02/12, 12:15am
We review Dell's smaller XPS performance notebook
The 13- to 14-inch notebook screen size is currently one of the hottest areas of competition right now: it's where Apple, HP, and others start off their higher-end models. Dell has certainly been one of the most active in this space and has brought its high-end XPS line to that space through the 14z. We'll check in our Dell XPS 14z review whether the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Sony VAIO S, or comparable rivals will feel the strain.
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02/09, 6:20pm
Gaming laptop features 3rd generation Core i7 CPU
Samsung's new Ivy Bridge powered gaming laptop has popped up at the company's US website and is available for pre-order. The 17.3-inch NP700G7C-S01US is powered by a third-generation and so far unannounced 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM quad-core processor. It comes paired with a similarly unofficial, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M for graphics.
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02/07, 7:40pm
Desktop replacement sports 6-core Intel CPU
Cleveland-based AVADirect is accepting pre-orders for a new gaming portable that integrates one of the refreshed, Sandy Bridge-E Intel Core i7 desktop processors into a laptop form factor. The Clevo P270WM is a 17.3-inch desktop replacement that can come equipped with either a 3.2GHz or 3.3GHz Extreme Edition chip. It can also house dual NVIDIA mobile graphics chips in SLI.
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01/28, 4:55pm
NVIDIA said pushing Kepler, trashing Radeon 7900
NVIDIA was accused this week of using dishonest marketing to try to skew gamers towards its next-generation Kepler graphics hardware. Posters in the ChipHell forums claiming to have details of the new graphics core were reportedly discovered to be NVIDIA marketers. They made bold claims about Kepler's prices and performance in what appeared to be an attempt to downplay AMD's Radeon HD 7900 line.
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01/17, 11:55pm
Alienware X51 biled as smallest gaming PC ever
Dell's Alienware badge ventured into small form factor desktops for the first time late Tuesday. The X51 is billed as the smallest gaming PC desktop ever at no more than 13.5 inches at its largest dimension. Even with a 3.7-inch thick width, it can not only fit up to a GeForce GTX 555 desktop graphics card but replace this, the hard drive, and the RAM as new technology comes through.
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01/17, 4:40pm
Ideum 65-inch 3D Presenter made for public spaces
Ideum, which makes Microsoft Surface-like computer tables such as the MT-50, has now revealed its 65-inch MT65 Presenter display that hangs vertically, on a wall. The multi-touch 3D display is meant for public consumption and is thus covered by tempered glass. It can recognize and track up to 32 touch points.
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01/13, 2:25am
Razer 2012 lineup tested at CES
We had the opportunity to explore Razer's whole CES 2012 lineup this week. The company kicked off the year by shipping the Blade and revealing thhe Naga Hex mouse, but its true surprise was exploring tablets with Project Fiona. We'll see how all three have fared after the break.
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01/08, 7:00pm
Lenovo to show six new desktop PCs at CES
Lenovo will bring six desktop computers to CES this week, including four IdeaCentre all-in-ones from the B-series, the easily upgreadable H520s and the slim IdeaCentre K430. The IdeaCentre B540 uses a 23-inch frameless touchscreen with 1080p resolution and an integrated VESA mount that can be equipped with 3D capabilities. It can be equipped with NVIDIA's GeForce GT 650M graphics card with 2GB of RAM and DirectX 11 support.
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12/22, 11:55pm
Razer CEO explains Blade delay
Razer chief Min-Liang Tan stated this week that the Blade's SSD upgrade would lead to the gaming notebook missing the holidays. The switch to the much faster storage happened at the "eleventh hour," he said, making it impossible to ship in 2011. The first models of the 17-inch notebook would ship in mid-to-late January instead.
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12/22, 12:30am
AMD Radeon HD 7970 retakes speed lead
AMD on Thursday retook the top spot for single-card graphics speed through the Radeon HD 7970. The video card is the first anywhere to use a 28 nanometer chipmaking process and uses this to pack 2,048 cores, or a third more than the Radeon HD 6970 it's replacing. Performance comes also through a newly widened 384-bit memory bus, PCI Express 3.0, and a full 3GB of GDDR5 memory, again a record for a single-chip card.
