Ah, how the mighty have fallen!

It wasn’t long ago that the Nvidia name was liquid lightening. The company’s main competitor, ATI, began to lag Nvidia’s performance significantly starting with the GeForce 6 released in 2004. As the generations moved on, the gap between Nvidia and ATI seemed to only become wider, a trend that climaxed with the Geforce GT 8800. Released in 2007, the 8800 was all things to all men. It was extremely fast, but also very affordable.

This, however, was Nvidia’s peak – everything since then has been downhill. ATI, in a surprise move, delivered a  blow to Nvidia with the ATI Radeon HD 4000 series. Released in June of 2008, the HD 4000 series managed to match or exceed the performance of Nvidia’s products. But it was worse than that. The GPU used by ATI was far smaller and more efficient than those being used by Nvidia. This meant that Nvidia was using more raw materials to build their chips. Knowing this, ATI instigated a price war.

Now the results from that war are becoming clear. Nvidia shipped less discrete graphics products than ATI in Q2 2010, the first time Nvidia has been bested in four years. While some might want to brush this away as a fluke, I think this trend will only accelerate. Consumers in this market seem to response slowly to changes in the performance crown. Nvidia was the default choice of gamers for four years – to this day, there are laymen gamers who believe Nvidia cards are far-and-away faster than similarly priced ATI products.

Nvidia’s challenges in the discrete graphics market are only part of the company’s woes, however. In fact, they may well be the least of Nvidia’s worries. The larger thorn in the company’s side is Intel and, to a lesser extent, AMD”s processor business. The problem is this – the integrated and low-performance discrete graphics segments will be gone in two years. They’ll have almost completely vanished. Why? Because both AMD and Intel are incorporating fairly powerful graphics technology into their processors. Anandtech’s recent preview of Sandy Bridge, the processor architecture Intel will be releasing next year, tested the performance of Sandy Bridge’s new integrated graphics component. It proved capable of matching the ATI Radeon HD 5450 in a series of gaming tests including Batman: Arkham Asylum and Dragon Age Origins. And this, keep in mind, was a pre-production sample.

AMD’s upcoming Bulldozer architecture, while it has not yet been tested in any way, is also focusing heavily on graphics performance. Considering AMD’s experience, and what we know about the architecture’s design so far, it seems likely that Bulldozer’s graphics performance will exceed that of Intel’s Sandy Bridge.

So, Nvidia is struggled to keep up in the discrete graphics market and the low end of the market will soon be taken over by processors integrated graphics. Not a pretty picture, is it? And it gets worse.

Nvidia’s CEO, Jen-Hsun Haung, is no idiot. He is a driven business leader with a good sense of where the market has headed. As a result, Jen-Hsun has undertaken numerous projects aimed at broadening Nvidia’s business. These include Tegra, a line of system-on-a-chip solutions meant for cell phones and other low-power devices, and Tesla, a brand of GPUs aimed at supercomputing applications. Both of these new brands are good ideas, but the company so far has had little success. Tegra’s biggest design wins were the Microsoft Zune HD, Kin One and Kin Two. The Kins were complete failures. The Zune HD, while a good product, has never sold in large volumes and probably never will. Tesla has had even less success.

This doesn’t mean that Jen-Hsun won’t pull a miracle out of his bag of tricks, but the clock is ticking. I will be keeping a close watch on Nvidia’s future developments, and I’ll report them in future deathwatch articles.

The deathwatch idea is blatantly stole from TTAC, one of my favorite blogs. Check them out!

Multimedia laptops are becoming an important part of the laptop market. This isn’t terribly surprising. Laptops have been slowly replacing desktops for years now, but most users want their laptop to be capable of the same tasks their desktop can handle. This includes playing HD video.

This used to be a problem. HD video can be very demanding on processor resources, and mobile processor designs that were popular just a couple years ago could choke in some cases. However, advancements in the last two years have made HD video performance an almost non-issue. First, mobile processors (such as the Intel Core i3) have improved significantly. Second, integrated graphics solutions can now help play HD video.

These advancements are cause for celebration. Multimedia laptops are now inexpensive and readily available. In this article I’m going to highlight three of the best inexpensive multimedia laptops available today. These laptops are under $800, but are fully capable of playing HD video.

Lenovo Z560

The recently released Lenovo Z560 is a 1960’s talk show host. Its hair is slicked back and shiny, its pose is friendly but stiff, and it is always wearing a rather dour suit. It isn’t exactly sexy, but it certainly entertains, and does so with a elegance that is rarely found among more modern options.

