Simplest way to light up your keyboard

A handful of fancy, high priced notebooks come with newfangled backlit keyboards that make it easy to type in a dark room. Cheap computers like netbooks typically don't.

We've seen a couple of ways to add illumination to a netbook keyboard. You could hack an LED light into a space below the keyboard, or add a light to the top of your screen bezel and point it down toward the keyboard.

But it turns out there's a much easier solution that doesn't require taking your computer apart or poking holes in it. All you have to do is pick up some glow-in-the-dark stickers to place over your keys.

The folks at the MyDellMini forums have been giving these stickers a try, and while it sounds like some kits don't have stickers for all the keys (such as Enter), and may require you to trim the sticker if you still want to see the extra Fn features, they do seem to help make the keyboard easier to see in the dark.

via GadgetMix

Post from: Liliputing

Simplest way to light up your keyboard

Asus brings back the 9 inch netbook with the Eee PC 900AX

The first Asus netbook was a model with a 7 inch display. The Eee PC 701 was successful enough as a product to kick-start the netbook revolution, but it had a low resolution screen and a cramped keyboard. So about half a year after its launch, Asus introduced a series of models with 8.9 inch displays, and later that same year the Eee PC got one more size bump with the launch of the Eee PC 1000H and its now-standard 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display.

So you might think that the whole 8.9 inch screen thing was nothing more than a phase Asus was going through while trying to find the ideal screen, keyboard, and overall case size for a netbook. But it looks like Asus isn't done with the 9 inch netbook. A few weeks ago we spotted a new model called the Eee PC 900AX on the FCC web site. And as expected, it turns out that what we're looking at is a brand spanking new Eee PC netbook with an 8.9 inch display.

Asus added a product page for the Eee PC 900AX to recently. And I have to say, the spec sheet reads like something straight out of 2008. The notebook has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, an 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g WiFi, 0.3MP webcam, a 4 cell battery, VGA output, mic, headphone, and Ethernet jacks, and 2 USB ports. It weighs about 2.5 pounds. Oh yeah, and it also runs Windows XP.

All in all, I wouldn't be surprised if the Eee PC 900AX is essentially the same computer the company was selling in 2008 as the Eee PC 900A or Eee PC 901. Maybe Asus found some extra units in a warehouse somewhere and decided to slap a new name on them. Or maybe there's some extra feature hidden away that I'm just not seeing.

There's no word on when or where the Eee PC 900AX will be available or how much it will cost. But while the 10 inch netbook has become the de facto standard, I know there are some people out there who really prefer the smaller size and lighter weight of 9 inch models, so you might be able to take heart in the fact that Asus is at least still thinking about smaller netbooks.

via Notebook Italia

Post from: Liliputing

Asus brings back the 9 inch netbook with the Eee PC 900AX

ASUS Eee PC 1218 wins award, now we know it exists

It seems like netbook manufacturers generally aren't too concerned about specs and pictures of upcoming models leaking out ahead of time. Well, maybe Sony, but apart from that it's become pretty common for us to see new models pictured and detailed well ahead of their public launch.

Not so with the ASUS Eee PC 1218, however. Not familiar with the model? That's not surprising. There's really no information floating around about it. And yet somehow the sleek, aluminum-clad netbook has received a Red Dot Design Award.

…And because of that, you can now see what it looks like. However, apart from the image above (and two more after the break) details are sparse right now.

via Netbooked

Post from: Liliputing

ASUS Eee PC 1218 wins award, now we know it exists

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is a 10 inch netbook with a touchscreen display that you can fold down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode. It has a capacitive touchscreen display which means you can navigate by pressing your fingertip against the screen. The computer won't recognize input from a stylus.

Like most netbooks, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t has a low power Intel Atom N450 processor, and the unit featured in this review runs Windows 7 Starter Edition, and ships with 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive. The base unit sells for $549, but Lenovo does offer a version with a larger hard drive Windows 7 Home Premium for about $100 more.

As a netbook, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t performs pretty much as you'd expect. My only real complaint is that it has an incredibly small and difficult to use touchpad. As a tablet, the S10-3t is a bit of a mixed bag.

Windows 7 Starter Edition isn't really optimized for touch input, and while Lenovo includes some touch-friendly software, the experience of using this machine in tablet mode was a bit unpleasant. I'm sure some of these issues would be addressed by upgrading to Windows 7 Home Premium, but not all of them.

