Filed under: Gaming, Laptops

NVIDIA’s recently rolled out GeForce 8800M GTX has already made its way into a laptop, specifically Rock’s Xtreme 770, specially updated to integrate the new chip. The 770 features a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, a 7200RPM 200GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, a 17-inch 1920×1200 display, and that all important GeForce 8800M GTX graphics card. The new card is certainly no disappointment, kicking the 8700M by a factor of two in most gaming benchmarks (although that also says a lot about the 8700M’s lackluster performance.) The bottom line with the 8800M GTX is that it enables acceptable performance in Crysis at reasonable resolutions, which is more than can be said of most desktops. However, you might want to hold off until the GPU reaches lappies other than the Rock Extreme 770, which costs £2,199: that’s over $4,500 at the current exchange rate.

[Thanks, Angelus Cat]

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Filed under: Laptops

Negroponte’s OLPC Buy One, Give One program has been extended to 31 December, 2007 — well beyond the initial two-weeks originally announced. The deal buys both yourself (or rather, your kid supposedly) and a tot from a developing nation new XOs for just $399. Already, the non-profit claims to be pulling in about $2 Million worth of “donations” each day. They’ve also opened up bulk buying to schools in quantities of 100-999 ($299 each), 1000-9999 ($249 each), or 10,000 and more ($199). Oh, and the program is now officially renamed “Give One, Get One” (GoGo) — we presume BoGo’ing the kids sounded too icky.

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Laptops

While it’s apparently still quite a ways beyond the realm of possibility, Custom PC is reporting that AMD has at least tossed around the idea of acquiring Ageia, which makes the PhysX physics processing unit and corresponding PhysX software. That doesn’t seem to be an entirely new development, however, with AMD’s Richard Huddy saying, ‘we’ve had that discussion, yes. It’s a discussion that goes round every three months - someone turns to me and says ‘why don’t we buy Ageia?’ and I go through the arguments about why we should and why we shouldn’t.’ The biggest stumbling block, not surprisingly, is price, with Intel’s recent acquisition of Havok weighing heavily into the equation. That, Huddy says, gave Ageia a roughly equivalent value of $100 million, a value Huddy says is about $90 million too much. He still doesn’t rule out an acquisition altogether, however, although it seems that there’ll have to be a pretty big shift in valuations before AMD’s interest is really piqued.

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Filed under: Laptops

While you’ll still have to wait a while to get your hands on a 10-inch Eee PC, you can now grab the 4G Surf version of the budget laptop, which will save you $50 over the standard model. Running $349 and apparently available only in Black for now (at least at Newegg.com), this one is largely identical to the non-Surf Eee PC, with the notable exception of a smaller battery that Asus says will give you about 2.8 hours of runtime (although Newegg’s listing shows the same 3.5 hours as the regular model). You also apparently won’t be able to upgrade the RAM beyond 512MB like you can with the standard Eee PC, and you’ll have to make do without that 0.3 megapixel webcam. If that’s still too pricey for you, you can always wait for the 2G Surf, which’ll knock the price down to just $299.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Laptops

Those pondering the purchase of an Inspiron 1520 / 1521 should probably hold off for a month or so if you can, as it looks like suitable successors will soon be available for both. The 6.6-pound 1525 and 1526 machines are the 15.4-inch replacements for the aforementioned pair and should target small businesses / low(er)-end consumers. Initial specs sheets reveal that the 1525 will be based on the Santa Rosa architecture, while the 1526 gets AMD-powered and offers up an ATI Radeon X1270 graphics set. Furthermore, the pair will feature up to 4GB of RAM, WXGA / WXGA+ / WSXGA+ panel choices, SATA hard drives, an optional Blu-ray reader (1525 only), built-in WiFi, optional WWAN and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR. You’ll also find four USB 2.0 ports, a 4-pin FireWire connector, Ethernet / 56k modem, VGA out, optional HDMI, audio in / out, a 8-in-1 multicard reader, ExpressCard slot and your choice of Vista or Ubuntu Linux. Not much looks to have changed in the design department, and apparently, you’ll still be able to order ‘em with a custom lid color. Also, there’s no definitive word on price just yet, but you can safely expect ‘em to land in the same neighborhood as the units they are replacing when the duo ships to nearly every corner of the globe in mid-December.

