new camera battery

Contract manufacturer Flextronics opened a research and design center for laptop computers in Taiwan, aiming to tap into the island’s pool of engineering talent.

Located in Banciao, a suburb of Taipei, Flextronics’ newly established Computing Segment Design Center, will design laptops for brand-name hardware vendors. The laptops will then be manufactured in Flextronics’ factories and shipped to customers around the world.

The Banciao design center joins two similar centers that Flextronics has set up in Taiwan to design other computing products, including servers and desktop PCs.

Flextronics’ customers include Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Cisco Systems, among others.

While Flextronics is based in Singapore, Taiwan serves as the center of the company’s computer-related business, and it expects to employ 1,500 engineers in its design centers there within the next few years, the company said in a statement.

Taiwan is home to many of the world’s largest hardware makers, including Hon Hai Precision Industry and Quanta Computer. The island is also home to hundreds of smaller companies that design and produce components used to manufacture laptops and other computers. By setting up shop in Banciao, Flextronics’ laptop design team will also be close to these suppliers

So Google is jumping into the operating system business, taking on not only nemesis Microsoft but also the idea that applications are typically made to run on the desktop. Here are some thoughts on how this might change the desktop landscape.

Watch out Apple. While much coverage of this news is focusing on the threat to Microsoft’s desktop OS dominance, at the outset the biggest loser may be the Mac OS.

Those looking for a desktop OS alternative to Windows typically consider two options: Mac OS X or a traditional Linux flavor. Linux, despite advocates’ claim to the contrary, is still daunting to most non power users due to issues like networking and peripheral drivers. Mac, meanwhile, has two chief drawbacks: fewer available applications (not an issue to many consumers) and costly hardware. It’s no accident that Microsoft’s most successful Windows ad campaign doesn’t even talk about software anymore, but rather comparative hardware costs.

If there were a version of the Mac OS that ran on non-Apple hardware, I’m not sure Google would have seen the same market opening for a new operating system. But there isn’t, and Google Chrome OS is likely to be targeting the same audience as Mac OS X — those looking for a Windows alternative — while offering a platform that runs on more affordable hardware.

Windows 7 pricing, terms likely to get more attractive. Expect Microsoft to think twice about how much it thinks it can charge for various versions of Windows 7, especially if Google’s OS looks like it’s gaining market traction. Expect Microsoft to be more receptive to complaints from Vista Ultimate users that they weren’t given a better, less expensive upgrade path, and come up with some interesting terms for a Win 7 “family pack.”

Netbooks are a wise beachhead for a Google OS. Power desktop users may initially balk at the idea of ceding application control to the cloud, but those same people might be less resistant on a netbook. Netbook users probably expect (and use) fewer apps, and getting rid of resource-hogging Windows antivirus software might be a welcome upside if the Google OS is, as promised, simple, secure and speedy.

Large companies are unlikely first customers, except as small experiments. I don’t see major IT organizations happily ditching their Windows-based software in order to turn control of the desktop over to Google. While a Google OS is likely to gain entry in small numbers at large corporations as people check out the newcomer, large-scale adoption is unlikely unless and until the OS proves it has enterprise-class management capabilities. However, those small businesses with limited application needs might be more interested, especially if cost and maintenance are both low.

College students are a likely market. Today’s students are mobile in ways that those even five years ago couldn’t imagine, and they’re less likely to be concerned whether an application is on their desktop or over the Web.

Sun flashback. It looks like Google is trying to bring to fruition that Sun Microsystems mantra, “the network is the computer.”

Would Google dominance be any better than Microsoft’s? In the short run, this announcement adds to the OS competitive landscape and is likely to encourage Microsoft to give better terms to those opting for Windows 7. Plus, it’s unlikely Google can make a short-term dent in Windows’ gargantuan desktop OS market share. However, Google already has a great deal of control over the search-engine market, and thus has become a prime director of traffic around the Web. Despite Google’s now-cliched “do no evil” corporate mantra, the idea of a single company controlling the desktop, the application and the data is not without concern. It will be interesting to see whether the open-source community welcomes Google’s entry into the OS arena or has concern about the company’s growing reach

This week on the PC World Podcast, editors Robert Strohmeyer, Tim Moynihan, and Ginny Mies try to figure out what the just-announced Google Chrome OS might look like… and how it will be different from Android. Plus, what does Google’s new Web-centric operating system mean for the future of installed software and gaming? Only time (and more information about Google Chrome OS) will tell.

