Computer
Ritorno dall’Irlanda…e tante news…
22 Ago
L’altra sera sono tornato a casa dopo questo bel viaggio nella verde e fredda Irlanda. In questo post vi riassumerò un po’ tutto ciò che è successo negli ultimi giorni.
Dell interrompe la produzione dei notebook Adamo
11 Feb
Dell ha ufficialmente interrotto la produzione di Adamo, i portatili destinati ad essere l’alternativa ai portatili Apple. Nell’intento dell’azienda statunitense, i computer Adamo avrebbero dovuto concorrere proprio nel settore in cui i MacBook Air si sono dimostrati i migliori, e per questo aveva puntato ad un design particolarmente efficace ed una configurazione hardware competitiva.
Sotto un involucro di alluminio, Dell aveva inserito nei modelli Adamo dischi a stato solido e processori a basso consumo Intel Core 2 Duo. Sembra, però, che il prezzo elevato, circa 2.000 dollari, abbia condizionato le vendite di questo modello, lanciato a marzo 2009. E probabilmente è stato un vero peccato perché, con alcuni mesi di anticipo rispetto ai tempi, il Dell Adamo presentava caratteristiche decisamente avanzate nel proprio concept: uno schermo da 13.4 pollici capace di una risoluzione di 1.366 x 768 pixel, la disponibilità di uno slot per SIM, quando ancora questa possibilità era solo nei progetti di un tablet o di uno smartphone. Non sono bastati gli sconti che hanno portato Dell ad abbassare il prezzo di Adamo fino a 799 dollari pur di vendere gli ultimi modelli. Dell ha infine interrotto la produzione anche dell’Adamo XPS, dello spessore di soli 0.39 pollici.
L’azienda utilizzerà il design nei prossimi mesi, riciclandone l’idea per nuovi modelli e nuovi device. Bisogna ricordare che era l’unica alternativa al MacBook Air…
Technology and Hack
Seagate updates portable hard drive storage to 1.5TB
21 Set
Seagate has upped the portable drive ante again with their new 1.5TB FreeAgent GoFlex. The new drive comes with their GoFlex interface connected through a USB 3.0 (which is also 2.0 compatible). Though that won’t be of much use to Mac users at the moment (maybe in October?), the size will turn some heads. It is 50% bigger than any other portable hard drive.
If you are like us, you are wondering if you can pull this thing out of its case and plop it in your MacBook Pro. The good news is that Seagate’s Go Flex interface is just a snap on for a SATA connection and will work with any standard SATA drive. It also means that you can pull these drives out of their case and use them as internal drives. But this one looks pretty thick.
I’ve contacted Seagate who’ve given me the dimensions of the external enclosure which are:
4.71in L x 3.51in W x 0.87in D (120mm x 89mm x 22mm), Weight: 0.62lb (0.28kg)
That doesn’t bode well for its abilities to go internal because the maximum thickness of a MacBook Pro internal drive is 12.5mm.
Still. Nice to have a 1.5TB portable, USB 3.0-capable drive. List price however is a hefty $249.
Press release follows:
SEAGATE INTRODUCES INDUSTRY’S FIRST 1.5TB PORTABLE EXTERNAL DRIVE
New FreeAgent® GoFlex™ Ultra-Portable External Drive Packs a Punch with Pre-loaded Paramount Pictures Films, Unprecedented Amount of Storage and BlazinglyFast USB 3.0 Connection
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – September 21, 2010 – Designed to address the explosive worldwide demand for digital storage, Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today launched the world’s first 1.5 terabyte (TB) 2.5-inch portable external drive. Available immediately, the new 1.5TB FreeAgent® GoFlex™ ultra-portable drive delivers an all-in-one, technically advanced solution to help jump-start, build, store and enjoy libraries of digital content in one’s preferred medium-whether on a Mac or PC, or a television, at home or on the go. With 1.5TB of capacity people can now store and carry up to 60 HD movies, 750 video games, thousands of photos or tens of thousands hours of digital music.
