You may have noticed that HP unleashed a torrent of laptops today, but at the heart of it all, even more crucial than those Ultrabooks and business laptops, are the notebooks Hewlett-Packard plans to sell to college kids during the all-important back-to-school season.
This go-round, the company’s redesigned both its mainstream Pavilion dv series, as well as its entry-level “g” laptops, though the range of sizes (14 to 17 inches) is pretty predictable. In addition, the outfit also introduced the Pavilion m6, a slim 15-incher that isn’t technically an Ultrabook, but nonetheless joins a growing group of thin-and-lights with unexpectedly large screens. Throughout, as you’d expect, HP’s refreshed its laptops on the inside too — namely, with newer Intel and AMD chips, along with fresher GPUs.
Nothing stokes the emotional coals like slow-mo drops of water and orchestral strings. That’s at least what the team behind this ASUS promo video seem to think. Amidst the melodrama there are actually a few new nuggets of info about the rained-on N-series Notebook. There’s “SonicMaster Premium” sound from Bang and Olufsen on board, which the firm claims should please the pickiest of ears, and full HD wide-view screens. A backlit keyboard and fancy touch pad are also shown off, with the latter matching the aspect ratio of the screen for “intuitive control.” The claimed (up to) two-week standby time should please the infrequent user, while the impatient will like the two second wake-up time. Whether it’ll have Oscar-winning performance to match the video, however, is yet to be known.
This is a vaguely awkward message for NVIDIA to be putting out. On one hand, the company is best buddies with Intel and is hoping to see its next-gen GPUs bundled with a large portion of the Ivy Bridge notebooks that will ship this year. But to reach that target, it must risk irking Chipzilla by emphasizing the limitations of Ivy Bridge’s integrated graphics. That’s exactly what happened at a recent presentation, when NVIDIA told us there’ll be “nothing Ultra” about the performance of a regular Ivy Bridge Ultrabook because the integrated HD 4000 graphics will only handle around 43 percent of current games. By contrast, if you add in a GeForce GT 640M you’ll find that 100 percent of current games are playable with frame rates over 30fps and high detail settings, including Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Crysis 2 and many others. If you leave the lightweight Ultrabook spec behind and combine Ivy Bridge with a GT 670M GPU then you can go even higher — as we just discovered in our review of the MSI’s GT70 gaming laptop. Fortunately, Intel was pretty magnanimous about HD 4000 when it briefed us, and readily accepted that enthusiasts will still want discrete graphics, so we don’t imagine the slide above will cause too many hurt feelings.
While LG neatly folded its glasses-free A540-H model into its CES line-up at the start of the year, it’s now added another pair of notebooks to launch alongside it in Korea. This includes another 3D model that requires a pair of stylish squash goggles passive 3D glasses to gain that extra dimension. For those less disposed to hanging techno eye-wear off their face and watching Avatar again, there’s the simpler two-dimensional joys of the A540-P, which houses a 15.6-inch AH-IPS display. All three versions house the same Core i7 processors and a GeForce GT555M for the necessary graphical grunt work.
Who knew a “p” packed so much punch? Just weeks after Lenovo cut loose with a boatload of new machines, the outfit has quietly slipped out an even newer model tailored for gamers. The 14-inch IdeaPad Y470p looks just about like the existing Y470, but swaps out the middling NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M for a far more potent Radeon HD 7690M. (For those wondering — yep, that’s the same chip in HP’s new Envy 15.) There’s also a 2.2GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM, an optional 1TB HDD, JBL speakers and a native 1,366 x 768 screen resolution. The unit tips the scales at 4.85 pounds with a six-cell battery, which is supposedly good for up to four hours of usage (in presumably ideal conditions). Other specs include a Blu-ray Disc drive, a two-megapixel webcam, HDMI out and USB 3.0. For now, at least, it looks as if eager beavers can get one headed their way for as low as $799, but the more specced-out models are reaching well over $1,200.
A source at HP just dropped a mysterious teaser video of a so-called Spectre laptop, a heretofore unannounced notebook that looks to be the company’s next Ultrabook. In our wildest dreams, this rig has a dual-LCD setup — similar to Toshiba’s Libretto W100 and Acer’s Iconia-6120 — but perhaps the creators here were just coincidentally interested in showing us lots of glass panes. We’ll be digging for more details, but for now, lose your mind in the video just past the break.
Yes, AMD. They’re still alive you know? Choosing is hard. And in the case of ASUS’ forthcoming netbook line, totally not necessary. Just days after Intel snuck out details surrounding the next generation of its Atom line, out flows shots and information about what’ll undoubtedly be one of the first next-gen netbooks to use ‘em. The Eee PC Flare line is expected to supplant the long-standing Seashell range at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, with a smattering of models to be lining ASUS’ booth. Outside of lively, sleeker exteriors, we’re told to expect models with the new N2600 and N2800 Atom CPU line, a 12-incher powered by AMD’s Fusion APU line and the token chiclet-style keyboard that we’ve all grown used to. It’s also possible that we’ll see revised 10-inchers alongside the big boys, with the 1225B, 1225C, 1025C and 1025CE named in particular. Oh yes, “netbooks are back, baby!”
Not to be confused with the bulkier P330 13.3-incher we saw last month, the new X-Note Z330 looks to have toned up to gain membership to the mwah-mwah Ultrabook clique. It’s a mere 14.7mm (0.58-inches) in thickness, 1.21kg (2.67 pounds) in weight and sports a solid state drive to help it boot up in under ten seconds. What’s not so Ultrabookish, however, is the price: the Z330 has been announced in Korea starting at ₩1,700,000 ($1,500) for the Core i5 variant with 4GB RAM, a 120GB SSD and a fairly usual range of connectivity, including HDMI, USB 3.0 and Intel WiDi for streaming content wirelessly to your HDTV. Opting for a Core i7 and a 256GB SSD will add a hefty ₩900,000 ($800) on top of that. We’ve duly prepared a rant about value for money, but we’re going to save it until there’s official US price tag instead.
Hoping for some new development from camp Intel about their much-improved Atom processor? Well, hold your breath longer. DigiTimes is reporting that the next-gen Atom chip has been pushed back from its anticipated September launch to November. Apparently Chipzilla is having issues with the graphics drivers and has been unable to pass Windows 7 certification. The new low-power CPUs should still be ready in time for the holiday season though, and will likely find their way into plenty of netbooks that almost nobody will buy.
MSI’s prepared yet another new beast for your next LAN party, and there’s a serious bit of dedicated gaming punch lying under this notebook’s brushed metal finish thanks to its 2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, an NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M card and the audio tag team of MSI Premium Sound and THX’s True Studio Pro. In addition to its 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 HD display, this “dream machine” sports a 720p camera, an HDMI out port and USB 3.0. The company’s also thrown in a GPU Boost feature, which frees up the internal graphics chip should you be running any graphics-intensive apps. Unfortunately, your zerg Swarm-slaying hands will have to wait for an official price and retail date, but when you do get a hold of it, make sure to keep that caffeinated brew far from the keyboard.
Hoping for some new development from camp Intel about their much-improved Atom processor? Well, hold your breath longer. DigiTimes is reporting that the next-gen Atom chip has been pushed back from its anticipated September launch to November. Apparently Chipzilla is having issues with the graphics drivers and has been unable to pass Windows 7 certification. The new low-power CPUs should still be ready in time for the holiday season though, and will likely find their way into plenty of netbooks that almost nobody will buy.
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