PC tech support: Apple shines, say our readers

Which computer company is tops in terms of free tech support? Don't expect it to be anyone on the Windows side of the computer world.

Our latest survey on computer tech support, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center and drawn from our readers' personal experiences with 10,000 desktop and laptop computers, finds that Apple owners have much to smile about. Apple's tech support was able to solve Mac problems more than 80 percent of the time, according to those surveyed who used Apple's support.

Overall, however, the news isn't stellar when it comes to using tech support to fix annoying computer problems. According to those surveyed, problems were solved for only about 60 percent of those who actually had to contact a manufacturer for help. What's more, many computer makers' free technical support policies end in a year or less. (One notable exception is, again, Apple. Free phone support runs out after 90 days, but you can get unlimited support at Apple stores—if you live near one.)

As such, salesmen will try to pitch an optional, extra-cost "extended" service plan. Our general advice is to skip such pricey extended service warranties. But if you absolutely need the hand-holding or know you'll travel everywhere with your laptop, you might want to consider one—especially since our latest report on extended service plans for computers (available to subscribers) finds that a few companies' extended plans do offer significantly better tech support compared to their limited free services.

ConsumerReports.org subscribers also have online access to more information, including which laptop tech support and desktop tech support scored among the lowest in our readers' satisfaction (Hint: It's a top-selling computer maker) and how to get free computer help.

RSA 2008: Only you can prevent cyber-attacks

Ira Winkler looks like a guy with a lot on his mind. And rightly so. After all, he helped orchestrate a hack of a power company, at the request of the company itself, which wanted to test its defenses. It took Winkler, who is president of the Internet Security Advisors Group, and his team just a day to break in. If he'd wanted to, he could potentially have turned out the lights on the power company's customers—or worse, since this company ran a nuclear reactor.

Obviously, the company's defenses did not hold up well. What was most striking was how easy it was for Winkler and his team to break in. One step in accomplishing the task involved tricking employees into clicking on an e-mail that downloaded malicious code onto their work computers.

"There is a major storm brewing that is receiving insufficient attention from the government," Winkler said.

RSA Conference: Assessing online threats

I'm attending the RSA Conference in San Francisco—billed as the "world's largest security conference and expo"—where security software maker Symantec today revealed a few of the latest online threats, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff offered a few insights into what the federal government is doing to protect U.S. cyberspace.

The biggest threat to your personal data, according to Symantec, comes from the loss of laptops, hard drives, and USB drives, which accounted for 57 percent of the data loss outlined in the company's latest Internet Security Threat Report, released today. In addition, 70 percent of the malicious code unleashed in the last six months of 2007 was meant to steal confidential information. Finally, the creation of malicious software is now outpacing the creation of "good" programs, said Steve Trilling, vice president of Symantec Research Labs.

All this stolen information ends up in an underground marketplace that works just like a legitimate economy, Trilling said. Stolen eBay accounts go for about $8, e-mail passwords for $30, credit cards for as little as 40 cents, and bank accounts for up to $1,000 or so, depending on how much money is in the account. Interestingly, the virtual world is one of the most lucrative. A stolen World of Warcraft account can be worth 100 times more than a credit card.

A Lenovo laptop that knows your face

I hate passwords. Or more correctly, I hate how many passwords, PINs and security codes/answers I have to remember.

There are passwords and access codes to get into my home and office computers; my cell phone; my work and personal e-mail accounts; my home, office and cell phone voicemails; my online bank accounts; my wireless home network equipment; my accounts with Web sites such as ConsumerReports.org and this blog...

Maybe that's why I was very interested in the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510, one of the latest notebooks Consumer Reports is testing for our upcoming laptop computer Ratings update. Its most unique feature: It uses your face as the key to personal computer security.

The IdeaPad uses VeriFace, a "facial recognition" program installed in the IdeaPad.  Put simply: You register yourself (and anyone else that you want to have access to the laptop) by letting the software "scan in" the faces in front of the built-in, 1.3-megapixel webcam. Those facial images can then be associated with logins—to a Windows Vista "user" account, for example. That way if you've set the Lenovo to "lock" after a period of inactivity, getting back in is as simple as facing the webcam at the top of the IdeaPad's 15.4-inch LCD screen. This facial recognition scheme can also be used to log you into your Web-based e-mail and other accounts that normally require you to type in a user name and password.

You can review how the Lenovo IdeaPad works by watching our video using the player embedded in this post.

As with other biometric-based security devices (such as fingerprint scanners), VeriFace worked well and wasn't spoofed by simple trickery. But this 007-type approach to PC security wasn't completely flawless. (Hint: Those who wear hats and reflective glasses or typically use their laptops in badly-lit places might have second thoughts about facial recognition security.) And VeriFace still requires typed-in passwords as a back-up means of access—which means it is no less vulnerable to hackers and code-cracking software.

We're still testing the Lenovo IdeaPad and will include it in our Ratings of laptop computers soon on ConsumerReports.org. But one shortcoming that was obvious to me and other testers: Its LCD screen reflected light—a lot. Under our video studio's bright lights, the screen acted like a mirror. Perhaps that's so you can better examine your face before telling the Lenovo's VeriFace software, "I'm ready for my close-up."