“Today’s announcement is a ‘triple-crown’ of consumer technology-packaging record breaking capacity, blazingly fast USB 3.0 connectivity and the bonus of major motion picture entertainment-making the 1.5TB GoFlex™ ultra-portable drive an unprecedented and innovative solution,” said Darcy Clarkson, vice president of Global Retail Sales and Marketing for Seagate. “Bringing this solution to market on the heels of our 3TB GoFlex™ Desk drive and the Momentus® XT solid state hybrid drive is proof of Seagate’s continuing technology leadership and tradition of setting storage industry milestones.”
Shipping now in the United States and rolling out globally later this year, all 1.5TB GoFlex ultra-portable drives will ship with a USB 3.0 interface cable, accelerating the transfer speed of a drive up to 10x when connected to a USB 3.0 port, when compared to a USB 2.0 port. For example, a drive using a USB 3.0 connection can transfer a 25GB HD movie in under five minutes versus the 14 minutes it would take using a traditional USB 2.0 drive . In
addition, all GoFlex ultra portable drives will now also ship with the new superspeed USB 3.0 cable, which will still continue to work with existing USB 2.0 ports.
“Consumers continue to push the growth of digital music, photos, and video content, and increasingly want access to this content from a variety of CE devices, including a PC,” says John Rydning, IDC’s research director for hard disk drives. “Higher capacity disk drives in combination with higher bandwidth interfaces like USB 3.0 will help to make a greater number of large multimedia files more accessible from multiple devices in the home.”
A key addition to the GoFlex™ family, the new 1.5TB GoFlex ultra-portable drive delivers ultimate flexibility in how people collect, protect, share and enjoy their digital libraries, all in a convenient compact package. In addition to coming bundled with USB 3.0 connectivity, the drive can be used with an array of add-on cables and accessories such as the GoFlex™ Net media sharing device and the GoFlex™ TV HD media player, that provide the flexibility to enjoy your content on a TV, a network, using a mobile device, or via the Internet.
Continuing the special offer with Paramount Digital Entertainment, a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), specially-marked packages of the new 1.5TB and the 1TB GoFlex ultra-portable drives will contain Paramount Pictures’ popular film, Star Trek (2009), which can be activated free of charge. Each drive will also contain an assortment of 20 Paramount Pictures movies that can be easily and securely unlocked by purchasing a license key online. The films will be licensed for multiple devices to allow for portability and enjoyment on a Windows® OS desktop computer, laptop computer, or widescreen television, by connecting the drive to one of the two available USB ports on a GoFlex TV HD media player . Paramount content will also be added to additional capacities of the GoFlex Pro ultra-portable drive in October.
All 1.5TB GoFlex ultra-portable drives are compatible with both the Windows® operating system and Mac® OS X computers. Each drive includes an NTFS driver for Mac, which allows the hard drive to store and access files from both Windows and Mac OS X computers without reformatting. The NTFS driver is simply installed once on the Mac® OS X computer, allowing it to read and write files on a Windows formatted drive.
The 1.5TB GoFlex ultra-portable drive with USB 3.0 adapter is available in black and can be purchased on Seagate.com and through select retailers for $249.99.
Tech&Hack
ASUS Eee PC 1215N review
31 Ago
About nine months ago ASUS released its 12.1-inch Eee PC 1201N to much fanfare. It was the first "netbook" to pack NVIDIA’s Ion platform and a desktop-class Atom processor. Translation: it absolutely wrecked regular netbooks (and even other Ion netbooks) on the graphics and performance battlefield. Indeed, the 1201N blurred the lines between netbook and regular laptop, but we ultimately knocked it fairly hard for not lasting longer than 2.5 hours on a charge — it was dubbed a "netbook" of course.
