PCs

Lenovo scores record sales amidst PC industry slump

Lenovo seems to be the only top PC vendor bucking the trend of sour sales.

The Hong Kong-based company today reported record results for its fiscal year that ended March 31. For the year, Lenovo captured sales of $34 billion, a 15 percent increase from the prior year. Earnings hit $635 million, up 34 percent. And its PC shipments grew by 10.2 percent, compared with an overall industry drop of 8.1 percent.

Lenovo's 15.5 percent market share for the year put it in within reach of stealing the top spot from Hewlett-Packard. A recent report from … Read more

HP CEO talks Android, not Windows 8

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman had a lot more to say about the company's new Android products than she did about Windows 8 during HP's second-quarter earnings conference call.

Whitman's remarks hinted at HP's newfound affinity for new operating systems, which includes Android of course.

"Using multiple operating systems, multiple architectures, and multiple form factors, we are moving quickly to product the devices that customers want," she said.

Then she proceeded to talk about new Android devices, with no mention of Windows 8.

"Following the launch of our first Chromebook in February, we launched … Read more

Laptops equipped with touch screens on the rise, IHS says

In response to falling prices, nearly 25 percent of all laptops should have touch screens by 2016, IHS said Wednesday.

Windows 8 is the first version of Microsoft's popular operating system that works well with touch. The technology has been promising, and many companies have vowed to make more products with touch screens. But so far, high pricing and low supply have limited the number of touch-based PCs on the market.

IHS said global shipments of notebooks equipped with touch screens should jump to 78 million units in 2016, up from 4.6 million in 2012. This year alone, … Read more

Samsung to unveil 13.3-inch 3,200x1,800 LCD display

Samsung will demo a new LCD screen that would top similar displays in resolution and pixel density, the company said Monday.

Geared for notebooks, the 13.3-inch WQXGA+ LCD display will offer a resolution of 3,200x1,800 pixels and a density of 276 pixels per inch. That surpasses the screen found on Apple's 13.3-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which provides a resolution of 2,560x1,600 pixels with 227 pixels per inch.

The new screen will appear at the Society for Information Display's annual exhibition, Display Week 2013. The event, which showcases display products, is running this … Read more

Android has become a hedge against Microsoft and Windows

Hewlett-Packard rolled out another Android device this week. This could become a pattern as PC makers hedge against a world that's less about Microsoft and more about Google.

On Tuesday, the largest PC maker in the world -- a dubious distinction these days -- added a laptop-tablet hybrid to its growing stable of products based on Google operating systems.

The $479 HP SlateBook x2 is an Android first for HP. It's "powered by Android, the world's most popular mobile operating system...100 percent tablet, 100 percent notebook, 100 percent Android," according to the company's … Read more

Intel kicks off ultrabook road trip in New York

NEW YORK -- Intel on Friday kicked off its ultrabook world tour in New York, hoping to make consumers excited about the latest PCs and curb a drop in the computing market.

The chip giant opened a temporary pop-up shop in Manhattan's Meatpacking District from May 17 to 19 to give New Yorkers the chance to try out new computers firsthand. The "Experience Intel: Look Inside" world tour will move on to Chicago and Tokyo next month, Beijing and London in July, Sao Paulo in late August, Moscow in September, and Sydney in October.

"When consumers … Read more

Lenovo's Windows 8 Yoga 11S convertible now up for sale

Consumers awaiting the Lenovo Yoga 11S convertible can now order one through Lenovo or Best Buy, though they'll have to wait at least a month before it ships.

Available through Lenovo's Web site as of Thursday, the Yoga 11S is an 11.6-inch ultrabook that can close to transform itself into a touch-screen tablet or bend over backward into "tent mode" or "stand mode" to act strictly as a display. The new Yoga is outfitted with Windows 8, upping the original Yoga 11, which offers Windows RT. Buyers also have a choice of two … Read more

Carl Icahn targets Dell, HP before the PC goes 'downhill'

We know Carl Icahn wants to buy Dell. But he also has his eye on the other half of the U.S. PC industry. But don't worry, this will all happen before the PC dies.

The other half would be Hewlett-Packard. Icahn is pondering the merger of Dell with HP, according to comments he made to Bloomberg TV on Friday.

Michael Dell needs to be fired first, though.

"We think it's very important that you have a new CEO [at Dell]...We need more than a bit of a cultural change at Dell. Michael Dell, I just … Read more

Intel chip gives new hope for Windows 8 tablets

Analysts are upbeat about Intel's new mobile chip design due later this year. That could mean a much-needed boost for Windows 8 tablets -- where many of those chips will land.

Imagine this: an ultraslim, light tablet with roughly twice the performance of any Atom-based Windows 8 tablet on the market now. (And that's the full version of Windows, not Windows RT.)

That could happen in the second half of this year.

So think of Windows Blue (or Windows 8.1) products similar to Samsung's 0.38-inch thick ATIV Smart PC 500T Tablet or Dell's 0.… Read more