Most people these days use laptops for business and entertainment rather than serious computing works. So, there is a growing need for more storage or hard drive space. Thinking of this market, Western Digital has recently come up with 1TB hard drive for laptops. It will be extremely helpful for those users who have to do a lot of work with video and there cameras. For example, if you want to store some of your favorite movies in your laptop then this hard drive can be very helpful. Also if you are a fan of doing a lot of video with your digital video camera and then this hard drive can be a good place to store your works.
Netbooks were considered to be low budget machines for basic operations but HP changed that idea with its HP Mini 2140. Still, HP netbooks failed to attract buyers for their poorly designed keyboards and mouse. In the new HP Mini 5101 these problems have been addressed. The square designed HP Mini 5101 with slightly curved lids grabs your attention for its brash aluminum cover and black magnesium alloy base which is totally opposite the shiny silver color of its previous models. HP has already implemented various environment friendly practices in its production line. The HP 5101 has 5.0 Energy Star rating and meets RoHS requiremets. HP Mini 5101 does not have any hazardous materials.
Dimensions, weight, color:
Length: 10.1 inches
Width: 7.1 inches
Breadth: 0.9 inches
Weight: 2.6 lbs with a 4-cell battery and 2.9 pounds with a 6-cell battery.
Color: Black and merlot red.
Specifications:
Processor: Intel Atom N280 CPU with a clockspeed of 1.6GHz.
Memory: 1GB RAM which can be upgraded to 2GB.
Graphics card: Intel GMA 950.
HDD: Intel 128GB SSD or 160GB to 320GB capacities with 7200rpms. There is also the 3D DriveGuard accelerometer to protect the hard drive if the netbook falls on the ground accidentally.
Screen: 10.1 inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1024X600. For $25 it can be upgraded to 1366X768 pixel. Users can watch HD content on the latter one
Webcam: 2-megapixel webcam.
Keyboard and touchpad: Instead of flat wide keys of earlier Minis, the HP Mini 5101 is fitted with 95% full-sized keyboard. The keys are perfect squares and separated from one another which is similar to those of the Asus eeePC 1000HE and the Toshiba NB205. The keyboard configuration is similar to that of HP Probook 4510. Above the keyboard, there are two quick-launch buttons and power buttons. HP designers also changed the positions of the mouse buttons and brought the touchpad below the mouse buttons. The buttons and interiors firm rubbery texture which would the user a great typing experience.
I/O ports: one VGA-out, three USB ports, one SD card slot, headphone and mic jacks, one ethernet jack. One of the USB ports acts as a charger for peripheral devices.
Wireless communication: The HP Mini 5101 supports 3G. It is equipped with Qalcomm's Gobi wireless. It is also few of the netbooks to support 802.11n wireless specification.
Battery: Six-cell lithium ion battery which can run for 5 hours 15 minutes (according to the test of PC Magazine) according to the MobileMark 2007 tests. The big HDD takes up a lot of power. The battery can recharge 90% of its capacity within 90 minutes.
OS: Windows XP Home edition.
Security: Kensington lock slot.
Softwares: Corel Home Office suite, which includes word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation applications. MacAfee anti-virus program
Price:
The price of the HP Mini 5101 ranges between $399 and $599. The $399 version comes with 4-cell battery. The $525 model comes with Windows Vista, 2 GB RAM and 4-cell battery. The $599 version comes with Windows Vista, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB HDD with 7200 RPM, and six-cell battery. Both the Vista models can come with XP if the user wants. There are four hard drive options- 250GB HDD for $45, 320GB HDD for $100, 128GB SSD for $450 and the standard 160GB. There will be two OS- Windows Vista Home Basic and XP. Vista customers will get free Windows 7 update.
After all, it was just an advertisement from Microsoft on laptop and the main focus of the advertisement was to show the TV viewers how much Microsoft based laptops are cheaper and better compared to Apple’s MacBooks. It seems that the people who made the sand for Microsoft became too much passionate and there was some kind of exaggeration in the claim against Mac. So the Lawyers from Apple became active and contacted on Microsoft’s legal department.
This became a serious matter and Microsoft in the end edited some part of the advertisement. So, we can easily declare Apple as the winner for the time being.
On July 22, 2009, Dell anounced to drop the price of its thin Adamo laptop by $500. Earlier, the 13.4 inch aluminum laptop with 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 128GB solid-state drive would cost $1999 which is now priced at $1499. The high-end variation with 1.4GHz processor, 2 GB RAM, and mobile broadband connectivity has been reduced $400 to $2,299. Buyers can chose between pearl and onyx.
This price cut comes after Apple cut the price of its MacBook series laptops in June 2009. The price of 13" unibody MacBook has been reduced to $1200 from $1300. The 15" MacBook Pro to $1700 from $2000, the 17" MacBook Pro to $2500 from $2800 and MacBook Air to $1500 from $1800.
Apple is known for producing high-end products that provide better quality. However, in recent times, sales of low priced netbooks and laptops grew significantly as the the economic recession badly hit American consumers. This price cut is a good move on Apple’s part. Apple started a new trend in the laptop industry by launching MacBook Air the thinnest laptop in the world. However, Dell followed Apple and released Dell Adamo. Now the million dollar question is- Will Dell's price cut hurt MacBook's business?