There’s a brand-new BlackBerry on the scene, and it’s called the BlackBerry Tour. The new smartphone offers a blend of the best features from the BlackBerry Curve and the BlackBerry Bold, but the Verizon version of the phone is missing one key feature. Find out what that mysterious omission is, and hear editor Ginny Mies’s take on the new phone. Is it good enough for you to consider an upgrade?

And finally, some back-to-the-future news. Michael Arrington, founder of the popular TechCrunch blog, had an announcement of his own this week: an upcoming Web tablet called the CrunchPad. It’ll do one thing and one thing only: surf the Web (watch a video of the prototype CrunchPad in action). But it won’t be the first device built to do that one task, and previous devices didn’t really catch on.

Plus, we want to know what you think will happen first: an Apple lawsuit against Arrington, or an Arrington lawsuit against Apple. Write us at podcast@pcworld.com to let us know your thoughts.

Listen in on iTunes or via the PC World Podcast RSS feed.

So Google is jumping into the operating system business, taking on not only nemesis Microsoft but also the idea that applications are typically made to run on the desktop. Here are some thoughts on how this might change the desktop landscape.

Watch out Apple. While much coverage of this news is focusing on the threat to Microsoft’s desktop OS dominance, at the outset the biggest loser may be the Mac OS.

Those looking for a desktop OS alternative to Windows typically consider two options: Mac OS X or a traditional Linux flavor. Linux, despite advocates’ claim to the contrary, is still daunting to most non power users due to issues like networking and peripheral drivers. Mac, meanwhile, has two chief drawbacks: fewer available applications (not an issue to many consumers) and costly hardware. It’s no accident that Microsoft’s most successful Windows ad campaign doesn’t even talk about software anymore, but rather comparative hardware costs.

If there were a version of the Mac OS that ran on non-Apple hardware, I’m not sure Google would have seen the same market opening for a new operating system. But there isn’t, and Google Chrome OS is likely to be targeting the same audience as Mac OS X — those looking for a Windows alternative — while offering a platform that runs on more affordable hardware.

Windows 7 pricing, terms likely to get more attractive. Expect Microsoft to think twice about how much it thinks it can charge for various versions of Windows 7, especially if Google’s OS looks like it’s gaining market traction. Expect Microsoft to be more receptive to complaints from Vista Ultimate users that they weren’t given a better, less expensive upgrade path, and come up with some interesting terms for a Win 7 “family pack.”

Netbooks are a wise beachhead for a Google OS. Power desktop users may initially balk at the idea of ceding application control to the cloud, but those same people might be less resistant on a netbook. Netbook users probably expect (and use) fewer apps, and getting rid of resource-hogging Windows antivirus software might be a welcome upside if the Google OS is, as promised, simple, secure and speedy.

Large companies are unlikely first customers, except as small experiments. I don’t see major IT organizations happily ditching their Windows-based software in order to turn control of the desktop over to Google. While a Google OS is likely to gain entry in small numbers at large corporations as people check out the newcomer, large-scale adoption is unlikely unless and until the OS proves it has enterprise-class management capabilities. However, those small businesses with limited application needs might be more interested, especially if cost and maintenance are both low.

College students are a likely market. Today’s students are mobile in ways that those even five years ago couldn’t imagine, and they’re less likely to be concerned whether an application is on their desktop or over the Web.

Sun flashback. It looks like Google is trying to bring to fruition that Sun Microsystems mantra, “the network is the computer.”

Would Google dominance be any better than Microsoft’s? In the short run, this announcement adds to the OS competitive landscape and is likely to encourage Microsoft to give better terms to those opting for Windows 7. Plus, it’s unlikely Google can make a short-term dent in Windows’ gargantuan desktop OS market share. However, Google already has a great deal of control over the search-engine market, and thus has become a prime director of traffic around the Web. Despite Google’s now-cliched “do no evil” corporate mantra, the idea of a single company controlling the desktop, the application and the data is not without concern. It will be interesting to see whether the open-source community welcomes Google’s entry into the OS arena or has concern about the company’s growing reach.

Americans love chrome on motorcycles and toasters, but will average consumers take a shine to the Google Chrome operating system? Google announced its lightweight Chrome computer operating system today and says consumers can expect it by the end of 2010. Google describes the operating system as lean and mean and perfect for small Internet-friendly devices that are both easy-to-use and transport — such as a netbook.

