Google’s prototype Chrome OS-powered notebook boasts a 10-second boot time, 12.1 inch screen, full-sized keyboard & touch pad, integrated 3G from Verizon, eight hours of battery life and eight days of standby time.

The first Chrome notebooks will be available for sale from Acer and Samsung during the first half 2011.

Google Rolling out details on Chrome OS

However, additional models based on a variety of form factors, and designed by other vendors, are expected to arrive later in the year.

“We’re not done yet, but Chrome OS is at the stage where we need feedback from real users. Some of the features of Chrome OS require new hardware, but we didn’t want to sell pre-beta computers,” explained Google VP Linus Upson.

“Instead, we’re launching a pilot program where we will give test notebooks to qualified users, developers, schools and businesses. We’re starting with the US and will expand to other countries once we get the necessary certifications.”

Read the rest of this great post: TG DAILY

After almost a year of waiting, [tag] Windows XP [/tag] is finally in OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). This child friendly device was originally developed with [tag] Linux [/tag] as its OS. Although it doesn’t really matter to the kids who will be receiving them, users here have been clamoring for an XP version of the device that should be integrated to the market. It’s also a nice marketing strategy for Microsoft as they show their compassionate side to the kids. Microsoft, through Bill Gates already has a Classmate PC with an XP on it so XP in OLPC XO is a great addition to the device.

The reason why XP has been delayed for almost a year is that Microsoft has to build new sets of drivers that could fit to the very small storage capacity of the XO. With this version of XO, the mesh networking may not be available. Although XP has been squeezed to the bare essentials, it still wouldn’t fit to the 1GB storage capacity. Instead, expect that XO will be released with a preloaded 2GB SD card. The operating system along with the preloaded applications will take up 1.5GB. Since users will have a total of 3GB of storage capacity, they will still have 1.5GB for their personal documents. Besides, you still have USB ports so that you can have more storage capacity.

If you’re thinking that [tag] XP [/tag] is way better than the regular Linux that was pre-installed, think again. The original Linux that was made on XO has a mesh networking capability and a programming application wherein you can play with it and build simple applications. The XP version however was built so that more options are available for possible users and for those who will be receiving the XO for free, would have a good idea XP will be if they ever have the chance to tinker with a commercial computer with this Operating System.

As for the availability for regular consumers; no word yet when the XP version of [tag] OLPC XO [/tag] will be released. But we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a little bit expensive but highly tolerable.

Every now and then, Dell likes to come out with a brand new laptop that doesn’t just sport better specs but better artwork as its cover. The project is called [tag] Dell Art House [/tag], these special laptops are designed by artists who has the innovation and funk that will attract the younger market. This time is no different as they sought the help of [tag] Mike Ming [/tag] – a Brooklyn based artist to design their latest offering, the Dell 1525.

Honestly, I don’t have the slightest idea who Mike Ming is. So I Googled the artist and what came out are different artworks that are very impressive. I’m no artist but Mike Ming knows how to capture the imagination of his spectators.

On the design area, Dell 1525 comes in four designs with eight different colors. If you think the art work shows the artist’s creativity, check out some of their names: “Sea Sky” and “Bunch O Surfers”.

When it comes to specifications, Dell’s pretty generous with this laptop. It’s not an UMPC but its small enough to fit on anyone backpack. It has a 15.4″ screen and comes in [tag] Vista [/tag] as their OS. The cheapest version has the Home Basic Version while the rest is run by the Home Premium Edition.

Depending on your budget, [tag] Dell 1525 [/tag] should be able to give you a great experience for a laptop. For $499 you should be able to have [tag] Intel Celeron [/tag] as a processor with 1GB of memory and 80GB of hard drive. Bump the price $100 up and you’ll have 120GB of hard drive with Pentium Dual Core. Bump it even higher by another $100 and you’ll have 160GB of HD with 3GB of Memory. But if you wanted to have the ultimate edition, your $799 should get you 320GB of HD, 3GB of Memory and [tag] Intel Core 2 Duo [/tag] as a processor.

SSD (Secured Storage Data) is thought to be the next best thing in hard drive technology for mobile computers. Even though it’s tougher, it doesn’t reach its market appeal yet. Highly expensive and relatively slow, SSD is still on its baby-phase: It might be years before we could see a 320GB SSD that will not cost us more than a thousand dollars.

For now [tag] Hitachi [/tag] is banking on the good old hard drive. Called the Travelstar 7K320, this laptop hard drive will show you that the soon to be old is not that bad especially for your laptop. Aside from 320GB of storage capacity, the 7200 RPM should turn any laptop junkies head into considering this hard drive. According to their recent press release, the 7K320 promises 60% increase of [tag] storage [/tag] capacity, 12% increase of performance. All of these are possible while driving down 22% of power consumption. With this speed, data transfer is also at its peak. Standard data transfer is 3GB/s while the encrypted transfer is up to 1GB/s. If that speed will never amaze you, nothing will.

