A look at Samsung's Series 5 550 Chromebook

Indeed, the name "Chromebook" comes from the fact that the laptop is running the so-called Chrome OS - basically an embedded version of Google's Chrome Web browser. If you've used the Chrome browser on Windows or Mac, you know that it asks you to log in, and then it syncs your bookmarks, Google identity, Google Docs, and Google Drive files. The Chromebook works the same way, except there's no way out of that browser. Apps can run on a Chromebook, but they're Web apps; they load through the browser.

That's not to say the Chromebook can't do anything offline: it can read files and play movies and music anytime. And Chrome OS has gotten better at file compatibility PowerPoint, Word docs, Excel files, ZIP files, and PDFs all load well and look great. You can't edit documents without first uploading to Google Docs, though. Photos can be viewed and even lightly edited with brightness and contrast adjustments, rotation, and cropping. The files can be resaved or uploaded to Picasa.

Our experience with the Samsung Series 5 Chromebook last year left us underwhelmed: it had smoothly running hardware and a clean operating system, but with such a limited set of uses compared with Windows, a high sticker price of over $400, and the requirement of being online to use most apps like Google Docs, the Chromebook didn't add up to a logical choice for anyone other than a Google cloud devotee. A year later, the new Samsung Chromebook Series 5 550 has slightly improved hardware and improved Chrome OS software, but its price - a whopping $449, or $549 with a Verizon 3G wireless antenna - is flat-out crazy.

Here's the biggest problem with the Chromebook: the hardware's fine, and the simplified Web-based OS is clever, and even versatile if you don't mind its limitations. Still, it's a radically reduced subset of what you can get on a Windows or Mac laptop...or even an iPad or Android tablet, for that matter. Yet, it costs more than a new iPad 2, a thinner, keyboard-enabled Android tablet like the Asus Transformer Pad, or a fully featured 11-inch ultraportable laptop like the AMD-powered HP dm1z. If the Chromebook were $99, this could have been a revolutionary product. As it currently stands, it's merely an invitation to pay a lot of money to be part of a Google experiment.

Apple's Problems in Making the Product in the U.S.

Apple wants to make products in U.S., but that's not so easy. Let's make the iPhone in the good ol' U. S. of A. Who's with me? There are few Americans who don't like the idea of an all-American iPhone, iPad or MacBook. "Designed in California," sure - but why not made there, too?

During the D: All Things Digital conference this week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook suggested that he wanted his celebrated tech company to make more components, and perhaps assemble them, here in the U.S.  But it's not that easy. Cook knows it. As a longtime operations guy, there are probably few things the man knows better than a supply chain. When he says the semiconductor industry is good in the U.S., it's good. When he says there aren't high-tech manufacturing skills in the U.S., he's probably right. But actions speak louder than words, and there are good reasons why Apple no longer makes its millions upon millions of products stateside - because it just doesn't make good business sense otherwise.

We've seen this film before. Before founder Steve Jobs died, he made headlines for the same reason, as the national economy crumbled beneath Apple.

Here's an excerpt from a New York Times report in January: It isn't just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple's executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that "Made in the U.S.A." is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

The reason: there's a very real tradeoff between what's good for workers and what's good for business. When push comes to shove, business wins - which is why Apple's American employees enjoy comparatively nice perks while employees of its supply chain partners live in 8,000-strong dormitories, ready to be woken up at midnight to start a 12-hour shift making new parts for an iPhone that received last-minute design changes from California. Imagine trying to do the same with an American worker. Unions would never stand for it, obviously, and chances are the rest of the family unit wouldn't, either.

My point is not to illustrate the benefits and drawbacks of unions, or even what's fair; rather, I'm trying to illustrate a landscape in which American companies can go overseas for greater flexibility, lower price and sheer speed.

So long as there are nations in this world willing to do work others aren't, outsourcing will exist. In the capitalist system, businesses can't win in the free market unless they exploit every advantage. There's a reason Apple, and GE, and many other well-regarded American companies keep most of their money offshore: so long as there's a cheaper alternative, it will be taken. There is no morality in money-making, even if there's still plenty to be made.

That's not to say things aren't changing. GE CEO Jeff Immelt has said that the U.S. is becoming more competitive as American firms, tired of decades of deterioration, snap to attention. Wages in the U.S. are still elevated - good for individuals but bad for business - but the skills, flexibility and speed are catching up.

