Battle of the Retail Netbooks: Acer vs. Gateway

At one time, netbooks used to be known as small notebooks that offered just enough power to accomplish rather modest tasks throughout the day, such as e-mail, web surfing, listening to music, et cetera. Things have changed a lot since then, though, as recently, even ASUS has been releasing Eee PC models that in no way represent what we originally thought a netbook would be, primarily in size.

The cool thing about netbooks, though, is that because the prices for such machines are affordable, many people are now purchasing mobile PCs who might not have ever done so in the past. Also because of this, competition is fierce, especially to get into retail channels where regular Joe's will actually stumble on them.

About a month ago, both Acer and Gateway (Acer owns Gateway) released ~$400 netbooks, one that would see its life in Wal-Mart, the other in Best Buy. Both offer a varied combination of features and perks, and whichever is the better buy is really dependant on your needs. Our friends at The Tech Report took both new notebooks for a spin though, to see which was more worthy of your $400.

In the end, it was difficult for Scott to reach an ultimate winner, as both had their pros and cons, but overall, the Gateway machine looked to pull ahead, thanks to its nice blend of components and style. One hit is against the overall battery-life, but as is mentioned in the conclusion, if it had a second battery (or perhaps an even larger battery), it'd be almost perfect. Now that's a statement.

Credit: The Tech Report

The Gateway LT3103 is the most successfully executed of the two systems, because its Athlon 64 processor and Radeon graphics give it the performance to match its larger screen and keyboard. The grown-up looks and finish of the Gateway set it apart from the Aspire One 751, as well. If you like to fret over the semantics of "netbook" versus "notebook," the LT3103 will positively put you into a tizzy of hair splitting and confusion—endless hours of fun.

Google's Eric Schmidt Resigns from Apple's Board of Directors

When Google's Chief Executive Officer, Eric Schmidt, joined Apple's Board of Directors in 2006, it seemed like a sensible move on both ends. At that time, Google was not considered a competitor to Apple, but almost a compliment, and vice versa, since Google readily supported Apple. Most important, though, is that both companies had a similar goal in mind... to become crucial competition to Microsoft's core markets.

In the past two years, though, Google has changed their focus in a lot of ways, and as it stands, they're producing products that actually do compete with Apple in some regards. This became ultimately clear last week when it was discovered that Apple denied Google's Voice iPhone application, which we can only assume was decided as a result of it "duplicating" iPhone's features, aka: competing with iPhone's features.

As that news came forth, the FCC issued a request for information from Apple, AT&T and Google regarding the issue, and that might have caused some immediate action to take place. As of today, Eric is no longer on the BoD, and the reason given by Steve Jobs is, "Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest."

It's hard to not disagree with that, because after all, that's exactly the path that Google is going. Google is a company that thrives on being "open", in that all platforms should be free of restrictions to allow some cool things to happen, thanks to dedicated developers. Apple's of the opposite mindset. So, it was only a matter of time before the opinions of both companies clashed head-on. If you're curious about Apple's current Board of Directors, you can check out the respective page.

Apple is not about being open. It never has been. Every app on the iPhone (all 50,000 of them) must be approved individually, for instance. This difference in approach wasn't a problem until Google started to have mobile aspirations of its own. Asked to choose between furthering Apple's mobile agenda or Google's, Schmidt must choose Google's. It is his fiduciary duty. That conflict is only going to grow. And that is perhaps why Jobs says his "effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished."

Intel Launches "Progress Thru Processors" Program

Distributed computing used to come off as being a buzz word, but in recent years, more and more computing enthusiasts have taken part in some form, whether it be with Folding@home, Rosetta@home, Seti@home, or the hundred other projects floating around. For those who are unaware, distributed computing is when one main process if computed on more than one computer, and in the case of the aforementioned projects, we're talking thousands upon thousands.

Many of you who visit our website already take part in some projects, such as Kougar, who takes things very seriously. Intel is a company who has always taken such projects seriously  as well (some of their employees are dedicated Folders), but to bring the importance of these projects to the mainstream, the company has just launched a program called, "Progress Thru Processors".

If you happen to already take part in some distributed project, then this program is going to be of little use, since it caters more towards people who don't know what it's all about, or how to get things started. For fairly obvious reasons, Intel chose Facebook as the platform for this, and developed an application to help people get started right away. If you have a BOINC account, you can simply add this app to your Facebook, or if you are a new user, signing up will take only a few minutes.

After sign-up, you will be prompted to download an application called Progress Thru Processors, which is essentially a modified BOINC client suited for easy set-up. So easy, in fact, that all you need to do is launch it, enter your username and password, and you're good to go. Because the client is automatically associated with this project, each project you opted into will be there. And if you want to add others, you could log into your account (same) at GridRepublic and add them there. As it stands, Intel's focusing on Rosetta@home, Africa@home and also Climateprediction.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 3, 2009 – Often in the fight against cancer, researchers are not limited by their ingenuity, but the resources available to make research effective. The processor power needed to handle complex calculations is often in short supply. To help address this need, Intel Corporation today announced Progress Thru Processors, a new volunteer computing application built on the Facebook platform that allows people to donate their PCs' unused processor power to research projects such as Rosetta@home, which uses the additional computing power to help find cures for cancer and other diseases such as HIV and Alzheimer's.

Tech Roundup - August 3, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Phenom II X2 550 and Athlon II X2 250 - iXBTlabs
• MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 - Hardware Canucks

Displays & Video Cards
• AMD ATI FirePro V8750 Workstation - HotHardware
• ASUS My Cinema EHD3-100 TV Tuner - PureOverclock
• Gigabyte GV-N250OC-1GI GeForce GTS 250 - HotHardware

Memory & Storage
• Intel X25-M G2 SSD - Tech Report
• OCZ Reaper HPC 6 GB DDR3 1866MHz - techPowerUp
• WD VelociRaptor 300GB SATA HDD WD3000HLFS - Benchmark Reviews

Peripherals & Gadgets
• Eagle Arion 2.1 Soundstage Speaker with Subwoofer - CCE Reviews
• Eagle Tech Arion 2.1 Speakers - Bjorn3D
• Gigabyte GM-M8000 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse - Pro-Clockers
• Razer Megalodon Gaming Headset - EverythingUSB
• SteelSeries Siberia Full-Size Gaming Headset - TweakTown

Cooling
• CoolIT Domino ALC Water Cooling Kit - Neoseeker
• CoolIT Domino ALC Water Cooling Kit - PC Perspective
• Thermaltake SpinQ CPU Cooler - Hardware Logic
• Xigmatek Thor's Hammer HDT-S126384 - Overclockers Club

Chassis & Power Supplies
• In Win Commander 650W - Technic3D
• NZXT Beta Mid-Tower Chassis - Legit Reviews
• SilverStone Sugo SG05 SFF Chassis - Phoronix
• Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U Hard Drive Enclosure - Motherboards.org
• Vantec NexStar Dual Bay Hard Drive Dock - Think Computers

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• Phoronix Test Suite Desktop Live 2009.3 "Gernlinden" - Phoronix
• ASRock ION-330 Nettop SFF System - MissingRemote