Prior to this evening's announcement of the Pavilion All-In-One MS214, HP has never carried a traditional all-in-one in its desktop lineup. Its TouchSmart line brought touch computing to the all-in-one back in 2007, but the MS214 is the company's first attempt at a no-frills all-in-one.
(Credit:
HP)
We like the looks of the MS214, although its specs are fairly humble. Its 18.5-inch wide-screen display, 1.5GHz Athlon X2 3250e CPU, and 2GB of RAM keep it firmly on the budget-end of the all-in-one scale, as does its $599 starting price. Other features include a DVD burner, a built-in Web cam, and 802.11b/g wireless--in other words all the requisite trappings of the all-in-one category.
HP is not the first to market with a budget all-in-one. Averatec, eMachines, Lenovo, and others all have similar low-end all-in-ones at or around this low-end price, and we expect this product segment will thrive now that LCD prices are so cheap. And because prices are so low, it's hard for any vendor to really set its product apart. Thus, the only thing the Pavilion All-In-One MS214 may be able to bring to the party is a sense of comfort for those previously unwilling to buy such a system from a lesser-known vendor.
Check out the slideshow below for more shots of the MS214. Expect to see units on store shelves in time for the October 22 launch of Windows 7.
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.
Lenovo's IdeaCenter A600 21.5-inch all-in-one.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)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. It's also faster than the Lenovo system on every benchmark.
If you go to Lenovo's Web site, you can find other A600 configurations, including some with the motion remote, a Blu-ray drive, and other features that improve its outlook. But if you encounter the $749 model and find its 21.5-inch screen tempting, we encourage you to keeping shopping for an even better deal from Averatec.
Read our review of the Lenovo IdeaCentre A600.
Some giants of the PC industry are just beginning to sell tiny and cheap Netbooks and all-in-one desktops, which have the monitor and processor in the same box.
Tae-Hyun "Tiger" Cho
(Credit: Averatec)But little-known Averatec, based in Orange County, Calif., but part of Korean parent company Tri Gem, has been at it for several years. So you'll have to pardon Averatec CEO Tae-Hyun "Tiger" Cho if he believes he has a few insights to share regarding this small but growing market.
Averatec's first all-in-one desktop was introduced in 2004. But the company's main business before jumping into Netbooks last year was making 12-inch ultraportable notebooks--when most were churning out 14- and 15-inch portables--and it was making them cheaply when the competition was charging hundreds more.
Now Averatec is charging ahead with the majority of its production in just two of what happen to be the fastest-growing areas of PCs: all-in-one desktops and tiny, low-power Netbooks.
Netbooks are forecast to comprise one-fifth of the 133 million notebooks to be shipped in 2009, and the more than 3.5 million all-in-one desktops shipped in 2008 is expected to double by 2010, according to market research firm DisplaySearch. While all-in-ones are still a small part of the desktop market, it's one of the only desktop form factors that's actually growing.
The next Averatec Netbook model, due to arrive in August or September (pictured below) has been developed "from scratch" in-house at Averatec, Cho said. Besides increased attention paid to design, there's something on the inside of the forthcoming Netbook that will be markedly different from most of the field.
Averatec's upcoming 10-inch Netbooks with mystery operating system.
(Credit: Averatec)"The OS is going to be a surprise," Cho said. While he would not confirm or deny that the OS will be Android, the company will say that it will be "a merger of cell phone and PC technology."
Averatec won't be the first if it is indeed Android. Chinese PC maker Skytone announced over the weekend that it would offer a $250 Android-based Netbook, and there have been rumors of MSI doing the same. HP, Asus, and others have also said they are "experimenting" with Android on their Netbook models.
Averatec is positioning itself to take advantage of thrifty consumers and people who would welcome less intimidating approaches to technology. Cho believes all-in-ones and Netbooks are the answer.
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The MSI WindTop hits online stores Tuesday.
(Credit: MSI)According to our inbox, MSI's WindTop AE1900 touch-screen all-in-one PC is scheduled to hit online retailers Tuesday. It will join the already available Asus Eee Top and Averatec All-in-One in the niche-but-growing Nettop category. On paper, anyway, the Wind Top may stand out due to its many features.
The $525 WindTop essentially marries the key features of the Eee Top and the Averatec system with no price premium. Like the Asus system, MSI's WindTop will feature touch-screen capability, only with a larger, 18.5-inch screen that MSI says conforms to the familiar 16:9 screen ratio common to HDTVs. And as with the Averatec All-in-One, the WindTop also includes a DVD burner. The Eee Top is optical drive free.
