Fujitsu LifeBook T2020 Introduced
October 17, 2008
Fujitsu has quietly released an update to it’s 12.1″ Fujitsu LifeBook T2010 (available during the summer of last year). It’s the Fujitsu LifeBook T2020. It’s a “convertible” laptop - the LED-backlit display can be rotated from a conventional laptop form factor to a Tablet PC form factor. The 12.1″ touchscreen has an active digitizer and there are two display options - one for indoor viewing, the other for indoor and outdoor viewing.
Truc Bui over at GottaBeMobile points out that while most of the updates over the T2010 are minor, the T2020 apparently offers a much better latch design.
It’s powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) CPUs.
Base model for the US:
- FPCM11501
- Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 (1.2GHz)
- 1GB RAM (DDR3)
- 120GB HDD
- Atheros XSPAN® Wireless LAN (802.11a/b/g/draft-n)
- No internal optical drive (either USB or one of the port replicators that has a DVD drive)
A 6-cell battery comes standard (up to 6 hours, 45 minutes of battery life), with an optional 9-cell battery providing up 11 hours of battery life. With the 6-cell battery, you are looking at 3.5 pounds (1.59kg). The 9-cell adds just a little bit of weight - up to 3.82 pounds (1.73kg).
At some point in the future, a 64GB or 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) option will be available, along with AT&T mobile broadband options.
The base $1,699 model shows a shipping date of October 24, 2008.
Dell Home Days of Deals - Dell Inspiron Mini 9
October 16, 2008
Dell is currently running a “10 Days of Deals” special where they feature various sales on Dell items and accessories. Today through tomorrow night (at 11:59pm CT), as part of the Day 3 promotion, they are featuring an Intel Atom-powered 8.9″ Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook with Windows XP Home, 1GB RAM, and 8GB SSD for $399, $80 off the normal starting price of $479 for this model.
You can access it here:
Dell Home Days of Deals: 10.14.2008-10.23.2008
Specifications:
- Intel Atom
- Windows XP Home
- 1GB DDR
- 8GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- 802.11g WiFi
- 32WHr Battery / 4-cell
- Choice of Alpine White or Obsidian Black
- Microsoft Works 9
- No webcam
Interestingly enough, they still refer to it as the “Inspiron 910″ on some pages.
Asus Eee PC 701SDX Details Leaked?
October 16, 2008
A German site, Eee PC News, has photos of what it claims to be the 7″ Asus Eee PC 701SDX netbook, which would be a part of the Eee PC 701SD netbook series. Eee PC News is claiming a $300 (USD) price on this thing. At that price, it would definitely be Linux-based, and would probably have the 4GB or 8GB Solid State Drive (SSD) that they mention (as well as based on comments about the 701SD series that have popped up in the past few months).
They think Intel Atom will be the CPU of choice, and I’m inclined to agree, given the model number (700 = Celeron, 701 = Atom). It comes in three colors: Black, White, Pink.
It’s got the Eee PC branding (remember Asus dropped “Asus” from the Eee PC family branding).
Details:
- 7″ Display
- No Webcam
- 3x USB 2.0
- Secure Digital slot (Possibly MMC as well)
- Ethernet
- Audio Line-In/Line-Out Jacks
- VGA Out
Unfortunately we don’t know much else at this point, other than it’s yet another Eee PC and it’s apparently going to be cheap - unlike the 701SD, the 701SDX is missing a webcamera, and the only reason any of them leave a webcamera out at this point is if they are going for the lowest price point that they can meet.
Read: Eee PC News (German)
Apple MacBook Redesigned
October 15, 2008
Now that we’ve seen the new 13.3″ Apple MacBook and are reassured of Steve Jobs’ health, let’s take a look at what your $1,299 or $1,599 is going to get you. Be warned, I have a long-winded rant about the removal of the FireWire port at the end.
It’s going to get you a very nicely designed notebook (that appears to be sturdy). It’s environmentally-friendly to boot (which matters to some). It’s got a decent graphics chipset that even supports Apple’s new 30″ Cinema displays (which just so happen to have cables to charge your MacBook without you having to take your A/C MagSafe adapter out of your bag). It’s got LED-backlighting, and you even get the option of adding a 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD).
It also gets you an incredibly cool multi-touch touchpad that’s glass, yes glass, that actually acts like a button (it is the button - there are no separate buttons). You can even use four-finger gestures for certain actions. This was the most interesting thing to me (even more so than the design). I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one in my local Apple Store.
It’s a great looking notebook brought up to date, but for every two steps forward, there’s one or two steps back, and some of these are real head-scratchers.
Here comes the long-winded rant about FireWire - you’ve been warned!
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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
Asustek’s Goals for Netbooks, S101s
October 8, 2008
According to sources that DigiTimes has talked to, as well as Asustek’s president, Asustek has some very ambitious plans for the new 10.2″ Asus Eee PC S101 as well as their netbooks in general.
Asustek Computer believes they can ship 50,000 S101s this month (a pretty impressive price - they are talking upwards of $35 million USD in revenue). This is before the S101 has even been launched in Japan or Europe (which is set to happen later this month). Asustek’s President, Jerry Shen, thinks the S101 will account for around 10% of Eee PCs that are shipped by the end of 2008, and that overall they’ll ship 700,000 Eee PCs (from 7″ through 10″) in October of 2008.
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