Laptops

Ready to put your pokey old laptop out to pasture? Ready to embrace the, um, revolutionary new operating system that is Windows 8? Two birds, one stone.

Today only, and while supplies last, OfficeMax has the HP Pavilion G6-2228nr 15.6-inch laptop for $329.99 shipped (plus sales tax where applicable). That's a full $120 off the regular price, and $20 less than it sold for on Black Friday!

Update: D'oh! Sold out already, at least online. But I recommend checking back throughout the day, as OfficeMax may free up more inventory. I've seen it happen.

The … Read more

Windows 8 isn't exactly lighting a fire under PC sales, according to NPD.

U.S. sales of Windows devices during the initial four-week launch of Windows 8 dropped 21 percent compared with the same period a year ago, the research firm said today.

Notebook sales, which have been on the decline all year, sunk by 24 percent. And desktop sales, which staged a bit of a rebound this year, declined by 9 percent.

"After just four weeks on the market, it's still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,&… Read more

A year ago, flooding in Thailand factories lead to some pretty insane prices on hard drives, but it seems things are starting to ease now. Cyber Monday is greeting us with some great deals on hard drives, including the wireless 500GB Satellite Flex. When CNET's Dong Ngo reviewed the drive last year he found that it was a flexible, well-performing drive and a "must-have for those who frequently travel with Apple's iPad."

Originally selling for $200, it's currently going for $99 at Newegg and Best Buy.

Updated with new Steam details.

PC gamers will find deals on lots of titles today. It's a great opportunity to pick up a game or two you've been meaning to play.

Two notes: Dishonored. Every retailer has it for a discounted $29.99. Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition. Amazon and Steam both have it for $7.49. I recommend both titles, especially at those prices (just beware of Batman's always-odious Games for Windows Live integration).

Amazon Amazon's site navigation is kind of a mess. You can find the discounted, downloadable PC games here.… Read more

Could Google be introducing a touch-capable Chromebook at the end of the year?

Citing a Taiwanese newspaper, DigiTimes said the search company will launch a 12.85-inch Chromebook soon. Besides the presence of a touch screen, we know nothing about the rest of the hardware. Still, Chromebooks have always been very affordable and even with the addition of a touch panel, this probably wouldn't change drastically.

Google's Chrome OS already includes a touch-screen keyboard, which means that it shouldn't be too difficult to add a touch-centric interface to the operating system, especially with Google's experience with … Read more

There were some impressive laptop deals to be had for Black Friday last week, and some of those same models are on sale again for Cyber Monday (or Cyber Week, as some call it).

Toshiba U845 ultrabook ($528-$549 at Walmart and Amazon) This decent Toshiba ultrabook only has a Core i3 processor, but includes a sleeve and 2GB USB key. A better Core i5 version is $40 more. Amazon has the Core i5 version, sans accessories, for $549 but only for a short time today.

Acer Aspire V5 ($519 at Best Buy) This touch-screen Windows 8 laptop is now … Read more

One of the most exciting things about Windows 8 is the emergence of convertible laptops. They can be tablets! They can be laptops! I've wanted this type of device for ages, and I've been exploring the possibilities.

Ever since I got a MacBook Air about two years ago, it's left me disappointed in one key area. I wish there were times I could just use it like a tablet. Soon after getting it, I abandoned taking an iPad around on trips. There was no need. The MacBook Air gave me the same instant-on access to the Web … Read more

Every year the Black Friday online circulars hit the Web and lots of sites round up every tech deal under the sun. That's great, but it's always hard to tell the real deals from all the crap that's being advertised to lure you into the stores. The truth is that a lot of the so-called superbargains are already available online from stores like Amazon and others.

However, a few items do stand out. Alas, many of these are "doorbusters" that are available in very limited quantities and only the people who arrive long before the … Read more

Last month, we stumbled upon videos of Steve Jobs' yacht, the Venus, which was reportedly unveiled a year after Jobs' death. The sleek, clean design has a certain Apple Store look to it, complete with a row of 27-inch iMacs on board, but there's no evidence the crew will don those blue Genius bar shirts.

Then recently SuperYacht Times interviewed French designer Philippe Starck, who Jobs collaborated with to design Venus. (You might remember erroneous reports earlier this year that alleged Starck was involved in designing a new Apple product -- turns out the project in question was actually … Read more