Sony Vaio VGN-C2S: Colourful laptop
LaptopsWe've just got our hands on a shiny blue Sony Vaio VGN-C2. Yay! It's part of Sony's C Series, a collection of laptops that Sony says aren't just laptops -- they're also 'a lifestyle'. No, we're not sure what that means either, but we're guessing it's marketing speak for 'not black and silver'.
The VGN-C2S/G.CEK, to give it its full title, is entirely blue but for the keyboard and base section. It's a nice idea, but we think the blue used on the lid is a little too garish. Sony has opted for a slightly less intense blue on the inside, but the jury's still out on whether we like the overall effect. Some of us thought it was alright, while others felt Sony had 'gone all Fisher Price'. You'll either like it or loathe it. Continue reading...
Intel's new Core 2 Duo L7200 and L7400: Completely pointless?
LaptopsIntel has started shipping a couple of new low-voltage processors designed to help make tiny laptops faster. The Core 2 Duo L7200 and L7400 chips, clocked at 1.05GHz and 1.33GHz respectively, have a fast 667MHz front-side bus and a monstrous 4MB of shared level 2 cache.
The chips are said to have a thermal design power (TDP) of 17W, which sounds good on paper, but we wonder just how much benefit this will bring the consumer. If you're buying an ultraportable and your main concern is battery life, you're probably better off getting an ultra low-voltage chip such as the 1.06GHz U2400 CPU in the Asus U1 -- which has a TDP of 9W. Continue reading...
Gadget Love: Romance is a red piece of tech
Gadgets"Happy Valentine's Day, sweetheart! Look, I got you a present." "Oh, Crave, that's so sweet of you, you shouldn't have! It's a... it's a red iPod nano. WTF?" "Yes, it's red, the colour of romance, so whenever you're listening to your MP3s you can remember how much I love you." "Blatantly, you're going to nick it." "True, but whenever I'm using it I can remember how much I love you -- what could be more romantic?"
If this situation sounds like it could well happen in your love life, here are some red gadgets for your perusal. And if you order them today, they should be here in time for the big day next week. Continue reading...
Sony Vaio G11: Diddy but durable
LaptopsPeople tend to think of size-zero laptops as extra flimsy. Many of us probably wouldn't mind dropping the 20-inch Dell XPS M2010 (as long as it's not on your toes), but if your slinky new Asus U1 hit the floor you'd weep like a lady.
This isn't quite right though, and here to realign perceptions of ultraportable sturdiness is Sony, with its newly announced Vaio G11. This 12.1-inch laptop weighs 1.2kg, which is about the same as a bag of sugar. Despite its slim proportions, it has a drop rating of nearly one metre -- that's impressive for such a tiny laptop . We reckon the G in G11 must stand for 'gangsta'. Continue reading...
Seven days of Vista -- day 7: Which Vista version?
SoftwareIn six days we uncovered Windows Vista's cooler features, and on the seventh day we rested. Or at least we would have, but for the constant pestering from friends and family about how they can go about getting the new OS onto their PCs.
"Buy a copy or get a new PC," we snapped. "But there are, like, dozens of versions. And what if I don't want to scrap my current PC?" they responded, clinging to our heels as we tried in vain to run. It's a good question, though -- so we figured we'd take a look at the available options for our own curiosity. And get you off our backs, of course.
The three easiest methods are to update your current version of XP with a Vista upgrade, wipe your hard drive to install Vista from scratch, or take the coward's way out and buy a new Vista PC. The last option is the easiest, provided you have the cash (you can check out a list of the first Vista desktop PC's we've seen in the UK here). But if you haven't the money or inclination, then upgrading your current PC is the way forwards. Continue reading...
Dell ATC D620: Rough and rugged laptop
LaptopsDell makes some of the scariest computers in the world. We've already seen the unfathomably large XPS M2010, the plethora of exploding laptops, and the viciously quick H2C desktop -- but none of us predicted the arrival of the Latitude ATG D620.
Billed as a semi-ruggedised laptop, the ATG D620 is designed for anyone who conducts their business in harsh environments. And when we say 'harsh', we don't mean slumming it in the first class section of a Virgin train because your limo driver has gout -- we mean harsh as in the frozen Arctic wastes or the panther-ridden jungles of the Congo. Continue reading...
Asus U1: Stylish fingerprint magnet
LaptopsThere are endless contenders for the title of sexiest laptop. We've fallen head over heels for the Sony TX2, Samsung Q35 and MacBook Pro in the past, but our wandering eye has just caught what could be the most gorgeous of the lot, the Asus U1.
Just one look left us drooling like slack-jawed tech yokels -- it's gorgeous in a way that probably shouldn't be allowed. We like to think of it as a cross between Asus' own W6 and S6 and the LG Chocolate Phone because of the leather finish on the palm rest and the super glossy 'piano black' finish on the lid. The only drawback here is that it picks up fingerprint smears like nobody's business. Honestly, you don't even have to touch it -- just wave your hand somewhere near the surface and it'll suck the dirt off your mitts like some sort of smudge magnet. Continue reading...
