Despite its big push for Vista, Microsoft is quietly allowing PC makers to offer an option that lets users "downgrade" to Windows XP, allowing customers to purchase new PCs but stick with the older operating system.
After a long-announced transition, 30 June marks the end of an era at Microsoft that of Windows XP.
Some of Microsoft's most important customers aren't happy with the battery life offered by notebooks running Windows Vista.
Intel will today launch the new Centrino mobile computing platform to Australian customers, promising some modest gains in performance and a few new features for both corporate and consumer users.
The NSW Department of Education and Training will hire hundreds of extra full-time IT staff to support the 220,000 netbooks to be deployed this year, but the fleet's operating system is yet to be announced.
So, it seems the WOW -- for Microsoft's Windows Vista -- is not now, but sometime in the future, maybe.
Not ready for a Vista laptop? Simply want to stick to good old XP? Here are your options on the market.
Although Microsoft is pushing hard to move everyone to the latest version of Windows, there are some market realities that are going to keep Windows XP around for some time likely well beyond the current June deadline for large computer makers to stop selling the older operating system.
Early this decade, Microsoft weathered unrelenting criticism over a controversial set of technologies known as Palladium, which the company envisioned as creating a kind of secure vault to store passwords or medical records.
When comparing the Windows Vista and Mac OS X user experiences, this step-by-step walk-through of Vista's Windows Easy Transfer application shows that there is still some work to be done in Redmond.
Cheap PCs with a Linux operating system seem to have hit the users' sweet spots, with taking the plunge into the alternate OS not nearly as hard as users had thought.
Lenovo's ThinkPad T400 is another fine entry into its portfolio, but be prepared to spend extra to get the features you need.
The T400s is the lightest 14-inch ThinkPad yet from Lenovo just be ready to pay for the convenience.
This is a well-built workstation with quad-core power to spare, although it could do with more storage options...
The W700ds will make a huge dent in both your wallet and your lap, but for power users, it's tough to beat.
If you've seen last year's ThinkPad X300, there are very few surprises in store here, as the X301 is simply a Centrino 2 update.
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