Next-gen Toshiba Qosmio details released
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Details have been leaked about Toshiba's next-generation flagship multimedia notebook, the G40 Qosmio. Instead of the current all-black look, it will take on a white base. Major performance upgrades are in store for the G40, including Nvidia's GeForce Go8600GT graphics card with 512MB of dedicated memory. Also included in the G40 are an HD DVD-R drive, HDMI 1.3 for output to HDTVs, and a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU.
Pricing is not yet official but the G40 is expected to sell in June in Europe for 2999 Euros, or about US$4,022.
IRS lost 490 laptops
When laptops are lost containing the tax information of millions of Americans, it's a problem big enough that even the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration looked into the problem and released a report. Inspectors found that 490 laptops had been reported stolen between Jan 2, 2003 and June 13, 2006.
The IRS currently has about 47,000 laptops in use; the report released suggests that the agency should take better precautions. Taxpayer data needs to be protected - a large number of the stolen IRS laptops had unencrypted data on them.
Security is yet another problem. 111 laptops were stolen out of IRS facilities according to the report. Had the laptops been secured the number of stolen machines could have been drastically reduced. Backup media was also unsecured - employees of the IRS use CDs/DVDs and flash drives to carry around unencrypted data.
The IRS has pledged to follow what the report recommends for improvement. The IRS had been warned about unencrypted data in 2003 but did not take sufficent action to correct the issue.
Intel to announce next-gen UMPC design
At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) on April 18, Intel will announce a new set of processors for the next generation Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). According to a leaked PowerPoint presentation, the reference design for the UMPC is called "McCaslin" and will feature a codename "Stealey" CPU. The CPU is based on Dothan and fabricated on a 90nm process with a 600 or 800MHz clockspeed. The FSB is set at 400MHz and the CPU has a 512k L2 cache. It has a thermal design of only 6W. Intel GMA X3000 graphics are included.
The low-powered Stealey processor is designed to compete with Via's C7M. While the C7M runs at 1.5GHz, the Stealey outperforms it thanks to a more sophisticated architecture and larger cache.
UMPCs based on the new reference design are expected to hit the market later in 2007. A follow-up to McCaslin will debut in Q2 2008 with CPUs fabricated using 45nm technology. Intel projects the UMPC will rise rapidly in market share over the next few years and by 2010, the UMPC will hold 10 percent of the total PC market.
Laptop sales: Acer on the rise, Dell down
Acer is currently the world's #4 notebook manufacturer and is aiming to surpass Lenovo for third place. Much of Acer's success has been attributed to agressive pricing.
While HP and Dell hold the most notebook market share, Dell had a poor Q4 last year; shipments fell 1.5 percent from Q3 according to a report from iSuppli. Dell wasn't helped by the Sony battery recall catastrophe last year, where it had to recall over four million defective batteries. Lenovo held onto its fifth place spot in Q4, shipping 9.1 percent more units than it did in Q3.
AMD to miss Q1 revenue target
AMD has updated its Q1 outlook and says that it expects revenues to be around $1.225 billion, which is roughly 23% below the target that AMD had provided previously in Q4 ($1.6 - $1.7 billion), which was already dim. Reasoning for the lower revenue was due to "lower overall average selling prices and significantly lower unit sales, especially in the resale channel" according to AMD.
AMD's future does not look good - its plan to undercut Intel and its Core architecture with lower pricing for its mobile, desktop and server/workstation processors is backfiring, as the company's profit margins are vanishing. AMD announced this morning drastic price cuts of its single- and dual-core processors; now AMD does not occupy a spot in the upper mainstream of the desktop processor market.
AMD said it is planning to restructure its business model to increase operational efficiency and lower its operating cost structure this year.
Schitckers.com announces new Suede laptop skins
Schitckers.com has launched a new product not yet seen on the laptop accessory market - Suede Skins. They are made of Ultrasuede and will retail for under $30. According to the company, the product allows customers to turn a boring laptop into a "chic luxurious experience in just seconds."
The Suede Skins are very durable - made of Ultrasuede, the best microfiber suede on the market, they hold up to rough use. They can be cleaned with simple soap and water.
Suede Skins join an existing line of Laptop Skins - for more information, go to http://www.schtickers.com.
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