Apple Inc. recently showed off their new family of MacBook Pro laptops, boasting longer battery lives and faster processors with lower prices.
Macbooks are now available in 13, 15 and 17 inch sizes. The baby of the family, 13-inch sells for $1199, the 15-inch for $1699, and the 17-inch for $2499.
Apple claims to have taken a fresh approach to building their products, and have introdued a new unibody design method. What this basically means is that they have taken design to a new level. Instead of having multiple parts that fit together making up the macbook, they hve taken a new approach to the design by replacing the many parts with one single part.
Apple engineers believe this new desgn method will further reduce failures, thereby extending the life and reliability of the macbook. And considering that customers are increasingly demanding easy to use, strong, mobile products Apple seems to have taken a step in the right direction with their new design.
The new unibody design consists of a single piece of carved alluminum that encloses the the macbook's critical parts, giving it a sturdy, strong but also light design. Each casing is milled from a solid block of aluminum using hi-tech CNC machines.
Every Macbook has the power saving NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor. The 15 and 17 inch models give you the option for even more graphics power with the added NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT processor. Depending on the level of graphics power you need, you can easily switch between the two.
The new MacBook Pro trackpad has also been installed and now has no button. The trackpad is in fact the button. Engineers believe this gives more room to track and click.
Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
New technology in Lenovo ThinkCentre desktop PC
Lenovo announces its most secure, most manageable, and greenest ThinkCentre desktop PC to date, the M58/M58p, with Power Manager(1), which is a ThinkVantage technology allowing PC users to control their electricity consumption remotely, and available for the first time ever on a ThinkCentre PC.
Power Manager allow users to lower electricity costs and thereby save energy by enabling system administrators to monitor and remotely control the amount of electricity used by all Power Manager enabled desktops in a PC fleet. For example, PCs can be programmed to automatically shut down during evenings or weekends.
The use of Power Manager and Intel(R)vPro(TM)technologies, provides the ThinkCentre M58p user with the lowest total cost of ownership of any ThinkCentre.
The ThinkCentre M58 desktop supports more secure, and more energy efficient operations, and also enable faster information processing.
Power Manager allow users to lower electricity costs and thereby save energy by enabling system administrators to monitor and remotely control the amount of electricity used by all Power Manager enabled desktops in a PC fleet. For example, PCs can be programmed to automatically shut down during evenings or weekends.
The use of Power Manager and Intel(R)vPro(TM)technologies, provides the ThinkCentre M58p user with the lowest total cost of ownership of any ThinkCentre.
The ThinkCentre M58 desktop supports more secure, and more energy efficient operations, and also enable faster information processing.
High-tech speed bump detects damage to vehicles
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a technology that detects damage to critical suspension components in military vehicles simply by driving over a speed bumplike "diagnostic cleat" containing sensors.
"Our aim is to save time and maintenance costs, but more importantly to reduce downtime by catching damage before it leads to failure in the field," said Douglas Adams, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Systems Integrity.
Purdue is working with the U.S. Army and Honeywell International Inc. to develop the technology.The vehicles are driven over the "tactical wheeled vehicle diagnostic cleat," which is like a rubber-jacketed speed bump equipped with sensors called triaxial accelerometers. The system measures vibrations created by forces that a vehicle's tires apply to the cleat.
Damage is detected in the tires, wheel bearings and suspension components by using signal processing software to interpret the sensor data. "Let's say one of the tires is severely under pressure," Adams said. "The cleat tells you to turn around and fill up that tire because you are about to embark on a 10-hour mission with this vehicle. Or, you are returning the vehicle to the depot and the cleat tells you that the right rear suspension has a problem in the shock absorber or a critical bolt in the front suspension is broken. The maintenance personnel don't have to troubleshoot the vehicle. They know what to fix." The system also could be used in commercial applications to test civilian vehicles, he said.
Research findings are detailed in a technical paper being presented April 22 during the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit. The researchers have filed for a patent on the technique, which has been nominated as a U.S. Army invention of the year by the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Mich.
"The diagnostic cleat is designed to be quick and easy to use," said Joseph Gothamy, acting team leader for the reliability and durability modeling and simulation team at the U.S. Army center. "The last thing we want to do is take time from already overburdened soldiers and maintenance officers. The cleat is a quick first check to determine what's mechanically wrong with a vehicle before wasting time hunting for potentially simple problems."
The technical paper was written by Purdue mechanical engineering graduate student Tiffany DiPetta, Purdue senior research engineer David Koester, Adams, and four researchers from the U.S. Army: Gothamy, Paul Decker, David Lamb and David Gorsich, from the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.
"Operating and maintenance costs for military weapon systems accounted for about 60 percent of the $500 billion U.S. Department of Defense budget in 2006," Adams said. "Better diagnostic and prognostic technologies could reduce this expense and ensure readiness of ground vehicle fleets."
By using the instrumented cleat and other "condition-based" maintenance methods, the military could reduce costs by performing work on vehicles when needed based on the condition of parts instead of performing scheduled maintenance on vehicles regardless of whether they need the work.
