SISAREA

Jimmy Eat World didn’t concoct the masterpiece that is The Middle for nothing, you know. In yet another example of the middle muddying up the waters for everyone else, DisplaySearch has found that the vast majority of systems sold in America fall into the 15.6-inch category, despite the fact that many offer no gain in resolution over 12- and 13-inch ultraportables with 1,366 x 768 panels. The reason? For one, supply and demand. The sheer quantity of 15-inch machines on the market pushes prices south, and on days like Black Friday, rarely is any size as discounted as the tried-and-true 15-incher. The numbers here would show an even greater difference if the tablets were yanked, but what’s made clear is just how little interest is being shown by the masses to the outliers. In fact, Laptop found that MSI is officially putting the kibosh on its plans to ship the 13-inch X360 stateside, and a number of other manufacturers are mulling similar decisions (though “off the record”). So, are you helping to jumble up the middle, or are you a loud-and-proud 5-percenter?

Lessons in Bell Curves: 15-inch laptops still king, despite wealth of portable alternatives originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’d think after running into ASUS’s next generation Eee PC 1018P and 1015PE over five months ago at CeBIT, our excitement may have waned for the stylish netbooks. Oh, but it’s actually the opposite, and when the brand new netbooks arrived last week, we grabbed the X-Acto knife (safely, of course) and eagerly unboxed them to see if the aluminum clad little laptops were as svelte as we’d remembered them. Sure, the $350 1018P and 1015PE have standard netbook internals (an Intel Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM and Windows 7 Starter), but without a doubt they’re some of the best quality netbooks ASUS has made in quite a while. Hit that read more link for an in-depth look at these two, and to see if they’re all we had hoped for and more.

Continue reading ASUS Eee PC 1018P and 1015PE review

ASUS Eee PC 1018P and 1015PE review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Cameron, who’d rather buy the most powerful laptop the world has to offer than subject himself to a “desktop PC.” If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I’m looking for a desktop replacement laptop. It needs to have at least a Core i3 processor, 3GB of memory and a 320GB hard drive. Of course, more is always better, but I’m not looking to spend a fortune. Recommendations?”

We’re going to suggest looking Clevo’s way if you’d rather not pay the Alienware label premium, but we’ve got a feeling some folks in comments may know a few more underground avenues for securing a well-built beast-of-a-laptop. Help a brother out, won’t you?

Ask Engadget: best desktop replacement laptop? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve heard this song and dance before, but DigiTimes has it that MSI is on pace to shove out a 3D laptop this September. Before you open that jaw and feign a yawn, you should know that the company is purportedly not following convention by integrating NVIDIA’s 3D Vision technology; instead, it’ll rely on Dynamic Digital Depth’s (DDD’s) TriDef 3D software for transferring 2D images to 3D. This means that users will be able to use cheap-o polarized glasses rather than the more expensive (and battery draining) active shutter variety. Somehow or another, the whole thing is supposed to launch at under a grand, so we’ll be poking around on the IFA show floor hoping that this one comes to fruition.

MSI rumored to have TriDef 3D laptops on deck, no active shutters required originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nah, that’s not us yelling to dig deeper into oceanic unknowns — it’s a megaphone originating from Dell’s campus in Round Rock. As the story goes, Dell’s “oil and gas” consumers have been clamoring for more system memory on their mobile workstations, with the revamped Precision M6500 — which allows them to “review larger slices of the earth to find oil, enabling faster and more accurate drilling to find oil and gas reserves.” We say all that to mention the 32GB of system RAM that’s now shipping on fully loaded M6500s, but with four RAM slots, that’s not as difficult to accomplish as you might expect. Still, having 32GB in a single laptop is a rare sight these days, and if you aren’t into coughing up a fistful of Benjamins for that, Dell’s Precision M4500 is now available with 16GB of memory. You know, for running Maya with less lag… or something.

Dell ships Precision M6500 laptop with 32GB of RAM: drill, baby, drill originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Max, who seems to be putting his old scattered life behind him in an attempt to get organized. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

“I am a student looking for a second portable computer for taking notes in lectures, as I am ridiculously unorganized at the moment. The thing is, I only have a very small budget, and I need a tablet / touchscreen computer. I have at most £150 ($228) to spend.”

