News : New HP chief sees software as 'the glue'

HP's new chief, Léo Apotheker.

Who exactly is Léo Apotheker?
For many American investors and analysts, the new president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard is a relative unknown. HP held a conference call this morning to formally introduce its new chief executive and take questions about what many are calling a curious choice.

The call was brief and didn't get into many specifics other than that software will play a much larger role in HP's future.
"For me the decision to accept [the position] was an easy one. I don't think there's another company in tech that can match HP's opportunity in the marketplace," Apotheker said in his opening remarks. "I have a great appreciation for this company's technology and its people."

Asus UL80JT Review

The good: Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics; slim design.

The bad: Weak battery life; low-voltage Core i3 processor is slower than other Core i3 laptops; too much keyboard flex.

The bottom line: A thin design and Nvidia Optimus automatic-switching graphics make the Asus UL80JT-A1 an initially appealing laptop, but looks can be misleading: the underwhelming CPU and battery life are both serious negatives.

Gateway ID49C08u Review

The good: Slim design; automatic GPU switching; Core i5 processor; good graphics performance.

The bad: Short battery life; flimsy keyboard; poorly designed touch pad.

The bottom line: The Gateway ID49C08 combines speedy Core i5 performance and automatic-switching Nvidia graphics in a small package at a reasonable price, but several small annoyances take away from the experience.

HP Envy 17 Review

The good: Slim, attractive design; full-HD 1080p display; USB 3.0 port.

The bad: Only one GPU option; clickpad still isn't perfect; short battery life.

The bottom line: Though it's still in the upper ranges of current laptop prices, HP's upscale-feeling Envy 17 offers great hardware at a decent price.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 Review

The good: Great keyboard, bright screen, solid performance.

The bad: Thick and heavy, annoying rubberized trackpoint.

 The bottom line: The budget-minded Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14 does its job as a solid small-business laptop, and Lenovo finally throws in a DVD drive, but it's too chunky compared with svelte competitors.

Acer Aspire Timeline 3810TZ-4880 Review

Acer's new Timeline series of laptops, including the 13-inch Aspire 3810T, aims to combine the thin, sexy designs of more expensive laptops with cost-saving, low-power processors. But that's a direction many PC makers are moving in, thanks to budget-friendly CPUs such as the AMD Neo and Intel CULV family, so Acer needed a bigger hook, such as the Timeline's claims of all-day, 8-hour computing.
We generally take such claims with a grain of salt, as they usually require a fairly rigid set of preconditions: Wi-Fi turned off, screen brightness turned way down, and so on. However, the $ ... Expand full review

Acer's new Timeline series of laptops, including the 13-inch Aspire 3810T, aims to combine the thin, sexy designs of more expensive laptops with cost-saving, low-power processors. But that's a direction many PC makers are moving in, thanks to budget-friendly CPUs such as the AMD Neo and Intel CULV family, so Acer needed a bigger hook, such as the Timeline's claims of all-day, 8-hour computing.

Toshiba Satellite L455-S5975 Review

We've said it before, and we'll say it again: especially in this economy, it's hard to hate a laptop that only costs $330. It's even harder to hate a Windows 7 laptop that costs that much. The Toshiba L455-S5975 is, by at least 50 dollars, the least expensive notebook computer in2009. Less expensive than many Netbooks, the L455 sounds too good to be true for a computer with a 15.6-inch screen and Microsoft's newest OS. And, to some extent, it is. Starting with a shape that comes from a time machine dialed to 10 years ago to an underpowered Celeron processor inside--the very same Celeron that we've already seen before in the last retail roundup--the L455 won't ever be confused for anything other than a bargain.