Western Digital Begins Shipping World's Slimmest 1TB Drive

At Computex 2013, Western Digital announced that it has began shipping its new 7mm thick WD Blue drive, which is also the world’s thinnest 1TB drive. With the addition of this new 1TB drive, the WD Blue family now has capacities ranging from 320GB to 1TB.

Western Digital expects their new drive to go into the latest ultrathin notebooks. With this new drive, S.Y. Shian, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Notebook Business at ASUS said, “WD has eliminated the capacity limits heretofore endured by thin and light personal computers while keeping the reliability and data-protection of a traditional hard drive.”

The drive is also compatible with existing 9.5mm mounting slots of mainstream notebooks, which will make it easy for OEM partners to implement, and consumers to upgrade.

The new 1TB WD Blue also features many of Western Digital’s existing technologies such as Shockguard, which protects the drive from sudden jolts and shocks; and StableTrac, which uses a motor shaft that is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibrations.

The new drives have been endorsed by both Acer and ASUS, so expect to see it feature in their new ultrathin notebooks in time to come.

Fujitsu's New Lifebook UH90 Features 3200 x 1800p Touch Display

Fujitsu has just announced the existence of the UH90, a 14-inch Windows 8 business Ultrabook with the huge display resolution of 3200 x 1800 pixels. That translates to a pixel density of 262ppi, which is closer to that of smartphones, and higher than that of the Chromebook Pixel. The display is made from indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology, which is supposed to consume less power, and have higher sensitivity compared to a traditional LCD TFT display. 

In order to let users fully utilize Windows 8, the UH90 will also come with a multi-touch built into its display. The touch panel will have a special surface coat called the Super Glide Coating, which supposedly reduces friction, allowing your fingers to slide effortlessly around the display. 

From the looks of it, the UH90 -- successor of the Fujitsu Lifebook U772 (or UH75) -- has a mostly aluminum build, and an "ultra-compressed, solid core" design, which means it's able to withstand quite a bit of abuse (about 200kgf). Fujitsu also managed to keep the UH90's thickness extremely thin at 15.5mm (0.1mm thinner than the U772), and are calling it the world's thinnest Ultrabook (with HDD). 

As for its internal components, the UH90 runs on a new fourth generation Intel Core i5 (Haswell) processor, which is more than enough to power the higher resolution display. The UH90 will also feature a 500GB hybrid HDD, which gives users fast start-up and resume times, and plenty of storage space. 

According to Fujitsu, the UH90 will be available in Japan at 28 June 2013. There is no further information on when the UH90 will be available outside of Japan, but keep a lookout here for updates here if you're interested. 

Google making it easier to find a Chromebook

The usage figures might not look good, but if you want aChromebook, Google wants to make it easy for you. On Monday, the tech giant announced in a blog post that Chromebooks will be made available globally in "three times more stores than before".

With more than 6,600 stores around the world slated to carry Chromebooks, David Shapiro, Google's head of marketing, said: "Chromebooks make great computers for everyone in the family - and now you shouldn't have to look very far to find one."

In the US, Walmart and Staples, along with others, will be joining Amazon.com and Best Buy as retailers selling Google's laptop offering. Joining Dixons in the UK will be Tesco stores, while Netherlands will have them in at Mediamarket and Saturn stores, FNAC stores in France and Elgiganten stores in Sweden.

Australians will be able to find Chromebooks in JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman stores. The Google also said that it will bring its laptop to other countries later this year.

More blips!

If you aren't searching Google for Chromebooks, try some other blipsinstead.

HP launches Haswell-powered all-in-one desktop and tower PCs

HP is joining the race to launch PCs including Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core Processor, with a new range of EliteOne and EliteDesk models designed to suit different office sizes and layouts.

At the top end, HP's EliteOne 800 G1 is an All-in-One (AiO) desktop packing up to 16GB of RAM behind its 23-inch wall mountable touch-sensitive IPS display.

PCs with AiO designs have found favour with consumers for their ability to save space, and HP is hoping businesses are ready to grab some of the benefits.

HDD alternative

The EliteOne 800 G1's internal storage can be configured with up to 1TB hybrid SSD as an alternative to a 500GB HDD. Its turbo charged USB 3.0 port enables it to act as a hub, and it it can be hooked up to four displays using an optional graphics card, which is upgradable with up to 2GB of memory.

Additionally, it features an SD media Card Reader, microphone and headphone ports, and a DVD rewriter.

