Stanford's 'Apple Collection' Archives Offer Window Into Company's Origins

PALO ALTO, Calf. -- In the interview, Steve Wozniak and the late Steve Jobs recall a seminal moment in Silicon Valley history – how they named their upstart computer company some 35 years ago.

"I remember driving down Highway 85," Wozniak says. "We're on the freeway, and Steve mentions, `I've got a name: Apple Computer.' We kept thinking of other alternatives to that name, and we couldn't think of anything better."

Adds Jobs: "And also remember that I worked at Atari, and it got us ahead of Atari in the phonebook."

The interview, recorded for an in-house video for company employees in the mid-1980s, was among a storehouse of materials Apple had been collecting for a company museum. But in 1997, soon after Jobs returned to the company, Apple officials contacted Stanford University and offered to donate the collection to the school's Silicon Valley Archives.

Within a few days, Stanford curators were at Apple headquarters in nearby Cupertino, packing two moving trucks full of documents, books, software, videotapes and marketing materials that now make up the core of Stanford's Apple Collection.

The collection, the largest assembly of Apple historical materials, can help historians, entrepreneurs and policymakers understand how a startup launched in a Silicon Valley garage became a global technology giant.

"Through this one collection you can trace out the evolution of the personal computer," said Stanford historian Leslie Berlin. "These sorts of documents are as close as you get to the unmediated story of what really happened."

The collection is stored in hundreds of boxes taking up more than 600 feet of shelf space at the Stanford's off-campus storage facility. The Associated Press visited the climate-controlled warehouse on the outskirts of the San Francisco Bay area, but agreed not to disclose its location.

Interest in Apple and its founder has grown dramatically since Jobs died in October at age 56, just weeks after he stepped down as CEO and handed the reins to Tim Cook. Jobs' death sparked an international outpouring and marked the end of an era for Apple and Silicon Valley.

"Apple as a company is in a very, very select group," said Stanford curator Henry Lowood. "It survived through multiple generations of technology. To the credit of Steve Jobs, it meant reinventing the company at several points."

Apple scrapped its own plans for a corporate museum after Jobs returned as CEO and began restructuring the financially struggling firm, Lowood said.

Job's return, more than a decade after he was forced out of the company he co-founded, marked the beginning of one of the great comebacks in business history. It led to a long string of blockbuster products – including the iPod, iPhone and iPad – that have made Apple one of the world's most profitable brands.

After Stanford received the Apple donation, former company executives, early employees, business partners and Mac enthusiasts have come forward and added their own items to the archives.

The collection includes early photos of young Jobs and Wozniak, blueprints for the first Apple computer, user manuals, magazine ads, TV commercials, company t-shirts and drafts of Jobs' speeches.

In one company video, Wozniak talks about how he had always wanted his own computer, but couldn't get his hands on one at a time when few computers were found outside corporations or government agencies.

"All of a sudden I realized, `Hey microprocessors all of a sudden are affordable. I can actually build my own,'" Wozniak says. "And Steve went a little further. He saw it as a product you could actually deliver, sell and someone else could use."

The pair also talk about the company's first product, the Apple I computer, which went on sale in July 1976 for $666.66.

"Remember an Apple I was not particularly useable for too much, but it was so incredible to have your own computer," Jobs says. "It was kind of an embarkation point from the way computers had been going in these big steel boxes with switches and lights."

Among the other items in the Apple Collection:

_ Thousands of photos by photographer Douglas Menuez, who documented Jobs' years at NeXT Computer, which he founded in 1985 after he was pushed out of Apple.

_ A company video spoofing the 1984 movie "Ghost Busters," with Jobs and other executives playing "Blue Busters," a reference to rival IBM.

_ Handwritten financial records showing early sales of Apple II, one of the first mass-market computers.

_ An April 1976 agreement for a $5,000 loan to Apple Computer and its three co-founders: Jobs, Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, who pulled out of the company less than two weeks after its founding.

_ A 1976 letter written by a printer who had just met Jobs and Wozniak and warns his colleagues about the young entrepreneurs: "This joker (Jobs) is going to be calling you ... They are two guys, they build kits, operate out of a garage."

The archive shows the Apple founders were far ahead of their time, Lowood said.

