At CES 2012 Toshiba unveiled a tablet. Everybody did. But Toshiba’s was different. It was a tablet that offered wireless charging via inductive technology, even while completely submerged in water.
It’s got me thinking all the way back to the Palm Pre, and how wireless charging should, by all rights, be a part of our everyday lives by now. So how come it’s not? Read more
Ultrabooks, a new category of super thin, but not underpowered laptops that’s being pushed through by Intel, have been all the rage this week at IFA 2011. Laptop manufacturers are falling over themselves to show off stupidly skinny rivals to the quite frankly peerless third-gen MacBook Air, and we’ve got them all right here for you in our guide.
How will Asus battle Apple’s MacBook Air? By launching up to six Intel Ultrabooks ranging in screen size from 11.6 to 13.3-inches. The news came straight from Asus chairman Jonney Shih who also confirmed pricing would start at $899 (£552). Depending on screen size and features, this price could sky rocket to $1999 (£1228). All thing considered, Asus might have what it takes to give Apple a run for its money.
Speed tests on the new MacBook Air refresh have revealed an interesting discrepancy. TLD Today benchmarked the 128GB SSDs shipping in the 11in MacBook Air and 13in MacBook Air models and found the smaller model is packing a drive that achieves much faster read/write speeds. The 128GB Samsung SM128C SSD in the 11in MacBook Air delivered 246 MB/s writing and 264 MB/s reading data while the 128GB Toshiba TS128C SSD in the 13in model gave speeds of 156 MB/s and 208 MB/s.
Engadget followed up the discovery with its own tests and verified the difference. It found that 256GB Samsung drive in its older MacBook Air delivered similar speeds to the new 11in MacBook Air but that the 13in MacBook Air was substantially slower. In day-to-day usage, the drop in speed is likely to be unnoticeable but it’s still interesting to discover the difference between models. You can see TLD Today’s demonstration of how some MacBook Air SSDs are speedier than others by clicking through…
The morning is done, it’s time for a well-earned lunch break. But before you go, let’s have a look at what’s been happening tech-wise this morning.
It’s been a busy one, with Google viagra, the world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop being unveiled, and rumours of new MacBook Air plans.
Toshiba’s just outed the world’s first glasses-free 3D laptop, the Qosmio F750 3D. The 15.6-incher uses the same tech as the company’s glasses-free 3D, the REGZA GL1, so a lenticular screen sends images with different perspectives to each eye, which your brain reads as a 3D image.
All very impressive, but we’ve got some reservations. Read on to see why we’re not quite reaching for the popcorn just yet.
Apple doesn’t own the idea of using aluminium in gadget designs or creating a phone where the touchscreen is the focus of all your attentions but there’s a certain Cupertino touch that other manufacturers relentlessly attempt to mimic.
We’ve seen it this morning with the unveiling of the Dell XPS 15z which cops a lot of moves from the MacBook Pro – from its aluminium/magnesium alloy shell to the placement of its speakers, the arrows on its backlit keyboard and the positioning of its ports and slot-loading DVD drive. Is it asking to much to expect designers to do something a little different?