Our apologies for the brief history lesson, but it’s actually quite important in understanding why ASUS’ second generation of the 1201N is such a big deal. The 1215N has a Pine Trail 1.8GHz dual-core Atom D525 processor and NVIDIA’s Ion 2 with Optimus, which no longer requires the GPU to be running the entire time and saves battery power. The $500 rig (though we’re seeing it on sale for as much as $599) is still on the pricey side for a "netbook," but promises 1080p playback, seven hours of battery life and a 250GB hard drive. So, does the 1215N correct all the wrongs of the 1201N and live up to the "netbook powerhouse" title that ASUS has given it? And more importantly can it compete with some of the newer thin and light laptops, like the Dell Inspiron M101z? We found out, and we’re assuming you want to as well in our full review after the break.
Look and feel
The 1215N doesn’t look all that much different than the 1201N, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially since ASUS tossed the glossy black lid for one a matte, rubbery-feeling one. It’s no bamboo, but it’s nice enough for a $500 system, that’s for sure. Still, there are left over trails of glossy plastic — the screen bezel and keyboard deck still shine, while the palmrest is made of the same soft matte plastic as the lid. Just like the Eee PC 1018P, the laptop has a more professional look than other netbooks, and the rounded edges give it a familiar aesthetic.
We’re quite content with the look of the 1215N, but the size is a bit of another story. The 1.4-inch thick system is nowhere near as svelte as the .7-inch Eee PC 1018P, and though ASUS claims it weighs 3.2 pounds it felt heavier in hand than the 11.6-inch Dell Inspiron M101z and Acer Aspire One 721. We’re not saying the laptop is too heavy to carry with one hand or fit in a smaller shoulder bag, it’s just a bit chunkier and heavier than we expected it to be. Of course, that means there’s more room around the system for the ports; there are three USB 2.0 ports along with VGA, HDMI, mic, headphone and Ethernet jacks. The US version of the 1215N does not have a USB 3.0 port, though other SKUs overseas will have the higher speed jack.
Keyboard, touchpad and screen
We realize the 1215N’s chiclet keyboard is the same as the one on the 1201N and the most recent Eee PCs, but the matte keys seem "clickier" than those on the other laptops. Additionally there’s just a significant amount of flex to the whole panel. While typing this review we noticed the entire panel caving in at times — it’s not pretty and we’ve seen much better quality ASUS keyboards, like that on the U33Jc. There’s no questioning that we prefer the chiclet keyboard on the M101z.
We have much kinder words about the 3.5 x 2.2-inch touchpad. Besides being quite wide, the plastic is soft to the touch – no, really, your finger will thank you for the nice feeling surface. As usual, the multitouch was a bit sensitive; two finger scrolling was fairly accurate, but we disabled the pinch-to-zoom setting since we kept mistakenly zooming when we just wanted to get to the bottom of a web page.
It’s probably no surprise that we’re not the biggest fans of the viewing angles on the 12.1-inch, 1,366 x 768-resolution display. Besides being extremely glossy, sitting to the side of the screen caused severe color distortion. Vertical angles were a bit better, but required us to tilt the screen to about 90 degrees when we wanted to sit back and watch the Scott Pilgrim trailer without causing Michael Cera’s eyes to blend in with the rest of his face. Despite the viewing angles, the screen was sufficiently bright and a 1080p trailer at full screen was a very detailed. The speakers under the front lip of the machine actually sounded quite loud for a 11.6-inch and 12.1-inch laptop. Similar to the Inspiron M101z, they sounded full when listening to Ra Ra Riot’s newest album in iTunes.
Performance, graphics and battery life
Although Intel’s just released its first dual-core Atom processor for netbooks, the 1215N was slated before the new chip arrived so it’s powered by a desktop-grade 1.8GHz Atom D525 CPU and 2GB of RAM. And unlike most netbooks, it runs Windows 7 Home Premium – see why we’re of the mind that this thing is more a thin and light laptop or ultraportable than a netbook? Regardless, the extra processor horsepower is noticeable in everyday performance. The 1215N just felt speedier when opening applications and didn’t huff and puff to play a 720p video while simultaneously running Chrome with a handful of tabs open, Microsoft Word, Tweetdeck and Trillian.