True, netbooks are very popular with consumers right now, but will they be in 2010 and can Google ride the netbooks’ coattails into the heart of consumers?
Google Chrome: A Nerd’s Dream Come True

My guess is that though bleeding-edge technology lovers and fanatics will think this is “cool” news, the average technology-hungry consumer will have more questions about this option than answers.

Innovation is a great thing, but the question isn’t about Google’s innovative spirit, it’s about what consumers want and need. After all, consumers don’t like too many confusing choices. Ever scratch your head in the laundry detergent aisle at the grocery store asking yourself “do we really need 30 different brands?”

Here’s what consumers want to know:

*What is Chrome? It’s a new operating system — the code the runs all the programs and hardware on a computer or device. Chrome is being built on top of the code that also runs the alternative Linux operating system. Linux is a free and competitive alternative to Windows.

*Why should I care? It will be another operating system to consider when buying a netbook. Your other options are buying a Netbook that runs Linux or Microsoft Windows.

*How are operating systems different? Like Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas, these computer operating systems are built differently, have different features and some are more popular than others.

*So does the OS truly matter for me, the consumer? That is the million-dollar question.

So far, as netbooks have grown in popularity, it appears that consumers do apparently care which operating system powers their Netbooks, but not for the reasons you might think.

They don’t care whether it’s a Ford or a Honda engine under the hood. Many may not know how to tell a hard drive from a CPU fan or spark plug. But what consumers like is familiarity and comfort.
* So are they buying up Netbooks that run Linux because Linux is cool? No. Instead, consumers bought Linux-powered Netbooks initially because that was what the first wave of Netbooks ran to save money. But as Microsoft worked on a smaller, feature-laden version of its Windows operating system to power Netbooks, manufacturers began buying it cheaply and loading it on to their new Netbooks.
And what happened to the Netbook marketplace after Windows started appearing on Netbooks? Well, that’s when consumers saw the Windows label, which is familiar and friendly, and decided to buy the Windows versions because they already know how to use them and are familiar with them.
Since then, the Linux-powered Netbook market has fallen drastically, according to industry analysts, while Windows versions are today’s shiny chrome on a fancy Harley-Davidson. It gets consumers in the door and helps make the sale.
What consumers do care about, though, is whether Chrome or any other new operating system will run their favorite programs, like Apple’s iTunes or Microsoft Office. Those will be among the measures of success for Chrome or anything that follows it. We’ll have to wait to get those answers.
So what’s this all mean for Google? Well, wanting to be innovative is a great thing.

But this looks like a hard road that Google is about to enter. That’s not to say they shouldn’t do it.
The question is, what will you, the consumer, get out of it. Americans love chrome.

But will they love this Chrome? Let the polishing begin.

When I reviewed Apple’s prior, “unibody” 15-inch MacBook Pro, I gave it high marks. For the money, there is no better-built notebook. With its rigid one-piece machined aluminum frame, glossy LED-backlit display, flat backlit keyboard, huge multitouch trackpad, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and 8X slot-loading, dual-layer DVD burner, the unibody MacBook Pro defined the state of the art in design, construction, and manufacturing. Now Apple is building on that peerless platform with higher performance, an upgraded display, longer battery life, and a lower price.

The latest 15-inch MacBook Pro, introduced in June 2009, costs less than the model that preceded it, and yet it puts competing commercial high-end notebooks back at the starting line. The new machine’s specifications are more 64-bit-friendly in anticipation of the Snow Leopard OS, due in September, and they reflect updated offerings from Apple’s component suppliers. Core 2 Duo CPU speed now tops out at 3.06GHz. Using 4GB DIMMs, the new MacBook accommodates 8GB of RAM. Recent introductions of larger and faster notebook hard drives are reflected in 15-inch MacBook Pro’s configure-to-order options, which include 7,200-rpm drives that close the notebook/desktop performance gap.

[ Mac OS X Snow Leopard is due in September. Find out what businesses can expect from Apple's new OS. ]

As you read, keep in mind that the machine I’m describing doesn’t fit in the mainstream 15-inch PC notebook class, a strictly two-year service group typified by painted-on key legends, breakable tray-loading DVD drives, and slow integrated graphics. The MacBook Pro is a five-year machine, by design and by track record. If you choose to replace a 15-inch MacBook Pro in two years, you’ll be able to sell it for most of what you paid for it.

