There’s been a rumor going around for a while that Lenovo plans to release a 10 inch, business oriented netbook. Right now, the closest thing Lenovo ThinkPad X100e. But that model has an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display. Now a member of the Whirlpool forums in Australia says he spotted a set of netbooks marked “ThinkPad Mini 10″ at his school.

It’s possible tat the machine has basically the same hardware as the X100e, but a smaller, cheaper display. In that case, the Mini 10 would likely have the same sized chassis and a thick bezel around the display, which is how the laptops are described in the forum posting. No word on the processor or other specs, but the laptop has an isolation style keyboard and uses Lenovo’s TrackPoint pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard as well as a touchpad below the keyboard.

We first heard mention of a ThinkPad Mini 10 late last year.

via Netbooked

Ruslan Kogan is more than just an Australian with an electronics company named after him. He’s the guy who brought us the Kogan Agora netbook based on community input, and who didn’t quite bring us the Kogan Agora cheap, unlocked Android-powered smartphone. So what’s net for Kogan? a $200 tablet running Google Android that looks like it’s set to undercut the Apple iPad (on pricing, if not necessarily features).

And that’s $200 Australian, we’re talking about, which means that the Kogan tablet could sell for as little as $180 US, if it ever comes to the US. Although to be honest, it’s not entirely clear if it will even be released in Australia at this point.

Kogan is showing off a prototype with a 600MHz ARM-based processor, a 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel capacitive touchscreen display, 2GB of storage, and 512MB of RAM.

The tablet also has an HDMI output. Kogan tells APC Magazine that the demo unit can run Android, Ubuntu Linux, or Windows — although I’m assuming he means Windows CE, since you can’t run the desktop version of Windows on an ARM-based processor.

via Engadget

Samsung is the latest PC maker to jump on the Google Chrome bandwagon. A Samsung rep in Australia says the company will launch a netbook with a 10.1 inch display and Google Chrome OS later this year.

There’s no word on what kind of CPU will power the device, but it’s expected to have 3G and WiFi capabilities, 2GB of RAM, 64GB or more of storage, and a batter that runs for up to 12 hours.

Normally I’d say that’s a giveaway that the netbook will use an ARM-based processor such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. But several of Samsung’s Intel Atom N450-powered netbooks are supposed to get more than 10 hours of battery life, so you never know.

via Netbook News.de

The Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT is still a no-show in my neck of the woods. But if you happen to be in Australia, you can pre-order this 11.6 inch laptop with a touchscreen that swivels and folds down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode.

Aside from the touchscreen, the laptop is pretty much the same as the Acer Aspire 1810T, which is already available in the US. Like the 1810T, the 1810PT has a dual core 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 CPU, an 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, GMA X4500MHD graphics, and 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth. The laptop also supports up to 8GB of RAm, and a 320G hard drive, has an HDMI port, and supports optional 3G wireless.

The Australian prices are pretty high, but computers tend to cost an arm and two or three legs in Australia. The price should drop significantly if and when the Acer Aspire Timeline 1820PT is released in North America.

via Netbooked

Australian computer vendor Pioneer is updating its line of mini-laptops with the DreamBook Lite A11 Ultra Slim.As the name would suggest, this is a rather thin and light machine, weighing in at just 2.7 pounds and measuring 10.7″  x 7.6″ x 1.1″. That doesn’t make it the thinnest netbook I’ve seen, but considering the A11 packs an 11.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display, it’s not bad.

The DreamBook Lite A11 also comes with a choice of a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 or 1.66Ghz Intel Atom N280 processor, a 2.5″ SATA hard drive, up to 2GB of RAM, and a 3 cell, 220omAh battery or a 6 cell, 4400mAh battery for up to 6 hours of run time.

