Just in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a real bumper crop of super-tiny 7-inch laptops this year, and it looks like Packard Bell didn’t want to miss out on the fun. The new EasyNote XS eschews the Linux of some of its peers for some vanilla XP Home action, and runs on a VIA C7-M Ultra Mobile Platform. There’s a VGA webcam, built-in WiFi, 4-in-1 card reader, 30GB HDD and even a friendly 1GB of RAM. Packard Bell expects this 1.2-inch, 2 pound unit to get 3 hours of battery with WiFi on, and hopes to hit the UK market by the end of the year. Hopefully the price is right.

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NEC’s dabbled in water-cooling before, but it now looks to be making the technology a bit more commonplace, with it helping to keep its new Valustar W line of all-in-one PCs both cool and quiet. Available in both 22 and 19-inch models, the PCs top out with a Core 2 Duo E4400 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT graphics, a 500GB hard drive and, apparently, a Blu-ray burner / HD DVD reader, with a digital/analog TV tuner thrown in for good measure. If that’s a bit too much for you, you can scale things back all the way to a 1.6GHz Celeron 420 processor, with a 320GB hard drive and a standard DVD burner. From the looks of it, both options (and a few in between) are available in Japan now, with them setting you back between Â¥210,000 and Â¥340,000 (or roughty $1,800 to $2,900).

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Just in case Fujitsu‘s colorful new line of LOOX U50XNs weren’t enough for ya, the outfit is also giving a vivid facelift to its LOOX T70XN. This ultraportable sports a 10.6-inch LED-backlit display, a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U7600 processor, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, between 80GB and 100GB of hard drive space, and Intel’s GMA950 graphics set. Moreover, this bad boy can get up to 13.8-hours of battery life when hooked up with optional cells, and connectivity shouldn’t be an issue considering the built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, 56k modem, 4-pin FireWire, twin USB 2.0 sockets, multicard reader, and audio / in outs. This well-spec’d little machine can be had right now for around $2,650 depending on options, but it’s the nine color choices that are likely to give you the most pause when ordering.

[Via AkihabaraNews]
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If you’re a Kohjinsha fan (and trust us, UMPC pumpers love ‘em) then you’ll want to take note of this, their latest flagship mini. The new SH8-series eases the processor up a notch to an 800MHz Intel A110 while stiffening the disk to 120GB — 32GB SSDs still available. Unfortunately, they’ve somehow managed to decrease battery life from 3.5- to 3.3-hours with the SSD, or 3.1-hours with an HDD — a real no-no for ultraportables. You’ll be looking at Â¥238,000 (about $2,047) fully specced with a 1Seg TV tuner and Vista / MS Office pre-load when these hit Japan in September. Docked, white-on-black style after the break.

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[Via Impress]

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Just months after scientists were able to run a quantum computer simulation on an everyday PC, we’re now hearing that a Calvin College student / professor tandem have created an inexpensive, portable supercomputer for crunching massive chunks of data on the go (and on the cheap). Dubbed Microwulf, the wee beast is hailed as a “machine that is among the smallest and least expensive supercomputers on the planet,” and when not being checked as baggage on a flight, can reportedly process 26.25 gigaflops of data per second. The system itself touts “four dual-core motherboards connected by an eight-port gigabit Ethernet switch,” and when initially constructed, it cost just $2,470 to build. Talk about a solid price-to-performance ratio.

[Via Slashdot]
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Now that you’ve had time to watch us fool around with Apple’s latest iMac and even chew on a few benchmarks, it’s about time the aluminum-clad machine suffered through its own gauntlet of reviews. Overall, the response to the new 2.4GHz 24-inch iMac has been mildly positive, and while it was noted that the update is far from revolutionary, the aesthetics are undeniably sexy. Interestingly, the glossy display didn’t prove to be the disaster that some folks expected, and MacWorld even stated that it was “really more of a personal preference than a design flaw.” Performance wise, the hardware updates provided respectable — albeit not life-changing — increases, and yes, the keyboard was well regarded whilst the white Mighty Mouse now seems so “out of place.” So if you’ve been lured into thinking that the iMac may be right as your next machine, it doesn’t sound like you’ll be disappointed, but do yourself the favor of peeping one up close before pulling the trigger.

Read – MacWorld (4.5 out of 5)
Read – AppleInsider (3.5 out of 5)
Read – PCWorld (“Svelte and appealing, but wait for Leopard to come bundled in”)
Read – CNET (8.2 out of 10)
Read – PCMag (4.5 out of 5)

from engadget

Our spankin’ new fully-loaded 24-inch fourth gen iMac just arrived via FedEx, so for those that can’t get enough of the most aluminum and glass clad Apple PC to date, we’ve got a ton of pics for you to pore over. Some first impressions on the device:

• The friendly, white packaging betrays the slick sense of style of the machine inside. (MacBook Pros and Mac Pros have much more appealing matte black boxes.)
• Its 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo and full-size drive is way snappy — the machine boots from cold to desktop in 26 seconds (granted, it’s a clean install without any third party software installed).
• Upon closer inspection we weren’t too stoked about the screen. The colors are rich, but compared to our Dell 24-incher (at 400 cd/m2, 1000:1 contrast ratio), the iMac was still dissatisfying. Despite its very decent 380cd/m2, 750:1 CR display, contrast was still very low, and working with objects and icons white window space was even at times strenuous on our eyes.
• The Apple Remote no longer magnetically clips on to the side! Pssh!
• We love — really love — thin keyboards, and the new Apple keyboard is as thin and aesthetically pleasing as they come. Unfortunately, it’s just not too usable since, like the MacBook keyboard, the keys aren’t shaped with ridges to help your fingers find their way. (And what can we say? We really dislike the Mighty Mouse, always have.)
• We also suspect Mac laptop and Apple Pro Keyboard users will be irritated by the function-key shortcuts having been moved around; or example, laptop volume keys went from F3-5 to F10-12, Exposé went from F7 to F3, etc. Also, what’s up with F16-19?
• The RAM bay is super easy to get to with the machine on its face. As usual, you get two slots. We really wish the hard drive was this easy to get at.
• Despite our niggles, it’s straight up the thinnest, sexiest Mac desktop machine Apple’s produced to date; Cupertino really needed to drop the white, plastic overgrown iPod look, and we’re grateful Jobs & co did.

So, is there anything about this thing you want to know?

Gallery: Apple 4G iMac: first unboxing, impressions
    

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