Extreme PS3 Laptop:Playstation 3 Portable

If you're one among the many Sony PlayStation 3 owners in the world, and you're into high performance gaming laptops then this news update should make you want to wipe your drool off stat: Ben Heck , master of hacking pretty much everything, has just unveiled his latest creation, the Sony PlayStation 3 laptop. Weighing in at around 16 pounds - you could kill a zombie with it - this baby is pure PlayStation from top to bottom, from the hardware to the logo.

For the tech-oriented of us (or just the terminally-curious), here's the specs:

• Original backwards compatible 60GB model
• 17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720p
• HDMI-DVI connection
• Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jack
• Size: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inches
• Weight: 16 pounds
  
  
  While we can say that it certainly takes a strong, brave man to take apart a Sony PlayStation 3 and then put it back together again into a laptop built for gaming and something sleeker and definitely more portable, we have to admit that the thing looks absolutely gorgeous and well worth the dismantling.
  
  If you're curious as to how to procure one of these custom gaming laptops, then you'll have to be quick, as it's being auctioned off for charity. But if you are going to go on a bid war for this expensive piece of machinery, just remember that you'll also be doing it for a good cause.

[Via Engadget]

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ASUS Launches OC Version for EN9600GT Series

According to HardwareZone, in order to cater to users who require excellent graphical performance boosts and exceptional cooling from their graphic cards, ASUS introduces the world's first overclocking version of the latest NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT GPU - the ASUS EN9600GT TOP graphics card.


Users will enjoy 10% engine clock improvements for gaming experiences with the EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M; and both the ASUS EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M and EN9600GT/HTDI/512M models will be soon upgraded with the newest thermal solution – the Glaciator Fansink. Furthermore, the integrated SmartDoctor feature will provide users with the option to overclock the Shader Clock for even better graphical performances.

10% Engine Clock Boosts
With the EN9600GT TOP, gamers can expect core, shader, and memory clock performance boosts from 650MHz up to 720MHz, 1625MHz up to 1800MHz, and from 1.8GHz up to 2GHz respectively. This produces an astonishing 10% improvement in terms of core performance when compared to any other reference designed board*. Gamers can now experience the rush of superb gaming performances only with the ASUS EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M.

Extreme Cooling with Exclusive Glaciator Fansink
The upcoming version of the ASUS EN9600GT Series will incorporate the Glaciator Fansink – a specially designed fansink that is able to effectively dissipate heat away from the GPU to help lower temperatures – much like real-life glacial storms. Besides this extreme cooling capacity, it is also ultra quiet with operating levels of only 25dB – almost imperceptible in a quiet room; and caters to users who require maximum cooling without excessive fan rotation noise.

Official “HDMI Certified” Graphic Cards
The HDMI format is defined, specified and governed by HDMI Licensing, LLC in the USA. Being "HDMI Certified" refers to any product that meets all of the strict criteria as set out by HDMI Licensing; and utilizing any HDMI product that is not approved may result in poor performance, and can even void the warranty on users’ other HDMI enabled hardware. Therefore, the “HDMI Certified” ASUS EN9600GT series are the most trusted graphics cards for home theater enthusiasts to choose from.

Unprecedented Rock Solid Quality from ASUS
Keeping in line with ASUS’ Rock Solid promise for quality, the EN9600GT Series’ second version will come with several solutions to provide the best laptop graphics processor for gaming. With the EMI shield, 66% EMI Interference can be reduced for more stable signals. The DIP Spring Chokes can also lower temperatures by 5~10oC in comparison with traditional Toroidal Coil Chokes. Additionally, the LF PAK MOS guarantees more efficient power and less heat. On top of all this, the Japan made polymer capacitors can lower power loss for more stable operations. Therefore, users will be able to take their high performance gaming laptops to a new level and have peace of mind only with ASUS EN9600GT Series.

Overclock the Shader Clock with New SmartDoctor
ASUS garners a world’s first by providing an overclocking utility that is able to tweak the Shader Clock on GPUs with the new SmartDoctor. With this handy application, users will be able to overclock the Shader Clock and Engine Clock independently for astonishing performance boosts without the hassles of rebooting or re-flashing their BIOS.

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Dual 8800 GTX Cards Comes to Dell's XPS M1730

Yesturday Dell officially announced the availability of dual nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX video cards (2 x 512MB) with nVidia SLI for the XPS M1730 and XPS M1730 World of Warcraft edition notebooks. Being capable of producing a 3DMark06 score of up to a 13,500 3DMarks( a 49 percent improvement over dual nVidia Geforce 8700M GT SLI technology) Dell's XPS M1730 laptop will be able to deliver stunning performance even for demanding games like Crysis and BioShock.

