HP Mini 5101 video hands-on

We have not seen too many videos of HP’s business-targeted Mini 5101, so we thought we’d share a video tour demoed by James over at JKOnTheRun. So far, he is impressed with the solid build quality, thanks to its metal casing. He is also fond of the 95-percent chiclet keyboard.

His video tour shows off the hardware itself, including ports and connectors. It also gives an idea how little the 6-cell battery adds to the bulk of the netbook. The netbook is also one of the few that has a 2.0MP webcam. Battery life is claimed to be around the 6 hours mark, which is certainly respectable. Check out the video after the break. Read more

Google optimises Gmail subject lines for netbooks

One of the compromises when buying a netbook is the limited screen real estate you have over a desktop. This can cause frustration with certain programs and endless scrolling. One such problem is not being able to read emails in the inbox properly due to the number of labels in the Gmail subject lines.

Google has now provided a work around in Gmail that allows you to automatically hide the labels from the inbox messages. To turn this on, you simply need to go to the Gmail Labs tab under Settings and click on “Remove Labels from Subjects”. We do wish more software companies were as sympathetic to netbook users as Google is!

Via Gmail Blog.

MSI and ECS cautious over ARM smartbooks

A big smartbook push is expected by a number of manufacturers towards the end of the year. This includes netbook heavyweights such as Asustek and Acer. However, another heavyweight in the industry, Micro-Star International (MSI) will not be following suit according to Digitimes.

The report says that both MSI and Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) will watch the launch round from the sidelines, to determine exactly what the market response will be for these new devices. ECS was planning on entering the smartbook segment, through orders from Chinese vendors. However, these orders were cancelled and now ECS will wait until early next year before making another move in this new area.

Asus Eee PC 1101HA Seashell now out in UK & US

Asus’ first 11.6-inch Eee PC is now available to purchase in both the UK and US. The Eee PC 1101HA is in stock at Laptops Direct for £339.97 and Ebuyer for £365.59 available in both black and white. For those in the US, you can purchase it from
Newegg for $429.99 and BestBuy for $429.00. It’s only available in black in the US for now.

The Eee PC 1101HA comes with an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) LED backlit display and is powered by the 1.33GHz Z520 Atom processor. It also comes with 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD. Wi-Fi (Draft-N), Bluetooth 2.1, a 1.3MP webcam and a 6-cell battery.

Via Netbooked.

Samsung’s ION-powered N510 netbook dated by French e-tailer

Samsung still has not confirmed rumours of the N510 11.6-inch netbook, despite a number of retailer listings. Now the French-based retailer, Pixmania, has the ION-based netbook listed on its site for €499 and a release date of 21st August.

There’s no information apart from that, although the listing does confirm the specifications that we’ve already seen. It will have a high-resolution (1366 x 768) display powered by a 1.66GHz N280 Atom, 1GB RAM and a 160GB HDD. It will come with the Nvidia 9400M GPU, HDMI-out, Wi-Fi (Draft-N), a 1.3MP webcam and 6-cell battery. If the release date is just a few weeks away, expect an official announcement from the company soon.

Via Blogeee.

Touchscreen installation guide for netbooks

There’s already a number of guides around the net on installing a touchscreen display on your beloved netbook. However, we thought we’d highlight a well-put together guide from the guys over at Laptop Mag.

It’s a step-by-step guide going through all the little steps needed to successfully install a touchscreen. This includes where to buy a third-party display, including the Fido Hub touchscreen for $100. You can check out the full tutorial here.

Nvidia ION LE: Light version of ION aimed at XP netbooks

Nvidia has launched a lightweight version of its ION platform called ION LE. The ION LE denotes that it is an entry-level product and is targeted to netbooks and nettops that use the Windows XP operating system.

“ION LE is SKU of the ION GPU that is identical to ION, except it only supports DX9. This product is designed specifically for Windows XP on Netbooks and Nettops and we are going to offer LE SKU just for OEM market,“ said Igor Stanek, Product PR Manager EMEA ION/Notebook products.

This seems like a good move by Nvidia as it means they can hopefully charge less for ION LE as opposed to ION, due to the inclusion of DirectX 9 rather than Directx 10. Whilst ION LE will only be limited to XP netbooks, this shouldn’t be a problem as we may still see XP in netbooks up to a year after Windows 7 is launched.

Via Fudzilla.

Windows 7 UK upgrade pricing brings new meaning to “Rip-Off Britain”

The Windows 7 upgrade pricing was released last week, we were finally given an indication how much netbook users would have to pay to upgrade from Windows 7 Starter Edition to more fully-featured editions such as Home Premium or Professional. The prices we saw were only US prices, although we’ve now seen the UK prices and it brings new meaning to the term “Rip-off Britain”.

In the UK, the move from Starter Edition to Home Premium will cost netbook users £69.99 (US price: $79.99). To then move from Home Premium to Professional will cost £119.99 (US: $89.99) and to move from Home Premium to Ultimate will cost £124.99 (US: $139.99). Read more

Asus Eee PC T91 video unboxing

Asus has promised us that its 8.9-inch convertible netbook, the Eee PC T91 should begin shipping this week in the UK. However, whilst you’re waiting, we thought you may want to feast your eyes on what you’ll find in the box. JKKMobile has posted a video unboxing and shows just how small (and glossy) the device really is. He also contorts it into all kinds of positions to show you how strong that hinge really is.

