Dell laptops fall victim to the “capacitor plague”
Alexandra | 8:14 pm | July 17, 2010 | Laptop News
Were you aware that many of Dell laptops currently on the market contain some serious defects? Dell sold millions of notebooks between 2003 and 2005 that had faulty components according to documents unsealed in a case being heard in the federal court in North Carolina. The New York Times reported about the problems and allegations that Dell faced last week:
Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show that the company’s employees were actually aware that the computers were likely to break. Still, the employees tried to play down the problem to customers and allowed customers to rely on trouble-prone machines, putting their businesses at risk. Even the firm defending Dell in the lawsuit was affected when Dell balked at fixing 1,000 suspect computers, according to e-mail messages revealed in the dispute.
According to this data, Dell supplied faulty PCs to many of its clients including companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the Mayo Clinic and Texas University as well as many small businesses. In 2005, Dell announced that it was taking a $300m charge to cover the cost of fixing and/or replacing the faulty machines. However, to make things even worse, they replaced faulty PCs with other faulty ones, according to the NYT further findings.
Dell felt victim, quite without realising it, of one of the most fascinating pieces of industrial espionage of recent years: the theft of a formula for making the electrolyte to go into capacitors from a Japanese company, which was smuggled to China, and then onto Taiwan, but somewhere on the way things got messed up.
In 2001, an unknown scientist left Rubycon Corporation Japan to go and work for the Luminous Town Electric in China. Both companies were producing electrolytic capacitors, which are usually used in power circuits. Capacitors are found on computer motherboards, playing a crucial role in the flow of current across the hardware. At the LTE Company, the scientist made a copy of the electrolyte – the chemical that goes inside the capacitors.
Later that year, according to the NYT story, the scientist’s staff defected to Taiwan, taking with them a copy of the electrolyte formula so they could set up their own company. Taiwan supplies 30 per cent of the world’s electrolytic capacitors and most of the big PC manufacturers like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple get their machines assembled in Taiwan. But the defectors miscopied the formula. The end product would leak hydrogen gas, before bursting the metal body of the capacitor in up to 97 percent of the time over a three-year period. The electrolyte would then leak its brownish filling and could cause a fire.
Passive Component Industry Magazine (passive components are things like capacitors and resistors) wrote about this in September 2002, though it didn’t know then quite how bad things would get. As Dell’s experience showed, it could get very bad indeed.
A scientist steals a secret formula for an electrical product from his Japanese employer and takes it to China. Then it is stolen again and turns up in Taiwan. But something goes wrong – and thousands, perhaps millions, of computers and electrical goods in the West begin to burn out or explode. It sounds like the plot of a thriller, but it’s reality. Thousands of computers have failed and nobody is sure how many more products might go wrong because their capacitors – essential components to control the power supply – were made with faulty materials.
Perhaps more than any other company, Dell fought to lower the price of computers. And that’s certainly true: for years, Dell led because it could undercut rivals, and kept pushing the price down. However, nobody knows what Dell will do to survive the multibillion lawsuit and how they are planning to gain the users’ trust back.
Acer wants to become #1 in the laptop market
Alexandra | 4:40 pm | July 12, 2010 | Laptop News
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Acer chairman Wang Jeng-Tang, about this very ambitious goal which, as they think, the company will be able to achieve by the end of 2010. Moreover, he said, it will be done despite the recent economic turmoil in Europe as well as the growth of labour costs in China.
Acer currently holds 13% of the global PC market, following Hewlett-Packard, which owns a 19.3% share, according to the source. Even though Acer yields to the market leader in this respect, it takes the lead in volume production of laptops. According to the Gartner Company, in the first quarter of this year the supply volume of Acer laptops was 9.49 mln while the Hewlett-Packard produced only 9.47 mln. In the third quarter Acer is expecting the growth of 10—15% in comparison with the second quarter.
Chairman Wang expressed hope that very soon Acer won’t have any feasible competition on the PC market. Positive vibes are also being felt on the desktop front, where Acer aims to shift 10 million units this year, while a decent $15 million is being invested into “developing a a smartphone platform based on Google ’s Android. Of course Acer’s “thrifty” strategy is not exactly tailored for tough economic times but it can be seen as the company response to HP’s ebullient $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm, but one thing’s for sure: PC vendors are hungry for some of that sweet smartphone pie.
