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.
If you aren’t familiar with Penryn, don’t worry neither am I. I had a quick look up on good ol’ Wikipedia, and they said it is basically an upgrade from the Merom of old (basically the T5000 and T7000 series of mobile processor’s). So if you haven’t worked it out, this is pretty big business for Intel. The Merom’s are freaking awesome (poor AMD never had a chance) and will be dearly missed (though they will probably be seen in notebooks for months/years to come).
You can’t pick one up in a store quite yet, but soon you will see offering from HP, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer and surely many more (Asus will release info any second now). From HP you will see the 6820s (17-incher with a Core 2 Duo T8100 CPU at 2.1GHz or T8300 at 2.4GHz), Sony will have their FZ31, SZ71, CR31 and AR61, Fujitsu will have Amilo Xi 2550 and 2428 and Acer will have an array of five with the 2920, 4920, 5920, 7720 and 9920.
The new processors will use less power and run cooler, meaning thinner quieter notebooks with longer battery lifes. When the benchmarks start coming in it will be interesting to see if the new Intels can create as much of a storm as the old. I will try and keep you up to date as more companies announce more notebooks.
For more info, click over to the Gizmodo and Laptoping Websites.
I was never a fan of the Macbook style N series Sony Vaio. It was cheap, but the build felt cheap to pickup and everyone could tell who they were trying to copy. Thank god Sony reconsidered and have updated the series to be the new NR series.
Inside you can expect the same old for a budget focused notebook. From the 15.4-inch WXGA display, a 1.5GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB 5,400 rpm SATA hard drive, to the onboard video card and lack of Wireless N (and Blu-ray). What would you expect to pay for a budget system of this type? How does $US750 sound? At that price point, this is the cheapest Vaio ever.
For that price you also get a sleeker designed Vaio, looking a lot classier then the N series of old (plus what looks like a fabric covered lid). If this is your piece of mud cake, then you can grab your very own sometime in October.
For more info, project yourself over to the InfoSync Website. Or click here for the press release.
The great guys over at PCMag have done a review on that Sony Vaio LT series desktop replacement, the same one I wrote about a yesterday. Seems they really liked it, especially liking the idea of a PC build into a HDTV (a bit far considering it is only 22-inch).
For the whole review, run and dive into the PCMag Website.
For older readers of this site (before the refresh) you will know I am a huge Vaio fanboy. Matter of fact I am writing this article on one of the first 13.3-inchers released in Australia (cost $4,000). So I am very happy to announce a few range refreshers from Sony, which include a G2 replacement, an update to the desktop replacement’s titled the L series and a big fat AR series notebook.
The G2 is an ultralight, with a 12.1-inch display and low power processor. The changes between this model and the previous are the two choices of the new Intel low power processors (U7600 and U7500), choice of 3 different SSD’s (32/48/64GB) as well as a few normal HDD’s, and lastly the choice of 3 colours. No prices as yet, but expect the SSD driven variants to be a little pricier then standard HDD. The release date is set in October for Japan only.
The L series desktop replacement is a sort of iMac competitor (better in my opinion). Previously the L series “The Panel PC” was only a 15.4-inch (in Australia anyway), but the new series includes a 15.4-inch (LJ with 1280 x 800 resolution), 19-inch (LM with 1440 x 900 resolution) and 22-inch (LT with 1680 × 1050 resolution) version. Also included in the package is a range of Intel Core 2 Duo CPU’s and a NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GT video card. They will range in 3 different colours, which are silver, black and pink (very metro). Release date is set as October the 6th and the pricing will start at $US1478 for the baby, all the way up to $3218 for the big daddy.
Finally we have the sexy 17-incher from Sony. The AR600 will be the replacement for the now aging AR500 series. Upgrades include 8400M GT or 8600M GT NVIDIA video card’s, Core 2 Duo T7250 or T7500 processors and a sweet Blu-ray and CableCard mix. They are expected to be seen around October the 2nd and will range in price from $US1,700 to $US3,300.
For more info, steal a plane and fly over to Gizmodo’s Blog, Engadget’s Blog and Akihabara News Site.