updated VAIO E Series

In early April Sony revealed a new 14-inch laptop computer called Sony VAIO E Series 14P, with the new model Sony hoped to attract consumers interested in a portable multimedia machine with style. With the 14P Sony introduced the AMD Radeon HD 7670M 1GB discrete graphics card, webcam-based gesture controls, and the new wrap-around laptop design.

This week Sony has revealed two more laptops that feature the wrap-around style and AMD Radeon HD 7000 series discrete graphics. The two laptops are members of the Sony VAIO E Series that the 14P is also a member of and their named Sony VAIO E Series 15 (15.5-inch) and Sony VAIO E Series 17 (17.3-inch).

The features

Backlit keyboards will be offered as an option with the new VAIO E Series 15 and 17. Image: Sony

Although the HD webcams built-in to the new VAIO E Series 15 and 17 laptops don’t have gesture controls like those on the E Series 14P notebook, the 15 and 17 have other cool and unique features of their own to boast about.

There is a feature called Rapid Wake + Eco which allows you to hibernate your laptop for up to 10 days in a ultra-low power draw state while still having all your open documents preserved, all you have to do is close the lid to put your laptop to sleep and open the lid again to have it wake-up.

There is also xLOUD and Clear Phase sound technologies built-in to these new VAIO laptops which allow the built-in stereo speakers to hit higher volume levels without sound getting distorted.

With both the VAIO E Series 15 and 17 you can charge devices using the laptops battery. To charge a device it has to have a USB charging cable of it’s own, devices like smartphones and mp3/mp4 players normally have these included out of the box.

A large trackpad with gesture support is included with each VAIO E Series 15 and 17 notebook. The touchpads offer what Sony calls intuitive ‘button-free’ control, which basically means there are no physical right and left click buttons on or around the touchpad to mimic those controls you’ll use special finger gestures.

In the PC features department (CPU, RAM, hard drive etc.) the VAIO E Series 15 and 17 are both going to be equipped with much of the same stuff. The two models detailed by Sony have the same 2.5 GHz (3.10 GHz Turbo Boost) Intel Core i5-2450M dual-core processor, 6GB DDR3 1333MHz memory, and 750GB 5400rpm hard drive. The models only deviate from each other in graphics, the E Series 15 has a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M and the E Series 17 has more video memory with it’s 2GB AMD Radeon HD 7650M.

The Sony VAIO E Series 17 will have White or Black color options, the E Series 15 will have those same options as well as Silver.

There are a few more differences between the E Series 15 and 17 models. The E Series 17 has a optical drive built-in that is capable of playing back Blu-ray movies as well as burning DVD’s and CD’s, the E Series 15 is capable of doing the DVD  and CD  end of it. Also the E Series 17 comes with a native resolution of 1600×900 for it’s 17.3-inch LED backlit display, which is higher than the 1366×768 the E Series 15 offers with it’s 15.5-inch LED backlit display.

Prices will also vary –the 17 will be more expensive– but right now Sony isn’t revealing any prices for their two new E Series notebooks. Release dates are also lacking at this juncture, but I would assume these notebooks are on the way to market as I type.

Sony VAIO E Series 15 and 17 specifications:

Model	VAIO SVE1511W1E	VAIO SVE1711V1E
Processor	Intel® Core™ i5-2450M Processor
OS	Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit (with Service Pack 1)
Memory	6GB DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM
Drive	750GB HDD 5400rpm	750GB HDD 5400rpm
Screen	39.5cm (15.5”) VAIO Display (1366×768) with wide (16:9) aspect ratio	43.8cm (17.3”) VAIO Display (1600×900) with wide (16:9) aspect ratio
Graphics	AMD Radeon™ HD 7650M (1GB VRAM)	AMD Radeon™ HD 7650M (2GB VRAM)
Optical drive	DVD±RW/±R DL/RAM	Blu-ray Disc™ combo player
Others	WLAN 802.11b/g/n; Bluetooth® Ver. 4.0 + HS; USB 2.0 (x3), USB 3.0 with USB charge (x1); HDMI out; stereo speakers with xLOUD™ and Clear Phase™; HD Web Camera powered by ‘Exmor for PC’ (1.31 megapixels); Web, VAIO and Assist buttons; backlit keyboard; touchpad with gesture support, HDD shock protection
Dimensions (DxHxW)	Approx. 253.5 x 25.3-35.1 x 371.9 mm	Approx. 278.0 x 27.1-37.8 x 408.7 mm
Weight	Approx. 2.7kg (with standard supplied battery)	Approx. 3.2kg (with standard supplied battery)

