Acer has unveiled the latest entry to its hot Aspire One Netbook line--this one powered by Intel's new N450 Atom processor.
The newly-launched Acer Aspire One AO532h, driven by Intel's next-gen N450 chip, is designed to offer better performance and longer battery life than older Netbooks. Acer claims the new machine can last up to 8 hours with the standard 6-cell Li-ion (4400 mAh) battery or 10 hours with a high-density 6-cell (5600 mAh) battery.
The N450 processor frees up space by integrating the graphics processor onto the CPU, so Netbooks can be smaller and thinner. The Aspire One AO532h comes in just under an inch thick and weighs a bit over 2.5 pounds while sporting a 10.1-inch screen, according to Acer's specs.
The new Netbook comes with 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB SATA hard drive, a 10/100 Ethernet port, 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi, a media card reader, and a Webcam. Acer also includes a multi-gesture touch pad that lets you use glide, pinch, and swirl your fingers to more easily move around the screen. The keyboard is 93 percent standard size, according to Acer, so it should be less cramped than many other Netbook keyboards.
Like most Netbooks, ... Read More
(Credit:
Creative)
Creative's ZiiLabs announced on Monday the ZMS-08 processor, its third-generation product that brings 1080p H.264 decoding to the table.
According to ZiiLabs' specifications page, the second-generation ZMS-05 is capable of H.264 720p video decoding at 8Mbps, while the new chip does H.264 1080p at 40Mbps and also boasts OpenGL ES 2.0 support, an integrated HDMI controller, and Flash acceleration.
This chip is powered by a 1GHz Arm Cortex A8 processor. It's targeted at media-rich applications, yet is supposed to have low power requirements. ZiiLabs does not make any consumer products itself but intends for the ZMS-08 to be used by manufacturers in devices such as Web tablets, Netbooks, connected TVs, video conferencing systems, and home media hubs.
While 1080p video playback would be pointless in some of these products because they usually come with small screens, it will allow the devices to output HD material to larger displays, effectively giving you a media hub in your pocket. The company says it's working with partners, but there hasn't yet been any product announcement from third-party manufacturers.
The Zii Egg portable media player is an example of what ZiiLabs' processors are meant for. The ZMS-05 is found in that device, which is a developer platform for the company's own Plaszma OS and Google's Android OS.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Cheaper or faster?
That's going to be the burning question for computer shoppers perusing the aisles of electronics retail stores this fall. That's when the new line of notebooks powered by consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips will start appearing in force. They'll be sitting right next to the trendiest offering in portable computing, Netbooks. Netbooks have come to be viewed as the best way to get cheap, portable computing, but CULV notebooks could change that.
CULV-based notebooks are poised to give Netbooks a run for their money.
(Credit: Macles)Netbooks are mini-notebooks with screens between 9 and 11 inches, that have lower-power processors, and fewer features, but very attractive price points. CULV-based notebooks are ultrathin notebooks. They come with a more traditional 12- or 13-inch screen, but are also very low-power, so they have great battery life. Starting at $600 to $1,000, they'll occupy the price range just a step above Netbooks, which run between $200 and $500.
That's where the choice comes in. Will consumers go for a Netbook, which is less expensive, sometimes harder to use, but very portable? Or a sleek-looking notebook with great battery life and a slightly higher price? Just a bit more money could mean a far more fully featured computer. Who would still go for a Netbook?
Some analysts suggest many won't.
For its part, the provider of these ultra-low voltage chips, Intel, would prefer to steer people toward CULVs. Sure, Intel is also responsible for the Netbook phenomenon, but those devices carry much lower profit margins. Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Tuesday talked up CULV notebooks and their advantages over Netbooks, saying, "Now, if you want a thin and light notebook, you don't have to just pick a Netbook. You can pick an affordable notebook that has more functionality."
... Read More
(Credit:
Wired's Gadget Lab)
We already know that apps on the iPhone 3G S will load twice as fast. Apple has made headway with the 3D graphics, while at the same time improving the battery life of the new iPhone. But nothing puts these claims into perspective better than hard numbers.
