HP intros Android touchscreen smartbook, Airlife 100

HP has unveiled its first smartbook, the Compaq Airlife 100. The device features a 10.1-inch touchscreen, (purportedly) a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 16GB SSD, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, an SD card slot, a webcam, a QWERTY keyboard around 92% the size of a standard laptop's, and it runs Android. HP says the system boots up instantly and it's good for up to 12 hours on single charge or 10 days on standby.


The Airlife 100 will be subsidized through Telefonica in Europe and Latin America. It should be in European stores this spring, but there's no information about US availability. That said, most expect a US carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile to sell the smartbook, and it could carry the HP Mini branding. Pricing also hasn't been disclosed, but it will probably vary between providers and contract terms.

From the images, the Airlife 100 looks pretty sleek -- almost like a miniature MacBook Pro -- but a convertible hinge would have been a nice touch.

Microsoft touts Office for Mac 2011, drops Entourage

At this week's Macworld Expo 2010 conference in San Francisco, Microsoft provided an early look at some of the new features in its forthcoming Office for Mac 2011 desktop suite. The company said it is focusing on three things with this release: better compatibility across platforms, improved collaboration tools, and a refined ribbon-based interface that combines the Mac menu with the standard toolbar.

Among its newfound collaboration abilities is a new coauthoring feature that will allow users in multiple locations to view and work on the same file whether it's in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel. Another feature called Presence Everywhere aims to further enhance this experience by providing real-time status updates on who is working on a file.


Like the upcoming Office 2010 for the PC, Office 2011 will provide a connection to Microsoft Office Web Apps, the company's cloud-based version of the desktop suite, allowing users to access and share Office documents online. They will also be able to share files and collaborate on documents with other Mac and Windows users via Microsoft's SharePoint and SkyDrive.

Entourage will no longer be Office for Mac's email and calendaring client. Instead, it has been replaced by a Mac version of Outlook built in Cocoa "for the latest Snow Leopard integrations and appearance." It will work with the same .PST file format used by the Windows version to store messages and other items.

Unfortunately Microsoft isn't making pricing information or recommended system specs available this week. The company isn't providing a release-to-manufacturing target date either, other than to say the product will be on store shelves in time for this year's holiday season.

Super Talent announces USB 3.0 Express Drive

Super Talent is expanding its family of USB 3.0 products today with a new thumb drive series supporting the SuperSpeed standard: the USB 3.0 Express Drive. This is the company's USB 3.0 thumb drive series in just over three months, following the RAIDDrive USB 3.0 which was announced in November and shown at CES.

Available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, this new drive supports USB 3.0 speeds of up to 125MB/second. Sustained transfer rates seem quite lower than the quoted maximum, however. Super Talent says the drive can copy a 600MB video in "only a mere 12 seconds." That works out to 50MB/s but the company expects to improve this performance further in coming weeks by applying their advanced driver technology.

The USB 3.0 Express Drive is backward compatible with USB 2.0/1.1 ports, although naturally transfer rates will be restricted by the 2.0/1.1 standard's limit. The new drives are slated to become available next month from Super Talent resellers worldwide. Unfortunately, prices have not been mentioned as of yet.

Lenovo unveils AMD-based G455 and G555 laptops, C315 all-in-one

Lenovo has unveiled two new budget-minded laptops powered by a choice of AMD processors and unspecified ATI Radeon HD Mobility graphics. Intended for mainstream consumers, the G455 and G555 feature 14- and 15.6-inch widescreen displays, respectively, and will run Windows 7 on an Athlon II or dual-core Turion II processor.


Both the Lenovo G455 and G55 also come with an ergonomic keyboard "designed to improve typing accuracy and key responsiveness," as well as power management software, a one-touch backup, repair and recovery tool, and cameras with facial recognition support. Most specs are still under wraps but Lenovo expects to start shipping these systems next month starting at $449.


In addition, the company has announced a 20-inch all-in-one desktop with multi-touch support, a choice of AMD Athlon dual core processors, 4GB of memory and ATI Mobility Radeon graphics. The C315 will arrive in April for $649 and will include Lenovo's IdeaTouch interface along with other touch friendly software.

While none of these seem overly impressive, it's good to see AMD scoring some design wins and paving the way for more affordable products that don't necessarily skimp on quality. Just last month Lenovo unveiled a range of Intel and AMD-based ultraportable laptops aimed at business users on a budget, including the ThinkPad X100e and a new ThinkPad Edge series.

