Hands On with the Thin Dell Inspiron 11z

What does the "z" in the Dell Inspiron 11z stand for? Z-height, and Dell's intent to create the absolute thinnest laptop available for that screen size.

And, as the name suggests, the 11z has an 11.6-inch widescreen and is the first Inspiron laptop to bear the "z" moniker (the "z" parade started with the Dell Studio 14z). Note that it doesn't have the "Mini" brand: Dell is not calling this a netbook, even though 11-inch netbooks like the Asus eeePC 1101HA and the Acer Aspire One A0751h are already shipping. The 11z's biggest differentiator is that it runs a 1.2-GHz, Intel Ultra Low Voltage Celeron processor instead of the more commonly found Atom. Everything else, however, smells like a netbook.

Like all Dell Inspiron models, the 11z can be customized with up to 7 colors; the one we played with was draped in Alpine White. The 11z is slightly wider than the Inspiron Mini 10v and almost as thin. It weighs about 3 pounds with a 3-cell battery (a 6-cell will be offered at a later date), which is slightly heavier than the 1101HA and the A0751h, whose frames include 6-cell batteries at about the same weight.

The best part about an 11.6-inch widescreen is that you don't have to suffer the 1,024-by-600 resolutions found in 10-inch netbooks like the Toshiba mini NB205 and the Mini 10v; the 11z, like the A0751h and the 1101HA, has a 1,366-by-768 resolution. Its keyboard, unfortunately, is not full sized like that of the A0751h. At 92 percent of full size, it delivers a typing experience touch typists can adjust to, though, similar to the 92-percent ones found in the 10v and the 1101HA. The large touchpad is like that of the 10v, in which the mouse buttons are concealed within it.

Feature-wise, it has what the 1101HA and the A0751h lack: an HDMI-Out port. This handy port allows you to stream all those downloaded videos to an HDTV (or larger display) that supports the format. It also comes standard with a 250-Gbyte spinning hard drive, which is impressive when most netbooks standardize on 160 GB. Otherwise, the three USB ports, Ethernet, and a media card reader are consistent with those of a netbook. (full Story)

Dell releases first set of Windows 7 Drivers

Windows 7 drivers for Dell products are often sought after and finally, there’s an answer. Dell has started posting their first set of certified Windows 7 Drivers for its commercial desktop and laptop products. The Dell Community blog states that they still have additional drivers to release and to check back if a certain Windows 7 driver is not listed.

Driver support from third-party vendors is critical to the success of Windows 7 as we have learned from the Vista catastrophe. As Dell pushes their drivers for release, hopefully other parties will be making their hardware and utilities officially compatible with Windows 7. I’m talking to you, Punkbuster.

Lenovo ThinkPad T400s

The wheels were set in motion for the advent of the ThinkPad T400s ($1,995 direct) the minute Lenovo launched the ThinkPad X300 (and subsequently, the X301). A larger version of that highly sought-after 13-inch business ultraportable was the next logical step. At the same time, though, the flagship ThinkPad T400 desperately needed an update, so it's fitting their paths would intersect. Lenovo just added an "s" to the model name, but the system changes are dramatic. The ThinkPad T400s takes the X300's exquisitely thin dimensions and widens them with a 14-inch LED widescreen. Certain features such as a FireWire port, an extra card slot, and options for discrete graphics aren't available on the T400s. Luckily for those who can't do without these things, the old T400 models will still be around.

Design
Above everything else, the T400s is an aesthetic overhaul. Taking the brilliant engineering that went into the X300 and applying it to a 14-inch model was something Lenovo aficionados were waiting for. It measures exactly one inch thick (13.3 by 9.4 by 1 inches, HWD) and that includes optical drive. It and the Apple MacBook Pros are the only laptops that can pull-off these compact measurements without sacrificing the optical drive (a dual-layer DVD burner in our test unit; a Blu-ray reader is also available).

At 3.9 pounds, the T400s is officially the lightest laptop with a 14-inch screen, a title that was previously shared by the Toshiba Tecra R10-S4401 (4.2 lbs) and the Samsung X460-44P (4.2 lbs). More compelling is that the T400s is over a pound lighter than the original T400 (5.2 lbs), with the Dell Latitude E6400 (5.6 lbs) and the HP EliteBook 6930p (5.3 lbs) heavier still.

