News Bits: Sony Recalls VAIO TZ Notebooks, Dell Looks To Sell Factories

Sony recalls 440,000 VAIO TZ notebooks

Sony today announced it is recalling 440,000 VAIO TZ ultraportable notebooks due to possible overheating. 19 different models of the TZ sold between May 2007 and July 2008 are being recalled. Faulty wiring connecting the display to the laptop could cause overheating, which can melt the case of the notebook.

To find out whether your Sony VAIO TZ is affected, go to the following link: http://esupport.sony.com/fixmypc

Full Story (NYTimes.com)
Sony Support Article
Via (Laptoping.com)

New Intel Atom processors coming Q3 '09

Next-generation Intel Atom processors will come out approximately one year from now, according to Japanese-language site PCWatch. The new chips are codenamed 'Pineview', which differ from the current 'Diamondville' Atom processors substantially. Pineview chips will have a memory controller and graphics integrated into the CPU chip itself. Pineview will no longer use a Front-Side Bus, rather a Direct Media Interface (DMI) like Intel's upcoming Nehalem desktop processors.

It is unknown whether the dual-core versions of Pineview will make it to notebooks, as current dual-core Diamondville Atom processors are only for desktops.

Full Story (RegHardware.co.uk)

Acer netbook shipments to reach 2 million in Q3'08

Acer is expected to ship two million Aspire One netbooks by the end of Q3 this year according to a DigiTimes report. Acer will add a 3G model to its lineup for the Taiwan market in November.

Full Story (DigiTimes.com)
NotebookReview.com Review for the Acer Aspire One

Samsung looking to buy Sandisk

Samsung Electronics may be looking to purchase or acquire SanDisk, a large producer of flash memorycurrently valued at $3.2 billion. If the two become one, competition would intensify between Samsung and Toshiba. SanDisk shares recently plummeted toless than half of what they were a few months ago. Samsung is looking to reduce licensing costs by acquiring or purchasing SanDisk.

Full Story (NYTimes.com)

Dell looking to sell off most factories in 18 months

The Wall Street Journal reports that Dell is looking to sell off most or all of its factories within 18 months. Dell is moving its manufacturing overseas to foreign contract manufacturers, abandoning its traditional "two-touch" approach to building machines. The two-touch approach included sending half-built computers from overseas factories to US factories, where the final assembly took place. The problem is that the two-touch system is desinged for building computers for customers ordering directly from the company. Since Dell has entered retail, this approach is no longer as efficient. Dell has sold more computers this year compared to last, but its profit margins have fallen. Dell's production chief Mike Cannon is in charge of streamlining the manufacturing process, and is currently working on more production outsourcing.

Dell's factories are currently valued at $2.6 billion.

Full Story (WSJ.com)
Via (Gizmodo.com)

 

Dell just better be careful. if they get the wrong manufacturer in China/Taiwan they may become the new Acer. grows really fast and really cheap at the expense of quality and support.

Edit: poor Sony - slipping market share, and recalls.
good on them to recall them before we have another issue like the Battery one.

 

I'm thinking the same thing. I really like Dell's build quality and have only had great experiences with Dell's cs. I just hope that Dell selling off its factories doesn't change that!

 

Almost all of the basic construction is already outsourced, Dell only uses it's own factories for things like the customisation options. So I would assume Chassis manufacture is already taking place outside the US.

And unlucky for Sony, the TZ is such a great laptop and I think a problem like this highlights how hard it must have been to design, so as 1 wire out of place can cause major problems. What I don't understand is how does this burn people? A fault like this doesn't happen suddenly and I would assume the smell of burning plastic would be enough for them to turn their notebooks off!

 

I wonder how much of a problem such a recall is. After all, the laptops are in the hands of their owners and I bet most of them don't even hear about this, much less go to the trouble of sending them in.

 

Okay now I'm scared. I've always liked Dell with their quality laptops and services, out of my personal experience. I really hope their current business model in terms of quality control and customer support won't change because of this downsize in manufacturing plants.

 

The article says that Dell already takes the barebones in from over seas, I assume these factories were just putting in the particular options of graphics card etc. So I doubt build quality will suffer as chassis are probably already outsourced.

 

Just the fact that they are moving the plants tells me there will be problems. Sure, it is possible the overseas plants will do just as good a job...but moving any/all equipment, training the new people, etc, etc...

I think this WILL reduce the quality of their notebooks, and it is a bad move.

 

I want Dell to stay a long long time. I like Dell products and all my PDA, desktops, laptops and monitor comes from Dell.

 

I check my serial # and I am part of the recall.

So far my TZ is working fine but don't want to risk it.

 

I want Dell to stay for a very very long time! My first lappy was a Dell, as most likely my next one will be!



Cin

 

Every Dell machine that comes to Australia is manufactured in its entirety in South East Asia. You don't have anything to worry about, except the loss of US jobs.

 

wonder if Sony Australia will issue a recall? would like to know if my TZ affected or not...