News Bits: Fujitsu FMV-U8240 Introduced, Turning a Notebook into Tablet, Halo 3

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Fujitsu introduces FMV-U8240 UMPC

Images courtesy DailyTech

Fujitsu today announced its FMV-U8240 UMPC, which the company claims is the world's smallest. It weighs 1.3 lbs and its dimensions are 6.73&quot; x 5.24&quot; x 1.26&quot;. Battery life is four hours with the standard battery and 8 hours with the extended.

Specifications include:

• 5.6-inch 1024x600 display
• Built-in keyboard
• Intel A110 (800MHz) CPU
• 20GB HDD
• Fingerprint scanner
• USB port
• SD, CompactFlash slot
• 802.11g WLAN

There is no Bluetooth option offered. The lower-end model comes with Windows XP Professional and 512MB of DDR2 RAM, while the two higher end ones come with 1GB, Windows XP Professional or Windows Vista Business.

The XP-equipped models will be available in June and the Vista model in early July. In Japan, the prices are listed as $1,195 for the base model and $1,362 for the 1GB models.

Read More (DailyTech.com)

Fujitsu prepares 250GB 2.5-inch hard drive

Fujitsu today announced that it is developing the new MHY2 Series notebook hard drive with up to 250GB of capacity. Fujitsu did not say what the spindle speed would be.

The company plans on having the drives available in Q2 2007.

Read More (DailyTech.com)

Turn your notebook into a Tablet PC

Navisis, a Korean company, is introducing its &quot;Laptop Tablet&quot; unit, which slips onto the side of a laptop's LCD and gives the user the ability to write directly onto the screen with a stylus. Included software calibrates the battery powered stylus to recognize your screen.

There is no word on how well this device will work with a regular LCD screen, but it's still a great idea for getting the best of both the notebook and tablet worlds. It will be available for $130, however there is no information on a release date.

Read More (TabletPCReview.com)

Quanta expects higher shipments of notebooks in May

Quanta Computer is expecting to ship a higher amount of notebooks in May than it shipped in April according to a DigiTimes report. The company shipped 2.2 million notebooks in April according to the company.

Company president Michael Wang predicted that notebook shipments are likely to exceed Quanta's original target of 25 million units and reach 26 million, which is almost 30% of the global predicted sales of 95 million notebooks this year.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

WaterField Designs announces custom laptop sleeves for new HP notebooks

WaterField Designs announced that it has custom-fit laptop SleeveCases available for eleven of the new HP notebooks announced last week; two more will be available in June. There are cases for everything from the ultra-light Tablet PC to the 20-inch entertainment notebook.

The SleeveCase is a durable notebook sleeve made out of ballistic nylon with a neoprene interior. View our SleeveCase review here.

The basic SleeveCase price is $39.00 - $41.00. Optional accessories include adding a front flap ($15.00), a suspension shoulder strap and D-rings ($18.00), and the Piggyback pouch ($22.00).

Find the WaterField Designs custom sizing chart here for the new HP notebooks.

Link to Press Release

Microsoft plans Halo 3 release September 25

Microsoft has announced that Halo 3 will be released on September 25. Halo is the company's biggest video game franchise, and since the original Halo was released in 2001, it has sold more than 14 million copies. Halo 2 generated over $100 million in 24 hours.

Microsoft is hoping that Halo 3 will increase the Xbox 360's momentum. It will not be playable on Sony's Playstation 3 console. Microsoft has already started a publicity campaign for the game.

There is no word on whether or not there will be a PC version.

Read More (NYTimes.com)

 

That tablet thing is a bit... chunky. Interesting, but I think it's rather hard to write vertically (I HATE writing on chalk boards. This is no different, except everytime you write, the screen will go backwards). I don't see it as practical.

 

I doubt any system would recognise my fast and furious handwriting

Yay for higher HD capacities!
Yay for WaterField... but then that takes money away from buying DVDs...

And all the Halo fanbois are funny tonight. No beta and all crying

 

Lol the tablet replacement is curious. I don't think it would be all that pratical but it would be fun to dry out. Really one of my concerns would be scratching or damaging my screen with it because normal LCDs are not designed to be written on and there are those out their; I'm guilty, who tend to write with some pressure.

Oh and the Fujitsu looks hot.

 

While I really like the look of that new Fujitsu UMPC, I can't help but point out two things:
-5.6" screen - that's insanely small, especially considering it has a 1024x600 resolution.
-800MHz CPU - that may be fast enough to get by in Windows XP, but I can't imagine Vista on that. My Pentium M 1860MHz is overloaded in Vista and hangs all the time. Even basic productivity applications would probably crawl on that machine.

 

I said it looks cool. =P I never said it would be sufficient for even my cat's computing needs.

 

You're missing a trick Less concern about technological developments and more about how to exploit this cat [evil]

 

That tablet thing is interesting, and for those that are worreid about screen damage should get a screen protector. If it works, and it isn't too bulky, I wouldn't mind. I would kill for an Asus A8Js plus tablet capabilities.....

 

The tablet unit is a nice idea but it isn't easy for a couple of reasons :

1st a rigid screen protector is a must like any tablet pc has .
2nd calibaration might be a problem .

But most important , even if it works prefectly it would be very uncomfortable to write on the tilted lid which has no support and might get demaged .

IMHO nobody managed to get even a "real" tablet pc right just yet .

 

i feel that the sleeves for the hp are quite a welcome addition by hp customers like myself
but the pricing would drive many off im sure
but then again if it would protect your investment it would be worth it

halo 3 on september 25th sounds good too theyd probably be using DX10 even if it does come into the pc arena

 

I doubt that will be the case - more likely, just with every tabletPC, you will be able to rotate the screen around ontop of the keyboard and will eb able to write flat

 

The new Fujitsu UMPC looks interesting. Putting Vista on there instantly turns me away from it. XP will do just fine since I've gotten it running stable on as slow as a 300 MHz Pentium II with 92 MB of RAM. I hope that Vista's flaws and weight doesn't kill off the UMPC market.

The tablet conversion...eh...just get a Wacom tablet. I'd be really concerned about damaging my LCD panel by using that conversion system. Even the slightest touch causes this LCD to bubble/ripple.

As for Halo 3...I have a feeling it's not going to live up to peoples' expectations even remotely. Personally, I find it comical that Halo 2 is about to get released for the PC and people are even considering it. It's 3 years old! I'm sure when Halo 3 gets released for the PC they'll hold it for the OS after Vista. Halo is a good franchise, but there's plenty of other ones to pick from.

 

Halo 3 is news? Maybe if they announced it for PC, yeah...

 

I think this Fujitsu is the best of the UMPC concepts that I've seen. For my purposes of replacing a Clie TH55, it looks like a winner. but, is it a touch screen?

Tony

 

Just found the answer to my question, that is IF a picture really is worth a thousand words:

 

Not the game, but the release date.