Intel has been on a roll over the last couple of years with a series of great innovations being introduced with their new products that is setting the benchmark for speed, low temperatures and reliability. Now the company is set to unveil a new chip that will offer unprecedented battery life.

Intel has announced three new chips that are squarely aimed at reducing the energy consumption required to run it. Intel is so confident about their new products that the company is predicting laptops to run all day by 2013 based on a single charge or go on connected standby for almost 10 days.

The center of the energy efficiency claims of Intel lies on the Haswell processor, that will be shipped on 2013. This chip will be extending the energy efficiency claims further than any of Intel’s other products. The processor has been specially designed to allow for a Haswell-powered laptop to run for one full day on a single charge. The idle platform power will also be reduced by up to 20 times compared to current designs. Compare this to the Macbook Air that runs for seven hours on a single charge and has a 30 day regular standby.

For those who are confused about what connected standby is – this is a computer state wherein the display is turned off but the device is still connected to the network, which simply means the device is still connected and on, constantly updating email, social media and digital content.

Computing mobility has opened the world up for increased productivity, allowing us to continue work wherever we are. But with every benefit there is also usually a cost, and unfortunately, it’s our health that has gotten the bad end of the deal. With more people stuck behind their computers even when working remotely our general health suffers because of our prolonged sitting to use a computer. Read more…

Take a look and make your judgment. Lenovo’s latest desktop has been leaked (surprise!) and of course, people are jumping to see what they can find out about the new product. Dubbed the ThinkCentre Edge 91z, this desktop is not your ordinary computer.

Now I know this isn’t a laptop, but the design is worth writing about. One look at the image and you’ll immediately see that Lenovo might be on to something here.

Believe it or not, the processor and everything else that is needed for a computer to function can be found in the monitor. In this respect, this desktop computer can be comparable to a laptop or a tablet PC, even!

Needless to say, the ThinkCentre Edge 91z – when it finally comes out – is going to be a game changer.

According to the PDF that Engadget “intercepted”, the ThinkCenter Edge 91z is supposed to be announced tomorrow, May 17.¹ It should be available by late June of this year. Now that the leak has happened, we don’t know if anything is changing.

In any case, the ThinkCentre Edge 91z is not all about looks. It does pack a punch with respect to specs as well. The monitor is 21.5 inches, with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Other details:

• Multiple Active Displays for Multi-tasking
• 1G ATI Discrete Graphics Card (though this is optional)
• Wi-Fi
• HDMI Video Out/Video In
• Spill-proof keyboard (now that’s something we all need!)
• Rapid Drive SSD
• Up to Intel Core i7 Quad Core CPUs

The price tag?  From $699 to $1199.  There’s nothing more to do but to wait for Lenovo’s official announcement.  Also, it would be interesting to see how they handle the leak. ;)

1. Engadget [↩]

The Google Chrome OS laptop has been making waves ever since it was announced. The concept is rather novel, with the OS being cloud-based. Basically, you will need a connection to the Internet to use the laptop. Without that key factor, then your laptop is practically useless. Google says, though, that they are looking for ways to provide a fix – that we still have to hear about.

In other news, Google has announced that they are going to offer the Google Chrome OS laptop for as low as $20 a month, in a scheme that is not unlike what telecommunications companies offer for mobile phones. With this scheme, they are targeting students who may not have the amount on hand for the entire package. Instead, Google is offering a subscription-based package which will make it very affordable.

What do you get for $20 a month? Well, you get the laptop, of course, plus the online services that come with it. Again, the online services are integral to the use of the laptop so it makes sense that they come with the fee.

This is definitely a good move on Google’s part. One major reason – they can “catch” users while they’re young. One can’t deny that once you start patronizing a manufacturer or using a particular service early in your life and you’re satisfied, then the chances are that you will stick with them for many years to come. Another reason is that with the bundled online services, Google actually makes a captive market out of the users. Instead of having to rely on Microsoft or whatever other maker of office applications, users of Google Chrome OS laptop will automatically have to use Google Apps.

While the offer is currently limited to students, there is hope that a similar system might be offered to businesses in the future. In the meantime, Google really ought to address the issue of connectivity.

Via Tech Radar

If you had a desktop computer, a laptop, a netbook, and a tablet, which one would you end up using the most? This is the question that TV ratings company Nielsen posed to the respondents in one of its recent surveys. The tense of that question was, of course, changed to fit reality and not a possible situation. So, given the different kinds of computers that the average person has access to, which one is the most utilized? The answer is not that surprising: tablets.

Nielsen got in touch with owners of tablets (or pads, if you wish) and asked them how their habits have changed since they got hold of the handy device. A stunning 77 percent of these owners proclaimed that they use their touchscreen devices in lieu of their desktop or laptop computers. More so, more than 33 percent of the users also said that they have used their (desktop) computers less – or even not at all – ever since they bought their tablet. As for laptops, 2 percent have said that they have stopped using what used to be the most portable computing device.

The survey results are not unthinkable. Just stop for a moment, and you will probably count yourself as part of the statistics. Just to make it formal, though, here are the reasons that Nielsen found out.

Topping the list is portability. Indeed, no one can contest that tablets are much easier to take around as compared to laptops. Other factors: ease of interface, fast start up/off, convenience, size, etc.

So what about you? Are you a tablet owner? Do the numbers above apply to you?