Dell again started to sell its Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook for $199 and it would continue selling till July 27, 2009. Buyers will have one year limited warranty and mail-in service.
Here are the specifications:
Color: Standard Obsidian Black and Alpine White. Jade Green and Promise Pink add will cost $40 more.
OS: Ubuntu Linux version 8.04.1
Processor: Intel Atom Processor N270 with 1.6 GHz clockspeed, 533 MHz FSB and 512k cache.
Memory: 1GB DDR2 at 533MHz.
Graphics Processing Unit: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Screen: 8.9 inch glossy LED display with 1024X600 resolution.
SSD: 4GB Solid State Drive
Webcam: 0.3 mega pixel webcam (integrated).
Wireless communication: Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
Battery: 4 cell battery with 32 WHr.
Base LCD Assembly
Base LCD Assembly in White
No Installation
There is another option available for $269 where you will get Windows XP Home edition and 8 GB HDD. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was the first netbook from Dell. The company unveiled the 8.9 inch netbook in September 2008. In June 2009, news report came out that Dell stopped selling the Inspiron Mini 9. Instead the company started to promote Dell Mini 10 and 10v netbooks.
In order to attract students, famous American retailer Walmart, on July 23, 2009, announced to offer a wide variety of laptops from top quality laptop makers such as Dell, HP, Acer, Toshiba, at an affordable price. The retailer is offering notebooks and netbooks under $300. They come with various entertainment features, powerful long lasting batteries and a wide range of accessories.
On July 26, Walmart will sell Compaq Presario CQ60-419WM with 3GB memory, 160 GB HDD, and CD, DVD drive. The laptop comes with pre-loaded Windows Vista. It costs only $298. The price event will start from 8m on July 26, 2009. On that same day, Walmart is offering Acer AS5810-A657 with free Windows 7 upgrade. The best thing about this laptop is that it comes with an eight-hour battery, ideal for students who have full day class. The laptop has a 15.6 inch screen, Intel ULV SU2700, 3GB memory and 320 GB hard drive. Walmart is going to reduce $50 on Acer AS5810-A657. In July, the retailer is also going to introduce Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop for $398 this month.
In August, the HP Mini 110-131NR netbook will be available in Walmart. The netbook comes with a 10.1 inch screen. In the middle of August, Walmart is going to introduce Toshiba L355 gaming laptop with 17 inch screen. The laptop has 3GB memory and 250 GB hard drive which is ideal for watching movies and playing games. At that time, Walmart will also launch Dell laptop with 4GB memory and 500 GB hard drive notebook.
Other major products include 12.1 inch HP dv2 netbook with 4 GB memory and 500 GB HDD for $698.
AT&T is going to sell Acer Aspire One netbook for $199.99 which is very cheap compared to the netbook’s original price of $325. However, the buyer would have to sign up for a two year online data plan. Aside from Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 10 and Lenovo S10 are also being sold for $199 plus two year data plan. All the netbooks weigh less than 2.9 pounds with 1GB memory, 160GB storage and pre-installed Windows XP home edition and a built-in webcam.
Though it seems the buyer is paying less money for the product, in reality he is paying more. There are two types of data plans offered by AT&T- one is $40 per month for 200 MB and the other has $60 per month for 5GB. This brings the total cost to either $1159.99 or $1639.99 and tax. Normally, data plan is good for those people who always want to remain connected, does not matter whether they are close to a Wi-Fi spot or not. The data plan keeps you connected every where and it is expensive.
Gateway, currently the subsidiary of Acer, launched a new netbook named Gateway LT2000.It is the latest addition in the company’s LT netbook series. So far, this is the second netbook launched by the company. The first model of Gateway’s LT series, Gateway LT3100 came out in the market in June 2009.
Dimensions, weight and colors:
Length: 10.17 inches.
Width: 7.24 inches.
Breadth: 1.03 inches.
Weight: 2.62 lbs.
Colors: NightSky Black and Cherry Red.
Specifications:
Processor: Intel Atom N270 with a clockspeed of 1.6 GHz. It has 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache.
Chipset: Intel 945GSE.
Memory: 1024MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM.
HDD: 160 GB Serial ATA hard disk with 5,400RPM.
GPU: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (integrated).
Screen: 10.1 inch TFT LCD screen. The WSVGA screen provides 16:9 aspect ratio. It has 1024X600 resolution.
Lenovo is one of the top laptop makers of the world. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 is an all-purpose multimedia laptop. In terms of design, the Lenovo Ideapad Y450 isinspired from its larger siblings IdeaPad Y550 and Y650. It is much lighter and slimmer. The best thing about the laptop is its design. At such a low price Lenovo is offering a very well designed laptop with 4 hours of battery life. The laptop can perform regular day to day tasks. It can play HD video content. Interestingly, the machine comes with lots of I/O ports and communications but it does not feel cramped. Laptop Mag.com
Outside, the chassis is fashioned from smooth, matte black plastic, with a slim ring of copper-colored trim. On its lid, the elegant imprint with an interlocking 3D hexagonal pattern reminds us of the game Q*bert. The keyboard, wrist rest, and touchpad are all glossy white, while a tasteful set of white indicator lights and volume buttons, and four touch controls (for Lenovo utilities) line a glossy media bar that houses the speakers.
