Gaming peripherals, while pricey, are quite durable and full of features that even the sternest desk-jockey can appreciate. Recently, I saw a couple of LED-powered keyboards that had me drooling, since they lit up very brightly to highlight gaming keys. The Mad Catz RAT has always been an extremely good mouse for gaming, since it allowed you to get the perfect shape for your hands. If you don’t like to buy off-the-shelf peripherals like these, then check out this 3D-printed alternative.
Granted, the Statial mouse housing costs a lot more than I expected, but if you can get similar functionality to a higher priced mouse, then you’re still winning. The Statial is a cover that will turn any Logitech M100 mouse into an adjustable alternative. Each section of the Statial cover can be adjusted to fit the form of your hand. The Statial was designed by Pyott Design.
Unfortunately, the $69.99 price tag for the shell on Shapeways makes this kind of a non-starter, since you can buy gaming mice with more functionality for the same total price. Still, if you’ve got the blueprints and a 3D printer, you can always print your own custom mouse cover.
There’s no lack of high-powered ruggedness in the Panasonic Toughbook range, and when it comes to keeping up with the rest of the notebook power world, the company is making sure of Windows 8-era excellence this week. There’s the Toughbook CF-31, CF-19 and CF-H2 from Panasonic’s “ultra durable Fully-rugged” range and the Semi-rugged CF-53 that are getting said upgrade, it’ll finally be time to really, truly be done with Windows XP.
Speaking on the end of Windows XP support by Microsoft in 2014, Panasonic suggests that this upgrade to Windows 7 and 8 will offer “smooth migration option(s) for businesses.” That’s not the only use for these hardcore machines, of course, with each unit aimed at unique use-cases for computer needs small and great. In addition to updating the operating systems of these notebooks, camera upgrades are in order for full video conferencing functionality.
Each of the four models mentioned will be hitting the market with a push for the next generation of convertible notebook, tablet, and all-in hardcore notebook machines immediately. Just make sure wherever you’re picking one of these machines up that you’re hitting the newest range – run down the specs while you’re at it!
Panasonic Toughbook CF-19 (pictured above) • Intel® Core™ i5-3340M vPro Processor • Windows® 8 Pro • Intel HD 4000 graphics • Vibration and shock resistant (MIL-STD 810G)* • Water and dust resistant (IP65, MIL-STD 810G)* • Balanced lightweight at just 2.3kg • Extremely bright 10.1″ transflective plus LCD with Touchscreen or Dual Touch (up to 6.500cd/m2 reflective brightness) with circular polarizer • Long battery life of up to 10 hours • 3G mobile broadband optional (HSPA+, up to 14.4Mbps)
Panasonic Toughbook CF-31 • Intel® Core™ i5-3340M vPro Processor (Standard Model) • Intel® Core™ i5-3380M vPro Processor (Performance Model) • Windows® 8 Pro • Intel HD 4000 graphics (Standard Model), AMD® Radeon™ HD 7750M (Performance Model) • Vibration and shock resistant (MIL-STD 810G)* • Water and dust resistant (IP65, MIL-STD 810G)* • 13.1″ high brightness outdoor display (up to 1.200cd/m²) with circular polarizer • Up to 14.5 hours battery life (Standard Model, 12 hours Performance Model) • 3G mobile broadband optional (HSPA+, up to 14.4Mbps) • Backwards compatible with CF-30 docking stations and Car Mounter Kit** • High flexibility and connectivity through new configuration such as second LAN, camera or GPS
Panasonic Toughbook CF-53 • Intel® Core™ i5-3340M vPro Processor • Windows® 8 Pro • Intel HD 4000 graphics • 14″ HD display • Integrated DVD Super Multi Drive • Up to 11 hours battery life • High capacity “road warrior” Battery optional • 3G mobile broadband optional (HSPA+, up to 14.4Mbps) • Dedicated GPS Module optional • RFID Module optional • 2nd LAN, Firewire or Modem optional • Robust magnesium alloy display case • Shock-protected HDD • Low temperature HDD optional • Withstands drops from a height of 76cm***
Panasonic Toughbook CF-H2 • Intel® Core™ i5-3437U vPro processor • Windows® 8 Pro • Intel HD 4000 graphics • Vibration and shock resistant (MIL-STD 810G, Field Model)* • Water and dust resistant (IP65, MIL-STD 810G)* • Easy to clean/disinfect and meets Hospital Safety Certifications (Health Model)**** • Extremely bright 10.1″ transflective plus LCD with Dual Touch (up to 6.500cd/m2 reflective brightness) and circular polarizer • Lightweight form factor – weighing only 1.58kg • Dual hot swappable batteries providing up to 7 hours battery life • USB 3.0 SuperSpeed, LAN and Serial Port (depends on model) • Integrated Barcode Reader optional • Smartcard Reader optional • Camera, GPS or RFID optional
SlashGear also recently had some hands-on time with the back-breaking Panasonic Toughbook CF-AX2 if you’d like to take a look. This machine was revealed well within the bounds of this same future-ready range of Windows 8 machines so doesn’t fall under this reboot schedule – it’s already prepped!
