Samsung Series 7 Laptops

I just published an article on laptops I am considering. I left the Samsung Series 9 off the list of possibilities because it is way too expensive.

Samsung just announced the Series 7 laptops. Two new laptops… 13″ & 15″. According to PCMag, the 13″ laptop is closer to a 14″ because the bezel is so small they were able to fit a 14″ screen into a 13″ chassis. Nice. And the 14″ screen comes at a resolution of 1600 x 900. Perfect!

If you read my article you will see I am on the fence between the Toshiba R835 and the Lenovo T420i. The R835 is only 3.2 pounds and gets 6-7 hours of battery life (depending on who’s review you read). The T420i is a 14″ laptop that can be had with a 1600 x 900 resolution display.

The Samsung Series 7 has the chance to beat them both. If the weight is reasonable, and the battery life is good then I might have to put the Series 7 on the top of my list.

Should HP Revive the TouchPad

In my last post I informed you about HP’s announcement that it was discontinuing the TouchPad less than 2 months after introducing it.

Then HP dropped the price from the already discounted $399 to $99. And I missed it. I heard about this too late to buy one. In fact, I chuckled all weekend as I saw commercials on TV showing the $399 price. Damn!!!! I want one.

O.K. So, you must know by now that everyone sold out of the TouchPad when its price dropped to $99 (for 16GB) and $149 (for 32GB). So why doesn’t HP get back into the TouchPad game.

Hear me out… the TouchPad was not selling — Best Buy asked HP to take them back. But that was at a price of $499 (or $399). Once they dropped to 100 bucks… Ba-Bamm! They flew off the shelves. And keep this in mind… they flew off the shelves even though it was a dead product.

If a discontinued tablet at $99 is better than an iPad at $499, how much should the price be for HP to outsell Apple with a fully supported product. HP could bring the TouchPad back at $199 for 16GB and $249 for 32GB and it would still sell like hot cakes.

They could charge the extra $100 because it is not a dead product. And they would sell so many of them that the Apple iPad would instantly have real competition. Remember, developers go where the numbers are. That’s why so many companies are writing software and games for the iPad. If the numbers swung toward the TouchPad because it was less than half the price of that Apple product… where would the apps be? Yep… in WebOS… on the TouchPad.

I wrote about this before. If you want to beat Apple you have to be better… and cheaper. HP just proved that you can beat Apple by being a lot cheaper, and only have to be good enough. They should continue the TouchPad at $199 or less… and watch the flood gates continue until Apple is playing catch up.

If you sell it cheap… the customers and developers will come.

One more thing… Apple makes 30% on every app sale… for doing nothing but having an App Store. HP could do the same thing. That’s how you make the profit. You sell the hardware at a loss… to beat Apple… then collect only 20% of the app sales… to undercut Apple again. This will bring all the people to your platform and you win.

Will HP have the guts to finish what they started? NO! Maybe BlackBerry or one of the Android tablet makers will take up the gauntlet that HP threw down.

Cadillac ELR – Chevy Volt With Class

Cadillac has announced it will produce the ELR. This is an extended range electric car. Sound familiar? It should, its basically a Cadillac version of the Chevy Volt…. and I want one.

I love the idea of a premium small car that happens to get great gas mileage. Wow! I hope this really does make it to production. It will be at the top of my list… when I have a garage with an output to plug it in to.

 

HP TouchPad – Easy Come… Easier Go

Wow, HP already threw in the towel on its webOS based TouchPad (link) after only 48 days on the market. Get this… PCMag just reviewed the TouchPad this month. Yesterday HP announced it would discounting support for all webOS devices. That was fast!!!

I am reminded of a scene from You’ve Got Mail. Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman & John Randolph are talking about another Mom & Pop book store that just closed down. They we making shooting gestures with their fingers. Pow, pow… another one bites the dust.

I wonder if Steve Jobs is doing the same thing in his office today? At the least he must be thinking it.

So… will Blackberry be next to drop out of the tablet wars… without ever putting up a real fight?