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Back in August Dell, HP and Lenovo all announced mobile workstations that offer Intel's first quad-core chip for laptops. Those systems are now available for order and reviews of at least one model-the Lenovo ThinkPad W700-are giving a glimpse of the performance you can expect from these 17-inch powerhouses.

The ThinkPad W700 and Dell Precision M6400 are both available for order with the 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300 (though it looks like you'll have to wait a few weeks for them to ship). HP announced that its EliteBook 8730w will also offer the Core 2 Quad Extreme processor, but the pre-configured models currently available top out at the 2.53 GHZ Core 2 Duo T9400, a dual-core chip.



The Core 2 Quad Extreme is a pricey part-Intel charges more than a $1,000 for the processor-and it will only help with multi-threaded applications, though many of the typical workstation applications (high-end image editing and video editing, and computer-aided design) fall into that category. But there are other high-end features on these workstations that boost performance across the board including lots of fast DDR3 memory (up to 16GB on the Precision M6400), Nvidia Quadro GPUs with up to 1GB of memory and dual hard drives (including SSD options) that can be configured in RAID 0 for best performance.

The 17-inch widescreen displays on these mobile workstations are also a step up. They are high-resolution, brighter and can display a much wider color gamut-more colors-than a typical laptop display. The ThinkPad W700 also comes with an integrated color calibration utility.

The obvious drawback to these mobile workstations is size and weight, or as Wired.com puts it, "Lenovo's Mega Notebook Crushes Benchmarks, Femurs." That's obviously an exaggeration, but at nearly 10 pounds these systems are really semi-portable-you can occasionally move them from one workspace to another, but you won't want to take one on the road regularly. Then again, these mobile workstations outperform many desktops and even the fastest gaming laptops such as the Alienware Area-51 m17x and Gateway P-7811FX.

Spammers continuing to use sensationalized headlines to lure unsuspecting computer users.

A new malware distribution scheme performed via spam messages aimed at tricking computer users to download and install malicious applications on their computers has been identified by BitDefender®, an award-winning provider of antivirus software and data security solutions, today.

The malware distribution campaign is based on news fragments involving Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears and Barack Obama. The e-mail messages direct unsuspecting users to a webpage that allegedly contains a video clip. However, upon visiting the compromised page, they are shown an image impersonating a video player, linking to a binary executable file.



In order to be able to watch the clip, users are advised to download an alleged update for Adobe's popular Flash player, which turns to be infected with Trojan.Downloader.Tibs.GZM. Additionally, the binary file starts downloading automatically, a practice known as "drive-by download", and this should be enough of a warning for the user about the file's legitimacy. When executed, the Trojan installs other pieces of malware, including the infamous Trojan.Peed.JPU, used on large scale in the Storm botnet.

The new mail distribution campaign mostly targets computer users with limited knowledge of data security, as well as users who would deliberately ignore the common safety rules in order to gain access to sensational news.

"These e-mail messages are part of a larger wave that attempts to infect the user with miscellaneous Trojans," said Bogdan Dumitru, BitDefender's chief technology officer. "Initially designed as messages with a single structure, the number of variants quickly escalated to three: a category including a single-part, plain text body, another one with a HTML part, and a third category that uses the Opera Mail Client templates."

In order to increase the success rate of the attack, the spammer uses a series of catchy keywords that are displayed alternatively inside the message body. Despite the fact that each message uses different fake news flashes and headlines, all of them send the user to an URL that ends with either stream.html or watchit.html.

Although the approach is extremely similar to a previous spam campaign involving Angelina Jolie and Michael Jackson, the pieces of malware and their hosting servers have been changed. The new Trojan has been repacked with another utility in order to avoid detection.

BitDefender's professional security solutions are currently filtering and detecting both the spam message and the malicious code the %u201Einstall_flash_player_update" binary is infected with (Trojan.Downloader.Tibs.GZM). In order to enjoy a safe experience while surfing the web, BitDefender recommends that users install a complete anti-malware protection solution.

