Jetway Zero Mini-100 netbook gets video hands-on

Taiwanese manufacturer Jetway, who is more known for making motherboards and graphics cards, has announced its second entry into the netbook market with the Zero Mini-100. Whilst the specifications are pretty average, it has a few features that set it apart.

It is one of the first models that we’ve seen to include a sim-card slot in amongst the rest of the ports. This means that you can hot-swap sim-cards in and out for 3G access, no more fiddling behind the battery! It also has a couple of physical buttons on the keyboard, one which locks the touchpad and the other that enables “3D Audio”. I imagine this is something similar to SRS audio, but hopefully we’ll hear more on this soon.

Apart from that, you’ll find a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU and 945GSE chipset. It also includes 1GB RAM, a 160GB HDD, a multi-card reader, a 1.3MP webcam and three USB ports. Connectivity is taken care of by Wi-Fi (b/g) and Bluetooth 2.0. The bottom has a big access panel with very easy access to both the HDD and RAM.

It will have 3-cell and 6-cell battery options which should last for 3 and 6 hours respectively. With the 3-cell battery pack, the whole thing will weigh 1.3kg. The unit is also reasonably slim at just 27mm thick (Dimensions: 255 (W) x 191.2 (D) x 27 (H) mm). The Zero Mini-100 comes in four different colours (Matt Sapphire Gray, White with UV, Black with UV, Diamond Red) and should be out in the second half of the year. NetbookNews went hands-on with the device at Computex, check out their video impressions below.

Jetway Mini-100 Technical Specifications:

• Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.6 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 512 KB L2 Cache)
  Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset (DDR2 533 MHz) Mobile Intel® 82801GBM Chipset Integrated 3D graphics engine based on Intel® GMA 950 architecture
• 1 GB DDR2 533 MHz (two SODIMM slots for expandable up to 2 GB)
• 10.1″ with 1024x 600 (WSVGA) pixel resolution LED backlit TFT LCD
• Two built-in stereo speakers (1 watt x 2)
  　 High Definition Audio support
  　 3D Audio effect button with LED through earphone output
  　 Built-in digital microphone
• 2.5″ 160 GB SATA hard disk drive
• Integrated 1.3 megapixel resolution webcam
• I/O Ports External display (VGA) port
  　 Three USB 2.0 ports
  　 Headphone/speaker/line-out jack
  　 Microphone-in jack
  　 Ethernet (RJ-45) port
  　 Card Reader (MMC/MiniSD/SD/RSMMC/MS/MSPro/MSDuo )
  　 DC-in jack for AC Adapter
• Wireless LAN: 802.11b/g WiFi network connection
  　 LAN: 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet
  　 WWAN: UMTS/HSPA 3G (option)
  　 Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (option)
• Keyboard and controls 84-key keyboard
  　 Enhanced Aluminium keyboard supporting structure for sturdy keystroke
  　 Touchpad pointing device with two buttons
  　 Touchpad lock button with LED
• Power 16V / 40 W adapter with power cord
  　 2200 mAh 3-cell Li-ion battery pack (up to 2～3 hour life)
  　 4400 mAh 6-cell Li-ion battery pack (up to 5～6 hour life) (option)
• Dimension 255 (W) x 191.2 (D) x 27 (H) mm
• Weight 1.3 kg with 3-cell battery pack
• Colour Choices Matt Sapphire Gray, White with UV, Black with UV, Diamond Red