Solid State Disk maker RunCore has released a new line of 50mm mini-SATA PCIe SSDs for the Asus Eee PC T91. But the folks at MyDellMini say that while the the RunCore Pro IV Light series of disks are described as “compatible only with” the Eee PC T91, it should also work with the now-discontinued Dell Inspiron Mini 9 or Vostro A90.

In a nutshell, the SSDs offer faster read and write speeds than you’ll get from the disks that come with those netbooks. And while Asus only offers the Eee PC T91 with up to 16GB of storage (or 32GB for the Eee PC T91MT), the RunCore models are available with up to 64GB capacities.

The RunCore Pro IV Light disks offer read speeds up to 125MB/s and write speeds up to 80MB/s. A 16GB model will set you back about $120, while the 32GB version runs $140. The higher capacity 64GB SSD costs $230. All three are available from MyDigitalDiscount or from the RunCore store (where the price is a bit higher).

Eeebuntu is a popular Linux distribution designed to play well with netbooks. It’s optimized for laptops with small screens and Intel Atom processors. And as you can probably guess from the name, it was originally designed as a custom version of Ubuntu Linux for Asus Eee PC netbooks. Today the Eeebuntu team launched the first public beta of Eeebuntu 4.0, which drops the Ubuntu base for Debian Linux.

Unfortunately, the servers are getting hammered right now, so you might have to wait a little while to download Eeebuntu 4.0 Beta. Riccardo at Eee PC.it grabbed a screenshot (shown above) before the site went down, and it looks like Eeebuntu 4.0 ditches the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface for a desktop with a dock-style application launcher and a single panel at the top of the screen. Update: Users can also install the Netbook Remix interface from the Eeebuntu repositories. It may be available out of the box after Eeebuntu 4.0 leaves beta.

I can’t say for certain whether all the applications in the dock are included with Eeebuntu out of the box, but I spot icons for the Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers, Skype and Pidgin communication software, Thunderbird email client, GIMP image editor, VLC media player, and OpenOffice.org office software. There are a few icons I don’t recognize.

Anyone have a chance to download and try Eeebuntu 4.0 Beta yet? Let us know what you think in the comments.

thanks Bennett!

Netbooks and Notebooks

• Lenovo IdeaPad U150 11.6″ laptop w/Celeron SU2300, Win 7 Home Premium for $549.99 + free shipping – Amazon
• Asus Eee PC 1001P 10.1″ pink netbook w/Atom N450, Win 7 Starter, 11 hour battery for $324.99 + free shipping – Newegg
• Refurbished Asus Eee PC 1005HA 10.1″ netbook w/Atom N270, Win XP, 3 cell battery for $219.99 – Mwave
• Samsung N150 10.1″ netbook w/Atom N450, Win 7 Starter, 6 cell battery for $344.99 + free shipping – Newegg
• Free Compaq netbook with a purcahse of a Double Play service bundle – Verizon

Accessories

• Rosewill DVD Burner Model for $39.99 +$1.99 s&h – Newegg (coupon: EMCYNYX39)
• Refurbished Targus Universal Laptop Docking Station w/ audio for $15 + $5 s&h – DealsClick
• Logitech V220 Cordless Optical Mouse for Notebooks – Dark Silver for $13.99 after rebate – Buy.com
• AGAMA M-900LS RF Wireless Laser Mouse Black for $9.99 after rebate – ZipZoomfly
• Kingston 1GB PC2-5300 667MHz 200-pin SO-DIMM DDR2 Laptop Memory for $22.75 + free shipping – Buy.com
• Kingston 8GB DataTraveler 102 USB Flash Drive, Blue for $18.88 + free shipping – Buy.com

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.

NVIDIA is introducing a new technology that allows computers with integrated and dedicated graphics cards to seamlessly switch between the two. If you’re surfing the web, you probably don’t need your high performance, energy-hungry NVIDIA graphics card to kick in and suck your laptop’s battery dry. But when you’re watching an HD movie, playing a game, or performing other actions that would benefit from a graphics boost, NVIDIA’s new technology will automatically switch to the higher performance graphics card.

NVIDIA calls the system Optimus, and it’s designed to work with GeForce 200M, 300M, and GeForce M GPUs as well as the as-yet-unannounced NVIDIA ION 2 graphics processor. It supports Intel’s Core 2 Duo, Core i3, i5, and i7 processors and Intel Atom N450 CPUs.

The move makes a lot of sense for a few reasons. First, since Intel’s latest processors integrated the graphics and CPU functions on a single chip, there’s no way for NVIDIA to simply replace the integrated graphics processors with its own chips. And second, on existing systems that have two GPUs, you have to toggle between them manually which takes time and sometimes requires you to close applications.

The Optimus system will let users manually switch graphics. But for day to day use, it will automatically determine which graphics solution meets your needs.

The first laptop equipped with the new Optimus technology is the Asus UL50VF, a 15.6 inch laptop with a 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor, Intel GMA 4500MHD graphics and NVIDIA GeForce G210M. Engadget’s Joanna Stern has been testing the laptop for a few days. She says it made the switch seamlessly when she wanted to watch HD YouTube or local videos. But the Optimus software didn’t recognize the video game she fired up during her test, which meant that the switch wasn’t automatic.

Gizmodo  reports that as many as 50 notebooks with Optimus should be available by this summer. Hopefully that list will include a few Atom-powered netbooks, or better yet, 11 or 12 inch notebooks with CULV processors and NVIDIA graphics.

