The Toshiba E105 has been sneaking around the fringes for a few days now, but apparently it's not just announced -- it's available for purchase. That's right, the oddly familiar looking 14.1-incher can be had at Best Buy for the totally reasonable price of $1,199.99, packing a 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo, a 1280 x 800 TruBrite LCD display, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and an Intel 4500MHD integrated GPU. The Satellite also sports 802.11a/b/g/n, an HDMI out, Vista Home Premium, and that all-important fingerprint reader (just remember, this increases the odds of someone cutting off your finger). The laptop is available right now online, no word if it's on store shelves yet.

[Via LogicBUY]

The Apple rumor mill has really cooked up a doozy this time. According to 9to5mac -- a site with a fairly good track record -- Apple's next big thing isn't just a laptop or an iPod... it's an entirely new manufacturing process. If you believe the site's sources, an as-yet-unannounced event on October 14th will herald in a new iteration of the MacBook dubbed the "Brick," but the big news won't actually be about the laptop. Apparently, Apple has created a brand-new process to sculpt casings for products out of aircraft-grade aluminum, using a system that carves the pieces out of a single block of metal using "3D lasers" and water-jet cutting. The new technique will supposedly allow for seamless components which require no bending or folding, won't use screws to join together, are ultra-light but also "super strong," and will enable the company to rapidly prototype and produce new designs. Of course, not a single word of this is confirmed or even acknowledged by Apple, though we have been hearing whispers of the "Brick" for a few weeks now. Ultimately, everyone should approach this news with extreme skepticism, but if these rumors get magically transmuted into reality, there's no telling what kind of new gear Apple might have up its sleeve.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Imagine this -- you, sitting in a dingy airport terminal waiting on your flight with a lifeless laptop and just 10 minutes to spare. You've got oodles of spreadsheet work to do before 8:00AM tomorrow, and unless you get it done on this flight, you're fubared. Toshiba is looking to make said scenario seem like one that's not so grim, as its prototype SCIB (Super Charge Ion Battery) purportedly has the potential to get 90% full in just 10 minutes. The battery was unveiled at CEATEC 2008 in Japan, though little was known about its eventual availability. Shame development cycles can't be fast tracked in a similar manner, huh?

[Via UberReview]

Slowly but surely, MSI is following in the laughable footsteps of ASUS. At first, the Wind was simply the Wind. Now, we've a smattering of variants to keep up with, and according to a recent interview with director of US sales Andy Tung, that trend isn't about to stop. Starting next week, the Wind U100 will be available at an undisclosed "large national retailer," with the 3-cell / WinXP version going for $399. Additionally, Tung gave us all a reason to hold off on making that very purchase by revealing that the business-minded Wind U120 (or Wind 2, as he called it) will be landing on US soil in late November or early December. Said machine will boast "a whole new look," new HDD / SSD options and inbuilt 3.5G WWAN connectivity for under $600. Also of note, MSI's internal research has found that Linux-infused netbooks get returned four times as often as units with Windows XP; we can't say we're shocked that people don't feel like learning a new OS, but we're deeply, deeply saddened that reading comprehension levels (particularly on specification labels) in this nation are so obviously low.

HP's got the Special Edition itch again, and it's scratching it with both hands as evidenced by the newest dv4t and dv5t SE notebooks. Starting with the former, we've got a flashily designed 14.1-incher with a WXGA panel, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a handful of Core 2 Duo CPU choices, NVIDIA's 512MB GeForce 9200M GS, up to 400GB of hard drive space, WiFi, optional WWAN and an integrated HDTV hybrid tuner. The equally fashionable Pavilion dv5t SE sports a 15.4-inch LCD, a GMA4500MHD integrated graphics set, optional Blu-ray writer and most everything already mentioned on its smaller sibling. You can snatch either of these up for $1,099.99 / $949 (or higher) right now, but we'd make sure you really dig the tattoos before making a decision you'll regret forever.

[Via Notebooks]

Read - HP Pavilion dv4t Special Edition
Read - HP Pavilion dv5t Special Edition

First off, we'll warn you that these reports are currently unconfirmed by the suits in Redmond, but word has it that Microsoft is working with at least one OEM to have the Windows XP "downgrade" deadline pushed out from January 2009 to at least July 31, 2009. That's according to an e-mail sent from Microsoft to an unspecified partner company, which purportedly details a plan to work with other buddies in pushing that deadline out another half year. Given the results thus far, we suppose we're not too surprised to hear that firms are still clamoring for the XP option, but one wonders when this madness will ever end. Will folks really be opting for XP on new machines after Windows 7 is out?

