MSI has rolled out two new portable PCs today, branch of the company's wide-ranging line of ECO Engine gaming laptops. The new G-series laptops dubbed GX623 and GX633 both provide a 15.4-inch display, ECO functionality with 5 different modes (Gaming mode, Movie mode, Presentation mode, Office mode, Turbo Drive mode), stylish looks, and backlit W/A/S/D keyboard buttons. The two machines recognise up to 4 GB of DDR2 RAM, up to half a terrabyte of storage and can utilize either a DVD writer or a Blu-Ray drive. What makes the two models different is the platform they are using. Model GX623 features the latest Intel Centrino 2 platform, which uses variety of Intel Core 2 Duo processors, Intel PM45 Express chipset, and mobile ATI Radeon HD4670 graphics with 512 MB DDR3 RAM. The second laptop, GX633 uses the newest AMD Turion X2 Ultra dual-core mobile processors, NVIDIA MCP77 chipset and NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M video with 512 MB DDR3 memory. Extra traits of the two laptops comprise two HD Audio speakers, wireless 802.11 b/g/n and optional Bluetooth module, 10/100/1000 Ethernet, 2x USB ports, D-Sub port, a 2 MP webcam and offer choices of 6-cell or 9-cell battery packs. Expect MSI GX623 and GX633 to arrive very soon.

Last Friday, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) organization announced that it is leaving Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as main processor partner in favour of VIA Technologies. This is a step that will lower the price of OLPC's laptop further. From this point on VIA's C7-M processor instead of AMD's Geode will power OLPC's XO-1 laptops. The processor will be a VIA C7-M, with plans on using one whose clock speed ranges from 400 MHz (1.5 W) to 1 GHz (5 W). The clock may be throttled back automatically if necessary to meet thermal constraints. Gen 1.5 XO-1 laptop will come with the VIA VX855 all-in-one chipset solution, as well as with an updated HD Audio sound. The upgraded XO laptops will also include 1 GB of RAM and between 4 GB and 8 GB of storage, which is considerably more than the currently existing XO systems with 256 MB RAM and 1 GB of storage. There are two more changes being made, the network interface will be upgraded to an 88W8686 with wake-up functions, which halves the power consumption of current XO-1 network adapter, and a new OLPC OS 8.2.x will be installed to support all the hardware variations. Overall, the Gen 1.5 XO-1 laptop will remain the same from the outside - same display, same form, same power consumption, probably the same price - but come with upgraded internals.
Early versions of the hardware (bare board) should be available for driver development at the end of May. A larger number of prototype laptops (several hundred) for software development and testing will become available around the end of August. It's unclear when children will get their hands on the final product, though.

Micro Star International (MSI) has just introduced its latest notebook, the 14-inch GX403 small gaming laptop. Designed to be thin, light, power efficient, and affordable, the MSI GX403 features 14.1-inch 16:10 aspect ratio screen with a 1280x800 WXGA resolution. Available only with one screen size, the MSI GX403 will feature yet unspecified gamma of Intel Core 2 Duo processors paired with Intel's PM45 Express Chipset. Built-in NVIDIA Geforce GT 130M 3D graphic card with 512 MB DDR3, 4 GB DDR2 RAM (2x2048 MB), up to a 500 GB SATA hard drive, and a choice of either a DVD or a Blu-Ray optical drive round out the specifications. The new laptop also comes with a 4-in-1 card reader, 10/100/1000 LAN card, WiFi, Bluetooth (optional), a 1.3 MP camera and a 6- or 9-cell battery. The GX403 is expected to hit retail shelves in the near future.

It looks like NVIDIA's attempts to let Tegra make it to bigger platforms are beginning to bear fruit. LaptopMag got its hands on one of the first mini-notebooks based on Tegra, a fully-integrated computing architecture that focuses on making more powerful and visual portable computing devices possible. The Tegra CPU core is based on the ARM11 architecture, working along with NVIDIA's own graphics processing, and system controlling technologies.

