Windows XP SP3 feels snappier and tighter

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

On Wednesday Microsoft made the Windows XP SP3 available on Windows Update. As I am as daring anymore as I was when I was younger, I waited until then to install XP SP3 on my PC.

The first good news is that everything still works and the upgrade of the Service Pack 3 went down without issues.
I work now since two days with the update and it might be just me, but XP feels better than before. There are less delays in file explorer ops and overall things seem to me snappier. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 08:23:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Atom based MSI Wind available for Pre-Order

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

The MSI Wind U100 Asus Eee PC competitor appears on online retailer Expansys and gets priced. The MSI Wind is supposed to ship in June.

Expansys offers the Intel Atom running MSI Wind for $609.95.
The product page reveals a couple of interesting specifications. The MSI Wind runs on an Intel Atom CPU with 1.6Ghz and features an 10 inch screen with LED backlit and 1,024x600px resolution. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 May 2008 07:34:28 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New NEC ShieldPRO Rugged Tablet Notebook

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

NEC introduces a new tablet notebook in its ShieldPRO rugged line.

The new NED ShieldPRO features an Intel Core 2 Duo U7500 CPU at 1.0Ghz and a LED-backlit 12.1 inch LCD with 750cd/m2 brightness.
Under a rugged notebook NEC understands IP55 compliance for dust and water resistance, surviving a 90 cm drop onto concrete, and withstanding temperatures of -20 to 50 Celsius. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 08:44:59 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

IDC Says Market for sub-$500 Notebooks will be Biggest in Developed Countries

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

According to IDC ultra low cost notebooks have received considerable attention as a possible solution to the so called digital divide in developing countries. Despite that fact IDC says that these sub-$500 clamshell mobile PCs with screens of 7-10 inches will find success as secondary computing devices in established regions and educational markets.

"Consumers have embraced the idea of the PC, particularly the portable PC, as a personal device rather than a shared household device," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president, Clients and Displays at IDC. "This has led to the introduction of notebooks in an increasingly wide range of sizes and shapes, as well as more specialized PCs. Very low-cost, compact notebooks than can be carried around and provide quick and easy access to the Internet via Wi-Fi hot spots fills an important spot in this burgeoning market - the first disposable notebooks." Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 07:38:10 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Dell PowerEdge R905 featuring Quad-Core AMD Opteron

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

AMD announces that Dell is offering now the Dell PowerEdge R905 featuring Quad-Core AMD Opteron.

The Dell PowerEdge R905 featuring Quad-Core AMD Opteron is one of the industry’s most scalable virtualization servers. The Dell PowerEdge R905 which set a new standard in VMmark performance testing with 60 virtual machines (more details). Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 02:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New AMD Server Roadmap for Shanghai, Istanbul, Sao Palo and Magny Cours

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

AMD updates its server CPU roadmap reaching as far out as 2010.

The goals of AMD for their server CPUs are longevity of the platform, increased performance-per-watt and more advanced virtualization features.

The planned CPUs have codenames of places around the globe. First up is Shanghai. This is AMD's first 45nm server processor and will go into productions in the 2nd half of 2008. Read more

Posted on Thu, 8 May 2008 01:48:02 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Purdue University to get Dell Supercomputer

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

When it comes to supercomputers Dell isn’t a name that jumps to my mind. Purdue University thinks differently though and has recently installed one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world powered by Dell.

Purdue says that its new supercomputer is the largest on campus at any school in the big 10 Conference outside of national computing centers. Over 200 University employees built the supercomputer in under a day. Purdue says that the computer will be used for research across different disciplines including engineering, biological and earth and atmospheric sciences, mathematics and physics. The leading researchers at the school pooled grant money to be able to fund the majority of the purchase. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 11:03:31 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Gateway Introduces New Desktop PCs

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

Gateway announced several new desktop computers this week, some of them have factory overclocked processors and one offers Windows XP. Gateway says that it has increased the performance of its value FX desktop the FX7026. The machine has an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, overclocked NVIDIA 8800 GT graphics and 4GB of RAM along with 640GB of storage.

Gateway also introduced several new models in its GT series including the GT5670, GT5674, GT5676, and the GT5678. Prices for these systems range from $549.99 to $849.99. The machines use AMD Phenom quad or triple-core processors. The FX7026 will retail starting at $1099. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 09:39:53 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Two new Asus Eee Clones from Yinlips and One

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

As predicted the field of Asus Eee PC clones is growing rapidly this year. The funky naming of these low-cost notebooks continues. We already reported about the JiSUS and Fukato now we look at the Yinlips.

The Yinlips Micro PC YDP-G77 (photo below) has a 7 inch screen and runs on a slow 400MHz processor. The details are still a bit vague on this one. Via Liliputing. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Mike Ming Special Inspiron 1525 from Dell

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

Dell sells lots of its low cost Inspiron 1525 to the hoards of shoppers at Wal-Mart and Best buy looking for a low cost notebook with decent specs. The fact that the 1525 offers lots of colors and patterns to choose from doesn’t hurt either.

Dell announced that it has a new Art Edition Inspiron 1525 with two designs available made exclusively for Dell by artist Mike Ming. The two designs are “Bunch O Surfers” and “Sea Sky.” Both designs are available on the 1525 exclusively and systems with the art on the case start at only $699. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 07:44:38 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update available

Topic: Notebooks and PCs

After some delays Microsoft released the Windows XP SP3 on Windows Update for everybody.

I just tried several times to download the 66.9MB of the Service Pack 3, but it stalled on me every time. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 May 2008 03:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr