Netbook Sales Increase 79% in 2009

Netbooks are more popular than ever before. Approximately 30.2 million units were sold last year, and the numbers are only getting higher. Research firm Strategy Analytics said North America is largely responsible for this growth, as many U.S. companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint have offered cheap prices for netbooks with a purchase of a two-year contract.  Hardware developers such as Intel and Nvidia are motivated to improve and reduce costs of processors in order to get their products into netbooks, and software developers, including those at Google and Microsoft, are working hard to make sure their operating system will be dominant in the netbook scene.

Apple has less obviously invested in the netbook market with its newly released iPad. Companies are becoming more motivated to boost their netbook sales, and new developments in netbook hardware and software are only going to make the devices more powerful and reduce costs. Rest assured, the netbook fad is only just getting started.

The top netbook sellers in 2009 were, according to Strategy Analytics, Acer, Asus, HP, and Dell.

If you're curious – and we know you are – read more about the netbook market here.

Via Fiercewireless, image via GottabeMobile

MSI Wind U160 unboxed - Video

MSI announced a handful of new 10 inch netbooks with Intel Atom N450 processors in January. The MSI Wind U160 is probably the most attractive of the bunch. I got a chance to play with one for a few minutes at CES, but Johannes at NewGadgets.de did me one better and he got MSI to send him a pre-production model. You can check out his unboxing video (in English) after the break.

The laptop has a glossy lid, a chiclet-style keyboard, and a textured touchpad with a single mouse button that makes the Wind U150 look an awful lot like the Asus Eee PC 1005PE.

The computer ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, GMA 3150 graphics, and a choice of a 3 or 6 cell battery. There's also a SIM card slot, indicating that the Wind U160 may be available with a 3G modem.

The 6 cell battery does stick out like a sore thumb at the back of the netbook. One thing that sets the Wind U160 apart from other MSI netbooks is that it has a two-tone color scheme. The lid, keyboard, and base of this particular unit, for instance, are black. But the battery and the area where the keyboard meets the lid are a metallic gray color. I'm not really sure how I feel about this particular color combo, but the models I saw at CES had more of a gold and chrome color combo, which looked a bit better.

You can check out Johannes's unboxing video and a few hands-on photos I shot at CES after the break.

Post from: Liliputing

MSI Wind U160 unboxed – Video

Intel Atom Netbook CPUs To Get DDR3 Compatibility

The quintessential netbook processor, Intel's Atom, is due for a real upgrade. For now, rather than clean the slate completely, Intel seems to be taking another slow step forward by announcing two DDR3 compatible CPUs with the same power rating.

The two new processors are going to be the N475, clocked at the reasonably fast (at least for a netbook) 1.83 GHz, and the N455 with the standard 1.6 GHz. Both chips plan on maintaining their thermal design power (TDP/fancy talk for heat) ratings and are scheduled for a Q3 launch.

The only thing these chips will bring is DDR3 to netbooks, so don't plan on that alone really changing performance.  Still, it is a sign at least that the netbook market is moving away from the older DDR2 RAM to DDR3, which all parties will undoubtedly welcome. Perhaps this also heralds the last iteration of the current generation of netbook processors, so it may be time to look forward to real innovation after this.

Via Engadget

Q3 Atom Chip update to bring DDR3 support

It's no surprise that Intel will be releasing Atom chips with DDR3 support sooner or later. What's odd is that they didn't bake it in when they release Pine Trail, most likely to differentiate it from the current CULV processors which have DDR3 support.

Two new CPUs will be outed later this year, the 1.83GHz N475 and 1.60GHz N455. Power consumption will remain the same for both processor models, possibly coming with newer netbooks coming in the third quarter of this year.

One of the main features of DDR3 RAM vs the previous DDR2 standard is better performance in low power so it gives more battery life. DDR3 is already being used in many of the newer model notebooks from HP, Asus and Apple. I just hope it gets cheaper soon since DDR3 is still a bit more expensive than DDR2.

source Fudzilla

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Q3 Atom Chip update to bring DDR3 support

Google Chrome netbook OS could make its way to tablets

While Google's Android operating system was designed for smartphones, it seems to be a fairly popular OS choice among tablet makers. A fair number of prototypes I saw at CES this year were running Android, and you can already pick up an Archos 5 Internet Tablet running the mobile operating system. But it looks like Android isn't the only tablet-friendly OS Google is working on.

Google Chrome OS is designed primarily for netbooks and laptops with full keyboards. While Android is a light weight OS designed for a mobile computing experience, Chrome is basically an OS designed around a web browser. The idea is that most of the apps you run will be web apps, and that the hardware and software should really just be a conduit for getting online. And you know what? That doesn't necessarily require a physical keyboard.

There's a page on the Chrome OS developer site showing a series of concept drawings for how Chrome could work with a tablet. The mockups include several images of an on-screen keyboard which can be repositioned or reconfigured. For instance, you could type with all ten fingers on a full sized on-screen keyboard much like the Apple iPad on-screen keyboard. Or you can split the keyboard so that some letters show up on the left side of the screen and others are on the right. This would make it easier to hold the tablet in your hands and type with your thumbs.

