAM, an 80GB SATA HDD, Bluetooth, and optional HSDPA module.

ToughBook CF-R7: Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 ULV, 10.4-inch LCD

ToughBook CF-W7: Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 ULV, 12.1-inch XGA LCD, DVD drive, 1.280kg

ToughBook CF-T7: Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 ULV, 12.1-inch XGA LCD, DVD drive, 1.385kg (heavier because of Touch Panel in in Europe/US only)

ToughBook CF-Y7: Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 LV, 14.1-inch XGA LCD, 1.550kg

All of the new Toughbooks can withstand a 76cm drop and 100kg of pressure on the case. The keyboards are spill-proof.

Read More (Akihbaranews.com)


Voodoo introduces ENVY M:152 widescreen gaming notebook

Voodoo has introduced their latest gaming notebook, the ENVY M:152. It is based on the latest Intel Santa Rosa platform and features the Intel Core 2 Duo processor up to Extreme X7800, Intel 965 series chipset, and Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN.

The M:152 features a 15.4-inch WSXGA+ (1680x1050) display with matte finish and weighs about 7 pounds with battery. Graphics performance is provided by the Nvidia GeForce 8600M-GT with 512MB of memory. Other features include an integrated 2.0 megapixel webcam, Bluetooth support, fingerprint reader, and the ability to have up to 4GB of RAM.

The ENVY M:152 starts at about $3,310 USD.

Link to Voodoo web page
HP Press Release

Intel wins WiMAX deal with Nokia

Intel has announced they have won a mobile WiMAX chip order from Nokia. Nokia will produce the first WiMAX-enabled Internet tablets using Intel chips during the first half of next year. WiMAX is expected to be five times faster than a typical wireless network.

Read More (NYTimes.com)


Why is the opposition to Vista so strong?

PCWorld is running an article on why the resistance to the new Microsoft Vista operating system is so strong. Vista's main competitior right now is the older XP operating system, which continues to hold its ground.

Dell commits to neutralizing carbon impact

Dell has become the first company to commit to neutralizing the carbon impact of its worldwide operations. Dell continues to extend its environmental policies and has introduced a new &quot;Plant a Forest for Me&quot; for me program, enabling organizations to join together and plant millions of trees. It is an extension of the &quot;Plant a Tree for Me&quot; program.

Dell announced in June that its goal is to become the &quot;greenest technology company on the planet&quot;and is focused on reducing emissions in all parts of its operation, including that of its suppliers. Please see the following link (Direct2Dell.com) for more detailed information on Dell's recent announcement.

Plant a Forest for Me
Plant a Tree for Me

 

Well I was wondering when there was going to be a 16'' notebook for people who cannot decide between 15'' and 17''. Voodoos new notebook looks good, makes me wonder when is Alienware going to make a new M5550 maybe a 16'' notebook?

 

the voodoo is.... expensive

by the time i buy a new notebook in 2010 im guessing 15.6 will be very normal

 

16:9 screens are waaaaay overdo. They really should have been putting these on laptops a long time ago. I'm glad to see a new variety of screen sizes becoming available.

Dell's environmental policy...eh, I view it just as a way to get in the news. I don't see an environmental crisis caused by companies. I see one due to overpopulation, but not companies like Dell.

XP > Vista. I've tried Vista. I find it counter-intuitive, bloated, very slow, have to wonder how many loading screens there really are until the OS actually boots up and does something useful, and encountered some compatibility problems right away. I don't need Vista and I don't want Vista. Microsoft has really been going downhill.

 

what!???! 16:9 now? why do they keeps on changing things... its already confusing with all the 16:10, 16:9, 4:3, 5:4 etc.... now games and app are (just) starting to support 16:10; they now want to change it to 16:9? whats up with that!?

 

More LED = good thing for lappys

 

Didn't they already release some 7 models for the panasonic laptops? I remember the y7 being for sale already.

 

Yeah I don't like this 16:9 thing... I like having some vertical space ya know.

 

Damn,
I bought 10 copies of XP pro to sell for a big profit on ebay once MS stopped selling it. Now they might never stop selling it!

 

Same here, that's why I've been contemplating getting one of these for my desktop.


Wide screens suck for tablets....I want a taller screen that'll be wider when in tablet mode so I can write more finely.

 

Man, you'd have to be a real dumbass to buy a Voodoo.

