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

Intel says notebooks and tablets will be eradicated in a decade

In the near future, we won't have tablets, netbooks and notebooks. Well, at least that's what Intel says. But what will we humans be using? Or maybe, Skynet has already taken over the world?

During his keynote address at the SEMICON West conference in San Francisco, vice president of Intel's architecture group Rama Skukla said that the lines between a netbook, laptop and tablet are disappearing faster than today's designers can even realize. That said, it's quite possible that these form factors will be gone within ten years.

“It's going to be very difficult to see where one device goes and the next one takes off,” he told the audience. Even today, the concept of PCs is already outdated. He added that future PCs will probably serve as “personal companions” instead of bulky devices, synchronizing around the owner in an individual cloud of information that users will be able to share with others or keep private.To achieve this oneness with the cloud, Skukla suggested to the captive audience that hardware manufacturers will have to address this cloudy trend by working closely with software developers and distributors so that end-users will have a solid way to manage their identity while also experiencing a seamless, secure computing environment.

Intel is already gearing up for this change, he said. In fact, the industry will see major advances in processor technology within the next five years. Graphics performance on mobile chips alone is expected to rise by a factor of 12 by 2015 - just look at what Intel has achieved with its second generation Sandy Bridge processors.

Unfortunately, Skukla didn't really explain what he envisioned consumers would actually use in ten years. Looking back on the last decade however, desktops still look like desktops, laptops still look like laptops (although they've gotten bigger and thinner), and consoles still look like consoles. The biggest change that's taken place, or so it seems, is in the mobile sector. Tens years ago phones were bulky, ugly and had enough brains to store a few phone numbers; now they can load Flash-based websites, play Angry Birds and stream video content straight to our palm.

So if all of our familiar mobile form factors will be eradicated in the future, what will we use? Smart-watches that can project HD+ imagery on any surface while detecting our finger motions, making mobile keyboards obsolete? Will it connect to Bluetooth glasses that are capable of displaying HD video and audio directly to our eyes and ears? Will the desktop grow wheels, a domed head, and toot electronic beeps while it projects holograms for our entertainment?
source: 2DayBlog.com

Does Intel Really Want to be Apple's Foundry?

Intel is rumored to be looking for a new business opportunity that seems positively counter-intuitive—providing Apple with foundry services for the ARM-based chips that go into iPhones, iPads and iPods.

That's what Piper Jaffray analyst Gus Richard thinks, at least.

''Based on a number of inputs, we believe Intel is also vying for Apple's foundry business," Richard said, according to an EE Times report published this week.

''It makes strategic sense for both companies. The combination of Apple's growing demand and market share in smart phones and tablets gives Intel a position in these markets and drives the logic volume Intel needs to stay ahead in manufacturing," the Piper Jaffray analyst said.

But aside from turning some excess manufacturing capacity into extra revenue, such a move by Intel would seem to work against the chip maker's long-term strategy of getting its x86-based processors and chipsets into the small mobile devices currently dominated by makers of ARM chips.

Perhaps, but Intel may be motivated to partner with Apple to counter an even greater mutual threat, according to the analyst. Samsung, under contract to make Apple's current-generation A5 chips for its iOS devices, is "a significant competitive threat to both companies," Richard said.

The analyst also points out that there is not a lot of love lost between Apple and Samsung these days. The two companies have been trading lawsuits for several months over wireless networking patents and mobile device designs.

Richard said Apple was likely to first turn to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for its foundry needs should it break ties with Samsung down the road, but that Intel might be waiting in the wings.

Intel already supplies Apple with x86 chips for desktops and notebooks. The company sees itself as the steward of the x86 architecture it originated, though it has proven willing to design and manufacture non-x86 chips like its Itanium processors for high-end servers and HPC systems.

PCmag