New NX ASUS Laptops work wonders with sound
Alexandra | 7:03 pm | May 17, 2010 | Laptop Music
What do the letters NX in the corresponding series of laptops from ASUS mean? They mean ‘New generation, eXtraordinary’. It’s the high-grade line of home entertaining centers.
The laptops are equipped with the new Intel Core processors – i3, i5 and i7. There are also high-speed USB 3.0 slots – of course, tenfold increase in speed as in screaming advertisements won’t happen in reality but the increase will be considerable. It’s also an inevitable standard and, in my opinion, the sooner, the better. Everyone is talking about new Intel processors and USB 3.0, but I’d like to draw your attention to the next innovation in the series.
As you know, the sound in most laptops is no good at all. This problem became so acute that it even generated new classes of devices and other gimmicks. Unfortunately, many producers don’t think this matter should be paid any attention to. They optimistically consider that everybody will listen to music in headphones and that is why when you put the volume level to the maximum the bass becomes noise.
The engineers from ASUS realized that one should combat the cause of the problem but not its consequence. That’s why the ‘sound question’ was solved together with the company Bang & Olufsen which is an expert in Hi-end audio production. That was how the ASUS SonicMaster technology was introduced, at the CeBIT exhibition this year.
The solution is based on the combination of robust conducting materials and excellent geometry of the case. Big volumetric resonators and dynamics optimally situated inside the case let minimize extraneous vibrations and noise. The new audio processor is likely to work wonders with sound. In contrast with other improvements that artificially amplify only certain frequencies, SonicMaster transmits originally recorded sound with fine accuracy without any audio filters. Almost the whole of the audible range of frequencies can be reproduced. All the laptops of the NX series will be equipped with SonicMaster Premium.
But hearing once is better than seeing a hundred times. Of course, the innovation loses in the quality of sound to good audio systems but the very fact that proper sound is now available to average user is great.
Netbooks and noteboks. What’s the difference?
Alexandra | 5:03 pm | April 20, 2010 | Netbooks
Whether you like it or not, the notion of a ‘netbook’ has already entrenched itself firmly in the portable devices market. According to the analytical company DisplaySearch, last year the growth of netbooks supplies was 103%, which is equal to a bit more than 33 mln devices.
In 2010 the category of ‘netbooks’ is not going to retreat. The increase by at least 17% in comparison with 2009 is forecasted and if the world economy rises from its knees, the figure will be even higher. Against these figures the achievements of usual laptops impress much less… The last argument in favor of the world’s recognition of netbooks became voluntary ‘capitulation’ of the world-known vendors. If only a few years ago such ‘blue chip’ companies as Sony, HP and Toshibа were looking at the first steps of newly-born ‘babies’ with a scornful smile, today they have to produce netbooks in order not to lose a heavy client sector. What is the secret of such popularity of portable devices? Let’s take a look.
The appearance of netbooks (as a class) would have been impossible without proper technical basis. The minimization of technical processes in microchip development let producers start the production of tiny chips with a surprisingly low level of energy consumption. First of all, we mean the achievements of the Intel company that has literary overwhelmed the market with its Atom processors for the last few years. They are not powerful enough to be used in gaming machines or desktop replacement laptops, however, ‘atomic’ processors are not meant to be used in resource-hungry conditions. Their destiny is to be the heart of netbooks. And in this sphere they have virtually no competitors.
Let’s look at the difference between an average netbook and a laptop. Firstly, they differ in their functional purposes. As it is clear from the name, the main task of a netbook is providing constant access to the Net, which means the ideal netbook must be equipped with all possible means of communication. Secondly, they differ in sizes. A netbook is much lighter and much more compact than a laptop, which (theoretically) lets the owner carry his ‘baby’ easily everywhere. The third difference arises from the first two ones. Netbooks have nothing excessive. They have lost their weight and have no elements that enlarge their dimensions or energy consumption (for example, DVD drive that repeatedly makes you charge you laptop battery).
As a result, owners of netbooks get a personal computer that doesn’t impress by its powerful constituent parts or autonomous work duration. Their advantages are stylish look, ample ways of connecting to the Net, small sizes and, the most important, price. The cost of some netbooks can be compared with the cost of a common mobile phone. But you get much more for your money.