The same goes for the Panasonic Toughbook CF-C2, a display-turning transformable notebook ready to bring on both tablet and notebook abilities in a hardcore form. And for those of you that want to say small and don’t necessarily feel the need to move forward with Windows 8, there’s always the Panasonic Toughbook SX2 from back in 2012 – always room for a strange trackpad or two!
AMD‘s flagship 5.0 GHz processor, the AMD FX-9560, has gone on sale, though the chip won’t be available as a standalone part for some time. The company will instead offer the new processor through various PC builders, including iBUYPOWER and Maingear, for those who want to be able to tell their friends they have the first commercially-available 5GHz chip.
Back when it was first announced, in June, the FX-9000 series prompted no small amount of questions as to the necessity of such a high clock speed. Whereas, at one time, the gigahertz race was an integral part of AMD and Intel’s battle for computing dominance, in recent years the focus has evolved to consider more real-world relevant tasks.
That’s gone hand in hand with GPU-accelerated processing, where chips that would normally be used for rendering high-resolution games are instead turned to parallel crunching through huge sets of data. AMD itself is experimenting with the idea, as part of its Heterogeneous Computing push.
In contrast, the FX-9560 is about raw speed. That’s still going to appeal to some users, with AMD hoping they’ll head down to AVADirect, Canada Computers, CyberPower, iBUYPOWER, Digital Storm, Extreme PC, Maingear, Memory Express, NCIX, Origin PC, Puget Systems, or Velocity Micro, which are all signed up to use the new processor.
Under the hood the chip has eight of AMD’s Piledriver cores, and comes unlocked for easy overclocking; AMD even supplies the software to do it. However, gamers shouldn’t get too carried away: if they break their processor with an ill-advised overclock, they won’t be covered by AMD’s warranty.
In the Utilite mini-PC, if you’re all about working with open-source software, small form factor, and more ports than you know what to do with, the team at Compulab may have created just the monster you’re looking for. This week the creators of the Utilite have announced not only that the machine itself exists, but that they’ll be selling it in different configurations starting at under $100 USD. The smallest of these works with a Freescale i.M6 single-core processor and will be aiming to be just about as basic as possible.
Inside this device will be working with support for up to 4GB of RAM – though you’ll be working with less right out of the box – as well as 512MB built-in storage. There’s an mSATA solid state drive slot for additional space, and a SDXC card slot for 128GB more. You’ll also find four USB 2.0 ports and two RS232 serial ports. Don’t forget the USB OTG (micro-USB connector) as well.
This device can also be configured with dual or quad-core processors. Like the company’s other miniature oddities, MintBox, Fit-PC, and Tegra-based Trim Slice, this Utilite mini-PC aims to be as versatile as possible while remaining solid as a single-form machine. The whole beast remains 5.3″ x 3.9″ x 0.8″ (135mm x 100mm x 21mm) one way or the other.
The Utilite mini-PC can connect to devices wirelessly with 802.11b/g/n WiFi as well as Bluetooth 3.0, connecting to monitors with a HDMI out and single DVI port, the rest with S/PDIF and stereo audio jacks. You’ll also find 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as an extremely laid-back design, with white plastic on the front and back of this unit and a dark gray along the top.
The whole system will work with between 3 and 8 watts of power – unbelievable for a system that could very well work as a central control point for your many multiple home network systems. It’ll be up to you to decide what you’ll actually be controlling with this exercise in simplicity.
