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NOTEBOOK PC PC : DISCUSSION

What WePC Dreams Are Becoming Reality?
Posted in Notebook PC | June 22, 2009 10pm

In the eight months that WePC is online, everybody gave lots of ideas on how portable computers could improve. In this relatively short period of time we’ve seen some ideas we discussed here becoming reality. For example:

Laptop for kids:

ASUS has just announced a netbook sponsored by Disney targeted to kids called Netpal, with Disney-themed features. Before that, PeweePC has also launched a similar product, although not officially endorsed by any major studio.

Laptop with two screens:

A company called gScreen announced a product with this feature.

Very high-end gaming laptop:

Alienware released M17x, a laptop where you can have two high-end GeForce GTX 260M or GTX280M graphics processor units, being more powerful than most desktops. The problem is the price. A fully loaded M17x costs USD 5,600. OUCH.

Laptop with detachable keyboard:

A company called Always Innovating announced an inexpensive netbook with this feature. The problem of this specific product it that it will only run Linux or Windows CE.

Mechanism for changing the height of the laptop screen:

Another idea we discussed here that was added on this netbook from Always Innovating.

GAMER PC PC : DISCUSSION

The most powerful gaming laptop ever: Alienware M17x
Posted in Gamer PC | June 8, 2009 6am

Alienware, now part of Dell, is a company focused on high-end gaming systems and last week they released what they are calling “the most powerful 17” gaming laptop in the universe”. And they are not kidding: this laptop features three graphics processing units, a feature not found even on most desktops.

From these three GPUs, two are the high-end GeForce GTX 280M working under SLI mode, and one is the GeForce 9400M. This way if you are not playing games you can turn off the two GeForce GTX 280M and work on the more battery-friendly GeForce 9400M. This technology is called HybridPower. You can, however, order two GeForce GTX 260M or even a single GeForce GTX 260M if you think that having SLI on a laptop is too much.
This portable is equipped with an Intel mobile CPU and you can choose from a Core 2 Duo P8600 (2.4 GHz dual-core with 3 MB cache) all the way up to a Core 2 Extreme QX9300 (2.53 GHz quad-core with 12 MB cache).You can order it with 4 GB, 6 GB or 8 GB of DDR3 memory, and you can choose between 1,067 MHz and 1,333 MHz clock rates.
For storage you can choose either 7,200 rpm hard disk drives (usually laptops come with 5,400 rpm models, which are slower but consume less power) or SSD’s and can even order your laptop with a RAID0 system to increase performance.
It comes with a 17”display and you can choose between a 1440 x 900 and a 1920 x 1200 model.
And of course it has all sorts of high-end gadgets, like an illuminated keyboard, Bluetooth, eSATA port, Firewire port, HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs, 5.1 surround audio, Gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 802.11n wireless networking, optional TV tuner and more.


The drawback is obviously weight and price. The most basic model weights 11.68 Lbs (5.3 Kg) and costs USD 1,800.
We built the most high-end model we could (two GeForce GTX 280M, Core 2 Extreme QX9300, 8 GB DDR3-1333, two 256 GB SSD’s in RAID0, 1920x1200 17” display, Blu-Ray player, TV tuner, Windows Vista Ultimate) and the price is obviously jaw-dropping: USD 5,600. OUCH!
Detailed information about this beast can be seen at http://www.allpowerful.com.

NETBOOK PC PC : DISCUSSION

Will the USD 299 Netbook Fly?
Posted in Netbook PC | June 1, 2009 9pm

A company called Always Innovating is promising in the past couple of months the release of a netbook with detachable keyboard and 10 to 15 hours of battery life for only USD 299. What is the catch?
The trick to get such low price and battery life is on the components chosen. First it uses a Texas Instruments OMAP3 chip, which is practically an entire computer inside a single integrated circuit, including processor, memory controller and video controller. The drawback is that it doesn’t run Windows XP or Vista, you will have to be happy with the Linux-based Touch Book OS (which will still be a beta version when the netbook arrives at the market), but you can install other flavors of Linux or even Windows CE.
No hard disk drive is used: storage is based on an 8 GB micro SD flash memory card. And who can live with only 8 GB these days? It can be replace with a bigger model, though.
Touch Book will have an 8.9” touchscreen display with 1024 x 600 resolution and will measure 9.4" x 7" x 1.4" (23.9 x 17.8 x 3.5 cm) and weight only 2 Lbs (900 g). Other hardware specs include six USB 2.0 ports, with three of them being internal (so they don’t take up space around the product) and one of them using the mini format, a 3D acelerometer (like the iPhone and Mac laptops), support for Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11b/g/n wireless networking standards.
From the hardware specs this product looks like more Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC gadget – which so far has been nothing more than a buzz, by the way – than a real netbook.
The design of the product, on the other hand, is striking. The keyboard can be entirely removed from the product, transforming it into a small touch-based computer – or a big fridge magnet, as the manufacturer suggests. You can also operate the screen at a different height, as shown on the picture.



 

Only time will tell whether this innovative idea will be successful or not. What do you think? Would you buy this netbook?

NOTEBOOK PC PC : DISCUSSION

Install an SSD and Improve Your Laptop Speed, Reliability and Battery Life – Part 2
Posted in Notebook PC | May 25, 2009 11am

Last week we discussed the advantages of SSDs over standard hard disk drives. Today we are going to tell you exactly how to replace your laptop hard disk drive with an SSD.

After you bought you SSD (remembering that you need to buy a unit with the same physical size of your current hard disk drive, 2.5” or 1.8”), you need to copy what is inside your HDD to your SSD. This will include the operating system, all programs and data.
Another option is to simply replace the drives and install the operating system and programs from scratch, but you will need to have all required CDs (operating system, drivers, programs, etc) and your portable must have an optical drive. This option can be tricky especially if you decide to install Windows XP, because several laptops that come with Windows Vista don’t come with drivers for Windows XP (and they are not even available on the manufacturer’s website). The bad thing about this is that on some laptops Windows XP doesn’t recognize the hard disk drive. The solution for this is to create a new Windows XP installation CD including the chipset drivers for Windows XP – so during installation using this CD Windows would be able to detect the hard disk drive and proceed with the installation. This can be done with a program called nLite (http://www.nliteos.com).
Since laptops have only one hard disk drive port, you cannot use your portable to copy data from your HDD to your SSD, as you won’t be able to install the two of them at the same time. The good news is that current laptop HDDs and SSDs is that they all use SATA interface, meaning that they can be installed on your desktop without the need of any kind of adaptor. So the easiest way for copying the contents of one drive to the other is to plug both of them on your desktop and then run a cloning program to copy data from one drive to the other.
The installation is very easy. First you need to remove your laptop hard disk drive: open the HDD compartment, remove the available screws and then remove the drive. This must be done with the laptop turned off (to make sure, take it from the wall and remove its battery before doing this).
You will need two SATA cables (look for them in your motherboard box, you probably have some spare cables there). With the computer turned off, look for empty SATA ports on your motherboard and attach the devices using the cables. Don’t forget to connect them to the power supply as well. You must keep your desktop hard drive installed and boot from it. After Windows is loaded, you should see the laptop HDD and the SSD listed in My Computer (or Computer, in Windows Vista).
The next step is running a cloning program like Norton Ghost (http://www.symantec.com/nort on/ghost) or Partition Master (http://www.partition-tool.co m) and instruct the program to copy everything that is on your laptop HDD to your new SSD.After finish copying, install the SSD on your portable and that’s it.