Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery

Google just showed off a new 11.6-inch Chromebook from Acer at Google I/O promising an eight second boot time with an Intel Atom N570 CPU, 16GB SDD, instant-on, two USB ports, webcam, HDMI and 6.5 hour battery life. It’s cheaper than the Samsung Series 5 also announced, starting at $349 with optional world-mode 3G available for more cash and will be available for preorder on the same day — June 15th from Amazon and Best Buy. Check more details at the source link below, with pics in the gallery and specs are after the break.

Continue reading Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery

Google unveils Acer Chromebook: $349, 11.6-inches with 6.5-hour battery originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video)

Man, Lenovo isn’t even trying to keep the ThinkPad X1 under wraps anymore. The slinky new MacBook Air competitor has just slipped out in a video commercial on the company’s own YouTube channel, where it shows off a keyboard that’s both backlit and spill-resistant, and a Gorilla Glass screen that is apparently girlfriend-proof. See the video after the break and circle May 17th as your acquisition date if you’re after one — that’s when Lenovo promises the X1 will be arriving.

[Thanks, Jon]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google to offer $20-a-month ‘student package’ for a Chrome laptop?

Just as we’re wrapping up day one of Google I/O 2011, Forbes received an interesting piece of information regarding Chrome OS. According to an unnamed senior Google executive, tomorrow’s keynote will see the launch of a Chrome laptop sold as an attractive $20-per-month “student package.” If true, this will make a compelling option for laptop-seeking students bounded by a limited budget (booze before books, right?), and Forbes speculates that a similar enterprise offering will follow soon — makes sense considering Google’s already cozying up to businesses with its $50-a-year Google Apps suite. Anyhow, all will be unveiled soon enough — keep an eye out for our Google I/O day 2 liveblog tomorrow for the full monty.

Google to offer $20-a-month ‘student package’ for a Chrome laptop? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 May 2011 22:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI CR650 review

It was a long time coming, but when it finally arrived, AMD’s highly anticipated Fusion APU ripped through the laptop market like a bull on steroids. Just this month, the chipmaker announced that the platform made up nearly half its notebook shipments, and no doubt contributed heavily to its $1.61 billion in Q1 revenues. In the past four months, we’ve seen its superior integrated graphics working on a slew of smaller machines, but it seems Fusion wanted more.

Back in January, Toshiba announced that it would bring the E-240 APU to a 15.6-inch budget notebook, and just a few weeks later MSI followed suit with its own announcement, saying it planned to put a Zacate E-350 APU, incorporating Radeon HD 6310 graphics, in its CR650. We’ve spent some time with Lenovo’s ThinkPad X120e and HP’s Pavilion dm1z, both sporting 11.6-inch screens and E-350 APUs, but we’ve yet to experience the force of Fusion on a larger device. Naturally, when the opportunity presented itself, we jumped on the chance to find out how a big rig like the CR650 would stack up against its dainty predecessors. Will Fusion’s wonder chip offer the same performance in a $500, 15.6-inch laptop? Or will it fail to bring its beastly force to a big budget machine? Hop on past the break to find out.

Continue reading MSI CR650 review

MSI CR650 review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo ThinkPad X1 spotted in the wild

We’ve already seen it pictured and detailed, but Chinese website Mydrivers.com has now scored what appear to be the very first in-the-wild shots of Lenovo’s new super-slim ThinkPad X1. As you can see above and in a few more shots at the source link below, the laptop is indeed pretty thin — 21.5mm, or 0.85 inches thick, apparently — but Lenovo still found room to squeeze in a backlit keyboard (check it out after the break), not to mention the ThinkPad’s trademark pointing stick. Unfortunately, Lenovo has yet to officially say anything about it itself, so we still only have that rumored May 20th launch date to go on for the time being.

[Thanks, leungxd]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 spotted in the wild

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 spotted in the wild originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 13:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Cloned in China  |  sourceMydrivers.com  | Email this | Comments

G-Form Extreme Sleeve gives new reasons to throw a MacBook out a window (video)

Extreme products make people do extreme things — take, for example, all of those phones we’ve dumped in glasses of water and various things we’ve run over with cars. When it comes to demonstrating ruggedness, G-Form is no slouch. After dropping a bowling ball on its iPad case (iPad inside, naturally), the company hit YouTube again to toss a MacBook encased in a new Extreme Sleeve from a 20 foot balcony — a fall it survived unscathed. These heavy-duty cases are made up of PORON XRD, a flexible material that absorbs 90 percent of impact energy, which the company also uses it to make things like skateboarding knee pads and biking accessories. The laptop case starts shipping on May 31st for $69.95, so heads up when walking under windows this summer. Extreme press release and video of gadget abuse after the break.

Continue reading G-Form Extreme Sleeve gives new reasons to throw a MacBook out a window (video)

G-Form Extreme Sleeve gives new reasons to throw a MacBook out a window (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 07:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell’s ultra-thin laptop will have a 15.6-inch screen, tread lightly on your wallet?

This is Dell’s Vostro V13. It looks like a dream, and it’s cheap — but there’s not much raw muscle here, and no battery life to speak of. No, this descendent of Dell’s iconic Adamo didn’t prove a suitable MacBook Air rival, but we know one that might — Dell’s oft-teased, never-seen thin-and-light. Now, CNET‘s anonymous sources have come forward with news that Dell will introduce the thinnest 15.6-inch laptop we’ve ever seen, and with Intel’s latest Core i5 and Core i7 Sandy Bridge processors inside. Those sources also report that the laptop will be made of special materials, and yet won’t be “a one-time product” like the Adamo — it will allegedly be a consumer product with a sub-$1,000 price. It’s a juicy rumor, but we’re inclined to believe it’s true. Why? Dell’s in-house blogger Lionel Menchaca confirms that Dell’s working on just such a 15.6-incher, and says there are “more models to come.”

Dell’s ultra-thin laptop will have a 15.6-inch screen, tread lightly on your wallet? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alienware M18x shipping now, hernia threat level set to high for American delivery men

Alienware M18x

Here it is tinfoil hat gaming enthusiasts, the Alienware M18x laptop. Sure, you’ve been told it existed and even seen some photos of a purported prototype, but a savvy person such as yourself wants to see the proof with his or her own eyes. Now Dell is willing to deliver one of these 16-pound beasts to your doorstep for the starting price of $1,999. Let’s be serious though, you’re not interested in that pedestrian 2GHz Core i7 that ships with the base model. You want the intergalactic speed delivered by that Core i7 Extreme overclocked to 4GHz and dual 2GB Radeon 6970m graphics cards. Top it off with a pair of 256GB SSDs and 32GB of RAM and you’re looking at a $6,000 laptop. Nobody said this thing was gonna be cheap — besides, it’s gonna cost some serious dough to cover up the disappearance of the M15x.

[Thanks, Nicklas]

Update: It looks like you can purchase your Alienware M18x today, but it won’t actually ship until later this month. Put in an order with Dell and the company quotes a preliminary ship day of May 24th. On the plus side — your UPS man will have time to strengthen his core.

Alienware M18x shipping now, hernia threat level set to high for American delivery men originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell kills Alienware M15x, government denies it ever existed

This is sort of the gaming laptop version of a politician stepping down to spend more time with his family. We’ve confirmed with Alienware today that the M15x system is no longer available — the company has opted to focus its efforts on the rest of its line of glowing extraterrestrial gaming laptops. After all, while the 15-inch form factor will no doubt be missed by some, devoted gamers should be able to find solace in the arms of, say, an M11x, M14x, M17x, or M18x. It may be gone from sight, but surely grainy teardown footage from a New Mexico bunker can’t be far away.

[Thanks, Zach]

Dell kills Alienware M15x, government denies it ever existed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 03:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG P430 and P530 Blade laptops bedazzle with slim bezels, aluminum bodies, and Core i7

We heard of a bezel-hating LG Shuriken display sneaking its way onto Acer laptops recently, but the Korean company has wisely opted to debut that cutting-edge technology in its own portable computers first. The 14-inch P430 and 15.6-inch P530 mark the start of LG’s new Blade series of laptops, which are the result of some obsessive slimming work at the LG labs — display thickness is 4.5mm and 4.7mm, respectively, while the bezel on the 14-inch model is so narrow as to fit its screen within the dimensions of a traditional 13.3-inch laptop. Weight, at 1.94kg on the P430 and 2.2kg on P530, is also said to be on par with machines offering significantly smaller screens, but that’s not at the sacrifice of construction materials as brushed aluminum is used to strengthen LG’s new slimsters. A Core i7 CPU and GeForce GT520M GPU will provide the internal firepower, though the rest of the hardware specs are as yet unannounced. The P430 will launch in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America at the end of May, to be followed by the P530 in June. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading LG P430 and P530 Blade laptops bedazzle with slim bezels, aluminum bodies, and Core i7

LG P430 and P530 Blade laptops bedazzle with slim bezels, aluminum bodies, and Core i7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 May 2011 00:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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