You may wonder how the T400s's bland-looking exterior can possibly be considered an aesthetic makeover. Well, you have to look beyond its all-black frame. Stripping the black from a ThinkPad would have been like stripping its brand identity, as Lenovo found out when it tried out a platinum version of its now-defunct ThinkPad Z61m. Likewise, Apple abandoned its black MacBook—certain colors will forever be paired with a particular brand. The T400's chassis is fortified with carbon and glass-fiber, making it both accident-proof and long-lasting. Within the rigid frame is an inner metallic skeleton called the Roll Cage, a concept similar to that used in cars to keep the occupants (in this case, the processing components) from harm. These engineering feats, perfected in X300, have been carried over to the T400s.

The 14-inch LED widescreen is energy efficient and thinner than that of the T400, yet it's not susceptible to bending. The panel is bright and its colors are sharp, and much of the credit belongs to the 1,440-by-900 resolution (the same as the T400). The 1,280-by-800 (or WXGA) resolutions found in the Tecra R10-S4401 and the X460-44P aren't as sharp. Meanwhile, you can find similar resolutions in the Dell E6400 and the HP 6930p. Just as black is synonymous with ThinkPads, so is the magnificently built keyboard, Lenovo's signature TrackPoint pointing stick, and the soft mouse buttons. Lenovo has added texture to the touchpad, which makes it more enjoyable to use than the standard one found in the T400. A ThinkPad's typing experience simply has no equal. (Next: Features and Performance)

Dell Offers New FastTrack Option for SMBs

Dell is terrific at letting you configure your own PCs. But that takes time. Sometimes you need a laptop, like, the day after tomorrow, for a new hire, a new job, or a business trip.
Dell today introduced the FastTrack for Business option, which offers shipment in about two

days on select, pre-configured business-class Dell Latitude laptops.
The Latitude family includes laptops that are built for organizations with growing or established networks. Models are available with backlit keyboards and docking capabilities, and come in select colors. FastTrack configurations feature 13-inch, 14-inch, and 15-inch models.

Nvidia and Dell team up to ship Tesla-powered Personal Supercomputers

Nvidia announced today that Dell has begun shipping workstations with their Nvidia Tesla C1060 supercomputer card. Dell Precision R5400, T7500 and T5500 all offer Tesla GPU compute cards, which, according to Greg Weir, Senior Manager at Dell, “put the power of supercomputing on the desktop”.

Dell’s R5400 is a rack-mountable workstation computer designed for cluster operations. The T5500 and T7500 are tower-model workstations which sell for around $1800 base, plus the add-ons, which now include the C1060 which has an MSRP base price of around $1599.

The Tesla C1060 GPU provides raw computing power which is roughly equal to a small- to mid-range traditional CPU supercomputer cluster, though in a traditional dual-slot graphics card-sized configuration. The workloads it can operate on are not always the same as full-blown supercomputers, which can handle anything. Therefore, the C1060 does have real limitations (as do all graphics-based compute engines).

While the Tesla C1060 looks like a graphics card in appearance card, and even appears to software that way, it has no graphics port outputs. The Tesla is designed exclusively to be a compute engine which operates inside your PC.

Nvidia introduced double-precision (64-bit) floating point compute abilities with Tesla. The card itself is similar to high-end graphics cards offered by Nvidia, capable of nearly a Teraflop of dedicated single-precision compute performance (933 GFlops), with something around 80 Gigaflops in double-precision, though it is fully IEEE-754 compliant. It consumes up to 188 watts, has a memory bandwidth of 102 GB/s on a 512-bit interface 800 MHz clock, with a 1.3 GHz core clock with 240 stream processors. Each card comes with 4 GB of GDDR3 memory. Even though the Tesla C1060 card itself consumes up to 188 watts each, the reality is its compute abilities far exceed a traditional CPU-based supercomputer cluster, and for a fraction of the power and, according to Nvidia, for 1/100th the price.

The card’s dedicated compute is typically targeted at the oil and gas industries, computational finance, fluid dynamics, medical research and weather modeling — jobs which are traditionally sifting through volumes of data, computing with common operations like add, sub, multiply and divide.

It operates with Nvidia’s CUDA programming language, which exposes the compute abilities of the card through a C-like software interface.

See Nvidia’s press release, and information page about the Tesla C1060 released earlier this year in January. Nvidia also has a Tesla Personal Supercomputer Store, which shows several dedicated clusters which contain a series of Tesla cards inside, and are sold as true personal supercomputers. TigerDirect also published a YouTube video on Nvidia’s Tesla cards.

Rick’s Opinion

Nvidia’s second-generation Tesla C1060 was introduced nearly a year ago. That card is not up to today’s levels of performance and even greater performance can be obtained today through Nvidia or ATI’s highest-end graphics cards.

In fact, the Tesla is an expensive parallel compute engine, and one not required for massively parallel compute abilities thanks to the advancements in CUDA and BrookGPU libraries for Nvidia and ATI graphics cards.

