books

Japanese engineers trash MacBook Air

Japanese engineers were quick to pour scorn on the MacBook Air. This critique comes courtesy of Nikkei Electronics, a major Japanese electronics monthly, which did a teardown of the Air.

Here's the seeming challenge: The Japanese PC industry must come up with a reason why their own PC suppliers--NEC, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu--don't have a riveting 0.75-inch-thin notebook design on the market in the U.S. The answer, for them, is simple: a Japanese company would never approve of the design.

(Actually Mitsubishi did design an Air-thin notebook called the Pedion back in 1997, but the shallow keyboard … Read more

Palm Foleo: Not such a dumb concept after all?

If the sudden rush into subnotebooks by major PC vendors is any indication, it's worth considering whether Palm's Foleo wasn't such a lame idea.

Photos of a subnotebook from Hewlett-Packard, reportedly called the HP Compaq 2133, showed up on the Web recently. And another major PC vendor, Acer, is also rumored to be entering the subnotebook fray sometime soon. Neither company will confirm anything, but in the case of the HP Compaq device, an industry insider tells us the product is for real and that the company began seriously looking into the category in November 2007. When … Read more

This week in laptops

While some sectors of tech were reliving the years 2001 through 2003, the world of laptops soldiered on, driven by the harsh master that is Moore's law. Intel's 45-nanometer Penryn chips crept into several laptops, including the Dell XPS M1730 and two Acer Aspires. Meanwhile, Best Buy is currently showing a one- to two-week delay on MacBook Pros--we'll let you connect the dots.

In other component news, Nvidia was met with yawns when it revealed the specs for two mainstream notebook video cards. A supersecret start-up called Montalvo Systems just might be on the verge of … Read more

Best Buy running low on MacBooks ahead of new arrivals?

A back order of MacBooks at Best Buy could be yet another sign that Apple has new notebooks around the corner.

Best Buy is showing a one- to two-week delay on both 15.4-inch $1,999 MacBook Pros--the exact configuration that was rumored to be on tap earlier this month--as well as 13.3-inch MacBooks. AppleInsider has also heard from a reseller who claims orders are "trickling in" in preparation for a new launch.

Rumors of new notebooks have been swirling for weeks as a confluence of different events point to the possibility of new MacBook Pros. Intel … Read more

Open Season Episode 11: Some stuff happened and we did a podcast about it

If you've got a half-hour, we've got a podcast for you. This week on Open Season, Matt Asay, Ashlee Vance and I talk about a whole lot of nothing, including:

My MacBook Air (I am still in love) XenSource Sun Lies and damn lies about open source on Intel's website We made an attempt on this 2 weeks back but our petard was hoisted by a shoddy conference bridge. Technology is only occasionally my friend.

Open Season Episode 11

Bitten by Leopard

I've been using an Apple MacBook Pro for a little over a year now, and I'm pretty happy with it.

I didn't immediately upgrade to Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X, when it shipped back in November for reasons I discussed here, but last weekend I decided to go for it.

There's a new update coming to version 10.5.2, which according to a release note available to Apple developers includes a raft of bug fixes, but I wanted to upgrade to Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 as soon as possible, so I … Read more

Unexpected MacBook Air benefit--reduced carpal tunnel pain

For those of you who are MacBook Pro users, you too may have felt the pain from the somewhat oddly placed keyboard. From day one I thought it was too far away from the bottom of the machine. And while thin, the MBP doesn't have the ergonomic profile that you get with a Thinkpad. Enter the MacBook Air and you will see immediately that your wrists get to relax a bit more and don't strain nearly as hard to stay on the keyboard.

A week into the MB Air and I can honestly say that I have almost … Read more

Lenovo readying MacBook Air competitor?

If you asked geeks which manufacturer would be the first to take a shot at the MacBook Air, Lenovo probably would not be at the top of the list. Yet a rumored update to the manufacturer's X series line of ultraportables could do just that.

Gizmodo is thanking Best Buy for spilling the beans on the ThinkPad X300, which will reportedly replace last year's ThinkPad X61s. The ThinkPad X300 is said to feature a 13.3-inch wide-screen LED-backlit display, full-size keyboard, and 64GB solid-state drive. (Sound familiar?) Even better, the laptop is expected to include an integrated optical … Read more

Gadgettes 77: The Songs Of Gadgettes Episode

That's right! You too can own all of the best songs from the critically acclaimed podcast sensation, Gadgettes. Order yours today by calling 1-800-750-2638, or email us at gadgettes@cnet.com. We're waiting patiently for your call, so call NOW!

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 77

No links today... just a bunch of random clips. You're welcome!