The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 may not be the most distinctive netbook available. But it’s a decent looking little machine that is reportedly stress resistant. And according to DigiTimes and the Chinese language Economic Daily News, it won’t be the last netbook from BenQ.

The company is expected to release new netbook, camera, and LCD TV models this year as well as its first all-in-one PC device. The all-in-one computer concept was given a boost a few years ago when Apple released an iMac that crammed all of the components of a typical computer into a case that looks like it’s barely big enough to house an LCD display. But companies like Asus, MSI, and BenQ are aiming to make that form factor available.

In essence, an iMac is sort of what you get if you take the components of a MacBook and put them together in a desktop computer form factor. The lower cost all-in-one computers that companies like BenQ are designing are what you get when you take the innards of netbook and stick them behind a desktop monitor.

No word on how much BenQ’s new products will cost, when they’ll be released, or what countries they’ll be available in.

via Eee PC.net

Unlike some companies, which aren’t sure whether to sell netbooks in the US for fear that they might eat into the sales of more expensive products, BenQ is planning on bringing its JoyBook Lite U101 netbook to the US. Of course, BenQ doesn’t really have much of a presence in the US PC market to cannibalize, so this decision was probably a no brainer.

The JoyBook Lite features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 576 pixel display, a choice of a 120GB or 160GB HDD, and 1GB of RAM. It runs Windows XP Home, and supports 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. 

Aside from the unusual (although increasingly common) display resolution, BenQ claims that this netbook is one of the sturdiest around and can withstand a fair bit of stress.

The BenQ JoyBook Lite U101 will retail for around $499 when it hits the US.

The folks at Laptop Magazine have posted a full review of that BenQ Joybook Lite U101 netbook they picked up the other day. The mini-laptop is one of the few netbooks to ship with 1.5GB of RAM and one of the first to sport a true 16:9 aspect ratio, making it ideal for watching HD movies. But Laptop Mag gives it a sold “meh” when it comes to the keyboard and battery life.

The batter conked out at just over 2 and a half hours. And while that’s more battery life than I get from my cheap 15.4 inch Toshiba laptop, it’s not great for a netbook. The Joybook Lite U101 ships with a 3 cell battery, but you might want to wait until the 6 cell version is available if you want to get something closer to 5 hours.

The keyboard is also surprisingly small for a netbook with a 10.2 inch screen. As you can see in the image above, there is a bit of empty space on either side of the keyboard, so it’s surprising that BenQ didn’t make the keys a tad larger. The netbook also places the shift key to the right of the up-arrow button rather than the left, something which Asus and Dell have also decided to do with their netbook keyboards. If  you regularly use the right-shift key when typing, you might find this mini-laptop awkward to use.

The BenQ Joybook Lite U101 isn’t available in the US yet, but there’s a decent chance the company will begin offering the netbook here in the not too distant future.

The folks at Laptop Magazine picked up a BenQ JoyBook Lite U101 netbook this week. While the mini-laptop isn’t available in the US yet, you can apparently get one in Taiwan for about $550.

At first glance, this netbook looks a lot like many other netbooks on the market today. It has a 10.2 inch display, a 1.6GHz Inte l Atom CPU, and runs Windows XP. But there are a few things that set it apart.

First, this netbook has a 16:9 aspect ratio display. That means you get 1024 x 576 pixels instead of the 1024 x 600 pixel screen that’s become standard fare on today’s netbooks. While that’s great if you’re watching HD movies which often come in a 16:9 aspect ratio, it means you do lose a few pixels that can come in handy when browsing the web or typing documents. I’d probably rather have thos pixels than the ability to make vidieo fit the screen better.

Second, the netbook has a rather snazzy odd looking cover that’s covered with emoticons. Seriously.

Third, it looks like this netbook should be really easy to upgrade. There are several access panels on the back. When you open them up, you’ll find an empty PATA/ZIF slot that you could use to add a hard drive or SSD. And there’s a spare mini PCI-e slot by the RAM which could come in handy for a 3G modem or other goodies. Of course, you’ll void your warranty by adding those parts. But hey, netbooks are cheap. Who needs a warranty? Right?

BenQ also claims that this netbook is sturdier than many others on the market, but Laptop Mag hasn’t put it through any major stress testing… yet.

Acer and Asus may be the dominant forces in netbook sales today, but the netbook market is just a little over a year old. There’s plenty of time for some major shakeups. And BenQ isn’t even looking for a major shakeup, just a minor one. The company says it wants a 5% share of the netbook market in 2009.

In order to meet that goal, BenQ would have to ship about 350,000 netbooks worldwide next year, which will be a major feat, considering the company plans to ship 500,000 notebooks total, including netbooks and full sized notebooks.

BenQ launched its first netbook, the BenQ Joybook Lite U101 a few months ago. The mini-notebook has an Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g WiFi and an optional 3.5G HSUPA modem. It’s also built to to withstand a fall of 2.5 feet or the pressure of being stood upon.

It’s hard to make a netbook stand out from the crowd these days. There are a huge number of mini-notebooks available with Intel Atom processors, 9 or 10 inch displays, and decently sized hard drives or solid state disks. So BenQ has taken an interesting approach toward making its Joybook Lite U101 stand out – demonstrate that you can stand on it.

The company says the BenQ Joybook Lite U101 can withstand a drop of up to 76 centimeters, or about 2.5 feet. That didn’t strike me as all that impressive. And then I remembered an article I had read a few days ago at Eee PC News showing a woman actually standing on the netbook to demonstrate how well it stands up to pressure.

Now granted, she doesn’t look like a particularly heavy woman. But if a netbook can stand up to this kind of stress, odds are it’ll be OK if your kid accidentally sits down on it.

BenQ isn’t the only mini-laptop maker promising a more durable netbook. NEC says its Versa N1100 laptop can withstand the pressure of being sat upon, and is even somewhat sweat-resistant.

We’re getting a few more details about the upcoming BenQ Joybook Lite U101 netbook. No, we still don’t know how much it will cost, or when it will be released, but in addition to the usual specs like a 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g WiFi, it looks like the U101 will also come with an optional 3.5G HSUPA modem (which will probably support 7.1Mbps, not 70 as the screenshot shows), and will have 802.11n WiFi support.

UMPC Fever has posted a few slides showing the netbook’s features. It will also apparently have a 90% sized keyboard, and a display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It’s not clear exactly what that means in terms of pixel resolution. Most netbooks have 1024 x 600 pixel displays, which are somewhere between 16:9 and 16:10. A true 16:9 display would be 1024 x 576. While that might be better for watching full screen video without any black bars showing up on your display, you kind of need every pixel you can get on small netbook screens. My guess is that BenQ is fudging the whole aspect ratio thing a bit in their promotional materials. But we won’t know for sure until we see a real spec sheet, or better yet, a real netbook.

via SlashGear

When I think of BenQ I typically think of monitors, digital cameras, and consumer electronics. But it looks like BenQ is the latest company to dip its toe in the netbook waters. Eee PC News.de reports that BenQ will soon bring the Joybook Lite U1 to market.

The computer has nearly identical specs to the Asus Eee PC 1000H or MSI Wind. It comes with a 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 1.3MP camera, a 4-in-1 card reader, and a choice of Windows XP Home or Linux. The Joybook Lite U1 will have a 5400rpm hard drive of unspecified size and customers may have the option of adding a 3G modem.

It looks like BenQ hopes to sell the computer for around $470, which puts it within striking distance of the Eee PC 1000H, which recently received a major price cut bringing it down to $450.