40 Nvidia Ion Products expected to launch this year

Nvidia held a press conference in Taipei yesterday to unveil two nettops based on the Ion platform, the ASRock ION 330 and Pegatron’s Cape 7. Interestingly, during the conference, Nvidia claimed that over 40 Ion-powered netbooks, nettops and all-in-One PCs are scheduled to launch by the end of this year.

Whilst the number of nettops powered by Nvidia’s Ion platform is growing all the time, we have yet to see it being utilised by netbooks. Hopefully it won’t be long before Ion-powered netbooks are revealed, the latest rumours point to a number of manufacturers releasing Ion netbooks at the Computex show in June. Read more

Acer Aspire One ‘Pro’ 531 now official

Asus is not the only netbook manufacturer that frustrates me with its hard-to-follow model numbering. Acer‘s recent announcements has left me scratching my head trying to work out the difference between models. If you look at the Aspire One D250, for example, and compare it to the Aspire One 531, they are almost identical models apart from a thinner form factor for the 531. To add to the mix, Acer has now announced the Aspire One Pro 531.

Now we had first heard rumours of the ‘Pro’ series just under a month ago. The Aspire One Pro models were to be targeted towards business users and ‘prosumers’. So how does the ‘Pro 531’ differ from the ‘531’ you may ask? From what we can tell, the ‘Pro 531’ seems to be almost identical to the 531 apart from its storage options and choice of OS. Read more

Acer Aspire One 531 reviewed by T3

The best way to think of the Acer Aspire One 531 is a slimmer version of the Aspire One D250 netbook. In almost every other way the specifications are identical, apart from slightly less battery life. T3 has reviewed the 531 and, overall, finds that it’s a worthy upgrade to the 8.9-inch Aspire One.

The model that T3 reviewed came with a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display, powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPUs. It comes with 1GB RAM (2GB supported) and a 160GB hard-disk drive. The keyboard is 89-percent the size of a standard keyboard whilst its touchpad will support multi-touch. Other features include three USB ports, WiFi (b/g only), Bluetooth 2.0 and a 0.3MP webcam.

The Aspire One 531 certainly looks very attractive. It’s half way between a fashion item, such as the Asus S101, and a regular netbook, and it looks like a good deal. Check out the key points from the review after the break. Read more

Q1 sales targets missed, netbook gravy train starting to slow?

Netbooks have provided an important leg of growth for the PC industry during the global recession, however there are signs that sales may be starting to moderate. According to Digitimes, the big Taiwanese netbook vendors such as Asustek, Acer and MSI saw shipment volumes fall short of first quarter targets.

Whilst Acer is said to have shipped two million Aspire One netbooks, the sell through rate in retail was lower. Asus were looking to sell one million Eee PCs but fell 100,000 short whilst MSI sold only 200,000 Wind netbooks. Read more

Gateway introduces LT2000 netbook to Japan

Acer-owned, Gateway, has announced the LT2000 netbook for the Japanese market. The LT2000 looks to be similar to the LT20 netbook announced for the US market last week. The LT2000 sports a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) resolution display and is powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU and 945GSE chipset.

It also comes with 1GB RAM (max) and a 160GB hard-disk drive. Other features include Wi-Fi (b/g), a 0.3MP webcam, Dolby Headphone and a multi-card reader. The LT2000 will come with a 3-cell battery which should last around 3 hours and will weigh 1.18kg (2.6lbs).

The LT2000 will be available in both black and red for 49,800 Yen ($500/€380/£335). This is the same price as the Acer Aspire One D250 that is due to hit Japanese retail next week.

Via Portable Monkey.

Acer Aspire One D250 hitting Japan next week

Acer Japan has announced that it will be launching its 10.1-inch Aspire One D250 netbook on April 24th for 49,800 Yen ($500/€380/£335). The Aspire One D250 (AOD250) will be powered by a 1.66GHz Atom CPU and 945GSE chipset. It also comes with 1GB RAM and 160GB hard-disk drive. The 10.1-inch display has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.

