News Bits: $299 Laptops Coming, Intel Processor Sales Pinch, Lenovo Job Cuts, Blu-Ray VAIO

$299 Notebooks for 2nd Half of 2006?

Last year during the big November shopping season the big news was a $399 HP laptop available at Wal Mart. According to a report from Taiwanese online news site DigiTimes.com, this fall season notebook makers are gunning to bring out a laptop in the $299 range for the U.S. market.

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Intel Notebook Sales reach Panic Stations

Large, branded firms such as Digitimes have criticized Intel CPUs/chipsets because there levels of stock are too high. Lately, the wire reported that Dell, HP, and others have reduced their orders by as much as 50 percent. The reason? Sales aren't going as well as they had hoped.

Substantial price cuts for notebook chips are coming up soon - Intel is preparing for the introduction of the dual-core "Merom" processors.

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Lenovo to cut 1,000 jobs

Lenovo, the Chinese company which acquired IBM's PC division last year, is going to lay off about 1,000 people according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The jobs are being cut to save costs, and Lenovo is planning to move its headquarters to Raleigh in North Carolina, away from New York, where they are at the moment. Cutting these jobs means that Lenovo will take a $100 million charge for its fourth quarter. The 1,000 jobs represents about 5% of the workforce.

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Can your computer run Windows Vista?

Well, it's time to find out. Microsoft has developed a 'rating system', which will help end users determine how well their current computer will run the upcoming Windows Vista operating system.

Dubbed the "Windows Performance Rating," it will evaluate components of the computer such as the processor, memory, hard drive, and graphics cards, then come up with an overall score. It's funny thatMicrosoft has not disclosed much about what the numbers exactly mean. The overall score is given on a scale of one to five, but there are also subratings on an unspecified range.

In a statement to CNET News.com, Microsoft said:

"The idea behind the Windows Performance Rating is to help average consumers easily understand their Windows Vista PC's overall performance, and to simplify the process of determining whether certain software applications will run smoothly based on their system components."

Computer manufacturers would be able to use the ratings as a tool to help explain (in general terms mind you) the capabilities of a given machine. Microsoft said it is still working on the system, so the current "experience" with the rating system might not give a proper indication of the final experience.

Vista's performance ratings will be useful to consumers before they purchase their next PC, and also for salespeople showcasing how well a system will run Windows Vista. Right now though, the question is whether or not the rating system is based on a fixed scale, or if it will change over time as hardware continues to advance. Think about it: if the ratings don't evolve, then eventually all machines will score a five.

Read the rest here.

eSATA ExpressCard for Notebooks

Ratoc, a Japanese company, announced the first external Serial ATA adapter, which allows notebook users to connect hard disks and RAID arrays to their computer using the ExpressCard 34 format.

The card, called REX-EX30S, will work with any ExpressCard 34/54 slot. However, Ratoc only ships Windows systems. The eSATA port on the card supports data transfer rates of 3.0Gbps, and includes hot-swap and Native Command Queuing support.

Ratoc claims that its own tests show the eSATA's read and write speed to be 2.2 - 2.7 times faster than a traditional USB 2.0 connected device. The eSATA card will retail for about $89 USD in Japan when it ships later this month.

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What's next in technology?

In an excerpt from TIME magazine, they show a new laptop design by Intel, where you can actually pull the screen forward and lift it up to eye level. Very innovative if you ask me. They also reported on a new technology by Microsoft, called "SlideShow." Laptop manufacturers are planning to use small screens on the outer body of a laptop so the user can read email, select music, etc. without opening the laptop up. It will be supported by Windows Vista when it launches later this year.

And finally, a company called Eleksen, who makes 'electroconductive' products, is going to introduce a keyboard that you can roll up and slip into your pocket later this year in June 2006. It will feature Bluetooth technology to connect with PDAs and smart phones. The retail price will be $150.

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Special thanks to Coriolis for submitting this article!

Bill Gates Speaks Criticizes $100 Laptop Project

Many have probably heard about the $100 laptop project that MIT labs is doing to try and introduce laptops to 3rd world country classrooms. Bill Gates gave a few words regarding this project and criticized the fact it might be a bit of a pipe dream to support these shared laptops for $100:

"The last thing you want to do for a shared use computer is have it be something without a disk ... and with a tiny little screen."

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Sony to Release a VAIO Notebook with Blu Ray Early Summer

According to a press release from Sony and the SonyStyle.com website a VAIO notebook PC will be released early this summer that includes a Blu-Ray optical drive. Blu Ray is the Sony backed next generation media format that they hope will replace the current DVD format, Toshiba is backing the HD-DVD format that will compete with Blu Ray. Sony also announced that a $2,300 VAIO RC seriesPC will soon be available and you can now sign up for a product alert for when the first Blu Ray player, the BDP-S1,will be available to buy via SonyStyle.com

More: www.sony.com/bd

 

Sorry for the bad scan, my scanner is pretty old haha

The slideshow isn't new, but lookie, an ASUS laptop

 

Hmm, the new Intel prices should be something to look forward to, since for the people that will be purchasing a Core Duo within the next month.


