Asus no longer including DVD recovery discs with netbooks

One staple of all Asus Eee PC netbooks sold to date is the recovery DVD disc. As longer as you have a USB optical drive, you can use the disc to restore the netbook to factory settings.

Asus will now be ditching recovery discs packaged with netbooks given concerns over the environment, or so the company says. Instead, the company recommend you just press the F9 key to restore the netbook to default settings. Just don’t go wiping over the hard drive, otherwise then you’ll have no other options!

Via Netbooked.

Hanvon’s 10-inch TouchPad BC10C gets video review

The Hanvon TouchPad BC10C tablet is one of the most desirable that we’ve come across. The 10-inch tablet has a flush glossy display and comes with a 1024 x 600 resolution capacitive screen, HDMI, two USB ports and a SD card slot. It is powered by a 1.3GHz ULV 743 processor, 2GB RAM and storage starting at 250GB HDD.

JKKMobile has put one the test in a video review that you can find after the jump. It will be available from March 24 with prices starting at $877 in China. European and US pricing has still to be set. Check out the video after the break. Read more

Apple iPad pre-orders now open in US

For those that can’t get enough of the iPad, you’ll be glad to know that Apple has now opened pre-orders over at the Apple store. Prices start from $499 all the way up to $829 for the 3G equipped model with 64GB SSD. The iPad will start shipping from April 3. Still no prices and timing on for international customers, but hopefully Apple will reveal all soon. Read more

Chrome OS smartbooks to be more expensive than Windows netbooks?

Google ‘s Chrome operating system is not expected to launch until the second half later this year. Many question marks over OS remain, however what we do know is that Chrome OS will be heavily cloud based and Google is likely to dictate hardware requirements for devices running it.

Whilst the requirements are under wraps for now, it is believed to include relatively high performance graphics, SSDs and accelerometers. This has led Bob O’Donnell, VP of clients and displays at International Data Corp, to say that Chrome OS smartbooks will be even more expensive than Microsoft Windows-based netbooks. “PC OEMs say the hardware requirements—still under NDA–will make the systems actually more expensive than a Windows device, yet they don’t have anywhere near the applications support,” O’Donnell said. Read more

JooJoo’s trip to the FCC reveals N270 Atom, Nvidia ION internals

Specs for the JooJoo 12.1-inch tablet have been under tight wraps, until now that is. The JooJoo has passed through the FCC where it has been revealed that the tablet will be powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor and Nvidia ION chipset. It’s no wonder that those that have tested the video capabilities have talked of flawless playback.

Another interesting thing spotted is a SIM card slot that likely means 3G will be an option at some point down the road. The JooJoo will ship with a Linux user interface, however other pictures from the FCC show it running with Windows 7 that could point to future OS choice. The non-removable battery should last for 5 hours. The JooJoo is due to launch on 25 March. Check out some more pictures below. Read more

Toshiba launching own tablet line-up by Q1 2011

The craze for tablet devices is expected to explode when the Apple iPad hits the market next month. Many companies appear to be sitting on the sidelines and waiting for the consumer reaction to the iPad before launching their own slate devices.

Toshiba is one of them and plans to introduce a family of tablet devices by early 2011 at the latest. “It has proved to be a mistake to underestimate these new categories. And besides, we need new category creation to grow our industry,” says Jeff Barney, head of Toshiba’s U.S. notebook business. Now we just need to see whether there is an appetite for these upcoming slates.

Via Akihabara News.

Details of AMD’s Bobcat netbook processors emerge

AMD already outlined its plans to enter the netbook processor market during an analyst day last November. As a quick reminder, the company introduced two new processor cores codenamed Bulldozer and Bobcat for release in 2011. Bulldozer is designed for desktops & servers, whilst Bobcat is targeted at ultra-thin notebooks. However, netbooks will also be targeted for the first time within the Bobcat family.

We knew that Bobcat was being designed with power efficiency in mind and AMD’s chief marketing officer, Nigel Dessau, recently said that the netbook chip will run with a similar TDP to the Intel Atom (10W-15W) and “it will have a good processor integrated with graphics, so you won’t need the [Nvidia] Ion graphics to give it half-decent performance.” Read more

JooJoo gets UI makeover, new colour & fully working Flash playback

We recently heard that the 12.1-inch capacitive JooJoo tablet had been delayed to the end of this month and it seems that Fusion Garage has been putting this time to good use. A number of improvements to the device have been made including a new user interface, improved text entry, fully working Flash video and even a change of colour casing from black to champagne.