I’m referring, of course, to the Z560’s silver-and-gray exterior of tough black plastics and smooth aluminum. Its both ugly and beautiful. Once you get past the looks – love them or hate them – you’ll find that the Z560 has a heart of gold. Okay, its actually silicon, but its damn good silicon – a Core i3 processor with Intel HD Graphics. Put these together and you have a recipe for HD entertainment. The Z560 sings well, too, thanks to Dolby 2.0 speakers. They lack bass, but they’re otherwise very crisp and loud.

The Z560 multimedia laptop costs just $700, making it the best multimedia laptop value on the market today.

HP Pavilion dv7

Do you want your multimedia laptop to be large and in charge? Consider the HP Pavilion dv7. This massive desktop replacement multimedia laptop has a 17.3″ display. It also weighs about 9 pounds, so this isn’t exactly something you’ll want to take on long trips. The large display has a resolution of 1600×900, however, which makes HD video look superb.

You won’t be lacking in power, either. The dv7 offers a AMD Triple-Core processor running at 2.1 GHz and ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics. The graphics are particularly impressive and allow the dv7 to moonlight as a gaming laptop. When it comes to entertainment, the dv7 can handle anything you throw at it.

And get this – the dv7, one of the best and most powerful multimedia laptops, costs only $799. The dv7 is the clear choice for those who don’t care about portability.

Samsung R580

The Samsung R580 was, in a rare move, recently downgraded. It used to have a Core i5 processor with Nvidia 310M graphics. Now it has a Core i3 processor with Intel HD graphics. So, it is certainly slower than it used to be.

However, it is also less expensive. The price used to hover just under $900 – now it is $750. And while the processor and graphics have been downgraded, the rest of the laptop is the same. Yes, that means the R580 still comes with a Blu Ray drive standard. $750 for a 15.6″ laptop with a Blu Ray drive? Crazy, I know. The R580 also has a new trick up its sleeve – Intel Wireless Display support. This streams video from the laptop to a compatible adapter (not included) hooked up to your TV.

That seems like crazy talk, but there you have it. You’ll have to walk into your local Best Buy to get it, however, or order from Best Buy online. No other store carries the R580.

Touching something is a way of making it real. Running your fingers across a new gadget creates a visceral feeling that is difficult to explain. It can be good, or it can be bad, or somewhere in between. Either way, the feeling you receive from your fingers on that first encounter is very important in shaping your overall opinion of the device.

Apple knows this, and has used it aggressively by not only creating devices that feel good, but also devices that integrate touch into the very core of their functionality. Even the MacBooks do this with their massive multi-touch trackpads. Likewise, companies like Nokia and Blackberry have had trouble in the gadget market despite being technically competitive because they’re unable to provide a device that feels as nice.

Buying what you feel is nice is natural. There is just one problem with it, however – it can be a damn lie.

The perfect tech example is the Lenovo Thinkpad line of laptops. These business-oriented products are considered to be among the most durable laptops in the world. When you pick one up it feels solid, as if the laptop is not filled with delicate electronics but rather bricks, steel girders and battle tanks. That’s great. The problem, however, is that this has led to an assumption of reliability that simply is not backed up by the facts. All indications are that Lenovo laptops are not particularly reliable, as I stated in my review of laptop reliability.

The issue is the difference between quality and long-term reliability. Both of these seem to be very similar, but they’re actually entirely different things.

Quality is defined by how well designed and built a product is coming off the factory floor. In a gadget, high build quality leads to small gaps between materials, minimal flex in the chassis, and a luxurious look and feel. If you compare the typical ASUS laptop to the typical Lenovo Thinkpad (and even, for the most part, Ideapad) there is no comparison. ASUS laptops tend to have keyboards that feel mushy and weak. The materials don’t seem as tightly put together. The texture of the materials is cheaper.

Reliability is defined by the likelihood of a product suffering a major failure within a set period of time. As a gadget ages there are many points of possible failure. User interface items might wear out. The display backlight might not last as long as it is supposed to. The GPU or CPU might not be properly cooled, resulting in errors and eventually failure. Here, the last appealing ASUS creams the Lenovo – overall, you’re about 35% more likely to have a laptop failure within three years if you buy a Lenovo laptop rather than an ASUS laptop.

The moral of the story is simple: don’t let your fingertips make your purchases for you. There are a large number of buyers who flock towards gadgets with almost religious fervor, buying recently revised devices with no apparent thought about the possibility that the device may not be as great as their fingertips tell them.

Don’t let yourself get caught in that trap. When a new device comes out, always wait. Sometimes the initial quality of a device turns out to be a good indicator of its reliability. Often times, it doesn’t. Buying early can cost you money – waiting only costs you the ability to brag to your friends.

And let’s face it; no one likes a friend who is constantly bragging about the latest gadget they’ve bought anyway.

