Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re in the market for a no-nonsense travel-ready notebook you can take with you on any business-related trip where data input, web browsing, and typing in general are your game, the Acer TravelMate P243 may be just the device you’re looking for. This machine has proven itself to be both reliable and deceptively simple in the way it both looks and feels, bringing with it more power than you might ever need for a price you’ll be well satisfied with. With features like a spill-resistant keyboard and a lovely 1366 x 768 pixel resolution ComfyView LCD, you might just find that this notebook is just the right combination of light computing in a relatively small package you need.

Hardware

Inside you’ll find several possibilities for what you’ll be able to work with, with a 3rd Generation Intel Core i5 processor to start things off right with current-generation processing power – backed up by Intel Turbo Boost technology, of course. You’ll also be working with 4GB of DDR3 memory (that you can upgrade easily under the hood to 8GB if you wish. You’ve got a SATA hard drive 500GB large as well as a collection of connection ports for several different purposes.

This device is made for business, and that’s definitely what you should be using it for. It’s tough – though not necessarily tough enough to bring along with you camping. It’s powerful – though not really for video processing, when it comes down to it. It’s got security – Acer’s own ProShield pre-boot authentication makes for that added bit of calm in your mind when you’re thinking about your data being destroyed – not here it wont!

Of course before we launch into the software side of things, we’ve got to have a peek at all those ports. You’ve got one USB 3.0 port and a couple of USB 2.0 ports, HDMI and display port in addition to Wireless Display technology (WiDi) if you’re into the wireless HD display era. Built-in ethernet port keeps you wired if you’re not all about wi-fi data, and your wi-fi connection can be turned on and off with a physical button up in the left next to the power button right above your keyboard.

The keyboard itself is rather nice, certainly generous for the intent of the notebook and more than ready for a business environment. Several lights sit in the lower left below the area where your wrists will be sitting with notifications for your power, wi-fi connection, and more. Next to this is an SD card reader that you’ll be able to use for your camera and – if you’ve got a converter – your micro-SD card-holding smartphone as well.

Notice that the display does not have perfect viewing angles as its given the hands-on treatment in the video above. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly bright and sharp enough for your everyday web browsing, email reading, and document typing needs. The build of the notebook is also, again, solid and ready to work for you for many years to come.

Software

Inside you’ve got a lovely Windows 7 build that you can read just a bit more about in the readout we’ve got below this paragraph. It’s a relatively standard build and won’t bring on a whole lot of surprises, but you will get items such as the ability to run Acer Video Conference with your video camera (above the display) and Acer Backup – more than helpful for those of you that accidentally download your fair share of adware. Back it all up on the regular!

You’ve got Acer Office Manager as well, this made for the small business to be able to easily deploy security policies and monitor IT assets. You’ll be able to schedule maintenance tasks and roll out with a full set of solutions for basically anything you’ll want to do with your employees working with the TravelMate. Connect and make it work!

Benchmark

Have a peek at our standard benchmark readout here with Geekbench and take note that this should be more than enough of a processing beast to get you going throughout the day. Compared to gaming rigs and high-powered notebooks with no need to be transportable, this isn’t the biggest and the most beastly – but it’s certainly fine for your business needs.

Wrap-up

Acer TravelMate P243 is available in many Acer reseller stores across the USA right this minute in a couple different iterations. The one we’re using here will cost you right around $999 USD, while a much more conservatively powered iteration with a 2nd Gen i3 processor from Intel will run you around $599.99 USD. That’s the one you want if you only want the basics – don’t expect to do the big tasks there, but traveling around with it will be a perfectly good experience.

Acer TravelMate P243 notebook Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There a lot of touch typists out there who love mechanical keyboards with all their clickety-clacking and loads of tactile feedback. Though people who sit around mechanical keyboards in an office often don’t care so much for the noise they produce. Logitech has unveiled a new mechanical gaming keyboard called the G710+ that offers mechanical keys with less noise – not that you should be playing games at work now, should you?

The keyboard uses premium mechanical switches that offer definitive, tactile key presses while eliminating much of the noise associated with mechanical keys. To dampen the noise output even further, Logitech equips the keys with dampening rings. Every key features anti-ghosting technology and the keyboard supports up to 26 key presses at one time. Each key is rated at a lifespan of 50 million presses.

