Hasta La Gadget!

We think we’ve just seen the perfect hackintosh machine. This little iiView A2 netbook, from the Singapore manufacturer of the same name, will ship with a copy of Vista and be eligible for an upgrade to Windows 7. But the tiny machine looks so much like a mini-MacBook Air that it’s begging to have OS X forced onto it.

Inside, it’s just another netbook: Atom 1.6GHz processor, 320GB HDD, and Intel’s 945 chipset. Outside, things start to get a little more interesting. A 12.1-inch screen is larger than you normally find on a netbook, running a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. The usual VGA-out is replaced by mini-HDMI, and the mic and headphone jacks are combined, just like a MacBook. Stranger still, these ports are hidden inside a flap, also like the Air. The price for this white MacBook clone is a reasonable $470, and it even has a removable (six-cell) battery.

The only thing that needs to be known is will it hack? Some netbooks are better than others as FrankenMac projects. We’re looking forward to seeing just how compatible the A2 might be. And one more thing: The otherwise annoying Flash-based site plays the five digit tune from Close Encounters. Dork-tastic!

Product page [iiView via CNET]

Good news, lovers of giant laptops: Dell‘s just added a 17.3-inch option to its Inspiron lineup. The Inspiron 17 — which has a backlit 16:9 aspect ratio, 1,600 x 900 resolution LCD — will boast options for Intel Pentium Dual Core as well as Core 2 Duo processors, up to 3GB of RAM, an up to 320GB SATA hard drive, and an up to 9-cell battery (the base model comes with a 4-cell). Other optionals include a Blu-ray drive and a 1080p display. You can order this puppy now — the base price is a pretty sweet $499 — and it should ship sometime in August. One more shot after the break.

[Via Electronista]

Continue reading Dell adds Inspiron 17 laptop to its lineup

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Here at Gadget Lab we got a chance to tinker with Toshiba’s Mini NB260 netbook. The verdict? It’s a pretty awesome netbook with excellent battery life (roughly six hours) and zippy performance, but we found the keyboard to be rather awkward. Also, stay away from the pink model: The color’s so vibrant that it makes stuff look purplish on-screen. Check out the video above and our review to get the full picture.

Just last summer, Toshiba’s Portege R500 was the first laptop with a 128GB SSD. A year later, Toshiba’s Portege R600 is the world’s first 512GB SSD lappie. So for this one moment, Toshiba is on the top of the world.

Design
Note: The R600 has been out for several months, we just tested their updated system with the mega SSD. So if you’ve read about the build before, you can skip down to our section on performance.

For $3,500 (as tested with 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400, 3GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Intel 4500MHD graphics, DVD burner, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi n), the Portege may be a bit of a disappointment right out of the box. Yes, it’s ridiculously light, starting at 2.46lbs, but that weight comes at a cost of feel. It’s plastic, and no amount of metal paint can get around that. But luckily the plastic is fairly smudge-proof and part of a “shock absorbing design” complete with “spill resistant” keyboard. In other words, the system may be more durable than a Macbook, especially with so few moving parts.

The 12.1-inch screen is technically WXGA (widescreen) resolution, though something about the system’s shape makes it look more vertical, like a 4:3 screen of yore. This is a minor point, of course, and its non-glossy screen gets just bright enough to use indoors by a window. In full-out sunlight, you can one-button switch the system into “transreflective” mode, essentially using the sun to brighten the screen. High brightness (in standard mode) is still the brightest setting, even under direct sunlight, but the transreflective setting probably uses a lot less power.
Extras, from the effective fingerprint scanner to the eSATA and SD ports, do a lot to sweeten the deal on the small, utilitarian system. And in this era, it’s straight up shocking to see an optical bay pop out of a system that’s just .77 inches thick.

Performance
The R600 runs Vista very fluidly, especially given its stature. Firefox, Windows Media Player, HD content streamed from the web—none of it will leave you waiting. But given the system’s Intel 4500MHD GPU, don’t get any fantasies of gaming.

Many will expect the computer to boot nearly instantly given the SSD—I’ve heard this expectation a number of times—but the still takes about a minute to fully load. The bottleneck here is simply not the hard drive.
How does the R600 compare to other light systems like the Macbook Air or Lenovo X301? Just as you’d expect from the specs on paper, it’s slower than the Macbook Air. But even with the same processor, it outperforms the X301.

Then you have to check out the speeds on the SSD.
Fast! This isn’t some bargain basement drive that Toshiba shoved in a laptop for bragging rights. I mean, a 512GB SSD is clearly for bragging rights, but it’s Toshiba’s biggest and fastest drive made in-house—way nicer than we see competition from Lenovo and Apple (which we believe to both use earlier gen, Samsung drives).

But what does this speed chart mean in real life? Copying a 700MB file on my Macbook Pro (with a 320GB, 7200 RPM hard drive) took 35 seconds. On the R600, that same copy may have legitimately cracked the 8 second barrier. I’d like to say that I never took the speed for granted, but I totally started taking the speed for granted. Superman doesn’t bow down and thank the sun every time he avoids traffic by flying over Metropolis, so why should I be any different?
Toshiba’s 6-cell battery is rated internally at 7 hours, 32 minutes. I found that it offers 3 hours and 35 minutes of MPEG4 playback (screen maxed bright, Wi-Fi on, Bluetooth off, performance settings normal). Our test is rigorous, and it’s pretty common for laptops to only get about 50% of their rated battery life in our real world use simulation. Of course, the computer could probably eek out another 30 minutes to an hour with less taxing processes and a dimmer screen.