The notebook computer market can be a bit overwhelming. There are numerous laptop brands available, and each brand offers numerous different notebook models. Every model can also be sub-divided into different configurations, resulting in a nearly limitless array of options.

Choosing in this market can be difficult if you start looking without any idea what you might want. To help you, selected the top 10 notebook computers currently available. These notebook computers are, generally speaking, much better than competing products. They cover a variety of usage sceanrios and price ranges as well.

Apple MacBook Pro

It almost goes without saying that Apple’s MacBook Pro makes this top 10 list. Although very expensive, Apple’s MacBook Pro notebooks are built to a level quality that most other laptop manufacturers simply cannot hope to match. Brilliant displays, great keyboards and large trackpads make them a pleasure to use, and while performance isn’t off the charts it is respectable. Apple also provides the best customer service in the industry and has boasts above-average reliability.

Buy the MacBook Pro from Amazon.com

Sony Vaio Z

The ultra-expensive Sony Vaio Z is a super-premium 13 inch laptop that manages to cram the hardware power you’d expect from a 17 inch system into a thin 13 inch form factor. This includes a Core i7 processor, Nvidia 330M graphics and a surprisingly high resolution of 1600×900. This is also one of the few PC laptops that can match Apple’s quality. The razor-thin Z is built like a tank, and Sony’s much better than average reliability reputation suggests this laptop will be with you for the long haul.

Buy the Sony Vaio Z from Amazon.com

ASUS U30JC

The U30JC is a cross between an ultra-portable and a desktop replacement. It is small enough to slip easily into a bag, but it has an optical drive and provides a powerful Core i3 processor. This gives it performance that is more than adequete for most uses. The ASUS U30JC also benefits from an outstanding battery that can provide seven hours of usable time away from a socket. The U30JC will set you back just under $1000, making it a reasonable alternative to a MacBook.

Buy the U30JC from Amazon.com

Lenovo Thinkpad Edge

The inexpensive but well built Thinkpad Edge provides many of the features that made the Thinkpad line famous including a world-class keyboard and a  trackpointer in the middle of the keyboard. The design, however, is much more stylish than the monolithic matte-black finish that Thinkpad laptops have traditionally sported. Available in a wide vareity of configurations, the Edge can be as inexpensive or as powerful as you’d like.

Buy the Lenovo Thinkpad Edge from Amazon.com

Gateway NV59

The Gateway NV59 is a simple but competent laptop that will appeal to users who want a straight-forward mid-sized notebook. It is the least expenisve product on this list of top 10 notebook computers with the exception of the HP netbook, but it still manages to provide a wonderful Core i3 processor. Mobile users will not be happy with battery life, but users who keep their notebook at home will appreciate the large, clear 15.6 inch display.

Buy the Gateway NV59 at Amazon.com

ASUS G73

Gamers, take note – this is the system for you. Inspired by the design of stealth fighters and bombers this large but slick laptop has an ominous apperance. The beautiful exterior can be crammed full of powerful hardware including Core i5/i7 processors and discrete graphics. The display is also becoming well known as one of the best gaming displays available on any notebook. Forget Alienware – this is the best gaming notebook available.

Buy the ASUS G73 at Amazon.com

HP Mini 5102

The tiny HP Mini 5102 isn’t the most stylish netbook, but it provides a good combination of durability and functionality. Powered by the same Atom processor found in most netbooks, the Mini 5102 isn’t more powerful than its competitors. However, it has an excellent battery life of up to 8 hours and also includes a world-class keyboard. Thats very important for a netbook because crammed keyboards are a number one complaint among netbook users.

Buy the HP Mini 5102 at Amazon.com

HP Envy

The Envy line has always been HP’s attempt to recreate the magic of the MacBook Pro. But is that really a bad thing? While the Envy doesn’t have OS X or the same great trackpad it does offer far more powerful hardware at a lower price. It is also possible to buy the larger models without paying a steep premium. If you’d like a premium laptop with metallic design, but you don’t want to pay for a Mac, the Envy is a solid alternative.

Buy the HP Envy at Amazon.com

Samsung R580

Although still a small player on the notebook sceen, the notebooks Samsung does offer are all strong contenders for a spot in this top 10 notebooks list. The R580 received the nod because it is an affordable mainstream laptop that simply does everything right. it has a stylish and unique red-and-black exterior, provies a Blu-Ray drive and includes powerful hardware such as Nvidia graphics and an Intel Core processor. The R580 is a rare laptop that can handle both work and play.

