Toshiba ships Core i7-equipped Satellite P505 gaming laptop, all 18.4-inches of it

Looking for the most gargantuan laptop money can buy? How's about the biggest laptop that the least amount of money can buy? Toshiba's Satellite P505 -- a machine we spotted briefly at CES this year -- has now been put on sale over at Microsoft's own webstore, complete with an 18.4-inch LCD (1,680 x 945), a 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, 500GB SATA hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, a DVD SuperMulti drive, ExpressCard slot, integrated memory card reader, NVIDIA's GeForce 310M (512MB), four USB 2.0 sockets and a beastly 12-cell Li-ion battery. Best of all, you can pop in a coupon (see the links below for details) in order to score this behemoth for $689, or just $687.95 more than freedom. Hop on past the break if you need an explanation.

Update: Seems that code down there has expired -- anyone got an alternate?

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ASUS Eee PC R101 surfaces in Deutschland with Atom N450, carbon fiber flair

It ain't the first Eee PC we've seen with a carbon fiber finish, and if the second one in as many months is any indication, we get the feeling we could see quite a few more of these surface at Computex in just a few weeks. The latest netbook from ASUS has found itself plastered on a German e-tailer's website, with the R101 proudly boasting a 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 250GB hard drive, a 10.1-inch LCD, native 1,024 x 600 resolution, Intel's GMA 3150 graphics and a battery that's good for 9.5 hours (if you use it sparingly, we're sure). The only other nugget we're made aware of is the €299 ($379) price tag, but it's pretty obvious we won't be treated to a chiclet keyboard and a trackpad bar with a split in the middle. Fiddlesticks.

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MSI launches Radeon HD 545V-boasting CX705MX laptop

MSI's just outed a new 17.5-inch (1600x900 resolution) laptop, the beautifully named CX705MX. This one's got an Intel Core 2 Duo under the hood, an up to 500GB hard drive, a 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI and VGA output, three USB ports and an Ethernet port and Windows 7 Home Premium. Most notably, of course, is that it's packing ATI's brand new Radeon HD 545V discrete graphics chipset, giving this bad boy HD video capabilities. We don't have specific information about availability or pricing yet, but we'll let you know when we do.

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HP Mini 210 updated with trippy lids, Pavilion dm1 with new AMD processors

Aww, HP, so nice of you guys to think of the little guys amidst your massive unleash of mainstream laptops. While the Mini 210 was just released at CES, the 10-inch netbook will be available starting June 15th for a couple extra bucks -- $355 to be exact -- with some "fashionable" new lids. We definitely prefer the "crystal white" to "preppy pink" covering, but both use a pretty cool in-mold layering technique -- when you look closely at the lid and matching underside there's a 3D-like effect where some colors and shades appear above or below others. HP's also expanding its netbook line with the Mini 110, which at $280 buys you a six-cell battery and standard Atom parts. The netbooks don't get any internal updates -- nope, all the new performance parts go to the 11.6-inch Pavilion dm1. Though it still sports the same chassis as the Mini 311, the dm1 will grab AMD's newest Turion II Neo dual core and Athlon Neo processors, which promise improved performance and battery life over the previous generation. We're hoping that's the case, because our experience with those chips haven't exactly been peaches and cream. That's all we got for you, but if you are in a pink mood head on down below for some hands-on pics, or after the break for the sort of "Pretty in Pink" we don't mind rocking.

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LG's ultraslim X300 launching in Asia, Middle East and South America this month (updated)

An 11.6-inch display fit within a thickness of 17.5mm. Sure, we're mixing up our measurement systems, but whichever way you slice it, the X300 is one extremely thin device. LG has now announced that availability in the Asian, Middle Eastern and South American markets will be forthcoming this month, though all we know on the topic of price is that it'll "vary country-by-country." With up to 2GB of RAM, integrated 3G, and a 128GB SSD option on tap, we'll even forgive the inclusion of a 2GHz Menlow CPU (Atom Z550) that places the X300 closer to Sony's VAIO X than the Core 2 Duo-driven MacBook Air that it aspires to be associated with. Check out our hands-on pics over here while we wait, hope and pray for a release on more familiar shores.

Update: We've now come across LG's Korean pricing, which is set at 1,590,000 Won ($1,424).

