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Toshiba just launched its all new U500 series laptop with Ducati badge-the Toshiba U500 Ducati. By integrating the Ducati elements in the laptop, the Toshiba U500 Ducati would be very expensive, or more than what it should be. But when people buy it, people are jsut looking at the Ducati badge.

Computer manufacturers are now doing all kinds of marketing strategies to bring in more revenue by attracting selective customer groups. Toshiba is the third computer manufacturer to work with luxury automakers ( ASUS VX1 with Lamborghini is the first.) and it is also the third consumer electronic manufacturer that work with Ducati to provide co-branded products (Sandisk and Sony Ericsson).

This Toshiba U500 Ducati will use the Intel Core 2 Duo 8700 processor with 4G of RAM and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 graphics card. The operation system will be coming Windows 7 ultimate. The unique Ducati badge on the Toshiba U500 makes the Toshiba U500 Ducati a “sport” laptop.

The news about Samsung OLED laptop seems to be true this time. According to Kyu Uhm, head of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Samsung’s Computing Division, the new Samsung OLED laptop would come in 2010. The exact time for the release of the laptop with new OLED screen is not known yet.

Since the launch of the Samsung X series ultra-portable laptops, it has been rumored that Samsung will bring the first OLED (organic light emitting diode) laptop to the market. Lenovo and Sony are also interested in producing OLED laptop but this is the first timing we can hear so far. Since the OLED panels are typically 50~80% more expensive than general LCD panels, we would expect the price of OLED laptops to be a little bit higher but more energy efficient and portable.

via [techradar]

It is not common to see people around you using a 17 inch laptop. Toshiba, however, make the laptop even larger-18.4 inch. Toshiba just launched its new huge laptop product–the Toshiba P500 series laptop. If you think the 18.4 inch screen is too large for you, they also have the L550 products with 17.2 inch screen size.

Basic specifications of the Toshiba P500 laptop ($764.15~$1049.00):

• Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor T6500 (2.1GHz)
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
• 2GB memory
• 250GB hard drive
• Slot-loading DVD burner
• 802.11a/g/n wireless
• harman/kardon® speakers
• 10/100/1000 ethernet
• Integrated webcam

Laptops go bigger now!

ASUS Eee Box series sell well in the market all the time, especially the B204 and B206 which are equipped with ATI individual graphic card. Since the NVIDIA ION platform is very hot, ASUS surely wants to upgrade their Eee Box products to reach more potential customers.

This new ASUS Eee Box EB1012 will use the latest Intel Atom dual-core processor, Intel Atom N330, which runs 1.6 GHz at each core. Graphics will be using the NVIDIA MCP7A ION. Operation system is Windows Vista Home Premium. Other specifications include: 4GB RAM, SATA 2.5″ 250 GB hard drive. Another noticeable feature is 6 SUB ports including a eSATA (Serial ATA) interface. This ASUS Eee Box EB1012 also has  HDMI output for high definition content streaming directly onto full HD LCD panel.

If you are interested in the NetTop computer, you might be also interested in the Acer Aspire Revo products.

After the release of MSI X600 ultraportable notebook last week. This super-light-weight slim-designed X600 notebook is available for sale at Amazon.com and Newegg.com. This MSI X600 provide the ultimate portability to people who travels a lot.

This MSI X600 features the Intel ULV CPU, which uses 1/6th the power of a regular mobile CPU. The X600 also ships with an MSI external optical drive, allowing users to view DVDs on the X600’s HD LCD that features a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1366×768 resolution.

Detailed specs:

• Intel® Ultra Low Voltage SU3500 1.4Ghz
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• 4GB RAM
• 320GB hard drive
• 1.3-megapixel webcam
• 15.6″ WXGA 16:9 (Glare / 1366×768)
• ATI HD 4330 Graphic Chip
• Bluetooth 2.0
• 6-cell Li battery
• Limited 3 year warranty

There are silver and black colors available so far. MSRP is $799.99.

Google announced today that Google has worked out a deal with Sony to put Google Chrome browser in Sony VAIO computers. It is an important step that Google did to promote the Chrome browser to reach more consumers. Customers will be receiving the computers that installed with Google Chrome soon, although Google Chrome is free through Google.

This is the first deal that Google made to reach more internet users with PC makers. I believe Google will contact more PC makers in the near future to promote the Chrome browser. Internet Explorer take about 68% of browser market and Google Chrome only occupy about 2%. The future of Google’s Chrome is bright but most internet users actually do not care or even know much about browser. And they do not know how to evaluate a browser. Since essentially all the PCs are installed Windows OS, internet explorer is the only choice for most users. As Google’s move to pre-install Google Chrome in the PCs, the competition between Windows, Google and Firefox will become more intense.

Sources also indicate that Google is working with other partners to bundle Google Chrome with other softwares or programs. A nice step Google!

Samsung is putting two more ultra-thin notebooks soon with detailed specs and manuals available now. The two new notebooks are the Samsung X420 and X520 notebook.  From the manual, both X420 and X530 look really thin! This two notebooks are set to launch in Europe in October and will be available in America soon after.

This ultra-thin X420 notebook will be powered by the low power consumption Intel Pentium Dual-Core SU2700 1.3GHz processor. Others are Intel GMA X4500M graphics card, 3GB of RAM, and a 250 GB Hard drive. The Samsung X520 will be slightly different from the X420 with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320 GB HD, and a 6-cell battery.

Following is from the manual:

Santech, an Italian computer manufacturer, just released the new Santech LV1 notebook features ultra-thin design and low votage. People might be not familiar with this company, but it has been making notebooks for a while in Italy and has many different notebook products like T34, V35, X36 series. The new Santech LV1 is a revolutionary design to cater the market (like Mac Air did).

This Santech LV1 use the new low voltage Intel SU3500 1.4GHz processor, 2GB RAM and a 160GB hard drive. The screen size is 13.3″. The unique attractive of this notebook is the ultra-thin design (<1 inch). This price is a little bit high (700 Euro).