Crave

It's episode 59 of the Digital City, and if our cast looks a little different today, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. Joey, Julie, and Scott all called in sick, so we recruited some of our CNET colleagues to step in and offer their holiday shopping advice.

David Katzmaier, John Falcone, and Matt Fitzgerald weigh in on Black Friday tips for big-screen TVs, home theater equipment, and digital cameras, and we go over some of the best and worst laptop deals around.

Also discussed was the high-concept Tony Hawk: Ride skateboard video game, the surprise popularity of Assassin's Creed 2, and Dan showed off his new Forza-3-branded Pumas.

Added bonus: we've got a handful of beta invites for MAG, the massive 256-person PS3 shooter to give away. Ping me on Twitter , or e-mail us at digitalcity@cnet.com, and we'll hook the first five people up.

Related links:
>>Are these Apple's Black Friday laptop deals?
>>Rating Black Friday laptop doorbuster deals
>>Review: the ColcaSac hemp MacBook sleeve
>>Hands on with 15th-century Italy in Assassin's Creed II

>>Watch the Digital City live every Monday at 3pm EST on CNET Live!
>>Subscribe to Digital City on iTunes
>>Join the Digital City Facebook fan page
>>Need more? Follow Dan on Twitter!

There's certainly no shortage of coverage about Black Friday tech sales, and savvy shoppers have no doubt already scoped out their favorite deals from the leaked ad scans and early deals posted on sites such as BFads.net.

We've scanned some of the ads and picked several potentially promising Black Friday deals, including limited-time special offers, in order to give you some context on what constitutes a good doorbuster deal, and what's just a bust.

Note that many of the prices cited below are only available during the early hours of Friday morning.

Sony NW235, $399, Best Buy
Intel Pentium Dual Core; 4GB RAM; 320GB hard drive; 15-inch screen
Unlike some of the cheapest Celeron laptops out there, we find models such as this, with an Intel dual-core CPU, to fit the basic definition of usability. Best Buy is offering this as a Friday doorbuster, with a minimum of 10 per store (ticket required). We've typically seen similar systems for around $500.

HP G60-507DX, $197, Best Buy
Intel Celeron; 2GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 15-inch screen
A full-size laptop for under $200 may seem tempting, but we suggest you avoid any Celeron-powered systems. The nearly Netbook-level performance will definitely disappoint in a15-inch laptop. This is also a limited-quantity doorbuster, and would normally sell for around $350-$400.

eMachines eME627, $198, Walmart
AMD Athlon 64; 2GB RAM; 160GB hard drive; 15-inch screen
As Acer/Gateway's nearly forgotten entry-level brand, you don't hear a lot about eMachines these days. This deal is available 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Black Friday, but we're still adamant that your expectations must be kept pretty low.

HP G71-329wm, $398, Walmart
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600; 4GB RAM; 320GB hard drive; 17-inch screen
If it indeed has the standard Intel Core 2 Duo CPU we've seen reported (the Walmart site doesn't say), then this is a good deal for a basic desktop replacement laptop. While not technically a doorbuster, quantities are limited.

HP Pavilion (model unknown); $379, OfficeMax
AMD Sempron; 3GB RAM; 160GB hard drive; 15-inch screen
Remember how we said you should avoid a Celeron-powered midsize laptop? Same goes for AMD's Sempron processor. We've seen similar systems for around $399, so it's not even much of a bargain.

Delstar DS700, $119, K-Mart
CPU unknown; 128MB RAM; 2GB SSD; 7-inch screen
It's like the first prototype Netbook ever made crawled out of the primordial swamps and stuck a "for sale" sticker on itself. Hopefully we don't have to tell you to avoid this Windows CE system, with components more typical for a mobile phone, even if it is being offered for $120 (down from the usual $150) as a Black Friday doorbuster.

Toshiba Satellite L505-S5984, $399, Best Buy
Intel Core 2 Duo T6500; 3GB RAM; 250GB hard drive; 15-inch screen
A real Intel Core 2 Duo CPU for the price of an HP Mini 311 Netbook. Considering it's only $50 more than the non-Black-Friday price of a typical Celeron-powered Toshiba, this is a decent mainstream deal.