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Gigabyte T1000 takes a new twist on life with Atom N470 and a multitouch display

Ever get the feeling that what you see on paper just isn't going to be as good in person? That's sort of how we felt today when we stopped by Gigabyte's CeBIT booth to get a look at its newly announced T1000 netvertible. On the spec front the T1000 has everything we could possibly want in a netbook -- a new 1.83GHz Atom N470, 2GB of RAM, a chiclet keyboard and a 1366 x 768-resolution multitouch display -- but in our few minutes of use things were far from rainbows and butterflies. The resistive touch panel required a pretty firm press, and when in slate mode there's no buttons (or accelerometer) for rotating the device. While we liked the chiclet keyboard, we'll never understand why Gigabyte has kept the two mouse buttons on the sides of the touchpad. We realize that we may be jumping to conclusions too quickly here, so we'll let you decide for yourselves with the help of a short video after the break.



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Fujitsu MH380 review

You know what can't be easy? Making a netbook stand out amongst the hordes of them out there, and yet despite run-of-the-mill specs Fujitsu's done just that with the MH380. Maybe it is the rounded red lid or the small crater in its palmrest that doubles as a scroll pad, but the $449 netbook has struck us as more than just another Pine Trail netbook ever since its appearance at CES. We'd like to take that at face value, but given the fact that Fujitsu doesn't have the best netbook track record, we wanted to spend some quality time with it to find out if the 10-inch mini-laptop has the battery life, performance and ergonomics we expect for its higher-than-average price. You can be sure we found out, so hit the break for our full review.
Fujitsu MH380 hands-on


Look and feel

It's hard not to like the MH380's glossy red cover and chrome trim; you can see Tony Stark buying it to match his Iron Man suit. But superhero or not, it's easy to appreciate the unique squircle shape of the lid, the teardrop shaped hinges and the silver inner edge. Though the system is primarily made of plastic, we have to say the manufacturing quality does feel better than most, and overall it feels quite sturdy.

The real bummer for us is that the head-turning design isn't matched by the best portability specs. The MH380 measures 1.4-inches thick, and its protruding six-cell battery adds even more girth in the back. And then there's the fact that the system weighs 3.1 pounds, and feels heavier in hand than most netbooks. Don't get us wrong, it's still a netbook, and small enough to fit in a shoulder bag or carry around the house with one hand, but it's just not the trimmest of the bunch.

Keyboard, touchpad and screen

Those that like a good flush keyboard will have no qualms about the MH380, and while we've become fonder of chiclet style keyboards on netbooks, we were typing at a decent clip in no time. The MH380's keyboard may get ergonomics points, but we can't say the same of the touchpad below it. The 1.8 by 1.6-inch pad -- yes, we pulled out the ruler -- is no bigger than a small sized Post-It or a Wheat Thin, and the result is a very frustrating navigation experience that requires a ton of backtracking and finger cramping. To compensate Fujitsu has sped up the tracking speed which shoots the pointer across the screen at the slightest provocation -- yes, we disabled this function. The reason for this shrunken experience? To make room for the smooth circular divot to the right of the trackpad. In theory the scroll pad's touch sensitive surface is supposed to allow for easy vertical scrolling, but that's not how it worked in practice. We were able to get the the pad to scroll down the length of Engadget at a smooth pace only after we made a number of tweaks to the sensitivity in the Synaptics menu, and though you can set the pad to function as a button to open a program or go back in the browser, it mistakenly launched programs when we just wanted to scroll. Though the whole setup provides a different look, we couldn't hook up a external mouse quickly enough to make the pain go away.

The higher-resolution 1366 x 768, 10.1-inch display is crisper and brighter than most, and those extra horizontal pixels do make a noticeable difference when surfing the web. While we couldn't watch a YouTube HD video because of the MH380's weak GMA 3150 graphics, a 720p WMV video of the Caribbean Ocean looked very crisp. We found vertical viewing angles to be decent when we tilted the screen to different angles, but horizontal ones weren't worthy of the same praise – though better than most, colors still washed out when we tried to view the screen from the side.

Performance and battery life



We've got no complaints about the MH380's Intel Atom N450 processor and 1GB of RAM. Windows 7 Starter edition ran like a champ and handled our normal netbook activities, including writing this review in MS Word 2007, streaming music in Firefox and tweeting from Tweetdeck, with no issue. As usual watching a Hulu.com video at full screen caused some stuttering. The MH380 is equipped with a 250GB of hard drive that's oddly partitioned into two equal sized drives.


