11/19, 8:15am
ASUS' fastest netbook to have $500 price
ASUS' Eee PC 1201N today received more definitive release details for the US. The American version will have both the 1.6GHz dual-core Atom 330 and NVIDIA Ion chipset that should give it both faster overall performance and the option of 1080p video, including in Flash 10.1. The netbook will be one of the first to come with Windows 7 Home Premium and accordingly come with 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive.
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11/18, 10:40am
ASUS G51J 3D also has Core i7
ASUS today officially took the wraps from the first notebook to use NVIDIA's GeForce 3D Vision. The G51J 3D uses both NVIDIA's special glasses and a 120Hz LCD to add spatial depth to games that support it, such as Arkham Asylum and Borderlands. The combination of a 1.6GHz Core i7 and a GeForce GTX 260M help run the games at the 15.6-inch notebook's native 1366x768 resolution.
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11/18, 8:00am
ATI Radeon HD 5970 boasts 3200 cores
AMD on Wednesday bragged of the graphics performance crown with the launch of the ATI Radeon HD 5970. The card uses two 5800 series chipsets on one card to provide the most performance possible. While each has the speed of a 5850 with a 725MHz primary clock speed and 1GHz GDDR5 memory, the 3,200 stream (effects) processors, 160 texture units and 2GB of memory give it as much performance as two 5850s but in half the space.
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11/17, 10:10am
ASUS UL30Vt mixes CULV, GeForce G 210M
ASUS has quietly staked out a claim to the fastest CULV-based ultraportable by adding the UL30Vt to its stable. The system takes the familiar 13.3-inch display and 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo of the original version but adds a GeForce G 210M. The gesture lets the under 1-inch thick PC handle HD video and some modern 3D but includes a switchable graphics system that optionally reverts to the more miserly Intel GMA 4500 graphics when the system is running on battery power.
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11/17, 7:50am
Reliability study has Apple 4th place
A new study published by SquareTrade revealed that the smaller name brand notebook manufacturers are usually more reliable than their larger rivals. Of the top nine, ASUS has the lowest tracked breakdown rate with fewer than 10 percent of its notebooks failing in the past two years. Toshiba, Sony and Apple also have better-than-average performance and are either just over or under the same figure.
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11/16, 11:30am
ASUS may buy Toshiba group to move up
ASUS could push its way to near the top of notebook market share by buying out one of its largest competitors, company chairman Jonney Shih reportedly revealed today. He hopes for ASUS to reach the top three in notebook builders by 2011 and says the company has talked to Toshiba about buying its notebook business. Nothing has been finalized, and it remains unclear how close if at all the two may be to a deal.
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11/13, 2:40pm
ASUS set to release 17.3-inch 3D notebook
ASUS will release a 17.3-inch 3D notebook, the G72GX, early in 2010 with high-spec features such as an Intel Core i7 CPU, GeForce GTS 160M graphics, 4GB of memory and two 320GB hard drives, according to Chinese daily Digitimes. Before that, however, the computer maker will unveil a smaller, 15.6-inch version known as the G51J3D that should otherwise have near-identical specifications.
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11/11, 9:30pm
Download also available for current owners
Garmin and Asus have announced that the nüvifone M20 has been updated with Microsoft's latest Windows Mobile 6.5 software. The software provides a revamped home screen, with touch-optimized icons and access to the variety of apps available through the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Users can also take advantage of Facebook and Microsot's My Phone service.
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11/11, 2:25pm
Apple makes rare inroads into Euro share
Acer and Apple are the two primary computer makers gaining share in Europe at a time when most are bleeding sales, Gartner revealed in a research note today. Acer extended its lead in the summer to 28.3 percent of the Western European market, or 4.73 million PCs, based primarily on its netbooks and full-size budget PCs. However, Apple was one of the few others to gain significant share and was one of the "biggest winners," along with Samsung, despite being outside of the top five in the region.
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11/09, 3:50pm
ASUS multi-touch tablet PC now at Amazon
The ASUS Eee PC T91MT convertible netbook is now avaiable at Amazon. The 8.9-inch multi-touch netbook was first mentioned in a roadmap leak for ASUS, and has a 32GB solid state drive but also includes 500GB of online storage from ASUS. It is powered by a 1.33GHz Intel Atom processor, and there is 1GB of RAM, which can be doubled by the owner.
