Dell Mini 10 TV Tuner blunder
June 25, 2009 at 6:35 pm
It looks like Dell has messed up the TV Tuner integration into Dell Mini 10 netbooks according to reports from the MyDellMini forums. The option for an internal TV tuner costs $50 and only recently went on sale. However, the first owners to receive their TV-equipped Mini 10’s are not a happy bunch.
Users are reporting about not being able to receive any channels from the internal antenna. Frustrated users are reporting that Dell support has so far not been able to give any useful response as to when this issue will be sorted.
Whilst an external antenna would make a difference, Dell didn’t include one in the box. This is despite showing off the antenna at a recent press event as pictured above. To be fair to Dell, the TV Tuner listing on the website never suggested that an external antenna would be included in the package. However, Dell should at least be offering an upgrade to purchase this part if needed.
Update: Dell has rectified this mistake and has now sent out an email to say that they will be sending an external TV antenna along with the necessary adaptor accessories. These are expected to start shipping within the next week. Future customers should receive this external antenna as standard.
Via Portable Monkey.
Nvidia-branded Tegra smartbook to launch by year-end
June 25, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Nvidia will launch its own Tegra-powered smartbook by the end of the year according to Pocket Lint. Whilst details are scant, the model is expected to launch around “Black Friday” and cost around the $200 mark. Black Friday is normally one of the busiest shopping periods of the year and is the time that Americans start their Christmas shopping.
The technical specifications have yet to be finalised. Nvidia is expecting mobile phone operators to offer the smartbook on a two-year contract for no upfront cost. This particular device is likely to be just one of a number of smartbooks to launch by the time the year is out.
Update: Nvidia has denied plans to sell its own branded smartbooks according to Wired.
Always Innovating’s Touch Book shipping in July
June 25, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Always Innovating’s unique Touch Book tablet has moved beyond the concept stage and has finally entered production. The 8.9-inch tablet has a sliding keyboard dock so that it can be used in a more traditional netbook form-factor. The company has also shown off photos of the very first unit.
The Touch Book is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP3530 processor, 512MB RAM and 8GB flash storage. It also includes Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth and two external USB ports. As it is using a power efficient ARM processor, battery life is expected to last 10-15 hours.
The first shipment is expected to arrive in July 2009. Pre-orders for the Touch Book tablet cost $299, if you want the keyboard docking device then that will set you back another $100. For those in the UK and Europe that are interested in the device, Always Innovating is now accepting international orders following huge demand. However, just so that you’re aware, you’ll be stuck with a US keyboard and US plug.
Via Engadget.
Lenovo’s non-ION Ideapad S12 netbook now shipping
June 24, 2009 at 11:45 pm
The Lenovo Ideapad S12 is now available directly from the Lenovo Store for $499.00. Before some of you get too excited, this is the Intel Atom version, rather than the ION SKU that has been creating all the waves. Disappointingly, it looks like Lenovo has upped the price from the initial announcement. The Atom SKU was meant to be $449, whilst the ION version was going to cost $50 more. This is likely to mean that the ION SKU will cost $549 when it gets released in August/September.
The Lenovo IdeaPad S12 sports a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display and is powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU plus 945GSE chipset and GSM950 graphics. It comes with 1GB RAM and various HDD options (160/250/320GB). Other features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, card reader, ExpressCard slot, 6-cell battery and VGA out. The ION version will also come with a HDMI out. The Lenovo Store says that the S12 should ship in four weeks.
Via Engadget.
Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry OLPC OS available to download
June 24, 2009 at 6:12 pm
The Sugar operating system was originally developed for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project and was first found on the XO-1 netbook. The operating system was created to engage young children with a simple user interface and to help develop their IT skills.
Sugar Labs has now announced that this operating system is now available to download straight to your netbook, whether it runs Windows, Linux or even a Hackintosh Mac. They’ve called this download ‘Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry’ and full instructions on how to download this on a 1GB USB flash drive can be found here.
