Photo: scriptingnews / Flickr

Is it safe to say that the Apple Samsung patent battle has, officially, bubbled out of control? Irrespective, what can be said with certainty is the longer the legal battle stretches on, the more Samsung’s business is damaged. And this is not only so in terms of its fast-growing tablet PC business, but more specifically in its component supply business, with mounting evidence that Apple has started building supplier relationships elsewhere.

First, the supply side

In fiscal year 2010, Apple was Samsung’s second-biggest buyer, spending some $5.7 billion with the company. The only customer that brought in more money for the Korean consumer electronics giant is Sony. Now, with the Apple Samsung patent battle fast spiraling, there is plenty of evidence that Apple has begun sourcing components from other suppliers for its mega-hit mobile devices.

Irrespective of how fast Samsung is growing in other areas of its business, there’s no easy way to plug up the massive gap in a profit and loss statement a customer that big can leave.

When fighting hurts

HMC Investment Securities Nho Geun-chang says as much, telling Reuters that ‘Samsung’s tablet business will be most affected and its chip business will also take a hit as Apple moves to diversify away from Samsung to the likes of Toshiba.’

He added that: ‘But taking passive steps for fear of losing its biggest customer will slow down strong growth momentum at its telecoms business, which Samsung doesn’t want to see as the business is set to become the biggest earnings generator this year and make up for weakening chip profits. It’ll be a costly battle for Samsung.’

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, since in the end, either Samsung rolls over and lets Apple legally crush its fast-growing mobile business – not an option – or fights an expensive battle against a key customer – not ideal, but seemingly the only viable approach.

It’s a pity, really. The Apple Samsung patent battle sees two of the brightest stars in the mobile business distracted from what they should be doing – innovating and delivering stellar products.

Photo: mmanuel Alanis / Flickr

When the iPhone 4 launched, regardless of how you feel about Apple’s smartphone, one could not help but gush at how beautiful the screen looked. Apple called the LG-manufactured LCD panel a ‘Retina Display’ and the gulf between it and the display on the iPhone 3GS predecessor was enormous. And that’s with the iPhone 3GS having what was considered one of the best displays on market.

Competitors look like they’ve caught up – and surpassed – the iPhone 4 Retina Display in the super high-resolution display stakes.

Beyond Retina

While Samsung has been on Apple’s heels for sometime with their own Super AMOLED display, the latest display manufacturer to throw its hand in the ring is Toshiba. The company has developed a 4-inch display that has pixel density of 367 pixels per inch. This exceeds the pixel density on the 3.5-inch Retina Display, which has a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. What’s more, the Toshiba display’s 1,500:1 contrast ratio also edges out that of the iPhone 4, which is 800:1.

These aren’t the only Toshiba LCD panels debuted, with the company announcing a range of other screens ranging from 3.3 to 4 inches, though none of them exceed the iPhone 4 Retina Display.

Industry event reveal

Toshiba will be debuting this display technology, as well as other tech, including its 3D advances, at the 2011 Society for Information Display (SID) International Symposium running from 17 to 19 May.

In the press release announcing the products, Clayton Bond, senior vice president, Display Devices and Components Business Unit for TAEC said: ‘We are excited to exhibit several new and innovative products and technologies aimed at mobile, automotive and industrial applications. Our advancements in system-on-glass in-cell technology and our approaches to 3D will enable future growth in new markets and applications.’

At the end of the day, smartphone owners and mobile device buyers are the ones who will win if this display resolution arms race continues. From the iPhone 4 Retina Display to what others deliver, we’re the ones who win in the end.

Photo: Toshiba

While virtually the whole tech world has its eyes firmly fixed on what is happening at MWC 2011 in Barcelona, Toshiba has been throwing a lavish launch event of its own this week, revealing a tablet PC, new TVs, and a pair of ultra-slim laptops to take on the new Macbook Air.

Say hi to Satellite R830 and R850

The company is releasing two laptops, namely the Toshiba Satellite R830 and R850, with a heavy focus on reduced sized but with greater technical capability. The Japanese company says they are ‘designed to provide a premium blend of power and portability’, so there you have it.

The Toshiba Satellite R830 packs a 13.3-inch screen, with a swanky magnesium alloy chassis. The beefier Satellite R850 has a larger 15.6-inch HD display, with a strong resin body for extra sturdiness.

