Hasta La Gadget!

In a market obsessed with slim, lightweight, energy-efficient machines, gaming laptops stick out like a sore thumb. Hulking 17- and 18-inch chassis dominate the category like a physical representation of a tired cliché: bigger is better. In some ways, the old phrase rings true — these oversized machines often pack the latest and greatest components — but any hope of reasonable portability is lost in the mass.

Despite this overwhelming (and oversized) majority, a handful of small-frame rigs still make it to market each year, and one of 2013’s most petite just happens to have landed on our reviews desk. Meet the Clevo W230ST, a 13-inch, ODM (original device manufacturer) gaming notebook destined to be rebadged under different brands. As such, it goes by many names — Sager, Origin PC and AVADirect each have their own take — but today, we’re looking at Digital Storm’s version, the Veloce. Can this diminutive monster keep up with the category’s biggest beasts? Let’s find out.

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

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This isn’t a huge shock, given that ASUS has already publicly expressed woes about poor sales of its Windows RT products, but CEO Jerry Shen‘s latest comments have a surprising edge of finality to them. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, he repeated that “Windows RT has not been very successful” and said that the company took a writedown on its stock of RT tablets, although he didn’t reveal the size of the loss. He also said that, from now on, ASUS will solely make Windows 8 devices that run on Intel / x86 processors, due to the backwards compatibility with Windows software offered by those products. Meanwhile, NVIDIA has also predicted losses due to its involvement with RT, but it seems to be pushing ahead with a next-gen ARM-based Surface tablet regardless.

Filed under: Laptops, Tablets, ASUS

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Via: TNW

Source: WSJ

Dell’s Haswell-based Latitude laptops have been a tad on the chunky side so far, but the company is making amends by quietly launching its new Latitude 7000 series Ultrabooks. Both the 12.5-inch E7240 and 14-inch E7440 fit Intel’s new low-voltage, 1.7GHz Core i3 CPU into an aluminum shell that’s about 0.8 inch thick, yet meets military standards for resistance to dust, water and shock. They also support Dell’s WiGig Wireless Dock and WiDi. Neither will come close to the Precision M3800 in features, however. The two Latitudes both start with 4GB of RAM and a 1,366 x 768 display, and there’s no way to upgrade the performance or screen quality. They’re also expensive — the E7240 is launching at a $1,169 sale price with a 128GB SSD inside, while the E7440 with a 320GB hard drive isn’t much cheaper at $1,049. Still, we wouldn’t complain (much) if an IT manager plunked either of these Ultrabooks on our desks.

Filed under: Laptops, Dell

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Via: Liliputing

Source: Dell (E7240), (E7440)

Earlier this summer, Sony took its new laptops and put out special-edition versions with a glossy Ferrari-red finish. At the time, those machines were only available in Japan and Europe, but now Sony’s US division is getting in on the action too, with a limited quantity going on sale today here in the states. All told, the line includes the Fit 15, the Pro 13 and the Duo 13 slider (read: about half of Sony’s total notebook lineup). What’s interesting is that although the color is the same from one model to another, Sony had to change up the painting process and pigment combinations depending on whether the machine was made of carbon fiber, aluminum or some other material. Either way, they each have a UV coating on top (sort of the equivalent of a manicure topcoat), so presumably that fancy paint job won’t chip as soon as you take your PC out of the box.

Spec-wise, your mileage will vary depending on whether you get a Fit mainstream laptop or a Pro-series Ultrabook. In brief, though, they all come with Core i7 processors and 1080p touchscreens, except the Fit 15 has 12GB of RAM, a 2GB GPU, Blu-ray drive and 256GB SSD, whereas the two smaller models have eight gigs of memory and 512GB SSDs. At any rate, we hope you really, really like red: the Fit 15 goes for $2,000, the Pro 13 for $2,600 and the Duo 13 for $3,000. Congrats on that disposable income, folks!

Filed under: Laptops, Sony

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Back in June, Samsung outed a handful of new products, including a new flagship Ultrabook called the ATIV Book 9 Plus. One of its most notable features is the 13.3-inch display that boasts an impressive resolution of 3200×1800, making it one of the most highest-resolution laptop displays on the market, and it looks like it’s […]