Sony Vaio F Series

A mid-range desktop replacement laptop, the Sony Vaio F series is a capable perfomer that has very few flaws. Its exterior is gorgerous and comes in a wide variety of color options. The quality is top-notch, as with all Sony Vaio laptops, and reliability is known to be better than average. This is a heavy laptop, and battery life isn’t great, but that isn’t really the point. This laptop is meant to take the place of your current desktop computer by providing more power in a smaller package, and it accomplishes that task brilliantly.

Buy the Sony Vaio F at Amazon.com

The release of the iPad predictably resulted in many tech journalists making predictions that the tablet would change the world. Soon we would no longer be using stupid old laptops with their efficient but horribly un-hip keyboards. No, we would instead be up to our neck in  iPad knock-offs, swimming in a sea touchscreens.

Yet it seems that reality is not matching these predictions. The few tablets that have arrived, such as the Joo Joo, have been under-funded failures from small companies that no one that doesn’t read Engadget has ever heard of. Larger companies, such as ASUS, Acer and HP, have been slow to release their products, and it isn’t entirely clear where these new tablets will land once they arrive. Details are sketchy and seem to change week to week – the latest rumors about HP’s tablet state that it will only be an enterprise product.

And the journalists who predicted a tablet apocalypse cry – why? Where are these companies? Why are they being so slow? Don’t they know what they’re missing out on?

I think they do know what they’re missing out on – not much. See, there is a problem with the excitement over the iPad, and that problem is that it is an Apple product. Apple products are great, and in fact that is the core of the issue. Many see the iPad and claim that it is excellent because it is a great tablet product made by Apple. I disagree. I think that it is, instead, a great Apple product that happens to be a tablet. Other companies are choosing not to aggressively compete with the iPad because they are being smart. They know that even if they release a product that is equally good (which is very unlikely) that it will never sell as many units as the iPad. Not even close.

We can learn from the other markets that Apple dominates. Consider the iPod. Apple’s classic MP3 play is now nine years old, and it has spurred numerous copy-cat products. Some, like the Samsung P3 which I currently use, are competent competitors that offer many similar features for a lower price. And yet the market share dominance achieved by Apple is staggering - as of late 2009 official estimates figured that the iPod has nearly 74% of the MP3 player market. This becomes particularly shocking when contrasted to the Zune, which has only achieved a market share of a tad over 1%. This comparison is the most important because Microsoft is the only company that has actually tried to compete with the iPod on the basis of features and design – most other MP3 players, including my beloved Samsung P3, compete with the iPod largely on price.

Another example is the market for laptops priced over $1000. According to NPD, over 90% of all laptops that cost over a grand are Apple laptops. It isn’t as if other companies don’t have products in this price category. HP has been trying like hell to get traction with the HP Envy, Dell has the XPS and Adamo laptops, and then there is a whole slew of gaming laptops that fall into this category. Yet Apple kicks ass and takes names in this segment.

Apple’s dominance in these areas is not a recent turn of events, and it suggests that there may be room for a competitor. Yet all companies that have went into business against Apple in these categories has received a crushing defeat. Apple is simply too focused, too lean, and too hip. Competitors like Microsoft and HP may eventually make some money in these markets, but if they do it will be because of Apple’s own slips. The Apple approach to business is strange. Rather than throwing shit at the walls and seeing what sticks, they focus on a few core products and make them frightfully strong.

The reason why we aren’t seeing a huge tablet push by other companies is written in history. Companies aren’t (willfully) stupid. The people at HP, ASUS, Acer, Microsoft, Dell and others known that even if they sink millions, even billions into a tablet project and the associated marketing they are still unlikely to sell one product for every ten iPads. Contrary to what some tech journalists have said, the iPad isn’t selling well because it is a revolution. It is selling well because it is an Apple product, and it has the features and attention to detail that the Apple brand implies.

And you know what? Good for HP. Good for ASUS. Make a few tablets. Sell them based on price or some other obscure feature that only the most anal tech-saavy people care about, but don’t fully commit to a losing battle. Apple is a good company precisely because it doesn’t try to do everything at once – to demand that other companies operate in direct opposition of that principle simply because of the iPad’s success seems foolhardy at best.

When you were little your parents may have told you that your head was in the clouds. Little did they know just how literal this phrase might become. Today’s Internet is becoming increasigly focused on cloud computing, and it is turning information into an artifact that is at once easier to use and more difficult to wield.

Social implications aside, there is something damned nifty about being able to store data in one remote location and access it anywhere else. That is the inherit usefulness that makes cloud computing attractive even to individuals. Most of us are no longer using just one-device but rather an array of devices including desktop and laptop PCs, tablets, smartphones, and etc.

So, let’s take a look at three of the best cloud computing applications.

Dropbox

There has been a lot of press surrounding Dropbox lately, and most of it has been good. As much as I like to provide alternative viewpoints, I don’t think that any round up of the best cloud computing applications would be complete without Dropbox.

