Photo: HP

In a move to both tackle the Apple iPad, as well as bring touchscreen computing to the desktop PC, HP has unveiled its reclining PC. The device, much like its name suggests, will take the shape of a desktop monitor that is capable of reclining in place to allow for using as a touchscreen without being too strenuous to use.

How it works

The HP reclining PC works by letting users recline up to 60 degrees from the standard, starting position of most PC monitors, which is at a an upright 90-degree angle. The latest entry in the HP TouchSmart PC lineup, it also has the ability to swivel from side to side, sports a 23-inch screen, and runs Microsoft ubiquitous Windows 7 desktop operating system.

Customer-facing business

HP was quick to distance this TouchSmart PC from a direct head-to-head comparison against the iPad by saying they’ve designed this computer with both consumers and customer-facing business like hotels and restaurants. Essentially, most anything that requires a booking system of sorts that’s easily customizable – and sped up – using big, touchscreen-based icons, is what HP is looking towards.

Pricing and availability

HP has different devices for consumers and businesses. The consumer HP Touchsmart reclining PC is on sale for $899 (about £560) now. The business-focused devices are scheduled to go on sale sometime in May.

The requisite posturing

Of course, Hewlett Packard used this opportunity to get a few words in today. James Mouton, an HP executive, said that: ‘As a leader in touch computing, HP has made each iteration of the TouchSmart PC more intuitive, resourceful and fun for users’ prior to adding that ‘the latest generation is no exception with a new design that makes it easier and more comfortable to use, and it allows business to integrate the TouchSmart where convenience, space constraints and appearance matter.’

Personally, we’d rather see the webOS tablet PC, but it will be interesting to see how the HP reclining PC does against traditional tablet PCs.

Photo: BasvandenBeld / Flickr

While the tech press continually chases new computing form factors like tablets and netbooks for stories, reports and sales trends, it’s the humble, old-school desktop and notebook PCs that continue to keep the computing industry – and the world as a whole – ticking on. Gartner has just released their sales figures for 2010, with HP emerging the clear number one, and everybody else picking up the remainder.

62 million served

HP’s share of the overall PC market is an insane 17.9 per cent, with the company shipping 62.7 million PCs in 2010, according to Gartner (via TechRadar). Their nearest rival, Acer, was a fairly distant second, shipping 45.2 million PCs in that same period.

Dell snuck in third place, with its overall market share being 12.1 per cent of the PC industry. Lenovo’s share of 9.7 per cent was enough to give the Chinese company fourth spot in the pecking order, and Toshiba rounded up the top five with 5.4 per cent of all PC sales in 2010. The remaining PC vendors, including the like of Asus, Apple, Sony and Samsung, made up 42.1 percent of all PC sales last year.

Context is king

However, numbers in isolation don’t tell the full story. The Gartner research report shows that the HP PC market share actually fell significantly in 2010, when compared to owning 19.1 per cent of the market in 2009. For its part, Acer’s market share remained unmoved, and Dell put on 0.1 per cent growth to get that third spot.

Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo has been on an insatiable growth spurt that really turned the screws on the competition, propelling it to third place in 2010, from being a virtual unknown – to most consumers – three or four years ago.

What the HP PC sales figures show is while we may fuss over specs, and cutting edge technology, most consumers are more concerned about reliable performance paired with good pricing. And HP PCs have always ticked both of these boxes.

Photo: aranarth / Flickr

We’ve watched the tablet PCs, smartphones, and 3D TVs flood the show floor at CES 2011, making it, from a technological stand point, one of the most impressive Consumer Electronics Shows ever. The folks over at technology charting and analysis site Asymco have gone one further, calling it ‘the most exciting CES ever’. And not due to any particular product launches, but due to the massive shifts happening in the technological landscape.

Microsoft is at the centre of it all

The must-read Asymco article begins with the following assertion:

‘At this year’s CES two unthinkable things happened:

1. The abandonment of Windows exclusivity by practically all of Microsoft’s OEM customers.
2. The abandonment of Intel exclusivity by Microsoft for the next generation of Windows.’

This very astute observation is followed by further explanation, where they write: ‘Many of Microsoft’s customers chose to use an OS product from Microsoft’s arch enemy. Some chose to roll their own. Microsoft, in turn, chose to port its OS to an architecture from Intel’s arch enemy.’

