Hasta La Gadget!

We heard at Intel’s GDC press event that Alienware would be one of the first PC manufacturers to ship systems with the newest six-core consumer processor, but neither company’s representatives would confess to “when.” Now, we’ve our answer… sort of. Hot Hardware has received a shiny new Alienware Area-51 ALX, complete with twin ATI Radeon HD 5970 GPUs, a self-contained LED system that stays lit even when the rig is unplugged (could be a great or awful thing, actually) and Intel’s Core i7-980X Extreme Edition to boot. We’re told that a full review is on the way, but in the meanwhile, you can hit the source link for a few more looks at this here monster — you know you’ll be ordering one in a few days, anyway.

Alienware sneaks Core i7-980X Extreme Edition into Area-51 ALX desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does using a notebook computer mean you always have to be tied to its small screen and flat keyboard? Not if you get the Warpia Easy Dock. This wireless solution works with Windows 7/Vista/XP and Mac OS X 10.5/10.6 notebooks and lets them beam their information to a desktop setup.

The Easy Dock comes in two parts: a receiver that you plug into your monitor, mouse, keyboard, and speakers, and a USB dongle that plugs into your laptop. There’s no setup required. Once you plug the dongle into your notebook, it will begin transmitting the image from the screen with a resolution up to 1400 x 1050 pixels.

It’s a handy solution for those who want the portability of a notebook, but prefer a more comfortable setting at home or in the office. The Easy Dock will set you back $149.99.

Microsoft has had its run-ins with the cloud before, but if CEO Steve Ballmer is being serious (and we’re guessing he is), the company is about to get even more connected. Speaking with computer science students this week at the University of Washington, Ballmer was quoted as saying that “a year from now… 90 percent [of Microsoft employees would be working in the cloud].” He went on to say that the cloud base “is the bet, if you will, for our company,” and he noted that it’ll “create opportunities for all the folks in [the] room to do important research and build important projects.” It’s not like any of this is an epiphany, though; we’ve already seen a shift to Google Documents given the ability to access it from any web-connected computer, and with the proliferation of broadband on the up and up, it’s only a matter of time before it’s more convenient to open a web app than to wait for your taskbar to stop bouncing. In related news, Google Europe boss John Herlihy has essentially mirrored those thoughts, calling the desktop an item that will be “irrelevant” in three years. Why? Largely because most everything you’ll need a tower for will be available via a mobile or the web, but we all know that sect of hardcore gamers will keep the beige boxes rolling for at least another score.

Steve Ballmer emphasizes importance of the cloud, Google pretty much does likewise originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is there a tribunal where you can bring up marketing teams for crimes against common sense? NVIDIA’s epic rebranding exercise knows no bounds, as the company has now snuck out its very first desktop 300-series cards, but instead of the world-altering performance parts we’ve always associated with the jump into the 300s, we’re getting what are essentially GT 2xx cards in new garb. The GT 340 sports the same 96 CUDA cores, 550MHz graphics and 1,340MHz processor clock speeds as the GT 240 — its spec sheet is literally identical to the 240 variant with 1,700MHz memory clocks. To be fair to the company, these DirectX 10.1 parts are exclusively for OEMs, so (hopefully) nobody there will be confused into thinking a GT 320 is better than a GTX 295, but we’d still prefer a more lucid nomenclature… and Fermi graphics cards, we’d totally like some of those too.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 340 highlights introduction of 300-series cards, none are powerful enough to matter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Habey’s no stranger to the diminutive PC arena, but the latest from the company just might be the one you’ve been scouting. If you’ve been scouting a mini PC that’s dead-silent, that is. The BIS-6620 is described as “an ultra-compact fanless and noiseless PC platform based on the Intel Atom Z510 processor,” measuring just 4.5- x 4.5- x 1.5-inches and offering up GMA 500 graphics, 1080p hardware decoding, a single DDR2 SODIMM memory slot, room for a 1.8-inch (iPod classic-sized), a few USB 2.0 sockets, integrated SD / CF card readers, gigabit Ethernet port, an optional WiFi module and your choice of OS (Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Linux). There’s a fair chance this could double as a simplistic media player in your cramped studio apartment, and at just $299.99 at NewEgg, you won’t be shattering the bank in the process. Video’s after the break.

Continue reading Habey intros fanless, noiseless Atom Z510-based BIS-6620 mini PC: shh!

Habey intros fanless, noiseless Atom Z510-based BIS-6620 mini PC: shh! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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