Gateway P171XL FX Edition

Gateway kembali meluncurkan seri notebook high-end gaming andalannya. Seri terbaru ini diberi nama Gateway P171XL FX Edition. Sebagai gaming notebook tentu saja Gateway P171XL FX Edition mengusung perangkat hardware berkelas untuk mendukung unjuk kerja multimedia-nya. Processor yang menjadi andalan Gateway P171XL FX Edition ini adalah Intel X7900, sedangkan untuk tampilan graphic notebook ini mengandalkan NVIDIA 8800M GTS.

Dari sisi design tampilan, Gateway P171XL FX Edition terbilang cukup manis dengan tampilan notebook 17 inch yang ramping, bahkan jika dibandingkan dengan notebook 15 inch seperti seri Alienware m15x. Design finishing permukaan yang glossy nampaknya akan dapat bertahan lama karena ditunjang feature scratch resistance (anti gores) yang menjaga keamanan permukaan ‘kulit’ Gateway P171XL FX Edition ini.

Berikut ini merupakan spesifikasi lengkap dari Gateway P-171XL FX Edition :

• Intel Core 2 Duo X7900 (2.80GHz/ 800MHz Front Side Bus/ 4MB L2 cache)
• Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
• 3GB DDR2-667 dual-channel RAM
• 17.0" WUXGA (1920x1200) matte finishe
• Nvidia GeForce 8800M-GTS graphics card with 512MB dedicated memory
• 400GB Total HD space in RAID 0 configuration (200GB Hitachi 7k200 x 2)
• HD DVD-ROM/DVD Super Multi (+/- double layer)
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965 AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and microphone
• Fingerprint reader
• Ports: 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot, Modem, LAN, Headphone/Mic, Firewire, HDMI, eSata, VGA, SD Card Reader, ExpressCard/54
• Size: 15.75 x 11.5/12.25 x 1.5"
• Weight: Notebook 9lbs 4.5oz, AC Adapter 1lb 10oz
• 120w AC Adapter
• Warranty: 1 Year standard

Notebook Super Tipis LG P300

LG mengeluarkan seri terbaru notebook super tipisnya dengan seri LG P300 Express Dual Series. LG P300 Express Dual Series merupakan high-perforance notebook dengan display 13,3 inch. Salah satu keistimewaan notebook ini disamping desain tipisnya yang hanya bisa ditandingi Macbook Air dan Thinkpad X300, adalah motif corak covernya yang unik.Cover LG P300 yang bermotif violet zebra memberikan sentuhan desain tersendiri terhadap dominasi desain polos notebook selama ini.

Dari segi hardware, LG P300 mengusung T8300 Penryn sebagai otak processor-nya dengan jaminan NVIDIA 8600m GS graphics card. Berikut spesifikasi selengkapnya dari LG P300 yang dilempar di pasar dengan kisaran harga $1,800 US:

• Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 (2.40GHz/ 800MHz Front Side Bus/ 3MB L2 cache)
• Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
• 2GB DDR2-667 dual-channel RAM (2 x 1GB)
• 13.3" WXGA (1280x800) Glossy
• Nvidia GeForce 8600M-GS graphics card with 256MB dedicated memory
• 250GB Fujitsu 5400rpm Hard Drive
• No Internal Optical Drive, External USB DVD-RW Drive included
• Intel Wireless WiFi 4965 AGN (802.11a/g/n)
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and microphone
• Ports: 3 USB, Kensington Lock Slot, LAN, Headphone/Mic, S-Link, HDMI, VGA, SD Card Reader, ExpressCard/34
• Size: 12.4 x 9.4 x 0.87/1.38"
• Weight:
  o Notebook 3lbs 8.6oz
  o AC Adapter 1lb 1.1oz
  o USB DVD/RW 12.5oz
• 90w AC Adapter
• Warranty: 1 Year standard

Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 8 GB

Kingston kembali mengeluarkan varian terbaru flash drive DataTraveller-nya. Kali ini flash drive USB DataTraveller Kingston berkapasitas 8 GB. Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 8 GB ini merupakan flash drive tercepat dari jajaran flash drive Kingston selama ini.

Selain itu Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 8 GB ini mempunyai desain switchblade yang menarik disamping ukuran dan bentuknya yang simple. Sedangkan bahan permukaan Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 8 GB merupakan perpaduan dari aluminium dari plastik karet yang memudahkan flash drive ini untuk dipegang dan dibawa kemanapun.

