• Dual-screen Laptop Provokes Lust, Derision

    06Sep
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    An unknown Alaskan company is attracting attention for a $3,000 laptop it plans to build that will apparently be the first to sport two 15.4-inch LCD screens.

    Planned to arrive in time for Christmas, the SpaceBook from gScreen Computer Corp. will come with two identically sized LED backlit screens, one sliding out from behind the other in a design created by the Anchorage-based company, according to an article in Gizmodo late last week.

    The Windows 7-based machine will also come with Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4 GB of RAM, Nvidia GF900M GT discrete graphics, 7,200 RPM SATA drives, DVD player, and the choice of six or nine-cell batteries.

    And it will weigh 8.7 pounds, the company said Tuesday by tweet, which is double the weight of mainstream laptops.

    “It’s absolutely the opposite of a netbook,” gScreen CEO Gordon Stewart told Gizmodo.

    gScreen is aiming the SpaceBook at designers, filmmakers, photographers and other creative professionals who are willing to pay for portability, power and extra screen real estate.

    That strategy has potential, said PC analyst Rob Enderle.

    “Whether you’re talking about engineers or graphic designers, you’re talking about a market that has money and is dissatisfied with the mobile products they have to choose from,” Enderle told TechNewsWorld .

    The company, which did not return an e-mailed request for comment, is recruiting seven to nine beta testers for its coming laptop, according to a tweet this week by the company.

    Reaction among commenters at Gizmodo ranged from delight to sarcasm. “Every Graphic Designers Dream!!” enthused one writer. “Can’t wait to pull this out in coach class on a cross country flight,” wrote another. “I think I’d get the 2 laptops. Double the battery, 1/3rd the cost,” wrote a third.

    gScreen has not commented on the expected battery life for the SpaceBook. It has said it is developing a ruggedized version of the SpaceBook for the U.S. Navy, as well as a dual 13.3-inch model that weighs 5.7 pounds. It is also considering using AMD processors in addition to Intel’s.

    Founded in 2003 as an R&D company, according to the company’s Web site, gScreen has apparently not produced a laptop for the market before.

    The SpaceBook, which is expected to be sold online at sites such as Amazon.com and NewEgg.com, isn’t the first laptop with multiple screens, though it is the first to sport two screens of identical size.

    Most notably, Lenovo Group Ltd. last Christmas began selling its dual-screen ThinkPad W700ds. Aimed at the same creative professional audience as the SpaceBook, the W700ds sports a 17-inch main LCD screen and a slide-out secondary 10.6-inch screen.

    Computerworld ’s Brian Nadel praised the 700ds’ “top-notch graphics” and fast quad-core processor, but said the unit, which weighs 13.2 pounds including AC charger, was “thick and heavy.”

    The main SpaceBook appears to shave almost 5 pounds, or almost a third off the W700ds’ weight.

    The SpaceBook’s advantage in price would be much less drastic. The W700ds, which listed at $5,100 at release last year, can now be purchased between $3,100 and $3,900 online, compared with the anticipated $3,000 price for the SpaceBook.

  • Nokia Posts Booklet Video Tour

    05Sep
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    Nokia today revealed more details about the Booklet, the 3G-enabled netbook announced late last month, at the Nokia World conference in Stuttgart, Germany.

    As predicted, the netbook will carry a hefty $800 price tag when it launches, and will come with Windows 7. The Booklet will be available in either black, silver, or blue. A range of Booklet accessories, including a Bluetooth headset.

    Nokia also posted a hands-on video that offers a closer look at the Booklet:

     

    Nolkia has yet to announce a specific launch date, but the 10-inch netbook is expected to debut in late October, around the same time as Windows 7.

    Does the Booklet offer true innovation? Or is it just another average netbook? Is it really worth the considerably high $800 price point? Be sure to fire off your thoughts in the comments.

    Follow Geek Tech and Chris Brandrick on Twitter.

  • Chinese Government Sells Lenovo Parent Stake

    04Sep
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    A privately owned Chinese group will buy a stake in Lenovo’s parent company being sold by a Chinese government academy, the companies said Friday.

