There aren’t that many rugged laptops out there, and chances are if you’ve seen one around, it was a Panasonic. Their Toughbook line has been around for ages, and is the standard for rugged consumer laptops.
But that doesn’t mean they’re the only players in the game. Rugged Notebooks has released the RNB Eagle, a rugged notebook that won’t blow you away with its specs, but can definitely take a… → Read More
We can’t say we’re surprised: after unveiling the world’s first glasses-free 3D TVs last week, Japanese business daily The Nikkei recently reported that Toshiba is currently readying naked-eye 3D PCs. While the TVs will be released in Japan as early as December, big T is planning to launch the PCs, which will be marketed under the dynabook brand, sometime next year. → Read More
Following Sony, Panasonic also showed [JP] some new computer hardware today, namely the so-called Let’snote J9. It’s essentially a mini notebook with a 10.1-inch screen that runs on Windows 7 Home Premium and has a modular 128GB SSD on board. Another selling point is the Core i5-460M (2.53GHz) CPU that powers the device. → Read More
Sony has a new line of flagship Vaio notebooks, the F series. Announced [JP] today in Japan, one of the main selling points are the two USB 3.0 ports each of the VAIO F notebook comes with. There will be two models, the VPCF139FJ/BI and the VPCF138FJ/B, and both will hit Japanese stores on October 9. → Read More
Two Nvidia GTX 480Ms! That’s what Origin has stuffed into the EON17, the company’s latest razzle-dazzle gaming laptop. The specs are probably better than your desktop’s. → Read More
I’m sure you’ve all had this nightmare: It’s your kid’s first day in Kindergarten, and when you pick her up from school, she’s crying. “What’s the matter, honey?” “Daddy, all the other kids have real laptops, I only have an iPad!” — what do you do?! Toshiba to the rescue. They’ve got a young’un-oriented laptop that will let your kid can run Excel on and that will survive a direct cupcake… → Read More
Apparently 3D laptop shipments are dragging behind in a pretty dramatic way. Of the roughly 100 million units shipped, only about 100,000 have been 3D laptops. I think the problem goes beyond the issue of price, it more about the fact that most users have no use for 3D on something portable. → Read More
Panasonic announced [JP] two new models from their TOUGHBOOK series of extra-sturdy and durable notebooks today. And both the CF31 from the TOUGHBOOK 31 series and the CF19 from the TOUGHBOOK 19 series boast some pretty impressive specs. → Read More
As if there weren’t enough laptops in the world already! Ah well. The new lineup of Envy, Mini, and Pavilion laptops looks pretty solid, and they’ve got stuff for pretty much every price point. I don’t want to get into too much detail here, since obviously if you’re looking for a laptop you’ll be checking HP’s site for specifics, but let’s hit the high… → Read More
Up to this point, Asus’ US product line has been aimed directly at the consumer. This is about to change, as Asus recently announced that they will be offering their B series of laptops, which were previously limited to the Asian market. → Read More
Darn interesting tale in the Los Angeles Times that tells the story of the DOWNFALL~! of the Wi-Fi café. It seems freeloaders have ruined all of the fun. You know, the lone guy who sits down at a table for four, then camps for three hours having ordered a single medium coffee. Way to go, guy. → Read More
Let’s say you’re a professional on-the-go, one who prefers to type at some sort of incline. Good for you. Then you may want to give a go to the Standivarius laptop stand. It’s $56, light (135g), and takes “two seconds” to set up. → Read More
Look, it’s a pink Sony Vaio. Amazing, right? No, no it’s not. Can anyone answer this question: why do companies think that by making an otherwise unremarkable item PINK that women will AUTOMATICALLY want it? Silly. → Read More
Toshiba in Japan announced [JP] a new Qosmio laptop today, the Dynabook Qosmio V65. The main selling point of the device (of all Qosmios, in fact) is the “multi-media” capability: Toshiba promises that the laptop produces high-quality images, thanks to the SpursEngine coprocessor (that Toshiba has been using in its CELL TV and Qosmio laptops since 2008), LED backlight, and the 15.6-inch “Clear… → Read More
People might not be buying houses and cars at the pre-recession levels, but laptops are flying off the shelves led by netbook sales. (Quiet, don’t tell John. He hates netbooks.) → Read More
Last week we saw a nice little semi-rugged ultraportable (or notelet, as I like to say) introduced by Dell, and although it seemed just a little underpowered for the price, its build quality might make up for it. And here we have another ultraportable, an Inspiron, showing up on Dell Singapore. Powered by the newest mobile AMD chipset and Neo processors and the usual… → Read More
What do you do with a laptop when you’re done with it? That’s an actual question being that the only laptop I owned before my current old man MacBook is sitting in the closet, broken beyond repair. Now, if I had one of these new Asus laptops, I could, somehow, recycle them. Helping the Earth, one laptop at a time. → Read More
“Oh, neat.” Thus spoke Nicholas Deleon when he saw these MacBook keyboard decals, and it was Good. → Read More
Acer has said for a while now that they would be the first to market with Chrome OS devices. Seems like that would be up to Google, but I guess it helps to be willing and able. Sources are now saying that these devices will debut as early as June 1 at the Computex show in Taipei. → Read More
Well, the new Dells aren’t exactly going to shock anybody speechless, but they look practical and the assurances of ruggedness are heartening. It’s always struck me as strange that the so-called ultra-portables, which are meant to be taken everywhere, almost universally have cheap builds. Of course, most of them cost a lot less than the Dell E4310, too.
