Rumours about a new HP Envy 14 and HP Envy 17 have started up again due to some support documents being spotted that confirm the new models in the Envy range. Each will be an upgrade to the Envy 13 and Envy 15 series of laptops.

Reports of a HP Envy 14 are not new though as that particular laptop was spotted last November. That particular report came from a file that was downloaded that contained a reference to an Envy 14 in a couple of different variants with that name/screen size.

The new information comes from a CVA file called HP Support Assistant CVA Documentation, SP47327 where a reference to the HP Envy 14 is added as well as a new Envy 17 that hasn’t been previously mentioned.

What will be inside the laptops is another thing and something we don’t have any information yet on. Perhaps HP will go for more power by introducing an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPU in to the mix along with a decent graphics card, or maybe the Envy 14 will get the i5 and Envy 17 will get the i7. It’s all just speculation right now until the details are confirmed by HP themselves.

On another note, another device was also dug up from similar documentation which indicates a HP Pavilion dm4 could be in the making.

Right now we have no official specs on that other than it potentially being a 14 inch screened device with built in optical drive and with a sale price of $650 – $850. We’ll dig deeper for details and no doubt if true, more will be officially announced shortly.

HP Envy 14, 17 and Pavilion dm4 Confirmed – Possibly

Acer have introduced a new line of notebook computers called the Acer Aspire Ethos series. The new series of netbooks are designed to look good as well as have high performance chips inside letting them run good too.

The notebooks are called the Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G and the Aspire Ethos 5943G which come with a range of processors which includes the Intel Core i5 and i7 range of processors. The Acer 8943G is the higher end of the models (and the larger) and features an 18 inch screen with a full HD resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. The smaller 5943G model has a 15.6 inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 786 pixels.

Powering the graphics in each Ethos notebook are ATI Mobility Radeon HD5000 graphics chips. Other features on the notebook computers include Dolby Home Theatre surround support which offers a 5.1 output. As well as utilising Dolby surround on external speakers the notebooks also have five speakers built in allowing for each channel to be replicated correctly.

The Acer Aspire Notebooks also have plenty of storage which reaches a capacity of 1.28TB by combining two 640GB hard drives in each notebook.

There is plenty of connectivity too which allows for a gigabit Ethernet connect to transfer at high speeds as well as the obvious wireless networking built in. Bluetooth 2.1 is also built in. Outputs/Inputs on the Acer notebooks includes eSATA, USB, FireWIre, HDMI and VGA. For security there’s a fingerprint reader for biometric protection. A webcam can also be found in the device too.

Prices are unknown at the moment although judging by the specs listed above they are certainly not going to come in under $1000, if not under $2000 either.

Via: SlashGear

Acer Aspire Ethos 8943G and 5943G HD Notebooks Announced

ASUS [2357] have announced that they are pushing USB 3.0 in a big way by including the standard on each and every Eee PC that they make from now on. As well as creating Eee PC USB 3.0 netbooks the company will also include USB 3.0 ports on ASUS PC’s and the Eee Box devices.

This move will help bring the new USB 3.0 faster standard in to mainstream although it could be a while till hard drives and other hardware can keep up with those speeds.

“Asustek also claimed that the PLX high-speed transmission chip that the company adopts on its motherboard can boost the transmission speed of its USB 3.0 technology to 74.38% faster than its competitors.”

It isn’t clear when the first netbook, PC or Eee Box will show up with USB 3.0 ports, but once they start showing up all models after that will come as standard with the new ports.

Via: Digitimes

ASUS Eee Netbooks to get USB 3.0 as Standard

We just posted about iFixit and the iPhone vs Nexus One infographic. Along with the email we received from iFixit, they also confirmed that they will be doing an Apple iPad Teardown on April 3 when the Apple [AAPL] device is launched. At the end of the email from Kyle he said…

P.S. Yes, we will be taking apart the iPad on April 3.
How could you doubt us?! (Props to you if you’re one of the few with faith in us who *have not* emailed me asking whether we’ll disassemble it). I’ll be running my technicians through screwdriver calisthenics all next week to prepare.

So there you have it, look out over on the iFixit site on April 3 to see the full Apple iPad teardown and find out exactly what’s inside the highly anticipated tablet device.

Apple iPad Teardown Confirmed

Gallery: Acer Aspire Ethos

Acer launches Aspire Ethos line with swanky 5943G and 8943G models originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 05:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Apple iPad is landing in just over a week on April 3. We hear that CBS.com are currently working on bringing their video content to the iPad in the form of HTML5. This would mean that the normal flash videos that can be viewed on the CBS site through a regular browser will actually be converted to the HTML5 format allowing content to still be played on the Apple [AAPL] device.