Berikut ini merupakan spesifikasi lengkap dari Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 8 GB :

• Capacities- 2GB, 4GB, 8GB
• Dimensions - 2.76 x 0.88 x 0.44"
• Fast - data transfer rates of 30MB/sec. read and 20MB/sec. write
• Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost on Vista-based systems
• Operating Temperature - 32° to 140° F
• Storage Temperature -4° to 185° F
• Simple - just plug into a USB port
• Guaranteed – 5 years warranty

Acer TravelMate 5720

Seri business notebook Acer kembali bertambah anggota baru dengan diluncurkannya seri Acer TravelMate 5720. Notebook Acer TravelMate 5720 sendiri merupakan sebuah notebook berbasis processor Intel Centrino Duo yang dibalut dengan chassis magnesium alloy, membuat notebook ini cukup dapat diandalkan. Acer sendiri melepas notebook ini ke pasaran dengan harga sekitar $900 dollar Amerika.

Berikut ini merupakan spesifikasi singkat dari Acer TravelMate 5720 :

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300 2.0GHz
• 15.4" WXGA LCD
• 1GB DDR2 533MHz RAM
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
• 100GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 8X DVD +/- dual layer recorder
• 53 watt-hour 6-cell battery
• 802.11 a/b/g WLAN
• XP Professional, SP2
• Ports/Slots: 1 IEEE 1394 (FireWire); 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0); 5-in-1 memory card reader; VGA monitor out port; S-Video out; RJ-45 Ethernet LAN; RJ-11 modem; PC card slot; ExpressCard 54mm; DVI-D; headphone/speaker jack; microphone; Bluetooth
  (dna)

Toast 9 Features Blu-Ray Video, Streaming

Toast 9 Titanium is the latest edition of Roxio's long-running disc burning software for the Mac. With Toast, you can burn data or video to CDs and DVDs. Toast 8 Titanium, the new version's predecessor, implemented features including TiVo and EyeTV support, data burning to Blu-ray drives and cataloging capabilities.

Toast 9 Titanium is Roxio's new version of its disc burning software for Mac OS X. The new release will retail for $99.99, and will be available initially as a download, with boxed discs to follow later this month. Toast 8 Titanium users will be able to get a $30 discount on the new release.

New to Toast 9 Titanium is the ability to burn high-def video to Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD, as well (using an optional $19.99 plug-in, available for free to users who buy the software between now and March 31, 2008). Blu-ray burning is also dependent on having a Blu-ray disc drive -- not available from the factory but now sold as a third-party accessory. Blu-ray video discs can't be played on the Mac, but with this new software you can burn AVCHD video, for example, that you can play back on a Blu-ray Disc player, such as a Sony PlayStation 3.

Roxio has also added TV streaming capabilities, so you can stream QuickTime, DivX, EyeTV and TiVo video from your Mac to another Mac on the Internet, or to your iPhone or iPod touch.

Roxio has enhanced audio capture and tagging in this new release with streaming audio capture, audio "fingerprinting" that identifies and tags music files, and expanded support for MP3, AAC, Apple Lossless and AIFF audio formats.

You can combine multiple DVDs on a single disc using DVD compilation, or queue up multiple VIDEO_TS folders with batch DVD conversion. Pause and resume -- a feature first found in the most recent release of Roxio's Popcorn software -- is now in Toast 9 Titanium.

The user interface has been enhanced with a new Convert tab for audio and video, tool tips, Quick Look support in the Media Browser, larger DVD menu previews, a better project capacity gauge and more.

System requirements call for a G4 or better (G5 or Intel required for encoding and viewing HD content), CD, DVD or Blu-ray recordable drive, Mac OS X v10.4 or later, 600MB hard disk space for installation, 15GB of free space for usage, QuickTime 7.1.3 or later.

Samsung CLP-660ND Color Laser Printer

Samsung's CLP-660ND color laser printer has a lot of competition in its price range. While it's a decent printer in most respects, its subpar graphics quality dampens our overall enthusiasm for it.

The CLP-660ND achieved an adequate speed of 19.8 pages per minute (ppm) while printing text in our tests. Its top speed printing graphics was an underwhelming 2.9 ppm. Text quality was excellent, the letterforms appearing deep black and delicately drawn. Unfortunately, graphics samples of all kinds fell victim to noticeable moiré patterns and graininess. Glossy laser paper did not improve matters much.