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12/08, 2:05pm
Razer to ship gaming laptop in time for holidays
Razer's gaming notebook,
the Blade, should soon be available for pre-order and shipping in time for Holiday gift giving. The portable was
announced in August and targets gamers looking for a truly mobile playing experience. Razer claims the laptop's thin black design with silver highlights was inspired by the Army's KA-BAR combat knife.
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12/07, 8:45am
NVIDIA 600M starts with slight upgrades, rebadges
NVIDIA on Wednesday formally introduced GeForce 600M notebook graphics with what's now known to primarily be a respin of the 500M series. The 610M, 630M, and 635M are all parallels to the 520MX, 540M, and 555M, but all edged down in the lineup to be considered more affordable parts. The 635M does get an upgrade in support for faster 3.6GHz equivalent GDDR5 memory, giving it a higher 57.6GB per second of bandwidth over the 555M's 50.2GB.
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12/02, 2:35pm
iBuyPower ships latest liquid-cooled gaming PC
iBuyPower has just unveiled a new mid-tier gaming PC in the Gamer Paladin HS11. It gets a quad 3.3GHz Core i5 and a 1.2GB NVIDIA GTX 570 graphics card, along with 8GB of RAM and a 1TB, 7,200RPM hard drive. There is also a Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 mainboard and a 120mm liquid cooling system that keeps it quiet and potentially gives headroom for overclocking.
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11/29, 10:00am
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti gets mid-life upgrade
NVIDIA orchestrated a mid-cycle upgrade for the GeForce GTX 560 Ti. A new Limited Edition bumps it from 384 visual processing cores to 448 to keep it relevant. While the main, individual, and memory clock speeds take a step back to 732MHz, 1.46GHz, and 900MHz each, NVIDIA is counting on the extra parallelism and a jump to a wider 320-bit memory bus (up from 256-bit) with 1.25GB of RAM to let it handle considerably more at once.
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11/28, 6:05pm
Updates 3-in-1 with faster i5 processor & video
Gigabyte has released an updated version of its signature convertible tablet. The T1132 features a rotating docking station and swiveling display that enables it to serve act as a notebook, tablet, or desktop. Driving the device is an Intel 1.6GHz processor that keeps it up to speed with newer ultraportables.
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11/25, 4:55pm
Razer working on small gaming device, said CEO
Gaming peripherals and device maker Razer will release a small gaming system, the company's CEO, Min-Liang Tan, revealed to PCWorld. Currently, the only gaming system the company makes and plans to release next month is the 17.3-inch Blade, which is a gaming notebook. Tan simply referred to the products as small form factor systems and didn't provide any more details.
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11/16, 12:00pm
NVIDIA to announce three GeForce 600M cards Dec 6
NVIDIA plans to release three new mobile graphics processors on December 6 that won't necessarily be as next-generation as claimed, according to leaks. Falling under the GeForce 600M range, the chips identified by VR-Zone would include the GeForce 610M, GeForce GT 630M and GeForce GT 635M. Some of these would be rebranded and based on existing 500M-era hardware.
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11/14, 8:00am
Intel Core i7-3960X debuts in updated Maingear PCs
Intel brought out a swan song for its second-generation Core processors Monday by launching a new flagship mainstream processor. The Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition clocks at 3.3GHz, even with six cores, and can Turbo Boost to 3.9GHz when fewer cores are needed; as an Extreme Edition, it's designed to allow for overclocks. It sits as one of the few Sandy Bridge-E processors and adds support for quad-channel memory, giving it very high bandwidth when paired with four sticks of RAM.
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11/01, 12:30pm
Dell XPS 14z starts at $1,000, tops out at $1,300
Dell's supermodel-thin XPS 14z notebook is now up for sale. It starts at $1,000 and includes a 2.4GHz Core i5 processor, a 64-bit copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, and a 14-inch, 1366x768 display. That 0.9-inch thick body also houses 6GB of RAM and a 500GB, 7,200RPM hard drive, along with a dual-layer DVD reader that can burn CDs or single-layer DVDs.
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10/24, 9:30am
Dell XPS 14z billed as thinnest
Coming quickly on the heels of new MacBook Pros, Dell has formally launched the XPS 14z. Its system is conspicuously targeted at Apple's 13-inch notebook and uses LG's Shuriken panel tech to get a 14-inch, 1366x768 screen into the size of a 13-inch design. Unlike the exaggeration of the XPS 15z, the 14z is genuinely thinner at exactly 0.9 inches and lighter at 4.36 pounds.
