If you want an Asus Eee PC 1000H or an MSI Wind with a 6 cell battery, you’ll have to pony up about $550. For about $400 you can get a Lenovo IdeaPad S10, but it’ll ship with a 3 cell battery. And that means that Acer is the first PC maker to offer a netbook with a 6 cell battery, 8.9 inch display and 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU for under $400.

Amazon is taking orders for the Aspire One for $399.95. This version also ships with a 160GB HDD and Windows XP, which means you won’t be saddled with the slow SSD that plagues the Linux version of the Aspire One.

via Engadget

European mobile carrier Vodafone has announced plans to sell Dell Inspiron Mini 9 laptop’s bundled with 3G wireless modems. The laptops will be available for purchase at Vodafone stores throughout Europe and online.

The laptop should be available from Vodafone (or directly from Dell) in late September. There’s no word on exactly how much Vodafone will charge for the netbook. There’s been a lot of speculation that we could see wireless providers subsidize the cost of cheap netbooks like the Inspiron Mini 9 much as they do with cellphones. Buy into a multi-year contract and get a cheap or free computer.

In the UK, Carphone Warehouse is already offering a free Elonex Webbook with the purchase of a data plan.

thanks Martyn!

According to an Intel product roadmap posted by Japanese site PC Watch, the chip maker plans to release its next generation version of the low power Atom CPU in the third quarter of 2009.

There aren’t a ton of details available at the moment, but it looks like the new chips will come in single and dual core flavors and continue to use hyperthreading, which means your operating system will likely report 2 or 4 processors. You will now, however, see the kind of performance boost you would expect from a true quad-core CPU, but hyperthreading does provide a small performance bump when running some applications.

The current generation Atom CPU uses a single core chip with hyperthreading and does seem to offer pretty decent performance without putting much strain on your battery. Unfortunately the roadmap doesn’t say anything about the power draw of the new chips, so I don’t know if you’ll take a battery life hit along with the promised performance increase.

[via Engadget and Register Hardware]

If you’re the sort of person who cares more about what a PC looks like on the inside than the outside, you typically have to wait for some eager hacker to buy one and rip it apart (or if you’re lucky, the FCC will publish some photos before the computer is even released). But while the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 isn’t expected to ship for a few more weeks, Dell has published a few photos of the device’s insides in its online service manual.

It looks like it should be pretty easy to upgrade the RAM, swap out the Intel SSD for a faster module, and switch out the SIM card if you get a model with a 3G modem. The manual also includes handy instructions for flashing the system BIOS, replacing the system coin-cell battery, and even replacing a bad power button board.

[via jkkmobile]

While OLPC, Intel, Asus, Acer, Dell, and everyone else in the cheap ultraportable space continue to try to produce a $100, it looks like China’s HiVision has managed to pull it off. The HiVision NB0700 is a computer with a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, WiFi support, and a price tag as low as $98.

Don’t expect the NB0700 to win any design or speed awards. The PC has a sluggish 400MHz MIPS CPU, 1GB of solid state memory and 64MB or 128MB of RAM. It’s designed to run a custom version of Linux or Windows CE and has an SDHC card reader and 3 USB ports. It should be available next month. 

It runs some basic office and internet applications including AbiWord and Firefox.

You can check out a video after the break.

[via Eeextra and TechVideoBlog]

Read the rest of this entry »

After taking a brief hiatus from shelves everywhere, it looks like the version of the MSI Wind laptop with the 6 cell battery is starting to reappear. Or at least the version with the pink cover is anyway.

Whether you’re naturally drawn to pink or you just think your laptop is less likely to be stolen when you leave it on a table and run to the Starbucks restroom if its pink (you’re probably wrong, by the way), you can now get yourself a pink, 6 cell MSI Wind for $549 from Newegg.

[via Engadget]

Dell isn’t making a big deal out of the fact that the newly launched Inspiron Mini 9 laptop will support 3G wireless networks. But it will. Dell Senior Product Line Manager John New tells Laptop Magazine that by the end of the year the company will launch a version of the Inspiron Mini with a 3G modem. It’s possible this device could be sold by US mobile carriers who may even subsidize the price of the device by locking customers into wireless contract.

While I’d read early reports saying the Inspiron Mini would support WiMax, New says Dell has no plans to add WiMax support at the moment.