Give me power

Though the company didn’t unveil precise specs on the CPUs powering these computers, the company has said that they will feature Intel’s latest CPUs, likely meaning those Sandy Bridge units that have since been rereleased since the recall.

Why so unspecific?

In case it is not obvious, Toshiba seems to have been deliberately coy about coming out and saying what the specs on these ultra-slim laptops are, instead focusing on the aesthetics, input systems and, umm, cooling solutions on these computers. No, seriously, the company touts the notebooks’ ‘sophisticated cooling system’ that ‘prevents system components from overheating by channelling cool air towards the laptop’s main processing units’, which supposedly allows for optimum performance.

Whatever happened to the days of just saying the CPUs power, the GPU specifications, RAM capacity and hard drive size and format?

Price and release date?

Toshiba, however, is not the only company making a play for the ultra-slim laptops market, with a recent DigiTimes report indicating Asus, Acer and Lenovo are also making Macbook Air killers of their own.

We have yet to find out the official pricing for the Toshiba Satellite R830 and R850, as well as yet to hear word on the planned release date for the hardware. As soon as we know anything, we’ll let you know.

Photo: Toshiba

Storage giants Toshiba and SanDisk have announced a joint venture that will see them build a NAND flash memory chip factory. While the business reasons for the agreement aren’t completely apparent, the hope is this joint initiative will drive down consumer prices of still-expensive flash memory like that found in solid-state drives.

Yokkaichi, we pick you

The factory will be built in Yokkaichi, Japan, and it’s intended to help the companies to stay on top of the growing demand for NAND flash chips. In a joint statement, the companies said the need to develop this factory ‘reflects expectations for increasing demand for NAND flash memory for existing and emerging applications, such as smartphones and solid-state drives.’ It’s a very proactive approach to what, even to us, seems like the inevitable direction storage technology will keep accelerating.

The inner workings of the deal

This venture is not the first time these two work together, with partnerships in some form or another having been formed for the last decade. In addition, the two companies currently develop NAND flash chips technology together, too.

Photo: SanDisk

Though details are still scant on this particular deal, Toshiba is set to operate the factory, while SanDisk pays proportions of production equipment and input costs. The output from the factory will be shared between Toshiba and SanDisk.

The Fab 5 by the fab 2?

The new chip factory called Fab 5 has seen construction commence already. The staggered rollout will see the first phase of the project to be completed in early 2011, with production beginning the middle of 2011, a representative from Toshiba said.

Speaking to PC World, Toshiba declined saying how much money it will invest in the Fab 5 factory, but volunteered information on the company’s three-year program. Beginning April 2010, Toshiba is set to invest $500 billion yen (around £3.7 billion) in equipment and new chip factories. The representative told PC World that 80 per cent of that has been allocated to NAND flash chips technology.

Hurry up, already

We think this is great, and, for solid-state drives, more than anything else, can have a major bearing. The only thing holding consumers back from adopting SSDs wholesale is the impossibly high price, even though the value proposition is very explicit. If NAND flash chips become cheaper, everything built on them becomes cheaper, helping volume sold and saving your pocket from yet another bludgeoning. Bring on the Fab 5.

Photo: Toshiba

Toshiba has just announced a 9.5mm 750 GB hard drive. The MK7559GSXP might be quite a mouthful, but it’s worth remembering. It also claims to be 14 per cent more energy efficient than the company’s previous model. How can you go wrong?

Bigger, and better

The Japanese company has upped its Gbit/inch ratio from 528.5 in its previous 640GB offering, the 750GB MK7559GSXP, to 528.5Gbit/sq in for its MK7559GSXP two platter drive. This is a small increase, but considering the physical size of the 750GB hard drive, represents a big step forward. And if you don’t mind moving up to the 12.5mm class, Toshiba is also bringing out the MKxx59GSM series of 1TB hard drives, fitting in three platters into the 2.5-inch diagonal space. Both drives have 8M caches and use the 3Gbit/s SATA II interface.

The competition

WD announced a 750 GB hard drive, the Scorpio Blue two platter 2.5-inch drive, in 2009, claiming it to be very portable, with low power consumption, and high shock resistance. Seagate is also expected to announce a 5400.8 two-platter model at the 750GB hard drive level too, called the Momentus, in the coming weeks or months.