Buying two or more high-end Nvidia’s GTX 2xx or ATI Radeon HD 4xxx series cards might be a wiser decision, as these cards yield well over 1 Teraflop of performance today on less power, while also providing usable graphics abilities for the workstation. And with Nvidia’s SLI and ATI’s CrossFire, the cards can be joined together for a single-instance compute appearance with even greater resources and power. (story Link)

17" Unibody Apple MacBook Pro

Part media center, part workstation, the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch has been revered over the years by a nation of professional photographers and film editors, not to mention average media folks who can't get enough of this thin-bodied cinematic wonder. When the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics) and the MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum) launched with their "unibody" enclosures—in each case, a heavily promoted slab of aluminum that rids the frame of all detachable parts—a "uni-seventeen-incher" was clearly on the way. The Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody) ($2,799 direct) is still the lightest and the prettiest media center laptop to house a maximum-resolution screen, and the changes are significant.

You probably would assume that the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody) is simply a bigger version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but leave it to Apple to throw us yet another curveball. Although the elimination of the FireWire 400 port was to be expected, the battery latches—indicative of a removable battery—were nowhere to be found. That's because Apple fitted this rig with a high-capacity lithium polymer battery, which—controversially—can't (or shouldn't) be removed by non-Apple employees. With this new battery, Apple is touting 7 to 8 hours of battery life on a single charge—but that all depends on what you're doing on the machine.

No other media center can even come close to this system's thinness. Its dimensions of 15.5 by 10.5 by 0.98 inches (HWD) make it seem half as thick as either the HP HDX18t or the Sony VAIO VGN-AW190. Apple's unibody aluminum enclosure has gained wide attention. Without question, the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s design is jaw-dropping; what makes it even more impressive is the sense of security its rigid frame provides. Yet Apple has still managed to produce the lightest laptop in its class. At 6.6 pounds, this system is' roughly 2 pounds lighter than the HDX18t (8.7 pounds) and the AW190 (8.4 pounds) and lighter even than the Dell Studio XPS 16 (6.9 pounds), which has a smaller widescreen.

I love it when a screen fills the lid's entire "canvas," leaving barely detectable strips as borders. The 17-inch widescreen is magnificent; it's about as close to an edge-to-edge screen as one can get. The Apple 15-inch (Dual Graphics) and the 13-inch (Aluminum) have thicker borders, so the screens don't fill up their inner lids' full dimensions the way the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s does. Although the new panel is still an LED screen, it's a slight departure from its predecessor's. Apple is claiming a greater color gamut—up to 60 percent greater—for the new screen. Unlike the RGB LED screens (or colored LEDs) that illuminate the Dell XPS16 and the Lenovo ThinkPad W700, the MacBook Pro 17-inch (Unibody)'s screen uses white LEDs. It's a brighter, more sophisticated panel than the one in the previous 17-inch MacBook, more in line with Apple's desktop Cinema displays. Apple offers both glossy and matte (antiglare) screen options. Along with the wider color gamut, an antiglare screen is an important selling point for the MacBook's target audience, especially for professional photographers who need to judge colors on the fly. Though there's only one resolution, it's the highest possible for such a display: 1,920 by 1,200. (story Link)

Dell Studio Hybrid PC

The Dell Studio Hybrid PC is a small form factor PC that retains much of the power found in large desktop computers. The compact design gives the Studio Hybrid a smaller desktop footprint than a notebook and even some netbooks. With an Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM, this may be all you need for your next workstation PC purchase.

 

 

 

Specifications

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.1GHz
• RAM: 2GB DDR2
• Hard drive: 320GB
• Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• Slot Load CD / DVD Writer
• On board high definition sound
• Five USB 2.0 ports
• Firewire (IEEE1394a) port (4-pin)
• HDMI video connector
• DVI video connector
• Network connector 10/100/1000 (RJ45)
• Digital Audio: S/P DIF Out
• Analog Audio: Headphone (front); Line-in / Line-out (back)
• 7-in-1 Media Reader
• Standing vertical with stand (as pictured) — H 8″ X W 3″ X D 8.3″
• Additional information
• For a closer look, check out the Dell Studio Hybrid First Look Photo Gallery

Who is it for?

The Dell Studio Hybrid PC is designed to be a powerful computer in a stylish, small footprint package. This PC can perform the function of a typical low graphics-required workstation, but without the large rectangular box on or under the desk.

What problem does it solve?

If desktop real estate and aesthetics are a concern, at the receptionist’s desk for example, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC is a safe bet. If a professional sleek office décor is important to your business, this small PC can be deployed unobtrusively anywhere a workstation is required.

