Centrally managing encryption on laptops “solves a significant problem in the enterprise – centralized key management and data loss prevention,” Reichman said. But he predicts that in the long run more companies will do this by centralizing data storage and delivering it to mobile devices on-demand rather than encrypting the devices themselves. “Companies want some way to get control over their data,” he said. “That’s more important than offering higher performance.”

So how does it handle games? According to driverheaven.net you can play Far Cry 2 at 1920×1200 with maximum detail with an average of 36 FPS. Crysis Warhead which is just about the most demanding game on the market is easily handled by the Alienware machine. With a resolution of 1680×1050 and maximum details settings the M17x provided a cool gameplay experience with an average of 30 FPS.

With such a large chassis, the port assortment the Asus(Eee PC 701 Battery ) N90Sv has doesn’t take up all that much space. In fact, the only things on the entire left side are the optical drive and card reader. It has everything we expect to find on a desktop replacement, but an eSATA and a Mini-FireWire would have been nice extras considering the system’s size and price. However, you do get the Blu-ray combo drive for reading BDs and reading and writing CDs and DVDs. And since there’s an HDMI out in back, you can easily connect to a larger monitor or TV for watching HD content.

I’ll go ahead and speak from personal experience. On significantly smaller keyboards, such as my iPhone 3GS virtual keyboard, for instance, I’ve specifically adjusted to through a separate learning process. I don’t ever lose myself in attempting to touch-type. For nearly-full keyboards like the Lenovo(ThinkPad X61 Tablet battery) S10-2’s, it’s like the uncanny valley is to digital animation, where the more something approaches photorealism, the more eerie it becomes until true photorealism is obtained. In the Netbook keyboard’s case, does 90 percent of normal size get more distracting than 50 percent?

The report on Friday said that the last few important hurdles in bringing the tablet to fruition have been cleared. As the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, Apple(17-inch PowerBook G4 battery) Insider says CEO Steve Jobs has personally been overseeing the project, and is on schedule for a launch sometime between January and March 2010. AppleInsider says its source is well respected “for their striking accuracy in Apple’s internal affairs.”

Of course, all the computers Apple sells–with the exception of the $999 white plastic MacBook and the Mac Mini desktop–are more than $1,000, so they should own that market. NPD’s numbers do not include specialty gaming PCs that enthusiasts usually customize and buy online, which can be well over $1,000. But, as NPD analyst Stephen Baker points out, two-thirds of all computers are sold at retail, so the numbers paint a comfortably accurate picture of what’s going on in the PC market.