Reviews News: Notebooks and Switches
The staple diet of new switches and broadband technologies has this week been supplemented by a healthy addition of notebook launches.
Dell has announced the release of three new notebooks with P4-M processors running at 2.0GHz, the Inspiron 8200, the Latitude C840 and the Precision Workstation M50. Sample prices are AU$5,999 for the Inspiron 8200, AU$6296 for the Latitude C840 and AU$9,516 for the Precision M50 workstation, all with the AU$99 delivery fee.
The new HP, now featuring added Compaq, has launched the Omnibook xe4000 notebooks for small to medium businesses. The Omnibook xe4500 runs on P4-M technology, which recently attained speeds of 2.0 GHz. It comes in two flavours, the xe4500 78H for AU$4,999, and a model with lower specifications, the xe4500 77H at AU$3,999. The Omnibook xe4100 features the Mobile Celeron processor, which gets speeds of up to 1.2 GHz. This goes for AU$3,299.
Epson has brought out another printer, the AcuLaser C4000. This AU$6,270 is a fairly high-end machine, and Epson claims it prints 16 pages per minute at 2,400 dpi, in colour or monochrome.
Stallion Technologies has brought out the ePipe 2344, which it says allows up to three broadband connections to be bonded into a single faster data connection. The idea is to aggregate multiple xDSL, cable, T-1 or Frame Relay connections between offices, which has the potential to double or triple performance of the existing VPN solution. This is the result of a AU$2.5 million AusIndustry start grant.
Acer has launched a new range of servers, the Altos G300 and the Altos G700. The G300 runs a Celeron 1.7GHz processor, but can be upgraded to a Pentium 4 running at 2.4GHz. The G700 is dual processor capable using the Xeon processor with up to 2.2GHz core speed. Prices vary depending on the configuration chosen.
RSA Security has released the Keon Web Server SSL solution, which allows companies to manage their own SSL digital certificates instead of relying on a third party.
A new gigabit Ethernet switch from 3com, the Switch 4050 has a higher density of copper gigabit ports than 3coms Switch 4060. It has layer three switching, and is reportedly capable of detecting unauthorised applications running on the network and filtering these to conserver network bandwidth.
D-Link has brought out some layer 3 switches which they claim have the ability to prioritise important data streams. The DGS-3308TG, which runs over copper, goes for AU$6,278.80, and the DGS-3308FG, a fibre switch, has an RRP of AU$7509.70.