Loplap

The LG X120 is the first LG laptop to hit American shores. It is now available through US wireless carrier AT&T for $179.99. And yes, you have to sign up for a two year DataConnect service plan which will set you back by $60 per month.

That means you will have to spend $1440 over the next two years to get the netbook at the subsidized price today. This, however, wouldn’t be a problem for those buyers who were planning to get the connection anyway. Now in case you aren’t keen on using the service you can terminate within the first 30 days and AT&T won’t charge an early termination fee.

The LG X120 is a nice 3G-enabled netbook that allows you to stay connected 24/7. It is now available for purchase at Radio Shack.com and Radio Shack stores nationwide. And as an added bonus AT&T will also allow you access to 20,000 of its US WiFi hotspots.

AMD still has no dedicated processors for use in small laptops. But netbooks featuring AMD’s Neo processors – the Asus 1201T, for example - have started appearing. And now two MSI netbooks spotting AMD processors are all set to land in the US. Apparently two MSI netbooks – the MS-1241 and MS-1243 have hit the FCC.

Sources claim that these models could very well be the Wind U230 and the Wind U210 but that is kind of surprising because the Wind U210 is already available in the US. The specs manual mentions the AMD Yukon L335 processor, integrated graphics, 3.5G support, VGA, HDMI, 1.3MP webcam, WiFi and Bluetooth. Optional features include a TV tuner.

Users who prefer to place their laptop on their lap should find the Lapdesk N315 from Logitech helpful. The lapdesk N315 is made up of a comfortable thin material that is easy to clean. You can wash it just in case you spill something on it or it gets dirty. It is designed for laptops of the size 15.6 inch or smaller.

The lapdesk comes with a retractable mousepad which slides in and out of the base. Another useful feature is the anti-slip top on which you can securely place the laptop without having to worry about it slipping off the base.

Asus plans to release an updates version of its popular thin-and-light UL30 notebook. The new version will have discrete GPU.

The UL30Vt as it is called will be powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor. Asus said that it would be possible to overclock the processor by up to 33%. The machine will also feature the Nvidia GeForce G210M 512MB discrete GPU. The graphics is switchable to the integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD.

The Asus UL30Vt will run Windows 7. It will have a 13.3 inch glossy display with 1366 x 768 pixels. Up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM can be installed. The available storage space is 500GB.

Pricing and Availability
No information regarding pricing or availability has been announced. The Asus UL30 currently sells for $799. The UL30Vt is expected to carry a higher price tag.

An update to the previous G50 line of notebooks, the Asus G51VX is largely aimed at gamers. Prices start at $1049.

Specifications:
Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1, 64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 (2GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
Display: 15.6" TFT Widescreen display with LED backlighting (1366x768)
Memory: 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz System Memory
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M 1GB GDDR3 Memory
Hard Disk Drive: 320GB 7200RPM SATA Seagate Momentus Hard Drive
Weight: 7.3 lbs

Build and Design
Build quality is satisfactory. The machine is strong in all the right places and looks and feels solid. Design is a bit understated. Just about every component of this laptop can be upgraded, but you cannot change the processor or GPU without voiding the one-year warranty.

Screen and Speakers
The G51VX has an LED backlit display with 1366x768 pixels. The screen is bright enough to become viewable in a bright office setting. Viewing angles are good, but color saturation is still very poor. The panel itself is mediocre. Speaker quality is average; the speaker placement doesn’t improve the situation either.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The chiclet-style keyboard comes with an adjustable backlight feature. The keyboard does show a decent amount of flex, but it is comfortable to type on. You will also get used to it in no time. The touchpad is good. It shows good sensitivity; the buttons also feel right.

Performance
The G51VX comes with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo processor. While this processor is good for getting most tasks done, it seems to have difficulty handling some new games. The 320GB Seagate hard disk spinning at 7200 rpm considerably improves the performance of this notebook.

