Tag archive: notebooks

By now you’ve heard of Ultrabooks: those lighter than air, sleek and slim, chromified, laptops. After only just being introduced, the market is already bursting at the seams with at veritable overload of the MacBook Air-inspired PC versions. While you might be able to spot one (if you can see it, that is), Ultrabooks remain something of a mystery to consumers. Here’s a quick introduction to the minimalist PC, and a guide to choosing a good… Read More

If you’ve been drooling over the MacBook Air for years searching for an affordable PC equivalent, this might be the year to make the leap. Intel’s long-promised Ultrabooks are finally becoming reality. With the wraps already off models from Acer and Toshiba, Asus finally spilled full details on its own take on the Ultrabook concept on Tuesday: the Zenbook. If the pictures look familiar, they should. These are the same Ultrabooks Asus showed off… Read More

Is your notebook computer dragging you down? Chipmaker Intel is betting heavily that consumers will embrace the company's so-called “Ultrabook” platform: very thin, very light notebook computers that offer the portability of netbooks without the hefty dive in performance. However, unlike mainstream performance notebooks, Intel promises Ultrabooks won't cost much, with prices routinely falling under $1,000. Intel is so… Read More

It’s not necessary to spend a fortune for a nice laptop. While luxurious models with metal surfaces and lightning-quick processors will set you back as much as $1,000, they’re also far from required to have an enjoyable computer experience. Even the slowest laptops available today offer enough performance for web browsing and basic productivity, and some of them even have impressive battery endurance. There are so many options available for… Read More

At the end of August Sony promised it would be refreshing its Vaio S-series line of notebooks for the winter season…and those updates have now arrived in the form of second-generation Intel Core processors across a broad swatch of models, plus a new 15.5-inch Vaio SE notebook that offers a strong mix of performance, portability, and full HD video capability. The most important aspect of the Vaio S-series refresh is a new set of… Read More

You’ve read our laptop reviews. You’ve read our conclusions. And now you’re wondering how we came to them. Good question. Reviews often lack context, which is evident in the wildly different scores some laptops receive from different publications. What seems to be an excellent choice by one person’s words may be disliked by another. Allow us to peel back the veil from our review process. While every laptop is different, the hurdles we ask each… Read More

Chipmaker AMD had announced updated versions of its Fusion C-series and E-series processors, beefing up graphics and whittling down power consumption to make the chips even more appealing to makers of ultrathin notebooks, netbooks, and all-in-one desktop systems. Dubbed APUs (for Accelerated Processing Unit) rather than CPUs, AMD's Fusion line aims to compete with offerings from Intel by offering multi-core performance and powerful… Read More

Computer maker Dell has taken the wraps off three new notebooks today, that consumer-oriented Inspiron 13x and Inspiron 14x, and the business-skewered Vostro V131. The Inspiron 13z and 14z take the “z” ultraportable distinction from the XPS 15z and aim to put it in more colorful and checkbook-friendly packaging. The new systems sport either second-generation Intel Core i3 or Core i5 processors, with the 13z sporting a 13.3-inch… Read More

Say what you want about Apple, but it's clever. The company helped pioneer the use of aluminum laptop shells in its MacBooks back in 2008. Now that superthin, Mac-like Ultrabooks are becoming the trend, the rest of the industry needs a strong, lightweight substance like aluminum to build the .8-inch thick designs Intel is pushing for. Problem is, Apple has secured a majority of the aluminum and the factories that manufacture it for… Read More

These days, many consumers have been trained to expect high-performance notebook computers come with glow-in-the-dark cases, lots of bling, and art that (at best) makes the owners look like they cashed in huge Groupons for tribal-meets-skatepunk tattoos. But sometimes sedate covers can hige a wealth of power, and Dell's new Precision M4600 and M6600 mobile workstations might be just the thing. They aren't certified to offer… Read More

Dell's Alienware division has been making noises about redefining mobile gaming with new notebook models since the first of the year, and while the latest information is mostly just a tease of what's to come, the company has released some new details—just not much in the way of pricing or availability information. Alienware is rolling out three new gaming notebooks targeting three very different classes of gamer: the M11x… Read More

Today, Hewlett Packard revealed a redesigned line of EliteBook laptops that use the “Forge” design framework it introduced on its business notebooks in February. The new designs are meant to be simpler looking, more durable, more reliable, and are built in a more environmentally friendly way. The new EliteBooks feature a gunmetal brushed finish, backlit HP logo, and “orange-colored accents.” Replacing the EliteBook… Read More

Apple’s legendary unibody metal design remains intact on the 2011 version of the 17-inch MacBook Pro, but the hardware inside has changed. The largest notebook in Apple’s MacBook Pro line now sports a 2.2GHz second-generation Intel Core i7 processor and AMD’s brawny Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 RAM. The net result: It’s fast, both around the desktop and in games, which it handles with surprising authority. Meanwhile, a… Read More

Guest contributor Deron Kershaw is a market analyst for Gap Intelligence. Roy G. Biv is about to make himself comfortable in the notebook section at your local retailer. Manufacturers are preparing to deviate from the standard black and grey color schemes and will soon produce configurations in a variety of colors. As tablets are increasingly seen as the hippest new device on the block, PC manufacturers are being forced to compete for coolness,… Read More