Design

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is one of the smallest 10 inch netbooks available. While it's a bit wide, thanks to some extra space around the display for buttons you can use in tablet mode, the netbook measures just 11″ x 6.9″ x 0.8″. With a 4 cell battery, it weighs about 2.7 pounds.

But overall the netbook just feels smaller and lighter than most, largely due to the fact that the base of the computer is almost entirely taken up by the keyboard.

There's only a tiny space below the keyboard for the touchpad, which features integrated left and right buttons. I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the touchpad, but the keyboard is nearly full sized and quite easy to type on, although it does have a bit of flex to it.

While most netbooks locate the power button just above the keyboard, the power button for the S10-3t is on the right side of the display, making it easy to turn the computer on whether it's in tablet or netbook mode.

Just below it there's a lock button which prevents power button from turning on the computer so it doesn't accidentally power up if you're carrying the S10-3t in your bag in tablet mode. Higher up on the right side of the bezel are the webcam and mic.

On the bottom left side of the display you'll find the status LEDs, and to the left side there are a few more buttons for muting the volume and launching the Lenovo NaturalTouch software.

The speakers are built into the base of the display so that you can hear audio no matter how the computer is configured. Unfortunately what you'll hear is rather tinny sounding audio with even less bass than I've come to expect from a netbook. The speakers also don't seem to get very loud.

The only button above the keyboard is the button that launches the Lenovo QuickRestore software.

Around the sides of the computer you'll find 2 USB ports, a VGA port, wireless toggle, Ethernet and audio jacks. There's an SD card slot at the front of the computer.

There's one large access panel on the base of the unit which you can open up to get at the RAM and hard drive.

The demo unit I'm reviewing has a 4 cell battery which sits flush with the base of the computer. Lenovo also offers an optional 8 cell battery which adds a noticeable bulge to the back of the laptop.

The lid and screen bezel both feature a glossy black finish with a subtle pattern made of different sized squares. The same pattern shows up on the palm rest area, which is white.

We really got to give credit to Blogeee.net for being ever so resourceful. This time around, they've spotted this new Eee PC 1218 on the AsusDesign site. What's interesting about this new Asus netbook is the fact that it sports a 12-inch display, an aluminum body, all its ports located on the rear, retractable webcam, and chicklet keyboard.

Whether this is just a concept Eee PC or a look at things to come for Asus' most successful product series remains a mystery right now. But we're guessing that we may know the answer to this in time for Computex 2010 happening in Taipei sometime in June.

Come on now Asustek, don't make us too excited about the Eee PC 1218.

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Link to post: Eee PC 1218, Spotted on AsusDesign Site - from: Eee PC - Blog | 2 comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Deals of the Day

Netbooks and Notebooks

• Lenovo ThinkPad X100e 11.6″ notebook w/AMD Neo MV-40, ATI Radeon HD 3200 for $429 + $3 s&h - J&R (via Amazon)
• Lenovo IdeaPad S12 Nano ULV 1.3GHz 12″ Netbook for $319 + free shipping – Lenovo (coupon: USPS56426)
• Asus Eee PC 1005HA-PU17 10″ netbook w/Atom N280, Win 7 Starter + USB mouse for $330 – Buy.com
• Asus Eee PC 1201N 12.1″ notebook w/Atom 330 dual core, NVIDIA ION graphics for $475 – B&H

Accessories

• Super Talent 8GB SSP USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $12 + $2 s&h – SuperBiiz (coupon: HONEYBEE5)
• SAMSUNG USB 2.0 Slim External DVD Writer for $44.99 + free shipping – Newegg
• Kingston 8GB microSDHC card w/SD adapter for $16.95 + free shipping – Buy.com
• 7-Port USB 2.0 "Squid" Hub with built-in cables for $7 + free shipping – CellularFactory (coupon: hub38616)

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.

Post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day

VidCoder makes DVD ripping simple(r)

You may have noticed that most netbooks don't come with disc drives, which makes watching movies on an airplane a bit tougher. Sure, most of the time you can just stream video over the web. And of course you can always watch downloaded videos. But what if you really want to watch your Seinfeld DVD collection on the go?

VidCoder is a DVD ripping tool that makes it easy to create high quality copies of the videos on your DVDs. Sure, there are plenty of other apps that essentially do the same. But here's what VidCoder has going for it: It's basically a simplified frontend for the popular HandBrake video encoding tool. But unlike HandBrake, which was initially designed as a tool for Mac users, VidCoder is designed for Windows, and has a user interface optimized for Windows computers.