The end of the PC era

This data points to what IDC – and many other tech pundits have been saying for some time now – the end of the PC era. How so? Where once Microsoft was the default and exclusive OS solution for OEMs world over, Google Android has proven it has enough momentum and ubiquity as a mobile OS solution that it should be a strategic consideration alongside Windows.

Microsoft itself is driving a stake into the once exclusive Wintel relationship by developing its operating system for ARM, Intel’s enemy, and the early forerunner in mobile processing technology. All of this happened at CES 2011, which is why it is so pivotal.

This matters because, as Asymco points out, it confirms the end of the paradigm where there was a ‘condensation of profits around two companies, Intel and Microsoft,’ with other companies, most notably Google with Android and ARM in this example, muscling in, and proving strong on the mobile front.

The revolution will be mobilized

It still early to call it, but we’re in agreement that this is, in fact, signs of the ‘end’ of the PC era. And that is a major claim for CES 2011, which from a pure products perspective is unlike anything prior.

What do you make of this assertion? Is it misguided, or is it just a sign of the times?

Photo: chang_sen / Flickr

Even though the UK is one of the most developed nations in the world, a significant percentage of the population is stuck in the poverty trap, which directly impacts a child’s ability to get a competent education.  A new study by the E-Learning foundation has emerged suggesting that over one million British school children have no home computer access at all.

No comment

The Department of Education refused to comment on these findings, but the implications of this technology void has a massive bearing on a child’s ability to keep up with their peers. Without home computer access, these children fall behind in terms of educational purposes such as homework, research for projects, and collaborative work that schools are increasingly relying on.

Two million not connected

And though children without computers in the home at all is a problem at a million, the number of children with zero access to the Internet at home is double that. According to the E-Learning Foundation Charity, over two million children have no home access to the web – and the subsequent learning advantages it rings.

Poverty trap

What’s more is the likelihood of those in the poorest homes not having home web access is two and a half times more likely than that of opulent homes. This creates a poverty trap of sorts, since education is the basis of liberation from poverty, but if those already well off are twice as likely to have access to the most important information source of all time, escaping the plight becomes less likely.

What the E-Learning Foundation aims to do is make sure every British school going child have Internet-enabled computer access in the home. And with the prices of laptop computers and desktop computers continually falling, there is hope still that the number of children without home computer access continually falls.

Photo: Tom Purves / Flickr

Maintaining a desktop computer is expensive business, particularly if you want to have cutting edge technology. The dreaded PC upgrade phrase has plagued many desktop users over the years, with most of just not knowing when it is time. This guide removes the pain of guesswork when it comes to upgrading by pointing out tell-tale signs that it’s time for more power in your tower.

It feels too slow

You absolutely know you need an upgrade when your computer starts running – or at least feels like its running – too slowly. The applications you run on it are too demanding, relative to what you need done and startup times are obscenely long. If you’ve experienced any of these symptoms, you definitely need an upgrade.

Timing

Disciplined PC users upgrade their computers according to a timeline they’ve set. This can be once every 12 months, 18 months or 24 months. This ensures that you are up to date with the latest tech available for your computer, and that your system gets an incremental boost over time, as opposed to needing a once-off colossal boost at a later stage. This is the most recommended approach to performing a PC upgrade, though it may also prove too expensive for many to maintain.

The money factor

Another thing to consider if you’re toying with the idea of upgrading your computer is what the extra boost in speed will do for your income. Many freelancers or contract workers work on an hourly schedule, or try their best to optimize their hours to get as much work done as possible. If your PC takes 5 minutes to save a large Photoshop file, and you charge, say £120 an hour, you’ve just lost £10. Multiply that by how often you do the work, and you’ll soon find that it’s actually more economical to perform a PC upgrade with immediacy, than to dismiss it as being too expensive. Buying something as simple as extra RAM and an updated processor could do wonders for your PC’s performance, as well as save you money in the long run.

Photo: brilliantology / Flickr

When purchasing your own computer for the very first time – oh, how I envy you – the many varied platforms and options available to you can be daunting. Here’s a quick fire guide on choosing the best computing device for you by examining whether a netbook, desktop or laptop is your best bet.

Factor one: mobility

If you need your computer to be mobile, you can chalk the desktop off of your list right away. Furthermore ignore it every time it’s referred to again in this post. Laptops are mobile but netbooks bring an obscene level of mobility with them, so you decide which is in line with just how much mobility you need.

Winner: netbooks, though laptop comes in a close second.

