NetbookShow

At this point, NVIDIA’s Optimus switchable graphics are old hat, but AMD is relatively new to the game of packing dual GPUs in a single laptop. AnandTech decided to pit the two solutions against each other and, well, lets just say AMD doesn’t come out looking so great. The biggest problem appears to be stability.

While performance is acceptable (though, not quite as good as it should be) the site had trouble getting four of the supposedly 16 supported games to switch between the integrated and discrete GPUs as advertised. Regular driver updates, not to mention a bit more testing, could solve the issues, but for now NVIDIA’s Optimus simply outclasses its AMD counterpart. Check out the video after the break and don’t forget to hit up the source link for all the details.

LG’s P220 ultraportable has been making the rounds since Computex in June, but OCZ has only just now confirmed that it’s using a fairly special new 2.5-inch SSD from the company. Unlike traditional 2.5-inch laptop drives that measure 9.5mm thick, this new “custom designed” drive measures just 7.5mm in height, which makes it about 25 percent slimmer.

So far only the 128GB variety included in the P220 has been confirmed, but OCZ indicates that it’s just the first of more LG laptops to use the new drives. Press release is after the break.

Although laptops are the epitome of convenience and mobile work efficiency, snags like dead batteries can leave you frustrated and impotent. Battery life is a key feature of battery performance is affected by computer usage, so you can take an active role in extending its life. Use these 5 simple tips below to use less energy and get the most out of your laptop’s battery.

1. Lower the LCD Screen’s BrightnessOne easy way to improve your laptop’s power consumption is to lower the brightness level of its LCD screen. When the screen’s brightness is lowered, images may appear darker on the screen. However, if there is an adequate light source available, higher brightness settings are unnecessary. Lowering the brightness is also likely to lengthen the life of your screen.

2. Use Power Saving Options. All laptops should have features that allow a person to improve power consumption. In Windows, these features can be found in a menu named “Power Options” that is located in the Control Panel. For Mac users, there is a feature called “Energy Saver” that is located in the System Preferences menu. You should be able to use these options to tell your laptop how long to wait until it powers off when it remains idle. You should also be able to set warnings to alert you a set period of time before your battery dies so you can save your files.

3. Use Standby More Often. Often people leave their laptops running when they leave their work desk. However, this needlessly consumes battery life. Instead, a person can use standby mode to cut down on power consumption when not using the laptop during these brief periods. Standby mode can usually be accessed by going to Power Options in the Windows Control Panel. Sometimes, this mode is referred to as Hibernation. This power saving mode can commonly be accessed by holding in the F12 key.

4. Disconnect Unused Devices from Your Laptop. Sometimes, a person may keep certain peripheral devices plugged into a laptop even when they aren’t being used. However, even though they aren’t in use, they may still be draining power from the laptop’s battery. If possible, these should be unplugged. Alternatively, certain devices can be disabled if they aren’t in use. Take for example a memory stick. If the memory stick is disabled by the laptop user, it won’t be consuming any of the battery’s power.

5. Turn off the Audio Speakers and headphones often use up a lot of a laptop battery’s power. If you turn the volume down, power consumption is greatly reduced. If the audio is muted, consumption stops all together.

Some say the best thing you can do for yourself is get a massage or start an exercise program or go on a (gasp) diet, but if you really wanna improve your life, get an SSD. Reader Osama plans to buy a new Corsair SSD at the same time he purchases an HP dm1z laptop, but he’s wondering how he’ll move the Windows 7 OS and programs from the old drive to the new. He writes:

A few months ago, I read an article in LaptopMag which suggested installing an SSD to improve a PC’s performance, among a list of other changes and upgrades. I have done a fair bit of research, and wish to install an SSD in the next laptop I purchase, in order to get a faster boot time and slightly better battery life.