Ports and Features
Port selection seems adequate but some users may find their placement a bit odd. There is a VGA port, 4 USB ports, FireWire port, eSATA port, HDMI port, ExpressCard 54 slot, Ethernet port, headphone jack, microphone jack, a DVD+/-RW optical drive and media reader. Other features include a 1.3 megapixel integrated webcam and WiFI 5100 (a/b/g/n).

Battery
It seems that the G51VX isn’t built to be off the mains. At about 2 hours, the battery life is pretty average. But this is hardly surprising given the power hungry graphics and 7200rpm hard disk.

Heat and Noise
The cooling system of this laptop is somewhat poorly designed. The machine tends to heat up during heavy gaming, so you can’t keep it on your lap for long. Fortunately the heat doesn’t radiate too badly off the top surface of the laptop. Heat problems can be solved to a great extent by buying a cooling pad.

Conclusion
The best thing about this gaming notebook is indeed its accessible price point which starts at $1049. Performance is strictly OK. The GeForce GTX 260M GPU can handle most modern games, but the processor performance seems lacking in some aspects. If you can live this, you must definitely consider buying G51VX.

Pros:
Faster GPU
7200rpm hard disk
Backlit keyboard
Good port selection

Cons:
Tends to heat up
Poor battery life
Average processor performance

AMD is scheduling to liberate its longed-for Puma laptop platform at Computex Taipei this month. The Puma platform will comprise a latest Griffin processor and AMDs 780M chipset. The Griffin central processing unit has 2 cores and is developed on elder Turion K8 processors. It has been purposely designed for laptop use with enhanced power management. Features comprise 2MB or more of L2 cache (1MB per core), and every core can sprint at a diverse frequency. The Puma platform will have Hyper-Transport 3 and DDR2-667/800 memory sustain. The 780M chipset will attribute DirectX 10 incorporated graphics. The incorporated graphics will labor in concurrence with an isolated graphics card (if available) to facilitate lower power burning up; the isolated GPU will merely be used when considered necessary.

In addition to its line up of Eee PC models, Asus will unveil its Lamborghini VX5, Asus M90Gf entertainment notebook PC and the Asus K series at the CeBIT.

The Lamborghini VX5 is a sleek and stylish laptop in exclusive partnership with the Automobile Lamborghini. This VX5 has been inspired by the limited edition Lamborghini Reventon. The Asus-Lamborghini VX5 will be powered by Intel Core 2 Quad processor, 4 GB RAM and 1TB SSD. The VX5 will sport a 16-inch full HD display with NVIDIA GeForce GT 130M graphics card with GDDR3 1GB VRAM. It will also include an illuminated chiclet keyboard that automatically lights up in low light conditions and a Blu-ray combo drive.

The K Series is powered by the inhouse Asus Super Hybrid Engine which delivers up to 5 hours of life on a 6-cell battery. The K Series also provides a choice of performance and power conservation modes. It sports a 16:9 widescreen display with SRS Surround Sound and will include Altec Lansing speakers. The K Series will also have some strategically placed heat vents that will keep the palm rest temperatures unusually low even after prolonged use.

The Asus M90Gf packs NVIDIA MCP79MH chipset that will support up to 4 SODIMM. The M90Gf will have up to 16GB of memory with 4GB dual rank and 26-bit SODIMMS.

Asus will also announce the N Series that will include updated N81, N51, N60 and N70 notebooks. All these notebooks are now equipped with the Non-conductive Vacuum Metallization(NCVM) films.

It has now been confirmed that the first Asus model to run on the Windows 7 platform will be Eee PC 1002n. We have been hearing about this device for sometime, but now its specs are clear too. Asus has not yet announced an official release date, but it is expected soon.

The Asus Eee PC 1002n isn’t your average netbook. It comes with 2GB of RAM and has better specifications than most netbooks. For instance, it has a 12-inch screen, Nvidia Ion based GPU and Windows 7 OS. The processor is the same old Intel Atom.

