Toshiba

With Best Buy getting ready to sell a $799.99 Toshiba ultrabook and the Acer Aspire S3 now going for $839.99, the prospect of affordable ultrabooks is real.

Surprisingly, this didn't take long to happen.

"I think Intel is cheering right now--that the price came down that low that fast," said Deron Kershaw, an analyst at Gap Intelligence.

"What's the magical price point that sales really begin to take off? That's probably $599 to $699 next year. But we didn't think we were going to see anything around $800 this year," … Read more

Toshiba is poised to launch a model in its Z830 Portege Ultrabook series for $799.99 at Best Buy, which will be a new low price point for this emerging laptop category.

The Portege Z835 at Best Buy (model: Z835-P330) packs a "Sandy Bridge" 1.4GHz Core i3-2367M processor, 4GB DDR3 memory, 13.3" LED-backlit display (1366x768), and 128GB solid-state drive.

The 0.6-inch thick, 2.5-pound laptop also includes Intel HD 3000 graphics, built-in webcam and microphone, one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet LAN, Wi-Fi, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Interestingly, … Read more

HP is now the top-ranked tech company, according to Greenpeace's latest guide to greener electronics.

The guide's criteria has been updated to take into greater account energy use, conflict minerals, green products, and supply chain energy use.

Greenpeace released its latest rankings today, showing HP moving ahead three to the top spot. It's a big leap considering that just six years ago HP was targeted by Greenpeace as one of the worst tech companies for using fire retardant materials suspected of being hazardous. At the time, Greenpeace members stood outside of HP's headquarters and handed out … Read more

Toshiba's ultrabook will make one of its first appearances at Best Buy for $899, undercutting Apple's 13.3-inch MacBook Air by several hundred dollars.

The super-skinny 0.6-inch thick Z835 is slated to be sold exclusively at Best Buy for $899, according to Laptop Magazine.

Toshiba Portege Z835: That configuration includes a 1366x768 glossy display, magnesium casing, a 1.4GHz Core i3 processor (with Intel HD 3000 graphics), 4GB of memory, an SD card slot, HDMI output, a VGA ports, a USB 3.0 port, and a 128GB solid-state drive. All at only 2.45 pounds.

Apple MacBook Air: By comparison, Apple's least expensive 13.3-inch MacBook Air is priced at $1,299 with a 1440x900 display, aluminum casing, a Core i5 processor (with Intel HD 3000 graphics), 4GB of memory, Thunderbolt port, USB 2.0 ports, SD card slot, and a 128GB SSD. The Air weighs 2.96 pounds.

The Toshiba Z835 isn't the first $899 Windows ultrabook on the block, though. Acer announced its Aspire S3 in October for $899. (See CNET Review here.) … Read more

Barclays Capital has slashed its PC growth forecast for the fourth quarter due to the shortage of hard disk drives and continued weakness in the PC market, according to reports.

The investment bank cut its global PC growth forecast for the fourth quarter to 4.3 percent from 7.2 percent "due to continued weak demand and a shortage of hard drive disks (HDD) resulting from the flooding in Thailand," according to a number of Asia-based outlets such as the China Post, citing a Barclay's research note.

And the bank didn't stop there, lowering its full-year … Read more

The humble hard disk drive may become a more precious commodity in the coming months, according to analysts and Apple.

Apple CEO Tim Cook made this very clear this week in the company's earnings conference call, referring to the impact of the floods in Thailand. "Like many others, we source many components from Thailand and have multiple factories that supply these components. There are several factories that are currently not operable, and the recovery timeline for these factories is not known at this point," he said.

Cook continued. "We would say that our primary exposure is … Read more

Hewlett-Packard and Dell will enter the Ultrabook market next year, Intel's CEO told Fox Business today. He also said he was "stunned" by former HP CEO Leo Apotheker's announcement that the company was thinking about spinning off its PC business.

Speaking to Liz Claman of Fox Business Network, Paul Otellini said that all major PC companies will eventually have Ultrabooks--the ultrathin Windows laptops that compete with Apple's MacBook Air.

"All the major brands. Going into next year, you'll see new designs come out from Dell and HP," he said. "And then when we introduce Ivy Bridge, our next processor, there's 60 more designs are coming out."

Then, when Windows 8 is released next year, hybrid Ultrabook designs will emerge, he said. "When Windows 8 comes out, you'll see hybrid models that integrate the functions of a notebook and a tablet into a single device," he said. … Read more

While many of our most-read laptop reviews are of household name systems such as Apple's MacBook or HP's Envy, the single most-read laptop review on CNET right now is the Toshiba Portege R835. It may not be as popular on college campuses or coffee shops, but we absolutely loved this 13-inch laptop's near-perfect mix of design, components, and most importantly, price.

Even better, retailer Best Buy has an exclusive configuration that includes an Intel Core i5 CPU, 640GB HDD, 4GB of RAM, Intel Wireless Display, and even a WiMax antenna, all for $729. That version, the Toshiba Portege R835-P70, was easy to recommend as a great budget alternative to Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro, or any number of other more expensive 13-inch laptops. … Read more

What's the sweet spot for tablet pricing? We're finding out as Hewlett-Packard, RIM, HTC, and others learn that trying to sell a tablet at the iPad's starting price of $500 may be a fool's errand.

Lenovo and Best Buy are the latest to bring down pricing, selling the 10-inch Lenovo IdeaPad K1 tablet with 32GB today and Monday for $329, down from $499. And that 10-inch tablet comes with a dual-core Nvidia processor and Android 3.1.

At Best Buy, HTC also recently knocked down the 7-inch HTC Flyer to $299 from $499. This happened--probably not … Read more