Rumored Mac Mini refresh said to be Ion-based
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/rumored-mac-mini-refresh-confirmed-to-be-ion-based/
People trading in salacious gossip have been counting on an update of the Mac mini for ages now, with most of the rumors centering on it making its appearance at Macworld. Well, the festivities came and went without a peep about the mini -- but that hasn't stopped the rumors from swirling. The latest we're hearing is that the refresh will be built upon NVIDIA's new Ion platform, which houses a 9400M GPU -- the same graphics processor as the new unibody Macbooks -- and could mean an even minier mini than the one we already know. Tom's Hardware, the source of this newest rumor, also speculates on a March release date, though they're not guessing on the price just yet. Filed under: Desktops
Rumored Mac Mini refresh said to be Ion-based originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This is kind of ridiculous. Philips's new 56-inch LCD, bound for Europe, is boasting a 21:9 aspect ratio—displaying a full anamorphic 2.40:1 frame without letterboxing. But what about watching TV?
I've had plenty of time to spend with Sony's bite-sized Vaio P, and now it's time to deliver a verdict on whether or not the 1.4-pound device really performs as advertised.
If "everyday use" means some light multitasking focused around the internet, then you may be using the Vaio P with regularity. But assuming media notebook status entails watching HD Youtube vids while working in Photoshop, the answer to the second question is a definitive "no." On the other hand, any way you slice and dice it, the Vaio P is a netbook. I came into to this review with modest expectations, and tested it as such. I didn't beat the hell out of it by trying to install Adobe Premiere or play Crysis on the thing. But seeing as Sony was talking a big game, I tried to do more than browse pages, listen to music and check email.
As far as battery life goes, if you're web browsing over wi-fi while listening to music and messaging you should get 2-3 hours out of the battery. I kept the brightness at 3/4 and had the power management set to "Vaio Optimized," and found the results to be acceptable, if average for these kinds of machines.
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As for my final verdict, the Vaio P is an undeniably attractive, fun, exciting gadget on design alone, but I'm not quite sure it lives up to its marketing hype or its $900 starting price—ours as tested was actually $1200. The Sony Vaio P works well as a machine for the living room or kitchen, and for style reasons fits well in those environments and is easily stashed. But it won't replace your workhorse laptop, not even on a part time basis, due to graphical limitations, an inability to run resource-heavy apps and that damned issue with the keyboard and mouse. [
We're not firefighters, so this idea may be completely crazy. But if we fought fires for a living, we'd feel a lot more comfortable doing battle with this mean-looking gas-propelled missile launcher concept.
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