One other interesting revelation is that Dell currently has no plans to release a higher capacity battery for the Inspiron Mini 9. The included 4 cell battery is a bit more powerful than the 3 cell batteries shipping with most netbooks. And it appears that you can get a good 3 to 3.5 hours of battery life out of it. So while Dell may eventually produce a 6 cell or larger battery, right now the company plans to stick with the cheaper 4 cell model.

While Laptop Magazine was busy reviewing the Linux version of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, PC World got to spend some time with a Windows XP model. While the 8GB SSD wasn’t large enough to hold the magazine’s benchmarking tools, the review states that the machine was able to boot Windows in 30 seconds, load Microsoft Works in 8 seconds, and copy 77MB of data in about 7 seconds.

The battery also lasted about 3 and a half hours, which is about twenty minutes longer than the Linux model got in Laptop Magazine’s tests. It’s not clear if the difference is solely due to the operating systems or if the two magazines stressed the battery in different ways.

The OLPC project is resurrecting its “give one, get one” program that allows end users in developed countries to purchase the XO laptop which is designed for children in developing nations. The idea is that you pay about twice the cost of an XO and you get one while another is donated to a young person.

Last year the price tag was $399 and you could order directly through the OLPC web site. This year Amazon will be handling the sales. It’s not clear if the price will be higher or lower this year. On the one hand, production costs have probably come down a bit. On the other hand, OLPC is expected to release a version of the XO laptop that runs both Linux and Windows XP in the next month or two. So you might be able to pay a few bucks extra to get a dual boot XO.

Joanna Stern has been able to spend some quality time with the new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 mini-notebook and she’s posted a thorough review over at Laptop Magazine. In general, she seems pretty happy with the PC for the price. She reviewed a Linux unit with 1GB of RAM and says the custom version of Ubuntu 8.04 Netbook Remix with the Dell program launcher is probably the best version of Linux she’d ever used on a netbook. Here are a few more things I learned from the review:

• The notebook weighs less than 2.3 pounds, and the tiny battery charger weighs just another .3 pounds, which makes it easy to carry with you. It looks a lot like the charger that came with the Eee PC 701 which was notoriously slow at actually charging a battery. Stern says she hasn’t measured the charge time of the Inspiron Mini 9 yet, but she will soon.
• The computer has a glossy screen, but isn’t particularly prone to glare.
• The speakers are on the bezel below the screen and are reasonably loud for netbook speakers
• The keyboard is on the small side, but still touch typable. As expected, there are no dedicated function keys. Rather, you have to hit the Fn button plus another key to replicate their umm… functions. The right shift key is also awkwardly placed, which is nearly par for the course these days.
• Stern says the laptop gets hot during use, with the keyboard going up to 100 degrees, the bottom of the PC measuring 108 degrees, and the touchpad hitting 92. But she had a pre-production unit and Dell says some of the heat issues have been addressed.
• Overall battery life? About 3 hours and 12 minutes with WiFi on.

Make sure to check out the full Laptop Magazine review for a video hands on and a ton of pictures. So what do you think? Does Dell offer enough advantages over the $329 Acer Aspire One to be worth a few bucks more?

Dell has begun taking orders for the Inspiron Mini 9 mini-laptop. While the Direct2Dell blog says the Windows XP version will sell for as little as $399 US, the product page shows a $449 price tag. You can knock off about $20 by removing the integrated Bluetooth, but that’s as low as it goes — for now. Dell is also selling a model running Ubuntu 8.04 Linux with a starting price of $349.The computers will be available in the US, Japan, and “some European countries.”

The Windows XP version will begin shipping on September 18th, while you’ll have to wait until October 9th for the Linux versions to ship. But here’s the kicker, if you wait until Friday, September 5th to place your order, Dell is offering a promotion. You can get an Inspiron 9 for $99 with the purchase of a more expensive computer (specifically a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330 laptop). The promotion runs through 6am central time on Tuesday September 9th and demonstrates the fact that Dell, like everyone else, is trying to grow the market for laptops with mini-notebooks by trying to convince you that you need two laptops, a full sized one that rarely leaves the house and a mini one that’s ideal for traveling or giving to the kids to play with.

As previously noted, Dell has partnered with Box.net to provide free online storage to customers who buy the Inspiron 9. Box provides anyone with 1GB of online storage, but the company has worked with Dell to offer Inspiron 9 users 2GB. There will also be a special Dell landing page on Box.net.

