Oh, how we love new processor releases. Just when you think that you have every last spec-bumped PC covered, along comes HP with Core 2 Duo options for nearly all of its business-oriented Compaq notebooks. As we’ve seen almost all of these models before, you’re probably quite familiar with their features, so we’ll gloss over those and instead concentrate on the five new CPUs available to each machine. Starting at the low end we have the 15.4-inch nx7400 series, which along with the previous Celeron M, Core Solo, and Core Duo configurations, now offers you a choice of the 1.66GHz T5500, 1.83GHz T5600, 2.0GHz T7200, 2.16GHz T7400, or 2.33GHz T7600 flavors of Merom. Next up are the nx6320 and nc6320 members of the 6300 series, which retain their respective 14.1-inch and 15-inch screens, but add the same Core 2 Duo options as the nx7400. Then we have the 14.1-inch widescreen nc6400, which used to only offer Core Solo and Duo processors, and now (guess what?) gives you all the Merom you can handle. A little higher up on the food chain are the 17-inch nx9420 (pictured) and 15.4-inch nx8420 and nc8430 notebooks, once highlighted by their 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 GPUs, and now best known for their Core 2 Duo configurability. Finally, the last machines to get the Merom bump are the 4400 series, a set of 12.1-inch ultraportables that ship as either regular notebooks or convertible tablets. That’s all for now folks, but like a bad penny, these re-speced laptops promise to keep turning up no matter how hard we will the deluge to end.

[Via MobileMag]
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Can’t wait anymore for Apple to launch a Mac in tablet format right? Well cast your glassy-eyed gaze in the direction of this Adesso CyberTablet, a 17-inch monitor which Adesso claims doubles as a tablet for your Mac or PC. The electromagenetic tablet features a 13.3 x 10.7-inch “active area” with 1280 x 1024 resolution said to “work great” with all your Adobe CS2 faves such as PhotoShop and Illustrator. The bundled software also brings handwriting recognition and more to pen emails and markup Office documents. So how does it work? No idea, so why not give ‘er a go for a mere $1699. You didn’t really need that fully spec’d $1,299 MacBook anyway. Now someone get Michael Caine on the horn — we found his hand.

[Via CrunchGear]
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All we’ve got to go on here is a grainy scan from some Medion press materials being handed out at IFA, but if this new MD RIM 1000 UMPC proves to be for reals we’ll have another welcome contestant in the slide-out keyboard space — which is where we’ve been at all along when it comes to UMPCs. The specs aren’t bad neither, with a 6.5-inch touchscreen, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, onboard GPS, DVB-T tuner and webcam. In fact, if this thing manages to weigh less than thirty pounds and cost less than twenty grand we’re pretty sure Medion has got themselves a winner — or should at least be able to give Sony’s UX and Averatec’s forthcoming AHI a bit of competition.

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Well that was quick. Looks like our own Boy Genius wasn’t the only kid on the block to get his hands on the BlackBerry Pearl a few weeks early. Reviews aplenty are already extolling the virtues of the much anticipated phone, and while it’s not all roses, the Pearl sure seems to do a lot of things right. What’s getting the most love seems to be the utterly small — for a QWERTY-ish smartphone, at least — form factor, but the bright screen and bevy of software features get a lot of love too. Not everybody is stoked about the execution of the video and music players, but the reviewers at least didn’t seem to be overwhelmed by any extra complexity introduced by the new stuff. CNET astutely notes that the phone lacks WiFi, which isn’t much of a departure for RIM, but misses the mark set by some of the Pearl’s smartphone compatriots. The SureType keyboard has just as many perks and annoyances as ever, but that’s to be expected, and there’s no arguing over the size savings the Pearl manages because of it. Overall, we’re seeing good things for the Pearl and proud parent RIM, and as their media feature sets and design chops improve they might just have a shot at the consumer market yet.

Read – BusinessWeek
Read – International Herald Tribune
Read – New York Times
Read – CNET
Read – PC Magazine

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We were all stoked about the Creative Zen Vision until we discovered what a let-down the screen turned out to be. Therefore we’re understandably wary going into this one, but apparently Creative noted our concern, and the Creative Zen Vision W comes out looking like a champ. CNET got their hands on one for a review, and seemed quite enamoured with the brightness, color and viewing angle of the new 4.3-inch widescreen, though a bit of sharpness was lost in comparison to the Zen Vision. Otherwise the Vision W doesn’t have a lot of surprises. The size has definitely bulked up, since both the length and thickness of the player have been impacted by the new screen size and extra storage. Format support is juicy, like always, though CNET had a few problems with certain DivX files. Other familiar perks include a CompactFlash slot, near identical — and quite tactile — buttons, radio and voice recording, and A/V out. The lack of video recording ability is a bit lame, and while the standard Zen software has received a bit of a bump with the DJ, Smart Volume, virtual keyboard and Outlook features, the Vision W doesn’t quite do as hot as the Vision:M without the latter’s touchscroll. Happily, the Vision W does manage a quite impressive 18 hours and 28 minutes of MP3 battery life, with 5 hours 6 minutes of juice when playing video — both well exceeding Creative’s battery ratings. Overall the player seems like a hit if you can handle the bulk — and don’t quite have to patience to see if Apple is finally busting out an iPod video on the 12th.

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Uniden has officially announced that it’s dipping its toes into the already-crowded portable GPS market, with its first units set to launch this fall. The first in the new line of devices, dubbed MapTrax, have already popped up for pre-order on various retailer’s sites, with the lower-end 3.5-inch GPS352 coming in at $400 and the slightly-beefier GPS402 (seen here) packing a 4-inch screen (and about 10 million more pre-loaded POIs) running you an extra hundred bucks. Uniden says the complete line-up of devices will eventually feature displays ranging in size from 3.5-inches to 7-inches that automatically adjust between night and daylight viewing settings, and at least one of the models will include Bluetooth compatibility, though it doesn’t look like it’s featured on any of these initial releases. So far, Uniden’s just sayin’ that the next batch will be released sometime in 2007.

[Via Mobile Whack]
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Everybody’s gotsa have some 1080p these days, and Optoma is doing their share with a new 2-piece HD81 projector system that not only pumps the pixels, but processes them as well. The projector unit is based on a Texas Instruments DarkChip3 DLP setup, with a spankin’ 12000:1 contrast ratio, 1300 lumens, Auto IRIS and 10-bit color. That’s all well and good, but what really takes the cake is the included processing unit, which has three HDMI inputs (the projector has a single HDMI plug) along with plenty of other connectivity. The processor supports up-scaling to 1080p, and can handle wrangling with 1080i to 1080p conversion. The projector is available now in Taiwan for 299,000 TWD (about $9,114 US), but it should be showing up in the States before long.

[Via AboutProjectors]
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