budget

Nikon Coolpix L20 Quick Take

The $129.95 Nikon Coolpix L20 is a budget-friendly compact camera with a 10-megapixel resolution, 3.6x zoom lens, and 3-inch LCD. It's a very basic point-and-shoot, but it does have a few extras--such as that large LCD--to make it worth considering.

The L20 is small at 3.8 inches wide by 2.4 inches high by 1.2 inches deep, but it has the added convenience of AA batteries as its power source. It's fairly lightweight, too, at 4.8 ounces without batteries and SD/SDHC memory card. You'll only get about 240 shots from two … Read more

Back-to-school 2009 retail laptop roundup: Asus' K50IJ-RX05 is our favorite entry level model

In our current roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 30-plus systems into four different price categories, from sub-$500 entry level models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.

In that entry level category, covering laptops up to $499, we looked at laptops from Toshiba, HP, Dell, and Asus. Diving below the $500 mark is always risky when buying anything other than a Netbook, and we found systems that ranged from brick-like to not-so-bad. The biggest difference was in the processors, where you could find anything from a painfully slow Intel Celeron 900 to a reasonably usable Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200.

We ended up with a near-tie between the $429 Dell i1545-012B, with an Intel dual-core CPU, and the similar Asus K50IJ-RX05, which won us over by offering a nicer design, more RAM, and a bigger hard drive for only $70 more.

Two important notes -- on this particular page we're *only* talking about retail-specific models that cost less than $499. For a roundup of retail laptops in all price ranges, check here; for our latest MacBook reviews, check here.

Check out details of each system below:… Read more

IT budgets: Shifting by the week?

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

The technology earnings season kicks off in earnest on Tuesday when Intel reports its second-quarter results, but the outlook for the sector may sound like a broken record: visibility is low, and IT budgets fluctuate with everything from CEO mood swings to the stock market.

A handful of companies--Dell, Infosys, Red Hat, Oracle, and Lawson--have already riffed on technology budgets amid a volatile economic picture. The common thread: IT budgets are just as jumpy as your friendly neighborhood stock, but there are signs of stabilization.

Goldman Sachs expects an 8 … Read more

Back-to-school 2009 retail laptop roundup: Sony's Vaio FW480 is our favorite high-end model

In our current roundup of retail-specific laptops, we've divided our 30-plus systems into four different price categories, from sub-$500 entry level models to high-end ones that cost more than $1,000.

In that high-end category, we looked at three laptops from Sony, HP, and Asus. While they were largely similar, Sony's Vaio FW480J/Twon us over by including a Blu-ray drive and having the best battery life (although the Asus G71GX-RX05should be your choice for gaming).

Check out details of each system below:… Read more

Get a 16GB Creative Zen Mozaic for just $110

The image above pretty much says it all. Creative Labs is celebrating Christmas in July with deep discounts on everything from headsets to sound cards to MP3 players. It seems like nearly every gadget is on sale, with varying levels of "instant savings," but the big news to me is the 16GB Zen Mozaic for just $110. That's the cheapest I've seen for an MP3 player with that much memory, and the Mozaic is certainly no slouch in the features or sound quality department. For more information on this device, check out the full review at CNET Reviews.… Read more

CNET's back-to-school 2009 retail laptop/desktop review roundup

With laptops and desktops as standard equipment in many classrooms and dorm rooms, the back-to-school season is a busy one for computer shopping. We are once again scouring the shelves of big retail stores to find boxed versions of popular PCs, from entry-level systems starting at $349 to quad-core powerhouses.

Many of these are similar to those you'd be able to configure online from companies such as Dell and HP, but these are specific retail models that have slightly different names and features, and are--thanks to the deep discounts offered by brick-and-mortar store back-to-school sales--sometimes a better deal than … Read more

Battle of the $300 Netbooks

You say you want value in your mobile computer? You say you want something super cheap? Not one year ago, we visited a very similar subject and found most Netbooks averaging $499. Now Netbooks are available for $299 or less, thanks to incredibly affordable new offerings from Acer--the just-reviewed Aspire One AOD250--and Dell's Mini 10v. A line has been drawn in the sand, and now we answer the question: what can $300 get me in a new Netbook?

The Dell Mini 10v was the first mainstream Netbook to come out of the starting gate at this sub-$300 price, followed by the new Acer Aspire One AOD250 and the HP Mini 1115NR. Below, check out our chart comparing the features each will give you in terms of CPU, hard drive, RAM, screen size, and other basic specs.

 

Dell Mini 10v

Acer Aspire One AOD250

HP Mini 1115NR

CPU

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Intel Atom N270

(1.6GHz)

Hard drive

120GB (5600rpm)

160GB (5600rpm)

80GB (4200rpm)

RAM

1GB

1GB

1GB

OS

Windows XP

Windows XP

Windows XP

Screen

10.1 inch

10.1 inch

10.1 inch

Battery

3-cell (not tested)

110 (minutes)

150 (minutes)

Network

802.11 b/g, Bluetooth

802.11 b/g

802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, Verizon 3G broadband modem

Price

$299

$298

$199 (with a 2-year Verizon mobile broadband contract)

First off, you might notice a lot of similarities between devices. Might we say nearly identical specs?… Read more

Acer Aspire One AOD250 reviewed: A new sub-$300 Netbook

With back-to-school planning practically around the corner, it's a good time to start thinking budget. Acer has already beat you to the punch, releasing the latest version of their extremely popular 10.1-inch Aspire One Netbook in a quartet of new colors, a thinner chassis, and a price point that's pretty impressive: $298. We used to spend more than that on RAM.

As prices keep dropping in the Netbook Wars, staying competitive among a slew of me-too Atom-powered mininotebooks is a challenge. Acer's Aspire One helped define the Netbook to the masses by undercutting the competition at $350, … Read more

Easy budget program

Keeping your family's budget on track can be a difficult, if not frustrating, experience. We found that Simple Home Money Manager lives up to its title with an easy-to-use approach that makes it easy to know where your money is going.

The program's clean interface is easy to understand, but we liked the start-up wizard that takes users through the various steps of organizing their budget. With simple-to-understand categories of incoming and outgoing money, it's easy to enter individual items. Users can designate an entry's recurrence, add a note, and can even assign an icon. At … Read more