laptop

In addition to the previously announced IdeaPad S series updates, Lenovo is now showing off several other new and updated laptop models at the tail end of the IFA show.

Clearly targeting prospective Windows 8 shoppers, these new systems include ultrabooks and powerful multimedia laptops.… Read more

The designers at Samsung and HP sure love Apple's laptop design philosophy, but the duo may want to take a step back next generation and innovate a little bit. CNET found several new computers from these companies that look just like an Apple MacBook Air. Can you tell which one is the real Apple product in the picture above?

Our more discerning readers might easily spot the differences between each of these devices, but Crave decided to make it a little more challenging by shrinking the pictures down a bit. Readers who participated in our guessing game on Facebook had a pretty easy time spotting the real Apple, but the pictures were also much larger. … Read more

Windows 8 is about to unleash a tsunami of strange devices upon us all. Call them tablets, ultraportables, hybrids, convertibles, tiny touch-based mobile computers...they're everywhere, and they're multiplying.

HP has them. Samsung does, too. So does Dell, and Lenovo, and Toshiba, and Asus, and Sony. Everyone has them. That's because Windows 8 promises a better environment for touch in mobile computing, and the promise is too tempting not to experiment. Or, alternatively, all these companies need a product out there to plant a flag into this strange soil -- a territory that Microsoft's already visiting via the Surface.

The big problem I see with them is that for every device that emerges, the landscape gets ever-more-cloudy. … Read more

As part of the flood of new IFA products, Lenovo has updated its slim S series of IdeaPad laptops for Windows 8.

Unlike some of the laptops from Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, and others we've previewed this week, we have not had a chance to see these new models in person. But Lenovo describes the new IdeaPad S300, S400, and S405 as follows:

Samsung is one of a handful of PC makers embracing Windows RT, releasing some information about its upcoming Ativ Tab at IFA this week. This 10.1-inch tablet is different than the full Windows 8 tablets and touch-screen laptops we've already seen from Samsung. In fact, when we asked the company about its RT plans recently, the group responsible for Intel/AMD laptops brushed off the issue, telling us that some other division within the company was working on RT products.

Here's what Samsung had to say about the Ativ Tab at IFA:

Sony plans to debut a convertible Windows 8 tablet as soon as this week, a source tells CNET.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the same device that made an appearance today on the mobile news Web site Pocketnow, which published a series of images showing off a convertible tablet called the "Vaio Duo 11." … Read more

Not too long ago, a budget laptop was, by default, a big, ugly plastic box. It may have gotten the job done in terms of school or office work, but it wasn't going to turn any heads at the coffee shop, or fit comfortably onto an airline tray (with the exception of too-small Netbooks, which had their own list of problems).

We'll look back on 2012 as the first year when budget laptops really got a fair shake, with many models looking and acting much more like their expensive cousins than ever before.

Even at the very low end of budget -- laptops that are $600 or under -- you can get a slick-looking HP Envy Sleekbook, or a powerful Acer Aspire V5.

Here are a handful of recent favorites, from 11-inch ultraportables to 17-inch desktop replacements, each of which costs about half as much as a 13-inch MacBook Air.… Read more

Gearing up for the shift to Windows 8, Synaptics wants PC makers to switch to an entirely new kind of touchpad, called the ForcePad. We recently met with the company in New York to take this new touch interface, which eliminates moving parts and adds pressure sensitivity, for a test drive.

Synaptics invented the touchpad in 1995, and since then, touch has become an increasingly important part of our interaction with technology (and the company now makes touch screens for phones, tablets, and laptops as well).

But laptop touchpads have also been a frequent pain point for consumers, with laggy … Read more

Installing the Windows 8 RTM (release-to-manufacturing) on my two laptops went smoothly yesterday except for one problem -- no gesture support.

Trying to navigate the Start screen and other areas of the new OS, I found that left and right clicking on the touch pad worked fine. But using two fingers or other gestures to scroll or move around had no effect.

A Web search discovered other testers and users bumping into the same obstacle. This is odd, because I ran into no such problems with the Windows 8 Release Preview. So why doesn't Windows 8 RTM handle touch-pad … Read more