Hitachi lagging behind

Photo: Toshiba

Hitachi is lagging behind Toshiba and others, with its highest capacity Travelstar 7K500 hard drive at only 500GB. It does spin at an impressive 7,200 rpm, though. They might soon come up with something in the notebook hard drive sector, though, as Seagate’s Momentus 7200 matches its capacity, and Seagate are also busy introducing 10K and 15K SAS 6Gbit notebook drives, leaving Hitachi behind.

Toshiba’s new, more energy-efficient, hard drives use 4KB sector formatting. Expect the two-platter model to be sampled in April. The MK1059GSM 1TB, three-platter model, and a 750GB variant, will be coming in the third quarter. As yet, no prices have been announced.

Are you looking for a notebook that can multitask? If yes then the recently launched Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is custom built for you. The device is launched by Toshiba which is one of the biggest manufacturers of laptop for the past many years. Toshiba satellite has already produced various models from entry level notebooks to full-fledged high configuration notebooks. The recently launched Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is a very advanced notebook which is equipped with some good product specifications for its low price. The device is available in a stylish combination of colours which gives it a unique look. This notebook is specially built for those who want to make head turn.

Average specs

The processor is a very important element of any computing device because it provides the power. The all new Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is installed with a very powerful AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-65 processor which offers swift functionality. The powerful processor provides a clock speed of 2,100 MHz which is much more than most other similar products available in the market. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V laptop is among the best selling hi-end notebooks available in the market. Another very important part of a laptop is RAM which affects the functionality speed. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is equipped with 3072 MB of RAM which is quite enough. Furthermore, you can increase the RAM up to 8 GB.

250GB of storage

Most of the laptops available do not support a memory expansion but the Toshiba Satellite L450D notebook is one of the very few laptops which support memory expansion. The hard disk memory of this device is around 250 GB which is more than enough to store all sorts of programs. Most people like storing movies and songs on a laptop and Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) can store all sorts of movies and songs. It is equipped with a 15.6 inch display which enables you to have a clear display. As it has a large display the people who like to watch movies would simply love this device.

Half way decent graphics

The resolution of the display is around 1366 X 768 which is good enough for a standard laptop screen. On the other hand, this device is also equipped with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics card which allows you to play all sorts of high resolution programs. The Toshiba Satellite notebook is ideal for those who like to play games on the laptop. The device is also equipped with a DVD writer which allows you to burn data on a blank DVD. It is a very useful feature if you want to transfer data. The fantastic Toshiba laptop supports networking through Wireless-LAN and LAN 10/100.

Loaded with Windows 7

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is a very user friendly device because it is installed with a Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. In comparison with other operating system Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium is pretty easy to understand and use. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) laptop has a localisation of UK and Ireland. This device is equipped with all basic features and various technologically advanced features as well. Like most other laptops available in the market this device is equipped with 3 X USB 2.0 ports which allows you to connect all sorts of USB enabled devices. You can easily connect a mass storage device and transfer data or you can connect an iPod and charge it.

Connector ports

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V (PSLY5E-00T01LEN) is also equipped with various video outputs some of which include HDMI and VGA D-Sub (HD-15). Using these connection ports and outputs you can easily connect a number of devices with it. Most of the laptops are equipped with a card reader so that you can connect various formats of memory cards. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11V laptop is also equipped with a 4 in 1 card reader which allows you to connect various formats of memory cards. Additionally, it is also connected with a 1.3 megapixel webcam which allows you to video chat without connecting any external device.

If you want buy a high quality notebook then you should look out for Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN). The laptop is recently launched and is among the best selling products of its kind. It is a product of the very famous Toshiba Satellite L450D series which has already produced very famous laptops. It is available in a stylish silver colour which gives it a stylish and sophisticated look. The device is well known for multitasking which enables you to perform various tasks at the same time. The best part about this Toshiba laptop is that you can enhance the configuration whenever required.

Average Processor and RAM

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN) laptop allows multitasking because it is installed with a very powerful AMD Mobile Sempron SI-42 processer. The processor is very famous for multitasking and provides a clock speed of 2100MHz which is more than enough. Even the best laptops do not provide such a high speed which makes Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN) a must buy bargain notebook. The device is installed with 3072 MB of RAM and you can expand it to 8 GB which is much more than most other laptops available in the market. There is various software applications that require a high RAM capacity and you can upgrade Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN) whenever required.