When you install Dropbox a new type of folder – creatively named a Dropbox folder – is created on your computer. Anything you stick in that folder is placed into the Dropbox cloud. If you have other devices with Dropbox installed they also will have Dropbox folders, and the changes you make on any one device is reflected on all devices. Better yet, you can access the files from a web browser and share them with friends.

Dropbox works on numerous devices. Both PC and Mac computers can use Dropbox, as can iPhones, iPads, Android phones. Their website lists support for Blackberry as “coming soon.”

There is a downside to Dropbox. If you keep your Dropbox storage under 2GB, then you can use it for free. However, if you need more storage you have to pay for it. 50GB will cost you $9.99 a month, while 100GB costs $19.99 a month. I’ve always found these monthly subscription rates for services that provide online storage outragesous, and Dropbox is no exception.

Still, 2GB will store a lot of photos and documents, so most users won’t have a problem keeping under the 2GB limit.

Windows Live Sync

The objective of Windows Live Sync is, on the surface, very similar to Dropbox. Windows Live Sync wants to help you keep files synced among multiple devices, and it does it by letting you designate shared folders on your computer.

However, the method used by Live Sync is much different from other cloud computing applications in that there is no actual cloud server. When you sync computers using Live Sync, the information they have is not stored in the memory of any third party server. Instead, each computer with Live Sync monitors the informaton kept in the synced folder of other computers. If the folder on any one computer is changed, the changes are reflected in the other synced computers. You can also browse and any file on synced computers through a web browser. The end result is similar to Dropbox, but there is no cloud server involved.

Compared to Dropbox, Live Sync has a major advantage because there is no storage limit. Your information is stored in a cloud, but the cloud is made up only of your computers. Live Sync is harder to use, however, due to a confusing web interface. Live Sync also only supports PCs and Macs.

CloudApp

This Mac and iPhone-only cloud computing application is geared towards people who love social media and want to engage with it as easily as possible. It is built around the idea that you should be able to quickly send any information to the cloud, at which point the information can be easily shared with others.

When you install CloudApp a new cloud icon appear on the Mac interface in the upper right corner. If you want to send a file to the cloud you simply need to drag-and-drop the file on to the cloud icon. It will be automatically uploaded to your CloudApp cloud storage. It is also possible to take screenshots of your display and send them to CloudApp. Management of your cloud storage is done entirely through a web interface.

Everything you upload to CloudApp is given a relatively short URL address, the purpose of which is to make sharing the file easy. Just copy-and-paste into Twitter, Facebook, or whatever social media outlet you like to use. Now your friends can access the file.

There is no storage limit, although that does not seem likely to last forever. Despite the lack of storage limit, CloudApp is unlike the other cloud computing applications here in that it is not really geared towards long-term storage. The interface can become bulky if you have too many files. CloudApp is really about here-and-now sharing with friends.

Conclusion

These are not the only worthwhile cloud applications out there, but they are my favorite. Personally, I use Windows Live Sync most frequently, because I do not mind the more confusing interface and I having my own “personal” cloud.

I am going to go off-topic for this post. I am sorry. I don’t like to go off-topic on my blog, but I don’t have a blog about gaming and I’m absolutely seething about a Blizzard’s Real ID.

As has been well documented, Blizzard announced that they will be requiring real names on the Blizzard forums by implementing a system called Real ID. They have subsequently retracted that idea, but they are going ahead with the implementation of the Real ID system in Blizzard games. World of Warcraft and all future Blizzard games (Starcraft II and Diablo 3 included) will be using the Real ID system.

Blizzard’s argument in favor of Real ID is that it will reduce the amount of shit that people have to put up with because people will no longer be anonymous. At first glance, this seems like a reasonable argument, particularly coming from Blizzard. Blizzard is one of the best game developers to ever exist – I personally would only rank Bioware as being consistently better – and yet they are constantly under assault by hoards of shitty posts claiming that, for one reason or another, they’re the worst company ever and they don’t know how to make games and blah blah blah.

I understand, that’s frustrating. So Blizzard decides to implement Real ID. The reason is that they need to reduce the amount of shit the happens on their forums and in their games. The logic is that if people are no longer anonymous, they won’t be as likely to spread shit. I don’t disagree with that logic. What I am critical of is the fact that Blizzard does not appear to have asked why people will be less likely to spread shit if they are not anonymous.

Is it because their real name and/or e-mail address will be at stake? Of course not. Names mean nearly nothing. If you know my name, and you disagree with me about something, knowing my name provides you with no meaningful leverage in and of itself. Instead of saying “Hey, fuckface” you can say “Hey, Mr. Smith, you fuck face,” but that is the only consequence.

