The Asus S400CA-SI30305S model from the PC maker’s VivoBook slim notebook series, is one of the best priced laptops with touch screen display on the market today, besides the X202E series.

For a regular price of $530, the S400CA-SI30305S provides multitouch capability as the crowning feature on a 14-inch 720p screen, ultrabook-class components, and sleek design. Parts hidden inside the 0.8″ slim four-pound silver aluminum chassis with dark gray lid are the 3rd Generation Intel Core i3-3217U dual-core processor at 1.8GHz with Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics, 4GB of RAM memory, and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard drive supplemented by a 24GB solid state drive for faster performance.

The included Core i3-3217U is all you need to do most day-to-day tasks you’d want to do with a PC, but video editing and other hardware intensive tasks are generally better done on the i5 and i7 chips.

To give you impression about performance, here are some PassMark benchmark results:

Intel Pentium B960 (budget standard laptop CPU): 1,896
Intel Core i3-3217U (ultrabook CPU): 2,281
Intel Core i5-3317U (ultrabook CPU): 3,116
Intel Core i3-3120M (standard laptop CPU): 3,329

Asus’ S400CA has a feature set almost as wide as on the standard laptops. It has a webcam, three USB ports (officially, although some retailers in their specs sheet claim there are only two USBs), HDMI and VGA external display connectors, a multi-format card reader, Wi-Fi, and Gigabit LAN. What is missing is a built-in optical drive and Bluetooth.

The keyboard has chiclet-style buttons, but doesn’t sport backlight.

Asus has enhanced sound on this model using SonicMaster technology with Waves MaxxAudio 3, enabling better sound and especially bass through larger speakers and chambers.

The battery life with the provided 3-cell 44 Whrs battery hasn’t been disclosed, but given the battery specs and 14″ display, it doesn’t look too promising.

The Asus S400CA-SI30305S can be found at Best Buy.

Cellphone maker Blu has released three new Android-based big-screen unlocked smaprthones with affordable price tags, namely the Blu Studio 5.0, Studio 5.0 S and Studio 5.3 S.

The cheapest among the trio is the Studio 5.0, sporting a 5-inch 800-by-480 display, the MediaTek MT6577 dual-core Cortex A9-based processor at 1GHz and with Power VR SGX531 graphics, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal memory, a 5-megapixel autofocus back camera with flash, and a front-facing VGA cam. It has a price tag of only $150, which is an excellent price considering the large screen, and mid-range budget internals.

The Studio 5.0 S and 5.3 S belong to the higher end. They have screen sizes and overall dimensions as the main differences, with diagonals of 5″ and 5.3″ respectively. The displays use IPS technology and has a pixel count of 540×960. The 5.0 S and 5.3 S are based on the Qualcomm S4 Play quad-core processor at 1.2GHz CPU, Adreno 203 graphics processor, and 1GB of RAM. The rear 8MP camera has LED flash and autofocus, and is accompanied by a 2MP frontal camera. Their prices are $209 and $229, respectively.

What’s in common for these three models is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean version, dual SIM card support, HSDPA 3G connectivity support, 4GB of internal storage, and storage expandability via microSD.

The new Blu Studio-branded smartphones will be on sale soon in the US, with announced deliveries (probably to retailers) starting this week.

Affordable desktop PCs worth buying these days are rare, because laptops got very cheap and offer performance and features comparable to theirs. One of the exclusions is the Dell Inspiron One IO2020-3667BK Windows 8 all-in-one PC with a 20″ display, Intel Pentium CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive for $460.

The Pentium G645T dual-core processor hidden behind the 1600×900-pixel display panel is a lower power version of the G645. The T-version is slower, running at 2.5GHz, down from 2.9GHz, but it has better energy efficiency with 35W power consumption versus 65W and generates less heat. This computing performance difference is noticeable in PassMark benchmark, but not big. The G645T scores 2,472 points as opposed to 2,602 with the G645. Overall, both versions are good for daily work and entertainment, excluding 3D gaming because of underpowered Intel HD integrated graphics. Amount of 4GB of system memory in the IO2020-3667BK ensures you will be able to run your apps and do heavy multitasking without a problem. Hard drive space is never enough large, but 1TB is a decent amount.

