Windows 7 laptops

Microsoft's latest operating system Windows 7 to lift hardware sales. From Sony to Lenovo, Acer to HP, PC makers are ready with a slew of Windows 7 laptops. PC manufacturers are hoping that the new OS will give a new lease of life to the struggling laptop and PC market


Sony Vaio X

Taking cue from Apple's lightest laptop MacBook Air, Sony has launched an ultra-slim Sony Vaio X laptop in India. The laptop weighs mere 655 grams and is about half an inch thin. The laptop sports a 11.1-inch LED Backlit display offering 1366x768 pixel resolution.

Equipped with Intel Atom processor, the laptop comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Professional (32-bit). Vaio X comes in two models VPCX113KG for Rs 64,990 and VPCX117LG for Rs 84,990.

The base model, VPC113KG will pack 45nm process 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 'Silverthorne' processor. Vaio VPC117LG model includes 2GHz Intel Atom Z550 processor. Sony packs 2GB DDR2 RAM and 64GB SSD in VPCX113KG while the other model has 128GB SSD storage.


Lenovo ThinkPad laptops

Lenovo too has refreshed its PC and laptop line-up with new Windows 7 OS. The company has launched a series of Think and Idea brands of PC which will pack the latest OS.

Targetted at business users, the 14-inch ThinkPad SL410 and 15.6-inch SL510, both pack Windows 7. Designed for small-to-medium businesses, the laptops offer higher-resolution webcams, clearer microphones, and a microphone mute button for voice and video conferencing.

Both models pack Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Among other features, the laptops come with DVD drives, six-cell batteries, multi-touch trackpad, option for 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Bluetooth connectivity.

Samsung N140 Netbook

Korean giant Samsung has launched an ultra-sleek Netbook N140 powered by newly launched Windows 7 OS in the Indian market.

Targetting both home and enterprise users, Samsung N140 comes with a 10.1-inch LED Backlit display and a spillproof keyboard. The Netbook supports 11 hours with a 6 cell battery and has 250GB hard disc drive.

In addition, the Netbook promises high multimedia experience and SRS effects that produce clear High Definition 3D sound. Weighing 1.27 kg, N140 packs an array of wireless communication technology and data-sharing capabilities. Other key features include three USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and a 3-in-1 memory card reader.

Priced at Rs 24,990, Samsung N140 comes with a 1 year warranty

Toshiba Notebook

Toshiba has rolled out a series of laptop PCs -- Satellite, Portege, Tecra, NB200 -- pre-loaded with Microsoft's latest Windows 7 OS.

Among key features, Toshiba's latest notebook PCs sport new designs, high definition (HD) CSV screens, LED display, multi-touch control panel, 3D HDD protection, Fingerprint recognition and face recognition using HD auto macro integrated wide angle web-camera.

Sporting 13.3-inch wide HD screen, Portege M900-D3212 packs Nvidia graphics controller with 512MB video memory. The device comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Basic OS.

Satellite M500-D4311 comes in 14-inch wide LED backlit screen with backlit keyboard. The notebook PC packs Nvidia graphics controller, 512MB dedicated video memory and 1366x768 resolution in 16:9 aspect ratio. This one also packs Windows 7 Home Premium version.

BenQ Joybooks

 BenQ too has launched two new light-weight Netbooks, Joybook S35 and Joybook S43, bundled with Windows 7 OS. The 13.3-inch BenQ Joybook S35 and the 14-inch Joybook S43 runs on Intel's ULV Pentium Dual Core SU4100 ULV processors

Among key multimedia features, both Netbooks pack webcam, microphone, integrated speakers, a 2-channel TruSurround HD sound system with SRS Headphone 360, and a large-capacity HDD. BenQ S43 comes with an 8X DVD Super-Multi optical disc drive.

As for battery, Joybooks S35 uses an 8-cell battery and provides up to 11 hours runtime. Joybook S43 uses a 6-cell battery supporting upto five hours. Available in blue and black colour with glossy finish, BenQ S35 comes for Rs 37,199, while S43 is priced at Rs 40,399.

Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865

PC maker Acer unveiled a 18.4-inch full HD widescreen LED backlit notebook PC called Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The CineCrystal backlit display offers a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9 with 1920 X 1080 resolutions.

Powered by Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz processor, the laptop packs 4GB RAM, a 500GB HDD, 1GB Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M GPU, Blu-ray drive and 5 integrated speakers for surround sound.

Among other features, the notebook packs multi-in-1 digital media card reader, WiFi, Acer Crystal Eye Integrated Webcam, touch-capacitive media control interface, 5 USB 2.0 ports, 1 HDMI port, 1 eSATA port and 8-cell battery. Though the notebook is not yet launched in India, it is likely to hit the Indian market soon at a price tag of around Rs 63,000.

