New HP Mini 210 offers screwless access to upgradeable parts
Jan 17th
There may be other great things about the new HP Mini 210, but there’s one feature I think is definitely worth talking about. Netbooked has posted a hands-on video with the unit which reveals that the bottom cover can be removed without a screwdriver.
I don’t know how many times I’ve cursed laptop manufacturers over the years as I search for one more screw to release something I need to remove. a screw-free casing certainly sounds like a good idea to me.
Of course, over time the clips which hold the cover on could degrade and lose their effectiveness – but that will probably be long after you throw your netbook in a recycle bin.
Check out the video after the break!
NVidia Ion 2 spotted in the wild at CES?
Jan 13th
TechReport spotted some new models from Zotac during the craziness at CES, including the system above – clearly marked as running Pinetrail + GT218. Yep, that’s the NVidia GPU which has reportedly mutated into the Ion 2 “chipset.”
It’s too bad there are a couple downsides to this picture. One, the socket is totally covered and there’s no view which shows whether or not that’s a mini-PCIe slot under there. Two, the label also clearly says “non-working.”
From what I’ve seen over the years on other laptop designs, it’s entirely possible that there is, in fact, a socket and an expansion card under that HSF. It’s also entirely possible that this particular unit at CES didn’t have anything under it.
Bottom line: Ion 2 is still “coming soon,” but at least OEMs are obviously ready to ship it once it’s ready.
Gateway LT2102H unboxing and first look!
Jan 11th
Wondering why it’s been so quiet the last couple of days? Too much drinking to help me cope with all the news out of CES?
No! I’ve been wringing my hands waiting for Futureshop to finally deliver my Gateway LT2101H – the one I discovered on their site more than a week ago. Do to a backorder and inattentive CSR, I ended up having to wait four extra days – but it’s here now!
Take the jump, and have a look at the pics! Read the rest of this entry »
NVidia’s Tegra 2 is 1080p capable, can run Unreal Engine 3 games
Jan 9th
Over at Liliputing, Brad continues churning out news from CES 2010 in Las Vegas. In the last couple days, the thing I’ve been most excited about is the slew of NVidia Tegra 2 tablets and netbooks on display. Why?
Because Tegra 2 is a giant leap ahead of the current Tegra platform. Here are some highlights of Tegra 2, in case you’ve missed them:
- 40nm process Dual-core ARM Cortex A9 processor at 1GHz
- 4x faster than current-gen Tegra
- full 1080p HD (including HW accelerated Flash 10.1)
- insane battery life: 140 hours of music and roughly 16 hours of full HD video
- supports Linux (eventually including Chrome OS), Android, Windows CE/WinMo
But there’s one feature that has been somewhat glossed over. The Tegra 2 can also run games built on Unreal Engine 3. Better still, it runs pretty darn well – read on, and check it out in the video after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »