Toshiba has let the gato fuera de la bolsa in Mexico as jkkmobile has uncovered. The specs are the same as we told you before:
8.90inch 1024 x 600 screen
Intel 1.6Ghz Atom
1GB RAM
120GB HDD or SSD
LAN, Wifi, 3 x USB and SD slot
XP Home
We've seen pictures of the new Toshiba but can't share them. It is cute, no?
It seems that Lenovo shipment delays on new systems is a recurring theme as we've heard about such delays regularly when they announce a new product. Liliputing is reporting that their order for an IdeaPad S10 netbook has just been delayed for two months, a long time to wait for a new product. They weren't informed of the delay until after the original scheduled ship date given at order time. This doesn't bode well for Lenovo as the S10 I suspect has been selling like crazy and if they can't get them out the door that's not good.
The HP 2133 Mini-Note has garnered a lot of attention as the first netbook to appear by a major OEM. One of the frequent desires stated by consumers is a wish for a 10-inch version of the 2133. Laptop Magazine spotted what looks like just such a beast at an event hosted by HP in NYC last night. HP was showing off a "fashion" netbook-type of device and Joanna Stern noticed it's a 10-inch device that looks like a major refresh of the original 8.9-inch netbook by HP. She has a lot of photos of the very red new netbook for your fashion-conscious consumption.
Everybody and his brother is making netbooks these days but one big company that has stayed away is Toshiba. The market is quite large with interest so high though which is why HP, Dell and Lenovo are in the netbook game today. A reader who must remain anonymous has informed us that Toshiba is showing a netbook to the university supply crowd. The Toshiba netbook has an 8.9-inch screen (1024x600), Atom 1.6 GHz processor, 4-cell battery, Windows XP and a SSD or HDD option. It sounds like a few other netbooks, doesn't it? Of course Toshiba could capitalize on its branding as we've suggested that big guys can do. Interesting side note, Toshiba is not forth-coming on the naming of the secret netbook but it was in a case with "Libretto" on it.
Medion is jumping into the netbook fray with the introduction of its 10-inch model, the AKOYA Mini. This Atom-based netbook has 1 GB of memory and an 80GB HDD making it sit firmly in the middle of the pack of the netbooks. Medion also introduced a gigantic notebook that fits in the "not-so-mobile" category with the AKOYA E-8410, a beast with an 18.4-inch screen. The 8410 has a fast Core 2 Duo processor and NVIDIA GeForce 9100M dedicated graphics, making this a full desktop replacement. No word on when or if either one of these notebooks will grace US shores.
(via AVING)
Brad Linder over at Liliputing is reporting that hot on the heels of the price drop on the EEE PC 901 the 1000H is now available at a much lower price than before. He is reporting that you can pick up a 1000H for just $505 at Amazon or $449 at MWave. That's a $200 drop from the list price since the 1000H was released just a short time ago. He also says that the EEE PC 1000 with a 40 GB SSD is now going for $599 which is a $100 drop from just a few days ago. Yowza!
Asus is following Acer's lead in dropping the price of one of their netbooks, the 901. Asus is dropping the price to $499 which is pretty darn good for a netbook with a 1.6 GHz Atom processor, 1 GB of RAM, a 12GB SSD, 8.9 inch screen and a 6-cell battery. It looks like the netbook field is getting crowded enough to put some pricing pressure on the big boys. That can only be good for us little consumers.
(via engadget)
Well, well, well... the maker of my personal favorite line of UMPCs has decided to jump into the netbook market after all. AVING has several pics of a planned Samsung netbook and I like what I see. It appears to be a 10-inch display and will run on the.... wait for it.... Intel Atom platform. There aren't any other specs available at this time, but we should here more pretty soon since the launch is right around the corner. Korea will see availability in October, with other netbook-starved countries to follow after that.
Like other entries in this category, I can see three USB ports, Ethernet jack, card reader and VGA out. The touchpad definitely offers vertical scrolling from the looks of it and the keyboard looks sweet: a thin row of Function keys subtly sits on the top while the arrow keys are moved down a bit to offer more room on the bottom row. I see the standard web-cam above the screen and the whole device looks pretty sleek and slim.
(via UMPC Portal)
Folks holding out for a 6-cell version of the MSI Wind keep wondering if it's worth the wait. I think it is and not just for the added runtime. The 5200 mAh battery is well designed to fit nicely in the Wind and really doesn't add much bulk at all. In fact, it adds nothing extra on the back of the device; instead, it adds a smidge to the bottom which props the unit up a few degrees. So how much runtime should you expect? I ran two different tests using BatteryEater to give you an idea.
Before I share the results, let's set the stage on what this test does. It stresses the computer non-stop until the battery dies. That means it tells you the MINIMUM runtime of the unit. Just like all of the other times I've run BatteryEater on devices, I did this with the screen at 50% brightness, WiFi on and no power management in Windows. So this is a worst case scenario. In the real world, you'll see better battery life, which I'll address at the end.
Continue reading "Minimum runtime results of the 6-cell MSI Wind " »
We knew that netbook OEMs would begin offering subsidies with 3G carriers when all the right factors were in place and that is already happening in Japan. Our "reader on the streets of Japan", Robert Kawaratani keeps us informed about the netbook scene in Japan and today he sent a newspaper flyer that offers a 3G subsidy for both the new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-note netbooks. According to Robert, and since my Japanese is non-existent I'll have to take his word on it, the subsidy comes to about $370 for a two year commitment to the 3G data plan with Emobile. That's a healthy subsidy and one that makes these netbooks a pretty attractive purchase if you're in Japan. Thanks Robert!
Acer is on track to sell one million netbooks this month which should bring sales of the Aspire One up to two million for the quarter. DigiTimes shares this outlook along with news of a subsidy for potential device owners in Taiwan. Acer is planning to add a 3G or wireless broadband module to the netbook; the component would add around $95 to the netbook price, which is currently in the $329 to $349 range after a recent price drop.
Since I couldn't sleep at 3:30am, I decided to make good use of my time. Of course, that meant some Super Monkey Ball on the iPhone followed by Tiger Woods '09 on the Xbox 360... I just love that Game Face feature. After the early morning productivity, I decided to unwind and actually view the manual for the MSI Wind. I got through the basics and found myself unexpectedly at the end of the manual. Hmm... I saw no mention of the Turbo mode which is Fn+F10 on the keyboard.
Now when I press that key combo, I do get an on-screen icon but it sure doesn't look like the Millennium Falcon starting up its famous Kessel Run. No streaks of light, no hyperspace, and no seat-pushing acceleration; yup, our artificial grav generator is on the fritz. Instead, I get an icon that resembles a battery. And my screen became dimmer. Hmmm......
Lo and behold, the Turbo function that used to overclock the 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU is now an Un-Turbo mode. Instead of overclocking, it underclocks the CPU to a fixed 800 MHz in order to save battery life. Now that's not a bad thing for me personally, but it's worth a mention to any prospective MSI Wind owners. Since the Intel Atom supports SpeedStep technology, you can let the CPU optimize its speed as needed, but if you want to force a drop to a constant 800 MHz, just hit "Turbo". ;)
Oh, the reason I was looking into this? Brad Linder from Liliputing is on his way to my home office this morning. He's bringing his Asus Eee PC 1000H so we can do the legwork for that "netbook deathmatch" I've been talking about. The two devices are extremely similar but the Asus also offers some CPU optimizations that I want to look at for comparison purposes. Brad and I have each run our BatteryEater tests on the 6-cell batteries; he's posted his results but I'm going to hold off on my results just yet. We may have used different power modes, so I want to confirm that bit first. More to follow... in fact, who knows what we might do today: some live streaming of the two devices, a short podcast, some postings? Don't get too excited: we could just settle down in front of the HDTV and watch NCAA College Football... either way, it should be fun!
Update: since the remnants of Hurricane Gustav are Tropical Storm Hanna is in our neck of the woods today, Brad and I are planning to get together some time next week. I still have some data to share on the BatteryEater test later today based on my conversation with him. College football it is, then! ;)
I had a great e-mail conversation about the new Dell netbook with our friends at LAPTOP Magazine last night. Much of it revolved around the Solid State Drive memory because I was concerned about the data transfer rates. Today, LAPTOP shares more information about the upgradablity of the Mini 9 and it looks like Dell made it easy, unlike some other netbook makers.
Just remove one bottom panel and you've got access to the SSD module, RAM slot, wireless card and free slot for wireless WAN connectivity. Looks pretty good to me!
One very interesting personal thought on the SSD. While the pre-production unit sent to LAPTOP has a flash module with an SST labeled controller, the unit at Notebook Review has a different SSD module. I'm extremely curious as to which of these will be in the shipping units. Or even if a totally different one is used, in fact. It would be a shame to see a faster SSD in the pre-production and test units only to have a slower one appear in what folks will be buying.
(Image: LAPTOP Mag)
I'm thinking that Dell didn't go with a solid state drive module that's soldered on the motherboard of the Inspiron Mini 9. Actually, that was my first thought when I heard you could configure your netbook for 4-, 8-, or 16-GB of SSD capacity. It's far less expensive to have one base motherboard with an SSD module that you can add to on the fly.
My second clue was during the LAPTOP Magazine live video stream of the Dell Mini 9. Joanna Stern was kind enough to check the BIOS as I asked in the chat room. When she did that, she saw that the hard drive model was a STEC SSD x.x (sorry, I forget the numbers she read off). Some quick research let me to STEC Inc., which used to be known as SimpleTech, a make of flash memory modules and drives.
Continue reading "Does the Dell Mini 9 use a fast mPCI-Express SSD?" »
I have been using 3G in my notebooks since it was first available. Actually, truth be told I was using it long before it was 3G, maybe 1.5G is more accurate. It is easily the most useful tool in my bag and I was happy to see Dell stating that integrated 3G would be available in the new Mini netbook in just a few days. Kevin and I have had many conversations discussing the "integrated 3G vs. external 3G solutions" debate and while external solutions have always served us well there is a strong case that can be made for integrated 3G.
Kevin and I are not your typical netbook users, we both change mobile devices like most folks change their socks so an integrated 3G solution is not the best for us. Kevin is quite happy with his USB solution and I with my ExpressCard 3G solution. Even so, I have used a number of devices with integrated 3G and I believe it is the way to go for the average consumer who wants unbridled connectivity. An integrated solution is perfect for the person who buys a netbook and uses that device alone on all those mobile adventures. Windows can be configured to always look for a high-speed connection and when one is not available to automatically fire up the internal 3G. This is basically seamless and very useful for getting online without thinking about. At least you don't think about it until the monthly statement comes in crying for attention. I feel that integrated 3G is a good value for those who work in mobile settings frequently and for whom connectivity is important. Having that connectivity built into a netbook is a very nice proposition and it should be considered for certain. Having that netbook price subsidized by the carrier offering the 3G sweetens the deal to be very attractive indeed.
This was rumored earlier but seems a little more concrete right now and might help you out if you thought Dell's Inspiron Mini 9 was priced too high. Crave reports that we'll be seeing price subsidies on the new Dell netbook, similar to how cellphones costs are subsidized. In a subsidy like this, you pay less up-front for the hardware and the carrier makes money back on a voice or data plan commitment. Here in the U.S. we see this all the time: people rarely pay the full retail price for cellular phones, they pay a reduced rate and then commit to one or two years of a subscription to use the phone.
According to John Thode, vice president of small-screen consumer devices for Dell, we'll hear about a deal with a wireless carrier "in the next few days". In effect, you'll have the option to pay less for the device and use it more places due to a 3G or wireless broadband service that you pay for monthly.
While the notebook market has offered 3G service options for the past year or two, I haven't see the subsidy model applied. This could be very interesting to watch because I view netbooks more as "cloud computers" that thrive with a wireless connection to the web. Of course, you can use these as traditional notebooks, but this is how I view this market differently from the traditional market. In fact, if the subsidy approach takes off, the netbook market could actually influence the notebook market to do the same. Worth watching and we'll have to revisit this if and when Dell actually announces such a plan.
After months of speculation and leaks, it's official. Dell is set to announce their netbook entry, the Inspiron Mini 9, this morning and the starting price for a version with Ubuntu 8.04 will be had for $349, although that option isn't available quite yet. Today in the U.S., Japan and selected countries in Europe, you can order a base Mini 9 with Windows XP Home for $399 and options can shoot the cost up to over $450 or more. Not exactly the $299 price tag everyone was hoping for, but not at the top end for this market either.
Let's see what you get for your $399... and yes, this will sound familiar to those following the current netbook market:
So far, the difference between the Mini 9 and others seems to be an extra battery cell and Works. ;) Actually, it's nice to see a 4-cell battery. My estimate would be around three-hours of battery life with normal usage. But I'm wondering about that solid state drive: who makes it and how fast is it? I wasn't happy with the Windows XP performance on my SSD-based Acer netbook because the data transfer rates were just too slow for me. If Dell is going out the door with Windows XP systems, I have to believe that they'll perform at a decent speed which means faster SSD. The Direct2Dell blog says that the Mini 9 has a starting weight of 2.28-pounds which is lighter than many others in this space, but when I hear "starting weight", I immediately wonder if the battery is included in that number.
These systems won't be shipping until September 18th, but can be ordered now. That's the day of the Mobilize conference in San Francisco that James and I are attending, so maybe we should order one and have a special delivery. I'd like to see how the device behaves... but then again, is there that much different?
One thing that is different (and expected): you will get 2 GB of free storage with Box.net. I'm seeing that more as a marketing bit than anything else. Anyone with or without a netbook can get 1 GB of free storage there today. Actually, there is another difference. Purchase a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330 by 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9th and you can add a Mini 9 for $99. Now, that's something different!
Try as I might, when I configure a Mini 9 system on the U.S. Dell site, I can only get the price down to $429, not $399. Probably a glitch or could be related to my not having coffee yet this morning.
Dell has gone on record to say that they're entering the netbook market this week, so it could happen any day now. I'm sure there won't be many surprises in terms of the features and look, so again I wonder what will make this offering different from this market.
We've already identified a few aspects that cause people to pick one netbook over another: price is a definite factor as are the Linux implementations that some vendors customize and offers. Dell may be partnering with Box.net to offer online storage capabilities, but even that is something that's been done; Asus has been talking about that for a few months. Makes me wonder if most of the Dell models (assuming there's more than one) will offer wireless broadband: when you're out and about, you'll need a way to access that online storage, no? Or they could be hooking up with a carrier to subsidize and therefore reduce the up-front device cost.
Since we get so many questions about "build quality" when we look at these devices, I'm wondering if "brand name" is part of the equation here. Dell is joining HP and Lenovo as another "household name" vendor, at least here in the United States. Sure, Acer and Asus might be familiar to some consumers, but I think Dell and HP offer stronger brand recognition. Many people equate brand names with quality, which is why I'm tying the two together here, but perhaps I'm off-base.
Along with the brand name factor comes marketing. Why are names like Dell and HP so well known? Part of the reason is that most people have seen print or television ads from these companies. Plus, they walk into the local brick-and-mortar electronics chain and see far more Dell and HP computer models than they do from other brands. And those models are featured in the weekly circulars... even more brand reinforcement.
I hadn't thought about branding on netbooks up to now, but with Dell entering the market, I'm thinking that it's another way to differentiate a netbook that's similar to so many others out there. Thoughts?
We always get asked how good a given netbook handles Skype video calls so Kevin and I jumped online and shot this very short example of Skype on the MSI Wind I must say that from my end the video quality is the best I have seen on any netbook by far. Kevin had my video in Skype playing in a full window on his end and the MSI Wind handled that with ease. Take a look and see what you think. I was in the local coffee shop when we chatted and no doubt you can hear that in the background as it was very loud even for me.
Yup, it's my duly sworn oath to comply with the needs of those that require benchmarks, so here's my morning run of CrystalMark R3 on the MSI Wind. Considering that many netbooks have very similar component configurations, I don't think these numbers will surprise anyone that's been following this device class. In fact, the Asus 1000H is nearly identical, so therefore, the same benchmark tool running on the same OS would likely generate very similar numbers.
When compared to the benchmarks of the SSD version of the Acer Aspire One (AAO) that I bought, tested and returned, the biggest differentiator is of course the one major hardware difference: the hard drive. The 5400 RPM drive in the MSI Wind is far faster in five of the six tested categories; only the Random Read 64K test was faster with the Intel SSD in the AAO. The Wind uses a 2.5-inch Western Digital Scorpio Blue hard drive and easily bested the slow flash module that Acer went with. CrystalMark saw sequential read and write speeds of 44.82 MBps and 42.77 MBps in the Wind; the AAO transferred data at 37.2 MBps and 3.06 MBps in the same test.
Overall, I'm impressed with nearly all of the Intel Atom netbook benchmarks I've seen. And surprised to a degree. Having spent nearly $1,300 on an Intel Core Solo UMPC earlier this year, it's phenomenal that benchmarks between the two are so close when compared to netbooks that are around 30% to 50% in terms of price. Of course there are plenty of other factors in a purchase decision, but still... it's amazing when you think about it. Stay tuned for the BatteryEater test as I should be running that later today. Let's see what the minimum runtime of the MSI Wind is with a 6-cell battery; I'm guessing 4.5-hours with WiFi on and the screen at 50% brightness. For my usage patterns, that should equate to nearly 5.5-hours of mobile computing on the Wind.
The MSI Wind is definitely one of the hottest netbooks around and one reason for that is that it has very nice specs. You can trick out the Wind with full-fledged components and get down to business and it is more than capable to hold its own for every day use. One intrepid geek has even gotten three OSes installed on his Wind has has a video to show it running all three. It's pretty geeky to have Windows XP, Vista and OS X running on your Wind so you can set off in whatever direction your mood takes you. How long do you think it will be before Kevin has OS X running on his new toy?
FedEx did me a favor and delivered my MSI Wind a day early, so here's a twenty minute walk though and overview of the device. This is the unit with the 6-cell battery, which I estimate will get me a good five-plus hours of real-world run time. I originally purchased a new white MSI Wind from Dynamism at $599, but while waiting for the order to be fulfilled, I noticed they had a black open-box unit for $20 less. I jumped on it and Dynamism threw in two useful goodies which I cover in the video.
This is just my first impressions after using the netbook for all of an hour; I'll be spending much more time with the MSI Wind over the next week or two of course. Drop your questions in the comments and I'll do what I can to answer them! So far, I'm pretty impressed in terms of performance, build quality, keyboard and functions. $579 worth of impressed? I might be, but I'll know for sure in a few days.
The U.S. holiday weekend didn't stop me from checking in on the FedEx tracking site for my MSI Wind with 6-cell battery. Of course, there were no updates over the weekend, but I didn't want to turn in my "geek card" due to lack of checking. Lo and behold there's potential good news from this morning's last check: although the Wind isn't due to arrive until tomorrow, it appears to have forced its way onto the FedEx truck for delivery today! Personally, I think the Google folks had a hand in this since I was just thinking about how Chrome will run on a netbook.
I finally got a chance to read through the great comic book explanation of Chrome, the new browser from Google. The beta browser is scheduled to hit today for Windows devices, although the team is working on a version for Mac and Linux users as well. I highly recommend reading through the browser description: it's as fun presentation as it is informative. As I read through it, I saw that James was wondering aloud how well Chrome will run on a netbook. I began to make an early judgment which coincides with a scheduled delivery of my newest netbook tomorrow: Google Chrome could easily be the netbook browser of choice for many.
Continue reading "Three reasons Google Chrome could be the netbook browser of choice" »
Google caught us all by surprise with the leaked comic book detailing their new browser Chrome. The new browser is made from the ground up around how we consume the web using multiple tabs. Google gave enough information about how this tabbed environment will work that is really exciting. Chrome is designed from the get-go to keep each tab containing a web page as a separate process so that when something bad happens in a tab the rest of the browser is unaffected. This makes sense on many technical levels but it has me wondering how well this will work on limited resource computers such as netbooks.
Browsers can consume a lot of resources, both memory and hard drive, as the user opens many tabs. Current browsers pretty much have only the current tab active though, with the others lying dormant in the background consuming resources but not actively processing information. According to Google Chrome will work more like a multi-tasking operating system with each tab doing its own thing simultaneously with the others. I can see that this might prove a bit taxing to netbooks with limited processors like the Atom or Via which begin to bog down with too many processes running concurrently. This will be interesting to see how it plays out and the first beta should be available today so it won't be long now.
I am really excited about Chrome because it's the first browser designed from the ground up to work the way we do with tabs. All current browsers started life as single site browsers that eventually got tabs added on top when we demanded them and Chrome will have an advantage starting out that way from the beginning. Chrome is also based on the technology being used in the Android browser and I wouldn't be surprised to see Chrome crossing the desktop/ mobile device divide. This is going to be fun.
I don't know if the Commodore is still worth anything, but over the next few months we're sure to find out. The Commodore brand that I knew and loved in the early 1980's is joining into the netbook craze with their UMMD 8010/F model. I can't explain how many hours I spent tapping away at my C-64... it felt like every waking moment that I wasn't in school was spent PEEK-ing and POKE-ing at the memory innards of a home computer. Do I have a soft spot for the venerable brand? You betcha! Enough to buy this netbook. Eh... not so much.
At a tad over $600 and running a 1.6 GHz VIA C7-M, the most comparable netbook I can find is the HP Mini-Note. While the Commodore offers a 10-inch display to the HP's 8.9-incher, just about every Mini-Note specification trumps the C-8010 at nearly the same price. Commodore is opting for 1 GB of RAM, optional Bluetooth and an 80 GB hard drive. The $629 offering from HP with the same CPU? 2 GB of RAM, included Bluetooth and a 120 GB hard drive.
Of course, computer purchasing shouldn't be based on specifications alone. There's definitely something about owning a Commodore computer these days, which is why I still fire mine up once a year. Is it worth nearly $600... maybe so, maybe not, but it's sure great to see. All we need now is a William Shatner ad for the new netbook. Sadly, in Shatner's VIC-20 advertisement, the big selling point is "under $300." Ahhhhh.... inflation.
I had a nice e-mail chat with reader Michael Connick this morning regarding the MSI Wind that I should be receiving next week. Michael recently upgraded from an Asus Eee PC 900 model to the 1000H, which spec-for-spec is the near-equivalent of the Wind. I had alluded to the MSI Wind weighing about a half-pound less but Michael mentioned that he thought the weight difference was only .2-pounds between the two. Hmm.... time for a little investigation!
I turned to LAPTOP Magazine, since they reviewed both in recent months. Browsing through the MSI Wind review confirms what I wrote: the notebook weighs 2.6-pounds. Checking in on the Asus Eee PC 1000H review shows a weight of 3.2-pounds. That's where I came up with the Wind being about a half-pound lighter. Still, I'm glad I looked into this because there's a bit more to uncover.
When you factor in the AC adapter of each, the story changes quite a bit. The MSI Wind with AC adapter adds 3.4-pounds to your gadget bag. Asus clearly went with a smaller, lighter AC adapter, because that package comes to 3.6-pounds, or a .2-pound difference. In a sense, Michael was correct in terms of the weight difference: folks that carry an AC adapter with either of these devices will see the weight advantage of the MSI Wind nearly negated. I'm much more inclined to leave the AC adapter home, regardless of the device I carry, so I'm still sticking with my MSI Wind purchase. Aside from the lighter weight, I prefer the keyboard layout on the Wind over the Eee PC line. Regardless: good point Michael, and thanks for the heads up observation! Detailed info like this can go a long way towards helping consumers make purchases based on their own needs, so thanks!
Folks that are comfortable in the Linux world can grab and install the packages needed to give this a try, but it's still a work in progress. Although my Linux experience isn't vast by any means, after using Xandros, Linpus and Ubuntu, I'm finding I much prefer the latter. There's a bit of personal preference involved, so I'm not condemning any distros here. But I would like to see some type of standardization on the Linux netbook front. While choice and personalization are great features in personal computing, you don't want a new interface and learning curve with each new purchase. I thought that the Moblin project would help in that area, but I see that effort focusing more on MIDs and less on netbooks.
If you got all hot and bothered over the new Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Mini announcement earlier this week, this might cool your jets a little. Team Engadget got some hands-on playtime and says the "keyboard flexes like a trampoline." Unless said keyboard is part of the Olympic team for doing backflips on taut canvas, that's not a quality we like to see. Or feel for that matter. Note to netbook makers: the keyboard has to be usable and effective... if it's not, just save us all some grief and make your device a slate. 'k?
The gang wasn't too thrilled with the mouse buttons on the side of the trackpad either. After using a similar configuration on the Acer Aspire One, I tend to agree, but with a little patience and brain re-mapping, just about anyone can get used to that. I added some electric shock therapy and while I don't recommend that for everyone, it worked pretty quickly for me. What's with the bottom part of those mouse buttons though... was there really a need to angle them in and reduce the already small amount of surface area? Uh oh... shouldn't have said that... I feel another shock coming on...BZZZTT!
Update: I'm not sure if IOC stepped in here or not, but LAPTOP Magazine indicates that the Amilo won't be somersaulting across the pond. No plans for the U.S. although they "do intend to offer a product in this class in the future."
Kevin and I had one of our Skype chats this morning that quickly turned to a topic that we've both given a lot of thought. We both use netbooks and we both use Macs in our daily routine and the conversation quickly turned to what would we like to see Apple produce on the netbook front? It became apparent quickly that Kevin and I have different views on this subject and it sounded like a good idea to both give our views and then open this up for discussion with you the readers.
Continue reading "jkOnTheRun debate- what do you want in a Mac netbook?" »
It's twofer Thursday as word of two new netbooks has appeared and both of them look pretty nice. The LG X110 is the most interesting as it is one of the first netbooks to integrate 3G into the device, making this a true mobile workhorse. It will add some dinero to the cost for sure and word is the X110 will set you back a lot more than most netbooks as you would expect.
Specs:
10" Display (1024 x 600)
8.9’’ WSVGA Display (1024 x 600)
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 (1,6 GHz)
1024 MB DDR2 667 MHz RAM
Second up is the Fujitsu Siemens Amilo which if nothing else is one of the most attractive netbooks we've seen yet. The 8.9-inch Amilo packs the obligatory Atom processor running at 1.6 GHz to power the 1 GB of memory and 60 or 80 GB hard drive (no SSDs offered). The Amilo will be a Windows XP device and has an ExpressCard slot, something that is not that common on netbooks.
Specs:
8.9’’ WSVGA Display (1024 x 600)
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 (1,6 GHz)
1024 MB DDR2 667 MHz RAM
60/80 GB HDD (3600 rpm / 4200 rpm)
LAN, WLAN 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth
ExpressCard slot
USB 2.0, VGA out
Webcam 1,3 Megapixel, Digital Array Microphone
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
233 x 29 / 36 x 175 mm, 1 kg
Netbooks are this year's hot property in the notebook world as we hear about them in a constant stream of news and coverage. For the most part they all look the same, have the same components and have a low price. There has been no shortage of speculation as to how big an impact on traditional notebook sales the cheap netbooks will have. Wistron, a large Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) of notebooks for big companies, doesn't think there will be a big impact in the near term according to DIGITIMES. Wistron CEO says the netbook is too low a profit margin to have a big impact on the total notebook outlook as netbooks are still a "niche product".
Lin said that Wistron is not rushing into the netbook segment and estimated that the company's netbook shipments will total two million units in 2009. Including projected sales from traditional notebooks, Wistron's notebook business should grow by 40% on year to 25-28 million units. He expressed doubts about industry players' forecasts that netbooks are to account for 20-30% of total notebook shipments in 2009.
I'm not sure how a brand new genre of device can ship two million units in a year (and that's just Wistron) and be called a niche product. While the OEMs may not like the low profit margin of the cheap netbook it's clear the consumer wants them and that's why all of these companies are making them like crazy.
I've been chatting a bit with good buddy Brad Linder over the past few days; he runs the popular Liliputing site that's devoted to small netbooks and computers. He took note of my recent MSI Wind order because he opted for the Asus Eee PC 1000H. Spec-wise these two devices are pretty darn similar and some readers here have asked for a head-to-head comparison between the two. Luckily, Brad and I are just a short drive from each other, so we'll be collaborating in a week or two for just such a "Netbook Deathmatch". ;)
While I wait for the Wind, Brad offers up his list of pros and cons for the 1000H. There's plenty to like in his list, but a few "gotchas" that are present as well. Have a look-see if you've been thinking about Asus's offering with the 10.2-inch display. Most interesting to me between the two devices is the weight difference even though both have a 6-cell battery: the Wind is nearly a half-pound lighter, but we'll have to do a formal weigh-in between the two contenders.
That's the question that Rob Enderle is asking in his excellent analysis of the netbook. Rob tries first to define just what a netbook is, something that all of us who deal with them try to do. He finds the current operating system choices on netbooks to not work very well, from Linux to Vista Basic and I tend to agree with him. But what may be the big driver for netbooks going forward are the cloud services which are proliferating at a rapid pace. Remote computing is the perfect task for the netbook and Rob agrees with that. He sees the netbook as a more capable thin client in this role and he may well be correct with that view. One thing is clear to me and Rob agrees, a change is in the wind in the notebook field and it's led directly by the netbook.
My return of the Acer Aspire One this past weekend was a little half-hearted. I was torn because I really liked the hardware overall. So last night I checked in with Douglas Krone of Dynamism to see if they had the MSI Wind in stock with the 6-cell battery. A check on the site indicated that these units usually ship in 3 to 4 days, but I wanted to confirm since that configuration is a hot little commodity right now.
Douglas was over in Tokyo, no doubt checking out other great gadgets to potentially import, but he told me that Dynamism has been shipping the black MSI Wind with 6-cell for over three weeks and that they would have the white and pink models this week. That's good enough for me, so I just pulled the trigger on a white model; hopefully it arrives by end of week, but if not, I expect I'll see it just after the weekend.
Although MSI was originally shooting for a $499 price tag on the 6-cell model, we've already seen the prices hiked up in the $549 to $599 range. In fact, my price was at the top of that range from Dynamism: $599. For a while I thought perhaps to wait and see if anyone else gets stock of this netbook configuration at a lower price, but with the demand for the unit, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon if at all.
Anyway, the 6-cell battery offers 5200 mAh which actually is a little more than double the 3-cell at 2200 mAh. I'm hoping to see at least five hours of real-world run-time from the unit, but we'll see. It's quite a bit more expensive than the Acer Aspire One, but does offer a few advantages for me: a slightly larger screen, integrated Bluetooth (handy for a mouse) and an easier way to get at the RAM slot for upgrades. I'll curious to see if the build quality is drastically different.
As some commenters to the price drop news have already noticed, some retailers are already selling the XP version of the Acer Aspire One netbook for the new $349 price, which is $50 less than it was prior. I have to believe that Acer had planned the price drop at least a few weeks ago because when I opened up my weekly Best Buy flyer, page 22 reflected the $349 price. Note that I received the print flyer yesterday, i.e.: the day after the price announcement. There's simply no way that the flyer was printed that night... some advance news had already hit Best Buy for sure.
These are the 3-cell units with 1 GB of RAM, Windows XP Home and a 120 GB hard drive. I actually returned my Linux-based AAO yesterday and paid the 15% restocking fee. After the abysmal write speeds of the SSD module, I felt that if really liked the unit, I'd be better off spending $20 more for the XP version to have the traditional hard drive. That model would give me the most flexibility without having to crack the unit open. At this point, I'm going to look further into an MSI Wind for my needs as that appears to be the only other new netbook (current or forthcoming) with a full-sized Right-Shift key in the proper location... something I personally don't want to compromise on.
Due to personal challenges over the past week, I haven't spent nearly the amount of time I would have liked with the Acer Aspire One I purchased. Sadly, I've spend enough time with it to decide that I'll be returning it for a refund, minus the 15% restocking fee. How can I make that determination without truly reviewing it for a majority of my time over the last two weeks? There's a few key reasons... and bear in mind that they only apply to me, or people that have similar computing needs to mine. The Acer Aspire One can be a great solution for folks that want a simple and quick out-of-box computing experience; in fact, it excels in that case.
Acer is paying attention when we say that $300 is the "impulse buy" sweet spot for netbooks and have announced an across-the-board $50 price cut on the Aspire One. Check out Kevin's coverage of the Aspire One. I'll bet he's happy to see the price drop. :) The XP version will now cost you $349 while the entry level configuration is now only $329. I guess Acer is getting ready for the rumored $299 Dell coming Real Soon Now.
(via engadget)
As I catch up on a week's worth of RSS feeds, I see from Liliputing that the Lenovo Ideapad S10 order page is up and running. I just hit it up and see that you can pre-order a red, white or blue black unit starting at $429 for black and an other $10 for red or white. All of these are XP units, which explains the additional cost: the original press release indicated pricing at $399 and up, so clearly that cost was for a Linux unit.
I know that many folks are placing orders now that the netbook has seen the light of day with LAPTOP Magazine's hands-on and the Notebooks.com video. As much as I would like to get my hands on the S10, I'm going to pass. I can already tell you that I'll likely pass on the Dell netbook that's expected to surface in the news tomorrow as well. And one of the may Eee PC models? They're all gone from my wish-list as well at this point.
Continue reading "While you can pre-order the Lenovo S10, I can't" »
The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 netbook is continuing to attract a fair bit of attention out at IDF no doubt because it's A) from a major OEM; B) it's reasonably priced- $429; and C) it's well equipped. Laptop Magazine put the S10 on screen yesterday and Notebooks.com has done the same today. Notebooks.com has the S10 with a nice look at the hardware and interestingly in the video the Lenovo rep states clearly that the S10 is available either with Windows XP or Linux. Previously Lenovo has stated that a Linux version would not be released on the S10.
When Lenovo announced the S10 netbook our expectations were pretty high given their attention to quality they show on their other notebook lines. The S10 looks to be a capable 10-inch netbook with Lenovo's typical attention to detail. Laptop Magazine spent 45 minutes with the S10 at the IDF conference and have published their impressions which sound pretty favorable. They have a video of the S10 to share too. Their initial impressions:
The Lenovo S10 left a good taste in my mouth. I walked away from my 45 minutes alone with it only wanting more time with it. The solid manufacturing quality, along with its spacious keyboard indicate that, as a piece of hardware, the S10 is one of the best. However, it is too early to make a call on the S10 until we see some solid benchmarks and battery life scores.
It sounds like a definite competitor to the MSI Wind and it's great to hear the keyboard is a good one.
Gizmodo has gotten what looks like genuine information about the upcoming release of the Dell netbook, the Inspiron 910. There is no evidence that supports the starting price of $299 that is much bandied about but the specs Gizmodo is showing look pretty decent. They are stating that it will be available with SSDs up to 16 GB and a 1.6 GHz Atom processor. The 8.9-inch screen will run at 1024x600, not the greatest but not a surprise either at a low price point. Interestingly the specs they've uncovered indicate there is a WWAN option which would be interesting to see on a cheap netbook. It appears there will be two OS options, Ubuntu and WIndows XP. They have some other photos that detail all the ports and controls so check it out.
Touring around the tech web these days makes it readily apparent how big the netbook craze is becoming. Netbooks are notebooks that are slightly smaller than normal and are typically cheaper than $500, although to hear people talk it seems that $400 is the sweet spot for netbook pricing. Most of them are sold with minimal hardware components and some flavor of Linux for the OS. There are models with beefier components and Windows XP installed but those come at a price that some are not willing to pay. So what is driving the netbook craze and why do analysts feels that they will break into the mainstream consumer market where other gadgets have failed? I think to answer that question we have to look no farther than the iPhone.
Continue reading "The iPhone will drive the netbook craze" »
Tnkgrl is at it again with part 2 of her modding of the Aspire One. In this part she has added a 60 GB Samsung hard drive to replace the little SSD that the Aspire One shipped with. She has instructions with a video to show how to do this mod. She promises to add integrated 3G in an upcoming part 3.
Excellent timing! D.C. over at Small Laptops just took delivery of his Acer Aspire One, but unlike me, he opted for the XP version with the hard drive and extra 512 MB of RAM. Similar to my first two posts about the device, what I liked and what I didn't like, he offers up his first impressions. It's interesting to see where they're the same as mine in terms of buiild quality and general performance; the hardware itself is nicer than I would have thought for such a low price. Where might there be a difference between the two devices? He hasn't mentioned any operating system concerns while I find them to be problematic for mainstream consumers. Well worth the read for a differing opinion! In fact, he might have convinced me to just throw XP on there right now and re-evaluate my thoughts on this netbook... Thanks D.C., like I needed more work to do! ;)
No doubt that folks looking for an out-of-the-box computing experience will find the Acer Aspire One very attractive, but I keep coming back to the custom Linpus Lite implementation as a potential stumbling block. Yes, I realize there are plenty of good, on-line resources dedicated towards making this netbook are more usable machine. And the simple front end does cover up a very efficient Linux operating system. I'm trying to look at the device from the eyes of the target audience though... and that's generally someone looking for an inexpensive laptop to use on the go. Mainstream users in that audience are going to be challenged; here's one example of what I mean.
Continue reading "OS implementation is another netbook differentiator" »
When Tnkgrl noted that she had picked up the Acer Aspire One we knew it was only a matter of time before she started cracking it open and adding stuff to the guts. She's already started and has posted some photos and a video of the process to add Bluetooth to the AAO, something it is lacking in its cheap configuration. Of note is that she is next going to replace the slow, small SSD with a PATA hard disk to bring that cheap toy up to specs.
Yesterday I shared five aspects of the Acer Aspire One that I wasn't too fond of. It's not all bad of course, so today it's time to highlight a few elements that I do like for this $379 netbook. Bear in mind my standard disclosure: these are simply my opinions so use this information to form your own thoughts. A few commenters in the last go-around seem to have missed that part, so it's worth the restate. With any device, there's both good and bad; regardless of my opinions, there's defintely an audience for this device.
Continue reading "5 things I like about the Acer Aspire One" »
IDG had a recent opportunity to chat with Palm founder Jeff Hawkins, and the interview focuses squarely on the netbook market. While I'm of the opinion that the small notebook market is pretty well defined, it looks like Hawkins still feels there's a market for a Foleo-like device. At least that's how I'm reading it based on these excerpts:
"IBD: When Foleo was announced critics questioned this category. What's your thinking about it now?
Hawkins: As far as I know the category hasn't taken off yet, but there's interest in it. My opinion has been pretty consistent... I'm a frustrated computer user -- I don't particularly like using computers. I was very excited about Foleo and I'm still excited about the category. And I never lost any of my excitement for it, even though Palm decided not to launch the Foleo.... If anything, my career has shown me that there's a demand for simplicity and size reduction. I'm still convinced it's a great category ready to really take off."
At first I thought Hawkins was talking about the netbook category, but upon a second review, I'm not so sure. What's interesting to me is the timing of this interview since we recently shared news that Celio's REDFLY was now available for consumer purchase. Many commenters indicated that it was too late for such a device to be successful and that the price was too high when compared to netbooks. Remember, the REDFLY is very similar to the Foleo concept with two major differences: it uses the Windows Mobile, rather than Palm platform, and it can't be used without a phone while the Foleo can.
I recommend reading the whole article, because it's entirely possible I've misunderstood the message that Hawkins was trying to convey. It seems like he sees a small window of opportunity for second generation Foleo, but I'm not convinced there is due to the netbook market that continues to expand at a rapid pace.
I do think Hawkins is closer to the target with his commentary on the various netbook models out there. He believes that there's still room between the "too small" devices and the "too big" devices in this category. Perhaps we'll see a Foleo 2 in that gap: a standalone device with a lightweight mobile OS sized somewhere in between?
The strength and popularity of the mini-notebook (re: netbook) craze still impresses me. I thought that once these things started showing up in user's hands that interest would start waning as it does with most tech phenomena. Of course I would never have believed that folks would still be lining up for iPhone 3Gs weeks after its release, either. There is no question that smaller, lighter, cheaper notebooks are a big draw for folks who are looking to add mobility to their lifestyle. Notebooks are a known entity unlike handheld UMPCs without greatly usable keyboards so the interest level is high. If you are thinking about working while mobile netbooks are a natural avenue to consider.
Most of these cheaper notebooks are built around compromises from their larger siblings, full notebooks. These compromises are in a number of key areas that can affect the utility of the devices in question. Smaller screens have lower display resolutions, smaller keyboards can border on not providing a good typing experience, and slower processors can restrict some types of activities that larger notebooks can tackle with ease. We always say to use the right tool for the job at hand so these compromises might not be factors in the work for most people and that's good. The important thing is to analyze your intended uses for a netbook and make sure that you won't be adversely affected by these compromises.
There is no question that netbooks are the most mobile solution for the price point. You won't find small and light devices for a few hundred dollars in any other category. But if money is no object for you there are some high dollar options from Sony, Lenovo and Apple that are just as mobile without the compromises I've mentioned. Of course most of us are not willing nor able to spend a few thousand dollars on them so netbooks are the perfect compromise. We just have to remember that they are not as fully capable in comparison so we must make sure they will do what we need them to do. Most of them will work fine for most of us and that's why they are such a hot topic. But some people I hear from have some tasks that I don't think these netbooks will do a good job performing, and those folks better steer clear. Those of us who can get by with them are lucky indeed as they are the most cost effective mobile computers ever produced. And that's music to a geek's ears.
Generally when I get a new device, I gravitate towards all of the good things. I'm going to take a different approach this time and hit some of the things I don't like about the Acer Aspire One I nabbed yesterday. I'll also have plenty of usage thoughts over the next week or two as well. Bear in mind that these are just my own opinions and experiences; I'm not suggesting that the $379 netbook isn't a great deal for some.
Continue reading "5 things I don't like about the Acer Aspire One" »
I knew when Kevin posted that Circuit City was carrying the new Acer Aspire One netbook in their brick and mortar stores that it wouldn't be long before he'd run out and grab one. That's exactly what he did and today he brought one of these nice blue mini-notebooks home so we sat down and had a video chat about it. Kevin unboxed it and showed us everything you could want to know about the Aspire One and showed us all how fast you can take one of these Linux-based netbooks out of the box and get productive. Have a look at the Acer and see if you think it's worth the $379 Kevin paid for it. I think it is. I also like the Lazy Susan fixture on the bottom of the Aspire One, I think that should come in handy.
Acer's netbook entry may have already been available at Circuit City, but I just saw tomorrow's ad today (gotta love that DeLorean with the flux capacitor) and the Aspire one is showing front and center in the notebook section. This is the first time I've seen some prominent advertising space for a netbook in the weekly circular; which is actually rectangular, but that's another story for another time.
In the ad copy, they actually don't call the computer... well... a computer. Here's the text: "this lightweight & portable Internet device features a cool design & USB ports for added versatility." Looks like the netbook tag was also adopted because later on they do call it an "Acer netbook". No special deals here: it's $379.99 for the unit with an Intel Atom CPU, 512 MB of RAM, 8 GB of flash storage, 802.11g, webcam and Linpus Linux Lite. I'm off to Best Buy today to pick up some new external speakers for the MacBook Pro, so I might swing by the Circuit City for some touchy-feely time on the Aspire one. That shouldn't put a dent in my travel plans since you can generally see a Circuit City from most Best Buy locations. ;)
Having just attended Laptop Magazine's live streaming netbook show, technical issues aside, I have to admit it was cool to see so many of the different netbooks on one table. The chance to have a Skype call with Steve Paine, jkkmobile, and Sascha was the best part for me as they are all mobile PC experts. One thing that came out of that conversation that got me to thinking about netbooks in general was the same question that readers here ask all the time- "what is your netbook of choice?". I have to admit that question always stymies me because when I think over all the cool netbooks that have been introduced recently one glaring fact always comes to mind. They are all the same.
Don't get me wrong, they look different, at least most of them do but look at the primary components that constitute a computer and they are pretty much the same. They're all running the Intel Atom processor, usually have about 1 GB of memory, have a 120+ GB hard drive (or a tiny SSD drive) and run either Linux or Windows XP. They all have a trackpad and a keyboard that varies slightly, usually based on compromises forced by the size of the device. See, they are pretty much the same. They are all using basically the same hardware components because they have really low profit margins and there is no wiggle room for custom engineering. They all use the same displays, well, you get the point I'm trying to make. They are basically the same machine with slight variations and different branding.
The first thing you have to decide when trying to figure out which you "like best" is determine what size screen you need. They come in two sizes, small (8.9-inch) or large (10-inch) and that determines both overall size and more importantly how much room they have for the keyboard. If typing experience is important for your work then almost certainly you will want a 10-incher as they typically have wider keyboards and thus nearly full sized ones. While some of the 8.9-inch screened devices can offer a decent typing experience they still have keyboards that are smaller than their larger siblings and it becomes more important to try them out before dropping your cash. That's impossible to do as they are not all in retail stores yet so you're safer with the 10-inchers.
So if most of these babies are pretty much the same how can the OEMs set their jewel apart from the crowd? I'm afraid it comes down to price, and the lower the better. If your gadget is about the same as the crowd then the only way to stand out is to have the lowest price out there. That means a small profit margin just got very tiny but that's the state of affairs in netbookland. That's why so many folks are excited about Dell's upcoming netbook with its $299 starting price. If it has the same components as the pack, and I think it probably will, then pricing just got even more important. It's a good time to be a consumer. Oh, you OEMs could stand out with extended battery availability and good accessories too. At least your profit margin will be higher on those.
Small laptops are all the rage and ones with swivel touchscreens even more so. The Kojinsha SX3KP06MA (whoo, what a mouthful) set itself apart from the pack by integrating a dual-layer DVD drive into the tiny unit itself. The SX3 also has a hi-res 8.9-inch screen and an integrated ExpressCard slot for mobile broadband which makes this a real business machine IMHO. A couple of unboxing videos have appeared which show the SX3 to be a solidly built mini-notebook but not a Tablet PC, in spite of what is said in at least one of these videos. While the SX3 has the nice swiveling touchscreen which lets you work in slate mode it ships with Vista Home which does not include the tablet features of Windows Vista. You have been warned.
Unboxing video one- only get to see the unit for about 10 seconds, not a good one.
Unboxing video two- much better look at the SX3 which makes it look pretty decent. It's the video below:
We can't get enough information about these netbooks now can we? That's why we are all over every review and every video we find because while everybody is making netbooks these days very few are shipping yet. That's why we're all so jealous of those folks over at Laptop Magazine. They seem to always get the netbook of the day in their offices for proper handling. They feel guilty about getting all of those netbooks, they really do. That's why they are giving back to the community tomorrow by hosting a live streaming webcast showing off a few of those new netbooks. I have it on good authority that they'll be flashing the Sylvania G, the ECS G10IL, and maybe the Gigabyte M912 will make an appearance. To participate in the live streaming peep show hit:
http://www.laptopmag.com/webcast/
Friday, August 8 at 1 pm EST
I'll be there with bells on. I am very interested in seeing the ECS G10IL since Laptop says "we could have an MSI Wind and Eee PC 1000H killer on our hands". Now that's heady stuff.
Did you hold off on the original CloudBook because you wanted XP but didn't have a license to spare? Everex now offers the CE1201V that includes Windows XP at a price of $449. The price boost over the original is all in the operating system license: Everex bumped the RAM up to a respectable 1 GB and boosted the storage capacity to 60 GB. In case you forgot the rest of the specs, here's a refresher:
With a plethora of netbooks with the almost-standard 1024 x 600 display, it's a shame that Everex didn't upgrade what might be among the most limiting factors: the screen resolution.
(via CloudBook UMPC)
Not much to go on here but folks looking for an Intel Atom-based notebook from HP might only have to wait a few more months. Inventec, a notebook ODM that already builds products for HP, Toshiba, and Acer, is slated to build a new mini-notebook for HP that's expected to launch in October. The only specs leaked at this point are a 10-inch display and SSD memory for data storage. Digitimes indicates a screen resolution of 1024×576, which doesn't quite make sense to me. I'd guess 1024 x 768 is more accurate, if not 1280 x 768 like the current HP Mini-note.
The Gigabyte M912 is a netbook that is catching a lot of attention as it's the first (I believe) 8.9-inch netbook with a swiveling touchscreen. Throw in its respectable $700 price tag for all of that functionality and it's easy to see why some are excited by the Gigabyte. That price tag is fully almost $2,000 cheaper than the comparable Fujitsu P1620 I am using so it's a good deal price-wise. The first units are getting in reviewers hands and Joanna Stern of Laptop Magazine has posted her first review of the M912 along with some video footage of the little beast in action. It's apparent that she likes the Gigabyte although notes that it runs pretty hot at times. She also remarks that the keyboard is a bit too small for touch typing, something that doesn't surprise me given the relatively large bezel around that keyboard.
The only 8.9-inch notebooks I have used that are decent for touch typing are the HP 2133 Mini-Note and the afore-mentioned P1620 and even those are right on the fringe of being untouch-typable. Is that even a word? Both of those devices have the keyboard running almost all the way to the edges of the device and that's why they are big enough for touch typing and it's easy to understand why the Gigabyte's keyboard is not so. It's a good solid device according to Laptop Magazine so check out the review and make your own call about the M912.
Xavier over at notebooks.com got to play briefly with the recently announced Lenovo IdeaPad S10 mini-notebook and he shot an all too brief video look at the S10. The model that appears on the video is the 8.9-inch Linux version that will not be sold in the US but has the same chassis that the 10-inch XP version will have. I must say I am impressed with the build quality evident in this video and can't wait to see one in person.
Interestingly enough, the product description on Target's website states that the 2G uses an 800 MHz Intel Mobile Processor. Is this a Target "Special Edition" with an Intel A110 CPU on the inside or just a typo? There's a Starbucks in my local Target, so I may go have a look. I'm leaning towards typo though. One aspect I'm not questioning is the "arrival" of the netbook market. We geeks have been watching it unfold for nearly a year and yet most consumers still wonder what "that little laptop" really is. When you seem them in your local Target or WalMart, you know that they're catching on in terms of awareness.
Lenovo recently outed their S10 netbook (shown), an Intel Atom-based unit with a 10.2-inch screen, but as Asus proves time and again, there's always room for Jello more models. DigiTimes confirms that the S9 is Lenovo's 8.9-inch entry and will offer 8 GB of SSD storage to complement the 1 GB of memory inside.
This model will also be available with either Windows XP and a Linux distro to be named. Based on the expected prices, the S9 should be around 30% less expensive than the S10, at least in Asia. We won't know for sure how that pans out elsewhere until we get some official pricing details on the S9 from Lenovo. If the S10 starts at $399, I'm hoping we'll see the S9 come in around $299 to $349 which would make it very attractive to the masses.
Update: I've modified the title of the post as apparently it's only the display that will be smaller. Looks like the same sized chassis of the S10, but with more bezel around the 8.9-inch display according to Crave.
There is something quite infectious about a geek unboxing a new toy and the new unboxing video at Laptop Magazine certainly qualifies as infectious. There is not doubt that Joanna Stern is quite happy to have the Gigabyte M912 arrive in her office and the unboxing confirms that euphoria. I can't say I blame Joanna, the Gigabyte M912 is a great netbook with a swiveling 8.9-inch touchscreen for that Tablet PC fix. Check out the unboxing video and keep your eyes peeled for the promised videos to come of this sweet netbook.
So I'm nearing 60-days of living in a web browser. Yup, for 97% of my time over the last two months, I've been using Firefox on my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium UMPC and have been quite happy. There's still a few activities where I need a client application and perhaps the UMPC is overkill for my usage scenario. Then again, maybe it's not. Remember that I've upgraded the RAM from 1- to 2 GB in my device, and it does have a 1.33 GHz Core Solo that runs for 5 to 6 hours. This setup actually works quite well for me when I'm out and about or when I'm at the home office driving a 24-inch monitor at 1920 x 1200 resolution. There's times when things seem to come to a halt, but it's not that often. Overall, the experience has been more positive than I expected and I don't fell like I'm missing all that much in terms of apps or functionality.
So now I'm on the fence with all of the netbooks out there. In fact, I'm wondering if I need one at all at this point due to a few questions I have. Will an Intel Atom or VIA Nano device perform as well as my Core Solo or will Firefox be choking on my my all-day, multi-tab usage? How many netbook batteries will I need to have the same 10 to 12 hours of runtime that I enjoy today with the two 6-cell batteries? Part of my web-only challenge was to see if a meager netbook could actually meet my needs, but perhaps the activity has proved to me that what I'm using today is more than adequate.
I'm still in the early evaluation stages at this point, especially because the netbook market continues to grow wildly in terms of product choices. I do know that I really don't need a Core 2 Duo notebook for what I do. I have that in the MacBook Pro, but that device isn't nearly as portable, nor does it run for hours and hours. I love my MBP, but it's effectively become a desktop replacement for me: only getting used at home and even then, just for limited activities like podcast and video production plus photo imaging. But even photo imaging is starting to migrate to the cloud for me.
Honestly, any netbook right now will be hard pressed to beat my UMPC. The biggest difference between any netbook and my current device is the price: the UMPC cost me between two and four times any of the netbooks out there. Still, I enjoyed the Asus Eee PC 701 while I had it and comparable, new devices are much improved, so I'm still tempted. I'll definitely be waiting to see what Dell releases in a few weeks, but for now, I'm making a list of pros / cons / needs. I know that's the logical thing to do, but I'm afraid that when all is said and done, my current mobile device will meet or exceed everything on that list!
There are no shortage of mini-notebooks being introduced in an almost endless parade. There are often one or two new ones announced each day and it's gotten so humorous that we joke about it. There is no doubt that mini-notebooks are things of great interest to a lot of folks however, and with good reason. Small, light and highly portable, these mini-notebooks pack a lot of punch for a low price. One of the reasons they are so cheap to make and sell is because many of them pack the Intel Atom processor which is one of the cheapest around. We're hearing mostly good things about how these notebooks are performing with the Intel Atom so it's a double benefit that they are so cheap. A lot of these mini-notebooks are offered with Windows XP so obviously Microsoft is allowing OEMs to classify low cost notebooks with Intel Atom chips as Ultra Low Cost PCs (ULCPCs) which qualifies them to be sold with Windows XP.
You may remember the goofy announcement that Microsoft made a while back when they were trying to save Vista face yet cater to OEMs who insisted that Vista didn't run well on lower performance systems. The folks in Redmond basically said that certified low cost PCs could be classified as ULCPCs and thus offered with Windows XP even though the old operating system had been "phased out". It makes me wonder, how many OEMs are using Atoms onboard these mini-notebooks simply because they can offer them with Windows XP? Stranger things have happened.
Let's start the week off right with an announcement by Lenovo of their new IdeaPad S10 mini-notebook. We've been sitting on this one for a while under embargo but Lenovo has lifted it and is announcing the S10. The S10 looks interesting with a 10-inch screen and a starting price of $399 which is reasonable for one of the larger minis. A number of things set the S10 apart from the crowded mini-notebook field, an LED backlit 10-inch display for one and a multi-touch trackpad for another. Of course it doesn't hurt that the S10 is from Lenovo, a firm that knows a thing or two about making notebooks.
The S10 will be available in the US in September in two configurations- a 512 MB/ 80 GB for $399 and a 1 GB/ 160 GB for $449.99. Both configurations have Windows XP installed and Lenovo tells us that some countries will have a 9-inch version sporting Linux. The US S10 will be available in white, black and red and come with advanced thermal engineering to keep heat off the palmrests and bottom of the device.
Specs:
The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is looking like a pretty fully equipped mini-notebook for that $399 price tag and I can't wait to get one in my hands for testing. Right Lenovo?
Another good tip from Robert found its way to my inbox: I'm sure there's Eee PC owner or two out there that will appreciate it. There's a new and "eeemproved" Ubuntu distro that's customized for the Eee called eeebuntu. You can go with the snazzy Compiz Fusion enabled gnome version or go plain-vanilla with the Ubuntu Netbook Remix packages. Performance looks pretty darn good on the original 701 4G model Eee PC too: just check it in the above vid and supply your own audio track. I made mine funny, but feel free to make serious commentary when you watch.
Some of what's included in this distro:
You can grab the distro at the eeebuntu project page to give it a go. Hey, what do you have to lose when you can effectively restore your Eee to Xandros in about 90 seconds?
Has it really come down to this MSI? Folks either can't find the 6-cell battery for your Wind netbook or they have an acidic bad taste in their mouth due to a price increase for a unit with the higher capacity power pack. The do-it-yourselfers have united, so take note! Some extra battery cells combined with electrical tape and good ol' fashioned ingenuity can yield powerful results.
In fact, just keep your puny 3-cell and now-anemic 6-cell battery. We've raised the ante to 9-cells. Are you calling us or are you folding? Hey, we might not be fashionable with battery cells sticking out our backsides and held together with tape, but we're computing a heck of a lot longer! Oh wait... did you say "warranty"? OK, we fold.
(via Liliputing)
Yesterday we mentioned that word had leaked out about the upcoming netbook from Sylvania for $299. I heard from the horse's mouth that the $299 price is their target but has not been confirmed yet. I also got the real specs (click to enlarge) from Sylvania about the G:
Looks pretty sweet I must say.
Not a day goes by that we don't see the notice go up for a new mini-notebook. The netbook space is crowded if nothing else and even the big boys are wanting to play now. Today comes word of not one but two new netbooks announced with super cheap price points. Lenovo has long been suspected to make a netbook of their own and they have admitted today that the company is "considering
launching a netbook product designed with consideration for both
consumer and enterprise markets" (Ken Wong, general manager of Lenovo
Taiwan). That sounds like a definite maybe to us. (via ubergizmo)
Joining Lenovo today is the giant firm Sylvania who is expected to introduce a netbook of their own starting at $299. Sylvania has a big connection with Walmart so maybe we'll start seeing actual netbooks in the stores. The Sylvania device is rumored to have an Atom processor, 80 GB hard drive and an 8.9-inch screen. (via Gizmodo)
Reader Cody Blotske picked up an MSI Wind a few days ago and he promised he'd share his first-hand impressions of using the mini-notebook. Cody is a real user doing real things on a real Wind and we thought his views would have more meaning than all the reviews in the world so here is Cody's take on using the MSI Wind (big thanks for sharing this with everybody!):
MSI Wind by Cody Blotske
I was going to touch base with you on how I felt about the Wind sooner, but you both seemed to be a little busy the last few days. Congratulations again on the GigaOM deal. I just listened to MOTR 140 and thought I would give you my 'one week' impression. I paid $500 for the Black Wind with XP and 3 cell battery by the way, not $600.
I paid for over night and received the Wind at 1:30 at work (my boss is a mobile tech fan so it was ok). I had a plane to catch that took off at 6:00 so I had little time to play with it before I had to put it in my gadget bag and fly off into the sunset. I have to say, its amazing to walk through the airport with a 3 lbs gadget bag. All I packed in it was the Wind, ac adapter, 4 inch USB cable, Sony inner ear headphones, and Logitech VX Nano mouse. With the gadget bag and my Dash I never thought, "I wish I had ...."
The Wind is a great laptop. I mean laptop too. Even with the laptop running in eco mode it runs everything great. For example: While I was listening to MOTR 140 I was listening to it using my Jabra BT620 stereo Bluetooth headphones while Opera (6 tabs open), Rhapsody installing, Live messenger (3 conversations), and Live Mail (typing this e-mail) were running. The audio never paused and whatever I was doing never slowed down. I will admit, I didn’t expect it to handle it that well. I had most of that running just to watch it start to choke, but it didn’t (I will try harder later today). I have only used it heavily for about 4 days, but so far it's amazing how well the atom performs.
The only problems I have had with it was the WIFI drivers it comes with. They are terrible and I wouldn’t wish them upon anyone. It would drop a connection and be unable to find any WIFI networks when my Dash could see 4. It then out of nowhere would start to work. A quick driver install and a reboot took care of it. I haven't had any issues after the update.
The only slow app is the MSI 'system control manager.' It does its job very well, but the graphic that it uses are kind of janky. Brightness and volume graphics, I'm looking at you. There is a lag between where the setting is and what the graphics show. I will admit the graphics look great and polished when they aren't fluid at all.
Another thing that is annoying is they decided to put the Function button where the CTRL button should be. They made the period key half the size it should be. I got used to the period issue after typing a '/' instead of a period about 5 - 10 times. I'm still typing X or C when I'm trying to cut or copy all the time. It might take some time to get over that one. Since I'm talking about the keyboard let me say it right now, this is one of the best smaller keyboards I have ever used. It feels great and I'm very accurate with it. Everyone that’s touched it has made a comment on how nice the keyboard is.
While traveling it moved pictures several time off a camera using the SD card reader. It worked great with no issues and was quite speedy. I was planning on getting a SanDisk SD card that has the hinge that shows a USB port, to use a thumb drive that I would keep in the Wind for when I needed it. I won't be doing that anymore, SD cards stick out from the laptop. They stick out about a quarter of an inch. Not really a flaw, but would be nice if they would be flush with the case.
Wow this turned into more than a quick 'this is what I think of it so far' e-mail. As I type I would start to think of more to write. Anyway, I love the Wind and can't wait for the 6 cell battery to become available. I already have a 7200 rpm 100 GB HD and another GB of ram for it. I'm going to use it in stock trim for a while before I upgrade it. I will be putting XP Pro on it in the next few days thought. I need Pro so I can do things for work on it if I get in a pinch.
The MSI Wind captured a lot of reviewers hearts when it was first introduced a few months ago due to its great design and low price point. Then shipping delays started leading many to wonder if MSI was having trouble producing the mini-notebook for the low price points advertised. The answer is beginning to become clear and it seems that indeed MSI has discovered they cannot produce the Wind as cheaply as they originally thought. Laptop Magazine has spoken with MSI and indeed the Wind with the 6-cell battery is selling for higher prices across the etailer space. They found the netbook online for anywhere from $549 to $599, much higher than the originally quoted price of $499 which had everyone excited. This price increase doesn't sound like much on the surface but that's a 10 - 20% increase which is bigger when you look at it that way. Laptop is also reporting that consumers who had pre-ordered the Wind from Buy.com for $499 have seen their order cancelled due to the price increase.
This gets into the area that we've warned about before, OEMs of these mini-notebooks are having a hard time producing these netbooks as cheaply as originally thought. The single biggest draw of the original EEE PC, the mini that started this whole genre, was the $300 price tag. People are willing to lose functionality if the netbook is so cheap but once you start adding costs to them that willingness begins to disappear. I went through that thought process recently when purchasing a notebook for a kid going to college and I went with a $600 laptop from HP because there was simply no need to accept reduced functionality at that price point. That's the uncharted waters netbook OEMs are entering as prices go up, they are going to drop sales and quickly.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen the comment "I can't wait for the HP Mini-note to get a VIA Nano inside!" or some derivative thereof. We reviewed HP's netbook with the current VIA C7-M running at 1.6 GHz and the new Nano is a pin-for-pin match of the C7. Folks are making the leap that a simple CPU swap by HP will reap big rewards in terms of performance. They'd be correct, since the Nano is magnitudes faster than the older C7-M but you can't forget the other side of the equation. It's the one we always have to consider with mobile computing devices: the see-saw with processing performance on one side and power usage on the other.
Continue reading "Do you really want the VIA Nano in an HP Mini? I don't think so" »
This new Buffalo flash memory component would like mighty nice in my Asus Eee PC. Of course, I just sold the 701 model because I'm scouting around for one of the newer netbooks right now. If I hadn't, I'd be trying to get my hands on Buffalo's 901-X PCI-express mini SSD memory module.
The smaller capacity 32 GB card is expected to runs $156 or you can double your pleasure and get 64 GB for $316. I can't check the Eee since it's no longer here, but if I recall correctly, there was an interface for this type of expansion right under the easy to remove cover. The one that said "warranty void if removed". ;) Looks like a September release in Japan, but I suspect the product will quickly cross geographic borders soon after that.
(via Gizmodo)
Just heard this from reader Robert Kawaratani in Japan who has been following the release of the HP 2133 Mini-note with great interest. Japan has no shortage of mini-notebooks as most of them are produced by Japanese OEMs and the HP is, well, not. The HP Mini-note went on sale in Japan a few weeks ago and immediately sold out of existing stock, forcing HP to stop accepting online orders in Japan for the little notebook. Online orders resumed on July 24 and according to messages on the HP Japan website sales had to be suspended that same day as orders exceeded supply once again. The word on the HP Japan web site (translated) is that sales will be resumed in August when the Mini-note is back in stock. This is surprising to me as the HP is more expensive than some of the Japanese mini-notebooks and is actually imported into Japan.
A new day calls for a new Asus Eee PC post, right? Don't worry, eventually the endless product line and news stream will come to an end. Besides, this might be worth sharing if DigiTimes is accurate. Asus is looking to add "whole-day" battery life to the Eee line, although there's no deets on just how that would happen. Nor is anyone defining what "whole-day" is. I define it as at least 8-hours of actual run-time and I meet that definition with two 6-cell batteries with my Samsung Q1UP UMPC. It's a bummer to have to carry two batteries, but they last 10 to 12 hours and I never have to carry an AC adapter, nor do I have find the seat in Starbucks next to an outlet. Like I mentioned the other day, we need cost-effective advances in battery technologies to maximize benefits from the latest power-efficient mobile chipsets. Since no new technologies have magically appeared in the past few days, I suspect that Asus will be offering an external battery pack of some sort. Usually, these can run you around $200 or more, making it a relatively large expense when compared to a $300 to $500 netbook. We'll have to see what develops.
Oh, I almost forgot that Asus is looking to offer Internet file storage as well, something that complements the low-capacity SSD models in my opinion. Like my thought on the name? Has to be called the "Eee-Drive", right? ;)
The OLPC has captured the hearts and imaginations of us for some time and fueled the original cheap mini-notebook dream. The original dream of a $200 laptop for children quickly caught fire and Nicholas Negroponte has seen the OLPC program grow and grow. Our buddy Om Malik is attending the Fortune conference this week and got to spend time with Negroponte who brought an OLPC running Windows XP. One of the ways the OLPC can be produced so cheaply is by using Linux for the OS and it's cool to see one running Windows XP. Thanks Om!
No, that's not a typo in my title (i.e.: "tooo"); I've simply decided to take the Asus approach to my spelling. Bascially, I'm going to add vowels to words each time I see a new Asus Eee PC model. Given that reasoning, you'll probably see words like "netbooooook" and "iiiiPhone" in the near future. Why is that? Asus looks to be adding YAN, or Yet Another Netbook to the Eee PC array of computers.
The newest actually takes a step back from what I can see: the Eee PC 1000HD will use a 900 MHz Celeron in lieu of the newer Intel Atom CPU. Until I recently sold it, I used a 900 MHz Celeron in my Asus Eee PC 701 and it was more than adequate for my mobile needs using XP or a Linux distro like Xandros or a custom Ubuntu build. Maybe that Intel Atom shortage we heard about is forcing Asus to dig in the Intel recycle bins for Celeron CPUs? Other than that, I can't think of a strategic reason for this move.
In any case, this is another 10-inch device at 1024x600, opts for an 80 GB hard drive in lieu of an SSD, and offers integrated 802.11n. Asus indicates that the included 6-cell battery is good for around 5 hours of use, but based on my experience with the earlier model and a 3-cell battery, I'd estimate around 4 hours of real-world use. No word on price or availibillty, which is good: it gives us all more time to sift through the many Eee PC choices. Of course, if you wait a few days to decide on one, you might see another choice added. ;)
(via Engadget)
We can debate the merits of a convertible Tablet PC that doesn't run a true Tablet operating system, but with prices like these, why bother? We're talking about the Gigabyte M912 with pricing courtesy of UMPC Fever, and it's actually sounding affordable with rumored prices starting at $556. That model, the near-palindrome named M912M, drops the resolution to 1024 x 600 and loses integrated Bluetooth.
The M912X offers Windows XP (not Tablet Edition) and a higher 1280 x 768 resolution in the same 8.9-inch display, along with a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, 1 GB of RAM and the Bluetooth not found in the M912M. The XP version is expected in at $620 while the same unit with Vista Home Basic, dubbed M912V, adds another $36 to top out at $656. Amazing when you think about an 8.9-inch touchscreen convertible for around $650 coming from Gigabyte. An eerily similar form factor with different guts can be found in the Fujitsu P1620 for at least three times the price. Different horses under the hood of course and Fujitsu has their world-renowned palm-rejection technology, but wow, what a difference a year makes.
(via Engadget)
We've been saying this would happen since the first cheap mini-notebook hit the scene, that notebook OEMs were going to be getting a bit nervous about the low margins these little laptops are exposing. The New York Times agrees and has published an article that looks at this concern in detail and sheds light on what some of these big OEMs are thinking today. The article looks at Dell, Acer and HP and describes what they are feeling and how the explosion of this market has forced them to produce products of their own.
A quote they have from a conversation with Fujitsu that explains why they haven't entered the "netbook" market:
“We’re sitting on the sidelines not because we’re lazy. We’re sitting on the sidelines because even if this category takes off, and we get our piece of the pie, it doesn’t add up,” said Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product management for Fujitsu. “It’s a product that essentially has no margin.”
That's the biggest factor impacting the big guys, the low margin that cheap mini-notebooks have by design. There's not a lot of wiggle room in the margin when some of these netbooks are going for $300 and more importantly there's not a lot of room for the OEMs to distinguish their product from the competition. Anything new you add affects the cost and even a small price increase ends up being a large percentage increase for the consumer.
I agree with the author of the article that the notebook OEMs have long been looking to produce and sell the most powerful and thus feature-laden products. This keeps prices up high and margins equally as high and these cheap laptops fly in the face of that plan. This is what I think is giving Microsoft so much trouble with Vista currently, they've long convinced consumers that more bells and whistles mean a better product but this mini-notebook genre is flying in the face of that logic. Thin and light is in, at least for the foreseeable future.
