laptop News - Page 6 of 31 - CNX Software

June 28, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

MNT Pocket Reform 7-inch modular mini laptop takes a range of Arm (and FPGA) modules

MNT Pocket Reform is an open-source hardware mini laptop with a 7-inch Full HD display, an ortholinear mechanical keyboard, and trackball, that follows the path of its older and bigger sibling: the MNT Reform 2 laptop initially launched with an NXP i.MX 8M quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 module. The new laptop will not only support a similar “NXP i.MX 8M Plus” module but also a range of other Arm modules namely an NXP Layerscape LS1028A module with up to 16GB RAM, the Raspberry Pi CM4 module via an adapter, Pine64 SOQuartz (RK3566, up to 8GB RAM), as well as based on AMD Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA for industrial use. MNT Pocket Reform specifications: Available system-on-modules Standard: NXP i.MX 8M Plus quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz with 4 or 8 GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU, 2.3 TOPS NPU NXP Layerscape LS1028A dual-core Arm Cortex-A72 with 8 or 16GB DDR4, Vivante GC7000UL GPU Raspberry […]

June 24, 2022June 24, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

A RISC-V laptop or mini PC with Rockchip RK3588-class performance may be coming soon

Mark Himelstein, Chief Technology Officer, RISC-V International, and Dr. Philipp Tomsich, Chief Technologist & Founder, VRULL GmbH hinted that we may see a RISC-V laptop in 2022 in a presentation entitled “From Technology to Product – Maturing the RISC-V Ecosystem” with one of the slides showing what could be a RISC-V laptop prototype and The Register suspected it might come from the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISCAS) since it was planning to build 2,000 RISC-V laptops by the end of 2022. But there’s at least one more potential RISC-V laptop project coming our way with StarFive asking users to fill out a survey about a laptop, mini PC, or development board/SBC based on a RISC-V SoC with performance comparable to Rockchip RK3588 or MediaTek MT8192 octa-core Cortex-A76/Cortex-A55 processors. The hardware and software specifications of the device will depend on the answers to the survey. First, it’s […]

June 17, 2022July 19, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

CrowPi L is a $200 laptop shell for Raspberry Pi 4

Two years ago, we reviewed CrowPi 2 Raspberry Pi 4 laptop designed for STEM education with embedded electronics modules and Letscode software with step-by-step tutorials to learn Scratch and Python programming. I found it quite good, but many people were mostly interested in having a Raspberry Pi 4 laptop, and the price tag was a bit high at the time. That’s probably why Elecrow has now designed for CrowPi L laptop shell for Raspberry Pi 4 based on the CrowPi 2 but without all the electronics modules, and with a built-in battery to operate more like an actual laptop. CrowPi L laptop shell specifications: Compatible SBC’s – Raspberry Pi 4 Model B only Storage – Full-size SD card slot Display – 11.6-inch 1366×768 IPS screen (CrowPi 2 was 1920×1080) Video Output – HDMI output for external monitor Camera – 2MP camera Audio – Built-in microphone and stereo speaker; 3.5mm audio […]

May 23, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

MediaTek Filogic 880 and Filogic 380 to power WiFi 7 access points and clients

I first heard about WiFi 7 (802.11be) when MediaTek demonstrated some unknown Filogic solutions to customers, but few details were known at the time. The company has now formally announced the Filogic 880 and Filogic 380 WiFi 7 solutions designed for access points and clients respectively. MediaTek Filogic 880 for WiFi 7 access points, gateways, and routers Filogic 880 specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 application processor @ up to 1.8 GHz (about 30K DMIPS performance) AI accelerator – Advanced NPU (previously called “packet accelerator” or “off-load engine” :)) with HW NAT/IPv6 acceleration, QoS acceleration, (EIP-197) crypto engine for accelerating IPSec, SSL/TLS, DTLS (CAPWAP), SRTP and MACsec, etc… System Memory – Up to 8GB 32-bit DDR3/DDR4 3200 Storage – SPI NOR flash, SPI NAND flash, eMMC flash Networking Wired 2x 10 Gbps Ethernet 1x 2.5 Gbps Ethernet 4x 1 Gbps Ethernet Wireless Wi-Fi 7 technologies such as 4096-QAM, 320MHz, MRU, […]