Source : infotech.indiatimes

Google buys mobile ad firm for $750 million

Google Inc said on Monday that it was acquiring of AdMob, one of the largest mobile advertising networks, for $750 million, widening its bet that cell phone advertising could become the Internet's next-big money maker.

Google's agreement to buy AdMob in an all-stock deal would give it a key asset as it seeks to extend the reach of its online advertising business from the tethered world of PCs to the smartphones that consumers increasingly use to access the Web while on-the-go.

Google's free Android operating system already provides the basic software that powers many of the newer phones, including the recently released Motorola Inc Droid, and which compete with Apple's popular iPhone.

Privately-held AdMob makes technology for serving graphical, display ads on mobile phones and maintains a network that allows advertisers to place display ads on mobile Web sites and directly within specialized smartphone applications.

The current revenue opportunity is still modest by Google's standards - J.P. Morgan analyst Imran Khan pegged AdMob's annual revenue at $45 million to $60 million - but analysts said the deal underscores Google's belief that the market is set to grow.

"They've made it pretty clear that mobile is one of the biggest opportunities they see," said UBS analyst Brian Pitz.

The deal appears to represent the third largest acquisition in Google's history, behind the 2008 acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion and the Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion.

In an interview with Reuters, Google executives declined to say whether the deal would have a positive or negative impact on Google's profitability, or provide details about revenue expectations.

"We expect this will accelerate our growth in this space," said Google Vice President of Corporate Development David Lawee.

Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine, does not disclose how much of its revenue, which totaled nearly $22 billion in 2008, comes from mobile ads.

Last month, Google said its mobile searches increased 30 percent quarter-over-quarter in the third quarter.

Google executives said they expected the acquisition to be subject to regulatory review, though they said they don't foresee any concerns blocking the deal, which the company said it expects to close in the next several months.

Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt recently said that the company was interested in resuming its acquisition efforts, after taking a breather during the worst of the economic downturn. Schmidt said Google would acquire on average one company a month.

AdMob, which counts more than 15,000 mobile websites and applications in its network, is among the top two or three mobile ad networks measured by the volume of ads served, said Mike Wehrs, CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association.

The company competes with Quattro Wireless and Velti and analysts said that Microsoft Corp, Yahoo Inc and Time Warner Inc's AOL had all acquired companies with mobile advertising technology in recent years.

Wehrs said his group expects the overall mobile ad market to increase 28 percent to 33 percent next year to between $2.3 billion and $2.4 billion. He said his figures included revenue for all forms of mobile advertising including text message ads.

While search is an important component of mobile ads, Wehrs said that ads that run inside smartphone apps are particularly popular at the moment.

"The first thing a company asks for when they go to an ad agency is how fast can you get me on an iPhone app," said Wehrs.

Google's shares finished Monday's regular trading session up 2 percent at $562.51.

Source : reuters

Nokia CEO says starts deliveries of top-model N900

Nokia has started deliveries of its new top-of-the-range model N900, a key product for the world's top phone maker in its battle against rivals iPhone and Blackberry.

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a speech the company started deliveries of the phone on Tuesday.

The N900 model is Nokia's first phone running Linux Maemo operating system, which analysts see as a key for Nokia to gain back ground in the coming years.

Nokia has kept its overall market share stable, close to 40 percent, but it has lost share among more expensive models to the likes of Apple and RIM.

High-end products are important for Nokia because the company has not only lost market share there, but its average selling prices have declined faster than the industry average.

Goldman Sachs has said it expects Nokia's value share -- a measure reflecting average prices and underlying market share -- for phones costing more than $350 to decline to 13 percent this year from 33 percent just two years before.

Noctua announced NH-U9B Special Edition

Noctua announced a new special edition of its popular NH-U9B premium cooler for HTPCs or smaller cases.

The new NH-U9B SE2 now comes with two of Noctua's NF-B9 92mm fans and adds support for LGA1156 as well as LGA1366 via the latest SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system.

Thanks to the addition of the latest SecuFirm2 multi-socket mounting system, the new NH-U9B SE2 supports LGA1366, LGA1156, LGA775, AM2, AM2+ and AM3, making it compatible with Intel's latest Core i7 and Core i5 processors.

Now including two of Noctua's NF-B9 92mm fans, the new SE2 version further improves its predecessor's quiet cooling performance. The supplied Low-Noise and Ultra-Low-Noise-Adaptors allow for full flexibility in fine-tuning the cooler for supreme quietness or maximum performance in push-pull mode. Topped off with Noctua's NT-H1 thermal compound, the NH-U9B SE2 forms a complete package for environments that can't fit the larger NH-U

The NH-U9B SE2 will be available shortly at a recommended retail price of EUR 46.90 / USD 54.90.