Hasta La Gadget!

It’s no secret that Google is aiming to create a whole new segment in the world of portable computing with Chrome, and here with the newest Samsung Chromebook, especially at its eye-opening $249 price point, it appears that the big G will make that move. If you’ve got a need for an internet machine for school, for fun, or for a present for your mother who doesn’t use her desktop anyway, this device might just be perfect. It’s light, it’s extremely inexpensive, and most important of all: it’s a high quality machine. Samsung and Google have made some fabulous strides forward since September of 2011, of that you can be certain.

Hardware

This piece of Samsung hardware is the most basic Chromebook you can buy right this minute, but it’s not the low-quality piece of hardware the price suggests. Instead you’ve got a machine that Samsung and Google very obviously went through a lot of work to perfect, and they’ve taken all the bits from the machines that have been successful in this arena and stuffed them into a quality package here without a doubt. This rings true especially in the keyboard and the trackpad.

The real test a person such as myself must go through to decide if a notebook is going to work long-term is if the keyboard is able to take my non-stop usage and real need to be able to type relatively quickly. With this keyboard I certainly can do both of those things. One of the main reasons for this is that the keyboard is so extremely close in shape, size, setup, and spring to the MacBook series from Apple. It’s absolutely uncanny, in fact, with the main differences being in the special buttons that Chrome uses to execute commands like Full Screen, Back, Forward, and Reload (all of which work directly with the Chrome web browser which is, of course, at the center of your Chome OS experience.)

The trackpad is also extremely nice – the only more perfected trackpad I’ve ever used has been on the MacBook (Pro and Air, the same in the end). You can do the soft-tap we’ve seen running rampant over every Windows-toting notebook here as well, but unlike many notebooks, it’s not something you’ll do on accident. You’ve also got keyboard and touchpad settings in the Chromebook just incase you do want to increase or decrease speeds and such – but you’ll likely be fine right out of the box.

This Chromebook weighs in at 2.5 pounds and is 0.8 inches thin, working with what Google and Samsung say is 6.5 hours of battery life. It would appear very likely that Google has been modest in its estimation of how long this machine will stay active, even while movies are playing and oddities are rendering. Even with the 46% battery left I’m looking at right now, the machine has nearly 6 hours quoted as being left – and the machine has been out and on for at least 12 hours without need for a charge. This machine has some undeniable standby power abilities, that’s for certain.

The display is 11.6-inches large with 1366 x 768 pixel resolution across it, this making for a display that’s certainly OK, but not the best in the industry by a long shot. What you’ve got here is Samsung providing you with the amount of pixels you’ll need to watch relatively high definition videos without making a case for having a display that’s mind-blowing. The viewing angles on this device are also far from perfect, but certainly usable in most single-user situations. You won’t want to use this for a YouTube party, if you know what I mean.

You’ve got a VGA camera built-in for average video chat on the web (on Google+ Hangouts, of course) as well as a full-sized HDMI port for video output. You can connect to this device with 1 USB 3.0 port, 1 USB 2.0 port, and Bluetooth 3.0. Inside is a Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core processor – this is the next generation of processors working for mobile devices Samsung introduced last year and made available here in 2012, only available on this Chromebook thus far. The next-newest after this is a Samsung Exynos 4 quad-core which you’ll find on the Galaxy Note II.

Software and Performance

The newest version of Chrome OS provides you with the ability to download and upload files to storage on your Chromebook – this is one of the biggest stumbling points for people who only know the operating system to be an “internet only” sort of situation. Now that I can download an image from one webpage and upload it to another, I can write articles in a blog – I now have a machine with the most basic set of requirements I need.

Its worth noting that it appears the quality of this machine is above that of every tablet we’ve had our hands on thus far – if only because the operating system is made to handle notebook operations. One should not expect that since this device uses a processor from the Exynos lineup with two CPU cores (two less that the Galaxy Note II) that it wont work as hard on everyday tasks as a smartphone or tablet would. On the contrary – this is a minimally powered notebook with all the non-web elements stripped away – that’s all.

You’ve got 2GB of RAM that will not let you down unless you absolutely push the limits of the device on purpose. If you’ve got 20 or more tabs open, each of them playing videos or keeping up with Twitter feeds, for example, you’re not going to see as fast a performance speed as if you’re being a reasonable person working with just a few tasks at a time. This machine is not made to be a workhorse – it’s made to take care of basic tasks, management of your daily duties, and web browsing.