The D250 is around 1-inch thick and weighs 1.11kg with the 3-cell battery. This battery should give you around 3.15 hours of use according to Acer. For those looking for an even slimmer form-factor, the Aspire One 531 will have very similar specifications but weighs just 1kg (2.2lbs) with the 3-cell battery. Given the smaller size, the 531 has marginally worse battery life (3 hours on the 3-cell).

In the UK, no launch date has been confirmed but according to retail sites, the Aspire One D250 is set to launch around the end of April. Having a quick look, CCL Online seems to have the cheapest pre-order at £335 delivered (in-line with the Japanese RRP above).

Via Akhibara News.

Netbook Review Roundup 11/04/2009

Netbook Choice’s roundup of netbook reviews from around the web from Wednesday 8th Aptil to Saturday 11th April 2009.

Acer Aspire One D150 @ blogeee.net

Asus Eee 1000HE @ I4U

Asus Eee 1000HE @ Notebooks.com

Emtec Gdium Liberty 1000 @ Laptop Mag

HP Mini 1000 Mi edition @ CrunchGear

OCZ Neutrino @ Laptop Mag

Samsung NC20 @ Computer Shopper

Samsung NC20 Hands-On @ PC World

Sony Vaio P-series netbook (VGN-P11Z/R) @ bit-tech

Battery life of 13 netbooks compared, MSI U115 emerges victorious

Netbook vendors and consumers are placing increasing importance on battery lives. We have seen a number of netbooks announced recently from all of the major players (MSI, Samsung, Asus and Acer) who are trying to push longer and longer lasting battery times. To take the headache out of finding out which ones last the longest, Netbook Review has undertaken the arduous task of comparing the battery life of thirteen different netbooks.

Each of the netbooks were tested with the UserBench Battery 2008 benchmark, which involves stress-testing the battery to an absolute maximum. The author claims that the results present a worse-case scenario and should be the bare minimum life expected. The app plays back a WMV video clip with the display and hard drive set to never switch off. Power management was set to “always on”. Read more

Acer launching touchscreen netbook in 2009

Acer will be launching its third-generation of netbook by the end of the year and reports suggest that it will feature a touchscreen. We don’t have any further details than that, but the news is hardly surprising. A fourth generation netbook will release in 2010.

We already know that a number of touchscreen manufacturers are gearing up for an increase in capacitive (multi-touch) panels in the second half of the year. Additionally, a number of netbook vendors have already hinted that they will be looking to release touchscreen models to coincide with the launch of Windows 7 (which touts a number of touch-screen features). Read more

Gateway launches new LT20 and LT30 netbooks

Gateway launched a couple of new netbooks following on from Acer’s press event last night in New York. Gateway, which was acquired by Acer in 2008, has added the LT20 and LT30 to its line-up of netbooks.

The 10.1-inch LT20 is effectively a rebadged Acer Aspire One and is available in red or black. It comes with an 89 percent sized keyboard and is powered by an Intel Atom processor. The LT30, as you might guess, is very similar to Acer’s newly announced 11.6” Aspire One launched on the same night. It features an11.6-inch (1366×768) display and full-sized keyboard.

Both are relatively light-weight with the LT30 coming in at 1.2kg (2.62lbs). Both versions come with a multi-gesture touchpad, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity. An optional webcam is also available.

Acer trialling Android on netbooks

At Acer’s New York press conference last night, CEO Gianfranco Lanci and product guy Jim Wong confirmed that they are testing Android on its netbooks. Wong confirmed that the Android prototype has a “good chance” of becoming a commercial reality. However, Acer also said that it does not feel that Android is ready for the limelight just yet. Trying to get the full internet experience just right is the biggest obstacle the OS faces in their view.

Wong also confirmed that pretty much every major netbook manufacturer is testing Android on netbooks right now. From what we know, Asus and HP have talked about it. I would guess that we may be in for some exciting Android netbook launches by the end of the year.

“Android in my opinion is for communications,” said CEO Gianfranco Lanci. “And Windows comes at the market from the computing side. An ideal solution would offer both. So right now we are using Android for our smartphone, and we are testing it on our Netbooks. But I think everybody in the industry is testing Android on Netbooks.”

