Monday, May 31, 2010

Deals of the Day

Netbooks and Notebooks

  • MSI Wind U160 10″ netbook w/Atom N450, Win 7 Starter, 6 cell battery for $350 after rebateNewegg
  • Lenovo Ideapad S12 12 inch notebook w/VIA Nano processor, Win XP Home for $339 + free shippingLenovo (coupon: USPLENOVO527)
  • Acer Ferrari One 11.6″ notebook w/AMD Athlon 64 X2, Win 7 Home Premium for $570 + free shippingNewegg

Nettops

  • Refurbished Acer Aspire Revo w/Atom 230, Win XP, NVIDIA ION LE for $170 + free shippingBuy.com
  • Dell Inspiron Zino HD AMD Athlon 1.6GHz Mini PC for $250 + $13 s&hDell

Accessories

  • Sabrent USB HDTV Tuner with remote control & antenna for $24 + $5 s&hWoot (today only)
  • Canon imageFORMULA P-150 Portable Scanner for $266.99 - Buy.com (via Amazon)
  • Kingston 4GB DataTraveler DTLocker USB Flash Drive for $7.95 + free shipping – Buy.com
  • ViewSonic VMP70 1080p Digital Media Player for $80 + free shippingNewegg (coupon: EMCYSNW47)
  • Iomega eGo 500GB USB Portable Hard Drive for $60 + free shippingDell

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

Post from: Liliputing

Deals of the Day

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Acer Aspire One 533 with DDR3 memory coming soon

Acer is reportedly preparing to launch a new 10 inch netbook with support for Intel's new Atom N455 and N475 processors. The biggest change is that these chips can accept DDR3 memory while all of Acer's existing netbooks are stuck with plain ole DDR2 RAM.

The folks at Macles note that the upcoming Acer Aspire One 533 also features shiny chromed edges around the touchpad buttons and part of the lid.

DDR3 memory uses a little less power than DDR2 memory, which should help boost battery life a tiny bit. Acer says the Aspire One 533 should be good for up to 10 hours of run time. The netbook features a 10.1 inch display, Intel GMA 3150 graphics, optional Bluetooth 3.0, and either a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 or 1.83GHz Intel Atom N475 processor.

You can find more pictures at Macles.

Post from: Liliputing

Acer Aspire One 533 with DDR3 memory coming soon

ASUS Refurbishes The UL20A Into The UL20FT

The ASUS UL20A is one of the company's finest creations. It straddles the middle-ground between netbooks and much larger and more powerful laptops; it beats out most netbooks in terms of power, while it edges out laptops in terms of portability. You could do worse by buying one of these as your main mobile computer.

Obviously, ASUS wanted to make it even better. The UL20FT has the same chassis and sleek design but under the hood is a different story. Originally powered by a 1.3GHz dual core Intel Core 2 Duo, customers will now have the option of choosing between an Intel Celeron U3400 (1.02GHz) processor and an Intel Core i3 330UM processor (1.2GHz) as their CPU.  The chips are also boosted by Turbo33 technology – allowing you to overclock them by 33 percent. That's a big power boost for what is technically a netbook. Here are the full specs for those interested:

  • 12.1" 1366 x 768 display (glare)
  • ASUS Turbo33 technology (enhance perfomance by 33%)
  • Intel Core i3-330UM (1.2GHz, Turbo Boost)
  • Intel Celeron U3400 (1.02GHz, Turbo Boost)
  • Intel HM55 chipset
  • Intel GMA HD graphics
  • up to 4GB DDR RAM
  • up to 250GB / 320GB / 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA
  • 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
  • 10/100 LAN
  • 0.3MP webcam
  • Altec Lansing / SRS Premium Sound
  • 1.56 kg (6-cell battery)
  • Windows 7 Ultimate / HP / Professional
  • 8 hour battery life (6-cell)
  • No price point or release date yet, but with Computex in full swing next month, you'll bet this will be showing up soon.

