Open the matte silver lid of the VAIO VGN-FE570G, and the best thing about this mid-range notebook hits you right in the retinas: a brilliantly clear, 15.4-inch widescreen LCD display with those rich, saturated hues that have lured a legion of diehard Sony fans. Beyond that, you’re looking at a very nice – and on some levels, rather ordinary – laptop computer at a premium price. (more…)

Imagine a PC notebook that’s a little over an inch thick and about the dimensions of a piece of letter-size paper – but with the power and features of a full-sized portable – and you have the remarkable Averatec 1150-EW1.

Weighing in at a mere 3.6 pounds, this laptop is ideal for students or on-the-go professionals who prefer their computers not require a weekly trip to the chiropractor. And while it may not pack the performance for graphically-intensive applications like gaming, it’s more than fast enough for mainstream use and even the occasional Photoshop session. (more…)

HD – not since compassionate conservatism has a term so overused been so little understood. HD, or High Definition, is the Holy Grail of home entertainment. We all want it, although most of us couldn’t define it beyond “It makes the picture look really sharp.” And so we’re ill-prepared for the onslaught of terminology, claims and battling standards that await us in those neon blue temples of technology. (more…)

Part I in our Geek 101 users guide on HDTV focuses on the available live sources for HD content.

So, let’s say you’ve decided to invest in an HD-capable setup for your home theatre. What’s your first step? You need to figure out where your HD content is going to come from, that’s what. Sounds simple, right? Not so much. (more…)

In Part II of our continuing series, The Geek Beat asks the question: Does HD content have to be live to be fresh? Although the options are few and there is at least one major standards war brewing, it still true that some of the best HD available in what you can buy on a disc or record on your own. (more…)