Intel X25-V SSD: 40GB ‘budget’ drive for $130

Intel has formally announced its 2.5-inch X25-V series of solid state drives, despite the fact that they have been shipping from the likes of Newegg for some weeks now. The ‘V’ stands for value here, where the 40GB SSD will set you back for around $125 when bought in large unit quantities (Newegg has it for $129.99).

The X25-V uses 34nm MLC NAND flash memory and features TRIM support within Windows 7. It has a 1.2 million hours mean time before failure rating. The sustained write bandwidth is up 35MB/sec while sustained reads is a zippy 170MB/sec. These drives are aimed at netbooks, although whilst 40GB may be fine for a Windows XP installation, I do wonder whether the same can be said for a Windows 7 install.

DIY Pixel Qi screen kits due in June 2010

Mary Lou Jepsen has confirmed over on her blog that Pixel Qi will be shipping do-it-yourself screen kits for their 3Qi hybrid displays at the end of Q2 2010, meaning a likely June launch date. She rightfully says that many people do not realise how easy it is to change their display, going on to say that it’s only slightly more difficult than changing a bulb.

“It’s basically 6 screws, pulling off a bezel, unconnecting the old screen and plugging this one in. That’s it. It’s a 5 minute operation”, says Jepsen. Pricing and netbook compatibility remains a mystery for now.

NbC: Cool Bananas OldSchool Netbook Messenger Bag Review

Cool Bananas have built up a good reputation for making well built & designed netbook cases. This certainly was the case when we previously looked at the Hard Cover netbook case and we are now reviewing the Cool Bananas OldSchool Netbook Messenger Bag courtesy of GearZap. Everything about the bag screams quality, it is made out of faux black leather with brass metal trimmings. This particular case should fit any netbook or CULV ultra-thin up to 12.1-inches.

The Cool Bananas OldSchool Netbook Messenger Bag costs £28.97. GearZap apply a small delivery charge on top of this depending on whether shipping is to the UK or mainland Europe. GearZap are a specialist retailer of netbook and laptop accessories. They have an extensive catalogue of products and deliver across Europe. Click through for our impressions on this OldSchool Netbook Messenger Bag. Read more

NbC: UltimateAddons Netbook Sling Bag Review

We have reviewed a fair number of netbook sleeves, cases and bags here at NbC, but now we have something that sits slightly differently to everything seen so far. The waterproof UltimateAddons netbook sling bag is designed to fit netbooks ranging from 8.9 to 10.2-inches. It doesn’t feel much bigger than a case but offers enough room to carry accessories and comes with shoulder and handle straps to be used outdoors.

The UltimateAddons netbook sling bag comes in two colours, black (which we tested) and olive green. It was sent over for us to review by those nice guys over at Ultimate-Netbook who ship these bags at a cost of £19.99 with free worldwide delivery. Ultimate-Netbook is a specialist retailer of netbook accessories, including bags and cases. Read on to find out our thoughts on the netbook sling bag. Read more

XBMC announces Broadcom Crystal HD 1080p support for netbooks

XBMC (formally called Xbox Media Centre) was originally developed for the Xbox but has since moved over to the Desktop. It is an open source media player with support for Windows, Linux and Mac. Whilst it works well on the PC, it’s even better used in a HTPC. It’s so good in fact that I still have two original Xboxes with XBMC connected to two TV’s in our household.

As an XBMC user for many years, I was very excited to hear that the development team has announced support for the Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator across all three major platforms (Windows, Linux and OSX). This means hardware decoding of MPEG-2, H.264 and VC1 1080p video content will be coming to those netbooks with the Broadcom Crystal HD mini PCI-E (BCM970012) installed. Read more

Broadcom intros Crystal HD media accelerator for Pine Trail netbooks

Broadcom has announced the BCM70015 Crystal HD video processor for OEMs designing netbooks using the next-generation Intel Atom Pine Trail platform. The chip is designed for HD video playback on netbooks.

The single-chip HD video decoder can provide video playback of a number of different codecs including H.264/AVC, MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV9, MPEG-4, DivX, Xvid and AVS. It also provides support for Adobe Flash Player (v10.1) and Windows Media Player (v12).

Whilst a genuine alternative to Nvidia’s ION chipset, it is worth noting that Broadcom’s solution is only applicable for video and not games (unlike ION). The BCM70015 will be available in mini PCI-E format, as well as having the motherboard option.

Seagate announces world’s thinnest 2.5-inch HDD for netbooks

Seagate has announced a new hard-disk drive that it claims is the world’s thinnest at 7mm. The Seagate Momentus Thin drive will come in two capacity sizes (160GB & 250GB) and will mainly be targeted towards netbooks and ultra-thin notebooks.

The Seagate Momentus will come with 8MB of cache, a SATA 3.0Gb/sec interface and a 5400RPM spin speed. The company claims that over 90 percent of netbooks use 2.5-inch HDDs that are 9.5mm in thickness. There are no details on price right now, although the Seagate Momentus Thin is expected to be available from January 2010.

Competition: Win an Ultimate Netbook Messenger Bag & Netbook Car Mount

The kind folks over at Ultimate-Netbook have provided not one but two prizes for a lucky winner in this week’s competition. We have up for grabs an UltimateAddons Netbook Messenger Bag as well as the Universal 7″ to 13″ Netbook Car Mount. If you’re interested to know a bit more about the prizes, you can check out our review of the messenger bag here and the car mount here.

As before, to enter the competition all you have to do is leave a comment below. We will pick a winner randomly when the competition closes at midnight (GMT) on Monday 14th December. Good luck!

Rules: 1) Please leave a valid email address as we will be using this to contact you, 2) once contacted, if we do not hear from you within 24 hours we will draw another winner, 3) only one entry per household (remember we can see your IP address), 4) this competition is open to our readers in the United Kingdom only.

Update: The lucky winner is Ray!

Competition: Win a Cool Bananas Neoprene Netbook Sleeve

We have another competition for you, courtesy of those nice people at Gearzap. This time round, we have a funky Cool Bananas Neoprene Netbook Sleeve up for grabs. The sleeve is manufactured from shock resistant neoprene that should help protecting against dirt & scratches. It also has reversible colours, which means you can use it in red or black, depending on your mood!

As before, to enter the competition all you have to do is leave a comment below. We will pick a winner randomly when the competition closes at midnight (GMT) on Monday 30th November. Good luck!

Rules: 1) Please leave a valid email address as we will be using this to contact you, 2) once contacted, if we do not hear from you within 24 hours we will draw another winner, 3) only one entry per household (remember we can see your IP address), 4) this competition is open to our readers worldwide.

Update: The lucky winner is Granville Giblert!

Competition: Win a Cool Bananas Hard Cover Netbook Case

Okay folks, it is competition time again courtesy of those nice chaps at Gearzap. We have up for grabs a Cool Bananas Hard Cover Netbook Case. This case should fit netbooks with display sizes between 8.9 to 10.2-inches and comes in a navy blue colour. It really is a great case to protect your netbook; you can check out our review of the case here.

As before, to enter the competition all you have to do is leave a comment below. We will pick a winner randomly when the competition closes at midnight (GMT) on Friday 13th November Monday 16th November. Good luck!

Rules: 1) Please leave a valid email address as we will be using this to contact you, 2) once contacted, if we do not hear from you within 24 hours we will draw another winner, 3) only one entry per household (remember we can see your IP address), 4) this competition is open to our readers worldwide.

Update: The closing date for entries has been changed to close of play on Monday due to unforeseen circumstances.

Update 2: The lucky winner is Daniel Chung! Many thanks to all who entered.

Belkin launches new netbook power adaptors

Belkin has today launched a couple of new netbook power adaptors. The adaptors appear to be quite slim (61.5mm X 111.5mm X 24.2mm) and have five interchangeable tips that will work with a number of netbook brands including Asus, Acer, Dell, HP, Samsung, and Toshiba. They also include an additional 5V USB power port, that can be used to charge mobile or MP3 devices.

Two netbook adaptors are being offered, a home/office one (F5L064qq/uk) that retails for £39.99 (€49.99) and a travel one (F5L065qq/uk) that costs £49.99 (€59.99). They will be available later this month in the UK and across Europe.

Active Media unleashes performance SaberTooth S4 SSD upgrades

Active Media has unveiled a new line of performance SSDs aimed at Asus Eee PC netbooks. The SaberTooth S4 series uses the 3Gbps SATA-II interface and offers sequential read speeds of up to 130MB/sec and sequential writes up to 50MB/sec. The drives use the Jmicron JMF602B controller and MLC flash memory for transfer speeds promised to be two to five times faster than the standard SSD that shipped in many netbooks from ASUS.

The company has posted a detailed Benchmark Report of the SaberTooth S4, tested on an Eee PC 1000 under Windows XP here. The benchmark results show the S4 soaring to read speeds over 120MB/sec, nearly four times faster than the default SSD in the Eee PC 1000. The Mini PCI-E SSDs measure 70 x 32 mm (2.7 x 1.3 inches). Read more

NbC: Universal 7″ to 13″ Netbook Car Mount Review

The netbook form-factor has taken off for a number of reasons, this includes its value price offering, long battery life and compact chassis. For these reasons, many people take their netbooks on the move when a laptop just wouldn’t be practical. Whilst this most often means carrying a netbook in a rucksack, the use in cars is set to become more prevalent going forward.

Whilst some may question the need for netbooks in cars, it can be handy for business people looking to respond to emails and one can also use them as a portable media player. Also, whilst GPS in netbooks is still few and far between, the emergence of smartbooks next year will see GPS functionality as standard in these devices. Ultimate-Netbook is looking to tap into this market by selling one of the few netbook car mounts on the market. Read more

Competition: Win a XS Micro Bluetooth USB Dongle

Those of you without Bluetooth access on your netbooks will be interested in today’s competition. We have up for grabs one XS Micro Bluetooth USB Dongle courtesy from the guys at Gearzap. The dongle is marketed as one of the smallest in the world and we couldn’t complain with that assessment after reviewing one ourselves.

To enter the competition all you have to do is leave a comment below. We will pick a winner randomly when the competition closes at midnight (GMT) on Friday 23rd October. Good luck!

A couple of points to note: 1) please leave a valid email address as we will be using this to contact you, 2) once contacted, if we do not hear from you within 24 hours we will draw another winner, 3) only one entry per household (remember we can see your IP address), 4) this competition is open to our readers worldwide.

Update: Thanks all for entering the competition. We can announce that the lucky winner is… Susan Nisar! Many congrats!

Update 2: As we didn’t hear from Susan, we had to pick another winner. Congrats to Jemma Peyton!

NbC: XS Micro Bluetooth USB Dongle Review

Bluetooth is one of those features that does not appear in every netbook. You will find it in mid-range to high-range netbooks, but it’s not often you’ll see Bluetooth in the lower-end netbooks. Bluetooth in netbooks is useful for a number of reasons, whether that be file transfer, music streaming or even cell phone tethering.

Using a USB Bluetooth dongle is one of the ways of getting Bluetooth onto your netbook and it’s a relatively inexpensive option. Gearzap, a specialist retailer of netbook and laptop accessories, kindly sent over the XS Micro Bluetooth USB dongle for review. This particular dongle is the smallest in the world according to its manufacturers and costs £8.95. GearZap applies a small delivery charge on top of this depending on whether shipping is to the UK or mainland Europe. Read more

Next Page »