    Source: Netbooked


    Link to post: ASUS Refurbishes The UL20A Into The UL20FT - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    MSI Wind U135 review

    The MSI Wind U135 is a 10 inch netbook with an Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor and a chiclet-style keyboard. That sentence could describe virtually every netbook released in the first half of 2010, but the Wind U135 stands out from the crowd just a tiny bit due to decent build quality and an excellent keyboard.

    But the computer isn't without its issues. There are no access panels for upgrading the RAM or hard drive, and the touchpad lacks support for multitouch gestures.

    MSI sent me a demo unit to review for a month. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, and 250GB hard drive. The mini-notebook has 802.1b/g/n WiFi and a 58Whr, 5200mAh battery. The netbook runs Windows 7 Starter Edition and sells for about $305 after rebate from B&H.

    Design

    At first glance, the MSI Wind U135 looks a lot like the company's first netbook – the Wind U100 which was released in 2008. It has rounded edges, a ridiculous number of status LEDs on the lower right side (8 in all), and a 6 cell battery which juts out a little from the bottom of hte laptop.

    But MSI has tweaked its design a bit over the years. The computer now comes in four color options: blue, red, black and silver. The touchpad button has a chrome finish, and at leas ton the silver model I'm testing, there's a subtle pattern of gray lines across the lid. The Wind U135 is also the first MSI netbook to feature a chiclet-style keyboard, but more on that in a moment.

    While the MSI Wind U100 had a matte display, the Wind U135 has a glossy screen, which makes it a bit harder to use outdoors, where sunlight effectively turns the screen into a mirror.

    Along the sides of the netbook you'll find 3 USB ports and colorful VGA, mic, and headphone jacks as well as a flash card reader and Ethernet jack.

    The left side of the laptop has a large vent which has become a bit of a signature element on MSI netbooks. There's also plenty of ventilation on the bottom of the computer, which helps it run fairly quiet — although you can occasionally hear the fan spinning.

    There are no access panels on the base of the netbook, which means you'll need to remove 9 screws to get at the memory and hard drive.

    The battery sits flush with the back of the laptop, but if you get a model with a 6 cell, 58Whr battery, it will stick out a bit from the bottom, raising the rear of the laptop.

    The MSI Wind U135 has a glossy finish on the lid and palm rest area as well as the area above the keyboard.  And while fingerprints aren't too noticeable from a distance, if you look more closely, you can definitely see smudges from oily fingers.

    Keyboard and Touchpad

    I really like the chiclet-style keyboard on the MSI Wind U135. It looks much the same as the keyboard on the Asus Eee PC 1005PE, but some of the Fn keys are in different spots. You can hit the Fn key plus a number of other buttons to adjust the volume, screen brightness, toggle the wireless connections, or turn off the touchpad.

    Hitting FN+ F10, for example will trigger the MSI ECo software, which adjusts your computer's settings to improve performance or battery life for different situations (such as gaming, or presentation mode).

    But back to the keyboard. There is a little flex in the middle of the keyboard if you push down too hard. But honestly, that's the sort of thing I only notice when I take the time to press on the keyboard and look at it. When I'm typing, it's not a problem.

    The keys are flat, with a little space between them making them easy to detect without looking down. I took a typing test and notched a score of about 100 words per minute, which is about average for me.

    Lenovo's Skylight was going to be the company's and the world's first smartbook – a laptop combining the capabilities of smartphones and netbooks. However, it seems that dream is going to have to wait a bit longer. Lenovo has announced the pushing back of the Skylight's release, without mentioning any potential date. Originally planned to be released last April, the Skylight has already had one delay announcement that pushed back release to July. This latest development does not bode well for this product. What's seems to be the reason for pushing back the Skylight's release?

    The culprit seems to be the OS. Originally bundled with the eponymous Skylight OS, the smartbook is facing a revamp in the operating system. The OS was Linux-based and featured a custom interface. This proved to be too slow and inefficient in what was to be a flagship product, so Lenovo is choosing to go with Google Android – an already proven OS that can be  found in phones and other portable devices. Here's to hoping this is the final delay faced by what seems to be an excellent product.

