MSI Wind modded with sliding keyboard and touchscreen

The original MSI Wind is so two years ago, but an Insanely Wind forum member with the handle of ac0ff33 figured out a way to make it so two years from now. Taking a cue from slider phones, the modder has managed to flip the Wind’s 10.1-inch display around, fit it on top of the keyboard, and add a resistive touchscreen. He appears to still be working on getting it to slide up to reveal the keys, but from the comments in the forum he’s got a pretty solid plan to make it all happen. And if all that isn’t good enough, he’s also added a plastic power button next to the screen, along with a key for choosing either Win 7 or OSX when booting. We’re looking forward to seeing how this project comes along, but in the meantime check out the two videos below of the touchscreen performance in both Win 7 and OSX.

Continue reading MSI Wind modded with sliding keyboard and touchscreen

Filed under: Laptops

MSI Wind modded with sliding keyboard and touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS N82 and N61 join the USB 3.0 laptop party

We’re kind of starting to figure out ASUS’ naming scheme — E is for Easy, and N is for eNtertainment, jolly good. In other self-evident news, Engadget Chinese is the place to go if you want the lowdown on happenings in China and its nearby states. Joining HP’s Envy 15 in the USB 3.0-sporting ranks will soon be the familiar 16-inch ASUS N61 and the seemingly brand spanking new N82 14-incher. See the galleries below for the eye candy, but keep it here for specs. Core i5 and i7 CPUs will populate the role of orchestrator inside, while ATI and NVIDIA discrete graphics options will also be made available when these make their imminent Taiwan debut. In live demonstrations, the one USB 3.0 port (yes, you only get one) was shown to be three times as fast as USB 2.0, so not quite reaching its theoretical superiority, but hardly an unwelcome improvement. Let’s hope for quick global distribution following the Taiwanese launch, which is slated for the middle of this month.

ASUS N82 and N61 join the USB 3.0 laptop party originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba Portege M780 highlights business laptop refresh to Core i-series CPUs

For some among us, the VAIO E series is the pinnacle of modern mobile computing design. Then there are other, saner individuals, who prefer the understated aesthetics of what are commonly termed business laptops. For that latter group, we have a whole glut of new Toshiba notebooks to look at, highlighted by the delectable looking Portege M780 above. Much in the vein of HP’s 2730p, it’s a 12.1-inch convertible tablet PC, with a spill-resistant keyboard and rugged features (tested to withstand drops from up to 1 meter), but its biggest attraction will still likely be the Core i5 heart thumping inside. Also undergoing upgrades are the Tecra A11 (already available in the US), M11 and S11, which will come with up to 8GB of RAM, 802.11n wireless, SSD options, and of course Intel Core i7 CPUs. Check them out after the break, and expect them to arrive in Europe, the Middle East and Africa this quarter, with the M780 close behind them with a Q2 2010 release.

Continue reading Toshiba Portege M780 highlights business laptop refresh to Core i-series CPUs

Toshiba Portege M780 highlights business laptop refresh to Core i-series CPUs originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s 8440 and 8540 EliteBooks ready to ship with Core i7 inside

HP promised us a mobile workstation refresh in February, and sure enough, today we are staring down the retail pages for its quartet of upgraded business laptops. The new top of the line EliteBook models come in 14- (8440p/w) and 15.6-inch (8540p/w) varieties, with the w-appended models sporting appropriately beefed up NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics with up to 1GB of dedicated GDDR5. If you want to grab one for under a grand, you’ll have to make do with the reasonably powerful Core i5-520M / 2GB DDR3 RAM combo, but we’re most excited by the future customization options, which include a low-voltage Core i7-820QM CPU with 8MB of internal cache, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 256GB in SSD storage. Course, we can’t put prices to these spectacular beasts just yet, as HP is still only offering preconfigured rigs, but we think it’ll be less than five figures.

[Thanks, Jared]

HP’s 8440 and 8540 EliteBooks ready to ship with Core i7 inside originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft says it’s looking into laptop battery issues with Windows 7

We’ve already seen some evidence that suggests Windows 7 puts a particularly hard drain on at least some laptop and netbook batteries, and it looks like Microsoft has now heard enough complaints itself to open an investigation into the matter. Details are otherwise a bit light, but Microsoft is apparently looking into the issue in collaboration with its hardware partners, and says that the problem is likely related to the computers’ BIOS, which Windows 7 relies on to determine if the battery needs to be replaced. Needless to say, there isn’t much in the way of solutions in the meantime, and Microsoft isn’t offering any indication as to when one might be forthcoming.

