News Bits: Waterproof Panasonic Notebook, IE 7 Beta 2 Available, New Intel Merom Processors for August, Dell Squeezes Suppliers

Matsushita/Panasonic's Waterproof Notebook

Matsushita (known in the U.S. as Panasonic)will next month introduce a waterproof notebook in Japan. The notebook is called the "Let's Note CF-Y5", it has drainage ducts and a waterproof sheet, effectively protecting it from "light rain" and spills. The CF-Y5 can also withstand up to 220 lbs. of force.

The laptop will go on sale in Japan on May 19<SUP>th</SUP> for US$2,000. It is unknown whether or not the product will be available in North America.

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Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Available

Microsoft has released the Beta 2 version of its new Internet Explorer 7 for public download. It has all of the features which will be available in its final release. IE7 now runs on XP Pro 64-bit Edition as well as Server 2003 SP1.

Download Link

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Dell asks notebook manufacturers to pay back percentage of revenues

"Dell last month was said to be asking notebook makers in Taiwan to pay back 3% of their revenues generated from shipments to Dell in exchange for orders for next year. Although Quanta has agreed to the demand, it is only willing to pay 1.5% instead of 3%, the sources said."

Wistron and Compal have refused to comply, saying that they deserve "reasonable profits." Quanta, as a result of its promise to Dell, will receive an order for two million entry-level Dell consumer notebooks. Previously, those had been contracted by Wistron, and made up their largest segment of their notebook shipments to Dell.

However, it's not all a loss for Wistron - Dell is shifting two low-to-high-end model orders from Quanta to Wistron, totaling 800,000 to 1M units. Overall, Quanta is adding about 2M units to its shipments for the next year according to the latest deals. Dell has been switching orders to cut prices according to sources.

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Intel next-gen GPU to support Shader 4.0

Intel is planning to integrate its latest GMA graphics core into the upcoming 965 "Broadwater" chipset family. A leaked presentation slide, which supposedly came from one of the chip giants shows that the new core will support the next-generation Shader Model 4.0 in addition to the current 3.0.

The G965 supports DirectX 10 through the Windows Graphics Foundation 2.0 API, and will also work with OpenGL 2.0. Hardware-accelerated vertex shaders will also be built into the new GPU, unlike today's GMAs. The G965 will be able to share up to 256MB of system memory for its frame buffer, double the current GMA950's. Other improvements include support for 16X AF and 4X AA, as well as raising the floating-point precision level from the current 24 bits to 32.

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Intel to Ship Dual Core 64-Bit Processor "Merom" in August

And more with Intel. In a meeting with financial analysts today Intel CEO revealed that the new 64-bit Dual Core mobile processor from Intel will ship in August to coincide with manufacturers doing a notebook refresh. As part of its restructuring (again) Intel said it is very focused on getting products out on time and promise this chip will deliver on time. AMD is promising their dual core Turion by summer, and probably July, so the release dates for mobile 64-bit dual core processors from each company promise to be very close.

The new Merom processors will be part of the Core Duo series.

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New CardBus Controller enables eSATA, TB storage, TiVO, RAID 5 on notebooks

[img]http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/11643.gif[/img] [p]Addonics Technologies announced a new CardBus controller which enables notebook users to have high-performance SATA technology, TB storage capability, and RAID 5 via their new CardBus eSATA RAID5/JBOD adapter. [/p] [p]The CardBus adapter has two built-in eSATA ports in addition to RAID5/JBOD firmware. Two hard drives can be attached and configured as RAID 0, RAID 1, or even one large drive. Up to 5 hard drives in external enclosures can be attached to [I]each eSATA port[/I], using the built-in port multiplier as the Addonics Storage Tower. [/p] [p]The Addonics CardBus controller can also be connected to some personal video recorders (PVRs) such as TiVO with an optional cable. [/p] [p]MSRP of the controller is $79.95.Addonics products are avaliable through their online store - [URL=http://www.shopaddonics.com/]Link[/URL] [/p]

 

I just saw the Panasonic Y5 on the Dynamism site.

