Apple on Tuesday began taking orders for its new $900, 24-inch LED cinema display, which will begin shipping later this month. Marketed as a companion for your Mac notebook, the display includes a universal MagSafe power adapter for the MacBook, MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. The screen connects to the notebooks through a Mini Display Port. When Apple announced the LED cinema display in October, Steve Jobs stressed the "green" aspect of the product. He said Apple greatly reduced the use of polyvinyl chloride -- a chemical that produces dioxin, a dangerous carcinogen, during manufacturing -- in the display. Though some environmentalists commend Apple for this effort, they also say this isn't a purely altruistic effort, as hard times are pressuring tech companies to produce greener products to save substantial amounts of money. Product Page [Apple] See also: Recession Drives the Greening of the Electronics Industry Environmentalists Cheer on Apple for Getting Greener Photo: Apple

When Stagueve Hemmerstoffer received a dead MacBook, he had greater ambitions than simply repairing it. After bringing the MacBook back to life by replacing its hard drive and RAM, he sought out parts to modify the notebook into a miniature desktop sporting the same look as the Mac Pro, Apple's high-end desktop system. Really neat stuff: He bought a Macally aluminum enclosure and cut it down to size. Then he removed the guts of the MacBook and crammed them into the enclosure (much more difficult than it sounds). He provides a full how-to on his blog.    Now, this gets me thinking: If Apple decides to roll out an upgrade to its Mac mini desktop system (which it hasn't in well over a year), wouldn't it be cool if it received the aluminum treatment just like the latest MacBooks? My New Mac Pro Ultra Mini [wolphBite] (Thanks, Stagueve!)Photo: Stagueve Hemmerstoffer

There are little things in life that nag at you long enough that you can’t ignore them anymore: a growing leak stain in your ceiling, a strange sound coming from your car, Miley Cyrus, Frank TV. For Microsoft, that little thing is netbooks. Yes, those cheap, low-powered, 8-inch screen mini-notebooks running Linux or Windows XP are the latest Vista killers. Data from IDC shows that 6.5 million netbooks were shipped during the first three quarters of 2008, up just a tad from 181,000 the year before. Microsoft has been open about the threat that netbooks pose to Vista. In its quarterly earnings report, the software giant pointed directly at explosive netbook sales as one of the main reasons for the sluggish year-over-year Vista growth. Microsoft has no plans to push Vista on netbooks (Vista is actually running on some netbooks, but only 1.5 percent of them, according to IDC). The hardware requirements of Vista and the licensing costs are too much for netbook OEMs. Only the newest and strongest netbooks could handle Vista. (more…)

There are little things in life that nag at you long enough that you can’t ignore them anymore: a growing leak stain in your ceiling, a strange sound coming from your car, Miley Cyrus, Frank TV. For Microsoft, that little thing is netbooks. Yes, those cheap, low-powered, 8-inch screen mini-notebooks running Linux or Windows XP are the latest Vista killers. Data from IDC shows that 6.5 million netbooks were shipped during the first three quarters of 2008, up just a tad from 181,000 the year before. Microsoft has been open about the threat that netbooks pose to Vista. In its quarterly earnings report, the software giant pointed directly at explosive netbook sales as one of the main reasons for the sluggish year-over-year Vista growth. Microsoft has no plans to push Vista on netbooks (Vista is actually running on some netbooks, but only 1.5 percent of them, according to IDC). The hardware requirements of Vista and the licensing costs are too much for netbook OEMs. Only the newest and strongest netbooks could handle Vista. (more…)

More details about Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system emerged Wednesday. The OS will have a shorter boot time; offer greater reliability; more efficient memory usage and improved battery life for laptops, according to Microsoft's Jon DeVaan, Steven Sinofsky and Mike Anguilo, who spoke at the Windows Hardware Engineering conference. Perhaps most significantly, Sinofsky and Anguilo demoed Windows 7 running on a miniature notebook, or netbook, with a 16 GB solid-state drive and 1 GB of random access memory running an Intel Atom dual-core 1.6 GHz processor.

Fujitsu debuted two updated models and an entirely new model in its LifeBook line of notebook computers Tuesday. The new U820 and P1630 are new versions of models the hardware maker released in 2007. The all-new LifeBook N7010 features two screens -- a traditional 16-inch wide display as well as a 4-inch color touchscreen situated near the keyboard. The 5.6-inch LifeBook U820 weights 1.32 pounds and features an Intel Atom Z-series processor. Fujitsu promises 7.5 hours of life with a four-cell battery and 3.5 hours with a new two-cell unit.

Notebooks will get a mid-year refresh before shifting to the sixth-gen Centrino platform based on the all-new Nehalem microarchitecture

Sony issued a recall Friday for roughly 100,000 notebook batteries. Conducted in partnership with the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission, the recall affects laptop users worldwide. The lithium-ion batteries can overheat and pose a fire and burn hazard to users. There have been 19 reports of batteries overheating, including 17 instances in which flames or fire were reported, according to the USCPSC. Two consumers received minor burns as a result. The news follows massive battery recalls that began in 2006 when some 9.6 million Sony laptop batteries had to be returned.

Here we have a low-tech fanless take on those USB laptop cooling pads we have recently seen in the shape of penguins and dogs and a Chinese opera face mask. The fanless design let you enjoy zero noise with cooling feature. In addition, the roll-able design make it convenience for storage. Features: Unique structure design meets different needs Aluminum brushed execution with wonderful thermal circultaion Power unneeded - Zero noise High quality bag, free to carry Light weight Dimension: 343 x 303 x 7.5mm (approx.) Weight: 485g The GIGABYTE Roll Pad (Notebook Cooling Pad) is available from USB Brando for $65.

Firms wanting to equip their mobile workers with mini PCs can look forward to a wider choice of devices following an announcement by HP that it will soon be offering new ultra-light systems featuring mobile internet software. The mini laptops should appeal to enterprises thanks to their portability and wealth of connectivity features. The first release, the HP Mini 1000, has a 10.2-inch display and weighs just 2.4 lbs. It is built on the Intel Atom N270 processor, comes in either an 8 GB or 16 GB version, and boasts a built-in webcam, microphone, WiFi and Bluetooth.