Obviously, that bit of high definition video muscle comes from NVIDIA’s second generation Ionplatform. We’ve been told that NVIDIA’s actually using its lower-end GeForce G210 GPU, but on the laptop it appears as just "Ion." Regardless, the 1.2GHz, 16-core GPU gives Atom some serious graphics power. Before we compare it to the other platforms out there, we can tell you the GPU fired up – thanks to NVIDIA’s Optimus – when playing back a 1080p YouTube clip and output some really smooth picture when we hooked the laptop up to our 40-inch HDTV. But beyond local and streaming HD content, the GPU is capable of handling some games as well. At the native resolution, our World of Warcraft gnome was prancing about the magical forest at a steady 26 frames per second. Comparatively, as you’ll see in the chart below, NVIDIA’s Ion 2 provided about double the performance of the previous generation and even ATI’s Mobility Radeon 4225 graphics. Still, it should be noted that ATI’s platform is perfectly capable of full HD playback.
So, does all that extra performance power impact the battery life? Well, the good news is that NVIDIA’s Optimus has absolutely helped in that area, and when the GPU is off the battery life is pretty impressive. On our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video at 65 percent brightness, the six-cell 56Wh battery pushed out nearly six hours of juice – five hours and 42 minutes to be exact. That’s more than double the run time of the 1201N! With the GPU on we got 2:45 hours. Still, that’s significantly better than any of the AMD Nile systems we’ve tested lately and just as long as some single-core netbooks. We suspect that the new N550 processor will allow a system like this to get a bit more juice, but we’ve yet to test the processor performance yet.
Software
Like a lot of the recent ASUS machines we’ve looked at, the 1215N comes jam packed with proprietary software and some other stuff, including a shortcut to Bonigo’s WiFi service. Along with ASUS’ typical EeeDock, which is locked to the top of the screen, the machine comes with ASUS’ Splendid photo editing software and some new Locale program that seems to want to locate where you are using Bing maps, but didn’t seem to pinpoint our top-secret whereabouts. Also, it will boot into the ExpressGate instant-on OS by pressing the small button located on top of the keyboard.
Wrap-up
Without a doubt, the Eee PC 1215N is a major step up from the preceding 1201N. The graphics performance is significantly better and the battery life is double what it was before. But even beyond that, its Intel Atom / Ion 2 combo seems to top some of the recent AMD Nile-powered ultrathins or netbooks we’ve seen lately in both of those key areas. That said, we actually happen to prefer the dual-core AMD K325-powered Dell Inspiron M101z in terms of overall build quality to the 1215N — the manufacturing quality just feels sturdier and the keyboard is miles better than the one ASUS is using. But if you’re the type that cherishes graphics performance and battery life over hardware feel then the ASUS Eee PC 1215N is your best bet right now for a affordable ultraportable or premium netbook under $500.
Tech&Hack
Dell Inspiron M101z review
5 Ago
We’ve been having a hard time figuring out what to call the recent influx of 11.6-inch laptops — you know, the ones which are slightly larger and more expensive than netbooks, yet pack more than double the graphics and performance power. But regardless of what we call them – we’re thinking notbooks — the new category certainly has been building steam by the day, and we can’t help but think Dell’s new Inspiron M101z could be our favorite yet. Yes, unfortunately, our review unit was adorned in that bright pink color above that’s most likely causing your eyes to tear, but don’t let its sissy exterior fool you — it’s powered by AMD’s new dual-core Athlon Neo II processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Yep, she’s a heartbreaker on paper, but hit the break to find out if the $579 M101z is in fact a worthy companion.
Look and feel
For whatever reason, Dell sent us the "Promise Pink" version of the M101z. While it’s nice that some of the proceeds of the particular model go to the Susan Komen Foundation for breast cancer research, the almost florescent color and matching swirly pink pattern that finds its way onto the palmrest just wasn’t our thing. We tried to call Molly Ringwald and pawn it off on her, but we just couldn’t get in touch. We could make pink laptop jokes all day, but more importantly, in usual Dell fashion it’s available in three other colors: black, red and blue.
