pc

Walk into any Best Buy and you're hit with an ugly truth: PCs aren't pretty.

A 15-inch HP Windows 8 laptop that sells for $270 (Best Buy's "Deal of the Day" on Saturday) isn't meant to be pretty. It's meant to be practical.

But a $330 iPad Mini is also very practical for a lot of people. And pretty too (consumers and reviewers seem to think so). Pretty and practical are two reasons Apple can sell tens of millions of Minis.

Why bring this up? I was struck by a statement from an … Read more

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

Windows users, rejoice! Leap Motion is coming to a PC near you, and for the first time, you can see what it will be like.

Today, Leap Motion released a video showing what its 3D gesture-control system will be like on a Windows computer. That's important, given that it has struck partnerships with Asus and Hewlett-Packard.

With Leap and Windows, the company said in a blog post, "You'll be able to browse the Web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can … Read more

Maybe the PC isn't dead, but it's definitely showing signs of old age.

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices were off more than 12 percent Thursday on a downgrade from Goldman Sachs. And the PC market in Europe saw a sharp decline in the first quarter, according to Gartner.

Goldman downgraded AMD's stock from "neutral" to "sell," saying that AMD's upside in gaming devices, like Sony's upcoming PlaySation 4, "only partially offsets the continued...challenges in the company's core PC business." AMD is the second-largest maker of processors for … Read more

This new category of PC can be hard to pin down. To some, these are all-in-one desktops, similar to the Apple iMac, but with the added ability to either fold down flat or detach their screens. To others, these are battery-powered megatablets, with screens measuring between 18 and 27 inches, but are otherwise similar to Windows 8 slates such as Microsoft's Surface Pro. But, I think they're an entirely different animal, with features of a personal computer, a piece of consumer electronics equipment, and even living-room furniture.

That's why I call them tabletop PCs, and since late … Read more

The dream of having large-screen interactive touch table computers in every home has taken its sweet time at becoming reality. Maybe it's the cost of the technology, or the lack of a good place to put it. Lenovo seems to think it may also be a matter of furniture fashion.

To spice up the home table PC concept, the company commissioned three unique takes on integrating its $1,700 IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC into the home environment. The designs range from the whimsical to the practical.… Read more

Amazon quietly released a Cloud Player app for PCs as an extension of its music streaming service.

While PC users could already use the player through the Web, the new app, noted by Mashable on Monday, also allows for offline storage. We've contacted Amazon for more details and will update if we hear back.

The app automatically syncs your music library with any files on your computer that you haven't added to the cloud yet and exports your Amazon MP3s to iTunes and the Windows Media player.

You also can upload an unlimited number of Amazon songs, plus … Read more

There was a time when the only way you could share files between your Android device and a Windows computer was by using a USB cable. These days, there are wireless options available that make it easier to share files. One such option is ES File Explorer, a powerful Android file manager. ES File Explorer helps you manage the files on your local Android device. Starting with version 3, however, LAN support was added to make it possible to share files with a Windows PC over Wi-Fi. To share files between your Android device and a Windows PC using ES … Read more

A couple weeks back we talked desktops, which many of you still favor for games and other graphics-intensive tasks.

Ah, but are you still trying to squeeze extra frames from an old, outdated video card -- or, worse, the integrated video subsystem that came with the machine?

For a limited time, Newegg has the XFX Double D FX-785A-ZDF4 Radeon HD 7850 video card for $159.59 shipped when you apply coupon code EMCYTZT3405 at checkout. Even better, you can get an additional $15 off via a mail-in rebate (PDF), for a grand total of $144.59.

That's already a … Read more