Philippine computer company Red Fox is launching an update to its line of Wizbook netbooks. And while the name conjures up pictures of waterfalls, flowing streams, and OK, urinals, there’s one reason to pay very close attention to this netbook. Maybe. According to the press release, it features Bluetooth 3.0, which would make it the first netbook I’m aware of to support the latest Bluetooth standard. On the other hand, the same press release says that Bluetooth 3.0 can handle transfer speeds up to 480 Mbits/second, while the official Bluetooth wep page says that speeds top out at 24Mbps. So I’m going to take this claim with a grain of salt.

The rest of the specs for the Wizbook N1021i look pretty standard. The Wizbook N1020i features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and 10.2 inch display and runs Windows XP Home. It includes 802.11b/g WiFi, a webcam, flash card reader, and a 4600mAh battery and weighs about 2.6 pounds. According to the press release, there’s also an ExpressCard/34 slot, but I’m going to take that with another grain of salt until I actually see a picture of this netbok showing the ExpressCard slot.

via Electronic Pulp

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Not only does the Kohjinsha SK3 7 inch UMPC with a full keyboard fit perfectly into an old fashioned day planner-style case, but Kohjinsha actually ships one with the computer. Chippy at UMPC Portal has posted a few pictures of the touchscreen convertible netbook as well as an unboxing video, which you can find after the break.

It’s an interesting concept, since you aren’t always going to want to power up your netbook to jot down an appointment or a quick note. So why not bundle the netbook with a pad of paper? It’s old school meets new. Of course, a good calendar and notes application combined with an instant-on operating system like Google Android would probably eliminate the need for pen and paper altogether.

The Kohjinsha SK3 has a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 60GB hard drive, a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a 3MPc camera. It weighs just 1.6 pounds and sells for about $730 in Japan.

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You could make the case that the Sony Vaio P is really just a glorified and overpriced netbook. But it does have some premium features like a 1600 x 768 pixel display and pretty solid build quality. The Gemsta Viva doesn’t have either of those things, but it certainly looks a lot like a Vaio P thanks to its ridiculously small touchpad which makes the case barely larger than the keyboard.

This cheap Chinese knockoff will be available for the equivalent of about $293 and features an Intel Atom Zxx series processor, 1GB of RAM, a solid state disk between 16Gb and 64GB, and a rather standard 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display.  It also has 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 3G wireless module. There’s only room for 2 USB ports, but the Gemsta Viva does make room for an SD card slot, VGA and Ethernet ports, and a 4 hour battery.

via Engadget

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I recently reviewed the Asus Eee PC 1005HA, and one of my only real complaints is that the netbook has a glossy, reflective display. This can be a problem if you’re outdoors or in a brightly lit area where the screen turns into a bit of a mirror. But as it turns out, there are three versions of the 1005HA. Two have glossy screens, while one has a matte display. Unfortunately, the Eee PC 1005HA-M with a matte display isn’t currently available in the US. But it is shipping in Europe, and French site Blogeee recently snapped a few photos of the matte-screen version of this netbook.

There are some trade-0ffs. The model I reviewed, which is the Eee PC 1005HA-H comes with a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU and a 6 cell battery that Asus rates as a 10 hour battery. The Eee PC 1005HA-M has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and a 6 cell, 8 hour battery.

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The Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 has a larger keyboard, wider touchpad, and longer lasting battery than Lenovo’s first netbook, the IdeaPad S10. But Laptop Magazine still doesn’t like the new netbook as much as its predecessor. And while you can read a the complete detailed review for more information, here are the two main reasons:

1. Similar netbooks with 6-cell batteries get longer battery life.
2. It’s ugly.

That second point is the actual killer though, according to the review. Because to be perfectly honest, the S10-2 scores pretty high on most of Laptop Magazine’s tests. And while the 5 hours, 52 minutes of recorded battery life doesn’t hold a candle to the 8 or more hours you can get from a Toshiba NB205 or Asus Eee PC 1005HA, it’s still not bad for a $399 laptop.

So I guess you have to ask yourself… do you think the IdeaPad S10-2 is ugly? You can also find more photos at the Netbook Philippines forums, where a member posted a series of unboxing images.

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TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington has been working on a tablet PC called the CrunchPad for the last few months. The idea was originally to create a touchscreen device that’s basically a portable web browser that offers a better web experience than you get from smartphones like the iPhone. With so many applications like email, news readers, and even image editors now available online, the idea was that there wasn’t much need for large hard drives or other old-school PC components.

Whether you think it makes any sense to release a product that will sell for the same price as a netbook but which will have a larger display and no keyboard, it looks like it’ll be available pretty soon. The San Francisco Business Times reports that Arrington has incorporated a new 14-person company called CrunchPad Inc to work on the product, which will be produced in China.

