Isaiah's Tech

On Dell Canada's website, a new laptop has just hit the scene and it's the Inspiron 13. It doesn't look like it is similar to the Inspiron 13 that hit Singapore last month. For $599, you get: a 13.3-inch display with a 1,280 x 800 resolution, an Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2.0GHz T4200 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB HDD, integrated Intel X3100 graphics, and a 4-cell battery. You can check it out on Dell Canada's website for as low as $599 CAD.

[Engadget]

Dell plans to launch an 11.6-inch Inspiron Z in the future, but as of right now all that we know is that it will have an Intel ULV CPU inside; oh yeah, it also won't have a DVD drive, so that could matter to some people. I was thinking about getting the Dell Studio 14z, but I think I'm getting the Studio 15 instead.

[Engadget]

What you see above and below looks to be Dell's competitor to Apple's Mac Mini. It's a big bigger than the Mac Mini though, so I guess it has the upper-hand in portability. As of right now, we don't the specs of this Inspiron Zino HD, but we know the ports (below). I'm not good with ports, but I think that's a couple of USB 2.0 / VGA / HDMI / Ethernet ports, and audio in/outputs.

[Gizmodo]

Remember the Dell Inspiron 17 that was released two weeks ago? Well, it's now available in the UK. The Inspiron 17 is retailing at a starting price of £369 ($608 USD). If you remember, this notebook has a 17.3-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, your choice of a couple of different Intel CPUs, up to a 500GB HDD, up to 8GB of RAM, ATI graphics, a 6 or 9-cell battery, a 1.3MP webcam, a 7-in-1 card reader, WiFi, Bluetooth and it runs on Windows Vista Home Premium. The Inspiron 17 will come in the 7 colours shown in the picture above. Like every other Dell laptop, the specs can be changed around to however you like.

[Pocket-Lint]

As of right now I believe the updated Dell Inspiron 13 is only on Dell's official Singapore website, but that's okay for now. This updated model has: a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1,366 x 768 resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 graphics, up to 8GB of DDR2 RAM, up to a 500GB HDD, a 1.3MP webcam, HDMI / VGA output, an ExpressCard slot, and a 6-cell battery.

In addition to all of that great news, this updated model is also lighter, thinner, and sexier than the old Inspiron 13. It's available on Dell's Singapore website for S$1,399 ($962 USD). As of right now, the official American price has not been mentioned yet, but I'll have that for you as soon as it's up.

[Engadget]

Dell has just released it's 17.3-inch Inspiron 17. This notebook has: a 16:9 aspect ratio display with a 1,600 x 900 resolution, a 2GHz Pentium dual-core, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, Intel's integrated graphics, a 4-cell battery, and Windows Vista Home Basic - as a standard. Of course, you can upgrade this notebook to have: a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD, a Blu-ray drive, a 6-cell battery, and ATI's Radeon HD 4330 graphics. You can order yours today and they will start shipping in early August. If you keep the specs at a bare minimum, you're looking at only $499 USD.

If you're willing to wait a little bit longer - until September - their will be options for: a 512MB graphics card, a 9-cell battery, and a 1080p display. You can check out the Inspiron 17 on Dell's official website here.

[Electronista]

According to the Display Taiwan 2009 tradeshow, Dell and Samsung have just ordered a large amount of 11.6-inch displays. Both companies will probably use them for an upcoming netbook. Dell will probably utilize this display in their Inspiron Mini 11. Samsung, on the other hand, have yet to reveal a future 11.6-inch netbook - to my knowledge. The Mini 11 shouldn't be too far off, but it does have a Q3 release date.

[Engadget]

I've talked about these Dell Inspiron desktops twice already (here and here) and they come in 8 different colours, so they're not short on personalization. The Inspiron 537 (below) and 537s (above) also have a wide range of spec customization, so make sure you choose wisely. Don't forget that the pink colour will go towards Susan G. Komen's for the Cure program. These desktops start at $299 USD, so they could be worth a look or two. Go check it out now on Dell's official website.

