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Filed under: Laptops

You’ve already seen just how sexy ASUS’ Eee PC S101 is in person (save for that heinous brown motif), but now you can take a peek at just how luscious this slim slab of computing prowess looks in the eyes of a press photographer. And if you’re worried about real-world use, an early review puts those fears completely to bed. Critics found the machine to be absolutely stunning (a real shock, we know), and on the performance end, they were generally pleased. Of note, it did long for integrated WWAN and a tinier price tag, but we suppose you can′t have everything. Speaking of which, we’re seeing a probable €599 ($816) price tag for the European model, which clearly includes a premium for the aforementioned overall hotness.

Read - Press shots
Read - Review

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: GPS, Laptops

Word is that Dell’s Mini 9 is a modder’s paradise, rife with precious little alcoves in which to squeeze teeny-tiny new stuff. The confirmation: MyDellMini forum user Tom Beauchamp bought a USB GPS receiver (not much larger than a quarter) and snugly fit it inside his Mini’s case. He’s provided images and instructions so you, too, can illegally navigate with your notebook computer in the passenger’s seat of your car. We can’t recommend that sort of irresponsibility, but if you want to mod it just because you can, hit the read link for the instructions and images. Beware, of course, that a minimum amount of technical savvy is required to avoid breaking a perfectly good little laptop. Like that was ever going to stop you.

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Original post by Samuel Axon

Filed under: Laptops

Elonex’ One t and slightly upgraded t+ netbooks are certainly an improvement over the original Elonex One but, as Plug In Blog’s hands-on of the device shows, it still falls somewhat uncomfortably between the OLPC and a regular netbook. That said, for the £99 price tag (or less than $200), the site seems to think that the netbook will get the done job for its target audience: students, and even anyone else that’s not looking to do much more than email and some basic web browsing. Anyone needing more than that, however, had best look elsewhere, especially considering that the netbook’s underpowered and uncommon Ingenic XBurst processor will likely limit your software options beyond anything that doesn’t come pre-installed.

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

Anxious to get your claws around an Eee PC that looks — amazingly — nothing like an Eee PC? Feast your eyes on the S101, which was recently toyed with by our brethren over at Engadget Chinese. We must say, this here piece of machinery looks mighty fine save for that not-at-all appealing brown coat, but we suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all. As for launch dates (pricing is still a mystery), we’re hearing that the Asia-Pacific realm could see it as early as tomorrow, while Europe will get it in around a fortnight and North America sometime later this month. Oh, and if you’re in that latter region, you better bite early — just 1,000 of ‘em will be made available here initially.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Sure, we’ve seen projects like SplashTop boot a stripped Linux build quickly, but Intel engineers at the recent Linux Plumbers Conference took things a little father last Thursday, starting up modified versions of Fedora and Intel’s own Moblin Linux on an SSD-equipped Eee PC in just five seconds. That’s all the way to an idle CPU and disk, not cheating and starting a window manager while background services thrash in the background, mind you — and it’s fast enough that the splash screen was removed from both distros. The changes are being sent back to the Moblin and Fedora trunks, but if you’re curious, a detailed overview of the changes awaits at the read link.

[Via SlashGear]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

We knew it would be going down, but the formal announcement has finally been made: MSI’s Wind will soon be gracing store shelves at Best Buy. As early as “right now” if you′re lucky enough, the 10-inch netbook can be procured at your local BB (no word on Future Shop), and we’re told that it’ll pack a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, Windows XP Home Edition, a 10-inch WSVGA (1,024 x 600) display, GMA950 graphics set, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 120GB hard drive, 3-cell battery (sigh…) and a black or white motif. You might expect to just snag one real quick like for $399, but don’t expect to leave without being hassled for one of those Product Replacement Plans. Fun, fun! Full release is after the break.

Continue reading MSI’s 10-inch Wind winds up in Best Buy

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Slowly but surely, MSI is following in the laughable footsteps of ASUS. At first, the Wind was simply the Wind. Now, we’ve a smattering of variants to keep up with, and according to a recent interview with director of US sales Andy Tung, that trend isn’t about to stop. Starting next week, the Wind 𔱬 will be available at an undisclosed “large national retailer,” with the 3-cell / WinXP version going for $399. Additionally, Tung gave us all a reason to hold off on making that very purchase by revealing that the business-minded Wind 𔲀 (or Wind 2, as he called it) will be landing on US soil in late November or early December. Said machine will boast “a whole new look,” new HDD / SSD options and inbuilt 3.5G WWAN connectivity for under $600. Also of note, MSI’s internal research has found that Linux-infused netbooks get returned four times as often as units with Windows XP; we can′t say we′re shocked that people don′t feel like learning a new OS, but we′re deeply, deeply saddened that reading comprehension levels (particularly on specification labels) in this nation are so obviously low.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Laptop Mag would evidently like to make two things quite clear: if you pick up MSI’s Wind U90, you better love SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and be totally cool with the sub-2 hour battery life. For those of you still with us, you can probably guess that the 10-inch Wind didn’t do so hot during its review, with those two rubs really overshadowing the solid design, great keyboard and delicious price tag ($350). For whatever reason, MSI figured it’d be peachy to toss a 3-cell battery in there and let mobile users just deal with the 1 hour, 39 minute lifespan; obviously, that’s an issue serious road warriors can’t ignore. If you’re willing to pony up for an extra battery and install your own OS (if SUSE isn’t your cup of tea), the Wind U90 might not make for a bad companion, but as-is, you better do some serious soul searching before pulling the trigger.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

