A 3rd of All Notebooks Fail Within 3 Years!?!
According to Squaretrade, an online vendor of extended warranties, more than 20% of all notebooks will encounter a major failure within 3 years. And its not limited to the lesser PC manufacturers!
Posted by Admin Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
HP Quietly Beating Up On Dell
A number of good articles this week comparing HP and Dell's recent quarterly results. The conclusion that these articles share is that Dell has focused its corporate growth on a stronger consumer division and quietly waiting out a rebound in the corporate market. During this time...
Posted by Admin Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
HP Acquires 3Com; Does Dell Have Counter?
HP announced today that it is purchasing networking equipment maker 3Com for $2.7 billion and adding a new set of products which could help it fight in enterprise / data center customer opportunities.
The deal, however, puts even greater distance between HP and Dell both in revenues, but in breadth of product offerings. Dell followed HP’s aquisition of enterprise service provider EDS with the purchase of Perot systems. In the networking space, there does not seem to be a clear “me too” deal. Networking behemoth Cisco would likely be the aquirer, not an acquiree and its unlikely that it would want to enter the computer systems space.
Stay tuned, intrepid Observer readers – we’ll be on the lookout for possible targets as Dell looks to catch up to HP once again!
Posted by Admin Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Good Read: Notebooks shedding DVD drives
Sharing is caring! How about this article – AP reports on many of the changes in the notebook world – in order to lower weight and improve battery consumption, they are omitting DVD drives.
This is fine in a world where your applications and media are downloaded or can be loaded via flash. However, I think this is an instance of the industry being a bit hasty and an opportunity for backlash. Many applications, including Microsoft Office, still install applications via CD or DVD media. Also, movies are still in disc form and last time I checked, none of the major studios were all warm and fuzzy about users ripping films to their computers.
The cost-cutters and retailers out there will suggest that users just go and buy a USB DVD drive to augment their system. A quick search found this to cost around $50-70 depending on brand. An OK idea, but if you’re a frequent traveler, that “thin and light” notebook is not so thin and light when you have to truck around a heavy power cable and NOW a DVD drive in the briefcase.
Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.
Posted by Admin Date: Monday, November 2, 2009
Windows 7 Launches Tomorrow – What You Should Know
Finally, the folks at Microsoft get to put the debacle known as “Windows Vista” to rest with its successor product Windows 7. I’ve been running it at work and at home for many months now and have to say its the best Microsoft OS ever. That’s not a backhanded compliment, despite what all the Apple Macintosh fanboys will say. Its easy to use and rock solid – never crashes or other application or device issues.
For all the folks out there thinking of upgrading or purchasing a new system, here’s a collection of great articles to bring you up to speed. Happy Shopping (tomorrow, all PCs will now come with Windows 7 Pre-installed)!
New York Times: The People Spoke. In Windows 7, Microsoft Says It Listened.
Wired: 7 Things You Should Know About Upgrading to Windows 7
PC World: Windows 7: A Complete Survival Guide
Posted by Admin Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Dell Falls To 3rd Place Behind HP, Acer in W/W Shipments
Industry analyst firm IDC announced its quarterly computer shipments report today and Dell’s total shipments fell by 8.4% leaving it in third place behind HP and Taiwanese upstart Acer.
Dell was the only company in the top 5 to see a decrease in shipments. Acer’s rapid movement up the table was not a surprise to the industry. The company has been targeting Dell’s world-wide share through its success in the netbook and low-end notebook categories, which have been of the few areas of growth in an otherwise tepid industry.
Lenovo Group, the number four manufacturer behind Dell and formed through a merger of IBM’s computer division and Chinese PC company Legend Computing, also saw gains in the quarter. Lenovo saw shipments grow 18% due to its strength in China and the ASEAN countries.
Posted by Admin Date: Thursday, October 15, 2009