The question is whether we'd really want them to. Does the U.S. really want to compete with China when human rights and quality of life standards are a bit more slippery? Manufacturing is a powerful driver of the American economy, but it's just one part of it. Whatever happened to the concept of a creative economy? (Answer: we realized we can't win on creativity alone. There needs to be some elbow grease, too.)

We focus on Apple because it's a beacon of American success and its products are made of components from all corners of the globe, but the truth is that the company can't do this alone. "Made in America" is a nice tagline, but it's a naive, unnecessarily restrictive strategy for a global company. So long as other nations are willing to outdo each other for business - Foxconn City, anyone? - corporations will follow.

In Tim Cook's case, that means there are few reasons to swim against the tide, aside from public opinion. All Apple can do is ensure that its supply chain partners are acting in accordance with local law. (Thus the Foxconn flareup.) But how do you take one company to task when an entire industry practices this way?

If you want Apple to manufacture in the U.S., you can't just pressure Tim Cook - you need to pressure every Samsung, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony to do the same, along with the governments in each country that manufactures products for those companies, and every supplier in between. That's a bigger hurdle than any single organization can surmount.

So if the U.S. can compete on flexibility, speed and scale - we're not a tiny country, after all - and get partially there on wages, thanks to a down economy, there's only one thing left to address: skills. If I'm Tim Cook, lord of all that is vertical, I'd wonder backing accelerated industrial development in the U.S. - starting with the creation of technical schools that could create that coveted workforce of engineers without a bachelor's degree - could help return the balance back to the U.S.

The Midwest, the Carolinas - these American manufacturing hubs already exist, but they're not geared for electronics. If the U.S. wants China's contracts, it needs to build a hub that can outduel the Shenzhen export hub.

Then again, capitalism need not be moral. At the end of the day, what's really in it for Apple? If we want Apple to manufacture its products in the U.S., we shouldn't keep asking Tim Cook about it. We'd probably need to go a bit higher up in the chain of command.

Controversy about the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760

Logitech debuts new Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Meet the new Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760, the successor to Logitech's first solar keyboard, the K750, which earned a CNET Editors' Choice.

For K760 design is more compact than the K750 and more closely resembles Apple's own Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard with the addition of the strip of solar cells at the top of the unit. The key feature upgrade here is something that Logitech calls "Bluetooth connectivity with easy-switching capability." What that means is you can pair multiple devices - such as a Mac, iPad, or iPhone - and quickly switch among them with the push of a button without having to reconnect.

A demo in advance of the launch and can attest to the fact that the feature works as advertised. You can pair the keyboard to as many as three devices (in the demo, we switched from using the keyboard with an iMac to an iPad).

K750 and Logitech's just-introduced Solar Keyboard Folio for iPad, you can charge this keyboard in any light whether it be lamp light or sunlight. Logitech says that fully powered the keyboard works for at least three months, even in total darkness (based on average use per day of eight hours).

$79.99 for the price tag on the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760 and it should start shipping in the next couple of weeks. No word on when or if Logitech will offer a Windows version of the keyboard but it seems like a safe bet to assume that something's in the works.

Google New Chrome Box hurdles Apple Mac Mini

Google Chromebox challenges Apple Mac Mini. Google has launched a New Chromebook laptop and a new, Mac Mini-style Chromebox that it hopes will boost its Chrome OS operating system.  The devices both use the latest version of Chrome OS, the expanded version of Google's popular web browser that can power an entire new model of computer.

Chrome OS has proved popular with some educational establishments and some businesses because it is automatically upgraded to the latest version and reduces the need for IT departments to manage anti-virus systems. Despite this, the existing laptops, made by Samsung and Acer, have failed to capture the consumer imagination, and overall sales have been low.

300,000 Chromebooks offer will be sold this year, accounting for less than 1 per cent of the laptop market. The two new devices include an improved, faster laptop, the Series 5, and a smaller box that will plug into existing monitors or televisions to provide access to the latest Chrome OS on a new platform. Google's Linus Upson said the Chromebox had been developed by engineers who "wanted something to plug in to their TVs and play media through", but denied that it challenged Google's existing Google TV products.

