Toshiba's First Netbook Is a Step Up

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.

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»

(NEWSER) - Dell is desperate to expand its chunk of the consumer PC market and shed its reputation for stodgy design, so Walt Mossberg decided to take a look at two of its flashier offerings: the ultrathin Adamo laptop, and the Studio One 19 touch-screen desktop. They’re not bad machines, he concludes, but they’re not exactly groundbreaking, either. The Adamo is just a belated competitor to the MacBook Air, while the desktop is aping HP’s TouchSmart series. More»

The 7-inch eBay netbook really does cost under $40

(NEWSER) - Wired checks into reports of a $37 Ebay laptop and finds it to be surprisingly legit. The 7-inch netbook runs on Windows CE and has 2GB storage. "What's the catch (apart from the extraordinarily underpowered internals)?" asks Charlie Sorrel. "There appears to be none. These are factory seconds or items which have failed quality control tests. They may or may not come with original packaging, and they ship from Hong Kong. Sound risky? C’mon. They’re $37. What do you expect? It’s almost worth it just for the AC adapter." 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."