Cons:
Plastic lid that flexes under light pressure.
Right side of the palm rest becomes worm even with light workload.
The L-shaped power connection blocks the DVD drive from opening if it is faced wrong way.
The touchpad’s plastic buttons may not survive in long term.
Dimensions, weight, and color:
Width: 13.4 in
Depth: 9.1 in
Height: 1.4 in
Weight: 4.6 lbs
Color: Black
Technical specifications:
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 6400 with a clockspeed of 2GHz. It has a frontside bus of 800 MHz and 2 MB level 2 cache.
Chipset:Mobile Intel GM45 Express.
RAM: 3 GB DDR2 SDRAM it can be increased upto 8GB (1 x 1 GB + 1 x 2 GB).
GPU: Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics chip. It can also be upgraded to nVidia GeForce 105M GPU if user want to play games on his laptop.
Screen: The Lenovo IdeaPad Y450 comes with a 14 inch TFT active matrix screen with 720 pixel and a resolution of 1366X768. The glossy screen supports 16.7 million colors.
Hard drive:250 GB Serial ATA-300 with 5400 rpm.
Keyboard and touchpad: The laptop is fitted with a full-size keyboard. A series of touch sensitive buttons are placed above the keyboard to control the volume and switch on/off various applications. The touchpad also works quite well. It supports multitouch gestures.
I/O ports: Two USB ports, one eSATA/USB combo port, a four-pin FireWire port, an ExpressCard/34 slot, a five-in-one flash reader, headphone and microphone jacks, HDMI- and VGA-output port and an infrared port.
Disney Consumer Products (DCP) and Asus jointly launched an affordable portable kid’s netbook. Targeted towards 6-12 year old children, the Disney Asus Netpal netbook has a reinforced mechanical design. It also provides 40 parental control options and customizable themes based on various Disney animated movies including Cars, Toy Story, WALL-E and Hannah Montana.There will be two Disney Netpal netbook models- Disney Princess Pink (with pink florals) and Disney Magic Blue (with miniature Mickey Mouse icons). The netbooks will come to the market later this month.
ASUS Netpal MK90
Dimensions, weight and color:
Length: 248mm
Width: 173mm
Breadth: 28.7mm
Weight: 1kg (with battery)
Color: Colors: Princess Pink and Magic Blue
Specifications:
Operating System: Windows original
Screen: 8.9" LED-backlit WSVGA screen with 1024X600 resolution.
Processor: Intel ATOM N270.
RAM: 1 GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
Communication: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Storage capacity: 16GB SSD
I/O port: 1VGA port; 3 USB 2.0 ports; 1 LAN RJ-45; 2 audio jacks: Headphone / Mic-in
Camera: 0.3 mega-pixel integrated camera.
Card reader: MMC and SD (SDHC supported)
Audio: Hi-definition audio CODEC; integrated stereo speakers; Analog microphone.
Battery: 4200mAh Polymer, 5hrs
ASUS Netpal MK90H
Dimensions, weight and colors:
Length: 248mm
Breadth: 173mm
Width:28.7mm
Weight: 1.2 kg
Colors: Princess Pink, Magic Blue.
Specifications:
Operating system: Windows XP Home edition(original)
Screen: 8.9" LED-backlit WSVGA screen with 1024×600 resolution.
Processor: Intel ATOM N270
Communication: W-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
RAM:1GB DDR2 SO-DIMM
HDD: 160GB HDD
I/O port: 1 VGA port; 3 USB 2.0 ports; 1 LAN RJ-45; 2 audio jacks ( headphone and microphone input).
Camera: 0.3 mega pixel camera.
Card reader: MMC and SD (SDHC supported)
Audio: Hi-definition audio CODEC; integrated stereo speakers and analog microphone.
Battery: 4200mAh Polymer, 5hrs
Various features of the Disney Netpal netbooks:
The Disney Netpal netbook has a Disney interface.
Kid-friendly software with popular Disney characters.
Disney browser pre-loaded with many Disney websites for kids.
The Disney Magic Desktop has 2D “gadget tray” for easy acess to e-mail, browser and parental control options.
A collection of fifteen widgets including a stopwatch, a digital memo pad and a calculator.
Ten customizable Disney themes based on various popular Disney animated movies.
Browsers and e-mail have extra filters for online safety for children.
The Disney Netpal is a rugged and durable netbook. It comes with a spill-proof keyboard. There is also ASUS’s Shock Shield data protection to stop data loss during an impact.
Softwares:
Aside from the Disney Magic Desktop the netbooks come with pre-installed softwares.
Disney Mix for playing songs.
Disney Pix for photo customization and organization.
Disney Bobble head.
Radio Disney.
Games.
Photo scrapbook.
Price:
The two Disney Netpal netbooks will be exclusively available at Toys “R” US and Amazon.com. Suggested retail price for the netbooks is $349.99.
Samsung R610 is a very well designed laptop. It is also the cheapest laptop available with a Priced at around £660, the Samsung R610 is one of the cheapest availablewith a Blu-ray drive. The first thing that you would like about this laptop is its color. It has a glossy black exterior with dark red gradient on its front lip. The green and blue status lights for hard drive, power and Wi-Fi shine through the gradient. However, the laptop lacks Blu Ray option and full HD screen.
