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all-in-one

Lexmark, HP face off in Web-connected,
touch-screen-printing battle

Not to be outdone by HP's recent touch-screen printer, the folks at Lexmark just debuted their line of Web-connected touch-screen all-in-ones.

The big difference between the two is that although they both have touch technology, the HP Photosmart Premium with TouchSmart Web is meant to live in the home, while the three printers featuring Lexmark's MyTouch technology are designed to increase productivity for the business market. Nevertheless, this won't stop us from putting them side-by-side in the first ever Web-connected, touch-screen-printing kumite.

Only three out of the eight new products include a large 4.3-inch touch screen, … Read more

Budget shopping tips: Printers

Shopping for a budget printer doesn't have to be an exercise in anger-management and self-abasement. Contrary to the stigma, many printers can produce great quality photos and documents without breaking the bank or eating up expensive consumables. Now release your fingers from your hair, put down that club, and check out these tips for getting the best deal for your money.

Before you even start shopping, decide whether you want a laser printer or an inkjet printer. Laser printers use bulky toner cartridges and are typically reserved for home offices that print monochrome text documents and presentations. Businesses also … Read more

Keep tabs on PC activity

While this tracking tool's user interface design leaves much to be desired, it worked very well to keep a log of Web, chat, and textual activity on our PC. Unfortunately, it comes with an extremely brief trial period.

AllInOne Keylogger's user interface isn't anything to get excited about. The Control Panel lists all of the configuration options, with the details for each option displayed in a large panel. The panel display was extremely cluttered, but we were able to navigate it after spending some time getting acclimated. The program requires you to create and enter a master … Read more

Lenovo's IdeaCentre A600 outclassed by year-old Averatec all-in-one

Lenovo's IdeaCentre A600 came to light at CES this year, boasting a large screen, a motion-sensitive remote control and a host of digital entertainment features. The $749 configuration we reviewed this week is not that system.

Instead, the $749 A600 we ran through the CNET Lab has few of those advanced options. It features a relatively spare configuration, and trades on the attraction of a large screen for an uncommonly low price. The problem comes by way of Averatec, whose year-old 21.5-inch all-in-one received a significant price drop recently, going from $1,300 at launch to $749 now. … Read more

Lenovo gets real with new lineup

It's the time of year when PC makers start announcing their new lineups for the summer and fall. One thing is very clear: Lenovo is stepping up its game.

The Chinese PC maker that has enjoyed much success from the iconic ThinkPad business notebook has faltered when it has come to consumer PCs in the U.S. But the new Netbook, notebooks, and all-in-one desktop that the company plans to announce Tuesday show it has had a reality check on pricing and the kind of features consumers are looking for.

Probably the product most indicative of Lenovo's shifted approach to consumer computing is a 13-inch notebook called the IdeaPad U350. As is the trend with notebooks now, it measures just an inch thick, weighs 3.5 pounds, and sports an attractive metallic finish. But the inside is more interesting: The U350 will come loaded with an Intel CULV (consumer ultra-low voltage) chip.

The CULV is Intel's newest chip, a low-voltage dual core chip for mobile PCs. It promises better battery life (the U350 says it will get four hours). But Lenovo is one of the first to use it. So far the only other company to announce using it is Acer, in its TimeLine notebook series.

And while getting one of these out ahead of Hewlett-Packard or Dell is aggressive, so is the price: the U350 starts at $649. For a full-featured notebook PC, that's a huge departure for Lenovo, noted Bob O'Donnell, PC analyst at IDC.

"$649 is good. Acer is at $599 (with its 13-inch TimeLine notebook), but Lenovo is in the ballpark and that is critical for them," he said.

While Lenovo certainly knows how to make a thin and light notebook--see the ThinkPad--it hasn't quite translated its expertise to pricing of consumer-oriented notebooks. But now Lenovo is clearly getting real: Without stating it directly, Lenovo has basically said that the U350 is going to take the place place of the IdeaPad U110 in terms of its importance to Lenovo's overall lineup.… Read more