1: Stay away from retail stores

If you want to get a good deal on a laptop, stay away from major electronics retailers. I don’t want to name names, but there is one major electronics store within half an hour’s drive of my house. I have noticed that its prices are always the same as the MSRP listed on the Internet. Even the store’s sale prices are more expensive than what you would pay if you were to buy the same laptop online.

Of course, the price isn’t the only reason I recommend avoiding the major electronics stores. Things like high pressure sales tactics and upcharges for things I don’t want (such as extended warranties, setup, software suites, and delivery) are enough to drive me insane. Unless I need a computer immediately I avoid the electronics stores at all costs.

2: Decide what’s important to you

t’s quite possible that 2010 will be remembered as the year that the tablet revolution began. After Apple’s unveiling of the iPad in January, I frankly would never have predicted that the company would sell over 7 million during the product’s first six months on the market. It has clearly touched a nerve and a slew of multi-touch tablet copycats are lining up to compete with it.

I also think it’s fair to say that the tech world has been a bit over-infatuated with tablets this year — myself included, at times. While tablets are starting to make a lot of sense for workers who spend their days on-the-go, in conference rooms, and on-site with clients, there are still plenty of employees who remain tied to their desks for most of the day and are under a lot of pressure to produce.

For these workers, the desktop computer remains the best tool for the job. And, so we don’t forget that this is still the silent majority of computer users, here are four ways to optimize the desktop experience and maximize productivity using some of the latest technologies.

For over two decades Microsoft and Apple have had the technology industry’s most high-profile (and occasionally the most rancorous) rivalry. But today, I doubt that either of them considers the other to be its chief rival.

If you could sequester either Apple CEO Steve Jobs or Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in their office and close the door and ask (off the record) for the name of their top rival, I suspect both of them would give you the same answer: Google.

For that reason alone, you’d think Microsoft and Apple would be more likely than ever to collaborate (and that’s certainly a possibility). However, it’s also easy to forget that the two companies have a long history of working together and developing products for each others’ platforms. They are traditional frenemies.

The fact that Microsoft released Office for Mac 2011 this week (more on that in a second) is only the latest example of times when the two have been on the same page. These are still the exception rather than the rule, but we’ve come up with a list of the 10 best collaborative moments between the two companies.

10. Microsoft launches Outlook for Mac in Office 2011

With Office for Mac 2011, released on October 26, Microsoft has once again made the Mac OS X version of its world-dominant productivity suite jive a lot more closely with the latest Windows version, after several Mac editions that diverged wildly from their Windows counterparts in recent years. But, by far the most significant part of Office 2011 is that it brings back a version of Microsoft Outlook for email and Exchange syncing, replacing the Mac-specific Entourage (a horribly buggy piece of software). This makes the latest Macs much better equipped to function in the business world.

9. Apple and Microsoft spurn Blu-ray for digital downloads

Both Apple and Microsoft have been under pressure for the last couple years to get on the Blu-ray bandwagon. Microsoft has been under pressure to put Blu-ray in Xbox 360 and Apple has been under pressure to put Blu-ray drives in Macs. However, both have resisted and have responded with the same reason why: Blu-ray is an expensive temporary solution and the future of high definition video is digital downloads

The Apple iPad has re-energized the market for tablet computers but it has gone nearly all of 2010 without a serious challenger. That will soon change. Here are 20 upstarts taking aim at the iPad.

The best way to view this list is the companion photo gallery so that you can get a look at each of the tablets. Otherwise, you can read about each of them all and get a quick summary in the list below. I’ve only featured tablets that have at least 7-inch screens and that have been officially announced (in most cases). The list also serves as a ranking. I’ve put the ones that are the most promising and the most likely to actually make it to market at the top of the list.

1. Samsung Galaxy Tab

Based on a similar design to the Samsung Galaxy S smartphones, this 7-inch Android 2.2 tablet is loaded with strong specs and will be available on multiple carriers. It will likely be the iPad’s most serious competitor to arrive before the end of 2010.

2. Cisco Cius

Primarily an enterprise communications and collaboration device, the Cisco Cius is an 7-inch Android tablet with a heavy layer of Cisco customization on top. Consumers won’t be interested, but existing Cisco customers who want a corporate-controlled tablet might be.