Dimensions & weight:
Length: 379.2 mm
Width: 265 mm
Breadth: 31.8 ~ 38.45mm
Weight: 2.8kg (including standard battery)
Technical specifications:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home (original)
Other software: SAMSUNG Magic Doctor
SAMSUNG Update Plus
Easy Display Manger
Easy Battery Manager
Easy Network Manager
Easy SpeedUp Manager
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Genuine Microsoft Office Professional 2007 (free 60-day trial)
Processor: Intel Centrino 2
Memory: 1 GB DDR2 RAM which can be increased upto 4 GB.
Memory slot:Two SODIMM.
Display: There are two display options:
16"high definition LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. It has an aspect ratio of 16:9.
16" HD with a resolution of 1366 x 768 and 16:9 aspect ratio.
Graphic Memory: 512 MB.
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray.
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce Go 9200M GS or Intel X4500 integrated graphics.
Sound: High definition audio.
Sound effect: Enhanced Digital Sound Effect.
Multimedia player: AVStation Now Play AVStation.
Speaker: 4 watts stereo speaker.
Webcam: 1.3 mega pixel integrated camera.
HDD: The Samsung R610 comes with comes with five HDD options-
120GB S-ATA
160GB S-ATA
200GB S-ATA
250GB S-ATA
320GB S-ATA
Communication:
V.92 Modem
10 / 100 / 1000 LAN
Intel 802.11a.b.g or Intel 802.11a.b.g/n (MIMO)
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
Input-Output ports:
VGA
HDMI
Headphone-output
Microphone-input
Internal microphone
54mm Express card (PC card)
USB 2.0 ports
3-in-1 Multi Card Slot (SD, SDHC, MMC)
PowerPort
Keyboard: The Samsung R610 features an anti-bacterial keyboard with 101 keys. It also features Silver Nano Technology. It also has a touchpad.
Security features: McAfee Virus (trial version), password protected start up, HDD password, Kensington lock port, and SAMSUNG Recovery Solution III.
Power and battery: The Samsung R610 is powered by 60 watt / 90 watt adapter. It also has a standard 6 cell battery.
Warranty: 1 year International warranty.
Price: The Samsung R 610 would cost around £648.60.
Now Acer is going to add another model in its Timeline series, the new Acer Timeline 1810T. The Timeline 1810T is fitted with an 11.6 inch screen. It shares same design with Acer Aspire 751 netbook which Acer would stop producing in near future. However, the most important feature of this netbook is that it packs 4GB RAM. Picture of the netbook has been leaked over the Internet. Here are the specifications:
Processor: 1.4GHz Intel ULV SU3500 processor.
Screen: 11.6-inch screen with 1366X768 resolution.
Chipset: Intel GS45 Express.
GPU: Intel GMA 4500MHD
Memory:4GB RAM
HDMI
Wireless: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and 3G (optional).
Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium version. In October, the buyer will receive a free upgrade to Windows 7.
Battery back up: Eight-hours.
Price and release date:
Acer has not declared the official release date of the Acer Timeline 1810T. Price of the netbook has not been revealed yet but it would be less expensive compared to other Timeline series netbooks.
Dell came up with the idea of direct marketing in computer world many years back. No doubt, it has been an excellent idea which is now popular throughout the world. However, Dell recently got a complaint from one user through its IdeaStorm suggestion box where that user wrote that Dell should deliver the product at least within a week of payment. Normally, Dell takes up to 5 weeks to deliver the product. That user also raised a question that why would a consumer pay for something which he would be delivered after 5 weeks? He thinks that it is like providing a loan to Dell without any interest as the company does not provide any discount on the product for that.
No doubt, the question is pretty much logical. That is why, Dell is going to launch an service titled FastTrack by which buyers can get the products within maximum 2 days after payment. Dell is now making a list of laptops and desktop PCs which are popular among the consumers, and initially the FastTrack service will be limited only for those products. General consumers will be delivered the product by the next day, while the delivery time for the businesses is two days.
Using image in an article makes it much more attractive and clear to the readers (if the image is related to the topic you are writing on). You can find lots of pictures and images on the web which are related to your topic. Well, that does not mean that you can use that picture right away just mentioning the source of the image. Why?
Well, there are many writers who reproduce news and reports available in the web, mentioning the source of the main text. However, it is not case when you are going to use an image in your own article. Here comes the issue of licensing or copyright. Before using an image, you must ensure that the creator of that particular image allows other to reuse it in their articles or websites.
You can use images which fall under Creative Commons licenses which allow others to reuse those images. Now, the question is how you can identify the images that fall under Creative Commons licenses. Here, you can take help from Google Advanced Image Search where you can find images tagged with Creative Commons licenses. Under this license, images are leveled with reuse, commercial reuse, reuse with medication and commercial reuse with modification.
Now, you can easily choose the kind of image you are looking for. However, still you have to mention the source of the image in your article. Even after getting an image labeled under Creative Commons licenses through Google advanced image search, you have to ensure that licensing information provided for that particular image is true, by visiting that website.
If you want to know more about Creative Commons images, then visit the official Google Blog.
Can you think of a laptop available for 99 cents? Please, do not think that I am kidding with your, because that is what Best Buy and Sprint are offering now. The two companies have come under deal through which they are offering a Hewlett-Packard Compaq Mini netbook only for 99 cents. However, there is a condition applied in this offer.