Factor two: price

Photo: -eko- / Flickr

If you’re extremely price sensitive, your computing device options are down to desktop and netbook. Where desktops give up the mobility found in laptops, you usually get an equivalent, if not superior, machine for a fraction of the price you would pay for a laptop. If mobility is a necessity, netbooks sacrifice a significant amount of processing power, so you need to think carefully about what you need done before just pinching pennies for penny pinching’s sake.

Winner: desktop. If you must have mobility, than the netbook is undoubtedly your best bet if you’re very price sensitive.

Factor three: performance

Though laptops have become very powerful in their own right, desktops are still king if you need your computing device that can put in a heavy shift. Furthermore, the core design of desktops is better suited toward gaming, upgrading and putting in intense work. Reducing the head to head to mobile devices, comparing a netbook to a desktop, most core 2 duo laptops run circles around netbooks, so there’s no need to tell you how massive the performance disparity is when you start factoring Intel Core i3, i5 and i7s into the equation.

Winner: desktop. If you’re all about mobile devices, the laptop runs rings around the netbook. All day, everyday.

Factor four: value for money

Photo: aperture_lag / Flickr

Choosing a computer on this consideration is contentious at best. Desktops give you the most bang for your buck, netbooks give you great mobility at a good price, and laptops are, overall, the best of both worlds: performance and mobility. I’m very much a laptop person, but that’s because I need portability and capability in one box.
Winner: too hard to call. Your needs dictate your value appropriation, but laptops are the best of both worlds.

Overall

Without copping out, it’s clear that overall, when choosing a computer, the desktop is still the best computer out there, winning in two of our four categories. The only thing stopping us giving it a rousing endorsement is that mobility factor. Yes, it is, in fact, a game changer. And to pretend like it isn’t would simply be unfair to your computing needs.

Choosing a computing device is a patient task. Not only do you have to weigh up your platform of choice, you then need to decide which model you want. As if that’s not enough challenge, often times you have to pick which configuration within that model you want, dependent on specs. But if you know what suits your needs, you’ll have a far easier time choosing what’s right for you.

Photo: jules:g / Flickr

Desktops don’t get the respect they once commanded. With annual laptop sales being equal to desktop sales – and with laptops likely outselling desktops if we counted just consumers and not businesses – the desktop’s heydays are clearly behind it. On top of that, laptops are fast bridging the performance gap. Even then, we review the desktops versus laptops debate, and we think there’s a case for the timeless desktop.

Argument one: they’re more capable

The absolute best desktop in the world is better than the absolute best laptop in the world – fact. The way desktops are built, with their spacious, adjustable towers built with huge cooling devices if you’re using an impossibly powerful device runs circles against what any laptop can be expected to do

Argument two: they represent work

By design, desktops remain in a fixed space. Through clever mental trickery, you can associate that space, and the act of sitting in front of your desktop computer, as work time. Unlike laptops which can be – and often are – used everywhere, even if spaces like your bedroom where you should not be working, the desktop is the ultimate productivity computer if you teach yourself that that’s how it’s meant to be.

Argument three: games

This is a blowout for the desktop in the desktops versus laptops debate. Desktops are designed to handle the most advanced PC games around. Sure you need to have a graphics card both capable – and willing – to do the heavy-lifting, coupled with the right processor and a few other elements, but you can get these things for desktops. The most powerful gaming laptop is not as powerful as the gaming desktop. This is fact.

Argument four: price

Like for like, in terms of capability and performance, desktops are cheaper than laptops. This fact is exaggerated further when one considers how the price drops further if you build the desktop yourself, as opposed to purchasing a pre-assembled one.

There’s no comparison, really.

Laptops have won the desktops versus laptops debate, simply because most people need mobility. We travel more than ever in human history, and work more than ever in human history, so the ability to bring the work with is given a high premium. But, by definition, laptops are not superior to desktops in a number of areas, and if you do not need the mobility, a desktop is a far better bet for your computing needs.

Photo: Apple

Intel has long been the front runner in producing faster and more innovative technologies, and its processors are central to the production of faster, more efficient PCs. The company’s family of Core 2 Duo processors is well equipped to handle the needs of even the most demanding user.

These processors combine two independent processor cores which share memory into one physical package – effectively creating two processors in one. Each core can complete multiple tasks simultaneously, enabling what Intel calls parallel computing. This technology allows for processors which are twice as fast as their predecessors, and which occupy the same amount of space.

