ASUS Eee PC 'Shell' ultra-thin netbook launching in April?

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/27/asus-eee-pc-shell-ultra-thin-netbook-launching-april/

Between the Commercial Times and DigiTimes, no secret is safe within ASUS. The former is reporting (via the latter) that ASUS will launch its second generation ultra-thin Eee PC in April as followup to the Eee PC S101. The Eee PC Shell, as it's supposedly called would mark a welcome departure from ASUS' staid alphanumeric naming convention and is said to be easier to carry than the S101 while bringing higher specs and a longer battery life for just NT$17,000 - 20,000 ($486 - $571) -- that's well below the S101's $699 suggested retail price. The name Shell, of course, would seem to imply a curved, clamshell design. Now, with one of ASUS' favorite events, CeBIT, starting next week, we'd expect an announcement to be days away if the rumor is true -- a high probability what with the launch of yesterday's Eee PC firesale and Intel's new CULV processors for ultra-slim laptops prepped for a March launch.

Filed under: Laptops

ASUS Eee PC 'Shell' ultra-thin netbook launching in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer's easyStore H340 says hello Atom, hello Windows Home Server

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/acers-easystore-h340-says-hello-atom-hello-windows-home-server/

Discounting CyberPower's misnomer, we haven't seen a proper Windows Home Server to compete with HP's MediaSmart in quite some time. Thankfully Acer is up to the challenge, at least in Japan, announcing its new easyStore H340 series, initially available in two flavors: S1 for those who need just 1TB of storage and the S2 for those who want three times that. (Yes, S3 seems like a more appropriate name to us, too.) Other than the number of drives internally (one for the S1, three for the S2) the machines are the same, sporting a 1.6GHz Atom 230, 1GB of memory, and four internal drive bays. Naturally both offer all the WHS tricks, like remote backup of networked computers and plenty of media streaming, tricks they'll start turning in Japan on March 6th at the cost of about $600 for the S1 and $900 for the S2.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage

Acer's easyStore H340 says hello Atom, hello Windows Home Server originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LCD Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet is a watch short of awesome

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/lcd-bluetooth-vibrating-bracelet-is-a-watch-short-of-awesome/

Brando tried here, it really did, but the crucial omission of a watch just kills the deal for us. Still, for those nowhere near ready to give up their Sea-Dweller, the LCD Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet makes for a perfect complement. Essentially, this here piece of jewelry pairs up with your BT-enabled cellphone in order to display caller ID information and vibrate whenever someone rings in. If you're tied up at the moment, you can simply hit a button on the bracelet that will reject the call and potentially kill friendships. At $49.90, though, we'd hope the whole "stainless steel" claim is true -- wouldn't want any yellowing going on at this price point, now would we?

[Thanks, Louie]

Continue reading LCD Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet is a watch short of awesome

Filed under: Wearables

LCD Bluetooth Vibrating Bracelet is a watch short of awesome originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA responds to Intel's Ion dismissal, all eyes on recess for confrontation

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/nvidia-responds-to-intels-ion-dismissal-all-eyes-on-recess-for/

It wasn't too hard to see this one coming, but NVIDIA has now shot back at Intel and responded point by point to each accusation Intel made recently about its Ion platform. For starters, while NVIDIA doesn't exactly dispute that Ion is just a repurposed MCP79M/MCP7A chipset, it does say that Ion is a "modern 2 chip solution," while Intel is relying on a "4-year-old 3 chip design." NVIDIA also points out that Ion is certified by Microsoft to deliver the "premium Windows experience," and not just Windows XP, and that, contrary to Intel's claim, Ion does in fact offer similar battery life to an Intel-based system while also delivering ten times the performance. In related news, Intel CEO Paul Otellini himself hit NVIDIA with a few jabs yesterday at a Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco, saying that NVIDIA is simply not in a strong competitive position, and that, "if you don't have a microprocessor, what else do you have to sell?" Meanwhile, AMD was said to be wandering around the cafeteria, looking for a seat at the lunch table.

Read - Tom's Hardware, "Nvidia Fires Back at Intel's Anti-Ion Sentiments"
Read - CNET, "Intel CEO comments on Nvidia, economy, flash"

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

NVIDIA responds to Intel's Ion dismissal, all eyes on recess for confrontation originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ATI Radeon RV740 prototype 40nm video card gets reviewed, loved on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/26/ati-radeon-rv740-prototype-40nm-video-card-gets-reviewed-loved/

The Guru of 3D (not an actual guru, by the way) got its hands on a prototype ATI Radeon RV740 video card, and has been kind enough to put the thing through its paces. This is the company's first 40nm video card and while the review should all be taken with a grain of salt -- being "done with beta drivers and an early engineering sample board" -- preliminary results are quite positive. The card performs "fairly close to a Radeon HD 4850," something you don't often hear about in cards retailing for less than a hundred bucks. In fact, the reviewer was so taken by the card's performance at this price point that he predicts that this thing will be responsible for nothing less than "another shift in current mid-range pricing." But don't wait until the April release date to see this thing in action -- hit the read link for the big review.

[Thanks, Weston]

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

ATI Radeon RV740 prototype 40nm video card gets reviewed, loved on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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