all in one

The tech behind Kinect and how it will control your living room

LOS ANGELES -- At first I thought I had misunderstood him, so I made sure to reply slowly. "So you're saying Kinect is going to blast IR signals at your living room, and they're going to reflect off walls and stuff and bounce back to control all of your devices?"

"That's correct," Marc Whitten said.

"Whoa," I replied.

"Kinect has a really powerful management of that energy," he explained. "It's just light," he went on, "but it just exists in a different spectrum." I … Read more

Android invasion on the PC

CNET Update has a split-personality PC:

In this episode of Update:

- Prepare to find Android on more computers. The Asus Transformer Book Trio runs both Windows 8 and Android, and Acer's new all-in-one desktop comes loaded only with Android.

- Play rough with the scratch-resistant Asus Zenbook Infinity with Gorilla Glass 3.

- Pick your size for the new Galaxy Tab 3. The new Samsung tablets will come with screen sizes of 7, 8, or 10.1 inches.

- Crank up the iRadio rumors before WWDC, as Apple reaches a deal with Warner Music.

- Watch the Vine … Read more

Maingear introduces first boutique gaming all-in-one PC

Mainstream vendors, Lenovo in particular, have attempted gaming-oriented all-in-one desktops. Maingear's Alpha 24 Super stock is the first from a true boutique PC vendor.

For starters, here are the highlights of the Alpha's spec sheet:

Intel Core i3 3240 3.4GHz, upgradeable to Intel Core i7 3770K Up to 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD Up to 3TB mechanical HDD Full-size, Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Graphics, up to GeForce GTX 680 Expansion slots that include two mini PCIe slots and one PCIe x 16 slot Starting at $1,349

You don't normally find full-size graphics cards, and PCI-Express … Read more

New 27-inch Dell all-in-one matches iMac pixel for pixel

HP and Asus released the first 27-inch Windows-based all-in-ones this year, but with 1,920x,1,080-pixel resolution screens, they failed to match Apple's high-density, 2,560x1,440 iMacs. Dell's new XPS One 27 does.

Dell says the starting price for the new XPS One 27 is $1,399. That puts it ahead of the $1,249 HP Omni 27, but on par with the Asus ET2700I. All are also at least $300 below the most affordable 27-inch iMac.

At least for now, those other 27-inch all-in-ones also all use second-generation Intel Core CPUs, aka Sandy Bridge. The XPS One 27 has third-generation Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, aka Ivy Bridge.… Read more

Kodak Office Hero 6.1 review: All-in-one scores high

Kodak continues to innovate in its printing division despite an announcement today that the company is shuttering the camera division.

I just finished reviewing its $200 Office Hero 6.1 All-in-One, a midprice imaging device that can print, scan, fax, and copy, and as long as you don't mind waiting a few extra seconds for your prints, this competent multifunctional printer deserves your attention.… Read more

It's time to move on from power testing most desktop PCs

Perhaps you are aware that we conduct power consumption testing across a number of review categories.

David Katzmaier started it with TV reviews in 2006. We rolled it out to desktops, laptops, and monitors in 2009. At least for most desktops, measuring power consumption no longer makes sense. So we're going to stop.

I wish we'd started testing energy usage on desktops earlier, particularly with Intel's old power hog Pentium D chips. The problem is Moore's Law. Intel's Sandy Bridge chips (sorry, "second-generation Core") are too damn efficient. They're also pretty much everywhere.

The result is that our power draw tests aren't all that interesting anymore for mainstream PCs. The chart below helps illustrate the point.… Read more

Three new Canon Pixma multifunctions target creatives

Canon just added three new Pixma multifunction printers to its arsenal of media devices that include Wi-Fi to match the company's 2012 point-and-shoot lineup, also announced today.

The announcement details the Pixma MX372, MX432, and MX512 that all feature 802.11n wireless pairing, but only the $150 MX512 lets users hook up to a network using an Ethernet port on the back.

Like past models, the Pixmas are all compatible with AirPrint and Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) that connects to compatible routers with a single button push.… Read more

Hands-on: Samsung's 27-inch Series 9 is not an iMac rip-off

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

A 3D PC you might actually buy: HP's new 3D TouchSmart all-in-one

HP has joined Lenovo, Sony, and others in marrying 3D display technology with the convenience of an all-in-one desktop.

The new TouchSmart 620 3D Edition starts at $1,800 for the base model, putting it in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing, but this touch-screen PC also includes perhaps the most robust touch software suite on the market.… Read more

Read PDFs fast with All-in-One PDF Lite

The developers of All-in-One PDF Lite say their research showed that people want a light, fast PDF reader that doesn't hog much in the way of system resources. Ya think? People who have wondered why they need to load some bloated big-name app just to read a product manual can appreciate the thinking behind All-in-One PDF Lite. This freeware opens and displays PDFs with all the standard viewing options, but it doesn't edit or convert files; for that you'll need a full-featured PDF tool, such as the available paid upgrade. But it makes sense to use a … Read more