Netbooks

The long-awaited Dell ultrabook is here. Having skipped the first round of new superslim laptops, the new XPS 13 is largely worth the wait, and hits a lot of what you'd want in an ultrabook.

At $999 for a 128GB SSD and Intel Core i5-2467M CPU, the XPS 13 is reasonably priced, although HP, Toshiba, and others offer similar specs for $100 or so less. Working in Dell's favor are the system's excellent build quality--the body is a mix of aluminum, magnesium alloy, and carbon fiber--and its smaller footprint. It's not quite a 13-inch laptop in an 11-inch body, but it's in the ballpark. … Read more

If you want to watch a DVD movie on your smartphone, you generally need to encode the DVD's content to a video file, which is not exactly a quick and easy task. But what if you didn't have to do that?… Read more

The first Very Important Laptop of 2012 has arrived, in the form of the new Dell XPS 13. This is Dell's first ultrabook (an Intel designation for laptops with certain specs--essentially a Windows MacBook Air), and even though the company is a little late to that particular game, the XPS 13 nails a lot of what makes for a good ultrabook experience.

The first thing you notice about the XPS 13 is how small it looks. Dell claims this is a 13-inch screen in a chassis more like an 11-inch laptop's.… Read more

One of the advantages the physical version of your Sunday newspaper has over the digital edition is the inclusion of all those weekly sales fliers. The ones I look forward to are from Best Buy, Staples, and other tech-heavy stores, with all the latest sales and new products. However, beyond the color photos and bold-face prices, the actual details about the products on display can be hard to decipher. … Read more

It wouldn't be a huge stretch to call the new Intel 520 Series solid-state drive (SSD) SandForce on steroids.

The new drive uses the popular SandForce SSD controller but now with a little tweak: Intel's special 400i firmware.

And that makes a big difference. The new drive offered great performance in my testing, faster than most all other SSDs I've seen that use the same controller.

However, that's not the most special thing about the drive. It's the first I've seen that comes in the new 7mm thickness, meaning that it will fit in … Read more

The ultrabook is the latest fad being pushed by PC vendors. But these lightweight laptops are unlikely to lift the market this year, according to J.P Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.

Trying to capture the success of Apple's MacBook Air, PC makers announced a slew of new and upcoming ultrabooks at last month's CES. Intel has spearheaded the drive, even going so far as to create a $300 million ultrabook fund to help vendors transition to these light and thin "must-have" devices.

But the results aren't likely to pay off, says Moskowitz, at least not … Read more

This week, we pass around Sony's new PlayStation Vita for some hands-on testing, check out HP's newest Beats Audio laptop, and debate the best and worst Valentine's Day gadget gifts.

… Read more

What the hell is an ultrabook?

That's an excellent question that's been raised by CNET editor Scott Stein, among others, and one Intel is trying to answer, in part, by going out and performing some flash mob-style theatrics.

The Pop-up Theater is an Intel ad campaign where a team of 60 individuals descend upon various spots around Los Angeles to wow passersby and unassuming individuals with messages splayed across a digital wall of ultrabooks.

Such stunts include standing in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. to spell out "I heart Ultrabooks." In another example, the team brings a virtual crowd to a game of 3-on-3 basketball by displaying shots of cheering fans whenever someone scores. … Read more

The Clear Spot Voyager is tiny, just about the size of a large pebble, but it's in no way a small deal.

The mobile hot-spot router offers almost all you can expect from a mobile router including two very important factors for travelers: Internet speed and battery life. … Read more