A true hybrid

Much of what’s new about the 15-inch MacBook Pro is inherited from Apple’s supply chain, but Apple also made a few carefully targeted changes to MacBook Pro’s core design. The nonremovable rechargeable battery, an idea hatched with iPod, has found its way to Apple’s commercial mainstay. Apple claims that by making the battery a non-user-serviceable component, it was able to use battery technology that lasts for up to five years, a thousand charge cycles, before losing significant capacity. This claim will take five years to prove, but it is conceivable, with deep knowledge of battery characteristics burned into the notebook’s intelligent charge management circuitry.

Apple claims extended battery running time, too, of up to seven hours per charge with Wi-Fi operational. As a frequent flier and worker away from my desk, this was music to my ears — but could seven hours truly be possible on an Intel desktop replacement-grade notebook? After the MacBook Pro’s first full charge, the battery gauge estimated more than ten hours of runtime. You can’t blame an untrained gauge for showing some gung-ho optimism. A few weeks and several charge cycles later, the gauge has leveled out to a little more than seven hours per charge running a mixed productivity/Web workload, with Wi-Fi enabled. I’ve been able to extend that by nearly an hour with a combination of settings and habits that include a shorter disk spin-down delay and moving documents I’m currently editing to SD Card flash memory.

The move to a sealed battery — the replacement of which requires a visit to the Apple Store — is bound to make some unhappy, but it lowers manufacturing costs, and no competitor has been able to make hay against iPhone on the battery issue alone. The pop-open battery door was a liability on the unibody 15-inch MacBook Pro. With long running time and the (optional) ability to plug in to a cigarette lighter or plane seat power outlet, there’s no reason to argue for carrying a spare battery. Besides, Apple didn’t glue the MacBook Pro’s case shut. If you have any business inside it, then you already have the tools.

Test Center Scorecard

Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch)

Configuration (25%): 9

Usability (25%): 9

Battery Life (15%): 10

Build Quality (15%): 10

Performance (10%): 9

Value (10%): 9

Overall Score: 9.3 (excellent)

Quick, cool, and roomy

The MacBook Pro is a machine with desktop specs. The 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 1,066MHz DDR3 memory, and dual Nvidia GPUs inevitably contribute heat to the design. A plastic PC notebook with similar power would need a noisy fan just to survive. I don’t have a PC notebook in this class that I can bear to share a room with, much less have in my lap. The MacBook Pro runs cool and silent the majority of the time by using its aluminum frame as a heat sink and by carefully managing power. If you push the machine with a desktop workload by running the likes of a 3-D game, an HD video transcode, or a multithreaded compile or benchmark, it will get too hot for your unprotected lap. The problem is compounded if you’re charging the battery while making high demands on the hardware. However, in everyday interactive work, the newest, fastest 15-inch MacBook Pro is also the coolest (in temperature) and quietest notebook I’ve used.

Bigger notebook hard drives make room for more creative configurations. In my case, I decided to divide up the new machine’s 500GB disk before migrating so that I can multiboot into Leopard, Snow Leopard, or Windows 7. Disk Utility in the latest release of Leopard is able to alter the internal drive’s partition table nondestructively, while the boot volume is mounted. For the most part, there is no need to boot from the install DVD or use special tools to divide up your drive.

[ Are sealed-in laptop batteries a good idea? See InfoWorld's report. ]

For add-on storage and peripherals, the 15-inch MacBook Pro has two USB 2.0 ports and one 800Mbps FireWire port. Mac OS X automatically mounts any Mac HFS+, FAT, and NTFS file systems that it finds on newly attached storage devices.

New to this model is a slot for one full-sized SD or SDHC flash memory card, replacing the ExpressCard slot in preceding MacBook Pros. Those who still need ExpressCard will find it in the 17-inch MacBook Pro. SD Card for ExpressCard is a worthwhile trade, although I’d have gone for a bit more spacing between ports as well. You still can’t plug two average USB devices in side by side.

Content from many digital cameras and camcorders can be accessed directly as local files without USB cables, adapters, or the need to put the device in a special PC connection mode. The cost of SD is falling as speed (expressed as “Class;” higher is better) rises. Even if you don’t use the slot for multimedia, you’ll find that SD is the perfect removable medium — faster, more portable, and more reliable than optical. The point I made earlier about using SD to extend battery life bears emphasizing. In two scenarios, Office document manipulation and digital media viewing, moving files to SD let the 15-inch MacBook Pro’s hard drive motor, a prime consumer of power, remain in a spun-down state much longer.

