You may have noticed that many of the netbooks released in the last few years look a lot alike. Most have Intel Atom processors, 1GB of RAM, 160GB to 250GB hard drives, Windows XP or Winodws 7 (or sometimes Linux). And then you just take a little from columns A, B, C, or D when it comes to the keyboard, touchpad, wireless, and display options.

So it shouldn’ t be surprising that Chinese company Guo Bang is offering DIY netbook kits in rural China to those that want to build and sell their own netbooks by mixing and matching some standard parts. The idea is that you can pick up a design from Guo Bang with the case, motherboard, and display. Then you just throw in your own RAM and hard drive, slap your name on the side, and offer the netbook for sale to a few hundred of your closest friends.

It doesn’t sound like Guo Bang is selling DIY kits to hobbyists. But wouldn’t it be nice if some company decided to make kits like these more widely available though?

via Shanzai.com

Chinese companies have been producing cheap knockoffs of big name laptops for years. But you know what most of them lack? Big name branding. Fortunately, at least one Chinese manufacturer realizes that the same thing is true for fake brand name laptops as fake brand name handbags: They’re more attractive if you don’t know they’re fake.

With that in mind, said company has slapped the HP name on a laptop that bears a more than passing resemblance to the HP Mini 5102. Except it’s not an HP Mini 5102. How do I know? Because the HP Mini 5102 has a 10.1 inch display, not an 11.6 inch screen.

Of course, that means the knockoff also has a larger keyboard, which might be a bonus for some people. The screen is a high resolution 1366 x 768 pixel display, and the computer packs some of the same features as the HP Mini 5102, including a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, attractive red cover, and chiclet-style keyboard as well as 802.11b/g/n WiFi.

The knockoff also sells for just about $337 in China, although it probably won’t be available for that price in the US — or anywhere else, anytime soon.

On the down side, the real HP Mini 5102 has a 7200RPM hard drive, while the fake has a slower 160GB 5400RPM HDD.

via M.I.C. Gadget

The Loongson processor isn’t exactly common in the west. But this CPU developed in China is likely to start showing up on a growing number of Chinese notebooks — not to mention the Emtec Gdium Liberty netbook. Right now, most Loongson-based notebooks run Linux. But China’s Lemote Technology is working on porting GOogle Android to run on the platform.

Yes, I know Android is based on Linux too, but it’s not exactly typical Linux distribution. It’s designed for smartphones and has its own software infrastructure which means it can’t run common Linux Apps such as OpenOffice.org or Firefox. But it does have a speedy Webkit-based web browser and a growing marketplace of applications, even if you typically don’t get access to the full Android Market unless you’re using Android on a smartphone.

Computer World reports that Lemote already has a demo version of Android that people with Loongson-powered netbooks can download to test.

The Apple iPad is expected to begin shipping in the next month or two, and while it remains to be seen whether it will truly revolutionize the slate PC space, there’s one thing the iPad has already done: spark a ton of competition in the tablet space. For much of 2010, the iPad was nothing but a rumor, but PC makers were bending over backward trying to create products that would compete with the as-yet-unannounced tablet.

Now that we know the iPad is basically an oversized iPod Touch with a faster processor and larger display, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that one company has decided the best way to compete is to launch a tablet that looks like… an oversized iPod Touch.

Shenzhen, China-based manufacturer TESO’s new tablet looks pretty much exactly like an iPod Touch or iPhone — if those devices had 10 inch displays and ran Windows 7 instead of the iPhone OS.

On the inside, the tablet is pretty much a standard netbook with a few extra features thrown in for good measure. It has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 processor, 1GB of RAM, and hard drive instead of the iPad’s solid state storage. The tablet also has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, a 3G modem, and GPS. It has a 3000mAh battery

The tablet weighs 2.6 pounds and measures 11.4″ x 5.9″ x 0.8″. Overall it’s rather large and heavy for a tablet. And you know, it runs Windows 7 and won’t be able to handle iPhone apps.

via Cloned in China and M.I.C. Gadgets

The E-NC10 is a Chinese netbook that bears a slight resemblance to the Samsung NC10. But only slight. While the Samsung NC10 has a 10 inch display and chromed edges, the E-NC10 is a larger model with an 11.6 inch display and plastic where the Samsung netbook’s chrome is located.

But the E-NC10 has a few things that you don’t find very often on thin and light ultraportables, including a built-in DVD burner.

The computer which is a little too original to really be considered a knockoff, has a 1366 x 768 pixel HD display, an Atom N270 CPU, 2Gb of RAM, and a 320GB hard drive. It has 2 USB ports, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 3G SIM card slot, mic and headphone jacks, and and Ethernet port. Considering the fact that the Shenzhen-based manufacturer was able to cram in a disc drive, I’m surprised the only thing that appears to be missing is a third USB port.