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10/05, 9:00am
Dell Inspiron 2320 scales from budget to high end
Dell replaced the higher-end of its all-in-one desktops Tuesday with the Inspiron One 2320. It stays framed around a 23-inch, 1080p display with optional touch and freshens it up with a jump from AMD to the newest Intel hardware. Systems start off at the entry level with a twin-core Pentium and scale up to as much as a Core i7 and 8GB of RAM.
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09/13, 5:05pm
NVIDIA dev program supports x86, ARM devices
NVIDIA is represented at the currently ongoing Microsoft Build conference, and it has announced the launch of a developer program for tablets running on Windows 8 and with NVIDIA's Kal-El quad-core, next-generation Tegra processor. The company's GeForce, Quadro and Tesla cards will also be covered under the program. Developers will have the tools to create for x86- and ARM-based tablets and PCs as well.
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09/09, 5:15pm
ASUS promises multimedia notebooks due soon
ASUS has just put up two new multimedia notebooks with the 15.6-inch N55SF and 17.3-inch N75SF. The former can be had with a screen resolution of either 1600x900 or 1920x1080, and with either a 2.3GHz Core i5 or 2GHz Core i7. Either model gets a 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphics processor.
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09/07, 10:35am
MSI GT683DXR and GT780DXR target high-end games
MSI pushed deep into gaming notebooks Wednesday with two new higher-end systems. The GT683DXR and GT780DXR at 15.6 and 17.3 inches each both carry quad-core 2GHz Core i7 processors and newer GeForce GTX 570M graphics to handle modern games. As desktop replacements, they both have 2.1-channel Dynaudio speakers and twin hard drives in a RAID 0 stripe that boosts the disk performance.
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08/31, 1:05pm
Sony Vaio L all-in-one first with HDMI 3D input
Sony's product launches before the IFA show are continuing, with an all-in-one Vaio L the latest unveiling. The 24-inch 3D desktop has a multi-touch display and a touch-sensitive bezel. It will get a choice of second-gen Intel Core processors, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive.
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08/29, 1:25pm
Laptop sports two 17-inch displays
Anchorage, Alaska-based gScreen has formally detailed the launch for the Spacebook 17, a laptop that sports two 17-inch HD backlit LCD screens. When closed, the two rest sit behind each other. When the laptop is opened, they slide out and sit beside each other to provide a much wider display.
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08/26, 1:00pm
Vostro 360 AIO now available in China
The Dell Vostro 360 all-in-one PC leaked earlier this month has now showed up on the company's Chinese site. Now called the Vostro Success 360, the PC gets a 23-inch display with a 1080p resolution and touch sensitivity as an option. Windows 7 Professional is onboard, hinting this computer is meant for business use.
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08/26, 12:50pm
Razer Blade notebook has custom gaming overlay
Razer wrapped up its teaser run with word of its first-ever PC, the Blade. The gaming notebook has the 17-inch profile of a desktop replacement but is both inspired by the design of 17-inch MacBook Pro while beating it in key areas: at .88 inches thick and 6.97 pounds with an aluminum body, it's almost as light as Apple's system but is slightly thinner.
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08/02, 5:50pm
Toshiba Qosmio F755 due in US August 16
Toshiba on Tuesday prepped the launch of its glasses-free 3D Qosmio notebook for the US. Americanized as the F755, the 15.6-inch notebook should reach the US on August 16. Pricing starts high at $1,699 but outfits it with a quad 2GHz Core i7, 6GB of RAM, a 750GB hard drive, and a GeForce GT 540M for the crucial video component.
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07/28, 8:55pm
Notebook offers USB 3.0, GeForce discrete graphics
MSI has expanded its gaming notebook lineup with the GE620DX, a 15-inch model powered by Intel's quad-core 2.0GHz Core i7-2630QM processor. The device also features NVIDIA's GeForce GT 555M discrete graphics card with 2GB of display memory and support for DirectX 11 and PhysX, while MSI's GPU technology automatically switches between discrete and integrated graphics for power efficiency.
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07/18, 10:55pm
Notebook offers Intel Wireless Display tech
Acer has expanded its notebook lineup with the Aspire 5755, a midrange device geared for multimedia purposes. The computer can be purchased with a range of Intel's Core-series processors, including the i7-2820QM, while graphics are handled by NVIDIA's GeForce GT components with automatic switching between discrete and integrate hardware for power optimization.
