Sony VAIO TT Unboxed, Impressions (Engadget)
October 13, 2008
Last week, Darren Murph over at Engagdet posted a couple of photos of Sony’s new 11.1″ ultraportable VAIO VGN-TT series along with their first impressions.
This was the high-end TT model - VGN-TT198U, and selling for around $4,450 (USD). Sony will be launching it later this week. With the high price tag you get quite a bit - the “lightest” laptop with Blu-Ray capabilities (it can even burn Blu-Ray Discs (BRD)), dual 128GB Solid State Drives (SSDs), and an HDMI port. Part of what makes it so light is the carbon-fiber chassis the ultraportable is built upon. It’s also got an LED-backlit display (at this price it better). This particular model has 4GB of DDR3 memory as well as an ultra low voltage (ULV) CPU based on Intel’s Core 2 Duo platform.
They had a problem with “bloatware” (third party applications that many manufacturers pre-install on laptops), but they loved the keyboard, giving it high marks compared to the 11.1″ Lenovo IdeaPad U110.
Read: Engadget
Lenovo X200 Tablet - More Impressions (GBM)
October 10, 2008
Rob Bushway over at GottaBeMobile now has his hands on a new 12.1″ Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet, a convertible laptop that you can use as either a Tablet PC-style device, or as a conventional notebook with a physical keyboard.
Among his first impressions
- The keyboard and trackpoint are typical ThinkPad - that is, they are solid and comfortable.
- The X200 ultrabase is a huge improvement over the previous ultrabases for the X60 / X40 Tablet series. You can actually charge two extended batteries at the same time with the ultrabase (the one that’s in the X200 itself as well as one plugged into a charging port built into the ultrabase).
He’s posted some photos of ultrabase comparisons as well as showing where the second battery plugs in.
There will be a comparison to the Dell Latitude XT posted at some point as well (or it maybe included in the upcoming review).
Read: GottaBeMobile
Toshiba Portege M750, R600, A600 Announced
October 9, 2008
Toshiba Canada has announced several new ultraportable Portege models, all with 12.1″ LED-backlit displays, including a “convertible” Tablet PC / laptop. All are loaded with Microsoft Windows Vista and are based on Intel’s Centrino 2 platform, with Intel GMA X4500 graphics. While the R600 and M750 are replacing existing 12.1″ laptops, the A600 is the first of its kind in Toshiba’s lineup with a 12.1″ display. The A600 is kind of a budget laptop compared to the other two (with a starting price of around $1320 USD) - while the R600 may share some of the same components, it is lighter and overall smaller than the A600. All three have spill-resistant keyboards
Toshiba Portege R600
- Ultra Low Voltage Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 / SU9400
- Solid State Drive (SSD) Options
- Up to 9 hours of battery life
- Starts at $2,399 CAD - $2095 USD
- 1GB built-in RAM, 1 memory slot (upto 5GB Total)
- Weighs just 2.4 pounds / 1.1 kg
Read more
Voodoo Envy 133 - Unboxing, Information
October 7, 2008
A couple of articles came out about the 13.3″ ultraportable Voodoo Envy 133, a high-end design from HP’s Voodoo group, designed to compete with the MacBook Air and other similar 13.3″ ultraportables. The articles focus on the final production units (and not the pre-production units we’ve seen in the past).
First off, Paul Miller at Engadget has posted his impressions as well as photos and information about the the Envy 133, focusing particularly on the design.
Next, Joanna Stern at LAPTOP Magazine has posted some of her initial impressions as a video showcasing the accessories that came with the Envy 133 (including the wireless setup, the e-SATA optical drive), along with the Voodoo IOS.
Finally, Mark Spoonauer at LAPTOP Magazine has interviewed Rahul Sood, Chief Technology Officer for the Hewlett Packard Global Voodoo Business Unit. They discuss the Voodoo brand, where it’s going, and how HP is supporting it. They also discuss the rumors and changes being discussed about Voodoo itself.
HP 2730p - Review/First Look (GBM, JK)
October 2, 2008
A couple of reviews / first impressions of the new 12.1″ convertible HP Compaq 2730p have been posted.
James Kendrick at jkOnTheRun has posted a few new photos, as well as mentioning that the 2730p is “fast”. He’s got the Intel Core 2 Duo L9400 Low-Voltage version (1.86GHz) with an active digitizer.
Warner Crocker at GottaBeMobile has posted a full review. With the 2730p, HP has bumped up the ruggedness of this ultraportable and Warner “noticed right away that the 2730p felt a sturdier in my hand from the earlier 2710p. When I got to check out Rob’s 2710p last year I questioned if it would hold up getting bounced around in my gadget bag. I don’t have that fear with the 2730p”. Going by Warner’s comments, it sounds like HP listened to 2710p customers when designing the 2730p.
HP Pavilion dv3500t Announced
October 1, 2008
HP has rolled out a new 13.3″ ultraportable, the HP Pavilion dv3500t, which is HP’s first 13.3″ offering in the US. The display itself has a 16:10 ratio. It’s powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo (T5800 up to a T9400) running on Intel’s Centrino 2 platform, and weighs in at around 4.12 pounds with the 6-cell battery (there is a 4-cell available and you can drop the weight down even further weightsaver in the Smart Bay instead of an optical drive).
Should you install a 64-bit version of Windows Vista, you can bump the memory all the way up to 8GB.
The hard drive options are nice as well - you can go upto 400GB with a 5400rpm drive.
Among the features:
- NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS (512MB dedicated memory)
- Optional LED-Backlit panel
- Optional backlit keyboard
- “innovative liquid metallic design”
- Blu-Ray options
- Smart Bay
It has an HDMI 1.3 port, as well as dual headphone jacks and a mini-remote control, which if you combine the optional Blu-Ray Drive (BRD), you would have a nice little multimedia package. They’ve also included software to facillitate the multimedia functions.
It’s already listed on HP’s website under HP Pavilion Notebooks (“Mobility”) and is available for purchase, starting at $999.