Just when we think things can’t get any worse for the Eee’s bedraggled reputation as a brand, along comes ASUS with a subtle deviation to give us some much needed hope. The “fashion-friendly” S101 ($699 to $799), which will ship in brown (seriously?), champagne and graphite hues, and feature a 10.2-inch WSVGA LED-backlit display, an SSD up to 64GB in size, 4-in-1 flash card reader, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, a VGA output, three USB 2.0 ports, 0.3-megapixel webcam and a multi-touch trackpad. In related news, we’ve got the remarkably heinous 904HA (shown after the break), which inexplicably comes in puke green and lollipop red (or black, phew), and includes a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, 6-cell battery and a $399.99 price tag. You’re stoked, aren’t you?

Read - Eee PC 𔒝
Read - Eee PC 904HA via EeePCNews

Continue reading ASUS makes Eee PC 𔒝 official, 904HA images leak out

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

We’re assuming Apple will eventually give up and release a netbook of its own, but until then Steve had better get used to seeing OS X hacked to run on all manner of tiny laptops — the latest to make the switch is Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9. Nothing too complicated about this hack, since most of the work was already done for the internally-similarly MSI Wind, but you’ll have to dig up some extra Broadcom drivers to get WiFi and sound working. Seems like a fun little project for the weekend — anyone going to take the plunge?

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Handhelds, Laptops

We know that there are those of you who have been asking — quite insistently — “What does it take to get an Acer Aspire One UMPC ’round here?” Apparently, it doesn’t take much: pop out the screen, replace it with an 8.9-inch touchscreen kit, flip the lid ’round so the display sits on top, toss out the keyboard and screw it all back together again. The specimen pictured above is running Ubuntu on top of the Aspire’s 1.6GHz Atom CPU with 1.5GB RAM and an 8GB SSD (and quite happily, we might add). Hit that read link for details and plenty of pictures.

[Via SlashGear]

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Original post by Joseph L. Flatley

Filed under: Laptops

When every company out there is cranking out the same 10-inch 1.6GHz Atom netbook, there aren′t many ways to make your product stand out: the obvious trick is to go low on price, but ASUS isn’t messing with its profit margins. Instead, it’s apparently going negative in the most adorable way possible — check this hit piece on the Acer Aspire One. If all these frowny faces are to be believed, using the Aspire One will basically be awkward and unergonomic for a short while, at which point you’ll burst into flames. Not only that, but ASUS can’t even bring itself to spell out “Aspire,” instead starring it out like someone might catch them saying it out loud. Very mature. Still, if anything can revive our flagging enthusiasm for the entire netbook category, it would be one of these WINNER crowns packed in with every Eee — now that’s a real differentiating factor, ASUS. Full image in the gallery.

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Laptops

It’s with palm planted firmly on forehead that we announce ASUS’ Eee PC 900HA. For a brief moment in time, we actually thought that the outfit was finally realizing that the moniker needed a break, and considering just how fantastic the N10 performed without three vowels preceding it, can you really blame us? Nevertheless, the company seems to have strayed back into familiar territory with the 900HA, which is essentially a 900A with a hefty 160GB hard drive. Other specs include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 𓆾 CPU, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP Home, a 4-cell battery, 802.11b/g WiFi and an 8.9-inch 1,024 x 600 display. Expect it to ship just in time for the 900XXLHA’s introduction for $349.99.

[Via jkkmobile]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops

We were suitably impressed by ASUS’s netbook moniker-defying N10 when we got our hands on it earlier this month, and it seems to at least be able to hold its own with Call of Duty 4, but if you’re looking for a bit more information to inform your potential purchase, you may want to hit up the link below to check out Mobile Computer’s full review of the ultraportable. As you might expect, they were especially impressed by the N10’s performance compared to standard netbooks, but they’re a bit perplexed as to exactly what the target audience for it is, describing it as an “interesting technological exercise,” but one that sits uncomfortably between traditional netbooks and regular Core 2 Duo-based laptops and ultraportables. Still, we’re guessing the N10’s uniqueness alone will win it a few admirers, and if that $700 price tag ever gets knocked down, it’d no doubt have plenty more.

[Thanks, Michael A]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Laptops

Samsung’s NC10 netbook is pretty much the same 10-inch 1.6GHz Atom kit as all the rest, but What Laptop says it’ll be priced a little more aggressively than the others at £299 ($532). Sure, that’s not a huge savings, but in a market saturated with me-too machines all running a 10-year-old OS, price might be the only differentiating factor left — hopefully Sammy sees fit to undercut the competition Stateside as well.

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Original post by Nilay Patel