“Sugar is preferred because it is a superior learning experience for young children: engaging while being affordable,” said Walter Bender, founder and executive director. “Sugar on a Stick is a great way to try Sugar without touching your computer’s hard disk. It is also well suited to slower, older PCs and low-powered netbooks.”
Via Tech Radar.
Toshiba NB205 netbook now shipping in US
June 24, 2009 at 5:15 pm
On the back of receiving a very positive review from Laptop Mag, the 10.1-inch Toshiba NB205 has now started to ship in the United States. It is listed on the Toshiba Direct site with prices starting from $349 and includes free shipping. The basic specs include a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM (2GB max), 160GB HDD and Wi-Fi (b/g).
The more expensive models ($399) come with a glossy lid, chiclet keyboard and Bluetooth V2.1 + EDR. All models come with a 6-cell battery rated at 5800mAh that Toshiba claim should last for 9 hours. It comes in a number of colours including Brown, Black, Blue and White. It also available to pre-order from Amazon
Via Portable Monkey.
Sandisk unleashes world’s fastest 32GB SDHC card
June 24, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Sandisk has announced what it believes is the fastest SDHC memory card available on the planet. The 32GB SanDisk Extreme SDHC card has read and write speeds up to 30MB/s and falls under the newly announced Class 10 specification, which exceeds the requirement for high definition video recording. The card has the capacity to store 160 minutes of full HD 1920×1080 pixels at a 24Mb/s data transfer rate.
For those netbook users who only have limited storage options and crave super-speeds, than this may be ideal. However, it’s unlikely to be cheap, with the price currently undisclosed. The SanDisk Extreme SDHC 32GB will start shipping in August. At the same time, all current SanDisk Extreme SDHC cards with capacities of 4, 8 and 16GB will be upgraded from class 6 to class 10.
Via Gizmodo.
Asus Eee PC 1101HA Seashell gets unboxed
June 24, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Asus’ first entry into the 11.6-inch netbook segment is the Eee PC 1101HA Seashell. As it belongs to the Seashell family, its styling is very similar to the 1005HA, which doesn’t have the port flaps that adorns the super-skinny 1008HA. Electric Pig has just gone hands-on with a unit and posted some unboxing pictures.
The version they unbox has a 1.33GHz Z520 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD running Windows XP. I’m a bit concerned on the lack of detail regarding the 1101HA SKU that comes with the more powerful 1.6GHz Z530 processor. There is an Asus press event tomorrow, where I should be able to get hands-on with both the 1101HA and 1005HA and hopefully get some answers.
Crave has also gone hands-on with the device and you can see some of their pictures here. The Eee PC 1101HA is expected to launch in early July and will cost £379 as hinted at by Amazon UK, before they withdrew the product page. For more details on the 1101HA, the English manual is now available to download.
Dell Mini 10v shipping with 1024×600 display in Japan
June 24, 2009 at 3:53 pm
The quality and resolution of a netbook display is one of the major considerations when looking to buy a netbook, along with battery and keyboard in our opinion. The most common resolution found in 10-inch netbooks is 1024 x 600, however there are also a few that sport a 1024 x 576 resolution like the Dell Mini 10v.
This slight difference in vertical resolution can make a difference as much as two to three lines of text when browsing. The good news is that the Japanese Mini 10v SKU comes with 600 pixels of vertical resolution, rather than 576 pixels found in the UK, US and rest of Europe. At this point, it’s unknown whether other countries will this new display. We’ll keep our eyes open and let you know if they do.
Via Portable Monkey.
Nokia orders Quanta netbooks & Compal smartbooks, Q3 launch
June 24, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Some of you may have been expecting some more substantial news to come out of Intel’s and Nokia’s partnership, instead of the wishy-washy commitment we got instead. However, it looks like Nokia IS planning to enter the netbook and smartbook segment according to a Commercial Times report.
The report claims that Nokia has ordered netbooks from ODM Quanta Computer which will use an Intel Atom processor and go on sale as early as the third quarter this year. Even more interesting is that, it says it has also ordered smartbook devices from Compal Electronics that will be powered by an ARM-based Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. No muted release date was given for the smartbook. There’s no other details for now, but we’ll keep you posted with further developments.
