Asus is going to feature 11.6 inch wide screen in its upcoming EEE series netbook. Despite offering a larger screen than its previous EEE siblings, Asus EEE 1101HA is portable, cheap and thin. However, the machine seems to be little slower than a typical netbook because it features 1.33GHz intel Atom Z520 CPU in stead of Intel Atom N270/N280 or 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor.
It is a really a matter of worry for those who would like a faster machine. A clear line can be drawn here that you have to sacrifice a faster laptop for getting a larger screen in the same price range. However, there is a possibility the company could later on feature 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 in the same model.
Asus’ market rival Acer already came up with its 11.6 inch version of netbook: Acer Aspire One 751- which also features the same Intel Atom Z520 CPU, alongside 1GB of memory and 160GB of storage. However, Asus provides 7-hour back up for the battery which is an attractive offer for those who would like to work longer hours on the go. Now, let us see if Asus EEE 1101HA brings out similar success that its predecessors brought for the company.
This is a keyboard from Asus which will provide you with most of the functionalities of a standard laptop. The Asus EEE keyboard would feature a 5-inch touch screen at the right side through which you can shop online, communicate with people via email as well as many more things. You can control a media center for a living room or a office or an entertainment area.
First introduced in CES 2009, Asus EEE keyboard come pre-loaded with a 1 GB DDR2 RAM as well as 16 to 32 GB SSD storage. You can connect the keyboard with a monitor or a television through wireless HDMI output or HDMI port. It runs Windows XP operating system. The keyboard also features three USB, VGA, and audio I/O ports. Though the company is not yet confirmed how to market the device, it is expected that Asus EEE PC would hit the market in August with a yet-to-be announced price tag. However, reports available in the media suggest that the wireless version of the keyboard will come with a price tag of $600, while the other version with HDMI port would be priced at $400.
It is really very to predict about the performance of such a keyboard which is still rare in technology world. One thing is for sure that many people will be curious about the keyboard. However, I do not think many people will jump on it right away after the release mainly because of its price range. Many quality netbooks are available in this price range, I do not think that many people would initially like to sepnd $400 to $600 for a keyboard which does not feature any standard display, even though the keyboard provides portability and touch screen for the users.
Toshiba has come up with six new Satellite L Series laptops in four different sizes. With a starting price of $549, these budget laptops seem to pretty much attractive. There are two models: Satellite L510andL515- coming with 14-inch screen, while Satellite L500 and L505 features 15.6-inch and 16-inch displays. Well, if you are looking for bigger screen, then you should go for Satellite L550 and L555 laptops which boast of 17.3-inch screen.
Let us focus on some other specifications of these new Satellite L Series laptops from Toshiba. First of all, all the six models offer HD TruBrite (16:9, native 720p) display screen, alongside an USB Sleep-and-Charge facility. You can choose your processor between Intel or AMD. These budget laptops offer hard disk capacity ranging from 250GB to 500GB.
Toshiba’s new Satellite L Series laptops look really gorgeous as the machines feature the company’s “Fusion” finish as well as “Breeze” pattern on the interior. Depending on the models and specifications you choose, price may vary from$549.99 to $649.99. Comparing the price tag and the features, I think, newly launched Toshiba Satellite L Series laptops could be attractive for those who are looking for a standard laptop with standard screen for an affordable price range.
Ultraportable laptops are becoming the next big thing these days. Lenovo, the famous Chinese computer manufacturer, brought out Lenovo ThinkPad T400s, the latest lightweight laptop in the T series. The T series notebooks is quite popular and has a loyal follower base. Compared to the regular T400, the new T400s comes with some major upgrades in its design. The “S” suffix stands for upgrade. The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s is lighter compared to its predecessor. The exterior of the notebook is made of cabon fiber. Notebook Review reports:
Lenovo changed the shape of the palmrest around the touchpad, with the touchpad resting flush with the palmrest instead of being slightly recessed. The screen bezel is smooth all around the perimeter of the display, unlike the T400 which shows rough plastic grids near the built-in antennas and cutouts near the light and webcam. Even when compared to the ThinkPad X301, the new T400s looks more refined. The speaker grills are larger and look better suited to the design. Even the fingerprint reader manages to blend in better, with an all-black design instead of gold and silver like past models.
Dimension and weight:
Legth: 13.27"
Width: 9.49"
Breadth: 0.83"
Weight: 3lbs
Other specifications:
OS: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s comes with Windows Vista Business with SP1.
Screen: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s has a 14.1 inch LED backlit, matte finish screen with 1440X900 pixels. The screen has a better color reproduction.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 processor aka SP9600 with 2.53GHz clockspeed. The processor has a FSB speed of 1066MHz and 6 MB cache memory.
Memory: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s can support upto 2GB DDR3 RAM.
HDD: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s has 128 GB Samsung solid state drive. The new hard disk is 1.8" compared the 2.5" hard disk in T400 notebooks. Geek.com reported a 1.8" 128GB Toshiba SSD. It also says,”Aside from the 128GB SSD, other options include 5400RPM hard drives, smaller and larger SSDs, and even FDE SSDs in 128GB and 256GB.”
Keyboard: The keyboard has larger function keys including the "escape" and "delete" keys. Lenovo, through a research, found out that those two keys are frequently used. So they doubled their heights and moved the position of the F1 key and insert key. Instead of showing at the bottom of the screen, the power switch and mute keys light up when you put on the notebook. The capslock button has a “translucent window with an LED.” Upon activation, the LED lights up. The Lenovo added a new mute button that turns of the speaker and microphone. It would come in handy when you are having video conference. There is also a radio on/off switch.
Ports: Compared to T400, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s features better port selection.
Three USB ports including one eSATA/USB combo port for storage expansion and one USB port for charging peripheral devices such as BlackBerry.
One display output port.
One VGA port for projectors.
Due to its decreased thickness, the Lenovo ThinkPad T400s has no dual card slots. It has one ExpressCard/34 slot.
One docking station connector on the bottom
One microphone/headphone jack
One modem jack
Wireless features:
3G WWAN
GPS receiver
Intel’s WiFi Link 5300 a/g/n WiFi
Bluetooth
Graphics: Intel X4500 integrated graphics card.
Optical Drive: DVD reader and writer. You can also upgrade to Blu-ray.
Camera: There is a built-in 2.0MP web camera.
Security: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400s comes with a fingerprint reader.