[Via Download Squad]

Time to face the music, folks -- 18.4-inches is the new 17-inch. Sony's recently unveiled VAIO AW is undoubtedly going toe-to-toe with HP's new HDX 18t, and while both will garner all sorts of stares from onlookers, it appears that the VGN-AW190 may have an edge in terms of extras. For starters, this unit's Adobe RGB-compatible display will be mighty impressive to those who dabble in photos to make ends meet, and the included RAM, CPU and Blu-ray drive were all smiled upon. Strangely enough, Sony tossed in a pathetically slow 4,200RPM hard drive to put a damper on overall performance, but that -- along with the $3k+ sticker -- was the only real weak spot. Overall, critics found that this machine would likely suit graphic designers and photographers quite well, but the average joe / jane may not appreciate the pricey extras enough to make it worthwhile.

If you've been looking for a Gemstone, Acer's got four new ones that your eyes should really see. The top-end Aspire 8930 gets things going with a borderline ridiculous 18.4-inch HD CineCrystal display, a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA's GeForce 9700M GT, an optional (but completely necessary) Blu-ray drive, WiFi, 320GB 7,200RPM SATA drive and a starting price of just $1,699.99. The 6930 sports a 16-inch WXGA LCD and a few less niceties, though the $699.99 is entirely more appealing. As for the consumer-friendly 5735, it boasts a Pentium T3200, 15.6-inch WXGA display, 2GB of RAM and a $549.99 sticker. Picking up the rear is the 14.1-inch 4730, which coincidentally starts at the same price point as the aforesaid 5735. The whole happy family is available right now.

[Via PC Launches]

Laptop Mag would evidently like to make two things quite clear: if you pick up MSI's Wind U90, you better love SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and be totally cool with the sub-2 hour battery life. For those of you still with us, you can probably guess that the 10-inch Wind didn't do so hot during its review, with those two rubs really overshadowing the solid design, great keyboard and delicious price tag ($350). For whatever reason, MSI figured it'd be peachy to toss a 3-cell battery in there and let mobile users just deal with the 1 hour, 39 minute lifespan; obviously, that's an issue serious road warriors can't ignore. If you're willing to pony up for an extra battery and install your own OS (if SUSE isn't your cup of tea), the Wind U90 might not make for a bad companion, but as-is, you better do some serious soul searching before pulling the trigger.

HP's Voodoo Envy 133, first announced in June, has struggled a bit off the blocks, with manufacturing problems keeping it out of buyers hands until last month. Of course, HP has a good excuse: carbon fiber. The notoriously difficult material wasn't used sparingly on the Envy 133, and if you've been looking for a laptop dripping with the synthetic material, HP's got your number. We mention this to remind ourselves that, like the MacBook Air before it, this laptop is about looks first, function second, and the Envy 133 succeeds in that regard wildly. There's always room for taste in these things, but HP makes quite a statement here no matter what your persuasion. We're not going to run through a full review here, but we'll let you know our first impressions after the break.

Just when we think things can't get any worse for the Eee's bedraggled reputation as a brand, along comes ASUS with a subtle deviation to give us some much needed hope. The "fashion-friendly" S101 ($699 to $799), which will ship in brown (seriously?), champagne and graphite hues, and feature a 10.2-inch WSVGA LED-backlit display, an SSD up to 64GB in size, 4-in-1 flash card reader, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a VGA output, three USB 2.0 ports, 0.3-megapixel webcam and a multi-touch trackpad. In related news, we've got the remarkably heinous 904HA (shown after the break), which inexplicably comes in puke green and lollipop red (or black, phew), and includes a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, 6-cell battery and a $399.99 price tag. You're stoked, aren't you?

Read - Eee PC S101
Read - Eee PC 904HA; via EeePCNews

We're assuming Apple will eventually give up and release a netbook of its own, but until then Steve had better get used to seeing OS X hacked to run on all manner of tiny laptops -- the latest to make the switch is Dell's Inspiron Mini 9. Nothing too complicated about this hack, since most of the work was already done for the internally-similar MSI Wind, but you'll have to dig up some extra Broadcom drivers to get WiFi and sound working. Seems like a fun little project for the weekend -- anyone going to take the plunge?

You could tell from the specs sheet that Lenovo's ThinkPad W700 wasn't a common man's machine, and a review from the cats at Laptop Mag has all but confirmed that. Dubbed "a beast of a 17-inch [laptop]," this rig was marveled upon right from the get-go; after all, it's not everyday that you see a full-fledged digitizer built right into the palm rest, not to mention the integrated color calibrator. Unfortunately, such niceties weren't bundled in for free, as the review unit they had rocked a $3,802 price tag. Still, the design, build quality and performance were all stellar, but critics couldn't help but point out that this unique creature wouldn't be worthwhile for everyone. In fact, they praised Lenovo for "incorporated some truly innovative features," but they did confess that they weren't "entirely convinced of their practicality." Think long and hard before digging into your kids' college fund for this one, you hear?