Hasta La Gadget!

Lenovo’s issued a recall for the batteries on six of its ThinkPad models. The batteries are apparently causing a range of problems, including bringing up the error messages “irreparable damage” and “battery cannot be charged,” and causing overall short capacity batteries, or those than cannot be charged or experience massive drops on the fuel gauge quickly. The recalled models are the R60, R61, T60, T61, X60, and the X61, and Lenovo’s got a free diagnostic tool on its website that you can use to check and see if your model is one of those affected. While there’s no word on how many users have been affected, If you are one of the unlucky, the company is offering free replacements.

Update: A representative for Lenovo has contacted us and let us know that the company has not, in fact, issued a recall for the batteries associated with the models listed. “This is a service extension program to provide (bonus 12-month) coverage above and beyond the normal warranty to ensure complete customer satisfaction. Recalls tend to imply a safety issue, which is not the case here, as you noted in your article.”

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo issues battery “service and warranty extension” for six ThinkPad models originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking for an ultra-cheap machine to take to school, are you? If you couldn’t care less about extreme portability, Toshiba’s shockingly inexpensive Satellite L355 (S7915) could be just the thing. $348 at Walmart nets you a 17-inch display (1,440 x 900), a 2.2GHz Celeron 900 CPU, Vista Basic, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB (5400RPM) hard drive, 8x DVD writer and GMA 4500M integrated graphics. The 7-pound machine was recently tested over at Laptop Mag, and critics were noticeably stunned at just how well the machine performed. The display was bright, the keyboard was more than adequate and the six-cell battery managed to hang on for over 2.5 hours in real-world testing. All in all, reviewers felt that the rig was perfectly suitable for handling schoolwork and other basic tasks, and save for the omission of a webcam, they couldn’t find any huge beefs given the uncharacteristically low MSRP. ‘Course, if you already snapped up that $298 Compaq, maybe you should just plug your ears here and pretend this whole thing never happened.

Filed under: Laptops

Walmart’s $348 17-inch Toshiba Satellite L355 reviewed: surprisingly awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a presumed effort to shake up the Japanese wireless industry and provide consumers with 3G-equipped PCs that aren’t tied to multi-year contracts, Hewlett-Packard has quietly announced a deal with Japan Communications that will allow its machines to be sold with SIM cards that can be used on a pay-as-you-go basis. For those unaware, JCI leases network space from NTT DoCoMo, and as part of the agreement, HP will not only get to choose which devices can connect, but it’ll get to keep a nice slice of the mobile data revenue as well. Here’s the crazy part: the initial wave of netbooks will be sold for between $50 and $100 sans contract. That’s about what users pay in America now for subsidized WWAN-ready netbooks, but there’s a two-year contract tagging along. If all goes well, we could even see full-sized laptops, smartphones and digital cameras hop on the same bandwagon, but for now, we’ll be keenly watching how brisk sales are when things kick off next month.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablet PCs, Wireless, Internet

HP to sell contract-free, WWAN-equipped PCs in Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d already heard that Toshiba — the outfit best known for solidly backing HD DVD during the two-year format war of the early 21st century — was preparing to swallow its pride and kick out a Blu-ray player by the year’s end, but now it’s official. The outfit just announced moments ago that it has “applied for membership of the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) and plans to introduce products that support the Blu-ray format.” Sadly, Tosh doesn’t bother to mention exactly what kinds of BD-capable wares it hopes to produce, nor is it ready to disclose product launch time frames. We’d tell you exactly how it wants us to just be patient and all, but you’re probably better off hearing it directly from the horse’s trap:

“In light of recent growth in digital devices supporting the Blu-ray format, combined with market demand from consumers and retailers alike, Toshiba has decided to join the BDA. Toshiba aims to introduce digital products that support the Blu-ray format, including BD players and notebook PCs integrating BD drives, in the course of this year. Details of the products, including the timing of regional launches, are now under consideration. We will make announcements in due course.”

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Toshiba applies for BDA admission, Blu-ray players and laptops coming soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Maingear may have given up on the “world’s most powerful gaming laptop” title for the time being, but it’s still keeping expectations pretty high for its new ex-L 15 laptop, which has just arrived on the scene from parts unknown. Judging from the specs, however, it won’t have much trouble keeping up with the competition, with it packing your choice of top-end Intel processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M graphics, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a max 1TB SATA hard drive or 160GB SSD, a built-in DVD burner or optional Blu-ray drive, and your choice of a glossy 15.4-inch 1680 x 1050 display or (thankfully) a 1,920 x 1,200 display with a matte finish. Sold? Then you can pick one up right now for a starting price of $1,899, or you can wait until September when the slightly lower-end mX-L 15 model will be available. One more, less cosmic shot after the break.

Continue reading Maingear’s eX-L 15 gaming laptop arrives on planet Earth

Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

Maingear’s eX-L 15 gaming laptop arrives on planet Earth originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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