GadgetReview

All right, folks, brace yourselves–Best Buy just leaked its Black Friday deals, even though at this point they’re a little behind the curve;  Sears and Office Depot had theirs out weeks ago.  But given as it’s still about a week and a half out from Black Friday, there’s still plenty of time to call this a leak.

And what they’ve got is pretty interesting, too–check out this list!  There are a LOT of items for sale here, so I’m just going to cherry pick some of the better ones.  The read link will have a bigger list on hand.

• HP Desktop AMD X4 Quad Core, 8GB Memory, 1TB Hard Drive w/20” Monitor, HP Deskjet DJ350 Color Printer & Windows 7 Home Premium – $499.97
• Sony 15” Laptop w/Intel Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD, Windows 7, Sony Headphones, Built-In Blu-ray, Blu-ray Movie – $479.97
• Sony DCR-SX40 Handycam Camcorder – $199.99
• Samsung 5.1 Channel 1000W Home Theater System With Blu-ray Disc Player – $399.99
• Sony PlayStation 3 Package w/120GB Console, Little Big Planet, and Ratchet And Clank – $299.99

Sounds like enough to get you out of your post-holiday turkey coma, doesn’t it?

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In an interesting move, now retailer Orange is getting into the cash for old gadgets game with its Recycle and Reward program. While they don’t have the awesome automated kiosks of other vendors, Orange will give you a quote and a check within a week when you take whatever it is you’d like to get rid of–old mobile phones, laptops, and music players (bigger stuff that the automated kiosks can’t handle) and offers up cash for them.

It IS somewhat limited–no bringing in your old furnace, water heater or what have you; it’s pretty much exclusively a consumer electronics setup–but hey, free cash for stuff you weren’t using anyway?  That’s no small treat.

Also, Orange is also launching its Copy and Keep program, where they’ll charge you a whopping twelve bucks or so to transfer all your media, addresses and contacts from your old mobile phone to your new one.  Pretty useful if you’ve forgotten how or just plain old can’t be bothered.

So if you’re needing a new phone, and want to get rid of the old one, then it’s a great time to think Orange.

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I have seen some THIN laptops in my day, but the Dell Adamo XPS is so thin that it would make supermodels take a look at it and say, damn, eat a SANDWICH or something.  Thin is great and all but there are limits, and the Dell Adamo XPS butts up against all of them.

It’s still a concept at this stage–after all, care to name a battery that’ll fit into a case just under ten millimeters thick? And even if you could find a battery to fit in that tiny a space, how much charge could it possibly hold?  And if you’re on the road, battery life is life.  Who’d buy this if its battery life can’t hold up?  And look at the back–see how it’s raised up a bit?  That’s where you’d normally plug in your cables.  This thing’s keyboard is thinner than an ethernet cable head.

I think this might be stretching a point just a little too…thin…for my tastes.  Considering that it may never launch, we may be concerend for nothing.  But you know we’ll keep our eyes open out here just to seee what we can spot.

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Having just bought a new laptop I was excited to be able to work outside of my basement but wanted to find a nice accessory to keep my computer elevated properly and comfortable at the same time.  I found one at Ikea that I like to call a laptop pillow.

This one pictured above is called the E-Pod Laptop Desk and it is designed to make any sitting situation more enjoyable when using a laptop.  The E-Pod comes in three color choices and looks as if it sort of folds up for easier travel.  It also has a carrying handle.  The one I got from Ikea was only $15 and it has a small pocket in the pillow for your cell phone or whatever.  This E-Pod from BrookStone looks to be of a bit better quality and costs $40.

I must say that I really love my laptop pillow and use it constantly.  If you need something like this definitely don’t hesitate.

[via TheGreenHead]

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You’ve got to hand it to the folks at Samsung.  Just yesterday, Sony pops up with its X series line of laptops.  Today, it’s Samsung’s turn to exhibit an X series line of laptops.

If you were to say that Samsung’s playing a serious round of copycat with their X series, you probably wouldn’t be too far off.  Though not as light or as visually attractive as the Sony X series, Samsung’s will offer plenty of value.  They’re about four pounds, will offer screen sizes anywhere between eleven and fifteen inches, and have an expected battery life of about eight hours, which is a definite step up; my poor old kludge only gets about six.

There’s no word yet on what processors will be used in Samsung’s line, though stirrings exist that say it might be the new line of ultra low voltage dual cores from Intel.  Also included is a kind of facial recognition software called Failsafe that basically won’t let you boot up unless you’re in front of a camera so the system can tell it’s you, and yes, they’re preloading Windows 7 with these–guess you can stick a fork in Windows Vista, huh?

They’re expected to cost about a thousand bucks a unit, however, so the chance of getting super-new chips from Intel in these bad boys is pretty much long odds.  However, it doesn’t look like value’s going to be a problem as they’re really putting quite a bit in these systems.  I think we can all live without the super-new chipsets for a good quality low four-figure laptop.

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Listen up all you college dorm dwellers.  If you’ve got a laptop and don’t want your roommate messing with it, spilling beer on it or losing it to the five finger discounter while you’re in class then you probably wanna check out the DormVault Laptop Safe.  Crafted of ‘rugged steel’, it attaches to the furniture of your choice and since the adhering bolts are on the inside the would be thief can’t just unscrew it and make off with the loot (your laptop) inside.  The thing weighs 9lbs, which should be a testament to its ruggedness, includes a combination lock and holds up to a 17-inch laptop.  You can grab one now from ThinkGeek for $79.99.

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There’s no doubt in my mind that Alienware is the best you can buy when it comes to specs and design in a high-end gaming PC. And now I’m even more tempted to fork out the extra cash for the M17x with Alienware’s latest color, Nebula Red. According to Alienware, red brings out excitement and power, but the only thing it’s likely to bring out is money from your wallet. Costing $99 it might just be a little premium for some.

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Would you buy something like this?  Created by Ben “What The” Heck, this portable Xbox 360 laptop mod will definitely turn more than a few heads at the local corporate coffee shop.  Features include:  an integrated Ethernet port, digital push button volume control, improved ventilation, flush-mount DVD drive, and a Jasper Motherboard.  By the looks of these pics it’s easy to tell the level of craftsmanship applied by Ben and it actually looks like a real product.  Good job buddy!

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I want to be upfront about something, so I’m going to tell you a secret. Both my backpack and my golf bag were manufactured by OGIO, and I love both. Thusly, I had high expectations for this bag. That being said, I definitely wanted to be fair and pound out all the DOWNsides I could muster to even out all the UPsides I was confident I’d find. Fortunately for you, dear reader – I found both.

As I took the bag from the shipping wrapper the first things I noticed were the solid rubberized briefcase handle and the durable feel of the fabric the Messenger VP is constructed with. There were a few stray threads around the seams of the bag but I didn’t get the impression they were going to be an issue. I starting flipping the bag over in my hands and noticed the typical skid plates I expected to find on the bottom of were conspicuously absent. Ultimately this may not make too much of a difference, but surely the bottom will take more of a beating if you’re a city dweller and often put the bag down on the pavement while waiting for the subway or the bus. …Continue reading: Gadget Review: VP Messenger Bag by OGIO

What is it: Case Logic has furthered themselves by polishing their lines of pro photo storage and airport laptop security solutions. Some might not think of Case Logic beyond CD wallets and MP3 player storage, but this stuff was really nice and well constructed.

Features: From updated FAA guideline laptop cases, to fully concealable “suspension webbing” pro photo storage.

Availability: Soon

Price: Various