The EliteOne 800 G1, which ships with Windows 7 or Windows 8, is available from June at a starting price of $1,299 (for the touch-enabled model) or $1,099 (non-touch model). No word yet on UK pricing.

HP has also unveiled a range of Haswell-powered desktop tower PCs in the form of its EliteDesk 800 G1 series, which is available in multiple form factors.

The EliteDesk 800 G1 Tower is the biggest of the three models. HP is offering it with multiple RAID configurations for users with more than one hard drive to help automatically back up and protect sensitive data.

Small form

In the middle, the EliteDesk 800 G1 Small Form Factor, which is designed for offices with limited space, includes Intel's Smart Response Technology, a disk cache solution that provides users with similar performance with SSD drives while providing the data storage capacity of larger HDDs.

It also comes with WiFi Intel Wireless Display technology, which allows users to connect the machine to projectors and other display units.

Pricing for the HP's EliteDesk 800 series starts at $815. The models are available from June. Again, no word on UK pricing at the time of writing.

Intel leak reveals plans for 8-core Haswell E-Series CPU

Despite the spotlight still very much remaining on Intel'sbattery boosting "Haswell" CPU, a fresh leak suggests that the chipmaker may be putting raw power back on the menu before long.

Intel could be set to launch its first 8-core CPU for desktops in the second half of next year, beginning with its 2014 Haswell-E enthusiast-grade chip, according to a report onVR-Zone.

Haswell-E processors will apparently be built on the 22nm 2nd generation Hi-k process and will pack up to 20MB of L3 cache.

The chip also looks set to feature Intel Turbo Boost 2, in addition to support for DDR4 and 16 threads thanks to hyper-threading technology, all supported by Intel's forthcoming Wellsburg motherboard chipset.

The company is apparently looking to do away with the 4-core base model in favour of 6-core and 8-core versions of the CPU.

Raw power

In terms of raw power, it's the biggest leap since Intel announced its first 6-core processor for desktops back in 2010.

The superfast chip could primarily deliver the goods for three types of users: powerhungry gamers, overclockers, and content creators in the video, photo and music fields.

Sony Xperia ZU high benchmarks raise eyebrows...and heart rates

We're already expecting the Sony Xperia ZU to be big and fast, but some leaked benchmarks suggest it won't just be fast, it'll be insanely fast.

The rumoured 6.3-inch handset is said to come boasting a quad-core Snapdragon 800 and the benchmark screenshot posted on Esato shows a record-breaking 32,173 AnTuTu points. So that's going to be really quite powerful.

Even more powerful than the suspected Snapdragon 800-toting Samsung Galaxy S4 benchmarks that were leaked earlier, which came in at a comparatively measly 31,491 points. It even dwarfs the octa-core processor found in the more-powerful variant of the S4 currently on the market, showing Sony wants to play in the power stakes too.

Fab-let

Meaning you'd be wise to expect Sony's beast to be a hyper-fast 'phablet' type device that will give the Galaxy Note 2 a run for its money and could even take on fully-fledged tablets - although, of course, it's worth bearing in mind that benchmarks such as these can be faked.

Other leaked specs for the Xperia ZU include a 6.44-inch full HD screen and an HD camera.

We're expecting Sony to take the wraps off its newest handset at an event on June 25 - we'll be there bringing you all the news as it breaks, so stay tuned.

Motorola Moto X pegged with 1.7GHz dual core, Android 4.2.2

Motorola's Moto X may have had its specs leaked over the weekend, and if so, it's looking pretty decent.

The Moto X will sport a 1.7GHz dual core MSM8960 Pro chip, a 720p display 2GB of memory, 16GB of storage, 10- and 2-megapixel back and front cameras and Android 4.2.2, according to a Twitter tipster.

The Twitter account @evleaks, the self-styled source of "tomorrow's news, yesterday," tweeted out the specs on Saturday.

As always, there's no source on the info, but with the Moto Xconfirmed by the company's CEO it's only a matter of time until we find out for ourselves.

The hero this market needs?

Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside revealed the name of the rumored Motorola "X Phone" at the D11 conference in May.

The device is officially dubbed the Moto X, and it will be Motorola's new "hero" phone, Woodside revealed.

He also said that the Moto X will be built primarily on U.S. soil, a first for an industry that gets most of its manufacturing done in Asia for cheap.

If the specs leaked over the weekend turn out to be accurate, thenprevious rumors of a 16-megapixel camera and 2.3GHz processor will prove far too generous. Still, the Moto X's most recently rumored specs are nothing to sneeze at.

