News Bits: 1-TeraByte Notebook Hard Drives, Intel Mobile Quad Core, Mac OS X Leopard Next Week

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Intel demos mobile quad-core at IDF Taiwan

Intel demonstrated an operational mobile quad-core processor today at IDF Taiwan. It will eventually be introduced into the notebook market. According to Intel the chip is still in its early stages of development - it came out of the fab three days ago. It will need a large cooling system - it has 840 million transistors and a TDP of 45W.

The chip will be branded as an Extreme edition and is part of the Penryn family.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)


New Hitachi technology makes 1TB 2.5&quot; drives possible

Hitachi today announced a new technology called CPP-GMR, which is the world's smallest read-head technology for hard drives. They reduced the size of current recording heads by more than a factor of two; the new heads are 2000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Hitachi expects to start using the technology in products in 2009 and hopes to fully exploit it in 2011. The company claims that 1TB laptop hard drives are now possible as well as 4TB desktop hard drives.

Read More (Engadget.com)


Asus introduces G2K, A7K, and F7K gaming notebooks

Asus today announced three new laptops featuring AMD processors and ATI Radeon HD video cards: the G2K, the A7K, and the F7K. The highest-end model, the G2K, features the following:

• AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-60 (2.0GHz)
• 17-inch display
• 2GB RAM
• 200GB 7200RPM hard drive
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 with 256MB dedicated
• DVD burner
• HDMI
• 802.11b/g wireless, Bluetooth
• Integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam
• TV Tuner and remote
• Windows Vista

The Asus A7K is also a 17-inch notebook but has more mild specifications.

(view large image)

It essentially has the same specifications as the G2K but features a Turion 64 X2 TL-56 (1.8GHz) processor and a 250GB 5400RPM hard drive. The F7K has the same chassis as the A7K but features a TL-58 (1.9GHz) processor and Radeon HD 2400 256MB graphics.

Read More (PCLaunches.com)

Intel to design processor for OLPC

Intel is reportedly in the process of designing a new processor chip for the ultra low-cost laptop market. The firm should be able to have an OLPC-ready processor available in time for the next IDF in Shanghai.
Note that the architecture for the new processor is unique; it tried to adapt one of its current mobile processors for the task but could not. Be prepared to see the new processors on April 2 -3, 2008.

Read More (Engadget.com)

Intel shows off new notebook 'chiller'

Intel is aware of the thermal limitations of laptops and has designed a new type of cooling solution to reduce temperatures. The firm showed off a notebook stand/docking station at the IDF in Taipei today that was co-developed with Embraco, a micro-compressor maker. The stand unit has three cylindrical compressors measuring 2cm in diameter and 10 cm long that drive coolant around the unit, which draws heat away from the laptop. The device works like a standard refridgerator. It can reduce the temperatures of the notebook by 10*C.

Read More (RegHardware.co.uk)

 

Apple Mac OS X Leopard launch date October 26th

According to ThinkSecret.com the release date for OS X 10.5, code name Leopard, the next update to the Mac OS, is set for October 26th. Apple is planning a launch party like the one they had for Tiger last year. It is not expected any hardware announcements would coincide with this launch, but the MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks would start to be sold with this new OS on board. It is expected a refresh of the MacBook and MacBook Pro would take place in the first half of November.

Read More (ThinkSecret.com)

 

Why do some gaming notebooks have AMD processors? Are they superior to Intel processors for gaming applications?

 

Its the AMD proc. , AMD Chipset, AMD GPU factor.
They may get discounts with this combo & maybe faster then the older turions due to this factor.

 

wow, one terabyte, I cant wait when I get my new computer. Ill finally be able to have all 140gigs of music on my computer with space available

 

i really like that backpack! it looks sweet, glad i didnt buy a g2s or id be regretting it now with this new one out

 

I can expect a refresh of the MacBook in early November, but the MBP too? I don't believe that part...the MBP will obviously be updated in early 2008 with Penryn, but there's nothing to update it with for a November update...and if there is a November update, it'd be too close to an early 2008 update to justify it...

