Just a few short weeks after eMachines outed its EL1300 line of SFF PCs, the company is hitting us up again with a new trio of full-size desktops. The ET1300-02, ET1810-01 and ET1810-03 are all encased within a luminous white mini-tower and ship with a matching LCD monitor, speakers and a keyboard. As for specs, the $449.99 ET1300-02 checks in with an AMD Athlon X2 4850e (2.5GHz) CPU, Vista Home Premium, NVIDIA's GeForce G100 (512MB), 3GB of DDR2 memory, a 160GB hard drive, 18x SuperMulti DVD burner, multicard reader, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs and an 18-inch E182H display. The $369.99 ET1810-03 steps to a 2.2GHz Pentium E2210 CPU, GeForce 7500 integrated graphics and just a single VGA port, while the $299.99 ET1810-01 cranks it down to a 1.6GHz Celeron 420 and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. The trio should be filtering out to respected retailers as we speak.

Sony's finally throwing US consumers a bone by offering its VAIO P with a faster "1.6GHz Atom" processor we presume to be the Z530. Model VGN-P698E also adds a 128GB SSD to the mix along with a Verizon WWAN module and GPS radio. Problem is, the US Version doesn't have an XP option like the VAIO P in Japan let alone the 1.86GHz Atom Z540 option. That means you'll be stuck watching Vista Home Premium overwhelm that Atom processor and integrated GMA500 graphics when Windows 7 and those new Tegra-based smartbooks (running CE or Android) arrive in October. Come on, don't you want a glorified $1,500 netbook?

Doom and gloom warnings about a new Microsoft operating system from some corners sure aren't anything new, but it looks like a particular licensing issue with Windows 7 could well cause some serious headaches for businesses transitioning from Windows XP. As InfoWorld reports, as things stand now, businesses that buy PCs before April 23, 2010 with Windows 7 preinstalled will have the option to downgrade them to Windows XP, which will let them upgrade to Windows 7 whenever they're finally ready to make the transition. Businesses that buy Windows 7-loaded PCs on or after April 23rd, however, will only have the option to downgrade to Windows Vista which, as Gartner analyst Michael Silver notes, is obviously of little help to XP-based organizations. Of course, Windows 7 does have its much talked about XP Mode, but Silver says that won't help many businesses since their IT departments would still be faced with the added workload resulting from managing a whole new OS. There are, however, a few workarounds, like Microsoft's Software Assurance Program, but those all involve an added cost, added work, or both.

Ouch. We're guessing this is one that the suits at Best Buy would like to have back. A leaked company memo detailing how the retailer will handle Windows 7 upgrades has accidentally given the world a tasty tidbit to opine upon. The note starts off as such:

"Microsoft is launching Windows 7 in mid-October 2009. This new operating system isn't just a "Vista that works" program - it's a new operating system with improved productivity, functionality and creativity that uses less computer resources."

Never mind the fact that we never knew an OS could posses "improved productivity" -- how about admitting that Vista, in effect, doesn't "work." Moving on, the note also makes clear that any PC sold with Vista Home Premium, Business or Ultimate between June 26th and the Windows 7 launch day (October 22nd) will be eligible for a free upgrade to Win7. Better still, the individual OSes also qualify for the update, and starting on June 26th, Best Buy will begin "pre-selling" the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade ($49.99) and the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade ($99.99). Have a look at the full letter below, and if you've come here for advice, here's the best we've got: don't buy a PC at Best Buy until June 26th.

Face it: in between waiting for Windows 7 to launch and tweaking the XP build on your newly purchased netbook, there's this little thing called Windows Vista that needs to be maintained. Today, Microsoft did its part and released the standalone installers for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Service Pack 2 for Vista and Server 2008. Now it's all up to you. Hit the read links to patch the Wow with a little SP2 Meh.

[Thanks, Justin W.]

Read -- 32-bit
Read -- 64-bit

Fascinating. Sony just figured out a simple truth of ultra-portable computing: for all its beauty, elegant hardware packed into a diminutive chassis will never make up for a perpetually sluggish OS, at least not for long. While it comes late to this understanding, Sony is finally making XP a standard load on its new VAIO P model VGN-P50. Not exactly aspirational, mind you, and very netbook-like... but at least it gets the OS out of the way of your applications unlike the original VAIO P Vista build. Any by not having to downgrade yourselves (or upgrade to Windows 7 RC), you'll keep all of Sony's optimizations like the VAIO P's XMB interface. Starting June 6th, our Japanese friends will also see a 2GHz Atom Z550 processor bump in addition to WWAN data as standard. They'll even toss in a 256GB SSD if you tick the right box. While we'd typically expect these specs to go global, the fact that we're still stuck with a 1.33GHz processor Stateside makes us doubtful, bitter even, and more than a tad envious. Available June 6th in Japan starting at ¥85,000 (about $900).