The new Pogoplug: more USB ports for extra hard drives, very pink.

(Credit: Cloud Engines)

Just recently we reviewed Cloud Engines' Pogoplug, a very affordable $99 solution that effortlessly turns any USB hard drive or memory stick into an online-connected makeshift server. We really enjoyed playing with the original, although its blocky white look wasn't exactly eyecatching. We take that back--and perhaps even long for the minimalism--with Cloud Engines' new Pogoplug, available in December.

Full of funky curves and lots of pink, the new Pogoplug is clearly designed to be more of a desktop or shelf-based companion as opposed to its predecessor, which adopted more of an Airport Express plug-in brick solution. Now, it almost looks like an iMac peripheral from 1999. While the last Pogoplug had just one USB 2.0 port but could support plugged-in USB routers, the new Pogoplug has four built-in USB 2.0 ports for direct connection of hard drives, and new software tweaks more easily allow global search across all drives, as well as better category organization and even the creation of slideshows, set to music, that can be launched directly from the Pogoplug's browser interface.

The original Pogoplug: far more minimalist.

(Credit: Cloud Engines)

The new version jacks up the price a little to $129, but the added ports and more prominent base could be appealing for those who want to build a little home-made server. The original Pogoplug is more of a one-stop portable shop that's ideal for travel and for one USB device, or for those who want to save thirty bucks. We're a little surprised the new Pogoplug didn't simply offer an enclosure to slot a hard drive (or drives) in directly, but it does offer a nice solution for a variety of USB devices.

Other new features include syncing with programs such as iTunes, iPhoto and Windows Media Center, a built-in updating address book for file sharing, and video streaming from within the Pogoplug browser or on the iPhone, a feature that was supposed to be available in the last Pogoplug but never really worked for us. Most cameras and video formats are supposed to be supported. Pogoplug supports NTFS, FAT32, Mac OS Extended Journaled and Non-Journaled (HFS+), and EXT-2/EXT-3 formats.

Read our original Pogoplug review, or if you're curious as to how the Pogoplug works, check out the hands-on gallery below.

Pogoplug hands-on

(Credit: Nokia)

For this week's installment of the weekly Crave giveaway, we're offering up Nokia's new stylish Netbook, the Booklet 3G, which has just hit stores (thanks, Nokia for providing the unit for Crave readers).

CNET's Dan Ackerman reviewed the Booklet recently, and while he wished it was equipped with the faster version of the Atom processor, he said it was one of the most upscale-looking and well-built Netbooks we've tested and the battery life is great.

He also noted how the AT&T mobile broadband service connects automatically, and the process was "wonderfully transparent, especially compared with the software setup and manual log-ins required by other mobile broadband laptops." (Read the full review here.)

Normally, Nokia's Booklet would cost you about $599 (with a service plan from AT&T, it would cost $299), but you have the chance to get it gratis.

So, how do you try to win this Nokia Booklet 3G? (Note: no wireless service is included.) Let me enumerate the basic rules. Please read them carefully; there will be a test.

• Register as a CNET user. Go to the top of this page and hit the "Join CNET" link to start the registration process. If you're already registered, there's no need to register again.
• Leave a comment below. You can leave whatever comment you want. If it's funny or insightful it won't help you win, but we're trying to have fun here, so anything entertaining is appreciated.
• Leave only one comment. You may enter this specific giveaway only once. If you enter more than one comment, you will be automatically disqualified.
• The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive (1) Nokia Booklet 3G Netbook (without wireless service). Approximate retail value is $599.99.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified via e-mail. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, November 23, at noon EST.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENT OF ONE OF THE 50 UNITED STATES OR D.C., 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER AT DATE OF ENTRY INTO SWEEPSTAKES. VOID IN PUERTO RICO, ALL U.S. TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS AND WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Sweepstakes ends at 12 PM ET on November 23, 2009. See official rules for details.

Good luck.

Scott playing Left 4 Dead 2 on the Asus 3D laptop.

