Notebook Sleuth » Screen Size

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.

The Gaming Netbook: The AlienWare M11X

Derek — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:40:29 +0000

Laptops aren’t usually designed to be big-time gaming devices; they’re mostly for business and portable office application, but the Alienware M11x may change that. They’re a company that has produced high-end systems and laptops for years now, and their latest announcement will shake up what traditional ‘netbooks’ can do.

This one starts with a high-res 11″ display and can play all games and media in HD at 720p, unusual for any kind of netbook.

The annoying thing: Alienware has not released full specs on the M11x. They did say that you can connect it to your HDTV for maximum carnage visibility, and a six+ hour battery will be included. The Alienware M11x will sell for around the sub-$1,000 mark, a real steal for any system from this company. Look for it at retail around summer time or so.

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.

Wal-Mart’s Big Gamble?: The Mirius Netbook

Derek — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:12:34 +0000

Yes, Wal-Mart is a large company that has conquered the globe with their ultra low prices, but their own netbooks? Apparently, they may be giving it a shot with their new line of netbooks designed for bargain prices and basic usage being released soon.

The line is called the Mirius, and here’s the basic specs: A 10.2″ LCD display, 1GB RAM, and a decent sized 120GB hard drive, along with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 3-cell battery, and Microsoft Windows XP, three USB ports, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a VGA output, and an SD card slot.

Not bad for its suggested $248 price tag, we’d say. Time will tell if it proves to be a popular line with consumers, with extreme power being so inexpensive these days.

Great Laptop Deal: HP HDX 18t Laptop

Derek — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:08:57 +0000

You wanna talk nice deals? How about this:

LogicBUY is up with another sale, this time they’re offering you this HP HDX18t laptop for just $899.99 shipped (original price $1,449.99). So here’s what you get, an 18.4-inch 1920 x 1080p HP Ultra BrightView infinity HD display, an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz processor, Free upgrade to 4GB RAM, Free upgrade to 500GB hard drive, a Blu-ray drive, WiFi, Bluetooth and Windows 7 OS.

Amazing deal indeed one of the nicest laptops we’ve seen to date. Courtesy of Techfresh.net and LogicBUY. Just more of an indication of how fast and far powerful laptop prices have fallen.

Subsidies are Good: Verizon/Gateway join up on a netbook PC

Derek — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:10:30 +0000

It’s the flavor of the year: wireless companies joining up with notebook companies to bring great low prices to computers with contract deals. Yet another very nice deal launched recently with Verizon and Gateway.

Verizon is poised to release the Gateway LT2016U (which to be fair, is the Acer Aspire One D250 with Gateway clothing over it).

Features: a 10.1-inch display with 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard disk drive, webcam, and Microsoft Windows XP Home (standard on many netbooks nowadays). It also has a Qualcomm Gobi 3G module which supports internally both CDMA EVDO and EDGE/UMTS/HSPA 3G data courtesy of Verizon.

The Gateway LT2016U will be priced at $249.99 after $100 rebate with 2-year contract agreement, so there’s a bit of a “catch”, but the price is tough to beat.

Slim Fast (not the drink): ‘World’s Thinnest’ Notebook HP ProBook 5310m

Derek — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:25:53 +0000

Let’s face it; thin in very in with most gadgets these days from TVs to music players, to notebooks definitely. HP has taken this to a new level with their upcoming HP ProBook 5310m, which they’ve dubbed the World’s Thinnest Notebook.

Measuring only 0.9-inch thin and weighing in at only 3.7 pounds, HP latest creation is called the world’s thinnest full-performance notebook (not a netbook, mind you).

Featuring an aluminum display enclosure (for street cred, no doubt) and a magnesium alloy case for the bottom, this ultra-stylish, skinny machine sports a 13.3-inch LED display, an option of either Intel Core 2 Duo or Intel Celeron processor (price difference), up to 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, 2MP webcam, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 4 cell battery and Windows 7 OS too. Sounds good to us.

The ProBook 5310m will begin shipping in the US to stores on October 22 for $699 (Intel Celeron) up to $899 with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor (recommended by us).

Upcoming: Small is in with the new Sony VAIO X

Derek — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:32:19 +0000

Light and portable are the watchwords for laptops these days, and it seems Sony has taken notice with the rumors of a super thin, ultra-light laptop that is soon to be released into the marketplace.

Sony recently showed off its ‘VAIO X’ during IFA 2009 conference. No intimate details at the moment on pricing or exact availability, but it will feature an 11.1″ screen, and a brand new “all-day” battery design exclusive to this line. It also looks really small and slick.

We’ll keep an eye on developments as they come in, and let you know more about this cool new laptop.

Good Things Come in Small Packages: The Samsung Ultra-Thin X520 Notebook

Derek — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:40:07 +0000

Samsung is famous for their interesting change-ups on traditional notebook design principles, and this one: their newest ultra-thin and light notebook they’re readying for launch, the Samsung X520, isn’t any exception. It uses less power and weighs less too than most notebooks.

Based on the Intel’s Consumer Low Voltage (CULV) platform released not too long ago, the new X520 includes a decent sized 15.6-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, a 1.3GHz Core 2 Solo SU2700 CPU, 4GB RAM, a nice sized 320GB hard drive, webcam, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI output port, 6-cell battery and Windows Vista Home Premium too.

Pricing or exact release date haven’t been released, but the grapevine is telling us it’ll list around €699 ($1,004 USD or so).

Mickey Would Approve: The Disney Notebook by Asus

Derek — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:52:00 +0000

Licensed laptops aren’t very common, but sometimes they make an appearance and you just know at least one unlucky person/parent will end up having to buy it. This is just such a gadget: The Disney Notebook, made by Asus, a popular notebook manufacturer.

Available in two glorious color schemes: “Magic Blue” and the shown “Princess Pink”, the netbook will include “intuitive and fun applications” as well as “safety features” to keep kids safe on the web as well.

The Disney netbook includes a solid 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 160GB hard drive or 16GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, a 8.9-inch (1024×600) LCD screen (kinda on the small side), and Windows XP OS. It’s decent, but not extraordinary as far as specs go, but that’s not why kids will want it, needless to say.

It’ll retail at only $350 or so, which will allow parents to get off (somewhat) easily price wise.