HP Windows 7 Tablet mystery continues Update Development on hold

Speculation around HP’s tablet continues, with the company still yet to step up and confirm whether or not the project has been canned. After a report last week suggested that the Windows 7 slate had been axed shortly after HP’s acquisition of Palm, followed by a contrary report supposedly from a source within HP, the Mercury News is quoting analyst Ezra Gottheil who still expects the tablet to see a commercial launch.



According to Gottheil, “HP has no problem putting out multiple products, some people have even criticized them for putting out too many products. I can’t see them killing one just because another is coming up.” It’s unclear whether the analyst’s opinion is founded on speculation or some insider information he’s unable to detail at this point.

HP, meanwhile, have only confirmed that a webOS based tablet could feature in their future, but they’re tight-lipped on the Windows 7 slate project. Early rumors pointed to disappointing battery life from the Intel Atom processors driving the tablet; Intel today announced its latest Moorestown-based Atom Z6xx series processors, which as well as being more powerful than the existing chips are also more power-frugal.

Sony unveils: new summer line of VAIO PCs

Sony has announced some new VAIO PCs that will land in Japan this summer starting in June. The machines will fit into the VAIO L, VAIO J, and VAIO F lines. The L-series are AIO machines that come in versions with and without digital TV tuners built-in. The VPCL139FJ/T is what you see pictured below and it has a 24-inch full HD touchscreen AIO machine with dual digital tuners, dual AVC Transcoding, and a Blu-ray drive. It will sell for 245,000 yen and a version lacking the touchscreen is 215,000 yen.



The J-series is a line of 21.5-inch AIO machines with dual digital tuners and dual AVC Transcoding in the two high-end models, which also feature Blu-ray drives. The 220,000 yen high-end model has a touchscreen while a 200,000 yen version lacks touch. A cheaper 160,000 yen version uses a DVD drive and dual terrestrial tuners.

The F-series notebooks range from 255,000 to 175,000 yen and all have 16.4-inch screens. The high-end version has dual digital tuners, dual AVC, BD drive and more. The next step down has dual terrestrial tuners, dual AVC transcoder, and a BD drive for 195,000 yen and will land on June 26. The low-end version has dual digital terrestrial tuners and a DVD drive for 175,000 yen.

Update: Sony USA have been in touch to confirm US pricing and availability. It looks like only the J-Series will get a US release, priced from $900 and available for preorder now. However there are also two new E-Series notebooks, which start at $700 and are also available for preorder now.

The 14-inch Sony VAIO EA and 17.3-inch EC join the EB 15.5-inch model, coming in five translucent, high-gloss colors— Caribbean Green, Iridescent Blue, Coconut White, Hibiscus Pink and Lava Black— and three matte colors—Maple Brown, Silver White and Gunmetal Black.

Freescale tablet concept offers pro-audio docks

Freescale are following up on their first batch of mobile device concepts with another idea for the table of the future, a multimedia and pro-audio focused slate. Targeted at college-age students “into art and music”, the unnamed tablet would have a number of modular docking stations into which it could snap for specialised connectivity.

Lenovo’s IdeaPad

Lenovo’s IdeaPad Z Series have gone on sale a little earlier than planned, with the 15.6-inch Z560 showing up at the company’s online store. Set to ship in 13 days time, the IdeaPad Z560 kicks off from $739 and can be specified with a choice of Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processors.



The entry level model gets a Core i3-350M 2.26GHz chip, 3GB of DDR3 memory, Intel HD graphics and a 320GB 5,400rpm HDD, together with a DVD burner and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. Stepping up just $10 more gets you a 500GB HDD, while you’ll need to find $899 for the first Core i5 machine. That has a Core i5-450M 2.40GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, and there’s a $999 machine with the same specs but NVIDIA GeForce 310M 512MB discrete graphics.

All four have a 15.6-inch 1366 x 768 LED-backlit display, 6-cell battery and one-year warranty. Interestingly, only the top-spec model is listed as coming with WiFi, which we’re guessing is a glitch in Lenovo’s store system.