| The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook is already available with WiFi, Bluetooth, and an optional HSPA 3G modem. But it looks like a 4G WiMAX modem might be available soon as well. Wireless Goodness spotted an FCC filing for a Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 with WiMAX.
It’s not clear from the filing whether Dell will be partnering with a WiMAX provider such as Sprint or CLEAR to bundle the netbook with a data plan, or if the mini-laptop will be sold unlocked. Honestly, I think it makes more sense to just purchase a USB WiMAX or 3G module that you can use with any laptop rather than tying your wireless broadband plan to a single computer. But that might just be me. I suppose it’s nice not to have to carry around the extra USB dongle. Aside from the addition of WiMAX, the new version of the Mini 10 looks to be about the same as other models, which I assume means it has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Starter. News Source: Liliputing/a> |
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Dell Mini 10 to come with WiMAX option soon?
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 07:04Asus Eee PC 1005PE-H comes with Win7 Home Premium, spec bump
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 07:04| French retailer fnac has posted a product page for a new Asus netbook model called the Eee PC 1005PE-H. Basically, the laptop is identical to the Asus Eee PC 1005PE in most respects. It has the same design, keyboard, and processor. But the Eee PC 1005PE-H comes with more RAM and storage space than its cheaper sibling, and ships with Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Windows 7 Starter Edition.
There’s no word on whether this model will be available in the US anytime soon. But I’d be surprised if it’s only available in France. Typically netbooks that pop up in that country are made available throughout much of Europe. Here’s a rundown of the specs: * CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Fnac is charging 349 Euros for the Eee PC 1005PE-H, which s the equivalent of $476 US, although European prices tend to be higher than prices in the US. News Source: Liliputing/a> |
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Asus Eee Top ET1610PT all-in-one PC to sport Pine Trail power
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/08/2010 - 07:03| Asus is apparently preparing to launch its first all-in-one PC with Intel Atom Pine Trail processors. The company has been putting out desktop computer-in-a-display systems under the Eee Top brand for a year or two. But the Eee Top ET1610PT will be the first to come with a single core Intel Atom D410 Pine Trail processor and integrated GMA 3150 graphics.
The PC will feature a 15.6 inch, 1600 x 900 pixel touchscreen display, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Windows XP. That’s right, Windows XP, not Windows 7. At least that’s how the computer is expected to ship in Italy, where Netbook Italia reports it will sell for 400 Euros. No word on whether we’ll see a dual core model or a version with higher performance graphics anytime soon. News Source: Liliputing/a> |
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Ubuntu Netbook Edition Plans To Slim Down
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 07:09| The next version of Ubuntu Netbook Edition, or Netbook Remix as it was previously known will be slimmed down to a lighter package and only include apps that are relevant or more appropriate to netbooks.
First off, OpenOffice has been removed from the current daily builds, which is odd since there’s no replacement for that and it’s perfectly relevant for a netbook. Other apps that have been axed are Tomboy, graphics apps and PalmOS Pilot. Some apps have been hidden: Dictionary and Brasero / CD creator. Some of these apps have been replaced by more netbook friendly apps including Gwibber, Cheese Webcam Booth and SimpleScan. News Source: Netbooked |
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LG X20 netbook hits the FCC
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 07:08| LG introduced a handful of new netbooks and thin and light laptops at CES last month, including a 10 inch netbook that I thought was going to be called the X200. But now the FCC has published a series of documents related to a mini-laptop called the LG X20 which seems to look an awful lot like the X200. Whatever it’s called, I’m guessing that the FCC filings are a good indication that the netbook should be headed to the US soon.
The laptop has a high resolution 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1to 2GB of memory, and a 2.5 inch hard drive. It comes with WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1.3MP webcam, and an optional HSPA 3G modem. According to the user manual, some models will support multitouch gestures on the touchpad, while others may not. 4 and 6 cell battery options are available. With a 4 cell battery, the laptop weighs about 2.6 pounds. At CES, LG said the X200 would be available in February, so we should see an official announcement any day now. News Source: Liliputing |
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iTablet: Web tablet from X2 that runs Windows
Submitted by shc-boomer on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 07:08| Sure, Apple may have decided to name its upcoming tablet the iPad, rather than the iSlate, iTablet, or any of the other rumored names that were floating around. But it takes some guts to name your rival tablet PC the iTablet. Apparently UK company X2 doesn’t lack anything in the guts department, because that’s exactly what they did.