The wedge-like or doorstop chassis design of the M101z is very similar to that of the new Inspiron 14R and the Mini 10. It’s thicker than most laptops, but that’s because Dell has integrated the battery into the design so it doesn’t bulge from the back. It’s an interesting move, but it does result in making the rear of the system measure 1.5 inches thick; the 11.6-inch Acer Aspire 721 and Lenovo IdeaPad U160 are .4 inches thinner. Still, at 3.4 pounds it’s not too large of a burden, and it was easy enough to pop into a purse (that’s where a pink laptop belongs, right?). One of the first things we did notice about the M101z was its solid build quality. While it’s made of plastic, it feels noticeably stronger and more durable than the aforementioned Acer Aspire 721. Surrounding the machine are three USB ports, an SD card reader, HDMI, Ethernet, VGA, microphone and headphone jacks. There’s a port for a TV tuner, but Dell actually tells us the unit won’t be sold with this option.
Keyboard, touchpad and screen
In the past we’ve knocked Dell’s keyboard and touchpad designs, but the M101z changes that tradition. Like every other laptop manufacturer, Dell shifted over to a chiclet style keyboard, and the rounded, black matte keys provided a very comfortable home for our fingers. There’s no flex to the panel and the deck was incredibly roomy for a machine of this size.
We’re thinking of treating the Dell employee responsible for the touchpad on the M101z to a steak dinner since it doesn’t have the very uncomfortable and flaky integrated mouse button setup like the Mini 10. The smooth, silver pad is flush with the palmrest, but the material isn’t too slippery and navigating was a pleasant experience. The right and left mouse buttons are ever so mushy, but still comfortable. Also, two-finger scrolling was extremely responsive in Firefox, but pinch-to-zoom was disabled out of the box — we can’t say we were all that tempted to enable it.
Dell’s placed the 11.6-inch display on top of the keyboard, and claims the hinge design brings the screen "closer to you." It’s nice to have the screen propped up a bit, but it means not being able to tilt the screen beyond a 120 degree angle. The glossy, 1,366 x 768-resolution screen itself is bright, and vertical viewing angles were decent when sharing the screen with a friend. On the other hand, horizontal angles weren’t as good, and standing back from the screen caused a bit of color distortion. Firing up La Roux’s "Bulletproof" in iTunes had us surprisingly impressed with the two speakers located on the bottom of the laptop. We could hear the song from across a large room with volume at 50 percent. Dell said it hadmade some enhancements to the audio, so whatever the company did, it paid off.
Performance and battery life
For the first time in a long time Dell’s using AMD parts, and the performance is impressive. Though Dell will offer a $449 version of the M101z with a single-core AMD Althon II Neo K125 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB, 5,400rpm hard drive, we were sent the higher-end $579 model that boasts a dual-core Athon II K325 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 7,200rpm hard drive. Sure, for $579 you can get faster and larger mainstream laptops, but the M101z is a fast little laptop. The dual-core processor obviously bested the single core version on the benchmarks, but it also felt snappier in everyday use. It kept up with our heavy Firefox use, writing in Microsoft Word, and chatting in Digsby. It also managed to stream a 1080p video amidst that all — even after days of rest, no Atom processor can attempt such a feat.
The lovely 1080p video playback also has ATI’s Mobility Radeon 4225 graphics to thank. The integrated solution not only performs better than the Lenovo IdeaPad U160’s Core i7 / Intel GMA 950 graphics, but also tops some with NVIDIA’s last generation Ion platform. Along with those loud speakers, watching Katie Perry and Snoop’s "California Gurls" music video was eye-pleasing. It played just as well when we hooked up the laptop to a 40-inch HDTV via HDMI. Even when streaming that HD YouTube video, the chassis remained relatively cool – the left fan was working pretty hard, but at no point did our lap get overly hot.