The Asus Eee PC T101MT is a 10 inch tablet-style netbook with a touchscreen display that supports multitouch gestures. You can fold the screen down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode, or use the T101MT as a traditional laptop. The computer isn’t available for purchase yet, but Asus is expected to release the new model soon. And the company has posted a video on YouTube which shows some of the touch-friendly features of Windows 7 Home Premium as well as the custom software that Asus created for its touchscreen netbooks.

You can check out the video after the break. But in a nutshell, it looks like the Eee PC T101MT will come with the most of the same software that comes with the Asus Eee PC T91MT, the company’s existing 9 inch netbook.

The biggest differences between the two models is that the T91MT has a smaller screen and display and a slower processor. The Eee PC T101MT will pack a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor while the T91MT has a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU.

via Netbook News.de

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The Samsung N150 is one of a handful of mini-laptops powered by Intel Atom N450 processors that Samsung introduced last month. It’s one of the cheapest new models, with a rather ordinary looking plastic case and a battery that’s good for up to 7.5 hours (as opposed to the 11 to 12 hours of run time Samsung is promising for the NB30 and N210/N220 netbooks).

CNET has posted one of the first reviews of the Samsung N150. Overall, the reviewer finds the netbook to be a mixed bag. He finds the keyboard to be a little cramped, but he likes the touchpad which supports multitouch gestures.

The 4400mAh battery provided just over 5 hours of run time in a Battery Eater test. Since Battery Eater is designed to constantly stress the CPU, you should expect closer to 6 or 7 hours of web surfing or other light duty activities.

The Samsung N150 is available from Amazon for $349.

via Eee PC.net

When Notion Ink showed off an early prototype of its 10 inch tablet at CES last month, the device was still in the early prototype stages. How early? The case was hand-carved out of wood instead of being made of metal or plastic. But the Adam tablet still got a lot of buzz as one of the most exciting devices on display at CES thanks to two factors. It has a Pixel Qi 3qi display which looks as good outdoors as it does indoors, and which can be flipped from full color mode to a high contrast, low power mode for reading eBooks or web pages. And the tablet uses NVIDIA’s Tegra platform which bundles high quality graphics with a low power processor.

The Notion Ink Adam still isn’t ready to ship yet. But the company sent SlashGear a series of mockup images showing what the finished product could look like. All told, it doesn’t look that different from the device I saw at CES. But the company does have a few new details to share.

First, there could be two different versions of the Adam. One would measure 12.9mm thick, while the other would be just 11.6mm. Both would be thinner than the 13.4mm iPad, although it’s likely that the thinner model would not have a Pixel Qi display.

Notion Ink claims that the Adam might be able to run for 2-3 times longer than the iPad for surfing the web or performing some other tasks. SlashGear reports that the tablet will also launch with partnerships in place with digital magazine, eBook, and comic book content available.

You can check out my hands-on video with the Notion Ink tablet prototype from CES after the break.

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The Gigabyte Booktop M1305 is a 13 inch notebook that comes with a docking station that lets you effectively use the laptop as if it were a desktop by quickly and easily plugging in a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and other peripherals. It’s basically the larger version of the 10 inch Booktop M1022.

The idea is that the notebook is more useful when you stick it into the dock. So to promote the “stick it in” concept, Gigabyte is running a campaign in Taiwan showing another popular “stick it in” action: people sticking their fingers in their nose. Because umm… well, really I don’t know why.

It’s not exactly the kind of campaign that’s going to appeal to everyone. but who knows, maybe it will go over well in Taiwan.

via NewGadgets.de and Mobile and Notebook

By definition, netbooks are cheap (and small) laptops. As such, they typically have cheap plastic cases because let’s face it, aluminum, magnesium, and the other metals often used in laptop casings cost a bit more than plastic. But a handful of netbooks (most noticably the HP Mini 2133, 2140, 5101, and 5102) have had metal cases. And now you an add another one to the list: The Core Grid Vigood U220.

If that brand name isn’t familiar, that’s because this netbook comes from an obscure Chinese manufacturer. Or at least, obscure outside of China.

The Vigood U220 features your typical netbook specs including a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 250GB hard drive, and a 10.2 inch display. It sports 802.11b/g WiFi, a 1.3MP webcam, 3 USB ports, VGA output, and a flash card reader. The one distinguishing characteristic is its metal chassis. Shanzai.com reports the Vigood U220 sells for the equivalent of about $350.

Netbooks and Notebooks

• Gateway LT2023u 10.1″ netbook w/Atom N270, Win 7 Starter, 3 cell battery for $270.68 + free shipping – Amazon
• Refurbished HP Mini 110-1025dx 10.1″ netbook w/Atom N270, Win XP, 3 cell battery for $259.99 – TigerDirect
• Toshiba Satellite T115D 11.6″ notebook w/1.6GHz AMD Neo CPU, Win 7 Home Premium for $439 + free shipping – J&R
• Asus Eee PC UL20A-A1 12.1″ notebook w/Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU, Win 7 Home Premium for $569 + free shipping – J&R (via Amazon)

Accessories

• Refurbished Netgear WN111 RangeMax NEXT 802.11n USB adapter for $19.99 – TigerDirect
• PNY HP 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive (5 Pack) for $29.99 + free shipping - Buy.com
• Kingston 40GB SSDNow SSD for $113.13 + free shipping – Amazon

You can find more deals on netbooks, gadgets, and accessories in the Liliputing Deals section.