The trouble with Apple’s SD slot is that some of the flash card sticks out of the notebook. You will forget the card is there, and it will catch on the lip of your bag. Even cheap cameras have sunken, spring-loaded (push to insert, push to pop out) SD card slots. Still, it is much more convenient than USB flash adapters, and Snow Leopard has a little secret that makes the SD slot even more useful.

High-fidelity everything

The MacBook Pro is a machine designed for the office and the seat-back tray, but this one model is also built for the laboratory, the recording studio, the movie set, the TV satellite truck, the helm, the OR, the theater, and other uncommon venues. Basing a volume system design on specialty requirements means that you’ll see features in the MacBook Pro, like the optical digital audio I/O and 800Mbps FireWire, that are rare in other commercial notebooks and that may initially come across as overkill. However, you’ll find that what seems not to matter at first becomes useful later on. A simple conversion cable plugs the MacBook Pro’s audio output directly to the Toslink input on a sound system for noise-free, multichannel digital audio playback. Unlike with other notebooks, the FireWire port drives such bus-powered peripherals as external storage devices, and the FireWire port allows the MacBook Pro itself to uniquely operate as an external hard drive. No platform is easier to deploy in large numbers than Mac clients.

Apple has stepped up audio and video. Just as the whole chassis is part of the 15-inch MacBook Pro’s heat sink, I think that this new model makes use of the sealed chassis as a resonating chamber. The 15-inch MacBook Pro’s sound is richer and truer to life than other notebooks. Better midrange response raises the clarity of spoken material like TV news and podcasts. Try playing some music in iTunes with the equalizer set to Bass Booster; you’ll feel the beat under your palms. A plastic notebook couldn’t go there with its many screws and loose seams, but the 15-inch MacBook Pro is tight as a drum.

Apple chose a new display for the 15-inch MacBook Pro. It’s difficult to characterize display quality in other than subjective terms, but this time there is a genuine difference: The new display is “wide gamut,” which refers to an ability to reproduce colors that don’t fit in the industry-standard sRGB digitized color space. There are so many reasons to be grateful for Apple’s choice. I’m able to read text clearly at minimum brightness, something the past few MacBook Pro models didn’t permit, and lowering the backlight substantially lengthens battery runtime.

[ See how long your battery lasts with InfoWorld's battery life calculator. ]

Wide gamut raises the fidelity of the MacBook Pro’s display. You’ll see no difference when viewing content encoded for the Internet because colors outside the sRGB space (the standard default color space for the Internet) have already been stripped away to shrink files down to size, but RAW-format digital photographs, professionally scanned film and artwork, print proofs and high-quality (that is, HD) video retain more color information than the majority of computer displays can reproduce. With color-rich content and a wide-gamut display profile selected, the 15-inch MacBook Pro can show you details you’ve been missing. For creative professionals, this might mean freedom, at long last, from the meticulously tuned wide-gamut desktop monitor. Color can have meaning as well, as in medical imagery, energy exploration, chemistry, and instrument panels. Expanding the range of reproducible colors means that 15-inch MacBook Pro can convey color-coded information with greater range and precision.

Built for what’s next

The wide-gamut display is a fitting accessory for a machine that is due for a $30 turbocharge in September with the release of Snow Leopard. The 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GPU in the 15-inch MacBook Pro would be a gamer gimmick on a PC notebook, but in a Mac, it’s a compute coprocessor. Snow Leopard will also herald the standardization of a full 64-bit client Unix platform, which speeds up everything. If you have legacy system-level code to run, you’ll be able to select the 32-bit kernel at boot time without having to install a second copy of Mac OS X. Apple doesn’t officially support Windows 7 on MacBook Pro, but it works for me, both in virtualization (Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Sun VirtualBox) and running natively in Boot Camp.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro is the best of the tier-one commercial notebooks, full stop. My two complaints — that the SD card sticks out of its slot and the USB ports remain too close together — are overshadowed by the new display, seven-hour battery, faster CPU, and the fact that there is an SD card slot. There are cheaper notebooks, but I’d challenge you to find one that’s faster, quieter, and better built than MacBook Pro.