The app gives you a variety of options, including the ability to convert videos to MP3, MKV, or H.264 files, use 2-pass encoding for improved quality, and set your target bitrate, size, and quality settings. You can also queue up multiple encoding jobs, and easily pause and resume jobs.

While VidCoder is available as a free 5MB download, it requires Microsoft .NET 4.0 framework to be installed before it will run. So it might take a little while to get VidCoder up and running the first time.

via Lifehacker

Post from: Liliputing

VidCoder makes DVD ripping simple(r)

KDE Plasma netbook interface looks good running on MeeGo

The KDE Plasma interface certainly looks good, and it's a good fit on netbook screens. And MeeGo runs on netbooks…So why not throw the two of them in a blender and see what comes out?

That's what one enthusiast has done, and he's shared his triumph on YouTube for all to see (check out the video after the break). The combination looks like a nice match to me — MeeGo's lightweight foundation and the glossy attractiveness of Plasma.

What I'm not sure of is how this would look on other MeeGo devices — say, a Nokia handset with a 3″ or 4″. I'm sure someone will try to run Plasma on one of those, too, so it probably won't be long before we see how it looks.

via Linux-Netbook

Post from: Liliputing

KDE Plasma netbook interface looks good running on MeeGo

Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook to hit Spain next month

It looks like HP is about to become the first major PC maker to bring an ARM-based smartbook running Google Android to market. Engadget reports that the Compaq Airlife 100 should be available in Spain in mid-May through wireless carreir Telefonica Movistar.

The smartbook will run 229 Euros up front, plus 48 Euros per month for wireless service. (There's a cheaper monthly plan, but it drives up the initial cost of the Airlife 100).

If you don't happen to live in Europe, here's a quick conversion for you. The device costs about $300 and service runs about $63/month. But it's not clear how much the Airlife 100 will actually run if and when it's available in the States. Engadget says there are currently no plans to offer the smartbook on this side of the pond.

The Compaq Airlife 100 features a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, and a case design that's awfully reminiscent of a typical HP netbook. The company first started showing off a prototype at CES in January, and last week an official spec sheet showed up.

While the $300 price tag might seem a bit steep when you can pick up a Windows 7 netbook for about the same price, it's worth pointing out that the smartbook has WiFi, 3G, and GPS capabilities, a low power processor that should provide excellent battery life, and always-on internet access allowing you to receive notifications for incoming emails, instant messages, or other communications even when the screen is off. Basically, it's a smartphone in a netbook case — and smartphones with similar hardware (such as the Google Nexus One), sell for $500 or more without a contract. Of course, the Airlife will be available with a contract, which you would think would lower the price a bit more…

Post from: Liliputing

Compaq Airlife 100 smartbook to hit Spain next month

Liquavista color screens coming to eBook readers next year?

LCD displays are pretty much the de-facto standard for netbooks today, while e-Ink displays dominate the eBook reader space. While LCD screens look great indoors, have fast refresh rates for playing video, and support full color, e-Ink screens use significantly less power, have a high-contrast quality that makes reading text easy, and are easy to read outdoors without a backlight.

There are a few companies working on displays that offer the best features of both display types. Pixel Qi has gotten a lot of attention for its dual-mode LCD screens which offer a high-constrast, nearly black and white view for use in direct sunlight, and a full-color LCD view indoors. But another company called Liquavista is working on its own solution, with the first Liquavist displays due out in 2011.

Liquavista uses a technology called electrowetting, which basically involves using electrical charges to rearrange colored oils. The company's displays are color screens which can be easily read outdoors without a backlight. Indoors, you switch on the backlight and the screens look more like typical LCD displays.

Eventually Liquavista expects the screens to be used in phones, notebooks, tablets, and possibly even televisions.

via Slashdot

Post from: Liliputing

Liquavista color screens coming to eBook readers next year?

More computers with next-gen Atom chips spotted

Yesterday we spotted an upcoming version of the Toshiba NB305 netbook with a new Intel Atom N455 processor. The CPU is virtually identical to the Atom N450 powering most netbooks released so far this year, with one exception: It supports DDR3 1066MHz memory. But it looks like the Toshiba NB305 isn't alone. Lenovo, HP, and Shuttle all have  computers in the works with the new Atom chips.

The folks at nDevil spotted an HP Mini 210 with an Atom N455 processor in Germany.