While this news may bitter sweet for you gamers who already purchased the XPS M1730, Dell has another trick up their sleave. Dell will offer a "graphics upgrade program" for customers with existing XPS M1730 and XPS M1730 World of Warcraft edition laptops. So don't get bent out of shape Dell has got you covered.

New customers can configure the XPS M1730 gaming laptop with dual 512MB GeForce 8800M GTX cards for an additional $700 bucks. Details on the upgrade program were not known at this time.

Of course, Dell is not the first notebook manufacturer to break ground on the dual 8800M GTX video cards. Sager was first to the market with the release of the NP9262 with dual 8800M GTX cards last year.

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The Alienware Area-51 m15x Has Landed

It's the first 15.4-inch notebook in the U.S. market with the Nvidia GeForce 8800M GTX video card,and It's available today, with it's out of this world LED glow. The Area-51 m15x gaming laptop is based on the Intel PM956 chipset and comes with an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme mobile processor.The incorporated Nvidia’s top of the line GeForce 8800M GTX mobile graphics card has 512MB of dedicated video memory. The “world’s fastest notebook GPU” is compatible with DirectX 10 games and manages the notebook’s 15.4″ 1920-by-1200 or 1440-by-900 widescreen display.


The high performance gaming laptop also sports Alienware’s BinaryGFX technology. The dedicated graphics card operates in conjunction with an integrated graphics processor. The onboard GPU reduces power consumption during low intensity tasks, while switching to the GeForce 8800M GTX unleashes full graphics capabilities.The m15x supports up to 4GB of DDR2 memory. It comes with up to 320GB hard drive, or with an optional 64GB solid state drive. The system provides the Smart Bay Swappable Drive, which can be filled with a DVD burner, Blu-Ray reader, Bly-Ray writer, secondary hard drive, or a backup battery.This gaming laptop, which runs Windows Vista OS, has the Intel Wireless 4965 a/b/g/draft-N connection, a Gigabit Ethernet LAN, and a Bluetooth, as well as three USB ports, an ExpressCard slot, a 7-in-1 media card reader, and a Firewire port. For HDTV connectivity there is an HDMI output. The Alienware Area-51 m15x weighs 7 pounds with a standard 6-cell battery which gives you about 4 hours of battery life.

Two of the m15x models are available to order immediately, with the third promised soon. Unfortunately for those looking for a bargain, the two available now are the higher end models, coming in at $2,099 and $2,699, with the "low-end" $1,499 model only listed as "coming soon."

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Gateway P-Series FX Gaming Notebook

Gateway has debuted it's awaited gaming laptop and it's one of those laptops built for gaming,giving gamers everything they need in a notebook PC without the price premium typically associated with such PCs. The new Gateway P-Series FX Edition gaming notebook is ready for DirectX 10 gaming action with NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3 graphics, an Intel Mobile Extreme X7900 processor which can be overclocked, and even an HD-DVD drive for watching movies on the units' 17-inch widescreen display.


Gateway's "FX" line of desktop PCs for digital media, gaming and other advanced applications gave birth to the new "FX Edition" notebooks. Like Gateway's FX desktop line, the new P-Series FX Edition notebooks provide the outstanding performance and features that PC gamers demand. The notebook line includes world-class technologies, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3 graphics solution, HDMI and ESATA ports.

Gateway designed the P-Series FX Edition to be available with a range of technology and features at varied price points. So, while the new notebook line is ideal for demanding gamers and enthusiasts who want the latest technology, it will also be perfect for digital media hobbyists and the not so serious PC game players.

The Gateway P-Series FX Edition notebooks are available this week from Gateway in the following configurations:

Gateway P-171XL FX Edition
Intel Core 2 Extreme X7900 processor, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3, 17-inch WUXGA display (1920x1200), 3072MB of DDR2 SDRAM, 400GB of storage (two 200GB 7200RPM SATA hard drives) and an HD-DVD player (DVD-RW). It is priced at $2,999.99.

Gateway P-171S FX Edition
Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3, 17-inch WXGA+ display, 3072MB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive and a slot-load multi-format dual layer DVD-R/RW/DVD-RAM drive with LabelFlash™ technology which lets users laser-burn scratch-resistant personalized images directly on CDs and DVDs. It is priced at $1,599.99.