The [tag] 7K320 [/tag] also promises to be very silent: during operation it only provides 2.8Bels of sound while 2.5Bels of sound is expected when it is not on operation.

What’s even better with Hitachi’s Travelstar 7K320 is the security it offers. Most of the security that we offer today for our [tag] hard drives [/tag] comes with the software. Hitachi however has developed a built-in security technology that is hardware based. Available during encrypted transfer, Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) scrambles the data while it is being written. After the transfer or writing on the hard drive is done, BDE again reassembles the data so that it could be read by application.

The Hitachi Travelstar 7K320 is expected to hit the market in a few weeks and the price is expected to be from US$200 to US$250.

Computers and portable electronics are not the only [tag] gadgets [/tag] that get a makeover on a regular basis; quite often you’ll find that routers are released with a different look as well. When you consider the Linksys router, a router that can be found in many of the different homes and offices around the country, a new design is bound to attract attention.

Linksys has created a [tag] router [/tag] with a design that almost makes it look like the windshield of an ultra-modern car. If you consider the cars that you see in futuristic movies and the windshield designs that those cars have, a miniature version of that represents the front of the [tag] Linksys router [/tag] with a slope that starts at the top and extends downwards to the front of the router where all the displays are.

These new designs can sell for anywhere from $50 to $115 depending on the make and the particular features that you want with the router (i.e. wireless capability will cost you extra, even in the modern world), but at the same time the look is not all that has changed.

New Linksys units can potentially come with buttons that you can push to make setup a breeze, encryption that allows you to rest easier because of the extra power, MIMO technology that allows for an extremely surprising boosting of the system and similar technology that allows you to reach further into your house and reduce “dead zones” where the signal can not reach. While these features are not available on all of the new routers , at the same time the one that runs you $115 contains all of them in addition to the sleek new design.

All in all, Linksys has been able to effectively combine the beautification of their product with the increase in functionality that it brings to the table and that is something that should make their customers very happy indeed.

The Everex Cloudbook Max is equipped with a VIA C-7 CPU, 1600 megahertz processor, VIA Chrome9 graphics card, and a [tag] Vista [/tag] operating system with a 8.9″ 1024×600 display. Clocking in at 2048 MB of RAM, 80 GB standard hard drive, this new machine weighs just 1000 kilograms, and is only 240 millimeters wide, 175 millimeters in height, and 27 millimeters deep. Holding one SD card slot, three USB2.0 slots, VGA, analogue video out, 10/100 ethernet jack, the [tag] Everex [/tag] also has 902.11b/g wireless, BT2.0 wireless, and [tag] Wi-Max [/tag], which can be used on Sprint’s XOHM network, alongside integrated [tag] GPS [/tag] and integrated front and rear cameras, both coming in at 2.0 megapixels, right around the resolution of a decent cell-phone camera.

Phew! Now that we got that out of the way, why do you want the [tag] Cloudbook [/tag]? While the release date has not yet been set (the release date has been set, re-set, but there has yet to be any pictures of the machine being un-boxed by anyone to date), this thing has more spunk that your average computer. Where else could you find something so light, so fast, and this little machine is rumored to actually be able to handle Vista and not max out it’s processor! Four hours of battery time isn’t too shabby on this thing, and with it’s sleek design, Everex’s newest product seems to be the hottest thing on the market, er, make that the hottest thing that isn’t yet on the market. But if you’re just that anxious to check it out, you can take a sneak peek in the WiMax Experience Lounge. And no worries about salivating, it’s behind glass.

Read More Here

The [tag] Intel Classmate 2 [/tag], one of many in the lines of the smaller sized laptops, has some pretty solid specs. It will come with a 9-inch LCD display, six-cell battery, 512MB RAM, 30GB HDD, integrated webcam, 802.11b/g WiFi support, [tag] Windows XP [/tag] or [tag] Linux [/tag] OS and the Intel Celeron M processor. However, despite upgrading to the larger screen, Intel kept the resolution the same size as its’ predecessor, keeping it as a measely 800 by 480 pixels. Future versions will move to Intel’s Atom platform, however there is no official date yet set for that upgrade. Hot off the presses, the Classmate 2 went live for sale but a few days ago on April 2nd. Geared towards the younger generation, primarily those between 6 and 12 years of age, the [tag] laptop [/tag] comes standard with Windows XP and MS Office, giving them experience with the platform and [tag] software [/tag] suite they’ll likely encounter in the near future of their computing us.

Inexpensively priced at just $400, it doubles to the normal consumer as a back up or travel [tag] computer [/tag], only weighing your luggage or bag down a mere 3.9 pounds. Understandably, not the computer made to hold a wealth of equipment, the SD card slot and USB slots offer room for more hard-drive space and expansion via those avenues. Clocking in at your standard four hours of constant use time, the [tag] Classmate 2 [/tag] should do just that, last you through your classes, and keep you up to date on all those notes you need to take. It’s handy, convenient, portable, and inexpensive, perfect for the youngsters to beat around on, or the college student trying to stay up on their academics.