I am about to purchase an HP dm1z (Specs: AMD E-350 Processor, 4GB RAM, 750GB 5400rpm HDD). I want to change the HDD with a Corsair 120GB SATA Solid State Drive. The HP will ship with Windows 7 installed on the 750GB hard drive (along with the other usual ‘bloatware’), and I intend to swap the HDD with the SSD before any installing any additional software. The HDD will later be formatted for use as a data storage drive.

My problem (or question) is: How can I smoothly transfer the Windows 7 on the 750GB HDD to the 120GB SDD, without causing any major problems for any of the related hardware? Bearing in mind that the HP dm1z does not have a DVD drive and I do not plan on buying an external DVD drive.

Most of the articles and/or forum posts I’ve read so far recommend a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD. How can that be accomplished legally, without purchasing another copy of Windows 7?

Another circulating opinion suggests shrinking of the partition containing Windows 7 and using Acronis to clone that partition on the SSD. How will it be possible to go about this approach, and how feasible will it be?

The answer to Osama’s problem is really simple; he just needs the right disk imaging program and a wire to connect the SSD to the notebook while he performs the cloning. There’s no need to reinstall Windows or any other program on the SSD as the software will copy every piece of data bit by bit to the new drive.

Before you begin, purchase an external enclosure that will let you connect your SSD to the notebook’s USB port and use it as an external drive during the copy process. You can get a SATA to USB hard enclosure like this Vantec NexStar for under $10 on sites such as NewEgg. You’ll also need to download and install cloning software on the notebook. We recommend Acronis Migrate Easy, which costs $39.99, but has a free trial version that may run long enough to do the copy for you.

We have a full tutorial with pictures and video that explains how to do the drive cloning and SSD install. Follow those instructions and you should be good to go.

MSI has just announced the availability of two new notebooks – the X460 and X460DX. Featuring an ultra slim profile, and 14″ displays, these notebooks are designed for professionals on the go. The computers pack Intel Core processors, Intel Integrated GMA HD or NVIDIA GeForce GT540M video cards, Microsoft Windows 7, up to 6GB of RAM, 500-750GB of hard disk space, and THX TruStudio PRO.

What’s great about these notebooks are their touted battery life of 8 hours – something you don’t hear very often these days but as usual, battery life depends on what you do with the notebook. Other features include Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) 2.0, USB 3.0 ports, HDMI output, and an integrated 1.3-megapixel webcam for video chatting purposes. The notebooks are available now from Newegg and Amazon, with prices starting at $799.99.

Always dreamt of a Apple notebook with built-in WWAN? Looks like today’s your lucky day: a prototype MacBook Pro just surfaced on eBay, replete with a SIM card slot and retractable antenna in tow. Expecting a nonfunctional parts machine off Craigslist, its newfound owner managed to resuscitate the 2007-esque gizmo into booting, but was unfortunately unable to coax any GSM goodness from the thing.

According to the seller, regular MacBook Pros from the era contain the same (but unused) solder points for the SIM card as the proto, lending credence to the notion that Cupertino might have seriously considered a 3G variant. Either way, if you’ve got a knack for rare Apple collectibles, or feel the need to ogle and some red-colored innards, hit the source below.

Apple made Lion, its eighth major OS X release, available to Mac computer users on July 20th, and the Cupertino-based tech giant noted in the first sentence of its press release that Lion includes “more than 250 new features.” Unfortunately for a seemingly large group of users — this editor included — the only new features that really mattered were the numerous annoyances that came to light after just a few minutes of usage. The new autocorrect, the annoying new event behavior in iCal, the lack of key repeat, the bizarre defaults set throughout the OS… we could go on for quite a while. Some love these new features while others seriously considered rolling back to Snow Leopard.

While unhappy users will have adjust to much of the new behavior if they wish to continue using Lion, there is now an answer for several common gripes: Lion Tweaks. Developed by “Fredrik W,” Lion Tweaks allows users to dial back some of the improvements that are common sources of agony, including the new spelling correction feature, a bunch of annoying animations and more. Lion Tweaks is at version 1.2 right now, and it looks like the app is being actively developed, so we can hopefully expect new capabilities soon. Hit the break to download the utility from the developer’s site.