 

16:10 is a nice format. I'd rather not lose the extra 10% of vertical space, which is how I'm sure they'll do it if they moved to 16:9. 16:10 laptops have resolutions like 1280x800, 1920x1200 etc. The 16:9 equivelent of these is 1280x720 and 1920x1080. I just can't see them giving people more resolution when they can get away with less.

 

So Panasonic finally updates its executive series with Santa Rosa. When my mom is ready to replace her Dell Inspiron e1505, I will seriously consider the Y7 for her.

I've heard bad things about Voodoo. What's so bad about them?

15.6" 16:9 screens: They should have done these years ago when the 16:10 screens started to come out. Other than that, I'm in support for them, though the display market will be very confusing.

LED Screens: The more, the better! Funny how the forum censored Chaz with Matsu****a. LMAO!

Asus Eee PC: Once again, Asus does a fantastic job. It goes to show that Asus can build a good notebook no matter what the price point is.

XP vs. Vista: No surprises here . I do know someone with the same laptop as I do who installed Vista Business, but he still has 1GB RAM. When I asked him how well vista ran, he stated it runs great--no slower than XP. That surprised me, since I've heard that 1GB RAM isn't enough to run Vista well (I know 512MB is the bare minimum, but 2GB is the recommended).

 

any prices or dates on the new toughbooks?

 

They are extremely expensive. I suppose if you have no problem spending the money and want the "premium" experience that they offer . . .

I couldn't find any; I would assume pricing will be very similar. This just looks like a Santa Rosa refresh.

I can't believe I got owned by the word filter for that.

 

I'm glad they're finally coming out with 16:9 panels. I do agree, however, that this will likely result in a drop of resolution for a lot of panels. But who knows, maybe they'll bump 1280x800 up to 1366x768 like a lot of TVs. I personally really like wide view angles.

I'm really excited about LED screens. I can't wait till I can pick up a notebook with one.

As for Vista vs. XP, I tried Vista for about a month (it's actually still dual-booting XP on my computer right now). While I actually found everyday work to be pretty snappy, and applications loaded faster than both XP and Ubuntu, I just couldn't stick with it. The UI just seemed so tacked on, disk transfers were horrible, program incompatibilities abound (Odyssey wireless client, Solid Edge, and MATLAB all are incompatible with Vista at this time). Gaming was horrible. I can run Bioshock demo at full settings 1440x900 in XP. I had to bump it down to 1280x800 in Vista, then it kept stuttering, and load times were terrible. When it would finally load, bugs were everywhere (like people talking but frozen in place, real-time cutscenes freezing altogether, etc...). And my hard drive was always getting thrashed, and my computer seemed to run quite a bit warmer than with XP. I ditched it and am back to good old XP (never thought I'd say that) and will soon replace the Vista partition with Ubuntu 7.10.

 

How is the voodoo any superior to my asus g1s

 

Am I only one who thinks that Voodoo looks conspicuously similar to red-painted IFL90?

 

in price

 

That hardly gives voodoo an advantage, lol

 

WoodGypsy: Thats what it is, so naturally, thats what it would look like.

The 16:9 panels....meh. I don't want to lose the extra 10% vertical space, but it will be cheaper, so its all a trade-off. But I do like the proposed 1366x768 resolution, its better than 1280x800.

 

Very happy to hear about the LED-panel news.

 

For some people it is ad advantage believe it or not.

 

some people just want their laptop to be painted.

we have not seen an COMPAL IFL90 painted so voodoo is doing that.

 

Vista is a big dud. Microsoft better fix it with SP1 or they're in bigger trouble.

 

Do you have an equal amount of scorn for people who drive expensive cars and own expensive houses?

 

Depends on the situation. Some people will buy a Mercedes Benz just because it's a Benz, without considering it's competitors or the actual merit of the car. It's a phallic extension that they believe will add to their image.

I laugh at these people.

In some cases though, expensive cars and expensive houses justify their price, and to the keen buyer I'll applaud them for their purchase. A Ferrari F430 may cost $200,000, but try finding a more involving, more exciting street-going car for less. Some products really are worth the price of admission.

You have to be really careless with your money to throw it at that Voodoo though, when for a good bit less you can get something that will match, if not beat it in terms of performance. It does not look to be a good value at all.