PCs

Remember when Sony was the innovator?

Despite finally breaking a year's streak of quarterly losses, Sony's press conference Thursday will likely be remembered mostly for a quote that's already being mocked by tech blogs.

During a press conference to announce its earnings, Sony Chief Financial Officer Nobuyuki Oneda expressed his company's interest in competing in the touch-screen tablet market with Apple. According to ComputerWorld, he said:

"That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product...Time-wise we are a little behind the iPad but it's a space we would like to be an active player in."

Seems reasonable enough, right? Lots of companies would--and will--follow Apple's lead. It's just the nature of business, and we expect it. But it's important to point out why Sony is being mildly ridiculed for this quote: because in most observers' eyes, this is exactly what's wrong with the company. The gadget maker that used to be at the forefront of innovation is rarely first at anything anymore--with the exception, it should be noted, of the Sony Reader, the first modern e-book reader. But over the past decade they've gotten beat at their own game in several major categories: music players (Apple), televisions (Samsung), and video games consoles (Microsoft and Nintendo). … Read more

2009 PC shipments inch into positive territory

The PC industry ended 2009 on a positive note.

Worldwide shipments for 2009 were up 2.3 percent compared to 2008, according to the IDC Quarterly PC Tracker Report released Wednesday. Several months ago, ending the year with any shipment growth at all was looking unlikely. But after showing signs of life in the third quarter, followed by a healthy fourth quarter, it appears that the PC business is making a comeback.

A combination of holiday shopping, pent-up demand, and good reviews of Windows 7 have led to 15.2-percent growth for worldwide shipments during the fourth quarter compared to … Read more

Psystar closes up shop...or does it?

Last one out at Psystar, turn off the lights.

After being ordered by a federal judge on Tuesday to stop selling its Mac clones, Psystar was reported to be going out of business, according to a Dow Jones Newswires story on Thursday. Psystar's Web site was also inaccessible late this week.

Psystar attorney Eugene Action told Dow Jones that founder and President Rudy Pedraza will be "shutting things down immediately," and that all eight employees will be let go. However, Computerworld reported Friday that another attorney for Psystar, K.A.D. Camara, of the Houston, Texas, firm … Read more

Mac clones through the years

With Psystar barred permanently by a judge from selling anymore Open Computers, the Mac clone maker became just one in a string of companies that have tried selling Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware.

During Apple's three decades in business, it has at some points licensed its operating system for use on third-party computers. But since CEO Steve Jobs' return in 1997, the policy has been clear: Apple will be the only company allowed to sell Mac OS preinstalled.

Though Psystar tried and failed, there are still two companies out there--safely outside the U.S. and the reach of … Read more

Acer: We'll have the first Chrome OS Netbook

The world's second-largest PC maker has designs on being the first to offer a Chrome OS Netbook.

Acer Chairman J.T. Wang said in an interview with Digitimes that he's "confident" his company will be first out of the gate with Google's open-source operating system pre-installed.

The earliest it would be available is mid-2010, according to Digitimes' unnamed sources.

Acer was just one of several hardware makers previously announced to be working with Google on implementing Chrome OS, along with Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Toshiba. Dell, which hasn't committed to it fully yet, has … Read more

Acer overtakes Dell in PC shipments

Turns out Acer President Gianfranco Lanci wasn't just idly boasting earlier Wednesday when he said his company would pass Dell in the PC rankings "very soon." By very soon he clearly meant "today."

IDC released its PC tracker report Wednesday afternoon for the third quarter of 2009 and for the very first time, Acer is indeed the No. 2 producer of PCs in the world, with 14 percent. Hewlett-Packard remained on top with 20.2 percent of PCs shipped, and Dell dropped to 12.7 percent.

While not a total surprise considering that Acer's … Read more

Acer: We'll pass Dell 'very soon'

Acer President Gianfranco Lanci is feeling confident these days. At a news conference in London Wednesday, he declared that his company is on the verge of overtaking Dell as the second-largest PC maker in the world.

"We don't expect revenue to decline this year, which is outstanding, compared to our competitors. Therefore, we're (expecting) good growth in 2010 again," Lanci said. "Between this quarter and the next, we can finally pass Dell."

Dell currently sits behind Hewlett-Packard, which has been the world leader in PCs with approximately 20 percent of all units sold worldwide, … Read more

Nvidia puts NForce chipset development on hold

Update: As Semiaccurate.com's Charlie Demerjian himself informs us, it was actually he who first wrote about Nvidia halting chipset development, albeit in more dire terms, back in August for his old haunt the Inquirer. Link here. Fair enough. We'll still credit Ryan Shrout at PC Perspective for obtaining what we understand to be the first on the record acknowledgment from Nvidia.

Credit PC Perspective for digging out the news that Nvidia has put its NForce chipset development on hiatus. Nvidia will continue to supply the market with current-generation NForce chipsets as necessary, but due to Nvidia's … Read more

Kohjinsha's doublewide laptop display

CHIBA, Japan--This otherwise run-of-the-mill laptop from local PC purveyor Kohjinsha has not one, but two widescreen displays.

One of the 10.1-inch screens actually slides behind the other, so it's able to be closed like a normal laptop. When they slideout they form an admittedly odd-looking, but useful dual display setup.

Also inside the laptop: a 1.6 Ghz AMD Athlon Neo-MV40, 4GB of memory, Bluetooth, a TV tuner, and a biometric fingerprint reader. The OS will be Windows 7 Home Premium, graphics are DirectX 10 compatible, and the whole thing weighs about 4 pounds. More photos of the sliding screens in action after the jump.… Read more

Gartner: PC sales to make slight recovery by year's end

Despite earlier, more dire predictions, PC sales are now estimated to fall off just 2 percent from 2008 totals, according to a report released Wednesday.

The latest forecast issued from market research firm Gartner says PC shipments should reach 285 million units by the end of 2009. That's just slightly off last year's shipments of 291 million. The forecast is markedly improved over June's estimates from Gartner, which forecast a 6 percent decline for the year.

The better-than-anticipated demand is being driven mostly by notebook and Netbooks in China and the U.S., according to Gartner research … Read more