The Murphy bed of computer desks

There was a time not long ago that home designers seemed obsessed with finding ways to showcase LCD and plasma TVs in innovative stands and other furniture. Lately, however, many efforts appear to be focused on computer desks.

Styles have crossed the entire spectrum, from minimalist designs to full gold leaf. But a common thread runs through all these models: Space conservation and multiple uses for the desks. That's where the Sync Desktop comes in.

The desk features a hideaway display and keyboard, as well as built-in peripherals and storage compartments, according to BornRich. Just a concept at present, it exists only in the mind of UK designer Gareth Battensby so far. Which is a shame, because the closest thing we've seen in reality is a desk with trap doors.

Via Crave CNET

Dell has the first 320GB 7,200rpm laptop drive

Desktop types are always kicking their laptop counterparts around, stealing their lunch money, and making fun of their slow and undersized hard drives.

Most laptops have slower 5,400rpm or even 4,200rpm hard drives, usually between 120GB and 250GB in size. For high-end types, there are 320GB laptop hard drives, and also 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but you couldn't get both of those specs in the same laptop drive [dramatic pause...] until now.

Fujitsu, Hitachi, and Seagate have all recently announced 320GB 7,200rpm laptop hard drives, but Dell is the first to stick them in a consumer laptop, using the Seagate drive in the massive 17-inch XPS M1730.

"Laptop users want every bit of capacity, performance, and durability that desktop PCs deliver," says Michael Wingert, Seagate's executive vice president and general manager, Personal Compute Business, in a press release.

We checked out the Dell Web site and the 320GB drives are available right now, for US$50 more than a standard 5,400rpm 320GB drive. Look for these to show up in Alienware laptops next, followed by desktop replacement systems from other manufacturers.

Via Crave CNET

Hands-on with Samsung's Dual Display 2263DX

Crave knows two screens are better than one. Many of us use twin 19-inch displays, while the real high rollers rock twin 30-inch Dell 3007WFPs. We don't need to--but that's just how we roll. So you can imagine just how intrigued we were when Samsung showed us its Dual Display 2263DX, a 22-inch monitor with a second 7-inch monitor poking out of the top.

It may look odd, but Samsung says it lets users have their favorite applications running uninterrupted in a totally separate, always-visible desktop space. It's right, too: We can definitely see ourselves running common apps such as Outlook, or a media player on the 7-inch display, while the main 22-incher gets on with the serious stuff. Like Facebook. See it in action here.

Via Crave UK

Alienware: It's not just about hardware

In an insightful interview with Marc Diana, Alienware's product marketing manager for desktops, an interesting twist was given to the quest for more computing power. While hardware companies are constantly making faster processors and graphics cards, Marc believes that the next breakthrough in the industry is really in 64-bit driver support.

One major bottleneck of the 32-bit environment is that memory size is capped at 4GB. Beyond that the system simply refuses to recognize additional RAM. With computers multitasking like never before, this limitation puts a serious dent when pushing for more power.

So why not just switch to a 64-bit environment? Though 64-bit operating systems have been around for a long time, driver support pales in comparison to 32-bit devices. Moreover, some popular applications may not work well in 64-bit machines. So no matter how advanced PC hardware gets, Marc believes that once 64-bit computing hits mainstream consumers, computing performance will reach new heights.

Via CNET Crave

From Speed Racer to Typeracer

Ready, set, type! Not quite what the Wachowski Brothers would have envisioned, but this cool, new site site should fuel the competitive streak in computer speed junkies at the keyboard. Typeracer not only lets you practice your typing speed, it allows you to race against others in the competitive typing pit, with a scoreboard keeping tabs on the race leaders and their wpm scores. Be warned. If you don't want to get sucked into this new addiction, steer clear. Otherwise, fastest fingers win!

Via Shiny Shiny

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