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11/09, 3:35pm
ASUS, MSI motherboards remain troublesome
Gigabyte has released a new beta BIOS for its GA-P55-UD4P motherboard, addressing problems with iPhone sync on certain Windows 7 systems. Issues are said to remain with ASUS and MSI motherboards, for which no patched software is available. People may nevertheless be able to solve errors by upgrading to the latest available BIOS and chipset drivers, or running Windows in Vista SP2 compatibility mode.
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11/06, 12:00pm
ASUS' first Ion netbook due end of 2009
ASUS' leaked Eee PC 1201N netbook has gained a more definitive release date through a rumor on Friday. The NVIDIA Ion-based portable is now slated by Electricpig as arriving in at least the UK by December. Premature store listings put the price at $756, though the cost is likely to be lower for the as yet unknown North American release.
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11/04, 10:45am
ABI says netbooks still on track
Netbooks are still set to top nearly 35 million units by the end of the year, ABI said today. The prediction is similar to that from the start of the year and asserts that the mini portables will form a significant portion of the entire PC business. ABI doesn't predict market share but says that Acer, ASUS and Samsung produced 74 percent of all netbooks last year.
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10/30, 8:40am
ASUS chief confirms sub-$200 Android PC
ASUS chief Jerry Shen at an investor conference late yesterday said his company should have an Android-based smartbook on shelves by early 2010. Reversing earlier doubts about a market for such a system, Shen says a portable based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip and the Google mobile OS should be the first "secret weapon" for the company and will likely cost just $185. The price is roughly half what most builders charge for an Atom-running netbook.
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10/29, 6:00pm
Apps on Win 7 PCs still slow vs Apple
A series of tests have revealed that even newer Windows 7 PCs are being bogged down by unnecessary software that makes them run much more slowly than Macs. Comparing factory versions of several notebooks versus clean models, PC Pro finds that Acer and Sony systems take about two whole minutes more to boot because of the "crapware," or third-party utilities and trial apps, preloaded out of the box. They also consume roughly 1GB more extra active RAM and also rob the system of as much as 2.4GB of space in Acer's case.
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10/29, 3:55pm
ASUS e-book readers due in 2009, sport WiMAX
ASUS has plans to introduce e-book readers that have 3G, Wi-Fi and WiMAX mobile data network access technologies to market this year. CENS on Wednesday reported that the devices will sport expected 9-inch screens but that they will ship to Europe and North America at about the same time. They will also be offered at cellular carriers starting in March of next year, likely at subsidized prices.
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10/29, 9:40am
New ASUS USB 3.0 mainboards have record speeds
ASUS on Wednesday showed off one of the first USB 3.0 mainboards ever, the P7P55D/P7P55D-E, which also has a SATA 6Gbps interface for what's claimed to be record-fast transfer speeds: ASUS estimates that a 20GB HD movie takes less than 70 seconds to transfer at peak speed even with the new USB connection. Both use ASUS's hybrid processor, hybrid phase and hybrid OS technologies for faster overall performance with the ability to overclock chips, control active cooling and provide instant-on Internet access, respectively.
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10/27, 11:20am
Most PC firms making phones to flop
Of a recent wave of computer builders entering the smartphone space, only Apple is likely to have more than a small stake the market, Gartner research estimates today. The analyst group believes that "all" major PC firms will have signaled their intentions to build smartphones by the end of 2009 but that none of these will have more than two percent outside of the iPhone maker, even by 2012. Instead, most of the non-Apple growth will be left to traditional phone designers.
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10/27, 8:35am
MSI reader due first half 2010
MSI is developing an e-book reader that would use NVIDIA's Tegra processor at its core, the company's chairman Joseph Hsu says today. Confirming an earlier rumor, the executive admits that a device with the fast graphics and ARM chip combo is in progress but has "some problems" that have pushed a formal unveiling back until sometime in the first half of 2010. Other details will likely only be supplied closer to the actual release.
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10/21, 10:20am
HTC's main Android phone in tight supply
HTC's Android-based Hero is selling well enough that it's causing supply issues, the company's Asia Pacific VP Jack Tong revealed on Wednesday. Sales in the phone's initial Asia and European launch areas are described as "brisk" enough that demand has put a strain on HTC's production lines and won't see manufacturing catch up until November. The pace is expected to continue at least until early 2010.
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10/19, 10:20am
ASUS to release Android phone before 2010
At a small press conference held in Taiwan renectly, ASUS chairman and president revealed an Android-powered smarpthone from the company is due later in 2009. A Monday Digitimes article maintains chairman Jonney Shih and ASUS president and CEO Jerry Shen had a discussion with the local media and revealed this information, along with a positive outlook on the notebook market and some plans for environmentally-friendly products in the future.
