Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T – first details and press shots

Acer is planning to launch a new TimelineX series of ultra-thins notebooks at the end of March. One of these will be the 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) Acer Aspire TimelineX 1830T according to macles.

The 1830T differs from its predecessors (1410 or 1810T) by offering the Intel Core i5-520UM dual-core processor that has a 1.06GHz clock speed. The processor benefits from Turbo Boost technology, which means the clock speed can increase to 1.86GHz depending on usage. This new generation of Intel processors enables good performance without sacrificing battery life. Read more

Sony Vaio M netbook gets official

Sony has officially announced the Vaio M netbook that we’ve heard so much of recently. The Vaio M is Sony’s value offering compared to its Vaio W netbook, eschewing the HD display and chiclet keyboard of its higher-priced brother.

The Sony Vaio M (M11M1E) comes with a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter, 6-cell battery and a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display. It will be available in either black or white and should be available from the end of the month. Click through for the specs and some promo shots. Read more

Samsung prepping Atom-powered slate PC for H2 2010?

Samsung is planning to launch its own slate tablet device in the second half of 2010 according Philip Newton, director of Samsung Australia’s IT division. In a dig towards the Apple iPad, Newton says that this tablet will have enough processing power to be a “primary device” for most people along with desktop docking.

“The problems I see with the iPad are its processing power and (lack of) connectivity to a certain extent” said Newton. “I do feel that that slate-type platform has legs but I think the legs need to be far more powerful, for example an Atom-based product which has far greater flexibility, not to mention inputs and outputs. This has more potential than an iPad.” Read more

Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible netbook in video review

We’ve already seen the Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible tablet being handled by Mike over at NetbookLive recently, but that was a pre-production model. He has since been lucky enough to get hold of final hardware and there has been some improvements.

Performance is still sluggish, however the touchscreen accuracy appears to be much better both with stylus and finger use. You can check out the comprehensive video review after the cut. Read more

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.

Sony Vaio M netbook unboxed

Sony’s value-oriented Vaio M netbook has seen its first unboxing pics courtesy of Stuff. The Vaio M netbook isn’t as fully featured as the Vaio W series, ditching the high-resolution screen, chiclet keyboard and slimmer profile, for a lower £300 price point when it becomes available in April.

The Vaio M has a 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD and a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) display. Build quality seems typically solid and the display is crisp and bright. You can find some more pictures here.

Via Engadget.

MSI Wind U100 gets OS X tablet mod; who needs an iPad?

An intrepid modder has come up with an innovative mod that turns the MSI Wind U100 netbook into a tablet device complete with hackintosh OS X operating system and customised UI. The mod involves removing the keyboard and then mounting the LCD where the keyboard once was.

As the modder alexbates says, this mod enables you to “build an iPad with 10 times the storage, twice the speed, external video (VGA), webcam, USB ports, and built-in multi card reader, all for $350.” Hopefully a video should be available in due course, in the meantime you can find all the details on this mod here.

Via Engadget.

Asus Eee PC 1008P-KR netbook video unboxing

The Asus Eee PC 1008P-KR Karim Rashid netbook is one of the premium offerings from Asus, well at least until the Eee PC 1018P is released. It sports the designer’s influences, mainly on the exterior. Peter from Netbooked has taken one for a test drive and shot an unboxing video.

The model unboxed comes with 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD and Windows 7 Home Premium. He also confirms that the unit does come with two batteries, although this is region specific and I’m unaware of such generosity in the UK market. Another nice features is the flush display. Build quality so far seems above average along with a firm keyboard. Check out the unboxing video of this $500 netbook after the jump. Read more

Entourage Edge review roundup

The Entourage Edge is an interesting device that maybe points to a new form-factor we’ll start to see more of going forward. The $499 Edge combines two displays, one with a 9.7-inch e-ink screen and the other with a 10.1-inch (1024 x 600) colour LCD. It uses the Android operating system and comes with a SD card slot, SIM slot, two USB ports, Wi-Fi (b/g) and costs $499.

A number of sites have reviewed the Entourage Edge recently and the general consensus seems to be that it gets a lot of things right, but it is still let down by its awkward design, heavy chassis and sluggish processor. Check out snippets from some recent reviews after the cut. Read more

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.

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