PCMark05 3DMark06 Battery Life
Fujitsu MH380 1368 153 6:37
ASUS Eee PC 1008P 1531 152 3:20
ASUS Eee PC 1005PE 1431 157 8:10
Toshiba Mini NB305 1272 156 6:30


Thankfully the larger 63Wh six-cell battery that protrudes out the back results in some good endurance. On our video rundown test -- where we loop the same standard definition video at 65 brightness -- the MH380 lasted 6 hours and 37 minutes. That's not as long as the ASUS Eee PC 1005PE's eight hours, but it will allow you to avoid the outlet scavenger hunt at an airport or coffee shop.

Wrap-up

We have two quite cliche words for Fujitsu's designers: size matters. Putting aside the $449 price point for a second, the larger size and resulting weight of the netbook along with the contrasting diminutive size of its touchpad hold the MH380 from competing with the rest. While we'd probably be able to justify paying a $50 premium for the MH380's design and HD screen, those issues -- the touchpad in particular -- make it out of the question for us. If you are hung up about your netbook's looks the Eee PC 1008p is one attractive netbook that doesn't have usability issues, and the Toshiba NB305 continues to provide the best of the design and performance worlds.

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Samsung's N150 netbook picks up some Corby branding, Starburst color

Spotted first crawling its way through the FCC, then on the floors of CES and most recently at WMC with some LTE inside we're going to go ahead and say the Samsung N150 has earned its new stripes, err rainbow colors. Trying to add some brightness to its well stocked Pine Trail netbook line up, Sammy has gone and painted the $379 10.1-inch N150 in Flamingo Pink, Bermuda Blue and Caribbean Yellow, though kept its internal 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 250GB hard drive and 1GB RAM unprimed. Interestingly, in some countries the netbook has acquired Samsung's affordable mobile phone Corby brand, though here in the U.S. that doesn't seem to be the case. We'd probably just stick with the black hue, but that doesn't mean we couldn't go for some sort of tropical-flavor candy right about now.

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Samsung's R30 and R80 Touch of Color laptops now on sale

Plain they are not, and Samsung's Touch of Color laptops that were launched at the tail-end of CES this year have finally begun to ship. As of now, the Core 2 Duo-equipped R430, Core i3-packin' R480, and Core i5-based R580 / R780 are all on sale at Best Buy, with prices ranging from $629.99 to $829.99. The whole lot seems to be available for shipping or direct pickup, so give that source link a look to figure out which configuration fits you best. Or don't -- no pressure.

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Averatec outs light as air 10-inch netbook, can move move move any mountain

Averatec's just outed its super thin, super light, 10-inch netbook, the N1200. Available in silver or black, it's a good looking little package which weighs in at just 2.2 pounds. It boasts an Atom N450 CPU, a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM which is expandable up to 2GB, plus a webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi. You can get this bad little dude with either XP or Windows 7 Starter. The battery life is apparently about 3 hours, though you can upgrade to a better, 6 hour battery. The N1200 starts at $330. The full press release is after the break.

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LG's ultraslim X300 launching in Asia, Middle East and South America this month (updated)

An 11.6-inch display fit within a thickness of 17.5mm. Sure, we're mixing up our measurement systems, but whichever way you slice it, the X300 is one extremely thin device. LG has now announced that availability in the Asian, Middle Eastern and South American markets will be forthcoming this month, though all we know on the topic of price is that it'll "vary country-by-country." With up to 2GB of RAM, integrated 3G, and a 128GB SSD option on tap, we'll even forgive the inclusion of a 2GHz Menlow CPU (Atom Z550) that places the X300 closer to Sony's VAIO X than the Core 2 Duo-driven MacBook Air that it aspires to be associated with. Check out our hands-on pics over here while we wait, hope and pray for a release on more familiar shores.

Update: We've now come across LG's Korean pricing, which is set at 1,590,000 Won ($1,424).

