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New laptops, desktops, and hybrids for spring 2014

The computers and hardware you'll be looking for as the weather warms up.

Dan Ackerman
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Dan Ackerman
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1 of 6 Dan Ackerman/CNET

Samsung Chromebook 2

Price: $319-$399

Availability: April 2014

The outlook: This pair of Chromebooks, in 11-inch and 13-inch sizes, has a new look that Samsung describes as "a durable textured lid and elegant stitched design." That basically means they have a faux-leather outer finish, with a soft-touch feel and "stitches" molded into the outer edge. But the biggest upgrade comes with the full 1,920x1,080-pixel display on the 13-inch model.

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2 of 6 Sarah Tew/CNET

Razer Blade 14

Price: $2,199

Availability: April 2014

The outlook: The just-announced gaming laptop looks very similar to the previous version, but includes a stunning 3,200x1,800-pixel touch screen, along with an Intel Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GeForce 870M GPU, all in a slim, lightweight package, finally making good on Razer's promise of a near-perfect gaming laptop.

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3 of 6 Sarah Tew/CNET

HP Pavilion x360

Price: $399

Availability: Late March

The outlook: The 360-degree hinge is very similar to the one found on the popular line of Yoga laptops from Lenovo, as well as me-too models from Dell and others. The difference here is that the x360 is aimed at millennials looking for a single device for work and play, and the $399 price makes it a very affordable convertible.

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4 of 6 Sarah Tew/CNET

The first Steam Machines

Price: $500 and up

Availability: Late spring, early summer

The outlook: Upcoming PCs that run Valve's Steam OS are expected by midyear, with models from Dell/Alienware (pictured here), Origin PC, Maingear, and others. Some will run Windows 8 as well as Steam OS, but the real draw will be the unique Steam controller, which feels like the perfect way to play PC-style games on a bigscreen TV.

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5 of 6 James Martin/CNET

Lenovo Y50 gaming laptop

Price: $999 and up

Availability: May 2014

The outlook: While not a big name in PC gaming, Lenovo actually makes some of the most interesting laptops around for gamers. The latest version of the Y series is the Y50, a 15-inch laptop with Nvidia's brand-new 800-series GPUs and an optional full 4K 3,840x2,160-pixel screen, making it the highest-res screen we've seen on a consumer laptop.

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6 of 6 Dan Ackerman/CNET

New AMD graphics cards

Price: TBD

Availability: TBD

The outlook: AMD, a company that makes both CPUs and GPUs, is teasing a new version of the latter via a stealth viral marketing campaign. Over the past several days, some reporters, including this one, have received a mysterious package with a mirror-image photo of the recipient, along with the tag line "Wouldn't you agree that two is better than one?" The online rumor mills says this is a teaser for an upcoming dual-GPU graphics card for desktops, purportedly called the Radeon R9 295 x2.

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