Like these other Nettops, the WindTop is powered by a slow, low-power Intel Atom CPU. With Intel GMA 950 integrated graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and the Windows XP Home Premium operating system, the WindTop is only a serviceable computer (serious digital media work and 3D gaming are both out), but marketers and fans of the Netbook/Nettop movement will tell you that computing power isn't the point.
As long as Nettop prices stay low and real all-in-one prices stay high, we agree. The only problem is full-power systems like Dell's $699 Studio One 19 starting to emerge in the same price ballpark. If that trend continues, the "performance doesn't matter" argument won't hold up for long.
(Credit:
TriGem Computer Inc.)
Announced last month, the Averatec Buddy is now shipping. Averatec's first Netbook is listed on its Web site as being in stock. The specs and price are the same as those reported in September: $449 gets you 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP Home. The 2.65-pound Netbook features a 10.2-inch display with a 1,024x600 WSVGA resolution. (You can ignore the erroneous specs on Averatec's site that state in some parts that it has a 12.1-inch display and a WXGA resolution.) Sadly, the Netbook features a tiny three-cell battery. Your networking options are 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and 10/100 Ethernet. Also onboard are three USB 2.0 ports, a multiformat memory card reader, and a VGA port. Features not found on the Buddy include a solid-state hard drive, Bluetooth, and an ExpressCard slot.
We're waiting to get acquainted with the Buddy and hope to be able to bring you a full review soon.
With the back-to-school shopping season drawing to a close and the holiday shopping season not quite begun, life in the world of laptops is relatively quiet.
Relatively, but not completely: there were a handful of new products for notebook enthusiasts this week. Lenovo unveiled the wide-screen X200 Tablet and a sporty X200s at an event in New York. Dell announced two new business ultraportables, the Latitude E4200 and Latitude E4300. And Averatec launched the Buddy, which promptly won the Crave Best Netbook Name Ever™ award.
Meanwhile, we spent some time with the Asus N10, a Netbook that's not quite a Netbook. We also took a closer look at HP's new 16-inch and 18-inch laptops. (It's a bona fide trend: Gateway is reportedly readying its own 16-inch model for a November release.)
In Reviews this week, we took a look at the expensive end of the laptop spectrum, from the $2,100 HP Pavilion HDX to the $2,900 Lenovo ThinkPad X301. But our Alienware Area-51 m17x review unit took the pricing crown, with a number of upgrades that brought the final cost to $6,100. Gulp.
Also worth reading: DRM's reach extended into CNET Labs, where the install limit on Crysis: Warhead prevented us from using it as a gaming benchmark; Sony released a new round of Graphic Splash Edition laptops, this time featuring the winning entries from a design contest; Intel's Sean Maloney riffed on laptops and WiMax challenges; and Peru announced that it would be the first country to try out XO laptops running Microsoft Windows.
Finally, a little something for the fanboys: numbers released this week indicate that Apple is gaining North American notebook market share--even without the rumored new MacBooks.
Have a great weekend!
(Credit:
Akihabaranews.com Inc.)
This week's Netbook entrant? The Averatec Buddy.
Announced today, the 10.2-inch laptop costs $449 and features the 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows XP. It's not yet listed on the Averatec Web site, but upon first glance, it looks like the MSI Wind with a VAIO-like round hinge. While the press release is light on product details (size of battery? Screen resolution? Draft N Wi-Fi? Solid-state-drive options? Bluetooth? ExpressCard slot?), the Averatec Buddy on the surface serves up a larger hard drive than the MSI Wind for less.
Averatec's new All-In-One looks familiar.
(Credit: Averatec)We don't recall if Averatec's old all-in-one ever made it to market in the U.S., but the Korean tech vendor best known for laptops showed us a new all-in-one desktop set to debut here soon.
The aptly named Averatec All-In-One looks more or less like a black iMac, in that it features an LCD screen with a sizable "chin" situated underneath it. There's only one model, which will go for $1,299 next month. For that you get:
- 22-inch LCD
- Windows Vista Home Premium
- 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo E4600 processor
- 2GB of DDR2 RAM (expandable to 4GB)
- Nvidia GeForce 8400 graphics chip
- 320GB hard drive
The wireless mouse and keyboard come standard.