Vital specs and pics inside. → Read More
How convenient. You’ll recall that we (well, pretty much just me) have been covering the case of the Pennsylvania school district that allegedy took thousands of photos of students with laptops that it gave them. Of course, these photos were taken without any of the students (or their parents) knowing, so it looks pretty bad. Or looked pretty bad? Lawyers hired by the school district have… → Read More
This MacBook-spying story could be the creepiest story in quite some time. We already know the allegations: that the school district provided MacBooks to its students, but then took photos of the students without their knowledge or consent. Now we’re getting numbers. One student claims he was photographed more than 400 times, and now it has emerged that, over a period of two years, school district… → Read More
Lenovo makes good laptops. This much is clear. But I feel like they’re not particularly exciting. It’s like buying a Subaru. Great cars, sure, but not a lot of flair there (unless they make that gullwing prototype). But I’m going to be honest, if I were to buy a car today, it would probably be a Subaru — or a Leaf, but that’s another story. I’m not a fancy man. I just need to get… → Read More
It’s pretty great that people are just now realizing that Planet Earth isn’t some sort of static strip mall. There are volcanoes, and earthquakes, and hurricanes, and tornadoes, and tsunamis—objects from outer space regularly invade the atmosphere. This planet is alive, brother! So, idea: you know how certain laptop models, like ThinkPads and MacBooks, come with built-in accelerometers? → Read More
Oh, this school district is totally boned. You’ll recall that the Lower Merion School District, in Pennsylvania, had given students MacBooks so they could do their schoolwork. Fun. What wasn’t fun, though, was that the school is alleged to have snapped photos of the students without their consent. The whole kerfluffle is wrangled in the legal system now, and one of the district’s employees who had… → Read More
Having reviewed several laptops in the last year, there is one thing that I have learned I can always count on: the trackpad on PC laptops is going to be a disaster. Every time. At least, a relative disaster, when you consider the quality of the trackpad that comes with every MacBook and MacBook Pro. Now, this isn’t the venue for discussing the other relative merits of Macs and PCs &mdash… → Read More
Short version: if you don’t want to spend more than $600 and you must have a 15″ screen, the 5538 is a perfectly decent option, as long as you don’t mind netbook-like performance. → Read More
Onkyo in Japan announced [JP, PDF] a new notebook today, the Sotec MX1007A4. It has a 10.1-inch screen featuring 1,024×600 resolution and LED backlight, with Onkyo saying one of the two selling points is its thickness (the notebook is 22mm thin – 18mm at it thinnest part). It weighs just 1.16kg, too. → Read More
What’s most surprising about this next story is that it took so long to emerge. Presenting… someone’s MacBook 3D mock-up! “See 3D, make 3D.” Yes, that’s very Apple-like indeed. → Read More
Not long after Acer announced last year that it was launching an Android netbook did the company unveile the first-of-its-kind Acer Aspire One D250. Then just yesterday Acer’s mobile product manager Martino Mombrini let slip that an updated model is on its way. The D260, like its predecessor, will also be able to dual boot Android and Windows. Not much else is currently known about this… → Read More
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