Tips for Getting Past Some of the Hassles of Buying a New PC
Walt gives his annual spring buyer’s guide to desktop PCs, including tips for the Windows Vista operating system.
Personal Technology
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These Two Laptops Are Small and Sleek, But Come With Flaws
New laptops from Toshiba and Dell tackle the design challenge of being both small and powerful. Both machines are stylish and worked fine in the tests, but Walt finds flaws that might give a buyer pause.
A $99 Desktop Comes With Software, Backup and Too Many Catches
Walt Mossberg tests a $99 desktop computer that comes with software, online backup, and has a design that cuts energy use. However, there are several catches that prevent him from recommending the computer.
New Dell Vostro Line Misses Mark in Aim For Tiny Businesses
The new line of Dell computers aimed at small businesses without IT departments are mostly a marketing ploy at the moment. Video
Years in the Making, Powerful Yahoo Mail Is Worth the Wait
Yahoo Mail has emerged from testing as a polished, fairly powerful online email program. It beats Google’s Gmail both in terms of features and its ability to act like a computer program instead of a Web page, writes Walt Mossberg.
Apple’s iPod Touch Is a Beauty of a Player Short on Battery Life
The iPod Touch is an elegant and capable music player, but this cousin of the iPhone is short on battery life and lacks some important software features, writes Walt Mossberg. (Video)
Some Basic Features You Should Demand When Buying a PC
It’s time for Walt’s annual fall PC buyer’s guide and, surprisingly, 10 months after Microsoft’s Vista operating system emerged, Vista is still the biggest puzzle in consumers’ computer-buying decisions.
New Gateway Desktop Takes on Look of iMac, but Can’t Match It
Gateway One is striking like the iMac but offers smaller screens and lower resolution — huge factors in an all-in-one machine — for prices that can exceed the iMac’s, says Walt Mossberg. Video
Here’s a Mac FAQ if You’re Looking to Buy a Computer
Every average consumer using a computer should at least look at the Mac, suggests Walt Mossberg. Here’s a quick guide — a sort of Mac FAQ — to shopping for a Macintosh.
Dell’s All-in-One PC Has the Guts, Design to Compete With iMac
Dell’s new all-in-one PC, the XPS One, is a stylish Windows Vista machine that runs well and won’t cost a fortune. If it didn’t have the Dell logo on it, the XPS One might be mistaken for a product of the PC industry’s design leaders, Apple or Sony.
Asus Offers Travelers Small, Mobile Eee PC, but It’s Too Cramped
A tiny new computer called the Eee PC is better than competing products in certain respects, such as text entry and price. But it still has too many compromises to pry most travelers away from their larger laptops.
Apple’s MacBook Air Is Beautiful and Thin, but Omits Features
Apple’s MacBook Air is a beautiful, amazingly thin computer, but one whose unusual trade-offs may turn off some frequent travelers. It’s impossible to convey in words just how pleasing and surprising this computer feels in the hand. But there’s a price for this laptop’s daring design: Apple had to give up some features road warriors consider standard in a subnotebook, and certain of these omissions are radical.
Solid-State Drives Challenge Hard Drives in Speed, but Not Value
The hard drive is being challenged by the solid-state drive for its role as the principal storage device in computers, but current SSDs offer much lower capacity and have much higher prices.
Price May Be Steep, but Thin ThinkPad Has Abundant Features
Lenovo’s thin and light ThinkPad X300 is an innovative laptop that will be perfect for many mobile PC users. But its file-storage capacity is low and its price tag is high.
Apple’s Time Capsule Gives You Easy Way to Back Up Wirelessly
Apple’s new Time Capsule packs both a giant hard disk and a speedy Wi-Fi wireless router into one slender case, allowing computers to easily back up their hard drives wirelessly.
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