Netbook Italia says the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3 will be available in Britain with an Atom N455 processor and a 3G modem.

And Shuttle released specs for a series of new nettops and all-in-one PCs, including the Shuttle X50 V2 Plus which has an Intel Atom D525 dual core processor with support for DDR3 800MHz memory.

As far as I'm aware, Intel hasn't officially announced the new DDR3-capable chips yet, so there's no word on when these new machines will hit the streets. But it's starting to look like it will happen very soon.

Post from: Liliputing

More computers with next-gen Atom chips spotted

EasyPeasy Netbook OS Gears Up to Release it Latest Version

The folks responsible for the Linux distro of EasyPeasy OS for netbooks are all geared up to release the latest version of their netbook OS. In case you forgot already, EasyPeasy was previously known as the Ubuntu-eee.

EasyPeasy version 1.6 is based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS which is code named "Lucid Lynx".

New features  in the latest version of EasyPeasy 1.6 include a new boot system with new artwork using Plymouth, open source Nouveau driver for NVIDIA graphics hardware, new interface, updated packages and built-in integration with social networks.

You can download the latest release of EasyPeasy from here.

via H-Online

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Link to post: EasyPeasy Netbook OS Gears Up to Release it Latest Version - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Netbook sales may be leveling off - does it matter?

I've seen a number of reports over the last few months about how the Netbook segment of the computer industry is leveling off or even declining. The latest update comes from CNET, which reprots that Intel and researchers IDC are both suggesting that Intel Atom chip shipments are representing a smaller portion of overall microchip shipments than they were last year.

But there are a few implicit assumptions in this type of article. First is the idea that the term "netbook" only applies to laptops with Atom chips. Second is the fact that the term "netbook" actually matters at all.

If we never use the word netbook again, I don't think it will really change things very much. What did change things was the introduction of a new class of low cost ultraportable computer. A few years ago a 3 pound computer with a 10 inch display would have set you back a few thousand dollars. Today you can get one for a few hundred bucks.

If people are starting to move away from the typical 10 inch machine with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Starter Edition, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're going back to paying thousands of dollars for a more powerful machine. Instead, netbooks have shown demand for less powerful, but affordable systems. And the selection of computers with 11.6, 12.1, and 13.3 inch displays is greater today than I've ever seen it — and many of these laptops are available for $700 or less. Many are powered by moderately low power chips from Intel and AMD which provide better-than-netbook performance and reasonably good battery life.

At the same time, Apple has revived interest in affordable tablet-style devices with the introduction of the iPad. It doesn't use an Atom processor either. Instead, it has an ARM-based chip which provides 10 or more hours of battery life and always-on capabilities so that you can receive incoming messages even when the tablet is suspended.

I don't think we'll see $300 computers with 10 inch displays and Intel Atom processors disappear overnight. In fact, Intel seems to think that they'll continue to make up about 20 percent of the notebook space for a while to come. But I think the netbook's lasting impact will be a shift in the way we think about price and portability for all mobile computers.

Post from: Liliputing

Netbook sales may be leveling off — does it matter?

Toshiba NB305 netbook to get Intel Atom N455 CPU

We've been hearing rumors about a tiny little shakeup on the horizon for Intel's Atom line of chips. Basically, the Atom N450 and N470 processors that power netbooks today will be phased out and replaced with Atom N455 and N475 chips that are virtually identical, but which add support for DDR3 memory.

Now it looks like Toshiba has inadvertently confirmed the rumors by posting a product page for the upcoming Toshiba NB305-10F netbook. for the most part, this netbook looks similar to existing mini-laptops from Toshiba. But it has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor and supports DDR3 1066MHz RAM.

Aside from the 1GB stick of DDR3 RAM, the rest of the netbook specs are pretty much par for the course, including a 10.1 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display, GMA 3150 graphics, and 250GB hard drive. the computer supports Bluetooth and 802.11b/g/n WiFi.

