desktops

eMachines has become so regular with its quarterly refreshes, it might be more newsworthy if they didn't announce new systems every three months. But rest assured, if you head to your friendly-neighborhood desktop retailer next week (and possibly even today), you'll find three new eMachines budget PCs on the shelves: the $500 T5230, the $450 T5062, and the $400 T3616. All come with a $50 mail-in rebate as well.

We've been lukewarm on eMachines the past few releases, mostly due to questionable CPU selection. This time, though, we're particularly impressed with the T5230 and its Athlon … Read more

Just when you thought the thin client computing model was dead, you find out it was only sleeping. And, in the case of Staybridge Suites, you discover that when it wakes up in the morning it goes online with a Novell-powered Linux thin client in its room. (Note: Staybridge is the extended-stay brand of the InterContinental Hotels Group.)

This is one of the most interesting Linux customer wins I've seen in some time, both because of what it could portend for the hotel industry (a "PC" in every room so that you really can travel solely with your Treo/Blackberry/iPhone), and for what it means for Novell on the desktop: the company continues to treat it seriously and make solid wins.

The hotel and Mainline evaluated Microsoft Windows desktops, but found that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop was a fraction of the cost, would provide a feature-rich desktop experience for guests, was a solid platform for supporting open-standards applications such as OpenOffice and Mozilla Firefox, and was an excellent fit for the hotel's thin client strategy.… Read more

You may be asking, "Whatever happened to that laptop that won CNET's Best of CES award in the Gaming category back in January?" Like you, we've been waiting for the Alienware Area 51 m9750 ever since. With high-end options including dual video cards, a Blu-ray drive, and even a TV tuner, this massive black box impressed with a starting price around $2,000 (minus all those cool extras, of course).

After bugging Alienware on a seemingly weekly basis for months, the Area 51 m9750 was finally released this week, and our favorite Dell subsidiary even managed … Read more

Nvidia apparently has an answer to AMD's Power Xpress hybrid graphics technology. AMD announced last December that its forthcoming Puma mobile platform (due in the first half of 2008) will introduce Power Xpress, which lets laptops switch between discreet graphics when plugged in and integrated graphics when running on battery power.

According to reports, Nvidia is working on a similar but slightly different dual-graphics solution it's calling Hybrid SLI. When running on battery power, Hybrid SLI, like AMD's Power Xpress, will run solely on integrated graphics. When connected to a wall socket, however, both the discreet graphics … Read more

Today Sony announced Backstage, an in-store support service for its VAIO PCs that includes product consultations, tutorials, and buying advice. Sounds like marketing-speak for "sales" to us, but apparently Backstage staffers can also help troubleshoot hardware and repair or replace components. Additional services, such as data migration, performance enhancements, and memory upgrades, are available for a fee.

The service has already rolled out in San Diego, Scottsdale, and Atlanta, and it will appear in four stores in New York and New Jersey this week. Sony expects to bring the Backstage service to 15 of its Sony Style retail … Read more

Last week, in an article about optimizing hard drives, I mentioned that I'm a digital pack rat. I'm continually bumping up against my disk size and burning files off to DVD.

While maintaining my hard drive is no big problem, finding the files I need among 120GB of images, songs, movies, Web pages, Word docs, and other personal data can be a challenge, especially when I need something ASAP.… Read more

Dell might have introduced a new slogan at the New York unveiling of its new Inspiron and XPS machines this morning: "Yours is here." But the event itself, held on a makeshift catwalk at the iconic Macy's department store in Manhattan's Herald Square, was clearly targeting the Gossip Girl demographic--you know, the young and tech-savvy purveyors of "status gadgets."

The runway was set up amid the colorful racks of the juniors' department, and massive speakers blared trendy party-style music from Mika, the Strokes, and the Hush Sound. The area around the event was interspersed … Read more

Usually we know about this stuff before it happens (and we're then sworn to secrecy), but we're officially surprised at today's news that HP has revamped its online desktop lineup. We have a few of these desktops en route for the full review treatment, but until then, you can check out the full lineup here.

No real earth-shattering news, as it's mostly just a refresh. The biggest highlight is that HP has officially added that hybrid Blu-ray/HD-DVD drive to its m8010y and m8100e Media Center PCs.

It's just one man's opinion, but I always like to hear what the end customer thinks about technology. While I'm not a big believer in the Linux desktop (at least, as a direct competitor to OS X and Windows in the US/EMEA enterprise market), I'm glad to see SUSE Linux Desktop pass the test with the CIO of CareGroup:

...Halamka found in SUSE a version of the Linux operating system that didn?t crash or lock up once during the month he used it; that booted quickly (within 30 seconds); that was easy enough to … Read more