Announced: Mouse m-Book PR200 (Penryn)
February 25, 2008
mouse computer is producing three new Intel Penryn-based laptops, the mouse m-book PR / PR200. They use an Intel Core 2 Duo T8100 (2.1GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 800MHz Front Side Bus), have an 80GB SATA Hard Drive, and a 12.1″ widescreen glossy display.
They are selling for 129,780 yen ($1210.45 USD) with Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (119,700 yen without Windows ($1,116.44 USD)) and appear to be available now. Availability outside of Japan is unknown at this time.
The m-Book PR or PR200 will be available in three colors:
- PR200SZ - Arata / Shizuku (light blue)
- PR200SK - Sakura (light pink)
- PR200UG - Uguishu (olive green)
Source: Akihabara News
HP Compaq 2133 Roundup
February 20, 2008
Continuing our trend of discussing the Asus Eee PC’s competition, Several articles have started popping up about the HP Compaq 2133, including a very interesting one about what might be under the hood of the 2133. We should almost treat these as rumors at this piont, but it seems like the news/information is coming from several different places with good reputations, so there is probably a lot of truth to it.
With that said:
DigiTimes: DigiTimes mentions that the Chinese-language Commercial Times is reporting that Inventec is building a business-oriented UMPC for Hewlett-Packard, with a launch around April and a price above $630 USD. They mention the use of an Intel Penryn 45nm CPU, and Windows XP.
UMPC Portal on the other hand mentions something else. Chippy over at UMPC Portal has a theory (as well as some interesting sources) - that in order for the 2133 to compete across several markets (from Asus Eee PC to MacBook Air), the 2133 would need a VIA’s C7 or Isaiah CPU platform, as well as their Chrome400 graphics system, and that such a system could scale up to 2GHz. As they mention, if this indeed came to pass, it would be a huge deal for VIA, both in terms of actual orders/income, as well as publicity.
Finally, James Kendrick has posted his thoughts on the HP 2133. He mentions that while it has the same display size as the Fujitsu P1620, the 2133 has a larger bezel around the screen, allowing for a larger keyboard. He also thinks they need to go with AMD rather than VIA or Intel, and that if the device is going to run Vista, it should have 2GB of memory to do it well (and I agree, 2GB of memory these days is cheap).
Intel Montevina = Centrino 2
February 18, 2008
Digitimes and others are reporting that Intel is moving away from location-based naming (such as Carmel, Sonoma, Napa and Santa Rosa) and moving back to an easier-to-remember name. This means that Intel Montevina will now be simply known as “Intel Centrino 2″. It should be much easier to recognize and understand this as an improvement over the previous generation (people wouldn’t necessarily know Napa from Santa Rosa, but they would know that Centrino 2 is newer than Centrino).
In addition, Digitimes announced some news that ultraportable fans would find very interesting:
Intel will then launch seven 45nm SFF (small form factor) notebook CPUs, similar to those used in Apple’s MacBook Air and soon other ultra-portable notebooks, in the third quarter of this year.
February 10th Odds and Ends
February 10, 2008
A roundup of interesting articles from the past week.
Wired Magazine: Like Apple, Intel Wants to Put the Internet in Your Pocket - Discussion of Intel’s Silverthorne and Intel’s efforts at pushing beyond that, to where we can have a near-desktop like internet experience in a mobile device we can practically carry in our pockets.
CNET Blogs: “Which is sturdier, a MacBook Air or an HP business laptop?” A quick first-look at the MacBook air at how it stacks up against an HP notebook and how sturdy it feels and how it’s handling heat.
Akihabara News: Evergreen’s Mini Trackball for Your Laptop - a very small trackball made for travelers and those desiring a very small device - weighs in at 77 grams/2.7 ounces.
Engadget: Dell XPS M1330 update BIOS hints at upcoming Blu-Ray/DVD combo drive - a new BIOS update for the M1330 mentions “Blu-Ray / DVD +/- RW Combo Drive”.
AppleInsider: Rumor: possible Apple event brewing for late February - Might or might not be somewhere around the 26th. Could it be time for Penryn-based MacBook Pros, etc.?
LifeHacker: Remove Stains from a MacBook with Toothpaste - apparently toothpaste can clean up white MacBooks
jkOnTheRun: HP wants to sell you a Tablet PC - HP has produced a cool little video detailing the advantages of convertible/Tablet PC laptops.
GottaBeMobile: How Cool Is The HP TC1100 Tablet PC? mentions that the TC1100 makes an appearance in the above video showing off the 2710p convertible.
Engadget: Dell further clarifies how and where it’s dropping AMD The Engadget crew spoke with Dell about whether or not Dell was dropping AMD CPUs from their lineup. There was an image that went up on a Dell site indicating that AMD CPUs were not going to be sold anymore (or rather Dell products with said CPUs). Dell’s response: Not sure how/why the image appeared, AMD-based consumer computers will be in stores only except for certain desktops and the Inspiron 1501 notebook. Business-oriented lines (including the Latitude) that have AMD CPUs will still be sold online, and so on. Read the full article for all the details. Kind of an interesting/murky situation if you ask me.
Finally,
CNET Blogs: Windows Vista SP1 - Benchmarks - Robert Vamosi has put Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) through it’s paces, including Adobe Photoshop CS3, file copying, iTunes encoding, and DVD battery life tests.
As you know, Vista SP1 has been released to manufacturing and some users are already getting their hands on it.
That wraps it up for this week in review.
Toshiba Dynabook SS RX1 / Portege R500 - New CPU
February 8, 2008
Akihabara News is reporting that the Toshiba Dynabook SS RX1 (nearly identical to the Toshiba Portege R500 - just different markets) is going to be receiving a CPU upgrade.
They mention that it will be receiving an upgrade to Intel’s Penryn platform at some point, as well as getting a CPU bump to an Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 - an Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) CPU running at 1.33GHz with 2MB L2 Cache. The SS RX1 / Portege R500 are extremely lightweight (dropping under two pounds with the 12.1″ LED-backlit display and the Solid State Disk (SSD) option). They currently have Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 (1GHz) and U7600 (1.2GHz) CPUs.
Source: Akihabara News
Penryn Dell XPS M1330 in US, Elsewhere
February 7, 2008
After making its first appearance in Australia, the Intel Penryn-based Dell XPS M1330s have started showing up in other countries, including the US. These are 45nm CPUs with a 35W TDP.
So far, both of the announced Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn CPUs have shown up across the entire M1330 line in the US. Both CPUs have an 800MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) and both have 6MB of L2 Cache.
Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 : 2.5GHz $400 more
Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 : 2.6GHz $675 more
It is currently available only on the XPS M1330s in the US on the Dell XPS page
but will probably start showing up in the other XPS and Inspiron lines in the next week or two.