Apple laptop batteries can be hacked to infect the laptop with malware, or possibly even rigged to explode, a well-known security researcher has found.

All modern laptop batteries have logic chips inside them that communicate with the computer they’re powering. That’s how you’re able to see how much charge is remaining. The chips also carry out regulatory tasks, such as shutting down the charging process when a battery’s at risk of overcharging.

But any logic chip has operating software — “firmware” — and that software can usually be remotely updated.

Charlie Miller, who’s famous for winning the annual Pwn2Own contest four times with his Mac OS X and iOS exploits, discovered that Apple puts the same password on all its laptop batteries in order to efficiently send out battery firmware updates.

Unfortunately, a skilled malicious hacker armed with the password could alter the firmware, Miller says. Altered firmware could be used to store malware or tweaked to damage the computer.

“These batteries just aren’t designed with the idea that people will mess with them,” Miller told Forbes tech blogger Andy Greenberg. “What I’m showing is that it’s possible to use them to do something really bad.”

Miller will be presenting his finding at next week’s Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. He has already notified Apple of the vulnerability, and is not revealing the password.

Digging into source code

Miller, who formerly was with the National Security Agency and currently works for Denver security firm Accuvant Labs, was intrigued by a 2009 firmware update that Apple had sent out to fix a problem with MacBook batteries. Read more…

What is this update? More than it seems at first glance. But first silenced the holders of the old MacBook – get the ability to port Mini DisplayPort connector is left. With regard to possible changes in the matrix has not happened. Apple a1175‘s the same 27-inch LCD panel technology from IPS. The brightness (375 cd/m2), contrast (1000:1), the viewing angle (178 ° / 178 °), response time (12 ms) and resolution (2560h1440 points) remained unchanged. This monitor is ideal for professional graphics: Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, Final Cut Studio and so on.

The middle of summer – the quietest time of year. But not for Apple! In the middle of the hot season, the company is located in a quiet set of new products. Thunderbolt but after the introduction of a wave that began in the late winter of this year, along with updated MacBook Pro, was the appearance of the user in all other products of the company’s only a matter of time. And now the turn of the MacBook Air, Mac mini and Apple Thunderbolt display.However, if you connect to the Thunderbolt display port on the Apple powerbook g4 battery, then on the back of the monitor “live” three-slot USB (or 2.0) port FireWire 800, RJ-45 offers (the data transfer rates of up to 1000 Mb / s) and another port Thunderbolt.

Today we are focusing on the new ultra-compact notebooks, and a little on the monitor. Their joint announcement was clearly planned in advance, and the release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. But the new version of the operating system we will have a separate article, so that the here mentioned, only the “hardware”.For the third time we talk about the latest introduction of bus products in Apple Thunderbolt. But this time the company went even further – the new surface is not only the “Apple macbook pro battery” computers, but also to monitor. Even its name was changed by Apple Thunderbolt display before it as the Apple Cinema Display was announced. Read more…

US-based e-tailer Excaliber PC now lists the 15.6-inch MSI GX680 and 17.3″ MSI GX780 gaming notebook PCs, featuring a 2nd Gen Intel Core processor and Nvidia GeForce dedicated graphics.

Priced at $1,199 and $1,399 respectively after $100 instant savings, the GX680 and GX780 include the Core i7-2630QM 2.0GHz-2.9GHz quad-core CPU, GeForce GT 555M 1GB GDDR5 video card, full HD displays, and a sound system with four speakers and Dynaudio technology. The former has 6GB of DDR3 system memory and a 500GB hard disk, while the latter comes with 8GB RAM and a 750GB HDD.

The GX780 additionally features a Steel-Series gaming-class keyboard.

The latest gaming laptops by MSI also sport a DVD burner, 720p webcam, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, and HDMI 1.4 output.

Both machines run Windows 7 Home Premium OS and come with a 2-year warranty.

The estimated arrival time for the notebooks is May 30.