Battery: Compared to the T400 series, the battery of the new T400s is not so powerful. The 400s is fitted with a 6 cell battery with 11.144 watt-hours. The battery has a back-up capacity of five hours and forty eight minutes. When run by battery only, the screen brightness decreases to 70%. Lenovo plans to offer “ultra-bay” battery that will extend the battery-life upto three hours.
Price:
The new Lenovo ThinkPad T400s will cost $1599. However, the price can go up based on the components you want to have.
Windows 7 is known first for its integrated support for Touchscreen devices and this feature has made it totally different and identified before its final version appears in the public. Well the Linux developers are now more active than past because of the recent great growth of Linux market been achieved by vast spread of netbooks.
A development group at ENAC in Toulouse, France, have developed a demo of a Native Multi-touch support for Linux Kernel to walk alongside the important touch feature of Windows 7.
The followinging video of this demo shows this concept is more like the multi touch used in iPhone.
This “technology is billed as being true native multi-touch support for Linux” works with Linux 2.6.30 kernel.” The technology supports a simple set of multi touch gestures including resizing, rotating, desktop scrolling, flipping, and making water ripple-effect (with two fingers).
According to the source, the demo code can be run on any Linux platform as well as Google Android.
Windows 7 comes equipped with integrated Touch feature supporting touchscreen devices. Of course it is more handy and powerful than what you see in the concept made for Linux. The whole W7 is totally compatible with touch features even when your keyboard and mouse are plugged. while touch supports high DPI, it helps you to do use a set of gestures to do almost everything including the basics of tap and drag, as well as scroll, right-click, back, forward, zoom, and rotate.
It also makes you able to work with the taskbar very easily. The taskbar buttons and thumbnails are ideally sized for pressing with touch, and specific behaviors are tuned for touch input. For example, the Jump Lists can be accessed with a simple drag up from the taskbar, and when opened with touch, the shortcuts in the Jump Lists are drawn with extra vertical spacing to make them easier to select.
Aero Peek has been tuned to work with touch as well as Sizing and positioning windows and virtual keyboard when you are bored from your real keyboard (or when you are in tablet mode). IE8 supports Touch feature, as well.
So, as you see Windows 7 is much more advanced than Linux when it comes to touch. However, the progress of Linux distributions have been pretty fast recetly especially to give particular support and apps for netbooks. This news is very happy news for Ubuntu and Moblin users surely when its final version releases.
In the following you will find two videos; one video shows the native gesture feature for Linux and the other one shows the touch feature of W7.
In the following video the Pegatron showcased at Computex is based on Nvidia tegra chipset (ARM-based processor plus Nvidia graphics card). The netbooks is able to play back 1080p HD videos through its HDMI port. The netbooks comes equipped with a non-removable battery with long hours runtime and some customizable shortcut keys. These four keys located atop the keyboard are for instant bringing Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Skype or you can customize them to call other websites instantly for you.
Although I don’t like the combination of white keyboard with pink palm rest, I love the matte screen of this netbook. Matte screens are really idea for long time work without bothering and tiring your eyes.
Microsoft office suite is expensive and a big application for netbooks although it is very essential and necessary for everybody.
ThinkFree Mobile Netbook is an office suite application made for any sorts of netbooks based on Windows, or Linux even for the netbooks running Mac OS (or MacBook laptops)!
The system requirement includes:
Operating systems: Windows XP/Vista, Linux kernel 2.6.17 or higher, Mac*
CPU: Intel architecture based device (including ATOM)
HDD drive: 60MB of disk space
RAM: 256MB or higher
Display: Flexible screen resolution support
ThinkFree Mobile Netbook edition is designed to help you manage and sync all your documents easily. It allows you to upload documents to your netbook withdisplays featuring at least resolution, 1024 x 600 pixel and share them with all your PCs, office software and operating systems whenever you need to edit or create. laptop, mobile internet device, netbook or desktop PC.
Normal price is US$39.95. if you buy now, you will be able to save $15. (Use coupone code "thinkfree") Also if you buy ThinkFree Mobile and you will get additional 1GB of online storage at ThinkFree Online.
Asus Eee PC 1005HA will soon be available in American market. If you are a regular visitor of my blog you have already red the entry of comparison between Eee PC 1005HA and Eee PC 1008HA.
As I have mentioned before, Eee 1005HA is a heavier and chunkier netbook than Eee 1008/ha that comes with a removable batter with up to 10.5 hours runtime and full VGA out port.
Eee PC 1000H is the first laptop in Eee PC 1000 line up netbook. It doesn’t have super-glossy screen, island-like bigger and comfortable keyboard and comes with shorter battery life.
In the video, you will see that Eee PC 1000 is bigger and taller than Eee 1005HA although it has 10-inch display and smaller keyboard. Surely, Eee PC 1005HA looks more stylish and glossy.
G210M, GT 230M, GT 240M, GTS 250M and GTS 260M GPUs are the new graphics card from Nvidia that are fit to Windows 7, based on a 40-nanometer technology and incorporating 512MB to 1GB of on-board memory to deliver up to twice the performance and half the power to prolong the batter life.
These five GPUs feature Microsoft's drag-n-drop transcoding and DirectX Compute API for Windows 7 users to be able to edit and transfer HD videos smoothly and quickly and PhysX to enhance the realistic environments.
“According to Nvidia, the new GPUs "run up to 20X faster than the CPU" with certain applications.”
Desktop PC computers normally use one, two or more fans inside to keep the system cool. So, cleaning the inside of case from dust is a usual experience for every computer user. WE have to clean inside of computer case because dust gradually closes the venting system and causes overheating and locking up the system after all.
What about laptop computers? Do they need cleaning from dust like the thing we do for desktop PCs? Surely, it is needed for laptops as old as 2 years or more. Dust turns a quiet laptop to a noisy and overheated one.
If you are suffering from this problem you do not need to be worried whether your laptop runs down soon.
It is very easy to remove dust of fan of laptop. First of all you have to find the location of the outer air vent of your laptop. For this, first unplug the AC adaptor, flip over your laptop and remove the battery. After finding the air vent search for an access panel placed by the air vent.
Now, you just need to follow the steps one by one:
1- Take a suitable screw drive and open the screws to open the panel.
2- After removing the panel you must see the fan of laptop there.
3- Tap the fan from different angels the way that the blown dust gather by the air vent.
4- Use an air compressor with low pressure and hold it some far from the fan to prevent any possible damage.
That is it, now replace the panel again and fix it with the screws. Replace the battery and plug the adaptor and power up the system. You laptop must work quietly and cool.
The Java update for Tiger fixes Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0 and 1.4.2 and the Java update for Leopard makes changes in Java SE 6, J2SE 6.0 and J2SE 1.4.2.