Many users have bought Mac Mini computers as media PCs. Chrome OS currently relies heavily on a network connection, and until recently had neither a Windows-style desktop nor a file management system. Incremental upgrades have made offline access to Gmail possible, and offline access to documents is also launching soon.

A beta version is already available. Within the next two months, Google will also integrate Chrome OS with Google Drive, which it says will automatically back up all file whenever the machines can connect to the web. It has also recently added the ability to pin apps to the taskbar and to resize windows. A growing number of Chrome apps are available and Google says it is committed to reducing the limitations on what Chrome OS can do when it does not have access to the web.

The new Chromebook runs 2.5x faster than existing models, and the Chromebox runs 3.5x faster. Both models use an Intel Core processor and contain 16gb of flash memory. They will cost £379 and £279 respectively. Models from other manufacturers are also expected to be released soon. Google said Chrome OS could now open more file types than ever before, including Microsoft Office documents and PDFs, and added that the bid to sell Chromebooks would include a new push to introduce so-called 'Chromezones' in Best Buy shops across America. London's flagship brand of PC World featured Google's first retail store.

The new models will be for sale online and in store. Prices for the New Chromebook, called the Samsung Series 5 550, are similar to those for existing models. A range of analysts has suggested that Chrome could take off as a PC for those who are unfamiliar with computers, or people needing a cheap basic laptop, but stressed that the new, second generation models were still a new concept.

Apple can handle the flow rapidly than the MacBook

Apple can handle the flow rapidly than the MacBook. Apple is bumping into supply chain issues for its upcoming MacBooks, according to the folks at DigiTimes. Citing the usual "sources from the upstream supply chain," DigiTimes says that suppliers don't have enough workers to handle the stream of orders from Apple for the new MacBooks.

As such, some are even outsourcing their orders in order to meet Apple's demand for components. Factories in eastern China have already been hit by a shortage of workers, according to Taiwan-based DigiTimes. And even though May and June are traditionally slow times, Apple's need for components for the upcoming MacBooks has left suppliers in the lurch.

Despite the shortage, shipments started last month and are expected to increase in June. The new MacBooks could debut as early as July, DigiTimes noted. That timeframe ties in with a forecast from Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore, who expects Apple to launch a new Lion-equipped MacBook Air the same month. 16.240.000-19.200.000 unit number of MacBook shipments could reach anywhere this year, soaring 30 percent to 50 percent from a year ago, according to DigiTimes sources.

Lowest price $10.200 iPad prototype

$ 10.200 for the original iPad prototype, remember that iPad prototype from yesterday? It popped up on eBay that Apple developed with two 30-pin connector docks, one in landscape, and one in portrait mode. The listing attracted a fair bit of attention, but the auction is finally over.

In the end, the winner of the auction got to take away a little piece of history for the low, low price of $10,200. Both dock connectors on the prototype are fully functional, and Apple is said to have tested such devices right up until the last minute of the iPad’s debut.

Apple ultimately scrapped the idea, most likely for aesthetics, leaving us with the single dock connector we enjoy on all the iPad models to this day. Otherwise the iPad is working after the seller brought it back to life. The listing goes into detail about how Apple dismantles such devices and prevents them from working, but the seller refurbished the unit with mixed results.

Everything works, but the touch screen is said to be sporadic, and the battery is an OEM part rather than a prototype. Still, the seller gets to own one of the pieces that lead to the world’s most popular tablet.

The 3rd Smartphone by Facebook Headhunts Apple engineers

Facebook has employed more than some former Apple company technical engineers with experience operating on the 3rd Smartphone to make its own mobile cellphone application and components in reaction to increasing risks from the cellular web.

The social media massive has tried this project two periods previously. The first effort truly was scrapped after the organization noticed the issues it would face in the move from a application designer firm to a components company. Its second effort, which released late last season, is still under development with Taiwanese cellphone manufacturer HTC. The project codenamed "Buffy" took over from the first unsuccessful effort.

Now Facebook is making its third make an effort to build a new 3rd Smartphone for as early as next season. The organization is allegedly sampling "deeper into the process, by growing the group operating on Buffy, and checking out other mobile cellphone tasks too, creating a team of professional components technical engineers who have built the devices before."

In the organization's recent IPO processing, the ever-increasing cellular web utilization by customers moving from pc and laptops to smartphones on the market and pills is listed as one of the organization's greatest risks to its business. The issue is outlined further by financial statements disclosing Facebook makes no real substantial income from cellular app customers, which are now increasing more rapidly than traditional website customers.

