This Just In: HP ProBook 5310m

We've looked at quite a few CULV laptops of late, including our CULV roundup. HP's ProBook 5310m is CULV with a twist: it doesn't have to be a CULV laptop, as regular CPUs are also available with significantly more performance on tap. Worth particular note is that the ProBook 5310m is a business laptop rather than a consumer model, which means there's a matte LCD option for a change. (And there was much rejoicing….) HP launched the 5310m late last year, so it's lost some of its shiny newness, but the ProBook still gets a lot of areas right.

The ProBook 5310m comes with an aluminum cover and palm rest, though the LCD bezel remains glossy. This is a very thin and light laptop—less than an inch thick and weighing in at 3.8 pounds. We really like the spacing on the keys, and the keyboard has been comfortable for use in limited testing. The default battery is a bit thinner than a AAA battery and the standard configuration ships with a 4-cell 41Wh battery good for up to ~6.5 hours of mobility (testing still pending). An optional $20 upgrade gets you a 6-cell battery, which should boost battery life quite a bit. Most of the other features are the same as other CULV laptops, but the 5310m does ship with a DisplayPort output instead of the common VGA/HDMI output.
There are a few potential gotchas you should be aware of before taking the plunge, perhaps the biggest being that there's only a single SO-DIMM slot, so getting 4GB will incur a price premium. We'd like to see 4GB options with 64-bit Windows as well; at present, you're going to have to install a 64-bit OS separately if that's what you want. Like many other CULV laptops, the 5310m uses Intel's GMA 4500MHD IGP—good for working in standard Windows applications, watching most movies, and not much else. But then, it's doubtful anyone buying this type of business notebook is going to have gaming as a high priority. Finally, we expect to start seeing CULV versions of Core i5/i7 start showing up (at last!), and while prices are likely to be higher they should also provide better performance. Hopefully we'll get one for review sooner rather than later.

We've got a bunch of other laptops to look at in the near future, including some new AMD-based models, but if you're looking for a thin and light 13.3" laptop the ProBook might have what you're after. The preconfigured models are the way to go, as pricing is much better. If you want a CULV Celeron SU2300 (1.2GHz 1MB L2), you can find the 5310m for just $607 online. That will get you 2GB DDR3 memory and a 160GB 7200RPM hard drive—there's no optical drive on the 5310m. An upgraded model with a Core 2 Duo SP9300 (2.26GHz 6MB L2) will run $759; it also bumps the HDD up to 320GB 7200RPM. The preconfigured models ship with Windows 7 Professional 32-bit (with an XP downgrade if you want it).
http://www.anandtech.com

Apple's 15-inch Core i5 MacBook Pro: The One to Get?

If you've followed our Mac coverage over the past year you know I've been telling everyone to wait until Apple brought Arrandale into its MacBook Pro lineup. The time has finally come and this week Apple updated its entire MacBook Pro lineup.

While the 13-inch models still sport Core 2 Duo CPUs, the 15 and 17-inch models now ship with your choice of Core i5-M or Core i7-M processors. In a somewhat unexpected twist, all of the new models ship with discrete graphics courtesy of NVIDIA's GeForce GT 330M.

Intel gets to sell Apple some chipsets again and NVIDIA gets its GPUs in the new systems (possibly making even more money than before). But do you all benefit? Read on to find out!

  http://www.anandtech.com/ 

ASUS G73Jh: Today's Top Gaming Laptop

ASUS has made it a goal to increase their retail presence in the mobile market, with an eye on becoming one of the top brand names. There's no doubt that Dell, HP, and Acer continue to sell more laptops overall (especially if we leave out the Eee PC netbooks), but walk into any Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. and you're likely to find quite a few ASUS laptops for sale. They have everything from entry-level netbooks and laptops through long battery life CULV designs and a bunch of midrange offerings. At the high-end, you'll probably have more luck finding ASUS laptops online, but the ASUS G73Jh definitely makes such a search worthwhile.

The G73Jh is of the "bigger is better" variety of gaming notebooks, but it's not quite up there with the giant 18.4" offerings. Instead, ASUS has dropped down to a slightly smaller 17.3" chassis, but they've still packed in a lot of compelling hardware. Do you want to play games? How about getting the fastest current mobile GPU, and unlike the latest NVIDIA mobile solutions you get DirectX 11 support! The Radeon Mobility HD 5870 is a potent little chip, and it matches up nicely with the 1080p display. Sure, it pales in comparison to the top desktop GPUs (it's really based off the 5770 "Juniper" core with 800 Stream Processors as opposed to the 1600 Stream Processor "Cypress" core), but short of multi-GPU solutions like SLI and CrossFire, you won't find a faster notebook graphics chip.

