Samsung Series 3 laptops crop up on Amazon, 12.1-inch model still AWOL

Samsung’s Series 3 laptops deliver more performance-per-dollar than the ultra-thin Series 9, at the expense of — well, ultra-thinness. That said, the 12.1-inch model hardly struck as megalithic when we went hands-on last month, and we’re keen to see it emerge from pre-order status. For those who can’t wait, or who prefer a bigger screen and keyboard, then a couple of larger siblings have just become available via third-party retailers at Amazon. There’s a 5.5-pound, 15.6-inch variant with an i3 processor, 4GB of DDR3 and a 500GB HDD going for $590. Alternatively, you can pick up a 14-incher for $60 more, with mainly the same specs but a slightly bigger 640GB HDD. As for us, we’re holding out for that elusive baby brother, for the sake of its superior i5 processor and our aging knees.

Samsung Series 3 laptops crop up on Amazon, 12.1-inch model still AWOL originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceAmazon [1], Amazon [2]  | Email this | Comments

Charlie Miller finds MacBook battery security hole, plans to fill with Caulkgun

Those batteries have probably met a worse fate than the white MacBook line they came from. According to Forbes, Charlie Miller’s managed to render seven of them useless after gaining total access to their micro-controllers’ firmware via a security hole. Evidently, the Li-ion packs for the line of lappies — including Airs and Pros — are accessible with two passwords he dug up from an ’09 software update. Chuck mentions that someone could “use them to do something really bad,” including faulting charge-levels and thermal read-outs to possibly even making them explode. He also thinks hard-to-spot malware could be installed directly within the battery, repeatedly infecting a computer unless removed. Come August, he’ll reportedly be detailing the vulnerability at the Black Hat security conference along with a fix he’s dubbed Caulkgun, which only has the mild side-effect of locking-out updates by Apple. Worth being safe these days, though. Right? Full story in the links below.

Charlie Miller finds MacBook battery security hole, plans to fill with Caulkgun originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jul 2011 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |  sourceForbes  | Email this | Comments

Samsung’s ultralight N100 delivers Atom-powered MeeGo to the Indian masses

Samsung MeeGo

MeeGo machines are a little hard to come by here in the states, but our friends in the Indian subcontinent are getting some cartoony Linux love from the fine folks at Samsung. The company’s new N100 netbook (similar to the N150 above) comes packing a 1.33GHz, dual-core Atom N435 and 1GB of DDR3 RAM for pushing the formerly Nokia-bound OS to a matte 10.1-inch screen. Inside that svelte 2.27-pound package is also a 250GB hard drive and a meager 3-cell battery. If you happen to strolling the streets of Hyderabad you’ll be able to pick up one of these lithe lappies for 12,290 rupees, or about $276.

[Thanks, Lau]

Samsung’s ultralight N100 delivers Atom-powered MeeGo to the Indian masses originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 10:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNotebook Italia (translated), IIFL  | Email this | Comments

Chromium OS running on a MacBook Air: somewhere, a mad scientist cackles in the night

Does it hurt your brain to look at the picture above? That’d be Chromium OS — running on a MacBook Air! Pretty much the definition of “worlds colliding,” this feat is brought to you by Hexxeh, whose most recent mind-warping project put Chrome on an iPad. The platform-mixing maestro says in this case everything works except Bluetooth, owing to a lack of support. But hearty souls who seek to follow in his footsteps, take heed: there’s no dual-boot option, and you will lose OS X — so perhaps this is a job for your now outdated model. Click the source link for 14 easy steps to turning your svelte laptop into Frankenstein’s monster, but sadly, there’s no mention of where to buy that hopelessly cute Chrome pillow.

[Updated: Diligent researchers found the Chrome pillow. Peep it in the second source link. Thanks, Matthew.]

Chromium OS running on a MacBook Air: somewhere, a mad scientist cackles in the night originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHexxeh’s blog, Chrome pillow (etsy)  | Email this | Comments

The MacBook drops from Apple’s Store (update: confirmed)

What’s wrong with this picture? Looks like Apple may have dropped one important product from its store during today’s new product rush. It seems as if there may indeed be some meat to those recent rumors that the company is doing away with its white plastic piece of laptoppy goodness — at the very least, the thing is nowhere to be seen in its current online lineup.

Update: We just received word from Apple that the MacBook has, in fact, been discontinued.

Update 2: While the notebook will be discontinued for individual consumers, Apple will continue to make it available to educational institutions.