[Engadget]

The Dell Vostro A90 is the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 painted in black. Personally, I love the black finish on this netbook. Anyways, the A90 has an 8.9-inch display, an Intel Atom 1.6GHz N270 CPU, up to 1GB of RAM, Intel's GMA950 graphics card, a 16GB SSD, 802.11g, a 0.3MP webcam, a 4-cell battery and will run on Windows XP Home Edition. For the few Linux fans out there, this Vostro will not have a Linux option, so you'll be stuck with buying the Mini 9 instead. Although I love the black finish, an 8.9-inch screen is just too tiny for my liking.

[Engadget]

To stand out just a tiny bit, Dell has shown us a new lineup of desktop Inspiron PCs - well, not exactly. We saw the mini-towers a while back, so the above photo is a shot of the regular / fat casing. I might as well go through the long list of features (since I found out afterwards that I've already talked about this before). The Inspiron 545 and 545s will come in a bunch of colours and is highly upgradeable. They will be available later this Spring and will have a base price of just £279 ($299 USD). These colourful Inspiron's have up to 8GB of RAM, up to 1TB of HDD storage, an optional HDMI and 6 USB ports, and a Blu-ray drive. "You have the choice of Intel Celeron, Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel Core 2 Quad options or AMD Sepron, Athlon X2 and Phenom X4 processor options and an integrated Intel or ATI Radeon graphics card." As you can see the possibilities are just about endless. I'd consider getting myself one, but I'm already satisfied with my own desktop PC for now. I'll probably be looking for a new one around the release of Starcraft 2.

[Tech Radar]

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]

If you want to pick up one of the above 8 colours, the Dell Inspiron starts at a base price of $299 USD and will be available worldwide this Spring. You have a wide range of upgrades so that you can make the Inspiron PC fit to your own needs. It has your choice of a slim tower or mini-tower, up to 8GB of RAM, up to 750GB HDD (on the slim tower) or up to 1TB (on the mini-tower),optional HDMI connectivity, optional 19-in-1 media card reader, 6 USB 2.0 ports, and has dual optical drive options on the mini-tower with a Blu-ray. For the processor you have your choice of: Intel's Celeron, Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad; you can also go for AMD's Sempron, Athlon X2 or the Phenom X4 processors. It will also have your choice of integrated Intel or ATI Radeon graphics cards. It has a nice, slim factor so that you can place it just about anywhere you want vertically or horizontally. It has a nice, cheap base price so that it should be in anyone's budget. Don't forget - $299 USD in the Spring.

[Crunch Gear]

Dell has just confirmed that the 13-inch model of their new Adamo-branded laptop will be available sometime today. The Adamo is a whole new line of computers similar - but also extremely different - to the Inspiron lineup. The Adamo looks to put fashion and style back into Dell laptops and the first model will be available sometime today for $1,999.99 USD. This Apple Macbook Air competitor is supposed to be more affordable than the MacBook Air, so we could see a more affordable notebook in the future. By March 26 the aforementioned Adamo will be available in 24 countries, including the US. Nice move on Dell's part to place this launch right in time for the iPhone 3.0 OS event today. Details and spec sheet will be available later on today, so just keep in touch.

[Engadget]

Let's start off the news with PC World's 5 best Macworld Rumours.

Numero Uno on the list is the talk of the iPhone Nano (see left side). Will Apple talk about the new iPhone Nano tomorrow at Macworld? I don't know, but, first of all, would it be a good idea? Everyone has their own opinion and i'm going to have to say that, hopefully, they don't announce an iPhone Nano. Why? Because i don't want to use a smaller version of the iPhone, i feel that the screen really sets it apart from it's competitors. If the iPhone had a smaller screen it would be harder to play games via application and it would be strenuous on your eyes trying to browse the Internet. Moving along.

Number 2 is the iMac Upgrades (see left side). A new rumour surfaced today about a new iMac with a "magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis, a new cooling system and a 65W, quad-core chip set ... with Snow Leopard-the next version of OSX-in mind. The new OS is supposed to optimize multi-processor cores." Wow, that was a lot of information. But, it does sound very good for the Mac. If this does end up being released, i expect that Mac's market share will increase even more then it has. Personally, i do not like the Mac's, but some people do and i'll respect that.

Number 3. Talks of a 32GB iPhone. It's self-explanatory what this is and it sounds good. More space for apps, but will cost more.