Features

• Small form factor: The power of a workstation in a package smaller than a bread basket.
• Style: Available in many colors, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC can be deployed without infringing on the office décor.
• Performance: With an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC has enough power for your average business workstation needs.
• Digital output: With DVI or HDMI output, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC can be deployed without a multitude of cables.
• USB 2.0 connections: There are five USB ports for connecting peripherals and flash drives.

What’s wrong

• Not expandable: With the Dell Studio Hybrid PC, what you see is what you get. There is no room for stand-alone graphics card or additional optical drives.
• Lack of 3D graphics: With the Intel integrated graphic chip set, the graphical performance, especially in terms of three dimensions, is marginal at best. You could not use the Dell Studio Hybrid PC for almost any graphical workstation.
• Cost: At $750 for our review model, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC is definitely in the highest-price range. If you want style to go along with your performance, you are going to have to pay the premium.

Bottom line for business

The Dell Studio Hybrid PC is very capable small form-factor machine. For the traditional workstation relying on e-mail, office software, and data entry applications, this computer will surely handle the workload. If style and office décor are important, a Dell Studio Hybrid PC can be found that will meld with just about any style. However, because these machines are not expandable and tend to cost more than conventional workstation PCs, the Dell Studio Hybrid PC is really a niche item. If you don’t have that niche to fill, it is likely more typical PC will have the better ROI. (story Link)

Installing Mac OS X on a Dell Mini 9

If you’re looking to get a notebook to install Mac OS X on, I recommend the Dell Mini 9. It’s one of the best, no-compromises platforms according to the BoingBoing compatibility chart for netbooks running OS X and one can be yours for around $400 depending on the options that you choose.

In this post I’m going to detail the easiest way to install Mac OS X on the Dell Mini 9. This tutorial borrows heavily from John Mahoney’s excellent piece on Gizmodo, which in turn is based on a tutorial on the MyDellMini forums by “bmaltais” — and both deserve high praise. Refer back to Mahoney’s piece on Gizmodo if you run into problems and if you really get into a bind you’ll have to refer to the MyDellMini forums for help.

A note about Hackintoshing: Apple doesn’t like it and may send the black helicopters from Cupertino to visit you if you follow the instructions after the jump. If you end up in Gitmo for installing OS X on non-Apple hardware, please let me know so that I can blog about it.

Note: I’ve separately posted a photo gallery of the process.

Prerequisites:

• Dell Mini 9 with 16GB SSD (around $400)
• A retail copy of Mac OS X ($129) not an OEM/bundled/upgrade version
• An external USB DVD drive ($50) or Blu-Ray ($99)
• About 8 hours (albeit mostly unattended)

Mahoney’s tutorial for Gizmodo walks through installing Mac OS X on a USB Flash drive, which is overkill IMHO. Do yourself a favor and invest in an external USB DVD drive as it saves about eight steps over the “Mahoney method.” I opted for the slimline Blu-Ray drive from FastMac which costs$100 for the Blu-Ray reader, $300 for the 1x writer, $400 for the 4x writer.If you don’t want to purchase a USB optical drive you can also use a high-capacity (8GB+) flash drive as outlined in the Mahoney Method, but it will take a longer.

STEP 1
Download the  “Type11″ bootloader DellMiniBoot123v8.01.iso.zip unzip it and burn the resulting .iso to a standard CD-R using Apple’s Disk Utility. If the download link eventually breaks, search for the file name on the MyDellMini forums.

STEP 2
Connect your external DVD drive to your Mini 9 and power it on and press 0 (zero) at startup to bring up the list of bootable devices.

STEP 3
Choose optical/DVD from the list (it should be the second choice) and you’ll end up a command prompt that says “boot:”

STEP 4
Take out the bootloader disk and put in your retail Mac OS X install DVD, keeping the Mini 9 running. Press Escape at the boot: prompt to bring up the drive options. Then type “9f” (minus the quotes) then press Enter. (”9f” is the hex code for the external DVD, “80″ is hex for the primary internal SSD. )

Tip: Give it some time. Mine took two plus minutes for the OS X DVD to boot. I got a weird EBIOS error but it eventually booted from the OS X DVD. If it never boots from the DVD drive, you may have to go the Flash drive route outlined in the Mahoney Method.

Note: While you’re installing Mac OS X, the screen will be stretched to 800×600 rather than your Mini’s native 1024×600 resolution. This is normal and will be fixed later.