(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET)

Earlier this week, Asus unveiled a 15-inch laptop with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology built in. The $1,699 Asus G51J 3D has a 120Hz LCD panel, an Intel Core i7 CPU, and a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU, and comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia's active glasses and the USB-powered IR emitter required to make the glasses work.

We've just had a chance to take the system for a test drive, and came away largely impressed with the results, especially compared with Acer's Aspire 5738DG, a 3D laptop that uses a pair of passive polarized glasses and a special screen coating to create a 3D effect.

That Acer model was unfortunately underpowered for gaming, especially with the added overhead of running its 3D software in the background. The Asus G51J, on the other hand, with a high-end processor and video card, seemed well-suited for mid-to-high-end gaming. Of course, it lacked dual SLI video cards and the 1,366x768 15-inch display is no match for some of the nicer 17-inch 1080p displays we've seen.

The Asus G51J with Nvidia's 3D glasses and IR emitter.

(Credit: Dan Ackerman/CNET)

While playing Left 4 Dead 2, the 3D effects appeared crisp and appealing, and didn't seem to distract from the speed of gameplay or the screen brightness. There appeared to be no real hardware burden in generating the 3D in terms of frame rate or graphics detail, either. On the other hand, the 15-inch screen is a little small as compared to a nice big gaming monitor, and that mitigated the overall immersion of the 3D effects.

The bigger problem is that 3D gaming is still a novelty. It's not actually needed to appreciate any game at this point, and it has an expensive and often clunky set-up for users to navigate through.

Many people haven't even seen 3D of the caliber that Nvidia is currently offering, and so they have no idea how smooth and crisp it is compared to the fuzzy double-vision experience of years past. What's particularly great about Asus' solution is that it's already integrated into a reasonably priced Core i7 gaming laptop, so the set-up and research into compatible hardware components is almost entirely eliminated.

This is an interesting trend to watch for in gaming laptops, and it should be included in more Core i7 laptops aimed at gamers, especially if Nvidia is serious about getting a larger adoption. We expect to see more 3D Vision capable laptops from major PC makers by early next year.

(Credit: Asus)

Hot on the heels of the well-regarded HP Mini 311, Asus has moved the Netbook bar forward by taking a 12-inch Netbook chassis and including both Nvidia's Ion graphics and a dual-core version of Intel's Atom processor (called the Atom 330). We've previously seen dual-core Atoms only in a handful of Nettop desktops, because of heat issues, and it's unlikely we'd see one in anything smaller than a 12-inch laptop body.

While still small, the 1201N fits in a full-size keyboard and a 250GB hard drive (plus access to 500GB of online storage space). The system comes with Windows 7 Starter and 2GB of RAM. Asus claims the 6-cell battery should last up to five hours, similar to what we've seen in other Eee PC models.

In a brief hands-on demo, we noted that the Asus Eee PC 1201N looks very similar to the current Eee PC line, including the popular 1005HA, with a black glossy finish and textured touch pad.

Combined with a 1,366x768 HD display, the Nvidia Ion GPU makes for a great video watching experience, once you download the new Flash 10.1 beta, which allows the Ion to accelerate streaming Flash video.

When it's available later this year, the Eee PC 1201N should retail for $499, which is a $100 premium over the HP Mini 311 (with Windows XP and 1GB of RAM).

As most laptops are essentially commodity products comprised of the same stock list of components and parts, one might assume that all laptop brands are the same, at least as far as the general reliability of the hardware itself.

Warranty firm SquareTrade has just released a research paper analyzing the failure rate for 30,000 laptops comparing brands and hardware categories--and the results might surprise you.

The headline news is that over three years, one out of three laptops will fail, and that Asus and Toshiba laptops have the lowest failure rates, while Acer, Gateway, and HP have higher than average failure rates. Additionally, two-thirds of those problems are hardware malfunctions, while the final third are classified as accidental damage.

Netbooks, in particular, didn't fare as well--as one might expect from low-cost machines. They failed at a rate 20 percent higher than mainstream laptops. But keep in mind, since Netbooks are a relatively new category, this is based on only one year of data.

