The Latitude XT3 does have one distinct advantage over standalone tablets, as it has more CPU power than those thin devices. It has an Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor, and runs the full Windows 7 OS. The screen is a 13.3-inch HD LCD connected to the computer with bi-directional hinge. The keyboard comes with a backlight, which is always nice to have when you work in the dark.

This laptop is compatible with all of the Dell Latitude E line of accessories and docking stations. Prices haven’t been released, but I’m curious to see if it can beat the price of a MacBook Air + iPad 2 combo. The XT2 sells for $1,930, which means that for the price of this convertible laptop, you could easily get an Air plus an iPad 2. The question is, do you want one or more mobile devices?

[via designboom]

Mike had a bunch of parts he was going to put in the trash, and decided to give them new life as a robotic sculpture. He gathered up discarded circuit boards and parts from friends and family too, and managed to build a robot with quite a personality.

He’s got body parts from Dell, AMD, IBM, Maxtor, Toshiba, Sharp, Gateway among others. Nice touch there with the CPUs and flash drives for his brains.

I especially like the eyes – which came from some old Canon and HP digital cameras. You know that thing they say about the eyes being the window to one’s soul, right?

All in all, it’s a loving tribute to technology that at one point was an integral part of someone’s livelihood, education or entertainment. I think we need to build an entire shrine to old technology filled with these guys.

[via Total Geekdom]

Apparently, Chester dressed in a biker outfit and put on a skull mask, stormed into the office where other Dell folks worked and yelled at them all to get into the lobby while holding what some called “metallic objects.” Some of the scared workers called 911 and the SWAT team showed up.

The two were arrested and charged with Interfering with Public Duties and Deadly Conduct. The ill-conceived marketing stunt was to show off a new Dell Streak tablet that can interface with a Harley. I guess the guy in the mask was going for Ghost Rider. The part these two should be thankful of is that since Texas is a concealed carry state, they didn’t get shot. We can also be thankful Chester didn’t hone in on the “streak” connection and bust in naked.

[via KXAN]

The poor choice in OS for the tablet isn’t because the hardware can’t handle Honeycomb either. The Streak 7 has NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor inside and a lot more. The rig has the power – Dell just made a bad decision I guess.

If you like the Streak 7, or just want to see what the tablet looks like on the inside, the geeks at Tinhte.vn have taken one apart for posterity. The video teardown shows all the hardware inside and it’s hard to see where the price comes in with so few parts to gander at. Check out the video for all the action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Engadget]

Admittedly, the Adamo looks great, but I’d rather have a MacBook Air than this. Let’s be honest; students can get the base MacBook Air for $50 more, and the general public can get one for as little as $999. Sure, the Adamo has got better system specs for the price, but the MacBook Air compensates with flash-based storage that the Adamo can’t really compete with, unless it’s outfitted with expensive SSD hard drives. Plus, the MacBook air has it beat on weight, battery life and looks.

On a related note, for Christmas I went out and bought myself a brand spanking new MacBook Pro 17 -  the i7 2.8Gz model – and I have to say that this beats all of the laptops that I’ve had in recent years. I’m rocking about 8 hours per charge and I’m loving it. If you can afford to splurge on a system, go for that one.

[via Ubergizmo]

For those not familiar with the ultraportable, the m11x has an 11.6 in HD display, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M and 2GB DDR3 RAM. It can be configured with a variety of processors, but this particular discounted model is fitted with the Core 2 Duo 1.3Ghz CPU, which is the weakest of the available CPUs. A copy of 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium is also included in the price.

Ready to scratch your portable gaming itch? Just hit this link for the $599 price, then apply coupon code BHW1L0MX0D?MCX to get another $50 bucks off, bringing the final price down to just $549 for this system.

[via Chip Chick]

This is just a teaser video, but it’s a safe bet that this convertible netbook will make it to market. Will it be relevant? I don’t know. I’m honestly not that inspired and that’s down to one big reason: the Windows 7 OS makes for a terrible tablet environment. We’ve all seen the different demos, and tablet manufacturers need a custom OS to fully exploit the features of a touch-based interface.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For now, Apple is still king of the road when it comes to tablets. In fact, they currently dominate the market and it’s been like this since the iPad has been released. Will the upcoming releases of Asus, HP, and other manufacturers’ tablets change this? Only time will tell.

[Blogeee.net via CrunchGear]

The notebook has a 15.6-inch screen with HD resolution and has lots of options when it comes to the processor. The user can opt for Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 CPUs. The notebook can have up to 8GB of RAM at 1333MHz. Graphics for the machine are via Intel HD series and an optional ATI Radeon HD 5650 mobile GPU with 1GB of RAM is available. Screen resolution is 1366 x 768.