There's no word on pricing or availability.

via Netbook Choice

Post from: Liliputing

Toshiba NB305 netbook to get Intel Atom N455 CPU

Deals of the Day

Netbooks and Notebooks

• Asus Eee PC 1005HA-MU17 10″ netbook w/Atom N270, Win 7 Starter + Canon printer for $296 after rebate – B&H (via Dealnews)
• Acer Aspire One 11.6″ laptop w/1.33GHz Atom Z520,  Win Vista Home Basic for $250 + free shipping – OfficeMax
• Asus Eee PC 1005PE-MU17 10″ netbook w/Atom N450, Win 7 Starter, 6 cell battery for $310 + free shipping – Amazon
• Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t 10″ tablet-style netbook w/Atom N450, Win 7 Starter for $419 – Lenovo (coupon: USPS4F422)
• Acer Aspire 1410 11.6″ laptop w/Core 2 Solo SU3500, Win Vista Home Premium (Open Box) for $350 – TigerDirect
• Refurbished Acer Aspire One AOD250 10.1″ netbook w/Atom N270, Win 7 starter, 3 cell battery for $220 + $5 s&h – Woot

Accessories

• Fantom G-Force 1TB eSATA/USB 2.0 external hard drive for $69.99 + free shipping – Buy.com
• 17% off no minimum, deals from $2 + free shipping – Shop4Tech (coupon: PC17)
• Toshiba 500GB Portable USB 2.0 Hard Drive for $70 + free shipping – BuyDig

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.

Post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day

EasyPeasy 1.6 Release candidate available for download (Netbook OS)

The folks behind the EasyPeasy netbook operating system are getting ready to release the latest version. This weekend the team pushed out an EasyPeasy 1.6 Release Candidate.

EasyPeasy is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Canonical is preparing to launch Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx later this week. An the latest version of EasyPeasy is built on Lucid Lynx code. But while Ubuntu works on most netbooks out of the box, EasyPeasy ships with a number of optimizations that help it run on Asus Eee PC netbooks and other Intel Atom-based mini-laptops.

Version 1.6 has a new boot system and boot artwork, faster boot speed, integration with social networks including Twitter, Facebook, and identi.ca, new drivers for NVIDIA video hardware, and a new user interface which is based on the latest version of the Ubuntu Netbook Edition user interface.

You can find more screenshots of EasyPeasy 1.6 at the EasyPeasy wiki. Or you can just go ahead and download the release candidate.

via H-Online

Post from: Liliputing

EasyPeasy 1.6 Release candidate available for download (Netbook OS)

Apple May Sell 9 Million iPads in 2010

Yes, you read that right: 9 million. The iPad has not been available that long, but it has already seen some fantastic sales—all that hype made people crazy for it.

Chitika Labs, an advertising network, has said that Apple has sold over 1 million iPads. Though this is just an estimate, the methodology seems logical. Here's how Chitika says it has calculated that figure:

- We count how many new, unique iPads we see coming through the Chitika advertising network
- We multiply that by how much of the Internet we see at any given time to figure out how many iPads in total are out there
- We look at where iPad traffic is coming from by state

This seems like a reasonable estimate—after all, Apple sold 500,000 iPads during the first week, so this would mean sales of roughly 250,000 iPads per week in the second and third weeks.

Assuming a rate of 1 million iPads a month, Apple could sell as many as 9 million (or even 10 million due to holiday sales) in 2010.

Via ZDNet, image via ZDNet.

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Say goodbye to the 3.5 inch floppy disk (if you haven't already)

Every now and again I hear someone complain that netbooks typically don't come with DVD drives. But I've never heard anyone complain that they can't take floppy disks. While we haven't quite moved to a world without the need for physical storage media, I haven't even seen a floppy disk in at least 5 years — unless you count floppies that have been repurposed as art, jewelry, and other goods.

But while there's really only so much you can store on a 1.44MB floppy disk, I was surprised to learn today that Sony was still selling 3.5 inch disks — although the company plans to stop selling the floppies in Japan in March, 2011. Sony introduced the first 3.5 inch floppy disk in 1981, and until recently it was the largest supplier of the floppy disks around the world. But Sony pretty much stamped out worldwide distribution last month.

I don't think floppy disks are going to become collectors' items anytime soon. Over the past 30 years, hundreds of millions of the disks have been shipped. But admit it, yo're kind of going to miss the little guys, aren't you?

via Slashdot

Post from: Liliputing

Say goodbye to the 3.5 inch floppy disk (if you haven't already)

Dell's Leak Roadmap Reveals 2 New Netbooks Dubbed Sparta and Athens

Wohoo! What do we have here? A new netbook from Dell which gets the monicker Dell Sparta and Dell Athens.  If the leaked Dell MID/Netbook Roadmap is authentic and Dell is really pushing through with what's on the roadmap, we might be looking at two pretty exciting netbooks from Del, coming our way soon!

