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We don't expect MSI will be the last vendor to offer an all-in-one with Intel's new Core i3 and Core i5 CPUs, but it seems to be the first. Starting at $1,199 when it goes on sale in the second quarter of 2010, the MSI Wind Top AE2420 will let you configure a variety of Intel's new processors, along with other higher-end components. This approach is something of a surprise from a vendor we normally associate with budget-priced Nettops.

New Wind Top AE2420 all-in-one focuses on performance.

(Credit: MSI)

Other highlights of the Wind Top AE2420 include a 23.6-inch, 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution display, optional multitouch support complete with new touch programs, Blu-ray and TV tuner options, ATI's Radeon HD 5000-series graphics chips, and an HDMI input to output external video sources to the AE2420's display.

MSI hasn't finalized the pricing for the top-end configuration yet, but expects to stay below $1,999, ideally in the $1,599-to-$1,699 range. Even with the Wind Top's ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

Update: Hands-on impressions added below.

LAS VEGAS--At its Thursday morning CES press conference, Dell briefly announced plans to release a slate-style tablet PC, in the same vein as the rumored Apple Tablet or the HP/Microsoft prototype tablet shown earlier in the week.

Details are scarce, but the 5-inch device would be smaller than rival ideas coming from HP and (presumably) Apple. Describes as a "tablet concept," there's no guarantee the product would ever reach the public in its current form.

Update: We had a chance to check out the device behind closed doors after the press conference, and even hold it in our hands for a few minutes. The device seems like a larger evolution of a smartphone more than a Netbook, but the larger screen created a much more user-friendly environment.

The silver casing had a sturdy feel, and the back of the unit had an area that looked like it could support a replaceable battery. Haptic vibration kicked in when we tried launching a few feature buttons. While it seems like ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

(Credit: HP)

With all the hype around Apple's still-mythical tablet, it's easy to forget that HP has been making a 12-inch consumer tablet for several years.

In fact, the product that started life as the HP tx1000, and is now called the TouchSmart tm2, is one of the only convertible tablet laptops aimed at mainstream entertainment consumers; most tablets are intended for medical, educational, or other specialized markets.

While convertible tablet laptops, which have screens that rotate 180 degrees to fold down over their keyboards, have never been a mainstream product, there's a certain appeal to using the multitouch touch-screen features, and carrying them around in your arm like an oversize Kindle.

HP's TouchSmart tm2

In our anecdotal hands-on use, the tm2 screen was not as fast and responsive as, say, an iPhone or iPod Touch screen, and the cursor dragged just slightly behind our fingers. That said, the option to use a finger or digital pen is a nice one, and there's a custom touch interface you can launch ... Read the full post at CNET's CES 2010 blog

Was 2009 the year of the smartphone? Or will it be 2010? Either way, a new Forrester report confirmed a surge in smartphone ownership last year and expects more growth and more competition this year.

Around 17 percent of mobile phone subscribers now own smartphones, up from 11 percent at the end of 2008 and 7 percent at the end of 2007. Those numbers are even more impressive than they sound, Forrester said Monday, because new technologies typically enjoy a growth spurt in their first year and then trail off in subsequent years. Smartphones are doing the reverse.

In 2009, Research In Motion's BlackBerry was still king of the smartphone castle, at least in terms of market share. Though the iPhone may get all the buzz, Forrester points out that RIM kept up its two-to-one advantage over Apple throughout the year. The sustained popularity of the BlackBerry may stem from its price, availability from a range of carriers, and its full QWERTY keyboard, Forrester said.

To clarify which devices Forrester is discussing here, the market researcher pegs a smartphone as a mobile phone or connected handheld device running a high-level operating system, such as iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, PalmOS, WebOS, Symbian, or any Linux variant, including Android.

Forrester also looked at quick messaging devices such as the LG Xenon and Samsung Magnet. Sometimes lumped in with smartphones, quick messaging devices typically sport a keyboard, a touchscreen, or both, but they run proprietary software instead of a standard smartphone OS. Fifteen percent of adult subscribers owned one at the end of 2009, versus 9 percent in 2008.

Though acknowledging that 2009 was a banner year for smartphones--an opinion shared by CNET--Forrester believes 2010 will truly be the year for this device.