"Mark [Zuckerberg] is concerned that if he does not make a cell cellphone in the near future that Facebook will simply become an app on other cellular systems," an personnel at Facebook said when speaking to the NY Times.

He is right to be concerned, however. Facebook's main advertising competing on the web is Look for engines, and it's also probably the innovator in cellular OS looks as well, with a profitable search deal with Apple company for iOS using the Look for engine optimization. That's without even considering the military of Look for engines Operating system OS powered smartphones on the market and pills, also using Look for by standard.

"We're operating across the entire cellular industry; with services, components companies, OS services, and application designers," the organization said in a declaration, including that it doesn't thoughts on rumours or gossips.

Alien Scanner Unique App for Smartphones

I think Alien Scanner applications are applications that are unique and also entertaining. If you are interested in a foreign world or outer space, the application is suitable for you. With this application can help you to find and communicate with the aliens in the universe. Alien Scanner working on the iPhone and several devices from Apple, he'll catch the radio signals from alien, so you can listen to foreign communications on your smartphone. Keep in mind this application is intended for entertainment purposes only.

This application was released on 20 April, 2011 by Lowell Duke team. This app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch (4th generation), iPad 2 Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi iPad 2 + 3G, iPad (3rd generation) and iPad Wi-Fi. You can download Alien Scanner application for iPhone on IOS Store. The current version is 1.0 and it’s only available in English. This is premium application, so you have to pay $ 0.99 to download it. Then, you should use the IOS 4.0 or above, do not install this application to the version below 4.0.

Many puzzles and mysteries in the Alien Scanner application. Many questions emerged about the existence of aliens, Do alient really exist? Or it’s just false statements. If they exist, how about the form? And there are many questions that remain a mystery. The question became an inspiration. Lowell Duke team to build an application that is only intended for entertainment purposes only.

Now, this application is only available for IOS and may be available for Android. IPhone and assisted with an application that is called Alien Scanner, you can search for alien signals in the whole universe. Using a scanner radio alien signal, you will strengthen the hand movement signal, so the hand movements are very influential on the performance of this application. Your hand as an antenna that helps strengthen the signal from an alien.

To run this application very easy. Hand movements will affect the signal, reposition your hand to find a strong signal from aliens. Each time you change your hand position, this app will report the status of the search, so get a clean signal from them. If a signal is found, you have to defend the position of your hands until the decode process. So, your device will play the incoming sound.

The application did not take advantage the quality of a given technology retina iPhone. So, it was standard and nothing special on its display. How about the sound? It’s very frustrating when you do not get a good signal. But if you’ve managed to find the best signal transmission and can play the sound, it is very unusual in our opinion. Overall, this application is very standard, nothing special and has minimal features.

Alien scanner requires an additional feature that may make it easier to obtain the best signal. If you like this application and want to look for signals from aliens, download alien scanner application for iPhone here.

Paid App for free from Apple's iTunes Promo

Apple's iTunes Promo Gives Paid Apps Away for Free. Apple may be following in the footsteps of Amazon's App store for Android by offering a paid app for free on a regular basis. Apple recently used its ongoing “App of the Week” feature to promote Cut the Rope: Experiments as a free download. Cut the Rope: Experiments is priced at 99 cents on the Amazon App store and Google Play. Apple made the announcement via the App Store Twitter account.

Typically, discounted app promotions on Apple's App Store are initiated by the app developer, not Apple, and that may be the case with Cut the Rope:Experiments. It's not clear whether Apple plans to offer a free weekly app the way Amazon promotes a daily freebie on the App store. Zepto Labs announced on Thursday a new level pack for the game. Hard Candy has 25 new levels and additional game elements, and at launch the company said the app will be available free of charge. So this may be a joint Apple-Zepto Labs promotion, or Apple may simply be using Zepto Labs' announcement to promote a great free app on the App Store.

A weekly promotion would probably be a better deal than a daily one, if Apple does plan to regularly offer paid apps for free on the App Store. Amazon first launched free daily apps when the App store for Android debuted in March 2011. The online retailer got off to a strong start by offering free downloads of Angry Birds Rio a popular new paid app at the time.