March 1, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Qualcomm announces FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 & Bluetooth 5.3 solution

Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 chip highlights

Qualcomm has just announced the FastConnect 7800 WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 subsystem for smartphones, laptops, and virtual reality headsets promising peak speeds of 5.8 Gbps as well as sub-2 millisecond latency. We first detailed some of WiFi 7 features such as up to 40 Gbps link, and real-time capabilities when MediaTek showcased its future 802.11be compliant Filogic processor to customers, so it should be no surprise that Qualcomm had been working on its own solution, and announced it at Mobile World Congress 2022. Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 (WCN785x-1, WCN785x-5) specifications: Wi-Fi Standards – Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), 802.11ac Wave 2, 802.11a/b/g, 802.11n Spectral Bands: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz Peak QAM: 4K QAM Peak speed: 5.8Gbps or 4.3Gbps where the 6GHz spectrum is not available Features 4-stream Dual-band simultaneous (DBS) extended into the High Bands Multi-Link Operation (MLO) using 320 MHz (Single channel or 160 + 160) 8×8 […]

February 24, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Intel launches Alder Lake P-Series and U-Series mobile hybrid processors

Intel-Alder Lake P-Series and U-Series block diagram

Intel first unveiled the most powerful Alder Lake H-Series last year before the launch in January, and also introduced Alder Lake-S desktop IoT processors and Alder Lake U-Series and P-Series mobile IoT SoCs in early January. But now the company has announced the launch of the Alder Lake P-Series (28W) and U-Series (9W and 15 PBP) 12th generation mobile processors designed for “thin-and-light” laptops which should become available around March 2022. The block diagram of the 28W P-Series and 15W U-Series (source: product brief from Intel) shows both offer the same interfaces including eDP 1.4b, HDMI 2.0b, 2x PCIe Gen4, 12x PCIe Gen3, 2x SATA… and the same 50x25x12mm BGA package. But the 9W U-Series comes in a cost-optimized 28.5x19x11mm BGA package that does without SATA interfaces, a lower number of PCIe Gen3 interfaces (10 vs 12), USB 2.0 interfaces (6 vs 10), Thunderbolt 4 interfaces (2 vs 4), and […]

February 15, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

DIY Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W handheld PC (mostly) makes use of off-the-shelf parts

The Penkesu Computer is a DIY handheld PC powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W SBC, and mostly comprised of off-the-shelf parts including a 7.9-inch display from Waveshare, replacement hinges for the Gameboy Advance SP, a 48-key mechanical keyboard fitted with Kailh low profile Choc V1 switches, and so on. Penk also happens to have designed the CutiePi tablet with Raspberry Pi CM4, and designed the Penkesu Computer (ペンケース in Japanese) as a side project without having to “worry too much about commercial viability” and as a way to remind himself why he started tinkering. Penkesu Computer handheld PC specifications: SBC – Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W with Broadcom RP3A0 SiP with Broadcom BCM2710A1 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz, 512MB RAM, MicroSD card slot Display – 7.9-inch IPS display with capacitive touch screen, 1280x 400 resolution, connected over HDMI via flat cable through an Adafruit adapter Keyboard – […]

February 2, 2022February 2, 2022 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Craob X – An ultrathin, portless laptop with a wireless charger & dock

They’ve already taken out our audio jacks, and many laptops don’t come with an Ethernet port, but the Craob X portless laptop goes even further by completely removing all ports, and relies on a magnetic wireless charger that sticks to the laptop lid, and offers some USB and audio ports, you know just in case you actually need to connect wired peripherals… The main advantage is that you’d get an ultra-thin 7mm thick laptop that only weighs around 860 grams. As long as you mostly rely on wireless keyboards, mice, headphones, or storage devices that may be a working solution, and if you need to charge the battery simply place the wireless charger on the back of the display. Craob X portless laptop preliminary specifications: SoC – Up to Intel Core i7-1280P Alder Lake processor with Iris Xe graphics (28W TDP) System Memory – Up to 32GB LPDDR5 RAM Storage […]