 

I'm assuming we'd see Merom notebooks this September?

 

lol thank god I didn't buy a 32 bit Core Duo... I bet those who bought are really mad

 

Too bad the G965 will still probably be clobbered by the slowest x300. It's such a pity that integrated graphics (x200m aside) tends to be such an empty promise with regards to gaming.

 

I'd like to see some benchmarks on the 965 integrated graphics before making an opinion. Its specs are promising at least.

 

Excuse me but a Integrated card that support 4x AA and 16x AF? Can it even run Ping Pong with so much AA?

I think that this one is coming in the Merom? By the way: I know Merom is 64 bit, but is Merom going to be 800 FSB and 800 MHz DDR2 Dual Channel with SATA II and better audio codecs?

Thanks,

Charlie-Peru

 

Highly doubtful. The "first-gen" Merom would be pin-compatible with the current core duos. Meaning, it's going to use to the same chipset.

 

So what do you think, guys: cancel the order of Centrino-Duo W3j and wait for some merom-miracle until september
Or screw merom and get w3j?

 

Below is a copy and paste from an earlier article on NBR. August is much sooner than I thought for Merom, but I still think it'll be Christmas before you see too many notebooks with the processor. Maybe September and October we'll have a trickle, and then by December in the tens. Just a guess.

 

stick with the w3j...i think u can change the chipset with asus laptops...cant u ??

 

lol of course not. What you can only switch is the CPU, and at that, you need a BIOS update of some sort.

 

Waterproof notebook? I could take that to the beach. xD

 

Why is Microsoft now just showing off IE 7 Beta 2? I have had the setup on my PC since Feburary 1st. I tried it out for a day then uninstalled it. I will wait for the non-beta to be released to get it again. Why is IE 7B2 back in the news?

 

Because that was Beta 2 Preview.

 

Haha, that's funny, thanks. Wouldn't imagine much changed since preview. I won't even bother this time. Like I said, I will wait for the final version to install again.

 

Haha, you'd be surprised... there are some noticable differences.

 

WOW, Chaz thanks for this update, a nice surprise!.

The Pana Y5 acutally looks quite thin and light, i would like to see how the waterproof thing works out.

I think I also read that some laptops have a water proof keyboard, for example the the ASUS V1J, so we'll see.

HEy that's sooo kool that the INtel GMA965 will have PS4, lol my Gefroce 4 ti 4200 128mb only has PS1!. I bet the Intel GMA965 will beat my geforce in any comparison lol.

With speculatiing on MErom notebooks, this is really tough, you can see that intel wants to make MErom available for student (september) and also for X-mas.

Also Companies would also like to take advantage of this market. Refreshing old Yonah models to Merom MAY require a mobo change so that you can take advantage of the new Intel GMA965 and anything else that comes with Merom.

So it would be interesting to see when notebook can be pumped out.

Expect some companies to be slower, while others like Tosh and Acer to be the fastest, then Dell, then others.

I just hope that all brands would have their notebooks out

Thanks again Chaz!,

MysticGolem

 

Um, not really. Since the first release of Vista will support 32-bit. with 64-bit folloring a few months behind. I fully expect my notebook's useful service life to be at least three years if not more.

 

OK, I admit, I downloaded and installed it. After the restart, it wouldn't even launch! I would see it launching for about a tenth of a second and then it would disppear! Beta indeed!

 

maybe Intel try to counter the new chip from AMD (Taylor)

as far as I heard, Taylor was delay to Q1/2007 which make me very disappoint.

Actually, I do not like core duo much but if I want to use notebook for now, I think.. there is no choice for me to choose except core duo. Anyway, I like Turion more but.. it's out-of-date for now. T_T

I will calculate cost-and-benefit again to ensure that performance per price of Core Duo is worth for my money more than Turion or not.