The homescreen now has an icon grid that sits over customisable wallpaper. A vertical swipe reveals a status bar housing the home button, status indicators, navigation controls, and search. Two scroll gestures have also now been implemented. This includes a two-finger scroll (much like a scroll wheel) and a single finger “pan” that functions much like a mouse arrow. Read more

Acer Aspire One 752 ultra-thin gets European pricing

Pricing details for the Acer Aspire One 752 CULV-based ultra-thin are starting to come through. Notebook Italia is reporting that there will be two configurations using the 1.3GHz Intel Celeron 743 processor. The AAO 752-742w in white costs €449, whilst the black AAO 752-742Gk will cost €549 but comes with integrated 3G.

The AAO 752 has an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) ultra-thin device supporting up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM and a 320GB HDD. It measures just 22m in thickness and weighs 1.40kg. It comes with a full-size Acer FineTip keyboard and multi-gesture touchpad. You’ll also find a HDMI and VGA/LAN ports that are placed in the back corners of the body. Other features include Wi-Fi, webcam, Dolby-optimised audio and optional Bluetooth 2.1/integrated 3G. The battery is quoted to last for around 5 hours. Check out the full specs of both SKUs after the break. Read more

ARM expects 50 tablet devices due in 2010

The impending release of the Apple iPad tablet will cause a rush to market of similar devices says ARM. The company expects that it will see ARM-powered 50 tablet devices launching globally this year. Not surprising, considering that this years CES and CeBIT were swamped with tablet devices of one form or another.

This is set to continue at the Computex show in Taipei in June, with ARM renting more space than last year to show off various mobile devices including tablets, smartbooks and e-readers. “The first tablet devices will launch in the second quarter by [mobile network] carriers,” said Roy Chen, ARM’s worldwide mobile computing ODM manager. “You’ll see a lot more in the third quarter.” Read more

Pioneer DreamBook Lite: 12-inch netbook with next-gen ION

Australian company, Pioneer Computers, has released a new 12.1-inch netbook that sports next-generation ION. The ‘DreamBook Lite U12 ION2’ has a number of configuration options for either the 1.66GHz N450 or 1.83GHz N470 Atom processor and comes with a 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) display and 10 hour runtime from the optional 6-cell battery.

Other features include Wi-Fi (b/g/n), HDMI, three USB ports, 1.3MP webcam, and supports a number of different operating systems including Windows XP/Vista/7 and Ubuntu 9.10. No sign of seeing this turn up in Europe, but if you’re interested you can check out the full specs after the break. Read more

MSI Wind12 U230 AMD-powered netbook finally shipping in US

MSI’s 12-inch Wind12 U230 netbook has started to ship in the US, four months after being officially announced. Two AMD-powered models are shipping. The Wind12 U230-033 comes with an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 processor and 250GB HDD, whilst the U230-040 comes with the dual-core Athlon X2 L335 processor and 320GB HDD.

Both models come with a 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) display , 2GB RAM, W7 Home Premium, ATI Radeon and HD3200 graphics. Other features include a 1.3MP webcam, 6-cell battery, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), HDMI and a card reader. Both models are available now from Newegg, the base model comes in at $429.99 whilst the dual-core version will set you back $50 extra.

HP Slate gets hardware-accelerated Flash? [Video]

The HP Slate tablet is an enigma in many ways. Ever since Steve Ballmer showed it off at CES earlier this year, it’s only appeared in a few videos with most of the hard information still under wraps. Anyway, whilst we wait, a couple of new videos give us more insight into its functionality.

The first, from Adobe, shows off the HP Slate’s Flash and Air capabilities in Windows 7. Engadget highlights that the Slate is hardware accelerated, which could mean it comes with a Broadcom Crystal HD card or going further, it might even have an ION chip inside. HP has also posted another marketing video. You can check out both after the jump. Read more

Asus confirms Eee PC 1005PR with Broadcom Crystal HD

The official product page for the Asus Eee PC 1005PR netbook has now gone live. It confirms the specifications we previously saw, including a Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator card out of the box. This means 1080p video content will be playable out of the box on the netbooks high resolution (1366 x 768) 10-inch display.

Apart from that the specs shouldn’t differ from other Eee PC 1005P netbooks including a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi (b/g/n), 0.3MP webcam and three USB ports. Pricing is still unknown, but further details should be expected close to its April launch. The full specs are included after the break. Read more

Intel planning dual-core Atom processor targeted for netbooks?

Intel may be working on a dual-core Atom processor specifically for netbooks according to French site PC Inpact. This would be a departure from the current situation where all netbook Atom chips are single core and select desktop Atom parts are dual-core, like the 1.66GHz Atom D510 Pine Trail processor.

The site says that these new dual-core chips will use the Atom N500 naming structure, although the exact model names are unknown right now (if they exist at all). This would be great news if true, although I wouldn’t hold your breath. Any such chip would surely potentially eat into Intel’s higher-margin ULV line-up. Read more

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