ASRock Multibook G22 only launched for Japanese market is a netbook with unique striking features:
First of all the netbook is more powerful than all the conventional netbooks in the market thanks to its Nvidia ION chipset keeping a dual core atom 330 processor in its heart.
Another important feature of this netbook is its built-in DVD burner! Which you can hardly find on netbooks. The netbook also comes with 2GB of RAM what is not typical feature in netbooks. So, I may call this netbook a low cost ultra laptop rather than netbook?
ASRock portable computer incorporates:
- a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display,
- 2GB of RAM,
- a 320GB hard drive,
- a 10-in-1 card reader
- a VGA port, 3 USB ports,
- HDMI output,
- audio jacks, Ethernet and a 56k modem, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth. -- a 6 cell, 4400mAh battery
Ever seen a laptop with a 17.3 inch screen? Recently, Samsung launched its new 17-inch laptop Samsung R720 is not an ultra-portable laptop but if you are looking forward to get rid of your big ugly desktop computer then this is the ideal product for you. The prominent feature of this laptop is its 17.3 inch widescreen with 16:9 aspect ratio. The Samsung R720 is powered by ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 graphics card. This is not a powerful graphics card but powerful enough to play Blu-ray discs without any problem. The laptop supports Microsoft DirectX 10.1 with Shader Model 4.1 which also means that you can also play games. The laptop is powered by Intel Centrino 2 processor. The Samsung R720 can be fitted with 512 MB or 1 GB DDR3 RAM.
Another problem of watching movies on laptop is sound quality. When you watch movies in laptop, the sound is not clear. To get rid of this problem, the new Samsung R720 has 4-watt stereo speakers with 3DSRS (Sound Retrieval System) and sub-woofer. With headphone, users will get the effect of a virtual 5.1 surround sound system. The Samsung R720 will be equipped with four USB 2.0 ports and one of them will be able to charge external devices and another is “USB/eSATA combo port.” The Samsung R720 will hit stores in Europe in July and it would cost £599. The laptop will be shipped with Windows Vista.
At the recently finished Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in West San Francisco, Apple revealed its upgradedproducts including Apple iPhone 3G S and the MacBook Pro 13-inch laptop. The 13 inch MacBook Pro is the newest member of the MacBook Pro family. The laptop comes with FireWire port, Secure Digital slot and a bigger non-removable battery that runs for 4 hours 44 minutes but in its official website Apple claims that it runs for seven hours.
Dimension and weight:
Height: 0.95 inch
Width: 12.78 inches
Depth: 8.94 inches
Weight: 4.5 pounds
Specifications:
Processor: The new 13 inch Mac Book Pro is fitted with Intel Core 2 Duo P7550 processor. There are two different categories of this processor. One, Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2.26GHz capacity(MB990LL/A) and the other is 2.53GHz capacity (MB991LL/A). Both the processors have 3M L2 cache memory.
System bus: 1066MHz.
Memory: The 2.26 GHz MacBook Pro has two 1GB SO-DIMMs slots and they can support upto 8GB. The 2.53 GHz MacBook Pro has two 2GB SO-DIMMs slots and they can also support upto 8GB.
Screen: The MacBook Pro 13 inch comes with 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy display that supports millions of colors.
Resolution: 1280 x 800.
Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 9400M.
HDD: (2.26 GHz) 160GB(2.53 GHz) 250GB.
Networking Options: 802.11n.
Primary Optical Drive: DVD+R DL.
Webcam: Built in iSight camera.
Keyboard: The MacBook Pro is fitted with built-in full-size backlit keyboard.
Trackpad: The new MacBookPro is fitted with multi-touch trackpad that supports two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, three-finger swipe, tap, double-tap, and dragging.
Battery: The 13 inch MacBook Pro is fitted with lithium-polymer battery. It also has a 60W MagSafe Power Adapter and MagSafe power port.
Ports: Though small the new 13 inch Macbook pro comes with several ports:
MagSafe power port
Gigabit Ethernet port
One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
Mini DisplayPort
Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
SD card slot
Audio in/out
Kensington lock slot
Communications:
The new 13 inch MacBook Pro has integrated Airport Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking system.
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.
10/100/1000BASE-T gigabit ethernet.
Price: The 13 inch Mac Book Pro is priced $1,149.00 and there will be one year warranty.
India is a growing market for laptops. Well, it is true that economic recession caused some problem for the economy of the country but reality is that most people do not own a PC and there is a lot of room for growth. In fact, it has the second largest market in mobile phone. So, there is no reason that someday it can have the second largest PC and Laptop market. Acer and Intel have targeted this market seriously now.
Leading notebook player Acer and leading chip manufacturer, Intel, announced the launch of the ‘Aspire Timeline Series’ (ATS) of
featherweight notebook models in India.
The notebook models have over eight hours of battery life and is based on Intel’s Ultra-low Voltage (ULV) platform.
The power smart adapter enters the adaptive charging mode automatically when the battery is fully charged and stops consuming energy. It is a “disruptive” model that leverages Intel’s ULV platform, has LED backlit display with 16.9 aspect ratio, 1366 X768 HD resolution, which has been engineered to ensure 40 percent measurable benefits to the customers, he said. The series is available in three form and the price ranges from Rs 39,999 to Rs 44,999.
This is good news for the consumers. Now, they will hope that other companies come forward like Acer and offer them attractive price.
One of the important facilities that netbook makers try to add to their netbooks is the easy replacement of 1GB of RAM with higher Capacity RAM.
Most of the time the style is a small single access panel underneath the netbook easily opened and accessed to RAM. But in Mini 10v you will find opposite style. The access panel on the bottom side the netbooks is for replacing WLAN rather than memory!
Actually, Dell has nearly made impossible the changing RAM for ordinary consumers. Of course the enthusiasts and geeks are always able to do it!
In the following, you can find three YouTube files made by Anguish ( a member of MyDellMini forum) to show the step by step of disassembling the Mini 10v to access RAM ( after taking away keyboard, palm rest, and motherboard) and reassemble it again.
The second part is always tricky. So, if you don’t have any experiment for disassembling and reassembling laptops I recommend you not to do it!
Apple launched Safari 4 browserandannounced the release dateand details of Snow Leopard Update (aka OS X 10.6 coming out in Sep.) along side the launch of new Mac Pro and Mac Air laptops at WWDC
The new Safari 4 browser that is available for download, comes with new striking features including:
- fixing 51 separate vulnerabilities, some of them quite old (the oldest is CVE-2006-2783 an error in the parsing of Unicode text).