3. BlackBerry PlayBook

Aimed at stopping the iPad’s momentum with executives and business professionals, the 7-inch BlackBerry tablet will be built on its own QNX operating system and is flush with power with a 1 GHz dual core CPU and 1 GB of RAM. However, battery life may be an issue and it won’t arrive until 2011.

4. Toshiba Libretto

One of the more innovative tablet competitors is the Libretto with its dual 7-inch multi-touch screens. One screen can be used entirely as a virtual keyboard while you work on the other. It runs Windows 7 acts a little more like a netbook than a tablet but it’s an interesting concept.

5. ASUS Eee Pad

Now one of the world’s top five computer makers and one of the leaders in design, ASUS has talked throughout the year about launching various iPad competitors (branded “Eee Pad”) from 9-inch to 12-inch models, running Windows 7, Windows Embedded Compact, or Android. ASUS has promised a tablet will be coming in the first quarter of 2011.

6. Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid

One of the big hits of CES 2010, the IdeaPad U1 Hybrid is a convertible tablet with a multi-touch screen that detaches from a hardware keyboard. The main system runs Windows 7 but the detachable 11.6-inch screen turns into a standalone tablet running Linux. It has been delayed until 2011, but Lenovo says the standalone tablet will be released separately as the Lenovo LePad in December.

7. Archos 10.1

Because of the iPad, 2010 will likely be remembered as a landmark year in computing. It will rank right up there with 1984 when the graphical user interface debuted to the masses in the first Macintosh, and 1995 when the launch of Windows 95 made PCs much easier to use at a time when a lot more people were about to buy computers to connect to the Internet.

However, as groundbreaking as the iPad is, its capabilities sometimes get exaggerated — not the least of which by Apple itself, which repeatedly refers to it as “magical” and “revolutionary.”

I’ve been using the iPad since launch day on April 3, trying lots of different apps and experimenting with lots of different scenarios. I have honestly had mixed feelings about the device throughout the experiment, switching back and forth between the amazement of holding a full screen of computing power in a single hand and yet frustrated over its awkwardness or inability to accomplish some of my most basic and important computing tasks such as writing an article (inserting links and images are painful at times) and navigating interactive websites that use Flash or some of the advanced Javascript and AJAX actions that make sites act more desktop apps.

Flash doesn’t work at all on the iPad and AJAX is supported but mouse interactions such as hover events don’t work since there’s no mouse pointer on the iPad and elements such as the drag-and-drop functionality for moving items in your Netflix queue, for example, often don’t work properly since they were not designed with a multi-touch UI in mind.

When people want to chat with me about technology, the iPad is naturally one of the hottest topics right now, but I’ve typically been evasive about it. I’ll mention a few of the things it does well or a couple of my favorite apps, but avoid giving a definitive opinion on it. That’s because I haven’t been completely sure what I think of the thing.

To my close friends and colleagues, I’ve been more candid. I’ve often said, “The iPad is only good for two things: Reading and Scrabble.”

Well, I’ve now come to some longer-term conclusions about the iPad and I have to say that my initial quip about the two things wasn’t too far off, although I’ve adjusted No. 2.

Hear me out on this one. Below is a further explanation of my two things.

1. Reading and viewing

The iPad often gets called a “consumption” device. But since it’s not really that useful as a music or video player, so I would narrow that definition even further and say the iPad is primarily a reading device.

The iPad isn’t great for long videos such as movies because it’s heavy and awkward to hold for long periods of time. If you have some kind of stand of it, then it’s great, but at that point you might as well have a laptop. It’s a similar story for using the iPad as a music player. It just feels big and bulky compared to using an iPod or a smartphone for music, podcasts, and audiobooks.

But, as a reader, the iPad is admittedly amazing because of its brilliant full color screen, touch-based interface, and long battery life. And when I say “reader” I mean reader in the broadest sense of the term. As you’d expect, it’s great for reading news, books, static web pages, emails, long PDFs, and business documents. (For just reading books, the Amazon Kindle is still superior, but for omnivorous readers the iPad is the new king.)