News Bits: Core 2 Duo Confirmed for August, Apple Releases Mighty Mouse Wireless, Laptops on Vacation, ThinkPad Prices Fall

Intel Merom to be released July 27; in notebooks by endofAugust

Intel's Core 2 Duo ("Conroe") isn't the only processor Intel is going to focus on this week - the "Merom", aka core 2 Duo for notebooks, will also be discussed in detail. Intel is planning to announce details about its branding strategy, as well as the systems that will appear with Merom processors. The actual chips won't be available until later.

Merom will offer improvements over the Core Duo and its predecessor, the Pentium M, in performance and power consumption. The numbering scheme for the Merom will consist of model numbers in the 5000 and 7000 range, indicative of performance. CEO Paul Otellini said on Wednesday that Intel has already begun shipping the Merom to PC customers. Systems with the Merom processor should begin to appear around the end of August, according to sources.

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Apple releases Bluetooth Mighty Mouse

Good news for Apple users - the company's only multi-button mouse has gone wireless. The bluetooth Mighty Mouse is compatible with any Mac running 10.4.6 of OS X Tiger with Bluetooth 2.0 wireless connectivity.

The Bluetooth Mighty Mouse is powered by two AA batteries. Unlike regular mice, the Mighty Mouse features a shell that covers two touch-sensors for right and left clicking. There are two additional sensor buttons on the side, as well as a scroll bar for up, down, and diagonal scrolling. The device is user-programmable - single-button clicking can be enabled, and the right- and left-click can be switched around.

The wireless Mighty Mouse is $69, $20 more than the wired version.

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More Americans work on vacation thanks to laptops

In the last decade, the number of Americans who work on vacation has almost doubled. The laptop computer has replaced the cell phone as the most useful tool for working on holiday.

A recent survey said that 43% of office workers said they work on vacation - a big jump from the 23% in 1995. Roughly one in four employees said they spent three or more hours working on vacation. Why? - they were either committed to the job or had a 'pressing assignment', and the other ten percent said they had an inability to relax until the job was finished.

Technology has made all that work possible, but it has changed significantly over the last decade. The latest survey said that 41% of workers said the laptop computer made it easier to work on vacation, followed by cell phones, personal computers, and the BlackBerry. In 1995, workers had the cell phone first, then the beeper, fax machine, and lastly, the laptop and personal computer.

And the last part of the survey - only 61% of Americans use all the vacation time they are given.

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ThinkPad prices cut by up to 33% in US

Lenovo recently cut the prices of its ThinkPad notebooks in the US, with the X60 model being dropped by 33%. It is now priced at $1,399 USD, down from the original $2,099.

According to IDC (International Data Corporation), Lenovo's portable PC shipments fell 20.4% sequentially in the US market in Q1 2006. Worldwide shipments saw an 18% drop. The 318,000 portable PCs sold in the US account for 25% of Lenovo's shipments worldwide. This May saw Lenovo chopping the prices of its ThinkPad line up to 42%.

Manufacturers for ThinkPad notebooks, including Quanta Computer, Wistron, and Compal Electronics, are expected to benefit from Lenovo's ThinkPad promotions as part of the back-to-school demand in the US.

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$100 laptop gets new power options

The hand crank from the $100 has been ditched from the final design, in favor of another human-powered device from Squid Labs. The device is a pull-string external generator, seperate from the laptop. Geo Homsy, a designer at Squid labs, states:

"With a hand-crank system, if you're gung-ho about it, you can get about five watts out of it. But you get tired after about a minute or so."

An estimated 20 watts will have to be generated in order for ten minutes of run time for every one minute of human effort. The generator will run at a low RPM to keep the noise down.

"If you imagine an entire school room full of kids using this thing, it needs to be as quiet as possible. Otherwise it will drive everyone insane."

In addition to the pull-string generator, other power alternatives are also being considered, such as high-capacity batteries that can be paired with the generator to give up to eight hours of run time.

It has been confirmed that Taiwan-based Quanta Computer will be producing the laptops during Q1 2007.

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Wow that pull string idea is crazy. It would be pretty hard to type a paper if you always had to wonder if your power was going out. LOL
Tim

 

Yeah you would actually have to write it down on paper before you could type it

 

Just throw a solar panel on those little $100 laptops.

 

I don't think that would produce enough, not to mention the possibility of damage to the panel.

 

Other companies are working on it. Not for a $100 notebook but for others more expensive. The problem is most notebooks need around 30 watts of power. That usually requires a much larger solar panel. say like 2ft by 2ft. However, with a very small solar panel, you could set it out in the sun (most likely not good for the notebook) and let it charge via a much smaller solar panel... Say 2 watts.

 

We need a satellite-dish-like-thingy for solar energy. -.-

 

This is kinda funny. Everyone's talking about the pull-string on the $100 laptop and NOT about the fact that Merom is coming out tomorrow and will apppear in notebooks by the end of August. Still, it is a neat idea... but ten minutes of power? Can't some company cut them a break and donate some batteries or something? Or even at a nice discount. And an external generator is a pretty lame idea. But hey, they do what they can for $100 I guess.

 

Special thanks to Mach_Zero for contributing the Merom news bit.

 

I'll talk about merom instead. Can't wait till end of august. Screw the string pulling When I get my merom notebook it'll be powered by a good old AC adapter.

 

Finally some affordable Thinkpads

 

Well, that's JUST the news I'd been waiting for! Thanks Chaz, and Mach_Zero.

I wonder in what kind of platforms we can expect to first see Meroms. I'd say desktop replacements, but I wouldn't mind to see a thin-and-light or even an ultraportable around launch time.

C.

 

I assume Dell would be first to get the new meroms?

 

So should I buy my Dell Laptop today or wait until Merom comes out.

I only want the Yonah dual core. No Merom for me.

 

Folks, don't be so happy yet. Merom CPUs might "appear" on laptops by the end of August, but guess what? Dell's going to be the one with Core 2 Duos first and if the processor catches up to the hype, demand would be so high that shipments would most possibly take more than 2-3 weeks. Other brands are going to come out with the new CPU before that right? Wrong. If history's an indication, they wouldn't phase out the previous generation (in this case the Core Duo) processor as soon as we think. My best guess? Wide sales of Merom laptops by the end of September or by the latest, first or second week of October.

edit: Oh, and the news of Lenovo dropping prices are interesting indeed. Hope they'd release a new Core 2 Duo Z-series laptop that's reasonably priced.

 

w3rd.

Electricity FTW!

 

The string bit is very clever , one can power the laptop by leg while working on it , just like a sawing machine .

This thing might even work , and I wouldn't mind having such an option for my notebook should I run out of battery juice .

 

Old-school sewing machines ftw!

Oh gosh this brings back memories. My mom had one of those when I was little and I always wanted to use it. Sometimes she would turn off the needle and let me use the pedal thing. And her pin cushion was shaped like a dog, but bc it had so many pins and needles, it looked like a hedgehog! An AC powered sewing machine is probably easier to use, but the pedal ones are more fun.

Malia

 

I was about to buy a X-series, but this announcement tempts me to wait until the fall in hopes they release a new X-series as well.

 

If Lenovo could actually get the laptops people order out the door, they would have shipped a bunch more

 

So, should I get a Core Duo 2400 now or wait for the Core 2 Duo? How much more expensive will the Core 2 be over Core Duo?