Latest update on Negroponte’s $100 laptop

After by master of ceremonies, futurist Paul Saffo, noted that I was blogging at the AMD Global Vision Conference–to ensure that speakers didn’t say anything too controversial–Nicholas Negroponte took the stage to evangelize his One Laptop per Child non-profit, which got its first seed funding from AMD and the laptop uses a 500 MHz AMD processor. I covered Negroponte’s $100 laptop here in May.

Lenovo are not moving production of laptop to Taiwan

Following on form the news that we did the other day of Lenovo outsource laptop production Taiwan makers: Is this a good idea? (See here) the latest news is that Lenovo are not moving production of laptop to Taiwan.

We found out via Engadget that they got word from Lenovo saying that the Digitimes-originated story that was run by Engadget about the laptop production leaving China is completely false.

So it seems that Lenovo who were apparently moving all their laptop production to Taiwan is further from the truth than expected. Lenovo have said that they are not sure how this story got twisted in any such way.

We here at Cheap Laptops wish to say sorry for printing the story the other day about this, buy hey better luck next time Taiwan.

HP rolls out laptop updates aplenty

As we've seen before, HP doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to updating its laptops, and it's now gone all out once again with its latest round of updates, rolling out upgrades for no less than eight of its Pavillion models. Those include the 14.1-inch dv2700t, dv2700tbw, and dv2700tse models, the 15.4-inch dv6700z, dv6700t, and dv6700tse units, and the 17-inch dv9700t and dv9700z, each of which replace the earlier, similarly-numbered models in their respective lines. While the majority of the specs apparently remain largely unchanged, each laptop will be getting some beefed-up graphics, including a NVIDIA 8400M GS card with 128MB of RAM on the 14.1-inch models, a slightly better 256MB version on the 15.4-inch laptops, and NVIDIA 8600M GS graphics with a full 512MB of RAM on the 17-inchers. What's more, each model is also now available with a Blu-ray reader / DVD burner drive, although that can of course be left out if you're looking to save a few bucks.

Intel lifts the lid on Centrino 2 laptops - update

Intel has finally unveiled Centrino 2, the latest version of its laptop platform. The new hardware includes more power-efficient dual-core processors and faster draft 802.11n Wi-Fi support. However, improved management features in Intel's embedded Active Management Technology (AMT) are likely to be the key selling point for enterprises.

Available immediately, Centrino 2 brings further advances in performance and battery life, enough for a user to watch an entire Blu-Ray movie on battery power for the first time, according to Intel.

"The Centrino 2 value proposition is a balance between performance and power consumption," said Intel European mobile marketing manager Kris Rodolf.

New Core 2 Duo processors feature clock speeds of 2.8GHz to 2.26GHz. These have a faster 1066MHz front side bus and up to 6MB of L2 cache, with Deep Power Down technology to turn off parts of the chip when not needed. Three of the chips have a thermal envelope of 25W, down from the previous 35W standard.

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panasonic-f8-toughbook

Panasonic has updated its Toughbook line of rugged laptops with the Toughbook F8. It is a 14.1-inch laptop which is claimed to be the lightest 3G-ready notebook in the world. Weighing at 3.7 pounds, the F8 comes with a built-in carry handle and is powered by a standard Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, and a 160GB shock-mounted hard drive. Other features include 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Gobi 3G technology that allows the notebook to stay connected on different mobile broadband carriers around the world. The cool factors for this tough notebook are its magnesium alloy chassis, spill-resistant keyboard, and flexible internal connectors. The F8 is designed to survive drops of 12 inches for the laptop itself and 30 inches for the shock-mounted hard drive and 6-ounce spills and up to 220 pounds of pressure on the lid. The Panasonic F8 14-inch Toughbook Laptop will be available in November 2008. [CNet]

HP Pavilion HDX18 First Look

HP recently unveiled their latest additions to the "HDX" family of notebooks with the all new Pavilion HDX16 and HDX18 multimedia notebooks. These notebooks feature large displays with a 16:9 screen ratio, impressive speakers with an integrated subwoofer, and an innovative touch-sensitive media control panel. Our first look gives you a sample of what you can expect from the large and impressive HDX18.