The information arrives after the CBS site was spotted to include a couple of “iPad – test” video links. MacRumors decided to run a test to see if they functioned as the name suggested and found that they were just redirected to the normal flash videos. They did however note that when either using the iPad SDK simulator, or by spoofing the browser agent on a PC/Mac to make it look like you were viewing the content on an iPad, that a different version of the video was displayed (image smaller above and larger below).

Although the video didn’t play when tested as an iPad browser or on the SDK, further investigations revealed that the CSS files related to the page actually made mention of HTML5 and had a number of webkit calls (meaning they are related to the iPad Safari browser). The videos didn’t load on the page, but it is strongly believed that the videos are being converted in to an alternative format so the HTML5 video versions can also be played when needed.

It’s good to see a major network is looking at switching to HTML5. Perhaps others will follow making the pain of not having flash more bearable.

Via: The Other Mac Blog

CBS.com Getting Ready for HTML5 Video on the Apple iPad

HP have made the HP EliteBook 8740w official now by making an announcement. The new laptop built by HP is quite a beast of a laptop in terms of processing power.

The HP 8740w is powered by either an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor. Has either an ATI FirePro M7820 or an NVIDIA Quadro FX GPU installed which both have 1GB of DDR3 memory installed. A 320GB hard drive spinning at 7200rpm can be found inside. The display on the 8740w measures 17 inches and is classed as a Dreamcolor display (although that is an optional upgrade). DreamColor is capable of displaying more than 1 Billion colours which HP say is 64 times more than other screens.

Support for up to 16GB of memory is available for the laptop. A USB 3.0 connector can also be found on the laptop allowing for highspeed transfers between compatible USB 3.0 devices.

An optional backlit keyboard can be selected when purchasing the laptop which HP also mention is the first time an EliteBook variation has received this option.

The HP EliteBook 8740w is potentially a powerful machine if you opt for all the optional extras although a hefty price tag is also associated with this power with prices starting at $1999 going all the way up to $3899 for the top spec version. If you need power in a laptop form factor though then the EliteBook appears to be an excellent option although it’s always best to wait for full reviews when ordering any laptop at this price.

Via: OhGizmo and BusinessWire

HP EliteBook 8740w Announced

T-Mobile have announced that they are offering the Dell Mini 10 netbook with a built in T-Mobile compatible 3G service.

The netbook is going on sale today for $199.99 on a 24 month contract in various select areas in the US which includes Chicago, Dallas, Miami and Los Angeles. It will also be available through the website and through T-Mobile’s sales number.

The Dell Mini 10 appears to be slightly modified from the standard ones available on the Dell website in that it runs an Intel Atom N450 processor that is clocked at 1.66GHz. The battery has six cells and can store 56WHr of energy allowing for up to 8 hours of usage on a single charge which we assume was tested with all features switched off such as Wireless as well as a fairly dim screen. Either way you should at least get 6 hours from a single charge.

The Mini 10 has a 10.1 inch WSVGA screen along with a webcam (1.3 megapixels), three USB 2.0 ports, VGA port and it runs Windows 7 Starter edition.

The netbook has Wireless built in and for connecting up to T-Mobile’s network it works on quadband EDGE and quadband 3G which allows you to roam internationally at 850 and 1900 MHz.

The Dell Mini 10 Netbook should be put online today at the T-Mobile site.

Via: EeePC

T-Mobile to offer Dell Mini 10 Netbook for $200

Gallery: HP EliteBook 8740w press shots

Gallery: HP EliteBook 8740w hands-on

HP EliteBook 8740w pumped up with Intel Core 2010 CPUs, ATI / NVIDIA graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Enso have unveiled a new tablet that runs the Android OS. The device is called the Enso ZenPad and costs $155 making it very friendly to the wallet.

The ZenPad has a 5 inch screen that has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. It runs a 667MHz Samsung 6410 processor and has an 8GB storage capacity (the pre-installed microSD card). The supplied 8GB microSD card can be replaced with a larger capacity if needed.

There are three ZenPad models available which start at the basic model costing $155 that has all the features already mentioned along with WiFi and a six hour battery life. The next model up introduces a GPS unit to the device which adds another $25 to the price of the device. A 3G option is also available which ads a further $35 to the device taking the fully kitted out Enso ZenPad up to just $210.

With the ZenPad running the Android OS it opens up to a variety of applications that can be install through the Android Market. It isn’t clear if microSD is the only storage option as I assume there is some internal memory for installing apps on due to restrictions in Android about putting software on a removable media card.

The only thing that lacks is perhaps a webcam… but at $155 for the lowest model we can’t really complain at that now.

Via: TFTS

Enso ZenPad Android based Tablet Revealed