Laptops

September 13, 2005 If you've never thought of your laptop computer as a way to distinguish yourself, your company or organization from another, this article might help. Laptop Design USA has been launched to commercially brand laptops with companies and organizations' colors, logos and trademarks. More than 15 million laptops were sold in the U.S. each year, with laptop theft running at half a million units. Most countries mirror high laptop sales and extraordinary theft rates – by turning your computer into an ambassador for your company, you also create a significant theft deterrent.  Read More

September 1, 2005 The Hummer brand is one of the most potent on the planet. Burned deep into the global psyche by the televised wars of Eastern Europe, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the Hummer is instantly recognisable and indistinguishable from America’s military dominance. As a brand, it carries with it all the brand values of the battlefield and the most technologically dominant fighting force since the Romans – reliability and ruggedness, with a liberal splashing of distilled testosterone and topped off with “essence of Arnie” thanks to the screen tough guy’s sponsorship of the brand. Hummer’s Fragrance for Men was one thing, but this time the brand extension has much more relevance. – the Hummer Ruggedised Computer. We’ve recently written about the Panasonic Toughbook’s role in an Everest ascent, and as more people take computers into hostile environments, ruggedised computers will become a robust and established market segment with Panasonic’s Toughbook and ruggedised computer specialist Itronix the lead players. Based on the GoBook VR-1 semi-rugged computer that will be released by Itronix later this month, the Hummer-branded VR-1 will be a "semi-rugged" notebook computer designed to be much tougher than the average laptop and capable of withstanding temperature extremes and hard knocks.  Read More

August 29, 2005 Samsung will debut a promising new notebook concept at the upcoming IFA Consumer Electronics Show in Berlin which opens September 2. It would be easy to accuse Samsung of continuing to play the same “mine’s bigger than yours” game it plays with camera phones, but the details emerging surrounding the new 19 inch notebook suggest it is indeed a new portable computer paradigm. The M70 will be a logical desktop replacement for those with big screen needs as the screen can be removed and has a dock which enables it to stand upright, giving the notebook two personalities – one as a large “laptop for use in transit and the other as a conveniently transportable desktop which can have discrete components. So whilst the M70 will be the first 19-inch notebook in the world, it could be seen as a new conveniently portable desktop and might be seen as a landmark design in the evolving form factor of the computer.  Read More

July 30, 2005 Now here's a fabulous idea - a harness that holds any laptop in a near perfect position to entertain children in the rear seat of ANY vehicle. If you have a laptop with a DVD player, buying one of these US$24.99 harnesses means you now have a back seat entertainment system. The CradleVue laptop computer travel harness suspends any laptop between the two front seats of nearly any vehicle, installs in about one minute and is fully adjustable to accommodate nearly any size or make of notebook computer in sport utility vehicles (SUVs), mini vans, cars, and trucks with integrated or adjustable headrests. The product is made of nylon webbing, tent-quality bungee-like shock cord, hook and loop fastening, and is sewn to rigid quality standards.  Read More

June 20, 2005 The never-ending quest for lighter, more powerful notebooks appears to have a new trend, at least if you can call two carbon fibre notebooks a trend. A fortnight ago Acer showed its Ferrari 4000 Carbon Fiber notebook, now MPC has joined with its own high-powered notebook with carbon fibre lid. The sad part is that unlike the sleek and sexy Acer, which shows the carbon fibre weave, MPC has elected to paint theirs. Designed to offer an ultra-sleek notebook with exceptional performance in a lightweight form factor, the TransPort U1000 ultra-portable notebook computer weighs less than four pounds, an Intel Pentium M processor for high-performance mobile computing, and 12.1" display integrated into a carbon-fiber lid. At US$1,900, it's a lot of performance in an incredibly light package, but someone should tell them about the attractiveness of the carbon weave.  Read More

May 27, 2005 Ever since Charles Darwin introduced his theory of evolution in the nineteenth century, countless scientists have searched for missing links - parts of the evolutionary line that should have existed, yet haven’t been found. Similarly, notebook users know all about missing links – between their laptops and desktops/peripherals when they return to the office. If you want to hook your laptop to your peripherals, you have to disconnect the cables from your PC and connect them to the laptop. If you need something from the desktop, you may well have to reverse the process and reconnect everything once again. Various “species” have evolved over the years to address this problem without ever being fully satisfactory. Docking stations, for example, are proprietary and work with only one specific laptop model. USB port replicators, on the other hand, are non-proprietary, but don’t function with a Video Graphics Array (VGA) connector – the connector that goes between the PC and the desktop monitor. Fortunately, a vital missing link in notebook evolution has finally been discovered – the UniXpress USB Port Replicator.  Read More

January 4, 2005 The MoGo is designed for road warriors who don’t like bulky, full-sized, mice, but also hate laptop trackpads and trackpoints. Now we all know that a mouse is a very personal thing, so this may not be a solution for everyone, but it’s a very good idea and one which is worthy of every road warrior’s attention. The mouse which fits snugly in your palm when you’re using a desktop often takes on quite different proportions and becomes a pain in the butt when you’re on the road, never seeming to fit nicely in your bag, and constantly getting tangled. So having a PCMCIA-card sized mouse that stores and recharges neatly inside your laptop computer’s PC card slot when it’s not being used is very useful on the road. For us, the Bluetooth-enabled functionality is a clincher. Whatsmore, the MoGo Mouse recharges in less than an hour so there are no batteries to be replaced.  Read More

October 29, 2004 Japanese electronics company NEC has shown the latest prototype of a laptop with built-in fuel cell, claiming the prototype has 10 hours life, extending the life of the traditional battery powered laptop by up to 50%. Early versions of the NEC fuel cell laptop have been shown several times over the last two years, but this time the company intends to put a fuel cell laptop on the market in Japan before the end of 2004. Whatsmore, NEC expects that the efficiency of the fuel cell can be boosted to increase "battery life" to more than 40 hours between refills by 2006.  Read More

The Tulip E-Go Diamond notebook is inlaid with solid palladium white gold plates in which thousands (80 carats) of top-quality, brilliant cut diamonds have been pave set with surgical precision. The magnificent end result also incorporates a unique square cut ruby set in both Tulip logos and costs 283,000 Euros (US$355,000). Without the bling, the E-Go (short for easy going) computer is even more innovative, using overmolding to enable fabrics, leather, wood, and metals to be incorporated into interchangeable, lifestyle-oriented covers that enable the laptop “look” to be changed on a daily basis as a fashion accessory. The original idea arose to develop a product from the perspective of a woman that at first glance looks more like a fashion accessory than a notebook. The resulting product is an elegant handbag with numerous novel features. The enclosures have been designed and developed for six fabric and leather laptop versions, a foretaste of what will become available in October 2005. In addition to changeable/personalized covers, the product is also expected to feature complementary accessories such as design bags and mice.  Read More