Access to the entire range of Google services here means you’ll be working in the Chrome web browser – the only offline items here are changing your wallpaper, storing files in your local downloads folder, and working on a calculator. You can also use a Beta product on the machine if you want to go bigger: Chrome Remote Desktop. With this environment you’re able to access your larger machine virtually, seeing it through your browser window and controlling it as if you were there at that other machine in-person – though it’s significantly more laggy than real life, when it comes down to it.

What you’re seeing above is a connection between the Chromebook and a MacBook Pro, both of them connected to the same wireless network. It’s not a perfect system, by any means, and it’s a bit difficult working with a display that’s mean to be much larger inside a browser window that shrinks it, but it’s interesting to say the least. This system is not limited to your local network, mind you, you can do tasks remotely, just so long as both devices are connected to the web.

This is all topped off by the fact that current purchases of the Samsung Chromebook come with 100GB of Google Drive storage for two years. That would cost you $100 if you bought it outright.

Wrap-up

This Chromebook from Samsung is a value offer you might just need to think about, if only because the quality matches the price so very closely. Considering the alternatives start at several hundreds of dollars higher, you risk being called “silly” for not considering the Chromebook in your decision making process in purchasing a new notebook. Where this device leaves off at a price of $249, the MacBook Air picks up – starting at $999.

Google and Samsung have created a machine with a price point that’s impossible to ignore. We’ll be using this device for an extended period to see how “game changing” it really is. Meanwhile, please feel free to let us know if you’ve got any questions about this device and we’ll certainly do our best to answer to the best of our ability. Have a peek at the Chromebook tag portal as well to keep up with all things Chromebook through the future!

Samsung Chromebook (late-2012) Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Apple event on the 23rd of October – next week, that is – is quite likely going to be playing host to more than just the iPad mini: in fact details today suggest that refreshes of both the Mac mini and iMac will be appearing at the event as well. This tip comes from 9to5Mac where they’ve got sources close to the line saying that three new Mac mini models will be appearing at the same prices the current models are at, that being $599, $799, and $999 – the last being a single server model. New iMac models are also being suggested to keep their pricing scale with $1199, $1499, $1699, and $1999 depending on the size and innards.

These refreshes have also been tipped to be coming with some upgrades, of course, including a Mac mini with 16GB of RAM included in two RAM slots and a denser machine overall. That’s not to say much for the weight of the machine, but the insides will certainly be jumping at leaps and bounds while the size of the unit stays relatively similar to past models. This update has the Mac mini finally able to join the official Apple ranks – rather than just 3rd party modified sales ranks – with its 8GB configuration replaced with 16GB of RAM for the standard edition.

The Mac mini may well have 32GB of RAM then with higher grade models, with four slots for RAM still being the situation on the innards. This boost has separately been tipped to be coming in at a thinner profile than before, strangely enough, this ringing true with the theme of the event, Apple showing us “a little bit more” as it were.

The iMac on the other hand will be keeping its height but reducing its thickness, with a bit of a teardrop design making this all-in-one sort of machine small as it is gigantic. The iMac has been tipped as having a price increase as well, so we’ll see whose reports add up in the end. Size reductions add to the possibility of there being a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro as well.

We’ll be live at the Apple event on the 23rd of this month – that’s next week – so stay tuned and make sure you’re ready for lots and lots of action. New hardware primarily is what we’re expecting, but we could very well see some software boosts as well – we shall see!

iMac and Mac mini refresh pricing tipped to remain the same at Apple event is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time to take a peek at the MAINGEAR Potenza, a desktop gaming machine that’s small enough to fit under your desk if you wish, or sit right up out in the open with its powerful innards hidden by a perfectly stripped-down black and red outer metal body made of anodized aluminum with a steel frame inside. The unit we’ve got here utilizes the fabulous GeForce GTX 660 Ti for graphics, cutting the cost of the final build while it keeps with the Kepler power NVIDIA is known for. The Potenza is a customized (and customizable) machine that places heavy emphasis on hand-constructed and quality-assured building from MAINGEAR’s own highly-skilled staff of PC geniuses – and it shows.