The E-NC10 has a 3 cell battery, weighs about 3.4 pounds, and should sell for between $290 and $380.

via Shanzai.com

The folks behind the Shanzai.com blog have been covering the cheap netbook and tablet knockoffs and original products coming out of China for a while. And then they got thinking… what if you could tap the capabilities of these Chinese manufacturers to build products custom made to match the expectations of Western consumers? And that led to the creation of Shanzai Studios, a new site that hopes to use the power of the crowd to design killer concepts that can be turned into real products by some of these Chinese manufacturers.

Up first is Operation TBD, (Tablet bag Design). The idea is that users can submit their ideas for the perfect bag to tote around the upcoming iPad or another slate-style tablet. Other users can leave comments and suggestions and vote on their favorite designs.

Contributors will get discounts if they choose to purchase a finished design based on their ideas.

If this works out, maybe we’ll start seeing some of those crazy-cheap or just-plain-crazy devices that typically only show up in China make their way to the US in the future. Macbook Air-clone running Google Android, anyone?

Last time I heard a peep out of Chinese PC maker teclast, the company was showing an NVIDIA ION-equipped netbook at Computex last summer. But it looks like Teclast ain’t a one hit-or-miss wonder. Zol spotted a new 10 inch netbook from the company called the Teclast X8.

The Teclast X8 is rather unremarkable in the specs department. It has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 10.2 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. 1GB of RAM, and 160GB hard drive. It’s cpaable of running Windows XP or Windows 7, and has WiFi and a 1.3MP webcam.

Possibly the most interesting aspects are the slightly curved case, a touchpad which appears to have razor-thin buttons on the left and right sides, and the computer’s relatively light weight of just about 2.3 pounds.

The Teclast X8 sells for about 2499 yuan, or $366 US.

via Cloned in China

Malata’s PC-98905 netbook is what you would get if you took a Sony Vaio P, stretched it out a bit to give it  roomier, more comfortable keyboard, and placed a Lenovo TrackPoint-style nub in the middle of the keyboard.

Now the company is back with yet another knockoff. Basically the new Malata A802 looks exactly like the 98905 which is to say it has the same TrackPoint button, slim design, and 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. Like its predecessor, this model also has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU rather than the newer Atom N450 chipset. And it runs Windows 7.

But there is one thing that’s new: The Malata A802 has a touchscreen display.

I’m not really sold on touchscreens for clamshell-style netbooks. If you can’t twist the screen and hold the computer in tablet mode, I just don’t see why yo’d want to spend time lifting your hand from the keyoard to poke at the screen. But the touchscreen and Vaio P-like design definitely make the Malata A802 stand out from the crowd.

The notebook costs less than $600 US which is kind of pricey for a netbook, but cheap by Sony Vaio P standards. I doubt we’ll see it outside of China anytime soon, though.

via Cloned in China

Have you been waiting patiently for the past year and change for Asus to get around to releasing the 10 inch convertible netbook/tablet that it first introduced at CES 2009? Asus polished the Eee PC T101MT up a bit for CES 2010 by adding a new Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7, and a multitouch display. And the company put out a video this week to demonstrate the computer’s touchscreen user interface. But the T101MT still isn’t available for purchase.

Asus promises that the netbook should be available this year. But if you just can’t wait, it turns out there are other options. Most of them are either really expensive, such as the Gigabyte TouchNote T1028, which sells for $728 at Amazon, or cheap computers from Chinese companies you’ve never heard of. But if you’re wiling to take a risk, some of those Chinese 10 inch tablet-style netbooks are available in the US through companies that import products from China.

Here are a few models I came across today:

• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 160GB hard drive, 1GBof RAM, 802.11b/g WiFi and 3 cell, 2 hour battery for $429.99 from ChinaGrabber
• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 802.11b/g/ WiFi and 3 cell, 3 hour battery for $469.99 from ChinaGrabber
• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 3 cell, 2.7 hour battery for $365 from HightonTech

All three notebooks come with Windows XP or Linux, so if you’re holding out for Windows 7 you’ll need to install it yourself or wait for Asus or another PC maker to offer the 10 inch tablet of your dreams (hopefully with a higher capacity battery). You could also look at the Asus Eee PC T91MT, which has a 9 inch display, a smaller keyboard, and a slower processor.

I should also point out that while ChinaGrabber offers free shipping, HightonTech charges $69 to deliver a netbook to a US address.

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.