News Bits: Notebooks Outship Desktops In US, Intel and ASUS Team Up, Windows 7 Details

40% of notebooks to have LED or 16:9 screens

President Paul Peng of AU Optronics (AUO) is expecting 16:9 aspect ratio and LED-backlit screens to have a 40% penetration rate each next year; this year they only capture 7% and 10% respectively. AUO says it is trying to adopt LED backlighting for all its notebook displays by the end of 2011.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

Notebooks outship desktops in US market

The IDC said Wednesday that notebook shipments surpassed desktop shipments for the first time ever in the third quarter. The record 9.5 million notebook shipped in the third quarter represented an 18% increase on-year.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)

Intel and ASUS start consumer-driven notebook design site

Intel and ASUS have started a website, WePC.com, where users can design notebooks. Once users create a notebook using various specifications, materials, and case art, they can submit it to the community where other users can critique it.

Via (HEXUS.net)

Corsair introduces 4GB DDR2-800 ValueSelect kit

Corsair will be finally be adding a 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2-800 SO-DIMM kit for notebooks to its ValueSelect product lineup. It should be around the same price as their 667MHz kit, which goes for roughly $55.

Via (HEXUS.net)

Windows 7 details uncovered

Microsoft on Tuesday showed off a demo of the upcoming Windows 7 operating system. It runs much more efficiently than Windows Vista and has a more streamlined look. Click the link for the full details.

Full Story (Engadget.com)

 

It was only a matter of time until notebook sales/shipments outpaced desktops.

 

Sounds like Intel and Asus are running out of ideas.

 

I thought LED back lighting was supposed to have done better than it did this year? It's good we're going in that direction though. It can't come soon enough.

For the WePC site it's definitely an interesting idea. I want to see high-performance yet inexpensive notebooks promoted. There's a real under-served market of PC buyers who are forced to go desktop because not enough lower priced gaming notebooks are available. Recent offerings from Asus and Gateway have been a step in the right direction though.

That's what Windows 7 looks like?! That's the direction they're going in?! Yikes!!! Microsoft needs to stop taking design ideas from Apple and start coming up with their own. The similarities to OS X are getting worse. Such an enormous task bar with icons absolutely reeks of Apple software. Hopefully it's not forced upon people because I really think Microsoft needs to stop imitating and start innovating. There's a reason I avoid Apple like the plague, and it starts with their OS.

 

I love widescreen, but not too wide[screen]. 16:10 is fine. And while 16:9 doesn't sound that different, well unfortunately it is simply different. Just too much vertical scrolling! 1366x768 sucks. While 1280x800 isn't too bad [at least for me]. Is there a 16:9 version of 1440x900?

Anyway, notebooks outselling desktops? Sounds like more people are building their own PC's than buying a "complete desktop" to me.

One thing good about the Vista "disaster" was bringing the focus back to performance, rather than marketing features that don't work really well anyway. Hopefully Windows 7 will be a worthwhile upgrade [hope my laptop can handle it when it arrives!]

 

Notebooks FTW!

 

That Intel Asus site is a joke.

The kind of tradeoffs you are to make just don't make sense and are tragically different from what tradeoffs can actually be made in a real novel design.

Perfect for those who lack imagination.

 

Wasn't Vista suppose to run more smoother then XP? I guess one good thing to look at is it seems that MS brings out a good OS every other OS.

98: Excellent
Me: Just down right awful
XP: Excellent
Vista: IMO, underachieving
Windows 7?: Let's hope they stick to their pattern

 

I wonder if they include "netbook" sales in that figures?

 

Blah, Windows 7 is starting to look like OSX. . .

 

The whole value RAM thing is good news.

 

It's 1600x900.

 

I can't stand the Windows 7 taskbar. One of the biggest choices that OS X gets wrong in my book is using only icons in the task bar, which looks nice but is utterly useless if you have more than a few documents open. I really hope Windows isn't going the same direction.

 

I'm pretty certain that netbooks factors into notebooks outshipping desktops.Also desktops tend to have a longer life span.People upgrade parts and build their own systems instead of buying a whole new desktop.Notebooks are prone to accidents.Maybe notebooks will outsell desktops soon since prices keep dropping and netbooks are so darn cheap.I love notebooks but I still use my desktop like 85% of the time.

 

I'm not sure how big the taskbar actually is; it looks like they were running an absolutely horrid low resolution when they took that screenshot. I certainly hope M$ clears out some of the Vista bloat with 7.

 

Windows 7 shoulda just been a service pack imo. Oh wells.

As a side note...

Chaz is leaving us, noooooooooooooooooooo

 

I couldn't agree more. Looks like MS is out of fresh ideas. The Vista catastrophic failure clearly threw them for a loop, now they're just doing clean-up duty and trying not to screw up the next o/s.

I would think so. They're notebooks, aren't they?

 

It's starting to look like KDE actually............

 

Trick or treat, my friend.