Asus Eee PC 1215N with Dual-Core and ION

If you're like me, one of the early adopters of the netbook and still languishing with a N2xx series Atoms, the time has come to upgrade to dual-core netbooks with HD capable hardware.

Asus has introduced new Eee PC 1215N netbook with dual-core Intel Atom D525 1.8Ghz processor and Nvidia ION. Like the other 12xx series, the 1215N has a 12.1-inch HD ready display supporting 1366x768, and takes up to 2GB of RAM and up to 320GB of HDD.

Graphics-wise, it comes with the next generation Nvidia ION processor along with Nvidia Optimus technology. This technology automatically switches between integrated graphics and discrete graphics as per the requirement with due care taken for power consumption as well. Support for HD includes an HDMI out for connecting it to external HD displays enabling full 1080p HD playback.

What comes as a surprise is the inclusion of Bluetooth 3.0 and USB 3.0 support for better connectivity, along with the obligatory built-in Wi-Fi and webcam. Appearance wise, the 1215N is not much different from its cousin, the 1201. Check out the video review below.

No word yet on the pricing and availability of this netbook but it would probably be higher compared to current models.

AMD-powered dual-core Acer Aspire 1551 hits the shelves

If you've been wishing for a laptop with netbook form factor but without the limp of Atom processors, the latest Acer Aspire 1551 might just be the one for you.

The Aspire 1551 is endowed with not Atoms, but AMD's Athlon II Neo processors, inside a petite form with an 11.6" LED-backlit display and crammed with up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 320GB hard drive, 802.11n WiFi, HDMI-out and a six-cell, five-hour battery. All this into a package that weight around 1.3Kg.

Two models will be made available. The pricier model (~US$550) will have a 1.5Ghz AMD Turion Neo K625 dual core processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, while the cheaper one (~US$480) will have a 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K325 CPU, 3GB of memory, and a 250GB hard drive.

Libretto W100 coming to Singapore

Toshiba will be selling the Libretto W100 in Singapore soon. What's so special about the Libretto W100? It's probably the world's first dual-touchscreen tablet. Although the concept is not new, the Libretto W100 would be the first such machine to actually hit retail shelves.

What's immediately apparent when you first look at the W100 are the 2 1,024x600 pixels 7" multi-touch LED-backlit displays. It doesn't have a keyboard and instead flashes a virtual keyboard on one of the displays.

It runs on Intel Pentium U5400 1.20Ghz processor, has 2GB of memory, 62GB of solid-state storage, and comes with WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. It only weights 0.81Kg which is pretty light, it packs a 1-megapixel front-facing webcam and has a built-in accelerometer that automatically switches from book mode to laptop mode.

The Libretto will be selling for S$1,999 which is a pretty steep price tag, and will come in various metallic colours. The low battery life (2 hours with four-cell battery, double that for the eight-cell pack) probably won't help sales either, and will make this appealing only to early adopters.

Check out the video demo below.

New Samsung N230 touts 13+ hours of battery life

Samsung's N230 will last 13+ hours of usage, so they claim in a new announcement. The netbook will offer seven hours of battery life, but if you're on a plane or simply can't be bothered to charge the machine then this can be extended to 13.8 hours with a 66Wh battery.

The N230 sports a premium black finish, weighs below 1kg and measures 23.2mm slim. Designed for consumers who want portability, the 10.1-inch N230 offers sufficient computing power to do their daily tasks.

It's powered by either an Intel 1.66GHz N450 or a 1.83GHz N470 Atom processor, has 1GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, WiFi with wireless N and built-in 3G. Throw in Bluetooth 3.0 and the system offers plenty of connectivity.

Samsung has announced that its N230 netbook will be available worldwide with a starting price of $399.

Source: Korea Newswire

Rugged HP Mini 100e netbook for school kids

HP is preparing for the US back to school season and has offered up a new netbook for students called the HP Mini 100e Education Edition. This is the first product aimed at students between kindergarten and 6th grade, with a low price of US$300.

The HP Mini is a Pine Trail machine, with 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB RAM, 10.1-inch 1,024 x 600-pixel display and 160GB HDD. There's also a VGA webcam, and the laptop comes with a choice of a 3 cell, 4.5 hour battery or a 6 cell, 8.5 hour battery which also sits flush with the base of the unit.

Its made with a strong plastic chassis held together with steel pins, metal-alloy hinges that should hold up well to repeated use, a 92% spill-resistant keyboard and a carry handle. The handle is non-user removable, because HP wanted as few removable parts as possible to keep children from messing with the netbook.

It includes an intergrated modem for use in developing or remote areas where broadband might not be available, and it has an LED on the back of the lid so that teachers can see when there's network activity.

The 100e comes with productivity, education, and security software preinstalled from Microsoft with Office 2010, Microsoft Math, and Microsoft Security Essentials.

The HP Mini 100e is not available at the retail level and is sold through B2B channels wordlwide at this time. It's expected to go on sale globally the first week in July.

Toshiba’s AC100 Tegra netbook runs on Android 2.1

Toshiba UK has just announced their first netbook running on Android. Dubbed the Toshiba AC100, it's running Android 2.1, has 512MB of DDR2 RAM, 8GB of NAND flash memory with more optional space coming from the SD/MMC card reader. It also includes a 1.3MP webcam built in with an accompanying microphone for video conferencing needs.