"What they were doing was spectacularly new," he said. "The idea of building computers out of your garage and marketing them and thereby creating a successful business – it just didn't compute for a lot of people."

Kindle Fire vs. Nook Tablet: Which 7-Incher Is Best For You?

For most shoppers, there are really only two 7-inch tablets on the market right now: Amazon's Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet from Barnes & Noble. Announced within a month of each other in Fall 2011, the Kindle Fire ($200) and the Nook Tablet ($250) are both logical extensions of each company's popular e-Readers -- the Nook and the Kindle -- with similar portability, convenience and hold-ability but with the added multimedia functionality of more robust tablet computers like the iPad.

Given that the Kindle and Nook are rivals in the e-Reader space, it makes sense that their tablet cousins are also rivals. At just $50 apart, and launching almost simultaneously, the battle lines have once again been drawn between Amazon and Barnes & Noble, leaving many asking which they should buy: the Kindle Fire or the Nook Tablet?

I've been using both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet for several weeks now. Each has its definite strengths and weaknesses, defining themselves as two distinct options for two distinct shoppers. To oversimplify, the Kindle Fire wins on price, its app store and the ease with which you can download movies and music straight to your tablet; the Nook, while more expensive, is easier to use and has a better display, faster processor and much more space for your content.

Let's dig into this thing with a shovel. Here are some questions and answers that should help you figure out which of these differences actually matter to you, and whether you'll prefer the Kindle Fire or the Nook Tablet.

How much movie-watching and music-listening are you planning to do?

One of the great advantages of the Kindle Fire over the Nook Tablet is that Amazon is a bookseller and a newsstand and has both music and full-length movies and television shows, while Barnes & Noble is just a bookseller and newsstand, without the library of movies or music.

The Kindle Fire has direct access to that online Amazon store of TV shows, movies and music that can be bought straight from and downloaded straight to the tablet; with the Nook Tablet, you have to connect your device to your computer via USB cord, download movies and music elsewhere, and then drag those files from your Downloads folder to your Nook folder to put them on your device.

This is not to say that it's impossible to watch and listen on the Nook Tablet. Both the Fire and the Nook have excellent third-party apps for movie and music streaming, with apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora and MOG Radio providing huge libraries of content for whenever you have a Wi-Fi connection. Neither the Fire nor the Nook offers 3G capability, so when you don't have a Wi-Fi connection, you'll need that content on your device if you want to watch a movie or listen to music, and there is no question that it is much easier to get movies, TV shows and music onto the Kindle Fire than it is on the Nook.

Which tablet has the better display?

Nook Tablet. A study by Display-Mate analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the screens on the Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet and iPad 2 found that the Nook Tablet was much, much stronger in terms of anti-reflection and glare, and in displaying a wider range of colors than the Kindle Fire. (Both feature LCD displays, not the e-ink on the original Kindle and Nook that do so well in the sun). The Kindle Fire still has a bright, crisp display, but the Nook Tablet's is noticeably crisper; I also found that the Kindle Fire was more prone to the smudges of my dirty fingers than was the Nook Tablet.

In short: The Nook Tablet does better in the sun, looks slightly better and doesn't require wipe-downs as frequently as the Kindle. The Nook Tablet's screen certainly outshines (sorry) the Kindle Fire's.

Do you have a huge library of movies you want to keep handy?

The Kindle Fire has 8 GB of storage, with 6 GB available for your content; the Nook Tablet has 16 GB of storage, with 13 GB available for your content. Be forewarned, though: Of the 13 GB on the Nook Tablet, only 1 GB can be used on non-Barnes & Noble content. You'll have to buy an SD card if you want to add more than a single GB of movies or music, since B&N currently doesn't have a store for that stuff; budget in about $20 for a 16GB SD card if you're going with the Nook Tablet.

So, how much does 6GB of space really get you? Barnes & Noble puts its Nook Tablet's capacity at 10,000 books, but unless you are some kind of strange e-book hoarder, you probably aren't going to hit that cap with novellas and Sue Grafton. No, the real storage stuffers are songs, TV shows and movies.