There was always a need for a laptop that has flexible features mainly in terms with the ultrasound facility. Be it sports place or a quiet hospital; there was a need for an ultrasound laptop that can be used accordingly. Now here is Siemens, out with its great new product – a versatile laptop with great ultrasound system. The system is Acuson P50, which is designed for sensitive places like hospitals and also to sportive and high-risk places like sports grounds. The resolution of the screen is extraordinarily good, which has resulted in many clinicians already booking it. Siemens is successful in its interventions as ever.

Chinese PC maker Caszh has released several impressive mini-laptops of late, one among them being the CA-L11B. This 11.1 inch device is powered by a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 processor.

Specifications
The CA-L11B has the regular netbook specifications. It has an 11.1 inch display with 1366x768 pixels. Up to 1GB of RAM can be installed. The hard disk capacity is 160GB. It runs on Windows XP.

Ports and slots
The laptop comes with the regular array of ports. There is also a SIM card slot that can be used with an optional 3G module. Other features include 802.11b/g/n WiFi.

Build and Design
The CA-L11B arrives in a box which has the picture of a completely different notebook. Build quality is reasonably good, so is the design. The machine has a standard touchpad below the keyboard but the picture on the cardboard box shows a device with a pointing stick. The laptop measures just 1.1 inch in thickness. And at just 2.6 pounds, the device is ultraportable.

Performance
The CA-L11B has enough power to handle everyday uses such as word processing and web surfing. It has no discrete GPU: that job is handled by an integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. The machine can easily handle 720p video playback, but playing 1080p HD video is still out of question.

Battery life
The 3-cell 2200mAh battery gives around 2 hours of run time which isn’t impressive at all.

Availability
The Caszh CA-L11B is now available in China. It is not yet known when it would be available in the West.

Hello Kitty Notebook is augmenting fans due to its cuteness around of the laptop. But seems just the single laptop theme was not enough so Epson recently exposed its two new Hello Kitty Monogrammed themes for its users to give choice. I like the baby pink color theme – its really cute. Epson A4 Hello Kitty Monogrammed Notebook is about 33cm in width, 28.7cm in depth, weights 3kg and comes Windows Vista Installed. Other specifications are 80GB hard drive with 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM of memory and powered by an Intel Celeron M 430 1.73 GHz processor. Network comprises of 100Base-TX/10Base-T consequent network, and an IEEE802.11b/g correspondence wireless LAN. Additionally, there are 4 USB2.0 correspondences, an SD memory card slot and a CD-R/RW&DVD-ROM. This Notebook also has many features of Ethernet, Wi-Fi and a 56K modem all working on XP Home edition. You could further keep your data clandestinely by Fingerprint security too.

This cute and stylish laptop is equipped with unique Hello Kitty wallpaper, sounds and screensaver. The only apparent drawback of this one is the battery life; the run time for battery is only 60 minutes. Epson has done great collaboration with Japan-based Sanrio for launching A4. In fact, by now they have already stated getting orders that is priced at 189,000 Yen - $1640USD. Don’t forget – this can be a stunning gift for your girl ;-)

Have you ever pulled out up your notebook and desired it had a pleasant perfume to it? If so, Asus has the laptop for you. Asus, in what is quite probably the oddest notebook design ever, is now proffering their FV6 series perfumed notebooks for $1275. These notebooks come in 4 dissimilar varieties: Blue Ocean, Floral Blossom, Dark Musk, and Morning Dew. The notebooks are intended with a color/print that resembles the recommended aroma of the appliance. If youre just vanishing to get your hands on a perfumed notebook, itll be a little trickier than you think.

Remember that HP Compaq netbook that was destined for Europe? Well its finally landed on the good old British soil and some random guy has decided to give it a proper unboxing. Just to recap here, were talking about a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 10.2 inch screen (1024 x 600) among others. The price tag for this one is £399 ($594).

But less talking and more watching so please take a look at the video below this text for first impressions.

This is not that much of a surprise. But if you were interested in seeing the official word from Dell, they got it up for you now. As the name suggests, the new Mini 10 will sit right between the Mini 12 and Mini 9.

