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My comments

• Forget the graphics. I've seen low end Core i7 laptops for ~$1K. Either the specs that they are listing are wrong or the price is pretty high. I've seen Core i3 laptops for <$700. In reply to: "Dell laptop using Intel Core i3"

  January 3, 2010

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• I guess CNET missed the memo that Core i3 processors are supposed to be the inexpensive tier for the new generation of Intel processors so this hardly comes as a surprise. Such a headline hardly seems surprising to those who actually even marginally follow this industry. In a few months I easily see similar spec i3 machines selling for ~$500 replacing the Pentium Dual Core processor based laptops that fill that space currently.
  
  It is far overdue for Intel to put the Pentium name to rest along with the Celeron line. Using the Pentium name just simply causes confusion between the Pentium dual core and the similar, but much older Pentium D processors. The Celeron name meanwhile has been so sullied from a marketing perspective Intel would probably be better off starting a new moniker for their low end tier. In reply to: "Leaked HP, Toshiba 'Core i3' laptops not pricey"

  January 3, 2010

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• Just to play devil's advocate, not all programs take advantage of 4 cores so for some people 4 cores may not be worth an extra $500 (entry level quad core laptops still cost ~$1K). While quad core processors are not purely a marketing gimmick insofar as that for some users running the right applications they are well worth the cost, I think that some people are a little too dismissive of getting a dual core processor that is dramatically more powerful than the first generation CoreDuo processors.
  
  That being said how many $499 aren't outdated junk or netbooks? Not many. Most $499 laptops I have seen have processors that wouldn't have even been high end 2 years ago. Even some of the early Core2Duos from 2007 are better than processors than what you find on a $500 laptop.
  
  There is a demand for laptops between an entry level i7 at about a $1K and a Pentium Dual core laptop for $500. Some of the models that CNET found aren't the best deals, but that doesn't mean that that there aren't deals worth buying in between $500 and $1K. In reply to: "Leaked HP, Toshiba 'Core i3' laptops not pricey"

  January 3, 2010

  0 replies

• "improved graphics performance *over* current Intel 4500MHD graphics silicon"
  
  You are getting something better than the 4500MHD, try reading the article next time! The Core i3's integrated graphics performance is better than the GMA4500. Try actually talking about the GPU is question next time. In reply to: "Leaked HP, Toshiba 'Core i3' laptops not pricey"

  January 3, 2010

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• @ dougbugl: I haven't seen enough benchmarks, but the new N450 & GMA 3150 may be well worth a $100 compared to the old N270 and GMA 950 that is currently on most netbooks. It certainly adds some value above and beyond a similar spec netbook using the older N270 and GMA 950 so I don't understand why you would expect it to be the same price as a netbook using the older chips. In reply to: "Unannounced HP 210 Netbook 'in stock'"

  December 29, 2009

  0 replies

• I've seen a couple of kids with netbooks. While the Atom that is common on netbooks isn't terribly fast it is adequate for most common desktop applications. In reply to: "2009 sales of Netbooks rise, but notebooks fall"

  December 23, 2009

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• You make a good point that a lot of netbook critics don't seem to understand. Smartphones are OK for viewing short documents, but they aren't well suited for entering more than a few lines of text. I can run MS Office or OpenOffice with no issue as opposed to running some crippled smartphone app that at best with have a new learning curve.
  
  Furthermore, no matter how much Apple markets that there is an "app for that", the reality is that there can only be an app if Apple allows there to be an app for that. With a netbook can run you can run the vast majority of applications that will run on an x86 OS without having to ask Apple's permission, which is a far larger universe in not only choice, but quality. In reply to: "2009 sales of Netbooks rise, but notebooks fall"

  December 23, 2009

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• Somehow I think that most of the newspapers that will go under have already done so. Most cities are already down to only one daily paper.
  
  While the internet reduces the cost of delivery of the news, it doesn't eliminate the cost of actually paying journalists to write the stories. While citizenship journalism is a good thing, I don't think that unpaid volunteers will ever have the time to do any serious in depth journalism. You are right that most people aren't willing to pay for news, but that is largely because most people could care less about the quality. They would rather take free and mediocre over great quality that happens to cost something any day. In reply to: "Dear newspapers: I will pay for your content, once"

  December 16, 2009

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• Relative to most of their competition they were innovative when Gmail came out. They have simply gotten a little lazy at improving gmail. In reply to: "Gmail's contact manager now de-dupes en masse"

  December 15, 2009

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• I am a big fan of OpenOffice as well, but I still use MS Office at work and I don't see that changing in the near future. Probably one of the bigger issues I see in a business environment is that OpenOffice still lacks an integrated PIM to replace Outlook. While Mozilla Thunderbird is a pretty good mail client especially compared to some of the other free alternatives it still isn't a complete replacement for Outlook. In reply to: "Bug keeps some Office users from their files"

  December 12, 2009

  0 replies