Jump back in time with me a year. For sake of argument, it's now July 18th, 2007; one year ago. The first thing I'm going to do is search Google for tomorrow's winning lottery numbers and buy a ticket. More importantly, the second thing I'm going to do is scour the web for the best deal on an inexpensive but decent performing small notebook that weights two pounds or so. Hmm.... nothing's coming up for under a grand or two... better hope I didn't play the wrong numbers on that lottery ticket.
OK, let's beam back to the future, or more appropriately, the present. I see that the new $379 Acer Aspire One is available and earned a decent 3.5 out of 5 stars from LAPTOP Magazine. We've already seen the first generation of the Asus Eee PC 700-series come and go... you can't count the different Eee models on one hand any more thanks to the 90x and 1000. HP's Mini-Note comes in no less than four flavors while MSI is blowing in the Wind with both an 8- and 10-inch model. And don't forget we should see the Dell entry here as well at some point next month.
This is actually amazing to me. In October, I pretty much had once choice for this market and I took it with the purchase of my Eee PC 701. I'm glad I did because it opened up my eyes to new computing models. I'm also considering a new netbook purchase but I'm actually at a cross-roads due to all of the choices. Sure, many of the choices are similar to each other, which is why the big differentiator here is value. I used to think it was price, but with the many similarities, I'm leaning more towards "price and functions", hence: value. At this point, I think I'm going to wait and see what Dell unravels, but I'm still amazed at how quickly we went from no market to a product-saturated market!
The Acer Aspire One is a very capable looking mini-notebook and it is now available at several US retailers according to Acer. Those looking to snag the Aspire One can now find them at Best Buy, Circuit City, CDW and other authorized Acer resellers. The entry level Aspire One is nicely priced at $379 for the Linpus (horrible name) Linux Lite version with 512 MB and a 8 GB flash drive. Another $20 will get you Windows XP, 1 GB of RAM, and a 120 GB hard drive.
Full specs:
Acer® Aspire one AOA110-1722: Available now for a MSRP of $379
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
512MB Memory
8GB SSD NAND Flash Module(3)
8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite™ 1024 x 600
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
10/100 Mbps LAN
802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
3-Cell battery
Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
SD Storage Expansion Card Reader
Linpus™ Linux® Lite
3 USB 2.0 Ports
Acer® Aspire one AOA150-1570: Available now for a MSRP of $399
Intel® Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
1GB Memory (512MB On-board)
120GB Internal Hard Drive(3)
8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite ™1024 x 600
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
10/100 Mbps LAN
802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
3-Cell Battery
Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
SD Card Reader
Windows XP® Home
3 USB 2.0 Ports
Acer® Aspire one AOA110-1566: Available for a MSRP of $449
Intel® Atom™ Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
1GB Memory
8GB SSD NAND Flash Module(3)
8.9-inch WSVGA Acer CrystalBrite™ 1024 x 600
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
10/100 Mbps LAN
802.11b/g Wi-Fi Certified WLAN
6-Cell Battery
Multi-in-1 Media Card Reader
SD Card Reader
Linpus™ Linux® Lite
3 USB 2.0 Ports
Did we jump the gun on Intel's Atom by thinking that Vista would be way too much for the chip to handle? The jury is still out on that, but it appears that the votes are swinging the other way. Enter Exhibit A: jkk has Vista running on his Asus Eee PC 901 model, with a single gigabyte of RAM and the 1.6 GHz Atom. Exhibit B is the eleven-minute video demonstration that shows Vista isn't a slug with this device. Granted, there are no third-party apps loaded up to bog down the drive and jkk is actually using a traditional, magnetic drive. Nope, he's not testing this on the SSD of the 901, he's got a 30 GB drive inside for two reasons. First, Vista won't easily fit on the 4 GB SSD drive and the second, the SSD unit isn't quite fast enough to run an OS efficiently.
This definitely has me shifting my views and hopes for Vista running on an Atom-based device. It looks like Intel has done quite a bit of optimization and work on the Atom from when we first saw examples of Vista on it. Very nice!
Paul of MoDaCo recently picked up an Advent 4211 (MSI Wind variant) and has perfected installing OS X on the mini-notebook. Paul has documented in great detail the entire process to get it working on the Advent for those who have a desire to do so. He says it's a very workable solution and that he really likes it. Most everything is working under OS X but the deal breaker is the WiFi which won't work. Paul swapped the internal mini-PCI for another WiFi adapter so he worked around it. He's even got a video of the process so check it out!
If you are one of those folks who picked up an HP 2133 Mini-note you're probably loving it, at least I hope you're finding it to be a useful device. If you're like me though you're wishing you had a nice, functional yet attractive way to carry it around. The folks at Carrymobile have you covered (at least your 2133) with their new leather portfolio case for the Mini-note. The case is $45 and it looks like they have versions for either the 3-cell or 6 cell battery. From the photos on their site it appears the case folds over for carrying yet when opened allows full access to the 2133. Check it out and see what you think about it.
Just heard from a reader in Japan that the EEE PC (with Win XP) can be bought with a 3G external modem for the subsidized price of Yen100 with a 2 year data contract. This could be the first of many carrier supported deals that make it in front of consumers given the relative low price of some mini-notebooks. The data service in this deal will run you $30 - $65 depending on the data level you purchase. The 3G modem is the white puck thing on the right below.
(thanks Robert Kawaratani)
I was having a conversation with Kevin just this morning about how the Tablet PC fits in the mobility scene. My contention was that while the handwriting is very important to my work I believe that with many it's the mobility of the device that is paramount. Our chat went on to explore how these new mini-notebooks are smaller, thinner and lighter than most convertible Tablet PCs and that I think OEMs better be paying attention to this fact.
Imagine my surprise to find that John Hill, owner of Allegiance Technology Partners (Tablet PC reseller) and owner of Tablet PC Buzz, has penned a guest article for GottaBeMobile that addresses this very topic. What is telling to me is what John said about the main feature his customers are needing from their mobile devices:
If I’ve learned anything about marketing Tablet PCs, it is this: it is all about mobility. I used to think it was about handwriting. It is not. Our success has come from finding people who need to do their work while walking around. Think appraisers, inspectors, medical staff, landscapers, service techs and builders. These are people who aren’t making money unless they are on the job site or in front of their customer. It is easy for them to understand the return on investment of a tablet computer.
I agree with this 100% but I contend that as these industries realize how mobile these mini-notebooks can be for field work that we may see them picked up in droves. Now I definitely believe that Tablet PCs would provide more functionality for this type of field work but generally the easier the device is to transport to the work site the more likely it will be brought along and used.
This goes hand in hand with the recent comments by Active Ink Software, developers of Tablet PC form entry software, about their five year battle trying to make a living in the Tablet PC space. They are one of the longest-running Tablet PC developers who have a program that is tailor-made for the Tablet PC's major functionality.
As a tablet PC software developer, I feel your pain. We created an electronic form data entry application for the tablet PC five years ago and continue to have a loyal customer base but our expectations regarding tablet PC sales have never been realized.
This reinforces Hill's comments that I agree with, it's about the mobility, not the handwriting for most customers. I guarantee it's about price, too, so these mini-notebooks may be getting ready to take a big chunk of the mobile PC business.
Just got word from the folks at MSI that the oft-delayed Wind mini-notebook is now shipping. You can find the Wind at the following online retailers: www.newegg.com, www.amazon.com, www.frys.com, www.zipzoomfly.com, www.mwave.com, and www.buy.com. Note that the model being sold now is the Windows XP Home edition with the 3-cell battery. MSI states that the 6-cell battery and model containing the same will be available in September.
Talk about a fast-paced market. We knew that the Eee PC 900 was getting put out to pasture in favor of other models, but now there's a $100 incentive to clear the shelves. Liliputing notes that ZaReason has the offer and I noticed it earlier this morning on Amazon as well. It's a dreaded MIR or mail-in rebate, but hey: $100 is a $100! So the deal is that you pay $549.00 out of pocket and end up getting a C-note back for a total net cost of $449.99.
Remember that the 900 model doesn't run on the new Intel Atom CPU, it's the venerable ol' Intel Celeron running at 900 MHz. The eligible model on Amazon comes with 1 GB of RAM and Xandros Linux, so if you want XP, you'll need to provide a license. You do get a total of 20 GB of SSD storage capacity: broken down into 4 GB and 16 GB. Bear in mind this can cause some challenges with OS updates and application installation, but it's not a deal-breaker in my book. It looks to me that that rebate form shows four UPCs for the Eee, so I have to wonder: are all four of the permutations & combinations eligbile? There's black, white, Linux and XP to choose from. The XP model on Amazon still shows as $549.99.
As much as I like my original Eee PC 701, it would be nice to have a larger screen capable of higher resolution... hmm... it would fit the whole web-challenge too... uh oh...
Last summer I had the pleasure of dining with Michael Connick and he's one of the nicest mobile-tech guys you'll ever meet. That's why I really felt badly when I saw he was struggling with installing SP3 for Windows XP on his Asus Eee PC 900 last week. A little elbow grease and a long weekend can go a long way as shown by Michael's latest update on the topic. He's got SP3 on the box now and he's detailed the steps, challenges and pitfalls right here.
Why would this even be an issue, you ask? The problem arose because even though the Linux-flavored Asus Eee PC 900 offers a total of 20 GB of SSD storage, it does so with two physical flash drives: one is 4 GB and one is 16 GB. Most folks opt to put the OS on the first (and faster) SSD, which means you've only got 4 GB to work with for Windows unless you start tweaking. Michael originally went the standard XP install route (as most folks likely would) and essentially ran out of space on the 4 GB drive. As a result, Windows Update wouldn't run, and therefore, no SP3 or other Microsoft Updates could be installed.
There are plenty of options and choices to help slim down XP, either by manually removing components or using nLite to build a custom "thin" install. But this situation underscores why we weren't originally too keen on Asus using the two SSDs as separate drives, not as a single merged drive.
Small notebooks just keep popping up all over but what sets the Vye S41 apart from most is the optical drive. I believe the 7-inch Vye S41 may very well be the smallest notebook with an integrated optical drive which some find to be critical for their needs. The S41 is also a convertible notebook meaning the screen will swivel around so the device can be used as a slate tablet which no doubt contributes to the $1499 price tag. Vista Home Premium is loaded which I believe means that the tablet bits are integrated making the S41 one of the smallest tablets around. The specs are pretty sweet:
(via UMPC Portal)
The mini-notebook space is heating up with the first Tablet-capable gadget getting ready for release. The Gigabyte M912V was first announced earlier this year at Computex and according to PCLaunches should be released this month for only $699. This price is higher than most mini-notebooks but the M912V is the first 8.9-inch notebook with a touchscreen that swivels to form a convertible notebook. There's no real information about how well that touchscreen will perform as a Tablet PC but at that price point it might be worth trying to see. The M912V sports the Atom processor and fairly decent specs for a sub-$700 notebook:
I should point out that the Vista option is the only one that will provide full Tablet PC support so if that's what you're after then be sure and get the Vista model. I'm pretty sure that will bump the price up somewhat.
Anyone who thought that HP was targeting the Mini-Note computer to the education market just for show might want to check in with Fresno United School District. The California educational group is deploying 7,000 of the smallish notebooks in grades K-12. Teachers like the size and connectivity for students; presumably the district has WiFi functionality based on this quote from the district's CTO:
“The HP Mini-Note is a powerful laptop that is small enough to fit on students’ desks along with their textbooks and papers, allowing them access to the Internet and educational content from around the world without leaving their seats,”
As much as James liked the Mini-Note (and for good reason), I do see the device appealing more to the educational sector. Most mainstream consumesr still want a traditional, Windows-based device that has more processing power than they likely need in a small notebook. When folks spec out a Mini-Note in that fashion, they'll find more choices in their price range as they discount the size and weight factors. Don't misunderstand me: it's a nice machine and regular readers here likely recognize the value of a small form-factor. By and large however, I think HP will sell 3x to 5x more Mini-Notes to the education market than to consumers. Maybe we'll revisit this with some hard numbers by year end.