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10/12, 10:45am
ASUS Eee PC 1201 models get details
Detailed specs of not one but two 12-inch Eee PC notebooks have been revealed recently. One of the new Eee PCs, the 1201N, was first spotted in Asia last month. Now, the unofficial specs for the 1201N and 1201HA are known and they include a 12.1-inch, 1366x768 resolution display. The specs reportedly come from leaked ASUS documents.
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10/12, 9:40am
Eee Keyboard specs revealed at FCC tests
ASUS' Eee Keyboard is nearing production status, as it has been spotted in an FCC filing recently. The Eee PC is a fully functional PC into the form factor of a large wireless keyboard and integrates a 5-inch, 800x480 resolution touchscreen. The PC has already been slated for an October release date as of this summer.
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10/09, 10:55am
ASUS prices, dates UL notebooks for the UK
ASUS has recently announced pricing and a release date for its previously announced UnLimited (UL) series of notebooks for the UK. Two of the three models will ship to the country's retail electronics stores on October 22nd. This includes the 13.3-inch UL30 and
two variations of the 15.6-inch UL50, the UL50AG and UL50VG. There is no word on the 14-inch UL80, however. All three use Intel's CULV processors and some are claimed to provide up to 12 hours of battery life.
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10/08, 5:10pm
Netbooks forcing notebook revenue down
The rise of netbooks is having a corrosive effect on the financial health of the rest of the notebook business, a DisplaySearch study asserted on Thursday. The mini PCs represent 22.2 percent of all notebooks shipped but only account for 11.7 percent of revenue and are thought to ultimately be dragging revenue downwards for other categories as buyers skip more expensive systems they would have bought otherwise. Where netbook revenue has shot up from $845 million in spring 2008 to $3.07 billion in spring 2009, the rest of the notebook industry actually lost $3.74 billion of revenue in the same period, revealing that netbooks have actually cost the industry money.
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10/06, 10:05am
NPD positive on back-to-school PC sales
Back-to-school notebook sales were as strong as ever this year but skewed in favor of cheaper systems, the NPD Group said today in a new study. About $1.6 billion of the $7.6 billion spent between late July and mid-September went directly to notebooks, or about as much as was spent last year despite ongoing economic problems and rendering them "recession-proof." However, the revenue came at the expense of system prices: while more systems were sold, the average price of a school notebook fell from $804 last year to $624 this year.
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10/02, 8:35am
ASUS EB1501 gets DVD, Ion and Win 7
ASUS has quietly launched a major redesign of the Eee Box. The EB1501 has a much sleeker, rounded look but also gives it numerous features that improve its usefulness as a full-time PC: it uses NVIDIA's Ion chipset and can smoothly decode 1080p video in hardware as well as drive most visually intensive tasks. To help, ASUS gives it Windows 7 Home Premium and improves the performance of the system on its dual-core 1.6GHz Atom processor.
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09/29, 9:35am
Garmin nuvifone G60 at AT&T
More than a year and a half after it was originally announced, Garmin's nüvifone G60 has received an official launch in the US through AT&T. The GPS-centric phone originally meant to compete with the pre-GPS iPhone centers on a deep navigation app based directly on Garmin's dedicated nüvi in-car units with some accommodations for mobile users: it not only works as a pedestrian device but will remember when it was last attached to its car mount, helping owners remember where they parked. It shares the same-strength GPS receiver and should provide a quicker lock than most smartphones.
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09/21, 4:25pm
NVIDIA Ion-powered Eee PC in Asian webstore
ASUS' upcoming NVIDIA Ion-based Eee PC notebook, the 1201N, has appeared on Asian retailer PCpop's webstore recently. The PC is due for an October release, according to a recent roadmap leak and the listing confirms some of the device's specs, including its 1.6GHz Atom CPU.
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09/18, 7:45am
ASUS AiGuru SV1T and HP-100U
ASUS has finished the week by adding a pair of communications devices to its lineup, including one of its first headphone combos tailored to the Mac. The HP-100U combines an over-ear headphone set, a desk array microphone and a Xonar U1 that gives Mac users OpenAL audio acceleration as well as Dolby Home Theater processing. The Xonar hub also provides a headphone amp and in Windows provides a boost to DirectSound, EAX and OpenAL.
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09/17, 1:15pm
iPhone, iPod, Macs top
Apple has won every category it participated in as part of a new study of service and reliablity. The reader-driven PCMag rankings saw it lead the cellphone, desktop, notebook and portable media categories, in some cases with particularly wide margins compared to rivals. Apple's best success was in the notebook category, where MacBooks earned an overall score of 9.2 out of 10 and a very high 9.4 out of 10 "would recommend" score.
