Hasta La Gadget!

We’re no strangers to Toshiba’s new T200 Series ultrathin laptops — heck, we even spotted the slim portables lounging around at Computex a few weeks ago — but Tosh is finally giving up the full specs, pricing and availability. The 11.6-inch T215 may look and feel like a netbook at 3.3 pounds, but it’s got grown-up specs, including AMD Athlon II Neo single or dual-core processors, ATI integrated graphics, up to 320GB of storage space and 2GB of DDR3 RAM. The larger 13-inch T235 has similar AMD options, including Athon II Neo and Turion II Neo processors, but also works in Intel’s Pentium dual-core CPUs. Though rather oddly, the 3.9-pound laptop won’t be available with those new Core ULV processors like it is in the UK. Oh, and just to refresh your memory, the new laptops are available in black, red and white and have the same, sturdy chiclet keyboards as the Mini NB305. Both models will be available on June 20 and will start at $469.99. That price sounds mighty good to us, but we will reserve judgment until we get these in for a full review. Hit the break for the full PR and the gallery below for some hands-on shots.

Continue reading Toshiba Satellite T200 Series makes its U.S. debut, starts at $470

Toshiba Satellite T200 Series makes its U.S. debut, starts at $470 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Taipei’s been far too kind to us Westerners, and with Computex drawing to a close here on this side of the world, we can’t help but pull ourselves together for a moment and look back at the trade show that was. It’s been a fairly wild week in news, in large part thanks to the smorgasbord of tablets that have surfaced for the first time during the 30th running of this great event. Both Intel and Microsoft dropped bombshells on the tech world this week, with ASUS, iiView and even the xpPhone making bigger-than-life impressions. If you missed any of the blow-by-blow action over the past week, we’ll work on forgiving you, and while you can relive the memories by visiting the links below, you simply can’t move on with your life without living vicariously through us during our trip to the one and only Windows 7-themed ‘100 Seafood’ restaurant. So long, Taiwan — we’ll be back before you know it.

Major news / product releases:

• ARM: ‘Eagle’ to follow Cortex-A9, will support Google TV
• MSI WindPad 100 is a 10-inch, Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 tablet
• MSI WindPad 110: a 10-inch Tegra 2-powered Android tablet
• ASUS Eee Pad official: Intel CULV processors, Windows 7, and a 10-hour battery life
• ASUS Eee Tablet goes official
• NVIDIA ushers in the ‘3D PC’ with ASUS G51Jx-EE, Eee Top ET2400 and CD5390
• Intel ‘Oak Trail’ is headed for tablets in early 2011
• Intel boosts netbooks with dual-core Atom, slims ’em down with ‘Canoe Lake’
• Qualcomm ships first dual-core Snapdragon chipsets clocking 1.2GHz
• ASUS EPad: like the EeePad, but with less ecstasy

Hands-on / previews:

• ExoPC Slate hands-on
• ASUS Eee Pad EP101TC and EP121 preview
• ASUS Eee Tablet preview
• Exclusive: LG UX10 tablet preview at Computex
• Intel ‘Canoe Lake’ prototype netbook preview
• MeeGo Moorestown-powered tablet preview
• Microsoft reveals Windows Embedded Compact 7, hosts heaps of tablets
• Pixel Qi introduces tablet-ready screens, we go hands-on (video)
• Intel demos Android 2.1 on Moorestown smartphone (video)
• Microsoft Windows Embedded Compact 7 tablet prototype preview
• Huawei S7 runs 1GHz Snapdragon and Android 2.1 like a champ (video)
• iiView M1Touch is a 10-inch iPhone tablet, seriously (video)
• Innoversal’s Pixel Qi-based tablet prototype: $530 for the display of your dreams
• ITG xpPhone functioning at Computex, we go head-on (video)

Everything else:

• Labor practice protest goes down at Computex, Steve Jobs called an ‘OEM profit bloodsucker’
• Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 not planned to hit tablets, Courier was always a concept
• Windows 7 tablet roundup from Computex, nay Tabletex
• Engadget dines at Taipei’s Windows 7-themed restaurant (video)
• Terror in Taipei: Computex taxi drivers watch live TV, video chat while cruising

After all of that, we’re still just skimming the surface. For the full monty, be sure to check out our Engadget Computex 2010 landing page right here.