And the ASUS A7K doesn't look that bad! Not as flashy as the G1 and G2, at least .

 

Those Asuses are sweet any idea on pricing?

 

They are going to be $200-$400 cheaper then their Intel counterparts, the ASUS notebooks.

 

Nice to see more 17" notebooks from Asus having a numberpad to the right... we all know the W2 and earlier A7/Z84 lacked in that department.

EDIT: congrats on post# 13000, cori!

 

The G2 still does lack the feature, but as you said, its nice that they are starting to show up on the other models.

I can't see anything that Apple could do to the MBP in November. I know that the MB is due for an update, and actually, at this point in time, it makes more sense that they would just skip Santa Rosa altogether for the MB and just go with Penryn for both MB and MBP in Jan. They may not do that, but there is nothing on the MBP that screams for an immediate update like there is on the MB. And actually, design-wise, it makes more sense that Apple redesign the MBP for MacWorld 09 with Nehalem and such.

 

If there's going to be any refresh for the Santa Rosa MBP, I believe it will be in the form of a minor component upgrade to the processor or HD.

Congrats on 13,000 Coriolis!

 

Actually, I can see it being a bump to a 160GB hdd for the base model. The processor...maybe the base model to the T7700 (2.4) and the higher end one and 17" to T7800...Not sure though - I wouldn't hold my breath for it.

Either way, its not big enough of a difference to get me to wait.

 

I think my next next laptop would be Nehalem. My Clevo can stand strong for sure till that time. And the MB needs an upgrade, big time. Maybe make it thinner and lighter. And add Santa Rosa. MBP might actually get a refresh sooner than MB in Jan though...

 

I want Leopard. Now.

 

Quadcore?

1TB/4TB?

I'm still living on my P4, 120GB, Radeon 9200 desktop & Acer C110 Tablet with a 900MHz Pentium M and 40GB of storage . . .

 

I'm curious if these 1TB drives with smaller heads will cause an increase in seek time............

 

MBP - Just out of curiosity; when is apple going to do a complete redesign of this? I know we just got the LED screen not long ago but hasnt the actual MBP chassis been around for quite a while?

Asus gaming refresh, G1 may come into this soon hmmmmm...?

 

That intel cooler looks neat - thats actually something I have wanted to see, a cooling pad that COOLS, instead of just blowing air around. 10C is pretty good, especially since it might be able to cool more than just the processor and GPU.

 

1 TB will be very nice to have considering how fast space runs out on a 160 gb drive.

 

Asus Notebooks: Looks like Asus's 17" are still a bit lacking in the GPU department.
Quad-Core Mobile CPU: When can I have one?
1TB 2.5" HD: Very nice, though I'd prefer a 128-256GB SSD instead.
Notebook chiller: Interesting...though less practical than current models.
OS X 10.5 Leopard: About time!

 

That notebook cooler is lame in my opinion, all that for 10*C? I got more than that by doing the stuff detailed in the cooling guide.

 

And just a minor update, doesn't need editing , Mac OS X Leopard has been officially announced to be released on October 26th, as predicted.

 

They're cheaper.

 

Well, no one outside of Apple will know the exact answer to that.

First of all, the MBP's current design is basically unchanged from since the days of the aluminum Powerbook G4. So the current design has been the same for a few years now. While its still a very great design, it is about time to redesign the MBP, I agree.

Looking at current roadmaps, the MBP redesign will most likely happen in 2008. It would happen most likely in one of the three expected updates for the MBP next year: Penryn in early 2008, Montevina in Q2 2008, or Nehalem in the second half of 2008. I'd say expect a MBP redesign around WWDC 2008, probably with Montevina or Nehalem depending on if they get the timing right.

Just a note in case you didn't know: WWDC usually happens in June.