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New ThinkPad X230

Traditionally when buying a laptop you think all that you need to worry about is the performance hardware that’s inside the mobile computer. However one soon realizes after making a few laptop purchases that there are many other things to consider when buying a new laptop. Things like battery life, overall build quality, and display quality can trump raw performance in quite a few use cases when it comes to laptop computers.

Luckily for you and anyone who wants it all –strong performance, battery life, build quality and great quality displays– Lenovo has created the new 12.5-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X230 laptop computer.

The classic Red TrackPoint is still being used in the new X230 laptops.

With the new X230 range of ultra-portable business laptops Lenovo has managed to offer just about everything one would want in a laptop computer if a large display isn’t required. Listed below are the main features of the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPad X230 ultra-portable business laptop.

    12.5″ Wide View IPS display (IPS displays offer better, brighter colors and viewing angles than the       standard displays found in almost off of today’s laptops and desktop computer monitors)

   Starting at 3 lbs

   Up to 8 hours’ battery life

   Up to 24 hours battery life with ThinkPad 19+ slice battery

   Up to 2nd generation Intel Core i7 processor

   Up to 500 GB HDD, 256 GB SSD

   Up to 8GB memory

   Start 40% faster than average Windows 7 PCs with RapidBoot

   New precision keyboard with improved ergonomic design and optional backlight

   Dual array microphones, keystroke noise suppression and 720p HD webcam for crystal clear video  conferencing. Face tracking is also supported by the built-in HD webcam and pre-installed webcam  software.

   Dolby speakers with Advanced Audio v2 for full impact surround sound

   Active Protection System — for hard drive

   4G LTE support for ultra fast wireless connectivity

   Charge your battery up to 80% in 30 minutes with RapidCharge

   ThinkVantage software for manageability and security

   HDMI out, mini-DisplayPort, and two USB 3.0 ports

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AMD's Trinity vs. Intel's Ivy Bridge processors

AMD’s next-generation A-Series processors, code-named Trinity, are the chip manufacturer’s answer to Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors now appearing in the new Ultrabook laptops.

How much of an improvement do the new Trinity chips offer laptop users and can these new Trinity-based laptops compete against Ivy Bridge? The reviews are in.

Every new generation of chips promises better performance and energy efficiency, and Trinity is no exception. Earlier this year, AMD claimed Trinity would offer significant improvements over its current Llano chips: An overall performance increase of up to 25 percent, 50 percent better graphics performance, and double the performance per watt.

Across the web, tech reviewers have been benchmarking an AMD Trinity test laptop (featuring the A10-4600 quad core processor with integrated Radeon HD 7760G graphics) to put these claims to the test. We’ll have our own tests from the PCWorld Labs soon, but this is how the new accelerated processing unit (APU) is being received so far:

Modest General Performance Improvements: Not Enough to Best Intel

Intel is still the market leader in this highly competitive chips race and, unfortunately, going on CPU performance alone, Trinity still lags behind. Both VR-Zone and HotHardware say the Trinity A10 gets “blown out of the water” by Intel’s Ivy Bridge Core i7 CPU--and even against Intel’s second-generation Sandy Bridge mobile chips in some tests.

AMD positions its top-of-the-line A10 series against Intel’s lower-end Core i7 and higher-end Core i5 chips. Yet an Ivy Bridge mid-range i5-2410M had a 25% CPU performance advantage over the Trinity A10-4600, according to AnandTech’s comparisons using PCMark.

VR Zone is frank in its assessment, calling Trinity’s single threaded applications and raw memory performance “abysmal.”

Still, AnandTech says Trinity’s new is a step forward from the CPU cores used in Llano. Trinity was about 20 percent faster than Llano in the reviewer’s general CPU performance tests--close to AMD’s 25 percent promise.

(Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPU gains over its Sandy Bridge processor were also modest: About 5 to 10 percent faster in PCWorld tests.)

Great Integrated Graphics, Gaming Performance

As with Intel’s Ivy Bridge, AMD Trinity’s biggest gains are on the graphics side. Tom’s Hardware found Trinity “soundly beating its competition” in graphics processing and--as you see in this chart--in this testing, Trinity leads even against a Llano laptop with a discrete graphics card (the older 3DMark Vantage metric was used to compare against the Intel Sandy Bridge chip, which doesn’t support DirectX 11).

Trinity even bests Intel Ivy Bridge’s impressive graphics performance: The HD7760G integrated graphics processor (IGP) had a 30-percent to 50+-percent performance gain over the Intel HD 4000 IGP in an Ivy Bridge Core i7 chip, according to HotHardware.

This finding would make Trinity really impressive for gaming. Hexus said the chip “offers best-in-class performance and enough grunt to play modern games at reasonable image-quality settings.” In AnandTech’s tests, Trinity had an average 20% lead against Ivy Bridge when comparing performance over 15 game titles. For 11 out of the 15 games, Trinity came out on top.

Significantly Better Battery Life

AMD also managed to significantly improve battery life on Trinity compared to previous AMD chips and even when compared to Ivy Bridge--even though Intel uses a new 22nm production technology, while Trinity still uses the 32nm process of older Llano chips (smaller chips tend to be more energy efficient).

 In this AnandTech chart, look at the red bar for Trinity, orange for Llano, and dark green for the Asus laptop equipped with an Ivy Bridge processor to see the battery life performance differences.

AMD claims 50% better battery performance from a Trinity laptop versus Llano--up to 8.5 hours of browsing or 4 hours of YouTube video streaming, according to Slashgear.

Conclusion

Taking the synthetic test results (on a prototype laptop) with a grain of salt, an AMD Trinity-based laptop may tempt you, depending on your needs.

If you require a mobile powerhouse with the best processing performance possible, an Intel quad-core i7 will be your better bet. But if you’re a gamer or want longer battery life in your laptop, AMD has an edge over Intel.

And despite the less-than-overwhelming overall CPU performance gains, Trinity-based laptops will be more than fine for mainstream tasks.

Also not to be dismissed: Trinity-equipped laptops will, in general, be cheaper than laptops equipped with Ivy Bridge processors. For instance, AMD’s ultrathin laptops are set to be priced about $200 lower than Intel Ultrabooks.

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Synology DiskStation DS1512+

Synology DiskStation 

Synology made significant upgrades to its high-end small and medium business product range last year, adding the 5-bay DS1511+ and 12-bay DS2411+ to counter the competition's products in the sub-$1,000 to $2,000 range. Despite being nearly a year old and as expensive as ever at $800 and $2,000 (that's without storage drives), the DS1511+ and DS2411+ are still very solid and relevant in today's market.

Both devices have dual-Gigabit LAN controllers for Link Aggregation, offering a read speed of over 190MB/s. They also tout hot-swappable SATA bays, as well as the ability to significantly boost storage using the DX510 and DX1211 expansion units, which can allow the DS1511+ to support up to 15 drives for a maximum capacity of 45TB, while the expanded DS2411+ supports up to 15 drives for 72TB.

Again, if you're shopping for a dedicated network-attached storage box, you can't really go wrong with either unit. Both are still quite sound in terms of technical specifications -- unless you need USB 3.0, which is rapidly becoming a standard feature for NAS devices. As such, Synology has upgraded the 5-bay DS1511+ with the latest USB standard and it's taken the opportunity to polish some other specs too.

Known as the DS1512+, the revamped 5-bay device boasts read and write speeds of 200.31MB/s and 194.83MB/s, up from the DS1511+'s quoted rates of 197.8MB/s and 165.91MB/s. Additionally, the dual core 2.13GHz Intel Atom D2700 (32nm Cedar Trail) should provide a little more oomph than the dated 1.8GHz Atom D525 (45nm Pineview), while redesigned hardware includes a new cooling system.

These extras come at a reasonable $100 premium over last year's DS1511+, which should position the DS1512+ as a respectable contender in the current NAS market -- or so the spec sheets would have us believe. Let's take a closer look at the hardware and software (including the recently released DiskStation Manger 4.0) before we greet Synology's latest offering with our usual array of benchmarks.