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MSI Wind U135 should be available for as low as $310

You better watch it, Acer -- it looks like MSI is getting real close to undercutting your $299 Aspire One 532h netbook with its $309.99 Pine Trail-powered Wind U135. Taiwanese manufacturer disputes aside, not much has changed with the Wind U135 since we brought you our impressions, but we remind you that $305 buys you a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450, 1GB of RAM, an 160GB hard drive and Windows 7 Starter. If you need a bit more storage, you can shell out an extra 20 bucks for the 250GB version. And the cheap netbook race continues... Check the full PR after the break.

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Alienware's M11x netbook gets a base price: $799

Whoa, Nelly! We learned back at CES that Alienware's pretty-much-a-netbook would launch in the Spring for less than a grand, but now we know precisely what the base price will be: $799. The starting MSRP of the M11x was delivered courtesy of the company's own website, but not in the most straightforward way. If you surf on over to the M11x microsite and view the source, you'll notice the following blurb tucked within the code:

The Alienware M11x, with over 6.5 hours of battery life and weighing under 4.5 lbs. will start at an amazing $799! Leave it to the folks at Alienware to enable truly mobile performance gaming at an affordable price.

So, a polarizing (albeit vivacious) design, an 11.6-inch display, NVIDIA GT335M switchable graphics and a 6.5 hour battery, all for $799. Shall we sign you up, or what?

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Mtube II mixes an Android tablet with an XP netbook

Been thinking about settling down with an XP netbook but can't get the idea of an Android tablet out of your mind? We understand your pain -- and so does Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry, which is showing off the Mtube II netbook / tablet at Computex. The slick remix of an HP Mini 1000 runs XP when in netbook configuration, but then switches over to Android on an unspecified ARM processor when the screen is pulled off and used as a tablet. Yes, it's basically the product most of us have daydreamed about for ages -- much like the Touch Book -- but there are some tradeoffs here: first, the Atom in the netbook base has been swapped for a VIA C7-M, so it's not exactly a rocket, and second, the screen is connected by VNC, so video performance isn't going to be all that great. We're hoping the additional year of development III says it needs will solve some of those problems, but until then you know we'll be doodling this thing all through math class. Videos after the break.


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Entelligence: Netbooks, R.I.P.

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

It's one of the hottest selling items in the consumer electronics market today. At a time when vendors are struggling to sell PCs, it's the one category that has been selling consistently in Amazon's top ten list of technology purchases. Apple and Sony have both dismissed the category, even as other vendors bring more models to market. Yes, I'm talking about the phenomenon called the netbook. Here's why I think it's going to be pretty short lived as a category.

"What's in a name?" Shakespeare asked, adding "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." While some perceive the netbook as a new product category -- a class of device that's never existed -- I would have to beg to differ. A netbook is merely a laptop with the pivotal axis based on price first and foremost. In other words, "how much computer can I build for $300-500?" (which is about the average selling price of most netbooks). When Apple or Sony designs products, they look at what materials they want in a device. If it costs too much to deliver, it gets scrapped. If the materials are too shoddy to deliver at a price point, it gets scrapped. That's why we don't see netbooks from either vendor. At least... not yet.

Sure, my price-oriented definition might sound heretical to those who view the netbook as an ode to cloud computing, ubiquitous usage scenarios, and freedom from Microsoft OS tyranny, but that's not how the market has shaped out.

Let's look at history. At the end of 2007 a netbook (or laptop you could build for about $300-$500) had about a 7-inch screen, a tiny keyboard, about 4GB of storage, half a gig of RAM and no Windows OS (that Windows thing adds to price). Purists argued that the max screen size for a netbook was 7-inches. Fast forward to today: that same price point will deliver you a 10-inch screen or so, a gig of RAM and perhaps 160GB of storage. It also gets you a copy of Windows for the most part. By year's end, we'll see vendors offering 12-inch screens, full keyboards, and 300GB of storage. And they'll be called netbooks. But that doesn't matter, does it? Because that rose still smells the same -- no matter what we call it.

Sure, there are some folks who adopted netbooks as an additional PC or even a primary machine -- but the driver has consistently been price. Tiny, underpowered laptops have been around for more than a decade, but few people bought them because there was a premium price associated with them. As prices came down, capabilities
"Tiny, underpowered laptops have been around for more than a decade, but few people bought them because there was a premium price associated with them."
increased and more folks bought them. But not as netbooks -- rather as laptop replacements. The proof? Look at the sales and return rates of Linux netbooks vs. Windows-based ones. The vast majority of folks want Windows. The reason? It's their laptop replacement. No one carries a netbook and a laptop.

