series

New year, new resolutions.

If one of your resolutions is to get a better computer so you can be happier with your life, I'd suggest you double down on exercising, or better yet add eating healthy to the list, because chances are your computer is working just fine.

What you need might just be a new internal storage device and your computer will be as good as new, or maybe even better. This is especially true if you have a system (be it a laptop or desktop, running Macs or Windows) that's 3 or 4 years old and uses an SATA hard drive as its main internal storage device. Most existing computers fit this category, by the way.… Read more

Hulu is beefing up its effort to be an Internet video destination to challenge Netflix with plans to produce its first scripted series next month.

The video-steaming service has ordered 13 episodes of "Battleground," a political comedy about a primary campaign for a Wisconsin Senate seat, that will debut on February 14, Hulu announced today. Hulu will follow that up with 10 new episodes of "A Day in the Life," a documentary series about famous people that returns in March, and a six-part travelogue from Richard Linklater, director of "Dazed and Confused, the company said … Read more

LAS VEGAS--No matter how much you prepare for a trade show like CES, what you see on the floor never quite matches what news you get beforehand.

In the case of Samsung, we had a chance to look at the new Samsung Series 9 and Series 5 Ultra ultrabook, but were surprised by quite a few intriguing laptops at Samsung's booth, which we should expect to see later this year.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--The Google Chromebook will live on with a fresh chip upgrade, according to Samsung.

The next-gen Samsung Series 5 Chromebook gains a dual-core Intel Celeron processor and loses the slower Atom silicon, a Samsung representative on the CES show floor told CNET.

Other specs (see photo below) remain pretty much the same, including a 16GB solid-state drive.

Chromebooks aspire to run apps, documents, and settings in the cloud and thereby simplify the overall user experience. In practice, however, reviewers have found that cloud-based computing can be frustrating if the wireless connection is unreliable.

For that, and other reasons, the Chromebook has not sold in numbers comparable to mainstream Windows laptops.

The Series 5 is slated for release in the second quarter. Pricing has not been announced. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The specs in Samsung's Series 9 demo unit were far from final, but the chassis itself is refreshingly unique.

Yes, almost everyone seems to have a 27-inch all-in-one at CES, but HP's Omni 27 played it safe by using its existing exterior, and the Lenovo, Vizio, and Asus units all took obvious cues from Apple in their design language.

The Series 9 all-in-one, on the other hand, is the only one that seems to have its own visual identity. The asymmetrical screen has a graceful curved hinge that's pleasing to look at. And although the brushed-aluminum … Read more

One of last year's most head-turning laptops, the Samsung Series 9, is back, with an even slimmer, sleeker look.

Just one year ago, at CES 2011, the term "ultrabook" was never uttered. Instead, we saw a handful of very thin Windows laptops looking to duplicate the aesthetic and commercial appeal of Apple's MacBook Air, but without the help of a new category name (or R&D fund) from Intel. Of those, the most eye-catching was the Samsung Series 9, a 13-inch thin laptop that had a lightweight duralumin case. At the time, we said it … Read more

For those who have been craving a more affordable Samsung ultrabook, here's your savior: the Series 5 Ultra.

Last year, the Samsung Series 9 nearly stole the show as one of the must-have laptops at CES, but the thin 13-incher--an ultrabook before the name ultrabook was coined--cost more than a MacBook Air.

This year, the Series 9 survives, in an even sleeker yet still expensive iteration. The Series 5 Ultra, which comes in both 13 and 14-inch varieties, starts at $899. That's the price we've come to expect from a Windows ultrabook, and surprisingly enough, the Series 5 Ultra looks like it hasn't made too many concessions to get there.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--New for 2012, Samsung says it will include two pairs of active 3D glasses with its 2012 3D-compatible HDTVs, and the least-expensive such LED will be the UNES6500 series.

Available in six screen sizes, the UNES6500's major step-up over the 2012 UNES6100 models will be 3D compatibility. Otherwise both will feature the company's Smart Hub interactive TV suite as well as a thin 0.5-inch-wide bezel around the screen.

All of Samsung's 2012 3D TVs will utilize active 3D technology, as opposed to the passive variety employed by LG and others (more info).

Its features peg … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Although Samsung continues to focus most of its marketing efforts on LED TVs, we think its plasmas offer better picture quality and much better value.

The PNE8000, the company's highest-end plasma series for 2012, could be another big winner for the company. We really liked the picture quality of its predecessor, the PND8000, and now Samsung says it has improved black-level performance--a key ingredient to a good picture--by another 10 percent for 2012. The PNE8000 will share this better black level with the step-down PNE7000- and PNE6500-series 2012 plasmas. Considering that the 2011 models also had the best color accuracy I'd tested on any TV, the PNE8000 is already a strong contender for best picture quality of 2012.… Read more