electronics News

Dell recently launched an update to its Alienware M11x gaming ultraportable laptop. The new model has the same high performance NVIDIA graphics as the first generation 11.6 inch, 4.5 pound gaming rig. But the new models feature Core i-series processors while the original came with a choice of an Intel Pentium SU4100 or Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor.

The folks at Notebook Review recently found themselves at an event where they could check out a few of the new models, and they ran a quick benchmark to see how the new CPUs stack up against the earlier models. Not surprisingly, the laptop scored highest with the new Core i7-640UM CPU, followed by the Core i5-520UM CPU. The Intel Pentium Dual Core SU4100 processor came in last… sort of.

It turns out that if you overclock the SU4100 chip, it actually comes in second. The new chips are also overclockable though, so that point is probably moot. Notebook Review didn’t have a chance to benchmark the same computer with an SU7300 chip, but I’d be surprised if it didn’t fall somewhere between the SU4100 and Core i5-520UM processor in terms of performance.

It’s worth noting that the wPrime test run by Notebook Review is primarily a test of CPU performance. Since the new CPU options are the main differences between the newer M11x models and the older ones, that seems fair. But this particular benchmark doesn’t really tell you that much about the gaming performance of these laptops.

Check out Notebook Review for the complete breakdown on the wPrime test results.

Over the past few years we’ve seen the budget ultraportable laptop space divided largely into 10 inch netbooks, typically with Intel Atom chips, and 11.6 inch and larger notebooks, sometimes with Atom chips, but often with higher performance low power chips from Intel or AMD. But every now and again some company comes out with a baffling machine that doesn’t really fit into either category — like the E-Benton MiniNOTE.

Like many netbooks released in 2008 and 2009, this laptop has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. It has 1GB of DDR2 memory and a 120GB or 160GB hard drive.The laptop runs Windows XP and has 802.11b/g WiFi and a 1.3MP webcam.

But there’s one thing setting the E-Benton MinNOTE apart: It has an 11.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. You don’t see 11.1 inch laptops very often, but this mini-notebook could hit the sweet spot for some customers looking for something a little larger than a typical 10 inch netbook but not as large as an 11.6 inch ultraportable. The laptop measures 10.8″ x 7.1″ x 1.2″. On the other hand, the keyboard looks like it’s probably about the same size as a typical 10 inch netbook keyboard — which is to say, not quite full sized.

E-Benton is a Chinese company, and while the laptop is featured on the FCC web site, it’s not entirely clear whether you’ll actually be able to purchase this model in the US anytime soon. If it does make it to US shores, I’m guessing it will be rebranded and sold under a different name.

The Acer Aspire 1551 thin and light laptop which was introduced last month is now available for purchase. The notebook has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel HD display and a 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K325 dual core processor. It has ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

You can pick up the Acer 1551 for $495.99 from PC Mall. In Europe, it’s selling for €499 and up.

The laptop measures 11.2″ x 8″ x 1.1″ and weighs 3.1 pounds. It has a 250GB hard drive and ships with 2GB of DDR3 memory, although it supports up to 4GB. You also get a 5-in-1 memory card reader, a VGA webcam, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, VGA and HDMI output, and 3 USB ports. The Acer aspire 1551 comes with a 6 cell, 4400mAh battery.

If you live in the US, you might think that chip-maker VIA lost the netbook wars. In 2008 HP launched a 9 inch netbook with a VIA C7-M processor, and in 2009 Lenovo released a 12 inch mini-laptop with a VIA Nano processor. And that’s about it. Intel has pretty much dominated the ultraportable space with Atom and CULV chips showing up in dozens of netbooks and ultralight computers. We’re starting to see AMD make a dent in the budget mobile computer space, but VIA is nowhere to be seen… in the US.

In Asia, on the other hand, companies are continuing to pump out a number of netbooks, tablets, and other devices with VIA processors. The chip maker was showing off a number of netbooks, notebooks, and tablets sporting VIA chips at Computex this week and Sascha from Netbook News shot a video showing a few of those products, including the latest OLPC XO Laptop with a VIA chip.

You can check out the video after the break, and remind yourself that if you live in the US, you’ll probably never be able to actually purchase one of these computers. Hopefully we will start to see some of the $100 to $200 tablets VIA has been promising, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Plug an iPhone or iPod into pretty much any computer with a USB port, and you should get enough power to charge your phone or media player. Try the same thing with an iPad and your results are likely to be a bit less predictable. That’s because an iPad needs more power to charge and most older PCs ship with USB ports that simply don’t pump out enough juice.

