Toshiba UK have unveiled the company’s latest Satellite notebooks, the A500, U500, L500 and L550, with screen sizes ranging from 13.3-inches to 17.3-inches. The laptops start with the the 13.3-inch WXGA ultraportable U500, shown here, with a choice of Core 2 Duo and Pentium CPUs, up to 4GB RAM, 500GB storage and optional ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics.
Video demos after the cut
Dell have announced a new 17-inch laptop, the Inspiron 17, and while it’s unlikely to win any prizes for either appearance or power, it’s a serious budget contender if you want a big screen for a small price. Starting at $499, the Inspiron 17 has a choice of Intel Pentium Dual Core or Core 2 Duo processors, with RAM starting at 2GB and storage from 160GB.
Gaming notebook manufacturer Rock have announced two new models, the Xtreme 790 and Xtreme 840, each offering NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M 1GB graphics, Blu-ray and up to 6GB of DDR3 RAM. The Xtreme 790 has a 17-inch Full HD display, up to 1.5TB of storage via three 500GB 7,200rpm HDDs (with RAID support) and Intel Core i7 processors, via the Xtreme 840 steps up to an 18.4-inch Full HD display, Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad CPUs, and the potential for two GTX 280M GPUs.
Rugged computers generally look like a cross between the Michelin Man and some sort of inflatable life-raft, so it’s nice to see a notebook that wears its shock-resistance discretely. To be fair to the competition, the Getac 9213 is described as “business rugged”, which means while its full magnesium allow chassis and case, and shock-mounted HDD and 13.3-inch WXGA display may stand up to the occasional bump and drop, it’s not quite in Panasonic Toughbook territory.
ASUS have announced a number of new notebooks, including both Intel and AMD powered machines and with screen sizes ranging from 15.6- to 17.3-inches. Of the new models, perhaps the most interesting is this, the U50VG-XX060C, a 15-6-inch Intel Core 2 Duo T6500 2.1GHz machine with 4GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce G 105M 512MB graphics.
Of all of MSI’s X-Slim series of ultraportables, the X600 has been perhaps the most mysterious. All that looks set to change, however, as the first review units start to slip out: NewGadgets.de have acquired one, and recorded a full hands-on of the 24.5mm thick notebook together with a comparison to the X340.
Video hands-on after the cut
Acer’s plan to replace the Aspire One 751 netbook with an 11.6-inch Timeline ultraportable – which we reported last month - has apparently come to fruition with this, the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810T. According to macles, the 11.6-inch 1366 x 758 16:9 notebook swaps the AO751’s anemic Atom Z520 processor for an Intel ULV SU3500 1.4GHz CPU, up to 4GB of RAM and the Intel GS45 Express Chipset with integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics and hardware HD video decoding.
After its Japanese announcement earlier this week, it was only a matter of time until the Dell Vostro 1220 made an appearance on the company’s US site. Sure enough, the 12.1-inch 3.36lb notebook is now available to order, offering a choice of Intel Celeron 900 or Core 2 Duo processors with prices starting from $799.
Dell Japan have officially announced the Vostro 1220, the budget notebook we saw leaked earlier this month. The 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 notebook uses processors from Intel’s Centrino 2 range, together with the GM45 Express chipset, weighs 1.52kg and promises up to 9hrs runtime from the larger 6-cell battery option.
We’re over the surprise of seeing new MacBook Pro models arrive at Apple’s WWDC keynote, and on paper the new 13- and 15-inch notebooks certainly tick most of the consumer boxes. Our first-impressions – which you can find with our video unboxing – were that the new Pros have emphasized the most-used functionality at the expense of dropping some of the more marginally used features. Have those opinions changed? Check out our full review after the cut.
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