Whaaaa?
Yes that is right. In the next weeks or so I’ll post a MacBook review, despite my initially low estimation of the product.
MSI GT735 Available in Canada $1999
23 11 2008London Drugs has shipped its Christmas catalogue and one of the items that caught my eye was the ‘Certifed Data’ GT735. Certified Data is London Drugs personal computer house brand. They have re-branded MSI notebooks for a while. The only feature specified is the AMD mobility 3850 and 17″ WUXGA screen.
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Tags : 3850, asus rog, gateway fx, mobility 3850, msi 735
Categories : News
Another cheap Acer - this one plays games
21 11 2008I’m not a fan of IGP solutions but sometimes it’s all you can afford.
AMD’s 3200 IGP is getting good reviews, comparing nicely to the 3450 and 9300m dedicated GPUs. For $600 CDN this looks like a nice spec.
Acer Extensa EX5430-585
- 1.90GHz AMD Athlon™ X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-60
- 3072MB DDR2 SDRAM
- 250GB SATA hard drive, 5400RPM
- Optical Drive 8x Super-Multi drive (DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM)
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Graphics with up to 1919MB of HyperMemory
- 15.4″ WXGA (1280 x 800), Acer® CrystalBrite Technology, supporting simultaneous multi-window viewing via Acer GridVista
- Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED
- V.92 Modem, Gigabit LAN
- Ports: ExpressCard™/54 slot, Four USB 2.0 ports, External display (VGA) port, eSATA Port, Headphone/speaker/line-out jack, Microphone-in jack, Ethernet (RJ-45) port, Modem (RJ-11) port, DC-in jack for AC adapter
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- Software included: Acer Empowering Technology (Acer eNet, ePower, eAudio, ePresentation, eLock, eRecovery, eSettings Management), McAfee® Internet Security Suite (60 day trial), Office Ready Trial (60-days), NTI CD-Maker™, Adobe® Reader
- 14.2″(W) x 10.5″(D) x 1.2″(H)
- 6.4 lbs
- 1-Year International Travelers Warranty.
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Tags : acer, Acer Extensa EX5430-585, Acer Extensa, EX5430-585, amd 3200, mobility 3200, 3200 igp
Categories : News
Lest We Forget
11 11 2008
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Tags : flanders field, remembrance day
Categories : News
OCZ D.I.Y. Notebook Refresh Sure Looks like a Gateway FX…
3 11 2008There is always a risk when you use a standard ODM notebook chassis for your product that someone else might parrot it. Gateway’s FX line of notebooks is hot, but it’s an ODM chassis.
So look at what we have here, the new DIY notebook.
Here is the old version of the notebook (IMO). A refresh is due any time now…
The specs are great, but as much as I like the 3650 GPU isn’t there a 4650/70 coming soon?
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Tags : 3650, ocz ati, ocz diy, gateway fx, 4650
Categories : News
MehBooks, Proof of an Apple Netbook?
22 10 2008John Markoff, well respected journo at the NYT has some interesting evidence on a Mac Netbook.
When you consider the insane prices Apple are asking for the two notebooks announced last week, a netbook strategy makes sense. Particularly if Apple wants to crack 10% marketshare, that sub-$1,000 market is going to be the key. Apple have an OS that runs great on just about anything faster than a calculator and all kinds of web services that would make a netbook really useful, not just some dumb toy.
If Apple liked the taste of subscription revenue it got from iPhone year one, imagine what a popular netbook tied to Me.com and its web-iLife experience would be like. Close to a million netbooks are sold every month. A Mac powered version at a competitive price would do very well. Imagine if those were bundled with a year of a killer web service like Me.com that people would come to depend on, and that only costs $99 year? Even a 25% conversion would be a $100 million in new subscriber revenue per year.
It seems clear to me that everyone is going in that direction. Maybe Apple will be first to the party.
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Tags : apple, apple cloud pc, apple netbook, touchbook
Categories : News
Asus Eee drops below $300, only another $100 to go!
19 10 2008Maximum PC reports that the 900 series is now available for under $300.