Unannounced Radeon HD 5830 price and specs revealed

With the recent release of the Radeon HD 5600, 5500 and 5400 series, AMD has managed to fill the gap in almost every price segment of the discrete graphics card market. However, the company is known to have one more card in the pipeline that will fit between the $150 Radeon HD 5770 and $300 HD 5850 both in terms of price and performance.

Although there has been no official announcement, the upcoming Radeon HD 5830 is all but confirmed by now thanks to numerous leaks, the latest of which brings full specifications as well as a price tag. According to a European online retail listing cited by Fudzilla, the card should cost around 215€, or about 17% less than the average HD 5850 card on the other side of the Atlantic. This means that, if accurate, and the same price relationship is retained for the U.S. market, the upcoming card could sell for around $250.

Of course, this is nothing more than a simple conjecture, but the listing also offered some hard numbers that should give us a good idea of what to expect. The still-unannounced 5830 reportedly packs the same Cypress LE core used in Radeon HD 5850 cards, but with 1280 stream processors instead of 1440, and will be able to crank out 60 texels per clock rather than 72 on the 5850.

The memory configuration will remain the same, 1GB of GDDR5 memory operating at 1000MHz, but apparently the core clock has been upped from 725MHz on the 5850 to 750MHz. Physically the two cards will be very similar, possibly using the same PCB and cooler, and like all the Radeon HD 5000-series cards it will have Eyefinity support. The site offered no word on when we can expect these units to start shipping, but last we heard the Radeon HD 5830 was scheduled to debut next week, on February 18.

Dell intros IPS-equipped, high resolution 27" display

If you're a graphics professional or just someone who fancies the finer things in life, Dell has whipped up a new display you might be interested in. The 27-inch UltraSharp U2711 has an IPS panel similar to the one found in Apple's 27-inch iMac -- except Dell's uses CCFL backlighting and covers over 100% of the color gamut, whereas Apple's relies on LED backlighting and displays 72% of the color gamut.

Dell's UltraSharp U2711 offers a resolution of 2560x1400, 178-degree viewing angles, a 6ms GTG response time, 350cd/m2 brightness, 1,000:1 contrast ratio (80,000:1 dynamic), 0.233mm pixel pitch, and its 12-bit internal processing supports 1.02 billion colors (compared to the typical 16.7 million).


Image quality aside, the monitor is packed with connectivity. Ports include two dual-link DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort (all with HDCP), VGA, component, composite, four USB 2.0, an eight-in-one card reader, and two headphone jacks. Obviously all of this comes at a hefty -- but seemingly reasonable -- price. Dell will ship an UltraSharp U2711 to your doorstep for about $1,099 and back it with a three-year warranty.

Kingston intros mainstream TRIM-equipped SSDNow V

Hot on the heels of the recently launched enthusiast-minded SSDNow V+ SSDs, Kingston has introduced a more wallet-friendly series. Like the pricier drives released two weeks back, the second-generation SSDNow V also ships with TRIM support.

The SSDNow V is available in 30GB, 64GB, and 128GB capacities, and there are three packages: one for notebooks, one for desktops, and just the standalone drive. Both bundles receive Acronis cloning software and the desktop kit gets 3.5-inch mounting brackets as well as SATA and power extension cables, while the notebook pack has an external 2.5-inch USB SATA enclosure.


All of the drives conform to 2.5-inch form factor standards, use 300MB/s SATA, and come with a three-year warranty. The 30GB drive kicks off with a price of $109.99 (standalone) or $124.99 for a bundle with speeds of 180MB/s and 50MB/s read/write. The 64GB jumps to $208 or $216 with read/write rates of 200MB/s and 110MB/s, and the 128GB is $362 or $377 with a 200MB/s and 160MB/s read/write.

Apple iPad pre-orders overwhelm Norwegian resellers

Apple's iPad may have disappointed gadget fiends around the Web, but it seems to be a hit in Norway, where local stores have been overwhelmed with pre-orders. Norwegian retailer Eplehuset (Apple House) has reportedly suspended pre-orders after selling out of the oversized iPod Touch. Those who have successfully placed an order will have a device reserved, but others will have to find another outlet or simply wait for fresh stock.