Regarding other features of this Dell Inspiron One AIO PC, worth mentioning are a built-in DVD burner drive, “basic-performance” stereo speakers, built-in webcam, 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth, a total of five USB 2.0 ports, and a 8-in-1 media card reader, all packed into a compact chassis for more space on your desk. Unfortunately, the included USB keyboard and mouse are not wireless to make this system even more clutter-free, but you can buy a wireless input set separately. Another potential downside is absence of video output ports, preventing users from having multi-monitor setups or work on another display.

Dell’s IO2020-3667BK can be ordered via various retailers, but the cheapest price currently is at Best Buy.

The LG Cosmos 3 dual-keyboard feature phone for Verizon Wireless is now available as a pre-paid offer and it costs only $40. The Cosmos 3, with LG-VN251SPP model name for the pre-paid version, is actually the same as the post-paid Cosmos 3, which is free of charge with a new 2-year Verizon contract.

Besides the standard candybar-style number pad on the front, the LG-VN251SPP has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which makes texting much easier, but also adds to the thickness of the phone, measuring 0.63″ in profile and weighing in at 0.29 pounds. It has a small 2″ 320×240-pixel 262K color screen. In specs sheet on some retail websites it’s mistakenly claimed that the display resolution is 1280 x 960. That’s actually the maximal resolution of photos taken with phone’s 1.3MP camera on the back, which has no flash light and can’t record videos.

The battery inside the Cosmos 3 has a capacity of 900mAh, which is good for up to about 5.5 hours of talk time or about 6-7 days in stand-by mode, according to PhoneArena’s video review below.

The LG-VN251SPP / Cosmos 3 supports CDMA 3G mobile broadband, but it lacks Wi-Fi connectivity. It has a microSD card slot and Bluetooth.

The phone runs on LG’s factory software, with access to Internet, including email, Facebook, and Twitter via pre-installed apps, as well as with a music player and document viewer for opening files such as .doc, .pdf, xls, and similar.

LG’s pre-paid Verizon phone can be ordered for $40 via Best Buy, while directly via Verizon it’s $60 with $15 of AirTime credit included.

The Apex LE3943 39″ HDTV is on sale for $310 and is only about $10 more expensive than the similarly specced Insignia NS-39L240A13 & Element ELDFC403HA, but it brings a much nicer design, even on the first sight.

That’s because the Apex LE3943 is slimmer in profile, thanks to utilized LED backlight display technology, and also has a very thin LCD bezel. Overall, it gives the TV an very svelte appearance. In other aspects, the TV is pretty much average for the class. It has 1080p resolution which is a must for a TV that large and the refresh rate is conventional 60Hz. Apex claims the LE3943 has 1,500:1 contrast ratio and 280cd/m2 brightness. It’s interesting that both values are far below those listed on specs sheets of the aforementioned Insignia and Element. Response time of the display panel is relatively slow 8ms. HDMI input count is 3 and the HDTV also has VGA video in, component and composite in, and analog and digital audio outputs. For sounds, there are down-firing stereo speakers with unknown power, and Dolby Digital audio technology is also present.

Overall, the Apex LE3943 doesn’t look exceptionally good when it comes to specifications and doesn’t have fancy features such as Internet connectivity or 3D, but it is probably the best looking 40-inch TV set for about $300 and one of the cheapest 40-inchers available for that amount of money.

You can find the TV at the given price at Target.

UPDATE: The 39-inch TCL LE39FHDF3300TA with slim bezel, 1080p, and LED backlight is currently $280 at Amazon.

Best Buy and Walmart currently each have a ~40″ HDTV on offer for about only $300. The former retailer sells the Insignia NS-39L240A13 for $299.99, while the latter carries the Element ELDFC403HA for $298.

Both the Insignia NS-39L240A13 and Element ELDFC403HA are pretty much similar. They boast full HD 1080p resolution and use older CCFL backlight technology, as opposed to LED. They have a 5,000:1 contrast ratio, as claimed by both manufacturers.

