News Bits: New Sony VAIO S580, Electrovaya Review, Notebook Stickers, Averatec 3700

Sony Releases VAIO S580 with new cooling mechanism

The Sony VAIO S series laptop with a 13.3″ XBrite widescreen has long been a popular notebook, but there has always been one major gripe about it, it runs too hot. Sony looks to resolve that issue with this release.

The Sony S-580 is the same S series notebook that was recently released in Japan complete with the Nvidia GeForce 6400 Go graphics card, better cooling, and has options that the new VAIO BX series has like a 120 GB HD. The VAIO S580 is currently available for purchase from SonyStyle.com here:

Sony S580 at SonyStyle.com (thanks to user Eliwood for this news tip)

One catch, you can’t add in the NVidia 6400 yet, so hold off on your purchase until that appears as an option.

VAIO S Reviews from NotebookReview.com

• www.notebookreview.com/default.asp? newsID=2368
• www.notebookreview.com/default.asp? newsID=2500
• www.notebookreview.com/default.asp? newsID=2467
• www.notebookreview.com/default.asp? newsID=2352
• www.notebookreview.com/default.asp? newsID=2176

A picture of the VAIO S370 (view larger image)

Electrovaya SC3000 Tablet PC Review

Electrovaya SC3000 Tablet PC (view larger image)

Many people will have heard of a Tablet PC of course, but the company Electrovaya might not be a commonly heard of manufacturer. Electrovaya specializes in producing slate style Tablet PCs (without built-in keyboards) that can run for very long amounts of time — up to nine hours even. We published a review of the latest Tablet PC from Electrovaya over at our sister site TabletPCReviewSpot.com, check out the review of the SC3000 by clicking here.

The Electrovaya Scribbler SC3000 Premium is a true writing slate style computer which runs on Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005. Based on Windows XP Professional, but with significant usability enhancements such as pen and speech input, this operating system has been billed for at least a few years as a glimpse at the future of personal computing.

Dell Wants to Take Intel and Microsoft Stickers Off Inspiron Notebooks

Dell recently reported lower profits on notebook sales, so they’re looking to save costs however they can. Dell claims that putting those little Windows and Intel stickers on a laptop takes up to 30 seconds of time and is often a bottleneck in their operations (article). For this reason, they want to skip the process of adding these stickers. In a recent poll we asked NotebookReview.com forum membersif they would prefer to have these stickers gone or to keep them (results below). The get rid of them vote was slightly ahead, but it seems people don’t mind stickers so much if they are cool. Meaning, a sticker that indicates a high-end processor or graphics card (such as an AMD Turion 64 sticker or NVidia Go 6800 sticker). But most people agreed that a Microsoft Windows sticker isn’t all that hip — yo.

I kind of like them, makes a notebook look new — like a new car window spec sheet 1737.78%They get dirty and nasty and are a hassle to take off, get rid of this advertising!1942.22%Doesn’t bother me either way, I can easily remove them anyway 817.78%I don’t have a laptop 12.22%

New Gateway S Series Business Class Notebooks — S-7700, S-7500 and S-7200 Announced

Gateway has released a couple of new business class notebooks, one a 17″ screen — the S-7700, one is a 15.4″ screen notebook — the S-7500, and the other is a 14″ screen — the S-7200. You can see the lineup on Gateway’s site here. We’ll be reviewing the 14″ and 17″ versions of this notebook in the coming weeks.

Newly announced Gateway S-7500 15.4″ screen business notebook

Gateway’s line of S-Series notebook PCs boast in-demand features at exceptional prices including widescreen displays, lightweight designs, and optional port replicators. Even with all of the performance enhancements, the Gateway S-Series notebooks provide industry-leading battery life. The new S-Series comprises four different models that can be configured with the latest technology ranging from value-class to high-performance. Features include the latest Intel chipsets and processors, fast DDR2 memory, performance hard drives and dedicated or integrated graphics.