Practical applications

It’s obvious that computer processing needs have changed dramatically over the years. Desktop PCs, specifically in the business world, have surpassed the basic needs of word processing and data entry, and are now responsible for e-commerce, inventory management, telecommunications, and security. In the home, PCs need to be able to handle various processor-intensive applications and manage high volumes of multimedia, including high-resolution photos and videos and music.

Photo: Apple

Because the dual-core processor itself multitasks, it enables users to do the same more efficiently and easily. Core 2 Duo desktops offer more performance for handling all of these tasks, and, thanks to Intel’s Intelligent Power management technology, consume less energy while doing so. These processors enable more to be done in less time, an advantage both at home and in the office. Moreover, they allow desktops to run quieter and to generate less heat than ever before.

Intel’s technology allows manufacturers to release desktops that are powerful, compact and efficient. Core 2 Duo processors are the heart of many of the latest nettops, all-in-one systems, point-of-sale systems, network servers, and traditional desktops in all price ranges.

Photo: Apple

Respected research group, Forrester Research, predicts that within the next three years, annual tablet sales will outstrip that of netbooks and desktops both.

2015 it will be settled

Forrester Research has predicted that come 2015, tablet computer sales will account for 23% of all computer sales in the US. This number will exceed the predicted marketshare for netbooks, which will account for 17%, and it will exceed that of desktops, which will account for 18% of the computer marketplace.

Tablets, predicts Forrester research, will overtake netbooks in 2012 and will overtake desktops in 2013, representing a massive flip in the market in a very short three to four years.

Why?

The big question is why Forrester expect this to happen? The general thinking in technology circles is that the current crop of tablets is more in-line with how we use smartphones than the previous crop, which attempted to replicate desktops. This task-based approach to computing is more inline with mobile computing, coupled with burgeoning app stores makes the second roll of the dice for tablets seem like the successful roll.

Who will be the big winners

Assuming tablet computer sales make up that much of the market in the next five years, who do we expect to dominate the market? More specifically, how much of the market can the Apple tablet computer, the iPad, keep considering it pretty much ushered in the current wave of tablet computers, capture?

The iPad has raced out the gates, selling over 2 million iPads in under 2 months. Apple, at its many big-stage press conferences announced they were selling an iPad ‘every three seonds’. But with the early dominance of the Apple tablet computer a string of very capable competitors have emerged, spearheaded by reputable manufacturers and industry figures alike.

Chrome OS and Android OS tablets are in the works, HP, Asus, Samsung, MSI and a bunch of other companies are dedicating significant resources to this market segment. Can they catch up with Apple and, if yes, how much market share will the Apple tablet computer keep at the fringes?

Photo: Acer

As PCs get faster and faster and the chips inside them get smaller and smaller, we’re seeing the desktop tower slowly disappear and now we have all-in-one PCs. As it is with most pieces of technology, it can be a bit of a nightmare to find the right device. Helping those in need, we’re taking a look at the simple yet functional Acer Aspire all-in-one PC and the higher end creative beast, the Apple iMac.

The Acer Aspire Z5600 is quick and reliable

The Acer Aspire Z5600 is generally impressive all-in-one PC; it looks great with its silver finishing and provides excellent computing speeds. The Z5600 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 which clocks in at 2.33GHz. Acer have also thrown in 4GB of DDR3 memory to keep the machine running smoothly and efficiently. The Acer’s touch screen display shows off some wonderful clarity, and the graphics chipset supports high definition which is a definite plus. The Z5600 is performs wonderfully well and those looking for an all-in-one PC that can handle a bit of everything at speed should consider the Acer Aspire Z5600. The Acer Aspire Z5600 retails at £699.99.

The Apple iMac – perfect for creatives

Photo: Apple

The Apple iMac is one of the best performing, if not the best, all-in-one PC available on the market today. Apple has designed the iMac to look industrially smart while remaining sleek. It’s powered by an Intel Core 3 Duo 3.06GHz processor, which ensures that iMac is one of the fastest machines to either process images on Photoshop, encode music files in Apple’s iTunes, do a bit of media multitasking or even for those who want try out a few games on the Apple iMac. The display is immaculate is supported by an ATI Radeon HD 4670, which is a more than capable HD graphics card. The 21.5-inch Apple iMac retails at £892.06 and is highly recommended for those who like to edit anything from videos, music to images.

All-in-one PCs are definitely the way to go for those looking for computing power and looking to keep everything minimal and stylish. They definitely go a long way in meeting a whole lot of different uses and the Apple iMac, though being a little more expensive, is definitely one of the better machines available out there on the market.