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 SuperView LED” HD TFT screen with 1,366×768 resolution. → 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 better-than-netbook-but-not-quite-notebook specs, it seems like a perfectly decent little fellow. → 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 concluded that the school didn’t do anything wrong, and we should all go to Cold Stone and have two scoops of ice scream to celebrate. → 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 officials took some 56,000 photos in total, with many of those including students in the frame. FIFTY-SIX THOUSAND! You know, you send your kids to school expecting them to learn a little bit of math, maybe about evolution and the Big Bang, but you do not expect them to have their privacy violated as if we’re living in East Germany. → 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 around.
Same for a PC laptop. These Lenovos, starting at only $649 for a 14-incher, seem very well-equipped and ready for anything. → 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? They’re there in order to protect the hard drive from a devastating fall, but what it you could use said accelerometer to detect an earthquake before it happens? → 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 access to the images called it a “little LMSD soap opera.” Replied another: “I know, I love it.” Oh boy, not good for the school district. → 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 — cost, OS, Apple Tax, and so on. This is strictly about the trackpad. I raised a similar question when I asked how Apple has had the best touchscreen on the market for three years running, despite years of R&D by their competitors. It’s the same with trackpads. Why don’t laptop makers seem to get it? → 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 netbook, except that the chassis is getting a redesign. But wait, there’s more. → Read More
We’ll have a full review of Alienware’s pint-sized gaming machine, but in case you guys haven’t seen enough pictures of it (or there just wasn’t enough bokeh in those other sites’ shots), I’ve put together a nice little gallery for you. I’m happy to take more pictures too if you want close-ups of this or that. → Read More
The Alienware M11x is a fascinating modern notebook. May I say that it probably took “out-of-this-world technology” to pack so much power into a little kit? Get it? Because it’s an Alienware. You got? Yes, I know I’m dumb. John tells me that every day. Just click through for the photos, pal. Let’s get on with this. → Read More