[Tag] Asus [/Tag] and [Tag] Intel [/Tag] teamed up recently to create the newest version of the Eee series PC’s. Dubbed “Eee” because of their slogan, “Easy to work, easy to learn, easy to play”, it sports an 8.9″ display, 1024×600 pixel screen, 1 GB of ram standard, 9-12GB solid-state flash hard drive, and a larger trackpad than it’s predecessor, the 7 series, with two finger scrolling using a pinching motion. The Window’s-read, [Tag] Linux [/Tag]-capable [Tag] Eee [/Tag] will also be eventually powered by Intel’s Atom processor, with future options for a bigger hard drive. Set for a release in April of this year, the device is inexpensive, coming in at around $500. However the main issues with this device are that the keyboard area is a bit cramped together, making it difficult to type, small screen size, small screen resolution, small hard drive space…well, I’m sure you get the picture.

But what you expect about a device so convenient that it can go wherever you need it whenever you need it?. On the upside, you won’t hesitate to travel with this lightweight [Tag] laptop [/Tag], as it fits easily in any bags and carry on, allowing you to do your work wherever and whenever. The perfect hybrid between those PDA’s that don’t seem to work, and your bulky laptop that you just can’t stand to carry around with you wherever you go. Booting fast to get work done without wasting time, it’s rigidly built, and sports a decent sound system, should you need to bump some tunes while getting in some extra work during your lunch break. All around, the [Tag] Asus Eee PC 9 Series [/Tag] is the perfect laptop for those on the run, and don’t we all seem to have somewhere to be in a hurry these days?

Read More: Gadgetell

Computers have evolved into something that every consumer wants to get their hands on. The Eee PC (easy to learn, easy to play, and easy to work) is a computer that is smaller than a laptop but bigger than a pocket PC. It weighs 0.9 kilograms and has a 7” screen that runs at 800×480 resolutions. The crystal clear screen makes it easy for you to see everything that you are doing so no worries there.

Naturally you can expect that the keyboard is small in size making it difficult for people with larger fingers to type. Overall though most people found it was the same as typing on a laptop.

There are three versions that you can buy. [tag] The Eee PC [/tag] 4G model – which is fully featured, and the ‘lighter’, less-expensive, forthcoming 4G Surf, and 2G Surf models. It has everything that you would want and need including a graphical variety of Linux, Windows OS, Open-Office applications, web browser, Skype, and around 5 Linux games.

When it comes to speed you can expect the best. The Eee PC 4G has a 4 gigabyte ‘Sold State Drive’ and 512 MB of DDR2-400 of memory. Some of the great features that you can expect from it is a microphone, a camera built into it, WiFi, 4 USB ports and 900 MHz Intel Celeron-M CPU.

To get your hands on the 4G Eee PC you will have to put $400 down for it. Considering that most [tag] laptops [/tag] and [tag] desktops [/tag] cost more than this you have to admit that it’s not a bad deal. If you are looking for something not as expensive, you may want to check out the 2G Surf for $269. The reason for the dramatic price difference is the size and the fact that the 2G doesn’t have as many features as the 4G.

The Eee PC is perfect for everyone – but we have found that the college students are the most likely to pick one up for themselves. The fact that they are not too expensive and they are more compact than most laptops and lighter makes it easy for them to bring it everywhere.

Read More [HotHardWare.com]

With all of the technology available to us, we sometimes wonder what people, including children, do in countries that are not so privileged as us and cannot afford the wonderful technology at our fingertips. Well, we wonder no more! There is now a laptop that costs only one hundred dollars that will soon be available to students in South Africa. The XO machine is scheduled for release in October.

The organization responsible for bringing these machines to the hands of needy children is the One Laptop Per Child organization. The process took five years of development and collaboration to be created into what it is today.

This wonderful device will allow for more education to be brought to these students. Some critics have suggested that these machines don’t hold all of the modern technology that [tag] laptops [/tag] in this country might due to their low cost of production. But the emphasis really is on education and therefore, the laptop holds everything the student will need.

The innovative design of the XO machine is very impressive. The main purpose during development of this laptop was to make it able to be used in harsh climates such as the mountainous regions of Peru or the dry, hot climate in Libya. The XO machine runs on less than ten percent of the energy required for a standard laptop. The innovativeness of this machine goes even further with the design. The software, memory, and screen are all created to use less energy. This battery-run device can be charged using solar cells. Using a foot pump device or pull-string charges will have the same effect and can also charge the machine. The battery also lasts four times longer than a standard battery.

It’s predicted that when the XO machine is first released, it will cost approximately $176 per machine to produce but will quickly drop down to the $100 target the organization has for this machine. Even at $176, this is a great project that is not only highly innovative in the world of [tag] technology [/tag] but also helps the entire world with technology needs.

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