xyzcomputing Articles

Having a light notebook is great, but when weight savings comes at the expense of durability there are often problems. Once you get a device down to a certain weight, usually around the three pound range, there are serious concerns about how the product will be able to stand up to day-to-day punishment, let alone [...]

Now that bandwidth is cheap and abundant and video is the chosen media of the web, it pays to have a webcam. For some time these were cool toys, and in some respects they still are, but the webcam has finally started to cross over into the category of necessary peripherals, along with speakers, a [...]

One of the most exciting notebooks to come along in the last few months has been Toshiba’s R500. Though Toshiba does not have a reputation for making ultraportables, like Sony or Panasonic, they have been putting some serious effort into their R series. This time we will be looking at their newest release, the R500 [...]

When it comes to notebook computers, we spend so much time looking at models that are small and sexy, that it is easy to forget that sometimes real work has to be done on the road. While a 2.4lb ultraportable is a great way to impress clients and it’s a pleasure to take from place [...]

Now that 24″ LCDs are affordable and practically commonplace manufacturers are starting to push the next size up. For some time the next size was 30″, which not only increased the physical size of the display, but also increased the resolution. In the release of 27″ models we see the industry returning to the structure that [...]

Logitech has been full of surprises lately. Despite the tech industry being in the middle of its summer lull, they have had a number of product announcements of the past few weeks which have delivered products like two new mice (the VX Nano and the G9 Laser Gaming mouse) and a new keyboard. The keyboard, [...]

It was almost a year ago that Logitech launched their VX and MX Revolution mice. These marked two high-end additions to the company’s lineup in the portable and desktop categories, respectively. While their big price tags meant that these mice did not get as much attention as they deserved, they were still a hit with reviewers and they brought [...]

Until recently, small form factor computers were mostly restricted to people who were able to build their own system. Maybe you could buy a Micro-ATX computer from Dell or HP, or something small from Shuttle, but if you wanted a Mini-ITX (or smaller) system, you were on your own. Building your own computer is not [...]

When thinking of slim, sexy ultraportables, Toshiba is probably not the first name that comes to mind. For some time Sony has been the leader in this segment, with companies like Fujitsu and Panasonic not far behind. Other companies, like Asus and Lenovo have their offerings as well, but somehow, at least here in the [...]

Now that notebook computers are ubiquitous they have become just another tool in our computing lives. This means that too many of us are stuck using the cheapest one we can find, normally a 6-pound, 15.4″ system. This system, in all likelihood, does not get moved around very often because it is heavy and the [...]