The European Commission Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the takeover of Dutch computer maker Packard Bell by Acer of Taiwan, after a one-month examination of the deal.

In a statement Europe’s top competition authority said the deal “would not significantly impede effective competition,” even though the companies compete head-on in the markets for desktops and laptops for professional and private use.

“The market would remain competitive post-merger in all segments of the PC sector with established alternative suppliers such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Toshiba, Sony and Lenovo,” the Commission said.

By The New York Times    Read more>>

The first thing you’ll notice about the Toshiba Satellite A205 is the paint job. The plastic exterior is glossy back of the super-shiny variety, and it’s both a boon and a bane to the A205. On one hand, it looks great. It’s the kind of attention-getting exterior that’s more visually appealing than laptops with magnesium alloy exteriors. On the other hand, it collects fingerprint smudges like a CSI test kit and scratches far too easily, although that’s just the nature of glossy exteriors.

One interesting design choice is the flat bottom. The A205 is 1.55 inches thick from front to back, unlike many mainstream 15.4-inch notebooks which utilize a sloped design that’s thinner in front, usually about an inch, and give off the illusion of a slimmer profile. This may be due to the port arrangement – Toshiba has placed them on the sides instead of the back – but the end result is that a side-by-side comparison makes the A205 seem deceptively larger than comparable models.

By infoSync World    Read more>>