Dell tries to out-Apple Apple’s MacBook Air. Find out how it fared.

Dell’s luxury notebook, the Adamo, is spunky–I’ll give it that. The up-and-comer packs on ports…and takes some not-so-subtle jabs at Apple’s MacBook Air. Neither company really positions its ultraslim ultraportable as a high-performance hot rod. Heck, both of them eschew optical drives to stay lean and mean. But they’re both expensive–very, very expensive.

The MacBook Air is the cagey vet. Since it first showed up on the scene, it has improved its game by providing better processors and an honest-to-goodness graphics card, nVidia’s GeForce 9400M. That means it can actually play some games–not many, but some.

The Air we last reviewed offered a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo CPU and 2GB of RAM, and scored a 78 in WorldBench 6. In our battery-life tests, the Air survived for about 2.5 hours before sputtering out. It can accommodate a 120GB hard disk (our more-expensive model came with a 128GB solid-state drive). But then, of course, there’s the dreaded “Apple Tax” (but, really, that tax is up for debate): These machines range in price from $1799 to $2499.

The Dell Adamo, on the other hand, offers lesser parts and…charges…more? Really? Maybe we should rename it the “Adamo Tax.” Let’s go over this. Dell’s high-style PCs cost between $1999 and $2699. The Adamo maxes out at a 1.4GHz CPU but compensates with 4GB of RAM to handle a 64-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium. Supposedly its battery will last 5 hours in tests, if we’re to believe promotional materials. In our internal battery life tests, it lasted 4 hours. Still, that’s way better than how the MacBook Air fared. But, not much of a surprise, the Adamo got slapped around by our PC WorldBench 6 suite: It scored a 64. As far as ultraportable performance goes, it’s sad. Very sad. That’s probably the biggest mark against the Adamo, up front. But other features in a laptop are worth consideration besides horsepower.

[Read more]

On the 17th of March, 2009, at the ShenzhenAir International Hotel in Shenzhen, China, VIA will host the VIA GMB Tech Forum Spring.

The second VIA Global Mobility Bazaar (GMB) Alliance event, following the first event held in October of last year, the VIA GMB Tech Forum Spring will bring together a host of PC manufacturing and infrastructure partners focused on delivering affordable, power efficient mini-notebooks to global markets.

With a rapidly growing membership that includes leading component vendors such as PQI, SanDisk, American Megatrends (AMI), InnoLux, ITE Tech and TD Hi-Tech, the VIA GMB Alliance seeks to facilitate the swift entry of new players into the popular mini-notebook market, resulting in a broader choice of innovative devices for the consumer.

Over 200 VIA GMB Alliance partners who have registered to attend the VIA GMB Tech Forum Spring will observe live demonstrations of the latest mini-notebook technologies, as well as presentations exploring business and technology trends in the market segment. Topics to be covered include new opportunities for memory module and SSD manufacturers, application utilization tips for embedded controller suppliers, and an overview of a wirelessly networked world and how we go about getting there.

more here

Dell’s first 10 inch netbook get good review. here is the gist of it

Pros:

• Compact design
• Five color options
• Roomy keyboard
• Bright, glossy display

Cons:

• No six-cell battery at launch
• Finicky touchpad and touch buttons
• Lacks VGA port
• Struggles with 720p video

detailed review here

Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia has revealed it is considering launching a range of business laptops.

Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo confirmed the move during an interview of Finnish TV. “We are looking very actively also at this opportunity,” Kallasvuo said in answer to whether the phone manufacturer would diversify into the laptop market.

“We don’t have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging. Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication.”

Nokia’s statement comes after laptop manufacturer Acer revealed at this month’s Mobile World Congress, it will be launching a  range of smart phones later this year. The Tempo handsets will run the Windows Mobile platform and will offer super-fast web access, built-in GPS and 5Mp cameras.

[Source computerworld]

UPDATE: Ignore the image. It looks like ibnlive is showing some image related to  hcl mileap (check here) Thanks to visitor viswa for pointing this

UPDATE 2: Actual images are out. ‘Ultra-low-cost’ access device

India’s UPA government has unvieled a prototype of laptop which will cost Rs. 500 and can be used by student. This laptop will be having

• wifi,
• 2GB memory (we feel this refers to storage)
• consumes just 2 watts power
• USB
• Ethernet

no other information seems to have been revealed.

Design of this device has been done by students and faculty at IIT Madras, VIT (vellore institute of technology) and IIS bangalore.

Sakshat (e learning wing of IGNOU) will provide information to students using this laptop. Sakshat provides lots of learning resources in various categories like agriculture, computer and information sciences, education, engineering and technology, health sciences, humanities, jounalism and new media studies, law, management studies, social science, social work, tourism and others.

We shall keep you posted as more info is revealed.

source: ibnlive

sakshat

Lets look into features of Mahindra Xylo. There are basically four models in Xylo E2 is the cheapest and less featured and E8 is the costliest with all features. As told earlier Xylo comes with new 2.4 litre mEagle with intercooler.

• Mahindra Xylo Specification
• Mahindra Xylo Pricelist
• Mahindra Xylo Images
• Xylo vs Innova