Newer Macbooks do provide enough power to let you use your iPad while it’s charging. Most older computers will charge your iPad slowly if the screen is turned off, but if you turn on the display you’ll probably see that the tablet isn’t charging.

Up until now, it seemed like the simplest solution was to plug your iPad into a computer only when you needed to sync data — and to plug it into a wall jack when you needed to charge. But it looks like there are firmware updates that let you tweak computers with Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte motherboards so that they provide more power to USB ports — enough power to charge an iPad.

Your results may vary, and of course you may run the risk of shorting your motherboard if you don’t know what you’re doing. But if you’re willing to take that risk, you can find download links from all three motherboard manufacturers at Engadget. You can see a video of an iPad being charged from several different laptop USB ports after the break. That includes a Sony Vaio P mini-laptop which isn’t exactly a high power device.

Corning’s Gorilla Glass technology is supposed to make screens that are resistant to scratches and other everyday damage. The upcoming LG X300 mini-laptop uses Gorilla Glass, and so does the Dell Streak 5 inch Android tablet. And the folks at Engadget just happened to have a Streak prototype, so they did the only responsible thing and tried abusing the display to see what would happen.

First thing they did was attempt to stab the screen with a normal pen. And I don’t just mean tapping. I mean stabbing with some force… repeatedly. The pen didn’t leave any scratches or cracks.

Does this mean it’s safe to run a Dell Streak over with a car? No. But it does mean that it might be safe to throw the Streak in your bag without a protective cover on occasion.

Compared with traditional CRT monitors, LCD monitors to save energy and size of the main light has two major advantages. But with the emergence of LED backlight technology, which further highlights the two major advantages, in addition to lower power consumption than, many display manufacturers to further reduce the thickness and weight, the liquid crystal display of the body have been more light. Recently, the display will be a leader in Philips introduced two very thin Beyond LED display new - 191EL2, 221EL2. In fact, the second half of 2009, Philips from the first since the advent of LED displays, Philips has been working LED display R & D, promotion and popularization of the market has become the largest LED display manufacturer product model, covering 19-22 inch mainstream products, both new thin market, but also enriched the camp Philips Beyond LED display. Thin body, ultra-low power consumption, 2 million to 1 contrast ratio, ultra-high intelligence, will make these two new products in the market, business is booming.

I get why people like to disassemble laptops to see what’s inside. Because once you know that, you know whether it will be easy to upgrade the memory, storage, or other components — or install additional modules like Bluetooth, GPS, or 3G. But when it comes to tiny tablet-style devices like the Archos 7 Home Tablet, let’s be honest. There’s no way you’re going to do any serious hacking. There’s just not enough room inside.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to at least see what’s on the inside. Fortunately we don’t have to actually dissect one to find out, because the folks at nDevil have already done it for us — and they’ve posted a video to prove it.

The one thing that I did learn from the video is that the Archos 7 has an 18.5Whr battery – which could be user replaceable if you’re willing to risk opening up your system. After dissecting their unit and putting it back together, the folks at nDevil found that the Archos 7 simply didn’t work anymore.

You know how the Archos 7 Home Tablet has been up for pre-order at Amazon for a few weeks, and we were told that it would ship in June? Scratch that. It looks like you can purchase one today from the Archos Store.

The tablet has a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel resistive touchscreen display and runs Google Android 1.5. It supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi and has the hardware and software to handle 720p HD video playback. The base model has 8GB of storage space and a micro SDHC card slot that supports up to 32GB of additional storage.

The biggest drawback is that the device doesn’t ship with access to the Android Market. While you can probably install the same hacked version on the Archos 7 that works on the Archos 5, some apps from the Android Market won’t work on a non-smartphone device, and many others won’t run on the outdated Android 1.5 operating system.

Acer took an unusual step today and put out a press release to let the world know what it’s not working on. And that’s a netbook running chrome OS. Acer says it has “no short-term plans for such a product.”

Last week there was a rumor going around that Acer would show off netbooks and/or tablets running Google’s upcoming Chrome operating system at the Computex Trade show in June. But as I pointed out at the time, Chrome OS isn’t ready for prime time yet — and while it’s possible Acer or other companies could have a tech demo or two on-hand at Computex, it’s way too early for anyone to talk about releasing products based on the unfinished operating system.

Does this mean that Acer won’t ever bring a Chrome OS netbook to market? Hardly. We could still see something later this year — when Google officially launches the operating system for PC makers to load on netbooks and other devices.

Until then, you can always download and install an unofficial, pre-release copy of Chrome OS.