-Top Sites view: to show users’ most visited websites in 3D framewoek view.
- It works easily with Leopard, Tiger, and Windows OSes.
-The performance of this new browser is 7.8X times faster than IE8. Apple has also claimed it is faster than Google Chrome browser. A test done by PC Magazine shows that they (Safari 4 vs. Chrome 2) were neck to neck when it comes to speed.
- embedded in Snow Leopard
- iTune-like Cover Flow interface for viewing history
Snow Leopard Update OS that will be available in September will only cost $29 for the Mac OS users to update their Leopard to the latest version. Surely the new Mac laptops and computers will be shipped with the new Snow Leopard Update. This version of Mac OS only works on Intel-based Mac.
Although, this update doesn’t provide many new features for end users, it is more reliable and responsive than the previous version. It has faster overall performance with taking advantage of “64-bit, limitless of memory support and multicore CPUs, along with faster graphics processing hardware.”
Here are some of the highlighted features:
- It has supports for Chinese characters
- Faster mail performance and support for Microsoft Exchange mail, contacts, and calendars
- Quick Time X player comes with new HTTP streaming feature and takes advantage of hardware acceleration. Now, it is installed 45% faster than the Quick Time and is able to open JPEF image files twice as fast and PDF documents 1.5 times faster than the previous version- Quick Time. Quick Time X is able to organize and share video files.
- Easy moving of content across windows; like to drag and drop a video into an email.
- Viewing Office doc even when you don’t have this application by the means of Microsoft Exchange User. Exchange support has made Mac OS more handy and better replacement for Windows OS.
-iCal can find next available time when other people in the group you have made are busy
- Grand Central Dispatch is a new tool which provides “a programming environment that breaks up tasks into multiple threads based on the number of cores and threads available” to take advantage of multi cores. It also supports OpenCL.
Apple launched new laptops in the laptop series of MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops and a new model of MacBook Air with cheaper prices at WWDC yesterday.
Here is the runtime of MacBook, MacBook Pro laptops and the new Mac Air model with their prices and specs:
- 13-in MacBook Pro: cramed in unibody aluminum chassis features a non-removable battery up to 7 hours battery runtime and 5 years of life time (1000 recharges), up to 8GB of RAM, high capacity hard drive up to 500GB HDD, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics, SD card slot rather than a Express Card slot, 2USB ports, Mini Display port, a FireWire 800 port, and a backlit keyboard as standard.
The model with the price tag of $1200 comes with 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Due, 2 GB of RAM and 160GB HDD.
The more expensive model with the price tag of $1500 gets faster 2.53GHz Core 2 Due CPU, 4GB of RAM and 250GB HDD.
- 15-in MacBook Pro: as its sibling it comes with unibody chassis and non-removable battery up to 7 hours runtime and 5 years of life time, SD card slot rather than a Express Card slot, 2USB ports, Mini Display port, a FireWire 800 port, and a backlit keyboard as standard.
The 15-inch Mac Pro with price tag of $1,699 sports a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB HDD, and a GeForce 9400M graphics.
The model with the price tag of $1,999 incorporates a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB DDR3 of RAM memory, 320GB HDD, GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT graphics card with 256MB.
The most expensive 15-in Mac with the price tag of $2,299 comes equipped with 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM memory, 500GB HDD, and GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT graphics with 512MB.
- 17-in MacBook Pro with unibody chassi and the same non removable battery with up to 8 hours battery runtime and the same lifetime keeps its specs and there is no new changing (2.8GHz Core 2 Due, 4GB of RAM, 500GB HDD, GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT graphics with 512MB). This is the only model comes with an ExpressCard slot) but its price is $200 more expensive than the most expensive 15-inch Mac pro costing $2,499.
MacBook Air’s new model and price:
- The Model pricing at $1500 incorporates a 1.86GHz Core 2 Due processor with 1066MHz FSB, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 120GB HDD, GeForce 9400M graphics, and 13.3-in display
- the more expensive model pricing at $1800 comes with a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1066MHz frontside bus; 2GB Memory; 128GB solid-state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics card.
The13-in MacBook laptop is designed with the plastic chassis (White polycarbonate shell) rather than the unibody aluminum. It is priced at $1000 and features a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo;
2GB DDR2 Memory; 160GB hard drive; and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics and a Standard keyboard.
Just in time for summer, HP is offering stylish and affordable notebook PCs from the ultra-light HP Pavilion dv2z and the powerful HP Pavilion dv6t notebook PCs to students to enjoy the performance and design of HP notebook PCs.
The HP Pavilion dv2z starting at $599 is an affordable, thin and light notebook that is perfect for the student on the go. Less than 1-inch thin and starting at 3.81 pounds, it has a 12.1-inch diagonal mercury-free LED widescreen display and features HP MediaSmart software, which provides one-touch access to entertainment. The dv2z offers an AMD processor, a discrete graphics, high-capacity hard drive up to 500GB, optional Blu-ray disc support and a wide range of ports, with pricing that delivers unprecedented value to consumers for its class.
The laptop will be available at HP website for purchase from tomorrow (June 10).
The 16-inch Intel-based HP Pavilion dv6t starting at $649 offers the latest digital entertainment features and mobile technologies. With HP MediaSmart software, the dv6t puts entertainment a click away – watching movies, viewing photos, listening to music and creating videos has never been easier. Its 16-inch diagonal LED widescreen display delivers a 16:9 aspect ratio for full-screen viewing of high-definition TV (with optional TV tuner) and other HD content.
The HP Pavilion dv6z Artist Edition 2 starting at $949 includes all of the features of the HP Pavilion dv6z plus the winning design from the 2008 HP MTV Notebook Design Contest – a design inspired by the sea and sky in Okinawa, Japan. Students also can use a robust entertainment software package and software applications from Corel, including Video Studio X2, Corel Painter Sketchpad and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. With Magix Music Maker 14, students can create unique songs. The Artist Edition notebook PC is expected to be available starting June 10.
The 13.3-inch Intel-based HP Pavilion dv3t starting at $649 is a thin and light, entertainment laptop. At about 1.25-inches thick and just under 5 pounds, the dv3t features an up to 8GB memory, integrated optical drive and option for Blue Ray and optional discrete graphics, Wireless N, Bluetooth, up to 4 hours battery life and up to 7 hours with optional 9-cell battery and a full range of connectivity options.
