ultrathins

Memorial Day is considered the traditional start of summer here in the U.S., and we noticed the streets, subways, and elevators getting less and less populated as the week wore on. But it was another full week for the CNET Reviews team, who cranked out more than 20 tech product reviews -- including a few items that are beyond our usual purview.

Hot cameras We sampled only two cameras this week, but both were four-star winners.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V is camera royalty, of sorts: the compact megazoom model is the successor to 2011's DSC-HX9V, an Editors' Choice … Read more

I've been thinking about HP's announcement of its new ultrabooks and "sleekbooks" all day today, because I've had to explain the lineup of products to several people. The idea's simple, really: Intel processor-equipped thin laptops get to be called ultrabooks because that's Intel's marketing term, while non-Intel processors (aka, AMD) in a similar chassis have to be called something else. Like, say, Sleekbook.

However, it opens a big can of worms.… Read more

Sometimes, CNET goes weeks without bestowing an Editors' Choice award. We give the badges only to tech that we love so much, we'd personally buy these devices. There must be some magic in the air (or our drinks) this week, because we doled out not one, but three CNET Editors' Choice awards.

But before I walk you through our award winners (a surprising and diverse group in their own right), I'd like to point out two non-winners that deserve your attention. These two four-star computers, the Origin Genesis and the Origin EON17-S are a desktop and a laptop … Read more

A lot of people like the concept of being able to use a keyboard with their iPads but one of the problems with cases that integrate a built-in Bluetooth keyboard is they tend to be bulky.

As you can guess from the name of Logitech's new $99.99 Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for the third-generation iPad and iPad 2, the company is touting the product's new, trimmer design.

No word on the exact weight but we should get a review sample in shortly and will put it on the scale. In the meantime, here's what Logitech has to … Read more

Apple could be getting ready to release a new 15-inch MacBook in March 2012, perhaps as part of a reported product overhaul, according to a DigiTimes report.

Companies in Apple's upstream supply chain have begun shipping components for an ultrathin notebook that DigiTimes speculates could be either a MacBook Air or a thinner MacBook Pro.

"Estimated by the product planning, mass shipments of the notebook device will start in March and could be cataloged in either the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro line," DigiTimes reported. The report notes that "Apple currently has three screen sizes for the MacBook Pro--13.3-inch, 15.6-inch and 17-inch." … Read more

With Intel now kicking in $300 million to partner with PC makers on its ultrabook concept, one has to ask whether this purported revolution in mobile computing is on shaky ground. After all, representatives of several of the major computer companies could barely stifle a yawn when I've asked them (both pre- and post-$300,000,000) about their plans for, or enthusiasm about, the ultrabook category.

The basic pitch, not that it has been particularly clearly communicated by anyone to date, is this: We can already make a really thin laptop with decent battery life and a fast, power-efficient processor (as opposed to low-performance CULV chips, which led to modest battery life gains, but serious performance hits)--but these tend to start out expensive, and only go up from there. We also know how to make pretty decent midprice laptops, in the $600-$900 range, and that's a comfortable budget for many computer shoppers. What if, the ultrabook theory states, we could somehow make a thin, full-featured laptop, and also get the price down to that magic range everyone from small-business owners to students likes to shop in?

Sounds like a solid idea, but the R&D required for such a new category would be extensive, which is where the Intel investment comes in. But the problems go further than that. To be blunt, there are a lot of great, reasonably thin laptops already available in that price range (Acer's Timeline X, Toshiba's R835, Samsung's Series 3), and shaving a few tenths of an inch off them would not necessarily make a huge difference to most consumers. … Read more

After dropping the plastic MacBook in favor of the entry-level, 11.6-inch MacBook Air with last week's round of Mac hardware updates, Apple could be planning to fill out its notebook line numbers with yet another ultralight model, according to a new report.

Macrumors suggested this afternoon that Apple is cooking up a 15-inch "ultra-thin Mac notebook," that will come in slimmer than the company's existing 15-inch MacBook Pro model, presumably with the nixing of the optical drive and perhaps even the hard drive as well. … Read more

Intel on Monday introduced new low-voltage Core processors for the ultrathin laptop segment.

The laptop designs in this segment have been symbolized to date by the less-than-one-inch-thick Apple MacBook Air and Dell Adamo--which use Intel processors that draw relatively little power compared with standard mobile processors. But those are pricey, luxury notebooks beyond the price range that Intel is targeting with the newest processors.

"It will fit the consumer system price point. Very affordable systems," Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group at Intel, said during a video conference Monday morning. Though Eden … Read more

The minds at Acer think your laptop is too thick, so they're reportedly working on a couple of things to make future laptops thinner. And I mean thin. Victoria Beckham thin. Sandra Bullock's chances of winning an Oscar thin.

The company is thought to be going about this size reduction in two ways. First, the speculatastic notebooks would do away with that pesky plastic around and behind the LCD screen, according to DigiTimes. Instead, the screens would be made with a new type of reinforced glass with no need of a casing, trimming a little more than one-third … Read more