The Gigabyte M912 has an ExpressCard slot, making it incredibly easy to slide a 3G modem or other peripheral into the netbook. But most ExpressCard wireless modems stick out pretty far from the case, making an ugly spectacle of themselves. Fortunately, jkkmobile is on the case. He’s posted a tutorial for adding an internal 3G card to a Gigabyte M912 netbook, complete with a bunch of photos.

Gigabyte actually left a slot in the computer for a 3G modem, but the functionality has been disabled. It’s likely Gigabyte will enable this feature if and when it strikes a deal with mobile carriers to distribute the netbook with a wireless service plan.

According to jkkmobile, it’s actually pretty easy to re-enable support for a 3G modem by throwing a piece of tape over one of the modem’s pins. Make sure to check out his full tutorial for all the details.

LG is offering a little more information about its upcoming X110 netbook. The company has posted a product page on the UAE version of the LG web site. I poked around and couldn’t find a product page on the US, UK, French, or German LG web sites. I have no idea what that means for product availability.

But I did gather enough information to update the X110’s entry in the Liliputing Product Database. For one thing, it looks like Bluetooth will be available as an option. The netbook will also come with either 512MB or 1GB of RAM, and hard drive capacities ranging from 80GB to 160GB.

As expected, the LG X110 will also support 3G wireless connections thanks to a dual quad-band antenna.

And we have some dimensions to share as well. The netbook will be about 262 x 180 x 31mm or 10.2″ x 7.1″ x 1.2″ and will weigh 1.19kg or about 2.6 pounds with a standard 3-cell battery. A 6 cell battery will also be available as an option.

via Wired and MSI Wind.net Forums

Asus has apparently decided that 3G wireless connectivity isn’t enough for its Eee PC lineup. No, instead the company has gone and announced plans to release netbooks with 3.75G support. If you need a refresher on your Gs, that means it’ll support speedy HSUPA data connections with speeds of up to 7.2Mbps for downloads and 2Mbps for uploads.

The first Eee PC to get integrated HSUPA support will be the Eee PC 901, with a new version coming in October. This is most likely the model that T-Mobile plans to distribute in Europe.

No word on what wireless networks wil be supported in the US. But since US mobile carriers tend to like to lock customers into their networks, my guess is you’ll see a company like AT&T offering an Eee PC 901 with a discount if you sign up for a long term service contract soon.

T-Mobile still plans to throw a 3G modem in the Asus Eee PC 901 and begin selling netbooks capable of connecting to the company’s 3G wireless network in Europe. But while the Eee PC 901 Go, as it’s apparently called, was supposed to be released in mid-September, Einfach Eee reports that the date has been pushed back to October.

Johannes from Einfach Eee has also uncovered a few other interesting details:

• The laptop will cost 399 Euros, or about $600 US, which is about 20 Euros more than the basic, non-3G Eee PC 901.
• Customers will not have to sign up for a data plan, but the 3G modem will only work with T-Mobile, so you’ll either want to sign up for a separate plan or purchase a prepaid SIM card.
• The Eee PC 901 Go will initially only be available in retail stores, not through the T-Mobile web site.

In another example of a wireless network provider subsidizing the cost of netbooks, jkOnTheRun has posted a Japanese advertisement showing deals to get cheap netbooks from HP and Dell. The tipster who sent the flyer to the site says the subsidies come to about $370 US when you sign up for a 2 year service contract.

In other words, you can shave about two thirds off the price of the computer by agreeing to pay for an always-on internet service plan. Ultimately this means you’ll wind up spending more cash than you would if you just paid full price for the computer and then stuck to WiFi hotspots. But if you were in the market for a 3G plan anyway this sounds like a pretty good deal.

Acer could ship as many as 2 million Aspire One laptops by the end of the quarter, according to DigiTimes. The company is on track to ship as many as million netbooks this month in the US, Europe, Asia, and emerging markets like India.

Acer is also reportedly planning to release netbooks with support for 3G wireless data connetions, which could give the company a bit of a boost — especially if mobile carriers start to subsidize the price of the computer.

