Dell and Lenovo: Setting the Bar High

19 08 2008

I covered the great new product introductions from Dell last week, and if I ever get review samples of these great new notebooks expect to see a detailed write-up here and/or on www.techreport.com. Highlights were the very distinctive and well thought out industrial design, LED screens, Centrino 2 and great battery life.

Lenovo has been busy too. NBR has previews of the T400 and T500 - the 14″ and 15″ follow ups to the T61. A quick look at pricing shows a LED backlit T400 for under $1,000.00 CDN. Wow!

This is a solid Centrino 2 notebook with 4-5 hour battery life (longer with a bigger battery). I’ll need to get my hands on one.

I wonder what Apple has in store for us. Will they wait until 30 days after BTS season is done, or can they get their refresh out in time? There is about a month left before we’ll know.


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Review: Gateway T-6321

27 07 2008

Montevina notebooks are popping out everywhere and that means there are deals to be had on Intel’s previous platform; Santa Rosa. This is great news for value-centric consumers.

Gateway has been on a roll since being acquired by Acer last year. Acer’s aggressive pricing for decent specifications combined with Gateway’s newfound sense of style makes the $599 Gateway T-6321 a notebook of interest.

Hardware Highlights:

  • 14.1″ WXGA High-Definition Display With 1280 x 800 Resolution
  • 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
  • 3 GB DDR2 System Memory
  • LabelFlash Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

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Why the EEE PC and Similar Devices Stink

29 03 2008

The Cynic’s View of Inexpensive Notebook Movement

UMPC as a commercial venture failed. Somehow, the concept was indirectly revived by Nicholas Negroponte’s project to provide One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in the world’s poorest countries. In classic fashion, the moment Negroponte’s venture gained traction and the first OLPC XO was shown in public an army of heretofore silent companies emerged to loudly boast how they could do it better – for about the same price. Of course they could do it, but they hadn’t because they were quite happy selling schools $1000 notebooks instead.
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Notebook Critic’s Interview with Toshiba Canada’s Todd Smith

12 03 2008

Todd Smith, Director of Product Marketing at Toshiba of Canada Information Systems Group (ISG) took some time recently to answer questions from myself and NBR forum members on Toshiba’s notebook lineup.

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WSJ Previews Lenovo ThinkPad X300

13 02 2008

Walt Mossberg gets all the coolest toys - a fair reward for covering technology for as long and as well as he has.

Today he posts a teaser for the X300, something that ThinkPad fans are anxiously awaiting. 

What is not to love? All the features of a full sized notebook, in a package that is only marginally bigger than the MacBook Air. Click the link to read more.

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Lenovo’s First Olympic-Themed Notebook

8 02 2008

Lenovo V3000 C200 

The first of Lenovo’s planned series of customized Olympic-themed notebooks is up for auction today.

Bid on this limited-edition Lenovo 3000 V200 notebook PC signed by Gail Emms of the U.K. Badminton team, available exclusively to bidders within the U.K. This notebook PC is one of three signed by Gail Emms. Stay tuned for the next two auctions in July 2008!

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