Matched up with the GPU are a supporting cast of components that are powerful in their own right. For the CPU, the G73Jh-A2 that we received for review includes a quad-core i7-720QM (1.6GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz). The notebook uses an HM55 chipset, so support for i3 and i5 processors is also available and we expect to see other SKUs down the road. Thanks to Turbo Boost, the only dual-core CPUs that should clearly offer better single-threaded performance are the i5-540M and i7-620M, but for multi-threaded loads even the "low-end" 720QM bests all of the dual-core options. Besides 1TB (2x500GB) of storage and the other typical accessories, ASUS also stuffs a full 8GB of DDR3 memory into the G73Jh. It's interesting to note that they do this via four SO-DIMM slots, so potentially you could put 4x4GB in the system but ASUS officially lists only 8GB support.

The only serious omission (for some) is a Blu-ray drive; other models are likely to include such a drive, but costs are going to go up. If you want Blu-ray support, you might find it easier to just add your own for $100. For those that want it, eSATA, ExpressCard, and FireWire support are also missing, and unlike the N61Jv there's no USB3 port either. Digital content purveyors will be disappointed but if you're just after a mobile gaming solution the missing items aren't likely to matter.

When you add everything together, the G73Jh—particularly the A2 version that includes a nice mouse and backpack—is an excellent value, provided of course that you're interested in a gaming laptop. This thing is a beast to lug around, and it won't fit in my standard 17" laptop bag, so you'll want the ASUS backpack if possible. Availability is perhaps the only sore spot, with stock disappearing rapidly at most of the online vendors we've monitored. As such, a few sites are bumping up the price… and still selling out. (Newegg, we're looking at you and your $1750 A2 model.) The MSRP for this particular configuration is supposed to be $1600, and if you shop around you can probably find it at that price or slightly less, but as with any popular model you may need to work a bit to find one.

Next-generation, high-performance processor!

The prototype for a revolutionary new general-purpose computer processor, which has the potential of reaching trillions of calculations per second, has been designed and built by a team of computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin.
The new processor, known as TRIPS (Tera-op, Reliable, Intelligently adaptive Processing System), could be used to accelerate industrial, consumer and scientific computing.

Professors Stephen Keckler, Doug Burger and Kathryn McKinley have been working on underlying technology that culminated in the TRIPS prototype for the past seven years. Their research team designed and built the hardware prototype chips and the software that runs on the chips.
"The TRIPS prototype is the first on a roadmap that will lead to ultra-powerful, flexible processors implemented in nanoscale technologies," said Burger, associate professor of computer sciences.
TRIPS is a demonstration of a new class of processing architectures called Explicit Data Graph Execution (EDGE). Unlike conventional architectures that process one instruction at a time, EDGE can process large blocks of information all at once and more efficiently.

Current "multicore" processing technologies increase speed by adding more processors, which individually may not be any faster than previous processors.
Adding processors shifts the burden of obtaining better performance to software programmers, who must assume the difficult task of rewriting their code to run well on a potentially large number of processors.
"EDGE technology offers an alternative approach when the race to multicore runs out of steam," said Keckler, associate professor of computer sciences.
Each TRIPS chip contains two processing cores, each of which can issue 16 operations per cycle with up to 1,024 instructions in flight simultaneously. Current high-performance processors are typically designed to sustain a maximum execution rate of four operations per cycle.
Though the prototype contains two 16-wide processors per chip, the research team aims to scale this up with further development.

Dexter:Season 3, Episode 12

 Do You Take Dexter Morgan?
Original Air Date—14 December 2008
With Miguel Prado now out of the way, Dexter thinks all he has to worry about is his wedding. Life isn't so simple however. Ramon Prado, who had been acting as Miguel's bodyguard, is now out to get Dexter. So is the Skinner, though Dexter doesn't quite realize it until he's taken prisoner. Debra is told by Angel Batista that he has recommended her for her detective's shield. That is until he learns that she spent the night with Anton when everyone thought he was a confidential informant. Dexter learns that Rita has been married twice before, her first marriage when she was only 16 followed by a divorce six months later.

Supernatural

Supernatural is an American horror television series regarding the paranormal. The series, which is filmed in Vancouver, BC, Canada, debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. The second season premiered on September 28, 2006, and the third on October 4, 2007, though its run was interrupted by the writers' strike. Supernatural returned for a fourth season on September 18, 2008.

