Hasta La Gadget!

Ready to revamp your company’s computer systems once the summer’s heat is a mere memory? Come this October, Lenovo’s letting loose its 20-inch ThinkCentre M71z all-in-one desktop, priced starting at just $599 to keep those expense reports low and your interest piqued. Better yet, you’ll be able to deck it out if you’re ready to rack up some points on the company credit card. Around the outside, you’ll find six USB ports and a DisplayPort connection, but it can also be equipped with a multi-touch screen as well as a two megapixel webcam — fantastic for those 10-way Skype or Google+ meetings. If you’re hungry for performance, the desktop can be maxed out with an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, WiFi and either a 1TB HDD, or 160GB SSD capable of 15 second start-ups with RapidBoot. For good measure, the M71z comes bundled with Windows 7 Professional along with a wireless mouse and keyboard — the latter of which is flood spill-resistant. Please excuse us while we get back to the business of blogging, but you’ll find the full PR past the break.

Continue reading Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M71z business desktop keeps your productivity up for $599

Lenovo’s ThinkCentre M71z business desktop keeps your productivity up for $599 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

Last week’s Switched On discussed how Lion’s feature set could be perceived differently by new users or those coming from an iPad versus those who have used Macs for some time, while a previous Switched On discussed how Microsoft is preparing for a similar transition in Windows 8. Both OS X Lion and Windows 8 seek to mix elements of a tablet UI with elements of a desktop UI or — putting it another way — a finger-friendly touch interface with a mouse-driven interface. If Apple and Microsoft could wave a wand and magially have all apps adopt overnight so they could leave a keyboard and mouse behind, they probably would. Since they can’t, though, inconsistency prevails.

Yet, while the OS X-iOS mashup that is Lion exhibits is share of growing pains, the fall-off effect isn’t as pronounced as it appears it will be for Windows 8. The main reasons for this are, in order of increasing importance, legacy, hardware, and Metro.

Continue reading Switched On: Desktop divergence

Switched On: Desktop divergence originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The news wasn’t so good for Nokia this morning, but its new bedmate is in much, much better shape. Microsoft’s Q4 earnings for the 2011 fiscal year have been posted, showing revenue of $17.37 billion — up eight percent over the same period last year, and besting the $16.43 billion record Q3. That drove $5.87 billion in net income, which is a whopping 30 percent climb over the year previous. Looking back over the full year, revenue broke another record, clocking in at $69.94 billion, 12 percent higher than the year before.

Why all the good news? Well, the Entertainment & Devices Division saw a 30 percent revenue jump in the quarter, 45 percent over the year, as the Xbox 360 and Kinect continue to sell like gangbusters. Bing and Online Services also had good news, 17 percent revenue growth in the quarter thanks to the plucky search engine gaining ever more ground against the competition. But, not everything is rosy, with the Windows-related revenue staying flat — down one percent this quarter, two percent over the year. Windows 8 will surely turn things around on that front, though, right?

Microsoft Q4 FY11: revenue, earnings, and profits all up, beating expectations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Who ever said multiple personality disorder was a bad thing? Certainly not ViewSonic, whose Oak Trail powered ViewPad 10Pro — which does the dual OS dance with Windows 7 and virtualized Android 2.2 — just made its way through the FCC. The government’s stamp of approval on its WiFi and AT&T-friendly WCDMA radios means it won’t fry our brains, and it shouldn’t be long before we see the 10Pro in stores. Of course, we still don’t know the price of this device… or the psychiatric costs of its OS switching ways.

ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro hits the FCC, feds don’t mind its split personality originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 11:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So much for not keeping pace, huh? We heard back in June of last year that Microsoft had blown through 150 million Windows 7 licenses, and just a few months later, it had surpassed 240 million. At this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference, head honcho Steve Ballmer took great pleasure in announcing that said figure has now swollen to beyond 400 million in under two years. Not surprisingly, that makes Win7 the fastest-selling operating system in history, and Tami Reller — corporate vice president and chief financial officer of Windows and Windows Live — made clear that it’s “the path to Windows 8.” The outfit also announced that 100 million copies of Office 2010 have flown off the shelves since launch, and while no one really came out and said it, we’re counting on seeing a Windows 8 build at the BUILD event this fall. Head on past the break for a whole heaping of (deserved) self-congratulations.

Continue reading Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer says ‘400 million Windows 7 licenses sold’

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer says ‘400 million Windows 7 licenses sold’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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