The machine comes standard with a DVD burner and can be optioned with a Blu-ray drive that can read Blu-ray discs and burn to CD and DVDs. Power is from a standard 6-cell battery and an optional 9-cell is available.

There’s no word on pricing or a release date for the Inspiron 15R Alloy Edition yet, but you can find more information about the notebook over at Dell.

I am using the original Dell 30-inch LCD and the new screen Dell started shipping today makes me jealous. The thing is a 30-inch LCD with IPS tech and 117% color gamut. That color gamut means the screen can show 10.7 billion colors rather than the measly 16 million or so my screen supports. The beast has a 2560 x 1600 resolution and viewing angles of 178-degrees.

The contrast ratio is 1000:1 typically with 100,000:1 dynamic with a brightness rating of 370 cd/m2. The screen also offers HDMI, DVI-D, DisplayPort, and VGA connectivity. The only thing I don’t like about the U3011 is the price, it sells for $1500 (USD).

The Dell Thunder looks pretty slick from these early pics the guys over at Engadget managed to get their hands on. The Thunder is expected to have a nice big 4.1-inch WVGA OLED screen, and sports an 8-megapixel digital camera. Rumor has it that it will have a zippy Snapdragon CPU powering its brains. Connectivity will be provided by 7.2Mbps HSPDA and Wi-Fi.

From the looks of the user interface screens, Dell has added their own menu system, but under the surface, there’s a full Android 2.1 operating system. Internal documents from Dell indicate that the Thunder will include built-in support for Facebook, Twitter, and Hulu, and also play Flash 10.1 content.

At this point we don’t know a firm release date, but word on the street is a Q4 2010 release for the initial version of the phone.

Instead of connecting to a traditional monitor or USB keyboard, the Froot features a pair of projectors – one that casts the keyboard on a tabletop, and the other one that projects the computer screen on the wall. Besides the small projection hump in the middle, the left-hand side contains the ports, and the right has a slot-loading DVD drive.

Paulina conceived the Froot for a Dell sustainable design contest, and if ever produced, its colorful case would be made out of a biodegradable starch-based polymer. And, of course no monitor or keyboard means fewer raw materials, and less junk in the landfill when you eventually move on to your next computer.

Perhaps this could be a real commercial application for Light Blue Optics’ recently unveiled Light Touch system?

[via Behance Network]

The well-reviewed machine is loaded with a powerful Intel Core 2 E8400 CPU, running at 3GHz, with a 6MB cache and 1333MHz front-side bus. Graphics come courtesy of an SLi Dual nVidia GeForce 9800GT with 512MB of memory. And while 2GB of high speed RAM is de rigeur these days, you can easily upgrade as much as 8GB if you want to max things out. And there’s a speedy 7200RPM 500GB SATA hard drive to make sure your games and videos run as fast as possible. As for the pre-loaded OS, you’ll get Windows Vista Home Premium, 64-bit Edition to support all that RAM.

The deal is available over at Dell Home, and is only currently set to run for 1 day. So if you want to get your hands on a great higher-end PC without completely breaking the bank, you should check it out.

Of course if you want the smokin’ Red bezel chassis, you’ll have to pony up an extra $20 bucks – pushing the price just north of $1000.

For just $1299, you’ll get a good deal on the 46-inch Sony Bravia KDL-46S4100, plus you’ll get the 19-inch Bravia KDL-19M4000/S thrown in (via a $499 instant savings on the bundle). The KDL-46S4100 is a highly rated flat screen LCD with full 1080p resolution, while the 19-inch silver-bezeled LCD TV normally retails for $499, and displays 720p images (upscaled onto a 1440 x 900 display). The KDL-19M4000/S isn’t too shabby if you’re looking for an extra set for your office, kitchen or a bedroom and is a great bonus if you were already in the market for a large LCD for your living room.

If you want to get in on this deal, you’d better bust a move over to Dell before the offer expires tomorrow.

The image above is obviously not realistic, but it looks funny so I made it that way. The Mini 9 is actually much smaller. I’m kidding. The $1,380 XPS Studio is equipped with the latest processor from Intel, a 2.66 GHz i7 processor with 8MB cache. The desktop also comes with a 24-inch flat panel monitor, 6Gb DDR3 SDRAM, a 7200RPM 750Gb hard disk, an ATI Radeon HD 4670 video card with 512Mb memory, an integrated 7.1 channel sound card, and two DVD drives, one 16x read-only and another drive that has a 16x DVD+/-RW with double layer write capability.