In order bag this offer, you have to agree on a mobile broadband contract for two-years with Sprint. Moreover, you will not be allowed to browse more than 5 gigabytes per month. You will be charged extra for additional usage. This package is only available in the Best Buy stores. Now, it is up to you if you think it is an attractive deal for you.
Laptops in the price range of a netbook are now coming in a flurry in the market. Earlier, Dell launched a $250 laptop with Linux operating system. Now, Toshiba has come up with a laptop priced at $350 with some decent features. Toshiba L305-S5955 has 15.4-inch TFT LCD glossy screen with a resolution of 1,280x800 pixels which matches with the criteria of a standard laptop. Moreover, the laptop offers 2GB DDR2 memory as well as 160GB of storage. That means this laptop does not have any difference with a standard laptop in terms of RAM and Hard Drive capacity.
However, the only difference is its processor which does not fit with the processor of a standard laptop. Toshiba L305-S5955 is powered by 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900 processor. Normally, a standard laptop includes Intel’s Dual-Core processors which are much faster than Celeron chips. In fact, Celeron processors were installed in the netbooks before Intel came up with Atom processor. So, it is pretty much clear that Toshiba L305-S5955 is not for high-end users. Rather, those who are looking for a basic laptop for basic computing can go for this machine.
Moreover, this laptop can not be very conducive for on-the-go usage as its weighs at 5.92 pounds. For 2GB RAM, Windows Vista Home Basic seems to be a perfect operating system. It has a DVD burner and supports Ethernet and Wi-Fi for connecting to the internet. The laptop also has 3 USB ports, a VGA port and an ExpressCard/54 slot. Its battery supports about more than 2 and half hours while playing video. It incorporates Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics card which is descent for a low-priced laptop.
Overall, Toshiba L305-S5955 seems to be an attractive bargain for those who are looking for a basic laptop for browsing, e-mail, listening audio and watching video as well as other basic computing. The biggest advantage of the laptop is definitely its price tag which has increased its credibility as a competitor for the netbooks and some other low-priced laptop models.
Google Chrome OS is the talk of the town now. Every body is asking questions about the new operating system of Google. Well, if you are one of those then I would like to inform you that Google just published a FAQ regarding its Chrome OS. In this FAQ, Google answered some of the widely asked questions about its new operating system. First and foremost, Google Chrome is going to be free. As you all know Google is going to release the Chrome operating system on netbooks. The Chrome OS netbooks will be launched in the middle of 2010.
In the FAQ section Google also said that it is working with various netbook and chip manufacturers to roll out Chrome OS equipped netbooks. It also published names of the manufacturers. They are: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments.
Currently, Acer and Asus are the top netbook makers in the market followed by HP and Lenovo. Qualcomm and Texas instruments are chipmakers with whom Google is talking about producing chips that would support the Google Chrome. Google is trying everything to make sure that Google Chrome gives faster and more smooth service to its users. Though Linux is free, it is not very much popular and many people would not show interest in Google Chrome OS as it runs on Linux platform but Google is trying hard to attract people to use its operating system.
After launching in Europe, the Asus Eee PC T91 Touch Screen Netbook is coming to the U.S. Online retailer, BuyDig is selling the netbook for $499 with free shipping plus Windows XP. The speciality of this netbook is its twisting touchscreen. The netbook was first unveiled at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. The PC was launched in the UK in June. The touchscreen netbook was offered in three versions in UK- the basic Eee PC T91, multitouch capable Asus Eee PC T 91A and 3G enabled Asus T91GO. So far, the basic Asus Eee PC T91 is currently available in the U.S.
Dimensions, weight and color :
Length:225 mm
Width: 164 mm
Breadth: 25.2 mm~ 28.4mm
Weight: 0.96 kgs.
Color: White, Black.
Specifications:
Processor: Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor,
Memory: 1GB of DDR2 (2 GB max).
SSD: 16GB
OS: Windows XP Home (original)
Display: 8.9" LED Backlit/ Resistive Touch panel
Processor: Intel Atom Z520
Chipset: US 15W
LAN: 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet Controller (integrated)
Wireless communication: Bluetooth V2.1 and WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n
I could find a thought provoking blog entry written by Saul Hansell: Does Being Free Cheapen Google’s Brand? From the title, you can understand that the writer has talked about Google’s way of earning money. In good old days, Microsoft and Apple used to fight and both of them charged good money from consumers. Google emerged with a new strategy. It started to give everything free. Think of Gmail. I am the biggest fan of Blogger. Here, you can get huge amount of space and almost unlimited bandwidth and Google does not charge anything for that. Instead, its main goal is to earn money through its advertisement programs. So, you get many amazing applications from Google that are excellent. One of my favorite things is the gmail for Domains.
Microsoft has opposite style of earning money. They love to sell their products. That is perhaps why they lost to Google in Internet. Microsoft is not good at giving free products.
With the arrival of Chrome OS, we will see which business model thrives in our time.
Google Chrome OS has taken the media world by storm. Everyone thinks that Google wants to challenge Microsoft with this OS. Bill Gates is the richest man on earth thanks to success of Windows Operating System. This is the core business of his company and they would not want to see it get destroyed. So, now, perhaps the main focus of Microsoft decision makers would to fight against Google in this field.