Recent free apps have included My Sketch, Alphabet Coloring, FactBook, and Fruit Sorter Extreme. All of them have 3 to 3.5 star reviews on Amazon. But Amazon has to fill its free spot every day, so they can't all be winners. Amazon's current free app is Quote Unquote a word game that mixes crossword clues with famous quotations.

Mobile phone competition fall short to keep up with iOS, Android

Smartphones running Apple’s iOS platform and Google’s Android operating system are outshining the rest of the smartphone market, says a new report from market researcher IDC. Both Android and iOS have seen their share of the smartphone market grow progressively over the last twelve months, with Android accounting for 59% of the smartphone market and iOS 23%. During the first quarter of 2011 Android and iOS accounted for a combined share of 54.4%.

"The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with," says Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC's Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program. "Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless has quickly earned a massive following."

Previous market leader Symbian saw a sharp decline over the last year as Nokia transitioned to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. BlackBerry was also on a downwards spiral falling from 13.6% of the market in 2011 to 6.1% in 2012.

While Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile currently accounts for just 2.2% of the market, the platform is expected to show moderately increased growth in the latter half of the year and beyond as both Nokia and Microsoft boost WP7 sales volumes. IDC notes that platform growth will be slow until “Nokia speeds the cadence of its smartphone releases or more vendors launch their own Windows Phone-powered smartphones.”

A separate report from analyst firm ABI Research suggests shipments of “phablets” -- devices that are bigger than smartphones but smaller than tablets -- such as the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Note will exceed 208 million units globally by 2015.

“One of the chief drivers for phablets is the amount of time people use their smartphones for web browsing, reading articles and newspapers on the go, or simply navigating their journeys,” says senior ABI analyst Joshua Flood. “The larger screen sizes make a significant difference to the user’s experience when compared to conventional-sized touchscreens between 3.5 to 4 inches.” Additionally, new phablet-styled devices provide an attractive two-in-one device proposition and are beginning to see the competition between these larger smartphone form factors and smaller media tablets (less than seven inches)."

Apple's Prepare gives up $75M in dividends

Apple CEO Tim Prepare is providing up $75 thousand in returns on limited inventory that the organization is giving to all of its employees. In a processing with the Investments and Return Commission payment on Saturday, Apple organization said that Prepare expected that his limited inventory systems not obtain returns. The returns that Apple organization employees are getting amount to $2.65 per one fourth for each limited inventory device organised. The stocks are not normally qualified to obtain returns, so Apple's choice is a advantage for its employees.

The choice comes two months after Apple organization presented a frequent results and certified a $10-billion inventory buyback system to start providing some of its cashback to investors. It was a shift that former CEO Bob Tasks long opposed. After his loss of life last year, Apple's control has signaled that it's been considering alternatives for the money, which came to nearly $100 million. Even without the results, Prepare, 51, continues to be one of the highest-paid CEOs in The united states. His pay system was respected at $378 thousand when he became Apple's primary in Aug. That was almost entirely in inventory prizes, some of which won't be redeemable until 2021, so the value could change considerably.

Assuming Apple organization will pay monthly returns of $2.65 over the vesting period of Chef's stocks, the organization said he will give up about $75 thousand in value. Shares of Apple organization dropped $3.03 to $562.29 Saturday.

IBM Restrictions Siri Over Protection Concerns

IBM has triggered a mix by prohibiting Siri from personnel iPhones. The organization statements that it is worried that Siri will flow private details and has incapable it on personnel iPhones. The purpose for IBM's issue is the way that Siri performs. The iPhone 4S's voice-recognition function performs by producing your speech and submitting it to a hosting server that thinks what you've said and profits simply textual content. Siri actually becomes better at converting because it successfully crowd-sources 'languages', studying from other individuals who are using the assistance.

It's the truth that this producing of what you said is sent to Apple's hosting server that IBM isn't satisfied about. The concept that Apple company could be gathering details about IBM tricks seems a bit farfetched, however, it is believed that Siri may lately have knowledgeable a burglar violation. United states discuss display coordinator Hurry Limbaugh described a specialized issue with his iPhone and Apple's Siri speech associate, knowledgeable on his generate to perform, there is some controversy as to whether this was individual mistake, or if Siri was compromised.

IBM is an recommend of BYOD (bring your own device) - a pattern that recognizes organizations enabling their personnel to use their own Apples, PCs, cellular phones, and pills at perform. According to analysis, BYOD has already been accepted by 69% of UK organizations.

