Laptops Topic Center

News, trends, analysis, reviews and more about laptops

HP looks to design a reversal of PC fortunes

Hewlett-Packard is barely holding on to the top spot in the laptop and desktop market, but hopes a renewed vigor regarding product design will help reverse the fortunes of its PC business.
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Asus to launch Chromebook in second half of 2013

Taiwanese PC maker Asus plans on getting behind Google's Chrome OS and will launch a notebook running the OS in the second half of this year, said company CEO Jerry Shen.

Acer waits for Windows RT 8.1 to make tablet decision

Acer is waiting for the next version of Windows RT, due in the second half of this year, before deciding whether to release a tablet that runs on that OS.

Acer introduces $169 Android tablet

Acer has placed its bet in the tablet wars on low pricing, introducing a $169 Android tablet with a 7.9-inch screen.

Intel's Haswell gets massive graphics performance boost

Intel is expected to announce its fourth-generation Core processors code-named Haswell for laptops and desktops in June, but the company is already releasing teasers that talk about their performance.

Details expected soon on Intel's $200 laptop and tablet chip architecture

Intel is expanding into low-cost laptops and tablets starting at $200 with new low-power Atom chips based on an architecture called Silvermont, which the company is expected to talk about next week, according to a source familiar with Intel's plans.

Products with faster USB speeds to reach market in 2014

Products based on a USB specification that will double the data transfer rates between host devices and peripherals will reach the market in late 2014, the standards-setting organization said on Thursday.

Struggling PC makers and Windows 8 push PC market into free fall

A "perfect storm" of struggling PC companies, aversion to Windows 8 and wider mobile-device adoption plunged the already struggling PC market into a free fall during the first quarter this year, IDC said.

Taiwan's PC makers focus on low-end tablets in search of growth

As PC sales remain sluggish, analysts expect Taiwanese vendors Acer and Asustek Computer to try to seize today's changing tech market with low-end Android tablets, for which consumer demand is high.

Lenovo redesigns ThinkPad, drops weight by a quarter

Lenovo is updating the design of its ThinkPad laptops to keep them up-to-date in a market where computers are getting thinner and lighter at a fast rate.

Chromebook Pixel review: A luxury laptop for life in the cloud

A deep-dive review of Google's new Chromebook Pixel laptop, which has high-quality hardware and an amazing touch-based display -- and a few limitations. So at $1,300, is it the laptop for you?

Dell's 'Sputnik' Ubuntu Linux laptop gets key upgrade

Although it's oriented primarily towards developers, Dell's "Project Sputnik" Ubuntu Linux ultrabook has attracted considerable interest from Linux fans.

Connectify Hotspot turns your laptop into a hotspot

Your phone isn't the only piece of equipment able to share an internet connection with other devices. Windows has been able to do this for years; the problem is getting it accomplished quickly, easily and wirelessly, especially on the go with a laptop system. Connectify Hotspot (two editions, various pricing) provides the tools to do precisely this, acting as a software router between whatever internet connection you provide and the other computers connected to your laptop.

HP Elitebook Folio: Delivering the business goods

Business travelers willing to give Windows 8 a spin have a noteworthy option in the HP Folio Elitebook Folio 9470m. Attractively slim and lightweight, this 14-inch Ultrabook delivers an assortment of business-oriented features, including a fingerprint scanner, a smart-card slot, and a solid-state drive that boosts performance on any task involving retrieval of data from storage. The battery life, while not outstanding, should get you through a cross-country flight.

The 28th Annual Editors' Choice Awards

Hundreds and hundreds of products are released for the Mac each year. A few products truly stand out as impressive examples of quality, value, and innovation. These are the products that we recognize with an Editors' Choice Award.

How to buy the best portable hard drive

You can never have too much digital storage, and the day will come--sooner than you think--when you won't be able to squeeze a single new file onto your computer's hard drive. And if your primary computer is a laptop or an all-in-one desktop, you won't be able to solve the problem by opening the case and tossing in a supplemental drive.

When in China, don't leave your laptop alone

If you travel to China or Russia, assume government or industry spooks will steal your data and install spyware. Here's how to thwart them

Dell XPS 12 review: Does it succeed as both an ultrabook and a tablet?

Dell's new XPS 12 convertible is one of the first Windows 8 computer to work both as an ultrabook and a tablet. But despite a nice design and great display, it may not succeed.

What do you get with a $188 laptop?

Some laptops will be on sale for under US$200 from U.S. retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart this week. But what do you get in such inexpensive machines?

Samsung Chromebook review: Google's new $249 computer

Google's new $249 Samsung Chromebook finally gets the price right -- so what's the cloud-centric laptop actually like to use?