by Joshua Topolsky,
We finally managed to wrestle one of the sleek Studio XPSs from Dell's mitts, and we've got the pics to prove it. At first glance, the 13-inch laptop is striking, with its leather wrapped back and high gloss finish. However, we have a few minor quibbles that make the laptop a little less exciting than we'd hoped. Firstly, the leather is a bit rippled across the top -- not a huge deal, but it skews the "design" aspect here. In a similar fashion, the super-glare display is just as distracting as it is on other screens of this type, and there seems to be another slight ripple -- or wave -- in the plastic (though this isn't wholly uncommon). Once you open the box, you're greeted to a matte, low-profile keyboard that feels terrific to the touch, though unfortunately the trackpad is not only minuscule in size, but located to the left of center, which makes no sense to us (especially on something of this size). For hands like ours, we found the experience to be a bit cramped. On the software side, the boot into Vista was certainly speedy, and though we had typical issues (crapware, pop-ups, general bugginess), the system still felt pretty snappy. We're going to be taking a more in-depth look -- especially at the capabilities of that NVIDIA GeForce 9400M G 9500M GPU -- but for now, feast your eyes on the gallery below!

Update: Our mistake! We actually have the model with the 9500M GPU. Even better!

engadget.com

by Tim Stevens,
We admit to being more than a little skeptical when Ruslan Kogan, Aussie tech entrepreneur, promised a cheap netbook within weeks, after his Agora smartphone stumbled out of the gates, but sure enough he's come through, making a run down to Australian PC Authority with a very working prototype of his upcoming netbook -- confusingly also called the Agora. What he demonstrated was a fairly standard 10-inch netbook package, featuring an Atom N270, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard disk, and a 3-cell battery, as well as a Pro model with twice the RAM and battery, both available with gOS and, eventually, Windows 7. What makes this upcoming model notable is the price: the cheaper model is expected to retail for $499 AUD, which in American dollars is just a tick over $320, while the Pro will go for $549 AUD, or about $355 US. Both models are expected to drop down under next month, and while no domestic release was confirmed, at that price this is one import we wouldn't mind seeing come up over.

engadget.com

by Thomas Ricker,
Rats. Just when we thought that someone had figured out how to make a winning UMPC configuration for consumers, out comes a review to pan it. While the Samsung Q1EX sounds good on paper with its 7-inch resistive touchpanel with 1,024 x 600 resolution, 1.2GHz VIA Nano processor, 4.5-hour battery, and $775 price tag; Laptop Mag was unimpressed when it came to go-time. Unfortunately, Laptop found text entry to be too much of a chore thanks to the loss of the thumbpad used on previous Q1-series UMPCs and the lack of a digitizer that severely impacts the unit's ability to accurately recognize handwriting under XP Tablet Edition. Boot times were slow and battery life was poor at just two hours compared to the 4.5 hours stated. Sure, you can add a dock with keyboard (pictured) and optional 6-cell battery (bringing the price to $977), but at that point, you'd be wise to look at the latest in wee netbooks offering bigger screens, the same power, and longer battery life at half the price.

engadget.com

by Joseph L. Flatley,
The kids over at Tech Arp got their hands on a draft of Microsoft's Windows 7 upgrade scheme. According to the the document, titled "The Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Program Rev. 2.1," Vista machines purchased from participating vendors after July 1st will be eligible for an upgrade to the new OS, whenever it comes out -- in a similar manner to the XP - Vista switchover. The idea here is to forestall a sales slump in the lead up to the new OS release. Upgrades will be tier-for-tier, with Vista Home Premium users getting to switch up to Windows 7 Home Premium when the time is right, Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional, and Vista Ultimate users getting an upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate. Additionally, 32-bit to 64-bit upgrades will not be allowed -- but folks using the 32-bit version will get to perform a clean install of the 64-bit version, if that's what their heart desires. Lastly, a system that has a valid Vista license but is running XP under the downgrade scheme will be allowed to perform a fresh install of Windows 7. You got all that? Good.

[Via SlashGear]

engadget.com

by Darren Murph,
Sure, we Americans are enamored by flashy designs, but that doesn't mean we don't appreciate performance. For whatever reason, consumers in the UK, Japan and the Principality of Sealand (among other locales) can order up Sony's oh-so-cute VAIO P with a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, while we Americans can't get anything other than the stock 1.3GHz chip. So, what gives Sony? Supply chain problems? Too much haterade? None of the above?

[Thanks, James]

engadget.com

by Nilay Patel,
We don't have a lot to go on, but a machine called the VAIO GS just popped up in the FCC database, along with the usual nasty gub'ment photos. Doing some extremely rough back-of-the-napkin calculations, it looks like it's Sony's answer to the Dell Mini 12 -- 11 inches wide with a 12ish-inch 4:3 screen. We're also seeing an optional built-in optical drive, WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, a PC Card slot (that's what it's marked -- let's hope it's really ExpressCard), a Memory Stick slot, Ethernet and modem ports, and VGA out. We're guessing the optical drive explains the netbook-ish hinge battery placement, but nothing explains how ugly this thing is -- let's hope the downgrade in style from the VAIO P comes with a corresponding downgrade in price. A few more shots after the break.

engadget.com

by Ross Miller,
If Apple's no-fee licensing wasn't enough to entice manufacturers, the Mini DisplayPort connector is now being added to VESA's DisplayPort 1.2 specifications. The update will also double the available bandwidth to 5.4Gbps, which can be used for 1920 x 1080 stereoscopic 3D imagery, four 1920 x 1200 screens, or one massive 3840 x 2160 display. According to Register Hardware, the 1.2 standard will be published by the middle of this year.

[Via Mac Rumors]

engadget.com

by Ross Miller,
Microsoft has pushed out its first patch for the Windows 7 public beta. The update saves your MP3s from a rather nasty bug that trims seconds off any song that's been edited, either by you or via automatic updates from Windows Media Player. If you've got afflicted files, there's a chance they're salvageable via properties window, according to the patch notes -- and if not, then here's hoping you backed up your library. Additionally, a new update has gone out to Windows 2000, XP, Vista, and Server 2003 / 2008 that fixes some vulnerabilities in the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. Beta users won't get their fix until the next public release, explains Microsoft Security Response Team's Christopher Budd, since it's only considered a "moderate" risk for the new OS.

engadget.com