Saturday, July 13, 2013

Fastest growing Laptop segment

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As the Laptop market keeps shrinking there is one segment of this area that is expanding rapidly. It is the Chromebook that now makes up 25% of the under US $300 sales. These are maintenance free machines that are primarily used for Internet and e-mail but can play music and movies offline. They act more like a tablet with a keyboard rather than a touch screen. Software can only be loaded from the Google store, hence the high level of security. Unfortunately these computers are not available in the retail shops of New Zealand but can be bought online for around NZ $350. It would be nice to be able to try before buy but the NZ retail industry has no interest in a computer that doesn't require continual maintenance, as this is where they make their money, Antivirus and Registry cleaners etc.

 

Friday, July 12, 2013

Mini Desktop PC

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Minix are now making small Intel based Desktop computers. These are sold for less than US$120. The price is low as the user has to supply their  own  RAM and Hard drive to complete the system. Ideal if you have an XP disk and want to continue using XP. Unit size is approx 7" x 7" x 2.5". Ports include 6 USB with two of them being 3.0, 2 Ethernet jacks, HDMI output, and standard keyboard, VGA and audio connections. As it uses a conventional BIOS Windows 7, Linux or Android could also be installed. Unfortunately nobody seems to be bringing these PC's into New Zealand but they can be occasionally found on Trademe.