Think about it. Imagine you stop reading this post right now and go to the grocery store. Does anyone call you an asshole on your way there? Did anyone send you a nasty letter because you took the last box of Chex Mix? Did someone call you fat when you picked up a candy bar? It is possible that someone might do these things, but chances are that your grocery trip will be unmolested. No one will pay you any mind, in fact, most people won’t even look you in the eye until you’re running over them with your cart.

Why? Well, it is obviously not because they know your name, as they’re all perfect strangers. For all intents in purposes they are anonymous, at least in the way that we think of anonymity on the Internet. You know nothing about them, and they know nothing about you. Yet they don’t call you a dickwad. They don’t tell you that you’re a horrible person because they don’t like the brand of soup you are buying. They act perfectly calm and civilized, paying you no mind.

It isn’t names that keep a person from being a dick. It is a lack of consequence. When Blizzard says that they believe associating names or e-mail addresses with accounts will stop bad behavior, what they really mean is that people will be scared that there will be real life consequences for their actions, and so they will behave better. Blizzard may not realize this, but by implementing policies that strip gamers of their anonymity they are sanctioning real-life harassment and violence.

This is what is so disturbing about Real ID. Trolling an Internet forum isn’t illegal, which means that the only legitimate consequence of behaving badly – being punished by a government authority, either through being arrested or simply being temporarily detained – is off the table. That leaves only illegitimate and ultimately illegal consequences, such as harassment and violence. These are the only new consequences that are introduced by Real ID, or any other system that strips gamers of their anonymity.

I’m not saying that Blizzard is evil. I personally think that this realization never crossed the mind of anyone at Blizzard. The reason it does not come up is that, in today’s info-centric culture, people assume that anonymity is only a function of knowledge. There is much more to it than that. It is also about a person’s physical body, and the consequences that can be imposed upon that body. Real ID serves no other purpose than to bridge the gap between a person’s online presence and their real, physical body.

What really gets me about this old fiasco is that Blizzard’s apparent reason for implementing Real ID – to reduce the amount of shit happening in their games and on their forums – does not require this solution. If Blizzard wants to reduce these problems, they need to step up and start moderating their games and their forums aggressively. Does that mean Blizzard has to hire more staff to moderate their games and forums? Well, tough shit – that’s the cost of doing business. By implementing Real ID, Blizzard is taking the cheap way out. But taking the cheap way out increases the risk to real people. As many female gamers have stated, there is already a serious problem. The idea that the creepy assholes harassing women will disappear if they are no longer anonymous is stupid. While it may decrease the prevalence of harassment, it raises the stakes in those cases where harassment is not deterred. Blizzard, like all game companies, is already a complete failure when it comes to enforcing its own harassment policies, and that won’t change when Real ID goes live.

And that is bullshit. Blizzard needs to step up and handle the problems it has with the community. Stripping gamers of their anonymity and hoping it all works out for the best is insane, and I hope that a chorus of loud voices will force Blizzard into axing Real ID in their games just as it forced them into axing Real ID on the forums.

Geeks love small. The love of the netbook was itself a testament to how furious geek zeal can become when presented with a small product, no matter what the limitations that size ends up endowing on the device. Two years ago the blurbs about netbooks on tech blogs could lead you to the conclusion that netbooks were going to make laptops obsolete. Now the iPad has taken place of netbooks as the next big thing in tiny tech. And, of course, you must consider the name of the blog on which you are reading the current post.

But small isn’t always better. Netbooks themselves are case-in-point. Their size gives them outstanding battery life, and they are incredibly easy to move about during day to day life. However, their size also gives them limitations. The keyboard and trackpad are cramped, the screen isn’t big enough, and the hardware inside isn’t fast enough.

Which brings me to the Alienware M11x, a gaming laptop that was undoubtedly created when someone in a Dell board room caught on to the netbook craze and decided to thrown Alienware a bone.

The tech press at large has predictably fallen in love with the laptop. Engadget said “It’s hard not to love the M11x after spending some time with it,” while Notebook Review blew their wad shamelessly, cooing “The Alienware M11x remains as awe-inspiring today as it was when Dell announced it back in January.” The crux of the hype surrounding the Alienware M11x is best distilled in the Notebook Review piece, which concludes “Is the M11x the ultimate gaming notebook? No. Is it the first gaming notebook that is small enough and light enough so you can genuinely take everywhere? Yes!”

Er, but let’s back up a second. Is the Alienware M11x really super-portable? Well, in terms of battery life, yes, as long as you don’t actually game with it. The new models should be good for six or seven hours of light usage. However, gaming will (as always) suck battery life faster than a Twilight movie sucks cash from tween wallets, which means that – away from a power socket -the M11x is no more impressive than your typical laptop.

