laptops

We've already reviewed HP's new, Vista-equipped TouchSmart PC, announced here at CES 2007, but what we didn't talk much about was the new custom support application that HP sent with it, and which will come in all new HP laptops and desktops. We sat down with HP this morning to talk about it, and we came away more than a little impressed.

Total Care Advisor is an HP-made suite of support tools designed to help you stay proactive in maintaining the health of your HP system. The software clearly breaks down the various areas of your system … Read more

Asus wins the prize for being the first manufacturer to cook up a laptop design that puts Vista's SideShow feature to use. The W5Fe SideShow notebook looks like your typical 12.1-inch laptop with one small addition: Embedded in the lid is a 2.8-inch LCD. It's a full-color screen with a 320x240 resolution that lets you access your data even when the laptop itself is powered down. Using the four-way navigation button to the right of the LCD, you can jump through the SideShow menu to check e-mail and calendar appointments, view pictures, choose a song from … Read more

The very first CES-related thing we saw when we got to Vegas was a banner advertising Windows Vista at Las Vegas International. Since then, it's been pretty much nonstop. Vista is everywhere at the show. It's dominated the conversations we've had with nearly every major desktop, laptop, peripheral, and software vendor we've met with.

The ubiquity of Vista at CES mirrors how it's going to affect the PC market. Mass adoption won't happen right away, but as you'll find Windows XP on the majority of computers today, in a few years we anticipate … Read more

With all the talk about Windows Vista and the new security features, Sidebar widgets and Aero interface, it's worth taking a moment to look at what new features Microsoft has cooked up for tablet users.

Tablet PCs are gaining in popularity, and the first two retail-ready Vista laptops we've looked at (the HP tx1000 and Toshiba Portege R400) are both convertible tablet models that take advantage of some of Vista's new tablet-friendly features.

Tablet users who spend a lot of time using a stylus as their input device will appreciate Pen Flicks, a Microsoft-designed system of shortcuts … Read more

Hey, hippies! I know you probably carry your laptop around in an organic-cotton sack and would never think of switching over to a briefcase (that evil, chilly symbol of greedy corporate America and all its Hummer-driving Enron-clone zombies). But maybe this will change your mind. Treehugger recently featured the Eclipse Solar Gear Hybrid Notebook Case, which will charge your computer with solar energy thanks to an inverter and battery pack inside. In addition, it can charge your GPS navigator, MP3 player, satellite radio system, or BlackBerry. But you don't have a BlackBerry, of course. Those are instruments of Big … Read more

You might remember how last year AMD followed Intel's Viiv platform with its own Live Project. Both monikers were essentially lists of compatible hardware and software designed to bolster multimedia computing experience (the way Centrino did for wireless networking).

After a year of not much action on the Live front, AMD has just announced the laptop version of the spec, called (you guessed it) the AMD Live Notebook PC. The company calls it, "an easy-to-use mobile media center designed to help consumers simplify and enjoy their digital lifestyle."

What makes a laptop eligible for the AMD Live … Read more

We're not exactly sure what the whole story is with ATI's newly announced TV Wonder Digital Cable Tuner. We do know that it's a digital cable TV tuner and that it will support the PC CableCard standard, bringing digital cable, analog cable, and over-the-air high-definition content to your Windows Vista-equipped laptop or desktop. It sounds like it will come only bundled with new PCs (starting January 30), which makes sense, given that we learned last year that you won't be able to build your own CableCard PC from scratch.

What we don't get is how … Read more

Not exactly new, but perhaps new to you: Sony's VAIO UX ultramobile PC garnered a lot of attention last year for its cool palm-size design, but even though it contained a fully fledged Intel Core Solo CPU and ran Windows XP, it fell somewhat short as a usable mobile computer.

The latest update, which sounds very promising, is the UX Premium Micro PC. This version has a 32GB solid state hard drive, which means no moving parts, better battery life, less heat, and faster access to your data (or at least 32GB worth of your data).

Flash memory-based hard … Read more

If you like the Mac-style white look for your computer hardware, you're going to appreciate Toshiba's initial entry in the Windows Vista laptop category. The Portege R400 is a beautifully crafted convertible tablet laptop, one that is every bit as expensive as it looks.

The R400 has plenty of high-end features, such as built-in EV-DO support and a small LED readout on the front edge that shows the time, battery level, and wireless signal strength. It can also alert you to new e-mail messages when the lid is closed.

The Portege R400 has a 12.1-inch screen and … Read more