15-inch MacBook Pro

Pros: Fast and 64-bit ready: Core 2 Duo CPU up to 2.8GHz, up to 8GB of 1,066MHz DDR3 RAM. Wide-gamut, LED-backlit display expands color range for improved photo, video fidelity, and readability. Nonremovable battery rated for seven hours of running time (wireless browsing) and five years of useful life. Gaming-grade 512MB Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT discrete GPU switches with low-power chip set graphics without rebooting. Improved frequency response of on-board speakers. All advantages of prior unibody MacBook Pro carried forward.

Cons: SD card slot is friction fit and protrudes from chassis (not spring-loaded and sunken). USB sockets are too close together.

Cost: Starts at $1,699 with 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of RAM, 250GB 5,400rpm hard drive, and Nvidia GeForce 9400M GPU with 256MB of graphics memory.

Platforms: Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard (included); dual-boot Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows7 with Boot Camp; other EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface)-compliant x86 operating systems depending on drivers.

Bottom Line: The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is faster, runs longer on a charge, doubles the memory capacity, and adds an SD card slot. It also has a gorgeous wide-gamut display and a lower price. In short, the quintessential commercial notebook is now even better.

Tom Yager writes InfoWorld’sMobile Edgeblog.

Despite Advanced Micro Devices’ historical stance that it has no interest in the netbook space, PC makers continue to build the chip maker’s processors into low-cost PCs.

Just two weeks after Acer’s Gateway unit announced an AMD-based netbook, another PC maker on Monday introduced a netbook with a low-power processor from AMD. Medion started selling the Akoya Mini E1312 netbook, which includes a low-power Sempron 210U processor.

The news was first reported by enthusiast Web site Pocket-lint.

AMD in the past has derided netbooks, saying that the PCs were too small and didn’t offer full functionality. Netbooks are typically characterized by small keyboards and screens up to 12 inches. The laptops are designed for basic applications like Web surfing and word processing, and are typically priced starting at US$299.
The company still maintains it doesn’t want to get into the netbook space, but a spokesman was less dismissive of the PC category than AMD has been in the past.
The company’s presence in the netbook space is happenstance, said John Taylor, an AMD spokesman. AMD doesn’t want to artificially dictate how PC makers use its chips, and the low-power consumption of Sempron chips could lend itself to netbooks, Taylor said. Sempron chips are low-end chips made by AMD for mainstream PCs.

“We haven’t gone out and built a platform for netbooks,” Taylor said. But the placement of its chips in netbooks is a positive as it offers a greater choice to buyers, Taylor said.

Beyond netbooks, AMD’s low-power chips could also make their way into different form-factor devices like all-in-one PCs, Taylor said.

The Akoya Mini has an 11.6-inch screen and comes with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB RAM. It also includes the M690E chipset with ATI Radeon integrated graphics. The laptop is already available in Germany through Medion’s Web site for €399 (US$557).

The netbook could top the performance of laptops based on Intel’s Atom chips, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst for Insight 64. Atom chips are used in most netbooks today.

“A netbook with a Sempron chip, with a decent integrated chipset and graphics could provide better performance in some applications than Atom,” Brookwood said.

With its chips now in the netbook space, AMD unwittingly competes with Intel and Via, another vendor that sells netbook chips. However, AMD would prefer to focus on developing chips for laptops that deliver better processing and graphics performance, Taylor said.

That’s because AMD runs the risk of deriving lower margins if sales of netbooks with its chip cannibalize higher-priced AMD chips used in products like mainstream laptops, Brookwood said. Intel faces the same risk of generating lower margins when people opt for lower-priced Atom netbooks instead of higher-priced mainstream laptops.

AMD has developed the low-power Athlon Neo chips for PCs called ultrathin laptops, which are pricier than netbooks but offer better processing and graphics performance. The company has already announced a dual-core Neo variant available in Hewlett-Packard’s Pavilion DV2Z laptop. Intel sells low-power consumer ultra-low voltage (CULV) chips to compete with AMD in the space.

What with all the hubbub about the iPhone 3GS and just as much hub (though a little less bub) regarding Snow Leopard, it’s easy to forget that Apple opened the WWDC keynote with talk of an updated laptop line. If Apple’s willing to devote that kind of keynote real estate to the subject, the least we can do is spend a podcast talking about it.