Microsoft says it’s looking into laptop battery issues with Windows 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops

Hey there, what’s this little surprise? Sony’s colorful VAIO E Series laptops have arrived to cheer us up — and it looks like they’re going to do the trick, we have to tell you. These 15.5-inchers come in a wide range of colors, and you can mix and match lid and keyboard shades, if you dare. Inside, you get a 2.13GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a DVD burner and a 500GB hard drive. A Core i5 version is also right around the corner. You can pre-order one of these bad boys now for shipping in March — but it’ll cost you about $800. Hit the read link to check them out. There’s one more shot after the break.

[Thanks, Paul]

Continue reading Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops

Sony busts out colorful VAIO E Series laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toshiba Satellite E205 (with Intel Wireless Display) review

So it’s been a long day, you plop down on the couch, turn on the TV and grab your laptop and a cold beverage. But while you’re watching that re-run of The Office on TBS you come across an awesome video on the web – probably the Engadget Show – and instead of watching that expensive 40-inch HDTV you end up staring at the smaller screen. Okay, so maybe that’s our specific scenario, but you’d probably hook up your laptop to a TV in a number of different situations if it didn’t involve cables, dongles, and extra software — basically if it were just easier. Well, it’s supposed to be with the $999 Toshiba Satellite E205 and its included Netgear Push2TV adapter.

Exclusively sold at Best Buy as part of its Blue Label program, the 15-inch Core i5-powered laptop is outfitted with Intel’s Wireless Display — what we’ve taken to calling WiDi — which wirelessly connects the laptop to any HDTV using the included Netgear with just the push of a button. But can you really watch Hulu on the big screen without leaving your couch? And is the E205 even a laptop you’d want to use in the first place? We’ve been “testing” it — or watching loads of web video on our TV — for the last couple of days to find out. Read on for our full review!

Continue reading Toshiba Satellite E205 (with Intel Wireless Display) review

Toshiba Satellite E205 (with Intel Wireless Display) review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alienware’s ‘Phantom’ concept became M11x, cranks through Left 4 Dead 2 on video

It’s turning out to be quite the day for Alienware, eh? First we see that the M15x and M17x are finally up for order (with their swank Core i7s within), and now we’ve got the first public video of the M11x doing its thang. If you’ll recall, we only had enough time at CES to snap a few quick pictures, but now that the starting-at-$799 ultraportable (or “netbook,” if you must) is said to be “coming soon,” it seems that parent company Dell is feeling pretty good about showing it off. An employee recently had the chance to sit down with what was originally coined the Phantom (full story awaits you in the Source link), and even though it can be hidden behind a standard sized magazine, this diminutive monster is still potent enough to cruise through Left 4 Dead 2 with nary a hiccup. Don’t believe us? Check the video for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Alienware’s ‘Phantom’ concept became M11x, cranks through Left 4 Dead 2 on video

Alienware’s ‘Phantom’ concept became M11x, cranks through Left 4 Dead 2 on video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alienware’s M11x netbook gets a base price: $799

Whoa, Nelly! We learned back at CES that Alienware’s pretty-much-a-netbook would launch in the Spring for less than a grand, but now we know precisely what the base price will be: $799. The starting MSRP of the M11x was delivered courtesy of the company’s own website, but not in the most straightforward way. If you surf on over to the M11x microsite and view the source, you’ll notice the following blurb tucked within the code:

The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.

So, a polarizing (albeit vivacious) design, an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics and a 6.5 hour battery, all for $799. Shall we sign you up, or what?

[Thanks, Daniel]

Alienware’s M11x netbook gets a base price: $799 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP tx2000 suffering from dead screens and wireless, NVIDIA to blame?