The iTablet sports a 1.6GHz Intel processor (I’m guessing Atom), a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth, and 3G. It has 3 USB ports, a 1.3MP webcam, and HDMI output, which either means I’m wrong about the Atom CPU or this device uses an Atom Z5xx series processor, NVIDIA IOn graphics, or a Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator.The device will reportedly run Windows 7, but the image clearly shows a prototype running Windows XP. The tablet will come in two sizes. One will have a 10.2 inch display, while the other has a 12.1 inch screen. Both models will measure about 1.4 inches thick, which makes the iTablet almost 3 times fatter than the iPad. No word on pricing yet, but the iTablet is due out in April. News Source: Liliputing |
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European Eee PC 1008P-KR Ships With 2 Batteries For 12 Hours
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 09:50| Just seen a few European based netbook sites get confirmation on the ASUS Eee PC 1008P-KR shipping with 2x batteries in Italy and France.
Like the previous generation ASUS Eee PC 1008HA, the 1008P has the same thin and light form factor even having a (2900 mAh) lithium polymer battery but with the 1008P it is removable and being on the Pinetrail platform the battery is rated at 6 hours. Now add in a second battery for free and that gives a total of 12 hours (probably more like 7 - 9 in real life) Haven’t heard anything about 2x batteries elsewhere yet. Checking out the packaging for the 1008P-KR at Newegg.com reveals only a single battery. News Source: Netbooked |
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The Pine Trail nettops are coming soon… along with NVIDIA ION 2
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 09:50| Over the past month or so we’ve seen a number of PC makers introduce new netbooks with Intel’s latest Atom N450 Pine Trail processors. But what about the desktop equivalents? Asus, MSI, ASRock, Zotac, Shuttle, and a number of other nettop makers are still selling mini-desktop PCs with Intel Atom 230 and 330 processors which are starting to look a little dated.
But according to Sascha at Netbook News.de, we should start seeing new nettops from major PC makers soon. Sascha spends a fair bit of his time talking to the Taiwanese companies that make these products, and he thinks he knows what they’re all waiting for: NVIDIA ION 2. While NVIDIA pushed its Tegra 2 platform pretty hard at CES in January, the company hasn’t really been talking about ION 2 yet. And that’s largely because PC makers wanted to give existing ION netbooks and nettops a little more time on the market before bringing out something new. But NVIDIA is widely expected to introduce its next generation ION platform at CeBIT in March, and that could open the floodgates. Until we have more details about ION 2, it’s a bit too early to say how the new nettops will perform in terms of graphics capability, overall performance, and energy consumption. But if you’re looking for something with a little more oomph it might be worth waiting a few months. On the other hand, there are plenty of nettops available today for under $400 that would make excellent home theater PCs or inexpensive gaming machines. News Source: Liliputing |
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When is a nettop not a nettop? (Open-PC)
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 09:50| Is it the small size or the low power processor that makes a nettop a nettop? I’d argue it’s probably a bit of both, much as is the case with netbooks. So I’m not entirely convinced that throwing an Intel Atom 330 CPU in a desktop PC makes it a nettop. But I’m not sure it makes a whole heck of a lot of sense to call a PC with this low power CPU anything else, even if it does measure 16.7? x 13.6? x 3.9?, which happens to be the measurements of the Open-PC.
The Open-PC is packs a 1.6GHz dual core Atom 330 CPU, 3GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. It has a Mini ITX case, a 250 watt power supply and integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics. It runs open source software including a Linux-based operating system with a KDE interface. The computer sells for 359 Euros, or about $500 US. What’s probably most interesting about the Open-PC is that the company behind the computer relied pretty heavily on community input through a series of surveys to create the PC. Questions ranged from how much the finished product should cost to what desktop environment and default web browser it should use. News Source: Liliputing |
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Netbook shipments jumped 79% in 2009
Submitted by shc-boomer on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 09:49| Last year a bunch of research firms put out studies showing that netbook shipments in 2008 were up over 2007 shipments by astronomical figures. That’s hardly surprising since the Eee PC 701 was pretty much the only netbook on the market in 2007, and it didn’t hit the streets until November of that year. But while 2008 was a big year for mini-laptops, it looks like 2009 was an even bigger year. Strategy Analytics says that netbook shipments grew by 79% in 2009.
