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.
HP introduced two consumer laptops at CES in January: the 12-inch Pavilion dv2 and the 13-inch Pavilion dv3. The dv2 got all the press because it employs a new AMD Neo processor, which is the closest thing AMD has to a netbook chip, but the dv3 seemed like a potential sleeper.
There's more to the changes in the updated Mac mini than meets the eye. The small form-factor desktop looks exactly the same, but even the $599 base model now includes much better graphics, a faster Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of memory, a larger hard drive, 802.
Digital cameras and camcorders aren't part of my regular beat, but since I spent most of last week in Las Vegas at PMA for my day job, I thought I'd post some pictures from the show floor. With even entry-level cameras approaching 10MP or more, megapixel madness may finally be nearing an end.
Asus is making a lot of news at the massive CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany this week. Among other products, the company unveiled three new Eee PCs--including the sleek Eee PC 1008HA--and the new notebooks, the U and UX series.
In one fell swoop, Apple updated its entire desktop line this morning. The 24-inch iMac now starts at $1,499 (the previous price of the 20-inch model) and the Mac Pro workstation gets the first Xeons in Intel's Nehalem family.
Laptop Magazine has just posted a roundup of the latest 10-inch netbooks. They tested six netbooks including the Acer Aspire One 10-inch, Asus Eee PC 1000HE, HP Mini 1000, Lenovo IdeaPad S10, MSI Wind U120 and Samsung NC10.
Dell's Studio XPS was one of the first desktops to offer Intel's Core i7 processor (aka Nehalem) at prices starting below $1,000. Now it looks like Dell may be close to releasing a second Studio XPS desktop with a bolder design and higher-end configurations to match the Core i7's performance.
Gateway's latest laptop, the 14-inch TC Series, looks like a good value. There are currently two models, the black TC7306u and the burgundy TC7307u, but both have the same $649.
Archos, the company better-known for its innovative hard drive-based portable media players and Internet tablets, is making a big push into Atom-based netbooks. At Mobile World Congress this week, the company announced a thinner version of its new 10-inch MiniPCs, and said it was working on several new versions based on both current and unreleased Intel chips and chipsets.