According to the article, Arrington is spending about three quarters of his time these days working on the CrunchPad. He also happens to have a 21 person team of full time employees working on his network of technology blogs.

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Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang has publicly spelled out the pricing for the company’s ION platform. Here’s the skinny: The GeForce 9400M processor that NVIDIA bundles with an Intel Atom CPU in ION-powered netbooks and nettops costs about $30 to $35. While that might sound like a lot, it means that the total cost for the ION platform can be 3 times higher than a basic Intel Atom chipset.

That’s because Intel charges about $45 to computer makers that just want the Atom CPU. If you also take the Intel 945GSE chipset with integrated GMA950 graphics, you pay just $25. So computer makers essentially have a choice of spending $25 to put an Atom CPU and chipset in a computer, or about $75 to use the ION platform. That cost will most likely be passed along to consumers, but amid the netbook price wars, some computer makers might be reluctant to include any components that will drive up the price of their netbooks, even if it does boost graphics and video performance as well.

via Netbook Choice and Xbit Labs

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PC Pitstop offers online diagnostic tools for finding problems with your PC and tuning it up. In other words, they come in contact with a lot of PC users. This week the company published the results of a survey asking netbook user about their satisfaction with their little laptops. The results? Overall, it looks like a lot people are pretty happy with their netbooks. The top 9 machines had user ratings of 3 or more stars out of 4.

The MSI Wind U100, Asus Eee PC 1000HE, Samsung NC10, Asus Eee PC 1000H, and Acer Aspire One snagged the top 5 spots. And fewer than 17% of the people owning each of those netbooks complain that their systems are slow. Less than 6% complained about their computers freezing.

Of course, an Intel Atom based computer is going to be slower than a lot of laptops out there. But the point is that these netbooks are fast enough for most of the tasks users expect them to run, and customer satisfaction seems to be pretty high.

via Technologizer

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It’s been less than 2 years since Asus introduced the first Eee PC netbook. And boy has the company been busy ever since. I mean, I knew Asus had released a ton of netbooks including a few major new models and a ton of minor variations on earlier models, nothing says brand dilution like a chart showing 27 different Eee PC models released since November, 2007. Of course, Asus probably didn’t whip this chart up to confuse you, but rather to make it easier to spot the differences between the many models, but whoa nelly!

The sad thing is… this chart doesn’t’ actually include very model that Asus has released or demonstrated. For instance, I don’t’ see the Eee PC 1002HAE, Eee PC 1004DN, or Eee PC T101H, although to be fair, I haven’t heard anything about the T101H since January. It’s possible that Asus has decided not to release the 10 inch version of the Eee PC T91 after all.

via UMPC Portal

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Netbooks

• HP Mini 110 Atom 1.6GHz 10″ Widescreen Netbook w/ XP for $300 + free shipping – Office Depot
• Refurbished HP Mini 1115NR Netbook w/1.6GHz Atom, 8.9″ display for $259 + free shipping – Buy.com
• Refurbished ASUS Eee PC 900 Celeron w/16GB SSD, Windows XP for $190 + free shipping – Mwave
• Refurbished ASUS Eee PC 900 Celeron w/4GB SSD, Linux for $165 + free shipping – Mwave
• Acer Aspire One D250 w/Atom 1.6GHz, 10″ display, 3 cell battery for $240 + free shipping – Staples
• Acer spire One A150 w/Atom 1.6GHz, 8.9″ display, 6 cell battery for $279 + free shipping – BuyDig (via Little Laptop Deals)

Accesories

• PC Micro Store coupon: 35% off netbook cases and accessories – PC Micro
• LG Slim 8x Dual Layer External USB2 DVD Burner for $49 after rebate + free shipping – ZipZoomfly
• Kingston 16GB Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Card – Class 4 – for $31.95 – Buy.com
• Toshiba 320GB USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive w/ NTI Shadow 4 Back-up Software for $69.99 – Buy.com

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.

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Dell began offering Inspiron Mini 10 customers a chance to configure their netbooks with internal TV tuners a while back. There’s just one problem: the tuner is useless without an external TV antenna, and apparently anyone who received a netbook with TV tuner before June 24th didn’t get an antenna.

