Asus to reveal “killer product” in June

Asus Chairman Jonney Shih has said that the company is prepping a “killer product” for launch in June, probably during the Computex show in Taiwan. Whilst he didn’t give any further hints, the most likely reference is to its tablet device (dubbed Eee Pad) that is will sport the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset.

The Eee Pad was first spotted at CES 2010, although no specs were detailed. It was simply referred to as the “Asus Tablet Concept” along with a placeholder saying that it is powered by a Nvidia Tegra chip. The news came as Asus announced it will be spinning off its Pegatron manufacturing arm. The device is said to be manufactured by Pegatron and be launched at a sub-$500 price point. If true, Apple iPad may have some stiff competition in the second half of this year.

Via Slashgear.

Samsung N150 netbook in video unboxing

The Samsung N150 netbook is pretty much one of the standard Pine Trail netbooks. It comes with a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD and Windows 7 Starter. The N150 netbook was reviewed recently and whilst the quoted 8.5-hour battery life was lauded, the keyboard didn’t live up to its predecessors.

Roland from NetbookNews has unboxed one of these netbooks. Whilst the glossy lid is a fingerprint magnet, it’s nice to see it sport a matte display and palm rest. It comes with a 4400mAh battery and a flat-key keyboard. The touchpad looks a similar size to previous Samsung netbooks along with a single mouse rocker bar underneath. You can check out the unboxing after the jump. Read more

Fujitsu LifeBook MH380 reviewed – step in right direction but too pricey

The Fujitsu LifeBook MH380 is quite unique amongst Intel Pine Trail netbooks. First of all it has a high resolution 10.1-inch (1366 x 768) display and secondly it also comes with a scroll pad next to its touchpad that is used to navigate lengthy web pages and the like.

Laptop Mag has its review of the device and whilst overall it only scored three stars out of five, there are some definite positives for the Fujitsu netbook. It is a much better effort than its predecessor, it has a bright HD display, comfortable keyboard, loud speakers and good battery life. The scroll pad also works surprisingly well. Read more

Packard Bell’s Valentino Rossi dot VR46 netbook specced and priced

Packard Bell is set to launch the 11.6-inch dot VR46 netbook in homage to motorcycling living legend Valentino Rossi. The ‘VR46’ model number stands for Valentino Rossi’s initials plus his racing number and is visible on the lid as well as inside on top of the display. We touched on the unique design back in mid-December, but now we have details on specifications as well as UK pricing.

The VR46 netbook will come with an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) display and will be powered by either an Intel ULV Core 2 Duo or Celeron processor as well as Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics. Up to 4GB of DDR RAM will be supported and maximum storage of 640GB. All models will come with Windows 7 Home Premium. Read more

Nvidia Optimus automatic GPU switching officially detailed; heading to ION 2 [Video]

Nvidia has formally announced details regarding its Optimus technology that allows for seamless graphics switching on netbooks and laptops. We briefly talked about Optimus earlier with rumours that ION 2 may support this technology, but now that the NDA is lifted, there’s a lot more detail on just how impressive this new technology is. We can also confirm that those earlier rumours are true, next-generation ION will have Optimus technology support.

It’s worth emphasizing that Nvidia Optimus technology is different to the switchable graphics that you may be familiar with. Optimus is designed to be invisible, working in the background and automatically switching between integrated Intel graphics or Nvidia discrete graphics depending on the application used. No rebooting, logging out or closing apps is needed here. Read more

Asus Eee PC T101MT interface gets video walkthrough

The 10-inch Asus Eee PC T101MT is a mysterious machine, it first made an appearance at CES in 2009 but it still hasn’t been released. Recently, it passed through the FCC and even made an appearance once again at CES 2010 but we’re still no closer to getting any official launch details.

It may not to be too long to wait, however, as Asus has released a video tutorial of the user interface. It shows off some of the software applications including touching up photos, creating photo albums and leaving handwritten desktop memos. I didn’t notice any real differences to that used in the 8.9-inch T91MT. Whilst we continue to wait for the T101MT to show up you can check out the video after the jump. Read more

Nvidia ION 2 to support Optimus power saving technology?

All fingers are pointing to the fact that Nvidia ION 2 will be a discrete graphics part, rather than a chipset as seen in the original Nvidia ION. One of the benefits of this is that it will support Nvidia Optimus technology according to Fudzilla. Optimus is a power saving technology, particularly useful for netbooks/laptops, as it can switch between both discrete and integrated graphics depending on the task at hand, ultimately extending battery life.