When we received an e-mail from a very agitated reader detailing that the wireless card and the screen on his HP tx2000 stopped working just a convenient few days after his warranty expired we felt bad, though didn’t think much of it. But then we started doing a bit of research, and it turns out these issues go all the way back to the tx1000 and that there are thousands — if you can trust the petition numbers — that have been encountering these problems. The cause? Most likely the overheating NVIDIA graphics card and chipset that was used in both models, and which was actually the reason for Sony, Dell and other HP laptop recalls last year. So, what gives, especially after the warranty of these tablets has gone up? Not much, unless you are handy with a motherboard, some thermal compound and tinfoil like the guy in the video after the break (spoiler: he fixes his tx1000!) We wish we had better news, but if you’re an unfortunate owner of one of these txs your best bet is to hit one of the links and sound off. The more noise, the more likely HP will be to finally recall these puppies.

[Thanks, Artur T.]

Continue reading HP tx2000 suffering from dead screens and wireless, NVIDIA to blame?

Filed under: Laptops

HP tx2000 suffering from dead screens and wireless, NVIDIA to blame? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP launching tablets and notebooks with integrated pico projectors this year?

The details are few at this time, but DigiTimes is reporting that Hewlett-Packard is working on busting out some pico projector support in its laptops and tablets in 2010. Currently the wee beamers haven’t found much of a home in the pockets of consumers, but integrating them into these devices might just make sense. There they could serve as additional displays without adding the bulk of some of the other solutions we’ve seen in the past. HP’s VP of Personal Computing Systems Monty Wong indicated that the projectors would be placed on top of the screens on notebooks, where a webcam would traditionally be found — though presumably pointed the other way ’round. It remains to be seen what kind of bulk this would add to a traditional laptop lid and what kind of a cost premium, but we’re at least vaguely intrigued by the idea.

HP launching tablets and notebooks with integrated pico projectors this year? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Eee PC 1005PEG includes WiMAX for those lucky enough to live near a signal

Apparently we weren’t the only one’s enjoying some Clear speeds down in Vegas, the 10.1-inch ASUS Eee PC 1005PEG was riding the 4G waves too. Other than its WiMAX support, the Eee PC 1005PEG has the same specs as the recently-reviewed 1005PE, including a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 250GB hard drive. If the 10005PEG can manage the same 8-hours of video playback as the 1005PE we’ll welcome the WiMAX-enabled lappie with open arms to the growing family of Pine Trail netbooks.

ASUS Eee PC 1005PEG includes WiMAX for those lucky enough to live near a signal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Core i5 and i7-equipped laptops / desktops emerge from every corner

Best Buy already stocked up on the Core i5-equipped VAIO S and Satellite E205, and now it seems that everyone else is following suit. Just weeks after Intel announced that it would be releasing Core i5 and Core i7 chips for the mobile realm, the usual suspects have already outed a number of refreshed rigs that include said slabs of silicon. Sony’s 14-inch VAIO CW is now available from $829 with a mobile Core i3, while the $1,120 version ships with a Core i5, NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 330M CPU and a Blu-ray combo drive. Dell has obliged by adding a 2.53GHz Core i5 to its 15-inch Studio (available now for $999.99), and there’s even a version that ships with Netgear’s Push2TV adapter for taking advantage of Intel Wireless Display technology. Over on the desktop side, Acer hasn’t wasted any time by updating its Aspire G Predator with a sultry black shell (as opposed to the old orange one) and a 3.06GHz Core i7-950 processor, though the $3,185 MSRP should scare away all but the hardest of hardcore. Seen any others get the Core i5 / i7 bump? Shout ‘em out in comments!

Core i5 and i7-equipped laptops / desktops emerge from every corner originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI outs exceptionally exquisite X-Slim X420 laptop

MSI outs exceptionally exquisite X-Slim X420 laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP brings out TouchSmart tm2 tablet, upgrades dv6t and dv7t with Core i5

And now, for the hopelessly devoted HP homeboy, we present a trio of lust items. The new hotness on the converitble tablet front — the TouchSmart tm2 — is ready for shipping in exchange for nearly $950, and will endow your life with a 12-inch capacitive multitouch display, a somewhat senescent SU7300 1.3GHz ULV processor, and 3GB of DDR3 memory. Should you dare to stray into higher price ranges, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4550 discrete graphics and an SU9600 CPU are also available. Alternatively, you can splash $929 on the 15.6-inch dv6t, which now comes with a 2.4GHz Core i5-520M as standard, as well as free upgrades to 3GB of RAM and 320GB in storage. Graphics options here range up to an NVIDIA GeForce GT 320M with 1GB of onboard memory. Finally, the dv7t matches its smaller sibling’s upgrades but asks for $999 for the base spec, which includes a 17.3-inch display with a 1600 x 900 resolution. So there you have it, something for pretty much everyone.