The keyboard also has adjustable dual-zone backlighting. This feature allows users to adjust the lighting behind the WASD and arrow keys independently of the backlighting behind other keys – making it perfect for playing FPSes in darkened rooms. The G710+ also features six programmable G-keys and for media controls. The Logitech G710+ keyboard will ship soon for $149.99(USD).

NVIDIA has revealed its latest graphics option, the GeForce GTX 650 iI, a $149 video card targeting upgraders looking for the company’s Kepler cleverness. Packing a promised five-times the performance of the GeForce 9600 GT, the GTX 650 Ti supports DirectX 11 and Full HD 1080p, and NVIDIA is even throwing in the promise of a free game for those who go shopping soon.

Buy a GeForce GTX 650 Ti-based video card from one of NVIDIA’s participating retailers, and you’ll get a copy of Assassin’s Creed III free. The game will have 768 CUDA cores to play with, along with a 925MHz GPU clock and 64 texture units, though no access to NVIDIA’s GPU Boost system.

There’s also 1GB of GDDR5 memory, a 128-bit memory bus and 105W TDP. It’s actually based on the same Kepler GK106 that powers NVIDIA’s GTX 660, though pared back somewhat on the specs so as to bring the price down to sit between that card and the GTX 550 Ti.

Connectivity includes a single 6-pin power connector, along with two dual-link DVI ports and a mini HDMI on NVIDIA’s reference design. However, the GPU itself supports up to four displays, though it’s up to manufacturers themselves to equip their versions with the right connectivity.

ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, KFA2 (Galaxy), Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, Point of View, and Zotac will all be pushing out video cards based on the GeForce GTX 650 Ti GPU, with availability from today.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti arrives to fill $149 GPU gap is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Over the last few years, there has been a significant uptick in the number of products for tracking hand motion for controlling video games and computers. Almost all the technology we’ve seen for motion tracking so far has relied on external devices that are placed away from the user, such as the Microsoft Kinect. Researchers from Microsoft, Newcastle University’s Culture Lab, and the Greek Foundation for Research & Technology have teamed up to create a device that’s able to accurately track hand motions while being worn on the wrist.

A wrist-worn device is interesting because it eliminates the need to be able to place an external sensor at a distance far enough from the user to be able to accurately track hand and body movements. For instance, the Kinect sensor needs a relatively large room for accurate tracking. The wrist-worn device that the researchers created attaches to the user’s wrist like a bracelet.

The device has a number of components, including an array of infrared sensors and more directly attached to the user’s wrist. The sensor is able to track precise hand motions. As the demonstration video below shows, the device allows users to move their hand through the air to control a computer or other system with precision.

The researchers say that their ultimate goal is to be able to reduce the systems size down to that of a wristwatch. The researchers hope when the device is sized like a watch, users will be able to wear it at all times allowing them to interact with computers and other systems without having to reach for controllers or keyboards. There’s no indication at this time of when this technology might come to market.

[via Geekwire]

Microsoft creates Digits bracelet to track hand motion is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last week, we featured an sculpture of a horse that was made out of old keyboards. While it was truly impressive, there’s no chance you’ll be putting it in your house any time soon. Here’s some keyboard art you might actually hang on your wall.

Christopher Cobell of SketchkeysArtistry hunts down laptop keycaps in a variety of shades of grey to create these masterworks of pixel art. The largest of the current selection is his portrait of Marilyn Monroe shown above. Each one is handmade by gluing thousands of individual keys to a black foam backing, suitable for framing. Though I kind of like the idea of leaving the keys exposed so you can actually feel them.

He’s got several other images available for sale in his Etsy shop right now, including a sailboat,  an abstract cityscape, and my personal favorite, a humorous image of a pair of bombs – reminiscent of Bob-Omb.

The artist states that part of his process is to “check for any accidental expletives from the random placement of the keys.” Darn, I was hoping to make that a game for my houseguests – to find the hidden dirty words.

Prices for this awesome keyboard wall art range from $179 to $965 (USD), depending on the size and complexity of the image. If you look closely at the bomb image, you’ll see a Windows start key in the  bottom right corner. I wonder if that’s intentional.