Hasta La Gadget!

B&H may have jumped the gun a bit, but here’s the word from the proverbial horse’s mouth: Samsung’s high-specced ATIV Book 9 Plus will be available for pre-order in the United States beginning August 18th, with shipments of the $1,399 laptop to commence shortly thereafter. For those in need of a brief recap, the 13.3-inch rig packs a QHD+ (3,200 x 1,800) touchpanel, a Core i5 4200U processor, 128GB SSD, a battery good for 7.5 hours and a copy of Windows 8.

Meanwhile, that ATIV Tab 3 that we handled back in June is getting a proper ship date of its own, with Sammy assuring Americans that they’ll be able to snap one up starting on September 1st for $699.99 — thankfully, that tally does include a Bluetooth keyboard / cover combo. It’s said to be the planet’s thinnest Windows 8 slate at 0.31-inches thick, with a proposed 7 hour battery, preloaded Office Home & Student and one of those always-lovable S Pens. For whatever it’s worth, it appears that Samsung’s distaste for Windows RT in the States hasn’t carried over to tablets with Windows 8 onboard… yet, anyway.

Oh, and for the enterprising individuals in attendance? Samsung has promised “to introduce versions of both products specialized for business use in the fall.” Nifty!

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, Samsung

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Source: Samsung

Canadian telecommunications company WeWi will soon be launching a solar-powered notebook called the SOL Laptop. While it’s not the first of its kind, it has at least one impressive feature that makes it one to watch: WeWi claims that the built-in solar panels can charge the laptop in just 2 hours.

I got in touch with WeWi Founder & CEO David Snir to find out more about the SOL Laptop. David said that they were motivated to make their own solar-powered laptop partly because of their projects in Ghana, where weekly outages frequently left them with no access to electricity.

David is still keeping his cards close to his chest with regards to the laptop’s solar panels, but he did say that they’re currently getting about 16.08% efficiency. Pair that with the laptop’s entry level guts – an Intel Atom D2500 1.86GHz dual-core CPU and Intel GMA 3600 integrated graphics – and you get a 2-hour charge time. The laptop’s battery can store enough energy to power the laptop for up to 10 hours, but David said that the laptop can run “directly by sunlight”: as long as its solar panels are exposed to sunlight, you can use the laptop even if the battery is nearly empty. It’s like plugging into the sun.

The SOL Laptop’s solar panels will also be detachable; you’ll be able to work in the shade while the panels soak up the sun. WeWi is also working on an accessory that will let you charge other devices using the laptop’s solar panels.

Like its power-sipping CPU and integrated graphics, the rest of the SOL Laptop will only excite people stuck in 2010. It has a 13.3″ 1366 x 768 LCD screen, a 320GB HDD, 2-4GB DDR3 RAM, a 3MP webcam, 3 USB ports and a card reader. But it does have Ethernet and HDMI ports, as well as support for modern wireless standards: GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0. It even has a cellular modem that supports 3G & LTE.

David also said that the laptop’s case is made of a “special polymer with unique treatment for strength.” Finally, the laptop will come with an unspecified version of Ubuntu installed. I guess by now you can see what all of those bullet points are describing: an affordable netbook that’s at home outdoors.

The SOL Laptop will be released at the end of 2013 in African and Middle Eastern countries, with U.S. and Canada soon to follow. It will have two variants, a $350 (USD) standard model and a $400 Marine model that’s water-resistant.

Assuming that the 2-hour charge time claim holds up in real world usage, what’s most disappointing about the SOL Laptop is that it’s actually a SOL Netbook. But David also said they’re working on other solar-powered devices; perhaps a high-end version of the laptop is in the works as well.

[via SOL & DVICE]

Dell has done as anticipated and rolled out the carpet for a couple of new laptops, the Dell Latitude 7000 12.5- and 14-inch ultrabooks. Inside, users will find Intel Haswell processors, with the laptops themselves looking very similar to many older models from Dell’s Latitude lineup. Both models of the 7000 series are available now, […]

T.S. Eliot didn’t know what the hell he was talking about—August is unquestionably the cruelest month. With only four more sweet weeks of summer left, every day that passes is just another reminder that we’re about to be back in the lifeless dregs of fall. And what do we do when something upsets us? That’s right; stuff it deep down inside you and drown it out with the immediate gratification of the month’s most glorious gadgets. It’s the healthy thing to do.

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Intel has inspired another full refresh in Toshiba’s Satellite M and U laptop lines, this time bringing on touchscreen capabilities as well. Both notebook lines now work with up to 16GB RAM (2 x 8GB slots) and 39.6cm (15.6″) HD displays, kicking out up to 7 hours of battery life, the whole lot of them. They’re both coming with DTS Studio Sound audio enhancements across their speaker systems for loud, powerful music and media as well.

This line works with 2 x USB 3.0 ports, one of them working with Sleep-and-Charge. They’ve also got a single USB 2.0 port, one HDMI 1.4 with 3D TV support, and full-sized SD card slot. Inside you’ve got Bluetooth 4.0 technology as well as Miracast support for standardization in display mirroring. That comes with Intel Wireless Display technology as well.

The Toshiba Satellite U50t Ultrabook line works with 4th generation Intel Core processors for Ultrabooks paired with Intel HD Graphics 4400. This device works with a ten-point touchscreen display without option for a non-touch display, and comes in at 377.5 x 249.5 x 21.3mm. This unit comes with up to 1TB HDD and weighs in at 2.3kg at its lightest.

Meanwhile the Toshiba Satellite M range comes in three configurations: M50, M50D, and M50Dt. Users will have options for 4th generation Intel Core processors or the newest in new AMD APU processors, these paired with Intel, NVIDIA, or AMD graphics. That’s Intel HD Graphics 4400, NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M with 2GB VRAM graphics, or AMD Radeon HD graphics (this final option for AMD models only).

The Toshiba Satellite M family works with touchscreen abilities optionally, the whole collection paired with up to a 1TB HDD, weighting in at 2.1kg at least. Each of these notebooks is the same size as the U50t at 377.5 x 249.5 x 21.3mm.

The full range works with Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) as well as Gigabit LAN, so you’ll be connecting at full speed. Every notebook in this article is also being promised by Toshiba for the third quarter of 2013, prices unknown as yet.

Toshiba Satellite U and M notebooks go Haswell in full refresh is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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