That comes to 30.2 million netbooks shiped globally in 2009. The researchers says Acer, Asus, HP, and Dell led the pack, although as we also know Toshiba, Samsung, MSI, and others have put out fairly well received netbooks. Strategy Analytics predicts 2010 will be another strong year for netbooks. But the traditional concept of a mini-laptop with a low power processor, 10 inch or smaller screen, and nearly full sized keyboard may be under attack. We’re going to see a number of companies launch tablet-style devices that could eat away at the netbook market this year. And a growing number of PC makers are putting out 11 and 12 inch notebooks with more powerful graphics and processing capabilities than netbooks, but which generally offer decent battery life at an affordable price. I’m sure Strategy Analytics probably has some information I’m not privy to which leads to their conclusion that netbooks will be able to fend off those challenges. But I don’t feel like spending $7,000 on their full report to find out. |
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Intel GMA950 Netbooks Get Native 1182 x 854 Support
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 07:06| You know how netbooks are mostly of the 1024 x 600 resolution kind. Some people are fine with that resolution, some find it a little cramped. Some manufacturers do include their own software to change the screen resolution but not all do this and last time I tried it on an ASUS Eee PC, it slowed performance down.
Well, now there’s native support for 1024 x 768 and 1182 x 865 resolutions! Of course that means you’ll end up with a blurry mess and it’s not that pleasant to view really, even if you enlarge fonts (I tried it make it look nice on my Samsung N140), however I don’t notice any performance slow down and the provided Windows 7 driver should work on any Windows 7 netbook of the GMA 950 variety. Truthfully this’ll only be handy for a small proportion of netbook users. I personally need the resolution bump, just to get one damn app running. News Source: Netbooked |
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Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 now available for $849
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 07:06| The Fujitsu Lifebook UH900 is a tiny little machine with a 5.6 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel HD multitouch display. It looks a lot like a netbook, if one were shrunk down to half size. The keyboard is about 75% that of a full sized keyboard though, thanks to a rather large bezel on the sides of the display. You might even be able to touch type on it if you have tiny fingers.
Fujitsu is now taking orders for the UH900 for about $849. That puts this little guy squarely in Sony Vaio P territory,and it sports similar specs. The UH900 has a 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU, 2GB of RAM, 62GB SSD, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. The mini-notebook has 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It has a 2 cell, 1800mAh battery. I got a chance to check out the Fujitsu Lifebook UH900 at CES, and it’s a nifty little device, although I don’t think I’d have that much use for it — especially not with a price tag that’s 2 to 3 times higher than that of most netbooks. But Fujitsu is targeting the UH900 at niche markets such as health care where the ability to carry a fully functional computer in your coat pocket could come in handy. You can check out my hands-on video with the UH900 and Fujitsu’s latest netbook, the MH380, after the break. News Source: Liliputing |
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Google Chrome OS: It’s not just for netbooks anymore
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 07:05| Google has said that its upcoming Chrome operating system is designed primarily for netbooks at launch. And that makes sense, since it’s basically an OS built around a web browser. Sure, you can play music, movies, and store some files. But ultimately, the goal is to provide you with the tools to quickly and easily access millions of web sites and web apps. In other words, Google doesn’t really expect you to use Chrome OS as a your primary operating system if you need to run resource-intensive desktop apps. But it’s a light weight operating system that’s ideal for low power computers that you use on the go.
But that doesn’t mean Chrome OS is only for netbooks. Yesterday we spotted evidence that Google was at least considering porting the OS to work with tablet-style computers. Now it looks like there’s evidence that Google is thinking about other platforms, including full size laptops, desktops, and even large screen displays or projectors. The key differences seem to be that some devices will have a full screen user interface while others will have tiled or overlapping windows, allowing you to see more elements at once. For the most part, devices with smaller screens, such as tablets and netbooks get the full screen UI, while larger notebooks and desktops get tiled windows. Large screen devices like commercial displays get a full screen UI. As far as I can tell, these are only concepts for now. When Google officially launches Chrome OS later this year, it’s expected to be targeted squarely at netbooks. But who knows what could be in the plans for next year? I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Google expand into the tablet space if the iPad and other tablets take off over the next few months. News Source: Liliputing |
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Microsoft Looks Into Battery Issues Affecting Netbooks & Notebooks
Submitted by shc-boomer on Wed, 02/03/2010 - 06:43| Windows 7 apparently has a lot of hardware issues with batteries, carried over from Windows Vista. Specifically battery drainage affecting netbooks and notebooks according to the source of this news. When I think of drainage, I think of the battery loosing charge while the notebook is in standby mode but the source covers more issues than just drainage including less battery life with Windows 7 (a drop of 30 - 2 hours - sounds like in comparison to Windows XP) and incorrect battery reporting issues which can result in the battery not fully recharging or reporting that the battery needs to be replaced when it’s perfectly fine. Nonetheless, good to see Microsoft acknowledge that they will be working on the problem.
News Source: Netbooked |
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Alienware M11x Offically Launches
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 10:16| Now that Dell has pushed out a press release today for the Alienware M11x I guess it’s safe to say it’s now official. Folks in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany and Japan will be able to order very soon. As we saw earlier today / yesterday you can pre-order it from Dell starting at $799 already and the full specs have been revealed already.