The model in use with the mini-notebook is Tegra 650, which runs at 750 MHz (core clock speed), supports hardware HD video decoding, an S-Video out, and USB. It supports DDR memory running at 200 MHz, and an IDE channel for a sold-state drive for primary storage. Apart from the IDE interface, Tegra has its own NAND-flash controller so small amounts of flash memory (up to 8 GB) could be embedded onto the main PCB. The mini-notebook features an OS that lets the user achieve all the tasks one would ask from this 90~200 Dollar mini-notebook. Windows CE and Linux are the likely candidates. The screenshot below is that of the Windows CE-based prototype that takes advantage of the 3D processing power of the core. Also pictured is the prototype system board by NVIDIA.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Monday began offering as an accessory to its consumer laptops batteries that can hold their capacity for up to three years. The new batteries are the work of Boston-Power, and use updated lithium-ion technology that is said to be better than other similar solutions. Boston-Power's Sonata battery will be available as optional choice for 18 existing notebook models representing approximately 70 percent of HP's consumer notebook PC portfolio. Boston-Power claims its batteries won't give up their capacity for three years, that's roughly three times longer than most other notebook batteries offered to date. In addition, the Sonata accumulators can recharge faster, reaching 80% of capacity in 30 minutes. Lastly, HP will give a three year warranty for each Sonata battery. Available now at HP, the $149.99 accessory Sonata battery fits models in the HP Pavilion, HP HDX, Compaq Presario and HP G series. A complete list of compatible individual models is available here. More information on the battery itself can also be found on Boston-Power's site here.

Eurocom, the world's leading developer of highly personalized, high-performance notebook PCs and energy efficient All-in-One PCs, recently introduced the EUROCOM D901C PHANTOM-i7 Mobile Workstation/Server powered by Intel's newest line of Quad Core and XEON LGA1366 processors. EUROCOM PHANTOM-i7 provides workstation and server-caliber capabilities with 1.5 Terabytes of storage with three physical SATA-300 hard drives in RAID 0/1/5, super-powerful 3.2 GHz Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition I7-965; 3.2 GHz XEON X5580 processors running at 2x 6.4 GT/sec bus speed or 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7 Processor I-940 running at 4.8 GT/sec with 8 MB L3 cache, Gigabit Ethernet port on-board, HDMI, eSATA, DVI ports, with a 17" WUXGA LCD display and full size keyboard.
Featuring workstation-class or server-class Intel Core i7 or Xeon Processor and up to 16 GB of DDR3-1366 memory, the D900F PHANTOM-i7 also features the largest storage capacity on the market today - a whopping 1.5 TB with RAID 0/1/5 - making it the perfect mobile workstation or server laptop for users who demand extra-large capacity storage and reliability for true portable server / workstation experience.

MSI Computer is excited to announce GT725 - the world's first gaming notebook with ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB video card. The GT725 weighs just over seven pounds and comes outfitted with a 2.53 GHz Intel 45nm Penryn P9500 (6 MB L2 cache) CPU, 4 GB of DDR2 memory, a Blu-ray player and a 17-inch 1080P HD LCD display. "GT725 is our flagship gaming notebook," said Andy Tung, Vice President of Sales, MSI US. By the time the laptop was released, our friends over at HEXUS.net have already posted a very well written review here. If you need any additional information about MSI's latest desktop-replacing notebook, I believe it will be somewhere in the review.

Spire introduces PacificBreeze II universal notebook cooler. The universally compatible PacificBreeze II is designed for multiple application and comfort. The top aluminum surface works like a heat sink and enables fast heat dissipation, it also provides a sophisticated look. The gentle slope improves typing comfort, raises the laptop screen and reduces neck strain. The PacificBreeze accommodates laptop performance, comfort and is affordable. Trust the brand with the industry experience and 3-year warranty, Spire - Powered by Innovation.

