The Almost Completely Open Source Laptop Goes on Sale

Wired - Andrew “bunnie” Huang and Sean “xobs” Cross want to sell you a laptop you can completely trust.

Earlier this year, the two Singapore-based engineers fashioned a laptop made almost entirely from open source hardware, hardware whose designs are freely available to the world at large. They called it Project Novena. Anyone could review the designs, looking for bugs and security flaws, and at least in theory, that meant you could be confident the machine was secure from top to bottom, something that’s more desirable than ever in the post-Edward Snowden age.

“The motherboard, battery board, and display adapter board are designs from whole cloth,” Huang told us. “Every trace on those PCBs was placed by my hand.”

The original idea was simply to encourage others to build their own open source laptops at home. But now the pair are taking the project a step further. Starting today, you can order your own pre-built Novena laptop through the crowd-funding site Crowd Supply, and it will ship out in the coming weeks. Much like Kickstarter, Crowd Supply is place where you can put up money to help fund a company and then get a product in exchange.   Read More

Acer Travelmate Pro review: A laptop that delivers on speed and battery life

Acer Travelmate Pro (TMP645-MG-9419) review: This mild-mannered case conceals a powerful laptop

Acer TravelMate Pro (Model P645-MG-9419)
$1,300.00
 

For individual business users, this laptop offers a nice blend of modern features and solid performance. It's not stylish, but its input ergonomics are very good.

If you want to work incognito at the coffee shop, or blend discreetly into in the boardroom, Acer’s squarish, matte-black TravelMate Pro is the laptop to use. It doesn’t flip, fold, detach, or do any other fancy tricks. But staid is as staid does. The TravelMate Pro is light, rugged, secure, and fast. It has a vivid display with discrete AMD graphics, and it runs for nearly 6 hours on a single charge. It’s also cheaper than much of its business-oriented competition.

 

Acer sent us the TMP645-MG-9419 version of the Travelmate Pro, and that’s the last time I’ll mention the entire model name. Acer’s naming convention—and its website, with dozens of slightly different models—are needlessly confusing and need fixing. The Travelmate Pro Acer sent came outfitted with an Intel Core i7-4500u, 8GB of DDR3/1600 memory, a discrete AMD Radeon HD 8750M graphics processor, and a 256GB Toshiba SSD.    Read More

Give Your Laptop and Smartphone a Spring Cleaning

 

PCWorld - It's officially spring, so why is your computer still moving like it's half frozen? After all those long winter nights surfing shady sites, it's no wonder. Here's how to give your most important devices a spring cleaning fit for a May Queen.

Clean It Out

The first thing you'll want to do is clear out the riff-raff—unused programs and browser extensions, obsolete registry entries, and expired permissions. Uninstall unused and under-utilized programs on your desktop and laptop systems, clear out forgotten apps from your mobile devices (Sorry, Angry Birds Rio). Give your registry a scrubbing with CC Cleaner, a free program for both Windows and Mac, that will clear old registry entries (for PCs) as well as empty recycle bins, zero out recent document lists, and erase a variety of browser information—Temporary files, history, cookies, download history, form history—from the major browsers.

Also be sure to take a look through your browser's extensions list and remove any rarely used features. The same goes for Google users: Go to your Google account's security screen, select the "Connected applications and sites" option from the bottom of the list, and nix any old devices that you no longer own or operate.

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This laptop has a screen on the back of its screen - Asus Taichi 21 Review

CNET -

CNET Editors' Rating

3.5 stars - Very good

$1,589.95 to $1,599.99

The good: The Asus Taichi 21 offers a clever implementation of a dual-screen design in a slim Core i7 chassis.

The bad: Only one of the screens is touch-enabled, which feels like a major oversight. There are probably only a handful of situations where you'd need an outward-facing display.

The bottom line: More of a clever proof-of-concept than a practical product, the Asus Taichi still delivers on its basic promise, combining two displays for a unique take on the laptop/tablet/hybrid genre.

Read the Full Review

HP Envy x2: Tablet and laptop meet again on a Windows 8 hybrid

 

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CBS Interactive)

 

CNET - Take a tablet; add a keyboard. Turn it into a laptop. Do it with full Windows 8. This is the dream of the HP Envy x2, and the dream, it seems, of Windows 8 in general. Break down the barrier between tablets and PCs. Create progressive computing. The future is now. Well, the future was also over four months ago, when HP first started showing off the Envy x2 in public, including at CNET.

We marveled then that the device was well-built, comfortable to hold, and, when you think about it, pretty shockingly practical. After all, theoretically, this is the best of both worlds: a laptop and a tablet in one. This is what I dreamed about going back to the teased-but-never-real Lenovo U1 Hybrid three years ago.

The Envy x2 is finally available, and we've got our review unit here at CNET. But, can it rise above our previous concerns? As Eric Franklin said back in August, "A lot of the Envy x2's success will rest on what Microsoft does with Surface, especially its price. Right now I can't see the Envy x2 costing less than $1,000, which would make it a direct competitor to the Macbook Air. From what I've seen it would be a worthy competitor, but is anyone ready to pay more than $1,000 for a tablet?"

