Sony showed off this cool concept at the CES last week. Dubbed as Hybrid concept, the device actually brings two form factors together – tablet and a notebook. Though the concept is not new but the fact that Sony has developed it and may go on sale in the near future makes it exciting.

The device as you can see in the images, is pretty sleek, has a sliding interface along with a touchscreen display, speakers behind the screen and surprisingly, no touchpad! Apparently, Sony thinks touchpad’s duty will be taken over by the included stylus pen.

Sony didn’t confirm if it will ever turn into a real product but going by the quality of the concept, the device looks completely doable.

Dell’s Latitude XT3 notebook that can also be converted to a tablet is now available in India. The XT3 is certified with MIL-STD-801G standards, giving users an extra layer of protection to withstand dust, water spills, accidental bumps while working on the field.

The 13.3-inch notebook comes with choices of Intel’s Core i3, i5 or i7 processors, HD display, 2GB RAM, WiMAX connectivity support and an optional 9-cell battery for an all-day power. The XT3 is also equipped with Dell’s Data encryption system.

Dell Latitude XT3 is priced at Rs.1,00,000.

Sony unveiled the all new VAIO S range for the Indian market. The 13.3-inch notebook is completely revamped with an all new Hexa-shell design and is packed with powerful hardware. The 1.72kg notebook is priced in between Rs.56,990 to Rs.1,09,900 and is equipped with choices of Core i5 or Core i7 CPU, AMD Radeon HD 6470M GPU or AMD Radeon HD 6630M (SSD model only) up to 500GB HDD or 256GB SSD, 4GB RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, fingerprint sensor, VGA resolution webcam, Chiclet keyboard, HDMI-out, DVD combo, 6 hour battery life and quick access buttons for VAIO and web.

We tried out the VAIO S for some time and were impressed with the notebook’s premium and a clean looks. As far as performance goes, the laptop seemed responsive and fast and had a Windows Experience Index of 5.3. There’s also a Performance Switch to select Stamina or Speed mode that switches to integrated or discrete graphics.

Lenovo has teamed up with Intel to bring their version of Classmate PC, dubbed as Classmate+. The Lenovo Classmate+ is based on Intel’s Learning Series reference design that comes with the software suite, educational software and other teaching resources.

Lenovo is the first MNC to provide Intel Learning Series classmate PC to the global market and will start with the first batch of 158,000 Classmate+ PCs in Argentina.

On the hardware front, the computer is equipped with Intel’s Atom processor running Windows 7 OS, 10.1-inch LED backlit screen, Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, 1.3MP webcam, USB ports and a 4-in-1 card reader.

There’s no price fixed to this laptop due to the varied taxes and tariffs globally but is now available to education and government customers.

Press Release

Adding to its spring lineup of Vaio laptops, Sony has announced Vaio F series notebook in the Japanese market. Unlike Vaio S and Vaio C that boasts enhanced battery life and various colour options respectively, the 16-inch Vaio F touts its 3D features.

The notebook can display 3D images in full HD resolution with reduced cross talk and has the ability to convert 2D content to 3D with the help of a dedicated button on the keyboard.

As for remaining features, the Vaio F is powered by Intel’s quad-core Core i72630QM, Nvidia GeForce GT540M GPU, 4GB RAM, 640GB HDD, Blu-ray, webcam, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and HDMI-out.

The VPCF219FJ/BI will go for about 250,000 yen.

Press Release

Dell has launched M101z from the Inspiron range for the Indian market. The new ultraportable notebook might be small with a 11.6-inch display but is packed with features giving a mid-range notebook a run for its money.

Starting from Rs.20,900, the notebook comes with AMD’s Athlon II Neo K125 CPU, integrated ATI Mobility Radeon 4225 graphics, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, HDMI port, three USB 2.0 ports with one USB PowerShare port and Windows 7 Basic OS.

On the other hand, a fully-loaded M101z will cost you Rs.29,900 but will add a dual-core Neo K325 processor, 4GB RAM and 320GB HDD.

All the M101z SKUs come with a standard 6-cell battery that has a run time of approx. 6.5 hours.

Product Page

Lenovo has unveiled the new Edge 11 ultraportable notebook that will be a part of its ThinkPad Edge Series. The Edge 11 has an 11.6-inch screen and is targeted at those who want decent performance in a small netbook-like form factor.

The notebook comes in options of AMD Nile processors (single and dual-core) and Intel Core i3. Other than that the notebook features an HDMI port, Wi-Fi, optional 3G or WiMAX, low-light sensitive webcam, spill proof keyboard and battery life running up to 7 hours.

The AMD variant will start from a modest $450 whereas the Intel version will start from $550.

[Via Engadget]

UPDATE: Guardian has got the video. Click here.

So we’ve heard bold claims from Indian government before as well but it looks like they’ve achieved it this time. The Indian HR Ministry has managed to create a computing device that costs $35 but is continuously trying to lower costs to $20 and ultimately $10. Yes, that $10 laptop could be a reality.

Kapil Sibal unveiled the device that is said to deliver on three key principles of education – access, equity and quality. While corporates weren’t keen on the concept, students and experts from IITs and IISc managed to do it.

The release does not mention anything on the technical side of the device but Trak.in seems to have got their mitts on the minimum requirements as well as couple of pics.

Minimum Functionalities expected:-

- Support for video web Conferencing facility
- Multimedia content viewer for example .pdf, docx, .ods, adp, .doc, .xls, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .odt, .zip, AVCHD, AVI, AC3, etc.
- Searchable Pdf reader
- Unzip tool for unzipping zip files.
- Possibility of installing suitable firmware upgradation.
- Computing capabilities such as Open Office , SciLab , cups (for printing support)
- Media player capable of playing streamed as well as stored media files.
- Internet browsing with flash plug-in, JavaScript, pdf plug-in java.
- Wireless communication for Audio/video I/O.
- Cloud computing option.
- Remote device management capability.
- Multimedia input output interface option (for allowing DTV, IPTv, DTH, streaming etc.)

[Via Trak.in]

Indian ministers really needs to take some lessons on technology terminologies. The $10 laptop which was being touted all these days turns out to be a storage device. Yes, a freakin’ storage device. The laptop device unveiled yesterday is 10-inches long and 5-inches wide with the total cost pegged at around $30 but is optimistic to bring the cost down with mass production.

“The so-called laptop actually turned out to be a storage device containing megabytes of data info which can be accessed by a user by connecting this device to a laptop. It meant that unlike the internet, this device can display that information that has already been stored.”

[Via Pluggd]

Canadian retailer Eurocom will launch its D900F PHANTOM i7 laptop that will be graced by the powerful Core i7 processors. The launch is scheduled for May 1 and will give a variety of choices to the users from processors, GPU, webcam, RAM, HDD and more.

The laptop has a 17-inch screen WUXGA (1920×1200 pixels) or WSXGA+ (1600×1050 pixels), Core i7, 920, 940 or 965 processors, Nvidia G280, 9800GTX or Quadro FX3700 GPU, up to 8GB RAM, three hard drive bays for RAID 0/1/5 support which can give a total space of 1.5TB, optional Blu-ray, 802.11n Wi-Fi, optional Bluetooth, HDMI, DVI-out, 4 USB ports, 7-in-1 card reader and a 12-cell battery (6600mAh).

The machine with such desktop-like prowess yet portable, is not light nor cheap. The beast weighs 5.4kg and is expected to sell above $5000.