According to some folks at the MyDellMini forums, it looks like Dell has finally realized its mistake and future customers should be all set. If you’re on of the people who bought the netbook without a tuner, you might want to contact customer support though, as it looks like the company is sending out antennae to some existing customers. At least one person reports that Dell promised to send him a USB TV tuner which will include an antenna he can use… thus leaving him with two TV tuners for the price of one.

via Portable Monkey

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The HP Mini 1000 and HP Mini 110 may look a lot alike at first glance. But the newer Mini 110 is a bit thicker and heavier than the Mini 1000.And if you don’t beleive me, you can check out a series of photos posted by JMacalinao over at the MyHPMini forums comparing the two. It’s worth pointing out that the HP Mini 110 in these photos has a bulky 6 cell battery while the HP Mini 1000 has a 3 cell battery that sits flush with the netbook.

And while the extra size means there’s room for a full sized VGA port and a faster, 5400rpm hard drive instead of the 1.8 inch, 4200rpm hard drive in the HP Mini 1000, you can still snag the older netbook from some retailers while supplies last if size is more important to you than performance.

And while we’re comparing thin netbooks with their thicker siblings, Eee PC.de has posted a series of images showing just how much bulkier the Asus Eee PC 1005HA is than the super-slim Eee PC 1008HA. Some users will find the tradeoff worthwhile, since the 1005HA gets over 8 hours of battery life, while the 1008HA tops out at around 5 or 6 hours. Both of these models are currently in production (which is more than I can say about the HP Mini 1000).

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Always Innovating’s Touch Book is scheduled to begin shipping this month. This little computer is a combo netbook/tablet. But instead of folding the touchscreen display down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode as you would with most tablet computers, you can actually remove the screen from the keyboard and use it as a standalone device. Heck, you can even save $100 and purchase the display for $299 without the keyboard at all.

The device was first introduced at the DEMO conference a few months ago, where it made a bit of a splash. But for some reason nobody ever brought the DEMO demo video to my attention… until today. UMPC Portal tracked down a video of the presentation Always Innovating Made, showing that the Touch Book has a touch-friendly Linux-based OS, an accelerometer to adjust the screen when you rotate the machine, and 3D acceleration.

A few other things I learned:

• The Touch Book is designed to run for 10 to 15 hours on a battery charge
• The case is magnetic and, at least in theory, you should be able to stick it on your fridge
• It’s fanless

The prototype was running the Fennec web browser, which is an early build of a mobile version of Firefox. But I wouldn’t be surprised if the final build ran a full version of Firefox. I already knew that the Touch Book featured a few internal USB ports. What I didn’t realize until I saw this video is just how much room there is on the inside of the case. You can literally take a USB flash drive, 3G adapter, or other dongle and just stick it into an internal port if you don’t expect to unplug it very often.

You can check out the demo video after the break.

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Emtec is planning to launch a tiny desktop computer powered by NVIDIA’s ION platform which bundles an Intel Atom processor with NVIDIA graphics. Emtec is the company behind the innovative (if a bit behind schedule) Gdium netbook with a Loongson CPU, Mandriva Linux, and a removable USB flash drive that functions as the computer’s main storage device.

The upcoming “G Box” nettop, spotted at a recent event by Pocket Lint, looks a bit more standard.It will have a 160GB hard drive, and run Windows XP, which probably means it will have 1GB of RAM. It has 6 USB ports, 4 on the back and 2 on th efront, an Ethernet adapter, mic and headphone jacks, and an Ethernet port. There’s no word on integrated WiFi, but that does seem to be all the rage on nettops these days, so I wouldn’t be surprised if his computer had 802.11b/g capabilities at the very least.

The netbook will sell for about £179 or $293 US. This model won’t have HDMI, but Pocket Lint reports that a pricier, HDMI-enabled version will be available as well.

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The surge in popularity of netbooks has led computer makers to change the way they think about PCs. A few years ago, you’d pay a premium for thin and light laptops, while larger and heavier machines inevitably cost more. Today, we’re starting to see companies put out thin, light, and cheap machines. Of course, like netbooks, these low cost thin and light computers tend to have relatively slow processors and other cheap components including cheap plastic cases.

According to a CNET article, analysts are starting to notice something rather surprising obvious: These cheap computers aren’t as durable as pricier models. But you know what? They weren’t meant to be. If you purchased a $400 laptop under the impression that it was just as good as a $1200 machine you either made a big mistake or had a really inept salesperson.

That said, there’s cheap and then there’s cheap. CNET quotes an analyst who says that the plastic cases on some of these cheap notebooks are cracking. In order to build a sturdier thin and light machine, PC makers are going to want to use metal cases — which would drive up the price.

It’s not clear from the article if the cracking is a widespread problem; if there’s a way to deal with it without using metal cases; or if the cracks occur on their own or only after users, say, drop the laptops on concrete. So I’m going to reserve judgment about the severity of the problem for now. But in general, you get what you pay for. If you want a powerful, portable, and problem-free machine, you’ll wind up paying a premium price.

via Gizmodo

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