Synology DS1512+ Hardware

The DS1512+ uses the same design introduced by the DS1010+, which happens to be our favorite NAS design to date as it combines professional looks with practical functionality.

The 5-bay device measures 233mm long, 248mm wide, and 157mm tall, and it's quite heavy when empty at 4.25kg (9.36lbs) -- a figure that's bound to climb as you add storage. The front has five hot-swappable drive bays, each with their own green activity light at the top.

Synology has integrated a small key hole into the bottom of each drive tray that lets you lock individual drives. This implementation is more attractive than you'll find on other NAS devices.

Once unlocked, the bays release with a simple press. Sliding drives in and out of the DS1512+ is a breeze.

Directly above the hot-swappable drive bays are four more activity LEDs that indicate status, LAN1, LAN2 and alert. There is also a bright blue LED integrated into the power button which indicates that the unit is active.

Spinning around to the back reveals a pair of 80mm fans, dual Gigabit LAN ports, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA ports for connecting up to two DX510 units and a 3-pin power connector.

Synology has upgraded the cooling of the DS1512+ to include detachable fans, which should make them easier to replace if they fail.

As mentioned, the eSATA ports can be used to connect the DS1512+ to one or two DX510 expansion enclosures, adding 10 more bays to the base configuration. The dual Gigabit LAN ports are used to achieve the claimed 200.31MB/s read and 194.83MB/s write performance. They do this by using Link Aggregation technology, which allows grouping several physical Ethernet links to create one logical Ethernet link for the purpose of providing fault-tolerance and high-speed links between switches, routers, servers and in this case, the Synology DS1512+.

Whereas lower-end models such as the DS712+ feature front panel connectivity, Synology tends to exclude this feature on their more expensive models for whatever reason. This is the case with the DS1512+, which features no form of front panel connectivity. This means quick copying from external media must be done from the rear of the unit, a potential inconvenience for some users.

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Japanese scientists develop 20x faster Wi-Fi using T-rays

A team of Japanese scientists have succeeded in breaking the record for wireless data transmission in the terahertz range. The researchers were able to achieve speeds that are 20 times faster than typical Wi-Fi used today.

Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology have created special hardware that is capable of transmitting data at 3 GB/sec, or roughly 20 times faster than traditional Wi-Fi at frequencies that reach 542 GHz. They used a 1 millimeter-square device called a resonate tunneling diode that creates smaller voltages with higher current. Increasing the current made the device resonate and send the desired signal.

To do this, the scientists used what they called the “T-ray” band, otherwise known as the section of electromagnetic spectrum that falls between 300 GHz and 3 THz. This unregulated spectrum range is between that of microwave and far-infrared and could potentially be used for Wi-Fi networks at some point.

Realistically, terahertz Wi-Fi is just a proof of concept at this point and would likely only work over a range of about 10 meters. In theory, however, it could support data rates upwards of 100 GB/sec which is about 15 times faster than the next generation 802.11ac that is currently in development.

Scientists are hard at work to further refine the project with plans to extend its range further into the terahertz spectrum and increase power output. The full disclosure of information from the researchers has been published in Electronics Letters.

Credit : http://www.techspot.com/

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Fujitsu Lifebook NH751 review

A good news a gamers who are waiting for a new gaming laptop from the platform that is not really famous for its gaming laptop product. The good news comes from Fujitsu. The LifeBook NH751 packs 17.3-inch borderless LED backlight, Glossy display with 1920×1080 pixel resolution, can be powered by the Intel Quad-core i7-2630QM processor (2630QM, 2620M, 2410M 2310M options) and graphically supported by NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M wit 1GB and Optimus technology.

To make your gaming experience more immersive, Fujitsu LifeBook NH751 mounted 5-way surround system consisting of the main speakers 2x, 2x tweeter, 1x subwoofer. The system is also equipped with full-size spill-resistant keyboard, touchpad with buttons and door handle-less acrylic panel. LifeBook NH751 offers up to 8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 memory, up to 1TB of hard-disk storage, 10/100/1000 MBit LAN, integrated WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 3.0 ports, 4-in-1 card reader and ptionally built-in Blu-ray Disc.