Toshiba Portege R400: Sexy, smart and in your lap
LaptopsThe coolest laptop at CES is probably the Asus W5Fe, but a close second surely has to be the Toshiba Portege R400, a convertible tablet/laptop hybrid with looks to die for.
It features a 12.1-inch LED backlit screen that swivels round to sit flat against the keyboard, facing upwards, at which point it can be used with a stylus in tablet mode.
More notably, Toshiba says it's the world's first laptop that is compatible with Microsoft Active Notifications, which automatically synchronises your email with your calendar. It also has what's called an Edge Display system, which is exactly that, an LCD display on the front edge of the laptop. It's not quite SideShow, but it does let you view your inbox and calendar whether the laptop is open or closed. Continue reading...
Asus XG Station: External graphics card
LaptopsSee that pointless ExpressCard slot on the side of your laptop? Rubbish, isn't it? Well, not any more. Asus has come up with a use for it, and a pretty good use at that. Behold the XG Station, an external graphics card that transforms your weak, non-games-playing laptop into a polygon-munching monster that can eat an Alienware laptop for breakfast.
The XG Station incorporates a proper desktop graphics card, in this case Asus' own Nvidia GeForce EN7900GS, and connects via a cable to your laptop's ExpressCard slot. The model we saw has dual DVI output ports, though Asus says future revisions will feature even faster cards that also support HDMI and HDCP -- which you'll need if you want to watch encrypted HD DVD or Blu-ray flicks. The device also features enhanced audio functionality, specifically Dolby Headphone, which gives you 5.1 surround sound in, you guessed it, your headphones. Continue reading...
Asus W5Fe: Lovable SideShow freak
LaptopsIf there's one PC technology Crave has been looking forward to, it's the SideShow option in Windows Vista. You can imagine our joy when we got to play with the world's first SideShow device, the Asus W5Fe.
As previously reported, the W5Fe is a 12-inch laptop that incorporates an auxiliary 71mm (2.8-inch), 320x240-pixel display on the lid. Conceptually it's like having a PDA strapped to the outside of the laptop, but unlike the semi-pointless external displays on clamshell phones, Sideshow is actually pretty useful.
The auxiliary screen gives you quick access to stripped-down versions of key applications including a media player, email client and calendar. All of these can be viewed without booting Windows, so you can check meeting schedules, telephone numbers, text documents and so on without any hassle. Anyone who has been frustrated by the painful boot time of Windows will love SideShow. To see it in action, check out our Asus W5Fe with SideShow video. Continue reading...
Counting down to CES 2007...
TelevisionsHere we are in Paris, sorry, Vegas (big cities all look the same these days). We're all ready for CES 2007, but is CES ready for us? It is not. To be fair, the press events don't start until tomorrow and the show proper doesn't open until Monday. Right now there's very little evidence that the world's largest consumer electronics show is about to strut its stuff on the Las Vegas stage. Continue reading...
MacBook Thin: Will Apple launch a new 12-inch laptop?
LaptopsThere are only a few days left before MacWorld in San Francisco and the Mac rumour mill is grinding up all the old stories and spitting out new grist. If speculation about the new version of Mac OSX wasn't enough, there's also the possibility of a MacBook Thin to consider.
Apple is rumoured to have developed a new 12-inch MacBook that is considerably thinner than the company's current offerings. Apple's tradition of religious silence over product launches means that there is no official word on any of the specs. However, anonymous industry insiders who are credited with bringing news of the MacBook Thin to the Internet claim battery life on the new model will push 8 hours.
HTC Athena: The sane man's UMPC?
Mobile PhonesCrave can't wait for CES 2007. There will be hustle, bustle, gambling, the international porn-star awards (which take place next door), oh and shed-loads of technology. One of the things we're most excited about seeing is the HTC Athena -- or X7500 if you're a complete nerdwad.
The Athena is some sort of mobile phone-cum-laptop which incorporates a 3.5-inch display and runs Windows Mobile Pocket PC Professional Edition. The qwerty keyboard looks small, but it doesn't appear as unusable as the keyboard on the Toshiba Libretto. Interestingly it's detachable so you can choose whether to take it with you or leave it behind. Various blogs on the Internet are speculating it will feature tri-band GSM/GPRS connectivity, 802.11b/g WiFi, 64MB of RAM, a 2-megapixel camera, SD card support and a 400MHz processor. Not bad if it turns out to be true.
It's all about Vista at CES 2007
SoftwareIn just over a month, the world will say a fond farewell to Windows XP and begin to embrace its plucky upstart of a sibling: Vista. You could be forgiven for wanting to shun Vista -- after all, XP works just fine -- but Crave is convinced you'll be gagging for a taste of the new OS once you see what's going to be unveiled at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
ReadyDrive
Top of our list of Vista funk is the Windows ReadyDrive feature, which takes advantage of hybrid disk drives that use traditional magnetic platters as well as solid state non-volatile flash memory. The magnetic portion of the drive is used for storing your files, the solid state portion is used to increase system performance -- it'll help you boot up faster, resume from hibernate in less time, preserve battery power in laptops and improve disk reliability. We're expecting hybrid hard drives from Samsung and Seagate at CES, so we'll definitely be on hand to see how these babies perform. Continue reading...
