magnesium

Like Apple, Microsoft wants to explain its cool hardware tech

With the Surface, Microsoft has become a purveyor of cool hardware. And, like Apple, Microsoft wants to explain it you.

The newest video (below) illustrates, among other things, how the touch-cover glass and the screen are fused together into one piece; why the integrated kickstand is important; and little things like how the camera in the back matches the tilt of the screen in its kickstand position.

It's the latest in a series of videos Microsoft has been posting to describe the design effort that went into the Surface.

Other videos include the Making of the Touch Cover for Surface … Read more

Microsoft's Surface tablet suffers from low yields, report says

Microsoft's Surface tablet is suffering from low production yields, according to a new report.

The software giant is currently working with a "second-tier" Surface chassis supplier that's having trouble producing enough units to match Microsoft's expectations, according to Digitimes, citing sources. The low yield has caused Microsoft to spend extra time evaluating the company's manufacturing to see how it can be improved.

The issue, according to Digitimes' sources, is that the Surface's VaporMg case, which is made out of magnesium, isn't so easy to produce. The blog's sources say that Microsoft … Read more

Rugged Thinkpads coming to America?

Two months ago, Lenovo competitive analyst Matt Kohut wrote a blog post, Thinkpads are Ruggedized Machines, explaining why the laptop brand favored by many corporate wonks isn't available in a box you can drive over with your 7 Series. But it's not like the company is a stranger to expensive laptop packaging: It's releasing a $5,000 version of the X60 that's swaddled in leather and coddled by a special support staff.

On a recent trip to Lenovo HQ in Beijing, Kohut was shocked--shocked--to see a Lenovo-branded fully-rugged PC on display in the company's Innovation … Read more