    China Oceanwide Holdings Group will buy the 29 percent share in Legend Holdings, Lenovo’s parent company, for 2.76 billion yuan (US$404 million), a Legend spokeswoman said Friday. A China Oceanwide representative confirmed the deal.

    The deal places more control of Lenovo’s parent in the hands of private investors, which could influence its business strategy.

    The stake is being sold by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a state-run institution that conducts national research projects. China Oceanwide was the only buyer who met the conditions set in the academy’s sale notice, the Legend spokeswoman said. The academy required that the buyer agree not to resell its stake, alter Legend’s strategy or propose changes to the company’s management for five years. The academy will retain a 36 percent stake in Legend, leaving it the company’s largest investor.

    China Oceanwide controls companies in industries including real estate, banking and energy.

    Legend and China Oceanwide said details of the deal and Legend’s new strategy would be available at a briefing next Tuesday. Lenovo declined to comment.

    Lenovo, the world’s fourth-largest PC maker, began restructuring early this year to refocus on its business in China and other emerging markets. The global economic recession dealt a heavy blow to the company’s operations in developed markets. The company has posted net losses for the last three quarters

  • HP Laptop’s Trouble Hinges on the Price of Repair

    01Sep
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    Amid all the hoopla over HP’s cracked hinges here at the Gripe Line, I received a letter from Rosario, a Gripe Line reader. His issue should sound familiar to those who wrote in response to “On the wrong side of HP’s hinge recall”:

    “I bought an HP dv7-1245 laptop. But I took it back to Best Buy after just three days because one of the speakers was not working. While I was there, I decided to upgrade since that was the last unit available of that model. So I got the Pavilion dv7-1285DX instead. About a month later, I noticed that the left hinge plastic cover was separated a few centimeters on the seam on this machine. No big deal, I thought to myself, and I pushed it back together. That seemed to solve the problem. Or so I thought. But every time I closed the screen that hinge cover popped out again.”

    [ Also on InfoWorld: "HP holds firm on hinge recall deadline" and "On the wrong side of HP's hinge recall" | Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld's Gripe Line newsletter. ]

    Finally, the situation annoyed Rosario enough to drive him back to Best Buy with his new laptop looking for a more permanent solution. “To my surprise,” he says, “the guy did not even look at the notebook. He told me it was past the 14-day return or exchange policy and he could not do an exchange for me.”

    The Best Buy representative gave Rosario HP’s customer service number along with the impression that his call would fall on deaf ears. “The guy knew already the answer that HP was going to give me,” says Rosario, “because he also suggested I write a letter if calling HP’s customer service didn’t do any good. Right there he was telling me that HP has been having a lot of issues and customers have to resort to writing letters to get these problems escalated.”

    Rosario did call HP. “I was transferred six times because no one could understand the problem,” he says. “Finally I reached someone who could understand and speak English. I explained the issue and was put on hold.” After about 15 minutes, word came back: The notebook was not covered under warranty because the problem was physical damage. A representative told Rosario he could send the notebook to HP for repair. The fee? $298.

    “I was in shock,” says Rosario. “The notebook has never being dropped or mistreated in any way. Why would this defect not be covered under warranty? At that moment,” says Rosario. “I promised myself I would never buy any other product from HP.”

    I forwarded Rosario’s letter along with all the others related to the hinge-crack issue. As you may have read in “HP holds firm on hinge recall deadline,” the deadline for participating in the recall on laptops with the hinge crack defect ended on May 31 and HP does not intend to extend it. I had little expectation that there would be a happy solution for Rosario.

    But as it turns out, Rosario’s issue was not a part of this hinge-crack recall after all. And that’s good news for him. I heard this week from a spokesperson at HP that the company has repaired Rosario’s laptop free of charge.
    For more IT analysis and commentary on emerging technologies, visit InfoWorld.com. Story copyright © 2007 InfoWorld Media Group. All rights reserved.