So, what are we looking at here? First up is the Dell Sparta tablet netbook which will have an 11-inch 1024×768 TFT display, an ARM processor, optional 3G/WiFi/Bluetooth connectivity features and a swivel mechanism.

The Dell Athens is a regular netbook with 11-inch display, ARM processor as well as the optional connectivity features.  Hopefully, if everything falls according to plan, these two new Dell netbooks will be heading our way in early Autumn for the Sparta and late Autumn for the Athens.

Now that's enough to get us all excited.

via Engadget

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Link to post: Dell's Leak Roadmap Reveals 2 New Netbooks Dubbed Sparta and Athens - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Dell may be working on convertible netbook tablet, ARM-based netbook

Dell isn't doing such a great job of keeping their product road maps confidential these days. A few days ago we learned about a new 7 inch tablet called the Looking Glass with an NVIDIA Tegra chip. Engadget published details for three unannounced Dell smartphones. And now Android Central has uncovered a product road map with details for several new machines including a netbook tablet and an ARM based netbook, both due out in 2011.

The convertible netbook tablet is code-named Sparta, while the netbook is called Athens. Both will apparently feature ARM-based processors and 11 inch, TFT displays. They'll be capable of running Google Android or Moblin Linux, and they'll be available with optional 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth.

Aside from that, the only thing we know is that they'll apparently have 1024 x 768 pixel displays and that the notebook will weigh less than 2 pounds. While we've gotten rather accustomed to netbooks with 1024 x 600 pixel screens over the past few years, Apple was onto something when the company decided to go with a 1024 x 768 pixel screen for the iPad. Because when you turn it sideways, you have a 768 x 1024 pixel screen — which is good enough for viewing most web pages. That's not something you can easily say about a 600 x 1024 pixel screen.

Of course, another solution is to stick with the widescreen format, but use an even higher resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display. But pixels don't grow on trees, and the goal with most of these products is to keep costs down.

You can find a higher quality version of the leaked product road map at Android Central.

Post from: Liliputing

Dell may be working on convertible netbook tablet, ARM-based netbook

Amazon is Aware of Apple Threat

Amazon was probably not too happy about the release of the iPad because the iPad poses a major threat to Amazon's Kindle. Though the iPad is more than an e-reader, it does have e-reader capabilities that have been touted by Apple. Amazon is astute and realizes this threat.

Though Amazon just posted earnings that exceeded expectations, its predictions for the next quarter are a bit more conservative. Amazon gets a lot of its revenue from the Kindle, so lower earnings would probably result from a slowdown in Kindle sales. Though the Kindle is an obvious choice for people who would want a device just to read books on, those who want more capabilities would be much better served by the iPad.

The iPad has created trouble for Amazon and probably will continue to do so. It will be interesting to see how e-readers fare with the iPad on the market.

Via Tainted Green, image via Amazon.

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Intel Atom N450, N470 processors benchmarked

Two processors walk into a series of benchmarks… and it turns out it's a bit tricky to tell which is which. Peter at Netbooked recently managed to get his hands on a Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3s with a shiny new 1.83GHz Intel Atom N470 processor and an S10-3 with the much more common 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 CPU. And he put them to the test.

While the N470 clearly has a faster clock speed, it's not that much faster than the N450. And so we probably shouldn't be surprised that when Peter ran several benchmarks on the two computers, the scores weren't very far apart at all. The Lenovo S10-3s scored slightly higher on most tests, but actually lagged a tiny bit in the graphics department.

The N470 gets a Windows Experience score of 2.5 compared with 2.3 for the N450. But that's out of 7. Long story short, in real world settings you're probably not going to notice any real difference between these two chips. Neither is going to make your computer fly, but both should be good enough for basic computing tasks such as web surfing, editing documents, or watching standard definition (or even 720p) video.

Sure, if you have the choice between a computer with an Intel Atom N450 and N470 processor, the N470 might offer a slight performance boost. But it's probably not enough to justify paying much more for that computer.

Post from: Liliputing

Intel Atom N450, N470 processors benchmarked

Amazon uncovers R101 and R105 Eee PCs

A couple of netbook models were leaked the other day by the name of Eee PC R101 and R105. Many thought these might be for new netbooks from the Taiwanese company but it turns out, they were only tweaked versions of the 1001PX.

