Fujitsu Q2010 - Better Microphone For Better Calls
May 23, 2006
Interesting article over at CNET News - Fujitsu is one of the first to put a “high performance digital microphone” in their new ultraportable notebook, the LifeBook Q2010.
Quote: The membrane in Akustica’s AKU2000 is a chip made on standard silicon processes. Ultimately, the chip could lead to better voice quality on Skype phones embedded in laptops or more distinct sound on video captured by digital cameras.
Obviously it’s not a make or break feature at this point, but as Voice-Over-IP/Digital Telephony starts to become more and more accepted, it will be. Some companies are experimenting with getting rid of what I would call “traditional” phones altogether and going to a digital system, that could even be tied to their notebooks. If your business line was tied to your notebook, and you were traveling and had access to some kind of highspeed internet connection, you could accept and make calls just as if you were back in your office, without having to worry about long distance, and without people having to try and track you down, etc.
Top 10 Ultraportable/Small Laptops of April 2006
May 1, 2006
Once again it’s time for the Top 10 Ultraportable/Small Notebooks of the month, for April 2006. This list is based on reader interest (which is in turn based on page views, links, etc.). Not the most scientific, but surprisingly it’s been fairly consistent. The only major changes occur when a new notebook is released, but unless it’s an outstanding notebook, the list goes back to what it was before.
Note: It’s really a top 11 list, when you seperate out the ThinkPad X60 and X60s as we’ve done.
1)ASUS W5F - #1 Since January - wow.
2)Fujitsu Q2010 - Newcomer
3)Fujitsu P1510D - #2 in March
4)MSI S262 - #7 in March
5)ThinkPad X60S - #5 in March
6)Fujitsu Pro V3205 - Newcomer
7)ThinkPad X60 - #3 in March
Dell Inspiron 700M - #4 in March
9)Toshiba M400 Tablet PC - #6 in March
10)Flybook V3 - #9 in March
11)Averatec 1050 - #10 in March
Stats of the list:
* Two newcomers, both from Fujitsu (Q2010 and V3205)
* Seven based on Intel Core Duo or Core Solor CPUs (or derivatives)
* Just as in March, three were convertibles - they have both a Touchscreen/Tablet PC interface as well as a physical keyboard (Fujitsu P1510D, Toshiba M400, Flybook V3).
* Three had displays smaller than 11 inches (Flybook, Fujitsu P1510D, Averatec).
* Two are “budget” ultraportables - the Dell 700M and the Averatec 1050.
Announced: Sotec’s WinBook WS334
April 28, 2006
Sotec has announced the Sotec WinBook WS334 and WS334B affordable ultraportable notebooks. These are not to be confused with the WinBook notebooks that are produced/sold in North America (although they may work together). It is powered by a Intel Celeron M 380 (1.6GHz) CPU, has a 12.1-inch non-widescreen display, and weighs in at around 3.5 pounds (with an internal optical drive no less).
It’s available starting saturday, April 29th, 2006. There are two models - the WS334 and the WS334B - the only difference, the WS334B has Microosft Office Personal 2003 (SP2) as opposed to StarSuite 8 (hence the WS334B is slight more expensive). They both ship with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition (SP2). No word on availability outside of Japan/Asia. It’s priced at around 910 EUR/$1150 USD.
Source: Akihabara News
UltraCell UC25 - Lots of Power for a Notebook
March 21, 2006
CNET Asia has some information about fuel-cell setups that many of us have been anticipating:
Its UC25 deploys readily available, low-cost methanol fuel in a compact package, and features twice the energy density of Lithium batteries at 25 watts of continuous power. In short, that means you can get nearly two days of juice for your laptop.
It should come out at the end of this year, and it looks like you could use it to power/recharge an existing notebook through an adapter (I’m hoping that’s the case). This has only been talked about for the last few years.
Article/Review: How Small is too Small for a Laptop?
February 27, 2006
Nobody wants to lug around a 10-pound laptop anymore, but while computer makers scramble to roll out models that are ever smaller and lighter, nobody has stopped to ask just how small is too small.
Dialogue Technology Corp.’s Flybook and Fujitsu Ltd.’s Lifebook P1500 are two purse-size tablet computers that beg the question. Each has 8.9-inch displays and weighs less than 3 pounds.
…Celebrity endorsements of computers seem as absurd as wine recommendations from garbage collectors _ not that they have no taste in wine, but they’re not known as connoisseurs. Likewise, Hollywood celebrities aren’t known for their technological expertise, so it’s somewhat suspect that Heather Graham, Rosario Dawson and Elijah Wood are all Flybook fans _ or at the very least, they’ve been photographed with the computer
More on Microsoft Windows XP USB 2.0 Driver Flaw
February 17, 2006
CNET News.com has a writeup for the bug in Windows XP Service Pack 2 that causes issues with battery life and USB 2.0 devices. More and more information is coming out. It turns out it that Microsoft knew about the bug going back to the middle of 2005, and had issued a Knowledge Base article about it, but it was relatively unknown.
Microsoft has confirmed the existence of a flaw in its USB 2.0 drivers for Windows XP Service Pack 2 that can cause a notebook to consume power at a faster-than-expected rate when using a peripheral device.
The issue, first uncovered by Tom’s Hardware two weeks ago, appears to affect certain Intel-based notebooks running Windows XP Service Pack 2. When a peripheral device was connected to a USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 port, the notebook’s battery life plunged at a greater rate than would normally be expected from the use of a peripheral such as a mouse or storage key.
How bad the issue affected a particular notebook depends upon how USB 2.0 was implemented - some notebook vendors had few problems, others had severe problems.