The design of the CLP-660ND has its awkward aspects. Extending the 250-sheet input tray to hold legal-size paper involves a difficult pinch-and-yank process. The handle for opening the 100-sheet multipurpose tray is hard to distinguish from the front-panel handle located in the same place. Oddly, the front panel opens just a small amount at first pull; you must tug it a second time, a little harder, to open it completely. The 200-sheet output tray exits to the far rear, which could be hard to reach for some people. A 500-sheet input tray option is available.

The control panel is simple for the most part. You navigate menus on the two-line monochrome LCD using a brief array of clearly labeled buttons. Some of the messages displayed could resemble normal language more closely, but most are understandable. Samsung's SmartPanel Monitor application picks up the slack by providing on-screen status, troubleshooting, and other useful information.

The machine ships with standard-yield, 2500-page black and 2000-page cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges. The high-yield versions we priced are still a little expensive: A 5500-page black cartridge costs $110, or 2 cents per page, while each 5000-page color cartridge costs $130, or 2.6 cents per color, per page.

Though installing the printer started with one of those potentially daunting, wordless posters, the process went smoothly. The PDF user guide offers plenty of operational guidance but not much on the driver or software. When we tried using Samsung's own driver for the printer, it stalled on our Photoshop tests because of a mysteriously absent .dll file; we ended up testing it using the PostScript driver instead. At press time, Samsung said it had resolved the driver issue but had not confirmed a date for making the fix publicly available.

The better-than-average reliability mark that readers gave to Samsung printer products in our Reliability and Service survey buoys the ranking of an otherwise run-of-the mill printer. Its struggles with graphics quality, so if you buy it, you should probably stick to pie charts and other simple, ordinary image types.

Ricoh Aficio SP C222DN Color Laser Printer

Ricoh's Aficio SP C222DN, the company's latest foray into lower-cost color laser printers, demonstrates some of the challenges of price cutting. This midpriced printer performs adequately but could use some refinement.

The problems begin with the installation. The poster-size guide for physical setup is wordless but pretty clear. It says to proceed to the "Software Installation Guide for Network Connection" for further instructions, but those are woefully inadequate, missing steps and key details. Worse, a document covering USB installation is available only on the included CD, making it less than readily available. The rest of the documentation, available in both HTML and PDF, is good.

The design also flummoxed me at various points. The control panel's few buttons perform some functions through obscure key combinations, and the printer has no LCD to spell them out for you. The foldout front panel lacks handles and feels flimsy, as does the 250-sheet main input tray. Extending the tray for legal-size paper involves a finicky pinch-and-pull process; the handle for pulling out the tray is in the same area as the manual-feed slot, too, which can be confusing. The top-exiting, 150-sheet output tray is straightforward, at least. An optional 500-sheet input tray is available. Automatic duplexing is standard, which is nice.

In our tests text documents ambled out at a pace of 17.4 pages per minute (ppm) and graphics pieces output at 2.4 ppm (at best). Text looked dark and precise; but graphics we printed on plain paper suffered from a slightly faded look, as well as graininess or moiré patterns. Glossy laser paper only partially mitigated the flaws. Ricoh garnered an reliability rating of Average in our Reliability and Service survey.

Because the SP C222DN's toner capacities are low, its consumables costs are high. The machine ships with 1000-page black, cyan, magenta, and yellow cartridges. The standard-size cartridges last for 2000 pages each and cost $55 for black (2.7 cents per page) and $100 for each color (5 cents per color, per page). The cartridges are easy to lift in and out of their respective slots inside the machine, but I didn't like how the transfer belt lies exposed during the process.

Ricoh's Aficio SP C222DN is targeted at small offices or workgroups, but its spotty installation documentation and subpar design elements miss the mark. Such users deserve a more friendly experience than this printer offers.

Lexmark C780n Color Laser Printer

Lexmark's C780n color laser printer is pricey, but it pays for itself with its fast performance and exemplary print quality. The company's worse-than-average reliability rating in our Reliability and Service survey might make one pause, though. Its service rating was average.

The C780n performed very well in our tests. It printed plain text at a snappy pace of 26.1 pages per minute--close behind the speed leader, the Oki Printing Solutions C5800Ldn. Letters looked slightly thick and chunky. Though its graphics speed was about midrange for the group, at 3.9 ppm, the quality was impressive. On plain paper, colors looked a little oversaturated, but the graininess or moiré patterns that one often sees with a laser were restrained and unobtrusive. Using Lexmark's own glossy laser paper yielded more-natural-looking colors and smoother textures.