Dell have announced it on their blog as well, with a couple more demonstration videos: Here are the specs again: * 11.6” 1366 x 768 display Battery life claim is loftier than previous claims at 8.5 hours of battery life. As for performance, a 3DMark06 score of 6,100+. News Source: Netbooked |
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New ULV chips coming soon
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 10:15| While the Intel Atom line of chips may reign supreme in the netbook space, I’ve become a pretty big fan of Intel’s CULV chipset over the last few months. These low power chips show up in thin and light computers including a number I’ve recently reviewed such as the Asus UL20A, Dell Inspiron 11z, and Acer Aspire 1410. While they cost more and use more power than Atom chips, they also provide significantly better performance and tend to come with higher performance graphics as well.
So far, most of Intel’s CULV-based chips have been based on older chipsets such as the Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual Core, and Celeron lines. But CNET reports that Intel will start pumping out ULV chips based on the new Core i mobile processors early in February. These chips, including the Core i5-520UM and Core i7-640UM use less energy than their more powerful siblings. While the 18 watt total power draw looks significantly higher than 10 watt TDP on older CULV chips like the Core 2 Duo SU7300, the key difference is that the Core i-based chips incorporate graphics functions, so the TDP combines CPU and GPU functions. In other words, the new chips shouldn’t actually take much more of a toll on battery life than existing CULV options. I suspect they’ll still be a bit pricier at launch though. News Source: Liliputing |
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Intel Atom refresh to bring DDR3 memory support
Submitted by shc-boomer on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 10:15| It looks like Intel’s new Pine Trail processors will be getting an update in the third quarter of 2010. But don’t expect a major change in speed, power consumption, or overall performance. The only real difference is that the new chips will support DDR3 RAM while the current Intel Atom N450 and N470 chips can only handle DDR2 RAM.
Fudzilla reports that the new processors will bear the N455 and N475 names. Since they’re due out in the second half of the year, it’s reasonable to assume we may see a number of new netbook models released in the third quarter. But I was kind of expecting that anyway. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about support for DDR3 chips. Fudzilla had a similar report in December. But at the time there was no mention of a launch date. News Source: Liliputing |
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Samsung N510 Reveals Hinge Design Problem
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 07:10| Samsung’s Nvidia ION powered 11.6” Samsung N510 netbook went on sale late last year, showing up in Europe and the UK a couple of months earlier than it did in the US. Even before turning up in the US, reports came in on the SammyNetbook forums about the hinges breaking. A total of 13 people have reported broken hinges to date and one with a large batch of N510’s had 7 out of 32 with broken hinges. Clearly this seems to be a design issue over coincidence.
Some of those people have managed to sway Samsung with either a repair, refund or a replacement though it hasn’t been an easy task with Samsung denying the issue and putting the blame on the user in some cases. News Source: Netbooked |
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HP Mini 2102 now available for order… but it’ll be cheaper soon
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 07:09| The HP Mini 2102 is basically the same laptop as the HP Mini 210. The difference is that the Mini 210 is sold and marketed by HP’s consumer division, while the HP business division handles the Mini 2102. On the one hand, that means the Mini 2102 has a higher price tag. But it also means that you get more customization options.
HP just added and HP Mini 2102 customization and order page. Prices start at $447 for a netbook with FreeDOS or SUSE Linux and a 3 cell battery. But odds are if you wait a few days, HP will add a “smart buy” option or two which will offer the netbook with Windows 7 for an even lower price. That said, here are some of the options which may or may not be available in Smart Buy configurations: * OS: Windows 7 Starter, Win 7 Pro, Win XP Pro, SUSE Linux 11, FreeDOS All models come swith a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, GMA 3150 graphics, and a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. News Source: Liliputing |
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Samsung X120 thin and light notebook unboxed
Submitted by shc-boomer on Mon, 02/01/2010 - 07:08| The Samsung X120 is a thin and light laptop with an 11.6 inch display and an Intel CULV processor. Samsung doesn’t offer this model in the US, instead focusing on the Samsung N510 mini-laptop which is a similar size, but which has an Atom processor and NVIDIA ION graphics instead.
But the folks at Netbook News aren’t based in the US. And Roland managed to get his hands on an X120 and he’s posted an unboxing video. The X120 has chromed edges, a full sized keyboard, and for some reason buttons on the left and right sides of the touchpad instead of below it. The bezel around the display has a mate finish, but the screen is glossy. Overall, it looks like a pretty attractive thin and light notebook. For a more detailed look at the Samsung X120, you can check out reviews from CNET and Trusted Reviews. |
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