I havent seen a Hello Kitty powered PC for a while, but now Mouse Computer Japan has announced the new LuvBook S. The LusBook S is powered by an Intel Core i3-2330M, 11.6” (1366×768) screen, an Intel HD 3000 graphics, 500GB of HDD, 4GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, SDXC, HDMI, USB 3.0, Wi-Fi GBN for a total weight of 1.5kg and a price of 69,930 Yen.

• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Hands on With Google Chromebook: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook – May 13, 2011
• Amazing USB PC That Costs Only $25 – May 6, 2011
• A History of the Laptop – April 18, 2011
• Playstation Move Could Be Moving Onto a PC – February 3, 2011

LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan originally appeared on: Crenk
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Bringing The Heat
The Transformer 2 packs a punch in terms of hardware under the hood. When it ships in December, it’ll feature a quad-core 1.3 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, a 12-core GeForce GPU, 10” display, 15 hours of battery life, mini-HDMI output, and of course a detachable keyboard. Storage space starts at 32 GB, running up to 64 GB if you’re willing to pay for it. Pricing begins somewhere between $500 and $600, making it fairly competitive given its impressive computing horsepower. The keyboard dock will be sold separately for $150, but it has the benefit of adding an additional six hours of battery life to the Prime’s stamina.

Superior Graphics and UI
While the hardware specs are impressive, the software is the real story here. Equipped with Android 3.2 aka “Honeycomb”, the Transformer Prime takes advantage of the latest advances in Google’s operating system. With the tablet-focused variant of Android really starting to hit its stride after several iterations, the Transformer Prime’s capable silicon is the perfect testbed to see what Honeycomb can do. Though details are a bit hazy at the moment, an OTA update to Android 4.0 should be available in early 2012.

The Prime features 1200 x 800 pixel Super IPS+ resolution, with crystal clear picture put out by the Tegra 3 GPU’s vSMP technology. Super IPS+ makes working with the Transformer Prime fairly hassle-free in a wide variety of lighting environments. Capable of adjusting brightness based on the ambient lighting around it, the Prime’s crisp screen is another compelling reason to consider the Transformer.

The Last Word
Comparisons between the Asus Transformer Prime and its competition from the likes of Apple’s iPad are inevitable. Furthermore, lower-end tablets such as the Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Touch are going to be wildly successful, but they’re aimed at an entirely different niche. The Transformer 2 will most likely take a bite out of the market share of Apple’s iPad 2. The Transformer Prime is a serious tablet that should do very well with enterprise users. With any luck, that popularity will filter down to mainstream users looking for a tablet that’s well-suited for both work and play.

• Asus Launch Padfone: Tablet Device with Smartphone Built in – May 31, 2011
• Dell Mini 5 Jumps into Tablet Race – January 11, 2010
• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• Amazing Launch Coloured Kindle Tablet: Fire – September 28, 2011
• Leaked: 10.1-Inch Motorola Xoom 2 – September 24, 2011

The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye originally appeared on: Crenk
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Techcrunch was lucky enough to get their hands on the upcoming “Chromebook”. Acer and Samsung will be producing the Chromebooks and here are pictures of the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook.

• New Samsung Slate Netbook: Best Netbook On The Market – November 17, 2009
• Google Unveils New Chromebook – May 12, 2011
• Who Wants an iPad when you can get an iPed? – May 29, 2010
• Google New Launches New … Scarves? – February 10, 2010
• A Sneak Peak At New Netbook Operating System – January 23, 2009

Hands on With Google Chromebook: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook originally appeared on: Crenk
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The early 70′s saw the arrival of the first personal computers. This was a quantum leap in technological standards, considering that a couple of decades before that, computers had been so big that a whole room had to be devoted to them.

It wasn’t long after, that the idea of having a computer that was not only personal but also portable,  became the next big stride in computer advancement. 1975 saw the arrival of IBM’s 5100 and became the world’s first portable computer. However, at 25 kg it was hardly practical for resting upon your lap! It had a 16K RAM, a monochrome display and ran on BASIC and/or APL.

