Best Buy offers $350, $380 Sandy Bridge notebooks

Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture has trickled down to the sub-$400 notebook segment courtesy of two machines from HP and Toshiba. Listed at Best Buy for $350, the 4.7lb Pavilion g4-1104dx is potentially the cheapest Sandy Bridge notebook around with a 2.0GHz dual-core Pentium B940, which carries a 650-1100MHz IGP (Best Buy's product page claims it's the HD 3000, but we're not sure if that's accurate).

It also features a 14-inch 1366x768 LED-backlit display, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320GB 5400RPM hard drive, and a DVD burner. There's wired and wireless network connectivity, three USB 2.0 ports (no USB 3.0, but again, we're talking about a $350 notebook here), HDMI and VGA outputs, a card reader, a built-in webcam and mic, Windows 7 Home Premium, and a six-cell battery that offers up to 4.25 hours of battery life.

Meanwhile, the pricier $380 Toshiba Satellite L755-S5216 comes in a slightly larger 15.6-inch, 5.7lb package (same resolution) that gets up to 5.75 hours of battery life, but the core configuration is largely identical. Again, neither system is equipped for heavy media consumption or gaming, but they should prove adequate for basic productivity sessions, and it's no coincidence that the back-to-school season is underway.

Thank you :
http://www.techspot.com/news/44812-best-buy-offers-350-380-sandy-bridge-notebooks.html

HTC Arrive (Sprint) Review

The good: The HTC Arrive features a durable design with a responsive QWERTY keyboard and a tilting screen. It's the first Windows Phone 7 device to ship with Microsoft's cut-and-paste feature.

The bad: The HTC Arrive's heavy and bulky body will weigh some people down, and it requires some pressure to slide open the keyboard. Its camera could be better, and we were hoping for 4G WiMax support.

The bottom line: The HTC Arrive, Sprint's first Windows 7 phone, is a solid effort that largely delivers, although it will disappoint those looking for a 4G smartphone.

Editors' note: This review focuses on the HTC Arrive's design, performance, and differentiating features. For more on its operating system and core functions, please read our full review of Windows Phone 7.

First known as the HTC 7 Pro at its New York unveiling, the HTC Arrive is Sprint's inaugural foray into the brave new world of Windows Phone 7. And the Arrive also represents two other minor "firsts": it's the first CDMA Windows Phone 7 phone in the United States, and it's the first Windows Phone 7 model to ship with Microsoft's cut-and-paste update.

As a result there's a lot riding on the Arrive's rounded shoulders, and for the most part it succeeds in carrying that weight. Like the HTC Surround, the Arrive is a thick chunk of handset, but that extra bulk makes possible a responsive keyboard and a screen that tilts for optimal typing and media consumption. While the data speeds are fine, we were a little disappointed that 4G WiMax isn't an option.

While there's a lot to like, the Arrive also has its drawbacks, some having to do with the handset's construction and some stemming from the Windows Phone 7 OS. For the most part, though, it acquits itself well as a Sprint newcomer.

Design
The HTC Arrive looks good, and looks strong. Rimmed with shiny, dark-gray paint, the handset has a glossy appearance and feel. It has barely rounded corners, like the iPhone 4, and two cutouts that reveal the front-facing speakers. On the back, a swath of brushed stainless steel and a decorative screw reveal that this is not a phone to be trifled with. And if there were any doubt, the phone's dimensions (4.6 inches tall, 2.3 inches wide, 0.6 inch thick) and weight (a whopping 6.4 ounces, nearly half a pound)--attest that the Arrive is one brick of a phone. Its bulk makes it a bit less comfortable to slip into a pocket, but you won't have to worry much if you drop it. We noticed, however, that the gray paint that rings the face easily flaked off in our bags and under our nail.

At 3.6 inches, the WVGA capacitive touch screen is slightly smaller than that of the HTC Surround, but has the same 800x480-pixel resolution. While it's a fine screen that shows off bright colors and sharp edges, it doesn't have the richness or pop of the Super AMOLED display on the Samsung Focus.

Below the screen are three touch-sensitive buttons for Back, Home, and Bing search. A camera trigger button is on the right spine, and the Micro-USB charger and a large volume rocker are on the left. Up top there's a standard 3.5-millimeter headset jack and the power button. The Arrive's back houses a 5-megapixel camera and a flash. As with all Windows 7 phones, there's no card slot for expanding the phone's memory, but the 16GB built-in storage should be enough for most casual users' needs.

More than anything else, what makes the HTC Arrive stand out is its tilting screen. HTC is no stranger to this design; it brought us the AT&T Tilt and HTC Tilt 2, much ballyhooed back in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Those two handsets ran Microsoft's earlier Windows mobile operating systems.

As with its predecessors, the Arrive's screen slides out to expose a full QWERTY keyboard before tilting up 30 degrees (previous models tilted up 40 degrees.) You simply push the front face flat and slide it back over the keyboard when you're done. It takes a fair amount of pressure to open, and our thumb kept slipping on the phone's square design on our first few tries. The Arrive's tilting mechanism appears to be fairly sturdy, and makes a metallic click when you lay the face flat.