As you can see in the image above, the $99 Mini 9 that is tied to a purchase of the XPS desktop comes with Ubuntu; you have to add $50 to get a Mini 9 with Windows XP.

The Mini 9 is a classic netbook: tiny, light and weak. Again I don’t know if the Mini 9 in question is the $319 or the $399 Mini 9, but both versions only differ in the amount of memory and hard drive space. The $319 Mini 9 only has 512Mb of RAM and an 8Gb SSD  hard drive, whereas the $399 version is equipped with 1Gb of RAM and a 16Gb SSD hard drive. Both versions have an 8.9″ LED display, are powered by a 1.66Ghz/533Mhz FSB with 512k cache Intel Atom processor, Intel GMA 950 for video and a 4 cell battery for mobile computing.

If you want to find out more about the Mini 9, you can read Notebook Review’s early look at the netbook. The XPS Studio’s specs and more can also be viewed at Dell’s online store.

Dell is offering a one-day only deal for the base model of their highly-rated Inspiron Mini 9 netbook computer for just $199 bucks! The Mini 9 runs on Ubuntu Linux and features a crisp 1024 x 600 resolution 8.9″ color LCD screen, wireless connectivity, an ample Intel Atom N270 processor, and a 4GB solid state drive (plenty for surfing the web, checking e-mail, office apps).

The special deal is good from 12:00am to 11:59pm Central Time, today, 2/27/2009. To get the $199 deal, follow this link to the Dell Home site .

So why is the SPPS200 200 Wh Portable Power Station the BMW M6 of battery packs? Because its little brothers, the 118 Wh and 130 Wh models, are the BMW of battery packs, that’s why. So why are they the BMWs of battery packs? Because they’re expensive. So why are they expensive? Because they can power your laptop, for up to 30 hours. Vrooom.

The SPPS 200 can power PC laptops for 20-30 hours, while MacBooks owners can expect 16 hours of extra runtime. BMW of runtimes if you ask me.

And that’s not all: As you may have guessed from the picture, you can adjust the output voltage of the PPS so that aside from giving your laptop the BMW of battery lives, it can also power and recharge your cellphone, your PDA, your PSP, your iPhone, your iPod and other mp3 players.

And that’s not all: You don’t even need to bring the chargers for any of those devices because the PPS comes with adapters that will fit with your gadget. You can check out the link to Battery Geek below for the BMW of supported laptops and mobile devices. And that’s not all: while Macbooks are supported, Battery Geek charges an extra $20 for the Macbook/Macbook Pro adapter. G4 and Powerbook adapters are already included with the PPS.

And that’s not all: The PPS weighs only 4.4 lbs. and is just over an inch thick. What’s the catch? The BMW M6 of battery pack prices, of course. The list price of the SPPS 200 is $800 (USD). Fortunately, you can buy it straight from Battery Geek for the BMW of discounted prices of $500. And that’s not all: when you buy the SPPS 200, you’ll get the BMW of freebies, a free leather & canvas travel case.

And that’s not all: Here are the BMWs of introductory videos for battery packs:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Now you know the BMWs and the BMW M6s of the tech world. Next time we’ll take a look at the Scot Pollard of rap.

Update: a couple of commenters have pointed out that the spps200 may in fact be the Ford Edsel of battery packs. Apparently Battery Geek also has poor service. Caveat emptor.

I can now confirm that the Dell 27-inch 2707WFP widescreen monitor is a reality, running at a solid 1900×1200 native resolution. The monitor is housed in a slick aluminum case with a beveled glass base, so it has a little more panache than most other DELL monitors. The display also claims a 1000 to 1 contrast ratio and a wide 92% color gamut. Inputs include DVI with HDCP, component, composite and s-video. There’s also an integrated media card reader and USB ports. The display offers full tilt, swivel and height adjustments as well.

The monitor is priced at $1399, and is already available from Dell’s online store.

A Dell employee confirmed to website DailyTech that the image was from the training manual for their upcoming W2707C display. Further speculation is that the monitor is positioned to cross over Dell’s television and their computer monitor lines by including both computer inputs such as DVI and USB as well as television inputs such as component and composite, but not HDMI. The panel is assumed to use Samsung’s new 27-inch 1920×1200 glass, which would be sufficient for 1080p+ resolution.

Dell has generally received high marks for their 24-inch (2407WFP) and 30-inch (3007WFP) widescreen monitors, so I’m looking forward to checking this one out when it hits the street.

[via DailyTech]