Point of View’s 10.2-inch Mobii ION netbook reviewed
October 26, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Netherlands-based company, Point of View, announced its 10.2-inch Mobii ION netbook around three months ago although it’s been distinctly quiet since. However, Fudzilla has today released one of the first thorough reviews that I’ve seen of this unit. The Mobii ION is currently on sale in Europe for €339, along with one other ION netbook, the 11.6-inch Samsung N510.
The Mobii ION was recommended for its good looks (it comes in a number of bright colours), build quality and it stood tall against a number of gaming and HD video tests. 1080p HD playback was possible via the HDMI port and Call of Duty 4 managed 25fps at low resolutions. One of the few points against it was poor European availability and a small keyboard/display versus the larger Samsung N510. Check out the key review points after the break. Read more
Asus Eee PC 1201N specs get confirmed?
October 23, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Pierre over at Blogeee has managed to get hold of what looks like some authentic specs of the French SKU of the upcoming Asus Eee PC 1201N. The good news is that it confirms what’s already been rumoured. The 12.1-inch (1366 x 768) model will come with a 1.6GHz dual-core 330 Atom processor and Nvidia ION chipset. It will also have 2GB Ram and a 250GB HDD.
It will come with Windows Home Premium and feature Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth, a 0.3MP webcam, HDMI-out, three USB ports and weigh 1.4kg. Running a dual-core CPU with Nvidia ION will take its toll on battery life and so far that remains a mystery, although we know that it will feature a 6-cell (5600mAh) battery. The device will be launched in December, just enough time to get it under the Christmas tree. More details as we have it. Check out the specs (in French) after the break. Read more
Lenovo Ideapad S12 ION now on sale in US
October 22, 2009 at 12:51 pm
The Lenovo Ideapad S12 ION went on sale in Japan yesterday and now the configuration option has popped up on the Lenovo US website. It is available to order right now for $599 and ships in 11 business days.
The specs are exactly the same as the Japanese version. The Ideapad S12 ION has a 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) display powered by a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU. It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), 250GB HDD & 2GB RAM as standard. Other features include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (b/g), 1.3MP webcam, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI-out and a 6-cell battery good for 6 hours.
Via Netbooked.
Asus Eee PC 1210HA / 1201N manuals uncovered; differences outlined
October 22, 2009 at 12:51 pm
The manual for Asus’ upcoming 12.1-inch Eee PC netbook series is now live. Whilst we know quite a bit about the Eee PC 1201HA, information on the 1201N has been subject to rumour, but is believed to be equipped with ION graphics and a dual-core processor.
Interestingly the manual gives details on both models and shows the port differences between them too. We can see from the schematics that the 1201N does indeed include a HDMI-out that is not found on the 1201HA, in all likelihood confirming the ION chipset. The manual also talks of an Eee PC 1201T model that appears to lack the HDMI. It seems similar to the 1201HA but only has two USB ports compared to the three found in the 1201HA. Read more
Asus Eee PC 1201HA netbook now official; press shots live
October 20, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Asus Italy has today confirmed the existence of the Eee PC 1201HA Seashell. This 12.1-inch netbook will be launching in mid-November with Windows 7 Home Premium in tow for €399.
The 1201HA has a 6-cell battery that the company claims will last for 8 hours, not bad at all considering the larger display. It will be powered by a 1.33GHz Z520 Atom CPU and come with 2GB RAM and a 250GB HDD. Other features include a 0.3MP webcam, Wi-Fi (b/g/n) and 500GB of online data storage. Read more
Lenovo Ideapad S12 ION arriving 22nd October in Japan
October 19, 2009 at 9:20 am
Lenovo is finally set to launch its ION-powered Ideapad S12 netbook this week, well at least in Japan anyway. The 12.1-inch (1280 x 800) netbook was initially announced in late May in various forms (Intel, VIA and ION). The first two SKUS are already out whilst the ION version was delayed until the launch of Windows 7.
As promised, Lenovo Japan is set to launch the Ideapad S12 ION with Windows 7 Home Premium on October 22nd (Windows 7 launch day) for 68,800 Yen. Availability in other regions is expected shortly.
The Ideapad S12 ION partners a 1.6GHz N270 Atom CPU with the Nvidia 9400M GPU. The model includes 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (b/g), 1.3MP webcam, three USB ports, 4-in-1 card reader, HDMI-out and a 6-cell battery good for 6 hours.
Via Netbooked.
Nvidia ION 2 to support VIA Nano processors?
October 8, 2009 at 7:45 pm
We are only now starting to see netbooks sporting the ION chipset come into the market, however that doesn’t stop us talking about ION 2. Fudzilla reports that the second ION chipset is on track to start shipping this year, without citing a launch date.
Whilst not too many details have been revealed thus far, ION 2 will apparently support a number of different processors including VIA Nano, Intel ULV & of course Intel Atom. As the VIA CPUs are normally cheaper than Intel’s equivalents, this could lead to a wave of VIA ION-powered netbooks in the not-too-distant future.
HP Mini 311 reviewed – close to 6 hrs battery life
October 7, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Following on from the HP Mini 311 benchmarks that appeared yesterday, Laptop Mag has released its review of the ION-powered netbook. Overall, it scored highly, earning a coveted ‘Editors Choice’ award. Whilst we’d already seen that performance was way ahead than your traditional netbook, we didn’t know how much of a hit this took on battery life.
