The 17-inch MacBook Pro gets a new chassis with improved display technology.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET Networks)

Glossy and matte display options
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro came with a glossy screen that many people found too reflective. Apple will now offer a $50 matte finish option for the 17-inch MacBook Pro, for those who'd rather do without all of that extra light. We're happy about this option, and we expect that many others will be as well.

Originally posted at Macworld 2009

A few blocks away at Macworld here in San Francisco, the "one more thing" in Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller's keynote is a unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro notebook. Also announced: iLife '09 is getting geotagging, face recognition, guitar lessons. Click here to read CNET ...

(Credit: Toshiba)

One of the many laptops being announced at CES this week is the Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q725. It will offer the same bells and whistles of recent X305s, except that its primary drive will consist of a 64GB solid state drive, while the secondary drive will be the standard ...

Originally posted at CES 2009

Does your laptop take too long to turn on? Linux-based instant-on operating systems have turned up on plenty of recent laptops, such as the Splashtop-powered Asus N10J, and now Phoenix is jumping into the action with its HyperSpace OS, as featured on a handful of new Lenovo laptops including the S10 Netbook. We got a chance to get a hands-on preview with HyperSpace.

Hyperspace boots up automatically when you start your laptop, instead of Windows. The emphasis is clearly on Web surfing, as the landing screen is a custom Web browser with a sidebar full of links and settings. Shortcuts on the left side are basically just bookmarks for popular Web sites and services.

Originally posted at CES 2009

HP's new Pavilion Dv2.

The highlight of HP's CES lineup is this new, thin, 12-inch AMD-powered model, called the Pavilion Dv2. At first glance, another glossy HP laptop with an AMD processor may induce yawns, but when we learned this was the first system to use AMD's new Netbook-like Athlon Neo platform, our ears perked up.

Pitched as a kind of step-up from Netbooks, Neo provides for a little more processing muscle--at least enough to power Windows Vista. The CPU is called the Neo MV-40, runs at 1.6GHz, and comes paired with ATI Mobility Radeon HD3410 graphics.

Besides that, the Dv2 also has a fairly large keyboard for a 12-inch laptop, starts at about 3.8 pounds, and is 1.3-inches thick at its thickest point. The display is a 1,280 x 800 LED.

Look for the HP Dv2 later in January, somewhere north of $500. Check out some more photos after the jump. ...

Originally posted at CES 2009

(Credit: AMD)

You and I may see the laptop market as completely oversaturated, but chipmaker AMD sees only opportunities and underserved markets. Hence the new Athlon Neo, which AMD calls a "platform for ultrathin notebooks."

The company sees Netbooks as occupying the space between 7- and 11-inch displays with prices ...

Originally posted at CES 2009

The HP Pavilion dv3.

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

We'll come right and say it--we love 13-inch laptops. One point we're fond of making is that in a world where we have 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and even 20-inch laptops, the 13-inch size is the biggest we'd consider carrying around on a regular basis, as well as the smallest we'd be able to use as a full-time work machine.

Hewlett-Packard is debuting a new 13-inch model, powered by a variety of AMD CPU options (although, not the new low-power Athlon Neo). We've always liked HP's snazzy dv-series designs, with their glossy finishes, metallic accents, and subtle imprint patterns. HP describes this new model as having, "an argyle-like pattern for subtle contrast to the liquid appearance of the metallic finish." Then again, matte black works for us, too.

While the new dv3 is reasonably svelte, starting at 3.8 pounds and about 1.3-inches thick at its thickest part, we're most excited about the backlit keyboard--an extra we'd point out only comes with the more expensive $1,699 version of the 13-inch MacBook (and you can't even get the dv3's Express Card/34 slot in a 13-inch MacBook).

Look for the HP Pavilion dv3 later in January. Check out some more photos after the jump. ...

Originally posted at CES 2009

After the initial 7-inch Celeron versions and the second wave of 9- and 10-inch Intel Atom-powered systems, we're finally seeing the third wave of Netbook laptops--machines that take the basic concept of low-cost, low-power computing and start to add in useful extras and features largely missing from the until-now rather Spartan design philosophy of most Netbooks.

Even though the Mini 1000 only hit a few months ago, HP was actually an early player in the Netbook field. The company's business system side came up with the Mini-Note 2133 in spring 2008, with a solid brushed-metal chassis and a nearly full-size keyboard. Unfortunately, this predated Intel's Atom CPU, and rather than using the Celeron processor that came with the very first Netbooks, HP went with an underpowered Via C7-M, which pretty much killed any chance it had of becoming a mainstream product.

Now that the plastic-clad, Atom-powered consumer version has become a hit, HP's business side is taking another crack at the Netbook market with a radically updated version, called the HP Mini 2140.

It keeps the aluminum construction and big keyboard, but updates the components to an Intel Atom CPU, and hard-drive options that include standard platter drives up to 160GB and solid-state drives up to 80GB. The LED display is 10.1 inches, with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Two new additions that threaten to make this our favorite new Netbook are an accelerometer for the hard drive and a full ExpressCard/54 slot--a Netbook first (Lenovo's S10 has a smaller Express Card/34 slot). We recently told HP's consumer side that, as much as we liked the Mini 1000 Netbook, its business-side colleagues had just decisively leap-frogged them.

Look for the HP Mini 2140 later in January, starting at $499. More pics after the jump.

Originally posted at CES 2009

Lenovo's S10 Netbook.

We liked the S10 Netbook from Lenovo, so we're pleased to see the company not messing with success and making only minor revisions to it, in what might be the first official laptop announcement from this year's CES show.

The 10-inch S10, most ...

Originally posted at CES 2009

Really like copper accents? Try the Lenovo Y650.

Kicking off the first wave of CES laptop announcements (and beating the competition by about 24 hours), Lenovo is bolstering its consumer-targeted IdeaPad line with a few new models, highlighted by the 16-inch Y650.

The new Y series includes the 16-inch Y650, ...

Originally posted at CES 2009