And that’s exactly what we do. Macworld editorial director Jason Snell and senior editor Dan Frakes join me to talk laptops–Apple-branded MacBooks as well as anything-but-Apple HackBooks.

Download Episode #164

* AAC version (19.8 MB, 40 minutes)

* MP3 version (18.4 MB, 40 minutes)

To subscribe to the Macworld Podcast via iTunes 4.9 or later, simply click here. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: http://rss.macworld.com/macworld/weblogs/mwpodcast/

You can find previous episodes of our audio podcasts at Macworld’s podcasting page.

Got any feedback on this podcast? Send me an e-mail or an audio comments in the form of an AAC or MP3 file. You can also leave us a message at 415/520-9761 if you’d like to have your comments included in a future podcast.

Show Notes

In the opening News & Commentary segment I mentioned Bruce Schroeder’s 99 cent Lyrics+ as the tool I used to grab some lyrics on the go. It hasn’t been able to pluck the lyrics from every song I’ve thrown at it, but in this specific case it delivered nicely. It’s worth a look if you need this kind of thing.

When discussing the creation of his HackBook, Dan mentioned Boing Boing Gadgets’ Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart as a useful tool for deciding which netbook to start with.

If you’d like to read about the experiences of Macworld editors putting together HackBooks, here’s Dan’s Another Day, Another HackBook, Jason’s Hands on With an Imaginary Apple Netbook, and Peter Cohen’s Hands on with an Eee PC Netbook. And for some insight into how you did it old school with a desktop machine, there’s Rob Griffiths’ historic Frankenmac! What’s in a Mac Clone?

We’ve written extensively about the new MacBooks, including reviews of the:

* 13-inch MacBook Pro;

* 15-inch MacBook Pro;

* 17-inch MacBook Pro;

* revamped MacBook; and

* MacBook Air

For more laptop information, visit our MacBook topic page. And for all-things-mobile, our Mobile Mac topic page will serve you well.

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by Macworld Superguides.

See more like this:

* MacBook,

* MacBook Air,

* MacBookPro

What with all the hubbub about the iPhone 3GS and just as much hub (though a little less bub) regarding Snow Leopard, it’s easy to forget that Apple opened the WWDC keynote with talk of an updated laptop line. If Apple’s willing to devote that kind of keynote real estate to the subject, the least we can do is spend a podcast talking about it.

And that’s exactly what we do. Macworld editorial director Jason Snell and senior editor Dan Frakes join me to talk laptops–Apple-branded MacBooks as well as anything-but-Apple HackBooks.

Download Episode #164

* AAC version (19.8 MB, 40 minutes)

* MP3 version (18.4 MB, 40 minutes)

To subscribe to the Macworld Podcast via iTunes 4.9 or later, simply click here. Or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader at: http://rss.macworld.com/macworld/weblogs/mwpodcast/

You can find previous episodes of our audio podcasts at Macworld’s podcasting page.

Got any feedback on this podcast? Send me an e-mail or an audio comments in the form of an AAC or MP3 file. You can also leave us a message at 415/520-9761 if you’d like to have your comments included in a future podcast.

Show Notes

In the opening News & Commentary segment I mentioned Bruce Schroeder’s 99 cent Lyrics+ as the tool I used to grab some lyrics on the go. It hasn’t been able to pluck the lyrics from every song I’ve thrown at it, but in this specific case it delivered nicely. It’s worth a look if you need this kind of thing.

When discussing the creation of his HackBook, Dan mentioned Boing Boing Gadgets’ Mac OS X Netbook Compatibility Chart as a useful tool for deciding which netbook to start with.

If you’d like to read about the experiences of Macworld editors putting together HackBooks, here’s Dan’s Another Day, Another HackBook, Jason’s Hands on With an Imaginary Apple Netbook, and Peter Cohen’s Hands on with an Eee PC Netbook. And for some insight into how you did it old school with a desktop machine, there’s Rob Griffiths’ historic Frankenmac! What’s in a Mac Clone?

We’ve written extensively about the new MacBooks, including reviews of the:

* 13-inch MacBook Pro;

* 15-inch MacBook Pro;

* 17-inch MacBook Pro;

* revamped MacBook; and

* MacBook Air

For more laptop information, visit our MacBook topic page. And for all-things-mobile, our Mobile Mac topic page will serve you well.

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by Macworld Superguides.

See more like this:

* MacBook,

* MacBook Air,

* MacBookPro