That keyboard looks very cool as well, i was waiting for something like that to come out

 

I've been into places where a $100 computer is still expensive. Regardless I think its still a good place to start to those who just dreams of touching a computer.. I dont understand what Bill Gates expects out of a $100.00 notebook though? Run Vista? Broadband? when in some places Dial-up is still impossible (no phone lines).

 

Blue-ray and HDDVD irk me. I'm not going to buy into one until the companies get it and they're is but one format.

Gates, why don't you go brush your hair instead of harping on a $100.00 good will laptop, just because you can't put M$ stuff in it because spyware beta is the only thing from microsoft that doesn't cost $100.00. I don't see Intel whining because you can't shove a core duo in they're. Intel will even reduce they're prices.

Guess we'll find out about whats coming.

First GM, then Ford, now Levono cutting jobs? Raleigh is rank 8th best place to live in the country. Realestate is relatively cheap they're so.

 

The whole idea of the $100 laptop is ridiculous. Yeah, information is important, but it isn't going to do you a whole lot of good if you're dying of famine or disease. How about we focus that type of research effort on better, more affordable water purification techniques? How about designing more resistant strains of mainstay crops like wheat, corn, rice, and I dunno, sugar cane?

All successful civilizations in the world have a strong agricultural base first which leads to the ability, eventually, to develop technically. It just doesn't make sense to "empower" the poor with computers when they can barely get enough food to eat and have poor access to medical treatment and supplies...

 

I wonder why little billy is upset from a $100 laptop .... hmmm. Maybe the fact that it won't be running the $90 OS of his? That might be it!!!

Finally esata on a lappy. about time, now we can have some decent speed drives! Now to make sure that my next lappy comes with an express card

 

I told you guys about the $100 bucks laptop.

First, Bilil gates said that because it´s a LINUX computer, now imagine if milions (3 for the first 2 years) start using LInux based notebooks, and these will be probably the first contact of them with it, imagine.... and imagine if they start liking it and getting used to this idea....

I would be angry too if i owned MS.

I will describe the project better for you as My country is sponsoring this project and i might have more info about it.

First, the ocmputer costs 100 bucks, but the users pay NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING. The government gave 100.000.000,00 to MIT to produce it, means that they will do 1 milion for my country. Imagine how good it is. Many poor kids with no access to any kinda of tecnology beeing able to use a computer in the schools. IT´s a great inclsuion project, and quite inexpensive one (just in paper clips , the goverment spent 90 milion last year lol).

About the bill gates critics, they tottaly not procede. Do you think a kid or family that has a 20" tv and barely no tecnological contact will care about hard disk and big screens. By the wayt the screen offers 800x600 wich is enough for basic learning and aplications. Man, the kids are not going to play FEAR or DOOm 3 on it...

The no hard disk will be because of internet, it is suposed to acces online contents and store files in goivernamental free servers. I know many people complain about intimacy and privacy, but here we are quite used to give info for government (it´s a diferent culture) and for something you are not paying at all, who would complain?????

Also the notebook is suposed to be used mainly in school where you plug it on the local server and use it on classes. It does not offer wireless, but cables can be fine for the usage.

The nice feature is the battery: YOU HAVE TO SPIN A WHELL TO CHARGE IT!!! Every one minute spining it would give you 15 minutes of battery. Don´t you think it is nice??? I think i woulkd never use a charger anymore, no more travel battery probelms...

About the investment in other programs Charlie i tottally desagree. The basis of the development of every country is not food or medication. My countr yhas a HUGE food output, and this doens´t mean prospeity and wealthy distribution. What makes difference is the education. EDUCATIOn is something powerfull to change peoples destiny, like South Corea and Japan did, and many other countrys . And this is exactly what the goverment is trying to do. MANY ECONOMISTS supoort this wiew.

 

that is extreme though . . . this is more for people who have incomes but still not enough.

 

1 minute of cranking = 15 minutes of power, that's pretty **** good! Where can I get one of those?

I read that in some places where this will be used, there's no electricity at all in the household, and this laptop can be the only source of light. I'm sure that all that cranking will be worth the money they save on candles. Gosh I remember the blackout, when there was no light and I didn't have a laptop, and we went to bed at 8 or 9 or whenever we got home because there was not a **** thing to do. Now instead of going to bed at an ungodly early hour of the evening, the kids can use the laptop to learn something. Yayy!

And it looks neat, too. I like the blue and the orange models, they look like candy.

Re Gates, what a way to sound bitter, that's worse than when Jobs was boasting to Apple employees about outselling Dell in Q4 2005. Doesn't he have PR people to knock some sense into his head? I, for one, am surprised.

Edit: Since when is d--n a swear?

 

Yes I agree: the spining well to get power is a very clever idea.