Number 4. This is regarding Picasa for the Mac. Talks about Google finally releasing Picasa for Mac's are stirring up. Picasa is a place where you can store a bunch of photos. Hey, i love Google, so why not do this? [Edited on Monday at 7:20 p.m.: Looks like Google didn't even wait until Macworld. Google has just released a beta version of Picasa on the Macs, courtesy of ZDnet.com. (link here)]

Last, but not least, number 5. An iPhone Elite or Pro. PC World mentions that this actually isn't a rumour and that it is a "fantasy." I blogged about it a couple of days ago (link). The iPhone Pro (concept) has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that also has a D-pad and 2 buttons, A and B. Lots of GB's of space for apps and such, a better camera and a bunch of other stuff to make the ultimate iPhone. This most likely won't get announced tomorrow. But, it's a good idea and maybe one day, we'll see something like it unfold before our eyes. Maybe even literally.

I've already talked about Samsung's new LCD TV's that they are going to be unveiling at this year's CES. But, to add to that, it looks like they'll also be showing a new Blu-ray player that is only 1.5 inches thick (39 mm). This year's CES looks to be an exciting one and, like i've said many times before, i hope i'll be able to watch some live streaming of the event. I think that G4 TV will be showing CES 2009 on their channel. Unfortunately, i don't have satellite and i don't have it on Rogers... so i can't watch it. I'm hoping it's on the Internet somewhere, cross your fingers. If i do get to watch it, be prepared for a bombardment of blog posts, just like a bunch of other websites will be doing.

The Dell Inspiron 15 notebook is scheduled to be released for the end of this month starting at $600 USD. Finally, something affordable that i'm actually talking about. This notebook will have a 15.6 inch screen, will have up to 4 GB of RAM and up to 320 GB of hard drive space. It will sport Intel's Core 2 Duo and has an integrated webcam. Unforutnately though, it's Blu-ray drive is optional, meaning that if you want that on your Inspiron, you'll have to pay extra. I feel that this is a pretty good 'bang for your buck.'

Some new news regarding the brand MSI. This is actually the first day i've looked into exactly what MSI is all about. It turns out that MSI stands for Micro-Star International and is a brand, just like HP, Sony or Dell. I don't if it's just me or maybe i've been living under a rock for a while, but it was the first time i've actually heard of this company. Anyways, MSI is working on 2 different notebooks / netbooks. One being the MSI Wind U-Series and the MSI X-Slim 320. They are showing both of these models at this week's CES. "Their U-Series Netbooks include the U115 that will be capable of running both a SSD (Solid State Drive) and HDD (Hard Drisk Drive) at the same time using hybrid storage technology." The netbook itself will sport a 10 inch screen and will have a battery life of 12 hours. The other netbook, the U120, "will feature Intel WiMAX (which, i think, is faster than Wi-Fi) or 3.5G wireless solutions for mobile connectivity." The top picture on the left is the MSI Wind U115. The picture underneath the U115 is a side view of the MSI X-Slim 320. As you can see, it is really thin. At it's thickest point it is 1.98 cm and weighs about 2.87 pounds. It is very light, but still manages to pull off a 13.4 inch display. The MSI netbooks / notebooks seem to be consistent in keeping the battery life high, as this laptop will have a battery life of up to 10 hours. There are no official specs for this laptop, but it is rumoured to have "a 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, 1366 x 768 resolution, up to 2GB DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth, [and a] 3.5G network card," just to name a few things. "It's coming second quarter of 2009 for about $800," of course, USD. I'll get you some more information about this on the weekend, if i can.

That was a pretty long post, it should keep you occupied for a bit. CES in a couple of days and Macworld tomorrow. How sweet is this week?

5 Best Macworld Rumours (and pictures): http://www.pcworld.com/article/156328/macworld_expo_preview.html?tk=rss_news
Samsung Blu-ray Player (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/05/samsung-to-launch-1-5-inch-thin-blu-ray-player-at-ces/
Dell 15.6 inch Inspiron 15: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/05/dell-introduces-15-6-inch-inspiron-15-notebook-starts-at-600/
MSI Wind: http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=1567
MSI X-Slim 320: http://www.engadget.com/tag/msi/