Have Laptop Will Travel

Sony to recall Vaio laptops

Originally posted on September 5, 2008 @ 11:40 pm

a few years ago, Sony had a major issue with its batteries, recalling millions of it because the faulty batch had high likelihood of exploding.

Now, it’s the actual Sony laptops that are being recalled. The company announced that it will be recalling 73,000 notebooks because of their increased likelihood of causing burns. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission said the units were sold between July 2007 and August 2008.

Sony has revealed that it received 15 cases of customers’ Vaio laptops overheating and causing burns.

The main culprit has been identified as, you guessed it, the laptop’s batteries and has been pinpointed exactly to an awkward position of wires near the hinge or a dislodged screw that causes a short circuit.

The models involved in the recall are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series. Sony has said that Vaio owners should contact Sony to determine which products are exactly included in the recall. The contact details are: (888) 526-6219, or visit the company’s support site at www.sony.com/support.

ZoneAlarm Pro free download offer

Originally posted on November 17, 2008 @ 7:09 pm

Here’s a chance to get ZoneAlarm Pro for free.

On Tuesday, Nov. 18, Check Point Software will offer the ZoneAlarm Pro package for free for one whole day to mark the company’s 15th anniversary.

The download location will officially go live at 6 AM PDT on Tuesday. Just follow this link.

The software usually coasts $39.95 so this is a great opportunity to get some free software.

Intel gives Cliffside tech as software download

Originally posted on August 21, 2008 @ 12:38 am

Good news for people who recently purchased laptops that carry Intel’s Centrino 2 chips.

Intel has announced that Centrino 2-based laptops can be upgraded with its Cliffside technology, a delayed, wireless personal area network, through a software download.

What Cliffside does is quite cool. Take for example, an MP3 player that has Wi-Fi capabilities. The Cliffside enabled laptop will be able to access the device as a separate private network. This technology will drive the usage of PAN to new levels of acceptance and deployment.

Unfortunately, Cliffside can only be used in a B and G network. Still no news if Draft N will be made available as a future upgrade.

Micron to come out with 256GB SSDs

Originally posted on August 5, 2008 @ 11:52 pm

Micron will start shipping 256 GB solid state drives this fall, along side a 128GB SSD that is meant for the enterprise market.

The whopping capacity of these SSDs, which is a part of the SSD C200 line, will definitely put more focus on SSDs as a great option for notebook and UMPC makers. I myself prefer SSDs for my notebooks because they can handle the many demands of a mobile lifestyle. I don’t have to worry about sudden bangs or jarring that could usually damage traditional hard disks.

AMD cuts price of Phenom

Originally posted on September 10, 2008 @ 11:36 pm

AMD recently announced price cuts on three variants on its Phenom X3 line of processors. In addition to this, the company is also introducing a Black Edition version, a variant that as been unlocked to make it easy for enthusiasts to overclock the processor.

The price cuts now put the 2.4Ghz Phenom X3 8750 to $129, the 2.3Ghz X38650 to $119 and the 2.1Ghz X38450 to $104. In the meantime, the X3 8750 Black Edition will cost $134.