AMD is going to launch its dual-core Athlon Neo processor on the updated version of HP Pavilion dv2 ultra-portable laptop. The laptop offers a 12-inch screen and runs on Windows Vista operating system pretty smoothly. The main attraction of the laptop is AMD’s new dual-core low power Athlon Neo processor which is expected to be a competitor of Intel’s ULV (ultra-low-voltage) chips. Intel ULV chips were initially targeted at the expensive laptop models, but recently, ULV chips are being used in inexpensive ultra-thin laptops.
Well, AMD Athlon Neo chips will be followed by dual-core Congo processors which would hit the market in the third quarter. The updated version of HP Pavilion dv2 also features 320GB hard disk drive and 4GB of memory. The laptop is available only for $700. So, you can understand that the HP Pavilion dv2 seems to be much more attractive in its updated form. However, I do not know how much battery life will be available in the laptop, which is powered by dual-core 1.6 GHz Neo CPU MV-40, but one thing is for sure that Athlon Neo dual core processors will consume more power than the single core processors.
Asus is an Asian company while Computex is one of the top tech events of the year in Asia. The leading companies of the world attend the show but for Asus, there is an added significance- it takes in their home ground. The company did a press conference and the officials sounded satisfied with the response they got from the visitors.
ASUS Credited with Inventing the Netbook by BBC, ASUS Chairman Promises to "Keep Innovating"
ASUS was attributed with creating the first ever notebook in a BBC special feature on COMPUTEX 2009, aired on June 03, 2009. "ASUS invented the netbook", it was reported, "the only truly revolutionary gadget created by a home-grown company." When asked why ASUS remained unfazed by the growing number of "copycats in the market", ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Chairman Jonney Shih said: "The soul of ASUS is 'keep innovating'…we are quite used to [the competition]. You just have to keep innovating." Mr. Shih cited the Eee PC™ Seashell as a typical result of ASUS’ culture of innovation, describing ASUS’ latest ultra-mobile Internet device as possessing the best balance of beauty, long battery life and performance.
Well, it is time that the company gives more importance to other products rather that just netbooks. In fact, in the last year, Asus has become almost synonymous with netbooks. There is nothing wrong with it but I just think that they should try to come out of this matter.
Dell, in its attempt to decrease carbon emission, has increased its renewable power sources by 20 percent compared to last year. The pc maker has recently made deals with some utility providers Swalec, Scottish Power Energy Retail, EVH, Mainova, Telge Energi and Hafslund in several countries including United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden and Norway. At this moment, nine Dell plants are receiving 100 percent powers from renewable energy.
Well, this is a great initiative taken by Dell to decrease its greenhouse gas emission from its factories. Dell wants to cut the emission by 40 percent from its facilities by 2015. Greenhouse effect has become a big threat for the survival of human being in the long run. So, other big companies should follow Dell to keep the carbon emission under control.
The updated 13-inch White MacBook with 2.13GHz CPU and 160GB HDD and 2GB of 800DDR2 RAM memory, ( and featuring polycarbonate shell chassis rather than aluminum unibody, the older mini-DVI port, a FireWie port) and its competitive price of $1000 surely has appealed many Mac fans. So, it is nice to know how much this laptop is faster than Macbook powering by 2.0GHz CPU.
MacWorld has done a comprehensive performance comparison between The update White MacBook with 2.0GHz MacBook and 1.8GHz MacBook Air and 2.4GHz MacBook Pro ( with the price of $1999) laptops. They have taken the help of SpeedMark5 application for this review and have evaluated the laptops with Photoshop time test, iTune MP3 encoding test and Cinema 4D test and Quak4 test.
According to the review,
The update white Macbook beats its predecessor: overall performance boasted about 6.5% more; scoring 8% better in Photoshop test and iTune test and 5 percent better in Cinema 4D
The update MacBook vs. 2GHz Unibody MacBook: overall performance the updated Mac was 5 percent better than the unibody Mac. However, in Quake4 test related to memory, Unibody Mac hit the Update White Mac for its 066MHz DDR3 of RAM.
The update MacBook vs. 2.4GHz MacBook Pro: overall performance of the Mac was 10.5% slower than Mac Pro. In Quake 4 test, Mac Pro was absolutely the winner- 82 percent more frames per second than the white MacBook.
The update MacBook vs. 1.8 GHz MacBook Air: overall performance (SpeedMark5 test) of the White Mac was 12% faster than Air.
The benchmark result shows that the update MacBook is really a good choice for the consumers who need a portable speedy laptop (not sluggish portable laptops like CULV-based laptops or Neo-based laptop with close prices to Mac) with an affordable price. It is sheer a good option in the American market (although it is equipped with the old DVI port).
At this year Computex Show, Asus has showcased, unveiled and launched several netbooks, laptops, nettop, desktop PCs and etc. Here I have collected the laptops and netbooks from Asus at Taipei:
11.6 Eee PC Seashell netbook:
We have already got acquainted with 10.1-inch Eee PC 1008HA and Eee PC 1005HA Seashell netbooks. At Computex, Asus has been showcasing an update model from seashell family with 11.6-in display. ,
This model comes equipped with Atom N270and N280 rather than Z520 or Z530 Menlow processor used in Eee 1101HA, 1GB of RAM, 160B HDD and 6-cell battery providing long 9.5 hours 11 hours battery runtime.
It is not clear yet when it will be available in USA. Price has not been announced yet.
Asus Eee PC 1101HGO and 1005HGO:
These two netbooks are the siblings of 1101HA and 1005HA. However these two new models sport integrated WiMax or 3G mobile broadband
CULV-based UX50V and UX30 laptops:
Asus has unveiled an ultra-thin laptop and a mainstream laptop based on CULV at Computex.
Asus UX30 is a 13.3-in lapop that is powered by 1.3GHz processor. This laptop is only 0.27-inches thick and weighs about 3.5 pounds. It will be released in October onwards.
UX50V is a 15.6-inch laptop powered by 1.3GHz processor.
Eee PC T91 touchscreen tablet:
The Eee PC T91 is a hybrid tablet netbook with a swivel 8.9-inch screen that can fold down on the keyboard for tablet mode.
The tablet is powered by a low-end Atom Z520 CPU and 1GB of memory; 16GB SSD with a 16GB SD card.
It has GPS and a TV tuner for option.
Professional G51 Gaming Laptop with Core 2 Quad CPU:
Asus G51 gaming laptop is a 15.6" professional gaming laptop with affordable price!
This mainstream laptop incorporates several attractive features for hardcore gamers including Core 2 Quad CPU that can be over clocked, 1GB nVidia GTX-260M graphics, LED-backlit 3D widescreen display and illuminated Chiclet-style , keyboard, and a touchpad lock.
