Hasta La Gadget!

We hate to break it to you, dear readers, but we’re in the throes of back to school season. In a few short weeks, lots of wide-eyed freshmen will be setting up their dorm rooms and begging off name games during orientation, which means they (and their generous parents) are stocking up on gear now. We’ve been testing a bunch of budget and mid-range laptops aimed at young folk and pretty much any other mainstream consumer who’d happily forgo some bells and whistles in exchange for a lower price. So why not start with a review of one of the best? Sony’s VAIO SB series is the 13-inch laptop for the kindele who can’t afford the VAIO Z, or even the slimmed-down SA series. It offers good specs for the money, a bright, matte display, a solid keyboard, long battery life and a (mostly) well-built design. And while we try not to spoil our reviews, we’ll say this: it’s one of our favorite mid-range Windows laptops, period. How much do we like the SB? Join us as we count the ways.

Continue reading Sony VAIO SB Series review

Sony VAIO SB Series review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There comes a time when that giant, corporate-issued laptop stops fitting into your lifestyle. When dragging around a Kensington roller case just won’t do. When you start to hear the siren lilt of something thinner, lighter, and maybe a bit more alluring. For years the MacBook Air has been that svelte temptress hollering your name, but it’s always been a bit too slow — all show and no go. It didn’t have the power and the longevity to make it a serious contender for your serious affections.

No more. With its latest refresh, Apple has taken what was once a manilla-clad curiosity and turned it into a legitimate machine, not just a sultry looker. Good thing, too, because the death of the plastic-clad MacBook means the Air is now Apple’s entry-level portable. Weary traveler looking for a laptop that will lighten your load and, it must be said, your wallet too? This might just be it.

Continue reading MacBook Air review (mid 2011)

MacBook Air review (mid 2011) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The ASUS UX21, that 11.6-inch cake slicer that doubles up as an ultrathin laptop, is coming in September with a price tag of less than $1,000. That’s according to the Commercial Times, which cites supplier sources in identifying ASUS’ aggressive pricing strategy. Word is that the Taiwanese company is aiming to price the UX21 at 80 to 90 percent of the cost of Apple’s competing products, namely the MacBook Air family. Of course, with a second-gen Intel Core i5 (or i7) CPU inside it, ASUS’ new laptop has a significant spec advantage over Apple’s similarly aluminum-encased laptops, so we’d argue simply matching the MBA’s price will ensure the UX21 flies off store shelves. ASUS has a fine recent history of breaking through price barriers, as shown by the $200 Eee PC X101 that was announced alongside the UX21 at Computex, so if anyone was going to give us a 17mm-thick slab of up-to-date gorgeousness for less than $1,000, it probably had to be Jonney Shih’s crew.

ASUS UX21 to be priced at less than $1,000, says Commercial Times originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jun 2011 03:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS’ week of merciless teasers continues today with a silhouette of what the company calls a “super-slim sensation [with] a twist.” It’s an Eee PC and there are no doubts about it being a netbook, but something about this evolutionary product won’t be quite the same as on its predecessors. Notebook Italia has dug up the above image, which looks like a match for ASUS’ shadow-obscured teaser and shows what may very well be the thinnest Eee PC we’ve yet seen. Last time ASUS was touting anything laptop-shaped that was quite so slim, it was the Neo smartbook prototype that never made it out of the labs, but this here cheese slicer looks very likely to be hitting the market shortly after Computex. Naturally, we’ll be in Taipei getting the lowdown for you, whatever happens.

ASUS preparing an ultraslim Eee PC ‘with a twist’ for Computex originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 06:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man, Lenovo isn’t even trying to keep the ThinkPad X1 under wraps anymore. The slinky new MacBook Air competitor has just slipped out in a video commercial on the company’s own YouTube channel, where it shows off a keyboard that’s both backlit and spill-resistant, and a Gorilla Glass screen that is apparently girlfriend-proof. See the video after the break and circle May 17th as your acquisition date if you’re after one — that’s when Lenovo promises the X1 will be arriving.

[Thanks, Jon]

Continue reading Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video)

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 coming May 17th, with Gorilla Glass screen and spill-proof keyboard (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 10:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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