Hasta La Gadget!

Razer teased us when it unveiled the 14-inch Blade last week: a rare blend of portability with gaming performance, and we couldn’t even put money down? Well, we can at least do that now. The smaller of the two Blades is now up for pre-order, with prices ranging from $1,800 to $2,300 depending on the SSD capacity. Whatever the storage level, players are getting the same 14-inch 1,600 x 900 display, quad-core 2.2GHz Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and GeForce GTX 765M graphics. Any fresh orders should ship within two to three weeks, which fits just inside of Razer’s promised launch schedule — and just ahead of our summer vacations.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops, Intel, NVIDIA

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Source: Razer

Dell is taking a low-key approach to Computex this year, with a key product to cut through rivals’ bloated ranges. This time around, it’s the Dell XPS 11, an 11-inch hybrid that’s fronted by a 2,560 x 1,440 touchscreen, and which can fold around fully to make it a tablet. In case you hadn’t spotted it already, it’s something of a riff on Lenovo’s IdeaPad Yoga 11 we played with last April.

Like the Yoga 11, the XPS 11′s raison d’etre is catering to those mobile users who want the tactile convenience of a relatively compact touchscreen form-factor, but who also demand a proper keyboard occasionally. Well, although we say “proper”, in fact Dell has taken some liberties to get around the feeling of a wobby keyboard constantly at your fingers when you’re holding it in tablet mode.

Instead of regular notebook keys, then, the XPS 11 has a flat, touch-sensitive ‘board, which both Engadget and The Verge compare to the TouchType add-on keyboard for Microsoft’s Surface tablet. That means no typing feedback, and Dell also deactivates the keys altogether once you fold the screen more than 180-degrees around.

Dell isn’t confirming final specifications, but the XPS 11 will have an Intel Core i5 Haswell processor – from Intel’s 4th-gen line-up – along with an active stylus for sketching and handwriting recognition; that’ll slot into a holder clipped to the Kensington lock port when not in use. Ports include USB 3.0, Thunderbolt, and an SD card reader, though there’s no telling what RAM, storage, and wireless connectivity will be; Dell will confirm those closer to launch, which is expected sometime around the holidays.

Overall, the final notebook is expected to come in at under 2.5 pounds and be less than 15mm thick, and despite this being a prototype, first impressions on build quality are positive. Carbon fiber and metal abound, and the quality of the screen – particularly its broad viewing angles, with colors staying almost consistently vivid from no matter where you look at the display – also gets the thumbs-up.

We’ll know more when Dell gets a little less tight-lipped closer to the XPS 11′s release.

IMAGE: Engadget

Dell XPS 11 tackles Lenovo Yoga with bendy-flexy ultrabook is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Once upon a time, glass was a fragile thing; now, thanks to toughening tech, ASUS can splash a slab of the stuff across the top of its new Zenbook Infinity notebook. Topped by a sheet of Gorilla Glass 3, the same toughened material as we’re used to seeing fronting smartphones and tablets, the Zenbook Infinity uses that extra rigidity and strength to drop a dress size, metaphorically speaking, and trim things down to just 15.5mm at its thickest.

That’s a roughly 14-percent cut versus the last-generation of Zenbook models, ASUS says, suggesting that the Gorilla Glass 3 treatment isn’t just an aesthetic one. Not to say it needn’t look good, though; ASUS has sandwiched some graphics inside, and the whole thing shimmers and shines like you’d expect a glass lid to.

Inside, and there’s a 13.3-inch display which is also a full touchscreen, for those moments you want to stab at Windows 8. Gorilla Glass 3 gets a second outing around the keyboard area, too, and the keyboard itself squeezes in backlighting.

Underneath meanwhile, there’s one of Intel’s 28W Haswell dualcore processors, while connectivity includes two USB 3.0, a micro-HDMI, and a Mini Display Port. The ultrabook also gets an SD card slot and a headphones socket.

Look at it from the side and you could be forgiven for thinking of a certain Apple ultraportable, with the wedge profile not dissimilar to the MacBook Air. That’s an accusation that is probably going to haunt ASUS to the market and beyond, though it’s worth noting that the company has managed to make a thinner machine than Apple.

The big deciding factor is likely to be pricing, and that – along with when the Zenbook Infinity will reach shelves – is still unclear.

ASUS Zenbook Infinity wraps super-skinny ultrabook in Gorilla Glass 3 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Just as promised, ASUS has unveiled its Zenbook Infinity at Computex 2013 in Taipei. Being the first laptop — let alone an Ultrabook — to boast a Gorilla Glass 3 lid, it’s able to take advantage of three times the scratch resistance than the material’s predecessor. This has allowed ASUS to achieve a maximum thickness of just 15.5mm, or about 14 percent thinner than the previous line of Zenbooks. But would the glass survive a drop? According to the product manager, the laptop’s passed various drop tests, but only time will tell if it’s as good as he promised.

Despite the slimmer body, the Zenbook Infinity surprises us with a built-in touchscreen as well as a backlit keyboard. There’s also a USB 3.0 port on each side, along with an SD card slot, micro-HDMI port and a Mini DisplayPort. No word on the other specs or prices just yet as this laptop won’t be out until Q4, so stay tuned for future announcements. Check our our eyes-on video after the break.

Filed under: Laptops, ASUS

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Origin PC makes a point of embracing game-friendly technology as soon as it arrives, and you’d better believe it’s welcoming Haswell-based processors with open arms: virtually all of its computer line is making the jump to the faster Intel hardware. The raw CPU power is the main highlight for the Chronos, Genesis and Millennium desktops, while those buying the larger EON15-S and EON17-S laptops get a few additional treats. Origin PC is adopting NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 765M, 770M and 780M graphics for the portables’ mainstream editions. It’s also letting the truly storage-addicted run two simultaneous RAID configurations if their laptop has four drives. The Haswell upgrades bump EON15S-S and EON17-S prices by about two Benjamins to $1,722 and $1,784 respectively, but players who just have to stay current can pay the premium today.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops, NVIDIA

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Source: Origin PC