(Credit: Averatec)Like the iMac, Averatec's All-In-One comes with a standard-definition DVD burner and 802.11n Wi-Fi. It also includes a wireless mouse and keyboard and a remote control. Price-wise it seems to stack up well against Apple's baseline 20-inch iMac. That model starts at $1,199, but upgrade the iMac's RAM and hard drive to match Averatec and it comes in at $1,349, which still doesn't make up for the smaller screen. It also has a 4-in-1 media card reader as well as two PCI Express Mini card inputs. In Apple's favor, Averatec's spec sheet mentions no FireWire 800 port.
There are more ports on the back.
(Credit: Averatec)We expect to see the Averatec All-In-One available from the usual tech retailing suspects online (Buy.com, etc.) in a few months, as well as from a brick-and-mortar office supply retailer to be named later.
A magnesium alloy outer case and corner bumpers help the new Voyas take abuse.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Inside: a spill-resistant keyboard and touch pad.
(Credit: Averatec)This week Averatec officially announced the release of two semirugged laptops: the 14.1-inch, standard-aspect Voya 4473 and the 15.4-inch wide-screen Voya 6494. Both Voya laptops combine magnesium alloy outer cases, corner bumpers, and a shock-mounted hard drive to help withstand vibration and drops. The laptops also incorporate a spill-resistant keyboard and touch pad.
We had a chance to see these during a recent visit to the company's Santa Ana, Calif., offices. Reminiscent of the semirugged Twinhead Durabooks we've reviewed in the past, the Voya laptops felt sturdy enough to withstand a drop or two (we'll test this more thoroughly when we receive our review units). Otherwise, the Voya 4473 and Voya 6494 are fairly straightforward business laptops, with Intel Centrino and Windows Vista inside.
Pricing for the systems starts at $1,299, which is competitive with other semirugged laptops on the market and likely to appeal to anyone who heaps a little extra abuse on their gadgets.
The release is part of a broader brand revival for Averatec, which has been somewhat quiet in the U.S. market during the last 18 months. With its new line of laptops, Averatec is moving its focus away from the super-value systems of the past and toward more upscale and specialized consumer markets.
It's no secret that we have a soft spot for supersmall laptops. Ultraportables, as they're called, generally have 11- or 12-inch screens and weigh in at less than four pounds--perfect for lugging around all day or hanging at the local coffee shop with. Unfortunately, these guys are usually plagued by the twin devils of high prices and poor battery life (not to mention occasionally underpowered processors).
The Sony VAIO TZ150
This, however, has clearly been the summer of the ultraportable, with a generous handful of exciting new systems generating heavy buzz. But with all these new choices, which one is right for you?
First, we have Sony's VAIO TZ150-- we loved pretty much everything about this 11.1-inch laptop, which is less than an inch thick and weighs less than three pounds. Well, everything except the $2,299 starting price and somewhat sluggish performance (which we were able to improve by uninstalling a bunch of junkware).
Neck-and-neck was our most wanted laptop of the year, Toshiba's Portege R500. A bit larger than the Sony, and with a bigger 12.1-inch screen, it was actually slightly lighter and thinner. So light that one of our colleagues picked it up and asked if it was a dummy model.
The Toshiba Portege R500
Both of these systems include optical drives, which is something we wouldn't have seen in a laptop this size in past years. Both also offer excellent battery life, which is perhaps the most important thing for computing on the go.
Sadly, the Sony and Toshiba ultraportables range from $2,000 to $3,000 depending on options, including solid state flash hard drives, which are cool, but still way too expensive to be practical. If you're looking for a supersmall laptop without a supersize price, we managed to find a few slightly less flashy options. Averatec makes a handful of ultraportable systems that offer surprisingly good value for the money. You'll sacrifice the sub-one-inch designs and some battery life, but the company's 11.1-inch Averatec 1579 is $1,299, while the 12.1-inch, AMD-powered 2371 starts at $899, making it the cheapest ultraportable we can think of.
The Averatec 1579
Of course, all this info is useless if you're buying a laptop on the company dime and The Man won't let you get one of these snazzy consumer systems. HP has a pretty good new ultraportable, the HP Compaq 2510p, from their corporate line. It's still around $2,000 for a decent configuration, and the battery life is poor, but it adds security-friendly features such as hard-drive encryption.
There you have it, five new ultraportable laptops for the summer, with something for almost every budget. For a more detailed breakdown, check out our side-by-side comparison here.