The laptop features up tp 3GB of RAM and 1T storage, a Creative EAX-CMSS sound card and Altec Lansing speakers for 3D surround-sound audio.
If you are interested to by this laptop you can purchase it from Best Buy in July. Amazingly the laptop will cost between $1300 (U.S. dollars) and $1500!
Acer announced at its press conference yesterday to use Moblin Linux OS on its netbooks and nettops and desktop PCs.
Moblin is a Linux-based operating system developed by Intel to provide faster performance, boot time and shortcuts and better user interface for netbooks. Right now, different distribution of Moblin such as SuSE Moblin, Xandros Moblin, Linpus Moblin, Red Flag Moblin and Ubuntu Moblin have been demonstrating on different computer devices from HP, ASUS, MSI and Hasee at Computex 2009.
Intel’s folk in the department of developing moblin believe that the next version of Moblin will be able to curtail the boot time to 5 sec only.
Moblin is not the only project Acer is working on. Acer has also been demonstrating running Google’s Android with full FireFox inside on an Aspire one D250. You can see a short video of it after the break.
However, Acer has mentioned that the final android-based netbook will be different than this demo at Computex. The Aspire One D25o with Android had short boot–up of 15 second and shut down of 1 second!
HP Pavilion dv2- the first ultra laptop powered by AMD’s Single core Neo processor gets two better CPU choices and an optional interior white color.
The 12.1-in HP dv 2 is now available with AMD’s dual-core Congo and full Athlon X2 processors. Also the laptop is available with interior white combined with brown touchpad! Maybe this combination looks fashionable for some consumers but it looks add and is some ugly rather than stylish.
The other configurations are the same: 4GB of RAM memory, discrete Radeon HD 3410 graphics with 512MB dedicated memory, 12.1-inch display with 1280×800, a USB DVD burner (with LightScribe), a SIM card slot and mobile broadband, 320GB HDD, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 6-cell battery.
Eee PC T91 was introduced first at CES in January and after 5 months Asus launched this tablet netbook at Computex this week.
Eee PC T91 Tablet sports an 8.9" swivelable touchscreen with 1024 x 600 resolution and a suite of touch-optimized software that enables users to get the most out of finger or stylus input.
The tablet is powered by a low-end 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and a 16GB SSD. It features 802.11b/g/n/ Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and optional TV tuner and GPS.The netbook comes in black and white and chiclet keyboard.
The Eee PC T91's software applications, collectively known as TouchSuite, allow users to perform a various tasks with their fingertips, such as touching up photos, creating photo albums, leaving handwritten desktop memos for loved ones, and sketching cartoons or custom emoticons.
Laptop magazine’s folks could evaluate briefly T91’s touch interface at computex and they were very impressed by that. Like Apple’s Cover flow the interface first launches a series of three panels. The user can launch the touch interface from Eee Dock icon on desktop or just press a button located on a bezel below the display. From the video and pictures it is clear that the screen is very glossy and has some light reflections. You can see a video f this netbook in Laptop magazine’s website. Also there was a video released by Asus that I had covered it in my previous entry.
I don’t know how much you are familiar with Pixel Qi display but this new project of screens conducting by Mary Lou Jepsen has been showcasing at Computex Tiepei placed in a 10-inch Acer Aspire One.
Pixel Qi is a “low-cost, low-power, super-readable, LCD-based screens that will go into everything from e-book readers to netbooks and computers.
Pixel Qi’s displays called 3Qi will operate in three settings: a full-color, bright, conventional LCD mode; a very low-power, sunlight-readable, reflective e-paper mode; and a low-power, basic color transflective mode. The screens are initially expected to be available in 10.5-inch and 7.5-inch screen sizes.”
At Computex show folks of Laptop Magazine had theirs hands on this display placed on a Aspire One and evaluated it briefly to know if whatever was described on paper is true on real life.
The power efficient Pixel Qi is easily and totally readable indoor and outdoor (the outdoor visible displays will be ready some time this year).
Here is a runtime of their first impression:
-High resolution display that uses half or quarter of power that a regular LCD draws
- A button to switch on and off the backlight of display
- When backlight is on display is crisp with decent coloring and totally readable in sunny room without any glare
- When the backlight is off display is yet legible and the content is clear and vivid although it goes dim and turns into black and white (losing color).
This type of screen is somehow comparable with the display found on Kindle. A kindle is as expensive as a netbook although it is only an ebook reader. I just hope that Pixel Qi doesn’t add so much to the basic price range of netbooks. (If this display adds just little extra money like ION platform that only raised the price of Atom based netbook for only $50 surely it will immediately be acceptable widely since its release).
In the early announcement by Microsoft Windows 7 was slated to be released in holiday season. Bu apparently Microsoft is anticipating earlier the release date for its welcoming Windows 7.
Laptop Magazine has mentioned that final version of Windows 7 will be available for public from October 22nd. Well this is not said for the firsttime and at the time Mictrosoft announced the release date of W7 there were rumors about earlier date of 22 October!
Dell halts 9-inch Inspiron Mini 9- its first netbook experience from today.
Dell has sent an official statement to the blog of company to announce discontinuing of this netbook model:
“We officially launched the Inspiron Mini 9 Sept. 4, 2008 for $349 and it became the first netbook product with built in Mobile Broadband support offered by a major wireless carrier, Vodafone, in EMEA. Since the launch of the Mini 9, Dell has extended its Mini family with several new products, incorporating industry-led enhancements and customer feedback inspired improvements, and we expanded the palette for personalization options, with more colors and original artwork by Tristan Eaton. For customers who were looking for the Mini 9, we suggest they consider a Dell Mini 10v, with a starting price of $299.
…The Mini 10v also improves upon overall ergonomics with a 10-inch display and a bigger, better keyboard (92% of standard), as well as more storage space and options: choice of SSD (16GB) or traditional hard drives (up to 160GB). It appears up to the task of filling the Mini 9 shoes on the "modding" front as well. For those of you who purchased a Dell Mini 9 during the last nine months, thank you. We appreciate your business, and hope the Dell Mini 9 continues to deliver a great mobile experience.
For those of you in the market for a solid companion device for on the go computing and connectivity, I recommend you check out the Mini 10v.”
The advantages of Mini 9 were: its easy upgradeability and being among the few netbooks in its time to have built-in mobile broadband.
The cons of netbooks were: its cramp keyboard, and short 4-cell battery.