HP brings out TouchSmart tm2 tablet, upgrades dv6t and dv7t with Core i5 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FIC outs Pineview-boasting SVE00 netbook

FIC’s just launched its new Pinetrail netbook, the FIC SVE600. This little guy (which measures 10.1-inches) isn’t exactly ground-breaking, but that Atom N450 is still new enough to spark a little interest, right? The SVE600 boasts the aforementioned 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a choice of an either up to 500GB HDD or an up to 32GB SSD, plus WiFi, BGN, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth WiMax, and HSDPA. You’ll also get your choice of either Windows 7 or Linux OSs. There’s no word on pricing yet, but we’ll let you know when we do. There’s another beauty shot after the break.

Continue reading FIC outs Pineview-boasting SVE00 netbook

FIC outs Pineview-boasting SVE00 netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NEC’s new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable

There comes a time when you have to stop chasing performance and start making good for the environmental damage you’ve caused — or do you? NEC’s latest Mate desktop offers 30% boosted efficiency over previous models despite offering better performance with Core i5 or i7 processors, consuming just 23 watts thanks to a redesigned motherboard and the use of SSD. It also features greater use of recyclable components and a shell composed of environmentally friendly yet flame-retardant plastic — important when your power supplies have been known for their explosive personalities. NEC is also announcing the new VersaPro VD laptop (pictured after the break), similarly equipped with Intel’s latest, and offering a new software tool for tracking energy consumption to “increase user awareness of energy saving.” Knowing is half the battle, friends.

Continue reading NEC’s new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable

NEC’s new Mate ME desktop is 30% more efficient, 75% more recyclable, 100% less flammable originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA outs 300M mobile graphics series, causes little excitement

Many a mind might’ve strayed from all the CES crazy-talk about future tech and wondered as to what exactly is going on in the war against bad graphics on otherwise totally sweet laptops. The answer from NVIDIA is, disappointingly, not much. The green giant of GPUs quietly snuck out its 300M mobile GPUs over the turn of the year, and there was good reason for the lack of fuss — the top tier GeForce GTS 360M sports the same number of processing cores as its 260M predecessor, accompanied by the same 2GHz memory clock and identical 128-bit memory interface. But don’t despair yet, sailor! There’s the stark omission of any GeForce GTX models among the new 300Ms, which should fuel hopes that this gap in what NVIDIA calls the enthusiast market will be filled by Fermi-shaped chips come March of this year.

NVIDIA outs 300M mobile graphics series, causes little excitement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS UL80JT spotted with automatic switchable graphics, brags 12 hour battery life

How we missed this at the ASUS booth is beyond us, but leave it to the eagle-eyes at Ars to hone in on the ASUS UL80JT with an overclockable Core i7 processor and NVIDIA GeForce 310 graphics. So it’s just a run-of-the-mill gaming rig, right? Wrong. The 14-inch laptop has switchable graphics like we have never seen before; the laptop automatically switches, “second-by-second” between the NVIDIA card and the integrated Intel one, instead of the “standard” switchable graphics we’ve seen on laptops like the MacBook Pro 15 or ASUS UL80Vt which require users to switch manually. The major foreseeable benefit of this is longer battery life even when the system is using the discrete card, and ASUS touts 12 hours with the automatic solution turned on. No word on price or availability, but we’re guessing ASUS will have more details soon and that we’ll start seeing this this in more and more laptops as NVIDIA spreads the love around to the rest of the industry.

ASUS UL80JT spotted with automatic switchable graphics, brags 12 hour battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 19:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shuttle laptops hands-on

Shuttle’s press announcement of its new mobile platform was accompanied by a booth’s worth of demonstration units and we went over for a quick peek. What we saw was a selection of rather conventional looking machines — certainly the new internal layout is not going to affect the way machines will look on the outside. There was an Atom N450 netbook in among the chunkier devices, which — though they sported Shuttle branding and model names — seem to be just sample machines to entice OEMs into picking up the Shuttle design. This was demonstrated best by the ridiculously creaky keyboard on one of the laptops and its hapless monitor frame. Closing and opening the lid led to the display casing splitting open (see here), which was as damaging to our love of Shuttle as it was to the unfortunate plastic.

Shuttle laptops hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 21:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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