CartDesk is a travelling cart for laptops owners
Alexandra | 2:57 am | March 17, 2010 | Laptop Accessories
This device is likely to appeal to those who often travel with laptops and spend lots of time in crowded airport departure lounges. It is a cart that is easily transformed into a comfortable notebook table.
The whole system weighs about 9.5 pounds but can carry a load of up to 20 pounds. The extension tray is big enough for a 17-inch notebook.
For only $130 you can have your own ‘pocket’ office, and forget what it feels like to worry about finding a vacant seat in a busy café. The only thing you have to do is find some space to sit down (the system comes without a chair) and here you are – you can start working.
Although CartDesk was recommended by the American Airlines as one of the world’s top travel products, the value of the given invention is quite doubtful. At the end of the day, it is not a convenient and compact wheeled suitcase, but quite a bulky and cumbersome contraption instead. Maybe it’s wiser to buy a standard laptop desk?
Source: Comfort Home
Dell starts sales of the world slimmest laptop with 13 inch screen
Alexandra | 1:23 pm | February 25, 2010 | Laptop News
Dell starts sales of its ultra-slim business laptop — Dell Latitude 13. The company representatives state that it’s the thinnest laptop in the world with 13-inch-diagonal screen.
Dell Latitude 13 can be used as a good helper by those who travel a lot. This gizmo is based on Intel CULV Celeron or the Core 2 Duo processor and offers a DVD-drive, which may be replaced by Blu-Ray. Also users can choose between a hard drive or SSD-drive. In any case the user data will be protected by Computrace, a special program that sends information about stolen and lost laptops to the special website via the Internet.
The notebook’s dimensions are 330 × 230 × 19.7 mm, weight is about 1.5 kg.
P.S. Acer is also going to release its new ultra-slim laptop that will be a strong rival for similar laptops from Apple and HP. This gadget will be only 19 mm thick, which is less than Apple MacBook Air and, of course, it’s much less than the size of similar models from HP.
12 concept laptops and PC that will strike your imagination
Alexandra | 10:40 pm | February 12, 2010 | Concept Laptops
Concepts… They are amazing, aren’t they? On the one hand, they inspire us, give us ideas for the future, push forward innovations. On the other hand, concepts disappoint, since we cannot have them right now. The only thing we can do is start saving money, and wait until they become a reality.
1. ARM Tablet
This concept from Sébastien Maleville can be used as a usual laptop or as a portable tablet. You can transform it by separating the keyboard from the monitor.
2. Asus Bookshelf PC
This PC from Asus consists of interchangeable modules, which allows to upgrade or downgrade your computer. You can do it by replacing or adding required modules.
3. B-membrane
This UFO-like computer with a projected keyboard uses a projector instead of a monitor.
4. Canvas
This concept was developed for designers and artists by Kyle Cherry. It was equipped with some built-in digital devices for easy drawing.
5. Horizon
Concept desktop from Japanese designer Mac Funamizu has a flexible OLED monitor, which can change its size!
6. HP LiM (by Jeffrey S. Engelhardt)
HP LiM (it means “Less is More”) consists from a 19” transparent touch screen, a wireless keyboard and a virtual touchpad.
7. Nuno Teixeira MAINGEAR
It’s a powerful gaming machine with improved cooling system.
8. Paper Laptop — eco-computer
This concept (designed by Je Sung Park) was made from recycled paper.
9. Philco PC
Although in the majority of cases concept computers show us the future, Dave Schultze’s creation carries us back.
10. Portable PC Theater
Jinwoo Han, a talented designer from the South Korea, created a concept of portable PC with a special bonus, a built-in projector for entertainment.
11. Prime Gaming Laptop
Prime Gaming Concept Laptop was designed by Kyle Cherry. He tries to solve such problem as limited size of laptop screens. Behold a powerful portable gaming computer!
12. Zafiro
Zafiro PC with transparent screen can be controlled by movements of your hands and body!
“Old books” will protect your laptop from theft
Alexandra | 5:13 pm | February 2, 2010 | Laptop Accessories
There is no need to buy a portable metal safe or a steel chain with a solid bracelet, in an attempt to prevent loss of your laptop and your data. Twelve South, the company that manufactures accessories for Apple computers, released BookBook, a new leather case for laptops. It looks a lot like an old book with a worn cover.
According to the information from the manufacturer, BookBook has sufficient rigidity to protect your notebook from mechanical damage, and soft interior finish to keep the laptop scratch-free.