Amazon says that its 6GB is "enough for 80 apps, plus 10 movies OR 800 songs OR 6,000 books" [emphasis mine]. If you have a large music library that you plan to store on your tablet, the Nook Tablet with SD card is a wiser choice. Amazon might argue that it has free cloud storage for all of your music, to which I would argue that this is only helpful when you have a Wi-Fi connection, and not when you are in an airplane or outside. A better argument for a 6 gig tablet might be that you can put your music on your smartphone, or on an MP3 player, and save the space on your tablet for movies and books.

Arguments aside, if you are concerned about space -- if you are constantly running up against the space limit on your smartphone, a media omnivore, a Blockbuster store unto yourself -- you would probably be better off with a Nook Tablet and its expandable storage.

Which tablet is easier to operate?

The short answer: The Kindle Fire has better software, and the Nook Tablet has better hardware.

The Kindle Fire has a more intuitive interface, one that everyone can "get" right out of the box. Your most recently visited apps, websites and media are on the homescreen, and there are tabs that run across the top, labeled "Movies," "Music," "Books," etc., that send you exactly where you need to go. For me, and for the researchers at Display-Mate, the Nook Tablet's interface is less intuitive, with a very long, unsorted carousel of icons that runs along the bottom of the homescreen. It's not a disaster, but it does not offer the incredibly easy navigation of the Kindle Fire, either.

The Nook Tablet, meanwhile, has several physical buttons on the device that Amazon's tablet notably lacks. The Nook has a Menu button, for example, positioned where the Home button on the iPad sits, that brings up your main menu whenever you press it; the Kindle Fire does not. The Nook Tablet has external volume buttons for easy volume control; the Kindle Fire's volume is always controlled on the screen. The Nook Tablet also has a microphone, which, to be fair, can't do much yet -- you can record yourself reading a children's book for your kids, and little else -- but that might make Wi-Fi calling on the Nook Tablet a possibility in the future.

In general, I think the Nook Tablet is easier to use, more intuitive. The hardware buttons -- especially the physical Menu button -- add more value than Amazon's brilliant interface, and the design of the Nook Tablet's interface really isn't as difficult to operate as Display-Mate makes it out to be. The Nook Tablet's homescreen will also be more familiar to those who have used Android or iOS before; you have the option to customize your homescreen by dragging and dropping your favorite icons onto your grid, into columns and rows of apps.

Do you like the look of the Nook?

It's an eye-catcher, to be sure. Though the displays on the Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire are roughly the same size, they come in very different packages: The Kindle Fire is a thick black rectangle, almost identical to the BlackBerry Playbook, while the Nook Tablet is surrounded by a silver and gray plastic casing with a strange little hook on the bottom left corner. Like it? Hate it? Disgusted? Aroused?

In terms of portability and weight, neither the Kindle Fire nor the Nook Tablet distinguishes itself from the other. The Nook Tablet is 14.1 oz, while the Kindle Fire is 14.6 oz; the Nook Tablet is slightly taller, wider and deeper than the Kindle Fire (by millimeters) but the difference is negligible. Really, the big difference in looks comes down to design preference (see below for a thorough video comparison):

Google Practices Merit FTC Antitrust Probe, Senators Argue

Google's high-stakes antitrust hearing in Septemberseems to have raised more questions than it answered -- and lawmakers are asking regulators to take a closer look at the search giant's operations.

The leaders of the Senate antitrust subcommittee that held a hearing on Google's business practices are urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company is guilty of antitrust abuses.

In a letter to the chairman of the FTC, Senators Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, respectively, argued that "a number of concerns" raised at the Google antitrust hearing "merit serious scrutiny by the FTC."
Google confirmed in June that the FTC was reviewing the company, though stated it was "still unclear exactly what the FTC's concerns are."

Among other "concerns" the Senators listed in their letter to the FTC, Kohl and Lee highlighted testimony by the CEOs of Yelp and Nextag that Google had stolen traffic from their sites by preferencing its own products; cited Google executive Marissa Mayer's 2007 admission that the search giant has intentionally ranked its own services ahead of other sites'; and pointed out that Google's lone competitor, Microsoft's Bing, has been hemorrhaging around $2 billion a year. The Senators cited statistics indicating Google claims 65 to 70 percent of the Internet search market and powers "at least" 95 percent of queries performed on mobile devices.

They also wrote that Google's business model has "changed dramatically in recent years" as the company "now seeks not only to link users to relevant websites, but also to answer user queries, provide a variety of related services, and direct customers to additional information on its own secondary web pages."