Fujitsu Lifebook NH751 specsifications

• Intel Core i7-2630M Quad Core Mobile Processor
• 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Memory
• 640GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
• Blu-ray Reader And Dual-Layer DVD Burner Combo Drive
• 17.3" WSXGA (1680x945) LED Backlit Display With 1.3 Megapixel Webcam
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M Graphics With 1GB Memory
• Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth
• Four USB 2.0, eSATA (shared), HDMI, VGA, ExpressCard/54, 5-in-1 Card Reader
• 16.1" x 10.6" x 1.4" @ 8.2 lbs.
• Windows 7 Home Premium, Office Starter, Roxio Creater, PowerDVD, Norton Internet Security

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Lenovo announces IdeaCentre A720

Now that Lenovo's let it all out, it's easy to understand how it approached CES, and the days leading up to it. Thursday was ThinkPad day, yesterday was for all manner of consumer swag and today, Monday, is all about eye-catching designs. In addition to unveiling the Yoga convertible tablet, the company introduced the IdeaCentre A720, what it says is the world's thinnest 27-inch all-in-one. Similar to the HP TouchSmart 610, which debuted around this time last year, it has a display that can be tilted between 5 and 90 degrees, the idea being that that 10-point multitouch panel will be easier to use if it's lying at a near-flat angle. Spec-wise, it'll be offered with various Intel Core i processors, discrete NVIDIA graphics and up to either a 1TB HDD or a 64GB solid-state drive. Expect it to hit sometime in the first half of this year, starting at $1,299.

Specifications 

Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.30 GHz (Intel Ivy Bridge)

RAM 8 GB

การ์ดจอ NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M

HDD Western Digital 750 GB

Blu-ray drive

Screen size 27-inch 1920 x 1080 up to Multi-Touch 10  points simultaneously.

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HP EliteBook Folio 9470m for 4G

With quick boot-up times, long battery life, and thin, lightweight form factors, all Ultrabooks already have the makings of great business notebooks. But when it comes time to connect one to a conference room projector, replace the battery or just keep the data onboard locked up and secure, they’re not up to the task. HP hopes to remedy that with the 14-inch EliteBook Folio 9470m, its first purebred business Ultrabook.

While its predecessor, the Folio 13, helped blur the lines between business and consumer hardware, the 9470m ignores the middle road for a more no-compromises approach, retrofitting a standard Ultrabook with everything it needs for the road.

On the connectivity side, that means no dongles: Ethernet, VGA, and DisplayPort are all native, along with three USB 3.0 ports. You can also outfit it with built-in 4G LTE, and the battery is not only user replaceable, HP will actually sell an add-on sheet battery that brings total runtime up to a whopping 20 hours (it’s a rated a fairly standard 9 hours without).

Business notebook aficionados will also be happy to find a trackpointer (the little rubber pointing nub) in addition to the usual trackpad. Speaking of that trackpad, it’s huge, and this one keeps physical left and right mouse buttons intact. To make IT managers happy, it has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for keeping company data under lock and key, and a docking station for use when you’re more stationary at the office.

At 3.5 pounds and 19 mm thick, it’s not the most waif of the Ultrabook crop, but it easily reaches Intel’s requirements, and compared to old-school business ‘books, it’s a featherweight for its size.

The model HP had on hand was a nonfunctional prototype, but build quality felt right up to EliteBook standards, which are among the highest out there. (Keep in mind though, that without the “p” designation at the end of the name, it doesn’t pass the same military durability standards as some of HP’s other EliteBooks). Interestingly enough, the prototype also had a sheet battery held on with magnets – HP reps couldn’t confirm whether this design would make it to the final product, but it would be an interesting first. And with the SSDs in Ultrabooks finally eliminating sensitivity to magnets, the shift would make sense.

Of all the hardware shown off at HP’s Global Influencer Summit in Shanghai, this might actually be one of the furthest away from arriving: It won’t launch until October, which means no price attached just yet either. If HP’s other EliteBooks are any indication, we expect it to be well north of $1,000, but for road warriors, this one might be worth waiting – and paying – for.

Specifications 

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