Personal Computers

After decades as the computer of choice for homes and businesses, the desktop PC is being pushed to the scrap heap by its smaller, nimbler sibling: the laptop. They've been around since the early 1980s, but portable computers are finally taking over. Last year, for the first time, American consumers bought more of them than desktops. Sixteen of the 20 bestselling PCs on Amazon.com this holiday season were laptops. U.S.

If there were a list of the geekiest landmarks to visit in Seattle, RE-PC would be near the top. It's the place that old computers go to die. Most are disassembled for parts, stripped down like wrecked cars at a junkyard. Some are recycled. But a select few escape. They make it to a tidy room in the corner of the folksy high-tech salvage shop. That's the site of the RE-PC Computer Museum.

Cyber-crime pays. But selling counterfeit drugs apparently pays better. Some of the world's most prolific spammers used to tout products for a few pennies per million e-mails or con consumers into forking over credit card information. But these groups have found that the most profit and growth potential lies in actually shipping the fake Viagra and other products they're hawking, according to a study scheduled for release today by a top security researcher.

Lenovo Group Ltd., China's biggest maker of personal computers, said it would start selling "netbook" laptops designed to run basic applications to enter a market that's forecast to rise more than twentyfold over five years. The IdeaPad S10 computer, equipped with Intel Corp.'s Atom processor and a screen measuring 10.2 inches diagonally, will be available in October starting at $399 each, the Morrisville, N.C.-based company said.

Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Vista operating system spurred a 67% increase in personal computer sales at U.S. retail stores in its first week on the market, according to research firm Current Analysis Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co. was the top PC seller by units during the week that ended Saturday, with its share rising from about 33% to more than 50%, according to the report. Gateway Inc. was the No. 2 seller. Dell Inc.

After years of delays and billions of dollars in development and marketing efforts, it would seem that Microsoft Corp. would want anyone who possibly can to buy its new Windows Vista operating system. Yet Microsoft is making it hard for Mac owners and other potentially influential customers to adopt the software. Microsoft says the blockade is necessary for security reasons. But that is disputed. The circumstances might simply reflect a business decision Microsoft doesn't want to explain.

Dell Inc. unveiled a low-cost PC targeting consumers in China to grab market share from homegrown powerhouse Lenovo Group. The desktop computer launch, which targets first-time buyers in the world's second-largest PC market, comes as Dell struggles to sustain growth as its strongest markets mature. The PC is priced from 2,599 yuan to 3,999 yuan (about $335 to $520), Round Rock, Texas-based Dell said. The average price of a PC in China is 5,000 yuan.

It pulled in more than $9 billion in revenue last fiscal year and supplies the hard drives that sit inside one-third of the world's personal computers. But Seagate Technology Inc. longs for a little recognition. Tired of being a faceless supplier of parts for PCs and other electronic devices, Seagate is trying to worm its way into the consumer consciousness with a new attitude and fresh line of retail products. For years, the company prided itself on not spending a dime on industrial design.

Microsoft Corp. said Thursday that it would build on existing efforts to bridge the digital divide worldwide and announced several new ventures, including a $3 software package for governments that subsidize student computers.

Coming soon to a computer store near you -- a Dell? On Friday, Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell Inc., suggested that the company famous for selling directly to consumers and businesses might find a new way to peddle its PCs. "The direct model has been a revolution but is not a religion," Dell wrote in an internal memo obtained by The Times. "We will continue to improve our business model and go beyond it to give our customers what they need."