Book Reviews and Money Saving Tips

Cheap Laptop For the Brave Get the details on Compaq's new cheap laptop with Windows 7 Are you brave enough to go the Windows 7 route? 

ACER is attacking the laptop industry with renewed aggression. They have released so many new models, I am not even going to address them all. One surprise to me was that ACER owns the Gateway, Packard Bell and eMachine brands. I’ve only been out of the reseller business for 3 years but I was surprised at that. As a reseller we had far fewer problems with the ACER laptops than we had with competing brands. Frankly we always looked a eMachines when they came in for service as disasters waiting to happen. Perhaps they have improved under the ACER umbrella. Take a look at the reviews of the new models here . In my experience even though I no longer sell equipment, the ACER is a good choice. This is not a paid blog.

Notebooks are always a volatile purchase. It is practically inevitable that on the way home from picking up your hot, new, great value notebook, you will see or hear an advertisement for a better, cheaper, sexy notebook. The best compromise deal (balancing features, performance and price) I have found recently is the HP Pavilion dv6-1030us Entertainment Notebook PC at Staples for a final down and dirty price of $599.98. I found the same notebook at Amazon for an additional $200.00. The price involves rebates so be prepared to wait for some of your money back. This notebook is a better value than the one Staples seems to be pushing for $50.00 less which doesn’t have as large hard drive, has no bluetooth and a smaller screen. If you don’t need the size and the DVD burner, I would look at some of the netbooks. They are pretty darn sweet and in the $299.00 range. Specifications Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T6400 16.0" Diagonal High Definition(8) HP BrightView Display HP Mesh Imprint fi...

WhooHoo subnotebooks are predicted to be big….AGAIN. Is there any recollection of the the Poqet PC, Psion palmtop computer, Newton or the Jornada. After 28 years in the computer business, I find many of the headlines Yogi Berraish. Now it is subnotebook vs. the smartphone. Which will be the winner? Reality check, it will be the first vendor to successfully morph the notebook and phone into a easily carried device that is SUPPORTED. Follow through in the computer industry is much like a bad golf swing…non existent. I have owned many incarnations of the subnotebook genre. I currently have a Smartphone, I can access the internet, get email and take iffy 3 megpixel photos. The screen is bright and way too small to be useful. Admittedly subteens and other species with acute vision may not find it so but for those of us approaching adulthood, the screen is too small. I opted not to get the Treo since my son has had limited success with his even after several warranty replacements. Instead I ...