dell

We're more than a quarter of the way through 2012 (believe it or not), so it's time to ask: where are those hot laptops we saw back at CES?

The good news is, looking back at the products we saw back then, is that a surprising number of them weren't vaporware. Even better, a great number of them have already made their debut and have been reviewed on CNET. … Read more

For ultrabooks to succeed, the display needs to approach an iPad's quality or least match that of a MacBook--which uses higher-end displays.

A lower quality display can be a deal breaker for consumers in the age of the iPad, which boasts a high-quality, high-resolution in-plane switching (IPS) display.

IPS and high-quality TN displays offer viewing angles and contrast typically better than those used on most ultrabooks today.

This shortcoming has become apparent in more than a few reviews of the Dell XPS 13 ultrabook, which in almost every other respect is generally considered an excellent design. (Another review here … Read more

With Intel's latest silicon due soon, the chipmaker is cranking up the marketing volume for ultrabooks, saying the skinny laptops usher in a "a new era of computing."

The marketing campaign launched this week is the biggest in about a decade, spanning television, online, and print ads, the company said today. And Intel is putting its proverbial money where its mouth is.

Hundreds of millions of dollars will be allocated for the "largest marketing spend for the company since launching Intel Centrino in 2003," Intel said in a statement. (See first TV ad below.)

Centrino … Read more

Comedian Aziz Ansari joins us to talk about putting his stand up show Dangerously Delicious online. The House shoots down legislation that would prevent employers from asking for our Facebook passwords, and you too can make $30,000 a day from Pinterest!

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Dell is putting its U.S. smartphone effort on hold.

The PC giant has ceased sales of its Venue and Venue Pro smartphones in the U.S. and no replacements have been announced. A Dell representative said the phones were discontinued because they had reached the end of their lifespans.

"Mobility products have shorter lifecycles than laptops and desktops," a company spokesman told PC World.

More mobile products are expected to be released later this year, but the spokesman did not say whether a new smartphone would be among them.

The smartphone exit comes just a few months … Read more

commentary Well, it was fun while it lasted.

The personal computer industry backed a promising candidate in the ultrabook concept, convincing even a skeptic like myself that a new class of superslim, superlight laptops was the key to exciting consumers. Ultrabooks were well on their way to becoming the PC form factor of the future.

And now, it's already over.

In record time -- something less than six months -- the ultrabook term has become so overused and amorphous that it's well on its way to being useless. … Read more

Ultrabooks are a hot topic right now, but with so many superslim 13-inch laptops available, how do you choose the best one? It's especially hard in the new pseudo-category, as most of the ultrabooks we've seen are very similar, both in design and specs. For this eagerly awaited Prizefight, we pitted two of our favorite ultrabooks against each other: the HP Folio 13 and the Dell XPS 13.

The Dell has a very MacBook-Air-like design, whereas the HP is a bit more businesslike, but has fantastic battery life. Below, you'll see our laptop experts, me along with Julie Rivera and Brian Tong, rate both systems across several key categories, and at the end, we'll tally up the score and declare a winner. … Read more

What would you do if you could travel back in time with a laptop in tow?

An amusing infographic by Dell reminds us of the (relative) hardships previous generations faced while performing tasks that a laptop can tackle in mere moments.

One wonders--after choosing a destination and time frame--which laptop you'd bring to the past. What would you do with said laptop, aside from having people worship you? Heads up: battery life might be a concern out there in the pre-electricity days. … Read more

Nokia could hit the Windows 8 tablet market later this year with its own 10-inch device.

Citing "sources at upstream component suppliers," DigiTimes says that Nokia will likely debut a dual-core Windows 8 tablet in this year's fourth quarter at the earliest. Microsoft hasn't yet revealed a launch date for Windows 8. But the new OS is expected to appear before year's end, either just before or early in the fourth quarter, according to most predictions.

Nokia will outsource the manufacturing of its Windows 8 tablet to Taiwan-based Compal Electronics with initial orders totaling at least 200,000 units, the sources said.… Read more