A Parade of Notebook PCs Debuts at CES

Whether tablet, netbook, conventional or ulta-portable, there’s no lack of choice when it comes to buying notebook PCs for your small business. HardwareCentral.com has the details of the newest offerings just announced at CES.

Tablets — except they're called slates now because the Apple tablet allegedly will be — were all the buzz at last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but they're mostly vaporware. Devices like the HP handheld seen in Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's keynote or the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 laptop with detachable slate screen aren't expected to arrive until midyear.

By contrast, conventional notebooks were everywhere at CES, with more new models than there are Cirque du Soleil shows on the Strip (i.e., scores), many featuring Intel's just-unveiled Core i3, i5, and i7 mobile processors. Here's a rundown of the announcements and introductions.

We'll pass quickly over all the new netbooks built around the second-generation Atom CPU that Intel unveiled on December 21. Except for that Atom N450 processor with integrated graphics and the increasing availability of 250GB hard drives (breaking last year's 160GB ceiling), netbooks like Gateway's LT21, Toshiba's Mini NB 305, and HP's Mini 210 and 2102 are mostly variations on the 10.1-inch-screened theme their vendors played last year.

HP's Mini 5102 ($399 and up) and Lenovo's IdeaPad S10-3t ($549), on the other hand, add something new to the netbook formula: Standard on the Lenovo and optional on the HP is a multi-touch display that enables gestures, taps, and swipes across the screen as alternatives to keyboard and touchpad input.

Read the complete CES notebook PC story