    Source: Netbooked


    Link to post: Lenovo Skylight Delayed Once Again - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    Eee PC 1018P Hits the FCC, Just in Time for Demo in Computex

    Computex 2010 is just around the corner so expect some new netbook or tablets announcement in the coming days. For us here in Eee PC Blog, we will try to cover as much as what we can find around the Internet.

    To kick things off is the Asus Eee PC 1018p said to be hitting the FCC for approval right now. In case you already forgot, this netbook was first demoed during the CeBIT gig earlier this year. And of course, you know what follows when netbooks or other products reahes the FCC, right?

    So, expect Asus to preview the Eee PC 1018P during the Computex. This netbook features Intel Atom PineTrail N455 and N475, Intel NM10, 2 USB pors, fingerprinte reader, an ultra slim chassis in brushed aluminum finish.

    Of course, you'd also have the standard netbook goodies such as 10-inch display, probably around 2GB of RAM, 260GB of HDD and what else?

    Pricing and release date are not yet announced. But I'm pretty sure that it won't be for too long.

    via EEE PC IT


    Link to post: Eee PC 1018P Hits the FCC, Just in Time for Demo in Computex - from: Eee PC - Blog | One comment | © Admarket, 2010.

    Samsung to Release New NB30 Pro Netbook, Four New Laptops

    Samsung has recently announced that in a few days, they will be releasing a new netbook, as well as four business-based laptops.

    Samsung's newest netbook, the NB30 Pro, is based on the NB30 model that was released earlier this year.  It'll feature a 10.1″ screen, be equipped with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 160 GB hard drive.  The NB30 Pro will also have 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, three USB 2.0 ports, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, and the Windows 7 Professional OS.  Battery life on this baby isn't bad at all — 6.5 hours — but it's not the best available either; some netbook batteries last up to 10 or 12 hours.

    Samsung's four new business-based laptops are part of the P80 Premium and P30 Essential series.  The P80 Premium series will feature two new laptops, the 14″ P480 and the 15.6″ P580.  Both of these laptops will be equipped with a 2.26GHz Intel Core i5-450M processor, up to 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 320 GB of storage space (5400rpm).  The laptops will also have Intel GMA HD graphics, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, high definition audio, four USB 2.0 ports, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, and a pair of 1.5W speakers.  Battery life for the P480 laptop will be roughly 4.3 hours while that for the P580 laptop will be roughly 4.4 hours.

    The P30 Essential series will feature two new laptops as well, the 14″ P430 and the 15.6″ P530.  Both laptops will be equipped wiht a 2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M processor, up to 3 GB of DDR3 RAM, and up to 250 GB of storage.  Other features of these laptops include Intel GMA HD graphics, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, three USB 2.0 ports, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, and a pair of 1.5W speakers.

    Since all these laptops are geared towards business use, they will (by default) come with the Windows 7 Professional operating system.  No information regarding pricing of these netbooks or laptops is yet available, but we'll keep you posted when he we hear more news.

    Via TechTree.

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    Saturday, May 29, 2010

    Samsung Ready to Show Off the N230 Netbook

    Here's another netbook that might show up in Computex 2010. This time it's from one of the leading netbook manufacturers, Samsung. The Samsung N230 looks like a combined N210 and N220 netbook models. In fact, the specs of these three netbooks are practically almost the same.

    The Samsung N230 boasts of Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, 10-inch display and runs Windows 7 Starter Edition.

    What sets it apart from other Samsung netbooks is its brushed metal-style palm rest, and chickletized keyboard.

    Pricing and international release date are not yet available though.

    via NetbookNewsDe via Aving


    Link to post: Samsung Ready to Show Off the N230 Netbook - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    Friday, May 28, 2010

    New Version of Linux for Netbooks Released

    The Linux Foundation released a new version of its open-source OS, MeeGo, this week. MeeGo is for netbooks with Intel Atom processors.

