Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

To coincide with the official launch of Sprint’s 4G mobile broadband service called XOHM (its WiMAX network), four top PC brands have introduced new notebook products which support XOHM.  For those not in the loop, WiMAX is faster than what you usually get from a mobile phone 3G network. 

If you are seriously considering getting a new notebook that fully supports the XOHM WiMAX network, we have a rundown of the new notebooks from Acer, Asus, Lenovo and Toshiba after the break.

MORE »

You know that WiMAX over in Baltimore?  The one you have to buy an external device to connect to?  Now there’s another option, two options actually.  Acer has announced two laptops that can connect to the XOHM WiMAX in Baltimore. 

The notebooks.com article seems to hint that they will only be available to those in Baltimore.  Though since they are being sold on NewEgg and TigerDirect, it would make sense anyone could buy them.  The WiMAX presumably would only be useful in the cities that have WiMAX, or at least those that have WiMAX from XOHM.

MORE »

While most likely not their only game plan, Intel ponied up to the netbook game by buying netbook.com.  By combining the grim economic outlook with one part of tech that continues to boom, Intel is hedging their bets that netbooks will continue to thrive, perhaps even more so in the run up to the holidays.

But what’s a netbook?

Find out by clicking more

MORE »

The latest collaboration between two renowned brands, Acer and Seagate, has produced an outstanding improvement in notebook hard disk capacity, up to 500GB for new Acer laptops.  I, for one, am glad that Seagate has managed to meet the increasing demand for higher hard disk capacity on laptops.  As a frequent laptop user, I know how limiting it is to find out that I don’t have enough free space to meet my excessive multimedia needs.

MORE »

I guess with all the available options for netbooks, you have to stand out in some way. Acer has decided to make their attempt by lowering the price of the Aspire One just in time for the back-to-school shopping rush.

The price drops are pretty nice and are offering quite a bit of savings. The Windows XP based model has been lowered from $399 down to $349 and the Linpus Lite based model has been lowered from $379 down to just $329. Of course, considering the Aspire One has already gotten quite a few good reviews, this just makes it a little more appealing.

Via [SlashGear]

Acer America has just unleashed a new compact desktop PC geared for business use, the Veriton S461 touting an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with high-capacity hard drive and a dual channel RAM. This energy efficient PC is best suited for office environments since its dual core-processing power helps reduce noise when the PC is powered on. The Veriton S461 boasts of Acer’s LANScope 3.5 application which makes it easy for system administrators to manage and maintain asset inventory, diagnose, reboot and repair systems remotely.

Other features and specifications of the Veriton S461 include an Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, 2GB DDR2 RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), an 80GB SATA II hard drive, DVD-Dual drive, low-profile expansion slots, Gigabit LAN, PS2 keyboard, and USB optical mouse. This desktop PC runs Windows Vista Business but comes with the XP downgrade CD.

The Veriton S461 is now available at all North American Acer resellers and will set you back $546.

Read [Business Wire]

Acer has recently begun shipping their Gemstone 8920G, and for lack of a better guess, I can only assume the “G” after 8920 stands for gigantic.

The Gemstone 8920G is sporting an 18.2-inch display, and weighs in at about nine pounds. Otherwise it does offer a solid set of specs which include the previously mentioned 18.2-inch display that offers a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

The 8920G is powered by a 2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9300 processor, has 4GB of RAM and also features two internal hard drives which total out at 640GB of storage, a 512MB nVidia 9650M GS card for graphics, Wireless-N Wi-Fi, an HDMI out as well as a DVD writer with Blu-ray reading capability.

While technically a laptop, the 8920G would certainly fall into the desktop replacement category, but it should make a nice portable semi-portable HD movie player. Of course all these high-end specs will not come cheap, expect to pay nearly $3,000 for one of your own.

Via [Trusted Reviews]

Acer has announced that the Aspire One netbook is now officially available here in the US. Set to compete in the already overflowing market with the likes of the Eee PC from Asus, the HP Mini-Note and the upcoming Dell E mini.

The Aspire One will be available initially in sapphire blue or seashell white with a golden brown and diamond black model coming later this year. The notebook will be available in a few models, the AOA110-1722, AOA150-1570 and the AOA110-1566 which will retail for $379, $399 and $449 respectively.

All the models of the Aspire One will feature an 8.9-inch display with a 1024 x 600 resolution, 1.60GHz Intel Atom Processor N270 processor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, built-in webcam, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, built-in card reader, 3 USB ports and an Ethernet port.

The AOA110-1722 will come with an 8GB SSD, 512MB of RAM, a 3-cell battery and running Linpus Linux Lite. The AOA150-1570 will offer a 120GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, a 3-cell battery and running Windows XP Home. The high-end model, the AOA110-1566 features an 8GB SSD, 1GB of RAM, ships with a 6-cell battery and is running Linpus Linux Lite.

The Aspire One, which is currently available can be found directly from Acer and also at Best Buy, Circuit City and CDW.

MORE »

Acer has just announced the newest desktop model in their mini PC lineup, the Aspire X1200. While it may not be the most powerful of PC’s on the market today, it does have a few things going for it. The Aspire X1200 has a small overall size measuring in at just 10.6 x 4 x 14.4-inches and it also has more ports that you would probably need.

Spec wise the Aspire X1200 series PC’s run Windows Vista Premium 64 with SP1 and all include 4GB DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8200 on-board graphics, a double-layer 16x SuperMulti drive and a 14-in-1 card reader. They all also include nine total USB ports, with five on the back and four on the front, an HDMI port as well as Firewire and audio jacks on the front.

The U1520A is powered by a AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4850e processor, the U1510A has the AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 5000+ processor and the B1581A has a AMD Athlon X2 Dual Core 4850e processor. In addition the B1581A also includes a 22-inch widescreen display.

Pricing for the Aspire X1200 series is as follows, the U1520A retails for $449.99, the U1510A retails for $459.99 and the B1581A retails for $699.99. The U1520A and the U1510A are currently available, while the B1581A will be available beginning July 13.

Keep reading for the full press release.

MORE »

Asus may be a little optimistic, or maybe just cocky, but they believe that they can make a 1430% increase in sales this year over last year with their Eee PC. Yes, they are predicting that they can make 5 million sales this year, and although it is unclear as to whether this just includes the Eee PC, or if this prediction incorporates many of the other products that have been given the Eee PC label, it is still very optimistic either way.

Or is it? Last year Asus had the whole of the market, which considering their 350,000 sales wasn’t massive; however the market for low cost ultra portable computers has increased massively, and Asus president Jerry Shen (who made the above prediction) also said that they expected this marked to grow to 10 million sales overall. If you then consider that HP’s Mini-Note has only been available for a few months, that Acer and MSI have yet to release their Eee PC-competitors, and Dell hasn’t even officially announced its entry into the marketplace, they may just have a good chance at getting the predicted 50% of the market.

I personally think that although they may get 50% of the market at most, 10 million sales is probably a bit to many, but we will see.

Via [Liliputing]