John Morris and Sean Portnoy deliver straight talk about notebook and desktop computers.
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine.
Sean Portnoy is a former executive editor at Computer Shopper magazine and editor at CNET Networks.
There is no denying the popularity of netbooks, but there's still much debate about who's buying them and for what purpose. Netbooks were conceived for emerging markets--along the lines of the OLPC's XO laptop and Intel's Classmate PC--but they turned out to be more popular in developed countries.
When Asus announced the first netbook back in June 2007, the company said it would sell for $199. That turned out to be too optimistic, but two years later prices are really starting to drop.
There are plenty of laptops that cost well under $1,000. And there are lots of ultraportables and thin-and-lights for frequent fliers.
Dell is now offering Mobile WiMax as an option on two laptops, the Studio 16 and Studio XPS 17. The Intel 5159 WiMax/802.
The official Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) is now available from both the Windows download site and Microsoft TechNet. Several bloggers have reported intermittent problems with the download servers, but they seem to be working now.
MSI is better-known for netbooks and nettops, but the Taiwan-based company announced two gaming laptops today. Both have the identical design and 15.4-inch widescreen display, but they have different components.
Two major netbook players appear set to release new models with larger displays that will further blur the lines with traditional laptops. Both Acer and Asustek plan to release netbooks based on 11.6-inch displays later this month.
AMD has made the eagerly-anticipated Radeon HD 4770 GPU official. Although it is based on some of the most advanced technology--it's the first GPU manufactured using a 40nm process and has nearly as many transistors as the flagship Radeon HD 4890--it is neither the company's fastest nor most costly GPU.
Rumors of netbooks using smartphone components rather than Intel chips and Microsoft Windows are nothing new. But we're finally getting a good idea of just what a PC based on an ARM processor and Linux will look like.
AMD will give its Dragon desktop platform a boost today with the release of faster Phenom II X4 quad-core chips. The new platform, which also includes the ATI Radeon HD 4890 GPU announced earlier this month and an updated version of its OverDrive utility, is geared toward enthusiast and gamers.