Archive for September, 2009

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Laptop reviews: Alienware M15x, Asus UL30A, Lenovo Thinkpad X200 (multitouch) and others

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

Laptop reviews of the week:

Other interesting links:

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HP coupon codes for laptops (from September 25th 2009)

Friday, September 25th, 2009

NEW Coupons

Save up to $450 in instant savings using $200 coupon code NBLB74937 + Instant Rebate ($100- $250 depending on model selected) for the purchase of a customized HP Pavilion or HP HDX PC configured at $999 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store. Offer limited to the first 2,200 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, Friends & Family, or HP Academy. Restrictions apply. Combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

Additional $100 off web coupon for the purchase of customized HP Pavilion Notebook PC configured at $799 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store using coupon code NBLB23498. Offer excludes HP Minis. Offer limited to the first 500 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, Friends & Family, or HP Academy. Restrictions apply. Combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

Older coupons could still be valid, have a look at them.

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Buy Core i7 laptops (Quad-core): models and pricing

Friday, September 25th, 2009

It is likely than in a few months the market is flooded by laptops with Intel Core i7 Mobile processors, but if you are looking to buy one of them I guess you are going to find useful to have them listed. You can also find also useful this compilation of Core i7 Mobile benchmarks. Remember that Core i7 Mobile processors are quad-core chips.

Acer

  • Aspire 5940G (15″, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650). Not yet available.
  • Aspire 8940G (18″, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M). Not yet available. Recommended price is 1349 USD.

Alienware

  • M15x (15″, Nvidia GeForce GT 240M or GTX 260M). From 1499 USD at Dell USA, 1199 GBP at Dell UK.

Asus

Clevo

Dell

HP

Lenovo

  • Ideapad Y550P (15″, Nvidia GeForce GT 240M). 1149 USD at PC Mall.

MSI

  • GT640 (15″, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M). Not yet available.
  • GT740 (17″, Nvidia GeForce GTS 250M). Not yet available.

Toshiba

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Alienware M15x review at DriverHeaven

Friday, September 25th, 2009

These guys are ultra-fast! If you are interested on the Alienware M15x with Core i7 processors, here you have the first review, courtesy of DriverHeaven:

Alienware M15x Core i7 review

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HP Mini 311 with Nvidia Ion, available from 399 USD

Friday, September 25th, 2009

If you need more graphical performance than the typical netbook with Intel GMA 950 graphics can offer, you are probably looking for a netbook based on the Nvidia Ion platform, that pairs a GeForce 9400M G with an Atom processor. The first netbook based on the Nvidia Ion platform to be widely available is the HP Mini 311: it has a 1366×768, 11.6″ screen (so it stretches the definition of netbook), Intel Atom N270 or N280 processor, 160 GB HD and several interesting configuration options (Bluetooth, WWAN…). The price of the base configuration is 399 USD.

Source: HP. Found via: Engadget.


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HP coupon code for laptops (from September 25th 2009)

Friday, September 25th, 2009

NEW Coupon

$550 web only coupon for the purchase of a customized HP Notebook PC configured at $1,399 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store using coupon NBMY22547. Offer limited to the first 900 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, Friends & Family, or HP Academy. Restrictions apply. Not combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

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New Alienware M15x available, and videos too

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

So the long-rumored Alienware M15x has been released. Here you have the most relevant information:

  • It looks like a smaller M17x Allpowerful, but without numeric pad. It is heavy for a 15″ (from 4 kg), but it is more portable than the 17″ version (from 5.3 kg).
  • The full range of Intel Core i7 Mobile is available: 720QM, 820QM and 920XM. There are some benchmarks of the Core i7 Mobile available.
  • The fastest card available at the moment is a single Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M, with a GT 240M available too for the less performance-hungry. The GT 240M has been reviewed in the Acer Aspire 5739G, so you can find out some benchmarks at Notebookjournal and Notebookcheck (hint: it is very similar to an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650). Mobile versions of the ATI Radeon HD 5000 series are expected soon (Fudzilla, Portables4Gamers); can we dream about them to be an option then?
  • Base price is 1499 USD (or 1179 GBP, or 1399 €).

Some useful links: more detailed info, pics and videos at Notebookjournal; support information, with manuals and specifications (found at Engadget); and finally, the order page at Dell US and Dell UK.

By the way, Alienware has new desktops computers too.