"In theatre, some vehicles may be used at checkpoints while others may be hauling supplies hundreds of miles," Gothamy said. "Even if the same vehicle variant is used, they are on very different missions and trying to use the same regular maintenance schedule for both isn't always efficient or effective."
The researchers tested their system in experiments with high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or Humvees, and also developed a computational model to simulate how the system works. "Our simulated model showed us that we were capable of using the system accurately to detect damage to vehicle components, and our experiments with actual vehicles validated the model," said Adams, whose research also uses facilities at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. "The system was sensitive to as little as a 5 percent change in the stiffness of the suspension."
Findings show the method is capable of accurately identifying damage to vehicle tires and the suspension. A damaged coil spring in the front suspension of a Humvee was detected even when tire pressure was varied widely in attempt to confuse the system. "This system is currently ready to acquire more data in Army depots, and we are working with the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center to start a large vehicle survey exercise with vehicles coming back from overseas," Adams said. "Data will be used to determine the types of wear and tear exhibited by vehicles deployed in certain terrains."
The system does not require specialized training to operate, and it is relatively inexpensive, costing about $1,500, which is spread across the inventory of about 20,000 vehicles, Adams said. The research has been funded by the U.S. Army and Honeywell International. Future research could focus on refining the signal processing software to more precisely identify specific components in the vehicle's suspension system.
"Our aim is to save time and maintenance costs, but more importantly to reduce downtime by catching damage before it leads to failure in the field," said Douglas Adams, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Systems Integrity.
Purdue is working with the U.S. Army and Honeywell International Inc. to develop the technology.The vehicles are driven over the "tactical wheeled vehicle diagnostic cleat," which is like a rubber-jacketed speed bump equipped with sensors called triaxial accelerometers. The system measures vibrations created by forces that a vehicle's tires apply to the cleat.
Damage is detected in the tires, wheel bearings and suspension components by using signal processing software to interpret the sensor data. "Let's say one of the tires is severely under pressure," Adams said. "The cleat tells you to turn around and fill up that tire because you are about to embark on a 10-hour mission with this vehicle. Or, you are returning the vehicle to the depot and the cleat tells you that the right rear suspension has a problem in the shock absorber or a critical bolt in the front suspension is broken. The maintenance personnel don't have to troubleshoot the vehicle. They know what to fix." The system also could be used in commercial applications to test civilian vehicles, he said.
Research findings are detailed in a technical paper being presented April 22 during the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit. The researchers have filed for a patent on the technique, which has been nominated as a U.S. Army invention of the year by the Army's Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, in Warren, Mich.
"The diagnostic cleat is designed to be quick and easy to use," said Joseph Gothamy, acting team leader for the reliability and durability modeling and simulation team at the U.S. Army center. "The last thing we want to do is take time from already overburdened soldiers and maintenance officers. The cleat is a quick first check to determine what's mechanically wrong with a vehicle before wasting time hunting for potentially simple problems."
The technical paper was written by Purdue mechanical engineering graduate student Tiffany DiPetta, Purdue senior research engineer David Koester, Adams, and four researchers from the U.S. Army: Gothamy, Paul Decker, David Lamb and David Gorsich, from the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center.
"Operating and maintenance costs for military weapon systems accounted for about 60 percent of the $500 billion U.S. Department of Defense budget in 2006," Adams said. "Better diagnostic and prognostic technologies could reduce this expense and ensure readiness of ground vehicle fleets."
By using the instrumented cleat and other "condition-based" maintenance methods, the military could reduce costs by performing work on vehicles when needed based on the condition of parts instead of performing scheduled maintenance on vehicles regardless of whether they need the work.
"In theatre, some vehicles may be used at checkpoints while others may be hauling supplies hundreds of miles," Gothamy said. "Even if the same vehicle variant is used, they are on very different missions and trying to use the same regular maintenance schedule for both isn't always efficient or effective."
The researchers tested their system in experiments with high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles, or Humvees, and also developed a computational model to simulate how the system works. "Our simulated model showed us that we were capable of using the system accurately to detect damage to vehicle components, and our experiments with actual vehicles validated the model," said Adams, whose research also uses facilities at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories. "The system was sensitive to as little as a 5 percent change in the stiffness of the suspension."
Findings show the method is capable of accurately identifying damage to vehicle tires and the suspension. A damaged coil spring in the front suspension of a Humvee was detected even when tire pressure was varied widely in attempt to confuse the system. "This system is currently ready to acquire more data in Army depots, and we are working with the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center to start a large vehicle survey exercise with vehicles coming back from overseas," Adams said. "Data will be used to determine the types of wear and tear exhibited by vehicles deployed in certain terrains."
The system does not require specialized training to operate, and it is relatively inexpensive, costing about $1,500, which is spread across the inventory of about 20,000 vehicles, Adams said. The research has been funded by the U.S. Army and Honeywell International. Future research could focus on refining the signal processing software to more precisely identify specific components in the vehicle's suspension system.
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