Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with WiMAX coming

By Tim Schiesser March 24th, 2010

dell inspiron mini 10 Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with WiMAX coming

If you’re wanting to be an early adopter to WiMAX then you may be wanting to take a look at the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with WiMAX that is coming via Clearwire on April 1 this year. The Mini 10 sports an Intel Atom N450 “Pineview” processor at 1.6 GHz along with a 250 GB hard drive and 1 GB of RAM. It also includes a Broadcom Crystal HD chip that is capable of playing back 1080p flash through Flash Player 10.3 beta and is also capable of playing 1080p .wmv files.

Other features of the netbook include a 10″ 1366 x 768 display, three USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, headphone + microphone jack and an SD card slot – no HDMI though. The Mini 10 is also slightly heavier and thicker than its competition coming in at 1.3 kg heavy and 3.3 cm thick at its thickest point. The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 with WiMAX will be available for US$249.99 after an instant rebate, and the WiMAX plan will of course set you back further.

Asus releases touchscreen swivel Eee PC T101MT

By Tim Schiesser February 15th, 2010

asus eee pc t101mt Asus releases touchscreen swivel Eee PC T101MT

The Asus Eee PC T101MT is the latest touchscreen addition into the Eee PC range – and it also packs a swivel display. The official word on this laptop is that it comes with a 10.1″ swivelling resistive multi-touch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1,024×600, an Atom N450, up to 2GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive, Windows 7, webcam and the usual netbook-style ports and a 6.5 hour max battery life.

As per usual, Asus has denied us info on a price or release time frame, but we also know that with the netbook purchase you get a free one year 500GB Asus WebStorage trial.

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Intel’s new AppUp Center impressions

By Tim Schiesser January 8th, 2010

intel appup home Intels new AppUp Center impressions

The latest thing to appear from Intel at CES 2010 is the AppUp Center: an app store designed specifically for netbooks with an Intel Atom processor on the inside. The AppUp Center, which is available now in its beta stages, will be bundled with new Atom netbooks from Asus, Acer and Samsung and also available for the public to download for either Windows or Linux. Intel has been working with over 3,000 developers to make this happen, so we decided to load it up and give it a try.

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acer aspire one ao532h Acer Aspire One AO532h also joins the Pine Trail bandwagon

Looks like we have another contender for the netbook Pine Trail competition. Acer’s Aspire One AO532h is nothing special, really: it has a fairly standard 10″ display in a fairly standard looking case. It packs the latest Intel Atom “Pineview” N450 processor at 1.6GHz, GMA 1350 graphics, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive – again, nothing particularly special apart from the Pineview CPU.

It does pack a 4,400 mAh six-cell battery that is stated to last for 10 hours without a recharge, which isn’t bad although we’re always skeptical of battery life claims. It will come loaded with Windows 7 Starter Edition for US$299, which is cheaper than the other two Pine Trail netbooks we’ve seen (the Asus Eee PC 1001P and 1005P/PE). You should be able to grab one in the coming weeks.

Asus Eee PC 1001P spotted with Pine Trail

By Tim Schiesser December 31st, 2009

eee pc 1001p Asus Eee PC 1001P spotted with Pine Trail

Another Pine Trail Eee PC has surfaced, this time on Amazon.de. Available now for pre-order at ~US$360 is the Asus Eee PC 1001P (what seems to be the little brother of the 1005P/PE) which packs the usual 10.1″ display in a clamshell body alongside a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive loaded up with Windows XP. Oh, and no dodgy bumpy trackpad! If you pre-order one now it will ship by January 6.

Asus Eee PC 1005P/PE seen with Atom N450

By Tim Schiesser December 19th, 2009

Eee PC w Pineview

Intel’s latest Atom upgrade to Pineview seems to be all ready to go with the latest Eee PC being revealed and containing the latest Pineview processor. The Eee PC 1005P and 1005PE both have sexy 10.1″ LED backlit displays, Intel Atom N450 processors, 1GB of RAM and GMA 3150 graphics (still not the best of GPUs). The PE carries a larger (250GB) hard drive and a battery that should last up to 12.5 hours.

Of course as these netbooks have yet to be announced, we don’t have a price or release date, however we expect that to be very soon. We do know, though, that the netbooks will pack Windows 7 Starter Edition, which isn’t the greatest of the Windows 7 distros but should suit you just fine. If you’re looking for a new, cheap and small laptop then the latest Eee PC with a Pineview processor should be a good purchase.

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool available now

By Tim Schiesser December 11th, 2009

win7netbook Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool available now

The Windows 7 installation isn’t suited to netbooks really: their lack of DVD drives makes it difficult to install and you had to go through a complicated process of making a bootable flash drive through partitioning and other software, copying the contents of your Windows 7 DVD onto it and booting into it to install. Quite a pain in the ass if you just want the latest Microsoft operating system on your netbook.

Lucky for you though, Microsoft has decided to officially release a simple tool that makes the process quite simple. The open-source Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool will do all the work converting your Windows 7 ISO into a bootable USB flash drive ready to install Windows 7. Grab the easy to use tool now from Microsoft’s CodePlex.

Eee PC 1201T goes Congo-based

By Tim Schiesser December 2nd, 2009

Asus Eee PC 1201T

The next generation Asus Eee PC has been shown off in an international event. The Eee PC 1201T is one of the first laptops to adopt the AMD Congo platform – the 1201T is going to be powered by the 1.6GHz AMD Neo MV40 and HD 3200 graphics for some netbook grunt comparable to the Intel ION platform. Other internals include 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a 6-cell battery.

All of these bits and bobs will fit inside the sleek looking Eee PC 1201T shell with a 12.1″ display at 1366×768, which unfortunately still carries the borderless trackpad with dimples that many people dislike. No word yet on pricing or availability, but we expect them to be announced soon. It will be interesting to see if 1080p playback really is possible as AMD said…

US$80 gets you the Menq EasyPC E790 with Windows CE

By Tim Schiesser November 16th, 2009

Menq EasyPC E790

Menq’s latest super-cheap netbook has hit the market – the EasyPC E790. The netbook is slow, but that is to be expected when you pay only US$80; the netbook packs a Samsung ARM 400/533MHz processor and 128MB of RAM, making most smartphones more powerful than it. It also packs 2GB of storage which can be expanded by an SD card, a 7-inch 800×600 display and WiFi.

The Menq EasyPC E790 comes with Windows CE 5.0 and is apparently powerful enough to play back DivX files and talk to friends over Skype (though not necessarily at the same time). Menq also has stated that Android will be coming to this netbook next month, however Android really isn’t the greatest for netbooks and Windows CE is probably the better choice, after all you probably want the most out of your $80 netbook.

No restrictions on Windows 7 netbooks

By Tim Schiesser September 29th, 2009

Windows 7 Logo

Microsoft has finally decided that OEMs and ODMs can install whatever version of Windows 7 they like on their netbooks, including Windows 7 Starter which won’t have the three applications restriction any more, as they removed it after consumer complaints. I expect that most OEMs will still install the cheaper Starter edition, even though it lacks some of the features of the other versions such as Aero Glass, Media Center and DVD playback.

However, if they feel that their “netbook” can handle some of the features of the other versions such as Home Premium or Business, they can install it. Or if you would like Ultimate on your underpowered netbook, feel free to install it (and have your system choke). Finally Microsoft has come to their senses.

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