—Paul Eng

Microsoft cuts prices on Vista

Price alert: Microsoft is dropping prices on certain versions of its Vista operating system, starting with the release of Service Pack 1 in mid-March.

The upgrade version of Vista Home Premium will drop from $159 to $129, although pricing for the full version will remain the same. The full version of Vista Ultimate will drop from $399 to $319, and the upgrade version goes from $259 to $219.

You can already get a better deal on Vista from Amazon.com, where the Home Premium upgrade is selling for $95 and the Ultimate upgrade for $195.

But that's only a good deal if you want Vista. There are plenty of XP users sticking to that older, tried-and-true operating system, and plenty of Vista users "downgrading" back to XP themselves.

—Donna Tapellini

Solid-state drives for MacBook Airs are hard sells—for now

When the Apple MacBook Air first arrived at Consumer Reports, more than a few of us here were really impressed with its size and (lack of) weight. Moreover, Apple still managed to cram some really nifty features in such a thin and light laptop. (See "MacBook Air: First impressions" or click on the video player at right for more details on the MacBook Air's features.)

Better still: Elements of the Air are making their way into siblings. The new MacBook models announced today by Apple, for instance, will have "multi-touch" touchpads with "gesture controls"—capabilities first introduced in Apple's iPhone Touch iPod.

[Feb. 27, 2008 UPDATE: Apple's innovative gesture controls—"pinching" to "shrink" an on-screen image, for example—were unveiled with last year's introduction of the iPhone. —Ed.]

One of the more interesting feature that some of our readers have asked about is the solid-state drive (SSD) option. Such drives use flash memory—similar to those used in digital cameras and MP3 players—to store files and programs.

Is an SSD-equipped Air faster than one with the standard 80-gigabyte hard drive? Our preliminary tests of the MacBook Air with a 64-gigabyte SSD says "yes." BUT, only for certain tasks. (See our free report, "Apple MacBook Air: First Look", on ConsumerReports.org for more details.)

Is it worth the $1,000 premium? Unless you have a lot of money, probably not. But it's interesting to note an Air with a SSD has a lower price tag than some other portables with SSDs, say Sony's TZ line of Vaio notebooks. (We tested a Sony Vaio VGN-TZ191N/XC last year and found similar "mixed performance" issues.)

Will other MacBooks and PC notebooks soon come with cheaper, larger and faster flash drives? We can only hope so.

—Paul Eng

MacBook Air: First impressions

We've begun taking a first look at the MacBook Air, Apple's super-slim laptop. (The Air starts at $1,799 for the hard-drive version. There's also a version with a solid-state drive that starts at $3,098.)

One thing we already know: The Air is as sleek in person as it looked coming out of that interoffice envelope in Apple's ads. You can watch our video on the MacBook Air for a closer look and to learn more about what our testers have discovered so far about Apple's hot new portable computer.

[Feb. 11, 2008 UPDATE: You can also watch the video using the player embedded within this post. —Ed.]

But what we don't entirely yet know, because we're still running tests on the hard-drive version, is how much you sacrifice for such a dramatic slim-down. Still, here are some preliminary thoughts based on what we've seen so far:

• The design is stylish, resulting in a very thin, light laptop. But some features are sacrificed, including an optical drive (although you can add an external one).


• The large touchpad features multi-touch capabilities like those found on the iPhone and iPod Touch.


• The display backlight is LED, making it brighter but less power-hungry than other MacBooks. It also has a wider viewing angle.


• The Air stays cooler than other Mac laptops we've tested.

For more information on the Air, look for our First Look on ConsumerReports.org next week, followed by more-detailed test results when we included Apple's new portable in our complete Ratings of laptop computers (available to subscribers).

[Feb. 26, 2008 UPDATE: We've completed our first round of tests. You'll find more details in our free report, "Apple MacBook Air: First Look" on ConsumerReports.org. —Ed.]

—Donna Tapellini

Vista to XP: The world's most popular downgrade

One year after Microsoft Windows Vista hit the market, public response to it has been underwhelming. True, most buyers of new Windows-based home computers get Vista pre-installed by default; but that's not exactly the same as beating down the door for Vista's glitz.

Meanwhile, many techies, IT departments, and just plain home users are either holding off upgrading or actually converting back from Vista to XP, thereby introducing a backward-looking term into the forward-looking world of technology: downgrading. At the tech forums on Microsoft's Web site, for example, you'll find a hefty number of posts dedicated to doing just that.

With retail sales of XP now scheduled to end by June 30, a movement to save Windows XP has formed. At SaveXP.com, created by the IT publication Infoworld, more than 75,000 people (as of early February) have signed a petition to Microsoft demanding that Windows XP be kept available indefinitely.

Here are kinds of Vista gripes cited by people arguing to save XP:

Macworld 2008: Some software and audio odds and ends

Some MacWorld miscellany, beginning with four operating-system/software entries:

Improvements to MS Office. I said earlier in the week I'd say something about the new MS Office 2008. The features are more or less in parity with the Office 2007 product that's been out for a year, now. Entourage plays better with Exchange Server, to address concerns about corporate distribution, and I was assured by the lead developer for Word08 that the "Normal" file, a file that holds all of your custom stylesheets translates fully from older versions. The only other thing to note here is that with Office08, virtually every major Mac application suite has made the transition to Universal Binary code base and is Intel-native. That means there's no longer any need for Rosetta, the built-in code translator between G5 Mac processors and Intel Windows processors.