While AMD’s improved the thermals, we still can’t say we’re thrilled with the battery life of the new platform. The 56Wh six-cell battery lasted for 3 hours and 35 minutes on our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition movie with brightness adjusted to 65 percent. In normal usage – surfing the web and listening to music – we got close to four hours and 15 minutes of endurance. That’s longer than Lenovo’s Core i7-powered U160 and in line with what we saw from the Aspire One 721, but it’s still not great for any ultraportable laptop. We’re still waiting on a mobile platform that provides an all around great blend of graphics, performance and endurance.
Software
The M101z boots a completely barren Windows 7 Home Premium desktop. However, a few seconds later it loads Dell’s dock loads with shortcuts to Internet Explorer and other preloaded Microsoft and third-party applications. Other than that, the preloaded software is really limited to Skype, Cozio and Syncables.
Wrap-up
It took us a while to look beyond the M101z’s pink shell, but when we did we came to really like the little guy. Er, girl. Of all the 11.6-inch machines we’ve reviewed lately, it provides the best combination of build quality, performance and graphics capabilities for the price. (We should note, a similarly configured HP Pavilion dm1 costs about $100 less, but we haven’t reviewed it yet). Sure, it’s a bit thicker than the others (and we still can’t help but be disappointed by AMD’s power-thirsty platforms), but if you can deal with only four or so hours of juice, then the M101z won’t disappoint those looking for a… well, we still don’t know what to call the category.
Tech&Hack
Onkyo DX1007A5B dualscreen netbook preview
6 Giu
We’ve known about Onkyo’s DX dual-screened netbook for quite awhile, but it’s another thing entirely to see it extend its two 10-inch screens in person. On display at the Microsoft booth here at Computex, the Onkyo is still a rebadge of the Konjinsha DZ that we saw at CEATAC last year, but has a 1,366 × 768-resolution display rather than the Konjinsha’s 1,024 x 600. In our short hands-on time we found the screens to extend smoothly, but the hinge did feel a bit weak, though that could very likely be the result of being used and abused on the show floor. We were able to drag windows to the second monitor without a problem, so if you were concerned that the learning curve would be too steep, fret not. The most interesting thing about the netbook is that it turns into a handheld device of sorts — when you pull the screens back in, you can flip it around and hold it up. For some odd reason it doesn’t have a touchscreen, so you have to use an optical mouse on the side to navigate within Windows 7. If anything, the DX needs an internal upgrade since it still packs a first generation AMD Neo processor, but we’re sure that’ll come in time. See it all for yourself in the video after the break.
Tech&Hack
Acer Aspire One D250, il primo netbook con Windows 7
15 Ott
Sarà l’Acer Aspire One D250 il primo netbookad arrivare in commercio con il nuovo sistema operativo di Microsoft, ovvero Windows 7, preinstallato direttamente in fabbrica.
Il nuovo prodotto uscirà nei negozi giapponesi (non si conoscono ancora i dettagli relativi alla distribuzione nel “Vecchio Continente”) proprio il 22 ottobre, ovvero lo stesso giorno in cui partirà la commercializzazione in tutto il mondo di Windows 7.
Non sarà certo stata scelta a caso la data di lancio, in questo modo infatti Acer si è assicurata un piccolo e simbolico “primato”, nulla di particolare certamente, ma un modo come un altro per far parlare un po’ del proprio prodotto.
Un prodotto che arriva sul mercato con una dotazione che contempla, tra le altre dotazioni, un display da 10,1 pollici con risoluzione di 1.280×720 pixel, un processore Intel Atom N280 funzionante ad una frequenza di 1,66 GHz e un disco fisso da 160 GB.
Acer afferma inoltre che l’autonomia sarà di ben tre ore e mezzo, con la possibilità di arrivare fino a sette ore e mezzo in caso di utilizzo della batteria maggiorata, presente tra gli optional per i clienti che vorranno acquistare l’Aspire One D250.
A seguire verranno poi proposti nuovi prodotti della serie Aspire Timeline, sempre con Windows 7 preinstallato, ma sicuramente nelle prossime settimane saranno anche altri i produttori che lanceranno delle novità sulla scia dell’interesse per il lancio del nuovo sistema operativo di Microsoft.