Kohl and Lee noted that when Google chairman Eric Schmidt was asked in the antitrust hearing whether Google was a monopolist in the online search market, Schmidt conceded, "I would agree, Senator, that we're in that area."

The former Google CEO also denied that Google had "cooked" its search results to favor its services ahead of other sites' offerings.

"Senator, may I simply say that I can assure you we've not cooked anything," Schmidt told Lee during the hearing.

"We believe these allegations regarding Google's search engine practices raise important competition issues," Kohl and Lee wrote. "We are committed to ensuring that consumers benefit from robust competition in online search and that the Internet remains the source of much free-market innovation."

In a written response to questions posed by the Senate antitrust subcommittee, Schmidt attempted to position Apple's Siri technology, which allows for voice-controlled search, as a "competitive threat" to Google. The Senators seem unconvinced: their letter made no mention of Siri and stated that Google "faces competition from only one general search engine, Bing [...]"

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Novell, Microsoft Case: Holdout Juror At Peace With Decision

SALT LAKE CITY -- The lone holdout juror who prevented a Utah company from getting as much as $1.2 billion from one-time rival Microsoft Corp. for alleged antitrust violations says he's at peace with his decision.

Novell sued Microsoft in 2004, claiming the software giant duped it into developing the once-popular WordPerfect writing program for Windows 95 only to pull the plug so Microsoft could gain market share with its own product. Novell says it was later forced to sell WordPerfect for a $1.2 billion loss.

"I walk away feeling honestly myself, and I can't speak for the other jurors, that I made the right decision even if it resulted in a hung jury," Alvey said Saturday. "There were so many inferences that needed to be drawn that I felt that it was unfair to Microsoft to go out on a limb and say, `yes.'"

Alvey described the three days of jury deliberations as stressful. The 11 other jurors sided with Novell.

"Obviously, I wanted to convince them to agree with me and they wanted to convince me to agree with them," he told KSL.

Bill Gates testified last month that he had no idea his decision to drop a tool for outside developers would sidetrack Novell. Gates said he was acting to protect Windows 95 and future versions from crashing.

Novell argued that Gates ordered Microsoft engineers to reject WordPerfect as a Windows 95 word processing application because he feared it was too good.

Alvey said the jury agreed on the technical aspects of the case but disagreed on what Novell could have accomplished "but for" Gates' decision.

"There was a lot of speculation in this `but for' world," he said.

As for Gates' testimony, Alvey said, "The man was a little sarcastic at times. If anything, it provided a little break from the monotonous questions and answers ... I think from his testimony, what I heard, and what I saw in the emails, Bill Gates was a man who took every threat extremely seriously."

Jury foreman Carl Banks said he tried hard to get a verdict.

"It was a tough case. It was long and it was hard and it was grueling," he said. "We gave it our best shot."

Novell attorneys have said they would seek to retry the case with a new jury. Microsoft said it would file a motion asking the judge to dismiss Novell's complaint for good and avoid a second trial

OnLive intros apps for iOS and Android, refreshes its wireless controller, we go hands-on (video)

Look, games like Fruit Ninja can be addicting and all, but we've many times pondered what playing a proper title -- the kind intended for the latest consoles and PCs -- would be like on a tablet or smartphone. Of course, we've seen some fantastic results from Tegra 3 and been notably impressed by Infinity Blade 2 on iOS, but starting today, OnLive is set to one-up the limitations of locally run mobile games with its new app. Whether you're using an Android, iOS device or even a Kindle Fire, you'll now be able to play games from the OnLive ecosystem while you're on the move over 3G, LTE or WiFi, rather than merely spectating in OnLive Viewer. Better yet, the OnLive app itself is completely free and any games purchased can be used across devices, and currently, 25 titles have been optimized for touch-based controls, including a tweaked version of L.A. Noire. HOwever, if you're more inclined to use tactile controls you'll be pleased to know that the company also has a soon to be released, revised version of its wireless controller.

