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Is $299 too much for a laptop? Wal-Mart has answered Best Buy's $299 laptop challenge with a $298 offer.

Wal-Mart's $298 laptop.

(Credit: Wal-Mart)

"For the first time, a 3GB memory laptop from a well-known brand has ventured below $300," Wal-Mart said in a statement Thursday.

Starting July 26 (this coming Sunday), Wal-Mart will begin selling a $298 Compaq Presario notebook (CQ60-419WM) with the following specifications: a 15.6-inch display, 3GB of memory, a 160GB hard-disk drive, a CD-DVD drive, and Windows Vista pre-loaded. The laptop will use a 2.10 GHz AMD Sempron SI-42 processor and Nvidia GeForce 8200M graphics.

The $1 discount gets you a Compaq-branded laptop versus the Acer (subsequently sold out) from Best Buy. And the Compaq bests Acer with 3GB of memory versus 2GB.

A Wal-Mart blog said that quantities "are limited and will begin selling at 8 a.m. on Sunday, July 26," adding parenthetically, "May want to pass that along because we expect this one will be quite popular."

Wal-Mart will also begin offering, on the same day, a 15.6-inch Acer ultrathin laptop for $548. The AS5810-4657 model will sport Windows Vista Home Premium (qualified for free Windows 7 upgrade); an Intel ULV (ultra low voltage) SU2700 processor; 3GB memory; a 320GB hard-disk drive; and "all-day" eight-hour battery life, according to a Wal-Mart statement.

In August, Wal-Mart will sell the new 10.1-inch HP Mini 110-131NR Netbook too.

A laptop's value is more than meets the eye. Intel says stolen laptops cost corporate owners more than $100,000 in some cases, in a study announced Wednesday.

The study on notebook security, commissioned by Intel and conducted by the Ponemon Institute, states that laptops lost or stolen in airports, taxis, and hotels around the world cost their corporate owners an average of $49,246 "reflecting the value of the enclosed data above the cost of the PC," Intel said.

Analyzing 138 instances of lost and stolen notebooks, the study based the $49,246 price tag on costs associated with replacement, detection, forensics, data breach, lost intellectual property, lost productivity, and legal, consulting and regulatory expenses, Intel said. Data breach alone represents 80 percent of the cost.

Who owns a missing notebook is important, Intel said. It is not the CEO's computer that is the most valued, but a director or manager, according to the study. A senior executive's notebook is valued at $28,449, while a director or manager's notebook is worth $60,781 and $61,040, respectively.

The average cost if the notebook is discovered missing the same day is $8,950, according to the study. After more than one week, this figure can reach as high as $115,849.

In addition to the obvious need for vigilance, countermeasures include encryption and data-deletion security services. The study found that data encryption makes the most significant difference in the average cost: a lost notebook with an encrypted hard-disk drive is valued at $37,443, compared with $56,165 for a nonencrypted version, the study says.

Intel Anti-Theft Technology is a "poison pill" solution programmed into the PC that can be triggered by internal detection mechanisms or by a remote server to lock a lost or stolen notebook, rendering it completely useless, according to Intel.

Refurbished laptops from Apple and Hewlett-Packard are relatively inexpensive and, in many cases, virtually new. But it all depends on how you define "new."

Let me begin by saying that I would not recommend a refurbished laptop. That's just my experience, of course. I recognize that others have had positive experiences and that some would swear it's like buying a new computer, just cheaper. But I have purchased two refurbished laptops--one from Apple, another from HP--that were both defective out of the box.

"Refurbs" really a great deal?

Apple case first. I recently purchased a refurbished Apple MacBook Air. Unpacking it revealed a pristine, brand-new looking MBA. Until I turned it on. The screen was dimmer than the screen on a one-year-old Air I have been using and the backlighting was uneven. In short, the bottom 25 percent (roughly) of the screen was noticeably darker than other 75 percent of the screen.

Moreover, upon closer inspection I could see that the screen had rather prominent dark blotchy areas (more prominent than the "normal" blotching you get on these screens). Ironically, the much older Air did not exhibit this. Now, I realize that I may not have considered the screen defective if this had been my first Air and I hadn't been using another MBA (which, by the way, I had intended to pass on to someone else) that had a gorgeous, uniformly backlit screen. But nobody, I would submit, likes trading down from something great to something less than that.

And what is the single biggest difference (aside from specifications) between the two Airs? The non-defective, problem-free one was purchased new.

I have a lot of scary, unpleasant theories about refurbs--none of which could ever be proven unless I actually worked at a PC manufacturer--but I think I can safely say this much: some refurbs are less than meets the eye. They may look pristine on the outside but mask internal problems.

Which brings us to my HP business laptop refurb. This is a much longer story that I will summarize briefly as follows: out of the box, the keyboard was defective and the unit randomly shut down (that latter problem, I concluded, was due to overheating). I had to go through a pretty painstaking series of steps to get both of these problems resolved.

The moral of the story may be this: you get what you pay for. A buyer of a refurbished HP business laptop can save a lot of money--sometimes more than 50 percent off the list price of a new unit. The cost savings on a refurbished MacBook that is still being actively marketed by Apple is less: in the case of the Air, a few hundred dollars.