Hardware

This beast is not light in between 20 and 30 pounds, but it’s certainly small at just 14.75 inches tall, 7.5 inches wide, and 9.25 inches deep. You’ve got all metal on the outside with the Maingear logo set up front in red lights cut into the surface. Everything you need to plug in to this system sits up top of the machine with a plastic grill set with large access points made perfect for securing cords as they slide through the area provided on the sides and back of the top area.

This machine was designed specifically for you to have cords coming upwards out of it and/or out the back of the top, certainly made for easy access at a floor level. Though the system can indeed be as simple as the black totem you see here, you can also get it aesthetically enhanced with laser-etched designs, automotive paint jobs, and “over 200 color combinations of internal and external colors” direct from MAINGEAR – go big with Burple, Citrus Fire, or even Organic Green if you dare!

The front and the back of the setup here are easy to remove as the top with pressure-clips holding them in place until you make the effort to pop them off. Inside you’ll find your hard drive and graphics card ready to look at, admire, or replace at will. Everything else is locked in tight – but if you REALLY want to un-do the precision construction here, there’s a multi-tool included in the box.

In fact, the package you get this computer in also includes every bell and whistle that would normally come with the components that make up the the final product as well, just incase you might ever need them. This set of components includes a couple of external antenna that make your wi-fi signal usable – you can do wireless web without them, but the metal makes it a bit less excellent than we’d like. You can also just toss these in the corner, too, as this amalgamation is ready for action right out of the box.

One you get past admiring the free MAINGEAR t-shirt you’ve likely gotten in the package, you’ll be having another peek at what’s under the grill up top. Here you’ll find a riser cutting the array in half, with a space for the power cord to find its way up and out the back area and the power and reset buttons to stay high. This riser also has the headphone and mic ports popping out the top along with two USB 3.0 ports. All of this sneaks its way out through the top grille when its closed down tight.

Besides the riser you’ve got a collection of ports of all kinds: a couple more USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, jacks for Wi-fi antennas, Ethernet, and a couple of powered e-SATA/USB ports. These sit near HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort connections all ready for action. All of this is hidden if you wish it to be, but when you’re making with the massive amount of connections at once, you’ll have an octopus of wires attacking your desk. This isn’t any different from the rest of the desktops out there, of course, but the one-ness of the system without cords can be deceivingly clean looking – you might just want to put the system up on its own on your desk just for the light. It looks that good.

The bottom of this unit has some rubbery bumpers so you’re not scraping metal against your desk or your floor, and the hardcore black power of its appearance demands that you get a monitor (or set of monitors) to match it. The way the unit is situated, you’ll still be able to work with your CD/DVD slot (you can even get a Blu-ray drive if you wish) extremely easily (that’s the slit up front of the unit, if you did not know), and you’ll have no trouble with overheating in any respect.

This unit uses vertical head dissipation with its motherboard rotated 90 degrees so that when heat needs to escape and rises to do so, it can come right out the top easily. It’s got an intake fan mounted at the bottom as well as a self-contained liquid cooler, all of which keeps the system less than hot with only a small amount of sound overall.

Inside this beast you’ve got a set of innards that’ve been custom installed and quality assured by MAINGEAR’s finest. You’ve got an Intel Core i5 (Ivy Bridge, 3rd Gen) processor at 3570k clocked at 3.4GHz/3.8Ghz with Turbo 6MB L3 Cache HD 4000, for starters, and it’s Redline overlocked to boot – that’s a pro job, if you did not know. Keeping it all cool you’ve got a MAINGEAR 120 Supercooler, and right up front you’ve got the beast – an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti – MAINGEAR gives you a vast collection of options in this graphics arena, and we’ve chosen the 660 Ti because of the waves it’s made in recent news blasts. Value with power!

We’ve also got a 30GB Corsair Accelerator SSD Caching Drive, 500GB Seagate 7200rpm hard drive with 16GB Cache SATA, and up front is an 8X Dual Layer DVD RW Drive Slot Loading SATA so you can watch Lord of the Rings – or whatever you do with a DVD drive these days. The motherboard here is made by ASUS, the P8Z77-I Deluxe with Lucid Virtu MVP and those lovely USB 3.0 ports next to SATA 6G, Bluetooth, and wi-fi connections.