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07/18, 2:45pm
ASUS U46 has screen that's just 5.5mm thick
ASUS has introduced two new notebooks that are meant for frequent travelers as both have compact dimensions. The U46 and U56 are both under one inch thick, but the 14-inch U46 will catch the most headlines thanks to its screen bezels's 5.5mm (0.21in) thickness, which is the industry's thinnest. A thin bezel surrounds the screen as well.
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07/14, 3:20pm
gScreen begins pre-orders of dual-screen notebook
Small Alaskan company gScreen has began offering pre-orders for its dual-screen 17.3-inch notebook known as the SpaceBook. Introduced over a year ago, the notebook has two 1920x1080-resolution displays that slide out horizontally. Available in two configurations, it weighs at least 10lbs and is not meant to be easily portable.
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07/12, 11:00am
AMD unwraps Radeon HD 6990M mobile graphics
AMD planned to retake the notebook video lead Tuesday with the release of the Radeon HD 6990M. The chipset is in many ways equivalent to the desktop 6870 and has a full 1,120 stream processors (visual effects cores) at 715MHz along with 900MHz actual (3.6GHz effective) GDDR5 memory. The performance is enough to make it about 17 percent faster than the 6970M and 25 percent faster than NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 580M, AMD estiamtes.
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07/10, 5:55pm
We review the Dell XPS 15z
Dell has often been associated with capable but often workhorse systems, but it has regularly tried to go after the premium audience dominated by Apple: the Adamo line was a clear shot across the bow of the MacBook Air, for example. It's coming back to this arena in a very different way with the XPS 15z, a 15.6-inch system that promises more of the style of a Mac (in this case the MacBook Pro) with a mainstream price. We'll gauge in our XPS 15z review whether it's successful as a Windows notebook and whether it might collect a few would-be or current Mac users along the way.
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07/08, 1:25pm
MSI shows X460, X460DX notebooks with Core i7
MSI has just introduced new notebooks in the form of the 14-inch X460 and X460DX. Either offers a 2GHz Intel Core i7 processor but ships with a 2.3GHz Core i5. Both have Intel Wireless Display, Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 3.0 technology built-in. The X640 weighs less than 4.4lbs and is less than one inch thick, with MSI quick to point out it's the lightest quad Core i7-powered notebook on shelves.
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07/05, 11:00am
Toshiba shows Qosmio F750 notebook for the UK
Toshiba has introduced what it says is the first glasses-free 3D notebook, the Qosmio F750 3D. The 15.6-inch notebook uses the webcam to adjust the lenticular display based on a user's face and position of the eyes. It tracks the user's head movements to maintain the effect as the owner changes stance.
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06/29, 11:35am
MSI CX480 promises unique touches in mainstream
MSI swung out a relatively unique addition to its CX series notebooks on Wednesday. The 14-inch CX480 has a particularly strong focus on the battery life not often seen in mainstream portables that gives it up to 8.5 hours on a charge. The PC also brings in MSI's in-house fast charging to power up in half as much time and has an Apple-influenced external battery indicator that shows the charge without needing to boot up.
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06/28, 9:25am
NVIDIA makes GeForce GTX 580M official
NVIDIA on Tuesday morning officially took the wraps from its new flagship notebook graphics, the GeForce GTX 580M and GTX 570M. Both promise about 20 percent faster performance for the power draw than the 470M/480M models they replace. The GTX 580M is fast enough to smoothly play Crysis 2 at full detail in DirectX 11, Black Ops at 100 frames per second, and even some games at 1080p in 3D, although both ideally in a twin-chip SLI mode.
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06/24, 7:50am
New Mac Pro to range from 6 to 16 cores
The upcoming Mac Pro could have one of the largest spreads in performance in recent memory based on internal Apple documents obtained late last night. Shown as "Mac Pro (Mid 2011)," it should have four main models using Xeon chips, starting with a single-processor, six-core model and moving to an eight-core system, a 12-core (two times six) system and a 16-core (two times eight) flagship. The tip to 9to5 couldn't prove whether the designs would use a new rackmountable design.