A huge, huge thanks goes out to Andy Yang for his invaluable translation skills and all-around amazingness during the show. Another major thank you to the entire Engadget Chinese team for their hospitality and kindness. One final thank you to the nation of Taiwan and city of Taipei — without you, the world would be far less awesome.

Computex 2010 wrap-up: tablets, a Windows 7 eatery, and a few more tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Most docking stations that come with a laptop or can be ordered from manufacturers are designed to do one thing: consolidate cables and connections into one unit that you can dock your laptop to without having to plug in or unplug anything. If you’re lucky, you can find a docking station that goes the extra mile and adds a few USB ports. Then there are docking stations like the SMK Link Notebook USB Audio Station, which aside from being a mouthful of a name, supports just about any laptop you mount on it.

The Audio Station, which supports Windows PCs and Macs, connects to your computer with a single USB cable. Through that cable, the Audio Station gives you a powered 3-port USB hub and an integrated set of stereo speakers, all while keeping your laptop elevated so your display is at eye-level.

The Audio Station isn’t a complete panacea though: It doesn’t charge your laptop or offer any additional ports (like a DVI or VGA port) aside from the embedded USB hub. Even so, its design leaves the sides and back of your laptop clear so you can attach your normal charging cable, external display, or external mouse and keyboard, and audio is handled over USB without the need for drivers. The SMK Link Notebook USB Audio Station is available now on SMK Link’s Web site and in Apple retail stores worldwide for $59.99.

Acer may have announced its new Aspire Ethos line a few months back, but this is the first time we have had the chance to catch a glimpse of the multimedia monsters in person, albeit these were lacking that special Ethos branding on the exterior. We’ve really got to hand it to Acer on the new aesthetic of the 18.4-inch 8943G and 15.6-inch 5943G — the systems have a nice brushed metal coating and glorious-looking chiclet keyboards. Though obviously, the first thing that caught our eye was that black dual-mode touchpad which is pictured above — it’s a standard touchpad until you press the circular button between the buttons, after which it turns into the system’s multimedia controls. When we tapped that movie button, it briskly launched Windows Media player, but we do fear that the glossy plastic coating on the pad will hamper everyday navigation. Both models on display were powered by 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM CPUs, but the 5943G had 4GB of DDR3 RAM and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 graphics while the 8943G boasted 8GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 5850. In addition, they’ve got 8-cell batteries and Blu-ray drives, so three cheers for that. We’ll be keeping an ear out for the arrival of these bad boys stateside, but until then feast your eyes on the beauty shots below.

Acer Aspire 8943G and 5943G (aka Acer Ethos) preview originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already took a closer look at ASUS’ minty fresh ROG G53 gaming laptop earlier in the week, but it was the outfit’s 17-inch version (the G73JW, predictably) used to showcase a new partnership with SiBEAM. The aforesaid rigs are the world’s first laptops to integrate SiBEAM’s 60GHz WirelessHD technology, essentially doing exactly what Intel’s WiDi does. For those unfamiliar with either technology, it enables the laptop to beam 1080p content directly to a receiver box (that tube you see above, which will be attached via HDMI in theory) from up to 30 meters away. Both machines are slated to be slinging HD sans cabling this Fall, though pricing for the upgraded beasts wasn’t available just yet. Still, we were treated to a demonstration over at the outfit’s Computex booth, and while it was dangerously close to the receiver, HD content still was streaming without a hitch. Granted, we’ve seen nothing but great things from other WirelessHD applications in the past, but it’s still lovely to see it humming along so nicely within a full-fledged computer. Have a look yourself just past the break.

Continue reading ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on

ASUS debuts WirelessHD-equipped G73JW and G53 laptops, we go eyes-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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