Specs include, 

Intel® AtomTM Z520 (1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K L2Cache)
Intel® AtomTM Z530 (1.60GHz/533MHz FSB/512K L2Cache)



Operating System
Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition SP3


Memory
1GB5 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM.


Chipset
Intel® Poulsbo US15WGraphics



Graphics
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 500



LCD Display
Glossy 10.1 inch LED display (1024x576) WSVGA


Audio and Speakers
Stereo speakers

Hard Drives
120GB2 SATA HDD 2.5 inch 5400RPM.
160GB2 SATA HDD 2.5 inch 5400RPM.


Power
3-cell 24WHr Li-Ion Battery


Camera
Standard 1.3MP webcams


Wireless
Wi-Fi:
WiFi802.11g or a/g/n Mini Cards

Bluetooth:
Bluetooth® Internal (2.1+EDR) mini-card


Ports, Slots, Chassis
Externally Accessible
Kensington lock
AC Power-in
3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/SDHC/MMC/MS)
Integrated network connector 10/100 LAN (RJ45),
HDMI connector
(2 )USB and (1) Power USB
Audio jacks (1 line-out, 1 Mic-in)

Dimensions & Weight Height
28.5–31.7mm (Front-Back)
1.12-1.25 inches (Front-Back)
Width: 261mm, 10.28 inches
Depth: 182.5mm, 7.19 inches
Starting weight:

1.3kg / 2. 86 lbs6 with 3 Cell battery

There is no word on price from Dell so youll have to guess or just save up enough until you think itll be fine.

Lenovo has remodeled its IdeaPad S10 for the education market. The new offering S10e is better than its successful predecessor. It comes with a Quick Start Operating system and a longer battery life.

Design
This laptop is aimed at young students, but its design will please both children and adults. The glossy lid comes in gunmetal gray. The inside of the laptop is in matte black. The machine weighs 2.8 pounds. Build quality is satisfactory.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The keyboard fills the 7.7 inch wide chassis. The keys have a nice feel, but the keyboard does show visible flex. The keys are large enough to allow smooth typing. The biggest turn off with the keyboard is the small shift key. The touchpad is tiny, but it still allows enough room for dragging the cursor across the screen.

Ports and Slots
There are 2USB ports, a VGA port, an Ethernet jack, an ExpressCard/34 slot, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, and a Kensington lock slot. The ExpressCard Slot allows you to use a mobile broadband connection card. There is also a 1.3 megapixel webcam.

Display and Sound
The 10.1 inch display comes with a 1024 x 576-pixel resolution which is a bit lower than what you get on most netbooks. The speaker strip is located above the keyboard. It is audible enough to listen to music in a quiet room.

Lenovo’s Quick Start
The S10e comes with Lenovo’s Quick Start Operating System which boots faster than the netbook’s primary operating system, XP. The Quick Start allows you instant access to your music, photos, Skype, chat clients, and a limited but functional Web browser based on Mozilla Firefox.

Performance
The S10e runs on a single-core, 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU. You can configure it with Windows XP or a Linux based Operating System. Performance is impressive. Boot times are fast and the machine can handle multitasking with minimal effort. Gaming performance is subpar. But that is nothing surprising as the machine lacks a discrete graphic card. At around 5 hours, battery life is quite good.

In short
A must buy for $379. This is a powerful notebook with a pleasing design and a fast hard drive. Another impressive feature is the instant-on OS which will allow instant access to most functions on the laptop. The Screen resolution could have been higher. But overall this is nice netbook for students.

Pros:
Instant on Operating System
Fast hard drive
Good design

Cons:
Low screen resolution
Noisy fan and hard drive
Only two USB drives
Small shift key

Is it just us or does that interface of the OpenFrame have a striking resemblance to the new Blackberry OS?

The pictures you currently see were leaked to Engadget by an anonymous tipster who claims said device will be available by the end of February.