Hands on: Toshiba Qosmio G30 HD DVD laptop
LaptopsHoly blue lasers Batman, here's an actual HD DVD device in the flesh! The Toshiba Qosmio G30 laptop landed in our offices last Friday just as we were walking out the door and almost made us not go to the pub.
Sadly, the lure of the weekend and premium-strength continental lager was too strong to resist, but now Monday has arrived we can bring you a full hands-on write-up.
First impressions aren't positive: it comes across as 4.5kg of aesthetic bizarreness. The silver lid is cool, but the inwardly sloping edges are not a good look. Things are slightly better inside though -- we're feeling the all-black interior, boy-racer-style speakers and the circular volume knob, which lets you adjust the loudness quickly and easily. Continue reading...
CES comes but once a year
TelevisionsShortly after we've unwrapped our Christmas presents, and hopefully before we've broken them, Crave will be heading off to Las Vegas for the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show, or CES to its many friends. It's the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology, with over 2,500 exhibitors showing off their stuff in over 150,000 square metres of exhibition space.
The first CES took place 40 years ago, in June 1967, in New York. The 110 exhibitors included familiar names such as Hitachi, Motorola, Philips, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, showing off their latest transistor radios, stereos and black-and-white TVs. Ah, those were the days. CES moved to Chicago in 1971, and a winter show was added in 1973. Five cold and shivering years later, the winter version moved to Las Vegas, took one look at the casinos and cabarets, and made itself at home (the summer CES bit the Midwestern dust in 1994. Continue reading...
Photos: Apple upgrades the Temple of Pod on Regent Street
MP3 PlayersWith just 24 shopping days left until Christmas, Apple has put down the hammers, swept up the sawdust and unveiled version 2.0 of its flagship store on London's Regent Street. It's still a shrine to all things Mac and iPod, and it's still all glass and pine and concrete, but the first floor is much bigger than it used to be -- allowing the Regent Street store to regain its rightful position as the largest Apple Store in the World.
Apple has warped time and space (and pushed back into a storage area) to bring you a new iPod Bar, a second Studio area for workshops and a lot more opportunities to touch and covet. There's also a new EasyPay system that lets you hand over your money without queuing for a till. Continue reading...
Skype: Happy digital Christmas everyone!
Mobile PhonesCrave loves Skype and you should too. What better way to contact your loved ones over Christmas, while saving some money and playing World of Warcraft on the sly?
For those of you who still haven't got with the programme (try to keep up at the back), Skype is an application available for both PC and Mac (and other platforms) that allows you to make text, voice and video calls over your broadband Internet connection. The beauty of Skype is that calls to a friend who also has Skype on their computer are totally free.
As well as calling other computers, you can also call normal phones, but at pretty low rates. And Skype's latest Talk for Britain deal hould also help make normal phone calls cheaper as well. Simply load 10 of (SkypeOut) credit onto your account before 31 December, wait for them to activate the promotion, and you'll score free calls to any UK landline for the next six months. Continue reading...
Hands-on: Asus G1 and G2 gaming laptops
LaptopsAsus isn't the first name that springs to mind when you think of gaming laptops, but it's drawn battle lines with the likes of Alienware with its new G1 and G2 gaming rigs.
We've just taken receipt of an Asus G2 and first impression are positive. The metal lid gives it a look of quality and is vaguely reminiscent of some laptops in the Dell XPS range. Open it up and you'll either drool or barf -- Asus has dumped a liberal amount of red all over the inside, and it's a complete assault on the senses.
There's a red surround engulfing the 1.3-megapixel webcam above the screen, a row of red rectangles running down either side of the keyboard, a glowing red G2 logo between the mouse buttons, and red highlighting on the W, A, S and D keys, which gamers use to move 3D characters around. Asus also bundles a customised Logitech MX-518 gaming mouse, which is handy.
Most significantly, there are red light panels on either side of the screen, which apparently increase in intensity when more polygons are being pushed around the screen. Unfortunately they didn't work on our early test sample -- something about the graphics card getting too hot. Continue reading...
Apple's black MacBook: A lips-on report
LaptopsThere are two things you can bring into an office that will induce the weaker-minded to stand around, coo, and stroke. One is a new-born child and the other is anything Apple has released in the last five years.
What's more remarkable than Apple's recent spate of great design is that no other manufacturer seems to have caught on. Apple's closest rival, Sony, still lags behind with its attractive, though clearly derivative, efforts. The rest of the laptop makers are either going for the gauche, boy-racer market, or churning out ugly grey slabs. It's enough to break a girl's soul.
Sure enough, the new black MacBook inspired the obligatory crowd around the Crave pit. Some dribbled into polystyrene cups, others took turns at trying out the magnetic power cable -- which detaches should someone trip over the lead. The office gimp licked the built-in webcam while making little snaffling noises -- rather like a baby lamb suckling on its mother's teat. The MacBook yielded no milk, of course, other than the metaphorical milk that is the human emotion of pure joy. Continue reading...
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