Seagate Technology has carried the notebooks data security one step further by announcing that it will start offering its hard drives with built-in encryption in the first month of 2007.

Meant for the notebook PCs, the new Momentus 5400 FDE.2 (aka tha Full Disk Encryption 2) will come integrating a special encryption chip that will keep a check on the data security. It would not be possible for anyone to read the data from the disk and boot up the system without the required authentication.

The 2.5 inch 5400 rpm hard drive will come in the storage capacity of 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB. While the users can personalize the password for data access, it might be possible that notebook vendors will come out with other techniques like fingerprint and smart card readers.

The notebooks stuffed with hard drives featuring data encryption will start shipping shortly after Seagate makes available these special hard drives in January.

Via: PCworld

The good folks at Kingston Technology have rolled out the new 2GB 533MHz and 667MHz ValueRAM SO-DIMMs in a view to get some extra performance out of your little machines. Specially designed for notebooks and miniPCs, the new ValueRAM SO-DIMMs will add some more power to the performing capability of your notebook. Well, these new ValueRAM memory dont come under the Kingstons HyperX performance memory. While the price tags of $589 and $640 repectively might seem a bit heavy but it will let the users stuff 4GB of Kingston memory into a two-slot motherboard. Both the ValueRAM SO-DIMMs are available for sale.

Via: CrunchGear

In case, you own an Apple PowerBook Pismo and are a bit disappointed with the battery performance (I dont think you would be facing such probs but anyways), then Fastmac has come out with a neat solution to make your Pismos battery last longer.

Fastmac has introduced the highest capacity extended life battery upgrade i.e. the 84 Whr battery for your PowerBook Pismo PC. The new battery is based on the TruePower technology and delivers 68% more capability than the original Apple battery used in the machine.

The Fastmacs TruePower battery can also be configured with the G4 550 MHz processor for the PowerBook Pismo. In case, an undesired short circuit is detected, the integrated sensors in the circuit power off the battery.

Fastmac’s TruePower line of battery comes with a one-year warranty and ships within 10 days of order for a price of $139.95.

Via: AppleLinks

Intel has quietly announced a new Core 2 Duo processor by the name of T5200.The T5200 is cheaper as compared to the previous T5500 owing to its reduced Front Side Bus. While the Merom1.66GHz, the brand new T5500 clocks at 1.60GHz. For now, T5200 cant be configured on a custom-built machine from the global leaders like HP and Dell. However, the Core 2 Duo T5200 stuffed pre-built laptops are available via online stores.

Via: laptopLogic

If you are looking out for some chic yet safe case for your lappy, Fabrix has taken wraps off its three new laptop casings in its sleeve collection. The newly announced cases are Black Angus, Red Fury (when red meets black) and a limited printed designed Black Flora.

All these modish laptop sleeves feature soft paddings inside to ensure the safety of your valued and loved laptop. These catchy lappy sleeves will cost you $33 with optional $10 (short fabric) or optional $12 (short leather) for handles.

Via: Macnn

Sally told Susan told Johnny told Sally again that a 15.4-inch Macbook will be released in May 2007. We are actually a little disappointed at the news and would much prefer a smaller version of the notebook. And what the hell is Sally doing talking to Johnny again?

As much as I would agree with the kind folks at Gizmodo I don’t really mind variety. Besides my 12″ iBook is breaking my back (from slouching too much so I can look at my f***ing screen). Well I guess Steve Jobs is facing some real time dilemma here, it’s never easy to please us demanding users!

Foxconn to ship 15.4-inch MacBook to Apple in May 2007 via Gizmodo via crunchgear

MobilityGuru has some fine slideshows on its site that compare the two new quality notebooks from the house of Gigabyte-the 12.1-inches W251U (pictured left) and the 15.4-inches W551N (pictured right).

The slideshows have been made on the basis of different tests including the 3DMark05 PCMark05, MobileMark 2005, Display Brightness and the Contrast tests. Anyway, the prominent difference is the display size. While both the notebooks are bestowed with the Core 2 Duo processors, the W551N supports Nvidia GeForce Go 7400 graphic processor and the W251U features Intel GMA 950.

The W251U runs on a 2GHz T7200 processor while the W251U features a 1.83GHz T5600. To know the detailed info on both the Gigabytes machines, do watch the slideshows that will give you a proper analysis of the two.

Via: MobilityGuru