Small keyboard, you know what they say about small hands...
As much as I hated on the Eee 2G Surf, $299 for the 9″ screen version is starting to get into ‘worth buying’ range - at least as I define that anyway. When it gets closer to $200 it might make a nice travel companion for watching vids and playing some old Bioware RPGs.
Early adopters who shelled out $500 for these things should feel like idiots now. Albeit Idiots with lighter wallets and an Eee PC probably collecting dust in a drawer somewhere; all because they listened to the hype and the shills.
There is always room for less expensive and more accessible computers. Wake me up when Asus gets these down to a level where people with modest means can buy them. Right now a used Centrino notebook is a better choice and can be had for half the price of the Eee on local craiglist and bulletin boards.
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Tags : 2g surf, asus eee, eee 701, eee 900a, eee pc
Categories : News
Holy Hot 15″ Gaming Notebook Batman!
16 10 2008Asus has a hot litle number that just popped up on www.bestbuy.com.
Very similar to the G50Vm-X1 that just came out a couple of months ago, this new model packs a GeForce 9800m GS. This is a lower clocked GTS - but on the plus side it has the same number of shader units and the same 256 bit memory. Good stuff!
What else do you get for $1,250?
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Tags : 9800m GS, asus, g50, G50Vm-X1, G50Vt-X, p8400
Categories : News
Apple MehBook and MehBook Pro Announced
15 10 2008It’s taken me a few days to shake off the disappointment and post about how bad these new Apple notebooks are. In particular I feel an obligation to point out the poor value compared to their predecessors.
Maybe it was the talk of lower margins in Q3 (you remember, during Apple’s August investor conference call) that had me primed for a value priced Mac portable. Clearly neither of these two new notebooks is going to deliver Macs to the masses. Even worse, the remaining last-gen units on the Apple store are barely marketed down and this is more than a little insulting.
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Tags : apple, macbook, macbook pro, mehbook, hp hdx16t, inspiron 13
Categories : News
Is It Still Cool to Slam Packard Bell?
28 09 2008Because I have a serious crush on their version of Gateway’s P-7811FX gaming notebook.
As you probably know, Gateway and Packard Bell were consumed by Acer a few years back. Packard Bell had been languishing under the rudderless NEC Corporation - a company that can not decide what exactly it does from one day to the next. I really expected Packard Bell to go the way of Commodore - a curious footnote in the PC history books like Wang and Olivetti.
But Acer has big plans for Packard Bell - its going to be the hip brand in Europe. Wow. Can this be done? Is it a sign of insanity to even attempt this? You could easily answer yes to either of these questions - but I like how Acer has started.
Delivering gaming products through the Packard Bell iPower line is a good idea. These computers are essentially identical to the well received FX series from Gateway. The FX series really put Gateway back on the map.
This is marketing 101 - get the ‘influencers’ interested in your brand and saying good things about it. That is exactly what has occurred in North America. Gateway’s FX notebooks routinely sell out at Best Buy because they offer terrific performance at a fraction of the competition’s price. Even if you thumb your nose at the brand, you can’t say anything bad about the specifications delivered for the price. The success of the Gateway P-6831fx, P-6860fx and P-7811fx prove this.
Acer’s buying power easily trumps whatever goodwill and gamer cred Alienware and Voodoo have earned for their owners (Dell and HP). Now they will put this to work in Europe.
And boy are the Europeans ever lucky. Look at the specs delivered for 1400 Euros:
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9100 processor (as opposed to the 7811fx Core 2 Duo P8400)
- NVIDIA 9800m GTS 1GB (double the 7811fx vram)
- 17″ 1,920 x 1,200 resolution display (the extra ram will help run games at this resolution)
- Optional Blu-Ray drive (meh - IMO B-R is a waste of money)
I’ll be leaning on my family in Europe to send me one when this notebook launches in October.
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Tags : gateway, hp, acer, dell, alienware, voodoo, 7811fx, p-7811fx, packard bell, 9800m, ipower gx, nec
Categories : News