This week the folks at HP have introduced a relatively large new IPS LED backlit display aimed at taking on “extra-wide” viewing angles in several different computing environments. This monitor is designed first and foremost for a “business class” experience, but will meet most gamers everyday average high-resolution needs with a pixel count of 1920 x 1080. This display aims to bring on a tilt of -5 to 30 degree ups and downs and sits on a 360 degree swivel as well.
Viewing angles both horizontal and vertical with this monitor both ring in at 178 degrees, while the brightness of the display itself is a cool 250 cd/m2. On the back you’ve got VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort inputs as well an integrated USB hub. At a pixel pitch of 0.311 mm and working with a collection of tilt, swivel, and odd adjustment abilities, this 27-inch monitor also meets TCO Certified Edge requirements for environmental and ergonomic stand design.
The EliteDisplay E271i will join HP’s set of monitors aimed at SMB and enterprise customers while machines like the HP Slate 21 All-in-one revealed earlier this year proves the company isn’t about to be pigeon-holed as either a monitor or desktop PC-maker.
The company also recently revealed additions to their device lineup with the HP Pavilion 14 Chromebook as well as the HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Notebook, each of them aimed at completely different audiences. The SMB market continued to be pushed by HP, on the other hand, with the HP ProBook 400 and 200 series, each of them made to be thin and light, start to finish.
Samsung‘s ATIV Book 9 Lite will hit US stores on July 28, Samsung has confirmed, with the new touchscreen Windows 8 ultraportable up for preorder today. Announced at Samsung’s Premiere event last month, the 13.3-inch notebook is priced from $799.99 with AMD’s quadcore 1.4GHz A6 chipset inside, and a 10-finger multitouch display.
There are also AMD Radeon graphics and 4GB of DDR3 memory, while storage is courtesy of a 128GB SSD. Connectivity includes WiFi, micro HDMI, mini VGA, two USB ports (one 2.0, the other 3.0), an SDXC card reader, and a headset socket.
Samsung is claiming the 1366 x 768 ultraportable will run for up to 5.5hrs on a single charge, which is short of what Apple is offering from the Intel Haswell powered 2013 MacBook Air. The 13-inch Air we recently tested ran for more than double that, though it’s worth noting that it’s at least $300 more than the Samsung.
The 12.76 x 8.82 x 0.69 inch, 3.48 pound chassis is made of plastic – you’ll need to step up to the Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus if you want metal – though from our hands-on with the notebook we know it feels sturdy and well put together. Samsung will offer it in white or black finishes.
It also plays nicely with your smartphone, assuming you have a Samsung Android device. Hooked up via USB, Samsung SideSync makes it possible to send messages; browse maps, photos, and other multimedia; and edit files stored on the Galaxy handset from the ATIV Book 9 Lite’s keyboard and touchpad. Dragging and dropping files between the two is also supported.
There are hacks out there which transform the original Macintosh into an aquarium, or the original iMac into a pet bed. But those require that you have an actual computer shell you’re willing to part ways with. Here’s another fun design that looks like an old Macintosh, but it doesn’t make you tear apart a vintage computer.
The MaCool is a thermal insulated carrier that looks like an original Apple Macintosh. It’ll keep cold drinks cold or hot food hot, and holds up to 8 drink cans and ice. As an added bonus, it’s guaranteed never to eat your 3.5″ floppy disks.
Here’s an amusing clip of the creator of the MaCool bringing it in to the Genius Bar for repair:
You can pledge to order the MaCool insulated cooler over at Kickstarter for $59(USD).
It’s been a while since I featured a product from Brando, and I have to say I’m slightly disappointed with what they recently showed to us. It’s a USB drive shaped like a king chess piece. I know right? A perfectly reasonable, gift ready gadget that doesn’t make you want to bashyourheadagainstthewall in confusion? What’s going on at Brando?
The only weird thing about it it’s that Brando calls it a Chess Flash Drive. And it’s not even that weird! They just accidentally a word.
If you’re looking for a gift for a chess fan, get this from Brando. It sells for $16 to $38 (USD) depending on the capacity you want. Meanwhile I’ll be here mourning the end of an era.
