Hasta La Gadget!

Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! Today we’re talking gaming gear. Head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back; in early September, we’ll be giving away a ton of gear, including some of the picks in our guides.

You probably shouldn’t be playing video games in school, y’all. A certain back to school guide writer had his Game Boy and copy of Pokémon confiscated by a certain English professor in high school and, needless to say, it was a rough year. Thankfully, today your tablets and smartphones are often part of the educational experience — all we had was Oregon Trail and Karateka. Oh man, Karateka! But back to the goods: head below for our back to school gaming suggestions — if you convince your parents to pick this stuff up ahead of the first bell, perhaps seek out a career in law?

Filed under: Gaming

Comments

Don’t look now, but Lenovo just became an industry bellwether. While reporting strong first quarter results that include a record $8.8 billion in revenue and $170 million in profit, the tech giant revealed that its combined smartphone and tablet sales have overtaken those of its PCs. Yes, you read that correctly — the world’s largest PC vendor is now a mobile-first company, unlike previous title holders such as HP. It’s not hard to explain the shift, however. About 42 percent of Lenovo’s total sales come from its native China, where the company’s predominantly Android-based phones and tablets fare very well. The firm’s Windows PCs and tablets are also performing above industry averages, but CEO Yang Yuanqing makes it clear that Lenovo is quickly becoming a “PC Plus” brand — IdeaPads and ThinkPads are just parts of a larger puzzle.

Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile, Lenovo

Comments

Source: Lenovo

Microsoft has posted a video showing off the new Xbox One controller, detailing the changes that have been made to it and design differences gamers will find over the Xbox 360 controller. In addition to the video detailing the design changes, a spokesperson for the company discussed PC support with the controller to the folks […]

Gaming with an Xbox 360 controller on a PC isn’t exactly a wallet-friendly situation, considering a wired version of the gamepad or an additional dongle are required. Things sound like they’ll be simpler with the Xbox One, however, as a Microsoft representative told the Penny Arcade Report that the pad will operate with desktops once fresh software hits in 2014. Since the new gamepad “shares no underlying technology with the current Xbox 360 controller,” the code will enable it to function with PCs and support games that are playable with the existing pad. It’s likely that Redmond will lean on the gear’s micro-USB port and wired mode for desktop-compatibility, but it’s not clear whether a wireless adapter will be an option. If this gives you even more reason to pine for the next-gen hardware, set aside seven minutes to ogle at Ballmer and Co.’s controller.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

Comments

Source: Penny Arcade Report

Dell’s Haswell-based Latitude laptops have been a tad on the chunky side so far, but the company is making amends by quietly launching its new Latitude 7000 series Ultrabooks. Both the 12.5-inch E7240 and 14-inch E7440 fit Intel’s new low-voltage, 1.7GHz Core i3 CPU into an aluminum shell that’s about 0.8 inch thick, yet meets military standards for resistance to dust, water and shock. They also support Dell’s WiGig Wireless Dock and WiDi. Neither will come close to the Precision M3800 in features, however. The two Latitudes both start with 4GB of RAM and a 1,366 x 768 display, and there’s no way to upgrade the performance or screen quality. They’re also expensive — the E7240 is launching at a $1,169 sale price with a 128GB SSD inside, while the E7440 with a 320GB hard drive isn’t much cheaper at $1,049. Still, we wouldn’t complain (much) if an IT manager plunked either of these Ultrabooks on our desks.

Filed under: Laptops, Dell

Comments

Via: Liliputing

Source: Dell (E7240), (E7440)