The first  portable computers with a flip type lid/screen appeared in the early 80’s with the Dulmont Magnum which was released in Australia. This laptop cost around $18,000 in current dollar terms and could be run on battery power alone.  It totally transformed the business world allowing business people the capability to transport their data around with them which was unthinkable of before.

During the mid 80’s, many more laptops entered the market. Laptop manufacturers had to ensure that their products were IBM compatible due to the popularity of this type of computing in offices.  These early laptops met with limited success and it wasn’t until the late 80’s that laptops began to take a hold of the public conscience.

Colour screens started appearing in the early 90’s as did floppy disk drives and VGA screens. More and more, the laptop became an essential tool of the modern business professional , not an item to reflect the status of the owner. It was around this time that Apple entered the market with the Macintosh Portable. It was a high quality piece of hardware with a long battery life and an excellent screen.

Towards the end of the 90’s, a benchmark was beginning to emerge for the laptop, partly due to the arrival of the operating system Windows 95 which standardized various aspects of laptop design. CD drives began to appear and the laptop now became a tool with the capability of connecting to the emerging Internet.

Today, in 2011, we have smartphones which are more powerful than those early laptops. Moore’s Law predicts that computer technology will continue to increase at an exponential rate, just as it has for the last 50 to 60 years. It is very hard to predict what the capabilities of laptops will be in 10-20 years time – that is if we are still using them!

Guest post by: Alastair Kane is an IT geek who works for Novatech Laptops. In his spare time he likes to blog and write articles related to technology.

• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Hands on With Google Chromebook: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook – May 13, 2011
• Toshiba Dynabook Qosmio Laptop With Monochromatic Top: Changes Colours – February 2, 2011
• LG Unveil First Win7 Touch Screen Laptop – February 24, 2010

A History of the Laptop originally appeared on: Crenk
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The Toshiba Dynabook Qosmio has decent hardware inside too, in it includes a 2.66GHz processor using Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB of DDR3 memory RAM, and a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 display that is LED backlit.

• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Toshiba Satellite P700 Series Laptops Launched – June 22, 2011
• Hands on With Google Chromebook: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook – May 13, 2011
• Toshiba Announce Regza Tablet AT300: Android Powered Motorola Xoom Competitor – April 20, 2011

Toshiba Dynabook Qosmio Laptop With Monochromatic Top: Changes Colours originally appeared on: Crenk
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Today, LG have unveiled their first ever laptop which is also the first ever laptop to get the official Windows 7 touch screen seal-of-approval sticker from Micrsoft. This is different to other touch screen laptops out there which use primitive overlay touch screen technology found on many budget touch screen phones. By using an inbuilt screen technology which leaves the screen firm and doesn’t reduce picture quality and responsiveness, LG are sure to have success with this model.

Undoubtedly, Samsung will be unveiling a competitor to this new product in the coming weeks and months, perhaps a little disgruntled having been bet to the post. Perhaps these touch screen laptops will be the new ‘iPad’ seeing as that doesn’t have enough computing power for most of us.

The LG model will go into mass production in the second half of this year although I’m sure some review units will be floating around. For now, we have this video from LG.

• LG Go Classic With Their New Korean CRT – January 26, 2010
• LG’s Cool New 11.6 Inch UltraPortable – January 8, 2010
• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Space Invader Playing Cards – September 27, 2011

LG Unveil First Win7 Touch Screen Laptop originally appeared on: Crenk
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It’s been getting a lot of guff lately. And for what? Because it isn’t a high performance windows vista or XP netbook from one of the top dogs? Because it doesn’t look so great?

This is one ting which bugs me about the tech review scene, they tend to bunch all items into the one category. This isn’t like other netbooks. It’s a budget machine for those who need a quick little gadget that’ll do the job for 2010. Nothing more.

They based the OS on Android, the popular mobile device OS. As you can see from the picture, it’s nothing too flashy and it isn’t too powerful either. But then, all you’re going to be using it for is doing Emails, some light web surfing and maybe using the word processor. It’s not for playing video games or creating home movies for god’s sake.