I have said it before and I'm sure I will say it again, the only distinguishing features the increasingly large crop of mini-notebooks have over their "normal" laptop cousins are size and price. Let's face it, mini-notebooks are just laptops with lots of the same features as their bigger siblings, albeit often lesser capable. The mad rush from folks like Asus to keep making mini-notebooks bigger and bigger remove one of the those features, size. The bigger the mini-notebook, the more like the bigger laptops they compete with. Along with making those minis bigger we are finding higher and higher pricing creeping into the mix. Remove feature advantage #2 I mentioned. That leaves you with a mini-notebook that is not much smaller and not much cheaper than the bigger laptops on the market. Niche removed.
Don't believe me that there are many cheap laptops available that can compete with (and outperform) these larger minis? Here's a quick look around the laptopscape this morning:
Best Buy
Compaq Presario- Dual core AMD, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, Vista. $499.
Circuit City
Acer Extensa- Dual core Intel, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD, Vista. $479.
Dell
Inspiron- Intel Celeron, 1 GB RAM, 80 GB HDD, Vista. $499.
Newegg
Toshiba- Intel Dual core, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, Vista. $549.
These are 4 full-sized laptops with good specifications that are cheaper than $600. I found these with only five minutes of searching and from major retailers. Sure, they are not as small nor as light as even the bigger mini-notebooks but they can run rings around them as a rule. So as minis get bigger they start to compete with these cheap laptops. The market may just shrink smaller as a result.
Is it me or is Asus taking the whole Eee PC concept a little too far? I was all for some welcome updates on the original 701, like a bigger screen with higher resolution added to a larger keyboard. I'm just not getting the latest news coming out of Digitimes. They indicate that Asus plans two new models in the 900-series (shown), the 904 and 905.
Each of these will use the sam 8.9-inch display of the current 900s, but it sounds like they'll be on the 10-inch chassis of the 1000-series. That will get you a bigger keyboard, but also has the potential to bring back the ugly, oversized bezel we saw in the first models. I suppose they can make good use of that extra space somehow, but I'm not hopeful.
Where I'm really lost is in the vision. What was once a ground-breaking device in terms of size and cost appears to have become a giant test lab for Asus and consumers alike. Maybe I'm over-reacting or this is what the market is becoming: quick moving and in constant flux in terms of choice? Perhaps, but Digitimes says that the new models will replace the 901. There's just something unsettling to me when notebook models last a few short months...
As the lines between notebooks and mini-notebooks blur due to increased screen size and price, there's a big camp that is all excited about the 10-inch screened notebooks. The MSI Wind snuck up on everyone and has impressed on just about every level and the recent release by Asus of the EEE PC 1000h has many wondering how the two compare. Joanna Stern of Laptop Magazine doesn't have to wonder, she gets to play with every mini-notebook produced and she's published an in-depth head-to-head comparison of the two notebooks. She looks at build and design, keyboard and touchpad, display webcam and speakers, and performance storage and battery life so no stone is left unturned. So which one did she end up pronouncing the winner? You'll have to read the review to see for yourself. I'll just say "the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind."
When I say "boost" performance, I don't mean that your HP Mini-note will magically turn into an Alienware gaming rig. We're not one to get too hung up on benchmarks here, but HP 2133 Guide updated the VIA chipset drivers on their netbook and then re-ran their tests. You can look here for the numbers, which only show a marginal bump, but I think the more important bit is right here:
"Video playback was improved quite a bit on each OS. In Vista Youtube plays great small or full screen with no dropped frames. If you open another web page it will drop a few then though. Small screen Hulu improved quite a bit and was actually watchable after the first 3 or 4 seconds."
From my limited experience, one of the weaknesses in the current VIA mobile platform is in the graphics perfromance area. Just my opinion of course, and your expereince & expectations could differ greatly. I think we can all agree though: it's good to see VIA continuing to improve their product in mobile devices.
I'm not sure if James has installed these driver upgrades for the CN896 chipset and Chrome 9 that surfaced last week; let's give him a chance to check in on that when he has time and get his thoughts.
Om Malik is currently having a look at the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC and has written an interesting piece on his experience with the HP. Om outlines what he is looking for in a mini-notebook and his POV is very interesting to me. Om feels that mini-notebooks should be "cloud computers", or a portable device that uses basically a web browser to do all of the user's work in the cloud. This fits right in with Kevin's experiment of trying to live in the cloud exclusively and I was interested to hear that Om is expecting this from his mini-notebooks.
I agree that portable laptops of a smaller form like the Mini would be perfect for a cloud computer but I see their utility as a bit more than Om perhaps. The strength of these mini-notebooks like the HP Mini-Note, the Asus EEE PCs or the MSI Wind is that they can run all of my apps when I need them to. That means that instead of replacing my main laptop for example I can still take the mini-notebook on a business trip when needed. In that scenario it could indeed replace my laptop and make for a lighter bag. Om's perspective on the mini-notebook or cloud computer is a very valid one and it accentuates what we say often here on jkOnTheRun- everybody's needs in a portable computer are different. That's why there is no "killer" portable computer. It would only be a killer device for some of us and not useful for others.
Cisco Cheng got some playtime with the new $399 Acer Aspire netbook, er mini-notebook, uh... sub-note. Right. Call it what you want, but you can't call it expensive when compared to others in this class. The lower price means potential for less features, but I'd more aptly say they're "watered down". You'll only get 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of SSD flash storage for the Linux OS and your data, which might be helping keep the price down. The smallish, 24W/hr battery is another eyebrow raiser. One feature I really like is the Smart File Manager. Using one of the two memory card slots, this feature "merges" the SSD storage with any SD storage you have, making the space look like a single drive. Nice to see, and something other small notebook manufacturers should look into.
Cisco says that an XP-model is expected in August for only $20 more, so if you're interested in the Aspire and don't have a spare XP license, you might want to wait. He'll have a more detailed review in the near future and I'm interested in reading his final thoughts. My first take is that Acer cut a few too many corners to keep the price down. In a market where the pricing is relatively close, you need to differentiate your device by features. Maybe it's too soon to say and I'll change my mind if I get a look at one for any extended time.
Since reporting on the good results using the new Skype 4.0 beta for video calls yesterday I'm getting asked by many if it works well on the HP 2133 Mini-Note. You may recall that Skype video calls didn't work worth a flip on the Mini-Note running Vista but worked acceptably using the old version of Skype once I upgraded the Mini to WinXP. I felt the question about this new Skype beta was a good one so last night I installed it on the HP Mini-Note and gave it a try. I am happy to report that the quality of the video Skype chat with Kevin was acceptable and I found the video to be higher quality than the old version of Skype. There was a little bit of choppiness at the beginning of the call but Skype quickly settled down and there were no issues with the video and the audio quality was excellent. It may be my imagination but I believe this Skype beta even made Kevin appear more manly:
Just as they promised Laptop Magazine has published a full review of the biggest little EEE PC, the 1000h. The Asus EEE PC 1000h sports the biggest screen yet, a 10-inch LCD running at 1024x600. As the review points out there are some interesting features on the 1000h to help take advantage of that big screen. First up there is a resolution changer button that toggles between 800x600, 1024x600 (native), 1024x768 (panning), and 1024x768 (fit-to-screen). While this will likely be helpful doing stuff like web surfing it doesn't really squeeze much more on the screen even at the compressed resolution so I doubt users will end up using this feature very much. The other interesting feature I think will get used a lot however, as it is a CPU over/under clocking button. The 1000h has a 1.6 GHz Atom processor which can be under-clocked to 1.2 GHz for battery saving, or the user can toggle among that, 1.6 GHz (normal) and a turbo mode at 1.8 GHz for those functions that need a performance boost. How much you want to bet that most will leave that baby at the turbo setting most of the time?
The review that Joanna Stern has written is a thorough overview of the newest EEE PC and worth a read for those interested. She touches on something in the review that I've written about here before, at what size and price do these mini-notebooks start to lose their advantage over full-functioned cheap laptops?
Laptop Magazine is at it again with an initial review of the new 10-inch Asus EEE PC 1000H. According to the reviewer that 10-inch screen provides more room for a larger keyboard making this the best typing EEE PC yet. There are a lot of photos and the obligatory video of the new Asus and I must say it looks like a solid device on just about every level. Take a look at the review and see what you think. BTW, what's up with all the annoying popup ads, Laptop?
Those of you who jumped on the HP 2133 Mini-Note early on and who have wanted to purchase the 6-cell battery must wait no longer. I just checked the HP online store and see the 6-cell battery is now available for purchase for $129. This price is not that bad although it brings up an interesting situation with mini-notebooks in general as they are so cheap that accessories like batteries are a big percentage of the device's purchase price. I have a 6-cell battery and get 4-5 hours of battery life with it so those who need extra battery life can order one now.
Just before nodding off last night I saw Engadget's post on the new Dell E and E Slim devices. Rather than put up a quick post, I decided to sleep on the news. Now that I've gotten my rest and a cup of joe, a couple of points stand out since we have some actual details on the new notebooks. The main one is something we've discussed at length on a prior podcast: with the low cost, small notebook market garnering entries weekly, they're all very similar. So what differentiators are there with the Dell? Two jump out at me, right off the bat.
Continue reading "Dell E netbook emerges: what are the differentiators?" »
With a limited 4 GB of SSD memory on my Asus Eee PC 701, I can generally only have one operating system at a time installed. Sure, I could boot XP from an SD card or something, but I'm talking about having more than one OS installed in the main storage area. The next generation Eee PCs, the 900- and 1000- series have a little more breathing room when it comes to storage thanks to 12- and 20-GB capacities.
The folks over at PC Magazine just put together a fantastic step-by-step tutorial showing how to set up a dual-boot Eee PC for Linux and Windows XP on the 900 model. The same steps should generally apply if you grab a 1000 Eee PC too. You'll need an optical drive, an XP disk (duh!), and the Asus support disk that's included with your Eee... gotta have all the drivers, you know! If you've never ventured into dual-boot territory, it's not as daunting as you think and with a well-documented guide like this, even most novices can get through it. Look at it this way: if the process fails, you can just factory restore your Eee PC in 90 seconds and you're back to where you started!
It's been a hectic week at Mobile Tech Manor and I just realized today I have not given any recent updates on how well the HP 2133 Mini-Note is working for me. You may recall I downgraded upgraded from Vista Business to XP Pro a while back and have been using it with XP since then. I am happy to report the Mini-Note is a veritable tiger running XP, sure it won't set any speed records but it multi-tasks and performs like a champ. The Via C7 processor it uses won't make any skid marks on the pavement but with XP it is more than adequate for just about everything I need to do. I wouldn't do any video or audio encoding on it as that would take too long on such an anemic processor but it handles everything else I want to do. I am still impressed with the nice keyboard on the Mini-Note and find it very comfortable to type for a long time on it.
I would so love for HP to update the 2133 with a Via Nano, that would be absolutely dynamite. Maybe they'll say something at their big press event in Berlin next week. I was invited to attend that event on HP's dime but my schedule just wouldn't permit so I'll be looking for news to come out of the event with hope. I don't think they will announce anything about the Mini-Note this soon, though, after all it's just been out for a short while. I attended a meeting with HP last week and I think I am aware of everything they will announce next week and I'll share that with you when the embargo lifts. There is some pretty cool stuff coming from the folks at HP, I can tell you that.
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