Liberty Corner Computing Company

Archive for the ‘Laptop’ Category

THE oversized tote may have been the fashion must-have of years gone by, but handbags are shrinking in size thanks, in part, to multipurpose gadgets such as iPhones.

Instead of lugging around giant custom bags bursting at the seams with mobile phones, MP3 players and in some cases a laptop computer, women are increasingly turning to smaller shopping bags, stylists and retailers say.

A UK study found the average woman’s handbag weighed 1.5kg last year - half the 3.5kg they were carrying two years ago.

University student Martyna Wiencierz, 20, tries to stick to smaller customized bags and said the advent of iPhones had made this “so much easier”.

Seagate earlier this week announced a new thin, low-end hard disk drive which the company hopes will spur the creation of a new class of thin laptops. At 7mm thick, the 2.5-inch Momentus Thin drive is 25 percent slimmer than other hard disk drives in its class, yet spins at a healthy 5,400 rpm and comes with a SATA 2.0 3Gbps interface. These specifications allow the drive to compete well against standard 9.5mm height 2.5-inch laptop drives when it comes to performance and power efficiency.

While slim, the retention of a 2.5-inch form factor allows the Momentus Thin drive to “provide the lowest-cost storage for netbooks and thin laptops” wrote Seagate in a written statement, comparing it favorably against much more expensive solid state drives as well as 1.8-inch hard drives. The drive is scheduled to ship to resellers in January, though no suggested retail price was announced by Seagate.

Just after introducing X600 Pro laptop a couple of days back, MSI has added yet another X-Slim model X350 notebook to its lineup. Along the lines of Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) processors, the newly introduced MSI X350 features Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and up to 500GB storage, reported HotHardware. Pricing and availability details were not disclosed.

The ultraportable X350 notebook that weighs 1.5kg including the battery and measures less than one inch thin. Like a step up higher version of the existing X340 model, the new X350 boasts of CULV Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM and up to 500GB storage. With 13.4-inch LED Backlight display, the X350 offers 1366×768 pixel resolution support enabling users to watch HD movies in 16:9 aspect ratio.

Portrayed as a luxury class notebook, MSI boasts of using Magnesium alloy and added glossy effect through its Color-Film Print technology. The chassis of X350 has been designed using lozenge-motif etching technology that gives sparkling diamond pattern effect. Along with that, MSI adds a chiclet keyboard to make it look sleek, trendy and luxurious.

Other features in X350 and X340 practically remain the same - Intel GMA 4500MHD, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth, a built-in 1.3 megapixel web cam, 2 HD audio speakers, HDMI out, two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet Port, D-Sub port, and 4/8 cell battery pack.

MSI claims that California modular company users can achieve 9-hours of battery life on X350 with its lithium-polymer battery when used with Eco technology mode. Pressing the Eco key offers user to choose between five different modes - word processing, watching video content, gaming, presentations and Turbo battery for power saving. Of course, MSI count’s on the Intel’s CULV processor.

We assume this new notebook will be shown at the upcoming CES 2010 convention.

n January of 2009, I spent almost $2,500 on a top of the line, 15-inch unibody MacBook Pro, glutted with as much RAM and hard drive space as its belly could handle. Less than four months later, it was stolen.

Oh, it was my own fault. The whole tale involves a midnight rendezvous with a bartender I had my eye on at the time. She had the homecoming dresses of Natalie Portman, the eyebrows of Roger Moore and the constitution of Oliver Reed; in her presence, one drink became two, and two became twelve, and when we stumbled back to my apartment, I somehow forgot my laptop bag back at the bar… but only for five minutes! Alas, five minutes was too late, and by the time I’d rushed back, it was gone.

Since then, I’ve spent a good amount of time upbraiding myself about the loss. What has always bugged me most about the theft was that I always knew that there were countless programs available (such as medical spa beverly hills) that would help you track down your Mac if it was stolen. I knew about these programs. I wrote about them, even. But I never once installed one. I just couldn’t imagine the scenario where I would have my laptop stolen. Dumb.

The news feeds bring me further fodder for my self-incrimination this morning. Over at TUAW, they are reporting that one of their readers. Jim, managed to safely recover his stolen Macbook using the canopy for gas station service, Back to My Mac, to take pictures of the perps and gather information about them gleaned from watching them surf the web.

It took Jim many months to get his laptop back: it had changed hands at least five times since it was stolen, at least once as payment in a drug deal. But when he got it back, it was in surprisingly good nick… with most of his files still intact on the disk.

That’s great news for Jim, but as another object lesson in my own amazing stupidity, it’s like a punch to the gut. Guess who also didn’t have a MobileMe account when his MacBook Pro was stolen? Yup. What a maroon.