Personal Computers

Lighting up Kickstarter this week is the Geminos X, a fresh and very tidy approach to multi-screen monitor setups. Two 24-inch monitors unfold vertically on an ergonomic stand, with a built-in webcam, a sound system, and a single cable to your PC.

Not everybody needs powerful computers – mini PCs can be great for work, media centers, or some modest gaming. Minisforum is now unveiling the EliteMini H31G, a small PC with a dedicated GPU that should let it run some more heavy-duty games.

The ThinkPad X1 Fold unveiled at CES and set to go on sale this year looks almost identical to the prototype Lenovo teased last May and is designed to combine the power and usability of a laptop with the portability of a smartphone.

The Apple-1, launched in July 1976, was the computer that helped propel a two-man business operating from a suburban garage into the world's most valuable company a short 35 years later. This month one of the few remaining Apple-1 operating manuals hits the auction block in Boston.

A cybernetic pioneer in the form of a fully functional "Byte Shop"-style Apple I computer is going on the block at RR Auction. One of the most significant early personal computers of the 1970s, the restored original Apple I board with its components and accessories is estimated to fetch US$300,000.

A 1976 Apple 1 motherboard was sold for US$905,000 at auction, making it the most expensive Apple computer ever sold. It is in working condition and complete with a vintage keyboard and Sanyo monitor. It leads a range of scientific relics sold at last week's History of Science auction in New York.

With the rate of technological advancement sometimes obscuring the true worth of some of our landmark innovations, sales like the upcoming History of Science auction at Bonhams New York could provide fine opportunities for medium-term investments in rare collectibles.

The Silent Power PC ditches noisy electric fans in favor of an open-air metal foam heatsink with an enormous surface area that passively cools the PC through the microcirculation of air through the foam.

The Ubuntu Edge concept is a dual-boot smartphone that can become the brains of a desktop computer when connected to a monitor. The developers have launched on Indiegogo to fund a limited production run.

Researchers in China are aiming to take the operating system (OS) to the cloud with TransOS, a cross-platform, cloud-based OS.

Windows 8 represents a big change for Microsoft’s industry leading OS, breaking from tradition by doing away with the long serving Start button and replacing it with a tile based and touch-friendly Metro UI.

Intel has launched its first desktop PC motherboard with Thunderbolt I/O technology: the DZ77RE-75K.