Hasta La Gadget!

Dell marketing makeover simplifies brands, kills off Adamo altogether originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Look, all we can tell you is that this is one of the tiniest, thinnest, most lust-worthy laptops we’ve ever seen. We’re taking a deeper look at the device right now, but for the time being, enjoy the gallery below!

Update: Video after the break!

Continue reading MacBook Air (11.6-inch) first hands-on! (update: video!)

MacBook Air (11.6-inch) first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you count iPads as computers, Apple could now be said to have the largest market share of any computer maker in the United States.

“The iPad,” writes Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore, “is driving a rapid, unprecedented shift in the structure of the computing industry.”

Apple had a great year relative to the rest of the PC industry, with desktop and laptop sales growing by 24.1 percent when most of its competitors’ revenues shrank or stayed flat. The growth in sales and share is even more impressive when you add in the launch of the iPad, which brings Apple’s year-over-year unit growth to 250 percent.

In a note for clients issued Monday, Whitmore took PC share data from the International Data Corporation’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker and added in figures for iPad sales. The result is the chart above. Apple’s nearly 2 million PCs sold in Q3 gave it the number 3 spot among computer makers in the U.S., with a 10.6% share of the market. Adding the iPads it sold in Q3 boosts it into the top spot.

The number of iPads sold in Q3 will be unknown until Monday afternoon’s earnings call, but estimates put it somewhere between 2.4 million and 6.2 million.

Part of what’s happening here is a struggle to define “personal computer” in a world of convergent and crossover devices. IDC’s data for PCs includes desktops, laptops and mini notebooks, but doesn’t include handhelds or servers. The iPad and other tablets count as handhelds, along with smartphones, e-readers and media players. Even though tablets and ultraportable netbooks fall in the same price range, perform many (although not all) of the same tasks and compete with each other for buyers’ attention and dollars, they’re not grouped in the same category.

Deutsche Bank’s graph isn’t quite fair, because the iPad is the only nontraditional computer added to the dataset. It’s not clear what the numbers would look like if you factored in all tablet computers and smartphones, not just Apple’s. And there may be good reasons, from different form factors to different operating systems, to keep PC and tablet sales separate. In fact, by keeping the numbers separate, you can see just how well Apple’s PC business has done on its own. It’s still behind HP and Dell, but is showing recent growth while some competitors, such as Acer, are losing ground.

But three things are clear. First, the market for tablet computers is enormous. Second, Apple has essentially created that market and currently owns it. And third, if the iPad is cannibalizing sales of PCs, it’s not Apple’s PCs that are getting cannibalized.

All of this makes this week’s upcoming Apple event — and the possible presentation of a new device somewhere between a laptop and an iPad — just that much more interesting.

What If the iPad Were a PC? [Fortune Tech]

See Also:

• Despite Runaway Popularity, iPad Isn't Hurting PC Sales
• Chipmakers Feel the Pain as iPad Eats Into Notebook Sales
• Rumor: Apple to Introduce 11.6-Inch MacBook Next Week
• New MacBook Air Will Come in 11 and 13-Inch Flavors
• Apple's Going Back to the Mac on October 20th
• Best Buy Chief: iPad Cuts Laptop Sales in Half
• Could the iPad Save the Desktop Computer?

When it comes to selecting our favorite mainstream Windows laptops these days the HP Envy 14 is pretty much at the tippy top of the list. (Hey, we don’t just give anything away to our college-bound readers, you know?) But while the 14-inch version of the magnesium-alloy laptop may have impressed us with its new backlit keyboard and internal organs, we’ve still been aching to know how the bigger and badder Core i7-powered Envy 17 stands up. With a 1920 x 1080-resolution 17.3-inch display, 1GB of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 graphics, a USB 3.0 port and Blu-ray drive, can you really blame us? There’s no doubt that the Envy 17 is one epic desktop replacement, but for $1,599 (the starting price is $1,299) we’ve got to tell you you’re not purchasing perfection. Just what holds back the Envy 17 from being the be-all end-all multimedia monster? We’ll divulge all in our full review after the break.

Continue reading HP Envy 17 review

HP Envy 17 review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Boy, have we covered scores of ThinkPad laptops in the last few years — everything from the introduction of the X300 to the first dualscreen W700 workstation to the older R50e that left unforgettable burn marks in a mattress have graced our internet pages. We apologize for getting all nostalgic, but hearing that sales of ThinkPad laptops will surpass 60 million this month just gets us all sappy. Actually, Lenovo’s estimating that 14 ThinkPad laptops are sold every 60 seconds — it’s certainly impressive, but obviously the history of the company’s business laptops must go onward and upward. And the updated T Series is a step in that direction. Starting today, the T410, T410s and T510 will have an NVIDIA NVS 3100M GPU option and rely on Optimus to take care of the dynamically switching between the integrated and discrete graphics. While we’re a bit bummed they’re not using the newest 400M Series, the rigs are the first with Optimus to be able to dock and then drive four simultaneous displays. All T Series models are available with Core i5 CPU options and a selection of hard drives / SSD options — the T410 / T510 will start at $1,299 and the thinner T410s at $1,849. We guess this is where we raise our coffee mugs and say, “Here’s to the next 60 mil, Lenovo!”

Update: Hot Hardware is reporting that Lenovo’s tinkered with the Optimus implementation a bit so that both the integrated and discrete GPUs can run at the same time. Hit the more coverage link for some more information.

Continue reading Sixty million ThinkPads sold to date, Lenovo updates the T Series with NVIDIA Optimus in celebration

Sixty million ThinkPads sold to date, Lenovo updates the T Series with NVIDIA Optimus in celebration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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