Photo: Lenovo

Chinese computer developing company Lenovo has recently announced that it will more than likely soon be releasing its latest innovation to the USA and hopefully Europe. The Lenovo LePad is a tablet PC that will see Lenovo competing with other tablet manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung.

Hybrid capabilities

Lenovo revealed a hybrid prototype of the LePad at CES last year which functioned both as a laptop and a tablet. While the hybrid idea has been scrapped, Lenovo are still scheduled to release the tablet soon. The hybrid device, which will consist of a special case including a keyboard and laptop hardware, will hopefully be released shortly after.

Advantages

Tablets have become extremely popular over the space of a few months, yet touchscreen interfaces can be limiting. It seems the new generation of tablets, due to necessity, will be hybrids. Using a touchscreen to type or record data can be quite tedious, but with a QWERTY keyboard included as well as a separate OS from where Windows programs may be run, it seems the LePad will be an excellent option for business people.

Specs

Internal specs are still to be released regarding the laptop side of the LePad but according to information published by Engadget the tablet part of the device will run the Android platform and the separate keyboard and case will probably run Windows 7 with an Intel processor. We will have to wait and see, though. According to Engadget the tablet is set to be released in the US but as for now the hybrid option will only available in China. As demand grows that is sure to change.

There is good news for pro mobile gamers. MSI has recently launched its new gaming monster called the MSI GT627. It’s a new laptop that is optimised for gaming on the go. The company had unveiled this one at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2009. It is powered by MSI’s Turbo Drive engine Technology that offers CPU overclocking at the touch of a button.

The MSI GT627 has got everything a professional gamer thinks of. From high definition graphics to extraordinary processing speed to Dolby Digital sound, the MSI has incorporated everything in this ‘tiny monster’. This specimen is far more powerful than your MSI Megabook GX600 or MSI Wind. However due to high performance hardware and loads of options included in the machine the overall weight increases. So if you are not ready to put some extra pressure on your shoulders and lap then it will certainly disappoint you but if you are more focused on high-tech gaming then the MSI GT627 is one of the best gaming laptops on the planet as of now.

This gaming oriented laptop features:

• 15.4” LCD monitor
• NVIDIA Geforce 9800M GS 3D graphic card with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
• 7.1 channel output
• Intel Core2 Duo processor on Intel PM45 Express Chipset
• High definition video scaling
• Built in 2.0 mega pixels web cam
• Wide range of connectivity options including USB, HDMI and Wi-Fi

Tags for this article: mobile, laptop, best gaming laptop 2009

NEC Electronics America has recently unveiled its first prototype devices that support the USB 3.0 specification. The company has demonstrated the working of the new devices in the USB Tech Zone at Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2009. The demonstration featured a USB 3.0 PHY test chip that is developed by NEC.

According to NEC Electronics the new USB 3.0 based prototypes can support data transfer speed 10 times faster than the legacy USB 2.0 specification offers. This means we can expect devices like the Integral Courier 16GB USB stick to transfer data ten times as fast in the future, which is an exceptional improvement. Morover, it’s also good news that the new USB 3.0 devices are compatible with the old USB 2.0 specification as well. However, plugging it into the old USB interface will of course force the device to work below its full potential. The company also revealed that it is currently evaluating a large number of USB 3.0 devices including bridge chips, hub controllers etc.

Katsuhiko Nakazawa, general manager for digital consumer and connectivity strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America commented, “NEC Electronics continues to deliver innovative solutions to help establish and promote the adoption of new USB specifications, and USB 3.0 represents a natural evolution of the USB standard, delivering greater transfer capabilities for today’s feature-rich consumer electronics products. As a leading supplier of USB and PCI Express technologies, we offer all of the building blocks required to develop the next generation of USB technology, and we are also working to develop new SuperSpeed USB devices that will offer the required performance increases and interoperability with existing USB standards needed to facilitate a smooth transition to the new standard.”