A new Windows on Mac option. Another interesting entry in the "virtualization" competition comes from Codeweavers, who were demoing their "Crossover" product. Crossover allows someone who wants to switch to Mac and still protect their Windows software investment to actually install and run their legacy Windows programs natively in OS X; no virtual disk image or Windows OS is required. The downside is that this capability has to be customized by Codeweavers for each legacy Windows application. Consequently, the company has concentrated on a limited list of only the most used Windows apps to date, like MS Office, Access, Visio, etc. (You'll find the list of supported apps at http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/.) The result is very fast and responsive. If you use those apps, this could be of real value.

MacWorld 2008: Will Macs Become Less Secure?

With Mac sales up, and many new users coming to the platform, will malware writers begin to seek fresh targets? I asked the chief technologists at security companies Intego and McAfee what they saw as the primary threats to the Mac platform, both today and looking ahead.

While both agreed that Mac OS X is solid when it comes to security, they also fear that malware attacks on the Mac are inevitable—it's just a matter of when.

According to George Heron, the chief scientist at McAfee, 35% of the malware currently threatening computer users has been discovered in the past two years. In 2002, there were about 100 new detections a week. By 2007, that number had skyrocketed to 2000-plus. That's probably because the profile of cyber-criminals has changed. It's not about impressing your fellow geeks with your virus-writing prowess anymore. Today, money rules in the cyber-underworld, with malware going after financial information, credit cards, and bank accounts. Large, well-organized, highly sophisticated hackers design spam and phishing scams on a massive scale, largely operating out of China, Brazil, Russia, and the Middle East, according to Heron. More Macs in the marketplace means a growing profit opportunity in a highly profitable industry that steals billions worldwide.

Intego's Jack Nahan told me that the biggest threats to Mac users going forward are phishing, trojans, and ID theft. The two most interesting and insidious to date have been a scam where the user is invited to download a supposedly friendly new piece of anti-virus shareware called "Macsweeper" (it installs a trojan), and a "screen scraper" app that comes off the Web and never resides locally. It just copies whatever is on the user's screen (including banking information) and returns it to the scammer.

For more information on how to protect your computer (Mac or PC) and your information while online, check out these free resources on ConsumerReports.org:

• Cyber-security Central
• Best ways to stay safe online
• Best security software

And if you subscribe to ConsumerReports.org, you'll have access to:

• CR's latest Ratings of security software suites
• CR's latest Ratings of antivirus software
• CR's latest Ratings of antispyware software
• CR's latest Ratings of antispam software

—Thomas A. Olson

MacBook Air: Some closer looks

A Consumer Reports colleague (Joyce Ward) and I met privately with Apple reps Tuesday afternoon for a personalized demonstration of the MacBook Air and other products. It was fun to take a closer look at these new offerings, even if just for a short time.

They say the MacBook weighs three pounds, but it honestly didn't feel even that heavy when I held it in my hand—it seemed lighter somehow. The screen was bright, the keyboard a joy to touch, and the trackpad "touch" software had specific settings for one-, two-, and three-finger operation. One finger can click, drag, or double-click. Two fingers flip, rotate, magnify, or minimize images or web pages by using a "pinching" motion. Three fingers let you "slide" from page to page, image to image. This software utility is currently fully compatible only with the Leopard Finder, Safari Web browser (seen on a Windows XP machine at left), and most of Apple's "iApps." Expect third-party support in the future.

Of course, one of the first things that came to mind when seeing the MacBook Air was, "How's this battery deal gonna work?" In case you hadn't heard, the battery in the MacBook Air is not user-replaceable. As a long-time traveling laptop user, that worries me. I always found having the occasional spare battery to be a good thing, especially on those extra-long excursions.

Apple insists its batteries are absolute state of the art, hold a charge very well, and have a very long life. (The 17-inch MacBook Pro's battery lasted 5.25 hours in our latest tests.) Nevertheless, Apple will try to ease your worries with a Battery Replacement Program: Bring your MacBook Air to the nearest Apple store, and the techs will replace the battery (while disposing of the old one in an environmentally responsible manner). Total cost: $129, the same as a new battery you would replace yourself in other models. In addition, more and more airlines today offer laptop power ports on their planes, and both Apple and third parties sell adapters. So as time goes on, the need for having all that extra battery power handy is becoming less necessary. (It was unclear whether this Apple store program was a "while you wait" service, or a "drop it off and pick it back up tomorrow" sort of thing. Time will tell.)

Apple's goal with the MacBook Air was to design a sleek laptop without most of the tradeoffs associated with ultra-portables. The full 13.3-inch backlit LED screen with 1280 x 800 widescreen resolution bears this out, as does the standard MacBook keyboard and an oversize trackpad that supports the one-, two-, and three-finger multi-touch technology used on the iPod Touch and iPhone. Nevertheless, for power users, there are some tradeoffs: There's only one USB port, no Firewire, no DVD, and the custom battery.