Gateway P-171X FX Edition
The new Intel Core 2 Duo T8300 processor, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3, 17-inch WUXGA display, 3072MB of DDR2 SDRAM, a 200GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive and a slot-load multi-format dual layer DVD-R/RW/DVD-RAM drive with LabelFlash technology. It is priced at $1,999.99.

Gateway P-6831FX
The premiere model will be available beginning this weekend at the price of $1,349.99.
It comes with the 17-inch WXGA+ display, NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800M GTS 512MB GDDR3, an Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 processor, 3072MB of DDR2 SDRAM and a 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive. The multi-format dual layer DVD-R/RW/DVD-RAM drive comes with LabelFlash technology.

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Falcon Northwest FragBook DRX Gaming Laptop Review

For people who know those gamers who just can't get their game on without the newest, flashest, and fastest system available, we bring you news of the FragBook DRX from Falcon Northwest.

The DRX—stands for Desktop Replacement Extreme. This is a machine which attempts to push the limits of what might be considered a laptop system by packing all the features of a high-end gaming desktop into a laptop chassis. The results are unprecedented. Somewhere inside this beast of a machine Falcon has stashed three!, 200GB hard drives, a top-of-the-line Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU, 4 gigs of RAM, and dual video cards: Nvidia GeForce 8700M GTs running in an SLI rig. Performance is, as expected, ridiculously fast.The FragBook DRX offers Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at up to 2.93 GHz, support for up to 4 GB of 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, and 17-inch 1,900 by 1,200 pixel LCD display. With the three internal SATA II hard drives with RAID 0, 1, and 5 capability, you can either have enough storage for your entire media collection or reliable data backup—or, for some people, maybe both. The system also sports a 1.3 megapixel Webcam, 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking, an 8× dual-layer DVD burner, gigabit Ethernet, and four internal speakers. Also on board: DVI, VGA, and S-Video output; four USB 2.0 ports; 1 mini FireWire port; headphone, mic, audio in, and S/PDIF; an ExpressCard/34/54 slot, a 7-in-1 media card reader, and a CATV television tuner. If you think all this hardware consumes power, you'd be right with all of 61 minutes of battery life. And if you think all this hardware would be heavy, you'd be right again, at 12.1 pounds it's a backbreaker. Although the unit's 12.1 pounds isn't as bad as some other desktop replacement rigs.

If you think the Dell WoW laptop's price was astronomical at $4500 USD, prepare to be blasted even higher with the Falcon Northwest FragBook DRX Gaming Laptop which starts at $5,433.79, which will get you this monster completely customizable, from chassis to drive capacities to peripherals to operating system to custom paint jobs, of course, with 4 GB of RAM and three hard drives (on 7200 rpm 100 GB, two 5400 RPM 160 GB) the price tag jumps to $7,763.56. In conclusion the price is way too much when you can easily customize your own gaming laptop for way less and better looks but if you have the funds go for it.

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WidowPC's Sting 517D2 First With NVIDIA 8800M GTX Video Card

About a month ago I wrote about NVIDIA launching its latest mobile graphics circuit GeForce 8800M GTX and now the first systems using this monster chip have appeared.
WidowPC, a leader in cutting-edge PC hardware, has blown the compitetion out of the water by being the first to ship a gaming laptop featuring the 8800M GTX DirectX 10 compatible video card. Already an acclaimed mobile platform, WidowPC's Sting 517D2 makes a killer combination with the 8800M GTX GPU. The 8800M GTX features 512MB of dedicated DDR3 video memory, 96 stream processors (as opposed to the 32 in previous generation cards), and supports unrivaled HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc picture clarity. Add to this, NVIDIA's new PowerMizer battery extending technology, and you have the most powerful gaming laptop in the market today.
"The new GeForce 8800M GPUs allow gamers to have the ultimate gaming experience on a mobile platform," said Joshua McClure, General Manager at WidowPC. "These new 8800M video cards are exactly what the doctor ordered to play Crysis at advanced levels of visual realism. We’re proud to be the first in North America to ship this incredible performance enhancer."

The Sting 517D2 laptop features a 17-inch screen capable of providing 1920x1200 resolution display. WidowPC provides the necessary customisation options with respect to mobile Intel CPU, RAM, Video card, HDD/SSD and Operating System.The base config starts at $2,061. A decent customization to build a balanced gaming notebook PC comprising of the following components will set you back by about $3,500.