Outwardly, the updated controller is looks identical to the outgoing MicroConsole pack-in model, but this one connects to Macs, PCs and just about any mobile device thanks to new "adaptive wireless" technology. Those seeking extra low latency can use its bundled USB dongle to link up to four of the controllers and a single Bluetooth headset for voice chat with one PC. The gamepad's media controls can also navigate iTunes in addition to playback of Brag Clips within OnLive. When it debuts, you can expect to pick one up for about $50 (£39.99 in the UK). OnLive CEO Steve Perlman was kind enough to walk us through using this new bit of kit, so head on past the break for our full impressions and to see the controller in action.

Galaxy Nexus Review: Ice Cream Sandwich OS, 'Snappy' Camera Make It Worth The Price

SAN FRANCISCO -- As fans of Google's Android mobile software well know, each new version is named after a sugary treat, such as Gingerbread or Honeycomb. Android is about to get even sweeter with Ice Cream Sandwich – a smooth, feature-rich operating system that will run first on the delectable Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

The combination of Google's software and Samsung's hardware makes the Galaxy Nexus one of the best candidates to compete with Apple's latest iPhone, though its price is steep. It will be available Thursday in the U.S. for $300 with a two-year Verizon Wireless contract.

Like the previous phone in the Nexus line, the Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus was jointly developed by Google Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. It features a slim frame with a large, curved glass screen that's comfortable for chatting with friends and excellent for watching videos. There are 32 gigabytes of built-in storage space on the Verizon version of the phone, but no external slot for a microSD memory card.

The screen, a pocket-busting 4.65 inches at the diagonal, makes the iPhone's 3.5-inches look diminutive. And despite the size, the Galaxy Nexus manages to weigh just 4.8 ounces, slightly less than Apple's offering.

On it, videos and Web pages looked crisp and bright, with rich colors. I started watching a video during testing – an HD copy of "The Help" that I rented from Google's Android Market – and had to force myself to break away to test other features of the device.

With the latest version of Android under the hood, the Galaxy Nexus is packed with new and improved features. Many of them are great; others are simply great in theory.

Overall, the software looks fresher and less cluttered. The virtual "buttons" that usually sit at the bottom of the screen have been redesigned. There's still a "home" and a "back" button, but no "menu" button to pull up various options within an app. Instead, there's now a "recent apps" button that shows what you've been doing lately on the phone.

Another neat change: The buttons are completely virtual, so they change directions when you flip the phone sideways and disappear when you're viewing photos or videos.

Other changes to Android include an overhaul of its virtual keyboard, meant to make it easier to type without messing up – something I've always had trouble with on the stock Android keyboard. I was often able to type more accurately than in the past, but sometimes still ended up with unintended words in my messages.

The Android browser and Gmail are updated, too. Gmail's new functions include the ability to search emails while offline, while the browser is zippier and has a "request desktop" option so you can check out webpages in their non-truncated desktop version.

One new feature that falls into the "great in theory" category is Face Unlock, which uses facial-recognition technology to unlock the phone from standby mode. To set it up, you take a picture of your face with the phone. Then, all you have to do to unlock the phone is stare at the screen after you press the power button.

Most of the time it didn't work, though, probably because the phone couldn't recognize my face from certain angles. I was also able to fool it by holding up a shot of my face on an iPhone. So much for security.

Ice Cream Sandwich also has Android Beam, which lets you share such content as a Web page, map or video between two Android phones by bringing the backs of the phones close together. It only works with phones that have this Android software and near-field communication technology, though, so unless you and your friend both buy the Galaxy Nexus you'll be out of luck at launch.

More immediately useful was the phone's 5-megapixel camera, which is the snappiest I've seen on any Android phone. There was almost no shutter lag between shots, even when I had just turned the camera on.

Still, I would have preferred a higher-resolution sensor – 8-megapixel cameras are quickly becoming common on smartphones. In addition, photos I took could have been brighter, though this can be improved on somewhat by using some of the available editing options, including numerous color filters and adjustable contrast options.

Like the iPhone 4S and some other high-end smartphones, the Galaxy Nexus can record high-definition videos in 1080p – the best resolution you can get on a consumer camera. I had some fun taking sunset videos with a time-lapse feature, and there are some goofy filming effects to play around with, too.

And yes, you can make calls on the Galaxy Nexus. Its thin body and curved screen make it comfortable to hold against your ear, and calls generally sounded good.

Sadly, high-speed networks guzzle battery power like a milkshake, so I wasn't able to spend a ton of time using the device on a single battery charge.