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06/20, 6:00pm
Mac Pro, Mac mini, AirPort rumors detailed
An unusual plethora of rumors Monday night provided possible details of the new Mac Pro and other near-term Apple updates. The pro tower will supposedly get a "unique CPU" along with its more rackmountable case. What that would entail wasn't said by MICGadget's purported informants, though it's more likely to involve early access to the Xeon E5 due this fall than a genuinely rare processor.
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06/16, 9:25am
Acer confirms two new Ethos notebooks for the US
The recently introduced Acer Ethos notebooks have now been confirmed for the US market. The pair is unique as the multi-touch pad is removable and doubles as a multimedia remote, complete with LED-backlit controls. Users can thus use the notebook as a source for a high-definition movie or home video plugged into their HDTV and control it like a Blu-ray player with the touchpad.
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06/13, 6:50pm
MSI GT780R and GX780 hit US shores
MSI started the week by shipping two of its highest-end notebooks to the US. The 17.3-inch GX780 and GT780R both share the same SteelSeries-made keyboard that can both withstand extra abuse, have customizable backlighting colors, and are optimized for games, especially first-person shooters. The two are also loaded in minimum specs and carry a 2GHz quad Core i7, at least mid-range dedicated graphics, and Dynaudio speakers with virtual THX-grade surround.
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06/08, 10:40am
Integrates 3D TV, PC, console gaming
Sony has announced an addition to its VAIO L Series, the All-in-One Desktop PC with 3D. The 24 inch 3D display has the same full HD resolution and touchscreen function as the VAIO L Signature shown at CES this year. It ships with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and one pair of USB rechargeable, active shutter 3D glasses.
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06/07, 1:25am
Acer TimelineX 2011 redesign hits US shores
Acer early this morning brought its 2011 TimelineX redesign to the US. The newer versions keep the minimalist, lightweight designs from other countries as well as their upgrades to Sandy Bridge-era, low-power Core i3 and i5 chips, although the Core i7 is absent. Higher-end and mostly larger systems come with either GeForce GT 520M or 540M dedicated video to push gaming while keeping battery life intact using Optimus switching, at up to eight hours when the faster video is in place.
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06/05, 7:00pm
GPU acceleration makes tough passwords easy cracks
A new study of password cracking by Vijay Devakumar has shown that modern graphics cards may have rendered even tough passwords easy to crack. Tools such as IGHASHGPU can reduce the time taken to break an NTLM password used on Windows networks from a virtually impossible period to a realistic period. Using a strictly mid-range chip like the Radeon HD 5770, a very tough nine-character password can shrink from 43 years to 48 days; a five-character alphanumeric but random password can be broken in as little as 24 seconds.
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05/31, 4:55pm
Notebook boasts latest NVIDIA graphics tech
MSI has announced that it has begun shipping its GT683R notebook, featuring NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 560M discrete graphics processor. The new GPU offers 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory and 192 CUDA cores, which are capable of processing DirectX 11 content. Users can also take advantage of automatic switching between discrete and integrated graphics to help extend battery life.
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05/29, 10:30pm
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M hits mid-range
NVIDIA was the first to start off its Computex unveilings in earnest late Sunday by launching two notebook graphics chipsets and 3D glasses. The GeForce GTX 560M headlines the group and is designed to bring high-end gaming to moderately sized notebooks without hurting battery life. Its 192 processing cores, 192-bit memory bus, and 775MHz core clock speed give it enough speed to play games at 1080p, but as the first design with Optimus live graphics switching from major PC builders, it should still provide reasonable battery life by dropping to Intel video with less demanding tasks.
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05/25, 10:00am
Sony VAIO S and F get mid-cycle upgrades
Sony picked Wednesday to upgrade two of its most popular notebooks. The VAIO S we just reviewed is now getting an upgrade to a 1600x900 display that turns its 13.3-inch screen into more of a desktop replacement. It also has options for two solid-state drives in a RAID stripe to give it very fast load times.
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05/24, 4:20pm
Digital Storm ships pre-built ODE gaming PCs
Gaming PC maker Digital Storm has just introduced its first pre-built gaming desktop, the ODE. Available in four versions, the company pre-selected all the components in each, with the flagship offering getting an overclocked, 5.0GHz Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM and two 1.2GB NVIDIA GTX 570 graphics cards running in an SLI configuration. It also has a 120GB solid state drive along with a 1TB hard drive and a Blu-ray/DVD combo optical drive.
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