Via Bloomberg.
HP Mini 5101 – the ultimate business netbook?
June 24, 2009 at 1:19 pm
HP has unleashed its latest netbook, the HP Mini 5101. This model is the successor to the Mini 2140 which is currently being phased out and it looks like a very worth update. As with the Mini 2140, the Mini 5101 netbook is targeted to business users.
The Mini 5101 moves away from the plastics that adorn most netbooks and instead uses anodized aluminium that surrounds the display and a magnesium alloy chassis. The result is a design that some may describe as bland, but personally I’m quite fond of it. Maybe that’s because it is all black and reminds me quite a bit of the Lenovo Thinkpad. Read more
Asus Eee PC 1005HA Seashell Review Roundup
June 23, 2009 at 11:38 pm
The Asus Eee PC 1005HA netbook was officially launched in the US market today. Two SKUs have been announced, the 1005HA-V and 1005HA-P. The 1005HA-V comes with the 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor, a smaller capacity 6-cell battery and no Bluetooth. The 1005HA-P has the faster 1.66GHz N280 processor, a higher capacity 6-cell battery and Bluetooth. Overall, the Eee PC 1005HA is part of the Seashell family and therefore shares the design seen in the super-thin 1008HA Seashell.
It differs mainly be having a removable battery as well as a full-sized VGA port. You won’t find any flaps covering the ports on the 1005HA either. To account for the removable battery, the 1005HA is marginally heavier and thicker than the 1008HA. A number of publications released their reviews of the 10-inch Eee PC 1005HA netbook today. Read more
Asus Eee PC 1101HA English manual live; set your own overclock
June 23, 2009 at 6:28 pm
As we have started to see pre-orders for Asus’ 11.6-inch Eee PC 1101HA Seashell netbook open here in the UK, it was a matter of time before the English manual went live. We’ve been pouring through the pages and some quite interesting titbits have come through. The most intriguing appears to be that Asus has opened up the BIOS to allow its users to manually overclock the 1101HA.
Asus already has a utility called the ‘Super Hybrid Engine’ which has several different modes (Power Saving, High Performance, Super Performance) that automatically under/overclock the CPU based on your needs. This new BIOS option allows you to configure what overclock value you want when you switch to Super Performance mode. Read more
Intel partners with Nokia to create new class of ‘always-on’ mobile gadgets
June 23, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Following intense rumours and speculation this morning, Intel has now officially announced that it is to partner with Nokia to “define a new mobile platform beyond today’s smartphones, notebooks and netbooks”. Exactly what kind of gadgets these will be remains a mystery, although it may just be both companies trying to push the Mobile Internet Device (MID) segment which hasn’t taken off as Intel hoped.
Intel talks of these devices having “ubiquitous Internet connectivity” in a “pocketable form factor”. All of this sounds incredibly similar to the smartbook devices being pushed by ARM-based companies such as Qualcomm and Freescale. It even talks of low power computing. Read more
A closer look at the HP Compaq 110c netbook [Video]
June 23, 2009 at 3:50 pm
The HP Compaq 110c netbook is the European equivalent of the HP Mini 110 that is sold in the US. The Compaq 110c is almost exactly the same as the Mini 110, it mainly differs in having a high-gloss ‘infinity’ imprint finish, which compares to the swirl design of the Mini 110. You’ll also find the ‘Q’ logo on the lid that might not be to everyone’s tastes.
Notebook Italia has gone hands-on with the Compaq 110c (110c-1020SL). This particular version comes with a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU, although we know a 1.66GHZ N280 version is also planned. It comes with a 10.1-inch (1024 x 576) LED backlit display. The BrightView display uses a high-gloss and anti-reflective LCD screen technology.
The other specifications are pretty standard far and include 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD, we’ve included a list of the full technical specifications after the jump. This particular model goes on sale from the beginning of next month in Italy at a price of €299. It should hit the in August from £279. We’ve attached a video of the 110c from Notebook Italia after the break, where they give a tour of the model. Read more
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