All the hype came to its crescendo this week as T-Mobile, Google and HTC jointly released the T-Mobile G1, the first commercially available mobile device based on the open source Linux Google Android operating system.

The touch screen G1, known to some as the HTC Dream, bears some similarity to the , which saw amazing uptake with the release of its 3G model. Even the original iPhone, released 15 months ago, still garners a great deal of hype.

And while it's uncertain whether the T-Mobile G1 and Google Android will unseat the iPhone for smart phone supremacy, the G1 is better than the iPhone, though it might not be as pretty.

At the G1's official launch on Tuesday, the main focus was on Google Android's openness and its work with the Open Handset Alliance. Along with unveiling the physical device itself, the Google and T-Mobile teams also launched the Android Market. Similar in concept to the Apple AppStore, Android Market enables third-party application developers to offer their apps to be used on the device.

The Android Market, simply put, is better than Apple's AppStore.

Google's hands-off approach means there will be no whining about what applications do and don't get picked up. Essentially, a developer can offer his or her application on the market without fees, review or even Google's stamp of approval. With Apple keeping a tight grip on the apps offered in its AppStore -- anyone remember IAMRICH? -- Android Market will be a breath of fresh air.



The G1 may earn a leg up on Steve Jobs' baby because T-Mobile is a better carrier than AT&T. It might come as a surprise, considering T-Mobile currently doesn't support 3G in every major metropolitan area, but the G1 will also support Wi-Fi and 2G networks until T-Mobile gets its high-speed 3G initiative fully up and running. Many potential iPhoners have been put off by the AT&T mandate, which is now in place until 2010, often complaining about the data plan pricing and unsatisfactory service.

While T-Mobile is bound to offer a few dead zones of its own, it has set reasonable pricing on its plans, offering a limited plan for $25 and an unlimited Web and messaging plan for $35. It's estimated that over a two-year period a voice and data plan for the G1 could save consumers nearly $400 compared to similar service for an iPhone. Plus, the G1 comes in around $20 cheaper than the cheapest iPhone model with a two-year contract.

Where the iPhone is sleek and slender, the G1 comes with a little more girth and weight. But the extra fractions of an inch and added ounces are worth it for the physical full QWERTY keypad. Similar in style to T-Mobile's now-iconic Sidekick line, the G1's screen slides up to reveal a full keyboard, with enough short cuts to ease Web surfing and make messaging simpler -- without relying just on a touch-screen keyboard to get the job done.

The G1 also offers multimedia messaging, copy and paste, voice dialing and a removable battery, which the iPhone notably lack.

And for those who buy devices for looks more than functionality, the G1 comes in three colors, while the iPhone hits just two: black and white. The G1 adds brown to the mix.

Both devices also offer a host of similar features and functions. Both have a music player, Bluetooth, GPS, GoogleMaps with Satellite View and Traffic and POP3 and IMAP email. The G1, however, relies on Amazon's MP3 store and the iPhone on Apple iTunes for music. The G1 also wraps into GoogleMaps Street View and a compass mode that orients the screen as the user moves, features the iPhone is missing. No, the G1 currently doesn't support Microsoft Exchange for email, which the iPhone does, but it does offer push Gmail and the device's makers anticipate someone will create an Exchange application for it soon and offer it in the Android Market.

Oh, and the G1 has a 3.2 megapixel camera, a touch higher than the iPhone's 2 megapixels.

Will these reasons be enough to propel the G1 past the iPhone? That remains to be seen. Research firm Strategy Analytics is predicting that the G1 could sell 400,000 units by year's end, accounting for roughly 4 percent of the smart phone market. While analysts at Piper Jaffray have predicted that Apple will have sold 5 million iPhone 3Gs in the past quarter. Surely, Google and T-Mobile have an uphill battle, but its strong feature set and subtle differences could be the boom the smart phone market needed for Apple to find its true rival.

Even though the US economy is taking a nosedive, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer thinks everything is peachy-keen.