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Filed under: Laptops

Fujitsu’s LifeBook S6510, which we just caught wind of earlier this month, has made its way over to Notebook Review not a moment too soon, and the kind folks over there have put the machine through its paces in order to give you the skinny. As expected, reviewers marveled at the thinness of the 14.1-inch lappie, and even with the optical drive loaded in, they were delighted to find that it only weighed four pounds. Additionally, it was stated that the S6510 was surprisingly rigid, and while the LCD didn’t exactly live up to the standards Fujitsu has set for itself, it was far from abysmal. Furthermore, the unit performed admirably in a plethora of tests, the keyboard was a joy to use and the battery life was right on par. Notably, the unit did emit quite a bit of heat, but all in all, this LifeBook should certainly fit the bill if you’re looking for a business laptop that won’t add any undue strain on your back.

[Thanks, Susan]

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Filed under: Laptops

Believe it or not, we’ve but three days before this year’s Black Friday arrives, and Best Buy has just unveiled that it will be offering up Toshiba’s Satellite A135-S7403 laptop and a Canon PIXMA 3-in-1 printer for the low, low price of $229. We’ve already seen Dell throw out a $399 lappie, but this machine hits even lower by offering up a totally weak (but potentially satisfactory) 1.73GHz Intel Celeron M 530 processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, an 80GB 5,400RPM SATA drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Windows Vista Home Basic, Ethernet, a dual-layer DVD burner, GMA950 integrated graphics set and a 15.4-inch WXGA (1,280 x 800) TruBrite panel. Furthermore, you’ll find four USB 2.0 ports, a PCMCIA slot, built-in speakers, a Li-ion battery, 56k modem and a multicard reader for good measure. Best Buy claims that each store will have a minimum of 20 bundles on hand, but you better show up early in order to secure a ticket. Check out a few more shots of the pair after the jump.

[Via Notebooks]

Continue reading Doorbusting Toshiba A135 for only $229 you-know-when

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Filed under: Laptops

Tired of waiting for Black Friday? Just plain terrified of getting mauled? If you happen to fit into either of the aforementioned categories, take heart, as Dell’s got you covered. The firm’s 15.4-inch Vostro 1000 — which was listed earlier this year for as low as $449 — has now dipped $50 lower to crack the oh-so-crucial $400 barrier. The all-black lappie features a 1.7GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-53 processor, Windows XP Home Edition, an XGA panel, 120GB 5,400 RPM hard drive, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a DVD writer (with dual-layer DVD+R write capability), ATI’s Radeon Xpress 1150 integrated graphics set, 802.11g WiFi and a four-cell Li-ion battery to boot. Nah, this budget machine won’t satisfactorily churn through any advanced audio / video editing, but we’d bet it can handle Doom just fine.

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Filed under: Laptops

We know what you’re thinking: “Hey, hasn’t BenQ gotten a name change?” Well guess what, cowboy? Not for laptops. In fact, the multi-named, electronics-making creature-thing has just introduced a new model into its Joybook laptop lineup, the R43. The system sports a 14.1-inch “UltraVivid” WXGA display, an Intel 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, an SiS Mirage 3+ GPU, and all with WiFi and Bluetooth you could possibly need. Of course — more importantly than specs — the laptop features a stylized, abstract case design guaranteed to make the ladies want you and the men want to be you… or, vice versa. The R43 will be available in China in December, with a rollout in other countries “in the coming months.”

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

These two were no secret, but Alienware hosted a press event this morning to finally confirm its Area-51 m15x and m17x laptops. While Alienware design is still a bit of a love it or hate it affair, it’s clear that some thought has gone into these two, and there’s finally an option to get replace the standard Alienware ribbing on the lid for smooth one. The m17x is obviously the primary powerhouse here, configurable with dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX graphics cards, a Blu-ray burner, Core 2 Extreme processor, dual hard drives and a 1080p 17-inch LCD. Special Alienware touches include LEDs galore — the keyboard, sides and lid all can be lit up in your choice of color, selected by software. Alienware is also tossing in a hot-swappable drive bay for swapping in a third hard drive or extra optical drive. The m15x is of course is doing its darnedest to pack this kind of gaming power into a 15-inch form factor, but the surprising thing is that it nearly does. The laptop runs a single 8800M GTX card, includes a hot swap bay to boost storage or add an extra battery, and includes all those lighting doohickies of its big brother. We’re pretty impressed with the size and form factors, and while we can’t quite get into Alienware’s design taste, it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

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