Which led to my next question for the Apple folks:  What if you're on the road, your Time Capsule (seen at right) is at home, and your system has a meltdown? Low odds, mind you, but there it is, coming from a geek who can't be too paranoid. They recommended two solutions. The first, of course, is to carry that $99 external DVD drive and your install disk with you. Another possibility is to install, from that disk, a copy of the Remote Disk application on someone else's Mac (or PC!) with a wireless card. Then you can piggy-back on their CD drive and run the installer to restore your hard disk. Clever, but all you're doing is imposing on a friend's good will—sooner or later you'll have to connect to some physical media to restore your system.

Next up in our interview session was the "Time Capsule" wireless backup solution. Security was my main worry with this product, so I asked our Apple reps: Should I be concerned with potential man-in-the-middle attacks when wirelessly backing up your hard drive? Not necessarily. Time Capsule is essentially a full Airport Extreme base station (a fancy term for "wireless router") combined with a server-class hard drive. It supports all the wireless security protocols found in any other wireless router, including WPA and WPA2. That was the answer I was looking for, but it was still unclear how simple that would be to set up for the uninitiated. It's not normally much fun for those who do it for a living. All that wireless security is well and good, but sometimes to an old school guy like myself, there's nothing more secure than a good honest wire, and fortunately for me, Time Capsule has three gigabit-Ethernet ports included. (See image at left.) But of course, that does me no good with the MacBook Air, which has not a single Ethernet port built-in.

—Thomas A. Olson

MacBook Air, super-thin notebook, introduced

What may be the most talked about of Apple's four major product releases Steve Jobs introduced today is a new addition to the MacBook line called the MacBook Air. With a teardrop profile only 0.76 inches at its thickest point, it's the thinnest notebook computer ever. (You can get closer looks at the new MacBook Air by clicking on each of the embedded images.)

Apple didn't compromise much on features. There's a full-size, backlit keyboard, 13.3-inch screen, iSight webcam, large trackpad with multi-touch gesture support (similar to the iPhone's, which lets you use your fingers in more ways than the traditional tapping and sliding), plus a new magnetic latch.

There are only three ports on the right side: USB2, MicroDVI, and a headphone jack. (There's no Ethernet port for wired networking, but that's not really an issue with a notebook designed for extreme portability.) Apple says that the 1.6-GHz Core 2 Duo processor is 60 percent smaller than chips made for other models. The standard MacBook Air comes with an 80GB hard drive—or a 64GB solid-state drive for an additional $999. The standard memory configuration is 2-GB and Apple claims 5 hours of battery life. The built-in wireless capability supports 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR.

There's no internal CD/DVD burner; to use discs you need the $99 external MacBook Air SuperDrive which connects to the USB port. Also, a new custom application in Leopard called "Remote Disk" lets you wirelessly "borrow" other users' CD/DVD drives.

In keeping with Apple's environmental initiatives, MacBook Air notebooks have a fully recyclable aluminum case, displays that are mercury and arsenic free, and logic boards that are BFR and PVC free. In addition, the packaging has 56 percent less volume, to save trees.

The base model, which starts at $1,799, pairs a 1.6-GHz processor with an 80-GB Parallel ATA hard drive. A second model that features a 1.8-GHz processor and 64-GB solid-state drive starts at $3,098. Both ship in two to three weeks, but can be pre-ordered starting today.

Compared with Windows-based 13-inch slim-and-light notebooks we've rated (Consumer Reports' Ratings are available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers only), the MacBook Air is pricier and its hard drive is a bit slower and has a smaller capacity, but weighs more than a pound less. When compared with notebooks in the 3-pound range, such as the Sony TZ series 11-inch or Toshiba Portege R500 12-inch, its pricing is very competitive.

Macworld 2008: Preview

Apple goes into Macworld Expo, the annual party, love fest, and religious revival for the Cult of Mac, which opened today in San Francisco, following a year that's had a few fizzles (Apple TV, the first release of OS X Leopard, 10.5), one big hit (the iPhone) and under-the-radar sales growth of 40% for Mac desktops and laptops. The one adjective that no longer describes Apple is "beleaguered."

While analysts don’t see the same kind of explosive growth for Apple this year, they still hope a few compelling new products and services will keep the company on a growth track.

I do believe Apple will deliver. My first clue was this week's pre-event announcement of a new MacPro tower and XServe, powered by 8-core Intel Xeon processors, offering 2.3 times the speed and raw horsepower as the dual, quad-core 3.0 Ghz machines being sold only a month ago. If they couldn't wait one week to announce this, it often indicates they have so many other things to show us, there simply wasn't room in the Keynote program to hold it all.

Below is a distillation of predictions, hopes, and wishes from the amassed Mac pundits and bloggers for Keynote 2008:

Movie rentals in iTunes—Fox and Disney are reported as already signed on and almost everybody wants the "One More Thing" to be—at long last—the entire Beatles collection, made available at the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). (If that happens, no one will be crying over the loss of Universal.)

Improvements to iPhone: A 16GB, 3G model, with no limits on cell service provider—we can certainly dream, can't we? Also rumored is an iPhone SDK (software development kit), which would mean that there would be a market for third-party software. We might even see a demo of 3rd-party apps—something developers were clamoring for most of last year.

