PCs

week in review Apple unveiled a new iPad, resetting the goal line again even as competitors scramble to catch up in the burgeoning market for tablets.

The new iPad--not the "iPad HD" or "iPad 3" as previously rumored--offers a higher-resolution Retina Display similar to that of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. It offers a resolution of 2,048x1,536--or 3.1 million pixels. It also features an updated processor--which the company boasted was four times as fast as the nearest competition--as well as a 4G connection.

Apple also cut the price of two models … Read more

I'm about to discuss an idea currently couched in fantasy, but one that's probably occurred to more than one Windows, Xbox, or Windows Phone user already. The cards seem laid out. The coincidences and similarities seem too great to ignore. Also, there's this: we're talking about one company, Microsoft, and its products.

Here we go: could Windows 8 be on the next Xbox?

A new Xbox is likely to be on its way--maybe in just a couple of years--and rumors have flown regarding its capabilities, processing power, and even whether or not it will have physical discs. Of all of these Xbox rumors, one I don't hear discussed at all is the possibility of Windows 8 being the next Xbox's core operating system.

As weird as it sounds, it's a theoretically logical concept. Here's why. … Read more

Sprint was just hours away from acquiring Metro PCS in an $8 billion deal when Sprint's board nixed the agreement, CNBC is reporting.

Citing unnamed sources, CNBC's David Faber said the two companies had been working on the plan for months and that a deal was expected to be announced after Sprint's board met late Wednesday. Metro PCS shareholders would have received Sprint shares and some cash, amounting to ownership of about a third of the combined company, Faber said.

It's not clear why the board demurred, Faber said, adding that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse had … Read more

Once again, another survey found Apple dominated the tablet market in both the fourth quarter and throughout 2011 overall.

First, Apple shipped 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011 (26 percent of the global market share) and over 62.8 million mobile PCs throughout the year--both mostly filled with iPad orders, according to the latest figures from NPD DisplaySearch.

Although mobile-PC shipments grew by 12 percent quarter to quarter and by 44 percent year over year, NPD DisplaySearch senior analyst Richard Shim explained in the report that mobile-PC brands had a difficult time last year.

Mobile-PC … Read more

Although we haven't reviewed this phone on C Spire's network, you can read our other Samsung Admire SCH-R720 review for MetroPCS.

Well, that didn't take long.

AT&T appears ready to get back in the hunt for more spectrum, now eying smaller wireless rivals MetroPCS and Leap Wireless and satellite-TV provider Dish Network, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The Dallas-based telecommunications giant is just two months removed from the collapse of its deal with T-Mobile USA, which would have given the company additional spectrum, allowing it to bulk up its network and better handle the rising tide of cellular traffic driven by smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices.

The T-Mobile deal was essentially halted by regulators as anti-competitive, … Read more

Perhaps you are aware that we conduct power consumption testing across a number of review categories.

David Katzmaier started it with TV reviews in 2006. We rolled it out to desktops, laptops, and monitors in 2009. At least for most desktops, measuring power consumption no longer makes sense. So we're going to stop.

I wish we'd started testing energy usage on desktops earlier, particularly with Intel's old power hog Pentium D chips. The problem is Moore's Law. Intel's Sandy Bridge chips (sorry, "second-generation Core") are too damn efficient. They're also pretty much everywhere.

The result is that our power draw tests aren't all that interesting anymore for mainstream PCs. The chart below helps illustrate the point.… Read more

Spending on technology around the world managed to rise last year, despite economic woes in Europe and a severe hard-drive shortage, research firm IDC said yesterday.

Overall, IT spending rose just 5 percent in 2011, but that proved to be a healthy gain in the face of worldwide challenges.

The 5 percent figure was calculated using constant currency, a method that does not take into account fluctuations in the exchange rate. In U.S. dollars, the picture was even rosier, with tech spending rising by almost 9 percent last year.

A surge in demand for smartphones, tablets, and software kicked … Read more

MetroPCS is calling its $40 unlimited plan back into service for 4G LTE smartphones, after pulling the plan when it ceased selling its debut 4G phone, the Samsung Craft, last year.

As with all of the carrier's unlimited plans, the $40 4G LTE plan includes unlimited talk, text, and Web browsing. It also allows for 100MB of multimedia streaming using Metro's LTE network.

Until yesterday when the plan officially went into effect, customers buying LTE smartphones were limited to the $50 unlimited plan, which includes a 1GB allowance for streaming content from services like Pandora and YouTube.

The … Read more