Luckily, battery life wasn’t compromised. In their tests, they managed to get a very respectable 5 hours and 46 minutes out of the 6-cell battery. Combine this with a reasonable $399 price point, and sleek chassis, it seems that HP are onto a winner with the Mini 311. Check out the key review points after the break. Read more
HP’s ION-powered Mini 311 netbook benchmarked
October 6, 2009 at 7:49 pm
The HP Mini 311 is one of the first ION-powered netbooks hitting the market (along with the Samsung N510 & Lenovo Ideapad S12). The inclusion of Nvidia’s ION circuitry should propel the netbooks performance way past than one with just Intel graphics. The difference will mostly be felt in 3D graphics, HD video content and flash (GPU-accelerated flash was officially announced yesterday by Adobe).
Laptop Mag has revealed its first set of benchmarks that it has for the HP Mini 311 and compares this against traditional netbooks along with some of the latest CULV-based ultra-thins. The Mini 311 scored 1,917 on the PCMark05 test, nearly 500 points better than the current netbook average. Read more
Adobe officially announces GPU-accelerated Flash Player 10.1
October 5, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Adobe has finally got round to announcing that the latest Flash player 10.1 will pretty much work on pretty much most mobile devices. On the netbook side of things, Adobe has partnered with Nvidia to enable hardware acceleration of the flash player. Adobe has said that a beta of Flash Player 10.1 is expected by the end of the year.
What this means is that HD flash content from YouTube, Hulu & BBC iPlayer should work stutter-free on Nvidia ION-powered netbooks or Tegra-powered smartbooks. Nvidia ION netbooks coming out by the year-end includes the Samsung N510, HP Mini 311 and Lenovo Ideapad S12.
Adobe has also partnered with Qualcomm to get flash working on its Snapdragon chipset. This should hopefully mean a smooth flash experience on smartbooks too. Check out a few video demos of the new flash player in action after the jump. Read more
Nvidia & Adobe’s GPU-accelerated Flash Player coming soon?
September 29, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Nvidia & Adobe has long-talked of releasing a hardware-accelerated support for Flash videos. Early builds of this player has been floating around with one such example on YouTube (although it has since been taken down). The video showcased YouTube HD videos being played on an ION-powered netbook.
The Flash player is expected to work with other Nvidia chipsets too including Tegra, which is expected to power smartbooks. It is still unclear when exactly the updated Flash player will launch or whether this hardware acceleration is exclusive to Nvidia GPUs. An official announcement is expected by Nvidia on 5th October.
Via Netbooked.
NbC: Samsung N510 netbook unboxed
September 28, 2009 at 8:22 pm
The Samsung N510 is one of the first Nvidia ION-powered netbooks on the market. It has just seen its retail release in the UK, where it is selling for around the £400 mark. Whilst it is towards the top-end of netbook price-points, it is worth remembering that the Samsung N120 cost around £370 on launch. Not too bad considering that the Samsung N510 offers an 11.6-inch (1366 x 768) LED-backlit display, ION chipset and 7-hour battery.
The much-anticipated Samsung N510 has landed at NbC HQ and we’ve promptly done an unboxing to show you what to expect inside the box. We would like to clarify that we have the UK SKU and it seems that Samsung has been kind to us. The UK model has a 1.66GHz N280 Atom processor and 5900mAh battery. This is an improvement over the mainland European version that is sold with the 1.6GHz N270 Atom and lower capacity 5200mAh battery. Read more
Mobinnova’s Tegra-powered élan smartbook gets priced
September 26, 2009 at 9:03 am
Mobinnova’s 8.9-inch élan smartbook was announced at Computex. One of the main highlights of the device is the fact that it sports the Nvidia Tegra platform. This means it can play HD video whilst being energy efficient too. The company claims that the élan offers 5-10 hours of 720p HD video playback in a package weighing just 836g and measuring 20.5mm in thickness.
As we gear up for a release by the end of the year in Asia, digi.163 has found out that the élan will cost $299 according to Nvidia reps. There’s no word when it will be hitting other regions like the US & Europe. If they don’t bump up the price too much for the western release, the élan could do very well for itself.
Via Shanzai.
Tegra-powered smartbooks running Google Chrome OS in development
September 24, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Earlier this month, rumours surfaced that smartbooks using the Nvidia Tegra platform were in development using Google’s upcoming Chrome OS. Now JKOnTheRun has heard directly from the horse’s mouth that these devices are indeed being planned. Mike Rayfield, Nvidia’s GM of Mobile Business, has said that Nvidia is “working closely with Google,” on the Chrome OS platform. Nvidia plan to support Windows Mobile/Google Android in the smartphone segment and Windows CE/Google Chrome OS in the smartbook segment.
The Tegra platform is different to ION in that it pairs an ARM-based processor with an Nvidia GeForce GPU (ION pairs an Intel Atom CPU with the Nvidia 9400M graphics). The benefits of Tegra includes the ability to handle 1080p video, HD Flash, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and a huge battery life. All of this while being very energy efficient.
Samsung N510 product page now live
September 14, 2009 at 11:31 pm
The Samsung N510 is already on sale in a few places including Italy, Germany and Hong Kong. It is expected to go on sale in the UK very shortly, with a number of UK e-tailers opening up pre-orders but no one actually shipping right now.
To gear up for the launch, Samsung has unveiled the official product page for the N510 netbook, which includes an official spec list. The interesting part is that it does look like the UK will get slightly beefier specs compared to mainland Europe. The N510 UK SKU will get the N280 Atom (Europe gets N270) and we believe that the 6-cell battery will be rated at 5900mAH, compared to 5200mAh for Europe.
Also, now that the N510 is already out in Europe, some users have been busy putting the ION-powered netbook through its paces. One such person is Fungus-T, who has ran a number of video tests (including gaming & HD video) to show off what it can do. Check out a selection of videos after the break. Read more
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