Customers can customize their orders to a limited degree, which is exciting. You can opt for a larger solid state disk (up to 16GB), eliminate Bluetooth, or add additional Dell products to your order. The Inspiron 9 comes in black and white, but you have to pay an extra $25 for the white version. There aren’t a ton of options, but there are a lot more than you get when ordering an Asus Eee PC or Acer Aspire One.

Update: It looks like the starting price for the Windows XP version will be £299 in the UK, but it magically changes to £279 by the time you reach checkout. In Germany, the base price is 369 €.

Here are a few more stats about the base level system:

Dell Inspiron Mini (Linux)

• CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Atom
• Display: 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixels
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator GMA 950
• RAM: 512MB
• Storage: 4GB SSD
• OS: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux
• Connectivity: 802.11g
• Battery: 32WHr 4 cell
• Webcam: No
• Dimensions:  9.1″ x 6.7″ x 1.25″
• Weight: 2.28 pounds
• Price: $349

Dell Inspiron Mini (Windows XP)

• CPU: 1.6GHz Intel Atom
• Display: 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixels
• Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator GMA 950
• RAM: 1GB
• Storage: 8GB SSD
• OS: Windows XP
• Connectivity: 802.11g, Bluetooth
• Battery: 32WHr 4 cell
• Webcam: 1.3MP
• Dimensions: 9.1″ x 6.7″ x 1.25″
• Weight: 2.28 pounds
• Price: $449

[via Liliputing Forums and Eee PC.net and Engadget]

Dell is expected to launch it new mini-laptop tomorrow, and Chippy at UMPC Portal has gotten his hands on what appears to be a product sheet for the new computer. It holds a few surprises:

1. The laptop will be known as the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, not the Inspiron Mini or the Inspiron 910 as previously reported
2. There will be three versions, but the cheapest model will be $349, not $299 as previously reported

Otherwise, it looks like all three versions will come with solid state memory, an Intel Atom CPU and an 8.9 inch screen, which I assume will display 1024 x 600 pixels. The lightest will weigh in at 2.28 pounds.

The $349 and $399 versions will run Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and will have 512MB of RAM, while the $449 model will have twice the RAM and will run Windows XP SP3.

The cheapest model lacks a webcam and has a 4GB solid state disk, which is half the size of the SSD in the other two units.

So what do you think? At $349, are you still excited about the Dell Inspiron 9? Or would you rather buy a $329 Acer Aspire One?

Some folks like to take electronics apart and put them back together again for fun. Lucky for us, the folks at Mobile01 also like to take photos. Because they’ve just posted the most detailed article you can imagine about the disassembling a Gigabyte M912V ultraportable tablet. The article is in Chinese, but the pictures are worth an awful lot of words.

The Gigabyte M912V is a netbook with an 8.9  inch display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, and a touchscreen. The question is, now that you know how to take it apart, what would you want to put inside? The PC already includes 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth, and a touchscreen display. Those are probably the top three things hackers tend to put in these tiny laptops. I suppose it could use an SSD upgrade, 802.11n, or GPS. There’s always something.

[via UMPC Portal]

The Asus N10 may look like a Eee PC and act like an Eee PC, but this 10.2 laptop with a 1.6GHz Intel processor won’t bear the Eee PC name. Asus officially unveiled the notebook at ASUS World 2008 in Korea today.

While the N10 has many of the same components that have made the Eee PC line so successful, Asus ha salso crammed an NVIDIA GeForce 9300GS graphics card in the case and slapped a much nicer looking case and trackpad on the unit than you’ll find on most Eee PCs.

The laptop is expected to run between $477 and $637 and be available later this month.

If you haven’t heard the name Malata, that’s probably because this Chinese based company doesn’t typically sell computers directly to consumers. Rather, it makes PCs for companies you may have heard of to sell under their own brand names. So you may never see a Malata PC-81007 in a store near you, but that doesn’t mean you won’t ever be able to pick up this 10.2 inch laptop with an Intel Atom CPU and a 4000mAh battery.

All told, Malata seems to be pumping out 7 new models with screen sizes ranging from 7 inches to 10.2 inches. Oddly, while 4 models use the 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, the other 3 sport a 500MHz AMD Geode LX800, which while cheap and energy efficient isn’t exactly a speed demon.

All of the laptops support Linux and Windows XP, and have hard drive sizes ranging from 60GB to 120G, with the exception of the PC-8802 which also comes with an optional solid state disk in capacities between 2GB and 8GB.

[via Pocketables]