netbooks

News

• Tablets Will Be Preferred Devices by 2016

  Tablets will become most users' main computing devices within the next four years, Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett has predicted.

• Windows sales defy predictions, grow 4%

  Stronger-than-expected sales of Windows helped Microsoft post a 6% increase in revenue for the first quarter of 2012, the company said yesterday.

• Lenovo stops selling netbooks online

  Lenovo has stopped selling netbooks through its website and hasn't decided if it will start selling them again there in the future, the company said on Friday.

• Google looks for fix to Chromebook Wi-Fi 'disconnect bugs'

  Google is making changes to its Chrome OS to reduce the number of times that Chromebooks drop their connections to Wi-Fi networks, an issue some users have complained about for months.

• HP's new Mini netbook sports Intel's latest Atom chip

  Hewlett-Packard has announced its latest netbook, which offers significant application and graphics performance improvements with Intel's newest Atom processor.

• Ultrabooks to get the CES spotlight, netbooks get the knife

  Some 150,000 people are expected to attend the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) next week, and most of them kick netbooks to the curb as they rush to fawn over the pricey ultrabook and lower-cost full-sized laptops.

• Intel tries to keep netbooks alive with new Atom chips

  Intel on Wednesday started shipping the latest Atom chips for netbooks, an important step to sustain growth of the low-cost PCs in the wake of the tablet onslaught.

• Dell pulls back from netbook market

  Dell has confirmed that it has ceased production of its Inspiron Mini netbook computer, in effect ending its pursuit of the receding netbook market, at least for consumer sales.

• Ultrabook showdown: Acer Aspire S3 vs. Asus Zenbook UX31

  Being thin never seems to go out of style, and the latest notebooks take this ideal to a new extreme. Called Ultrabooks, these devices are thinner, sleeker and lighter than the typical laptop, yet they offer a long battery life and a full set of features.

• Apple yanks iPhone tethering app from App Store

  Apple has removed a tethering app for the iPhone that let users share the smartphone's cellular connection to the Internet with a Mac or Windows notebook.

• Larger 15-in. MacBook Air 'makes sense' for Apple, say analysts

  Apple will launch a 15-in. MacBook Air in the first quarter of 2012, according to a report from a Taiwanese publication that cited unnamed sources in the component supply channel.

• Hard drive shortages will result in more expensive PCs: Gartner

  Enterprise users and consumers who have held off buying new PCs recently may come to regret their decision as a hard-drive shortage following floods in Thailand is expected to result in higher prices, according to Gartner.

• Sprint cutting unlimited 4G data plans

  Sprint Nextel is ending unlimited data plans for all devices except smartphones, bringing the era of all-you-can-eat mobile data in the U.S. nearer to a close.

• Microsoft posts record quarter but says tablets have “cannibalized” netbooks

  Despite weak consumer demand for PCs, Microsoft posted record first quarter revenue of $17.37 billion for the period that ended Sept. 30. This beat analysts' reported expectations of $17.2 billion. Revenue increased 7% percent over the year-ago period. Microsoft credited the increase to enterprise demand for Office, server and development tools.

• Amazon said to weigh subscription plan for coming tablet

  Amazon's coming tablet could feature an annual library subscription model that would let readers access older books, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.