News Bits:Gateway Battery Recall, Intel Processor Roadmap, New Samsung Hard Drives

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Gateway recalls notebook batteries due to risk of fire

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Gateway announced today the voluntary recall of Gateway lithium ion notebook battery packs. According to the CPSC, the battery packs can overheat and pose a fire hazard. About 14,000 of the units have the problem; so far no injuries have been reported.

The battery packs were sold between May 2003 and August 2003. The CPSC recommends that consumers stop using these battery packs immediately and contact Gateway to get a replacement.

Read More (CPSC.gov)


Intel's summer notebook processor roadmap revealed

This summer Intel plans to release several new processors for notebooks. The first group will come on July 8, consisting of the Core 2 Extreme X7800 and the Celeron M 540. On September 2, Intel will release the Core 2 Extreme X7900, Core 2 Duo T7250, T7800, L7700, U2100, U2200, and Celeron M 550.

In addition, two un-announced CPUs, the Core 2 Duo T5450 and T5250, have been spotted in the specifications of Dell's Santa Rosa Inspiron notebooks. The specifications of these processors are detailed in the table below.

Processor Model	Clockspeed (GHz)	Cache	FSB (MHz)	Price
Core 2 Duo Extreme X7900	2.8	4MB	800	$851
Core 2 Duo Extreme X7800	2.6	4MB	800	$851
Core 2 Duo T7800	2.6	4MB	800	$361
Core 2 Duo T7250	2.0	2MB	800	$209
Core 2 Duo T5450	1.66	2MB	667	N/A
Core 2 Duo T5250	1.5	2MB	667	N/A
Core 2 Duo L7700	1.8	4MB	800	$316
Core 2 Solo U2200	1.2	1MB	533	$262
Core 2 Solo U2100	1.06	1MB	533	$241
Celeron M 550	2.0	1MB	533	$134
Celeron M540	1.86	1MB	533	$107

The Ultra Low-Voltage U2200 and U2100 are aimed at ultra-portable laptops along with the Low Voltage L7700.

Read More (Laptoping.com)


Verizon Wireless available on full line of Panasonic Toughbooks

Panasonic and Verizon Wireless today announced that embedded access to the high speed BroadbandAccess network is now available on the broad range of Panasonic Toughbook notebooks. Products now certified to run on the Verizon Wireless Revision A network include the Toughbook 30 notebook, the Toughbook 19 convertible tablet PC, and the Toughbook 74.

Verizon's Revision A network has average download speeds of 600kbps to 1.4 Mbps; average upload speeds range from 500 to 800 kbps. Access to the Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess service requires the purchase of the Sierra Wirreless embedded MC-5725 PCI express card and VZAccess software. The full line of Panasonic Toughbook notebooks is available now nationwide through authorized Panasonic Toughbook resellers and &quot;buy now&quot; partners available on www.panasonic.com/toughbook.


Samsung introduces highest capacity 1.8-inch hard drive

Samsung today introduced its new Spinpoint N2 series 1.8-inch mobile hard drives. They feature the highest capacity available in a 1.8-inch form factor (120GB) and the fastest speed (4200RPM). Samsung claims the N2 series offers the fastest boot times, lowest power consumption, and quietest operation available in 1.8-inch hard drives. The N2 series ranges in capacity from 80GB to 120GB.
According to Andy Higginbotham, director of sales and marketing for Samsung, “The 1.8” HDD market is going to explode over the next few years with annual sales expected to increase up to 65% by 2010 as demand for compact consumer devices continues to grow.&quot;

Read More (BusinessWire.com)


Samsung displays advanced 2.5-inch mobile hard drives

Samsung is showcasing the &quot;industry's most advance line up of 2.5&quot; Hard Disk Drives&quot;; the company's new 2.5&quot; hard drives are being introduced today.

The new 2.5&quot; hard drives include the MH80 hybrid hard drives available in 160GB capacities, and the Spinpoint M5 series which offers single-disk capacities up to 160GB and dual-disk models in 250GB capacities. All of Samsung's new models are shipping now.

The FlashON MH80 hybrid hard disk drive features a 256MB flash memory cache that is optimized to work with Windows Vista notebooks. When used with Microsoft's ReadyDrive software, it offers increased system performance. The MH80 hard drive has a $299 MSRP.

The Spinpoint M5 series hard drives feature a 5,400RPM speed, 1.5Gbps SATA interface, and an 8MB cache. The 250GB model retails for $249.

Read More (BusinessWire.com)

 

well i hope this is just a mistake from Dell's side, because otherwise the new Inspirons won't be any Santa Rosa platform with a 667MHz bus !

 

OK maybe I'm stupid but what is the difference between these 2 other than the name and huge price???

Core 2 Duo Extreme X7800 2.6 4MB 800 $851
Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6 4MB 800 $361

 

They will still be on Santa Rosa's Socket P, just as budget alternatives.

 

Core 2 Duo Extreme X7800 2.6 4MB 800 $851
Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6 4MB 800 $361

whats the difference between these two? the price is more than doubled!

 

The Core 2 Extreme has an unlocked multiplier. Not sure of exactly what it does, but I think its related to overclocking. Also I think the Extreme series of chips has more L3 cache, but thats knowledge from the Pentium 4/D EE chips, so I'm not sure if that still applies now.

What I want to know is, is it a straight jump from 7250 -> 7800, or are the other models still going to be there, with price cuts? And what happened to the ULV Core 2 Duo chips? And I actually first spotted the 1.66GHz T5450 in HP's dv2500/dv6500 release materials.

 

The Celeron M 540 is already available (apparently) from Zepto. What am I missing?

 

Most CPUs have a locked multiplier, meaning that you overclock the CPU to a limited clock speed. Having an unlocked multiplier, allows you to increase the clock speed as much as you want.

It may also have modifications that make it faster, even though it has the same clock speed.

 

Not a whole lot...The computer manufacturers probably already have these chips, but they will not be available to the consumer as retail boxed units (off newegg and such) until July 8/September 2.

Ok, but in addition, haven't all mobile processors had some kind of block against overclocking? (the T7600G from the XPS M1710 excepted)

 

Ah yes - I forgot that they even could be bought alone. Barebone laptops are still a pretty niche market. Thanks for the clarification.

 

So they double the price for the opportunity of overclocking? Hell at that price it should be alot better and still be able to be overclocked to boot.

 

Well, the X7800 and the T7800 will not be sold alongside each other. When the T7800 comes out, the 2.8GHz X7900 will replace the X7800. Imagine that, a 3GHz overclocked laptop....damn.

 

Notice the two extreme chips are priced the same. They are coming in two waves. My guess is that when the 7800 extreme core duo comes out at the exact same price point as the 7600 extreme that they will drop the price on the 7600 and also drop the "extreme" from its name.

 

wow...thats a lot of new chips. weird that the 2 extreme chips are the same price but different speeds. also, how many will actually drop 3X the amount of cash to over clock at their own risk?

 

As noted those CPUs are budget versions, which have reduced FSB frequencies. It was the same with the previous Centrino Duo platform, which had a 667MHz bus. The budget CPUs - Core Duo T2250, etc - had 533MHz FSBs.

The release date is the difference - the early adopters will be offered the X7800 in July; the T7800 and the faster X7900 will not come out until September. That is why the prices for the two Extreme processors are the same - they won't be offered at the same time. The prices listed are the initial prices only. I would assume the X7800 will be reduced in price upon the release of the X7900.

Zepto probably jumped the gun.

 

What socket are the 7250 and 7800 on? Socket P?

Josh