The full report can be found at the SquareTrade Web site, and we've excerpted some of the most interesting charts and graphs below (and note that some of the numbers presented below are projections based on previous data).

The key takeaway is that laptops in general fail much more often than many other types of consumer electronics--in part because they're among the most complex devices one can buy, and perhaps because pricing pressure has led to lapses in quality control in the design and manufacture of many of these systems.

(Credit: SquareTrade )

(Credit: SquareTrade )

(Credit: SquareTrade )

More mobile carriers are offering Netbooks as a way to lure new customers--a trend that's likely to surge and encompass notebooks as well.

Hewlett-Packard Mini 1151NR via Verizon Wireless.

Credit: Verizon Wireless

By 2013, more than 60 percent of all mobile devices, including Netbooks and notebooks, are expected to be sold directly by wireless carriers, according to research released Wednesday by In-Stat. Almost 31 percent of notebooks alone will be sold through carriers, In-Stat predicts.

Bundling an inexpensive Netbook or notebook is a small price to pay for a carrier, which can then charge customers for a monthly data plan.

"In the U.S., carriers are charging up to $60 per month for a two-year contract with the subsidized purchase of a Netbook," In-Stat analyst Jim McGregor said in a statement. "While the subsidy costs the carrier $50 to $100, it generates $1,440 or more in service fees over the life of the contract."

Carriers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint have already been dangling Netbooks as carrots to attract more mobile customers. Verizon is selling Netbooks from Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. AT&T is selling Dell, Acer, and Lenovo Netbooks, as well as a Nokia Booklet 3G. Sprint is also selling a Dell Netbook.

Thanks to the success of low-cost Netbooks, U.S. carriers are further testing the waters by bundling full-size notebooks along with a two-year contract. The strategy isn't just limited to the United States, noted In-Stat. Carriers in Europe and Asia are giving out Netbooks with a data plan, but often at lower prices than in the U.S. Asian carriers have also been offering the kissing cousins of Netbooks: mobile Internet devices and ultramobile PCs.

This trend will intensify as carriers boost the number of services offered and cut prices on those services due to higher competition and better bandwidth, In-Stat said. The mobile market itself is also expected to become more attractive, with richer content and increased bandwidth.

(Credit: Asus)

We're fans of Nvidia's 3D Vision technology, which uses a collection of hardware and software to create 3D versions of PC games. Our main knock against the concept has been that it requires several highly specific hardware purchases to work. In a recent article comparing Nvidia's 3D Vision technology to a new 3D laptop from Acer, we said:

Nvidia's 3D Vision requires a bundle of specialized hardware. At a minimum, the active glasses plus the USB emitter cost $199. But since 120Hz LCD monitors are still not common (and Nvidia only lists two officially compatible models, along with some DLP TVs and projectors), it's practically a requirement to purchase a bundle including the 22-inch Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ for $598. On top of that, a desktop (not laptop) GPU--generally GeForce 8000 series or newer--is also required.

That's why we're pleased to see that Asus is announcing an all-in-one solution in the form of a new 15.6-inch laptop with Nvidia's 3D Vision technology built in. The $1,699 G51J 3D has a 120Hz LCD panel, an Intel Core i7 CPU, a high-end Nvidia GeForce GTX 260M GPU, and comes bundled with a pair of Nvidia's active glasses and the USB-powered IR emitter required to make the glasses work.

This is still an expensive proposition, and one that requires you to charge up and wear a pair of battery powered 3D glasses--but flipping open a laptop will certainly be easier for most than setting up a separate 120Hz LCD monitor and connecting to your desktop gaming rig via a dual-link DVI connection.

We have yet to put the Asus G51J 3D through its paces, but the components seem well-suited for mid-high-end PC gaming, and the Nvidia 3D Vision technology itself goes from pretty interesting to mind-blowing depending on the game. Acer's Aspire 5738DG, in contrast, uses a different passive 3D technology that was not nearly as impressive, and was hampered by components that were not up to speed for 3D gaming.

The Asus G51J 3D system is available starting Tuesday from online retailers including Amazon and Newegg.