Kid Dynamic

@sonicyoof

Exactly. The US has lost manufacturing jobs because our workers insist on good working conditions and a decent lifestyle, which drove up costs. We (the US manufacturing industry) can't compete with cheap labor from other countries, especially when we (the US consumer) insist on absurdly cheap electronics.

Now that China's in the spotlight, their workers are realizing that they have some say in the matter, so they're doing something to improve their working life. Which will inevitably increase costs to their employers. Give it 10 years, and they'll be unionized and have a 40-hour workweek with benefits and vacation time. Give it 50 years, and they'll be outsourcing to Strambonia or New Gorfnia or whatever the new "emerging economy" will be.

Give it a hundred years, and I bet it'll come back full circle -- the US will be so desperate for work that we'll gladly give up our cushy living wages and free time. Once our economy's trashed and all our business fail (except the ones that are "too big to fail" of course), the worker here will be so desperate that they'll take anything that puts food in their mouths. Chinese corporations will see this and move in. Or, more accurately, American companies will make cheap gadgets for the Chinese consumer.

Or maybe by then we'll all have learned our lesson? Nah...

@KidDynamic

(PS my Chrome incompatibility comment is for Chrome on OSX. Works fine in Chrome for Windows.)

@ttringle "All 3 browsers"? Um, there are more than 3. Personally, I think Chrome is the best browser on the market, by leaps and bounds. Only problem? Netflix doesn't recognize Chrome, for the exact same reason it didn't recognize Safari 5.

Not sure why Netflix haven't bothered to include Chrome in their user agent string check, since it uses the same engine as Safari, and works great with Netflix if you hack it to pretend that it IS Safari. Annoying.

@jamesyboy 2 extra Gigs of RAM, backlit keyboard, SD slot and Firewire. Also thinner, more durable, and a tiny bit lighter. But, no not a huge difference.

I went to order this MacBook, but after adding the additional 2G RAM, it was 1099, without a backlit keyboard and SD reader. So I went ahead and got the MBP instead.

Um, now that you've edited this post, your title needs to be changed -- how is a 16gbps interconnect "dimming" Light Peak? If anything, it's helping it. It seems like the title's just there to be "funny".

@htd UM, guys? Have you TRIED touching an on-screen button that's 1/4" square? Because that's what you'd get with full HD rez on a small screen like this. And Windows doesn't allow easy customization of button sizes.

I have a 12" 1280x800 screen, and I get annoyed when I try to hit the red X, let alone stuff like browser controls and on-screen keyboard. On the other hand, I have an older model with 1024x768 rez at 10" and it's just about perfect.

It's not all about numbers, people. Touch PCs have a different audience than your typical movie-watching video-gaming crowd.

After all my hassles with my brand-new Lenovo, I'm never going to buy this brand again. It's Dell for me all the way, baby. :)

@beq Re touchpad. -- yeah, the tablets don't have touchpads. Strange, if you ask me. Maybe it's because of the funky latching system. It leaves a pretty big hole in the wrist rest. (looking at mine now...) I think I can see China.

@Xephrey Note. As a user of a current X200T (multitouch) tablet, I have no pressure sensitivity in Photoshop. For some reason, Wacom decided not to include it in their drivers. So, please don't assume, as I did, that having Wacom inside will make things work properly. It only works in certain models.

On the other hand, my sensitivity and accuracy (in apps that use MS's Inking functions, like Sketchbook Pro) are phenomenal. Well, except for the very edge. That area's always been a problem with Wacom tabs.

It's a bit of a twist that they're allowing bandwidth hogs like SlingPlayer, while still charging a premium for SMS. I don't get why I'm paying extra on top of my data plan for the privilege of sending 256k of data, while a SlingBox user crams hundreds of megs through the network for free. Or at least without additional charge.