More Details on Gateway E155C
April 23, 2007
The Gateway E155C “Thin & Light Convertible” has been mentioned by PC Magazine with a few more details released. It’s Gateways smallest “convertible” (Tablet PC functionality with a physical keyboard) with a 12.1-inch widescreen touchscreen display and it does include the ability to have an internal optical drive. They mention that it includes an ambient light sensor to adjust the display based on the surrounding environment.
PC Magazine confirmed that the E155C uses an Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) U7500 CPU. The U7500 is slower in some areas when compared to other Core 2 Duo-based CPUs, however it helps save weight and battery life with cooling and power usage, something that is preferable when discussing laptops of this size. The U7500 is a 65nm CPU, with 2MB L2 cache, a 533MHz Front-side Bus, and a speed of 1.06GHz. IT’s TDP (Thermal Design Power) is 10W (by comparison, a 2.16GHz T7400 has a TDP of 34W).
Announced: Gateway E155C “Thin & Light Convertible”
April 19, 2007
The Gateway E155C “Thin & Light Convertible” (Gateway’s term) has been announced, with the official product page going live. It starts at $1849 (USD) and weighs in at 4.5 - 5 pounds depending on battery size (4 to 8 cell batteries available).
It has a 12.1-inch widescreen display with an “Anti-reflection polarizer for “sun-light readability” and is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage CPU (ULV). It comes with Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition or Vista. Made with a magnesium casing and including an internal optical drive, it’s one of the more reasonably priced “convertibles” around, seamlessly switching from a laptop to a Tablet PC form factor. It’s also Gateway’s smallest Tablet PC/Laptop combo yet.
It appears to be available now.
2006 Engadget Awards - Tablet PC of the Year
April 10, 2007
Engadget is holding their 2006 Tablet PC of the Year competition right now.
Among the Tablet PCs competing, are several ultraportable “convertible” (think both Tablet PC and a physical keyboard like a laptop) laptops:
- Fujitsu LifeBook P1610
- Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet
- Toshiba Portege M400
- Gateways CX210/M285-E
- Kohjishas SA1F00
Intel Announces Two Ultra Low Voltage Versions of Core 2 Duo CPUs
April 6, 2007
Although it hasn’t made its way to Intel’s Press Release section of their website, TG Daily is claiming that they’ve quietly launched two Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) of their mobile Core 2 Duo platform (Merom)
Specifications:
Intel U7500: 1.06GHz
Intel U7600: 1.20GHz
Frontside Bus: 533MHz
Cache: 2MB L2 Cache
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 10 watts
Replaces: Core Duo U2500
TG Daily says they are part of the currently shipping “NAPA refresh”, but will be included with the Santa Rosa platform. The Santa Rosa platform has a slightly different pinout.
They mention that Gateway is going to be one of the first, shipping them in their E-100M notebooks sometime next month.
Source: TG Daily
Ultraportable Gateway Tablet PC Convertible Coming?
March 26, 2007
GottaBeMobile.com and other sites are reporting that Gateway is close to releasing a convertible (Tablet PC plus a physical keyboard) laptop, with a 12-inch display.
Andrew Kostin’s blog has more details, as well as a link to the user guide. It’s going to have both an active and passive digitizer.
The only other information we have is that it has a biometric/fingerprint reader, an ambient light sensor, two USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE1394 (Firewire) port, optical drive (DVD capabilities possibly), memory card reader, PC Card slot, and two memory slots.
No word on what CPU, etc., but details are expected soon.
Gateway refers to it in the guide as a “Convertible Notebook”
Article: Convertible Computing–What Works and What’s Needed
March 12, 2007
Jim Forbes has written an interesting article, “Convertible Computing–What Works and What’s Needed” that covers where the convertible notebooks have done well and where they need improvement. Convertibles tend to have both a touchscreen/Tablet PC functionality, as well as a physical keyboard (Lenovo’s ThinkPad X60 Tablet being an example mentioned by Jim).
Excerpt from the article:
I’ve lived with tablet computers for the last year and have developed a pretty serious wish list for this category.
First, an observation: if you need an example of an ironclad bond between a user and their machine, look closely at tablet computer users. In my case, along with true persistent wireless connectivity it’s literally changed how I view personal computing. My tablet, a Lenovo X60 convertible notebook, is the first thing I pack when I leave my house. Leave my shaving gear at home? It happens. Forget to pack enough undershirts? JC Penney’s is a nationwide chain, so that’s not a problem either. Leave my power supply in my car? Well, I regularly get six hours of battery life out of my beloved X60, so I’ll get by until a kinsmen can overnight the power supply to me.
He goes on to mention what’s right with this platform (connectivity, form, weight) as well as what’s wrong with it (Bluetooth implementation, stylus/pen design, keyboards, etc.). It’s a very critical and well-written look at the convertible platform.