As more carriers hit the market with Google Android devices, both handset maker Nokia and mobile OS maker Microsoft will need to beef up their products to keep their customers happy. Of course, rumors also abound about the Apple iPhone jumping ship from AT&T to another provider, such as Verizon Wireless. Google is also set to unveil its own smartphone on Tuesday.

While many have been fixated on when Apple will announce a new tablet product, The Wall Street Journal says it has found out when the device will actually be available to customers.

Sources have told the Journal that a 10- or 11-inch touch-screen tablet computer will begin shipping in March. Another source says that there are at least two different finishes for the device that Apple is either still deciding on or perhaps planning to charge different prices for each.

Though there's been a lot of speculation about the tablet, there are no confirmed details yet. Industry observers are anticipating a late January announcement (January 27, according to AllThingsD) of a slate-style computer that could be used as a touch-screen e-reader and video display with wireless access for around $1,000.

(Credit: All Things Digital)

So, that rumored Apple event everyone has been jawing about these past few weeks? It's on and it's going to be a big deal.

Sources in a position to know tell me Apple is indeed planning a media event later this month at which the company will announce a major new product. The gathering is to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, a space Apple often uses for media events like this. According to other sources, it will occur on Wednesday, January 27, not Tuesday, January 26, as had been rumored.

No definitive word on what that product is, but I think we all have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Incidentally, this won't be the first time Apple has scheduled a special event on a Wednesday as opposed to Tuesday, which it has historically preferred for such things. The "It's Only Rock and Roll" iPod event held last September, which was also rumored to be scheduled on a Tuesday, was ultimately held on Wednesday, September 9. Evidently, Wednesday is the new Tuesday.

Story Copyright (c) 2010 AllThingsD. All rights reserved.

Whatever news Apple has up its sleeve--tablet or no--it appears something will be announced on January 26, if an unnamed source of Fox News' turns out to be correct.

The Financial Times reported last week that Apple had rented out the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January, immediately leading to speculation that the event might give the world the first glimpse of a tablet device rumored to be in the offing in Cupertino. And now, Fox News writer Clayton Morris says he has a source at Apple who's confirmed that an event will be held there Tuesday, January 26, and that it will be focused on the company's mobile offerings.

Speculation abounds about what an Apple tablet would entail and when it might arrive: the DigiTimes reports that Apple has placed an order for 10-inch displays and that devices would be ready to ship in March or April; several reports have surfaced that Apple told some of its key developers to prepare versions of their iPhone apps that will work on a device with a larger screen, in time for an event next month; and the MacRumors blog did a little sleuthing that turned up two patented trademarks that could be used for the name of the device and its associated software.

But the event will also answer some questions about how Apple intends to make product announcements in the future. The company has said it will no longer participate in the Macworld Expo held in San Francisco each January, leading some to question whether it would make an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas or strike out on its own so it would no longer be tied to other organizations' schedules when making product announcements.

Editors' note: while Macworld is traditionally held in San Francisco in January, this year it will take place February 9-13.

This 13-inch MacBook has been modded into tablet form.

With all the crystal-ball-watching over the seemingly imminent Apple tablet, one issue hotly debated around the CNET offices, but infrequently mentioned elsewhere, is the hypothetical device's status as a mobile computer.

There are two schools of thought on this: either the Apple tablet (or iSlate, or whatever it ends up being called) will be a 10-or-so-inch tablet PC with a full Mac OS X operating system; or it will merely be a larger-screen version of the current iPod Touch, which has a closed, limited phone-like OS.

The former would mean it could very likely run any software you'd run on a MacBook, from Firefox to Photoshop, and maybe even install Windows 7 via Boot Camp or Parallels. The later points to a hermetically sealed ecosystem, where apps would have to be approved and sold through an official app store (as in iTunes).

"Sherlock Holmes" is not a wonderful movie. Despite the fact that so many ditheringly unstable people in the movie theater I wandered into on Christmas Day applauded when the final scene slithered away.

However, if you were to ask Robert Downey Jr.'s violently amusing Holmes to tell you discern the truth about the new Apple tablet, he would surely repeat his words from the movie: "Data! Data! Data! I can't make bricks without clay!"

So because there are many who are still groggy after the week's festivities, I thought I'd scour around for data that will separate the rumor from the definitive fact.

Apple's new tablet will be called the iTablet. And it will be launched last September. Yes, last September.

But wait, last September was a few months ago. So perhaps that information wasn't quite correct.