• Single nVidia GeForce 8800M GTX 512MB


• 17-inch 1920x1200 LCD with Camera, Bluetooth, Fingerprint reader, carry case


• Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz


• 2GB 800MHz DDR2 RAM


• 160GB 7200RPM HDD


• Remaining standard config

You can go here to start customizing your own gaming laptop in seconds.

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Wolfking Timber Wolf Keyboard Review

It may not immediately be to everybody's tastes but the thing actually looks quite good. The main body is made up of chic silver plastic, framed by slightly matted black. The media keys along the top of the board are all reflective silver and the black and grey regular keys match the colour of the body perfectly. The keyboard is
without any backlighting. Backlighting is a love-it-or-hate-it feature which, done well, can make midnight gaming a lot easier and more stylish but, done poorly, is more headache-making than any other single design slip-up.A circle of all the important FPS keys called the WASD gaming pad surrounds your left hand in a unique configuration, which is based upon the ancient fighting discipline concept of a circle of death. Martial arts fans amongst you may know that this is where you centre an energy which can then be used to gain victory during conflict. By arranging all the keys that you might use within the battle arena of a first person shooter game to encircle your left hand, the Timber King hopes to focus your fighting energy.The WASD pad is unusual design-wise in that, unlike some other gaming keyboards it doesn't re-label the keys with a series of arrow buttons and 'Jump' stickers. Instead, it lists everything just as it is recognised by the computer; WASD and the surrounding letters. The gaming keypad comprises a total of forty keys, including two Ctrl keys and a vertical space bar for extra large thumbs.These forty keys have all been re-shaped and had the layout subtlety changed to fit into a circular pattern. Some of the keys, like the numbers and ERGT buttons, have been rounded off and positioned into a curved array, while others, like O and B, have been made more massive and widely spaced so as to fall under the thumb more easily.The media keys all along the top of the keyboard provide the basic functions. The Timberwolf has two flick-up stands on the back which elevate it an inch or two to a comfortable position and though the keyboard is small ( 20cm by 52cm), it still feels reassuringly heavy,at 1.6Kg. The Timberwolf design is obviously focused on FPS gamers and yet it not only comes without the CD full of drivers,but it also lacks macro keys of any description. On the plus side, for gaming it holds up very well and is both comfortable and responsive, placing a great number of keys at our fingertips and thoughtfully leaving the lower end of the pad empty as a wrist support. On the downside, the rest of the keyboard feels a little awkward to use and clustering the keys all together means it's definitely unsuited for office gamers who will spend the majority of time typing and game only for an hour or two a day.
It's more aimed at hardcore players who spend the majority of time gaming and who need a keyboard for their gaming machine outside of the office. For that audience, the Timberwolf holds up very well despite a few small design flaws.

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Dell introduces World of Warcraft gaming laptop

Dell has announced the XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition notebook PC, a special laptop tailored specifically for WoW fans.The gaming laptop features Intel Extreme Edition Core 2 duo processors, Ageia PhysX processor, a full HD 17-inch widescreen, Nvidia SLI graphics with 512MB RAM and DX10 capabilities, and optional Blu-ray Disc drive.The computer will come pre-loaded with WoW and the expansion, The Burning Crusade. Gamers can choose artwork for either the Alliance or the Horde to adorn their system, along with original desktop art and screensavers. The package will also come with a special WoW backpack filled with other Warcraft-related goodies. Starting price for the laptop begins at $4,499.Other features include a built-in camera, a backlit keyboard, touchpad, and a microphone. Dell and Blizzard Entertainment have also collaborated to sponsor WoW tournament as part of the championship gaming series (CGS) league's inaugural World Final. CGS will host the tournament-within-a-tournament event on December 8 2007 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles.

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NVIDIA Plays Santa This Holiday Season

If you are like me and you have been waiting for the day when graphics in gaming went to the next level, wait no more that day is finally here.This holiday season a new era of PC games,featuring advanced new graphics effects,will immerse gamers like never before.And to offer the best experience when playing these games a new generation of gaming laptops equiped with the GPUs (graphics processing units), such as the just-released GeForce 8800M notebook GPUs from NVIDIA, will soon be available for order from laptop makers.Earlier this month, NVIDIA launched their GeForce 8800 GT to nearly universal praise and high demand. Many of the elements that make the 8800 GT so attractive match up very well with the mobile market: smaller size, higher performance, and lower power requirements. Most of these benefits come from the new 65nm process technology, which is why we haven't seen high-performance DX10 mobile parts until now. In addition to serving as the core of a great, notebook gaming platform, the NVIDIA GeForce 8M Series GPUs feature the NVIDIA PureVideo HD engine for superior quality playback of HD DVD, Blu-ray, and HD movie downloads. The GeForce 8M Series also contain NVIDIA's PowerMizer technology that intelligently balances battery life and performance.
"I am absolutely amazed by the sheer performance of the new GeForce 8800M GTX-powered notebooks," said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games.
"These next-gen machines run Unreal Tournament 3 fantastically even at HD resolutions of 1920x1200. I'm ordering one!"