Display and storage size

The hard disk memory of this device is around 250 GB which is more than enough to store all sorts of data. Using such a large memory you can store all the movies and songs that you want. The hard disk memory is a very important part of every computer because it stores the data which you can access anytime you switch on the computer. The Toshiba L450D-113 notebook is equipped with a 15.6 inch display which offers crystal clear picture that will take your breath away. The resolution of this large screen laptop is around 1366 X 768 which is better than most other laptops available in the market.

Windows 7 machine

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN) is equipped with ATI Mobility Radeon HD3200 graphics card which enables you to run all sorts of high resolution programs. The people who like to play games on a laptop should look out for Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 (PSLY5E-00J01LEN) because it supports all sorts of high resolution games. It is also fitted with a DVD writer which allows you to burn data on a DVD. This device supports networking through Wireless-LAN and LAN 10/100. It is a very user friendly device as it is installed with Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system. It is a very easy to use and can be easily operated.

Plenty of connection ports

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-113 notebook is fixed with 3 USB 2.0 connection ports which allow you connect a number of USB enabled devices with it. It supports various video outputs some of which include HDMI and VGA D-Sub (HD-15). Additionally, it is also equipped with a 4 in 1 card reader which allows you to connect all formats of memory cards with this device. It is equipped with a built in webcam which allows you to video chat without connecting any external device. The Kensington Lock Support integrated security system makes it safe to use. The entire Toshiba notebook weighs around 2.6 kg which allows you to easily carry it. It is a stylish laptop which will definitely make heads turn. You can buy this device at affordable prices from a store near your home.

Toshiba has been among the biggest producers of some of the most advanced and attractive laptops. The Toshiba Satellite L450D is one of the best series which has already produced some of the best selling laptops. This device is equipped with a very powerful AMD Turion 64 X 2 RM 74 processor which provides swift functionality. Most of the Toshiba Satellite L450D series laptops are equipped with Turion 64 X 2 RM 74 processor. The clock speed of this Toshiba laptop is around 2200 MHz which is more than most other laptops available in the market. It is one of the most powerful laptops which are available in a stylish and glossy finish which gives it a trendy and modish look.

RAM and hard disk

It is installed with a very powerful 4096 MB of RAM which further enhances the overall functionality speed of the laptop. The RAM can be further expanded up to 8 GB which is more than enough. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) laptop is installed with a very a whopping 500 GB hard disk memory which is more than enough to store everything you want. The Toshiba L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) is specially built to store movies, games, songs and various other software applications which consume a lot of space. Most other laptops available in the market can only store limited data because they have quite less hard disk memory.

Display

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) laptop is equipped with a 15.6 inch display which offers a spectacular clarity which will take your breath away. The laptop is ideal for watching movies on the go because it is fitted with headphones jack that allows you to connect headphones and enjoy movies without disturbing the person sitting next to you. The resolution of the display of this device is around 1366 X 768 which is better than most other similar laptops available in the market. On the other hand, it is fixed with 3 X USB 2.0 ports which allow you to connect a number of USB enabled devices.

Connectivity

You can easily connect all formats of memory cards with Toshiba Satellite L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) notebook because it is equipped with 4 in 1 card reader. It is also equipped with a built in webcam which allows you to record pictures on the go. It is also fixed with various USB ports which allow you to connect a number of USB enabled devices. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) laptop supports networking through Wireless-LAN, Modem and LAN 10/100. The Toshiba L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) laptop is installed with a Kensington Lock Support to prevent theft.

Battery could be better

The Toshiba Satellite L450D-11X (PSLY5E-00S01LEN) laptop is installed with an amazing rechargeable battery that offers a long battery backup of 2.5 hours at a stretch. Like most other laptops this device is very light in weight and can be easily carried. As the Toshiba laptop is a very fragile device and can be easily damaged by the slightest of shocks hence you should take special care or buy a carry case for it.

Netbooks are the latest trend in the market of portable computers and they came into existence in 2007 when Asus Company launched the Asus Eee PC. People using a computer at some point or the other, may feel the need to have a laptop that is simple to carry anywhere and accomplishes the daily computing tasks perfectly. With this thought in mind, many of the leading brands of portable computers have put forward the netbook as the best computer for the next generation. Netbooks are similar to notebook computers but the only difference being the smaller size of the former as they are specifically designed for the purpose of browsing and emailing in the internet.

