by Thomas Houston on April 8, 2009 at 11:32 AM

We rolled over to the Liberty Science Center in New Jersey last night for Acer's computer announcement extravaganza. The PC manufacturer announced brand new netbooks, laptops, and desktop lines under its eMachines, Gateway, and Acer brands. Considering the loads of new computer models flashing onto the giant IMAX screen overhead, all intercut with short IMAX clips driven by techno versions of ...
by Terrence O'Brien on April 3, 2009 at 12:26 PM

Every day, the folks over at TechDealDigger are letting us know about some of the best gadget deals they can find, so we're going to pass that information on to you. After all, in these tough economic times, every little bit counts. We may not be buying Swarovski-covered iPods any time soon, but everyone needs essentials like a computer. So, take a look at what the online deals site sent us ...
by Thomas Ricker on March 25, 2009 at 11:23 AM

If the Acer Aspire One netbook above makes you feel uncomfortable, even angry, then you're probably not a Japanese school-girl. Hell, even if you are we hope you have the good sense not to paste stuffed animals, taffeta, and frills to your Atom-based netbook. That's what UMPCs are for. ...
by Tom Samiljan on March 19, 2009 at 11:48 PM

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2009/03/19/which-netbook-is-for-you/';
The bad economy may well have been the best thing for a new type of notebook computer known as the netbook. You may have heard that term bandied about the Web's tech pages over the past few months, but you might not know what it means. Essentially, a netbook is a low-cost (between $250 and $900), ...
by Nilay Patel on March 17, 2009 at 12:21 PM

We were ready to fall in love with the Impulse NPX-9000 as soon as we heard the words "World's Cheapest Laptop," but now that we've got a review sample in our hands, the bloom might be off this rose -- especially since the $199 wholesale price isn't even as cheap as the Dell Mini 9 on sale. On the other hand, there's something just delightfully janky about our Windows XP-powered unit, now ...
by Joseph L. Flatley on March 15, 2009 at 02:43 PM

In the far-out, sci-fi future of 2009, robots are doing some pretty amazing things, like capturing prowlers, assembling communications networks, and playing Rock / Paper / Scissors. Now, with a little help from RoBe:Do and Twitter, robotics has achieved what may be its crowning achievement: couch-side popcorn delivery. Coppa is a $1,649 software-ready robot (you supply the machine's netbook ...
by Terrence O'Brien on March 12, 2009 at 07:03 AM

With the recession pushing prices of everything down, and with low-priced netbooks' newfound popularity, the research firm IDC is reporting a much larger than normal drop in the average price of PCs. On average, computer prices drop about five-percent per year, but, in the fourth quarter of 2008, prices dipped a dramatic 14.3-percent. Only once before have prices of computers fallen faster; ...
by Terrence O'Brien on March 8, 2009 at 12:42 PM

We're well aware that the phrase "unlimited" doesn't actually mean anything to cell phone providers. Unlimited data plans rarely are that. In fact, most plans come with a hard and fast cap at 5 gigabytes (GB) of data per month, and, if you exceed that limit, you'll get hammered with absurd overage charges. Just ask Billie Parks of Oklahoma who picked up a netbook at Radio Shack for $99 after ...
by Tim Stevens on March 4, 2009 at 02:19 PM

Netbooks are tiny laptops that offer the inarguably tempting combination of low price and light weight. Because of that, they've become hugely popular over the past year; after all, a fully-functional portable computer that costs between $300 and $400 is within impulse-buy territory for many. But, with thousands of people picking them up on a whim, some security experts worry that they're ...
by Paul Miller on February 3, 2009 at 03:33 PM

As expected, India's government unveiled the jointly-developed "$10 laptop" today, now priced at $20. Unfortunately dubbed Sakshat, which ironically translates as "before your eyes," the laptop is slated to ship in six months, with specs in line with what we've heard already: 2GB of storage, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and 2 watts of power consumption. In fact, there really isn't much "unveiling" going on ...
by Will Safer on January 20, 2009 at 02:00 PM

Sony must be feeling good about geotagging and other location-based services, seeing as the company included a GPS chip in its Vaio P series netbook computer, announced at the show. ('Netbook' is another word for a very small, yet very capable, laptop.) With this functionality, the P lets you find points of interest based on your location, like restaurants, hotels and so on. Just like a ...
by Terrence O'Brien on January 14, 2009 at 01:21 PM

Other than the Palm Pre, the biggest darling of CES has clearly been the Sony VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC. There has been plenty of coverage of the clutch-purse-like device, but we wanted to boil it down to just what you really need to know.
We spent some time with the tiny "don't call it a netbook" from Sony and came away quite impressed with it on the whole. We couldn't truly test any ...
by Terrence O'Brien on January 10, 2009 at 06:45 PM

Last year at CES, MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) were all the rage. It seemed like nobody could get enough of these tiny PC wonders, even if most weren't functioning devices yet. Then CES ended and the MID essentially disappeared. Instead, consumers and industry folks went back to caring about more traditional laptop form factors, and the netbook exploded. But Intel hasn't given up on pushing ...
by Tim Stevens on January 9, 2009 at 01:45 PM

It was a long and exciting first day at CES, with the Palm Pre proving to be the biggest announcement made at the show. It certainly made us do a double (and triple) take, but there's plenty more to report and lots of surprises still to come.
Grippity Keyboard Reinvents Typing - There's a very strong chance you're sitting in front of a keyboard right now as you read this, and while the ...
by Darren Murph on January 7, 2009 at 07:38 PM

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/hardware/Sony_announces_VAIO_P'; Not that we really needed Sony to tell us something we already knew, but we certainly appreciate the gesture. The hotly anticipated VAIO P is for real, and it's coming in as the world's lightest 8-inch netbook at just 1.4 pounds. The Vista-based device packs an almost unbelievable 1,600 x 768 resolution LED-backlit XBRITE-ECO LCD ...