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09/14, 4:30pm
Eee Keyboard due out in October, says ASUS exec
The Eee Keyboard from ASUS will be out in the European and North American markets this October, a company executive a href="http://macnn.com/rd/140719==http://www.pcworld.com/article/171905/asustek_eee_keyboard_coming_in_october.html" rel='nofollow'>said on Monday. The October date given to PCWorld corroborates with an earlier report for the release of the device, which incorporates a 5-inch touchscreen and full PC functionality into a standard-size keyboard.
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09/10, 7:30am
AMD Congo platform
AMD this morning kicked off the launch of an updated notebook offering and headlined it with Congo, the nickname for its next-generation Ultrathin Platform. The new architecture includes AMD's faster 1.6GHz Turion Neo X2, found in the HP dv2z, but focuses on graphics performance and battery life. It uses a Radeon HD 3200 much like AMD's fuller-size notebooks and as a result can decode 1080p video smoothly in hardware; at the same time, AMD estimates about an hour more of battery life than its earlier platform.
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09/08, 4:50pm
ASUS Designo MS monitors
ASUS recently announced it will soon release a number of ultra-slim Designo MS Series LCD monitors, which includes the 23.6-inch MS246H/D, the 23-inch MS236H/D, 21.5-inch MS226H, 22-inch MS227N and 20-inch MS202N/D. All have a similar design theme, inspired by 1s and 0s from the binary number system and are just 0.65 inches (16.5mm) in thickness. A spherical ring, called Ergo-Fit Technology, acts as a stand, and lets users adjust the tilt angle with one finger.
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09/08, 4:20pm
ASUS outs 7 CULV notebooks
ASUS has begun the week by launching an entirely new line of notebooks centering on Intel's CULV processor mix. The UL series uses a relatively thin (about 1 inch) and lightweight aluminum shell that renders it much easier to carry even with the DVD burners present in most models. As with most CULV systems, they all have particularly long battery life and in some cases run for up to 12 hours on a charge.
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09/07, 12:50pm
ASUS reader to get two screens, color
ASUS' promised e-book reader debut should not only involve more than one model but could represent a number of rarities or even firsts for the technology. While the mentioned Eee-branded reader would be basic and trade on its price -- an estimate has it costing as little as $164 -- ASUS chief Jerry Shen told the Times a second upscale model would have two color touchscreens and fold like a real book to give users two pages of content at once. It may also have basics like speakers and a webcam to provide simple audio and video conversations online.
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09/04, 12:00pm
ASUS notebooks get Windows 7, paper foam speakers
ASUS on Friday announced it will soon add two notebooks to its multimedia N-series, including the 16-inch N61 and 17.3-inch N71. Among the improvements, ASUS is touting a new SonicMaster amplification system that includes new paper-foam cones for the speakers that are said to improve sound quality. Both the N61 and N71 will be available with Intel's Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad CPUs and with up to 4GB of RAM.
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08/31, 1:20pm
ASUS Eee PC roadmap
A roadmap leaked by an EeeUser forum member who claims he works in the "industry" reveals upcoming Eee PC notebook models from ASUS. Most notably, the roadmap shows a 12-inch Eee PC is due, which will be powered by NVIDIA's Ion platform. Dubbed 1201N, the PC is due in October, and should run on a 1.6GHz Atom CPU with 2GB of RAM. It will otherwise have a 250GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth while carrying a $499 price tag.
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08/31, 11:05am
ASUS CULV notebooks due
ASUS is planning on releasing two new ultra-thin notebooks powered by Intel's CULV chips, including the 45nm Celeron 743 and Core 2 Solo SU2300 early in September, Digitimes said on Monday, citing unnamed sources in the industry. The report goes on to say initial shipments of the portables will begin on September 7th and go to Taiwan, China and Europe at first. US details weren't mentioned, though some sort of American launch is unofficially expected.
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08/27, 9:25am
ASUS to Make E Book Reader
ASUS chief Jerry Shen today said his company would produce its first e-book reader before the end of the year. He didn't provide many details but said the device would fall under the Eee line normally reserved for ASUS' low-cost allin-one computers, like the Eee PC netbooks or the upcoming Eee Keyboard. Any device is likely to need a mixture of support for protected and unprotected e-book formats to succeed and may need a 3G or Wi-Fi connection to compete with readers like the Amazon Kindle or the Sony Reader Daily Edition.