An over-zealous Webmaster at T-Mobile Netherlands may have gone click-happy recently by publishing specifications that Apple has closely guarded since the announcement of the 3G S. The information has since been pulled from the page, but we all know this: Nothing disappears off the Web without a trace.
As we can see from the screenshot, the 3G S packs a 600MHz processor (similar to the Palm Pre) and 256MB RAM. The earlier iPhone had a 412MHz processor and 128MB RAM. Twice the memory? That should speed things up a fair bit.
(Source: Crave Asia via Wired's Gadget Lab)
Hewlett-Packard was one of the early trendsetters in the ultrathin laptop market with its Voodoo design. But the product has languished for more than a year. What happened--or what will happen--isn't clear.
The ultrathin laptop market is hot and one of the most visible laptop segments today. And activity in this segment has spiked recently in the wake of a raft of new, inexpensive thin laptops from MSI, Acer, and Lenovo, using low-power Intel chips.
HP's Voodoo Envy was a trendsetting ultrathin laptop but it hasn't been updated in a year.
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)The Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo are two of the most prominent designs. The Air has now been refreshed twice. Dell's svelte Adamo was announced in March, complementing its ultrathin business laptop, the Latitude E4200.
But the razor-thin 0.7-inch-thick Voodoo Envy 133--first announced in June 2008--has stood still. ... Read More
DisplayLink--a technology that allows users to connect multiple monitors to a single system, via USB--though a useful tool, has unable to display certain high resolutions including some HD resolutions.
With more and more monitors moving to the 16:9 HD format, it comes as no surprise (or maybe a pleasant surprise) that DisplayLink announced today that it's giving its tech a shot in the arm.
Hot off the heels of its Linux news, the company announced three new DisplayLink processors that have already been deployed in Samsung's new SyncMaster LapFit LD190N and LG220G USB companion monitors. Both are currently available in Europe and Asia.
The new DL-1x5 series consist of three processors: the DL-195, the DL-165, and the DL-125. The DL-1x5 Series is compliant with DVI (TMDS), analog (DSUB15), as well as LVDS for direct connection to an LCD panel and 12/24-bit RGB (TTL) for connectivity to external DisplayPort or HDMI devices.
A close look at the 195 processor
(Credit: DisplayLink)The maximum supported resolutions for each processor are as follows.
- Up to 2,048x1,152 for the DL-195, designed for high-end monitors, docking stations, and adapters.
- Up to 1,920x1,080 for the DL-165, designed for cost-effective docks, mainstream monitors, and adapters.
- Up to 1,440x1,050 for the DL-125, designed for entry-level monitors, minimonitors, and projectors.
DisplayLink's new DL-125/165 and 195 processors are available to system manufacturers today. DisplayLink says to expect consumer monitors, using the technology in the U.S. within a month or so.
The official covers of two 3D graphics cards, the ATI 1GB Radeon HD 4890 and the Nvidia 896MB GeForce GTX 275, came off Thursday morning.
At $250 for the baseline cards (overclocked models will be available for each for $10 or so more), these cards establish a new midrange battleground, filling the gap between the $150 and $300 price points we covered earlier this year.
Each of these cards, respectively from Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia, has a two-slot PCI Express design that requires two six-pin cable connections to your PC's internal power supply. They also support each vendor's respective multicard technology, Crossfire for ATI, and SLI for Nvidia.
The ATI 1GB Radeon HD 4890.
(Credit: Advanced Micro Devices)The Radeon HD 4890 doesn't introduce much in the way of new features, though it has a clock speed bump over its Radeon HD 4870 cards released last year. The core clock has gone from 750MHz on the 4870 to 850MHz on the 4890, and the memory from 900MHz to 950MHz.
AMD's ATI made a few other tweaks to memory bandwidth and fill rates, but for the most part, the two cards are very similar. The Radeon HD 4890 is available now at various online retailers, and prices so far reflect ATI's suggested $249 baseline.
The Nvidia 896MB GeForce GTX 275.