Office 2008—slam-dunk #2, as Amazon is already taking pre-orders. I expect someone from Microsoft will make the official announcement during the Keynote. (I'll write more on Office later in the week, when I get to see it for real.)

Leopard 10.5.2—this is almost a slam-dunk, as the Developers Cut is already making the rounds. There are at least 75 fixes and feature additions in the works, and this would be a perfect time to announce their deployment.

New Cinema displays with touch-screen and built-in webcam—possibly 24-, 27- and 30-inch models, an upgrade that is long overdue.

Blu-ray drives in some Macs—a rumor that is growing some legs, now that Blu-Ray seems to be winning the format war, and there is going to be a growing need to handle HD content.

Ultraslim notebook/touch tablet—this is the biggest rumor to make the rounds, and highly likely: Apple fills out its laptop line with an ultra-thin notebook, running on flash memory instead of a hard drive, sporting a 12-13 inch touch screen, which could possibly fold over to become a tablet Mac.

Final Cut Studio update—not likely, but definitely overdue, considering the plethora of new digital camcorders that have hit the market

Apple TV "2.0"—look for a "reboot" of this product, with new features, more storage, and built-in compatibility with iTMS movie-rental.

If you are not attending this year, here is a link to sites offering live blogging of the Keynote (SFW). Stay tuned!

—Thomas A. Olson

Thomas Olson, the Publishing Systems Administrator for Consumer Reports' Editorial, Design, Production and Pre-Press groups, has been a Mac enthusiast since 1984.

 

CES 2008: Green gains, but only so far…

This year's Consumer Electronics Show proclaimed itself the world's first carbon-neutral trade event, proudly detailing how it required suppliers of everything from displays to disposable plates to choose environmentally benign options. This was also the greenest CES ever in terms of what participants were shown and invited to discuss.

But a greenfest it wasn't. At best, environmental issues rose from the near-invisibility of past shows to a scattered presence on the show floor, with the occasional green or brown sign carrying a corporate pledge or strategy. The conference program featured a day of modestly attended panel discussions on environmental issues, in the farthest reaches of the Las Vegas Convention Center's cavernous South Hall. A few other green-themed sessions dotted the calendar.

I attended as many of those events as I could and chatted afterwards with some of the panelists, who included manufacturers, mostly from big companies such as HP, Sony, and Panasonic, and regulators but not environmentalists (organizers say they tried without success to get environmental groups to participate).

Here are some of the promising developments I heard:

Energy Star designations will improve and expand. As we'll report more fully in a few weeks, when our annual TV feature-content posts to ConsumerReports.org, a flat-panel TV can easily consume $50 or more of power a year, possibly as much or more than your fridge. Many plasmas and LCD sets now bear Energy Star labels, but the current requirements reflect only power consumption in the standby mode—which is many times less than sets consume during the eight or so hours in which they're on in an average home. Energy Star's administrator, Katharine Kaplan, says a new TV standard will be finalized next month that reflects power when the set is on. She also said that standards would be similarly upgraded for printers and some other gear in 2008.

PCs: Best Black Friday Specials

The end of the year is the peak period for computer sales. Computer makers and dealers are jumpstarting this run by offering Black Friday and holiday discounts of hundreds of dollars each on select brand-name laptop and desktop PCs. In some cases, they're sweetening offers by throwing in a printer or digital camera.

• Most offers we found online and in flyers were accompanied by fine print stating that supplies were limited.
  
• Some listed the minimum number of discounted computers available in each local store. Don't expect to find those machines unless you're at the store when it opens.
  
• Not all offers were easily found at the company's site; some were promoted primarily through flyers.

Here are some outlets and select Black Friday specials:

Best Buy

eMachines desktop (Celeron 420), 1GB RAM, 160GB HD, 17-inch LCD, with a Canon all-in-one color printer, $199.97. Though we’ve never tested this particular model, its specs fit our criteria for a budget desktop, save for a relatively slow CPU.

Toshiba Satellite A135-S7403 15.4-inch laptop (Celeron M processor 530), 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, with Canon Pixma MP210 all-in-one photo printer, $229 We've recommended the A135 in the past, though Toshiba has since downgraded some of its specs. If you buy this version, we'd recommend upgrading its RAM.

Related information:

• Consumer Reports' Shopping Blog
• Hot HDTV deals for the Holidays
• Best Holiday deals for consumer electronics
• ConsumerReports.org: How to buy a computer
• Latest Ratings of desktop PCs (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers only)
• Latest Ratings of notebooks and laptops (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers only)
  

Wal-Mart Black Friday Ads Lack Last Year’s Fireworks

After weeks of speculation, Wal-Mart unveiled its Black Friday ad early this morning, and while it isn’t short on great buys—including, for example, a sub-$800 42-inch 1080p LCD and a sub-$1,400 50-inch 720p plasma—it seemed to lack the punch of last year’s promotion, which triggered severe price drops on a highly rated Panasonic 42-inch plasma HDTV.