Plot

The series follows the brothers Dean and Sam Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki, who travel across the country in a black 1967 Chevy Impala investigating and combating paranormal events and other unexplained occurrences, many of them based on folklore, myths, and American urban legends as well as classic supernatural creatures such as vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. Eric Kripke, the series' creator, cites Neil Gaiman's The Sandman and American Gods as influences on Supernatural, along with American Werewolf in London and Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey.[2]

The plot of the series has evolved over time, beginning initially with the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean, looking for their father throughout most of season one. Once they find him, the show becomes about killing Azazel, the yellow-eyed demon responsible for the death of their mother. This is accomplished, but not until after Azazel's plans are completed and a door to Hell is opened, although only momentarily, releasing a horde of demons into the world. This event also sees the death of Sam, who is subsequently resurrected by Dean selling his soul at the end of season two. In the third season, the plot of the show focuses on trying to save Dean from his deal. Along the way, they meet a demon named Ruby, who has an interest in Sam and claims to be able to help save Dean, as well as Bela Talbot, an "acquirer" and seller of occult objects who is constantly a thorn in their side. The brothers eventually manage to track down the demon who holds Dean's contract, a powerhouse named Lilith who also wants Sam dead. However, Sam and Ruby ultimately fail to save Dean, who is killed and sent to Hell. Season four begins with Dean, miraculously returning from Hell, awakening dazed and confused in a grave. He was apparently rescued by a supposed angel named Castiel on orders from God. Sam on the other hand, has further developed his abilities with the help of Ruby during the months that Dean has been dead. It is soon revealed that Dean was revived to help stop Lilith's plan of breaking the 66 seals, which would let Lucifer walk free once again.

Dexter

 Dexter ia viata. Pe bune. Sub tagline-ul "Takes life. Seriously", Dexter ne tine in sah de mai bine de un an. Serialul a inceput in 2006, in octombrie, si este la a treia serie.

Dexter este Michael C. Hall, pe care l-am vazut in Six Feet Under (Sub Pamant S.R.L), in rolul lui David Fisher, antreprenorul de pompe funebre homosexual si cerebral. 

Spoiler alert!

Ce este deci Dexter? Un serial politist categorisit de imdb drept thriller si drama, dar cu un umor foarte fin si cu accese de comedie. 

Cine este Dexter? Un medic legist, specializat in teoria tasnirii sangelui, care are... "nevoi speciale" si instincte de ucigas. Ca sa si le canalizeze, periodic hacuieste pe cineva, dar "victimele" sunt alese numai dintre alti ucigasi. Dexter este un om bun care face lucruri rele... sau invers? 

Numele sau este foarte sugestiv si reprezentativ: dexter in latina inseamna "(mana) dreapta", de unde a derivat "indemanatic". Dexter este dibaci, dar este el si drept? In orice caz, mainile sunt un simbol recurent in serial - atasate sau nu posesorului original.

Sezonul 1 (12 episoade) se axeaza pe joaca lui Dexter, criminalul cu mutra inocenta de soarece de laborator, cu un ucigas in serie autentic, fara considerente "etice", dar cu un spirit ludic similar. Fiecare victima reprezinta inca o enigma de rezolvat, inca un centimetru ridicat la stacheta cursei catre o crima perfecta, curata, eleganta si inventiva.

Ideea nu este originala - nici a doppelganger-ului (sau a fratelui cel rau), nici a personalitatii bipolare (vezi Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde), nici a ucigasului in serie de ucigasi in serie (vezi Suspect Zero), nici a monstrului cu chip de om ziua (vezi American Psycho si Shrek I). 

Ceea ce da o nota aparte acestui serial este printre altele felul in care este tratata moartea - cu aceeasi raceala si detasare pe care o intalneai in Six Feet Under, de exemplu. Nu este nimic dezgustator, repingator sau revoltator intr-un Dexter mazgalit de sange pana la urechi, pentru ca Dexter este The Dark Defender. 

Si aici intervine acea tenta de comedie despre care am vorbit. Serialul se vrea distractiv; si este. Personajul lui Dexter, desi are nuante de supererou (la un moment dat chiar apare in mantie si cizme), nu este chiar atat de usurel. Discursul interior al lui Dexter urmareste neincetat actiunea filmului, dubland aparenta cu adevarul, ipocrizia normalitatii sale cu sinceritatea ("I'm a neat monster"). Dexter este un personaj pozitiv, detasandu-se categoric de imaginea de psihopat tip Patrick Bateman, la care exista multe aluzii in serial.

My pain is constant and sharp. I want my pain to be inflicted on others. I want no one to escape. But even after admitting this, there is no catharsis. My punishment continues to elude me. And I gain no deep knowledge of myself.

Nu este un citat din serial, ci din discursul final al lui Bateman din American Psycho - si aici se face diferenta: Dexter nu cauta decat criminali, nu se lanseaza urland psihopat cu toporul, ci are un ritual foarte meticulos. Iar la sfarsitul zilei, cand isi pune trofeul in colectie, simte ceva. Dexter, ca si Bateman, trebuie sa simta, pentru ca este gol pe dinauntru, "gol ca o cutie de gogosi".

Sezonul 2 schimba putin foaia. Tonul nu mai e jucaus - Dexter (sau mai degraba "realizarile" alter ego-ului sau) intra in centrul atentiei sectiei de politie unde lucreaza. Dexter devine vanatul. Intriga se crispeaza, povestea accelereaza...