Notebook Sleuth » Software

Playing Games: The iBuyPower Battalion Touch CZ-10 Gaming Notebook

Derek — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:32:10 +0000

iBuyPower is a small company that makes larger powered specialty systems (similar to Alienware) and has been around for a little while now. They’re launching a new gaminjg targeted line shortly, and here’s more about it.

The company is now taking pre-orders for the Battalion Touch CZ-10 Gaming Notebook, targeted with a fast processor for maximum gaming enjoyment. It starts at around $999, which is fairly competitive, and it includes a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 touchscreen, a powerful 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile P8700 Dual-Core processor, the also strong ATI Radeon HD 4650 512MB graphics card, 2GB DDR3 SDRAM (this could stand some bulking up, to be honest), 250GB hard drive (see last spec note), 2MP webcam, a DVD burner, WiFi and Windows 7 Home Premium OS as well.

Good package, fair price.

Like a Dream: The Dreambook Light U11

Derek — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:07:29 +0000

Pioneer Computers is a small outfit in Australia that happens to be the leading producer of PCs in the region, and they’re making a splash in the notebook arena with their newest line, The DreamBook Light U1.

Design is expected to be mighty slick as you can see, and specs are reported to include: a 11.6-inch display, the requisite (these days) Intel dual core SU2300 or SU4100 processor and 4GB of RAM. Plenty to run pretty much anything.

Additional features round out the solid offering: Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel Webcam, 3 USB ports and memory card reader. The DreamBook Light U11 will sell for $630, which is fairly average for this type of notebook.

Dressed Up: The Packard Bell Dot VR46 Valentino Rossi Edition Laptop

Derek — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:46:33 +0000

Once upon a time, Packard Bell made computers. Back then, they weren’t considered a premium brand, to put it mildly. Nowadays, their computers tend to be more stylized and consumer friendly (and more reliable), and this newest release announcement is no exception.

Packard Bell today made the release of a slick new laptop for Valentino Rossi fans, the Packard Bell Dot VR46 Valentino Rossi edition. It appears as though they assume many users won’t care about the specs, and that could be true of something this stylishly unique.

No specs were announced with the release, but rumors are swirling already that its a Packard Bell Dot M/U, itself a rebadged version of the Acer Aspire 1410. If that rumor holds up, it’ll include a Intel CULV processor, the newest Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card, and a 11.6-inch display. We’ll let you know if that spec changes.

Mega Cheap: The $80 EasyPC E790 Netbook

Derek — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:02:54 +0000

We’ve heard of low-priced laptops, but this one from MenQ is just a little ridiculous, we think. It starts at only $80, and you do get $80 worth of hardware admittedly, but still….this is something we thought our readers would want to check out.

The EasyPC E790 from MenQ is officially the cheapest netbook in the market right now, and it may support Android in the future too, so hold on to your hats.

Specs are fairly low end: a 400MHz processor, a 7-inch 800 x 480 display, full keyboard, 128MB RAM, 2GB of storage and runs on Windows CE 5.0 OS, so it’s not something to use if your needs are more than basic.

The company is also planning a Google Android firmware update very soon, so it’ll support the next-gen open source mobile OS with little trouble.

Here’s a video with more info, if you can get past the slightly cheesy narrator:

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.

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.

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.

A “Clear” Choice: The Acer Aspire One D250 with HD screen

Derek — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 20:28:30 +0000

Watching movies seems to be a new thing for laptops, thus the run on HD level screens on laptops of late. Acer has themselves released a new notebook with an HD screen as well with very solid stats.

The codenamed Aspire One D250 netbook has a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution as opposed to 1024 x 600 typical of this level of of laptop. We welcome the trend, as the previous resolutions weren’t suitable for games and the like.

While, the rest of the specs remain solid: 1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB RAM, roomy 160GB HDD, webcam, and also in a welcome inclusion: Windows XP SP3 OS and a 6-cell battery for slightly longer battery life.

Apparently, this one is already out for pre-order in Norway and should be available in more territories by August or so.

Beastly Gaming Laptop: The Maingear eX-L 18

Derek — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:56:35 +0000

If you’re looking for a powerful laptop that can do pretty much anything a desktop can do (and more in some cases), your search is over, assuming you have deep pockets.

Called the World’s most powerful gaming laptop (according to the maker), Maingear’s eX-L 18 has an Intel Core 2 Extreme quad processor (that’s 4 cores, folks) and dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M GPUs. This should tackle any sort of game with vigor.

The powerhouse also comes with an 18.4-inch full HD display with 1920 x 1080 resolution (that’s true HD), up to 8GB DDR3 memory (the fastest memory around right now), 3x 2.5? SATA SSDs, a 3MP webcam, a 7.1 channel audio system. Other inclusions: Windows Vista, WiFi, Bluetooth and and FireWire, among other connective ports.

The price befits a beast like this: The Maingear eX-L 18 starts at $2,999.