The Siri ban is just one of a variety of demanding safety actions applied by IBM on gadgets purchased into the organization by workers. According to Conspiracy of Mac, IBM harnesses the cellular phone control (MDM) structure designed into iOS to eliminate Siri on every iPhone 4S.

Apple organization primary Tim Prepare chooses out of $75m dividend

Apple us president Tim Prepare has determined to abandon the $75m (£48m) results expenses that he was set to generate on the 1m stocks he has obtained from the organization. Cook, who took over from Apple's overdue co-founder Bob Tasks in Aug last year, was granted 1m limited inventory systems (RSUs) for operating the organization during Jobs' medical results in.

Apple said in a processing with the US Investments and Return Commission transaction on Friday night that Prepare had requested the organization to be omitted from a program through which workers could acquire returns on their RSUs that were still vesting. With Apple's inventory price at more than $565 a discuss, Chef's stocks are worth more than $500m. Half of these stocks will jacket in 2016 and the relax in 2021.

In April, Apple organization declared its objective to use some of its approximated $100bn money heap, produced by powerful sales of the iPhone and iPad, to pay investors a results of $2.65 a discuss.

It is the first time since the technological innovation massive converted its prospects around after Jobs' come back in 1997 that Apple organization has released a results. Apple is one of few organizations on the Market that pay a results. Shareholders of United states technological innovation organizations typically accept companies not shelling out returns, which allows them to pay intensely in research and growth and finance big products.

Despite the transaction of the results, Apple organization looks set to sustain its money hill at $100bn as new products such as the iPad keep offer so well, which describes why the panel has determined to pay a investors results now.

Review: Asus All-in-One PC ET2700INKS

The good: The Asus ET2700I is unique for its 27-inch display, a fast Core i7 GPU, and a discrete Nvidia graphics chip.
The bad: Like other 27-inch Windows all-in-ones, the Asus' 1080p resolution hurts its appeal next to the higher-resolution 27-inch iMac.
The bottom line: The Asus ET2700I will meet the needs of anyone searching for a fast, large-screen all-in-one for mainstream home entertainment and general-purpose productivity.

Review: Asus All-in-One PC ET2700INKS

HP debuted the first 27-inch Windows all-in-one earlier this year. Now Asus follows suit with its ET2700I. Like HP, Asus charges a reasonable premium for its large display, asking $1,399 for a system that might otherwise cost around $1,000 with the same components and a 24-inch LCD. None of these 27-inchers has the same high resolution as Apple's large iMacs, making them a better fit as home entertainment PCs than productivity workstations. Should you choose the Asus system over the HP? If overall performance and budget gaming capability are important to you, yes.

Asus offers a few different versions of the 27-inch ET2700I. This one is the most expensive, thanks to its Core i7 CPU, a discrete Nvidia graphics card, a Blu-ray drive and a standalone subwoofer unit that plugs into the side of the system.

I haven't seen an all-in-one with a breakout subwoofer before. It seems like a reasonable way to differentiate the system, but the effort is marred by underpowered hardware. Asus sends power and the audio signal to the sub via a single audio cable. The unit provides a slight boost to the bass output, but even at max volume and all of the various software effects enabled, the audio isn't what you would call room-filling. At the higher volume levels, the output also lost some integrity.

Cheap subwoofer aside, the 27-inch screen is the highlight of the ET2700I. The resolution tops out at 1,920x1,080 pixels. That's plenty for most non-professional users, and movies, games, and other media content will look great. You might be disappointed if you want a giant screen to cram full of open windows for multitasking. Professional digital image editors and others will also likely prefer the 27-inch iMac's denser 2,560x1,440-pixel resolution.

Also note that the ET2700I does not have a touch screen. Multiple PC vendors have told me that getting touch on a 27-inch display is prohibitively expensive. That didn't stop Lenovo and others from exhibiting touch-enabled 27-inchers at this year's CES, but whether those systems actually come to market here in the United States is another question.

It's worth noting that without touch, upgrading to Windows 8 later this year might feel rather pointless. How that might factor in to your present-day buying decision depends on what you think of Microsoft's ability to spur the development of compelling touch applications. For this system today, I expect most potential buyers won't find the lack of touch a deal killer. Get the full article >>>