The M11x isn’t thin or light, either. At 4.5 pounds the M11x is not too heavy to carry in a backpack, but is a bit too heavy to cram into any bag  small enough to make the M11x’s small size matter. It is thick, at 1.3 inches, and unlike most laptops it is that same approximate thickness throughout most of the chassis.

I’m not trying to say that the M11x is too heavy to take to a coffee shop, but I am saying you lose the grab-and-go, stuff-it-anywhere form factor of a netbook. It may have a 11.6 inch display, but that doesn’t change the fact that it weighs as much, and is as thick as, a thirteen or fourteen inch laptop.

And then there is the gaming. I cannot for the life of me figure out why reviewers act as if an 11.6 inch laptop display is somehow a good thing for gaming. Nevermind the fact that the M11x’s display is fairly lackluster, it is simply too small. I would no sooner choose to play a game on an M11x than I would choose to watch a movie on an iPad. Sure, you can do it, but the small size of the display is always going to be a problem. This goes for the keyboard, as well. Because of its size, the M11x has a small keyboard with tiny keys and no numpad. If you’ve ever looked at a desktop gaming keyboard you probably understand why this is bad. Having more keys is always better, because you can re-map game functions to various places across the keyboard. Having less keys means you’ll have to be pretty damned creative when setting up your WoW macros – nevermind the fact that the keys are small enough to feel a bit fiddly to begin with.

Hell, I might forgive the M11x the small screen size if it was blazing, fast, but it isn’t. While it is faster than your typical laptop with an Nvidia 310M or, heaven forbid, Intel HD graphics, the M11x gets spanked by bigger gaming laptops with better processors and better mobile GPUs.

So what, really, is the point? The answer – it’s small. And that’s it. I love small computers, and I love the trend towards thinner and lighter machines. But this is ridiculous. I want companies to make computers smaller and lighter in ways that benefit the consumer. What Alienware done doesn’t benefit consumer at all. It is a simple hype cash-in conjured up by some middle management wizard.

Harsh? Yea, I admit, it is. But I also think it is true. Don’t agree? Leave a comment.

P.S. Notebook Review forum goers, I salute you. One person posted this in the M11x owner thread, and as a result I received my highest single-day traffic numbers ever!

There is a storm coming.

I realized this as I listed in Buzz Out Loud, a podcast at CNET. Buzz Out Loud comes out every day Monday to Friday and focuses on the latest tech news. Under this broad drapery, however, there is a notable preference towards “gadgets” – phones, MP3 players, that sort of thing. And that’s cool. In fact that is why I listen to Buzz Out Loud. I’m not really a gadget guy, but only because I really can’t convince myself to sign up on a data plan just so I can own an iPhone and check my Facebook account from anywhere I please.

There was a recent conversation, however, that really caught my ear. That conversation revolved around OS X and the belief of the Buzz Out Loud crew that OS X is, essentially, doomed. They believe that iOS, the new name for the operating system used on the iPad and iPhone, will eventually be Apple’s only operating system, replacing OS X on Mac systems.

I think that they are wrong for a number of reasons. I won’t go into them all, but will only mention the biggest – homogenization of operating systems among devices is a false prophet. While I agree that using the same operating system on all a company’s devices would improve compatibility and reduce costs, I think that the cost of those benefits would be greater than consumers are willing to accept. You simply can not use the same operating system on a phone as you use on a computer – or rather, if you do use the same operating system it would have to be so throughly modified that the advantage of using the same OS among different devices would be lost.

This point is tangential, however, to what I think is more interesting – the storm I mentioned. A decade ago the major division between technology consumers was the division between those who cared about technology and those who didn’t. As technology becomes more common that conflict is shifting to a division between those who see technology as a vehicle for consumption and those who see technology as a vehicle for creation. This is a battle between those who love gadgets and those who love computers. Those on the gadget side have wet dreams about the day their computer will operate like a super-advanced iPhone, while those on the computer side look at gadgets and dream of the day when they’ll be able to do everything a computer can do.

Both sides of this fissure would be better of if they could stop seeing the equation as binary. There is room for both, and it is quite clear where each camp has its strengths. Android phones and the iPad offer brilliant examples of this. Android phones are example of a phone that is trying to act more like a computer, offering a more open-ended operating system and hardware. While it is somewhat competitive, it really falters in the face of Apple’s iPhone, which offers a smoother and less confusing experience. On the other hand, Apple’s iPad clearly fails as a computer replacement. The operating system is too limited and even the device’s form factor just isn’t conducive to the kind of work you can accomplish with a true laptop or desktop.

