Product Central

Amid rumours of a 'third-generation' Classmate PC, Intel has announced that it's to supply half a million of its second-generation (9in. screen) netbooks to the Portuguese government for use in elementary schools.



There are few details on the upcoming third-generation Classmate, although a new look-and-feel is promised, according to a PC World report. It's pretty certain to be Atom-powered, and may well offer the Sugar interface, first seen on the rival OLPC XO. Sugar development is now under the auspices of SugarLabs, following a split from OLPC in May this year.

Having already used the 'Eee PC' name for its successful and rapidly expanding range of mini- (and increasingly not-so-mini — see the latest 1000 model) notebooks, ASUS must have scratched its collective head when seeking a name for its Eee-branded mini-desktop. It came up with the catchy 'Eee Box', and it'll be available in the UK for £199 from September.



This little 1kg system can be desk-mounted on a stand, or VESA-mounted to the back of a flat-panel monitor. It's powered by Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, comes with 1GB of RAM and has an 80GB hard disk. Connectivity includes Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the system is powered via an external 65W AC adapter.

ASUS is proud of its Express Gate firmware, which (it says) enables a 'super-speedy' 8-sceond boot time to 'Internet ready' status. We look forward to investigating this — Windows XP will be available first, with Linux to follow. Other claims we'll be looking at are power consumption (reduced by '90 per cent when compared to full-sized conventional desktops') and noise ('50 per cent of the noise levels of the average desktop').

Watch this (compact) space.

With Intel and Vodafone along for the ride, Lenovo today launched a brand-new SL range of small-business-focussed ThinkPads, refreshed the T series (performance), R series (mainstream) and X series (ultraportable) notebooks, and introduced the W series of mobile workstations.

All of the new ThinkPads are equipped with Intel's latest Centrino 2 (Montevina) technology, and most come with integrated 3G connectivity (courtesy of an Ericsson module) at no extra cost to the user — the 'hit' is shared between Lenovo and its network partner Vodafone, which offers a free 30-day trial out of the box.

Another innovation, which should cause many a small business to prick up its ears, is Lenovo's ThinkPlus Secure Business suite of services. Available for either a one- or three-year period, this includes: an on-site next-day warranty upgrade; repair or replacement of systems damaged by liquid spills, drops or electrical surges; and secure off-site storage for business-critical data. A few months down the line, Lenovo will add priority support call routing and one-stop hardware and software support to create a comprehensive ThinkPlus Complete IT package.

The new SL-series ThinkPads come in 13in. (SL300), 14in. (SL400) and 15in. (SL500) models and show their heritage in most respects:



However, when you close the lid you'll find a most un-ThinkPad-like glossy top cover:



We can only assume that the SME users whom Lenovo claim have been clamouring for such styling are fond of wiping off fingerprints.

The SL series includes a number of other consumer-style features such as a Blu-Ray option and HDMI-out for movie-watching, but retains trusty ThinkPad favourites like hard disk anti-shock protection, system management software plus fingerprint reader and webcam options. The SL400 and SL500 start at £650 (ex. VAT) and are available now.

The X200 is a 12in. wide-screen ultraportable that's lighter than its X61 predecessor but fits in a bigger keyboard. With built-in 3G, GPS, claimed battery life of nearly 10 hours and, further down the line, solid-state storage options, this looks a tempting system for the mobile professional who wants something a bit classier than a low-end 'netbook'. There's no pricing information yet, and some may be put off by the lack of a touchpad:




Also on show at Lenovo's London launch were examples of the new R and T series ThinkPads. Prior to the advent of the SL range, the R series was the most 'affordable' ThinkPad range: among the features it lacks is integrated 3G as standard and Intel's VPro remote management technology (now upgraded with AMT 4.0 in the Centrino 2 platform). The flagship T series includes vPro, as well as high-end options such as switchable discrete/integrated graphics and solid-state storage.



Finally (and not on show at the launch) there's the W500, which is the first in a new range of workstation-class ThinkPads with all the OpenGL graphics and ISV certification demanded by that market. We'll bring you more on this intriguing product as more details emerge.

There's a bug in my notebook, what am I gonna do? We're talking about Thrips (Thysanoptera), those tiny fringe-winged insects, also known as thunderbugs or thunderflies. At this time of year, given a bit of good weather, populations can rise dramatically and they can become a right nuisance in the home. That's because these little (~1mm) critters can get into the most unlikely crevices, including the space between the panes of glass on a notebook's LCD screen:



I've got a couple of ex-thrips behind my screen at the moment, and I doubt they'll be the last to find this final resting place this summer. I wonder if the manufacturer's 'dead pixel' policy covers this sort of bug? Doubt it somehow.

Believe it or not (and we have trouble believing it ourselves) Dialogue Box has been recommissioned for a fourth series — and we didn't have to resort to Alan Partridge-style babbling about 'Monkey tennis' to get the nod!



We filmed the first episode yesterday, and without giving too much away, I can reveal that we shed (rather bright and exciting) new light on a subject we covered in the first series last year. Check the site on Monday for the results, once our video chaps have worked their post-production magic.

What else is in store? Again, keeping the cards suitably close to the chest, we'll be looking at wireless networking, the latest mobile technology and remote system management, among other things — all with the usual DB mixture of tech savvy, dodgy humour and references to going down the pub.