Google’s Chromebook comes of age
While Google has managed to resolve a lot of the bugs and frustrations of its Chromebook, the main issue of having to pay a relatively high price for a fairly limited laptop has remained.
Until now. The launch this week of a $249 (£229) Chromebook makes Google’s vision of computing in the cloud affordable and appealing, with a thin and light machine from Samsung that is $200 cheaper than its previous model released in May. Read more
Lenovo offers double take on tablet/netbook
Following Dell’s Duo, with its flipover screen, Lenovo has come up with another take on the hybrid tablet/netbook with the Ideapad U1 and its detachable LePad slate. The concept may look familiar – Lenovo first showed it at CES 2010, but we finally have a release date and proper specifications for the machine, which make interesting reading. Read more
Google’s gadgets of the future
Google is giving us a glimpse of the future with its Nexus S phone, the first to run Android version 2.3, and its CR-48 notebook, a prototype for its Chrome computing system.
Tim Bradshaw and Richard Waters wrote early reviews of the products before I had an opportunity to play with them for this week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section. For me, the CR-48 represented the biggest change in my computing habits since I moved from the keyboard commands of MS-DOS to the Windows operating system nearly 20 years ago. Read more
Google’s Cr-48: First impressions
With the iPad, Apple proved that less really can be more. Despite lacking some basic things, like a built-in keyboard and support for Flash, the iPad has risen above its own limitations.
The challenge for Google’s new Chrome operating system is to prove that it, too, can power a new category of device, one that justifies being judged on its own terms, not compared constantly to the traditional personal computing experience. The first machine to carry Chrome, the Cr-48, certainly goes a long way towards fulfilling Google’s vision of an internet-centric notebook – but this is no iPad. Read more
Best gadgets will beat holiday shopper test
The acid test for gadget success comes not from reviewers, but from shoppers in stores and during this busiest time of the year in the West.
This week’s Personal Technology column in the FT’s Business Life section has some gadget gift-buying suggestions, with the online version after the jump linking to previous reviews of products. For convenience, a list here too of products reviewed in detail: Read more
MacBook Air – my new favourite netbook
Steve Jobs says netbooks are just slow, cheap laptops with low-quality displays and are no good for anything.
He dissed them as such during the unveiling of the iPad and, judging by falling sales since then, he may have a case. Except that the new MacBook Air, launched on Wednesday, has just become my new favourite netbook. Read more
Intel shows new Dell Duo tablet, old phone
A new Dell tablet with an innovative swivel-screen that turns it into a netbook grabbed all the attention at Intel’s developer forum on Tuesday.
But smartphones running the chipmaker’s Atom processor were notable in their absence again, suggesting Intel is making heavy weather of breaking into the key mobile handset industry. Read more
You want glasses with that? HP goes 3D
Hewlett-Packard is announcing an entertainment-oriented refresh to its notebook computer line today–and the most notable addition comes with its own 3D glasses.
The HP Envy 17 3D’s glasses automatically turn on when the user is watching a 3D Blu-ray DVD on the machine and then turn off again, giving the glasses a projected year of battery life.
In a test, I found the background shapes to have distracting shadows, but HP said it is tweaking the technology and will ship before the winter holidays at $1,600 or more. Read more
HP, AMD find their MUSE with thin notebooks
HP emphasised compelling designs and colours, but also its expanded use of AMD processors in its back-to-school laptop lineup this week.
Ultra-thin laptop concepts pushed by AMD could literally be the shape of things to come, with netbooks suffering a setback in the first quarter and Intel taking another shot at this higher-end category. Read more
Intel Classmate’s ruggedness comes at a price
Schoolchildren can safely spill water on the keyboard and even drop a new ruggedised version of Intel’s Classmate PC, but they may be tempted to take more care of it anyway.
The Classmate is no longer cheap in looks or price and has features that would not shame a $600 laptop. In fact, according to an Engadget review , that is precisely the cost of the version they tested, running Windows 7 Professional. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
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