Hasta La Gadget!

System 76 has been doing open source right for quite some time now, and it’s just unleashed what it claims is the “most powerfull Ubuntu laptop in the world” — so powerful it needs that extra L. It’s the Serval Professional, offering your choice of Intel Core i7 processors ranging from the 2GHz 2630QM to the 2.5GHz 2920XM. Graphics are handled by a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 485M GPU that pumps 1080p worth of pixel dust to a 15.6-inch, LED-backlit display. Prices for that machine start at $1,379 but you’re only a few mouse clicks away from three times that. On the slightly lower-end scale is the Gazelle Professional, with a more limited range of processors and graphics options, but the same 15.6-inch display and a price that starts at $1,239. Both come with any operating system you like — so long as it’s Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

System 76 brings Sandy Bridge to Ubuntu with Gazelle and Serval laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’d be forgiven for expecting that the dual-core Tegra 2 that swept all before it at CES would be the king of tablet processors for a good while, but Acer is already plotting ways to overthrow it. Admittedly, Acer is kind of cheating by jumping into x86 land and snatching some unspecified Intel Sandy Bridge silicon, but are you really going to complain about getting multi-core grunt under the hood of your well-lubricated Android machine? An official from the company has promised two to three new tablets, sized at either 7 or 10 inches diagonally, for the first half of this year — a tasty morsel of information, which he garnishes with the forecast that netbooks will eventually be phased out in favor of such touchy-feely slate devices. If you can fit a full second-gen Core CPU inside a tablet, why the heck not?

Updated: Acer’s US team has clarified for us that the Android tablets it announced in November are still set to hit in April. Obviously, these Sandy Bridge versions would be farther off, but we’ve also heard from another source that Acer would likely wait for Intel’s ULV-based Sandy Bridge processors, which aren’t due until the spring / summer timeframe. We’ll let you know if we hear more…

Acer building Sandy Bridge tablets for Android, will use them to ‘phase out’ netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 06:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tried booting your corporate PC lately? Dollars to donuts it takes longer than three minutes to complete. The point? You need Sandy Bridge, and you need it now. Dell’s hoping your IT department will agree, with the introduction of the Vostro 460 mini tower bringing along Intel’s second generation Core processors (Core i5 and Core i7 options are available), Turbo Boost 2.0 and an understated design. Customers can also load it up with as much as 3TB of storage, a Blu-ray drive, 1GB NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics card and a USB 3.0 expansion card. You’ll also get a tool-less chassis, eight USB 2.0 ports, inbuilt security services from Trend Micro and a starting price of $599. Surely that fits into the Q1 budget somewhere, right?

Dell implants Sandy Bridge CPUs within biz-minded Vostro 460 mini tower originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not news: NextComputing’s Radius portable workstation is still stretching destroying the bounds of what’s actually considered mobile. News: But now, the Radius is a lot more powerful than the prior iterations. The newfangled Radius is now available with Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, with the latest model of the all-in-one workstation offering multiple full-length / full-height PCI Express slots, multiple terabytes of storage and an integrated display. As for applications? It’s still aimed at those who need serious oomph in the field, and frankly, editing political commercials or crunching SETI data in the Amazon sounds far more enjoyable than doing so in [insert your city here]. No offense of anything.

Continue reading NextComputing’s Radius ‘portable’ workstation infused with Sandy Bridge

NextComputing’s Radius ‘portable’ workstation infused with Sandy Bridge originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh yes, it’s a laptop processor war here at CES with AMD’s new Fusion APUs and Intel’s fresh Sandybridge CPUs gunning for core territory, but Sony’s not pickin’ sides when it comes to its new seriously mobile VAIOs. Kicking it off on the lower end is the 11.6-inch, 3.2-pound VAIO YB Series, which is being refreshed with AMD’s Brazos E350 APU. Sony doesn’t consider the YB to be a netbook — in fact, it doesn’t plan to continue with its netbook line after this quarter — but like most of these other Fusion systems (see: HP dm1 and Acer AO 522) the Y promises long battery life along with really solid graphics. Actually, according to the product manager, the platform has been out performing Intel’s Pentium processors. The system will be avilable with Windows 7 Home Premium, 320GB or 500GB hard drives, and 4GB of RAM — as you would expect, the $549 base configuration only gets 2GB of RAM and 320GB of storage. The Intel-powered YA Series will still be available with a Core i5 processor option for close to $750.

So, what does Sony have in store on the more powerful ultraportable end? Well, it’s the VAIO Z, expect it’s now being replaced with the VAIO SA series, and not only is the 13.3-inch laptop being refreshed with new Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, it’s been drastically retooled with a floating hinge screen design, a new cooling system, a USB 3.0 port, and innovative sheet battery. The latter, which will be available separately for $200, attaches to the bottom of the 3.4-pound chassis and can actually charge the primary integrated battery to give the system an extra 6.5 hours of endurance — that means the entire system could run for up to 13 hours according to Sony’s claims. Unfortunately, Sony wasn’t up for removing that switchable graphics toggle — nope, no NVIDIA Optimus here — but its ATI 6630 graphics should provide a good amount of gaming muscle. However, Sony was able to manage cutting a few bucks off the price — the regular hard drive version will start at $1,250, while SSD models will start around $1,800. Those looking for a more budget 13.3-inch VAIO can also nab the refreshed S Series, which packs Intel’s first generation Core processors and the orignial WiDi. That enough for ya? We’ll have hands-on impressions of the SA and others soon, but until then enjoy the shots and press release after the break.

Continue reading Sony VAIO SA with Intel’s latest processors primed to take over for the VAIO Z, VAIO Y picks up AMD Fusion

Sony VAIO SA with Intel’s latest processors primed to take over for the VAIO Z, VAIO Y picks up AMD Fusion originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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