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z-series

In 2012, MacBooks, ultrabooks mix it up

2012 promises to be a watershed year for laptops. Really thin will be in and internal optical drives out, while some designs venture into hybrid territory.

Apple: Apple is expected to incorporate the MacBook Air design theme into more models, including a 15-incher sans optical drive. And since Apple popularized the really-thin aesthetic with the January 2008 introduction of the MacBook Air, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the company will continue to be a trendsetter.

Trendsetting may include a rumored 2,880-by-1,800-pixel display. That would be a remarkable feat as workstation-class 15-inch Windows laptops, such as … Read more

MacBook Air flash-only rivals are few, fading

Apple's new Air is the first flash-only MacBook. So, how does it stack up against the handful of laptop lines out there that offer only solid-state drives?

Well, it's actually not a very pretty picture for other laptop lines based on flash memory only, or more commonly referred to as solid-state drives (SSDs). A few previously prominent laptops have either been phased out or are languishing.

Dell Adamo: This line of 0.65-inch thick aluminum-clad ultraportables from Dell have been SSD-only from day one. So, Dell actually beat Apple to the punch in this respect. But the line has been reduced to a single $999 model with a 128GB SSD--the higher-end Adamo with a 256GB SSD and faster processor is no longer available from Dell. And the novel Adamo XPS is no longer available for sale on Dell's Web site--this was SSD only too.

Dell Latitude E4200: Announced in August 2008, this line of pricey business ultraportables is still available and comes standard with only 128GB SSDs. Prices start at $1,729.

Lenovo ThinkPad X300/X301: The venerable ThinkPad X300 was from its inception SSD only. Alas, this line has been discontinued. Lenovo still offers comparable X series Thinkpads and IdeaPads but none are SSD only.

Sony Z series: The Z line is alive and well, thank you. Z laptops come with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB options, with prices ranging from about $1,800 to well over $3,000.

Toshiba R500/R600: The Toshiba R500, now quite dated (first announced in June 2007), features only flash storage but the specs are a little long in the tooth, namely its older U7600 Intel processor and Windows Vista operating system.… Read more

Zotec launches droolworthy home theater PCs

I'm never a home theater PC (HTPC) fan and it's no thanks to their boxy form factors and excruciatingly long bootup time. But I've to admit the new Zotac Zbox series may just change my mind.

For starters, the HD-ID33 and HD-ID34 look perfectly at home next to the latest HDTV, encased in a slim brushed-aluminum bezel with a cool Blu-ray slot drive. Under the metal hood is a fast 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, and the latest USB 3.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi based on Nvidia's latest Ion platform to speed up … Read more

Hitachi unveils new 7mm laptop hard drives

Standard laptop hard drives (2.5-inch) come in three tiers based on their thickness: 9mm, 12.5mm, and 7mm.

The first one, such as the Seagate Momentus XT (500GB), is the most popular and used in most notebooks and other 2.5-inch-based storage applications. The 12.5mm standard, such as the 1TB WD Corpio Blue, is a newer standard that offers higher capacities but can only fit in later models of laptop computers. The third, 7mm tier is used for ultraportable applications, such as Netbooks or tablet PCs. For a long time, this ultracompact tier of internal hard drive was … Read more

Break out your checkbook for the high-end 13-inch Sony Vaio Z

While Sony's Y series of 13-inch laptops may seem fairly pedestrian, the company's other new thin-and-light is something else entirely. Sony says that by, "melding cutting-edge technologies such as a Blu-ray disc optical drive, HDMI output and a hybrid graphics system into highly-mobile PCs," it has come up with a 13-inch laptop worth a whopping $1,830 -- outmatching even the very pricey HP Envy 13.

The Vaio Z weighs just over 3 pounds, and some configurations include a similar high-end "100 percent color saturation" display as found in the Vaio X. Also available … Read more

Dell's "Z" series combines budget Inspiron line with Intel CULV CPUs, according to online chatter

We popped by to see our pals at Dell earlier and get a behind-closed-doors sneak peek at some interesting upcoming holiday systems. Coincidentally, the folks over at Gizmodo say they've stumbled across some new upcoming Dell products for the holiday season, and have posted some pics and details about the Inspiron Z series of laptops, of which they say: "It's the "thin and light" take on Dell's budget Inspiron line using Intel ULV chips."

The Gizmodo post specifically mentions a system called the 11z, which is described as looking, "more like a … Read more

What happened to the HP Voodoo laptop?

Hewlett-Packard was one of the early trendsetters in the ultrathin laptop market with its Voodoo design. But the product has languished for more than a year. What happened--or what will happen--isn't clear.

The ultrathin laptop market is hot and one of the most visible laptop segments today. And activity in this segment has spiked recently in the wake of a raft of new, inexpensive thin laptops from MSI, Acer, and Lenovo, using low-power Intel chips.

The Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo are two of the most prominent designs. The Air has now been refreshed twice. Dell's svelte Adamo was announced in March, complementing its ultrathin business laptop, the Latitude E4200.

But the razor-thin 0.7-inch-thick Voodoo Envy 133--first announced in June 2008--has stood still.… Read more

Sizing up new high-end machines from HP, Apple

Last week, I attended a press event in Los Angeles hosted by Hewlett-Packard's workstation business unit. Hewlett-Packard was preparing for this week's announcement of three new Z-series workstation models: the Z400, Z600, and Z800.

HP briefed the reporters and analysts with all the key details of the products (the speeds and feeds, as we say), took us to visit a couple of HP's key customers in the area, and hosted presentations by software partners and more customers.

The workstations are very nice, especially the Z600 and Z800: high-quality dual-processor systems based on Intel's newest Xeon 5500… Read more