Wize Blog

Toshiba Portege R500-S5006X Light as a Cushion

It’s the Toshiba Portege R500-S5006X and it’s light. The $2,100 computer is the world’s lightest widescreen 12-inch computer. It was meant to slip into a briefcase or purse, a kind of go-anywhere, do-anything laptop. The laptop weighs only 1.7-pounds. 

 

As far as doing anything, the computer can play your favorite movies as it’s also the first notebook with a 7mm integrated DVD SuperMulti drive. It also has a biometric fingerprint reader. You don’t have to remember passwords. All you have to do to log-on to the system is swipe your finger.

 

Last is the machine’s incredible battery. According to Toshiba, the battery lasts a full work day.

 

Here are some specs for the notebook (for R500-S5006X model):

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor U7700

2GB RAM

160GB hard drive

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Graphics Card

LaCie 1 TB Little Big Disk Quadra Up to 1 TB

La Cie doesn’t come up short when offering hard drives. The company now makes a 1 TB hard disk. It’s small, lightweight and portable. Here are the options it offers:

• Built-in RAID 0
• Cross-platform compatibility with PC and Mac
• Daisy-chaining to digital video cameras
• Bootability via FireWire for Mac or eSATA for Windows
• Fully plug & play with Mac® OS X v10.5 Leopard (including Time Machine) and Windows® Vista

The 1TB model costs $700.

Go Green with CherryPal

Its Web site doesn't tell you much except that a new green machine is coming. CherryPal, the latest in green is a PC that weighs less than a pound.

It hardly has any components and uses flash memory instead of a cumbersome, energy-sucking hard drive. Plus, it doesn't get viruses.

The drawbacks: the machine has only 4GB of flash memory and 512MB of DRAM.

A third-party provides most of the computer resources.

Here are the full specs:

--  Freescale's MPC5121e mobileGT processor, 800 MIPS (400 MHz) of
    processing
--  256GB of DDR2 DRAM
--  4GB NAND Flash-based solid state drive
--  WiFi 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
--  Two USB 2.0 ports
--  One 10/100 Ethernet with RJ-45 jack
--  One VGA DB-15 display out jack
--  Headphone level stereo audio out 3.5mm jack
--  9vDC 2.5mm 10 watt AC-DC adapter power supply
--  10.5 ounces
--  1.3" high, 5.8" x 4.2" wide

       

 

Panasonic Toughbook Can be Kicked Around

Yes, people are waiting for the Panasonic Toughbook CF-U1, but the company has a whole line of Toughbooks worth looking at. The most notable is the super-durable Toughbook 19.

That computer comes with a full magnesium alloy case, mobile broadband and GPS. 

If you're the type of person who spills coffee on your PC's keyboard, then Toughbook 19's for you.  It has a spill-resistant keyboard and sealed ports and components.  The Ft. Myers police department conducted tests on the machine like running over them with cars and the Toughbook survived.

The Toughbook also has a touchscreen (it's a tablet notebook).

Here are the specs for the machine:

•        Genuine Windows Vista® Business (with XP downgrade option)

•        Intel® Centrino® processor technology with Core™ 2 Duo

•        Integrated 802.11 a/b/g wireless LAN

•        10.4" daylight-readable color LCD swivels for optimum visibility

•        Simultaneous access to wireless WAN, wireless LAN, BluetoothTM and GPS

•        Pressure-sensitive touchscreen can be used with a stylus or the touch of a finger (also available with pen-only digitizer screen)

•        5.1 lbs., lightweight design

•        Full magnesium alloy case with handle

•        Moisture- and dust-resistant LCD, keyboard and touchpad

•        Sealed port and connector covers

•        Shock-mounted removable hard drive in stainless steel case

•        Mobile broadband ready for Alltel, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless networks

Dell XPS M1730 Gaming Laptop Video Review

The XPS M1730 is one slick machine by Dell. With a 17-inch screen, and Core II Extreme at 2.8 GHz and 2GB memory, this machine rocks.

CNET has the specs and a review. All the info you need about this gamer.

iPAQ Pocket PC Does Not Disappoint Video Review

Last April wize.com posted a video review for the iPAQ 614. Just last week a new review about a new iPAQ is out--the HX2490C really rocks.

