Hasta La Gadget!

The mini PC has slowly transformed from a novelty to something more useful, meeting a variety of needs and working well as everything from a portable PC to an entertainment system solution offering more features than your standard set-top box. Gigabyte has added a new mini machine to the market, the GB-XM1-3537, more easily known as the BRIX.

Gigabyte boasts that the BRIX is very customizable, allowing buyers to configure however they would like for whatever purposes they require it, whether as a peripheral device or an everyday desktop setup. BRIX most obvious feature is its size, which can fit in the palm of your hand at 30 x 108 x 114mm. You can get an idea about the device’s size by checking out the port-side of the computer in the gallery we have below.

Because of its size and some of the uses a mini PC is tailored towards, the device has a VESA bracket for mounting on the back of a display or on a wall, whichever is preferred in the setup. As far as design goes, the BRIX’s frame is made of anthracite aluminum surrounded by a glass surface chassis, lending it the sheen visible in the image above.

The back of the device is home to six ports: HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, RJ45, Kensington lock, and the power port/DC-in. There’s another USB 3.0 port on the front of the device, bringing the total number of USB slots to 2. There are also a couple expansion options via a single mSATA slot and a half-sized mini-PCIe slot, which is where the wireless card is located.

As far as internals go, the default option ships with an Intel Core i7 starting at 2GHz, with users having the option of choosing either an Intel Core i3 or i5 instead. There are two DDR3 RAM slots, with the device capable of supporting up to 16GB of memory. Graphics are provided via integrated Intel graphics, and LAN from a Realtek gigabit offering. You can grab one for yourself from select retailers, with the price being dependent on the options you choose.

SOURCE: Gigabyte

Gigabyte BRIX mini-PC offers customization galore is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today Windows Phone 8 grabs the cross-platform app by the name of Splashtop, specifically the edition called “Splashtop 2″ for remote PC control. What you’ll be doing with this app – and what Android and iOS users have been doing for some time now – is gaining a live, interactive mirror of your PC’s screen on your smartphone. While features for this app are limited in comparison with the Android and iPhone iterations, this release is certainly a good start.

Before the release of Splashtop 2 for Windows Phone 8, there were a few less-than-perfect alternatives on the market. The importance of this release once again marks the slow-but-steady rise of the Windows Phone Marketplace for apps, and the continued (but again, slow), rise in popularity of the operating system itself.

With Splashtop 2 you’ll need the app Splashtop Streamer running on your Mac or Windows computer, both apps being entirely free so long as you’re working within your own local network. This means that both your smartphone and your PC are connected to the same wifi network. If you want to control your computer from your Windows Phone 8 device with mobile data – out of your home – you’ll have to pay a bit of a fee.

At $1.99 USD a month, control from anywhere you can access data is allowed. Functionality includes the ability to touch the display as you would on a touchscreen monitor, typing on a pop-up keyboard, and clicking with a virtual mouse.

This is just the beginning for development on this app for Windows Phone 8, we must assume: there’s still a lot the team will be able to add given the abilities of the Android and iOS apps on the market today. We’re waiting for Gamepad action, specifically: go for it!

Splashtop 2 released for Windows Phone 8: remote PC access at last is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Leisure Suit Larry has been delayed until late June.

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Touchscreen laptops appear to be rising in popularity as the newest data from market research firm DisplayBank says that touchscreen notebook shipments have jumped 51.8% during Q1 2013 compared to the previous quarter. A total of 4.57 million touchscreen laptops were shipped during the quarter, making up 10% of all notebook shipments during Q1 2013.

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Sometimes you need a laptop, and sometimes you need a tablet. Such is the philosophy behind detachable PCs, with the newly unveiled HP Split x2 being one of two announced today, with the HP SlateBook x2 being the other. With a 13.3-inch HD display, it’s big enough for a variety of tasks, yet still small enough to tote around sans-body as a tablet. Read on for the full details; we’ve got a video for you after the jump.

With the HP Split x2, consumers get a 13.3-inch high-definition touchscreen display that can be detached from the base, which contains an extra optional hard drive for additional storage on top of the storage in the detachable unit. As with the dual hard drives, there are dual batteries for “ultramobility,” all of it wrapped up in a soft-coated shell to keep fingerprints to a minimum.

Under the hood, users will find a 3rd-generation Intel Core processor (Core i3 and Core i5 options) and up to 8GB of RAM, while audio is provided via Beats Audio and HP Connected Music. There’s a multi-finger ClickPad trackpad, as well as a 2-megapixel HP TrueVision Full HD integrated webcam for video chatting. Storage can be expanded via an SD card slot in the base and a microSD card slot in the slate. You can see the device in action in the video above.

There are the various software trimmings you’d expect, such as support tools and other similar resources, as well as various warranty options for protection against accidents. The HP Split x2 is slated to hit shelves in the United State this upcoming August, and will have a starting price of $799.99.

Said HP’s Senior VP of Consumer PCs Ron Coughlin: “Customers want to access and share content anywhere, anytime, on any internet connected device-and they expect those connections to be seamless. The HP SlateBook x2 and the HP Split x2 are next-generation devices and the latest examples of our continued commitment to evolving the computing experience by providing the flexibility necessary for customers to be productive at home, at the office or on the go.”

HP unveils Split x2 detachable Windows 8 notebook is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.