Humac, another Apple reseller, has also quietly yanked the iPad from its online store. It's speculated that the sites have already sold thousands of units, most of which have been the more expensive 64GB iPad with 3G. Naturally, since most countries aren't offering pre-orders yet (including the US), there's no way to determine if other regions will share Norway's enthusiasm.

The interest comes despite a disproportionally higher price. It's believed that the 16GB Wi-Fi-only iPad is selling for around 3790 kroner, or about $640.

Google to offer ultra-fast broadband in select markets

For some time now Google has been flirting with the idea of providing internet access to consumers. It played an important role in the 700MHz wireless spectrum bid back in 2008, was part of the aborted municipal Wi-Fi bid for San Francisco with Earthlink, and operates a free Wi-Fi network near its campus in Mountain View. It was also a major investor in WiMAX provider Clearwire.

Now they seem to be getting a little more serious. The company announced that it's going to offer ultra-fast fiber broadband service on a trial basis "in a small number of trial locations across the United States." They are aiming to offer 1Gbps speeds at competitive prices to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people and basically see what happens when more developers get access to such speeds.

Google did not disclose locations, actual pricing or the time frame of when the high-speed broadband network is expected. However, keeping in line with its views on open access and net-neutrality, the company did say they will be opening the network up to other service providers and would not discriminate between different sorts of traffic carried by it.

This latest part might also serve as its strategy against any potential anti-trust concerns that may arise, you know, after Google "owns the pipes" through which you search the web, watch videos, make voice calls and access a ton other Google-owned products and services on a regular basis.

Logitech keyboard, mouse combo touts 3-year battery

Logitech has launched a new keyboard and mouse combo that raises the bar in power efficiency. The Wireless Desktop MK710 boasts a three-year battery life per device -- an industry first, the company claims. Both peripherals transmit data more quickly and efficiently using the company's 2.4GHz RF adapter, and the amount of time they are left in active mode when idle has been reduced.

What exactly constitutes three years of use, though? Logitech says the keyboard is good for about two million keystrokes per year in an office environment, and the mouse's juice will vary between users and computing conditions.

The combo uses Logitech's itty-bitty Unifying receiver to minimize clutter. Keyboard features include a low-profile design with concave keys, Windows shortcuts on the F-keys, media buttons, a cushioned palm rest, an LCD display for caps lock, scroll lock, num lock, and battery life. The mouse boasts "hyper-fast scrolling," and 128-bit AES encryption.

The Logitech Wireless Desktop MK710 will ship to Europe sometime this month and should arrive stateside in April with a suggested retail price of $99.99.

Lenovo shows new budget workstation, ThinkStation E20

Lenovo has added a new budget workstation PC to its ThinkStation lineup. Donning the same goofy handle as its elder brethren, the ThinkStation E20 starts at $599 and offers a selection of Intel Pentium, Core i3, Core i5 or Xeon 3400-series processors, up to 16GB of DDR3 1333MHz RAM spread across four DIMM slots, and Intel Core HD integrated or Nvidia Quadro discrete graphics (up to the FX1800).

There's also a choice of 7,200 RPM, 10,000 RPM, or MLC SSD storage with RAID 0 or 1 configurations, and known connectivity includes gigabit Ethernet, eight USB 2.0 ports with optional eSATA and FireWire, and audio in/out. Operating system options include Windows 7 Professional, Windows XP, or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Lenovo took a moment to mention the environmental bonus of buying the E20, which uses over 50% post-consumer plastics, has earned various Green certifications, and uses an 80 Plus Bronze PSU. The company plans to ship the E20 later this month, but the system doesn't seem to be available for purchase just yet.

Seagate unveils 2.5" 600GB 10K-RPM enterprise HDD

Seagate has introduced what it claims is the world's highest-capacity, most reliable small form factor enterprise hard drive, the Savvio 10K.4. The drive is made in 450GB and 600GB capacities (twice as much as its nearest competitor), boasts a spindle speed of 10,000RPM, a MTBF of two million hours, and crams it all into a 2.5-inch form factor.

Aimed at enterprise customers, the Savvio 10K.4 uses a 6Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s Fiber Channel connection, and features Protection Information for enhanced protection of data in flight. SAS models also have a TCG-compliant SED (self-encrypting drive) option for additional protection of sensitive data at rest. All of the drives have PowerChoice technology and an average idle draw of 4.6W.
Combined, Seagate believes the Savvio 10K.4's features offer a greater overall value and can reduce the total cost of ownership to IT organizations. The company hasn't disclosed pricing or ship dates.