laptops

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

Only days after a report anticipating a surge in tablet shipments, it's official: Tablet display shipments topped laptops in October, said NPD DisplaySearch today.

"In a milestone for the global industry, in October tablet PC panel shipments exceeded those of notebook PC panels," NPD DisplaySearch said today in a research note.

Because display panel shipments are always the leading indicator for device shipments, "it can be seen that tablet PCs are threatening to overtake notebooks," DisplaySearch said.

So, is this a snapshot of the laptop in decline or just a fluke?

Here's how DisplaySearch … Read more

This is an update of a deal I posted earlier this year. The first time around, it sold out very quickly, but this time I'm assured the vendor has some 5,000 units in stock.

Not wild about the audio coming from your laptop? No surprise there -- it's fairly miraculous that manufacturers manage to squeeze in speakers at all.

And yet many folks use their laptops as media centers in dens, offices, and bedrooms. So how can you get more aural enjoyment from your games, movies, and music?

Simple: add a sound bar. Even an inexpensive one … Read more

Microsoft's Surface RT tablet is the most popular single Windows 8/RT device, according to ad-based statistics.

"Surface is already the most popular single device running Windows 8/RT with 11 percent of the overall 'market,'" according to AdDuplex, a Windows ad-serving business.

While hard numbers for Microsoft's tablet are still a mystery, analysts have indicated that sales at Microsoft stores were relatively strong, at least initially.

And online, the $499 model was sold out for about a week.

Earlier this week, however, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemed to temper sales expectations when he said that … Read more

As Black Friday expands into a week-long marathon of deals (followed by the now-requisite Cyber Monday), a new laptop, desktop, or tablet may be high up on your shopping list. And with Windows 8 launching dozens of new computer models, that's just one more reason to upgrade. Perusing the major retailers for PC deals, I found a few noteworthy ones, as well as a few you should be warned away from.

There are decent discounts on some mainstream full-power laptops, as well as on newer touch-screen Windows 8 systems. Tablet deals were less common, largely restricted to no-name brands. … Read more

Unlike most of my colleagues, my recent Windows 8 experiences have been distinctly nontouch. As it turns out, the only two laptops I've reviewed with Microsoft's new operating system preinstalled both lacked touch screens: the Sony Vaio E17 and the Toshiba Satellite U845W. Both are what you'd consider "classic" laptops -- although the U845W has a unique, extra-wide screen.

Based on these early experiences with two "Windows 8-optimized" laptops, I'm not a fan of the nontouch Windows 8 world.… Read more

Lenovo seems to one of the few PC vendors thriving in a weak market.

For its fiscal second quarter that ended September 30, the Hong Kong-based company scooped up record sales of $8.7 billion, a jump of 11 percent from the prior year's quarter. PC shipments rose 10.3 percent, a healthy gain given that shipments for the overall industry fell more than 8 percent.

Based on data from IDC, Lenovo now holds 15.7 percent of the global PC market, its highest market share ever. It's also hot on the heels of No. 1 Hewlett-Packard, which … Read more

Windows 8 is neither a completely foreign experience, as some have said, nor is it a smooth continuation of the Windows you've known for the past 11 years, since the start of the modern XP era.

From a hardware point of view, using Windows 8 and its not-Metro interface is eventually navigable after some trial and error, and memorizing a few new commands and gestures -- at least if you have one of the many new touch-screen laptops or all-in-one desktops.

Having tried it on a couple of new Windows 8 laptops that do not have touch screens (and … Read more

More help has arrived for mobile device owners in New York without power or Internet access as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

Courtesy of Time Warner Cable, multiple vehicles outfitted with Wi-Fi access points and charging stations headed into areas of New York City as of yesterday. Anyone able to find their way to one of the vehicles could charge their smartphone, tablet, or laptop, and tap into a 4G Wi-Fi connection to get online.

The vehicles will make other stops in Time Warner's service area today. Affected New Yorkers able to access Twitter can see which areas are … Read more