Laptops

Toshiba Debuts The First Glasses-Free 3D Laptop: The Qosmio F755

August 9

At the time of this writing, I am using a ASUS G74SX 3D laptop, which is by no means a little thing (8-9 pounds, much like the Qosmio F755). It can play most games on their highest settings without coughing, and has a 3D screen to boot. However, the 3D function requires those heavy Nvidia 3D Vision glasses. Enter the Toshiba Qosmio F755, which uses a quad-core 2GHz Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDA GeForce 540M graphics (weaker than the GeForce 560M the G74SX 3D has), and the prime feature: a 15.6-inch auto-stereoscopic display 3D display. Translation: sans-glasses 3D, by use face-tracking technology in the webcam. Other things to note of is that the F755 includes 6GB of RAM, a 750GB hard disk, Blu-ray drive, and the partnership between Nvidia and Toshiba, where 2D games willbe converted to 3D, by November. It launches August 17th for $1,700. Via: Wired

Macbook Airs Updated With New Sandy Bridge Processors, Thunderbolt, And Backlit Keyboards

July 20

It’s finally that time of year where Macbooks get updated, and this time it’s the Macbook Air line. The new 11-inch model priced at $999 (and kills off the old, white Macbook) comes with a new 1.6GHz Core i5 processor (a big bump from the last-gen’s 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo), 2GB of RAM, and a 64GB solid state drive. The larger and more spacious (to say the least) 13-inh 1,299 base model now boasts a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor (up from a sucky last-gen Core 2 Duo), 4GB of RAM (up from 2GB), and a 128GB SSD. Give Apple $1,699 and you’ll grab a 1.8GHz Core i7 processor and 256GB of space, if you want. All the new Macbook Airs contain backlit keyboards, Mac OS X Lion (which also launches today), and a Thunderbolt port for super fast data transfers. PR after the chop, folks.
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MSi GX660R Review: Pew, Pew, Pew On Extreme Settings

July 10

This isn’t the pinnacle of new tech — it’s the aging MSi GX660R, which uses a first-generation Inter Core i processor clocked at 1.73GHz with TurboBoosst, has 6GB of DDR3 RAM, an AMD HD5870 mobile graphics card, a 15.6-inch screen at 1920x1080 resolution, 2 megapixel webcam capable of recording 720p HD video, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and finally two 320GB hard drives in RAID 0 configuration clocked at 7,200RPM, making for 640GB of total storage space. It’s no slouch at all, and can still combat with today’s onslaught of new Sandy Bridge systems.

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 580M Now In Alienware, MSi, And Origin Laptops

June 28

NVIDIA is having a great day at the office. Turns out the GeForce 580M can be touted as the “world’s fastest mobile GPU”, capable of running Crysis 2 on the new Ultra DX11 settings without much of an issue whatsoever. Meanwhile, the NVIDIA 570M is slightly weaker but is able to fit into more conventional systems, rather than large and power-hungry gaming rigs. It too is powerful, but not at all like the Crysis 2 performance seen on the 580M. Both 40-nanometer cards support DirectX11, OpenCL, PhysX, CUDA, 3D Vision, Verde drivers, Optimus, SLI, and 3DTV Play. As for manufacturers actually putting the chips into their notebooks (the power of each GPU can be altered by the OEM as well), Alienware has put in a fresh GTX 580M in their M18x laptop, while their older M17x will get a single-core version of the 580M with Optimus support rather than the defualt quad-core GPU that the normal 580M has, on top of the 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory, 384 cores running at 1.24GHz each, and a 256-bit memory bus. MSi and Origin have also released laptops today with the new GTX 580M as well.

PR after the break.

ASUS Quietly Puts Their New G74 Gaming Laptop On Pre-Order, Offer 3D Variant

June 18

It’s a new high-powered gaming rig (yay!), this time built by ASUS. The ASUS G74 has two configurations available, both of which contain a quad-core Sandy Bridge Core i7-2630QM CPUs, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M graphics with 3GB of video memory, 12GB DDR3 RAM (out of 16GB, yikes), dual 750GB speedy 7200RPM drives (!), a 1080p display, Blu-ray player, backlit keyboard and 3 USB 2.0 ports along with one USB 3.0, all of which comes down to $1,745 and is named the G74SX-A1. Not enough and want to spend a bit more? Then there’s also the $1,979 version with a 3D display, dubbed the G74SX-3DE. Either way, the above shot only displays the edges of the laptop, not the full width. Pre-order links are right next to this sentence.

Via: ExcaliburPC (A1), (3D model)

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Unboxing

June 8

Hello there! This happens to be a special post (or something like that) — the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook unboxing! Special thanks goes to Karen, a technology enthusiast and reader of LaptopMemo for sending us the photos of her unboxing, which displays the retail packaging, first boot up, and of course the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook itself. Thanks, Karen!

The unboxing is in the gallery below.

Samsung Series 5 Chromebook Unboxing

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ASUS’ Padfone, Eee Pad MeMO 3D, Eee PC X101, And UX Series All Announced At Computex 2011!

May 30

Hey, shiny new gadgets! Oh, hey reader! You may have heard (or may have not) that ASUS planned on announcing several new gadgets at this year’s Computex event in Taiwan. Which is completely true: ASUS debuted a tablet which is powered by a 4.3-inch smartphone, which ASUS dubs the Padfone, a MeeGo-based Eee PC, a 3D MeMO tablet with an IPS screen, and finally some really thin laptops. See past the jump for what ASUS is planning on releasing this year.

NVIDIA Releases The New GTX 560M GPU For Pwntastic Gaming Laptops

May 29

It’s that time of year again: time for NVIDIA to release a brand-new gaming mobile GPU (graphics processing unit, for you n00bs) that adds 192 CUDA cores (clocked at 1550MHz) with up to 3GB of GDDR5 memory (now clocked at 1250MHz, on a 192-bit bus), meaning that the latest games should run at playable framerates on a 1080p screen, with maximum detail (no antialiasing) on DX11 and a quad-core Sandy Bridge processor with tons of DDR3 RAM. Keep in mind every GTX 560M is compatible with Optimus, so when that massive graphics power isn’t needed for say, reading this post, then you can get a purported 5 hours of battery life.

NVIDIA is also stating that partners like ASUS (their unreleased ASUS G74Sx is above) , MSI, Alienware, Toshiba and Clevo will all produce at least one lappy with the new GTX 560M graphics card, while the also refreshed GeForce GT 520MX heightens all the clock speeds of the original GT 520M, which is technically a mid-range (of sorts) discrete GPU.

Via: NVIDIA Official Blog, GTX 560M