15-inch Macbook Pro Battery Recall
Apple recently announced a Battery Recall for batteries of their Macbook series. The affected batteries can only be found in their 15-inch Macbook Pro systems sold from February 2006 through May 2006.
According to Apple, the replacement was not initiated due to safety issues but because they "do not meet [Apple's] high standards for battery performance."
If your Macbook Pro 15" battery has the model number A1175 and a 12-digit serial number that ends with U7SA, U7SB or U7SC you may visit Apple's Support page to take part in their free Battery Exchange Program.
Source: Apple Support: Battery Exchange Program (2006-08-02 23:48:59)
Cheap Lenovo notebook, free shipping included
Deal of the month
The Lenovo 3000 C100 Notebook is a value laptop with a 15" LCD display at a maximum resolution of 1024x768. It is powered by a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M Processor 370 which accesses 256MB of DD2 RAM.
All month long, Buy.com has this budget notebook on sale for only $492.99 after a $100 Mail In Rebate, free shipping included! This is a steal if you are in need of a cheap laptop and game compatibility is no requirement. It will be just fine for any Office applications or to surf the web.
All specs
Accessories
Docking station None
Port replication None
Worldwide A/C compatibility Yes
Audio
Speaker Quantity 2 (Internal Speaker)
Speaker power rating 1 Watts
Volume control buttons Yes
Audio chipset ALC250
Audio on planar Yes
Display
External display supported Yes
Simultaneous external display Yes
Case Color Silver
Maximum Resolution 1024x768
Screen illumination Backlit
Screen type description TFT
Viewable image size (diagonal) inches 15.0
Graphics
Graphics type XGA
Graphics bus interface PCI Express
Description Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
Max colors (with max video RAM) 16777216
Video RAM type DVMT
Max resolution 2048x1536 16777216 colors
Video on Planar Yes
Hard drive
Hard disk size (GB) 40 GB
Interface type PATA
Hard drive speed (RPM) 5400
Architecture
Bays Media Bay
Bus type/architecture PCI/PCI Express
Indicator light Yes
PC Card support 1 Type I/II
System memory
Memory (RAM) std/max 256MB / 2GB
RAM slots available 1 SODIMM
RAM slots total 2 SODIMM
RAM type DDR2 SDRAM
Module specifications PC2-4200
Memory speed 533 MHz
Communications
Fax/modem description 56K V.92 designed modem
Fax/modem speed 56Kbps data/14.4Kbps fax
Infrared port No
Ethernet description 10/100 Ethernet
Ethernet interface type Ethernet-Integrated
Ethernet on motherboard Yes
Operating System
Operating System Title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Optical device
Optical device CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo
Optical device speed 24X/24X/24X/8X Max
Device interface EIDE
Expansion options
Port connectors 3-1 digital media reader, 4 USB 2.0, External Display (VGA), External Microphone/Line-In, Headphone / Line out, IEEE 1394, RJ-11, RJ-45, S-Video out
Plug and play support Yes
Slots total (available) and type 1(0) Communication Daughter Card 1,1(0) Mini PCI,1(1) PC Card
BIOS type Flash ROM
Infrared Support No
Processor
Processor speed 1.50 GHz
Processor (CPU) Intel Celeron M Processor 370
Internal L2 cache memory size 1 MB
Front side bus (FSB) 400 MHz
Standard features
Keyboard type Full size
Pointing Device Type Two button touchpad with scroll feature
Weight & dimensions
Depth 10.9 in
Height 1.33 in
Travel weight 6.28 lbs
Weight 6.28 lbs
Width 13.1 in
Wireless Networking Components
Wireless speed 11a:54Mbps, 11b:11Mbps, 11g:54Mbps
Description Lenovo 11a/b/g Wi-Fi Wireless II
Frequency 802.11a: 5GHz/802.11b/g: 2.4GHz
Wireless Implementation (Form Factor) Mini PCI
Wireless Standard Lenovo 11a/b/g Wi-Fi Wireless II
Wireless Type LAN
Security
Security features Hard disk drive password, Norton Internet Security, Power on password, Security Slot
Security identification technology None
Software
Communications applications Adobe Acrobat Reader;ThinkVantage Access Connections
Productivity applications Corel Paint Shop Pro X (60-day trial);Corel Photo Album Starter 6 (with 60-day trial of Photo Album Deluxe Edition);Corel Small Business Center featuring WordPerfect Office 12;Diskeeper Lite;Google Desktop;Google Picasa 2;Google Toolbar;Lenovo Care;Lenovo Password Manager;Lotus Notes Stand-alone Client (license);Lotus SmartSuite Millennium (license);ThinkVantage System Update
Utility applications Norton Internet Security (OEM Edition) with 90 days of virus definition updates;PC Doctor diagnostics;ThinkVantage Rescue and Recovery
Multimedia applications InterVideo WinDVD;Roxio Digital Media Basic Edition
Operating system provided Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Supported operating system Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition, Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Sony VAIO VGN-TX3XP review
The new VAIO VGN-TX3XP has it all.