Being touted as a “mini ultrabook” the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11S is the latest and greatest to grace the IdeaPad lineup with full-fledged Windows 8 on board. Everything about the Yoga 11 from last year is still present, only we’ve received a huge upgrade to an Intel Core 15 processor (no ARM Tegra 3 here) and dropped Win RT for the full experience. The device is still as portable and impressive as ever, so read on for the rest of our thoughts.
If you’re a fan of the IdeaPad Yoga 11 or Yoga 13, there’s absolutely nothing not to like about the new and improved 11S. It’s faster and better in every way, while keeping true to the original complete with the 360 degrees hinge setup offering multiple viewing modes and usage experiences. Lets take a look.
Hardware
Now before we start on hardware (or anything else for that matter) you’ll want to check out our original Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 Review, as it’s the same experience in terms of the general hardware. We’re working with an 11.6-inch 1366×768 resolution HD IPS display, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 8GB of fast DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD hard drive, and Bluetooth 4.0 on board. Flip it into tablet mode and you’ve got an excellent touch experience, not to mention full out Windows 8.
Just like the original we have Silver Grey, or an epic looking Clementine Orange for color options. Then Lenovo also has two pricing models too. Starting at $749 you get a Core i3 at 1.4 GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. From there the price bumps to $999 and you get the high-end (although not Haswell) specs mentioned above. Now lets talk about the outside.
Again, nothing’s changed here. We have the same soft to the touch durable materials on the outside and magnesium aluminum frame, followed by a sleek build and chicklet keyboard under the hood. The entire wrist rest area is almost a soft to the touch fabric as well, which has us worried about longevity. On the outside is the power button on front, USB 2.0 on the right and 3.0 on the left (in blue), followed by HDMI out and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Back to the right edge we have a screen orientation lock, SD for expanding on the 256 GB of storage, and the proprietary charging port. Don’t forget your cable or you’ll be sorry out of luck.
Just like our original review, what’s not to love. It’s thin and portable being only 11.73″ x 8.03″ x 0.67″ in size and barely over 3 lbs. We get a solid 6 hours of battery life, and even a 720p front webcam for Skyping with friends and family. It really is the best form factor for a laptop/tablet on Windows 8. The ThinkPad Helix was neat, but a mess to use in real life. The IdeaPad Yoga 11S is more manageable, and more comfortable.
In closing, we absolutely love the hardware. It’s as portable as ever (save for maybe the MacBook Air) lightweight, durable, comfortable, and extremely adaptable to your needs. Being a Lenovo you know the build quality is awesome, as will be the support should you have issues. Our only hardware complaint would be that both USB ports aren’t 3.0, and the keyboard isn’t backlit. That should be standard these days, even at this price point. Oh and one other thing, the display is a bit glossy. We’d love a matte anti-glare option in the future. That aside, we love the Yoga 11S.
Display
As mentioned above, we’re working with an 11.6inch HD display that’s also an IPS panel. That means wide 178 degree viewing angles and excellent color reproduction. Viewing angles were great, colors were vibrant, and blacks were inky black. The overall bezel could be smaller, but then again this form factor is nearly perfect if you ask me.
The touchscreen was smooth, stable, and responsive. Flipping through Windows 8 was easy and extremely accurate, although of course Win 8 could still use a little work in the touch department. Brightness was never a problem outdoors, and our only complaint again would be the glare from this glossy (but beautiful) display.
Software
We really had one complaint when we reviewed the original Yoga 11, and that was obviously the fact that we were stuck with Windows 8 RT and an ARM chip under the hood. No steam games, no latest Win 8 apps, nothing. The watered down experience was a bummer, but Lenovo fixed all that here. While we still are stuck with a slightly outdated Core i5 processor (instead of Haswell) we get full on Windows 8. Perfect!
Unlike the Yoga 11, the 11S is a full Win 8 machine so we were able to run some Steam games, although obviously the integrated Intel 4000 HD graphics can only take you so far. A little Starcraft 2, some old school Counter-strike, and I even played Angry Birds in the Chrome browser while using the 11S in tablet mode.