I Might Buy One…In 2011
The key to remember, of course, is that the 128GB R500 ran $3,000 just a year ago. Now, their 512GB R600 is $3,500. Even with the price bump on their top tier system, Toshiba has the right idea here: Push the envelope and force the market to adapt. Keep topping the sundae with cherries and someone will be hungry enough to buy it (meanwhile those of us who aren’t will have plenty of dropped cherries to munch on).
Still, I don’t know that I’d recommend this fully stuffed R600 with full gusto. It’s simply not as beautiful as premium, small-form laptops like the Dell Adamo or Apple’s Macbook Air (side by side above), and the prices of flash storage will certainly come down (and quickly at that). But I’m glad Toshiba made the thing because, frankly, somebody needed to load a laptop with a legitimately beastly SSD first.


The huge SSD Is fast


Under 3lbs, less than an inch thick


Substantial ports and extras


For $3,500, it feels a bit like a Pontiac

[Additional benchmarks from AppleInsider and ThinkPad Forums]

I love the idea of a Vaio netbook, but the only thing that actually gets me going about the first of inevitably many Sony Vaio W netbooks is the 1366×768 10.1-inch screen (which ain’t even unique). It’s pretty, though.

And that is the selling point, almost entirely, over other netbooks. It’s prettier (admittedly, it is). But that’s less compelling now that it was six months ago, when netbooks were universally miserable looking machines. When I asked what distinguishes the Vaio W from the other third wave premium netbooks—notably the Asus Eee Seashell and HP’s new aluminum and magnesium-clad Mini, which are just $430 and $450 respectively, Sony pointed at its “stunning” colors, like its “very stylish” brown. That would hold more weight if this lovely paint job and design (I dig the trackpad a lot) were applied to metal, so it came with a notably superior build quality too. But it’s plastic.

Your only choice is which of the three colors you want. There’s a single hardware configuration, and the specs are pedestrian, save for the 1366×768 10.1-inch screen: Atom N280, 160GB HDD (5400rpm), 1GB RAM, wireless N, A2DP stereo Bluetooth, and a pair of USB ports.

To their credit, Sony has learned from the Vaio P (though it has a totally different audience) and plans to make it painfully clear that users shouldn’t expect an experience comparable to a regular notebook. Talk of establishing a “clear gulf” between their netbooks and “mainstream” notebooks also made it clear to me they’re not interested in dabbling in netbooks that straddle the weird, blurry line between netbook and notebook in either with experiments like Ion, either.

I’ll withhold final judgment until I use it, but so far Sony’s first ever bona fide Vaio netbook is having the extremely odd effect of just making the Vaio P not-a-netbook look even better. (As long as it’s running Windows 7.) If I’m going to pay extra scratch for design, I might as well go all the way, right?

Sony DEBUTS HOT NEW Mini Notebook IN COOL NEW COLORS

VAIO W Series Ideal for Casual Computing and Staying Connected

SAN DIEGO, July 7, 2009 – Sony today took the wraps off its chic new line of mini notebooks- the VAIO® W Series.

Featuring an ultra-portable design, the W Series is perfect for using as a secondary PC, in any room of the house, for surfing the web, checking e-mail, and social networking.

The W model comes in three vibrant colors- berry pink, sugar white and cocoa brown. A more subtle shade of the exterior hue finishes the inside of the PC while the touchpad is lined with a splash of brightness.

“The W Series lets you quickly look something up online whether searching for a recipe in the kitchen or relaxing on your recliner- there’s no need to trudge upstairs to your office,” said Mike Abary, senior vice president of the VAIO business group at Sony. “And it’s sturdy enough for the kids to use, making it perfect for every member of the family.”

The W Series incorporates a high-resolution, 1366 x 768, LED backlit 10.1-inch (measured diagonally) ultra-wide display, making it easy to view two full web pages- no side-to-side scrolling necessary.

The model features an isolated keyboard with springy and responsive keys making it comfortable and easy to use. Its carefully designed touchpad and mouse keys make the PC functional and mouse movements easy to control.

-more-

The W Series unit is ENERGY STAR® 5.0 compliant, EPEAT Gold registered and incorporates eco-conscious features such as a mercury-free LED backlit LCD. Its corrugated cardboard packaging is comprised of 95 percent recycled content. Sony will also help recycle your old PC (www.sony.com/green; recycling fees may apply).

The model comes with VAIO Media plus Multimedia Streaming software, a media sharing application that lets you wirelessly stream content across DLNA®-enabled devices throughout your home network. Stream video, music and pictures from your W Series to your compatible primary PC or PLAYSTATION®3 and vice-versa and enjoy your content anywhere in the home including on your big-screen TV.

Easily transfer data, such as photos from your digital camera or music from an MP3 player, to and from the PC with the unit’s two convenient USB ports. Incorporated Bluetooth® technology enables peripherals such as a wireless mouse to be utilized without tying up the unit’s ports.

A built-in webcam and microphone let you video chat with family, friends and colleagues. A third-party internet service provider is required.

A roomy 160GB hard drive has been included providing ample storage for all your photos, files and videos. It comes pre-installed with Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition operating system.

The VAIO W Series mini notebook will retail for about $500. It is available for pre-orders today online at www.sonystyle.com/pr/w. It will also be sold at Sony Style® stores and at other major retailers around the country starting next month.

[Sony Style]