Toshiba has unveiled the Qosmio X500, its new flagship gaming notebook. To be made available in the UK, notebook comes with a 18.4-inch display, and can display full HD (1080p). Another interesting thing about this notebook is that it will be powered by Intel’s Core i7 CPU. This will make the X500 the second notebook ever to use the i7. The i7 processor normally runs at 1.6GHz but it can make a quick move to 2.8 GHz in its Turbo Boost mode.
Qosmio X500 will also geat a Blu-ray burner, HDMI-CEC support for remote control of the notebook, up to 8 GB of RAM, up to 1 TB HDD, GeForce GTS 250M, backlit keyboard, Harman Kardon speakers, multi-touch trackpad and a webcam. The notebook will be available in UK stores in October, and though the price has not been announced yet, it will naturally cost more than Qosmio X300, which sells for $2135.
UMID will officially show its M2 ultra mobile PC at Intel’s Developers Forum, and it has been quite an upgrade over the previous M1. The M2 has an 4.8-inch screen, with a 1024×600 resolution. While the screen remains the same as its predecessor, the M2 actually fares better due to an upgraded design and screen angle. Also making their appearance are an optical mouse and mouse buttons that make redundant the requirement of a USB port dongle.
The M2 will also get a faster processor, 1.2 GHz or 1.6GHz Atom, in place of the 1.33GHz processor on the M1. The RAM has been upgraded from 512MB to 1GB, and the operating system is Windows 7 in place of XP. UMID did put on display a non-working prototype of the new M2, and the fully working unit is expected to make its appearance within this week.
Asus has unveiled two new notebooks for its Republic of Gamers laptop series. The new gaming laptops, the G60 and the G71X come with NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 260M with 1GB of dedicated memory, 16-inch screen, 4GB DDR3 RAM, gigabit ethernet, blu-ray drives, HDMI and eSATA ports, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, S/PDIF port, four USB ports, 2 megapixels webcam and Altec Lansing speakers. The laptops will come preloaded with Windows Vista Ultimate, but will be eligible for a Windows 7 upgrade when the OS launches.
Apart from the common features listed above, there’s a lot that differentiates both notebooks. The G60 comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1,366×768 resolution, dual HDD setup in RAID array for 640 GB total, a/g/n wireless connectivity, backlit keyboard and a manga themed casing. The G71X on the other hand, has an Intel Core 2 Quad processor, 1,920×1,200 display, 1TB HDD RAID array setup, and b/g/n wireless connectivity. The Asus G60 is available for $2,366 while the G71X will cost $3,019.
Chinese company ShenZhen Zichuang Technology claims that it’s CZC C9 netbook is the thinnest in the world. The netbook measures only 0.2 inches (or 5 millimeters) thick, which actually does put it in the league of the thinnest ones around. That measurement however, comes from the thinnest part on the netbook, so it may be hiding some fat and bulk, and may not exactly be the “World’s Thinnest Notebook.” Still, it is a thin one, and weighs-in light at just 750grams.
It runs on an ARM 11 based CPU, has 1GB of RAM, 8 Gigs of flash storage, 2 USB ports, an AVG port, and an 8.9-inch screen with a 1024×600 resolution. Its Lithium ion battery can power the netbook for 6 to 9 hours. The netbook runs on customized Linux OS and costs nearly $220 in China. It seems quite unlikely that this netbook will be available in other parts of the world anytime soon.
LG has unveiled its new WIDEBOOK Notebook range, and placed five new models in the series. The R580/R480 are both placed as premium notebooks, the R560/R460 notebooks are being pitched as daily workhorses, while the R380 is the entry level model. All these notebooks offer full HD display, and a 16:9 aspect ratio.
The R580/R560 have a 15.6-inch screen, R480/R460 have a 14-inch screen and the R380 gets a 13.3-inch screen. The resolutions available will be 1600 x 900 and 1368 x 768, depending upon the model. The notebooks run on Intel Core 2 Duo processors with 2GB or 4GB of turbo memory, and include NVIDIA GeForce graphics chip with up to 1GB of DDR2 video memory, 3G modem chipset, 1.3 Megapixel camera, and HDMI connectors. The R580 model will be the only one to include a Blu-ray drive.