Lastly, we ran a few GeekBench tests just to check the performance, for those curious. Again, there’s no i7 under the hood, nor do we have an Intel Haswell processor. So the 1.5 GHz Intel Core i5-3339Y Processor did just about as expected. Check em out below for those interested.
Benchmark Score – LENOVO 20246
Section
Description
Score
Total Score
Windows x86 (64-bit) – Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Integer
Processor integer performance
4001
5321
Floating Point
Processor floating point performance
7016
Memory
Memory performance
5141
Stream
Memory bandwidth performance
4371
System – LENOVO 20246
Manufacturer
Lenovo
Product Type
Notebook
Operating System
Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
Motherboard
LENOVO Yoga2
Processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3339Y CPU @ 1.50GHz
Processor ID
GenuineIntel Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Frequency
1.50 GHz
Processors
1
Threads
4
Cores
2
L1 Instruction Cache
32.0 KB
L1 Data Cache
32.0 KB
L2 Cache
256 KB
L3 Cache
3.00 MB
Memory
8.00 GB DDR3 SDRAM 799MHz
FSB
99.8 MHz
BIOS
LENOVO 77CN16WW
Overall the i5 handles the full Windows 8 experience just fine. Lenovo’s Yoga 11S is the perfect blend between the bigger Yoga 13, and the underpowered original 11. If you’ve been on the fence, this should help you out.
Battery Life
Now battery life is always a mixed bag here, especially considering the user, his usage, and other variables. As usual we tried to get the estimated 6 hours of battery that Lenovo quotes, but never quite made it. A few times once fully charged the battery lasted under 5 hours, but we did manage a solid 5 hours and 12 minutes with intermittent games, browsing, downloading apps, and watching some Dark Knight Rises.
With the screen turned down to about 40% we managed a solid 5+ hours no matter the usage (except for gaming of course) and felt it was quite decent. Then again, this is where Haswell would really come in handy.
Competition
The options available are pretty open at this point in Windows 8′s life. There’s tons of options available, not to mention the original Yoga 11 for those on a budget. However, we feel the full Win 8 experience is essential to truly enjoy this machine. Others that come to mind would obviously be the MacBook Air, which by the way, recently got upgraded to Haswell, and even the Google Chromebook Pixel.
Now that we have a full Windows 8 build here and a Core i5, we’d put this up against any other Windows 8 machine in the price range in terms of overall usage and functionality. The 360 degrees hinge really comes in handy more than you’d think. The Yoga 13 is another excellent option, but for those on the go the 11S is the clear choice.
Wrap-Up
In closing, we’ve enjoyed using this machine for the past few weeks. The Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 11S has a unique design, and could be one of my favorite hybrid/portables on the market. It’s made for the traveler, and can do it all whether you’re out and about, or sitting on the couch. With Lenovo you know it is top quality, and it shows during daily usage.
The Yoga 11S is one of the most portable and flexible machines on the market, and now that we have full Windows 8 nothing will be slowing you down. Give us a similar design with Haswell and a bigger battery, and we’ll be plenty happy. In the meantime you can’t go wrong with the IdeaPad Yoga 11S. Get one today!
This afternoon the first slimline gaming notebook with a 13.3-inch display and Haswell – that’s Intel’s 4th generation Core technology, mind you – is being unleashed on the public. This machine sports a slick customized system mark of excellence on its back with Digital Storm’s hot red cut down its back, bringing with it a system that also sports the highest-end NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700-series graphics cards under the hood.
This machine works with a body that’s just 1.26-inches thick and brings on an Intel Core i7 4800MQ processor to team up with an NVIDIA GTX 765M graphics card. That’s the full force of NVIDIA’s vision – as we were informed earlier this year – for gaming notebooks that aren’t as massive and bulky as previous generations would have us believe they had to be.
This machine works with full HD, 1920 x 1080 pixels, that is, across its 13.3-inch display. That means you’re going to be rolling out with a display that’s more densely packed than any solution from this company in the past. Below said display is a “cold silver and grey” interior with a keyboard that’s fully back-lit.
Under the hood you’ve also got two storage drives (mSATA & 2.5”) with RAID capability as well as a dedicated internal network port. Also around the edges you’ll find HDMI 1.4, VGA video out, three SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, and ethernet. The whole package then rings in at $1,535 USD, all of this coming in on July 17th – just a week away!
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