Hasta La Gadget!

There comes a time when you have to stop chasing performance and start making good for the environmental damage you’ve caused — or do you? NEC’s latest Mate desktop offers 30% boosted efficiency over previous models despite offering better performance with Core i5 or i7 processors, consuming just 23 watts thanks to a redesigned motherboard and the use of SSD. It also features greater use of recyclable components and a shell composed of environmentally friendly yet flame-retardant plastic — important when your power supplies have been known for their explosive personalities. NEC is also announcing the new VersaPro VD laptop (pictured after the break), similarly equipped with Intel’s latest, and offering a new software tool for tracking energy consumption to “increase user awareness of energy saving.” Knowing is half the battle, friends.

Continue reading NEC’s new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable

NEC’s new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How we missed this at the ASUS booth is beyond us, but leave it to the eagle-eyes at Ars to hone in on the ASUS UL80JT with an overclockable Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 310 graphics. So it’s just a run-of-the-mill gaming rig, right? Wrong. The 14-inch laptop has switchable graphics like we have never seen before; the laptop automatically switches, “second-by-second” between the NVIDIA card and the integrated Intel one, instead of the “standard” switchable graphics we’ve seen on laptops like the MacBook Pro 15 or ASUS UL80Vt which require users to switch manually. The major foreseeable benefit of this is longer battery life even when the system is using the discrete card, and ASUS touts 12 hours with the automatic solution turned on. No word on price or availability, but we’re guessing ASUS will have more details soon and that we’ll start seeing this this in more and more laptops as NVIDIA spreads the love around to the rest of the industry.

Update: We jumped the gun here, we’ve actually seen this new automatic switching technology in the recently announced Sony Vaio Z.

ASUS UL80JT spotted with automatic switchable graphics, brags 12 hour battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS may be in the process of spinning off the Pegatron brand, but for now it’s still the same company behind this here slick white smartbook. Running the inevitable Android OS on a 10-inch display, but offering the never-boring Tegra 2 combo of 1080p playback and up to a “full day” of WiFi-enabled battery juice, the prototype machine was being shown off to give us a hint of what’s to come. We’re told the Neo is definitely coming later in the year, though the particulars of the price tag and distributor badge are not yet revealed. For our money, this was a spectacularly thin and light pseudo-laptop — it’s hard to overstate just how deprived of weight this thing is. Opening it up shows an appealing layout and keyboard, which were rather spoiled by a number of creaky and unstable parts. We found deep flex in the keyboard panel and around the hinges, but our optimistic souls are willing to put those things down to it being a demo unit. If this featherweight design makes it to market without sacrificing any of the good bits while getting rid of the bad ones, we’d recommend it in a hot and sweaty second.

ASUS / Pegatron Neo with Tegra 2 hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lenovo ThinkPad T410s, T510 and W510 now sniffing for your wallets originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 19:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Using your laptop computer on the couch doesn’t have to mean giving up the extras you get when working at a desk, not when you’ve got the Logitech Speaker Lapdesk N700. Launched at CES, this is one enhanced laptop pad.

For starters, it includes integrated stereo speakers on either side, so that your music and movies sound great. There’s no software to install: Just connect it to a USB port. The Lapdesk uses little power, so you won’t notice much of a hit on your battery.

The Lapdesk also gets high marks for comfort. The padded base is covered in a soft, air-mesh fabric and includes a 10-degree angled riser, so you can hold your laptop at the best viewing angle. It lets you stay cool with a quiet, efficient fan, so that your computer never makes your legs too warm. The Lapdesk is available now for pre-order for $79.99 and should ship in the U.S. in February.