notebooks

GCT claims WiMax chip in Asus Eee PC

WiMax is in the cards for the Eee PC. Asus will demonstrate notebooks Monday that integrate WiMax chips from San Jose, Calif.-based GCT Semiconductor.

Despite recent statements that the Eee PC 901 will not get WiMax, GCT Semiconductor announced--along with Asus--Sunday that Asus has integrated GCT's GDM7205 WiMAX single-chip silicon into the F8 notebook series and Eee PC.

GCT says the F8 series and Eee PC will be demonstrated with WiMax at the WiMax Expo Taipei that begins on June 2nd.

The widely-reported specifications for the Eee PC 901 are a 1.6GHz Atom processor, an 8.9-inch … Read more

Photos: Cracking open the Alienware Area 51 m15x

The Area 51 m15x is one of the most powerful notebook computers TechRepublic's crew has had the pleasure of reviewing. So naturally, they couldn't resist cracking that puppy open.

Join TechRepublic's Mark Kaelin for a close encounter with Alienware's m15x as he dissects the boutique manufacturer's shiny, sleek notebook in this News.com gallery: Photos: Cracking open the Alienware Area 51 m15x

Free Chronotebooks at the Muji Times Square store this Friday!

To celebrate the opening of their newest Times Square flagship location, Japanese retail store MUJI will give away 500 "Chronotebooks," their unique take on the classic (read: boring) paper planner.

MUJI's second store in New York, located at 620 Eighth Avenue, will offer exactly 2,170 items at the time of the opening, and all products will share the same strict MUJI rule: no branding. The name "MUJI" comes from the Japanese word "Mujirushi Ryohin" that essentially means quality without a name. Some people call MUJI the Japanese IKEA, but I'm not … Read more

Via opens up its mini-notebook design

Chip designer Via Technologies unveiled its OpenBook Mini-Note reference design on Monday, in a move that throws some open source into its core business of developing chips for mobile devices.

The OpenBook design aims to aid PC makers in creating ultra-small notebooks based on Via's Ultra Mobility Platform. Last year, the company trotted out its Via NanoBook reference design, a prototype designed to compete against rivals in the small-computer market but at a lower cost.

"By making the CAD files of the external panels for the OpenBook available for download, Via has simplified design customization. You can now … Read more

Lenovo reports a robust quarter

PC maker Lenovo turned in a strong financial performance for its fourth fiscal quarter, with revenue, profits, and PC shipments all seeing notable jumps.

For the quarter that ended March 31, Lenovo said that profits attributable to shareholders grew 133 percent to $140 million from the same period a year ago. That figure includes $36 million in net profit from the sale of discontinued operations (its mobile handset business). Earnings per diluted share hit $1.44, a rise of 112 percent.

Revenue for the three-month period rose 13 percent to $3.7 billion.

China-based Lenovo said that worldwide PC shipments … Read more

Sony posts loss, but has rosy outlook for electronics division

Weighed down by its financial unit, Sony posted a $45 million loss for its fourth quarter earnings Wednesday.

Analysts were expecting an average estimated profit of $260 million for the quarter.

Revenue for Sony's video game unit, which competes head-to-head with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii, grew by 26 percent in the past year based on better sales of the PlayStation 3 console.

Still, the bright point of the company's quarterly report was its electronics business. Revenue was up 9 percent due to increased sales of its digital cameras, video cameras, and notebook PCs.

The … Read more

MSI dishes specs for its Wind mininotebook

MSI put out a vague news release today that details some, but not all, of the specifications of its upcoming and unfortunately named Wind mininotebook. At the top of the release, it states the 10-inch notebook will "feature the new Intel Processor," but it fails to explain what that processor might be. An Intel Atom processor is a safe bet; the chips are expected to be released this summer.

The only mention of pricing in the release states that MSI Wind configurations will start at less than $500 in early June. The MSI Wind is available, however, for … Read more

Hitachi hawks a 320GB notebook drive

Following Fujitsu, Hitachi is now stepping up to the plate with its 320GB hard drive for notebooks that also spins at 7,200rpm.

The 2.5-inch Travelstar 7K320 can read and write data at 7,200rpm, which is the fastest spin speed for drives currently on the market.

Hitachi is the third-largest producer of hard disk drives in the world, with 17.3 percent share of the market. The leader is Seagate Technology, which owns more than a third of the hard drive space.

Battery life is often a concern with faster spinning drives, but Hitachi claims it has improved … Read more

Lenovo's 11-inch IdeaPad now available

Lenovo first introduced its new consumer notebook line, IdeaPad, back at CES in January. Now, the smallest--and arguably best-looking--of the bunch is set to ship to consumers very soon.

The U110, Lenovo's foray into consumer-oriented ultraportable notebooks, is now available on Lenovo.com, with other retailers soon to follow.

The U110 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6-gigahertz processor, 120GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, and comes loaded with Vista Home Premium.

The screen is 11 inches wide with no bezel and weighs in at a mere 2.4 pounds. The battery life with the original battery … Read more