Acer Aspire 4755G 14-Inch Laptop

Check out this newly introduced 14-inch laptop from Acer, the Aspire 4755G. Based on the 2nd generation Intel Core processor, the system packs a 14-inch LED-backlit display, a NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 2GB graphics card, up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, up to 750GB hard drive, an HD webcam, a DVD burner or Blu-ray drive, a card reader, WiFi, Bluetooth, a USB 3.0 port, an HDMI port and a 6-cell battery. Pricing info is still unknown at the moment. [PCLaunches]
source: TechFresh

Apple MacBook batteries hacked to burn or explode

We know that computers can be broken into by hackers for malicious purposes, but who would've thought that laptop batteries could be broken into as well? At the Black Hat security conference next month in Las Vegas, a security researcher named Charlie Miller will be giving a demonstration on how to hack into and control the microprocessor of a MacBook battery.

According to Miller, “These batteries just aren't designed with the idea that people will mess with them. What I'm showing is that it's possible to use them to do something really bad.” Apparently once the controller for the battery has been compromised, it can be manipulated to the point where it is dead or “bricked”, and there even is a possibility for a fire or an explosion to be caused by placing malware on the chip.

Similarly damaging cyber attacks have been proved possible on much larger systems like generators, or other parts of the power grid.

Normally people aren't worried when it comes to cyber criminals - the worse they can do is corrupt your data or use it without permission (which is bad enough). If what Miller says is true, then we might have to worry about our computers exploding on us in the near future (oh great). Hopefully new security measures will be taken to prevent such occurrences from happening.
source: Ubergizmo

Lenovo ThinkPad T520i Intel Core i3-2310M

The Intel Core i3 runs like a charm in collaboration with the T520i's Intel HD graphics 3000 and the 500 GB hard drive that whirls around at 7200 rpm. No complaints when it comes to speed with the exception of application startup. It's been my experience to hold off on multiple application launches all at once on ThinkPads. They tend to take twice as long to startup when this occurs.

ThinkPads get a high value mark among laptop users for its resistance to change, but it'd be nice to have seen Lenovo take this ThinkPad model into the chiclet keyboard stage that so many other laptop models are being produced with. Laptop keyboards that are difficult to clean overtime can cause buildup of particles that can seriously damage vital components. It'd be nice to no longer have to worry about that with the traditionally and sometimes notoriously compressed ThinkPad keyboard.

But big gold stars continue to go to Lenovo's technical support service. Year after year, the company gets praised for its devotion to providing customers with intelligent support members who help instead of hinder. When trial testing Lenovo tech support capability for the T520i, I found no exception to the industry expectation.

Lenvo lists the ThinkPad T520i at $750.00 right now, which is an extreme bargain considering the original listing price of nearly double that. I wouldn't say the T520i would be worth $1400.00, but it's certainly worth more than it's current market price.

Considering the ThinkPad is meant to look like a relic while behaving state-of-the-art, the design hang ups are no reason to avoid this laptop. Few laptops have done the job for as long as the ThinkPad, and the T520i is no exception.
source: LAPTOPGRAM

PSA: New MacBook Air's SSD performs variously

When you head to Apple's online store to configure your MacBook Air, you'll find options to increase processor speed or SSD capacity — depending on the model you select, of course. There's no mention of flash drive speed, however, though it's now clear that not all SSDs are created equal at Apple — not only when it comes to capacity, but also performance.

Jonathan over at TLD discovered a fairly significant discrepancy when benchmarking both MacBook Air models over the weekend. The 128GB Samsung SSD in his 11-inch Air was able to achieve 246 MB/s write and 264 MB/s read speeds. When he switched to the 13-inch model, however, speeds dropped to 156 MB/s and 208 MB/s, respectively, using that notebook's 128GB Toshiba SSD.

Over at Engadget, they compared speeds on two generations of 13-inch models, and have also confirmed Jonathan's findings. During their tests, the 256GB Samsung drive in our older model achieved 214 MB/s write and 251 MB/s read speeds, while the 128GB Toshiba drive in the new MacBook Air scored 184 MB/s and 203 MB/s during write and read tests, respectively.

This many not be a very noticeable issue for most MacBook Air owners, but still it's an interesting find that their performances varies.
source: 2DayBlog.com

Acer launching Tegra 2 powered laptop next week?

Various reports indicate that Acer is planning to release a “notebook” built with Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 processor clocked at 1 GHz. The company also intends to release an ultrabook packed with an Intel processor and tablets sporting Google's Android 3.2 “Honeycomb” OS.

The news arrives by way of company chairman and CEO J.T. Wang as he addressed concerns about the company dropping from the second world's largest PC manufacturer to the fourth largest during the second quarter of 2011. He said that to regain its lost market share, the company plans to adopt a new strategy to create “more value instead of pursuing volume growth.”

Wang said that the Tegra 2 notebook - which is more likely a netbook or a tablet-netbook hybrid similar to the Asus Eee Pad Transformer - will actually launch within the month. The Intel-based ultrabook is scheduled to hit the market in December. Currently there's no word on when the Honeycomb tablets will arrive.

In addition to revealing the devices, the Acer chairman stated that the company will return to profitability in Q3 2011 and should perform even better in the fourth, indicating that Acer may actually generate a profitable 2011 despite the disastrous second quarter.

Earlier this year, Acer's CEO Gianfranco Lanci stepped down from his position at the end of the first quarter. The resignation was followed by a $150 million charge against the company earnings to write-off a “high channel inventory and disputed accounts receivable in EMEA” due to “abnormalities in terms of channel inventory stored in freight forwarders' warehouses.”

Wang has reportedly declined a salary for his role as director and even waved off a 2010 bonus to help compensate for the $150 million expense. “With Acer's substantial loss in write-off, Wang deeply feels regretful of the current situation and will dedicate his efforts fully to investigating the reasons behind the loss and to improving internal management,” the company announced in June.

If Acer does indeed plan to release a Tegra 2 “laptop” during July, the company has just one week to do so. That said, we're eager to see what Acer will bring to the table next week.
source: 2DayBlog.com

Keep Your Laptop Safe with TechSafe

If you use your laptop in public a lot, you'd probably benefit from having a means to secure it against theft. Griffin offers the universal TechSafe Cable Lock System that uses the laptop's hinge as the attachment point, so it will work equally well with all laptops. You slide the patented hardened steel LockBlade through the hinge – which Griffin says is the strongest part of the laptop, then you attach the TechSafe Cable Lock to the LockBlade and a table leg. If there's not an easy way to attach the cable to a piece of furniture, you can use the optional Anchor Clamp. The TechSafe Cable Lock System is available at the Griffin online store. The Cable Lock is $29.99, and the Anchor Clamp is $19.99.
source: The Gadgeteer

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion runs into installation issues

Even the world's most advanced operating system cannot escape the deadly bug issue it seems, according to a bunch of Mac users who have decided to take the plunge to upgrade their system to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion which was released just yesterday morning. All the error messages are not the same, being of different variety to keep some folks out there scratching their heads quizzically. There is a thread over at the official Apple Support Communities which points to an issue where users are required to choose the disk on where they want OS X Lion installed. If one selects the Macintosh HD as the install destination, some are met by the error message, “This disk cannot be used to start up your computer.”

Apple Support has informed users affected by this issue to fire up Repair Disk Permissions and perform a “clean” repair, but folks who took that advice to heart claimed that the Mac App Store says that Lion has already been “Installed,” which doesn't make sense, really.

Are you one of those who are affected, or is Lion roaring on your Mac right now without throwing a hissy fit?
source: Ubergizmo