    MeeGo v1.0 is more for developers than regular users. It is comprised of Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo operating systems. It has applications for email, calendars, recently used files, and social networking updates, among other things. It also has support for multiple languages.

    MeeGo has been tested on Atom netbooks from Asus, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, and HP. People have generally liked MeeGo, though some have reported problems with getting its WiFi to work properly.

    Before MeeGo, many versions of Linux were either for desktops or smartphones. The director of the Linux Foundation said that he thinks the foundation should focus on developing a platform that can be used on a wide variety of devices. Intel and Nokia have said they can see MeeGo being used on more devices beyond netbooks.

    Via InformationWeek, image via MeeGo.

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    Samsung N230 netbook is slightly more stylish than the N210

    Samsung is starting to show off a new 10 inch netbook called the Samsung N230. Under the hood, the netbook is virtually identical to the Samsung N210 and N220 models that launched earlier this year. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1G of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and runs Windows 7 Starter Edition. The netbook has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display.

    But Samsung has given this netbook a new look. It has a burshed metal-style palm rest and a chiclet-style keyboard that looks more like ones found on recent Asus, MSI, and HP netbooks.

    There's no word on pricing yet, but I was kind of hoping for something a bit more revolutionary than a new keyboard and palm rest.

    via Netbook News.de

    Post from: Liliputing

    Samsung N230 netbook is slightly more stylish than the N210

    The Future of Netbooks is Not that All Bleak

    Netbook growth in the U.S. is being hampered by the availability of the iPad. This was the main findings of the recent Retrevo Pulse study. The good news is – it's not all endings for the netbooks that we all love since, Intel believes that netbooks will still be a popular electronics commodity in countries like Mexico and India. For netbooks to do well still in the U.S., manufacturers must find ways to continually make these netbooks cheaper and faster to make them attractive to consumers who are looking for alternatives to laptops and other mobile Internet devices. Around 20% of those who responded to the Retrevo study said that price is one of the major factors they considered when they bought a netbook.

    Here are the three major findings of the Retrevo Study:

    via Retrevo


    Link to post: The Future of Netbooks is Not that All Bleak - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    Microsoft has no plans for Windows Phone 7 tablets

    Mockups from enthusiastic designers aside, it looks like Microsoft has no plans to bring Windows Phone 7 to tablet-sized computers. At an event in Singapore, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that the company is focusing on "putting Windows phone 7 in phones," which isn't really all that surprising. Heck, the OS has "phone" in the name, right?

    But a large part of the appeal of Apple's iPad is that the tablet features a touch-friendly OS that was built from the ground up to be used without a keyboard and mouse. The same can't be said of Windows 7, the operating system Microsoft is pushing for tablets. I've tested a number of relatively inexpensive convertible tablet-style netbooks running Windows XP or Windows 7 over the past few months, and I have to say, none of them really provide an excellent handheld computing experience. It just takes too much work to do simple things like scroll through web pages or enter text.

    HP hasn't ruled out releasing a Windows 7 tablet, but the company is also now focusing on building slate computers equipped with the Palm WebOS operating system which, like iPhone OS, was designed from the ground up for finger-friendly input. And dozens of PC makers have been demonstrating Google Android tablets.

    Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for Microsoft to consider making its upcoming touch-friendly Windows Phone 7 OS available to tablet makers as well?

    via WMExperts

    Post from: Liliputing

    Microsoft has no plans for Windows Phone 7 tablets

    Thursday, May 27, 2010

    Deals of the Day

    Netbooks and Notebooks

    • Alienware M11x 11.6″ gaming laptop w/CULV processor, 1GB Video memory for $699 ($100 off) Dell
    • Gateway EC1803u 11.6″ laptop w/1.4GHz Core 2 Solo, Win Vista Home Premium for $350 + $9 s&hCompUSA (via Amazon)
    • Refurbished Asus 1005HAB 10.1″ netbook w/atom N270, Win XP, 3 cell battery for $230 + free shippingBuy.com
    • Lenovo IdeaPad U150 11.6″ laptop w/dual core Celeron SU230 CPU, Win 7 Home Premium for $518 + free shippingAmazon

    Accessories

    • Rosewill Rigid aluminum 2.5″ SATA to USB 2.0 Ext. Enclosure for $14.99 + free shippingNewegg (coupon: EMCYSNV22)
    • PNY Mini Attache 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $29.99 + free shippingNewegg (coupon: EMCYSNV38)
    • KWORLD ATSC USB HD TV Tuner for $24.99 + free shipping Newegg (coupon: EMCYSNV46)
    • HP DreamScreen 100 10″ Wireless Media Receiver for $150 + free shippingHP (coupon: SVMB39487)
    • VGA to TV Converter for $20 + free shippingMertline

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

    EMCYSNV46

    Post from: Liliputing

    Deals of the Day

    Sony's Rollable OLED display impresses

    Nowadays, convenience and portability are king. This is why the iPad and scores of netbooks are popular; you can just tuck them in somewhere in your bag when not in use. Laptops started the trend and the the hardware for computing has progressively become more miniaturized and easy to carry. However, we still can't fold our devices like the morning paper. Sony seems to want to change that.

    Showing off a 4-inch sample with a 432 x 240 pixel resolution, the company showed off their prototype for a future generation of display devices. The screen was on a pair of rollers and was rolled and unrolled while images – high-quality ones – were being played on it, with no noticeable change in quality. Now imagine your future netbooks becoming more like netscrolls – with their CPU contained in a central rod and the screen rolling up or rolling out when necessary. It sounds a bit like science fiction and with the development still ongoing, we probably won't see it anytime soon – but rest assured that something similar may be awaiting us in the future.

    Source: Liliputing


    Link to post: Sony's Rollable OLED display impresses - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    Meego v1.0 for Netbooks Released

    We first saw the Meego Netbook OS last month when Intel demoed its prowess during the Intel Development Forum in China. Well, it didn't take the Meego developers to finally make this Linux variant for netbooks available for developers.

    If you're a developer who wants to make apps for this netbook OS, you can grab it now from this site. And in case you're interested to know, here are some of the great features of Meego v1.0 OS for netbooks:

    • Visually rich Netbook user experience, building on the latest open source technologies.
    • Instant access to your synchronized calendar, tasks, appointments, recently used files and real-time social networking updates through the home screen.
    • Aggregation of your social networking content. This allows you to see your social networking activities on one screen, easily interact with your friends, and update your status and site information.
    • For a fast and rich Internet experience the MeeGo Netbook user experience integrates Google Chrome or, if you prefer a fully open source browser solution, Google Chromium is also provided. Soon we will be releasing the MeeGo Handset user experience which will use the Fennec Mozilla Browser.
    • Easy to use applications for email, calendar and media player.
    • Highly optimized for power and performance.
    • Languages: Japanese, Korean, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Swedish, Polish, Finnish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, English, British English

    The Meego Platform features:

    • Kernel based on 2.6.33
    • DeviceKit and udev for interacting with hardware devices
    • Modern 2D / 3D graphics stack including Kernel Mode Setting, non-root X
    • Voice and data connectivity with Connman connection manager, Ofono telephony stack and BlueZ Bluetooth
    • Qt 4.6
    • Universal Plug and Play (gUPnP)
    • Media frameworks
    • Next generation file system BTRFS, as the default file system

    Via Meego


    Link to post: Meego v1.0 for Netbooks Released - from: Eee PC - Blog | No comments | © Admarket, 2010.