Netbook overview

Apart from the compact size and lightweight, another important reason for the increasing popularity of netbooks is their energy efficiency. The screen size of netbooks usually ranges between 7-10 inches and they have a manageably small keyboard. Optical drives like CD ROM or disk drive are usually missing in a netbook which contributes to their lightweight nature. Although, small in size, a netbook can be used for very long time without any problem thanks to the 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) included in most of the models available these days. Netbooks are basically meant for outdoor use and are therefore, designed to pick internet from any location as long as one is in easy reach of internet connectivity. One of the leading manufacturers of netbook is Toshiba and its latest launch is the Toshiba NB200-11N.

Toshiba gets in on the netbook craze

Toshiba Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate and its main business is in infrastructure, consumer products, electronic devices and components. It has been well-known for launching some of the most uniquely styled and innovative products in the market. From the very beginning, Toshiba aimed at manufacturing out-of-the-league products and has succeeded in doing that by launching many of the world’s firsts, like the world’s first industry standard notebook, pen based Tablet PC, notebook with an integrated DVD drive, AV Notebook with integrated HD –DVD ROM drive and the latest being the notebook with 7mm Super-Multi DVD Drive. Its every new launch has had a history of enormous success in the market and has been appreciated by people all over the world. The latest Toshiba NB200-11N netbook is also considered to make a similar mark in market of netbooks like Toshiba’s previous launches have done in their respective lines.

Excellent balance between style, size and performance

The Toshiba NB200-11N netbook has taken the market of mobile computing by wave by striking a perfect balance between price and quality. It comes with a 10-inch display and has the powerful Intel Atom Processor. This mini laptop has the Windows XP Home operating system pre-installed into it and is great for browsing the Internet. With a set of some of the most amazing features, the Toshiba NB200-11N is an affordable option for education. For a smooth running for all your applications there is the 1 GB DDR2 800 MHz RAM and for storing all your essential and favourite files on the Toshiba NB200-11N, you have the hard disk capacity of 160 GB. It is a perfect travelling companion owing to its slimline design and lightweight of just 1.33 kg which allows you to comfortably it carry around fitting into your handbag or handluggage. There is a near-size keyboard that ensures that you type with ease without missing any keys. The 6-cell battery included into the netbook provides an incredible battery life of 9 hours and comfortably allows you to connect to your netbook wherever you are without the need to having to connect to power.

Easy to carry with you

While traveling, for every gadget that you carry you need to carry a suitable charging accessory for it. However, if you have the Toshiba netbook, there is no need to carry around multiple charging accessories because it contains 3 Sleep N Charge USB ports using which you can charge your mobile phone, MP3 player and other digital gadgets even when your netbook is not turned on. While you browse on the Internet and do any other computing task, you can charge your gadgets at the same time.

Capable WiFi

The Integrated Communication of the Toshiba NB200-11N uses configfree for automatic detection of available network connections and enables you to connect to the Internet at home, office, airport or any other place using the wireless 802.11 b/g technology. In addition, there is also the in-built Bluetooth technology for connecting with mobile phones, MP3 players, etc. The microphone and 0.3 MP webcam allows you to have a video chat with your friends and relatives all over the world and also capture those moments by taking still pictures, video clips and audio notes.

The recently launched Toshiba Satellite L450D-13U is among the best selling notebooks available in the market. It is especially for a person who wants to become the talk of the town. The stylish silver coloured device gives a very trendy and catchy look. It is very light in weight and can be easily carried which makes it a favoured choice for thousands all across the world. It is equipped with a very powerful AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-64 processer that allows you to multitask without any hassle. The very powerful AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-64 processor offers a clock speed of around 2100 MHz which is more than enough.

Unremarkable laptop in most ways

The hard disk memory of this device is around 320 GB which is more than enough to store all sorts of audio and video files. It has a large screen of 15.6 inch which provides a fantastic resolution of 1366 X 768 which is much better in comparison with other similar products available in the market. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-13U laptop supports networking through Wireless-LAN. This laptop is demanded by those people who love playing PC games on the laptop because it has a large screen and the AMD Athlon 64 X2 QL-64 processor supports all sorts of games.

Decent battery could be better

The Toshiba notebook is provide with a charger which can be easily plugged in to charge the device. Once fully charged the battery works for around 2.5 hours which is quite enough. The Toshiba Satellite L450D-13U is a very light weight and powerful device which can be easily bought at affordable prices.