Looking for an ultrathin laptop and not keen on the MacBook Air, then the latest offering from Lenovo, the ThinkPad X200, may just be the answer to your Apple phobia. This Centrino 2 powered notebook weighs in at 2.95 pounds, a smidge under the 3 pound Apple variety. The rest of the X200’s specs don’t look too bad either

* 12.1 inch display
* 64 GB SSD or up to 320 GB HDD
* Optional Blu-Ray drive
* Centrino 2 chips running between 2.26 and 2.40 GHz
* up to 4 GB of DDR3 memory
* Windows Vista
* Wi-Fi and mobile broadband connectivity
* 11.6 x 8.3 x 0.8 inches

This puppy won’t be out until August but that’s six weeks away at the latest, so not too long to wait. When it does hit the shelves the base model with 2.26 GHz Centrino 2 and least storage will set you back US$1200. Not bad! Lenovo have got it spot on with the X200 and just as well as this area of the laptop market is heating up considerably especially now the Centrino 2 is out there.

Source: PC World

Featured tags: laptop lenovo thinkpad x200 ultrathin laptop

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Hitachi have just announced their latest 1TB hard disk drive, the Deskstar 7K1000.B, claiming it’s the first in a new generation of terabyte hard disk drives. So what’s so new about this second generation of drives, well according to Hitachi’s press release their latest offering

provides an exceptional blend of power efficiency and performance, making it an ideal solution for power-friendly consumer and commercial PCs

So basically they’ve managed to reduce the drive’s power usage whilst maintaining read/write speeds. Here are a few more specs for you to consume.

* spin speed of 7,200 rpm
* 1TB storage
* 3 Gb/s SATA interface
* 32 MB buffer
* 1.2 million hours Mean Time Between Failure
* Rotational Vibration Safeguard

Hitachi claim that this new drive, whilst in idle mode will provide a power saving of up to 43% on first gen drives through its three disk design. Each disk can 375 GB of zeroes and ones. Pretty impressive, eh? Good timing too, considering all the hoopla over the ‘power savings’ of SSDs at the moment.

Source: PC Launches

Featured tags: 3.5 inch HDD hdd hitachi

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We showed you the Gigabyte M912 sucker back in June, and it’s now officially launched with a few varying specs. Check out the dets below

* Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU
* 1GB memory
* 2.5 inch 9.5 mm SATA 120, 160 or 250 GB HDD
* 8.9 inch 1280×768 res WXGA touch screen LCD panel
* 3 USB ports
* 1.3 Mp web cam
* Bluetooth, 802.11b/g wireless connectivity
* 3.5 hours battery life
* OS options of Windows XP, Vista Home Basic or Linux
* Express card slot
* 235 x 180 x 42 mm
* 1.3 kg

Conspicuous by its absence is an internal optical drive but this is offset by a price tag of US$700. Not bad for a tablet PC especially given OS options too. Yeah we like the Netbook-M912V so we give it a big thumbs up!

Source: Gigabyte

Featured tags: gigabyte m912 tablet pc umpc

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Everex are due to launch a 10.2 inch Cloudbook notebook to compete with the Asus Eee PC 1000 series. This new Cloudbook will have the following specs

* 10.2 inch 1024 x 600 res display
* up to 2 GB of memory
* 1.3 Mp webcam
* 2 USB ports
* Express card slot
* 4 in 1 memory card reader
* WiFi b/g connectivity
* HSDPA & HSUPA WWAN connectivity
* 263 x 185 x 32 mm
* 1.2 kg

Unfortunately the price tag is unavailable as of yet but we would estimate that it would be in the US$600 to US$700 range to compete with the Asus Eee PC 1000.

Source: PC Advisor

Featured tags: cloudbook everex

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Not too much in the way of detail on these suckers yet, but Lenovo have unleashed a few tidbits on their latest notebook line, the ThinkPad SL. The range is aimed at individuals and small businesses that want a professional notebook with some home-user features. Here’s a few details on the ThinkPad SL range

* Online backup service
* Absolute Software’s LoJack theft-protection software
* Lenovo’s ThinkVantage hardware and software
* Active Protection System

Like we said, actuals specs are a bit thin on the ground at the moment, but they do have a price tag of US$700 to US$1200. Obviously we’ll wait until we see fuller specs before committing to an opinion on these suckers.

Featured tags: lenovo thinkpad sl

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Whilst not actually out there yet the M912 is being displayed on the Gigabyte website and a pretty nifty tablet cum UMPC it is too.

* Intel CPU 1.6GHz
* 1 GB SO-DIMM memory
* 8.9 inch WXGA 1280×768 res display with touch screen and 180 degree rotation
* 2.5 inch 9.5mm SATA HDD with 120, 160 or 250 GB options
* External optical drive via USB
* 3 USB 2.0 ports
* Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity
* 1.3 Mp camera
* 802.11b/g wireless connectivity
* 4 hour battery life
* 235 x 180 x 42 mm
* 1.2 kg

Nothing definite but it looks as if the consumer will have the option of XP or Linux as an OS for this sucker. Unfortunately the price tag is just as vague but suggestions are that it will be around the US$600 mark, which doesn’t make it cheap, but if you’re looking for a swivel-screen UMPC, the M912 could be just the unit for you.

Source: Gigabyte

Featured tags: gigabyte m912 umpc

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Whilst Hitachi’s latest CinemaStar HDD offerings, the 2.5 inch C5K320 and 3.5 inch 5K500, are primarily for use in DVRs they can of course be slotted into existing PCs and laptops. According to Hitachi the 5K500’s main feature is

Cool, quiet, power-efficient storage for digital video applications

which the 5K500 achieves using Hitachi’s CoolSpin motor design.

CoolSpin technology is a low-power motor design that requires less power to spin up the drive than most 3.5-inch hard drives

As well as CoolSpin the 5K500 offers the following bells and whistles

* 3.5 inch form factor
* 500 GB storage
* SATA 3Gbps interface
* 3.2 W idle power
* 4 data heads and 2 data disks
* 8 MB buffer
* 929 Mbps media transfer rate
* 101.6 x 147 x 26.1 mm

As for the C5K320, which comes in a handy range of capacities from 120 GB up to 320 GB, it sports Hitachi’s SmoothStream technology

supports the ATA-7 streaming command set, and SCT provides time-limited error recovery and thermal monitoring capabilities. CinemaStar C5K320 is offered with silent-seek acoustics for ultra-quiet operation.

Here are the rest of the specs

* 1.5 Gbps SATA interface
* 120, 160, 250, 320 GB capacities
* 8 MB data buffer
* 5,400 rpm
* 729 Mbps media transfer rate
* 70 x 100 x 9.5 mm
* 102 g

Unfortunately no news on the price tag, but at least it’s good to see HDD manufacturers trying to enhance our media storage options. These suckers will be available in June.

Source: Hitachi

Featured tags: 2.5 inch HDD 3.5 inch HDD DVR hdd hitachi

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