Many netbook enthusiasts seemed mildly disappointed with yesterday’s announcement that the base model Dell Inspiron Mini 9 will come with less memory than the cheapest Acer Aspire One while costing more. That makes the Acer Aspire One, with its $329 starting price, the cheapest ultraportable laptop available with an Intel Atom CPU.

via Eee PC.net

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!

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.

Installing Linux on a low cost laptop might seem like a good idea if you want to keep costs down while providing all the basic features users want, like web browsers, office documents, and multimedia apps. But if you plan to offer an optional 3G wireless dongle, you also have to make sure that wireless providers are prepared to offer solutions for the flavor of Linux you’re using.

It looks like Acer is taking that step, a month or two after releasing its Aspire One ultraportable. Register Hardware reports that Acer European product manager Robert Perenz says the computer can handle a USB HSDPA dongle, but still needs software to make the hardware work. He says the software should be available in the next few weeks.

[via Low Cost Laptop]

While Intel likes to call the current crop of tiny laptops “netbooks,” to indicate that they’re ideal for use as portable internet terminals, for the most part you need to find a WiFi hotspot or Ethernet cable if you want to actually, you know, connect to the net. But we’re starting to see wireless carriers offer netbooks with 3G modems and data plans. The latest entrant? T-Mobile. At the IFA show in Berlin, the company issued a release saying that it would begin bundling a 3G modem with the Asus Eee PC 901.

There aren’t a ton of details available at the moment. So we don’t know how much the computer or data plan will cost. But while I doubt T-Mobile plans to offer an Eee PC 901 for free with a wireless plan (unless it’s a really expensiv plan), the company could decide to subsidize the price of the laptop and offer customers a deep discount. Or maybe T-Mobile will just offer 3G access for a monthly fee and leave it at that.

[via jkkmobile]

LG has released a press shot few more details about the company’s upcoming X110 liliputer. But just a few. Yesterday we discovered that the PC would pack an Atom CPU, 3G wireless support, WiFi, and a 10 inch display. Now it looks like we can add an 80GB hard disk to the mix.

And thanks to some hands on photos from Engadget, I can tell you the computer also appears to have an SD card reader, VGA output, a webcam, Ethernet jack, and 3 USB ports at least 1 USB port (for some reason they only photographed it from the right side, not the left).

You can also check out the official press release, but there’s not a whole heck of a lot of info in it.

Update: Engadget got a few more details, including the fact that the computer has a 120GB HDD or an optional 6GB SSD. There’s also an option to get an internal GPS unit.

The Elonex webbook looks interesting enough on paper. The laptop packs a 10.2 inch display, 1.6GHz VIA C7-M CPU, 80GB hard drive, 512MB of RAM, runs Windows XP, has 3 USB ports and weighs just 1.3kg. Oh, and you can pick one up for £264 or about $525 USD or get one free when you sign up for a wireless data plan with Carphone Warehouse.

The only thing that gives me pause? The fact that the computer in the pictures seems to have a real keyboard and a digitally rendered display. Call me silly, but I’m always a bit wary of placing orders for a product that doesn’t actually appear to exist yet.

[via Cloudbook UMPC]

UK mobile carrier Orange plans to offer customers an Asus Eee PC 900 and a 3G modem for a monthly fee of £25 per month. Silicon.com reports that the goal is to compete with mobile operator O2 who offers for the iPhone for a bit more money. But seriously, is there anybody out there trying desperately to decide between an Eee PC and an iPhone? One is a computer, and the other is a phone! They’re kind of in different classes, don’t you think?

Still, whether the move is going to help Orange compete with O2 or not, it’s nice to see another company offering a tiny laptop/3G bundle. A few weeks ago we heard that Acer is pursuing similar deals with European mobile operators.

[via ZDNet]

Acer is reportedly discussing the possibility of bundling 3G wireless modems with the company’s Aspire One mini-laptop in Europe. Network World says Acer is talking with T-Mobile, Vodafone, and Orange in Europe and Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan mobile in Taiwan.

Looking for a seriously cheap ultraportable laptop with an Intel Atom CPU? Like cheaper than the $599 Eee PC 901 or the $479 MSI Wind? ECS vice president Henry Kwan tells Laptop Magazine that the ECS G10IL is heading to the US, and the low end model will cost just $399.