dell

Apple's cheaper-but-better MacBook Air isn't good news for ultrabooks.

Ultrabooks surfaced last year as a niche product in response to the Air. And now Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, at el are trying to mainstream the skinny laptops.

There's one problem. Apple just cut the price and upped the processor specs on the MacBook Air today.

So, is Apple still standard bearer and ultrabooks just pretenders to the lightweight laptop throne?

Only time and market-share numbers will tell.

Spec check: $1,099 11.6-inch MBA: The high-end model has dropped to $1,099 from $1,199 and packs … Read more

Congrats to Michael M. of Nottingham, Md., for winning a $500 gift certificate from KlearGear.com in last week's giveaway. Are you a frequent traveler? On the heels of the E3 games expo, this week's giveaway sponsor, Dell, is offering up a nice, sturdy TSA-friendly backpack that's great for gamers and others.

The Dell Alienware Orion M17x Tactical Backpack keeps your gear secure and protected on the go with its heavily padded back panels. The subdivided main compartment easily holds a laptop up to 17.3 inches, while a secondary compartment has 10 additional pockets for holding anything from pens to plane tickets to MP3 players to any random tchotchkes you like to carry around during your daily wanderings. Also, the camo design sets it apart from its basic-black-leather cousins.

Normally, the Dell Alienware Orion M17x Tactical Backpack would cost you $119.99, but you have a chance to get it gratis. How? There are a few rules, so please read carefully; there will be a test. … Read more

It's amazing how quickly things change in the tech world.

A scant 18 months ago, Dell introduced the 7-inch Streak 4G tablet for the then-competitive price of $199.99 (with a two-year T-Mobile contract -- or $449.99 without one).

Today, and only today, 1SaleADay has the refurbished Dell Streak tablet for $139.99, plus $4.99 for shipping. The 4G capabilities are still there, but the contract requirement isn't -- meaning you're paying $310 less than you would have 18 months ago.

The Streak is quite the powerhouse. Its specs include a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 … Read more

With Fujitsu today announcing new ultrabooks based on Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processor in Japan and Dell's XPS 14 Ivy Bridge ultrabook imminent in the U.S., it is becoming apparent that spinning hard drives are back in vogue for these slim laptops.

The 0.6-inch thick, 3-pound Fujitsu UH75/H ultrabook comes with a Core i5-3317U (1.7GHz) chip, a 14-inch display with resolutions up to 1920x1080, and a 500GB hard disk drive with a solid-state drive cache for the base model.

That last storage specification matches a similarly-configured Dell XPS 14 ultrabook model that is expected … Read more

Amazon appears to have, in effect, preannounced a Dell 14-inch Ivy Bridge-based ultrabook.

The new XPS 14, which Amazon just listed on its site ("temporarily out of stock," it says), looks pretty enticing, including a thickness of only 0.7 inches, 12 hours of claimed battery life, and the latest version of Intel's Ivy Bridge processors: the most power-efficient U series. Let's check out the specs of the two models. … Read more

Along with Lenovo's ThinkPad, the Dell Latitude is the laptop brand we see most often issued by corporate IT departments. While more and more office workers are using consumer-level systems (including MacBooks), there's still a need for laptops and desktops designed around the security and corporate infrastructure concerns of big IT departments.

The Latitude line has just been updated by Dell, most importantly to include the option of the latest third-generation Intel Core i-series CPUs. The new models include:… Read more

HP and Asus released the first 27-inch Windows-based all-in-ones this year, but with 1,920x,1,080-pixel resolution screens, they failed to match Apple's high-density, 2,560x1,440 iMacs. Dell's new XPS One 27 does.

Dell says the starting price for the new XPS One 27 is $1,399. That puts it ahead of the $1,249 HP Omni 27, but on par with the Asus ET2700I. All are also at least $300 below the most affordable 27-inch iMac.

At least for now, those other 27-inch all-in-ones also all use second-generation Intel Core CPUs, aka Sandy Bridge. The XPS One 27 has third-generation Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, aka Ivy Bridge.… Read more

Dell's upcoming Windows 8 tablet will break the 10.1-screen-size mold, spanning a roomy 10.8 inches, according to a report. And it's targeted at business -- a market that Microsoft and its coterie of Windows device makers know well.

The "Dell Latitude 10," as reported by Neowin, has some brawny PC-like specs, including a 128GB solid-state drive and up to 2GB of memory -- which, by the way, is what Dell currently offers on its 10.1-inch Latitude ST, also targeted at corporate "enterprise" customers.

A source familiar with upcoming Windows 8 tablets … Read more

Dell is preparing a raft of tablets, hybrids, and ultrabooks for the Windows 8 launch later this year.

"The addition of capacitive touch capability into Windows 8, we think, will be a welcome addition...and will have a full complement of products at time of launch," Michael Dell said today during the company's first-quarter 2013 earnings conference call, in response to an analyst's question.

"We're totally lined up with Windows 8. You'll see us introduce tablets," he added.

And he suggests that Windows 8 touch-centric interface means that current PCs will not … Read more