STEP 5
Before running the Mac OS X installer you need to format your SSD via Disk Utility. Create a single Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition, go to Options and select GUID Partition Table. Then click Apply. The 16GB SSD nets about 13 usable GB

STEP 6
Go back to the Installer and install OS X to the SSD. Click Customize and uncheck as many options as possible to save space on the SSD. I turned off everything except the printer drivers for my specific printers. The install will take about 47 minutes to an hour, so go talk to your family, they miss you. If you come back to an Install Failed error message at the very end don’t panic. It’s normal.

STEP 7
Swap discs and boot back into the Type11 bootloader by holding down the zero key at boot and choosing the optical drive. At the boot: prompt hitEscape and type “80” to boot from SSD, press Enter. Back at the boot: prompt, type “-f” and hit Enter again to boot. This will load all of OS X’s kernel extensions (.kexts) to enable things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the webcam. Mac OS X will boot and it’ll walk you through the typical OS X setup process.

STEP 8
Time to clean house. After a base 10.5.1 install I had used 11.4 of the available 13GB on the SSD. In order to make room for the base 10.5.6 update (which needs a minimum of 4.9GB) I trashed a bunch of apps I knew I wouldn’t run on the Mini 9 (AppleScript, Automator, Chess, Front Row, Image Capture, PhotoBooth, etc.) then I ran Monolingual and removed every available Language, Input Menu, and all the unwanted PPC code using the Achitectures tab.

STEP 8
Run Software Update and install the 10.5.6 Update, again you need about 4.9GB free for the base update and about 6.0GB free for the corresponding QuickTime, iTunes and AirPort updates. I installed just the base 10.5.6 update first then I installed the other updates.

Note: The 10.5.6 update takes about two hours to download and another two hours to “Install and Shutdown.” Again, talk to your family.

Tip: My Mini 9 got a little weird during the long installs with no user interaction. When I came back to check on the install, the screen was frozen in time, still saying 47 minutes remaining for example. But after a few clicks and waiting upwards of 3-4 minutes the screen would suddenly refresh and the Restart button would suddenly appear. Do not force quit or power down in this scenario. Be patient, young jedi. Click around and press Enter a few times and the screen should eventually refresh.

STEP 9
Boot into the Type11 bootloader one last time by press zero at boot. At the boot: prompt hit Escape and type “80” to boot from SSD. In OS X navigate to the DellMini9Utils folder on the Type11 CD and run the DellEFI installer. This will load all of the Mini 9 .kexts and drivers as well as a special bootloader to boot your SSD install. Do the default install and resist the urge to check the two unchecked options.

STEP 10
Reboot one final time, this time directly off of your SSD and enjoy the glorious 1024×600 resolution!

OPTIONS

• The “AboutThisMac.pkg” inside the Type11 utilities folder on your bootloader CD fixes the “Unknown Processor” bug in the About This Mac window, replacing it with the proper “Atom 1.6GHz” designation.
• While you’re at, do a Get Info on the DellEFI Installer application, click on the cool Mini 9/Leopard icon and copy and paste it to be your SSD icon. Much better!
• This trick fools oversized windows into shrinking to better fit the Mini 9’s 1024*600 screen.
• This trick can enable some multitouch features (i.e. scrolling) on the Mini 9’s Synaptics touchpad.
• This trick will enable mobile broadband – if your Mini 9 has it (mine doesn’t).
• The MyDellMini forums are your friend. Register for an account and search there if you run into any problems.

Congratulations, you did it! You’re now rocking the best netbook in town.

As always, I encourage you to post your experiences in the TalkBack below.

Update: Life’s not all peaches and cream in netbook-ville. It’s not a Mac, so don’t expect it to act 100% like a Mac from Cupertino. For example, my Mini 9 is currently having narcolepsy issues. It will often go to permanent sleep requiring a power cycle to bring things back. Sleep in general appears to be a little flakey, so beware. Also when booting/rebooting you need to see the grey Apple screen with the spinning wheel below it. No spinning wheel, no boot. Try again.

Update 2: I got 2.5 hours of battery life running an iTunes music stream over Wi-Fi with the visualizer on and display sleep set to Never. I’m pretty confident that 3+ hours of run time is attainable with minor conservation. The Mini 9’s battery takes about two hours to fully re-charge.  (story Link with Thanks)

Battle for Best High-End Mac OS X netBook

I’ve been busy installing OS X on the Dell Mini 9 (CNet review) and fellow podcaster Rob Parker prefers the Acer Aspire One (review) but guest blogger Bob DeGrande thinks that the Asus 901 (review) and MSI Wind(review) make better high-end Mac OS X netbooks.

I think there is a better deal on a Linux netbook at the moment. The Asus 901is a high end netbook.  It normally sells in the $360-380 range, but there is a $100 rebate going on through early March, bringing it into the same price range as the Aspire.

