Notebook Sleuth » Brand

Slickness Personified: The new line of Sony VAIO

Derek — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:56:03 +0000

Sony’s laptops have been known for two things: slick design and (previously) rather high price tags for the specs you get (see: previous Sony post). Here, Sony seems to have gotten better with both.

Sony today announced and will soon make available for sale two new units for the VAIO Z Series: the VAIO VPCZ11Z9E and VAIO VPCZ11X9E.

The Sony VAIO VPCZ11Z9E includes Core i7-620m CPUs from 2.66GHZ up to 3.33GHZ in speed, and include a hefty 6GB of DDR3 RAM each, a 13.1 inch (1920 x 1080) LED screen that sounds pretty nice and a 256GB Quad SSD as well for ultra fast seek times.

Meanwhile, the Sony VAIO VPCZ11X9E features Core i7-620m processors from 2.4GHz to 2.93GHZ in horsepower and 4GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB Quad SSD, and a 13.1-inch (1600 x 900) LED.

Expect these in stores/websites around mid-March 2010 and average around the $1,000 mark or so, which is tame compared to previous Sony pricing models.

A Shot Across the Netbook Waters: The Gateway LT2102H

Derek — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:04:31 +0000

Gateway joined the mass market netbook parade officially with the release of their new model, the LT2102H, only in Canada for now. It’s assumed it will go elsewhere if it does well. It’s available at Future Shop, a vendor in Canada.

It is scheduled to start at the $299.99 mark, this entry-level ultra-portable laptop will features a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LED screen, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, a Intel GMA 3150 graphics card built-in, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, webcam, WiFi, a 3-cell battery and Windows 7 Starter OS.

It’s slick but fairly basic, but the price tag is very suitable for most any budget, a welcome cry for Gateway fans across Canadian waters.

CPU Envy: The HP Envy 15 15-1050NR Laptop

Derek — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:43:47 +0000

HP’s rep in the PC industry has been taking some hits recently (mostly in the reliability category), but they make some really slick laptops, you have to admit. This latest in the Envy line is one example in point.

HP has announced the upcoming release of the 15-1050NR, a model in their Envy 15 laptop line designed to do most of what a desktop can do, and is one of the more powerful laptops we’ve yet covered.

Street priced around $1,999 (you can find it lower in some outlets no doubt), this slick notebook specs include: 15.6-inch LED-backlit Brightview 1080p display, a powerful Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz processor, 1GB ATI Radeon HD 4830 graphics card, 6GB DDR3 RAM, roomy 500GB HDD, a unique NightVision webcam, external USB DVD+/-RW, WiFi, 6-cell Polymer battery, a secondary 9-cell battery included too, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit included as well.

Thin Reasoning: The Dell Vostro V13 Laptop

Derek — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:43:36 +0000

Dell is always good for some slim and slick designs for their desktops and laptops, and this is no exception, for certain. It’s a economical and ultra-take on the traditional power business laptop, the Vostro V13 line.

It’s thin all right: measuring only 16.5mm thick and weighing an absurdly light 4 lbs, this wafer rocket includes a decent sized 13.3-inch 1366 x 768 LED-backlit screen, a Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor (for power savings), an Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card (the top among the integrated cards), roomy 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, a 1.3MP webcam, Bluetooth, and MS’s Windows 7 OS.

Price starts at around $449, so even the most budget minded can carry around something pretty modern and nice to do their business on.

Long-Lasting Goodness: Acer 2010 Aspire Timeline 3810TG Notebook

Derek — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:05:55 +0000

Battery life is a frequent complain of laptops in general, and for some reason, Acer laptops in particular. The company is listening, it appears, because their newest line improves big time on that aspect.

Acer announced its new 2010 Aspire Timeline 3810TG series – to be sold first in the Korean market, according to reports. The specs as reported are pretty nice as well, including Intel’s latest CPU marvel.

The laptop includes Intel’s latest Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor packaged with 4GB DDR3 RAM, a roomy (for a laptop anyway) 320GB hard disk drive, an ATI Radeon HD4330 graphics card and Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

It’s got the thinness many desire these days too, measuring less than 1-inch thick and its easy to tote around too, weighing 1.7kg. The 3810TG also supports a 13.3-inch HD display with 1366 x 768 resolution and the aforementioned long-life 9-cell battery pack that provides up to 12 hours of operation time.

