Have Laptop Will Travel

Jobs’ health discussed in Bloomberg

Originally posted on January 20, 2009 @ 9:58 pm

Steve Jobs is creating a lot of stir in the industry because of questions regarding his health. Recently, Jobs stepped down from his position as CEO of Apple, citing a hormone imbalance that he wanted to correct. But according to Bloomberg News, Jobs is very sick and that he currently looking into undergoing a liver transplant as a way of helping with complications that have been brought on by his past bout with pancreatic cancer.

Apple COO Tim Cook has taken over Jobs until his return in June.

What is further fueling speculations is Jobs’ continued refusal not to speak to the press regarding his health.

I do hope that Jobs gets well soon.

MacBooks, MacBook Pros suffer performance hit without batteries

Originally posted on November 25, 2008 @ 12:13 am

Some people have a habit of removing the battery from the laptops when they’re using it in the hopes that it will result in more extended life for the battery.

But it looks like this practice is not a good one if you’re a MacBook or MacBook Pro owner. Benchmarking tests revealed that a huge performance hit happens when you use these Apple laptops without the battery. This is apparently indicated in the Apple website, which states that this happens as a way of preventing the laptops from shutting down if for some reason the units try to get more power that the A/C adapters alone can provide.

So the lesson is clear, leave the battery intact when you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Jury’s still out though on what happens if you already have a dead Apple battery.

Apple releases revamped MacBook Pro

Originally posted on January 23, 2009 @ 11:43 pm

All this attention to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ health and his decision to step down temporarily from his position at Apple has actually left me forgetting about the new offerings from the company — namely, the revamped Macbook Pro.

The new version of the 17-inch Macbook Pro is both underwhelming and just right. The fact that it was underwhelming was because of rumors that it will get the aluminum brick chassis, glass trackpad and Intel CPU.

But as revamps go, it was still (a little bit) okay. The biggest news is the now non-removable battery. Apple said that a removable battery left a lot of “wasted space”. By making it non removable it gave it more space to put in a higher capacity battery. The company claims the new battery can work up to 7 to 8 hours in a single charge. It also has a new LCD screen and with option to get a glare or non-glare screen.

The new Macbook Pro will retail at $2,799.

MSI netbook goes hybrid

Originally posted on January 6, 2009 @ 11:29 pm

MSI recently unveiled its hybrid netbook, the U115 a little over a week ago. This is great news for people who want more elbow room for their netbooks because of large files.

A hybrid netbook refers to the gadget’s feature of containing both a solid state hard drive as well as a conventional platter-based hard drive.

Although MSI has not given any information yet on when it will be released the specs for the machine have been given to the press. The U115 will sport a 10 inch display and will sport Intel’s 1.6Ghz Z530 Atom processor as well as the Menlow chipset platform. It will also have 1Gb of RAM, Wireless B and G, Bluetooth EDR, and a choice between a 1.3Mp and 2.0Mp webcam. It will also have a 4 in 1 card reader.

Of course, the center of attention will be on the HD space. The U115 will come with either an 8 or 16gb SSD that will work alongside a 120GB or 160GB conventional HD.

No price has been set as of yet.

Toshiba releases latest gaming laptop

Originally posted on October 21, 2008 @ 11:06 pm

Toshiba has released a new laptop that is aimed squarely at gamers.

The Qosmio X305-Q708 gaming laptop is Toshiba’s latest product from its gaming line. It features a 17-inch widescreen Trubrite LCD and is powered by an Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad-core processor as well as Dual GPU Nvidia graphics chip. If I’m not mistaken this is one of the first laptops to sport a graphics chip in an SLI configuration and coupled with a quad-core processor. The graphics chip is a GeForce 9800M GTS.

To make it a hardier portable gaming machine, the new Qosmio has a solid state hard drive. The 128gb primary drive has a NAND flash memory that can deliver faster access times and transfer rates.

Other features of the Qosmio include: 4GB DDR3 RAM, full-sized keyboard, four Harman Kardon stereo speakers with built-in subwoofer, HDMI and DisplayPort connector, 1.3 megapixel webcam, Wireless USB and USB Sleep-and-charge.

At $4,199.99, this is not for everyone. But for those who can afford it, they will have the meanest laptop on the block.