It has excellent features - a 1.3MP webcam, Bluetooth, 6-cell battery, 20GB of SSD in the Linux version, and a Synaptic touchpad which supports two finger scrolling like a MacBook. The Asus 901 network card identifies itself internally as a gigabit card (even though the specs say 10/100) and it also has 802.11n wireless (most others only have b/g).

I have some experience running OS X on a netbook (I have a legal license). I use the MSI Wind. I have upgraded to 2GB RAM, a 7200 RPM 320GB hard drive, and a 9 cell battery.  It’s still under 3 lbs., and this machine runs OS X well - I load up Spaces with Tweetdeck, Firefox, Mail, and iTunes, and I have no problem running additional applications without slowing down.

Time Machine works, including using Migration Assistant to move apps from an existing Time Machine backup by USB.  There are some minor issues, I have to run a program to switch between speaker and headphones and there is a program that runs at startup to connect to Wi-Fi, but that is automatic. I am also dual booting XP, as I have a digital TV USB stick that only works with Windows.

BoingBoing has recently updated their compatibility chart for netbooks running OS X. What’s your favorite netbook for running Mac OS X? (story Link)

Review: Samsung NC10-14GB

From cell phones to HDTVs, Samsung products have successfully found their way into American homes for the past decade. But the company hasn't made much headway with its laptops, and for good reason: The laptops have only recently started selling in the United States. Samsung needed a strategy that would jump-start its laptop presence. A netbook was the obvious choice, as this category is taking the market by storm. The Samsung NC10-14GB ($480 street) is a lot like every other netbook, but it has a few small advantages. It comes with a six-cell battery instead of a puny three-cell, and the keyboard is a tiny bit (1 percent) bigger than those of the MSI Wind and the HP Mini 1000. Ultimately, though, it loses out on price: The MSI Wind is a lower-priced package for now (by about $50, which in the netbook category is significant).

The white exterior of the ASUS EeePC 4G, once thought of as sleek and sexy, has been copied over and over for other netbooks like the Wind, the Acer Aspire One, and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. Splashed in navy blue, the NC10 is neither bland nor head-turning. The HP 1000's embedded patterns and the metallic lid of the ASUS EeePC 1002HA are taking netbook designs to another level, and the trend won't stop with them. At 10.3 by 7.3 by 1 inches, the NC10's dimensions practically identical to those of the ASUS EeePC 1002HA. The HP Mini 1000 (10.3 by 6.6 by 0.9 inches) and the Lenovo S10 (9.8 by 7.3 by 0.9 inches) are slightly thinner and smaller. At 2.9 pounds, the NC10's frame seems heavy, but once you factor in the standard six-cell battery, its weight is actually on a par with its 10-inch counterparts.

By 10-inch, I mean the size of the widescreen. Netbooks like the Acer Aspire One (2.1 pounds), the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (2.3 pounds), and the ASUS EeePC 900 (2.2 pounds) are noticeably lighter because they have smaller 8.9-inch widescreens. The viewing experience is obviously better with a bigger screen, but the 1,024-by-600 resolution is the same across the board. The NC10's brightness and contrast levels are consistent with those of other 10-inch netbooks and make for pleasant viewing. Its 93 percent keyboard is 1 percent larger than those found on the Mini 1000 and the MSI Wind—not a huge difference, although the keys are noticeably bigger and the typing experience better. Consequently, the touchpad is minuscule compared with those of the EeePC 1002HA and the Wind, resulting in a tighter pinch when using your thumb and index fingers to navigate.

The NC10's features are consistent with those of other top-rated netbooks. It comes with three USB ports, a VGA-out, an Ethernet port, and an SD slot. Lenovo opted to forgo a USB port in its S10 to make room for an ExpressCard slot, which is a handy addition for expansion devices that enable 3G wireless services and other specialty ports. Both the HP 1000 and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 have 3G wireless built in, simplifying things even further. A 160GB hard drive is included and appears to be the capacity that everyone is settling on. By next year, you'll see netbook hard drive capacities standardized at 320GB.

The NC10 contains the same parts as every netbook. Its 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of memory are no surprise. The same could be said about the integrated graphics. The ASUS N10Jc-A1 is an exception, a netbook that utilizes two sets of graphics chipsets to its advantage—one for 3D work and another to save battery life. The NC10's SYSmark 2007 Overall score topped the Wind's by a point, though you wouldn't notice it in real-world applications. The NC10 was a bit slower on video-encoding tests, trailing the others in the comparison by at least 2 seconds. (full Story)

Dell XPS 625 – Phenom II X4

Based on our review of AMD's latest Phenom II processor, we noted that the new processor could make up the core of a fairly low cost gaming system. Dell has stepped up to the plate, adding an all-AMD system based on the "Dragon" platform. The Dell XPS 625 joins the XPS line of gaming rigs, and features an AMD 790GX ATX motherboard, AMD Black Edition CPUs, and Radeon HD 4000 series graphics.