The Acer 2010 Aspire 3810TG Series is priced at 1,000,000 Won or approx. $866 USD, a very competitive price tag considering its features.

Big Time: The Acer Aspire 5739G-MX24

Derek — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:02:12 +0000

Acer is slowly moving into the higher end laptop market after spending a lot of time in the lower-end shopping channel/netbook sector. They’ll try their hand first in Japan with the new Aspire 5739G-MX24. The specs are mighty impressive for a laptop.

Specs include a 15.6″ LCD display and packing a powerful Intel Core 2 Duo P8800 2.66GHz processor, this one means business for nearly any kind of use you could think of.

Graphics are powered by a NVIDIA GeForce GT 240M 1GB card, and packing 4GB RAM, a 500GB hard drive, a 5.1 channel speaker and has Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OS.

It’ll be up for purchase in Japan very soon (if not already available) for 119,800 Yen (about $1,384 USD).

The Magic Touch: Dell goes touchscreen with its new laptop line

Derek — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:58:01 +0000

Dell is actually a company that has resisted the move to touchscreen technology…until now with their new Studio line, which will feature new touchscreen technology. Dell has upgraded the Studio 17 laptop line with a multitouch display.

The new model specs: a 17.3-inch 1,600 x 900 screen, 4-8GB of DDR3 memory (depending on the model), processors ranging from the very nice 2.1GHz Intel Dual Core T4300 to a powerful Intel Core i7, the Intel GMA 4500HD graphics card which is supposed to be pretty strong, 1TB HDD, and Microsoft Windows 7 OS.

Additional bonuses include WiFi, USB 2.0/e-SATA port with power share, HDMI port, and two USB 2.0 ports, among other amenities. It’ll ship to stores on or around December 4th and start at $899.

Sexy (Laptop) Back: The Acer Ferrari Laptop

Derek — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:33:16 +0000

The UK market was introduced to the slick, sexy lines and color of the licensed Acer Ferrari laptop awhile back now, and now there’s news it’ll be introduced to the US market quite soon. Not only does it look nice, but the specs are equally

The specs for the Acer Ferrari One include: AMD’s Athlon X2 L310 processor running at 1.2GHz with an ATI Radeon 3200 integrated graphics chip, a 4GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, a six-cell battery and Windows 7 OS. No word on pricing for the US release, but expect $1,000+ price tag or so, and it sounds like it would be worth it.

Expect the arrival to be in the next month or so.

Price and Looks: The Sony VAIO Nebula FW

Derek — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:52:48 +0000

Sony always had nice looking laptops, even if early models were pricey and not super reliable, it seemed. It appears Sony has put those days behind them as they unveil the Sony VAIO Nebula FW into their catalog.

It’s mega-slick, stylish, and has some muscle behind it to back up the looks. Specs include: a 16.4-inch LCD display, a Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB graphics card, (up to) 8GB RAM (default is 4GB), your choice of a 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD, Blu-ray drive, Bluetooth and Windows 7 OS. Now that’s a package that can take on pretty much anything.

This slick unit starts at around $809.99.

Slim Chance: The LG Win7 Ultra-Thin X-Note Notebooks

Derek — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:06:47 +0000

LG makes really good TVs, electronic devices, and other great gadgets, and now they make notebook computers (they have been for a few years actually). They newest line of X-Note notebooks are super thin and pack the latest MS OS Windows 7, and are better than ever.

The shiniest and newest X-Note T380 features strong specs, including a 13.3-inch LED-backlighted display with an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor (one of the top of the line models), 4GB RAM, Intel’s newest GMA 4500MHD graphics, and a 500GB HDD.

Meanwhile, the LG X-Note P510, the upscale version, comes with your choice of either a 64GB SSD or a 500GB HDD, an Intel Core 2 Duo T9800 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, and the powerful nVidia GeForce GT 130M with 512MB of RAM.

Both are strong contenders for powerhouses for any type of use, and prices/availability weren’t immediately released.