Acer Aspire One with WiMAX hits FCC

Acer is planning on launching a new 8.9-inch netbook that will be WiMAX enabled according to some documents that have passed through the US FCC. I find this somewhat strange given yesterday’s news that the company is in the process of phasing out its line of 8.9-inch netbooks.

The documents reveal that the unit will carry the model name of Aspire One Z5G. The WiMAX module will be embedded into the netbook itself which maybe highlights that it will be carried by wireless carriers who will look to bundle the netbook with certain data contracts. No other information such as pricing and availability is available so far.

Acer Aspire One 11.6-inch netbook announced

Acer held an event last night in New York to announce a number of products across different ranges. One of these was the confirmation of an 11.6” Aspire One netbook. Judging from the press release, it seems that Acer is holding back on exactly which name it will market this new netbook. Over the last few weeks we have already heard of an 11.6-inch Acer netbook in both a new Aspire One Pro line-up as well as the supposed Aspire One 751 which was previewed recently.

Like the above rumoured models the 11.6” Aspire One looks very sleek and slim and measures only 1-inch in thickness. A full list of technical specifications has not been released, but despite this we still know that it will be powered by an Intel Atom CPU and use the Intel US15W Express Chipset. Acer is also claiming battery life of 8 hours on its 6-cell 5200 mAh battery. The 11.6-inch Aspire One will come with a WXGA (1366 x 768) resolution LED-backlit screen. Whilst the official specifications have not been released, the model shown in New York last night came with a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 CPU and 1GB RAM.

In terms of wireless connectivity, it features WiFi (although no draft ‘n’ here), Bluetooth as well as embedded 3G. The full-sized keyboard comes with a large right shift key and the netbook will also support multi-touch gestures. The mouse buttons are placed beneath the touchpad thankfully. It will also come with a 160GB hard-drive (5,400 RPM), a multi-in-one card reader, digital microphone and webcam (resolution unspecified). The 11.6” Aspire One will come in four glossy colours (white, dark blue, red and black). No confirmation of pricing or availability has been made but some US sites suggest that it will ship at the end of April. More news as we have it. Check out some photos after the jump as well as Laptop Mag who have a video of the netbook in action. Read more

Asus keeping 8.9-inch netbooks, Acer phasing them out

There was a point earlier in the year when Asus were making noises about phasing out their line of 8.9-inch netbooks. They have now decided to keep them but only for the procurement market according to Digitimes.

Acer, on the other hand, has decided to phase out the 8.9-inch netbook altogether and will focus its attention on 10-inch models. Asus will continue to push 10-inch models to consumers whilst it will target its 7-inch models to telecom partners. Asus also said that Eee PC shipments in Taiwan have doubled since last year, with shipments expected to reach between 16,000 – 17,000 units in April.

In other related news, Asus is planning to release a pink version of the Eee PC 1000HA during Softex Taipei (April 9 – 13). It will also be pushing its luxury netbook, the Eee PC S121.

Video: Acer Aspire One D250 unboxing

GeekyLives managed to get hands on with an Acer Aspire One D250 netbook, despite the model only being quietly announced by Acer last week. The unboxing shows how easy it is to upgrade the internals (HDD, RAM) as well as adding a mini-pci card. Overall first impressions were that it is a sleek and attractive netbook. Acer also announced the Aspire One 531 last week which has very similar specs to the D250 albeit in an even slimmer form-factor.

The Aspire One D250 netbook comes with a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) LED backlit display in a slimline form-factor that is just 1-inch thick and weighing 1.27kg (2.79lbs) with the 6-cell battery. The unit that GeekyLives played with came with a 1.66GHz N280 Atom CPU, 1GB RAM and a 160GB hard-disk drive.

As can be seen from the video, the 6-cell 4400 mAh battery does stick out a little from the back although doesn’t make the unit significantly thicker as seen with other batteries. Given that the 3-cell 2200 mAh battery is only rated for 3.15 hours, compared to the 6 hours of life from the 6-cell, it is a compromise worth making in our view. The Aspire One D250 can currently be ordered from CCL Online for £335. Check out the video (in Norwegian) after the break. Read more

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