Computers-Plus

This Saturday, Ars will be attending what you might consider a different kind of computer expo in a different kind of science museum. The event is hosted by MARCH, the Mid-Atlantic Retro Computing Hobbyists, and will feature 23 exhibitors with hardware that predates the 1980s, all of it working. But the Vintage Computer Festival East won’t be a show-and-tell type display; MARCH requires that its exhibitors be willing to let the attendees use anything that’s on display.

The event will take place at Info Age in New Jersey, a recently opened museum that’s taking a decidedly different approach to connecting the public with the science and technology behind the communication and computing revolutions.

Read more…

According to a recent report by IDC, Apple has shipped 12.4% fewer computers than this time a year ago, dropping the company to 5th in US spring computer sales. While Apple’s market share will dip less than a percentage point to 7.6%, Toshiba has now climbed past the manufacturer to join Dell, HP and Acer at the top of the heap. Apple has been hit by the twin bullets of the recession and Microsoft’s “Laptop Hunter” ads, both of which make the fact that Macs are expensive, premium notebooks extremely evident.

Apple’s market share remained similar despite shipping so many fewer notebooks due to the overall shrinking of the market by 3%. Read more…