News Bits: 19" - 20" Screen Laptops, XPS M140 / Inspiron 710m, nVidia Go 7300

19-inch Screen Laptops, Maybe -- But 20-inch Screen Laptops?

We already know the rumor about a Dell 19-inch laptop coming out early in 2006 as we reported on that a few months ago, but now there's rumblings about 20-inch screen laptops being put out on the market. LG-Philips has a 20-inch LCD panel that they're marketing to laptop makers as a possible screen to use in a notebook. Personally I don't think this makes a whole lot of sense and that CNET simply used the headline of "20-inch Laptop" to get attention, they don't have any solid information to say that any manufacturer is even remotely considering this, the author just implies it could be done if any manufacturer decides to. Hands up who wants to lug around a 20-inch screen laptop that weighs 15lbs?At that point you'd be better off with a desktop I think.

The CNET article also discusses the eminent takeover of widescreen format over regular, this is a rather obvious trend as we're actually finding it harder and harder to find a new release consumer laptop that's not widescreen.

More: CNET 20-inch Laptop Article

More: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050511A1001.html

New Dell XPS M140 and Inspiron 710m Coming Soon

What we do know is that Dell will be releasing an XPS M140soon and likely an Inspiron710m update to the existing 700m. What we don't know are precise specs for these laptops.

The XPS M140 will be a 14.1-inch widescreen laptop and the 710m will be a 12.1-inch widescreen laptop. Specs and what the graphics cards (if any) will be on these notebooks are sketchy, but since Dell only does Intel we do know they'll have Pentium M processors. Precise release dates are unknown.

More: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=29138

New NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 Shows Up in New Asus Machines

The NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 graphics card has not been announced per se, but it has been revealed thanks to the notebook manufacturer Asus through its introduction of the Asus A6 series.

The NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 is analagous to the NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200, featuring NVIDIA's TurboCache technology. Although no benchmarks are available yet, it would be safe to assume that performance has jumped up to the next level; hence the 7300 will be on par with the popular ATI Mobility Radeon X600.

The Asus A6 laptops will come in two flavors, Intel and AMD.

Asus A6Vm

• Intel Pentium M Processor 700 Sequence, Mobile Intel 915PM Express Chipset
• Microsoft Windows XP Home/Pro
• Memory: DDRII 533MHz, up to 1GB
• Screen options: 15.1" XGA, SXGA/ 15.4" WXGA Color Shine LCD
• NVidia GeForce Go 7300 with 128MB/256MB TurboCache Technology
• 40/60/80/100GB
• Built-in 1.3M pixel webcam
• 802.11b/g, a/b/g, 10/100/1000, 1xBluetooth V2.0+EDR

Asus A6Km

• AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology, 1MB L2 cache
• 25W MT28/30/32/34/37; 35W ML-30/34/37/40
• Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional
• DDR333, up to 1 GB
• 15"/15.4" XGA / WXGA (Color Shine)
• NVidia GeForce Go 7300 with 128MB/256MB TurboCache Technology
  40/60/80/100GB
• Built-in1.3 M pixel webcam
• 1x TV-Out, 4x USB, 1x Card Reader

Thanks to NotebookReview.ocm forum member Eliwood for this tip and please visit the following forum thread he started covering the GeForce Go 7300 and these new Asus machines.

New Toshiba Satellite M70 Integrates 3G Wireless

Toshiba has announced the Satellite M70 available in the European market with 3G wireless built in. The M70 will use the UMTS-based 3G network in Europe for this connectivity. It will also offer Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The M70 has a 15.4-inch widescreen display and will automatically switch between the 3G and other network connections based on network availability.

The Satellite M70is powered by Intel Pentium M processors ranging from 730 through 780 (2.26GHz), and is configurable up to 2 GB of 533 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.

Toshiba is following in the footsteps of Sony, Lenovo/IBM by integrating 3G into a laptop offering, Delland HPhave announced such availability of 3G in laptopsnext year.

More: http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/6257.html

 

Notebooks with 20" inch screens!? That's it, the notebook market has officially gone insane, no doubt about it. I cringe just at the sight of these monster notebooks with 17" screens. Notebooks were meant to be portable and easy to carry around.

I can't wait to see what the update to the Dell 700M will be like. The 700M is a really nice mobile notebook but is in dire need of a revision.

 

the oldest one that Dell has is the 600m, that thing has been selling forever now, the XPS M140 should put an end to that one -- although the 700m was originally supposed to replace the 600m according to what our Dell contacts told us. That never happened!

 

Yeah, the 600M has been selling since 2003, thats way too long Dell to keep a notebook on the market. Shame on you Dell.

Although I miss the old gray and blue design on the 600, I don't like the gray and white design on the Dell 6000 and 700M for instance. I also wonder why they got rid of the 8600? It was a good notebook with a better video card than on its successor, the 6000.

 

They got "rid" of the 8600 because they were in the process of transitioning their flagship 15" models over to widescreen 17" models. If you view it in that respect, nothing changed.

Based purely on specs, you're right, but you have to put things in the context of what a product is marketed as and who it's marketed towards. 15" is no longer "high-end" but rather multimedia/mainstream now.

 

A 20" screen notbook might be more like one of those Apple machines where the screen+chassis are on a pedestal with only the mouse/keyboard as seperate items. In a true portable concept, they could just have a keyboard fold into the rest of the machine and then you'd carry it like a briefcase. ... hmmm "Briefcase computers" the boutique manufacturers could wrap them in leather

Once upon a time I carried around a Compaq PC with a 8" (or so) green CRT and a huge 10MB (yes MB) HDD... this would be much better than that and make presentations pretty easy too.

Just brainstorming here.

 

I think a 20" notebook could be cool if the manufacturer uses an approach like apple.
make it 1"-1.5" thin, no bumps etc and have it have no more than 7 lbs.

 

I think a 19-20" laptop will sell. If you have a 17", you're already pretty stationary. You're not gonna take it with you to class or to work because, 10-13 pounds + power brick, hello! You get one because you don't want cords, and you want to be able to take it from room to room. For example, if you want to use it in the living room when your favorite TV show is on, but you want to take it to the bedroom when your roommate or your kids are watching something you'd rather get away from. A 19-20" would make it that much better if you want it to replace your TV for DVDs and, I guess, video games. (My 17" DTR has replaced my 13" TV for DVDs already, but most people have larger TVs, so a 17" is not really enough.) And, it'll probably be skinnier than a 17" since it'll be able to spread everything thinner - so hey, why not?

Malia

 

A 20" screen notebook no more than 7lbs? Maybe on the moon where the pull of gravity is less. An LCD screen is a large factor in the weight of a notebook, it'd be physically impossible to keep weight under 10lbs even.