The cellphone and laptop represent the core part of a user's mobile experience. With most consumers willing to carry two devices total, there's not a lot of room for 'tweener devices. That's one reason vendors have worked so hard to increase netbook capabilities. The more they increase, the more they can displace the laptop for more users. Of course there's a downside. Netbooks use less horsepower than many other laptops. They ship with Windows XP (at least for now) instead of the more expensive Vista. That's why Intel and Microsoft are working hard to constrain the specifications of whatever's called a netbook. Of course, that won't work: technology moves at its own pace and no vendor can control it. That's why when I can get a nice 12-inch screen, with a full keyboard, a few hundred gigs of storage and a lot of RAM for $300-400 I won't care if it's called a netbook or a laptop. I'll just call it Moore's law in action.

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USmart's MC-1 claims 'world's smallest' title, certainly wins over our hearts

Some people have soft spots for puppies and panda bears; we have them for tiny laptops. Claiming to be the world's smallest computer, USmart's 4.8-inch MC-1 is about the size of a man's wallet yet manages to pack the guts of a netbook. That's right in that tiny little chassis is a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of on-board storage. What it doesn't have is some sort of fan; when we put the little guy in our hand it was quite toasty. Wondering how in the world one would navigate Windows XP on such a small screen? Like the 4.8-inch UMID MBook BZ, it has a resistive touchscreen and comes with a stylus, but USmart will also sell an external touchpad / keyboard combo that's bound to be more comfortable. We're strongly questioning the practicality of this $300 device and its title of "world's smallest computer," but can you really argue with something so adorable? How about you tell us after checking out the video after the break.


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Sheng T108 brushed aluminum netbook appears

Hey, now this isn't your average, everyday, boring netbook now is it? Well, at least not in looks, anyway. The Sheng T108, which has recently been spotted in Shenzhen, China, has a brushed aluminum chassis that makes it stand out from the crowd, to be sure. Internally, you'll find this 10.1-incher boasting an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 memory, and a 250GB hard drive -- nothing volcanically surprising, but not too shabby either. It's also got a 3-cell battery, a VGA port, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi support, a built in webcam, and a SIM card slot for 3G connectivity. The pricing is said to be somewhere in the realm of $300, and while there's no word on availability of this puppy outside of China, we'll certainly keep our eyes peeled for you. One more shot after the break.


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Toshiba Portege M780 highlights business laptop refresh to Core i-series CPUs

For some among us, the VAIO E series is the pinnacle of modern mobile computing design. Then there are other, saner individuals, who prefer the understated aesthetics of what are commonly termed business laptops. For that latter group, we have a whole glut of new Toshiba notebooks to look at, highlighted by the delectable looking Portege M780 above. Much in the vein of HP's 2730p, it's a 12.1-inch convertible tablet PC, with a spill-resistant keyboard and rugged features (tested to withstand drops from up to 1 meter), but its biggest attraction will still likely be the Core i5 heart thumping inside. Also undergoing upgrades are the Tecra A11 (already available in the US), M11 and S11, which will come with up to 8GB of RAM, 802.11n wireless, SSD options, and of course Intel Core i7 CPUs. Check them out after the break, and expect them to arrive in Europe, the Middle East and Africa this quarter, with the M780 close behind them with a Q2 2010 release.

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ASUS gets official with swivel-screen multitouch Eee PC T101MT

Thanks to the oh-so-revealing pages of the FCC, we already knew that ASUS had yet another multitouch-enabled Eee PC in the works, but there's just nothing quite like the satisfaction of seeing an official portal launched to celebrate the reality of being. The Eee PC T101MT is a swivel-screen netvertible that packs a 10.1-inch resistive multitouch display (1,024 x 600), Windows 7, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 160GB or 320GB hard drive, 0.3 megapixel webcam and a 6.5 hour battery. You'll also get a VGA output, a trio of USB 2.0 sockets, Ethernet audio in / out, an SD / SDHC / SDXC card reader (nice!) 500GB of internet-accessible ASUS WebStorage and your choice of white or black. Per usual, there's nary of a mention of a price or release date just yet, but you can check out what fun awaits you in the demonstration video just past the break.

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