Of course, challenging Windows is not that easy. Passionate fans of Apple believe that Apple OS is much better than Windows. However, most people do not think so. Then, you should think of Linux- which is a free Operating System. What can be better than free? Not only that, its fans feel that Linux is more powerful and secure than Windows. However, the reality is that in the OS market, the position of Linux vs Windows is just like AMD vs Intel in processor market. However, I think that Microsoft decision makers would take Google very seriously because already in Internet, Google has emerged as the leading player thanks to its magnificent search engine.
Also, Adsense is much more popular than its counterparts of Microsoft and Yahoo. I also like Blogspot or Blogger more than Yahoo 360 or Windows Live Spaces when it comes blogging. In the last one decade, we have noticed that Google has come up with some successful products. Think of Gmail. Internet users were used to use Yahoo mail and Hotmail and at that time most users were too much annoyed with 4 MB or 6 MB email storage. Gmail revolutionized the concept of Gmail by introducing Giga Byte storage. Yahoo and Hotmail responded but by that time, Gmail became very popular.
Now, Gmail is in third position after Yahoo Mail and Hotmail when it comes to web based email services but the important thing is that Google managed to get some decent amount of market share and this is impressive for a new comer. You have to understand one thing about emails. I opened a Yahoo Mail Box in 2001 and I still use it because the people I deal with know that mail box. It is like an address book. When Gmail came, I opened an account but I did not stop using Yahoo Email. However, the same thing cannot happen about Operating System. Now, I am using Widows. If I want to make a switch to Google Chrome OS, then I lose hardly anything. This is the ting Microsoft officials would have to remember.
I think that Microsoft should adopt two fold strategies. Of course, they have to improve their Windows on a regular basis- which they always do. On the other hand, they must challenge Chrome OS in its own territory. You know thatChrome OS will be mainly based on the concept of cloud computing and this OS will run in a browser. Microsoft should make something similar and challenge Google.
Panasonic has come up with a rugged business laptop. Panasonic ToughBook CF-F8 laptop targets the business people who would like to have a powerful laptop when they are traveling. Its 3.7-pound weight has increased its credibility as a rugged business laptop. Here are the features of the laptop:
Processor, RAM, GPU and Display
Panasonic ToughBook CF-F8 is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo P9300 processor which is pretty much fast. It also offers 3GB of memory which successfully runs 32-bit version of Windows Vista Business operating system. The only problem here is that it does not include any dedicated graphics processing unit (GPU), and thus, depriving you quality graphics performance.
The laptop comes with a 14.1-inch display at 1280-by-800-pixel resolution, an improvement from 1024-by-768-pixel resolution given with previous models of ToughBook laptop.
Key Board and Touchpad
The laptop provides a spacious keyboard, but its circular touchpad is not big enough for comfortable navigation. However, the two mouse buttons performs satisfactorily.
Networking and External Slots
Panasonic ToughBook CF-F8 business laptop supports Bluetooth and Gobi. Moreover, the laptop has some useful external slots including a PC card reader, a SDHC flash-card reader and three USB 2.0 ports, besides VGA, ethernet, and modem jacks. The only problem is that the space between the USB ports is very small and it becomes problematic while using big size flash drives. Moreover, the laptop does not come with a built-in video cam.
Software
The laptop also comes pre-loaded with some excellent softwares. You can keep backup of your data through Roxio Creator LJB, while using Roxio BackOnTrack you can create disc. You can save the battery energy by using the Panasonic Power Plan Extension Utility given in the control panel.
Pricing
The price seems to be a negative side for Panasonic ToughBook CF-F8 laptop as it is tagged with a $2499. So, you can see that only few business people, who are looking for a rugged laptop when they are on the go, would like to go for this machine because the price tag attached to the laptop is beyond the affordability of general laptop user.
The news of Google’s bringing out its own operating system, Chrome OS, created a major wave around the tech world. On July 7, 2009, Google announced that it is going to release Chrom OS, a web-based operating system. Immediately after the news, the stock market reacted positively shooting share prices of Google stocks to $401.77 while Microsoft slipped 1.9% to $22.10.
Google’s Chrome OS will initially run on low priced netbooks. The netbooks equipped with Chrome operating system will be released in the middle of 2010. So, what are the major advantages of the Chrome OS?
First and most importantly, it is going to be free. Currently, Microsoft charges $25 for its Windows XP used in very notebook and $45 for Windows 7. Even if it cuts the price, the Chrom OS run netbooks will be cheaper.
When Windows was developed, there was no Internet. Now, Internet is every where. The new Google Chrome OS is going to be a web-based software that will run on browser. This means, no installation required. In Google’s words “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.” For this reason, netbooks are the first target of Google Chrome OS as they do not come with high configuration. All you have to do is remain connected to the Internet all the time.
Users of Google Chrome OS would be able to do every thing including reading e-mails, writing documents, playing games and every other things they do currently on their computers. The new Google Chrome OS will be run through Internet browser.
Chrome OS will run on both x86 and ARM chips.