The mix of components is a little odd, however. Since Dell has chosen to go with all Black Edition CPUs, you can find it equipped with the Phenom II X4 940, Phenom X4 9850+, Phenom X3 8750+, or Athlon 64 X2 5600+. You won't be able to get one with a Phenom II X4 920, however.

Equally quirky is the choice of graphics hardware: You can get your choice of a single Radeon HD 4670 or Radeon HD 4850 or dual Radeon HD 4670s or HD 4850s in CrossFire mode. What you can't get is any flavor of the Radeon HD 4870, nor can you get an X2 card (either the 4850 X2 or 4870 X2.)

Most of the other component choices are pretty straightforward, including an array of optical drives, various hard drives, and so on. Memory configurations range from 2GB to 8GB. Also available are various audio options (integrated, X-Fi, etc) as well as the somewhat controversial Killer NIC K1. You only have one choice for the operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium, but it's the 64-bit version, which we applaud. (full Story)

Technorati Tags: Dell,ATI Radeon,Graphics Card,Windows Vista

Windows 7 Puts it’s Finger on Enhanced Biometric Support

I’ve always found biometrics to be an interesting aspect to technology. And I was excited to discover that Windows 7 offers changes to the way Windows handles biometrics to enable better experiences. Windows 7 introduces the Windows Biometric Framework which makes integration easier and more consistent to help deliver enhanced reliability, compatibility and usability of fingerprint-based solutions. The Windows Biometric Framework also makes it easier for developers to include biometrics in their applications by providing a common API that can be added independently with each biometric fingerprint solution. For a more in-depth look at the Windows Biometric Framework check out this whitepaper from Windows Hardware Developer Central.

This week at CES 2009, we have several key partners announcing support for the Windows Biometric Framework in Windows 7.

With tens of millions of notebooks in the market with UPEK fingerprint sensors, UPEK has worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework and sees strong value in using applications that support fingerprint biometrics through the Windows Biometric Framework. If your laptop uses a UPEK fingerprint sensor, such as my Lenovo X300, you can download the pre-release Protector Suite software here which utilizes the Windows Biometric Framework in the Windows 7 Beta today. I’m currently testing it out myself and its pretty slick! Rob Blau, UPEK’s Vice President of Development, talks more about UPEK’s support for Windows 7 here in their press release (Word Document).

AuthenTec has also worked closely with us on the development of the Windows Biometric Framework. They are providing beta test participants with access to software that enable convenient logon for Windows 7-based PCs, thanks to AuthenTec fingerprint sensors integrated with the new Windows Biometric Framework. You can download their 32-bit software here and their 64-bit software here. AuthenTec fingerprint sensors can be seen in business and consumer notebooks from the world’s leading brands from ASUS, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Toshiba. Andy VanDamia, AuthenTec’s Director of PC Software, discusses working with us on the Windows Biometric Framework here.

And Validity believes the Windows Biometric Framework facilitates greater adoption of fingerprint security solutions by providing a flexible platform, enabling easy fingerprint sensor integration into PCs.

The early adoption and readiness by these companies has played a vital role in validating the suitability of the Windows Biometric Framework as a platform for fingerprint biometric devices in Windows 7. (story Link)

Dell Debuts Eco-Friendly LED Displays

Dell's new G-series of widescreen LED displays, announced Thursday at CES, the G clearly stands for "green."

The G2210 and G2410 (22-inch and 24-inch respectively) flat-panel displays are EPEAT Gold and ENERGY STAR-compliant, designed for energy efficiency, and are made from recycled materials and other environmentally preferable components. Not only that, they're built for performance.

The maximum resolution for the G2210 is 1,680x1,050 (G2210) and 1,920x1,080, full 1080p HD, for the G2410. Dell specs the standard contrast ratio at 1,000:1 and the dynamic contrast ratio at up to 1,000,000:1, with a brightness of 250 nits. A fast 5-ms black-to-white pixel response time should provide for good gaming and DVD-watching. Available connectors include VGA, and DVI-D with HDCP.