This 105-pound hulk of a printer is designed for heavy workloads. Its 120,000-page monthly duty cycle is far higher than that of any other competitor in our rankings. Standard features include a sturdy 500-sheet input tray and a 250-sheet top output tray. The 100-sheet multipurpose tray opens from the left side at a surprisingly steep angle that I found awkward to use; Lexmark says it's designed to save space. Options include a 500-sheet input tray and a duplexer, both of which are standard on higher-end variations of the same engine.

The design is sometimes too subtle to be completely user-friendly. The fairly simple control panel features a four-line monochrome LCD and clearly labeled buttons. The LCD's messages are understandable, but how to proceed or back out of something is occasionally not clear. Getting into the machine is hampered by the lack of handles or levers on the large front panel. Inside, the small leg that props up the panel is a bit hard to figure out, and the very small and unclear explanatory label doesn't help. Removing the toner cartridges requires a lift-and-pull motion that would be easier with more visual cues.

The C780n's consumables are better-priced than we expected, given Lexmark's tendency to charge a lot for them. The machine ships with 6000-page black, cyan, magenta, and yellow return-program (for recycling) cartridges. We priced the high-yield returnable versions (10,000-page yields for each color): Black costs $154, or about a penny per page, and cyan, magenta, and yellow toner cartridges cost $289 each, or about 2 cents per color, per page.

With all its speed and skill, the C780n might have rated higher, if not for its dicey reliability rating. For a busy or growing office, however, it's a good bet in this price range.

AMD's New 780G Chipset Has Powerful GPU

With today's introduction of its new 780G chipset, AMD is finally enabling users to build an HTPC or multimedia computer for HDTV, HD-DVD or Blu-ray playback that doesn't require an add-in graphics card. (AMD already included HDCP support and an HDMI interface in its predecessor chipset, the 690G.) The northbridge chip of the new 780G chipset also features an integrated Radeon HD3200 graphics unit that can decode any current high-definition video codec. As a result, CPU load is decreased to such a degree that even a humble AMD Sempron 3200+ is sufficient for HD video playback. Also, while Intel's chipsets get more power-hungry with every generation, AMD's newest design was designed with the goal of reducing power consumption. (Compare Prices on Radeon Video Cards)

The Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-SH2 formed the basis for the review platform.

The older 690G chipset was originally designed by ATI, and was essentially just rebranded with the AMD logo after the two companies merged. The new 780V and 780G chipsets unveiled today are the first chips to be designed since AMD's acquisition of ATI, and can thus be considered "real" AMD chips.

AMD has every reason to be proud of its design, which is one of the best chipsets we have ever tested. It bests Intel's chipsets in functionality, power consumption and production process. With the move to 55 nm, AMD was able to lower the power consumption of its chipset. Intel, on the other hand, still manufactures its G33 and G35 chipsets at 90 nm, resulting in a much higher thermal dissipation loss. The 780G chipset sets a new record for the lowest power consumption.

ASUS GEFORCE 9800 GTS

It was considered that Nvidia prepared three video card series geForce 9800 : single-chip geForce 9800 GT and GeForce 9800 GTX, and also two-chip GeForce 9800 GX2.

Today appeared the photograph of video card ASUS GeForce 9800 GTS, which works at 600/1500/1800 MHz frequency (core/shader block/memory).

Those Video card Frequencies are identical to the GeForce 8800 GT, the PCB design is also pretty similar to 8800 GT/GTS .

With the processor wolfdale, which operated at 3 GHz frequency, this video card collected 23814 points in 3DMark05 and 12920 in 3DMark06.

INTEL ATOM MOTHERBOARD

The processors intel atom will be supplemented with dual core model, which will find application in the desktop segment. The TDP level of this processor will be large for super-economical compact notebook, which will use silverthorne processors .

Associate published information about the motherboard which will be based on single and dual core versions processor diamondville. In both cases the processor will operate at 1.87 GHz frequency , support 533 MHz system bus, and supplied with 512 KB cache in the second level. Single core version will have a TDP level not more than 7.5 W, and dual core not more than 12 W. The support of hyper-Threading technology analog will be preserved.

The motherboard has a mini-ITX layout (170 x 170 mm) and based on integrated chipset intel 945GC , the processor will will be soldered directly on the printed-circuit board. DIMM slot will be ready to accept up to 2 Gb memory DDR 2-800, This motherboard will also propose one slot PCI.

This motherboard on base of single core version diamndville (BOX945GCLF) will appear in the second quarter, dual core modification (BOX945GCLF2) will be presented in the third quarter. Intel partners expressed their desire to release similar motherboards, witch will become base for compact cheap desktop computers.