This year, TV promotions are centered largely on models from Polaroid, a secondary brand whose models haven’t done particularly well in CR’s HDTV Ratings. For example, as part of a Friday-only, 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. doorbuster sale, Wal-Mart is offering a 42-inch 1080p Polaroid LCD TV for $798, while a 32-inch 720p Polaroid LCD TV is priced at $448. Other TV deals good only during that time include a $448 26-inch Polaroid LCD TV/DVD combo, and a $198 Emerson LCD TV.

For those looking a set from a major brand, Wal-Mart has a 50-inch Philips 720p plasma for $1,397, a $1,196 46-inch 720p LCD model from RCA, a 37-inch Sanyo LCD TV for $847, and a 32-inch Samsung LCD set for $796. While we don’t know the specific models, Samsung has consistently been one of the top-rated LCD brands, and Philips’ plasma models have typically been very good. LCD models from RCA and Sanyo haven’t done quite as well, although both have been solid performers that are often good values.

Other electronics sale items include:

• a $198 Panasonic DVD camcorder
• a $145 Magnavox DVD recorder
• a $30 Magnavox upconverting DVD player
• a $50 8-inch portable DVD player from an unspecified brand
• a $129 Garmin StreetPilot c330 portable GPS
• a $199 8.1-megapixel Nikon Coolpix S51 digital camera
• a $149 Polaroid 8-megapixel camera and 6-inch digital photo frame bundle
• a $50 8-inch digital photo frame from Venturer
• a $119 HP digital camera (5megapixel) and printer bundle
• a $398 Compaq Presario desktop PC with 1GB of memory and a 17-inch monitor
• and a choice of either a 15.4-inch AMD Turion-powered notebook PC or an Athlon-powered desktop PC with a 19-inch widescreen monitor—both from Dell—for $598.

In addition to these advertised specials, Wal-Mart says it will have “secret” in-store specials for both Friday and Saturday, which will be revealed on the walmart.com website on Thanksgiving day. The chain’s Black Friday specials are good only while supplies last, and a disclaimer mentions that brands could vary by store.

—James K. Willcox

Black Friday HDTV Deals from CompUSA, Staples

Black Friday ads leaked for computer chains CompUSA and Staples show that both stores will have a select number of TV deals available during special limited-hour in-store sales events.

CompUSA is running a two-day pre-Thanksgiving sale this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 16 and 17), during which you can get a 50-inch Zenith plasma HDTV (Z50PX2D) for $1,000 and a 19-inch Envision LCD monitor for $140.

The store will open on Thanksgiving for just three hours, from 9:00 p.m. until midnight, then reopen at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. Specials include the 37-inch Olevia 537H LCD TV for $600; this model did very well in our tests. Other electronics deals include a $500 Athlon-based HP notebook PC with 2GB of RAM, a 22-inch Envision widescreen LCD PC monitor for $150, a $45 7-inch digital photo frame, a $60 7-inch portable DVD player, and a $148 Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS.

On Black Friday, TV deals from CompUSA include a 47-inch 1080p LCD TV from LG Electronics for $1,500 after a $500 instant savings. While we haven’t tested this model, the LG 47LC7DF, another 47-inch LG 1080p TV did very well. A 26-inch LG LCD TV will cost $600 after $150 instant savings, and Sharp’s 46-inch 1080p LC-46D64U LCD set will cost $1,700 after $800 instant savings. Samsung TV deals include the 50-inch HP-T5044 plasma for $1,300—$100 less than at Best Buy's or Circuit City's Black Friday sales. We haven’t tested this particular model, but Samsung plasma TVs have consistently done very well in our tests. Samsung’s 46-inch LN-T4661F, CR’s top-rated 1080p LCD TV, will be $2,000.

You’ll have to be an early bird to get a deal at Staples’ sale, which runs from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Friday. If supplies last, you could walk away with an unspecified 42-inch LCD TV for $800, while a 32-inch model is $450. Both sets appear to be Envision models.

Other Staples deals include a $350 Intel-powered Compaq notebook computer with 1GB of RAM and a 17-inch Acer LCD monitor for $90.

—James K. Willcox

Plasma TVs on Black Friday: How Low Can You Go?

A sneak preview of the Black Friday circulars from the largest electronics retailers shows that plasma TVs will once again be at the center of promotional activity this Thanksgiving weekend. And you won’t have to settle for a little-known off-brand to get a great deal: Leading the Black Friday charge are sub-$1,000 42-inch plasmas from Panasonic, consistently one of our top-rated brands.

Best Buy, for example, is offering Panasonic’s TH-42PE7U model at a doorbuster special price of only $900. We couldn’t find that model number within Panasonic’s model listings (apparently it’s a Black Friday special made especially for Best Buy), but Panasonic plasma TVs in our Ratings have been top-notch. If you venture to Circuit City for its six-hour special, you’ll see the TH-42PX75U—the smaller sibling of a CR Best Buy model—for $1,000.

If you want to buy either of these plasma sets, plan to be among the first in line when the stores open at 5:00 a.m. on Friday. Best Buy says it will have at least 15 sets per store, while Circuit only states that quantities are limited. Neither chain will offer rainchecks or substitutions on promotional items like these.

You won’t be disappointed if you’re looking for a bigger screen. At both Circuit City and Best Buy, the 50-inch Samsung HPT5044 plasma set will be $1,400, while a 50-inch Zenith (Z50P3) will be only $1,000. We haven’t tested this particular Samsung, but its plasma TVs have consistently done very well in our tests. We haven’t tested any Zenith plasmas.