MCE Technologies announced on Monday that it has prepared a little something for the owners of "unibody" MacBook and MacBook Pro systems. MCE offers to replace the optical disk drive of your unibody Mac with a hard drive, providing you with increased internal storage capacity, RAID performance or additional reliability if you mirror the two hard drives. The OptiBay upgrade starts at $190 and offers to install 250 GB/5400 RPM, 320 GB/5400 RPM, 320 GB/7200 RPM or 500 GB/5400 RPM SATA hard drives. MCE also offers an external drive enclosure kit for the "SuperDrive" optical drive that's removed by the second hard drive, so you can have the goods from both worlds.

In an attempt to empower millions of students across the country, Indian Government agencies have formulated plans to release a laptop at prices that equal that of a trip to a pizzeria in the west. Under a Government-sponsored scheme that runs parallel to the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) global initiative, the administration sought to implement this scheme to make the computer up to 10 times more affordable than an OLPC. The Government believes that the hidden costs involved in deploying laptops under the OLPC scheme make it still inaccessible to the larger student population, and that much better hardware could be provided at its cost.

The first thing that comes to your mind would probably be the kind of hardware that would make such a cheap laptop. Earliest data trickling in about the specifications indicates each laptop to have about 2 GB of memory, and support wireless networking. We will attempt to find out more about the hardware in the days to come. The Indian Government has reportedly spent close to US $1.5 billion on developing this concept and researching solutions to make this notebook durable and worthy of deployment to the most remote rural areas, that suffer power-outages and voltage fluctuations. Higher Education Secretary R.P. Agrawal said last week that it would be available within six months. The public education scheme governing the deployment of these laptops was flagged off today, in the southern-Indian city of Tirupati. The laptop will be available to students on a priority basis, and will later reach mass-retail channels in the country.

Phoenix Technologies Ltd., the leader in PC 3.0 products, services and embedded technologies, today announced a partnership with ASUS to accelerate the adoption of its award-winning HyperSpace product by consumers worldwide. HyperSpace is a revolutionary new instant-on and always-connected application environment that makes operating a mobile PC as easy and efficient as operating a cell phone.

Based on the partnership agreement, ASUS will incorporate HyperSpace into its next generation notebooks. With HyperSpace-installed notebooks, users can instantly launch important web-based applications (before Windows ever boots), automatically connect to the best available network, dramatically extend battery life and achieve new levels of uptime and security protection. HyperSpace is available for download at hyperspace.com

Toshiba is taking gaming on the go one step further with the unveiling of its Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725 laptop. A technically advanced multimedia platform for the gaming and entertainment enthusiast, the Qosmio X305-Q725 blends features built for fidelity and speed, including: a 17-inch diagonal widescreen TruBrite display (1680x1050 resolution), high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX graphics 1GB GDDR3, a variety of Intel Core 2 processors including the 2GHz Core 2 Quad Q9000 quad-core CPU, 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM, premium Harman Kardon stereo speakers and much more. Qosmio X305-Q725 also includes hybrid storage option that consists of a primary 64GB solid state drive and a secondary 320GB 7200 rpm SATA HDD. The Qosmio X305-Q725 is available now at a variety of major consumer electronics and computer stores nationwide or directly at Toshiba Direct. The laptop is available in a range of configurations starting from $1,449 and going all the way up to $2,699.99.

Dell today announced the Inspiron 15 laptop, the latest addition to the Inspiron line of systems offering solid performance and smart style at a great value. The Inspiron 15 is now available in select configurations at Best Buy stores in the United States, and PC World and Curry's in the United Kingdom, with online availability through Dell.com planned for later in January. Systems start at $600.

Sony New Zealand has put up a teaser site called, "The Wait Is Over", stating, "On the 9th of January you will change the way you look at laptops. Forever". Other than a glossy Vaio logo and a link to enter a competition, for a chance to, "Win the revolutionary new VAIO", no other information is available. Could it be the world's thinnest laptop? The smallest? Or even the longest battery life? Who knows, all we can do now is speculate and wait for more information to emerge. If you want to see it for yourself, the website can be found here.
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The link is down at the moment, probably due to maintenance or update