News Bits: Asus W2P Notebook, Dell to Hire More Product Engineers in Texas, Intel Quad Core News

Asus updates W2 notebook with Core 2 Duo and ATI X1700

Asus will be updating its W2 mobile multimedia notebook line with not only the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor, but also with ATI's recently announced Mobility Radeon X1700 graphics card. Dubbed the W2P, it will feature an HD DVD drive, HDMI output, onboard HDCP support, and a WUXGA (1920x1200) resolution display. Additional multimedia features include a hybrid analog/digital TV tuner and a Dolby-certified sound system driving four speakers and a subwoofer. Its ATI Mobility Radeon X1700 graphics chip has 256MB GDDR3 memory. Both 2MB L2 and 4MB L2 versions of the Core 2 Duo processor will be offered. The W2P will come standard with up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, and an Intel 3945ABG wireless card. Pricing and availability for the W2P are not yet known.

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Velocity Micro gaming notebooks to hit Best Buy shelves

September 25<SUP>th</SUP> - Velocity Micro today launched its new NoteMagix L80x Ultra gaming notebook in select Best Buy stores. The L80x promises high performance and value, equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo processors and Nvidia graphics. The NoteMagix L80x is targeted toward students, gamers, and creative professionals. Its 15.4" widescreen display is driven by Nvidia's GeForce Go7600 graphics card, and is ideal for movie viewing, gaming, and graphical applications. A built-in webcam and biometic fingerprint reader are standard equipment. The retail price for the machine is set at $1,999.

Link to VelocityMicro on BestBuy.com

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Dell to expand Central Texas product development by hiring 500

September 25<SUP>th</SUP> - Dell announced today that it is planning to hire an additional 500 engineers to work in its Central Texas product development operations to bring customers the broadest and best product and services portfolio available. Chairmen Michael Dell said in a statement:

"This year Dell will have the most technically advanced product line in our company's history. The additional development expertise we're announcing today for our Austin Design Center reflects our concept of Dell 2.0, an initiative to revitalize every part of our business with engineering excellence at its core. No other company in our industry has a greater commitment to innovation in computing."

This year, Dell has introduced a new generation of servers and desktop computers, storage products, notebook computers, and printers. Earlier this month, Dell announced Dimension desktop computers featuring AMD processors, and will introduce an AMD-based two-socket, multi-processor server later this year. By the end of 2006, Dell will have opened or expanded 14 new manufacturing, call center, design and development facilities. These investments expand outside the United States to key markets in China, India, Germany, and Brazil.

Interested in a career at Dell? Get additional information here.

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Intel to ship 1-million quad-cores before AMD ships one

IDF 2006 - Pat Gelsinger stated today that Intel will ship one million quad-core processors before AMD ships one. Intel plans to release its Kentsfield and Clovertown processors next month, so the statement is not far-fetched.

AMD is not planning to ship its quad-core Deerhound Socket F processors until late 2007. AMD publically announced its quad-core CPUs in August of this year.

Intel will ship one quad-core Kentsfield processor initially, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. It will be followed by the lower-clocked Q6600 in 1H 2007, along with the quad-core Kentsfield 3200 series Xeon CPUs in the same time period. The quad-core Clovertown Xeon 5300 series CPU is slated to ship next month. And finally, Intel's 45nm chips are expected to debut in 2H 2007.

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Authorities raid Chinese factory suspected of infringing on Bluetooth SIG registered trademarks

September 26<SUP>th</SUP> - The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) today announced a successful raid against a factory in Shenzhen, China suspected of infringing upon the Bluetooth SIG's registered trademarks, and for manufacturing Bluetooth products with the Bluetooth trademark and logo with the permission of Bluetooth SIG, and without going through the Bluetooth qualification program.

The raid was fully supported by the mainland Chinese government authorities from Shenzhen, and was jointly carried out by the Shenzhen City Economic Cime Investigation Department of the Public Security Bureau and the Administration of Industries and Commerce of Shenzhen. The raid yielded over 20,000 semi-finished goods, including headsets with Bluetooth technology, packaging, printed boxes, components, and user manuals, which were seized. The Shenzhen Bluebird Hi-Tech Co. is under investigation for manufacturing and assembling unqualified products infringing on the trademarks.

Verizon Wireless expands network across Florida

September 26<SUP>th</SUP> - Verizon Wireless announced today a significant expansion of its wireless broadband network across Florida with the launch of its BroadbandAccess service in Naples, Brandenton, Lakeland, and Saint Augustine. The BroadbandAccess service allows customers a high-speed connection to access business and entertainment services on their cellular phones, notebook computers, and other wireless devices. The multi-million dollar expansion adds about 5,000 square miles of area and two million Florida residents to Verizon's Wireless network coverage. Verizon has already invested over $1 billion in Florida, and $30 billion nationally over the past six years.

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That velocity micro notebook is clearly a rebranded Compal, that's really pricey. It's good to see them on shelves though.

 

That's pretty cool if you ask me, the HEL-60s and maybe later some other models, are coming to Bestbuy. Can't wait to see it... oh man I hate going to best buy though.

Lakeland? Verizon hasn't quite made it to my neck of the woods yet.

 

Review for the Velocity Micro Notemagix:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2020705,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530


Summary:
Velocity Micro's latest desktop replacement, the NoteMagix L80 Ultra, will impress you with performance rather than looks.
Pros:
Fast processor. Runs cooler than other Core 2 Duo laptops.
Cons:
Springy keyboard. Noisy mouse buttons. Underwhelming battery life. Not your typical boutique-vendor look.

 

You know, this is the second time I've seen this comment, about it being pricey, with someone on Engadget making the claim that the same thing could be purchased at powernotebooks much cheaper.

However, I went to powernotebooks.com and configured the same Compel Hel80 model with as close to the same specs as I could, and came to just about the exact same price of $2000 (one thing I couldn't tell was what kind of screen the Velocity Micro being sold at Best Buy has), a little up or down depending on some components.

So I'm not sure why people are saying this Velocity Micro model is really pricey, since it seems to be almost exactly in line with what it would cost from other places selling the Compal Hel80.

 

Just spec'd equivalent machines on both sites and the powernotebook system came in at $1929 and the velocity micro came in at $2404. That is a significant difference. WSXGA+ screen, T7200, 2gb ram, 100gb 7200rpm drive, DL DVDRW, XP pro, 3 year warranty.

 

OK, well, a lot of that is the 3 year warranty though. I was talking more specifically about the configuration being sold at Best Buy for $1999.

Did you leave the bluetooth and wireless networking out of your PowerNotebooks configuration? I got a price of $2119 (or $2055 after discount) for the same configuration you described.

Anyway, fair enough, yes, with the warranty difference there is a price difference.

-Zadillo

 

Quad Core, I dont know if to take that as a good news or bad news. To many cons and pros, some being that its going to be very expensive at launch date and secondly most applications dont even use 2 cores yet and here they have 4.

Not really worth upgrading to unless you have a lot of money to spare or just want the latest products.

 

$1999 does seem a bit high for a HEL80, but I guess it depends on some of the finer points of the configuration.

That W2P looks nice though.

I still think that Intel really didn't do any Conroe buyers any favors though by bringing out quad-core shortly after giving them duos. I know that's the nature of the industry but man, I'd be bummed if I just blew a bunch on a Conroe only to know I was already eclipsed by this much.

 

Wow, the Core 2 Quad is going to be drop-in compatible with the motherboards of existing Core 2 Duos... there's a lot more info here.

~ Brett