When it comes to differences, the diagonal on the Insignia is a little bit shorter , measuring 39″, whereas the Element is a full 40-incher. The second difference is a refresh rate of 60Hz on Insignia, while the Element refreshes the picture at 120Hz. 120Hz refresh rate is helpful for avoiding judder during playback of content recorded at 24fps, usually stored on Blu-rays. In the most of other cases, 60Hz is perfectly fine. Another advantage of the ELDFC403HA, at least according to the official specifications, is higher brightness. It’s 450cd/m2, versus 350cd/m2 on the NS-39L240A13.

Regarding other bits, it’s important to note that the TVs include three HDMI inputs. Unfortunately, detailed specifications of the Element model are not available at the time of this writing, but judging from specs sheets of other similar models by the same maker, it very likely has a VGA input as well and stereo speakers. For the Insignia, it is certain that besides these features it additionally provides DVI video input. Power of its speakers is 2x8W.

Here are the product pages for the Insignia NS-39L240A13 and Element ELDFC403HA. Both are good buying choices, considering the $300 price tag, which was unimaginable for a 40″ HDTV a year or two ago. Also, these TVs represent the cheapest ~40-inch HDTVs on the market today.

However, many customers will find the slimmer 310-dollar Apex LE3943 much more attractive looking than these two and it also has LED backlight technology.

UPDATE: The TCL LE39FHDF3300TA with a 39″ diagonal, slim LCD bezel, full HD resolution, and LED backlight is currently $280 at Amazon, making it a better deal than the Insignia and Element.

Right now, the cheapest laptop with an Intel Core i3 processor is the Gateway NE56R49U, offering the 3rd Generation i3-3110M dual-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive in a 15.6-inch form factor for $350.

The i3-3110M is a big step up from the Intel Pentium mobile CPUs, which are present in today’s ~$300 laptops, mostly in the form of the dual-core B900-series. The former supports HyperThreading technology for up to two computing threads per core (for a total of four), which is missing on the Pentiums and also QuickSync is there for faster video editing and conversion. Translated into benchmark scores, the i3 racks up 3,043 PassMark CPU points, whereas the fastest Pentiums – 2020M and B980, score 2,346 and 2,008 respectively.

There’s no dedicated graphics in this laptop, which is normal for the budget class. It manages its 720p display with help of the Intel HD 4000 integrated GPU. The processor and its graphics are not intended for gaming, but 1080p video playback is fully supported and all of your daily work will be completed effortlessly on the NE56R49U. Upgrading to the Core i5 is justified only for those who do a lot of video editing, design, and other hardware-demanding stuff.

The system uses a conventional six-cell battery, but we have no info on battery life.

Let’s take a look at more visible aspects of the Gateway. It does have a DVD burner and sides of the laptop are populated with a standard selection of ports and slots, including three USB 2.0 connectors, HDMI for hooking up to TVs or monitors, the good old VGA monitor out, and a multi-in-one media card reader. The Gateway NE56R49U has stereo speakers and gets you online via either Wi-Fi or Ethernet LAN.

The notebook has a spacious keyboard with relatively big keys and a dedicated number pad on the left, but the trackpad could have been larger.

The system is encased in a glossy plastic chassis, which is black on the lid and silver on the palmrests.

Overall, the Gateway NE56R49U is definitely worth spending your money on, especially performance-wise, but don’t expect fancy looks of this affordable mobile machine.

It can be ordered via Best Buy only currently. Before purchasing, please check some other affordable notebook deals you can find online.

If you want to grab an exceptionally cheap but high-quality Windows Phone 8 smartphone with 4G support, thanks to Nokia, T-Mobile, and Walmart, you can now get the latest Nokia Lumia 521 for as low as $130.

Nokia’s 521 for the T-Mobile network was previously expected to cost $180 off-contract, but for $130 at Walmart it’s probably the best deal in the entry-level smartphone arena at the time of this writing.