Nowadays the new released 10-inch Mini 10v has taken the attention of many consumers because of its aggressive price, big comfortable keyboard and enough battery run time. You can read about Mini 9 and Mini 10v in the following entries:
HP and Dell have announced to launch netbooks and nettops based on ION platform in Q3 2009. Besides, other several laptop makers including Asustek Computer,MSI, Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron, and China-based Lenovo are making their own ION based netbooks and all-in-one PCs (nettops).
NVIDIA and its industry partners have unveiled 12 new high-definition mobile Internet devices (MIDs) all powered by the NVIDIA Tegra processor, At Computex 2009. Tegra is the world's smallest and lowest power computer-on-a-chip. These new Tegra-based devices, which include netbooks and tablets, deliver Internet browsing with Flash video and animation acceleration, and up to 1080p video playback. NVIDIA Tegra processors feature always-on operation for instant access to the Internet and up to 5x the battery life of current netbooks.
Nividia has also announced 21 netbooks and nettops used ION platform and are being demonstrated at Computex show. In the following you are seeing the list of the 21 Ion-based mashine and 7 netbooks and tablets based on Tegra:
These systems will cost around US$199 when they hit the market and could be as cheap as $99 if the price is subsidized by a mobile operator, Nvidia said. They will hit the market at roughly the same time as systems based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor, a rival chip that also uses an Arm processor core.
Intel announced and talked about its new processors for different categories today in its Press Conference at Computex Taipei.
Interesting is that Intel is using again its Pentium processors but this time for low cost ultra thin laptops that their prices will start from $500 up to $1300.
1.4-GHz SU3500, the 1.6-GHz SU9400, and the SU9600 processors that Intel has already started shipping them to manufacturers as well as the 1.3-GHz ULV Intel Pentium SU2700 are the processors Intel is using for ultra thin laptops.All these processors are ultra-Low Voltage that draw 10 Watts of power contrary to Intel’s standard power processors to draw 25 up to 35 Watts of power.
“Intel believes the processor line will win 40 new designs from "all the majors" of OEMs at Computex, Marty said.”
While Intel started shipping its single core CULV CPUs (ULV platform) AMD has started shipping its dual core Neo processor for this category of laptops. You can read a brief comparison between these two processors here.
The Ultra thin laptops will weigh as light as about three pounds and measure less then 1-inch thickness. The Intel-based of this category surely will support WiMAX as well as Wi-Fi.
Core 2 Due T9900, P9700, and P8800 processors are the other processors Intel announced today. the T9900 is the first mobile Core 2 Duo processor to clock as high and fast as 3.06-GHz.
The T9900 is the successor of 2.6-GHz T7600 (based on Merom). It features 6MB L2 Cache and delivers considerable performance compared to T7800.
Additionally tgdaily mentioned that “The 32 nanometer chip for desktops are codenamed Clarkdale and Arrandale, while the Lynnfield CPU, available towards the end of this year, will give 40 percent better performance than Penryn, he claimed.”
Intel also unveiled GS40 Express with integrated Intel 4500M graphics core bundle (running at 400 MHz and up to 385 Mbytes of shared video memory) features 10 additional execution units compared to its predecessor.
It provides support for Windows 7 and HD playback of Blu-ray discs, and integrated HDMI with an HDCP key.
Acer today released two laptops in TimeLine series consist of 14-inch Acer Aspire Timeline AS4810 and the 15-inch Aspire Timeline AS5810.
These two laptops are budget friendly inexpensive laptops powered by Intel’s CULV processor. They are very customizable and provide built-in DVD burner and long battery life more than 8 hours. Both laptopsare Energy Star compliant.
TimeLine AS4810T-8480 is powered by a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB hard drive and Intel integrated graphics (GMA 4500MHD). The laptop sports a 14-inch LED-backlit TFT LCD with a 1366 X 768 resolution and a 16:9 aspect ratio, a multi touchpad, draft-N wireless, 64-bit Vista Home Premium, and a 6-cell lithium ion battery. It weighs only 4.2 pounds.
TimeLine AS5810TZ-4657 laptop is powered by a 1.3 GHz Intel Pentium SU2700 processor, 3GB of DDR3 memory, a 320GB hard drive, and Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics. The laptop features a 15.6-inch LED-backlit TFT LCD with a resolution of 1366 X 768 with a 16:9 aspect ratio, multigesture touchpad, and 6-cell lithium ion battery. It weighs 5.3 pounds and runs on 64-bit Vista Home Premium.
These to models AS4810T-8480 costing $700 and AS5810TZ-4657priceing at $600 are available for purchase now.
Additionally, Acer in its press conference announced today to release a netbook based on Android OS soon in Q3 2009.
AMD that is showcasing its new Dual-Core Athlon Neo chip at Computex show has started shipment of this upgrade CPU over its single-core Neo which meant low cost ultra thin laptops.
HP is also demonstrating Pavilion dv2 with this updated Neo chip at Computex 2009 show. HP dv2 was release with single-core Neo processor in April 2009.
Dual-Core Net processor is based on 65-nm technology will be part of AMD’s forthcoming Congo platform. It features 1.6GHz clock speed and drawing power of 18 Watts. The platform’s embedded a better integrated Radeon 3200 graphics rather than using the earlier Radeon 1200 used with single core Neo.
Dual Core Neo vs. Intel Single- core CULV processor:
Single-core CULV processor is based on 45nm technology. It is more energy efficient than 65-nm processors and has better performance-per-watt than Neo CPU based on 65-nm.
However, the dual-core Neo is more multitasking processor than Intel’s CULV processor because of its second core. The Radeon 3200 integrated graphics is also able to do faster decoding of HD content meaning better 3D and also better multimedia performance compared to the integrated graphics used with single-core Neo and also by Intel in its platform equivalent along side CULV processor, according to AMD.
The ultra thin laptops powered by Dual-core Neo will have the price range between $750 up to $1000.
The Neo-based laptops with the updated Neo CPU will be available in September onwards.
Low cost ultra thin laptops are a new category in the computer sector that stands between netbooks and expensive ultra portable laptops. These laptopsprovide adequate performance with full functionality but they are much cheaper than their ultra laptop counter parts such as MacBook Air and other ultra portable laptops that their prices start from $1500- $1700 and go up.
Asus is one of the companies has showed off an Eee PC based on new Snapdragon CPU made for smartbooks.
This snapdragon-based Eee PC showcasing at Computex runs on Google’s android and you can see two videos of it here, after the break.