If there is anything the laptop market has taught me, however, it is that no one is ever happy to settle for what they’ve got (except Apple. Maybe). The siren call of volume drivers all businesses that must answer to shareholders. Computer businesses want nothing more than to get into the mobile phone business – and phone companies would like to get into the tablet and laptop business. Neither (again, except Apple) seems to be having huge success, and I think until the division between gadgets and computers is acknowledged and accepted we will continue to see some unimpressive device.

That isn’t to say that no one will ever buy them. But saying a product is justified because people buy it is a fallacy. Bringing products to market requires money and time, so the question is not  ”did this product sell?” but rather “was the money we spent on this project better spent than if it had been used on a different project?”

My friends, we’re entering strange times. The tech community isn’t one big happy family. There is much misunderstanding between gadgeteers and PC freaks, and this conflict will drive a slew of mostly failed experiments over the next decade.

I am a goon. Not, I’m not trying to disparage myself (although some would argue that I am) but rather saying I am a member of a forum community which likes to call their members goons. I often read and post in the laptop recommendation thread, and because of this I’ve noticed a trend. Thin is in.

Yea, you’re saying. No duh. But to be frank, this is kind of news to me. A laptop is not a cell phone. Nor is it a MP3 player. I honestly disregarded the value of a thin laptop. I just didn’t see why it mattered. Then I bought a Macbook, which was much slimmer than my older Thinkpad, and I started to see why people cared. Thin, when done properly, greatly increases the sense of build quality that you find in a laptop. Holding a thin but tough laptop makes you appreciate the engineering that went into the unit.

Of course, there is also the flip side. There are some laptops (MSI X series, I’m looking to you) that wear their thinness poorly. Holding one feels like holding paper instead of a razor. So, in the interest of buying good laptops, let’s take a look at three laptops that I believe are the best ultra thin laptops available today.

Lenovo X301

The X301 is a strange bird in the Thinkpad lineup. It is an incredibly good ultra thin laptop no matter how you approach it. Although the Lenovo Thinkpad T410s makes a bit of a fuss about being thin, the Thinkpad X301 is where it is really at if you need a ultra thin Thinkpad. Thinkpad X301, measuring .82 inches at its thickest point, is even thinner than the X201.

Inside the Thinkpad X301 you’ll find some serious hardware, although it makes some compromises in order to achieve such an ultra thin profile. The base SU9400 Core 2 Duo is one of Intel’s best ultra-low voltage processor, but it still only clocks at 1.4 Ghz. 4GB of RAM comes standard, as does a 128GB solid state drive. You’ll also find that the display has a matte finish and a resolution of 1440×900, which is high for a 13 inch laptops.

The Thinkpad X301 also (of course) has access to all of the Thinkpad’s business-oriented durability features such as a spill-resistant keyboard, metal hinges and a “roll cage” chassis. You’ll also find the typical Thinkpad business-oriented price. A X301 will set you back  about $2000 bucks.

Buy the Thinkpad X301 at Amazon.com

Dell Vostro V13

Dell has been making big strides on the design front recently, and part of that has been due to a plethora of new ultra thin laptops. Dell’s obsession with thin design has been lead by the flagship Adamo series, including the Adamo Onyx and Adamo Pearl. These expensive ultra thin laptops are only .65 inchs thick and will cost you over $1000 dollars.

So don’t buy one. Instead, take a look at the business-oriented Dell Vostro V13. This laptop uses the same chassis as the Adamo Onyx and Pearl, but it can be purchased for as little as $499. Admittedly, the cheapest model isn’t very well equipped, but a higher-end version with 1.3 Ghz Core 2 Duo ULV processor, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive can be purchased for $700. This makes one of the thinnest ultra thin laptops one of the least expensive to buy.

Buy the Dell Vostro V13 at Dell

Sony Vaio Z Series

The Sony Z Series is what Thor would be like if he was reincarnated as a laptop. This incredibly luxurious unit has a 13.1 inch display with – get this – a standard resolution of 1600×900 that can be upgraded to 1920×1280. Nope, that isn’t a typo. Both displays are beautiful as well – bright, with good viewing angels, and while they are glossy they are don’t have the plastic sheen found on the glossy displays of less expensive laptops.

And it gets better. The Sony Z Series laptops are 1 to 1.2 inches thick. That is a little big for an ultra-thin, but the extra thickness is well used. Instead of a Core 2 Duo with integrated graphics the Sony Z Series offers a Core i5 processor with switchable Nvidia 330M graphics. Again, this is standard, and it is backed up by a 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM.

Of course, having all of this hardware crammed into a small and thin chassis raises the price. You’ll be spending around $2000 for one of these. However, it is totally worth it. Besides, do your kids really need to eat?

Buy the Sony Z Series at Amazon.com