Tags for this article: ces 2009, chip, devices, las vegas, nec, superspeed, usb 3.0

The Palm Pre is the latest touch screen smartphone launched by Palm. It’s sleek, speedy and stylish enough to match your prestige and glamour. Basically, the Palm Pre is a Web-centric smartphone that offers stupendous features and capabilities. At first glance you will be impressed by its 3.1 inch curvy touchscreen that renders jaw dropping precision graphics at a resolution of 320×480 pixels. Moreover, this phone delivers an unprecedented user interaction and navigation.

The Palm Pre is targeted towards professionals and mobile computing enthusiasts. It beautifully sports all the necessary functions and applications. Ergonomically, the Palm Pre impeccably designed and feels good in the hand. Not only outer aesthetics are cool but the internal UI (user interface) too is mesmerising. It is entirely different and improved upon anything Palm did previously with models like the Palm Treo 680. With multi-touch capabilities incorporated the Palm Pre offers easy navigation and web browsing. It is also blessed with a unique touch operating system called webOS and a special gesture area that makes the user interaction more engaging and enjoyable by mapping simple finger gestures to phone’s operations. For instance, you can go back to a previous menu by simply sliding the finger to the left.

Palm Pre is purely a smartphone for the corporate users. It follows a holistic algorithm and automatically integrates all the necessary data residing at different locations (on the phone, at your work place and on the web) at one place. So it’s an ideal device to automate the data management. The processing core of Palm Pre is incited by via TI OMAP 3430 processor. It supports all the standard connectivity protocols including USB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and is fully compatible with all popular media (audio/video) formats.

The CES 2009 gave us many fascinating surprises but the new SD card specification unveiled by the SD association is simply unbelievable. The SD Association claims that the new SD card standards will enable the development of super-storage SD cards that could hold up to 2TB of data. Users will be able to store around 100 high definition movies or 60 hours of HD recording on such tiny and lightweight cards. Professional image editors will also benefit to a great extent as the new SD standard will allow them to store 4000 images in RAW format.

SD cards account for the maximum revenue that is generated by the mobile computing accessories. These cards are used almost with every gadget nowadays. Be it laptop, smartphones, regular mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, PMPs, DAPs or anything else, the SD cards are the major source of memory expansion and data transfer. Currently the SD cards features storage capacity up to 64GB, although most, like the Sandisk SD Card, offer only around 2GB. So getting a 2TB SD card is altogether a revolution in itself. It’s like installing a 2000GB HDD in your computing gadgets. The new SD specification uses exFAT file system and assures read/write speeds up to 104MB/sec. The specification is named SDXC (eXtended Capacity).

The SD interface already has proven itself valuable in mobile phones. Now, SDXC memory card capabilities will spur further handset sophistication and boost consumer content demand”, states James Taylor, president of the SD Association.

Tags for this article: cards, specification of mobile computing definition

AMD, the leading maker of top notch computing peripherals, has recently made a significant move in the field of mobile computing by unveiling its external graphics booster at Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2009. This is a must have accessory for pro gamers. It is very useful in converting the typically light configurations of laptops, notebooks or netbooks into something capable of handling hardcore gaming and graphics processing

The external graphics booster acts as an external Plug n Play graphics card that can be plugged in to the laptop to play latest 3D games. When you are done, simply unplug it and the laptop will switch over to its built-in graphics chip flawlessly. The external graphics booster has an ample amount of processing power for rendering smooth and fluid effects during the game play. The best thing is that the gamers don’t have to replace their existing laptops to enjoy hi-fi gaming. They don’t have to install a new graphics card, like the GigaByte GeForce 9800GTX, in their laptop either. Instead they can instantly connect the external graphics booster and get all the necessary gear required to play high graphics games.

The issue with the external graphics booster is that it is based on Radeon Mobility 3870 platform which is comparatively an old product now a days. Another problem is that the graphic booster requires special hardware configuration on the laptop’s part. You cannot simply connect it to any portable computing machine. However if you got the right machine then the external graphic booster will offer you hassle free operation and mind blowing performance.