Dell claims the new monitors consume less than half the power of comparable displays, with a typical power consumption of 18W for the G2210 and 20W for the G2410, and less than 0.15W when in sleep mode. (full Story)

Dell Studio XPS 16

Dell wants you to know that its latest Studio XPS line brings with it a level of prestige—a refined segment for customers who seek luxury and style. The Dell Studio XPS 16 ($1,804 direct) accomplishes just that, succeeding the XPS M1530 as Dell's new bad-boy media center. Seeing how every laptop maker is putting in the same processors and advertising 4GB of memory, home-theater features, and big screens, Dell decided to raise the bar with the XPS 16. Design is its biggest differentiator, as it uses not just one but a number of the hottest techniques in manufacturing. Its display is none too shabby as well. Photographers and professionals can reap the benefits of the RGB LED widescreen and the 1080p resolution without paying outrageous prices for them. For this, the XPS 16 reigns as our new Editors' Choice for the media center category, trumping the HP HDX16t.

The lid is clearly one of the main attractions. It takes its cues from trendsetters like the aluminum Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch (Dual Graphics), the leather-clad ASUS U2E-A2B, and the HP HDX16t with its polished exterior, mixing a little bit from each of these laptops in a manner reminiscent of an exotic drink: one part black leather trimming, one part aluminum accent, and two parts lacquered top. The lacquered part is defined by a process called In-Mold Decoration, similar to the one perfected in the HDX16t, which allows different designs to be placed between the glossy coating and the magnesium alloy skeleton.

At 6.9 pounds, the XPS 16 is not an ideal companion for road warriors, although it's more portable than the Gateway MC7803u (7.7 pounds) and the Acer Aspire 6930G-6723 (7.2 pounds). It's a smidge heavier than the HDX16t, and for good reason: The XPS 16 uses a big 85-Wh (nine-cell) battery, as opposed to the HP's 56-Wh (six-cell) option. The XPS 16 has its own six-cell option, which would bring its weight down to 6.5 pounds, thus making it as light as the Sony VAIO VGN-FW198UH (6.4 pounds). I'll get to why the nine-cell battery is the best option a little later. (full Story)

Nokia was the World’s Largest Computer Maker in 200

The tech community is gearing up for CES and Macworld Expo 2009 events this week and it is expected there will be new from the large computer makers, Apple, HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. However, did you know that Nokia is now the world’s largest computer maker with 13.8% of market share? HP, Dell, Apple, Acer, Lenovo, RIM, and Toshiba follow in the stats. These numbers only include the Nokia smartphones and not all of the Nokia mobile phones (Series 40 phones are quite powerful too, but not included) or devices (Nokia Internet Tablets are not included), which would increase their numbers even more.

Now, the first argument you will probably make to Tomi’s article linked above is that Nokia smartphones (and those from RIM, Apple, Windows Mobile, and Google) should not be considered computers. I recommend you check out his other follow-up article that takes an in-depth look at the history of computers over the last 50 years to see how today’s modern high end smartphones fit into the computer picture.

Nokia has been calling their Nseries devices “multimedia computers” for the last couple of years and I tend to use this label often too as agree with them about the Nseries functionality. These devices capture amazing photos and video that you can even edit on the device itself and share online without ever needing to connect to a PC. Most, if not all, of the Nseries devices come with TV out cables and Bluetooth so you can actually use a Nseries device as your only computer with a connection to a monitor/TV and Bluetooth keyboard. Most people today use their computer for email and web browsing and with a Nseries device and external monitor/TV there is no reason you can’t do it all with the phone as the central core of your system.

You will never do away with the full PC computer and no one is saying they will go away because there are a ton of real needs for a full size powerful computer. However, it is quite amazing what these mobile devices today can do and I know that every phone currently in my collection blows away the PCs I had back in the 90s. I actually prefer to use my mobile phone for setting appointments, browsing through email, and browsing through my RSS feeds over using my PC since I find it more convenient and faster. Coworkers also tell me they prefer using their iPhone for browsing through their email list rather than using Outlook on the PC. (full Story)

Gateway P-7811FXQ

When Gateway announced the end of its online and phone sales, many people proclaimed it the end of an era. Well, Gateway is kicking off a new era with its first retail-only PC, the P-7811FX ($1,399 list), available, right now, only at Best Buy. This hulking laptop offers a home-theater-quality 17-inch widescreen along with decent gaming capabilities at a competitive price. In addition, the notebook debuts with the latest Centrino 2 processor, making it an all-around solid system.
The first thing I noticed when I sat down in front of the P-7811FX was its impressive 17-inch screen. The laptop offers a 1,920-by-1,200-resolution picture, which, in home-theater terms, means it can display 1080p content. Few systems are able to match that at this price point (the ASUS M70Sa-X2 is a notable exception). For a laptop of this size and with such a gorgeous display, it seems a shame not to offer a Blu-ray drive. I know: Adding Blu-ray would drive up the price, but I was left wanting more than the included dual-layer DVD burner. (full story)