Hasta La Gadget!

After you’ve hit the pool or before you take up kayaking this weekend, maybe you plan on checking out J&R’s Weekend Sale. If you are, you should know that some of the retailer’s “sales” may not be worth your time.

Included in J&R’s Weekend Sale is a LaCie 500GB rugged external hard drive, an Acer notebook, a Garmin GPS watch, and an HP wireless all-in-one printer. If you don’t live in NYC where J&R stores are located, you’ll have to pay shipping costs for most of the products on sale. Let’s find out which deals are a steal and which deals are duds in today’s TechSaver Test.

LaCie 301371 Rugged 500GB USB 2.0 / FireWire Hard Drive
(Was $349.99; Now $139.99)–Bad Deal!
In the past, LaCie hard drives have earned average ratings of 3.6 out of 5 stars by PCMag analysts. This particular model has a mini USB 2.0 port, FireWire 400/800, and a scratch-protected aluminum shell. At $140, you’re definitely paying for the rugged feature for just a 500GB drive. So is it really a good deal, when you have to add about $10 for shipping (a total of $150)? (And if you’re a New York State resident, you can add tax on top of that.) NOPE! Amazon.com is selling the 500GB drive for $144.59 with free shipping.

Get more TechSaver Test results, after the jump.

In a whirring round of hurt that only a dear friend we know simply as Congmasta could deliver, a team of his irreverent cousins got ahold of Panasonic’s Toughbook CF-30 to see just how far the envelope could be pushed. We already discovered that said machine was plenty tough for the average adventurer, but Forbes‘ tests prove that this bad boy is tailor made for maltreatment in the field. Somehow, the machine survived a round of Diet Coke to the keys, a few chomps from a white tiger, an elephant’s playful attempt to extirpate it and even a single .22 slug through the lid. After the torment concluded, the CF-30 still managed to boot, and while that hole in the LCD was certainly a nuisance, it didn’t stop the rest of the pixels from lighting up and trudging onward. Tap the read link for all the gory details, photographs and video, but seriously, don’t try this at home. Or anywhere.

[Image courtesy of Schim Schimmel/SchimmelSmith Publishing, thanks Vipul]

Filed under: Laptops

Panasonic’s Toughbook CF-30 gets gnawed by tiger, stomped by elephant and 187’d originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At long last, the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 is available for pre-order. The 12.1-inch, WXGA (1,280 x 800) resolution netbook, if you’ve forgotten, boasts an Intel GMA950 chipset (and will have NVIDIA’s Ion chipset as an option in September), an Intel 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 160/250/320GB HDD options, an optional 6-cell battery, Ethernet jack, WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB 2.0 sockets, an ExpressCard slot, a 4-in-1 card reader and VGA / HDMI outputs. It also has a full sized keyboard, and optional 1080p video playback. Starting price for the base model is $499. Hit the read link for the full host of options — we’ll let you know when it’s shipping!

Filed under: Laptops

Lenovo IdeaPad s12 now available (at least for pre-order) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s the last day of Dell’s “10 Days of Deals” promotion, bringing you significant savings to start off the summer. (How’s that for alliteration?) The following offers can be had until June 25 at 6 a.m. Central Time.

I own a Dell Inspiron 1525 laptop and absolutely love it. I bought it last year for around $600. But you’re going to get an even better deal than I did. Dell’s Inspiron 15 notebook is being offered for just $499. You get 3GB of memory, 320GB of hard drive space, and a 6-cell battery. You even have the option of sticking with Windows XP.

If what you’re looking for is a desktop with an Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor, 3GB of memory, and a 320GB hard drive, then look no further than the $349 Dell Inspiron 537 desktop.

Maybe my dream of owning an HDTV will come true sooner than I thought? Dell is also offering the Sony Bravia 46″ KDL46V5100 120Hz HDTV for $1,349. This energy-efficient HDTV offers 1080p, 1,920-by-1,080 resolution, a 50000:1 contrast ratio, and three HDMI inputs.

The final deal of the day is the Sony PSP 2000 for $110; that’s 35-percent off the original price. This handheld gaming console is equipped with 64MB of internal memory, a 4.3-inch LCD screen with a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, and built-in Wi-Fi. It’s also sleeker and lighter than the original PSP, and earned a rating of 4 out of 5 by PCMag.

Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he’ll explore where our industry is and where it’s going — on both micro and macro levels — with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.

It’s one of the hottest selling items in the consumer electronics market today. At a time when vendors are struggling to sell PCs, it’s the one category that has been selling consistently in Amazon’s top ten list of technology purchases. Apple and Sony have both dismissed the category, even as other vendors bring more models to market. Yes, I’m talking about the phenomenon called the netbook. Here’s why I think it’s going to be pretty short lived as a category.

Continue reading Entelligence: Netbooks, R.I.P.

Filed under: Laptops

Entelligence: Netbooks, R.I.P. originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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