News Bits: Motorola Rugged Laptops, Dell Outsourcing Design, FireFox Update

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Motorola introduces rugged laptops with built-in heating unit

Image cortesy of DevicePedia.com

Motorola expanded its product offering on March 20 when it introduced the MW810 and ML910 rugged laptops. The ML910 is powered by an Intel Core Duo T2300E (1.66GHz) processor and has a 128MB dedicated ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 graphics card powering a 13.3&quot; widescreen display. It also features a video capturing card. Wireless connectivity is provided by Bluetooth, WLAN, WAN (Wide Area Network), and GPS. The most interesting feature about the laptop is a heating feature, which can warm the hard drive to ensure it will spin up properly in cold conditions.

The MW810 is a mobile workstation designed to provide extensive connectivity. It is vehicle mounted, and has a three-piece design - the keyboard, monitor, and CPU are separate. It has internal GPS and optional Dead Reckoning GPS. Processing power is provided by the Intel Core 2 Duo, and the display is readable in sunlight.

Both the MW810 and the ML910 will be on display at FOSE 2007 at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center on March 20-22, booth numbers #2119 and #2200.

Read More (DevicePedia.com)

In-Depth Information (Motorola Press Release)

Dell counting on Taiwan-based ODMs for notebook design

Dell plans to rely more on Taiwan-based notebook ODMs for notebook design in order to lower costs and increase development speed. It will downsize its US design department and TDC (Taiwan Design Center).

Dell will still allow its core design team to be responsible for monitoring production and working with ODMs to design products. In order to design products, Dell's TDC needs about 9 to 10 months, while notebook ODMs can do the same job in about 4 to 6 months.

Read More (DigiTimes)

TMDisplay announces new LED-backlit LCD panels for notebooks

Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology announced new 10.4- and 10.6-inch notebook LCD panels. The LED lighting in the panels allows for a lower profile, lighter weight, and lower power consumption. TMDisplay currently produces LED-backlit LCD panels from 8.9 to 13.3 inches. Offered resolutions include XGA, WXGA, and WXGA+. Brightness levels are up to 300cm/m2.

Read More (DigiTimes)

Portable PC adoption to claim larger share of PC future

According to the IDC's Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, worldwide PC shipments were up 7.3% in Q4 2006 compared to one year earlier. Annual PC shipments were 227.7 million units, representing a growth rate of 9.5%. Desktop shipments of 138.3 million units was up less than 2% compared to 2005, while the 82.4 million shipments of portable computers was a 26.3% increase over the previous year. It is forecasted that desktop PC shipments will grow in the low single-digit rates, with an estimated annual growth rate of 3.8% from 2006 to 2011. Portable PCs in comparison will maintain a 16.1% growth rate over the same period. The result is that portable PCs will make up over 50% of all client PCs in 2011.

The IDC also noted the increasing importance of emerging markets. Emerging markets made up over 50% of desktop PC shipments in 2006 and will make up over 50% of worldwide PC shipments in 2011.

Read More (Business Wire)

Mozilla updates Firefox to 2.0.0.3

Mozilla today issued a minor update to its Firefox 2.0 web browser. The security fix patches a hole in Firefox's FTP PASV functionality. This feature could be used to do a rudimentary port-scan of machines inside the firewall of a victim. According to Mozilla this causes no harm by itself, but if there are other vulnerabilities in the network there may be some risk.

Download Firefox 2.0.0.3 from Mozilla.com, or use Firefox's auto-update function.

Read More (DailyTech)

 

@Dell: It's about darn time you realize that the current notebook designers you have suck. That's one of the few reasons I didn't consider your machines when I needed one. The lack of a decent 15.4" gaming machine was another.

 

The whole Inspiron line is really ugly...Those white bumpers...Eww. The Business line is alright, no real inspiration there, but same goes for most other business lines. The XPS line is very nice, the only complaint I have is the Dell badge. Not that I have anything against Dell or anything...lol

The heating feature is a pretty novel idea, but I must say its highly impractical for most of us. The last thing I need in my notebook is more heat...Maybe an air conditioner would be nice...

 

Personally, I think that Motorola could have put a Pentium 4 in that rugged laptop and saved themselves the extra heating mechanism.

About Dell laptops - Dell hired the Motorola Razr guy, Ronald G. Garriques, to help with laptop design. Let's hope he does some good.
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3530

 

Yea, but P4s are sloooow, until you get to above 3.6GHz, and even then an entry level Core Duo will smoke it. A Pentium D would be a better idea

 

Just put in a Core 2 Duo X6800...probably hot enough for the heater and killer performance in the process. Then two 7900s in SLI...but then it could be a 13.3" computer now could it? Just wishing...

 

How Dell would immediately improve in the eyes of the consumer:

Hire Arnie for a commercial in which he throws one of their current designed notebooks into a brick wall, turns to the camera and says "you've just been outsourced... permanently"

I would immediately buy dell notebooks for the rest of my life.

 

Giving credit where it's due, the XPS M1210 is a nicely designed and cool looking notebook. The rest of the Inspiron lineup is now long overdue for a redesign.

 

That's a shame about Dell outsourcing design. Their current line of Inspirons has already received the ugly treatment. Look at Apple and somewhat HP for design you outsourcing goons.

They outsource it and then wonder why they aren't #1. Look at dellideastorm.com and the 5th thing up there is "BETTER DESIGN".

What a bunch of morons.

---

End rant. Will never ever consider Dell anymore. I need to enjoy what I'm working on, not try to avoid eye contact with it. By outsourcing to Taiwan (heard of any good designers over there lately?), they aren't doing themselves a favor.

I though Mr. Dell was a smart man.... He should hire ONE DESIGNER - that's all it takes! - and pay him personally. How does he stand to carry a 2-inch thick, plastic coated waiting to fall apart Inspiron 15" with him? Oh, he might not even use their products.

 

Yes, actually, look at the Asus line of notebooks. Honestly, there are some good designers that don't live at Apple.
I'll just give you a list:
Asus (Taiwan): V6J, VX1, V1J, VX2, W3J, W7J, there are more that I really don't feel like listing.
LG (Korea): S1, T1, P1, R400, C1, etc.
Lenovo (China): Y300/400/500
Sony (Japan): The whole lineup, except for the N series, which I believe was done by an American guy
Fujitsu (Japan): P7320 and also some of the Japanese models.
Panasonic (Japan): R5, Y5

Trust me, Asia has more beautiful designs than the US. Outside of Apple (which is based on aesthetics and not much else) and HP (which got 1 good design and has applied it to every single consumer notebook it has), Gateways are bland and dull, and the Dells are ugly.

 

LOL. Let's see if their notebooks will be SUPER slim

You took the words right out of my mouth Perhaps the m1210 is the only good looking Dell portable.

 

Arguably true. The Latitude D420 is nice looking as well, but definitely the M1210 is the best looking Dell.
I really liked the last generation Latitude X1 as well, but that was actually a rebadged Samsung.

I think outsourcing the design team is a good idea, hopefully the designers will make sleek and clean designs like those of Asus and LG (or at least to the level of the M1210) and cut the garish plastic bumpers and bulky design overall.

 

Stop bagging the Inspirons! I bought mine based on looks!

 

wow....you must be the only person to have done that...

 

I guess I am too dull to care...but I only worry about how a laptop works and could seriously care less what it looks like. I would rather save $200 on the system price.

Make it solid and make it work as I need it too...but I am not the artistic sort anyway...more utilitarian.