Laptop Articles

How to keep your devices charged up during a blackout

The night Hurricane Sandy hit New York, I had no reason to believe the power in Manhattan would go out. After all, Hurricane Irene the year before had left the lights on here, even if big swaths of NYC's outer boroughs and suburbs lost power.

But, almost as an afterthought, I pulled out a bulky Dell laptop I had sitting around (just visible in the bottom left of the photo above) and plugged it in to charge its internal battery, just to have as many charged-up devices on hand as possible. Of course, the lights did go out in … Read more

Windows 8 PCs rated and reviewed

The first wave of Windows 8 PCs is already on sale, and our collection of reviews continues to grow.

We've been benchmarking and field-testing new Windows 8 systems, including all-in-one desktops, traditional clamshell laptops, hybrid PCs with detachable screens, and convertible laptops with displays that flip or twist around to form tabletlike devices. The latest additions include Lenovo's ThinkPad Twist convertible laptop and Acer's high-end Aspire S7.

Some of what we found surprised us, such as how well nontransforming laptops worked with added touch screens, or how important a decent touch pad still was for navigation. The … Read more

Asus shows off Windows 8 and RT lines

Most of these Asus laptops, tablets, and desktops have been seen or mentioned before, but the company brought several upcoming new systems to New York for a press event this week (unfortunately timed for the same day as Apple's iPad Mini unveiling).

Some, such as the dual-screen Taichi or the Windows RT VivoTab, have already generated significant buzz. Others are not quite as high-profile, or else revamps of existing products. A quick rundown is below, along with price and release dates where available.

Asus Taichi Clearly the most interesting new Asus system, this dual-screen laptop has a panel on … Read more

Windows 8 buying guide

Before taking the plunge into Windows 8, there are a few questions you should ask yourself. We've summarized some of most useful ones here, and by going down this checklist, you'll end up with a much better idea about the right path for upgrading existing hardware versus buying a new machine, and figuring out all the new styles of tablets and touch-screen hybrids hitting store shelves alongside Windows 8.

Do you want to stick with Windows at all, or would another OS work better for you? Microsoft has two new operating systems, Windows 8 and Windows RT. For … Read more

Windows 8: The complete new PC launch list

Dozen of new PCs are launching alongside Windows 8. Some are inventive new designs with sliding keyboards and removable screens, others are simple retreads of existing products, occasionally augmented by a new touch screen.

Here you'll find links to all the major new Windows 8 hardware being released this holiday season, sorted by brand. Many of these systems are available to preorder now, and most will ship when Windows 8 launches on October 26 (a handful have yet to even be announced, so we'll add those to this list when they are).

Full coverage: Windows 8

We've … Read more

Laptop buying guide

Want to skip all the details and research and just buy a great laptop? Current favorites include the Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Summer 2012), which probably the most universally useful all-around consumer laptop you can buy; the Lenovo IdeaPad 13, the best example of the new Windows 8 touch screen taptop/tablet convertibles; and the Origin EON17-S, which offers the latest components, hand-assembled specifically with gamers in mind.

Most buying guides and shopping advice tends to get bogged down in the specs, mechanically listing sub-categories within sub-categories. Instead, I'll break out the most important things to know when looking … Read more

The resurrected Modbook MacBook tablet gets a price

We originally reviewed the Modbook back in 2008, when it was a hand-built mod that took stock 13-inch white polycarbonate MacBooks, deconstructed them, and put them back together as bulky touch-screen tablets. Earlier in 2012, we learned that that original company had folded but the brand name was about to be resurrected by one of the first ModBook tablet's designers as part of a new company, called Modbook Inc.

The new Modbook was short on details, especially price and configuration options, when we first wrote about it in June. Today, the company has announced that it is taking preorders … Read more

Exit the mouse, enter the touch pad

In the run-up to Windows 8, the one keyword you hear most often is "touch." That means touch-screen tablets and slates, touch panels added to traditional clamshell laptops, and touch-enabled all-in-one desktops. It also refers to Microsoft's new emphasis on touch gestures for touch pads, as well as the ambitious plans component companies such as Synaptics have for touch input in Windows 8.

While all this touch talk is going on, there's another trend gaining steam in the background. The standalone touch pad, once a very obscure computer accessory (even the Apple Magic Trackpad failed to … Read more

How Windows 8 will shake up the laptop market

Starting October 26, laptop shoppers will be inundated with a flood of new PCs designed around Microsoft's new operating system. In fact, I've counted about 50 new laptops, tablets, hybrids, convertibles, and all-in-ones on my back-of-the-envelope list already.

A handful of these have already been announced, a healthy chunk will be announced early in October, and the rest will simply go on sale on October 26, alongside Windows 8.

Having seen a good number of these upcoming systems in person already, I can safely outline three big trendlines that will drive laptop and related device sales through the Windows 8 launch season and into 2013. If you're looking to buy a laptop anytime soon, keep these in mind as you dig through the dozens of upcoming new choices. … Read more