laptops

In the realm of beautiful, shiny things Dell's new Adamo XPS is among the shiniest and most beautiful. And, if we were in the business of judging (note)books by their covers, we'd leave that at that. That's not our business, though; the Adamo XPS is a gorgeous conversation piece, but a computer worth $1,800 it is not.

It's been 10 months since the code for the Windows 7 beta leaked to BitTorrent. That leak was quickly followed by an official free beta release the first week of January and a release candidate in April. Hardware manufacturers have had their hands on the final version since July, and today is finally your day--the day you can buy a machine running Windows 7 pre-installed.

Computer users of all stripes—whether they usually say “I’m a PC” or “I’m a Mac”—have a few reasons to look forward to the launch of Windows 7 next Thursday. For one, this latest version of Microsoft’s operating system has a clean, easy-to-use interface and a significant structural overhaul that makes up for a lot of Vista’s mistakes. For another, it’s ushering in a new wave of finger-friendly computers. Learn why—and see the breakdown on eight brand-new multitouch machines built for Windows 7.

Among HP's landslide of Windows 7 PCs announced today are two biz-centric laptops that are a dream for clumsy typists. The HP ProBook 6445 and 6545 have all the unremarkable specs you'd expect in an affordable IT-department-friendly notebook, with one exception: a spill-resistant keyboard.

It's not all about singing robots in Tokyo this year. The annual CEATEC tech expo is loaded with the makings of your gadget-geek future.

Laptops keep getting thinner and lighter, but some concept laptops take portable to a new level. Orkin Design's Rolltop consists of an OLED display that can start as a rolled-up mat and deploy as a multi-touch 17-inch laptop. My beastly HP laptop just shed a tear of envy.

The Orkin laptop can also transform into a tablet PC operable with a stylus, or become a standup flat screen display. A power adapter and other features fit with the carrying canister that comes with a convenient holding strap.

This is the week of the Internationale Funkausstellung (er, International Consumer Electronics Show) in Berlin, which is pretty much just what it sounds like. It's one whopping, European CES. The trouble with IFA for us on the State-side, though, is that a lot of companies forget one key thing: the magical Internet can cross water. Because of that, a lot of "new product announcements" are "things we have already seen," so it takes a little more effort (and flexing what's left of my undergrad German skillz) to figure out what's worth paying attention to.

Over the last two days, the IFA press preview has kicked up some real goodies -- even before the show floor opens to the public today. IFA '09 has already shown us a real taste of how our home theaters will look in the next half-decade, laptops on serious diets, and a couple cool new toys.

What happens when a mobile phone company makes a netbook? You get a "mini-laptop" that's connected to the brink. (The epically failed Palm Foleo notwithstanding, of course.)

Nokia's Booklet 3G has (duh) 3G HSPA connectivity, a SIM card slot, and WiFi. Its super-thin 0.8-inch-thick, aluminum-encased body houses an Intel Atom processor, an HDMI-out port, and an SD card reader.