Runs on Microsoft Mobile, 520mHz processor, 64MB SDRAM, 512MB built-in memory, WiFi capable and more.

Watch below--

Toshiba Portégé R500-11Z Scores

Toshiba Portégé R500-11Z scored an 8/10 in a pocket-lint review. The notebook, an ultraportable, is described "as a great machine. It weighs just under 2.5lbs and there's a DVD rewriter built-in. The 12.1-inch screen is made with LED technology, which makes it brighter than most screens on compatible notebooks and also uses less power.

In the review, the keyboard is described as "comfortable." On the downside, the laptop is "not ideal for heavy tasks" because "Toshiba has had to opt for a low-voltage chip in order to fit in with the thermal dynamic of the case."

Here are more specs for the laptop from Toshiba's Web site:

Technology Type--type : Intel® Centrino® Processor Technology featuring Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor Ultra Low Voltage U7700, Intel® Wireless WiFi™ Link 4965AGN network connection and Intel® 945GMS Express chipset, clock speed : 1.33 GHz

Operating System--Windows Vista® Business Edition

Hard Disc Capacity--160GB

RAM--2GB

Sony Vaio LT All-In-One is Handsome Computer

From the images of Gizmodo comes the Sony Vaio LT All-In-One, which is one handsome computer.

The 22-inch widescreen makes a great TV. Its nice that you can mount the thing if you want.

The machine comes with:

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T8100 (2.10GHz, 3MB L2 Cache)
Windows Vista® Home Premium
Blu-ray Disc
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
Built-in TV tuners
MOTION EYE® camera and microphone.
500 GB Hard Drive
Built-in 1.3 megapixel MOTION EYE® camera and microphone
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GT GPU

Laptop as a Desktop

If there's one laptop that could be used instead of a desktop it's gotta be the 17-inch MacPro. That's the opinion in a review of the Mac at Computerworld.com.

The 2.6-GHz machine that the reviewer, Ryan Faas, reviewed weighs 6.6-lbs, a bit lighter than he expected. (Faas has always thought that a 17-inch laptop isn't a laptop at all, it's more like a desktop.)

The first item Faas details is the screen, one he thinks is the best in the world. Its native resolution is 1,920 by 1,200 pixels. (That's the upgraded resolution, which you pay a bit more to get.)

Second on Faas list of good things about the machine is its great gaming hardware--a Nvidia G3Force 8600M GT card. Gaming is good on this Mac.

Also worth mentioning is that Apple of late has made their MacBook pros faster than they did two years ago--50 to 75% faster. Faas tested the Mac to see if this was true, and many tests confirmed that it was.

Last to discuss here is the touchpad which "includes the ability to swipe through items (photos in iPhoto/Aperture, Web pages in Safari or songs in iTunes, for instance) with a three-finger gesture on the trackpad, as well as the ability to zoom the contents of an image or the text of a Web page by pinching, much like on the iPhone or iPod Touch."

If you have room for a big laptop or even want to use this laptop as a desktop, it's well worth the price.

Is HP Touchsmart/Touchsmart 2 for You?

First there was the Touchsmart and now there's going to be a Touchsmart 2.

The first Touchsmart has the following specs:

• AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Dual-Core TL-52
• 2048MB DDR2 SDRAM system memory
• 320GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperMulti DVD burner2 with LightScribe technology
• Touch enabled 19" diagonal widescreen BrightView LCD
• NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics card with 256MB dedicated video memory (Up to 528MB Total Available Graphics memory as allocated by Windows Vista™.)
• Integrated 1.3-megapixel HP WebCam with built-in array microphone
• HP SmartCenter Button to launch interactive mode with one touch
• NTSC TV tuner and over-the-air ATSC high-definition television tuner
• Wireless keyboard and mouse, stylus, and Media Center Remote Control

The new Touchsmart will have "500GB disk, 256MB of NVIDIA GeForce 9300 M HS HD graphics, 802.11n WiFi, and 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo T5850 processor," according to engadget.

Check out the video. There's lots of touch magic going on. The desktop will be out next month.