Image from iSuppli

From one of the fastest growing companies in the world, Dell is slowly losing its grip at the top.  Taiwan-based PC maker Acer has managed to supplant the Round Rock-based company as the second-largest PC builder in the world.

According to the third quarterly report by iSuppli, Acer has jumped over Dell to second spot with their computer shipments up with a 16.6 percent year-on-year growth. This is equal to almost 10.74 million PCs or 13.4 percent of the worldwide market of 79.9 million units. continue reading…

Image by Ranting & Raving

How reliable is your laptop? That’s the question posed in a study by warranty company Square Trade as it looked at the three-year service histories of more than 30,000 laptops. The results? Smaller name brands took the top slots while expected giant HP was languishing at the bottom.

In its survey, Square Trade noted that of the top nine companies, the top two—Asus and Toshiba—had the lowest tracked breakdown rate as compared to Dell, Lenovo, Acer and HP.

Asus specifically had fewer than ten percent of notebook failures in the past two years. Meanwhile, Toshiba, Sony, and Apple had better-than-average performance. continue reading…

It’s an incredible feat combining technology, government governance and civic education (as well as a good dose of large-hearted generosity). As of October 13, all Uruguayan students attending state primary schools now have their own laptops.

First started in 2007, the project ended on a conclusive note with Uruguayan President Tabaré Vázquez giving out the last XO model laptops to a group of children at a Montevideo school. This means more than 362,000 students in Uruguay now have a laptop.

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While it could be argued that Apple holds the cards in terms of design, Dell seems to be going for the bling. Laptop cover bling-bling, that is.

Dell has two examples that either goes for gold—or could be way overboard. For example, the Texas-based company is now offering—courtesy of Dell Design Studio—20 classic OPI Lacquer colors along with six holiday special colors for your laptop covers. Yes, that’s right: lacquer-colored laptop colors. But then again, that’s what you get when you partner nail lacquer experts OPI with Dell.

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