How Big A Flop Is Vista?

By Digital Trends Staff Published October 25, 2009

How Big A Flop Is Vista? Windows Vista has its fans and its critics. British retail group DSG, whichowns electronics and appliance company Currys and PC World, is definitely in the latter camp. It claims that thefailure of Vista has cost them about $40 million in lost revenue. Customers have stayed away from new computers running Vista, and there was never the anticipated rush to buy boxed copies of the OS. The company has ordered plenty of new machines, especially laptops, anticipating users would want to upgrade, but it never materialized. Likewise, OS sales were far less than expected, in partbecause of Vista’s hardware requirements, which meant it wasn’t compatible with older PCs. DSG Finance Director Kevin O’Byrne also expressed his disappointment with the lackof promotional support from Microsoft on Vista and told the Guardian, "We thought many more customers than transpired would want to change their existing hardware."

Digital Trends Staff

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Computing

Best refurbished laptop deals: How to find cheap used computers

microsoft surface laptop go 2020 on desk

While some folks like to grab the best laptops on the market, that isn't always the best option for most, and unless you're really pushing your laptops to the limits, you probably don't even need that power anyway. That said, if you do want to get some solid performance without spending a ton of money, then you may want to consider grabbing yourself a refurbished laptop rather than a brand-new one. They often tend to have minor issues that are cosmetic, and are usually refurbished by the manufacturer and provided with a guarantee, so you know that it works great. Not only that but going for a refurbished laptop is environmentally friendly since it helps reduce e-waste.

To that end, there are really great refurbished laptop sales that you can check out as part of Best Buy laptop deals, Dell laptop deals, HP laptop deals and Lenovo laptop deals. Alternatively, if you're in the Apple ecosystem, take a look at these refurbished MacBook deals, or if you still want to go for something new, you could consider checking out these laptop deals instead.
Best Buy refurbished laptops -- starting at $120
Best Buy's refurbished laptops are -- you guessed it -- Geek Squad Certified and while they may not be free and clear of absolutely all cosmetic scuffs they are still exceptionally clean and always in working order. Some of them even come with additional software like virus tools, streaming access, like Apple TV+, and much more. Of course, the best part is that you can get a premium and fully upgraded model for less, often with more storage, more power, and more features than you would when buying a base model brand new. You've got some great options from Lenovo, Acer, HP, Dell, Gateway, and even Apple to choose from. The cheapest models start around $120 and increase from there. The best way to know what's available is to head over and browse for yourself.

Computing

How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams

Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.

Computing

Everything we know about Lunar Lake, Intel’s big next-generation chips

Lunar Lake CPU die.

You and I might be hotly anticipating what Intel's next-generation Arrow Lake processors will do later this year, but Intel's mobile-first Lunar Lake may be the more exciting design. It's certainly the one Intel seems more keen to talk about. It released a heap of new information on Lunar Lake at Computex 2024, detailing what could be one of Intel's most exciting product launches in years.

It's bringing real efficiency back to its mobile product, and that could give AMD a lot to think about. Here's everything we know about Lunar Lake so far.
Lunar Lake specs
Intel revealed some details about Lunar Lake's architecture and design in May 2024, stating that this mobile-first architectural design would be fast, but also incredibly efficient, beating the competition by up to 30% on power draw while offering competitive performance.