Isaiah's Tech

Someone over at Dell has leaked the roadmap for the future of the Inspiron Mini. The next Dell Inspiron Mini netbook that gets released will have an 11-inch display (11.6-inch HD display option), up to 250GB of HDD, up to 2GB of RAM, will run Windows Vista, and is expected to be released by the end of Q3 for a base price of $499 USD. If you're still interested in the Inspiron Mini 10 it will go through a couple of upgrades starting on April 17. The Inspiron Mini 10 will come with new options, such as: Windows Vista, 3G and a 1.86GHz CPU. I think this is a great step for Dell, but I still wonder if they're working on that underwhelming smartphone of theirs.

[Engadget]

Apple fanboys are going crazy all around the world yet again. Microsoft's latest PC vs Mac ads have just surfaced. Giampaulo - possibly another actor - claims to be "technically-savvy" and is looking for a laptop with "portability, battery life, and power." He checks out an Apple Macbook and says that it's "so sexy" but with the high price point, it's like you're paying for the "aesthetics" / brand name instead of the hardware which is spot-on. He only had a $1,500 USD budget, so this is very understandable. He ends up choosing a Windows PC, the HP HDX 16, for just $1,099 USD. It contained a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT graphics card, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD and as Engadget points out "would cost you $2,499 from Apple." Giampaulo ends the segment by saying, "I'm a PC... because I'm really picky." The HP HDX 16 has a battery that should last around 2 - 2.5 hours, so the Mac may have the upper-hand there (I don't know the battery life of a MacBook). The Mac OS may also be better than Vista, but it's no match for Windows 7. The bottom line is that MacBooks are just too expensive and there is no bang for your buck. The video is below, so enjoy!

This Microsoft ad is simply perfect, especially the timing. During this economic crisis, the one thing people should be focusing on is saving money and that's where Apple fails. I hope this is a slap in the face for some of those Apple fanboys out there and also to those people wanting to buy a Mac to jump on the bandwagon. Wake up people!



[Engadget]

The BenQ Qisda QPD-111 has just won the red dot and the iF awards, but it hasn't even been released yet. The BenQ device you see here is an MID that has a 5-inch multi-touch display. It has a built-in accelerometer that will allow you to "switch between communication and Internet functions with a little shake." The design of the MID itself is actually really nice and puts other MIDs to shame. It has a nice slim design and that little red "Hot Key," you should be able to spot in the picture above, will connect you to the Internet in just one click. There is no word on the OS, price or availability of the MID since BenQ is taking their sweet time to get a working prototype out there.

[Engadget]

Apparently, yes. It's so accurate that it comes to the point where the developers of the upcoming EA tennis game (Grand Slam Tennis) had to turn down how accurate the Wii MotionPlus really is. Grand Slam Tennis will be one of the first titles to utilize Wii MotionPlus. It'll be interesting to see how this over accuracy plays out in the end.

[Kotaku]

We've already seen Nvidia's attempts at a $99 USD MID and now it's time to introduce their new ARM-based TEGRA platform netbook. Well, not exactly. Nvidia basically ripped open an HP Mini 1000 and replaced the Intel Atom CPU with their own Tegra CPU and Windows CE. It's only a prototype and its only intentions were to show off the power of the processor itself. Yes, it did only run Windows CE but it is certainly a step in the right direction. Nvidia is "absolutely" going to release a Tegra-based netbook, but no one knows exactly when it will be. We'll see how powerful the Tegra CPU is when it is put through some tests next to Intel's Atom and AMD's Via Nano CPU.

[Bit-Tech]

This may look similar to the Sony Vaio P, but it is actually very different. First of all, the price range is the $299 to $499 USD mark - take that Sony. The PurseBook also utilizes a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset which should make the PurseBook run quite fast. Wistron's PurseBook will not use Windows, instead it uses Linux, which some consumers may not like, that will "give you a desktop-class web experience, and connect with social networks." Wistron claims that the netbook / MID-looking device is expected to have an 8-hour battery life; it's expected to be released later this year so be on the lookout for it.

[Engadget]

First off, "Asus is eager to point out that the AiGuru SV-1 is the world's first 'Skype Certified standalone videophone." That may or may not be a good thing, but I'm going to say that this is a good thing - for now. With Skype's growing popularity it is no surprise that someone decided to make a phone dedicated for it. The catch is that the phone only works using Skype, so you're going to need an Internet connection, whether it be via Ethernet or WiFi. The phone itself is around 25cm tall, has a 7-inch touchscreen with a 800 x 480 resolution, has 802.11 b/g wireless connectivity, has a 2-inch speaker, and has an integrated 0.3MP webcam. On the back of the phone you will find a USB 2.0 port, along with an Ethernet, external PSU, and a microphone / headphone jack. The videophone is quite easy to navigate with its large buttons. Some downsides to this phone is: that the battery only lasts around 20 minutes, that it only has a 0.3MP webcam - thankfully expandable with your own webcam that you can hook up to its USB port, and that it is quite pricey at around £220 ($326 USD). In case you're still interested, it is now available, although I do think it is very overpriced.

[Reg Hardware]