Hasta La Gadget!

IOGEAR really needs to start naming its products something other than stockroom codes and long-winded yet vague descriptions of what they do. After checking out the company’s new Wireless 5×2 HD Matrix, we cast our eye over the GWAVR — a little black box which plugs into your display via HDMI and functions as a wireless access point for streaming. It’s intended to receive 1080p video and 5.1-channel audio from mobile devices and computers, welcoming content broadcast via WiDi, Miracast or DLNA from up to 30 ft away. A button on the side of the “dongle” switches between those three standards, and it’s as simple as that.

In addition to the GWAVR, we briefly handled the GUWAVKIT4, the latest version of IOGEAR’s simple screen-sharing solution which now supports all PCs and Macs. Plug the USB dongle into your computer, and it’ll show your screen on whatever the accompanying box is plugged into (said box has HDMI and old-school VGA outputs). The GWAVR is due for release in March, and will cost $79.95. The GUWAVKIT4 goes on sale a little earlier — in February — for $149.95.

Continue reading IOGEAR wireless access point and computer-to-TV streamer refresh

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Wireless, HD, Mobile

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We were told we wouldn’t be hearing any pricing or availability information about the OLPC XO-4 until later in the week, but it didn’t take the One Laptop Per Child folks too long to let us know a little more about their gameplan. Just a short while ago, OLPC let us know that its recently announced XO-4 kid-friendly laptop will sell for $206 per unit with a minimum purchase of 10,000 units, while pricing is said to be lowered with a greater volume order. Additionally, the company noted that it’s planning on meeting its own expectations and starting mass production in March, which should be more than enough time for interested parties to start figuring out just how many OLPC XO-4 orders they will be placing. Oh, and in case you’re interested, we also got some hands-on video earlier today — you can check that out right after the break.

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Continue reading OLPC XO-4 to sell starting at $206, production commencing March

Filed under: Laptops

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Source: OLPC

We’ve already hinted that the name of the game for laptops at CES will likely be incremental updates, and the latest company to prove our point is Sony. The PC division just announced an optional touchscreen for its VAIO T Series 14 Ultrabook, which originally debuted back in October. The touch T14 will be available for $800 in the spring.

In addition to updating the T Series 14, Sony is releasing the T Series 15, which boasts a full HD touch display and will go for $950 when it hits the market this spring. Why no specs, you ask? Well, the company isn’t sharing any yet — and we suspect that has something to do with Intel’s releasing a new chipset in the near future. Finally, talk about incremental — Sony’s last PC announcement is a new color for the VAIO Duo 11 slider: it’s now available in silver in addition to the original black.

Continue reading Sony announces touch-enabled VAIO T15 Ultrabook with touch, new touch-enabled VAIO T14

Filed under: Laptops, Sony

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In addition to checking out the Series 7 Chronos at Samsung’s presser, we got a glimpse of the 13-inch Series 7 Ultra, the first Ultrabook in the Series 7 line. It’s available in Core i5 and i7 configurations, and both come with a very bright, 1080p display. Like the larger Chronos, it’s eminently grippable, thanks to a slightly textured brushed-metal finish and comfortably rounded edges. That’s not to say that this machine even approximates chunky — it’s a mere 17mm thick. That’s especially impressive when you factor in the touchscreen. We have no price or availability to share, but when this system does come out, you’ll have your choice of 128GB or 256GB SSDs and up to a 1GB AMD HD8570M GPU. Take a look at our hands-on pics in the gallery.

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

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If you weren’t following along with Intel’s CES 2013 keynote, here’s a partial summary: among other things, the company debuted its fourth-generation Core processors, which until now have gone by the codename “Haswell.” In addition to talking speeds and feeds, though, Intel also showed off a reference laptop with a Haswell chip inside, a notebook called “North Cape.” It was a hybrid, essentially — a 13-inch, 1080p tablet with a keyboard dock. (Intel made it sound more exciting than it was, saying the CPU is behind the display and that there are batteries behind the display and under the keyboard.) In any case, we got to see it up close after the press conference wrapped, though Intel isn’t actually letting members of the media touch it yet.

So far, we don’t know much about the device (Intel won’t even disclose battery life estimates) but we can say it looks thin for a 13-inch touchscreen device (the official spec is 10mm thick for just the tablet and 17mm for the tablet and dock). The viewing angles look promising, too, as you can hopefully tell from those odd camera angles. No word yet on which PC maker is going to pick up this design, but an Intel rep staffing the press conference told us it should arrive in time for the back to school shopping season, which usually kicks off in late spring. So when you see something similar to this surface in the May timeframe, just remember: you saw it here first.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Filed under: Laptops, Intel

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