John G. Spooner

Notebook PCs are rapidly moving toward a future filled with more pixels and more screen real estate, thanks to the unexpectedly rapid proliferation of widescreen displays. Once fairly rare beasts, widescreen notebooks—notebooks with screens that have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 16:10, as opposed to the 4:3 of standard screens, and are thus wider […]

Dell may go all the way with Advanced Micro Devices. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker may announce, as soon as Aug. 17, plans to offer AMD chips in Dell-brand PCs, expanding on Dells previously announced plan to deliver AMD processor-based servers by the end of 2006, analysts say. A broader Dell-AMD product line has […]

The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Aug. 17 said it would launch a line of Dimension consumer desktops containing AMDs Athlon processors in September and add two-processor AMD Opteron models to its PowerEdge server line before the end of the year. The moves expand on a previously announced plan to offer multiprocessor Opteron servers, […]

Dell said its working to ensure its massive notebook battery recall doesnt amount to an equally large logistical headache for senior IT managers. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Aug. 14 announced the recall of 4.1 million battery packs—the largest recall thus far in computer history—many of which were installed in Latitude business notebooks […]

Dells battery recall—the largest battery recall thus far in computer history—may not get much bigger, according to the initial reactions of top PC makers, including Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo Group. Dell on Aug. 14 issued a recall for 4.1 million notebook PC battery packs due to manufacturing defects that could lead to fires. The battery pack […]

Advanced Micro Devices is counting on an updated version of its Opteron chip, unveiled Aug. 15, to set the pace for its server business in the coming months. The chip maker has gained momentum in x86 servers recently. Data from Mercury Research, in Cave Creek, Ariz., shows that the Opteron made up almost 26 percent […]

Lenovo Group is getting behind the idea of Linux on the desktop. The PC maker, at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo on Aug. 15, unveiled a plan to provide ThinkPad buyers with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, often called “SLED 10” for short. Lenovo, whose ThinkPads have long been a favorite of Linux users, becomes […]

Dell is recalling more than 4 million notebook PC batteries—an action it says is the largest battery recall thus far in computer history—following several incidents involving its machines. The Round Rock, Texas, PC maker on Aug. 14 announced that it was working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other agencies worldwide to recall […]

Lenovo Group is getting down to business. The PC maker, which purchased IBMs Personal Computer Division in May 2005, has begun rolling out a series of new products, including a ThinkCentre A60 corporate desktop based on Advanced Micro Devices processors. The new offerings fit into a formula—a mixture of standout products offering more choices to […]

Microsoft says it continues to discuss with PC makers and other partners a program to furnish PC buyers who intend to purchase new machines this holiday season with operating system upgrades to Windows Vista. Having put years of effort into creating the latest version of Windows, Microsoft is now working on ways to launch it. […]

Advanced Micro Devices says it is only days away from unveiling its next-generation dual-core Opteron server processor. The chip maker, in an Aug. 10 statement, said that it will announce the availability of its new Opteron—a redesigned version of the chip dubbed “Rev F” internally—on Aug. 15. The Rev F Opteron, which has already been […]

Business desktop PCs are set to get smarter next month with the arrival of chip maker Intels vPro platform for corporate desktops. The platform, which is based on Intels recently introduced Core 2 Duo processor along with a new supporting chip set that includes baked-in management technology, will be unveiled in early September, company officials […]