In case you forgot what the OpenPeak was, it is an internet phone that promises to do a lot more than just make calls and has an interface similar to that of the iPhone. The device packs an Atom processor and is built specifically for services like FiOS.

Just in case youre wondering about the interface, yes it was designed by former Apple CEO John Scully.

Alright here is the deal. We know its pretty easy to loose your laptop at the airport and since 70+% are never found it just goes to show it would be nice to have the magic of GPS on your side when finding a lost or stolen laptop.

Well Skyhook has come up with the solution. If youve been keeping up today with the iPhone you might have remembered this name but anyways the company uses WiFi (yes you read right) to locate yoru computer in the event that it is lost or stolen.

In the iPhone Skyhook uses towers to triangulate your aproximate position. Well in laptops it uses WiFi so basically who ever stole your computer will have a hard time finding out how you were able to beat the crap out of them when they thought they were safe.

Oh and did I mention that you its only $50. Sorry Mac users this ones Windows only for now.

Sony has initiated a desktop replacement notebook hoping to nullify any reason to purchase a desktop PC in Europe. Confirming to the news from the sources, the new variants will witness an executive UK liberate at the ending of the month the fresh AW series, trademarked as the "Super Notebook" by the corporation, will approach with an enormous 18.4-inch display. Utilizing the identical backlighting system as its BRAVIA LCD TVs, the notebook, which will no doubt be robust in weight, will proffer Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution. To capture improvement of that enormous screen, even though it wont be as large as the HP Dragon revealed last year, Sony has incorporated a Blu-ray Disc drive.
Super Notebook

Amazon Has dropped price of its Kindle 2 e-reader by $60. The popular device can be bought for $299 at the moment.

The Kindle 2 was introduced in February this year. It is a simple device for surfing the web. It comes with a better display and offers a better battery life than its predecessor. Kindle 2 also sports a slimmer body. Reports said that the drop in price was due to an increase in manufacturing volume. Kindle DX, a larger version of Kindle e-reader, is still being sold for its original price of $489.

The e-reader war is getting intense with more and more players joining the fray. Amazon now faces stiff competition from Sony’s Digital Reader which has two models available for $349 and $279.99. Another contender is the soon-to-be-launched CrunchPad, the fate of which will be ultimately decided by its price.

Sony VAIO FW139E/H – A heavy beauty on sale

VAIO FW laptop was meant to grant up to 4 years of casual and profound computing. The GPU was the significant pronouncement maker; I required something devoted, and the market was deluged with probably defective NVidia GPUs. I lessened my choices down to the VAIO FW and HP dv5t. I finished up going with the VAIO FW for the reason that of the superior screen and quicker processor at my price range.

Design
Im overwhelmed with the on the whole build of the VAIO FW. Its boxed in Magnesium alloy, which provides it appear semi-metal and semi-plastic at the similar time. It is a extremely sturdy looking notebook; the screen hinge is ideal and stands brawny, rubber feet under the notebook keep it from moving, and I have not yet been proficient to make a scratch on it. Design wise, it is stylishly sound. It carries the customary VAIO gaze; the mold I reviewed is the Titanium Grey representation with black colored keys. It has a extremely specialized look.

Performance
The Sony VAIO FW139E/H is a 16.4" semi-desktop substitute laptop configured with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400, which runs at 2.26GHz with a Front Side Bus velocity of 1066MHz, 3GB of DDR2-800 RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 devoted graphics accelerator card, and a 250GB HDD.

Now for the excitement part! The P8400 Core 2 Duo is outstanding quick in Vista; I have yet to understand a slowdown caused by the CPU. The bottlenecking constituent of this notebook is the hard drive, sprinting at the standard notebook HDD velocity of 5400 RPM. The relocate of a huge file via a 100Mbps network was moderately slow; this wasnt the entire notebook HDDs fault, though. The notebook is competent of 1000Mbps transfers, and the file restricted a large amount of subdirectories and files and deliberate transfer down in Windows. Boot up is quick, even when multiple startup submissions are in attendance.