The MacBook drops from Apple’s Store (update: confirmed) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt

Apple’s brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you’d expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some sweet Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards. More »

Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards

They say Apple updates its products like clockwork, releasing something new at the same time in the same place every year. Not so with MacBook Airs anyway. The outfit’s gone and freshened up its 13-inch and 11-inch ultraportables — the second such update in nine months. Although the industrial design hasn’t changed much since the last generation, both models step up to Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, Thunderbolt ports, backlit keyboards, and, of course, OS X Lion.

The 11.6-inch flavor starts at $999 with 64GB of solid-state storage, 2GB of memory and a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor. The higher-end of the two configurations costs $1,199, with the extra two hundred dollars doubling your RAM and storage. The 13-inch Air, meanwhile, starts at $1,299, with a 128GB SSD, 4GB of RAM, and a 1.7GHz Core i5 CPU. Step up to the $1,599 model and you’ll get a 256GB SSD instead. Regardless, you’re looking at Intel HD 3000 graphics across the board, along with FaceTime webcams, two USB ports (plus an SD slot on the 13-inch version), 802.11n WiFi, and Bluetooth 4.0. The two differ when it comes to resolution and battery life: the 11-incher has a 1366 x 768 panel and is rated for up to five hours of battery life, whereas the 13-inch model has a 1440 x 900 screen and promises up to seven hours of juice. As for that 1.8GHz Core i7 CPU, it’ll set you back an extra $100 on the 13-inch version, and $150 for the 11-inch version. Whichever size you choose, it’s only an option for the higher-end configuration. Hit the source link to peep the specs and buy one, if you’re so inclined.

Continue reading Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards

Apple refreshes MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt, and backlit keyboards originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alienware M14x review roundup: a lovely blend of poise and power

Know what happens when you split the difference between an M18x and an M11x? The M14x, of course! We managed a bit of hands-on time with Alienware’s middleman back in April, and now the web at large has had a chance to spit their opinions on it. By and large, critics were overwhelmingly pleased with performance, and hardly anyone could find too many griping points. Hot Hardware dished out an Editor’s Choice badge, noting that the 14-incher exhibited a near-perfect blend of portability and power — it’s not often that a machine capable of running today’s latest 3D titles can also get four hours of battery life. Having Optimus onboard is certainly a boon, but just about everyone also suggested springing for an SSD to really round things out. Folks also seemed to love the apparent lack of bloatware, and while the $1,100+ price tag was certainly steep, the top-tier numbers it delivered definitely helped soften the blow. The long and short of it? Folks looking for a nice balance of mobility and raw horsepower need look no further, but you can humor yourself anyway by digging into the links below.

Alienware M14x review roundup: a lovely blend of poise and power originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceLaptop, Hot Hardware, CNET, VR-Zone  | Email this | Comments

GScreen’s dual-screen SpaceBook touts twin 17-inchers, now up for pre-order

Look out, ThinkPad W700ds — there’s a new dual-screen beast in town, and it’s not settling for second best. After first appearing in September of 2009, we hadn’t heard a peek from GScreen save for one brief blip in 2010. Now, however, it seems that a dream has become reality. The first run of SpaceBooks is now up for pre-order, with each one offering a pair of 17.3-inch displays that boast a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution. Each panel slides out horizontally (think wings, but on a laptop), and creates quite the spacious area for creative professionals to immerse themselves in. The entry-level piece is being hawked for $2,395, which nets you a 2.66GHz Core i5-560M CPU, 4GB of DDR3 memory, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTS 250M (1GB), a 500GB HDD, DVD burner and a magnesium alloy frame. The pricier sibling is marked at $2,795, with that premium grabbing you a 1.73GHz Core i7-740QM, double the RAM and quadruple the bragging rights. There’s no exact word on when these will ship out, but you’ll need th in-between time just to wrap your mind around the object you’re certainly still peering at above.

GScreen’s dual-screen SpaceBook touts twin 17-inchers, now up for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink This is my next  |  sourceGScreen  | Email this | Comments

Dell Latitude XT3 convertable tablet hits the FCC, sneaks in with Broadcom filing

Dell Latitude XT3 convertable tablet hits the FCC, sneaks in with Broadcomm filing

Well, look what we have here: the Dell Latitude XT3, fresh from the all-seeing eyes of the FCC. It wasn’t under federal inspection on its own, mind you, but was merely tagging along with a Broadcom WLAN minicard that dropped in for certification. This notebook / tablet hybrid rocks a dual-core 2.5GHz Core i5-2520, 2GB of RAM, a sunlight-friendly 13-inch matte display, and of course, Broadcom’s own 802.11g WLAN card. Pricing and availability? Still no word, but check out our hands-on for a peek at the hybrid-slate’s multitouch capabilities.

Dell Latitude XT3 convertable tablet hits the FCC, sneaks in with Broadcom filing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Wireless Goodness  |  sourceFCC  | Email this | Comments