    Wearable PC concept is either awesome or ridiculous... maybe both

    I like mobile technology. You probably guessed that since I run a blog about netbooks and mobile computers and another about smartphone apps. But as much as I like to carry a smartphone or PDA in my pocket and a netbook in my backpack, I'm not entirely sold on the idea of wearable computers yet. Call me crazy, but I never saw the appeal of the Dick Tracy watch. It just looked too big and clunky to be comfortably worn on your wrist.

    But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of attempts underway to make wristwatch phones or computers. But some folks aren't happy looking at watches designed using today's technology. Designer Hiromi Kiriki has created some concept photos for a futuristic computer that you can wear on your wrist or place on table and use a slide-out keyboard to get some serious work done.

    He envisions the device as something that could be available by 2020, but who knows? Maybe we could see this sort of computer become reality much sooner. The question is — would you wear it? Incidentally, while the concept images have the Sony brand name on them, I don't think this is something Sony is actually working on. If anything, the imagery seems more reminiscent of the Asus WaveFace concept shown off at CES earlier this year.

    via Ubergizmo

    Post from: Liliputing

    Wearable PC concept is either awesome or ridiculous… maybe both

    New Sleek Netbooks For Show

    In a far away land, also known as Cannes, France, some new Acer netbooks were recently unveiled for the public. Acer already is packing heat with the release of Apsire One 532g, powered by the Ion 2, but is bringing another two HD netbooks into the fray. The two new devices are the Acer Aspire One 521 and Gateway LT22. Both of them share some nifty upgrades, such as 1.2GHz AMD V105 processors and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225 graphics. The graphics capabilities of these netbooks is going to be critical for their success on the market, as they can handle some light to medium gaming without noticeable difficulty. The battery life of both is still not entirely known however.

    One particularly distinguishing feature of these netbooks is that they HDMI ports. This clever little feature will give these netbooks a home in any multi-media home entertainment system.

    Via engadget, image via engadget.

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    Department of obvious research: Netbook sales are slowing

    There are a lot of headlines going around today about how the iPad and thin and light laptops are putting the squeeze on netbook sales… and thus that they might be harbingers of doom for the netbooks.

    There's just one problem. Those headlines are tied to a study from Retrovo, which suggests that a significant percentage of people who are considering purchasing a netbook or iPad are leaning toward the iPad — and that those considering a netbook or laptop are leaning toward the laptop. The problem is that the study never claims that netbooks are dying — just that it will be hard for them to keep up the astronomic growth that they experienced in the past year.

    And that's kind of a no-brainer. Did anyone really think that there'd be an 641% increase in netbook sales two years in a row? A large part of the reason sales grew so much last year is because the previous year there were almost no netbooks on the market. 2009 was the first full year that almost every major PC maker had a netbook to sell. Over the past two years many would-be netbook customers have already made their purchases, and it might be a while before they need to buy another netbook.

    With new product categories like tablets and thin and light notebooks with ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors to choose from, of course some folks would choose those items instead of netbooks.

    But that doesn't mean that netbooks are going to disappear. They still hit a sweet spot of price, performance, and portability. If you want a 10 inch, 2.5 pound machine with a nearly full sized keyboard for under $300, netbooks are still the only game in town.

    I particularly get a kick out of Retrovo's chart explaining that 65% of people deciding between a netbook and a full sized laptop went with a laptop. That's actually higher than I would have expected, since netbook sales only represent about 20% of portable computer sales at the moment. Also amusing is ZDNet's claim that netbooks will be relegated to a niche product… because they weren't already a niche? You know what else is a niche? Computers — which are a niche in the consumer electronics category. I mean, seriously.

    I don't know why everyone squeals with glee every time a study comes out suggesting that netbook sales could be slowing. But I think it's important to put these things in perspective. No. Netbook sales will not grow as quickly as they did last year. They probably won't ever do that again. But that doesn't mean the product category is dead. As I pointed out yesterday, 85 million netbooks have been sold in the past 2.5 years. Compare that with about a million iPads sold in the first month.

    Post from: Liliputing

    Department of obvious research: Netbook sales are slowing