The Asus Eee PC T91 has a 1024 x 600 resolution 8.9-inch display powered by a 1.33GHz Z520 Atom processor. Whilst this version comes with a resistive display, a future SKU is believed to have a multi-touch display and will most likely coincide with the launch of Windows 7. In the meantime, check out JKKMobile’s first impressions and unboxing after the jump. Read more

Hannspree HANNSnote SN10E1 reviewed – great value for money

Hannspree’s Hannsnote 10-inch netbook is basically a rebadged MSI Wind. The Hannsnote SN10E1 netbook has been on sale for the past couple of months in the UK for £259.99 and seems to offer good value for money, despite its generic specifications. For this money, it offers features found in more premium models including a wireless draft-N, Bluetooth and a 6-cell battery good for around 5 hours.

TrustedReviews has put the HANNSnote through its paces and scored it well (8/10) mainly due to its value offering and ‘premium’ features outlined above. Given that Misco.co.uk are offering £30 cashback until the end of August, this makes the HANNSnote an even more compelling offering at £230. This puts it a significant discount to the likes of the Asus Eee PC 1000HE at £290 that has a better keyboard and touchpad. Check out the key review points after the jump. Read more

Prolink announces Glee TA-009 netbook with HSUPA

Prolink, the South Asian company more known for its networking products, has jumped onto the netbook bandwagon with a fairly uninspiring device. The Prolink Glee TA-009 has a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) LED backlit display and its main point of differentiation is price. It is one of the cheapest WWAN-enabled netbooks in the market at S$699 ($488, €338, £288), which is significantly below the competition (the 3G-enabled LG X120 costs S$800).

It’s a lightweight model at 1.11kg although it’s still reasonably thick at 30mm. It comes with a 3-cell 2200mAh battery that should be good for 2.5 hours of battery life. A 6-cell 2400mAh battery should last around 6 hours according to the company. Read more

Intel denies axing Z Atom processors for netbooks

Intel has responded to last week’s rumours that it would stop supplying the energy efficient Z-series of processors (mainly 1.33GHz Z520 and 1.60Ghz Z530) to netbook manufactures. The company flatly denies that this is the case.

“Rumours of ‘industry sources’ stating that Intel is no longer taking orders for Atom Z processors or ending production by end of year are 100% inaccurate,” a spokesperson told Reg Hardware.

So there you go, current netbooks using these chips such as the Asus Eee PC T91 &1101HA, Dell Mini 10 and the Sony Vaio P are safe for now. We still can’t see any new netbooks using this CPU once Pineview is out though. The N450 (1.66GHz) will be marginally faster than the Z530 Atom and should be more power efficient. The decision over which to use will mainly come down to cost, (If Intel are still supplying them by then).

Snapdragon & Tegra smartbook push for Q4 2009

A number of manufacturers are preparing ARM-based smartbooks based on Snapdragon and Tegra processors to launch during the fourth quarter according to Taiwanese industry sources. Smartbooks are expected from the likes of netbook heavyweights such as Asus and Acer along with Mobinnova, Inventec and ODMs such as Foxconn, Pegatron and Compal.

These units will launch at a similar time to new netbooks using Intel’s next-gen Pineview processors. However, the smartbooks are likely to be cheaper and smaller devices than netbooks. They are also more likely to be sold through contracts from telecom providers rather than on a standalone basis. Read more

Always Innovating Touch Book convertible netbook now shipping

Always Innovating’s Touch Book device has now started to ship according to the official website. However, as the company has a large backlog of orders, the first shipments are being dedicated to fulfil these pre-orders.

“As an early-stage start-up, it will take us several weeks to fill every order. Nevertheless, we are increasing our production capability to ship pre-orders as quickly as possible,” read the statement on the website.

The Touch Book is a very unique device. It is basically an 8.9-inch tablet that comes with a sliding keyboard dock so that it can be used in a more traditional netbook form-factor. The tablet is also magnetic so that it can be mounted on a fridge and the unit also supports internal USB slots so no more dongle mess. It is based on an ARM processor (TI OMAP3530 CPU) and is therefore a fanless system with a battery life of between 10-15 hours.

Via Engadget.

Windows 7 upgrade pricing revealed for netbooks running Starter Edition

The launch of Windows 7 on October 22nd 2009 will herald a mass netbook uptake of the new OS. After that launch date, most new netbooks released will be running Windows 7 over XP. Of these, most will come with the lowest-specced ‘Starter Edition’ version.

For this who want to be able to personalise their desktop, use Aero Peek and Taskbar Previews then you may want to upgrade to Home Premium. Microsoft has been quiet about what it will be charging for that particular upgrade, until now.

Brandon LeBlanc, from the Windows Blog, has revealed that the move from Starter Edition to Home Premium will cost netbook users $79.99. This will be done under a program called Windows Anytime Upgrade (or WAU for short). To move from Home Premium to Professional will cost $89.99 and to move from Home Premium to Ultimate will cost $139.99. These will be available as retail upgrade packages in the US after October 22nd.

For those of you in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK or the US – you will also be able to purchase the upgrade directly from the Windows 7 operating system. There is no pricing for other countries right now.

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