Expect to be able to pick up a new notebook that comes equipped with a GeForce 8800M in the very near future. Manufacturers that will be carrying the new GPU are: Alienware, Eurocom, Gateway, and Sager in North America; AIRIS, Chiligreen, Cizmo, Cybersystem, Ergo, Nexoc, Novatech, Plaisio, Rock, and XXODD in Europe; MouseComputer in Japan; and Pioneer Computers in Australia.

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Toshiba Upgrades Its SatelliteX205

NVIDIA SLI technology comes to Toshiba’s X205 Gaming Laptop.In this line up, two models get these two options including Satellite X205-SLI1 and Satellite X205-SLI3.Toshiba mentions in its press release that both models feature dual NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with up to 767MB total graphics memory which is compatible with Microsoft DirectX 10.The Satellite X205 notebook brings gaming to life. Toshiba's 17 inch diagonal WXGA+ and WSXGA+ widescreen display and stunning TruBrite technology. Intel Centrino Duo processor technology teamed with the upgraded NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT graphics card with 256MB or 512MB of dedicated video RAM provides uninterrupted, unforgettable gaming. Connect to a plasma TV for high definition games. Then amp up the audio with the four built-in Harman Kardon speakers with one subwoofer.

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PC Today Reviews Alienware Area Area-51 m9750

Our test unit included the 17-inch 1,920 x 1,200 "ClearView Technology" LCD, and we were more than a little impressed with the image quality. The m9750's sharpness and color is excellent, and watching DVDs on the system is entertaining indeed. The superb video quality is due in part to the system's Nvidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX graphics card. Our test system included one card, but you have the option to have your system set up with two cards in SLI mode, which is the ultimate in PC graphics indulgence, and a configuration we recommend if you have the means.Of course, video is only half the setup of any good multimedia system. The m9750 isn't lacking for audio quality, either. The high-def audio incorporated into this system sounds really good when using a decent pair of headphones, and the notebook has jacks to set up front and rear speakers, as well as a center channel — a feature not common in typical notebooks.
Alienware's been around a long time, and this is a company that's built its reputation on making some of the very best PCs money could buy. The m9750 is small in size but hardly in stature. Demanding users, such as gamers and video enthusiasts, will find that this system can handle whatever they care to throw at it.

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Gateway Set To Introduce Gaming Laptop

Following its purchase by Acer, early next year Gateway plans to launch its first high-end notebook PC designed specifically for gamers.But in the first quarter of 2008, new laptops will still all be designed by Gateway.Gateway also plans updated colors and features for its C-Series, M-Series, T-Series and P-Series products, according to Lisa Emard, director of media relations at Gateway.Meantime, Acer plans to review Gateway's product roadmap and see where it can make changes to enhance and enlarge its offerings.

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Asus Introducing 3 New Gaming Laptops

So you want to get your game on, Asus is going to help you to do just that by introducing not one but three new gaming laptops.The first new laptop from Asus is the G2K, which is basically the same as the G2, just customizable.It begins with a nice processor, a 2.0GHz Turion 64 X2 TL60 processor. Then it comes with 2GB RAM, a 200GB 7200 rpm hard drive, ATI HD2600 graphics card sporting 256MB dedicated memory, dual layer DVD burner, HDMI, b/g wireless, Bluetooth, 1.3-megapixel webcam, a TV Tuner with a remote control, runs Vista and a 17.1-inch screen.
The next laptop from Asus is the A7K, likewise with the G2K, it also boasts a 17.1-inch screen. It includes some different specs and then some similar ones. The only difference between these two are a 1.8GHz Turion 64 X2 TL56 processor, a 250GB hard drive, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 DDR3 256MB.Finally, we have the F7K, which also sports a 17.1-inch screen. Basically, it’s the same as all the other laptops except for a 1.9GHz Turion 64 X2 TL58 processor, and ATI HD2400 256MB graphics card. However, there is no word on pricing or availability on these laptops at this time.

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