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Yesterday's formal introduction of Chromebooks marked yet another category of portable computing gadget in a landscape that's starting to feel overrun.

For $499, the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook has its work cut out for it--namely, because tablets and "high-end" 11- and 12-inch laptops and Netbooks (some with faster processors) have already occupied the same landscape.

It's a question we've been pondering for a while now, writ again: what truly constitutes the perfect small-screen portable? Suddenly, instead of one or two OSes to consider, there are four: Windows 7, Apple's iOS, and Google's Android and Chrome.

While the high end of the computer spectrum remains relatively stable (desktops, laptops), the increasingly fertile (or, perhaps, unstable) ground between laptops and smartphones has bred a variety of tech forms that all, in some way, are portable. Options have never been more diverse, or confusing.

Which one would you rather spend about $500 on? Well, let's see what you get.… Read more

The iconic iMac aluminum enclosure houses a bevy of noteworthy upgrades, including Intel's and Advanced Micro Devices' latest silicon and the latest Intel-Apple interface, as iFixit's teardown of the 21.5-inch iMac ably reveals.

Let's look at a below-the-radar item first since there's already been plenty of ink devoted to the marquee features.

Intel Z68 chipset: This is Intel's freshly minted chipset. New enough that you won't find it--at least not prominently--on Intel's Website because it hasn't been officially released. The Z68 supports SSD caching: that is, using a relatively small-capacity, solid-state drive as a "cache" for a larger magnetic hard disk drive (see photo below). Interestingly, this SSD-HDD configuration is widely used in transaction-heavy businesses such as banks, where the top of the storage pyramid is composed of SSDs that act as a cache for the larger-capacity, and slower, magnetic drives.

Intel, in fact, is expected to bring out SSDs targeted specially at this kind of application.

Intel desktop-class Sandy Bridge processors: In the model torn down by iFixit, the processor is a 2.5GHz quad-core Sandy Bridge Intel Core i5-2400S. This is a pure 32-nanometer processor (previous-generation Intel silicon with graphics integrated into the same chip package was a 50-50 split, the processor was 32nm but the graphics was 45nm). … Read more

There's something wonderfully irresponsible about serious tools repurposed into toys.

It's a little bit of a flippant response to the hard-working realities of life--a proud, defiant pronouncement of "Yes, I have work to do. But I'm going to blow it off for a bit here and be a kid again."

Enter iBuyPower and its line of specially constructed gamer PCs. The hardware seller assembles top-of-the-line components into desktops and laptops designed to ship as all-inclusive gaming systems--ready for play out of the box, no add-ons needed. The company publicly prides itself on keeping up with the constantly evolving imaging and processor requirements of the latest PC games to make sure their bundled systems can always handle the load. … Read more

Intel went on the record today saying that its silicon will support USB 3.0 in 2012 and urged developers to target both USB and its new "Thunderbolt" technology.

"Intel is going to support USB 3.0 in the 2012 client platform. We're going to support Thunderbolt capability. We believe they're complementary," said Kirk Skaugen, a vice president at the Intel Architecture Group, speaking at Intel's developer conference in Beijing today. The event was streamed over the Web.

The "2012 client platform" that Skaugen referred to is known more commonly by … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices will support USB 3.0 in its chips, marking the first instance of a major PC processor supplier getting behind the standard. Intel has yet to support the high-speed interface.

The USB Implementers Forum today announced that AMD will deliver the first chipsets to integrate support for USB 3.0, aka SuperSpeed USB. A chipset accompanies the main processor.

"With [today's] announcement AMD is...disclosing our support for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 in upcoming AMD A75 and A70M Fusion [chipsets]. Both chipsets are shipping today," said Phil Hughes, an AMD spokesman, responding to an … Read more

While changes in the ancient market-share rivalry between chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices were unremarkable in 2010, the emergence of Apple as a force was anything but.

"The competitive state of affairs remained very much the same two-horse race it has been for more than 20 years, with Intel firmly in the lead and AMD a distant second," IHS iSuppli said in a research note today.

Intel finished 2010 with an 81 percent share of global microprocessor revenue, up a scant 0.4 percentage points from its 80.6 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, AMD ended the year … Read more

It's only been a couple of months since the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show, but we've already seen the new CPU platforms from AMD and Intel turn up in most of the just-released or upcoming laptops we've heard about. Much has been written about the incredible speed and battery life of Intel's Sandy Bridge chips, and they certainly are impressive, but they are thus far reserved for high-end machines.

AMD's Fusion APU (which combines a CPU and GPU), has been found in sub-$500 laptops, and makes for a marked improvement over the Intel Atom, Pentium dual-core, and various low-end AMD chips previously found in the budget category.

Oddly, you'll never see the Fusion name actually on a laptop. AMD says it's an internal-only designation, and instead puts a sticker that says "Vision" on the actual laptops, with no mention of the actual CPU model inside. So far, we've seen models with an E-350 CPU and a slower E-250 CPU (the latter of which should be avoided at all costs). … Read more

Apple's new MacBook Pros, expected to be announced tomorrow, use a copious helping of Intel technology--and even throw in a measure of silicon from Advanced Micro Devices, CNET has learned.

Thunderbolt: First things first. Intel's Light Peak technology (which Apple had a hand in implementing) has been renamed Thunderbolt, according to an industry source familiar with Apple's MacBook Pro rollout. In short, Thunderbolt is the official brand for the technology that had been codenamed Light Peak. This manifests itself in the form of a Thunderbolt connector on the new MacBooks.

Thunderbolt is a new interface that will … Read more

It's a frequent question from readers and co-workers, as well as friends and relatives: "What's the best laptop I can get for around $500?" A crisp William McKinley seems to be a psychological line in the sand for many: it will buy a reasonable set of components, but is still easy enough on the wallet to not be a life-changing decision.

In previous years, we haven't been particularly happy with the choices available around $500. Most were either dumbed-down midsize systems that were going to feel out-of-date before the box was even opened, and others … Read more