New Intel's 34nm X25-M runs like a thoroughbred SSD, costs less

It was only two days ago that they finally became official, but already we've got a couple of reviews springing up to tell us all about the second generation X25-M SSDs from Intel. PC Perspective kick things off with a full examination of the new drive, finding plenty of good (improved random reads and writes), some bad (minor fragmentation issues under extreme use scenarios) and pretty much no ugly. Not to be outdone, Anandtech have dissected the drive and compared its innards with the older generation hardware, while also running a few benchmarks for good measure. The conclusion in both camps is that while Intel has improved the hardware side of things, it is the drastically reduced price that makes the X25-M G2 the best choice in the consumer SSD space. Navigate past the break for a pricing chart, but remember that retail cost will be a bit steeper, should you be able to snag one in the wild.

Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse

With the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft has released some new peripherals that have been designed to complement the new operating system, and its new way of doing things. First up is the Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse, a rather odd looking Bluetooth-only mouse.

In the past, Microsoft has launched a number of ergonomic peripherals that are comfortable to use for long periods of time. As you can guess from one look at this mouse, this isn't one of them.

But that's not the aim of this mouse. It's not designed for sitting in front of a desktop PC for hours at a time, but for quickly using with a Windows 8-equipped tablet. There's no dongle, but as long as your tablet is Bluetooth capable you can get Windows 8 to search, detect and connect to the mouse rather painlessly.

Software for adjusting what the mouse can do can be downloaded from Microsoft's website, but there's not many settings to change, so it's pretty pointless.

The mouse is small, so easy to carry around with you, and you can fit a few fingers on there to move the mouse around. As with previous Microsoft mice, the Bluetrack technology keeps the mouse responsive over a variety of surfaces.

The mouse also works with some touch gestures, such as swiping horizontally or vertically. While it doesn't seem to support multi-touch gestures, such as pinching to zoom in, it does make the Windows 8 interface more intuitive, as opposed to using a traditional mouse.

Google Announces New Samsung Chromebook

In case you missed it, Google and Samsung have teamed up to release the latest version of the Chrome OS-based Chromebook; powered by a fanless dual-core A15 ARM processor and featuring an 11.6-inch display, this "browser in a box" might be all the laptop some people need.
As we mentioned in our review of the first generation Samsung Google Chromebook, a Chromebooks is essentially a "browser in a box" that makes full use of the Google search, Gmail, YouTube, and Hangouts. Google calls the Chromebook "a hassle-free computer" since updates are handled automatically and there is very little to learn. If you know how  to use the Google Chrome browser then it won't take you long to understand how to use a Chromebook.
All of the basic apps are pre-installed and you can download more apps; many of them available at no cost. The Chromebook starts in seconds thanks to the very light Chrome OS installation and the fast 16GB SSD. Yes, you heard that right. There is only 16GB of built-in storage on this laptop. Most of your files are stored in the cloud on a Google Drive so you only need to store your most important files locally. Of course, this means that you need to have a connection to a wireless network at all times in order to access the files that aren't stored on your laptop. That said, keeping your files in the cloud instead of on your laptop means that it's easy to replace a Chromebook if it's stolen and you can just login to your Google account and change your password if you're concerned about security after losing a Chromebook.
You can pre-order the new Chromebook at Amazon now and it comes with 100GB of free storage for two years via Google Drive. It will also soon be available via major retailers like Best Buy in time for the holidays.

Samsung Chromebook 2012 (XE303C12)  :

1.Display : 11.6-inch glossy LED-backlit display, 1366x768 resolution, 200nit brightness
2.Processor : Samsung Exynos 5250 (dual-core A15 ARM)
3.Memory : 2GB
4.Storage : 16GB SSD
5.Ports : 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, combo headphone/mic jack, SD memory slot, HDMI out
6.Speakers : two 1.5W speakers
7.Keyboard : Full-size Chrome keyboard
8.Wireless : 802.11 abg/n 2x2, Bluetooth 3.0 Compatible
9.Weight : 2.43 lbs (1.1.kg)
10.Battery Life : over 6.5 hours
11.MSRP : $249 USD (Wi-Fi only), $329 USD (Wi-Fi + 3G)

Toshiba Satellite P855-10G

Top of Toshiba's P855 range, the 10G features Intel's much-touted new Ivy Bridge chip, and comes packed with software and hardware to back it up. It's on sale now.

Design :

his is no ultrabook. It's a heavy (2.94kg), powerful multimedia laptop that works equally well on the move or as a desktop replacement. It's finished in a classy champagne metallic effect and the ports include four high-speed USB 3.0 inputs, an HDMI output and a multi-card reader. Two of those USBs also include the sleep and charge feature, which allows you to charge your mobile phone or MP3 player while the P855's switched off.

The keyboard is a little bit of a letdown. Though the plastic keys are nicely spaced, they offer little travel, and don't give much feedback, which means they can be all too easy to miss when you're typing fast. Still, a little practise helps you get into the Tosh way of typing (heavy, basically).

The touchpad is large and reasonably sensitive, though the touch-sensitive buttons won't be for everyone.

Screen and features : 

The 15.6-inch screen offers an impressively sharp resolution of 1920x1080 pixels -- not the very highest perhaps but certainly compelling. Resolution drops somewhat for the glasses-free 3D feature to 1366x768, for which you'll need to use Toshiba's embedded Blu-ray disc player. The 3D effect works, helped by the front-facing camera which tracks your eyes to adjust the 3D image. But it's not as smooth as you tend to get with the glasses variety, and it can get a bit wearing on the eyes after a while.

The quad-core i7-3610QM processor runs at 2.3GHz but also has Turbo Boost technology which can take it up to 3.3GHz. Combined with an impressive 8GB RAM, plus hyper-threading that effectively allows it to double the number of cores to eight, and you have an extremely powerful laptop.

Performance :

It delivered a PCMark performance benchmark rating of 2,589, which puts it above Samsung's Series 9, though it came behind the HP Folio 13 ultrabook. That said, it took just one minute and 36 seconds to encode our test 11min movie for iTunes, which puts it well ahead of any other laptop we've tried so far, and in the same zone as Alienware's X51 gaming monster. And speaking of games, it offered frame rates around 290-300fps while playing Portal on its default settings, so it should be able to take most of the HD gaming you can throw at it.

Ivy Bridge processors come with Intel's HD 4000 graphics built-in, but Toshiba has added the Nvidia GeForce GT 640M, which is more than capable of playing HD video.

There's a Blu-ray drive on board that will play just about every disc format you can think of. The frankly huge 1TB of storage is welcome too, with loads of room for a substantial amount of the highest of def content.

With all that power, the battery life is less than stellar, and it managed just three hours before needing a recharge.