Earlier this year, I remember AMD reps stumping about how laptop battery life gets measured. It's misleading, to say the least. MobileMark07, they said, is a synthetic test that measures idle time before a laptop battery dies. Many vendors use MobileMark07 results because it's a repeatable test, and those are the numbers you see pushed in promotional materials. But is that how you use your laptop? Hell no! You're running apps, watching video, listening to music, firing up the Wi-Fi--you get the idea.

Someone I know recently visited a couple brick-and-mortar stores to try a little social experiment. Playing the dummy, she said she needed a laptop with a long battery life. On every occasion, she got directed to an Intel machine. When I mentioned this to AMD's Leslie Sobon, VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, she: "The way people report numbers needs to change."

Hope you didn't put away those Windows 7 party hats because, apparently, Lenovo waited a couple days longer to share its news: It has crafted "Enhanced Experience" PCs that are faster and Windows-ier than competitors. Lenovo worked closely with Microsoft on the optimizations, even going so far as to say that its products get the nod from Microsoft for the "Enhanced Experience" certification. Of course, we can't back up these claims with conclusive tests just yet (when some of these new rigs show up, we can give you a better idea where things stand)--but that isn't going to stop me from telling you the how's and the what's....

The Big Claims

Lenovo says that its machines boot 33 percent faster and shut down up to 50 percent quicker than comparable rigs.

Lenovo announced two new additions to the business-oriented ThinkPad family, the 14-inch ThinkPad SL410 and 15.6-inch SL510, both of which come with Windows 7.

I'm all for technology advancements--a new OS, a slicker smartphone, Tang, whatever. Now Acer's making an odd-but-interesting bet with its new Aspire 5738DG laptop: a 3D display. Yep, the future is now--watch out for flying DeLoreans!

Before I crack any more jokes, let me explain what goes into Acer's 3D technology. Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America, took a few minutes to break it down for me. Forget fancy proprietary names (TriDef 3D screen!), what's at work here are polarized plastic shades, a 60-Hz polarized display, and software working in tandem to trick the image into seeming three-dimensional.

We may be living in the age of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but much of the laptop experience is still heavily wired. Me? I'm tired of being chained to a desk by my speakers, external display, and assorted USB devices. Luckily, Toshiba's Dynadock Wireless U ($300 from Toshiba, $250 from Amazon.com; check out PC World Pricing) wireless docking station showed up at the office. I took a couple days to play with it, and here are my initial impressions.

Wireless Docking in the Real World

The Dynadock Wireless U packs a DVI connector (with VGA adapter), six USB ports, a digital audio port, and an Ethernet port, as well as line-in, headphone, and microphone jacks. Anything you plug in will be usable by your laptop, which it connects to via an included USB stick. You could leave your cameras, phones, speakers, and so on connected to the dock while you roam around the room on the laptop with full access to your devices, or you could work from the hub by connecting a full keyboard and mouse to the USB ports and hooking up an external display while your laptop sits elsewhere.

Sleek little laptops are nothing new--I recall drooling over a Toshiba Libretto back in the day--but something's in the water at the design houses lately. We're seeing all sorts of new notebooks pushing the envelope in different directions.

Probably the most obvious place to start is with the new Dell Adamo (check out the funky design) that I got a sneak peek at...and that Dell has started letting slip to different Web sites.

Before I get into it, I want to first thank everyone who chimed in over e-mail and in the forums, sharing their shovelware horror stories after last week's crank-fest. I wish I had time to respond to everyone, but someone, somewhere pointed out a program that everyone needs to know about: PC Decrapifier. Install this on your brand-new machine and it'll strip out just about all the unwanted junk. You're welcome. Okay, onto this week's rant!

Enter Wireless Charging

[A public Mea Culpa to Jared. I didn't think I was making a personal attack, merely providing a counterpoint. I cut out a couple bits that might've been misconstrued, but the thought is still there: I was in the room and used it and don't fully agree with master Newman's assertions.]

Hi, I'm Darren Gladstone. You might remember me from Casual Friday and my many laptop reviews. Now, in my copious free time--sleep is for the weak!--I'm also contributing to the Mobile Computing blog.

Occasionally, I'll tell you what cheeses me off about the state of mobility, and answer some of your questions in the process. And--fair warning--I may occasionally go off-script. So, let's start off with an easy target: shovelware that comes for "free" on your laptop.

Seven years ago, this blog you're reading now was an online column offering advice on such things as traveling with a PDA in lieu of a laptop. On that particular topic, I wrote that accessing the Internet on a PDA was like "driving cross-country in a Pinto with a cracked windshield--painfully slow and monumentally irritating." One of the main options for checking e-mail on a handheld, I explained, was to connect the PDA to "a dial-up modem and a landline connection."

We've come a long way since then, don't you think? And I've thoroughly enjoyed the journey, reporting every week on the collective digital path we've been on. But after nearly eight years of writing Mobile Computing, this blog post is my last. It's time for me to move along my own path. I'll still contribute to PC World on mobile technology, social media, and other topics.

If it hadn't been so crazy expensive to use Google Maps on my Apple iPhone 3GS while I was in the UK, I might never have met Elizabeth. I probably wouldn't have made it to that charming inn/pub high up on the hill, either. And my trip would have been a bit less rewarding as a result.

Funny thing about the iPhone, RIM BlackBerry, Palm Pre, Google Android device, and other smartphones. Once we submit to the two-year contract and get used to paying the monthly ransom, we tend to grow dependent upon our phones. We read e-mail at stoplights. We book a dinner reservation on OpenTable while in a checkout line. Getting the latest news or sports scores or texting a buddy become almost unconscious activities.

For Star Trek fans, space is the final frontier. For travelers, it's a never-ending challenge. What do you decide to pack in your oh-so-limited carry-on and checked baggage space? It's a vexing question, especially given that most airlines charge you to check a bag. Last week, I guided you to the laptop, netbooks, and smartphones well worth giving space to. This week, a look at the best digital camera and GPS device, plus where to find the best gear bags.

Digital Camera: Canon Powershot SX200 IS

Based on Tim Moynihan's glowing review, the Canon Powershot SX200 IS seemed like the ideal camera to take on my summer vacation. Here's what caught my eye:

Thanksgiving is over two months away. But I thought we'd celebrate early by giving thanks for the most rockin' laptops, best netbooks, and smartest smartphones on the market.

Read on for my picks for the best laptop, netbooks, and smart phones for travelers. Next week I'll look at the top GPS, digital camera, and gear bags for people on the go.