The company is also selling a laptop with a 13.3 inch screen and NVIDIA ION graphics. The DreamBook Light T11i ION Ultra Slim has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N230 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. This model also has a DVD-RW drive and other things you wouldn’t expect from a netbook, but that’s because at this size it’s hardly a netbook. But the fact that the company does have an NVIDIA ION machine under its belt makes me wonder if there are any plans to release a model with the same graphics chipset but a smaller screen and case.

via Netbook News.de

The folks at BabyPC that brought us the first unboxing video the other day of the iiView A2 12 inch laptop that’s now shipping in Australia and parts of Asia, have now published the first detailed review I’ve seen of this mini-laptop.

The iiView A2 has a 12.1 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display and 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU. It also ships with a pre-release copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, which is rather unusual. BabyPC says the keyboard is comfortable, but it could be a bit larger seeing as there’s plenty of room around the edges.

A lot of people have pointed out that the laptop bears a more than passing resemblance to the Macbook Air. And it looks like iiView wants to emphasize the similarities. The company has preloaded the notebook with a handful of apps including Skype and Google Earth, but also the RocketDock program launcher which looks and feels a lot like the OS X dock.

You can check out BabyPC’s 8 minute hands-on review after the break.

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The Kogan Agora is a netbook that was designed by committee. And when I say committee, I mean the Australian company built the netbook based on specifications requested by potential customers. The end result is a pretty standard looking netbook which ships with gOS Linux (which is based on Ubuntu) and which comes with a choice of batteries and up to 2GB of RAM. At launch, the Kogan Agora was reasonably cheap at $499 Australian. But now it looks like Kogan has dropped the price to as low as $399 Australian, or about $336 US.

The base price will get you a netbook with 1GB of RAM and a 3 cell battery. For $439 Australian, or about $369 US, you get 2GB of RAM and a 6 cell battery. Both models have a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1.3MP webcam, 802.11b/g WiFi, 3 USB ports, a VGA port, headphone and microphone jacks, and a flash card reader. The laptop measures 10.4″ x 7.3″ x 1.2″ and weighs 2.6 pounds with a 3 cell battery and 3.1 pounds with a 6 cell.

A lot of people have pointed out that the Sony Vaio Mini W’s starting price of $499 in the US makes it about $100 more expensive than similar laptops from other companies. But that’s nothing compared to the premium Sony is charging Australian customers. In that country, the Vaio Mini W will sell for $999 AUD or about $776 US.

On the one hand, most computers do cost more in Australia than the US. But The Age points out that most netbooks sell for about $600 Australian or about $476 US.

Sony apparently has a few explanations: Exchange rates, Australian marketing, and so forth. But the only explanation I can really come up with is that Sony must not really want to sell many units of this netbook in Australia.

The Asus Eee PC 1005HA hasn’t been released in the US yet, but PC World’s Australian arm got to take the latest from Asus for a test drive. Here are a few of their key findings:

• The 6 cell, 63WHr battery lasted for 5 hours of standard definition video playback
• CPU performance is pretty much what you’d expect from a netbook with an Intel Atom CPU, decent but not spectacular
• The hard drive was a bit faster than those found on some netbooks

Overall, PC World claimed that the 1005HA is one of the best netbooks available today (or almost available, depending on your geographic location). And unlike the Eee PC 1008HA, the 1005HA has a user replaceable battery. It also happens to be a bit thicker, measuring 1.4 inches thick at it’s thickest point, while the 1008HA is less than an inch thick all the way around.

Samsung has been making popular netbooks for a while now, but apparently the company hadn’t seen fit to release them in Australia… until now. Samsung has begun adding mini-laptops to is Australian web site, indicating that the N110, N120, and NC20 models should be available in that country soon.

There’s no official word on pricing, but Portable Monkey found a few Australian retailers that are already taking orders with prices for the Samsung N110 between $772 and $838 AUD and the NC20 going for about $950 AUD.

Incidentally, somebody asked me the other day how wide the Samsung N120 lid opens. The picture to the right should give you a good idea.