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08/25, 12:55pm
No ASUS Android smartbook
ASUS is not actively developing an Android-based smartbook, the company's CEO informs. Although members of the company have expressed mild interest in smartbooks in the past, and displayed a prototype, Jerry Shen notes that he still does not see a "clear market" for the computers, which constitute a step below netbooks. Whereas netbooks operate on a standard Intel platform, smartbooks are dependent on processors meant for smartphones, which prevents them from running conventional desktop software.
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08/25, 10:55am
ASUS Eee Top ET20 and ET22
ASUS today catered to the US with three new Eee Top all-in-ones. The regular ET2002 and touchscreen ET2002T are the first of the systems to use NVIDIA's Ion hybrid graphics and system controller and consequently have much better graphics performance than Intel's own parts without the cost of a dedicated chipset. Both 20-inch units also break out of nettop limits with dual-core 1.6GHz Atom processors, 2GB of RAM, 320GB hard drives and DVD burners in addition to the usual 802.11n Wi-Fi and webcams.
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08/24, 5:10pm
ASUS intros uBoom speakers
PC and related peripherals maker ASUS recently introduced two uBoom series speakers that connect to notebooks through USB 2.0. The uBoom and uBoom Q sound bar-style speaker sets deliver bass as well thanks to a tuned reflex port. Essentially portable 2.1-channel speaker systems, both pods have two 2-inch drivers and a single subwoofer, sized at 2.5 inches in the uBoom and 2.25 in the uBoom Q. Each has an amplifier with 24W RMS of power.
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08/24, 9:55am
Intel 7 New CULV in Oct
Intel is on the verge of dramatically swelling the ranks of its CULV (Consumer Ultra Low-Voltage) processor ranks if a leak of early information proves true. The chip producer is seen by Fudzilla as shipping seven processors in early October that would significantly expand the range. Two low-end models, the SU2500 and SU2600, should be joined by the mid-range SU4100, SU4500 and SU4700 as well as the high-end SU7300 and SU7800.
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08/21, 1:25pm
MSI Athlon Neo notebooks
Taiwan-based MSI may launch ultra-thin notebooks with AMD's Yukon platform for Athlon Neo processors as early as October, say industry sources. Digitimes reported on Friday that the PC maker has finished its testing of the notebooks but has not yet decided on a launch date as other PCs equipped with the Yukon platform, possibly including the HP Pavilion dv2, are not selling so well. The AMD processor is meant to compete with Intel's CULV range of CPUs and results in ultraportables that are costlier than netbooks but much less expensive than traditional systems.
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08/21, 11:50am
ASUS nettop, keyboard date
Computer maker ASUS will apparently launch its rumored NVIDIA Ion-based Eee Box and all-in-one Eee Top PC sometime in September, according to a Friday report. Besides making the assertion, the anonymous sources for DigiTimes maintain the often delayed Eee Keyboard will be out in October, while two ultra-thin notebooks in the company's U/UX series will also be out in September.
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08/18, 10:35pm
ASUS ranked most reliable
ASUS PCs held the top rank in the second-quarter RESCUECOM Computer Reliability Report, a comparison between the required maintenance for a variety of computer brands. The ASUS Eee PC, released eight months ago, made a significant impact on the company's reliability scores and market share. The report relates the percentage of computers each company shipped to the number of calls to the RESCUECOM repair hotline over a three month period.
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08/18, 8:20am
MSI First with Pine Trail
MSI plans to preempt the rest of the market by launching the first netbooks based on Intel's Pine Trail Atom platform, according to PC industry tips. Still maintaining that the smaller, much more integrated processors may not be officially ready until early 2010, DigiTimes has heard that MSI intends to ship portables in December rather than wait for the rest of the market. The lead time would let it avoid competing on price for weeks or more.
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08/14, 1:55pm
China holds on web filters
The Chinese government has relented in its plans to impose web filtering software on computers, a statement from the country's industry and technology minister suggests. Li Yizhong claims that the Communist Party will "absolutely not" force installation of Green Dam-Youth Escort on every computer sold in the country, despite the fears of both corporations and political dissenters. Nominally meant to block pornography, critics have claimed that the software could easily be used to extend censorship beyond current network filtering techniques.
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08/07, 5:15pm
ASUS Eee PC with Moblin
ASUS will release an Eee PC netbook later this year with Intel's Moblin Linux operating system, according to a Friday report from German website NetbookNews. The news is not official, but the site says it has a reliable source for the netbook, which is expected to come out in October. Moblin will not be preloaded on a new Eee PC, but an existing one, with many expecting it to appear on the slim Seashell line of Eee PCs.
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