Apple’s recently launched iPad could yield a tidy profit for the company thanks to its relatively low cost for parts, if an analysis of the components proves accurate. According to BroadPoint AmTech analyst Brian Marshall, the low-end $499 version of the new tablet costs about $270 in materials and manufacturing. Marshall concluded the most expensive … Read more
Optical Illusion No, it doesn’t come with cardboard glasses. When Sharp Systems of America calls the Actius RD3D the world’s first autostereo notebook, it’s referring not to its sound system but to stereoscopic vision — push the big, backlit 3D button above the keyboard, and the laptop’s 15.0-inch LCD screen can show images in three dimensions with … Read more
Buy One Core, Get One Free Intel may be taking it on the chin in the desktop CPU contest, but its Centrino brand rules the laptop category, where AMD is well behind in both market share and brand awareness. This has been true since the early days of the Pentium M versus Turion 64, but … Read more
A Subcompact Convertible As Microsoft’s Tablet PC portable push enters its fourth year, legal-pad-style “slate” designs have mostly given way to “convertible” notebook PCs whose screens lift to reveal, then swivel and fold down to conceal, the keyboard … and neither has made much of a dent in the overall laptop market. But even before … Read more
Not for Gamers, But Nifty for Office Work Plugging a monitor into a USB port? Ha, ha! That’s right up there with mistaking your CD-ROM drive for a cupholder, or getting a “Press Any Key” message and phoning tech support to say you can’t find the Any key. Mistaking a USB for a VGA port! … Read more
Types of Upgrades Generally speaking, there are three types of upgrades for a CPU. There is the chip-for-chip upgrade, the piggyback upgrade and the daughtercard upgrade. Though these upgrades aren’t too difficult, one should have all of their equipement ready, including a phone and tech support number in case you get in a jam. Chip … Read more
Wed 12/19/01 — Few of us would call 2001 a good year, and all of us would gladly trade an even worse recession or high-tech slump for a cosmic Control-Z to undo the tragedies of September 11. But there were highs as well as lows here at Hardware Central. Plenty of cool products reached the Labs, … Read more
When shopping for a video card, there is no doubt that a prime feature bragged about the card is how much memory it has and what kind. But, what does that mean? And how does the type and amount of memory effect the performance of the video on your system? Simply put, a video card … Read more