The phone Google loaned me to test was a version that works with AT&T or T-Mobile, so I couldn't test its speed or battery life with the carrier actually selling it in the U.S., Verizon, or with its high-speed 4G network.

Using both T-Mobile's standard 3G and speedier HSPA+ networks, at least, I got about three hours and 15 minutes out of the Galaxy Nexus for surfing the Web, streaming a movie, sending instant messages, chatting on the phone and other activities. The phone got quite warm with all this use. Over Verizon Wireless' 4G LTE network, it's possible that the phone's battery would drain even faster if you're doing a lot of downloading.

Another bummer: Verizon is blocking the Galaxy Nexus from supporting Google Wallet, which is supposed to allow the phone to be used to buy items in some stores by tapping it to payment terminals.

Generally, though, the Galaxy Nexus is a well-rounded smartphone that serves up a noticeably freshened-up version of Android with sleek hardware. Delicious, indeed.

HP TouchSmart 320 Review: Great Value for an All-in-One, Touchscreen Is a Nice Extra

Touchscreen computers have it tough. While tablet and phones leverage touchscreen technology really well, standard computer operating systems just haven’t been built with a touch-first focus. That’ll change a bit with Windows 8, of course, but PC users still live in a Windows 7 world.

So the ultra-short, to the point review of the HP TouchSmart 320: At $650, it’s a pretty killer deal for an all-in-one computer; the fact that it has a touchscreen is a nice extra, even if you never end up using it.

(MORE: Tech 2012: Please Don’t Call These Predictions)

The machine measures around 20 inches wide by 8 inches deep by 16 inches tall, weighs  around 20 pounds and features a 20-inch 1600×900 multitouch monitor, four gigabytes of memory, one-terabyte hard drive, HP’s Dr. Dre-endorsed “Beats” audio, Wi-Fi connection and a DVD burner. It’s a handsome, well-integrated kit with an included wireless keyboard and mouse, making initial setup as easy as plugging the computer into a power outlet.

HP’s been able to keep the price down by using AMD’s new-ish A6 “Vision” chip, which combines a 2.1GHz processor and AMD Radeon graphics technology together to power everything. The result is a crisp, snappy interface that’s impressive for an all-in-one priced south of $700. If this is supposed to be a budget-friendly touchscreen computer, it certainly feels more expensive.

As far as the touchscreen capabilities go, you have a few options: You can use the standard keyboard and mouse setup, you can use a touch-enabled version of Windows 7, or you can use HP’s “TouchSmart Magic Canvas” software overlaid on top of Windows.

HP’s done a nice job of integrating Magic Canvas with Windows—any icons you put on the Windows desktop show up on the Magic Canvas desktop, for instance—while adding some nice touch-centric bells and whistles. There are touchscreen versions of Facebook, Twitter and eBay; an RSS reader; a calendar; music, video and photo programs and things like that. They all work well enough to make the computer a functional addition to a common room in your house where it’d be used as a touchscreen machine for basic tasks, but the mouse and keyboard still work much better to get things done quickly. That way’s not nearly as fun, of course.

The touchscreen experience starts to lose its luster, however, when you need to input text—the touch keyboard is cumbersome enough that you’ll want to keep the wireless keyboard nearby. And there just aren’t a ton of touchscreen-friendly apps out there, although some regular apps provide a decent experience when controlled via touch.

I basically found myself using the touchscreen portion of the computer pretty heavily for a day or two before falling back to the keyboard and mouse. Entertainment features such as the music, photo and video apps are still better touch experiences—as are some of the simpler games—but for web surfing and working on multiple things at once, I preferred the mouse and keyboard.

Aside from that, the screen itself is nice and vibrant with great color reproduction—no complaints there. I wish HP had included an HDMI port to make it easy to add a second monitor, but that’s a minor nitpick given that the machine is meant for entertainment and basic tasks. And though it likely doesn’t need to be said, this isn’t a computer built for serious gaming or video editing—it’ll work well for casual gaming and light video editing, however.

All in all, the HP TouchSmart 320 makes for a great value thanks to the impressive AMD Vision chipset, easy setup, spacious hard drive and excellent display. It holds up pretty well as a standard all-in-one, and the addition of the touchscreen makes it even more compelling.