Autoblog

Click above for more pics of the Bentley laptop

As a devout lover of both technology and expensive cars, there are few things more exciting to me than an exotic vehicle or new gadget. It's cool when new technologies are integrated into cars, too. Unfortunately, the car/technology marriage doesn't work so well when the paradigm is shifted in the other direction. Ferrari and Lamborghini have tried to push exotic-branded tech with limited success, and now the latest offering from Bentley and Ego Lifestyle takes a bolder step towards brand-whoring.

The new Bentley laptop attempts to class up the notebook computer business with rich leather and hand-sewn cross stitching that comes directly from the storied brand's seats. Further connection between notebook and luxury vehicle comes from the use of a Bentley door handle that has been converted for computer carrying duty, and the laptop is supposedly "hand-built" just like the cars. Besides looking like a cross between a Coach hand bag and a George Foreman Grille, it also has sub-standard hardware specs as well. Oh, and it'll cost you a cool £10,000 to live the life of a poseur, too. What a deal. All is not lost, however, as the rest of the luxury automobile universe can look to this monstrosity as a reminder to never again build a branded laptop. Somehow we doubt they'll heed the warning.


[Source: T3 via Engadget]

Bandwagons are for jumping on, and this one's carrying laptop computers branded by automakers. Ferrari's was among the first, then Lamborghini jumped on board, and more recently we've seen Koenigsegg and Maybach follow suit. Not to be left out, reports are surfacing that BMW has teamed up with Acer to offer its own range of branded notebook computers.

The partnership seems to be an odd choice, since Acer produces laptops for Ferrari and sponsors their racing team. Reports suggest, however, that the BMW computers will be slotted in below their Ferrari counterparts and sell at lower price points. Based on Acer's Aspire series, the BMW versions will feature extra design features, for which Acer insists the customer will pay no premium.

Buyers will have the choice of Intel Santa Rosa or AMD processors and an optional HD-DVD drive, and the laptops will come complete with all the bells and whistles including 17-inch widescreens, WiFi, surround sound, and HDMI. Instead of offering one or two different models, the information points to a whole range of BMW-Acers that could include as many as 40 different model configurations.

[Source: Engadget]

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We have no idea why branding a laptop computer with your logo is so attractive to high-end automakers these days, but apparently you're not a player until you've got one. First there was the Ferrari-Acer partnership, then ASUS and Lamborghini got together, and now we have Hewlett Packard, or HP as the kids call it these days, teaming up with Maybach, DaimlerChrysler's brand of cars for the upper crust of humanity.

Not much is known about the HP/Maybach laptop except that it features the requisite leather-covered case (is that snake skin?) with the Maybach logo front and center, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and a 64GB solid state hard drive. The solid-state drive is a wicked bit of tech, as it features no moving parts like current hard drives, which makes it extremely resistant to shock. Solid-state drives also consume less power and access data much faster than normal hard drives. Additional specs and pricing are not known yet, but expect the HP/Maybach laptop to cost at least $4,000 considering its exotic hard drive technology.

[Source: tech2.ru via Engadget]

If you were playing a little word association, you might associate "Lamborghini" with "lap-dance", but Asus would rather consumers associate it with "laptop" instead. The Taiwanese computer company and the Italian exotic automaker are taking the wraps off their latest collaboration, the VX2, which as you might have guessed, follows the VX1 that launched this past August at the Concorso Italiano in Monterey, California.

Asus is keeping pretty tight-lipped on the specs, only revealing that the new model will ship with Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista, and will employ Intel's Centrino Duo Mobile processor. Otherwise they're focusing mainly on the fit and finish: like the VX1, it'll be available in either yellow or black, but the casing will be made of either an aluminum-magnesium alloy or carbon fiber (depending on the model), and will feature a metal keyboard and what looks to be a rather beautiful contrasting-topstitched leather palm-rest, just like the trim on the interior of a Lamborghini road car.