Software

Inside this machine you’ll get a rather stripped-down version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit with so little bloatware you’ll wonder if someone made a mistake and provided you with a dream. You’ve got a couple of shortcuts on your desktop right out of the box that offer you just a bit of added security for your system if you wish, but for the most part you’ve got an operating system that gives you just what you payed for – Windows 7 and the basics. With this you’ll have no cleanup duty to perform before getting down to business with hardcore gaming galore.

Benchmarking

With this system, as it is with all systems we test here on SlashGear, we give it the one-shot test with GeekBench. In addition to this we’ve tested a selection of games from Arkham City to World of Warcraft, each of which performed perfectly well, especially considering the fact that this isn’t the absolute most powerful system we’ve ever had on the testing bench. Performance on this system with maxed-out gear inside have been extremely favorable for the Potenza, and with what we’ve got in this build, we certainly cannot argue the possibilities.

If you’re planning on working with this beast with Windows 7 (which is what it comes with right this minute) or with Windows 8 (coming soon), you’ll be busting up skulls without a hitch. You’ll be the belle of the ball with whatever you’re playing too, as any limitation you’ve got here can be modded out if you do so please. Have a peek at some more specifications from inside this build here, as well.

Wrap-up

The MAINGEAR Potenza has a really good chance of bringing you much more power and performance than you paid for, and the construction of the system – the attention to detail and final product – are nothing to scoff at. The MAINGEAR Potenza is without a doubt one of the finest gaming systems we’ve come across, especially considering the cost. While it wont destroy the gaming universe with perfectly top-tier benchmark smacks with a basic build, it’s certainly one of the best mid-tier gaming desktops you can buy – that’s a category not often attacked – MAINGEAR does it well right here.

The build we’ve got right here will ring in at right around $2,000 – and you’ll start at closer to $1,000 without adding on the beastly bits. You can also ring up quite a bit larger bill with boosts here and there in your own customizations too, so keep that in mind! You get a beast in any case!

MAINGEAR Potenza Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Iomega has outed a pair of new network-attached storage (NAS) boxes, the StorCenter px2-300d and ix4-300d, promising high-speed backup and file/media access for demanding users. Both ominous black boxes support paired local and cloud storage for double backup safety, Iomega Personal Cloud for accessing files remotely, USB expansion with external drives, and UPnP/DLNA streaming with the option of auto-upload of content to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

The latter, Iomega suggests, could be handy for small businesses wanting to keep customers up to date with what’s going on: drop a handful of files into a preconfigured folder, and they’re automatically uploaded to your selected social network. However, it could also be great for home users wanting to quickly upload a holiday’s-worth of snapshots to their choice of online gallery.

The StorCenter px2-300d is the cheaper of the two, with two drive bays for up to 6TB of storage. It has front-mounted USB, hot-swappable caddies, and will be sold as either a diskless, empty chassis ($499.99), or with a pair of 1TB ($699.99), 2TB ($999.99), or 3TB ($1,199.99) 7,200rpm enterprise-grade drives installed.

As for the StorCenter ix4-300d, it can handle up to 12TB of storage, and “more than doubles” the performance from the previous-gen model. It comes diskless ($599.99) or in a 4TB configuration for $749.99, 8TB for $949.99, or 12TB for $1,299.99. Iomega is currently working on certifying 4TB drives for expansion.

Iomega StorCenter px2-300d and ix4-300d share up to 12TB is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The explosion of touchscreen devices have not made the mouse obsolete. But what if you could use your finger as a mouse on any surface? That’s the point of Magic Finger, a concept device made by a team from Autodesk Research and the University of Toronto that can sense touch, motion and texture.

The Magic Finger is basically a micro RGB camera, an LED and an optical mouse sensor cobbled together. Talk about ripping off the mouse. Contrary to its name, the magic here seems to be in the software. Aside from letting you point and click on any surface, the camera can also recognize different textures, which the researchers use in a variety of ways, such as reading data, launching applications and controlling other devices. Watch the dorky demo in the video below:

I’m not too sold on the Magic Finger for a couple of reasons. First of all the Magic Finger is intrusive; the finger or hand wearing the device will be of limited use because you don’t want to damage the Magic Finger. Second, I don’t think the data matrix or the Morse code transfer is practical. That said, the shortcuts and its use as a mouse could be very practical. Perhaps those two functions could be integrated in a less intrusive device like Google Glass or Digits.

[via Autodesk Research via MAKE]