Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve been expecting to see some budget Ultrabooks at CES, especially as the category has been around for a while and just about all notebooks are due to receive updates with Windows 8-friendly touchscreens. Toshiba just unveiled one such sub-$1,000 system, the Satellite U845t. It’s a 14-incher with a touch-enabled, 1,366 x 768 screen, and it will be available for $800 when it debuts in March (on March 10th, to be exact). It’s not Toshiba’s first Ultrabook with touch — the Satellite U925t claims that honor — but it’s the first entrant in the budget category. At four pounds and 0.8 inch thin, it’s not the thinnest or lightest system out there, but it packs solid specs: a Core i3 or Core i5 processor with up to 6GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive with 32GB of SSD memory. Connections include HDMI, Ethernet and an SD card slot, along with one USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports. We got an early look at the U845t at Toshiba’s (very clubby) press event; check out our gallery

Jose Andrade contributed to this report.

Filed under: Laptops

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It wouldn’t be CES without a big showing from the folks at Sony. So, what can we expect from the company’s event at its Las Vegas Convention Center booth? Cameras? Phones? TVs? Laptops? Tablets? Sony-contracted celebrities hamming it up for an audience of tech bloggers? The answer is mostly like a big “yes” to all of the above. You too can join in on all of the fun at this very link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Home Entertainment, Laptops, Tablets, Sony

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The Lenovo ThinkPad Helix has been a known entity for some time, first showing up on the company’s Israeli website and more recently stopping by the FCC with AT&T LTE in tow. The device is no longer an enigma, as Lenovo is pulling back the curtain on the 11.6-inch convertible Ultrabook, which will go on sale in late February for $1,499 and up.

Like the famously flippable ThinkPad Yoga, the Helix can be used in several different positions. Tablet and Ultrabook modes are a given, but users can also flip the tablet 180 degrees and snap it back in to the base, essentially providing a stand for using the device as a slate. In addition to supporting touch input, the Helix offers a bundled pen (complete with a slot for storing) for tapping away at the 1080p Gorilla Glass display. Speaking of the panel, it boasts IPS technology — and Lenovo says it’s “the brightest screen in the ThinkPad brand portfolio.”

Along with the just-introduced ThinkPad Edge E431 and E531, the Helix sports a new trackpad that forgoes the secondary buttons meant to be used with the TrackPoint. Instead, these buttons are built into the clickpad, though the pointing stick is still on board. We imagine this change will upset many ThinkPad devotees, but given that we haven’t seen a final production unit, we’re not ready to pass judgement on the update.

The highest-end configuration will run a Core i7 processor, and Lenovo says you can expect up to 10 hours of battery life. Other specs include a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-MP front-facing shooter, NFC for tapping to share and — as expected — LTE connectivity. The tablet weighs 1.8 pounds on its own, and the whole Ultrabook comes in at under four. Take a closer look at this convertible in our hands-on gallery.

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad Helix official: 11.6-inch reversible screen, arrives next month for $1,499+

Filed under: Laptops, Lenovo

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When Vizio entered the PC market last year, we weren’t gushing about its computers, per se, but we found ourselves rooting for the company anyway: for all it got wrong (flaky trackpads, poor battery life), it did a lot of things right. We had to respect Vizio for giving most of its PCs 1080p screens and installing a clean, bloatware-free version of Windows. Not to mention, Vizio kept the price relatively low, the same way it did when it was trying to break into the TV space. Now, the company is completely refreshing its lineup for 2013, leaving only one model from 2012 (that would be its 15-inch mainstream notebook). Starting now, all of its all-ones and Thin + Light laptops will come standard with touchscreens and quad-core processors, including some from AMD (a first for Vizio).

What’s curious is that although Vizio is taking the opportunity to replace most of its PCs, it hasn’t actually made any changes to the industrial design. That means, for better or worse, that these new models will probably be quite similar to the PCs we tested just a few months ago. Same metal chassis but also, the same flat keyboard. What they do promise is faster performance, along with improved audio. Both the 14- and 15-inch Thin + Light Touch are available with either a Core i7 CPU or AMD’s top-of-the-line A10 chip. Likewise, the 24-inch all-in-one is now the All-in-One Touch, and it too will be available with AMD and Intel processors. The 27-inch model, however, will be Intel-only.

As ever, these machines will have that clean, Microsoft Signature install, and almost all will have 1080p screens, save for the 14-inch Thin + Light, which has 1,600 x 900 resolution. No word on pricing, though Vizio says they’ll go on sale in mid-February. We’ll be back soon enough with hands-on shots but for now, check out some press photos after the break.

Continue reading Vizio refreshes its PC lineup: all new models have touchscreens, quad-core CPUs

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

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Welcome back to our series on Who To Follow, and this time we’re listing our favorite Apple-tinged Twitter users. Encompassing our favorite news sites, writers and iOS tinkerers, there should be something there for most Apple fans, whether you’re looking for Mac news, app developments, or (sometimes) a vague glimpse of what to expect from the Cupertino-based team in the future. Shameful omissions should be sent directly to the author — or you can just let us know in the comments below.

Continue reading Who to follow on Twitter: Apple edition

Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Apple

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