Notebook and Laptop Comparison Shopping

Microsoft unveiled a veritable mischief of mice today for your laptop and desktop. One features a sharp new design, another showcases a new, proprietary sensor technology.

First on deck is the Arc Mouse. There's nothing too special here other than its curved, collapsible design. We honestly don't understand the appeal of so-called laptop mice, so that you can make the Arc Mouse more compact doesn't seem like much of a plus. Perhaps you disagree. We have a feeling design nerds will jump on this one, to replace . . . Read more

This is an HP laptop similar to the one that offers 24-hour battery life.

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

Hewlett-Packard says it has achieved a mobile-computing milestone by getting the HP EliteBook 6930p to operate continuously for 24 hours on a single battery charge. The laptop used in the test is, however, rather different from those consumers would pick up at the store, at least for now.

The machine's equipped with high-end components including Intel solid-state hard drives (SSDs), a mercury-free LED display, and an optional ultra-capacity battery.

The cream-of-the-crop components played a

Is it still a Netbook at $849?

At what point does a Netbook become a regular old laptop? The upcoming Asus N10 has all the features we'd expect to see in a low-cost, low-power Netbook-style system, including a 10-inch screen and power-saving Intel Atom CPU.

The only catch is that electronics retailers are now listing the system as "coming soon," for a whopping $849. For that you get 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, Windows Vista, and even a GeForce 9300M graphics chip, which is a pretty nice setup, . . . Read more

(Credit: Asus)

Mobile gamers, take note: Asus today released the G50V, a 15-inch gaming laptop that appears to be a high-powered, low-priced affair.

The majority of gaming laptops use a 17-inch chassis and weigh 8 pounds or more. The Asus G50V packs many of the same features inside a 15-inch chassis that weighs a relatively svelte 6.2 pounds. Inside, the laptop supplies a high-end 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 processor, 4GB of fast 800MHz DDR2 memory, and an Nvidia GeForce 9700M GT graphics card with 512MB of . . . Read more

SAN DIEGO--We all have very busy lives and a big part of that is trying to manage a steady flow of new information.

Here at DemoFall today, Alerts.com unveiled its new intelligent alerts delivery dashboard.

The idea is that users can pick and choose Web sites on which to set up alerts and then aggregate them all on the Alerts.com site for delivery to whatever devices they want.

For example, if you're looking for an apartment and want to use Craigslist to find it, you can sign . . . Read more

The breadth of EPEAT's criteria covers so much more than just toxicity and energy consumption. EPEAT Bronze compliance not only requires a better than average product but a conscientious manufacturer:

Reduction of materials and energy

• Elimination of intentionally added SCCP flame retardants and plasticizers in certain applications
• Elimination of paints or coatings that are

When shopping for a laptop, graphics are a thorny question. A little extra performance is always good, as it will probably come in handy someday. But the more advanced the graphics solution, the more likely that it will consume more power, and generate more heat, shortening battery life, and keeping you from actually putting it on your lap.

In the general case, integrated graphics solutions have come a long way, and are more than sufficient for most real uses. Let's face it, email, report writing, and browsing the web

One of Intel's most successful marketing pitches has been "Centrino", a name well understood as denoting a notebook with solid, desirable features.

But what is it? Most people only have a general grasp of what exactly goes on inside a computer, and Intel doesn't have time to give the full story in a commercial. The common perception, even among general computer-store employees, is that 'Centrino' is a processor (it does not help that Intel calls it 'processor technology').

However, Centrino is a platform, a combination of different pieces . . . Read more

In the world of laptops, there are always a number of compromises that must be made to try and make it as useful and as portable as possible.

There are two general approaches to handling graphics hardware in computers today. You can have separate, or 'dedicated', hardware that does all the graphics

(Credit: IBM)

When contemplating the features you want in a laptop for school, consider an integrated fingerprint reader. A fingerprint reader will simplify your life, secures your identity (a fingerprint can not be shared), and more importantly, the reader protects you from prying parents.

Several manufacturers offer integrated