Nothing New in Dell's Sexy Offerings

Walt Mossberg reviews 3 cutting-edge laptops

(NEWSER) - Cheap netbooks aren't profitable for PC makers, so it’s logical they're trying to lure consumers toward laptops that are just as thin, but have bigger screens, more features—and a heftier price tag. Walt Mossberg reviews three such models for the Wall Street Journal, and finds pros and cons for each but no clear winner:

• Toshiba Satellite T135, $600. This model boasts the best battery life of the three and is the cheapest, but it has a slippery, hard-to-use keyboard and touchpad.

Boasts big keyboard and touchpad, long battery

(NEWSER) - Toshiba, late to enter the low-end but lucrative netbook field, has finally rolled out its $400 entry, and Walter Mossberg finds that it beats competitors by solving several key problems: It boasts an easy-to-use keyboard, a long-lasting battery, and a large touchpad with big buttons. “The keyboard design resembles that on Apple’s MacBook Pro laptops—big, raised keys with lots of room in between, and good vertical movement,” Mossberg notes in the Wall Street Journal. More»

Batteries can't be replaced, but few do so anyway

(NEWSER) - Removable notebook batteries are convenient in theory, but hardly anyone actually replaces them. Apple and other firms are responding with sealed-in batteries, which, Apple says, can be bigger and thus last longer. Walter Mossberg ran his “own harsh battery test” on the new MacBook Pros and found their sealed-in powerhouses “excellent,” he writes for the Wall Street Journal. More»

'Adamo' mystery sets tech world abuzz

(NEWSER) - Dell's mystery product Adamo could be a super-slim laptop even lighter than the MacBook Air, but it's proving impossible to get solid information about it, Ashlee Vance writes in the New York Times. The firm has registered the trademark and set up a teaser site, but declines to comment on Adamo. A Dell exec appeared shocked when asked if a lighter-than-Air product was in the works. More»

Critics love the awesome camera, screen, and new features

(NEWSER) - The iPhone 4 hits tomorrow, and tech reviewers everywhere are incredibly impressed. Here's what they're saying:

• The iPhone 4 is “a major leap over its already excellent predecessor,” writes Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal . The new features work very well, and the redesign “manages to make the 3GS appear bulbous by comparison.”
• David Pogue of the New York Times almost doesn’t bother reviewing it. “What’s the point?” he writes. They’ve already sold tons of these. “The public seems perfectly capable of sniffing out a winner without the help of tech critics.” But for the record, yes, the iPhone 4 is "sweet."