The video from Notebookjournal is available from Youtube, so here you have:

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Find the differences: new Alienware products or new game? (Engadget)

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

I found funny the differences between the Spanish and English versions of this news in Engadget:

The English version is about new Alienware products while the Spanish one is about a new game ¿?

Rumors include a new 15″ Alienware laptop (M15x), likely with Intel Core i7 Mobile processors, and maybe a desktop computer (at the moment there is only one Alienware desktop). It seems that a third product is going to be presented, maybe the famous curved display, that has been demoed but is still not available, or a smaller Alienware laptop (12-13″). Dell talks about that but does not give much new information.

The official announcement is expected in Thurday, so let’s wait a few days more…

Update: the Spanish version has been corrected

Update 2: Engadget has heard the rumors too.

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HP coupon code (from September 21th 2009)

Monday, September 21st, 2009

NEW Coupons:


Save up to $350 in instant savings using $100 coupon code NBTR18972 + Instant Rebate ($100 – $250 depending on model selected) for the purchase of a customized HP Pavilion Notebook PC configured at $899 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store, excluding tx2z. Offer limited to the first 1000 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, Friends & Family, or HP Academy. Restrictions apply. Combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

Save up to $500 in instant savings using $250 coupon code NBZR75464 + Instant Rebate ($150- $250 depending on model selected) for the purchase of a customized HP Pavilion dv7t, HDX16t, or HDX18t configured at $1,199 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store. Offer limited to the first 2,500 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions, Friends & Family, or HP Academy. Restrictions apply. Combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

Valid Coupons:

Get a FREE HP Mini when you buy a customized HP Touchsmart IQ800t All-in-One Desktop PC at the HP Home & Home Office Store using coupon code MU42383. Offer valid on customized HP Mini 110 Mi or HP Mini 110 XP edition series. Coupon covers entire cost of base model of HP Mini 110 Mi edition. Offer limited to the first 400 coupons redeemed. 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions. Restrictions apply. Not combinable with instant rebates. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com.

Use this coupon

$30 off your online order of $150 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store. Use coupon code: SV2132. Offer excludes HP G60t, HP Pavilion dv6z Artist Edition 2 series, all Compaq Presario Notebooks and Desktops, all HP Minis, HP LaserJet P1006 printer, and the following HP Pavilion Desktop series: p6100z, p6110t, p6120t, s5100z, and s5110t. Maximum 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions. Combinable with instant rebates. Restrictions apply. 1 redemption per person or address. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com. Coupon valid through 10/31/09.

Use this coupon


$15 off your online order of $75 or greater at the HP Home & Home Office Store. Use coupon code: SVN9846. Offer excludes HP G60t, HP Pavilion dv6z Artist Edition 2 series, all Compaq Presario Notebooks and Desktops, all HP Minis, HP LaserJet P1006 printer, and the following HP Pavilion Desktop series: p6100z, p6110t, p6120t, s5100z, and s5110t. Maximum 1 redemption per person or address. Not valid with other promotions. Combinable with instant rebates. Restrictions apply. 1 redemption per person or address. For complete conditions, see “Coupon Information” in the “Customer Service” section at www.hpshopping.com. Coupon valid through 10/31/09.

Use this coupon

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Intel Core i7 for laptops benchmarked (720QM, 820QM, 920XM)

Monday, September 21st, 2009

So the guys at PC Pro are first publishing benchmarks of the Mobile Core i7 processor for laptops.

  • Performance-wise, the results are quite interesting: the mid-range Core i7-820QM (quad-core running at 1.73 GHz stock) is about as fast as the top of the line Core 2 Extreme QX9300, and it seems to cost arount 470 USD less.
  • Battery-wise, it is hard to extract firm conclusions because the power draw measurements were measured for the full system and in laptops with very different configurations (the Core i7 was paired with a GeForce GT 240M while the Core 2 Extreme was paired with a Quadro FX3700M (comparable to a GTX 280M). Anyway, the 6-cell battery (4,800 mAh) of the Core i7 laptop lasted for more than 200 minutes of light use, that’s very good for a high-performance laptop.

Stay tuned for more performance data of the Mobile Core i7 processors.

Found via: Portables4Gamers, Engadget, Fudzilla.

Update: more benchmarks. The advantage of the i7-920XM over the QX9300 is not embarrassing, but considerable. I’m still not convinced by the battery life tests.

Do you know what’s the best Core i7 processor for your next laptop? Have a look at the Core i7 laptops list.

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Posted in hardware, laptops | 2 Comments »

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