1. ASUS TRANSFORMER
The bridge for the transition from notebook to tablet is now being paved with a computer called the two-in-one. It’s essentially a tablet—often a larger tablet—that comes with an easily detachable keyboard. One family group of these portables is the Asus Transformer Book Chi T100 and T300. Both are very thin 0.3" tablets. The T100 has a 10.1" display and weighs 2.4 lbs. Its battery lasts up to 10 hours. The T300 has a 12.5" display and weighs 3.2 lbs. The battery lasts up to eight hours. Their Asus TruVivid displays provide 45HD resolution for expanded viewing angles up to 178 degrees, and the T300 has a 2,560 × 1,440 display and 235 pixels-per-inch pixel density. The wireless keyboard attaches with a magnetic hinge. You can work on the tablet screen with the optional Transformer Active Stylus Pen that has 256 pressure-sensitivity levels. Processors include the Quad Core Intel Atom or the Core M, and you can add up to 128GB of solid state storage. Inputs include USB 3.0, Micro SD card slot, and Micro HDMI. The case is anodized aluminum alloy. www.asus.com/transformerbook
2. WINDOWS 10
The release date for the new Windows 10 operating system has been set for Wednesday, July 29. It will be offered as a free update for all devices running Windows 7, 8.0, and 8.1. It’s still unclear whether there will be a difference between the Pro version and the Home and Enterprise versions. Microsoft plans to invite current users to reserve a copy of the new OS on its website. However the delivery is arranged, this “update” is much more than just a collection of patches and tweaks. Skipping Windows 9, Windows 10 will be a new universal OS that will run on most computing devices, from your updated laptop to devices in the Internet of Things—a sector that Gartner research company believes will generate revenues exceeding $300 billion in 2020. See Tech Forum on p. 55 for details of the new features. www.microsoft.com
3 NEWERTECH NUGREEN LAMP
Replace your banker’s desk lamp with a NewerTech NuGreen LED Desk Lamp, and not only will you get back some space on your desktop due to the smaller footprint, but you’ll also be able to direct the clean white light directly over your work, not sideways onto your computer monitor. The lamp’s 50 LEDs emit virtually no heat. The mercury-free bulbs can be recycled and provide 45,000 hours of use. That’s a little more than five years if you never turn off the lamp. A touch switch at the base of the adjustable neck turns it on and off, and a lighted red ring appears when it’s off. www.newertech.com/products/nwtledlamp.php
4 HGST ULTRASTAR ARCHIVE HA10
HGST has released the world’s first 10TB internal hard drive—that’s 10,000GB. The drive uses spinning disks, not flash memory. The two technologies that enable this kind of capacity are the HelioSeal helium environment enclosed around the disks and SMR (shingled magnetic recording), which doesn’t use space between the written tracks of data; it overlays them. The helium reduces friction between the heads and disks, allowing more disks inside. HGST’s Ultrastar isn’t designed for your laptop. It’s for cloud and enterprise bulk storage—archival storage rather than frequently updated data. www.hgst.com
July 2015