This notebook is built well to grip heat. After gaming for about 30 minutes, the notebook was still cool. It doesnt get extremely scorching at all, and is in all probability one of the extremely good things about Sonys engineering. The battery life is fair-haired; I keep the notebook on full brightness while not charging, and it more often than not lasts about 2 hours. The notebook down clocks the processor when there is no peripheral power source to safeguard power.

Overall
This notebook is fine for the gentle power user who still fancies portability. Of course, my vision of portability in all probability differs from someone who finds 6.4lbs weighty. It is nothing like the huge VAIO AR, however. The VAIO FW is an FZ in size, and half-way sandwiched between an FZ and AR in power.

Pros
+ Display quality typical Vaio
+ Amazing speed & performance

Cons
- On the heavier side of the build

Value For Money

Our Rating

The mini laptop sector in the market has no deficiency of convincing systems, particularly with this week’s launch of the EEE PC 900 variant here in the U.S. Added with variants from both Acer and Dell well on the way, how can a least preferred brand locate itself out in the crowd? MSI’s chief of US Sales Andy Tung without doubt predicts his firm’s entry will shudder and swirl things up.

MSI’s Predictions about the WIND forced out in the market is as below:

1) Coming in 2 display-size variants: an 8.9-inch and a 10-inch display, with only the 10-inch screen will be accessible to the U.S. buyers.

2) Predicted to be obtainable from June 3rd, The Linux variant, sprinting over Novel’s SUSE, will encompass 512MB RAM and an 80GB hard drive. It will be available to the retail market for price tag of $399. The Windows XP edition will posses 1GB RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and Bluetooth connectivity as its option, and boldly retailing for a comparatively elevated price line of $549. However in accordance to MSI a pedestal arrangement of the Windows XP product will be offered for under $500 price label.

3) To be served in 4 diverse colors, together with black, white, silver, and pink. All the offered variants will be served in the 4 different color codes.

Apple predicts to utilize LED hind light units commonly known as BLU’s in all of its Mac Books in the year 2009, which will profit Taiwan-based BLU producer Kenmos Technology, in accordance to the sources. Kenmos was initially Apples main supplier for LED BLUs in the year 2007, according to the news sources. Market researchers approximate that Kenmos Technologys overall shipments could accomplish an overall of 1.5 million units this year, up by almost five times when compared to 2007, for a universal market share of 9%, as declared by sources. LED BLU’s will have a say in more than NT$2 billion (US$66 million) when compared to Kenmos revenues this fiscal, noted the sources.

Microsoft has put out an intact variant of wireless desktops, intended at bringing what you sort on and what you sort with under the matching umbrella. The Wireless Laser computer 7000 sits in close proximity to the pinnacle of the pack, with sufficient features to send your fingers on an untamed ride. Do these features append value to the one who pay for, or do they detract from the understanding? Read on to reveal it.

The keyboard blueprint draws stimulation from the Windows Aero desktop, capturing semi-transparent plastic to the length of the border. The soothe Curve keyboard uses an ergonomic layout that, happily, has evolved from the 1st-generation ergonomics we’ve suffered from end to end in the past. The new-fangled ergonomic intend, which omits the deceased zone in the center, necessitates that the midpoint keys swell to make up the space.

There is nothing less than 122 means to create a mark on this keyboard. All the recognizable players are here, with the full-size keypad all inclusive of arrow keys and unmitigated numeric pad. The palm rest is covered in a black satin finish, which is smooth to the touch. It would be pleasant to bring that identical finish to the keys themselves. The mouse seems analogous to the Logitech MX Revolution with its inhospitable form factor. The black satin finish is counterbalanced by the lines of chrome that characterize the borders. Provided the supreme wireless-ness of this desktop setup, there’s no option for power-driven USB ports. That’s the cost you pay for the possibility to carry your keyboard in the region of the office, or maybe even strap it on to your shoulders like a guitar.