So, what is a refurbished laptop? Here's what HP says on its FAQ page:
"Stringent guidelines are followed. All units are brought up to fully functional condition, with defective parts replaced by working parts...Refurbished business products go through two quality control checks before being re-boxed for sale to ensure high reliability."

I'm sure both companies strive to offer just-like-new refurbished laptops but my experience is that refurbs may be more trouble than they're worth. I would like to hear the experiences readers have had.

Intel and Asus have launched a site that seeks collaborators for "community designed" PCs.

The two companies say consumers can become product designers at WePC, a Web site launched Wednesday. Participants can collaborate with each other and with Intel and Asus to "design innovative new products," the companies said.

The plan is for the two companies to deliver to market what could be the world's first community-designed PCs.

Visitors to the site can share ideas with community members about the qualities of a "dream" PC and vote on submitted concepts, Intel and Asus said.

Consumers can submit ideas to the community.

(Credit: Intel, Asus)

"Intel believes the spark for innovation can come from anywhere," Mike Hoefflinger, general manager of Intel's Partner Marketing Group, said in a statement. "That's why Intel is working with Asus to tap into the creative energy of consumers as they share ideas on designing their ideal PC."

The community will be divided into three conversation groups, addressing three of the most popular consumer PC categories: Netbooks, notebooks, and gaming notebooks.

The PCs will be powered by Intel's Atom, Centrino 2, and Intel Centrino 2 Extreme processors.

Prizes will be rewarded to select participants for their creative role in this project. Details on prizes will be announced at a later date.

Update at 11:45 a.m. with additional information about Intel blogger.

Aaron Brezenski, the blogger, states the following in describing his posts: "Aaron Brezenski has been at Intel (Chandler, AZ) since 1995 and has been a product engineer for most of that time. He currently manages a team of product development engineers in STTD, but his nefarious purpose in (Intel Software Network) Blogspace is to highlight Intel Integrated Graphics in the Home Theater PC space from an end-user perspective."

An Intel engineer has posted a discussion about performance issues with its newest Centrino 2 graphics silicon.

HP dv5t series notebook with Intel Centrino 2 graphics

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

The blog, posted Thursday, is focused on a critical feature of the latest generation of integrated graphics: the ability to handle high-quality video streams. Intel is the world's largest supplier of graphics silicon because its integrated graphics (which is provided via the chipset not on a separate graphics card) is shipped with tens of millions of PCs every year. (See this Intel Web page that lists "HD video playback with full hardware decode" as a feature.)

In the blog, Aaron Brezenski, an Intel product development engineer, first takes issue with an "AMD Intel Mobile Challenge" video.

"Our competition (Advanced Micro Devices) threw together a demo booth which stated baldly that HP laptops with the (Intel) GM45 (chipset) did not accelerate Blu-ray at all while theirs, naturally, did," he wrote. "It was clearly not an apples-to-apples comparison."

The demonstration compares an HP Pavilion dv5z series notebook using an AMD Turion X2 dual-core mobile processor and ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics silicon with an HP Pavilion dv5t series notebook based on an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500. No processor specifics are given.

A person demonstrating the two systems in the video says that "on the Montevina (Centrino 2) system, you'll see the CPU utilization gets pegged up at 95 to 100 percent, where the CPU utilization on the AMD system will be half that." High utilization of the CPU (central processing unit) means that the system will not have the capacity to do other tasks in the background (such as a virus check) and may result in jerky, uneven video.

Brezenski states, however, that there were positive results with the Arcsoft Total Media Theater player, according to the blog. "On the plus side, use of the Arcsoft Total Media Theater player yielded immediate results. Blu-ray CPU utilization on a Core 2 Duo was lower than 20% on all material: a clear indication that hardware acceleration is working properly."

Further down in the blog, Brezenski cites testing done by ExtremeTech: "They, too, did not see hardware acceleration on G45 Blu-ray playback," he writes. However, "they updated this a couple of days later with a correction...showing the acceleration working now, but a less-than-stellar benchmark (the only one they ran) remains: on the HD HQV test, Intel scored a paltry 30 out of 100." HD HQV stands for high-definition Hollywood quality video.

The blog continues: "While I question the value of some of the HD HQV tests when evaluating Blu-ray (a topic for another time), they are in fact valid tests. My sources...tell me that Intel's less than stellar scores are due to a player software issue: properly configured advanced de-interlacing will result in scores 20+ points higher. Still not perfect scores, but coming within the realm of workable, and my hope is that subsequent driver tweaks will improve this even further," he writes.

Other issues addressed include the fact that current G965 and G35 (pre-Centrino 2 integrated graphics) "suffered from stuttering every 15 seconds or so at 24 Hz display refresh rate on Blu-ray...(and) the issue is still there on G45 (Centrino 2)."

Regarding an issue with HDCP (High-Definition Content Protection) TV, the blog states that the end user sees "our competition's graphics working flawlessly with their software player on their shiny new Onkyo or Yamaha receiver, and Intel's failing."

