Apple’s MacBook Pro range could be due for an imminent refresh, if reports of dwindling stocks of existing 15- and 17-inch models pan out. According to multiple MacRumors sources both Apple Stores and third-party retailers are running low on supplies of the notebooks, with Amazon listing 1-2 month delays on shipping the 17-inch MBP. The shortage could herald a refresh of the MacBook Pro line, introducing Intel’s new Sandy Bridge 2011 Core processors.
That update has been predicted for some time now, with reports back in December that Apple was undertaking significant processor and GPU testing, including AMD Radeon options and certain entry-level machines using Sandy Bridge onboard graphics. Later rumors pegged the refresh in the first half of 2011, based on information leaking from Apple’s supply chain.
Exact specifications of the updated MacBook Pro notebooks are unclear, but it seems likely that Apple would take the opportunity to give the aesthetic and battery life an overhaul as well. Whether that includes dropping the optical drive on certain SKUs in favor of increased portability, or adding Intel Light Peak connectivity, remains to be seen.
If you know anything about will.i.am, a fellow famous for the group of artists he sings with called the Black Eyed Peas, you know he’s explosive. He’s got mass amounts of pop music and colorful directorial zazz up his sleeves, and he’s just been hired on to Intel to be their Director of Creative Innovation. Lots of totally brilliant collaborations and odd action ensues.
This news bit was tweeted by Intel’s official Twitter account, they saying @intel: “Black Eyed Peas will.i.am named Intel Director of Creative Innovation. New#tech #music #visuallifewww.intel.com/newsroom/will.” This info can be corroborated by UK PR Manager for Intel Perveen Akhtar, who also has a Twitter account: @PerveenAkhtar.
Take a peek at this 2010 music video directed by will.i.am to see what all the fuss is about (NSFW if you’re not allowed to use swear words):
Acer has unveiled its latest netbook, the Aspire One E100 Education, and as the name suggests it’s targeted at classrooms. The 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 ultraportable dual-boots Windows 7 and Android – the latter being positioned as an instant-on option for quick browsing – and can be specified with a rubberized coating for bump protection; there’s also a pocket into which a student can slot their name card, so that multiple E100 units don’t get confused.
Other specs include a 250GB hard-drive, 1GB of RAM and WiFi b/g/n, together with Bluetooth 2.1 and a multi-format memory card reader. It uses an unspecified Intel Atom processor, weighs about a pound and is 24mm thick; Acer reckons the battery is good for 8hrs of runtime.
As for software, there’s apparently a variety of free education apps on offer, and Acer also preloads its Classroom Manager app which allows a teacher to remotely interact with multiple student systems. No word on pricing at this stage.
ASUS’ Eee Slate EP121 is set to ship imminently, but until then we’ll have to live vicariously through the company’s official unboxing and demos of the 12.1-inch Windows 7 slate. Over the course of two videos, ASUS attempts to show us why we shouldn’t discount the PC tablet, and highlights some of the benefits regular Windows has over more mobile platforms like Android or iOS.
Videos after the cut
As we discovered in our own hands-on time with the EP121, the Core i5-470UM processor certainly means that Windows 7 whips along nicely, and the active stylus and dual-mode touchscreen makes for an arguably more impressive touch experience than finger-use alone. In the second video there’s a more general overview of Art Rage Studio, Adobe Photoshop, the bundled Bluetooth keyboard, 1080p YouTube streaming, and on-screen keyboard and hand-writing recognition.
With the tablet torrent at CES 2011 we’ll admit to having forgotten about bModo’s 12G tablet, announced in October last year, but the 11.6-inch Windows 7 slate has now shown up for a full review. AllTouchTablet picked up the $849.99 slate – which runs a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 single-core CPU with 2GB of RAM and Broadcom’s CrystalHD video accelerator – and found the Windows experience to be pretty solid, with media playback impressing.
Video demo after the cut
On its own, the Atom CPU and integrated GMA 3150 graphics aren’t going to do much good, but the Broadcom chip helps the tablet handle 1080p HD video (as long as it uses a supported codec). Unfortunately CPU-only tasks – like handwriting recognition in Windows 7 – aren’t as slick, and the 2.5-3hr battery life is pretty woeful when you compare it to the iOS or Android competition.
bModo has slapped a custom UI – triggered with a dedicated touch-sensitive key – to help Windows 7 with its finger friendliness, but it’s the lack of pocket-friendliness which really seems to scupper the 12G. At $849.99 – or $799.99 for the 1GB RAM version – and then another $75 for the optional dock (which doesn’t have an HDMI or other graphics output, and props the 12G up at a particularly steep angle) it’s expensive for a slate.
Nokia’s MeeGo-based N9 flagship smartphone has hit a few hurdles along the way; originally the company hoped to have a MeeGo device on the market by the end of 2010, a window that slipped to 2011. Initially, the N9 was expected to use a Texas Instruments OMAP processor, as with its existing handsets. However, according to Finnish magazine Prosessori, Nokia has junked the TI chip and opted instead to power the N9 with a 1.2GHz Intel Atom processor
The nature of that Atom CPU isn’t clear – it could be from the current Moorestown line-up, or more likely it would be a lower-power Medfield chip from the range expected to debut later this year. However, it would certainly bring the Intel/Nokia partnership closer together, and be a unique differentiator for the MeeGo handset.
There’s also talk of an LTE prototype and the same 12-megapixel camera from the Nokia N8, but most interesting is the suggestion that Nokia CEO Stephen Elop will officially unveil the new N9 at Mobile World Congress 2011 next month. SlashGear has been speaking to a number of industry insiders over the past few weeks about what to expect from the Barcelona show, and they’ve told us that there’s talk of something big from Nokia this year; no details at this stage, unfortunately, but we’ll be at MWC bringing you all the news as it’s announced.
Nokia has to do something big if it wants to crack the US smartphone market. We can agree on that, right? And believe us, Nokia wants this — nothing will make the mighty Finns (and the company’s global investors) prouder than to gain some traction in the home of Apple pie and Google desserts. So how will the company do it? With
Symbian? Oh, hell no.
By introducing another MeToo handset? Nope, with MeeGo on a rockin’ platform like the rumored N9 slider pictured above.
Nokia announced its hardware plans for Maemo 6 a long time ago. At that time, the company was clear that it would continue using TI OMAP processors. Much has changed since then, however. In addition to several keyleadershipchanges including a new Canadian-born CEO who spent much of his time working in the US, Nokia has joined Intel to roll up Maemo 6 and Moblin into MeeGo with Nokia’s first Maemo 6 MeeGo/Harmattan handset pushed into 2011. Simultaneously, Intel has also been doing its best to show its new Moorestown platform as a powerful ARM alternative, even showing off MeeGo handsets exploiting a Lincroft SoC and Atom processor core.
And Intel has said that Medfield-based smartphones (Moorestown’s
successor) would arrive in the middle of 2011.
So why the build-up? Well, we’ve just been tipped to a claim by Prosessori, a respected Finnish technology magazine, ?that the Nokia N9 will launch with a 1.2GHz Atom processor. Better yet, it could be unveiled as soon as Mobile World Congress in February, presumably during Stephen Elop’s keynote. Do we believe it? Not entirely, but it is possible given the chain of events that have taken place. And you can bet that the first commercially available Intel smartphone with a brand new Nokia user experience would certainly grab headlines in the US and around the world. Something that should translate into high-end market share (and profits) if it’s as “exciting” as Elop claims.
Intel has announced ambitions to see Windows 8 – the next-gen version of the Microsoft desktop OS – on smartphones based on its own SoC, with CEO Paul Otellini describing the prospect as “an upside opportunity for us.” According to PC Pro, Otellini expects that Intel’s low-power Atom processors – as found in the OCOSMOS OSC1 – will be ideally suited to Microsoft’s promised “designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled” OS.
“The plus for Intel is that as they unify their operating systems, we now have the ability for the first time… to have a designed-from-scratch, touch-enabled operating system for tablets that runs on Intel that we don’t have today. Secondly, we have the ability to put our lowest-power Intel processors running Windows 8 – or ‘next-generation Windows’ – into phones, because it’s the same OS stack. And I look at that as an upside opportunity for us” Paul Otellini, Intel
The move will put Intel at odds not only with rival ARM, the processors of which are found in the vast majority of existing smartphones, but also with Microsoft itself. The software giant has previously insisted that it sees full-Windows for tablet-scale mobile devices and Windows Phone 7 for smartphone-scale devices.
While many have argued Intel’s processors are too power-greedy for ultraportable mobile devices, Otellini is also keen to talk about ARM’s potential shortcomings in larger devices. “[The PC] space has a different set of power and performance requirements where Intel is exceptionally good” he insists.
ASUS’ upcoming “Sirocco” Eee PC may well be the the Eee PC 1005PW 1015PW, according to the latest tips, with the dune-textured netbooks getting an unofficial pre-unveil preview. According to imidoresc, the ASUS Eee PC 1015PW Sirocco will be a 10.1-inch WSVGA netbook with Intel’s Atom N550 processor and up to 10hrs battery life.
There’s also a choice of 250GB or 320GB hard-drives, Bluetooth 3.0 and a -.3-megapixel webcam. We’re guessing on WiFi b/g/n and the usual trio of USB 2.0 ports, single ethernet, audio in/out and a memory card reader as well. It’s expected to weigh around 1.25kg.
Pricing and availability haven’t been revealed, but this is looking pretty mainstream for a current netbook, and not the hurricane ultraportable the “Sirocco” name led us to hope for. We’ll find out all the details on Wednesday when the netbook is announced officially.
Apple may have made the iPad a sales success, but Intel reckons it made the IPAD first. The Intel PAD (known internally as “IPAD”), the company tongue-in-cheek suggests, was an ARM-based touchscreen slate for browsing and media playback, and predated the iPad all the way back in 2001. Now, before you hit Page Down and start screaming in the comments, Intel isn’t really trying to take the credit for tablets; instead, it’s an interesting look at the background, research and decisions around the Intel Web Tablet, and the reasons it failed to reach the market.
Video demo after the cut
Shown as a mock-up at CES 2001, according to team members on the project the Web Tablet was produced, boxed and ready for retail when Intel management axed the slate. “We were at the beach celebrating, the trucks were rolling,” David Andersen recalls, “Circuit City was signed up to sell them, there was even an ad that ran in the New York Times, but not a single one of the tablets ever made it to stores.”
Pressure from Intel’s OEM customers and a $500+ price tag scuppered the Web Tablet in the end, though a second-gen version was already in the works which should have reduced that figure. Intel’s consumer products division – which was working with Mattel on connected toys, and also produced digital cameras and peripherals – “lost a major cadre of very talented software people” device engineer David Cobbley suggests.
