News Week of June 8, 2008

Fujitsu’s small but powerful Lifebook P1620

With a US asking price of $2699 - about £1,385 - you could buy four or possibly even five of its low cost competitors. This price jump does get you a grown up Intel Core 2 Duo chip whirring away at 1.2GHz, a slightly stingy 1GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive.

As it’s a tablet, you can write on its touch sensitive face and its tilt and turn 8.9in screen stretches to a decent 1,280×768 pixels when the cheaper crop top out at 1,024×600. It weighs in at under 1Kg and takes up a mere 232×167x37mm of space.  (Source: Will Heed, Electricpig)

Wacom Cintiq 12WX

We were impressed when we saw the forerunner to the Cintiq 12WX – the Cintiq 21UX. A responsive, easy-to-use tablet with an integrated 21.3in LCD, it was ideal for professional artists and designers. It wasn’t so good for those on a budget, though, and its whopping $4000 price tag hasn’t dropped since its release. However, Wacom has heard the cries of consumers, and while the 12WX still doesn’t qualify as an impulse purchase, at $1405 it’s just within the grasp of most committed enthusiasts.

The core pull factor is still there – the integrated LCD. The key difference is the diagonal – the 12WX’s screen measures 12.1in instead of 21.3in, and the 21UX’s resolution of 1600 x 1200 has been cut to a 16:10-aspect 1280 x 800. In practice, this means more zooming in and out when dealing with minute details.  (Source: Dave Stephenson , PC Authority)

HP Pavilion tx2500 First Look Review

HP unveiled a number of new products at this summer's "Connecting Your World" media summit in Berlin. One of the products on hand was the all-new HP Pavilion tx2500 convertible Tablet PC. This update to the tx2000 tablet features the latest AMD technology promising the highest level of performance we've seen from any tx-series tablet to date. We had a few brief moments to spend some hands-on time with the tx2500, so here's a look at our first look.

  
(Source: Jerry Jackson, TabletPCReview.com)

HP Pavilion tx2500z Puma-based tablet PC available now

For those of you looking to get into HP's Pavilion tx2500z Puma-based tablet PC, the time has come. This "echo" inlaid-design ultraportable sports a 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 swivel touch screen with handwriting capture, AMD Turion Dual-Core processor, ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics chipset, and WiFi. Other features of note include a fingerprint reader, webcam, 5-in-1 media card reader, and 3 USB ports.  (Source: Joshua Fruhlinger, Engadget)
Posted Thursday, June 12, 2008 by ChrisD
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Quaduro announces the Quadpad 1 Tablet PC - an optimum windows based panel for use in Automation and AV integration

The Quadpad 1 by Quaduro Systems is widely used as a control panel in homes, offices and hotels as a control panel solution for Automation and AV integration. With its sleek, future proof design and reliable architecture the Windows Based 8.4” touch screen Tablet PC has distributors and systems integrators employing the panel world-wide.  (Source: Hidden Wires)

Fujitsu LifeBook P1620: it's no Eee PC clone

Bearing a strong resemblance to the ASUS Eee PC, it’s easy to mistake the P1620 for a copy-cat design. But Fujitsu was in the mini-notebook game long before the Eee came along.

In its current iteration, the P1620 follows the same mould of diminutive dimensions and modest system specs. This is the sort of notebook prized by mobile professionals for its incredibly compact footprint, weighing a mere kilo and measuring 232 x 167 x 37mm.

Of course, whittling a notebook down to this size entails some compromises, but not as many as you’d think in the P1620’s case. The 8.9in widescreen display is large enough for web-browsing thanks to a generous 1,280 x 768 resolution – the only down-side is that if your eyes aren’t what they used to be, icons and text may be too small for comfortable viewing.  (Source: Jenneth Orantia, APC)

Toshiba Portege M700

Toshiba’s Portege M700 is a tablet with a premium price tag sporting premium features and performance. If you’re a mobile professional willing to pay a whole pile of cash for a highly featured tablet, this little companion might be the friend for you.

Design and features
When you first meet the M700, there is no disguising that it's ugly. It’s certainly no sleek and thin Macbook Air. However, after you sit down with the M700 for a while, you will discover just how talented it is. After we spent some time using it in the office, we liked it so much that we took it home to play with.   (Source: Alex, Serpo, ZDNet.au)

FlyBook V5 Convertible Tablet

The 8.9-inch widescreen is also a touchscreen that can swivel around. The FlyBook V5 is a convertible tablet with enough processing power to rival a 3GHz desktop computer. Key specs include an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV processor, Windows Vista Business, 2.0GB of RAM (upgradeable to 4GB), 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, VGA output, 1.3 megapixel camera, integrated HSDPA, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, and a swappable 6-cell battery.

I love the form factor and the touchscreen display, and it’s pretty neat that the webcam can rotate around. It is a little odd that you get a nub for the mouse instead of a notebook touchpad. The keyboard is also just as small as the Eee PC 701, so it may take some time to get used to it. And I’m not used to it yet.  (Source: Gina, High Tech Lounge)

Computex 2008: HP tx2500 AMD Puma Tablet PC

With all the new notebooks and tablets being updated, it's a no brainer that HP joined in and updated the tx2000 series Tablet PC with an AMD Puma processor.

Our very own Kevin O'Brien had the chance to see many surprises at Computex, with all the new models he uncovered laying around the show floor. In this case it was the AMD Puma equipped HP tx2500 he got to spend some time with. The sticker on the bottom of the notebook listed the following specifications:  (Source: Kevin O'Brien, TabletPCReview.com)

Tablet PCs find a niche

Six years on and tablet PCs may not have become completely mainstream but they have established themselves a niche.

This is according to Reon Coetzee, marketing manager for Toshiba South Africa and Africa, as the company launched its new Portege M700 Tablet PC offering.

"Whether used in education, insurance, medicine or even retail, tablet PCs have clear advantages over conventional notebooks, particularly from a manageability perspective," Coetzee says.  (Source: Alastair Otter, MyBroadband)

Lenovo X200 Tablet PC confirmed in leaked presentation

Over the weekend a whole shed-load of new Lenovo notebook information turned up, including details of upcoming X200, SL, T, and R series machines.  The leaked slides give preliminary specs for numerous new models, of which the X200 - which is set to replace the X61 - is perhaps the most interesting.  Full run-down after the cut, together with apparent confirmation that Lenovo are planning a Tablet PC version of the X200 measuring between 0.81″ and 1.21″ inches in thickness. (Source: Chris Davies , SlashGear)
Posted Monday, June 9, 2008 by ChrisD
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