Right now, the Chrome tablet UI is just a concept. There's no confirmation that Google or anyone else is working on the hardware for this device, or that PC makers are planning to install Chrome on tablets. But it certainly looks like Google is at least thinking about the possibility.

You can check out a concept video after the break.

via TechCrunch and Download Squad

Post from: Liliputing

Google Chrome netbook OS could make its way to tablets

Samsung successfully develops world's first DDR3 DRAM with 30nm process technology

Samsung has just announced its successful completion of customer evaluations for 2GB DDR3 DRAM using 30nm process technology. Being the first one in the industry to produce 30nm-class DRAM that's billed as the "most advanced low-power DDR3 available", Samsung is rightly proud. Samsung's president of the Memory Division, Soo-In Cho, was quoted as saying, "Our accelerated development of next generation 30nm-class DRAM should keep us in the most competitive position in the memory market." And I'm sure the likes of Kingston and Corsair are watching closely.

According to Samsung, their 30nm-class DDR3 DRAM reduces power consumption by up to 30 percent over 50nm-class DRAM, and a 4GB module used in a new-generation notebook will consume only three watts per hour, which is just three percent of the total power usage of a notebook. As such, this is the perfect companion to Intel's new low-power Atom processors, so expect these to find their way in new netbooks some time in the near future. That would be around the second half of 2010, when Samsung starts 30nm DDR3 mass production.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Samsung successfully develops world's first DDR3 DRAM with 30nm process technology

Hands-On: EROS, a slate tablet you can love

We previously saw the ExoPC which might have been either inspired by the iPhone or inspired the design of the new iPad. Here's another tablet that does that one better, and it even has a home button! The EROS tablet has its power button were the iPad's home button is located and has the same black bezel surrounding the screen plus a fron-facing camera and some activity lights. EROS

• 10.1" 1366 x 768 touchscreen
• 1.6oGHz Intel Atom N270
• 1GB or 2GB RAM
• 160GB or 320GB HDD
• Windows 7 or XP
• SIM slot
• 2 x USB, SD card reader, CF card reader
• 2.5 hour battery on XP, 1.5 hour battery on Win7

The CF card reader is something not even netbooks often have but is a nice edition and should please photogs out there. The downer is the battery life and everyone knows that a tethered tablet is not very nice to use. It goes for 2999RMB or US$441. Hit the link for a hands on video.

source Cloned in China

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Hands-On: EROS, a slate tablet you can love

Asus Eee PC 1001P taken apart

It's a busy week for the guys over at NDevil. First they unbox the Samsung N220 twice, once in German then in English. They then take the netbook apart. This time round, they've taken apart the Pine Trail version of the Asus EeePC 1001P. The inside is pretty much the same as the 1005PE and 1008P Karim Rashid Edition except there's no Bluetooth or 802.11n support. The battery is also of a lower capacity than it's more expensive counterparts. That's not always a bad thing though, as the 1001P is the cheapest of the Asus Pine Trail netbooks, available for just $299.

On the bottom of the netbook, there's a panel which is removed by removing one screw. From there you can replace or upgrade the RAM. Anything else however, such as upgrading the hard drive, requires all of the screws on the bottom of the netbook to be removed, along with the keyboard. Below are the photos NDevil took of the inside of the 1001P.

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Asus Eee PC 1001P taken apart

MSI Wind mod to mimic Vaio UX slider

We have to give c0ff33 from Insanely Wind, the unofficial MSI netbook forums, some amazing cred. He's in the process of turning a MSI U100 rebrand (actually an Advent 4211c) into a sliding display like those you see in the Vaio UX. The build also support a dual boot of Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It's not yet done but it's getting there and a sliding mod is something different to watch out for.

source InsanelyWind via netbooked

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

MSI Wind mod to mimic Vaio UX slider

Spotted: Gateway EC14D in Italy

One thing I like about netbooks is that is doesn't have a DVD drive, something I don't actually use that often in my main computer as well. It lets manufacturers create a sleeker design for this portable device and also makes it so much lighter to carry around.

Gateway, a subsidiary brand of Acer, went the other direction though and crammed in a DVD burner in its new EC14D notebook. By all the common standards, this isn't a netbook but it's an interesting play to grab those users who still need to create and use DVDs.

Gateway EC14D

• 11.6" 1366 x 768 LCD screen
• 1.3GHz Intel Pentium SU4100 CULV with Intel GS45 chipset, GMA 4500MHD
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 320GB HDD
• 8x DVD burner
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• 802.11b/g/n WiFi, LAN
• 3 x USB, HDMI out, card reader, webcam
• 6-cell 5600mAh battery
• weight: 1.61kg

More pics in the link to Notebook Italia below.

source Notebook Italia via Engadget

A post from the Asus Eee PC blog.

Spotted: Gateway EC14D in Italy