[Via Akihabara News]

While a good number of its machines are already running the OS -- about 13 percent at this point -- the United States Army has mandated that before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, 2009 that all of its Windows-powered computers must switch from XP to Vista, presumably and hopefully with Service Pack 2. Additionally, all Office 2003 users will have to upgrade to the 2007 variant, but thankfully, someone with a little Vista experience made sure to omit standalone weapons systems from the mandate -- you know, because there's not really time to click through eight confirmation boxes when launching a time-sensitive homing missile. All jesting aside, we're flummoxed that the Army didn't just wait for Windows 7 to roll out in a few months before making this decision, but hey, what's a few more billion in upgrade costs next year, right?

[Via HotHardware]

It's not quite on the level of some of Microsoft's past patent showdowns, but a Texas federal jury found yesterday that the company should pay a still hefty $200 million in damages to Canadian software firm i4i Ltd for some supposed wrong doing. That company had alleged that Microsoft knowingly infringed on one of its patents in both Word and Vista, which apparently concerned "manipulating a document's content and architecture separately." For its part, Microsoft unsurprisingly begs to differ, and says that "the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," adding that it will, of course, "ask the court to overturn the verdict."

For years now, those in power at the top of the CableCARD chain have told you that installing your own CableCARD within your own HTPC was simply impossible. "OEM or bust," they said. It's a good thing they're wrong, isn't it? Over at Engadget HD, we've assembled a guide that explains how to get your existing media center PC to play nice with a dedicated internal CableCARD tuner, and the whole process just might be easier than you've ever imagined. Give it a look right here.

True, Sanyo's LP-WXU700 is limited to a WXGA (1280 x 800) pixel image. But it's still the world's first to transmit that video over 802.11b/g/n (draft 2.0). Grabbing wireless video off your Vista PC is a snap thanks to the projector's Windows Embedded CE 6.0 software with Video Streaming Function that links back to Vista's Network Projector Function. Spec-wise we're looking at a 0.74-inch 3LCD panel capable of projecting a 100-inch image at a distance of 2.5 to 4-meters at 3,800 lumens with a 500:1 contrast ratio. Sanyo even tosses in a single HDMI jack in addition to the usual analog inputs. While, it's targeted at offices and schools, it wouldn't surprise us to see this ¥62,790 (about $642) projector show up in make-shift home theaters and gaming rooms when it launches in June.

Update: Oops, dropped a 0 from the price. It's actually ¥627,900 or about $6,445 according to the native English press release -- but even that doesn't sound right.

[Via Akihabara News]

Just because Windows 7 is right around the corner doesn't mean Microsoft intends to immediately sweep Vista under the rug and forget about it. After some confusion around the 'nets today, a company spokesperson confirmed with PC World that its policy is to back an OS for at least four years from launch, meaning January 2011 here, but also said it plans to cut ties and drop mainstream support for the three consumer models within three years, before April 2012. Despite the minimum, most Windows variants have seen longer lifecycles -- XP, for example, had mainstream support for eight years after launch. Business and Enterprise users will still receive security updates until April 2017. Sure, it's good to see people will still have the option for Vista further down the road, but we don't expect a lot of OEMs or consumers will be opting for it once 7 goes gold.

Read - Vista's fading support
Read - XP's support lifecycle

For those who need a little something more from their netbooks, at least while at home, Century's all-in-one dock should help out in that department. It fits just under the little laptop and features a pop-up fan to help with cooling, 8x DVD-writer, and a slot for a 2.5-inch SATA HDD or SSD drive, because let's face it, your digitized copy of the complete Doctor Who series probably isn't gonna all fit on your portable. It's compatible with XP and Vista, but no word on how well it'll jibe with Linux. It looks to be on sale now in Japan for ￥9,980 (US $100), and if you're needing some more intimate shots, Akihabara's got a hands-on with it.

[Via Everything USB]

Read - Product page
Read - Hands-on

Looking to find out what's the better gaming experience out there right now -- Windows 7 beta or Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 -- the folks at PC Perspective put both operating systems through the ringer with help from seven graphics cards running the gamut of price ranges. Overall, three ATI Radeon HD and four NVIDIA GeForce cards were pitted with six games and applications in one of the lengthiest benchmarking features we've ever read. AMD / ATI gets credit for being the first to release combined drivers that work on both OSs, and with one lone exception, performance on the Windows 7 machine was equal to or better than Vista. That said, the recomendations for each system is the same: ATI gets an advantage here for cards in the $120 to $130 range, but the competition is much closer as you start looking at more expensive models. Hit up the read link for technical details that you can shake an anti-aliased stick at.

It looks like the long-awaited Release Candidate build of Vista SP2 is hitting the streets today, alongside Server 2008 R2. According to Ars Technica, these guys will soon be available for testers via Windows Update, as a standalone installer, or as a slipstreamed version for select languages, including English, Spanish, German, French, and Japanese. Rumor has it that Microsoft is gearing up for a final release date sometime in April.