In most cases, the aura is defined as being an energy field that surrounds living beings, visible only to those born with the skill to see it, or those who developed this ability. Often described as a multi colored mist that has an assortment of boundaries and properties, the aura just got a new definition from Samsung!

The new line of laptops from Samsung is going to be called Aura, and the first model from the series, Aura R20, is going to arrive on the market this week. A worthy follower of the well known Q series, the Aura is a big step forward for Samsung, especially in terms of design. (read more)

I am not a big Apple fan, but I must admit that the iMac is one of the first things I would like to get in the near future, but this may change with the new VAIO L series from Sony. No, Sony didn’t start to manufacture computers able to run Apple’s Mac OS X, but they introduced a revolutionary concept with this new VAIO that reminds me of Apple’s all-in-one computer I just mentioned.

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After launching its first ultramobile unit for Windows XP, the VGN-UX50, last spring, Sony takes a big step forward to follow the industry, releasing its first minilaptop for Windows Vista, Microsoft’s latest operating system that finally made it to the public only four days ago.

Sony’s ultramobile PC for Vista comes with high hopes, targeting the business users in search for minilaptops. Although no reference to the price is being made in the official press release, the UX1 is expected to have a price around $3,800 U.S. (£2,000). The sources say that this price comes from the Sony officials, but until it becomes a reality, we can’t consider it more than just a rumor.

The little Vista-capable laptop from Sony is known as Vaio VGN-UX1XN, or shortly UX1, and has only 95 by 50.2 by 32.2mm (4 by 2 by 1.3 in.), featuring a slide-screen over a full Qwerty keyboard. If you don’t workout often, it won’t be a problem carrying it around, since it weighs less than half a kilo (a little more than a pound). These being said, we can award it the title of “Smallest Vista capable laptop” without any worries that we’ll be wrong! (read more)

Last week Apple announced plans to release a new, smaller Apple Mac Book. According to AppleInsider, Apple has been trying to come up with ways of making their notebook PCs smaller. One such way that they have come up with, and will soon be patented, is to place the balky optical disc drive(ODD) at the very bottom of the laptop, instead of along the side edge of the laptop like is typically done in laptops.

Some people have questioned this idea, as it makes it somewhat harder to use the ODD. However, whatever small inconvenience this causes users, Apple more than makes up for it with a thinner laptop that is easier to handle.

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Toshiba announced plans this week to bring out new laptops that come loaded with Microsoft’s new Vista operating system.The Satellite A135 laptop series are said to be affordable, making them stick out in comparison to many other notebook PCs.

According to Jeff Barney, VP of marketing at Toshiba, the new laptops feature dual hard drives which offer consumers advanced multimedia performance, as well as maximum storage capacity. The Satelite A135-S4499 has two 120gb ATA hard drives, which allows customers to have space for both music, photos, and documents. This allows consumers to use one drive for multimedia, while the other can be used strictly for business. Additionally, the S4499 features 2GB of memory and a Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5500.

The Satelite S4499 is set to be released to the public on February 20, 2007. Other models in the series include the Satellite A135-S4427–with a 160GB hard drive and 1024mb of memory–and the Satellite A135-S4467, which has a 120GB harddrive and 1GB memory. Every laptop in the series is equipped with a 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen display, which comes with TruBrite technology.

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Taiwanese PC manufacturer Acer has long been thought of as a “second-tier” PC company. Sales tend to confirm this thought, as Acer is currently ranked no. 4 worldwide.

Previously, Acer used their low prices and close relationships with distributors to create market-share gains, but now, according to Businessweek, they are trying to shed the image of not being a major player in the PC industry by teaming up with Ferrari, a well-known car maker.

Ferrari and Acer are collaborating together to create fresh designs for Acer’s PCs. LCD monitors have been updated with the innovative use of the Ferrari logo and racing colors. Acer monitors for desktop PCs aren’t the only thing to see this change–Acer is also using Ferrari on laptops.

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According to AppleInsider, Apple plans on releasing a new MacBook pro line. The new notebooks’ display screen will feature new backlight technology.

Previously, Apple’s MacBooks featured cathode fluorescent backlights, also known as CCFLs. The use of LED backlights in the MacBook should mark the gradual end of the use of CCFLs. At present time, Apple only plans on implementing the newer technology in the 15-inch MacBook Pro. However, it is expected that Apple will eventually use the LED backlights on the 17-inch and 13-inch models of the MacBook.

The LED technology is more expensive than traditional CCFLs, but according to AppleInsider Kasper Jade, makes up for it in terms of better lighting and less consumption of power. In fact, the LED-based screens have more battery life, run cooler and last significantly longer than do the CCFLs.

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This week Dell unveiled a laptop to compete with Panasonic’s Toughbook laptop PC. The Dell Latitude ATG D620 is designed to work in even the most extreme environments and to not break down like other laptops would. For Dell, this marks their first venture into the rugged laptops department.

“The Latitude ATG is a prime example of Dell’s commitment to customer-driven innovation,” said Jeff Clarke, senior vice president Dell Product Group. “We have heard from customers loud and clear that a tougher, highly protective notebook with a screen that is easy to see outdoors is necessary in many lines of work. We’re glad that we could meet that customer request with a product distinguished by industry-leading features.”

The ATG D620 has a shock-mounted hard drive and spill-resistant keyboard. It also features port covers and specially hardened paint so that it will hold up in even the harshest conditions.

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This week Toshiba revealed plans to release the very first notebook that can write HD DVD-Rs. The Qosmio G30/97A has been hinted at for months now, but this week’s announced laptop is the first laptop that is able to burn not just HD DVD-R discs, but also regular DVD-Rs and CD-Rs.

HD DVD-Rs burnt by the Qosmio are able to hold 2 hours of footage, which translates to about 15GB of space, a huge amount for a DVD-R. This allows for even bigger backups of data, as well as users being able to create and burn movies at a high resolution.

The Qosmio is loaded with a 2GHz Core Duo, as well as a GeForce Go 7600 graphics card. Additionally, the Qosmio is capable of holding as much as 320GB of files, making it one of the first laptops to have the capabilities of holding 320GB of space.

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This week Toshiba announced plans of releasing a new laptop on January 31, which is a collaboration with software giant Microsoft. The Portege R400 notebook computer is being billed as the Windows Vista signature computer. It is scheduled to retail at around $3499 USD.

Microsoft and Toshiba are billing the R400 as the signature Vista PC because it has all the technologies necessary to run Vista in an efficient and fast manner-plenty of speed, hard drives space and a good video card to boot.

Features on the R400 include the ability to automatically synchronize email and calendar events using Microsoft’s Active Notifications and Toshiba’s ConFig free, which is able to detect and connect to the strongest network connection available.

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