News Bits: Vista to be Available for Download, Nintendo Wii Laptop, Alienware m5790 Available

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Windows Vista, Office to be available as downloads

Microsoft has announced that both Windows Vista and Office 2007 will be available as downloads via Windows Marketplace starting January 30 at suggested retail prices. The downloaded versions will naturally not have the discs and packaging, and will also not come with the manual. Windows Vista is available for download only in English, 32- or 64-bit.

Another way of getting Vista is through the Windows Anytime Upgrade program. Customers will be allowed to upgrade to a higher version of Windows Vista from their current edition via an online transaction. It is as simple as obtaining a new digital key by purchasing the upgrade online.

From January 30 to June 30, Microsoft will have a limited-time promotion; North American customers who purchase a retail copy of Windows Vista Ultimate can licence two additional copies of Windows Vista Home Premium for use on other PCs in the same house for $49.99 each.

Read More (DailyTech)

Engadget's Ben Heckendorn builds Nintendo Wii laptop

Ben Heckendorn, a writer for tech blog Engadget, and video game to laptop mod extraordinaire has introduced his latest mod -- the Nintendo Wii Laptop. Check it out over on Engadget:

Specs for the wii laptop include:

• Built-in close-range sensor bar
• Stereo sound
• Gamecube port
• 16:9 Widescreen LCD
• A/V jacks
• Port for external stock sensor bar
• Built-in power supply and compartment for the cord
• Dimensions: 8.6&quot; wide, 7.7&quot; long and 2&quot; total thickness.

10/10 on this mod! Ben has done such mods as an Atari 2600 laptop and NES laptop in the past. Engadget will feature a step-by-step guide and videos on how to do the mod in the coming week.

Read More (Engadget)

Acer plans to ship 12-14 million notebooks in 2007

Acer is aiming to become the world's number three PC maker in 2007. The company is likely to have notebook shipments top 12-14 million, which represent a 30% increase over the 9.0-9.3 million units shipped in 2006.

Acer will be teaming up with Best Buy to expand its market share in the United States, and offer a complete lineup of Windows Vista-ready notebooks. Acer will also strengthen its relationship with notebook manufacturers, and will be outsourcing 4 to 5 new models each initially to Compal Electonics, Quanta Computer, and Wistron; an additional two models will be outsourced to Inventec.

Read More (DigiTimes)

Asustek notebook shipments to increase 60% in 2007

Asustek Computer expects its total notebook shipments to grow 60% on year on 2007, including own-brand and OEM models. The company's shipments are expected to top 8.8 million in 2007, compared to 5.5 million in 2006.

Over 85% of Asustek's notebooks were widescreen models by Q4 2006; widescreen models are expected to account for 97% by the end of 2007. 15.4&quot; notebooks continue to be the mainstream, while 14.1&quot; models are steadily increasing in popularity.

Read More (DigiTimes)

802.11n draft 1.10 approved

January 19^th - Atheros said today in a statement that &quot;all of the 3,000 technical comments to the 802.11n draft 1.0 have now been resolved.&quot; They also added that there was &quot;unanimous approval&quot; for draft 1.10's creation. A 15-day ballot will be issued to determine whether a version 2.0 based on 1.10 should be created and submitted for technical review.

Read More (SmallNetBuilder)

Alienware Area-51 m5790 now available

Alienware now has its new Area-51 m5790 gaming notebook available for sale. Prices start at $1,299 for a base configuration. The upgrade to the ATI Mobility Radeon X1900 256MB graphics card is $350.

Read More about the Area-51 m5790 here.

Product Link (Alienware.com)

 

Oh man. Ben is one crazy guy. I want one (of course, that's with everything he makes )

 

Is that the same guy who did the X360 laptop? His name sounds familiar

 

He's the guy who turns every game system into something portable. He's very famous.

 

I would pay $$$ (looks cooler than £££ ) for that Wii laptop

As for Vista, I'm not going to upgrade until my uni tells me they won't support XP over their internet connection (won't happen anytime soon ) and DX10 becomes established and the standard. Also a X1600 equivalent level DX10 card is available for laptops at a reasonable cost. Again, not anytime soon I'm sure many will upgrade just because they believe everything Microsoft tell them (the amount of time I tell people they don't need a 4gb pagefile...)

 

nice Wii mod