Like The Phoenix, OQO Model 03 Lives Again

OQO didn’t create the first MID device, but they sure did make the most powerful and expensive devices (up there with the Sony UX series). Unfortunately, OQO died on the verge of releasing a breathtaking device designed with the budget conscious in mind. It seems that it might live on after all, but at a ridiculously high price.
For around $4700USD you get a 4.8 inch multi-touch screen, powered by an Intel Atom Z550 (2ghz), 128GB SSD, 2GB of RAM and all the wireless options you could desire. It will also continue the OQO tradition of a slide out keyboard with integrated mouse.
While it is priced right out of the market, it is good to see OQO trying to break into a market that seems to only be interested in tablets.

Via [UMPC Portal]

Toshiba’s New R705 Ultralight Gets Reviewed

The Toshiba Portege R705 has been given the deep review treatment by Engadget, and they liked it. The Portege R705 is currently the lightest laptop on the market that uses full notebook processors instead of the low power versions. To make things better, the R705 can be found for under $1000USD at your local BestBuy.
While Engadget did like the weight and construction, they did notice that the laptop did get warm. If you are after a powerful yet light laptop, the new Toshiba might be right up your alley.

Via [Engadget]

Vaio Y Gets i5 And Discrete Update

Sony’s Vaio Y series was Sony’s entrance into the low powered notebook market, but at the time was a little underwhelming. It has been given a much needed refresh, which adds the more powerful Intel i3 and i5 series (the low power versions) of processors to the mix. Additionally, another nice upgrade is the option for an ATI 4550 discrete graphics card (not switchable unfortunately),  256GB SSD and a bunch of pretty colours.
The refreshed Y is available to pre-order now and starts at $US769 . Jump over to Sony.com for more information.

Intel Atom N550 Gets Benched

Intet’s Atom could never really be called a performer and it wasn’t traditionally designed to be. It seems the N550 is set to change that slightly, with its ability to outmatch the SU3300 (Core 2 Solo).
The N550 can do this by being the first portable Atom with dual cores (similar to the 330 and D510). To give you an idea it is around twice as fast as the current N450. For more information, just over to Liliputing.

Intel Crappy WiDi Coming To More Laptops

Intel have pressed released that they will have graphics chips that will support 3D graphics by the American Summer. They also said that more then 30 laptops will come out with Intel’s WiDi (Wireless Display) technology built in.
That all sounds really terrific Intel, except for the part about how your graphics cards can’t play 3D games, yet you expect them to render physical 3D objects? Also, every real review (the ones done by people not journalists) of WiDi has been that it doesn’t work all that well. Actually people go as far as saying what is the point at all?
Why write an article that just bad mouths a technology that I don’t care about? Partly because it is a quiet day for tech news and partly because I don’t people throwing away their precious money on a technology that is pointless. Hopefully Intel can do it, but I doubt it.

Via [Engadget]

MeeGo Becomes Netbook Reality

It is challenging times ahead for Intel and the netbook market and Nokia and the smartphone market, thanks to a little guy called the iPad. What do they do to remedy this? Why create yet another mobile OS to compete!
To be fair MeeGo isn’t brand new as it is still based on good ol Linux. MeeGo, which hasn’t been developed for all that long, is now gone official 1.0 release. What you get is a surprising clean and complete experience, which works nicely on very lean hardware. It even comes with its own application store (Garage), though it is quite sparse still.
If you would like more info, jump over to the UMPCPortal for a video tour.

Larrabee Dies Slow Death

Imagine an infinitely scalable graphics architecture. Shrink the die and throw more silicon and you have graphics upgrades for a good few generations. Unfortunately that may never happen, at least not from Intel, with Larrabee getting the cut.
Larrabee has been in the pipelines for a very very long time (over 3 years) but recently that has changed. An Intel blog post has outlined that the future of Intel and graphics will be strictly integrated. It is unfortunate news, as Larrabee had endless potential and would have added a much needed 3rd player to the high-end and discrete graphics card market.
Larrabee might still live on in high performance computing and other non Crysis based applications.

Via [AnandTech]

Powerful VAIO VGN-SZ791N Gets Reviewed

Unfortunately I don’t get to do reviews here, I just can’t afford the toys. The people at PCMag aren’t as unfortunate. They have got their hands on the damn powerful VGN-SZ791N, and they really liked it. They gave it a hefty 4.5 out of 5 circles. It even earned the Editor’s Choice branding. Unfortunately, even the best can’t run Crysis, with a lousy frame-rate of 6 at 1024×768.

For the compete review, click over to PCMag.

I Want Wind From MSI

I’ve been negative about technology for the last couple of days, but that is all set to change with MSI announcing the Wind. It is MSI’s competitor to the EeePC, with a few small differences.
It will feature a 10-inch display, a inch and a bit larger then the upcoming EeePC. It will use Atom architecture, and though the tests have shown it isn’t lightning, I’m confident the battery tests will be impressive. It will feature a 2.5-inch HDD, meaning the user should be able to put any size drive they want in there, as long as it fits. OS wise it features other Windows or Linux.
Some people are saying that “those features are for a notebook not a UMPC”, but the EeePC is a notebook.If the EeePC could do the same thing it would be an even more attractive package. If you consider what you gain, especially with an expected 7 hour battery life, the Wind will be more complete for the mobile user.
The price range is pretty crazy, with it being as low as $US450 and going to around $US1000. It really excites me to imagine a device that I could charge and use for a whole day without needed a second battery. No date as yet, but expect a rant when the product is released and reviewed.

For more info, hit up Gizmodo.

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Intel Atom Gets First Benchmark

The Atom AKA Silverthorn is set to be in every upcoming MID device, and has already been demoed on a bunch of devices.I want to know how it will perform against other processor’s in its class? The people over at XTReview were lucky enough to sneak some benchmarks of a demo Asus MID device.
The results aren’t fantastic, with the 1.6GHz Atom in review doing very average on 1MB Super Pi benchmarks. It was beaten by the 900MHz Celeron, which could mean the EeePC will be faster then the upcoming MID’s. On the other hand, the Pi tests aren’t the bases of all results, and will have to wait for a complete benchmark to be completed (will it run Crysis?).
The advantages of the 45nm processors are the power savings, but considering that a lot of companies are expecting to be running Vista on these little devices, they may encounter some performance issues. Until I have seen all round benchmarks, including battery life, I will reserve my all mighty judgement.

For the benchmarks, click over to XTReviews.

P.S. A little less advertising and a little more design goes a long way XTReviews.