Hasta La Gadget!

Are you looking for something different in a mirror? Something that you can hang on your wall that captures all of your nerdiness and still allows you to see yourself? Just convert your old laptop into a mirror and slap it on your wall.

That’s what Brian J. Noggle did. Now he can pretend that he’s video chatting with himself all day long, even though all the other guy does is mock him by mimicking everything he does.

Brian says, “I am the only person in the entire planet who owns a mirror that says PROPERTY OF ENVISION on the back.” Yep. I’m gonna assume that’s true. All he had to do was gut an old laptop computer and add a mirror to make this nerdiest of wall mirrors. You could always go with a model that has a webcam built in and go the digital route too.

[via Neatorama]

Panasonic has announced an update to its line of Toughbooks to include Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors. The Toughbook CF-31 will be available in two configurations, Standard and Performance. The Performance model will come with a Core i5 3360M processor clocked at 2.8Ghz as well as AMD’s Radeon HD 7750M discrete GPU. The notebook can switch between the discrete graphics and Intel’s integrated HD 4000 GPU to balance power versus performance.

The Standard model comes with a Core i5 3320M clocked at 2.6Ghz but relies solely on Intel’s integrated GPU. The CF-31 also comes with low-voltage DDR3 RAM for power efficiency, and hard drives have seen a bump to 500GB as standard with 128/256GB SSD options. Battery life is rated for up to 14.5 hours, and you can purchase a secondary battery pack that will give you another 6.5 hours. Three USB 2.0 ports and a single USB 3.0 port can be found on the laptop, plus HDMI output and a serial port. A configuration slot gives you the option to include an additional LAN, FireWire, or modem ports.

The Toughbook CF-53, meanwhile, comes with a Core i5 3320M processor clocked at 2.6Ghz, Intel’s HD 4000 GPU, and the same 500GB hard drive, although this model has an option for a 512GB SSD. Panasonic say the battery life on the CF-53 l is good for up to 11 hours, and there’s an additional 9 cell battery that can be purchased. Better yet, there’s a Touchscreen model available that boasts 1,000 nits of brightness for outdoor productivity.

Panasonic say that the CF-31 models should be available in July, with the Standard model starting at €3,699 (~$4,600) excluding VAT. The CF-53 will also ship next month for a more reasonable €1,544 ($1,919) excluding VAT.

Panasonic updates Toughbooks with Ivy Bridge is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

If you’re a fan of Dell’s XPS 13 but want something a little bigger with extra connectivity, the newly announced XPS 14 and 15 might just be for you. Both laptops have seen a redesign that sees the chassis’ making use of aluminium while giving the models a much needed thinner profile, and you can expect to see the latest internals with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors and optional discrete NVIDIA graphics.

The base model of the XPS 14 will come with a 400-nit brightness 1600×900 display, an Intel Core i5 processor with HD 4000 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Just about everything can be configured, so you can bump the CPU up to a Core i7, the RAM up to 8GB, add in NVIDIA’s GT 630M GPU, and swap out the standard hard drive for a 512GB SSD at the top end. Ports for the laptop includes two USB 3.0, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, and an SD card slot. Overall thickness isn’t too bad at 0.81-inches, and all in all it weighs around 4.6lbs.

The XPS 15, meanwhile, adds in an optical drive and a few additional ports, but thickness increases to 0.91-inches and weight to 5.79lbs. The base configuration comes with a Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GT 630M GPU, 6GB of RAM, 1920×1080 display and a 500GB hard drive with a DVD optical drive. The maxed out XPS 15 includes a quad-core Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GT 640M graphics, 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage plus a 128GB mSATA, and a Blu-ray drive.

Both the XPS 14 and 15 are available to order starting from today. The XPS 14 pricing starts from $1,099, while the XPS 15 will start at $1,299. If you spec out both models to their maximum, expect the price to hit a cool $1,999. If you’re in the UK, the XPS 14 starts from £1,049 while the XPS 15 starts at £1,149.

Dell unveils new XPS 14 and XPS 15: Hands-on is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Dell’s XPS 13 Ultrabook has been rather lonely since it launched in early 2012, but the company is introducing two new laptops to round out the updated XPS line. Today it announced the 14-inch XPS 14 and the 15-inch XPS 15, both of which feature the same aluminum chassis as the XPS 13 and run Core i5 or Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors.

The XPS 14 Ultrabook will be available in two configurations, both of which include a backlit keyboard and a 400-nit, 1600 x 900 display. The main difference between the two models is connectivity: the higher-end XPS 14 comes with integrated mobile broadband and uses Dell’s NetReady “pay as you go” service to get online when Wi-Fi is out of range. Both versions come with up to 8GB of RAM and can be configured with a 500GB drive spinning at 5,400 RPM paired with a 32GB SSD or a standalone 512GB SSD, and the WWAN model comes standard with a 500GB drive with a free fall sensor on board. Another difference is graphics: the base model ships with Intel HD Graphics 4000, while the WWAN model offers an NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M GPU. Dell claims the notebook provides up to 11 hours of runtime, “the longest battery life of any Ultrabook.” The XPS 14 starts at $1,099 and is available today. It just so happens that we’ve already taken the laptop for a full test drive: check out our review here.

Next up is the XPS 15, which weighs 5.79 pounds and sports a 1920 x 1080 Corning Gorilla Glass display. The laptop includes either a DVD-RW or Blu-Ray drive and comes with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. As far as graphics go, you get a choice of NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 630M chip with 1GB of dedicated memory or GeForce GT 640M graphics with 2GB of RAM. Pricing starts at $1,299, and like the XPS 14 this laptop is available today. Check out our hands-on gallery below.

Continue reading Dell outs XPS 14 with optional mobile broadband, XPS 15 with Kepler graphics

Dell outs XPS 14 with optional mobile broadband, XPS 15 with Kepler graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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