The ever increasingly crowded netbook market

Looks like come Christmas, netbooks will be in virtually everyone's shopping list. Computer builders are scrambling over each other to grab a piece of the ever increasing pie that is the 'netbook' market.

Toshiba has announced its netbook, the NB100, and will be expecting to hit shelves in Europe come October. CNET Asia Crave expects the netbook to arrive in time for our year-end holiday season. I hope so. 

The other new entry comes from Samsung. According to Akibahara News, it's expected to hit Europe next month also, and is likely to go for US$690 price range. 

Both will be running on the Intel Atom processor so we can pretty much expect more of the same. In an market that's probably getting crowded, each manufacturer is coming up with new ways to distinguish their products from the competition. 

Samsung's NC10 is touted to come with durable casing ideal for the daily grind as well as an anti-bacterial keyboard. Toshiba, however, has opted to include its clever Sleep-and-Charge technology, which continues charging your plethora of USB gadgets even when the NB100 is in sleep mode.

At the end of the day, I believe it's value for money that's going to make the peeps part with their hard-earned cash.

Personally, I'm still stalling to get one. I'm still aiming for a 10" inch screen with a decent size keyboard, because I intend to replace my heavy T43, so I need something a bit more comfortable to work with on a daily basis. 

The MSI Wind is still very much in my radar, but with the Samsung coming in, it might be a 

close one to call. 

Intel annouces Dual-Core Atoms but...

Intel announced a few days ago that it has officially started to ship the new 45nm dual-core Intel® Atom™ Processor known as the Intel Atom Processor 330. BUT, the new chip is designed specifically for 'nettops' and not 'netbooks'.

Even though that's the official Intel position, there's nothing stopping computer makers from incorporating these chips into a netbook form factor. Whatever is the case, I am sure we will start seeing Dual-Core Atom devices popping up pretty soon.

The dual-core Intel® Atom™ Processor 330 features a 1.6GHz processing core, 1MB of level 2 cache, an 8W TDP and support for DDR2 667.

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/chipshots/chipshots.htm?cid=rss-90004-c1-213105#091908a

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 unboxing video

Well, it seems the last few days, unboxing of the Dell Mini 9 has started to appear over the web. I guess folks who have ordered the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 are getting their first taste of this new netbook entry by Dell.

This is a great unboxing video by Gavin. Check it out: http://gadgetspot.co.uk/2008/09/12/dell-mini-9-netbook-unboxing

From what I can see from the video, what I like most is the power brick which is built into the plug, instead of a separate brick. Makes it more compact. Not sure about the glossy screen though, you can see the camera reflected in the screen.

Ideapad S10 - Too hot to handle!

Even though the Lenovo Ideapad S10 is stylish, cool it is not. In fact, it's literally too hot to handle! Blogeee.net reported that the keyboard itself gets pretty warm, around 40°C which is quite hot, imagine underneath.



Well at least if you plan to visit Alaska, this netbook might just be for you to keep those fingers warm! But here in sunny Singapore, it's another story.

Lenovo Ideapad S10 video from IDF

Notebook.com got a chance to walkthrough a Lenovo Ideapad S10. Check out the video:



As I read more about the Ideapad S10, this is definitely one of the best looking netbooks. It looks stylish and cool, a real chick magnet. I would get one immediately if I wasn't a bit hesitant about...

1. The 1.5GB RAM limit doesn't sit well with me since the MSI Wind's can be upgraded to 2GB RAM, why settle for 1.5GB?
2. The 2 USB slot is a bit limiting for me. I would probably need 1 slot for the mouse, 1 slot for my external HDD and 1 slot for the mobile broadband dongle.

It would also have been nice if Lenovo had put their trackpoint in. I know the guy explain this is the Ideapad range, but for me, Lenovo = trackpoint.

Rumor of MSI to sell upgraded model from September

There's a forum post at msiwind.net forum claiming that MSI will be releasing a 'beef-ed' up Wind U110 with 120GB HDD and 6 cell battery come September.

With the constantly falling cost for HDDs, I guess it's entirely possible that MSI would include in a larger HDD without affecting the cost of producing the Wind. It could also be a marketing move to counter the launch of Lenovo's IdeaPad S10.

If it turns out to be true, I guess, there's something to be said about competition.

Video of the new IdeaPad S9 from notebooks.com

I have to say, I'm startin to like the Lenovo IdeaPad S9/S10 more and more. It's starting to look like a pretty decent netbook. I know this might just be marketing brainwashing, but still...

You can clearly see from the video, when the reviewer closed the cover and flipped it around, that the S9/S10 is likely to be a fingerprint magnet with that shiny cover.

Check out this video from notebooks.com



Source: http://www.notebooks.com/2008/08/06/video-ideapad-s10-hands-on/

ST Digital Life's coverage of the mini laptops

ST Digital Life has a feature today on why ultra-mobile PCs are hot in Singapore.

According to market research firm GfK, sales of the mini notebooks went up almost 10-fold in the first half of this year, compared to the last six months of 2007.

'It's another option for vendors and retailers because it hits a price point that is very low,' said Gerard Tan, commercial director of IT for GfK Asia.

Many customers were parents buying for their children, and also geeks buying them for fun. There are even those who buy them as gifts, something that wasn't common before given the price of notebooks.

I wish someone would buy me one for a gift.

Check out the articles here:
Going big on mini laptops
See the light
Wind of change

There's a simple comparison table too. Click to view.

Lenovo IdeaPad S10 Pictures from Taiwan

CNET Taiwan published a set of absolutely gorgeous pictures of the upcoming Lenovo IdeaPad S10.



Unfortunately, you can clearly see that the right shift key is positioned like the Asus Eee PC, next the Up key, which is not a very popular configuration. It's easily prone to mistyping as you might hit the Up key accidentally.

Apart from that, this netbook is looking set to be a best seller (provided it performs to spec, of course).

MSI Wind at Carrefour

MSI Wind, 3-cell black version is now on sale at Carrefour.