Category: Laptops / Notebooks
Asus Airo foldable laptop gets price and date
I’m rather gobsmacked this morning to read that Asus is actually going to release their origami-inspired foldable laptop, the Airo, later this year. There was little said about either it or the dual screened shared notebook concepts…
Microsoft's SeniorPC Project
As birth rates and death rates both fall off in Western countries, something that we’re going to have to face up to in the future is a rapidly aging population. Microsoft doesn’t see that as a problem – more of an opportunity to flog some PCs, and it’s teamed up with HP to design computers for the elderly.
Three SeniorPC offerings are currently being tested. They’re targeted at an audience who’s never used email, browsed the internet or used a word processor. As a result, the software included on the PCs are special versions that are greatly simplified, produced by a company called QualiLife.
Windows Vista Home Basic is preloaded onto the machines with a ‘shell’ built over it that makes things easier to locate. A very simplistic browser is included too, as well as a simplified email client and the word processor from Microsoft Works, which is simpler than Office’s Word. It’s possibly to disable the simplistic versions of the software once someone gets more comfortable using it, enabling more advanced features.
Some specialist programs are also pre-loaded. A piece of medication management software called OnTimeRX will let users manage their medication, telling them what to take and when. Family members and physicians can access this to check if medication is being taken. There’s also two memory games – Slide Puzzle and Super Word Slide – that help fight against memory problems.
Hardware-wise, the machines come in both laptop and desktop form factors, with one package including a “BigKeys” keyboard, and a “BigTrack” trackball. They’re good for arthritis sufferers apparently. At the time of delivery, Microsoft will also offer training on any included software and hardware, as well as a year of customer support and internet connectivity.
At the moment, these packages aren’t available in the UK yet, just in the States. I’ve got an email in to Microsoft asking how it’s going and whether we’re likely to see the project in the UK in the near future. I’ll let you know if I hear back.
Dell Adamo available from £1,649 today – super thin, super sexy
Prepare yourself for some sort of Dell orgasm because the Adamo is available today. The Texas company has launched two versions and two colours of their take on the MacBook Air and they’re using Barry White levels…
Introducing the Pocket Yoga – the netbook that never was
These days, with every man and his dog owning a netbook of some kind, you have to do something really special to stand out from the crowd. The Pocket Yoga seemed to have done that, kicking up a storm in the blog world – and then we found out its based on a concept from two years ago.
According to the Lenovo Design Matters Blog, all the images that appeared on their Flickr feed and got people talking about a netbook/tablet crossover are just that: images – two-year-old prototypes as a matter of fact, which would have put the company well ahead of the netbook trend. That’s a real shame because, as you’ll see from the gallery below, the pictures look like a stylish alternative to the popular smartphones of the moment. Although, that said, they clearly didn’t anticipate the handcramp that extended writing on an early netbook can give one.
So for the moment at least, you can chalk this one up to a misguided rumour. The pictures are real but they shouldn’t be amounting to much more. Pity.
To see what might have been, click the picture to look through the gallery.
Alan Martin
Lenovo’s Flickr Feed (via Design Matters)
Sources sugggest Apple launching netbook after all
After months of will-they, won’t-they action on the subject of an Apple netbook, the latest reports suggest that they-will is winning out. Apple is apparently working with a Taiwanese corporation, Wintek, to produce 10″ touchscreens for such a device.
The launch could be as soon as the second half of the year, and it would likely be packing a stripped-down OS, somewhere in between standard OS X and the iPhone OS. The touchscreen is almost a given, after how well multi-touch on the iPhone has gone down.
One thing that remains under question – will Apple drop the specs to match other netbook manufacturers? Or will they try and cram high-end components into a tiny shell? Apple’s never been one for making budget models of its computers, and there’s no reason why it might start now.
(via CNN Money)
Asus: out with the 7" & in with the Eee PC 1008HA
Hands up who wants a 1-inch thick laptop with an edge-to-edge 10-inch screen from Asus? Keep your hands up if you mind that it’s just a touch over 1kg. And keep them up still if you’ve a problem with paying 600 Euros for it. What about if I tell you the battery is non-replaceable? Yeah, I’m not seeing quite so many takers now.
Still, the Asus Eee PC 1008HA is pretty little
Asus unleashes ultra-thin U and UX series of laptops
We’ve just been dropped word of some new laptops from Asus, the U and UX series. I normally strip out press release fluff, but there’s an amazing bit here that I’ll quote to you:
“Each of them a masterpiece so immensely desirable, the U and UX Series takes modern day computing to the streets, bringing delight to the users’ senses and allowing them to work or play in style.”
Hilarious. That’s not the only ridiculous section, it’s all insane. Go read it here. If you’re more into hard specs, though, then here’s the skinny. Both models have backlit keyboards, and the U series has a 15.6″ display, Core 2 Duo processor, 500GB hard drive, 512MB of GeForce G105M graphics, illuminated trackpad and Altec Lansing speakers.
The UX, on the other hand, we don’t have any info about beyond the fact that it has a slot-in optical drive and a combination of matte and gloss finishes. Let’s hope we get a bit more info soon, as well as a video of that illuminated trackpad on the U series. Pricing and availability info TBC.
Asus Press Release
UK Government donates a thousand old PCs to charity
Fancy a bit of a feel-good story for Friday afternoon? The UK Government’s Department for International Development has decided to ship a thousand laptops that it doesn’t use any more to Africa. It’s all being done through charity Computer Aid, who we’ve covered before.
The laptops, previously in use by civil servants, aren’t OLPCs or any other low-cost, low-spec machines – they’re proper full-on laptops. They’re going to organizations like the Prof. Iya Abubakar Community Resource Center in Nigeria, which helps local people start their own businesses.
Rumours that each laptop is chock-full of confidential documents and databases are so far unsubstantiated.
Apple PowerBook explodes in London office
Laptops don’t explode much. When they do, it’s usually rather on the spectacular side. Rather spectacular, therefore, were the scenes in the London office of an unnamed marketing company the other day, when an Apple Powerbook went KABOOM.
First, it started smoking, and the laptop’s user called the IT manager. It stopped, and he picked it up, but when he put it back down again it suddenly went BANG, caught fire and started shooting sparks everywhere. After evacuating the office, he returned to the laptop to find six-foot flames shooting out of it. He hit the fire alarm, and legged it.
After a fire marshall showed up, he used most of a fire extinguisher on the burning wreck, which calmed it down temporarily, but as soon as he stopped, it started flaming again, just as vigorously as before, with the inside red hot and glowing. They then waited for the fire department to show up.
Apple is checking the serial number to see whether it was part of the series whose batteries were recalled a few years back. If not, it could prompt another recall, but it’s just as well that this was in an office. In an empty flat, or a car or plane, things could have been a lot worse.
(via the Inquirer, who have plenty of good pictures)
Two MSI X-Slim laptops announced
These little Apple-aping beauties are the X340 and X600, from MSI. They’re part of the X-Slim range, which also includes the X320, which we spotted at CES.
The smaller X340 has a 13.4″ screen, with the X600 going up to a more standard 15.6″. They both offer HDMI-out as well as VGA and pack Centrino 2 processors. The X340 is suggested to cost somewhere between $699 and $999, which is a bit like saying London is between Spain and Scotland.
No release date, or UK prices yet. Shame, because these do look rather nice, even if they’re a tad on the derivative side.
(via Engadget)