Other specs include a nice NVIDIA Tegra 250 chip packing an ARM-based 1GHz processor, a 10.1-inch TruBrite display with LED backlights and a resolution of 1,024×600. It includes USB and MiniUSB ports, an HDMI Port, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, WiFi, and optional 3G radios.

The battery is touted to operate for 8 hours (with 7 days of standby life) which is expected on an Android-powered netbook that naturally has better battery technology.

There are a few other interesting points about this netbook. There's no touchscreen display which is usually a norm for Android devices, and while it's running Android 2.1, it's using the Opera Mobile web browser instead of the default Android browser. The machine also comes with Documents To Go and Fring preloaded for office, chat, and VoIP functionality.

As with most Android devices, you may be able to plug in USB mouse, keyboard or external storage, but you probably don't have any luck plugging in a printer or digital camera.

The device should hit UK shelves this August but pricing has yet to be announced.

Intel's new Atom N550 is fast!

One of the more exciting news from the recent Computex show was Intel's announcement of a dual-core Atom processor for the netbook.

For the past years, Atom chips for netbooks have little or no preceptible difference in performance, and it looks like this is about to change with the new dual-core Atom N550 processor.



According to benchmarks done by folks from Notebook Italia, who managed to to spend a few minutes with a pre-release Asus netbook with an Atom N550 chip recently, the N550 is excellent in performing tasks that can take advantage of the chips multithreading capabilities.

The benchmark was conducted using the file compression app 7Zip's built-in benchmarking utility, and the results shows that the N550 was twice as fast as a 1.66 Intel Atom N450 processor, and a little faster than the current crop of dual-core Atom chips - the Atom 330 and D510.

It is also much faster than the Intel Core 2 Solo SU3300 processor, which is a chip that doesn't support hyperthreading.

We do have to take note that this is just one benchmark, but it does show that the Atom N550 will likely take the lead when it comes to running multiple applications simultaneously or running apps that are designed to take advantage of multiple threading capabilities.

Intel has shown with the Atom N550 that its finally able to provide improvements in performance of the Atom chip without compromising its excellent energy efficiency.

Source: TEST OF DUAL-CORE ATOM PROCESSOR N550

12.1-inch Asus Eee PC coming with AMD Geode chip

Asus has just announced a new Eee PC that breaks from the Atom crowd and gets in bed with a processor from the AMD Geode family.

The Asus Eee PC 1201K will have a 12.1" display and will use the AMD Geode NX 1750 processor. The Geode range of chips is primarily designed for use with media players, traffic lights and other embedded systems, which makes this a very surprising move.

Compared with the Atom N450, the Geode NX 1750 really doesn't look very impressive. It is clocked at 1.4Ghz instead of the typical 1.6Ghz we are all used to, and has a tiny 256K of Level 2 caches which is half as much as the Atom chip.

I won't expect any breakthrough performance by the 1201K which is a bit of a shame given that it comes with a 12.1" 1366x768-pixel display which literally screams multi-tasking, high-def video playback and large-format image editing. All of which could benefit form a much quicker processor.

As yet, there's no news of when the 1201K will be released or what it'll cost. I expect it will be priced much lower than the Atom range to offset the poorer performance capability.

Toshiba NB250 comes with DDR3 RAM and WiMAX radio

Toshiba announced it is updating its Dynabook line of notebooks in Japan, with new models ranging in size from a 10.1 inch netbook to 16 inch notebooks.

The 10.1" screen Dynabook UX/24 will use Intel's Atom N455 processor along with 1 or 2GB of DDR3 RAM and a 250GB Hard disk drive, and will include a WiMAX module too, says the company. Outside Japan, the UX/24 will be known as the NB250.

Other than the change in processor and RAM, Toshiba has left the netbook styling and features pretty much the same as previous models. Carried over, also, are the other typical netbook features such as three USB 2.0 ports, a webcam, a VGA output, a microphone input and headphone output, and a 10/100 Ethernet port. It will be available in white, brown, blue or black.

Also retained is the shiny keyboard with a chiclet design similar to its previous NB305.

The Dynabook UX/24 will be available later this month with Windows 7 Starter Edition. Pricing was not specified.

Replace JooJoo Linux with Windows 7

Back in July 2008, a US$200 Web-connected slate running on a Linux-based, touch-optimized interface was unveiled as the CrunchPad. Fast forward 1.5 years and a lawsuit later, and CrunchPad has morphed into the US$499 JooJoo tablet.

The finished product, unfortunately released after the Apple iPad hit the market, is a bit underwhelming. For the same price as the iPad, there's a feeling that we're getting something a bit less.

But it seems the a few modders at the JooJoo Forums have found a way to dump the OS and replaced it with Windows 7 and somehow turn the JooJoo into a much better tablet.



With a 12.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor, NVIDIA ION graphics, 1GB of RAM, and a 4GB solid state disk, the JooJoo is essentially a netbook without a keyboard.

Source: Modder installs Windows 7 onto JooJoo tablet, gets touch working (video)