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Get a 17-inch Toshiba laptop for $350

If you missed out on Walmart's recent $348 Toshiba laptop, fear not: Buy.com has an almost identical Toshiba Satellite L355-S7905 for $349.95, with free shipping.

That's a pretty jaw-dropping price, but there are a couple caveats. First, the out-the-door price is $399.95; you'll have to wait 8 weeks or so on a $50 mail-in rebate [PDF].

Second, this is a refurbished system, so the warranty expires after 90 days. You can extend it to one year for $60, but at that point you might be better off with a new model.

Finally, I don'… Read more

MSI's supercheap 16-inch laptop includes Blu-ray

The 2009 budget train continues, as MSI has just announced a back-to-school lineup of 16- and 17-inch additions to the Classic C Series notebook line, promising starting prices as low as $549. What's new and notable here is that the 17.3-inch models all have 1600x900 resolutions, which is a nice upgrade from the 1366x768 we're used to seeing on budget machines. Even more intriguingly, the 16-inch CR600-017 includes a Blu-ray/DVD drive for hi-def movie watching (but sadly and quizzically, only a 1366x768 resolution on that one). But this is the kicker: it only costs $649.

All … Read more

CNET's back-to-school downloads

It's true what they say: You don't always know what you've got until it's gone. The object of mourning in this case is the yearly spectacle of summer break, when kids (and their instructors) flood shopping malls, ice cream shops, amusement parks, and beaches for a blissful two and a half months of freedom (apart from that pesky summer job.)

But I'm just a 9-to-5-er, waxing nostalgic in my air-conditioned cubicle. I don't really yearn for those inevitable spells of boredom, bad sunburns, or the dread of returning to deeply regimented days after weeks … Read more

Mediocre animal screensaver

African Animals Screensaver, as you might expect, displays photos of African animals and plays built-in music. This sounds nice in theory, but with minimal effort you could probably create a better version of it yourself.

The screensaver's interface is obvious enough and contains the typical screensaver options; users shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out. Those who do need assistance can access a brief Help file in text file format, but there's really not much to either the program or the Help file. The meat of this program is the photos of African animals and three "… Read more

Alienware M17x the fastest gaming laptop ever, but do we still need big PC gaming rigs?

After a steady stream of Netbooks and entry-level laptops, it's nice to slip behind the seat of a deluxe mobile powerhouse for a change. Alienware's new M17x laptop jams pretty much any high-end component you can think of into an imposing, matte, black chassis, including an Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9300 CPU, dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 280M GPUs, and 1TB of hard-drive space.

While the system starts at a reasonable $1,799, you'll need to configure something closer to our $4,849 review unit to really get the benefit of Alienware's years of experience making high-end gaming PCs.

While playing around with the M17x was a blast, and we especially enjoyed creating wacky color combinations with the customizable backlit keyboard (this new version has four separate color zones under the keyboard tray), we're left wondering if the era of the extreme gaming rig is over--replaced by a mix of 10-inch Netbooks and console games.

It's an argument some have been making for years (or rebutting), but the oft-reported "Death of PC Games" really does seem closer than ever.… Read more

iPhone app goes topless

Update (June 26, 2009): Now that the dust has settled, Jim Dalrymple has a more complete picture of how and why this app was removed.

Update: We initially reported that Apple had blocked the app, but it now appears that the developer's servers were simply overwhelmed (Apple's servers distribute the app, but the images themselves are pulled from the developer's server). We'll have further updates as the story continues to evolve.

Back when Apple first launched its App Store, Steve Jobs showed a slide with six categories of apps that would be verboten: "Porn, privacy, … Read more

Alienware M17x gaming laptop revealed in all its thick, dual-GPU glory

With E3 around the corner, gaming news is breaking left and right. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that details on Alienware's M17x gaming laptop broke a little earlier than next weekend's onslaught of pixels and polygons. And indeed, Friday morning, the full profile of Alienware's All Powerful laptop has surfaced--ahead of schedule, and ready to steal a little weekend limelight while it can.

It's big. And thick--2.11 inches thick, to be precise. At 11.6 pounds, and 15.98 inches by 12.65 inches, the M17x comes with a 2.4GHz Core … Read more

Familiar and easy approach

PicaSafe caters to users seeking to enhance their security options. This program's simplicity is its major asset, which users should find inviting.

Encrypting documents and files can be intimidating, but PicaSafe has an easy-to-use program that becomes instantly familiar. By creating a folder and setting a password, anything you place within that folder becomes encrypted. The process is no more difficult than downloading a file to your desktop, and it's just as quick. This is easy security software for users unfamiliar with more complex methods of digital deception. The program also allows you to set up a reminder … Read more