Microsoft Windows 7 Showcase Lures Lookers with Laptop Hardware

by Cameron Sturdevant

The QX410 is a thin, aluminum-skinned laptop that is shown here with an Intel Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce GT 310M graphics card for just under $830.

Billed as the world’s most powerful gaming PC, the Big O has a built-in Xbox 360 and is shown here with an Intel Core i7 Extreme Processor,12GB RAM and dual Nvidia GTX 480 liquid-cooled graphics cards for $9,999. eWEEK Labs senior analyst Andrew Garcia is shown here getting ready to bowl with a controller-less gesture-sensing system.

The 21.5-inch Sony all-in-one is touch-enabled and carried the event as the best designed and equipped system on display. The J series starts in the mid-$800 range.

The HP all-in-one starts at just under $1,000 and comes with an Intel Core i7 processor and a 23-inch display.

The Dell XPS 14 is a premium laptop with a 14-inch display, an Intel Core i5 processor and 6GB of RAM. The XPS family goes from the 14-inch display device shown here and also includes a 15-inch and 17-inch system.

Lenovo expanded its line from enterprise fleet to modest-size business systems with the ThinkPad Edge. The 14-inch unit shown here retains the classic red pointer but changes out the traditional key caps and dresses the laptop in an approximation of “casual Friday.”

The ASUS NX 90 David Lewis puts two touchpads up near the hinge, thus ensuring that the user must move his or her hands off the keyboard home row to move the pointer, thus destroying a smooth keyboard experience.

The Windows 7 interface looked sharp and clear on this modestly priced 15.4-inch Gateway system.

The tiny Sony VAIO P has an 8-inch screen that looked just fine with Windows 7 and is intended for hit-and-run, on-the-go connectivity with an Intel Atom Z processor, 2GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD.

Windows 7 looked fine on the 12-inch, convertible, multitouch PC. The system shown here was equipped with an Intel Core i5 processor, 3GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive.

The swivel hinge on the Duo is a neat variation on the tired theme of turning a notebook into a tablet. It will be interesting to see if Windows 7 touch-enablement will help this form factor gain traction.