The Eee PC R101 is a Pine Trail netbook that ships with Windows XP instead of the usual Windows 7. The R101PX is just a version with a 250GB hard drive. These are slated to launch in Germany and the rest of Europe soon.

source nDevil

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Link to post: Amazon uncovers R101 and R105 Eee PCs - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Starling EduBook for kids coming this May

Netbooks, as initially envisioned, was supposed to be for kids. It was primarily designed for young ones with its smaller keyboard and screen. System76 sticks to that game plan and is planning to out the 10″ Starling EduBook this May.

Starling EduBook

• 10.1″ 1024 x 600 screen
• 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450
• up to 2GB RAM
• 160GB HDD
• Ubuntu Education Edition Netbook Remix 10.04
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi, LAN
• 6-cell battery

This company previously introduced the Starling NetBook last year, an Ubuntu-packing device. The EduBook will also be carrying Ubuntu but the Educational version. The latter is a rebrand of Intel's famous Classmate PC. Grab it for just US$399.

source System76

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Link to post: Starling EduBook for kids coming this May - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Lenovo confirm ThinkPad Mini 10 only for Australian schools

While the ThinkPad Mini 10 from Lenovo was spotted a while back, it seems the company have only now confirmed it's existence. Unfortunately those looking to get their hands on it, Lenovo have stated that it was a "one off deal for the Australian school district." That hasn't stopped Engadget from getting their hands on one though and showing us some hands on photos of the netbook.

As expected, the 10 inch ThinkPad doesn't offer anything over other netbooks in the market. It features an Intel Atom N450 processor, 10 inch display, with a 1024×600 resolution and a 6 cell battery. You can view the unboxing photos after the jump.
(...)
Read the rest of Lenovo confirm ThinkPad Mini 10 only for Australian schools (1 words)

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Link to post: Lenovo confirm ThinkPad Mini 10 only for Australian schools - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

Deals of the Day

Netbooks and Notebooks

• ASUS Eee PC 900SD 8.9″ netbook w/800MHz Celeron CPU, Win XP for $225 + $12 s&h – eXpansys
• Lenovo IdeaPad U150 11.6″ laptop w/1.2GHz Celeron SU2300, Win 7 Home Premium for $518 + free shipping – Amazon
• HP Mini 311 11.6″ notebook w/Atom N270, NVIDIA ION graphics, Win XP for $380 + free shipping – Amazon

Accessories

• Coupons: $10 off $75, $30 off $300 - SuperBiiz (via DealNews)
• Rosewill USB 2.0 External Slim 8X DVD Burner for $41.99 + free shipping – Newegg
• ASUS WL-330gE_M Wireless Network Bridge Kit (Pair) for $59.99 – Newegg (coupon: EMCYRNP34)

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.

Post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day

VIA introduces Nano E-Series processors

Chip maker VIA has introduced a new line of Nano processors. The VIA Nano E-Series chips are 64-bit x86 processors with support for hardware virtualization.

The E-Series chips are available with speeds ranging from 800MHz to to 1.8GHz. Theyr'e compatible with VIA's media processors such as the VX800 and VX855 as well as upcoming VX900 and VN1000 digital media chips with support for HD video playback and 3D graphics.

The key selling point for these processors is their low power consumption. At idle, all the chips except for the 1.8GHz L3050 consume just 100mW of power. The Nano E-Series chips are compatible with motherboards designed for VIA C7, VIA Eden, and VIA Nano processors, so it might not be too long before we start to see netbooks and nettops with these new chips.

While VIA's Nano processors haven't proved to be all that popular with Western PC makers to date, we have sees a fair number of VIA powered netbooks show up in China over the past few years.

Post from: Liliputing

VIA introduces Nano E-Series processors

NVIDIA Ion pitted against Broadcom Crystal HD

Many have been disappointed with the graphics capabilities of netbooks, especially the lack of a GPU. Users are missing out on HD videos on the internet, watching high-def movies and playing some of the newer games. And so NVIDIA and Broadcom offered their own solution to this problem. Netbooked has the results from the bout between the two chips: the ION and Crystal HD Decoder.

In the final tally, Crystal HD seems to be the big winner and with it you can enjoy great HD video though it doesn't perform as well as the ION on gaming. It only sips a bit of battery juice when on use so you can enjoy a long movie marathon on a single charge. This must be why Intel picked them to accompany their new motherboards and machines.

source Netbooked

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Link to post: NVIDIA Ion pitted against Broadcom Crystal HD - from: Eee PC - Blog | One comment | © Admarket, 2010.