Cover of this case is decorated with leather subjected to artificial aging, so each BookBook gets some exclusivity (it’s a vivid example of handicraft). The Twelve South Company offers two variants of its hardcover case for 13 and 15-inches Apple laptops. But nothing prevents you from using BookBook for any other mobile computer. You can check if your laptop fits it:
- 13-inch model – 330 x 232 x 28 mm,
- 15-inch model – 364 x 249 x 28 mm.
Moreover, by paying $ 80 for a new accessory for your MacBook or MacBook Pro you also get theft protection, because thieves don’t like books as much as modern laptops. 
Source: Twelve South
The near future of high-tech industry (your excursion to CES 2010)
Alexandra | 7:39 pm | January 26, 2010 | New Laptops
The last Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has become the main source of information about new technologies and products from the world’s largest product designer and manufacturers. The show was held in Las Vegas, and this place wasn’t chosen by chance. The U.S. market is traditionally considered as one of the most important for many large companies that design and produce electronics.
Judging by the general show trends, 2010 will be the year of Android smartphones, Tablet PCs, and rapid development of three-dimensional television. And like a year ago, at CES 2009, manufacturers introduced a lot of notebooks and netbooks in a classic form factor. Developers still believe that this market is very promising. For example, MSI management expects 50% growth of notebook shipments in 2010.
Lenovo attracted visitors by the unusual Ideapad U1 laptop. This device, which is actually a hybrid of tablet and netbook, has a 11.6″ display that can be disconnected from the keyboard and work independently as a Tablet PC. Ideapad U1 is expected in shops this summer at a price of about $ 1000.
You could see new netbooks based on Intel Pine Trail hardware platform from all major manufacturers at CES 2010. Most of those devices had similar characteristics and were running Windows 7. The Samsung N127 netbook based on OS Moblin can be mentioned as an exception.
One more piece of news from Intel. The company launched AppUpCenter, a new online store of applications for compact portable computers. All users of netbooks with OS Windows can join this service.
Among the huge number of laptops that were presented at CES 2010 there are some unusual ones. Samsung demonstrated a prototype laptop with a 14″ transparent OLED-display. It’s difficult to imagine who may need such a computer, but this invention of South Korean engineers may find application in other industries. Also Dell showed a workable concept of Studio with a 16″ OLED-display, which response time is 0,004 ms. And Asus amazed visitors by its new NX90 Bang & Olufsen edition laptop.
So CES 2010 gave us a general idea of what devices we should expect this year. Evidently experts expect the increase in sales of portable computers (both netbooks and notebooks). Marketing specialists pin hopes on tablet PCs, but demand for them will depend not only on technical specifications, but also on pricing policies.
Some of the most stylish laptops ever designed
Alexandra | 12:47 am | December 23, 2009 | Laptop Mods
For a laptop, design is not less important than its hardware insides, as any industrial designer will testify. People are ready to pay high premium for so-called “high-tech beauties”. That is why stylish and unusual laptops can be sold much faster than “standard” ones. Moreover, designers add some new features even in budget laptop models in a bid to attract additional buyers.
For example, Acer maintains this trend in such popular model like Ferrari, Fujitsu implements it in LifeBook, Toshiba surprises us with Qosmio, etc.
The first thing that manufacturers use in such laptops is an unusual laptop body and well-chosen color combinations. They try to crack the access code into customers’ hearts, finding courageous colors, hues and nuances. They also try to replace standard plastic laptop bodies with titanium ones or use special mixtures to give them more shine and protect from mechanical damage. So, those who want to buy a stylish notebook and express their individuality always can find something special.
The world’s leading portable PC manufacturers experiment with new materials (processed plastic, precious wood, stones and metals). People want to stand out from the crowd, be different from each other and it plays into the hands of many companies. For example, one of the Arab sheikhs ordered a laptop with inlays from ivory. Just imagine how much it cost him!
Laptops have become a part of our everyday live; it’s not a surprise to anyone. But you can impress others, putting a high-tech gadget in an unusual body. So, let’s feast our eyes upon other stylish laptops:
A gorgeous case for amazing Sony Vaio P laptop
You can buy stylish leather case for Sony Vaio P choosing one of 30 different colors.
Lenovo Pocket Yoga. It’s an awesome laptop, but unfortunately it’s just a concept