A slick look. Great case. This notebook screams "coolness".
A massive 1,366 x 768 high quality pixels on only 11.1 inch with smooth colors. Other notebooks don't even deliver this resolution on 15.4in!
The Ultra-ultra-slim DVD-drive. Combine that with the unmatched portability of Sony's new child and you have the new kid in the block of high mobility notebooks. A skinny one, at only 1.25kg weight, but probably the best one in town.
Sony ditched the dual core craze in favour of maximized battery life. And they did a good job at it. The single core processor which powers the VGN-TX3XP can survive up to nine hours without stationary fuel. A new VAIO battery life benchmark record!
System Specs
Intel Core Solo 1.2GHz Ultra Low Voltage (ULV)
1GB Memory, up to 1.5GB possible
80GB hard disk
Intel 945GMS graphic chipset, up to 128MB of shared memory
Multi-format DVD writer
11.in display, max resolution 1366x768 px
10/100mbit Ethernet
802.11g(a/b) Wireless LAN
Bluetooth
2 USB2.0 ports
1 Firewire port
Type II PC-Card slot
Windows XP Professional
272.4 x 195.1 x 28.5mm (W x D x H)
1.25kg
The Sony VAIO VGN-TX3XP is available for £1,699.00.
New Sony Vaio with Flash memory
Sony will replace classic, magnetic storage in its new "Vaio UX90" with 16GB of flash memory. Despite the faster access times, the main advantage over classic hard disks is absolute silence. Furthermore flash-based disks don't heat up as easily as magnetic ones and are lighter.
The cost of such massive amounts of flash memory in computers has always been an issue in the past, but not anymore it seems. Previously, Samsung had already released a notebook with 32GB of flash memory.
Source: PCWorld: Vaio U Laptop (2006-06-30 23:01:04)
Fry an egg on your Macbook!
Now this is a challenge.
A minority of US users have reported battery issues with the new Apple Macbooks. While faulty battery units seem to be one source, massive heat on the underside seems to be the main cause of the problem. It's summer after all. A UK forum user judges the heat as "hot enough to fry an egg", Apple on the other hand responds with the usual tech support answers.
Don't use your Macbook (Pro) on your lab. Nobody likes fried eggs in this very connection.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald: Meltdown over Macbook Battery Glitch (2006-06-30 22:49:43)
Easy laptop battery saving tips
The below article gives a few quick hints on how to make your notebook battery last longer than usual. Other than that, you can try to
- dim the brightness of your display if you don't need a very bright one
- disable certain hardware, eg. infrared devices
- underclock your CPU if supported
- use regular LAN instead of WLAN if available
- Don't run external hardware you do not need, eg. external hard disks, mice, keyboard, printers etc.
- Disable any programs which constantly use CPU power
- Disable any bright desktop background wallpapers
Source: Techi Warehouse: Battery Saving Tips (2006-06-30 22:41:58)
32,000 kids get free iBooks
Maine has signed a deal with Apple worth over $41 million.
Apple, in return, will deliver 32,000 iBooks to Maine students as well as another 4,000 to their teachers. The contract works out to be just about $1,100 per notebook, not counting in various changes in infrastructure. Now this is a win-win situation.
Source: The Examiner: Maine to Extend Laptop Program with Apple (2006-06-30 22:31:30)
New high performance notebook from Alienware
Alienware has launched the new "Area-51 m5750" model which features high definition video, superb processing power fueled by Intel's Core Duo processors as well as a good amount of storage. Combine this with acceptable portability and you have a notebook which is perfect for gaming and everyday use while not running out of battery power within 50 minutes like the Alienware Turion SLI models.
The m6750 starts at $1,499.00 but can be configured to cost as much as $4,440 using their online notebook configurator. The configuration of choice with this superb price would include
- an Intel Core Duo Processor T2600, clocked at 2.16GHz and 667MHz FSB using a 2MB cache
- a 17" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD
- 2 GB Dual Channel DDR2 memory
- a 200GB RAID0 array for maximum performance (2x100GB)
- a dual layer combo drive (of course!)
- the infamous 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon X1800!
This configuration makes one of the best gaming notebooks which won't go down in less than an hour of battery life. Is it worth it? If you have the money to spare, it surely is.
Source: Alienware: Area51 m5750 - Configurator Pages (2006-06-30 22:21:28)