Yesterday Microsoft Corp's Chief Executive Steve Ballmer spoke before a group of Silicon Valley civic leaders (story), reporting that - despite the U.S. economic problems and a threatening recession - he still sees a positive resilience among technology and telecommunications customers worldwide.

But Ballmer says that he is definitely aware that the industry isn't immune to the effects of the global economy. However, in his travels, Ballmer has observed that people still see a certain buoyancy in the market. "At least, for now, people are feeling, I won't say optimistic, but better than you would be feeling if you are watching CNBC all day," he stated in the meeting.

It's certainly no surprise that Microsoft has such a positive outlook. Wall Street analysts are predicting that Microsoft will generate just under $15 billion during its fiscal first quarter ending in September. However, Craig R. Barrett, Intel's Chairman of the Board, didn't sound quite so optimistic when he addressed this year's Intel Developers Forum.

"R&D is how you move forward in the world's economic system," he said in his keynote speech. "For that, you need the right environment, and the government dictates the business environment ... Every country in the world knows this. Every country except one: this one." He also made it clear in his belief that the U.S. government needed to spend more taxpayer money on research and development.

At this point in time, any funding beyond the War on Terrorism and local economy woes seems unlikely. In a country where quality and innovation has taken a back seat, taxpayers face high gas prices, defaults on mortgages, increase costs in food and utilities. The U.S. government seems more focused on international security and bailing out large corporations from financial disaster.

But despite the opinions made by Steve Ballmer and Craig Barrett, it's the taxpaying consumer that drives technology forward. Realizing this, Intel launched the Inspire-Empower Challenge, a contest that allows anyone to submit an idea relating to education, healthcare, economic development, and the environment. The winner chosen from each category will be awarded a whopping $100,000 each.

"The Challenge is designed to inspire developers, individuals, and organizations to innovate and empower them to deliver new ways to apply technology to these issues," reads the official website. "The INSPIRE%u2022EMPOWER Challenge advances the commitment of the Intel World Ahead Program - to connect people to a world of opportunity."

Still, perhaps Ballmer is correct in his observation. Even though consumers cringe at soaring gas prices and corporate bailouts, they're still buying video games, they're still buying smart phones and 52" plasma HDTVs. Sure, consumers are extremely cautious, but they're watching Iron Man: Ultimate Edition (ships Sept. 30 on Blu-Ray) in 1080i and loving every minute of it.

Dell has released its new Precision M6400 mobile workstation featuring a 17-inch display , Intel quad-core processor and 16 GB of memory.

Dell's powerful Precision M6400 was released on Wednesday, offering powerful workstation performance in a 17-inch notebook. The M6400 is more of a mobile workstation than a notebook really, especially considering the weight of the system, which starts at "just" 8.54-pounds. The first thing one might notice about the M6400 though is the display, which features 17-inches of LED back-lit 1920x1200 goodness, with edge to edge glass and full Adobe color gamut support. Such a beautiful display needs a powerful system to match of course and Dell made sure the M6400 is no slouch.



The M6400 is available in a configuration that features Intel's Core 2 Quad QX9300 Extreme Edition processor, with a 2.53 GHz clock-speed, 12 MB L2 Cache and 1066 MHz FSB. The system can be configured with up to 16 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, although a 64-bit operating system is needed for that option. Two internal disk drive bays are available for up to 1 TB of storage configurable in RAID, although SSD drive options are also available. Lastly, no workstation would be complete without a discrete graphics solution; the M6400 offers up to 1 GB of dedicated graphics memory by means of a Nvidia Quadro FX 3700M.

Other highlights of the M6400 include optional fingerprint reader, webcam with dual microphones, support for dual 30-inch monitors, built-in mobile broadband with GPS, Bluetooth, 802.11a/n, a slot-loaded DVD drive, UWB and a jog shuttle. The included AC adapter is rated for 210 W, hinting at the fact the included 9-cell 85 WHr battery will have its work cut out for it. The chassis of the M6400 is made of magnesium-alloy and the thickness of the M6400 ranges from 1.35-inches to 1.5-inches.