Now, the million dollar question is- Does this give the Chrome OS any major advantage over the Windows OS? The answer is, a resounding “NO” at this moment. First of all, the Linux Ubuntu based netbooks did not become so popular. People prefer Windows. Moreover, till date, all the major applications have been developed keeping Microsoft Windows in mind, not any browser. New web-based applications are required to be developed. These are some of the major challenges which Google would have to overcome if it really wants to compete with Microsoft.
On the presonal front, I live in Bangladesh, a poor third world country, where it is not possible for people to pay large amount of money to buy original softwares. If Google Chrome OS really delivers as it promises, then it would be a big releif for users like me.
Lenovo has reviewed its IdeaPad S10 with some improved features. The new version of Lenovo IdeaPad S10 provides you with a larger keyboard and touchpad. It provides about 6 hour back up with 6-cell battery. However, the battery life should have been extended, given its 6-cell battery. Another problem with this laptop is its design, specially its exterior ash color that does not look very attractive. Moreover, its interior design is not very attractive too.
Overall, when it comes to design, Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 is not a winner. However, you should consider the other features of the laptop alongside its $399 price tag. Even though fashion-fanatic users may not go for this laptop, other users might find it pretty much attractive comparing its features and price. The laptop may face some strong challenge from Toshiba NB205 and Asus Eee PC 1005HA which also provides almost similar kind of features and fall in the same price range.
Michael Arrington- Founder of very popular and standout Techcrunch network is not stranger for most of regular technology readers! He is making a Tablet netbook which looks like Kindle rather than any tablet PC or netbookwhich might make ( I think) the name of its network as a famous brand computer soon later.
As you see in the following picture, you will first presume that it must be an image of Amazon Kindle (an electronic reader), but it is not.
CrunchPad is a tablet netbook which has the ability of surfing internet and functioning basic computing like a netbook with short storage as well as reading news by its news readers.This Atom- based 12-inch Tablet is only as slender as 18mm wrapping with an aluminum case has no keyboard.
Yet, there is no information about its hardware specs, but about price I don’t think it could be more expensive than an expensive netbook! It is coming soon surely!
AMD is far behind Intel in the market of processors, but it is trying to release an integrated graphics card for budget computers which will be on top in its category.
AMD RS880 is a new integrated graphics card which can support both AMD’s Stream technology and Nvidia’s OpenCL (of course by extension) sports new Radeon HD 4200 chipset core.
According to AMD, this new integrated graphics card is able to support Direct X10.1 while delivering performance 15% as fast as the comparable graphics package in the market today such as NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9400M.
AMD has shown its potential to be a leading company by this RS880 when “Nvidia is still struggling to hit the DX10.1 spec and for Intel it will take another 6 months to bringa new one to support DX10.1,” according to the source.
AMD RS880 or it may be released with the codename of Radeon HD 4200 will be available in late August.
MSI X400 is another forthcoming member of X-slim ultra laptop series that tries to keep the exclusive unique feature of this line up – being the thinnest and lightest in its own category, although it comes with bigger 14-inch display.
X400 is as slender as less than 1inch and as light as 3.3 pounds.
This low cost laptop offers more color options than its other family members and it is more colorful thanks to "personalized" color decorating the rims of the frame and touchpad.
According to the latest information released by MSI, the laptop is powered by Inte’s CULV processors, 2GB of RAM up to 4GB, 320GB HDD up to 500GB for highest model, external DVD burner and choice for Blu-ray, as long as GMA 4500 integrated graphics card and 1.3MP webcam.
Regarding I/O and network connectivity, we just know that the laptop features HDMI and N-wireless.
By default, the laptop is equipped with a 4-cell battery with maximum 4 hours runtime and there is an option for an 8-cell battery with up to 9hours battery life.
Dell is getting serious to include GPS or location services into its Mini 10 netbooks. This is not new news. WE have already heard about it several times, but Dell is serious now. It is initiating putting GPS and its related software in Mini 10 netbook as an attractive choice for its consumers.
Why is Dell serious about this offer? Well, it is the result of fast growth of demand for mobile phones including GPS and the facility of reading map and storing up addresses. Dell believes that this option will be demanded by many netbook consumers.
Dell Mini 10 with GPS option will come with mapping app from CoPilot navigation software bundle.
This software is able to display directions in 2D and 3D maps, “provides turn by turn directions and trip optimization including detours”, and accumulate p to 50 addresses.
Price? It is not clear yet, how much extra this option will add to the basic price of Mini 10, however I don’t think it to add a lot.
Twitter is already a very big name in Internet and it was attracted almost 20 million users who are twitting daily. Some people believe that it can be a very big player in Internet industry within a very short time because it has seen very impressive growth at a very short time. One of the Attractive ideas of Twitter is that it is updated all the time and in every second. As a result, you can be updated with the news and stories that you want to know. Microsoft’s new search engine Bing is now indexing some Twitter accounts.
Of course, the main problem is that this will not satisfy most users because those who are fan of Twitter would love to see that they can search the updates of all the accounts- not just of some users. Anyway, Bing has scored a point against Google in this regard and I guess that Google is going to respond soon.
In an effort to fight against the overwhelming dominance of Google in the search engine market, Microsoft came up with Bing last month. It is one month old and could catch some attention of a significant number of users. However, some people thought that Bing has already been able to make some dent in the dominance of Google. However, it seems that this is not the case. Yes, Bing could get some increase in market share but it is not that much significant.
