Dell's Latest Laptop

The Precision M6300

When it comes to mobile computing systems few companies are able to claim families of products so successful as Dell which just announced the 10th anniversary of the Precision lineup and the company decided to launch a special edition laptop just for this occasion. The Precision M6300 notebook is here now to replace the older Precision M90 model and it is aimed at the business market.From the outside the new Dell laptop, the Precision M6300, features a "Road Ready" chassis design based on a magnesium alloy casing which allowed the manufacturing company to reduce the total weight of the laptop. On the hardware department, the Precision M6300 is based on Intel's mobile computing platform, the Santa Rosa. As a central processing unit the M6300 comes equipped with
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an Intel Core 2 Duo X7900 CPU which has a standard running frequency of 2.8GHz as well as a frontside bus speed of 800MHz. Just like most other notebooks based on the Intel Santa Rosa platform, the new Dell comes with a maximum of 4GB DDR2 of random access memory which is fully supported thanks to the 36-bit addressing system, even for 32-bit operating systems. The M6300 comes with a discrete graphics card based on the Nvidia Quadro FX 1600M graphics processing units which has 256MB of dedicated video memory and can additionally share 256MB because of the implemented TurboCache technology.The Precision M6300 notebook comes with two native widescreen resolutions, the WXGA+ (1440x900) and the WUXGA (1920x1200), as well as an anti-glare special coating and the TrueLife technology. While now LED backlighting is not yet available, Dell representatives are certain that this option will appear later. Storage options are rich for the Dell Precision M6300 as the laptop comes with a wide selection of hard disk drives up to 200GB and 7200rpm as well as an encrypted HDD with 120GB of storage space. As an option, a SanDisk made solid state drive of 32GB is also available as are a wide range of optical drives including DVD and Blu-ray burners.Wireless networking is of course present in the form of an 802.11a/g/n compatible chip made by either Dell or Intel; also present are six high speed USB ports as well as FireWire, Bluetooth and a multi format card reader. As the precision M6300 is intended as a business laptop, Dell also included a number of security features like an optional UPEK fingerprint reader. "Customers buy workstations because they need maximum performance to get a job done," said Dell Product Group VP Vivek Mohindra. "The M6300 is ideal for customers who want to run demanding professional applications no matter where they are."

EU Looking at Reports of Exploding iPhones and iPods

The European Commission is investigating reports of exploding iPhones and iPods, with three recent cases adding to concerns. A French teen was reportedly injured by his girlfriend's exploding iPhone. Several car fires have been blamed on the popular devices from Apple, Inc. Apple said it's waiting to receive the units from customers. The European Commission is looking into reports of overheated Apple iPhones and iPods causing damages. It has asked Apple to provide information on possible dangers from its popular products.
Three recent cases have come to the EC's attention from the 27 countries in the European Union. Two are from France and one is from the United Kingdom. Earlier reports of combustion have come from the Netherlands and Sweden.
"At the end of last week, we asked Apple and the member states where the incidents occurred to provide us with information on the matter," said European Commission spokesperson Ton Van Lierop.
The French daily Les Echols reported a French teen was injured when his girlfriend's iPhone shattered after it began to "crackle and pop like a deep fryer." Pieces of the screen reportedly hit Romain Kolega in the eye.
A similar report involved an iPod in Marseilles, and in the U.K. an overheated iPod touch reportedly jumped into the air and exploded. In addition, a Dutch iPhone owner reported that his device caught fire and damaged his car. An iPod also reportedly caused another car fire in Sweden.
While the EU investigates dangerous products, only the member states can order recalls. Apple said it will investigate.
"We are aware of these reports and we are waiting to receive the units from the customers. Until we have the full details, we don't have anything further to add," Apple said.
In January, Japan ordered Apple to investigate reports of sparks and fires from iPod nanos. In June, Apple recalled first-generation iPod nanos in South Korea after problems with the batteries.