Max isn’t even opposed to buying second-hand, but we just know someone out there has a delightful option on the new market as well. Don’t bother putting off your answer in comments below — that Fall semester is just about the bend, you know?

Ask Engadget: best note-taking tablet / laptop for under $200? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Getac’s long-standing V100 has never been a thing of beauty, but you’d think it may get a little easier on the eyes over the years, wouldn’t you? Regrettably, we’re still left looking at a fairly industrial little machine, but at least the improved innards make it that much easier to focus on the Device Manager rather than, well… the device itself. Boasting a 10.4-inch sunlight viewable display, 320GB shock-mounted HDD and an 83-key waterproof backlit rubber keyboard, the revamped V100 is ready to chew through all sorts of computations while laying low from jungle cats and pools of quicksand. The 1.2GHz Core i7 within is the real standout, and it’s joined by a multitouch-capable LCD, 2 megapixel webcam, SD card reader, inbuilt Bluetooth, optional 3G and a GPS system. There’s no telling how much this five pounder will set you back, but we’re guessing it’ll run somewhere between “way up there” and “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Continue reading Getac tosses 1.2GHz Core i7 into ultra-rugged V100 convertible laptop, drops it from atop ugly tree

Getac tosses 1.2GHz Core i7 into ultra-rugged V100 convertible laptop, drops it from atop ugly tree originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dealing with warranties is one thing — it’s almost always a crap-shoot, and you’re continually pressing your luck when trying to get something covered without any out-of-pocket expense. But how’s about the tech support that’s so whimsically promised with so many laptops these days? Our pals over at Laptop put in an inordinate amount of work in order to find out, pinging a full dozen manufacturers via phone and chat in order to measure hold time, level of support offered and overall satisfaction. Just about every major laptop maker was included (Acer, Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba and Fujitsu, just to name a few), and an in-depth report of their findings was posted for each one. In general, though, they found that most companies wouldn’t hang around long enough to answer those nagging questions that typically end up in forums (“How do I remove bloatware?”), oftentimes pointing the caller to a paid alternative that would actually take the time to address their issues. If you’re considering a new machine, and you aren’t exactly one of those nerdy go-getters who can troubleshoot everything yourself, you should certainly give the source links below a look. Just try not to get too depressed, cool?

Laptop’s 2010 tech support showdown reveals ugly truth: you’re (almost) on your own originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 18:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Compaq_CQ62Z_speeds_past_Atom_for_380_jury_s_out_on_batter’;
We won’t lie, the last time we bought a standard Compaq was in high school — approximately eight months before the LCD hinge broke — but it’s not everyday you find a notebook for a netbook price. (Okay, it might not last as long on a charge.) This week, HP’s silently launched the Compaq CQ62Z, which comes with AMD’s new 2.2GHz V120 CPU, ATI Radeon HD 4250 graphics and a 15.6-inch LED-backlit display at a legitimately fantastic $380. 2GB of RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, a 250GB hard drive, DVD burner and a 6-cell battery round out the package, and you can grab a dual-core processor for a few ten-spots more. Personally, we’re still hesitant, but it’s been years now… forgive and forget, right?

Compaq CQ62Z speeds past Atom for $380, jury’s out on battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Jun 2010 23:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS has been attaching bamboo to its laptops for some time now, but it was only ever really for show — though the wood itself was certainly biodegradable, adding veneer isn’t exactly the greenest statement in the world. This year, however, the company’s Bamboo Collection will be completely slightly more recyclable. With Core i5-450M processors, they should be reasonably good performers as well, and NVIDIA Optimus switchable graphics technology gives them a factory-estimated (read: unlikely) 11 hours of battery life. The panda fodder cases will be found in Taiwan for around $40,000 NTD (approximately $1,300) next month, though US availability is yet to be announced. Check out the gigantic ASUS PDF for additional specs while you wait, and feel free to blow Ma Earth kisses all the while.

Update: Our friends at Engadget Chinese inform us the new U series laptops aren’t 100 percent recyclable after all; they still have a sizable plastic substrate underneath those thicker bamboo panels. It seems ASUS still hasn’t managed to shake its wooden façade. Get specs and first-hand pics from the event at our more coverage link.

ASUS Bamboo Collection laptops: now with Taiwanese pricing, more bamboo (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 22:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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