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Windows 8 touch ultrabooks see price cuts at Microsoft Store

Touch ultrabooks are seeing decent price cuts at the Microsoft Store, making these expensive models a bit more affordable.

Touch-screen laptops are generally priced significantly higher than non-touch models, as the screens have been expensive to procure.

The well-received Acer Aspire S7 has seen one of the steepest discounts, falling to $1,299 from $1,649.

The S7 features a 256GB solid-state drive, a 13.3-inch 1,920x1,080 resolution display, and a 1.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor.

Next up, Sony's Vaio T Series 13 has been reduced to $999 from $1,299. That 13.3-inch touch model … Read more

Living with Chromebook: Giving Google's OS a second chance

Anyone needing proof that the post-PC era is real need only consult the recent sales figures: traditional PC sales are down 14 percent year over year, even as sales of tablets and smartphones -- mostly using Apple's iOS and Google's Android -- become more ubiquitous.

But even as Android adoption continues to flourish, Google has another horse in the race: Chrome OS. Chrome's mission statement is simple: With everything moving to "the cloud," why have a heavy, expensive Windows or Mac operating system acting as a middleman? Why not just have the browser be the OS? And that's precisely the reason it shares a name with Google's increasingly popular Web browser.

It's a clever enough idea, and one that plays to Google's strength: search, Gmail, Google Docs, Maps, Picasa, and nearly all of the company's other products don't require traditional software -- just a browser and a live Web connection. Still, when we last looked at it in the fall of 2012, we found Chrome OS to be promising, but ultimately not up to the level of a full-time OS. In other words, it was generally fine for a "second computer," but not quite ready to run your one and only go-to PC for every task.… Read more

Galaxy S4 launches begin next week

CNET Update is all a blur:

It would be great for Samsung if every carrier launched its flagship phone on the same day. Alas, it seems only the iPhone has that kind of global coordination. Today's Update counts the many launch dates for the Galaxy S4.

Also in this tech roundup:

- Why Microsoft won't build its own phone

- Artists are testing the new Twitter Music app and tweeting about it

- Leap Motion strikes a deal to bundle its sensor with HP products

- Photoshop's next update will fix photo blur

Watch CNET Update in … Read more

Leap Motion strikes bundling, embedding deal with HP

Leap Motion has struck a deal with Hewlett-Packard to bundle and embed its 3D motion control technology in some of the computer giant's devices.

The San Francisco startup's gesture-control system measures users' movements to an accuracy of a hundredth of a millimeter. It plans to release the technology in mid-May, charging $80 for a small thumb drive-size device that plugs into a computer's USB port.

Already, Leap Motion had cemented deals to bundle its controller with Asus PCs, and to sell it in Best Buy stores and at Bestbuy.com, as well as on its own Web … Read more

HP's new Project Moonshot runs on Intel's Atom -- for now

Hewlett-Packard today launched its Moonshot server line with an Intel-based Atom system -- and more chipsets planned in the future. The promise: HP will create Moonshot hyperscale, software-defined servers for custom workloads.

The bet for HP is that it can launch new Moonshot systems at three times the product cycle of traditional servers. For HP, Moonshot represents the company's ability to innovate, remain a server leader, and keep up with cloud customers, which are increasingly building their own gear.

HP CEO Meg Whitman started today's Webcast by talking "brontobytes of information" and by arguing that the … Read more

Intel's next-gen 'Haswell' chip now shipping to PC makers

Intel's "Haswell" chip is now shipping to major PC makers, a source close to the company told CNET today.

Intel's fourth-generation core, aka Haswell, is "shipping to customers now and will launch later this quarter," the source said.

Intel is expected to make a statement to this effect at the IDF Beijing conference next week.

Haswell, expected by June, is the next-generation mainstream Intel processor that will power ultrabooks and a variety of hybrids that straddle tablet and laptop designs. Haswell's new microarchitecture will deliver "the single largest generation-to-generation battery life improvement … Read more

Hey, HP board, how do you like them Apples?

commentary Back in 2011, Hewlett-Packard's chairman Ray Lane was photographed using an Apple MacBook Air as he was trying to turn HP around. Personal preference speaks volumes about HP and the fate of the PC industry.

Lane stepped down today as chairman of HP just after, coincidentally, Gartner released a report forecasting dim prospects for the PC industry.

Things seem to get dimmer with each forecast, as the tablet -- which means Apple's iPad for the most part -- takes a bigger bite out of PC sales.

Here's what Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner, said … Read more

HP Chairman Ray Lane steps down

Hewlett-Packard Chairman Ray Lane is giving up his post as the company initiates yet another board shakeup. Lane's tenure featured a few massive debacles.

Ralph Whitworth, a shareholder activist, will be a stand-in until a replacement is named. Lane will stay on HP's board, but John Hammergren and G. Kennedy Thompson will step down.

The moves, initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and others, represent another shakeup for HP's historically dysfunctional board. But CEO Meg Whitman and the company had to do something following a series of missteps.

First, there was the HP acquisition of … Read more

Discounted Windows 8 hybrids earn a second look

Microsoft's official online store has cut prices on a handful of Window 8 devices. These systems, from HP, Toshiba, and others, are all different, but each straddles the line between laptop and tablet and falls into the growing hybrid category; you can see the current discounts on the Microsoft Store site.

With these new discounts (no word on if they are temporary or permanent), our initial reviews of these specific systems deserve a second look, if only because a big knock against each one was the unrealistic asking price.

Are they much better machines at $100 to $250 off, … Read more

Microsoft Store slashes prices on Windows 8 tablets, hybrids

In what could be a sign of things to come, the Microsoft Store is slashing prices on a variety of hybrid laptop-tablet models.

Here are some of the highlights now appearing on the Microsoft Store "Tablets and Convertibles" page:

Toshiba Satellite U925t-S2130 Convertible Ultrabook: Cut to $799 from $1,149. 12.5-inch screen, Core i5 Intel chip, 128GB solid-state drive (SSD). ( Read the CNET review.) Acer Iconia W510-1674 Tablet: reduced to $399 from $499. 10.1-inch display, Intel Atom 1.8GHz "Clover Trail" Z2760 chip, 32GB SSD. ( Read the CNET review.) HP ENVY x2 11-g012nr Touchscreen: … Read more