The Win 8 phone delivers a 800×480 screen resolution on a 4-inch IPS screen, the Snapdragon S4 1GHz dual-core processor with Adreno 305 graphics, 512MB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. The Lumia 521 has a 5MP camera on the back, but it lacks a frontal cam. The lack of the front camera and lack of NFC support are specs-wise the only drawbacks when you compare the 521 / 520 to the next device up in the Lumia hierarchy, the $200+ Lumia 620 with a smaller 3.8″ screen.

The bad news is that the phone is currently sold out online. But, the product page on Walmart.com is still alive and it is possible to find the device in select Walmart stores via the “Check store availability” option.

The Lumia 521 isn’t a Walmart exclusive, so it is expected to hit other retailers soon, as well as T-Mobile.

If you want to see how the Lumia 521 (actually the 520 worldwide model) looks like live, check out the playlist of hands on videos below.

The ASUS VivoBook X202E-DH31T, which is currently on sale at Amazon for a surprisingly low price of $425, is the cheapest known notebook PC with Windows 8 and a touchscreen display. It can be even found for as low as $400 during some discount sales online.

Coming in an ultrabook-like form factor with a 0.9-inch thin profile, the X202E-DH31T delivers a 11.6-inch 720p multitouch panel displaying Windows 8, the ultrabook-use 3rd Generation Core i3-3217U dual-core processor from the “Ivy Bridge” Intel platform, 4GB of memory, and a 500GB hard drive. With these specs the X202E-DH31T has more computing power than many Intel Atom-based tablets with Win 8. Not only that, the touchscreen laptop makes Lenovo’s, Acer’s, and other non-touch ultrabook alternatives with similar prices much less attractive now.

In other aspects, the ultraportable is a kind of a fully equipped notebook with a 1MP camera, stereo speakers, HDMI, two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0, Wi-Fi, and Gigabit LAN.

The main downside of the Asus could be a lack of convertibility, meaning that you can’t transform it into a tablet so it is less convenient for use in some scenarios such as bed or sofa web surfing. In addition, touching a vertically positioned screen can be troublesome ergonomics-wise and the notebook’s weight of 2.9 pounds can’t compete against slate tablets without the keyboard. Also, the included 2-cell battery doesn’t look promising when it comes to battery life and the X202E VivoBook series generally have run time of less than 3 hours.

Overall, the X202E is a good alternative to both Windows 8 tablets, including Microsoft’s own Surface, and ultrabook replacement laptops.

If you want to see how the laptop looks like live, you can take a look at the X202E series overview.

Note: Published October 17 2012, updated February 24 2013 and May 8 2013.

If Hewlett-Packard keeps its promise claimed in the official announcement of the new Probook laptops, we will have on the market business-oriented notebooks for as low as $250 soon.

The PC maker said the HP ProBook 200-series laptops, namely the Intel-based 14″ ProBook 240 and 15.6″ 250, as well as AMD-powered 15.6″ 255, will be available later this month. As expected, the 200-series will be built around the entry CPUs by the two biggest PC chip manufacturers. The HP 240 and 250 will ship with processors ranging from the entry Intel Celeron to mid-range Core i5, whereas the 255 will come with AMD’s very basic E1 and E2, as well as middle-of-the-road A4 and A6 CPUs.

It’s also worth noting that all of the listed models will have 1,366×768 screen resolution. RAM and hard drive choices go up to 6GB and 750GB, respectively, while the HP 240 will additionally provide the AMD Radeon HD 7450M dedicated video card.

OS choices are Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, and Ubuntu Linux.

Judging from the published image of the HP 200-series, the laptops will sport the same industrial design as the current HP 650 (business) / 2000 (consumer) budget lineup, with glossy plastics all over them and tile-style keyboards.

We assume that the cheapest variant will be a ProBook 255 configuration with one of the AMD E1 CPUs (such as the E1-1500) and a 320GB hard drive, since the cheapest laptops on the market today have components like these.

Hewlett-Packard has also unveiled the ProBook 400 laptops with a wider range of available component options, more attractive design, and higher prices.