The tilted display is best when you're typing with the phone in your hand or setting it down to watch a video play; be aware, however, that the handset will rock back slightly if you put it down and then tap on the screen in the open position.

Below the display, the Arrive's keyboard manages to be spacious without being overly wide. Keys are fully separated, but barely rise above the surface. The backlit buttons are smooth and very responsive, although a skosh less comfortable than buttons with a more rubbery feel. There are dedicated buttons for emoticons and diacritical marks, and for adding currency symbols for euros and pound sterling.

Interface
We've examined Windows Phone 7 in depth elsewhere, but there are several features worth noting here. First, the Arrive comes with Microsoft's copy/paste feature installed, the first Windows Phone 7 device to ship with it. Touching a word on a Web page or in a document presents tags that you can easily drag to select an area. Highlighting a word also causes a "copy" icon to pop up. Tapping it then saves the selected text to the clipboard for later pasting. Finally, a "paste" icon appears when you tap an input field, like a Word document or a search field.

Copy/paste works intuitively and smoothly, and we love the visual panache. You can paste the same text multiple times. However, the functionality isn't strictly systemwide, although it does appear in the obvious locations, like the browser, e-mail, documents, maps, contact cards, and search results. For instance, copy/paste doesn't appear as an option in some of the settings menus, so you can't use it when configuring your e-mail--something we could do with both Android and iOS.

Thank you :

http://upnextmobile.com/2011/02/sprint-launches-its-first-windows-phone-7%E2%80%8E-smartphone-htc-arrive/
http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/24/htc-arrive-brings-windows-phone-7-to-sprint-on-march-20th-199-99-on-contract/
http://www.infosyncworld.com/reviews/cell-phones/htc-arrive-brings-windows-phone-to-sprint/11818.html
http://gadgetian.com/10074/htc-arrive-wp7-sprint-wirefly-pricing/
http://todayspopularbelief.blogspot.com/2011/04/7-days-with-wp7-htc-arrive-sprints.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-arrive-sprint/4505-6452_7-34195351.html#reviewPage1

With only 1000 days left of extended support, don’t you think it’s time to retire Windows XP?

Wouldn’t it be great if the glory days lasted forever? But reality is trophies get dusty, records are broken, and what it took to be the best ten years ago, just isn’t enough for today’s standards. Things get better, faster. And eventually, it’s time to move from good enough to something much better.

Windows XP had an amazing run and millions of PC users are grateful for it. But it’s time to move on. Two reasons: 1) Extended support for Windows XP is running out in less than 1000 days, and 2) there’s an OS out there that’s much better than Windows XP.

On April 8, 2014, security patches and hotfixes for all versions of Windows XP will no longer be available. So bottom line, PC’s running Windows XP will be vulnerable to security threats. Furthermore, many third party software providers are not planning to extend support for their applications running on Windows XP, which translates to even more complexity, security risks, and ultimately, added management costs for your IT department if you’re still managing Windows XP environments. To learn more about Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle policy, please visit Microsoft Support.

The good news is there is a great alternative to Windows XP — Windows 7. And moving on is easier than ever with powerful tools and guidance to help you every step of the way. In fact, some of the world’s most prominent companies have already moved to Windows 7. Organizations like Boeing, InfoSys, Dell, Purdue University, Samsung, Royal Mail Group, and BMW are now benefiting from the cost-savings, security, and productivity gains Windows 7 delivers.

Act quickly because time is limited, and organizations that have not started deployment or in the early phases of the project need to accelerate. According to a recent Garter report “more than 50% of organizations that do not start deploying Windows 7 by early 2012 will not complete their deployments before Windows XP support ends, and will incur increased support costs.” (see Creating a Timeline for Deploying Windows 7 and Eliminating Windows XP)

So are you ready to retire Windows XP? Here are 7 things to help you make the move to Windows 7:

1. Watch the Is Windows XP Good Enough? Really? roundtable and hear a panel of experts dive into IT Pro questions and common issues around moving off of Windows XP.

2. Fire up the Windows 7 ROI calculator and see how much you could save by moving to Windows 7. From reducing help desk cost to cutting down energy consumption to automating common IT tasks, the savings to your business could add up!

3. Check out the suite of Windows 7 migration tools available on the Springboard Series that streamline planning, application compatibility, testing and deployment of Windows 7 including the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit, Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT), and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). See all of these tools in action with this demonstration from the recent Springboard Tour.

4. Build your Windows 7 muscles with our Windows 7 Deployment Learning Portal.

5. Become a Springboard Series Insider to get monthly tips and tricks on Windows, Office and Internet Explorer.

6. Follow us on Twitter @MSSpringboard for the hottest news on IT Pro deployment information.

7. Try Windows 7 today. Download the Windows 7 Enterprise 90-day Trial and get started testing your apps and hardware.

Thank you : http://networkedblogs.com/kkBeZ