The S-7200:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP2)1
• Microsoft Works 8.01
• Norton Internet Security 90 day introductory offer
• Intel Celeron M Processor 360 (1.40GHz, 400MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)
• 256MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• 40GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA hard drive
• Integrated 6-in-1 media card reader
• Integrated 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD combo
• Notebook Value Service Plan — 1 year part/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support
• One type II PC card slot
• (3) USB 2.0, VGA, IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
• 14″ Widescreen XGA TFT Active Matrix (1280 x 768 max. resolution)
• Full-Size Keyboard and EZ Pad Pointing Device
• Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks
• Primary 6-cell Lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty
• Integrated V.92 56K modem
• Integrated Broadcom 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter
• Integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking card
• Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP2) Backup CD

The S-7500:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP2)
• Microsoft Works 8.01
• Intel Celeron M Processor 360 (1.40GHz, 400MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache)3
• 256MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• 40GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA hard drive4
• Integrated 4-in-1 card reader
• Modular 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD combo
• Notebook Value Service Plan — 1 year part/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support
• One type II PC card slot
• (4) USB 2.0, VGA, TV Out, S-Video, IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
• 15.4″ WXGA Ultrabright TFT Active Matrix (1280 x 800 max. resolution) (limited time promotion)
• Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900
• Full-Size Keyboard and EZ Pad Pointing Device
• Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks
• Primary 6-cell Lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty
• Integrated V.90 56K Modem
• Integrated Broadcom 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter
• Integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking card
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2) Backup CD

The S-7700:

• Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP2)
• Microsoft Works 8.01
• Intel Pentium M Processor 740 (1.73GHz, 533MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
• 512MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2-256MB modules)
• 40GB 5400rpm Ultra ATA hard drive
• Integrated 4-in-1 card reader
• Integrated 24x/10x/24x CD-RW / 8x DVD combo
• Notebook Value Service Plan — 1 year part/labor/no on-site/1 year technical support
• One type II PC card slot
• (4) USB 2.0, VGA, TV Out, S-Video, IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
• 17″ WXGA TFT Active Matrix (1440 x 900 max. resolution)
• ATI Radeon X700 128MB Graphics
• Full-size keyboard w/ integrated 10-key pad and EZ Pad Pointing Device

  Integrated sound and stereo speakers, headphone/speaker jack, and mic jacks

  Primary 8-cell Lithium ion battery with AC pack and 1 yr. limited battery warranty

• Integrated V.90 56K Modem
• Integrated Broadcom 10/100/1000 Ethernet Adapter
• Integrated 802.11b/g wireless networking card
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2) Backup CD

Averatec 3700 12″ Screen Laptop Under $1000 Released

Powered by the Mobile AMD Sempron(TM) 3000 processor, the new Averatec 3700 Series provides enhanced performance with greater speed, improved battery life and integrated high-speed wireless technology for superior mobility. The 3700 Series features a 12-inch screen, is a mere 1-inch thin and weighs in at only 4.2 pounds. Packed with high-performance features highly demanded by consumers, the ultra-light notebook series comes standard with 512MB memory, 60 or 80GB hard drives, integrated media reader and either a built-in DVD burner or combo DVD+CD-RW optical drive.

More: www.averatec.com/notebooks/3700series.htm

Averatec 3700 with a 12″ screen priced at under $1000

Mobile Business Expo Information

Register by , 9th for your Mobile Business ExpoDiscount. Mobile Business Expo integrates the business strategies, technologies, tools and corporate issues necessary to build an end-to-end mobile strategy and manage a mobile workforce. A well-executed mobility strategy gives today’s leading companies a competitive edge and extends your reach throughout the wireless world. Attend Mobile Business Expo, at the Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois from 9-12, 2005 to give your workforce the anywhere, anytime access to applications, data and communications that fast-moving markets demand. Register with code MLCJMB28 to save $100 on published prices.

Free Opera Browser

Opera is offering a free version of it’s new browser release, visit here for more information:

my.opera.com/community/party/