It differs from current switchable graphics technology as there is no manual selection, Optimus will automatically detect what kind of application is running (i.e. word processing or gaming) and switch between the GPUs with no input required from the user. Intel’s Centrino 2 platform does have similar functionality although it only automatically detects when a laptop is running on AC or battery power, it doesn’t work at the application level. Read more

ExoPC’s 8.9-inch Slate shown off on video

The ExoPC Slate is an 8.9-inch tablet that comes with Windows 7 HP and a 32GB SSD for $599. We touched on the rest of the specs in our previous post, but we now we get to see the ExoPC Slate in action. Viewing angles appear to be good and the resistive touchscreen seems reasonably responsive. Check out a video of the Slate after the break. Read more

Notion Ink Adam tablet renders surface, two versions considered

Of the many tablets shown off at CES 2010 in January, the Notion Ink Adam was one of the most interesting. It utilizes two of the most exciting technologies in the mobile computing space, the Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset as well as Pixel Qi’s 3Qi Hybrid 10-inch display. Whilst the device shown at CES was very much a prototype, Slashgear has managed to get their hands-on with renders of what the finished tablet will look like.

Interestingly, the company is considering two models, one that is 12.9mm thick and the other is 11.6mm in thickness (for reference the iPad is 13.4mm thick). Notion Ink hasn’t said what the differences are, but one version may end up excluding the Pixel Qi display that no doubt adds bulk and instead going for a vanilla LCD display on the slimmer model. Read more

DosPara preps 12.1-inch Blu-ray netbook

DosPara has teamed up with a game animation called Nitro+ to introduce a limited edition 12.1-inch “Yu-on” netbook that comes with a Blu-ray optical drive. The Prime Note Cresion NA Yu-Pon is quite full featured, armed with a 1.6GHz dual-core 330 Atom processor and Nvidia ION chipset.

You’ll also get 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), HDMI and Windows 7 Home Premium. The Yu-On netbook will hit Japan later this month for 69,980 Yen ($784, £503, €575). It’s unlikely we’ll see this unique netbook hit western shores anytime soon.

Via Akihabara News.

Asus Eee PC 1201T reviewed – subpar battery life

Asus is certainly making the most out of its 12.1-inch netbook chassis. It currently has four netbooks sporting 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) displays. This includes the dual-core ION 1201N, the single-core ION 1201NL, the Z-series Atom 1201HA and finally the AMD Congo powered 1201T.

The guys over at Yugatech have tested the Eee PC 1201T. Whilst they liked the Seashell design, chiclet keyboard, crisp display and touchpad, they found it hard to get excited about its poor battery life and only slightly above-average CPU performance. Read more

NbC: MSI Wind U135 Unboxed [Video]

MSI were kind enough to send over the MSI Wind U135 netbook for us to test. Whilst we’ll be putting the 10-inch U135 through its paces over the next couple of weeks, we first shot an unboxing video along with our preliminary impressions.

I have to say I’m impressed with MSI’s efforts in its new range of Intel Pine Trail netbooks. Whilst the Wind U160 may be the head-turner, the U135 isn’t too bad itself. Whilst we’re never fans of seeing a glossy lid, it doesn’t seem to be as much of a fingerprint magnet compared to the other models. The chiclet keyboard also has proved to be comfortable and we really like the textured touchpad. It’s not the biggest, but the tracking is very accurate and the finger scrolls smoothly over the surface. The single rocker bar underneath also has good feedback.

We’re currently conducting our usual round of battery and performance tests and will come back with a review in due course. Until then, check out our unboxing video after the break. Read more

Apple iPad interest waning?

It was somewhat unusual that Apple launched a product without it being almost immediately available. When Apple launched the iPad tablet at the end of January, it did so knowing that it won’t be in consumers hands for another couple of months. One of the dangers of this is that people will stop caring, well at least until Apple’s marketing juggernaut is unleashed.

A survey by Retrevo has shown that Apple has not convinced people to buy the new Apple iPad as well as losing some potential customers following its official announcement. They conducted two surveys, one before and one after the announcement with 1,000 people. Unfortunately, the number of people saying that they weren’t interested in buying the tablet doubled from 26 percent before the announcement to 52 percent afterwards. Read more

ASUS Eee PC 1008P tested – great design, poor battery life

The Asus Eee PC 1008P-KR edition certainly looks different to most other netbooks out there. It marries the slim chassis of the previous generation 1008HA Seashell netbook with Karim Rashid’s exterior design influences.

Engadget put the Eee PC 1008P through its paces and found that it suffered from “performance issues at the expense of better design.” There’s no denying that the netbook is attractive and should appeal to the fashionistas out there, the brown model in particular. However, given its $499 price point, it offers less battery life than its cheaper peers including the Eee PC 1005PE. The model tested comes with a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, 2GB RAM and a 320GB HDD. Read more

Samsung N150 reviewed – battery life good, keyboard bad

Samsung has released four new Intel Pine Trail netbooks and amongst them is the 10.1-inch Samsung N150, powered by a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, boasting an 8.5-hour battery life. Cnet recently reviewed the Samsung N150 netbook and whilst they lauded its battery life, the keyboard fell short, a disappointment considering Samsung’s pedigree in this area.

The chassis comes with a glossy black lid (I really wish Samsung would go back to its matte lid on the Samsung N120) that is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. Samsung’s netbook keyboards have stood out in the past, however Cnet found the one in the N150 disappointing. This was due to close proximity of keys that caused errors aplenty. However, the touchpad made up for this with accurate tracking and mutt-touch gestures out of the box. Read more

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