Gateway LT1001g selling $688 at Megatex

The Gateway LT1001g is now available for $688 at the Megatex event at the Expo. This is also the same price as the Acer Aspire One, not surprising since they are effectively the same machine.

However, I did see the LT1001g at Funan yesterday, and it was selling at $688 too, so you don't have to trek all the way to the Expo. The LT1001g definitely looks more "business", with its black and grey design scheme. So if you're looking for an Aspire One equivalent, check you the Gateway edition, you might like it better.

LG X110 and MSI Wind U100 at Carrefour Singapore

Carrefour Singapore is carrying the MSI, LG, Asus and Lenovo netbooks.

The MSI Wind is going for S$748, with 1GB RAM and 6-cell battery.



The LG X110 is going for $799.



Although the LG is a re-modelled MSI Wind, I do like the look of the LG X110, the design lines is just that bit nicer than the MSI Wind.

Go check them out.

Samsung NC10 LCD 'blotches'

There has been many reports of 2 "blobs" on the screen which looks like pressure points. Sadly my NC10 has the problem too.

The "blobs" will show up best on a white background. The image below is one which i've "gamma"-down so that the spots are more obvious, to help you look in the right region of the screen.





NC10 users in the UK have brought them back to the retail stores they bought from to swap for new units. One person even checked 3 new sets with the same problem before walking out of the store with one without. This is clearly a manufacturing problem, and you should contact your local Samsung dealer to get it fixed.

As for me, since Singapore doesn't have Samsung coverage, I'll just have to make do, and avoid using white background. As of now, I'm blind to it.

Check out these sites:
http://www.google.com/search?q=nc10+blotches

Gold Lenovo S10 in Hong Kong

Given the numerous netbooks available in the Singapore market, I would have to say the Lenovo Ideapad S10 is probably one of my favourites. The S10 design i think, is appealing, simple but sophisticated - especially the black one.

Well, now Lenovo has decided to launch a special Gold edition, but sadly only in Hong Kong. It's not known whether this edition will land in Singapore. Let's hope it does.

Samsung NC10 battery usage

I did a simple experiment to test how long the NC10 6-cell battery lasts during a normal work day in the office.

I turned off all the power saving features like LCD dimming etc, set the brightness to 4/8 (mid-way), and connected to the office network via wifi. I used it for reading news on websites, watching about 3-4 youtube videos, some word processing and some downloads and installs of apps like adobe reader, java etc.

I took readings of the battery status every half-hour. Overall, non-stop usage got me around 5.5 hours on a full charge before the NC10 went into hibernation.



I guess I could have saved more battery power if I turned the LCD brightness to 3/8. One thing I noticed about the NC10 brightness, it's really very bright, even at setting of 2/8, it's still quite useable, if a bit on the dim side. For me setting at 3/8 is just right.

Also, I did plug my usb drive in at one point, which probably sucked a fair amount of battery power.

Gateway LT1001g debuts in Singapore

Having been absent for eight years, Gateway is making its comeback into Asia starting with Singapore by launching a sleuth of new notebooks. One of which is a 8.9" inch netbook called Gateway LT1001g.



However, in case you're wondering about what this new netbook has to offer, don't bother. Given that Gateway is owned by Acer, the LT1001g is just a rebadged of the popular Acer Aspire One, with some minor differences:

The LT1001g comes with a glossy black lid with silver Gateway logo, a softer feeling palm rest and comes equipped with an internal 3G mobile broadband capability.





Judging from the pictures, it looks like the LT1001g would probably appeal to the savvy business user with it's black and silver look. A good alternative to those who don't want to carry around a toy-like looking Acer Aspire One.

More information is available at http://sg.gateway.com/products/series/ltseries.html

Samsung NC10 Unboxing - Singapore

My first time doing a video unboxing. I can never get used to hearing my own voice. Gives me the creeps! Anyway, check it out!

My Samsung NC10 has landed in Singapore

After placing an order at Amazon US almost 2 weeks ago, my white Samsung NC10 has arrived in Singapore.

 

My first impression... this is a sweet machine. The build quality is excellent. The whole thing just feels solid in my hands. 

The white version is kind of semi gloss, almost like a pearl shine effect. Really classy. That said, I still prefer the black though, because as all things white, it will attract stains and grime, and eventually the white will become beige with age. 

The screen is really bright! I currently have it set on 3 bars out of 8, and it's already bright enough for anyone. Not only that, with the screen set at brightness 3, the battery status is reporting a whooping 8 hours for the stock 6 cell that came with the NC10. 

In my opinion, this is without doubt one of the better netbooks you can get at the moment. Sadly, its not on sale in Singapore, so if you want one be prepared to pay the premium to have it imported and owned without warranty support.

I'll follow up this post with another more detailed review soon. Watch out for it!

d.