Dell updates one of its workstations and provides a rugged version of its Latitude D630

Dell is expanding its reach into the business market with two business laptops. The first is a refresh to the Precision M6300 Workstation aimed at digital content creators and CAD users while second is the rugged Latitude XFR D630 designed to withstand tremendous abuse.

The refreshed Precision M6300 is built around Intel's new 45-nanometer Penryn processors. Customers can choose from Core 2 Duo processors up to 2.6GHz and up to a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo Extreme processor can be selected. Dual memory slots supports up to 8GB of memory, while graphics options include the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M (256MB) and Quadro FX 3600M (512MB).


The NVIDIA GPUs will sync up with a 17" LCD on the Precision M6300 -- customers will be able to decide on a 1440x900 resolution, but most will likely go for the optional 1920x1200 display.

Considering that the Precision M6300 packs considerable firepower, it should come as no surprise that the 15.5" x 11.3" x 1.6" weighs in at a hefty 8.5 pounds.

Pricing starts at around $2,400 for a base Precision M6300 -- adding options like a solid-state drive (SSD) will quickly inflate that figure.

The other new notebook from the Dell camp is the Latitude XFR D630. Dell says that this new notebook meets MIL-STD 810F standards from the Department of Defense. Dell is positioning the notebook to take on Panasonic's popular Toughbook series -- in fact, Dell says that its Latitude XFR D630 offers 23% better system performance than the Toughbook CF-30.

"The Latitude XFR D630 represents a tectonic shift towards simplicity in the ruggedized laptop space," said Dell Product Group Director Brett McAnally, director, Dell Product Group. "We are taking a multi-dimensional approach that focuses on simplified deployment, service and durability without sacrificing performance. Major competitors focus their efforts on ‘rugged’ only."

The Latitude XFR D630 features a 14.1" display with DirectVue technology, sealed keyboard, dual locking butterfly mechanisms for access to system components, optional SSD storage options and shock mounting for the hard drive, LCD and other critical points.

The Latitude XFR D630 is available now with a starting price of $3,899.

Source from DailyTech

ASUS' popular Eee PC gets a screen, memory boost

The wait is nearly over for an Eee PC with a larger screen. DailyTech reported in early January that ASUS was hard at work on an 8.9" version of its wildly popular Eee PC sub-notebook. Today, images and details are finally rolling out for the highly-anticipated update.

Engadget was able to fondle ASUS's new Eee PC at CeBIT, but ASUS officials would not allow the publication to boot the machine up -- likely for fear of spilling the beans on the Eee PC's processor/chipset. However, we do know that the Eee PC 900 will feature 1GB of memory and will be available in storage capacities up to 12GB (up from 8GB max on the current Eee PC).

As previously reported, the 8.9" display should have a 1024x600 resolution which is a welcome jump from the confining 800x480 display on the first-generation Eee PC. The increase in screen real estate made a minimal impact on the exterior dimensions of the device -- the Eee PC 900 is slightly larger and thicker and features a larger touchpad. The keyboard looks to identical to the previous model.

According to Engadget, the larger display will have a negligible impact on battery performance with battery lifetime quoted at 2.5 to 3 hours.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to get the full specifications for ASUS' Eee PC 900 -- at that time, we'll learn if the new model will use a traditional Mobile Celeron processor as its predecessor or one of Intel's new Atom processors.

ASUS says that the Eee PC 900 12G will launch in mid-2008 with a price tag of €399 ($600 USD).

Source from DailyTech