It’s been a few months since HP launched their Z400, Z600 and Z800 workstations, and we’ve finally got the company’s mid-range Z600 on the SlashGear test bench. A dual-processor monster that HP envisage being used in midrange CAD, financial modelling and even high-end DCC, the Z600 would also make for a storming video editing workstation; HP also claim it’s environmentally friendly. That’s the theory, anyway: can the Z600 really deliver performance in a home or small-office friendly way?
HP’s Winter 2009/2010 consumer device catalog has leaked, tipping a new touchscreen ultraportable together with confirming the company’s new CULV notebook and their Core i7-based desktop replacement. The HP Pavilion dv3 with TouchSmart is a 13.3-inch 1,366 x 768 notebook with a touchscreen interface, up to 500GB hard-drive, 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA GeForce G105M graphics.
FunTwist isn’t a name we’re particularly used to hearing, but the company’s latest nettop – the Fiono 330 – shares the exclusivity of being one of the few such desktops with NVIDIA’s Ion chipset inside. Quietly released in Japan last month, Netbooked picked up the compact PC and delivered a video unboxing which you can see after the cut.
Video unboxing after the cut
I would bet good money that there will be few this little tidbit will affect, but NVIDIA has apparently disabled support for PhysX processing on its GPUs when an ATI GPU is present. This would only affect users who have an NVIDIA card installed for PhysX and an ATI card for graphics.
Lenovo’s NVIDIA Ion packing nettop, the IdeaCentre Q110, has finally hit virtual shelves, with prices starting from $399. A compact 6 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches, the Q110 uses Intel’s single-core Atom 230 1.6GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard-drive and Windows Vista Home Premium 64; an upgrade to Windows 7 upon its release next month is also included in the price.
An NVIDIA executive has confirmed that the company is working with Google to produce Tegra-based Smartbooks running Google Chrome OS. Talking to jkOnTheRun’s Kevin C. Tofel, NVIDIA’s GM of mobile business Mike Rayfield revealed that the company expects to see Tegra-based smartphones using Windows Mobile and Android, while Smartbooks or netbooks would use Chrome OS or Windows CE.
ASUS have outed two new Republic of Gamers notebooks, the G60 and G71X, offering Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors respectively. The two new laptops each have NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 260M with 1GB of dedicated memory, driving a 16-inch 1,366 x 768 display in the case of the G60, and a 1,920 x 1,200 in the G71X. Both machines have Blu-ray drives, dual HDDs set up in RAID arrays (640GB total in the G60; 1TB total in the G71X) and both HDMI and eSATA ports.
ASUS have kicked out a new 12-inch netbook, the Eee PC 1201N, packing NVIDIA’s Ion graphics chipset and 2GB of RAM. The Eee PC 1201N is yet to make an official appearance on ASUS’ own site, but is currently listed with a Chinese web retailer; for your 3,504 yuan ($513) you get Intel’s Atom N270 1.6GHz processor and a 250GB 5,400rpm SATA hard-drive.
Something we’ll seldom argue with is a super-compact desktop PC with the bonus of NVIDIA’s Ion GPU, and so we’re pleased to welcome the LG XPION X30 to the nettop fray. Packing Intel’s Atom 230 1.6GHz CPU with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard-drive, the VESA-mountable XPION X30 is designed to be hidden around the back of your LCD.
We’re frankly not convinced that Vigor Gaming Computer’s Stealth NE gaming PC could avoid radar detection while flying low-level bombing missions, but we’ll give the compact desktop credit for using NVIDIA’s Ion GPU in an interesting way. The Stealth NE packs a choice of Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad processors in with a Zotac Mini-ITX motherboard bearing NVIDIA’s GeForce 9300, all squeezed into a 8.74 x 10.87 x 6.93 inch SFF casing.
SlashGear Japan