Advanced Micro Devices may have been demoted on Dell's Web site (though three AMD-based notebook models are still listed). But its chips aren't collector's items yet.

A quick inventory of Best Buy, the largest U.S. electronics retailer, is telling. A search on the reseller's Web site greets you with a page full of AMD-based notebooks. Ten to be exact. Some are fairly attractive too. Many are models in Dell's svelte Inspiron line. (Correction: not Dell's XPS line). Granted, Best Buy may not have the turnover of Dell's Web site but it's not Radio Shack either.

HP dv9715

(Credit: Best Buy, AMD)

Then there's Hewlett-Packard. If the perception is that AMD is fading at Dell, that's not the case (at least not yet) at the largest PC supplier in the world. "AMD represents a good value from a price/performance ratio," an HP spokesperson said.

In addition to the AMD-based notebooks available on HP's home-and-small-office site, a crush of systems is listed on Best Buy. If you're keeping score: AMD 9, Intel 4. Go to Staples online, and it's nothin' but AMD in HP.

And let's not forget Toshiba. In addition to listing seven AMD-based notebook on its Web site, almost half the Toshiba notebooks at Best Buy use AMD chips.

What about the brick-and-mortar Best Buy? At a Southern California Best Buy (just south of Orange County), there were 34 notebooks on display. Exactly half (17) of these used AMD chips (mostly dual-core Turion processors). And most of the AMD systems were placed at the front where people browse. But here's the catch. The salesman was pitching Intel. He volunteered that Intel's Core 2 beats AMD's dual core. "Intel runs cooler too," he said. And he had nothing positive to say about AMD. That's a problem.

Which brings us to another problem AMD may face. Last fall, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said in a conference call that his company has "walked" away from "a lot of low-end business" in mobile and desktop because it's not profitable. This is a real danger for AMD: getting relegated to the budget bin where profit margins are typically thin. (Many of the AMD systems are below $900.) But that story--whether AMD's profit margins are in fact razor thin or not--will be told in upcoming earnings statements.

The bigger problem may be Intel's Silverthorne and its low-cost x86 derivatives. These chips are designed specifically to compete at the very low-end--and make money there--unlike current Intel processors. Though nobody knows at this point whether Silverthorne will be competitive or not, its mantra is worth noting: low cost is good. "Because they are so small, literally thousands of them can be cut from 300mm wafers at 45nm. Thus, their economics are incredibly good," said Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates.

And Otellini said more or less the same thing during Intel's fourth-quarter conference call. "We're embracing this trend with Silverthorne and will take the pricing down even lower...A tailored product for ultralow cost notebooks is a new thing for us," he said.

(Credit: Micron Technology)

The hard drive will not die. Let's get this on the record now, at the beginning of 2008, because readers may see a fair number of stories proclaiming its demise. Though Friday's Intel-Micron high-speed flash memory announcement points to increasing use of solid state drives (SSDs) in digital products, flash is chasing prey that has eluded imminent death for years. SSDs are gaining acceptance selectively not broadly. SSDs in standard notebooks? No. And even if you're, for instance, a PC vendor trying to compete in the ultra-thin notebook market, chances are you will still opt in most cases for a 1.8-inch drive or even a slim 2.5-inch drive like Toshiba uses in its Portege R500 subnotebooks. The SSD option will either be an asterisk or come at a high premium. Look no further than the Apple MacBook Air: priced at $1,800 with a hard drive and $3,100 with the SSD. Granted, the pricier Air comes with a few more extras like a faster Intel chip but the SSD option provides less storage, 64GB versus 80GB for the hard drive. The price gap is just as pronounced on Hewlett-Packard's HP Compaq 2510p subnotebook, where the price jumps $909 for an SSD from a 80GB drive.

The new high-speed NAND from Intel and Micron can reach speeds up to 200 megabytes per second (MB/s) for reading data and 100 MB/s for writing data, achieved by leveraging the new ONFI 2.0 specification, which allows double-data-rate (DDR) signaling, among other tricks, to speed things up, according to Micron. The NAND design also uses a four-plane architecture with higher clock speeds beating conventional single level cell NAND that is limited to 40 MB/s for reading data and less than 20 MB/s for writing data, Micron said. When used in a hybrid hard drive (i.e., a hard drive paired with flash memory), high-speed NAND can allow the system to read and write data anywhere between two or four times the speed of conventional hard drives, Micron claims.

SSD versus HDD: SSD's technological advantages are fairly compelling. Faster access times, no moving parts, low power requirements, and less heat. One disadvantage, however, is limited write cycles. That is, flash drives can eventually "wear out" after hundreds of thousands of write cycles. File systems that spread the write over the device can extend the life cycle but it's still an issue. HDDs principal advantage for the foreseeable future will be capacity coupled with price. A $1,000 64GB SSD or a $100 (or less) 120GB HDD? In standard notebooks this price-capacity SSD-HDD gap is even larger, as mainstream notebooks come standard with 160GB drives now. Though prices for NAND are falling.

Micron said that it is sampling the flash product now to some major OEMs and enablers and expects production to start in the second half of 2008.