That's all we know for now, but we'll be sure to keep you posted after the Asus Lamborghini VX2 is officially unveiled when it will have to compete with Acer's equally stunning Ferrari laptop series.

[Source: Engadget]

This is the kind of black box we want in our cars... GizMag brought to our attention a physical security device (read: safe) that prevents opportunistic smash-and-grab theft that occurs sometimes when thieves see so much as a PDA cable or cell phone charger. The AutoSafe hooks into your vehicle via a wire rope cable that can attach to a chassis-mounted seat base, seat hinges or baby seat fixing points so you don't have to run and get your drill. AutoSafe comes in various sizes, from smaller ones that fit an MP3 player, PDA or pharmaceuticals to larger ones that can fit an entire laptop bag.

The safes span in price from $100 to $300 depending upon their size.

[Source: AutoSafe via GizMag]

Acer has announced its newest Ferrari-themed notebooks, the 5000 and ultra-portable 1000 series. Powered by the latest AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile chip running at 2.0GHz, and encased in carbon-fiber, the 64-Bit Ferrari 5000 promises a performance edge over the other supercar-logo'd laptops.

Acer tells us that the Ferrari 5000 series utilizes the very latest in video communication, cutting-edge multimedia technology and wireless (and wired) connectivity, "to make it an all-round winner, and the perfect companion to mobile champions." It ships with a 15.4-inch widescreen display, 2 gig of 667 Mhz RAM, a 160GB S-ATA hard drive, and an ATI Radeon Xpress 1600 with up to 512 MB of HyperMemory (256 MB of dedicated GDDR3 VRAM, up to 256 MB of shared memory).

Also featured are an HD-DVD Optical Drive, 5-in-1 Card Reader, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth® 2.0+EDR, a built-in 1.3MP Acer OrbiCam™, Acer Bluetooth® VoIP phone, as well as wireless Bluetooth™ Optical Mouse and Microsoft Windows® XP Professional preinstalled. The 1000 Series, we're told, also packs a lot of hardware into a frame that carries a 12.1-inch display.

Although other laptops on the market might deliver better overall performance at lower prices, they obviously can't match the passion of anything with a Ferrari logo on it. Certainly there is a market for auto-branded laptops, as the Acer Ferraris have to face off with the Asus Lamborghini, Itronix HUMMER and the newly released Koenigsegg CCX laptop.

[Source: Aving and Acer, IntoGear]

Apparently if you are going to play in the supercar ranks, you need to offer consumers a laptop to be taken seriously. Joining fellow automakers Ferrari and Lamborghini, Swedish supercar maker Koenigsegg now has its own notebook computer as well. Unlike Ferrari and Lamborghini, however, who rely on Acer to make their computers for them, Koenigsegg opted for an unknown computer company who branded it a Koenigsegg.

Available as a CCR (pictured) or a CC8S (black), each features a large Koenigsegg logo on the front. Sadly, the technical specifications don't match the speed of the recently Autoblog piloted SuperSwede. Pictured is the CCR version, which sports a 2.13 ghz Intel Pentium M processor. The CC8S version has to make due with a 1.7 ghz Intel Centrino. Both are available at the Koenigsegg Shop.

Tipster: James

[Source: Sybarites]

No, it's not a new high-powered supercar, but the Asus Lamborghini-VX1 will still turn some, albeit geeky, heads. Scheduled to debut in Monterey, California at the 2006 Concorso Italiano "Celebration of Italian Style," on August 18th, the laptop produced by Asus Computer International is borrowing the Lambo name to gain a little mileage out of its newest high-end notebook. The laptop will be unveiled at a press conference at Lamborghini's tent and will be featured at both the Asus and Lambo stands throughout the event.

Borrowing some processing power from Intel as well as the NVIDIA GeForceGo 7400VX Special Edition graphics engine makes the notebook one of the most powerful out there, befitting of something wearing the infamous bull logo. Until we take a "road test", however, we can't say for sure, but we'd look forward to the small, lightweight design and ample power, if we planned to buy one.

[Source: World Car Fans]