notebooks

ThinkPad X300 available Tuesday

The latest incarnation of the ThinkPad makes its official debut Tuesday.

The X300 from Lenovo is, you may have heard, rather waiflike in size.

Weighing in at just under 3 pounds and measuring less than three quarters of an inch at its skinniest point, the X300 has already been poked and prodded by plenty of tech reviewers.

CNET's own Michelle Thatcher called it her "new BFF" of ultraportables. See for yourself whether promises of 10-hour battery life, a 64GB solid-state drive, a variety of ports, and a starting price of $2,799 are charming enough to lure … Read more

MacBook Air's thinness, flash drive point to notebook future

After using the solid-state-drive version of the MacBook Air for about 10 days, the notebook's potential is what sticks with me the most. The seminal construction and the influence this will have on future designs is what sets the Air apart.

Note: This is not a CNET review. The Apple MacBook Air CNET review is here. What follows is a brief personal observation, not a review.

In day-to-day use, I am impressed by the Air's boot times (under 30 seconds), resume times (instantly from sleep mode), and lack of hard-drive "thrashing" that occurs invariably on my … Read more

Give your notebook a 2GB RAM boost for $25 shipped (after rebate)

Windows Vista eats RAM for breakfast. If your notebook has only 1GB, check out Buy.com's deal on 2GB of Crucial PC2-5300 667MHz memory: $24.99 shipped after a $20 mail-in rebate.

This sale consists of a pair of 1GB modules, so you'll probably have to remove your notebook's existing RAM to make room. (Needless to say, you should then head straight to eBay and unload them). Check the manual to make sure the system supports this memory speed and configuration. It's pretty standard, though, so you should be fine. The rebate deal expires Feb. 24.… Read more

AMD is solid at retail, now the bad news

Advanced Micro Devices may have been demoted on Dell's Web site (though three AMD-based notebook models are still listed). But its chips aren't collector's items yet.

A quick inventory of Best Buy, the largest U.S. electronics retailer, is telling. A search on the reseller's Web site greets you with a page full of AMD-based notebooks. Ten to be exact. Some are fairly attractive too. Many are models in Dell's svelte Inspiron line. (Correction: not Dell's XPS line). Granted, Best Buy may not have the turnover of Dell's Web site but it's … Read more

Dell's Web site backing away from AMD chips

Dell has decided to stop selling most of its consumer notebooks that use Advanced Micro Device's chips on its Web site, promoting those systems instead through its new retail strategy.

There are still a handful of AMD notebooks available on Dell's site, but only one Insprion system targeted at home users. On the business side, you now have to wade through several Dell Web pages before you stumble upon an AMD-based laptop. Two are available, a Vostro and a Latitude, and both are being promoted as small-to-medium business systems.

"To ensure we deliver the best value to … Read more

Which is sturdier, a MacBook Air or an HP business laptop?

I finally got my hands on a MacBook Air. Though I'm sure I'm repeating what some others have said already, I needed to state one thing before I do a more extensive evaluation: this unbelievably thin notebook is rock solid.

NOTE: This is not an official CNET review. And is not by any means a full review. Just a quick first-look. Official CNET product review is here.

One of the concerns I had--and I'm sure I'm not alone--is whether a notebook this thin will be flimsy and overly delicate. The answer is a resounding no. It … Read more

Dell up next as Intel 45-nanometer chips creep into laptops

Dell will begin offering Intel's "Penryn" processor as an option on several notebooks within a week or so, according to sources close to the computer giant.

Although the 45-nanometer generation of Penryn processors targeted at laptops was announced back in early January, the chips haven't exactly leaped into laptop lineups.

So far, Hewlett-Packard is the biggest taker of one Penryn chip: the Core 2 Duo T9300 (2.5GHz, 6MB L2 cache). The HP Pavilion dv6700t, dv9700t, and dv2700t series all use the T9300. The massive 20-inch Pavilion HDX also offers the T9500 (2.6GHz, 6MB cache) … Read more

Get seen online with a laptop webcam

Apple laptops come with iSight, a built-in webcam for web chatting or video podcasting, but if you own a PC notebook then a webcam usually needs to be bought separately. With its automatic face tracking technology, and great audio and video quality, the Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 is an excellent webcam for getting face time online.

Flash drives: faster, tougher but still in pursuit

The hard drive will not die. Let's get this on the record now, at the beginning of 2008, because readers may see a fair number of stories proclaiming its demise. Though Friday's Intel-Micron high-speed flash memory announcement points to increasing use of solid state drives (SSDs) in digital products, flash is chasing prey that has eluded imminent death for years. SSDs are gaining acceptance selectively not broadly. SSDs in standard notebooks? No. And even if you're, for instance, a PC vendor trying to compete in the ultra-thin notebook market, chances are you will still opt in most … Read more