Slide a little tab, and the whole upper lid does, indeed, undock and becomes its own multi-touch tablet. But, at $849, it's more expensive than most ultraportable laptops and tablets...and far more expensive than those little, non-touch, non-detachable-screened 11-inchers of old. You're paying for style, and also for that clever split-function feature. And the concern about the x2 versus the MacBook Air, or x2 versus the Surface Pro, still stands.

 

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

 

Style vs. substance

Depending on your perspective, you’ll either love what HP's trying to do with the Envy x2, or you'll hate it. But, it’s hardly the only innovator: detachable-screen laptop/tablet hybrids have been kicking around in a similar form across several manufacturers, including Acer, Lenovo, and Samsung. It's an official mini-trend in Windows 8 launch PCs.

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Review - Acer Aspire V5-171-686

CNET - 

3.5 stars - Very good

The good: An excellent set of specs and features in the Acer Aspire V5-171-6867 include a Core i5 processor, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, HDMI, USB 3.0, and even Bluetooth, all for a surprisingly low price, and stuffed into a very small Netbook-like body.

The bad: It has a cramped-feeling keyboard and touch pad, weak battery life, and poor speakers, plus an uninspired, thick design.

The bottom line: The Acer Aspire V5-171-6867 crams the horsepower of a full-fledged budget ultrabook into an 11-inch ultraportable, for several hundred dollars less than most equivalent products. It's a great budget laptop to consider, but sacrifices have been made to shrink down that much computer into a tiny package.

Read the Full Review

 

Dell Inspiron 14z (June 2012) Review

 

CNET - When it comes to laptop design, you generally get what you pay for. There are, however, rare exceptions when more expensive laptops feel like budget models, and low-cost systems look like they should cost more.

The recently refreshed Dell Inspiron line has a bit of that price-bending effect, especially in the form of the Inspiron 14z, a modestly priced ultrabook that looks great, includes discrete graphics, and costs only $899. (Less impressive configurations start at $699.)

Dell's redesigned Inspiron 14z (pictures)

 

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Keep On Plugging – Should you run your laptop off battery power or use a charger?

I’m a committed laptop user, but most of the time, I’m just using it at my desk. Do I save more energy by keeping it plugged in, or should I use my charger only when my battery gets low?

First, some good news: Despite your desk-bound ways, you’re using a laptop, which is already a greener choice than a desktop. It’s not just that you don’t have a monitor to plug in—although that’s a big part of it. Laptops are typically designed to be more energy-efficient than their desktop counterparts, and all in all, they are estimated to use as much as 80 percent less energy while operating. There’s a simple reason why laptops are more efficient: They need to be. Waste energy on a desktop, and you’ll get a slightly higher electricity bill.

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But if your laptop isn’t energy-efficient, that means either you’ll need a bigger battery (and a heavier machine) or you’ll spend half your time hunting for an outlet at your local coffee shop. (Laptops likely require less energy to manufacture, too—although regardless of which machine you use, one of the greenest things you can do is hold off on buying a new computer.)  

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CES – Samsung raises design bar with New Series 9 laptop

(Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew)

One of last year’s most head-turning laptops, the Samsung Series 9, is back, with an even slimmer, sleeker look.

Just one year ago, at CES 2011, the term “ultrabook” was never uttered. Instead, we saw a handful of very thin Windows laptops looking to duplicate the aesthetic and commercial appeal of Apple’s MacBook Air, but without the help of a new category name (or R&D fund) from Intel. Of those, the most eye-catching was the Samsung Series 9, a 13-inch thin laptop that had a lightweight duralumin case. At the time, we said it was as close to a MacBook Air as Windows users were likely to get.

Samsung’s second generation Series 9 (photos)

What a difference a year makes. Now, ultrabooks are lurking around every corner, and the Series 9 is back to reclaim the mantle of the hottest-looking superslim laptop. The original Series 9 fell a bit short on a few fronts–its trackpad wasn’t as good as a MacBook, it didn’t boot or resume as quickly as we had hoped, and the original price, around $1,650, was way out of line with what consumers were looking to spend.              More

Apple MacBook Pro Fall 2011 - Review

The good: Incremental updates to the CPU help keep the MacBook Pro line a step above the now-mainstream Air. The trackpad and gesture controls are still the best of any current laptop.

The bad: Unless you need an optical drive, the MacBook Air may be better fit for most, and the Pro still lacks things we’d like to see, such as HDMI, Blu-ray, and USB 3.0.

The bottom line: A MacBook Pro is a significant investment, especially when adding in optional upgrades. Cost aside, there’s not a better choice (there are, however, some close ties) for an all-around powerhouse that will work in the home, office, and in between.

Read the Full Review

HP Pavilion dv6t-6000 Review

CNET -

The good: Improved design, Beats audio, new USB 3.0 ports, an HD Webcam, fingerprint sensor, a variety of configurations ranging from budget to high-end, and second-gen Core i-series processors are all part of the HP Pavilion dv6t's design makeover.

The bad: Underperforming AMD graphics, too many confusing configuration options, and a flexy keyboard make for a less-than-overwhelming overall experience.

The bottom line: The HP Pavilion dv6t is a solid improvement on HP's previous 15-inch mainstream consumer laptop with numerous tweaks, bells, and whistles, but the wide variety of options means you'll get wildly different systems based on what you can afford.

Read Full Review & Watch Video