They’re rugged little machines that’ll suit many individuals. This could easily act as a spare PC for households to cope when people all want to use the family PC at once. Or it could accompany you to work on the train. Or it could be a field laptop for photographers, surveyors etc…. And because of that cool $149 price tag, it doesn’t matter if it gets broken.

At the end of the day, there’s a market for cheap yet reliable machines that’ll do a basic job. So maybe the Hivision netbook is worth a go.

• LG’s Cool New 11.6 Inch UltraPortable – January 8, 2010
• Dell Mini 5 Jumps into Tablet Race – January 11, 2010
• Fandango Release App for Google Android Platform – January 9, 2010
• LuvBook S: Hello Kitty Laptop from Mouse Computer Japan – November 28, 2011
• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011

Hivision’s Android Netbook ain’t so bad! originally appeared on: Crenk
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The latest to enter the fray is the Dell Mini 5, which is planned for later this year and no pricing  mentioned. The Dell Mini 5 looks to blur the lines between laptop and mobile phone with it’s 5 in. touch screen, 5 mega-pixel cam and equally impressive web cam, SIM slots, Wi-Fi enabled, and running the Android OS. This little device sounds like a pretty powerful addition to anyone’s arsenal, especially with the increasing popularity with Android.

Already custom colors are being planned on the initial release to appeal to the masses. The announcement at this year’s CES caused a stir so it will be interesting to see where Dell’s device falls in terms of consumer satisfaction.

Dell Mini 5 is the latest tablet to join this years most anticipated product.

• The Asus Transformer 2: More Than Meets The Eye – November 23, 2011
• Dell Streak 7 Tablet Available to Buy in the UK Today – April 28, 2011
• Dell Roadmap for Smartphones and Tablets has been Leaked – February 18, 2011
• Introducing Streake: 5” Tablet from DELL – May 25, 2010
• Dell Mini 5 Will Support HDMI – February 23, 2010

Dell Mini 5 Jumps into Tablet Race originally appeared on: Crenk
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I’m all about netbooks and laptops. There’s something sexy about having all that computing power in such a portable little housing. May I introduce to you LG’s new x300 laptop sporting 2Ghz of processing power and measuring up at a very slim 17.6mm. And sexy she is.

A look from the outside

The portable machine also has a 1.3 mega pixel webcam, reflective keyboard (keys have resistance to bounce back quickly), SSD and a sleek, minimalistic design. It all comes to together very nicely. Even though it is quite skinny, it can run for over three hours. While that may not be hugely impressive for some, the fact that it ships with a spare 2-cell battery for when the going gets tough is.

It was officially announced at the CES conference yesterday. However, we’re all still waiting on one thing – a retail price. Guesses anyone?

• Hivision’s Android Netbook ain’t so bad! – January 14, 2010
• Review of the LG G-Slate from T-Mobile – February 10, 2011
• LG Unveil First Win7 Touch Screen Laptop – February 24, 2010
• Sony Ericsson Aspen Caught on Video – February 10, 2010
• iPad Analytics will be Supported by Motally – January 31, 2010

LG’s Cool New 11.6 Inch UltraPortable originally appeared on: Crenk
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I’m actually in the market for a netbook myself, looking at the MSI Wind, but as I research the various types of netbooks, it’s interesting to see an OS built specifically for a netbook.

Introducing Jolicloud, a Linux-based operating system being created by Netvibes founder Tarig Krim. This screenshot shows the merging of desktop and cloud applicatons with icons that are easily recognizable for users. Future updates will include a touchscreen that users can interact with, especially considering the smaller size of the screens.

I look forward to the release of this OS and hopefully have a review posted.

Photo Credit TechCrunch

• Jolicloud Reaching Final Version this Week – July 13, 2010
• Hands on With Google Chromebook: Samsung Series 5 Chromebook – May 13, 2011
• More People Use iPads than Linux Computers – April 22, 2011
• Jolicloud Needing to Expand Beyong Just Their Own OS – March 16, 2011
• Linux Machines are Spammers – May 15, 2010

A Sneak Peak At New Netbook Operating System originally appeared on: Crenk
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