(Credit: Nvidia)Nvidia's new GeForce GTX 275 is slated to become available for purchase on April 14. And while we don't imagine that Nvidia could simply make a new 3D card appear overnight (nor do we necessarily know which vendor actually started taping out its new card first), we find it interesting that mere days after ATI called us for a briefing on the Radeon HD 4890, Nvidia got in touch regarding its own new product.
... Read MoreWhile there's been discussion lately about what the best operating system for a Netbook is, there is no question that the small form factor PC is a runaway hit with consumers.
(Credit:
Acer)
In DisplaySearch's Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report for the first quarter of 2009, the research firm says Netbooks are on track to grow 65 percent over the course of the year from 2008's totals. Conversely, traditional notebooks are expected to grow just 3 percent this year. And, according to DisplaySearch, Netbooks will comprise one fifth of the 133 million notebooks to be shipped in 2009.
It's an amazing growth rate, considering that Netbooks started from basically zero market share in the beginning of 2008. Just over a year after Asus made a splash with the Eee PC, now--with the notable exception of Apple--every one of the top 15 PC makers sells a Netbook. And despite the battering it's given the tech industry as a whole, the current economic situation is actually buoying Netbooks.
DisplaySearch analysts say that because many consumers are having to tighten their budgets, some are settling for a smaller, more lightly featured device like a Netbook until they feel more financially stable.
But the Netbook trend is not likely to last. DisplaySearch is forecasting that once the economy turns around, consumers will return to buying the notebook with the most features they can get for their money.
Via Technologies has released a new Netbook reference design aimed at PC manufacturers that want to start selling Netbooks for the first time.
The reference design for the Via Surfboard C855 mainboard, unveiled Tuesday, includes the Taiwanese chip company's new VX855 media system processor alongside a C7-M processor. The mainboard will provide "smooth playback" of high-bit-rate 1080p high-definition video, as well as eight-channel HD audio, according to Via.
Via's Surfboard C855 reference design.
(Credit: ZDNet UK)According to Richard Brown, Via's vice president of marketing, one advantage of the Surfboard C855 design is "the head start it affords mini-notebook system developers or those seeking to enter the market."
Via's 1.6GHz C7-M is a relatively old processor, as it first appeared in 2005. It has gone back to this chip for the new reference design despite having a more recent range of processors--the Nano range--that is already used in new Netbooks, such as Samsung's NC20. The Nano range offers better performance than both the C7-M and, according to ZDNet UK reviews, Intel's ubiquitous Atom processor.
Despite being based on an older chip, the new reference design is being pitched by Via as sufficiently capable of HD video playback. Reference designs for other new lower-range Netbooks, such as those based on ARM architecture, also include this feature.
The C855 board supports an 800MHz front-side bus, and connectivity options on the board include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G. Internal display resolutions of up to 1,366x768 pixels are supported, as are external display resolutions of up to 1,920x1,440 pixels.
David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.
If you're buying a budget computer, it's worth your time to look into the Compaq Presario SR5610f desktop. It's not far off from a barebones machine, and you don't get a ton of extra features, but the price is so low that it's hard to complain. You get a dual-core 2.5GHz AMD processor, 3 gigs of ram, an integrated video card, and a 320GB hard drive, which should be enough power to get you through the standard applications, stuff like word processing, streaming video, mp3 playback, etc...but you definitely shouldn't expect it to handle intense gaming or programs that require accelerated graphics. If did have to raise a stink, it'd have to be about the lack of a dedicated media card reader! Sure, it's a sub-$600 system, but even this eMachines has one built in! If you decide on this computer, dust off that USB cord--you'll be seeing it a lot more in the future.
You'll have to read the full review for our complete analysis, but the long and short of it is that you can spend a scant $50 more and get a much better deal in the Acer x3200, a slimline PC that adds gigabit Ethernet, a more powerful video card (still integrated), more memory, and even an extra CPU core that will let you handle a wider breadth of applications. In the end, it's your choice and totally dependent on how you'll use it, but check out both reviews--they'll help you with your difficult shopping decisions.