Pricing for the Dell Precision M6400 starts at $2,299, which comes configured with an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 processor, 1 GB of DDR3 memory, an 80 GB HDD, a Nvidia Quadro FX 2700M with 512 MB and a 17-inch WXGA+ basic display. A full-fledged configuration starts at over $5,000.

If you can read this text your card has not failed. On a serious note - AMD partner Diamond Multimedia is reporting that it has shipped 15,000 up to potentially 20,000 Radeon 3800 series cards that suffer from an apparent 'design / manufacture' defects. These cards were reportedly shipped between January and July of this year. Cards that were affected include all Radeon 3850 cards with 512MB of memory sold in that specific time frame along with a large number of Radeon 3870 and 3870 X2 cards.

Claims are that the 3850 cards have "quality issues with poor soldering and integrated memory problems" while the 3870 cards suffer from bad resistor values that can "result in computers not starting up and system crashes."

These issues came to light in Alienware systems (now owned by Dell), where over 10 percent of Radeon 3870 X2s, over 2 percent of 3870s and nearly 8 percent of 3850s outright failed. Alienware ended up returning 2,600 graphics cards and cut its business ties with Diamond Multimedia because of these problems. For the record, Diamond did not actually manufacture the boards - they instead purchased them from ITC. ITC is a company that also sells its own cards under the GeCube brand.

Quoting CEO Bruce Zaman in saying that his firm indeed encounted an isolated issue with "one vendor" that used inadequate power supplies. Diamond added in a separate statement "We do not have any extraordinary customer call reports for HD 3850, 3870 512MB boards." Alienware was supposedly using sub-par 750W power supplies in affected systems and the flaws "apparently affect very few users." For those people who are encountering such issues should have no troubles getting their graphics cards replaced.

So who is really to blame here? The manufacturer of the boards, or the fact that sub-par power supplies were being coupled with them? The situation seems to be a he-said , she-said situation. Thus you may draw your own conclusion. It is known that utilizing poor power supplies can cause users all kinds of hardware grief including, but not limited to complete hardware failures.

Thermaltake's Xpressar RCS100 PC cooling system combines a computer case with a refrigerator.

Thermaltake has officially announced the Xpressar RCS100; the world's first DC-inverter-type micro-refrigeration cooling system for a PC. Essentially what Thermaltake has done is combine its Xaser VI computer case with the guts of a refrigerator, which is definitely a cool idea. Apparently, the Xpressar RCS100 was able to cool an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, which had been overclocked to 4.05 GHz, down to 35-degrees Celsius.

If the claims are true, that is 20-degrees cooler than the average water-cooling system. As well, with a single 120 mm fan running at 1600 RPM, the noise in the system is claimed to be a near inaudible 20 dB. Somehow it seems hard to believe that the system's condenser pump would also be that quiet however.

The Xpressar RCS100 is definitely designed with the overclocker in mind, although it does not go too lightly on the power requirements. With the micro-compressor alone using upwards of 50 W, Thermaltake recommends using a power-supply that can support the system hardware plus an additional 100 W. As for PC system compatibility, processors using Intel's LGA775 or LGA1366 sockets are supported, meaning this system should be compatible with Intel's upcoming Bloomfield processors. Many popular motherboards are supported, such as the Asus P5Q, although a motherboard with an odd placement for its processor socket may not be compatible. Lastly, some motherboards will leave only enough room for one video card, mainly affecting MSI motherboards it would seem.

The micro vapor-compression refrigeration system used in the Xpressar RCS100 is like that of what you might find in a refrigerator or an air-conditioning unit. The CPU cooling process involves a phase change of a refrigerant from a liquid to a gas state, which allows the refrigerant to absorb heat from the processor. Afterwards, the compressor and condenser work together to bring the gas back to a liquid state and the cycle begins again. The refrigerant is environmentally-friendly and the system is equipped with an intelligent IC controller to prevent condensation from forming.

There is no word on price yet, but it should be available at retail stores shortly.