News Bits: ThinkPad Z Pics, Notebook Sales Up, New AMD Turion, Gateway in Japan

ThinkPad Z Pictures Surface

As discussion and the obvious upcoming availability of the ThinkPad Z series comes closer pictures are now cropping up on the web. You can find a few such pictures in our forums here at NotebookReview.com by viewing this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=22324&page=5&pp=5

ThinkPad Z widescreen notebook

We can even see that the Z series has been listed on some seller sites in Hong Kong:

Link to site with Z series listing: http://home.netteens.net/~billyy/Print%20Version.mht

Number of Notebooks Sold to Increase 31% in 2005

Overall sales of PCs will be up for the year 2005, but the sale of mobile PCs (aka notebooks / laptops) are spurring most of the extra purchases. The number of notebooks sold should increase 31% over the number sold last year. The drop in average selling price has been remarkably large for laptops in the past year too, it's becoming harder for manufacturers to make a good profit on each unit sold.

More: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/08/22/gartner_pc_sales_forecast/

AMD Releases Turion MT-40 and MT-37, VoodooPC first to use new chips

AMD today released the 64-bit mobile processor focused Turion 64 MT-40 and MT-37 processors. These new additions to AMD's popular 64-bit mobile processor family are expected to be available in new ENVY Featherweight and ENVY Middleweight notebook computers from VoodooPC.

"Featuring ultra-thin personalized designs, the ENVY Middleweight a:538 and ENVY Featherweight a:228 are two of our sexiest gaming notebooks," said Rahul Sood, president and chief technology officer of VoodooPC. "The match-up of our exclusive design capability and AMD's latest 64-bit mobile technology gives us an edge to deliver highly mobile gaming performance, quiet operation and ultimate style."

The first notebooks based on the latest AMD Turion 64 mobile technology MT-40 and MT-37 can be ordered now from VoodooPC's web site, and they are expected to be available for delivery soon throughout North America.

More: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~100632,00.html

RoadWired KeyCard TraveLock Review

NotebookReview.com forum member Vindicated submitted a review for the RoadWired KeyCard TravelLock in the forums. The TraveLock is designed toprovide an alternative solution to securing luggage and laptop computers without the hassles of dealing with small keys or having to remember combinations. The TraveLock Security Kit consists of one KeyCard lock, two keycards (one large, one small), one laptop lock adapter, one 60" cable and one 4.5" cable; both cables are braided galvanized steel with a PVC coating and brass headers. Unfortunately Vindicated had the following experience:

"Using the included keycards it takes me about 2 seconds to unlock this product. Defeating the lock using good old fashion gravity is even quicker. The easiest way to defeat the lock is to drop the unit from a height of four feet or higher onto a hard surface. That's right, as odd as that sounds, simply dropping the unit or banging the corner nearest to the keycard slot will defeat the locking mechanism and cause the cable to eject open. When I inspected the unit, the pin inside the left hole (when logo is facing up) appeared to be quite small and every time the cable disengages from impact, it's always that slot that gets released."

Read the full review here: RoadWired TraveLock Review

Gateway and eMachines Expand to Japan

Gateway continues to broaden its distribution in Japan to fulfill increasing consumer demand. The company announced today that its eMachines desktop PCs are available now at Costco Wholesale Corporation, the leading wholesale retailer in Japan. In addition the company announced that its Gateway and eMachines notebook and desktop PCs will be sold through Sakuraya Co. Ltd.

"The eMachines and Gateway brands are expanding rapidly in Japan," said Ed Fisher, Gateway's senior vice president -- international sales. "Both Costco and Sakuraya are leading retailers highly regarded for offering a broad selection of high-quality products at excellent prices. We're excited to partner with these renowned retailers to make Gateway and eMachines systems even more widely available to Japanese customers."

Gateway's relationship with Sakuraya complements its existing retail alliances, expanding the presence of Gateway and eMachines PCs throughout Japan. The Gateway and eMachines brands will now be sold through 579 retail storefronts operated by Best Denki, Costco Wholesale Corporation, Gigas K's Denki, Ishimaru Denki Co. Ltd., Joshin Denki Co. Ltd., Nojima Corp., Sakuraya Co. Ltd. and Tsukumo Co. Ltd.

Sakuraya is now offering Gateway and eMachines PCs at its stores in Kawasaki and Shinjuku. By October 2005, the Gateway and eMachines PCs will be available in all Sakuraya stores.

More: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/144245.html

 

Using today's currency rates, that Z60 would cost $1,554.81. That's a phenominal deal for those specs. I can't imagine it will come to the US that cheap, but if it does, Lenovo is going to sell through a bunch of them. It's not even that heavy for a 15.4"...

 

The only shortcoming is --- way too thick at 1.6" (I assume that's measured in the back, not in the front edge!)
That's more like a wide-screen R series than a wide-screen T series; so the price is reasonable with the curreny translation from HKD to $.

 

I want to let everyone know that those prices are strictly Hong Kong student prices. Street prices in HK for IBM's are way above those levels.

 

Well, that just stinks...okay, so the prices will be more inline, probably $1750 - $1850.

 

but remember, anyone that pays full price for an IBM is foolhardy, use either the Visa discount, EPP discount (if you can) or student discount.