LCD sets will be well-represented in the stores as well. Among the sale items you’ll find at Circuit City are the Sharp 46-inch LC-46D64U, a 720p set, for $1,300 and the 52-inch LC-52D64U with 1080p resolution for $2,200. (All TVs mentioned in this blog are 720p unless specified as 1080p.) Several LCD sets from Sharp, one of the biggest names in LCDs, have done very well in our recent Ratings, though others—especially older sets—have been middling.

[11.15.07 Update: As pointed out in the comments below, the Sharp LC-46D64U is a 1080p set.-Ed.]

Here are some additional HDTV deals at Circuit City for Black Friday:
• a 42-inch Sharp LCD (LC-42D43U, Sharp’s budget line) for $800
• a 32-inch Sharp LCD HDTV (LC-32SH12U) for $600
• a 40-inch Polaroid LCD (PLD 4011-TLXB) $700 (Polaroid has been a lower-rated brand in our tests)
• a 32-inch Element LCD TV, $400
• a 50-inch Samsung SlimDLP rear-projection HDTV (HL-T5075S), $800 (Samsung has been one of the better-rated rear-projection TV brands)
• a 65-inch Toshiba rear-projection DLP set for $1,500 (Toshiba has been a top-rated rear-projection brand in our tests)

In other deals, Circuit City will be offering a Samsung Blu-ray player (BDP-1400) for $378, a $180 JVC MiniDV camcorder, a $100 Mio portable GPS, and $300 Compaq Pentium notebook PC with 1GB of RAM and a free printer and router, and $230 Acer Pentium D desktop PC with a 17-inch LCD.

Here are some additional Black Friday HDTV deals being offered at Best Buy:

• a 47-inch Westinghouse 1080p LCD (TX-47F430S) for $1,300 (a CR-tested model, this one has very good overall picture quality)
• a 42-inch HP 1080p LCD (LC4276N) for $997 (a low-rated CR model)
• a 37-inch Dynex LCD for $630
• a 32-inch Philips LCD (32PFL5332D) for $600
• a 26-inch Magnavox LCD TV/DVD combo $480
• a 65-inch Mitsubishi 1080p DLP rear-projection HDTV (WD-65733) for $1,500 (we recently tested a step-up model, the WD-65734, which did very well).

Other electronics deals include:
• a $200 Toshiba HD-A3 HD DVD player (with 7 free movies)
• a $400 Samsung BD-P1400 Blu-ray player (with 7 free movies)
• a $150 Panasonic MiniDV camcorder (PV-GS80)
• a $400 Sony notebook computer with a 15.3-inch screen, 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive
• a $200 eMachines Celeron desktop PC with a 17-inch monitor, 1GB of RAM and a free a Canon all-in-one color printer
• a $400 Compaq Pentium desktop computer with a 17-inch widescreen monitor and Canon all-in-one color printer
• a $120 TomTom One LE GPS
• a $75 Samsung 1080p upconverting DVD player
• a $99 500-watt 5.1-channel Sony receiver
• a $200 300-watt Harmon Kardon 5.1-channel 1080p receiver

As always, we’ll continue looking out for the best deals on our best-rated HDTVs.

—James K. Willcox

Wal-Mart: Why wait for Black Friday?

While other retailers are gearing up for the three-day shopping extravaganza affectionately known as Black Friday, tomorrow (Friday) Wal-Mart kicks off its own holiday shopping season three weeks early with special deals on what it says are five of the most sought-after items.

Among the deals: a $99 Toshiba HD DVD player, a $998 50-inch Sanyo plasma HDTV, and a $348 Acer notebook computer (with 1GB of RAM). The official Wal-Mart “secret” deal website can be accessed by clicking this link.

Toshiba’s HD DVD players could be big sellers this holiday, as many retailers are already offering significant cuts on its entry-level HD-A2 model. Both Amazon.com and Circuit City last week cut the price of the player, which had been $299, to under $200. Wal-Mart’s $99 price—it's also selling select HD DVD tiles for $15 each—is the lowest we’ve seen. Wal-Mart’s in-store sale kicks off at 8:00 a.m. and lasts as long as supplies last. Prices in three states—Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Utah—could vary due to each state’s regulations. We'll keep tracking Black Friday specials as they're revealed.

—James K. Willcox

Your computer may be more vulnerable than you think

Your new computer finally arrived. Everything’s up and running, and you feel safe as you surf the 'Net, because you know the system came loaded with a free trial for a well-known security package. But are you really protected?

There’s a good chance that you’re not. A new survey by security-software publisher McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), released on October 1 to launch National Cyber Security Awareness Month, turned up a notable disconnect between most users’ perception and the reality when it comes to their computer's security.

Consider this: 87 percent of those surveyed said they use antivirus software. But in fact, on 48 percent of the computers scanned as part of the survey, the antivirus software was not up to date. The respondents thought they were protected, but they were actually all too vulnerable because an antivirus that's not up to date is ineffective. The problem spans other types of security software, too. For example, while 81 percent of those surveyed had a firewall installed on their computer to block hackers, only 64 percent had activated it.