Google lost share slightly, dipping to 78.48 percent from 78.72 percent before Bing. Yahoo Inc, the perennial No. 2 in the market, rose to 11.04 percent from 10.99 percent.
Bing's share peaked in the first week of June at 9.21 percent, falling away in the middle two weeks before coming back at 8.45 percent in the last week of June.
From this report, it can be seen that Bing could create some buzz in the first week of last month because it was a new product. I have visited Bing but did not like it that much because I felt that it is not that much fast and accurate like Google in indexing. Of course, it my personal opinion and I may be right or wrong.
Microsoft came up with a television ad in May titled ‘Laptop Hunter’ which, many thought, would leave a negative impact on Apple’s highly successful Mac laptops. Well, the reality seems to be different now. Apple scripted 25% sales growth in its Mac sales in May while the overall growth of the laptop market was just 1%, and thus, making no indication of any impact of the television ad on Apple’s Mac sales. Rather, there are some analysts who think that the ad campaign of Microsoft helped Apple to promote its Mac brand of laptops in what increased their sales.
However, there are some others who believe that Apple could have experienced better growth for Mac, had Microsoft not initiated the Laptop Hunter campaign. Well, it is not easy to say what could have happened to Mac if there was not that ad, but one thing is for sure that Apple Mac is going very well, even though it costs nearly $2000 amid the cash-strapped global economy and there are a number of notebooks which are available for half of what Mac laptop charges.
If you have an old personal compute which can not bear anything more than Windows 1998 or 2000, then you should buy a stick of Sugar in order to make it useful with educational tools. Could not yet understand what I am trying to say? Well, then let be first make it clear to you.
Sugar Labs, a company founded by former OLPC (One-laptop-per-child) president Walter Bender, is now going to sell operating system Sugar, which has been used in all of OLPC’s XO laptops, on a 1GB USB flash drive only for $5. Bender said that this operating system would turn a seemingly useless machine into a useful PC which will be full of educational tools. In fact, Sugar features 40 applications which all, as Sugar Labs claims, would be useful for educational usage.
Sugar Labs is going to use the software initially at a Boston-based elementary school, GardnerPilotAcademy. Well, I do not have enough idea about Sugar operating system as I could not yet keep my hands on XO laptop, but still I think, the offer is pretty much attractive. Why? Because it would cost you only $5, an amount you would not bother to spend for something that could either be good or poor in terms of performance.
Dell has come up with an attractive business laptop package which offers an excellent combination of feature and price. Dell Vostro 1220 is the latest laptop in the company’s Vostro line up featuring 12.1-inch wide screen. Fell between Vostro A90 netbook and Vostro 1310 laptop, the laptop is powered by 2.2 GHz Intel Celeron processor, and thus, ensuring better performance than A90 system. Alongside the processor, another attraction of Dell Vostro 1220 is its 9 hour battery support. Weighed at 3.36 pounds, the laptop also provides portability at a certain level.
Dell Vostro 1220 also comes with 320 GB hard drive alongside an optional solid-state drive as well as 4GB of RAM. Runs on Windows Vista Home Basic, the laptop is also available with Vista Ultimate and offers Webcam, Wi-Fi or a mobile broadband options for internet connectivity and a microphone.
The processor and the battery life are the main attractions of Dell Vostro 1220 and these features find the justification of its $799 price tag. Though many ultra-portable PCs are considered as a second computer for the users, many recession-hit users may find it quite attractive to consider Dell Vostro 1220 as their prime machine.
20 million people cannot be wrong! Can they? I am talking about Facebook that has more than 20 million users and it is undoubtedly the number one social networking website in the world. It is way ahead compared to Myspace. With all the media buzz in recent weeks. Twitter still does not have even 15% of the user base. Facebook is 5 years old but the company has not seen any profit until now. It is not unnatural because many new ventures work in that day. First, they just invest and invest and get more and more loyal users and then they start to earn money. Now, there is a sense of optimism in among the top executives in the company that it will become profitable in 2010. In an interview with BBC, one of the top executives of Facebook talked about it.
Well, I am not that much optimistic about the company becoming profitable in 2010. 200 million may sound to be an impressive number but the reality is that a large portion of them come from outside of Europe and America. If you have a blog or website and you get most of your visitors outside of Europe and America then you know that that traffic do not bring a lot of money from the advertisers. This is the main problem of Facebook. They have to spend huge money for bandwidth and web space for the users but they do not get good return on their investment.
The second problem that I find about it is that most people come directly to the website. Visitors come from search engine queries tend to bring more advertisement money for you compared to the visitors who come to your website directly. The basic idea is that the visitors who come directly to your website directly are less likely to click on ads and buy something. However, this theory does not work when a website offers e-commerce services. Think of Amazon or Ebay. People just go there and buy something.
I think that Facebook has the same potential if they focus on e-commerce more. They have the impressive user base and it will be only growing for quite some time. Almost every one I know has an account there except me. I am a bit worried about the privacy policy and even more than that, I am too much busy in my daily life. So, opening an account would become meaningless anyway. Most people are not like me and Facebook has become a part of popular culture. One of the reasons that the company could not become profitable yet is the fact that many people spend a lot of time.
So, Facebook has the user base to earn money. It just needs to focus on finding some good way to make money.