It will have sensors that cause it to act different in various situations, such as in a car, Woodside said last month. He added that it will have superior battery life.

Potential carriers for the Moto X are still a mystery, but Motorola is expected to reveal the Moto X (and several more October-releasing handsets) in more detail soon.

We asked the company to clarify whether these Moto X specs are accurate, but so far we haven't heard back.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini up for pre-order with expected July 1 delivery

Mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse has now started to offer contract pre-orders for the new Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and says it expects to deliver the device on July 1.

Interested parties can snap up the scaled-back version of the flagship Galaxy S4 from £27 a month for 24-months on Orange, with unlimited texts, minutes, 250MB of data and a free phone.

The store is also offering deals from each of the major UK networks on its pre-order page, with 109 tariffs in total to choose from.

There's also 4G-based deals from EE from £36 a month with 750GB of data, ranging up to £56 for 8GB of data.

£390 SIM-free

The device, which packs a 1.7Hz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 4.3-inch AMOLED display, also went up for SIM-free pre-order at Clove UK on Monday.

The independent retailer wants a not-insignificant £390 for the handset, which also offers 8GB of storage, 1.5GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera.

Three, O2, Vodafone EE and Phones 4U have also confirmed they intend to stock the LTE-enabled phone.

Samsung is yet to confirm an official UK release date for the device and Carphone Warehouse's July 1 proclamation is the first we've specific date we've heard beyond the July release window.

Will you be picking up a Galaxy S4 mini next month? Let us know in the comments section below.

Samsung mass producing new MacBook Air SSDs for other notebooks

Announced last week during WWDC 2013, Apple's newMacBook Air will make use of a new solid state drive from Samsung.

The MacBook Air will be available with new Haswell chips, and will be offered with either a 128GB XP941 SSD or a 256GB version.

However, Samsung is not exclusively creating the XP941 SSD for the MacBook Air. In fact, the Korean manufacturer announced plans on Monday to mass produce the drives for plenty of other vendors.

There will be three versions available, with a 512GB version joining the aforementioned SSDs being used in the new MacBook Air.

Smaller, faster, better, stronger

As the first PCI-Express (PCIe) SSD, the XP941 is not only smaller than other current SATA SSDs, it's also faster.

The diminutive stature of the XP941 is what enabled Apple to improve the MacBook Air's battery life without ditching storage space.

According to Samsung, the new SSD can read 500GB of data in six minutes, which puts it at nearly seven times faster than a standard hard drive, and 2.5 times faster than a SATA SSD.

"With the Samsung XP941, we have become the first to provide the highest performance PCIe SSD to global PC makers so that they can launch leading-edge ultra-slim notebook PCs this year," Young-Hyun Jun, executive vice president for memory sales and marketing at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

Samsung hasn't revealed which other companies will carry the new SSDs, but did say some manufacturers have already received them, with more coming as the year rolls on.

• In addition to new SSDs the MacBook Air will soon have the new OS X 10.9 Mavericks . Take a look at when you'll get it.

Asus-made 2nd gen new Nexus 7 peaks out from FCC filing

The next-gen Google Nexus 7 could indeed arrive soon, like the rumors say.

And the kicker is that the new Nexus 7 will be made by Asus, if a recent FCC filing is any indication.

The Federal Communications Commission published a listing that appears to show the full specs for the Nexus 7 2 under the model numbers K008 and K009.

Android Authority delves into the legitimacy of the filing and the likelihood of it being the Nexus 7 2, but suffice to say it's looking likely. So let's get on to the specs, shall we?

You're welcome

The new Google Nexus 7 2 by Asus appears to sport a significant upgrade in the display department, up to 1080p, and more memory at 2GB.

It looks like Asus is also switching the new Nexus 7 from Nvidia's Tegra 3 to Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 PRO.

The camera situation is also upgraded from 1.2 megapixels to 5 megapixels on the back, and with a new 1.3-megapixel snapper on the front.

NFC, LTE and wireless charging are all new as well, not to mention Android 4.3 out of the box.

Bedfellows 4life

The 2nd gen Nexus 7 reboot was first rumored back in April. Since then, all signs have pointed to a July release, and with this report surfacing in mid-late June that's looking even more likely.

Google switched to Samsung for its Nexus 10, and the future of its relationship with Asus was unknown.

But if Asus is making the Nexus 7 it seems the two companies remain loving bedfellows.