Related information:

• Consumer Reports Cyber-Security Center
• Best ways to stay safe online
• Best-rated online security software suites
• U.S. Federal Trade Commission's OnGuard Online Web site

Dell suit: What's a PC buyer to do?

When New York’s attorney general announced last week that he was filing suit against Dell for its tech-support practices, we shared details on Dell’s phone support from our annual tech-support survey. After hearing from several readers who reported many problems with Dell’s support (and several who said they were very satisfied), we thought it was important to provide even more information to help consumers make an informed buying decision. 

First, it’s worth re-emphasizing the point we make in our buying advice for PCs, and made in the blog entry, that Dell is not the only company with tech-support services that leave a lot to be desired. Check out our results on HP, Compaq, Gateway, Sony, eMachines, and Toshiba, all of which were equally or more unsatisfactory than Dell (available to subscribers). In addition, while Dell was worse than average for waiting on the phone, it was average when it came to actually solving the problem. Meanwhile, most other PC manufacturers were lower than average for solving problems. 

You should also keep in mind that reliability and performance are just as important as tech support when you’re making a purchase. We often recommend Dell computers because they exhibit very good performance pretty consistently. As for reliability, Dell is no better or worse than most of the other manufacturers. 

In the end, buying a PC is a balancing act. Consider performance, tech-support, reliability, design, and price, to come to the best decision possible. (For more detailed advice, see our Computers Decision Guide.) 

Finally, we note that New York is also taking aim at Dell’s promotional financing, citing deals such as “no interest until 2008” or “six-month interest-free financing.” The suit alleges that Dell “uses ultra-restrictive underwriting guidelines, under which the vast majority of consumers — even those with excellent credit histories — do not qualify for promotional financing.” The suit goes on to allege that once consumers are rejected, Dell fails to clearly let them know they’ve been rejected, and “mislead[s] them by calling these consumers’ accounts ‘Dell Preferred’ accounts.” 

We haven’t addressed eligibility problems with such promotions (though we’ll now look into them the next time we update our advice), nor have we specifically looked at Dell’s offers. But we have urged that if you accept a no-payment, no-interest offer, you should pay for the item before the term expires. Otherwise you could be charged very high interest rates starting from the date of purchase. 

— Donna Tapellini

The numbers behind the Dell lawsuit

As the big fish among computer manufacturers, Dell probably loomed large in the sights of New York’s attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, as he prepared to file suit against the company for misrepresenting its technical-support services, among other things. 

One focus of the suit is the poor response consumers allegedly get from Dell, particularly when they contact the company by phone. We took a look at the AG’s complaint to see how the allegations line up with our own recent survey results. Here are a few examples:

From the complaint: “Dell repeatedly places consumers who call Dell’s automated call center on hold for unreasonable lengths of time, or in some cases, simply abandons them altogether.” 

From our survey: 32% of the 6,300+ respondents to our survey who’d called Dell for tech support said they were on hold for an unreasonable amount of time. 

From the complaint: “After consumers have endured long wait times for a representative to come to the phone, [Dell representatives] repeatedly tell them that they have reached the wrong department  ... [and] repeatedly transfer consumers from one representative to the next.” 

From our survey: 30% said they were transferred to several different support staff.

From the complaint: “Although Dell’s automated telephone system often allows consumers to leave a message, [representatives] repeatedly fail to return consumers’ calls.”

From our survey: 21% struggled as they wove through the automated phone system. 

From the complaint: “Many consumers who attempt to contact the technical support department by e-mail similarly find their pleas for assistance ignored.”

From our survey: Although only 9% of our survey respondents who e-mailed Dell said the company never got back to them, close to half (47%) said the reply they did receive was not helpful.

Of course, Dell is not the only company whose tech-support drives consumers crazy. While these statistics represent Dell tech support, our survey found Dell’s support was similar to that of most other PC companies. In fact, Compaq desktops, and Compaq and HP laptops, had significantly lower satisfaction scores than Dell in our ratings.

The AG’s complaint concludes that “exasperated consumers, fed up with the endless runaround and ineffective technical support, resort to paying a third party to fix their equipment . . . even though it is covered by a Dell warranty or service contract.”

We could have told them that. Only 64% of survey respondents said Dell fixed their computers, while 90% said third-party tech support successfully solved problems with their Dell computers. 

— Donna Tapellini

Acer Laptops Join Recall List

Laptops equipped with Sony lithium-ion batteries continue to be recalled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The latest: Acer.

The Acer recall encompasses 27,000 batteries included in eight TravelMate models and six Aspire models. (Consumer Reports recommends an Acer laptop, the Acer Aspire AS5610-4537, but it is not included in the recall.) You can find specific model listings and battery serial numbers at Acer’s page.

According to the CPSC, there have been 16 reports of overheating laptops that use the Sony batteries. Other companies have issued similar recalls since the problem was first revealed, including:

• Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba
  
• Dell
  
• Apple
  
• Lenovo and IBM

Consumers affected by this recall should stop using the batteries and use AC power only. Follow the directions in your computer's manual to safely remove the battery. If you’re a laptop user, stay tuned to media reports and check back to see if the recall is expanded.

-- Donna Tapellini