Dell Studio XPS 13 Unboxing (Engadget)

Engadget managed to get their hands on Dell’s Studio XPS 13, their soon-to-be latest 13-inch laptop. From the gallery and release information back in December of last year, it looks like there have been a few slight changes. Engadget notes that the display has a … Read more

U Leader Design Altro Announced

U Leader Design Altro Last week, the 13.3-inch U Leader Design Altro was officially revealed at CeBIT 2009 (it had made a brief appearance in January at CES 2009). The Altro is the first in the new “U Leader Design” series from Olidata S.p.A. It has a very elegant design, and a very competitive price – Under 1.000 Euros ($1280 USD), with availability being sometime in 2Q 2009. While it weighs under 3.5 pounds (1.6kg), it’s still able to compete with the 13.3-inch Apple MacBook Air (especially on price), with the optical drive being external as well. That brings the maximum thickness down to 0.86 inches (21.8mm). It’s running on a Intel Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Core 2 Duo/Centrino 2 platform.

Although it’s not as much of a name brand in the US as it is in other parts of the world, Olidata plans on changing that, with widespread availability of this line, according to the CEO of Olidata (Antonio Masenza):

“U Leader Design is not just a new notebook, it will be a line of products that Olidata is developing with support from Intel Corporation. These products represent a mileston in the IT market for two main reasons; first, the stunning innovation and state of the art notebooks we are bringing to the end user at an acceptable price;, second the strategy behind U Leader Design. U Leader Design notebooks will be available worldwide through an international alliance strategy……Thanks to this alliance, all leading OEMs in the computer industry will be able to bring innovative and competitive notebooks to market”.

Apparently, accelerometers will be used in several different ways – as part of the “SmartDisk” function to protect the HDD should the notebook be bumped or dropped, and as a part of the “SmartAlarm” that will trigger an anti-theft application and sound an alarm should the notebook be moved by an unauthorized users. The anti-theft measures can be armed and disarmed through the normal Windows logon process. It can also detect the orientation of the notebook and rotate the screen accordingly.

Features:

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Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Review (LAPTOP Mag)

On Friday, LAPTOP Magazine posted their review of the new 10.1-inch Dell Inspiron Mini 10. The Inspiron Mini 10 joins the 8.9-inch Inspiron Mini 9 and Inspiron Mini 12 in Dell’s Intel Atom-powered netbook/ultraportable lineup. The Mini 10 comes with a Z530 Silverthorne CPU, still … Read more

ASUS N10J-A2 Review (LAPTOP Mag)

LAPTOP Magazine has reviewed the 10.2-inch Asus N10J-A2, which is Asustek’s high-end netbook. It’s actually really pushing the definition of a netbook, given the features and the price (the reviewed model is $799 and Amazon.com has it for $763). More important than the price (and … Read more

Samsung Enters US Laptop Market (Q310, X360)

Samsung NC10 Samsung is making it official – they are entering the US market, and will be selling through mainstream retailers, including Amazon, Buy.com, and others. We already knew quite a bit about the 10.2″ Samsung NC10 netbook and that it would be coming to the US, but it turns out the NC10 was just a small (no pun intended) part of Samsung’s offerings, which should be available soon.

Samsung has supplied American PC makers in the past with rebadged Samsung laptops (including Dell and some of their 12.1″ ultraportables), but they’ve decided the time is right for them to formally enter the market. They will be marketing their laptops (and themselves) as a “premium band”, including the NC10.

In addition to the NC10 netbook, Samsung introduced a couple of 13.3″ laptops. Both feature a 13.3″ 1280×800 Display (the X360 is LED-backlit), Intel X4500 Graphics, and an HDMI port.

Samsung Q310
Q310-34GAmazon – $1149
Q310-34PAmazon – $1299
– Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs
– 250GB – 320GB HDD
– Weight: 4.4 pounds

Samsung X360

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