The Eee smartbook look a lot like Eee 1008HA seashell, it seams than Asus has used the same chassis and frame, display and keyboard of Eee seashell for this smartbook.
The battery efficient Snapdragon processor is a new 1.3GHz CPU based on 45nm technology from Qualcomm and is about 30 percent faster than its predecessor. The CPU sports hardware video acceleration supporting 720p HD videos. Snapdragon can support displays as large as “WXGA (usually 1366x768) as well as TV tuning through formats like FLO TV in the US or DVB-H in Europe.”
The 10” Eee PC Smartbook is a cool and PC that doesn't have any vent. It is able to stay connected "Always" to internet via 3G modem supporting UMTS and CDMA networks on all frequencies used globally, or Wi-Fi. It also sports built-in Bluetooth and GPS.
This Eee PC like other ones features, a built-in webcam and runs on Android. I would prefer if Asus had run a Linux distribution like Ubuntu on this smartbook to get better idea about the overall and 3D performances of this new processor.
Windows 7 Starter Edition is going to make more discuss annoyance and arguments amid user community after finishing many bitter discussions upon adding 3-App Limit to W7 starter Edition by removing it.
Although the feature of 3-App Limit looked very bad but it was not very bad at all because it didn’t include “services, anti-malware applications or Windows applets, nor did it include multiple instances of the same application.” SO if we look to this feature more carefult we will find no limitation because the guts of netbooks have no ability to run more than this kind of 3-application!
But the bitterer and more annoying part is the hardware and many software limitations that Microsoft is going to imposed roughly to netbook users.
Let me start from hardware part which I had mentioned in my previous entry too.
Microsoft (apparently with the corporation of Intel) is imposing rough hardware restrictions to netbooks which will be preinstalled with Windows 7:
- A maximum up to 10.2” screen,
-Only 1GB of RAM,
- Up to 250GB HDD hard drive or up to 64G SSD
- CPU must only be a single core and clocks up to 2.0GHz with no more than 15 Watts of thermal output
As you see these limitations are good mainly for Intel and not good at all for its serious rival VIA. Netbooks are gradually opening new path to hardware sector and giving them more room to grow. But Microsoft is stopping netbooks to become cheaper while offering bigger display with better performed CPU like VIA Nano available on Samsung NC20.
Laptop Magazine as mentioned a list of limitations providing by Windows 7 Starter Edition that I am mentioning briefly here:
1- lack ofTaskbar Preview or Aero Peek
2- unable to change desktop backgrounds, window colors, or sound schemes.
3- unable to log off when switching between users
4- lack of support for Multi-monitor and DVD playback
5- no Windows Media Center app. And no remote Media Streaming
6- “Domain support for business customers”
7- there is no XP Mode. So it will be impossible to run older Windows XP programs on Windows 7 on the netbooks.
Among these limitations the feature of log off, XP mode and changing desktop background are the most problematic limitations that are coming to netbooks by W7 Starter Edition.
I prefer to adopt the 3-App Limitations and instead to get the feature of XP mode on W7 Starter when I know I will have to pay more for Windows 7 (as you know the average price of Windows 7 will be more than Vista).
Qualcomm unveiled its new processor codenamed Snapdragon based on netbooks yesterday. The company has got great welcomed from laptop and mobile phone makers (ODMs) such as ASUS, Compal, Foxconn, High Tech Computer (HTC), Inventec, Toshiba, and Wistron, and this processor will be demonstrated via several netbooks from the laptop makers mentioned above at Computex Show this week.
The processors only supports Linux distributions (can not run Windows) and enable its users to stay connected unceasingly through GPS, 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.
This processor is using vastly by 15 companies now on 30 different devices such as netbooks and smartphones.
Qualcomm calling a category between laptops and smartphones smartbooks which will obtain best aspects of smartphones such as simple intuitive usability, and long battery life and combines them with best aspects of laptops such as big screen, greater performance and functionality.
"Constantly connected via 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS, smartbooks are ultra-portable, personalizable, easy-to-use and last all day on a single battery charge. Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform has a unique combination of capabilities that makes it exceptionally competitive in the smartbook category, which is redefining mobility for consumers at productivity and play," the company said in a written statement.
I consider that Qualcomm is trying to bring a new category to netbook market segment which will be cheaper that the current netbooks, will perform fast with running less applications concurrenly, with bigger screen than the ones used in smartphones but more practical and handy!
Gigabyte is presenting at this year Comoutex 2009 Taipei show (this week) with three new laptop and netbook and touch netbook consist of CULV based booktop M1305 low cost ultra laptop and TouchNote T1028 touch netbook and Myou S1024 netbook .
Booktop M1305 is the first low cost ultra laptop from Gigabyte to be slated to be released in October or September with Windows 7 preinstalled.
M1305 is powered by Intel’s budget friendly and low-powered CULV processor, up to 8GB of DDR3 memory, optical drive (DVD burner) and it comes with a 13.3-inch display, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and optional WiMax and 3.5G modules.
The price and battery life is not clear yet.
TouchNote T1028 touch netbook is a new version of the first touchscreen netbook from Giga-byte. This netbook comes with a swivel 10.1-inch touchscreen display and runs on Windows 7 OS which is able to support the touchscreen capability and the tablet mode.
The touch netbook features 1.66GHz N280 Atom, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and is priced at $600 in the US. The netbook will be available globally some time in July or August.
Myou S1024 is a very light netbook (only 900 grams) and enough thin (less than 1-inch). It features 10.1-inch display and 6-cell battery, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and is priced at $600USD.
As it was announced before, we are expected to see several ARM-based netbooks at Computex show. One of these netbooks will be a touchscreen netbook from Pegatron that is powered by chips from FreeScale consist of ARM processing cores.
This netbook comes with a 10.1-inch display and will run on one if the Linux distributions like Android, or Ubuntu. The companiy has not mentioned that if Android will be their onboard OS.
ARM as central processors are used mainly in mobile phones especially smartphones are low-cost, battery efficient processors to help out to users to keep their mobile devices on and use for more than one day without any single charge.
ARM-based netbooks are claimed to work with battery for 9 or 10 hours unceasingly.So far 6 companies such as Asus, Acer, and Quanta have taken making and developing these type of netbooks seriously and are presenting in this year Computex show with different ARM- based netbooks. Some of them are eager to show their netbooks running on Google’s Android, as well.
Warren East, CEO of ARM Holdings at a news conference in Taipei stated that about 20% of netbooks coming in next year will be powered by ARM central processors.
Do you agree with him? How much the future of ARM netbooks is bright you think? Please share us your opinions in the comment section.
